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Hey guys I have a friend who wants to gets into 40k and choose crons as his first army. I know the strengths of the crons but havent really found any glaring weakness as they seem like a very balanced army that has no real problems against anything if played correctly. I'm asking for weaknesses so that I can tell him what his army should avoid while I'm coaching him the game.

So tell me dakka what don't the crons do well?

Also If you could tell a first time player anything about playing necrons what would it be?

I'm gonna refer him to this thread and dakka.

Thanks in advance

Necrons struggle with AP2 shooting.
There's only a handful of models that can threaten anything with 2+ armor, and they mostly have to get close (any exceptions to this usually come at a premium, eg. Heavy Destroyers).
They also lack much 2+ armor. The only thing that can carry it is certain HQ.

If starting out, avoid the whole, "Whoa! This thing should be super powerful!" trap a lot of newbs fall into when looking through the codex. Yes, at first glance Doomsday Arks/Lychguard/Monoliths/most of the named ICs look awesome, but people who tend to start with those "uber" units in their lists usually regret it (especially if they didn't magnatize and their Ark is now permanently glued that way).

Stick to cost effective things for a starting base (Annihilation Barges, Ghost Arks with Warriors, Nightscythes and Immortals/Warriors) and expand from there.
A Battleforce box and a couple of Barges make for an excellent starting army. Throw in some Wraiths, a Destroyer Lord, and a couple of Nightscythes later and he'll have quite a viable force.
If he REALLY wants to get serious about handing people their asses later, he can look into builds/combos like Wraith-Wing, Spyder-Star, the Death & Despair Squad, and everyone's favorite the Royal Court Disco Inferno, but for the moment, play it simple.

They are terrible roommates because they don't replenish the TP.

They always just bring "chips" to the party.

Anytime they come over they always unplug things from your outlets so they can recharge.

Every time you go to karoake all they always sing Mr. Roboto, like every single time. It's cute the first time but it gets ollllld real fast.


They put peanut butter in the fridge.

Hollismason wrote:
They put peanut butter in the fridge.

Feth those Necrons. I hate that.

Wraiths and Annihilation Barges are crazy good. They are among the best deals in 40k.

Buying an Annihilation Barge kit feels like a great buy. You get one of the most powerful heavy support units in 40k and a plastic (not finecast!) version of the Overlord.

Ghost Arks, Warrior blobs, and Overlords are good at lower point levels and for friendly play. Swap in Night Scythes, beef up Wraith and Annihilation Barge count, and swap in Destroyer Lords for higher point levels and more competitive play.

Scarabs are better than you initially think they will be and they have hiddent talents.

Crypteks. Crypteks. Crypteks. Explore their uses. Loads. Play around with Deathmarks too. Crypteks and Deathmarks go hand in hand and you will want a unit of Deathmarks and some crypteks in your collection.

Lychguard, Destroyers, Praetorians are outclassed by better stuff in the codex. Play those if you want but know that you will be playing it "fluffy". Doomsday Ark is trash. Stalkers, Tomb Blades, Doom Scythes, and Catacomb Command Barges are better in theory than in reality. But really aren't that bad and can be fun in fluffy lists. Buy/invest if you want fluffy, don't buy or invest if you want a top performing list.

Monoliths, Spyders, and C'tans occasionally have their uses. Occasionally. Learn the codex well before tinkering with those. But those have sucker punch uber-combo hidden potential in the right lists and the right metas.

They generally don't handle melee well outside of wraiths or Overlords with MSS+Warscythe combo. Their low initiative, small amount of attacks and lack of fearless/stubborn means that so long as you manage to kill enough models in combat (which isn't too hard for most dedicated and even some non-dedicated CC units) they are easy to be caught in a sweeping advance which disallows them one of their most annoying rules of Reanimation Protocols. Of course getting there is another matter entirely (especially against guys like Tesla Immortals) but a well-coordinated charge with CC units is one of the few things necrons don't handle very well.

Mcs are a tough nut for non-wraith necrons generally.

Most Necron armies I see tend to fold like fresh laundry in assault. They also seem to lack good long-range shooting. They really thrive in a short-range shooting capacity, but they always run the risk of facing melee combat at that range band. (That's why they have multiple abilities to control enemy units and re-organize the battlefield.) Aside from flying crescent spam lists, they are an army that can be a little tricky (and thus frustrating) for a new player to master.

 Gitsmasher wrote:
Hey guys I have a friend who wants to gets into 40k and choose crons as his first army. I know the strengths of the crons but havent really found any glaring weakness as they seem like a very balanced army that has no real problems against anything if played correctly. I'm asking for weaknesses so that I can tell him what his army should avoid while I'm coaching him the game.

So tell me dakka what don't the crons do well?

Also If you could tell a first time player anything about playing necrons what would it be?

I'm gonna refer him to this thread and dakka.

Thanks in advance

Assault (outside of royal courts, wraiths, and monstrous creatures)

Long ranged shooting.

TEQ killing (they also have problems with MEQs but 2+ saves cause them the most problems)

Pieplate dropping.

Monstrous creature killing.

Thanks for the responses guys.

From what you guys are saying the crons have trouble MC's, and 2+ saves. So units like riptides, wraithknights, and carnifex's give crons trouble?

I think the biggest thing overlook is that Necrons really lack S8+ shooting, and cc for the most part.
They are one of the few armies that S4 multi-wound models are relatively safe against. Paladins can bring a very bad day to Necrons.

2+ armor isn't so much of a bit deal because almost all 2+ save units are terrible anyway. Everybody really overestimates the need for AP2 in 40K.

 herpguy wrote:
I think the biggest thing overlook is that Necrons really lack S8+ shooting, and cc for the most part.
They are one of the few armies that S4 multi-wound models are relatively safe against. Paladins can bring a very bad day to Necrons.

2+ armor isn't so much of a bit deal because almost all 2+ save units are terrible anyway. Everybody really overestimates the need for AP2 in 40K.

As far as 2+ saves go I know my misslesides and heavy burst cannon riptide give crons hell due to them being AP4. Even though warriors get back up they just get cut down the next turn .

The other issue is the generally garbage initiative. Nearly anything crons run into in CC will strike before you. So crons will take casualties before they can inflict them. Also once they do lose combat sweeping advances will haunt as you're usually rolling at a disadvantage. Good leadership helps mitigate this issue but if they fail chances are good they won't survive.

Edit - wow I should read better has all already been said.

^
This is why it's best to leave combat up to the Fearless units (Wraiths, Scarabs, Spyders... even Praetorians, if you attach a Destroyer Lord) and keep everyone else in vehicles until you need them.
The obvious exception would be Warrior blobs, seeing as how they can't fit into vehicles, but if you left your brick of 20 Warriors exposed with no assault deterrents for protection, then you deserve to lose them.

On the subject of TEQ killing, Wraiths, like Genestealers and Daemonetes: shred TEQs in assault (Not literally as I don't think you can put those flensing scarabs on them) and Scythes paired with MSS and phase shifters can stop most 2+ units in their tracks.

The difficulty of course is in shooting them to death, but save for the riptide and Heirophant, most 2+ units have sucky dakka.

As a Necron player, the lack of range is really frustrating.

 poppa G wrote:
As a Necron player, the lack of range is really frustrating.

Necrons have easy access to night-fighting to curb other player's ranged games.

Also, you can deep strike or put most of your army in fliers to get in range rapidly.

Despite being described as slow, the Necrons have some of the best rapid deployment options in the game.

Using Zandrekh to deep strike in half your army in your enemy's face the instant they bring in anything from reserves is also worth a laugh.

Thanks for the advice and information guys.