Dark Angels questions

[General Strike]

Hello, I am a new player who owns Dark Vengeance, and was wondering what the strong suites of the Dark Angels are? Is a Deathwing/Ravenwing army viable together? Is plasma worth it? Is sacrificing access to the regular codex stuff worth while? I am currently building into an Iron Hands army, but I feel Dark Angels may be a good choice for my fluff.

[Brother Captain Arkley]

YAY a question I can answer...

 

We work better as a whole...  :) 

 

*whistles waiting for someone who plays* 

[Interrogator Stobz]

Welcome to the Rock Bother.

 

Under the current general rule-set our only real inefficiency are terminators. Ours are super cool but still too expensive and hard to deliver efficiently.

 

Ravenwing are very good, they have some really good shooting capability either Plasma or Grav is the accepted way to go.

 

Our generic Power armour dudes and vehicles have some good buffs with the various formations. Most of which suit bigger games or multiple units of the same sort etc. but some can be useful with little more than the DV set. 

 

Stobz

[SnakeChisler]

Iron hands are a nice change from Ultra's good lore and can be made very mech heavy

 

Dark Angels play differently even more so after the new codex, little things that just keep adding up giving some really interesting synergies between units

 

If you look at the Dark Talon with its nerf bomb the Shroud blocks overwatch + interomancy can mind worm MC's all help each other really stacking the combat odds for your black Knights.

The heroes are fearless & overwatch getting full BS really puts Greenwing on the map

[ValourousHeart]

Considering the game is based around stats of 3 (WS, BS, S, T, & I) and LD7, our basic marine stat line is one of our strongest features.

But from my experience the units that stand DA apart from the other SM Chapters is mostly our RW, although our Grim Resolve ability also plays into how different we play.

 

Ravenwing is a very strong component of our codex and is very powerful when combined with Deathwing.

A lot of players on this forum will say that Deathwing is our weakest forum... but most of that is based on the loss of the pure DW style army.

But other than the fact that DW can't play without the other elements of the codex, they are still very strong in their own right.

 

Ah yes, the old plasma question.  I believe the better idea to consider is should you go Minimum Squad Size with Maximum Upgrades (generally referred to as Min/Max) or should you go Maximum Squad Size with Minimum (or Strategic) Upgrades.

There are lots of people on this forum that have success with the Min/Max style... with RW this looks like 3 Bikes with 2 special weapons.

I however prefer to take at least 5 RW Bikes before I take any special weapons... feeling that the extra bodies are more important than the better guns.

 

Both styles work... it just depends on how you like to play.

 

About the stuff we didn't get...  Yes that would be nice... but what about the stuff we get that other codexes don't get?

Personally, there is nothing in the SM codex that I feel we are missing out on, and certainly nothing that I would trade for our exclusive units.

 

Fluff I feel is a personal preference.

For me it was the Sister of Battle fluff that drew me into this fantasy, and from there I latched onto the Dark Angels fluff.

I have tried several times to dive into other chapters fluff... but it just isn't the same and doesn't really grab me.

So go with what you like.

[Indefragable]

This is an outsider's perspective (I play Blood Angels, Imperial Guard, Inquisition, and White Scars) so take it as you will, but I feel it is worth considering:

 

-in my current escalation league, the lone Dark Angels player who has brought nothing but Deathwing Terminators and Deathwing Knights (its team based, so he can afford to start everything in reserve) has been the saving grace of the Imperial side. Deathwing gets a bad rap, but like any tool, the effectiveness is with the user. Deathwing Knights holding a relic have been extremely impressive in this league. 

 

-Deathwing p2: like most things in the game, if you oversaturate your opponent with something, you often gain the upperhand. Almost every semi-competitive or TAC army will have ways of dealing with 2+ saves. However, many lists have only so many options of dealing with them so if you prioritize your targets and unit exposure, having lots of Terminators can be very effective. 

 

-Ravenwing Black Knights and Command Squad are pound-for-pound one of the best units in all of wh40k right now. They have pretty much everything you could want in a unit: mobility, resiliency (T5, 3+ re-rollable jink?), offense (plasma talons + Rending hammers), and special rules (Hit&Run!!!!!! Scout). 

 

-As someone who both fights alongside and against Dark Angels, the single aspect that leaps to mind more than anything else is the Interomancy psyker discipline. That thing is just plain mean. Being able to neutralize the enemy's special snowflake is something that simply can not be overlooked. With my beloved Blood Angels, there are few things in the game I would hesitate to throw Commande Dante at....but a Dark Angels librarian who could permanently nerf him for the rest of the game with nothing but Deny the Witch to defend against it is one of them. 

 

-fellow Dark Angels players will better brief you on the benefits of Grim Resolve, but I can tell you again, from both being next to and against it, it is a tricky ability to master but devastating when used effectively

 

Hope some of this helps, for what it is worth

[ValourousHeart]

@ Indefragable,

 

Thank you for the outside perspective.  I feel that most people suffer from despair for their own situation, and fail to see the benefits they have.

 

As for our psychic abilities, I have heard a number of people in this forum complain that it is not reliable to get that nerf onto a key target like Dante.

But it is interesting to hear that just for the threat of that makes you question how to deal with it.

[Brother Dark]

Purely on the psychic angle, i would have to say that ive played every game with at least one lvl 2 libby with intteromancy. Ive not been disappointed yet. A combination of aversion and seed of fear is brutal against most armies, but against necrons its devistating (my sons army is necrons) hates it when i get this combo...lol

[Interrogator Stobz]

I'd really like to know more details of these Deathwing anecdotes. I have played them heavily over the last two years, both mixed and pure and they have consistently failed to perform. I do not play against fluffy lists, all my friends bring plenty of cheap AP1-2 or D or masses of fire and getting Deathwing into something useful is a real struggle. Holding a relic in my meta they would last one round.

They do all right when facing less competitive lists but what doesn't? It's not how they are played but what they face in the 7th Ed environment which is their weakness.

 

I'm sure we can all learn from some clarity on their use.

[o8oo Anarch]

I've found personally that the deathwing combo worse with green wing on acount of the fact, the moment they drop they are the biggest threat so get concentraited upon. Same for pure (or as pure as one can manage in 7th ed) for the same reasons. However as part of a nasty Ravenwing combo, your opponent has to choose, shoot the DW or fire at the BLK Knights, LSV, Melta/Grav bikers, MM attk Bikes...etc, gotta make your opponent more worried about the rest of your army.  I imagine the example DW heavy friend fairs well on acount of it being a team game and his partner providing juicy/scary targets?