Editing Heldrake (section)

== And Then, 7th Edition ==
With the arrival of 7th Edition and the corresponding FAQ, the Heldrake took several massive hits in its brazen demon balls that might throw it down from the mighty spire of cheese it so proudly dominated before. First, the rulebook changed the rules of the Vector Strike USR to only do one AP 2 S user hit on normal troops, while enemy fliers take D3 instead, and after that, the recent FAQ nerfed the Heldrake by removing the turret rule to the flamer weapon, so it now has to shoot from the tip of the weapon, i.e. the head of the drake. While this might not make it unusable, it does nerf it to more logical levels for a flyer.
This did also create the retarded/awesome new tactic of putting something under the very tip of a Heldrake's wing in the movement phase to be able to vector-strike it and target it with a baleflamer. This basically means that Heldrakes now spend their days going around the place and [[Awesome|decapitating people with their fucking wings]].

Additionally, the meta has shifted quite a bit with the new edition. Everybody has their own fliers of varying effectiveness now, and any army can get (and is more or less expected to take) some sort of anti-air, the more effective of which ([[Mek_Gunz|Ork traktor kannons]] and [[XV-88_Broadside|Tau broadsides]]) simply laugh at those that would cower at the sign of a heldrake.

Even further, towards what is now the end of the 7th edition Cycle, pretty much everyone now knows exactly how to deal with flyers. Both flyers and Skyfire have proliferated to such an extreme that they created their own take on Mutually Assured Destruction. If someone brings a flyer, it'll kick ass, but not if the opponent has literally any kind of anti-air. On your opponent's side, if they have anti-air, it'll be wasted if the opponent doesn't have a flyer, but on the plus side it means all flyers are now completely useless. This has left the game now in the rather unusual state of nobody taking flyers at all, and nobody taking anti-air either.

=== 8th Edition ===

With how much GeeDubs is hyping this as a new edition with actual balance for once, it'll be interesting seeing what becomes of the Helturkey. Luckily the leaks have already told us. The removal of flamer templates means flamer weapons simply get a certain number of automatic hits; the Baleflamer specifically deals D6 auto-hits at an 18-inch range (S6 AP -2, 2 damage). It Will Not Die has been buffed game-wide (and given about six different names), so Heldrake automatically heals a wound at the start of its turns. Speaking of wounds, it's T7 12 wounds 3+ (for comparison, that's a Predator profile with +1 wound), also 5++ as before. Vector Strike is gone, replaced by just giving the turkey a melee profile (WS 3+ S7 AP -1, D3 damage). Its only downside is that it does ''not'' have Hard-to-hit like certain other fliers, so the enemy is hitting it on full ballistic skill (it can also be charged by ground units, but tarpitting doesn't really work against it). All this for 138 points. (Plus the claws...)

Alternate take 09/04/18 - Due to the lack of hard to hit, and the sheer randomness of its damage (1d6 auto hits on the flamer, 1d3 damage per claw), Helturkey looks a lot scarier than it actually performs and its role has generally been relegated to hunting squishy FLY keyword units and hit-and-running heavier infantry. Too, at 185 points (with a Baleflamer, because no one wants to have an Autocannon hitting on 5+s) a Defiler or Wings&Axe Demon Prince can generally do the same job. The only difference the Helturkey has from these is that you can pretty much guarantee your opponent is gonna empty everything they have into it on round one, which gives the rest of your army notable breathing room. If you're looking for a scary bullet sponge with a lot of potential (but only on a good day), the Helturkey is your boi, effectively making it an excellent distraction turkeyfex. Fortunately, Chapter Approved 2018 has seen fit to drop our Heldrakes down by 18 points, so it's now at 167 points rather than 185 points, so it's no longer as bad.

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[[Category: Daemons]]

[[Category: Vehicles]]

[[Category: Flyers]]