Hidden in the woods, empowered by the moon and the sun, and after this errata all of them have a wicked grin on their face. The Hunters Guild get lots of updates in The 2025 Balance Update!
Disclaimer: In all my 4.7 posts, I am very much open to that I might be wrong. 😀
That’s part of the beauty of this game after all, and in general just in sharing any kind of hobby – to discuss all our thoughts about it.
Also, some that I have written may very well be coloured heavily by stuff that other great people have already discussed elsewhere, and in all such cases I can only bow and thank them for their wisdom.
Zarola
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below, click to enlarge
Oh my Sun God, Zarola you evil and awesome woman.
While the changes in themselves aren’t huge, they make a huge impact. Let me tell you, using Zarola to buff Fahad and just delete models left and right, I think that’s the most fun I’ve personally seen someone have in Guild Ball for a long time. Shame it was against me they did it, but I fully enjoyed it anyway because it was so wicked activations.
Linked is still an insanely good ability overall, and now that the buffing and setup for Fahad is so much stronger than before, with the new Catching the Scent play, Linked really makes a difference. Activate Zarola and setup Fahad for murdertime, maybe even engage with her to give gang up, and then pass activation to Fahad who swoops in for satisfying multiwrapping attacks. In such a position he can now oneround a squishy model without problem.
Chain Bolas changed as well, both to be able to KD for the setup to Fahad, and because it makes more sense for this ability and for Zarola overall to deal KD than a couple damage. I think it’s way stronger in this version. The cost also changed so that it can be triggered off the playbook when attacking. No other playbook changes, but this makes a difference for sure. In balancing that the range was shortened to 6″ but that looks ok. I think keeping her a little closer to the fighting now that she wants to setup Fahad makes the range decrease not matter very much.
I wasn’t going to mention Snow since I haven’t seen that idea in action yet, but now that I read about “Wolf goals” in the SFG blogpost I sooo want to try Snow together with Zarola as well.
Overall I am really looking forward to playing Zarola in the days ahead.
Fahad
Wait, this happy panter-camper wasn’t changed by the errata, was he? Nope, but of course he also kind of was. 😉
He will play way differently now, and see a lot more play than before. Since Zarola can now buff him so fiercely, he is a complete monster now. Really cool with multiwrapping on the charge, and taking out very healthy opponents with some ease, as long as he gets a good setup.
vMinx
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below, click to enlarge
This is deemed to be a nerf, and even though I’m not debating that fact I still think it looks a lot less than I expected. Veteran Minx is still a really really good model, and even though the 12 spaces on the tournament roster have becom more crowded with this errata, I think she absolutely still fits in there.
Heightened Senses was changed to apply -1 TAC instead of giving +1 DEF, with the addition that she was bumped from 12 to 13 hp to make up for the defensive nerf.
I love playing vMinx so I’m not really complaining of course, but I was expecting a bigger nerf to her. TIme will tell if it is enough to let her rest on the bench for some players in some tournaments.
oHearne
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below, click to enlarge
Forest Teleportation! I love this change. The Nature’s Blessing trait wasn’t changed, but oHearne gained the ability to make his own forest. Some have said it risks being too strong, but I don’t think it will be. The fact that it costs 2 inf on him with his 2/3 stat makes selfreliant teleporting less of a problem than if he could bring too efficient output/goalthreat in the same turn that he jumped.
The fact that his inf stat was buffed from 1/3 to 2/3 also makes sense, and has been talked about for a long time. Even though he has Blessing of the Sun Father he still isn’t too efficient with his influence for 2/3 to be a problem. All in all, just super good changes.
vHearne
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below, click to enlarge
Mooore teleportation shenanigans! The only change is that Lunar Eclipse now triggers on all successful attacks and not only dealing damage. Where before he basically had to hit Skewered for it to be any use at all, now he can bounce around through a scrum a lot easier. In the right situation he can almost be like a Battering Ram due to the (>) on column one and all.
Also, he’ll surely be able to travel huge distances in the right circumstances, so if he does that with the ball… Remains to be seen how much stronger it actually is, and especially how much of a difference it makes in Falconers as well as Hunters. It makes him a way bigger goal threat while still feeling like a very non-striker kind of model, which I think is awesome.
I think he’s really interesting now, because he can play like an opportunistic striker or just as well support a beatdown tactic as a support piece that can fairly reliably KD three different enemies every turn even though the stay a few inches apart.
Overall this makes him way more fun for sure. Love it.
Minerva
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below, click to enlarge
This woman has always felt a little all over the place. When I was part of discussing potential changes a year ago (long before I became part of actual playtesting) I wanted to aim for changing her easy KD and such to make her more of the magician she looks like. I envisioned a bigger rework into a support model or trickster more like vHearne or even like Horizon or Lucky or something.
I was thinking as a spoiled Hunters player though, and then other people who have played Falconers cried “don’t change her, she is good as she is in Falconers!” and I felt had I reconsider.
Where she ended up now, being improved in her current role as a “Devana protector” and setup model, I think it turned out really well.
Her inf stat was buffed, and her old trait Easy Pickings (that was cool but mostly pointless on her specifically) was changed into Feathered Friends that she benefints faaar more from. Both the TAC and the DEF bonus for being within a friendly Harrier improves her power to do what she feels designed to do. Setup through Eye Spy and Harrier, get a KD or some such, and survive after she’s finished.
These changes make her better att what she wants to do without changing much how she accomlpished it, I think. Good changes overall, I think she is way stronger in Falconers now and absolutely strong enough to do good work in Hunters as well. Peoples’ playstyle more than anything else will determine if she’s found in more tournament rosters for Hunters now or not.
Join the discussions on Discord or Facebook, and share your thoughts!
Get a game in with some updated models and take a picture! 😀
