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I find myself struggling to remember the profiles of the "Gravis" versions of heavy weapons fitted to Contemptor Dreadnoughts. So I make this thread to discuss them a bit, and also for myself to try to group them and maybe learn them.

At first glance when HH2.0 was released I thought Gravis weapons were simply twice the amount of shots and/or twin-linked. But after reading all of them I immediately discovered the logic was not that simple and they seemed to vary a lot vs the normal version of the same weapon.

Here I will attempt to group them after how they compare vs the non-gravis version of the same weapons

Tier 1 (2x ROF or roughly twice the template coverage)
Gravis Lascannon
Gravis Melta-cannon
Gravis Plasma cannon (5" blast fits about 5 MEQ vs 2-3 for a 3")

Tier 2 (+50% ROF, + 33% range, Twin-linked)
Gravis Bolt-Cannon (Heavy 6 vs Heavy 4, 48" vs 36")

Tier 3 (+50% ROF, Twin-linked)
Gravis Autocannon (Heavy 3 vs Heavy 2)

Tier 4 (+20% ROF, Twin-linked)
Volkite Dual-Culverin* (Heavy 6 vs Heavy 5)
*Not really called Gravis for some reason, but still a Contemptor unique version of the weapon

Bonus Tier, non Gravis weapons but rather normal versions of said heavy weapons
Kheres Assault Cannon
Conversion Beamer

When listing it out like this, I am struggling to see why they made the differences they did between Tier 2-4 i.e. Gravis Bolt cannon, Autocannon and Volkite Dual Culverin. They could all have been just +50% shots and TL (Heavy Bolter 6, Autocannon 3, Volkite 8).

The reason I rank the TL guns with lower RoF increases as lower tiers than the Tier 1 guns is that TL is of limited value on a BS5 platform. You are only going to use a re-roll 1/6 times after all. So it's statistically much better to have more shots.

That being said, the one weapon I personally feel is in a weird place balance wise is the Autocannon. Unless playing Mechanicum the AP4 and Rending (6+) isn't reliably punching through anything, and it does not have enough shots to reliably kill even a Rhino (which the Tier 1 weapons do on average). I would personally like to see it go to Heavy 4 OR Rending (5+). Its point cost seems to be paying a premium for that Rending ability which isn't really that realiable with that few shots, and its long range.

Finally, if we take point cost into account, I feel there are inconsistenciesrthere with the strongest options not always being the most expensive, and vice versa. The internal balance is thus slightly off.

Autocannon is a Good All Rounder.

Enough oomph and shots to worry squads and light vehicles, with rending giving a chance of plinking heavier armour.

Also excellent against Flyers with the targetting thingy. Not just from S and RoF, but their long range.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Autocannon is a Good All Rounder.

Enough oomph and shots to worry squads and light vehicles, with rending giving a chance of plinking heavier armour.

Also excellent against Flyers with the targetting thingy. Not just from S and RoF, but their long range.

Agreed, and it has always been an all-rounder. However when the cheaper 2 shot AT Meltacannon averages more dead troops (Marines) than it I feel they might have missed a bit with the profile. Since the AT weapon is better at killing Infantry too, range is left as the autocannons only USP. And with Contemptors being so mobile and usually moving forward, range is not all that important on this platform. So maybe backfield dual Autocannon is the build to for in this case..

Yeah Helical targeting autocannon Contemptor vs Flyers should be good! Don't see many flyers unfortunately, probably due to the Interceptor reaction being so powerful and scanners so cheap. Do you? I would love to.

Anyway I think the Autocannon is amongst the coolest looking weapons, and I play mostly rule of cool, so I will continue taking it. But I wish it had better internal balance vs the other options (or was cheaper).

Meltacannon lacks range though. And, unlike the Autocannon, can only ever kill two Marines, and will play little truly effective part in the early turns.

Autocannon? They’ve a reasonable chance to wreck a flyer or Speeder turn one.

Not a Speeder, Speeders jumped on the Monstrous Creature bandwagon along with Dreadnoughts

Yeah I think the only thing I might kill with an Autocannon turn 1 is a Rhino with extreme luck (average 1,5 out of 3HP). Flyers generally appear later, or around here, not at all

A melta cannon averages almost 2 dead marines and The Autocannon averages below 1 dead marine per shooting. When the allround weapon is worse at both AT and AP than the dedicated AT options, I stand firm in my belief that the AC is in a weird place profile wise.

Maybe they foresaw less scanners and more fliers, i don't know.

To be sure, it probably depends on your particular Legion, but I'm a fan of Gravis Lascannons over the ACs. But I use them on Castra Ferrum Dreads instead and have in the backfield mostly.

The lascannons aren't many more points for Contemptors are they? And they have better range, still kill Terminators instantly usually and can Sunder tanks very nicely with a chance of exploding them, where ACs can not explode things. (cuz Rending doesn't make AP2 vs tanks, just adds the extra D3 on pen rolls).

I like Contemptors with at least 1 claw/meltagun. Once in combat they won't be shooting, and if they get charged, without a claw they'll not be winning any combats. Even with just krak grenades a mob of 20 Despoilers could put a few wounds on a Contemptor.