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Hi everyone, I was wanting to get some other opinions on this. I am planning on eventually getting myself a mortis contemptor dreadnought, but I can't really decide between the K assault cannons and the lascannons. Before you all tell me "the assault cannons are the best!!!" my main reason for considering the lascannons is that I frequently fight against Grey Knights, and they often have psycannons. I usually would think that staying outside of 24" range would be the best, but then again, 12 rending shots would be awesome.

I will most likely run the mortis in a deathwing list, so maybe being within 24" won't be such a bad thing since there will be a bunch of deathwing squads right next to him to take some fire of the contemptor. I'm kinda thinking that the lascannon would be best against paladins, but the assault cannons would be best against pretty much everything else. I am planning on adding the cyclone missile on it either way.

Also, I think both the assault cannon and the lascannons look incredible, so that didn't really help narrow it down. Eventually I'll probably get both and magnetize them, but for right now that's a bit too much money.

So what is your opinion? Has anyone used either of these against Grey Knights before? I added a poll up top just for fun.

One important question is whether you need to use it for AA or not. If it's going to be an AA unit the requirement to remain stationary means 24" range on the ACs is a big problem, flyers will be able to arrive outside your range and if you attempt to move closer to get into range you lose skyfire. The LCs allow you to set up camp in a good spot and (combined with the mandatory CML) give you four good shots anywhere on the table.

On the other hand if you're not worried about AA then the ACs become a lot more appealing, 24" is adequate range if you're free to move. And if you're playing deathwing you aren't really going to be keeping your whole army outside 24" anyway.

The group I play against rarely uses air, but it is possible I might fight some in the future. I know my brother has a Valkyrie, but he doesn't really like using flyers with the new rules so I rarely see it. To me skyfire is more of an added bonus than a needed trait. Like you said, I will probably use it to move up with the rest of the line in the case of the K. Assault cannons, or maybe stay midfield and cover with the lascannons.

Kheres Assault Cannons have so much more versatility. They can essentially kill/blow-up anything in the game. Very strong weapons and with 12 shots a turn, it's hard to say no. Not a real question. Yes, it will have a harder time killing AV12 flyers, but it's versatility is unmatched.

Lascannons only give you 2 shots. Yes, it can be with Skyfire, but a lot of weapons, or other Noughts, can do this as well. Even Predators with Las Spons can effectively do the same thing. Less success rate against flyers, but you're playing a game of chance anyway. 2 shots for 200+ points is crazy.

So some quick mathhammer here.

Vs. Terminators:
-K Assault cannon: Average 10 Hits, 8.3 wounds with 1.4 rends, so about 2.1 terminators dead.
-TL Lascannons, Average 1.94hits, 1.62 wounds, and 1.08 terminators dead.

Vs. Marines:
-K Assault cannon: Average 10 Hits, 8.3 wounds with 1.4 rends, so about 3.7 marines dead.
-TL Lascannons, Average 1.94hits, 1.62 wounds, and 1.62 marines dead.

Vs. AV12 flyers:
-K Assault cannon: Average 10 Hits, no glances possible, 1.67 pen, 28% chance of causing an explodes result.
-TL Lascannons, Average 1.94hits, 1.3 glances, 1.1 pen, 37% chance of causing an explodes result.

So the assault cannons come out on top in all cases. However, the lascannons do have much longer range, and can stay out of range of some of the big anti-tank weapons (like psycannons). And the lascannons have a slightly better chance of causing an explodes result on an AV12 vehicle, and would be better against things like land raiders.

Since I'm going to be using it with the Deathwing for the most part, the 24" range doesn't seem that bad (and I'll still have the cyclone if there's no targets within that range).

I'd go with Kheres Assault cannons and a Typhoon Missile launcher.

While 24" skyfire but needing to be stationary can be an issue it isn't as much as you would think. Its still a 53" diameter no-fly zone on the table, which is actually a fairly significant amount of space. Get that Dread into the middle as fast as possible and then dig in those adamantium boots.

Its AA if you need it and devastating anti-infantry/anti-tank all other times.

Kheres, everytime, all the time. Also take the Cyclone missile launcher, for BS5 Krak missiles it's a steal.