Necron Deathstar... the missing piece! (Or not...)

Destroyer Lord... now a team player

I started working on my Necrons in late 5th Edition and never settled on a list that I really like.  A big part of that is I always felt they were missing something, specifically in the anti-tank category.  However, the new vehicle rules makes both Gauss and Tesla much more useful at killing tanks,  which means Surf Lords, Scarabs, and Lanceteks are no longer "required" to kill tanks.  Now almost any unit in the codex can do a decent job of killing tanks, which really increases the number of viable builds.

EDIT:  I incorrectly thought Destroyer Lords were Fearless... which completely breaks my analysis.

I think two of the biggest beneficiaries of the changes are Nemesor and Obyron--aka the Dynamic Duo.  I have a huge soft spot for these guys based on their fluff, so I was very happy to see them get some love.  The power weapon changes actually make Obyron a legitimate CC threat instead of a punching bag for every force/power weapon in the game.  Now he strikes before anything that could conceivably hurt him and brings the pain with AP1 attacks.  Nemesor also got some nice buffs with the changes to Tank Hunters and Night Vision.  Tank Hunters now allows large blocks of Warriors to reroll their armor penetration rolls, basically giving each Gauss shot a 20% chance to strip a hull point. 

Attaching both of them to a unit of Sword/Board Lychguard makes for a very survivable unit, especially if LOS! is used to it's full advantage.  Obyron and Nemesor eat regular fire while the Lychguard can eat the AP2 shots.  Nemesor's Res Orb is just icing on the cake.  The biggest drawback to this Deathstar in 5th was a lack of Fearless.  All it took was one bad roll to send it running... without ATSKNF.  However, Fearless models now confer Fearless to the entire unit... and this is where the Destroyer Lord starts to shine.  160 points buys a tooled out Destroyer Lord with Warscythe, Weave, and MSS.  Not only is he a T6 beatstick on his own, he also gives his unit Preferred Enemy.  Further, he can help with wound shenanigans to extend the survivability of the unit.  In 5th, it was hard to justify taking a Destroyer Lord instead of a Surflord because it meant giving up a Royal Court and Pulse.  Because Lanceteks are no longer the only source of anti-vehicle shooting, losing a Royal Court is not as big of a deal.  TBH, I'd rather have more Gauss than extra Lanceteks.  I am planning to build my Necron army around the following unit:

Nemesor (185)
Obyron (160)
Destroyer Lord with Warscythe, Weave, and MSS (160)
5 Lychguard with Sword and Board (225)
Total: 730 points (Ironically, almost same number of points as TDA Calgar, TH/SS Termies, and a LR with MM)

That is a heck of a points sink, but I think it could cause fits for most armies with the LOS! shenanigans.  It'll take a lot of firepower to grind it down, and very few units actually want to be in combat with it.  I am not saying it is the most competitive unit, but I think it could do some damage as long as the rest of the list is balanced around it.  (EDIT: It was a lot better unit before I realized it wasn't Fearless.  Now I will have to rethink whether I can live with a non-Fearless CC unit.)  I will post some ideas on that later this weekend.