Best Equipment for Reavers

I know reavers are overpriced and terrible, but since they come in the start collecting box I'm definitely going to be using them in my starter army. I'm thinking of running six with an agonizer and 2 cluster caltrops, but I'm not sure if it's worth also throwing on two special weapons in the unit. Thoughts?

Personally I find the extra cost not really worth it since I mostly use them to charge stuff to keep them from shooting.
Blasters might be ok, but heat lances are so darn expensive while the s6 really bothers me.

Take Grav Talons over CCs. You are more likely to get the charge with Reavers and the upfront damage is marginally better.

2 x 3 is more tactical if you have the slots to spare wich isn't that hard.

As said above heatlance is too expensive use blasters. Gravtalon > caltrops.
They are fast, easy to hide and good at sniping, objs and tying stuff up.

Apart from being vastly over a reasonable points cost, they are great

Don't take any upgrades or special weapons on them - you want them as cheap as possible. They're not even mediocre at anything currently except drawing fire and maybe tying some enemy units up.

Alternative answer; buy some Scatter Laser or Shuriken Cannon bits and use them as Windriders.

You know, if they had cheap splinter cannons (6 points maybe) as squad wide options and a rule that lets them fight twice on the charge (replacing their old hammer of wrath), then Reavers might not be so maligned.

Nothing, take them as is and use them as objective grabbers or tank stoppers.

TBH Reavers need a massive point reduction, they are not bad but they are not good either.
In previous editions Reavers were a must for DE armies, I just can't figure out the thinking behind them anymore, for a glass cannon throwaway unit in previous editions they just don't seem to fit anymore. Their new rules for caltrops and grav talons are good but not great, combined with the price of upgrades on an expensive fragile unit they can't even be reliable tank hunters anymore, they excel at nothing atm compared with other units in our codex.

If Reavers were closer to 20 points and the rules for caltrops and grav talons get fixed or perhaps the upgrades got cheaper then they would be good again, I don't doubt they will not get a overhaul in the codex in next 6 months but for now they are just not worth taking.


I do miss Reavers i loves playing them, anytime i played them my opponents would make them a target priority in previous editions, they have won me enough battles too, to go from 18 to 30pts is ridiculous, i understand they got 4+ save and an extra wound, but they have lost their jink, some combat effectiveness and their guns are just too damn expensive now.
Compared to scourges they are 16pts more and only gain one wound with a crappier gun and marginal combat improvement you can see why this doesn't add up, also scourges get a 6+ invul to boot.

I miss the old reavers so much.

IMO there are 3 good answers to fixing them.

A) Make them 12-14pts and let us spam large units
B) A new kit and more options (1 per 3 isnt good)
C) Give them Bladevanes back, either make it a Move over unit to damage or Hammer of Wrath back with D3 wound rolls per bike that makes it into 1"

Skip the special weapons, you'll probably be Advancing with them anyway. If you must, make it a Blaster. I'd also advice Grav-Talons over Cluster Whatevers, as you have more control. If I was going to play them, I'd give them +1 Toughness drug and adavnce/charge some big scary shooting thing to keep it from shooting.

Can take a unit of 6 WWP then on turn 2 for Re-roll charges and try to tie up some units.

Why the WWP?
With a move of 14 (+8 advance the first turn) they can get nearly everywhere by turn 2 anyway. And reavers are relatively though with little damage compared to our other units.
They are rarely the first things to die in my army and I can get them where I want them, with a slightly better then 54% change to make the charge on turn 2. Besides I usually find that if I want to deep trike them to charge a shooty unit I usually cannot because my opponents know how to stop the basic deep strike for important targets.

|Meavar wrote:

Why the WWP?
With a move of 14 (+8 advance the first turn) they can get nearly everywhere by turn 2 anyway. And reavers are relatively though with little damage compared to our other units.
They are rarely the first things to die in my army and I can get them where I want them, with a slightly better then 54% change to make the charge on turn 2. Besides I usually find that if I want to deep trike them to charge a shooty unit I usually cannot because my opponents know how to stop the basic deep strike for important targets.

To guaranteed it wont be shot at, IDK about yours but my local always tries for 1st blood and will pick the easiest unit to kill 1st.

The best equipment for my reavers is the sweet led lighting I put on my shelf to show them

They work really great in combination with a feather duster. Helps them deal with the dust of "not being playable at all".

amishprn86 wrote:

|Meavar wrote:

Why the WWP?
With a move of 14 (+8 advance the first turn) they can get nearly everywhere by turn 2 anyway. And reavers are relatively though with little damage compared to our other units.
They are rarely the first things to die in my army and I can get them where I want them, with a slightly better then 54% change to make the charge on turn 2. Besides I usually find that if I want to deep trike them to charge a shooty unit I usually cannot because my opponents know how to stop the basic deep strike for important targets.

To guaranteed it wont be shot at, IDK about yours but my local always tries for 1st blood and will pick the easiest unit to kill 1st.

My experience is that he will get first blood anyway, he focussesz at what he does not want, and it dies, no need to target reavers for that.

|Meavar wrote:

amishprn86 wrote:

|Meavar wrote:

Why the WWP?
With a move of 14 (+8 advance the first turn) they can get nearly everywhere by turn 2 anyway. And reavers are relatively though with little damage compared to our other units.
They are rarely the first things to die in my army and I can get them where I want them, with a slightly better then 54% change to make the charge on turn 2. Besides I usually find that if I want to deep trike them to charge a shooty unit I usually cannot because my opponents know how to stop the basic deep strike for important targets.

To guaranteed it wont be shot at, IDK about yours but my local always tries for 1st blood and will pick the easiest unit to kill 1st.

My experience is that he will get first blood anyway, he focussesz at what he does not want, and it dies, no need to target reavers for that.

For me its about 50/50 for 1st blood. Unless i'm playing Nids or a Hemlock lol, that thing dies turn 1 every game. But i use it as a distraction now and can make my opponent out of position easily now with it HAHAHAHAHA