What if the necron codex was released this time of 9 th

[angrom]

Hi everyone,

This post is not meant to be too serious but rather a cathartic one for everyone feeling frustrated by the current gap of power and logic between the earlier 9th codex and what is currently being released.

Not particularly to complain but rather have fun imagining while remaining as close as possible to reality what would have been our rule set and power level if necron codex was released around now.

I am making some suggestions myself just to illustrate how much of a gap there is between the earlier 9th rule phylosophy and now. Enjoy :).

1- The command protocols would apply army wide with no restrictions of range and would only require a lord
or overlord to be part of the army, also it would be possible each turn which protocol is active.

2- Doomsday cannon would be able to shoot with two profile.
Large beam: Profile become D6+6 Blast Str 7 ap 3 damage 2
also every units at 3" from the target unit suffers D3 mortals on a 4+ roll
Focused beam: D6+3 shots, str 10, ap5 Damage 4 additionally the target unit suffers D3 mortals.

3 - Takyon arrow, 1 shot per game, if hit is scored, auto wound
ignore all saves including invulnerable and inflict 6 damage +D3 mortals.

4 - 1 cp strat  core necron using gauss or particule weapon
in the shooting phase inflict 1 mortal wound on 6 to wound up to 6 mortals

5 - Lokhust destroyer, cannon would be 4 shots S8 ap 4 Damage 3

6 - Lokhust heavy destroyer gauss destructor would be 1 shot
str 12, ap5 damage 6+D3 additionally target suffer D3 mortals.

7 - Deathmarks 1 cp strat hyperphase hunter would allow to put the unit in reserve when targeted by ennemie unit in shooting phase or when being targeted by a charge.

8 - Void blade for triarch praetorian would be Str user, ap 3 damage 2
inflict a mortal on 6 to wound in addition to any other damages.

9 - Lord and overlord scythe relic Str +3, ap 5 damage 3 ignore invulnerable saves.
also lord would have 4 attacks and overlord 5

10 -  Monolith would be 24 wounds, T8 2+ save 4+ invulnerable
Half the damage taken. the portal would allow to teleport 1 core unit from reserve or on the table to the gate at the end of the movement phase. teleported unit would be considered as disembarking from vehicule.

 

11 -  Canoptek reanimator beam would be an aura 9" of +1 to reanimation rolls and would have a T6, 8 wounds and 5+ invulnerable save

Obviously what is a good mid 9 th codex without a supplement coming two weeks before the codex release with the following rules for an army of renown.

"Arankyr's Pyrrhian Eternals"
Restriction: all your army must come from the same dynasty
and Arankyr must be your warlord.

Benefit: all core infantry models in the army get a 5+ invulnerable save and can reroll reanimation protocol rolls of 1 and 2.
Additionally all core infantry models get +1 to move and +1 to charge rolls.

[Ahzek451]

It's a fun exercise to be sure. When I think of this to myself, I often go back and forth between making adjustments to existing rules, or just starting over. The biggest reason for starting over being, that so many reanimation and command protocol rules interact with each other. Fix one and another either becomes faulty or completely useless. Take the Convergence of dominion for example. Fix command protocols and this unit really just needs a complete re-work. 

 

I think we can all agree on some weapon power changes and the re-work of command protocols. I would just be happy if it was changed to what you said, but a NOBLE needs to be on the board. So kill the nobles and the rule goes away. That being said, I wouldn't mind that the offset to this would be a slight boost to some of the protocols themselves. I don't believe anyone else loses their army-wide rule if certain characters are slain. 

 

Re-work some of the Dynasty traits so we see more variety and not the same 2 all the time. 

 

GW was so close on a lot of ways with this codex but it surprises me how they dropped the ball on some of the subtle things such as army construction and characters:

Bringing in the DYNASTIC AGENT rule was a fantastic way for certain characters to be able to be used for Dynasty's outside the one they belong to(or for those that have none) and it was clear that this was always intended for the Silent king. GW would make sure that any dynasty could use the big new shiny model. Having said that, I really wish that they would have taken it further in a more logical direction. Having the rule also stops things like the ability to benefit from one's own dynasty. I would have changed the mechanic of the rule to simply become non-existent if the model was taken in his own dynasty. The king would therefore benefit from his own dynasty rules if taken in his own army. But, if taken in any other dynasty, he would not. Seems a fair trade-off to me. 

 

And this one may just be super personal opinion, but I would like it if Szeres was officially announced as Szarekhan and dynastic agent. His dynasty is supposed to be a mystery but they friggen painted him Szarekhan. Just make him so. 

And that also leaves other goofy interactions like Trazyn/Orikan not belonging to his own dynasty. Seems like an oversite to me. But, to be honest all of our characters need a re-work. 

 

 

I would still like to see reanimation re-worked in such a way that it does not punish min-size units and denying the rule altogether when wiped out in one swoop. I admit, this is a tricky one to do. And I hate to just fall back on a FnP type of rule. 

 

Your monolith change might be a little much. Rolling some dice around for a 4++ half damage T8 24w model is insanely brutal to get through. But at least it's not just "put quantum shield on it". The monolith was legend for defense and it should be made once more. 

 

I feel like Praetorians should be more "elite". If they do not belong to a dynasty and they are the voice of the Triarch and king, they should be more impactful and flashy. 

 

I know they are space wizards and thematically should be weaker than lords/overlords, but crypteks in general seem awkwardly weak for self-repairing tough ancient robots that know space magic. For all of their technologic acumen, you think they would invest in a bit more defense for themselves. The chronomancers seem to get this. A 4+ armour on warriors I get, but maybe a little weak for the crypteks. 3+ armour and maybe toughness 5. 

 

Re-work the Arcana, some of the lackluster warlord traits and about half the relics. 

 

It would be fun to see more powers of the C'tan that did things other than dish out mortal wounds. 
Speaking of, I kind of want to slap whoever wrote the rule: "sentient necrodermis". 

 

And I am personally convinced the Obelisk is an in-house GW joke at this point. Purposefully making it bad to keep an internal running gag going. 

 

Boost flyer defense.

 

Make Hexmark more of a threat with its menacing guns. 

 

Lower the dang costs on Anhilation barges or boost the big tesla guns. 

Plasmacyte should have a second option to boost ranged weapons so they could help out lokhust destroyers. 

 

Wish the Skorpekh lord was a more menacing combat unit. His gun could be a touch more menacing too. 

 

Off the wall wishlist items:

I really wish the Triarch Stalker was a generic necron unit and not praetorian. The old codex artwork even shows a ghost ark pilot in one. 

 

Tomb spyders should take a page out of it's own lore and act as "Command" units for all other canoptek units. Enhancing performance. OR just make them tougher. They are painfully easy to kill much like the reanimator. But at least they cost less. 

 

Bring back Pariahs in some form. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Ahzek451

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

One thing I’d like to maybe try with Reanimation Protocols is some kind of end-of-phase rule. Where at the end of a phase, any unit that lost models, even if it was destroyed, gets to roll RP for every lost model. This has the potential to really make Necrons a much more ‘we will outlast’ army, with units playing like whack-a-mole. It doesn’t matter if you can blast them off an objective once. You’ve gotta be able to blast them off an objective and then make sure they stay down. We’re already expensive models, if we’re going to pay for those points we might as well make them worth it.

 

This next change also might make this too strong, but I’d also make it so that multi wound models reanimate on any success, with a number of wounds equal to the successes, like I thought it worked at the start of the edition when we first saw the rule previewed. Again, Necrons should be the ultimate ‘you can’t kill me’ army. Nothing hurts worse than seeing two successes on a three wound model. Living Metal might make that a tad strong, but again, we’re paying the points for it, we might as well get the points’ worth.

 

I’d also change Resurrection Protocols to a 2+, but other than that I think it’s actually a decent stratagem.

 

I’d also make a lot of our damage either 2D3 or D3+3. (Also, I agree with angrom’s Tachyon Arrow changes, as it stands it’s a strictly inferior wargear load out versus a scythe and resurrection orb, and it’s supposed to be able to shatter mountains.)

 

I actually don’t run a lot of heavy weaponry, preferring the mass infantry and support characters style of play, which is probably why all my proposed changes focus on durability.

 

Also, protocols need to be able to be chosen on the fly. Full stop. And need to be better in general.

[angrom]

I agree, the codex probably better off being redesigned from ground zero rather than trying fixing rules with the existing one.
It definitely feel like a draft for what 9 th was trying to be.

I guess for this time I am just trying to see what would be the profile and rule based on what we know is the current trend and norm in the meta.
But I agree that the reanimation is probably the hardest of the bunch to fix as it is very easy to go from under-powered to overpowered with very subtle changes.

 

As for the monolith I think the rules as I mentioned would be overpowered according to our current standards but in line of what is being released at the moment
(Usually nerfed though within 6 months by a massive point increase). I think the half damage on such a solid platform is what the monoiith is supposed to be.

trading off crazy amount of firepower AND/OR melee for an unmovable brick more designed to be our main trick to move around the table by teleporting and redeploying as necrons are known for.

The Arankyr one though could very well be a plausible idea in my opinion on what would be our army of renown when it drops.
That would definitely resurrect us as a faction without making us impossible to play against.

[Ahzek451]

At the end of the day there are multiple ways to flay a cat/human/alien. As long as most players agree on what is wrong and make it known as apposed to throwing out all of our various suggestions on how to fix it. 

I'm just getting sick of having to go through multiple editions and suffering from "edition design creep" knocking out the overall power/playstyle/feel of a codex because GW can't stay consistent throughout an entire edition. Something GW has never quite been able to nail down for many years. And the arguments going back and forth about whether a codex is "good" on the merits of what a few chosen units competitive players have found to make work while the rest of the codex is a dumpster fire is a horrible way to measure the quality of a codex. 

Observing every edition since 2nd, hearing bits and bobs about how the writers function has all led to the same ancient conclusion that GW has done little to evolve in this dept. Spending the minimum amount of money/resources to reach their highest potential. But at the same time why should they? Model company first.  

 

 

 

Every army is a big bad force in the galaxy. But, my condolences for the poor souls that have to work on an army that is ancient, masters of science and high level technology, uses fragments of gods as weapons, resilient AND ressurects. Good god! Good luck balancing all that. 

Math-wise, I'm sure the rule team has banged their head against the wall many times. Attempting to make our weapons powerful but not too powerful keeping in mind they also have to manage our extraordinary defense.  When you add in a mechanic that allows models to return, it's a nightmare to balance. Because it is the ultimate "feel bad" mechanic. Most people don't like it when the crap they killed just gets back up. 

Narrative-wise we are an army that can "have its cake and eat it too". Fearless, powerful, and tough. Translating that to the table, ugh, not fun. 
 

[Dread]

All the stuff suggested is great ideas and thinl it would all bring our guys eherr they need to be. My only thing is the protocols should be 5+ feel no pain not the circus they have now.

[Bonzi]

At a minimum all our weapon types would be tweaked and hopefully differentiated.

 

All Gauss types should auto wound on a 6 to hit. Cannons to flat 2 damage, heavy cannons to flat 3, destructor to 6+D3. A Gauss strat to add +1 damage on auto wound attacks would be a great way to bring back some of the old Gauss effect vs vehicles.

 

Tesla should get a rule to ignore any negative to hit modifiers making it a good weapon vs units with a malus to hit rolls.

 

Particle pistols and beamers should be St6, damage 2 weapons.

 

New Emetic weapons should autohit and ignore cover (basically act as flamers).

 

All doomsday cannon to 3+D3 damage.

 

Reanimation should get thrown in the dustbin. In place our entire infantry line should get +1 toughness and armor save to their current statline. Our army is made of metal, Death Guard should be able to ignore or reduce damage while we should be very hard to wound.

 

Living metal should change to at the start of player turn any wounded infantry or bike model is returned to full wounds. If a unit has no wounded models and is under starting strength a single model is returned to the unit with full wounds. D3 returned for warriors and flayed ones. Then units like Technomancers, Reanimators, Ghost Arks can have mechanics to modify the number or frequency of models returned or the ability to hand out other durability buffs. Giving our army a flat rate of return without a wonky save rule would make assigning our unit point costs a lot easier.

 

Monolith to T9.

 

Blackstone units should have a 5+ deny the witch ability similar to Sisters of Battle.

 

Character units should be the cornerstone of our armies. Units should be crazy tough with great weapons but have poor WS and BS and lack the ability to do actions unless they are under the influence of a character.

 

All of this would require a lot of point changes and in some instances point increases as the units become as tough and dangerous as they should be.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Bonzi

[Emicus]

If anything the monolith should have 'reverse quantum shielding'. Can't be wounded on 4/5/6 only 2s and 3s.

 

Meaning immune to piddly weapons but not s9 and up! And an invuln of course. 4++ should do it.

 

Super durable, not very killy, board presence and shuffling of troops.

 

Oh and it needs fly. Currently it's hampered by scatter terrain :cuss.

 

Then it will finally be worthy of the LoW slot and it's mental points cost.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Emicus

[Get Thokt]

Psychomamcer's effects to go off at the end of the movement phase.

 

A stratagem for Tesla to explode on 5s.

 

Protocols chosen at the start of the turn, no range limitation on its effects.

 

Protocols to be buffed, Vengeful Stars, Eternal Protectors, and Undying Legions.

 

Mephrit straragem to be limited to 6MWs.

 

More attacks for the Skorpekh Lord and no penalty to hit.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Get Thokt

[Marshal Mittens]

Hopefully we will get a 2.0 late 9e or an early 10e codex.

[Bonzi]

Hopefully we will get a 2.0 late 9e or an early 10e codex.

Oh please no. This codex was first of the 9th edition and it's trash. I hope we don't get a new dex until the 4th or 5th book of 10th when the power creep is in effect. I don't want a late 9th dex that's 'designed for 10th' like Astra Militarum are likely to get either. Those books always age poorly too.

 

It would be nice to get a warzone update/patch but frankly the problems with the Necron dex are systemic and multilayered. The dex and units needed reworked from the ground up.

[Lord_Ikka]

 

Hopefully we will get a 2.0 late 9e or an early 10e codex.

Oh please no. This codex was first of the 9th edition and it's trash. I hope we don't get a new dex until the 4th or 5th book of 10th when the power creep is in effect. I don't want a late 9th dex that's 'designed for 10th' like Astra Militarum are likely to get either. Those books always age poorly too.

 

It would be nice to get a warzone update/patch but frankly the problems with the Necron dex are systemic and multilayered. The dex and units needed reworked from the ground up.

 

Agreed- a late 2.0 codex or early 10th ed codex means a bad time for Necrons when 10th comes out. 

 

A quick warzone update that would help, would be this-

1. Combat Protocols now only require a Noble to be on the battlefield to activate. No other restrictions- so the 6: character rule disappears. 

2. All d6 damage weapons change to 3+d3 and all d3 damage weapons change to straight 2 damage. 

3. Necron vehicles all get either Quantum Shielding or a 4+ invuln, including Aircraft and LoW.

 

That takes care of some of the most glaring issues that Necrons have, while still keeping them in the middle of the pack rules-wise. A warzone update will definitely not fix everything, but even if we get a couple of these issues fixed we'll be in a good place.