one faction under Kroyle
with lone op and re-rolls for all
last Friday GW released the datasheet for Inquisitor Kroyle, an Ordo Xenos character that will probably appear in every Agents list at least until we get a new codex. what makes him invaluable is his On My Signal, Fire! ability, which grants full hit re-rolls to all friendly Agents models (and Imperium Battleline Infantry models) until the end of the Shooting Phase, against an enemy unit hit at least once by an attack of Kroyle’s.
Kroyle’s value stems from Agents’ severe lack of army-wide buffs; only in Imperialis Fleet do you get an offensive ability with comparable impact (Eliminate At All Costs). so players can either use Kroyle to get even more value out of Fleet, or shore up the lackluster shooting of our other detachments. but regardless of the detachment(s) you choose, which Agents units benefit the most (or least) from our new overlord?
biggest winners
most of these Kroyle stans love to shoot stuff, and often have Lethal or Sustained Hits:
the Culexus Assassin’s number of shots goes up from three to six when shooting at a Psyker unit, and in Veiled Blade you can use the Will-Sapping Salvo stratagem to give his shots Damage 3 and Sustained Hits 1. with full re-rolls from Kroyle, this guy is more than happy to fish for 6’s to hit.
speaking of fishing, Inquisitor Draxus probably benefits more from Kroyle’s buff than any other unit given her six Sustained Hits 2 attacks from Psychic Tempest (plus her potent Dirgesinger). GW should feel embarrassed for making the Kroyle-Draxus duo such an obvious auto-include, but we’ll take what we can get.
the humble Navigator’s Gaze Into The Empyrean ability prevents enemy Reinforcements from setting up within 12”, offering great protection for Lone Operatives like Kroyle. note that 11e is making such defenses even more crucial, since “ingress” (i.e., reserve) units will be able to show up just outside of 8” rather than 9”.
the Rogue Trader Entourage doesn’t innately benefit from Kroyle more than other units, but they’re worth mentioning here because the powerful Imperialis Fleet detachment gives their unit access to the Violent Acquisition stratagem for Sustained Hits 1 (and Ignores Cover)—which players often use for free via the Fleetmaster enhancement. pair this unit with Breachers and target something on an objective that’s been marked by Kroyle, and their output jumps considerably. (Kroyle also makes Voidsmen-at-Arms a more decent Bodyguard for the RTE thanks to their innate Lethal Hits when shooting at the closest enemy unit.) note, however, that in 11 you won’t be able to stack Violent Acquisition with Close-Quarters Barrage since they’re capping stratagem use to one per unit per phase.
despite innately being able to re-roll hit rolls of 1 (and all hits against non-Imperium/-Chaos targets), the Aquila Kill Team loves Kroyle’s buff because they can take so many weapons with Lethal Hits. in a 10-man you can have two hellstorm bolt rifles (or two infernus heavy bolters if you prefer Sustained Hits 1), two stalker bolt rifles, and two deathwatch marksman bolt carbines (though its hard to recommend the latter since they’re 1- instead of 2-damage).
the Deathwatch Kill Team benefits less from Kroyle than the Aquilas, but still has plenty of shooting attacks that enjoy it: frag cannons and infernus heavy bolters both have a needy BS of 4+, and the latter have Sustained Hits 1.
Kroyle makes heavy bolters a much more interesting choice for Inquisitorial Chimeras, doubly so if you fill it with another two heavy bolters wielded by Inquisitorial Agents. that’s 12 shots all with Sustained Hits 1—yes please!
the Sisters of Battle Immolator lacks Firing Deck but has better quality guns that still love hit re-rolls; i expect to see at least three of these in many Agents lists (perhaps more if transports end up getting an exception to the rule of three in 11e).
Corvus Blackstars get a huge upgrade from Kroyle and become especially scary in Ordo Xenos Alien Hunters, whose detachment ability grants Lethal Hits, Sustained Hits 1, or Precision to all of your Deathwatch units once per game. you can also continue giving one of these rules to a Deathwatch unit each turn via the Adaptive Tactics stratagem. i think most of us would hate to see the return of Aircraft spam, and GW would be wise to disallow Kroyle from buffing them.
Exaction Squads enjoy Lethal Hits and Precision against an enemy unit chosen at the start of the battle, which was underwhelming before Kroyle due to their 4+ BS. now they’re legitimately interesting, and their ability to resurrect d3 models at the start of the Command Phase is icing on the cake.
Inquisitorial Agents are huge winners, primarily when packaged with Chimeras as mentioned above. before Kroyle, the only ways to give this unit re-rolls were with the Ordo Malleus detachment (for hit rolls of 1) or in Veiled Blade via the Prime Target strategem (for wound rolls of 1); Ordo Malleus continues to provide some unique value since its re-rolls also apply during the Fight Phase, but we should expect to see this unit more often in Agents lists of all kinds.
Sisters of Battle Squads gain a lot of efficiency from Kroyle, including the freedom to save their free Command Re-roll (via the Incensor Cherub ability) for a wound roll instead of a hit roll. although Immolators lack the Firing Deck ability, 11e will make it possible for a multi-melta sister to arrive from reserve and disembark 8.1” away from a juicy target.
Imperial Rhinos and their occupants love Kroyle, since he makes their Firing Deck attacks (likely from multi-meltas or frag cannons) much more reliable.
biggest losers
consider skipping units that neither benefit much from re-rolls in the Shooting Phase, nor outperform other options:
maybe Grey Knights Terminator Squads would care more about Kroyle’s buff if we could take them as 10- instead of 5-mans, but re-rolling to hit with a few storm bolters and maybe one psycannon is hardly a reason to take more of them. in fact, these termies lose simply because they prevent you from including more of the aforementioned winners. hopefully they get some love with new 11e detachments, and/or a well-deserved drop in points.
same as it ever was
whatever value the following units brought remains relatively unchanged by Kroyle:
the Callidus Assassin doesn’t roll to hit in the shooting phase, but is still great for scoring secondaries and placing a tax on your opponent’s Command Points.
technically Kroyle helps the Eversor Assassin pop off in the Shooting Phase since his executioner pistol has four shots with Sustained Hits 3, but i’m listing him here because so few enemy units actually care about its 4/0/1 profile. it does have Precision and Anti-infantry 3+, which makes it a legitimate threat against Aeldari/Drukhari and Astra Militarum characters (even if an Ogryn Bodyguard is amplifying the latter’s Toughness characteristics), but this feels more like a bonus than a reason to consider taking an Eversor in the first place.
normal Inquisitors only roll to hit with their combi-weapon, so Kroyle seems like more of a buff to the Breachers that would accompany an Inquisitor than a buff to the Inquisitor themself.
Inquisitor Coteaz has d6 shots with the Anti-Daemon 4+, Anti-Infantry 5+, and Devastating Wounds abilities, but the real reasons you take him have nothing to do with shooting—these include generating Command Points (via his Spy Network ability), removing cover from a unit within 18” (via his Glovodan Psyber-eagle ability), or hitting stuff with his 9/-3/3 nemesis daemon hammer.
Inquisitor Greyfax has a small number of high-quality shots (all with Precision, Dev Wounds, and either Anti-Character 4+ or Anti-Psyker 2+) and it hurts pretty bad when you miss with even one or two of them; Kroyle provides a nice safety net, but this likely isn’t enough for non-Hereticus lists to consider including her.
everybody knows what it’s like for their Vindicare Assassin to waste 1 CP on the Command Re-roll stratagem, and Kroyle will be our new source of that disappointment. the Vindicare is still worth considering if you need to ignore the Lone Operative ability, though Kroyle will likely be too distant to help him hit those.
Watch Master Artemis doesn’t care about Kroyle at all since he doesn’t roll to hit during the Shooting Phase, but he’s still great for starting a trading war on the center objective.
Watch Masters have a couple of small ranged attacks, but the real reason you take them is for the freedom to shoot and charge after Falling Back or Advancing.
regardless of Kroyle, Imperial Navy Breachers’ ability to re-roll all wound rolls against targets on objectives (and otherwise wound rolls of 1) continues to make them an important Bodyguard unit for Draxus and regular Inquisitors. they’re also worth considering as a bodyguard for Greyfax in Ordo Hereticus lists.
Kroyle helps Vigilant Squads a bit, but i’m not sure why you’d take one over an Exaction Squad.
Sanctifier Squads only have a few shooting attacks that roll to hit (and even fewer are meaningful), so Kroyle doesn’t change the reasons you take them: lots of flamers and the Scouts 6” ability.
similarly, Subductor Squads’ only ranged weapons are pistols—you take these for their resilience, not their shooting.
Voidsmen-at-Arms have been mostly a filler unit, 50 points of trash used to screen, escort a Navigator, and/or grab an objective; but Kroyle synergizes well with their innate Lethal Hits when shooting the nearest eligible target. this probably isn’t a reason to choose Voidsmen over Inquisitorial Agents or Sisters if you have points to spare, but it’s nice that they’re measurably less trash than before.
a foregone conclusion
whether you’re planning to buy Kroyle or convert a counts-as model for him, you’d have to be very brave to pass up this game-changing character. fingers crossed that our 11e codex will give us an army rule that makes him a little less necessary.