DA Assault Intercessors -- Deadliest in the Game (?)

[L30n1d4s]

While Dark Angels are not generally known as a "melee" chapter, at least not in the same vein as White Scars, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and even Black Templars, I think they might (surprisingly) do the most "spike" damage with their Assault Intercessors of any Chapter in the game.

 

 

How can this be, you might ask? After all, they don't have innate +1 to Wound, +1 Dmg in Assault Doctrine, the ability to re-roll charges and "free charge" via Devout Push, etc. etc.

 

 

Well, a combination of different Dark Angel specific abilities/force-multipliers allows them to become particularly deadly:

 

 

1 - Grim Resolve (Chapter Tactic) + Steady Advance (Strat) --- Taken together, as long as they don't Advance, DA Assault Intercessors can Move and Charge (or disembark and charge) and still count as not moving, meaning that they get +1 to Hit in melee (so, effective WS2+)

 

 

2 - Honour the Chapter (Strat) + Fury of the Lion (WL Trait) --- This brings their Chainswords up to S5 AP-2 (with Assault Doctrine on); on top of this, since they can fight twice via Honor the Chapter, this means that each Assault Intercessor is actually getting 8 x S5 attacks during a single fight phase (or 8 x S9 attacks from a Sergeant with a MCed Power Fist)

 

 

3 - Righteous Repugnance (Interromancy Power) + Might of Heroes (Librarius Power) --- This is the real secret sauce here; full "8th edition Guilliman style" re-rolls to Hit and to Wound in melee! On top of that, the same Librarian can cast Might of Heroes on the Sergeant, giving him +1S and +1A.

 

 

So, taken all together, a 10 man Assault Intercessor Squad can get 72 x S5 AP-2 Dmg1 attacks at WS2+ and 10 x WS3+ S10 AP-4 Dmg3 Master-Crafted Power Fist attacks by the Assault Intercessor Sergeant. With the full re-rolls via Righteous Repugnance, this gives you the following:

 

 

 

***Against T3 1W 4++ save Harlequins, an average of 35 dead models

 

***Against T3 1W 4++/5+++ save Repentia, an average of 28 dead models

 

***Against T4 1W 6+ save Ork Boyz, an average of 68 dead models

 

***Against T4 2W 3+ save MEQs, an average of 28 dead models

 

***Against T5 3W 3+ save Gravis MEQs, an average of 19 dead models

 

***Against T4 3W 1+/4++ save Hammernators, an average of 14 dead models

 

***Against T7 3+ save Rhino-like Vehicles, an average of 46 unsaved wounds (or 4 dead Rhinos)

 

***Against a T8 3+/4++/5+++ Mortarion, an average of 16 unsaved wounds (so, he is down to 2W... if the Librarian gets Null Zone off, then the Assault Intercessors should outright kill him in one go

 

 

So, bottom line, with just the support of a DA Chief Librarian (Tome of Malcador, +1 to cast WL Trait, and Fury of the Lion WL Trait) and the right Strats, you have the ability to "layer" in +1 to Hit, +1S (except against Mortarion, who denies Aura abilities), and full re-rolls to Hit and to Wound, all tied in with the massed attacks made possible by "Honor the Chapter," DA Assault Intercessors can bring some incredible heat in melee.

 

 

To make them even more over-the-top, you can even add a DA Master of Sanctity with his +1 to Wound Litany and the "Cup of Retribution" Relic... this would give the whole unit +1A per model (or +2A, when it fights twice) and even more probability to wound with their chainswords, in turn making them able to "spike" even more damage than described above.

 

 

While other chapters (like 2 Dmg White Scars and +1 to Wound Blood Angels) are still very deadly, you can see why these guys might actually be the most dangerous Assault Intercessors in the game, especially against things like Death Guard, which ignore the bonus from Dmg2 attacks, and Transhuman Physiology Space Marines, which ignore the +1 to Wound bonuses.

Edited March 7, 2021 by L30n1d4s

[Syphid]

Wow I thought you were mistaken, but Steady Advance does in fact work like that!

 

Also seems like a scary combo with Assault Squads due to their higher movement stat.

[L30n1d4s]

Yes, actually Vanguard Veterans with dual chainswords (so 5A per model) would also be mobile and deadly, though not quite as devastating as Assault Intercessors, since they can't use Honour the Chapter to fight twice.

[Orkinstein]

Yes, actually Vanguard Veterans with dual chainswords (so 5A per model) would also be mobile and deadly, though not quite as devastating as Assault Intercessors, since they can't use Honour the Chapter to fight twice.

But we don't have access to VV. I guess because we have bikers.

[L30n1d4s]

Oh yes, forgot about that ;) ... well, Outriders can also be pretty dangerous with these buffs, plus they are quite mobile. Edited March 7, 2021 by L30n1d4s

[Orkinstein]

There was a related discussion before:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/369239-stacking-book-of-salvation-and-honour-vehement/

 

So, a DA Assault Intercessor can deal 12 attacks per turn.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Orkinstein

[WrathOfTheLion]

Yep, we don't get VV, so using them won't work. That's part of the trade.

 

There's a lot of melee synergy in our 9E rules, but that is as it should be. DA are a melee chapter, we are the knights of Caliban. Most of the push to gunline in our 8E rules was very much forced. That needs to be unlearned by a lot of people playing against DA.

Edited March 7, 2021 by WrathOfTheLion

[Orkinstein]

Yep, we don't get VV, so using them won't work. That's part of the trade.

 

There's a lot of melee synergy in our 9E rules, but that is as it should be. DA are a melee chapter, we are the knights of Caliban. Most of the push to gunline in our 8E rules was very much forced. That needs to be unlearned by a lot of people playing against DA.

 

I like this idea is that it is so cheap to spam and hard to counter. Every squad of Assault Intercessors can be a deadly killing machine. They also benefit a lot from being troops.

 

Also, since the green wings can shoot in melee. We should try to overwhelm enemies in the 2nd and 3rd turn by charging. With book of salvation and honour vehement, even hellblaster squad can deal tons of attacks.

 

For example, a hellblaster squad with assault plasma guns in a impulsor. In the first turn, the Impulsor moves 14". And the Hellblaster squad jumps and moves 3"+6"+D6". With the help of RW units. We might lock a lot enemy units in closed combat.

 

Meanwhile, DW units like blade guards can deal with enemy's dedicated closed combat units.

[keeblerartillery]

Sadly - you can’t use steady advance to overcome the impulsor’s rule that if IT moved, units that disembark can’t charge. Otherwise, I love this take!

[Burias-Drak'shal]

Sounds like this could be very useful if you can time it all.

[bigtrouble]

Yes, I’ve been thinking about this since last night, and so love that you broke it down like that. put an interrogator chaplain and a chief librarian with 10 of these guys and it’s ridiculousl

[davextreme]

Orkinstein, on 06 Mar 2021 - 10:38 PM, said:

 

But we don't have access to VV. I guess because we have bikers.

 

It’s because Dark Angels veterans always wear Terminator Armour vs. other chapters where the 1st company is a mix of Terminators and Vanguard and Sternguard Veterans. (Excepting Primaris veterans who are Bladeguards because GW ran out of ideas for them.)

[jbaeza94]

We also have company veterans who serve as kind of a mix between sternguard and vanguard vets in ability. This play into the dark angels thing of versatile squads rather than our elites being made for cc or shooting

[davextreme]

We also have company veterans who serve as kind of a mix between sternguard and vanguard vets in ability. This play into the dark angels thing of versatile squads rather than our elites being made for cc or shooting

 

Right. The Company Veterans are, as the name says, veterans of their particular company, but not of the Dark Angels as a whole, which are the Deathwing. There’s also a bit in some of the codex books saying that Dark Angels simply own more Terminator suits than most chapters, which just wouldn’t be able to field a whole company of them.

[Zustiur]

It should be noted that company veterans are not unique to Dark Angels. In older terminology, they are the command squad of each company.