Spirit leech any good?

[jimmyp]

Hello everyone, been noticing recently people using the zoanthrope Brood with the neurothrope add on in lots of games...heard people even say spirit leeched should be warp charge 2 not 1 "overpowered wtf"
Has anyone had lots of success with this unit? Is the spirit leech power really that effective?
I have two old zoanthrope models which look great, tempted to either buy the new kit for 30 quid or look for another old fine cast and convert it up to look more neurothrope style...

[Kark]

Spirit leech is better psychic shriek as You can get some warp charge back.

Problem is that only neurothrope knows it and access to such power costs 175pts. To be more effective brood with Neurothrope needs tyrannocyte, so that is 250pts. I used pair of such unit but pts cost is big factor also unit drops, do the leech and blast, next turn it usually dies.

Better to take flyrant at this cost.

[jimmyp]

Sept 19, 2015 4:46:54 GMT Kark said:

Spirit leech is better psychic shriek as You can get some warp charge back.

Problem is that only neurothrope knows it and access to such power costs 175pts. To be more effective brood with Neurothrope needs tyrannocyte, so that is 250pts. I used pair of such unit but pts cost is big factor also unit drops, do the leech and blast, next turn it usually dies.

Better to take flyrant at this cost.

Totally agree that they need tyrannocyte to actually get within range...
Yeah it would prob get shot to pieces even with 3+ inv save...
Such a shame it always comes back to our bread and butter units seem better cost effective for our army.

Thanks for input and tips mate

[herpderpington]

I have had somewhat good luck with running Nurothropes both in and outside of pods and are imo somewhat useful for killing things like belakor/daemon princes that have invisibility and a 2+ jink do to shadow reducing their leadership ...also the odd chance where today I had one account for three squads of wraithguard my opponent rolled a 14-16 every time on the 3d6 test so I feel like life leech can really pay off in some situations with some luck or psyker hunting.

[Kark]

Spirit leech is a witchfire power, so You have to hit first. Invisible targets will only hit on 6s, I hardly think that is effective against psykers either as they can deny on 5s and sometimes on 4s because of higher mastery level.

Invisible deathstars or units can be handled by terror from the deep or vector strikes as well. Both things ignores cover and armour saves. Using flyrants, hive crones and mawlocs is more cost effective.

[renko]

Sept 21, 2015 4:02:00 GMT Kark said:

Spirit leech is a witchfire power, so You have to hit first. Invisible targets will only hit on 6s, I hardly think that is effective against psykers either as they can deny on 5s and sometimes on 4s because of higher mastery level.

Invisible deathstars or units can be handled by terror from the deep or vector strikes as well. Both things ignores cover and armour saves. Using flyrants, hive crones and mawlocs is more cost effective.

We houseruled it that you don't need to roll to hit because there is no weapon profile. Because, without a profile you can't know if it is a assault or heavy weapon and how many shots are fired.
At miniwargaming they discussed this a while back and maked a poll about it. The majority voted that you don't need to roll to hit. Some actually argued that you need to roll to hit as per witchfire power but that the power goes off even if you miss.

What do you guys think? I think that there are enough things that can stop the power and a roll to hit makes it very unreliable. First get the power off, enemy can deny, roll 3d6 minus leadership and if there are wounds you can take invuls. That is hardly a guarantee nor OP.

[renko]

Same as for psychic screech and that malefactor power.

[nurglitch]

It's kind of interesting how being a witchfire makes many psychic powers worse than a straight-up weapon equivalent.

[gigasnail]

Well, house ruling it makes it go from totally useless to maybe marginally useable.

Rest of us probably still stuck with it being horrid.

[renko]

What for profile do you use then? Is it assault or a heavy witchfire shooting attack?

[gigasnail]

assault or heavy makes no difference. It fires once with the firing model's BS skill and if you hit you proceed with the effects like it tells you to do in the witch fires section. There's really not much to dress this one up.

[renko]

The power says that the Targeted Unit (not the Hit Models) make a Leadership Check and then take Wounds accordingly. The number of models hit have no bearing on the number of wounds done or the outcome of the power. Technically, you *should* roll To Hit because it's a Witchfire power, but then you completely ignore the Result and the opponent makes a Leadership Check.

[Kark]

Oct 6, 2015 20:30:11 GMT renko said:

The power says that the Targeted Unit (not the Hit Models) make a Leadership Check and then take Wounds accordingly. The number of models hit have no bearing on the number of wounds done or the outcome of the power. Technically, you *should* roll To Hit because it's a Witchfire power, but then you completely ignore the Result and the opponent makes a Leadership Check.

I can't agree with this,

Spirit leech:

Spirit Leech is a witchfire power that targets a non-vehicle enemy unit within 18". That unit must take a Leadership test on 3D6. If the test is failed, the enemy unit suffers 1 Wound for each point the test was failed by, with no armour or cover saves allowed.

and similar

Psychic shriek:

Psychic Shriek is a witchfire power with a range of 18". Roll 3D6 and subtract the target’s Leadership – the target unit suffers a number of Wounds equal to the result. Armour and cover saves cannot be taken against Wounds caused by Psychic Shriek.

Purge soul:

Purge Soul is a focussed witchfire power with a range of 24". Both the Psyker and the target model roll a D6 and add their respective Leadership values. If the target’s total is greater than the Psyker’s total, nothing happens. If the Psyker’s total is greater than or equal to the target’s total, the target model suffers an automatic Wound with no armour or cover saves allowed. Purge Soul has no effect on vehicles.


Following Your interpretation, I don't need to hit with either psychic shriek or purge soul. You can of course houserule anything You want, but in tournament play, You have to hit with witchfire powers first and then make ld tests.

[renko]

I emailed gw about it and I hope to get a clarification. If I'm lucky in having a response I surely let you guys know!

[gigasnail]

This has been done to death already, there isn't a lot new (or anything, really) to cover. Be nice if GW would FAQ this, but they don't do those anymore.