BA's Best Psyker

[Bonzi]

I've noticed this combination but I haven't seen anyone talk about it. Has anyone tried a libby where you stack the new Gallians Staff relic + Chief Librarian warlord trait upgrade on a Terminator Librarian or just a bog standard Librarian? You get a psyker who can cast three Sanguinary discipline powers on a 4+ to create a super reliable buff unit.

 

I know they can't compete with mephiston for shear beat down and they lose out on the tome of malcador for null zone or might of heros, but the Sanguinary discipline is really solid. On a jump pack Libby I'd pull out Rage, Shield, and Blood Boil. On a Terminator Libby I'd swap Blood Boil for Wings. I actually think they might do more lifting than Mephiston or a nullzone Libby because you wouldn't need to suicide them into close combat to get your mileage.

 

Thoughts or experiences?

Edited December 15, 2020 by Bonzi

[JakeusMaxemus]

Personally I love narrative and find Mephiston the most fun but am looking to try a normal primaris libby and trying out the libby dread

[Paikis]

Seems like the Librarian Dread just straight up wins based on maths. I don't know if I likew this because Mephiston *should* be better, but anyways, here's the video.

[Captain Caine 24th]

Libby Dread: I think i'd take the Iron Resolve warlord trait for the +1 W and 6+++. Duty eternal is huge. Melta could be a real problem. It's too bad he can't take relics. He's got a decent melee profile. Smoke screen can be good. He's really got to be casting Wings for him to make sense to me--but that puts him in harms way.

 

Mephiston: he's powerful. I kind of like the idea of taking an impuslor for protection or redundancy (he could move fast with wings as well). His warlord trait is fixed and not my favorite. It's been explained to me that the fight first ability is nowhere near as good in 9th ed. as in 8th ed. Also, there are a lot of really good warlord traits out there now--so comparatively I find myself wanting to use different HQs to suit my purpose. He's got a lot of high strength attacks, though I don't know he does that much damage.

 

Librarian: He's not particularly durable or threatening, but the librarius discipline may be worth it. Jump pack is really important. Even if you didn't go with Tome of Malcador there are plenty of good relics to take.

• Null zone opens up a lot of play.
  • The current state of the game there are a lot of nasty units with invulns. I recently saw that 140 bloodletter list won a small tournament (admittedly getting past invulns might be the least of your concerns in fighting that list, it'd still be useful as they all have a 5++). Vanguard and bladeguard veterans are good, and I'd expect to fight them. Thunderwolf cavalry are hard fighters.
  • I'd say the default need not be suiciding him into the fray, but having the right powers gives you options when the opportunity presents itself.
  • Psychic fortress is also good, but I prefer not to use psychic powers for defensive buffs, when the enemy can attack before it's activated.
• Sanguinary discipline: Unleash rage and shield are fine, and i think wings is still very good.
• Chief librarian: this really gets interesting in being able to know and manifest 3 powers, and deny 2. I actually like the warlord trait too as adding 1 to psychic tests reduces variability--especially if he's doing something crazy like a suicide run--he must not fail.
• Though I do have a question on that Tome of Malcador. I don't understand it, and worry I'm playing it wrong. I don't want to get into a fight at a tournament (whenever those happen again). Perhaps our brothers have sorted it out already??
  • The psyker has access to either librarius (obscuration) or sanguinary. 
  • The relic allows the bearer to know one additional psychic power from any discipline the psyker has access to.
  • So, the psyker can access Librarius or sanguinary--it seems you could pick a power from any or either discipline. (e.g. Goonhammer's position)
  • On the other hand, since all powers must be selected from one discipline it seems the extra power would just have to come from the chosen discipline. This would be very bad, i don't think the relic would be worthwhile if you had to be stuck in one discipline. (e.g. 1d4chan position).

[Iron Lord]

IMO, if they meant it to be "from their chosen discipline" instead of "from any discipline they have access to" - they would have phrased it in the former way rather than the latter way.

A Chief Librarian knows one extra power "from their chosen discipline" - so we know that GW knows how to phrase it to ensure that it's only from chosen discipline.

 

And they chose not to phrase it that way.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Iron Lord

[Captain Caine 24th]

IMO, if they meant it to be "from their chosen discipline" instead of "from any discipline they have access to" - they would have phrased it in the former way rather than the latter way.

A Chief Librarian knows one extra power "from their chosen discipline" - so we know that GW knows how to phrase it to ensure that it's only from chosen discipline.

 

And they chose not to phrase it that way.

I think this is a strong argument. They had the chance to phrase it that way, as evidenced by other analogous provisions with such specificity, and they've had the chance to FAQ it. 

 

Librarian in Terminator Armor:

• Decent durability. My first impression that stood out as a character of interest was the jump pack librarian. One issue being that he might be a bit easy to kill. Choosing the terminator librarian instead of the jump pack librarian might save the selection of adamantine mantle (potentially through Artisan of war and Angel Exemplar) for another character. Also the terminator armor gives +1 W.
  • I like the idea of running the librarian near vanguard vets with storm shield--mutual protection and bonuses.
• Great casting ability. I didn't find any prohibition in the rules to adding more than +1 to a psychic test (unlike hits or wounds). So, the staff adds +1; the Chief librarian warlord trait adds +1. All sanguinary powers are warp charge 6, so rolling a 4 or better on 2D6 isn't bad at all. Librarius powers are also 6 except nullzone, which is 7.
• Not a super close combat killer. The staff adds an extra AP. At D3 damage and 3 attacks he's not a heavyweight in combat. For what it's worth, you would be able to access the terminator keyword strats (fury of the first) if you did decide to buff him up a bit with powers or warlord traits.
• With Wings of Sanguinius I suspect keeping up with units won't be a huge issue in terminator armor--just need to be very intentional once in deny the witch range. I suppose if you're using an ancient, and the wrath of baal, the terminator would lose out on movement perks as he doesn't have a jump pack. Actually... now that i think about it, the +2 is to the psychic test, so I would think a nice side effect would be making denials more difficult (the enemy has to beat your psychic test result). Also, the +2 is added to the test, not a dice so it doesn't appear to impact perils at all. 
• both the jump pack and terminator variants can use teleport strike/death from above to come in from reserves. This could be important for secondaries like death from above or relentless assault. It you're really worried about getting shot off the table, then reserves open up some opportunity. 

I still like the jump librarian as he can move really far, but I think the terminator is viable.

[Karhedron]

I am a great believer in using function to dictate form. Apart from Mephiston and the Libby Dread, Librarians are primarily support characters so it is about picking a role and applying support as needed.

 

My lists usually involve a big unit of SG or DC as my hammer. Neither unit has Invulnerable saves and have (or can be given) high AP weapons. This means that a Jump Pack Librarian with Null Zone is a good fit since turning off Invulns won't affect them greatly but could seriously hurt their targets. In this build the Jump Pack is better than Wings since you don't want to risk him getting left behind or waste a power when you can use a built-in ability of the Jump Pack.

 

This is just what suits my current list. Different plans will have different requirements but I definitely think it is important to decide what you need to Libby to accomplish and then build him accordingly rather than come up with a cool combo and try to shoe-horn it into a list.

[Debauchery101]

I love using Librarian dreads

[redshadow]

You don’t have to suicide the librarian with null zone it’s got range, enough room to jump a unit in with or before him to wipe the unit before the librarian can be targeted and there’s always fury of the ancients to make sure you fight first

[Diagramdude]

I like giving my null zone jump libby a cheeky inferno pistol. A lot of characters are 4-6 wounds and a close up inferno pistol bypassing invulnerable saves has a good chance to outright remove a key mode from the table.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

I've noticed this combination but I haven't seen anyone talk about it. Has anyone tried a libby where you stack the new Gallians Staff relic + Chief Librarian warlord trait upgrade on a Terminator Librarian or just a bog standard Librarian? You get a psyker who can cast three Sanguinary discipline powers on a 4+ to create a super reliable buff unit.

 

I know they can't compete with mephiston for shear beat down and they lose out on the tome of malcador for null zone or might of heros, but the Sanguinary discipline is really solid. On a jump pack Libby I'd pull out Rage, Shield, and Blood Boil. On a Terminator Libby I'd swap Blood Boil for Wings. I actually think they might do more lifting than Mephiston or a nullzone Libby because you wouldn't need to suicide them into close combat to get your mileage.

 

Thoughts or experiences?

This was my plan for my Libby. Thought it would be a common sense step for any one taking a librarian

[Diagramdude]

Relics and warlord traits are precious resources, so putting one of each onto your librarian just to cast buffs on 4's instead of 6's may not be the best investment. It's a nice combo but I wouldn't call it common sense to heavily upgrade a buffing libby. 

[Bonzi]

Relics and warlord traits are precious resources, so putting one of each onto your librarian just to cast buffs on 4's instead of 6's may not be the best investment. It's a nice combo but I wouldn't call it common sense to heavily upgrade a buffing libby.

I find relics and warlord traits far far less precious in 9th. More easy CP, less must use strats in game play, cheaper additional relics and multiple ways to get more or additional warlord traits than before. I don't think a cp or two for a very strong Libby is going to break the bank if that's what your list needs or what you want to run. I think their is an argument to be made that a buffing Libby is a great place to put some investment since it's one of the few characters we wouldn't be risking in CC.

[Karhedron]

I tend to agree. I think spending some CPs on both relics and WLTs is generally a good investment as baked-in abilities are likely to provide more mileage than one-off stratagems.

 

I am not saying that every character needs to be fully loaded. Keeping a few CPs back for eventualities is handy but we generally have more CPs than in 8th and slightly fewer must-use stats so don't skimp on a few extra upgrades if you think that they will pay dividends.