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This is intriguing. Dark Talons would run about 400 points.

 Reivax26 wrote:
This is intriguing. Dark Talons would run about 400 points.

Best 400pts you will spend in a dark angles list they are that good

As soon as they are available again, I will be adding a second talon

I just got one off Ebay. Primed but not full painted. Might have to wait a little bit on the other one.

My local GW managed to get one and put it aside for me. Picked it up today...good thing as it looked available online but then said out of stock when trying to add it to cart.

I found a Dark Talon in an FLGS in Germany last year on a business trip. Snapped it up! It came home carry-on, cradled protectively. Dark Shrouds were also hard to find.

I find better mileage out of Talonmasters, but maybe I'm using my Flyers wrong.

I was lucky I bought 3 dark talons before they became super good

I do intend to get another landspeeder to make a second Talon Master (although technically I could do that now if I run Sammael on Corvex which is suboptimal but looks do damn cool)

I also built a techmarine on bike a few weeks ago as i think between the dark Talons, Darkshroud and speeder heroes, adding some wounds each turn could be super helpful.

Just curious. Anyone using Repulsors?
I had a thought about maybe running 2 transporting maybe 5ish hell blasters each.

My thought is they have a good amount of shooting. They’re T8 16 wounds so they could be distractions and soak up some fire. Park a dark shroud nearby so it would be -1 to hit as well.

Ideally I’d run them in front of a couple of talonmasters and Sammy to screen and if/when they do go down the hell blasters would be able to get some shooting in getting some reroll support too.

Might be an absolute terrible idea. I’m just trying to look for alternatives to having all my plasma on the table (ala black knights). They’re a bit tougher than a dark talon so thinking he extra 50pts per repulsor may be worth it?

Part of what makes a Dark Talon so good is the mobility, which the Repulsor simply doesn't have. I want to like Repulsors, I really do, but I don't think they currently cut it competitively. Now, I have heard that Castellans may be getting a nerf with the upcoming FAQ, so perhaps vehicles might become more viable again, but I'm still not sure Repulsors will be worth taking. I have one myself, painted, and I have yet to actually run it. I think running multiples might be necessary, as they will be a priority target for the opponent since they have so much firepower, especially with guys inside.

I completely agree about the mobility. My issues with the dark talon are that for 200pts it’s really not that tough to bring down. For 52 more points the repulsor would get 6 more wounds and go to T8. Sure it doesn’t move as well but honestly if it can be a bullet magnet and put out some decent fire that might be good enough.

I think 2 would be ideal but that’s already about 500 points...

I played a 1500 point game earlier. I fielded a Battalion plus a Spearhead.

2 lts
3 5 man tac squads with Lascannons

8 Terminators with 1 assault cannon and 2 chainfists

Azrael
9 Hellblasters
Devs 3 Plasma Cannons
Devs 3 missile Launchers

Went against a Death Guard/ Nurgle Demon list. Barely lost and might have won in the end but had to go home earlier than I would have liked.

I realize now why people run the Azrael castle formation. At one point he was within bubble range of the Hellblasters, 2 Tac squads and the Terminators. The rerolling from him and the LT was crazy good.

Does anyone use Stormravens? I was wondering if they might be a viable option for Dark Angels.

I've been thinking about using one as a transport for Deathwing Knights, but honestly I can't bring myself to do it in competitive play. Just too many points. For flyers, I just stick to Dark Talons.

So with the new FAQ dropping what is everyones initial thoughts?

The main nerf I can see is that bolter discipline rule doesn't affect vehicles which means the poor Dark Talon can never catch a break! I think I'll try sticking more Ravenwing Bikers instead for cheap chaff clearers.

Dark Talons were some of our best chaff clearers before the Bolter Disciple. I ran three before and even after the flyer nerfs, I'll likely run three still.

Kinda bummed about no more beta bolters for the dark talon.
Also no prepared positions anymore for the dark talon either.
Other thing that could possibly hurt is the rule about moving over flyer's bases. So if you want to screen any of your units with dark talons i'd think you need to keep something almost directly behind them otherwise they could just move over the base and into your lines.

I never used my Dark Talon for move blocking so that change affects me very little. Bummed about the bolter thing but whadyagunnado? I still think Dark Talons are cash money and can still murder hordes effectively.

I was thinking about the Stormraven carrying the Chaplain Dreadnought. I can imagine what would happen if he got behind enemy lines with double DCCW's and 2 heavy flamers...

So we can’t use our Dark Talons to charge things (in hover mode) and subsequently stop them from shooting? I did that lots - tying up hard to see hive guard or multiple artillery vehicles.
Dark Talons change like yo-yos! Points, bolter discipline, aircraft keyword changing movement and prepared positions , etc.
For sure they are still good. But for a struggling codex it would have been nice to still have all those tactical options even though it might have been “op” on paper. The entirety of the faction needs to be considered imo. DA aren’t winning tournaments Dark Talons aren’t even being used in top imperium soup.
Having believable rules is important but at the cost of less tactical options in the game - not the end of the world but my Dark Angels will see less competitive play for sure.

Speed of the Raven now doesn't consider the targeted unit to have Advanced. That means Assault weapons won't have -1 to hit after using SotR!

This FAQ in the meta was good but as a dark angles player I was hoping for some type of buff to marines in general.
As it stands now I don't know if I want to spend anymore money on a army that's subpar at best. Which is a shame as I started playing dark Angels back in 2nd edition

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I never used my Dark Talon for move blocking so that change affects me very little. Bummed about the bolter thing but whadyagunnado? I still think Dark Talons are cash money and can still murder hordes effectively.

They absolutely murder hordes and guard-like infantry. I ran 3 DTs last night in a game (post FAQ rules) and they did great, but not being able to block movement is kind of annoying now. Before I would've been able to keep two of his knights from getting into my characters but now they were able to move right through and charge/shoot.

I think they're still great units, but i'd consider trying out 2 Talonmasters and Sammael on Sableclaw. The extra TM gets you 18 more -1 AP shots and he's decent in combat and can charge flyers.

 Vector Strike wrote:
Speed of the Raven now doesn't consider the targeted unit to have Advanced. That means Assault weapons won't have -1 to hit after using SotR!

This has always been the case - clarified by the first Dark Angels FAQ (the original FAQ said "In addition, that unit does not suffer the penalty to hit rolls for Advancing and firing Assault Weapons." This new FAQ just makes the language a little tighter/cleaner.

I really am considering a mechanized list with some flyers running point. Still think a Stormraven carrying a Chaplain Dread and some Deathwing Knights would scare the hell out of people.

They would soak up so much fire that the rest of your army wouldn't even have to worry about being shot at.

 Reivax26 wrote:
I really am considering a mechanized list with some flyers running point. Still think a Stormraven carrying a Chaplain Dread and some Deathwing Knights would scare the hell out of people.

They would soak up so much fire that the rest of your army wouldn't even have to worry about being shot at.

I'd put some scouts or servitors in there for when it inevitably gets shot down. Losing terminators to emergency disembark would hurt tremendously.

edit: n/m they would not fit... I'm not sure that paying that many points to transport 6 terminators is worth it.

 turmoil wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I never used my Dark Talon for move blocking so that change affects me very little. Bummed about the bolter thing but whadyagunnado? I still think Dark Talons are cash money and can still murder hordes effectively.

They absolutely murder hordes and guard-like infantry. I ran 3 DTs last night in a game (post FAQ rules) and they did great, but not being able to block movement is kind of annoying now. Before I would've been able to keep two of his knights from getting into my characters but now they were able to move right through and charge/shoot.

I think they're still great units, but i'd consider trying out 2 Talonmasters and Sammael on Sableclaw. The extra TM gets you 18 more -1 AP shots and he's decent in combat and can charge flyers.

The list I'm working with now has 2 Dark Talons, Sammy, and 2 Talonmasters. Hordes pretty much get hosed. I also have a big unit of Black Knights, which I'm liking more and more these days despite my early reservations about them. If you're playing on Planet Bowling Ball then they are bad, but if you can deploy them away from your opponent's scariest guns, preferably behind terrain, they'll live long enough to get something done. The Attack Squadron from the first Vigilus book turns them up to 11 with the neato strats.

Actually 5 Deathwing Knights, Techmarine and that Dread can all be transported. The Techmarine could help keep it alive. Not a waste of points either.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

 turmoil wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I never used my Dark Talon for move blocking so that change affects me very little. Bummed about the bolter thing but whadyagunnado? I still think Dark Talons are cash money and can still murder hordes effectively.

They absolutely murder hordes and guard-like infantry. I ran 3 DTs last night in a game (post FAQ rules) and they did great, but not being able to block movement is kind of annoying now. Before I would've been able to keep two of his knights from getting into my characters but now they were able to move right through and charge/shoot.

I think they're still great units, but i'd consider trying out 2 Talonmasters and Sammael on Sableclaw. The extra TM gets you 18 more -1 AP shots and he's decent in combat and can charge flyers.

The list I'm working with now has 2 Dark Talons, Sammy, and 2 Talonmasters. Hordes pretty much get hosed. I also have a big unit of Black Knights, which I'm liking more and more these days despite my early reservations about them. If you're playing on Planet Bowling Ball then they are bad, but if you can deploy them away from your opponent's scariest guns, preferably behind terrain, they'll live long enough to get something done. The Attack Squadron from the first Vigilus book turns them up to 11 with the neato strats.

I like it! Keep the Black Knights away from the Lootas until they are dead! Otherwise Black Knights can wreck most opponents once they get Jinking.

 Reivax26 wrote:
Actually 5 Deathwing Knights, Techmarine and that Dread can all be transported. The Techmarine could help keep it alive. Not a waste of points either.

That could work!