Ever since I started playing Warhammer Underworlds back in 2020, the only definition of aggro that I found wasn’t even a specific one: I made it based off of different pieces from content creators about this game. So today, I decided create a guide to aggro and the many ways one can play it for both new and old players! I hope you enjoy!
Aggro Charecteristics
The best way I think about ‘aggro’ is it is similar to ‘aggressive’. That is literally what aggro is, an aggressive play style. When I hear the word ‘aggro’, I tend to associate it with killing as many enemies as possible, but I searched around the Underworlds community and found several examples of other things that can be classified as aggro.
Aggro typically doesn’t have a high glory ceiling but is extremely effective at preventing enemies from scoring their glory, yielding glory via denial. It’s really fun and usually easy to play, just run in and roll some dice, however it can go really wrong for you with some bad rolls. The different styles of aggro can help mitigate this threat but be warned: playing aggro is usually risky but can yield high rewards!
Aggro Types
Here are some different types of aggro that I have found in the Underworlds community, I will highlight the 3 main ones. I hope this helps with deciding a playstyle that works best for you!
Sidenote: I am writing this in regards to Championship format, but generally the playstyle definitions should be the same across Nemesis as well.
Kill Aggro:
Definition: Exactly what it sounds like, stay on the battlefield and kill as many things as possible! Just charge, roll, and hope for the best.
This is the aggro playstyle which I associate with ‘aggro’ the most, and its potential for denial is what yields most of its glory. While typically having somewhere between 12-15 glory total, killing enemies prevents them from scoring a lot of their stuff, letting you gain more glory in total.
Thematic Cards:
This card just needs you to get in and kill. While you do need to ‘prevent’ your opponents from standing on objectives, they can’t be there if there is none left, right?
Mighty Swing lets you maximize your killing power at little to no cost. Scything lets you mow down multiple fighters at once, helping with your glory count.
Great Strength is the most popular in the game right now, according to underworlds.db. It is pretty easy to see why, letting you clear enemies more efficiently.
Thematic Warbands:
Gnarlspirit Pack is definitely the most Kill Aggro warband around, having access to cards such as Oath of Slaughter (kill 2 enemies or 1 large enemy) and Trophy of Strength (faction Great Strength), they are beasts at killing.
Rippa’s Snarlfangs are also really good at kill aggro, with cards such as Vindictive Attack (+2 attack dice) and No Mercy (successfully attack a wounded enemy). They also have some insane base characteristics, and all of them can pull off a base 3-4 damage attack if they get lucky. Their biggest strength is the potential for 2 attacks per activation.
Invasion Aggro:
Defintion: This aggro playstyle focuses on invading enemy territory (big surprise). While slightly less effective at denial as kill aggro, this style is less reliant on luck to hit your attacks. However, it is more position based than kill aggro and therefore typically has a higher skill ceiling.
This is kind of like kill aggro, just less based on actually killing. Think kill aggro, but not necessarily hitting the attacks. Just get into enemy terriotry and cause mayhem there.
Thematic Cards:
Hurricane Force is the classic invasion card, being scored for a whole 3 glory. It doesn’t need you to kill anything, just get in enemy territory and don’t let them get to you!
Keep the Forest at Bay lets you push closer to an enemy fighter in enemy territory. This lets you to get closer to enemies and into their territory at once!
A nice accuracy upgrade, but it’s limited to fighters only in enemy/no-one’s territory. This gives invasive aggro a huge accuracy boost, letting them be more aggressive more efficiently.
Thematic Warbands:
The Exiled Dead are a great choice for invasive aggro. While they typically won’t take Tooth & Claw (which is usually a good plot pairing for invasion aggro), they have access to their own cards like Meat Locker and Beastbound Assault cards like Packmasters. They can also move all at once, allowing for a quicker entrance than most warbands.
The Crimson Court is another really good invasive aggro choice. With cards like Preternatural Speed (all friendlies in enemy territory), and very good synergy with Tooth and Claw, as well as base 4 move, these vampires are experts at invasion.
Hold-Aggro:
Definition: While this can be considered a sub-type of invasion aggro, this is a more flex-oriented playstyle. This playstyle requires you to hold objectives/feature tokens, but at the same time attack and disrupt opponents. This can be done by holding in enemy territory or even just counterpunching in your own.
This playstyle typically has more glory gain than the other 2 but is also much more prone to disruption. It is also much easier to pull off for some warbands than others, for reasons like pushes or special fighter abilities.
Thematic Cards:
Fearless Seekers will rotate soon, but is currently a really nice card for Hold Aggro. This rewards you for standing in enemy territory while holding tokens and is worth 2 glory!
While affecting enemies as well, Zone of Control keeps your fighters alive for longer. As you will be standing on tokens a lot, this card is very helpful for this style.
Guided by Fate gives your fighter +1 dice while they or their target is on a feature token. This lets you more efficiently kill/disrupt enemies while doing what you need to.
Thematic Warbands:
Elathain’s Soulraid are defintiely one of if not the best warband for this style. They have access to the Spinefin, letting them easily be able to have access to one token at all times. They can also move and then charge in rounds 1 and 3, and in round 2 they have movement 5. With some fantastic ranged attacks from Tammael, they don’t even have to leave the tokens to kill anyone!
Drepur’s Wraithcreepers are also a really good warband for this playstyle. They can push themselves toward tokens after any opponent’s power step and synergize well with Fearsome Fortress, controlling no-ones territory. With some fantastic Range 2 attacks being able to reach places and 2 dodge making them hard to hit, these guys will definitely have a good time pulling this play style off.
And that’s it! While aggro is a big thing to write about, as aggro is known and played by a lot of people, I feel that this article shouldn’t really be trying to change your position on it, the point of this was to inform new and old players alike on the different ways one can play aggro, something that seems super one-directional at first. That being said, if you have any feedback or disagree with something said here, please let me on Discord (VintroV2) or on Twitter, I am ready to improve this in any way
possible :). Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again soon!
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