Necron Tactica - 6th Edition

[Infidel]

Hey all, seeing as 6th edition has been released and the 5th edition rule will be depricated over the next few days, I thought I'd take this opportunity to start the 6th edition tactica, since all discussion hs been heading this direction over the last few days anyway. This is not a comprehensive overview and assumes significant comprehensive knowledge.

Edit: Done. If there are any mistakes or things I've missed, let me know and I'll gradually add to this list

HQ

Imhotekh the Stormlord

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Gauntlet allows you to Overwatch with a template
• Humiliating Defeat is more effective now you can challenge enemy characters
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Lord of the Storm ability has been buffed - its hits are indiscriminate and will still hit fliers on 6s and nightfight is now less whimsical and confers a flat bonus.
• Phaeron is not as important since you can shoot on the move.
• Bloodswarm Scarab and Hyperlogical Strategy remain the same as before.

Nemesor Zahndrekh

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Adaptive Tactics and Counter- Tactics has been improved due to changes to various USR. Night vision now allows a unit to see right through NF; Tank hunter allows rerolls of all armour penetration rolls; Stealth stacks with Shrouded. It's more valuable giving them to yourself, just as it is taking them away.
• Phased Reinforcement allows your entire reserve to show up the moment one of theirs arrive - given how fliers must arrive from reserve, if the enemy includes even one flyer in their list, all of your reserve (which could well be your entire flyer-based army) arrives for free the moment that shows up.

Vagard Obyron

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Warscythe buff makes it one of the best melee weapon in the game.
• Challenge mechanic will mean that Oby will most likely be able to carve up the majority of the opponents who can hurt him before they get to strike (most AP2 weapons are I1) or have enemy blows bounce off his 2+ and then smack them silly with cleaving counterblow.
• His Vagard's duty will protect Zahndrekh from challenges

Illuminor Szeras

• General buff to special characters - rolls to hit of 6 can be allocated by controlling player.
• Basically the same, however his rolls to hit of 6 is allocated by him, so he can snipe out enemy characters and special weapons from afar.

Orikan the Diviner

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• More or less the same, although the changes to reserve means that his Lord of Time ability should be able to bring out all of your reserves on turn 2.

Anrakyr the Traveller

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Warscythe buff makes it one of the best melee weapon in the game
• Furious Charge nerf - but going from I2 to I3 doesn't change a whole lot
• Counter-attack buff - especially nice since Tesla immortals has received a pretty big boost tanks to overwatch and snapfire.
• Fighting from the Chariot gives Anrakyr a 2+ save

Trazyn the Infinite

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Empathic obliterator can now function while he's on a CCB since chariots can assault (thanks SiegeCommander)
• More or less the same, but challenge allows his MSS to proc more often

Standard Overlord

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Warscythe buff makes it one of the best melee weapon in the game.
• Challenge allows MSS to proc more often.

Destroyer Lord

• General buff to special characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Buff to Jump Infantry makes it overall a better option
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Warscythe buff makes it one of the best melee weapon in the game.
• Challenge allows MSS to proc more often.
• Preferred Enemy change allows it to reroll 1s on to hit, and 1s to wound, which is overall a slight improvement.
• Preferred Enemy can be conferred to a unit joined, which means yay Wraiths with PE. (thanks Archibald_TK)

HQ Options

Catacomb Command Barges

• Jink save improves its survivability
• Not being able to flat-out in the movement phase is a big nerf. Pulling off swipe attacks will be resonably difficult
• Being able to assault thanks to being a chariot is a very good way to deliver those awesome I2 S7 AP1 Armourbane attacks
• Symbotic Repair restores hullpoint as well as repair damage results, which makes the CCB reasonably tougher
• Fighting from chariots gives an Overlord a 2+ save, if they havn't purchased Sempiternal Weave already. (thanks Kalandros)
• On the turn that it assaults also delivers D6 S6 hits at I10 (thanks vodrake)
• Chariots can assault - deal D6 S6 hits at a I10, then 4 S7 (or 8 if you'r anrakyr) AP1 attacks at I2 with your warscythe with 2+ save. In the following turn, you can move over the enemy, sweep them for more Warscythe attacks, shoot the enemy with Tesla/Gauss cannon and the assault back into the pile. Purchasing a CCB is one of the best thing you can do for 80 pt.

Necron Lords

• General buff to characters - precision strikes, challenges and LoS!
• Sempiternal Weave is massively buffed thanks to the PW nerf
• Warscythe buff makes it one of the best melee weapon in the game.
• Challenge allows MSS to proc more often and a necron lord should be able to beat most non-special character squad leaders.
• Other option remains relatively similar

Crypteks

• General buff to characters - rolls to hit of 6 can be allocated by controlling player - easier to snipe out that key models in an enemy unit.
• Harbingers of the Storm and his Voltaic Staff is now the king of mid-range anti-tank weapon - on average it can shave of ~2.5 hull points.
• Harbingers of Eternity and the Chronometron receives a general buff since rolling 6s is more important now.
• Lance/chrono court is very potent at sniping out enemy characters or against fliers.
• Lance/chrono court is less necessary since glancing is a much more viable way to kill vehicles now, but it remains a very competitive option.
• Defensive grenade gives the attached unit stealth when the firing enemy is within 6" - a buff to Cloak of Flames
• Nightfight is more prevelant, but Solar Pulses remain a key upgrade since your enemy can often benefit from it as much as you do.
• Harbinger of Transmogrification remains pretty much the same, but difficult terrain doesn't have as much an impact in 6th in comparison to the last edition.
• Given the random assault distance and snapfiring removing enemy attackers, being able to remove D3 assault distance from an enemy squad is actually a pretty big deal.
• Harbinger of Despair remains pretty much the same, but due to the more forgiving DS mishap and the much more usable Deathmark, having small squads of Deathmarks zooming around the battlefield with VoD is more viable now than ever.
• Harbinger of Despair + Deathmark inside a Nightscythe is also a very good option. Invasion beam allows you to deploy after moving 24" and fire as normal.

Elite

Deathmarks

• Massive buff thanks to snapfire and rapid fire rule (fire on the move at max range)
• Deathmarks can allocate 6s to hit just as characters can
• Can achieve more shots than any other sniper unit in the game
• If paired with a Veiltek, Deathmarks also have unparalleled mobility in terms of sniper units.

Lychguard

• Dispersion shield is more useful against snapfiring enemy.

Triarch Praetorian

• Gains one extra S5 I10 attack due to Hammer of Erath
• Rod of Covenant is a S6 AP2 weapon in close combat, combining this with you being able to shoot the thing on the way in AND hammer of wrath, actually makes Praetorians quite decent at fighting.

Flayed Ones

• Unchanged. Still terrible.

C'tan Shards

• Can issue challenge, which is actually reasonably good given it'll most likely stomp most characters into the ground in a fist fight.
• Writhing Worldscape took a nerf, since Move Through Cover and other units with the same rule just downright ignore terrain penalty now.
• Otherwise largely the same.

Triarch Stalker

• Being able to snapfire the heavy flamer template is a good buff
• The s7 blast now hits everything at full strength, which is a decent buff over its old profile (an autocannon against vehicles, woo!)
• Otherwise largely unchanged.

Troops

Necron Warriors

• Clear winner of the update
• Rapidfire gauss can now fire once at maximum range
• Gauss can now very easily glance vehicles to death
• Snapfire means the unit is a bit more resillant against assault threats.

Immortals

• Tesla receives massive props because their special rule seems to be built with snapfiring in mind
• Gauss blaster is less efficient as an anti-tank weapon because when it comes to gauss, it's the quantity that counts.

Dedicated Transports

Ghost Ark

• Massive boost to survivability tanks to being a skimmer and Jink
• Gauss weapon is an extremely effective form of anti tank
• The passenger can overwatch
• Glances from depelting energy due to repair is a bigger threat now
• Since you need to be outside of transport to capture/deny objectivesnow, being able to replenish downed warrior is actually a pretty big deal

Night Scythe

• Our flyer transport. Transports massive amounts of stuff at no risk to the passengers
• Buff to AP- weapon makes tesla destructor a really good weapon.
• Twin-liked tesla means you can actually fully ultilise Evade for that coversave with little penalty to your offensive power (reroll more dice, each 6 is 3 shots)
• Can deploy mid-flight, 24" and deploy allows passengers to move normally or 36" and make the cargo only capable of delivering snapfire shots. This gives the transported unit an effective rapidfire range of 36" or if you don't mind snapfiring, 48". Also great for denying opponent's objective or claiming one for our own.
• When most people seem to lack proper flyer defense, spamming scythes can be horrifyingly effective.

Fast Attack

Destroyers

• Big boost to their accuracy and damage potential due to preferred enemy buff.
• Otherwise Largely the same as they are before.
• Still a relatively lackluster unit - close up gauss cannons don't hit any harder than a gauss flayer against vehicles and heavy gauss cannon is rather expensive for what you get out of it
• Nerf in cover and the focus fire rule makes gauss cannon a bit better.

Scarabs

• We knowe them, we love them, still great.
• Moving 12" rather than assaulting 12 has its advantanges.
• Enemy can overwatch when assault by scarabs.
• Multi-assaulting is nerfed and no longer confers +1 attack (boo!)
• Vehicles never need worse than 3+ to hit (yay!)
• No longer have stealth, combined with most saves being 5+ rather than a 4(3)+, the little guys are much less survivable.

Wraiths

• Wraiths got better oveall - as if we thought that as possible
• No more wound allocation abuse, so potentially less surviability
• Subject to overwatch
• Can make a hammer of wrath assault for a few extra S6 I10 attacks
• Whip Coil now trumps Halberds or other initiative modifer, which means Wraiths with coil will almost always strike before the enemy

Tomb Blades

• Excellent mobility
• Good survivability if you purchase Shadowloom (shield vein is a bit too expensive)
• Snapfiring TL tesla is a great way to get hits, Tomb Blades is perfectly geared to do this

Heavy Support

Annihilation Barge

• Who thought it can get any better? But wait, it certainly can.
• 12" move gives it extra reach and moblity
• Snapfiring twin-linked tesla is actually a pretty good thing to do since you don't actually lose out much.
• Jink makes the vehicle quite a bit more survivable.
• Buff to AP- weapon makes tesla destructor a really good weapon.

Doomsday Ark

• Templates strike a full strength (yay S9 AP1 pie plates!)
• AP1 buff makes it reasonable at one-shotting vehicles.
• Pivoting doesn't count as moving
• Easier to obscure now given the new 25% cover rule
• General buff to gauss weapons makes the flayer array better than they were.

Doom Scythe

• Excellent alphastrike damage, just as they were before
• Huge survivability boost due to being a zooming flyer
• Cannot snapfire deathray
• One of the best (if not the best) anti-air and anti-armour unit in the whole game.

Monolith

• You can snapfire the gauss flux arc after shooting the particle whip
• Template strike a full strength, so that S8 ordinance is pretty good at blowing up them castles.
• Excellent synergy with Spyders
• Otherwise largely the same.

Canoptek Spyders

• Nullrod is better than a psychic hood (not so much a buff, more of a huuuge nerf to psychic hoods)
• Fabricator claw array can repair vehicle hull points.
• Still an all around good unit, especially so in a scarab farm list, which has diminished in potency in this edition, but is still nevertheless effective.

[Kalandros]

Chariot grants +1 Save, so Anrakyr on CCB gets a 2+, so basically, paying the CCB is like including a Sempiternal Weave upgrade as long as the CCB isn't destroyed~

I'll have to check exactly how the Doom Scythe works because I'm not sure when I can or can't fire the Death Ray. ~_~

Spyders being able to restore Hull Points with their Repair claws will definitely help Ghost Arks and Monoliths tough it out.

[Infidel]

Chariot grants +1 Save, so Anrakyr on CCB gets a 2+, so basically, paying the CCB is like including a Sempiternal Weave upgrade as long as the CCB isn't destroyed~

I'll have to check exactly how the Doom Scythe works because I'm not sure when I can or can't fire the Death Ray. ~_~

Spyders being able to restore Hull Points with their Repair claws will definitely help Ghost Arks and Monoliths tough it out.

Good point on the chariot, I'll add that to Anrakyr and the CCB entry.

[vodrake]

Dont forget your impact hits from the chariot, D6 str 6 is nothing to sniff at.

[SiegeCommander]

Trazyn can also use his special staff from a ccb since it can now assault.

As to the lychguard having axes, the rules clearly state that you look at the model to determine what kind of power weapon it is. They are very clearly swords and are even named as such.

[Infidel]

Dont forget your impact hits from the chariot, D6 str 6 is nothing to sniff at.

Still trying to wrap my head around the whole chariot business, good catch!

[Infidel]

Trazyn can also use his special staff from a ccb since it can now assault.

As to the lychguard having axes, the rules clearly state that you look at the model to determine what kind of power weapon it is. They are very clearly swords and are even named as such.

It has a shaft and blade comes off it. To me it looks more like an axe than a sword. It might be named as such, but if it's not intended to be used as a versatile "powe weapon", why not just rule it as a power sword like they did with Hellblades?

[SiegeCommander]

Maybe because hellblades don't have the word "sword" in their name :P It's a silly distinction and it's just lazy on their part that they didn't clearly state what all the melee weapons for every army count as. I still think it's a difficult sell to tell someone you have an axe when the weapon is named sword.

[Infidel]

Maybe because hellblades don't have the word "sword" in their name :P It's a silly distinction and it's just lazy on their part that they didn't clearly state what all the melee weapons for every army count as. I still think it's a difficult sell to tell someone you have an axe when the weapon is named sword.

Maybe...but no where in the RAW does it say you go off what the name of the weapon, and whether something is a sword or an axe, isn't that a modelling thing? I can certainly swap out all the hyperphase swords for a giant ork axe and it'd be perfectly legal since now it's visibly an axe.

[Kalandros]

Trazyn can also use his special staff from a ccb since it can now assault.

As to the lychguard having axes, the rules clearly state that you look at the model to determine what kind of power weapon it is. They are very clearly swords and are even named as such.

Take a look at the models and notice that its much less a sword than an Axe they wield.
Its a stick with a large blade on one side.
Looks like an axe
Strikes like an axe
Its a Sword.
:[

wat?
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__...ychguard_2.jpg

Only because there is Sword in the name would we see it play as a sword.

[Archibald_TK]

Destroyer Lord

• Preferred Enemy change allows it to reroll 1s on to hit, and 1s to wound, which is overall a slight improvement.

You now only need a single model in an unit with PE for all of the unit to benefits from it. It shall end up being quite a decent buff, especially for units with Rending.

[Infidel]

Only because there is Sword in the name would we see it play as a sword.

That i don't agree with. The rule book says nothing about the name of the weapon, just its appearance.

Still I say "if they didn't intend for it to be used in line with the flexible power weapon rule of 6th ed, they'd have ruled it as a power sword rather than a power weapon."

[Chaos Undecided]

Have to wonder if they really intended to add the unwieldly rule to the Praetorian's Rod of the Covenant, admitedly they strike last against most foes but being initiative 1 in close combat really isnt going to help their cause...

[Archibald_TK]

Have to wonder if they really intended to add the unwieldly rule to the Praetorian's Rod of the Covenant, admitedly they strike last against most foes but being initiative 1 in close combat really isnt going to help their cause...

They did, they are effectively carrying Power Axes disguised as stave.

[Xerkics]

They should be classed as staves but i guess they didnt want to give them +2 str.

[Kalandros]

So, unit of Wraith with a Destroyer Lord (Sempi, perhaps MSS too?) joined to them?
Challenge other characters with MSS, wraiths get to reroll 1s to hit and to wound as long as the Destroyer Lord is with the wraiths. 2+ Armor is survivable enough now.

As for the Hyperphase Swords should be Axes: Try to convince your opponent if you want but I'll play them as Swords as it just seems a bit of a stretch to claim Axe bonus for something called a Sword...

[IcedAnimals]

Thanks Infidel for putting this up. As far as the hyperphase sword bit. I know im going to have a hard time convincing people my phase "swords" are actually axes despite what they look like.

[Stonerhino]

That i don't agree with. The rule book says nothing about the name of the weapon, just its appearance.

Still I say "if they didn't intend for it to be used in line with the flexible power weapon rule of 6th ed, they'd have ruled it as a power sword rather than a power weapon."

The hypephase sword is a khopesh, which is very much a sword. What you are calling the "Haft" is actually just a light effect. Reference the cover of codex Necrons, there is a Lych Guard with one. Reguardless of what the name is, the model is still modeled with a sword.

[Spiney Norman]

Maybe because hellblades don't have the word "sword" in their name :P It's a silly distinction and it's just lazy on their part that they didn't clearly state what all the melee weapons for every army count as. I still think it's a difficult sell to tell someone you have an axe when the weapon is named sword.

The rules are stupidly vague on the power weapon types, they are explicitly based on what the weapon LOOKS LIKE not what it is called. I'm planning to cut the bottom portion off of the hyper phase swords to make them more axe shaped, so I can count them as axes, how's that for modelling for advantage. It's going to be obvious how stupid the PW rules are when everyone who can field a PW character starts mass ordering axes from the bits sites to use as counts as Power axes, way to effectively cost two weapons the same when one is light years ahead of the other in terms of effectiveness.

It turns out that all this "termies will rule the game" stuff was garbage when with a bit of creative conversion you can kill them just as easily in melee. The only losers are going to be units with specialist versions of PWs, like Incubi's Klaives which have a set AP value, anyone with access to a basic PW can get an axe with a bit of creative modelling.

It's not explicitly stated, but does the me go for chainsword vs heavy chainsword or not?

On the other hand, warscythes are made of win this edition

[Stonerhino]

It is crappy when paired with the shields but for models without a ++ a power sword is still effective. And AP3 in most cases is still really good.