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Are plasma guns/ pistols worth using?

They do melt through any armor.
And wound most infantry on a 2+

But they tend to kill friendly models astonishingly often,
and cost as much as a csm.

I'd swap out two csm points-worth (marine and gun) for an enemy assault terminator any day.

Are they worth it in my all Khorne assault army? Not so much...

Plasma is the great equalizer.

in the right situation, yes. i wouldn't give them to my IG PCS, but to my Vet. sqd. it's possible.

It depends. Based on your post, I assume you play CSM. If you have Plague Marines, go for it! They will never die from plasma. Plasma is totally worth it. For example, today, I had a squad of Veterans (2 melta, 1 plasma), and I rapid-fired it, hit and killed 2 chosen, the melta killed 1, and the lasguns (13 shots) killed the rest (2). Totally worth it, I even use it w/ a 4+ save. you should, since you have a 3+ save standard.

It really depends what its on and how you run it. Plague Marines-yes. Chosen-yes. Havocs-maybe. Dreadnoughts-depends on how you run them. Everything else in the CSM codex I would lean away from.

Plasma guns = yes
Plasma pistols = bad
Plasma cannons = super yes

Vehicles don't suffer from the Gets Hot rule, so putting plasma on units like armored sentinels and such is useful.

minigun762 wrote:Plasma guns = yes
Plasma pistols = bad
Plasma cannons = super yes

Why do plasma pistols equal bad?
They give you an attack and you can charge after firing one

lordrevege wrote:

minigun762 wrote:Plasma guns = yes
Plasma pistols = bad
Plasma cannons = super yes

Why do plasma pistols equal bad?
They give you an attack and you can charge after firing one

That could be from personal experience. For example, my chaos friend has Kharne, but never, ever, ever shoots the pistol, he's lost too many wounds that way. It's better to play it safe by having an attack w/ no downsides than risk losing a wound.

There is much wisdom in your words Gavo,
However I still believe it's worth sacrificing a zerker if I have a chance of delivering a STR 7 ap 2 shot to a foe

minigun762 wrote:Plasma guns = yes
Plasma pistols = bad
Plasma cannons = super yes

QFT

Plasma pistols are 15 points? i think? Everything in the chaos book is cc based (except perhaps chosen and havocs) and already have bolt pistols, plasma pistols are overkill. Bezerkers have the options for up to 3 plasma pistols and its a bad idea. Often times i get maybe 1 shot with my pistols maybe 2 if i am really lucky. Then to make it worth their points they have to hit and wound, fairly easy but a 2 to hit and you just wasted 15 points. or roll a 1 and potentially kill yourself. Most often not worth it. Also, remember 12" is fairly short so even if your plasma pistols manage to make it out of combat they likely wont be in range of anything after that. (situational of course)

Plasma pistols really depend on who has them. I run 2 plasma guns and a pistol wielding champion for my plague marines. That way, when I jump out of my rhino for that rapid firing goodness, the plasma pistol adds one more shot to the squad. Ends up working real well. Lots of fire power in one squad. And since I run rhinos, there aren't many times when my plasma guns can fire at something my plasma pistol can't.

lordrevege wrote:There is much wisdom in your words Gavo,
However I still believe it's worth sacrificing a zerker if I have a chance of delivering a STR 7 ap 2 shot to a foe

I would too, however, as mrwitter said:

mrtwitter wrote:Plasma pistols are 15 points

QFT

Bolt pistols are fine.

RapidFireText wrote:Plasma pistols really depend on who has them. I run 2 plasma guns and a pistol wielding champion for my plague marines. That way, when I jump out of my rhino for that rapid firing goodness, the plasma pistol adds one more shot to the squad. Ends up working real well. Lots of fire power in one squad. And since I run rhinos, there aren't many times when my plasma guns can fire at something my plasma pistol can't.

I used to do the exact thing, but now I give the champ a combi-melta because he has died far too many times due to gets hot.
He had a power fist, so the points lost was a huge amount.

I'm a fan of plasma in higher points levels.

In 1500 all the plasma I have is Straken's Plasma Pistol (by the way, the only AP1-3 I have besides that is 8 meltaguns in my PCS'). Torrent of fire works much better in most cases, when 4+ cover and 3+ invulnerable saves are all over the units worth hitting with plasma. I'm not worried about him getting injured, since it'd have to go through his 3+ armor, and then 4+ FNP on top of that.

In 1850, however, I sometimes take an Inquisitor with 3 plasma-gunning Warriors - 80 points for 3 plasma guns isn't bad at all, and the 4+ saves they come with standard are a nice bonus.

makr wrote:I'm a fan of plasma in higher points levels.

In 1500 all the plasma I have is Straken's Plasma Pistol (by the way, the only AP1-3 I have besides that is 8 meltaguns in my PCS'). Torrent of fire works much better in most cases, when 4+ cover and 3+ invulnerable saves are all over the units worth hitting with plasma. I'm not worried about him getting injured, since it'd have to go through his 3+ armor, and then 4+ FNP on top of that.

In 1850, however, I sometimes take an Inquisitor with 3 plasma-gunning Warriors - 80 points for 3 plasma guns isn't bad at all, and the 4+ saves they come with standard are a nice bonus.

agreed, but i think they're only 60 points...

They are good if they are given to the right people(or tank)

makr wrote:I'm a fan of plasma in higher points levels.

In 1500 all the plasma I have is Straken's Plasma Pistol (by the way, the only AP1-3 I have besides that is 8 meltaguns in my PCS'). Torrent of fire works much better in most cases, when 4+ cover and 3+ invulnerable saves are all over the units worth hitting with plasma. I'm not worried about him getting injured, since it'd have to go through his 3+ armor, and then 4+ FNP on top of that.

In 1850, however, I sometimes take an Inquisitor with 3 plasma-gunning Warriors - 80 points for 3 plasma guns isn't bad at all, and the 4+ saves they come with standard are a nice bonus.

What?! No russes?!

Gavo wrote:

What?! No russes?!

An IG army without Russes is like a GF that doesn't put out; completely undesirable

The executioner is the Emperor's gift to mankind, but on infantry...I haven't really had good luck with them

An IG army with no Russes is like an IG army that puts better things in Heavy Support, like 2 Manticores and a pair of Hydras.

olol

Anyway, back on topic, about the 80 for plasma, I was including that 20-point Inquisitor. I'm not convinced that a plasma gun is worth it for 15 points when you can simply take a melta for 10.

From looking at your sig, it looks like you're playing CSM. Take it. Don't overkill it, but take a few. They're powerful weapons that should not be underestimated.

Luke_Prowler,
I think your picture sums up what I'm thinking.
Plas weapons are dead killy, but the come with quite the risk.

Unless the caption is sarcastic. Then I don't quite agree with it.

An IG army with no Russes is like an IG army that puts better things in Heavy Support, like 2 Manticores and a pair of Hydras.

olol

Anyway, back on topic, about the 80 for plasma, I was including that 20-point Inquisitor. I'm not convinced that a plasma gun is worth it for 15 points when you can simply take a dual-purpose melta for 10. Being able to instant death T4 means a lot.

makr wrote:An IG army with no Russes is like an IG army that puts better things in Heavy Support, like 2 Manticores and a pair of Hydras.

olol

Anyway, back on topic, about the 80 for plasma, I was including that 20-point Inquisitor. I'm not convinced that a plasma gun is worth it for 15 points when you can simply take a dual-purpose melta for 10. Being able to instant death T4 means a lot.

Are hyrdras even that good?
I mean, it just two-twin linked auto cannons, right?
Do they work well for you?

I'm not exactly sure If it's meant to be sarcastic or not, so it's up to you to decide.

Of course, as an Ork player, I can't even use plasma weapons, the closest we have is a KMB, and those are not worth it at all .

I mean, can't an Ork loot a plasmagun or something?

As much as I don't want to go off topic:

A pair of Hydras for 150 points will get 6 autocannon hits on average. I use them to take out transports, which Russ' are mediocre at, or to take out MCs (a lot of times, that'll be a wound or two). Add in hull heavy bolters for maximum shootiness and you've got something that can shred medium infantry like scouts/firewarriors. Plus, ignoring speed-based saves is amazing against Wave Serpents/Vendettas/Nob Bikers.

I run a SM 3k list with 21 Plasma Weapons, including 3 in my comand squad. with the Apothicary I hardly ever loose one to gets hot.