Plasma Syphon

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.

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Every once in a while, something so egregiously stupid comes up in a Codex for WHFB and its sequel in the 41st Millenium that it makes analysts wonder what ungodly thought-process caused it to wound up in there, either because of relentless cheese, or because of brain-shatteringly bad units. In previous Codexes, examples included randomized Wyrdboy and Psyker power rolls, randomized Possessed Space Marine abilities, the current incarnation of that which must not be mentioned, Blood Angel Force Weapon Dreadnaught and Land Raider drops, and the WHFB Chaos Daemons Codex in general.

Whilst the Grey Knights codex is loaded with bad fluff, cheese units that are basically equipped with "I win" buttons, and so on, a few examples stand out more than others. The Ulumeathi Plasma Syphon' is one of these, and is considered by most of /tg/ to be one of the stupidest, most facepalm-inducing Wargear options ever transcribed to paper in the 40k universe, and considering what's already in the Codex, that's a hell of an accomplishment, considering bullshit like Psychotroke and Rad Grenades are both in the same codex.

What is it?

The Ulumeathi Plasma Syphon is a unique piece of defensive wargear that can only be assigned to an Ordos Xenos Inquisitor. When equipped, it makes any unit firing a plasma weapon within 12" of the Inquisitor as BS1 - functionally ensuring that any Plasma-firing unit will never be able to hit what it's firing at unless it's a blast or large blast template (in which case it can still go wildly off-course with an unlucky roll). What this basically means is that Plasma Weapons - long the Imperial's go-to weapon for dealing with heavy infantry - can be rendered completely irrelevant by strategic use of an Inquisitor as a screening unit. Thanks to some very sketchy errata by Faggot Prime, the Plasma Syphon also affects Tyranid Bio-Plasma, Tau Pulse Weapons, Eldar Starcannons, and Dark Eldar Disintegrators - just for starters.

Because an Army with 2+ armor saves and two wound terminators throughout needed more survivability, obviously.

The Problem in a Nutshell

At a glance, the Ulumeathi Plasma Syphon doesn't seem so bad from a balance perspective - it only works on units within 12 inches, so it can generally only screen 1 or 2 units at a time. The problem arises when one pairs this with how many transport options the Grey Knights already possess - whilst the range is very short, to be sure, in /tg/'s extensive tests, it's extremely possible (distressingly so) to get a Plasma Syphon Inquisitor with a METAL BOX or Dark Gods help you, a Stormraven, in range in the first two turns after isolating the most dangerous plasma weapon-armed threat on the table.

Because of the huge variety of units that can be affected, the low cost of the inquisitor and the fact that he and is hardly a weak unit on his own - especially backed with a competent retinue - this can get ugly in a hurry. For example, dropping off a squad next to a Leman Russ Executioner functionally means that that Leman Russ isn't doing shit to what it should be firing at (the GK Terminators), and instead has to deal with the Inquisitorial retinue, either by going all-out and driving away (wasting a turn in the process), or firing on the Inquisitor itself. In the case of smaller units or those with rapid-fire weapons, the second option becomes a stunning attempt to copy Ork Shooting, with tons of ineffectual dice rolls hitting the table - after all, meleeing a unit with Fire Warriors is not exactly a stunning move of tactical genius. It's not quite broken, but rest assured that it can be fury inducing if used by remotely competent players.

The main counter to the tactic is drowning the Inquisitor itself in not-plasma - if he's on his own, pop him with a Lascannon, Krak Missile, Meltagun, or Railgun shot - otherwise rely on antipersonnel firepower, and drown his squad in massed anti-infantry weaponry (Heavy Bolters, Autocannons, and so on], ideally from outside his range. If he's with a team, use Battle Cannons, Railgun Submunition Shells, or the like to curb-stomp him and his retinue in one go. Once he's down, the screening becomes a non-issue, and you can use your plasma weapons with impunity. At the obviously reasonable cost of all of your armies non plasma weapons plinking away at by far the least threatening thing on the table, potentially for multiple turns.

However, one other way to deal with this is orks. Possessing little 'plasma' weaponry and bS2, this has next to no effect on them, so, as always, the most efficent way to kill termies is 30 ork boyz. Or For Tau, they can just marketlight everything like always.

So yeah. It's bullshit and it's not cool. When units with 2+ saves and an invulnerable save, and multiple wounds per model can be near effortlessly be screened from the only ubiquitous anti-exactly-that-kind-of-unit weapon there's something wrong in the fabric of the universe.