From thinking, a little table time, and talking with others, I've decided that I think Doomy3 has quite a variety of possibilities to unlock. I don't think he's list locked into a certain particular list, the way Runes of War essentially is, but I do think he wants to build the vast majority of his army for beasts. Beasts feel like they tend to synergize best with his set of abilities, particularly the feat, but also his free animus scroll, Admonition, and Implacability. Additionally, Goad is always useful with Doomshaper.
So here are a few list builds that I've thought up, tried out, talked about or seen. Some of them I'll leave free points, because I think they'll be "season to taste" lists. Others I think build pretty tightly. For a quick reference, tier benefits are as listed:
Tier 1: Army has +2 Armor first round of game
Tier 2: +2 Battlegroup Speed first round
Tier 3: +1 to Starting
Tier 4: -2 points to Gargantuans
I might do more list builds in the future; each one takes up a good bit of space, so I don't want to go beyond 3-4.
Runes of War Doomy3:
Doomshaper + Scroll, Mulg, Earthborn, Mauler, Axer, Janissa, Krielstone, flavor to taste (Runeshapers, Fire Eaters, etc.)
This is the classic Troll beast brick. It hinges on Janissa, but it's a solid hitting, powerful brick with a lot of armor. It synergizes well with Doomshapers feat, and it can remove pretty much any piece from the board in one round.
It does suffer from lack of activations, particularly short 2 units of Runeshapers, so every attack has to be valuable. However, this Mulg is as close to as invincible as this game can introduce, especially on feat turn. Not much else to say about this; the list speaks for its own style.
Tier 4 Doomshaper: Hail to the (Ice) King Baby
Note: I'm assuming most people will go double Glacier King here. I'm not 100% certain on whether I like this or Glacier and Mountain; the problem with the Mountain is you're highly reliant on the spray. And it's 2 points more, but not really better.
Anyway, it's Doomshaper Unit, 2x Ice King, Whelps, max Stone + UA, probably 2x Fire Eaters, and 6 to play with (Axer maybe?). The unit and last six can be variable, depending on list goals. But this is likely approximately the list you'll see.
This list has the benefit of 16 point GK's, which are pretty much a steal. However, it's all-in on the Gargantuans and assuming they'll be able to stick around long enough. Frequently this is true, since it's a lot of boxes at good ARM and the feat, but still worth noting. With this list, if you don't pick your targets 100% perfectly, you could end up swamped early. I don't believe it's bad, necessarily, but it will take a very careful amount of testing to make sure this works the way you want.
I can't say much about this, since I've never gone 2x Gargantuan before. I think it's highly viable, but might suffer in scenario in some cases, and lack of attack volume might result in it being swamped sometimes.
Tier 3 Doomshaper: Movin' On From Runes (My current build)
Doomy Unit, Mulg, Mauler, Axer, Bouncer, either 1 Pyre 1 Storm or 2x Storm, max Stone, 1 unit of Fire Eaters, Whelps
This list still uses some of the Runes of War core, but moves away a little into other beast packages. It takes advantage of the tier benefits to get board position and claim space, and brings a bit higher volume of attacks, plus the electro leaps from the Storm to help deal with infantry more than other list styles.
It's still reliant on good attack choices being made, but it's not quite as restrictive; it relies heavily on the Storm Troll to get volume out with his shots. Bouncer could be subbed out for Impaler here and be quite viable, but I went with the Bouncer for protection value and because Bump + Admonition can introduce weird attack angles.
This list doesn't hit as hard as the other two lists, but I think it plays into more matchups, thus far. The Storms, Axer with Thresher, and Electroleaps can remove a fairly large chunk of models from the board, helping deal with infantry swarming. I've given some consideration to finding a way to rework the points and possibly try to give Bushwhackers + UA a shot. It's really weird, but I think it might be able to do a lot of work infantry clearing, or (when needed) flanking hard and shooting support in the back. I've had good luck with Bushwhackers in this before, so it's under consideration. The problem is thus far, the points don't add up well.
More to come!
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