Help me understand AM psyker strength's.

[Emperors Immortals]

Hi guys,

 

So 7th has re-introduced the psychic phase and allowed options for some pretty good powers.

 

Specific to AM, I've seen mentioned the prescience buffed basilisk, which does seem very good. Fluff wise the malefic psykers could mesh well with a Vraks or traitor force.

 

How useful do you think biomancy would be for us? Or telepathy? How do you buff up the charge pool and what's the best way to stop your psyker exploding like so many drummers have before?

 

I'd like this thread to hold advice for players of all levels to get the most from there psykers, so share any tips you may have and ill try to organise them.

 

Thanks guys!

[Thoqqu]

Invisible blob or superheavy tends to cause stress on the other side of the table... alltho psyker executed by Yarrick flips it the other way.

[David Ravel]

I generally run 2 command squad no matter what. That means 2 astropath. Cheap way of getting more WC. Add three ML2 psyker, that gives you 8 WC+d6 per turn. Not bad overall, even if its still not enough since you need 4/7/9 to be reliable. I tend to use psychic shriek alot. It can dish out alot of pain (I rolled three 6s against a squad of Wraithguard the other day, lets just say I was very pleased) and doesn't ''use'' a shooting phase i.e. you can shoot elsewhere with the rest of the gang. And if you're lucky, you'll roll invisibility. Invinsible Paskisher/Knight/Warhound/Blob/etc. is always strong. 

 

As far as the psyker dying, well we must understand that psykers are less reliable then before. That's the way it is. At least if you are lucky you can get an invul save. 

 

http://www.torrentoffire.com/4776/the-math-of-the-new-psychic-phase

[Frater Cornelius]

IG psykers are the most cost effective psykers outside of GK Henchmen. The only 2 disciplines you will ever need to roll on is either Divination or Telepathy.

Divination is for ignoring cover (frees you an order), 4++, misfortune and prescience. Telepathy is for invisibility, shrouded, dominate and Shriek (seriously, that thing killed 7/10 marines with 1 shot and is capable of reducing a riptide crazy fast).

The thing is, however, IG psykers might be cheap, but they are not effective if that makes any sense. They still cost a lot if you want to hoard warp charges and bringing around 8-10 charges costs you other offensive units. Sure, those unit you have left will perform ever better due to psychic buffs but if you take out the psykers or damage the units, you're bummed. This is exactly the reason why I play GK/AM for my infantry army. The big advantage is that everything GK have bring me warp charges, but they are still effective units in their own right. Psyback transports and Psyflemen are excellent dakka, but they also bring 1 charge each for my psykers to spend. Like that I only ever need to run around 2 ML2 psyker to get my essential buffs and have 12+d6 warp charges to play with.

Another issue is that it is not safe for IG psykers to cast santic powers, which can be very handy against those 30 warp charge daemon lists.

 

Personally, I would either completely forgo psychic support or bring 1-2 psykers and 1 astropaths (3-5 charges) to get 1-2 divination buffs off and that occasional shriek and leave it at that (but even that can backfire against armies with have loads of charges because they can deny your stuff with a higher propability), unless you can bring warp charges that do not impact your ability to fight. Going for psychic supremacy or basing your strategy on majicks as pure IG will cost you too much firepower to be worth it, in my opinion.

[WarriorFish]

The changes are quite interesting but I've not had the chance to properly look into them in detail yet. We can get a lot of psykers which will be good for generating charges, but our uses for them is a bit limited. As mentioned the best uses for our psykers is casting buffs of some kind, Invisibility of course being very useful! My thinking at the moment is that if you want some real psychic punch you should ally someone in, otherwise our psykers are competent enough for some tricks but as Immer says our strength is in the soldiers and tanks of the Imperial Guard.

They are what bring victory, so too many points spent on psykers will dilute this but with some clever uses they could really multiply the effectiveness of your Guard units I hope those with more psyker experience can divulge their experiences here as I'm keen to get to grips with psykers this edition and no, not just because I'm still annoyed about the PBS changes

[CoffeeGrunt]

I want to try Misfortune and Prescience, then get a horde of Guard with FRF, SRF. T-L BS3 Guardsmen with Rending? Little will survive that!

 

Alternatively, cast Bring It Down and kill Riptides with Lasguns.

[Raulmichile]

Besides, having a presence in the psychic department is very cheap for us, so why not? Adding a Primaris and an Astropath in a list lets us have a decent go for relatively few points compared to other armies. As others have pointed out, our psykers are rather discrete but very economic.

[Emperors Immortals]

The interaction between Orders and Powers is the next thing im looking at, and with the stats DavidRavel posted I think it becomes clear Immerstrums tips of taking Divination/Telepathy is superior for AM.

 

For 210 pts I can get 5 psyker levels, though its clear AM only really need 3-4, so straight away its cheaper then my BA or Chaos armies, and more effective for support roles too.

 

I played my Malific Daemon list against a GK list last night and it was brutal! He was bringing (i think) 12 dice before the roll, and though I got off possession twice, it was only after I started wrecking his stuff. He just shut me down every turn, and could power through his own.

 

It seems my regular opponents will be GK and Tau, so im going for those BID lasguns!

 

 

Any tips you guys use regularly for boosting artillery? Im looking at buying a tleast some gun carriages/platforms - they just seem like such great value!

[David Ravel]

Platforms can take orders and psyhic, so 2 earthshaker with ignore cover and twinlinked is pretty good. 

[march10k]

Platforms can take orders and psyhic

 

Needs FAQed. Either give it to vehicles, or take it away from platforms. And why the $€ can't an officer issue an order to his own squad while inside a transport??!?

 

A single ML2 is all the IG need. Trying to be daemons, GK, or eldar is a fool's errand, but D6+2 warp charges allowed me to cast prescience reliably in spite of my opponent having 17+D6 charges to deny with. Planning to use one psychic power per turn is incredibly cost-effective...and remember that orders are kinda like psychic powers that can't be denied, so you can get by with zero psychers if you want...taking just one is actually an upgrade!

[Frater Cornelius]

I like how march10k put it. Trying to be GK is a folly. Actually having GK in the army is different. This is why allies are best if you insist on heavily upping you psychic game. Otherwise stick with orders and dem big gunz.