Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was looking through the new Eldar codex last night and wondering what upgrades to give my Wave Serpents.

Holofields are a given for all tanks now, but I was also considering Vectored Engines, Spirit Stones and maybe the Crystal Targetting Matrix.

Are these useful additions or do they make the already pricey Serpents too expensive (we are starting to get into Land Raider territory once weapons are bought as well)?

Well, don't go overboard with the upgrades.
I'd opt for tl scatterlaser, underslung shuricannon, and holofield. This should be enough, decent fire power incl. anti-air and additional protection.

I'd include Vectored Engines for serpents carrying fire dragons or dire avengers. Spin the rear to the enemy, unload the troops for max distance, then spin AV12 back to the enemy after you shoot.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, don't go overboard with the upgrades.
I'd opt for tl scatterlaser, underslung shuricannon, and holofield. This should be enough, decent fire power incl. anti-air and additional protection.

Anti-air? I'm getting a brain fast here. I've seen this mentioned before with the serpent. How does it get anti-air?

Scatter laser to get to hit re-rolls. Then fire the shuriken cannon and serpent shield with re-rolls.

A brutal combo considering you are snap firing at Air units any way. The Scatter on top is TL to begin with, so it should give you one hit.

Then as Shamikebab said, the S cannon and shield get rerolls too.

 Chubs wrote:
A brutal combo considering you are snap firing at Air units any way. The Scatter on top is TL to begin with, so it should give you one hit.

Then as Shamikebab said, the S cannon and shield get rerolls too.

In fact, this is the idea. Rerolling 4D6 to hit on 6 should be possible. I'm just too lazy to work it out.

Hmmm, might need to consider swapping my wave serpent turrets then as I currently have 1 with scatter lasers and 2 bright lances (serpents were the best place to get bright lances in 5th due to the twin linked BS3).

Anyone got any turrets spare?

 Chubs wrote:
A brutal combo considering you are snap firing at Air units any way. The Scatter on top is TL to begin with, so it should give you one hit.

Then as Shamikebab said, the S cannon and shield get rerolls too.

I am no math genius and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but my quick rough math says you average 2.06 hits with scatter lasers and Shurikan cannons combined and then another 1.32 hits with the shield. On an armor 11 flyer this comes out to 1.08 glances/pens per shooting phase assuming no jinking by the flyer. That's about .5 pens per shooting phase for the Wave Serpent on an enemy flyer of armor 11. So every other turn you'll get one roll on the pen table vs. a Nightscythe and that's if you shoot at the Nightscythe every turn. Also does this mean the Serpent isn't moving in order to fire three guns?

Sorry boys, but I'm not buying it. The Serpent seems great at dishing out a ton of shots at models on the ground though. And if you don't shoot the shield I'll bet you can get the passengers right where you want them on the board.

Except the Serpent can and probably will be upfield, and can cruise and fire to full AA effect. So with two or more Serpents you stand a very good chance of getting rear armor. Armor 10 us going to take it a lot harder.

 rohansoldier wrote:
Hmmm, might need to consider swapping my wave serpent turrets then as I currently have 1 with scatter lasers and 2 bright lances (serpents were the best place to get bright lances in 5th due to the twin linked BS3).

Anyone got any turrets spare?

Magnets my dear friend....magnetize those turrets! Not sure if that's an option now or not, but something i highly recommend.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

DarthDiggler wrote:

 Chubs wrote:
Also does this mean the Serpent isn't moving in order to fire three guns?

A great question. I suppose since you are snap firing it makes little difference against flyers, but how about against normal ground targets? Do we have to snap shoot one of the guns if we want to use the shield firing mode?

Wave Serpents are still Fast vehicles, so they can fire all weapons at full BS moving Combat Speed and up to two weapons at full BS moving at Cruising Speed.

For flyers, move as far as you want, it's all snapshots anyway

Been playing my Necrons too long, I forgot we could fire all at combat speed. Thanks!

You have a ~77% chance to hit at least once with the SL against a flyer.

Remember that the serpents are already there for their transportation and light AV/anti-troops fire. This ability to reliably lay down 1 glance a serpent on a flyer is relatively incidental and you lost no effectiveness against other targets.

The field also ignores cover so no jink save for you.

As stated above the WS is moving forward in most cases so there is an excellent chance to target rear armour. It also can turbo boost for a 12+18" movement with no turning restrictions. This makes them more maneuverable than even flyers. Meaning hull mounted gun flyers may have troubles targeting WS's for more than 1 turn if the enemy did not bring enough board control.

BTW a quadd gun averages 1.8 glances or pen (or 1.2 with jink) on AV11 so this is not actually that much different.