Ultramarine's Psychic Choices

[Prot]

Hey Guys,

 

I'm kind of stumped on psychics for the UM. I always take Tiggy, but often find I always use the same old powers, over and over. They aren't that amazing to begin with so I thought I'd ask you guys what you think of Librarius? What do you find is working for you in 9th?

 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Lol are you kidding ? You’ve got to be. Thing is you’ll need another Libby to cast empiric channeling on Tiggy... he then becomes an absolute smite bomb !!! I had a game versus Cronz he and his buddy took out a DDA in one psychic phase.

[Lemondish]

Lol are you kidding ? You’ve got to be. Thing is you’ll need another Libby to cast empiric channeling on Tiggy... he then becomes an absolute smite bomb !!! I had a game versus Cronz he and his buddy took out a DDA in one psychic phase.

Never seen somebody ever even pretend that smite was exciting.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Lemondish I recommend you talk to somebody who plays Thousand Sons (Hurrrr hurrr hurrr) ...

 

I come to you with solutions this morning providing you with some hot Psychic Tactics for Ultramarines. Currently I use Tigurius and a standard Librarian. While they are not Ahriman and company they can still be quite potent forming up to create an extremely effective Smitebomb.

 

I run Tigurius with the old school Librarius psychic powers typically - Might of Heroes, Null Zone and Psychic Scourge. The other Librarian typically has Empiric Channeling (EC) and Scryer’s Gaze. First cast EC on Tiggy for the psychic buffs... Tigurius now has +3 to cast and deny plus with his ability to reroll them he should be able to pull off super smites quite often. You can then follow up with a smite from the Librarian and then Psychic Scourge from Tigurius taking advantage of our native +1 leadership. Scryer’s Gaze (warp Charge 7) gets you that sweet sweet CP and is not all that difficult to cast. Seven being the average on 2d6. Your opponents won’t be denying them when you're slinging tonnes of filthy smites, melting them alive.

 

Pro Tip #1 - Null Zone is very reliable and quite scary for opponents... Never charge Tigurius into combat if he successfully manifests this psychic power - your opponent can interrupt combat and then destroy him since he doesn’t have an invulnerable save.

 

Pro Tip #2 - Psychic Fortress is a go to psychic power versus smitey factions such as Thousand Sons, granting you the ability to shrug off mortal wounds on a 4+. While we don’t have nice things like Doom or Guide I have found our psychic staples like Might of Heroes coupled with Tiggy’s Prescience ability can go a long way when you really that hard resilience for a critical unit such as Centurions.

 

So there you have it, Ultramarines have access to some excellent psychic prowess if you follow my advice given above. It will definitely catch some opponents off guard.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Black Blow Fly

[Sloeberjong]

So you have a bigger chance of a single d6 mortals instead of d3...on the closest unit. Meh, it's okay I guess, but for the same points I can do more in the shooting phase. Besides, with a little screening it's done. It's not Tigurius' fault or anything, but I find the psychic phase rather lacklustre as a whole. The exception being armies that can bring smite on multiple units (TS, Tyranid Zoanthropes, GK).

 

If you enjoy it and have succes with it more power to you, but for me, it's never really accomplished much and I have tried. The investment is great for something that's okay. 

[Prot]

I try to keep my UM's down to one Battalion and that makes a second Psyker really hard. Don't forget in 9th ed you have to have your Psychic powers picked out during the list mustering phase. So you can't tailor powers.

 

For me it's a rather boring choice: Null Zone (all the time, just in case), Might of Heroes, and usually this is where I have a few go to's: mainy Fortress or the one that let's you re-roll charges. (depends on the list.)

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

If you take Calgar or Roboute you get points back so for me it’s a wash... plus you’ll easily get back at least 3 CP casting Scryer’s Gaze.

 

If you want something more spicy than consider taking an Inquisitor.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Black Blow Fly

[Stickeh]

Black blow fly makes a good point; a single 60pt psyker inquisitor can be worth his weight in gold. Granted he can’t access empiric channeling to buff Tigurius, but he does have access to some useful powers in his own right and can very easily get 2 cast/deny if you want him to.

 

A single inquisitor also doesn’t break chapter tactics as per their special rule, and lets us go for the ‘psychic ritual’ secondary objective without sacrificing Tigurius’ abilities. I honestly think that psykers have to be taken in 2+ now, to accommodate for secondaries and make up for losing ‘abhor the witch’ secondary, which is otherwise one of the easiest to max against a lot of armies.

[Captain Idaho]

I quite like Telepathic Assault for picking on a character, but it's not a game breaking power. What it does do though is combine with Smite for a sometimes crucial 2D3 Mortal Wounds. Not particularly consistent of course but I like it.

 

Scryer's Gaze I often use to net a CP but really I think Psychic Shackles is good right now.

 

However, I think our powers, plus those of Codex Space Marines, are quite average really so paying extra points on Tigurius is pretty much just for the -1 to hit in my mind.

 

I won't drop a Librarian off the list but I am much happier spending sub-100pts since the points per power isn't as debilitating.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I always take at least Tiggy. Some psy vs no psy, the difference can be huge. Also with Tiggy running the generic tree he can take psychic scourge for inflicting more mortal wounds. It can be game changer when you’re casting two smites, one of which has good odds to be a super smite, plus psychic scourge. Like I said earlier I dropped a Necron DDA in one psychic phase and those things can be quite annoying with quantum shielding and their strat.

[Prot]

I still have this thing where I have to take Null Zone. I know Tiggy has the added advantage of knowing one more power than he can cast, but the bummer for me is we should be locking in our Psychic choices before we actually hit the tables. Personally I never know who or what I'm playing until game time. This is a combination of getting a game in at the store (pre Covid) and the way some of my personal groups work. (It's always a dice off).

 

So that means some of the power have to be picked (like Null Zone) even if they become unused. I do like Scourge as well, it just never seems to make the cut once I include my staples. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I typically chose Might of Heroes, Psychic Scourge and Null Zone.

[Captain Idaho]

RE: my comment on 2D3 wounds... I wasn't clear enough, I meant equivalent of an average 2D3 wounds. So to speak.

[Ishagu]

Prot, you can drop Tiggy. I haven't missed him in many game because the powers are so lack-lustre and situational.

Tiggy is a strange case - his weapon is great, he is incredible at casting powers, but the powers themselves let him down. There is nothing there to build a pro-active tactic around. No movement manipulation, no ranger fire power boosting, the -1 to hit aura is less significant and can't be stacked. 135 points is simply to steep. A 45 point Techmarine can give all my vehicles +1 to hit simultaneously - this is a better rule than anything Tiggy has, as a comparative example.

 

Null Zone has value in some games, definitely, but can be useless in others. If a Knight gets close it can change the game, then again you might not come across one.

 

Consider running an Inquisitor in his place - there is some great utility with some of them.

-A Maleus inquisitor can grant an infantry unit a 5+ invul. This is great for Aggressors. Coteaz is great too.

-The new Inquisitor lady has a Smite that can target any unit in range.

-Other Inquisitors have their own little quirks and perks.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Ishagu

[Prot]

Prot, you can drop Tiggy. I haven't missed him in many game because the powers are so lack-lustre and situational.

Tiggy is a strange case - his weapon is great, he is incredible at casting powers, but the powers themselves let him down. There is nothing there to build a pro-active tactic around. No movement manipulation, no ranger fire power boosting, the -1 to hit aura is less significant and can't be stacked. 135 points is simply to steep. A 45 point Techmarine can give all my vehicles +1 to hit simultaneously - this is a better rule than anything Tiggy has, as a comparative example.

 

Null Zone has value in some games, definitely, but can be useless in others. If a Knight gets close it can change the game, then again you might not come across one.

 

Consider running an Inquisitor in his place - there is some great utility with some of them.

-A Maleus inquisitor can grant an infantry unit a 5+ invul. This is great for Aggressors. Coteaz is great too.

-The new Inquisitor lady has a Smite that can target any unit in range.

-Other Inquisitors have their own little quirks and perks.

 

I am thinking similarly. The points cost really for the utility of the -1 to hit.  I don't know really if I'll continue to use him at this point. Good advice about the Inquisitors. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

The guarantee of two to three super smites shouldn’t be underestimated .