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I want to make a necron list with monoliths, but the forum seems to really hate them, and I don't understand why. I mean they are expensive, but you get a tank with armor 14 all around, that can deep strike and not mishap (maybe, I know that's controversial but based on what I read it seems reasonable) has some kick ass guns, can teleport units next to it, and has a close range shooting attack that bypasses all saves. That sounds pretty good on paper. What am I missing?

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact it is competing for Heavy Support choices. The Monolith has to compete against Annihilation Barges and Doom Scythes, both of which are amazingly good. It is not that the Monolith itself is bad, it just has stiff competition.

It is super pricey, super slow, and doesnt have great guns. As a transport, it fails because of Night Scythes. For firepower, an A. barge is one less AV at front, and is so much cheaper for comparable anti Vehicle firepower.

The entire Necron codex is filled with great units that are competing in a slot with broken units. Look at Tomb Blades! They are pretty damn good. Now look at Wraiths. Same slot, but they're better.

Expensive, no jink, and Rail guns make them sad. (though now not as much with the reduction of st10

I think people should try them again now that tau got a little neutered. (does it still have anti melta/lance?)

 Desubot wrote:
Expensive, no jink, and Rail guns make them sad. (though now not as much with the reduction of st10

I think people should try them again now that tau got a little neutered. (does it still have anti melta/lance?)

Sadly it got living metal instead of anti melta/lance :(

It might make a comeback, now that Tau no longer appears to be that adept at killing AV14.

I personally like the monolith; think of it as a jack of all trades, master of none sort of unit.

Btw, the Monolith is slightly better at transporting units than the nightscythe imo; you have a bit more control in who to pickup, and the new FAQ (1.4) allows you to teleport units the turn the monolith deepstrikes. So you can DS, spawn a bunch of warriors and smoke a landraider. Just like the old days

Also, you may to tempted to use a C'tan with lord of fire to protect the mono from melta. Don't. It doesn't work.

Well, I like Monoliths when I play my Necrons. I only have 1 Anni Barge, and I really don't like flyers (not that they are bad, I just dislike the concept). For a REALLY expensive tactic, take 2 C'tan Shards and 2 Monoliths. Dump the Monoliths behind/inside the enemy lines and put 2 str8 AP3 Large Templates on some infantry squads. Next turn (if they survived (which they usually do for me, with other incoming threats)) pull the Shards in and start the Slaughter!

Not always, or even seldom, point effective however... Just some fun

 necron99 wrote:

 Desubot wrote:
Expensive, no jink, and Rail guns make them sad. (though now not as much with the reduction of st10

I think people should try them again now that tau got a little neutered. (does it still have anti melta/lance?)

Sadly it got living metal instead of anti melta/lance :(

Which is another reason not to take them. There is only one other vehicle that you would want to get that close to the enemy that is that expensive, and that is the landraider. The difference is that land raider delivers competent assault troops whereas the monolith dosent really (unless you take some crazy necron court thingy). And since its so close it will just get popped by meltas if you DS right next to the enemy (and you cant assault out of it when you do that right? Im not up to snuff on monolith rules). You dont want to move it across the field because its heavy, and as others have said, it competes with other great and cheaper HS options.

 Billagio wrote:

 necron99 wrote:

 Desubot wrote:
Expensive, no jink, and Rail guns make them sad. (though now not as much with the reduction of st10

I think people should try them again now that tau got a little neutered. (does it still have anti melta/lance?)

Sadly it got living metal instead of anti melta/lance :(

Which is another reason not to take them. There is only one other vehicle that you would want to get that close to the enemy that is that expensive, and that is the landraider. The difference is that land raider delivers competent assault troops whereas the monolith dosent really (unless you take some crazy necron court thingy). And since its so close it will just get popped by meltas if you DS right next to the enemy (and you cant assault out of it when you do that right? Im not up to snuff on monolith rules). You dont want to move it across the field because its heavy, and as others have said, it competes with other great and cheaper HS options.

You can't assault, but you can shoot the offending melta unit with an S8 AP3 ordnance weapon. Oh, and whatever unit that you teleport to it can also shoot. Still very risky though, but it does have a certain "oh gak" factor.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Billagio wrote:

 necron99 wrote:

 Desubot wrote:
Expensive, no jink, and Rail guns make them sad. (though now not as much with the reduction of st10

I think people should try them again now that tau got a little neutered. (does it still have anti melta/lance?)

Sadly it got living metal instead of anti melta/lance :(

Which is another reason not to take them. There is only one other vehicle that you would want to get that close to the enemy that is that expensive, and that is the landraider. The difference is that land raider delivers competent assault troops whereas the monolith dosent really (unless you take some crazy necron court thingy). And since its so close it will just get popped by meltas if you DS right next to the enemy (and you cant assault out of it when you do that right? Im not up to snuff on monolith rules). You dont want to move it across the field because its heavy, and as others have said, it competes with other great and cheaper HS options.

You can't assault, but you can shoot the offending melta unit with an S8 AP3 ordnance weapon. Oh, and whatever unit that you teleport to it can also shoot. Still very risky though, but it does have a certain "oh gak" factor.

True, I guess it comes down to competition in other slots as others have said. But always take what you think is cool. If you want a monolith, take a monolith. Im sure your opponent will thank you for a change of pace rather than 3x doom scythes or something.

I think one reason I'm into monoliths now is I face a lot less melts in my local gaming community. People focus on bringing more anti infantry and anti air, which gives monoliths and land raiders a chance to shine.

Also, I get that they're slow. I don't want to turn this not a rules discussion thread, but if they can deep strike without mishap I think that makes up for their slowness.

FWIW my cousin loves his monoliths and wont leave home without one. Back when broadsides has S10 rails it died promptly on the turn it arrived. However the last 2 games it has somewhat wrecked face because I literally had nothing to kill it with.

The monolith is a more stable hub to transport units with, something that a Necron list which isn't dependent solely on a wing of Doom Scythes can always use. It lacks Quantum Shielding, so that AV 14 isn't going anywhere. It isn't the unstoppable sledgehammer with a Get-out-of-Rules-Adherence-Free card like it used to be in the last codex, but it's still a reliably solid unit. Obsession with flyers and the difficulty of mastering the mid-range tactics necessary for a ground-based Necron list combine in an internet community to produce the impression that the monolith is somehow a bad or sub-par unit. When applied correctly, it's a decent choice, which still has its place in Necron lists.

That's just my opinion, of course, and there are bound to be others. (Oh look, a whole thread full of them! )

I just realized that Monoliths can use the Corridor the turn it arrives by Deep Strike now... Meaning you can land 2 of them and pull 2 threatening units into the face of your opponent. 2 Strength 8 AP3 Pieplates at the infantry squads, as well as threatening units to deal with. Imagine having to kill 2 Shards and 2 Monoliths before they get to kill you... If you focus the shards, you will get another 2 pieplates in your face, as well as another 2 units, meaning loads of shots. If you focus the Monoliths, you have 2 MC's in combat ruining your day.

Really expensive, but do you consider it competetive?

It's possible.
For me - what else could I possibly use a 9" tall Dalek for in my counts-as cron army!


When I've used it, I've been happy with it - massive AV14 block of shooty doom.
It's either a target, drawing fire, or ignored, leaving it to do as it will.

Me... wrote:
I just realized that Monoliths can use the Corridor the turn it arrives by Deep Strike now... Meaning you can land 2 of them and pull 2 threatening units into the face of your opponent. 2 Strength 8 AP3 Pieplates at the infantry squads, as well as threatening units to deal with. Imagine having to kill 2 Shards and 2 Monoliths before they get to kill you... If you focus the shards, you will get another 2 pieplates in your face, as well as another 2 units, meaning loads of shots. If you focus the Monoliths, you have 2 MC's in combat ruining your day.

Really expensive, but do you consider it competetive?

Go for it. You can even one molder of worlds, for even more pie plate action.

Though I would just go for warriors and immortals. That much gauss at close range is going to hurt.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ovion wrote:
It's possible.
For me - what else could I possibly use a 9" tall Dalek for in my counts-as cron army!

Spoiler:

When I've used it, I've been happy with it - massive AV14 block of shooty doom.
It's either a target, drawing fire, or ignored, leaving it to do as it will.

Ok, so the cybermats are scarabs, the flying ones are destroyers and the big red one is a mono...but what are the tall gold ones?

They used to be so good that it was hard to not run one. Now, there are better options for cheaper in the same slot. 200 points isn't a bad price for a monolith by any stretch, but an annihilation barge is less than half the price, more mobile, and still packs a punch. I run one with warrior heavy armies because it is rather fun to unload a blob of warriors in the middle of your opponent's deployment zone even though they were on the other side of the board just a minute ago.

With the right combo, they can be intense....but it takes the right combo.

Billagio wrote:
I guess it comes down to competition in other slots as others have said. But always take what you think is cool. If you want a monolith, take a monolith. Im sure your opponent will thank you for a change of pace rather than 3x doom scythes or something.

This, more than anything this. I plan on starting a small army, and I'm taking a monolith for the "What the Feth!" factor as I deep strike it into my enemy and unload warriors or immortals. It'll be fun!

Take what you think is cool, I always buy codecii(?) last so my perception and opinion isn't coloured by rules. I just get what looks awesome


Von Chogg

I like using the monolith as (besides a few lascannons and ML) nothing at my club threatens it and its damn killy with more tactical play too eg corridor. Of course in large games when the FOC doubles I'd always take one because there is space even among AB spam lists. Probably at anything below 1500 you are going to be pushing it on viability but from 1500 up feel free.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Ovion wrote:
It's possible.
For me - what else could I possibly use a 9" tall Dalek for in my counts-as cron army!

Spoiler:

When I've used it, I've been happy with it - massive AV14 block of shooty doom.
It's either a target, drawing fire, or ignored, leaving it to do as it will.

Ok, so the cybermats are scarabs, the flying ones are destroyers and the big red one is a mono...but what are the tall gold ones?

The Cybermats are Scarabs.
The larger white one with the cyan base is an Overlord, the other larger white ones (will be blue) and the larger blue one, are Lords.
The yellow / orange / white / blue ones in the center are Immortals.
The Metallic ones on either side are Warriors.
The flying ones are Tomb Blades with Shield Vanes, to be flying Immortals (Destroyers are quite a bit bigger, plus I felt the jetbikes were more Daleky)
The larger black one (going to be yellow) is a C'tan Shard.
The large goldy ones are Triarch Stalkers.
Big Red is the Monolith.

Also working on scratching a Dalek Saucer as a Doom Scythe.

As opposed to good monoliths?

My friends did the team tourney at Adepticon this year, and ran a Monolith to great effect. I agree with others that posted here that the Monolith isn't bad, it just has a lot of competition. I know if I ran Necrons I'd run Annihiliation Barges galore, those things are bad @$$.

I have been playing with a silver tide build that DS two mono's on either side then pulls 20 man warrior units through each of them... just for fun.

Thought, I will say.. we have always played them that they do mishap. To much debate around skimmer rule vs DS so it holds DS for us for now.

I mostly don't run them because I play heavy CC daemons, dark lance sporting DE the most.

I've always liked the Monolith in combination with Zahndrekh. Leave the Monolith in reserve to deep strike. When your opponent brings a unit in from reserve, Zahndrekh allows to to deploy the Monolith immediately during their movement phase. Place it in a prime position to deliver some hurt and minimize the return fire. Now that the big armor 14 pie plate is in position, it can cause quite a problem for less mobile armies.

Dalymiddleboro wrote:
As opposed to good monoliths?

This made me laugh, i thought the title was a little silly myself lol

Bad Monolith is Bad

Scary Carnifex is scary

Angry Marines are Angry

I can just go on

Can someone please point me to where in the rules it states Monoliths don't Deep Strike Mishap?

page 83 of the rule book says: If a Skimmer is forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models, move the Skimmer the minimum distance so that no models are left underneath it.

So if you deep strike over enemy or friendly models you don't mishap but if you end up over terrain or outside the table you do. I talked with my buddies and we house ruled it so that it doesn't but you might encounter resistance to that idea in your club.

 ashikenshin wrote:
page 83 of the rule book says: If a Skimmer is forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models, move the Skimmer the minimum distance so that no models are left underneath it.

So if you deep strike over enemy or friendly models you don't mishap but if you end up over terrain or outside the table you do. I talked with my buddies and we house ruled it so that it doesn't but you might encounter resistance to that idea in your club.

I think deep strike may be exception to the rule, but you may have a point.

 ashikenshin wrote:
page 83 of the rule book says: If a Skimmer is forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models, move the Skimmer the minimum distance so that no models are left underneath it.

So if you deep strike over enemy or friendly models you don't mishap but if you end up over terrain or outside the table you do. I talked with my buddies and we house ruled it so that it doesn't but you might encounter resistance to that idea in your club.

The other side of this comes from the DS rule. If your model ( after scatter) would land on friendly or enemy units, instead of placing it you roll mishap to see what happens. It comes down to if you believe that the Mono mishaps before it is placed, which would null out the skimmer rule.

I am sure we will see it in a FAQ at some point. Until then, we don't allow it where I play.

Side note, I didn't play older editions, but hear talk that the Mono use to have a rule that prevented mishaps, is this true?