Welcome back heroes of the mortal realms. Join us as we explore more Age of Sigmar Soulbound by Cubicle 7 Entertainment. In this guide we shall talk about how to build and play a Black Ark Corsair. So grab you cutlass, load your hand cross bow, and lock that massive creature in your sights. Let’s get slaying!
Why play a Black Ark Corsair?
What is a Black Ark Corsair? A hunter of monsters, ruthless swordsmen and women, expert buccaneers, fearless souls that sail seas. All these titles describe the Freest of the Free Peoples of the Mortal Realms. These Aelves can survive the roughest storms by sea and by battle. Not only are they formidable in combat but, also experts with ships, hold silver tongues, and can stitch up wounds from a good fight.
So why play one? Arguably one of the most brutal dice throwing archetypes in the game, the Corsair can mince through the biggest opponents and waves of enemies by bolt and sword. If you fancy charging in and becoming that whirling dervish, unloading a volley of hand crossbow bolts from dexterous heights, or being the one that always talks themselves into and out of trouble, then this archetype is for you!
Building and Playing your Character
First of all let’s look at the Attributes. At face value it is an average line up with 3-2-2 in Body, Mind, and Soul respectively. You might not be able to swing a sword or knock arrows as hard as a Stormcast Eternal. But, with the right skills and traits you will go above and beyond what most archetypes can achieve.
For Skills, you have access to 12xp to distribute as well as 1 Training and Focus in one skill of your choice due to being an Aelf. This is a lot to play with. Your core skill is Weapon Skill. For melee based Corsairs, pumping this up to 2 training allows you to push for 5 dice per attack and also offers a Good Melee Rating. This is a comfortable place to be in most fights with enemies sporting Average and below Defence. Opting for Reflexes and Awareness also elevates you up the initiative order to act first. Very handy! From there it’s up to you how you want to pad your character. You could add to your out of combat versatility with Medicine and Survival skills, read people with Guile and Intuition, or become a bit more tanky with Fortitude. The choice is yours.
For ranged or hybrid characters, the Ballistics skill will come into play. the more training the more dice. But, weigh up the use of Focus to increase the chances to hit in a pinch too. Hybrid characters will most like be less versatile out of a fight but be dynamic when the combat starts. Although not as impactful as a pure melee or range, the power comes from having that choice and hitting the enemy before they can hit you making it easier for you to finish them off.
For Traits, you start off with The Bigger They Are which buffs your melee rating by one when fighting enemies of large or bigger size. For melee focused build this means reaching a Great rating. You also have 4 other talents to choose. Ambidextrous and Relentless Assault is a must for melee builds. It allows for an extra attack die when dual wielding and buffing your melee rating by one if they are melee weapons respectively. The Opportunist trait is great for both melee and range as it grants you a free attack if an enemy moves away from you. Another useful trait is Silver Tongue for those who want that charm in roleplay may it be a merchant, allies, or even enemies.
Now, let’s talk damage as at the end of the day God king Sigmar can’t do all the work. With a Body of 3, Weapon/Ballistics Skill of 2, and the Ambidextrous trait you will be rolling 6 dice per melee attack and 5 dice for range. This is great for mobs of low tier enemies such as Clanrats, dispatching two at a time and four if you spend a point of Mettle to take an extra action. Each sword you wield has a damage of 1 + the number of successes on the attack action. So, potential melee damage could be 8 per attack action and 16 if using a point of mettle. That’s a lot of damage! Couple that with aforementioned traits and you will be hitting most things first. And hard! Even harder if they try to escape you.
Summary
In summary, the Black Ark Corsair is a whirling dervish of blades and bolts. Outstanding in a fight and versatile out of one if you want them to be. They excel in taking down big targets with an almost guaranteed wave of attacks due to their powerful traits. Even low end mobs break against this archetypes onslaught.
Despite this, the character does need to be careful. With only an armour rating of 2, that is only one above most spell casters. You are not invincible and can be overwhelmed if the lust for blood and trophies is too great. Also, there are other archetypes that are better at dealing with hordes than the Corsair. Not only that but, Ethereal enemies will cut their damage potential in half unless you “borrow” some Sigmarite weaponry.
Aside from mechanics, they are incredible fun to roleplay. With a bottle full of strong alcohol and tales of past hunts to be told, there will never be a dull moment with them in your party. Each scar they have is a story, and each one they inflict will advance the party’s.
And that is your lot! We hope you enjoyed the brief guide on the Black Ark Corsair. What amazing memories have you made with your characters? And what archetype guide do you want to see next? Let’s us know in the comment section below. You can check out more Soulbound content here. Stay tuned for more news, reviews, and guide. Until next time, smile and game!