Unit of the Week: Canoptek Scarabs

[NTaW]

 

Welcome to the Necron Unit of the Week Series!

 

Each week a different unit will be highlighted for discussion until we have amalgamated a full list of our available options and their relevant tactics as 8th edition evolves. We already have a few previous entries but things change as FAQs and Chapter Approved books get released and we playtest new ideas so please feel free to reopen a topic when new options become relevant for discussion.

 

Please keep in mind this isn't to lament the status of featured units or compare them to others but to try and find their potential for all types of gameplay.

 

This week’s unit is:

 

 

As a loose guide, here are some questions we could answer to help out any who happen upon our metallic corner of the B&C:

 

• What size unit do you feel works best?

• What Code do you prefer?

• What synergies have you found with other units?

• Are there any stratagems that specifically buff this unit?

• How many do you like on a base?

• What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of this unit?

 

Now over to you!

 

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

The explode’o’scarab strat is just lovely. Used it for the first time this past week and killed a couple DE scourge.

Any of the shooting codes don’t do anything for them, but Novokh and Nephrekh are outstanding, especially with adaptive subroutines.

 

They also die supremely easily, but with spider or cryptek support they can come back remarkably quickly.

 

In short, they’re cheap, expendable, and I love them. Phenomenal units.

[Tyriks]

I love scarabs. In part because we tend not to have cheap upgrades so they're the easiest way to fill out a list, but also because as Lenoch said they're very useful. They're very fast so it's easy to get them onto objectives. They can be easily hidden out of line of sight and anyone who is dedicating actual effort to kill them tends to feel bad about doing so because they're so cheap.

 

I dont think they've ever killed anything (I might have overrun a squad of gretchin babysitting an objective once) and they die in droves, but they can have a lot of uses. Putting a few mortal wounds on something tough is nice. Tapping a tank so it has to fall back and not shoot can ruin someone's day. I've even had luck just charging into cc enemies so they have to waste a turn clearing them so they can move on to preferred targets. They can fly which means they will get anywhere you want, theres hardly ever a downside to advancing them so they can shoot across the board. They are physically large enough that I have blocked alleyways with them so tanks had to drive around to get into position. They really have a crazy number of potential uses.

[NTaW]

I often take two squads of four/five or three squads of three and always play them as Novokh padding out an Outrider Detachment. Despite almost never making a save for them the units seem to take a fair bit of firepower to remove. The three small squads work great as blockers for units showing up on the table in-game but can offer stepping stones for fast melee units designed to overwhelm like Ork Boyz or Tyranid Hormagaunts to get closer than they would otherwise be. With FLY and Adaptive Subroutines it's pretty easy to get these little buggers where they need to be to cause as much ruckuss as they can.

 

I've definitely used Self-Destruction often enough that my opponents are wary of it and will avoid Scarabs with low-number specialist units. This even sometimes works to my favour as a unit may be pushed off course trying to avoid that sneaky little stratagem.

[Vermintide]

Scarabs are the sleeper MVP of every game I've had with my Necrons. Okay, slight exaggeration, but I do love 'em.

Just imagine if we could use Scarabs like T'au use shield drones.

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

i love the scarabs as they work great as area control and shield against smite.

 

the exploding stragetm is fun to play for sure.

 

if the scarabs kill anything then its icing on the cake for me.

 

best dynastic code

1. novokh - re-roll to hit in CC phase

2. nephrek - re-roll advance in movement phase

Edited September 20, 2019 by Mechanicus_Adept