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As the title suggests I’m looking for the most durable army I can build for ITC. I really enjoy something that does a lot of not dying. When the imperial knights codex came out I played a lot of 4 knights and rusty 17 with the knights as taranis and that was a lot of fun because it took a lot to remove them but it just feels like they aren’t as durable as they used to be. So I’m looking to try something new. I prefer to stay away from Forgeworld stuff if possible.

Armies not dying is like trying to fight entropy - the best you can do is break even, but only on a really cold day (and it never gets that cold).

The toughest army in the game to remove individual models from the board are Knights. There is nothing that's tougher on an individual level. On an army-wide level, Iron Hands with lots of Intercessors and Chief Apothecary is really really really hard to remove from the board before the end of the game, but you'll still lose individual models over the course of the game. Custodes are an army of T5 or 6, 2+ save with 4+ Inv and multiple wounds (and have a banner that gives -1 to being hit), so again, very hard to remove individual models, but they're so model lite that you can actually lose your army by the end of the game.

I suppose you could get 500+ gretchin in a 2000pts army. Give em the 6++ detachment and throw in a warboss for the moral autopass and a painboy for a 6+++ Sure models will die but you'll have more. You'll always have more.

There are some Nid armies that have reported suckess with just floooooooding the board with 6++ gaunts (blood of baal trait) with T8 creatures as synapse along with the new malaseptor stratagem. They have had some suckess. I do not know more then that though. But those armies are about outlasting the damage by just having to many bodies on the board. Very booring as it does very little.

Any infantry army of 200+ models assuming you can play fast enough

On a not really serious note something that could be hilarious and rather sturdy:

IG:
3 Primaris Psykers (Nightshroud, Psychic Barrier, mental fortitude) - 138 Points
AND/OR 3 Astropaths (laspistols, Nightshroud, Psychic Barrier, mental fortitude) - 45 points (?, not sure with the price tag at the moment)
3x Ogryn Bodyguard (Bullgryn Plate, Slab shield, Ripper gun) - 150 points
3 x 9 Bullgryns (Slab shield, Bullgryn maul) - 42 x 27 = 1134 points
3 x Command Squad (Medipack) => 87 points
Use the rest of the points for Commissars, Commanders and Infantrysquads to fullfill the requirements for the 3 Command Squads and detachments

=> that's a loooot of T5, W3-6, Sv 2+ models running around, further buffed by defensive Psykers (that are protected by the Bodyguards) and potentially brought back from death by the medipacks.
It's definitly not very competetive but very sturdy and even - Kind of - fluffy. Unleash the Abhumans Mwhaahahahaha

I'd say that Necrons should be up there, but where do Tau Shield Drones stand?

 carldooley wrote:
I'd say that Necrons should be up there, but where do Tau Shield Drones stand?

Lol, we haven't been durable in a long time.

 carldooley wrote:
I'd say that Necrons should be up there, but where do Tau Shield Drones stand?

Key word is 'should' be. But we're currently, really, really squishy against a competent opponent.

There's some interesting suggestions in here, however this particular edition, especially at this point in its lifecycle, is far more heavily balanced towards killing power than resiliency, and in general GW has mostly gone out of their way to make some of the more stupendously unkillable things of previous editions impossible to recreate, and the things that slip by get errata'd faster than the things that tend to be overly killy.

I don't think there's a singular good path to resiliency either anymore. Some armies are durable through invuls or toughness, others through raw numbers, and some through hit modifiers, and there's varying different hardcounters to each.

Knights & Custodes are still a good option, some Guard lists with lots of T8 tanks and psychic support can be, Eldar armies that stack to-hit modifiers can be another good option, etc, but I'm not sure any one is better than the others.

Cheap T8 is still strong, because of how AP is priced, and how risky bringing AP at all is.

Valorous heart sisters are pretty durable. Well you will be removing models but you will have plenty left. Getting tabled is pretty hard with them though not impossible. 8th ed is game of alpha strike generally.

I hate to say it but with the newer rules tending to result in a lot of MW here and MW there for minimal cost, I'd have to go Iron hands with infantry bubble of stacking as many defensive strategums and buffs as you can, they also have a reasonable offensive output to whittle down the opponents damage potential turn by turn.

While I'm not familiar with the ITC meta myself, Nurgle Daemons are surprisingly durable for their points. But the problem is, unless your durable army is dishing out damage to the opponents army, you are less likely to finish your rounds on time.

I think Tau are probably still one of the mose durable armies in the game.

Well, as said, a lot of high toughness models can form a durable army.
But such an army is often outnumbered and so needs some kind of flesh.

Then you might want DE Coven. Prophets of Flesh or Artists of the Flesh (One gives you +1 to invuls, the other gives -1D taken to a minimum of 1),

All Coven start with a 5+_ Invul, their HQ gives a +1T aura, and they all have a 6+++ FnP

Grotesques, Talos, Cronos, all are perfectly fine (Tho Cronos are the worst of the 3 for sure).

Grotesques are 4 wounds, T5 (T6 near HQ), These are your big melee infantry, they are elites, but can be taken in 10mans.

Talos are 7 wounds, 3+ sv, Fly, anti tank guns, anti high toughness melee

Cronos are support version of Talos and all 3 of their weapons has "wound on a 6+ is D3", their 2 guns are Str 3, -2ap, Melee is Str 5 -1, 1D. So you see its not as good with low strength (but high Ap guns and could be D3).

Prophets of flesh grotesques and Talos led by Urien.
Two wraithseers plus the Yncarne in a supreme command exploiting the Ynarri relics and warlord traits to make the seers really tough.
Three Alaitoc crimson hunter exarchs with the evade exarch power in an airwing.
A real hodgpodge of an army but damn tough!