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I'm a relatively new player into Warhammer 40k, I have finally narrowed down my armies to Chaos Space Marines and Tau. One of my friends plays Necron, and boy does he love his Monolith. He calls it lithy, it is rather cool, but the problem is it is a scary beast on the tabletop. I am afraid once we move to higher point games he shall start fielding them in droves. So does anyone have any grand ideas on how to take it down, or at least something to give my CSM's or Tau fighting chance. Any tips will be much appreciated.
P.S:I have alrdy heard the advice of more rail guns, and i have procured a great many Hammerheads so I am aware of at least that strategy.

You invoke God's name and hope he smites it.

Either ignore it completly and go for the Phase Out against the rest of his army or railgun it to death.
It is pretty difficult any other way.

On a more serious note, a well equiped tau broudside team can take down a monolith every turn almost every turn.
Chaos marines just shoot it with lascannons from a land raider. That doesent work quite so well as the railguns though. The princes can just jump around and kill everything in cc. nevermind liths.

Step one: Be Irish
Step two: Get green dice
Step three: Shoot a single lascannon at said Monolith
Step four: Watch it explode
Step five: Repeat process twice more

Kid you not...this actually happened. I was livid

Honestly, no race excels at killing heavy armour as much as the Tau do. Rail guns are your answer for any heavy tank/vehicle.

As for CSMs, as someone already mentioned, use las cannons.

timetowaste85 wrote:Step one: Be Irish
Step two: Get green dice
Step three: Shoot a single lascannon at said Monolith
Step four: Watch it explode
Step five: Repeat process twice more

Kid you not...this actually happened. I was livid

Any chance of the dice being weighted?

First off, stay more than 30" away from it. It's maximum range is 30" (6" move, 24" particle whip). If it deepstrikes into your army, kill it as soon as possible, because it's flux arc will literally rip yopu to shreds (unless he has unlucky rolling). You need railguns, as you already posted. Grab a broadside team, or whatever ther'ye called, and dump all the rounds on the monolith. The monolith is the only decent target to shoot them at anyway (except for lords and C'tan, he shouldn't be fieldingt them anyway) Remember that the monolith costs 235 points, and so is a rather big point sink. Don't try to glance it, hit it with the biggest, baddest thing you got (rail gun), or ignore it. But my advice is really not to ignore it. With them he can almost indefinitely keep his squad alive, a 3+ save, 4+ WBB, and then a second 4+ WBB is hard to deal with. Remember he can also take it in a 750 point game, so make suer to always bring some railguns. If playing in a 750 point game, bring lots of anti-MEQ and then focus on a squad at a time. If you can try, attempt to wipe out all the warriors, but remember to focus fire. If you have rail guns, shoot all your weapons (minus the rail guns), at the warriors, and before you shoot rail guns, try and wipe out the warriors (or at least one squad). IF there's only a few left, shoot the warriors. IF theres more warriors, or even amount (oh wait, you have submunitions. Use those), shoot them, not the monolith. Get rid of warriiors first. If that's not possible, take out the Mono. If he's fielding it in a 750 points game (which is reasonably probable if he plays Necron's well), don't shoot the mono.Remember he has 21 necrons at that level. Phase out specifics are 25% remaining after WBB, so you just need to bring him down to 5 necrons. Make sure you find out which squad his lord is in, or if it's on its on, focus fire on it. Shoot your railguns at his lord. If he fails the WBB for his lord, and hopefull the second, you win.

Source: myself as a necron

Ignore it. Focus on phase out. If he has a C'tan, shoot it and you may take some of his warriors with it. Engage in close combat, especially with power weapons.

Pretty much, that's the best way to kill a monolith.

As Chaos Marines or Tau, you have two of the best ways to take one down in the game. The railguns you have on Broadsides and Hammerheads is good at taking Monoliths out. The demolisher cannon on a Chaos Vindicator is also effective. I took one out turn 2 with a demolisher cannon before.

Out of curiosity, why is a Chaos vindicator better than a standard one? I don't play Chaos.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:Out of curiosity, why is a Chaos vindicator better than a standard one? I don't play Chaos.

Its not really better and it is more expensive than loyalist version.

To be honest, if you end up playing as Chaos, completely ignore it if possible and just go for the phase out. If you're dead set on killing it with shooting, though, the Vindicator is the best way to go (S10 + Ordnance Rules). As Tau, on the other hand, you should have Broadsides. They shoot the monolith down fast.

Number one option is to ignore it and focus on killing his Warriors and other thingys to force a phase out.

NUmber 2 option is to use mass railgun or lascannon fire to take it out.

Devastator wrote:

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:Out of curiosity, why is a Chaos vindicator better than a standard one? I don't play Chaos.

Its not really better and it is more expensive than loyalist version.

Daemonic Possession makes it the second best (arguably tied with the Blood Angels) Vindicator, with only the PotMS BT Vindicator being better...

I got mine hit in the face by a Dreadnought once. S10 really is no joke, it will hurt stuff. My promptly blew up, and killed e Dread and 8 warriors, causng me to phase out.

So Dreads and railrifles. Or ignore it and phase it out.

Thanks for all the helpful tips. I will be sure to purchase many broadsides once i get some money.

Invest in some broadsides, cheapest way to carry railguns.

Rsma77 wrote:I'm a relatively new player into Warhammer 40k, I have finally narrowed down my armies to Chaos Space Marines and Tau. One of my friends plays Necron, and boy does he love his Monolith. He calls it lithy, it is rather cool, but the problem is it is a scary beast on the tabletop. I am afraid once we move to higher point games he shall start fielding them in droves. So does anyone have any grand ideas on how to take it down, or at least something to give my CSM's or Tau fighting chance. Any tips will be much appreciated.
P.S:I have alrdy heard the advice of more rail guns, and i have procured a great many Hammerheads so I am aware of at least that strategy.

You can rip it up with DCCWs (Defilers and Dreadnoughts) or shoot it was lascannons, for your CSM, or shoot it up with Tau Railguns.

The fastest this thing can go is 6" per turn, so you're hitting it on a 4+ at worst in H2H and it's so big it's hardly ever getting a coversave.

A team of broadsides and two hammerheads is all you will ever need. If you want to try an unconventional approach, try emp grenades.

Focus it down or focus on his troops for phase out. Protect your railguns until it goes down, or you have a good chance for phase out.

As for chaos, the easiest method is a demon prince with wings with warptime. Kills liths like paper. Powerfists, obliterators, walkers or defliers work too. Also, so do meltabombs.

Easiest way and a sure way to kill a monolith is get a GK librarian with warp rift. Flamer template which does auto pen on it lol.

and if that didn't work assault with termis which should have a good chance to bring it down.

Otherwise lascannon, rail gun, OR ignore it. You can pretty much kill all his warriors with something with a large blast template.

juraigamer wrote:As for chaos, the easiest method is a demon prince with wings with warptime. Kills liths like paper.

What? A Demon Prince can't do anything to the monolith, Living Metal prohibits the 2D6 Armor Penetration from being a Monstrous Creature.

juraigamer wrote:Also, so do meltabombs.

You do know how Living Metal works, right?

Honestly, as Chaos, S10 is the way to go, from either Vindicators or S10 DCCW from Defilers or Dreads (better, IMO), since the Monolith can only move 6" a turn, letting you hit on a 4+ at worst.

Mr Nobody wrote:Invest in some broadsides, cheapest way to carry railguns.

there is nothing cheap about Broadsides, at least not moneywise

Sabet wrote:First off, stay more than 30" away from it. It's maximum range is 30" (6" move, 24" particle whip). If it deepstrikes into your army, kill it as soon as possible, because it's flux arc will literally rip yopu to shreds (unless he has unlucky rolling). You need railguns, as you already posted. Grab a broadside team, or whatever ther'ye called, and dump all the rounds on the monolith. The monolith is the only decent target to shoot them at anyway (except for lords and C'tan, he shouldn't be fieldingt them anyway) Remember that the monolith costs 235 points, and so is a rather big point sink. Don't try to glance it, hit it with the biggest, baddest thing you got (rail gun), or ignore it. But my advice is really not to ignore it. With them he can almost indefinitely keep his squad alive, a 3+ save, 4+ WBB, and then a second 4+ WBB is hard to deal with. Remember he can also take it in a 750 point game, so make suer to always bring some railguns. If playing in a 750 point game, bring lots of anti-MEQ and then focus on a squad at a time. If you can try, attempt to wipe out all the warriors, but remember to focus fire. If you have rail guns, shoot all your weapons (minus the rail guns), at the warriors, and before you shoot rail guns, try and wipe out the warriors (or at least one squad). IF there's only a few left, shoot the warriors. IF theres more warriors, or even amount (oh wait, you have submunitions. Use those), shoot them, not the monolith. Get rid of warriiors first. If that's not possible, take out the Mono. If he's fielding it in a 750 points game (which is reasonably probable if he plays Necron's well), don't shoot the mono.Remember he has 21 necrons at that level. Phase out specifics are 25% remaining after WBB, so you just need to bring him down to 5 necrons. Make sure you find out which squad his lord is in, or if it's on its on, focus fire on it. Shoot your railguns at his lord. If he fails the WBB for his lord, and hopefull the second, you win.

Source: myself as a necron

This is actually good advice. Could use another edit :p, but is good advice.

Blitza da warboy wrote:

timetowaste85 wrote:Step one: Be Irish
Step two: Get green dice
Step three: Shoot a single lascannon at said Monolith
Step four: Watch it explode
Step five: Repeat process twice more

Kid you not...this actually happened. I was livid

Any chance of the dice being weighted?

Sadly, no. I happen to know because I used to work at the game store he got them from and I personally ordered them for him...

Only time I ever managed to kill a monolith it was with a razorback with lc/pg. I shot it on a whim. Only time that friggin' lith didn't just rebound my shots with anything.
But I've found Vindicators to work well against necrons. Causes ID so unless there's a res orb nearby they're gone for good, and ignores armor saves. Also good against the monolith with 1 exception. If you're in range, so is he. Get a Siege shield and get into some cover so you at least have the cover save if you don't manage to take him out.
No ideas on tau though. I only play SW atm but I've fought necrons more than any other army. How he uses the lith should dictate your tactics imho. Either focus on it until you take it down, or ignore it and go for the phase out.
**edited for clarity***

Heavy weapon teams and manny of them!!

Tau have one of the best anti-monolith weapons: railguns. A good Tau list should have 3-7 railguns available.

Marthike wrote:Easiest way and a sure way to kill a monolith is get a GK librarian with warp rift. Flamer template which does auto pen on it lol.

and if that didn't work assault with termis which should have a good chance to bring it down.

Otherwise lascannon, rail gun, OR ignore it. You can pretty much kill all his warriors with something with a large blast template.

Out of curiosity how can you hurt the monolith with S4 termies with force weapons when monolith is AV14? Unless you have a D10 its pretty impossible.

I would suggest try to cause phase out as both chaos and tau are long range enough to ignore the monolith as it only has a 6" move and 24" range so you can effectively stay away from it all game untill you kill enough necrons to phase them out.

Gavo wrote:

juraigamer wrote:As for chaos, the easiest method is a demon prince with wings with warptime. Kills liths like paper.

What? A Demon Prince can't do anything to the monolith, Living Metal prohibits the 2D6 Armor Penetration from being a Monstrous Creature.

juraigamer wrote:Also, so do meltabombs.

You do know how Living Metal works, right?

Honestly, as Chaos, S10 is the way to go, from either Vindicators or S10 DCCW from Defilers or Dreads (better, IMO), since the Monolith can only move 6" a turn, letting you hit on a 4+ at worst.

Brainfart about the demon prince, however melta bombs do in fact work, oddly.