purifier's role

[stephane4985]

I have a hard time figuring out the purifiers. At first it look simple. Take a squad of 5 guys. Good in CC with halberd, good in shooting with 2 psycannons.

 

But in my experience, yes they shoot good, but not game changing good. And in CC, with only 3 guys with NFW, they are not as killy as they should.

 

So for a five man squad, I'm really starting to think that it should be one or the other. Either you put 2 psycannons and no other upgrades, keep them back and shoot, or don't buy psycannon at all and go nuts with halberd in CC.

 

Sure in some case it is good to be generalist, but I feel there is so much potential in going one way or the other and maximizing their role.

 

For 10 man, it is easy to combat squad with all the psycannon in the same squad, but not when you are only using 5 of them.

 

What are your though? Anyone's using the purifier one way or the other and not mixing CC and shooting? Any experience to share?

[Morollan]

Why are you trying to limit yourself to 5 of them?

[stephane4985]

because I usually play at 1500 and I usually only have the points for 1 squads

[himkano]

If you are only taking 5, you can only take 2 psycannons.

[stephane4985]

That's what I meant. Fixed.

[Morollan]

because I usually play at 1500 and I usually only have the points for 1 squads

 

I tend to go big or go home with Purifiers. Take the 10-man squad, give them all 4 psycannon and combat squad them, with the other combat squad kitted out for close combat.

[Inquisitor Fox]

I'm making a unit of six with two Incinerators, 3 halberds and a hammer :lol: Small band with big punch, handle anything in terrain and to help be a counter-charge presence and melee threat with their assault weapons and psychic power. Haven't really gotten to play with them though but it should be fun.

[spartan249]

Purifiers are the best generalists in the game. Kills hordes and elite infantry in both close combat and shooting. Bring full squads, throw them in rhinos, get them out to midfield, and start the slugfest.

 

Their equipment is pretty simple. Give them 4 psycannons, 2 hammers, and 4 swords/halberds. They'll be good at everything. Throw in some long range support/ flank support, and corral them into a straight up fight.

[stephane4985]

But that's my point. Sure you can equip them to be generalist, but then, against a dedicated CC unit, they are not a sure win if there is 2 out of 5 guys without power weapons.

 

So the question is, are they worth it if you don't bring psycannon and use them as a CC unit? I'm speaking for a 5 man group. Or maybe the answer is that 5 purifier is not worth taking, you need 10 at least.

 

Any experience of peoples combat squading with all the psycannon on the same squad and using the melee squad against dedicated C unit?

 

In a army where everything is pretty mush generalist, must the purifiers be use as generalist or can we go farther and use them in a dedicated role and use them at their full potential?

[Aethernitas]

I usually take a 10 man squad and equip them with 4 flamers/psicannons (depends on the opponent), combat squad them and transport both of the squads in a LR or a Stormraven. When they disembark I can burn/shoot to death one unit and charge another. Works quite nicely for me.

[Schultzhoffen]

5 of anything in PA is fairly fragile. I'd concur with others, take 8-10 guys.

 

The only unit of 5 I'd ever use is C:SM Sniper Scouts to sit/claim an objective and cower.

[spartan249]

Full potential = being able to apply meaningful firepower in all phases of the game, so a generalist build is the most sound build to go with. Specializing in a certain style of fighting (whether it be shooting or CC) ensures that the unit has holes in it's capabilities that can be taken advantage of.

 

"Dedicated" units are a trap in an army that has so few models. Units with a single modus operandi belong in armies that have a huge number of units, as this type of army mitigates the weakness of specialized units by boasting a huge amount of support to cover the gap.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Purifiers are the best generalist unit in the game.

 

Flame Knight w/halberd, Purifier w/hammer, 4 x Purifiers w/halberds, 4 x Purifiers w/psycannons

(295 points)

 

Plant that in the mid-field in cover and give em hell. 16 psycannon shots is brutal, I've wiped squads and vehicles with it before. When they hit combat, sacrifice the psycannon dudes to keep the halberdiers alive. 'Cleansing Flame' makes them very hard to tarpit (Orks, Cultists, Tyranids etc hate them), and against elite infantry their halberds and 2A base wreck face.

 

Their vulnerabilities are being in power armour (they're like Sternguard in that way), and they die to Terminators (unsurprisingly, most things do). A Rhino is a good investment to get them at full strength into the mid-field, after that just use it to block charge lanes.

 

Another great addition is a Inquisitor with 'Prescience' (or Coteaz w/Divination). Re-rolls mean even your storm bolter hits are going to stick, which puts a fair amount of pain on the enemy. I roll terribly for them usually (50% hits), so I find it really worthwhile.

[Zeratul29]

Hmm, I've always run puifiers as cc dedicated, I think i will have to give them more pyscannons from now on

[AnImA8]

With such low model count you'll want that unit to be hitting hard in every phase. I've had 5 purifiers with 2 incinerators, 3 halberds, and a daemon hammer WIPE whole squads before they had a chance to attack back (dedicated cc units included.) The important thing to decide on is: are they going to get transported? If they are then the double incinerator will really do work, as mine did. If they're not then taking the double psycannon will help them stay relevant for longer in the game.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Incinerators are a complete waste of time. 'Cleansing Flame' murders precisely the same kind of targets (horde chaff in light-medium armour). If you're in range to template them, you're in range to charge in and cast 'Cleansing Flame' then follow up with halberd attacks (Purifiers with charge bonus are brutal on everything not in 2+ armour, nevermind chaff).

 

Psycannons give you ranged threat against pretty much everything, especially the quad psycannons of the full squad.

[AnImA8]

Incinerators are a complete waste of time. 'Cleansing Flame' murders precisely the same kind of targets (horde chaff in light-medium armour). If you're in range to template them, you're in range to charge in and cast 'Cleansing Flame' then follow up with halberd attacks (Purifiers with charge bonus are brutal on everything not in 2+ armour, nevermind chaff).

 

Psycannons give you ranged threat against pretty much everything, especially the quad psycannons of the full squad.

 

This is in no way true. Supposing Incinerators get 5 hits per incinerator, Cleansing Flame would on average need to be activated against a squad of 25 GEq's in order to be as effective. Once you change the armor value to 4+ or less the statistics favor Incinerators FAR more than Cleansing Flame. The targets for CF are pretty much exclusively GEq's, while Incinerators are good against all infantry. Let's also not forget that Incinerators are free.

 

Again the choice between Incinerators and Psycannons is primarily dependent on the list they're being put into and therefore the role that they must fulfill. If the OP is looking to take a 5 man squad, then relying solely on CF and Halberds to get him through combats is not going to happen; he needs to decide on something more substantive. So the OP can either decide to dedicate the unit to anti-infantry and transport it--in which case I GUARANTEE that Incinerators will be the best option--or he can generalize it into anti-tank/MC roles. My first gut instinct is to pick the Incinerators because with only 5 guys I want them to be as good at whatever they're going to do as possible, but the OP may need the anti-tank/MC, so all of this depends on the OP's army than anything else.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

This is in no way true. Supposing Incinerators get 5 hits per incinerator, Cleansing Flame would on average need to be activated against a squad of 25 GEq's in order to be as effective. Once you change the armor value to 4+ or less the statistics favor Incinerators FAR more than Cleansing Flame. The targets for CF are pretty much exclusively GEq's, while Incinerators are good against all infantry. Let's also not forget that Incinerators are free.

 

There is no unit in 5+ or 4+ armour in the game that will win a fight with Purifiers. Period. So, however many wounds you cause with the incinerators is irrelevant. A barrage of psycannon on the move (still 8 shots of Rending autocannon pain), followed by a charge...man, even Tac Marines and Grey Hunters get smushed. 'Cleansing Flame' activates before your cc attacks, so that murders even more (against heavy infantry I usually just 'Hammerhand', better damage ouput). At that point, 50-man Guard blob and 30-man Ork blob are just about the only infantry who aren't wiped (you'd have to roll exceptionally terribly, and even then they are fighting 10 MeQs).

 

Again the choice between Incinerators and Psycannons is primarily dependent on the list they're being put into and therefore the role that they must fulfill. If the OP is looking to take a 5 man squad, then relying solely on CF and Halberds to get him through combats is not going to happen; he needs to decide on something more substantive.

 

5-man MeQ units are all about the special weapon+Rhino spam, in our case psycannons. Anti-infantry is just not something we worry about. By the time the blob of Guardsmen/Orks/Cultists reaches you, you should've already thinned out a third of them (if not half).

 

So the OP can either decide to dedicate the unit to anti-infantry and transport it--in which case I GUARANTEE that Incinerators will be the best option--or he can generalize it into anti-tank/MC roles. My first gut instinct is to pick the Incinerators because with only 5 guys I want them to be as good at whatever they're going to do as possible, but the OP may need the anti-tank/MC, so all of this depends on the OP's army than anything else.

 

We always need more psycannon. In fact, we can never get enough, with good reason (its the best gun in the game). Incinerators are redundant in general (due to mass storm bolter), and in the specific case of Purifiers even more redundant because of 'Cleansing Flame' being so brutal on the same targets (5+/4+ armour saves).

 

Knights are too expensive and flexible to box them into specialist roles. All our units need to kill stuff, deny objectives and support the few scoring units we typically have (ignoring Allies and Henchmen for a moment). Purifiers do two of those things really well, and they're one of two good sources of quad psycannon (the other being Purgators).