Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Necrons (section)

===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 (If you take one unit, then take 2 instead, since all Deathmark units can wound the marked unit. A relatively cheap way of dealing with problem units without getting your other units tied up after them). Can deep-strike immediately following an enemy ''DURING THEIR TURN.'' But are vulnerable to the enemy unit shooting before they get a chance [not a bad idea if someone deepstrikes a bunch of melta vets/termies behind your armour. Having five deathmarks with hunters from hyperspace appearing from nowhere will give the enemy something extra to think about; like 10 shots that wound on a 2+ and have rending, pinning and precision shots (Sniper USR)]. They're much better in 6e, but why aren't you taking more triarch stalkers?
**Cheese combo explanation time: Deathmarks allow any members of a Royal Court that join the unit to use the "Hunters from Hyperspace" (HfH) rule (any enemy unit you mark with HfH gets wounded on a 2+. Additionally, if the marked enemy unit is joined by any IC's, they also get wounded on a 2+. It also works the other way around, with a HfH marked IC joining a squad conferring the 2+ wounding to it as well). The cheese comes when a Harbinger of Despair joins the unit of Deathmarks. The default weapon of Harbingers of Despair is the Abyssal Staff, a S8 AP1 flame template weapon that calculates against Leadership rather than Toughness for wounding. However, if the Harbinger is attached to the unit of Deathmarks, any unit marked by HfH it uses the Abyssal Staff against will instead be wounded on a 2+... there is not much that can stand up to a auto-hit AP1 weapon that wounds on a 2+. Also, the hfh rule says when a unit of deatmarks '''deep strikes''' onto the board it marks it's unit, and for the nightmare shroud the wording is instead of moving normally the unit is removed and '''deep strikes''' back onto the board- so deep strike, shoot,repeat
***Worried about scattering on your deep strike? Drop the veil and put the unit in a Night Scythe. The turn you come in from reserves you can move 24" then disembark 6" and still shoot. You'll have your opponents cowering at the back of the board in future games.


*'''Lychguards''' - Your terminator equivalents. Sort of. For the cost of a terminator, you get T5, reanimation protocols, but only a 3+ save. Their main basic weapon is a warscythe, which is the same awesome can-opener that you can give to your Lords and Overlords. However, the better bet is usually to exchange the warscythe for a Hyperphase Sword and Dispersion Shield. The shield gives you a 4++ invul, which adds to your survivability. However, although these guys can hit quite hard, they lack the resiliance of a 2+ save. The best way to run these is to use them as an escort for your Overlord (or better yet, Trazyn). Give your Lychguard Swords and Shields, and the Overlord a Warscythe. If you have the points, toss in a Necron Lord with another Warscythe and upgrade to taste. Make sure someone in the unit has a Resurrection Orb, since even a single four rolled and you'll make your points back and then some. While they're a semi-competent melee unit, they are very slow unless put in a transport so most units can simply walk away from them. the real use for these guys is simply bodyguard duty to a combat Overlord. The limitations and cost of Lychguard prevent them from being a truly competative choice, and it's best to leave the heavy-hitting to Wraiths... unless you're rolling Obyron. In that case, go nuts.


*'''Triarch Praetorians''' - Another terribly overcosted 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 S+1, AP2 unwieldy 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. Even with this extra attack, they lose combat to Grey Hunters, Spiky Spess Mehrens and pretty much any other half-competent combat unit. One attack and no Invulnerable save on a combat unit makes them suck.
** Alternate take: voidblade-equipped Praetorians are perfect vehicle-hunters, for they are fast and have entropic strike. While being not as deadly, as warscythe Lychguards, Praetorians actually CAN intercept even fast skimmers, lower their rear armor value to pathetic 2-5 and then rip them apart. Of course, a unit of Scarabs will do the same for half the points, but if you want to be a unique snowflake, go ahead and take these...


*'''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.  But hey, you can have *''three''* of the fuckers now.  If that won't make your enemy shit bricks nothing will.  Yes, they're expensive, but it's funny as hell to watch the look on your opponents face when you plop down three C'tan shards on the table that, once in close combat, will promptly tear his army a new asshole faster than you can say "shit on a stick!" They also get to pick two 'powers', from the old Nightbringer 'Gaze of Death' and the Dickceiver's 'Grand Illusion' to the new and badass 'Writhing Worldscape'. Not many know that the c'tan shards of the Nightbringer and Deceiver are actually fragments of Gork the Cunningly Brutal And Mork the Brutally cunning. Actually its actually the other way around. A description of the C'Tan powers follows below:
**Entropic Touch: Grants Entropic Strike to the C'Tan shard's CC attacks. Useful if you want to eat vehicles, softening them up before unleashing your S7 AP2 attacks.
**Gaze of Death: At the end of combat, the C'Tan produces a S3 Large Blast centered on itself that ignores armor. If any wounds are taken by the enemy, the C'Tan regenerates that many wounds up to its starting total. Helps the survivability of the model, but only if you can get into and win combat. 
**Grand Illusion: After Scout moves, you may redeploy D3 of your units, if you like that sort of thing. 
**Lord of Fire: Forces a D6 roll every time any flame/fire type weapons are fired within 12" of the C'Tan. On a 1, it explodes. Essentially causes your opponent to be at risk of a "Gets Hot" result every time flame weapons are used, only way better! It's the same as getting hot in the way that a flashlight is the same as a lascannon. The model that use the weapon is removed with no saves what so ever and without concern to its wounds. See this Eldar Avatar pointing its meltasword at you? Laugh really loud if he rolls a 1 and is wiped out of existence. Vehicles don't get their saves against getting hot but it's not so much of a difference. Useless if you're up against an army fielding plasma, lascannon, or any other type of heavy weapon.
**Moulder of Worlds: S4 Assault Large Blast. Useful for horde armies, but sadly has no AP. 
**Pyreshards: Gives your C'Tan 8 S4 Assault shots. Bring if you want a shooty C'Tan.
**Sentient Singularity: Makes enemy vehicles within 6" count as being in dangerous terrain, and causes a mishap if deep striking units within 6" roll doubles of any kind. Situational, as it only applies if the C'Tan gets across the board to bog down enemy vehicles. 
**Swarm of Spirit Dust: Grants Stealth USR. Useful anywhere you're going to face a lot of high strength weapons but will have plenty of ruins available, as it will give 3+ cover. Can be a lifesaver in Apocalypse, where you'll face high AP weapons everywhere. 
**Time's Arrow: Similar to a Tesseract Labyrinth. Choose an enemy model in base contact with the shard at the beginning of combat. That model must pass an initiative test or die without any saves allowed. Take this if you want your C'Tan to go HQ/high-priority target hunting. 
**Transdimensional Thunderbolt: A lascannon shot, should you be lacking anti-armor. Also is an assault type weapon, so you can charge that Metal Box after shooting. 
**Writhing Worldscape: As covered elsewhere, this ability makes all difficult terrain dangerous for your enemy as long as the C'Tan is on the board. Best used in conjunction with Orikan to pull off a Tremor-Cron. Vicious against Eldar or other armies that depend on their mobility.


*'''Flayed One Pack''' - These guys have the basically the same stats as a Necron Warrior. Same save, same Strength, toughness,initiative, and point cost. However, they have no guns. To compensate, they have 3 attacks in CC. Yeah. 3 S4, I2, no AP attacks. On top of that, they can't take transports, or Royal Court members, so they can't even get the benefit of a Resurrection Orb although you may attach them to HQ's such as a Destroyer Lord if you need one. These guys are almost universally regarded as the worst unit in the Necron Codex, and with good reason. And unlike some crappy units *coughMandrakescough*, they don't even have the benefit of cool models. $45 for five resin models that can't do shit in the game and look like they're covered in freakin' jack-o-lanterns? Pass. They really should be in troops, seeing as how there are so many better units for CQC in the Elites section, but thanks to [[Matthew Ward|Faggot Prime]] not giving the death company logic to the 'Crons assault dedicated crazies, they eat up a valuable slot.  Honestly they're not quite as bad as Pyrovores, but they're the single worst unit in your codex, don't take them.  They're a terrible, terrible unit.  


*'''Triarch Stalker''' - Basically the 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. Additionally, scoring a hit on an enemy unit gives all your other units in your army a bonus to shoot at them (twin-linking). If you want to specialize in killing infantry, the Particle Shredder drops a nasty pie plate at a decent range. The Heat Ray is the best gun for taking out vehicles, but the Twin Linked Heavy Gauss Cannon has better range if you want to twin link your squads from the back of the board.  Honestly these are what you should place in your elite slots, the others are rather situational and pricey, while a Stalker is always good.
**Triarch Stalkers tag-team highly effectively with tesla immortals, as the rerolls they allow will occasionally end up as brand-new sixes.  A twin-linked tesla carbine can actually expect four hits for every three shots fired, as impossible as that might sound.  This combo constitutes an almost unparalleled anti-infantry battery: land your stalker's shot (or auto-hit with its flamethrower firing mode) and a single team of ten tesla immortals will expect better than eleven wounds against guardsmen or cultists, even while backpedaling to maintain their full 24" range.  [[Orks|Horde]] [[Daemons|armies]] that need to get close have been known to spontaneously wet themselves at the first sight of this murderous pair.
**Triarch Stalkers are also notorious for being ''massive'' firepower magnets, so don't ever hinge a strategy on yours surviving; if your opponent is any definition of the word "competent", then he will make it his business to see that the Stalker does not live to see the end of the game. For this reason, it's worthwhile to keep a Canoptek Spyder or two with fabricator claws close by in case it needs repairing.


*'''Tomb Stalker (Forge World)''' - A T7, 4 wound Mostrous Creature with all sorts of neat special rules. Poison and Fleshbane wound it on a 6 instead, so take 3 when fighting Dark Eldar. It can deepstrike or outflank with acute senses, so you have a few different ways to get it where in needs to go. It's got a good number of attacks and is as resiliant as you can expect a Necron monstrous creature to be. Now that it's been moved from Heavy Support to Elite, it's definitely worth considering. The only drawback is that it's pretty expensive, weighing in at at 220 points after you purchase It Will Not Die, which you should always do. Another thing to note is that it comes in squads of one it can almost always make use of the rampage USR