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So there I was, in the wilds of eBay, thinking, 'I'll get me a Destroyer Lord to go with my Canoptek Wraiths!' Well would you look at that, a cheap destroyer lord listing. It comes with some other stuff? Go for it!

So yeah, without thinking too much about it, I am now also the proud(?) owner of five Necron Destroyers. Looking at the Codex, they seem to have some nice things, and some bad things (I've mostly ignored them before now, and have never faced them in combat). I like their AP3, their mobility, and their T5, and I'm iffy about their 1 wound (vs. Wraiths), and their high cost.

How have you all used Necron Destroyers? Are they a good flanking force? Just overcosted? Should I just convert some of them to Heavy Destroyers and have some Jump-packing Lascannons?

I use them as jump packing lascannon allies for my Orks. Worked pretty well sofar

Overcosted? Does any sane person actually believe that?

If it weren't for Wraiths, they'd be the only Fast Attack unit taken by Necrons.

Run them up a side to cut down on incoming fire, steamroll that side.

Toughness 5 jump infantry with Preferred Enemy Everything, S5 AP3 Assault 2 Gauss weapons, and you can't find any use for them????

Do you only play against Orks and Deathwing?

Meh. I find them to be highly overpriced. Their guns are too short ranged and they go down to small arms fire WAAAY to easily for their Termie price tag.

 ImotekhTheStormlord wrote:
Meh. I find them to be highly overpriced. Their guns are too short ranged and they go down to small arms fire WAAAY to easily for their Termie price tag.

Their guns have an effective range of 36". They're also more resilient than Terminators to small arms.

I'd be highly interested in what people think about this too. I have five destroyers myself and find that often times they get bursted down pretty easily, even when I manage to park them in cover. But perhaps that's just my bad positioning. Do you think it's best to take them in two squads of 4-5, just for redundancy's sake? How do you guys build around them? Foot sloggering warriors or immortals with a little Heavy Destroyer support?

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 ImotekhTheStormlord wrote:
Meh. I find them to be highly overpriced. Their guns are too short ranged and they go down to small arms fire WAAAY to easily for their Termie price tag.

Their guns have an effective range of 36". They're also more resilient than Terminators to small arms.

^^ This. T5 3+ RP 5+ is superior to Terms T4 2+, and the RP 5+ with 5+ covers save is superior to Terms 5++. So they are superior to Terms in resiliency, and have jump packs, and shoot Preferred Enemy S5 AP 3 Assault 2s instead of S4 AP 5 Assault 2s. So, they are basically superior to Terms in every single way except CC.

There is no better anti-MEQ unit in the codex.
I don't run Heavies, though. Two Destruc-teks usually fill the same role more effectively for cheaper (plus, when they roll a 6, I can snipe Power Fists out of squads).

My minor gripe with Destroyers is a fluff based one: if those guys are supposed to be such insane self-customization junkies, constantly upgrading themselves by replacing arms/legs/eyes/etc. with better equipment, why, with all the amazing weapons available in the codex, do they only have two options?
Are you telling me these guys wouldn't want to carry Tesla Cannons or Particle Beamers? Hell, if anything, THEY should have been the ones given Transdimensional Beamers, not Wraiths (maybe then that weapon option would actually be useful).
Here's hoping FW includes some sort of Destroyer upgrade rules in IA12... yeah, no chance.

I've ran a destroyers a lot in 6th and can be totally awesome in some games but if you get a bad match up they can be taken down fast. I got a few battle reports below with my destroyer wing. See my signature for a link to my youtube account. Check out videos 10 and 11

Heavy Destroyers are an auto include in my Necron lists. They bring a range that isn't really found in the rest of the army with an impressive effective range of 48". I also find more often than not that even though they can shred most vehicles, my opponent never focuses on them. Destroyers being rushed up along side a wraith squad lead by a Destroyer Lord are more than easily over shadowed.

I stand by Destroyers as being one of the best MEQ killers you can find.

I run a very heavy Destroyer list with wraiths. Take 5 Destroyers 3 Gause Cannons, 2 Heavy Guase Cannons and a squad of wraiths and the back up your Destroyers with Destroyer Lord, Annihilation Barge and a Triarch Stalker(shoot at everything the stalker shoots at) ....talk about nasty and on the other side of the board push 3 units of 20 warriors each and a couple of units of immortals(if you want) backed up by a doomsday cannon, it makes for a miserable day for your opponent. This tends to be a high pt list but a very durable one.

Alright, so if we think of Destroyers as basically Jump-pack Shooty Terminators that are actually shooty instead of choppy, then I see how we can get good use out of them. Running them up a flank while something else distracts the enemy seems nice (well hello there wraiths). My only problem with the AP3 gun is that, while AP3 always jumps out as a 'Kill MEQ!' button, most of the time the MEQs will be in cover, making the gun not that much better than a regular gun. The low number of shots per gun is also a potential problem.

These guys can also Deep Strike, can't they? Is there any conceivable reason to Deep Strike them? Their main survivability is their mobility to keep away from mass short-ranged fire, and Deep Striking them would give up that advantage.

I like the idea of these being support for A-Barges, but only if you have Wraiths pushing up to take incoming fire. If Destroyers get focused on, they just die. Wraiths make it so they never get focused on (at least until the Wraiths die). I have run them with the Heavy upgrade, but with a few regular ones up front as bullet catchers. They are expensive bullet catchers, but I find they work. Plus, it lets you engage units that can't be taken out with Telsa Destructor weight of fire (like land raiders and russes), and in a pinch, can damage flyers (considering preferred enemy) and can actually explode them. They get even better when old Zahndrek gives them tank hunters.

 Thariinye wrote:
most of the time the MEQs will be in cover, making the gun not that much better than a regular gun. problem.

That's a pretty ridiculous statement.

Even presuming the Marines were getting a 4+ save (incidentally, 4+ is always directional, and Destroyers are capable of circumventing directional cover), a Destroyer is almost five and a half times better at killing a Marine than another Marine is at 24" (pretty close to 3 times better at 12").

Five times better is not "not much better".

And if you want it in points ratios, using Dark Angels tactical marines, Destroyers are twice as good at killing Marines in that same scenario as an equal cost of Dark Angels Tactical bolter marines.

Destroyers are ALWAYS good at killing Marines. If those are T4 Marines without cover, Destroyers obliterate their unit.

 Thariinye wrote:
Alright, so if we think of Destroyers as basically Jump-pack Shooty Terminators that are actually shooty instead of choppy, then I see how we can get good use out of them. Running them up a flank while something else distracts the enemy seems nice (well hello there wraiths). My only problem with the AP3 gun is that, while AP3 always jumps out as a 'Kill MEQ!' button, most of the time the MEQs will be in cover, making the gun not that much better than a regular gun. The low number of shots per gun is also a potential problem.

These guys can also Deep Strike, can't they? Is there any conceivable reason to Deep Strike them? Their main survivability is their mobility to keep away from mass short-ranged fire, and Deep Striking them would give up that advantage.

Turning a MEQ's save from a 3+ to a 5+ in cover is still incredibly good, and that's assuming you can't cirumvent their cover with their quick manuverbility. PE means they are rerolling their 1's to hit and to wound, helps circumvent the low number of shots. They also have the Guass rule if you need to make a last ditch effort at some tanks or something.

I would never deepstrike them though, that's asking for trouble.