Contemptors vs Foetid Plague Drones

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I know Plague Drones are one of the best units in the DG Codex as well our primere Fast Attack/Flanking unit.

 

For the sake of diversity I've been thinking about other units DG have access to that could fulfill the same role. On paper it appears the Helforged Contemptor is a good bet. Contemptors move very quickly for a Dreadnought (only an inch less than the Plague Drone), but it's stats and weapon options make it a very versatile unit. A Contemptor with x2 Kheres will have just as much firepower as the Plague Drone has but with range and it actually ends up being a few points cheaper.

 

Anybody else considered Contemptors as a viable option to take in the place of Plague Drones?

[TURBULENCE]

Logic seems sound to me, but I feel like you're missing a few factors in the drone's favor. Like having the fly keyword for example. It's easy to bring up that the drone can ignore worrying about hit rolls, but the contemptor benefits from IA, balancing things out a bit. But the drone does have one thing that the contemptor does not. Synergy. The drone carries plague weapons, which can be buffed a few different ways, such as an arch contaminator warlord. The drone is a daemon, so if you're running chaos soup it can easily benefit from daemon codex buffs, and as always disgustingly resilient saves lives. My drones always take a healthy beating before they perish.

[Plaguecaster]

I more prefer contemptors so always run at least 2 but then again I more play a foot slogger based list so the contemptors can be really good for supporting Plague marine squads, I sometimes will run drones as well plus haulers sometimes though no matter how many FW dreads I run my opponents always will focus on the Death Guard daemon engines first probanly due to being viewed as more of a threat with Disgusting resilience

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I just realized this got posted in the regular CSM subforum and not DG like I intended, sorry guys.

 

Plaguecaster you play your death guard very similarly to how I want to play mine. I'll probably end up going with the dreads because it's fits the theme of the lists I want to play a little better.

[Syrakul]

Just ordered a contemptor and two decimator butcher cannons... (needs some work to connect)

Standing still thats 8 str 8 shots hitting on 2’s doing 2 damage each at -1AP. Absolutely melts primaris/bikes good chance against terminators.

[adreal]

Just ordered a contemptor and two decimator butcher cannons... (needs some work to connect)

Standing still thats 8 str 8 shots hitting on 2’s doing 2 damage each at -1AP. Absolutely melts primaris/bikes good chance against terminators.

It is more expensive, but a leviathan with duel butcher cannon arrays is very scary ;)

[DuskRaider]

I've run both Contemptors (Butcher Cannons) and Bloat Drones (Plaguespitters) and I always deal more damage with the Drones. Hands down. The ability to fly up the board and just hose a unit / units with the 'Spitters is worth it's weight in gold, especially with how durable the unit is. Even if you're not wiping enemies from the board left and right, you're still a major threat and they will usually ignore other units to tackle the Drones. Contemptors have been hit or miss for me, either they do damage and cause problems for enemy units or they just get shot to bits. Even then, their output isn't as good. 

[Syrakul]

Comparing the 2xcontemptors to one Leviathan the levi does seem to come out im most cases. You are getting two hellflamers for 3 points and its more survivable against low ap or str 8 weapons with +1 sv +1 toughness

Against lascannons your taken damage is going to be about the same. With two models you might keep one against enemies lucky damge rolls or when you force enemy to split fire his important weapons.

 

Sadly im BL so cant take the bloat drones. I was looking for something to proxy my 30k landspeeders as, really thought those wouldve been good in generic Chaos.

[Sheesh Mode]

Contemptors appear to be better anti-light to anti-medium armor platforms than they are anti-infantry platforms in comparison to the other options available in the Deathguard codex. Deathguard have many ways to eliminate infantry but few reliable long range (36" - 48") heavy weapon platforms. Contemptors are one of the Death Guard's options in that regard. Though not as durable as Blight Drones they have access to a greater variety of weaponry and a better BS which makes them a potential alternative. It really depends on what you are building your list to do.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I've run both Contemptors (Butcher Cannons) and Bloat Drones (Plaguespitters) and I always deal more damage with the Drones. Hands down. The ability to fly up the board and just hose a unit / units with the 'Spitters is worth it's weight in gold, especially with how durable the unit is. Even if you're not wiping enemies from the board left and right, you're still a major threat and they will usually ignore other units to tackle the Drones. Contemptors have been hit or miss for me, either they do damage and cause problems for enemy units or they just get shot to bits. Even then, their output isn't as good. 

 

Well the dual Kheres Assault cannon load out is actually more comparative to the plague drone. You get 2D6 shots for dual plague spitters and each kheres assault cannon is a D6. I don't know what the exact probability is but considering the contemptor hits on 2s most of the time I'm sure the results are going to be fairly comparable. They essentially have the same damage output as well. 

Comparing the 2xcontemptors to one Leviathan the levi does seem to come out im most cases. You are getting two hellflamers for 3 points and its more survivable against low ap or str 8 weapons with +1 sv +1 toughness

Against lascannons your taken damage is going to be about the same. With two models you might keep one against enemies lucky damge rolls or when you force enemy to split fire his important weapons.

 

Sadly im BL so cant take the bloat drones. I was looking for something to proxy my 30k landspeeders as, really thought those wouldve been good in generic Chaos.

That's why I was thinking of taking two Contemptors in a list along with my Leviathan. It would definitely be a lot of armor to crack for an opponent even if none of them have the DR special rule. All of them can potentially restore wounds if they are caught in CC which is an added bonus. 

[bozo69pd]

Wait is this talking about bloatdrones or blight drones (FW) ?

[Plaguecaster]

^^^

The Foetid bloatdrone

[bozo69pd]

Spitterdrones are the best thing for nurgle since moldy sliced bread always take 3. They will die eventually, just get them to explode in the midst of your opponents army. Explosions have wracked up kills for me to this date:

 

2 hemlock fighters, yvraine, a banshee, 2 striking scorpions, lilith hesperax, a wytch, a kabalite, and nearly got an archon. Imagine if all 3 drones blow at once!

[Syrakul]

Got it yesterday and went hard

[Plaguecaster]

I just used both a Spitter drone and a Contemptor with Butcher cannon, hellflamer and chain claw in a 1k force as part of a imperium vs Chaos apocalypse battle and the Dread was certainly the MVP out of my whole army alongside my plague caster. The drone tried melting a squad with its spitters but failed miserably with the 2d6 auto hits even with a command point wasted to retoll then was focused on and destroyed by heavy plasma fire, the Contemptor however charged forward shrugging off most fire directed at it (probably due to sheer luck) wounding a Dark Angels contemptor with its Butcher cannons before it destroyed it in the assault phase consolidating into a squad of Death wing Terminators and a grey knights Interceptors accompanied by a Librarian, it then survived a full turn of combat killing 4 of the Terminators before being destroyed the next turn. However due to using the putrid explosion I was able to kill the last Terminator as well as both the Libarian and the entire 5 man interceptor squad in the explosion due to its Containment breach rule, I am starting to feel the Butcher cannons are a bit useless sometimes though unsure if I should change them for something with better ap