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I was flipping through my freinds IG codex today and came across the death strike missile and wondered why i've never heard of it before.
I mean the fluff and rules seem awsome.
Can anyone enlighten me to why their not used.(i don't have a clue about guard or their play style).

it's like hitting double-stars in roulette - if you win, you win big, but the odds are not in your favor, and your enemy gets to have some control over where the wheel stops spinning.

I've actually seen the Deathstrike in action, and what I mean by action is that it stands there and fails to fire every turn. The Game was over by turn 5 and it did nothing...Well that is not true, it did fire the Heavy Bolter at some Ork Boys.

Its better used as a distraction than a weapon, your opponent wants to kill it as fast as possible!
(aboves sig FTW)

Basically its a huge missile that you roll for in a manner similar to reserve rolls to get it to shoot.

Your enemies shooting at it can help keep it from firing (or even destroy it) and when it shoots it fires a variable range blast marker that pretty much insta-gibs most anything. A shame the marker is only 6 inches at most...

If you've never heard of it before, then odds are that you also weren't around during the 'epic' days when it was first released.

Essentially, it's an ICBM in a tactical battlefield. It has a huge range for a tabletop weapon - and will generally go off with a blast around the size of the apocalypse pizza platter.

It's a big "NO! shoot ME" target, so the enemy player will hopefully ignore the leman russes (more fool them) or other threats.

6" in *radius* at most. So up to 12" in diameter, and a whopping 100in^2 of board surface.

It is a nice idea, but outclassed by more reliable options.

^Agreed. Its a fun idea and tried it in fun games before. But it is of no use in competitive games in my opinion.

I hate people who say the deathstrike is crap. Its not.

Imagine 2000 points of enemy fire, including a baneblade AND another deathstrike trying to kill one model. Yes. my Deathstrike.

My deathstrike survived the battle. The sole survivor.

In another, I killed the majority of a tetragon of darkness with a deathstrike missile, including the GDOS. Its a gamble, usually doesn't pay off, but if it does. Ouch. Also in apocalypse games, use the Vortex missile formation. Deathstrike with the baneblade template vortex....ouchies.

Yes, but now you're talking about apocalypse, for which the deathstrike was clearly designed.

The real problem with the deathstrike, other than its unreliability, is that it runs against the meta. 40k is a mobile game, and things tend to get real close real fast. I mean, the last thing I want is for my troops to take an objective just to have a death strike on turn 6 scatter 9" with a 12" radius and completely blow them off, even though I targeted something 21" away.

The deathstrike is a relic of bygone, 3rd ed. days when everyone just line their troops up and shot each other. In 5th ed, they're just as likely to get in the way as they are to destroy your opponent, assuming you ever get to fire it.

probably because the chances of it hitting in the first 6 rounds is nearly impossible...you have to have great luck to pull it off

Triple deathstrike is hilarious.

You can expect one to go off every other turn. The last one (turn 5-6) generally kills as much of your own army as of the opponent's.

In answer to OP's question, they're uncommon because they're unreliable. That's not to say that they aren't a lot of fun.

Like everyone else said. THey're fun, and great in Apoc where their range really comes into play....but they're not competitive at all.

I was about to say lol, so many people seem to have failed rudimentary level math, radius = half the diameter...

Ii used a deathstrike once for lols in a game and rolled a 5" radius and he started freaking out when i measured it out properly, had to give him a quick rundown in basic arithmetic.

kill dem stunties wrote:I was about to say lol, so many people seem to have failed rudimentary level math, radius = half the diameter...

Ii used a deathstrike once for lols in a game and rolled a 5" radius and he started freaking out when i measured it out properly, had to give him a quick rundown in basic arithmetic.

Yes, the diameter versus radius distinction is important to make... as you've just noticed.

juraigamer wrote:Basically its a huge missile that you roll for in a manner similar to reserve rolls to get it to shoot.

Your enemies shooting at it can help keep it from firing (or even destroy it) and when it shoots it fires a variable range blast marker that pretty much insta-gibs most anything. A shame the marker is only 6*radius* inches at most...

Shoot, didn't notice.

Also didn't know making an edit too late makes another post :(

They're extremely unreliable; they can have up to a 6" blast at STR 10 AP1 but they may not get to fire all game or be destroyed before firing due to the fact that preparations take so long that there is a roll you have to make to launch the missile (basically the reserves table). The fact that every army can effectively counter AV 12 leaves them a huge target for most anti-tank fire. This can be useful, as the rest of your army can effectively advance unmolested by enemy fire.

Huge fire magnet and that it occupies a heavy slot which is highly contested specially on the IG codex.
But when it hits, it has the possibility of turning the game around. You could play proxy though, see if it serves your purpose, though as some has already stated, it has much more purpose in an apoc game than in a regular game.

I once proxied some spare Chimera's with Large rockets attached to them and ran triple Deathstrike against as Ork player as a fun match.

Fired all thee off and wiped out half of his 90 some boyz 2 Truks Killed a Maddok and blew the weapon off a looted wagon.... on turn 2.

needless to say next game none of them fired.

It is really designed for apocalypse, and it will be also awesome despite not being a baneblade or a titan.
On a regular game on tables as large as 6' x 4' and on fun games, it will be great and awesome as well. But on tournaments? Bringing it would be highly questionable.

Hrm. A triple deathstrike list with the deathstrikes being given a cover save by shooty sentinels, all of whom are being protected from assault by infantry...

Melissia wrote:Hrm. A triple deathstrike list with the deathstrikes being given a cover save by shooty sentinels, all of whom are being protected from assault by infantry...

With a 2nd wave of Repentia?

Its called a DEATHstrike, nuff said.

Deathstrike Missile

Cons: Unreliable, Takes up valuable Heavy Support Slot, Could buy Manticore for same price, Thin Skinned, will kill everything (including your own army)

Pros: LOOKS FETHING AWESOME

Gwar! wrote:

Melissia wrote:Hrm. A triple deathstrike list with the deathstrikes being given a cover save by shooty sentinels, all of whom are being protected from assault by infantry...

With a 2nd wave of Repentia?

Screw that, a few squads of heavy weapons teams would be a better choice.

Melissia wrote:

Gwar! wrote:

Melissia wrote:Hrm. A triple deathstrike list with the deathstrikes being given a cover save by shooty sentinels, all of whom are being protected from assault by infantry...

With a 2nd wave of Repentia?

Screw that, a few squads of heavy weapons teams would be a better choice.

Melissia saying "screw you" to Sisters of Battle? What sort of Heresy is this? Send in the platoon!

*watches deathstrike missile land in the middle of the platoon*

Well goddamn, I've been waiting for that to happen all day.

CommissarCandlestick wrote:They're extremely unreliable; they can have up to a 6" blast at STR 10 AP1 but they may not get to fire all game or be destroyed before firing due to the fact that preparations take so long that there is a roll you have to make to launch the missile (basically the reserves table). The fact that every army can effectively counter AV 12 leaves them a huge target for most anti-tank fire. This can be useful, as the rest of your army can effectively advance unmolested by enemy fire.

Did you really come in after like 4 posts explaining the whole radius = 1/2 diameter deal and then still claim its only a 6" wide max blast size? lmfao ....

Deathstrikes are very luck based and not competitive.

But I think pepole here are not seeing the value of the damage the deathstrike can do if you pull it off.

First, it's not just a 6" blast S10 Ap1.
It fires an 3+d3 blast radius(not diameter) so it's between 8-12" blast.
Try drawing a 12" blast, and you will se that this thing is huge.
It also ignores cover saves.
And last, since it have no central hole, every vehicle tuched by the blast sufferes a S10 AP1 hit on side armour with 2d6 and pick the highest to penetrate.
With such a large blast you can easly take out a large cluster of vehicles and troops alike.

Now if they are better then other choices that can fire every turn I doubt. But don't dismiss the potential damage the deathstrike can do.

Alright troopers, keep advancing, it only ever has one shot!