Telepathy: Invisibility (BoLS)

Informative article and I provided a link to the original. As a Daemon player, I know how incredible the psychic power Invisibility can be.  Be' lakor knows all of Telepathy, so if you bring him, you will certainly have access to it. I have even been asked by opponents the show the power and point it out in my BRB, because if they have never seen it before, they don't think I'm telling the truth. Why? Because it is over the top powerful.

40K Rules: Invisibility: To Nerf or Not to Nerf?
Posted by Reece Robbins at 10/28/2014


Hey everyone, your friendly neighborhood gamer, Reecius here to discuss a topic that has been on a lot of folks minds since 7th dropped: to nerf Invisibility or not.

What is it?
First of all, what is invisibility? It is arguably the most powerful psychic power in the game of 40K. It is in the telepathy school, power number 5, costs warp charge 2, and is a blessing that targets a single friendly unit within 24." That unit can only be hit by Snap Shots and is hit in close combat on 6's.
This makes a unit nigh-invincible. As you can only hit it with Snap Shots, you cannot target it with blast or template weapons. It also means normal shooting attacks hit on 6's, same as with a flyer, and in assault, 6's as well.

Why It Matters
Now, what we've seen in the tournament scene, is that many top lists revolve around this one power. It is a bit disconcerting when an entire list strategy revolves around getting a single power, and then successfully casting it. Tossing ALL your dice at it, disregarding perils, simply to get a single game winning power off with consistency in every game of a tournament is a sign that something is amiss.

If you have an army that relies on blast or template weapons to deal damage, you are in a tough spot as you can't even impact the target unit. If you rely on assault, your damage output will be reduced to a fraction of what it was.

The issue is exacerbated by the fact that often, the unit that is the target of invisibility is extremely powerful, often a deathstar. These units are brutally difficult to deal with sans invisibility, with it, you often can't do anything to them at all. Plus, WC2 is comically low for a power this impactful. Haemorrhage, a stinky witchfire, costs WC2 as well and that these are equally costed is hilarious.

This non-participation in the game is fun-killing. Yes, I understand that many folks believe you should play the rules as the lay, and you know what? That is cool, too. But for organized play, where folks make a long--often expensive--journey, to come and play, having a game where you can literally not impact a unit that steamrolls your army is no fun. Having an army that does well simply because the other player literally couldn't hurt a steamroller unit is lame. And let's face it, 7th ed REQUIRES you to alter or choose to omit some of the rules in order to even play the game in an organized setting.

The Solution?
So, in order to create a more enjoyable environment for a larger number of players, we propose nerfing Invisibility as follows for our events: the target unit is hit at WS1 in shooting and on 5's in assault. What this does is double the amount of close combat attacks that will hit an invisible unit, and it allows templates and blasts to hit them, too. We do not say hit at WS1 in assault as it means the target unit would actually get an offensive buff to hit enemy units always on 3's.

So, it is still an incredible defensive buff, but not so over the top as to throw the game out of balance. Also, our gaming brothers and sisters over in the UK are already using this nerf in many of their organized play events and it has been well received. Much like the nerf of the 2+/2+ reroll save to 2+/4+, this is a change that I believe will be well received and make the game more enjoyable and less of a, "who got Invisibility off" contest.

This is another interesting article on Invisibility. See full article on BoLS

Conclusion
I've always been greatly opposed to any changes to core rules - it doesn't fly right by me. One danger is that one change can give ground to other not well thought changes. I'm sure a lot of people who love to see a core change to the basic principles of the notorious Wave Serpent such as the Serpent Shield - the Wave Serpent can produce a staggering amount of ranged fire power plus it can jink for a 3++ cover save and it's highly mobile to boot. Sure there is a part of me that abhors what the Wave Serpent can do but I'd rather just deal with it as is rather than nerf the current premier transport knowing that's not the right thing to do... Better to lose rather trying to skew the game by imposing restriction to make things easier for yourself.

Can't read the other Bols article here at work, it's blocked I'll have to read it later at home. While my experience is a bit limited in this addition...would you not treat a deathstar with invisibility just like a deathstar without it or any other unit w/ invisibility like a deathstar also?

I played a CD list against an EGC SM player. He's good and has won a few local tournaments. I played with Belakor and Lord of Change, both had invisibility. They were so buffed he pretty much ignored them and focused on other units. We played a tournament style mission and he stomped me.

My point exactly Dave, oh and by the way my A-barges don't mind rolling snap shots, they actually prefer it

Ya gotta love snap shots when you play necrons.

Another big concern is an invisible unit can't be directly targeted by templates or blasts because you can't snap fire them.

Wait til it runs up against a tau gunline. Snap fire some markerlights. Use the hit to pump up another markerlight squad. Then use those to unleash devestation on them. A missile-side squad comes to mind.

Anyway, it's fine as is. Players need to use tactics to negate invisibilty's power. I think people want to show up to tournies and win on list creation rather than play the actual game.

Crawling Chaos wrote:

...
Anyway, it's fine as is.  Players need to use tactics to negate invisibilty's power.  I think people want to show up to tournies and win on list creation rather than play the actual game.

I agree. I think there is about a counter for everything in 40K. It's about who owns what and who knows how to play. Stop speculating on, talking about, and posting lists and and start playing.

I <3 Invisibility, but it is frickin' crazy good. I don't see changing it. I'd buy a box of tissues and a copy of Warmahordes for anyone who showed up for a game and complains about it. Only mechanic that I've ever truly loathed was the 2++ re rollable but that went away when they released the Tranny C'tan into normal 40k.

As stated, play around it as best you can or have a nasty trick in store for it.

Sweet, I could use another box of Bane Knights!