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Are Knights Gallant Actually Any Good?

6 points · submitted Aug 2018 by u/IHaveAScythe · archived

So I'm going to be building my first knight soon, and I'm planning on making it a melee-focused one. Naturally, at first I thought I'd make it a knight gallant, but actually looking at it I'm not sure why you would take it. Yeah, it has an extra attack over every other knight, but with how having multiple melee weapons works in 8th, and given that a thunderstrike gauntlet is just better than a reaper chainsword (and if you want anti-infantry, which is the only time in can see the chainsword being marginally better, you just use the feet), isn't the fact that the knight gallant has to have both melee weapons just objectively worse than every other knight's weapon loadout? Online people seem to really like it for just running into melee and smashing things, but can't any other knight do that almost as well while also having a massive gun to shoot with? Is there something I'm missing?

15 comments · 88% upvoted · other discussions

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Blaze11571 11 points · Aug 2018

I've seen top tournament lists run 1 to 3 of them.

The reason they're good is because taking a knight already means you're putting a giant bullseye on him to begin with, and most people think charging knights are going to tie them up in combat, but with gallants that is what you want anyway. So you're soaking up the big guns round 1, and rounds 2 and 3 tying up their objective holders while your army does their thing.

The chainsword is good against light mechs and higher toughness infantry, but the thunderstrike is for tanks and monsters. The feet are for guardsman. Plus with relics and households you can have your gallant hitting on 2s with an extra attack when they charge, which they can fall back and charge every turn anyway. I'm only using one in my knight army, but I can see why they're worth it, especially being the lowest point cost knight.

IHaveAScythe [OP] 4 points · Aug 2018

I see. I hadn't considered the points cost or using the chainsword as a middle ground between the fist and the feet. I'm still pretty new to 40k. Thanks!

Blaze11571 4 points · Aug 2018

And dont forget the consolidate move, you charge in and wipe a unit, consolidate, and repeat next round. They'll be a fast melee monster. However depending on what army you have it might be worth doing a crusader for heavy fire support. I play world eaters and need long range support, so I have 2 crusaders. But for armies like guard, a gallant could be your best friend

IHaveAScythe [OP] 1 points · Aug 2018

I play Space Wolves. Which do you think would be best?

Blaze11571 3 points · Aug 2018

I would base my decision on whether you'll be getting a second knight or not. If not I'd recommend an errant with the thunderstrike, use him as a tank hunter but he will also be a problem in melee. If you might get a second or even third knight, a gallant would be a good choice because you can always run the 2nd as a crusader or paladin. Plus with two knights you can swap their weapons around and use them as needed.

Lsiegris 2 points · Aug 2018

I recommend throwing spikes and corpses on it, painting khornate runes on the Vylka, and playing chaos...

ColdestNight1231 1 points · Aug 2018 · :wolves:

Hi, Rout player here who is also building a Gallant and Crusader for his AdMech. What will help your army is what you are missing. If you are running Razorbacks with full plasma Grey Hunters, grab a Gallant to bust tanks, you have all the anti horde you need. If your list focuses on Bjorn, Wulfen, Ven Dread, or Lascannon Long Fangs, a Cruasder that provides shooting against those low toughness tar-pit units.

IHaveAScythe [OP] 1 points · Aug 2018

I'm fairly new, so I haven't really decided yet what I'll focus on.

SociaIyAwesomeTurtIe 2 points · Aug 2018

There are actually few situations where you don’t want to just stomp tho.

Unless you are craving theme. 4 s16 6damage is generally worse than 12 S8 D3 damage. Idk haha

Blaze11571 1 points · Aug 2018

Yeah I've stomped multi wound models because the odds of hitting are better, but gallants cover all bases in that aspect so you aren't limited to one or two lol

trulyElse 2 points · Aug 2018 · :ynnari:

The feet are for guardsman.

I mean, on average, you'll kill a dreadnought in one round with a healthy knight using the feet alone, gallant or otherwise.

GoldDragon2800 2 points · Aug 2018 · :orks:

On average, yeah. The fist is basically guaranteed though.

Tzelanit 7 points · Aug 2018

There have been some very good points mentioned, but one I haven't seen is that the extra attack isn't the only bonus the Gallant gets. It also has a WS 2+, an improvement over the WS 3+ all the other Knights have. That means the Gallant can actually get significantly more damage through in combat compared to other Knights.

For example, a Gallant using its Titanic feet on a squad of Space Marines will average 10.4 wounds (each of which does D3 damage, though that doesn't matter against 1 wound models like most Space Marines) where an Errant would only do 6.6 wounds.

IHaveAScythe [OP] 3 points · Aug 2018

You're right, I totally missed that. Oops.

MikeD89 6 points · Aug 2018

They are so good because of what they offer for their point cost. Gallants are a threat that has to be dealt with or they WILL mess something up in close combat. If you run 3 or 4 knights, what's the priority? Do you focus the Crusader that is an immediate shooting threat or the gallant who is a threat turn 2 (potentially turn 1 with the advance and charge stratagem)? In my opinion, they went from the worst index knight to arguably the best codex knight.