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Quick question:

Are necrons in 5th required to bring H. Destroyers for anti-vehicle, or can they take the Tyranid route and just silence the armor through repeated glances?

Well, since I'm inclined to take the Tyranid route, I'd say that no army NEEDS anti vehicle weaponry, unless of course they completely lack AP.

Which Necrons don't.

So no, you don't ever need to take Heavy Destroyers if you don't want to. It might make things a bit easier for you, depending on what you're facing, but it's never necessary.

yeah, necrons can take out vehicles with enough glances (too many immobilized/weapon destroyed's), BUT, heavy destroyers have a Strength 9/AP2 Weapon on a Jetbike that can move around quick and get past armor saves, plus, it's hard to rely on those 6's for Gauss Weapons to glance...

Well, do you feel lucky, punk?

for most missions, against most opponents, all you really need is the shaken/stun results. Unless killing a particular tank is integral to your plan (like an extra armor-clad LRC full of CC nastiness), just shoot till you stun it, and move on.

Unfortunately it's another example of needing an update for the necrons. Do you need them? No. You can glance a vehicle to death. But it's not a bad idea to consider. Situationally, I can see myself recommending a squad or two, like against a armor list, or zilla list.

i don't know why you people hate heavy destroyers i mean against anything with 2+ wounds theyre nasty against instant death

Problem is that with a squad of 3 you will average about 1-2 kills a turn (depending on cover saves). Also a lot of things have the eternal warrior rule. They are also only so-so against vehicles.

Yes. Necrons need to be able to penetrate, because if they don't that transport carrying all that assault goodness is going to drop off its cargo, which will then proceed to assault, winning the combat by ridiculous numbers, and then breaking you with combat res so you don't get WBB.

This is exactly the reason why I feel that necrons are one of the worst armies in 5th edition. They absolutely need to bring Heavy Destroyers if they want to stand a chance against any mechanized force. This wouldn't be too big a problem if they were a good unit. At the moment it isn't that hard for your opponent to kill all your Heavy Destroyers in the first couple of turns. Unless you bring 9 Heavy Destroyers, which has it's own disadvantages in not being able to take Monoliths and being very weak against horde armies.

Overall, I feel that the necrons are really in need of a new codex. Replacing the gauss rule by the rending rule would obviously help with this problem, although this would need some points adjustments on some of the units.

Untill you get a new codex, I'd suggest leaving the Heavy Destroyers at home and going for volume of fire. Having the regular Destroyers in your army is a good thing though, since they will at least be able to penetrate AV 11 (immolator spam, razorback/rhino rush).

Sadly as a Necron player in 5th I can assure you that glancing hits just don't do it anymore, expect maybe prevent the vehicle from shooting. I see people mention Heavy Destroyers and I started off playing with 6 of these guys...never stood out once. Yet! The particle whip is THE Necron vehicle killer in 5th. Str 9 with 2 dice and Ap 1....just....amazing. Most people play with a Lith so they are everywhere.

Heavy Destroyers are also vital agains high toughness monstrous creatures - anti-vehicle shooting is just a side bonus

glancing can get the job done if you have alot of firepower available. but when you have to fire most of your army at a vehicle just to destroy a weapon, you have to winder if those shots would be better used against something that would die. Heavy destroyers are can help destroy vehicles, 2+ saves, and monstrous creatures, so I think they are worth it.

No army ever needs dedicated anti vehicle, the necrons less so than most others. However without it you will be at a severe disadvantage if you run into a vehicle heavy force. Necron basic troops are uniquely able to deal with basically any tank out there with relative ease, but they have a hard time killing them outright.

They won't kill terminators or monstrous creature though. Which is something you can't afford to ignore.

Eight Ball wrote:yeah, necrons can take out vehicles with enough glances (too many immobilized/weapon destroyed's), BUT, heavy destroyers have a Strength 9/AP2 Weapon on a Jetbike that can move around quick and get past armor saves, plus, it's hard to rely on those 6's for Gauss Weapons to glance...

I don't know aye, I think they are abit expansive for 65 points each. I miss way too much for me to trust in them :(

Related question: What the hell happens in necron vs. necron mirror matches?
They have next to no chance of taking down each other's monoliths, and are resilient as hell to each others shooting, and both suck at assault.
My mind boggles.

yeah, LOL Da Boss, but IMAGINE THIS:

Necron vs. Necron, 500pt....exact same army lists (20 Warriors and a Lord with Res Orb)...just imagine it...

I think it's also important to consider vehicles with things like Demonic Possession, or mech lists. You can't really concentrate enough fire to glance out something that is going to ignore most of your results to begin with in a reasonable amount of time. Against a list like St. Johns 11 Immolator spam I don't suspect it would be good enough either.

Da Boss wrote:Related question: What the hell happens in necron vs. necron mirror matches?
They have next to no chance of taking down each other's monoliths, and are resilient as hell to each others shooting, and both suck at assault.
My mind boggles.

i tried it....

very annoying...

almost impossible to get a unit to half strength...

very annoying...

summary
4' X 4' table. no obstructions, pitched battle aniahlation
side a set up first
side b stole initiiative
turn 1 all models moved 6"
turn 2 all models moved 6"
turn 3 all models moved 6"
turn 4 all models shot each other
side a:4 hits 3 saved 1 fell
side b: 6 hits 4 saved 2 fell
turn 5 side a and b rolled we'll be back and all models stood up
all model move and shoot,

side a 9 hit 6 saved
side b 7 hit 3 saved

turn 6 side b lost 1 warrior from turn 5
side a passed all we'll be back
side a moved 6" and shot 15 hit 15 saved
side b moved 6" and shot 18 hit 15 saved

game ends

side b wins technically

very annoying

Hdestroyers rule!

I'd say you need some way to take out Land Raiders full of hurt or a mech list that can tank shock you off of objectives with impunity otherwise. Glancing Gauss rifles won't cut it.