Editing Rogal Dorn (section)

====General Primarch Tactics: Rogal Dorn====

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Dorn is one of the easier Primarchs to use in the new edition of Heresy, but he still needs some finesse to use to his greatest potential. He's a fantastic combatant, besting the vast majority of his brother Primarchs, and he's no slouch against infantry with a whopping 8 attacks with Reaping Blow (2). He's an all-rounder, capable of doing considerable damage in both the Shooting and Assault phases of the game, while giving his army some very useful buffs across the board.

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First, Dorn's WLT is amazing, and often people get it wrong. Many people think that it gives an army-wide LD10-- that's not exactly how it works. At any time, all character models in your army can use '''Dorn's leadership characteristic, meaning that your entire army is immune to the Fear (X) special rule.''' Essentially, you're giving your entire army Stubborn.
*Another interesting thing about this WLT is that your army gets +1 to all combat results, but it's not stackable. Think of this rule as just being a free vexila for every unit in your army-- consider building the majority of your squads without them since, again, they don't stack.
*Carefully consider which phase you want your extra reaction to be in-- remember that it's chosen before deployment, unlike Alpharius's WLT. If you choose an extra movement phase reaction, expect your opponent to put less units into reserves, if it's shooting expect them to play further away, etc. etc.

Another thing to consider is Dorn's extreme durability. He has 7 wounds, more than [[Jaghatai Khan|(almost)]] any other Primarch, and the Auric Armour, which is a contender for the best primarch armour in the game.

How many guns do you need to kill Dorn, on average, in one turn?
*Lascannons: 44
*Multi-Meltas: 28
*Plasma guns: 22 (44 shots)
*Disintegrators: 32 (64 shots)
*Autocannons: 38 (72 shots)
*Heavy Bolters: 48 (192 shots)
*Bolters: 185 (370 shots)

In the shooting phase, Dorn is THE MOST durable Primarch. The next most durable Primarch, Horus, takes, on average, 38 Lascannons to kill, and Dorn requires 44. This is an insane feat, considering that the average amount of Lascannons needed to kill a Primarch is 27. He's a beast.

As to getting Dorn into combat, you have two main options.
*Dorn has the Deep Strike ability, allowing you to Deep Strike him anywhere you need him alongside a terminator retinue. It's definitely a powerful ability, but not the best-- you can't deploy him with Phalanx Warders, which is what he really wants.
*If you're running him with Warders, you can slap him and his squad inside a Spartan and drive it up the board. It's got a capacity of 26, so not only can you put Dorn in there, but also another 2 models-- generally you're going to want a Primus Medicae to give his retinue a 5+++ FNP (because they weren't tanky enough already).
**You can't take apothecaries in units that have ICs, so you need to take a Primus Medicae instead. Also consider giving them a boarding shield, so it gets the benefit of the Stone Gauntlet ROW.
**Remember, your Primus Medicae's abilities only affect Infantry and Cavalry units-- Dorn won't get a FNP or re-rollable IWND.
**If you instead want Dorn himself to get extra durability, go for a Librarian with Biomancy to give Dorn T7. It's mostly redundant, but it makes him pummel Curze even more.
*Yes, the Aetos Dios exists, but it can only be used in games of 5000+ points, and it's not even that great. Yes, Dorn can easily survive a Crash and Burn, but his retinue can't.

Speaking of combat, he's one of the better Primarchs at killing infantry, with WS8, Reaping Blow (2), S8 ID, and S10 ID on the charge.
Rogal Dorn vs:
*Cataphractii Terminators: 6.67 hits, 6.48 wounds, 3.24 unsaved ID wounds
*Tartaros Terminators: 6.67 hits, 6.48 wounds, 4.23 unsaved ID wounds
*Veterans: 5.33 hits, 5.18 wounds, 5.18 unsaved ID wounds
*Marines: 6.67 hits, 6.48 unsaved ID wounds

Rogal Dorn charging vs:
*Cataphractii Terminators: 7.5 hits, 7.29 wounds, 3.65 unsaved ID wounds.
*Tartaros Terminators: 7.5 hits, 7.29 wounds, 4.86 unsaved ID wounds
*Veterans: 6 hits, 5.83 unsaved ID wounds
*Marines: 7.5 hits, 7.29 unsaved ID wounds.

He's fantastic against marines, maintaining his status as [[Angron|one]] [[Sanguinius|of]] [[Lion El'Jonson|the]] [[Leman Russ|best]] Primarchs at dealing with tarpits.

And for Retinues, you've got 4 choices to consider:
*Huscarls are the fluffy choice, but they aren't great. They're expensive (50 points per model, plus 25 for the unit), and don't really deal all that much damage, and they don't have the buffing potential of Phalanx Warders. Take them if you expect to be playing against a lot of S8 ID or high-toughness targets, but generally you can pass these guys up in favor of other options.
*Phalanx Warders are THE SHIT. If Dorn is in a unit with 3, he gets a [[Cheese|3++ Invulnerable save,]] making him ''arguably the tankiest primarch in the game'' in combination with the Auric Armour. Also, getting WS9 when he's charged is great, since it buffs his damage on the first turn of combat while synergizing perfectly with Bulwark of the Imperium. For best results, take 20 of these fine gentlemen in the Stone Gauntlet Rite of War.
*Templar Brethren are an okay choice, but they're not great. If you really don't want to take Phalanx Warders, just take Huscarls instead.
*Not feeling any connection to the above retinues? Take Hetaeron guard. They don't give Dorn a tremendous buff like Phalanx Warders, but they're individually almost as scary as a Legion Praetor with [[Rip and Tear|Rampage (3) or Murderous Strike (4+) on their meridian swords.]] If you need damage output, go with these fine gentlemen.

Here's my little editorial as a Fists player.
*The best retinue for Dorn is a 20-man Phalanx Warder squad, fully kitted out for melee, since that's really where you want them. One in five can take a thunder hammer, so with those and the sergeant you should have 15 power axes and 5 thunder hammers.
**Depending on your local meta, decide for yourself whether you want to take melta bombs. They're pretty expensive at 50 points for the unit, and Dorn himself isn't threatened by Contemptors, since they still take 7 rounds of combat to take him down.
*Dorn has good shooting, but he doesn't give a shooting unit anything particularly great ([[Horus|some]] [[Roboute Guilliman|Primarchs]] have a cognis-signum, Dorn does not), so you want him tearing shit up in melee. Warders are particularly effective-- while they don't have as much damage as [[Dark Angels|some]] [[Space Wolves|other]] [[Ultramarines|legions,]] they've got exceptional durability, especially in Stone Gauntlet, and they get pretty damn scary on the charge.

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