Dealing With Culexus

[Reclusiarch Darius]

It's been a problem weighing on my mind for a while now. He's supremely good at not dying, he utterly ruins our preferred playstyle (shoot things then leverage our psychic powers to swing melee), and he's scarier than a Daemon Prince for any of our HQ's to take on. 

 

Are there any solutions beyond Allies? Etherium helps him a lot so besides something obvious like Stormhammers (who are good anyway), are there any suggestions about how to get around his forced Snap Shooting? Most template weapons seem to lack the hitting power to kill him. 

 

For opponents he's a very easy thing to add to their army. Tau and Necrons for example lost nothing from including him, as their game plans neither require psychic powers. Against us he'd be a supremely effective hard-counter to add, for example to shut down DK's or a Draigostar. Just park him next to some Riptides or Broadsides....urgh. 

 

Thoughts?

[jkhan43]

Personally I've been scared of the idea of someone taking this assassin in a game. I think it would simply require torrent shots from a dreadknight outside of his warp-charge absorbing bubble with a psilencer/ psycannon combo, or maybe a storm raven to shoot exclusively him with an ac and lascannon, hoping for hits from twin-linked. Each option is not particularly good to be honest, but letting anything near him is a bad plan I think.

 

Maybe some kind of allies who could swamp him with attacks in melee that aren't psykers, or something to tarpit him would work.

[jeffersonian000]

Fill him with Bolter fire, he dies to failed saves just like everyone else.

 

SJ

[Brom MKIV]

Ugh lost my whole post. Nutshell time..

 

There isn't a good way to deal with the culexus with pure GK. It takes 72 bolter shots to kill it fyi..

 

A prescienced gat with active force is probably the best bet because you really don't want to close with their firebase (I assume hes defensively deployed for the armies above) until its dead otherwise you power up his gun while shutting down your psych phase. In a marine army it will likely be delivered via DP and used more offensively due to the nature of those armies. This is slightly easier to deal with since we can bubble wrap bait poor deployment then move/shunt away.

 

The good news is it takes a source so if your using a 2 source limit like most then taking one severely limits their armies options, making it rather rare. I have an opponent who is bringing one with his SW for an upcoming game (DP or airwolf delivery options). I'll let you know how it impacts me. 

 

Bottom line to me though, the presence of a culexus = allies time. 

[Lucien Eilam]

12 Prescient psilencer shots (i.e. one gatling or two regular) with Force activated has a pretty good chance of killing him - he does nothing to psychic powers outside 12" unless they target him.

 

Plenty to go wrong in getting that lined up, obviously, but you're presumably taking Librarians and Dreadknights anyway.

 

I took two wounds off one once with 10 Interceptors w/ 2x incinerators in combat squads (not reliable, but not unlikely either). He then died when my opponent shot the Rhino I'd used to block his line of sight and he got caught in the explosion. So you could maybe try parking all your vehicles next to him and crossing your fingers.

 

Fill him with Bolter fire, he dies to failed saves just like everyone else.

 

 

3 wounds, 6 wounding hits, 12 hits = 72 shots. That's a lot for most Grey Knights armies to muster on an infiltrating, move through cover target, and it's not like he's expensive either.

[jeffersonian000]

Actually, it only takes 3 hits, which can be earlier or later, but those 3 hits are all you need. Statistics are great, yet it does not actually take 72 shots to kill a Culexus (could be 3, could 300).

 

SJ

[Everon]

Thunder blitz with a vehicle, walker or dreadknight? Also d3 incernerators isnt a bad thing either. Wounds on 2s and only a 4+ invul save

[Gaz1858]

While a tough counter to us i dont see him being any different to how people are planning on dealing with fliers when they dont have AA. 6s to hit same as fliers although much easier to cause a wound as only T4. If you do happen to have a raven then that could be quite good with the rerolls.

 

Difficult but not impossible

[Brom MKIV]

Actually, it only takes 3 hits, which can be earlier or later, but those 3 hits are all you need. Statistics are great, yet it does not actually take 72 shots to kill a Culexus (could be 3, could 300).

 

SJ

While it is technically true it could only take 3 hits its also highly unlikely, although it is a dice game after all so I'm sure somewhere at some point it will happen. I've lost dreadknights the same way Lolz.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Gatling psilencer seems to be the best option. The forced 'Snap Shots' is really annoying though, I'll need 'Prescience' and 'Force' up. 

 

Regarding Allies, any good options? Non-psykers hit him normally in melee. 

[Gaz1858]

Any weapons that dont roll to hit. Even blast weapons aint bad as you can still roll a hit. I think your list had a few NDKs Darius? If so heavy incinerator him from beyond the 12" aoe. If you have interceptors then same thing.

 

Allies are the same deal, any fast moving template or a fair amount of blasts

[Lucien Eilam]

With 3 wounds and a 4++, it'll take an average of 7-8 shots with incinerators alone. A single gatling psilencer with re-rolls and Force has a good chance of killing him with one volley.

[lt051]

Out of curiosity, was it FAQ'ed somewhere that force affects the culexus? I assumed that would count as being "affected by psychic powers" for psychic abomination.

[Gaz1858]

The assassin isnt affected by the power the weapon itself is.

 

For incinerators dont forget soul blaze

[Brom MKIV]

For allies imperial knights will dust a culexus pretty quickly. Or for a more, heretical approach there's always Khârn..

[Captain Coolpants]

Force effects the weapon, not the enemy, as force grants the weapon the instant death rule, and the instant death rule in itself isn't a psychic power :-P

But if you want allied options, then any kind of 'blob' would do it, or hamminators (they solve everything)

 

Or you could use jump infantry or bikes, and just Hanmer of wrath it to death haha

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Thing is, you don't want protracted combat against him. He strikes first and hits like a freight train, he'll rip anything without strong invul saves apart in like 2 combats. 

 

I think gatling psilencer+'Force' looks like the plan. I always already planning on taking two for Daemon lists, and for SeerStar and CenturionStar (the Tigerius version). It's also pretty solid at killing Tyranid MC's like Tervigons and Exocrines. Pyscannons don't have good odds, but a single failed save against the gat is a dead monster. 

[EnterRehab]

negate this question.

[Rurik the blessed]

Kill him with an Eversor? or Snipe it with a Vindicare! haha

[jeffersonian000]

10 Interceptors have sn excellent chance to kill a Culexus in one turn via Incinerstor templates and Hammer of Wrath. If they can knock 1 wound off in Shooting, the HoW should kill the Culexus before he swings.

 

SJ

[Lucien Eilam]

Kill him with an Eversor? or Snipe it with a Vindicare! haha

Etherium makes them both pretty hopeless, but especially the Vindicare. An Eversor might get away with it by sheer weight of attacks, but the Culexus only has to roll one 6 to spoil his day.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

10 Interceptors have sn excellent chance to kill a Culexus in one turn via Incinerstor templates and Hammer of Wrath. If they can knock 1 wound off in Shooting, the HoW should kill the Culexus before he swings.

 

Well I dunno. He has a 4+ invul and a 6+ FNP, and three T4 wounds. It would be a close run thing, and if you don't kill him on the charge (given not all the Interceptors will be in melee range, because its a 10-man squad fighting a lone model), he'll rip them to shreds. I'd prefer to avoid engaging him in melee. 

[Lucien Eilam]

Culexus doesn't have Feel No Pain. The Eversor does (on a 5+).

 

It's still close though. 8 storm bolters and 2 incinerators averages 1.5 wounds. If you can get the maximum 6 models in base contact on the charge for the Hammer of Wrath, that's another 1.5. So yeah, it should be enough, just. You could master-craft the Justicar's storm bolter to tip it a little farther.

 

But that's with a full squad and a good roll for charge distance.

 

You can't shunt and charge, so against a canny opponent you'll rarely get the opportunity to both shoot and assault without getting shot at least once. He won't fancy the Wall of Death, but one round of Animus Speculum plus a psyk-out grenade with a table full of Grey Knights will be more than enough to cripple that plan.

 

Stick with psilencers.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Culexus doesn't have Feel No Pain. The Eversor does (on a 5+).

 

Oh yeah, I forgot they took away synthskin from all of them. 

It's still close though. 8 storm bolters and 2 incinerators averages 1.5 wounds. If you can get the maximum 6 models in base contact on the charge for the Hammer of Wrath, that's another 1.5. So yeah, it should be enough, just. You could master-craft the Justicar's storm bolter to tip it a little farther.

 

But that's with a full squad and a good roll for charge distance.

 

You can't shunt and charge, so against a canny opponent you'll rarely get the opportunity to both shoot and assault without getting shot at least once. He won't fancy the Wall of Death, but one round of Animus Speculum plus a psyk-out grenade with a table full of Grey Knights will be more than enough to cripple that plan.

 

Stick with psilencers.

 

Yeah I think I will. Outside of Allies, I don't wanna risk melee combat against him as that's kinda playing into the Culexus's hands. He wants people to come at him.