Daiyokai as a Solo Attacker

BS13 is decent enough, the Red Fury actually has a really nice range band with the +0 from 24-40" combined with burst 4 making him surprisingly effective at long range. ARM5 is nice and solid in cover even against AP ammo due to rounding up, just try and avoid Shock AROs if you've already taken a wound.

It's very comparable to a Xeodron IMO, trading super jump and a proper 3rd wound for some decent CC and the ability to dodge properly and go Prone.

 

I got a game in with him recently (in Ikari), it was AMAZING, I used the Multi Marksman variant. Having ARM8 in cover is bonkers, and that NWI is quite handy, don't forget that while in NWI you can be healed by a doctor, which means it will take two wounds again to finish you off.

 

Also important to note that the Daiyokai have cubes, so don't forget you have those Command Token re-rolls!

 

He's a pretty solid fighter. I don't see a reason why you wouldn't at least take the duo. it's free and chances are you're taking a Domaru anyway.

Expect him to die on either of the first two turns. His weapons facilitate him wanting to live in the mid board. Due to his size and his positioning, opponents will likely be shooting him with infiltrating shotguns, advancing war bands with DTWs, or blasting him at range with a CH sniper/HMG. I find that the Domaru helps him cover his ass with a chain rifle of your own.

I often use my Yokai to advance, bring a domaru or two with him while trying to blast away enemy ARO pieces. He'll soak up some orders in the reactive turn and go down, but luckily some Domaru are there ready for the next turn charge.

Ryuken also synergize with the Yokai quite well (both profiles)

 

@colbrook The Daiyokai doesn’t need to avoid shock ammo in particular because its effects don’t apply to "Units whose wounds attribute is higher than 1 on their profile" regardless of how many wounds they actually have at the time.

 

Well, accoring to the 1.3 FAQ, a NWI trooper (like the Dorayaki) with one wound left that receives another wound from a Shock weapon, cannot activate NWI and goes directly to Unconscious (al least it doesn't go to Dead).

 

after taking 1W already, yes, because shock cancel NWI no matter how many wounds you started with. So he'll end up in Unconscious state (but not dead, as ARO is B1 so at most he'll lose 1W) until a doctor can reach him and heal him back up.

 

This only applies to 1 wound troops with NWI iirc? Shock ammo doesn't work at all against troops with a Wounds value of 2 on their profile .

-_-

As for being on topic, I think he's a great solo piece but there's very little reason to not bring a Domaru with him. The FO is a good choice in missions where you want a specialist, and just a regular chain rifle EM grenade domaru can be pretty useful to have around to watch your back in the midfield (where you want to be anyway).

 

I think it's mission specific. In Looting and Sabotaging, I'm probably going to take the Haris with Neko and DA chain rifle Domaru. In others, I may take Neko and the FO. If I'm looking for midfield control, I'll probably take the Haris.

 

I'd bet it would be fine as a Duo.

 

The +1 burst from Haris is nice, but it can be hard to find the extra 0.5 SWC and 27 points.

 

BS13 is Intruder (or Tiger) BS, it's nothing to sneer at.

But the Red Fury is at -3 from 24-40", unless you have an XVisor or 5-man link team. It'd be B5 in a Haris, though.

 

As said by @Fyeya and me, check the latest FAQ.

 

I also remember the 0 rangeband so I think either something changed or there used to be a typo maybe on Army.

 

I think I was misremembering the longer (compared to a Spitfire) -3 band and conflating it with the old Feueueurerebach ranges.

 

All true, but Burst 4, hitting on 7s is much better than most troops can manage at that range. Being able to reliably chew up light opposition from outside 32 is great, and I'd even take my chances against standard sniper rifles, TR bots from outside of 32, and other matchups where you're only likely to be taking 1 or 2 hits and retaining full ARM value.

I'm glad for this discussion... I may have to try the Dayokai Duo. I haven't been running Domaru (Haris feels too points-intensive, Kempetai/Keisotsu too vulnerable advancing into short range, lone units not really effective) but the Duo with the Daiyokai might be the perfect balance here.

 

Beware of a short Multimarksmanrifle rant.
So what's the deal with this? A gun that costs more than the excellent Red Fury for what? Worse 0-8 Rangeband and less Burst for non obligatory Shock/AP and DA/Stun AROs.

For the solo Daiyokai against troops without Bioimmunity and ARM5 or less, the Red Fury is always better for the Active turn. At ARM6 the AP Mode for the MMMR starts to show.
As a 50 points HI I'd argue you should always pump your SWC into him instead of going for the MMMR and using them elsewhere, there simply isn't a good argument that you need to spend more than 5 SWC on the rest of your army when you're bringing a Daiyokai.

When you're in SF or for singleshot AROs, the MMR clearly wins for flexibility/damage output.
Still it's worse at getting the Daiyokai into 0-8 where he and his Domaru friends want to be.
His only means to fight at long range is his Panzerfaust - which is one of his most important traits. JSA doesn't fare well in the 16-32" Range, having the Option to take something out at this range or a good option to defend against a HMG is a welcome addition to his kit.

Enough gun talk this is JSA and the gun isn't everything the Daiyokai is about. He is a nice brick, for the most part a better Gecko tbh. Apart from the Oyoroi JSA doesn't really have something you can leave out and expect to live through a failed BS Attack FTF reliably.
His CC ability as such is a letdown. CC20 MA2 is terribad for a dedicated CC Specialist, don't bother when you can drag Neko around anyway. However with MA2 - DAM17 AP+DA - he rips apart scenery or immobilized troops like no tomorrow. Nice synergy with Domaru, they're pretty bad at killing stuff with high ARM and multiple W/STR (apart from Neko). In between E/M Nades and E/M CCWs with Berserk they are however quite capable at producing salt pillars.

Then there is the issue of the Haris/Duo vs simply taking a full HI Core, Oyoroi or one of the other Haris Options.

Overall I don't run troops for the niche he would fit in, he seems like a halfmeasure that is almost there but fell short to live up to his potential.
Outside of missions (blowing up AC2s) not a fan.

If you want to make light of an Intruder bringing MSV2, Surprise Shot and Camo to the equation you could say it is that easy.
However I'd say it's pretty irrelevant to compare two troops on their BS stat when one of them comfortably put TO troops at -12 while hitting them on 13s, while the other one struggles to deal with Mimetism outside of 24".

It should be more fitting to say he shoots as well as a Bolt Spitfire. Which in itself isn't much of a good quality.