Codex Necrons has had some time out in the wild, and it’s now time for the traditional FAQ pass. Initial Codex FAQ passes tend to just focus on errataing things that are actually broken or unclear text wise, but this is one of those times where a particularly pushed combo has received a stern (and here, essentially fatal) look, and it also contains an FAQ answer that’s a bit surprising, and gives a pretty handy boost to some other options. Quite impactful, despite only having four entries, so let’s take a look.

You can see the FAQ document here.

Errata

Cynosure of Eradication is now CANOPTEK/CRYPTEK Only

This is the big one – as printed in the book, you could activate Cynosure of Eradication for Devastating Wounds on any CRYPTEK unit, which included Immortals or Warriors being lead by one. Turns out that Immortals that often had full hit and wound re-rolls, and could get critical hits on 5+ were probably not something that it was safe to hand Devastating Wounds to, averaging 12 critical wounds to any target, which is substantailly outside the bounds that similar abilities have historically set (3 or 6 Mortal Wounds was the normal cap in 9th).

This is now just flat gone – the Devastating Wounds only applies to CRYPTEK and CANOPTEK models in the affected unit, which makes this mostly a dead stratagem in the immediate term. It was definitely too good with Immortals, especially as you could stack an Overlord in there to use it for free, but almost anywhere you can now use it is not worth 2CP. Maybe you occasionally use it with Wraiths you’ve put the Hyperphasic Fulchrum on, but that’s about it.

This obviously significantly weakens the Canoptek Court, though doesn’t kill it outright – the tricks it enables with Wraiths are still very good, and full hit and wound re-roll Immortals are still a good unit, but it’s certainly closer to others on power now, especially as the FAQ answers help some other detachments.

Territorial Obsession Actually Works

The Keywords on the Obeisance Phalanx’s Territorial Obsession ability have been fixed, so it now works as intended, allowing both Triarch Praetorians and Stalkers to benefit.

FAQ Answers

Hit Re-rolls for Destroyers and Conquering Tyrants

This one is the surprising one, because if you’d asked us we might have ruled the other way, and this ends up as a fairly hefty buff for Lokhust Destroyers and the Awakened Dynasty detachment.

Both Lokhust Destroyers and the Protocol of the Conquering Tyrant Stratagem from the detachment provided hit re-rolls of 1 (against the closest target for Destroyers, within half range for the stratagem), or full hit re-rolls instead with a different condition (target on an objective for Destroyers, being lead by a character for the Stratagem).

From the wording, it looked like you needed to meet both conditions to trigger the full hit re-rolls, but the FAQ says no – if you meet the latter condition, you get full hit re-rolls regardless of whether the first is met.

This is very strong, as it means Protocol now works at full range for units lead by a Character (good for both Wraiths and Reaper Warriors), and Destroyers can always go ham on a target that’s on an objective even if there’s some chaff sitting closer. Expect this to raise the stocks of the Awakened Dynasty and Hypercrypt Legion, bringing them more on par with the Court.

Cosmic Precision Really Does Do That

As worded, Cosmic Precision works on a unit that’s been pulled with Hyperphasing to allow them to set up anywhere on the battlefield outside of 3″ of the opponent’s units, even though they’d normally be following the Strategic Reserves rule and have to be within 6″ of the board edge. The FAQ confirms that this is intended, so you can manifest the Nightbringer amidst your opponent’s forces to your metallic heart’s content. This is how we would have ruled this, but it’s good to have it confirmed.

The Verdict

Overall this does tone down the Necron book, but early indications are that there were viable options in both Hypercrypt Legion and Awakened Dynasty, and we’d already seen some a Canoptek Court build without any Immortals winning a major, so there’s still plenty to work with, especially thanks to the clarification on re-rolls ensuring that some other key strategies work consistently between events. Taking out the Cynosure combo was also probably the correct choice for the health of the game, as it’s the kind of thing that people get very bored with very fast. RIP, of course, to anyone who’s just finished painting 30 Immortals, and RIP to the people who get Cynosured this weekend, as we’re past rules cutoffs for most events, but otherwise Necrons are still looking fine.

Have any questions or feedback? Was there something the FAQ/errata missed you think they should have addressed? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.