Equipping Sybarites

So I am a newb here, and will be getting my first kabalite box put together next week and am curious how y'all build your sybarites. I figure since I am going more 'yacht club' with venoms full of warriors & blasters, that sybarites should rock a rifle to shoot and scoot. However, I see loads of people posting up pics on FB with sybarites rocking an agoniser/pistol combo. I feel like I'll model the PGL because it looks cool and use it when I pay for it, but can you take a rifle AND an agoniser?

Sorry if this is a newb question, just curious y'all's thoughts. Thanks!

You can take a Rifle and an Agoniser, but the loadout that I use most frequently for them is just a basic Rifle or a Rifle and PGL.

Keeping them cheap and focused on ranged fire works best, in my experience.

Even for Trueborn who have 3 attacks, the agonizer is a hard sell. Likewise for the pistol due to 6” range. If we had some kind of range 12” pistol, I suspect you would see it more. Maybe. Rifle and PGL both can operate at their preferred 18” range. Getting within 12” range just to shoot 4 more rifle shots  is not always the right choice.

I'd really like to kit out my Sybarites a bit but their gear just isn't very good.

- Agonisers aren't great weapons to begin with, and Sybarites really don't have enough attacks to make use of them. Not to mention that the rest of the squad is still going to be abysmal in combat. It's a shame, because I's really like to run Poison Tongue Kabalites with some melee ability but they simply lack the punch to inflict any meaningful damage.

- Power Sword suffers all the drawbacks of the Agoniser whilst also being worse against virtually every target.

- Blast Pistols were abysmal in 5th, abysmal in 6th and abysmal in 7th. 8th edition has elected to continue that proud tradition. If it was 12" it might well be worth it, but a 6" range just makes them worthless. Also noteworthy that it costs more than the Inferno Pistol in spite of being objectively worse.

- Splinter Pistols are for when you feel that your sergeants are just too effective and want to halve the number of shots they put out in order to give your opponents a fighting chance.

- Phantasm Grenade Launchers are probably the best of the bunch, being cheap weapons that play to the Warrior's ranged game. They can also be used with a certain stratagem to potentially inflict a Mortal Wound or two. To be honest, I'm still not a huge fan of them as they just never seem to do anything when I use them. However, they're definitely leagues better than the other Sybarite wargear options.

Phantasm Grenade Launchers are worth it solely for the added access to the Torment Grenades strat and the look on your opponent's face when a Strength 1 weapon kills an elite model.

Burnage wrote:

Phantasm Grenade Launchers are worth it solely for the added access to the Torment Grenades strat and the look on your opponent's face when a Strength 1 weapon kills an elite model.

Yeah, it's always worth remembering that those S1 shots can still kill models.

Also entertaining is announcing 6 to wound against Ratlings

Well i would magnetize 1 or 2, with agonisers and pistols, to have them, if you ever feel like trying it, or play KT or use them in a another skirmish game.

But for the optimal option, ill vote just a rifle. To keep him cheap

Just got my first 5 models done up, and modeled the sybarite with a splinter pistol/power sword and then put the rifle you get on sprue with no hands on his back next to the PGL. So he's covered on all bases lol

I either just leave rifles on them, or give them rifles + agonizers if I have spare points. There have been times when the warriors have been put into situations where the agonizers were useful, but I certainly wouldn't bank on that.