Why aren't Shock Cannon Hive Guard in Tyranocytes used more?

[voltaire26]

They seem to math out decently well against T8 Vehicle units and the new spell for Kronos seems like it could benefit them a ton too. Granted, its not going to one shot a knight, but it will certainly tier put the hurt on it! I haven't seen anyone doing this, and granted I haven't tried it myself, but I was wondering if there was a glaring problem that I was missing.

[acehilator]

Impalers do the same from across the map, without the need to spend 75 points on a Tcyte. Synapse can also be a problem, if you really wanted to capitalize on the freedom of placement the Tcyte offers. And they will probably only get one round of shooting.

[No One]

Basically, it's a one and done deal. Which isn't exactly appealing when you're paying...what, near on 300 pts for the whole thing? It's definitely not bad: it was occasionally mucked about with in Jorm with ravs, and the price drop on t-cytes makes it a bit more appealing. But still, impalers also got a drop and are better in basically any situation where they can hide and survive.

[v0iddrgn]

I like my Shockguard, I find them very lethal in a ton of situations. They should benefit greatly with Enhanced Resistance now with Jorm for 3+ saves.

[kazetanade]

Shock Cannon problem is how swingy they are. With 2 units, You will absolutely blast a Knight away one shooting phase, the next they'll barely scratch the paint.

The fact it's also a suicide drop, makes this extremely unappealing due to how inconsistent it is.

[gigasnail]

that was my problem with them. the random number of shots was ass.

[v0iddrgn]

YMMV I guess. I can live with that since I have more than threat in my list.

[gigasnail]

everyone has more than that as a threat in their lists. but when a very expensive chunk of your list underperforms two turns in a row, it's not a good look. the random factor is really a (please do not swear) mechanic. MY WEAPONS SUDDENLY DO 1/3 MORE OR LESS DAMAGE FOR NO REASON FROM TURN TO TURN, OH, THE HUMANITY!! THE TABLETOP DRAMA!! MUCH EXCITE!! yeah, no.

with costs on things dropping, there's no reason not to try to fit them in if you have the models already. jorm taxi delivery got cheaper, too. might be worth another look.

[v0iddrgn]

The random number of shots mechanic replaced the shoddy blast templates from previous editions. I much rather have D3 shots than a template hitting a vehicle for a total of 1 hit. I get that competitive players can't stomach random mechanics but that's their problem. Randomness for randomness sake is bad but random mechanics are inherent in this game period, sorry.

[gigasnail]

we know. they're still garbage mechanics.

[N.I.B.]

But randh00M is FUN! What if your opponent didn't bring any scary vehicles, haha you can both laugh at the situation. Yeah, and you don't need to bother about them doing anything in the first turn which speeds up your game I guess, and you don't need to worry about them after turn 2 when they are lit up after their one turn of shooting either.

[kazetanade]

Facts are facts though. Shock Cannon is only good against Vehicles of T7 or lower, shorter range, and requires LOS. Its just inferior to the Impaler, especially since Impaler just got price drops to be nearly same points.

[xtztxtxz]

Dec 4, 2019 8:39:20 GMT kazetanade said:

Facts are facts though. Shock Cannon is only good against Vehicles of T7 or lower, shorter range, and requires LOS. Its just inferior to the Impaler, especially since Impaler just got price drops to be nearly same points.

The mortal wound mechanic sorta compensates for S7 as it can do damage even when the weapon profile doesn't, especially against stuff with an invuln. 

At some point I'll probably run a Jormungandr list with shockcannons as that psychic power seems perfect for these guys. Single-minded Annihilation will double the benefit from the rerolls, and the unit can have a 2+ save in the open with an adaptation. Average rolls should kill a Repulsor outright or cripple a Knight. Definitely not the worst investment of 230pts.

I do find the current point costs hard to justify though. If I was writing CA, I would have left Impaler Cannons as they were and dropped Shockcannons by at least 5pts. That way at least you're getting a nice discount for putting the unit in harm's way. 

[hiveoverall]

Yeah I just don’t get GW on this one. They have old models « Impaler only » so if they had dropped the price on shock cannons (I thought they were gonna go down by like 10 points each, i was very surprised when I saw what they had done...) it would have been an incentive to buy the new models. Instead, they drop on Impaler, which is an incentive to keep the old models...
Another reason why with GW, never attribute to malice what can be put down to incompetence

[kelermorph]

This is similar to how bullgryns stayed the same cost while ogryn got a points increace. Literally how?