Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Adeptus Mechanicus (section)

===Elites===
*'''Larsen Van der Grauss''' See Elucidean starstriders in the imperium tactics thread - this character cannot be taken in an admech detachment but has the Mars and Admech keywords so if taken with us can use admech strategems and warlord traits.
*'''Fulgurite Electro-Priests''': Get them in close combat and they'll dump Mortal Wounds on people. Of course, getting them to close combat is the trick. If you footslog them, they will die. Fulgurites are ideal if you're running either Movement stratagems and transports. Always field these guys in squads of 10 or bigger. At just 2 attacks per model, they simply do not attack often enough to really take advantage of the mortal wounds you can get off the staves unless you attack with enough models, and you NEED them to kill something in close combat as quickly as possible to get that sweet, sweet 3++ save. Still, the Voltagheist field is nice for some pre-combat mortal wounds if you charged, and with Fanatical Devotion, you ignore any wounds taken on a 5 or 6, which is nice.
**Despite the desire for large units of these guys, and the steep cost to deep strike many units of them remember, pulling off a deep strike charge is only feasible when you maximize how many attempts you're making.  Don't field just one unit and expect it to make that critically important charge roll - field at ''least'' '''three''' per thing you want charged, so you can get your odds of at least one getting the charge off to above 50% (in this case, 62.33%). (As of engine war if your deepstriking your Lucius and you can always solar flare a character forward to get them in range of a reroll charges aura from amongst the new warlord traits (with +1 to charge on a manipulus). This potentially makes them viable again.
**What 15-techno-smurfs CAN do however is bubble-wrap units against storm-shield protected deep strikers. Any units that attempt to fight through fifteen electro-priests will take losses. You will too, but you will either kill the attacker and get a 3++ for the rest of the game ("thanks for the storm shields plebs") or they will fall back...and no longer endanger the unit the priests were guarding.
**The problem with these is that while they are superb after killing a unit they are weak if they havn't.
*'''Corpuscarii Electro-Priests''': 2 points per model cheaper than Fulgurites, and not as killy in close combat (they can only put out mortal wounds with their Voltagheist Field charge, which inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ for each model in ''one'' unit charged). They also can't buff their V-field, which means they'll be stuck with a 6+/5++/5+++. However, their Electrostatic Gauntlets deserve a special mention. They have two profiles, either Melee 2 WS4+ or 12" Assault 3 BS3+, but both are a Flat S5 AP0 D1, (can't be modified by Invocation of Machine Might) with any 6+ roll causing '''3 hits instead of 1'''. Congrats, you have taser goads at 12" range AND melee. Sure, they're ugly models, but that's an awful lot of firepower from 5 little guys.
**As expensive as it is. A squad of 20 will put out over 60 dice rolls. It would take three Leman Russ Punishers with one upgraded for three Heavy Bolters to exceed it. With that much firepower your likely to kill or heavily wound anything short of a Super Heavy. Now has a stratagem to gain AP2 making them dangerous.
**Can't benefit from the {{W40Kkeyword|Lucius}} dogma or Shroudpsalm at all, so probably best under {{W40Kkeyword|Stygies}}, which can protect them on the approach, unless you want to deploy them using Lucius’s Deep Strike stratagem (with their volume of firepower why wouldn't you).
**{{W40Kkeyword|Graia}} used to be the best Forge World to help them on the front line. However, the 6+ Refusal to Yield has been FAQ’d as not stacking with their FNP.
**Put 11 of these motherfuckers from Mars in a Termite Drill with a dominus for rerolls. Deepstrike and pop out, flick the switch on the Wrath of Mars stratagem and watch your target drown in mortal wounds.
*'''Cybernetica Datasmith''': The herder for your robots. Quite competent as a fighter in his own right, with a Terminator statline, complete with a 2+/5++ and a power fist, as well as a pretty scary pistol that can reliably oneshot Primaris marines - but his main purpose is to change protocols on your Kastelans and cheaply fill an Elite slot for your detachment needs while at it. As such, consider him inseparatable from the bots.
**Keep in mind that the protocols change take place on the next turn after you've declared and rolled for it. Consider what you're up against and structure your game plan accordingly - since your opponent knows what you're up to a turn in advance, you'll have to play the rest of your army around your Kastelans to get the most use out of them.
**The alternative to bringing one along is to use the 1CP stratagem to change the active protocol immediately and lock your robots in them for the rest of the game, but Command Points are generally worth far more than the Datasmith's measly 41 points and leaving you unable to adapt means that your bots might very well end up useless past the turn you pop the override, so thing long and hard before you decide to drop him from your list for another skittle squad.
**Your Datasmith Can carry a WL trait without useing an HQ slot - if you want to save CP in ninth.
**Alternatively, consider that a single 'smith has the same statline and costs barely more than one model of a Space Marine Terminator, while also having more wounds and being a character. You could cheaply fill the Elites slot of a Brigade.
**Don't miss the fact that he's got 6" Move to the bots' 8". You can advance quite liberally though, since he doesn't really have much to do outside of maybe popping his pistol on anything in range.
**Generally speaking, he'll make back his cost in points if you've changed Protocols at least once with him. If you also manage to get him in melee and take some wounds off something, you've already got more than what you paid for.
*'''Servitors''': Your cheapest unit often a brigade filler and objective sitter. A poor ranged unit equipped with free melee weapons. Costing 40 points for 2 servo arms and 2 heavy bolters, you should always prefer Rangers or Vanguards for those same points when you need some bodies down the field. Servo-Arms are now free, while the servitors are 5; there ''are'' worse melee units for the cost.
**If you would take a Plasma Cannon unit for 52 points, take Plasma Culverin Vanguards for 68 points to do the same job, better.(now 36 and 51 respectably for a single unit with one plasma weapon)
**If you would take a Heavy Bolter unit for 40 points (probably as a cheap meat shield), take Arc Rifle Rangers for 39 points to do the same job, better.
**If you would take a Multimelta unit for 64 points ('''why?'''), there admittedly isn't a better ''infantry'' option in-faction for the same role, but Onagers will do the same job, better.
** A bare-bones servitor unit is 20 points and this can be useful in the new Vigilus detachments as spare parts for your kataphron destroyers. although a heavy bolter or two might be useful when waiting for them to be needed.
**Note that you can take the Astra Militarum Servitors if you want - they're the same unit plus the Astra Militarum keyword, with no downsides, so there's no reason not to, but not much of a benefit, either, outside of certain specific allied lists (e.g. if you were allying with Yarrick or Celestine, anyway).
**(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)
***These guys are now 20 points a squad, before ranged weapon upgrades. 2 Heavy Bolters will run 36 points for a squad; 2 Plasma, 40; 2 Melta, 62. Servo-arms are free now. Still, the guns are not why you should take these guys; being able to get Power Fist attacks for cheap, and to trade them out for Kataphrons when you need to, is a better reason to take such an [[What|elite]] unit.
** The actual use for Servitors with Heavy Bolters is if you're building a Brigade and you need to fill an elite slot, in which case they can hang out in the backfield, take pot shots at whatever is in range and block deep strikers. Not terrible for 36 points.
*'''Sicarian Infiltrators''': One of the only units debuffed in engine war. The taser variant that used to destroy hordes has been weakened, the power sword variant that wrecked marines hasn't changed. They can deep strike. Their debuff aura got a punch in the cogs in the change from 7th, and is now merely a -1 to Leadership within 3". Just remember to keep them in cover until you're ready to charge them because they still suffer from T3 and only a 4+.
**Flechette Blasters outperform Stubcarbines against T5 or less and T8 or higher, and while Stubcarbines will absolutely do better against T6 and T7, you're still attempting to scratch paint - against a Rhino, for example, a minimum unit shooting expects to deal 0.93 wounds with the Blasters and 1.11 wounds with the Stubcarbines. Flechette blasterswith 50 shots make superb if high variability Wrath of Mars strat targets.
**In melee Power Sword's increased AP relative to the Taser Goad mean that it will outperform it against the targets you'd expect it to, the taser goad was nerfed in Engine War to only multiply hits on natural 6's. Greatly weakening its combat effectivness as conqueror doctrina imperative no longer multiplies hits.
**Following Engine war this unit is in a bit of an odd place its most commonly fielded variant has become less efficient in CC while it's existing rivals of corpuscarii became more efficient. Equally the new pteraxii are competing with it in terms of deepstrike firepower and serberys for speed. While not out for the count expect less of them.
*'''Sicarian Ruststalkers''': They have some utility at dishing out Mortal Wounds, and are faster than Fulgurites, but still not a great choice when compared to your other elite options without support; the primary problem is getting there, as they need a transport or stratagems to reach CC reliably.  See below for more, but you're usually better off buying Fulgurites for melee footsloggers that will live longer.
**Because the Blades cost you the Chordclaw ''and'' more points on the grunts, they're only worth it against T8 and T9 with a 4+ save or worse, which does not exist (actually, see Ork Gunwagons/Bonebreakas), and T4 or T5 with a 5+ save or worse, which does - it includes Ogryn, for example - but that's very niche.  You ''should not'' buy them the Blades.
***Always buy the Princeps the Blades as it's now free and it doesn't have to give up its chordclaw.
**Assuming you were competent and took the R+C combo all around, each Ruststalker should swing for 4/9 of a mortal wound, the ''same'' as a Fulgurite (they effectively have two Chordclaws, for this math - but bear in mind their non-mortal wound output is very significantly better, and they can deal even more mortal wounds on the charge), but for 3 points more, which primarily buys you different defenses (+1W and 4+/6++ instead of 6+/5++/5+++ means that the former will live longer to lasguns but the latter will live longer to overcharged plasma, for example); notably, unlike the Fulgurites, Shroudpsalm will help protect these guys.  Leadership is also a point lower, and the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative is less efficient on them than Divine Chorus is on Fulgurites, with the former buying you 3/27 of a mortal wound per CP, and the latter buying you 4/27 of a mortal wound per CP, since Ruststalkers can't take tethers - plus, since the Priests have higher Leadership, they scale better to larger unit sizes, which is important for using Stratagems that target 1 unit at a time efficiently, while the Ruststalkers prefer MSU, to have more Attacks from the Princeps.
***The tl;dr here is that Fulgurites will outperform the Ruststalkers, per point and per CP, against almost everything in the game (there are some niche exceptions, such as the Fulgurites being charged by Bloodletters/Horrors/Daemonettes), offensively; defensively, it depends on what they're being attacked with, but the Ruststalker advantage evaporates quickly in the face of better AP or Damage on incoming shots.  Ruststalkers are 2" faster on the Move, though.
**If you're taking these, then it's probably for the cool factor of having spindly tin ninjas with sound weapons. From this perspective, the transonic blades are perfectly complementary to their battlefield role. If you're paying for style anyhow...
**This unit gained a stratagem to let it outflank mid game in Engine war. Its still not great as a melee unit but given its a lot more points efficient and mobile than it started out this edition it could see some play.
*'''Tech-Priest Enginseer''': You can take the Astra Militarum Codex entry for this guy; he'll lose Canticles, but he was already a Character, so he'll mind less losing Shroudpsalm.  He'll retain his Forge World and Cult Mechanicus, but lose Adeptus Mechanicus, which will cause potential problems for his Detachment.  The primary reason to shoehorn him in like that is that he'll be an Astra Militarum model, so he can bring you Astra Militarum Relics - for example, he can carry the Dagger of Tu'Sakh, letting you use a relic slot to deep strike an Infantry unit, regardless of Forge World.
**Really, this model is just a cheap repairman for your Dunecrawlers and a good way for you to synergize with any IG allies.
*'''X-101:''' The named servitor from Blackstone Fortress. It comes with a Grav-gun, a hydraulic claw, and a 5+ BS and WS. Has the standard Mindlock ability regular servitors have (goes up to WS/BS 4+ and Ld9 while close to a Tech-Priest) and gets a further +1 to Hit if he's targeting a {{W40Kkeyword|VEHICLE}}. Unfortunately, since he lacks the {{W40Kkeyword|CHARACTER}} Keyword, he's just going to get popped the second he steps out into the open. And since he can't take a transport, you can't even really suicide run him. Even at 22 points, still not worth it. 

====Titan Guard (Forge World)====
The Titan Guard are Super-Skitarii, but with a downside. Their Titanguard special rule means they don't benefit from any {{W40Kkeyword|<Forge World>}} dogmas (auras such as Cawl's or a dominus) or stratagems. But doesn't keep the rest of your army from benefiting from the rule. if they are Battle-forged, but it does create some unwelcome hurdles for using them. They don't benefit from the auras of Cawl or a Dominus since they both specify a {{W40Kkeyword|<Forge World>}} unit. [[What|This is because apparently, being assigned to guard Titans means you immediately lose all Forge World specific equipment and training, despite the fact that Titans are both drawn from specific Forge Worlds and the fact that the Codex specifically states that the Titan Guard is drawn from a Forge World's 1st Macroclade]].

*'''Secutarii Peltasts:''' Ad-mech Dark Reapers. 5++ makes them slightly sturdier than Vanguard. Note that they start at 10 men, so an enhanced data-tether is more vital here. Their Galvanic Casters have 3 fire modes: A Rapid Fire 2 Strength 3 24" for blending GEQs, an Assault d3 18" Ignores LOS for tactical tomfoolery, and a MEQ killing 30" Heavy 1, s4 ap2. Once per game they can give themselves -1 to hit instead of shooting. Maybe not worth the cost of the models now, but multiple shenanigans ensue. Unlike other Skitarii the Alpha carries the special equipment and can't take both an EDT and a melee weapon. 
**They tend to have a bit of overlap with your Vanguard troops, who have a similar Anti-GEQ role that focuses on volume of fire over pure stopping power. Vanguard also have access to several Special Weapons that let them perform better against MEQ and TEQ targets in a pinch. Additionally, your Vanguard can benefit from {{W40Kkeyword|<Forge World>}} perks and stratagems while the Peltasts don't. However, Peltasts as a whole unit are considerably more flexible than Vanguard offensively (factoring ''all'' the models, not ''just'' the special weapons), especially now that you can choose which firing mode each model is using instead of the entire unit. Against GEQ targets, Peltasts will outperform Vanguard as long as they're consistently within Rapid Fire range, and are able to contribute firepower towards any targets regardless of line of sight. Combined with an Omni-spex, this can make them particularly effective at dealing with enemies that rely heavily on cover and LOS for defense, such as Eldar or Tau infantry. Additionally, Peltasts are slightly more durable than Vanguard are, making them a bit better suited to tank shots compared to Vanguard.
**Do not give the Alpha a pistol, ever. None of our pistols are worth giving up the FREE Galvanic Caster. Melee is not good for them at all.
**Alternate opinon: Stay the fuck out of Rapid-Fire range. Their ld is crap and they are automatically FORCED to be a large squad. Considering this basically makes them hybrid Vanguard/Rangers with no special weapons is really crap. If you have them you own an amazing horde blender. If not you really lose nothing. 
**Their Blind Barrage can only be used to protect themselves, not a different unit, as they could in previous editions. [[Fail|It's also shittier than the free Dogma you get from being Stygies VIII, which Peltasts can't use]].
***Generally, Peltasts are best left to fulfill a scouting and objective-sitting role. They perform quite well against most basic infantry targets regardless of their immediate circumstances, and their lack of {{W40Kkeyword|<Forge World>}} synergy means that they can be sent out independently without really missing out on any buffs.

*'''Secutarii Hoplites''': Budget Skitarii with budget TH/SS.vThese guys melt to massed low strength firepower but can hold there own against a charge from a knight gallant. They are very strong in melee especially when buffed with the omniscient mask. They are also very points efficient for what they do and don't understimate the shooting of a large blob of arc lances. S6 AP-1 shot, or melee S+3 (S6) AP-1 hits that both do 1 damage each or changes to D3 vs vehicles. A perfect unit to tie up vehicles and even infantry in melee combat. Anything short of Terminators will fear a charge from Hoplites.
**S6 Ap1 Dd3 isn't going to scare many t7 vehicles BUT those light vehicles you are good against are usually (land speeders etc) absolute death to Admech troops. The other decent targets are things like Ogryn, Kataphron Destroyers, Grotesques, and the like. This makes hoplites decent because they come with decent durability to start but not as good offense as other choices. Kinda niche, but also much cheaper than our other elites.
**At only 1 pt more than Vanguard, these guys make for great cheap bodyguards. In addition to a flat 5++, they have a shield that gives them a 4++ against melee and reflects a mortal wound back on the attacking unit on any unmodified saving throw of 6 in CC. Arguably the best meatshields we have, especially against melee-focused infiltrators.
**Hoplites benefit massively from access to a Termite, and it provides them with the only guaranteed way to get into charge range without getting shot off the table.
**Put them into combat with vanguard to wound MEQs or lower on a 2+
**While they lack a '''<Forge World>''' keyword, Hoplites can still benefit from '''Acquisition at any Cost''', making them pretty good at contesting and holding mid-board objectives.