AoI reliable AA options?

[Guest]

AoI (Armies of the Imperium) is now a thing with very easy swapping of units between them. What I want to know, is which AA options are actually viable and which don't work. Preferably based on experience, rather than just on paper.

 

Dark Talon?

 

Nephlim Jetfighter?

 

Storm Raven?

 

Sky Talon?

 

Devastators (load outs?)

 

Devastator Centurions?

 

Vendetta?

 

Valkyrie?

 

Hydra?

 

Hunter?

 

Stalker?

 

Thunderhawk?

 

Other AA unit options?

[WestRider]

Ones I've actually played with/against:

- Vendetta: solid, but now pricy. Still worth it

- Valkyrie: Garbage. It's a Ground-Attack plane, not a dogfighter, can't get good weapon options for taking out other Flyers

- Storm Raven: Probably too expensive to take for just Anti-Air, but it is good at it. If you can get use out of the Transport ability, too, it's definitely worth looking at, especially the BA version.

- Storm Talon: Pretty good damage output, but it's fragile. The 360 degree arc on the Assault Cannon is often handy

- Devastators: Regular Missiles/Lascannon with Prescience, Flakk with IF Chapter Tactics: Regular are a tool of desperation, they can work, but not something to rely on. IF Flakk Devs are the only thing I'd pay for Flakk Missiles on. Tank Hunter brings them up to "decent"

- Hydra: Meh. The weak side Armour, long profile, and (I think) Open Topped all make it kind of underwhelming. Not terrible as the ground-based options go, but definitely worse than a decent AA Flyer.

- Stalker: Improved BS and more even Armour Coverage give it a bit of a boost over the Hydra. I'd still rather take a plane, tho.

[Guest]

Forgot to add my own experiences to the list:

 

Haven't really tried any of them recently, but in the Other AA units area, I have used Heavy Psilencer Dreadknights to very good effect against daemon FMCs. It's not something that would be very viable if daemons are uncommon in your area, but that weapon is pretty impressive in it's very narrow usage and has enough shots to realistically hit enemy flying MCs and reliably wound the daemon ones.

[WestRider]

That is a good distinction to make, actually. I was thinking mostly in terms of engaging Flyers, and then in terms of large numbers of AV11 Flyers (i.e. CronAir) or lower numbers of AV12 (Vendettas, Storm Ravens, Helldrakes). If FMCs are your concern, especially those without 3+ Saves, a number of the otherwise mediocre options get way better, because S7 AP4 doesn't do much to Planes without a lot of it, but it will absolutely shred Harpies, Crones, and flying Daemons without good Armour.

[pretre]

Firestorm or Bastion is usually enough for me. I have a tendency to ignore flyers though. :)

[VonVilkee]

I've finally used the hunter and really liked it, the fact that even if it is shaken the missile comes back is good. Combine that with cheap cost and ability to one shot flyers is handy.

 

But the best anti air I've used as space Marines was salamanders tactics, Vulkan, and squads armed with Melta and or multi Melta. All the reroll to hit Melta knocked just about anything I needed or of the air. Ravens were the only real problem with that one. This worked best I think due to the redundancy there was multiple threats everywhere.

[pretre]

Yeah, divination works really well under the same kind of idea. Divination + Exorcists is hilarious. :)