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So I'm building a nob squad and the power-stabba seems so cheap to me compared to the big-choppa that I'm thinking of equipping all my nobz with it, but though I've heard much about big-choppas being more point efficient than power-klaws I really have no idea where the power-stabba stands in the meta.

(I'm basically thinking about putting some nobz in a squiggoth having them be charged in, perhaps with kustom-shootas.)

Does anyone have some thoughts on this? I'd love to hear cheers!

You forgot one option, and that is the choppa. The choppa has the advantage of being free and giving an extra attack. Both the stabba and big choppa are good choices, but neither gives an extra attack. The stabba is excellent vs single-wound models with a decent armour save, such as regular space marines. The Big Choppa is better against anything that has more than one wound, such as bikes, primaris marines, rhinos and such.

Power klaws and killsaws are excellent against very tough enemies with T8, but they are generally thought of as being too expensive. The Space Marine version of the Power Klaw was recently reduced in price to 12 points, and if that happens to orks there will be a lot of reglueing going on.

Personally I would kit out my nob-squad with a mix of Big Choppas, Stabbas, Choppas and a few ammo runts. Remember that shootas are free on nobz.

Take Power Klaws.

I have many Nobz armed with Power Klaws, and they are awesome.

Currently i prefer 3 big choppas and 2 stabbas. And as many ammo runts as you can fit inside a transport alongside them. But it all depends on the preference. Pk and saws are too expensive and better suit characters and squad leaders. Things might change with the codex.

The stabba is the better and cheaper option when you go vs a lot MEQ like infantry.

The BC is a cheap allrounder, can`t go wrong with that.

The claw works better vs T7 & T8 and has the chance for more wounds but less hits and D3 depends on your dices.
Still the most iconic & stylish ork weapon though, i run them a lot.

All of the nob CC weapon options are valid choices when you get them to attack the right targets.
The trick is to find the right mix.

Choppas are good for the first casualties and to get some extra attacks vs large units.

Of course, the ablative wound ammo runts are a must have in this edition, especially footslogging. As passengers it depends on the free slots cause sadly they reduce transport capacity.


I prefer a mix with all of the CC weapons with some extra choppas and ammo runts for first losses.
The new rules for moving / CC are good for us orks to get all the weapons where they hurt our enemies most.

Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

It largely depends on what you plant to target with the Nobz.

Against single wound models the standard Choppa is the best choice against models with 5+ save or worse and not T6 or below based on points efficiency. The big choppa is best against T6 5+ or worse.

Against single 4+ saves the Power stabba is most efficient against everything not T6. The Big Choppa is best against T6.

For a 3+ save the Power stabba is best T5 and below, the Big Choppa is best at T6 and the Power stabba and Killsaw are tied above T6 (unless you go to T10 or above)

For 2+ saves the power stabba is best T5 and below, the Killsaw T6 and above.

Against Multi-wound models The Big Choppa is bestthe board for 4+ or worse saves until you get to T8 at which point eh power klaw is the best



3+ saves the big choppa is best against T3 or less, and T6. With the killsaw best everywhere else.

2+ saves, the killsaw is best across the board.

This is all based on points per unsaved wound caused. Obviously the mutli-wound part could vary some dependent on number of wounds as Killsaws and big choppas may lose some efficiency against models with odd numbers of wounds as every other wound only causes 1 damage.









Automatically Appended Next Post:

pismakron wrote:
Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

yup


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also of note the big choppa gets a lot of press because it is one of 2 weapons that can be taken by nobz outside of a nob squad, i.e Boss Nobz.

The real issue with a Nob squad is that your klaws and saws are expensive but not super durable, so you lose efficiency on the durability front if you pay for weapons that die. So mixed weapons (with ammor runts and choppas to soak early wounds) is probably the way to go. I like choppas, some big choppas, and then a few saws.

If you want to go heavy on things like power klaws or kill saws, go for MANZ, they have the durability to support the expensive gear, and can take double saws for an extra attack. Nob with a Klaw is 42 points, a mega nob with a klaw is 54 and comes with a 2+ save, an extra wound and better gun (the same gun on a Nob makes him 46 points, so you pay 8 points for an extra wound and a 2+ save, if you want that extra wound on a Nob you buy an ammor runt which would make him now 50 points, so you pay 4 points for a 2+ save). The double killsaw Mega nob is 63 points, vs a kill saw nob at 45. So 18 points gives you +1 A and W, a 2 + save and another wound.

pismakron wrote:
Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

Yeah, that one:

 Grotrebel wrote:

pismakron wrote:
Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

Yeah, that one:

Eh... well.. why is the tiny stompa pissing?

pismakron wrote:

 Grotrebel wrote:

pismakron wrote:
Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

Yeah, that one:

Eh... well.. why is the tiny stompa pissing?

The ugly stabba is pissing him off.

 Grotrebel wrote:

pismakron wrote:

 Grotrebel wrote:

pismakron wrote:
Incidentally, what does your powerstabbas look like? Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

Yeah, that one:

Eh... well.. why is the tiny stompa pissing?

The ugly stabba is pissing him off.

That stabbas uglyness is remarkable indeed.

Thanks for all of your responses

Is it that silly harpoon thingy?

I think the harpoon is the GW offical model, I might just go for a glow effect on some of the nicer looking melee weapons and some kustom bayonets though, 1 robo-harpoon is quirky, 5-10 just looks naff

The stabba is the better and cheaper option when you go vs a lot MEQ like infantry.

That's a compelling reason for me to go with them. My last game was against some chaos infantry and the squiggoth couldn't quite dish out enough bite.

The choppa has the advantage of being free and giving an extra attack. Both the stabba and big choppa are good choices, but neither gives an extra attack.

I'll have to evaluate the likely damage, I forgot about that rule, it's a fair point. They'll have squiggoth support, and may get slugger/storm-boy support, so the choppa might not be missed.

The Big Choppa is better against anything that has more than one wound,

Personally I would kit out my nob-squad with a mix of Big Choppas, Stabbas, Choppas and a few ammo runts. Remember that shootas are free on nobz.

I did not think about that, pfff.... a free shoota or a kustom is another question, 4ps for an extra 2 shots hmm... I'll probably hack down the kombie weapons and use them as either/or.

So my thoughts are to do a light mix, kustom shootas and power stabbas, remainder with shoota and choppa, but I'll keep some spare nobz with big choppa if I'm up against any meaty opponents.

f you want to go heavy on things like power klaws or kill saws, go for MANZ,

My debit-account is telling me a shouldn't lol, I think long-term I may go for some, regardless of effectiveness they are awesome looking.

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts it's been helpful. And if anyone still have thoughts I'm still interested in hearing them.

Things might change with the codex.

Offtopic but anyone know when that might be?

Since 5th, my personal formula has been about a 3:1 big choppa: power klaw ratio, and I mostly do that out of habit anymore.

To be honest, I am being more and more impressed by big choppas. They're not fancy, but can do some major damage, especially if buffed by warpath and/or waaagh banner.

They do dependable, good damage, good strength, decent AP.

I'm still not really sold on power stabbas. I mean, sure, they're good v. MEQ, but if you're assaulting MEQs with nobz you're probably winning anyways.

I prefer my nobz to have more anti tank/tough stuff capacity, and I was astonished at how easily my big choppas tore a knight to pieces.

Granted, a power stabba and big choppa both wound knights on 5s, so perhaps that's a poor example. But the big choppas' 2 damage adds up fast.

I have never been, and continue to not be, a fan of choppa nobz. Seems a waste.

Bigchoppas seriously do work. Insanely cheaper compared to PKs and only a marginally bit weaker. Yeah they dont wound anything on 2s (except the few T3 things we see) but wounding on 3s is still respectable, does good damage, and doesnt cut our hit rating.
I need to play around with a waagh banner but right now i actually prefer bigchoppas over pks. Except on the boss, since the -1 doesnt hurt him as bad.

Between stabbas and bigchoppas, stabbas feel like theyre pretty much dedicating themselves to killing marines and only marines. Only being S5 means they wound on 5s against the vast majority of vehicles, while bigchoppas only wound on 5s against the biggest vehicles (which tbh is what rokkits and pks are for anyway)
When it comes to killing standard marines, even the boyz w/o being massed to ridiculous levels can handle that.

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Between stabbas and bigchoppas, stabbas feel like theyre pretty much dedicating themselves to killing marines and only marines. Only being S5 means they wound on 5s against the vast majority of vehicles, while bigchoppas only wound on 5s against the biggest vehicles (which tbh is what rokkits and pks are for anyway)
When it comes to killing standard marines, even the boyz w/o being massed to ridiculous levels can handle that.

Agreed, MEQ was / is never a problem for orks anyway.

Things might change with the codex.

Offtopic but anyone know when that might be?

No real rumours yet on that one.
Seems the 10 releases till christmas will be mainly Chaos & Imperium, with the only Xenos rumours beeing Eldarii / Necrons.

If GW keeps up with that release speed i would guess they will do most of the missing Codexes in 2018 so we should get ours next year as well.
But your guess is as good as mine here. ^^


@Shooting weapons with nobs, the burnas are really good since autohits go well with advancing / bad BS.
The kustom shoota is really cheap so i always get one or two if i have spare points and no place for ammo runts.
Kombirokkits are expensive, but why not. You`ll get some hits from time to time.
If your nobs have a closed battle waggon i would leave the expensive kombiweapons at home though.

No real rumours yet on that one.
Seems the 10 releases till christmas will be mainly Chaos & Imperium, with the only Xenos rumours beeing Eldarii / Necrons.

That has me sad, been hoping for something more solid to base my army on, and maybe some nice clan rules.

the burnas are really good since autohits go well with advancing / bad BS.

I like them, but the 19P seems like a drag for low point games, it might be a nice edition in my big boy games

They're not fancy, but can do some major damage, especially if buffed by warpath and/or waaagh banner.

I have been thinking about transporting a banner-nob or a painboy with the 9 nobz.

If your nobs have a closed battle waggon i would leave the expensive kombiweapons at home though.

The squiggoth they'll be riding is open-top I'm not sure how much I value the firepower though, I'll be running them with a open-top tankbusta trukk and footslogging flashgitz buffed by Kaptain B, so having them all take big choppas is sounding pretty compelling, I may have to eat that point cost and ditch the dakka, especially against my DE friend's grotesques he keeps using.

Do you think they're better off combining that with the slugger for close combat shots against those types of units, or a shoota to fire onroute in lower point games?

 Grotrebel wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Between stabbas and bigchoppas, stabbas feel like theyre pretty much dedicating themselves to killing marines and only marines. Only being S5 means they wound on 5s against the vast majority of vehicles, while bigchoppas only wound on 5s against the biggest vehicles (which tbh is what rokkits and pks are for anyway)
When it comes to killing standard marines, even the boyz w/o being massed to ridiculous levels can handle that.

Agreed, MEQ was / is never a problem for orks anyway.

Things might change with the codex.

Offtopic but anyone know when that might be?

No real rumours yet on that one.
Seems the 10 releases till christmas will be mainly Chaos & Imperium, with the only Xenos rumours beeing Eldarii / Necrons.

If GW keeps up with that release speed i would guess they will do most of the missing Codexes in 2018 so we should get ours next year as well.
But your guess is as good as mine here. ^^


@Shooting weapons with nobs, the burnas are really good since autohits go well with advancing / bad BS.
The kustom shoota is really cheap so i always get one or two if i have spare points and no place for ammo runts.
Kombirokkits are expensive, but why not. You`ll get some hits from time to time.
If your nobs have a closed battle waggon i would leave the expensive kombiweapons at home though.

Some early rumors were Imperium and Chaos this year, Xenos starting next year.

We already have SM, CSM and GK out. So I'm guessing AM, SW, BA, DA, DG, TS and maybe AdMech get their codices as well and that already brings us to 8-9 (out of 10). The other two might as well be SoB and Imperial Agents (such as custodes etc) so that's 10. And Xenos starting up in Jan. Just my guesstimates at this time.

Anyone holding any hope for 14 point power klaws? I mean, IG are s3 and have 10 point power fists, marines are s4 and (now) have 12 point power fists, so in a fair ooniverse, s5 ork power klaws should be 14.

I'll do a frigging backflip if klaws become 14 ppm.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
Anyone holding any hope for 14 point power klaws? I mean, IG are s3 and have 10 point power fists, marines are s4 and (now) have 12 point power fists, so in a fair ooniverse, s5 ork power klaws should be 14.

I'll do a frigging backflip if klaws become 14 ppm.

I am guessing 18-20ppm and they will release a new CCW that doesn't work as well

My guess would be Ork PKs will sit at 20 points, if it's any lower than that I'll be very happy. Setting my expectations low like the quality of most of our rules thus far. I would hope that the big choppas takes a minor point cut to accommodate, a point or two would be excellent.

Nobz seem to have some good loadouts, particularly power stabbas and big choppas with a complement of ammo runts. It depends on what you want them to do and the rest of your list but for anti-infantry all power stabbas and one big choppas is what I'd do and for some cost-efficient anti-vehicle/MC all big choppas and one power klaw/killsaw. PK not essential by any means. If you really think you need some PKs then Meganobz with paired killsaws is probably the way forward, but in a mechanised list Tankbustas in a Trukk probably fill the role a bit better.

xlDuke wrote:
My guess would be Ork PKs will sit at 20 points, if it's any lower than that I'll be very happy. Setting my expectations low like the quality of most of our rules thus far. I would hope that the big choppas takes a minor point cut to accommodate, a point or two would be excellent.

Nobz seem to have some good loadouts, particularly power stabbas and big choppas with a complement of ammo runts. It depends on what you want them to do and the rest of your list but for anti-infantry all power stabbas and one big choppas is what I'd do and for some cost-efficient anti-vehicle/MC all big choppas and one power klaw/killsaw. PK not essential by any means. If you really think you need some PKs then Meganobz with paired killsaws is probably the way forward, but in a mechanised list Tankbustas in a Trukk probably fill the role a bit better.

I am hoping they make Kustom Shootas 1-2pts cheaper, they aren't worth that cost. And sadly I agree with you on PKs being about 20. GW doesn't love us enough to give us cheap, useful gear.

We'll have our codex in 8-12 months at least, not before.

I think if you look at the capabilities of the big choppa vs. the klaw it can't be as cheap as 17 pts because then the big choppa doesn't serve for much other then 'an upgrade for less then 17 points'.

If you consider that every stat increase or decrease is +/- 3 points you get something like this;
Choppa 3pts
Stabba 3pts
Big Choppa 9pts
Powerklaw 21pts
Killsaw 24 pts

The outlier in GW logic compared to my example is they seem to think +1 Attack on choppa is free, and the PK and Killsaw should be four more points. This makes me wonder if they did something like weight them on a warboss statline, and then add another point just because the PK -could- be Damage 3, which still doesn't explain saw. Not that it should be explainable.

As far as Nobz go, I still think you want a couple klaws and several vanilla nobz to take wounds. You give everyone a big choppa then every casualty diminishes you evenly. Hiding PKs inside vanilla nobz can help buy them time to make a return for you.

SemperMortis wrote:


I am hoping they make Kustom Shootas 1-2pts cheaper, they aren't worth that cost. And sadly I agree with you on PKs being about 20. GW doesn't love us enough to give us cheap, useful gear.

Yeah, I had noticed that too. Twin-linked shootas went from 2 points to 4 points and went from 2 to 4 shots. Storm bolters, on the other hand are 2 points, but are rapid fire 2, so they effectively got double shots - even though they weren't twin linked.

So, our actually twin linked shootas cost double than storm bolters, which are now effectively twinlinked, but weren't before.

Also, anyone else noticed that hurricane bolters are 4 points too? That seems absurd to me.

I'm honestly starting even to doubt PK effectiveness. A nob with a PK only gets 3 attacks, and he's hitting on fours. That's 1.5 hits, and if you're hitting against T5 or lower you'll be hitting 1.25 times for 1d3 wounds. With a BC, you'll get 3 attacks on 3's, meaning 2 hits, wounding 1.33 times for a flat 2 wounds. That's pretty similar, and the only thing you're really missing out on is the lower AP value, but I wouldn't send nobz termy hunting anyway. 1d3 wounds for 25 points is pretty abysmal.

We're sorely lacking in anti-armor so if I'm taking Nobs that's how I load them out. A few saws, BCs for the rest, and fill out with runts to eat wounds. Still don't like the D3 damage on klaws at the current price and won't consider MANZ at the current price without being able to take Ammo Runts. They really do make the difference.

If your nobs have a closed battle waggon i would leave the expensive kombiweapons at home though.

The squiggoth they'll be riding is open-top I'm not sure how much I value the firepower though, I'll be running them with a open-top tankbusta trukk and footslogging flashgitz buffed by Kaptain B, so having them all take big choppas is sounding pretty compelling, I may have to eat that point cost and ditch the dakka, especially against my DE friend's grotesques he keeps using.

Do you think they're better off combining that with the slugger for close combat shots against those types of units, or a shoota to fire onroute in lower point games?

I would go for the shoota. You will whipe out those small DE gitz pretty easy and will barely stay in CC for over two rounds and so have no chance to use the sluggas in CC.
Shootas are nice for gunning down that weak infantry or get some lucky hits on them paper planes. The 18" gives you a bit more flexibility.

Maybe still add 1-3 of the other shooty stuff when you have some spare points.



@Claws: The jump from a S8 -> S10 / S12 weapon is much better than the S6->S8 jump.
20 points seems realistic, 15 would be too cheap. They could change the damage to 2D3 though, which would make it a bit more reliable and effektive.
D6 would also be fine.

 Vitali Advenil wrote:
I'm honestly starting even to doubt PK effectiveness. A nob with a PK only gets 3 attacks, and he's hitting on fours. That's 1.5 hits, and if you're hitting against T5 or lower you'll be hitting 1.25 times for 1d3 wounds. With a BC, you'll get 3 attacks on 3's, meaning 2 hits, wounding 1.33 times for a flat 2 wounds. That's pretty similar, and the only thing you're really missing out on is the lower AP value, but I wouldn't send nobz termy hunting anyway. 1d3 wounds for 25 points is pretty abysmal.

I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to feel the same away. The klaw's AP3 does make a big difference over the BC's AP1, as does the str 10 v str 7 (situationally, but str 7 is not bad at all), but the minus to hit and variable damage has been disappointing at times.

I think if it gets a price cut, which I would hope would happen in the chapter approved book, I think they'll be much improved.

I honestly like killsaws, for the extra attack and the reliable damage. But it's even more expensive than the overpriced klaws.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:

 Vitali Advenil wrote:
I'm honestly starting even to doubt PK effectiveness. A nob with a PK only gets 3 attacks, and he's hitting on fours. That's 1.5 hits, and if you're hitting against T5 or lower you'll be hitting 1.25 times for 1d3 wounds. With a BC, you'll get 3 attacks on 3's, meaning 2 hits, wounding 1.33 times for a flat 2 wounds. That's pretty similar, and the only thing you're really missing out on is the lower AP value, but I wouldn't send nobz termy hunting anyway. 1d3 wounds for 25 points is pretty abysmal.

I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to feel the same away. The klaw's AP3 does make a big difference over the BC's AP1, as does the str 10 v str 7 (situationally, but str 7 is not bad at all), but the minus to hit and variable damage has been disappointing at times.

I think if it gets a price cut, which I would hope would happen in the chapter approved book, I think they'll be much improved.

I honestly like killsaws, for the extra attack and the reliable damage. But it's even more expensive than the overpriced klaws.

They needed a price cut in 7th and they need one in 8th. Thankfully, since they Spess Mehreens got a price cut on their powerfists, we shoudl get one on ours. Though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if GW decided to keep ours the same because orks can't be goodlol.

Don't judge by the special snowflakes, they also dropped the price for Chaos too. So there is hope.