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Here's my list for the upcoming tournament:

Deceiver
Necron Lord w/ Res Orb + Gaze of Flame

8x Immortals
8x Immortals
8x Immortals

11x Warriors
11x Warriors
11x Warriors

6x Scarab Swarms
6x Scarab Swarms

3x Tomb Spyder
Monolith
Monolith

This comes out to exactly 2500 points with a phaseout number of 14. I think the list should be pretty resilient but I am open to suggestions on if I should change things

I would drop the deciever and run more warriors and scarabs. Ctan almost never make up their point cost and scarabs are a cheaper and more effective assault screen. Or, you could even Run another lord with an orb, because that one lord you've got isn't going to be able to cover the whole army within a 6 inch range. In doing this you also gain more mobility and your army's movement isn't so restricted by orb distance.

I agree w/dropping the deciever but instead of more warriors i'd run destroyers. Personally some of the nastiest lists i've seen Necrons run is lists without monoliths and c'tans. Your only gonna win by absurd number of shots so make sure your army can put those out. Plus heavy destroyer can kill transports and LR's while monoliths just survive which doesn't make them horribly effective.

I would probably drop the Deceiver and get a lot of Destroyers. Their ability to MSM and harass the enemy will be invaluable. There will be to many powerful weapons on the board for the Devceiver to really be effective. Scarabs are a great choice though. Tomb Spiders, I can't say much about them, but when I face them they always seem to do nothing :/

Dropping the monos for more destroyers would be my suggestion. Running a destroyer heavy force is how I think necrons would be the best played. It's so many shots and then you actually have mobility! ATM though running the Monos would help your warriors live. Running your force in "wings" would be my suggestion.

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

I think that is the only necron army I've seen that scares me. It's just a suggestion to check out.

I've tried lists with no C'tan and no Monoliths. I've tries lists with only one of those. I've also tried lists with Destroyers.

What I've found is that Necrons really need to get a lot of T5 bodies down. Immortals let you get more bodies out for similar effectiveness of shots. I would probably agree with you about the Destroyers if you could still kill vehicles with glancing hits, but that's just not the case. You get more shots per points with Immortals, so massing them will give you a higher volume.

The Deceiver gives you a few things you need: He deals with any tank/model in CC and he draws a ton of fire. If people decide to focus on the C'tan, I'm not phasing out. If they don't, it gets into CC and starts high-fiving their stuff into oblivion while the rest of my army stays 24" away. He also deals with a squad of Orks or TH/SS Terminators when nothing else in the Necron codex can effectively do that.

Monoliths are key for Necrons in 5th, but I wouldn't bring more than 2. They give you three big things: Mobile terrain to block line of sight, draw a lot of shots, and deep stirke near objectives to contest. Rarely will you use the portal to give Necrons a WBB anymore (unless you can give a squad more than 2 extra rolls), you need it exclusively to pull guys out of combat or to fire pie plates at the enemy. It's the only "big gun" in the codex that tends to do its job.

The thing about the Lord/Orb is just that he stays within a squad of Warriors/Immortals so 20 models will have the Orb's effective, and my phaseout is 14. Everything else has to be more aggressive. Scarabs in front of Immortals in front of Warriors marching forward every turn to the 24" line. Tomb Spyders inbetween squads to help protect sides/rear, and then run up front when something gets close.

But most of those scary units the Deciever is good against are going to be in transports hitting your line as far from him as possible. I've just never seen a C'tan get his points back since 5th edition. Most armies at 2500 are going to be able to drop him in a turn. That leaves you with 1 more turn of walking before your even in extreme range of the enemy.

Destroyers give you that edge to hit the enemy right out of the gate that your not going to get w/the C'tan.

Besides, a destroyer lord w/warsythe is just as nasty as a c'tan but can hide in your units and moves a hell of a lot faster. Just some thoughts.

Another hidden gem for the deceiver is the re-deployment. I think that alone makes him worth his points... well, that and he can make fearless units become pinned

Hulksmash wrote:But most of those scary units the Deciever is good against are going to be in transports hitting your line as far from him as possible. I've just never seen a C'tan get his points back since 5th edition. Most armies at 2500 are going to be able to drop him in a turn. That leaves you with 1 more turn of walking before your even in extreme range of the enemy.

Destroyers give you that edge to hit the enemy right out of the gate that your not going to get w/the C'tan.

Besides, a destroyer lord w/warsythe is just as nasty as a c'tan but can hide in your units and moves a hell of a lot faster. Just some thoughts.

Fortunately 40k isnt a game about making your points back, its a game about winning either through objectives or kill points, both of which the deceiver helps with hugely.

Being able to scare units off objectives in the last few turns really helps win objective based games. If units hide in transports then they wont be able to bring the full weight of their firepower to bare against you.

Having the first turn and then being able to redeploy some units after your opponent has finished also helps avoid things that necrons dont deal with easily, or lets you put your c'tan in a possition to cause lots of damage.

It is insanely hard to kill something with T8, 5 wounds and a 4+ inv save. I've only very rarely seen it happen, and never in a single turn. As has been pointed out already, if your enemy is focusing on killing your c'tan then they wont be dealing with the rest of your army.

@OP:

I would drop the scarabs and gaze of flame on your lords for 3 destroyers. They really are very good and you should have at least some of them.

I've never had much luck with tomb spiders. They've always been to slow to have much of an effect on the game. They can be easily avoided and the little shooting they have isnt any good at BS2. Creating scarabs is nice, but since they have to maintain coherency with the spider they wont have much impact on the game either. They also up your KP a lot because they each function as an individual unit. Finally they are not necrons so reduce the number of models that have to be killed before you phase out. I would also drop these for some more destroyers.

Not having scarabs is almost suicide. Scarabs can tie up annoying units (Termiantors, Deathcompany to name two) and with disruptor fields can do something. They also are a great cover save! Tomb spiders main use should be to create a scarab swarm then use the one swarm to help get more cover saves.

The thing is... a TS is a MC for very cheap, and the sawrm basically makes it 5 wounds at T6, which is nothing to scoff at. On top of that it helps with WBB rolls... overall, the Spyder got a huge boost in 5th with running and the multiple toughness rule.

As for scarab swarms, they are essential. Their job is to go in front of Immortals and give them cover. Immortals go in front of Warriors to give Warriors cover. This minimizes the impact of only having 1 res orb because anything S8+ that hits warriors they get cover from, and you need S10 or rending to deny Immortals their WBB, so scarabs are enough for them. Sure, your opponent could shoot the swarms... but then they're doing what you want already.

Stick with the C'tan, he is too vital to counter balancing the Necron weakness to assault.

You need to have max destroyers to even be competative. They have the mobility to shoot what you need to shoot and the mobility and toughness to stay away from dedicated assault troops and shoot them down. I also would keep the deciever.

@Regwon

How many of the lists being posted won't have the firepower to drop the big guy in 1-2 turns? And remember you'll have those two turns because he doesn't have destroyers to light you up at range. Your right about it not being about points per se but I meant get his value back. I probably should have been more clear.

As for counterbalancing weakness in assault a Destroyer lord and some wraiths really take care of that. They are fast and so can redeploy well and they hit like a two ton truck. This is coming from a couple of games against players at our local club who have persisted w/necrons since 5th even though I think it's harder to play necrons now than DH.

EzeKK wrote:Not having scarabs is almost suicide. Scarabs can tie up annoying units (Termiantors...

Um are you sure? Termies is the last thing I would send T3 things against... you are waisting all those wounds.

Personally, I would take at least one unit of 8 or 10 and then 10 destroyers at least. But you are right, for less cost you get more value for your points from immortals... what you loose on is mobility, and the tomb spyders are what grants your army that mobility... being able to stray form the main phalanx and not risk a swift elimination is pricelss.

I like the list, it looks solid. The things I, personally, would change would be:

C'tan (I love the D)
Lord- on foot or "wraithlord" config

20 Immortals (in 2 squads)

10 Warr
10 Warr
10 Warr

10 Scarab
5 Destroyers

Lith
Lith
3 Spyders

You could mix the numbes arround to get at least 6 Destroyers (2 of 6) to split fire and cover more ground.
I think the base is solid tho.

While only being WS & I 2 spyders should be a real threat too all TEQ-MEQ>less types as they still hit on 4's just like alot of other WS3&4 units and being a monsterous creature, they ignore armor saves and can chew through even heavy vehicles.

They regenerate wounds fairly easily and with the Multiple toughness rule (P19 BGB) the scarabs swarm counts as T6. So you need to at-least do 2 wounds/turn to these spyders to start to whittle them down. Otherwise, in thier assualt phase (on a roll of a 2+) that single wound you caused is now pointless and essentially wasted - Now combined with the shooting tarpit that is the deceiver, they deserve some serious attention before they get close.

Oh & with the advent of 5th edition Run, all close-combat MC's can actually get into the enemy lines in a realistic timescale.

Edit: Oh - you need to fire 20 bs4 lascannons (in one turn) to kill the deciver off. Twenty, One target. Not concidering TLOS and sneaky positioning.

Edit mk.2: Oh damn! Dread and Scarabs - LOLWUT. Just realised how god-awefully amazing that is. I turbo-boost for 2+ coversaves turn 1; then on turn 2 I assault where the enemy hits my meak T3 only on a 6+. Many lols.