[Wynter]

Hi guys so im getting ready to equip my termies, whats the best fit out for Assault terminator squads All LC or TH/SS or a combination of the 2?

thanks

 

[MidnightSun]

All TH/SS are a royal pain in the arse to get rid of and they can wound the bigger stuff. The 3++ means that you don't really need to worry about striking last, and the Thunder Hammers are (IMHO) far better than the Lightning Claws.

Midnight

 

[Tim/Steve]

TH/SS is almost the universally chosen combination, LC do have their uses but they are rarer while full TH/SS units will be useful in almost every game- the notable exception where the 2 swap round is vs hoards like orks: huge numbers of lowish I attacks that'll overwhelm TH/SS while LC get the chance to kill them first... but since LC termies arent great in that situation anyway I wouldnt build for it.

 

[deathbringer]

Yes in generally the invulnerable save keeps them alive enough to get in a hit with the thunderhammers, which will crush almost any opponent.

Also with the greater use of power fists over power weapons, in general you will strike at the same time as the thing that denies your 2+ armour save.

Both terminators have the flaw of being fairly avoidable as they have no long range attack yet that invun means they will survive a slog across the board.

Definitely thunderhammers

 

[Barnster]

TH SS is better if you want to foot slog or have the ability to go toe to toe with MCs, I like having a lightning claw squad in a redeemer or crusader and a chaplain, it tears through other Meq units

 

[Lord Reevan]

Really depends on the army to be honest. for templars and BA,s who can easily give their terminators furious charge I would go more claws than hammers, mainly because they benefit more from it and with 12 int5 str 5 attacks on the charge they can take down MCs pretty well too. but for Normal SM the hammers are the way to go as they're unable to get stat boosting powers for the most part

 

[Widowmaker666]

I run a squad of 5 with 3 TH/SS and 2 LC with a counts-as Lysander in a LRR, works fairly well for me.

 

[Kirby]

TH/SS all the way. LC are only useful when you can get FC on them like in BT or BA lists where they can strike before most armies @ S5. However, the more LCs you take the less of a rock unit the terminators become as their survivability drops significantly.

 

[Stockholm]

it has already fully been explained: th/ss dudes are near invulnerable and this is one of the SM codex's best exploits. why not run with 5 or 10 dudes who all get this save? who cares if they attack last? when they hit, they are going to wound on anything but a 1. you know, so don't roll a 1.

 

[jujumann]

I was doing some math hammer the other day, and LC do better at killing T5 and lower, where as Thunder hammers do more wounds against T6. I'm going to do a pro/con list for you.

LC Pros
Better at T5 and lower.
Benefits from Furious Charge and makes wounding T6 better than thunder hammers.
Strikes first.
Best to wipe mobs

LC cons
Only possible to destroy Armour 10 vehicles and 11 if with furious charge.
only 5++ save

TH/SS Pros
Can kill T6 easier
Can Destroy Armour 14(with difficulty) but 13 and lower can generate penetrating hits.
Storm shield grants 3++ save

TH/SS Cons
Attacks last
weak against mobs
doesn't benefit from furious charge much.

That is all I can think of right now. Basically, kit them to how you will use them.
AKA Th/SS/ for tank hunters(advice against because meltas do better), TH/SS in space marine codices where there is no furious charge, use TH/SS for MCs, If Foot slogging use TH/SS, LCs for horde armies, LCs for taking out armoured units, LCs for Furious charge codices, LCs if in Land Raider.
Personally I think a ratio for 2:3 or 3:2 is best, my problem is I only 5 and I want to be able to change the build accordingly

 

[lsarofeen]

magnetization

 

[Stephen_Newman]

I am going for the claws for a few reasons:

1. Being a tiger force claws seem more tigery than hammers

2. I am giving them a chaplain so they reroll missed hits and wounds

3. I like to strike before the enemy

4. I am also using a land raider for transportation so the whole survive whilst crossing the board should not happen.

 

[Forty Three]

TH/SS is definitely better unless you can benefit from higher I, since attacking at the same time or attacking last makes no difference at all. You still get hit. So if you're still going to get hit, the 3++ is much much better than the 5++. Since your assault termies will slaughter any unit that is not geared for CC no matter what you give them, you have to gear them with fighting other CC specialists in mind. Since other CC specialists will have power weapons (and in many cases will even have more than I4, TH/SS becomes almost a no brainer

43

 

[humakt]

I run a mix TH/SS (3) and LC (2). The squad also benefits from traveling in a redeemer so it normally gets to its traget ok. The LC's are quite important to make the squad effective against most enemies, such as hord. The LC's ability to reroll does seem to make them more effective against horde, although the unit can implode quite quickly against hordes with a few bad rolls.

 

[Forty Three]

but you only get to reroll on to wound, which means you have a 75% of wounding against T4, while the TH have 83%. against T3 you have a slightly higher chance to wound with the claws, and having 2 with claws instead of hammers only adds 2 attacks to the total of the unit. So the claws are better against T3, but if you're facing a real horde 2 more attacks is going to make little difference. It's not worth it getting 2 more attacks and a very slight increase in to-wound ratio against T3, but losing to-wound ratio against anything else, plus the survivability. The reality is that assault termies will have no problem with crap units no matter what, so you need to equip them to deal with hard units (which will have a decent number of PW attacks, PFs, etc)

43

 

[dander]

Unless you are unfortunate enough to play dark angels. Our TH/SS termies don't have the 3++ so its always better to have LC's. I put one TH/SS in my assault squads just for vehicles and MC's. LC terms do fine against MC's too. With a chaplain to reroll hits and wounds they are nigh unstoppable.

 

[Stephen_Newman]

Same with templers. Their SS only work in combat. They also get option for furious charge which makes them more badass than vanilla TH/SS termies.