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So I'm coming up against a necron army and am really worried about the reanimation protocol. With the necrons having a resave on a 4+ it is massively going to blunt the affectiveness of the clowns.

Specifically what is the best payload to be carrying for squads of 5 with a shadowseer?

Anyone with any experience that can offer any advice into what tactics work against them?

Thanks in advance

Don't know the first thing about Harlequins, but only advice I can give against 'crons -- target saturation... fire everything you have at a single squad until its dead, then move onto the next one. Also, target priority.. take out the units that give them the juicy bonuses -- spiders, crypteks, lord... etc.

Necrons should be split into 3 catagorites, Wraiths, Crons and Vehicles.

You deal with Wraiths by piling on lots of wounds, a good way of doing this is the Embrace, D3 HoW hits at Str 6 each + the Seer with Flesh Bane are a more reliable way of piling on wounds then most have. A unit of 5 + Seer would do. A special note goes out to Shurikan Cannons which also pile on wounds well.

Crons are best dealt with by winning combat and sweeping them, and with their terrible I vs your Godlike I if it comes to a test it's in the bag, the hard part is winning combat enough to make them fail their test. Kisses might actually have preference here, due to ease of wounding and chance to reduce reanimation, but of course the Caress is also a good choice. I might even ship out for the Storied Sword, Str 5 on the charge and Master Crafted is sure to push through a few wounds. The seer should have Mask of Secrets, making it just that bit more likely to fail their Ld test. If he has a unit of 20, you will need a sacrificial unit to eat overwatch, consider Skyweavers.

Exception is the Lychguard(?) who have good invulnerable saves, if you absolutely have to fight them try piling on wounds like Wraiths and having a Psykic debuff on them.

Vehicles eat Caresses and Mist Staves and Haywire Grenades.

Take the Solitaire, he is a very good distraction/threat to any Necron unit. Also Psykic powers will play a very dominant role in your game, as you should have lots and he should have none. Put priority on Veil of Tears and Dance of Shadows, your Harlies will need it to close for the kill, but Psyshriek is also a great damage potential.

The Troupes are probably the worst thing against the Necrons. However, Embraces can lay down lots of S6 hits - very useful for taking on Scarab Swarms and Wraiths! Your Haywire Cannons are incredibly useful as well, both in hitting his Ghost Arks with haywire, and for the AP4 against the Warriors.

Your biggest weapon are our psychic powers. Almost all the powers are very effective against the 'Crons. Veil of Tears keeps you safe between 18"-24", Shards of Light has BLIND (which, against Necron's Initiative 2, is super-effective), Fog of Dreams is excellent, and Laugh of Sorrows turns their high Leadership against them. Mirror of Minds isn't that effective, nor is Peal of Discord, but if you're allying with Eldar (Mindshock Probes on Wraithfighter) or Dark Eldar (grisly trophies or the Archon's armour of misery), then you can start doing some very mean psychic shenanigans.

Keep the Necrons at arm's length and make them so annoyed at you being JUUUST out of range that they start over-extending. Then you strike.

Amazing advice. Thanks to everyone for their comments...

I see where the embraces come in. Hit hard and fast and try and break them... If not try to hold on until the end of their turn then hit and run and repeat.

Def feel that skyweaver are going to be the key players here too. Hit hard with haywire against the vehicles and close knit squads then tie a unit up in close combat with the zephaglaives and hitting and running out to cause havoc in the next turn.

This has given me some thing to mull over... Thinking of going in with eldar to introduce the wraithknight/farseer/aspect warrior deliciousness! Thoughts???

Its not only the reanimation protocol to worry about.
Necrons are able to shoot down an army with low armor/cover/inv saves.

Charge and sweep them in CC, works well.

Psychic powers are great as well. Necrons have high LD but not everything is Fearless.

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
Charge and sweep them in CC, works well.

For feth's sake, why do people keep suggesting this without clarifying??
One of these days someone's gonna see a unit of Flayed Ones and think, "That guy on the internet said I should just charge and sweep Necrons to kill them. Guess I'll just-- oh. Oh no. OH NO."

VITAL CLARIFICATION (to OP and anyone else inexperienced with 7th edition Necrons who might be reading):
It is usually NOT a good idea to charge melee 'Crons. The majority of them are EXTREMELY good at combat now (ie. Wraiths, Lychguard, Praetorians, Flayed Ones. Even Scarabs and Spyders are not to be taken lightly).
The old adage remains true, here - "Shoot the stabby ones, stab the shooty* ones."


*Note: the shooty ones are no longer such a pushover in combat. Yes, they won't be hitting back very hard, but they're significantly harder to sweep, now. Gone are the days where you can charge a blob of 20 Warriors and expect to reliably bulldoze them.

Charge the shooters and shoot the chargers.

Necrons are able to keep you at arm's length and rapid fire you to death. Harlequins are a prototype army to which this will happen if the Necron player is smart enough.