The Necron Destroyer Lore is all about the poor souls who didn’t quite survive the great sleep intact, turning them into nothing but weapons of destruction.
With everybody’s favorite robots getting some love in 9th we wanted to take a look at the history of the Destroyers. How did they lose everything and become nothing more than tools of destruction? Well, get out your snuggies, and let’s learn how!
The Great Sleep Gone Wrong
While the Great Sleep was a good idea, in theory, not every Necron got out of the sleep fully intact. Some were infected by the Flayer Virus, others’ stasis crypts became faulty and they slowly decayed over the long eons. The Necrons who became Destroyers though, it was their psyche that decayed. Their metal bodies had nothing wrong with them, but they were overtaken by anger and rage during the Great sleep. They want nothing more than to be human again but understand they can’t. This creates a Nihilism rarely seen.
Szeras is a smart cookie though and recognized that their anger could be used as a weapon. He looks at them as nothing more than tools to accomplish a goal. And what a tool they are! There is no going back for a destroyer, they are somehow even less human than the rest of their Necron Brethren.
A Hatred For All Things Living
The time for redemption is long gone for the Destroyers, now their only mission is to terminate any living thing. They want everyone to feel their pain and cry about it all the time. We wonder what Necron tears are made of, just ask a Destroyer the next time you see one.
While most Necrons were changed by the long sleep, only the Destroyers lost all semblance of their former selves. They can only focus on one thing, annihilation. Unfortunately for the Imperium, they have trillions of souls for them to harvest.
All Levels Of Society
Nihilism of this level wasn’t reserved for any specific rank of Necrontyr society. While it does take a certain level of free thought to become so single-mindedly focused. Necrons from all levels of society fell to the hatred of themselves and the world. The lowliest to the highest have become Destroyers, hence the Destroyer Lord. They take the idea of annihilation to a whole new level!
This descent into madness wasn’t cordoned off to one Tomb World either. Destroyers are found in every Tomb World and everyone has the same single-minded goal of destruction. Maybe when you turn an entire population into soulless beings there are some consequences… Some say the C’tan implanted such hopelessness on purpose as a parting gift to Szeras.
Constant Adaptations
When you only think about one thing, you tend to learn how to do it better. They are no different. If they can think of a better way to annihilate the enemy, they will adapt their living metal to better do the job. Most have all realized legs are a detriment to getting somewhere fast and remove them in favor of anti-grav tech. And who needs two arms? They fuse their arms with Gauss Cannons to better love their enemy, or add on a few more! They even change their senses to better target and lock on the enemy.
That does it for a quick history of the Destroyers. Will you be using them more in 9th with some of the new rules?
More on the Necron Destroyer
About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
