Exorcist Priority

[melvinmcsnatch]

Hello all. I'm an inexperienced player, and I'm glad to find this site. My question for all of you extremely hip individuals is which units in which armies are you targetting first with your exorcists? Second?

 

My limited experience is against Tau and Orks.

 

In my first game, I tried to take 2 hammerheads out of play with no luck. Railguns reduced my Exorcists to rubble by the end of the first turn.

My second game, I stopped a few ork trukks cold and rained death upon Nobz and such.

 

So share you experience and tactics, if you'd please.

[Judanas]

I generally focus on anything expencive that I can hopefully blast out of existiance. Long range anti-tank is the top priority, it it's dead, the Exorcists are safe and can continue firing in later turns.

 

The exception to that is if the long range anti-tank is armour 14. That...is an issue. I'll blast that if there isn't a more tempting target but it's too tough to garentee a good hit.

 

I generally focus on anything expencive that I can hopefully blast out of existiance. Long range anti-tank is the top priority, it it's dead, the Exorcists are safe and can continue firing in later turns.

 

The exception to that is if the long range anti-tank is armour 14. That...is an issue. I'll blast that if there isn't a more tempting target but it's too tough to garentee a good hit.

[greatcrusade08]

do i hear an echo?

[Chengar Qordath]

I would say target priority is as follows:

 

High Priority:

Medium Armor, Transports with nasty units inside, Monstrous Creatures, unattached ICs.

 

Medium Priority:

Light Armor, Transports carrying mediocre units, multi-wound models of T 4 or less, MEQ infantry.

 

Low Priority:

AV 14, Hordes, empty transports.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the B&C, enjoy your stay (we do!) :lol:

 

Chengar's list is clear and concise. Of course it always come down to the individual game and what's going on etc but as a general rule to follow you couldn't put it better!

[ArmouredWing]

I'm going to fly in the face of public opinion here and say AV14 is fair game for exorcist fire... especially in the case of Tau hammerheads.

 

I've always had a basic principle when it comes to hitting AV14, hit them hard and repeatedly with exorcist salvos because the weight of fire will damage them enough to reduce their effectiveness on the table. When it comes to LR's the aim is to immobilise because their strength is in their troop carrying ability. If you immobilise them then all they are is an expensive fire platform and they can't do a key part of their job.

 

The same goes for hammerheads however their real strength is in their manouverability as apposed to their big gun. With this in mind I'd say you need to go for them with avengence but you also need to focus fire on one target at a time until you're satisfied that it's not able to cover the table sufficiently with it's field of fire (i.e. immobilised or weapon destroyed).

 

There is another part to the plan though and that is to consider using available cover so that you get a cover save against the shot coming back in. An exorcist 'unit' is well equipped to deal with AV14 but not so well equipped to deal with railguns, that's the issue. Multiple shots from you will mean that one will get through somewhere and any roll on the damage table will mean no shooting for it on the following turn but you've got to survive long enough to enable that to happen. Use the cover because regardless of anything else a railgun is a 1 shot per turn weapon, they've got to roll to hit, then roll to penetrate but if you're in cover you (pardon the pun) throw an extra die roll into the mix in terms of the cover save. That means 3 dice rolls to do any damage as apposed to 2 and it can make all of the difference.

[chaplain belisarius]

it dpends on what you are facing....i work out what is the biggest threat to my sob and hit them in order of scariness (things like dp with wings, fast assault units, powerful tanks, characters, elite units)

 

What do you normally come up against? (if im against tau, i will hit the hammerheads first, then any broadsides then any crisis suits...)

[melvinmcsnatch]

To your point, my main opponent so far has been Tau, and I haven't been able to crack those hammerheads, which are my top priority so I can move on to the suits. He uses disruptor pods, so he isn't shy about leaving cover to get full LoS. Smart missles keep my immos/rhinos/meltas at bay.

 

With two hammerheads and three broadsides in play, out-maneuvering him is a troublesome task. I destroyed a hammerhead once in two games, and by the end of the turn, both exorcists were rubble, cover save and all. But boy, do I like to chew up some Crisis suits.

 

How I long for the simplicity of tearing some horde to pieces.

 

Specifically, I'm asking for armies I may not have played and don't know much about, or any counterintiutive strategy.

[Aidoneus]

Well, against a Tau set up like that I'd probably shoot the Exorcists at the Broadsides first, then Devilfish and Crisis Suits second. With your Exorcists taking those down, you should be able to make a concerted push forward with your Rhinos to get into melta range of his Hammerheads.

 

A good strategy with Exorcists is to spread 'em out as far as possible in your lines. That way it's really hard for the enemy to keep front armour facing both/all of them at once. If you can hit side armour of those Hammerheads, you'll be in much better shape.

 

For other armies, it's basically what has been said already. It also somewhat depends on what the rest of your army likes to do. If you have a more static, gunline-esque army, the Exorcists will give higher priority to popping enemy transports. If you like to get right up in people's faces, go for main battle tanks and anything fast enough to get away from your Rhinos, such as bikers. Scary CC units with good armour are always a good bet, since Sisters have trouble in CC, and bolters/flamers won't be able to take out squads of AV3+ or better quickly enough to eliminate those threats.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Take the Formation of Chorus of Faith.

Use it first chance you get against those AV 14 tanks and like, rolling 2d6 missiles per Excorsist (once per game) can really hurt your targets.

Use 3 Excorsists that 6d6 first round launching, dont forget to keep your tanks in cover if possible for the first round and when its your turn roll them out and nail that tank wiht everything you have.

On average against Tau go for the Broadsides or suits first, they pack lots of firepower and as a squad that many Str 8 ap1 shot will just hurt really badly. Even if covered by shield drones i wont see that many saves really making it.

 

Against AV 14 well try and flank a couple of Dominion squads in a Melta packed Immolator if possible, right behind or next too those Hammerheads. Makes there day when you deploy 6 SoB with 4 Melta's and a combi-melta behind there lines.

[number6]

Honestly, the most dangerous units in the Tau arsenal are neither broadsides nor hammerheads, it's Crisis Suits. If you can wipe out crisis suits quickly, you can weather the loss of all your vehicles from railguns. And your power armour also gives you excellent protection against hammerhead submunitions and any of the Tau Str 5 secondary weapons (e.g., smart missiles, burst cannons).

 

It's the high rate of Str 6/AP2 and Str 7 firepower on mobile, 2-wound/T4/3+ save jet pack platforms that really spell doom for any army, Sisters included. Their weakness is that they will rarely have invul saves (relying on cover to survive enemy fire), they are easily instakilled by Str 8+ weapons (hey, aren't Exorcist shots Str 8?!), and they have miserable LD, making them vulnerable to Morale failures and running off the table at 3d6" (!!) just because one suit was lost to a failed cover save.

 

Seriously, take out the Crisis suits first, and you're well on your way to victory. You're sisters, you should have melta guns everywhere, so use them for hunting devilfish and hammerheads. Given the option of shooting at broadsides -- which will be in cover and have a pair of invul saves on hand on drones to absorb wounds -- or hammerheads -- which are AV 13 and will have a permanent 4+ save thanks to disruption pods -- or crisis suits -- which won't have an invul save or spare drones around to absorb wounds -- crisis suits should stand out as the obvious target. Not only are they the shootiest unit the Tau have, meaning the deadliest offensive unit they have, they are also the flimsiest. Take them out ASAP if you want to beat Tau and just suffer the railguns for a couple of turns.

[River Black]

Take the Formation of Chorus of Faith.

 

Not in a normal game your not.

[Eltnot]

Good points there Number6 although they are still effective versus the broadside. If you roll enough shots, you can hit the drones and the suits in one salvo due to wound allocation. This gives you a chance to kill the drones simply by killing the drone controller. But yes, they are excellent weaponry versus Crisis Suits.

[River Black]

I thought that rule only applied if the controller was an independant character.

[Eltnot]

I thought that rule only applied if the controller was an independant character.

 

Drones by themselves don't have any issues (those off devilfish/piranha or bought as gun drone squadrons). Those bought with a drone controller are removed at the end of the phase if the model with the drone controller is removed if my memory serves me correctly. It doesn't happen often but it is one good way of getting past the shield drones.

[ArmouredWing]

Honestly, the most dangerous units in the Tau arsenal are neither broadsides nor hammerheads, it's Crisis Suits. If you can wipe out crisis suits quickly, you can weather the loss of all your vehicles from railguns. And your power armour also gives you excellent protection against hammerhead submunitions and any of the Tau Str 5 secondary weapons (e.g., smart missiles, burst cannons).

 

It's the high rate of Str 6/AP2 and Str 7 firepower on mobile, 2-wound/T4/3+ save jet pack platforms that really spell doom for any army, Sisters included. Their weakness is that they will rarely have invul saves (relying on cover to survive enemy fire), they are easily instakilled by Str 8+ weapons (hey, aren't Exorcist shots Str 8?!), and they have miserable LD, making them vulnerable to Morale failures and running off the table at 3d6" (!!) just because one suit was lost to a failed cover save.

 

Seriously, take out the Crisis suits first, and you're well on your way to victory. You're sisters, you should have melta guns everywhere, so use them for hunting devilfish and hammerheads. Given the option of shooting at broadsides -- which will be in cover and have a pair of invul saves on hand on drones to absorb wounds -- or hammerheads -- which are AV 13 and will have a permanent 4+ save thanks to disruption pods -- or crisis suits -- which won't have an invul save or spare drones around to absorb wounds -- crisis suits should stand out as the obvious target. Not only are they the shootiest unit the Tau have, meaning the deadliest offensive unit they have, they are also the flimsiest. Take them out ASAP if you want to beat Tau and just suffer the railguns for a couple of turns.

I'm in agreement with the principle, as mentioned elsewhere (in the army list section) deathrain suits are nearly as potent as eldar war walkers kitted out in a similar fashion, however there is a problem with being able to hit them hard early on in the game and that problem lies with the fact that they are often in reserve to DS or well hidden in cover for their jump-shoot-jump hit and run (not H&R rules but generally) attacks.

 

The other thing to consider is the range of their missile pods compared to the railgun equipped BS suits. For my liking the target priority normally goes something like; 1st - HQ if equipped with positional relay, 2nd - BS suits, 3rd - HH/skyrays, 4th - crisis suits/transports (depending on target availability). But in any case I pick a target and let rip with all exorcists on that one target until it's either destroyed or rendered ineffective for it's primary purpose.

[number6]

I'm in agreement with the principle, as mentioned elsewhere (in the army list section) deathrain suits are nearly as potent as eldar war walkers kitted out in a similar fashion, however there is a problem with being able to hit them hard early on in the game and that problem lies with the fact that they are often in reserve to DS or well hidden in cover for their jump-shoot-jump hit and run (not H&R rules but generally) attacks.

If the Tau general is foolish enough to put crisis suits in reserve, you should already be winning the game.

 

In 5e games -- true line of sight games, that is -- I have almost never seen terrain that can both fully hide crisis suits from enemy fire AND allow them to jump-shoot-jump with impunity. If they can shoot you, you can almost certainly see them. See my earlier comments about the survivability of crisis suits -- even when in cover -- compared to either broadsides or hammerheads.

 

Of course, if there are no crisis suits on the table to shoot at, thank your opponent for going easy on you and punish them appropriately. :whistling:

The other thing to consider is the range of their missile pods compared to the railgun equipped BS suits.

Crisis suits have an effective range of 42" -- 36" range missiles + 6" jump. Which means your Exorcists can always touch them. ;) Railguns (broadsides and hammerheads) are 72" range. If you can reliably touch either unit with your Exorcists, the Tau player is making mistakes.

For my liking the target priority normally goes something like; 1st - HQ if equipped with positional relay

Again, if your opponent is helping you by playing "Ninja Tau", do please thank them. This is about the worst Tau army list it is possible to play. The Tau player is feeding you exactly one unit per turn. Just kill them off one unit at a time. Not too difficult.

[ArmouredWing]

I'm in agreement with the principle, as mentioned elsewhere (in the army list section) deathrain suits are nearly as potent as eldar war walkers kitted out in a similar fashion, however there is a problem with being able to hit them hard early on in the game and that problem lies with the fact that they are often in reserve to DS or well hidden in cover for their jump-shoot-jump hit and run (not H&R rules but generally) attacks.

If the Tau general is foolish enough to put crisis suits in reserve, you should already be winning the game.

 

In 5e games -- true line of sight games, that is -- I have almost never seen terrain that can both fully hide crisis suits from enemy fire AND allow them to jump-shoot-jump with impunity. If they can shoot you, you can almost certainly see them. See my earlier comments about the survivability of crisis suits -- even when in cover -- compared to either broadsides or hammerheads.

 

Of course, if there are no crisis suits on the table to shoot at, thank your opponent for going easy on you and punish them appropriately. :)

The other thing to consider is the range of their missile pods compared to the railgun equipped BS suits.

Crisis suits have an effective range of 42" -- 36" range missiles + 6" jump. Which means your Exorcists can always touch them. :P Railguns (broadsides and hammerheads) are 72" range. If you can reliably touch either unit with your Exorcists, the Tau player is making mistakes.

For my liking the target priority normally goes something like; 1st - HQ if equipped with positional relay

Again, if your opponent is helping you by playing "Ninja Tau", do please thank them. This is about the worst Tau army list it is possible to play. The Tau player is feeding you exactly one unit per turn. Just kill them off one unit at a time. Not too difficult.

Heh heh heh, I'll refer you to my esteemed comrade in arms Gone Fishing... He is the author of the 'Ninja Tau' ethos, literally it was his concept from inception through to execution and in the right hands it is absolutely lethal (26th in the heat of last years ToS is testiment to that). So I hope you'll excuse my defence of 'Ninja Tau' because it's a strategy that is well respected and held in the highest of regards in my gaming group, because that's where it first made its official appearance.

 

In terms of it being easy to beat that depends on the hand of the general in control. DH have an advantage if using mystics, that's true, but in terms of overall performance the key to success with NT is the fact that they all turn up very late in the game, come in heavy and leave you little time to inflict enough damage on them to secure a win.

 

Talking about terrain is an interesting one because the majority of our games are played on the tables in WW with the supplied terrain. With that being the case there's always enough in the way of buildings/big hills for any crisis suits that are on the table to hide behind, jump into view, shoot and then disapear again.

 

In terms of reserves there's good reasons for holding crisis suits off the table and fielding exorcists is one of those reasons, especially as they can get around the sides or back to fire shots off against them.

 

So, like I say having the 'Ninja Grand Master' in our ranks it would be remiss of me to let those comments go unchallenged because from my experience they're a long way from being factual.

[number6]

Unlikely we'll ever see eye to eye on this, I bet! After all, I've tried to convince you of the "error of your ways" with your foot Sisters for quite some time now. :) Would telling you that I've reliably beaten "ninja" Tau with my Tyranids make any difference to you? :)

 

Anyway, all that really matters is what can be done to kill Tau the bestest. I took 4th place at a tournament with my Tau this past February; my advice is geared toward fighting that kind of army. It's got plenty of vehicles, railguns, and broadsides, but the real workhorses are the crisis suits. Opponents who recognize that can do very well against me. Opponents who unreasonably fear the hammerheads typically don't.

 

I would submit that even against "ninja" Tau, the crisis suits remain the real killers. But when they're not on the table, aim to entirely eliminate enemy units. Since this topic is focused on the Exorcist, I would argue that HQ suits -- being crisis suits -- should be top priority. Followed by broadsides, as they're undeniably deadly and also the 2nd easiest to kill with Exorcist fire in the hierarchy of "deadly Tau units". Hammerheads still fall down to last place by my estimation. Their railgun shots aren't as reliable as broadsides and their submunitions just aren't all that scary to power armour. Again, the problem with killing Tau vehicles from range is their disruption pods. You must get meltas into range if you want to reliably kill Tau vehicles; there isn't any other method with any decent guarantees of success.

 

So go suit hunting with your Exorcist.

[melvinmcsnatch]

Remind me to take a storm-bolter with my Exorcist to avoid the weapon destroyed roll nex time. But I played a different Tau player today and wiped a suit unit out in one volley. Good stuff.

 

I left my Exorcist unprotected while I played aggressive on the other flank and got my Exorcist missle destroyed by a deepstrike suit. Lesson learned. Can't wait to buy a second!

[Aidoneus]

Remind me to take a storm-bolter with my Exorcist to avoid the weapon destroyed roll nex time.

Meh. The problem is, your opponent is the one who decides which weapon gets blown off. The only thing the storm bolter will do is keep a second weap-dest result from being upgraded to immobilized. And honestly, once you've lost the exorcist launcher, that's 90%+ of your effectiveness gone already. Not really an important purchase.

[Chengar Qordath]

Remind me to take a storm-bolter with my Exorcist to avoid the weapon destroyed roll nex time.

Meh. The problem is, your opponent is the one who decides which weapon gets blown off. The only thing the storm bolter will do is keep a second weap-dest result from being upgraded to immobilized. And honestly, once you've lost the exorcist launcher, that's 90%+ of your effectiveness gone already. Not really an important purchase.

Have to agree there; an Exorcist with no launcher is better off functioning as mobile terrain and/or going for tank shock/ramming than trying to plink away at the enemy with a lone storm bolter.