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Hi guys, I've been playing a few months now and have branched out from my friend group and into some of the more competitive scene around town, and I've run into a few things that I haven't really learned to deal with. First is MCs - I just can't bring enough fire to bring them down, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong there. I can't seem to push through the ~6 wounds I need to kill them. I've had good luck in CC against them with my wraiths, but in the case of dreadknights, instant death is really ruining my day. I figured I could bring my own instant death to the table, but the only necron I've found with the rule is in IA12, which is tough to work into my current lists. Also, things in my backfield - drop pods, deep strike, etc. How should I be dealing with those? A pod of termies with a psyker will really wreck my day too, especially if they're swinging around force weapons too. Thanks in advance for any advice, cheers!

MCs can be tough, but very few actually have 6 hps - most have 4 or fewer.

That being said, necron gauss weapons can wound anything on a result of 6 - while digging for 6s can be disappointing, necrons at least are capable of damaging literally anything in the game with their most basic infantry. No one (besides eldar) can do that, and eldar stuff has no effect on vehicles, wheras warriors need just 4x 6s to kill a land raider.

But ranged, low AP weapons aren't really necron's forte. They just can force a lot of saves, and wait for your opponent to fail.

Decent solution, at least, if you can't bring stuff down at ranged, is a solid group of warriors with a overlord with a warscythe. Warscythes can reliably damage anything in the game, especially vehicles.

Wraiths should have good success v. MCs, tons of rending attacks. It is annoying when wraiths get instant death'd, but they have 3+ invlun save. (Spare a thought for my humble I1 meganobz with no save whatsoever v. dreadknights!) That is nearly the best possible save in the game, and if you combine it with a 5+ RP (v. ID) bonus from the harvest formation, it gets even better.

Again, necrons tend to excel at having a lot of strong attacks without great AP value (gauss, tesla), but if you really want to make big, smoking holes in things, doom scythes and doomsday arks are pretty good at that.

But ID is kind of an elusive rule. Generally, you need str 10, or force, and while necrons don't have any force, they do have some str 10 options (doomsday arks).

I guess if you're feeling lucky, you have your own MCs (c'tan shards), who have a random D shot, but it's more than a little unreliable.

The bearmers on wraiths are 1 in 6 ID, and have a great AP. Watched a game recently where a dread knight got one shotted by a wraith squad.

Bring the Destroyer Cult could be one option, most MCs are T6 3+ armor saves, so a ton of S5 AP3 and a few S9 AP2, with rerolling to wounds would kill them quickly. Just beware of cover saves, and try to dealt those supporting units who gives shrouded first.

My question is what you're fishing for 6's against in terms of Monstrous Creatures. The only thing you're unable to wound with Warriors (regarding the S v T chart) is Wraithlords and Wraithknights.

Outside Wraithknights, you have decent options. Wraiths w/ Beamers will hit them and then charge, Deathmarks will do a minor alpha strike, and Destroyers from the Cult will wound everything no matter what.

Gauss always wounds on a 6, so the humble warrior can shoot up any being in the galaxy, from the emperors finest, to the titan sized monsters from the warp. With that said 6 fishing against a 3+ armor save is about 18 hits to a wound that makes it through armor, so about 27 shots to a wound. To put that in perspective they are about as effective against giant monstrous creatures as a tac squad with a missile launcher. So not exactly ideal, but can push it over the finish line if need be.

As you said destroyer cult will ravage monstrous creatures, Preferred enemy everyone (reroll ones to hit and wound), and extermination protocols (reroll failed wounds and armor pen rolls) with strength 5 AP 3 will very reliably get wounds on monstrous creatures. Lazy math says they hit just shy of 5 in 6, and wound just shy of 1 in 3 so between 4 and 5 out of every 18 shots, with each destroyer having 2 shots, nine being in a minimum formation, you can reliably drop a wraith knight in twoish turns assuming no help.

There is also the destroyer lord, who with the right kit, can make four attacks on a charge, with a strength 7 AP 2, master work fleshbane/armorbane weapon, with preferred enemy and extermination protocols. He would hit a wraithlord on a 3+ (re-rolling ones + one miss a round), wounds on a 2+ rerolling failed wounds. Toss in some wraiths and you'll wreck anyone that starts within 12" + charge range. Most of these guys aren't characters, so they can't issue challenges, meaning just have your D-Lord stay in the back rank and the D-Weapons will never reach him.

Some might complain about the lopsided points in these examples, and here is the bottom line, you are going to be taking a cult anyway in a competitive list, and after they drop the wraithknight, their fun is just getting started. The other problem isn't the cost of the cult, with what they bring to the table in terms of toughness and killing power they are a bargain only beat out by a harvest. The problem is that the wraithknight/dreadknight are giant blocks of cheese made overpowered to sell hundred dollar models.

Your best bet for things like Dreadknights would be Praetorians/Heavy Destroyers, and for other MCs like Tyranid or Eldar ones, Destroyers.

What are you running?

I make new lists all the time, but in a typical 1850 list I feel like squeezing in the 650 pts of destroyer cult can be tough sometimes. I usually get myself wrecked up by melee, so I've been trying to take lychguard, but I could do something else like praetorians instead if you guys think it would be better to kite their melee than to bring my own. When I take cult in decurioun I feel like it suffers from lack of the stalker buff, but I don't have the points to field judicator alongside of it, also because I tend to like to take harvest more. Other than that it's pretty standard, with zandrekh as my HQ and the requisite amount of troop choices (warriors over immortals, usually)

Veryance wrote:
I make new lists all the time, but in a typical 1850 list I feel like squeezing in the 650 pts of destroyer cult can be tough sometimes. I usually get myself wrecked up by melee, so I've been trying to take lychguard, but I could do something else like praetorians instead if you guys think it would be better to kite their melee than to bring my own. When I take cult in decurioun I feel like it suffers from lack of the stalker buff, but I don't have the points to field judicator alongside of it, also because I tend to like to take harvest more. Other than that it's pretty standard, with zandrekh as my HQ and the requisite amount of troop choices (warriors over immortals, usually)

My NOVA list mixed all three of those formations.

Decurion:
Rec. Legion:
- Zahndrekh
- 5x Immortals
- 10x Warriors
- 10x Warriors
- 3x Tomb Blades w/ SV, Neb

Harvest:
- 1x Spyder
- 3x Scarabs
- 3x Wraiths w/ Whip Coils

Jud. Battalion:
- 1x Stalker
- 5x Praets w/ Rods
- 5x Praets w/ Rods

Destroyer Cult:
- Destroyer Lord w/ Warsythe, Phase Shifter
- 2x Destroyer, 1x Heavy D.
- 2x Destroyer, 1x Heavy D.
- 2x Destroyer, 1x Heavy D.
- 2x Heavy D.

Exactly 1850

It gives a decent amount of melee and shooting, all crammed into a Decurion. It's a fun list. It's also a lot of AP 2 for a Necron list.