The Autumn Bride
- The Gamebreakers
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
With the arrival of the Autumn Bride, a third Essence Weaver joins the ranks of the Bloodthorne and with her comes an entirely new way to wage war in Astira. This is the age of hordes: unending waves of Sporebound that drown the enemy beneath a tide of expendable servants.
Where others strike hard, the Autumn Bride's forces simply never stop coming.
The Autumn Bride on the Tabletop
Unlike the other Bloodthorne Essence Weavers - Morgath, the Elderwood Scourge, and Ilyanna, the Seed of Sorrow - the Autumn Bride doesn’t dominate the battlefield through raw personal power. Instead, she excels as a force-multiplier, amplifying every SPOREBOUND unit under her command.
She may not be fast herself, but her Leadership allows nearby Sporebound units to move in unexpected ways, reaching enemy lines far quicker than a shambling mass of rot and decay has any right to. What looks slow on paper suddenly becomes alarmingly aggressive on the table.
Arcane Pressure and Battlefield Control
Her active Essence ability, Unbound Sorrow, is one of the most flexible and dangerous arcane attacks in Shroudfall. This Beam attack becomes especially potent when combined with her passive ability Sporebound Sight, allowing it to strike from unexpected angles and spread the Poisoned condition across multiple enemy units.
That said, caution is key. While deadly at range, the Autumn Bride is fragile. Overexposing her can quickly turn momentum into disaster.
Power Through Devotion and Death
Beyond her offensive tools, the Autumn Bride provides exceptional support through her Essence abilities. Her reactive Essence ability Fear and Devotion significantly boosts the damage output of nearby Sporebound units - exactly what a horde army wants at the moment of impact.
And of course, no Essence Weaver devoted to endless hordes would be complete without a way to undo losses. Her passive ability Corpse Collector turns destruction into fuel. Every nearby fallen fighter, be it friend or foe, generates a Corpse token, which can be spent to enhance her own effectiveness or even return destroyed Sporebound models to the battlefield. Against the Autumn Bride, killing models is only half the battle.
Focus on Synergy: Vinehearts
A Bloodthorne army led by the Autumn Bride lives and dies by one key unit: The Vineheart.
First, Vinehearts dramatically extend the reach of the Autumn Bride’s Leadership, allowing her influence to cover far larger portions of the battlefield. More importantly, they grant the entire army access to the passive ability Heart of the Thorne. This deceptively simple rule gives all SPOREBOUND units +1 to damage rolls against enemies with an Infested token - a massive force multiplier when applied across dozens of attacks.
Vinehearts also excel at efficiently applying Infested tokens themselves, ensuring your horde hits at full strength. And with their active Essence ability Thornweave, they provide a reliable way to convert surplus Grey Essence into Yellow Essence, keeping your engine running smoothly.
It should be obvious by now: losing a Vineheart is more than just a setback, it can cripple an Autumn Bride army. Protect them well… or watch your horde wither away.
Autumn Bride Available Now
The Autumn Bride is now available in the Shroudfall Shop. Have fun breaking the game with her and a few of her Sporebound friends ;)
