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General advice sought lads.

What is the best general setup for one of these.

Naked Wraithcannons?
D-Sword and Shield?
Or Suncannon and Shield?

I run Dsword and shield and twin shuriken cannons. I wanted some midrange shooting, and the other two weapon options are too specialized for my tastes. Also most of my opponent's forces will be backing away (I normally use him to control a flank) so it gets to fire a bit while on the move.

 DarkStarSabre wrote:

Naked Wraithcannons?

Ranged D is nice and with the ability to shoot each one at a different target sounds nice, but when each gun is single shot and there is only a 1/6 chance of ignoring cover and invulnerable saves I think splitting the shots is a trap and I am quite underwhelmed with this option

D-Sword and Shield?

By far the best of the options, more survivability with the shield and more D hits in CC than the ranged version. Plus you can put guns on it to shoot things as you walk up the field.

Or Suncannon and Shield?

Same as the last edition but with the benefits of being a GMC, the only thing it lost was the SL's laser lock rule. Pulls it's weight around and you will probably get less comments on using it against someone as opposed to the other two.

I arm my WK with a left arm and a right arm....

Anywho, I prefer the double cannon version because I need the ranged anti-tank. If I didn't need that, I'd be all about the sword & shield version with shoulder cannons.

I normally run two, one with hdc the other with sword. Those the more I play the less effective the d cannons are seeing as only 6s auto kill stuff.

All three configurations have value.

The ranged D version is extremely potent anti tank. This version is definitely the most powerful outside the ITC, etc. nerfs. Where the various tournament nerfs to ranged D are in effect the different versions are much more on par. Honestly the 5+ invulnerable save is nice on the other versions but area cover saves are usually 5+ or 4+ and so you will rarely absolutely need the invulnerable save. I would always give this version at least 1 scatter laser to enable charges against units other than the cannon targets. Minimizing the investment on this unit though is a good idea as it is already so high profile and is surprisingly fragile if only 1 is taken.

The shield versions are really good because it gives you absolute freedom to jump out of cover without worrying about the wraithknight going down to grav and plasma cavaliers. There is also a fair amount of ignores cover or -1 to cover save going around. The wraithknight is primarily, above anything else, a board control unit. While stomps work well against most targets the double cannon version is often stuck hiding in terrain due to needing cover to survive or not being able to fight on par with the melee threats. This can and often does leave the rest of the CWE army out to dry as scatbike units, warp spiders, etc. are not good board control units and will find themselves loosing melee against cultists. Note the only other really good board control units in the codex are seer councils and arguably scorpions and perhaps hawks.

The sword ensures that the wraithknight will always control the board. There are few if any melee threats which can survive a charge by a sword and board wraithknight. Even knight lancers will need to get the charge off or face possible not getting to attack before destruction. Init 5 melee D weapon is brutal and combined with hammer of wrath and stomps there is really no bad targets. This version does really well with double starcannons as the only "bad" target is fairly large units of 3+ or better saves that can trap it for a few turns. The starcannons lets you soften these up so you can break out faster.

The starcannon is almost universally looked down on. It is actually a great anti elite infantry weapon but in an army filled with great anti infantry firepower. The range and triple small blast are all very attractive. The fact it comes with a shield actually gives it a place in lists that need this. I would give this unit double starcannons again as you are probably going to be within 36" of a good target, considering your main weapon shares the same targets. The main reason to take this version is you find the double D cannon version too fragile but don't want the melee version (probably running this alongside a seer council). The loss of laser lock is not really a concern as the weapon was "decreased" ~40pts in price as it is no longer costs you more pts above the stock configuration. BTW one of the best things about this version is it can come out of reserves and hit things like drop pod grav cents hard all while not needing to hide in cover like the double D cannon version. I actually wrote these up in the order I prefer them. Though IMO the wraithknight is tough to use well in the current grav heavy meta and the shield versions may become preferential due to their ability to move more freely.