Reavers - weapon loadout

[dansupvi]

Hi xenos fans

 

Any advice on reaver loadouts? 

 

Cluster Caltrops or a Grav Talon?

 

Heat lance or blaster?

 

Leaning towards blaster, but not sure on the caltrops or talon. 

 

Any help appreciated!

 

 

[olsol]

as they're so expensive I'm rocking mine with just cluster caltrops and thats it.

 

if you take the grav-talon you should sit back then charge into smaller damaged units to finish them off.

 

the caltrops is for getting stuck in and not caring about damage.

 

not sure about the heat lance or the blaster though. don't have any on my dudes... but would go for the blaster (they're cheaper anyway)

[Brother Aiwass]

Yeah, blaster all the way. More S and cheaper.

[Slips]

I'm partial to Running 6 man squads with 2 Heat Lances and both Clusters and Grav Talons.

 

Heat Lances might have S6 only but Ap-5 means the that nothing gets a save against it unless it has an Invuln and 2D6 pick the highest damage at 9" seems much more worth it to me vs a Blasters D3 due to Reavers always being a Danger Close unit.

[Brother Aiwass]

Well, 2 lances would do 0.44 wounds (not dmg) on a rhino, while two blasters would do 0.88.

 

Does mean, if I'm not wrong, that you only have 44% chance of doing 4+ dmg with heat lances and 88% of doing 2 dmg with blasters.

[Slips]

Imo:

 

Consistency: Blasters

 

Swingy Shenanigans and RNG: Heat Lances

 

The latter would be best for competitive play, the Former for pretty much anything else.

 

Also depends on what youre likely to see more or locally. If youve got Centurion Spam players, for example, I feel like Heat Lances have a better shot at straight up one shotting them since the "melta" rule applies to everything.

 

Additionally, also a decent thing to shoot at characters when able to since a bunch have 4+ wounds now.

 

Finally, just a general thing: since squad sergeants are free upgrades now, would you give them all Blast Pistols where possible and/or an Agonizer/Power Sword? Im partial to doing so myself.

[Brother Aiwass]

Actually I don't know how I feel about Reavers. The melta/blaster weapons would have been good for popping transports then assault the fleshy things inside, but it is unlikely to happen with the humble rhino (need to hit both, wound both and then do 10+ dmg).

 

They look good to finish damaged units, harassing and support CCW but nothing more (to me!).

 

As for general sarges, I'm going to keep'em naked (not in a Slaaneshi way if naked, if you know what I mean), but that's mostly because of points. If you go with Power Points them yes, blast pistols are awesome.

[Slips]

Yeah, Reavers feel more like a proper harassment unit since they have fly they can charge -> fall back -> shoot without issue which is probably what you want to do with them anyways due to how Grav Talons and Clusters work; ie Mortal Wounds on a 4+ when you Charge (Talon) and/or Fall Back (Caltrops).

 

A power sword / Agonizer being cheaper than a 7th ed Melta Bomb though, seems like a no-brainer to include so that you have some CC punch, with a personal preference for Agonizers since they're always wounding on a 4+

 

Blast Pistols being 2 Melta Bombs, sure, you can probably skip out on them but being able to use them in your next turns shooting phase while locked in CC seems pretty nifty to me since its basically a Power Fist attack without the -1 to hit.

 

If you wanted shooty-killy I'd probably go with Ravagers, Razorwings or Void Ravens. Scourges with 4 Dark Lancers aren't that bad either though they do get pricey.