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Hello
So recently I picked up the Chaos half of the Dark Vengeance box set and as a result I have 3 Helbrutes whichcan now access the ability to Deep Strike which is sweet, but is it worth the 300+ points? It's the same price as a 10 man Melta Terminator unit that I can also deep strike but Helbrutes are much more susceptible to being destroyed/crazed.

3 Multi Melta running tank and armour hunter, get 12 inches towards them and roll for 6 S8 AP1 and watch the armour drop off.

Also if they are up at the back of the table it draws attention so my Black and Gold (5x10 Chaos Marines) tide can roll in Plasma'd up to high heaven in Rhinos and pick of infantry coz having 50 3+ lunatics coming towards you is not at all intimidating.

I'll try them out next game. Anyone have any experience running Helbrutes? I'll be writing an Army List soon

Keep them at 300 points with multi-melta and power fist then it is definately worth it, in any points level game. They also gain 'it will not die' from the mayhem pack formation, but all must roll on the crazed table as soon as they deepstrike.

They must enter via deep-strike though. You cant just walk them on.

With IWND and the ability to roll once to deepstrike all 3- I think it's worth it in higher points games (the only time I bring them)... Remember, they don't have to all be next to each other when they DS- you can cover a lot of board with 3 Helbrutes spread out with their multi-meltas !

Depending on the rest of your list, yes, they are most certainly worth it. I have taken the formation in 1850 pnt games and it has worked out quite well. They are best used in a blitz style army composed of MSU in my experience when the opponent has to chose between firing at the helbrutes or an advancing target. Either way, you gain an advantage by sowing Chaos across the board.

Helbrutes aren't worth taking in general, so no.

I recommend investing 45 points for heavy flamers for the trio. That way, you have more versatility for a minimal cost addition.

 krodarklorr wrote:
Helbrutes aren't worth taking in general, so no.

They aren't due to their mobility problem which is solved by deepstriking. I agree on the 300 pts at any point level, I've used them with all-out assault armies and they work great, drop on the back to pop a tank or near a unit that isn't able to really hurt them. It's all about target saturation

 Lord Yayula wrote:

 krodarklorr wrote:
Helbrutes aren't worth taking in general, so no.

They aren't due to their mobility problem which is solved by deepstriking. I agree on the 300 pts at any point level, I've used them with all-out assault armies and they work great, drop on the back to pop a tank or near a unit that isn't able to really hurt them. It's all about target saturation

Eh, they're worse than Dreadnaughts, and people hardly use Dreadnaughts. Then again, some of my statement might be biased from personal experience. My girlfriend deep strikes dual power-fisting dual heavy flammering Helbrutes, and they usually die the turn after they come on the board, without causing too much damage (I play Necrons...). I've seen them do okay against Dark Eldar, though. Can't say the same about Sisters or Space Marines, or even Eldar. Mainly just Dark Eldar. Bring them if you're fighting Dark Eldar.

I ran them in a 5k game. They did nothing.

I have made great use of them as 3 and solo with their cultists.

Having 2 squads of Cultists being fearless running off and capturing objectives is invaluable. The Helbrute is just something your opponent has to deal with as a speed bump or suffer for leaving it alone. If you get charged and lose even a single model to a Helbrute, you've failed yourself and your army. The thing is literally a 100 point distraction that does its job perfectly in the competent hands of anyone whose wise enough to use them properly.

And anyone who shoots at it, basically wastes a turn of shooting just to kill the silly things. What will you waste on it? A Lascannon platform like a Tri-Las-Pred? a WK? Will you charge it with your Orky mob and steam roll it? Fine by me, that just means I have an entire turn of moving everything else in my dex around and I get a free turn of letting my Reserves come in like my Fire Raptor Gunship.

I like to use them. I use them at 1850 with my DeepStrike chaos list. Id second the heavy flamers though, helps for versatility. They deepstrike in, you either shoot something worth melta or you waste the melta shot. With the heavy flamer you can target hordes and have something to overwatch with.

I'm running 3 on my 1200 point Nurgle list everything's either in a tank or is a tank with the exception of a unit of Nurgle cultists. I'm keeping them bare bones tbh

The Mayhem Pack is nice. As noted, keep them cheap because they're expendable. If they live long enough to do anything, great, but their primary job is to make your opponent spend his 2nd/3rd turn going ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap as multiple multimelta wielding dreadnoughts suddenly pop into existance in the midst of his army.

They're a long way from 'good', but the panic they can cause is impressive.

Every time I run them, they do nothing.

Everyone is saying that they're expendable - they're not. 300 points is 10...TEN Chaos Spawn. There's nothing expendable about 300 points at ANY realistic points value.