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Hey guys. This list is pretty self explanatory. So I won't say much about it - Here it is:

HQ: 525

Nemesor Zahndrekh – 185
DL + SW, MSS – 160

Royal Court – 2 x Lords, RO, MSS, WS - 180

Troops: 839

10 x Immortals (Gauss) – 170 + 100 Nightscythe.
10 x Immortals (Gauss) - 170 + 100 Nightscythe.
18 x Warriors - 234
5 x Warriors – 65

Fast attack: 205

5 x Wraiths + 3 WC – 205

Heavy Support: 180

2 x Annihilation Barges (Gauss Cannons) - 180

The lords will each be with an immortal squad and Zahndrekh with the warrior blob while the DL will be with the wraiths.

Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated.

Looks solid.

Only thing I'd question is the need for the Orb Lords with the Immortals. They are pretty tough as is, and will be protected by the nightscythe for a couple of turns.

That would free up another 180 points for something (more warriors, another wraith, another anni barge.)

You dont need those orblords, i dont like idea of foot troops its better to have more mobile troops, i personally prefere minimalistic squads in night scythes its good protection for troops itself, maybe it you want foot warriors ghost ark will help,it can boost survivability combined with orbs it you really want to play them.

And i think 1-2 coils is totally enough. Moreover i agree with Mark's suggestions

I get what you're saying about the lords. But I find if I get them in close and they get charged, they generally get slaughtered. So the lords are there primarily for their warscythes and MSS, and the res orb is just to boost survivability a little. So do you think I should drop the lords completely? Or just the actual orb from the lords?

Just a little worried about getting completely owned in CC if I just have the immortals.

I have to be blunt, if your aim is pure competitivity (like the title suggests), you can do a lot better. Necron have a very strong codex, but they are also cursed with very low variability (strong units are REALLY strong and need to be used in multiple choices, less strong units are much weaker than the first ones and should never be purchased if the aim is competitivity). Currently, there are just two lists that work, competitively speaking: a massive flyers list (5-6 scythes, with 5 warriors or death and despair units), or a triple-wraith list (15 to 18 wraiths and 2 DLs). This is why when choosing my next army i didn't choose them, even though some models are incredibly beautiful: the are quite boring to play... i know some people may not agree with me, but the truth (seeing what is used in every tournament i've been to, major ones included) is that only those two lists can be considered competitive.

Ahhh, the traditional necron problem. Yep, if you get into CC, you'll get owned. With immortals, it may take a couple of turns, but you will lose (safe bet).

The problem with adding a single lord is that
a) It really isn't going to make a lot of difference - sure you may pick out the character and own that (yay for MSS) but from a game perspective you are going to be tied up for a couple of turns.

b) He's a character. This is good because you can look out sir wounds to keep him alive, but bad because in a challenge he has only 1 wound and no invul save.

c) You can get crypteks which provide some level of CC defence cheaper.

The answer is don't get assaulted until you are ready - and have a counter assault unit ready (wraiths) in case you get assaulted when you don't want to. As you have the immortals in Scythes, you can be very precise when putting them down. If you want to stay out of assault range, change to Tesla (rapid fire is nice, but you have to get close).

I'm not making light of your concern but that's just part of playing necrons.

Keeping that in mind, smaller squads in Nightscythes mean that you can keep them safe until you need them. So, maybe think about going to 5 man squads and adding an extra scythe?

In the end it is how you like to play, so keep the lords if you feel it works for you.

Teschio wrote:
I have to be blunt, if your aim is pure competitivity (like the title suggests), you can do a lot better. Necron have a very strong codex, but they are also cursed with very low variability (strong units are REALLY strong and need to be used in multiple choices, less strong units are much weaker than the first ones and should never be purchased if the aim is competitivity). Currently, there are just two lists that work, competitively speaking: a massive flyers list (5-6 scythes, with 5 warriors or death and despair units), or a triple-wraith list (15 to 18 wraiths and 2 DLs). This is why when choosing my next army i didn't choose them, even though some models are incredibly beautiful: the are quite boring to play... i know some people may not agree with me, but the truth (seeing what is used in every tournament i've been to, major ones included) is that only those two lists can be considered competitive.

This is so false, its laughable, and a little embarrassing.

A large variety of lists have proven themselves as quite viable. AV 13 spam. Metal Tide. Scarab Farm. Etc.

The only reason you are seeing so many Night Scythe build in tournaments is because 6th edition is still fresh and Night Scythe is the new hotness. Absence of evidence isn't an evidence of absence.

And, any list with more then 4 Night Scythes is a joke with no board presence, and you have to fundamentally be bad at the game to lose to such a list.

Sorry. Just my experience from the hundred plus games I've played with Necrons, not too mention know most of the winning lists from both 5th and 6th edition.

ShadarLogoth wrote:

Teschio wrote:
I have to be blunt, if your aim is pure competitivity (like the title suggests), you can do a lot better. Necron have a very strong codex, but they are also cursed with very low variability (strong units are REALLY strong and need to be used in multiple choices, less strong units are much weaker than the first ones and should never be purchased if the aim is competitivity). Currently, there are just two lists that work, competitively speaking: a massive flyers list (5-6 scythes, with 5 warriors or death and despair units), or a triple-wraith list (15 to 18 wraiths and 2 DLs). This is why when choosing my next army i didn't choose them, even though some models are incredibly beautiful: the are quite boring to play... i know some people may not agree with me, but the truth (seeing what is used in every tournament i've been to, major ones included) is that only those two lists can be considered competitive.

This is so false, its laughable, and a little embarrassing.

A large variety of lists have proven themselves as quite viable. AV 13 spam. Metal Tide. Scarab Farm. Etc.

The only reason you are seeing so many Night Scythe build in tournaments is because 6th edition is still fresh and Night Scythe is the new hotness. Absence of evidence isn't an evidence of absence.

And, any list with more then 4 Night Scythes is a joke with no board presence, and you have to fundamentally be bad at the game to lose to such a list.

Sorry. Just my experience from the hundred plus games I've played with Necrons, not too mention know most of the winning lists from both 5th and 6th edition.

In the European meta (which is the one i know), try to look at all the Necron list in major tournements (and i mean ETC, the biggest in all of Europe), and you will see only those two lists, with the wraith one being the most used (but some 6-scythes list still exist and do well). I mean ONLY those two kinds of list, the variations are something along the lines of "ADL + comms instead of 2 wraiths", nothing more than that. I am not the greatest player in the world and i may be wrong, but maybe all the best players in Europe are not. And if they ALL use those two lists, there must be a reason. If other lists were competitive at the same level, they will be used. They are not. Not a single time. This is not "new hotness", this is thousands of games playes to find the best list, by excellent players. Necrons have one list that works well, mabe two (wraithwing is much more used than scythes spam). You can still do well with other stuff but it's not the best you can squeeze out of the codex.

Teschio wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:

Teschio wrote:
I have to be blunt, if your aim is pure competitivity (like the title suggests), you can do a lot better. Necron have a very strong codex, but they are also cursed with very low variability (strong units are REALLY strong and need to be used in multiple choices, less strong units are much weaker than the first ones and should never be purchased if the aim is competitivity). Currently, there are just two lists that work, competitively speaking: a massive flyers list (5-6 scythes, with 5 warriors or death and despair units), or a triple-wraith list (15 to 18 wraiths and 2 DLs). This is why when choosing my next army i didn't choose them, even though some models are incredibly beautiful: the are quite boring to play... i know some people may not agree with me, but the truth (seeing what is used in every tournament i've been to, major ones included) is that only those two lists can be considered competitive.

This is so false, its laughable, and a little embarrassing.

A large variety of lists have proven themselves as quite viable. AV 13 spam. Metal Tide. Scarab Farm. Etc.

The only reason you are seeing so many Night Scythe build in tournaments is because 6th edition is still fresh and Night Scythe is the new hotness. Absence of evidence isn't an evidence of absence.

And, any list with more then 4 Night Scythes is a joke with no board presence, and you have to fundamentally be bad at the game to lose to such a list.

Sorry. Just my experience from the hundred plus games I've played with Necrons, not too mention know most of the winning lists from both 5th and 6th edition.

In the European meta (which is the one i know), try to look at all the Necron list in major tournements (and i mean ETC, the biggest in all of Europe), and you will see only those two lists, with the wraith one being the most used (but some 6-scythes list still exist and do well). I mean ONLY those two kinds of list, the variations are something along the lines of "ADL + comms instead of 2 wraiths", nothing more than that. I am not the greatest player in the world and i may be wrong, but maybe all the best players in Europe are not. And if they ALL use those two lists, there must be a reason. If other lists were competitive at the same level, they will be used. They are not. Not a single time. This is not "new hotness", this is thousands of games playes to find the best list, by excellent players. Necrons have one list that works well, mabe two (wraithwing is much more used than scythes spam). You can still do well with other stuff but it's not the best you can squeeze out of the codex.

So, by implication, other codexes have multiple competitive lists then and don't suffer from low variability? Really? Say, Nid or GK players - they all bring different but competitive lists?

I'm now very glad I don't attend tournaments. Playing repetitive, spammed units doesn't sound like fun. Particularly as imho the Necron codex has MORE options than many other.

Every codex has many options. Most have a few good, extremely competitive options (relatively speaking: a competitive SM list won't be equal to a competitive Tau list. But you can get some decent lists out of the codex). Some, like Necrons, have one or two at most. This means, 1 or 2 lists are the best you can field, the rest can be strong, but they won't be the most competitive choice. Nids or GKs have low variability, but more than Necrons. Every single competitive Necron list (talking about the Wraith list here) differs from others, equally competitive lists no more than 5%. Sad but true.

Teschio wrote:
Every codex has many options. Most have a few good, extremely competitive options (relatively speaking: a competitive SM list won't be equal to a competitive Tau list. But you can get some decent lists out of the codex). Some, like Necrons, have one or two at most. This means, 1 or 2 lists are the best you can field, the rest can be strong, but they won't be the most competitive choice. Nids or GKs have low variability, but more than Necrons. Every single competitive Necron list (talking about the Wraith list here) differs from others, equally competitive lists no more than 5%. Sad but true.

First, if you think the ETC pool is an exhaustive measure of what is competitive or not, you are wrong. ETC has a variety on intricacies that are specific to ETC.

Second, we aren't even a year into 6th edition yet, and haven't finished the full tournament rotation. When 6th edition dropped, every single competitive Necron Players started with Cron Air and started adapting from their. Not because they absolutely knew it would be the best, but because, for obvious reasons, in THIS SEASON of tournaments Cron Air would have decided advantages over other Codexes. As more people get their 6th Edition Codex, the decided advantages of cron air diminish.


If you really think that these players have spent any meaningful time playing with any other list besides Cron Air, you are simply mistaken. I use an all foot Necron list and I have absolutely no trouble beating Cron Air. Its one of the least challenging lists I face. I also read all the highly competitive players blogs, and I know for a fact that since 6th edition dropped, EVERYONE is focusing on Cron Air.

That doesn't mean the other options aren't competitive. Can you honestly say you've seen a good player since 6th take a non cron air list to a tournament and do poorly? I bet you can't. Prior to 6th, they took non cron air lists to tournaments all the time. What change do you think 6th brought about to make those other lists worse? Nothing really, its just Cron Air got better. That doesn't mean the other options aren't competitive. It just means the current perception, which isn't based on actually tested evidence (because thats simply impossible, these people have real lives and jobs, and often play multiple different armies, you can't tell me that have played an exhaustive sample of each build), is that Cron Air gives you the easiest route to victory. And it IS doing well. So why should they change? Still...all that proves is Cron Air is good, not that other lists are bad. Savvy?

Nice solid list. Let us know how it went.

My thoughts: drop the lords, get some crypteks.

TESLA, TESLA EVERYWHERE. Immortals should be tesla, and since you will be moving your Anni Barges to get jinks, you're underslung gun will be snapfiring. Put TESLA on it!

If you can, drop the 5 man warrior squad and the lords and get a third Anni Barge. Too good not to have three.

And your destroyer lord does not have a Warscythe. He needs one. Bring it. One of the best melee weapons in the game!

Hahaha. Wow!! Raging debate on my thread! Interesting to have read what you all have said about the different intricacies of the different metas. Thanks for all the feedback regarding the list. I decided to drop the lords, as I agree with the general consensus which was that if I drop them I can get another Scythe and Barge in the list. So... I've decided to drop the 2 lords and a whipcoil and get another scythe and another barge. How does that sound?

@TheKbob, I here what you're saying man. But I just think that perhaps the underslung gun being gauss might serve me better. Strength 5 ap 3, although only hitting on 6's, will deny saves to most things. Say for example against an Immortal. Tesla gets 2 shots, str 6 ap -. Lets say I get 1 6. Thats 3 hits. Probably 3 wounds. Now he gets 3 3+ saves. Chances are he'll fail 1, but he might pass them all. WIth the gauss if I get one 6 and a 3+ to wound, he loses the immortal, no chance of failure. Also, with the gauss I have the ability to glance vehicles with AV 13 on a 6. And, while unlikely to get 2 6's in a row... It's not an impossibility. So do you have anything to comment on that? Also, the 5 man squad is just there to be dropped off at the end of the game by a scythe (I orginally was just going to walk them to a home objective and leave them for the game, but now I have another scythe to drop them off). The immortals have the gauss simply for the goodness of rapid fire 20 shots, str 5 ap 4, to either dominate a troop or to glance a vehicle to death. Because the immortals + a scythe to back them up will almost guarantee a dead vehicle. I dont plan to keep them sitting at max range just firing away so I think that the gauss would do better? Any comments would be appreciated man Thanks for the suggestions! Oh, Didn't mention the DL having a WS because he gets one as standard, so I just left it out as assumed He definitely has one! I love them! Wouldn't leave home without it!

So yeah, any comments on the new list would be appreciated! Here it is:

HQ: 525

Nemesor Zahndrekh – 185
DL + SW, MSS, WS – 160

Troops: 939

10 x Immortals (Gauss) – 170 + 100 Nightscythe.
10 x Immortals (Gauss) - 170 + 100 Nightscythe.
18 x Warriors - 234
5 x Warriors – 65 + 100 Nightscythe.

Fast attack: 195

5 x Wraiths + 2 WC – 195

Heavy Support: 270

3 x Annihilation Barges (Gauss Cannons) - 270

Thanks again! I'm not so sue about the warrior blob, but I haven't really seen a decent suggestion as to how I can replace it? Any suggestions? I dont really think they'll be of much use footslogging up the table. Maybe another immortal squad? I would like to keep at least 4 troop choices? So maybe 10 tesla immortals and then beef up the wraith squad a little?

Math hammer is going to show telsa over the game will issue more wounds. You need to take into account Toughness on the models your hitting. So on your gauss you get 1 hit, then need a 3+ to wound. It is likely you won't wound at all save or not.

With the Telsa getting 3 hits and wounding on 2's they are likely to at least get a chance to wound.

I prefer Gauss because of the AP as well.. but not necessarily for everything. You might be better off doing 2 gauss and one tesla. For those 3 or 4 units they have with 3+ or 4+ armor it will help. If it's 5+, 6+, or 2+, telsa is better.

The thing with lords are that they are good with warrior units, as those can also be supported by ghost arks.

imho Gauss generally has much better functionality (rapid fire, glance on 6 (which he needs for anti-tank, not a lot of that in this list) and AP). Tesla is fantastic for the arc ability (which is why the barge is so awesome). It doesn't really matter what your 2nd gun is on your barge tbh, I never find too many uses out of it anyways.

I would experiment with getting just one more wraith in, those can really hurt anything and fast attack will really help your fragile troops out. Good luck!

Played the revised list I mentioned against one of the best lists in my meta (tau) and I absolutely annihilated him. So things seem to be going well! Thanks for the input!