Vindicator Kaustron
Faction: Alliance
Class: Hunter
Race: Draenei
Exclusive Preview by Ben Stoll
We’ve already seen some new Alliance minis with excitingly powerful abilities, and this new Hunter is no exception. You would be making a sad mistake not to try out Vindicator Kaustron when we all finally get our hands on Spoils of War. Not only will he be a blast to play with, he is brimming with potential to shake up the scene at competitive events.
I’ll warn you now; he’s 8 honor, so his 2/1/8 stat line is certainly on the low side, no question. You serious players out there must be thinking “He better have a darn good ability . . .”
Yeah, “good” might be a bit of an understatement . . .
If you like summoning pets, you’re going to love Vindicator Kaustron:
As I said before, he’s a tad fragile. Fortunately, his attack is very solid; he’s got the same tournament-proven attack as Horde Hunter Azarak Wolfsblood (4 range is always going to be powerful), only with a better crit. By now we all know that abilities that add or subtract ticks from characters are very good. But how good is it to subtract a tick from your pet?
Well, when you’re Vindicator Kaustron, it’s very good, because you’ll virtually always have a pet on the board.
But I’m even more excited about Kaustron’s main ability. You want to talk about tick advantage? Let’s look at Revive Pet, one of the most absurdly powerful abilities available to the Alliance.
After an initial summon, Kaustron pays 0 ticks to summon Fury or Bloodclaw for the rest of the game, and as an instant.
In case you were distracted during that last sentence, I’m just going to go ahead and repeat it:
After an initial summon, Kaustron pays 0 ticks to summon Fury or Bloodclaw for the REST OF THE GAME—and as an INSTANT.
Sorry for the caps, I just wanted to make sure everybody heard that. To clarify, the beauty of instant speed is that unlike traditional summoning, Kaustron can attack and summon a free pet on the same exact tick.
“But how many pets can it really be worth summoning?” you might find yourself asking. The answer is, “a lot.” And to understand why Kaustron will be summoning so many more pets than currently existing minis, we first have to understand just how good summoning 2-3 tick pets for zero ticks is:
Pets are powerful, there’s no doubt about it. The only problem with pets is that after the early stages of the game and in the midst of battle, it can be difficult to find the time to summon new pets—especially the powerful and expensive 2-3 tick Hunter pets. But when they cost 0, you can always afford to resummon. More importantly, you can afford to resummon, because when you save those 3 ticks, you have time to retreat before the enemy closes in.
It works out phenomenally that Kaustron is a Hunter and has 4 range. He summons pets and fires from afar while they do all the dirty work, and he does that better than any other Hunter. Because your opponent is going to have such a hard time fighting through the pets and tracking down Kaustron, the game is going to go longer. The longer the game goes, the better it is for Kaustron, because the more opportunities he has to net you 3 ticks.
And the beauty is, playing two pets with Kaustron is quite powerful. One of the tactics currently being used against Hunter teams involves bum-rushing them so the pet goes away when its master dies. However, a quick-killed Kaustron can re-enter the fray with a fresh pet that costs him nothing. But I’ll play devil’s advocate for a minute; let’s look at a less ideal situation.
Let’s say Kaustron and a previously summoned Fury are both on tick 9. You’re annoyed because your opponent never got around to killing your first pet, so you haven’t yet been able to take advantage of Kaustron’s incredible ability or utilize that second pet Action Bar card.
Relax. Even then, it’s not so bad. Fury walks over and attacks, ticking up from 9 to 2. Then, Kaustron summons Bloodclaw for 0 ticks. Fury, who was on tick 2, will be replaced with a Bloodclaw who is still only on tick 9. Even though you replaced your own pet, you got a free attack out of the deal.
If you don’t think it’s so great to replace an existing pet with a new one just to net a free “pet attack,” then you might want to rethink it. Getting a free 4 dice with crit +1 attack would be a pretty good Action Bar card in and of itself! And remember, this is about as bad a use of Revive Pet as you could get.
So you see, Vindicator Kaustron takes a bit of thought, but there is no question that he’s a powerful mini with a game-changing ability.
Pets are one of the greatest mechanics in World of Warcraft Minis. They’re a blast to play with, and they’re powerful enough to be major forces in competitive tournaments. We’ve already seen some awesome new pets and pet mechanics in Spoils of War, and now we have another one. Get ready to explore a powerful, deep, and innovative new set. Kaustron is yet another mini that demands a lot of attention just by himself, which is a good thing, because he’s going to be a lot of fun to smash people with.