Which fiend is better?

[ezekiel09]

So which of the fiends is better?

 

I am trying to decide which to build (I only have one). I may try mag'ing it if I make it a forge fiend.

[Kol Saresk]

From what I have heard, the Ecto-fiend seems to be the better with its template shots simply because they are stronger than the regular dakkas. The problem everyone seems to have with the Maulerfiend is that they can never get it close enough to actually see action.

[Moress]

I'm going to be buying my first fiend soonish, so I'm in the same boa as you. I think I'm leaning more towards the dakka fiend.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm in the Hades AC camp. I've tried the Ectoplasm, but the 24" range just didn't do it for me. I think the Hade's volume of fire makes up for the AP4, and if you still want the Ecto you can spring for the extra cannon in the middle.

 

I suppose it would depend on how aggressive your style was, and what you were supporting with the Forgefiend. I stick my Hadesfiend in the midfield in some cover and send as much lead downrange as I can for as long as I can, and it's done me fine. I'll gladly take two if the points are high enough.

 

Someone will probably come along and swear by the Ectofiend, though. That's how these things normally go.

[Rayray]

I generally run 2 Hadesfiends. Probably a bit much, but i have been satisfied so far.

[Moress]

Since we are on the subject here, what does a dakka fiend bring that a 5man havok squad with AC doesn't? its 60pts less.

[Rayray]

Since we are on the subject here, what does a dakka fiend bring that a 5man havok squad with AC doesn't? its 60pts less.

Survivability, unless you're unlucky. Besides, a 5 man havoc squad is useless considering it only has one "blade of wound" before those ACs start going down.

[carnosaur93]

i guess it very much depends on what you need and want in your army... but personally i am leaning more towards the autocannon variant, it seems like chaos' version of units such as the dakka-dread or even thunderfire cannon

[nurglez]

I went for the hades autocannon forgefiend, as it has extra range and can shoot at flyers. Unlike plasma armed one.

 

It can move 6 and still shoot effectively over havocs, and has less to worry from baleflamers/heavy incinerators.

 

While bs 3 is kinda sucky, it also makes it less of a threat. I love the model (I use assault cannons now, assault cannons are cool).

 

Maulerfiend does look interesting, but I feel it needs a list built around it more then a forgefiend does.

[aceytrixx]

I generally run 2 Hadesfiends. Probably a bit much, but i have been satisfied so far.

 

Ive been planning on running this myself so glad to hear someone is having success with it

[Rayray]

I have found that more often than not, they either soak quite a bit of firepower and leave other things alone, such as cultists, csm, warp talons, or possessed, or they don't get any firepower headed their way. Either way, something is going to get ignored, and the dakka fiends make it painful.

[Sception]

Yeah, but "if they're shooting this, they aren't shooting anything else" applies to literally every unit and option.

 

Of the fiends, I'd say dakka's the best, followed by plasma (which loses out due to range & inability to shoot fliers, though the AP2 can still be useful), and finally mauler (the price and speed are nice, but an AV12 walker isn't going to last long in melee against most enemies, and its smallish number of attacks mean that it's not likely to squeeze that much impact into its short lifespan).

 

None of them are completely terrible - even the mauler can provide some high strength support to bikes or spawn, for a fast, in your face flanking wing to try and put some immediate pressure on the enemy. However, none of them are exactly fantastic either. Even the dakkafiend isn't all that amazing, between its BS3, Points cost, vulnerability (AV12 is still not that great), and so on.

 

As with any armored units, the more you saturate the board, the better they get. Chaos Marines don't have the affordable high armor or the vehicle squadrons needed to really spam armor the way guard does, but the more hull points you can put out, the more difficult it will be for your opponent to wipe them away.

[Iron_Within]

My own experience would say the Forgefiend is best. I'm going to be taking two Hades and an Ecto Head for some upcoming games to give an all comers chance.

 

My own experience of the Mauler fiend is it's a massive bullet magnet. in one game my opponent was tearing his hair out on account of taking two rounds of 5 ML and a Quad Autocannon to which he caused 1 HP of damage which it promptly regenerated from IWND. This is largely the exception though. My main experience of the Mauler is that it will get killed in the first two turns before it causes damage. I think for best effect you need two Maulers for them to be truly effective.

 

My one caveat to my points on the Mauler is it's abilities as a tarpit are not to be underestimated (assuming there are no haywire grenades). My mauler tied up and killed a unit of Wraiths for most the game with them only getting 1 attack each. Truly I think the Mauler shines in Mechanised heavy environments, using it's siege crawler ability to hug cover until it hits combat, just as long as you don't cock up the pre-measure distance and leave yourself in 18" of a triple melta Vet squad in a Chimera...

[Chaos Crusade]

In my 1500 point list I run 3 Maulerfiends with Lashertendrils. Thus far they've proven to be very efficient at locking up my opponent's scoring choice. I usually lose at least 1 and sometimes 2 during the course of the game, but I still find them to be a worthwhile investment. I can both move my own scoring units into place and free them up to target prioritize more threatening choices. I do also run a bike unit with a lord that make for an effective sweeper choice for the Fiends.

[Urauloth]

it only has one "blade of wound"

 

A what now?

[Azekai]

He means 'ablative.'

[Minsc]

My first fiend will be a Hades-fiend, and then later I will get a Mauler-fiend.

I won't bother with the Ecto-fiend.

 

The Maulerfiend is good in itself, but it's a liability since it's a non-shooty option in our HS - and CSM really needs their HS for long-ranged firepower.

It's fun to use though, so I will get myself one. It's also a massive fire-magnet ("It moves HOW FAR!?"), for good or ill.

 

The Ectofiend is good if your meta contains alot of terminators: mine doesn't. I also have a tendency to roll alot of 1's when rolling for get's hot, and the lackluster range combined with the fact that the Ectofiend is the most expensive fiend kills it for me. I also hate the look on the ecto-head and ecto-arms.

 

I was against the Hadesfiend at first, and considered it to be overpriced and overall "meh".

After having used it in afew games however, my opinion has changed: It's pricetag is probably quite balanced (maybe slightly overpriced, but not by much), 36" is usually long enough, and 8 S8 shots, even at BS3 is quite scary. It's also quite reliable at wrecking or at the very least, cripple, a AV10-13 target in one go if you use the Daemon Forge.

Imo the Hadesfiend also look coolest out of the three.

[DraneceusRex]

I think x3 Maulerfiends could be interesting with x3 Helbrutes geared for cc, but as noted above, CSM really needs it's long range firepower from the HS spot.

 

As for the Forgefiend, imho Havocs, Preds, and Oblits can do anything it can do more efficiently.

[Urauloth]

He means 'ablative.'

 

Ah ok, that makes sense. Wasn't nitpicking, just wondered if there was some baffling piece of terminology I was unaware of.

[Chaos Crusade]

I'm intrigued by the idea that we need our HS slots for long range heavy fire. We've been given access to one of the fastest non transport using armies in the game. Our troops can take double special weapons (primarily plasma) allowing us a full range of mobility in the troop slot as well as being given access to CHEAP bikers. I routinely play without a gun capable of reaching beyond 24" and haven't had an issue with it yet.

 

You don't have to shoot far if you can go fast and Maulers go fast indeed. Hug cover for a 4+ cover save, move 12", run (re-rollable), you're charging next turn. That said I feel like its a 2+ scenario with the Maulers as 1 is too easy to bring down.

[zyl-]

I don't think we need our heavy slots for long range fire all the time. Of course play styles vary, and I personally wouldn't want to use heavy slots for anything less in an Iron Warriors army, but if I were going to build a Khorn army I would give maulerfiends a close look. I realize that a lot of us are looking at chaos as a shooty army in this edition, since mele is weaker in general, and our best mele unit, the berzerker, is now far less awesome. However, not everyone has the same sentiment.

[minigun762]

Since we are on the subject here, what does a dakka fiend bring that a 5man havok squad with AC doesn't? its 60pts less.

 

S8 and demonforge are the main things.

Secondary bonus is the added mobility and armor saturation.

 

Is it worth it? Personally, I think it could be if you have an armor heavy list. If you're going infantry heavy, the havocs match up better.

[ezekiel09]

I went ahead and built the Forgefiend. I mag'd the arms and am trying now to figure out a way to get the guns to sit correctly. The Hades cannons want to droop slowly and not sit up right. I think I know of a way to fix them which I am going to give a try tonight.

 

Thanks for the ideas and opinions guys, it was appreciated.

[nurglez]

I'd imagine either attaching weights to the rear of the hades autocannons, or adding a pin would help keep them straight...

[ezekiel09]

I'd imagine either attaching weights to the rear of the hades autocannons, or adding a pin would help keep them straight...

 

 

I basically made 2 edges (1 inside the guns connecting area and 1 on the ball joint itself). When you attach the guns to the ball joint these edges connect and won't allow the guns to droop any longer.