Thoughts on Phantasm Launchers?

Wondering what people’s thoughts are on Phantasm Launchers. We’re they good in 8th? They have Blast so will make 3 attacks against any unit of 6+ models (the equivalent of a single extra Splinter Rifle shot), reduces leadership if it hits and give you access to Torment Grenade. To me that seems worth 5 points, but I am new to the game and have no idea what is good!

All of what you listed is true. The other underlooked thing is that PGLs give units like Wyches access to a longer ranged weapon than a Splinter Pistol. You can move, Advance, fire the PGL and use Fire and Fade if you really need to reposition. The biggest things working against PGLs is that they can't be used in conjunction with Blast Pistols.

They can throw out a MW with a 1CP Stratagem, but we want to save our CP for better Strats

Which stratagems are the ones I should be saving my CP for?

fisheyes wrote:

They can throw out a MW with a 1CP Stratagem, but we want to save our CP for better Strats

Giving a unit the ability to throw out D3 mortal wounds is really solid, I don't think it's fair to say that the CP should be saved for better strats. Against some armies - such as Custodes - Torment Grenades are a vital part of our arsenal.

It also has a decent chance of going off. Most armies have a D3 mortal wounds strat with more restrictions. Hellfire Shells and Daemon Shells limit you to one shot. Torment Grenade still grants the D3 shots, still inflicts damage, albeit on a 6, and still applies the -Ld. Torment Grenade is also not limited to a specific target type. So, if you want to burn 2 CP, the same unit of Whyches can throw a Haywire Grenade and shoot a Torment Grenade.

Yeah Torment Grenade is a situational stratagem but very handy when you need to finish something off with 1 or 2 wounds remaining.

Otherwise, I think they're overall a little worse off than they were in 8th. Blast is nice, but with str 1 it will rarely net more wounds. In 8th, the -1 Ld raised the ceiling of how many models a unit could potentially lose to morale by 1. In 9th, it simply adjusts the likelihood that someone fails in the first place.

Not a significant difference one way or another, but it did increase in cost too. Frankly, it's a terrible gun for 5 points (think of it as D3 poison that always wounds on a 6), so it really comes down to whether or not you make use of the stratagems it opens up.

I think it's worth taking 1 or 2 in a list if you have the points, but it's not the kind of upgrade you'd want to spam.