# Necron Res Orbs. Worth It?



## Brian007 (Aug 8, 2008)

I was thinking about running a list with a lot of units of warriors. My thought was to put a lord with each unit and give him a res orb.

So my question is this. Is spending 150-180 (5-6 orbs) points worth it to up the chance of them standing up OR is it better to just take those points and buy something else?

I have heard players say that they would take more guys on the table over having a smaller stronger army. That is why I am asking this question.

Thanks!


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## Icarsun (Dec 14, 2011)

The Res Orb takes you from having a 1/3 chance to a 1/2 chance of getting back up. Which isn't too bad. Having said that, for that amount of points you can fit in another ten man Warrior unit with a basic Cryptek or a ten man Immortal squad.

I would say, unless you're building your list to be a farm list (Spyders + Scarabs/Warriors + Ghost Arks/Res Orbs everywhere) designed to create an unbreakable wall of Necrons, don't rely on Ressurection Protocols. It's a nice bonus to the entire army, but if you design your army without RP in mind, you'll save not only a lot of points but build something that in my opinion is much more well rounded.

To sum it up, in my opinion, Res Protocols is a bonus, not a crutch.


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

It pays for itself.

An orb in a unit of Warriors only needs to bump 3 Warriors in a game to make the points back.
In a unit of Immortals it only needs 2.
In a unit if Lychguard just 1.

Orbs are helpful in demoralising the enemy too, so help the game in that aspect too.


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## Fallen (Oct 7, 2008)

war scythes are more important IMO, but having 1-3 res orbs are really nice to have if you have a couple of ghost arcs to go along with them


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## Brian007 (Aug 8, 2008)

So is a list built around a LOT of warriors a good list? I like the idea of 120 warriors marching across the table but that does not mean it would be a good list!! lol

So would you have the ghost arks by the units with or without the res orbs? I have 4 of them I can use. 

Are the elites worth the high point cost to get them or is it better to stick with warriors?


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

I am preferring Warriors at the moment. Most Elites come in at about 200pts, which is quite a lot (20% of a 1k army). The only problem that Warriors have is that they can't hurt Wraithlords, but Wraithlords will probably get nerfed in the next Eldar Codex anyway.


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## Madden (Jan 22, 2012)

In this edition of tge book I'd go for res orbs in elite units only, they cost more now but the basic troops cost less so having them get back up again isn't as important these days plus the ghost ark does the job just as well if not better, I prefer to have my lords(court) with warscythe in warrior/immortal units to take care of any dreads/walkers that get to you (it can happen) but your best bet is to try it and see.


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

I generally use orbs a lot. For the reason that you should, at the very least, want the Lord carrying it to have the best possible chance of getting back up. A single Lord can do amazing things. Last game I played, a Lord from a Deathmarks unit was the sole survivor of his unit, he went on to solo take down a unit of Dire Avengers, Pathfinders and a Night Spinner (tank thing), which is a very good ROI. He survived the whole game. (FYI, the Lord spec was: Orb, Warscythe, Mindshackle).

With Orb is better than without Orb, and they pay for themselves soon enough.


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## lokis222 (Mar 14, 2009)

res orb and overlord is worth the cost, but i find that basic lord with res orb too much. 

however, i play at 1500pts these days, so that influences my choices. at higher points and with strategic units, it would probably be worth it.


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## Sothot (Jul 22, 2011)

I have played 120 warriors a couple times and it was fun...definitely not a "good" army for my opponents though, as I never get to make a reanimation roll anyways(marines and dark eldar) In most cases I find Immortals the better choice every time. I also can't roll a 4+ to save my life...so take my advice with a heavier than average handful of salt.


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

lokis222 said:


> res orb and overlord is worth the cost, but i find that basic lord with res orb too much.
> 
> however, i play at 1500pts these days, so that influences my choices. at higher points and with strategic units, it would probably be worth it.


Even at 1.5k I try to have an Orb per unit. It might sound extravagant, but it really works.


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## Skari (Dec 20, 2011)

I really think that the res orbs are worth every penny. Going from a 30% chance to reanimate to a 50% chance is HUGE! I do not think that this warrants its use everywhere... but in key units such as lyche guard and praetorians they are worth their weight in gold.


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## Day2Dan (Sep 30, 2011)

I started trying Lords with Orbs (Lorbs?) in Arks, but the small squad size just made Reanimation not happen often enough because they got swept away too easily. Now I go with Destro Crypteks accompanying 9 man squads (haven't gotten to trying 8 man with court members yet!), which just give them some better firepower while they are still alive and kicking for 5 points more than the orb alone costs. Larger squads of Warriors (15+ is a pretty good number) can utilize the orb much better and it's worth consideration then, though I'm not sure I'd say it's an auto include because, while it will help make more Warriors get up, it's really only helping make more Warriors get up, and sometimes that's not worth much at all!

In 10 man units of Immortals, I find the lords much, much better. These squads tend to take the hits as they are pretty threatening and don't benefit from being able to hide from smaller fire in a boat. In addition, losses in close combat and from templates, etc. are often less severe due to the 3+ armor save, so they don't lose rolls from losing the whole unit as often. As such, in my experience they make more reanimation protocol rolls than any other unit, and so there are more chances for the orb to fire off and make its points back. Plus, WS/MS Lorbs really help the unit end CC so they can get back to shooting stuff (as they inevitably get locked up fast - nobody likes to take multiple turns of Immortal fire). 

Lychguard and Praetorians are also definitely worth the Orb points, having the high point costs to make it easy to get the value back, and the high durability (especially Sword/Board Lychguard) that is ideal for avoiding the complete wipeout. Praetorians obviously are best friends with Destroyer Lords, who can increase their survivability quite a bit by letting you allocate wounds better as well.

In short, my list of considerations:
1) How easily does the unit get wiped out?
2) Will the unit take more pot shots or large barrrages of fire?
3) Do I care enough to spend 30pts if 20% more can get back up?


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Lords with Praetorians are a problem though, because the unit loses its mobility advantage. Destroyer Lords are an option to support them, as you point out, but that also means to lose the chance of a second Royal Court. I am yet to be convinced of the uses for Praetorians (although I am hoping to be convinced at some point).


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## Creator of Chaos (Feb 8, 2012)

Honestly Darklove I wouldn't worry about preatorians. As good as they look on paper they'll always be overshadowed by there blood angel equivilent sanguaniry guard. Lack of initiative and only a 3+ save means that even giving preatorians a res Orb wont help them much when 1 or 2 Lemum russ tank blasts are all thats need to wipe them out and even if they do get into combat they will almost always strike last. If you want a good necron Close combat Unit That gives good bang for your buck go with 3 Wraiths with a pair of whip coils and a castor. Resilant (2 wounds and 3++), can cross the field far more safely, more likely to strike first, Strengh 6 rending and 3 base attacks. Sure it has no reanimation but the Whip-coils ability to combo with scarabs and destroyer lords for truely nasty close combat devastation more then makes up for it. If wraith's aren't your thing theres always the Overlords/Necron Lords with shackle scarabs/Weave, Ctan or lychguard. Just dont use Preatorians. to fragile and to expensive

Anyway on topic now Res Orbs in my view are 1 of the best Necron Upgrades not only making the lord more resiliant but also any unit there with more resiliant. However to get the most out of them you need to have the right set up Trust me when I say this a 50% chance to comeback is definatly worth it. Sure you wouldn't stick it on a 5 man squad of warriors or Immortals because they would get swept/Blasted to easily and you wouldn't use it if your tactic was to simply sit back. But in units of 12+ warriors or 10 immortals when equiped with right Overlords and royal court members become mini deathstars and nigh unkillable. 
Phearon with Res Orb, Shackle Scarabs, Phase shifter, a Veil Cryptek with 15 warriors in tow. Tell me you wouldn't fear that coming at you. Or 10 Immortals with the same Phearon but a fully pimped harbinger of the storm and a 2nd Shackle Lord. Would dare assualt that. No because half of the unit would get back up after you lost most of yours trying to do so. The Res Orb also works decently in expensive unit like Destroyers or Lychguard that have a decent shot a survivability if you have a good combination tho I have yet to find the deathstar mix for them. 

On a final not Res orbs dont just make your units more resiliant it has a psycological impact on them to. knowing that there shots are going to waste or that unit of 15 warriors wont take a casualty makes them panic or feel disalusioned. at the end of the day Its up to each individual to make up his mind but I've always found them useful and I'll continue using at-least 1 per list until I find something better


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## Day2Dan (Sep 30, 2011)

darklove said:


> Lords with Praetorians are a problem though, because the unit loses its mobility advantage. Destroyer Lords are an option to support them, as you point out, but that also means to lose the chance of a second Royal Court. I am yet to be convinced of the uses for Praetorians (although I am hoping to be convinced at some point).


First of all, Destroyer Lords are ridiculously good. Second court is something you would only really utilize at a 1750+ point game, and at the cost of playing double lord and cryptek in units, you are missing out on fielding a lot more bodies or some better heavy support. A Destroyer Lord with Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe, and Sempiternal Weave costs 160 and has 4 attacks on the charge at 7 strength, no saves allowed, with reroll to hit anything but vehicles, and 2d6 to pen vehicles. He's got 6 toughness and a 2+ armor save, and one model has at worst a 50% chance of not attacking you and hitting itself. Plus, it can move 12". It's essentially all the benefit of a Monstrous Creature with wings, plus rerolling to hit and Mindshackle. Oh yeah, and it has ever living...

Try one out sometime, even proxy it. Keep him safe until he reaches the back line of the enemy, every turn he tears up a vehicle, small unit, or IC and his hard to stop outside of a 30 boyz charge or something (and that you can certainly work around).



Creator of Chaos said:


> Honestly Darklove I wouldn't worry about preatorians. As good as they look on paper they'll always be overshadowed by there blood angel equivilent sanguaniry guard. Lack of initiative and only a 3+ save means that even giving preatorians a res Orb wont help them much when 1 or 2 Lemum russ tank blasts are all thats need to wipe them out and even if they do get into combat they will almost always strike last. If you want a good necron Close combat Unit That gives good bang for your buck go with 3 Wraiths with a pair of whip coils and a castor. Resilant (2 wounds and 3++), can cross the field far more safely, more likely to strike first, Strengh 6 rending and 3 base attacks. Sure it has no reanimation but the Whip-coils ability to combo with scarabs and destroyer lords for truely nasty close combat devastation more then makes up for it. If wraith's aren't your thing theres always the Overlords/Necron Lords with shackle scarabs/Weave, Ctan or lychguard. Just dont use Preatorians. to fragile and to expensive


Praetorians are not bad at all. Voidblade/Particle Caster gives them 3 attacks on the charge, so even a squad of 5 gets 5 pistol shots, then 15 attacks on a vehicle, and assuming 4+ to hit (though pistol shots can immobilize!) roughly 7 hits and 3-4 armour reduction from Entropic Strike. Those 7 hits at strength 5 can now pen even a Land Raider or Monolith if you made at least 4 of the Entropic rolls, and if they don't pen, you can now shoot it with just about anything that isn't a bolter and break it. And that's not taking into account the rending of the voidblades.

I agree that Wraiths are better at infantry CC (insane, actually), but Praetorians have a lot more versatility. Toughness 5 and Reanimation maybe don't quite equal the 3+ invuln and 2 wounds on the Wraiths, but it's not that much worse! They both still get instakilled by missiles! 

In very large (Apocalypse, even) style games, I think units of Praetorians with Rods of Covenant become very useful as specifically Terminator hunters, having one of the few AP2 weapons in the game that the full unit can take and fire every turn. 6" range is weak, but with more points it becomes less taxing to try and take them. But I think it's always right to take VB/PC in regular size games.


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

Day2Dan said:


> First of all, Destroyer Lords are ridiculously good. Second court is something you would only really utilize at a 1750+ point game, and at the cost of playing double lord and cryptek in units, you are missing out on fielding a lot more bodies or some better heavy support. A Destroyer Lord with Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe, and Sempiternal Weave costs 160 and has 4 attacks on the charge at 7 strength, no saves allowed, with reroll to hit anything but vehicles, and 2d6 to pen vehicles. He's got 6 toughness and a 2+ armor save, and one model has at worst a 50% chance of not attacking you and hitting itself. Plus, it can move 12". It's essentially all the benefit of a Monstrous Creature with wings, plus rerolling to hit and Mindshackle. Oh yeah, and it has ever living...
> 
> Try one out sometime, even proxy it. Keep him safe until he reaches the back line of the enemy, every turn he tears up a vehicle, small unit, or IC and his hard to stop outside of a 30 boyz charge or something (and that you can certainly work around).
> 
> ...


Hmm, lots of repeating of the codex. Very tedious.
Just to be sure, you do realise that Warscythes have changed and no longer ignore invulnerable saves?

At 160pts he takes up a slot that belongs to a Phaeron. 2 Royal Courts is useful at any point level, as it can be the only way to get enough umph into a basic Troop unit. It lets you have multiples of wargear and fine tune an army.

I'd only do use a Destroyer Lord if the entire list was built around the theme. Probably with Wraiths.


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## Day2Dan (Sep 30, 2011)

darklove said:


> Hmm, lots of repeating of the codex. Very tedious.
> Just to be sure, you do realise that Warscythes have changed and no longer ignore invulnerable saves?
> 
> At 160pts he takes up a slot that belongs to a Phaeron. 2 Royal Courts is useful at any point level, as it can be the only way to get enough umph into a basic Troop unit. It lets you have multiples of wargear and fine tune an army.
> ...


I respectfully disagree with your position, and I'm sorry you find my "repeating of the codex" to be tedious. I usually find arguments to be more effective when the rules and numbers which back my position are stated. You do have the option, of course, to not read the post if it's so taxing on you. Speaking as you are, though, is not going to make you any friends.

Yes, I know how Warscythes work. Putting more "umph" into basic troop units is probably not the most efficient use of points when the unit size is lowered due to lower point totals. A 12 man squad is barely any harder to wipe out than a 10 man squad. Putting them with Immortals who can last longer is better, but if you can afford 2 HQ and multiple 10 man immortals + courts, you're either going to lose a low point game or you are playing a high point game, so my point stands.

And I don't think it's common to need more than 1 Phaeron - your only rapid fire options are Warriors, which are generally on the weaker side of things, Immortals with Gauss Blasters, and Deathmarks, who you are going to deepstrike to kill their prey immediately and thus can't have an IC join them. Tesla is a good alternative to Gauss Blasters which doesn't require you to invest points in a Phaeron, so unless AP4 is a priority (you're playing...only Nids or something?), or you are playing multiple 20 man warrior squads because you are masochistic, then it's more cost effective to stick with Tesla Immortals and save the points for Annihilation Barges, Wraiths, and Scarabs which are your best units.


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## georgebob (Feb 21, 2012)

I find that res orb lords with max warriors or max immortals works great. I had a great doubles game where I ran a footslogging necron army vs tau and gk at 1500pts. My main units were a 20 man warrior squad and a 10 man immortal squad with resorb lords and a triarch stalker. The combo of a triarch stalker with 20 necron warrior shots makes for a lot of hits let me tell you!


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## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 2 Dan, i don't know what codex you are reading to be honest. 2 royal courts are almost essential, because being able to force 2 turns of night gight on an enemy can be crippling. Phaerons are useful if you feel like running large immortal squads with blasters. Putting combat umph into a shite combat unit is useful, because it can stop you from taking that leadership test at -6, reducing it to around -2 or -3. Praetorians blow. They are horrifically bad. wow, 3 rending attacks! with entropic strike!. No, you get a better, more mobile assault unit with entropic strike in scarabs. Praetorians need to sit out competitive play


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