It's worth noting the Vindicare's Shield Breaker round is a side-grade; now that it's a critical hit it's vulnerable to any mortal-wound defense. Previously it simply ignored all saves. Further, the loss of Head-Shot means the Vindicare is capped at 6 damage with it's rifle, making FnP even more effective against it. Currently IMO the Vindicare is far too expensive.
I can see a lot of use for each of the assassins. I plan on running one in every list. This was a great breakdown on the datasheets. Thanks for sharing!
Culexus will get even more popular as an Assassin-killer. It can DS within 3" and between the Grenades strat and it's shooting almost guarantees killing any of the other assassins.
My guess is that imperium armies will still often take callidus, but won’t take any of the others much anymore the same as it’s been (even knights probably won’t take the Eversor much anymore we’ll see) since the points are higher for allying them. Agents faction will probably often take a 110 cost one (kind of doesn’t matter which one) and maybe also the callidus. That would allow them to have the callidus for all its normal things while also flexing between an anti psyker and a sniper depending on what is needed against a specific army, and then the eversor if neither are really needed.
Question about the Culexus Asssassin's ability to force Battleshock: The CRB states: "...until the start of your next Command phase, that unit is Battle-shocked." So if you use the Culexus' ability in your opponents Command Phase, wouldnt that allow your opponent, who gets to choose the order of simultaneous effects to first resolve the Culexus' ability, and THEN immediately remove any Battleshocks from their units, as both things happen at the start of the Command Phase?
Currently I think you can sequence the BS clear after the test, but I don't expect that to survive a bug-fix. No reason to specify that the test can forced in the opposing players' Command if it literally does nothing
Allying in Vindicares is totally unviable because of the obscene cost. maybe if it was 120. You'd have to kill like 2-4 characters to just pay for himself, let alone make your money back. you can argue he can lock down a firing lane but on current maps it's VERY situational if that actually works. The Callidus is trickier than before, but also requires more finesse. The eversor is blitzkrieg incarnate and if you use them right can probably clear entire flanks on their own, and of course the issue with the culexus is that they're niche, just like the Venenum, Adamus, and Vanus would be if we had datasheets for them (for shame GW!) which automatically makes them a lower priority unless your meta is psyker-heavy.
My favorite pre-Codex was the Celexus Assassin. I play against a lot of Psykers at my locals (Thousand Sons, Grey Knights, and every now and then a Librarian in a Hellblasters unit in GTF). So she is great for sniping out Ahriman, or any Sorcerers. Post- Codex it is still the Celexus, but the Eversor has raised the stock, and he might see play in my Blood Angels. Granted it is all about the points 150 for Vindicator I will never bring... 100 for a Vindicator mmm maybe
I remember back in 8th i played a game with 12 or 13 assassins and a terminator inquisitor as the warlord. I’m not sure if i made it through the 3rd battle round or not but it was still fun to play. Now in 10th I think they’re all decent choices in an Agents army, but I think the Callidus is still going to be the allied assassin most pick.
I did that yesterday. Felt like I was playing DnD while my opponent was playing 40K haha. Vindicare and Evesor did working killing 4 characters and some marines.
