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Hey all!

So, I'm still building up my vanilla marine and Ork armies from the Blackreach set and what few things I can cobble together off e-bay and very generous donations.. but I'm giving thought to my next army so I can look out for good deals. I know for a fact that I want to do Necrons, and I very much want to run an army with a Monolith. Given that it's the only part of the army I'm decided on, and I've never run Necrons before, I'm curious what the strategy is for making use of the Monolith's strengths (I assume, its something to do with using deep strike/eternity gate combo for bringing in my boys from reserve some how) and what kind of army one should build around it to reach something at least semi-competitive?

general consensus (i think) is that the monolith is quite "meh" in the new codex. It is still AV14 but it is no longer immune to melta, can mishpa on DS too easily and can no longer move and fire everything (due to the Whip being ordnance).

I personally still like it as the teleport range is now unlimited (was 18" in the last codex), so if DS works, it can be aweome to walk a warrior b lob through the gate and blast something.

I woudl resevre it for larger games though as it is still a bit of a piont sink. there are better ways to spend those kind of points in smaller game (2 Annihilation barges for example can move and put out more high strength shots).

Id run a bunch of veilteks and obyron in a lith list; teleport fun goodness!

Wellllll, if 6th edition fixes the rules deep strike, maybe they'll see a bit more action, but at the moment, you will be one of the very people people playing a Monolith, unfortunately.
(with such a massive footprint, they're just too expensive to risk scattering onto a tree and, OOPS, there goes 200 points).

if it scattered onto a tree (or terrain) wouldn't it just take a terrain test? i though mishap only happened if it went:

off the table
within 2" of a unit
onto impassable terrain

Praxiss wrote:if it scattered onto a tree (or terrain) wouldn't it just take a terrain test? i though mishap only happened if it went:

off the table
within 1" of a unit
onto impassable terrain

FTFY, and yes.

Mishaps aren't as common as many people seem to think, in my experience. And I've played a null deployment flying circus list. Deep striking 20 gargoyles is fun.

Alright, helpful advice from all on the DS front.

How exactly would one make use of the ability to bring units in from reserve? Something about that ability speaks to me as "something to focus your force around," yet I haven't the experience to know how really work that ability into an advantage.

Praxiss wrote:can no longer move and fire everything (due to the Whip being ordnance).

Technically, it can. Flux is S4, so it counts as defensive weapons. You can always fire defensive weapons unless stunned/shaken or moved at cruising speed. So, ordnance does not matter.

Also, the monolith counts as stationary when shooting, so can fire ordnance without something like "lumbering behemoth". On the other hand, ordnance is important if you want to use the whip against vehicles (roll two dice for pen, pick higher).

Finally, the monolith is "heavy", which means it can only move up to 6 inches, so no cruising speed.

Conclusion: you can always fire everything from the monolith, and at different targets.

To answer the original question, monoliths are good only against armies that don't have lance weapons and massed meltas. It is a shame, as I have two and rather liked them in the previous codex. But, as DE are very common still, taking monoliths to tournaments is just not fun anymore.

Necrontyr40k wrote:

Praxiss wrote:can no longer move and fire everything (due to the Whip being ordnance).

Technically, it can. Flux is S4, so it counts as defensive weapons. You can always fire defensive weapons unless stunned/shaken or moved at cruising speed. So, ordnance does not matter.

Wrong. Re-read page 58. Defensive weapons cannot be fired with ordnance.

monoliths need backup to work, b ut are pretty good at taking a few hits and drawing fire away from your more dangerous and valuable forces.

id suggest actually deploying it, and marching up the middle of the field. then bring in you reserve troops when you need them. however for that to work you need to have something to provide cover fire, so some stalkers, or A-barges etc. if the only target to shoot at is a single monolith, itll go down pretty fast.

Is the Monolith then largely just useful for its flux arcs or ordinance weapon (and big armor value of course)? Or is there some grand strategic use that the eternity gate can serve. I figure that as long as I'm committing to this vehicle, when there are others that offer better firepower, I should focus on the one thing it does that other vehicles can't: Draw units in from reserve, or from across the board. I just don't know how to make good use of that.

umm... you can use it as mobile cover?
I dunno, that's all they really seem to get used for anymore.
come July we may see changed that will have them on tables again, but for the moment, the majority of players side line them.

I suppose rolling (floatign) wall of 1 Monolith and 2 Anni barges could provide decent cover and a good amount of firepower.

you coudl walk a unit of Immortals or Warriors (or pretty much anything really) behind the monolith in cover and then, when it is time to blast something, jump that unit through the portal so suddenly they have LOS on the target.

All of a sudden the target has up to 12 S7 tesla Shots, a S8 AP3 large blast and up to 30 S5 tesla shots (or 20 S5 Gauss shots) to deal with.

i plan to use three in my list, and port warriors or immortals in from reserve. they should also draw fire away from the stalkers and wraiths i have.

the ability i like from them is being able to teleport a unit of warriors or something from across the table, over to the monolith. adds some much needed mobility, and can be a nasty surprise for anyone getting too close to it. - therefore its a great area denial device.

you could also DS them, if your smart you shouldnt need to worry about mishaps, and then you have a gigantic land raider with a battle cannon in prime posistion to blast apart whatever it needs to.

Block anyone from getting into 2d6 melta range and the Lith will get a few turns in. In some ways you want the enemy to pour all the fire at the Lith and leave more fragile units alone.

I've found one to be very good at completely obscuring C'tans from my sight - alllowing it to walk right up the field unharmed. It can also do the same thing for scarab farms - restricting the shooting at the spyders and scarabs until you're ready to go get them.

Stormlord/pulse lists are recommended here as you don't want it popped by a lascannon first turn.

There are a rumor's that in 6th, rule "Heavy" for vehicle will give them small version of super-heavy : 1 Structure point and give enough multi targeting shot's (new rule for shooting) to shot all weapons. So the monolith will be the small version of Apocalypse vehicle's on standard 40k battle.

And the new damage table for Vehicles will have "-3 to dmg" if the vehicle have minimum 1 SP

Sounds good. if it actually heppens i might start using my 'liths again.

Grievo wrote:There are a rumor's that in 6th, rule "Heavy" for vehicle will give them small version of super-heavy : 1 Structure point and give enough multi targeting shot's (new rule for shooting) to shot all weapons.

huh, cool.
(you don't happen to have a link to where you heard about that from, do you?)

DarthSpader wrote:monoliths need backup to work, b ut are pretty good at taking a few hits and drawing fire away from your more dangerous and valuable forces.

id suggest actually deploying it, and marching up the middle of the field. then bring in you reserve troops when you need them. however for that to work you need to have something to provide cover fire, so some stalkers, or A-barges etc. if the only target to shoot at is a single monolith, itll go down pretty fast.

Here's the thing though: it won't draw fire from a smart opponent. They'll realize that a single, slow lascannon isn't worth shooting dead, until it gets close to suck people in or spit necrons out: then you melta it.
*shrug*
It sticks around forever and is virtually no threat to the opponent. There's a better place to spend 200 pts. Oh look! Annihilation barges!

skoffs wrote:

Grievo wrote:There are a rumor's that in 6th, rule "Heavy" for vehicle will give them small version of super-heavy : 1 Structure point and give enough multi targeting shot's (new rule for shooting) to shot all weapons.

huh, cool.
(you don't happen to have a link to where you heard about that from, do you?)

Theres no hard rumors on it, but there are a lot of things in the cron dex that seem to be pointing to 6th

The mono being "Heavy" (no other vehicles are like this) and Destroyers having preferred enemy (which does nothing atm for their guns) are the obvious ones

Iunno, i've gotten great mileage out of my monolith, I use it for close support and the pie plate, on a strong chassis that takes real effort to deal with.
That being said, I've never had one wrecked in a game, maybe its just the way I use them, or the armies and players i've faced.
The particle whip ID's wraiths, makes MEQ cry blood due to lack of armor saves, and makes a mockery of hordes. The portal can insta-kill things at its base, given some lucky rolling. Its sheer size can cause issues for units trying to deep strike near it (had a unit of chaos termies with chainfists and meltas mishap into it and die.)
My current strat is running it with a stalker, to twin link the pie plate with ideally a pair of a-barges to deal with anti-infantry duties.
I believe they are underrated, perhaps not optimal, but under-rated, just keep units near by to deal with any meltas, and don't take it if you are facing tau...railguns, bleh.

SnaleKing wrote:

Here's the thing though: it won't draw fire from a smart opponent. They'll realize that a single, slow lascannon isn't worth shooting dead, until it gets close to suck people in or spit necrons out: then you melta it.
*shrug*
It sticks around forever and is virtually no threat to the opponent. There's a better place to spend 200 pts. Oh look! Annihilation barges!

Lascannons are Pie Plates that can block LOS to everything else in their respective codex and redploy any unit in their respective codex and have 14 armor and backup guns when the lascannon is dead?

ORLY? Man Lascannons must be the most undervalued thing in the marine codexes...

The mistakes people make in undervaluing the Lith is reducing it's capabilites to X and saying it's not good enough at X as other choices, but completely ignoring Y and Z, which it also does.

It's not just a LOS blocker.

It's not just a lascannon...er...Pie Plate with back up weapons (so doesn't suffer from OWS).

It's not just a unit that can redeploy other units at will.


It's all of these things...AND MOAR!

The Monolith is a solid 7 out of 10 at everything... price included.

I'm not going to abandon them yet, but I'm holding them back until I see what 6th does. If anything from the Pancake edition comes true, then I shall be rolling a triple-Monolith army up the battlefield, Roomba-ing armies as I go.

azazel the cat wrote:If anything from the Pancake edition comes true, then I shall be rolling a triple-Monolith army up the battlefield, Roomba-ing armies as I go.

...
*receives sudden inspiration to make a custom model Monolith*

It might be worth pointing out that the Lith doesn't have Lascannon stats anymore. It is now a short ranged Battlecannon (S8 AP3).

When did it ever have Lascannon stats? To the best of my knowledge, its stats haven't changed even since the last codex, which I think was from 3rd Ed.

People in posts kept mentioning lascannons. It did have S9 AP3 in the last codex. Now it's S8.

You can use them against certain armies really effectively. Lots of armies hate av14 and a number of them have trouble without getting close to it. The frustrating part about attacking a monolith with an MC or klaw, is if you don't kill it, he gets to make that awful doorway attack on you and shoot and whatnot.

You can use them to help kite your guys back. Necrons love being close, but not too close. And as stated earlier, they make for great blocking.

If they didn't share a slot with the doomscythe, I'd say they could have a home in a janky nightscythe spam list to keep your men out of trouble and to provide terrifying blocking as well as a big soak for missiles. Lots of necron lists struggle with fnp marines and throwing around a lot of low ap wounds. Necron units are just way too expensive to merit willy nilly expenditures to the tune of 200 points though.