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Which Leman Russes are most effective and which should be avoided?

The classic Battlecannon is the best overall. The Executioner has the highest potential damage output, but does have a shorter range and can hurt itself. The Punisher is a fantastic muppet mower.

The Eradicator is basically a Battle Cannon Russ, but worse in literally every way except that it ignores cover. The Exterminator largely ends up the same way, it's less variable but is otherwise worse in every way than a Battlecannon (including average damage output). The Vanquisher is simply broken, in the sense that it's fundamentally not functional at what it ostensibly is purpose designed for and is sadly a god awful tank hunter. The Demolisher looks nice on paper sometimes, but the short range and low number of shots against single model targets make it hard to like relative to a Battlecannon but is more useable than any of the above.

The FW Conqueror is a good BC alternative, and the FW Annihilator is a very functional tank hunter, though neither can be command tanks.

This is was discussed in a post yesterday, titled "the state of AM tanks or something like that".

Any type except the autocannon one and the vanquisher is way better than any other tank in the game. Dirt cheap, packs a punch and almost as tough as land raiders. You cant go wrong with leman russes as long as you can protect them with screening. Their one weakness is getting tied up in melee

Oh yeah the anti cover leman russ is kinda bad too

 Vaktathi wrote:
The Vanquisher is simply broken, in the sense that it's fundamentally not functional at what it ostensibly is purpose designed for and is sadly a god awful tank hunter.

I honestly consider the Hammer of Sunderance the defacto Vanquisher cannon these days. It is a pretty decent AT gun, and the limited availability really fits with how Vanquishers are presented in the fluff. They would often be reserved to just the higher ranks in the armoured forces, as they are very rare and hard to acquire. At least that is how I use the FW Vanquisher I own, it is too nice a model to be shelved.

 Vaktathi wrote:
The Demolisher looks nice on paper sometimes, but the short range and low number of shots against single model targets make it hard to like relative to a Battlecannon but is more useable than any of the above.

Disagree here. Single model targets means tough targets with lots of wounds, and the demolisher's D3 shots and D6 damage is exactly equivalent to the LRBT's D6 shots and D3 damage. Except the demolisher has better strength and AP, both very relevant against single model targets. It only falls short against things like the last tactical marine out of a squad, but are you really going to waste a LRBT;s shooting against such a weak target? And of course against almost anything with a weak enough stat line for the demolisher's advantages to no longer matter the demolisher is also rolling D6 shots because those come in 5+ model units. The only significant drawback is that the lack of range limits your target priority choices a bit, but 30" threat range isn't terrible.

See i was thinking the Demolisher is actually not quite as bad as it seems. The D3 shots to small units or single targets is meh, but the fact you can fire it twice and on the move with out negative modifiers makes it pretty good to me adding in the AP and D6 damage. I'd find the 1D3 shots actually pretty nice. I haven't tried it much as I tend to run the standard russ for long range and punishers for close lately but still doesn't seem bad.