Warrior Drone

*"Ah, the warrior drones. Fast little buggers. Well, maybe not that little, which is the whole problem." -* *Unknown armsman*

## Warrior Drone

a warrior drone equipped with a trapjaw mandible set and a venom sac stinger, presumably about to ruin someone's day

## Stats

### Strength

50

**Warrior Drones** are leader units in the Formids faction. They are one of the more notably effective leader units in the game discounting epic heroes, and a key component of most formid armies.

## Overview

The Warrior Drone is one of the most powerful units that a Formid army has access to barring epic heroes such as the almighty Destroyer Drone. Warriors are effective in assassination and flanking, using their high speed and damage to maneuver around enemy defensive formations and strike at the heart of the foe with devastating melee power. They can also cast a couple of spells in a pinch, though these are usually less effective than simply beating the enemy to death in melee.

## Abilities

### Marker Pheromones

When this model makes a melee or ranged attack against an enemy model, the enemy model becomes marked until the end of your turn. Attacks against marked enemies have a +20% chance to hit.

### Intense

True damage dealt to this model is halved.

### Gale Force Wings

When this model makes a retreat action, all enemy units adjacent to the retreating model prior to movement take one stun status.

## Gear

The warrior drone is known for having a vast array of weapons and gear to choose from during army creation.

### Weapons

Mandibles

Ability: None

Trapjaw

Ability: For every hit this weapon makes there is a 50% chance to stun the target. Stunned units have one less action per stun afflicted.

Acid Maw

When an attack with this weapon misses, another enemy unit adjacent to the target takes a bonus attack from the same weapon.

### Upgrades

Octopamine Surgers

Venom Sac

Queen's Node

Note that this upgrade takes the same slot as the acid maw, so it is impossible to have both at the same time.

## Magic

Blast

Deals true damage to a single enemy.

Magic Barrier

The caster and nearby allies are enveloped in magical forcefields. Each affected model gains one shielded status. Damage is halved for each shielded status. This status lasts until your next turn ends.

## Strategy

The most important aspect of using the Warrior Drone, and for every single other unit in Pantheon, is their threat range. The threat range of a unit is how much distance they can cover in one turn before dealing damage to an enemy unit. For a melee unit such as the Warrior Drone, the threat range is essentially the amount of movement it takes to get next to an enemy. With three actions, this threat range is a whopping 10 tiles, equal to their movement speed plus half of their movement speed. This is massive, and means that the Warrior can pretty much zip to and target any enemy on the battlefield.

The best move for a warrior drone is to gain ground on the first turn and hide somewhere on a flank away from stronger enemy units, but close enough that they can use their high speed to dash in and take down a target with a single movement action. The best way to make sure that this attack is effective besides gear and weapons is through a combo with a Worker unit. While Workers may have a slightly lower speed stat which can make it more difficult to close the distance, their attacks mark enemies, giving the Warrior Drone a large increase to their melee accuracy. Along with this, the Colony Scout ability of the Worker means that it doesn’t waste any energy in its attack, making this strategy very efficient.

The Warrior Drone is not a tanky unit at all, despite their triple digit hit point stat. Always use its speed to your advantage and pick off key units such as leaders and power units that your opponent leaves vulnerable by mistake. It is important to use other Formid units as cannon fodder for enemies, keeping attacks off of the Warrior Drone which can not stand up to sustained attacks on their own.

As far a wargear choices go, a trapjaw with a venom sac should be enough to kill most enemies fairly easily if your attack is set up properly. In larger point limit games consider adding octopamine surgers to further increase the warrior drone's melee power. The queen's node, while powerfully unique, is too high of an investment for strategies in 200-350 point games that don't somehow rely on the warrior drone's ability to cast magic barrier.

## Lore

*"The warrior drone is a masterpiece crafted by their queen to serve as herald. When a warrior appears on the battlefield they are a symbol of impending doom, as the hive is soon to follow."*