Necron tactics

[requizen]

 

You can't do the move and change with a 'lith or scythe because of the reinforcement rule as already mentioned.  You can, however, redeploy Zandrekh via the Deceiver and then have Obyron and an assault unit teleport, move, and charge.

 

Because the Praetorians don't have the <dynasty> faction keyword, they don't benefit from a Cryptek's 5++ save or RP bonus, and most OLs can't use MWBD on them.  Imotekh, Szeras, and Anrakyr's special rules don't specify a dynasty so they can be used on Praetorians and other dynastyless infantry.  The downside is that Anrakyr and Szeras don't have a dynasty keyword either, so special rules requiring a dynasty keyword can't be used on them.

 

Obyron's teleport is done at the end of the Movement Phase, so the unit he teleports still can't move. You can, however, get them very close and charge with them - if you drop Zahndrekh out of a portal 9" away, the unit that Obyron brings with will be 3" away from the enemy. MWBD on that unit (put it on them before they teleport) guarantees that charge, or even if you don't buff them you only fail on snake eyes (with a Command Reroll).

 

For the Praets, also remember that Szeras doesn't give out the 5++ so they can never have an Invuln save unless they're around a Gauss Pylon (which is dope) or a Void Shield Generator (which is only ok). I'm not sold on Praets - even though they're in essence a really good fast Close Combat unit, they suffer from a lot of downsides getting there and sticking in. 

[Seahawk]

Obyron drops a unit 1" away, not 3".

[requizen]

Obyron drops a unit 1" away, not 3".

If you're talking using Deciver, Monolith(/Night Scythe) and Obyron, it's 3".

 

Vehicle has to be set up 12" away

Zahndrekh gets out 3" - 9" away

Obyron and his unit have to all be within 6" of Zahndrekh.

 

In general yes, you can drop 1" away via the rule, but the specific situation we were discussing can not get that close.

[Seahawk]

Oh. Seems like an awfully wasteful way to get close when all you need is Obie.

[requizen]

I mean, Obyron does nothing by himself, and you can't really get Zahndrekh up the board any faster than him, so there's no real reason to bring the teleport unless you're doing some sort of shenanigan with it imo.

[Seahawk]

Right, which is it's only point.

 

Such as deep strike 20 flayed ones next to him, then bump them all to 1" away for a stupid easy turn 1 linebreak.

[requizen]

Right, which is it's only point.

 

Such as deep strike 20 flayed ones next to him, then bump them all to 1" away for a stupid easy turn 1 linebreak.

Ok, but, why? 

 

The only way to get 1" away on turn 1 is with Deciever, Zahndrekh, Obyron, a Ghost Ark, and the unit he's teleporting. In your instance, Flayed Ones.

 

So that's 1146 points to get a unit of Flayed Ones in on turn 1. Neat. And then... what? As soon as your opponent sees that coming they're going to just bubble wrap with expendible units or something that the Flayed Ones can't deal with like vehicles. Gimmick lists are only good for like the first two times you run it.

[Seahawk]

What???

 

No, you literally just need Obyron and Flayed Ones, nothing else.

 

Turn 1, port to 1" away. Charge and engage a large swath of units so they're either not shooting or busy for a few turns. I dunno about you, but I think 80 attacks needing 3's to 5's to wound with a reroll will hurt or kill most things turn 1.

[Emicus]

Because Obyrons Ghostwalk ability requires the teleported to land within 6" of Zahndrek as well as outside 1" of enemy units.

​So unless Zahndrek is magically across the table (say with a Deceiver..), you can't throw a unit of X across the table T1. 

[Seahawk]

I retract all suggestions. I've been reading it as referencing Obyron in the rules; I literally never read it as Nemesor Zahndrekh.

 

Going to go back to my cave and ponder on this.

[requizen]

Yeah it's definitely less exciting than it was in the previous edition. Flayed Ones dropping in 9" away aren't bad by themselves, I guess. A big unit is hard to kill in one go, but it's not impossible with the right army (lots of Heavy Flamers like Sisters, or mass fire from Guard/Tau for instance).

 

I think we're better off focusing on shooting for the time being. 

[Inquisitorsz]

Played my first 1000pt game a few nights ago against Blood Angels. I'm sure we made lots of mistakes and the armies weren't super strong or optimized. 
It was rather one sided (I ended up losing 2-3 Immortals and 4 Warriors all game). I was lucky with my reanimation rolls and some crucial armor saves on the Doom Scythe. 

 

Overall, Necrons seem super strong. The AP on almost all weapons (apart from Tesla) is great. Quantum Shielding is amazing and reanimation is borderline broken. The fact that you roll for all dead models each turn and can add +1 with crypteks and reroll with resurrection orbs is amazing. 
Stacking a few buffs can make a Lychguard unit practically invincible. 

Imagine a unit that has Toughness 5, 2 Wounds each, 3+ save, 4+ invulnerable save where any deaths come back on a 4+ with a reroll (which is 75% of the time). A 20 wound unit effectively becomes a 35 wound unit. (EDIT: I forgot the Orb only works once, but still just use it when there's 5 or more dead to get another few models back)
And you can't even pick out the characters providing the buffs because the Lychguard can take the wound instead on 2+. 
Admittedly that's a 621pt investment (or 550 without the 4+ invul) but good luck moving that unit from an objective. Oh and they are Ld10 so Morale is unlikely to affect them. 
The only way to kill them would be to surround the unit completely so that models can't be reanimated. 

Other than that.... I tested a Doom Scythe and Doomsday Ark. Immortals, Warriors and an Overlord. Large units are nice because they are much harder to wipe out. The resurrection orb is great, but it can be tricky to keep units within the buff bubble. Even only have 2 infantry units, I had to split up to grab objectives and react to threats. 
The Immortals are great at killing marines with AP-2 weapons. Rapid fire at close range is brutal (even for Overwatch). 
Doomsday Ark is nice but the weapon is pretty similar to the Death Ray on the Doom Scythe. Not being able to move and shoot hurts it a bit. The flier on the other hand was really cool. Hard to pin down, recovers wounds due to living metal and is both any armor and anti infantry/hoard. The 2 tesla weapons can cause lots of wounds and the death ray is a solid anti- armour weapon. 

 

A large blob of warriors is great at holding objectives and can still do solid damage, especially with rapid fire. I don't think I'd bother with melee outside of C'tan and Lychguard but they are both fairly expensive. Mass infantry with some heavy weapon vehicle support seems to be the way to go. 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Inquisitorsz

[Emicus]

​[Data assimilated]

[shandwen]

So having recently received a necron Lord, a few boxes of warriors, and a stalker what would be a good way to go from there?

A cryptek and another stalker?

A spider and the dakka flyer?

I see I'm a bit short on high strength shooting so I should probably look at the (few) strength 9&10 stuff, but what's the consensus so far?

[Emicus]

Nightscythe is pretty neat for 'throwing' a big warrior unit quickly up the field. It also has decent shooting and is super easy to assemble! You can even swap between night and doom just by not gluing the portal as the fit is really snug.

 

But I reckon you could do with some counter melee. Lychguard maybe?

 

For High strength shooting I dont think you can go wrong with a doomsday ark or heavy destroyers

[Seahawk]

Crypteks are essential for trolling your opponent, and heavy destroyers are always a good choice.

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

lol

 

Crypteks are essential for trolling your opponent, and heavy destroyers are always a good choice.

 

that statement is amusing.

[NTaW]

I've only played three games so far, but in those I've used a Night Scythe twice and a Doom Scythe once. The Doom Scythe has out-preformed the Night Scythe in every way so far, though maybe if I had a Monolith as well or other Night Scythes to prevent losing an extra unit to my enemy focusing the flyer down before I can teleport them in. Either way the death ray was a big hit for me. Coupled with a pair of Heavy Destroyers I had my anti-armour covered.

[Emicus]

Tesla Immortals + Overlord (My Will Be Done) = cheap and cheerful bucket of dice at 24" range.

 

30 hits have been pretty common for me vs roughly 16 for Gaussmortals with the same buff (mwbd), but bear in mind thats a 12" range difference w/ rapid fire and though you cant shale a stick at -2AP getting that close always makes me uncomfortable as even crons are likely to make a charge at those ranges.

​:c

[Seahawk]

20 tesla shots needing a 2+ to hit has an average result of 26 hits, so I'd say you're just extraordinarily lucky with them.

 

26 hits turns into 17 wounds, and against 3+ saves should result in 6 wounds.

 

Compared to gauss at the same range and dice needed, it's 4 wounds.

 

However, once you get into rapid fire range that increases to 8 wounds, where the Tesla efficiency doesn't change. Considering most games will now happen at very short ranges due to the speed of assault units, I'd pick the predictable Gauss over the Tesla.

[Prot]

I haven't played with or against Necrons in 8th yet.  I am considering re-booting the Crons for 8th or Ynarri/Eldar or whatever the heck they are now. (Just to get a Xenos vibe back in my rotation). 

 

Honestly the thing pulling me back is I've seen quite a few Necron batreps to get an over view and they seem incredibly strong... as in.... a very top tier army strong. Would you guys agree with this? Or am I seeing bad skew of games?

[Harrowmaster]

I think a shooting Necron army supported by crypteks and ghost arks will be very strong, melee not so much at all. It really depends on whether or not you choose to build an army that capitalises on the strength of the army list.

[NTaW]

I can definitely vouch for the durability and damage output of 20 model Warrior squads. They are pretty hard to focus fire out unless there's a fair amount of AP coming their way, and with a Cryptek nearby it's definitely troll-worthy. My buddy charged a unit of Warriors with 20+ Orks, I lost 12 models leaving 2. Next turn I rolled 18 dice for RP and 11 models came back thanks to the Cryptek nearby (had a ResOrb nearby as well just in case). Newly restored unit falls back in formation to block access to the rest of my army, rest of army in range obliterates Ork mob.

 

Immortals I think I'll keep using as gauss, though I will playtest them as tesla just to see how it works out. As it stands, the AP-2 is worth a lot more than rate of fire in my games. I love the look on Marine player's faces while they roll 5+ saves 

 

Just want to toss out that Scarabs have been great in my games so far. I play a unit of 8 bases and they are great harassment units that have the potential to do work on an enemy unit or two if they're not taken care of quick.

[Harrowmaster]

Scarabs have always been a good harassment unit IMO, now that instant death is gone they will hopefully perform even better.

[Seahawk]

Truly, scarabs got one of the biggest boosts in the army. They went from wounding T5+ on a 6, to wounding T5+ on a 5+, while also not suffering reduction in attacks but benefiting from a points drop.