Demolisher is king ,but the exterminator is a great mix of utility and firepower.

9th e really did the vanquisher the favor it deserved. 10th version isn't too bad either but def a bit niche depending on local metas.

Auspex working that 26 hour 8 days a week grind lol.

I don't know about the strongest, but my favourite was always the Exterminator and the Stygies VIII Vanquisher (which one-shotted a Stormblade in its first game, also an original Apocalypse game and since done nothing!). Rule of Cool wins over all!

I'm playing in a local Narrative Campaign and I got a Vanquisher and gave the cannon the weapon modifications for +1 Attack and +1BS. If it sits still, it hits on a +2 (rerolling the 1's if shooting the things the Sentinels spotted) and wounds just about dang everything on a +3, rerolling if it fails against vehicles/monsters. Consistent 12+2D6 damage on vehicles. I basically pick one thing and tell my opponent to remove it from the battle every turn it's alive. It has certainly earned it's name of "Finger of the God-Emperor" XD

I think my favorite so far has been the battle cannon. The rerolls are nice, and paired with some extra ap from other tank or strtagems, its quite nice.

Been playing against guys with Orks and Tyranids mostly, and they play with an Emperor forsaken amount of infantry. I'm expecting two more Leman Russ models in the mail, so I'm tempted to build them as Punishers just for the heavy-handed anti-horde.

Loved this video! I've been 3D printing my own Traitor Guard army, and this really helps me in planning what I want. Very happy to see that my two LRs I've built so far are basically ideally kitted out. One is a Batltlecannon with plasma, and the other is a Demolisher with meltas and an open hatch so I can stick a commander in there!

I do love the Vanquisher and run it pretty much whenever I am running more than 2 tanks, but my group plays at 1K, where it means you really have to squeeze to get anything more than 2 Leman Russ tanks into the same list. As long as the Vanquisher take 100 points worth of damage and kills 1 enemy tank across the entire game I'm more than satisfied with it. I had a game once where I 1 tapped a predator in Turn 1, and for the rest of the game my opponent did his best to try and kill the Vanquisher just out of fear of it. It didn't die and the Rogal Dorn and Tank Commander it drove in with took no damage all game and killed most of the rest of his list.

The LRBT may not be the strongest, but I do feel that it is the most versatile. Throw on a Plasma Cannon sponsons, and keep the lascannon, and you can deal with most threats.

Glad you did this video rececntly. Just started making a russ list for a local game and this was very helpful!

I still stan the Eradicator

I love mathematics and I love my statistics...and I love your videos when you focus on comparisons like this. Especially for Imperial Guard.

I don’t play Guard, but I have built 3 Russes as proxy Predators for my Death Guard. If I ever convert to play traitor Guard, this will come in handy. Leman Russ is by far my absolute favorite GW kit.

I think whats nice is that even the "worse" ones have their niche and are complimented with their abilities mostly well. It really just depends what you are fighting against as to which one you take (except maybe the punisher which struggles) which from a tactical viewpoint I really really love.

I play 3 vanquishers as it's the most bang for buck and they're going to be antiarmour in my army anyway, I have the gun magnetized so I can just change guns if there'll be any changes to the points

I am building my second and third for my Krieg, they're all newer kits with double turrets so I'm magnetizing between Vanquishers, Demolishers, and Executioners. With BS4 and without being able to spam plasma guns like in past editions, I think I'll most commonly run 2 Executioners to balance against all the Marine opponents out there. Thank you for this, it confirms what I had planned.

Messes up the maths slightly, but you said a few times the tank commander gives a +1 to hit. He's actually a +1 to BS so it stacks with heavy on the vanquisher for a 2+ to hit when stationary.

Big gun = cooler = better. I will continue to run the Vanquisher.

As a person who runs leman russ i will watch this in detail 😂

I ran my guard for the first time in tenth last week. Im a tread head so it had one tank commander (demolisher with grand strategist), 1 exterminator, 2 vanquishers (yes, im a mad lad) and 2 regular russes. One of the biggest issues for guard forces is the limitation of not being able to dish out orders to tanks liberally. The tank commander and lord solar are your only options. I think this is therefore a huge factor towards running regular leman russes, both in tank heavy and mixed lists because their in built re-rolls helps them to act somewhat self sufficiently. The vanquishers really suffer for having only that one shot and you really need to push into the gun, staying stationary where possible and ordering them for +1BS too, so you're hitting on 2s. But at that price point they seemed workable options for me, even if, say, a styges laser destroyer (legends) might be better to work independtly... I dont think 1 vanquisher could be relied on alone, and any more than 155 points each and you then have to instead consdier just taking a shadowsword for insane anti tank capability. On that note, I'd be interested to see a similar break down for the super-heavies!

My favorite one will always be the Vanquisher due to a 9th wdition game between me and a friend. I instantly killed his Virtex beast with that cannon and gave that tank a name. He is Vinny the Vanquisher

Guard have alot of redundancy built in right now, you can run a more AP heavy list of tanks and kind of skip needing ursula for free fields of fire. Or you can go minimal AP and take a hellhound + exterminator + fields of fire spam. The big thing on alot of the tanks is scout sentinels using daring recon, hitting on 3's re-rolling 1's is no joke when your firing 7 demolisher shots. 1 demolisher buffed with fields of fire, exterminator withering hail, hellhound removing cover and sentinel rerolling 1's in my experience kills just about anything.

Vanquisher with take aim and meltas does incredible work

Thank you Auspex, I was needing this question answered as I did the dishes.

Im a firm believer in vanquisher

Pts adjustment was a much needed relief, imo having played the army extensively it feels like they're still placing way too much weight on the tanks damage potential and durability. Cause ya gotta hit first and lets face it dice are trollish. I think they need to come down a few more points just based off of other factions like space marines and the OP pointy eared bastards.

I'm planning a tank platoon. 3 Vanquishers, 3 Demolishers, 2 tank comanders with auotcannons, 2 Scout Sentinels, 2 engineseers and 1 hydra cause I had the points.

I’d be interested to see how the numbers stack up against Tyranofex, Wraith Guard or Wraith Knights…?

I really want to do a steel legion tank army but man... it can be so expensive...

Narratively, the main tank's special rule kind of works for me. A real tank has limited ammunition on board and there's a natural tendency to be cautious about shooting too much, just in case you need it later. So the big re-rolls against a target on an objective kind of feels like the TC going "oh, *this* is later" and freely expending rounds on the priority target. I am sad that the Vanquisher is the cheapest in 40K, though. For me 40K lacks the "air of reality" that allows me to really get caught up in some other games, and this is a good example. The Vanquisher is clearly inspired by the real-world Sherman Vc Firefly. Compared to a regular Sherman V, the Firefly is about 80% as effective against soft targets (the 17 pounder's HE round is less effective than the Sherman's 75mm version, and Fireflies had much less ammo so didn't carry much HE anyway, but most soft targets were engaged with the co-ax machine gun so it's still pretty good against infantry, trucks, and so forth) but is 50 to 100% better against hard targets - the 17 pounder being the best Allied anti-tank weapon of World War 2. Economically, Fireflies were massively more expensive than Sharman Vs, and in WW2 games the added ability of the 17-pounder against heavy armour more than off-sets any points reduction for the less effective anti-infantry. So... I get why the infantry-focused, close-quarters-battle game that is 40K puts more value on anti-infantry weapons. But it still makes me sad that what should be the queen of the battlefield is reduced to a low-cost meat shield.

I love running the all plasma verizon as a tank comander and going vastrorian with a feat +3 becomes +2 and reroll 1s

In my 2k games I've been running 2 Rogal Dorns, 1 Exterminator Russ and 1 Tank Commander with Demolisher and Grand Strategist. Worked a treat for me!

Is there something like this for repulsar executioner? Not sure which turret I should use

I keep running into Demolishers, not because I prefer them over the other Russes, but because I need something that can reliably kill enemy tanks. Most other Guard anti-tank is infantry based and hits on 5+, while the Demolisher can move 10" and hit on 4+. S14 is also nice since there's a few T12 models running around these days, as well as the occasional T7.

I rate the Eradicator better, due to how cheap it is, and the ability to fire the cannon in melee. That shooting in melee ability comes up super regularly. The Demolisher should rate its damage against Intercessors and Terminators as not quite as good, as flat 3 is much better than a d6. A d6 offers slightly higher average damage, but reliability is much more important against 2 and 3W targets.

Took my Leman Russ tanks to a big tournament here in Norway, and I found the Vanquisher was my least valuable unit. Most targets it wanted to shoot at either had invulnerable saves or ways to get invulnerable saves. Out of 6 matches, in 3 the Vanquisher cannon did 0 damage due to missing shots, failing to wound or save rolls stopping the wound. It's heavy bolters did far more damage than the main gun over the entire tournament.

Running a cheaper variant means you being able to run an additional Castellan or troops choice, but conversely it means that if you're picking one it's probably because you want a tank, but NEED the character or infantry. Which should make you think again about the choices you made in your list building that led you to that point.

Exterminators have been such a neat surprise in this edition. Going from next to useless in 9th to the incredibly reliable backbone of an army in 10th has been a blast.

I would have loved to also see some comparisons to other fractions tanks, especially the vanquisher to say like the hammerhead and the SM lancer... I feel it would demonstrate the big guard problem very well...

Does anyone know how these calculations work? I would love to do them for all the sponson weapons as well and such.

Have we looked at the fact that there is a void of weapon keywords in AM in general. Like, why does hardly any Russ turret have the heavy keyword? Where is the anti-vehicle/monster and devestating wounds keyword on the vanquisher, same question for the shadowsword.

Thanks! This sort of comparison with a chart is great for choosing what to take to combat the “in” units. Keep the great videos coming. And thanks again for the mathhammer 🫡

I wish GW would just charge points for adding sponsons or maybe give the Russ an extra ability if you opt not to take sponsons (eg turret gets +1BS). It’s annoying that they are sort of mandatory (unless you want to handicap yourself by not taking them)

How often does the hell hound and it’s variants appear at tournaments?

Really tempted to get a Rogal Dorn over a Leman Russ. Still debating. I might 3D print some Russes for my Traitor Guard and Genestealer Cults.

thanks

I almost like the vanquisher at 155 but statistically I just don’t believe it can work (even heavily buffed by other models negating the points gain). I think the source is the single shot which makes the gun pretty unreliable anyway. I love the exterminator because the 3 damage profile is just very consistent and versatile.

Could a tank only list work?

Rules make the battle tank the best tank and with support battle tanks kill demolishers, but they can fire.

Just had a game were the vanquisher failed me

The most reliable and udefull IMHO is Exterminator its gun is nice due to twin linked and its ability goes well as damage boost in general Battle cannon is quite reliable hitting on +3 rerolling if on an objective only ap1 but fields of fire and the exterminator will give him a good boost Demolisher a good ability if things go bad but mostly it is the nly leman russ that can reliable wound things on +3 abeit the damage being d6 is quite swingy (no i dont count the vanquisher it is the cheapest and even then you dont see it due to something, it is extremelly likely it does nothing its 155 points only becouse it is a russ hull i dont think ignore invuls would be advisable but at least give it devastating wounds in a similar way to the rail gun and a price increase would ake it a way better option)

I sat through a Mordian Glory video on this topic, and I already knew that I was going to be sad by the end of this one. Your math + description made some of them come off better than his, but I'm still a bit sad. I really just don't get why GW INSISTS on the Vanquisher being crap? It had that window, in 9e, where it was scary, and I don't know if GW just got a bunch of letters complaining that they had sucked for so long that no one had picked that pattern, and didn't want to have to buy a whole new Russ, just to chase what was good, but the Shadowsword is...decent?, so why can't the Vanquisher have a shot? I assume that it is mostly they don't want tanks to be one-shotted; that's why the Toughness all went up, and stripped melta if most of its point, but that's literally what the Vanquisher is for. I wish its special gave it rerolls to hit if stationary, or something else in the force did, just so it could still hang back, out of range, and pelt stuff. Tau rail cannons, and ion cannons, get to do this, so why not Guard? I know it is whiny, but I just like something that can hang back, and pick its targets. I was also sick of the Demolisher being the king Russ, which it mostly is again, even as the Tank Commander in it is ripping off the Commissar, and saying "take me in closer; I want to hit it with my sword!", due to the Demolisher's short range. If I'm sad though, it's for the Executioner. I loved the glow up it got, in 9e, so of course it's sort of back in the bin here. What's wrong with a Guard tank having an actual futuristic, energy-based weapon as its turret? It's dangerous to always have to overcharge it, but increasing Toughness basically made you have to. I love plasma, so I'm sad that this, too, got reconquered by the classic Russ, and the Demolisher. Still, since many Guard forces are defined by their tanks, as their primary damage dealers, I am glad that most of them are useful, and the best ones are simply good, and competitive. Guard don't always have that going in spades, when Space Marines are required to br better than them. Thank you for the comprehensive video! Always appreciate your dedication, and diligence, to the 40k cause! 😊

Demolisher should have a shorter range like multi melta 18". There not enough there to make you weigh pros and cons compared to others. Its just straight up better than the others. Points are the only determining factor. Lore wise its a bunker buster. Special rule should be that targets dont receive benefit of cover.

Who's here for their Genestealer Cult army?

*Metal BAWXES!*

Technically for the exterminator you can get a hit with any weapon to trigger withering hail, no just the autocannon

So if you really want, tank commander with grand Strategist for 220 points, give them a Plasma cannon, that way if they kill themselves they get to smack one more time with the cannon

Yeah, I run only with demolishers. . . because the other guns are useless compared to it .-. the other guns need a little buff. Also i use 2 demolisher and 2 rogal dorns

Is the heavy bolter dead on arrival?

Kind of bummed how the Vanquisher became so weak. I used to always use them for Tank Commanders due to the higher chance to hit and the main gun used to be good or at least work against infantry as well. Now while it is decent against vehicles and monsters it’s not the best option and it’s only use against troops is to make sure one model REALLY goes away.

can the tank commander order itself?

So... Vanquisher still kind of sucks, no surprise here. Punisher is still good against light targets but feels useless against anything else. Eradicator is still overly specialised. Exterminator is a nice surprise - considering it is now actually fairly versatile, though it still doesn't quite live up to its lore role of being a heavy infantry and light vehicle shredder. That being said, it seems like the most well rounded of the bunch at the moment, especially considering that it has built-in synergy with other units, which makes it even nicer. Executioner is very good as always. And Demolisher is still overall best, if you don't care about range.

Alright but what about the Annihilator

I'm building a variant of swing back chimera. With the twin linked auto cannon turret. For my traitor guard. Chimeradon

My demolishers continue to roll like absolute garbage

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Tanks?? I prefer 300 infantryman

I dont speake english, anyone can me say a resume?

The strongest Russian gun is a sword

My comment was wrong, so now it's only for the algorithm.

its a hard choice. they range from ok to mediocre

I shot three times with my vanquisher last game ,pain