40K Top 10 HQ's (including special characters)

[jy2]

This is my list of the 10 best HQ choices (including characters) right now in the game of 40K. Considering all factors - abilities, stats, costs, etc. - but most importantly, how much of an impact it has on your army and even the entire game. Basically these are the type of HQ's you can expect to see at the GT's.

10. Grey Knight Grandmaster - the best HQ that can insta-gib any and all other units, including Eternal Warriors. More importantly, they unlock the use of Grey Knight Land Raiders and Dreads.

9. Big Mek - hugely important to the survival of the Green Tide (and other orky units).

8. Dakka Flyrant - winged hive tyrant with twin-linked devourers, or even cc-flyrant. The most dangerous nid and arguably the shootiest single model in all of 40k. No quality nid army is complete without one.

7. Deceiver - one of the 2 best counter-assault units in the Necron army with some nifty abilities as well. If you want to win (and I'm talking in competitive GT-caliber games), you'd best use him as your HQ.

6. Eldrad Ulthran - simply the best farseer and for all his abilites, beats out a fully-pimped-up farseer in terms of efficiency.

5. Fateweaver - expensive as heck and with no cc ability whatsoever...no GT-caliber daemon army is complete without him.

4. Vulkan He'stan - you know he is game-changing when people build their armies specifically around his abilities.

3. Ork warboss - Nobz as troops? 'Nuff said.

2. Space Wolf Rune Priest - cheap, awesome, versatile abilities, and the fact that SW armies can spam up to 4 of them. The future of tourney cheese.

1. Daemon Prince - the single most efficient HQ in all of 40k. Their ability to take Lash has changed the landscape of 40K GT's forever.


Honorable mentions - Abaddon, Nightbringer, Njal, Logan Grimnar, Shrike, Ghazghull, Cannonness

Dark Eldar Archon (or Wych Archite) - just a beast in cc and very cheap to boot. Can beat just about anyone in cc with the exception of maybe a c'tan (and can even beat them too on a good day). Plus, Wych Archites open up the options of taking wyches as troops.

Emperor's Champion - essential to the success of every BT army.


Ok...now bring on the debates.

[Heirodule]

Id like to surgest that Fateweaver be moved up to number 3 minimum and infact id say to 2 or (at a pinch) 1. With Fateweaver in the list you can sit back and fire out endless streams of shots with a tzeentch army, whilst losing minimal casutaltys in return or send him in amoung plaguebeares and watch the re-roll fun begin. heck drop him in with deamon princes and a bloodthirster and the games almost won.

As a more hesitant shot, id like to see Khanre in there, although hes not hugely tough and may well kill his own guys, hes the only thing i know of to hit on 2's with a power weapon and a huge number of attacks, he also hits vehicles like a monstrous creature. Add to that that psychic powers have no effect on him and force weapons cant kill him and you have one hell of a character. he can also ride in rhinos so getting him there isnt a problem. But i cant see what would go otherwise.

[antique_nova]

you forgot ragnar blackmane. he can chew more in cc than anything else . i know he isn't the bset. but he should get a mention .
thanks
antique_nova

[nakaruru]

Vote for Pedro! His ability to make sternguard scoring is very nice, also lysander is a monster.

Standing up for Eldar I think Yriel should be on the list for around 150 points he has a great stat line, fleets, always wounds on +2, hits vehicles like a lascannon and can even drop a large blast template in melee. The bonus to reserve rolls opens even more options for the army.

I know he is not the most effective/competitive choice but epidemius and his tally are very unique ( sp? ) and extremely powerful if it gets rolling.

[Kelter Skelter]

I'm not familiar on all of the races but, the Emperors Champion is pretty sweet with being able to give the entire army preferred enemy.

He's required but, that's besides the point

[jy2]

@Hierodule:

It could very easily be argued that Fateweaver maybe in the #3 spot ahead of Vulkan and the warboss as he improves a daemon army tremendously, but he is very expensive. For his cost, you could get 2 warbosses and have 2 scoring unit of nobz (or worse yet, nob bikers), and his ability only works within a 6" radius whereas Vulkan's abilities are unlimited in range.

Kharne is a pure hammer. He may be a beast in cc but he is quite fragile and doesn't really add anything to his army tactically.


@antique_nova:

I'm not yet convinced about Ragnar. He is another hammer character and does make his unit more dangerous, but he is over-priced and not as survivable as Njal or Logan nor as important as they are.


@nakaruru:

Pedro and Lysander are pretty good characters, but they don't do nearly enough for their army as some of the other characters. Stubborn is great...if you don't mind losing combat tactics for it. Scoring sternguards are also great, but they are expensive and just as fragile as regular marines. Perhaps Pedro should deserve honorable mention.

Yriel is another great character, and if you're playing an all-reserve eldar army, he is almost essential. Alas, he is another one of those hammer characters which would deserve an honorable mention at best. Strategically, he doesn't have nearly the impact of Eldrad, let alone a farseer.

Epidemius has a curious ability indeed - Tally of Pestilence. I haven't seen enough of him to gauge how his ability is, but characterwise, he is not too impressive.

@Kelter Skelter:

While I don't consider the emperor's champion a great character, he is vital (and necessary) to a black templar army. But is he any more important then, let's say, Marneus Calgar letting his entire army automatically pass/fail any morale tests or Pedro making all his marines stubborn and sternguards scoring or Ko'sorro Khan making biker marines a troop choice and letting the entire army outflank? I don't know about that...

[Heirodule]

if you go by tactical options to the army then a big mek with kustom force field needs to be in there. 5+ cover to any infantry and 4+ to vehicles is definatly a huge bonus to the army. plus the 6" range can be made bigger by putting him in a vehicle.

personally id drop the grey knight and archon, move the runepriest down to 10, although versus some armys there great, others they havnt got as much of a punch. For me theyre to army specific to be that high. and slot the big mek at nine. just my opinion though

[Kelter Skelter]

re-rolling all of your hits in CC with a CC army is a pretty big deal!

that's better than passing or failing morale checks in my book


but then again this isn't my list!

[jy2]

Originally Posted by Heirodule

if you go by tactical options to the army then a big mek with kustom force field needs to be in there. 5+ cover to any infantry and 4+ to vehicles is definatly a huge bonus to the army. plus the 6" range can be made bigger by putting him in a vehicle.

personally id drop the grey knight and archon, move the runepriest down to 10, although versus some armys there great, others they havnt got as much of a punch. For me theyre to army specific to be that high. and slot the big mek at nine. just my opinion though

Big Mek - duly noted and added. Thanks.

Archon - dropped to honorable mention.

Rune Priests - not moving them. They're the type of unit that every opponent who goes into a tournament will have to worry about just like lash. Except that they are more versatile and opponents have to worry about up to 4 of them. RP's have an answer to everything. JotWW against nidzilla, necrons, orks and other slower armies. Living Lightning against mechanized. Tempest's Wrath for mechdar, tau and other deepstriking/skimming armies and Murderous Hurricane against hordes. Not to mention that they now have 4 chances (1/RP) to dispel any psychic power thrown their way. They've just thrown a monkey wrench into the whole tournament army build and everyone has to worry about them.

Originally Posted by Kelter Skelter

re-rolling all of your hits in CC with a CC army is a pretty big deal!

that's better than passing or failing morale checks in my book


but then again this isn't my list!

Duly noted and added...as an honorable mention.

[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

Oi! Put that Archon back on the list. What's wrong with the potential for s7, 6 power weapon attacks, striking first re-rolling misses, on a jetbike with a 2++.