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Ok, so I am attempting to finally finalise my final list! Finally! But I am trying to work out the finer details and tweaks!!

I LOVE maulerfiends. Please dont ask me why, or suggest that I take something else, as I wont. I am going to be running a pair in my CSM list. I am trying to work out what to arm them with though..... Magma cutters or lasher tendrils? I can see arguments for both......But I would like opinions from you guys.

Cutters are free attacks in combat, and are very powerful, and are free.

Tendrils reduce my chance of being hit, by reducing attacks against me, but cost 10 points...(They look cooler too!)

Just to give you a heads up, my list doesn't contain a lot of models! I am running 2 x Raiders, each with zerkers & Kharn, 2 x flying DP's with Daemon weapons, and 10 CSM's to sit back field and do some worshipping. So, my 2 LR's will be good AT, My zerkers should smash most infantry, and my DP's can hurt almost anything. Just in case this affects opinions! I'm thinking magma cutters on both!

Mamga. Cutters. Soooo good, so strong, and you really don't need the reduce attacks thingy, Maulerfiends are already tough dudes.

Second that notion. Free hits and your Mauler Fiend is hurting things even more!

The biggest point against Lasher Tendrils is this: What is actually going to be affected by the Tendrils?

It only works against things that have multiple attacks in CC that can realistically hurt the Maulerfiend. That's, what, Terminators, Dreadnoughts, and MCs? Most of which will still hit on 3+ anyways? Tendrils will only save one attack from single Dreads and MCs as well, it's really just Terminators that it's good against. Grenades and Meltabombs only ever have one attack per model, and it does nothing to prevent shots from destroying it.

I'd go with magma cutters, unless you're in a meta with a lot of Deathwing or Draigowing.

I fourse the opinion on magma cutters. Lashers are only good against things like terminator or assault squads. It depends. if you can, magnetize them so you can take either depending on the situation.

 changerofways wrote:
I fourse the opinion on magma cutters. Lashers are only good against things like terminator or assault squads. It depends. if you can, magnetize them so you can take either depending on the situation.

There you go! Magnetize the whole thing you can use the forgefiend too!

Magma Cutters IMHO, even though the lasher tendrils look so much better.

I throw my hat in with magma cutters as well.

By the way, kudos to sticking with your guns. I love Maulerfiends too, and will be using them in my chaos list even though there are better choices.

Magamas.

You're already dead when int 3 comes around if something can kill you and swings before you. Get more hits in.

Magma Cutters. Out of curiosity : what is you're paint scheme? Iron Warriors Black Legion etc.

World Eaters, I believe.

Magma cutters all the way. The extra melta attacks almost guarantee that you will destroy a vechile in assualt. Also you should never need to use the lasher tendrils as anything likely to destroy you you should just stay away from. with a 12" movement, move through cover and fleet this is very easy to do, plus the maulerfiend is very durable as it has a 5+ daemon save and daemonic possesion and it will not die it will be difficult for it to be destroyed in close combat even against a warboss with a power claw.


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Magma cutters all the way. The extra melta attacks almost guarantee that you will destroy a vechile in assualt. Also you should never need to use the lasher tendrils as anything likely to destroy you you should just stay away from. with a 12" movement, move through cover and fleet this is very easy to do, plus the maulerfiend is very durable as it has a 5+ daemon save and daemonic possesion and it will not die it will be difficult for it to be destroyed in close combat even against a warboss with a power claw. But i have built mine with lasher tendrils because they look so much cooler and my club allows me to proxy

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
World Eaters, I believe.

Yeah, world eaters!! Who else?

More blood for the blood god!

So....

I did the math on this thing. I can post it up here but it would take a while. I ran everything that i thought could kill a Maulerfiend in CC. I believe the list is pretty comprehensive about the things you'd normally see on the battlefield that can take a maulerfiend (hopefully).


Here's what Lasher Tendrils are better against:
Daemon Princes
Wraithknights
Necron Wraiths
D-Lords

Here's what Magma Cutters are better against
Dreadnoughts
Riptides
Melta Bombs*
Power Fist Terminators*

Here's what they tie on:
Hive Tyrants
Bloodthirsters

*If melta-bombs and terminators destroy the Maulerfiend in the first round of combat, the Magma cutters and Lasher Tendrils are equal.


Please note that everything in the Magma Cutter column is slow and is not a threat to the maulerfiend due to it's sheer speed. Those can be easily avoided (and melta-bombs/terminators should not be addressed by the maulerfiend in the first place anyway...)



The real threats (in CC) to the maulerfiend are mostly in the Lasher Column. IE the lasher tendrils will make the maulerfiend survive longer.

Here's what you can go toe to toe with the maulerfiend (with lasher tendrils) and kill:
Daemon Princes
Hive Tyrants
Dreadnought
Wraithknight
Riptide
D-Lord

Do NOT go after these things - they will kill you:
Necron Wraiths (any more than 3 of these will pretty much kill you)
Melta-bombs
TH/SS Termies
Powerfist Termies
Bloodthirsters



Yes, Magma Cutters are better against vehicles and do more wounds, but i wouldn't worry about killyness with the maulerfiends. You're usually going to kill most of whatever you get in combat with anyway...

I used to go with magma cutters, but then I realized something:

It actually doesn't usually give you more attacks.

Against a vehicle or monster, yes. If you hit it and it's still alive, you get more attacks.

Against ANYTHING else, like infantry, the magma cutter hits are only AGAINST a model that you HIT. So against many targets, you only get the magma cutter attacks if your hits actually failed to wound - something you'll almost always do on a 2+. Against vehicles, you're already doing several S10 hits with AP2 - most vehicles are dead anyway.


In my experience, the lasher tendrils have been much, MUCH better. They make it really deadly against monsters. Consider a Daemon Prince or Hive Tyrant. If they want to be S10 and not just S6 and barely able to hurt you, they need to smash. Multipliers happen before modifiers, so they'll smash from 5-6 attacks down to 3. Then they lose 2, so they're at 1.

Your maulerfiend's survivability against 3 S10 AP2 attacks that reroll armor penetration is not very good. You can depend on your 5+ save, but if you fail it you are dead 1/3 of the time, and take serious damage 2/3 of the time.

When the enemy has ONE attack, the odds of them rolling a 1 or 2 to hit, or perhaps a 1 or 2 to damage, and needing to make only ONE 5+ invul save rather than 2 or 3, are much greater. And you still hurt them badly. In the case of a daemon prince, you'll cause instant death.

Since I've used lasher tendrils, my survivability has gone up dramatically, as has my maulerfiend's usefulness. From dying easily to any monstrous creature to becoming a real threat - I'm very pleased with it.

It's also great to double-up. Ganging 2 of them on a wraithknight to reduce it to only 1 attack is lovely. They can usually drag it to its death, too.

Lasher tendrils all the way! It also makes you much more survivable against wraiths and other multi-attack rending units like daemonettes.

Unless the daemon prince has a daemon weapon

I've been curious too as to why you all prefer the Magma.... (Dr. Evil pronouncing) Cutters against 1-wound models. Sure if the Terminator saved his wound with the Invulnerable save then you get one more attack against him, but that's it. Even if you get the two additional attacks, then they still have to go against a single model.

This model have huge potential (and we should rather talk about this) if it charge together with one of your squads against powerful close combat units which rely on their number of attacks IF you fit it with Lasher Tendrils.

The trick is to get into base contact with as many as possible the first time of course or else the enemy will probably pile into your squad and not the Maulerfiend so to avoid the Lasher Tendrils.
By the way, keep your own squad away from the Maulerfiend, the Lasher Tendrils also work on friendly models!

Chaospling wrote:
I've been curious too as to why you all prefer the Magma.... (Dr. Evil pronouncing) Cutters against 1-wound models. Sure if the Terminator saved his wound with the Invulnerable save then you get one more attack against him, but that's it. Even if you get the two additional attacks, then they still have to go against a single model.

This model have huge potential (and we should rather talk about this) if it charge together with one of your squads against powerful close combat units which rely on their number of attacks IF you fit it with Lasher Tendrils.

The trick is to get into base contact with as many as possible the first time of course or else the enemy will probably pile into your squad and not the Maulerfiend so to avoid the Lasher Tendrils.
By the way, keep your own squad away from the Maulerfiend, the Lasher Tendrils also work on friendly models!

I believe that is the official way to pronounce magma nowadays

I use lasher tendrils - he kills vehicles anyway in my experience. I charge him and one of my cc squads into an enemy squad and try to reduce the attacks of as many enemy models as possible.




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 Imperator_Class wrote:
Unless the daemon prince has a daemon weapon

This - the dp has 5 attacks, down to 3 for smashing. Then he rolls +d6 attacks for his deamon weapon and smashes the fiend into oblivion...

Quite a split opinion then?

I run one with magma cutters to help vs vehicles and buildings, and I run one with larger tendrils to help with other things. Mainly because I magnetized the one I built and bought knew that was assembled with tendrils. Still it gives my list a bit more versatility.

The daemon prince would kill a non-lasher maulerfiend even better. Fact is people only sometimes field a prince with CSM lists. You're much more likely to see them in daemons lists, where they can't take the mace.

Even still, doubling up two maulerfiends on the mace prince will probably kill him, while two magma cutter fiends are likely to both be destroyed.