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Greetings folks.

I've recently begun the preliminary work on the grand re-paint of my old metal Mephiston miniature, to include rebasing him to the new 32mm base size.

With that said, I'm wanting to run him as my warlord in a few lists and figured I'd poll the room to see what folks thought of the current options.

Firstly, he's pretty strong, clocking in with ST & T 5, as well as above average initiative for a librarian. With the BA draft FAQ, it did nerf him slightly, forcing one of his Mastery Levels to always be the unique Sanguine Sword psychic power, meaning he does only get two powers versus three from the psychic discipline of your choice, not counting the Primaris power.

In my view, one of Mephiston's greatest weaknesses is his lack of an Invulnerable save. While not debilitating, it does limit his usefulness versus a lot of targets quite significantly. This lends to two options, with a third option being an interesting addendum.

First, we have Fulmination, which has as one option the Electroshield power. This Blessing targets the psyker and confers a 3++ save. In addition the tree also has two excellent movement oriented powers which does help tremendously since he is stuck hoofing it everywhere (with the Fleet USR aiding in that regard, admittedly). In my view, this tree is one of the best choices for him, coupled with Sanguine Sword & the Force power.

Secondly, we have the good old Biomancy Tree. Iron Arm boosting him to ST & T 8 is awesome, and renders him all but immune to small arms fire save for rending hits. In addition you've got Endurance which makes him far more durable as well granting 4+ FnP, relentless, and Eternal Warrior. Life Leech also comes in to play here to help restore wounds. A good portion of this tree is useful, though lack of movement assistance does hinder a bit.

Lastly, we have Librarius. This tree comes in to play if you happen to be fighting an army that has more psychic presence (Eldar, Grey Knights) Purely for Veil of Time, Might of Heros, and Null Zone. Psychic Scourge is also fun here too since you get the Mastery Level 3 added to the 2D6 roll, taking the highest roll, versus their 1D6 + Mastery Level . It's more specialized, but that's not a bad thing.

In closing I'd like to touch on delivery method. Of course him being able to deploy and hoof it can work, but attaching him to a drop pod mounted unit, be they Assault Marines, Devastator Marines, or even Tactical Marines allows for ablative wounds while placing him in an area where his fleet charge distance re-rolls will hopefully allow him to make a turn 2 charge on something and get stuck in. Alternatively, having him charge out of a Storm Raven (In hover mode an not having moved too far of course) might be an interesting option as well while joined by some Assault marines or Vanguard Veterans, points allowing. Land raiders are also an option but I feel like the Storm Raven might work a bit better for utility, especially if said Storm Raven is deployed using the Skyshield Landing Pad (with upgrade) for turn 1 deployment instead of waiting on reserves. I suppose in order for me anyway, it's Drop Pod, Storm Raven, on Foot, and then Land Raider.

I welcome any other thoughts on this and appreciate the feedback guys. Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

Put him with a level 2 sanguiniuis libby and command squad with 3 X melta, 3 X stormshield in a pod. I like biomancy and librarius for Mephiston.

I did forget to mention another reason for my preference on Fulmination, and making it my first choice.

The Fists of Lightning power. +1 Strength and Attack, and for every hit (not wound, hit) he gets +2 additional ST:5, AP:- hits. Couple this with Transfixing Glare for added hilarity hitting on 2+, but he's got 3 attacks base, plus one for armed for hand to hand making it 4 attacks, then add one for charging (Hopefully) making it 5 attacks, THEN add the Fists of Lightning bonus attack taking it to 6 attacks. Hitting on 3+, that's average ~4 hits, 5 hits if you're lucky, netting you 8 more, or 10 more additional automatic hits at ST:5, with his initial hits all being ST:6, or ST:7 on the charge.

All this is happening at I:5 (or I:6 if charging with the Baal Strike Force bonus initiative for charging).

If you've got a second Librarian with Sanguinary Discipline rolling around, as Martel suggested, that's another possible bonus D3 attacks and Initiative from Quickening, pushing the attacks to between 7 and 9 total, netting you ~5 hits, 6 if you're lucky on the low end, or ~7 to 8 hits if you're lucky on the high end. That's 10 to 16 bonus hits from Fists of Lightning. Let's not even factor in Transfixing Glare allowing him to hit on 2+ in a challenge if you roll high enough.

Buh.

So yea, that's my argument for Fulmination on Mephiston. Most every power on the chart benefits him by making him more durable, or more punchy, or more mobile.

Just my thoughts on that. Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

I like librarius for my setup a lot. Storm shields that reroll are really good. Fulmination is okay, but null zone has saved me a lot.