Sanctus - sniper rifle or bio-dagger

[Rogue]

As the title suggests - anyone have any thoughts on arming a sanctus?

 

I can see the advantages of the sniper version - he can only be targeted within 12", and is -1 to hit even when you can shoot him; in light cover he gets a 3+ save (and a 5+ invulnerable). So tuck him away high up in the back-field, and let him operate with near-impunity. Except, his sniper rifle isn't great. 

 

It auto-hits, but only has one shot. At S5 and AP-3, it'll wound a librarian on a 2+ (because it always counts as gaining exposed), and he'll get a 6+ save. That gives:

• 22% - no damage
• 8% - 1 mortal [wound on 4+, saved]
• 28% - 2 damage [wound on 2-3, not saved]
• 42% - 2 damage + 1 mortal [wound on 4+, not saved]

We can't kill the librarian (who has 4 wounds) unless we take the relic rifle (boosting the base damage to 3, but otherwise not changing the odds), or use the stratagem and roll over his leadership to trigger perils (a 63% chance of a further d3 mortals). 

 

And against an invulnerable save, like Ahriman's 4++ sigil, we're on this:

• 33% - no damage
• 25% - 1 mortal [wound on 4+, saved]
• 17% - 2 damage [wound on 3, not saved]
• 25% - 2 damage + 1 mortal [wound on 4+, not saved]

(The lone mortal wound looks, oddly, far more likely here. In fact, we still have a 50/50 chance of landing the mortal wound, but far more chance of the regular damage being blocked.)

 

The problem with the sniper rifle is that it can only do 1 mortal wound at best (half the time), and otherwise isn't all that spectacular. It does exploit a lot of the Sanctus' protective rules, and allows us to drop a reliable crossfire marker (which is very handy). This version of the sanctus is a constant thorn in the side - difficult to take down, and whilst he's unlikely to one-shot anything important, you might not want to take that chance.

 

 

The bio-dagger version still gets the defensive buffs, which allows him to lurk near the front lines, waiting for his moment. The weakness here, obviously, is that he has to get into combat to do anything. But if he does make it that far, how effective is the dagger?

 

Again, it auto-hits, then jumps straight to doing mortal wounds on 3+ (with no extra damage on top). And the dagger gives an extra attack, so we're always on five hits. Which means:

• 13% - 5 mortals
• 33% - 4 mortals
• 33% - 3 mortals
• 16% - 2 mortals
• 4% - 1 mortal
• 0.4% - 0 mortals

Or, to put it another way, a 79% chance of matching or exceeding the maximum output of the sniper rifle. So this version is more destructive, with sufficient damage output to kill targets in a single turn (and with the exception of FNP saves, he's unaffected by the toughness or save of the target, or even by hit modifiers).

 

The relic is interesting too (much more so than the +1 damage sniper rifle), with a free reroll and potential extra damage. It also does good things to the maths - a reroll can't improve on five wounds, but does push everything else upwards:

• 35% - 5 mortals
• 33% - 4 mortals
• 22% - 3 mortals
• 8% - 2 mortals
• 1% - 1 mortal
• 0.1% - 0 mortals

That's a reliable 3 mortal wounds (90% chance of 3+), and a fairly consistent 4 (68% chance of 4+). Not only that, but if the sanctus (with relic) goes after a character and falls short, we get another d3 mortal wounds on a single 3+ roll. Which would then look like this:

• 8% - 8 mortals
• 15% - 7 mortals
• 20% - 6 mortals
• 26% - 5 mortals
• 18% - 4 mortals
• 9% - 3 mortals
• 3% - 2 mortals
• 0.3% - 1 mortal
• 0% - 0 mortals

By this point, we're on a 69% chance of 5+ mortal wounds. Ahriman has 6 wounds, so there's a 43% chance of taking him out in a single round of combat. And that's without using the Neural Overload stratagem - assuming that the target is a psyker, and that they have a leadership of 10, there's a 50% chance to trigger Perils for a further d3 mortal wounds...

• 1% - 11 mortals
• 4% - 10 mortals
• 7% - 9 mortals
• 14% - 8 mortals
• 18% - 7 mortals
• 19% - 6 mortals
• 19% - 5 mortals
• 12% - 4 mortals
• 5% - 3 mortals
• 1% - 2 mortals
• 0% - 1 mortal
• 0% - 0 mortals

It's a lot of mortals. We end up with a 26% chance of taking out a demon prince, a 63% chance of getting Ahriman (or Eldrad), and a 94% of killing off a basic librarian. For 70 points, a relic and 1CP. And whilst I'm not going to math it out here, we could have given the sanctus Our Time is Nigh for 6 attacks, and used a CP reroll on a failed wound, both pushing the odds even higher.

 

All of which is only any use if we can get the sanctus into combat against the right target in the first place. Although I guess he also has a role as a luring threat, closing off areas of the board to characters and psykers. Or, put him underground, give him A Trap Sprung, and pop up turn two with a 3-dice-take-the-best-two 8" charge. 

 

 

So, anyone care to offer any thoughts? Opt for the safer, tactical option of a near-invulnerable sniper picking off wounds here and there, and utilising crossfire to support the rest of the force; or go for the potential exocet bio-dagger option, for a glorious assassination of a key enemy character before an inevitable martyr's death?

 

(And just on those numbers, I'm really drawn to the dagger, because if it works it would be amazing.)

[Akrim]

 

 

So, anyone care to offer any thoughts?

Personally the Sanctus has been in most of my lists, but I have been keeping with the Sniper Rifle & Gift From Beyond relic. Dmg3 and a 50/50 mortal can be a one shot kill on some factions and being able to start maiming characters turn 1 is just so valuable to me. Plus like you say - hes a couple floors up in a ruin, hanging out with the Reductus and just doesn't get targeted.

 

Good points on the bio dagger though, I may need to sample it in a game.

 

[Xenith]

The blades seem an auto take unless you're taking the relic rifle, which can actually be threatening. I guess the rifle might mess with the opponent more as it's less likely to be targeted and can affect the whole game, while the blade sanctus is likely to pup in, kill something then die. 

[Rogue]

This is true. I think the dagger sanctus would be very much a trading piece - you know he's almost certainly going to die, but if he takes out your opponent's key buffing piece, lone psyker or warlord, then it's a good trade.

 

And I wonder if the sniper sanctus could be better employed for his crossfire capabilities rather than as a character assassin. The rifle looks better against 2- or 3-wound infantry, where he can target a unit, auto-hit for a guaranteed marker, and probably take out a model to make life easier for the next attackers.

[Master Antaeus]

The sniper rifle is only good if you team it with a Jackal Alphus and they gang up, though I have had games where neither of them caused a single wound all game; that's the risk/reward of single shot weapons.

 

The dagger is probably the better TAC choice, but it basically feeds your opponent a character.  On the other hand, your opponent can ignore a sniper all game, but a guy with an auto-hit dagger and a pile of attacks in your back field demands immediate answers.  Also, the Sanctus only excels at killing psykers which will be in about half the armies you face.

 

You know, it's too bad we don't have a strat that lets you switch out a Sanctus for a Kelermorph like Operative Sanctioned.

[Rogue]

He's handy against psykers, but only the stratagem is psyker-specific. His basic rules and the relic work against anyone, so with the right buffs he can drop up to 9 mortal wounds on any model he goes into.