Why do Sisters of Battle suck so much?

[Waaaghpower]

So... I looked over the Sisters of Battle codex, and I'm struggling to figure out what's so bad about it. The 'Faith Points' thing is pretty bad at high points and they've got limited options, sure, but what they have actually looks pretty good. Maybe it's no Grey Knights, but what's so terrible about it?

[Narric]

My view is the fact its a knee-jerk reaction to SoBs only having a WD "Get you by" codex. I'm guessing Gw have put the PDF up on their website now?

From what I can see, a lot of the Inquisition stuff has been removed, such as Inquisitors, Storm Troopers, Henchmen.

Anything SoB specific seems to be still around, if a bit toned down compared to its former codex.

Case and point:
Siser Repentia squads have lost their Invul save, instead they have to rely on FNP (as per rulebook, not alt FNP) to get any kind of save.
The Acts of Faith seem to have become a Unit specific ability, rather than every unit being able to do pretty much any act.

To me, these little things make out that SoBs are a far weaker codex than the previous incarnation as Codex: Witch hunters.

[Chicop76]

They suck because they been super nerved.

It's like playing eldar and losing all aspects and just play with just guardians and dire avengers.

Also losing psychic powers as well.

[Carrelio]

I don't play sisters, but one of my friends does, so we've talked about this issue a fair bit. I think the number one problem is that they are a close range shooting army that moves relatively slowly and lacks adequate counter assault units.
The faith points also don't scale well.
And there really isn't a lot in the way of options.

Those are the main complaints as I can see them.

[Chicop76]

I don't play sisters, but one of my friends does, so we've talked about this issue a fair bit. I think the number one problem is that they are a close range shooting army that moves relatively slowly and lacks adequate counter assault units.
The faith points also don't scale well.
And there really isn't a lot in the way of options.

Those are the main complaints as I can see them.

The last codex for sisters you can build around the faith which made them a pretty strong army.

The new sisters you can't do that. The cannoness took a major hit. Your troops lost rending etc.

Faith is ok now. Before. Had 5 options and now I have one option. My fast vehicle lost the ability to move 12" and flame or melt. Sigh.

Not to mention losing inquisitors and assassains. Grey Knights got bigger while sisters got smaller.

To be honest I think sisters makes great allies now, but as a stand a loe army they really sem to be lacking.





Lacks counter assault units. You have deathcul, crusaders, and can take Jacobs. Just deathcult and crusaders can kill most squads in the game in combat. How do they lack counter assault??m

Anyway they are mid ranged and very rhino dependant, which rhinos are not as good as they used to be. If anything this is why they suck.

[Archon Sharrek]

My problems with the Sisters are that the Cannoness is fairly useless, and doesn't mesh well with the command squad. Katherine is a better choice is almost every situation, and isn't that much more expensive. And the lack of Long-range Anti-tank. Back in the old 'dex you could bring along allied Guard for some Lascannons and stuff, which arguably you can still do, but if we're talking straight up Sister 'dex you're limited to HKs and the Exorcist (and the Multimelta, but its not hugely long ranged) which are either one-shot (hooray!) or they get targeted very quickly, and aren't particularly armoured. And the fact they don't have Inquisitors any more.

And I have to agree with Chicop, they don't lack for counter assault, with Jacobus and the Basic Priest/Confessor can be made brutal for cheap, the aforementioned Crusader/Death Cult hurt like a boss. And then you've got Repentias, and Penitent Engines. Hell, even the basic Sister squad is okay in melee (once had a 9 woman unit take the charge from a Crusade full of Black Templars, 5 with BP and Chainsword, and they won. There was 3 of them left, but they won.)

[Chicop76]

My problems with the Sisters are that the Cannoness is fairly useless, and doesn't mesh well with the command squad. Katherine is a better choice is almost every situation, and isn't that much more expensive. And the lack of Long-range Anti-tank. Back in the old 'dex you could bring along allied Guard for some Lascannons and stuff, which arguably you can still do, but if we're talking straight up Sister 'dex you're limited to HKs and the Exorcist (and the Multimelta, but its not hugely long ranged) which are either one-shot (hooray!) or they get targeted very quickly, and aren't particularly armoured. And the fact they don't have Inquisitors any more.

And I have to agree with Chicop, they don't lack for counter assault, with Jacobus and the Basic Priest/Confessor can be made brutal for cheap, the aforementioned Crusader/Death Cult hurt like a boss. And then you've got Repentias, and Penitent Engines. Hell, even the basic Sister squad is okay in melee (once had a 9 woman unit take the charge from a Crusade full of Black Templars, 5 with BP and Chainsword, and they won. There was 3 of them left, but they won.)

Seraphim with saint celestine can do well in combat as well.

They just lack long range really also survivable assault units that can go across the field. Although crusaders and dealthcult with fnp seem to do ok.

The main problem is the army is toughness 3 and relies on bolters to carry the day. Next is either meltas or flamers.

Thinking about it can they take plasma weapons besides a plasma pistol??? I never seen siters with plasma at all.

It just seems when youj use this army it feels like it's lacking. I miss my old sisters. Sure two cannoness can wipe out 1/2 an army, but it was fun.

[The Allfather]

Nope, no plasma at all. Flamers, meltas and storm bolters are the only special weapons available. It used to be the only way you could get plasma in your Witch Hunters army was to take some Storm Troopers and kit them out with plasma guns. I haven't read the "new" Sisters mini-dex but I assume that Storm Troopers would be gone as well, since they were part of the Inquisition aspect of the army.

I'm very sad that Sisters got relegated to a half-assed WD entry and, from what I've read here, pretty much nerfed to the point of almost unusable.

[Chicop76]

No storm troopers lol. Yeah I did used to run plasma on my iquisitor with two mystics. Hmmm another reason why the suck.

[Narric]

So in otherwords, the removal of a majority of Inquisiton options it whats has weakened the SoB codex.

[Raving Bonkers]

I've looked into maybe starting sisters recently but the fact that its a white dwarf codex and not a proper one made me lose interest when searching for them.

Yet reading peoples replies to this topic it seems that the sisters have got worse simply because of options taken from their codex, such as their allies.

So could it be that GW made the new codex with 6th in mind?

I mean if you took the old codex which included Grey Knights, Guard and Inquisition was it, and just updated to what Grey Knights and Guard are like now, then you can take an ally detachment with such a codex. What power builds would people be coming up with then? A potential 5 armies in 1 force.

But also by taking GK out and giving them their own codex, does it not help to boost the flavor of the GK. Would people have moaned even more if sisters stayed as they use to be and GW just released yet another marine codex. For GW it was obvious easy income from the GK. And I do like their models.

So stand alone sisters may be poorer, but as allies still viable? This is what I get from peoples replies as I have no sisters or GK myself and never have had them.

A personal opinion on faith, as again no experience with sisters. I think GW would always fail with that. People moaned when it changed. OK you don't like it, but you know people would have still moaned if it stayed the same. Or maybe not moaned but could get bored of them. Would they feel like a new, fresh army to try and game with if left how it was? For that matter would people buy more of the models if the army still felt stale. GW are a company after all. The only other option was to not update them, and then people would moan because their codex is so out of date, and you wouldn't have the GK codex. So sometimes it seems people moan for the sake of moaning. Like the glass is always half empty, not half full.

[Chicop76]

Grey Knights didn't have many units. When they updated Grey Knights they took a lot from the sisters book and got seriously buffed. In the past GK was good against daemons and eldar. With the new codex they took a nerf fighting Daemons, but gained a lot to fight everyone else.

The 3rd edition sisters was a very good army if you knew how to use them even without allies. They nerfed faith, took units out, etc.

What they did was made them easier and more stream lined to play.

I think the biggest hurddle is the fact you paying 100 dollars for a squad of 10 when you use to pay 50 dollars. When the white dwarf came out they doubled the price. Not only the army sucks, but you have to pay out of your nose to play it.

I honestly wouldn't had mind a sister and knight merge which would had been better than what they did.