Kill Shot Predators Tips and Help

[Lucky_Lee]

I'm currently building a double battalion of Thousand Sons. I'm about to purchase 3 predators for my army, at the moment they will be the sole Monster/Vehicle hunters.

 

How good is the Kill Shot Stratagem? 

 

What are the optimal configurations?

 

If any of you guys have experiences using it I would love to hear from you.

[Raven1]

Ok so if you are going for optimal, i would run the helverins with the autocannons. They are better for the points.

 

I used to run triple pred. Auto/lascannon predators and they really under perform for their points. I would get the strategem off maybe once or twice a game because once your opponent takes out one or locks ut in combat then your out of luck Maybe with CA2018 but im not sure my version got changed. I feel vehicles are a bit of a liability this edition.

 

If you are going for theme over viability by all means go ahead, but if want something optimized there are more viable alternatives. Triple demon princes would do better anti-tank.

[Are Verlo]

+1 to what Raven1 said.

If you can afford it FW has some decent options.

Chaos contemptors or Levi dreads can do good.

[Lucky_Lee]

Ok so if you are going for optimal, i would run the helverins with the autocannons. They are better for the points.

I used to run triple pred. Auto/lascannon predators and they really under perform for their points. I would get the strategem off maybe once or twice a game because once your opponent takes out one or locks ut in combat then your out of luck Maybe with CA2018 but im not sure my version got changed. I feel vehicles are a bit of a liability this edition.

If you are going for theme over viability by all means go ahead, but if want something optimized there are more viable alternatives. Triple demon princes would do better anti-tank.

So having an exalted sorcerer chilling with the preds couldn't tip the edge in their favor? Rerolling 1s then having use of prescience/temporal manipulation/glammer/weaver of fates?

[The Yncarne]

So having an exalted sorcerer chilling with the preds couldn't tip the edge in their favor? Rerolling 1s then having use of prescience/temporal manipulation/glammer/weaver of fates?

Nope. You’re just spending more points for minimal benefit - saddling an exalted sorcerer with babysitting duties, and subjecting yourself to possible wounds on the sorcerer when the preds are reduced to zero wounds.

 

Personally, I think the best way to take care of vehicles and monsters is mortal wound spam followed up with a prince with darmonic strength and/or claws. If I played in a competitive meta, I’d pull out my pair of helverins.

[Tokugawa]

 

Ok so if you are going for optimal, i would run the helverins with the autocannons. They are better for the points.

I used to run triple pred. Auto/lascannon predators and they really under perform for their points. I would get the strategem off maybe once or twice a game because once your opponent takes out one or locks ut in combat then your out of luck Maybe with CA2018 but im not sure my version got changed. I feel vehicles are a bit of a liability this edition.

If you are going for theme over viability by all means go ahead, but if want something optimized there are more viable alternatives. Triple demon princes would do better anti-tank.

So having an exalted sorcerer chilling with the preds couldn't tip the edge in their favor? Rerolling 1s then having use of prescience/temporal manipulation/glammer/weaver of fates?

Enemy pop one predator, then no Killshot strategem available. Then you have 2 subpar tanks left.

 

Who can't kill 1 predator in turn1? Almost every competitive army can do that. Some don't(maybe pure hordes list), but they also don't care about lascannons at all.

 

So it became a gamble: if

1) You go first,

2) Opponent have high-value targets which are vehicle or monster,

3) These targets start on the battlefield, not deepstriking.

 

then, killshot preds are super awesome.How about the success rate?

[Panzer]

If you want to use Killshot you don't go with Lascannons anyway. The Pred Autocannons would be the way to go in that case.

However that doesn't change the problems already listed. It's fairly easy for the opponent to remove one Predator so you can't use the Stratagem anymore and Predators itself, while probably the best tank available to Astartes, aren't that great when compared to other tanks like Leman Russ & Co.

[Marshlands]

I'd suggest you'd be better looking at Daemonforge on a fiend or defiler. Secondary to that fire frenzy, although personally I don't tend to go this way as the limitation of targeting closest enemy shuts down it's effectiveness too much.

 

For all of the reasons listed above whereas Daemonforge only needs 1 vehicle.

 

With CA2018 there's some significant discounts. I've started using a defiler again and as well as okay shooting (with strat) theyre a massive close combat threat.

 

Also invulns + synergy with daemon powers like flickering flame and the changling

 

If you really want a competitive build was suggested above smite + DPs is the way to go

[Raven1]

When i ran them i baby sat them with an exalted sorcerer. I would re-roll one aura with prescience and temporal manipulation usually. It can keep a wounded predator alive maybe an extra turn maybe two. The points investment isnt worth it.

 

If you are going to use the exalted sorcerer to buff i would suggest a 20-30-man cultist/Tzaangor (Enlightened) /Rubric blob. Your re-rolls, powers, strategems going way further. Heck i would be willing to bet an exalted sorcerer with Tzaangor enlighted with blades with D2 would do better anti-tank and for cheaper.

[Skerr]

Do any of you see lists using killshot in your metas or is it nonexistant? Not just in your lists but in general?

 

I really like it though 3 preds is more than i like to run and the likelihood of not be able to use killshot once a predator is popped has been summarized well all ready.

[Raven1]

Do any of you see lists using killshot in your metas or is it nonexistant? Not just in your lists but in general?

 

Out of the astartes and chaos players in my local area i was the only one, until i stopped.

 

Part of the problem is it seems GW fixed garbage traits and strategems but when your one od the first or borrow heavily from one of the first you are getting that no longer good behind the power curve muck.

[Panzer]

I only have one Astartes player in my local group who could theoretically use it (the SW player. Other than him we only have GK, DW and me with mostly Primaris), however he always goes for Razorbacks instead so I never saw him using it either. I think he once tried to use it but I blasted one of his Predators to hell turn 1. :D

[Tokugawa]

Two recently patch also slightly rendered such strategy:

 

Winter FAQ give player who going second access to full army +1 save.

 

CA2018 deployment make player who going second place their whole army after the other player, so they may be able to place their tanks more than 48" away from predators.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

For Thousand Sons, think legs, not treads.

 

Forgefiend, Defiler, Contemptor, Leviathan, Vortex Beast. All can hit hard with the combo of buffs we offer, all can be active in both the Shooting and Assault phases with varying degrees of success on the latter (the Forgefiend with Jaws can at least defend itself until rescued by an adjacent character and can actually be scary if the right Daemons happen to be around). Finally, all of them have a built-in invuln save.

 

I find that it really helps when your entire army has at least a 5++. It makes it so that there is nowhere your opponent can go to get kills where you don't have at least a 1/3 chance to stop each hit.

 

My advice is to leave the Predators to the Black Legion. They use them best because Abaddon allows them to move and fire reliably and the BL tends to have massive screens that prevent lockdown, along with extremely heavy-hitting countercharge units (Daemon Princes, Abby, and Helbrutes all in a block) that also enhance long range fire and target saturation.