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I'm wondering what space marine chapter puts the most importance in devastators, fluff, combat, etc.

If you mean extensively use Devastators, then Imperial Fists. They are the loyalist master of siege warfare and I would guess they would have a good number of Devastators and Vindicators.

thanks, Ive been wondering what army (space marines chapter) Ill start with and fell in love with the idea of devastators.

IIRC Salamanders have a company consiting of 4 tactical squads and 8 devastator squads

It is probably easier to designate which chapters dont extensively use Devs.

The two listed are note worthy for their use of devs but it is an arsenal in all Sm's arsenal.

Don't the Dark Angels use Devs a lot?

Almost every Chapter has devastator companies in reserves. So, you could just use a company of reserves with maxed out devs.

If you want the best devs with the most heavy weapons, go Space Wolves and emphasize long fang and wolf guard who are also older veterans in most cases.

so far space wolves, imperial fists, and dark angels are all looking pretty awesome. Anyone ever see results of maxed out Devs with 2 plasma cannons and lascannons like 3 squads?

imnotbruce wrote:so far space wolves, imperial fists, and dark angels are all looking pretty awesome. Anyone ever see results of maxed out Devs with 2 plasma cannons and lascannons like 3 squads?

Don't space wolves technically have long fangs not devastators-A subtle difference.

imnotbruce wrote:so far space wolves, imperial fists, and dark angels are all looking pretty awesome. Anyone ever see results of maxed out Devs with 2 plasma cannons and lascannons like 3 squads?

I've seen the results of spending that many points on large dev squads on the rest of the list (as it not being there...)

One of the rules of thumb I've found with devs, is don't take split weapons in squads, and don't bother taking max sized squads of them. The entire purpose of taking them is to get a large number of heavy weapons without having to buy huge quantities of bolter marines. Buying more bodies for them erodes their points advantage. Take for instance 3 min sized squads of devs with ML in a vanilla list: 450 points for 12 Krak or frag shots a round, fired at 3 different targets. Then compare it to 3 max sized units: 690 points for 12 krak fired at 3 - 6 (combat squading) targets. Considering the effectiveness of long range fire these days (cover) it is usually better to just put all the shots in one squad and save a bunch of points. (in this case enough for a Land raider redeemer)

If you go with C:SM (fists, and your own chapters), keep in mind that the devs in that book pay a bit too much for their heaviest weapons like lascannons and plasma cannons. Most people have settled on ML in that book for them since it is well rounded (good at clearing infantry, and good at mid to low armor vehicles) and cheap. The MM is too short range, and the HB is too specialized (and ineffective at its specialty).

This is of course talking from a table top perspective. If you just want a fluffy force with heavy weapon squads, go ahead. Keep in mind though that space marines are likely to choose the best weapons, and not deploy them strangely (example, lascannon, HB squads) There is a reason why the ML is regarded so well by the various chapters.

imnotbruce wrote:so far space wolves, imperial fists, and dark angels are all looking pretty awesome. Anyone ever see results of maxed out Devs with 2 plasma cannons and lascannons like 3 squads?

As others have pointed out:
1. These are expensive squads.
2. These are confused squads. Plasma cannons are good for killing marines, chaos, and other tough troops. Lascannons are for popping vehicles. If you combat squad them into 2 units of 5 men, keeping the PC's together and LC's together, then it looks a little better.

No, I haven't tried that. Black Templars don't get Devastator squads. When I do play as vanilla Codex: Space Marines, I stick with a single unit of 4x missile launchers in an 8-10 man squad. Good range, relatively cheap, versitile, plenty of ablative wounds.

Lokirfellheart wrote:

imnotbruce wrote:so far space wolves, imperial fists, and dark angels are all looking pretty awesome. Anyone ever see results of maxed out Devs with 2 plasma cannons and lascannons like 3 squads?

Don't space wolves technically have long fangs not devastators-A subtle difference.

There is a difference in fluff and a difference in rules but they are practically an identical unit.

either way, to the OP, no there is really not any chapter that prioritizes the devastators. they would be effectively useless if they were troops.

So if I use devs with plasma cannons and lascannons keep it into seperate squads? one suited to tank hunting and the other for infantry, and maybe another squad with just ML and keep the squads small 3 marines? right?


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I figured they wouldnt use them like troops just use them as the main heavy option

off the top of my head i think the Salamanders and Imperial Fists utilize them the most. I think its real good for the Salamanders if they are also fielding Vulkan He'stan

Element206 wrote:off the top of my head i think the Salamanders and Imperial Fists utilize them the most. I think its real good for the Salamanders if they are also fielding Vulkan He'stan

Only if they are using multi-meltas (devestators)

The Imperial Fists are big on the Multimelta the Missle Launcher and the Lascannon in there Devestator Squads. They provide a good versatile force with them and can do some serious armor busting with it.

As for the Heavy Bolter, those are found in just a few of their 10 man tactical squads as it is more of an anti-infantry weapon. It works against bikes and lightly armored stuff too, but again is more specializied at anti-infantry.

I've taken two Dev squads in my fists force and a thunderfire cannon. My dev squads are split into anti-tank and anti-infantry. Contrary to previous posts you can mix these weapons for effect if you intend to split them into combat squads so make up any combination you feel is versatile.

I would back the Imperial Fists choice but its like the guys say... Marines will use whatever is suitable and the chapters all use Devs to max effect!

Good luck with your decision!

One thing that I've always wondered about when looking at Dev squads is whether it's more valuable to take a full squad (letting you combat squad them) or take a min-squad (5 or 6 men) and a Razorback.

A 10-man squad effectively gets you two units potentially with different roles, while the 5+Razorback gets you 4 guns in one unit plus a mobile weapon with less mass firepower (but could also carry an assault cannon or other options).

This is why Longfangs are considered better than their Dev Squad counterparts, since they can have the best of both worlds due to their rules and still taking a razorback, effectively getting enough heavy weapons to fire at three different targets for one choice.

Another huge user of Devastator marines would have to be the Iron Hands. I seem to recall in the one single book they had published having a large amount of heavy weapons. After that, I'd say really any Codex chapter is going to have a high proportion of devastators just due to the sheer fact that an entire company is going to be made of up of them.

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:If you mean extensively use Devastators, then Imperial Fists. They are the loyalist master of siege warfare and I would guess they would have a good number of Devastators and Vindicators.

They're actually not masters of "siege warfare" persay. They're not like the Iron Warriors, who were renowned for wrecking fortresses and being able to bring down anything.

The Imperial Fists were masters of being the besieged. They're fantastic at setting up fortifications and weathering out assaults.

From what I gathered from the fluff, it was both their legions love of Siege warfare that caused the animosity between them, even before the Heresy. On top of that they were also the ones besieging the Iron Warriors during the Iron Cage incident. Iron Warriors are undisputedly the masters of siege, but they're not loyalist. Imperial Fists are their current post-heresy counterpart.

IF IMO. they seem to be the army that springs to mind. Except they are incredibly annoying to paint.
Devs are useful. I have a "tag-team" of two for killing heavy infrantry mech- ML squad kills the vehicle, PC kills the chaps inside.
The PC dev's finest hour(s) was against 60 chaos with no transports. 4 PC + open chaos = a heck of a lot of kill points. The 200pt-squad killed 30 chaos.

Don't Mentors use alot of Devs?

Rules wise Space Wolves are the best. Cheaper and they can Split fire. Fluff wise I'd say Imperial Fists. But any chapter would work.