# SM Librarians, Yay or Nay?



## Dragon2439 (Jun 6, 2009)

Title is self explanatory, do you think that Librarians are worth using in a 1500-2000 point army?


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## Strange Dude (Jul 15, 2008)

Yay, I use one in my 1500pt army (just basic 100pt one w/null zone and might of the ancients) and he's awesome. A librarian is never gonna be a powerhouse IC but as a support HQ thier usefulness and used correctly synergy is amazing. Also it's important to note the psychological effect they can have against a psyker using army making an opponents psychic powers less of a sure thing forces them to change tactics becoming more cautious and allowing you to take the initiative.


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## primeministersinsiter (May 31, 2009)

I think they're worth it if used correctly. Like was said upstairs, they're not going to put a stop to an ememy army advance, but he's a fantastic disruption tool.
Yay.


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## Brother Tancred (Nov 5, 2009)

Psykers as anything else have their advantages and disadvantages. They are great to use a disruption as said above but they arnt good at holding lines. With everything else in space marines you just have to use then again and again and find a tactic that works for you. I use a psyker when ever possible because even though they may die, man can they throw a wrench into your enemy's plans.

YAY


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## Deceiver (Sep 19, 2007)

He is a yay but as others said for support. He is not really a cc type. Needs term armor/storm shield to get an invul. Then you're getting pricey. Init 4 is not good vs anyone elses cc character or even vs lots of reg guys.


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## ironhammer (Aug 14, 2008)

like just about everything in the sm codex nowadays the librarian is a worthwhile thing to have if you know what you're doing, they do heed more finese because unlike a sm commander or Chaplin which is a blunt instrument, a librarian is more a scalpel, you need to know how to equip him and support him to get the most out of the librarian but yea, get him, i don't see enough librarians on the field.


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## Epatus (May 17, 2009)

I have to agree with everyone else. In competitive tournament play, if you have the points, take him. He causes no end of disruption for enemy psykers with his psychic hood. And then there are the powers. Playing against daemons and he has null zone...


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## Dragon2439 (Jun 6, 2009)

ironhammer said:


> like just about everything in the sm codex nowadays the librarian is a worthwhile thing to have if you know what you're doing, they do heed more finese because unlike a sm commander or Chaplin which is a blunt instrument, a librarian is more a scalpel, you need to know how to equip him and support him to get the most out of the librarian but yea, get him, i don't see enough librarians on the field.


How would you equip him? What powers are worth taking?


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## ironhammer (Aug 14, 2008)

that all depends on the kind of army you're fielding, they need to be able to complement your army's strategy. remember the librarian is not going to be the big hero so don't play him like that. do you have a mobile army that uses tank rushes? it it a static army? does it use a lot of drop pods? or does it focus on terminators? on power armor? and what will your enemies field, tanks? if you play with a lot of tank heavy opponents take the machine curse, do they have a lot of armor-negating weapons? then take a force dome, you will need to go through some trial and error to get it right for your army.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Go on then, i run a mechanised tactical squad heavy marine force with Sternies and assault marines. How do you think that he could be best equiped to help them out? I also tend to play alot of horde armies as well if that helps?


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

As everyone has said the librarian is not a match winner but he can tip the balance to your side

He has a force weapon which is bloody nice. I would personally put him with a squad of thunderhammer storm shield terminators. This gives you a nice little bubble for your librarian to sit in. His powers are very short ranged ie 12 to 24 inches so I would love to see him and his little honour guard in a land raider. 

Drive up run out use the powers Smite or Might of the ancients and see the marine squad drop like flies whilst the storm shields keep you safe from the power weapon attacks of the sergeant. Might not be the most cost effective way but it hits hard and at 12 inches with assault 4 ap2 even the most hardy of foes will fall.

Edit: Ninja'd. I face alot of 3+ models so that my advice was an assumption. Still would work for hordes tho. They would break on the storm shields like water on rock whilst his powers will enable him to tear through them


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## obimoshman (Oct 21, 2009)

Very annoying thing to see in a space marine army when i play against them. My warlocks are unaffected but my farseers get annoyed and sometimes cant give out their full supportive abilities :threaten: Thats why i take ELDRAD :victory: But otherwise not exactly sure on all his powers but i assume he can do some nice supportive things or damage mabye which to me would make him worthwhile option.


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## Dragon2439 (Jun 6, 2009)

Is making him an Epistolary pretty much a sure thing? Is the terminator armor worth it if he's just going to be added to a squad of tac marines?

I run a sally list, 1500. Vulkan, 3 tac squads (2 rhinos, 1 Drop Pod), 2 dreads in drop pods, 2 vindi's and a pred. Moving up to 2k I was wondering if he'd be worth adding in.


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## ironhammer (Aug 14, 2008)

if you want to keep the points down have him in simple power armor and attach him to an inf squad, use them in junction with the other rhino squad. since you're facing hoard armies i'd go with either the avenger or smite for a ranged attack and mabey gate of infinity in case things get hairy.


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## Ferik (Nov 5, 2008)

I myself usually take him in Termie armour and Stormshield more due to the fact that if you get perils then your taking a wound which has happened to me more times than I would like to admit and loosing a model due to crappy rolling suck big time also it makes him a bit of a tank as well.

just my 2 cents.


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## Johnathanswift (Sep 30, 2008)

I usualy take my librarian with out upgrades, I then take null field and either give him the Avenger and place him in a drop pod with strenguard, or attach him to a tac squad and give him gate of infinity.


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## Devinstater (Dec 9, 2008)

My favourite way to kit out a Librarian is the stock set up for 100 points with Null Zone and Gate of Infinity and put him with shooty terminators with a Cyclone Missile Launcher (Relentless, can gate and shoot). 

Null zone gives your Terminators a chance to take out any big baddies with an invul saves quite well, and also practically guarantees a win against Demons. 

Gate of Infinity is basically a free transport. And when you are talking Terminators, that means to get them in a transport is like 250 points.


Because they are a IC, I often will have them leave the unit before it assaults, but stay close so that they can consolidate after they win combat. (For times when you are worried about your Librarian getting punked.) This most often happens when facing eldar or another army that decided to bring a lot of psychic based powers.

EDIT: My vote is Yay.


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## sooch (Nov 25, 2008)

Don't take Tiggy, don't take epistolary. Regular libbies are good. The good powers are:

Vortex
Null 
Avenger
Gate

Pick whichever combination of these fit your purposes best IMO. Don't try to make your librarian something he's not (namely, a CC monster).


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

I also avoid upgrades. Force weapon, bolt pistol, rhino or terminator squad.

Null zone and the psychic hood are exceptionally good for tournament play because they are perfect for a metagame full of lash princes (and warp time), farseers, storm shields, daemons and so on. After that I'd tend to go with either avenger or gate. 

I've had some success with gate, but I generally prefer my guys to be inside transports as much of the time as possible. As Devinstator says, it works well with shooty termies, though you probably want to keep the librarian himself out of major combats.


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## Raptors8th (Jul 3, 2009)

Give him a JP and epistolary and run him with your assaults, for powers give him might of the ancients and either null zone, force dome or the avenger. Run him to wherever you need to disrupt powers/invuls, and when that biker warboss shows up use might of the ancient sto insta-kill the bastard.


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## Half-Pint (Feb 21, 2010)

I always take smite, the assult 4 and its AP2 is a must vs anything and can bring down the most powerful of enemies. Null zone is a must vs deamons as all their save are invunerable and the Zone makes them take any passed armor saves again. Also if u have the points upgrade him to a EPISTOLARY, altho its 50 points it lets u use two abilitys per turn. I never use him up frount, just like everyone else has also stated. he gets wacked to fast so just keep is as a support unit. the gate of infinity is also good if u have the lib in a terminator squad. altho risky and they cant move afterwards, being able to teli up to 24" and then unload their firepower puts your apponent on the back foot and their 2+ save allows them to suck up a lot of firepower. a good distraction


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## Cyklown (Feb 8, 2010)

Well, they're really the eldar killers of choice. It may be nice against daemons, but against Eldar is negates the advantage of rerolling their invuln save, which is actually worth more if you think about it. A hood+ a counter to the see council seems solid. It'd be less usefull than other options against someone who doesn't have powers/invuln saves.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

There are more and more good psycic powers coming into the game nowdays. Warplance is a crystal clear example of this. Imo the use of a Librarian just improves all the time.


Another note about the CC possibilities of the Libby, make him an Epistolary, give him might of the ancients and hunt TMCs with S6 force weapon attacks


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## Jernmajoren (May 5, 2009)

I usually take a librarian or two because they add a lot of defensive capability against the increasing number of psychic powers that seems to be ever growing with each new codex coming out.
Warp Lance as MaidenManiac said is just the top of the iceberg, more or less every army brings some kind of nasty psychic powers these days and the psychic hood helps a lot to negate that.
As for kitting out my librarians I usually go for a standard one with null-zone + avenger or might of the ancients. Sometimes he is kitted out with a combi-melta, but that obviously makes him worse in cc.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Saying Null Zone is a must against daemons is rather superfluous. That means you're tailoring your armies to your opponent before the game starts which is rather lame. 

If you're making an all comers list then Gate or Null Zone are best. Null Zone is awesome against Daemons but still good against most armies. Gate gives you some much needed movement, great for late game with tact squads. 

Aramoro


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## primeministersinsiter (May 31, 2009)

I like a libby with a jump pack. Give him force dome and stick him in with an assualt squad and you have a hard to shift, rather troublesome unit. Pop in MOA and that's three st 6 power weapons a turn. 
With libbys, you either keep them out of the fight as much as possible or throw them to the wolves, hoping he goes down awesome. 
He can't score, no battle plans hinge on him, so don't act like a mother hen. 
Again, yay.


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## zeroblackstar (Feb 16, 2010)

I like to have him in a squad of termies, with some hammers of course, this means hes got a meat shield with a 2+ armour save and a 3+ inv save. Nice.

Hell always be episto! and take smite or avenger along with a CC power like MOA.

This way he can charge with the termies and soften up the enemy with a psycho power before getting his assault on.

I would use him as a bit of a bonus for a squad rather than some kind of one man army, otherwise your going to be dissapointed.

the gate power can be awesome if you plan ahead a little, I remember my libby joining a scout squad and subsequently gating to an objective on the otherside of the board near the end of a match. clinched the victory nicely and made me look like some kind of master tactician as an added bonus


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## PurePwnage (Feb 19, 2010)

vortex of doom and gate of infinity are my fav. teleporting around, owning everyone with a s 10 hit. the only disadvantage to this is if you fail the psychic test for vortex of doom :/


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