Editing Hemlock Wraithfighter (section)

== On the Tabletop ==

In 8th edition, the Hemlock is arguably the best standard Flyer Craftworlders have access to. A Psyker, this jet can know and cast one of the Runes of Battle (strictly the debuff side though) or Smite a nearby enemy once a turn in addition to a denial of one of your opponent's powers. This is a relatively unique role that can throw off unsuspecting opponents and gives it a decent niche as a frontline support unit for your other forces assaulting enemies on the ground. This is compounded by the Hemlock's Dropshock Pods, which drop all enemy units' leadership scores by -2 within a foot of the thing. This stacks with Horrify quite nicely.

This Psychic flexibility may make the craft seem lacking offensively, though this isn't quite the case. Heavy [[D-Scythe]]s let your Hemlock open up 2D3 auto-hitting cans of S12 AP-4 2D [[rape]] on anything within 18" of it, letting it slaughter MEQ and TEQ targets wholesale with some good rolls. In many cases, this'll likely incur additional losses in enemy squads due to the aforementioned Dropshock Pods barring fearless auras or stratagem usage. The auto-hitting nature of the Heavy D-Scythes ironically makes the Hemlock a more effective anti-air vehicle than their [[Crimson Hunter]] kin, with the severe strength of the guns also serving as reliable anti-tank/monster firepower as well. Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of this infantry-favoring edition, having ''only'' 2D3 shots per turn (and a Smite if you elected to use it that turn) make the Hemlock ill-suited to ''directly'' dealing with Horde lists, though this can be mitigated somewhat if used as a component in leadership bombing runs (where it'll probably and hilariously cause more casualties from failed leadership tests than the kills themselves). Units like Shadow Spectres or Drukhari phantasm grenades can assist in capitalizing on this technique.