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Excited to get your paws on helpful developer tips for Fenra?
Quiet those howls of anticipation — let's get into the Ultimate Guide for Godtear’s newest champion!
Lead Developer Steve Margetson is here to take us through this aggressive Godtear champion — and treat us to an exclusive look at some of Fenra’s cards!
(New to Godtear? To find out more about our factionless fantasy skirmish game where two players go head-to-head to fight for the powerful tears of perished gods, click here!)
Meet Fenra, Wolf of the End Times
By Steve Margetson
Feasting on godtears has blessed Fenra with unnatural size, and rumours abound that her ascent to godhood could bring about the end times in a rain of flaming crystals. No wolf is complete without her pack — Fenra’s piercing howls summon a snarling pack of Chainless Curs, the cunning gnolls who hunt down and surround any who escape her razor-sharp wrath.
Appearing on the battlefield as a bestial fore of tooth and claw, Fenra is the first animal champion we’ve seen in Godtear. She’s the fourth champion hailing from the cave region, alongside Rangosh, Raith’Marid, and Halftusk.
With this new addition, multiple variations of an all-cave champion warband can be played, allowing you to create your own subterranean super squad. If you try this out, let us know which are your favourite cave champions to pair together on Discord or in the Facebook fan group.
Back to Fenra. Her four followers, the Chainless Curs, are aggressive gnolls that encircle and obliterate their enemies.
Fenra’s Stats and Traits
Like other Maelstroms, Fenra gains a bonus step on the battle ladder when she knocks out an enemy follower (the non-champion models that tend to be a bit smaller).
In the plot phase, Fenra takes a calculated approach, scoping out her prey with a slower movement of 1. In the clash phase, the hunt begins, and her movement increases to an explosive 4. Perfect for pursuing any followers on the battlefield or crushing enemy banners.
Fenra is one of the few champions in Godtear to have dodge 5, making her difficult to hit for even champions with the truest aim. Pair this with a dodge boon and she’ll be nigh impossible to catch. But it’s not all rosy — an attack that does connect will decimate her meagre 1 protection and 5 health.
Her trait is where things start to get interesting. Fenra draws her power from pack-hunting, chasing down and surrounding enemy followers with her own (more on that in the clash phase!) The Pack Alpha trait enables that.
When Fenra knocks out an enemy follower, you can move a friendly model within 3 hexes of her up to 1 hex.
So, if Fenra knocks out a follower — what’re you gonna move? One of your followers to help surround your next target? Perhaps move another champion? Or even Fenra herself!
As you can imagine, this has a lot of utility, allowing you to crush banners with your champions, position followers, and even position Fenra herself ready for a follow-up attack. Before you get too excited, each model moved by Pack Alpha can only be moved ONCE each time Fenra activates. There will be no shenanigans propelling champions across the battlefield in one turn!
Despite this restriction, a single hex of movement can have a huge impact in Godtear. Suddenly, that pesky banner or squishy enemy champion is within reach.
Additionally, the ability to move a model before it activates or after it activates is powerful. Let’s say Skullbreaker wants to begin his activation next to an enemy champion to enact maximum damage. Fenra can give him a slight push towards the enemy or a slight push away from danger after he has activated.
Shayle’s Suggestion: Fenra is able to knock out multiple followers a turn, and can move a friendly model after each one. Just remember: Fenra needs to be within 3 hexes of the model you want to move, and a model can’t be moved more than once per activation.
Fenra’s Skills and Ultimate
Plot Phase Skills
As alluded to earlier, Fenra’s plot phase is more about plotting (who’d have thought it, right?) and getting ready for her clash phase. The skill Bark at the Moon moves friendly followers within 2 hexes up to 2 hexes, perfect for getting followers into the thick of battle ready to surround your enemies.
The Wolf is Loose is her other skill, targeting an enemy within 3 hexes. If it hits, Fenra can move up to 2 hexes towards the target, offsetting her sluggish plot phase speed. Choose your target carefully! Missing the skill at a key time can be painful, so try to prioritise targets with lower dodge.
Shayle’s Suggestion: Bark at the Moon is great when combined with followers with limited or no plot phase movement such as Landslide, Household Guard, or the Froglodytes.
Clash Phase Skills
The clash phase begins and the wolf hunts! Both of Fenra’s skills in this phase are all about dealing damage and knocking out followers.
Feral Bite allows Fenra to attack up to 3 models in a single hex, perfect for chomping through followers. At a basic accuracy of 6 and attack damage of 4, it's pretty powerful.
But there’s more! This skill gains +1 damage die for each hex adjacent to the target that contains friendly followers.
For example, if there’s 3 hexes adjacent to your target with friendly followers in, Feral Bite gains +3 damage.
Don’t forget about Pack Alpha! Each time she knocks out a follower with this skill allows her to move a friendly model hex, which in turn can increase the damage for subsequent targets.
Ultimate Skill: Call of the Hunt
Pack Alpha is an appetiser of on-the-hoof movement, whereas Call of the Hunt is the main course.
Once per game, Fenra can choose another model and move it up to 3 hexes. Simple right? But incredibly powerful. Most champions in the game would love to get an immediate 3 hex move (*cough* Rhodri *cough*).
This can be used in various useful ways:
Let’s imagine Fenra targets a hex of 3 followers. She knocks out the first one and, using Pack Alpha, moves one of her followers adjacent to the hex with the remaining two followers. She now has +1 damage against the next.
Whereas Feral Bite can eat champions or followers for breakfast, Shatterstorm is a range 2 skill that must target up to followers. Like Feral Bite, the crystals she rains on the target get more powerful if each target is surrounded by friendly followers.
Shayle’s Suggestion: Tough followers like Rhodri’s Household Guard are great for increasing the damage of Fenra’s skills. Their high defensive stats mean they are less likely to be removed by your opponent before Fenra activates.
- Reach an out-of-reach banner
- Whisk a champion away from danger
- Get a slower champion into position for a powerful activation
- Throw a champion into a more favourable situation facing a different champion
This is before you get into considering how it interacts with Pack Alpha. Yes, with Call of the Hunt and Pack Alpha, Fenra can move a single model up to 4 hexes without activating them!
The only catch is that she can’t use it on herself — her ultimate must be used on someone else from her warband.
Shayle’s Suggestion: The longer you can spend without using Call of the Hunt the better! Having it available makes the outcome of your turn difficult to predict for your opponent. Don’t hold it too long though — make sure you use it before the battle’s decided!
Fenra’s Followers: The Chainless Curs
The Chainless Curs are cowardly gnolls who look to outnumber their enemies rather than approach them on an even footing.
Chainless Curs in the Plot Phase
The Chainless Curs are a hardy group of 4 followers, sporting an above-average dodge of 4 and a good protection of 2. In the plot phase, the Curs can use Makeshift Plating to gain a protection boon, helping them avoid becoming Maelstrom fodder whilst getting in place to power up Fenra’s attacks.
Their other plot phase skill, Corner Them, is similar to Fenra’s The Wolf is Loose. Its accuracy is nothing to sniff at given, as it can be increased by 3 if the Chainless Curs have more followers in their hex than the small follower they’re targeting.
This allows them to quickly swarm and isolate enemy followers.
Shayle’s Suggestion: Look for lone small followers to use Corner Them against, as it’s a reliable way to get the bonus movement.
Chainless Curs in the Clash Phase
In the clash phase, the Chainless Curs are out for blood, chasing down enemy followers with their rapid speed of 3.
Both of their skills focus on targeting enemy models. Snarl gives the chance to move all followers in a targeted hex by 1 — idea for clumping up enemy followers ahead of Fenra’s activation.
Maim and Encircle provides a respectable attack that becomes highly accurate when combined with Gang Up. When it hits, a single Chainless Cur can move a hex — perfect for surrounding enemies and getting into tightly packed areas on the battlefield.
Shayle’s Suggestion: Use a combination of their high speed and movement abilities to surround enemy followers to boost Fenra’s damage. Or use Snarl and other champions’ skills to push followers into hexes already surrounded by Chainless Curs.
Tips and Tricks for Fenra
Bring Tough Followers: To get the most out of Fenra’s attacks, you need followers adjacent to your targets. So be sure to pack plenty of hard-to-hit or hard-to-damage followers. Peet’s Sneaky Stabbers, Rhodri’s Household Guard, and Keera’s Young Dragons can be great for this. Weaker followers might end up as easy steps for your opponent.
Turbo Charge: Between her ultimate, trait, and plot phase skills, Fenra provides plenty of ways to move friendly models. This is perfect for supporting slower champions such as Rhodri, Halftusk, and Titus.
Fairy Dust Sweeper: Fenra’s trait is a perfect pairing for Lily. Lily places her fairy dust boons on the ground, Fenra knocks out some followers and moves friendly models to sweep up those boons without them activating. Magical.
Positional Support: Placing a banner can often require forward planning or assistance considering Fenra’s low movement in the plot phase. Shapers who can move objective hexes closer can facilitate banner placement. Additionally, models that can reposition enemies can be great for setting up Fenra’s attacks, or allowing her to get The Wolf is Loose off against an easy-to-hit target.
Fenra Pros and Cons
Pros
- Provides movement to any model within the warband
- Powerful attacks when setup correctly
- High dodge makes her difficult to remove for certain champions
Cons
- Requires setup
- More limited plot phase
- Weakness to attacks that ignore her high dodge
So, that about wraps up Fenra’s Ultimate Guide! Like the sound of the Wolf of the End Times? Recruit her for your warband here!
A big thanks to BlackJack Legacy for the awesome photos featured in this blog!
Heading to AdeptiCon? Don’t miss our range of awesome events happening at this year’s show. Book your place here. And don't forget that the Godtear UK Open is happening at UKGE 2023 - you can find more details here.
