# Deffkoptas viable?



## Grimskul25 (Feb 17, 2009)

Yeah well just needed some advice about Deffkopta's. They're good and all with a couple of wounds with a decent armour save as well as being on a jetbike but are they really that useful? They have TL rokkits but it seems that having tankbustas would seem more viable to me, you have a larger volume of shots, tankhammers, bombsquigs and a Nob to re roll those nasty leadership checks. So what would you suggest, much appreciated :victory:


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## morfangdakka (Dec 31, 2006)

You are comparing a scalpal to a chainsaw. If you were looking for a unit that could make a first turn surgical strike to an opponents tank then deffkoptas are the way to go. If you looking for a unit that is going to just make a mess out of everything that it comes across then the tankbusta's are the unit for you. 

Deffkoptas in small units or individual units work great. Tankbustas need the group to be very effective but you are also forgetting the tankbustas weakness. If there is an armor vehicle that they can see infront of them but out of range of their rokkits they still have to fire at it. This does not allow them to run that turn also if an infintry unit is near them but they can see a tank they have to shot at the tank this means they can't assualt the infintry unit leaving them exposed to being charged by that unit next turn which will leave the unit reduced in numbers or destroyed all together.

So both are good but they have different rolls and functions in an ork army and how a warboss would use them. I like both units personally.


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## the cabbage (Dec 29, 2006)

Deffkopta's give you awsome movement in your army.

I am a long time speed freeks general and the only thing scarier than orks is mobile orks!


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## Whizzwang (Dec 31, 2008)

I'm currently fielding 15 koptas in my ork army and i've ganked points to give all of them klaws and rokkits - turn 1 combat with all 3 units is just full on filthy.

iut's worth pointing out that if you turbo boost as your scout move and your opponent goes first you get the uber cover save in his turn which gives you survivability if you don't have the initiative.

it's a hrad list to win with despite the hardness though. since you tie up a LOT of your points in those little koptas.


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## bishop5 (Jan 28, 2008)

They're a real pain in the ass! 
Turn one power-klaw charges are an amazing way to stop your opponent shooting up your mob while it's coming full pelt towards their lines... 

They're also pretty survivable (T5 2W) although I wouldn't recommend tying up too many points in them as you'll lose out on more BOYZ!


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## Huffy (Nov 25, 2008)

It depends on the player, personally I love them its so much fun when your opponent just realized he battlesuits/tanks just got raped by flying orks


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## Grimskul25 (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll give the Deffkopta's a chance again, I posted this because my experience with them has been less than satisfactory. They helped take down a couple of transports/tanks with the outflanking but swiftly got beat in HtH and the rest ran like panzee grots and got run down.  Oh well I'm adding PK to them next time :threaten:


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## Lord Vetinari (Mar 11, 2009)

well it also all depends on the table your playing on. I mean I normally fight Space Marines and their favorite stratigy is the pie plates on my boys with whrilwinds. IF you have a small table and your coptas are together. then BOOM no more coptas.
....
I guess what im trying to say is, keep it flexible if you want to save lots of points id go with the tank bustas in a trukk, sending it hurtiling towards the nearst vehicle, Trucks are great as they are fast, as well as letting that tank hammer work magic and as an added bonus make a great ramming vehicle.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Remember that they can have TWL Big Shootas. My brother fields 6 Defkoptas that's 18 TWL S5 AP4 shots on the move


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## LegendX (Jun 16, 2008)

Having your Deffkoptas play a role in your army is key to victory. I don't personally play Orks but like someone mentioned before, they are like a scalpel.

Depending on their equipment and how many you get their role can change.

Shootas are anti infantry
Rokkits are anti tank
Klaws optional

Just remember, they are apart of the army and they are not THE army. Use them to compliment your list.

LX


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## dopey82 (Jul 8, 2008)

I use about 12 in my army. 3 squads of 4 with two buzz saws and one bomb in each and they tend to do a lot of damage. even one buzz saw is pretty brutal. a easy conversion is to take some ork chain swords and cut them off at he hilt and then you can green stuff them to the front of a deffcopta


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Deff Koptas are a minor headache whenever I see them. There's no reason to run them in squadrons since you can bring just one, and if they're in a squadron and one of them dies, they're testing on their sterling leadership of 7. One Deff Kopta flying around shooting rokkits at the side or rear armor of vehicles and being a general pest, however, is not only incredibly cheap, but forces your opponent to deal with it at some point, because left alone, it's going to do a disporportionate amount of damage.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Most people I see run them in squads of 2 so they take only 1 LD test ever and then go about thier business of destroying tanks or pestering and holding up a unit for a turn.


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## InquisitorTidusSolomon (Mar 7, 2009)

Lord Vetinari said:


> well it also all depends on the table your playing on. I mean I normally fight Space Marines and their favorite stratigy is the pie plates on my boys with whrilwinds. IF you have a small table and your coptas are together. then BOOM no more coptas.
> ....
> I guess what im trying to say is, keep it flexible if you want to save lots of points id go with the tank bustas in a trukk, sending it hurtiling towards the nearst vehicle, Trucks are great as they are fast, as well as letting that tank hammer work magic and as an added bonus make a great ramming vehicle.


Yes, Trukks are good, but if you use them, you run the very high risk of the Trukk turning into a coffin for your Tankbustas.

And for those of you reading this, I'm the aforementioned SM player who plays this guy. If we play on a large table, his coptas run rampant across the board and send flaming, rokkity death into whatever he finds. But when we use a small board, what he says is true; My Whirlwind and plethora of other blast weapons reduce the coptas to smoking heaps before they get out of his deployment zone. 

So, advice from someone who plays AGAINST Orks, the size of the board and the army you're facing is really the deciding factor. If you're playing IG, Tau, Necrons, Inquisition, CSM, or SM, use the Tankbustas, as they're harder to kill, and you can take more of them. For Eldar, Dark Eldar, 'Nids, Daemons and other Orks, take the coptas.


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## Grimskul25 (Feb 17, 2009)

Cool I see, I just replaced my Deffkoptas in a recent game with Tankbustas, and yeah overall the Tankbustas were more handy. Not gonna discredit the Deffkoptas yet, gonna use boh in my next game. I'll tell you how itll turn out and thanx for the help!:biggrin:


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## JokerGod (Jan 21, 2009)

The main thing with Koptas is that they can be very good at taking out tanks, AND good at taking out mobs of units.

With a Big Boom you can do a bit of damage to most units and still get to throw a rokket or two at a tanks armor. Plus with Hit & run you can always pull them out of a combat you don't want them in.


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## Mastermime (Mar 27, 2009)

I plan to take 6 DeffKoptas in my Speed Freeks when It finally reaches 1500pts. I'm not sure if they're the best choice tactically but they are financially and fluff wise. 

For one I got the 6 Koptas from 2 AoBR Boxes my Space Marine friend and I went halves on. £40 for 1000pts of Boys. Where as Tankbustas cost £60 for 10 and a trukk. Say what you like about the AoBR models but the way GW hike their prices I know what I'm fielding.

And tactically I would fill the trukk with 12 Boyz with 2 rokkit launchas and a Nob with a PK and Combi Shoota and still have points left over in a unit that will fill the same role as the Tankbustas but still remain extremley flexible.


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## Sebi (Mar 3, 2009)

have you ever seen a Battlawagon turned to scrap metal even before you get your first turn?
I have... and it hurts!

two coptas with two power claws.... 6 Attacks S7 are enough to saw any tank with rear 10 down!

use them... as said before... like a scalpell
set them up so that you can reach with your scout movement (boost = 24") and your 12" movement + 6" charge ... TADA ... 36" fulli into your opponenst most dangerous tank... ripping it apart

if he is unprepared like I was... he will los this tank... and if you're lucky you get your coptas out to have another run into another tank.

And just to mention... not everytime a tank is a good target... my lootas fell also the pain to get "sawn" apart


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## Grimhawk (Feb 25, 2009)

*imo - no to assault*

I've only played a couple of games with them but here is what I would add.

Strengths:
1. reliable heavy support with anti-infantry and anti-vehicle range capability
2. highly mobile
3. moderate assault capability

Weaknesses:
1. small mob size (leadership/morale checks)
2. no option for nob upgrade (no bosspole & no str 8/9 powerclaw)
3. high cost

Their biggest weakness is their leadership so I play them where they are least likely to be forced to use that attribute. Keep them at distance and pick off targets as they arise. Their second use is to engage equivalent units (land speeders, jet bikes etc) and again that this would ideally be done in a manner that minimizes exposure to leadership checks. 

IMO they aren't that great at assault. Str 7 on the charge isn't great considering how much they cost and many high value vehicles will have 11 on the rear. Upgrading 5 deffkoptas with buzzsaws is very expensive and I doubt they would get their points back. The only time I would use them in assault is where they can engage an isolated (softish) target. There are much better units available to assault vehicles such as bikers and other mobile units (ie those with nobs with power klaws).

There one occasion where I would use these as assault troops. The first is to deliberately sacrifice them to assault in order to spare other units.

IMO the key is not be too hasty to use this unit. Just having the mob there, in cover and out of range is often enough to cause the opposition commander to give pause to his/her plan.


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## crudnik (Mar 23, 2009)

Deffkoptas in a small group should be making a nuisance of themselves in turn 2 or 3 and out of the way/hiding on turn 1. They should not be in HTH with large units unless the rest of the boyz are there to back them up or you need to prevent shooting (say vs a unit of tau or IG).


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