2k DE mortal wound spam list

[GrinNfool]

So with the new codex, several changes, and some units rise in viability I have started thinking that a DE list that has lots of options to throw out mortal wounds might be quite nice.  Especially with some of the current better armies being vulnerable to them like, BA, DA, DG, and Custodes.  I am running it as a triple patrol and will provide more information on how I see it working below.

 

Patrol 1

Obsidian Rose, can be your choice, I just like Obsidian for lances, and trueborn.

 

HQ - Master Archon with Djin blade and Ancient Evil Warlord Trait 70

 

Troop - Trueborn - Sybarite with Phantasm   6 with Rifles   2 with blasters   1 with Dark Lance 140

 

Heavy - Ravager 3x lances and Phantasm  145

             Ravager 3x lances and Phantasm  145

 

Transports - Raider with lance, phantasm, and Splinter Racks (for trueborn)  100

                    Raider with lance, phantasm, chain snares, and shock prow  100

 

 

Patrol 2

Cursed Blade wych cult

 

HQ - Master Succubi Tryptych + whatever free  WT - Precision Strikes Drugs +1a 75

 

Troops- Wyches - Hekatrix - Phantasm 4 Wyches 55

             Wyches - Hekatrix - Phantasm 4 Wyches 55

 

Fast Attack - Hellions - Helliarch - Phantasm   9 Hellions 175

                    Reavers - Arena Champ 3 Reavers with Heatlances   6 Reavers    3 Grav Talons  245

 

 

Patrol 3

Dark Creed  for the LD

 

HQ - haem - 80 Optional warlord trait to remove ob sec and deny actions

HQ - Drazhar - 135 Optional warlord trait for full rerolls

 

Troop - Wracks - Acothyst with Liquefier   4 Wracks  50

 

Elite - Incubi - Klaivex + 9 Incubi  160

 

Transports - Venom - 1 cannon 1 twin splinter Chain snares, Grisly Trophies    85

                    Venom - 1 cannon 1 twin splinter Chain snares, Grisly Trophies    85

                    Venom - 1 cannon 1 twin splinter Chain snares, Grisly Trophies    85

 

 

Explanation:  So the idea of this is as stated is to try to cause a large number of mortal wounds, bringing 8 Phantasms, 3 Grav Talons, two sources of eviscerating fly by, Tryptych whip + precision strikes, shock prow strat, and occasional combat attacks bouncing off the wyches or succubi.  The list itsself doesn't sacrifice much to do that either, with really only the dark creed and the venoms being the only culprits of list twisting.

 

The venoms are nice little 3" bubbles of -3 LD and -1 attrition tests (if that ever matters), and -1 LD -1 attrition  at 6"  Why thats relevant is the phantasms now being, d3 shots and each hit causing you to roll 2d6, beating their LD causes a mortal wound.  So potentially if you are shooting at  spacemarines that are all suffering from that LD penalty you would have 16 average shots hitting on 3s or better that on hit have to roll a 6  or better to do a mortal wound.  Bonus here is it works on vehicles. titanic, you name it.  Against LD 8 and assuming all target a -3 ld unit this averages 7 mortals with a high chance for an 8th  Vs LD 7 8 with VERY high chance for a 9th   and Vs worst case LD 10 4 mortal wounds with a coin flip for a 5th.

 

Obviously vs any army that actually has to take LD tests this is also scary, but thats not the main goal here, just a nice bonus.  The LD's other nice side effect is improving tormentors on Draz and in the incubi giving them a good chance to force the opponent to fight last, which we pick up a 3rd option of with the archon.

 

All of the venoms and the incubi/draz's raider have chain snares (shock prow too for more mortal wounds) so a good amount of attacks coming out on those for combat.

 

The hellions and Reavers offer good unit to use Eviscerating fly by, + the new strat that improves their statistics if you want it.  Reavers rocking 3 heat lances make them a reasonable choice for +1 bs drug, for the Hellions most of the time probably the +1a drug but optional

 

List as a whole still brings solid fire power with 9 lances 2 blasters 3 heat lances 3 splinter cannons, and competent melee with the reavers, hellions, incubi, drazhar, archon, succubi and wyches.

 

General play style would be sorta typical of what I think DE are going to gravitate to now, which is hanging back not contesting more than an objective or 2 til your advance and charge rules kick in.  Just focusing on positioning FOR turn 2, while letting the long range fire power do its job of focusing down important targets.  Probably using the move after shooting strat on the reavers to let them use their heat lances safely, assuming a good combat or fly by target for them isn't available turn 1. 

 

Risks would be throwing away your -LD venoms too quick so have to play smart with those, though the list should still function if they do go down, just not as well.  General squishiness of DE is also a risk  As this isn't an MSU venom spam set up your limited pool of ob sec will have to be carefully utilized, at moments that maximize their benefit. 

 

In any case there are multiple list and build options available to us now, but this is just an idea I was kicking around since its a play style that was previously not really available to us, and curious what people's thought about such a style might be.  Thanks.

Edited March 23, 2021 by GrinNfool