So, N4 Army Builder is out and it is not looking good for our favorite alien invaders. Take a gander: https://infinitytheuniverse.com/army/infinity/onyx/ What changed? Losses: Unless there's a bug, at the time of posting this we have lost Overdrons, where were looking like a premier piece of muscle with the cheap new HRMC. Umbras are identical to last edition (read: unplayable) and our LT options just got worse in the sense that supportware is EVO only, so out LT order can be spent on... nothing now. Supportware is mandatory for Onyx and is now locked behind an EVO tax, so every list you make starts at -18/0.5. Gains: Grief Op -1 point, gained MSV1, Umbra Legate gains FD2 (still really fragile for what it pays though), all TAGs that survived dropped in cost, Ker Nau is wildcard so the Xeo link is actually pretty nuts since he can be the Umbra. The end result? We were already strapped for orders, SWC and had the worst LT options in the game, bar none. Now our only usable LT is worthless, we have a heavy tax on all lists and we lost the best solo attacker we could take under 93 points. Tell me there is an Onyx overall in the future, because this looks like a dead sectorial from my position. It looks like Onyx will still be stuck with 10 order lists and very fragile troops in the N4 meta of 15 orders and very tanky troops (cheap HI, extra wounds everywhere, etc). Compare this to Starmada or new CJC and I am wondering what CB was thinking? Were Onyx sales that bad? I guess I proxy them as a Shasvastii army now?
Overdrons being missing is a bug in Army. I disagree with you strongly about Umbras being unplayable (my Samaritan has won me a ton of games), but it sounds like you need to look more closely. The Legates also gained NCO, and the Samaritans gained DA CCWs that can be used with their MA4 and Protheion, and now have Haris in their own right so aren’t locked to two Xeodrons and one Samaritan. Kerr-Nau can’t replace Umbra Samaritans in a Haris, as he neither has Haris not does he count as a Samaritan - all Fireteams need to contain one of the original units or a unit that counts as them. Suryats LT with extra Order! Nourkias has NCO and counts as a Samaritan (but doesn’t have Haris :-(), so you can take a Haris of a Samaritan, Nourkias and a Xeodron and potentially funnel 13 Orders though it - 10 from the Combat Group, one from Tactical Awareness and two LT Orders from a Suryat LT.
Ok, just checked and vanilla doesn't get Overdron either, so definitely a bug. -Samaritans always had Haris, and were still not fielded often because they are (still) a dedicated CC unit with no way to get them into CC, fragile and costed as an elite unit that doesn't live up to the cost. -Suryat LT with extra order is ok, not going to lie, but it's hardly very Onyx -KN should at least be able to replace one of the Xeos, no? All of those I think are still minor compared to the EVO tax being a mandatory part of the army now. We cannot hackbuff with our LT order and the only NCO we get is a unit that I still wouldn't take with that cost to stat ratio
EVO was always a good investment, I think 2/3 of my lists include it anyway. It's not a tax, it's a matter of adapting playstyle and list building to existing tools. Also: Suryats got better, Makreep got better thanks to Sixth Sense change, Onyx fireteams are less clunky now, NCO options
No, Samaritans had a special Haris of exactly one Samaritan and exactly two Xeodrons. You couldn't take a Haris of three Samaritans, or two Samaritans and one Xeodron, or even one Samaritan and one Xeodron. Now they just have Haris, and Xeodrons can be in the Haris. Again, I'm going to have to disagree - Samaritans are definitely a finesse unit, but once you get the hang of them they're massively powerful due to the ability to reliably regain Wounds. I use them often, and get them into combat in most games, even on a variety of relatively open tables at the Interplanetario. Even with the removal of B2, they're better at CC in N4 than they were in N3, because with the DA CCW they're on CC27, imposing -3 to the opponent and hitting with DA Damage 15, gaining a Wound for each failed save. In terms of popularity, in the datamined ITS files Samaritans are in about 20% of Onyx lists, which is more than any of the TAGs. Suryats - and? It's a unit in the Sectorial, why would you discount it when you're talking about game effectiveness? NCO - Umbra Legates, Nourkias, Nexus with Spitfire and Nanoscreen. Like I said, you haven't looked at stuff in enough detail yet. Kerr-nau can be in any Fireteam. In terms of 'EVO tax' for buffs, try looking beyond the Unidron Core. Onyx don't need to use Supportware, I've had good success with the Rodok Core. Also, why are you restricting yourself to ten Order lists? I've hit 16-18 Orders at 300pt.
Also, Xeodrons are now 6-2 MOV, and the two Rifle loadouts are now Marksman Rifle loadouts. And the K1 version effectively gained +2 Damage because K1 went up to Damage 13 and is now affected by Damage bonuses.
yeah that is very huge, and the price drop. he's sort of a tank hunter now. though not sure whether red furies will have their place in new meta which supposedly will have a lot of high armor.
That's what the Samaritan is for, tagging along behind. :-) Use the Red Fury to push forwards, then slice the armour with a Vorpal CCW, now that the Samaritan can use CC MODs with it...
Onyx deffo isn't dead, its playstyle will be changing to be more TAG-based (which I personally love), but I would love to see the Umbras gain shock immunity, Samaritans NCO and Nourkias being linkable with the Xeodrons - all of the Umbras are such iconic units, but they desperately need the shock imm in the age of shock everywhere. Like, literally everything has shock now, and here we are, running our ~40 point models that die to rather random things Umbras are the face of Onyx, don't let them sit N4 out (esp the Legates, the Samaritan, once it gets going, is good)
There is no Monofilament Ammo now, just Normal ammo with ARM=0 and State=Dead traits. It's DAM 12 base, but there's no note that it's not affected by MA modifiers.
Sorry, I should have been clearer - I wasn't talking about the Damage MODs, but being able to apply CC and Face to Face MODs, which you couldn't do in N3 as Protheion couldn't be combined with CCWs in any way. I already chopped a bunch of TAGs in half in N3, now it's even easier.
Legates are fine by me, but why Legates got FD (+8) and Samaritans, that needed FD even more the Legates, didn't? At least they could begin closer to the CC target
Overall they're actually a few percentage points better in CC than before - Burst 2 was good, but it meant losing all the other MODs. Now they get +3 CC and -3 to the opponent and +3 PH for Damage, which is statistically a bit better. For the Samaritan it's a more noticeable boost due to being able to get MODs and still use a CCW.
B2 was better vs non-CC units, MA3 was better vs other CC units, but yeah, you're right, that's not a SUPER nerf
