Quarterly update!

[dice4thedicegod]

Looks like we have our soulless desires granted!

CORE granted to:
Wraiths
Flayed ones
Lokhust destroyers (normal and heavy)
Skorpekhs
Ophydians
Praetorians

Reanimator

Acanthrites

This makes things interesting!

I’m definitely revisiting flayed ones and going to ponder what buffs now apply to skorpekhs…


Link:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/09/game-balance-is-at-the-heart-of-this-official-warhammer-40000-rules-update/

Edited November 9, 2021 by Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch

[Ahzek451]

Well this opens a whole NEW world. Looking forward to using more praetorians now. 

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Flayed Ones might actually* be viable now. The Implacable conquerer warlord trait, as well as the fact that you can now reposition them with the VoD, means that you could theoretically position and pull off some nasty charges. Having access to a variety of other CORE buffs makes them quite interesting. Same goes for destroyers and wraiths, actually. A canoptek army where you have a noble sitting in the back to provide protocols, and a cryptek with the proper stratagem, WL trait, and relic could bip out of existence and reposition them for a devastating charge. 

 

I don't know what they were trying to do with giving the Reanimator CORE, though. Seems rather meh. I guess it can do actions now? But if you want action monkeys, cryptothralls exist. And are both much cheaper and easier to hide.

 

My crusade force is still going to end up having one, but that's for thematic reasons.

[Prot]

I admit I have not been able to figure this out yet. Out of all the balance changes, the Necrons receiving more "core" is hard for me to really see it as having a big impact in what's wrong with the army right now.

 

I have a full army of these guys and used them with some success in competitive environments but as time went on and I saw the codex creep slowly spanking this army further and further down the ladder, I never for a second thought more core is going to fix this.

 

I'm not being facetious and I legitimately believe I'm missing something but what is it? It has to be more than Thy Will be Done ? 

 

Honestly one thing I see (but don't know if it will actually be 'good') is I never used my painted Szeras for a few reasons.... but now I might...?

 

Those characters not getting full dynasty rules and the 'noble' rule is a bit weird still to this day.

 

- EDIT: for now I think the biggest single plus with this is going to be for my (rarely played) Destroyers. Going to have to give these some play time now.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Prot

[Ahzek451]

This also makes Szeres happier dishing out his "upgrades". 

Kinda meh, but the monolith has more options for moving units out the door. 

Royal warden is more useful. 

And the Technomancer....look at all the mult-wound models it can bring back! I see more than 1 and Szeres featuring in an army. 

Sovereign Coronal got better if you care about command protocols. 

Disruption fields have more options. 

My only sneaking suspicion guess is that they intended to pass out more core after seeing how much everyone else had. An item on the list but not a comprehensive fix to everything wrong. 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Ahzek451

[Seahawk]

Things that are now much more fun:

- More Core units to port through a Monolith or Night Scythe, or port TO a Monolith.

 

- Disruption Fields on all those choppy units. S5 flayed ones...

 

- Hypermaterial Ablator works on more stuff

 

- Immortal Pride, Implacable Conqueror, and Thrall of the Silent King all more efficient. Bubble reroll charges...

 

- Veil of Darkness babyyyyyy!

 

- The Sovereign Coronol is more efficient

 

- More options for Ancient Machineries

 

- MWBD and Relentless March mcbuffed

 

- Anrakyr stocks going up when you give +2A to something choppy, plus Obyron for the extra rerolls.

 

- Szeras stocks WAY up with reanimation and augmentation.

 

- Zandrekh has some more uses, as does the Royal Warden

 

- Lord makes Lokhusts more reliable

 

- Technomancers bringing back destroyers and wraith is boss

[Mandragola]

This is significant. It has always felt frustrating that Necron stuff fails to synergise well. This radically changes that.

 

I can definitely see myself running Szeras, Anrakyr, a couple of Chronomancers and all 12 of my Skorpekhs. It feels like you could have a pretty strong attempt to take midfield with that. Adding in a Night scythe would give some great options.

 

I think Praetorians are still a bit stuffed, unfortunately. If anything, the fact they aren't <Dynasty> hurts even more now that so many other units get buffs. That said they do benefit from Anrakyr and can be given an invulnerably by Orikan, if you really want.

[NTaW]

I guess I have 20 extra points in my list since I won't be taking Phylacterine Hive ever again.

[Ahzek451]

I guess I have 20 extra points in my list since I won't be taking Phylacterine Hive ever again.

 

Unless you want to use it on a tomb spyder 

[Prot]

I'm trying a test tonight. I don't know who the opponent will be (random pairing) but my intent is to flex the new core rule.

 

One part of me really wants to pull out Silent King and just try taking advantage of Core shooting. Problem is I still don't think it matches up well with Admech (even with points changes). Also SoB are a pain in the metal buttocks.

 

My second thought is to finally pull out painted Szeras whom I have not played since I painted him, and finally get some fun buffs rolling for a few different types of units.

 

I always wanted to try the Tomb Blades with Szeras for obvious reasons, but now he would actually work quite good with a mix of units instead of just a few troop types and the sword/board Lychguard.

 

My personal favourite type of list is a little more interactive than a typical warrior Obsec/blob. I'm thinking if I can give Szeras buffs, while reanimating Destroyers of all types, there's a bit of new synergy there that I lacked in my previous lists.

 

The advantage is they work together better now. The disadvantage is I really try to avoid playing a 'block o' stuff' ala marine style with my crons.

 

So babbling aside, I'm looking at being aggressive with Szeras and building the list around that theme with new Core. 

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

I think we would all be interested in a post-game report, brother! :wink:

 

Please do let us know how the changes affect things.

[Perry]

I'm thinking destroyer units coming out of a reserve Night Scythe, even a Monolith!

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Or wraiths out of a monolith! Followed up by a charge from the monolith as well, for some vacuum-y goodness.

[Miek]

This made my day! Sorry honey but I'm reading my codex tonight :) Edited November 9, 2021 by Miek

[Bonzi]

I'm thinking the Canoptek list I wanted to build just became a lot more viable and the Necron HQ slot became a lot more interesting.

[Mandragola]

Having now had a go at putting a list together, one thing I found was that it feels like there’s less reason to bring warriors. Some of the buffs that you might have put on them are likely to go to beefier units instead. Meanwhile, three units of immortals will probably be pretty good.

 

I’m not sure how to weigh technomancer a against chronomancers now. The technomancer can now res destroyers and wraiths, which is great, but having more destroyers means having more units that want a Chronomancer’s buffs. It also means more reason to bring a Lokhust Lord, leaving only one HQ slot free for a couple of Crypteks, rather than the three I’d quite like to bring. Still, difficult choices are probably a good thing. They show that we’ve got good options.

[Captain Idaho]

• Technomancers raising a single Skorpekh a turn is actually pretty good and I'm happy with that.

 

• Hypermateriel Ablator giving Skorpekh a 2+ save functionally is also nice, especially with their -1 to wound Strategum.

 

Basically 6 of these with a Chronomancer and Technomancer in tow will be much harder to remove.

 

Still doesn't fix Necrons but it does make them more competitive which is half the battle eh.

[Seahawk]

Wombo combo #1:

 

(Novokh)

1 Night Scythe in reserves

20 Flayed Ones in reserves

 

Turn 2, put the Scythe where you need it. 1 CP for Prismatic Dimensional Breach and pop up those Flayed Ones in the face. Charge in and use Disruption Fields and Blood Rites for 2 more CP. Maybe you have Anrakyr nearby for +1A and to hit, but an overlord/lord/Warden would be fine too.

 

Then pop Storm of Flensing Blades at the end too, just in case.

[Galron]

Not seeing the benefit for Hypermaterial Ablator for skorpekhs. They have to be 12" away from the shooter for it to have any effect. I think the Novokh Royal Warden-Veil of Darkness+WLT Implacable Conquorer will be more effective. Especially if you keep them out of sight until T2 and drop in some flayers and/or Ophydians at the same time in the aura to have them tank any overwatch. Then the next round if they are still in combat, you can pull them out shoot with the warden and charge something else. 

 

But having played last night, having a technomancer just bring a heavy destroyer back automatically is flipping awesome.

[Plague _Lord]

My army just got a whole lot better!

 

I was using destroyers and wraiths before so this is lovely.

 

I'm going to cut down on immortals and troops and go heavily into obsec speed: 6 wraiths and 6 lokhusts (1 heavy) accompanied by a CCB with reroll to charges trait + 6 skorpekhs in a reserved night scythe and 3 spyders. Turn 1 my wraiths try to  tie as much they can in CC. Turn 2 I drop the hammer with the lokhusts and spyders.

 

Giving +1 to hit to lokhusts and wraiths is huge!

[Get Thokt]

Going heavy on Wraiths then you might as well get a flying Technomancer with the CCB. He'll revive a Wraith every turn and with the "Fail-Safe Overcharger" Arkana, him and the CCB will give Wraiths 5 attacks hitting on 3s... Very spicy

[Captain Idaho]

Wombo combo #1:

 

(Novokh)

1 Night Scythe in reserves

20 Flayed Ones in reserves

 

Turn 2, put the Scythe where you need it. 1 CP for Prismatic Dimensional Breach and pop up those Flayed Ones in the face. Charge in and use Disruption Fields and Blood Rites for 2 more CP. Maybe you have Anrakyr nearby for +1A and to hit, but an overlord/lord/Warden would be fine too.

 

Then pop Storm of Flensing Blades at the end too, just in case.

I was thinking of getting Skorpekh Destroyers into combat using this method. Guaranteed turn 2 charge. With the benefit if Disruption Fields as well, meaning S8 on those big bad Blades.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Captain Idaho

[Ahzek451]

 

Wombo combo #1:

 

(Novokh)

1 Night Scythe in reserves

20 Flayed Ones in reserves

 

Turn 2, put the Scythe where you need it. 1 CP for Prismatic Dimensional Breach and pop up those Flayed Ones in the face. Charge in and use Disruption Fields and Blood Rites for 2 more CP. Maybe you have Anrakyr nearby for +1A and to hit, but an overlord/lord/Warden would be fine too.

 

Then pop Storm of Flensing Blades at the end too, just in case.

I was thinking of getting Skorpekh Destroyers into combat using this method. Guaranteed turn 2 charge. With the benefit if Disruption Fields as well, meaning S8 on those big bad Blades.

 

I suppose all these new methods of shipping skorpekhs around via VoD or night scythe unfortunately means leaving the plasmacyte out if I am understanding correctly? 

 

[Mandragola]

Well, having not purchased any necron models in a few months, I've now ordered myself four copies of Warhammer: Imperium #15. If they arrive, I'll have a unit of 20 flayed ones without needing to renegotiate my mortgage.

 

One issue I am finding with these changes is that they seem to push Necrons even further towards being a melee army. That's not necessarily a bad thing when we have a mission pack requiring us to hold the centre of the board, but it's not what I'm used to seeing. Existing Core units, especially Warriors, look a bit less special now.

 

I had planned to build a silver tide army. That hasn't got worse thanks to this update, and I suppose by neutering some of the key threats it has become a bit more viable, but it doesn't look like the most fun way to play Necrons right now. I'm sure at some point I'll field a force with 60 Warriors and 20 flayed ones though, just to see what happens.

[Stupidity]

They have my attention.