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They seem pretty overcosted. They are the same price as Lascannons, but are worse against T8, and anything with 4+ armor or better. The only advantage they have is the option to fire d6 Boltgun shots, but... Storm Bolters and dedicated anti-infantry is already very cheap. Taking a big penalty to your primary role in order to have a minor offhand ability just doesn't seem remotely worth it.

You're paying for the flexibility, and some armies have access to the 'Flakk Missile' stratagem.

I have been taking a dev squad with them. Out of 3-4 devs I usually take 1 ML unit. Having them sit next to HQs letting them reroll hits/wounds makes them pretty nasty against hordes. They saved my butt a few weeks ago in a game against orks and their dang green tide.


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It did help that I seemed to always roll 5+ on the amount of shots to...

I like them because they don't have a particularly bad match-up. A squad of lascannons will be pretty useless against a horde army,

I think if you are taking one off heavy weapons in tactical squads Lascannons are probably better because they come with a whole bunch of bolter marines for anti-infantry.

If you are taking Devestator squads spamming heavy weapons, the Missile launcher gives you versatility against a number of targets.

They're pretty awesome en-masse. Just depends what's firing them really.

I've been toying around with a full Long Fang squad of them with a TDWAG pack leader rocking a cyclone launcher.

If you have any type of re-roll mechanic near them they're great at killing vehicles and infantry.

Additionally, a lot of vehicles have 5+ invuls anyways (Knights, every DE vehicle) so the -2 save on Krak missiles is as good as it gets.

I will say the only problem I've really faced with ML is wounding an IK. Even with the Primaris LT rerolling wounds of 1 they can struggle vs. a lascannon.


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But even then I think having 1 set isn't that bad. Here lately i've been running 2 las preds an 1 ML dev with reroll hits and reroll wounds of 1. I only really noticed the difference when playing against 3 renegade knights. 1-2 knights is manageable though.

 More Dakka wrote:
Additionally, a lot of vehicles have 5+ invuls anyways (Knights, every DE vehicle) so the -2 save on Krak missiles is as good as it gets.

This is extremely valid point, quite many vehicles are 3+ with 5++ save. This makes Missile Launcher to be nearly equal to Lascannon.
Although Landraider with T8 2+ save actually can take significantly much more hits from ML than from Lascannon, but vehicles with similar stats are quite rare.
I think MLs are all-around best choice, good range, ability to handle ok both hordes and armour, what's not to like?

If you know your facing tanks take lascannon's
If you know your facing infantry take heavy bolter and other anti infantry.

If your playing multiple opponents playing a mixture of lists having more flexibility means your not firing lascannons at conscripts and complaining that they don't die.

But often players will guess the meta and gain an advantage against one of the first two for a disadvantage against the other

Correct, at least with ML you have a chance against T8 vehicles, while they'll do really well against T7 and under, which is pretty common, you'll always have to kill T4 and under infantry no matter what opponent you face.

Not a reason to ONLY take ML, but certainly a reason to not ignore them in favor of purely dedicated anti-tank and anti-infantry.

at the current cost - 0 reason to take ML over las cannon. In every army - you are going to have something a las cannon is good against. If not - you are already screwed if you have ML anyways.

Is there any reason to take Missile Launchers?

-No.-

Can be closed.

You guys are looking at it from the Imperial perspective. As an Eldar player, there are a number of great reasons to take ML's and I put them on all my Wave Serpents and usually in my Guardian Squads as well. The str 8 on a ML is not a big loss as the Eldar Bright Lance is also Str 8. The Bright Lance is -4 but as a previous poster pointed out, so many things have a 5++ that it's not such a big deal. The Eldar ML is also range 48" compared to 36" on a Bright Lance. Lastly, the frag missile equivalent of the Eldar ML is str 4 -1, making it good enough to work against 3+ armor.

My reason for taking them is that I have 16 of them and no Las cannon devs (thanks 5th edition!).

That being said they are almost as good as las VS T7, which is most of what i have run across, and usually the same VS anything with a invul saves. I have used the frag missiles a few times as well, and they worked okay.

I tend to switch between 2 las preds and 3 missile dev units when it comes to my heavy support with a reasonable amount of success.

Waaaghpower wrote:
They seem pretty overcosted. They are the same price as Lascannons, but are worse against T8, and anything with 4+ armor or better. The only advantage they have is the option to fire d6 Boltgun shots, but... Storm Bolters and dedicated anti-infantry is already very cheap. Taking a big penalty to your primary role in order to have a minor offhand ability just doesn't seem remotely worth it.

Bits are cheaper.

a -2 is still forcing an expensive terminator to take a 4+.

I don't see any reason to bring a missile launcher as a guard player. Space Marine maybe. Ork maybe.

As a guard player I'll bring 3 mortars and 1 lascannon, and be happier than if I'd brought two missile launchers.

At least for guard, I think missile launchers should be 15 points, or they need a +1 versus flyers.

Oh and autocannons should be 12 points max.

BrainCandy wrote:
You guys are looking at it from the Imperial perspective. As an Eldar player, there are a number of great reasons to take ML's and I put them on all my Wave Serpents and usually in my Guardian Squads as well. The str 8 on a ML is not a big loss as the Eldar Bright Lance is also Str 8. The Bright Lance is -4 but as a previous poster pointed out, so many things have a 5++ that it's not such a big deal. The Eldar ML is also range 48" compared to 36" on a Bright Lance. Lastly, the frag missile equivalent of the Eldar ML is str 4 -1, making it good enough to work against 3+ armor.

EML frag mode has ap-1. So it's a lot better vs infantry - it is however - more expensive than a bright lance. Reaper exarchs however - can take an EML and don't have the option for bright lance - those are auto include.

 argonak wrote:
At least for guard, I think missile launchers should be 15 points, or they need a +1 versus flyers.

Oh and autocannons should be 12 points max.

Agreed on both accounts. I've been running GL + ML infantry squads for fluff purposes and while the GL is next to worthless, the ML is terribly unreliable with krak missiles. Thankfully I play power levels so it's not too bad, but still at this point I'm wondering what the point of MLs for the Guard is. If you're fighting hordes, might as well take the mortar or HB for reliable numbers.

Wounding T8 less isn't a big deal, because so few things are T8 that it doesn't matter.

As someone who goes up against tyrnaid most of the time ML are hands down a great choice. Wounding MC's on 3's , but also able to throw a ton at genestealers or gaunts if they get close, the flexibility is invaluable.

Having said that, vs Marines or IG I prefer Las cannons. Those tanks have got to go. Lol.

So it's a matter of what your fighting really.

I'm rarely disappointed by my two Missile Launcher Devastator Squads since I never know what I am facing when I show up to the store. The ability to fire Frag Missiles (and I keep a Captain nearby) to clear out hordes, or against thing like Harlequins, Genestealers and Lesser Daemons that all have an invul, I want as many shots as possible to force saves.

Although the number of shots is random, it still has better range then a Heavy Bolter, and more often than not, I end up with more shots then if I had taken four Heavy Bolters.

Could just be my meta, but most juicy big targets I point them at seems to have an invul anyways, so I am not losing much. I haven't faced a Land Raider this edition yet, but I am still confident in the ability for my Missile Launchers to handle it. And, they look far less threatening that Lascannons. A few opponents have overlooked them and shot at something else since they were "just missile launchers".

Flex option for TAC

Albeit, on a lean mean list blending machine, you want las cannons while razorbacks spitting 12 str6 -1 shots are your Anti infantry.

 Xenomancers wrote:

BrainCandy wrote:
You guys are looking at it from the Imperial perspective. As an Eldar player, there are a number of great reasons to take ML's and I put them on all my Wave Serpents and usually in my Guardian Squads as well. The str 8 on a ML is not a big loss as the Eldar Bright Lance is also Str 8. The Bright Lance is -4 but as a previous poster pointed out, so many things have a 5++ that it's not such a big deal. The Eldar ML is also range 48" compared to 36" on a Bright Lance. Lastly, the frag missile equivalent of the Eldar ML is str 4 -1, making it good enough to work against 3+ armor.

EML frag mode has ap-1. So it's a lot better vs infantry - it is however - more expensive than a bright lance. Reaper exarchs however - can take an EML and don't have the option for bright lance - those are auto include.

I said it was ap -1. The EML is 5 points more than a Bright Lance, but I view the extra range and added anti horde ability to be well worth it.

 Xenomancers wrote:
at the current cost - 0 reason to take ML over las cannon. In every army - you are going to have something a las cannon is good against. If not - you are already screwed if you have ML anyways.

Dark eldar vehicles are T5 and T6, the mostrous creatures could be T7 at most. Missile launchers are quite good against them since lascannons don't cause much more damage than missiles and the frag option can be useful against T3 models.

Orks without BWs or naughts are on the same spot, missile launchers compete with lascannons in terms of damage inflicted but the frag option could make them more useful. I think tyranids could be another good example.

I still prefer lascannons or plasma cannons since I run SW and I have tons of anti infantry in my list anyway. Heavy bolters are something that have 0 reason to take them.

Guilliman+gunline of Missile Launcher Devastators;

Nothing survives that alpha strike, be it hordes or vehicles.

So yes, Missile Launchers are good - even if you didn't do that, they're super versatile and good; as a Xenos player they're amazing.

For Guard, you are probably using the Krak Version every time to deal with enemy armour if you didnt bring Lascannons. Thus, the Lascannon will be beter.

And even if you have enough anti-tank in your list and still want to use missile launchers, id rather bring two heavy bolters as anti-horde.

The only way they are superior to Lascannons is if your opponent has brought 0 to no armour. In that case the Lascannons are wasted and the missile launcher can still do something. Though i think a mix of lascannons, heavy bolters and mortars will still be a lot better to deal with everh threat then only missile launchers.

I like the versatility. Lascannons are better against targets that Lascannons are designed to take down, but Missile Launchers have been good because they're flexible. I've had some success with the Flakk Missile against fliers too, so the new stratagem is helpful as well.

I use missile launchers in my vet infantry squads with 3 plasma guns. I keep an officer nearby so they can re-roll 1s to hit enabling me to super charge my plasma relatively risk free. I find the S8 of the Krak missile complements the plasma nicely and the option of a frag is always good so I can either fire the krak at a vehicle whilst the rest of the squad shoots at infantry or I can switch to frag and fire everything at the infantry. In one game I took out a rhino and a tactical squad with one vet squad this way. They later went on to be mulched by vanguard vets but such is life.

Whats wierd to me, and maybe someone can show me that Im wrong, but after doing the math it looks like a Grav-Cannon is better than a Lascannon at killing vehicles, and better than a Missile Launcher at killing hordes, while obviously being much better than either at killing elite troops. All for 3 points more, but at half the range.

Its made me reconsider missile launchers entirely.

My CSM list uses multiple units of ML havocs, and my SM list uses typhoon missiles, and in every game I end up using both weapon profiles. After shooting down multiple tanks, I always switch to d6 shots per gun for anti infantry at some point. Missile launchers are the perfect TAC heavy weapon.

Plus don't forget that you can use the flak stratagem if you find your opponent brought some air units to great effect. Missile launchers are just great if you don't know what you are facing.