A Titanic Comparison

A Titanic Comparison

Wraithknight with two Heavy Wraithcannons
 and two Scatter Lasers (and no Invul!).

Recently I started putting together my Wraithknights with the intention of using at least one in a fluffy campaign I'm partaking in. One of the players in this group proclaimed that the Wraithknight is comparative with a Dominus Class Imperial Knight (Castellan/Valiant). I asked him how he qualified this statement and he told me that its guns ( I presume he meant the Heavy Wraithcannons) would wound a Castellan on 2s. He compared the stat lines and mentioned that the Invulnerable saves were similar. This is where his argument falls apart.

Castellan with every
gun possible!

Wraithknights only gain an invulnerable save if they are using the Sun Cannon and Scattershield weapon loadout or the Titanic Ghost Glaive and Scattershield option. What's wrong with that you might say. Well, that reduces the number of ranged weapons by either one (first option) or two (second option).  If the Suncannon is being used that the Wraithknight has a weapon that inflicts 2D6 shots at a range up to 48, that is S6, -2AP dealing 2 points of damage per hit. Not bad, although it tends to be a bit swingy whenever you have variable shot weapons, and it costs 60 points (it was originally 118 points and even then I had Imperial Knight players telling me that it was a fair price!).

Just for comparison lets put the Sun Cannon up against the Volcano Lance which was FAQed in April 2019 to the lofty cost of 70 points (from nothing at all). For that price you get D6 shots at S14, -5AP and 3D3 damage! So that's double the strength, more than double the AP, and a minimum of 3 damage per shot. BUT WAIT! THERES MORE! You get to re-roll failed wounds against Titanic Units, and you still get to keep your 5+ Invulnerable save.

I put these numbers into Mathhammer 40K and it worked out that the Suncannon would do on average 2 points of damage to a Dominus Class Knight with a 5+ invulnerable save. By contrast, the Volcano Lance would do just under 5 points of damage to a Wraithknight.

What is interesting to me is that it would appear GW have taken the Suncannon, halved its shots, doubled its strength, AP and Damage and given it to the Imperium. The kicker is that the Wraithknight might get a lot of shots, but it has to hit with those shots and then wound, and then hope the opponent fails his saves (so that's 5+ invulnerable for a Wraithknight with a Scattershield). The same can't be said for the Castellan's Volcano Lance.

At this point, I don't see any merit to the argument that a Wraithknight is comparable to a Dominus Class Knight. But for the sake of thoroughness, I will go through option two.

If you use the second option, then the Wraithknight can only take the Secondary Weapons for ranged attacks which are all S6, and of these weapons, only the Star Cannons have a fixed AP (-3) and multi-wound damage (D3). These are additional points, not free like the Melta Guns, Las-Impulsor,  or the Twin Meltaguns, Conflagaration Cannon, Thundercoil Harpoon, on the Dominus Class Imperial Knights.

Now obviously the Wraithknight has its awesome Titanic Ghost Glaive. The problem is that with only 4 attacks hitting on 3s there is a fair chance you will only get two wounds through. However, because of the straight 6 damage on the weapon profile, you'll average just under 9 points of damage. Now that better, but you'll have to survive at least two rounds of being shot at by the Castellan, and then the overwatch, by which time your Wraithknight will be hitting on 5s, and barely strong to hold the Titanic Ghost Glaive, much less swing it.

Spreadsheet Comparison

Now I could go go on to say how the Imperial Knights have multiple stratagems, relics, and warlord traits which can further improve their stats, and how the base cost of the Wraithknight is a lofty 402 points vs a Knight Paladins 285 points (which is less than the 337 points a Ynnari player pays for the 9 wound Yncarne with her S6 Sword).

I challenge any Imperial/Chaos player to tell me they don't have it really good right now. The new rules for Assassins are outrageous (see my article regarding the Vindicare Assassin) and the new Chaos Knight rules are obscene! And yet us Aeldari players still get lumped in the 'that guy' bracket. But hey, let me know what you think, is a Wraithknight equivalent to a Dominus class Imperial Knight?