Generic Praetors

[b1soul]

Which legion has the most useful kitted out generic praetor on the tabletop on your view?

 

Heard some great things about Sallies and BA, but would love to hear some opinions.

[Elzender]

I guess an Imperial Fist one is not too shabby either, as they have access to solarite gauntlets (AP 1 master-crafted powerfists without specialist weapon, if I recall correctly), and if wearing terminator armour, they get access to storm shields and teleportation transponders to deepstrike at will. Their LA rules regarding challenges also help them when facing other characters. Shame that power-armoured ones do not get access to them, but I guess that PA shield HQs are only for Salamanders. Edited August 17, 2020 by Elzender

[Pearson73]

Iron Hands can get a 3+ invulnerable save through iron halo and cybernetic familiar combo.

[Gorgoff]

Salamanders Praetor is one if not the best hands down due to Eternal Warrior.

[Indefragable]

Salamanders Praetor is one if not the best hands down due to Eternal Warrior.

 

^This.

 

Tier 1:

A generic Salamanders Praetor can get 2+/3++ can't be Instant Death'd due to the Mantle of the Elder Drake wargear....all with none of the drawbacks of Terminator armor. 

 

Iron Hands are similar in that they can rock 3++ and also be -1S to shooting attacks.  (as mentioned by @Pearson73). 

 

Imperial Fists can be 3++ and re-roll 1's To Hit in challenges. 

 

Due to the way Concussive works, I would say the above are the better ones since Defense wins in many situations...if you can weather the blows, then anything you can't ID with a Thunder Hammer is striking at I1--same as you--the next turn as well. Hence why I would put the above as "Tier 1". 

 

That being said, if you want the best chance of killing something, I would consider the following:

 

Tier 2:

Emperor's Children with I7 (that's Leman Russ speed!) Paragon Blade is pretty bonkers. 

 

Night Lords Praetor buried in a big squad can get the +1 To/+1 To Wound factor which is obviously nuts. 

 

Blood Angels Praetor in DoR will be I6 with either the double-wounding Blade of Perdition or potential Instant Death'ing of a Paragon Blade...all with +1 To Wound. 

 

Middle of the pack would be dudes who have neat tricks to gain an edge, but don't necessarily have the utility of Tier 1 or 2 guys or simply aren't as crazy as them:

 

Tier 3:

Dark Angels: can get +1WS  using swords (Paragon Blade, duh) against an opponent with an equal WS (6). 

 

World Eaters: +1WS when fighting in a Challenge (so Khan and Co are reaching the Primarch + Big 4 levels of WS7) and re-roll 1's To Wound. 

 

Space Wolves: +1WS when they charge, can take Fenrisian Wolves as pals, can get +1W from Aether Rune armor, and can get +1A at the cost of -1I from a Great Frost Blade (+1S AP2). 

 

White Scars: re-roll 1's To Wound if you moved a full 6" or 12" on a bike, and can get Hit & Run via either Chorgorian Brotherhood RoW or via Khan. 

 

Tier 4:

The rest. 

 

Tier 0:

Thousand Sons because A. they're so different from everyone else B. I understand how they work the least. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Indefragable

[Lautrec the Embraced]

My take, here's a short summary of more notable legion praetors. There might be mistakes, I'm going from memory:

 

- Emperor's Children - with paragon blade they have an incredible initiative of I7 alongside a debuff to your Weapon skill

 

- Imperial Fists - not great rules but nice gear. Relic with Eternal Warrior, better pre-Storm Sields for 3++. Also great deal on better, MC, not-specialist weapon Fist, so easily 6 attacks base (no shield then though)

 

 

- Night Lords - with new RoW Cross of Bone Praetor can get up to 7 attacks base, before charge etc. Add Talent for Murder for +1 to hit and wound; Fear and you've got yourself a blender lord...it's Fantasy Vampire counts all over again

 

 

- Blood Angels - amazing +1 wound matched with +1I from Day Of Revelations makes for great paragon blade wielding praetors. Also the best relic imo (before Divining Blades at least), Photonic Blade:wounds on 2+, blind and fear and ap2 on full initiative

 

- Iron Hands - 3++ and maybe Hatred in RoW

 

- World Eaters - nothing to special gear wise, but sheer RAGE can suffice. +1 WS in challenge, rerolls 1s to wound, potential Rage and Hatred, alternatively FnP and IWND under some conditions.

 

- Sons of Horus - expensive relic for Eternal warrior and something else with toughness

 

- Word Bearers, Thousand Sons- in theory nothing too special here but they can take Biomancy, pray they don't roll Iron Arm for S8 Ap2 paragon blade. Also, if there are 2 psyker IC (easy in both of these legions), they can take relic Empath Bonds - until one dies, both get EW and some FnP bs...

 

- Salamanders - easy access to Eternal warrior, pre-Storm Shields granting one better invulnerable

 

- Anyone with Divining Blades *thanks forge world, love me some balanced relics*

 

- Also Blackshields can have an extra toughness and strenght point, combine it with a bike and cyber familiar and you've got yourself an absolute unit... that can strike on S8 on initiative (albeit ap3)

Edited August 17, 2020 by Lautrec the Embraced

[Darkwrath121]

Obviously not as high-utility or generally applicable as the 2+/3++ praetor legions, but I feel like there may be incoming increases in potential for Dark Angels praetors, with the release of Crusade.

 

Even based solely on what little we know, with the legion ability to upgrade characters to be scions of a wing of choice, Deathwing Praetors may be extremely deadly in combat. They'll have what is effectively an extra mastercrafted reroll while in a challenge, combined with Mastery of the Blade to be hitting other praetors on 3+.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Darkwrath121

[Ficinus]

The Dark Angels praetor can also take a combi-grenade launcher with stasis shells to give an enemy -1WS and -1I. This either lets him strike before models with the same initiative or drops faster ones down to his level while also dropping WS7 models down to WS6 where he can hit them on a 3+ with his paragon blade. Pop him in Ravenwing and he can toss some rad grenades as he charges in and shoot up folks with a molecular acid heavy bolter (if he's on a jetbike). Edited August 18, 2020 by Ficinus

[The Scorpion]

No one mentionning the Ultramarines? The Mantle of Ultramar confers them a 5+++ fnp.

[Lautrec the Embraced]

For me Dark Angels deathwing praetor doesn't strike me as being amongst the very best of them. First of all, your oponent matters a lot. Mastery of the blade along with stasis shell is bloody amazing against WS7, I5-6 characters. It's considerably less so against normal praetor with unwieldy weapons, as the buffs are not cumulative, e.g. you already hit on 3+ against I1 so Stasis Shell are useless (at least against the praetor). In comparison to true melee legions (sorry Angels) this seems to me to be not enough. Also it's just like a normal preator againsts weaker enemies, as DA rules barely affect those.

It's still cool though but we are talking here about the absolute beasts here, this build seems to be 'just' very good. But if you can shut down some high I WS7, then it's great.

 

Ravenwing is completely different story, especially for the Paragon Blade wielder. Add your normal rules to Rad Nade, T5 preventing S8 ID, conditional reroll to wound that might be useful againat tough guys along with great speed and nice shooting with acid shells. He's neither killiest nor most durable but definitely universally dangerous and also very flexible.

 

Concerning Ultra praetor, FnP is good but hardly a deal breaker, depending on our retinue you can sometimes easily put an apothecary there for same reason and effect. It can't really be compared to EW or 3++

Edited August 18, 2020 by Lautrec the Embraced

[Ficinus]

Yeah, the Dark Angel praetor will never be best, even the Ravenwing option: he's just above average.