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With the release of Chapter Approved, I wanted to see what people's thoughts were regarding the viability of Necrons in the competitive scene. Here are my thoughts:

Stand out units: DDA, Wraiths, Destroyers, Immortals (Tesla), Warriors, Seraphtek. All of these options got cheaper and are still really good. Everyone and their uncle took DDA and they got 33 pts cheaper...so expect to see a lot more of them, which is good because they can handle a good amount of shooting with QS. Wraiths especially are the best CC unit point for point, given that they move 12", can advance and charge for 1CP, and have a 3+ invulnerable save. Warriros and Immortals are the bread and butter of most armies and they just got cheaper, so cool. Seraphtek really adds some interesting options as well, being the fastest knight-class model with the most attacks (Though it does cost more than a Castellan)

Disappointing Units: Flayed Ones, Triarch Praetorians, Tomb Spyder. Flayed Ones, point for point, are worse than wraiths for an attacking unit. Yes, they have a good amount of attacks, but at S4 (with rerolls on wounds!) and ONLY SPEED 5 they will probably die before they get a chance to do anything. With three flayed ones roughly equaling a wraith, and flayed ones being elites rather than fast attack or troops, you almost always want to take wraiths instead for the competitive scene. Some arguments I think can be made for Triarch Praetorians cause they are flying infantry that can have good buffs, but no dynasty really hurts them. Tomb Spyders are still overcosted for what they do (as other people in the tactics have talked about) and should probably be in the elites slot so there is a cheaper elite choice.

Best Matchups: Tyranids, Tau (Half of the builds), AM, SM, CSM (Magnus/Morty and Plaguebearer Smite Spam Specifically), Orks (Half of the lists). In general, we have a good chance of holding our own against these armies. Our WBB and overall durability can hold up against smite spam and other popular shooting lists (as long as you take enough units, which we can do now with cheaper units). We also have more points for more CC units or countercharge units, which really helps.

Worst Matchups: Imperial Soup, Eldar Soup, Knights (Specifically 1 Castellan/Lancer). Putting it out there, these are our biggest hurdles. Soups are the most difficult because Imperium and Eldar have so many, nearly unrestricted, options to choose from. Additionally, we simply struggle against any list that has one knight with a base 4+ save. Because they can rotate ion shields to become a 3+ invulnerable save on a T8, 28 wound model, it creates a lot of problems for us, namely that there's a decent chance we don't do enough damage. In addition, both the Castellan and the Lancer create unique problems for us. The Castellan just simply outshoots us, period. The lancer always has a 3+ invulnerable save with 1CP each time and can charge us easily to tie us in combat. I don't think we are out of the game yet against these lists. With the decrease in points, we can fit more wraiths in a list to tie up the knights in CC. The Castellan only has a 4+ WS, so it does not want to stay in combat. Additionally, the Seraphtek has major game into knights (if it can survive long enough) given that it is faster and has more attacks, with a killer shooting attack to boot.

What are your thoughts?

The seraptek monstrosity is not stand out, its disappointing. Bad defense, over costed. 16" move looks good, but terrain is its worst enemy. It can barely move over an imperial container. Its so huge it may not fit somewhere if there is a lot of terrain on the table. I doubt it will be seen on tournaments. It probably wont survive first turn.

Wraith arent so good as you might think. Yes, they have a 3+ inv, can move 12", advance and charge with a stratagem. But you will only ignore terrain and models in the movement phase. And they arent infantry, they cant move through walls like infantry can do. Which means they have to get inside a ruin first (which probably takes them another turn), then they must charge units on the first or second floor, and if there isnt any place to put them they cant charge. They are vulnerable to smite spam and death hex, or similiar psychic powers.

I agree with you on DDA, destroyers, tesla immortals. Warriors got 1 point cheaper, but i dont think it makes them a more viable unit.

The slowness of some necron units doesnt really matter. If you use the zahndrekh/obyron combo you can get a unit within 3" of the enemy and pretty much have an automatic charge. All you need to do is veil zahndrekh somewhere, or redeploy him with the deceiver, then ghostwalk obyron with a unit next to zahndrekh. Downside is the point tax of them, and you are limited to sautekh, which doesnt help melee units like flayed ones, lychguard, praetorians.

The zahn/Oberon combo is very good the only problem is our infantry suck if you plan to assault some thing. Lychguard are absolute pants.

 p5freak wrote:
The seraptek monstrosity is not stand out, its disappointing. Bad defense, over costed. 16" move looks good, but terrain is its worst enemy. It can barely move over an imperial container. Its so huge it may not fit somewhere if there is a lot of terrain on the table. I doubt it will be seen on tournaments. It probably wont survive first turn.

Wraith arent so good as you might think. Yes, they have a 3+ inv, can move 12", advance and charge with a stratagem. But you will only ignore terrain and models in the movement phase. And they arent infantry, they cant move through walls like infantry can do. Which means they have to get inside a ruin first (which probably takes them another turn), then they must charge units on the first or second floor, and if there isnt any place to put them they cant charge. They are vulnerable to smite spam and death hex, or similiar psychic powers.

I agree with you on DDA, destroyers, tesla immortals. Warriors got 1 point cheaper, but i dont think it makes them a more viable unit.

The slowness of some necron units doesnt really matter. If you use the zahndrekh/obyron combo you can get a unit within 3" of the enemy and pretty much have an automatic charge. All you need to do is veil zahndrekh somewhere, or redeploy him with the deceiver, then ghostwalk obyron with a unit next to zahndrekh. Downside is the point tax of them, and you are limited to sautekh, which doesnt help melee units like flayed ones, lychguard, praetorians.

Sorry to be Pedantic but Wraiths could still move through walls in the movement phase! Go Nephrek and move them 18" through some ruins, pop the stratagem and charge whatever is inside!

11 pt warriors are still quite nice, it really makes them not half bad. 220 pts for a nice anti-infantry blob to hold objectives isn't the worst.

DudleyGrim wrote:

Sorry to be Pedantic but Wraiths could still move through walls in the movement phase!

Thats what i said.

DudleyGrim wrote:

Go Nephrek and move them 18" through some ruins, pop the stratagem and charge whatever is inside!

You can do that, but if those 18" are not enough to get them into the ruin you have to wait another turn, or roll a lucky 10+ in the charge phase, to get to the second floor where your targets are.