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So been having a think and was wondering what the best Dedicated Transport was in your guys opinion at the moment. Just wanted to see what everyone thought.

Now I'm excluding things like drop pods because they seem quite one and done, and we are assuming that all points are being paid for them so no gladius benefits or formation bonuses to make things cheaper.

Just on a point for point basis, what in your options ar the best Dedicated Transports in game and why.

Also if you could use any factions transports for your army what would it be and what would you put in them.

I'm a fan of the rhino, it lacks any firepower options, but is solid and dirt cheap. it's a cheap metal box to get you from objective a to objective B.

LulZZ!

The Wave Serpent. And I wouldn't put anything in them, I'd play only them, because they're better than anything in the AM codex. No jokes, no exaggeration, I would take only Wave Serpents in an AM list.

And I would put anything "Marine" in a Wave Serpent. Because they're better then any other transport in the game, without any hold-backs.

This isn't a real question unless you exclude Wave Serpents.

Wave Serpents are decent tanks in their own right. The ability to transport a dozen guys is a cherry on top.

Pods do an excellent job of being a transport. They get their cargo exactly where it needs to be, with almost no issues. If you just want to get somewhere, few things do it as well.

For 35 points, rhinos do a lot of good. Keep the small arms off, act as a mobile wall, tank shock tricks, etc. They might be paper armored, but they cost peanuts.

Depends on what you mean by "best Dedicated Transport".

If it's for it's specific utility, the Drop Pod gives you mobility unrivaled by any other option (at least in my opinion).

If used as an infantry fighting vehicle, the Raider and Chimera goes right up there in terms of being actually able to support your troops for me.

If you want something that can hold it's own as a standalone unit, then the Wave Serpent has everyone beat, but it also costs twice as much as the cost of a normal DT from another faction and can rival the cost of most MBTs in the game.

If you want something obscure that can devastate every other DT without a second thought, then I guess technically the Tormentor. I heard about this one a while ago, supposidly the personal ride of Perturabo (I don't know if it's actually a Dedicated Transport or if it's a unit upgrade he can take), by the sheer virtue of being a shadowsword it pretty much outranks every other DT in the game. I wouldn't call it practical in the slightest however considering how much the thing must cost. It's either that or Dorn's Thunderhawk.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Depends on what you mean by "best Dedicated Transport".

If you want something that can hold it's own as a standalone unit, then the Wave Serpent has everyone beat, but it also costs twice as much as the cost of a normal DT from another faction and can rival the cost of most MBTs in the game.

While simultaneously being a better value than any other MBT in the game, and ALSO transporting a unit, with as damned close to certain delivery as a Drop Pod as any other transport gets, while being tougher than any other transport in the game, while being able to fire at full capability while moving twice as far as nearly all other transports in the game.

Chimerae are unpolished turds, by comparision, in terms of being able to support Guardsmen. The paper walls on the sides are laughable. The ability to fire decently depends on SITTING STILL. That's not a good quality in a transport. If you move half as far as a Wave Serpent, you fire fewer, non-twin-linked versions of the same gun, and then can't fire the Heavy Bolter worth a damn. Not a word of a lie, the Wave Serpent is better than any model in the AM codex, point for point.

A drop pod gets you there, but what do you do if the action moves? You're stuck. But not if you have a Wave Serpent! Everything near you died, but you've got two more turns to kill stuff? Pack your D-Scythe toting corpses back in the bus, boys, we're going hunting! You killed their Serpent? Good thing there's 2 more still alive, ready to pick them up instead!

Venoms are quite good

And technically the Tantalus is a DT

 greatbigtree wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Depends on what you mean by "best Dedicated Transport".

If you want something that can hold it's own as a standalone unit, then the Wave Serpent has everyone beat, but it also costs twice as much as the cost of a normal DT from another faction and can rival the cost of most MBTs in the game.

While simultaneously being a better value than any other MBT in the game, and ALSO transporting a unit, with as damned close to certain delivery as a Drop Pod as any other transport gets, while being tougher than any other transport in the game, while being able to fire at full capability while moving twice as far as nearly all other transports in the game.

Chimerae are unpolished turds, by comparision, in terms of being able to support Guardsmen. The paper walls on the sides are laughable. The ability to fire decently depends on SITTING STILL. That's not a good quality in a transport. If you move half as far as a Wave Serpent, you fire fewer, non-twin-linked versions of the same gun, and then can't fire the Heavy Bolter worth a damn. Not a word of a lie, the Wave Serpent is better than any model in the AM codex, point for point.

A drop pod gets you there, but what do you do if the action moves? You're stuck. But not if you have a Wave Serpent! Everything near you died, but you've got two more turns to kill stuff? Pack your D-Scythe toting corpses back in the bus, boys, we're going hunting! You killed their Serpent? Good thing there's 2 more still alive, ready to pick them up instead!

This is why I went with "qualifiers". In a straight up fight, a Wave serpent in the Dedicated Transport Category is, bar none, the best. It has the best defense for a Dedicated Transport, it has the best weapons, and it has the best armor.

However it basically needs all that because any squad actually being transported by it is basically neutered for a turn since it has one access point (in the rear no less) and no fire points. And by "neutered" I don't mean they can't do anything, rather I mean they don't have as many options as they could (specifically, not having assault Transport means they cannot assault on the same turn they disembark, and even for shooting armies they need to disembark to do anything.

This is why the Chimera and Raider comes in as good "Support" transports. The Chimera strikes a balance between "cheap troop taxi" and "small gun platform" that it can ferry it's troops around on the cheap and still present a creditable threat. At it's cost, you can buy two basic Cimeras for just 20 points more than a basic Wave Serpent, which means your opponent is spending at least one extra turn shooting at either a decently fast objective capper OR a semi-mobile gun platform. For the cost of 3 Wave Serpents, I can buy 6 Chimeras. On top of that, Chimeras lets you issue orders out of them, while a Wave Serpent, last I checked, does not allow a farseer to do the same with their psychic powers (note that with the Jetbike Option, you should never put a farseer in a Wave Serpent). Finally, the Chimera features two access points up top, allowing troops to fire from within, as well as 2 lasgun arrays (coming to 6 extra models that can fire a lasgun), allowing troops inside to use it as a mobile bunker. It's rear access point is also less of an issue because it's side armor is the same as the rear, so positioning is less of an issue unless you want to do a 180 every time your troops come out. The Raider is good for a similar reason; it's an open topped fast transport. Troops on top can either fire out of it or jump out and assault. It also comes with a decent gun so that even if it's troops are gone or killed, it can still present a creditable threat flying around taking potshots at people. It's also cheap, cheaper than the Chimera in fact. Both of these enhance whatever unit they get attached to so of course they would suck on their own.

As for drop pods, they come even cheaper, at 35 points a piece for a 12-all around Objective capper and Troop delivery service. A wave serpent often requires dedicating resources equivalent to almost a whole squad of troops to deploy in their own army. A pod? two less marines and a flamer, or less a marine and his heavy weapon. Drop pods also ensure the survival of your troops to their destination, a Wave Serpent merely gives you a very good promise, but still dependent on the Serpents not being glanced to death (the Serpent shield is a nice trinket, but this edition is not about penetration to kill vehicles). Drop Pods can also carry a larger variety of units; A wave serpent is restricted to 12 normal infantry models. A pod can take a Dreadnought (and it's cousin, the Tyrannocyte, can take monstrous creatures). And remember that part about the farseer? That's a whole unit that's actually made worse by putting it in this transport, while anything can benefit from being put into a pod.

As for the "pick up and drop off" thing, if I remember troops can't embark and disembark on the same turn, so this motion is, at best, a 2-turn action. Doesn't sound as bad until you realize that the entire game usually only lasts 6 turns (7 in some rare cases). This means that if you do this once, you're spending 1/6th of the game having that unit the Serpent is transporting do absolutely nothing and at least 1/3rd of the game with that unit functioning at a lowered capacity (I'm assuming they disembarked twice, otherwise what's the point of buying them a transport in the first place if they're gonna footslog it on the first turn?).

Now before all of you Eldar fans dogpile me for talking down the Wave Serpent, lemme make it clear: The Wave Serpent is a Good Unit. A Great unit in fact (and a bluechip unit in any other army that doesn't have scatbikes and Wraith units). But in it's role as a Dedicated Transport, it leaves a lot to be desired. It can fulfill that role, but it does so at a premium in points and at both the expense of itself (where it's better off flanking enemies and harassing them with near-invulnerable fire) and the things it carry (again, the troops inside gain no benefit other than faster movement, which all transports do).

My vote goes for the ghost ark

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:
My vote goes for the ghost ark

I....am embarrassed to admit I totally forgot that thing existed. Yeah the AV13 wall is right up there in terms of a support transport.

Also how do you feel about the Nightscythe?

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Kharne the Befriender wrote:
My vote goes for the ghost ark

I....am embarrassed to admit I totally forgot that thing existed. Yeah the AV13 wall is right up there in terms of a support transport.

Also how do you feel about the Nightscythe?

I think the Night Scythe is wonderful, it can drop 15 guys (Warriors/Immortals/Lychstars/Praetorians), where ever, when it's destroyed you don't have to worry about the unit getting damaged, not to mention its speed gets it places pretty fast. The weaponry on it isnt bad either.

As far as land transports go though, I like the Ghost ark because it has living metal, the AV13 most of the time, and can repair units

The humble Rhino.
Opponents often underestimate the power of the Tank Shock. But a line of Rhinos with Dozer Blades will lay waste to hoard armies.
#How's my driving?

Ah, I feel bad. When thinking about marine DTs I spaced out on one of the best.

The Land Speeder Storm.

It’s a fast skimmer. So gets the troops where they need to be, jink to avoid fire, and can shoot two guns while on the go.

While the default gun is only a HB, it has upgrade options. And it’s got the large blast blinding cerebus launcher.

It’s open topped. So all the troops can shoot out, and it doubles as an assault transport. Conveniently, the troops it carries can be geared for either role.

It can deep strike, it can scout. And it’s got a jamming beacon to screw with people DSing near you.

All this for 40 points. Not too shabby.

The Triaros. 135pts for a 14-12-12 vehicle with four hull points, a built-in flare shield (demolisher cannons can't penetrate it in the front), AV15 when ramming, and a battery of two independent volkite chargers and a Mauler bolt cannon (four S5/AP5 shots, three S6/AP3 shots).

It's 30k so doesn't really qualify for this post, but love the dracosan armored transport. 135 for a 13/12/11 5HP tank, a TL lascannon, and room for 20 guys inside (can't be bulky). Add 30 points for a demolisher cannon, but drop capacity to 10.

As for 40k, I like chimeras. Average price for decent transportation and support fire. While its shooting won't do anything crazy, I've seen it strip down rhinos and I usually do a flamer hull that does decent work when I'm close enough to dump out my boys. The biggest advantage of it is that the guys inside can still participate in the battle rather well, firing melta/plasma/demo charges out the back and getting the underwhelming but still something shooting of lasgun arrays.

@Mecha

The boys inside don't need firepoints, because the boys inside all carry the same, short ranged guns. D-Scythes don't need firepoints. Meltaguns don't need firepoints. They can't reach anyhow. But the two big guns [plus shield] can move 12", and still put out a crap-ton of firepower.

If you move a Chimera 12", you basically can't fire anything. Snapshots all around. Whoopedy do! I snap shot 6 shots from the Chimera's big guns, and score one hit! I'm lucky, and fire all 6 lasguns at something, and get one hit! I snap fire my Autocannon from a firing port, and miss! I overheat with my plasma gun, and kill myself! Hooray! One S5/6 hit, and one S3 hit, and one dead Plasmagunner. [For humour's sake].

I move up 12". Do dick all with my shooting. I get pegged in the side arc, wrecked, and my 9 dudes drop out. Bikers charge them. I overwatch, kill one dude with stupidly good luck. 4 guys killed by HoW hits. The other 4 Killed in regular CC. Sarge with bolter is like, "Fuckit, I'm oudda he-ah! and is swept when he tries to run. 170 points gone in one turn having done nothing at all.

Vs:

I move 12", fire my TL Scatter Laser, and hit with all 4. I fire my Shuricannnon, and hit with 2. [6 hits] I do respectable damage to something, maybe help to open a transport. I'm shot at? Holo field! 2+ It's a glance... one HP. Whoopee! Turn 2, Move 6, I drop my Wraiths and move 6, Scythe a unit, AND shoot something else with the Serpent. I lose a couple of Scythers to return fire, but I've already wiped out a key unit. Get back in on turn 3, and then jink to survive to turn 4, where I deploy again and wipe a second unit. By this point, WS + WG have probably wiped 3 units, by themselves. 340 points of kicking ass, of which the Serp is about a third.

The Wave Serpent does more, by itself, than a typical Chimera + Vet squad will do, at less points. It's a no brainer. The Chimera fails at it's purpose as a MBT that is undergunned, and a transport that doesn't want to move. If the Chimera was "Fast", then yeah. You could move and fire the guns. It would be worth something. If it could survive, it would be worth something, because it would get there. But instead, you have to move slow, in a paper box, with less firepower going out than a Razorback. I mean, TL Assault Cannon vs a Multilaser and snap-shot HB when you move 6, for the same points. It's a joke.

 greatbigtree wrote:
The boys inside don't need firepoints, because the boys inside all carry the same, short ranged guns. D-Scythes don't need firepoints.

I think one thing we need to consider is that's the strength of the D-scythe, not the strength of the serpent. Throw D-scythes in any of the transports and suddenly it's an amazing transport. A trukk with D-scythes is scary.

It's hard to compare a chimera and guardsmen to a serpent with wraithguard anyways because they fill extremely different roles. The sole purpose of the serpent is to drive around nuking stuff off the board, and it excels at that. What you do not want to do is park the serpent and wraiths on an objective for half the game. Chimeras simply aren't built for crazy kill missions, they fill a support role instead of a purely combat one. You do have to run meltavets since it's one of the army's only anti-tank options, but that doesn't mean it's the only way to use them. Park on an objective with the 12 towards the biggest threat, shoot at infantry or light vehicles, have your guys sitting inside so you can hold the objective as long as possible (you can hold twice as many objectives as serpents). Use them as screens, to protect advancing infantry/tanks and so that even after it gets wrecked you can have your guys huddle behind it and keep holding the objective (flying base prevents completely blocking someone, and after wrecked it doesn't provide the wall that a chimera does). It lets you ferry around a command squad to issue orders which you can't even compare to a wave serpent.

Chimera is my go to transport.

Enough dakka to hold the line, good frontal armor to hold against most things, can have guys shoot out of its top hatch and its lasguns fire at targets too.

A good little IFV. Its array of guns lets it do nearly any job you give it. From Heavy flamers, and Heavy Bolters. To Autocannons and Multilasers. Its side armor isn't the best. But the Chimera will get your job done.

Manta 4 lyff

Trukks are one of the best transports in the game, the issue with them is how fragile the passengers that they typically carry are. Trukks can carry 12 models with no bulk restrictions and its open topped for your assault needs + its fast so it can flat out 12". Imagine if Terminators or melee space marines had a trukk to get them into the fight and assault out of.

 kingbobbito wrote:
It's 30k so doesn't really qualify for this post, but love the dracosan armored transport. 135 for a 13/12/11 5HP tank, a TL lascannon, and room for 20 guys inside (can't be bulky). Add 30 points for a demolisher cannon, but drop capacity to 10...

Yeah, but unlike the Triaros you have to pay extra for the flare shield and it doesn't look like an epic laser train.

 Nevelon wrote:
Ah, I feel bad. When thinking about marine DTs I spaced out on one of the best.

The Land Speeder Storm.

It’s a fast skimmer. So gets the troops where they need to be, jink to avoid fire, and can shoot two guns while on the go.

While the default gun is only a HB, it has upgrade options. And it’s got the large blast blinding cerebus launcher.

It’s open topped. So all the troops can shoot out, and it doubles as an assault transport. Conveniently, the troops it carries can be geared for either role.

It can deep strike, it can scout. And it’s got a jamming beacon to screw with people DSing near you.

All this for 40 points. Not too shabby.

Seconded.

 Nevelon wrote:
Ah, I feel bad. When thinking about marine DTs I spaced out on one of the best.

The Land Speeder Storm.

It’s a fast skimmer. So gets the troops where they need to be, jink to avoid fire, and can shoot two guns while on the go.

While the default gun is only a HB, it has upgrade options. And it’s got the large blast blinding cerebus launcher.

It’s open topped. So all the troops can shoot out, and it doubles as an assault transport. Conveniently, the troops it carries can be geared for either role.

It can deep strike, it can scout. And it’s got a jamming beacon to screw with people DSing near you.

All this for 40 points. Not too shabby.

If Wolf Scouts could get that it would make them worth considering.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
The Triaros. 135pts for a 14-12-12 vehicle with four hull points, a built-in flare shield (demolisher cannons can't penetrate it in the front), AV15 when ramming, and a battery of two independent volkite chargers and a Mauler bolt cannon (four S5/AP5 shots, three S6/AP3 shots).

Just a shame the damn thing is such a massive fire-magnet. Opponents are more scared of what that electrified cow catcher will do than a Macrocarid toting rad weaponry.

Speaking of which, my vote goes to the Macrocarid Explorator (Super-Landraider, basically).
10 model capacity in a 14/14/14 melta-immune, flare-shielded death dealer, that can de-immobilize itself.

Quite easy to get up to 330 points, but damn does it get the points back. Last time I used one, it must've destroyed 1100 points of stuff on its own.

Drop Pod is my all time favorite. Like a Rhino, but better: gets your target there Turn 1, basically unscathed

The venom is one of the best units in the Dark Eldar codex, able to reliably cause lots of wounds from 36 inches, has a built in 5++, is highly mobile, and is pretty cheap.
They are amazing for MSU, and a few of them outputs enough poisoned shots to erase most non-2+ infantry/MC's.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:
It's 30k so doesn't really qualify for this post, but love the dracosan armored transport. 135 for a 13/12/11 5HP tank, a TL lascannon, and room for 20 guys inside (can't be bulky). Add 30 points for a demolisher cannon, but drop capacity to 10...

Yeah, but unlike the Triaros you have to pay extra for the flare shield and it doesn't look like an epic laser train.

I see we have differing opinions regarding how dumb Triaros the tank engine looks.

Anyway, if we're counting 30k transports the Gorgon wins. 350 points for 40 transport capacity, protected by AV 14/14/10 with 9 HP (did I mention it's a superheavy?), armored ceramite, and a 5++ (4++ against blasts) on its front facing. And it's armed with two TL lascannons and four lascannons. Sure, it's expensive, but it's going to do the "protect my guys and deliver them to a target" thing better than anything short of a 500+ point Stormlord.

 Peregrine wrote:
Anyway, if we're counting 30k transports the Gorgon wins. 350 points for 40 transport capacity, protected by AV 14/14/10 with 9 HP (did I mention it's a superheavy?), armored ceramite, and a 5++ (4++ against blasts) on its front facing. And it's armed with two TL lascannons and four lascannons. Sure, it's expensive, but it's going to do the "protect my guys and deliver them to a target" thing better than anything short of a 500+ point Stormlord.

I'm going to second this as far as 30k transports

#1: The drop pod. For 35 points you get 12/12/12 3HP, potentially obsec, anywhere you want on the map. and it's got a huge footprint.

#2: The ork Trukk. For 30 points (or is it 35?), you get a fast assault vehicle that is infinitely spammable - if only the orks didn't suck that bad.

People who list the wave serpent haven't ever played one.
They were a necessity in 5th, truly powerful until 7th ed codex, now they're just stupidly overpriced.

It costs 110 points naked, i.e. the price of 3 Drop Pods, and as every other time than 6th ed codex, is only used because we have nothing else.

Yes, it's somewhat resistant, but it has very little firepower (even less if it tries to be resistant), it can't handle any assault at all and it's only AV12.

I've tried massing Serpents in a meta where two teleporting Dreadknights and 7 scatter bikes are a winning combo, and they sucked.

So please people, forget about 6th, try the 7th ed Wave Serpent and come back to me on that, I really don't think it's better than 3rd tier armies overall.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

StevetheDestroyeOfWorlds wrote:
The venom is one of the best units in the Dark Eldar codex, able to reliably cause lots of wounds from 36 inches, has a built in 5++, is highly mobile, and is pretty cheap.
They are amazing for MSU, and a few of them outputs enough poisoned shots to erase most non-2+ infantry/MC's.

But it's AV10, open-topped and 2HP.

I have played recently a max-MSU of Venoms, with 12 Obsec Venoms and 6 units of death pidgeons, and while the obsec gave me a commending lead in Maelstrom, by turn 3 I was going down in flames and lucked out on a slight win.
If there had been a turn 4, or 5, it would've been a huge defeat.

That was playing against a rather mellow list too.

I love the Venoms but they're still way too fragile to make their points back, a bit like Vypers but worse in some ways - and Vypers suck.