Hey everyone, I am continuing to repost my tactical views and opinions on Chaos troops from the HUGE original article into more digestable posts. While I am at it, I also want to take the chance to introduce you to a little video eyecandy from Youtube's MarneusAugustaCalgar. The Zerks were painted by MotherofHorus and maybe after you wipe the drool off your chin, you can check out the article. As always feel free to comment!
"The Madmen" Khorne Berzerkers Zerks are easily one of the deadliest troop choices in the game. They have 2 attacks base + close combat weapons and the Champ has three. Combine that with grenades and Furious Charge and you have the makings of a dead enemy unit!
How do we get to the battle? The awesome armor may be tempting when considering using a Land Raider to get your Zerks to the fight, but fight it. The points they cost and the Heavy Support slots they take are much better used to support your Zerks. For Zerks, I recommend as always, taking rhinos to help get you up the field. You will want Extra Armour to ensure that unless you get destroyed or immobilized, you will always be moving forward. That being said, if you are Khorne Crazy and want to try 3 Raiders with Daemonic Poss full of Zerks and Khorne Lords.
Crazy, but not Stupid While Zerks are tough, they are not invulnerable. You will need to be smart about how you get them up the field. You can take them up behind other units, like tough Daemon Princes or units of Plague Marines as a counter charging force, or you must really pay attention to Mutual Support when moving up the field and keep in mind that unless you are running behind your rhino wall, you will need to stop the rhino for a full turn in order to get out and charge (this means supporting units need to be used to their max potential to get your Zerks into the action correctly.
Another method for getting them up the field is to come in 2 waves, the first 2 rhinos move up and stop while another two move up behind them. The first zerks run out and get into the enemies charging range, forcing him to try to assault them and leaving him open to a counter charge with the rest of your zerks and your heavier assault units.
Nothing worse than a crazy guy with a Giant Fist! Nothing worse for the enemy anyway! While you will be told by some to take a powerweapon on your champ to take advantage of the extra I for Furious Charge, I really recommend you take a fist. This is because Zerks scare the hell out of people and they tend to run at you with walkers and crazy assault units. Krak Grenades won't do the job here and melta bombs aren't reliable enough. A fist, however on a model with 3 base attacks, will help you deal with both Dreads AND those pesky A2 unit out there. They will also help you fight through and survive more standard combats for the same reasons I mentioned in the Plague Marines section of the Chaos Space Marines Units and Tactics 2.2.
Other than that, you have the option to take up to three plasma pistols in your squads. Take them if you really need them, but I think this kind of firepower is best found elsewhere in the army (where those points will be better spent). I prefer to keep the Zerks alive to do their real job, assault (c'mon, 4 attacks on the charge) and keep my squads cheaper.
I'd also recommend the fist because you're fearless. You're in that assault to win it, and if there's a dreadnought on the table? The power weapon means "Aw, cute, I'M GOING TO STOMP ON YOU!" while the powerfist is "...crap. Maybe we should counter them with something else."
ReplyDeleteI think the 'zerkers really have two problems.
1) Delivery.
You've touched on it already. Either you buy a role-conflicted Land Raider, or you go for Rhinos and see if you can launch an assault out of the thing.
2) POwer.
Yeah, that's right. They're deadly, but if they run up and nuke a squad, well...good job. Now they're in the open on the opponent's turn, and he's going to shoot you. A lot. With guns. However, this is more of a problem for assault units in general; and you can try to deal with it via multiple assaults IF you can get them off.
3) Not the BEST assault unit
They're a very nasty assaulty unit, but they're still not the hardest melee choice out there. I would match them up against orks and 'nids in hand-to-hand because they have the volume of attacks to do it, if you can get them there. However, stuff like Nobs, terminators, and other stuff with great armor saves or higher toughness can still send 'em packing.
But, that's more of a note than a downer.
Past that, I think you hit everything. Leave the stupid plasma pistols at home.