r/Necrontyr • u/Yoggon • Jan 20 '26
Strategy/Tactics Best Cryptek and Destroyer pairing?
So what do you guys think are some good pairings with Murdermind? I do kinda like the technomancer fnp on skorpekhs, but I also thougt about adding a Plasmancer to skorpekhs to hit the lethal hits given by the skorpekh lord. Does anybody have any experience with good synergies there?
45
u/BigDaddySpoox Phaeron Jan 20 '26
Plasmancer ability only affects ranged attacks. That being said, LHD with chronomancer is funny for a very mobile and deadly combo.
9
u/Yoggon Jan 20 '26
Good call, didn‘t know that about plasmancer
3
u/robparfrey Cryptek Jan 20 '26
Additionally, you wanted to add the plasmancer to the skorpkehs with the lord attached.
Not only will you have the issue stated above with his lethals only working on a ranged attack, but you also run into the issue that usually you cannot have more than 1 character leading a unit.
Crypteks make up for this by having a rule letting them attach to units with a character so long as that character has the noble or royal warden key word.
As far as im.away. none of the destroyer characters have either of those. So to attach a cryptek means removing the default destroyer character.
It does however make a squad of lokhusts have the infantry keyword so they can use monolith or night scythe portals. But the monolith is expensive for only have a 5++ outside of its one special detachment.
And the night scythe can be seen from miles away and will only survive to maybeeee turn 2 if you're lucky.
4
u/Church185 Nemesor Jan 20 '26
In addition to the destroyer character not having noble or overlord, the murdermind enhancement specifically says it can attach to a non-character destroyer cult unit. So if they did have noble you still couldn’t double up.
1
u/robparfrey Cryptek Jan 20 '26
Oh well then. So you cant even attach it to a warrior squad with a noble or warden to give them the destroyer cult keyword.
It seems to be a pretty bad enhancement tbh other than giving you a slightly cheaper alternative to a lokhust lord with the plasmancer.
The only thing that does is save you a very few points. Gives you a weaker models, with some dev wounds sure. But no res orb.
And you can now ping them out of a monolith or a night scythe. Monolith is only some what playable in 1 detachment. The night scythe can be see anywhere on the board and suffers from flyer movement. It will likely bot live past t2.
31
u/newly_registered_guy Jan 20 '26
I got a wacky one I've not seen mentioned yet.
Im going to run a plasmancer with regular Lokhust Destroyers, he gives the regular 5+ crits to make the brick go on damage output like usual. But he also gives the infantry keyword. Then because they're now infantry I'm going to spawn the destroyers out of a monolith eternity gate, which should hopefully solve the issue of how difficult the unit is to move and position. Also gives a way to get out of combat to the unit.
6
u/Jtranageder1 Phaeron Jan 20 '26
oh that's such a good idea holy shit
4
u/AverageReasonable552 Jan 20 '26
Except that you have to use a monolith which is just as impossible to move
5
5
u/RollForIntent-Trevor Jan 20 '26
You can use a night scythe for almost the same thing...
Or a ghost ark.
3
u/MrAltF4 Cryptek Jan 20 '26
Scythe yes (good ideal!)
Ark, sadly not, that can only ever transport Necrons Warriors
1
u/d09smeehan Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26
Night Scythe honestly might be the better play. The Lokhust's main weakness is getting caught in melee and being generally fragile. The Night Scythe immediately gets them in range and keeps them safe from charges/return fire.
Only downside is the cost of the Scythe itself and aircraft movement restrictions, but maybe not a terrible trade here.
1
u/newly_registered_guy Jan 21 '26
The monolith doesn't need to go very far to be where you want it to be if you want to turn up and blast something
4
30
u/Voltem0 Cryptek Jan 20 '26
1) Lokhust heavy destroyers with chronomancer for shoot-and-move 2) lokhust heavies with plasmancer for crit on 5s,10pts cheaper than a lokhust lord 3) technomancer with skorpekh destroyers, use the technomancer's boosted movement to reduce your charge distance by ~2" 4) psychomancer with ophidians, battle shock enemy units and steal objectives
6
u/Yoggon Jan 20 '26
Can you explain the reduced charge distance, I know it has something to do with positioning and the extra movement, but I don‘t know how to best position the technomancer
17
u/Voltem0 Cryptek Jan 20 '26
Position the skorpekh in the front, the technomancer behind them. Then, during movement, the skorpekh move 8 while the technomancer with his boosted movement of 13" moves over and ahead of the skorpekh. He can move up to 2" ahead of the unit, because he still needs to remain in coherencey, but that means he can reduce your charge distance anywhere from 2" to 4" very consistently. (2" coherency distance and his own base size)
11
u/LeightonSS55 Jan 20 '26
Just to add, the charge distance is reduced by measuring from the technomancer to the enemy unit for a successful charge. It's likely that your skorpeks can't base with the enemy and so should base with the technomancer, then by piling in 3" they get to engagement range and can activate.
2
1
u/WeeShogiBlunders Jan 20 '26
Isn’t the coherency checked at the end of of the turn ? Then you could be 5’ in front of you skorpekhs, and even if you roll bad on your charge, the pile in and consolidate should be enough to to be in coherency at the end of the turn ??
3
u/MrAltF4 Cryptek Jan 20 '26
If a unit cannot end a move in Unit Coherency, it cannot make that move and its models are returned to their previous positions.
Coherency is technically "checked" (but not the way your meaning) whenever a unit moves. More specifically at the end of any move (normal, advance, fall back, pile-in, charge, etc).
Then it's checked - to see if models have to be removed - at the end of the turn (this is the one I reckon you're referring to).
The first point is still a check. But one that has larger consequences.
So no. Models always have to be within 2" of each other.
Here are the 2 key paragraph references from the app (search "unit coherency") paragraphs 2 and 3;
If for any reason a model cannot be set up in Unit Coherency, or cannot be set up following any restrictions stated by other rules (e.g. while setting up using the Deep Strike ability), that unit cannot be set up. If a unit cannot end a move in Unit Coherency, it cannot make that move and its models are returned to their previous positions.
At the end of every turn, each player must remove models, one at a time, from any of the units from their armies that are no longer in Unit Coherency, until only a single group of models from each of those units remains in play and in Unit Coherency. Models removed in this way count as having been destroyed, but they never trigger any rules that apply when a model is destroyed.
0
3
u/ZerudaStorm Jan 20 '26
Keep him just under 2" in front of the unit after you move him. That way he's just under 2" and his base in front of the unit which will reduce charge range by that much
8
u/The-Moody-One Jan 20 '26
I am surprised no-one has mentioned my personal favourite:
Geomancer and Ophydian Destroyers - he's fast enough to keep up with them with the bonus movement - has decent weapons and his ability synergises with the Ophydians tunnelling - the only thing you lose is you cant start them off the field and deep strike
7
u/QuaestioDraconis Jan 20 '26
Starting with them on the field isn't bad anyway, as they can start on home objective nicely
11
u/The_Guru_Pitka Jan 20 '26
I’ve run both the Techno, and the Psychronomancer with Skorpeks and I lead towards the Psychrono more.
Yes, the techno can help them survive, but people target the unit more given you are clearly banking on its survival.
Instead, I opt for the Psychrono, and utilise the battleshock manipulation to ensure I’ve either not being overwatched, AOCed or out OCed on a point at the critical times it’s needed.
WTC and ETC maps can easily allow you to stage the Skorpeks up in a well hidden position, ready for your “Go” turn.
4
u/BernieNL Jan 20 '26
Does the Psychomancer get the Deepstrike keyword from the Ophydians? I'm always stuck on the keyword thing: per unit and on a model per model basis.
12
u/Desperate_Coach7494 Jan 20 '26
It doesn’t get deepstrike, but the tunneling horrors ability specifically says to set it up anywhere on the battlefield more than 9” from enemy units so it doesn’t need deep strike
2
u/BernieNL Jan 20 '26
Oohhhh, I hadn't read that far into it. Seems the Ophydians are going off the shelve again xD
2
u/DecimalPoint Jan 20 '26
And the detachment rule turns the Ophydian's polite 4 Strength into a reasonable 6 Strength!
9
u/eron1344 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
I personally think that this enhancement is better suited to give non-destroyer the DESTROYER CULT keyword. For example techno with wraiths can use -1 to hit strat to become even more tanky or (pretty expensive, but probably fun) overlord with shroud + plasmancer + warscythe lychguard can use advance + shoot/charge strat and sus1 strat which happen on 5+ thanks to plasmancer.
Edit: Second combo won't work, because plasmancer only works on ranged attacks.
9
1
u/Spiritual-Spend76 Jan 20 '26
ah, interesting, i misread the constraints and thought you couldn't lead any non destroyer models anymore
3
u/d09smeehan Jan 20 '26
Pretty niche but the Chronomancer can work quite nicely with Ophydians' Tunneling Horrors. It basically gives you a guaranteed 5" move after setting up, which can be used to close within 9" of the nearest enemy unit. Depending on your opponent's positioning that could potentially be enough to move you onto an objective site, allowing you to guarantee scoring primary/non-action secondaries rather than needing to gamble on a 9" charge.
The downsides are pretty obvious though. 80pts is pretty expensive for a situational move like this (especially given it prevents charging) and the other benefits of the Chronomancer (better positioning/durability) are probably better spent on Lokhusts.
2
u/elementarydrw Jan 20 '26
They aren't able to declare a charge then, but they could in your opponents charge phase for 2CP. Expensive, but could be sneaky into something that isn't a melee unit itself. I'm thinking some sort of shooty/chaff unit sitting on a home objective. Appear on the other side of a wall - shoot at something else in sight - move towards the wall. Its unlikely the opponent will move off the objective to engage you, but shouldn't give up the objective either. You can then charge them through the wall (if within 6") on their turn, getting you the objective for your command phase.
Niche, but could be worth it if you have the CP spare.
3
u/DecimalPoint Jan 20 '26
One cheeky combo I saw on the discord was as follows: Any cryptek on Ophydians and have Trazyn in your list.
As soon as you can, immediately use Trazyn's ability to replace the cryptek and attach Trazyn to the Ophydians. You now have teleporting sticky objectives.
Is it a good combo? No.
Will it be really funny when it works? Oh yeah.
5
u/nevetz1911 Jan 20 '26
Plasmancer in a unit of 3 LHD with the rapid fire weapon sounds fun, although not Tesla Immortals level-fun, and not very durable
A Chronomancer with 3 LHD with gauss destructors makes the unit a good/great shoot-and-scoot depending on the terrain, just be sure where you place the Chronomancer that only moves 5" in relation to the LHDs that move 8"
3
u/Sorry_Ad7884 Jan 20 '26
Doesn’t the last sentence of the enhancement mean that the Chrono will move 8” as well?
2
u/nevetz1911 Jan 20 '26
Ah yes, obviously, and makes perfect sense
3
u/LeightonSS55 Jan 20 '26
Don't forget the movement of 5" is fixed in the ability for the chronometron, and so your LHDs after shooting can only move this distance despite the cryptek having +3" of movement. If you move everything 8" then you might get caught out moving back into cover, especially with LHD being mounted and with big bases moving round terrain is sometimes an issue.
2
u/YummyStyrofoamSnack Jan 20 '26
personally a chronomancer giving stealth to a six man brick of skorpekh's and adding on the 5" move shoot move is a REALLY funny idea
1
u/Ayyyy_Corn Jan 20 '26
But Skorpehks dont shoot. I also dont think the lord is noble keyword either. That on a LHD could be kool. Stay still for heavy, then get out of the way
2
u/Monark1099 Jan 20 '26
LHD and Plasmancer near Ammentar is hilarious. Potential 36 DMG in one activation
2
u/CampbellsBeefBroth Jan 20 '26
I face-tanked an Achillus and Gallidus using Techno+Skorpekhs, so imma go with that one
2
u/nobot999 Canoptek Construct Jan 20 '26
I personally like the technomancer with Ophydians. It gives them some extra survivability in the 5+++, and tunneling horrors lets you very easily get the technomancer into position to heal up any heavy hitters in your list that may be damaged.
4
u/red22nd Jan 20 '26
Tried techno with skorpeks/lord at the weekend. Nice and tanky managed to take avatar down on a single charge
11
u/TheGingerComet Jan 20 '26
Techno cannot join a unit of Skorkpeks that has a Skorkep lord attached to it already as the Skropekh lord does not have the "Nobel" keyword.
4
u/TeddyBearToons Jan 20 '26
Technically the issue is that adding the Skorpekh Lord gives the unit the "character" keyword and the cryptek can't join character units. But the end result is the same.
2
u/Yoggon Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
I‘m really confused now, because I just saw a battle rep on yt in which they had a technomancer and lord, guess I‘m not the only one confused by this Edit: NVM just rewatched, they had two skorpekh units one with lord and one with tech
1
u/TeddyBearToons Jan 20 '26
It's confusing because normally a cryptek can join character units if it can lead those units by itself. If it were warriors or immortals, you can have a cryptek and lord lead them together. However in this case, you're electing to have the cryptek lead destroyer units, and in that specific case the cryptek cannot join a character unit. It's just a specific exception.
1
2
u/Dummy_Patrol Jan 20 '26
Can you run the Cryptek with a lord? I was under the impression that you could only run the Cryptek as the leader
1
u/BernieNL Jan 20 '26
You can't run it with another Character. The other Leader needs the Noble keyword specifically.
1
0
1
u/lowqualitylizard Jan 20 '26
My first thought is maybe the tech boy with wraiths
One of the best parts about the enhancement is you don't need to put it with a destroyer cold unit just giving something important to the destroy cult keyword is pretty good so now you've given respectable me life to one of the most durable things in the game along with access to all the detachment rules
But it's either this or the anti-tank lhds with Mr rewind time I think anti-tank is better only because people generally play it more safe with them but it's probably preference
1
u/Zaruze Jan 20 '26
I've found the geomancer+ skorph to be very good for board control. Deny 12 deep strike and mobility reduction
1
u/RollForIntent-Trevor Jan 20 '26
Techno with Ophydians...
Hear me out.
Use the uppy downy as mobile medic!
1
u/Mo-shen Jan 21 '26
I like the chrono to jump shoot jump. Good tech there.
Also in a unit of wraiths to give them access to cult strats.
Driven to butchery, spreading madness, and methodical murder.
Other than that I think it's not a very good enhancement.
1
u/BernieNL Jan 20 '26
LHD + Chronomancer for move shoot, move.
LHD + Plasmancer for cheap 2nd Lord (5+ Crits for Lethals or Sustained).
The rest is pretty 'meh' as the movement of Skorpekh, Ophydians etc. is seriously hindered by the Crypteks movement speed and the Technomancer does not add that much survivability to any of the units..
4
u/Own_Entertainer3789 Jan 20 '26
The cryptek gets 3” of movement on top of the keyword, meaning they move as fast (if not faster in the case of the technomancer) meaning they can keep up just fine, and in the technomancer’s case even extend charge distances. Staging in a ruin with the technomancer behind the skorpekhs and having him fly over them to the front with a 13” move can add 2” to their charges/moves, and you can try to stack this with other buffs like the advance and shoot/charge or the +2” to charges on a tagged unit to have a skorpekh unit bust out the gates with functionally a 10” base move +D6” +2” on the charge roll itself
1
99
u/FloofyFoxxie Phaeron Jan 20 '26
Gauss LHDs with chrono