Librarian vs Chaplain

[mercer]

I'm debating on taking either a chaplain or a librarian in my army. I currently use a chaplain in terminator armour with my thunder hammer terminators, gives a nasty re-roll. Though after that the chaplain is just like a terminator with a power weapon and two wounds.

The librarian seems interesting, particularly with null zone which wouldn't allow invulnerable saves and with avenger or smite would add a little better shooting than the chaplain as mine takes a combi bolter.

What do you prefer, and why?

[Cryl]

I'm a big fan of a librarian, for a start you can give him a storm shield which combined with null zone and a CC power make him quite nasty. You also get a psychic hood which against some opponents will be worth its weight in gold. Gate of Infinity isn't so useful with TH/SS termies but with other squads the ability to bounce around the board picking off units and (paired with troops) taking objectives is very useful.

My TH/SS guys always have a SS equiped libby with nullzone and something else. Works very nicely. The chappy giving rerolls to hit on the charge is good too but the libby is overall better imo.

of course your mileage may vary.

[sirrouga]

I personally like the Librarian more than the Chappy, Chaplains are amazingly great at charging the enemy but after that then they aren't that special and trend to just get singled out and killed. When you see a Chaplain on the table, you know exactly what he there to do and are either going to be with assault termies or assault squads.

Librarians have much more variety to them and help just any unit out. While not psychic power is great, they have a decent selection to make the same model work differently in every game to keep opponents guessing. They are pretty poor in close combat but I think their versatility in the rest of the game makes them a better choice for a "generic" overview without taking in the rest of the army.

The only exceptions in my Chappy VS Librarian opinion would be if you play against armies that have a lot of anti-psyker stuff or if we were talking about a Blood Angels army, then you can't have enough Chaplains!

[mercer]

Some good points.

I think the chaplain is more of a benefit and advantage for the right unit, but once you've charged in the chaplain only brings fearless to the table - which I don't like and terminators are ld9 anyway.

Libby can be more a a extra model, though depending on the powers can be more of a utility to a unit i.e null zone.

[RocketRollRebel]

Both are useful and cheap choices for a 2nd HQ. I've seen quite a bit of TH/SS assault terminators with a Null Zone and SS Librarian and it seems to work out nicely for people.

[The AKH]

They are both extremely useful, but with very different applications. The Chaplain (either termie armoured or, my preferred build, with a jump pack) adds a lot of assault punch to the unit they join. Really, with the rerolls from Litanies of Battle there shouldn't be any enemies left. If you play a very direct, assaulty army, the Chaplain is a great choice.

The Librarian is definitely more of a support character - great at bolstering firebases, or adding a slightly mobile element to a gunline by using Gate of Infinity with some Sternguard. The one advantage to the Librarian is that they are slightly more versatile than the Chaplain.

[Chumbalaya]

I prefer the Librarian for the psychic defense and the win that is Null Zone. Chaplains are useful too, but I'd pick a Librarian first every time.

[DarkLink]

The Chaplain is really only good if you can stick him in a hard-hitting assault unit, like Assault Terminators. Otherwise, his special ability doesn't do anything.

So if you have a good assault unit to stick him in, go for it. Otherwise, definitely the Librarian.

[Brosef Stalin]

I usually use a Terminator Librarian as my HQ choice; he's amazing. Last game I played he wiped out three Deffkoptas with one Vortex of Doom. The game before that, two Leman Russes (that's kinda difficult to pluralize) using a drop pod and Might of the Ancients. Let's see a Chaplain do that!

[Mycroft Holmes]

Chaplain Cassius is your best choice. T6 with a 3+/4++ and FNP makes him better than a Terminator Chaplain in all but a few very tiny cases; he's also 5pts cheaper than a Termy Chap.

If you like running a Chaplain with squads out of a LRaider; might I suggest Khan? I've actually learned to love this character and he provides Furious Charge to any unit he joins. This makes a 5 man squad of assualt Termies w/ Lighting Claws Int and Str 5 on the charge.