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Well im sure a lot of you have seen the recent thread about the vindicare (thats also on this page) but my thinking of late has been about the more... mobile and sneaky assassin - the callidus.

I didnt want to highjack the other thread, and to be honest i considered making this an "all assassins" thread, but the vindicare has been done and the other two dont interest me much (and also seem fairly self explanatory to use 'optimally') so... here we are!


How do you use the callidus to make the best use of its rather unique infiltration traits? What would or wouldnt you aim it at? How do you try and keep it alive, or do you suicide run it at people?

The Callidus has lost a lot of its punch in the last couple iterations. I first encountered it in the DH\WH Codexes, when it had an ability called 'A Word in Your Ear' which allowed you to shift a single unit up to 6".
In the GK codex she lost 'A Word in Your Ear' but she still had her Ld template. This was still useful because the Ld debuffing Weaken Resolve was still a thing until the new AM codex dropped in sixth.
Now though, the only real thing that you may use her for are reserves shenanigans, which only matter on the first turn anyway, so if she lives beyond that it is a bonus. With that in mind, a suicide run is really all that I would expect her to be useful for now.

She seems to be stronger than the eversor in combat though, least from what i see. I assumed she was the go-to melee assassin, with vindicare as the shooty and eversor the midway option.

Culexis is interesting but only if you play a psyker heavy opponent, it seems

Niiru wrote:
Culexis is interesting but only if you play a psyker heavy opponent, it seems

He's not bad even without prey to hunt. Hard to hit, infiltrating, multi shot high strength AP 1 weapon and lots of melee attacks with a chance of instant death.

But yes, I have to admit the Callidus is the hardest one to see the use of.

Culexis is near impossible to kill given that Etherium makes any shooter's BS/WS 1, and he can melt Grey Knights/Daemons/Eldar like butter. However, he sucks vs anything else.

The Callidus was awesomely fun to use back when you could charge from reserves. Since that was lost, she's lost a lot if value. A 4++ save is no good when you are force to arrive within inches of your assassination target, especially when said target will most likely survive to shoot you before you can gain cover or hide in CC. And the S8 vs Ld template weapon is garbage versus Ld 8-10, the Ld range normally found on high value targets. The hoops she has to jump through just to do her job makes the other Assassins a better buy.

She's still awesomely fun, though. I've been using Jakara Spyres model for my Callidus for years, now, and am sad she just can't make the cut these days (pun intended).

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
The Callidus was awesomely fun to use back when you could charge from reserves. Since that was lost, she's lost a lot if value. A 4++ save is no good when you are force to arrive within inches of your assassination target, especially when said target will most likely survive to shoot you before you can gain cover or hide in CC. And the S8 vs Ld template weapon is garbage versus Ld 8-10, the Ld range normally found on high value targets. The hoops she has to jump through just to do her job makes the other Assassins a better buy.

She's still awesomely fun, though. I've been using Jakara Spyres model for my Callidus for years, now, and am sad she just can't make the cut these days (pun intended).

SJ

please note that the Ld Template is gone now. it is essentially a poisoned(4+) AP1 template.

I wouldn't put her in reserves, just use her 1" infiltrate.

Turn 1, she's only hit on 6s, hide her out of sight.

Turn 2, flame and charge, end of enemy turn hit and run

Turn 3, flame and charge...

Rinse and repeat.