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It seems that the general consensus on Lords and Overlords is that you always take a Warscythe on them. While I agree with that sentiment, I am somewhat unsure if this option is always correct. While I agree that the Hyperphase Sword and Voidblade both suck when you have access to a Warscythe, the other to pieces of equipment that catch my eye are the Staff of Light and the Gauntlet of Fire. The Staff of Light gives you extra S5 AP3 shooting and is free, so I could see it being useful for when you move your warriors into rapid fire range to finish the enemy off. The Gauntlet of Fire is strong on the defensive since we can now use it for D3 overwatch hits, which could help keep a warrior blob alive in the face of a charge for cheaper than a warscythe, weave, and MSS. So is there maybe some worth to the Staff of Light or Gauntlet of Fire, or is taking a lord kitted with a scythe and potentially other upgrades strictly better?

My sentiment tends to be that Necrons have tons of awesome shooting and really doesn't need more - whereas having something that's strength 7 in combat with ap1 (and armorbane!), plus Mind-shackle Scarabs can really mess up someone's day for when you inevitably get in combat.

Far scarier than the Gauntlet's defensive properties.

Warscythe 100%

And I'm not even Necron player! I play SM (BTs specifically),my buddy plays Necrons and Warscythe/MSS combo is the absolute best. You get extra strength, ignore armour and still get to hit first most of the time! He uses them on his Dlord in a squad of wraiths with lashwhips so he doesn't even need MSS.

The Warscythe is one of the best melee weapons in the entire game, let alone the Necron codex. It absolutely wrecks vehicles and is devastating in assault, especially when paired with Mindshackle Scarabs.

As for the other options you mentioned:

In my opinion, you could make a case for the Staff of Light if its range were bumped up to be the same as most other Necron shooting (24"). As it is, you might get off one shot with it, then possibly another from Overwatch, before you're assaulted and start wishing you had the Warscythe instead.

Strictly speaking, the Gauntlet is better in melee combat than the Warscythe...against anything that's Toughness 4 or worse, or else has an armor save that is 5+ or worse. Re-rolling to hit and Strength 5 with re-rolls to Wound is strictly better than Strength 7...again, as long as Toughness is 4 or lower. And against anything with an Armor Value, the Warscythe dominates the Gauntlet. The only time the Gauntlet truly outclasses the Warscythe is against low toughness creatures with a high invulnerable save and terrible armor save (Zoanthropes are the only example that come to mind).

The void blade isnt worth taking. Why get rending and entropic strike, when you can get extra strength, ignore all armor, and still strike at I2?
The Hyperphase sword is meh, yeah, its free, but its AP3, and you still hit at i2
Gauntlet of Fire is better than the hyperphase sword in all regards really, heavy flamer + rerolls to hit and wound is nice, but against high armor saves isnt effective.
Warscythe, its cheap, +2 strength, Ap1, and I2

Ignore Corrected

No they arent.

Warscythe is NOT unwieldy... The model using it is usually I2 however...

Wow. You are right, I've been confusing it with the Rod of Covenent FAQ entry since 6th came out. Awesome to know( not that it matter often) thanks!

Warscythe is far superior to all other options. While yes, the Staff of Light can serve as a shooting mean, you are far better off assaulting the enemy or letting yourself get assaulted (w/ defensive grenades in the very best case) with a Lord + Scythe.

On Overwatch, the Staff barely does anything as you have a 50% chance of getting a single hit that still has to wound whereas on offense, you still get 2 hits. Not bad at all, but a Warscythe offers you 2 hits if attacking that wound on a 2+ and ignore any armor save. Not to mention that MSS absolute wreck stuff too.

Buttttttt how many necron overlords can you have in a game

Up to 2 at 1999-point games. But this doesn't matter, as you can have up to 5 Lords, I believe, per Overlord. And they can all take Warscythes and MSS.



The Warscythe gets my vote for best melee weapon in 40k, maybe second-best depending on which rules belong to Gorechild, and which belong to Kharn.

Unless you are running a royal court (as a court) take the scythe.
If you do run a court, both flamers and staffs work.

-Matt

Thread is being locked due to thread necromancy.