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So I'm considering a D-Thirster at some point, but I've never used Str D before. What's the best thing I should point it at? Infantry? Vehicles?

Also, I'm a little unclear on the table: If, for instance, it's in combat with 10 guardsmen, and the thirster lands 4 attacks. Then it rolls 3 3's and a 6. Does the guardsmen squad take 3D3+6+D6 wounds as a whole, as per regular combat? I would assume so, but I'm not totally sure.

How run the D-Thirster is to first target the heavy vehicles that I might otherwise have trouble with, land raiders, LRBT dreanoughts , stuff like that, but units that he will be able to live through, don't want him dying early in the game.

Next I send him after the enemy warlord. There aren't many warlords that can match a D-Thirster in combat.

Fleshhound can usually deal with light vehicles so next I turn the D-Thirster onto CC heavy infantry, terminators, wraithguard, preferably stuff with unwieldy so he will strike at the same time and take some down before he dies. That being said, by this point he's usually taken down but he's done his duty.

Welcome to the slaughter! The D-Thirster should only target units consisting of single or just a few models usually, unless the unit can easily fail a morale check and be erased via sweeping advance. So don't target fearless or "know no fear" units. Really they're awesome vs walkers and vehicles, but try to get the Feel No Pain tithe reward going before you assault.

But I feel the D-Thirster should be in a minimum sized Daemons allied detachment to get those greater rewards for a possible 4+ FNP and/or It Wo t Die and extra wound. Either 3 nurglings or 10 blood letters as troops. White Dwarf #60 has the data sheets but it's the same stats and points as in Daemonkin, plus up to 50 pts of rewards like a Daemons greater daemon. Another way of helping it reach combat is take a void shield generator and deploy right at your zone edge. The Thirster can glide up to 12" to stay just behind the shields and enjoy some protection before a turn two assault, though deploying first makes it tougher as your opponent can counter deploy to avoid it.

As far as the Destroyer attacks and how they function, you can never kill more models than you have attacks....each attack causes the hit enemy to suffer the randomly generated number of wounds. So if you roll and get like four 6s vs a unit of twenty kroot you kill four kroot. However the exception might be if the Thirster hits an enemy IC, those wounds from all the D hits could be Looked Out Sir, and potentially wipe out a huge squad if there were models in range to be Looked Out to. It's a strangely written rule, the Detroyer table, and doesn't fit the normal mechanics as well as it used to.

Malathrim wrote:
However the exception might be if the Thirster hits an enemy IC, those wounds from all the D hits could be Looked Out Sir, and potentially wipe out a huge squad if there were models in range to be Looked Out to. It's a strangely written rule, the Detroyer table, and doesn't fit the normal mechanics as well as it used to.

Nope. LoS comes before saves, wounds come after saves, so either he look out sir's the hit away, and some chump gets really dead, or he takes the hit and either makes his single save and nothing happens, or he fails and is most likely really dead. For each D hit, the model taking the hit gets it's chance to:

- Look out Sir, then, if not a character or if failed
- Saves, Invulnerable or cover only, and neither of those on a 6 to wound. Only roll 1 save per hit, if passed, all good, if not, take d3/6+d6 wounds.As mentioned previously, wounds don't spill over.
- No FNP or Reanimation allowed, everything except the D-Scythe variants are also Str 10, so it's also instant death for T5 multi wound models if they manage to survive a wound (by rolling a 1 on the d3 after a failed save for example)

Think of them kinda like how cannons worked in 8th edition fantasy.

Malathrim wrote:
As far as the Destroyer attacks and how they function, you can never kill more models than you have attacks....each attack causes the hit enemy to suffer the randomly generated number of wounds. So if you roll and get like four 6s vs a unit of twenty kroot you kill four kroot. However the exception might be if the Thirster hits an enemy IC, those wounds from all the D hits could be Looked Out Sir, and potentially wipe out a huge squad if there were models in range to be Looked Out to. It's a strangely written rule, the Detroyer table, and doesn't fit the normal mechanics as well as it used to.

This rule is what keeps me from taking a D-Thirster. I justify the WoKBT by taking 2 maulers and 3 units of melta bikers.

So what I'm mostly getting here is D-Thirster (and D in general) is really only justifiable against superheavies/GCs?

I mean, when used as a precision attack against something the enemy doesn't want you to hit it is devastating, but yes the enemy needs a superheavy or GC to warrant it otherwise. I had my Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster in a 20 Flesh Hound tarpit the other day and it killed 3 at a time, which is about the same amount you'd kill with the D depending on how much they surround you (the tarpit was also soaking up some bloodletters, flesh hounds, and bikers. I really should not have walked my Bloodthirster into it and instantly regretted it). With Axe of Khorne having ID on wounds of 6, even the normal Bloodthirster is destructive. If you don't have a lot of armor pen than I could see justifying the D, but I've never had that problem with my lists.

andysonic1 wrote:
I mean, when used as a precision attack against something the enemy doesn't want you to hit it is devastating, but yes the enemy needs a superheavy or GC to warrant it otherwise. I had my Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster in a 20 Flesh Hound tarpit the other day and it killed 3 at a time, which is about the same amount you'd kill with the D depending on how much they surround you (the tarpit was also soaking up some bloodletters, flesh hounds, and bikers. I really should not have walked my Bloodthirster into it and instantly regretted it). With Axe of Khorne having ID on wounds of 6, even the normal Bloodthirster is destructive. If you don't have a lot of armor pen than I could see justifying the D, but I've never had that problem with my lists.

How is a Wrath Blood Thirster killing 3 hounds at a time? Thats 6 wounds at T4 so they aren't getting instant deathed. A Wrath Thirster only has 7 attacks. You to hit and wound with all but 1 and then have the hounds make no saves (or get a lucky ID from the Axe)

I guess it was luck + bad saves then since I was ripping though hounds like no tomorrow even without lots of ID.