The Frequently Asked Questions about 40K Necrons.

[Karmoon]

All, as inspired by Caluin's FAQ threads in the Chaos and Nid forum...

This thread is a chance to deal with commonly asked questions which pertain to Necrons in 40K - notably rules one.

So, please ask any questions you are not clear about.

NOTE:

This thread is not to ask for a rule or to give rules. It is mainly meant to clear up situations where there is confusion.

The format will be as follow:

1) QUESTION in bold.

2) ANSWER in bold.
Also stating reference - from the Codex, BGB or FAQ on the UK Website.

3) Forum rules still apply. So no stat posting etc.

Forum member please feel free to ask and answer questions. This is a medium that everyone should benefit from and that new players can be referred to. The purpose is to keep useful knowledge in one place and to stop endless threads asking questions which everyone wants to ask.

If there hasn't been a question asked, please feel free to ask it.

Do not be embarrassed about seeking knowledge or trying to help people.
Both of these are excellent pursuits and I will not take lightly to mocking people for helping or needing help.

Here is an example:

QUESTION:

When I upgrade my Lord's staff of light to a warscythe, does he get a gauss blaster like Pariahs do?

ANSWER:

No he does not. Necron Codex pg. 17 - the Pariah entry clearly states that theirs come with an inbuilt gauss blaster which differentiates it from the Lord's Warscythe.

Take it away!

[jONESIE]

Okidoke, let's get the ball moving{goofy}

I'd like to put these questions up before other questions come rolling in, so these couple of common ones can't be missed

QUESTION:

Can the Monolith teleport a broken unit?

ANSWER:

Yes.

If you Teleport a unit that is Pinned, Broken etc... then they are still Pinned or Broken after the teleportation.
You could teleport and shoot with them whilst you continue to fall back, or use them as a speed bump against the opponent, or just keep them on the table to negate those Victory Points to the opponent.
You can teleport a unit that can no longer regroup, in the hopes that they all die and WBB to become part of another unit...
or vice versa, hope another unit dies and joins the broken unit, to meet the 50% unit strength requirement to regroup.



QUESTION:

Resurrection Orb in conjunction with Monolith teleport- does the Orb need to be in range of the monolith for Orb Protection?

ANSWER:

No, the Monolith does not need to be in Res Orb range. You could fail WBB, and teleport them to 20" away from the Orb... but get re-rolls.

The monolith is a re-roll of the earlier situation...the beginning of the turn is all the WBB criteria, same models within 6", Res Orb etc. If you could WBB before when you failed the first time, you can try again with the Monolith. Range is no issue.


okidoke, keep 'em coming!

[Karmoon]

Thanks to jONESIE and LO Chat members for collaborating with me on this one.

QUESTION:

How does a Monolith's 'Living Metal' work? What does it Negate?

ANSWER:

Anything that adds to the armour penetration will not work. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

Rending- negated
Tank Hunters rule- negated
Eldar Lance special rule- negated
Dark Eldar Talos hit/extra AP special rule- negated
Ork Super Stikk Bombs do not double their D6 penetration roll
Monsterous Creatures, Melta wepons and Chainfist/ Eviscerators only get a single dice on top of Strength, not 2D6.

Some exceptions:

Vindicare Assassins get their 3D6 'Turbo Penetrator' round, as it is a 2D6 Str + D6 penetration.

Ordnance still rolls 2D6, and pick the highest value dice (it is still only Str + D6, but better odds of getting a high penetration result).

QUESTION:

How do AP1 weapons affect Living Metal?

ANSWER:

AP1 still upgrade the attack in the usual manner. It works since the AP1 rule is not augmented strength, a dice modifier or additional penetration dice (i.e. it's not in any of the categories specified by the living metal rule).

(answer provided by Rork)

QUESTION:
How does living metal work with weapons which augment Strength instead of penetration?

ANSWER:
There are two schools of thought with regard to this question based on the following quote from the FAQ:

When attacking a Monolith, extra penetration dice and doubling scores are much the same thing- don't count any bonus penetration of any sort against a Monolith.

The first school states:

No. There are no bonuses against Living Metal. The only thing which would affect the monolith are Tyranid upgrades which do not confer bonuses, but actually alter the model's stat line.

The second school states:

Power Fists, Dark Blades, Eviscerators, Furious Charge, Great Weapons, Combat Drugs, and Strength enhancing weapons/gear are fine- they alter the strength of the initial hit, not the penetration.

The 'Doubling scores' in the FAQ refers to Ork Super Stikk Bombs, because they doubled the result of the D6 before adding strength when penetrating i.e Str + (D6 x 2). Before the FAQ, Orks were capable of decimating Monoliths because of this 'doubling bonus', whilst every other race was penalized. The quoted wording is to clear this up, but as usual, GW isn't thorough enough to state this themselves. Also remember, this FAQ was before the RAW era

Hence, 'Fists and Strength enhancing weaponry and gear is allowed, because it is still only Strength + single D6, the original intention of the Living Armour rule.

------------------

In the light of this, it is critical to discuss how it works prior to battling your opponent.
Please note that when attending tournaments, they may have their own opinion on this, so check with the organisers.

In terms of this thread, as this is a hotly debated topic, I'd rather it wasn't mentioned elsewhere in this thread apart from this post.

If anyone has any more burning ideas/evidence/confessions of love etc, please PM me.

[kore]

QUESTION:

What is the easiest way to determine phase out?

ANSWER:

Sum up the total "Necrons" in the army and then divide by 4. Use only the whole number in whatever result you calculate.

Notes: the Phase Out number always works in the favor of the Necron player. The rule specifically states that the rounding up applies to the number of models that must be destroyered(75% of the "Necrons). The supplimentary statement to this would be that one must round down when determining how many "Necrons" remain(are not destroyered).

Example: this example will show, mathematically, how any contrary interpretation contradicts the rule as stated on pg. 13 of Codex: Necrons.

- "Necrons": 30
- 30/4 = 7.5
- If one rounds up(contrary to the rule), the PO number is 8.
- In determining what percentage of "Necrons" this PO number represents, one gets the following result: 8/30 = 0.2667 or 26.67%. This obviously does not fit the criteria of reducing the number of "Necrons" to 25% or less.

[jONESIE]

WHEEEEEEEE!!!!! (note to self: glad this was brought up in a recent thread, it highlights an important fact :yes: )

QUESTION:

If Necrons are downed and the remainder flee, but there is a different unit closer to the WBB models than than the fleeing unit, where do the WBB models go?

ANSWER:

Okidoke, imagine your unit get whalloped in Combat, and runs away a great distance..... but you have another unit close-by, within 6" of the downed Necrons...

In a nutshell, they always join their own unit if there is a member alive. If all members are dead or down, then they will do the 6"/ Spyder dance to join a unit somewhere else.

Quoting Karmoon....

"Bear in mind, it's not often that a necron will get to move before a WBB phase unless it's in this situation..."

(swabs Karmoon furiously){goofy}

According to the Necron FAQ, the downed Necrons will be move with, and fair to say, be 'attached' to the original unit. So until the whole unit, or remainder of the unit is knocked down, the members will always rejoin back to their original unit. If the remaining members run, the 'rubble' necrons will follow them like moths to a flame

Key to remember: 'Models of the same type within 6" ' only applies if the whole unit is finally knocked down, as there isn't 'a unit' left to join anymore... if the entire unit is down then they will join the closest unit of the same type.

[kore]

QUESTION:

Can a unit assault after teleporting through the portal of a Monolith that has moved the same turn?

ANSWER:

Yes. The Monolith counts as a stationary transport vehicle for all movement purposes.



QUESTION:

What is the maximum squad size that may teleport through the Monolith portal due to the 2" restriction?

ANSWER:

17; Placing each model base to base, two rows of 6 and a row of 5 models will remain within 2" of the Monolith portal.



QUESTION:

Does a unit that wishes to use the Monolith portal have to have a line of site with the Monolith?

ANSWER:

No, just within the requisite distance. It should be noted that only 1 model need be within this distance for the whole unit to teleport.



QUESTION:

Can the Monolith deploy a unit of Warriors held in reserve the turn it Deep Strikes?

ANSWER:

Yes. The special Reserves rules are very specific about the way Warriors(the only unit type that can arrive through the portal from Reserves) arrive in this manner.

[lastspartacus]

Question:
Does the warscythe upgrade for the necron lord count as wargear?

Answer:
No it does not, as it is not in the wargear section, meaning the total cost of a fully upgraded necron lord could reach 210.

Question:
The staff of light can auto-glance those nasty land raiders on a six...right?

Answer:
Wrong. A common oversight is that the staff of light is NOT a gauss weapon, therefore it cannot benefit from the auto-wounding and auto-glancing on sixes.

Question:
Can the Deceiver use Deceive ability on one enemy unit, and the assault another completely different one?

Answer: Why yes he can!
And here is the extensive reasoning to work your way past tournament officials.
1. The rulebook states that if you shoot something you must only assault that thing.
2. Extensively over the many codex armies of 40k, any psykic power or anything that generally does damage at range says "counts as shooting" or "use in place of the normal shooting attack" and such things. The deciever's entry merely states that the ability is used in the shooting phase. The deceiver also has a similar power it can 'shoot' in the assault phase...but can you shoot in the assault phase? No, therefore it can't be considered a shooting attack.

In summary, the rules clearly state that the shooting phase is the order in the turn the power is meant to be used, not a 'shooting attack'. The deciever may use the power and then assault another unit.

[jONESIE]

QUESTION

The Monolith + skimmer rule....

ANSWER

++ You require a 6 to hit the Monolith in Close Combat, as per the skimmer rule and Necron FAQ.

The only exeptions to this are things that specifically hit on a certain dice roll (Dark Eldar Wyches with Goblet of Spite + Haywire Grenades, Kharn the Betrayer with Gorechild etc) <-- yes, I know Kharne can't hurt the Mono, it's an example...

++ Seeing the Mono can't move over 6" a turn, it does not recieve the 'Fast Moving Glancings' that other Fast Skimmers recieve....

++ Monoliths may Tank Shock enemy units (awesome, considering the beasts' bulk )

and, on a final note, .....

++ You may shoot Ordnance on the turn you land from Deep Striking..... although, most people want to Deep Strike down the opponents throat and use the Gauss Flux Arc instead

[lastspartacus]

(yay for totoro catbuses jonesie!)

Question:
Scarabs can move normally and not have to test for difficult terrain, awesome!
so I can just turbo boost those bad babies halfway up the board into that forest...?

Answer:
Unfortunatly, no. The Turbo Boosting universal special rule is not taken into account for a scarabs normal movement. As it specifically states that a scarab may ignore terrain tests,
and the Turbo Boosting rule states that the booster may not enter difficult terrain AT ALL,
then a scarab may only make its normal 12" movement if it wishes to benefit from terrain.

(will that stop lastspartacus from doing it until an opponent notices though? hmm thats another story...)

Question:
Can a necron unit that is completely wiped out benefit from wbb for that like unit within six inches?

Answer:
Unfortunatly, not quite. This has been made painfully apparent to me lately, and most may overlook this detail. The We'll Be Back rule specifically states that a 'model' within six inches is eligble. Thus, the whole squad may wbb ONLY if EVERY model is within six inches, as it works on a model and not unit system.

[lastspartacus]

Question:
What exactly happens when a tomb spyder starts making scarabs?

Answer:
Ask your parents! I'm not prepared to deal with that subject of necron bug reproduction! 0.o
Seriously though, when a tomb spyder produces even one scarab base, majority toughness takes effect, dropping the tomb spyder to T3 like the scarabs. This means that for damage purposes the TS is essentially a two wound scarab base. The good side is though that any wounds allocated to the TS benefit from its 3+ save. Something to consider when the enemy...*remembers isnt supposed to talk tactics.*

Example 1: A marine squad fires its bolters into a tomb spyder and 2 accompanying swarms, dealing out 8 wounds. the two swarm bases die, leaving the tomb spyder.
It makes its first save, and fails the second, reducing it to a wound, and until it produces another swarm, it reverts to its original T6 for terms of determining toughness.

Example 2: An autocannon scores two normal wounds on a tomb spyder and 1 scarab swarm.
The swarm is autokilled with no save possible, and then the tomb spyder fails its 3+ save for the remaining wound. It is then instakilled like any other t3 creature. (OUCH!)



(i believe my rules logic is dead on, someone correct me if im wrong on that.)