Destroyer Lord Tactics

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**MechaEmperor7000**

I came into a bunch of Necron Destroyers and am going to run the Destroyer Cult at around 1000 points (preferably with nothing else). I was wondering what's a good way to kit out the Destroyer Lord? As I'm only running the Destroyer Cult, I don't have any assault units that would be good with the destroyer lord, but not going full turkey on melee weapons seems like a waste of his abilities. Since he is fairly tough (with a higher toughness than normal destroyers I think) he could conceivably run alone as a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX into the enemy and kill some stuff before succombing, but that would yield Slay the Warlord to the enemy.

Thoughts?

**PrinceOfMadness**

A pure Destroyer Cult with max bodies (so 3 squads of 4 Destroyers + a Heavy, then a full squad of Heavies) comes in at just shy of 900 points, giving you a bit to play around with on your Destroyer Lord. You definitely want him to have a Warscythe (Voidreaper is probably unnecessary unless your opponents bring a lot of T7+) and a Phase Shifter. I'd also recommend Nightmare Shroud for a 2+ save and, to fill out your last few points, a Resurrection Orb.

That being said, AP3 is going to ruin your day. You can easily run a Canoptek Harvest alongside your D. Cult at 1000 points and it'll give you a lot of added versatility - if nothing else, you'll have some bloody durable boots on the ground turn one if you choose to Deep Strike your Destroyers, and the Wraiths make a great buddy unit for your Destroyer Lord to hang out with.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I do have a few of the old metal wraiths and I'm looking for a Metal Tomb Spyder (I'm a collector of old things) so I could do that. However I'd still like to run a pure Destroyer Cult since it is a literal childhood dream of mine.

The Warscythe + Nightmare Shroud + Phase Shifter seems like a good build for the Lord, but it is very expensive. Is it viable to invest so much points into a single model at this point level?

**PrinceOfMadness**

It's an expensive build, but you don't exactly have a whole lot of room for options if you want to keep with a pure Cult.

The only other option I can really see for 1k would be to take two minimum sized Cults, with Warscythes for your Lords and either a Phylactery or two Heavy Destroyer upgrades. You get a little bit of extra assault capability, but I think the loss of shooting from the Heavy Destroyers makes it a worse trade-off. You still don't really have anywhere to put your Destroyer Lords, either, though I suppose you could buddy them up and let your non-Warlord soak fire. That being said, you've got decent anti-tank with the formation benefits and Warscythes, and you can at least threaten fliers. You're going to struggle with horde armies, but for the most part it's a decent TAC list.

EDIT: Forgot that the H. Destroyer upgrade got cheaper in the new 'dex, edited my post to reflect that.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Each of the Destroyer squads can be up to 6 models, so if it's purely filling up the points it's not actually that hard (the cult can have a total of 18 normal Destroyers, 3 Heavy Destroyers and a Destroyer Lord, and that comes to 980 points). I'm unsure if I'd want to take a Heavy Destroyer in a unit of Destroyers, since it runs into the same problem as other types of mix-weapon squads.

**Slayer-Fan123**

Somebody advised against Voidreaper, and I advise against that advice. You get even more rerolls to hit (Master Crafting seems to be a 10 point upgrade according to the GK codex), so you essentially get Fleshbane as a free bonus against anything T6 and above.

As for running Heavy Destroyers in a Destroyer squad, it is fine. It gives more first-strike capabilities (popping/forcing jink on transports), allows for more engagement when it wouldn't be possible to otherwise, and it isn't like it is a bad weapon. 4 Destroyers with a Heavy is just excellent, really.

**PrinceOfMadness**

I'd forgotten that you could run 6 Destroyers in a unit, so that does give you some extra flexibility, yes.

Mixed-weapon squads actually aren't bad on Destroyers, simply because of Gauss and the PE/formation re-rolls. Rather than having a bunch of models shooting useless weapons into a tank, every weapon in your squad has at least a 1/3 chance to hurt your target, no matter what you're shooting at. It also helps to muck up your opponent's target priority if you sprinkle in extra H. Destroyers throughout your list, as now every unit in your list has really good threat potential.

Obviously, this all depends on your meta. My meta tends to favor the extra firepower from the Heavies for tanks, Knights, and 2+ saves. Your mileage may vary.

**vipoid**

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Somebody advised against Voidreaper, and I advise against that advice. You get even more rerolls to hit (Master Crafting seems to be a 10 point upgrade according to the GK codex), so you essentially get Fleshbane as a free bonus against anything T6 and above.

Same. On a WS4 unit, those rerolls are invaluable.

Other items I'd suggest are Phase Shifter for a 4++, and Phylactery for IWND on an already-tough model.

**MechaEmperor7000**

One issue I find with the Voidreaper is that according to the Necron Armory, a model can only have one Relic (it says "A model may take ONE of the following") so taking the Voidreaper would mean I can't take the Nightmare Shroud, and a 2+ armor save on such an increasingly expensive model seems paramount over having Mastercrafted and Fleshbane.

If I can take two relics on the one Lord, he would come to around 215 points. If not, then the Warscythe version would cost 205 points. Not exactly up to the cost of a Land Raider, but still uncomfortably close.

**Slayer-Fan123**

And look what you pay for:
1. Preferred Enemy for your unit of choice
2. T6
3. 4++/5+++
4. A weapon that hurts EVERYTHING with rerolling to wound/penetrate, which is AP2 at I2
5. Extra mobility

He's not as amazing as Smashfucker but he's damn close.

**PrinceOfMadness**

It all depends on your meta and how you want to use your Destroyer Lord.

If, as you mentioned earlier, you want to use him as a distraction unit, I'd just give him Voidreaper and be done with it. He's T6 with a 3+/5+++ at that point, so fairly durable and pretty killy with Voidreaper.

If you want to use him as counter-assault, give him a Warscythe and a Phase Shifter, as most melee units you'd want to discourage will have at least AP3.

If you want to deny the Slay the Warlord VP, Nightmare Shroud and Phase Shifter are great buys. Phylactery and Orb are optional, but as you mentioned, start to make him uncomfortably expensive.

You also need to figure out where your D. Lord is going. If he's off by himself, the Resurrection Orb isn't as good. If he's with a unit, it becomes much more useful - and the more models in the unit, the more useful it becomes.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Currently I'm thinking of either going full turkey on the melee upgrades (so the Nightmare Shroud, Phylactery, Phase Shifter, Warscythe 205 point monstrosity) and have him be the sole melee unit and go Distraction Carnifex on everybody's asses.

OR

give him a res orb and let him keep the Staff of Light and pewpew stuff with the Destroyers, freeing up points for a full Destroyer Cult (If I max out all of the upgrades except for one destroyer in one unit, I have just enough poitns to put a res orb on the lord and he can fill in the gap left by the missing destroyer).

**Slayer-Fan123**

The Staff of light is a HORRIBLE weapon to make use of the Destroyer Lord.

**Nakor The BlueRider**

The Destoryer Lord now being Jet pack instead of Jump pack has certainly made me less likely to take one unfortunately. That being said it still has it uses.

In your case, with only playing the Destroyer Cult, you could use the D.Lord as a threat to avoid your opponent from wishing to get into CC with your units.So if you play your units close together, the D.Lord can hop over to a unit that needs support. Also the D.Lord can leave the unit to assault a tank or weak unit when the opportunity arrives.

I would suggest tooling him up, +2, ++4 WarScythe.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Currently my list looks like this:

Destroyer Lord - Warscythe, Nightmare Shroud, Phase Shifter

4 Destroyers + 1 Heavy Destroyer
4 Destroyers + 1 Heavy Destroyer
6 Destroyers

3 Heavy Destroyers

Comes neatly to 1000 points if I calculated it right.

**skoffs**

Yup, that's a pretty typical D-Cult list (though probably with less regular Destroyers in those mixed units).

And regarding the suggestion to take two cults and stick both D.Lords together as their own unit? Absolutely.
6 wounds with 5+++
T6
6 attacks at S7 AP2 rerolling 1s to-hit and all to-wound
With possible 2+/4++, IWND, etc. as upgrades?
...
That is one hell of a MC!

**PrinceOfMadness**

skoffs wrote:
Yup, that's a pretty typical D-Cult list (though probably with less regular Destroyers in those mixed units).

And regarding the suggestion to take two cults and stick both D.Lords together as their own unit? Absolutely.
6 wounds with 5+++
T6
6 attacks at S7 AP2 rerolling 1s to-hit and all to-wound
With possible 2+/4++, IWND, etc. as upgrades?
...
That is one hell of a MC!

You can't fit all that in at 1000 points, sadly. Two minimum-sized Cults comes in at 940 points. So you could get two Warscythes and either a Phylactery or a couple of H. Destroyer upgrades. No 2+ or 4++ for you.

**Slayer-Fan123**

He was more talking about large games, and that would actually be perfectly viable. One would take the Shroud, and the other Voidreaper.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I guess I should treat the Destroyer Lord more as the old 5th edition version of the Bloodthirster rather than, say, Kayvvan Shrike in terms of what I should be doing with it.

A giant-ass MC that's meant to solo and yolo into the enemy.

**luke1705**

Kit the lord out with the nightmare shroud, phase shifter and a warscythe plus a res orb. Throw him in a max-size destroyer squad and put Orikan in there with him. The whole squad gets 4+ RP even in the face of instant death and re-rolls saving throws of 1. This is especially potent with the tanking destroyer lord out front who has a 2+/4++ re-rolling ones, and then 4+ RP, re-rolling all RP rolls for one phase in a game. Unit will not die. And once Orikan transforms (usually T3 or T4) he is himself a beast that you could detach as a distraction carnifex, but by then usually he can take care of himself and just go murderize things.

**skoffs**

luke1705 wrote:
... and put Orikan in there ...

Even assuming you missed the part where OP said Destroyers only, to be able to add Orikan to a list that consists of only formations would require an Overlord and Lord as well so you can complete the necessary requirements for a Royal Court.
But even if you were to do so, a unit of regular Destroyers is kind of a waste for Orikan to babysit. Not only will he slow them down, but the only saving throw they have to reroll would be their 3+... nothing special.
Better just to leave Orikan in CADs or Decurions with his unit of Lychguard (though, feel free to attach the Destroyer Lord here. They could always do with the addition of PE and a Warscythe).

**Zimko**

luke1705 wrote:
Kit the lord out with the nightmare shroud, phase shifter and a warscythe plus a res orb. Throw him in a max-size destroyer squad and put Orikan in there with him. The whole squad gets 4+ RP even in the face of instant death and re-rolls saving throws of 1. This is especially potent with the tanking destroyer lord out front who has a 2+/4++ re-rolling ones, and then 4+ RP, re-rolling all RP rolls for one phase in a game. Unit will not die. And once Orikan transforms (usually T3 or T4) he is himself a beast that you could detach as a distraction carnifex, but by then usually he can take care of himself and just go murderize things.

I think you tunnel visioned a bit on adding Orikan without considering the fact that adding Orikan in this list would be impossible given the fact that he's only running Destroyer Cult... unless you want to go unbound and completely negate the command benefit of the cult.

**skoffs**

So let's say you wanted to do the most ridiculous thing imaginable:
Three Destroyer Cults in an 1850 list.
Optimally, that's:
9x 3 regular Destroyers
3x 2 heavy Destroyers
3x 1 Destroyer Lords (w/ Warscythes)

That would leave just enough points left over for:
1 Nightmare Shroud (for 2+ save)
1 Phase Shifter (for 4++ save)
1 Phylactery (for IWND)

But the question is, do you give all those goodies to the one Destroyer Lord (Warlord), or do you spread them between the three guys to maximize wound allocation shenanigans? (AP1 incoming? Phase Shifter guy can catch it. Small arms fire? Nightmare Shroud guy's got this. Everything else falls to Phylactery guy)

(unfortunately not enough points in the budget to get a ResOrb, unless you were to give one of the Destroyer Lords a Void Blade instead of a Warscythe... which, come to think of it, isn't exactly the worst idea, seeing as how D.Lords like to reroll wounds. Wonder what the odds of a 6 showing up for a Destroyer Lord is?)

**Zimko**

skoffs wrote:

So let's say you wanted to do the most ridiculous thing imaginable:
Three Destroyer Cults in an 1850 list.
Optimally, that's:
9x 3 regular Destroyers
3x 2 heavy Destroyers
3x 1 Destroyer Lords (w/ Warscythes)

That would leave just enough points left over for:
1 Nightmare Shroud (for 2+ save)
1 Phase Shifter (for 4++ save)
1 Phylactery (for IWND)

But the question is, do you give all those goodies to the one Destroyer Lord (Warlord), or do you spread them between the three guys to maximize wound allocation shenanigans? (AP1 incoming? Phase Shifter guy can catch it. Small arms fire? Nightmare Shroud guy's got this. Everything else falls to Phylactery guy)

(unfortunately not enough points in the budget to get a ResOrb, unless you were to give one of the Destroyer Lords a Void Blade instead of a Warscythe... which, come to think of it, isn't exactly the worst idea, seeing as how D.Lords like to reroll wounds. Wonder what the odds of a 6 showing up for a Destroyer Lord is?)

I'd go for more balance and give them all Phase Shifters (the poinst work out perfectly). Triple distraction carnifexes.

**skoffs**

Oh, I'd assumed running all of them together as a single unit would have been the best bet, but I can see some merit to running them all separately.
But that increased distraction comes at the price of vulnerability (they're intimidating as a deathstar).
Worth the trade off?

**Zimko**

skoffs wrote:
Oh, I'd assumed running all of them together as a single unit would have been the best bet, but I can see some merit to running them all separately.
But that increased distraction comes at the price of vulnerability (they're intimidating as a deathstar).
Worth the trade off?

Well, it depends on the list you're facing. These Destroyer Lords are your ONLY melee units. Most lists have multiple fast melee threats that 3 separate Destroyer Lords can tackle to give your destroyers more time and room to fight. You can still run them as a single unit when it's appropriate. In either case, I think a 4++ will make them much more resilient as a whole than only one of them having 4++ and one having 2+. In melee the 2+ isn't going to be able to tank everything. He can get challenged out by an AP 2 melee attacker.

**Slayer-Fan123**

That said, if you have to charge with Destroyers, it could be worse. W2 3+/5+++ at worst might finish off an infantry target.

**jasper76**

If you're not playing an assulty army, don't waste your points on making your Destroyer Lord the only assaulty unit in your army...doomed to failure.

Keep him bare bones, maybe with a Res Orb, stick him with a big blob of Warriors, and watch the PE rolls pile up.

**skoffs**

jasper76 wrote:
Keep him bare bones, maybe with a Res Orb, stick him with a big blob of Warriors, and watch the PE rolls pile up.

Maybe in a regular list, sure, but in the context of the above examples (formation detachment only) then you won't have anything but Destroyers on hand.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I had a minor brainstorm for incorporating the Canoptek Harvest.

I could convert up one of the wraiths into a "Wraith Lord" and have it as a count-as for the Spyder.

This would be like a Wraith Cult and a Destroyer Cult. Thoughts?