Griffon Hero builds.

[richiefuzz]

I am wanting two monsters in my High Elf army and one I have decided on the Flamespyre. The second I will be maki g a dragonmage and a griffon hero to alternate. I know these are not the optimal choice but I am looking to get some mileage out of the griffon hero.
I played against a DE list last night and had the following set up.
Starlance, enchanted shield, golden crown, dragon armour, griffon.
So he sat on a 2+ save and one 2+ ward and was designed to be quite hitty going in.
I found that the 3 attacks didnt really make the most of the starlance, I know against DE losing the ASF hurt him a lot but I would be looking to make a character to take in all games instead of tailored. As a result i wondered about either running him super cheap like charmed shield, golden crown and normal lance
Or
Adding more point to the unit and giving griffon ASF also.

I would be interested in hearing builds people have used to get the most out of him
Thanks

[Eirik]

You can add a greatweapon to that build and make it more viable after the first round. I prefer regular lance and potion of strength, keeping your shield always. If you go with greatweapon, use dragonhelm/heavy armor instead of enchanted shield and dragon armor. I like swiftsense, but it's really expensive so I could leave home without it.

Overall I think it's a great way to take advantage of hero points that aren't usually maxed out. A heavy, mobile threat generally comes in the form of a frost phoenix in our rare slot, but that's it unless you're taking a second (often frowned on) or a dragon (which generally means no level 4). Griffon requires neither of these compromises.

I don't base my lore choice much around the noble, since generally he's just support to the rest of my army, and the rest of my army defines lore choice. I suppose beast can work well for him because of the obvious character buffs, and the amber spear is great for taking out enemy flying character threats who can probably take our noble out pretty easily.

As for making him as cheap as possible?

A fully upgraded griffon with your loadout and a greatweapon clocks in around 320. 280ish without the upgrades, and you can save 10 points by using the potion/mundane lance over starlance/greatweapon and another 10 by dropping the crown (because it's not going to protect the griffon anyways).

Of course, you can save about 100 points by swapping the griffon with an eagle. If you do this, the benefits are multiple; the noble gets an additional wound AND point of toughness. The crown will now also benefit the noble's mount, and any other wardsaves he gets will do the same. You lose out on some damage output and a thunderstomp, but I don't like to throw a griffon noble into mass infantry anyways, since 2+ armor and T3 with 2w is just begging to be pulled down and stabbed. Of course, you could argue that this is no real loss if the griffon is still there and fighting without ceding his rider's victory points.

The eagle noble with lance/potion/armor/enchshld/goldenhelm costs closer to 170 and makes a much less tempting cannon target, so you might even drop the crown and swap it to dawnstone, bringing your total closer to 185 and granting some protection from high-volume shooting. This is best if you have other cannon targets in the army that your opponent will ignore your noble for.

One place a griffon might fit in is as a prince mount if you want to squeeze a L4 with book into the same 2500 list, though you can't take the full 100pt magic item allotment.

[Glorfindain]

I played a Noble with a lance, Golden Crown and Armour of Fortune on a fully upgraded Griffon against a friend's Dark Elf list and he performed BRILLIANTLY! I deployed him on the edge of my army and on turn 2 caught his outer-most Hyrda in the flank, killed it overran into the next, ground it down over 2 turns then charged into a Kharibdyss and killed it in a single turn. It may not be the most popular build/choice but I think it's very characterful for the High Elf army and does great against a lot of the monster/chariot heavy lists out there.

[endontoddy]

I make regular use of a Noble Griffon rider with Heavy Armour, Lance, Enchanted Shield and a Luckstone. For 240 points you get an excellent chaff clearer, who can later support your main combat units by charging engaged enemy units in the rear. Often the rider will get killed as the enemy directs all their rank n file attacks at him, but his ASF means he'll aready have got off his lance attacks and the griffon usually survives to thunderstomp.

[richiefuzz]

I make regular use of a Noble Griffon rider with Heavy Armour, Lance, Enchanted Shield and a Luckstone. For 240 points you get an excellent chaff clearer, who can later support your main combat units by charging engaged enemy units in the rear. Often the rider will get killed as the enemy directs all their rank n file attacks at him, but his ASF means he'll aready have got off his lance attacks and the griffon usually survives to thunderstomp.

I think I may try something like this next time to save some points. Think I maybe saw shiney Star Lance and did not really need it!
Thanks

[Jimmy]

Great ideas thanks for sharing.

[Ratvan]

I make regular use of a Noble Griffon rider with Heavy Armour, Lance, Enchanted Shield and a Luckstone. For 240 points you get an excellent chaff clearer, who can later support your main combat units by charging engaged enemy units in the rear. Often the rider will get killed as the enemy directs all their rank n file attacks at him, but his ASF means he'll aready have got off his lance attacks and the griffon usually survives to thunderstomp.

I've used similar but with Lion Cloak and Charmed Shield for a little more protection versus BS shooting plus a one off 2++

[Iamjack42]

I played against a DE list last night and had the following set up.
Starlance, enchanted shield, golden crown, dragon armour, griffon.

I use a similar build, but have had good luck substituting the Potion of Foolhardiness and the Luckstone for the Golden Crown. I haven't tried the build against a very cannon heavy list, but I find that it usually won't place highly enough on your opponents target priority list that its vulnerability is a huge issue. I tend to run an MMU list with a Phoenix, so my opponents are typically so worried about the Phoenix, Swordmasters, and White Lions that the Griffon doesn't get much attention. That said, you need to be careful against heavy shooting lists like Skink heavy Lizardmen and Dark Elves.

The 4 ASF S7 Attacks on the charge make the griffon a pretty effective cruise missile and the griffon plus thunderstomps is excellent as a combo-charge flanker against even large blocks. The Frostheart/Griffon combo is also excellent because the strength debuff means that the griffon/elf is much more survivable.

[Vonostermann]

Does the griffon have to die for the opponent to cash in the VP even if the noble dies? That would make the griffon great for me.

[aranoc]

Yes gryphon has to be dead as we as hero to get points for it in general unless playing with rules not out of rule book, some tournements will be different but you will know before hand.