Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Necrons (section)

===Heavy Support===
*'''[[Necron Destroyer|Heavy Destroyer]]''' - If you're planning on running something akin to an Oldcron army and feel miffed by all these expensive aeroplanes and hovering chariots, you can settle with the Heavy Destroyer.  Grab two more for a pack, and watch things pop open even faster with your fellow Destroyers. Tip: If you can manage to get a Triarch Stalker near these guys, like 3 Heavy Destroyers on each side of the Stalker within 6", it gives them all BS5, so hit on 2's, reroll 1's due to PE, then same for Wounds. Almost guaranteed 3 (or however many destroyers you can get near it) AP2 wounds.  If these guys happen to be part of the Destroyer Cult formation you're looking at one of the best anti-tank batteries in the game (as they'll reroll all failed wounds '''and armor penetration rolls''') - but unfortunately you will have to take a Destroyer Lord and 9 regular Destroyers as well (minimum 470 points), so don't take the Destroyer Cult just for the Heavy Destroyers.

*'''[[Doomsday Ark]]''' - Basically a Ghost Ark with the transport capacity removed and replaced by a big gun instead. Unfortunately, it has the same problem that Heavy Destroyers had in the previous codex; it's a huge gun mounted on a fragile platform. AV 13 with quantum shielding, 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 S10 AP1 pie plates at anything that moves.  This thing got a curveball buff in the Primary Weapon special rule.  Yes, that's right, the same special rule you see on Titan weapons: it rerolls armor penetration like an Ordnance weapon.  In fact, this is basically Ordnance's hotter cousin. It is now decent on the move as it then fires a S8 AP3 blast at 24". Tip: Always shoot these first and ALWAYS target the most suitable (expensive) infantry squad (i.e: First you blast TEQs, then MEQs and work your way up from there) or vehicle. A full-power shot has a very high chance of completely wiping a Tactical Marine squad off the table so if you use these wisely, you can cause your opponent to have an epileptic fit by Turn 2. While it can certainly dish out the hurt, it can't take it. Armies that have problems with strength based instant-death weapons with high AP values and templates (tyranids), are known to pretty much spontaneously explode at the mere sight of this thing (NOTE: after their recent downgrade, Tyranids explode more or less on their own).  Thanks to Primary Weapon, these things also turn mech-happy IG armies into powder turn one.
** '''If you jink, you can't fire the main gun''' (firing snap shots and blasts don't mix), so be careful. Still better to jink than take a dozen lascannons, though...
** Before you pop too many boners over the Ark ask yourself why you don't see vast numbers of vindicators and demolisher-russes. With great power comes a great big bullseye on your butt. Don't delude yourself into thinking you'll magically evaporate a squad every turn. You can certainly dish out the hurt but enemies still get cover saves and you are still vulnerable. A special rule that encourages the enemy to fire lascannons and krak missiles at you doesn't bode well for your survivability.
** Obviously, not everyone can afford this option, and not every agrees to play with FW stuff, but I definitely recommend using these with a Tomb Citadel. A couple Doomsday Arks and Warriors to block the entrances makes for one hell of a shooting stronghold. Back it up with 2 Gauss Exterminators for anti-flier and you can kill just about anything other than Nurgle daemons in ruins. But hey, we have Tomb Blades for that. I always had trouble with nearly every army destroying my Arks (mostly bad luck, even had a Flyrant get lucky with a 6 to pen, and another 6 to explode) and this mostly solves the problem.

*'''[[Annihilation Barge]]''' - A Catacomb Command Barge, with the Overlord's pimp chair replaced with a big gun (seem familiar?). This used to be the bread and butter of most lists - it was just too good to not consider. As of now it's much less impressive: it's AV13 on front and sides thanks to quantum shielding, has living metal and costs 120 points. Oh, did I mention that it has a strength 7 weapon that fires 4 times but hits an average of 5.5 times, then for desserts either carries a strength 6 tesla cannon or a gauss cannon for killing marines, daemons and tyranids? Still an excellent unit, delivering more fairly-high-strength shooting than almost anything similar, at an increased but still reasonable cost.  Great at taking down transports, monstrous creatures, or infantry with poor saves.  Unfortunately, as Tesla no longer affects snap shots this thing can no longer effectively target fliers, while also losing a lot of firepower if it has to jink.

*'''[[Monolith]]''' - A big floating pyramid that blasts [[gauss]] death from every orifice. No longer as ungodly invincible as it was in third edition, the monolith suffers from a number of drawbacks including unwieldy size, hefty cost, and unimpressive offense, making up for it by being the toughest armour in one of the toughest armies around (until the Obelisk shows up, that is).  The black brick can teleport Necron units through its Eternity Gate, blow holes in hordes, and snap-fire four banks of gauss blasters.  If you take one, take it for its durability and dimensional transport, not its middling firepower.
**The Monolith can deep strike, fire its whip and its flux arcs (although only snap shoot these) in the same turn it lands in the enemy's face. This isn't bad for 200 points (until you mishap) but most other Necron vehicles are probably still going to be more cost effective on offense.
**Don't forget, this thing is a monster for blocking TLOS. Tactics using allies with barrage weapons do exist for this model.
**Not mentioned above, the monolith isn't restricted with normal firing limitations of one target per shooting phase. With all 4 gauss flux arcs and the particle whip the monolith can technically fire at 5 different targets in a single shooting phase. Although independently none of the shooting attacks are particularly notable, it is an impressive number of targets one can engage at once. It is notable that due to the fire arcs of the various weapons, the monolith is never able to fire all weapons at a single target unless said target is a blob that for some reason decided to surround your giant fat ass tank.
**If you still feel like taking it, take a Spyder too (or three), and kit it out with its gloom prism and fabricator claw array. Hide it behind the monolith, and when Abbadon gets too big for his boots and comes to smack you up a bit, jump out of the portal, shout 'BOO!' and make him run away again. Take wraiths with whip coils for added pain. The gloom prism will provide you with some very useful psyker defense (The only one you're going to get for the Necrons, mind) for your flying fortress, and that claw can repair you if your opponent tries to get rid of your guns.
**7th edition's change to the vehicle damage tables make the Monolith much tougher: as the only land vehicle you've got that isn't open-topped, the Monolith will find itself facing Explodes! results a lot less often than Annihilation Barges or Doomsday Arks, and Living Metal actually benefits it by granting 6+ IWND.  Realistically, this thing is exceptionally tough: it shrugs off crew shaken and stunned results, has enough weapons that Weapon Destroyed results rarely matter (and its portal abilities aren't susceptible to Weapon Destroyed anyway), isn't reduced in AV toughness after suffering a penetrating hit unlike almost all other Necron vehicles, doesn't crash on immobilized results and doesn't need to turn anyway... The 7th edition also graced the monolith with other goodies such as changes to smash, vector strike, rending, blast template damage (this is a little lost since it is AV 14 all around), and the downgrading of many anti-tank weapons (broadside Rail guns anyone?). All together, the Monolith is still one of the toughest things you can buy with 200 points and when paired with a Spyder or two and their repair claws it can survive the whole game.  Just don't overestimate it: this will not singlehandedly win you the war.
**Given the Monolith receiving a toughness boost this edition, it could be interesting trying the Monolith out again as what it was intended to be, as a high strength beachhead maker by dropping in enemy lines and teleporting in high strength hitters from reserves and across the board. Be careful of things that can still hurt you such as meltas, some monstrous creatures (not as many thanks to the smash nerf), and of course deepstrike mishaps.  Bring down the Decurion formation, and as long as your Obelisk doesn't fail the Monoliths won't scatter.
*** Deep strike scatter is not movement, thus skimmer rules aren't a saving grace by RAW any more than the fact it's a tank saves it by allowing it to "Tank Strike" (Tank Shock/Ram from [Deep Strike] Reserve)... Nope, it's a big box that has to worry about landing in small spaces. Even the formation just makes it easier to stick more big boxes next to one that's already wedged itself somewhere. Deep Strike with care.
*** Says who? "... in the Movement Phase during which they arrive, DS units may not move any further..." You wouldn't talk about moving "further" if you haven't moved at all yet, ergo DS counts as move. Basic English.
**** How about; "it's hotly contested and should probably (but likely never will be) FAQ'd"[http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/518371.page] [http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?401231-Skimmers-and-Deep-Strike-Mishaps] 
**Probably the best way to use this floating brick is in support of warrior spam. Take 3, fill out your troop choices with warriors and line your back field with monoliths. Dealing with Drop pod or deepstrike bullshit? Not a problem. Teleport your warriors from one monolith through another with its eternity gate. Against Tau and Imperial guard just deepstrike it and immediately march twenty warriors out of the front during the next turn (Same turn if it's in the Living Tomb formation). Really this thing is just a fire support bunker designed to help warriors and clear hordes. Just watch out for meltas and termi spam and you'll do fine.

*'''[[Doom Scythe]]''' (Attack Flyer) - Another re-purposed transport vehicle with the transport capacity replaced with a massive gun- Just like the Doomsday Ark and Annihilation Barge (and the Vindicator, the Hammerhead and the Fire Prism...). Ridiculously fast with Supersonic, and carries a powerful 24" Death Ray (a S10 Ap1 Lance, Blast). And with the current flyer rules, this thing is INCREDIBLE: 6 to hit it, and has a cover save. Take two to make your opponent have a fit over having his expensive tanks explode at the same time. Take three, back them up with Night Scythes to simply throw all your enemy ground based anti-air out of table on turn two, and watch him weeping. However, although the Death Ray is powerful, remember that it doesn't ignore cover or take multiple wounds, so think twice about loading up on Doom Scythes if you're going to be facing armies that have a lot of skimmers or MCs. Not to mention the Chaos and DE vehicles that have invulnerable saves anyway.  However, it very nearly ignores vehicle armour, since it never does worse than glancing on 2s and penetrating on 3s, with AP 1 to boot.
:If you're used to the old Doom Scythe, make sure to remember it no longer draws lines - it's just a really nice gun now, following the normal rules.
**Pro-tip: make sure to blast the Hydra and any other AA units off of table the turn your Scythe arrives. As long as it didn't get dicked over first that is.

*'''Canoptek Spyders''' - Cheap as dirt Monstrous Creatures that are T6 W3 3+, and can be taken in units of three. How cheap? Well, some armies have Terminators with a higher base cost. Yes, really. They can even create Scarabs, and can take some nasty wargear as well. Fabricator claws can repair Necron vehicles,and Gloom Prisms give Adamantium Will to the Spyder and all units within 12" of it. Can't stop buffs, but it can protect you from some witchfires. 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. The 7E codex toned down the cost of a few key upgrades, including the fairly excellent twin-linked particle beamer. They're tough as balls to kill, can go toe to toe with most threats, and are the cornerstone of one of the finest formations to grace a Decurion. They really are an excellent unit, and their primary competitors within the Heavy slot recently sidled out of the way. Welcome to the tabletop, Canoptek Spyders.

*'''[[C'tan|Transcendent C'Tan]]''' - This 250-point tool is now WS/BS5 with S8 T7 and 5 wounds with EW.  Its powers are randomized, and now the only reason you'd grab it is for some protection as Writhing Worldscape (which makes anyone within 6" of the shard act like they're in Difficult Terrain) is the only thing default for them and they're Monstrous Creatures.  Mobility isn't an issue for them with the ability to bounce wherever they want so long as they're not moving into impassible terrain.  Issue is that if it dies, anything within d6" takes an S4 AP1 hit, which can total any mobs nearby.
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' Transcendent C'Tan are brutal. They can deep-strike, allowing them to disregard the meh range of their Powers. Sure, the powers are random, but 4 out of 6 are horde-killers, so you know what to point it at (though rolling Time's Arrow against a Wraithknight would be worth the gamble). IF anything is left standing, they can then try to assault the nice T7, 4++, 5W creature with Eternal Warrior, which is pretty tough to do considering Writhing Worldscape makes terrain around them difficult. If they don't bind it in combat, it gets to blast another unit to cinders and then charge an opportune target.
(It is worth noting that the Transcendent C'Tan from the Apocalypse/Escalation books are considered Lords of War and the Transcendent C'Tan from the Necrons Codex is considered a Heavy Support, both sources are still legal and are different entries even though they share the same name. At the most this is a technicality that needs to be FAQed, but for all intents and purposes both could be fielded).
** Update: Games Workshop facebook has stated if a model has two different rules both rule sets are legal.

*'''Sentry Pylon (Forge World)''' - Fully autonomous artillery with three options: a 2 shot S10 AP1 melta pieplate, A death ray like the one on the doomscythe but that hits all models under the line TWICE and a 2 shot lascannon with Skyfire, Interceptor and 120" of range and Gauss for those pesky AV 16 models. With 3 wounds, 3+ armor and T7 it's also pretty tough. These can be taken in units of three, which will get expensive but you get quite a bit of firepower for the points.  A trio of Pylons with Gauss Exterminators will make short work of enemy Helldrakes, will leave you less reliant on your own fliers for anti-air and can double as anti-tank artillery, but has only two shots per turn and still has problems with cover. On the other hand, the Focused Death Ray will deny huge amounts of territory to your enemy's units but actually hitting lots of models is more difficult than it sounds and does not discern between friend and foe, and the Heat Cannon is immensely powerful but relatively short ranged. You can give them either It Will Not Die to make them irritatingly resilient or Deep Strike for surprise buttsex (combine with Heat Cannon for pseudo-Mawloc/Breaching Drill shenanigans).
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' Since the combination of Skyfire/Interceptor no longer works, the Exterminator is only good for Flyers and Skimmers, but boy does it get that job done. The Heat Cannon is the most costly option, but rightfully so. 36" + Melta + Two Shots + potential Deep Strike is the stuff Baneblades have nightmares about and if there's no tank left to melt, you have a great honking Fuck You against all those T5 FnP/Multi-Wound elite infantry units (Plague Marines, Obliterators, Biker Nobs). The Death Ray is extremely unreliable, though. You pick a starting point and THEN you roll how long the line will be, which means you may end up rolling too many inches, forcing you to swerve off course to avoid destroying your own stuff. Wait for an update to get this in line with the Doom Scythe Death Ray.

*'''Tesseract Ark (Forge World)''' - An AV 13 as per the new Quantum Shielding Rules.  Dammit, GW.(Think about this, they changed the rule to simply make your AV 13. ONLY this model is affected by that change.)) barge with a really cool piece of swag. 5++, all units trying to assault or ram must take a dangerous terrain test and you can also shoot with it, with three different modes: Plasma Destroyer with a fancy name to kindly tell Gay Knights and TEQs to go fuck themselves, Fleshbane AP3 flamer to evaporate  Marines and any fool that gets too close and an underpowered S5 AP4 mini death-ray that that slows you down (And is also Armorbane, which might be good for killing lines of light vehicles). Also, two Gauss or Tesla Cannons or Particle Beamers for dakka overload. 50 points more than a Monolith, and oh so worth it. Just be careful with your back armor. Once your Quantum Shielding goes away, this thing is pretty much dead.
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' Never take the Particle Beamers as they are overcosted. As soon as you think it's time is up, drive it as close to the enemy as possible, because it has quite a good chance of going bang very enthusiastically under certain conditions. Also, the Beam mode of the gun is wonderful since it is basically a Beam power with 24" of range. Telekinesis' Primaris can seriously limitenemy movement with an 18" Strikedown beam, but this one is 6 more inches long. Sure, you won't be popping anything better than transports with it, but used right it's devastating. The Fleshbane Flamer, though hampered by Flamer range, is amazingly strong and best used when trying to provoke the opponent into blowing it up and the Not-a-Plasma Destroyer should be the main reason you use this thing. Also note that the Gravitational Flux forces disordered charges on models assaulting the Ark. That means no +1A bonus, no Rage bonus, no Hatred bonus and no Furious Charge bonus. And AV13 means Krak Grenades can't even glance it. In Melee, it takes a Carnifex to crack this thing open.

*'''[[Night Shroud|Night Shroud Bomber]] (Forge World)''' - AV12 all round, 4HP, 5 bombs, S10, AP1, Large Blast, Blind, Pinning. Also a Tesla Destructor. 225pts. Seems good? Seems good. People scream op at the bombs, but really they'll likely be about as effective as the death ray. What you're really paying for is the extra durability.  Despite the S10 these bombers are much better at reducing elite infantry than stopping heavier vehicles (that's the doom scythe's job), but don't let that stop you from striking targets of opportunity.  Shred the enemy's dedicated anti-air and the extra armor will keep you flying around all game long.