Helldrakes: A Philosophical Analysis

[Caitsidhe]

As most of us are aware, about the only decent model in the Chaos Space Marine book was the Helldrake. It was good, too good for many and brought on endless complaints. Most of us CSM Players had to grit our teeth. It didn't make any difference to other people that the rest of our book was garbage. We were demonized for using the one bone they threw us. Even so, most CSM players kept Helldrake use within reason. I, myself, usually only put one on the table and at tournaments I might plop down two. Now we gaze upon 7th Edition and the Faqs have already curtailed the chief complaint against our dragons. They no longer have a 360 fire arc. The rejoicing can begin. The word has spread far and wide that the Helldrakes are neutered. You hear it most often from non-CSM players and now and then from a few guys angry when anything they use gets a change. I have listed a few of the important limiting changes below:

1. As mentioned above, they now only have a forward firing arc.
2. All fliers have a chance of being blown out of the sky by a grounding test of sorts of which failure means instant death.

Of course most people fail to discuss some of the beneficial changes as well.

1. Nobody gets to complain anymore. What everyone CLAIMED was wrong with the Helldrake has been fixed per their request. So use them, as many as you like.
2. Anti-Tank weaponry took a hit with the new chart. While you can still be hulled, the Helldrake sports an AR-12 in most places and is thus fairly solid.
3. Helldrakes benefit from the new Jink in the air or hovering. If you are really afraid of being destroyed, you have as good a cover save as anyone generally.
4. Helldrakes score by dropping into Hover now. They are really good at getting to objectives and liquidating anything there that might have contested them.
5. Helldrakes are AWESOME in hover.

Let me put #5 in perspective. The Helldrake compares favorably to most Skimmers in the game in that it has a solid armor rating, is not open-topped, has a nifty Invulnerable save, can use the Jink like everyone else if you need more, and can vector strike very effectively. It has the Torrent Weapon in the air or on the ground. As a Skimmer this means it can move 12" Torrent out the Template another 12" and still hit targets beyond that. The Dark Eldar and Eldar would kill for a Skimmer that had that gun.

There are new things to play with of course. If you add psychic powers to the mix (which I have done to test) a hovering Helldrake benefits from being Shrouded if you cast it. On the off chance they do need to Jink, why not give them the ability to do so at a ridiculous level? An invisible Helldrake is quite durable while hovering around (I have done this to both a Helldrake and a Defiler now... both to hilarious effect). I'm not going to linger on Psychic powers too long because they are an add on. It just bears mentioning that there are options if you are afraid to hover.

My point is that you shouldn't be any more worried about hovering than those people who use Skimmers all the time. You are better off than most of them and if they can do it, so can you. The scuttlebutt is that the reduced firing arc has neutered the dragon. I'll be happy to go along with that notion if it helps people sleep at night. So far, my own play testing, has not led me to that conclusion. It became apparent to me that the 360 degree firing arc was nice if I wanted to be lazy, but it was never required to hit the targets I needed to hit. So far, on the off chance I have not been able to stay in the air and barbecue people, I've just dropped out of it to turn as I like.

[The Tisroc]

I am one of those players that think the Helldrake went from being overpowered and undercosted to being a completely reasonable model. In VIIth Edition it does only one vector strike against a ground target (not multiple) and can no longer barbeque everyone behind it after having flown over it. Also, the teardrop template now originates from the head and needs to be aimed in the front arc. I now like the Helldrake instead of hate it and look forward to seeing you field more than one of them going forward.

I always appreciated that you limited yourself to only one of these things per game during our VIth Edition games. I thought that was quite sporting of you, John. You shan't hear me complain about the Helldrake in VIIth.

Cheers.

PS Only decent unit? I think not! Plague Marines and Oblits have always been as hard as nails. The Defiler rocks, as does the Black Mace Nurgle Demon Prince. I'm a Tyranid player and you can cry me a river about your codex being underpowered! :P

[Caitsidhe]

PS Only decent unit? I think not! Plague Marines and Devestators have always been as hard as nails. The Soul Grinder rocks, as does the Black Mace Nurgle Demon Prince. I'm a Tyranid player and you can cry me a river about your codex being underpowered! :P

Plague Marines got weaker in 6th Edition with their Feel No Pain dropping to a 5+ (without any reduction in cost). They remain good but they were not anything new. The Defiler got priced pretty much off the table. Obliterators already existed too. I grant it was nice that they gave us the Assault Cannon back and the ability to get a Toughness-5, but these things do not a Codex make. I love my Black Mace Nurgle Daemon Prince, but I will point out that the Daemon Prince was better overall in 5th Edition too. It got weaker and FAR MORE EXPENSIVE.

The vast majority of entries in the CSM Codex don't see the table because they are just awful... awful.

[Voltigeur]

I only ran one drake during 6th. It was crazy good to an extent that it was silly how much damage it could do. I think that now it's as powerful as it should be considering the point cost. Though it is a shame that the rest of the codex is rather lackluster.

[marful]

The vast majority of entries in the CSM Codex don't see the table because they are just awful... awful.

Such as:
Mutilators (maximum suck)
Non Crimson Slaughter Possessed (maximum suck)
Helbrutes (lol)
Khorne Beserkers (retarded)
Thousand Sons (overcosted)
Chosen (sooo overcosted)
Warp Talons (lel)

[daboarder]

Such as:
Mutilators (maximum suck)
Non Crimson Slaughter Possessed (maximum suck)
Helbrutes (lol)
Khorne Beserkers (retarded)
Thousand Sons (overcosted)
Chosen (sooo overcosted)
Warp Talons (lel)

Basic csm's....

[Caitsidhe]

Basic csm's....

On very rare occasion I've used them. They pretty much are marginal.

[daboarder]

I dont think the FAQ destroyed heldrakes, BUT it was unnecessarily harsh in my opinion. Pre-the old FAQ the two camps were actually 360 and 180, no one suggested 45. (or at least no one who didnt just hate the concept and think that CSM were OP) its just too restrictive and most importantly makes no sense at all. This thing is a mechanical dragon and its rules are intended to make it somewhere between a vehicle and a MC and a 45 hull mount just does not reflect that

[Kristopholes]

I agree with you completely Caitsidhe. In 6th edition I thought the 360 degrees was a little ridiculous and to be "sportsmanlike" i reduced it to 180 degrees on the reg so my fellow players wouldn't cry so much. I field two Heldrakes on the reg and in 7th edition they haven't really lost any effectiveness that I've seen. Boohoo I only get one hit on ground targets but now its AP 2? Awesome. Say goodbye to your flyers. I haven't even been using that many psychic powers yet and they're still tough in hover.

[Caitsidhe]

I dont think the FAQ destroyed heldrakes, BUT it was unnecessarily harsh in my opinion. Pre-the old FAQ the two camps were actually 360 and 180, no one suggested 45. (or at least no one who didnt just hate the concept and think that CSM were OP) its just too restrictive and most importantly makes no sense at all. This thing is a mechanical dragon and its rules are intended to make it somewhere between a vehicle and a MC and a 45 hull mount just does not reflect that

Well it really depends on how they clarify further. The Helldrake uses a template (as we all know) which means the bottom end of the template must entirely be within the dragon's forward arc. The part extending outwards (which cannot angle back toward the dragon) doesn't have to be within that arc. This affords the dragon a nice forward arc. I am not extrapolating here as this is how all people have been using their templates for years. It may be clarified further, but for now the dragons aren't too bad for shooting forward, simulating a 180 degrees pretty well.