Unit of the Week: Destroyers (including Heavy Destroyers)

[Captain Idaho]

Look to our Brethren in the Destroyer cults! They are the most pure of all of us in pursuits that will further the glory and power of our great Dynasty! Emulate their example. Cull the baying masses of itinerant intruders on our domains.

 

Welcome to the 2nd in the series of the Unit of the Week series. I deliberately left it slightly more than a week as I wanted to get enough time in the previous topic to see how much interest there is.

 

Here is the next unit to focus on:

 

Destroyers

 

Things to discuss and consider, including but not limited to:

 

- What unit composition do you prefer?

- How do you use the unit/think these models should be used?

- How does the choice of Dynasty Codes affect this unit and your choices?

- Army build around the unit.

- Relics and Warlord Traits and their influence on this unit.

 

***

 

Opening the discussion, I really like this unit. I think any unit of Destroyers should be maximum sized. This is to try and ensure as many models can survive as possible so you can bring back casualties through Resurrection Protocols. Also, firing off 18 shots is amazing, especially with Destruction Protocols, another great reason to maximise the amount of models benefiting from the Strategum.

 

Army composition is crucial to the success of this unit though. If you take just a single unit (and with the points costs involved you will often only take one unit, if you want Wraiths and other fun and important units) then you need a distraction so your opponent doesn't wipe out the Destroyers as a priority.

 

I like 5-6 Wraiths as a way to worry my opponents enough to switch their focus. In fact my army has Wraiths, large numbers of Flayed Ones and Scarabs to get into an opponent's face early and thus take focus off of the Destroyers.

 

A battalion is essential for such an army so I can use plenty of Strategums to boost performance. Wraiths being able to charge after Advancing, exploding Scarabs and Flayed Ones with +1 strength are all key ways to highlight their power so target selection is difficult for the opponent, whilst leaving plenty of Command Points to use Destruction Protocols several turns.

 

The last thing I want to talk about in this opening post is regarding the Heavy Destroyer. Solid performance as a single model in a Destroyer squad, since it can't be targeted, though I do support units of 3 in the rear of the army. People think they're easy to eliminate but I dispute this. You've got Destroyers and other units to focus on so why target Heavy Destroyers? It isn't an easy choice eh.

[Mr4Minutes]

Firstly, GW needs to hurry up and get more of these kits on the shelf, as I really want/need to add them to my army.

 

I don’t have them, but reading everyone else’s strategies for them, plus my own ideas, I feel they are an almost auto include.

 

I want to run an outrider with a DLord, 2 squads of 3 reg and one heavy D, plus a scarab, using Novokh to go with my other outrider of 1 surfing cryptek with 2 wraith units (one 5 man, one 4 man) and some more scarabs also Novokh.

 

The idea would be d lord kitted out for CC with the wraiths, cryptek with the destroyers to boost their RP. Or possibly 1 unit of each paired with an HQ. Scarabs for filler and chaff.

[Captain Idaho]

The Novokh Destroyer Lord with the Blood Scythe is my favourite gem of the Codex. I think it's a good combination with Destroyers since you won't want to shoot Destroyers when the Lord/Wraith attack is coming.

[Arachnofiend]

The Blood Scythe is tempting but I feel the Nanoscarab Casket is just too good to pass up. Especially against 1-dimensional armies that will only kill stuff in a single phase the casket is a huge tactical advantage.

[MithrilForge]

recently my army resurfaced from a deep slumber...

and i discovered that yes large units of destroyers is a must, hiding a Hvy destroyer in amongst each unit is good too(split fire for the win) 

i tried the Novokh Butcher with destroyers,he was good but i still don't think i want my destroyers that close to trouble, but i'm def going to run him with wraiths next time...

as models permit i'd like to paint up a shooty lord and a close combat lord so i can choose depending on opponents i.e. i'll take the butcher if my opponent has no real killer CC threat

and shooty if he has... 

i am glad i had heaps already as yes i see they're difficult to get from GW at the moment... 

 

Cheers, Mithril

 

note-  i recommend a scarab bubble as a buffer zone for your destroyers,they can keep up with them and are a nice meat metal shield for them ...

[Captain Idaho]

Yes I like Scarabs as support for Destroyers but less as a screen and more as a distraction. Destroyers are a 2nd wave unit in my eyes.

 

Definitely agree that Destroyer Lords shouldn't go with Destroyers. I would like a new Destroyer model with options for close combat weapons to accompany him, but in the meantime the Destruction Protocol Strategum is all the rerolls you'll need rather than clumping around a character.

[Boltgun metal]

As a relatively new to Necrons player I think that the standard Destroyer is my absolute favourite unit in the codex (I still need to playtest my doomsdays ark though!) they are great at killing everything and at 1000 or less point games I've found that  its very hard for an opponent to shoot 6 of them off the board in a turn, allowing for re-animation protocols to kick in which is super nice, especially since they are t5 with 3 wounds a piece.

 

So far I'm not overly keen on heavy destroyers as the first and only time I played 3 of them I failed to wound a rhino in turn 1 with extermination protocols and then they got shot off the board by Lascannons. (maybe that's just the dice gods hating on me though and not the unit that's bad)

 

Destroyer lords can be tanky with nanoscarab casket or incredibly choppy with a blood scythe, my only gripe with them is that they are ws/bs 3++ at 110 points before wargear!

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Heavy destroyers not doing anything to a rhino with extermination protocols is definitely the dice hating you. Statistically, I’m reasonably sure that that shouldn’t happen with rerolls to hit and wound.

 

Glad to know you are having success with regular destroyers though.

[MithrilForge]

side note to Boltgun Metal

 

whenever my opponent has las cannon or equivalent squads,i try and send a fast decent sized scarab unit up a flank to tie em up till my monolith can drop in ...

...Heavy D's are bullet magnets for sure  

 

Mithril 

[NTaW]

I finally got a chance to play Destroyers in-game and loved them, both options are pretty awesome units. Hiding my Heavy Destroyers in squads was the perfect solution to them getting deleted off the table when played in a squad by themselves, my longer ranged weapons could target what they needed to while staying alive long enough to put whatever damage they could out. Currently run two squads of four models, one upgraded with the heavy gauss cannon, and will one day boost that to five models each. Keeping a Destroyer Lord close by has been quite nice for the re-rolls to wound while shooting, specially with multiple units and how hard it is with my collection to get any more than 8/9 CP in a list. If I ever played a single max sized unit I would probably drop the heavy gauss upgrade and take a different HQ, relying more on the Extermination Protocols stratagem to cause damage at key moments.

[dreadmad]

How much value would you guys place on the Nephrekh stratagem? With their super short range it feels like chucking them into Deepstrike could be a great way to make sure you get the most out of them that 1 turn they get to shoot. Sure you can't MWBD them, but that's not a major concern when you're rerolling hits & wounds (except maybe against Eldar Planes?) Edited January 9, 2020 by dreadmad

[Tyriks]

I don't think they need it. Their range isn't that bad. Plus they move fast and ignore heavy penalties, and are infantry so they can go through walls, so I just hide mine somewhere and then fly to where they need to be.

[Kaldoth]

I really wouldn't use it either. They're quick enough that you can get them in range and you dont have to worry about the penalty for moving and shooting. If anything I'd have a Destroyer Lord babysit. That'll give them reroll 1s on hits and wounds. With S9 guns you should be wounding most targets on 3s, so MWBD them with another Overlord and you've got a diet Extermination Protocols that doesn't cost any CP. Given that a full sized squad only puts out 3 shots a turn using actual EP on them seems kind of wasteful. If getting them up the board is that big if a concern, slap the veil of darkness on the destroyer Lord and go to town :)

[dreadmad]

Ah, I actually meant the regular Destroyers - although I actually hadn't considered the double rerolls of 1's for Heavy Destroyers. That's a lot of reliability that DDA's don't get as easily

[NTaW]

With the recent point drop for Heavies I'd say they are up there with our most reliable anti-tank option now.

 

Having used Destroyers in a ton of games since my last post I can safely say that they don't necessarily need a character to sit with them but on occasion they've ended up next to a Lord and Cryptek with chronometron in my games and it's been quite nice. I don't really have a problem spending 2-3 CP on a squad of 6 Destroyers in a game because those points are going to be causing some critical damage to my opponent and that's sort of what I need my CP to help do. The most applicable Code I've found for them is Mephrit since the AP boost is nice against 2+ saves up close and the Talent for Annihilation stratagem is a bit of fun to spice in when you're using Extermination Protocols on a big bad.