Unit of the Week: Necron Warriors

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

 

Welcome to the Unit of the Week Series! 

 

Each week a different unit will be highlighted for discussion until we have amalgamated a full list of our available options and their relevant tactics as 9th edition evolves. This will include not only matched play, but free play considerations as well as Crusade, as these methods of play are just as relevant and exciting.

 

Please keep in mind this isn't to lament the status of featured units or compare them to others but to try and find their potential for all types of gameplay.

 

This week’s unit is:

 

The Necron Warrior

 

As a loose guide, here are some thought-provoking questions to consider and cogitate as we discuss this week's unit(s):

• What size unit do you run, or think is best? Are 10-man squads useful with our current iteration of Reanimation Protocols, especially when combined with a Ghost Ark, or are 20-man phalanxes our best bet?
• Which dynastic code do you think works best for Warriors?
• Which weapon option is your preferred method of gauss annihilation?
• How do you use this unit in your listbuilding process?
• What are overall strengths and weakness of this unit?
• Which stratagems synergize well with this unit?
• Which specific Crusade benefits best suit this unit?

 

The floor is yours, honored Nobles and Crypteks!

Edited December 7, 2020 by Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch

[Mr4Minutes]

Well, I’ll kick this off.

 

Warriors are the best units in the codex. 20 man with a 5+ RP rerolling 1s are very difficult to wipe. Back that up with a ghost ark and/or Technomancer and your opponent will probably never target them.

 

And, due to GW not doing a proper faq for Necrons (and really C:SM) whenever you resurrect models you can spread them towards whatever direction you’d like. Need to steal an objective on your opponents turn? Resurrect on to it. A couple inches short of scoring an objective for primary? Use a Rez orb, rites of reanimate or repair barge during your command phase to get models on it before the end of your command phase. Yes, it’s cheesy, but it is RAW and it was not covered in the faq so we can also call it RAI.

 

I play mephrit, so I like a 20 man block with flayers. With the additional ap, 6s to hit auto wounding strat and 6s to wound do a MW(capped at 3) these guys put in work. Veil DS or just pushing the middle.

 

I also run a ghost ark with 10 reapers next to them. It repairs when necessary and can push ahead to cap an objective when needed.

 

All around probably one of the best troop choices in the game right now.

[Captain Idaho]

Currently, I'm using Warriors in 2 groups of 15 (price is affordable yet the numbers still high enough to do well) that benefit from Isolationists and aggressive other elements to avoid being targeted too much. 2 units of Skorpekh Destroyers makes for a great distraction in that regard.

 

Replacing losses is done with a Technomancer in my case, which is a slight increase in survivability. I'm not sure I need much more than that at this point, thanks to the rest of my army, but there are definitely ways to increase survivability for these units.

 

Ghost Arks can heal D3 models a turn, going up to D6 with a Strategum. This combined with a Technomancer can bring back up to 9 models in a single turn from a single unit.

[dreadmad]

Glad to have this back as a series, it's a great vehicle for constructive discussion!

 

1 - Size: If you're footslogging I don't think anything less than 15 is going to be useful, and it's really a more the merrier situation. I'd be interested to try 10 man Reaper squads in Ghost Arks, which fare well into Eradicators (or as well as any vehicles can do currently).

2 - Dynasty of Choice. Spoiler since it's a big wedge of text.

Standard:

 - Mephrit: +3 range is huge, lets you Veil of Darkness forwards without eating an Auspex Scan from a beefy unit and the extra AP is nice too - AP-4 on 6's if you activate the protocol>

 - Novokh: Short ranged guns, backed up with a melee threat. Good time to pair with Anakyr for potentially 60 S6 AP-1 (AP-2 on 6's) attacks, hitting on 2's. (Combo of Anakyr, Blood Rights, Disruption Fields & Protocol of the Hungry Void).

- Szerkhan: 5+++ against Mortal Wounds covers one of the main weaknesses of Necrons. Combo with the Sovereign Coronal Relic and the Triarch's Will WL straight for strong flexible punch (bonus points if you take the Silent King for an extra turn of flexibility).

BYOD:

- Relentlessly Expansionist: Pre-game move to get your guns up front and your obsec in range. It's just good. Pair with Eternal Conquerors for double obsec, Radwreathed to bring the pain or Unyielding if you have more Warriors than Chronomancers.

3 - Weapon: IMO it has to be *mostly* Reapers. AP-1 doesn't do much any more, and Flayers only become efficient to any degree if they're in Rapid Fire range. You can take them as backline holding units, but I'd rather take Gauss Immortals or Deathmarks instead if that's what I needed in my list.

4 - Use: I think it's fair to say multiple blobs backed up by force multipliers (Anakyr, Silent King, Overlords, Lords) and defensive buffs (Chronomancers, Res. Orb) are the main use. A single Reaper blob veiled in can be useful too in lists that don't run lots of Warriors too.

5 - Strengths: Unreasonably tanky, obsec, fast units (between having Assault Weapons, a +1 to hit and potentially a pre-game move/) that aren't unreasonably priced and have a pretty solid output. 

   - Weaknesses: Slow (If not advancing/near a character/on the wrong side of the map it can be impossible to get them in range of anything for multiple rounds), range (related to the first point), mortal wounds.

6 - Strats: Solar Pulse (Ignore Cover to melt MeQ or put Stormshields on their Invulns), Disintegration Capacitors (Auto Wound on 6's to hit - turn your anti-troop firepower into a anti-vehicle melter), Disruption Fields (melee buff).

 

Obviously a strong unit, but I'm finding all the T5 units in the book more tempting at the moment.

[Captain Idaho]

It's cool to see such uses out of the Reaper Warriors. I like how we have genuine options available to use now.

 

I actually really like the additional range of Gauss Flayers. I find they mean I can contribute at 24" range with a unit otherwise there for board control and objectives holding.

 

Having Isolationists with such a unit means I get S5 within 12" anyway, which isn't a bad compromise.

 

Regardless of that, I just like the extra range on a unit designed to hold ground and support my assault elements.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Captain Idaho

[Ahzek451]

I run mine with Szarekhan. 2 20 man blobs backed by a technomancer floating around and a ghost ark. Overlord nearby with res orb relic. So difficult to remove. The extended range from the relic allows a little more spreading out and allow me to hold the middle of the table comfortably while still benefiting from MWBD and command protocols. The free re-roll to wound isn't big with units of warriors, but I do enjoy the saves against mortal wounds. While I am not always constantly bombarded by them, on the every other occasion it does crop up it has saved my bacon and kept a few more warriors alive.

[Miek]

I still haven't got a chance to play because of current events (and I'm sure the holidays will make things even worse), but being core, troops, infantry, with gauss weapons and so resilient, it seems really easy to make good use of them in any list apart from extreme cases. There are many complaints about the amount of constraints in this codex but warriors really seem like what GW wants necrons to be recognized for. I like that being cheaper and weaker makes fix boosts arguably more mathematically efficient, depending on how you look at it.

 

Depending on the game size, I would like to advance 20 mid field with flayers, and veil or scythe 20 closer to the enemy with reapers. I really like the idea of playing second and using the immovable phalanx trait in a single dynasty army (in friendly games, command protocols don't seem to be worth it outside of fluff). But there are so many interesting choices...

 

I'm really curious about trying 10 reapers in ghost ark with objsec & 6" pregame move. It's less flavorful IMHO but I think it could be pretty good with the right backfield support.

[01RTB01]

I've played a handful of crusade games before lockdown hit us again and my reaper warriors have been MVPs by a mile.

 

Only using units of 10 with a warden with veil. They bamf forward and murder stuff.

 

Game before last they murdered an outrider squad using the 6s to hit, auto wound strat. The same game they took the charge of a Gravis captain, a company champion and a primaris lieutenant and they survived for about 3 rounds of combat. When they're taking large damage weapons and laughing it off due to RP it's great.

 

I have 60 Warriors and I will run that as a core of every list. 40 reapers, 20 flayers. One unit bouncing forward with the veil, another pulled forward by monolith/ night scythe.

 

Add a bunch of tomb blades, wraiths, scarabs and a void dragon and I think that's a very overwhelming force moving forwards, quickly, taking objectives and forcing opposition decisions.

 

Add technomancers and ghost arks as desired

 

For the record my reapers now have +1 to hit and +1 to wound be characters

Edited December 2, 2020 by Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Some solid thinking and strategies coming in from all corners of the galaxy!

 

As to my own usage of the humble warrior, my preferred and lore strategy is a core of 18 warriors, marching up the board, backed up by a Cryptek and my Phaeron, who hands out targeting buffs and ressurects those who have fallen. In my one game so far with 9th, I've used a chronometron chronomancer with a hypermateriel ablator to hand out cover. I'm not entirely sold on the effectiveness of the cover, but tanking antitank fire from knights on a 5++ was one of the better parts of the game (well, that and my opponent failing to properly targetfire his weapons, or target my reanimator, which made my RP rolls a hell of a lot better than they should have).

 

When I play larger games, and have more models available to me, I tend to go with a mass warrior approach, especially given that I have, oh, let me think, somewhere on the order of seventy of them after indomitus? Mostly with flayers (indom got reapers, and I have a couple warriors modeled with gauss 'carbines' that I may do mixed squads of). Basically, targetfire this down, buddy! Warriors just have so much survivable potential--and i don't even have an ark ready for deployment, just a cloaktek and a bunch of ressurection-orb toting nobles.

 

Strat support seems very good IMO, being able to dose the shots with an autowound makes warriors surprisingly good anti-tank--honestlly it reminded me of the heady days of 5th, and 6th edition, when Gauss was a thing to be feared for its ability to strip more hull points off a tank than actual anti-tank. Turning them into miniteslas ain't so bad either, and I've yet to try a wombo-combo of both at once, but if my opponent lets me get away with it I expect it will wipe stuff off the board.

[Captain Idaho]

Ah, I remember the days of Warriors Anti-tank! Even as far back as 3rd edition when my Warriors were an absolute pain to put down and they could hurt even Land Raiders with glancing hits - which rolled on a Damage table!

[BolterZorro]

I like the warriors, I like their minis, I like that we can do so many things with them, I like the idea of "silver tide" (with many warriors), but I also like fast and furious and many other minis/units especially in the canoptek range (scarabs, blades, WRAITH - ho god, I love those- , ...). So, I have to make some choices and at the end of the day, it is really difficult to avoid a big blob of warriors, at least 1*20 (or a bit less depending on points and HQ to be with them, transported or not etc...). For now, if only 1*20 reapers, I use the veil and the rest of my army is fast enough (scarabs/blades/wraith even the marauders are fast). 

I have 60 warriors, 40 assembled 20 reapers. I think that I'll assemble the remaining 20 as reapers.

[Get Thokt]

They currently suffer a little due to the delayed release of the really needed Chronomancer. Look forward to painting up mine in a few weeks!