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What are the things to look for when figuring out what a weapon is good for? This might be a really dumb question though.

Run statistics of the weapon against a certain target type. The math will tell you if something is generally good against that or not.

For example, compare a guardsmen firing an autocannon at a space marine.

The autocannon has 2 shots. BS3 means the most likely outcome is that 1 hits.

S7 v. T4 means that they wound on a 2+, which means you're looking at about .84 wounds (1 x .84 (5/6ths)).

Then you factor in the power armor and you get .27 wounds that stick (.84 x .333 (1/3rd chance of making it through a 3+ save).

The end result is that a guardsmen needs to shoot at a space marine for about 4 turns in order to expect a space marine to die.

Does that sound good to you?

Is there an easier/faster way?

experience...

I guess I'm wondering if there's a general way. Some of the wargear entries do say good for killing tanks and such.

Uhh... the math IS fast, simple, and general.

Best yet, it's objective, which means it's infinitely more reliable than experience.

High strength is good for killing tanks and monstrous creatures.
Low AP is good for killing highly armored troops.

That's about the basics of it

Portaljacker wrote:What are the things to look for when figuring out what a weapon is good for? This might be a really dumb question though.

There is a lot of weapon types for different races to consider. I assume you are playing space wolves, so you are using a lot of imperial weapons. Experience will teach you what weapon is the best for what. Here is a list of some common special weapons (Assuming you are playing marines):

Demolisher cannon- Great for denying any armor save and FNP, and instant killing groups of multi-wound models. Poor against cover and only has one shot.
Good targets- Groups of TEQ, MEQ, High AV vehicles, clusters of low AV vehicles.
Poor Targets- MCs, infantry with good cover.

Lascannon- Single target weapon, mainly for busting heavy armour, can also be used on MCs and multi-wound models.
Good Targets- Any vehicle under AV14. Special characters caugh out in the open, MCs
Poor Targets- Groups of infantry

Missile Launcher (Cyclone missile, Typhoon missile)- One of the most Versitile weapons in the game and my personal favorite weapon. Can be used on almost anything except heavy armor and TEQ.
Good targets- Vehicles, MEQ, clusters of infantry, MCs
Poor Targets- TEQ, Heavy armor (13+)

Autocannon- Great weapon for busting skimmers and transports, also putting wounds on high toughness targets.
Good targets- AV10-11, MCs, high toughness models
Poor targets- AV12, MEQ, TEQ, infantry in cover

Assault Cannon- Versitile weapon that can threaten AV10-14, MCs, and infantry. Very versitile weapon, is hampered by cover
Good Targets- infantry in the open, light vehicles, MCs
Can damage MEQ, TEQ, AV12-14, MCs but relies on rends so its unreliable

Heavy Bolter- Lost its real shine in 5th ed due defensive weapon change, is still usefull as a secondary weapon platform on Land speeders and predators. Volume of shots and decent Str make it worthwhile at dishing out wounds and threatening AV10.
Good Targets- AV10, infantry
Poor Targets- High toughness/armor and FnP, also units in cover.

Meltagun and Multimelta- Gold standard at busting any armor values, and putting wounds on anything. Suffers from range, and volume of shots. Multimelta has improved range and can threaten light-medium armor at 24"
Good Targets- Vehicles, MCs
Poor Targets- Infantry, Monoliths

Plasmagun and Plasmacannon- Gold standard against Heavy infantry. Will kill TEQ and MEQ easily. Can also hurt MCs. Can threaten light armor. Denies FnP. Hampered by cover and Gets Hot!
Good targets- MEQ, TEQ, AV10-11, MCs, FnP units
Poor targets- units in cover, clusters of weak infantry, AV12+

Flamer and Heavy Flamer, and Flamestorm cannon- Very good at destroying GEQ/4+ saves/MEQ respectivly. Will deny cover saves so the target is usually dead. Needs to be within assault range to use. Very devistating if used right.
Good targets- Infantry in cover
Poor targets- Infantry with decent saves, FnP, MCs, vehicles

Bolter, Storm bolter, Hurricaine bolter- Rank and file pea-shooters of the adeptus astartes. Good against weak troopers, mainly GEQ, suffers against anything tougher. Shoot at what you can.

Scubasteve has a great list here.

Essentially the rules I use are:

1) Does it have multiple shots? If it has 3 or more, Unless its S7 or higher then its going into infantry.

2)Plasma into terminators (or equivalents) ALWAYS. Unless there are none, in which case some other infantry.

3)Lascannons, multimeltas, kraks at armour 9 times out of 10.

In summary, I fire things like assault cannons, and heavy bolters at infantry (barring exceptional circumstances). THings like multimeltas and lascannons always into armour.

Of course, the thing you've also got to consider is "good compared to what?" Autocannons may be good at taking down monstrous creatures compared to taking down AV13, but the autocannon is still pretty crappy against most MCs.

In the end, you're going to have to look at the weapons not only by their statline, but how they fit in with the rest of your codex, and how they are used on the field.

More complex, yes, but learning these things will make you a better list builder.

You also need to consider any Special Rules your Army and/or specific HQs can apply. A great Special Rule can dramatically improve the effectiveness of a weapon.

Also, remember that despite its appearance low strength but high rate of fire is good for killing small numbers of elites, simply because you're throwing so much dice at the enemy that they're bound to fail armor saves.

There are 3 general gun types as far as you should be concerned.

There are guns that kill infantry well

There are guns that kill heavy infantry/monsterous creatures well

There are guns that kill tanks well.

When trying to decide if a gun kills infantry well, consider it's rate of fire, if it ignores cover, and who can take it.

For heavy infantry and monsterous creatures, high strength and low ap are needed, plasma guns are a good example, the low ap is necessary due to getting around the models armor save

Then when dealing with tanks, generally the higher the strength, the better. Range helps, as does special rules like melta. Also ap 1 can be handy for this cause.


Now these are not standards, but in a general sense they are to be followed. Who can take it and how they can use it also matter.

What good does a heavy weapon do on a squad that needs to be mobile, unless they have a special rule allowing them to fire regardless? What good is an anti tank weapon doing on a squad that is never going to be within range to use it?

As said, it takes experience to know what's the general best choices for weaponry. If all else fails just think about the weapon vs a unit/model. Run the process through your head.

For example, lets say I take a melta gun on a squad of marines. Let's also say that for some reason, there is a special HQ of the enemy with toughness 4 withing shooting range that would be good to take out. Instead of going for a nearby tank, using the strength 8 gun on the toughness 4 model (causing instant death if it goes through) would be better in some cases than shooting the tank.

Spray and pray... good for large numbers of fodder and small numbers of super-fodder... basically works on the same hope as monkeys with typewriters...

Shots, Strength and AP. Get those down and you should have a general idea of what the weapon can do.

Does it have alot of shots? If so, then it's probably for horde, especially if the number is higher than 3 and you can take more than one in a squad. As a general measure, if anything has Rapid Fire, Assault 2, or 3 or more shots (regardless of it's other profile), it's good for horde clearing.

Does it have high strength? If so it's probably a tank-hunter weapon. If a weapon has this and a good number of shots, it's likely for light vehicle hunting (rarely is there a weapon with both an decently high Strength and a high number of shots, usually it'd be moderate in both like the autocannon, which are good at hunting down light vehicles because it can hit more reliably and glance them to death if a pen is not obtained). Anything below 6 is usually for horde and have higher number of shots. 6-7 is for light vehicle hunting, while 8+ is reserved for popping heavy tanks, monsters and causing instant death.

Does it have high AP? AP2 and 3 weapons are good against (obviously) MEQs and most (or all, as the case with AP2 weapons) Monsters. AP4 weapons is good against any other army. AP5 should be disregarded for actual armor negation, as rarely will it actually ignore armor, and most of the time the enemy probably has them in cover anyways. If it has a high AP (i.e: 4 5 or 6) AND high Strength (usually 8-10), that weapon is purely for vehicle hunting, as the AP wont ignore the armor of anything you're trying to Instant Death (they would either have a retinue full of abalative wounds, or possess 3 or 2+ armor).

Special Weapon Types:

Poisoned weapons: generally good for killing T5 or higher creatures. Most of the time useless against vehicles. Generally not useful against GEQs, and not against MEQs alone (a high AP will immensely help).

Rending: The Poor man's AP2. Good against anything with 3 or 2+ armor, but again, not as good as AP2.

Blast/Template weapons: Horde Clearing. Flamer weapons specifically are used to clear out troops hiding in cover. The AP will determine whether they're good against MEQs or GEQs. Not good against MCs or Tanks, as they're somewhat unreliable in hitting tanks with their full strength (and with Flamer Template weapons, they tend to not have enough strength to penetrate tanks), and MCs will only ever recieve one wound.

Unique Rules: These will generally determine what the original intent for the weapon was. For Example, the Magna Grapple is evidently useful for dragging tanks towards the Dreadnought, while one of the Tyranid weaposn (I think it was brain leech worms or one of those MC-specific swarm weapons) inflicts a -1 penalty on the target if they have to make a morale check. Given that you'd only take a morale check if the unit is reduced below half, this means that the weapon was made for killing alot of things in one go to make use of it's rule. It's stats is thusly more suited to killing GEQs, who already have a lower Leadership (and thus more suceptable to the morale check and hurt more with the -1 penalty than say Space Marines).