Following on from our Sisters review and our mathammer articles (specifically the Tau one) I thought it was time to have a look at how we analyse weapons. This maybe really apparent to many people but it’s good to discuss.

So first things first, what is in a weapon profile.

Range Weapon type Number of shots Strength AP modifiers Damage Special rules

There are several big changes in 8th edition impacting upon a weapon including the number of shots for blasts and templates, the way AP works and really importantly, damage. Let’s quickly look at each.

Range

Range is rather simple. You could have a S10, 10 shot, -10AP 6D weapon but it’s useless at 2″ range. Hyperbole aside, range of weapons is really important because it will often mitigate how applicable a weapon is. The Pulse Driver Cannon of the Tau Stormsurge for example is really deadly at 0-20″ but is a paltry 1D weapon at 20-30″. Keeping with Tau, the Cyclic Ion Blaster (CIB) is a more widely applicable weapon than the Missile Pod against both infantry and vehicles, doing equal damage against vehicle and vastly superior numbers against infantry at six points less. It has half the range; however, and while CIB Commanders are very popular, the more expensive Pod Commander sees the same, if not more, play due its range.

In a simple sound bite, the longer your range, the more often you get to use the rest of your weapon’s stats. Keeping in mind the model’s movement and deployment characteristics is also important – a short ranged weapon on a model that can move 12″, get in a transport or deep strike / infiltrate has a lot more value over a short ranged weapon on a 4″ moving model.

Weapon Type

Weapon typing changes with the editions but we still have the four five main categories: pistols, grenade, assault weapons, rapid fire weapons and heavy weapons; each with their own unique ruleset which is important when comparing weapons, regardless of range. Pistols for example can be shot even if you are locked in combat and while this is theoretically very valuable, practically it does not come into play often as opposing units will often Fall Back, leaving you without anything to shoot at. Grenades are something a single model or squad can throw one of, often having some sort of special effect such as a to hit modifier or leadership modifier. Rapid Fire weapons keep their ability to shoot on the move but when you get into a shorter range, their number of shots doubles, often bringing them ahead of assault weapons raw damage while Assault weapons can move and shoot at their maximum amount without penalty (and generally have a longer range than their rapid fire counterpart). A really good example here is Tau pulse weapons – Carbines and Pulse Rifles are the same damage at 15″ but at 16-18″, the Carbine gets two shots while the Rifle gets one. 18.1″+ (to 30″) though and the Rifle wins out and this is why we see Rapid Fire weapons on Tau Fire Warriors.

Both Assault and Rapid Fire weapons have the unique advantage of being able to be shot after advancing giving an army based around these weapons extra mobility. It does come at a to hit penalty of -1 so is not something you want to be doing every turn but when you need that extra movement or can get within rapid fire range , it’s often worth it. Particularly of note, old template weapons hit automatically so are free to advance without penalty. EDIT: woops ignore me advancing and rapid fire weapons, was in… some unknown world.

The final weapon type is the Heavy which is more mobile than ever compared to editions past – you can now move and shoot with a heavy weapon, simply at a -1 modifier (compared to not at all or on a 6+). This is particularly strong for high BS armies but obviously less useful for your standard BS 4+ or worse armies (hi Orks, I wonder why most of their weapons are assault…). You cannot advance and shoot with these weapons and they are often the strongest in the game, forcing you to decide to remain static and get the highest chances of hitting or moving to get the most advantageous shot. With LoS being the most liberal of all editions and cover being the hardest to get, static heavy weapon options are not as hamstrung as they were before by poor deployment / positioning but a whole army which stays static the entire game will surely lose unless it can table the opponent.

Weapon types are very important to understand with reference to what the unit is going to do. Putting heavy weapons on fast moving units means you are often going to be shooting at a -1 modifier and while that is not bad, must be taken into account when determining the best loadout. Assault / rapid fire weapons have no penalty except when advancing for assault weapons and if they are comparable in statistics to the heavy weapon, they are often the better choice. Knowing what the unit’s role is will make this choice relatively simple. Hopefully.

Number of shots

Again, a relatively straight forward concept here – more shots = better. The one big change here is a lot of weapons are now D3/D6 shots instead of a blast or a set number of shots. This makes a weapon’s reliability somewhat suspect and while certainly makes sense in place of the blast concept, can be very frustrating for options like the Exorcist where a flat number of shots would make the unit much easier to evaluate. Over the course of a tournament, these shots will normally average out but in that crucial turn, rolling low could be critical.

For this reason, I personally rate random number of shot weapons lower than something with a comparable statline and a set number of shots, even if their average damage potential is slightly less. I also favour weapons with a triangular distribution over a rectangular – i.e. something with 2DX instead of DX. Predator Autocannons, Twin Linked Flamers or Manticore Storm Eagles are prime examples as the probability of getting lower (or higher) numbers is less than the probability of getting middling numbers. A straight DX though has equal chance of getting low, medium and high numbers.

The more shots, the better. The more reliable the number of shots, the better. Something that is straight X shots has a strong hidden value over anything that is DX.

Strength

The new wound chart and vehicle / creature wound counts means the important strength values have changed drastically. No longer is there anything called instant death and to get to a 2+ to wound, you need double the strength. This means old S6 weapons are far less effective against T4 targets (you need S8 to wound a T4 target on a 2+) and that S3 weapons are infinitely more improved against anything T5+ (so nearly the entire gamut of vehicles, creatures and anything “tough”). This has put downwards pressure on armies like Eldar who had a glut of S6 weapons and were wounding everything on 3’s and upwards pressure on mass fire units such as Conscripts or Ravenwing Flocks.

It has also changed the way anti-vehicle weapons are looked at along with the damage characteristic looked at below. Most vehicles now are T7 with ligher vehicles being T6 and really durable vehicles being T8. S7 weapons are therefore wounding most vehicles on a 4+ while S9+ will always be wounding vehicles on a 3+ but very few weapons are ever going to wound vehicles on a 2+. The Pulse Driver Cannon is a rare exception that will wound T7 and less on a 2+. This puts extra premium on S8 and 9+ weapons and the torrent of S6/7 we have seen from 5th edition through to 7th has far less prevalence.

With the changes in the wound chart, armies can certainly take mass S3 and from a points efficiency perspective, do quite well. It takes a lot of lasguns though to down even a standard Rhino (380 S3 shots or something?) so having weapons with higher strengths will be very important and I always make sure I have some ranged S8+ weapons, otherwise knocking out those T8 models can be frustrating. Bonuses to the wound roll are also massive – Longstrike for example wounds everything on a 2+ with his solid shot Railgun, that is so crazy valuable in the world of 3’s its not to be overlooked. Re-rolls to wound are also extremely valuable given the tougher wound chart at the higher end or even on the low end when you know you’re wounding on a 5+ or 6+ against most things.

AP Modifiers

One of the first massive changes in weapons, the AP system was completely re-worked in 8th edition and has had many wide ranging impacts. Firstly, armor does not mean as much against any weapon with a pulse as they generally will have at a minimum, -1 AP. Your 3+ becomes a 4+, your 2+ and 3+, etc. and while cover is the direct opposite of this, cover is a) harder to get and b) not modelled for on most current terrain. The latter will obviously change but the impact of this AP system is wide ranging. First, low armored models such as GEQs are no longer walking around with free 4+ saves thanks to the very liberal cover rules from 5th through to 7th. No longer do your five point models have a save that is one better than your standard Marine at 13 points. This means that more often than not, weakly armored models will die and die quickly to anything with an AP value and be at their intended durability against weapons with no AP while still having the opportunity to get a 4+ “cover” save against small arms fire (assuming a 5+ save).

More durable models however, can become that more resilient against small arms fire in the same instance – Marines in cover against lasguns are quite durable but against Lascannons now vanish in a puff of red mist. Against more robust firepower which has an AP modifier but is not as powerful as a Lascannon, turns the expense paid for that armor quite quickly and if your AP is high enough, you can forgo a roll sequence entirely (-6 would negate everything including a 2+ Sv model in cover, much more common of course is -3 which still gives a 3+ Sv model a 6+ save).

This makes invulnerable saves so much more valuable. Azzy’s shield bubble and Celestine’s improved Shield of Faith role are so important because it ignores one of the big weapons main effects – eliminating your save. Meltaguns and their ilk take a 3+ to 7+ but an invulnerable save will cap that. In editions past, this was normally seen in cover and was simply gotten around through number of shots or torrent of fire. As we shall see below in the Damage section, this will not always work anymore so it’s important to have some low AP weapons if you want to minimise your opponent’s ability to make saves and eliminate a roll for your damage (i.e. ignoring the save). AP is perhaps at its all time high of relevance in the game where in previous editions it was at times, worthless.

Damage

The single biggest weapon change given the change in wound counts across the board. Shooting down vehicles with 1D weapons takes a lot of time (see number of S3 shots above). If those S3 shots had a 3D characteristic though, that 380 drops to 127, something a Conscript blob could get by itself in a rapid fire range and with FRFSRF. Thankfully, lasguns are 1D, as are most basic weapons.

When considering weapon spread to take down the multitude of targets you are likely to see, damage now has to be one of the biggest factors. Lots and lots of 1D weapons are great but being able to blow a chunk off of a vehicle with a D6 weapon is important. While I hate the randomness of D3D/D6D type weapons, they are a necessary evil given the lack of general set damage weapons outside of 1D. Predator Autocannons, Pulse Driver Cannon, etc. are some of the few weapons which have a flat damage (Starcannons had this until the 3rd edition Starcannon nerf caught up to them again) which make them so much more reliable than their random dice counterparts.

With the way the new wound chart works, multiple damage stats are often far better than higher strength weapons (cost dependent of course). A great example is the Grey Knight Psilancer vs Psycannon. The Psycannon as a premiere weapon from 5th through 7th but with only one damage as its stat, does not make a good anti vehicle weapon. The Psilancer though, despite being S4, is mathematically better against everything except single wound infantry compared to the Psycannon and 10 points cheaper (the Stormbolter is also the best weapon against single wound infantry point for point; see more when we do the Grey Knight mathammer post). The Psilancer having D3 damage makes it that much more powerful against multi-wound models despite it’s limited strength.

Single damage weapons are decent at plinking wounds off the bigger models but you need your D3D/D6D or straight multi-damage weapons to take chunks of their durability out. Combining the two will give you the most effective list while also not hampering you against infantry. Relying on four lascannons though who could potentially do 24 wounds in a single turn just will not cut it – as always, you need to spread your firepower around and do not think of your anti-infantry weapons as something that will drag a vehicle / monster down but rather finish it off or degrade it that one extra level. This also means a torrenting style of firepower such as what was often seen from 5th edition through 7th edition for suppression and number of shots to get through cover will not work – those weapons generally only have 1D or sometimes 2D (such as autocannons) and will not have the necessary oomph to punch through high wound count models.

Special Rules

Special rules are a mixed bag and sometimes are simple to consider (i.e. auto hitting) or more complex (i.e. extra damage / AP modifiers on a roll of 6) though they can usually be accounted for with math. Despite that, abilities that do not require a trigger or are easily triggered (i.e. auto hitting or on a hit) are much more valuable than the more complex triggers, even if they are backed up by weight of attacks. Rending for example on Genestealers is great as it gives them pseudo power weapons on 6’s to wound – against vehicles that’s half their wounds anyway (throw in Toxin Sacs to make them 2D as well). This is a big part of why Genestealers are so efficient against everything but they also have a lot of attacks to back this up and there will be occasions when it simply does not trigger enough. On the other hand, auto-hitting template weapons… well, they always hit. 2+ markerlights from the Fireblade or Darkstrider are really reliable, etc.

It’s important to keep in mind special rules but also not rely on them, particularly if their trigger point is harder to get to. An army full of Genestealers may be the most efficient army a Tyranid player can bring but it will be quite hard to apply them all at once and you’re relying on the rending ability to make them anywhere near reliable at putting lots of damage onto more durable targets. Mix up 60-80 Genestealers with a bunch of other options like Hive Guard (who have a unique special ability of being able to shoot without LoS and ignore cover with their Impaler Cannons, much harder to quantify) and the army gets exponentially more dangerous.

Summary

There are a lot of factors to consider when analysing a weapon and one of the biggest factors is points, something we have not even looked at here. The pistol of doom we mentioned before with S10, 10 shots, -10AP and 6D at one point is a steal, even if it has the smallest range known to man but at 1,000 points, is the most useless thing ever. Points efficiency is a very important consideration but it does not take into account a lot of things such as reliability / distribution, range, unit attributes, etc. and while mathammer can always tell us X > Y in terms of raw damage or points efficicency, it’s whole picture can never be captured that way. The CIB / Missile Pod Commander is a great example here – the CIB Commander is vastly more efficient but the Pod Commander gets double the range for only six more points. Those six points are very important to give another dimension to a Tau list but if they were 26 more points more or CIB were a paltry five points each (currently 18), there would be a vastly different conversation happening. It’s hard to apply a points cost here but keeping these concepts in mind along with all the measurable statistics we have discussed will better help you understand why a weapon is worthwhile or not.

With that, we will leave you on the Exorcist, it’s raw damage is decent. While outperformed by the Manticore, it outperforms most other Imperial artillery and is quite durable at T8/W12/3+Sv but it has D6 shots and D3D making it as random as a Battle Cannon – how many Russes do we see rolling around in that configuration (admittedly the Exorcist has -4AP so it does eliminate a dice roll for everything bar 2+ Svs)? The more rolls you need to make, the higher chances you have to mess up. Compare the Exorcist Launcher to the Predator Autocannon – both have random number of shots but the Predator Autocannon is 2D3 giving us a better spread of averages compared to D6 and has a flat damage of three compared to D3. While 3 over D3 is obviously amazing, the Predator Autocannon has made one die roll (number of shots) more reliable and eliminated one die roll (damage) in exchange for a less potent die roll modifier (AP) / to wound roll (strength) giving it an effective die roll advantage over the Exorcist launcher at similar ranges against similar targets.

Comparisons are not always easy, particularly when you’re trying to determine the most efficient way to run things. Sometimes opportunity cost comes into play (see recent discussions around Space Marine Warlord Traits) and there’s arguments for both sides. Some comparisons are just too hard to make with reference to intangibles and sometimes, its the only option within an army composition. The more fluid you get at this though, the more you can ensure your list will have the ability to deal with anything your opponent tries to throw at you.