Unit of the Week: Librarian Dreadnought

[Are Verlo]

+1 to what sfPanzer said.

I’ve used the libby in tournaments and he often died, but that was as a part of a trade.

Ofc now and then he gets taken out by good play, most often as a trade in game.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I’m going to give him a try this weekend. :) Eldar and dark eldar have some flyers that are very fast like the Hemock and Voidraven so you have to be careful versus them.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I am thinking he is not really worth it now versus Mephiston - 3+ Sv vs 2+ Sv, only knows 2 psy powers vs 3.

[CaptainHelion]

T7 vs T5 is pretty good, as is the extra wounds, but the psychic powers thing is a pretty fair point. 

[Majkhel]

I'll cite Unseen's post from BA Today thread:
 

Just realized, my gut instinct on Mephiston going up in price being a mistake was correct.
He's more expensive than a Librarian Dread.
Like, almost 20 pts more expensive.

He knows 1 extra power, has 1 extra attack, and a 2+ save/5+++, while the Libby dread has much better weapon (same str and ap, but flat 3 damage compared to d3), T7 over T5, and 3 extra wounds.

I'd say their pretty similar in durability, as the increased save and 5+++ is probably worth about the same as 3 extra wounds, as T5 and T7 are very similar except against Str 5 and 6, but the dread is just straight better offensively.

The lose of 1 attack is more than made up for by flat 3 damage, a better ranged weapon, and access to the wisdom of the Ancients strat so the dread can reroll it's own 1s to hit for 1 CP.
Since they can both use quickening (and will be) and possibly red rampage, losing 1 base attack is significantly less important than that weapon hitting hard.

I guess Mephiston is easier to hide? But their both characters.

Seems they over did it here.
As I'd take a libby dread with a heavy flamer over Mephiston most of the time, and it's cheaper than he is by a few points.

I agree very much with what Unseen said, however I tend to think Mephiston just a tad more durable due to the 5+++. But the sheer destructive output of the Libby Dread is unquestionable flat 3 damage is massive and moves it close to the Jump/TH Captain, while still hitting on 2+
 

Bare-bones Libby Dread (with Storm Bolter) is now 18 pts cheaper (so additional Company Veteran with a Storm Shield and Storm Bolter to screen him perhaps?)
The Melta/HF version is still 6pts cheaper. 

Another thing to mention is that Libby Dread is has bigger base and is not INFANTRY, so possibly in the right conditions it can lock down targets like Knights or super-heavies (cause you can tri-lock a Knight with a Dreadnought, a Rhino and a hovering StormRaven if you have to)

The extra power in practice means Smite, so additional D3 mortal wounds on something you do not always get to choose. The other 2 necessary you cast almost always are: Wings and Quickening on yourself. So this part is not hindered.

The one thing that irks me is that Libby dread still needs to pay for the Furioso Fist although it never really uses it :/

[Ornithologist]

I'm actually not very irked by the Furioso Fist. Since the Force Halberd is Free, You could really just split the cost of the fist in half and call it good. I would almost argue that they costed it at zero on purpose to stack against the fist price. 

 

Still, This means next year I can maybe put the one I'm buiding into the feast of blades.