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Two of my friends play casual 40K (Sisters of Battle and Eldar), and want me to join in. I am so far heavily interested in playing Necrons. I am wondering if anyone can help me out in terms of basic Necron strategies, how I should go about choosing what units to buy to build my army up etc., anything really. I am all ears. I am thinking by starting off buying the battle box set, and maybe a Monolith and a C'Tan. Any help is appreciated

any game under 1250pts, it ain't worth taking a c'tan. apart from that, do whatever

My friends typically play 1500 point games

I don't play Necrons, but for 1500 point games, a C'tan's three-hundred-some points can be better used for units that will ensure you don't phase out. You could get more Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers instead of a C'tan, with more mobility and versatility. Of course, this isn't much coming from a SM player. My brother plays Necrons, he'll probably give you a few tips when he finds this thread.

Rico.

Skip the C'tan for a while until you play more.

Skip Pariahs. Mix in some Flayed Ones or Immortals based on your style.

Take a bunch of Destroyers or a bunch of Scarabs. Scarabs are great at tying up things.

At 1500 points a Monoliths isn't bad and it will help you learn the vehicle rules. Just note that the Monolith will have a bunch of unique rules that only apply to it.

Good luck with the gaming.

I think Monoliths are pure awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith into an enemy strongpoint is +1 to the awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith into an enemy strongpoint, then blasting everything with 12" is +2 points to awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith, crapping 20 warriors out of the front that are attached to a lord with a rez orb, that turn and rapid fire 40 shots into something, combined with the Monolith using its flux arcs is +3 points to awesomeness.

Getting assaulted after deep striking your monolith and crapping out warriors, and turning around and pulling your warriors out of close combat to get 2 WBB rolls before rapid firing into the enemy unit again is +4 points to awesomeness.

Dashofpepper wrote:I think Monoliths are pure awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith into an enemy strongpoint is +1 to the awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith into an enemy strongpoint, then blasting everything with 12" is +2 points to awesomeness.

Deep striking a monolith, crapping 20 warriors out of the front that are attached to a lord with a rez orb, that turn and rapid fire 40 shots into something, combined with the Monolith using its flux arcs is +3 points to awesomeness.

Getting assaulted after deep striking your monolith and crapping out warriors, and turning around and pulling your warriors out of close combat to get 2 WBB rolls before rapid firing into the enemy unit again is +4 points to awesomeness.

Oh my god, you have 100% convinced me, lol. That post was epic.

The Monolith can't shoot its flux arc the turn it deep strikes in, and 20 Warriors will usually lose combat and get swept (by anything worth charging at the Warriors), but other than that you're spot on.

At 1500 it is feasible to run a C'tan and a Monolith, especially if you're just playing casually among your friends. I posted my 1500 list a while back, here's what I run:

Deceiver

7x Immortals
7x Immortals

11x Warriors
11x Warriors

5x Scarab Swarms

2x Tomb Spyders
Monolith

This comes out pretty close to 1500 points, and its only real weakness is armies that can just outrange you in a gunline and never move closer, and armies that have so many bodies on the table they're guaranteed to get into CC with a crappy unit which bogs you down for when a big one shows up.

The above list is cool, apart from the spiders, they are no dice IMO.

And don't listen to ANYONE telling you the c'tan is not worth its points. That is ridonkulous. The C'tan is amazing.

The problem with necrons in this edition is that they get their ass beat in combat. They should be stubborn, IMO.

At any rate, the C'tan provides a scary thing to keep assaulters away when facing an assault army, and provides a scary thing to shoot and run away from when facing a shooty army.

The best units in your army, IMO, are:
Immortals
Destroyers (both types)
C'tan
Monolith
Scarabs

But of course, opinions will vary.

You need to pick an idea and stick with it. Are you going to go infantry heavy? Then pack in the immortals as they are fantastic, and bring a C'tan to keep the assault units away. Otherwise watch your units get run down in combat. A veiling lord with an orb is a good bet here too.

Do you want to use monoliths? Then bring units to compliment them like immortals and warriors. You could even make a case for Pariahs or flayed ones coming out of a Lith. A dual monolith list with a veiling lord is one of the fastest armies in the game. You can teleport units all over the damn place, just be careful of getting assaulted by something that can run your units down in combat.

Or, and this is my favorite, do you want to go fast and shooty? Max out destroyers and run circles around your enemy shooting the hell out of them. A veiling Lord with warriors to snag objectives is a good idea with them, or a c'tan to again, take on nasty enemy assault units.

But, be patient. Necrons are a really hard army to win with in 5th ed. I still think they can be tough, but they are not what they were last edition.

Good luck!

My roomie plays necrons as far as advice id give to make a good list

1. 2+large squads of warriors supported by lord with resorb
2. 2 full squads of destroyers with lord on destroyer body and resorb

With this as the base for your army you will have a force that will do well against anything. Tailor your list with other units to fulfill specific roles. As for the ctan they work great as counter assault units.

I had to play against a truckload of scarabs... They bogged down my main CC squad for the majority of the game. They've got a nice save as they zoom over to a victim, and have enough wounds to just effectively keep that squad out of the game/away from your Warriors. There's very little that can stop them once they get in CC short of killing all of them, because they automatically pass Morale tests. Just try and keep them away from template weapons, like flamers or even PC-heavy lists like some mech IG with the Plasma-Russes.

Rico.

Scarabs bog down close combat units to keep them from assaulting the warriors pooping out of the monolith. Scarabs have a 2+ cover save when they're turbo-boosting across the field 24" at a time to *get* into close combat.

And i don't mean the flux arc, (pie plate) when the monolith deep strikes, I meant the other weapon. =p The gauss flayers or whatever they are. Pooping 20 warriors out of a monolith to rapid fire into something is only a bad idea if you're making them go in solo, which is never a good idea for any army; a monolith and 20 warriors with a lord can't single-handedly take on an entire army. However, if you've got a scarab swarm assaulting whatever the deadliest close combat unit is...OR, if you have the warriors shoot the crap out of the assault threat while the scarabs assault the shooting threat...there's a lot of combinations.

But at the end of the day, a deep-striking monolith dropping its payload in the middle of an enemy is terrifying.

I'm sure as I grow more accustomed to the game I'll maybe find something else I like, but so far I definitely feel like I'm leaning towards a shooty army, a monolith, and a Lord with a Veil at minimum. In say, a 1500 point 3 way free for all (which I will be doing most often with my 2 friends) or a 2v2 team game (another of my friends may join like me as Tau) do you guys think a Ctan in addition to a Lord is worth it? Would it be better to have 2 Lords, no Lords 1 Ctan, etc.?

Good choice; Necrons' strength lies at a range. But as previously stated, bring Scarabs so you can flay the hostiles from afar and not have to get owned in CC.

Rico.

Try the C'tan once, and you will be a believer. Either one of them bitch slaps pretty much anything in HtH.

The pie plate is actually the only weapon it can shoot when it deep strikes.

Tomb Spyders have gotten a huge boost in 5th ed. They can run, and now when they make one swarm it is treated as T6 due to the new multiple toughness rounding rules (if there's no majority in number of models, you use the highest). A 55 point MC that helps WBB and guards your flanks from CC or tank busts is good to me. I just hate the model though.

You can't pie plate when you deep strike. Don't speak authoritatively on something when you don't know what you're talking about, thanks.

You can always shoot the pie plate on the Monolith. It says so in its special rules.

Let's try not to be too condescending when we're wrong, mmkay.

I'll advise not to play necrons. Strongly advise.

If you are going to play them, don't have both a Star God and a Monolith in a list. You will phase out quickly.

Tomb Spyders have gotten a huge boost in 5th ed. They can run, and now when they make one swarm it is treated as T6 due to the new multiple toughness rounding rules (if there's no majority in number of models, you use the highest). A 55 point MC that helps WBB and guards your flanks from CC or tank busts is good to me. I just hate the model though.

Ah yes, I forgot about that, they do get the ablative wounds from scarabs now. Hmm, they may actually be worth the slot now.....

But yes, the model is painfully ugly. Shame too, because it has potential to be so flipping awesome, like that big therion model from AT43

EzeKK wrote:I'll advise not to play necrons. Strongly advise.

If you are going to play them, don't have both a Star God and a Monolith in a list. You will phase out quickly.

As in they aren't the most beginner-friendly army.

The beauty of Necrons, and their shiny living-armor models is that they have one of the best 'survivabilities' in the game. They don't do much in the way of cc, and their ranged weaponry is mediocre, but their WBB, when combined with a Res-Orb or 'Lith is quite zesty.

Quick tips:

Scarabs, while otherwise unimpressive, are annoying as heck when they tie up cc units. Since they're able to +1 all existing cover saves, they get a 2+ inv when they turbo boost!
Combine scarabs with a lightening field, and you basically bounce wounds back to your cc attackers (a popular strat).

All gauss weapons glance on "to-wound" rolls of 6, so even warriors can provide basic AV support.

Squad size for warriors should ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be small, due to the point cost of MEQs, and the high likelyhood of being swept-advanced.

More later, iz roadtrip time.

The C'tan send Their greetings,
Ajax

They aren't just not beginner friendly, they are a very VERY hard army to play and do good with. I have played a necron kid 3 times. Massacre victories on every game. He took Lith + Deceiver, just deceiver, and neither and I crushed him every time by going for his warriors.

IMHO necrons require a powergame list and advanced tactics to use well. I know a lot of people don't use Solar Flare to protect warriors squads, matter of fact I don't know any!

And to many people take C'Tan... If I were to play crons I wouldn't touch one of those things. Monoliths are good, but take 1 or 2 or if you have a powergame list I can see 3.

If you run your warrior squads small then I'll drive right up to them and knock them all down then oops there are no more warriors on the table so no WBB. If there is a res orb near them then I'll send my leader to attack him personally and take the Lord out. Now IDK if a lith can save the warriors at the point but I don't think so.

IMHO the best way to run warriors is in reserve. Take a lot of destroyers, Lith, Lord Destroyer and start using your very powerful weapons to kock your opponent on his butt! And you don't even have to worry about your warriors being killed! By the time they come in, they are on your table edge and me as a mechanized list would have to be exposing my guys and assaulting you to try to stop that torrent of fire!

Scarabs are great. I hate them. Nothing says *%&$ you better than tying up that 280 point squad with bugs.

BTW if you are talking about a bunch of small squads then yes that might be smart. Especially (if necrons can go this low) starting like 5 5 man crons squads in reserve XD. Don't have to worry about getting phased out (unless its only models on the board that count towards phase out, then that might be a problem)

Unfortunately the lowest Warriors go is 10. :(-

RobPro wrote:Unfortunately the lowest Warriors go is 10. :(-

Crap. Necrons should be much scarier in their new codex for sure though....

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2008/11/necrons-in-5th.html

Look at that list. THAT will work.

RobPro wrote:You can always shoot the pie plate on the Monolith. It says so in its special rules.

Let's try not to be too condescending when we're wrong, mmkay.

I'm going to presume that you have a codex, and just haven't ever read it. Page 21 is what you're after. Specifically, the part where it says that the monolith may ues its matrix in one of the following ways...and then goes on to elaborate what you may use it for. It even underlined it so that people like you wouldn't miss it. I'm not sure what else to do except ask you to smack yourself in the face with your codex so that you can read it up close?

It may use its flux arc projectors when it deep strikes, despite your assertions that it may not.

When you deep strike and them poop out aforementioned warrior squad to rapid fire into enemy units (as previously explained) you may not use its power matrix to use the particle whip, despite your assertions that it may.

I'm only condescending when I'm both right and the person who is wrong is being a turd.

Dashofpepper wrote:

RobPro wrote:You can always shoot the pie plate on the Monolith. It says so in its special rules.

Let's try not to be too condescending when we're wrong, mmkay.

I'm going to presume that you have a codex, and just haven't ever read it. Page 21 is what you're after. Specifically, the part where it says that the monolith may ues its matrix in one of the following ways...and then goes on to elaborate what you may use it for. It even underlined it so that people like you wouldn't miss it. I'm not sure what else to do except ask you to smack yourself in the face with your codex so that you can read it up close?

It may use its flux arc projectors when it deep strikes, despite your assertions that it may not.

When you deep strike and them poop out aforementioned warrior squad to rapid fire into enemy units (as previously explained) you may not use its power matrix to use the particle whip, despite your assertions that it may.

I'm only condescending when I'm both right and the person who is wrong is being a turd.

Dash is right.

Also, for deep striking a monolith and dropping warriors out...taking a lightning field with your lord goes a long way to preventing getting swept in close combat.

I think you're misunderstanding what I've said, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and type a little more?

1) When the Monolith Deep Strikes, it can't shoot the Flux Arc because it counts as moving at cruising speed and the Flux Arc isn't defensive (over S4).

2) If you want to use the Power Matrix to teleport Warriors through, you're certainly able to, but also have the choice to use it as a pie plate when it deep strikes due to the Monolith's special rule instead.

3) I never said you could bring Warriors through AND shoot the Particle Whip. I have no idea where you read that.

It's not my fault if you have trouble understanding things that I post, or if you disagree with them. I would suggest you complete a class to understand basic English, perhaps with an emphasis on how it is used in an online forum.

You can't pie plate when you deep strike. Don't speak authoritatively on something when you don't know what you're talking about, thanks.

This is actually wrong, I've e-mailed GW about it, here's a copy of the e-mail

When a monolith deep strikes can it use it's Power Matrix on the first turn to let necron warriors out of the monolith or shoot it's particle whip? I've been playing it like it could due to the fact that the use of the power matrix isn't a movement, but only used in the movement phase to bring warriors out. Also it states in the necron codex that the power matrix can be used in every other situation (if it moves, is shaken or stunned), so I would figure this means that it can also use it when deep striking.

Thanks for any feedback reguarding my question.


Hello,
It can be used, in either mode, when you Deep Strike.

Thanks!

John Spencer
Customer Service Specialist

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Don't just copypaste his responses and think they are auto correct