Chumby's Nexus of Necron Nowledge

[Chumbalaya]

Necrons? People still play them?

Ah, I'm just messin' with ya, all four of you.

Necrons are in a tricky place currently. The Codex is old as a tomb world and 5th edition certainly didn't do them any favors. Gauss isn't what it used to be and combined with the increased resilience of vehicles a mech army can generally roll right over the poor tin men. What's worse, combat became even more dangerous and with only I2 losing essentially spells doom for your Warriors, bringing you ever closer to the dreaded Phase Out.

We talk a lot about competitive lists, optimized builds, and strong armies, but sometimes it's about bringing the army you love. I'm guilty with my Orks and Deathwing. And if you don't bring Guard, Tau, Marines, or Eldar you won't auto-lose. They may have a lot going against them, but a well built and well run Necron army can still hold its own. And if competitive play isn't your thing, then Necrons will do just fine in casual play.

Let's start with a quick analysis of the various units and options in the Codex. It shouldn't take too long, yay for limited choices!

Necron Lord: The only Necron HQ you've got. He isn't as good in combat or shooting as most HQs, but he provides the nigh-essential Ressurection Orb to keep your bots coming back for more. Use him to support and protect your army. A cheap Rez Orb Lord is good for smaller games. If you've got leg room, a Destroyer Body and Warscythe are extremely useful upgrades. T6 and boosted movement allow him to shrug off the blows of most normal troops and quickly respond to whichever threats present themselves. The Warscythe is for the extra dice against vehicles (they need all the help they can get) and ignoring invulnerable saves will give pause to units like Terminators or Daemons. He is far from the best fighter, but he's about the best you've got.

Pariahs: Ha ha! Unfortunately, Pariahs suck pretty hard. They are extremely expensive for non-Necrons that only have 1 attack and I3. Their Ld and anti-psyker effects may have some use, but the range is way too short and it lowers your Phase Out count way too far. Avoid at all costs.

Immortals: Solid. T5, Gauss Blasters, not an exorbitant cost. They're basically Warriors that are useful. Good mobile firepower at decent range and capable of shrugging off anything short of a Demolisher shell.

Flayed Ones: More garbage, unfortunately. They're basically a squad of Assault Marines without jump packs with no option for power weapons or fists. They can outflank, Deep Strike, or infiltrate, but they're just too slow and don't hit hard enough to have any effect. Terrifying Visage won't have much effect either considering how high Ld is currently. There is potential to combine with Pariahs, but that's a lot of points sunk into non-Necrons that can't get back up and Necrons that don't shoot. Fail.

Necron Warriors: They're mandatory, too bad. Warriors are expensive bolter marines with no combat ability, whoop dee do. They are slow, have limited offensive capabilities (woo hoo bolters!) and get taken off the board too quickly by anything with a pointed stick charging them. As your only scoring units, you want them protected. 2-3 small units is all you really need. Hold in reserve as needed and secure objectives late game or minimize KP while your army does the real damage.

Wraiths: If only the unit size could be bigger. High S, 3+ invulnerable save, ignoring cover and solid mobility looks nice, but since Wraiths come in small units and don't ignore armor, they stay on the shelf. You can try to tag team with a Destroyer Lord, but the unit size is simply too small and they just don't hit hard enough. Pity, the models look so nice.

Destroyers: Now we're talking. 3 S6 shots, T5 jetbike, WBB, all for a relatively low cost. These guys are your primary death dealers, putting out shots to take out infantry, force saves on MCs, blow apart light armor, and annoy heavy armor. Keep moving, keep blasting.

Scarabs: Cheap little tarpits that zoom across the field, what's not to like? They are great for tying down problem units and protecting your vulnerable shooty elements. Disruption Fields are relatively inexpensive and give them a chance to annoy vehicles.

Heavy Destroyers: Since glancing hits suck, you need these guys. Only a glorified lascannon, but it's on a tough and mobile platform, so side armor shots shouldn't be too hard. I'd consider these mandatory right after normal Destroyers.

Tomb Spyders: Fairly tough MCs with a low cost and solid supporting role. With a couple of these around, you don't have to keep your important units within hugztiem range of each other so a bad turn won't leave you SOL. This lets you split your army up and stay mobile, so you can get around side armor shots and force assaulty armies to split up to go after the different parts of your army. Plus, they can make free wounds! On top of all that, you get a MC that can cause some ruckus in combat, or at least buy enough time to keep your Warriors safe. A great babysitter.

Monolith: The most overrated unit of all time. Ever. Monoliths are a pain to kill, sure, but who bothers to try? Since the Mono isn't a Necron, going for Phase Out gets easier and for all its vaunted resilience, it goes poof like everything else. It doesn't even do that much damage. Flux Arcs? Immortals and Destroyers do it better. Particle Whip? No teleporting for you and it scatters, plus S9 isn't the best vehicle popper out there. Re-rolling WBB is useful, but another unit of Destroyers would be better for raising your Phase Out count. Avoid.

Nightbringer: Super awesome killy death machine...that moves 6" a turn. Pass.

Deceiver: Lots of neat abilities, but 300 points of non-Necrons is worrisome. Only in big games.

As you can see, our choices are quite limited for a competitive army. In casual play, anything works, so go nuts with it. When building your list, keep this equation in mind. Destroyers = Heavy Destroyers > Immortals. Destroyers of both types are equally essential in your army, as your primary firepower units and vehicle destroyers. Immortals add some good mobile anti-infantry dakka, but with only S5 guns and limited mobility Destroyers win out every time. After that, grab your required Warriors, a Lord, and if points allow Scarabs and Spyders to support your army.

Necrons have to be played very carefully: you need to maximize your firepower while avoiding assault at all costs (except for Scarabs and Spyders, but they go after weak units or tarpit). Your most important units are also your worst and you must keep them safe at all costs. Redundancy is key, otherwise one bad roll will lose a critical unit forever, you must always have at least 1 backup unit so your downed Necrons can attempt to get back up. You do have a metric ton of shooting dice, resilient units, good mobility and some neat tricks.

Shooting: Destroyers and Immortals put out an impressive amount of firepower. They are primarily anti-infantry units, Immortals definitely so, but they can also tag wounds on MCs to force a ton of saves and go after lighter vehicles. Heavy Destroyers are really your only answer to heavy armor, but S9 can be underwhelming, so try and get side shots if possible. Warriors can blast up close, but that means they will usually get assaulted next turn, so you want to avoid it generally.

Resilience: Destroyers and Immortals can get back up after getting hit by anything short of S10. Since we don't see that very often (or at least in manageable numbers), you can often run them independently of the Rez Orb and be ok. If Demolishers come knocking, spread out and have your Lord ready to respond if necessary. Once the S10 goes away, these guys can last quite a while.

Mobility: Destroyers and Scarabs move like jetbikes, so they can cover huge chunks of the board quickly and still fire to full effect. Use that speed coupled with their toughness to divide your forces if necessary, getting to vulnerable bits of the enemy and forcing them to respond to an attack from multiple side. It's like having skimmers, only 1 lucky shot doesn't leave you stranded.

Tricks: Have a Spyder build a scarab swarm and join your Destroyer Lord to it. Yay majority T6! Split your units up, keeping the Spyder within 12" at all time. If one unit gets wiped out, they come back with their buddies on the other side of the board. Instant teleportation, without relying on a Monolith or bunching up in pie plate formation.

That's what does work, let's take a look at what doesn't.

1) Warrior Horde. In theory, if you load up on Warriors your opponent can't kill them all and you can blow them away with sheer rate of fire. In reality, lolno. Warriors are far too easy to bring down with shooting or assault and the only way to get any decent amount of firepower is to get in rapid fire range. Ph34r t3h bolter! Right? Wrong. Marines have special weapons for a reason, bolters alone just don't cut it.

2) Twin Towers or Monospam. Monoliths are a pain to knock out, so 2 or 3 must be even harder. Sure, but that means you have even less Necrons and Phase Out that much quicker. The only way to bring an adequate number of Necrons is to bring tons of Warriors, and we know how awesome that is (pro tip: it isn't). In theory you could shield the Warriors with big walls of fail, but then you have no way to capture objectives and you're playing for a draw. 2-3 S9 pies aren't going to stop an entire army.

3) Wraithwing. 9 Wraiths plus Destroyer Lords. No real firepower and 9 T4 models without power weapons make up your assault force.

4) C'tan and Pariahs min-Warriors jamboree. Just kidding.

Necrons can do well, but you have a rather limited set of tools to work with and very specific applications for them. With some skill and a little luck you can still pull out that win. Player skill will generally trump list strength like always, but it never hurts to have a good list to go with your l33t skillz. Keep on trucking, I'm sure you'll get a Codex by 2012 :P

I'd like to thank bigred for giving me the idea to do this and of course most of the credit goes to ****** for inspiring most of this tactica (the parts I didn't totally jack from his site of course ).

[Brosef Stalin]

Awesome post! It's sad really, I think the Necrons are an interesting army, but as your post explains, they're just not up to current standards. Personally, I guess I'll stick with my Marines and hold my breath for a new codex (and maybe some plastic elite choices!)

[Thirteen]

No mention of Veil of Darkness? Sad day.

In my experience a lord with Veil and orb is absolutely necessary for a competitive necron build (lol, competitive necrons...) veiling to an objective fifth turn is a very solid tactic and last second veiling to avoid combat and jump into rapid fire range to take out back field enemies is an excellent way to turn the tides.

Otherwise nice article covers a lot of the basics when it comes to necrons, a good guide for those just picking up necrons.

[EmperorEternalXIX]

Pariahs: Ha ha! Unfortunately, Pariahs suck pretty hard. They are extremely expensive for non-Necrons that only have 1 attack and I3. Their Ld and anti-psyker effects may have some use, but the range is way too short and it lowers your Phase Out count way too far. Avoid at all costs.

Wouldn't it be GOOD to have deadly units like this that can't be ignored? They are just as good as immortals but also have warscythes. For the uninitiated, that means 2d6 armor penetration, and no saves of any kind in combat. Not even invuls.

A squad of these guys would cost a fortune, but it's a lose-lose for the enemy; if they ignore them those warscythes can claim lives, and if they are pouring fire into them, then they AREN'T firing at "necron" models. I know they aren't very resilient, unfortunately, and that is where they suffer the most. Having them surrounded by flayed ones could do some damage though (assuming they make it across the table).

The Run rules have made things a lot more viable. I don't know why people don't use the Nightbringer other than his cost; Hiding the pariahs behind him with a screen of Flayed Ones could be very interesting (everything on the other side of the table will be firing at that, especially if you make a good run roll...keeping necrons alive longer).

It seems like you have a double standard going throughout this guide: "You need lots of necrons to win! But necrons are crappy, don't take them. But don't take non-Necron tough things either." I just don't follow the general train of thought (though that is probably mostly because the Necron dex is pretty crap for 5th).

What are you looking for -- an army of scarabs?

[crazyzombie]

QUOTE]Deceiver: Lots of neat abilities, but 300 points of non-Necrons is worrisome. Only in big games. QUOTE]

Are you kiding me! this guy's a beast. While I agree 6 inch movement kinda stinks where this guy really shines is in the leadership. His abllity to cause fearless units to take moral checks is awsome when combined with Pariahs leadership reducer. Oh and the best part about him he can dodge any assults he wants meaning If he wants the assult he gets the assult!

[EmperorEternalXIX]

he is also, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to the nightbringer as a fighter. The stats differences are very minimal. He has the same "no saves of any kind" trick on his CC attacks, too.

[MajorSoB]

Good overall post, I applaud you sir. I would offer a couple of minor corrections...

1) Pariahs, while you are correct in the high cost and non necron drawback, each of them carry a rock solid weapon (AP3) and also offer an ability that lowers leadership within a certain range. I look for this unit to be adjusted in the next codex but currently they have their place.

2) Flayed ones are actually awesome in the right situation. Visage and outflank hit pretty hard on low leadership horde armies like Orks and Guard. A squad of them in your opponents back line work wonders, plus get them in range of the pariahs leadership lowering ability and you have yourself a party!

3) C'tans are now actually better. Yes both move 6" and are expensive however with run added to 5th edition it increases the ability for both these close combat monsters to engage the enemy.

4) Veil of Darkness is almost a standard in any Necron build. It is one of the most useful tools available and can be used to control or contest objectives.

This is not to say that Necrons didnt get beat down hard with the nerf bat of 5th edition. Both the new vehicle damage table and new close combat resolution rules have hurt Necrons more than any other army. They are playable but without a rewrite not reliable enough to make it to most tournaments.

[DarkLink]

Those who think necrons got nerfed haven't played our local player

Seriously, though, he never fails his WBB, or leadership tests. I've never seen Necrons Sweeping Advanced, because either you wipe his squad out the old fashioned way, or he passes his leadership.

Once, I killed his lord 6 time in the same frickin game. 6 TIMES!!!! He passed every single WBB on the lord.

I know that's not normal for Necron players, though.

Anyways, good post. I don't even care much about Necrons, and I liked it. One thing I will say: don't bother taking Scarabs against Grey Knights.

[Chumbalaya]

Thanks for the comments, I hope I didn't miss anything.

I don't rate Pariahs because they are easy to ignore and even if they get into combat, I3 and only 1 attack will see them struggle against damn near anything. For all the points you spend on such a unit, more Destroyers or Immortals will always serve you better. Necrons don't win combats, it just doesn't happen. So why bother and get fewer guns? Gauss Blaster is only AP4 btw.

VoD is bad because of the inherent issues with Deep Striking. It was useful when gauss could actually harm a vehicle, but all it does now is run the risk of meeting up with Mystics or having your important units drop into everyone's favorite "pie plate" formation. Besides, the army is maneuverable enough, just keep those Warriors away and you'll be fine.

Deceiver has some useful abilities, but the price you pay is simply too high since it means less shots. Even with running C'tan are simply too slow. After you've maxed out on Destroyers and Immortals and you've got points to play with, go nuts. He's a big risk and the price you pay (not just points, but Necrons and potential shooting units) may be too high.

Necrons Warriors are crap, Destroyers and Immortals are gold. You're forced to bring Warriors, but the more dakka units you can field, going light on Troops won't hurt as bad.

Problem with Flayed Ones is their lack of speed and lack of overall utility. They can mince guardsmen, but what can't? Scarabs would do a better job for cheaper and get there sooner. The Ld effect won't generally come into play because Ld is so high, especially on combat units and the only Ld dropper in the book is garbage. Walking outflankers that can only fight in combat is a recipe for disaster, if they only had fleet and rending...

[Norbu the Destroyer]

Chumbayla,

Have you ever seen the TV show Moral Oral.....On the show is a braty kid who replies to everyone in the town with a scruntchy face, and he always says everything is stupid. He always has his thumbs in his ears and is sticking out his tounge after every statement. This is how i picture you after every post. You are very entertaining as a joke. But as serious 40k tactic advice, no one should look to you for help. Saying that orks are not competitve and that blood crushers are garbage, means that you never play the game or play against opponents that are terrible. I find your necron tactics laughable. Your basic list would consist of 2 necron troops, destroyers and more destroyer, and a lord or 2. It is so one dimensional that a good player would table you in 4 turns. Saying the c'tans are too slow and expensive is ridiculous. The deciever is a fast moving character. Have you ever been in a combat with the deciever that breaks out of it to move 2d6 into another unit. Have ever seen the monolith be used to move troops across the board and capture objectives or sucking necrons out of combats? From your post, i think you don't play the game at all, but only read the codexes and form your own opinions. Hopefully I will see you in the tournement circuts. Though I still find you entertaining like a dog chasing its own tail.