So you want to drown your opponents in a furious and e-fish-ent assault of eels, sharks, teeth, and water? To scare your opponents with the sheer scale of your military might and tactics? Well, flounder no more, Patrick has the low down on the Idoneth faction.

Who are the Idoneth Deepkin?

The Idoneth Deepkin is a mysterious and tragic faction created by the aelven god Teclis to repopulate the elven race lost during the World-That-Was. However, they were flawed creations, leading many to suffer from soul starvation. To survive, they raid coastal settlements to harvest souls. Living in hidden underwater enclaves, their society is secretive and avoids contact with other races. Their aesthetic blends traditional elven features with marine elements, and their armies include various units like Sharks, Eels, and Giant Turtles. Their tragic history, enigmatic nature, and blend of elven and oceanic themes define their identity.

Playstyle

Float like an Allopex, Sting like a Fangmora.

The Idoneth Deepkin vied for the title of “fastest army in town” throughout the second edition and third edition. In the new index, they may well hold the record. The slowest unit you can bring moves at 6”, the fastest are swimming at 14”. During turn 2, you can run and shoot and/or charge (a marked improvement from the tides of the past). You have easy access to teleportation, deep strikes, and pulling units into reserves.

But the cost of all of these new features? Slightly less damage output compared to the last edition and maintaining the frailty that they have always struggled against. Both of these can be alleviated, however, through careful use of teleportation and buff bubbles around your units.

Historically, Idoneth has found success as an “oops all eels” army (2nd edition) or an “oops all sharks” army (3rd edition). There are arguments now to say that Idoneth works especially well as a mixed-arms force. There are lots of solid rules interactions between units. Look at how a unit of Ishlaen Guard reduces attacks while cutting some damage into whatever you’ve charged. Follow that up with an Allopex to get additional hits against the injured unit while being protected by the eels.

There is plenty to love in this index, and I think Idoneth players should be overjoyed with the delicious morsels we have been given.

Battle Traits

These all rock. We’ve seen marked improvement from the last edition in our tides, and an innate reserves mechanic provides awesome tactical flexibility. We lost Forgotten Nightmares, but we’ve gained enough utility to accept that loss.

Idoneth’s battle traits are split in half. The first half is a combination of Ethersea Voyagers and Raiders from the Deep. The second is Tides of Death.

Ethersea Voyagers allows you to set up one regiment during deployment and place them in reserves. Raiders from the Deep allows you to take a unit in reserves and set them up in your Movement phase wholly within 9” of the edge of the battlefield and more than 9” from all enemy units. The second restriction can be mitigated with the inclusion of a Soulsrcyer, which will be discussed below, and using the Soul-raid ambush formation will allow you to continue moving units in and out of reserves throughout the game.

This is an amazing ability and provides some early tactical flexibility that can not be underestimated. If nothing else, it forces your opponent to consider where their own units are placed and how an Idoneth unit popping up at a board edge might cause problems for something like back-line support heroes. Note that there is no restriction on what round a unit has to arrive from reserves, so you can reserve a critical hammer unit until round 3 to benefit from High Tide.

As with any army, however, you need to be careful about committing to massive deep-strike. A clever opponent will know how to screen your units from coming in on the board edge and if you are facing an opponent that also can bring mass deepstrike you are looking at the possibility of being struck by the Kroot conga-line that we’ve all seen. Also, remember that you have to commit a full regiment to this tactic, and you don’t want your opponent to block you out of deployment just because they can effectively screen the edge of the board.

It’s probably best to consider this ability in two forms: 1) you are up against a slow army or an elite army that will have a hard time screening you out, in which case you can be aggressive with your reserves and hit their backline. Or 2) you can use this ability against mobile or ranged armies to keep some key units safe for the first turn or two. You can’t kill what’s not on the board.

Speaking of High Tide, Idoneth’s Tides of Death have seen some minor tweaks since the last edition. They still provide buffs during a round and require you to control the flow of battle as much as possible. The five tides are shown in the image below:

Take a clip of the Tides of Death Table and place it here

Things to note for Idoneth players coming from 3rd edition: Low Tide now has a clear restriction that the bonus goes away if you charge, so use round 1 and five to score some movement tactics and focus on shooting. Flood Tide now allows you to shoot AND charge after running, which is a massive buff for units like Allopexi and Leviadons that are carrying pretty strong shooting and melee attack profiles.

High Tide is exactly the same as the last edition and will be the source of complaints from all of your opponents. Army-wide strike first is going to be incredibly powerful and may allow you to remove your opponent’s hammer units through careful combat placement before they have the chance to hit back. Ebb Tide has seen the same improvement as Flood Tide, allowing both shooting and charging after falling back.you can use this in concert with abilities like Soul-raid Ambushers (discussed below) to continue your movement flexibility and potentially score late-game battle tactics and primary objectives, depending on objective placement.

Formations

Just like everyone else, Idoneth have four formations to choose from during army construction. Two of these are very good, one is decent, and one will almost never see play.

The first is Namarti Corps. This allows your Namarti units to re-roll run and charge rolls so long as they are wholly within 12” of an Akhelian unit. The bubble size is very forgiving, and if you are bringing Namarti in from reserves with an Akhleian King or Thrallmaster, you are increasing the odds of that 9” charge from ~25% to ~50%.

Akhleian Beastmasters was previewed in the faction focus article and provides your Akhelian companion weapons with +1 to hit. This is a decent buff if you are bringing a lot of sharks and eels, and there are enough sources of -1 to hit in the game that this will keep your friends biting hard against your opponents.

Isharann Council is a flop. Your Isharann units (only the Soulrender and Tidecaster will benefit) get +1 to their warscroll abilities so long as they are within the combat range of another Isharann unit. If the combat range restriction was lifted, this would see some good play, especially because these units will see regular use from their respective abilities. The main trouble is that the Tidecaster generally wants to hang back and cast spells while the Soulrender wants to be in the thick of it with your Namarti. I expect that some bold players will run lists with this formation, but it likely won’t see as much competitive success.

The final formation of Soul-raid Ambushers provides you army with the ability to return one infantry or cavalry unit per turn (only your turn) to reserves. This is tremendously strong and ramps up the mobility of your army well beyond what we already have access to. The ability to use Steed of Tides to launch a unit of Reavers halfway up the board, have them launch a volley at an enemy unit, then dip back into reserves to stay alive another round is an ability that shouldn’t be underestimated. If nothing else, you will make your Sylvaneth friends jealous at your newfangled Strike-and-Fade.

Spells

Before we get into the specifics of spells, let’s look at a fun new command for the 4th edition called “Magical Intervention”:

Why am I bringing this up? Because Steed of Tides is a spell that exists.

Steed of Tides allows you to pick an Idoneth unit wholly within 12” of the caster and teleport them anywhere on the battlefield more than 9” from all enemy units. This is important because of three elements: 1) There is no restriction saying that you can’t use this on a unit that is currently in combat, 2) there is no restriction on what units you can use this on, and 3) this spell has the Unlimited keyword.. 

Don’t like where your leviadon is sitting? Throw him to the far end of the table. Don’t want that unit of Namarti to get slapped in the combat phase? Remove them from combat during yours or your opponent’s hero phase. See a convenient objective marker all the way over there? You see what I’m getting at here.

Our other spells are not quite as world-shattering but are still useful. Arcane Corrasion reduces the rend of a target’s melee weapons, keeping your squishy aelves alive that little bit longer. Pressure of the Deep is your standard issue horde-clearer, with the usual restriction that you’re dealing with single mortal wounds on 5+’s. This isn’t terrible. it’s just worth keeping in mind that even using this against a reinforced unit of clanrats, you will still only deal an average of 13 mortal wounds. There is nothing to sniff at. There just might be better uses of your limited spells.

Enhancements

All of our artefacts and heroic traits are good, but we should expect to see two float to the top in most competitive lists.

Armor of the Cythai is incredible and universally useful. This blocks an opponent from using any weapons abilities on your heroes (with the exception of the “companion” rule). Removing your opponents anti-hero, anti-infantry, anti-monster, or crit () abilities will make a huge difference in keeping your hero alive. Couple that with the heroic trait Ancient Pride, which prevents unmodified hit rolls of 1-3 from ever hitting your hero, and you have a King or Eidolon that is very difficult to put down.

Our other artefacts are much more situational. Delicious Morsels will do a lot to keep your cavalry units alive, but you obviously won’t be taking it if you don’t bring a lot of cavalry. It also has the restriction that it only works on a unit within the combat range of the carrier, so your King can’t lob a snack any great distance and let your eels spread out. Dritchleech is functional but even more situational. The -1 to casting rolls is good against some armies, and the 18” bubble is substantial, but against armies that aren’t bringing any wizards, you are stuck with an artefact that provides nothing. If you’re in a local meta where everyone is bringing Wizards, you will get a lot of mileage out of the one, but at larger events we’ll need to see what magic meta shakes out.

Units

I want to start with something sad before we get on to the rest of the units. The leviadon is sick and needs lots of bed rest. Lay him on your shelf on a comfortable blanket and admire him from a distance while he recovers.

Frankly, I’m not happy with the turtle. At 500 points, I think it becomes a liability. For something to be worth 25% of your army, it needs to be game-changing, and in its current form, that isn’t what we’re looking at. The limitation for units to be wholly within 6” to receive the ward buff is too limiting to be useful on the units that need it, and the rampage is underwhelming. It’s still going to be an incredible tank with 16 wounds, 3+ save, and 5+ ward, but it needs something to make it more capable.

Sadness over. Let’s talk about Eidolons.

Eidolons are great. Both serve their purpose, are excellent vehicles for the above heroic traits and artefacts, and both occupy a niche that you will instantly find a use for. The Eidolon of the Sea is the best spellcaster you can bring, and his large base size means that he has a generous bubble for Steed of Tides, and is tanky enough to survive in the thick of combat. The Storm is a melee monster outperforming the King on paper and a great rampage that hits your opponents with Strike-last for the turn.

The Akhelian King has seen better days, but Volturnos is now sitting at a point where he will regularly see tables. The King is meant to be taken for damage output, but when hit with the math-hammer, he does comparable damage to the Eidolon of the Sea. Volturnos, on the other hand, has high quality damage output with a once-per-battle ability to increase the attack characteristics on 3 other units. He is also providing a free +1 to hit aura for Akhelian units wholly within 12”, which is a generous range that will be easy to fit your eels and sharks within.

All of the foot heroes lost their wards coming into the new edition. All of them will die to a stiff breeze, and none of them will put out any form of respectable damage. None of that matters, though, because you aren’t taking foot heroes in Idoneth armies to deal damage. All of our foot heroes provide solid buffs, and I feel like we’ll see regular use for all of them.

The Soulscryer is universally good, reducing the deep strike restriction to 7”, meaning that you will get your charges off much more frequently. The Tidecaster is now your only source of Isharann Rituals, and they only work on a 3+, but getting +1 to run and charge on the turn you need it will be clutch. If you’re taking thralls, the Thrallmaster’s ability to give them Crit (2 hits) drastically boosts their damage output and allows them to threaten heavy targets.

Speaking of Thralls, on paper, they look like they’ve dropped in power from the last edition. Wounding on 4+s makes them less viable than in 3rd, and without proper support, they won’t see much use. They are a perfect buff-sponge, however, and with the backing of a Thrallmaster and Eidolon, you could easily see a unit of Thralls dropping a monster or massive infantry unit in a single combat. Just don’t throw them at cavalry unless you completely lack other targets. They get bonuses against infantry and monsters but will struggle to deal with cavalry in any real capacity.

We have no bad cavalry options, and all three of our units serve their purpose in the niche they are meant to fill. Ishlaen Guard reduce the number of attacks of enemy untis in combat with them and get a 5+ ward after charging. Morsarr do mortal wounds on the charge (every charge, not just once per battle) and are infantry-hunting terrors. Allopexes (Allopexi?) are great units to hunt with a unit of Ishlaen Guard to act as a one-two punch. Let the Ishlaen scratch a wound or two into a unit and reduce its attacks, then have the allopex bite down with its bonus attacks.

All in all, I think Idoneth players should feel very good about the index we’ve been given. We have some strong movement abilities, decent damage output, and the “wow” factor that a well-painted army will bring to the table (seriously, I cannot understate how much I love the Idoneth model range). The army will require even more finesse than it did in previous editions, but in the hands of an experienced player, they will absolutely shine.

Sample List

Akhelian King

• 1×3 Ishlaen Guard
• 1×3 Ishlaen Guard

Eidolon of the Storm – Warlord with Ancient Pride and Armor of the Cythai

• 1×6 Morrsarr Guard
• 1×3 Ishlaen Guard
• 1×3 Ishlaen Guard

Soulscryer

• 1×10 Namarti Reavers
• 1×10 Namarti Reavers

———————————-

Soulscryer

• 1×10 Reaver
• 1×10 Reaver
• 1×10 Thralls

Volturnos, High King of the Deep

• Lotann
• 1×6 Morrsarr
• 1×6 Morrsarr

Tidecaster

• 1×10 Reavers
• 1×10 Reavers

Manifestation: Incarnate go brrr