Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Necrons(8E)

Please note that this is the tactics for 8th edition Necrons. Their current tactics can be found here.

Why Play Necrons

After selling the souls of trillions of Necrontyr to the C'tan star-gods in an effort to win his war against the Old Ones, the Silent King relinquished his control of the Necrons--but not before sending them into a 60 million-year slumber, hoping they'd have forgotten all about the whole selling of souls bit by the time they woke up. Necrons are the 500-pound sleeping gorilla of the 40k universe. Their technologies are the most advanced the galaxy has ever seen, the future can be predicted, the speed of light is an afterthought, enemy armour is inconsequential, war is but a matter of domination over lesser entities. Necrons are awakening from their slumber finding their once-great empire fractured into dozens of dynasties warring with each other as Lords and Overlords vie for positions of power in these newly awakened empires, the galaxy quakes as the Necrons begin to reconquer what was once theirs.

Playing Necrons is taking the mantle of Nemesor, a commander of untold legions of mindless Warriors and slightly less mindless Immortals, it is about choosing whether to coldly calculate the damage output of your doomsday weapons as they turn enemy tanks to smouldering ruin or to cackle maniacally as you unleash your star-gods turned Pokémon and roll to see which random personality traits they have this game. It's about a slow unyielding march of metallic feet and about shimmering green lights heralding units stepping through captive wormholes into your opponent's midst. Necron models go from simplistic to extravagant, but they all share a common toughness, whether through Living Metal and Reanimation Protocols; meaning your units regenerate wounds and models lost earlier in the battle, through good saves and high toughness, or abilities that shit all over your opponent's heaviest weapons. Necrons is an army for someone who doesn't want to be blown off the board turn one or turn two and is willing to tie their mobility to relics and the abilities of support units. Surprisingly, for all this might and posture, the Necrons are a rather short ranged and face-to-face oriented army. Much like their lore, you really have to play to utterly annihilate the opponent.

Pros

• Between vehicles with an assload of wounds, Living Metal to get those wounds back, and troops that can literally stand back up, it's a durable army that can hit hard and take just as much.
• The entire army has Leadership 10. While losing the final 5 Warriors in a squad after losing the first fifteen sucks, it's not nearly as bad as losing 4 in melee and then having a 50/50 chance of getting destroyed.
• Their basic gun, the gauss flayer, is exactly the same as the Space Marine boltgun, except it has AP-1 instead of AP-0, and on a cheaper model to boot.
• 10 Immortals armed with tesla carbines and supported by a model with the My Will Be Done ability will do an average of 30 hits S5 AP- at range 24".
• Warriors and Immortals are better against non-vehicles compared to last edition because of the changes to AP and cover and the DOUBLING in the tesla carbine's number of shots.
• Quantum Shielding, (when it works.)
• Because you like fragments of ancient star gods riding up the battlefield unable to be targeted by shooting (except for snipers.)
• Their equivalent of psychic powers (Powers of the C'tan) can't be blocked by "Deny the Witch" or suffer Perils of the Warp because they're not actually psyker powers. Nor are they affected by things like the Culexus Assassin.
• They can effectively Deep Strike INFANTRY squads within 2" of the enemy thanks to Night Scythe Invasion Beams, circumventing your slow movement speed.
• You're a fan of the original Terminators, as in the titular time-travelling kill bots from the movies usually portrayed by Ahnuld.
• You no longer have to cry about not having pariahs. Illuminor Szeras has got your back.
• Plus he can counter Psykers
• Aside from the normal Astartes pandering, Necrons are the pride and joy of 9th edition with a multitude of new models and units!
• The SILENT KING IS BACK BOIS

Cons

• For the first time since they got added to 40k, Necrons are not solid cheese in 8th edition. Gone are the days of blowing up armored columns with a squad of warriors (though you can still genuinely threaten them if you're in rapid fire range).
• For once, accusations that you're a slow army are actually true. Most of your stuff is moving a mere 5". This is compounded by your Gauss weapons relying on their 12" Rapid Fire range to remain points efficient, making it possible for opponents to dramatically lower your damage output by keeping you at arm's length.
• Quantum Shielding (when it doesn't work).
• Tesla fails horribly against things that gives you to hit penalties, hitting stuff like Flyers, vehicles which have popped smoke, Mechanicus and Space Marine units from certain sub-factions while they are 12 or more inches away, Tzeentch Daemons close to the Changeling, Tyranid models close to a Malanthrope and/or a unit of Venomthropes.
• Scarabs are no longer the bane of anything with an armour value.
• Warriors and Immortals do extremely poorly against vehicles compared to the previous edition, even after factoring in the increased cost of vehicles.
• No heavy weapons to embed in squads other than a single Heavy Destroyer in each Destroyer Squad, Destroyers already being fairly elite. This means that you have to take dedicated squads to get any real firepower, meaning your opponent can quickly take out all your anti-vehicle firepower if they have the right units.
• Necrons have no friends now, can't ally with Tau or Orks or Chaos like you could in the previous edition. Not even your best buddies the Blood Angels.
• Most units have barely any toys to customize your dudes.
• No Psykers. You have some limited defense through Gloom Prisms for the larger Canoptek models and a warlord trait, but otherwise you're defenseless.
• Crypteks are all the exact same.
• Your rank and file troops are mediocre compared to rank and file marines. Your basic troops have zero hope fighting the nu-marines with new chapter tactics.
• Your opponent will wipe you squad by squad to destroy your chances of using reanimation protocols. Seriously, 20 T4 warriors is not at all impossible to be destroyed these days.
• You weep bitter tears at the memory of pariahs

History of Necron Tactics

Changes from 7th Edition

Necrons are less competitive, with the Decurion Detachment Necrons were basically unkillable for all but the most competitive of lists and both Tesla and Gauss were devastating against vehicles. The Gauss Pylon, Tesla Immortals, Wraiths, Scarabs and C'tan are our most popular units at tournaments, replacing Warriors, Immortals, Wraiths and Scarabs as our most popular units.

• Gauss flayers and Gauss blasters are better against MEQ and TEQ, much worse against vehicles.
• Tesla weapons are much worse against vehicles.
• Destroyer Lord only affects Destroyers.
• Models can get back up at the start of each turn as long as their unit is alive instead of having super FNP.
• Characters regenerate wounds and can stand back up with a Stratagem instead of having super FNP.
• Vehicles regenerate wounds instead of being immune to Crew Shaken and resistant to Crew Stunned.
• Quantum Shielding makes many of our vehicles very tough to kill with high-damage weapons instead of making them tough to damage until they take damage.
• Powers of the C'tan are less random.
• Flyers are mobile pieces of terrain that can be destroyed rather than nigh-invulnerable gunboats that can be moved through.
• C'tan can't be shot unless they are the closest unit.
• No formations means more freedom when creating lists.

Changes from Chapter Approved 2017

The Gauss Pylon was the clutch of pre-codex Necrons and nerfing it really hurt competitive Necrons.

• Gauss Pylons are much more expensive.

Changes from Index to Codex

Lots of buffs for the Necrons, Dynasties are okay, some Stratagems are amazing. Despite not benefitting from Dynasty Traits Tesseract Vaults have become amazing and the Destroyer Stratagem has made Destroyers amazing as well. Tesla Immortals, big Warrior blobs, and Tomb Blades are somewhat popular units at tournaments as well.

• Dynasties, more powers of the C'tan, Relics, Stratagems and Warlord Traits.
• Lower prices for Overlords, Lords, Crypteks, Deathmarks, Flayed Ones, Destroyers, Tomb Blades, Canoptek Spyder, Heavy Destroyers, Dispersion Shields, Heavy Gauss Cannons. Of course, Monoliths got cheaper as well. whoops, seems someone forgot to buff the Monolith.
• Lords let you re-roll Wound rolls of 1 for nearby Infantry units instead of giving them a worthless Morale bonus.
• C'tan know one extra power each.
• You get -1 to hit when shooting at Tomb Blades.
• Gauss cannons fire 3 S6 shots instead of 2 S5 shots.
• Transcendent C'tan get a personality trait or two if you are willing to roll randomly.
• Doomsday Ark fires D6 shots all the time rather than D3 normally and D6 while firing the big profile at units with 10+ models.
• Tesseract Vault gets a 4+ invulnerable save.
• Wraiths are more expensive, they can now fall back and charge and they are AP-2 D2 instead of AP-1 D1.
• Scarabs are WS4+ instead of 3+ and have FLY.
• Spyders only take a single mortal wound if you roll a 1 when healing a unit of Scarabs and they have FLY.
• Flayed Ones lost an attack.
• Doomsday Ark gets hovering... Annihilation Barge and Catacomb Command Barge eventually get it through Errata.

Big FAQ 2

A little hate for Wraiths and units with Fly, a little but insignificant buff to Monoliths and Night Scythes.

• Wraiths and units with FLY only benefit from it in the Movement phase, no more ignoring terrain, drop-kick charging from building 12" away with a 4" charge and no charging over enemy chaff units to get to enemy heavy support, less mobility while Piling In and Consolidating.
• You can move after getting out of a Monolith or Night Scythe.

Changes from Chapter Approved 2018

Necrons were considered to be one of the weakest factions before and received the largest percentage of buffs to their roster, many of them very significant buffs, even to already strong (for Necrons anyways) units. But Necrons also managed to snag the single largest nerf in CA2018 on the Tesseract Vault.

• Significant pts increase to Tesseract Vaults.
• Huge pts drops to: Imotekh the Stormlord, Toholk the Blinded, Canoptek Tomb Stalkers, Triarch Stalkers, Annihilation Barges, Sentry Pylons, Tesseract Arks and Doom Scythes.
• Significant pts drops to: C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer, Illuminor Szeras, Nemesor Zahndrekh, Trazyn the Infinite, Vargard Obyron, Lords, Immortals, Deathmarks, Canoptek Tomb Sentinels, Lychguard with Dispersion Shields, Triarch Praetorians, Canoptek Wraiths, Tomb Blades with Gauss or Tesla, Doomsday Arks, Heavy Destroyers, Transcendent C'tan, Night Scythes, Night Shrouds, Gauss Pylons, Obelisks.
• Insignificant pts drops to: Catacomb Command Barges, Necron Warriors, Ghost Arks and models with warscythes.

Necrons got an upgrade, trading the Tesseract Vault crutch for a few more options, leaving the Tesseract Vault a reasonably competitive unit but not something you'd want to take more than 1 of. Doomsday Arks are in almost every list as a 3 of, Doom Scythes have appeared as a very common addition to many armies, especially those that do well. Immortals and Tomb Blades with Tesla were good and got a lot better. Imotekh is our most powerful HQ choice, possibly a previously hidden gem, now he's the shining star of our Unique line-up. Lychguard aren't quite as terrible as some might have thought, but still retain a large number of counters.

Flayed Ones, Tomb Blades with Particle Beamers, Canoptek Spyders and Canoptek Acanthrites are the big losers for this CA. Monoliths and Night Scythes remain bad. The Tomb Citadel is a bigger joke than ever.

Changes from Big FAQ 3

Wraiths and units with Fly get a little back of what they lost in the previous FAQ, Invasion Beams turn 1, minor buffs. This FAQ does not change a lot for Necrons, but it does change the game overall a lot because of the changes to other armies.

• Wraiths and units with Fly and move over models except for BUILDINGS in the Charge phase. Being able to ignore a screen can be devastating, especially Nephrekh Scarabs and Wraiths which can zoom right up to the enemy screen and charge 2D6" over them, giving them a very nice chance of getting through to the juicy stuff. Note also that you still cannot move over a ruin, meaning Scarabs and Wraiths have to move around even the flimsiest ruin in the charge phase, while Triarch Praetorians can move right through them because they are INFANTRY. Wraiths and units with Fly also still cannot move through models in the Fight phase, so no Pile in moves through enemy models.
• Monoliths and Night Scythes can use the Emergency Invasion Beams Stratagem even on the first turn, the Tomb World still seem to remains a powerless ability, but it will feel bad less often if you decide to bring them to your casual games.
• The Quantum Deflection Stratagem works against D1 weapons ignoring the previous FAQ that said a dice roll cannot be modified below a 1.
• Night Scythes, Doom Scythes and Night Shrouds have gained the AIRCRAFT keyword which means units can move through them as if they had FLY. This means you can no longer block units as well, but you can still throw a bit of a wrench in your opponent's paths if their Movement isn't good enough to move all the way through.
• My Will Be Done and permanent effects such as the changes made by Illuminor Szeras stick around after you use the Veil of Darkness, the only thing that disappears is Aura abilities the unit is no longer in range of.
• Slay the Warlord only applies if your Warlord is dead at the end of the game.

Very good for the Necrons, but not really because of the buffs to themselves, but the slew of nerfs that hit Knights, Orks and Aeldari will probably help out a lot. Overall the changes to other factions just make triple DDA even more of a mainstay option, no more 3++ Knights means more damage against them, no more Loota mob-up mega-dakka means they stay alive longer in that match-up. No Asuryani Doom + Drukhari Ravagers to shut down a DDA in the Aeldari match-up. The Castellan nerf and the general nerf to Knights is especially huge for the Gauss Pylon and Seraptek Heavy Construct because they won't face a 3++ and because the Castellan usually smokes them pretty easily.

Changes from Chapter Approved 2019

Necrons were still considered very weak by many, but probably more around the middle of the field in terms of competitive viability, this round of buffs mainly targets our support units and melee units, the Doom6 did not get nerfed so even with buffs to some alternative builds Necrons will probably remain a more shooty type of army. Heavy Destroyers got a lot cheaper possibly making them on-par or even better than regular Destroyers.

• No pts increases.
• Huge pts drops to: C'tan Shard of the Deceiver, Flayed Ones, Triarch Praetorians with rods, Canoptek Acanthrites, Canoptek Spyders and Heavy Destroyers.
• Significant pts drops to: Imotekh the Stormlord, Nemesor Zahndrekh, Vargard Obyron, Orikan the Diviner, C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer, Catacomb Command Barge, Destroyer Lord, Lord, Overlord, Canoptek Tomb Sentinel, Deathmarks, Triarch Praetorians with voidblades, Canoptek Tomb Stalker, Canoptek Wraiths, Transcendent C'tan, Nightscythes, Ghost Arks.
• Insignificant pts drops to: Illuminor Szeras, Lychguard, Triarch Stalker, Annihilation Barge, Monoliths.

Some wargear got a lot better, the Wraith pistols and whip coils look worth taking sometimes now, as does resurrection orbs and voidscythes look really juicy.

A lot of the units passed over in the last CA got their turn this time around which is nice to see, Acanthrites, Flayed Ones and Spyders all really needed this. Monoliths and Night Scythes got another pass with the Christmas buffs, probably still not enough to make the mechanic worth using in competitive games. The Tomb Citadel is looking more and more sad as fewer and fewer units remain in the ballpark of how terrible it is, nobody really wants to have to cart a Tomb Citadel to the game store once a week though so it's probably for the best.

Abbreviations

• AB = Annihilation Barge.
• Blade = Voidblade.
• CCB = Catacomb Command Barge
• DDA = Doomsday Ark.
• FO = Flayed One.
• Gauss = whatever gauss option a unit has. CCB (Gauss/Warscythe) would be a Catacomb Command Barge with a Gauss Cannon and a Warscythe.
• Tesla = whatever tesla option a unit has.
• LG = Lychguard.
• MWBD = My Will Be Done, sometimes used to also mean Wave of Command.
• Orb/ResOrb = Resurrection Orb.
• Pylon = usually means the Superheavy Gauss Pylon.
• Scythe = Warscythe.
• Staff/SoL = Staff of Light.
• Sword = Hyperphase Sword
• WOC = Wave of Command.

Faction Keywords

As one might suppose, it's NECRONS. Beyond that, you've also got your <DYNASTY> wildcard, which is fixed for some special characters but freely chosen for most units and also determines your Dynastic Code.

Special Rules

Faction Abilities

Almost all of your units have one or the other of the following:

• Reanimation Protocols: At the start of your turn, roll a D6 for each dead model unless the model's entire unit is dead (NB - models that flee due to failed morale tests do not count as dead. Not that you should be failing morale tests with an army-wide Ld10, but it happens occasionally.) On a 5+ the model returns to life, with its full complement of Wounds if it had more than one. Reanimated models must be placed in coherency with a unit member that has not also Reanimated this turn, and more than 1" away from any enemy models. If you can't meet these deployment conditions, the model fails to reanimate. All of your squad-based 1-or-2-wound-per-model units, and Destroyers, get this one.
  • Note that failing the 5+ roll does not prevent the model from waiting and trying again next turn. The only thing that puts Necron squads down permanently is wiping the whole lot out or making them fail morale tests.
    • Always remember to put your "fled" models in a separate pool from the "slain" ones so you can tell how many you have left who can reanimate.
    • LD10 is only immune to morale up to 4 models slain, and you will guarantee a loss of an entire 20-model unit at 15 models slain. HOWEVER, with Command Points, you can auto-pass morale tests, keeping that devastated squad of warriors in play and potentially re-animate a buttload of them.
• Living Metal: Units with this rule recover one lost Wound at the start of each of your turns, or D3 if they've got a Phylactery. Crypteks, Lords and models with 5+ Wounds (except C'tan Shards of the Deceiver, Nightbringer and Transcendent C'tan) get this one.

Other Notable Rules

• My Will Be Done: Most of your HQ choices have this. One <DYNASTY> INFANTRY unit within 6" gets +1" on Advances and Charges, and +1 to hit to both ranged and melee.
  • Anrakyr The Traveler's and Imotekh The Stormlord's versions of this rule target a NECRON INFANTRY unit instead. Which means they are the only Overlords that can use this ability on Praetorians (who don't have a <DYNASTY>) or on units not in their own <DYNASTY>. In Anrakyr's case, this is the only reason he can use the ability at all, lacking a <DYNASTY> of his own. This also means they are the only two Overlords that Illuminor Szeras respects enough to follow their commands on the battlefield.
• Quantum Shielding: All NECRON vehicles except flyers and those who are TITANIC get this, and it combos well with Living Metal's regeneration to make them very tough to bring down. If you can roll under the damage of a successfully wounding attack on a D6, you ignore it. As a result, your vehicles are more vulnerable to massed low damage but high strength firepower (e.g. squads firing overcharged plasma guns or equivalents) than they are to more traditional high-damage anti-tank guns like Lascannons or Krak missiles. Autocannons will still ruin their day though.
• Tesla: Weapons with this ability cause 3 hits instead of 1 on a hit roll of 6+. If you are +1 to hit this means you now cause 3 hits on a roll of 5+, -1 to hit and you can't roll a 7+. Note that Overwatch only means a Hit roll of 6 is a hit regardless of modifiers, it does not actually negate modifiers, so a hit roll of 6 with -1 to hit is a 5 and so will not trigger Tesla, a hit roll of 5 with +1 to hit will not become 3 hits because a 5 is technically 0 hits, so you cannot say you get 3 hits instead of 0.
• Their Number is Legion, Their Name is Death: Objective Secured, Necron edition.

Powers of the C'tan

Your equivalent of a psyker discipline. Used by your C'tan shard(s)/Tesseract Vault in the end of the Movement Phase so you can target Characters unless a power says otherwise, and obviously, any buffs your target gets in the Psychic phase don't apply. Unlike some power/psychic tables which present a variety of destructive or supportive abilities, this table's option is in what flavour you would like to inflict mortal wounds; which one is best depends on the situation. They are all potent, and have their own niche for utility, so consider what you are up against before defaulting to Antimatter Meteor.

Note that none of these get harder each time they're cast, since they're not Smite - likewise, they can't be denied, and abilities that protect only against psi-based mortal wounds won't stop these. You can either roll for each model that has these, re-rolling duplicates for each model, or just select them, but if you select them, you can't repeat a selection until every power has been taken, army-wide.

Antimatter Meteor

Roll 1d6; on a 2+, the closest visible enemy unit within 24" suffers 1d3 mortal wounds; on a 6, they suffer 1d6 mortal wounds instead. If the user is a Tesseract Vault it does D6 mortal wounds on a 5+.

Works a lot like the Smite psychic power and is basically the power we use to judge our other powers on. This is great if your opponent is 24" away, they don't have a cheap unit to protect themselves from smite. This will always do something unlike a lot of the other powers, its sheer versatility is what makes it great on both C'tan and Tesseract Vaults.

Time's Arrow

Choose a visible enemy unit within 18" and roll 1d6, adding 1 if the caster is a Tesseract Vault. If the roll exceeds that unit's highest Wound characteristic, one model is instantly slain; you automatically fail on an unmodified 1, so a Vault still has a 1/6 chance to fail against W1 units (which is most of them). Note also that even if a model is missing wounds you still roll against their full wounds profile.

This is good against expensive multi-wound units (including characters). Note that this power doesn't cause wounds, this means any abilities that trigger when a model loses wounds can't be used (FNP, Lychguard, etc.). With normal C'tan you want to target 2-4 wounds models, with Tesseract Vaults, 2-5 wound models. This will rarely do as much damage as Antimatter Meteor will, but the ability to target units behind screens and even characters makes it effective against certain lists.

Sky of Falling Stars

Pick 3 enemy units within 18", and roll 1d6 for each; Tesseract Vaults subtract 1 from each roll. If the result is less than the number of models in the unit, they suffer 1d3 mortal wounds. An unmodified roll of 6 always fails.

This is better than Antimatter Meteor if you can get within 18" of two units with 5 or more models. This is great for C'tan in many circumstances, it's more circumstancial for Tesseract Vaults because the -1 only really applies against smaller units.

Cosmic Fire

Roll 1d6 for each enemy unit within 9", adding 1 to each roll for a Vault; on a 4+, they suffer 1d3 mortal wounds.

You'll want this power if you plan on getting up close and personal, as soon as you get within 9" of 3 units this becomes better than Antimatter Meteor, it can be absolutely brutal if your opponent has more than that. An excellent power for both C'tan and Tesseract Vaults if your opponent fields a list that relies on aura abilities, they'll be likely to clump up and you can deal mortal wounds to their characters. You will most likely want a longer-ranged back-up power if you pick this one, as while it is brutally effective at what it does, you might not be in range every turn.

Seismic Assault

Pick an enemy unit within 24" and roll 1d6 (did you spot the theme here yet?) for every model in it. The unit suffers a mortal wound for every 6+ rolled. Tesseract Vaults inflict mortal wounds on 5+.

For C'tan it's better than Antimatter Meteor against units with 12 or more models, Tesseract Vaults benefit a lot from their +1 in this case so Seismic Assault from a Tesseract Vault is better than Antimatter Meteor on units with 7 or more models.

Transdimensional Thunderbolt

Pick an enemy unit within 24"; this cannot be a Character with less than 10 wounds unless it is the closest model. Roll 1d6, adding 1 if the user is a Tesseract Vault. On a 4+, the enemy unit suffers 1d3 mortal wounds. Then, whether or not the target suffered any mortal wounds, roll 1d6 for every other enemy unit within 3" of the target unit. On a 4+, they suffer a mortal wound (regardless of the caster being a Vault or not). POWER. UNLIMITED POWER.

Another very versatile power because of its range, if your opponent has an MSU list or if they use small chaff units then this power is great on C'tan, it's not as great on Tesseract Vaults because the +1 only applies to the main target.

Choosing Powers

You cannot choose several of the same power unless you've taken every other power already. Bringing two Tesseract Vaults and a single other C'tan allows you to take two of the powers you don't want your Tesseract Vaults to have and have two Tesseract Vaults with identical powers. Or if you have two C'tan and a Tesseract Vault you can take the same powers on the two C'tan.

Antimatter Meteor and Sky of Falling Stars are usually great on C'tan, while Seismic Assault will usually be bad. Cosmic Fire is usually great on Tesseract Vaults while Sky of Falling Stars and Transdimensional Thunderbolt are usually bad, note that Seismic Assault is still the best option in some games on C'tan, but those cases are going to be rarer than on a Tesseract Vault. Some powers are very circumstantial, having a good backup power is a good idea if you choose to take one of them instead of taking two circumstantial powers, like Sky of Falling Stars and Seismic Assault for example.

One thing to note is that for Transcendent C'tan Shards you want to generate your random personality trait(s) before assigning Powers of the C'tan so you don't give them a long-ranged power only to find out that you've got re-roll failed wound rolls in close combat.

Warlord Traits

1. Enduring Will: Reduce damage inflicted on your Warlord by 1, to a minimum of 1. Really amazing if you're planning on duelling with your Warlord, amazing on CCBs because it helps mitigate the damage from 2 and 3 damage weapons which are common on melee units and which Quantum Shielding are relatively bad against.
2. Eternal Madness: Warlord re-rolls failed wounds if he charged, was charged, or intervened heroically. Pretty bad.
3. Immortal Pride: Friendly <DYNASTY> units within 6" of the Warlord auto-pass morale, and the Warlord can deny one psychic power a turn. The best option here if you're planning on taking big units of Necrons to get the most out of Reanimation Protocols. Extremely good against psyker-heavy armies and/or if you are bringing one or more big squads of Warriors. Illuminor Szeras has this trait, and the <DYNASTY> keyword switches to NECRON.
4. Thrall of the Silent King: Increase the range of Warlord's aura abilities by 3", except for Catacomb Command Barge explosions. Practically custom-made for Crypteks, especially ones with the new Canoptek Cloak. It is weak, pick it if you cannot find any better options.
5. Implacable Conqueror: <DYNASTY> units within 6" of the Warlord can re-roll charge rolls. If you're going to be making 4+ charges with units within 6" of your WL each game then this is good, otherwise, you are better off re-rolling the lowest roll with Command Re-roll. Anrakyr the Traveller has this trait and the <DYNASTY> keyword switches to NECRON.
6. Honorable Combatant: 1d3 extra attacks if the Warlord directs all of his attacks against the same character. Makes for a pretty potent character assassination tool with the Voidscythe, but the buffs that reach all your robots tend to be better.

• Note that any named character from a Dynasty other than Maynarkh has to take their Dynasty-specific Warlord Trait.

Stratagems

Universal

• Adaptive Subroutines (1 CP): a Canoptek unit can advance and still shoot and charge this turn. Combine with the Nephrekh code and Wraiths for a nice 30" threat range. While not Hive Fleet Kraken Genestealer fast this can be used to tie up critical enemy units early on whilst your footsloggers get into effective range or to quickly surround a vehicle with a big unit of Canoptek Scarab Swarms.
• Amalgamated Targeting Data (1 CP): Use in the shooting phase if you have a Doom Scythe within 6" of two other Doom Scythe. Instead of shooting their Death Rays, pick a spot within 24" of all three and roll a d6 for each unit within 3" of it (+1 if the unit has 5+ models, -1 if it's a CHARACTER). On a 4+, the unit takes 3d3 mortal wounds. It's amazing if you can get it off, if you get first turn or if all three Doom Scythes in your list manage to survive a turn's worth of Shooting this Stratagem might just win you the game, on the other hand Doom Scythes are hardly the most durable unit in the game and if your opponent knows about this Stratagem the first one will likely be a primary target, keep a plan B and C ready for when this fails, but this Stratagem makes 3 Doom Scythes a lot better than just taking 1 or 2.
• Cosmic Powers (1 CP): Pick a C'tan Shard. It can swap out one of its Powers of the C'tan for another one. Switch out something for Cosmic Fire when you get close and do a sudden burst of damage, mostly a gimmick for C'tan due to their cost being a little high at the moment.
• Damage Control Override (1 CP): For the rest of the turn, target Necron vehicle uses the highest level of its damage chart. This is a great Stratagem to have in your bag of tricks, doubling the firepower of a Doomsday Ark, Tesseract Vault or Seraptek Heavy Construct one last turn before it blows is often worth it.
• Dimensional Corridor (1 CP): At the start of the Movement phase, select an infantry unit more than 1" away from any enemy units. It can be removed and redeployed within 3" of any Monolith and more than 1" away from any enemies. The unit counts as having disembarked from the Monolith and can move normally. Yes, that unit of Lychguard will definitely make that charge now. It's a good, cheap Stratagem but doesn't make the Monolith worth taking.
• Dispersion Field Amplification (2 CP): Use when the enemy targets one of your Lychguard units that are equipped with dispersion shields but before they roll to hit. For the rest of the phase, the Lychguard have a 3+ invulnerable save. In addition, any unmodified results of 6 cause a mortal wound to the shooting unit. It makes your dispersion shield Lychguard go a lot longer, but it's pretty expensive.
• Disruption Fields (1 CP): A Necron Infantry unit gets +1 strength. If you're wounding on 4s, 5s or 6s and this adds +1 to your wound rolls it's good, otherwise, forget about it. It's a bit less good on Flayed Ones due to them already re-rolling wound rolls, but it'll massively help them against T8 units.
• Dynastic Heirlooms (1/3 CP): your standard extra relic stratagem. Lightning Field or Nightmare Shroud on a CCB, Nanoscarab Casket on a Destroyer Lord, Veil of Darkness on anything, the Voltaic Staff on a Mephrit Warlord with the Merciless Tyrant WL trait, Timesplinter Cloak on an Overlord or a CCB (Destroyer Lord if you've already given the Nanoscarab Casket to another model) and the Abyssal Staff are all worth the 1 CP. Don't pay two CP for a relic. Note that you are paying for the worst Relic you're using, so if you take the Gauntlet of the Conflagrator you don't say that it's free and you're paying 1 CP to get Veil of Darkness, you say you get Veil of Darkness free and then you're paying a CP to maybe deal a couple of mortal wounds once to a unit in turn 3, most Necron Relics aren't amazing enough to be worth CP for it so consider heavily whether you REALLY need this or if you might want to have a 50% chance of saving any one of your Characters later in the game from a sniper or a bad round of melee or shooting with the Resurrection Protocols Stratagem.
• Emergency Invasion Beam (1 CP): Use when your last monolith or nightscythe is destroyed. This lets you save an undeployed unit and put them on the battlefield. Note that it can only be used once so don't put too many units on the Tomb World or you'll lose all but one when your Monoliths/Night Scythes are destroyed.
  • Spending CP to salvage a situation is not a position you want to be in, but opponents will force you. Try not to have more than one unit in reserve.
• Enhanced Invasion Beam (1 CP): Allows you to set up two units from a monolith or nightscythe instead of one.
  • Meh, it's too dangerous to put several units on the Tomb World, don't rely on this. Better if one Monolith or night scythe gets destroyed and spits out the remaining backlog before the other gates close.
• Enhanced Reanimation Protocols (2 CP): Reroll 1s when using Reanimation Protocols for 1 unit. Too many command points, never worth it.
• Entropic Strike (1 CP): Use on a Necron character before they fight. Invulnerable saves can't be taken against the first attack it makes. Nightbringer's favourite stratagem, very niche since it's only one attack and therefore relatively expensive for what it does.
• Extermination Protocols (1 CP): Use on a Destroyer Lord, Destroyer, or Heavy Destroyer unit during the shooting phase.
  • You can reroll all to hit and to wound rolls. Rerolling hits is good if you target a flyer, but rerolling wounds is the delicious part. This is one of our very best Stratagems if you can use this for three turns in a row on the same unit of Destroyers they'll win the battle on their own.
• Gravitic Singularity (1 CP): At the start of the shooting phase, select an Obelisk. Its Gravitic Pulse now causes mortal wounds on a 4+ instead of a 6+, because fuck flyers. Rarely will you find an army worth fielding an Obelisk against just to use this Stratagem, while the Stratagem is good, the unit it was made for is trash.
• Judgment of the Triarch (1 CP): Use on a unit of Triarch Praetorians before they shoot or fight. They gain +1 to hit until the end of the corresponding phase. It's okay if you need the extra oomph to kill something, don't use it in the Shooting phase.
• Phaeron's Will (1 CP): Use My Will Be Done or Wave of Command twice in the same turn. Tesla Immortals like this, not useable with Imotekh due to wording issues.
• Quantum Deflection (1 CP): Use when a vehicle is targeted in a phase but before any to hit dice are rolled. You can subtract 1 from the result of the rolls made for quantum shielding until the end of the phase. Stupidly amazing when used on a Doomsday Ark or Ghost Ark at the beginning of the Shooting phase against anything with D3 Damage or above, but not worth it against D1/D2.
• Repair Subroutines (2 CP): Use before you roll for Reanimation Protocols. Choose a CANOPTEK unit and they get Reanimation Protocols until the end of your turn. This Stratagem is only worth it for big units of Wraiths or Acanthrites that have taken 4 or more casualties and are within 3" of a Cryptek, but then it's pretty good.
• Resurrection Protocols (1 CP): Use when a character dies. At the end of the phase, roll a dice and on a 4+, the character comes back with 1 wound. Can't use it on C'Tan shards or Trazyn, but it does work, funnily enough, on a command barge (which means it can explode Twice in one game). This can save your Warlord or Veil of Darkness from snipers and is therefore amazing.
• Self Destruction (1 CP): Use on a scarab unit after it piles in but before it fights. Pick a model in the unit and an enemy unit within 1" of the model. The model explodes, killing itself, and on a 2+, deals d3 mortal wounds to the enemy target. Very niche, between the CP, loss of regular attacks, the Scarab dying, it's usually trash if you don't really REALLY need it.
• Solar Pulse (1 CP): Strips cover from an enemy unit being targeted by one of yours. Useful when fighting armies with faction rules that always give them the benefit of cover, MEQ in cover, or even more those that double benefit from cover like Craftworld Rangers, 100% more damage? Yes, please.
• Wrath of the C'Tan (2 CP): Use after a C'Tan uses its power. Roll a d6 and consult the C'Tan power table. You can immediately use that power, even if you already did so this turn. Great for Tesseract Vaults, not worth it on the smaller ones.

• Each Dynasty other than Maynarkh also has a Stratagem only members of that Dynasty can use, these are listed in the relevant Dynasty's section.

Tactical Objectives

11 - Endless Legions

Keep a tally of successful Reanimation Protocols rolls you make. When the tally reaches at least 10, gain 1 VP.

12 - Dust and Ashes

Pick a Character. If he survives to the end of the battle, gain 1 VP.

13 - Reclaim and Recapture

Roll a d6. If the result is odd, get d3 VP for holding all the odd-numbered objectives at the end of the turn. If the result is even, the same applies if you hold all even-numbered objectives.

14 - Age of the Machine

1 VP if you destroyed at least one enemy vehicle this turn. d3 VP if you destroyed 3 or more vehicles, and an extra 3 VP if one of the vehicles destroyed was Titanic.

15 - Slaughter the Living

1 VP if you completely destroy at least one enemy unit.

16 - Code of Combat

1 VP if one of your Characters kills an enemy Character in the Fight Phase of this turn.

For the Chapter Approved 2018 missions which use the Refined Strategy rule you will want to identify the Tactical Objectives that you will have the hardest time doing before the game starts, having an idea of which missions will be hard for you to do in the list creation phase will let you complete this stage quicker once the game starts.

Age of the Machine #14, Psychological Warfare #55, Witch Hunter #62, Big Game Hunter #65 respectively require your opponent to have a Vehicle, a unit susceptible to failing Morale tests, a Psyker and a model with 10+ wounds for you to be able to complete these missions, getting rid of these missions should be your first priority if your opponent's list does not include any way for you to be able to complete them.

Master the Warp #56 requires your opponent has both a Psyker and that you have ways to deny (gloom prism or the Warlord Trait Immortal Pride).

If you don't have big units of Warriors you don't want Endless Legions #11.

If you have Doomsday Arks in your list you don't want Advance #41.

In mission #1 the Disruptive Signals, mission #5 Visions of Victory and mission #6 Scars of Battle Tactical Objective Dust and Ashes #12 is too big a liability because you have a very limited number of available tactical objectives each turn. It is also bad if you do not have any durable characters and you are playing against an army with a lot of shooting or psychic powers that ignore the Character rule.

Reclaim and Recapture #13 and Domination #46 are both too hard to achieve to be worth their points for most armies in most matchups, still not strictly impossible so something you should get rid off after getting rid of all the ones which are entirely impossible.

If you don't have shooting you don't want Overwhelming Firepower #51 and if you don't have any close combat units you don't want Blood and Guts #52, but even if the only shooting your army includes is the Nightbringer or if the only melee your army contains is units of 10 Immortals, taking a unit of Guard down to 1 model and finishing it off with what little shooting/melee you have is a relatively easy VP compared to having to control every objective with Domination #46.

If you do not have mobile units or the Veil of Darkness Relic you might not want Behind Enemy Lines #42 usually the last thing you would want to get rid off, even a squad of Necron Warriors can eventually wander into the enemy Deployment Zone.

You should consider to get rid of Tactical Objectives in the following order: #14, #55, #62, #65, #56, #11, #41, #12, #13, #46, #51, #52, #42.

Relics

Universal

• Gauntlet of the Conflagrator: Gauntlets of Fire are back... kinda. 8" pistol 1 that can only be fired once per battle, auto-hits the target, and rolls 1d6 for each model in the unit that's within 8"; they suffer a mortal wound on a 6. It's terrible.
• Lightning Field: Gives a 4++ invulnerable save, and at the start of the Fight phase roll a d6 for each enemy unit within 1"; on a 4+, they suffer a mortal wound. Could be useful in certain scenarios, but since Overlords and Destroyer Lords already have a 4++ and they're the ones you want in combat more than your babysitters Lords and Crypteks, and it only does a single mortal wound maybe, can't see much point in this. Crypteks and Catacomb Command Barges however don't get an invulnerable save, it's a waste on a Cryptek making CCBs the clear and pretty much only user of this Relic.
• Nanoscarab Casket: Replaces a phylactery, so... Destroyer Lord only. You regain d3 wounds instead of 1 as with the standard Phylactery, but you also regain d3 wounds at the beginning of your opponent's turn; PLUS, the first time the bearer is slain, roll a d6, and on a 4+ set the character up at the end of the phase with 1d6 wounds remaining. Combine with the Resurrection Protocols Stratagem for maximum troll. This is a must-have if your army includes a Destroyer Lord.
• Nightmare Shroud: Improves your character's armour save by 1, and enemy units within 6" subtract 1 from their Ld. Note that even if you stay in cover to get a 1+ Sv you still fail saving throws of 1, but you do negate one point of AP. This is great against things without AP and especially great for CCBs because they don't have an invulnerable save.
• Orb of Eternity: Replaces Resurrection Orb, so any non-Cryptek. Once per game, make a second Reanimation Protocols roll for a <DYNASTY> INFANTRY unit within 3", with +1 to the roll. Stacks nicely with a Cryptek for 3+ Reanimation Protocols, but perhabs it is most worthwhile if you don't have a Cryptek nearby. Let's say you have 200 pts of dead models in a unit Cryptek restores 100 pts, the Resurrection Orb restores 50 pts, the Orb of Eternity restores an additional 17 pts which isn't worth it compared to our other relics. But if you don't have a Cryptek you restore 67 pts base, the Resurrection Orb restores another 44 pts and the Orb of Eternity adds another 22 pts on top of that, being a bit more worthwhile, but still pretty bad, don't take this, but if you do, take it when you don't have enough Crypteks.
• Sempiternal Weave: Another wargear option from 5th edition that's found its way back, but with a very different effect. Instead of +1 Sv, now it's +1 Toughness and +1 Wounds. We have better relics.
• Veil of Darkness: Once per game, teleport the bearer and one <DYNASTY> Infantry unit, a la Deep Striking, fortunately you can still go outside your deployment zone turn 1 even with the beta rules. Note that this can be used in close combat without falling back, allowing you to "fall back" and shoot with a unit of Warriors or Immortals that were caught in close combat. This is not an auto-take, but it's pretty damn close.
• Voidreaper: Replaces a Warscythe or Voidscythe (so a Warscythe - why pay 3 more points for this than you have to?) with a Nightbringer Scythe, except with D3 instead of D1d6, which is often better. We have some amazing defensive relics, but this is okay if you're ready to throw caution to the side.

Unit Analysis

HQ Units

• Necron Overlord: The once customizable close combat monstrosity can now only replace his Staff of Light (the shooty option) with a Hyperphase Sword (the cheap option), a Voidblade (the anti-horde option), a Voidscythe (the anti-Vehicle option) or a Warscythe (the anti-Primaris option), all more or less equally good depending your list and matchups. They come with a 4+ invulnerable save thanks to the Phase Shifter included in the kit. Their only non-weapon upgrade (aside from relics) is the Resurrection Orb, which is pretty good for our Troops but is more or less a must-have if you have Lychguard or Destroyers close to your Overlord. The main reason (and it's a good one) to buy an Overlord instead of a Lord is his buff My Will Be Done. Note that the Overlord comes stock with a flat 3 attacks which makes him fairly weak at duelling compared to almost every other HQ. Do not let the 5 wounds fool you, he will go down fast to any decent beatstick character. Think instead of your Overlord as a charge deterrent, buffing a blob of immortals and discouraging harassment units like reivers. The only time your overlord should be duelling characters is with supporting Lychguard to tank wounds, otherwise, you'll watch him die in one round of combat. Also, do not forget the stratagem that allows the first attack made by a character to ignore invulnerable saves. While it won't secure the punch up, it will allow your overlord to take a chunk out of whatever special snowflake manages to kill him next turn.
• Necron Lord: Comes with The Lord's Will ability which lets you reroll failed wound rolls of 1, which arguably makes him better at babysitting 20 man warrior blobs than a Cryptek (The Lord is the stern father compared to the protective mother of the Cryptek). He cannot get a Voidscythe and he does not have an invulnerable save, he can have a Staff of Light (the staying safe option), Hyperphase Sword (the cheap option), a Voidblade (the down and dirty option) or a Warscythe (the killy option). The Warscythe is a little overkill for this guy because he will die so quickly when he gets into combat, but the other options are solid. The Resurrection Orb can be a trap against armies with lots of snipers because it makes the Lord much more expensive and he is relatively easy to kill.
• Cryptek: Your defensive buff-bot. Every <DYNASTY> unit within 3" gets +1 to RP rolls. Still no fun Harbinger options, but for that, you can take Szeras or Orikan and pretend you are playing 6th edition. When taking a Cryptek you always want to either give him a Canoptek Cloak or a Chronometron, the Canoptek Cloak allows Crypteks to keep up with speedier units and provide extra healing for anything with Living Metal for only a marginal points increase, if your tables include little terrain or if you are bringing Lychguard with Warscythes or Necron Warriors you will instead want the Chronometron, which gives your INFANTRY units within 3" a 5++ against shooting, it is a little more expensive though and offers less mobility making it more of a niche choice.
• Destroyer Necron Lord: Lost some versatility from the previous edition in that he only buffs Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers. Yet, comes with Phase Shifter standard and 1 more Attack and Toughness than a Lord or Overlord and 1 more wound than the Overlord. His high movement does allow him to keep up with Destroyers which is harder for a normal Lord. The only HQ that can take a phylactery, which is generally an auto-include to make him heal D3 at the start of your turn instead of the standard 1. His buff is not as good as that of a Lord's but he is much tougher and mobile, he is a good choice if you are spamming Destroyers or you don't have any Infantry to benefit from Overlord and Lord. If you take a Destroyer Lord you should definitely give him a warscythe and get him stuck in melee, the cheaper and shootier weapon options are basically wasting the Destroyer Lord body. Destroyer Lords should probably also take a relic to maximize their effectiveness.
• Catacomb Command Barge: Has Quantum Shielding and a Gauss or Tesla cannon like a vehicle, but doesn't get worse as it takes damage (just like the Annihilation barge). It also includes a 12" version of My Will Be Done, the ability to charge flyers with a Warscythe, and the privilege to laugh in the face of Dark Eldar carrying poison weaponry (because it's a VEHICLE). It is a nice upgrade for a vanilla Overlord between the durability and range buffs. You want to take a Warscythe or a Staff of Light on this guy, you are already paying quite a lot, the cheaper weapons just are not worth it in this case. The Staff of Light finds its best character in this guy since he can fall back and shoot since he can FLY.

Unique Characters

• Anrakyr the Traveller: Overlord with S6 and an extra wound and a single shot with his Tachyon Arrow at range 120" S10 AP -5 and D D6. He can boss around models from any Dynasty and even Triarch Praetorians with his MWBD ability and he can copy one of the weapons of an enemy vehicle within 12" on a 4+. When he does he fires it using the vehicle's BS but due to poor wording, the shot counts as originating from Anrakyr's model. Recommended in all Apocalypse styled battles if you aren't afraid of being That guy. Lastly, Anrakyr gives all nearby NECRON INFANTRY units an additional attack which makes our regular infantry a lot scarier. He's basically a must-have in lists that feature multiple Lychguard and/or Triarch Praetorian units, but even if you're just buffing Warriors and Immortals he's worth it if he can buff 30+ models and a couple of other characters. If he's your Warlord he has the Implacable Conquerer trait, which is great if he's buffing a bunch of melee units, but not the best option if you're just using him to make your Troops a tiny bit scarier in melee.
• Illuminor Szeras: Well, our spidey cryptek has received an upgrade in the last PA, now he's bigger, tougher and meaner, with a D6 damage assault D3 ranged weapon that deals 2 damage in close combat. All these upgrades are nice and all that but he finds himself in a strange position on the battlefield; with his augmentation ability and buff to RPs, he wants to stay near some warriors and immortals while blasting off models in the distance, tho with only a range of 18" for the weapon, 9" for the psyker debuff (that isn't even that good to begin with) and a profile more geared towards close combat, he also really wants to stay close and personal with the enemy (something difficult since he doesn't have any invulnerable save and a T6 W7 isn't that durable). All and all, a great model to look at but not so much to play with. It would have been better with a 4++, the ability to buff something other than warriors and immortals and maybe some way to mitigate the randomness of his main ability (something other like Cawl have).

Troops

• Necron Warriors: Our basic Infantry model. If you're using them you're better off taking them as 20 man blobs since Reanimation Protocols are more effective the more models there are in the unit, but this leaves you open to taking Morale tests with as much as -19, having enough CP to automatically pass these tests at key moments or picking the Warlord Trait that allows you to automatically pass is essential to making these big Warrior blobs work, otherwise you are better off with Immortals. AP could have its own article, but the TL;DR is that AP-1 makes Flayers 100% more effective against TEQs as Bolters, and a 50% more effective against MEQs than a bolter. Warriors take 50% more wounds compared to Immortals against things like Bolters and Lasguns, but their worse armour isn't such a big deal against things like plasma or earthshaker cannons, the armour difference actually makes no difference against things with an AP of -2 or better when accompanied by a Cryptek with a Chronometron since they will both have a 5+ Sv. Warriors are the best troops choice against high-AP low armour units like Bloodletters, Genestealers and Harlequins, Gauss Immortals are the best troops choice against low-AP high armour units like Space Marines or Immortals, Tesla Immortals are good against low-AP low armour units like Orks or Guardsmen.
• Necron Immortals: 36% more points than a Warrior for a +1 to their save and access to either a Gauss Blaster, which is S5 AP-2 Rapid Fire, or the Tesla Carbine which is Assault 2 S5 Tesla. My Will Be Done boosts Tesla Carbine effectiveness significantly, causing triple hits on 5s and 6s - Advancing and Shooting with Tesla stops you from getting a triple hits on 6s because of the -1 to hit (MWBD can counteract any penalties to your Hit rolls your opponent may inflict on your Tesla Immortals). For Immortals cover is far more important because a 2+ Sv is twice as effective as a 3+ while a 3+ is only 50% more effective compared to a 4+, if you want a unit you can march into the thick of it without care for the casualties they take, the Immortals are too expensive to be that choice. Squads of 5 Immortals are our least costly Troops choice, like Warriors the bigger your unit of Immortals the more likely they are to benefit from Reanimation Protocols and the more likely they are to suffer from Morale issues. See the Tesla vs Gauss section in the Talk page for the mathhammer on which weapon option is best, but here's the TL;DR: Ask yourself these three questions: Can I make sure my Immortals will stay inside 12"; Does my enemy have lots of 3+ or better saves; Does my enemy have no horde units. If you answer "No" to any of those, Tesla is better (you can put out an average of 13 wounds per turn at 24" against any unit with less than 5T, and it only starts losing out to Gauss against 4+ and better saves). Otherwise, stick with Gauss.

Elites

• Lychguard: S and T 5 and 2 Attacks compared to Immortals S and T 4 and 1 Attack, Lychguard are our pseudo-Terminators. An expensive melee unit, but Lychguard are only M5 and have no mobility abilities making them sitting ducks against Shooting armies. They come in two varieties: the sword and board, which makes the unit far less of a sitting duck, or the Warscythe variety which makes them an actual threat with S7 AP-4 and D2. You will want a Cryptek with a Chronometron if you are taking the Warscythe variety. Lychguard are now a real honour guard with the ability to take a mortal wound to negate a wound suffered by a <DYNASTY> CHARACTER within 3" on a roll of 2+. Do note that this means they cannot take a wound for either Anrakyr the Traveller or Illuminor Szeras, suppose they cut their paycheck or something. Remember that most of your CHARACTERS have Living Metal before you go diving in to block every last wound with these guys - your lords will regenerate 1 point of damage by themselves each turn. Even though Anrakyr the Traveller doesn't benefit from the body guard special rule the extra attack from Anrakyr's Lord of the Pyrrhian Legions special rule increases their offensive ability by 50%, Ouch! On paper they look like mini combat monsters, however each Lychguard costs 2.4 Warriors, they provide no Shooting and 5" move leaves something to be desired. Dropping them in with a Monolith, Night Scythe, Zhandrek + Obyron, The Deceiver, or the Veil of Darkness relic is practically mandatory.
• Deathmarks: Deep Striking Immortals with Rapid Fire sniper rifles. As the faction's snipers, they inflict an extra mortal wound on a wound roll of 6+ and can target CHARACTERS, great against heavily armoured units, decent against vehicles and characters, their main strength is their ability to Deep Strike, spending the pts on a single unit of 5 just to be able to take a stray objective turn 2 can sometimes be worth it if you're running an otherwise slow army. When an enemy unit arrives from reserves you can bring one of your Deathmark units out from Reserves and immediately shoot at that unit, this is great if your opponent has multiple units in reserve as you can block the room where your opponent might want to place their other reinforcing units, although this rule is less great against things like Drop Pods since you will be forced to shoot at the empty Drop Pod after the unit inside disembarks. Not really worth spamming, if you want to assasinate characters you're better off relying on C'tan with Cosmic Fire, although Deathmarks could be part of a tactic to finish off any survivors.
• Flayed Ones: Warriors with 3 attacks each, the ability to deep strike and the ability to re-roll failed wounds instead of a shooting weapon. In addition, they also add +1 to morale tests on the units they cut them. They got a price drop in the Codex at the price of one attack, making them much less of a glass... knife? A unit of 20 can still put out 60 attacks hitting on 3+ and re-rolling failed wounds, this makes them Rape pretty much anything from Guardsmen to Baneblades. You don't need to take the nuclear option of 20 Flayed Ones, a unit of 5 can grab objectives and won't leave several hundred points to be rapid fired to death should you fail the 10" charge.
• Triarch Praetorians: Praetorians are like Lychguard, except they have Movement 10 FLY and can either have a Rod of Covenant or a Voidblade and a Particle Caster. If you get within 12" of an enemy unit one of two things are going to happen, either you fire a Particle Caster or a Rod of Covenant. The Rod of Covenant will deal more damage and then you will either make the charge and the extra attack you get from the Voidblade will make the total damage output of Voidblade/Particle Caster better or you will fail and the Rod of Covenant will have dealt the most damage. No <DYNASTY> on these guys, so you'll need Anrakyr or Imotekh to use My Will Be Done on them and they'll miss out on other Dynasty-linked abilities but they do automatically pass morale tests.
• Triarch Stalker: Spiderbot with a spider rider, a tough support unit usually well worth its points, but a bit less potent in the codex in comparison to the buffed DDAs and Heavy Destroyers. All Necron units reroll 1s while shooting at something that has been attacked by a Stalker in the same turn. Note that you don't actually need to hit or even wound the target, you only need to declare an attack against it for army-wide rerolls against the target. Can have a Heat Ray which is underwhelming most of the time except if you can get within 12", Particle Shredder which is better against hordes or Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon so you have more range, range is pretty important since you want to keep this thing behind your lines since it can't fall back and shoot like your other vehicles. Durable with Quantum Shielding, isn't helpless in close combat either. Same "no <DYNASTY>" issue as the Praetorians though, it can support units from several different dynasties at once, although it is useless for Nihilakh units if they do not move.
• C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer: Hello Darkness Death, my old friend. Seems GW changed you up again. Still with your deadly gaze softly creeping, and your fleshbane scythe to reap the weeping. The S and T 7, along with lacklustre 4++ save, still remain. Within the sound of silence At least you have 8 wounds now. But more importantly, the CHARACTER rules remove the C'tan shards' greatest weakness - being gunned down before reaching their target. Now your opponent can only target them with snipers as long as you bubble wrap them. Welcome back Darkness Nightbringer, may you reap the battlefield once more. He knows two Powers of the C'tan and can use one of them at the end of the movement phase. Really cheap for what he does, a great addition to a list with a melee bent. C'tan Shards can be useful even in death thanks to Reality Unravels - a re-fluffed Explodes that deals D3 mortal wounds on a 4+ to every unit within 3". Just don't stand too close yourself. Also, The Nightbringer doesn't like vehicles, the machine spirit isn't enough of a soul for him to reap, so his Scythe hits with S7 and his Gaze wounds on 6+ against metal boxes instead of wounding on 2+. Yet, even if it is rare, it is a great moment when The Nightbringer blows up a tank by staring at it. Half of the C'tan powers are effective against vehicles, however, so he is far from helpless.
  • Take Cosmic Fire and either Anti-matter Meteor or Transdimensional Thunderbolt if possible.
• C'tan Shard of the Deceiver: Same C'tan body as the Nightbringer and same access to Powers of the C'tan, but trades the ranged weapon and Fleshbane in melee for Grand Illusion and a 12" -1 Ld aura. After deployment, but before the first turn begins, you can redeploy the Deceiver and/or up to D3 other friendly NECRON units at least 12" from any enemy model, but they can't charge on the first turn. See Tactics sections for the cheese. Like the Nightbringer shard, Reality Unravels when he dies. Don't stand too close, and preferably try to make sure he's near the enemy if it happens. Also like the Nightbringer, he's a sub-10 Wound CHARACTER and as such can't be targeted by shooting if you hide him behind your other units.
  • Cosmic Fire is amazing because you can redeploy the Deceiver 12" away and then Advance in and blast the entire enemy army turn 1. Anti-matter Meteor or Transdimensional Thunderbolt are great back-up powers, but the Deceiver will usually rely on Cosmic Fire.
• Canoptek Tomb Stalker (Forge World): Your regular monstrous creature. 6 attacks at S6 AP-2 D D3, which is ok, but it cannot chew through vehicles like it could in previous editions. Carries a Rapid Fire D3 gun which is nothing special. It can take a Gloom Prism, and also deep strikes so it can mess with psykers. The Spyder is your defensive support but the Stalker is a full-on aggressive support. And fine, with T7, 9 wounds and a decent save, deep striking this does make for a nice... distraction.

Fast Attack

• Canoptek Wraiths: Canoptek Wraiths are pretty tough with their incredible 3+ invulnerable save 3 Wounds Toughness 5 and with the new codex they also hit pretty hard with 3 Attacks WS 3+ AP2 and D2, but their price took a big hike so they are no longer worth just throwing at anything, ideally you want to throw them at enemy melee units that don't deal multiple damage and that have high AP values, if you're fighting hordes you are better off just swarming them with Scarabs, perhaps you're just better off swarming anything that moves with Scarabs. The ability to retreat and assault is interesting since it means you cannot be tarpitted, the ability to move through walls and units can also come in handy in all kinds of circumstances. Whipcoils no longer guarantee that they attack first, but instead allow them to attack during the Fight phase that it dies if has not already fought, this option is far too expensive to be worth it though. The Transdimensional Beamer increases your damage output against elite units and the Particle Caster increases your damage output against hordes. With the increased cost and damage output Wraiths are becoming quite the target and are likely to be the focus of all your opponent's anti-infantry weaponry, so keeping them cheap is probably the best way to go, unless you know you have other more juicy targets like Flayed Ones and Heavy Destroyers.
• Canoptek Scarab Swarms: Scarabs aren't really meant to kill things like they were in previous editions, although they can wound anything on a 5+, The Self-Destruction Stratagem does allow them to cause a few mortal wounds at the cost of a single base worth of Scarabs and if you scrape enough of them together you might be able to challenge enemy melee units. Their main strengths are their high Movement of 10 coupled with FLY which makes them quite mobile, allowing them to zone parts of the board to prevent Deep Striking and allowing you to take objectives without having to move your expensive fighting units out of the way. Their low cost per wound also makes them pretty good at tarpitting enemy elite Melee and all kinds of Shooting units, this is especially useful when they are coupled with characters and C'tan, let the characters deal the damage, while the Scarabs soak up enemy attacks. They are still quite squishy though, so ideally you want to hide them behind a hill or a building before charging in. They can be replenished by Spyders, but their units can no longer exceed their starting strength, the rule is pretty lackluster and Scarabs generally work fine on their own. Smaller units are often discouraged because of first blood, on the other hand smaller units do allow you more freedom to split up and take different objectives or assault several smaller squads. Squads bigger than 5 start having issues with Morale, take 7 to maximize the number of Scarabs in your list and avoid almost all the dangers of Morale.
• Tomb Blades: Tomb Blades are like two Immortals in that they have two wounds and can either have two Tesla Carbines, two Gauss Blasters or if you're feeling cheap they can have a single Particle Beamer, well except that they have +1 Toughness and a -1 To Hit modifier in the enemy Shooting phase, and that they unfortunately only have a 4+ Sv, but a massive Movement 14 in place of the Immortal's 5. So not really like Immortals. They can pay a few more points to improve their save with the shield vanes upgrade, which is nice if you are expecting to be shot by Boltguns and Flashlights, but not worth it if you are expecting lots of high-ap weaponry, going from a 7+ to a 6+ only improves your durability by 16%, which could be better used to buy more models, but against low AP weapons, it's a 33% increase in durability which is more worth it. Another difference between Immortals and Tomb Blades is that they are Bikes, which is cool, but comes with some downsides, it means they don't benefit from MWBD or most of our aura abilities it also means they don't benefit from being in cover, meaning they have a hard time fighting enemies in cover since they cannot themselves take cover, the Nebuloscopes however allows you to ignore enemy cover if that's a big concern, this isn't really worth it if you're going for the Gauss Blasters, but is definitely worth it against MEQ units that take cover if you are using one of the other weapon options. Shadowlooms are their last upgrade, which they cannot take along with Nebuloscopes, it gives them a 5+ invulnerable save, which would be good against stuff like plasma, you could play it safe by taking both Nebuloscopes and Shield Vanes, but then you're losing out on firepower relative to your cost and you might as well just take extra models. Due to them not benefitting from MWBD they cannot abuse the Tesla rule like Immortals can unless you use the Sautekh Stratagem Methodical Destruction to add +1 to their Hit rolls. Their mobility makes the Gauss Blaster an ideal weapon for them since they can quickly get into Rapid Fire range. Overall a comfortably priced unit that behaves like other bikes of other races, though it trades melee ability for increased dakka.
• Necron Destroyers: 3 Strength 6 shots at AP-3 re-rolling 1s to Hit make these guys excellent MEQ killers, their ability to FLY away and shoot makes them an ideal choice against elite melee armies, especially after the buffs they got in the codex. S 6 isn't quite enough to take out heavy vehicles, but with the Extermination Protocols Stratagem they are more than capable of hunting vehicles, otherwise you are wasting your firepower. Light vehicles (<T7) have all right to fear Destroyer's Gauss Cannons. If you have 12 or more Destroyers you should definitely get a Destroyer Lord (Or a regular Lord, if you wanna buff more than just Destroyers) so they can reroll 1s when wounding, if you only have one unit or several smaller ones you're probably better off investing in other HQs. Their respectable offense is complemented with movement and defense, being the only 3 Wound unit with Reanimation Protocols (remember that models do raise with full wounds now, making a unit of 6 Destroyers one of the best targets for a Resurrection Orb, averaging 60 pts if you had lost 5 in the previous turn). There is a max of 1 Heavy Destroyer per Destroyer unit, taking one is definitely a good idea with the new rules allowing the Heavy Destroyer to target vehicles while your regular Destroyers target MEQs or TEQs. As with most units with Reanimation Protocols, you want a big unit of them. Because if you have 4, and you opponents shoots down 4, they are gone. But, if you had 5, that is over 200 points potentially all saved. A full squad does cost a lot (300 with 6 destroyers), but it is the safer bet compared to bringing two squads of 3. With Destroyers, go big. And bring a Cryptek. And an Overlord. And a Lord or a Destroyer Lord.
• Canoptek Acanthrites (Forge World): 6 more points than a Wraith with 4 attacks at S5 AP-3 D1 instead of 3 attacks S6 AP-2 D2 from the Wraiths, the Acanthrites are the clear winners against most infantry, but against multi-wound models they just can't keep up in melee. However, they do have S7 AP-4 Dd6 Assault 1 weapons for just that, making the Canoptek Acanthrites better at killing pretty much anything the Wraiths can kill assuming you don't get caught up in a prolonged fight. Wraiths do have better defenses with a 3++ (vs the Acanthrites' 3+ Sv, no invul and -1 to shoot them), Acanthrites also cannot claim a cover save due to them being beasts, making them very susceptible to any elite melee unit and they are going to get pulverised by shooting attacks with any kind of AP even with a -1 to hit. Perhaps best slotted into an army with other armoured targets so they do not get targeted by lascannons.
• Canoptek Tomb Sentinel (Forge World): A shootier version of the Tomb Stalker, 2 attacks less than the Canoptek Tomb Stalker but with what is basically the Doom Scythe gun. A heavy gun on a mostly melee unit, following the style of Wraiths, meaning you're almost always going to be hitting on 4+ like the Doom Scythe. It can take a Gloom Prism, and has little reason not to. The gun is well worth the 15 points it costs more than the Canoptek Tomb Stalker, but it can get bogged down a lot easier since it only has 4 attacks. It's less reliant on making that charge when it deep strikes since it at least gets to shoot something worthwhile even if it fails its charge. It's expensive and it makes a big [[1]] out of itself, if you want to take some heat off some other units and you need the anti-tank more than you need the anti-infantry then you should consider this one.

Heavy Support

• Heavy Destroyers: Scary guns mounted on spooky hover skeletons that hit on 3+ rerolling ones. Combo with My Will Be Done to hit on 2+ rerolling ones. They also reach 36" and suffer no penalty for moving and shooting. This is our best anti-vehicle unit if that's all you're looking for, but you're still paying for their mobility even if that cost was reduced with the codex and Chapter Approved. They are pretty squishy compared to Doomsday Arks and are good at shooting a much smaller number of things compared to Destroyers, making them not the greatest. Finding cover for these guys is usually easy since they are Infantry, getting that 2+ Sv is important if you want these guys to survive. Take them in squads of 3 so you get to try to revive them if any survive the enemy's shooting or in units of 1 if you're bad at rolling Reanimation Protocols and you're hoping your enemy will use excessive firepower to remove the last wound from that single Heavy Destroyer. A regular Lord is a better support character for these guys than a Destroyer Lord and is pretty much mandatory.
• Canoptek Spyders: Canoptek Spyders are big squishy support gripplies with a little bit of a kick in close combat. You only want to take these guys for the Fabricator Claw Array upgrade allowing you to heal D3 Vehicle wounds per turn, they can also spawn more scarabs on a 2+ if they happen to be nearby, it's nice but not really worth investing in a Spyder unless you'll be using it to heal vehicles. Gloom Prisms are mandatory if you are not planning on staying back and healing your DDAs all game. They're squishy as hell so you don't want to buy a gun for them, just hope your opponent lets you keep healing your vehicles. Hide them behind a Monolith or behind a building if possible.
• Monolith: It is a Deep Striking Leman Russ with 8 more wounds and Living Metal and it is Titanic, it's firepower doesn't really add up to its points so you'll have to find value in other aspects of the Monolith. The Monolith is huge you can use it to block line of sight, it has FLY so it can fall back and shoot if it doesn't get surrounded, can Deep Strike at 12", it can do mortal wounds to any non-Vehicle/Monster units that end their Charge within 1" of the Monolith, it has BS 3+ and can move and fire without penalty. Lastly it has the Eternity Gate ability allowing you to put units in Reinforcements and Deep Strike up to one unit within 3" before the Monolith moves, the unit then acts as if it had disembarked from a Transport. In matched play games any units that are put into Reinforcements via this ability and have not been brought out by a Monolith or Night Scythe before turn 4 are destroyed and any units inside cannot come out before turn 2, this makes using this ability extremely risky at the best of times and downright suicidal against Shooting armies. This phenomenal failboat has an eye-watering 3+ save for the cost and *NO* invulnerable save. Three lucky lascannon shots could easily drop it to it's lowest bracket. Anything that hits harder than a lascannon can and will obliterate it (especially because it has the TITANIC keyword with an utter lack of damage mitigation). You want to prevent this thing from being surrounded as best you can, because once it is surrounded it is useless. The Monolith is near useless, it does have a couple of handy Stratagems, but the amount of firepower it takes away from you is not worth the versatility it brings. We will pray to the silent king for a rework to this model for the release of Pariah.
• Annihilation Barge: Fast shooty little vehicle with 8 W T 6 4+ Sv and Quantum Shielding. Don't mistake the relatively high S of 7 on its main weapon to mean it's meant to shoot at anything other than infantry, use it in the same way you would Tesla Tomb Blades, against horde infantry and the like. Its Overwatch is nasty because of tesla and it can retreat and then fire because of fly, making it an ideal stop-gap against horde melee units. Both Gauss Cannon and Tesla Cannon are worth their points, the Tesla does fit better with its overall role of being annoying against enemy infantry, the -1 to hit for moving with the Gauss Cannon is also kind of annoying. Charging it into enemy ranged infantry units is a good idea. With Tomb Blades you get signifigantly more firepower, less so against high-Toughness targets such as Grotesques, but you also get one more Toughness instead of -1 to Hit, making the Annihilation Barge ideal against armies with a lot of S 3 or Poisoned shooting, that is if you are looking for a Fast Shooty unit, with Tesla Immortals it is signifigantly easier to abuse Tesla and get it down to 5s and 6s with My Will Be Done from an Overlord, the Annihilation Barge is still pretty squishy but at least it doesn't care about the Morale phase.
• Doomsday Ark: It's a Ghost Ark with a our only Codex long-ranged weapon instead of healing and transporting abilities and it's good if you're planning on playing defensively and making your opponent come to you, otherwise you won't get to use the Flayer Arrays which makes it inferior to Heavy Destroyers or Doom Scythes. Its Doomsday Cannon still works better if you don't move, increasing its Strength, AP, Damage, and range. Quantum Shielding is really nice since most long-ranged weapons that can reach it in your back line will usually deal D6 damage, in these cases the Doomsday Ark is awesome, but if your opponent brings anything with D2 then it quickly becomes scrap metal.
• Transcendent C'tan: Like the Deceiver and Nightbringer, Transcendent C'tan now know 2 powers of the C'tan and can cast one per turn and cannot get Warlord Traits. Barring a good roll on the random personality trait chart they got with the codex the Transcendent C'tan is still the worst of the three C'tan, but it is almost on par with it's named brethren now which isn't too shabby at all, if not something you're going to be winning any GTs with. Roll these up the board with Wraiths or Scarabs or redeploy them with the Deceiver for a massive mortal wound bomb T1. Transcendent C'tan have the same stats as the Deceiver, except they get D6 damage on their melee weapon compared to the Deceiver's flat 3 (which is a downgrade against 2 and 3 wound models but generally a slight upgrade against vehicles). Instead of the Gaze of Death and Scythe of the Nightbringer weapons that the Shard of the Nightbringer gets or the Dread and Grand Illusion abilities that the Shard of the Deceiver get they got a new ability called Fractured Personality which lets you roll two traits on a list of 6 traits, if you roll a double then you only get that one trait, instead of rolling you can select a single power. Pick Cosmic Tyrant or Immune to Natural Law if you don't want to roll, three Transcendent C'tan all using two powers each turn output a lot of MWs if that's something you're into. Note that since rolling for these powers happens before the game starts you cannot re-roll them.
  1. Cosmic Tyrant: The C'tan can cast two Powers of the C'tan instead of one.
  2. Immune to Natural Law: Gain +1 to saving throws (3+/3++).
  3. Sentient Necrodermis: Heal D3 wounds at the start of each of your turns.
  4. Transdimensional Displacement: When Advancing, add 12" to this model's movement instead of rolling.
  5. Entropic Touch: Re-roll all failed wound rolls in the Fight phase.
  6. Writhing Worldscape: Enemy units within 12" do not receive bonuses to their saving throws from cover.
• Tesseract Ark (Forge World): Tougher, more expensive and more versatile version of the Doomsday Ark. It has an anti-vehicle profile which is weaker than the Doomsday Cannon, but it has two other profiles one for taking out TEQs at range 24" and one a flamer for taking out MEQ at 8". Comes with 2 Tesla Cannons, which can be replaced with 2 Particle Beamers (if you are an idiot) or 2 Gauss Cannons which have become a nice option with the buff in the codex. It also has a special rule that subtracts from the charge distance of enemies trying to charge it, at worst this means your opponent can't charge from 9" away to avoid your flamer, at best it means your opponent will fail their charge and you get to inflict D6 auto-hits wounding on 2+. The explosion rule for the Tesseract Ark also triggers on a 4+ so make sure your near a lot of enemy units when it dies and then use a re-roll if necessary to inflict lots of mortal wounds.
• Sentry Pylon (Forge World): Gun platforms that can scuttle along the battlefield 3" a turn with the option to buy Deep Strike. Gauss exterminators are good for flyers and ground support with two S12 shots. Focussed Death Ray is 15 points cheaper, but it's also terrible; half range and shots compared to the Gauss Exterminator with same profile. It lacks the +1 to-hit against non-FLY units, but the Gauss Exterminator shoots twice - so it has a better chance of landing at least one shot, and can also land two (and has +1 to hit vs FLY). The Heat Cannon will generally work out better than the Exterminator (at 1.75x the rate of fire for 1.5x the points before you pay for the wielder, and with melta damage at 18"), but it's also 25 extra points, if you take the latter you want to take the option that allows Sentry Pylons to deepstrike, if you go with the Gauss Exterminator then just plunk it down during Deployment instead of waiting until turn 2.

Dedicated Transport

• Ghost Ark: Ghost Arks are primarily a support unit for Warriors, but also carry the equivalent firepower of 10 Warriors and the ability to provide protection for your Warriors or characters at the cost of units inside being unable to use their abilities or fire their weapons. This ability is useful only when your Warriors Fall Back from melee (as then they can't do anything else anyway), or when the squad or character is down to only a couple of models or wounds and you want to try and avoid having them wiped out. Repair Barge allows all <DYNASTY> Warrior units within 3" or embarked on one or more Ghost Arks to make a second Reanimation Protocols roll at the end of the Movement phase (note that you cannot combine Ghost Arks and Resurrection Orbs). Even if you did not have a Cryptek within 3" of your Warriors at the beginning of your turn, if you can manage to get one within 3" at the end of your Movement phase a squad of Warriors will regenerate 67% of its lost models between its initial RP roll and the Cryptek-boosted Ghost Ark RP roll. Toughness 6 makes it tough against lasguns, Quantum Shielding makes it tough against lascannons, but it's weak to D2 weapons, especially if they are S6-7.
  • The Ghost Ark can also double as an effective speed bump against weaker Melee units, using it as a battering ram against enemy ranged units, preventing them from Shooting and firing Overwatch is also an effective tactic. Because it has FLY keyword it can fall back a few inches after being charged while still Shooting.
  • Mephrit Ghost Arks are the best ones to bring for battering ram. Especially if you use the Deceiver to Grand Illusion them into the Opponents face for 20-40 S4 AP-2 D1 shots with both units being able to charge Turn 2 onwards. Most opponents don't see these as threats so you will more then likely have both by turn 2 as well.

Flyers

Units now only suffer a -1 to hit penalty when shooting against Flyers instead of simply being hit on 6s. Their minimal movement distance each turn has been increased from 18" to 20", but their ability to shoot 360" means you'll almost never be wasting firepower with them. You can however no longer fly over the edge and you still lose your Flyer if you can't find a legal spot to place it, so be careful and plan your flight route. They Advance 20 inches, instead of a measly D6, however, this doesn't make them good at grabbing objectives, as they do not score per Chapter Approved. Flyers no longer block movement through their base, but your opponent cannot end their Movement phase within 1" of these things, but you can still stop an assault army in its tracks with some cleverly placed Flyers, just place the Flyers were your opponent wants to end their movement instead of right in front of them. Flyers are generally best against melee armies that can't fly, they can be really good against the right enemy but against a long ranged shooting army their ability to body-block is useless and the -1 to hit is inferior to the quantum shielded vehicles you could otherwise get.

• Night Scythe: Basically the same transport portal as the Monolith, but on a flyer with Tesla Destructors. Has suffered a fair bit from the previous edition; lacking Quantum Shielding makes for one of the frailest vehicles in the codex. Still has 12 Wounds, though that will only get you so far. With the general nerf to S7 weapons, its Tesla Destructors aren't very scary either. Necrons may just be packing up their flying circus. The new Stratagems as well as a price drop helps, still too pricey for what it does. They are decent against melee armies because units without Fly cannot charge them.
• Doom Scythe: Night Scythe but with a Heavy D3 S10 AP-5 gun instead of the portal at a slightly higher price, definitely better than the Night Scythe, but the between the fewer shots and hitting on 4s it doesn't compare too well to Doomsday Arks. Heavy Destroyers are better at hurting stuff and are also pretty mobile, but are a little more vulnerable, the inability to grab objectives and take cover also hurts. Doomsday Arks have more firepower and durability but lack any sort of mobility. Even with their lackluster performance they're still a mainstay in competitive necron lists for their Stratagem: Amalgamated Targetting Data. Which can throw a lot of MW into someone's castle if you run 3 Doom Scythes. It's kind of a gimmick but if it works it works great. Take Sautekh as your dynasty with these.
• Night Shroud (Forge World): Doom scythe with +1 T and +2 wounds while replacing the Death Ray with a once per game Death Sphere strafing run. Death Spheres are the most powerful aircraft bomb in the game, inflicting a mortal wound on a 3+ and rolling 1d6 per model/3d6 per VEHICLE/MONSTER (capped at 12 dice). Averages a little less than 7 mortal wounds on a 10 model unit, or 2 mortal wounds on a VEHICLE or MONSTER. Average of 8 mortal wounds against the rare few units of light vehicles that still exist, such as Killa Kans and Grot Tanks. It does let you pick out CHARACTERS (as the attack doesn't occur in the shooting phase and so isn't bound by that targeting restriction), Hive Tyrants, C'tan and Daemon Princes come to mind.

Lords of War

• Seraptek Heavy Construct (Forge World): It’s about time the Necrons got themselves a knight analogue (and a Knight Dominus at that). The Seraptek is a monster of a war machine, with 28W T8 3+/5++ like the Imperial Dominus Class and some pretty nasty weaponry. More over, it's fucking FAST, scuttling across the board at 16", compared to the 12" of the Imperial Knights. Thankfully it gets to use that Movement because it doesn't suffer To Hit penalties for firing Heavy weapons on the move, it can also always walk over Infantry and Swarms at any time, not just in combat, where normal Knights can be locked in the Movement Phase by being surrounded but outside combat. It also gets to fall back, Shoot and then Charge in the same turn like other Knight equivalents. For all your Primarch evaporating needs, it starts with two massive Singularity Generator cannons - each a 36" Heavy 3D3 S8 AP-3 D6 damage gun, that also does 1 mortal wound in addition to the normal damage on a wound roll of 6. Alternatively, you can drop them for the more versatile four weapon loadout with a pair of Transdimensional Projectors (24" Heavy D6 S6 AP-3 D3 damage with the same 1 MW on 6+ as the stock weapons) and 2 Synaptic Obliterators (72" Heavy D3 S16 AP-4 6 damage flat!) It also brings its Titanic Forelimbs to melee, making 6 attacks with 2 profiles that pretty much copy the stat lines of a Knight's Titanic Feet and Reaper Chainsword respectively, it's attack characteristic is 50% better than that of regular Imperial Knights and its weapon skill is better than that of Dominus Class Knights. It's cost and statline makes it immediately comparable to a Knight Valiant, they have about equivalent amounts of firepower, but the lack of access to durability improving Stratagems, Relics and Warlord traits makes it a firemagnet with no way to turn itself off, run it with other glass-cannon units for maximum efficiency. Take it in a Supreme Command Detachment or with a couple of Tesseract Vaults to unlock your Dynasty bonus, you really don't want to invest 600 pts and then not even have a Dynasty bonus. As far as competitive goes it's probably a little early to say, but many gunlines will be able to put it down T1 relatively easily, it is a pretty potent counter to melee Knights, but a Castellan can put it down without too much fuss. Less potent than a Vault against Hordes, more potent against Knights, potentially one of the more viable Necron units in competitive contexts.
• Obelisk: 24 Wounds 3+ Sv and an average of 20 S7 AP- hits (yes hits, not shots - the triple shots compensate for your misses on average). It has a Movement of 8, but it can Deep Strike (albeit at more than 12" instead of 9") so it's guaranteed to at least shoot once even if it's durability is atrocious for its cost, even more so when considering it's TITANIC and therefore falls to a single round of shooting from a Gauss Pylon or Shadowsword. Once per turn you can roll a D6 for each enemy unit with FLY within 24", dealing D3 mortal wounds on a roll of 6+ (4+ if you spend 1 CP), this ability will do very little against a lot of armies and will be amazing against a few armies. The Obelisk overall is horrible, but it will make some opponents cry.
• Tesseract Vault: A Transcendent C'tan suspended within a huge living metal cage, it spews out copious amounts of AP- and mortal wounds but it's spicy pricy and will attract ALL the attention of your opponent. Knows four, and can use 1-3, Powers of the C'tan each turn depending on how many wounds it has left. It doesn't get to keep the C'tan's close combat prowess or their ability to hide in infantry units (as it has 28 Wounds), has a low (for a Lord of War) Toughness of 7, but with the codex it now has a 4+ invulnerable which is all kinds of nice. Still, concentrated fire (or a Macro weapon, as it's TITANIC) will bring this thing down quite quickly, so you want to get it in range quickly and try to keep it alive as long as you can. A good way to get it up quickly is to use the Deceiver to get it into your opponent's face turn 1. If you're taking this thing you better make the rest of your army a glass cannon so you at least get to inflict some major damage with the rest of your army while this thing gets taken down. Makes a massive explosion of rape when it dies, ideally this happens away from your models and close to several enemy units.
  • Even though this unit has the dynasty keyword this unit cannot benefit from the codes due to also having the C'TAN SHARD key word. This however still means a cryptek with a cloak can still heal this unit for D3 wounds over the 1 from living metal and you can still use dynasty-specific Stratagems.
• Gauss Pylon (Forge World): 30 T8 Wounds and countless sheckles worth of Deep Striking anti-tank gun with a protective field granting a 5+ invulnerable save for models (including vehicles) within 6", it can't move after deep striking but all your units can target units in combat with the Pylon. The Gauss Annihilator's Focused Beam mode is S16, so you're wounding pretty much everything in the game on 2s (and even wounding Warlord Titans on a 4+). Only AP-4 but that makes little difference since many enemies will have invulnerable saves anyway. It is so strong against TITANIC that you should always ask your opponent before friendly games if they're bringing one, if it's not a friendly game... Well enjoy 2x(6+D3) damage. It's other weapon profiles aren't even worth mentioning, but I will, it has a 3" anti-infantry gun and a Heavy 2D6 anti-MEQ gun, but firing either prevents firing the main gun. It's good even against moderately heavy vehicles like Predators and great against Land Raiders and daemon primarchs. It's terrible against units with Quantum Shielding since it can't less than 6 damage, it's also a very expensive paperweight against horde armies.

Fortifications

• Tomb Citadel (Forge World): Contains an Eternity Gate, a pair of heavy weapons (Gauss Exterminator for 50pts each or free Tesla Destructors), a docking station for one Sentry Pylon/Monolith which gives the docked unit +1S on its guns (docked Monoliths can't use their own Eternity Gate though), and a Power Crucible building that gives all NECRONS in the fortification 5++ vs shooting and reroll 1s on Reanimation Protocols. Each of the four buildings explodes on a 6+ when killed, and the Power Crucible's abilities disappear as it gets damaged - one turns off at 8 wounds, and you lose the other one when it dies. Costs an absolutely ludicrous 730 points, or 780/830 with the Gauss Exterminator emplacements.

Dynasties

Each unit (except Triarch Stalkers, Triarch Praetorians, Illuminor Szeras and Anrakyr the Traveller) has a <Dynasty>, you can choose one of the following 5 Dynasties for each of those units. Units get access to a Stratagem, Relic and a Warlord trait that is Unique to each Dynasty, unless you are playing Maynarkh. If no units in a Detachment have different <Dynasty> from any other unit in that Detachment, then all units in the Detachment will benefit from that Dynasty's Dynastic Code or in the case of Maynarkh, the Dynastic Code of one of the other five Dynasties, there is incredibly little reason to have units from multiple different dynasties in a single Detachment, but it could grant units access to different Stratagems, the cost of the Dynastic Code is usually too great to be worth it.

Which Dynasty you choose for each Detachment in your army can drastically increase their effectiveness, it is usually best not to include any units in a Detachment unless they benefit from that Dynasty's Code to a great degree. Whether you choose to stick to a single Dynasty or take several will determine whether your HQs from one Detachment can benefit the units from another, for this reason it is usually a good idea to stick to a single Dynasty or maybe two at most. Anrakyr the Traveller and Illuminor Szeras are great in army lists with multiple Dynasties because they can help units from any Dynasty. Before you start crying that your painstakingly painted Necrons got a trashy rule (Nihilakh), the actual paints on your models don't influence any rules. So call them what you want, throw that continuity in the trash and go WAAC.

Mephrit

After 60 million years of slumber, the protocols of destruction and technology remain.

Thematically the Mephrit Dynasty were the solar executioners of the Necrons with a penchant for paranoia. That paranoia was well founded as during their sleep they had their head of state assassinated. Now with few of their super weapons remaining they have been forced to work together with Blood Angels to face the Tyranids and ensure the survival of their Dynasty.

In terms of crunch Mephrit adds firepower to your units, being very good with AP- and AP-1 weapons and not great for much else. Mephrit requires you get quite close before it helps you do anything, making it a fine balance between blasting the enemy and getting engaged in melee and chopped up.

• Dynastic Code: Solar Fury: Get -1 to AP when shooting at units within half of your weapon's maximum range. Have you ever had that one friend who loved to show up in your face turn one? Pick this, it's good considering your penchant for close ranged firefights, especially with Gauss Flayers since they get Rapid Fire at that range too. Remember that this works best on weapons with no or little AP to begin with, so roll some Tesla Tomb Blades up on your target and watch your enemy squirm at -1 AP Tesla.
• Warlord Trait: Merciless Tyrant:+6" to the Warlord's assault weapons. Also lets the Warlord target characters, even if they are not the closest target with assault weapons. It's not worth it on most characters, but it's very nice on a CCB with a Tesla Cannon, giving you a 3 shot 30" S6 AP-0 (-1 at 15") D1 sniper rifle that hits on a 2+ and causes two additional hits on rolls of 6. If you're taking this Trait you really want to upgrade your Staff of Light to the Voltaic Staff for an 18" assault 3 S6 AP-3 D2 gun that can cause mortal wounds.
• Stratagem: Talent For Annihilation (1 CP): Select a unit during the Shooting Phase. When a model in that unit rolls an unmodified 6 to hit, make another hit roll with the weapon it used against the same target. These hits cannot generate more hits themselves. Congratulations, your Gauss weapons are pseudo-Tesla weapons and your Tesla weapons can generate up to 6 hits per shot if the dice are on your side. Rarely worth it, 17% extra firepower is below market rate for CP, it is rarely amazing, but it can be worth considering using it on a unit of 10 MWBD Tesla Immortals, 20 Warriors in Rapid Fire range, 9 Tomb Blades or a unit of 6 Destroyers with Extermination Protocols on them as well.
• Relic: The Voltaic Staff: Replaces Staff of Light. Also identical to the basic staff in melee, but its shooting mode gets 1 better at S, AP, and D. Additionally, every wound roll of 6 it gets in the Shooting phase inflicts an extra mortal wound. Great against TEQs, and if you're not afraid to get really close, it'll jump to AP-4 (thanks to the Dynastic Code) to let it double as an anti-vehicle weapon. Only worth it if coupled with the Merciless Tyrant Warlord trait or if you know your opponent is bringing TEQ units.

Nephrekh

After 60 million years of slumber, the protocols of aspiration and freedom remain.

Thematically the Nephrekh Nobility have been obsessed with energy and the forms of their former masters, wishing to leave their current forms behind in order to ascend to a state of pure energy and thought. Somewhat successful in this regard, their Necrodermis has been inlaid with metagold allowing them to enter such states, but only briefly, the nobility having more of this are able to sustain this for longer, but still nowhere near the permanent solution to their shitty robotic lives they want, even for the Necrons 40k is grimdark.

In terms of crunch Nephrekh is the most versatile Dynasty, providing something of actual worth to more units than any other Dynasty. If you want to have just one Dynasty and you don't want to limit yourself to Tesla spam like Sautekh must, then Nephrekh is a good choice. Strongest with melee units, especially the Canoptek variety and units with Assault weapons that can shoot after Advancing, Nephrekh also works great as a speedy part of a force, possibly supporting a less mobile Nihilakh Detachment.

• Dynastic Code: Translocation Beams: Always Advances 6" (the bonus from My Will Be Done can still be used to Advance 7"), and can pass through models and terrain when Advancing.
  • A Code that demands you build around it, but will turn Necrons into the second most mobile army in the game (losing out to the Tyranids with their supersonic Troops and potential for multiple movement phases in a single turn). Mobility is key to victory in several game modes, and considering the medium range shooting of the army this patches their vulnerability to being outzoned by the enemy.
• Warlord Trait: Skin of Living Gold: -1 to hit the Warlord. Great for CCBs and Destroyer Lords if you're planning on sending them into things with D1, if your opponent has things like Daemon Princes, Captains or Celestine then you'll be better served by Enduring Will.
• Stratagem: Translocation Crypt (1 CP): During deployment, you can set up a Nephrekh infantry or swarm unit to deep strike with all the usual limitations.
• Relic: The Solar Staff: Replaces a Staff of Light, for some additional dakka. The melee profile is identical to a Staff of Light, but the ranged output is -1 AP, double the rate of fire, and can blind any Infantry units it hits on a 4+ until end of turn for that delicious denial of overwatch and -1 to hit (obviously cavalry and bikers are wearing super-cool shades at all times, especially at night). It's good against things with improved Overwatch (tesla/Tau/certain Guard subfactions), but otherwise you can do better.

Nihilakh

After 60 millions years of slumber the protocols of isolation and defence remain.

Thematically the Nihilakh Dynasty have only recently started conquering, having otherwise been quite pleased to hunker down and build up their forces and ensure that they do not lose what they have left after their slumber. Also home to the crazed collector Trazyn and his hoard of curiousities that rivals those of the black library of the Harlequins or the vaults of Terra.

In terms of crunch Nihilakh has the most specific and overall least useful Dynastic Code, being only good for units that stand still, Necrons being a relatively short-ranged faction benefit little. The few long-ranged units we do have like Doomsday Ark and Gauss Pylons love this Dynasty though. The Stratagem is pretty niche, but really nice for Titanic units, so if you are bringing one in an Auxiliary Support Detachment Nihilakh is usually the best choice.

• Dynastic Code: Aggressively Territorial: Units that didn't move or disembark can reroll every 1 to hit when shooting, even in Overwatch. Not so great considering your lack of long ranged weaponry, unlike the puny humans, but still great for holding objectives (once you get there), also great for Pylons and Doomsday Arks.
• Warlord Trait: Precognitive Strike: Warlord strikes first in the fight phase. Useless.
• Stratagem: Reclaim a Lost Empire (2 CP): At the end of your turn, select a unit from your army. If it is either within 3" of an objective or did not move this turn, it gains 1 attack and +1 to all saves until the start of your next turn. This plus Dispersion Field Amplification grants a staggering 2+ invulnerable save against shooting to Lychguard for when you absolutely must keep them alive at all costs.
• Relic: Timesplinter Cloak: One per game reroll for a hit, wound, or damage roll, plus feel no pain 5+++. Far from the glorious 6th edition cloak. Feel no pain is useful for a durable unit, however - say, a CCB and you'll find a use for that re-roll meaning it basically pays for itself if you use the Stratagem to get another Relic.
• Unique Character:
  • Trazyn the Infinite: Our cheapest unique character and for good reason, he's an Overlord with an extra wound and a shitty melee weapon that explodes and deals D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 6" if he somehow manages to get the last hit on a CHARACTER. Similar to his previous incarnations, he has the Surrogate Hosts special rule which lets him take control of one the NECRON INFANTRY CHARACTERS in your army as long as they aren't named. This happens when he dies on a roll of 2+, but he only comes back with D3 wounds. Turns out a 1 wound named character was hiding in the 5 wound Overlord. You're probably taking this guy to be your Warlord to make it harder for your opponent to get the 1 VP, the trick is that his Warlord Trait is precognitive strike which happens to be trash on a model with a shitty melee weapon. He would be our worst character if it wasn't for his price being so low, you're better off taking a regular Overlord, but he's not that bad.

Novokh

After 60 millions years of slumber the protocols of blood and ritual remain.

Thematically the Novokh Dynasty is all about going into melee, using the blood of your enemies to paint your legions red. They have a particular distaste for the Ork menace, they will occassionally show mercy when their ancient protocols demand they do so, but when battle is entered they are as bloodthirsty as any mortal or daemon.

In terms of crunch Novokh is the only real Melee Dynasty, with a fantastic, but very limited, Dynastic Code, a good Warlord Trait provided you build your army around it and a Stratagem you wouldn't want to leave home without if you are bringing melee units such as Lychguard or Flayed Ones.

• Dynastic Code: Awakened by Murder: When a unit charges, is charged, or makes a Heroic Intervention, it can reroll every failed hit roll.
  • All melee Necrons will benefit a lot from this one, but WS4+ (Scarabs!) benefits more than WS3+. Lychguard, Wraiths, Scarabs (hah), and especially Flayed Ones (who then re-roll hits and wounds). Also makes your vehicles more likely to hit (WS6+ gets the most benefit from this of all); Novokh is less about drive by shooting and instead goes for the ramming approach.
• Warlord Trait: Crimson Haze: Units within 6" of the Warlord generate extra attacks on 6s to hit in the Fight phase. This is potent for a close combat army, Flayed ones, Lychguards and Wraiths can all benefit greatly from this. Works on a character who wants to be in combat, Destroyer Lord, CCB or any character that also has the Veil of Darknesss.
• Stratagem: Blood Rites (3 CP): At the end of the Fight phase, select a NOVOKH unit. It can fight a second time. This Stratagem is insane for large units of Lychguard or Flayed Ones, meh on Anrakyr and Anrakyr-buffed Warriors and not worth it otherwise.
• Relic: The Blood Scythe: Replaces War/Void Scythe (so a warscythe, since there's no reason to pay extra points for it). A warscythe with d3 more attacks. This is on the low end of relics. Sure, Overlords want more attacks, and if you have nothing better to put on them this is at least a slight upgrade, but you should usually be reaching for the Voidreaper instead.

Sautekh

After 60 millions years of slumber the protocols of conquering and martial pride still run strong.

Thematically the Sautekh Dynasty is all about using terror as a weapon, Flayed Ones, unnatural storms, gigantic war machines. When the Sautekh Legions march to war they do so to win decisive battle after decisive battle. After having seen much success the nobility of Sautekh and its subject dynasties have grown arrogant, letting enemies get away to show them a lesson, an inability to take threats like the Orks seriously and Nemesor Zahndrekh refusing to believe that the Dynasties of old have fallen and that the galaxy is rife with humans, Orks and Aeldari.

In terms of crunch Sautekh has a relatively weak Dynastic Code, only worth something for Doomsday Arks, Doom Scythes and units with Rapid Fire weapons, sometimes a bad apple you have to bite to take one or several of their sometimes amazing Unique characters. They do however have a great Stratagem that helps you clean up big units one turn at a time, this is hugely beneficial against things like Knights and especially units that are -1/-2 to hit like Plaguebearer hordes, but Sautekh really demands you build your list around this Stratagem to be successful.

• Dynastic Code: Relentless Advance: Get no penalties when firing with Heavy weapons after moving. If you Advance, every shooting weapon is considered an Assault weapon for that turn.
  • Remember this works on every type of gun. So Assault Doomsday Cannon is a go. The rule about no shooting if you moved at all will still apply to the High power shot, of course, but go nuts on low power.
    • It also works on Pistols, which is good news for your Wraiths. Unfortunately, Destroyer variants get less benefit from this Code, because they're already paying points for ignoring the penalty to move and shoot Heavy.
• Warlord Trait: Hyperlogical Strategist: Provides one re-roll for the Warlord's personal use. More importantly, lets you reclaim your spent command points on a 5+. This is hands down our strongest Trait, if you have a Sautekh character you want this.
• Stratagem: Methodological Destruction (2 CP): After a SAUTEKH unit has caused a wound on an enemy unit, all other SAUTEKH units recieve +1 to hit said enemy unit this phase. This is a potent stratagem, especially considering the advancing makes all your weapons assault, meaning that with some planning you can hit with most of your full fire power on a turn and advance, with little penalty. Bring a stalker to gain reroll 1s, combine with MWBD, and you're basically aimbotting.
• Relic: The Abyssal Staff: Replaces Staff of Light. Melee wise it's unchanged from the Staff, but the shooting changes to 12" Assault 1 that automatically hits - roll 3d6, and if the result is equal to or greater than the highest Ld in the unit, they suffer d3 mortal wounds. Average roll of 3d6 is 10.5, so this could be very potent if your warlord is hunting down CHARACTERs. Also, according to the fluff paragraph accompanying it, these things were made by embedding each one with a tiny sliver from the Deceiver's necrodermis to summon wisps of shadow imbued with Mephet'ran's anarchic insanity. Absolutely 0 synergy with your Dynastic Code, but it's still an amazing relic.
• Unique Characters:
  • Imotekh the Stormlord: Overlord with an extra wound, 2+ Sv, phylactery, buffed Staff of Light he can use MWBD on INFANTRY from any Dynasty or twice on SAUTEKH INFANTRY. If you manage to get him within 12" he also gives reroll 1s to SAUTEKH Flayed Ones, but you should be taking NOVOKH Flayed Ones so it's kind of pointless. Lord of the Storm allows you to pick a unit (but not CHARACTER) within 48" and roll D6, with the target receiving mortal wounds equal to the die unless you rolled 1. You also roll a D6 for each unit within 6" on a roll of 6 the unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. He also gives you a free CP. With his massive cost drop in CA2018 he is a viable choice for many armie, his true place is in an army with lots of SAUTEKH INFANTRY, but his Lord of the Storm ability and extra CP makes him a good choice even if you are not getting the absolute most out of him.
  • Nemesor Zahndrekh: Overlord with an extra wound, 2+ Sv and a Staff of Light. He can turn off all aura abilities of a single model within 12". Use this rule if you can get close enough to Guilliman. Laugh as you shut down his "re-roll everything" bullshit. He can also hand out a random buff at the start of each of your turns to a SAUTEKH unit within 6" (+1 A, re-roll charge rolls or +1 BS) until the start of your next turn. He is our worst Character, don't waste your points on this guy. Unless you're taking Obyron, then he's a necessary evil.
  • Orikan the Diviner: He's basically a beefier Cryptek. His 5++ aura is bigger (which also works against CC unlike the regular Cryptek ability), and he has a better weapon and statline (which gets even better if you roll for The Stars Are Right). Not bad for the small increase in cost. Instead of being an improved C'tan shard in terms of stats he is now worse in that regard; worse weapon, worse inv save, worse movement and worse wounds. Yet, still buffs and Living Metal remains.
  • Vargard Obyron: Lord with WS 2+, 2 extra wounds, 1 extra A and a 2+ Sv. He gets to Fight if he dies before making his attacks. Pretty terrible, just take two Lords instead. Unless you're going to take Zahndrekh, which suddenly makes them both worth it. Obyron can absorb wounds for Zahndrekh in the same way Lychguard can, this mostly just means your opponent can't focus down Zahndrekh, but nothing prevents them from focusing down Obryon. The real reason you're taking either of these characters is because you can move Vargard Obyron and a friendly SAUTEKH INFANTRY within 6" of Obyron, across the board to be entirely within 6" of Nemesor Zahndrekh at the end of each of your Movement phases, Vargard and the unit he brings with him only has to be 1" away from enemy units meaning you can get a guaranteed charge as long as Zahndrekh is within 8" after moving. After this the unit can still shoot and charge even if they were locked in combat as long as you didn't have to fall back to get the unit within 6" of Obyron. Moving Nemesor Zahndrekh around the map with the Deceiver and/or a Ghost Ark/a Monolith/a model with the Veil of Darkness Relic is a good idea. You're still paying quite a lot for the combo and teleporting SAUTEKH Lychguard or Flayed Ones isn't necessarily better than just giving them a Code they can actually use, but with their massive points drop they certainly work much better than previous to Chapter Approved 2018.

Maynarkh

After 60 millions years of slumber the protocols of oblivion and death remain.

Thematically the Maynarkh Dynasty are supposed to represent everything the Necrons were before the 5th edition changed their fluff from mindless killer robots following unbeatable star gods into mindless killer robots following egyptian phaeroh robots with god-like pets. One of the main focusses of the Maynarkh Dynasty is Flayed Ones and close combat, they also apparently lack in the elites and Immortal department.

In terms of crunch the Maynarkh Dynasty just has two Unique characters and must borrow a Dynastic Code from one of the Codex Dynasties, but they still do not gain access to any of the Relics, Warlord Traits or Stratagems unique to the other dynasties, only the Dynastic Code. Kutlakh's main purpose is to help your Lychguard get into melee and he serves no real purpose for Flayed Ones. Toholk's main purpose is to help you go first, again his job is not to support Flayed Ones making Flayed Ones a poor choice in this Dynasty,

• Dynastic Code: Translocation Beams/Aggressively Territorial/Awakened by Murder/Relentless Advance/Solar Fury: A Detachment including Kutlakh has two really good options, Nephrekh works really well with his ability to Advance and Charge and means your Lychguard get over the board faster, Novokh grants a nice boost to the melee offence of your units. Mephrit, Sautekh and Nihilakh are all bad options since you should have an easy time making a Vanguard Detachment for Kutlakh and his Lychguard or maybe three small units of Canoptek Scarabs in an Outrider Detachment if you only want one or two units of Lychguard and don't want to fill the formation out with units that don't have a Dynasty. Unfortunately, while you do get to pick a Dynasty Code you don't get to use the Stratagems, so no fighting twice with your Lychguard or Deep Striking another unit from Kutlakh's Detachment. A Detachment with Toholk wants to buff a Doomsday Ark, Pylon (big or small), which means Nihilakh or Sautekh. Since Toholk is MAYNARKH he can not be taken in a detachment with other Dynasty specific named characters even if they use the same dynastic code. But he gets along with Szeras, somewhat.
• Unique Characters:
  • Kutlakh the World Killer (Forge World): This is what we have instead of the Maynarkh Dynasty army, an Overlord with a Phylactery, an extra wound and a 2+ Sv. He has a Staff of Light and remember the rather awesome Oblidax sword he had? It is a force sword now, deal with it. He can reroll hits against units with lower leadership than him, so he's almost always hitting on 2+ rerolling ones. His real strength is that Maynarkh units with 12" of him can charge after advancing. Despite supposedly being a Flayed One-based dynasty Kutlakh hardly benefits Flayed Ones, he is okay if you have at least two units of Lychguard but you'll need to milk him of even more value somehow if you want him to be worth his points. A third unit of Lychguard and/or using him in combination with Anrakyr to make better use of the ones you have are both good options. Kutlakh is 200 pts, the wound and T are worth 30 pts, the phylactery 15, the weapons 15, that makes his ability 55 pts, which is very expensive, the units he buffs also aren't that great making him fairly bad.
  • Toholk the Blinded (Forge World): Vehicle support Cryptek, with T5. After deployment you get to give a MAYNARKH VEHICLE Phylactery wound regen instead of normal living metal, this means he cannot repair multiple vehicles over the course of the game, it also means he can go wherever he wants and the vehicle continues benefitting even if Toholk dies. Comes with reroll for seizing the initiative upping it to a respectable 31% chance. Also, has an Aeon stave. Which, has no reason to exist. Units wounded by it can't advance the next turn, which stops Harlequins who disengaged you if... they were gonna run away, they now run slightly shorter. Toholk is quite expensive even after his massive cut from Chapter Approved 2018, he does improve your ability to steal the initiative but he prevents you from using Dynasty-specific Stratagems on units in his Detachment.

Building Your Army

Buying

The Start Collecting box still contains an Overlord, Necron Warriors and Scarab swarms as the first box, and a Catacomb Command Barge (which can alternatively be built as a Annihilation Barge and separate Necron Lord) and also throws in a 5 cron squad of Immortals which you can instead build into Deathmarks. Amazing value here, as it contains potentially 4/5ths of a basis for a Battalion detachment. As an additional plus against the old SC box(which isn't bad by any means) all units in the new box benefit from Dynastic code abilities, something the Stalker is unfortunately lacking.

Forgebane is a good set, containing a Cryptek with a Canoptek Cloak, 5 Immortals/Deathmarks, 5 Lychguard/Triarch Praetorians and 3 Wraiths. It clocks in at $160, which is a steal.

The Necrons Dominion Spearhead set gives you an Overlord, 12 Warriors, 10 Immortals/Deathmarks, a Canoptek Spyder, 3 Swarms, 3 Tomb Blades, and a Ghost Ark for $170. Quite a deal indeed.

Converting

You can convert a box of Necron Warriors into 50% Immortals and 50% Flayed Ones. The guide for how to do so can be found on google. Flayed Ones are probably the models you should most consider converting because of the high cost of the models and the debatable quality of their looks.

There's a pretty good and common conversion that turns 1 box of Wraiths into a Tomb Stalker/Sentinel.

Scarabs being more or less 1 sided (bottom can be flat) are perfect targets for molding with oyumaru and casting with green stuff. Helps you to make actual swarms.

You can make a relatively nice-looking Gauss Pylon with a globe, the cannon from a Doomsday Ark/Ghost Ark kit and some plastic spoons.

The Nighthaunt are a great source of bits and alternative models for many of your units. [2] would, with minimal changes, make a decent Transcendent C'Tan, while some of the more specialized Nighthaunt Infantry would make well on-theme Maynarhk, Novokh, or Nephrekh units, particularly Flayed Ones (2 full squads for ~$75 before bitz vs $180 for failcast) or Kit-bashed Immortals and Deathmarks.

Painting

You're going to need an awful lot of Leadbelcher (get a spray), Stormhost Silver and Nuln Oil. Unless you opt for one of the more colourful Dynasty schemes, or Lovecrons.

As an alternative to a Leadbelcher base with Nuln Oil shade, you could also drybrush Leadbelcher over the top of a black undercoat to achieve a similar effect. Both methods have a nice result.

If you wanna go against the norm, a google search will yield lot of examples about how to find neat styles for your immortal laser zombie robots.

Tactics and strategy

Command points

The best use of command points is saving your nearly dead blobs of warriors/lychguard/immortals from being finished by morale. For example, your opponent shoots and kills 15-19 warriors, any result of a morale check would finish the squad off. However, if you spend 2 command points, you can auto-pass the morale check and subsequently reanimate half of the destroyed models in the squad (assuming you have an obligatory Cryptek.) That or just keep them near your warlord with Immortal Pride.

We also have a few amazing Stratagems listed in their own section, another thing to keep in mind is that the game is about VP, not CP. So don't be cheap when it comes to using the New Orders Stratagem to re-roll your objective cards, if you get one that can't be completed you could set yourself back several VP by not re-rolling, screw those 2.5 average wounds on a D6 damage weapon if you're sacrificing your victory for it. Also note that chapter approved prohibits using re-rolls to determine how many VP you get from an objective.

Wound rolls for attacks that cause multiple wounds and only need a 3+ are another good use of CP, as are the number of wounds a weapon causes (if it causes D6 wounds and you rolled a 1,) invulnerable saving throws for multiple wound models against wounds that cause multiple damage, quantum shielding rolls against attacks with a damage of 4 or higher.

When conducting your Shooting and Assault phases you should consider when a re-roll might be most effective, re-rolling a wound roll for a Gauss Pylon yields an average of 6.66 additional (often unsavable) wounds. Re-rolling a wound roll for a Doomsday Ark will yield an average of 2.31 (again often unsavable) wounds. Wasting a re-roll to kill that last Chaos Space Marine when you could use that CP to re-roll the number of wounds needed to kill off Magnus would be silly, so shoot with the things that benefit most from re-rolls first. Assault is a lot more complicated, but unless you need to think of other things, such as enemy units possibly making a counter-attack, you should also attack first with the units that benefit most from re-rolls.

In general, you want to re-roll as late in the process of doing unsaved wounds as possible. Take Heavy Gauss Cannon for example. Re-rolling a hit roll yields 0.67 hits or 0.5 hits depending on the platform. But re-rolling a wound roll will always yield a hit. Re-rolling a 1 on a D6 is usually always a good idea, number of wounds for a Heavy Gauss Cannon, C'tan Antimatter Meteor or a Doomsday Arks number of shots.

You want to use your command points as early in the game as possible without wasting them. If we assume that a command point is worth 20 pts and both players have 6 command points then by turn 4 if one player has used all his CP and his opponent has used 2 he is essentially ahead by 80 pts. The thing about these small advantages early game is that they snowball, so if you manage to destroy just a little more of your opponents army on the first turn than he does of yours, he is going to be having that little bit less to shoot you with next turn. If you keep ahead by using your command points as soon as you have a good use for them and you avoid keeping units in reserve you can make this snowball effect work for you. Those 200 points spiral into 250, then 400 and suddenly you're ahead by 600 pts because you used the forces and assets at your disposal instead of saving them for a rainy day that may never come.

The Grand Illusion

Take a Cryptek with the Veil of Darkness and, if you're planning on also taking Orikan the Diviner, a Canoptek Cloak, and a C'tan Shard of the Deceiver with Cosmic Fire and Seismic Assault, Transdimensional Thunderbolt, or Antimatter Meteor, depending on the shape of the enemy army, Nemesor Zahndrekh, Varguard Obyron, a nasty assault squad in the SAUTEKH Dynasty (e.g. Lychguard/Flayed Ones), a Monolith, 2 more murder units (max Warriors are best for synergy with Ghost Arks, or you can reach for anything else you like, including more assault units) set up on their tomb world, 0-2 Ghost Arks (if you take less than 2 Ghost Arks, a Tesseract Vault is fucking funny), optionally Orikan the Diviner (who will ride into battle on one of the Arks, or he can take up a Monolith slot, if you have a particular hard-on for guaranteeing he shows up on time), and optionally 10-man Warrior units to ride in any unoccupied Arks you brought.

Before the first turn, use the Shard's Grand Illusion to move itself and the Monolith up the field. If you get a 2 or 3 on the 1d3 (and spending CPs on re-rolls here is a reasonable idea), bring the Arks/Vault along - otherwise, they'll have to catch up the hard way. At the start of the turn, use Zahndrekh's Transient Madness and My Will Be Done on the assault unit. During movement, get your Monolith snuggled up to the enemy, and make sure any embarked Ghost Ark party-goers disembark. At the end of movement, all of the following happen:

1. Your Deceiver and the Vault, if you took one, get to use their C'Tan Powers.
2. The Cryptek pops his veil, and shows up next to the ongoing party, bringing Zahndrekh with him.
3. Obyron teleports to Zahndrekh, bringing the assault unit with him. Obyron and the assault unit should easily be able to charge the enemy.
4. The Monolith attempts to summon 1 tomb world unit, and you interrupt it with Enhanced Invasion Beam, summoning both. Both should easily be within charging range of the enemy, or you could have brought guns.

This lets you deliver Obyron and 3 units into charge/shooty murder range of anything you dislike, along with a Deceiver, Monolith, Zahndrekh, and Cryptek as support, and up to 2-4 additional units.

With the beta rules, GW has nerfed this a lot. Since the monolith can't deploy any of its offworld units outside your deployment area the first turn, it means that the earliest that it can deploy is your second turn. This includes the Emergency Invasion Beam if your opponent decides that the massive pile of potential reinforcements just has to die, since it's still turn 1.

With the beta rules in mind, this is a possible work around.

1. Your Deceiver and the Vault, if you took one, get to use their C'Tan Powers.
2. The Cryptek pops his veil, and shows up next to the ongoing party, bringing Zahndrekh with him.
3. Obyron teleports to Zahndrekh, bringing the assault unit with him. Obyron and the assault unit should easily be able to charge the enemy.
4. The Monolith teleports 1 unit with the Dimensional Corridor Stratagem, this unit will obviously have had to start on the battlefield but just keep it in the back. This should get around the beta rules, as the Monolith's unit started on the table.

The Ghostwalk Shuffle

Oh look, it's Obyron and Zahndrekh again. With this tactic, you take the Deceiver out of your list in the hopes that you no longer have as explosive a first turn, but a more reliable army even if you go second. Obyron can use his ability every turn, even if he is in combat and even on units in combat. That means you can charge with Obyron every time it's your turn and also charge with one of your other units and even shoot with a unit that was in combat because Obyron's Ghostwalk Mantle technically is not falling back.

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Necrons) [70 PL, 1205pts] ++

+ HQ [16 PL, 275pts] +

Nemesor Zahndrekh

Vargard Obyron

+ Troops [24 PL, 450pts] +

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

+ Heavy Support [30 PL, 480pts] +

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Necrons) [48 PL, 795pts] ++

+ HQ [16 PL, 250pts] +

Imotekh the Stormlord: Warlord

Overlord: Artefact: The Veil of Darkness, Voidblade

+ Troops [24 PL, 420pts] +

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Immortals: 8x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

+ Elites [8 PL, 125pts] +

Triarch Stalker: Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon

++ Total: [118 PL, 2000pts] ++

Silver Tide

Thought to be the bread & butter tactic of 8th edition, this tactic never really took off, due to the high costs of our Troops and HQs. With the cost reductions to several units involved in this tactic it may be more viable than ever, but so far we have not seen much success from this type of list. Basically, you want to sandwich several support characters between two or more units of 20 Warriors. March your undying robot horde up the board with Ghost Arks in support and force your opponent to use the flanks. Sprinkle your list with units that are able to take out the more heavily armoured units your Warriors will be unable to deal with and remember to take the Veil of Darkness in case one of your units gets locked in combat. Another key part to trying to make Warriors work is dealing with Morale, you either want to have enough CP so you can spend 2 CP every turn to automatically pass a Morale test or you want to have the Warlord Trait which allows you to automatically pass Morale tests for units within 6" of your Warlord.

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Necrons) [78 PL, 1333pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Mephrit

+ HQ [13 PL, 188pts] +

Illuminor Szeras . Warlord: Warlord Trait (Codex 3): Immortal Pride

Lord: Artefact: The Veil of Darkness, Hyperphase Sword

+ Troops [32 PL, 590pts] +

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Necron Warriors: 20x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors: 20x Necron Warrior

+ Elites [16 PL, 260pts] +

Triarch Praetorians: 10x Triarch Praetorian, Voidblade and Particle Caster

+ Heavy Support [9 PL, 150pts] +

Heavy Destroyers . 3x Heavy Destroyer: 3x Heavy Gauss Cannon

+ Dedicated Transport [8 PL, 145pts] +

Ghost Ark

++ Outrider Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [39 PL, 662pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Nephrekh

+ HQ [9 PL, 167pts] +

Anrakyr the Traveller

+ Fast Attack [30 PL, 495pts] +

Canoptek Scarabs: 7x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Canoptek Scarabs: 5x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Canoptek Scarabs: 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Destroyers . 6x Destroyer: 6x Gauss Cannon

++ Total: [117 PL, 1995pts] ++

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Necrons) [97 PL, 1685pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Sautekh

+ HQ [11 PL, 190pts] +

Lord: Staff of Light

Orikan the Diviner

+ Troops [32 PL, 590pts] +

Immortals: 10x Immortal, Tesla Carbine

Necron Warriors: 20x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors: 20x Necron Warrior

+ Elites [16 PL, 280pts] +

Lychguard: 10x Lychguard, Warscythe

+ Heavy Support [30 PL, 480pts] +

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

+ Dedicated Transport [8 PL, 145pts] +

Ghost Ark

++ Outrider Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [17 PL, 310pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Nephrekh

+ HQ [9 PL, 167pts] +

Anrakyr the Traveller

+ Fast Attack [8 PL, 143pts] +

Canoptek Scarabs: 5x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Canoptek Scarabs: 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

Canoptek Scarabs: 3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm

++ Total: [114 PL, 1995pts] ++

Destroyer Harvest

It is like the Silver Tide army above, except instead of sprinkling a reasonable amount of Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers like a fine salt, you have all salt.

At 2000 points, you can fit 20 Destroyers, 7 Heavy destroyers (one in each unit of 5 Destroyers and a single unit of 3), a Catacomb Command Barge with Warscythe, Tesla Cannon and Resurrection Orb, a Destroyer Lord with a Warscythe and Resurrection Orb, a Cryptek to aid in resurrecting your 50+ pt models and 10 Scarabs split across 3 units to act as an assault screen, mortal wound sponge and objective grabbers. Obviously, an army like this consisting of only 3 different models (excluding characters) is going to do really well against some lists, namely lists filled with multi-wound melee infantry, where your Destroyers will make full use of their D3 damage per wound and ability to fall back and fire. Against something like a 1W army with low saves you just don't have the weight of fire to kill your opponent and Destroyers are relatively squishy and low range. This is always a risk when you make armies like this centred around getting maximum value out of something like the Destroyer Lord. The fact that you only have 5 CP with two Outrider detachments with this list is also an issue since the Heavy Destroyers want to eat a CP each Shooting phase and the Warscythes also benefit greatly from CP once you reach CC. Ramming your Destroyers into enemy ranged units is perfectly valid, either your opponent will be forced to pull back, in which case they won't be able to shoot, or they'll stick with their often mediocre CC abilities and leave your expensive Destroyers alone in the Shooting phase. In your Movement phase, you can fall back and fire the Destroyer's guns. Note that a regular Lord gets the job done at a cheaper price since he can Advance without losing much, taking the detatchment as NEPHREKH means the Lord will always keep up.

Remy Colin took a halfway approach and designed a list with 18 Destroyers and got second place at the first Barnyard Brawl in 2018.

Sautekh Battalion Detachment

• Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak)
• Destroyer Lord (Warscythe + Phylactery) Relic (Nanoscarab Casket)

• 9 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)
• 8 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)
• 8 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)

Sautekh Supreme Command Detachment

• Catacomb Command Barge (Gauss Cannon + Warscythe) Relic (Nightmare Shroud)
• Overlord (Warscythe)
• Overlord (Voidscythe) Relic (Veil of Darkness)

Sautekh Outrider Detachment

• Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak)

• 6 Destroyers
• 6 Destroyers
• 6 Destroyers

Quantum Shielding Online

Quantum Shielding is a pain in the ass for many opponents, so why not make an army where every model has Quantum Shielding? Necron vehicles are somewhat special in that their hard counter is S4/7+ D 1-3 AP 0-3 weapons rather than high str AP 3+ high damage weapons. That made a quantum shielding lists really bad in a meta where Lootas were king, so the list hasn't seen that much success yet, especially Annihilation Barges have yet to see any real success, but Doomsday Arks are amazing, Triarch Stalkers and Ghost Arks are also quite okay. By having a more uniform defensive profile you are reducing your weak spots, mostly it's just fun to ignore all weapons which automatically do 7 or more damage.

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [67 PL, 1070pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Dynasty Choice: Dynasty: Sautekh

+ HQ [5 PL, 85pts] +

Cryptek: Artefact (Sautekh): The Abyssal Staff, Canoptek Cloak, Staff of Light . Warlord: Warlord Trait (Sautekh): Hyperlogical Strategist

+ Heavy Support [54 PL, 840pts] +

Annihilation Barge: Gauss Cannon

Annihilation Barge: Gauss Cannon

Annihilation Barge: Gauss Cannon

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

Doomsday Ark

+ Dedicated Transport [8 PL, 145pts] +

Ghost Ark

++ Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [55 PL, 929pts] ++

+ HQ [7 PL, 129pts] +

Destroyer Lord: Artefact: The Nanoscarab Casket, Phylactery, Warscythe

+ Elites [36 PL, 600pts] +

C'tan Shard of the Deceiver: Power of the C'tan: Cosmic Fire, Power of the C'tan: Time's Arrow

Triarch Stalker: Heat Ray

Triarch Stalker: Heat Ray

Triarch Stalker: Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon

+ Heavy Support [12 PL, 200pts] +

Transcendent C'tan: Fractured Personality: Cosmic Tyrant, Power of the C'tan: Antimatter Meteor, Power of the C'tan: Cosmic Fire, Power of the C'tan: Transdimensional Thunderbolt

++ Total: [122 PL, 1999pts] ++

The Necron Brigade

Ahhh the ever elusive CP. Okay, so you want more Command Points than you know what to do with?

Well, a Brigade seems like just what you need, except for the fact that Necrons do well in bigger units because of Reanimation Protocols, but maybe you are finding that your opponent is killing your units one at a time and you rarely get to roll for it anyway? Small squads of Immortals with Gauss fill out our Troops requirement, Deathmarks or Flayed Ones take up the Elite requirements, units of 1 Destroyer fill out our Fast Attack Requirement, units of 1 Heavy Destroyer take up the Heavy Support requirement. Now you can either take a Destroyer Lord and two Catacomb Command Barges and take some more (heavy?) destroyers or you can replace the Destroyers with Scarabs, take two Catacomb Command Barges and a Cryptek and upgrade some of the small Gauss Immortal squads to bigger squads of Tesla Immortals for another flavour of synergy. Regardless your opponent will have an easy time negating Reanimation Protocols, but you'll get happy whenever you get to roll for it rather than getting sad when you lose that key 20th Warrior (and it was standing next to a Cryptek! And a Ghost Ark! No, two Ghost Arks! No matter how many Ghost Arks you insert it sucks to lose that last guy, you won't feel that way with a brigade). Cheaping out and getting normal Overlords instead of fancy Catacomb Command Barges might be a good idea.

Vault Spam

Your opponent is going to focus your Tesseract Vault, unless you have a Tesseract Vault to act as a decoy for your other Tesseract Vault.

Sam Henley took a Sautekh list with two Tesseract Vaults to a GT with 78 people and got third before the nerf to Tesseract Vaults, indicating this as one of the if not the most powerful list the Necrons had to offer.

Sautekh Battalion Detachment

• Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak) Relic (Veil of Darkness) Warlord (Hyperlogical Strategist)
• Cryptek (Canoptek Cloak) Relic (The Abyssal Staff)

• 5 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)
• 5 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)
• 5 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)

• Doomsday Ark
• Doomsday Ark
• Doomsday Ark

Nihilakh Superheavy Auxiliary Detachment

• Tesseract Vault

Nihilakh Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment

• Tesseract Vault

To make the list with the pts changes in Chapter Approved 2018 you can change a Cryptek to a Lord, which is still a brutal list. If you're really in love with the Tesseract Vaults you could get a third one to add an additional 3 CP to the list, but because of the increased costs of Tesseract Vaults you may find more success with a Gauss Pylon. You could also experiment with adding a Canoptek Spyder with a Fabricator Claw Array or a C'tan Shard of the Deceiver to the list. The list is also missing Destroyers which are another thing you could experiment with adding if you're one of the few people insane enough to own more than one Tesseract Vault. Alternatively, you could remove one of the Tesseract Vaults to get some of the suggested units instead.

Mephrit Mix-up

Mephrit is a great dynasty for many units and this list takes advantage of this and uses a variety of units to have access to several of the Necron's strongest Stratagems.

You'll notice that the Immortal units feature 9 models instead of 10 and the Warriors 19 instead of 20, that's because Korey Nilemo designed the list for ITC and these unit sizes made it harder for his opponent to score points in the ITC missions of the day. Korey won first place at the Colorado Cuthroat's GT with this list. Since the points updates have left this list with some additional pts you can take an extra Immortal and an extra Warrior, especially because the ITC format no longer punishes 10 and 20-man units.

Mephrit Battalion Detachment

• Destroyer Lord (Warscythe + Phylactery) Relic (The Nanoscarab Casket) Warlord (Enduring Will)
• Cryptek (Chronometron) Relic (Veil of Darkness)

• 9 Immortals (Gauss Blasters)
• 9 Immortals (Tesla Carbines)
• 19 Warriors

• C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer

• 5 Canoptek Wraiths

• 4 Destroyers + 1 Heavy Destroyer

Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment

• Tesseract Vault

Wraithwing

This is a tactic that has been popular since forever and was one of the most powerful lists available to the Index Necrons (which is to say still not amazing), the increase in cost from Index to Codex was fairly prohibitive in making a good Canoptek Wraith Spam list and the nerf to the Wraith Flight ability in the second big FAQ things were looking pretty grim for the Wraith Wing. Canoptek Wraiths have now seen their second Chapter Approved buff, it's about time they start making waves again.

The list revolves around taking 18 Novokh Wraiths so you can be more or less sure to overwhelm your opponent's offense and then taking a Warlord with Crimson Haze so you can deal some extra damage once you get in. For the rest of your list you can either take a Battalion to supply the Wraiths enough CP to fight twice more than once, or take a bunch of C'tan to use their powers of the C'tan in safety behind your wall of 3++. You can either take a Destroyer Lord for the added damage and to make sure your Warlord does not get assasinated as easily or you can take a Cryptek with a Canoptek Cloak in order to use Ressurection Protocols on 4+ for the Wraiths with the Stratagem that allows a unit of Wraiths to use the Ressurection Protocols ability.

Doom 6

3 Doom Scythes and 3 Doomsday Arks, the Doom Scythes go in an Airwing Detachment, sometimes dubbed the Doomwing and 3 Doomsday Arks find their way into the list one way or another. The Doomsday Arks can hold backfield objectives and blast away enemy tanks, Doom Scythes use the Amalgamated Targeting Data Stratagem to break up enemy castles and scoot around the table and take out resistance that hides from the Doomsday Arks. Always taken as Sautekh for the synergy with the heavy weapons on the Doom 6 and the Tesla on the Scythes. Imotekh is a common feature and helps with CP and provides an extra couple of MWs with his Storm ability.

Bring a Battalion with 30 Tesla Immortals and a unit of Destroyers or some Tomb Blades. Alternatively, just bring an Outrider with a bunch of Tomb Blades and maybe a unit of Destroyers. The Battalion provides more CP and synergize well with Imotekh which you'll probably include even if you bring an Outrider, on the other hand an Outrider gives you superior mobility. The Doomsday Arks can go in a Spearhead Detachment or as part of your Battalion depending on how many HQs you want to field.

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (10th Edition)

General Tactics	General Weapons Terrain
Imperium	Space Marines (Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch, Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Imperial Agents (Inquisition, Rogue Traders, etc.)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Chaos Titans
Eldar	Eldar (Craftworlds, Corsairs, Harlequins, Ynnari) Dark Eldar
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

</tab>

<tab name="9th">

Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (9th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Tactical Terrain Weapons Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines (Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Inquisition Officio Assassinorum Rogue Traders
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Craftworld Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Ynnari
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

</tab>

<tab name="8th">

Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (8th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) Adeptus Mechanicus
	Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) Adeptus Titanicus
	Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

</tab>

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (7th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines (Siege Assault Vanguard) Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Custodes Cult Mechanicus Skitarii Adeptus Sororitas
	Imperial Knights Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops D-99)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Khorne Daemonkin Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

</tab>

<tab name="6th">

Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (6th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Sororitas Inquisition
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops) Militarum Tempestus
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids

</tab>

<tab name="All">

Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (All)

General Tactics	General (8th) Movement (8th 7th) Psychic (8th 7th 2nd) Fortifications (8th 7th) Tactical Terrain Apocalypse (8th)
Imperium (8th)	Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd) Blood Angels (8th 7th) Dark Angels (8th 7th) Deathwatch (8th 7th) Grey Knights (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd, AKA Daemonhunters) Space Wolves (8th 7th 6th 5th)
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) (8th 7th) Adeptus Mechanicus (8th 7th) Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) (8th 7th 6th 3rd, AKA Witch Hunters) Adeptus Titanicus (8th)
	Imperial Knights (8th 7th) Imperial Guard (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Inquisition (8th 7th 6th) Officio Assassinorum (8th 7th)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th) Death Guard (8th) Khorne Daemonkin - 7th Edition Thousand Sons (8th) Chaos Daemons (8th 7th) Chaos Knights (8th) Renegades and Heretics (8th 7th 6th)
Eldar	Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th) Dark Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd Revised) Harlequins (8th 7th)
Necrons	Necrons (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th)
Orks	Orks (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Ork Dred Mob - 7th edition (6th 5th) Ork Kult of Speed - 3rd edition Feral Orks - 3rd edition
Tau	Tau (8th 7th 6th 5th)
Tyranids	Tyranids (8th 7th 6th 5th) Genestealer Cults (8th 7th)

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