The Burning Blade vs a Relic Blade

[Lord_Ikka]

What are everyone's thoughts on this: Is it worth it to take the Burning Blade over a Relic Blade?

[Blindhamster]

points cost is the obvious one, relic blade i 6x the cos iirc.

 

also, depends who your regular opponents are, and which character you put it on.

[Volt]

"What's your character doing?" Is the right question to ask. Is he trying to reliably put down chunky enemy heroes like Warbosses or Chaos Lords? Take a Burning Blade upgrade then. Is he being used to fight elite squads or just mess with the enemy's back lines, or just support troops with re-rolls on your frontline? Stick with a relic sword then.

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

Teeth of Terra is better than both if you put it on something like a Chapter Master.

[Lord_Ikka]

Main opponent is Tau, battlesuit heavy list (2x Riptides, Ghostkeel, etc...). I was thinking that the relic blade might be better to just whittle down the wounds that the battlesuits have.

[Jagus Kumkani]

I gave my Company Champion the Burning Blade and he wreaks havoc for my opponents characters.

[Shea]

Obviously 21 points over "free" makes the Burning Blade option better.  However, strength-wise they are the same at +2, relic blade outperforms at d3 damage.  But ask yourself is the -5 AP of the BB really going to make the difference in a fight?  What character/monster doesn't have a invul save?  Personally for the damage output I take the Relic Blade....and you can take more than one in an army.

 

And if all your troop is doing is going after mass infantry, Teeth of Terra wins.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Shea

[Freman Bloodglaive]

If you have a model who can only take a power sword (like Primaris) chuck the Burning Blade on them. If they have access to the armoury, take a relic blade (or a thunder hammer).

[SydonianDragoon404]

Freman makes a good point, I think on Captains a Thunderhammer is probably the better option. 

[Freman Bloodglaive]

My next Captain will be wearing Cataphractii armour, and rocking a thunder hammer and combi-plasma.

[Captain Idaho]

The Burning Blade is absolutely NOT for killing Terminators or characters. It only has 1 Duh which makes it fairly weak against these targets, not to mention most of these models have invulnerable saves.

 

Consider the -3 AP of the Relic Blade against Terminators - they have a 5+ invulnerable save so the Burning Blade is going to drop the save down to the same invulnerable!

 

You want that D3 damage of a Relic Blade.

 

If you only have a few points spare then a cheap power sword can be upgraded to the Burning Blade of course so it's a fair option. But the 1st time you get 3 wounds past a Terminator squad's invulnerable saves and then drop 3 Terminators instead of 1, you'll be thankful you took a Relic Blade.

 

Another reason to take the Relic Blade is the free Relic slot. Consider taking the Santic Halo, or Primarch's Wrath or whatever is your poison. You want your combat character to be taken care of already.

 

And then there's the Teeth of Terra... If your dude can have a chainsword then this is the weapon for you. Head and shoulders above the Burning Blade.

[Ishagu]

On a cheap character like a Primaris Lieutenant the Burning Blade is pretty awesome.

 

It depends on points and who's wielding it I suppose...

[Gothical]

 

I gave my Company Champion the Burning Blade and he wreaks havoc for my opponents characters.

 

I don't like that option because you're paying for the MC Sword before upgrading it, so I prefer the BB on a model with a standard (therefore cheaper) Power Sword. Still, with the S/AP combo along with the re-rolls I imagine he hits like a freight train.

 

If you have a model who can only take a power sword (like Primaris) chuck the Burning Blade on them. If they have access to the armoury, take a relic blade (or a thunder hammer).

 

This is good advice. At the moment my home for the Burning Blade is either on a Primaris Lieutenant and occasionally a Gravis Captain (not a big fan due to the reasoning above and often I will want a different relic, Santic Halo or Armour of Indomitus, but he already carries a Power Fist-type weapon to cover multi-wound foes so the BB effectively doesn't have a drawback here).

[Jagus Kumkani]

Okay, I see what you guys mean. I'll make some changes to my list then.

[Gulltramarine]

Burning blade is for blobs of standard infantry, use it in conjunction with the +1A warlord trait and you can hurt squads of non elite soldiers fairly handy. But the Teeth of Terra is a far superior weapon, grinds blobs, characters and elites and I have found that versatility is the most important thing in this edition Edited September 15, 2017 by Gulltramarine

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Teeth of Terra is the best free weapon in the game.

[Captain Idaho]

Yeah it's only a pity my Cataphractii Captain can't have a chainsword or he'd get it every game.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

I just used the resin bits to put together a Cataphractii Captain with combi-plasma and thunder hammer. Looking good.

 

I think the Centurions are slightly reminiscent of Cataphractii. Probably just the big shoulder pads.