Unforgiven Auto-Includes

[Legato]

Every army has that unit that you'd be stupid not to take, some more obvious than others. There are, of course, also units that are worthless outside of the world of fluffy lists. I've been out of the game for a while, and I'm curious about what is which in the Dark Angels codex.

 

So far it seems to me that (outside of FOC changers*) a divination librarian is vastly superior to other HQs, but beyond that I'm not really seeing any clear-cut superior choices. Has the community come up with anything?

 

*on that note, is it better to take Azrael or Sammael for a RW list?

[Terrahawk]

Many people feel the Standard of Devastation, aka the Dakka Banner, is an auto-include. At least in Ravenwing armies.

Ravenwing Black Knights are another one, since they can do pretty much every role.

For me, Forgeworld's Mortis Dreads are one, wouldn't leave the house without one of those.

All in all though, I feel we have a great Codex in the sense that it has numerous, numerous viable builds and not many too clearly-cut auto-includes. Doesn't make it a Power Gamer's wet dream, which is definitely a plus in my book.

[Dirrain]

Ravenwing Black Knights. The answer to almost everything out there. Our dirt cheap Whirlwinds and divination librarians are also highly recommended. The rest is mostly dependent upon your list and meta.

 

As for Azrael or Sammael in a RW list, it really depends on what your list will look like. If you're going for pure RW (all bikes ONLY), I'd say take Sammael and join him to normal bikers so they get the skilled rider bonus as well. 

If you want to go mixed wing or RW with aegis defense line for anti air, I'd take Azrael and have him and a bunch of scouts/tacs babysit a quad gun on top of an objective. Scoring terminators DS-ing to RW homers are also a good option.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

The whirlwind. :) Dirt cheap and removes cover saves.

[Legato]

The whirlwind. Dirt cheap and removes cover saves.

I've heard in the past that whirlwinds are garbage, has that changed recently?

[Chaplain Lucifer]

The whirlwind. Dirt cheap and removes cover saves.

I've heard in the past that whirlwinds are garbage, has that changed recently?

Cover saves are reduced in this edition, We see more infantry and less mechanised on the tables and the price has gone down significantly.

[Isiah]

Here goes:

Belial - in the category of 'stupid not to take' (imho anyway ) when any DW unit(s) are present .

[elphilo]

Pretty much Black Knights and Whirlwinds. As stated before Whirlwinds are dirt cheap and kind of stupid not to take. And Black Knights can do a little bit of everything

IMO the things not worth it are our flyers. They're really expensive and very underwhelming.

[Pbenner]

Here goes:

Belial - in the category of 'stupid not to take' (imho anyway ) when any DW unit(s) are present .

Isiah,

I concur with this unless you're taking Azreal, then you're better pairing with a Librarian or Chaplain.

Paul

[marvmoogy]

Deathwing Knights for me....they have been immense in all but 1 of the games I have played and taken out at least double their points cost!

[Tiger9gamer]

Banner of devastation for me. I have to make a tactic thread on how to play without it soon me thinks.

[FarFromSam]

I have found Azrael to be my auto include. He brings so much to the table for his points. I posted a while back on his uses, but in short, he's a modified aegis/apothecary/CCbeast/preferred enemy granting/FoC changing master. Although I see him lacking in a ravenwing army.

 

I'm interested to see so many of yall putting the whirl wind out there. I see the merit of it too (especially since kill points seem to have taken a back seat to objective missions.) I'm looking forward to bringing them back out.

[FerociousBeast]

Don't forget barrage sniping, too, as a prime reason to take the Whirlie.

[Interrogator Stobz]

^{Must agree about Black Knights, epic hammer unit.}

^{Every time I don't take Whirlies I seem to do poorly, I do play against Tau a lot so sniping the markerlights early is critical to my survival.}

^{Azzy is also a great unlocker for a Greenwing army with scoring RavenDeath support units.}

^{Also MM Typhoons, alongside Whirlies they are a fantastic and cheap mobile fire support unit.}

[Balthamal]

I add my vote to the deathwing knights. Last game I played involved marching 7 of them up the board along with a chaplain swinging the MoR. Added to a trusty librarian buffing them with precognition and 3 turns of soaking up 50 guass shots only resulted in 1 death. When they finally hit the cron line, the results were crazy to the point of being hilarious. Against anything with a save of 4+ or worse, I actually felt bad for my opponent.