Necrons Review: HQ’s: Orikan The Diviner

Orikan should be called: “Orikan the Creator of Deathstars” as that is what he is mostly used for! Let’s take a look at this creator of doom amongst your friends and opponents and what makes him such a good support unit for your Necron forces. Want more tactics? Be sure to check out the Frontline Gaming Tactic Corner for more.

 

When Orikan divined the stars did he see gamers plopping him into their deathstar to be gated around with impunity, hoping his empowered state would come into play and wreck face? Did Orikan see this plan? Is this the fruition he has planned for millennia? Either way it appears to mostly be his fate.

Overview:

Orikan is a fantastic support unit that can turn a group of tough battlers into a super saiyan tough group of killers that will not die. His wargear options are super great and really make this inexpensive character an all-star that can turn your list into an overpowered behemoth that will lay into your enemies and survive the conflict.

Wargear:

Orikan comes stock with a Phase Shifter (4++) and the basic Marine/Necron statline in his un-empowered state and comes with 2 wounds. Orikan is also equipped with the Staff of Tomorrow that strikes at the strength of the user and is AP2. Although he isn’t one we directly want facing combat at this state, having an AP2 weapon can really come in handy. His Staff of Tomrrow also has the Chronoblade rule, which allows him to re-roll hits in close combat. All in all, pretty solid.

Special Rules:

This is where Orikan can really shine in your list. Orikan’s main rule that people look to exploit is the Master Chronomancer rule which adds +1 to his units Reanimation Protocols and allows the unit’s models with Reanimation Protocols reroll saves of 1. Let that sink in a bit. Put him with Canoptek Harvest Wraiths or Lychguard with that 3++ save and all your ones are rerollable. Then stack a 4+ Reanimation roll on top of that and you have a super durable unit that can take a ton of punishment.

Orikan also comes with “The Stars are Right” special rule that allows him to roll at the start of every friendly turn. If the roll is less than the turn number than Orikan bumps up to his Empowered state, basically a C’Tan statline. This can turn him from a middling close combat character to a monster that will help shred other units.

Tactics:

One of the most basic of builds is to create a deathstar with Orikan right smack dab in the middle. Most common would be to see him rolling with a pack of Lychguard that also have a character with The Veil of Darkness so they can deep strike closer to the enemy and another character with The Solar Staff to shut down shooting for a turn so they can get to work on the next.

Orikan can also run with a unit of Canoptek Harvest Wraith’s in a similar manner or just forget the Veil and move forward conga style. I’ve used this tactic at Wargamescon and had my Wraithstar in combat in just about every game on turn 2. You use the speed of the Wraiths to help slingshot the other characters forward to engage in combat.

One of the problems you may run into is in getting Orikan in your list, especially if you are running the Decurion Detachment. Orikan is not on the list of approved characters to replace the Overlord in the list, so you will have to take the Royal Court or another CAD to unlock this character. Getting a couple of Objective Securing units might not be a bad thing if you are running the Decurion so that is a pretty good option.

You might get some mileage out of putting him with a big squad of Warriors as well, just one more thing that keeps the wounds away and the unit stacked and moving forward. That is a pretty penny to get an extra 30% saves, but it could certainly come in handy.

One big thing to watch out for is Imperial Knights and Gargantuan Monstrous creatrues like Stormsurges as their Stomp can shut your lights out. A unit of 2 Stormsurges will have a good shot at getting at least one 6 on a stomp with how many Stomp attacks they can put out. Another thing to watch out for is lots of Destroyer weapons as shutting down your Reanimation Protocols can make your star’s day turn bad quick.

So there you have it! Orikan can be a great support character, especially if you are building your list around a deathstar. Orikan can….get it…can turn that middling deathstar into something that just won’t go away.