Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

From what I've read, it seems that starcannons are a popular choice among Eldar players (I have an Eldar army but I'm a n00b really).

What is so good about them, exactly? To me it seems like they're too weak to reliably hurt vehicles and the damage is too random to reliably kill elite/heavy infantry.

Am I missing something? What makes them good?

They synergize terrifyingly well with Expert Crafters and other sources of rerolls.

Solid weight of fire, good AP, high enough strength to threaten everything on the table, and excellent range.

Not an eldar player myself but starcannons are the near perfect statline for killing the multi-wound primaris armies that are dominating currently.

Stated with such clarity based on couple of 9th GT's that have gone ahead. Its too early to claim clarity on what is dominating.

It's more their flexibility and a good price. They put in decent work against everything other than chaff where they lack shots. Their middling strength is offset by crafter rerolls or doom and their ap is good enough for all but the heaviest armour. Flat 2 damage would be amazing but they're a very solid statline regardless.

Also if you doom a vehicle with T7/8, they are decent at hurting vehicles too.

 kingheff wrote:
It's more their flexibility and a good price. They put in decent work against everything other than chaff where they lack shots. Their middling strength is offset by crafter rerolls or doom and their ap is good enough for all but the heaviest armour. Flat 2 damage would be amazing but they're a very solid statline regardless.

what they done said, a lone Starcannon is a bit mehh but much like DE Dizzies they tend to show up in batches of 2-6 which along with dern dirty elf tricks ( guide, doom, crafters ) makes them very reliable

Great at killing Primaris and their equivalents with relative ease (you're killing marines most of the time) when combo'd with Expert Crafters and Masterful Shots craftworld attributes.

Removing cover and getting rerolls on those high AP weapons are great and their points costs is better than that of the AML and bright lance.

Current lists for pure Craftworlds consists of how many starcannons you can shove in for the most killing power. Also, please ignore the comment regarding 9th tournaments, the meta is still space marines from 8th, so starcannons were the default then as well.

They're close to the ideal profile to kill increasingly common multiwound infantry.

Every day of the week. However I'm drowning in marines round these parts.

I really wanted to like them but found them lacklustre in 8th on vypers, serpents, war walkers and wraithlords. They fire only two shots, they're hard to bring in large numbers because their platforms are expensive and if they do manage to get past their target's defenses then they have another chance to whiff with the d3 damage roll.

I'm happy to be wrong though (I may just not have taken enough simultaneously to really see them shine). They should also perform better now vehicles no longer take a -1 to hit when moving.

Mostly because they are, unfortunately, the best weapon eldar has. Which says a lot really.

Cos after you get past the (usually) 50/50 hit, and the 60/40 wound, and then the 65/35 invuln most common targets of these would have (unless you're literally just shooting at naked troops), and then most likely any prime targets will have another 65/35 fnp...

You still have a 1 in 3 chance of totally wasting that shot by rolling a 1 for damage.

If they were flat D2, they would be worth their points, maybe. They're very expensive because you have to buy the platform you out it on.

As it is, they're just the best option available. But mostly if you need to kill primaris you're better off with other stuff. I'd have to check but I think the same points of shuriken catapults ends up more efficient.

To kill a single primaris marine you need an average 12 shots of shuriken/avenget catapults at bs 3+

2÷(2/3 × 1/6 × 5/6 + 2/3 × 1/3 × 1/3)=2 ÷ 9/54=12

On the other hand starcannons:

2÷(2/3 × 2/3 × 5/6 × 5/6) = 2 ÷ 25/81 = 5,7

How does that add up pointswise? The cheapest options for either are guardians and warwalkers respectuvely if i'm not mistaken. Thats 5 pts per shot for the guardians and 17,5 pts per shot for the war walkers.
This leaves mobility, range and defensive stats totally out of the picture though, where arguably war walkers with starcannons are by far better than guardians.

Apples and oranges really, star cannons are good all rounders that excel at killing heavy infantry, shuriken excel at killing chaff but can do real work with support against elites.

If you play Beil-Tan like I do, Shurikens can def help with the re roll 1's all the time. Use guide on a group of warwalkers with dual starcannon's and doom a high toughness target and they will certainly make a dent. 6 warwalkers with dual starcannons for 420 points is also a pretty enticing deal if you ask me.

Well, starcannons are worth against Primaris Marines and all models with two wounds.
But they are wasted against horde units.
Moreover, these precious weapons are not ideal against vehicles and monsters, since they can hardly be spammed among an army.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, starcannons are worth against Primaris Marines and all models with two wounds.
But they are wasted against horde units.
Moreover, these precious weapons are not ideal against vehicles and monsters, since they can hardly be spammed among an army.

With how good Vypers and Walkers are in the current state of the game i'd argue they are spammable if one wants to. 6 War Walkers with 12 Starcannons is just 420 points, that still leaves other more specialized weapons open as well as some psychic support. Starcannons also fit on Falcons and Serpents, add a CTM and off you go. Keeping transports cheap is a solid argument, but a 10 pts weapon upgrade on a 160 pts tank is not out of the question for me.

I think most competitive players of craftworlds have moved to star cannon spam as it's the best we have. Doesn't quite match the top factions but it's still a pretty strong build because of the availability of psychihc buffs like doom.