Is the Ring of Hotek a Must?

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Rommel44
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Is the Ring of Hotek a Must?

Post by Rommel44 »

Hey mates. Well after trying out a phalanx-themed 3,000 point list today and pulling of a solid win against a HE player, we began discussing the different "bad boy" units and magic items of our armies when he happened to mention the Ring of Hotek and how its a good thing to have. After telling him that I didnt take it this time and seeing the expression on his face (it was priceless btw :D ) he asked me "isnt it the one item that DE's must take in every list?" Now personally, I dont believe it is required to take in every list because most of the time I've used it, it hasnt really done much and it ends up being a waste of 25 pts in those games, and having to be 12 inches away in order for it to do anything. Saying that however, I am just wondering if the Ring of Hotek is a "must have" item in our lists in this edition and just some tactical feedback in how you run it to get close to an opponents Wizard.

P.S. Even though I didnt take it this particular game, the fact he assumed I did take it shows how the Ring of Hotek provides such a psychological factor to the game, which is something I could try and exploit in future games . :twisted:
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Killerk
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Post by Killerk »

In 7ed, when a miscast stopped the spell from being cast it was a must.

Now it's role changes and it's rarely seen in list's
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Maximullis
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Post by Maximullis »

I disagree, the 8th ed miscast chart is very, very nasty.. to be able to force a miscast on any double is A) a big psycological hit against your opponent's willingness to cast big spells and B) can cause heavy damage to the caster/caster's unit and can remove powerdice from the caster's pool.

stick one on a peggymaster/dreadlord and flap about near enemy casters..
The avenger
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Post by The avenger »

You can see that in several DElists for ETC'11, RoH was taken, carried by the champ in a big knightunit.

With aggressive units like that, RoH isn't a stupid idea, since they're going up anyway.
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Asikari
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Post by Asikari »

Based on advice and anecdotal stories from this forum, I have taken the Ring of Hotek in many lists. And in my experience, it has not once performed as advertised.

In my opinion, yes, it's a waste of 25 points.
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Calisson
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Post by Calisson »

Try it in Storm of Magic games!
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Post by Vulcan »

The Ring of Hotek is extremely situational.

First, the drawbacks:

1) It doesn't stop the spell. Even if the caster is killed, the spell still goes off. Furthermore... if you dispel the spell, the miscast never happens, so no damage done. You have to be willing to accept the damage to yourself, which may well exceed the damage done to your opponent. It might come up that a miscast will occur but the caster failed to achieve the casting cost... but don't hold your breath.

2) Very limited range. The bearer (not his unit) must be within 12" of the caster (not his unit), which can be difficult to achieve, especially with some caster builds - our POK Dark Peggie Sorceress, a Douche on a Disk, other such casters with high mobility.

3) Most importantly,it affects our casters too! So you can't bunker your casters in the same unit bunkering the ROH bearer, or even too close to hm. There's nothing that makes you feel dumber than forgetting about the position of the ROH bearer until you roll those doubles...

On the up side:

1) It's pretty cheap. A Master can take one and still have 25 points of magic to play with.

2) It is nice to watch a caster blow hisself up once and a while, even nicer if he takes a chunk of the unit with him.


In larger games, I'll give a Peggie Master the ROH, full mundane armor, and a lance and send him mage hunting sometimes. When it works, it adds a whole new dimension to the psychological warfare of the magic phase - can he afford a second miscast? Is the benefit of the spell right now worth the risk?

Another minor benefit, sometimes I'll run a Peggie Master with a different loadout and send him mage hunting... and watch my opponent start sweating in the magic phase. :twisted:


But to answer the OP: No, it's not a 'must have'. It's more of a 'nice in the right list but hardly necessary' kind of item.
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Post by Rabidnid »

Never used it. Never saw a need for it in a list that includes magic users.
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Post by Flash29 »

I like the ring as a defence when i'm not playing any casters, but unlike 7th its not a great protection. Now if you roll a double you will miscast most inbetween results arn't that bad, but will usually cost some dice which is good if i'm not playing any magic. i have taken it on several units (cold one knights, characters on cold ones and on darksteeds) and the major drawback to me seems that its very expensive to get a wardsave for the ringbearer. but it can potentially be a gamechanger

Vulcan wrote:The Ring of Hotek is extremely situational.

First, the drawbacks:

1) It doesn't stop the spell. Even if the caster is killed, the spell still goes off. Furthermore... if you dispel the spell, the miscast never happens,


where exacly do you get this from, i don't see any reason why you can't dispel it
the ring now say's if a casting attemt includes a double the caster must roll on the miscast table. dispelling it should affect the fact that he still cast a spell.

but to me ths biggest problem is enemy's running away, with the 1" rule and how leaving and joining units works, any enemy with movement 5 and up easily hides in a far away enough unit.
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Sulla
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Post by Sulla »

Calisson wrote:Try it in Storm of Magic games!
Just not vs casters on fulcrums. Seriously, that damn result which turns every caster into a frog just comes up waaay too much. :cry: :cry: :D
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Babnik
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Post by Babnik »

As said many times, ROH was a must in 7th. In 8th, I do agree with Vulcan, it is very situationnal and risky to have it working.
Having the ring bearer (not Frodo) near the main caster is extremely difficult as it can get killed easily.
However, it is very enjoyable to see the face of the other player when we announce "miscast"!
I usually give it to the BSB on dark peg, full mundane armour and HG cloak. Very resistant to shooting and warmachine (except bolt throwers and doom divers).
I fielded in my last tourney and it shined many times.
A L4 HE mage became a L0 in two phases.
A toad ended up in the real of chaos turn 2.
A Tzeentch disc rider blew up turn 1 when it flew straight to my BSB at this first move!
To conclude, it is not longer the must have but become the funny "might have".
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Post by Tmarichards »

I've had some pretty good results running it on a Peghero along with the Cloak of Hag Graef.

However, most of the time I can't find the points for this character, similar sort of thing with the Black Dragon Egg- great item, just doesn't get high enough up the priority ladder to be taken often.
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