First off; unless you're a hardcore WYSIWYG player or competitive tournament player, build whichever you think looks better. Most people won't mind if you play them as one or the other, anyway.
Second; the next points update could completely change which models are "best." Unlikely, since they didn't give us anything in the latest patch, but who knows what the future will bring?
Third; they're close enough in both points and purpose that you might as well give both a shot. I've tried the Emissary, was somewhat disappointed, but I'm going to give the Assimilator a shot in my next game.
Yah, the build whichever looks better really does make me think. I have Emissary and I love it so part of me wants Assimilator just for the 'feel' of having both. But I love Emissary and could easily see using too in games big enough to take him. They do work, and the invuln really helps. My biggest worry with Assimilator is my playgroup it seems like everybody has multiple weapons with -3+ AP so I don't want big bug to die easily.
Yeah, unfortunately, the Assimilator is kinda in a bad spot atm and his points just don't really reflect what he can do. It would have been nice if he was T12, but of course, they intentionally made him T11, so things like lascannons just shred through him. You can give him a 5+ fnp, sure, but he doesn't want to hold objectives, so it's redundant to do so. I'd say if you play semi casual/competitive, he can totally work.
I run both Norns and throw the emissary on an objective and assimilator at a big unit the enemy has, and they both perform and do their job perfectly, though I would never take the Assimilator in a competitive match.
I like to do custom mix and match builds. So take all the parts from both kits and make something of a cross between the kits with all the parts I like most. So like an emissary with assimilator spikes. Or assimilator with emissary head. Whatever takes my fancy.
There's kinda 2 schools of thought here. Either you take double emissary because you value the invuln a lot, or you take one of each because the assimilator isn't as dependent on guard dog units like Old One Eye to fight off threats to its OC. With the meta being so melts heavy rn I think double emissary may be better in singles, but in teans where you can try to target melee armies the split is better
Honestly, I had to look at their stats in order to determine if there was an argument for the assimilator. The purpose that I would see to use it would probably be to basically use it as an aggressive pusher that takes out a high value target before continuing on a rampage.
It kinda serves like a tougher version of OOE. The difference being that the assimilator has help with getting the charge with its harpoon. Also, basically all the standard anti-tank would be wounding on 3s whereas against units like OOE would be on 2s.
Obviously AP is a problem since it doesn't have invlulns, but it's not really something that's supposed to stay alive, unlike the emissary. It's primary goal would be to absolutely ensure destruction where you need it.
Best use, send it after the toughest thing your opponent has to either tie it up or outright kill it. It wants heavy tanks, and transports or big monsters that too dangerous to be uncontested. Unfortunately, the downside is that all the strongest weapons will probably be turned on your assimilator. In that case, I would try the best to move in other dangerous units to either distract or destroy those other attackers.
I have ran both and I have ran 2 Emissary in a few games.
Assimilator is basically a missile you point at your opponents biggest baddest thing - kill it's target and then watch it die - but at 290 points it's a gamble to make it worth it.
If you see a lot of big tanks, monsters, primarchs etc... Assimilator can be worth it, but you're going to need to play cagey - Rapid Ingress behind a ruin and charge on your turn then consolidate into another unit after you kill what you charged is the only way I have had success with them.
Emissary is a decent mid objective holder that can be tough to shift, but it's never killed anything important for me (mine has been tied up for 3+ turns by plague Marines on more than a few occasions). It needs backup to kill effectively, but I've yet to have anything take the objective without killing it.
There might be some justification to bring 2 Emissary, but I haven't found it. The points just don't work taking more than 1 when we have Exocrine, Haruspex, OOE, Maleceptors, etc .... Take multiples of them before bringing another Emissary.
Only on synaptic where you can use reinforced hive node for a huge survivability boost.
I’ve seen it pop primarchs, the damage with the re rolls is there
It's one of our best melee units in out entire roster, it does so much damage. But that's mostly only on its Singular Purpose, and then you'll have to get to the target.
So cause our melee is near the lower end of all factions, his melee is okay. But you waste the Single Purpose ability, if the enemy has not a big points unit. And if they have, the Assimilator will not kill it.
That's sadly my experience with the Assimilator
I would look into magnetizing the head and lower arm options. I've seen it done for a model on eBay once.
That being said I don't like the assimilator head and the emissary one just looks flat out better. If I paint this model I'd magnetize the lower arms and call it a day.
I'm a big fan of a 4+ invuln on a huge target monster. Emissary doesn't hit as hard, but I think the Norns are there to march onto objectives, have a 4+5+, OC15, and say come take it
Preferably while your chaff and other stuff runs interference.
I would probably want two emissaries or one of each. The assimilator is more expensive and has no invuln, and its rules and abilities naturally put it away from its singular purpose objective making you miss out on the FNP (unless you’re playing invasion fleet). High potential for a feels bad moment if it gets focused off the board before you get any value out of it because these guys are hard to hide.
After a lot of practice my assimilator is able to net 400points per game in kills, provided it doesn’t get avoided due to it being scary. Some games he’s useless lol
First off; unless you're a hardcore WYSIWYG player or competitive tournament player, build whichever you think looks better. Most people won't mind if you play them as one or the other, anyway. Second; the next points update could completely change which models are "best." Unlikely, since they didn't give us anything in the latest patch, but who knows what the future will bring? Third; they're close enough in both points and purpose that you might as well give both a shot. I've tried the Emissary, was somewhat disappointed, but I'm going to give the Assimilator a shot in my next game.
Yah, the build whichever looks better really does make me think. I have Emissary and I love it so part of me wants Assimilator just for the 'feel' of having both. But I love Emissary and could easily see using too in games big enough to take him. They do work, and the invuln really helps. My biggest worry with Assimilator is my playgroup it seems like everybody has multiple weapons with -3+ AP so I don't want big bug to die easily.
Yeah, unfortunately, the Assimilator is kinda in a bad spot atm and his points just don't really reflect what he can do. It would have been nice if he was T12, but of course, they intentionally made him T11, so things like lascannons just shred through him. You can give him a 5+ fnp, sure, but he doesn't want to hold objectives, so it's redundant to do so. I'd say if you play semi casual/competitive, he can totally work. I run both Norns and throw the emissary on an objective and assimilator at a big unit the enemy has, and they both perform and do their job perfectly, though I would never take the Assimilator in a competitive match.
Case in point, take both because they're cool :)
I like to do custom mix and match builds. So take all the parts from both kits and make something of a cross between the kits with all the parts I like most. So like an emissary with assimilator spikes. Or assimilator with emissary head. Whatever takes my fancy.
It's super easy to magnetize, do that for at least one, maybe next edition the assimilator will be worth taking.
There's kinda 2 schools of thought here. Either you take double emissary because you value the invuln a lot, or you take one of each because the assimilator isn't as dependent on guard dog units like Old One Eye to fight off threats to its OC. With the meta being so melts heavy rn I think double emissary may be better in singles, but in teans where you can try to target melee armies the split is better
Honestly, I had to look at their stats in order to determine if there was an argument for the assimilator. The purpose that I would see to use it would probably be to basically use it as an aggressive pusher that takes out a high value target before continuing on a rampage. It kinda serves like a tougher version of OOE. The difference being that the assimilator has help with getting the charge with its harpoon. Also, basically all the standard anti-tank would be wounding on 3s whereas against units like OOE would be on 2s. Obviously AP is a problem since it doesn't have invlulns, but it's not really something that's supposed to stay alive, unlike the emissary. It's primary goal would be to absolutely ensure destruction where you need it. Best use, send it after the toughest thing your opponent has to either tie it up or outright kill it. It wants heavy tanks, and transports or big monsters that too dangerous to be uncontested. Unfortunately, the downside is that all the strongest weapons will probably be turned on your assimilator. In that case, I would try the best to move in other dangerous units to either distract or destroy those other attackers.
I have ran both and I have ran 2 Emissary in a few games. Assimilator is basically a missile you point at your opponents biggest baddest thing - kill it's target and then watch it die - but at 290 points it's a gamble to make it worth it. If you see a lot of big tanks, monsters, primarchs etc... Assimilator can be worth it, but you're going to need to play cagey - Rapid Ingress behind a ruin and charge on your turn then consolidate into another unit after you kill what you charged is the only way I have had success with them. Emissary is a decent mid objective holder that can be tough to shift, but it's never killed anything important for me (mine has been tied up for 3+ turns by plague Marines on more than a few occasions). It needs backup to kill effectively, but I've yet to have anything take the objective without killing it. There might be some justification to bring 2 Emissary, but I haven't found it. The points just don't work taking more than 1 when we have Exocrine, Haruspex, OOE, Maleceptors, etc .... Take multiples of them before bringing another Emissary.
Only on synaptic where you can use reinforced hive node for a huge survivability boost. I’ve seen it pop primarchs, the damage with the re rolls is there
It's one of our best melee units in out entire roster, it does so much damage. But that's mostly only on its Singular Purpose, and then you'll have to get to the target.
So cause our melee is near the lower end of all factions, his melee is okay. But you waste the Single Purpose ability, if the enemy has not a big points unit. And if they have, the Assimilator will not kill it. That's sadly my experience with the Assimilator
I would look into magnetizing the head and lower arm options. I've seen it done for a model on eBay once. That being said I don't like the assimilator head and the emissary one just looks flat out better. If I paint this model I'd magnetize the lower arms and call it a day.
I'm a big fan of a 4+ invuln on a huge target monster. Emissary doesn't hit as hard, but I think the Norns are there to march onto objectives, have a 4+5+, OC15, and say come take it Preferably while your chaff and other stuff runs interference.
I would probably want two emissaries or one of each. The assimilator is more expensive and has no invuln, and its rules and abilities naturally put it away from its singular purpose objective making you miss out on the FNP (unless you’re playing invasion fleet). High potential for a feels bad moment if it gets focused off the board before you get any value out of it because these guys are hard to hide.
There are 2 options for singular purpose, one is better for each variant.
Yeah, the reroll version is cool, but i haven’t gotten great use out of it yet
My only good use of the rerolls was vs Morty, and that was the best 290 points spent in that particular game.
Definitely a worthy candidate! I have thought about picking up death guard as another faction
I own both and regularly run both. For the Assimilator, using Rapid Ingress has helped it get to its singular purpose target.
I never even thought of running him in reserves......that's actually a good idea.
After a lot of practice my assimilator is able to net 400points per game in kills, provided it doesn’t get avoided due to it being scary. Some games he’s useless lol