Necromantic Ghouls

Blood BowlNecromantic Ghoul
Necromantic Ghouls Overview:

Ghouls on a Necromantic team are identical players of their counterparts on the Undead team. The main difference between the two teams where they are concerned though is that Necromantic teams can only take half as many, being limited to only two Ghouls. With only two rather than four on a team their use will be less varied. They are still the same players with decent speed along with average strength and agility and low armour. They are still the only players without Regeneration and as such are still fairly big targets.

With this in mind I feel they are mostly suited as being the team’s main ball carriers. They start with Dodge so are fairly mobile and can get agility skills which will make them harder to pin down. As you want to try and protect them from getting hit anyway, the same applies to the player holding the ball. With that going hand in hand I would develop with that in mind and taking protection skills as part of that still keeps them useful on defence.

Necromantic Ghoul Flexible Ball Carrier:
  • Normal: Block / Sure Hands, Side Step, Tackle, Diving Tackle, Sure Feet / Jump Up
  • Doubles: Guard
  • Stat Increase: +ST +AG +MV

To start with either Block for protection and hitting ability, or Sure Hands if you find yourself short on rerolls a lot and like to use them for picking up. If you get one with Sure Hands first then I would take Block first on the other one and perhaps the same the other way around. After that Side Step lets you use them to mark players and also helps keep them from getting closed in by the opposing team. There aren’t many more skills to take for a ball carrier really so some defensive skills will come in helpful. If they are scoring for you a lot as well then the team as a whole may be lacking these. So Tackle will help against Dodge players and you will probably need some more on your team. Diving Tackle makes them great at marking and creating turnovers. Sure Feet can give them some extra range, helpful for both defence and offence. Jump Up also can offer some practical use on a developed player, especially if you go prone from Diving Tackle.

Doubles I would probably take Guard though there aren’t a lot of great choices. Having Guard doesn’t mean you should actively seek to be in tackle zones all the time. It helps your team mates blitz off players who are marking you as you can assist still even if there are two opponents there. Strength increase is fantastic and makes them harder to hit and also easier to blitz yourself free. Agility makes handling the ball and dodging away easier and extra movement can be very useful, though I would perhaps take a skill instead if it is the first couple of increases.

Necromantic Ghoul Summary:

With the team mates of a Necromantic Ghoul often built to do the blitzing, especially Werewolves. Being the ball carrier suits the Ghouls fairly well and lets them sit protected behind their team mates. Some other options you may consider are perhaps giving one Wrestle. Wights start with Block so you may not want to give it to them. Werewolves on the whole tend to get Block as well and are built to Blitz a lot. You might also perhaps consider taking Catch, though if they are picking the ball up it isn’t often you would be looking at them to catch a pass or hand off. Having the option could come in useful, but you may be more often handing it off to one of your other player types to try and get them more SPP instead.

Your Ghouls can develop fairly quickly and end up hogging a lot of your SPP. Be careful with this though as without Regeneration and not having an Apothecary it may not be long before you end up having to bury them.

13 thoughts on “Necromantic Ghouls”

  1. I think a second build is viable with Wrestle/Tackle, to act as a safety and take down opponent ball carriers/catchers. While it does leave you a bit weaker if your other Ball Carrier Ghoul gets removed, Wights and Werewolves can also move the ball well enough and nobody else on the team is likely to develop for the Wrestle-sacker role.
    Later skills would be Sure Hands to collect balls knocked loose, and Side Step and Shadowing to stick with anyone he’s marking.

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  2. I like Fend on ball carriers. Fend, combined with Block/Dodge/Side Step means you can often choose a destination square that is in no tackle zones.

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  3. Although lacking in block I would say sure hands is a most for your first ghouls lvl up. It will present you with more scorng oppertunies and extra ball safety when receiving the kick off that should then be followed up with dodge.

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    • Early on not many teams are going to have Strip Ball which makes Sure Hands less of an urgency. It also doesn’t protect your most targeted players from the opposition Blitzers who nearly all start with Block. Remember Ghouls are your lowest armoured players and don’t have Regeneration. They are also your most mobile players so you can get Block or Wrestle where it is needed most each turn as your Wights have less movement and don’t have Dodge. The last reason I don’t take it first is that if you get Sure Hands on one Ghoul there is a massive temptation to just use that one to be the ball carrier every time which can lead to them hogging the SPP. You have more opposing players with Block to worry about than you do Sure Hands…

      I’m not saying don’t take Sure Hands first, it can be a great help, but for my money I’d usually take Block.

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  4. How about taking av instead of ma on ghouls if one third level up or so, their av is lower than the rest of the team and they are heavily targeted

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    • I nearly always value a skill over an increase of armour and often also movement. Even with AV8 they still are going to get targeted and I don’t think it will make them live that much longer, while a skill perhaps could as well as having other uses. For example, taking Fend negates Piling On a lot of the time, the same with Frenzy players who will be targeting them and can also free them up to avoid having to dodge in your turn. Players die, I wouldn’t bother worrying about it that much and focus more on winning games where skills are going to be more beneficial.

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  5. As ball carriers, I like Sure Hands for Necro Ghouls a lot.

    It increases the chance of picking up the ball in an open square from 66% to 89%.
    It allows you to consider short term benefits (more consistent ball handling) and is also a plan for the long term (counter to Strip Ball).

    Anything that makes ball handling more consistent on a team that is challenged to handle the ball is very valuable.

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  6. myopinon is every player in blood bowl should have block, to me it’s a must especily agility players like ghouls, it brings some surivalbility to the charcters that is unless you like dead players and that only beneifits the undead, necro, khemari and nurgle

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  7. Whilst i see Guard being very useful on the utility Ghoul, on the pure ball handler i wonder that pass or perhaps accurate might be a good doubles choice? Of course you don’t want to pass the ball, but there are times that it is necessary (such as 2ttd). It also adds another dimension to your play that the opponent has to deal with.

    The other reason i lean away from Guard on the dedicated ball handler is that i dont like the idea of putting him in tackle zones, therefore its a skill that might not get much use on him.

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  8. I do agree that guard isn’t the best investment on a AV7 player, unless he has already Blodge and side-step. But that would be a star ghoul because it means he already made 3 skills because I want my blodge Ghouls have sure hands too and maybe even first KoR. So far I don’t see any double fitting his bill, unless Leader (TV 30k TRR instead of 70k does sound tempting to me) if you are willing to put him on in defensive drives.

    I do like to develop the second Ghoul as a wrackler, because he is the only positional who likes to have wrestle. A double on him would mean MiB in my book.

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  9. What about Juggernaut on a BC ghoul who rolls a double? It will make blitzing themselves away from sticky situations much more reliable.

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  10. Hi Coach,
    I’m in a league with 2 x Chaos Dwarfs, Khorn, Khemri and Skaven (rats are the only returning team, with Many skills.) after my 2nd game my first ghoul has his first power up and the second will surely happen soon…
    Is there ANY wisdom in taking wrestle over block as a fist skill, will that not be more useful against all the Block and Tackle i face – or at least be more annoying to the opposition?

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