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Pauper Princes vs Twisted Helix : Acolytes

Updated: Sep 23, 2021

The Pauper Princes and Twisted Helix both tilt towards close combat. But which creed does it better?



Of the various creeds the Cult has on offer, two are particularly interesting to armies setting up for close combat: the Twisted Helix, with +1 strength (and +2 advance); and the Pauper Princes, with full rerolls to hit in the first round of combat.


Both have distinct advantages. Helix wound most infantry on 3s, and are able to employ various tricks to get acolytes to strength 6 relatively easily, allowing them to wound T3 on 2s, and to think about punching armoured vehicles with some degree of success. On the other hand, Princes bring very reliable hit rolls, don’t need to spend on icons, and are less reliant on a Primus to hit hard.


But which is better? Or, more helpfully, which creed is more effective in which situations? Does one always come out on top? Does one favour one particular approach over another? And ultimately, if I want to win more games, which should I pick?


We’ll look at a few scenarios here. Taking acolytes and aberrants as our primary combat troops, we can run a head-to-head comparison for both (metamorphs are close enough to acolytes that we can consider them under the same maths, and neophytes shouldn’t be hitting things as a first choice; and genestealers don’t get creeds).


We can also consider the effect of the Primus, cult icons, and the relic banner (or Might From Beyond), which allow one of the creeds to emulate some of the effects of the other.

And because it’s worth pointing out: the Pauper Princes rerolls only apply to the first turn of combat. After that, they’re effectively back to the baseline for combat efficiency. That said, we don’t often make it into a second round of combat, so it may not matter all that much.



ACOLYTES


Let’s start with acolytes. We’re only concerned with the hit and wound rolls here, as neither creed affects AP or damage – the figure shown is the chance of a single attack forcing a save.

Princes has the edge here, I think. Helix is better against T5 and T8, where the extra strength makes a difference; but Princes do more against T3, T6 and T7. Interestingly, they balance out against T4, so are equally good against marines or necrons.


We don’t necessarily want acolytes taking on armoured vehicles, and if we limit things to infantry targets (T3, T4 and T5) it’s harder to call. However, I’d still give it to Princes here, because they are significantly more effective against T3 (where the Helix strength buff is meaningless) and only marginally less effective against T5. [For comparison, +1 to hit would give a 0.17 improvement, and the Princes are 0.15 better against T3.]



ACOLYTES WITH ROCK SAWS


Next up, rock saws. Do the Princes retain their advantage when the mining weapons come out to play? (I've run the maths with Helix rock saws at S9 [which only matters here against T5], which I think is in line with the 9th edition rules. There's some potential wiggle-room around fixed-value characteristics, but I'm not sure the Helix creed ticks that box.)

Round two to the Princes. They’re forcing more saves than Helix all the way up to T8, where Helix pulls level for the first time. So unless you’re hitting a Russ (or tougher), Princes are the way to go. Interestingly, the Helix saw is only better than the vanilla version against T8; against everything else, the extra strength is wasted here.



CULT ICONS


Let’s see if we can help the Helix out a little bit with cult icons. The icon makes no difference to Princes (at least while their creed is active), so we can’t just give one to Helix as that unbalances things – discovering that Helix are better if you spend more points isn’t much of a revelation. But we can trade instead, dropping one acolyte for the icon (yes, it’s not an exact swap, but it’s close enough, and the Helix are behind anyway).


[Using only rending claw attacks, a unit of 5 acolytes has 10 attacks hitting on 3s (or 6/9). An icon improves that hit rate to 7/9, but if we sacrifice an acolyte to get the icon, we also lose 2 attacks. At what point does the improved hit rate outweigh the lost attacks? As it turns out, 7 acolytes land exactly as many claw hits (84/9) as 6 acolytes with an icon. So for brood of 5, you’re better off getting an extra body instead of the icon; but beyond that, you’re better off with an icon rather than an extra acolyte.]


For this one, we’re pitting 10 Princes acolytes against 9 Helix, but giving Helix an icon. For simplicity, I’m only counting the claw attacks. Again, the figures show the number of saves forced.

That makes it a bit more interesting. This time, Helix have the advantage against T4, and retain their edge against T5 and T8. With an icon, then, and in sufficient numbers to make it count, Helix acolytes are slightly better against most infantry, including the ubiquitous marines; Princes remain the go-to for battering light infantry.


However, the margins are also worth considering: Princes are 27% more effective than Helix against T3, whereas Helix are only 6% more effective against T4, and 17% more effective against T5. In an all-comers situation, that might still swing it to the Princes.


And rock saws? It’s less easy to balance this one, and as the Princes ran away with the last rock saw comparison, let’s just give Helix the icon and see what happens.

And the answer is: not much. The Princes still have the advantage everything under T8. And bear in mind we’re comparing an 18 point model against, effectively, a 28 point model (because of the 10 point icon), and the 18 point model is still coming out on top in most cases. So whilst the icon does help to pull regular Helix acolytes back into the mix, it doesn't have the same effect on their rock saw carrying brethren.



PRIMUS


Enter the Primus. His +1 to hit means more to Helix than to Princes - even at an effective WS of 2+, Helix remain less accurate than Princes without a Primus (30/36 against 32/36) – but the Primus pushes Princes to peak accuracy, hitting on 2s and rerolling 1s, or 35/36.

For regular acolytes, it looks like this:

Once again, we can buff Helix acolytes to eat into the Princes’ better accuracy, but it still only makes a difference at T4. And leaves Helix worse against T3 than unbuffed Princes (0.56 against 0.59). Ouch. That one does hurt a bit.


And with rock saws:

As with the icon, the Primus helps Helix over the line against T8 targets, but otherwise Princes remain ahead. As before, the saws effectively negate the Helix strength advantage, because even regular acolytes come in at S8.



PRIMUS AND CULT ICONS


Finally, what if we go all in? Get a Primus, and trade out an acolyte for an icon on the Helix side. The combination of Primus and icon completely negates the Princes’ advantage in accuracy – both sides now hit on 2s rerolling 1s, but Helix retain their strength advantage. On the other hand, Princes bring an extra acolyte to the table for the same points.

Even fully tooled up, Helix still lag behind the Princes at T3 (and although the gap closes with larger broods, 20 Princes still do slightly better than 19 Helix at this toughness). But the balance of power has shifted a little. With 10 (or the points equivalent) in a brood, the Princes are 11% more effective against T3, but Helix are 21% more effective against T4, and 35% more effective against T5.


One more time with rock saws, just for fun (and as a straight head-to-head, one-on-one):

This one is pretty unfair – the Primus and icon combo puts Helix on parity for accuracy, so in a direct head-to-head, the strength bonus means they should come out on top. Except, not. Helix only matches Princes most of the time. True, they still do better against T8, as they have most of the way through; but Princes hold their own everywhere else.



PRIMUS, CULT ICON, AND ICON OF THE CULT ASCENDENT


Okay, I said finally, but one more comparison. We’ve used various buffs to erode away the Princes’ advantages in hitting. But what if we also threw the relic banner into the mix (or Might From Beyond, which does the same thing for a single unit)? The Icon of the Cult Ascendant confers +1 strength on everyone around it. As with the Primus, it buffs both creeds, but unevenly. This time, Helix are the ones to lose out a little – they already wound marines on 3s, for example, and the extra strength doesn’t change that.

Predictably, it just shifts everything over one place. Princes now have the advantage against T4, because they’ve improved their wound roll and Helix haven’t. In the same way, Helix now gets to wound T3 on 2s, taking them past Princes at T3 for the first time. Helix retain the advantage against T5, and honours remain divided against vehicles.



CONCLUSION


Part of my thinking behind this particular chunk of maths came out of a YouTube comment made by a Cult player who did well in a big tournament with Pauper Princes. He suggested that the maths landed in favour of the Princes in every circumstance. Being a Helix player myself, my immediate response was to mentally disagree, and then to run the maths myself to see if he was right. And whilst I think we’ve seen that Princes doesn’t come out on top in every situation, it’s certainly not a slam-dunk for Helix either.


At T3, the Princes are kings. Unless we can boost Helix to S6 (which is burning up a psychic power or an HQ and relic), the Princes come out ahead every time. Both creeds are wounding on 3s here (or 2s with mining weapons), so Helix have no advantage in combat.


At T4, it’s less clear. Without any modifiers, Princes edge it, with the rock saws making the difference. The Primus and the icon both split the field, putting Helix claw acolytes ahead, but failing to overturn the Princes’ advantage with the saws. But if you’re prepared to tool up with both, then Helix make the better marine-killers. This sets you back the cost of the Primus and icons for every brood, so the Princes can save a few points here and field more acolytes. However, as we saw with the icon, there are times when dropping bodies to force-multiply the rest pays off, and this may be one of those situations – a Primus with Alien Majesty can affect a lot of broods at once, and the icon more than makes up for the ‘lost’ acolyte in any decently-sized combat brood.


And at T5, we have a very clear split. Helix acolytes with claws out-perform Princes in every combination; but Princes rock saws remain better than the Helix ones (because S9 just doesn’t make a difference until T8 and higher). So this one is very much in the balance – do you want punchy rending claws or punchy rock saws?


There’s one more thing to consider here. In running the maths, I’ve tried to maintain parity where I can (taking out an acolyte to pay for the icon, for example). But the creeds themselves are unbalanced here. Firstly, we need to remember that the Princes’ creed only works in the first turn of combat, and only if a charge was involved or we intervened; the Helix strength buff is always on. Secondly, the Princes are using up their whole creed here; Helix also have their +2 to advance rolls. Wherever we see the creeds being roughly equal, that’s worth bearing in mind.


So, have I changed my mind? Am I ready to drop the Helix and embrace the ways of the Pauper Princes? Not yet. Well, not entirely. I’m definitely going to give the Princes a whirl against my wife’s AdMech. But against my regular opponent’s Ultramarines? I’m not sure I want to give up that advance move. And with my tactical head on, I’m well aware that marines can use Transhuman to neuter my rock saws, so having slightly punchier claw acolytes around (which Helix does better than Princes) isn’t a bad thing. For now, then, I’m sticking with the Twisted Helix, but I’m a lot more open to the Pauper Princes than I was.

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