The Cults are blessed with several elite fighting units. But is it all just hack and slash, or are there a few more nuances to play around with?
The Cult codex has 22 datasheets to choose from. 11 of those, a full 50% of all our choices, are elite options. But only three of those eleven are broods – purestrain genestealers, hybrid metamorphs, and aberrants. Compared to our troops units (neophytes and acolytes), the elite broods are incredibly light on options: genestealers get no options at all; metamorphs can mess around with pistols, take an icon and upgrade the leader; and aberrants can swap in a road-sign on the hypermorph. And that’s it. So rather than break down options within each datasheet, it makes more sense to look at these three broods against each other.
ABERRANTS
Before we really get into it, let’s take a quick look at the limited options available, starting with aberrants. Here, the basic aberrant is always armed with a heavy power weapon. The hypermorph can take the heavy power weapon or the heavy improvised weapon at no extra cost – it’s a straight swap, in which we trade off strength, AP and damage to gain roll-over damage. But is it worth it?
(For this comparison, I’m going to run with my usual 36 evenly-distributed dice (because it helps to eliminate awkward fractions) – functionally, it’s the equivalent of running a hypermorph’s attack sequence 12 times.)
This one is pretty clear-cut, I feel. The improvised weapon is brilliant against light infantry (especially T3, where we wound on 2s) - the rolling damage comes into play, the low AP doesn’t matter so much, and in the example against Guard, the hypermorph is killing almost a model for every attack. But to take advantage of that, we’re going to have to waste the potential of the rest of the brood. Not ideal overall.
Once we move on to tougher opposition, the power weapon is superior. Even with the wasted damage against marines, the power weapon is so much more likely to land those damaging hits that it still out-performs the improvised weapon. And against something like a Russ, where rolling damage doesn’t matter, the power weapon is a clear winner. (Relatively speaking – the power weapon causes 0.5 wounds for every attack, meaning that a full brood of 10 aberrants, with 21 attacks, is likely to score 3 or 4 damaging hits, or 9-12 damage. They might take down a Russ in one go, but it’s not anywhere near a sure thing.)
On balance, stick to the heavy power weapon here.
METAMORPHS
We already looked at hand flamers when we covered acolytes – short version: hand flamers are better, and more points efficient. If you plan to shoot things, take them. The only other option here is on the leader. Do we stick with the metamorph mutations, or switch to the bonesword (for five points more). Either option can take the lashwhip, and probably should – we want metamorphs in combat (because if we only want them for shooting, then get acolytes instead – they’re cheaper and have Objective Secured), so improving the leader’s combat abilities for free seems a good plan.
(We’re working on base 36 again here, although in this case that’s the same as nine leaders at once.)
As is often the case, once we move to multi-wound targets, multi-wound weapons become much more valuable. Here, the bonesword does better against marines and the Russ for that reason. Against Guard, the options are evenly matched (both wound on 3s, both offer no save), but against a 4+ save, the mutations would be slightly better (due to AP-3), unless the target also had an invulnerable (like the AdMech 6++), when we’d be back to parity.
Given that the bonesword either matches or out-performs the mutations, it feels like the option to go for. However, it is more expensive, so you’re paying for that enhanced performance. And that skews things slightly – against guard, the mutations are more point-efficient; against marines, it’s the bonesword; and against the Russ, it’s virtually identical. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
So, we come to the showdown. Who hits the hardest? First, the contenders. For 150 points, we can have:
o 5 aberrants (and we’ll keep the heavy power weapon on the hypermorph)
o 12 metamorphs (with a bonesword/lashwhip combination on the leader)
o 10 genestealers
The metamorphs come in at 149 points, and the genestealers at 140, but it’s about as balanced as I can get it. For this set of comparisons, we’ll stick to the real output of the different broods: the aberrants are putting out 11 attacks (plus a tail); the metamorphs have 37 (including 4 with a bonesword); and the genestealers rack up 40 attacks.
Blunt numbers first. Genestealers blend light infantry; stealers and metamorphs are roughly on par against heavy infantry; and whilst no-one smashes it against the Russ, the aberrants come out ahead (although are also the swingiest of the options, where the other two are more likely to even out the damage). Which is all pretty much as we might have expected. So let’s look at the broods one by one.
GENESTEALERS
Genestealers come out of this looking good. They go through guardsmen like a hot knife through butter, will remove a combat squad of marines with damage to spare, and could even pick off a wounded Russ. They combine weight of dice with WS2+ and AP-3, for a high degree of reliability, and are also unaffected by damage-reduction abilities. More broadly, they’re quick, can advance and charge, and have a 4+ invulnerable save.
It's hardly a revelation at this point, but if you really want to push it, you can upgrade a single brood of genestealers with They Came From Below for a potential double move in turn one (or an interesting screening or counter-charge option if we go second), and make use of a stratagem to advance 6” without rolling, for a 22” move before charging. Switch off overwatch, drop Might From Beyond if you really want the overkill, remove a unit of your choice. You can even make the charge re-rollable with Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor, or make that initial move 24” and bump them up to S5 (wounding marines on 3s) with Helix.
[With both Might and Helix in play, for 50 S5 attacks, we would average around 11 dead marines, 5 and a bit aggressors, or 4 and a bit bladeguard. Genestealers are nasty.]
METAMORPHS
Metamorphs match their purestrain cousins into marines, lose out a little into guard, and edge ahead into the Russ. Metamorphs are essentially using the same weapons as genestealers (AP-3, I damage), but the metamorphs get S5 instead of the stealers’ WS2+. Overall, this is slightly less good – against guard, for example, that extra point of strength is wasted, whilst WS2+ is always WS2+. That said, the WS3+/S5 combination is fractionally better into marines than WS2+/S4: metamorphs have a 4/9 chance to force a save; genestealers have a 5/12 chance (0.44 against 0.42). It’s this that helps the metamorphs keep up with the stealers in the example above (plus the 2-damage bonesword).
In terms of outright damage, metamorphs can roughly keep pace with genestealers. But it’s trickier getting them there. Stealers are faster, don’t have to use a stratagem to advance and charge, can use a stratagem to advance 6”, and come with a 5+/4++ save to the metamorphs’ 5+. Stealers definitely have the edge when it comes to mobility and survivability.
But metamorphs aren’t useless. They are more flexible than stealers, able to carry pistols or hand-flamers to provide at least a pretence at a ranged threat (or maybe to set up crossfire/exposed). They’re also Core, unlike the other two elite broods, allowing them to benefit from characters like the Primus and Iconward. They can take an Icon – if you can use it at least once, and avoid rolling a 1, it’s paid for itself. And they get access to Genetic Lineage, for when you need that little extra reach.
Metamorphs also have Savage Amalgam, allowing them to fight on death (if they haven’t already fought this phase). That’s handy, for a couple of reasons. It makes them much less appealing to charge, which opens up options around defending objectives or screening (and preventing consolidation moves). It also means that they worry less about being counter-charged in our turn – it’s not quite as good as making the enemy unit fight last, but it’s the next best thing. If everything lines up, we could charge four enemy units: drop Hypnosis on one, Coordinated Assault on another, we fight first anyway against a third, and the fourth could counter-charge, but will still get hit by angry metamorphs.
[Whilst genestealers really benefit from the Helix creed, metamorphs don’t to the same extent. As they’re already S5, the jump to S6 is less useful (unless you’re up against a lot of T3 targets). In line with the more generalist approach of the metamorphs, there are potential benefits to be taken from most of the other creeds: re-rollable charges, 6++ saves, AP reduction and +1 to hit all sound nice.]
ABERRANTS
Of the three elite broods, aberrants do by far the least damage, except against targets like the Russ. They aren’t as accurate as genestealers, and have less AP than either of the other options; this is partly balanced out in the wound roll (2+ against most infantry targets, and only 4+ against the Russ) and through 3-damage strikes. But what really holds them back is the number of attacks a brood can put out. An aberrant costs more than twice a genestealer but has half as many attacks, or two-and-a-half the cost of a metamorph for only two-thirds of the attacks. For 140 points, I get 40 stealer attacks; for 150, I get 11 aberrant attacks.
Sadly, it’s not even as if the aberrants dominate at the tough end of the spectrum. Genestealers will kill almost four times as many guardsmen as aberrants; aberrants do just 50% more damage against the Russ (or in absolute terms, 2 wounds).
The thing is, the aberrants’ strength isn’t damage output. What aberrants bring to the table is not dying (at least within the context of the Cult). At T5, with 3 wounds and bestial Vigour, they have a fair chance to shrug off incoming fire.
Here’s a quick comparison, using a standard bolter (S4. AP0, 1d), a heavy bolter (S5, AP-1, 2d) and a lascannon (S9, AP-3, d6d), all being fired by BS3+ marines. The table below shows how many shots it would take with each of those weapons to wipe out the three broods we’ve been looking at.
Against small arms, and even heavy anti-infantry weapons, the aberrants are good at soaking it up. It would take fifty bolter marines (within rapid fire range) to bolter down just five aberrants. They still struggle against serious anti-tank firepower, when Bestial Vigour is less effective (but even then, a damaging hit from a lascannon only has a 50% chance of killing an aberrant outright). You’d need less lascannon shots to take down a Russ than five aberrants. So they’re fairly tough.
The question is: does that make them worth it? I don’t know. If we really need to hold an objective in the open, then aberrants (with the Lurk in the Shadows stratagem in play, because why not) are probably our best shot, infantry-wise. But that’s not an ideal situation to be in, and having aberrants around just on the off-chance seems something of a waste.
CONCLUSIONS
So, what have we learned?
o Genestealers blend light infantry and make a mess of marines. They can be buffed into alpha strike missiles, likely to bury whatever they hit under weight of claws and dice.
o Metamorphs aren’t far off genestealers in damage output, especially against marines. They’re more fragile, more versatile, and bring some interesting tactical options with their fight-on-death ability.
o Aberrants just don’t do enough damage. They can weather a lot of firepower below anti-tank, but using them as objective-holding bullet-sponges feels like a waste.
It’s all about the genestealers, isn’t it? They do the most damage, have the most mobility, rock a 4+ invulnerable. It’s hard to look beyond them. And I’m a Helix player, where S5 and a 9” move makes them even better. And it’s not that difficult to put two broods straight across the board and into combat in turn one: They Came From Below gives a 16/18” move and an easy advance/charge; Rapid Advance lets us move another brood 14/15” (or 17/18” out of a transport), for another likely charge. That gives us the opportunity to turn a flank, whack a key unit, or just push the enemy deployment back so far (to avoid the charges) that we can take early control of the mid-board.
Outside of Helix, metamorphs bring useful S5 and a lot more flexibility, so it’s very much a trade-off. We get less immediate damage, but more tactical options. It does raise a question, though, because for the same points we can take a brood of ten acolytes with four rock drills, a bonesword and a few hand-flamers. Which is better? Definitely one to run the numbers on. Then again, Savage Amalgam looks interesting, so metamorphs are worth playing around with, I think.
And aberrants. I want them to work, I really do. And maybe someone will see something I’m missing. Until then, they’re a fun unit, but not one I’m likely to pick if I still have genestealers in the drawer.
I feel like there’s more to explore here, especially with metamorphs, and perhaps the abominant does something for aberrants that makes them shine. That’s for another time, though. For now, I hope this has given you something to mull over when it comes to our elite broods, and may your dice always roll hot.