Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Necrons

Why Play Necrons

Necrons are space robot zombie ghosts. They don't talk, and they are pure evil. Well, they do talk now... And now they're not so much 'evil' as 'crazy'. But hey, they're Tomb Kings... IN SPAAAAAACE! What is not to love about them? Oh, and they aren't Marines. Honestly. Ignore their WS/BS/S/T 4 statline, their S4 AP5 Rapid Fire guns, and their 3+ armor saves, they totally aren't Marines.

Recently got an update by Matt Ward himself, and it's surprisingly awesome. Where do we start? Well, you never have to think about the words "Phase Out" ever again... And holy shit! They have vehicles other than the Monolith! Necron Wraiths are gone, replaced by Canoptek Wraiths, which look like the old Wraiths mixed with Tomb Spyders, and Pariahs are gone too (but you could still use your old Pariah models as Lychguard, since Lychguard also have Warscythes).

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Necron Overlord - Your basic HQ choice. He's only Infantry and has lower Toughness than the Destroyer Lord, but a Catacomb will help him move faster and he can take some wargear that Destroyer Lords can't, namely the Phylactery, Phase shifter, and Tesseract Labyrinth. Great in close combat, and good for giving other units a boost with a Resurrection Orb. Upgrade them to a Phaeron and they can make any unit they join Relentless, which sounds awesome until you realize that the only units that would really benefit from it are Warriors, Immortals (unless they took tesla carbines), and Deathmarks, as most Necron weapons are either Assault or are mounted on vehicles. And neither of those three units are good in an assault. Oh well.
• Destroyer Lord - Misses out on some of the wargear that the Overlord gets, but on the other hand, gains Jump Infantry, T6, Preferred Enemy (Everything!) and a free Warscythe instead. Great as beatsticks thanks to their better Toughness; stick them with either a unit of other Jump Infantry and send him into the thick of it.
• Royal Court- Any Necron Overlord or Overlord special character, can take a Royal Court, which is composed of up to five Necron Lords and/or up to five Crypteks. Necron Lords are basically a mini version of the Necron Overlord, with 1 Wound and 2 Attacks (compared to the Overlord's 3 of each) but they still hit as hard as any Overlord at a fraction of the cost, and can be kitted out similarly. Crypteks are basically less powerful Lords, but they can be upgraded into Harbingers, at which point they gain nifty special wargear that nothing else in the codex gets. You can stick them in a Ghost Ark or second them off to your squads of Warriors, Immortals, Deathmarks, or Lychguard.

The following are special characters:

• Imotekh the Stormlord - The traditional 200+ point named hero unit. Imotekh comes with a 2+ armor save, 3+ invuln save, a Phylactery, and a Gauntlet of Fire. He also can make Flayed Ones deep strike perfectly next to a single enemy unit, and summon bolts of lightning down to zap people. In addition, he always seizes the Initiative on 4+ except against Orks, who he can't seize Initiative against at all (CUZ GREEN IS BEST, YA GITZ!).
• Nemesor Zahndrekh - The senile old coot is actually a surprisingly good tactical HQ choice, giving nifty bonuses to your units each turn and even taking away nifty bonuses from enemy units. He even has a Resurrection Orb. He's not very useful in close combat though, but he works really well with Vargard Obyron, as described below.
• Vargard Obyron - The close combat HQ, this guy combines good WS with a Warscythe and strong hitting power, and can even make counter-attacks against enemies that miss before he attacks, up to a maximum of 9 attacks total(!). He can also teleport around the battlefield thanks to his special mantle, and perfect Deep Strikes if he lands next to Zahndrekh. Needless to say, he and Zahndrekh work pretty well together.
• Illuminor Szeras - It's like Dr. Frankenstein, except an undead spider robot. His statline is nothing special; however, he does give a bonus to one unit of Warriors or Immortals in your army, giving them either +1 Strength, BS, or Toughness for the remainder of the game. He also has defensive grenades and a S8 AP2 shooting attack; if there's a "shooty" hero unit in the Necrons codex, it's Szeras.
• Orikan the Diviner - This guy actually has a worse statline than the regular Overlord. So why use him? Well, he can re-roll reserve rolls for one turn, has a power weapon that re-rolls to hit, ad forces your enemy to go through Difficult Terrain on turn 1. Also, on each turn, you roll a d6- if the die roll is less than or equal to the turn you're currently on (so on Turn 3 you'd have to roll a 3 or lower) then "The Stars Are Right", Orikan goes Super-Saiyan, and gains a massive stat boost (similar in power to a C'tan Shard), complete with a 'bwahahaha!' in the rule description. However, if you roll less than or equal to the turn you're on a second time, Orikan powers down, and goes back to his original profile. Kind of a mixed bag, but beastly if you have Lady Luck's favor. Combine with a C'tan with Writhing Worldscape (turns difficult terrain into dangerous) to cause your opponent to lose approx 1/6 of his army in his movement phase.
• Anrakyr the Traveller - Comes with a Tachyon Arrow and a Warscythe, and gains the Counter-Attack and Furious Charge special rules. If you have Immortals, one unit of Immortals become "Pyrrhian Eternals" for no additional cost, which are basically just like regular Immortals but with Counter-Attack and Furious Charge, making them not quite so shitty in assault. His real strength is his ability to hack enemy vehicles, which means you can cause your mech-happy Imperial Guard opponent to shoot himself with his own tanks. Be sure to thank your kind opponent for letting you borrow his vehicle.
• Trazyn the Infinite - aka "The Tarpit Breaker". Trollzyn is probably the best HQ choice you can get if you just love fucking with your opponent. He excels at wiping out hordes, thanks to his Empathic Obliterator- if he kills a model in a unit, he wounds other units like the one he killed on a 4+. This means that if he kills even a single Ork Boy, every single other Ork Boy in the mob takes a wound on a 4+, usually resulting in 10+ casualties in full strength hordes. On top of that, he can cause the Orks' Nob to go nuts and hit his own Boyz, further adding to the carnage. If he dies, he can just possess another Lychguard, Cryptek, Necron Lord, or Necron Overlord on the table and keep going as normal. And the cherry on top? He's scoring.

Elites

• Deathmarks - Deep-striking assassins with rapid-fire 24" sniper rifles. See an enemy unit you don't like? Send the Deathmarks after them and watch them wound on a 2+ against them. A relatively cheap way of dealing with problem units without getting your other units tied up after them.
• Lychguards - Pariahs may be gone, but these guys are their replacements, and boy are they nasty. Warscythes don't ignore invulnerable saves anymore, but instead are power weapons that provide +2 Strength, making Marine killing even more easy. They still roll 2D6 against vehicle armor, too. They can also replace their warscythes with regular power weapons and dispersion shields, giving them a 4+ invuln save with a chance of reflecting enemy shots back at them. Nothing says "fuck you" like redirecting a melta shot to hit the asshole that fired it. However, they are extremely expensive, costing similarly to a unit of Terminators.
• Triarch Praetorians - Another powerful close combat unit similar to Lychguards, their only real differences are -1 Attack, the addition of Fearless, and a change in wargear. They're also Jump Infantry, making them much more mobile than Lychguards. Their usual weapon is a Rod of Covenant, a power weapon with a S5 AP2 shooting attack with a 6" range, essentially giving them another attack before they charge. Their alternate weapons are voidblades and particle casters- This gives their shooting attack better range and strength in exchange for much worse AP, while their close combat weapons gain Rending and Entropic Strike. While this doesn't initially seem as good as outright ignoring armor altogether, they do get a bonus attack for having a pistol and close combat weapon, essentially trading quality for quantity.
• C'tan Shard - Yep, this is what happened to those 300+ point god-monsters from the old codex... Demoted to Elites and had their price cut to about 2/3 of what it once was. Their statline is worse, but they're still beastly, even more so than the Canoptek Spyders, and can take all sorts of nifty powers to screw with your opponent. Unfortunately, they provide a huge, very visible target to shoot at, and they compete with other Elite choices... and, like before, they're slow, only able to move 6" a turn.
• Flayed One Pack - At first, Flayed Ones don't seem that great. They don't ignore armor, and compete for the Elites slot with both Lychguard and Triarch Praetorians, which both do. They even have a 4+ armor save, like Warriors, but they can't take a transport and they don't score. The upside is that they're just as cheap as Warriors and can come in squads of up to 20, with 3 attacks each, and the ability to Deep Strike or Infiltrate. While they're not as strong or tough as Lychguard, they have more attacks and are less than half the price, letting you drown your opponent in sheer volume of attacks and bodies.
• Triarch Stalker - Basically, a Necron Dreadnought. High Strength and good number of attacks in close combat, but unfortunately doesn't ignore armor. On the other hand, the Heat Ray acts as either a heavy flamer or a two-shot multi-melta, great for killing tanks and infantry alike, and scoring a hit on an enemy unit gives all your other units a bonus to shoot at them. If you want to specialize in killing infantry, the Particle Shredder drops a nasty pie plate at a decent range, but the twin-linked Heavy Gauss Cannon isn't quite as effective as the Heat Ray for demolishing vehicles.

Troop

• Necron Warriors - The closest thing the Necrons have to tarpits and cannon fodder, these guys are basically Cronscripts (get it?). They've lost their 3+ save from the previous codex, gaining a paltry 4+ save instead; on the other hand, they're now much cheaper, so you can field more of them, and they're not the only Troops choice anymore so you don't even have to take them if you don't want to. Just about as good as Space Marines at shooting, and a little cheaper too, but they suffer in close combat, where their I2 and 1 Attack make them little better than Tau Fire Warriors. Good for parking on an objective or just swamping the field with bodies.
• Immortals - Moved to Troops in the new codex. These guys are basically what Warriors used to be, 3+ save and all, except they cost 1 point less and they have better guns. Start with gauss blasters, can take tesla carbines for free, both options provide nice anti-infantry dakka. Like Warriors, they're still shit in close combat.

Dedicated Transports

• Catacomb Command Barge - Your Necron Overlord's personal pimp-mobile. He can blast suckas in drive-by shootings thanks to the Catacomb's built in guns, or simply drive closer to hit them with his sword (or Warscythe as the case may be). Good for adding mobility to an otherwise slow HQ choice, and combine with Trazyn the Infinite (who is scoring) for a trolltastic way to contest objectives.
• Ghost Ark - Good for ferrying about your Overlord and his Court, or a unit of Necron Warriors of 10 or fewer. It can broadside two different targets with gauss flayers, and even repair Warriors from death. Useful for drive-bys with shooty Royal Court units or Warrior squads, but unfortunately it can't carry any other unit types.
• Night Scythe - Faster, cheaper, more durable than the Ghost Ark (because it's not open-topped), and even has a bigger carrying capacity. It can carry 15 Infantry, 7 Jump Infantry, or 5 Jetbikes, and unlike the Ghost Ark isn't restricted to Overlords, Necron Lords, Crypteks, or Warriors. However, it has no fire points, meaning the guys inside can't fire at anyone while inside, but the twin-linked Tesla Destructor makes up for that. Great all-purpose transport for all occasions.

Fast Attack

• Canoptek Wraiths - Jump Infantry with Rending attacks and a 3+ Invuln save that ignore difficult and dangerous terrain, and surprisingly good in assault thanks to an ability that can reduce enemy Initiative to 1. They can also take particle casters (essentially S6 AP5 pistols) or transdimensional beamers, which are one of several "Strength test or instantly die" weapons that the Necrons seem so fond of now. Unfortunately, beamers are heavy weapons, which aren't good on an assault unit like Wraiths- you're better served by the particle casters or the whip coils. At least they have multiple Wounds now, which means that entire squads won't die to light bolter fire in one turn.
• Canoptek Scarabs - One of the few units with the "Entropic Strike" rule, meaning that it can make your enemy lose their goddamn armor save if they ever fail a save against them. Unfortunately, Scarabs have unimpressive stats (WS2, S3) and their weapons don't ignore armor saves- not to mention that most units you'll face only have 1 Wound, so if they've lost their armor save they're dead anyway. Flamers will also ruin their day, ignoring their armor and doing double damage against them, and S6 weapons will outright kill them. However, they are wonderful tarpits, with 3 Wounds per base and 4 attacks each, and they're great when used against vehicles, especially Land Raiders- watch your local Marine player cry as their almighty AV14 drops to 13, then 12...
• Tomb Blades - Jetbikes with twin-linked guns, capable of being upgraded with a 3+ armor save, BS5, and/or +1 to cover saves. Surprisingly, a full squad can fit in a Night Scythe, if you want to stick them in a transport for some reason. Great for zipping around the battlefield, harassing any stray infantry units, and particle beamers could even be used to take on light vehicles as well.
• Necron Destroyers - They're not jetbikes anymore, they've been reduced to Jump Infantry... However, they have a few new tricks to make up for this. They have Preferred Enemy (Everything!), meaning that they always get to reroll to hit in an assault, and up to 3 of them (out of a maximum squad size of 5) can be upgraded to Heavy Destroyers, essentially lascannons on a jump infantry model. Regular Destroyers make Marines cry with their S5 AP3 Assault 2 guns, while Heavy Destroyers will blast tanks to shreds. Expect them to attract lots of fire in turn, however, unless you can get them into an assault, where they're surprisingly good.

Heavy Support

• Doomsday Ark - Basically a Ghost Ark with the transport capacity removed and replaced by a big fucking gun instead. Unfortunately, has the same problem that Heavy Destroyers had in the previous codex; it's a huge gun mounted on a fragile platform. AV 11 and Open Topped do not make a good combination for an expensive model like this. Thankfully, the Doomsday Cannon has a long range in the stationary mode, so keep it in the back of your army where it can spit S9 AP1 pie plates at anything that moves. While it can certainly dish out the hurt, it can't take it. (Actually quantum shielding boosts it's AV up to 13 until it gets penetrated so its still pretty tough)
• Annihilation Barge - A Catacomb Command Barge, with the Overlord's pimp chair replaced with a big gun (seem familiar?). Unlike the Doomsday Ark, the Annihilation Barge is primarily anti-infantry shooting, but in an army that doesn't have a shortage of anti-infantry shooting, it competes with some of the Necrons' best sources of anti-tank shooting.
• Monolith - It's still a big floating pyramid that blasts gauss death from every edifice. No longer as ungodly invincible as it was previously (Living Metal only affects Crew Stunned/Shaken results now, so meltas and lance weapons work on it) but received a hefty price drop, and kept its firepower. Like before, it can teleport Necron units through its Eternity Gate, or suck enemies through it without even giving them an invulnerable save (perfect for killing those annoying Thunderwolves or Nob Bikers). It can even Deep Strike, which might be smart considering how slow it is otherwise.
• Doom Scythe - Another repurposed transport vehicle with the transport capacity replaced with a big fucking gun- Just like the Doomsday Ark and Annihilation Barge (and the Vindicator, and the Hammerhead, and the Fire Prism...). Ridiculously fast, and carries a powerful, long-range death ray that basically kills anything within 3D6". Unfortunately it has a chance to hit your own guys too, but if you're not completely retarded this shouldn't be that hard to manage. Expect your opponent to try and shoot these things down the first chance he gets.
• Canoptek Spyders - Largely an improvement from the old Tomb Spyders, with WS/BS 3 instead of the old 2. They can even create Scarabs like Tomb Spyders could, and can take some nasty wargear as well. Fabricator claws can repair Necron vehicles, gloom prisms nullify enemy psychic powers, and twin-linked particle beamers just blast enemies to bits, and all of them can be taken without sacrificing close-combat ability. You can even take three of them for one Heavy Support slot, making them worth considering despite their stiff competition for the Heavy Support slot.

Forge World

• Pylon - A Super Heavy artillery piece. Great for putting holes in other Super Heavies with 3 S10 AP1 shots that have incredibly long range. Three of these can pretty much wreck a mech army's shit in one turn. Now you see a healthy Leman Russ company, now you see nine smoking wrecks. They are unparalelled tank destroyers (they are only exceeded by titans, Terminus Ultra's have a risk of blowing themselves up and only have S9 AP2 weapons, and Baneblades are less efficient) and that's just the icing on the cake. With Armor 14 and living metal rules, they are a bitch to kill, their teleportation lets them be where they need to in a snap, their special effects are just sweet, and they allow you to use some really overpowered formations (5+ invulnerable saves...for your whole army...)
• Tomb Stalker - Not the Tomb Stalker from the Medusa V campaign (sadly...those were the Necron equivalents of titans and much like Necron ships they could slaughter enemy superheavies of greater size with ease). The Forge World model is a mix between a Tomb Spyder and a Wraith. It is a deep striking monstrous creature. Poison and sniper effects only wound it on a 6+ so take three when facing Dark Eldar. Then laugh at their faces when it eats through all their paper tanks.

Building your Army

• Dry Brushing - The only technique you will need to use to paint any sized Necron force.
• Dip - An alternative to Dry Brushing. Spray everything chrome or a shiny metallic color. Then dip all the models in a brown wash. Blam, done. After assembling, you have any sized Necron force done in 30 minutes. Put some green as an added bonus.

Tactics

• Destroyer Armada - The basic premise behind this Necron build is to cram as many Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers into your list as possible. Warriors and the Lord are there to supplement (and give you less points to spend on) the shooty power of Destroyers.
• Wraith Wing - Just like the Destroyer Armada, only focusing on Wraiths. This force is a glass sword. Very difficult to use correctly, but can be devastating when you don't fuck it all up.
• Tons of Warriors - Look at the cover of the old Necron Codex. Then use that as a base for your Necron army. Toss in as many Warriors as you can (140 Warriors and a two Lords with Resurrection Orbs at 2020). Then practice the time honored tactic of stand and shoot. Worked very, very well in 4th edition and was pretty much unbeatable in 3rd edition as the sheer number of gauss weapon rolls would slaughter any vehicle through glancing hits and murder any infantry through auto-wounds and still mulches infantry centered armies in 5th with auto-wounds and can rather quickly rob vehicles of their weapons (a baneblade that has had all of it's guns removed is just an overglorified piece of moving cover), but it's past it's prime now thanks to 5th edition vehicle damage rules and the fact that Warriors aren't the best in close combat. With the new codex, Warriors' price has dropped, so you can field even more of them to compensate for their downgraded armor save: you can fill up you 6-Troop choices with 120 Warriors for 1560 points. Then get an Overlord and a deep-striking Monolith to carry the Warriors near enemy lines
• C'tan's Floating Castle - Three Monoliths. Drop pie plates and enjoy the aroma of your opponent's newly filled pants. Then get into an argument about if Melta Bombs work against Monoliths. (Answer: They do now.)
• Scarab Swarm - Exploit the cheapness of Scarab Swarms. You simply fill your Fast Attack slots with Scarabs instead of Destroyers. Attach a Destroyer Lord with a Lightning Field and other close combat supporting Wargear and watch the Scarabs scratch away at your opponents and cause many wounds in return from the Lightning Field. This build is not the most effective, but it is one of the most entertaining builds for a Necron player. The new version of Scarabs in the Necron Codex means that everyone has to run at least one unit of these, because they rape vehicles to death in a single round of close combat. If your opponent has a vehicle, even a Land Raider, and you have one or more units of Scarabs, you might as well put on Yakety Sax right now. Unless it's a Land Raider Redeemer or a Baal Predator, or any other tank with a flamer on it, which ruins Scarabs' day...
• Monolith Phalanx one of the most HATED tactics in apocalypse, simply plonck 2-5 monoliths on the field and watch as all of your troops gain 5+ invulnerable saves which usually isn't much but consider that every, single freaking Necron will have it and gain bonuses to their we'll be back rolls (revs on a 2+ lol) and you'll have an army that will simply refuse to fucking die no matter what's thrown at it. Since Monoliths are absurdly durable and a large number of them is bound to fuck up even a Titan's shit (especially if one or more of them is a doomsday monolith), you will win almost all the fucking time even with 5th edition gauss weapon nerfs. If you convince your opponent to play with 3rd or 4th edition vehicle damage rules then you will be pretty much invincible. Keep a troll face on at all times while using this tactic and watch your opponents rage impotently. Monoliths are no longer as impervious as they once were, but have dropped in price significantly, so now you can compensate for your less durable Monoliths by fielding even MORE shit.