Something you missed, when they're attached to Azrael you can use them in a Inner Circle Task Force and because Azrael has the deathwing keyword they become deathwing infantry and gain the +1 to wound on their vowed objective targets. Pretty sweet buff
Ah yes should have rememberd that here. Talked about it in the Inner Circle Task Force review but slipped my mind for this one! That would be a FUN unit to use.
They're best with a lietenant in gladius & Az tbh. The lethal sustained on 5's with a 4+ invul is very good. The squads expensive and a lot of things are designed to kill SM's.
@@Kakashi-ip8mgMate, you can paint them however you want. GW has been moving away from people having to paint minis to reflect the rules. So unless your playing a competitive game with a particularly hardline player you can do whatever you want. Custom chapters are a thing after all.
Just played a games yesterday with BA vs. BT and we both had some hellblasters and just volleyed back and forth until there was 1 left. They're a blast to play with.
Or - those who know how to actually play Space Marines, and those who like Hellblasters. ;) They are worth it as a DA player, or as an Impulsor plasma bus in Ironstorm. Anywhere else, they are a fragile points sink.
@@theviewbot No - it's basic maths. The weapons aren't powerful enough to be worth it, you lose two models in the first activation on a ten-man squad, and they are T4 bodies in a game built to beat MEQs. There is a reason they only get taken in one kind of list for competitive SM armies for DAs. Don't get me wrong, they're a fun unit to play, but that's it. They aren't very good.
I love hellblasters this edition. I slap a LT on them so i can get those lethal hits on bigger targets and it gives them the fall back and shoot for free.
Not gonna lie, I feel gross when I put a Lieutenant on them. But I'm also the guy that makes a nine man squad with the lieutenant to fit them in a drop pod so...yeah my buddies hate that 😂
I’ve been loving Hellblasters with Azrael. As a Dark Angels simp, I am thrilled that hellblasters finally do something for the first time since they were released.
@@Ignatiusofantioch87 no they were especially the heavy variant they might have been a bit pricey pointwise but they were worth it they were the strongest plasma for damage and cut through armour like butter
30 with anvil siege force and dark angels is really funny. I run 2 lieutenants, azrael, and 3 apothecaries. I also use 10 assault terminators with ancient to deep strike into their deployment zone turn 2 to force a choice. Love running hell blasters and find the +1 to wound from anvil to be especially fun when the practical minimum wound roll is a 4+.
@@LordCrate-du8zm the assault termies entire point is to be a distraction that forces my opponent to choose to either shoot them or my hellblasters as i said im dropping them asap on turn 2 in the opponents backline because a 4” or 9” charge is pretty doable and the damage of 11 thunder hammers is really threatening. The ancients loadout is also thunder hammer and storm shield, but he takes the stoic defender enhancement for a 6+ fnp when i do decide to place them on the enemies home objective, which is usually where some big ranged threat is anyways.
Hellblasters are a MENACE. When my opponent comes up with 10 of these bad boys, a biologis and a lieutenant to spank my ass with 20 shots of sustained 1 + lethal hits 1 S8 AP3 D2 shots. Even my custodes becomes as frail as a regular guardsman.
Under detachments, one thing you can do that's pretty solid is stick a unit of them in a stormlance list, since they have assault they can get 1 CP sustained hits. That with a lieutenant is a pretty meaningful damage boost for not a huge amount of investment, and if you're playing thunderwolf stormlance gives you a meaningful ranged threat on foot.
Missed out a huge combo here: In Ironstorm spearhead you can do: Get a Techmarine with Target augury web enhancement. and stick it into the Impulsor along with 5 hellblasters. You can even advance if you so choose too and deploy the techmarine (the impulsor allows you to advance and deploy). Then the hellblasters inside are allowed to overcharge their plasmaguns while wielding lethal hits. The impulsor eats failed hazarouds tests wich in turn 2 can be repaired by the techmarine for d3 wounds. And even better: when you use the Orbital comms array, you can on a 5+ recycle a command reroll you might have taken for a failed hazardous test and maybe so negate any incomming hazardous test damage
Combo is ok, with 10 plasmashots lethal hits are an improvement to the the unit. It's fairly durable being inside the impulsor. Is it where you throw in Mercy is Weakness though?
@@mortenbrandtjensen6470You totally can! although i would use it on vehicles with far more firepower like a Repulsor or Repulsor executioner. Or Gladiator Reaper
Gonna get this for my Black Templars. A multi-melta impulsor is NO joke, especially when it's transporting a hellblaster squad casually blasting whatever comes into range off the board.
I love running 5 with an apothecary for a low investment pot shot squad. Most opponents don’t take them as a serious threat so I sit them in the backfield and fire away with overcharge shots to pick off wounds on serious threats. I do also only play 1k games though
I think it’s worth mentioning the Stormlance Spearhead detachment; Blitzing Fusillade stratagem gives them sustained hits 1 can make these guys deal some crazy damage, especially with the lieutenant as well
I still need to finish assembling/painting my squad of 10, got 6 torsos with legs painted and sitting on the table just waiting for the arms and heads. I love the look of the rifle with the power cables going to the backpack, as fiddly as it is to assemble.
Been running a unit of 10 with the lieutenant w/ fire discipline and an apothecary. The lieutenant has lethals and the enhancement has sustained 1 plus the critical hits on 5s in the dev doctrine. Then I use the strat to put them in the dev doctrine a second turn and they can easily wipe out multiple units. The apothecary then can bring back a model so they end up lasting a bit longer.
My fav unit, I play them with azrael for the 4+ sav and sustained hit and Can use a CP for grim retribution and shoot what tryed to take them down if it's worth it, even After the "for the chapter" effect
I had a game a couple of days ago where my friend shot my Hellblasters with his own unit, which lead to both squads blasting each other back and forth, killing both squads.
I love playing with Hellblasters. They've got a killer weapon set and some gaming with them being so fragile and obviously a critical target for any opponent to focus down. I used them with a Lt. in Vanguard Spearhead and kept backing off dicey charges to keep them shooting until BR5!
Honestly I feel like their synergy with a captain and lieutenant in Anvil Siege is underrated. You can take down anything with even just 5 guys. Have the stand still, use Drill Recall for 1CP and No Threat to Great for 2CP (or free with a captain). Hits on 2’s, re-rolling with oaths, 5+ lethal and sustained 1, wounding most on 2’s, vehicles/monsters on 5’s + re-rolls with NTTG. I have slaughtered so much with just a 5 man and I love it.
Ran this combo this week with Captain using Ignores Cover enhancement. Turn 1 just 5 of them destroyed a Gladiator Lancer. Turn 2 I split fire and destroyed two Ballistus Dreadnaughts for the loss of just 1 to hazardous. And the Apothacary brought him back next turn. Brutal!
@LordCrate-du8zm Didn't need to get them across the board, just onto central objective, with assault on guns could advance and shoot. From there 24 inch range was good to target stuff in opponent's DZ.
I play mine with Uriel and FD lieutenant and I always bring them to my tournament lists and they ALWAYS pay for themselves. They are great vs everything thats not -1 dmg. They always blast something for like 250pts on deepstrike and then you ow, and fire on death for more value... its impossible to fail
The sad part is, this is the best Hellblasters have ever been in any edition. In 9th they were useless given the overcharge profile was always too risky. In this edition, Hellblasters aren’t even played competitively, yet the casual community seem to have some trouble fighting against them. If GW nerfs them it’s going to suck because that’s yet another unit that joins the rank of useless. Keep in mind that they are 250 points at full squads. That’s already a pricey unit given what they can do. To make them even better you have to invest in a character which ranges between 50-105 points which now makes the is a 300-355 point unit, maybe even more considering people sometimes run a 2 character combo bringing the total closer to 400+ points. I don’t think people who have trouble with them realize that it’s not just the Hellblasters doing this, the synergy they have with characters is amazing. In addition, because of the total points cost of the unit it makes sense they’re that powerful. They are a glass cannon unit. Every unit should be able to have flavor and utility like this. They’re overall really fragile, don’t ignore them for too long. If you’re having trouble with them learn their weaknesses and use your units appropriately. Overall, they don’t survive with a full squad past 3rd turn. Even then they’ve lost at least 4-5 models by turn 2 due to return fire and hazardous rolls. Happy gaming! Edit: spelling and spacing
I've played Hellblasters a lot. You don't want to invest in a repulsor, it's too many points to invest in something that moves a really fragile unit forwards. Footslog the Hellblasters with a lieutenant with fire discipline. Keep them in cover until the opponent deploys something valuable and then activate dev doctrine and destroy it with the hellblasters. I find a Judiciar with a melee focused squad to be helpful for screening and redempter dreadnoughts are a fantastic way to slog forward and draw opponents out.
I tend to field 5 in a droop pod with lieutenant and apothecary. They don't last long as opponents tend to hate them but they do a grand job taking enemy infantry off of objectives.
An amazing unit. I run 10 of them with an Lt. in my Blood Angels' Gladius army, the librarian dreadnought moves them towards a key target and let volatile plasma rain down.
I have yet to play against them but as a guard player, I imagine indirect fire turn 1 before they are in range to return fire seems like the obvious counterplay. A buffed Basilisk or a Manticore should do some serious damage
my favorite guys since I started the hobby late 9th, im glad they are better this edition. I hope they don't nerf them for no reason, they are good but not broken at all, very good damage dealing but very fragile which balances things out.
I've lost a Knight Warden in my own turn no less to 10 hellblasters with apothecary and lieutenant. That was with the gladius combo. Overwatched me with oath and then killed me when i killed the squad in shooting. Had 1 wound left after the overwatch due to feel no pains. I feel that says enough tbh
This also lets you use them to bully areas of the board because opponents may not want to bother shooting knowing that they will get shot back and and probably still not kill off the unit easily with the resurrection.\
I love hellblasters😁 The fact you can overcharge, loose a few and shoot again is amazing. Adding an apothecary and Lieutenant is pure gold- especially in gladius with "fire discipline"😁🤣
Hellblasters have the option for lethal and sustained hits on a 5+ which combined with oath of moment can obliterate anything without an invulnerable save with ease
I've been using a 10 man unit of hellblasters in every game I've played so far in 10th....I put them in a repulsor with an ancient and a lieutenant... sitting back on a back field objective,...it works pretty good.....I've been fighting blood angels, tau ,and tyranids ,.... everyone has a different way, but this has been working for me🎉
They are also nightmares to build. I tried assembling a 10 man squad and I HATED it. The cables are nightmarishly complex to align, and the gun assembly is tedious at best and downright infuriating at worst. The legs also have VERY specific attachment points where not even the instructions gets right which torso gets which pair of legs. That being said, I like the end results for my 5 man squad.
@@Questioningbasics ESPECIALLY with the different barrels and shit. Like, maybe having one assembly for the bottom segment would have worked. Do we _really_ need two fiddly halves that don’t even align properly?
@@LordCrate-du8zm I literally just finished building a box of hellblasters yesterday and I was able to build all 10 of them without using the pack with cables. So I don’t know what you’re taking about.
For some reason, I could have sworn that Pedro Kantor could lead Hellblasters, but I was wrong. His ability to add 1 to their attacks would have been nuts. In that case, I will stick with my big unit of Sternguard for him instead.
Sternguard are generally better than Hellblasters, but with lower potential damage output and none of the hazardous tests to compensate. What _really_ sells Sternguard more is the ability to take a heavy weapon and alternate between loadouts, for less overall investment and risk. If Hellblasters could take something like that (EG some form of plasma cannon,a combi-plasma or melee on the sarge, etc) that'd instantly help make their points back.
It's kind of sad, that the standard Marine Body isn't considered tanky. I mean, that was always THE thing of them with all their extra organs. double the points and give them T5 like Orks (and maybe a wound more) My SM List is literally a horde right now and I love and field many vehicles :/
Overwatching supercharged, if they die, they have a 2/3 chance to shoot normally after that. So if you think they are going to get wiped out, it would probs be worth it to try and get one last round out of em.
On my first game of 40k 10th. I took 2 squads of 10 Hellblasters and I was up against a bloodthirster and angron. My turn 1 was just lighting them up and put them both on 2 wounds. Then finishing them off with my predator tank.
Given how necessary they are for a Dark Angels squad, both for the Vengeful Brotherhood and the Gladius meta, I will definitely be picking up the Hellblasters when I can afford them.
A bit late but i have a list that leans heavily into hellblasters. Vanguard spearhead 2000 points 1x primaries captain: plasma pistol and sword with the blade driven deep enhancement. 3x primaries lieutenants 1x Phobos librarian. 3x10 hellblasters squads 3x5 assault intercessors with jump packs 2x6 plasma inceptors. 1x5 incursors 1x5 infiltrators The idea being that plasma weapons aren't the best solution for everything but is still a pragmatic solution to many problems. By massing them while giving them lethal hits most opponents would struggle against them. Their primary weaknesses of low speed and chaff clearing being off set by the jump intercessors.
I wish this chaps come with deadly demise ability just to make it have an offset for their deadly weapons Edit : for more clarification, Hellblasters have Hazardous test which should they fail they take just one model, what I mean is if they destroyed either by melee or range weapons every fail save (the snake eye) inflict d3 mortal wounds to 3" around model that removed
Always have a 10 man squad with lieutenant with FD, with Ventris’ deep strike for them. They’re dubbed a delete squad cause that’s just exactly what they do!!
If you overwatch with them, overcharge them (especially if it's something that likely will kill them in melee) and if any die and roll to shoot again (overcharging again obviously) they shoot normally, so 2+ because they didn't move that turn :)
I have a vanguard detachment that ice out together kinda as a meme but it’s seems fun it uses 3x10 hellblasters and 3 lieutenants to just pelt with lethal hits plasma
I adore Hellblasters. I just love the idea of near immortal soldiers wielding guns that are known to explode and instantly kill the user. I would totally buy and field them, but I cannot paint plasma whatsoever.
you can actually make a combo where you can keep re-rolling the hazardous effect for free. and even in a bad situation where you fail a hazardous test you can always revive 1 with a apoth. and besides that, you can give your hellblasters a 5+ crit with sustained hits 1. so you can really make hellblasters a beast if you want. and there are even some other ways how you can support the hellblasters outside of the unit itself.
Hellblasters with Azrale have been my main autoinlcude in any Dark Angel's lists. They have alwasy performed absolutely amazing ! With a lieutenant attached they basically detroy anything. My opponents absolutely fear my Hellblasters to death. With the 4+ invuln from Azrael they become actually tanky, the enemy needs to put some good amount of firepower into them. All the while they struggle to kill the unit, the hellblasters shoot back giving my opponent more loses than he is inflicting on me. The only unit they don't perform amazing against are Terminators, but anything else just melts away.
Excellent damage output in the gladius detachment, not very survivable sadly. its a big points investment for 10 infantry, plus then you have to invest further for character buffs and possibly a delivery method Edit: 5 riding around in an impulsor isnt too shabby
Maybe you can help me. I play necrons and am looking in to a nother army one of the things I look for is the next army I chose needs something that can fight/kill my nightbringer. On my quest for it I came across the hellbrutes from the csm/death gard/world eaters/1000 sun and for sub 150 pt thay have a rill chance to kill a nightbringer on a tank shock especially the deathgard one y duse no one play them ?
Hellblasters are a unit that would greatly benefit from a cheaper transport option. I'd be much more likely to run 10+character support in my games if they weren't forced into a 190 pt repulsor to scoot around.
@@isaacchapman7628 there's an exception for primaris characters to attach to a squad that rides in one, but that's it (and space wolves/DW have special firstborn squads)
I love them. Was 1 of the 1st things I was running in the new addition. Think there still fine but a little to over coasted. Give me 10 points off and they will deff replace my aggressors
It's actually the fact that this is a 10 man squad that has put me off picking up a box - It causes me to sigh deeply at the prospect of painting up 10 of them and shift my gaze to an quicker 3 or 5 man box instead.
I'm running 10x Hellblasters + Azrael + a Lt. in a Repulsor, and while it is a heavy investment they have absolutely dominated every game I've been in.
Unless I missed it you didnt mention that for deathwatch the hellblasters in a fortis killteam can ALL take plasma pistols, if this unit was a targwt for beacon angelis would that make them any more viable perhaps ds in on a turn with sustained hits in the dw detachment
Regarding overwatch and their fire again - because Overwatch says they hit on 6s for the rest of the phase, if they die to Hazardous during Overwatch and fire again then they are still hitting on 6s
Don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it but, aside from the increase in points (and therefore investment) and fun, does placing a lieutenant AND an apothecary in a 10 strong unit change any part of your assessment? Thanks, love your videos!
For that level of investment, you'd want them to be the centre play of your army. Always getting oath, using a stormspeeder to buff ap or +1 to wound, bolter discipline, stratagems, etc. And then build effective screens for them. Distraction redemptors, jump pack intercessors, etc.
Thanks William. Appreciate the response. As we both mentioned it is a big investment, I just thought it was a fun play. Funnily enough though, the army list I’m building does have assault intercessors and a redemptor in it, so this combo might see the light of day! Cheers.
@@EdgarClay Yep! Two flavors (three if you play Dark Angels) of it to boot, and that's just for dedicated squads! You've got your standard plasma guns, and then there's HEAVY plasma guns. Like, "I will vaporize everything in my line of sight" type heavy.
If you take fire discipline in dev doctrine and overwatch rolling 5s, do any of your sustained/lethal hits trigger or would this only happen on 6s due to overwatch?
Do Dark Angels no longer have the strategy that lets them buff the damage done by plasma? If so, why? Plasma is supposed to be their speciality, so why is there nothing in their rules that showcases them using it better than any other chapter?
Saw them a few times in my local store, got vietnam flashbacks from 8th edition. I hate them with a passion and it's such a kick in the nuts, that theire plasma guns have a 24" range, but others do not have that.
I hate to say this but.... their not thag bad. Sure they have GREAT fire power but only on like one detachment with one combo Maybe vanguard can do crazy things with them likw give them ap3 even ap4 on their damage 2 shots making them SUPER leathel even against heavy targets but its the fact that they wound on 5s outside of infantry or medium vehicles. You'd be surprised how often you wifff like a mF when it matters though i will say they can cripple other marines and most 8 to 9 toughness units can kiss themselves goodbye it just sucks that outside the lieutenant with combi bolter letting rerolls of 1 for the wound on a marked object being their ONLY generic way to get minor reroles for wounds makes them mildly better. It all just boils down to with old oath they have a damn good chnace of knocking a unit off the table no matter what it is. But they only shoot back on a 3 plus. That seems like alot but the fact that you can fail on a 2 makes them a little swingy to me.
Anvil siege force and the stormspeeder with +1 to wound would like a word. So would azrael in inner circle detachment with vowed target, because he gives his squad the keyword for +1 to wound. Anvil would like a second word with "no threat too great" to reroll wounds AND another shoot back on death ability. Heaps of ways to get more punch up and its something worth building around. Azrael alone is a great attachment for more damage and survivability
In my experience they are good but die so easy it aint worth the points. You rarely get a full man squad to your primary target, one or two will die. Devastators outranging stuff with rocket launchers and lasguns were way more effective pointswise in my local matchups. The best option imo is putting a 5 man hellblaster squad in an impulsor.
I love my hellblasters I run a 10 block with a Lt and Apothecary that uses fire discipline and I can zero knights in my shooting phase. In fact I have stopped using vehicle killing specific units and just use only help blasters because hell blasters will just get the job done. 10th edition is sure fun isn't it?
They are great. Expensive, but great. However they are far from auto-include. They have too many weaknesses to be amazing. However, they are a fairly flexible glass cannon. They aren't good for much other than a big expensive (yet effective) trade unit. Punch something hard, then die, maybe doing more dmg
