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Out of all of the Varients out now...which knight would you own and why?

Mr. Raynor

The best all-rounder Knight is the Errant. It have the best range and weapon choice for encouraging getting into Close Combat with the right enemy units as soon as possible while still being able to trash the other stuff on its way.

The Paladin is a close second, with a higher damage output at a slightly lower strength/higher AP. It's longer range actively discourages getting into CC quickly, which plays against the Knight's melee abilities.

The Castigator is the third best, with its anti-Infantry, anti-light vehicle, can-actually-shoot-a-flyer weapon load. Its price is the only thing keeping it out of the #1 slot.

The Acheron is the fourth best, with all the right weapon focus, at a steep price point.

Lancers are a variable, as their focus on anti-Superheavy/GC is tops when facing a Superheavy or Gargantuan Creature, not so good versus hordes. Depending on your opponent, the a Lancer could be #1 or #4.

The Megaera is your dead last Knight option. All of the other Knights are better at being Knights, while the only area the Megaera shines is in a slightly higher survivability.

The Styrix gets a special mention because it looks awesome, reads like it will be awesome, but hasn't yet seen print so we have no actual crunch to counter its fluff.

Hope that helps.

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
The best all-rounder Knight is the Errant. It have the best range and weapon choice for encouraging getting into Close Combat with the right enemy units as soon as possible while still being able to trash the other stuff on its way.

The Paladin is a close second, with a higher damage output at a slightly lower strength/higher AP. It's longer range actively discourages getting into CC quickly, which plays against the Knight's melee abilities.

The Castigator is the third best, with its anti-Infantry, anti-light vehicle, can-actually-shoot-a-flyer weapon load. Its price is the only thing keeping it out of the #1 slot.

The Acheron is the fourth best, with all the right weapon focus, at a steep price point.

Lancers are a variable, as their focus on anti-Superheavy/GC is tops when facing a Superheavy or Gargantuan Creature, not so good versus hordes. Depending on your opponent, the a Lancer could be #1 or #4.

The Megaera is your dead last Knight option. All of the other Knights are better at being Knights, while the only area the Megaera shines is in a slightly higher survivability.

The Styrix gets a special mention because it looks awesome, reads like it will be awesome, but hasn't yet seen print so we have no actual crunch to counter its fluff.

I would mostly agree with the exception that the knight paladin is the best (most flexible) option which can usually excel in any list. The errant's weapon forces you to move forward earlier than you really want to against many armies. Keep in mind that knights have a strange duality in their damage vs survivability. They are at their most survivable when they are at long range to the opponent as they can 1) have more of the opponent in a single facing and 2) stay out of range of melta and most haywire. However the major damage output of a knight is when they get into melee due to the stomps and D slap. Additionally the knight usually looses scoring ability as it moves forward. Thus in many situations you want your knight to be able to stand off for the first 1-2 turns (thus forcing the drop pods and DS units to land in your front arc and oftentimes scatter off table) at which time it moves out in the third turn to knock stuff off objectives in turns 4-7. Additionally, imperial knights are not great at removing Sv3+ units. Even a 5 man SM TAC unit can hold an imperial knight for 2 rounds of combat with savvy casualty removal by marine player.

The rest of the knights are really much more dependent on what the rest of your army brings and what opponent you face.

If you are going up against an army that depends on their cover saves and lots of T5 or less models or open topped transports (orks and DE) then an acheron will melt through units like you cannot believe. Hellstorm templates have been largely banned from events because when used right and they can remove armies in a matter of a couple of turns.

The castigator would be your best knight if it had a secondary weapon so that it can shoot one target and charge another. As it is it is the best knight at cracking open light transports and charging the contents. It also utterly nullifies invisibility in melee, which is nice. It is only 5 pts more than a paladin as well so not bad cost. Besides the lack of a secondary weapon (the only real problem) it is also not as flexible as the other knights as when it ends up in combat with another knight it will get owned, though in reverse to the other knights it can easily kill TAC marines squads in a single turn.

The lancer is the counter meta knight. It is the knight for the person who is always playing against other knights. The lancer looses it's flexibility for the practical guarantee it will get into combat with at least 1 enemy unit and what ever that unit is will die. It is the only knight that can expect to charge another knight and kill the other knight before it get hit back. The biggest draw back is again it lacks the secondary weapon, this lack of a secondary weapon on this unit is a real killer as the lancer is the most expensive base.

The Magaera is not well liked by the community at large. It is almost impossible to kill at range but it doesn't have the damage output to really make staying at range worthwhile. It is perhaps a victim of over achievement. The price seems reasonable for what you get but most opponent's didn't bring enough firepower for your knight's to get killed at range in their shielded arc anyways. This added toughness thus is usually not meaningful and so you spend more points for generally less damage output and flexibility. I am still not entirely convinced either way with this unit and I need to do a lot more testing.

The imperial knights overall are an interesting addition to the game. There is also an interesting trade off between the admantium lance which limits your list's flexibility and thus makes playing to the objectives harder and a mix of knights which increases your flexibility at the sacrifice of the sheer power that is the addy lance.

Where does ones find that rogue imperial knight...his story reminded me of a lone wolf?

The forgotten knight from white dwarf

Grenatius can be found in WDW 24.

SJ

Where does one find the rules for the imperial knights outside of the errant and paladin?

Ty in advance!


NM: I found them

They are free downloads on forgeworld's website. The downloads page is http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/fwDownloads

The specific knights are;
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/L/lancer.pdf
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/A/Acheron.pdf
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/M/Magaera.pdf
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk//Downloads/Product/PDF/C/Castigator.pdf

Depends on what is in the rest of your army. However generally I'd rate them as so:

Top Tier
Paladin & Acheron.
These knights have the most potent shooting attacks, and multiple weapons to make the most of being able to tag different units ready for assault.
The acheron is the only knight capable of dealing with a very easy to come by problem for knights: cover saves.

Second Tier
Castigator, Lancer and Errant
The castigator is the best knight variant vs normal squads, is lethal in close combat with its sweeping deflagerate attack, and its cannon is the best ranged anti transport weapon that the knights have. On the downside, only having one ranged weapon limits its utility, and ensures it can only deal with one unit a turn.

Lancer is a contender for best knight for a warlord choice, as the WS/BS5 really help it out. Good for dealing with those wraithknights and other super heavies, but not quite as good as the other options vs other targets. Again, only having 1 ranged weapon is a serious downside.

The errant is second tier not because it is bad, but because it is outclassed by the paladin. Only pick it if your army needs an ap2 template or if your meta has a ton of grey knight paladins. Don't expect it to destroy many vehicles with its one melta shot per turn.

Bottom Tier
Megaera Weak damage output compared to the other knights, and a little too expensive to boot. A bit more survivable but not to a meaningful degree.


It appears the Styrix won't be available as a standard 40k option, and that it is intended for 30k use. This may change in time.

I have all the different types of knights except for the Magaera and Styrix. I have learned to always keep the pressure on when using them and to not let an opponent get to attack them from multiple sides. If you let that happen your knight will die or take real damage. Your objective should always be to get into melee with these guys. The only exception is to have them blast units that can hurt them in close combat (especially chain fists) and then get into melee.

In my experience the two absolute best knights are the Paladin and the Acheron. I like the Paladin since it is the "all in one" knight. I can hit hard from a distance and take on most anything in the game with the exception of flyers. I have only recently used the Acheron and I'm in love with it. The hellstorm template is absolutely brutal. The only problem with it is the points cost being nearly 50pts more than paladin and will draw alot of fire.

The Errent would be next on my list. Its good if you roll well but if you roll badly on your scatter it can be a total waste. I normally take at least one if i'm running an Adamantine lance with two paladins. It should be obvious what it should shoot at with a 36" Str 9 AP1 melta.

The Castagator is good but it does not do anything better than the paladin or Acheron if you ask me. I converted mine out of a plastic games workshop knight since the forge world cost (for what it does) is a bit to much if you ask me. The lack of a secondary weapon is a big negative for me since I like to shoot at multiple targets and charge one of them. It does ok-ish against flyers in a pinch.

The fifth on my list would be the Lancer. I REALLY wish this one had a secondary weapon. Even if it just had one heavy stubba it would be sooooooooo much better. I have only had two games where it did well (soloed a brass scorpion in one and crushed two knights in the other). I only use it in games where I KNOW I will be facing down another super heavy or gargantuan creature or apocalypse games. It does very well against those types of targets. Otherwise its points are wasted and better spent elsewhere. Truely unfortunate since I spent alot of time making mine look like the green knight from warhammer fantasy.

I can't speak for the Magaera and Styrix. The Magaera looks ok but is just not attractive enough to pick up and I have never heard of one being used.

I wouldn't consider the Magaera that bad. I tried mine only two times so far, but it performed pretty well.

The Styrix, being armed with a Volkite weapon, won't see a 40K release. Forgeworld has been pretty clear that Volkite will remain 30K only (but I think it would be nice to see a Volkite weapon as a relic in the AdMech codex, though). I'm a personal fan of the Castigator, though, as it is the one knight that can't be effectively tarpitted because of it's special attack.

Can somebody do some math hammer of IKs vs. a sword-less WK? I think the Castigator can kill it in one combat turn.

 SonsofVulkan wrote:
Can somebody do some math hammer of IKs vs. a sword-less WK? I think the Castigator can kill it in one combat turn.

Assuming no shield on the wraithknight, neither side charged:
Castigator: 2 hits, 1.66 wounds, 1.11 taken after FNP+1.11 again for deflagrate. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions
Acheron: 2 hits, average 4 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions
Lancer: 2 hits, average 4 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 0.59 hullpoints thanks to 5++ shield and -1 to hit.
Paladin, Errant, Admech: 1.5 hits, average 3 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions

This of course doesn't take into account the fact that this variant will have been shooting at said imperial knight with 2 d-weapons for at least a turn (1.33 hullpoints/turn if going against the shielded side and using the same approximation of D-weapons as in CC)

 greyknight12 wrote:

 SonsofVulkan wrote:
Can somebody do some math hammer of IKs vs. a sword-less WK? I think the Castigator can kill it in one combat turn.

Assuming no shield on the wraithknight, neither side charged:
Castigator: 2 hits, 1.66 wounds, 1.11 taken after FNP+1.11 again for deflagrate. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions
Acheron: 2 hits, average 4 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions
Lancer: 2 hits, average 4 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 0.59 hullpoints thanks to 5++ shield and -1 to hit.
Paladin, Errant, Admech: 1.5 hits, average 3 wounds from D-weapon. Takes 1.33 hullpoints assuming no explosions

This of course doesn't take into account the fact that this variant will have been shooting at said imperial knight with 2 d-weapons for at least a turn (1.33 hullpoints/turn if going against the shielded side and using the same approximation of D-weapons as in CC)

Nvm then Acheron is definitely da beast...

Just saw the new knights. Not sure how this will change things... Will be nice to have some AA against flyers and to be able to chuck tanks at units.

Gerantius is by far the best knight as unlike his brothers he can cross the field incredibly quickly. In a turn he can traverse 18" on average assuming no charges and he has a charge threat bubble of 30" which is just insane for a combat walker of any description gerantius imo is the best of the named walkers and I hope he becomes a full hq in the future or at least a formation in the next codex.

The ebony knight is a bit meh I wouldn't be sad to see him go all that much.

Auric Arachnus really needs some fleshing out, IMO. One doesn't kill a a Bio-Titan without being awesome.

Though that may be the inherent smurf talking.