Having just transitioned from Onyx to vanilla Combined, I find myself really fascinated by the Sepsitor option on the Charontid. The drawback is really obvious - he forgoes his terrific MSV3 and his might HMG. But on the other hand, I'm not a super fan of the HMGs range band on troopers that I wanna surge forward and kill stuff with - I feel the HMG is better used for gaining long-range superiority, and that models for half the points or less can do this just fine. With my main assault pieces, I often end up within 16", where the HMG falls short. Now, I realize the MSV3 and HMG is a standout profile, but it really does feel like a more closer-range murder machine is how I wanna play my Charontid. On paper, the Sepsitor looks absolutely terrific for that role (unless you're facing Ariadna or Haqqislam, at least). But what do you guys think? Can the plasma rifle+sepsitor Charontid hold a candle to the MSV+HMG one? Feel free to add thoughts on Skiavoros and Anathematics too.
The anathematic has a better chance of getting into range with its marker state, but it’s 2 SWC compared to the 0 SWC charontid sepsitor. I guess a couple of daturazi will be a great support to the sepsitor charontid.
I usually play the Charontid with either HMG or hacker options. The Anathematic is easier to get into range, but only has two shots on its Sepsitor. Sepsitor is fairly expensive, and is even more prone to swingy outcomes than hacking. A hacker might have an opponent with no hackable models, but can still fall back on stuff like Cybermask or White Noise. If your opponent doesn’t have Cubes, the only thing you can do with Sepsitor is force guts rolls.
As pointed out by Toad, the Ana only has two shots. Also, the Sepsistor Ana can't be the Lt. The Skiavoros is pretty decent, if you just want a "budget" Mnemonica, and Sepsistor can keep him alive a bit longer up close. I can see value in the Sepsistor Charontid (as i'm more likely to stick in Victor or Kerr-Nau if I want a HD+/White Noise), but the HMG is by no means a push over. Remember that he still has a Heavy Pistol up close for Active Turn, and that Suppression overrides the weapon rangebands making it a great choice for Reactive.
I quite like the Sepsitor anathematic. There's a lot of little synergies/mitigating factors on the profile; - marker state gets you to close range more easily, maximising the value of both the plasma rifle and sepsitor - a major part of the sepsitor is actually just forcing a dodge for easy F2F rolls with your main gun, so having the 4pt cheaper basic sepsitor is fine since you won't actually fire it that often - of all the aspects, the Anathematic is the one you least want to be your Lt thanks to his hidden deployment, so that isn't as much of a problem (and hey if he dies he can always jump into the Lt anyway to assume command and then you're set) (As an aside, on the Charontid my favourite profile is the Hacker. Amazing specialist, reliable marker state, good utility, and your average KHD should well fear to engage him. And I'm finding white noise very important these days, although fortunately we have a few good sources of that now.)
The Anathematic is always my go-to EI aspect. That said, if you are looking to Sepsetorize anything, go with the Avatar. The Anathematic has the ability to stay in hidden deployment until an enemy link walks by, then pops out to sepsitorize all of them. However, that's dependent on if the enemy happens to walk by and have cubes. the Avatar has the ability to wade through anything to get into sepsitor range. The Charontid is (in my opinion) much more useful with it's HMG/MSV3 or hacker options.
