Today we are joined with Eulis Sanders. He ended the last ITC season as the number 1 Necron player. He currently holds the Make Necrons Great Again Hat. I interviewed him on how to Terminate Necrons as they can be a hard army for some to beat. I know the best way to beat Necrons is to go first and roll better but let’s see what he has to say on the matter.
Why do you think some players have a hard time against Necrons?
Well, Necrons, in my opinion, have one of the most versatile alpha strikes out there. Except maybe Imperial Fist but a little more durable than Imperial Fist with just about everything having fly. I Had an Iron Hands player learn that the hard way as I picked up 1200-1300 points of their army on turn 1. I get a lot of people that tell me after a game they had no idea Necrons could be like that and it’s a failure most of the time in target priority and list design in my opinion.
My biggest advice to people playing against Necrons is looking at their list. If they’re running Wraiths or troops you’re probably okay. Immortals are good just not into this meta.
What would you say is the best tactics to Terminate Necrons?
Well, the things we don’t handle well are negative to hit modifiers and high invulnerable saves. Never group up as we have multiple splash damage like effects, C’tan powers, Imotekh’s ability, the plane strat, and etc.
So if I see the Legion of Doom and I want to Terminate Necrons where do I start?
Once you kill a plane our ability to dish out mortal wounds is pretty limited and our ability to fish things out of magic boxes is also pretty limited, so focus one of them down and make a plan to ruin hop. People think we are slow because our troops are but most non-troop lists are built around just about everything moving a minimum of 12”.
Then I attack the Doomsday Arks?
Don’t underestimate destroyers, don’t expose a valuable unit until those have been dealt with.
If all three of our Doomsday Arks make it into round 3 I usually assume I’ve won that game. So once a plane is dead and the destroyers are dead if they are running them then it’s those bad boys you want to cleanse.
Doomsday Arks are our most versatile and efficient unit. But they have one drawback a lot of people don’t take advantage of. If you tag them and force them to move they lose their ability to shoot their big gun on their highest-profile. So if you have units that are particularly vulnerable to Str 10 -5ap d6 damage then throw something up there to tag them. Even Sautekh who doesn’t take the penalty for move and shoot still loses that top profile which is still about a 50-60% damage reduction.
What do I have to consider when Terminate Necrons in regards to Vehicles?
All our vehicles heal at minimum 1 a turn, so don’t split fire if you can avoid it. Remember even vs 3 flat damage with 1 cp we can make quantum shielding work like a 4+ feel no pain. Don’t split fire when shooting multiple damage stuff at quantum shielding, can’t tell you how many times someone has left a Doomsday Ark on 1 wound who shoots top profile on the next turn with a cp and the other Doomsday Ark wasn’t even bracketed.
What else do I need to know?
If they have a deceiver remember his redeploy can be in your deployment, be ready for him to move his Doomsday Arks in a manner that gives them better vision. Don’t underestimate the 20 gauss shots at 12”
What would be a strong tactic versus Necrons?
Be careful not to deep strike too much, I got to play vs a buddy of mine known very well throughout the 40k community for being a top-notch player. Going second he underestimated just how much firepower I had and was able to table him before his assault could drop in from deep strike on turn 2. If you can weather the storm deep striking and taking the fight to our face is a strong tactic.
So what strikes fear in your metal Necron hearts?
Cheap 3+/4+ invulnerable saves suck Harlequin bikes, even veteran squads of storm shield blends. Possessed list, I hate Possessed list, I’m 2/3 vs them in major tournaments. I have to win by not killing and that’s not our forte. I can tailor to beat T’au but my general tournament list doesn’t play great into them. Last year vs Seigler, I had a great game, that came down to him winning by charging a Riptide into combat to kill Imotekh. But if the meta continues to be marines so I’m not stacking Tesla then Tau becomes difficult. Other than that nothing else bothers me. There are some equally nasty alpha strike lists that mostly come down to who goes first. That’s how a dice game plays. Currently, Necrons don’t have a viable list that can play into those going second. So our best option is to out alpha the alpha.
Is there anything you are looking forward to in Psychic Awakening?
I hope Psychic Awakening gives us a few things but I hope they don’t break us. But you’ll never see a top 10 ITC player playing Necrons. Not until we have a way to mitigate our random number generators.
So what list changes have you made recently?
My list I’m having fun with right now has 10 Ghost arks. In case we move into a new horde meta.
Thanks, hopefully, Eulis will get to keep his Make Necrons Great Again hat. Even though he has shared how to Terminate Necrons with the rest of us. Antonio Cedeño joined us previously with his take on Necrons tactics in part 2 of Make Necrons Great Again in how to win with Necrons.
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