Necrons Complete Guide – Best Units, Detachments, Army Rules

Your standard big boss. They’ll give you passive Command Point discounts, tank damage like nobody’s business, and do short-range shooting, anti-elite melee, or anti-Monster melee.

They also come with a One-Shot anti-tank ranged attack which you can choose to exchange for a once-per-game boost to Reanimation Protocols.

Finally, they can swap the Damage-reduction passive for a mobility buff via the Translocation Shroud.

Little support tech-wizards that blow up suns in their spare time. They come in a variety of flavours, and each one offers buffs to their attached unit.

Use the Chronomancer to protect your Infantry, Technomancer to heal Wraiths and Vehicles, Plasmancer for buffing Immortals or Warriors, and Psychomancer for Battle-shock synergies.

You know your civilization is advanced when you capture the gods you used to worship and keep them as collectibles. The C’tan are very strong, very tough, and each one has a specialty.

The Deceiver lets you redeploy your units before the battle starts and can throw out some ranged damage with Precision and Devastating Wounds, The Nightbringer can kill anything in melee (up to and including Titanic models), and the Void Dragon shreds Vehicles and hordes regardless of distance.

You can also take a generic Transcendent C’tan, which is extra mobile and has Deep Strike. There are only two problems with these units: they are all appropriately expensive, and they are barred from being your Warlord or gaining Enhancements.

Your cheap mini-character, keeping the troops in line while your Overlord does Overlord things. Their attached unit can shoot and Charge after Falling Back, which will help them avoid being stuck in unproductive melees, and the Warden can stop a nearby unit from being Battle-shocked once per game.

Who has six limbs, Deep Strike, and Lone Operative? This absolute menace of a Character. Able to fire Overwatch for free once per turn, ignore shooting from beyond 12 inches, and shoot back at anyone who manages to close the distance, the Hexmark Destroyer might not win you games by itself, but it will make your opponent’s game much harder.

Your default troop choice, now slightly less durable than before. They put out consistent damage at range, and are still impressively difficult to shift if invested in. You’ll want to run them in units of 20 as often as possible.

Your upgraded objective-grabbers. They pack a punch at range with either weapon choice (though the Tesla Carbine is stronger on average) and synergize very well with any offensive buffs you give them.

Dirt cheap snipers with Deep Strike – what’s not to love? They can assassinate Characters, disrupt reinforcements, and capture objectives at the drop of a hat. A good unit for filling out the last few points in a list.

Cheap and deadly Infantry mulchers. The Flayed Ones get stronger as their enemies get weaker, so they’re good to throw into a combat you’re already winning. Otherwise, they’re your only unit with Infiltrate, so you can use them to take space, grab Objectives, and ward off enemy units with Infiltrate or Scout.

As if your Characters weren’t resilient enough, you can attach some Lychguard to make them truly unkillable. Armed with scary scythes or swords and shields, they are a solid melee unit who are only held back by their slow movement and lack of transport options.

Acting as the proverbial “hammer” to the Lychguard’s “anvil,” these melee Destroyers deal serious damage and have enough movement speed to get into the fray without needing much investment.

These big bugs may be the only non-Vehicle unit to rival Lychguard for sheer toughness. They lack some punch compared to the royal bodyguards but make up for it with speed and some light shooting. They can also be accompanied by a Technomancer for maximum durability.

Your top unit for hunting elite Infantry, such as Space Marines. They can fly around the board to get the perfect shooting angle and are great solo, or in large units.

The same as above but specialized for hunting either light Infantry (Enmitic Exterminator) or Vehicles and Monsters (Gauss Destructor). Very deadly, and easy for an opponent to ignore until it’s too late.

The big gun to end all big guns. Will absolutely annihilate anything you point it at, though it’s best for atomizing enemy tanks. If you can park it in place, the main gun gets even deadlier, adding Devastating Wounds to an already scary profile.

Two sides of the same coin: a big Walker that wants to march up alongside your main troops. The Doomstalker is good for killing heavy Infantry and light Vehicles, and the Reanimator buffs the Reanimation Protocols of nearby units. The Doomstalker can replace the Doomsday Ark for anti-tank in a Canoptic-heavy Detachment, and the Reanimator is solid in lists with lots of Infantry.

A reasonably-priced Aircraft that can transport one Infantry unit, regardless of size. If you need to reposition your forces, it can also beam up a friendly unit within six inches that isn’t currently in melee.

Huge, expensive, and legendarily tough. This iconic Necron pseudo-transport allows units in Reserves to appear anywhere within six inches of it and can pull friendly units who are currently on the battlefield into the same radius. Also puts out some respectable shooting, with the option to take Death Rays for anti-tank or Gauss Flux Arcs for anti-Infantry.

Keep in mind that this thing is Titanic, which changes how certain rules work.

Your only Dedicated Transport, which also functions as a support Vehicle for your Warriors. Doesn’t do a lot of damage, but is respectably tough, and can carry ten basic skeletons into the fray. Its main function is giving nearby Warriors a free Reanimation Protocols once per turn when they get shot, which further increases their durability.

Voted most likely to say “Arise, my minions!” The Awakened Dynasty wants their Characters to lead from the front, providing passive buffs to their attached units. Their Stratagems make you better at what you were already doing – surviving attacks and shooting back.

Necron Warriors, Immortals, Royal Wardens

Home to the monsters and outcasts, the Annihilation Legion wants to be up close and personal with their prey, cutting them down in close combat like wheat before a scythe. This Detachment has the narrowest application but can still be devastating in the right hands.

Flayed Ones, Skorpekh Destroyers, Ophydian Destroyers

This is where all the Crypteks and mindless Canoptek Constructs come to play. Gives the aforementioned units hefty buffs if you control multiple objectives and rewards you for using these esoteric units with solid buffs and nasty Stratagem tricks.

Keep in mind that any unit that a Cryptek joins gains the CRYPTEK Keyword.

Crypteks, Canoptek Wraiths, Canoptek Doomstalkers

Now you’re thinking with portals; you can constantly pull units off the board and into Reserves, then redeploy them where needed. Monoliths are great here, though they aren’t mandatory. Does a great job at countering one of the Necrons’ greatest weaknesses – their lack of mobility – and making them a very hard army to pin down.

Any, Monoliths

The undying Overlords and their loyal servants get to shine here, with your Detachment Ability allowing you to mark one enemy unit per turn to destroy with extreme prejudice. You may lack the numbers of a traditional Necron army, but each of your elite units can match blades with the best in the galaxy.

Overlords, Lychguard, Triarch Stalker