How To Equip Your Chaos Predator

How to equip your Chaos predator

Are exploding Leman Russes and massacred space marines are what you want from your chaos predator?If so read on...

The best 4 weapon loadouts are:

Dakka predator 115pt

Autocannon

Heavy bolter sponsons

Havoc launcher 

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Mixed role predator 135 pt

Twin linked lascannon

Heavy bolter sponsons

Lascannon special 165 pt

Twin linked lascannon

Lascannon sponsons

Hunter Predator 130 pt

Autocannon

Lascannon sponsons

Dakka predator

This predator is cheap and mows down horde infantry really , really fast.If you stay still and there is a big squad of ork boyz you should be able to fire both heavy bolter sponsons ; so then you would be firing 2 autocannon shots, 6 heavy bolter shots and a str 5 ap5 twin linked blast, yea good bye orks...

Mixed role Predator 

It does what it says in the title, a twin linked lascannon shot has a decent chance at destroying low armour tanks and if it's a AV 10 open topped Ork trukk you could use the heavy bolters too.The same goes for anti infantry the heavy bolters do most of the work but a lascannon shot should kill a marine a turn , or instant death a chaplain commander etc.,However most people kill infantry with the heavy bolters after the majority of tanks are smoking wrecks.

Lascannon special

 Blown to bits by tanks again? Get this baby and your problems should be partly solved.You should get 2 lascannon hits on average and should penetrate a predator or vindicator's front armour every 2 turns.However obviously this doesn't do well against infantry but it doesn't matter because you built it this way to wreck tanks. 

Hunter Predator

The hunter is basically your cost effective lascannon special it's very good for it's cost and the autocannon isn't that bad when it's complementing your lascannons.

There are also 2 other builds that weren't really worth mentioning since there are not that good but they are:

• A naked Predator with just an autocannon
• A predator with a twin linked lascannon 
  

I don't use either. I don't want a tank with just an autocannon because 1. It's an incredible waste of £25($40 if your an american) and 2. Its a waste of 70 points you may as well pay 5 points more for an obliterator or get 2 rhinos (they would do more damage tank shocking.)

With just a twin linked lascannon it suffers because ,well for a start an obliterator would do better and with a twin linked lascannon it's just a slightly more dangerous target.

A havoc squad or obliterator could do better then both of these weapon loadouts and be cheaper too.

Using your predator

Depending on what build you choose will decide on what you shoot but their a few tactics appilicable to all

1.Getting in a good position

The predator was meant to fire right? So if you intend to get in a good position and shoot your weapons off then it's essential to get in a good position depending on either 1)Good line of sight or 2) Cover

If the Board has a decent amount of terrain then you should be able to get one or the other: if your at Games workshop and you're using a citadel gaming board you could deploy it on the hills in the corners and have a height advantage.If doesn't neccasarily have to be on a hill all good line of sight requires is too have a good view of the enemy.

Cover is a tricky one as if it's in cover you probably won't be able to fire one of the guns off and could end up immobilising it. There is also LOS blocking for example if you set up a tank so that it can shoot at some decent enemies while being out of line of sight of a devastor squad and his predator.

2.Target Priority

You want to be aiming at what your most effective at ,and also what would the results be if you destroyed it, you want to find a balance between the two ;for example lets say your in a lascannon special predator and your the only anti tank left which can shoot do you:

1.  Shoot at the immobilised rhino which has a twin linked bolter left
2. Try to harm a land raider which has just picked some assault terminators up of the other side of the board
3. Shoot at a dreadnought with a multi-melta and missing CC weapon which is 18 inches off you

You Chose 3 right?The Rhino was hardly a threat and the Land raider being too heavily armoured and not that much of a threat wasn't the best choice either, no the dreadnought was clearly the one that needed shooting as the multi melta would of blown you up if it hit.

Obviously It isn't usually that simple and it could of been something like this:

Do you shoot at:

1. A immobilised Razor back with a twin linked lascannon who could shoot YOU
2. A land raider with 1 lascannon and it's heavy bolter missing but has a small sqaud of assault terminators dangerously close to your Havocs
3. A Venerable dreadnought with a twin linked lascannon and a missile launcher near one of your Rhinos with Khorne berzerkers in.

Not so simple now huh?Hopefully you won't find yourself in a situation like that if you shoot at the most appropiate enemies.

It will also depend on what armies you fight as if you know them inside out you will know what to shoot at here's an example:

Tyranids

Infantry

You Should focus mainly on genestealers as they are what pile up the bodies hormagaunts are just to tie you up so you can't shoot, Termagaunts don't work wonders and your 3+ should save you from their bugs but if it's a big sqaud and there's no genestealers left , shoot em.If they have without number just shoot till there is only a small amount left and they shouldn't trouble you.

Anti-Tank

Well there's no tanks in a tyranid army but lascannon shots should go on Monsters in this priority order

1. Winged Hive tyrants
2. Sniper fex's(long range dangerous weapons)
3. Tyrant with guard
4. Zoanthropes(yea hows that 6 + invun haha)
5. Dakka tyrants/Carnifexs(twin linked devourers)
6. Other Carnifex builds.

If your having trouble against a specific army then look at their codex, this isn't just important for predators but army specifics in general.Also it makes sure your not surprised by any special rules e.g The molten body rule with the avatar which means melta,flamer or equivalents it would suck to waste melta shots on him then huh.

Anyway i hope this guide has helped you make a good Chaos predator and more importantly one your pummeling your friends with, so thanks for reading and look forward to the next tactica.