Struggling with a way to field Necrons with their new rules?
We can help! It almost seems like there is no bad way to field the Necrons when you use the Decurion!
New writer Horton Doughton breaks down the rest of the Decurion in today’s Fielding a Decurion Part Two.
Judicator Battalion
This formation can do a lot of work. Granting move through cover to its units is a big deal, especially on Praetorians, and the Target Designated special rule makes the shooting that praetorians have much much better. While not cheap, it is still very powerful and has a place in many different style Necron builds.
Triarch Stalkers: This unit is just so cheap for what it does. It is an incredibly good support unit and has great solid firepower with its heat ray. Granting +1 BS to non-vehicle units within 6 inches of it does so much for a Phalanx Style list.
Triarch Praetorians: This is a unit type that Necrons have never had before; a durable jump infantry with AP2 shooting, and great assault power. This is basically the Necron version of a Sanguinary Guard, except better in every way. If equipped with a Rod of Covenant, they can cut down marines and heavy infantry, and even MCs without too much trouble. If you go with Voidblade and Particle Caster, then these guys can just walk right through horde units and still flip over vehicles and walkers. When using the Decurion, point for point these guys are better than wraiths. I love them. There is a reason I have 20.
Destroyer Cult: This formation is so powerful that I thought I was misreading it at first. The special rules it grants are simply so good that you should only ever take destroyers as part of a destroyer cult. Units in this formation have move through cover, and can re-roll all failed to wound and armor pen rolls in the shooting phase.
Destroyer Lord: This guys was good before, and still is, one of my favorite units in the codex. His high toughness, access to relics and special wargear, and ability to give preferred enemy to any unit he joins let him do so much for your army. Any unit in the codex is made better by a destroyer lord.
Destroyers: With the buffs provided by this formation, these guys are just ridiculous. They are tough, mobile, and extremely shooty. The only thing they don’t deal with well is hordes in cover, but everything else will just melt before a gauss weapon that essentially has shred and tank hunter.
Heavy Destroyers: Just like Destroyers, there is nothing not to like about these guys. They have a 36 inch range, a rarity in the Necron codex and will simply obliterate armor. They are a total steal..
Deathbringer Flight
If one Doom Scythe is good, 2-4 is better, right? Right! Doom Scythes in the Decurion are far better than their CAD counterparts. Ignoring stunned and shaken, and getting Amalgamated targeting Data and Wailing cacophony is just too good to pass up. You have to run at least 2 Doom Scythes to use them in the Decurion, but that is fine, they are awesome!
Doom Scythe: I think these things may replace the night scythe as what it means to have a “Necron Airforce.” Having a Death Ray and a Twin-linked Tesla Destructor lets these things engage Land and air targets with two very effective weapons. I’m a huge fan of these.
Living Tomb: The most interesting thing about this formation to me, is that even though the Obelisk is a LoW, you can use this formation to take up to 10 of these in a single list. While ‘Im not sure I would go that far, taking 4 Obelisks would be interesting…
The formation lets the units that are in it automatically arrive turn 2, and unlike normal, the monoliths here can use their eternity gate the turn they arrive. You could pull off some crazy stuff with this.
Obelisk: This is what the monolith wishes it could be: a 6HP superheavy skimmer. The telsa spheres ROCK and its ability to mess with flyers could be really game changing. It is yet another unit with a great price tag.
Annihilation Nexus
While the special rule granted here is not that useful, the units in this formation are still quite good. It consists of 2 Annihilation barges and 1 doomsday Ark. While a little expensive to use, I think it fits right into a Mechanized build.
Annihilation Barge: Yes, it’s true, this thing is not as good as it was. But guess what? It is still good. Even with its new price tag, this thing can still lay down a crazy amount of firepower.
Doomsday Ark: This provides something that the Necrons otherwise lack: long range firepower. Shooting a S10 AP1 large blast that can re-roll armor penetration from 72 inches away is no joke.
Canoptek Harvest
A unit of Wraiths, a unit of scarabs, and a single tomb spyder are all it takes to filed this formation, and I expect it to be everywhere. Getting relentless, which can matter for wraiths depending on loadout, and the ability to give wraiths reanimation protocols is very very good. This formation is kept in check by the range limitations on the spyder’s benefit bubble, but it is made of all great units:
Wraiths: Keeping with a common theme in this article, these guys are a steal, and have a place in any necron build. The offensive power and resilience in this unit is just awesome. If you want assault heavy necrons, then this unit is the place to start
Scarabs: This is a model with 4 attacks that can hurt anything on a 6. When you break that down, these guys are awesome.(Everything is!) Their ability to run in and just flip over a knight, or any other vehicle lets these guys get a lot of work done. Also, while they are not great at killing MCs, the ability to always hurt them regardless of toughness means these guys can’t ever be ignored. I use to run these guys all the time in the old codex, but stopped when knights came out, since that was a unit they simply couldn’t hurt. But with the changes to entropic strike, I am looking forward to using them again.
Tomb Spyders: Yet again,this model is an incredible deal. It can make more scarabs, is T6 with 3 wounds and is an MC! As with so much in this codex, it is so well priced that any number of these things is a great buy.
Star-God
While there is no command benefit or special rule bones, this how you use C’tan and tesseract vaults in the Decurion, and can simply include as many as you would like after you have already taken a reclamation legion, which makes for some interesting builds…
C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer: This guy is a hammer. While not powerful as he was back in the old 3rd edition codex, he is much cheaper and still adds a lot of close combat power. His most devastating ability is that he can use his special ability “Gaze of Death” and his Powers of the C’tan in the same shooting phase. This lets him really put out the hurt. The shooting powers of the C’tan are random, but when you really look at it they are essentially all good against light armor and infantry. He is a little bit more fragile than I was hoping for, but I really think the nightbringer can work in the right list.
C’tan Shard of the Deceiver: To me, this guy is the better C’tan, and here is why: He has Hit and Run, and can redeploy himself andD3 units within 12 inches of him AFTER scout moves. This means that the Deceiver and those units always get to counter deploy. This is really an enabling power for the deceiver himself and other units in your army. I look forward to getting in more games with him.
Transcendent C’tan: The thing that sets this guy apart is his ability to deepstike, and his base strength of 8. These both really matter, as dropping him in via deepstrike can really let you put him right where you want him later in the game, as opposed to walking him across the board. When you break down his statline and abilities, the pricing is fair. I would love to try a list with 3 of these guys and the Deceiver…
Tesseract Vault: Imagine the powers of the C’tan, but on steroids, and inside a 9HP Obelisk, and you get this thing. If you want a super heavy, this thing is pretty cool and in my opinion is appropriately costed. It will of course be susceptible to things like melta drop pods, but can still do a ridiculous amount of damage in a hurry.
Flayed Ones
Flayed ones get their own private slot in the Decurion, and they are good enough that they deserve it. These guys are so good at killing hordes that it boggles the mind. If that was not good enough, this is a CHEAP necron unit that is very tough and can put a lot of assault pressure onto the enemy right away. It is tough to look at their stats and not take at least a single unit. They are just so versatile with infiltrate, and so deadly with 4 attacks, and 2 weapons in close combat that are AP5 and have shred.
Deathmarks
We have saved the best for last. In my opinion, no unit in the Necron codex can be as devastating as these guys can be. The ability to counter deepstrike against enemy deepstrikers, and shoot in the enemy turn is NUTS! And if that was not enough, they wound a 2s the turn they arrive from deepstrike reserve, and their shooting attacks have rending! Necrons can struggle killing high toughness MCs, and death marks can simply erase MCs from the board. When combined with a Destroyer Lord, a personal favorite of mine, a unit of 10 of these guys can put 15 wounds on any model in the game. That is simply too good to ignore. I have a hard time not making lists that have at least 30 of these guys. They just deal so well with so much.
In closing, the Decurion detachment provides a unique way to build a Necron army that gives incredible benefits to the units which compose it. It is a detachment that is so well put together that I honestly think you would have a hard time making a “bad” army.
You can simply pick the units you want to play and have a solid force that can do well. This creates a perfect balance between fluff and competition and is an ideal that I think all detachments and Army Lists should strive for.
Be sure to checkout Part one of ‘Fielding a Decurion’ HERE
