Unit of the Week: Purifier Squad

[Skywrath]

Welcome to the Grey Knight unit of the Week, where we analyse the Grey Knights units strength's and weaknesses. The unit for this week is the righteous Purifier Squad. Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield. 

 

Questions:

 

1. General first thoughts and impressions of the unit?

 

2. How would you use said unit, to compliment a list, or to build a list around? 

 

3. What other units/strategems synergize with it to give it that extra shine?

 

4. Miscellaneous use/Tips and Tricks?

 

 

BONUS: Creative ways to use units that wouldn't be obvious at first. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Skywrath

[WAR]

Initial impression is not favorable..... They take up an elites slot that could be used for Paladins, Ancients, Apothecaries, or Ven Dreadnoughts/ Dreadnoughts. While cheaper than most of the other options.....they have strike squad stats and points with out deep strike. The White Helmets do look sick on them. 

 

I plan to have a squad of 9 for a the eventual campaign I will be in. Daemon Hammer on the justicar, 4 incinerators and  4 swords. Supported by either Crowe or a Brotherhood Champion along with a Land Raider.  This is more for a visual "rule of cool" then does it work. (Same reason I have 2 squads of servitors and a Techmarine in my GK).

[Holier Than Thou]

Initial impression is not favorable..... They take up an elites slot that could be used for Paladins, Ancients, Apothecaries, or Ven Dreadnoughts/ Dreadnoughts. While cheaper than most of the other options.....they have strike squad stats and points with out deep strike. The White Helmets do look sick on them.

 

I plan to have a squad of 9 for a the eventual campaign I will be in. Daemon Hammer on the justicar, 4 incinerators and 4 swords. Supported by either Crowe or a Brotherhood Champion along with a Land Raider. This is more for a visual "rule of cool" then does it work. (Same reason I have 2 squads of servitors and a Techmarine in my GK).

Sorry dude, I don’t think you can have a squad of 9 and take 4 special weapons. It’s 2 special weapons per 5 men.

[librisrouge]

I think that they have only one real role in a 9th ed GK army, heavy weapon toting. They cost the same as a purgation squad, can be tougher (thanks to a strat), and you don't care as much about smite when you've got the magic of GUN! I've seen a few people running around with purgation squads, purifiers, and support elements and trying to just blast their way to victory with Tide of (?) Convergence?

[WAR]

 

Initial impression is not favorable..... They take up an elites slot that could be used for Paladins, Ancients, Apothecaries, or Ven Dreadnoughts/ Dreadnoughts. While cheaper than most of the other options.....they have strike squad stats and points with out deep strike. The White Helmets do look sick on them.

 

I plan to have a squad of 9 for a the eventual campaign I will be in. Daemon Hammer on the justicar, 4 incinerators and 4 swords. Supported by either Crowe or a Brotherhood Champion along with a Land Raider. This is more for a visual "rule of cool" then does it work. (Same reason I have 2 squads of servitors and a Techmarine in my GK).

Sorry dude, I don’t think you can have a squad of 9 and take 4 special weapons. It’s 2 special weapons per 5 men.

 

 

Oh well 10 guys it is

[Gnomeo]

So I have not yet had a chance to fully try this idea.

 

10 purifiers 4 special weapons and the rest with warding staves. The purifier stratagem os actually pretty amazing 4+ invul and immune to moral until the END OF THE TURN! Not the phase.

Why warding staves I here you ask? This actually makes them a bit of a tough nut fire base with the special weapons. 6 3+ invul saves in combat if the opponent tries to lock them down. And if they do d6 mortals on your turn.

Also if say your paladins are dead pit sanctuary on them for a 2+ invul in close combat and 3+ against shooting.

 

So far early days testing so too soon to tell however not bad for a little over 200pts

[Skywrath]

Initial impression is not favorable..... They take up an elites slot that could be used for Paladins, Ancients, Apothecaries, or Ven Dreadnoughts/ Dreadnoughts. While cheaper than most of the other options.....they have strike squad stats and points with out deep strike. The White Helmets do look sick on them. 

 

I plan to have a squad of 9 for a the eventual campaign I will be in. Daemon Hammer on the justicar, 4 incinerators and  4 swords. Supported by either Crowe or a Brotherhood Champion along with a Land Raider.  This is more for a visual "rule of cool" then does it work. (Same reason I have 2 squads of servitors and a Techmarine in my GK).

 

 

Purifiers are definitely in an interesting place.  As a faction, we can put up a fight in convergence against other factions for sure, but the D6 mortals are invaluable against Gravis marines. However the problem with them, is that you absolutely must have something to carry them. They are definitely "in-your face" kind of infantry. However, the other alternative is to make them camp points. Anything that charges them gets D6 smite in their face, especially with that 4+ invuln strategem to ensure they survive. 

 

So I have not yet had a chance to fully try this idea.

 

10 purifiers 4 special weapons and the rest with warding staves. The purifier stratagem os actually pretty amazing 4+ invul and immune to moral until the END OF THE TURN! Not the phase.

Why warding staves I here you ask? This actually makes them a bit of a tough nut fire base with the special weapons. 6 3+ invul saves in combat if the opponent tries to lock them down. And if they do d6 mortals on your turn.

Also if say your paladins are dead pit sanctuary on them for a 2+ invul in close combat and 3+ against shooting.

 

So far early days testing so too soon to tell however not bad for a little over 200pts

 

There is a pretty dirty way to get them closer to their quarry. Consider a 2 x 5m squad of purifiers both with Vortex of Doom in a Land Raider. T1 - you put them in the LR and gate that LR within 9" of the enemy. Land Raider dies, you pop 3CP in total for the two combos. First one is a 2CP strategem Vengeance of the Machine spirit - that auto explodes doing D3 mortals. Then you emergency disembark the Purifiers (1CP) and put them in such a position where they end up being *closer* than they were when inside the Land Raider. Then you cast a 1CP strategem which allows one squad to cast vortex and then that smite (on top of the Powerful Adept strategem). Bam, 12 mortal wounds + another 6 from the other squad for a maximum of 18MW to anything within 6" of them (not counting the LR explosion). Voila, you now have a purifier bomb - literally.

 

I think that pretty much concludes my experience with them, but they do have a place, assuming you have the points to put them either in a Land Raider or a Stormraven. Assuming Vengeance of the Machine Strategem works on Razorbacks, you could probably do that as well.

[The Woodsman]

As has been mentioned they're basically Strikes that trade Deep Strike for a 3" d6 MW Smite... that isn't affected by the Tide of Escalation. On average, they'll only do 1 or 2 more wounds than a standard unit in Escalation, and they could do less (albeit if you're quite unlucky). This, paired with the fact they need so much investment to be delivered, means to me that they aren't worth taking for their psychic ability. However, as we say in that MSU list that came first in a tourney not too long ago, they can be used as gun squads by taking 2 weapons on a 10-man squad, and then Combat Squad them to get 2 weapons in a 5-man unit. I like Gnomeo's take on making them more durable. The d6 Smite then becomes a little something extra you can pull out defensively/if you get the chance. I'd give them Purge Soul/Vortex to compensate for the Smite though, juts to get a little extra mileage. I do think 2x5 with a Brother Captain, Ancient with the Refining Flame and say a Librarian with two offensive powers (Vortex/Purge) loaded in a LRC and Gated Turn 1 could present a huge mortal wound nuke that your opponent has to deal with, and you'd have the tools with character buffs, relics and stratagems to get all those d6 off, but its all very "eggs in basket" and the rest of your list would have to apply a whole lot of pressure to have even a chance of surviving the following round of shooting. Plus, thats a whole lot of points invested into making a couple of 100pts units work. 

 

I dunno, fluff-wise they're the bee's knees, as Reskin said, power-armored Paladin equivalents... but at the moment their rules don't reflect that at all (and do not get me started on Crowe!) Fingers crossed they become a bit more than shiny Strike Marines with the 9th Codex.

[Cryminysakes]

snip -  Their buffed smite is really counter intuitive to how they are used with 24" weaponry. Power Armoured  marines aren't meant for close up engagements, they melt too quickly with 1 wound. You don't want you 10 man unit with 4 bought and paid for special weapons in close combat. This just ties in to my previous comments about they should be built and work. Their close range powerful smite leads me to believe they want to be in close combat, yet... They hit like a wet noodle? The same as my troops? Why is this GW, WHY?

Combat Squad Split?  Which leads into a question Ive had for a while regarding this (sorry I havent played since 2nd? 3rd?)...  What happens with their Psycher powers when you split a squad like this? Does each half get to cast??  only one?  And further...  what is the point of the Tactical Flexibility Strat when all? our squads already have the ability built in??

[Cryminysakes]

ok thats the first part understood.

 

So whats with Tactical Flex strat??

 

So here's my thought then.  Assuming we get the +1 wound for them like we should...  2 10 man squads w 8 psycannons, Hammers maybe? combat split.

 

Leave the fire base back with Astral Aim and use the others for OBJ's and Smite assassination Backed up by Brother Captain with the Locus...  Could it be viable? 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Cryminysakes

[Gnomeo]

 

 

snip - Their buffed smite is really counter intuitive to how they are used with 24" weaponry. Power Armoured marines aren't meant for close up engagements, they melt too quickly with 1 wound. You don't want you 10 man unit with 4 bought and paid for special weapons in close combat. This just ties in to my previous comments about they should be built and work. Their close range powerful smite leads me to believe they want to be in close combat, yet... They hit like a wet noodle? The same as my troops? Why is this GW, WHY?

Combat Squad Split? Which leads into a question Ive had for a while regarding this (sorry I havent played since 2nd? 3rd?)... What happens with their Psycher powers when you split a squad like this? Does each half get to cast?? only one? And further... what is the point of the Tactical Flexibility Strat when all? our squads already have the ability built in??

For the second part the tactical flexibility lets you split up during the game where as combat squad has to be done before the game.

 

Also on your other post I dont think hammers would be good. Not enough attacks. However warding staves would mean you can get a 2+ invul in close combat. By using there strat and sanctuary