Necron Unit of the Week Series: Transcendent C'Tan

[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:

Transcendent C'Tan

 

What units are you best going after?

How resilient are they against shooting and combat?

Is Transdimensional Displacement as fun as it looks on paper or does it leave your C'Tan stranded?

Do (see also: Can) you add the Sempiternal Weave Enhancement?

 

 

Series Index

[N1SB]

Updated with early reviews in, Transcendant C'tan apparently can no longer taken Enhancements, so loses 4+++ FNP option...but gets 5+++ FNP for free!

 

Great questions, here we go:

 

What units are you best going after?

Elite Marine Infantry units, like Terminators, Sanguinary Guard, things that still have Toughness 4 (because it has Strength 8 and 9 for attacks).  Then after they're dead, go after the rest of the MEQs.  It usually happens because people take those types to be their hard-hitting frontline.

 

The Transcendent C'tan's melee and ranged attacks are such that it doesn't matter much whether it's killing Elite MEQs or regular, so the best bang for the buck is for those fancy, high points cost units.  The Transcendent C'tan itself is kinda pricey, but even if you don't face them, it's valuable because...

 

How resilient are they against shooting and combat?

 

...I initially took the Transcendant C'tan with Sempiternal Weave 4+++ Feel No Pain mainly as a tanky tarpit thing.  The damage was a bonus.

 

With that, and the Reanimation Protocols, it held off 10 Terminators, a Terminator Librarian, a bunch of Centurion Lascannons, in 1 memorable battle.

 

The Warhammer Store Manager remarked it can out-Elite almost any Elite Infantry, but it can't out-Monster certain Tyranids or Dreadnoughts.

 

I also have this rule of thumb, don't take just 1 of any unit.  So if I were to take a Dreadnought or Armiger, for example, I take 2.  You can't take 2 Sempiternal Weaves, so I take 1 Transcendent C'tan with it AND the Nightbringer.  You have 1 tanky god and 1 DPS god, and between the 2, I prefer the Transcendent C'tan.

 

Nightbringer, as per early Codex reviews, has 5+++ FNP.  That would make him my top pick.  Very excited for this.

 

And it's because Monsters can still do Objectives.  You know how Monsters and Vehicles are kinda similar, they're both really tough and big and can shoot/be shot at in a melee?  But many Mission Objectives prohibit Vehicles.  When you can do Objectives, you favour survivability over damage so they can hold them.

 

Is Transdimensional Displacement as fun as it looks on paper or does it leave your C'Tan stranded?

 

I think the "trap" is to use it at the start of battle, when you should use it at the end.  Like my initial idea was to charge it in...there, it just became the obvious target.  Necrons are slow overall, they can't make it in time to make that tanky C'tan worth it.  Take the 1st Turn to hide behind a building, charge Turn 2.

 

What I've learned is it's often good to use it at the end and Advance back to the home Objective, like press your whole army forwards.  Still experimenting.

 

Do (see also: Can) you add the Sempiternal Weave Enhancement?

 

There WAS a lot of discussion, people in our meta kept on saying there's a rule written somewhere that we can't do this, but no one can find it.

 

As soon as that's taken out, I'll try the unit without, but I think it'll just end up a Nightbringer Lite at that point.  The Litebringer.  Pls don't nerf this.

 

Updated with early reviews in, Transcendant C'tan apparently can no longer taken Enhancements, so loses 4+++ FNP option...but gets 5+++ FNP for free!

 

What this changes: now it completely allows for us to take MULTIPLE Transcendant C'tans.  Before, the limitation is you took the unnamed, non-Epic C'tan for that Sempiternal Weave Enhancement.  Now that they can all have a FNP, and the damage is still there...this is great!

 

A heads up to our Frater with Elite MEQ-heavy armies, be wary of That Guy with multiple Transcendant C'tans, they're like the hard counter.

Edited November 25, 2023 by N1SB

[Tyriks]

For whatever it's worth, the 40k app lets you add enhancements to the Transcendant C'tan.

[Prot]

11 hours ago, Tyriks said:

For whatever it's worth, the 40k app lets you add enhancements to the Transcendant C'tan.

 

True, and I typically take the Nightbringer (he would love a new model!) and you can't put enhancements on him through the GW app. Interesting.

[NTaW]

Well, it seems GW has given us a hard stare by putting it right in the Codex that T-C'Tan can't have Enhancements. On the other hand, 5+ FnP seems an acceptable consolation prize. Now that we've had some time with it,

 

Has the native 5+++ been useful, and have the new Detachments and Stratagems offered any salient combos? I was thinking the Hypercrypt Legion could help offer some much-needed backup when sent on an otherwise solo hail mary into enemy lines.

[Prot]

Honestly I only play one Ctan. I think that’s why I have a seriously limited view of them. Most of these very competitive players are using 2-3. I just can’t bring myself to do it and most of the time I don’t want to sacrifice the points for all the cool other stuff. 

[N1SB]

On 1/25/2024 at 11:59 AM, Prot said:

Honestly I only play one Ctan. I think that’s why I have a seriously limited view of them. Most of these very competitive players are using 2-3. I just can’t bring myself to do it and most of the time I don’t want to sacrifice the points for all the cool other stuff. 

 

The competitive Necron player in our Meta also only uses the one C'tan, and in his case it's Nightbringer.  So I don't think you're wrong.

 

The other thing is, with the Codex out, our Meta's looking at 6 Wraiths + 1 Technomancer (for FNP), as not just a valid but likely superior alternative.

I write this now having seen the Balance Dataslate and Field Munitions Manual where there were no nerfs in terms of rules or points!  Pleasantly surprised.

Edited January 31 by N1SB