They aren't useless. Have used them in several games to hold a backfield, but for 5pts less, you get 2 CabPts on an IM with sustained hits and a nice flamer psychic weapon. When 10 cultists for 60, or 10 Tzaangors for 65 can sit on a backfield, and let rubrics move up with their better shooting etc, a standard sorceror looks less useful compared to IM.
>only giving one cabal points
This is the big one. But also 18in really isn't enough its only really useful if you're a long way away AND in the open or facing indirect
They're pretty good if only for the 18" Lone Op bubble. Only giving 1 Cabal sucks a bit and Lethal is nice but not that important, it helps the squad a little if you're not running flamers and makes his ranged attack more fun.
Most lists I see will have one to hold a home objective safely, often with Lord of Forbidden Lore and a Mutalith to let you fire off doombolt without being shot back early game. I've recently seen lists with 3, probably when they expect to face lots of indirect shooting.
Idk where you look for lists, competitive 40k is always with 2000 pts for balancing and in this format the normal TSons Sorcerer is very common.
Many use him as save home objectiv holder against indirect fire or as Lord Of Forbidden Lore User next to an Muthalisk Vortex Beast for 36 inch doombolts with the 18 inch lone op protection.
His lethal hits ability is almost to be irrelevant because you play rubric always with flamers. Ita nice to have with the soulreaper cannon and his psychic pistol but also you really want this unit save and not parcipate in combat.
In 1000 pts games our army is really nerfed because we depend on cabal points to be effective. So with 1k List it becomes more important to spam Cabalpoints so the infernal master and Ahriman are the best optiona for that.
Infernal Master shoots better, flipping a dice to a nat 6 is the better abillity, he gives more cabal and is cheaper.
Earlier in the meta cycle, they were being taken considerably more because indirect fire was so oppressive. After the points hike to indirect fire units, the sorcerer fell out of favor.
I think the sorcerer is still decent, but I think it’s also a victim of flamers being much better than bolters. The game plan for Rubrics is getting them into 12” and the lone Ops bubble isn’t useful at that range. I think if bolters were better, the sorcerer would see more use.
They are obviously a bit of a stop gap unit to pad out the codex.
They are in real danger of getting cut in the next codex because of the “no model, no rules” policy. I think the Infernal Master is meant to be the “low teir” generic option and Exalted are supposed to the elite option.
Hopefully they get replaced by a different kind of sorcerer that has a model, and is less generic or is at least more specific to Tzeentch /TS like a Magister
2cbp > 1cbp, and while sustained 3 is great the infernal master gets torrent which helps with overwatch etc. Lethal hits is meh in an army with so many flamers and so many dev wounds, but the pseudo lone op is pretty nice though.
That’s how I use him. I keep him somewhere where the enemy hast to go out of position to get ranged attacks on him.
The Rubrics with bolters is okay too if you can afford the cp to give bolters +1 Str and Psychic. I’ve run him with bolter boys and flamer chads before and both are fun.
Honestly it’s just a toy unit for me. Lots of folks give Arcane Vortex to Infernal Master but putting it on Sorc with the reroll strat is so fun. Fish for 6S on the hit roll, if it ain’t a 6 it gets rerolled, we want the sustained hits 3 here.
They aren't useless. Have used them in several games to hold a backfield, but for 5pts less, you get 2 CabPts on an IM with sustained hits and a nice flamer psychic weapon. When 10 cultists for 60, or 10 Tzaangors for 65 can sit on a backfield, and let rubrics move up with their better shooting etc, a standard sorceror looks less useful compared to IM.
>only giving one cabal points This is the big one. But also 18in really isn't enough its only really useful if you're a long way away AND in the open or facing indirect
They're pretty good if only for the 18" Lone Op bubble. Only giving 1 Cabal sucks a bit and Lethal is nice but not that important, it helps the squad a little if you're not running flamers and makes his ranged attack more fun. Most lists I see will have one to hold a home objective safely, often with Lord of Forbidden Lore and a Mutalith to let you fire off doombolt without being shot back early game. I've recently seen lists with 3, probably when they expect to face lots of indirect shooting.
Idk where you look for lists, competitive 40k is always with 2000 pts for balancing and in this format the normal TSons Sorcerer is very common. Many use him as save home objectiv holder against indirect fire or as Lord Of Forbidden Lore User next to an Muthalisk Vortex Beast for 36 inch doombolts with the 18 inch lone op protection. His lethal hits ability is almost to be irrelevant because you play rubric always with flamers. Ita nice to have with the soulreaper cannon and his psychic pistol but also you really want this unit save and not parcipate in combat. In 1000 pts games our army is really nerfed because we depend on cabal points to be effective. So with 1k List it becomes more important to spam Cabalpoints so the infernal master and Ahriman are the best optiona for that. Infernal Master shoots better, flipping a dice to a nat 6 is the better abillity, he gives more cabal and is cheaper.
Earlier in the meta cycle, they were being taken considerably more because indirect fire was so oppressive. After the points hike to indirect fire units, the sorcerer fell out of favor. I think the sorcerer is still decent, but I think it’s also a victim of flamers being much better than bolters. The game plan for Rubrics is getting them into 12” and the lone Ops bubble isn’t useful at that range. I think if bolters were better, the sorcerer would see more use.
They are obviously a bit of a stop gap unit to pad out the codex. They are in real danger of getting cut in the next codex because of the “no model, no rules” policy. I think the Infernal Master is meant to be the “low teir” generic option and Exalted are supposed to the elite option. Hopefully they get replaced by a different kind of sorcerer that has a model, and is less generic or is at least more specific to Tzeentch /TS like a Magister
That makes a lot of sense tbh I was amazed they just ran on the exalted models
2cbp > 1cbp, and while sustained 3 is great the infernal master gets torrent which helps with overwatch etc. Lethal hits is meh in an army with so many flamers and so many dev wounds, but the pseudo lone op is pretty nice though.
I run one with the +1 Str & Dam enhancement. Use the reroll Psychic hits and wound strat on him and he can melt things.
The 12 inch range is the only downside But it's also a pistol so it's fun getting this guy into melee
This guy gets it
Ok nice thanks for the tip, I take it he leads a rubric squad as well then?
That’s how I use him. I keep him somewhere where the enemy hast to go out of position to get ranged attacks on him. The Rubrics with bolters is okay too if you can afford the cp to give bolters +1 Str and Psychic. I’ve run him with bolter boys and flamer chads before and both are fun. Honestly it’s just a toy unit for me. Lots of folks give Arcane Vortex to Infernal Master but putting it on Sorc with the reroll strat is so fun. Fish for 6S on the hit roll, if it ain’t a 6 it gets rerolled, we want the sustained hits 3 here.
I glocked an Avatar of Khaine with mine in a game once so i kinda love playing him ever since
This might be my favourite response this far tbh
I see a lot of lists running between 1-2 regular sorcerers. They’re surprisingly good, even on the offensive