# Is the wave serpent the best transport in 40k



## The Irish Commissar (Jan 31, 2012)

Now I'm talking about tanks not flyers or huge things like land raiders. More like rhinos and raiders. To me the wave serpent is the best with good armour and good shooting combined with great movement and survivability. Id to see if people agree or if the can come with reasons as to why such a tank is better. This is just for fun so enjoy


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## Ddraig Cymry (Dec 30, 2012)

I'm not sure if it's the best, but the Chimera gets my vote. 55pt AV12? Sweet. Let's any six units inside shoot their guns from the hatch? Hello drive by meltas!


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

I don't know a world about Wave Serpents, but if you want a fair comparison wouldn't you want to include everything? Sure, LR's are beefy in armour, but they are way expensive for points and if you're not playing BA likely take up a heavy support option. Same with flier transports, sure they rule for mobility (I'm thinking of the Night Scythe here, what a jerk) but they sure do have their drawbacks that might still keep the Wave Serpent on the ups overall.

When I get home I'll creep an online dex and answer with more post related detail later.

EDIT: yeah, Chimeras ruin days.


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## iamtheeviltwin (Nov 12, 2012)

If you are talking Dedicated transports...Chimeras, Devilfish, and you have to include the Nightscythes. Both are good comparisons to the Wave Serpent as a transport.

Now if you are talking about the light tank abilities, then the Wave Serpent excels at that role, but for quite a hefty price tag for a transport that is not a flyer.

If you want to throw out non-dedicated transports then the Land Raider does it's job well. AV14 all around and an assault vehicle to boot. It will almost certainly get it's cargo there in one piece.

All that said the Wave Serpent is at the top of the pile.


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## Archon Dan (Feb 6, 2012)

The Wave Serpent is good. But I would actually go with the Ghost Ark for a Dedicated Transport. Sure, it limits who can ride in it, but is slightly cheaper than a Wave Serpent for 1 better AV on all sides. It's open-topped, so the passengers can defend it. And if you are carrying 10 Warriors, it can pump out 40 Gauss shots if you're in Rapid-fire range. And let's not forget that it replenishes nearby Warrior squads.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

Scatter laser serpents are very very good. So good in fact that IMO they completely neuter one of the Eldar Heavies, the falcon.

Their speed, enhanced jink, shield and super long range tsunami wave makes them a great unit. They are not cheap though.

That said the Nightsycthe is probably better, just because its a flyer and so cheap. The Chimera is cheap as well but far more vulnerable


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

I'd say the Rhino's the best. The Wave Serpent is the best tank with a transport capacity, but as a transport, you can't beat the 35pt Rhino to get you from a to b. Sometimes, you just want a transport to transport, which a Rhino does at an extremely low points cost.

Sure, power-wise and as a tool, the Wave Serpent's the best purely because of it's heavy armament, but for specifically transport purposes, Rhinos are hard to beat.

Midnight


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## LordIchor (Jun 20, 2012)

best transport is rhino... best 'Tank' that isn't a 'Tank' is the waveserpent, but is 2/3 times more expensive (don't have a codex out)... and buy far the best mix of the two is a chimera.. but again it is something in nothing


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## The Irish Commissar (Jan 31, 2012)

Well let's open it for all transports then. (including flyers). lets start which is best from getting a unit from a to b without killing itself or its passengers. Later we can go for survivability and power


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Yes, yes it is.

130pts buys you 9-14 S6/S7 shots all twin linked, some with Rending, some with Ignore Cover and Pinning.

For comparison, a BA Dev squad only puts out 4 S8 shots for exactly the same price, but isn't a Fast Skimmer AV12 Tank with 3HP and a 5++ just for moving that doesn't take up a FoC slot.

If you put an equal amount of points of Serpents and Chimeras on the table, I guarantee you that the Chimeras would roll over with very few losses to the Serpents.

The only other serious contender for the title is the Night Scythe - which isn't really fair considering that Flyers are in their own category of overpoweredness even without recourse to the stupidity that is the rules for embarking/disembarking from the Scythe. Sure, they're powerful and almost impossible to kill in multiples, but Serpents are on the table from turn 1, can move freely, put out more firepower, and have more weapons, so I'd rather have them.


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## LordIchor (Jun 20, 2012)

Sethis said:


> If you put an equal amount of points of Serpents and Chimeras on the table, I guarantee you that the Chimeras would roll over with very few losses to the Serpents.


this is true... but you can get just over two chimera per waveserpent... and remember we are on about transport here, so you will want to keep the cost down?!
just as a side thought along the lines of cost of a waveserpent... you could get leman russ battle tanks for 20pts more... two predator battle tanks for that much... or a predator and two rhino etc..
waveserpents are good but I cant just justify 130pts in my mind for a transport....

and even if it was settled by a 5 serpents vs 650pts worth of other transports, there are many that would put them to shame..

it is down to the player and whether he/she wants a transport that cannot do anything else (rhinos im looking at you) or a 'Tank' that can fulfil other battlefield roles other than carrying troops from A to B (waveserpent, LR etc.) or a multipurpose flier transport (stormraven, vendetta/valk and scythes) the more effective they are at things other than transporting the pricier they become...


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## Styro-J (Jan 20, 2009)

If you want to judge it on just being a transport... Ok, yes its more expensive than just about any other transport. But for that cost it can go further than just about anything, get a 3+ cover save when going flat out, and thanks to the serpent shield you don't really even need to worry about the explosion result wrecking half the unit. Also, a transport is only as important as its cargo and the Serpent can carry some of the scariest things out there.

As a fighting tank, it rules the mid-strength shots field, is pretty darn durable with its plethora of rules, and is mobile enough to be a threat from many facings. Comparing the firepower to other transports is really an unfair game as most have either a single strong shot or a couple weak ones. Only the Night Scythe really stands up to it thanks to being a flyer.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

LordIchor said:


> and remember we are on about transport here, so you will want to keep the cost down?! [...] I cant just justify 130pts in my mind for a transport....


It's not a transport. It's a main battle tank that just happens to carry some guys. If I could buy them in my Fast Attack slot I'd do that too. :grin:


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## The Irish Commissar (Jan 31, 2012)

To me I think there is no better transport going then the wave serpent. It's able to hold 12 eldar and has an armour of 12 12 10 and has great weaponry as base. It's shield helps in survivability and in attack. It has great speed and can even turn its weapons against flyers pretty well especially with scatter lasers


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## Moriouce (Oct 20, 2009)

Well, the Serpent is the best transport there is, atleast for an Eldar playing style. No one would like to have Serpents for their ork etc. The only drawback the Serpent has is it's anti-psyker capabilities, and that only turns on one self. I wonder why the Eldar build tanks that inhibit their main strength? 

I think you need to look at it in two ways. Which transport brings most to any army, if it could be taken and which transport inhibit their specific army least. 

Best overall transport I say is the Land Raider. Huge transport, strong armour, assult vehicle, machine spirit... Even as an eldar you would not mind have a squad of Banshees or Scorpions rush out of one of those.


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## Ravner298 (Jun 3, 2011)

Serpents shield basically says you have to glance the serpent to death to disable it. What other transport has this kind of defensive power? Save a land raider? That and it has a staggering amount of high str shooting. Not overpowered tough because of the price tag, but they are obnoxious to deal with certainly.


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## Archon Dan (Feb 6, 2012)

Moriouce said:


> I think you need to look at it in two ways. Which transport brings most to any army, if it could be taken and which transport inhibit their specific army least.


Based on that criteria, I still say the Ghost Ark is better. The Nightscythe might still be better but in a different role. But the Ghost Ark only inhibits Necrons by what it can carry. Otherwise, it is open-topped, so passengers can shoot out. It repairs nearby Warriors. The 2 weapons it has can fire at seperate targets and benefitt from the Gauss rule. A couple of these, with Warrior passengers will be wrecking other tanks quite a bit. Let's not forget it is 13 13 11 with *4 HP. * so arguably more survivable, especially if you fire the shield. Head-to-head, the Necrons don't even care about the shield, because they have to glance you to death anyway. Meanwhile, those of you maximizing S6 and S7 shots aren't that scary to the Ark. S6 does nothing and S7 only glances. So do you get the Bright Lance or Missile Launcher over the Scatter Laser? The only thing the Serpent has over the Ark is a better Jink, which increases cost.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

The biggest problem with a serpent though is that anyone inside is exposed on the turn they get out and most of the things you want inside are squishy, Give me an ork trukk or battlewagon all day long, Drive where you want pile out hit stuff, no messing around trying to work out where you can safely let out passengers just drop and go.


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## The Irish Commissar (Jan 31, 2012)

But try and get an work truck across the battlefield unharmed would be as use full as trying to send imperial ratlings across the bord on foot. All the wave serpent has to do is look at it with scatterlaser and shield and it explodes


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

How many ork trukks can you kill a turn though, for the cost you've payed for a waveserpent and a squad of aspect warriors I've got 3 maybe 4 trukks full of orks none of which take any particular finesse to use and merely have to deliver a single powerfist to tear the arse out of the wave serpent.


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## coke123 (Sep 4, 2010)

Sethis wins this thread.

The Night Scythe is the best transport. Being able to spam a flyer is retardedly good. Assuming we knock it out for being hands down the best unit in the game, then the Wave Serpent gets second place, mostly due to ridiculous output.


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