Necron Unit of the Week Series: Warriors

[NTaW]

NECRON UNIT OF THE WEEK SERIES

Welcome to the Necron Unit of the Week series for 10th edition! Each week will see a different unit from the Codex, Imperial Armour, and Legends datasheets featured for discussion. The goal here is to discover and chronicle tactics for the featured unit so that new players and veterans alike can use this database to inform their strategies with the wider knowledge of the forum. The game of Warhammer 40,000 is ever changing though, and as the rules evolve throughout the edition everyone should feel free to return to older threads with the release of new FAQs/errata, changes in points values, information gathered from games played, and of course the Codex being released. These threads are also great places for newcomers to the Necrons to post their questions about tactics related to the featured units.

Please note that the purpose of this series is not to lament what the current meta deems “ineffective”, or that another unit “does it better”. Those units will get their own threads.

 

This week’s unit is:

Necron Warriors

 

Some points to ponder as we discuss the various uses of the Necron Warrior:

What purpose do Warriors play in your army lists?

Do you take 10 or 20 model units, and are they armed with Flayers or Reapers?

Do you attach any characters to your unit(s)?

What tactics do you employ to get the most out of the "Their Number is Legion" ability?

 

 

 

Series Index

[Tyriks]

I've mostly been playing Warriors in 20 man blobs with some support. They have just been so hard to remove quickly enough that way. I generally try to get them onto an objective in the midfield and just leave them there, but they have stripped the last wounds off a Knight Valiant and a few other vehicles when I've run out of other shooting.

 

I do usually take Flayers over Reapers, but the few times I've taken Reapers they did fine. Most of my games have been against other short ranged armies though so that likely skews my particular experience.

 

I do think this is the first edition I've played Necrons where bringing a block of Warriors doesn't feel like a chore.

[Nap time Necron]

Here's what I've found so far for warriors: 

 

If you're going to take them a 20 man block is pretty much mandatory, if you can't bring 20 don't bring any. 10 don't meet the durability threshold to make reanimation start doing work. Along the same lines of the unit size you also need to commit to the support pieces, Lord/overlord + Orikan/Technomancer + Cryptothralls, these pieces compound the durability significantly. Reanimator is another worthy investment, perhaps not as mandatory as the others but highly recommended.

 

Although I said no 10 man squads there is one tactic I think it's a specific exception. 10 warriors in a ghost ark with a chronomancer is an annoying mobile and surprisingly durable combination. Because the chronomancer allowed the warriors to move in a different phase they can get out 3" move 5" shoot something and then move 5" back and get back into the G Ark.

 

Final little tech piece is for 20 man warrior blobs that you're anticipating will be charged next turn. Arrange them into a large blob with a small screen at the front connected by 1 or 2 models in between. When you take casualties from the charge kill the connecting 2 models so that the small blob is out of coherency. At the end of the turn the small blob will be removed due to coherency rules and you're free to shoot/move away/do secondaries as you're no longer engaged.

 

For weapons I think the reaper is still superior but the difference now is so minor that it doesn't really matter which gun you use. If you're running a chronomancer I would take all reaper's apart from 1 flayer so that you have a longer range weapon to activate his extra movement ability.

 

As with anything I say here it's all just my opinions/insights so take with a pinch of salt.

[Captain Idaho]

Great series!

 

I've found Necron Warriors die fairly easily still, so to ensure I have any left, I've been taking 2 maxed units of 20 and added a Technomancer to each.

 

I've deemed the Feel No Pain save a superior buy to the Resurrection Orb. Whilst it is true having a free second go at Reanimation Protocols, the issue isn't with the numbers we get back thanks to the generous rules for Warriors and support like the Reanimator, it is just surviving long enough to get to the rolls in the first place!

 

Holding out on an Objective is really solid and I've had 20 Warriors holding an objective for multiple turns against Blood Angels Assault Terminators lead by a Captain! Just long enough to hold the objective and win me the game.

[NTaW]

I've been playing two squads of 20 Warriors, each armed with flayers and Technomancer attached. The 5+ FnP has been so critical keeping the models alive, with the Cryptek's regenerative ability good to use for itself if it gets hit by something with Precision so you keep reanimating Warriors. My main goal for these units is one holding my deployment objective with the other pushing a no-man's land objective. It's worked well so far, with the reanimation stratagem coming in handy for an extra few models returned at key moments.

[N1SB]

On 7/31/2023 at 6:09 PM, Nap time Necron said:

Although I said no 10 man squads there is one tactic I think it's a specific exception. 10 warriors in a ghost ark with a chronomancer is an annoying mobile and surprisingly durable combination. Because the chronomancer allowed the warriors to move in a different phase they can get out 3" move 5" shoot something and then move 5" back and get back into the G Ark.

 

This looks like such a fun and effective idea, that I don't reckon any other army can do.  That's hilarious, it's like they're dangling from the Ghost Ark, firing.

 

Edit - I just realised why I love this so.  I used to play Orks.  You just turned a Ghost Ark into an Open Topped Vehicle the passengers could fire out of in effect.

Edited October 22, 2023 by N1SB

[NTaW]

For those of you who have gotten games in since the Codex was released, how have our favourite mindless automata fared? The change of their ability to granting a re-roll means less models are returning each turn, but I'd like to think a 20-model squad is still fairly hard to remove.

[Prot]

Well I can say the obvious from my experiences... they aren't even close to the same level of resilience. 

 

It's more than the reroll, it's kind of an overlap of missing support. IE: The Orb is different, and the aura of the Reanimator is a painful nerf. 

 

I agree 20 isn't easy to remove still, but it's definitely far more possible now. I do think these pile of changes just pushed Warriors into "B" tier and the Immortals are the way to go overall.

 

I do use a 10 man squad now more than ever, just because these guys NEVER killed anything before, but for cheap they can spread out just squat in my deployment zone.

 

I always use Imotekh so this is a good place for him to fart around all game generally doing nothing but staying safe. Honestly 10 Warriors aren't worth shooting at, and at that size they're easier to keep hidden.