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How do Necrons deal with flyers?

AB gets 4 twin linked shots but snap shots and strength 7 isn't great against AV12. Even if you use Scythes, you still have to roll 6's to pen. Not sure Crons have an effective way to deal with flyers.

With ABs against fliers, your aim isn't to pen, it's to send up enough shots to simply rip off hull points; a penetrating hit is simply icing on the cake.

Every hit has a 33% chance of tearing a hull point off an AV12 flier, and since every hit also generates a further 2, you're seeing each hit statistically = 1 lost hull point. An AB might not easily be able to bring down a flier in a single turn of shooting, but it can cripple it, and even 1 hit with the tesla destructor almost puts it on par with the Quad-Gun for AA.

I've always looked at it like this:
-roll a D6 eight times.
-what are the odds one of those rolls will result in a 6?
-when a Tesla destructor rolls a 6, what happens?
(translation: Annihilation Barges are good against flyers)

Is this a serious question? Or have you just not actually ever played a Necron list? Necrons are almost certainly the strongest anti air army in the game by quite some margin. Other armies have to rely on other fliers or the Quad Gun, Necrons actually have very solid ground to air ability. 3 Barges is the default Heavy Support loadout for Necrons because they are cheap and insanely effective. 4 Tesla shots with re-rolls will usually get 3 or 6 hits against a flier, so even snap firing a single Barge is almost guaranteed to wreck an AV10 flier, cripple a AV11 flier and do a reasonable chunk of damage to an AV12 flier. If you get lucky and get 3 or even 4 6's to hit (with re-rolls its not that unlikely) then you end up with 9 or 12 S7 shots, which just crushes fliers. If you get them Skyfire (in Big Guns) then they hurt even more.

That doesn't even take into consideration the rest of the army. Considering almost every Necron list is going to be running 2-3 Night Scythes (as they are amazing for keeping troops alive if nothing else) you also have another 3 or so Tesla Destructors which will have Skyfire. Its rare to see more than 3 fliers in most armies and Necrons usually handle that no problem. Lists with more than 3 fliers tend to be running AV11 ones which are much less of a problem.

I agree with the previous comments : I played against many necron players, and playing flyers againt them is really hard : lots of S6 weapons.

What army did you use against them?

Twin-linked Telsa destructor hits on 6's with re-rolls. That's ~30% of the shots hit, and each hit results in 2 bonus hits.
That means with 4 shots, you're averaging ~3 hits.

With 3 hits at S7, each AB is about as good as a Quadgun.
The quadgun will reliably get fewer hits, where as the barge could do more if lucky, it's also more likely to do nothing at all.

-Matt

While difficult, it is possible to get Night Scythes or Doom Scythes behind Hel Drakes and Valkyries/Vendettas. Str 7 on rear of 10 is pretty much guaranteed penetrating hits.

As for Storm Ravens, just go with the Annihilation Barge.

Powerguy wrote:
Is this a serious question? Or have you just not actually ever played a Necron list? Necrons are almost certainly the strongest anti air army in the game by quite some margin

Tell that to the Imperial Guard.

3 vendettas will beat 3 Nightscythes more often then not and the Nightscyhthes are more expensive because of the troop tax you have to pay to get one.

A single Nightscythe will struggle with bringing down a single vendetta, while a single vendetta will not struggle as much to bring down a single Nightscythe.

The op asked a legitimate question.

The best I can do is have Zahndrekh on the board to give a Nightscythe or annihilation barge tank hunter. That will give it the best chance to drop a single Vendetta. Then have two scythes gang up on a second vendetta. This is predicated on going second to have the vendettas on the board first to get the shot off on them.

 TheCaptain wrote:

Powerguy wrote:
Is this a serious question? Or have you just not actually ever played a Necron list? Necrons are almost certainly the strongest anti air army in the game by quite some margin

Tell that to the Imperial Guard.

In top tier competitive play Necrons are still better, 2-3 Night Scythes and 3 Annihilation Barges (i.e what is seen in every Wraithwing list) is much better anti air than 3 Vendettas. Guard CAN get better anti air, but no one runs Hydras and its very rare to see more than 3 Vendettas because they have to be squadroned.

Powerguy wrote:

 TheCaptain wrote:

Powerguy wrote:
Is this a serious question? Or have you just not actually ever played a Necron list? Necrons are almost certainly the strongest anti air army in the game by quite some margin

Tell that to the Imperial Guard.

In top tier competitive play Necrons are still better, 2-3 Night Scythes and 3 Annihilation Barges (i.e what is seen in every Wraithwing list) is much better anti air than 3 Vendettas. Guard CAN get better anti air, but no one runs Hydras and its very rare to see more than 3 Vendettas because they have to be squadroned.

I agree. I love how one person said "troop tax". You do realize this is an objective based game? 5+ troops choices are almost mandatory for a well-built list. Cheap Scythes + cheap Barges give Crons the best overall anti-air.

I was going to say I think being able to take flyers as a dedicated transport and those flyers are sure to keep those troops choices safe as long as they stay inside is a tax I would gladly pay.

Necrons dont care about the opponents flyers tbh... even AV12 is not a problem you still glance on a 5+ and that is all you need, the rest is volume of shots... think that even normal warriors will glance everthing flying on 6+/

I've shot down flyers (and a FMC) before with nothing more than a squad of warriors. Not easy but 20 rapid-firing-glancing-on-sixes dudes can rip off a hull point or two. I caused a Daemon Prince to fall from the sky, take a wound and then assaulted him with a squad of wraiths...pretty funny stuff.

But yeah almost every gun in the necron codex can deal with flyers...

Necrons have the uncanny ability to deal with any unit with an AV in the game thanks to the gauss rule. Essentially poison (6+) for vehicles, they treat enemy tanks, skimmers, flyers, and walkers much in the same capacity that Dark Eldar treat anything with a toughness characteristic.

The benefit to necrons, however, is their basic weapons can also wound infantry as well. Also vehicles typically do not have a save, so every 6+ rolled is usually an automatic "wound" on a vehicle (of course unless it has "Jink" or evades or an invulnerable save).