Retribution/Farseer/Strategy

Stats • Leveling • Weapons • Abilities • Upgrades • Strategy

Note that this is written for patch 3.19.1 balance (which is probably final, however).

Overview

Most importantly, the Farseer is a support hero. Whereas the Warlock can be effective mostly by just attacking the enemy, unlocking the Farseer's full power requires using her many abilities to buff allied units and debuff hostile units.

Combat-wise, the Farseer is a full melee unit with no ranged options (her pistol does practically 0 damage, and the destructor attacks, only worth a bolt pistol, cannot fire while moving). The default witchblade will only kill cheap models, making her a disruption hero initially, but the upgrades will put on some hurt. Especially the Singing Spear is very dangerous, since it's an anti-vehicle weapon and the Seer is quite fast (try to outrun one with a low-HP walker).

Guide

The Farseer's starting ability, Guide is simple and so powerful. It boosts the range and damage of a single unit by 30% for 10 seconds. It helps with everything; in the first battles your Guardians outrange and outdamage anything, Banshees can do insane damage, or if there is nobody else, use it on the Farseer. Later, it will give suppression teams and anti-vehicle teams ridiculous range that will often catch the enemy off guard.

Wraithsight

The game doesn't really make this clear, but the Farseer has the same Wraithsight ability as the Wraithguard squad leader Warlocks, making WG move faster when near the Seer. Combined with Guide, which will grant WG a respectable range, the synergy is quite good.

Weapons

Doombringer

A good weapon that grants about 65% increased melee damage and an ability that makes a single unit take 40% extra damage for a while. This is an excellent T1 weapon, although there is no power melee damage. Has a synergy with Guide ability. When you see a big target hard to kill, first use guide on the unit which you will use to counter it. After that, use Doom on the target. It will go down much easier.

Singing Spear

A straight-up melee upgrade that does surprisingly high damage to vehicles and is harder to avoid than other heavy melee sources. Does not grant an ability, but does not drain energy either. Note that the power cost is quite high and will slow down other purchases.

Gravity Blade

It sounds like an iOS game, but it's a weapon. This does about 85% more damage than the default witchblade and grants an ability that first floats and then disrupts enemies surrounding the Farseer, letting you get some free shots on them. It is basically a melee counter especially devastating to a blob of light melee infantry. The cost is significantly higher than Doombringer's.

Armors

Armor of Fortune

A good armor that makes the Seer more tanky. The Fortune ability grants 30% damage resistance, which is often used on Banshees. The upgrade is pretty cheap as well.

Rune Armor

Increases maximum energy and energy regeneration, so this wargear is useful when you have lots of abilities to spam (say Doom and Mind War in addition to Guide and Fleet of Foot). Shouldn't be necessary if you got Singing Spear. You may like to change it wwhen you reach high levels like 7 or 8.

Armor of Asuryan

Very expensive but grants one of the most powerful abilities there is. Time Field will slow down enemy units, allowing you to close in or position your ranged units better, or try to get them with a nuke or such, but it also stops them from using weapons or abilities. This can completely turn a battle around when played correctly. The cost of the armor is massive, however.

Accessorys

Spirit Stones

An easy upgrade that allows you to heal surrounding units. Best synergy with Banshees (or Seer Council). The ability requires 80, though, so you need to preserve energy. The bonus XP from reviving heroes can boost veterancy in team games (assuming your allies keep dying in places you can reach).

Ghosthelm

One of the best accessories, this grants an ability that damages and suppresses a single model. Great for locking down dangerous heroes or squad leaders (may also snipe squad leaders when targeted correctly).

Runes of Reaping

Drain energy from an enemy unit when in melee. Theoretically useful against units that rely on energy (heroes, Assault Marines, Bloodletters) but seems a bit lackluster compared to Spirit Stones and Ghosthelm.

Globals

Webway Gate

The Seer's Webway Gates infiltrate once fully built, and they can infiltrate and speed up your units as well. They are easily the best Gates, surpassing the Warlock/WSE versions handsomely. Place a gate in some semi-remote area to set up a flanking maneuver or a generator bash. The other use is to employ a gate as a "staging area" between your HQ and the battlefield, gathering units near the gate then moving out under the cloak/speed buff to catch the opponent off guard.

Farsight

This is a simple scouting global that lifts the FoW and reveals infiltrated units. It can be used to check out the opponent's HQ or defensive positions, to reveal cloaked units when you're in a pinch and lack a detector unit, or give sight to your weapon platforms for that one extra shot to kill a retreating tank. Using it and not wasting the Psychic Might needs some experience and luck.

Summon Autarch

Calls in an Autarch sub-commander, who lands with 4 multi-targetable grenades. The Autarch is a quick and powerful unit that helps greatly with map control and can deal high power melee damage, as well as get an anti-vehicle ranged weapon come T3. It can jump to counter heavy weapon squads and disrupt other units. See Autarch/Strategy for more details.

The call-in global allows you to place 4 plasma grenades that do weapon knockback and up to 180 (on a perfect hit) grenade damage each. The call-in is easiest to use on a setup weapon team or a garrisoned squad, which must react instantly to survive the drop. It is also possible to place on a retreat path (requires some experience and luck) or combined with any form of snare or knockback.

The Autarch can be removed from the field and recalled for 150 (no Requisition or Power cost) to repeat the call-in with grenades, which is a good way to spend excess Psychic Might; however, any purchased upgrades will be lost.

Summon Seer Council

The Seer Council is an exclusive unit only available to the Farseer. It is an excellent power melee squad – essentially a disruption and heavy infantry hunter unit – that is very good, but competes for late-game resources with the Avatar and other T3 purchases. See Seer Council/Strategy for more details.

Eldritch Storm

This global "nuke" ability is one of the worst, probably only losing to Orbital Bombardment. It has a high damage potential against any sort of infantry blob, but it is very unreliable, sometimes killing nothing at all and just wasting the 500 even if it was placed reasonably. The special feature of Eldritch is that it will disable any vehicles it hits for 10 seconds, making it a viable (if expensive) option to finish off a valuable vehicle before it can escape. Probably worth the cost if it helps take down a Baneblade or Land Raider.