Unit of the Week: Maleceptor v2 Synaptic Link

[Xenith]

++Maleceptor++

 

 

We have a new unit of the week! This week it's onto the big brain bug, the Maleceptor. Designed as a living extension of the Hive Mind's will, we don't see these on the table too often. What are you thoughts, and how best would you use these?

• To compliment a list, or to build a list around? Will the beta rules affect your list(s)?
• What size unit? Will you be running multiple units?
• What Hive Fleet Traits, Adaptations and Stratagems do you prefer and how much does it depend on the above choices?
• Are you buffing this unit? If so, how?

Over to you.

 

Edited March 26, 2021 by Xenith

[Xenith]

I want, want, want to love this guy, maybe my favourite of the more recent big bug concepts (Maleceptor, Toxicrene, Exocrine, Haruspex), the idea of a giant zoanthrope is amazing, but somewhat lacking on the table. The psychic tendrils rule leaves a lot to  be desired, though can potentially cause 6 mortal wounds a turn, albeit to different units. Encephalitic diffusion is a nice strat to reduce the S of incoming attacks...but 1S doesnt do anything these days - you're probably still getting wounded on 3's if youre a monster. It might have some application on small arms trying to gun down your zoanthropes, making bolters wound on a 5+, but Catalyst is already great at that. 

[TheNewman]

Encephalitic Diffusion stacks with Catalyst though, making whatever that unit is even more resilient. It makes the Maleceptor itself pretty hard to hurt. Alternatively it stacks nicely with the -1 to-hit from nearby Venomthropes and you can throw the 6+++ from Leviathan on top. It's moving Melta, Autocannon, and bolt weapons down a bracket on their primary targets. That's an interesting little stack of defensive buffs you can have going over potentially a lot of units. The flip-side is that yes it's a walking castle that can only spread out so far and it falls apart once the defensive pieces start dying. I'm not sure how well it would really work in practice.

 

I also think it's worth mentioning that Psychic Overload has potential to spike to 18 MWs and it's not an actual psychic power so it can't be denied.

 

From a list-building perspective I like that every slot outside Fast Attack and Flyer has at least one Synapse Creature. I think most 'nids with Synapse are paying a bit too much for the privilege but I like having the option.

 

For what the DG codex looked like and the leaks we're seeing for Dark Eldar, I'm wondering how much Tyranids are paying now for how good the 9th ed codex is going to be when it eventually drops.

Edited March 22, 2021 by TheNewman

[Arson Fire]

Encephalic Diffusion is a good stratagem.

Melta spam is everywhere at the moment. Being S8 weapons, dropping them to S7 is great for the survivability of our T7 and T8 monsters.

It also makes our infantry more resiliant against most anti-infantry weapons.

 

The problem is that the maleceptor is rather unimpressive outside of that stratagem, and 170 points is a steep price for it.

[Xenith]

Encephalitic Diffusion stacks with Catalyst though, making whatever that unit is even more resilient. It makes the Maleceptor itself pretty hard to hurt. Alternatively it stacks nicely with the -1 to-hit from nearby Venomthropes and you can throw the 6+++ from Leviathan on top. It's moving Melta, Autocannon, and bolt weapons down a bracket on their primary targets. That's an interesting little stack of defensive buffs you can have going over potentially a lot of units. The flip-side is that yes it's a walking castle that can only spread out so far and it falls apart once the defensive pieces start dying. I'm not sure how well it would really work in practice.

 

I also think it's worth mentioning that Psychic Overload has potential to spike to 18 MWs and it's not an actual psychic power so it can't be denied.

 

 

 

Good points, also, plasma, under and overcharged fit in there, taking the down a S point is a big deal for those. It's still a big expensive model and I'd like to see more utility from it - Encephalitic diffusion should be built in to the model, I think, and it would still be ok.

 

Good point on the MW's. While youre never likely to have that happen, the threat of it is maybe enough to make the opponent change plans, or prioritise it. 

 

 

 

Encephalic Diffusion is a good stratagem.

Melta spam is everywhere at the moment. Being S8 weapons, dropping them to S7 is great for the survivability of our T7 and T8 monsters.

It also makes our infantry more resiliant against most anti-infantry weapons.

 

The problem is that the maleceptor is rather unimpressive outside of that stratagem, and 170 points is a steep price for it.

 

 

True - Eradicators are all over the place right now. Venomthropes dont even work well against them when they use the heavy meltas, as they're probably already moving.

[Xenith]

So bringing the Maleceptor talk back to life in the wake of Synaptic links!

 

Unlike the Hive Tyrant link, I think this option, where target models get extra AP on a 6, and get to reroll damage actually has potential - Hive Guard being the main beneficiary of this. Rerolling those 1's on the D3 is huge, and would probably make you kill 33 - 50% more space marines, once you consider that each roll of a 1 against 2W primaris essentially makes the next roll a one also. so if you roll a 1 then a 3, one marine dies. If you reroll the 1 to a 2+ (66% chance) then 2 marines die. Seems a prett decent upgrade for 15pts. Other options include acid spray to reroll lots of D3's on the tFex, also the very swingy rupture cannon. 

 

Any other ideas for this?

[Brother Nathan]

If you run one ull definateoy the the upgrade especially if u have much of anything that uses multi d rolls. Tyrannofex probably is the biggest winner to most boosts as it elsewise can be the most high then low output. It helps to normalise its damage output. With only 3 shots on the rupture cannon though can shoot twice it really benefits from increased bs or making the damage of its hits more reliable. Definately a big boon to this unit and its support role and has bumped it up my buy list

[Xenith]

Agree, I think the 15pt upgrade on this is a no brainer - even with nothing else to pass the buff onto, it can make its own d6D claws much better. 

[Brother Nathan]

For sure.think theres 3 category's on these new buffs. the blah ones that you wont take even if taking the unit eg neurothrope and hive tyrant. the meh ones that you will take if taking the unit but wont change a list to fit them in eg malceptor and zonthrope. then the great ones that you will auto take on a unit and face the decisions of which units to cut and move in order to get them eg warriors. this is deff one of the middle ones and most armys have a unit or two that can benefit s its not an list changer just an upgrader