Temple of Templates - Elite

 

Credit to Kanso_Wizard

Template

Elite - A simple but robust template that increases the efficacy of a chosen NPC's role by giving it more durability and action economy.

Added Complexity

Low

Threat 

High

Overview 

The Elite Template, along with the Veteran Template, is easily the most used and recognizable Template used in Lancer, and for good reason! It doesn't add a bunch of fancy new features or significantly alter the base idea of the NPC you're applying it to, and it's flexible enough to be applied with a myriad of other Templates to provide a whole lot of tactical fun. In theory it adds a bit more than twice the lethality to any NPC applied but can often result in it being much more threatening than that, especially when paired with certain features that really benefit from having multiple turns to use or Recharge. So, let's get into it!

The Elite Template only adds 3 features and one restriction, making it quite simple to work out. Double the Structure/Stress, double the Activations, a freebie feature from the NPC class you're applying it to, and can't be paired with Ultra or Grunt. But there's a few hidden mechanics that change as a result of these that aren't explicitly laid out. The restriction and free feature aren't where this lies, however, it's actually in the multiple Structure and Activations you got to keep in mind. First off, having more Stress than 1 means that a NPC becomes vulnerable to being Overheated just like a PC mech, except with only one additional Stress they can be quite a bit more vulnerable. No longer will your NPC simply become Exposed when pushed beyond its max Heat, it might very well explode if pushed too hard or Invaded too often. And with additional Activations per turn, Recharge rolls its d6 per turn the NPC gets which can lead to multiple uses of those abilities per round. That, and 1/round effects only refresh at the start of their first turn each round. Keep this in mind!

In practice, this means that Recharge abilities are more potent and having a weakness to Heat against dedicated Tech Attackers can actually result in Elites dying faster due to heat than they would normally as a regular NPC. Not always the case, but keep it in mind! The former issue is often more of a concern, as many abilities are balanced around being quite limited and having them be something that can be spammed with some good luck on your part might result in an unintended consequence occuring, like a Witch throwing out Petrify a bit too much or an Engineer using Power Deployer to carpet the area in turrets and fleeing before anyone can do anything about it. This isn't always the case and it's rarely going to ruin a combat, but it can and thus it's worth keeping an eye out.

Elites also pair well with a myriad of other Templates that adds additional functionality and customization to your roster. Need them to be even tankier? Veteran's there! Think your Commander needs more action economy? Here you go! Want your Elite to be a bit more Exotic? Well, then you already know what Template to match it with. What i'm getting at is that the Elite's simplicity lends itself well to giving any NPC some oomph when you need them to be. It will make that NPC more threatening, so maybe avoiding stacking too many Templates together.

Strikers

Strikers are an obvious choice for an Elite, giving them a further chance to provide their firepower while ensuring they'll last a turn or two longer than they otherwise might, even in a bad situation.

Ace - Beyond the basics of 'they're just better', you don't have much to worry about changing about an Ace's role as an elite. They're still just as nasty, and though their E-Def is a bit on the lower side they still have a decent Heat Cap to take Invades. They might get their Barrel Roll off more often, but that shouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. They'll definitely be hated, though!

Assassin - The Assassin lends itself well to naturally picking a target and ruthlessly going after them, their whole kit is really geared towards it. Elites double down on that, so if your Players can't deal with an Elite Assassin it can take back to back turns and really put out the hurt before anyone can do much to stop it after it's approached. If your pair them with Sap I would recommend a bit of a softball, it can feel pretty bad to just get blitzed by one of these guys without a chance to do much about it.

Assault - Ol' Reliable Assault here just keeps on doing what it's doing. Nothing to worry about here, and nothing overly changes about how they function. A fantastic choice, in other words.

Berserker - These guys become significantly more of a threat if your Party is used to throwing a single Invade to shut them down. With multiple turns to take it means that the Slow and Impaired from the Invade wears off unless you're continually reapplying it to them. I think this is fine, Berserkers can struggle to perform their role against a team that knows this trick and regularly applies to to a Berserker, but you might want to still be careful overwhelming them with too many Elite Berserkers without having tools to deal with their Resistance ability. Otherwise, the only Recharge ability they have is moreso useful for getting into trouble and is limited in having them focus down a threat so it's not a great concern in terms of it overwhelming a group with lucky Recharge rolls. But it will make them a lot more frantic and mobile!

Breacher - Elite Breachers teach the Party to deal with Status effects that provide Accuracy to enemies in a hurry. Nothing says 'Stabilize' quite like a Breacher threatening 4 shotgun blasts if you don't deal with it. Painmaker makes this especially the case, forcing the player to do something about their predicament or get allies to help them out of it before the Breacher takes its turn. Just keep in mind, once they use Painmaker they might forfeit a turn if their target doesn't have an activation on the current round. Otherwise, the Breacher is another great Striker choice for an Elite.

Cataphract - The true meaning of speed is a Cataphract with multiple turns to zip themselves across the map. With one of these on the board you really can't rely on the Cataphract not reaching you, because it almost certainly can clear the entire map in a single round. Other than that nothing changes for their game plan, they're just better at doing it and locking down isolated targets.

Engineer - Elite Engineers are scary if left alone on any defensive point for any length of time, especially with Power Deployer and some good Recharge rolls. Not only are they going to rapidly set up turrets to shoot at you faster than a standard Engineer but those turrets are going to shoot at you more often as the attacks trigger based on the amount of turns an Engineer gets. One of the few choices where being Elite is less of a doubling of power and more of a quadratic growth for however long you leave them on the map. As such, i'd only throw these at Players who already know what the Elite Template does and what Engineers do, so they understand how dangerous these guys are and treat them as such quickly.

Ronin - A good choice, with little to watch out for. Elite Ronins don't change much of what they do, with the only exception being Echo Edge going off far more often for free AP damage.

Scourer - A bit like the Engineer, though not nearly as dangerously, the Scourer does become more dangerous when they're allowed to operate as intended and focus down a specific target. While thankfully Focus Down only applies to enemies hit from the previous round and thus prevents a Scourer for double tapping someone in the same round initially, if they have been hit in the previous round then such a Double Tap also applies the Burn twice, which means you're potentially taking a whole hell of a lot of it. Otherwise the Scourer could also spread the love, especially if using Supercharged, becoming significantly more able to throw Statuses on the Party

Specter - These guys can rapidly rip apart a lone target once they find one, meaning that they are a bit more dangerous like an Assassin. Otherwise they don't have much you need to worry about getting too out of hand, so they're another fine option!

Avenger - Nothing changes much about the Avenger beyond it being more of a priority to take out before it gets to take Revenge on anyone. Two turns of a powered up Avenger? That's a paddlin'.

Lurker - Elite lets these guys get into position quicker and do their role better, but again nothing inherently changes much about how they perform for their or their danger level. They just work as intended, really.

Artillery

Artillery, being just long range Strikers in most circumstances, are also quite effective as Elites. However while many Strikers tend to have some natural durability, Artillery are more reliant on conditional durability or circumstances that means when that's no longer relevant they go down a lot quicker. But due to their range and high damage output, they can be much more effective than Strikers at hitting targets hard consistently. In short, they can swing much harder between kicking the Party's ass and getting their ass handed to them. It is something that will make and break most combats? Nah, probably not. Just be aware that a caught out Elite Artillery is going to bite it damn quick and one that can't be caught will be raining hell on the battlefield.

Bombard - Bombards make for excellent Elites for a few reasons and one of the big ones is their optionals. While their base kit isn't anything to scoff at, really punishing clumps of targets, several of their optionals compound with the two turns per round an Elite gets for wonderful but not overwhelming effects. High Impact Shells can make them annoying as it allows them to potentially kick back foes an entire move's worth of distance, Bunker Buster allows them to flatten a map (perhaps for other Artillery), Flare Drone can be deployed one turn and then utilized shortly thereafter, making it much easier to catch targets with it. However, they are very much very indicative of the aforementioned feast or famine situation, as a Bombard even with Elite is a squishy thing once their targets are directly assaulting them.

Operator - Operators are nimble little bastards that can be tough to catch as regular NPCs, Elites really turns that up a notch. Slight concern if you're against a slower or shorter ranged party, maybe don't throw Fortress on it to make it virtually immune to Tech Attacks if it's their only means of actually dealing with it. Otherwise, these guys are fun to use as Elites due to that same mobility. Constantly darting around the battlefield, never allowing the group to make themselves comfortable. Many of their optionals simply enhance these properties, or you can slap on the Nova Missiles so it focuses more on getting into position to threaten a nasty Barrage on their second turn in the round.

Rainmaker -Elite Rainmakers are masters of consistent pressure. Their weapon has the Reliable property, hits multiple targets, and is otherwise accurate to boot so it'll probably do more damage than just the minimal damage. They do struggle to make use of their Huntsman trait as consistently as they'd like without allies really dedicating themselves to Lock-On but their Javelin Rockets become much less predictable and able to bar opponent's path, though the action economy required for this does go up due to the last set going away every time the Rainmaker takes its next turn. However with several Recharge abilities, some good rolls with those Optionals can really increase their power. Maybe don't stack too many on multiple Elite Rainmakers in a fight.

Sniper -Snipers require a bit of finesse, to my mind. Normal counterplay to a Sniper is to react to who it's marking and taking actions whenever its gun is unloaded. That's all well and good, but if you're targeting Players who have already taken their turn and then immediately activating the Mark or other effects on one turn and then taking the shot on the immediate next it can feel a bit cheap. As such, you want to give your players a chance to react to what a Sniper does. As for Optionals there's nothing here that's particularly special or worrisome save for Moving Target, which compounds what might be a concern. Good, but be careful.

Strider -Rather than focusing on the mechanics of this guy being an Elite, I think mental load is more of a concern. With multiple kits, multiple turns to use those kits, and various effects constantly getting flung around these guys generate a lot of stuff to keep track of. By default, due to not having a Barrage by default and each kit being isolated from the others, I don't think there's anything to worry about. Their perform whatever role you've set them up for but better. Just keep in mind they're going to be able to Swap to different loadouts twice as often, with all the effects you might have given them and that they already have.

Supports

Supports can be... a bit weird as Elites. Some of them are much better to perform their role with multiple turns, and others are more reactive and don't get a significant increase in battlefield presence without certain conditions being met. Still those that do benefit from being Elite are interesting additions without increasing the direct damage output of an encounter.

Aegis -The Aegis trying to perform its stated role as an Elite is a bit... ehhhh. They're wanting to sit somewhere and provide a bubble of protection for everyone else to hide beyond. Being Elite does mean they can position themselves more aggressively, but I think there's another option. Their attack kinda hurts, and mixed with Optionals like Guardian, Hardlight Cover and the Blackwall can maintain their defensive oriented role in the group while being significantly more offensive and direct, allowing them to set up their Defense Net once they're in a position of heavy fighting or once they've set up their Cover or Hardwall to direct opponents towards an artificial chokepoint.

Mirage - I once ran an encounter with two Mirages on the battlemap. It was awful. Not because it wasn't effective, but because the mental overhead really ground me to a halt as Players did things I was constantly reacting to. An Elite Mirage is sorta like two Mirages but kept more manageable because all of the Reactions and 1/Round effects are only tracked on a single NPC. Still, your group will come to hate these things. Mirages are great at utilizing the extra turns they get from being an Elite, and this can make them both a monster in protecting their team as well as potentially pushing their team's aggressiveness with typically slow mechs with their abilities to rapidly reposition, now doubled.

Priest -I'm a bit iffy with Priest Elites. They tend to be a bit more reactive than you'd like something taking multiple turns, but the chance to recharge their abilities and ability to throw out more Tech Attacks is pretty decent. But their core thing, Investiture, doesn't really get improved by their Elite-ness. It does allow them to remain more consistent in staying nearby their target or resetting it if their ally moves or is moved out of range, but if they're happy where they are then it's a bit moot. And many of their Optionals don't really get enhanced by multiple turns. The standouts are Sanctuary and Fractal Assault. Sanctuary really pushes the Priest into being much nastier in denying the Party's strikers from hitting priority targets and can be applied a lot more often. And Fractal Assault can potentially get to be a bit too good, allowing multiple chances for Stunned to trigger in a combat. As always, i'm very careful with Stuns because they're a massively dangerous tool.

Scout - More Lock-On is always fun, but the Scout doesn't get much out of being an Elite. Many of their abilities don't improve or are even worsened by having multiple turns around, like Cloaking Field or Spotter. The Scout spends its turns setting up allies. Unless this isn't going to be reliable for some reason, I don't see Elite adding much.

Support - Unsurprisingly the Support NPC is representative of my general thoughts on the Support role. Not a good choice, too passive and reactive. Unless your group puts out so much conditions that the Optionals that remove those conditions really need to happen twice a turn, the Support is either waiting around for Recharges as an Elite or doing nothing beyond basic actions like Invade/Lock-On.

Leech - In this instance the Leech probably wants to lean harder into being a Controller than a Support, though it still does decently as a Support. It's just that more of its toolset appreciates having Hostile targets to throw nasty abilities on over and over, and with the extra turn might even wish to Stabilize to ensure they don't melt themselves down. A proper bully Controller once it gets its hands on someone.

Defenders

Unlike with the Grunt template, pretty much all the Defenders work quite well as an Elite as long as they aren't horribly out of position. If caught out of position many of them lack the range or speed to influence the battle, so when using an Elite Defender make sure that they aren't going to be easily ignored otherwise a significant portion of your battle's budget for NPCs is going to be spending most of combat struggling to be useful. When put in that position though, oh boy.

Bastion - Poor Bastion. Forget what I said about Defenders in general, the Bastion is probably the weakest of the Defenders for applying the Elite template. Bastions are naturally very passive in their usefulness on the battlemap, so giving them more turns to be passive isn't a winning combination. Potentially fun if you're using them as a grappler, I guess. And more turns means it's easier to keep Friendly Interdiction applied to more mobile allies.

Demolisher - One of the Demolishers biggest struggles is that in order for it to pull off its most dangerous abilities enemies need to stay quite close to it, so giving it two turns to either position itself then smack the target or two rounds to really lay into a target does make for some potentially terrifying effectiveness. Still, they're slow as hell and get slower when they need to tank damage so don't be thinking that Elite makes them able to sprint across the field to hit things with their big hammer.

Goliath -At lower LLs an Elite Goliath is a massive, massive damage soak that they might not be able to reasonably kill. Along with the extra turns to potentially recharge Crush Targetting, this can make them quite oppressive as they prevent the party's damage from doing what it needs to against targets they can effective take down. Otherwise, however, I think the Goliath is a fantastic choice for an Elite, just be careful against groups that might not be able to chew through all of its health especially if it's sitting on an objective they need to move from under it.

Pyro - Burn, baby Burn. More seriously, the Pyro is a decent Elite but its Optionals don't get any particular bonus due to the Pyro getting multiple turns. Except Explosive Jet, which can result in some large boosts of speed when the Pyro needs to. It's not reliable enough to shove them into a Striker position due to their otherwise short range and low speed, but they'll use hellfire to punish anyone who sticks around them for any length of time.

Sentinel -The Sentinel is reliant on Reactions to perform its role, so getting more active turns doesn't help with that. Still, they have some Optionals that pair nicely with them getting more opportunities to use them and

Spite - The Spite is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it plays a bit like a reaction based NPC in that it does its thing and then wants to wait around as the effects of what it uses end during its next turn. So on that front, extra turns isn't really helpful. On the other, It has some very dangerous and very useful Recharge abilities that would love to be thrown out more often. And a few of its abilities are, in certain cases, very dangerous if the Spite can reapply them on allies or enemies. So the Spite depends a lot on which optionals you're bringing along and how you're using it. If used 'correctly', though, I think it's potentially on par with the Witch in mobility based sitreps in how dangerous and oppressive it could be. Use with care, and with a plan. But a good choice!

Controllers

Controllers are, much like Strikers, fantastic choices for becoming Elite as many of their abilities are made much more dangerous. Just be careful of dangerous recharging abilities, as always with some good luck those abilities can become overly oppressive. Besides that, it not only makes targets that are often priority targets to begin with harder to kill but also ensures that they get more rounds to do their nasty plans when the extra durability Elite provides doesn't mean that's regularly occurs. Damned scary, I like it!

Archer - Unlike many reaction focused frames I've covered, the Archer often needs to 'reestablish' their abilities on targets to operate as a Controller. This means that they enjoy following up their target's turn of getting punished for moving or making plays with their extra turn, simply choosing a new target that has yet to go or bullying someone they've already got in their grasp. Just try not to load up on too many 1/round Optionals, otherwise the Archer might not operate as Elite as it should.

Barricade - God forbid an Elite Barricade shows up on a map that's mostly tunnels, because merely getting to them to deal with them will be a challenge. Extremely vicious in terms of slowing enemies to a crawl by default, pair that with multiple chances to Recharge many of their abilities that they'd love to use to slow you down some more. At higher Tiers, that Graviton Lance will basically ensure the party is permanently Slowed. Sounds horrible. Which means that it's doing it's job perfectly! Great Elite.

Hive - The more turns a Hive has the more your group will hate you for deploying it. Elite doubles it, so it doubles the hate. Which means it's a great choice! Actual review, though? Pretty much ever ability, with the exception of Driving Swarm, benefits from the Hive making active use on it with its doubled up turns. It's also double tanky, meaning getting to deal with this surprisingly durable and nimble Controller will be a nightmare, especially when it uses its turn to yeet you into a Razor Swarm or immobilize you so it can run away. Awful. Love it.

Hornet - To quote my Grunt Template 'Absolute Bastards'. Shockingly, giving them more turns to be bastards means they're even better at it than before. You do need to be a bit more careful about reaction fire as their defensive trait regarding that counts strictly the first attack within the round, but Elite gives them more time and ability to get up close and be a damned nuisance to anyone and everyone while remaining quite difficult to deal with as they Impair vital targets and cause lock-down effects and other problems.

Seeder - Another good Controller, its mines are 1/Turn so more turns means more mines! Not much else to say, so much of the Seeder's kit is determined by its mines so if that goes well then everything else is gravy. The extra durability can mean more aggressive use of Grav and Det spikes when enemies get close, but really you just want to saturate the ground in mines.

Witch - In my experience the Witch has some of the scariest Recharge abilities in the game, and so Elite Witches can surprise you with how vicious they are. Be careful. Petrify is especially punitive on missions that demand the group move quick, all but ensuring for the next three rounds someone is dead in the water. If that has a chance to get multiple Recharges off, the pace of the entire game may be Petrified. Just be careful, but otherwise Witches are a fantastic choice.

Special Classes

Humans - Why did I even include these guys? They can't even get Templates. They won't be added going forward unless I think there's a good reason to break the rule. For Elite? Eh, not so much.

Squad - Elite is one of the 'basic' Templates that can be applied, but there's not a great deal of reason to most of the time. I'd mostly do it for flavor reasons, because they don't get any extra Structure due to the rules of being a Squad. It could be a good addition for a Striker you want to just be a relatively sticky damage dealer or if you just don't want to deploy multiple Squads but still have their damage output.

Monstrosity - Monstrosities are basically Strikers, so I'd budget them as such. With that in mind, they're fantastic Elites due to getting to use their own unique Structure table! Most Monstrosity abilities are Passive or Recharge so they're just an okay Elite. Nothing to worry about but nothing particularly special, either. Still, good choice and potentially quite cinematic.

Narrative

Elites are such an easy thing to justify. Big Beasties, Elite Pilots, Advanced Hardware... sky's the limit as to why the opponents are nasty and better. Full complements of Elites with Veterans are a good challenge to keep the individual mech count low, representing truly elite forces just a step below a Lancer. I struggle to find narrative I couldn't use them in, so I don't think you'll have any issues either!

They're also fantastic as named NPCs, either villains or allies that are temporarily joining the party. Not only does it mechanically make them more special and less likely to just get demolished, but it also makes them more dangerous. A good obvious narrative tie in to the mechanics, always nice!

Other Considerations  

The Elite Template is a fantastic and versatile Template that along with Veteran make up what I would consider the most useful and general Templates. While others often have built in flavor (that you can reflavor, if you want!) these two are easy to apply in virtually every situation, and often add quite a bit. Try pairing them together, for someone who's just that much more dangerous without being an Ultra! Just be a bit more cautious with Recharge abilities, make sure you remember that 1/round abilities only recharge on the Elite's first turn, and have fun!

Final Thoughts

I love using Elites, they're always fun to deploy and consider. That said I have had some fall flat with rolling a 1 on their first structure, so maybe don't count on Elite alone ensuring your big scary NPC remains that way. Expect these guys to die, and quickly, because with the right teamwork your party will make it happen.