Unit of the Week: Devastator Squad

[Hintzy]

Can somebody explain the ideal target type of grav cannons to me? I was out of the game when I guess grav bombs were a thing. The profile confuses me a little. Primaris marines might be a good target I guess? S5 with D3 damage just seems a little odd. If the strength was 7 or 8 it would make a lot more sense.

[The Unseen]

Normally their only effective target is multiwound infantry. But the new space marine dex has a strat that lets you reroll wounds AND damage rolls with a units grav weapons. So suddenly the grav cannon wounding a tank on a 5+ is wounding it on better than a 3+ (a 5+ with a full reroll), and can reroll 1s on the D3 damage roll as well. Letting them kill just about anything that doesn't have a very good invulnerable save.

[Hintzy]

I had forgotten that the strat allowed a damage reroll as well, thanks. I also didn't realize the math on a 5+ with full reroll made it as good or better than a 3+. I guess at least my confusion seems a little validated until the release of that strat.

 

Now we just have to wait and see if we get it...

Edited November 27, 2019 by Hintzy

[Karhedron]

I had forgotten that the strat allowed a damage reroll as well, thanks. I also didn't realize the math on a 5+ with full reroll made it as good or better than a 3+. I guess at least my confusion seems a little validated until the release of that strat.

Not quite as good as a 3+ but better than a 4+ against T6 or above.

 

A squad of 4 GCs firing at a typical tank will average 14 wounds before saves. If you add in a Captain or similar then it goes up even higher.

 

The difficulty of a Grav Bomb (Dev squad in Pod to mitigate the range) is that they will be moving so will only hit on a 4+ which blunts things somewhat.

 

Iron Hands can pull off the best Grav Bomb in the game as on Turn 1, their heavy weapons always count as stationary and can reroll 1s to-Hit.

 

We are not in that league but it still an effective strategy. Bear in mind we will often have Captain Smash jumping up the field, you may be able to co-ordinate with him to give our Grav Devs some rerolls. Alternatively a Libby Dread with wings can pop Wisdom of the Ancients if he is nearby. Not quite in the Iron Hands league but still punchy enough to be effective.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

 

I had forgotten that the strat allowed a damage reroll as well, thanks. I also didn't realize the math on a 5+ with full reroll made it as good or better than a 3+. I guess at least my confusion seems a little validated until the release of that strat.

Not quite as good as a 3+ but better than a 4+ against T6 or above.

 

A squad of 4 GCs firing at a typical tank will average 14 wounds before saves. If you add in a Captain or similar then it goes up even higher.

 

The difficulty of a Grav Bomb (Dev squad in Pod to mitigate the range) is that they will be moving so will only hit on a 4+ which blunts things somewhat.

 

Iron Hands can pull off the best Grav Bomb in the game as on Turn 1, their heavy weapons always count as stationary and can reroll 1s to-Hit.

 

We are not in that league but it still an effective strategy. Bear in mind we will often have Captain Smash jumping up the field, you may be able to co-ordinate with him to give our Grav Devs some rerolls. Alternatively a Libby Dread with wings can pop Wisdom of the Ancients if he is nearby. Not quite in the Iron Hands league but still punchy enough to be effective.

It would be great if we got the chapter master stratagem for successors at least. Then you wouldn't have to worry about the -1 on turn 1.

 

But the CM is probably best left buffing more intimidating units than a couple grav bombs/drop pods.

[Karhedron]

Now that Dante has dropped a hefty 65 points, would it be worth a Grav bomb with him either jumping up to support the Pod or UWOFing him into position if you want to drop further away?

 

2 Dev squads with 4 Grav cannons. That is 32 shots with full rerolls to-Hit, and half of them get to reroll wounds and damage. 500 points is pretty steep but the damage output is potentially impressive.

 

Also it is not a one-shot wonder either. The Dev squads have 24" range can continue shooting and using the stratagem as long as they remain in place. Dante can buff and provide some decent counter-charge if needed. You can deploy some Incursors or Infiltrators in the mid-field to screen them from easy retaliation too.....

[Charlo]

Sounds damn good to me.

 

I'd certainly take it further with the banner that allows shooting before death too (do we have that?!)

[Majkhel]

And if drop-podding, remember that GW allowed for a fully open drop pod to count as a unit for all screening and area denial purposes.

[Hintzy]

Sounds damn good to me.

 

I'd certainly take it further with the banner that allows shooting before death too (do we have that?!)

Yes we do, Company Ancient

[Panzer]

And if drop-podding, remember that GW allowed for a fully open drop pod to count as a unit for all screening and area denial purposes.

 

Just don't ... you don't make any firends that way even if GW supports that decision for now. :D

[Xenith]

Damn I gotta get this book!

[Indefragable]

According to YouTube reviews of Blood of Baal, there’s a Strategem or WLT (couldn’t tell) that lets you pick a unit to Move after they’ve fired in the Shooting phase. I think this has huge implications for Devs, as it means we can shoot w/ +1 To Hit, double tap w/ the battle baby, and then scoot into safety.

[Dumah]

According to YouTube reviews of Blood of Baal, there’s a Strategem or WLT (couldn’t tell) that lets you pick a unit to Move after they’ve fired in the Shooting phase. I think this has huge implications for Devs, as it means we can shoot w/ +1 To Hit, double tap w/ the battle baby, and then scoot into safety.

Might that be the vanguard WLT Shoot and Fade? In which case it's only usable on Phobos units. I didn't see anything in the reviews for a BA Trait of that nature.

[Hintzy]

Yeah, it's Phobos only. And, unless I missed it, we did not get the Grav strat.

[Indefragable]

Never mind then. Take what I said above and apply to Eliminators instead (they wear Phobos, right?)

[Loishy]

There is a stratagem for shoot without penality if I remenber correctly. Or it's only for vehicle ?  

[Karhedron]

There is a stratagem for shoot without penality if I remenber correctly. Or it's only for vehicle ?

Sounds like the "Big guns never tire" stratagem. I think that is in the 2.0 Marine dex. Of course all our big tanks have POTMS anyway but can be useful for Predators etc.

[Panzer]

 

There is a stratagem for shoot without penality if I remenber correctly. Or it's only for vehicle ?

Sounds like the "Big guns never tire" stratagem. I think that is in the 2.0 Marine dex. Of course all our big tanks have POTMS anyway but can be useful for Predators etc.

 

 

Yeah it's Big guns never tire and it's only for vehicles. It'll be great on Redemptor Dreadnoughts too.

[Xenith]

My go to squad is las, missile, heavy bolter and cherub.

 

It's a work horse and is really a solid take all comers. I usually don't have the points, but I'd love to field this with two extra bodies. Would. E the perfect amount of resilience

 

Man, I'm so glad that the universal split fire is allowing more options that the standard 4 of the same to be viable!

 

You keep it to 3 heavies, or would you add a 4th? What would it be? My company is mainly for completeness, not competitiveness. 

[Xenith]

I've probably asked this before, but cannot find it anywhere using search - What's a good dev squad loadout in 8th? I need 1 more dev squad to round off the company. I have half a squad made with 3x ML's however they dont seem very good this edition.

 

I see some advantage of having a 1x ML, 1x HB, 1x Plasma cannon unit for flexibility, however that might only be good this edition.

 

A 4x Plasma unit could be funny, and something I've always wanted to make, same goes for 4x HB's.

 

I already have a 4x Las unit, so we can discount that.

 

What are you using, or can you reccomend?

[appiah4]

How about 4x Multi-Melta in a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer? Something I always wanted to do..  Mine is Sergeant with Boltgun, 3xML 1xLC and 1 Boltgun, and a Razorback with dual Lascannons.  I don't play te game so I don't know what the current meta is these days though.  This was a long range fire support unit I built all the way back in 5e days.

Edited April 30, 2020 by appiah5

[Majkhel]

I'd go what you're missing - PCs or HBs or a combination of both :)

For the cool factor, I'd personally go all plasma.

[Xenith]

How about 4x Multi-Melta in a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer? Something I always wanted to do..  Mine is Sergeant with Boltgun, 3xML 1xLC and 1 Boltgun, and a Razorback with dual Lascannons.  I don't play te game so I don't know what the current meta is these days though.  This was a long range fire support unit I built all the way back in 5e days.

 

That was originally what this unit was going to be - I have 3x ML's made up and room for another heavy which was going to be a lascannon, however ML's arent great now. 

 

I did buy the FW multimelta set, and have enough for a 4x mm unit, but I was going to paint them up as Flesh Tearers...and put them in a drop pod...

[Thoridon]

It might not necessarily be a thing for top competitive list but at least for fun games you could have 4x Multimeltas or 4x Grav Cannons popping out of a Razorback or drop pod.

 

4x Plasma Cannons would look great to paint, and still be useful on the field if watched over by a Captain.

 

4x Heavy Bolters in a squad of 10 to play more like a midfield Tactical squad with extra anti-infantry oomph.

[Xenith]

4x Heavy Bolters in a squad of 10 to play more like a midfield Tactical squad with extra anti-infantry oomph.

 

This is kind of what I was thinking, especially as heavies can move and fire now. Is the sergeant better with a combi bolter/plasma, or using the signum to boost a heavy bolter?