Competitive Kroot Update

[Tawnis]

So it's been about a year since my last post on the topic (almost to the day now that I look back at it) so I thought I'd toss up a small update for my fellow Kroot players out there. I haven't gotten out to as many competitive events over the past year as I'd like, but I've at least done a few and gleamed a bit more insight to share. 

 

The points cut we got back... oh at least 6 months ago now, so kinda old news, was a big buff to an army already doing very well. They finally correctly pointed Rampagers slightly below Krootox Riders which feels much more correct. Now it does really feel like they could be taken interchangeably in a list, though to be honest, they are both amazing right now, so you just run as many as possible. I'm still on team max Krootox before Rampagers as they are really the only punchy ranged power we have, and they are no slouches in melee either. 

 

Speaking of Krootox, I did learn a neat and very niche trick (you can thank the Kroot Discord for this one, I didn't realize it myself.) The Kroot Packmates ability (the one where Krootox can shot back) reads "when a friendly KROOT INFANTRY unit within 6" of this unit is selected as the target of an attack, ONE UNIT from your army with this ability can use it." This means that it doesn't have to be the unit within 6" of the Infantry that shoots back, it can be any Krootox unit. You can use this to get more shots off with a closer or larger unit, or to skirt around LOS blockers if the unit near your infantry can't see their target to get out a little more sneaky damage. 

 

The army still plays incredibly well into almost any shooting army, it's the melee ones you have to watch out for; positioning your screens correctly and making sure you are the one engaging rather than being engaged upon is the key to victory. Big knights don't tend to be a problem either as you just out body the army, though War Dog or Armiger spam is a bit tougher, especially the former as that's a lot of high toughness/save vehicles to chew though, though the 3+ save is your saving grace here as they can be overwhelmed with volume fire. 

 

The two armies I've had the most trouble with have been Death Guard and certain Guard Armour lists. 

 

Death Guard: The benefit Kroot get to their damage output from Hunter's Instincts is massive over the span of the entire army, and since Death Guard don't have to worry about taking the -1 Sv against Kroot, they -1 WS/BS is very detrimental, on top of loosing a very important point of toughness. As much as possible, you want to keep them at range and only engage in melee when you have no other option, it's one of the only armies that you don't want to just charge face first into because they will take you apart on the swingback unless you seriously cripple them. An aura buff/debuff like DG have will naturally be far more effective the more models you use against them, so it will always be trouble for horde armies to take them on, especially melee ones. 

 

Guard Armour: Not every Guard armour list is a problem, Russ Chassis are tough, but by no means unassailable as they don't hit they key T12 mark that is so problematic for Kroot. That being said, Rampagers/Krootox are the meat of the army and they are susceptive to consistent high volume, high strength, high damage attacks. Most anti-tank and anti-elite infantry weapons tend to rely on fewer shots with high AP to push through damage, which is good for us as our invul shrugs some and with 5 wounds, most attacks won't one shot us either, so we can absorb an unusually high volume of heavy firepower. To this extent, Exterminator Autocannons are very good at killing Krootox, 8 shots with Twin-Linked at S9 D3 with chew through us surprisingly quickly, watch out for those, they should be top priority to kill if you come up against them. 

 

I ended up cutting the Vespid I was running. They're amazing in Aux Cadre, but I've just found that I'd rather have more Kroot in the main army as the buffs and durability can push through most lists to the point where you don't need to be dropping the Vespid down to do objectives, and in squads of 5 without the Aux Cadre buffs, their DPS is very hit or miss. 

 

I was surprised that it was the 20 blobs of Carnivores that got a recent points increase rather than the 10 mans as aside from taking on big fight unit with the Melee War Shaper and Borthrod Flesh Shaper, I've found using MSU to gain buffs, tag objectives and serve as screens has been far more efficient.  

 

That's about it for now, overall, not too much has changed for the army in the past year, points have been fairly stable. We've been seeing a few more top players catch on to how good Kroot are and taking top spot in some GTs which has been great to see. I think they'll continue to put out more showing for the remainder of the edition and am hoping that they will stay relatively intact, at least playstyle wise into 11th as they have such a tactical and fun play pattern. 

 

Until next time, keep hunting Kindred.