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Hey folks,

Is Nob Bikerstar still scary as it used to be? Not much seems to have changed in 7th edition. They're still T5, 2W, 4+armor, 4+ jink, 3+ if they turbo-boost. Add Painboy and they get FNP. Somewhat close to invincible, as long as you keep them away from AP4 flamers.

I haven't used nob bikers myself. However, I refrain from taking them because their damage output just doesn't look that great for the points, whereas normal bikers are one of the strongest units in the codex.

Nob bikers are really expensive.. But yes, they are tough as nails once you throw in a painboy. Normal bikers are just so much cheaper, and can be just as effective.

After loosing thier invul they are very exposed to force weapons. If i tried them i would use them in group of 3 to not make so much threat.

Ork bikers are one of the only ork units I fear. Nob bikers are regular bikers +1. I wouldn't take more than one squad though, and back them up with plenty of regular bikers.

They just don't hit hard enough. Their shooting is also underwhelming for the points you pay. Plus some serious problems with Mob Rule.

The loss of the ability to make them troops, loss of cybork body and the lack of a discount for their price to ride bikes makes them a cost inefficient unit that can't stand up against the monsters of this edition, especially given that they require an HQ slot to make them worth taking.

I think they're a scary unit but a tad expensive. They're tough but they aren't *that* tough. I think you're best of going with Zhadsnark from FW if you want Ork bikers.

Only other potent rule that used to be in their favor that people haven't mentioned was that wound allocation used to work in nobs favor when our last codex was out. If each of your nobs was kitted differently they, for reasons I cannot remember anymore, were able to be assigned a single wound. This made it so you need to take around 11 wounds before losing a single model.


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So to answer your question, they are not viable. They have been nerfed into being meh, and at 50ppm basically they cost more than 2 1/2 Warbikers. Which have the same amount of wounds and almost double his attacks... It's hard to justify taking nob bikers honestly.

The fact that they require 2 HQ's to be viable, 3 if you count their lack of invul save, combined with the very much appreciated drop in cost of normal bikers, they are the single most viability-changed unit In the entire Codex. I'd take Killa Kanz before NobBikerz. They're that bad.

I've gotten more mileage out of normal bikers. Now they don't have an invul. save, normal bikers aren't that less tougher, as they only benefit they're losing out on is that extra wound (and, iirc, you can get two normal bikers - i.e. two wounds - for the price of one Nob biker). They're still pretty damn tough with a painboy in tow as well.

On top of that, having more bodies means you get more shooting and the damage output is not much lessened providing you stick a PK Nob and a PK Warboss with the Lucky Stikk in the unit. All these bonuses (considering you wouldn't really be taking more than 2 power klaws in a Nob Biker unit anyway) ramps up the damage output of a normal biker squad to equal, or greater, than a Nob Biker squad, for similar or less points.

Basically, Nob Bikers are still good, but regular bikers are simply more cost-effective.

Two benefits, they can also hide powerklaws, and have an extra wound. They can still be support squad of small foot print hiding behind vehicles. They are backwards in that they take a bike to be mobile but can't shoot, so they are basically an interception squad that can only really support another unit. You can't take them in large quantity because they are too expensive to not have an invul. Probably outshined by Stormboyz and Trukk Boyz in everyway other than the ability to hide. Warbikers are not to be confused with Nob Bikers. Warbikers are a shooty unit on a bike and they are blessed with being much cheaper(disposable) and shooty, more numerous (meaning a painboy is worth more to the unit).

 Rismonite wrote:
they can also hide powerklaws

Pardon my newbness... I've seen that term before ("hiding" power klaws), but I'm not sure what is meant by it.

it means that you can put a random powerklaw in the unit on a normal nob biker.

it basically means that the regular biker is not a character, so it can't be challenged out of combat

 gummyofallbears wrote:
it means that you can put a random powerklaw in the unit on a normal nob biker.

it basically means that the regular biker is not a character, so it can't be challenged out of combat

Ah, gotcha. "Hiding" it from challenges, makes sense. Thanks!

They also lost the crazy wound allocation shenanigans from previous rule sets that made them super effective. Still, I'd imagine they hit like a Mack truck on the charge

There are a few instances where nob bikers are pretty good. We've had a discussion about nobs on the whole which eventually led to this thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/622940.page

On the whole, they can be used but in smaller squads, generally. Or they could be a blob of death in apoc games.

Skip the Nob Bikers IMHO..


Use Warbikers instead. They are honestly better based on the fact that you get more shooting, and more models on the table for board control.

I used to play the Nob Biker Deathstar (which we all can agree was a bit OP in combination with would allocation shenanigans back in the day), but now with a Warboss, Painboy, and some warbikers, its really just as good and puts more models on the table. You cant use it as a "IM GOING TO CHARGE THIS DIRECTLY INTO THEIR HARDEST UNIT AND WIN" anymore, but it does put out enough firepower and combat to wipe most non-deathstar type units in one turn.