Today I’m going to cover the Gorcechosen of Dromm Reckless Fury/Wrack and Ruin deck I took to the Tacoma Open Grand Clash this weekend. Since RF’s restrictions/forsaking, Dromm’s nerf, then nerfing again, I had noticed the Gorechosen had effectively disappeared from the competitive scene. While BA/RF probably still works great for them (as it does for many elites), I wanted to try them out in a different flavor and see if they still had some juice worth the squeeze. Plus I was already being ‘that guy’ by taking Dromm to a competitive event, and didn’t want to double down with Blazing Assault and just be a total cheeseball.
Fish competitively hamstringing himself on purpose? Say it ain’t so! Wait until you see my card choices too.
When I started this deckbuild exploration project, Dromm was under a 30% win rate in the stats project for the most recent meta. That’s impossible! I understand people not wanting to play them anymore once the Gorehulk lost his Stretch Armstrong effect and Enrage makes an enemy charge/costs 8, but like, sub 30%? We’re talking Sepulchral Guard territory here. I refused to believe it, and jammed a handful of games with different deck combos. Ends up they’re still really, really good. Just not in the same way they were before.
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Why RF/Wrack?
RF is a no-brainer for elite aggro in many cases, and Gorechosen probably the most. They can force a charge out of an opponent’s model to score cards like Unrelenting Massacre or Arena Mortis. It has multiple ways to dish out charge tokens to give you more activations with a special fighter (usually named Dromm). It scores just for charging, which you’re doing anyway, and the hits/kills aren’t as necessary.
Wrack was a different question. Firstly, I chose it because I was looking for an off-meta pairing. I made an attempt with Edge of the Knife which was a lot of fun but wasn’t as consistent and I didn’t want to chance that at a Grand Clash – a deck guide will come out for that down the line though! I settled on WnR because I like Wrack in general, but it had a few extra wrinkles Gorechosen appreciate. Firstly, it has multiple ping cards built in which helps build Blood Tithe and work towards inspiration. Second, it added some mobility which helps you make those charges. Third, it can help with accuracy which Gorechosen kind of need being 2 hammers or 3 swords to start – a profile that really just doesn’t cut it these days. Finally, and it is silly, but Wrack has a magical Objective card named Living on the Edge where you score for having a vulnerable fighter in enemy territory in an end phase. Considering the warband’s ability to burn a bunch of Blood Tithe and maybe not die for a round, I could potentially force a 2-glory end phase I otherwise don’t get to play with very often.
Overall Strategy
Well… follow your ABCs and Always Be Charging, and never not be charging (some exceptions apply). Try your darndest to get a +move effect or a free charge token card in your opening power hand, and be careful with your objective hand mulligans because this deck only has 5 surges and you may not be able to score some end phases as easily until people start dying into rounds 2-3.
Position the Gorehulk aggressively since he’s the move 3 with only range 1 and therefore your lowest threat distance. Then charge him in first and either take a YOLO swing with his 2 hammers 3 damage, or if you just need to hit an attack you can use his stupid accurate 4 hammers ensnare for 1 damage. This gets the ball rolling, starts building charge tokens, potentially gets your blood tithe, and far more importantly makes him into a Distraction Carnifex.
Dromm is your real hero. The more they try to hit Gorehulk instead, the longer he can live, the more change you’ll get to use his bonkers inspired profile. Give Dromm your best upgrades if you think he’ll survive to that point. Herax is OK as bait since he gives up only 1 bounty and is fine as a charge token caddy for Headcase/Braced. If you can resist the temptation, keep Dromm in reserve and charge him in last so the enemy has less time to pile in on him. You really want him to survive through inspiration.
Use Call of Blood early to get into charge range, either by dragging targets forward or your own guys forward, ideally without having to spend Blood Tithe. Too many games early in my experience I waited until ‘the right time’ and then never used it. If I opened with it I generally had more success.
Evidence
Here’s my practice record, which is pretty good. I had some losses to be sure, but I think mostly they were my fault due to multiple mistakes because it ends up I’m not very good at this game. When played right, especially with average dice and decent draw order, this thing slaps. I’m scoring an average of 19.35 glory going 10-4 across 14 games with an average differential of +5.93, which is filthy.
The Deck
I went with an unconventional 5 surge/7 end phase, largely because I don’t like the surges in this combination. Feel free to change that for yourself if there’s an end phase you don’t like in my package. I also conveniently have only 8 glory cost in Upgrades, so you should be able to afford most of your options whenever you draw them. Plus, 8 is Khorne’s Magic Number, so you know it’s gonna be good.
Surge Objectives
Best Foot Forward – hit somebody while charging in enemy territory was always the plan. Getting a glory for it is real nice.
Bloody and Bruised – you have three bodies with 4, 5, and 6 health but only 1 shield so you’ll generally have 1-2 of them damaged at a time. That means you only need to damage 1-2 guys to score this card. It prevents focusing somebody down (and thus is a little anti-synergy with Strong Start) but this is among the more reliable surges this pairing has access to.
Frenzied Rush – 3+ bounty with charge tokens in enemy territory is amazing when you have two fighters that are 3 bounty apiece. It’s even after any action, so very scorable even in activation 1. This is the best card to have in your opening hand.
Low On Options – You will, I promise, eventually have 5 ploys in your discard pile. That may not happen round 1, and maybe you have to hold it until round 3 which is sad, but I score this in literally every game if I’m willing to hold onto it.
Strong Start – Not a great surge by any stretch, but doable. You have good health and great damage potential, and can also sometimes make it so your fighter doesn’t die until the end of a round using Final Frenzy. In a pinch, that ability can prevent this card from bricking. It synergizes a little bit with Living on the Edge in that scenario too! It is a kill surge though, which you’ll probably hate, especially if you’re playing into some defensive elite BS like Wurmspat. It also stinks if you draw into it after something has died in the round.
End Phase Objectives
Alone in the Dark – A 2 glory end phase that you can score even if you’re tabled or they are. With multiple range 2 fighters you don’t explicitly have to be adjacent, and since you want to be charging all day anyhow you’re ok with driving people back. A smart opponent can block this, but most games it scores if you’re planning on it outside the Deadly Synergy matchup.
Arena Mortis – get a territory loaded with charge tokens? That was the goal. You may need to take a move action in a 4th turn to get them where they need to be, but 2 glory is 2 glory. You have a special bigbrain option to make this happen with the Enrage ability later in the game, which I will explain more later.
Bloody Momentum – any two of your fighters in enemy with charges scores this, and enemy models are irrelevant. You can’t score this with only one guy left, and you do need to be in enemy territory, but most games this is no problem.
Living on the Edge – this is my sketchiest end phase for sure, but it also is an amazing gotcha card which you also have some ability to ‘force’. Final Frenzy now reads after the errata that if you get a crit, you survive with one wound remaining and will die after the end phase of that round. If they kill one of your guys, especially late in the round, you can pull Final Frenzy out of a hat and say ‘not yet’ – then score 2 glory before he dies after that end phase. Is it an edge case? YES! Did I score it sometimes? Also yes! Don’t be afraid to discard this one though. Desperate Defense and Fireproof can potentially help, and sometimes you end up vulnerable just by chance.
Red Aftermath – 2 bounty of dead enemies is relatively simple into Standard and Elite warbands, but hard-ish into hordes especially if they are raise warbands but becomes much easier to score later in the game. However, it has a pic of Gorehulk flexin’ and you can’t pass that up.
Stay Close – 2 glory for having nobody in an Edge Hex scores so incredibly often if you’re thinking about avoiding edges yourself, and so few enemies think it’s worth their time to go into an edge hex themselves. Yes, it’s eminently counter-playable and a smart opponent absolutely can, but in some cases they choose not to. Damned if you Do can help, as can just killing the dummy who is in the edge hex. Also beautiful that it can score even if you or your opponent are tabled with no models left.
Unrelenting Massacre – a staple in RF already, this three glory bomb is easier for Gorechosen to score than anybody else. Sure, you have Catch Weapon and Reckless Attitudes to help make them get charge tokens, but some opponents are too smart for that. Guess what you have? The ability Enrage. Despite it being HEAVILY nerfed in a previous rules update, it does still exist. If you spend 8 blood tithe, you can choose an enemy fighter in a power step and make your opponent choose that specific fighter to charge. This has incredible denial potential to block Supremacy, Starblood Inspire, mess with Nexus stuff, and more, but it also says ‘you see that last fighter you’ve got with no charge tokens? Yeah, you’ll be giving them one now.’ That’s 3 glory in the bank (careful that charge doesn’t kill Dromm though (lol couldn’t be me…))
Ploys
Braced – take a model of yours and give them a charge token. This means even if they’re out of charge range you can still charge out, score a bunch of cards, and get an extra activation out of somebody else. You love to see it. You can even do this if the enemy is tabled and score. You can slap it on right before your activation and surprise gotcha them. You can ignore Herax for a round. It’s great! Nice to have in your opening hand but good midgame as well.
Catch Weapon – after a successful attack, give the fighter that hit a charge token. You can force a charge token onto an enemy who is making standing attacks – this scores you Arena Mortis and Unrelenting Massacre, but also reduces their efficiency if their 2-range spear wielding leader is taking up all the action and hurting you too much. You can also use it on your own fighters if you want to charge out but really want to stay where you are (like an Aqua Ghyranis). You can also use it in the rare instance where the opponent gives you a move token and you need to convert it to a charge for scoring.
Damned if you Do – among my favorite cards. You can get a blood tithe and put somebody into kill range. You can reposition an enemy fighter which very few things in the game allow you to do. You make the opponent choose and give them brain burn which is always a plus.
Diving In – push 2 is a big ole distance I tell ya what. You can use this to get in range for a charged out attack, you can use this to leapfrog to a charged fighter to be in range for a charge you previously weren’t. Major downside is that you have to end adjacent to a charge token, and if your opponent isn’t charging you it has way less utility. It also sort of bricks Alone in the Dark. Still, a push is a push, and when you have no Sidestep available you gotta make do.
Fireproof – how this still isn’t restricted I’ll never know. You basically tell your opponent they can’t kill a guy next round and they might just focus. Play it right and they give you Living on the Edge. Play it right and they charge you anyway because 1 damage is better than zero and you score a ton of cards while getting blood tithe.
Flee! – Phenomenal in the opening hand, but somewhat bad afterwards, you get +3 move if coming out of friendly territory. It’s in the power step so it can’t be your very first charge in a game where you get the first activation, but you can make a fighter move 6 for their first charge, so you have threat range to get a charge off and start your token accumulation, and maybe even get a second charge on the same rear-board target to kill them when they thought the positioned intelligently.
Ominous Rumbling – do you want to take a damage and give me blood tithe, or do you want to give me rerolls so I can actually hit you and then get the damage and blood tithe myself? Choose wisely, prey-animals.
Reckless Attitudes – a great control card – play this and you can force your opponent to charge you, which opens up Arena Mortis and Unrelenting Massacre, and potentially gets them off treasures if they need to stay there. Of course, they could just Focus, but you still reduced their action economy by 1/12 across the game. Then you use Enrage and make the coward charge anyway. Alternatively, you play this after they have already charged out and now literally cannot do anything but Focus. Such a golden card.
Vicious Intent – Plus dice is always nice. Potentially +2 is great. Your warband’s 2 hammers profiles appreciate this a huge amount. Hit and kill something even while uninspired and start the inspiration train where you don’t need this (but still won’t be sad to have it)
Volcanic Eruption – Since the FAQ right around worlds, this card is an auto-include. You potentially ping a fighter with no range restriction and it absolutely can kill somebody. Sure it’s a dice roll, but against 3 bounty leader typers it’s pretty reliable. Even in a 1-2 dice roll you can finish somebody off or get into kill range, or even take their last un-charged fighter off the board for Arena Mortis and Unrelenting Massacre. Even outside of these situations, damage is still Blood Tithe which is great. The FAQ states the enemy has to pick one of THEIR fighters if they choose to pick a fighter (not one of yours), so it’s not even a reciprocal ping. What makes this even a little bit better is that you can choose any fighter including one of your own in the event you’re desperately fishing for Living on the Edge. You can also kill somebody out of charge range to open up charged out for yourself but that’s an incredibly undesirable case usually.
Upgrades
Bladecatcher – no cleave, no greivous, no worries. A restricted card as appropriate, but this can keep one of your big hitters alive for longer which you love to see. I tend to put it on Dromm to take him to the 3-shot category depending on the opponent’s grievous situation, but the other two like it fine as well.
Desperate Defense -Minus 1 damage on the next hit is almost like Great Fortitude but you get the glory refunded earlier. This keeps Dromm ticking for another hit or might incentivize them to use damage 1 attacks which you still don’t mind.
Furious Might – the applications are niche, to be sure. I was able to get good value out of it multiple times regardless. You need a charge token while making a standing attack and you get grievous. The obvious choice for this is Dromm, but when inspired he gets grievous anyway. Gorehulk has it on his accurate attack while inspired so it’s worthless there, and his big fist going from 3-4 damage is amazing but it’s range 1 after the errata; you’ll likely not be making standing attacks woth it and it won’t come up. When I had it be valuable it went on Herax to make him 2R/3S/3D, and many games I gave it to Dromm anyway before inspiring so I can get to 2 damage at range 2 knowing it would be useless later.
Great Speed – if you want to ABC, you need to be able to reach things. Zero glory that can allow for a charge which means damage, kill bounty and blood tithe not to mention all your charge token based scoring. An excellent card for your opening hand so allow for 3 charges, especially against a canny opponent who wants to hide in the back.
Headcase – THE GOAT. You can still charge out even if you have no targets in range. You can get a surprise attack off with one of your fighters when in charged out state and potentially attack with Dromm 3 times in a round. And it costs zero! Another opening hand beauty.
Headlong Charge – LMAO this card should be restricted, if not outright forsaken, it’s that good. Zero glory for +2 move on the charge means you can use it round 1 to charge out even if they’re trying to hide. Generally less useful later in the game, but it’s amazing on gorehulk or a further-back-deployed Herax or Dromm too. A premier card to have in your opening hand.
Keen Eye – absolutely necessary. Uninspired, your accuracy is not very good outside of Gorehulk’s low-damage option. Inspired Dromm is pretty accurate, but you’ll never inspire if you aren’t hitting. Keen Eye helps get you there. Dromm is the ideal target but the Gorehulk likes it too.
Misfortune – a card that’s usually in the running for ‘worst thing in the game’, I saw immediate benefit once I slotted this into the deck. You can as a surge reaction choose to hurt yourself 1 damage after a fighter equipped with this takes a core action, and then you can pass it on to another friendly fighter (again, if you choose to). In an opening hand this can potentially let me ping myself 3-4 times and get to inspiration much, much faster. It also makes Living on the Edge dramatically more reliable and controllable – for your fourth action maybe walk Herax with misfortune into enemy territory, tag him, and get 2 glory in the end phase – bonus if he walks onto the aqua ghyranis to heal it right back and get you another glory. Remember, Khorne Cares Not From Whence The Blood Flows! I care though. Don’t ping Dromm unless you’re in a real bad spot.
Sundering Weapon – Cleave. Cleave is good. You’re bad at hitting early in the game so you don’t hit things and then don’t inspire and then don’t hit things. Solve all these problems with a nice little cleave upgrade on ya boy Dromm.
Wary Tread – lots of times I have bricked Alone in the Dark and this could have allowed me to get away. A few times I bricked Stay Close because my fighter was in an edge hex and this could let me step out. It never says you have to move away from enemies either, so you could use this to reposition at the end of a round to be in charge range for the next one. You can also sneak onto treasure or aqua ghyranis, back into enemy territory for Bloody Momentum, into the right territory for Arena Mortis, and more.
Alternate Cards I Considered/Cut
Aim for the Top – it doesn’t require kills, but it does require 4 bounty. Against hordes this is way too hard. Against elites I can’t focus a guy down and have to spread the pain. Late game this is easy enough though.
Ploymaster – this has bricked for me many times in the past, but in some games it’s incredibly simple. I didn’t take it because there are multiple ploys you may never get the chance to play in a round so even if you draw 3 of them, this may not happen.
Sally Forth – I played this and scored it sometimes, but ultimately it had to get cut. You’ll probably want to be on tokens anyway to stop them from occupying/delving them or preventing Strip the Realm. You just don’t have any way to reliably stay there, and since you have no range 3 it’s harder to line this up. Additionally, you sometimes have to choose between a range 1 for 2 damage or a range 2 to score this card but only do 1 damage. Feels bad. If they’re playing Nexus of Power, you really do not want it to be a treasure either. Probably want to avoid it in Deadly Synergy too or they’ll score Closed Down
Confusion – how do I leave the world’s best card at home? IDK, it just doesn’t always fit. Some games it would have been awesome, but most of the time I’m deleting fighters/getting deleted, so it is less available.
Push Through – damage myself to get blood tithe and maybe inspire? Potentially force Living on the Edge? Charge again? Sounds great! The problem is it only works on Herax since it has a 2 bounty cap, and if he’s dead or vulnerable it’s a dead card.
Sidle Up – a push 2 which as discussed in Diving In is a great effect. This one doesn’t even require a charge token which is great, however needs you to end adjacent to 2 guys which may not be possible, and bricks Alone in the Dark even more.
Blades of Wrath – if you die, you might dish out some damage back with higher reliability the later in the game it is. This damage can kill somebody too, and even if it doesn’t you get blood tithe as well as potentially score Bloody and Bruised. As I read it, if you kill a guy on the way out, they die before you do and you can laugh as you grab Strong Start too. Unfortunately your fighter might not get slain or not be adjacent to an enemy when it happens, and even then you have to roll dice. Just a little too unreliable to count on, but I didn’t have great options. A really niche case is you can have your fighter guaranteed to die at the end of the round from Final Frenzy – if they’re adjacent to enemies when that happens, you can ping someone after the end phase completes which would be good for a laugh.
Fiery Temper – sometimes you really want to stay where you are – on a token, in enemy territory, adjacent to a bad guy. This lets you do that for the cost of a damage, but that’s also called Blood Tithe where I come from. I never tried it, but was very tempted.
Rock-Splitting Tread – This kinda sucks tbh. I took it for a long time because it’s un-blockable damage which can score Bloody and Bruised as well as nab you some blood tithe. The problem is the timing of the damage is after your final action, so even if it gets you to inspiration, you won’t get an inspired action to enjoy it (and you get no benefits to defense inspired). Additionally, it can’t kill a vulnerable fighter so you may not have a good target. ALSO additionally, you have to end adjacent to them which can block you from scoring Alone in the Dark. So many times in practice I had this in hand and just threw it away. The potential upside is big though. It also CAN kill Venomites and Spinefin if that’s what you really need in the moment. I played with this for several games and literally never saw a benefit so I had to cut it.
Unstoppable – another niche card, but this one is two glory to apply. If your fighter is vulnerable, they can’t take exactly 1 damage. This saves them from pings and archers/minions which we love. Your odds of having a vulnerable fighter are higher than average since you’ll be able to keep a fighter alive (but vulnerable) with Final Frenzy, and you’ll want to keep them that way to score Living on the Edge. Combo it with Desperate Defense and they need to hit you for 3 to actually kill you! Lots of games this does nothing, though. At this point in the meta there are just way too many things that can do 2 damage reliably and this card is effectively a meme. I was already being a memelord with Living on the Edge and couldn’t bring myself to lean all the way in.
Wrap
You don’t have to BARF to play Dromm, and he’s still very competitive despite the multiple rounds of nerfing. Wrack is back, baby. Now let’s bleed!
I’ll have a tournament report in the coming days to discuss how it performed at the Grand Clash. Until then, I hope you enjoy Spending your Glory, and maybe even doing it with Dromm like old times.
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