Leviathan Siege Dread tactics

[Hellex_The_Thanatar]

anybody recently used gunslinging leviathans at all? is it ever worth not having a claw/drill?

Yes. Arguably if you have a Levi equipped full dakka he is STILL a threat to most tanks as he inflicts multiple hammer of wraths and still hits at str8. Great for hunting say medusa and whirlwind which are those back field units that people tend not to have a lot of support near due to their range. So drop a dakka dread in back shoot the hell out of tanks and then proceed to continue your dakka in the opponents backlines.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

The Levi is so good in melee. I would never run one pure shooty.

[ashc]

I love everything about leviathans, the look and what they can do. Which legions run them really well?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Blood Angels do since they can take assault cannons.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Sure blood angels leviathans have a bit more firepower from assault cannons, but literally any legion can run them well considering what a wrecking ball of destruction a leviathan is regardless of legion tactics.  A better question would be what sort of rites do leviathans fit into best. They certainly work very well in any sort of drop pod oriented list that has limited access to heavy support, since leviathans can pack a lot of firepower and still drop in a pod. Also worth mentioning is leviathans in the ironfire rite for DA, tank hunter melta lance leviathan is pretty nasty. 

[Withershadow]

Alpha Legion with Dynat for AP0 chainfist and melta.

[Purge the Daemon]

Sure blood angels leviathans have a bit more firepower from assault cannons, but literally any legion can run them well considering what a wrecking ball of destruction a leviathan is regardless of legion tactics. A better question would be what sort of rites do leviathans fit into best. They certainly work very well in any sort of drop pod oriented list that has limited access to heavy support, since leviathans can pack a lot of firepower and still drop in a pod. Also worth mentioning is leviathans in the ironfire rite for DA, tank hunter melta lance leviathan is pretty nasty.

Drop Pod assaults work well and so do armoured walls. They are the biggest meanest distraction carnifex so if you drop them behind the enemy gun line it allows the rest of your armour to advance unimpeded.

[ashc]

 

Sure blood angels leviathans have a bit more firepower from assault cannons, but literally any legion can run them well considering what a wrecking ball of destruction a leviathan is regardless of legion tactics. A better question would be what sort of rites do leviathans fit into best. They certainly work very well in any sort of drop pod oriented list that has limited access to heavy support, since leviathans can pack a lot of firepower and still drop in a pod. Also worth mentioning is leviathans in the ironfire rite for DA, tank hunter melta lance leviathan is pretty nasty.

Drop Pod assaults work well and so do armoured walls. They are the biggest meanest distraction carnifex so if you drop them behind the enemy gun line it allows the rest of your armour to advance unimpeded.

Now that is the sort of tactic that really gets me excited!

[Withershadow]

Drop Pods are basically mandatory regardless of what version you are running. Outflanking is a proposition for the dakka variant, but I usually like 335-point models to not wait on reserves.

 

There are three solid builds for the Leviathan that I like, and they all come with phosphex dischargers, ceramite and volkite calivers. In order of preference:

 

1. Tank Hunter - chainfist, melta lance; double the anti-elite volley of the above with double the melta shots, and also quite good if you need a particular vehicle destroyed when you first arrive.

 

2. Melee Mauler - chain-fist claw; melee wrecking machine, can deal with armor or multi-wound models with great effect. Phosphex+2 meltaguns+2 calivers makes for a nice volley at elite infantry when dropping in, but the weakness of this dread is if it kills everything nearby, it may take a while before it's back in the fight and contributing more than some volkite shots.

 

3. Deathblossom - volkite/assault cannons, double storm-cannon; I initially denigrated this option as wasting the melee potential of this beast, and while that may be more or less true, you put out an outrageous amount of firepower when doubling up on the storm cannons (you deal 3.3 hull points to non-shielded AV14 on average, anything below that just dies!).   The blood angels do it best, because it's either S6 rending or S7, so you are threatening vehicles up to AV14 with all 20 of your shots. 

 

I am not sure about the grav flux.

[Lord Asvaldir]

I'd often rather have the grav flux over the storm cannons, that gun justo completely deletes really irritating units like rapiers, and if your leviathan is coming down in a pod there's little your opponent can do about that. I usually take grav flux/claw or fist if my anti tank firepower is already covered.

[1ncarnadine]

3. Deathblossom - volkite/assault cannons, double storm-cannon; I initially denigrated this option as wasting the melee potential of this beast, and while that may be more or less true, you put out an outrageous amount of firepower when doubling up on the storm cannons (you deal 3.3 hull points to non-shielded AV14 on average, anything below that just dies!).   The blood angels do it best, because it's either S6 rending or S7, so you are threatening vehicles up to AV14 with all 20 of your shots. 

 

I might be missing something, but doesn't the Leviathan Storm Cannon only have S7 Sunder? I'm pretty sure two cannons, firing 12 times, only deal ~3 glances to AV13 on average, with the Sunder re-roll. Did you confuse Sunder with Armourbane?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

It's the ultimate autocannon.

[RandomMarine]

Try killing a IH leviathan in a hotg list with ferrus in it my last opponent didn't :)

[m0nolith]

Anybody try footslogging multiple Levis?

Nobody can deny the effectiveness of them owing podded in, but what about saving the points and having them move up?

[LtDan]

I'm sure a talon would be able to walk up the field. Tho would attach a hell of alot of firepower lol

[helterskelter]

In a talons I'd do a dual ranged, dual cc and one with something of each. If you're feeling particularly vile towards something that day I'd give all the melta equipment possible. I see your knight and raise you a pile of slag.

The way most boards are set up there's only about 18 inches between you and the opponent anyway if you're actually out for a fight.

 

Though for a horde army and having all the magnets you could go dakkastorm and arm all 3 with twin storm cannon and volkite, with phosphex for anyone who wants to get close.

[Daimhin]

I'm currently finalising my list (3k Orbital Assault) and looking at finishing it off with a Leviathan in a pod. 

 

My plan is to slam my Leviathan (Siege Drill & Siege Claw) in the middle of my opponents battle line.

 

Given this, what are people's views on a Dreadnaught Drop pod vs Kharybdis Assault Claw?

[Lord Asvaldir]

I can't imagine ever using a Kharybdis for a leviathan, it's just too expensive. You're already paying 300 or so pts for the leviathan plus upgrades, and you want to nearly double its price for the drop pod? Stick to the DDP every time, saving the pts is definetly worth it. The extra versatility from the Khadrybdis just isn't worth the price difference. 

[LtDan]

Don't see the point on the kyary?. Waste of points. Maybe a sneaky melta lance to pop something when you land?

[Daimhin]

The point of using one is twofold:

 

(1) It makes the Leviathan very likely to survive the onslaught of incoming fire on the turn you drop it directly into your opponents battle line

(2) In turn 2 the pod can fly into position prior to the Leviathan assaulting out of it, more or less ensuring you get to charge your target of choice

 

I'm not saying that it's an amazing choice - it's clearly an expensive option! - but there are definite pros to it.

 

But thanks for the input - that's what I asked for! 

[LtDan]

I'd think the dreadpod would add enough protection for it considering how tough the Lev is anyway. You do have a point about extra movement tho. Just personally don't think the points are worth it. I'd save a kary for a command squad or term squad etc