Devestator loadouts?

[DarkAngeal]

What do you recommend for your devestator squads? With full BS Overwatch, they have a potential to impact the game more than ever before in a lion's blade. I have been running 4xmissile launchers with Flakk. I don't feel like plasma cannons are viable since they are giving up overwatch. Are heavy bolters any good? Are grav cannons overpriced?

[eurieus]

I think podded grav devastator are very strong in unit of ten. For long range I would go either missile launcher or lascanon. Plasma is good for long range as well, if your backfield devs are getting charged, then something is going wrong

[DarkAngeal]

Well, mine were being harassed by two flying daemon princes :P that is another good question, though. Is it worth putting 10 devs in the unit, or is 5 enough?

[Caldria]

I'd say go with a unit of 8-10 if you're podding them - They're gonna be in the thick of things so need the extra bodies, and if they're assaulted the extra overwatch bolter shots and attacks in close combat arent too bad.

I've actually have some pretty decent success with a unit of 8 with 3 grav cannons in a pod, accompanied by a company master with arti armour/stormshield and FnP relic - He tanked well enough for the unit and they certainly made their mark on the game. They were eventually assaulted in turn 3 and wiped out a medium sized 3+ armoured unit through overwatch. Was great.

There are actually a few ways you could run podded grav devs though - all dependant on the unit size, sarge loadouts, added characters and their loadouts and potential other support (more drop pods, deep striking termies etc) But I would definitely go with the larger unit size of podding.

Otherwise I keep it simple with long range devs - just give em 4 missile launchers, sit them in a ruin and give assistance where needed, pretty versatile little unit (I usually keep this unit to 5 models)

[Father Mehman]

I go with a ten man squad for a two reasons. The bolter marines can be used as ablative wounds for the Heavy Weapons. I can't believe I just said that a marine can be armour. Emperor, they're Space Marines not Guardsmen. Anyway, the bolter marines can also be used if that enemy unit does get the jump on you to Overwatch them to death, hopefully.

 

I've never Drop Podded a Devastator Squad but I would go with a ten man unit for the same reasons.

[eurieus]

It depends for the squad size, if you have points to spare, its good to have a few wound in your squad, I had my devs destroyed by flyrant and other kind of high volume shooting too often

[SvenONE]

The cool thing about Devs is that you can really gear them however you need them to be.

 

 

Lascannon is your long range static AV, while Multi-Meltas are your short-range AV.

Heavy Bolter are medium-long range anti-horde

Heavy Flamer is are short anti-horde  (edited: this doesn't exist)

Grav-Amps are short-medium anti-horde

And Missile Launchers are ok anti-horde and ok AV.

Plasma Cannon is short-medium AP2 anti-horde.

 

I think your views on the PCs are pretty on point.  Plasma is problematic because of it's blast restriction, not to mention Get's Hot.  Heavy Bolters I think will make a little bit of a comeback because we now have access to Grav on other units like Sarges and tacticals.

 

The biggest reason I think you'd want to invest in at least one Grav-Cannon is because of the Signum.  Having 5 AP2 shots at BS5 is pretty mean, if your positioning and sequencing of turns is right, you're going to do some damage, probably getting 2 volleys and an overwatch (15 total grav cannon shots) on a squad, 10 of which are at BS5 (only because I think the signum only applies in shooting phase).

 

I have 2 full dev squads of 4x Las and 4x PCs, and 1 of 2x ML and 2x MM.

 

But I'm intending on modelling out a 3x Heavy Bolter and 1 Grav Cannon and with the advent of the lion's blade and the very in-your-face action.

[Father Mehman]

Our Devastators can take Heavy Flamers? Where's that located?

[SvenONE]

Our Devastators can take Heavy Flamers? Where's that located?

 

We can't! no idea where I read that, but I had that in my head for the last few weeks.  

 

Good catch to keep me honest. (another reason I hate these new codex layouts).

[Father Mehman]

No problem, brother. Trust me, it happens to me all the time !

Ah, but are we talking about the squad's load-out? I feel that I missed the spirit of the conversation with the above post. I shall rectify presently.

What Sven has said is 100% accurate on the concepts of each Heavy Weapon. To add on to what he said, I believe in the Heavy Bolter. Always have. Think about it like this: you can have 3 S 5 AP4 shots at BS 5 against the flank or rear of a tank and make most of them go boom. The Imperial Guard got you down? Chug Chug Chug! Inferior xenos technology giving you the 'ol one-two? Chug Chug Chug! I digress.

For the Heavy Bolter, I'd say go with two if you feel like you're going up against a horde and also bring a Grav-cannon. In case you need to move about, the Grav-cannon can give you three shots at 12". Boost it with the Signum to BS 5 and, hopefully, the five bolter marines you brought, along with whatever the Sergeant is armed with, will kill most threats. There's something not touched upon: the Sergeant's load-out.

If you're putting your Devastators in the backfield there is really no reason to bring a pistol. That's my personal belief. You don't need an extra attack and nothing is going to be coming within 12" so that limits you in the handgun department. If you expect something will get through to your squad, bring a Combi-weapon. Whatever can get back there to you is probably either going to be very big or very small; something you'll either notice or will forget about. The One Shot Wonder, as I call it, should be comparable to who you play against the most. Let's break them down because I love making lists and you love reading them :

Flamer: Think you're going to get charged? Spew some holy promethium on them and see how they run! Great against hordes and also against anything with weak armour.

Melta: The third in the Holy Trinity of Bolter, Flamer, and Melta, this weapon will put them on their rears. Go ask any Sister of Battle and she'll tell you about the virtues of melta against tanks and monsters, alike.

Plasma: Want to harness the power of a star in your hands? Look no further! While being able to shoot a full 24", this reactor can shoot twice at 12"! Good things do come in small packages.

Grav: A good equalizer on the field of battle, squish your opponent inside his armour. Caution: it may be addicting to see the wreck you'll cause!

The Combi-weapons have great synergy with their counterparts, for the most part. Don't be afraid to load a squad with a Multi-melta and a Combi-melta or a Combi-Grav with a Grav-cannon. Just remember: you only get one chance to use this thing. Be like a certain famous smuggler in a galaxy far, far away and shoot first !

The other option for the Sergeant is a Storm Bolter. Since you're in the backfield anyway, you'll not miss that extra attack a pistol bestows. If you need to really reach out and touch somebody, this is the weapon for you.

Hope this helps someone!

[FarFromSam]

2 grav cannons in a free rhino pushing up mid as a pillbox. Semi cheap, highly effective and can be filled out to tank wounds

[Elios Harg]

I am a fan of doing ten devs with 4 grav cannons and combat squadding with 2 in each unit in a Rhino. Get into position then disembark one unit then move on with the other.

[templarphoenix]

10men with 4 missiles, with the option to take flakk.

Doing this because I have lots of missiles, tactical squad box have 1, vet squad box give another....

[SnakeChisler]

Missiles work best on Speeders

 

With all the big killy stuff knocking around I stick to 2 Las in a Rhino

 

Grav works best in tactical squads in a Rhino

 

Drop pods with Grav tend to work once before your opponent wises up and there is so much cover around these days there open to getting nuked

 

Think of overwatch boosted BS as a nice buff I wouldn't plan round it

[WellSpokenMan]

Plasma Cannons are OK on Devs that are firing out of a Rhino hatch.  I agree with Snake about Grav.  I like it better in a Tac squad than on Devs.  Missiles are versatile.  Lascannons are strong but expensive.  Heavy Bolters are cheap, but then they're Heavy Bolters. Multi-Meltas are better used by other platforms. I plan on running my Devs as 5 marines in (Free) Rhinos and kitting one with 4 MLs and one with 2 HBs and either 2 PCs or 2 LCs.  If you are running them in backfield, then I'd bring some bolter marines along and run LCs or MLs and use your range to it's full advantage. 

 

IMO, Flakk missiles are terrible.  Spend those points on something else. 

/my $.02

[march10k]

I've been running 10 devastators with 4 lascannons since 3rd edition, they've never disappointed me.  I would never consider taking fewer than ten men on the squad, they need the ablative wounds!  With that much firepower in the unit, it's going  to eat fire...

[HandofAnubis]

Our Devastators can take Heavy Flamers? Where's that located?

 

 They sure can! They are just called DW lol! Wish the Devs could take heavy flamers.

[One_happy_hippy]

I'm soon to be building my Devs for the Lions Blade Fm that I pretty much bought the balance of on mass.

 

I was intending on using them as a drop podded 10man with 2x Grav 2 x Melta and just drop them in the midst.

 

I was intending to run the three Tac's in the Lions Blade as 5man squads, 2 with las and 1 with missile launcher as one shot per turn anti armour units.

 

I haven't played since 3rd ed in about '95 so it's all changed. Opponents will be Eldar and IG predominantly witg the main games being Apoc with other marine / chaos players.

 

Does the above sound sensible?

[Caldria]

One of the primary reasons I never used to be a big fan of Devastators in general (and the same reason I never took heavies in Tac Squads) was because, unless you are sitting still, you will very rarely achieve much with those heavies having to snapfire all the time (with the plasma cannon not even being able to fire at all)

This all changed with grav though. If you're planning on having your devs up close or on the move I feel like Grav is the best choice, being able to fire 3 non snapfiring grav shots on the move is fantastic. 

and if I ever take a heavy on tacs it'll now be the grav cannon.

That said, I dont only use Grav devs - they're just my big meaty Dev unit. If I take others, they'll be min size with lascannons or missile launchers in the backfield. They've worked well for space marines over the years, so that hasn't changed. (just wasn't a big fan of them, I still am not really a fan as I much prefer mobile lists)

Your idea is sensible though, just not sure I'd run 2 grav and 2 MMs. The 2 MMs will likely not do much the turn they drop. you're counting on a 6 for both of them - but the turn after they drop, they're great - multi-meltas are still the best weapons to take down armour with, though I'll leave them for my attack bikes who are faster and relentless so they can get into melta range easier and fire at full BS.

If you're dead set on having melta in that unit, maybe go with 3 grav and a single melta which you can use the sergeant's signum on every turn. (Kinda like the 3 missiles 1 lascannon loadout we've seen before, using the signum on the las)

Both are versatile loadouts, that have a mass of decent quality shots and a single really powerful shot.

Also remember that, you're gonna be in the thick of it as you said, being in a drop pod and all. So it's likely that you'll either be shot to death ofc (which you can do nothing about other than good placement and having those extra bodies) or you'll be assaulted the next turn. With our awesome BS 3 or 4 overwatch, the extra shots from the Gravcannons - which will be firing at full effect here (5 shots to the multi-melta's 1) - will serve you so much better.

Anyway, hope I helped in some way - I've really come to love my drop pod Grav Devs ever since we got them. They aren't exactly a cheap unit though. I've been using only 3 Gravcannons in sub 1750 games.