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So by now everybody and his squig knows the best powers the escalation monster can take are Transliminal Stride and 2x Wave of Withering (or if you really want to be ridiculous, 2x Seismic Assault for 12D6 S8 AP3 shots).
But what about the other options?
Do any of them have a place?
Are any of the other powers even worth considering?

The only one that looks questionable to me from reading the entry is the Cosmic Fire, given it is basically a far weaker version of the Wave of Withering (albeit at half the cost). The Maelstrom also seems a bit redundant with the Antimatter Meteor, though it is cheaper and the strength is consistent across the template (and actually higher at the 10'' mark).


As a small aside, I'm not sure if it is actually intended that a Transcendent C'tan be able to take the same power twice, as the variant locked in the Tesseract Vault specifically must take two different powers and the list is otherwise identical.

 Strat_N8 wrote:
As a small aside, I'm not sure if it is actually intended that a Transcendent C'tan be able to take the same power twice, as the variant locked in the Tesseract Vault specifically must take two different powers and the list is otherwise identical.

Given that the wording is undeniably different for the Tessaract Vault. (and didn't need to be, if they intended the C'tan to follow the same restriction in the otherwise identical rules) I'd say the fact that it's worded differently is indication of the opposite from what you've stated above and that the C'tan is free to 'double up' so to speak.


As for weapon rollouts, the C'tan using transliminal slide and wave of withering x2 is it's best possible loadout. (as necrons cannot get d-strength weaponry from anywhere else in their codex)

That said (if d-weapons had been banned or are otherwise not your thing) seismic assault puts out an absolutely ridiculous amount of strength 8 ap3 shots, which should make short work of anything it is firing at short of another titan.

The only reason I'd consider the other powers would be if you were very strapped for points or wanted to make your c'tan as cheap as possible, in which case the storm of heavenly fire and cosmic fire would deliver a decent amount of AP-3 firepower without breaking the bank.

 Neorealist wrote:

 Strat_N8 wrote:
As a small aside, I'm not sure if it is actually intended that a Transcendent C'tan be able to take the same power twice, as the variant locked in the Tesseract Vault specifically must take two different powers and the list is otherwise identical.

Given that the wording is undeniably different for the Tessaract Vault. (and didn't need to be, if they intended the C'tan to follow the same restriction in the otherwise identical rules) I'd say the fact that it's worded differently is indication of the opposite from what you've stated above and that the C'tan is free to 'double up' so to speak.

Yep, RAW says its good, so that's the way people are playing him.

As for weapon rollouts, the C'tan using transliminal slide and wave of withering x2 is it's best possible loadout. (as necrons cannot get d-strength weaponry from anywhere else in their codex)

... the Pylon was included in the update for Escalation, and if you're specifically going anti-titan, is incredibly good.

Did not know that. I've always liked the pylon, necrons have very little 'long' ranged shooting and it has always been a definite asset. Glad it was included.