In part one of Warhammer 40,000 Arena of Death on Battle Report, 32 contenders from across the galaxy fought a series of one-on-one bouts to sort the violent wheat from the interstellar chaff. With part two out now, a champion has been crowned – but who has won? Gaming presenter Simon returns to unpack the Top 16.
Si: OK, so before I go any further, consider this a MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING as I’ll be revealing who qualified, and who didn’t, from the group stages in the first part of the show – so make sure you go and check it out first.
We had some real upsets that took the entire Battle Report crew by surprise. Two of the biggest names who fell by the wayside against our wildest expectations were none other than Abaddon the Despoiler and Ghazghkull Thraka. By contrast, Mozrog Skragbad fought as if possessed by Gork himself, topping his group and eliminating the mighty Norn Emissary in the process. In fact, even the likes of Roboute Guilliman only just scraped out of that group on fewer wounds conceded – the secondary score – and only because the Emperor’s Champion dished out so much damage to his xenos rivals before succumbing.
But now we come to it at last – the knock-out tournament in which the final 16 vie for ultimate glory! Here’s how the match-ups panned out, based on their rankings.
Before determining who would be fighting who in the knock-out stages, we first had to reevaluate the rankings of the top 16. The initial rankings were based on the points values of each contender (at the time of filming), but these rankings were reassessed based on each contender’s performances during the group stages. Perhaps most interesting of all is the fact that the top two spots have switched for the knock-out stages.
Canis Rex, our previous top contender, lost to Mortarion in the group stages despite having Sustained Hits and the ability to dish out a whopping 9 Damage with Freedom’s Hand!
Meanwhile, Shalaxi Helbane put in three dominant performances in her group – including a victory over Skarbrand. When combined with her Monarch of the Hunt ability, which in an Arena of Death environment is nothing short of horrific, Shalaxi Helbane is a worthy inheritor of the top ranking.
The key takeaway from the group stages was that the most effective way to win depends on whether a contender is going first or second. As the rules of engagement state that the lower-ranked contender always takes the first turn, they have the opportunity to get a clean kill before their opponent gets to fight back.
This is, of course, far easier said than done. However, when you consider the comparatively low rankings of Khorne’s heavy hitters – Angron and Skarbrand – who may not have much of a ranged attack or any fancy psychic abilities at all, but can dish out a world of hurt in the Fight phase – even the mightiest scalps may be up for grabs in a single, murderously destructive round of combat.
It’s all about survival for the higher-ranked contenders, though even they don’t need to tank every hit. Often, all they need to do is hold out just long enough to fight back. Even if they’ve been reduced to just one wound remaining after their opponent has shot and fought, they can then respond in devastating kind – not only will they get to strike back, but it will then be their turn, so they’ll get to shoot and likely fight again before their opponent gets another go.
We’re keen to see who comes out on top too, so join us at WarhammerTV.com for the second episode of Battle Report – Arena of Death. If that’s not enough of a reason to become a Warhammer+ subscriber (and trust us, it is), we’re also giving away a whole pile of Warhammer action figures.
You can win over 25 figures from the Warhammer 40,000 range by McFarlane Toys – including replicas of the characters from Warhammer 40,000: Darktide – just by being a Warhammer+ subscriber by the 31st of January.* Better yet, the Darktide Traitor Guardsman will be signed by Todd McFarlane himself.It really is that simple – just sign up for Warhammer+ and you’ll be entered. Then you can watch a massive amount of animated shows, battle reports, painting guides, and more while you wait for the drawing. Like Arena of Death, in fact!
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