”They came to us as gods and we, like fools took them at their word.” – Szarekh, the Silent King, referring to the C’tan.
The Necrons are masters of science and heirs of a galaxy-spanning empire, now slumbering deep within scattered Tomb Worlds. (By pure coincidence, Gladius happens to be a Tomb World.) They are an excellent faction for a first venture into Impossible difficulty…they boast perpetual healing; a simple, utilitarian technology tree; and fewer resources to juggle. Their top-tier units are some of the best in the game, and they can defend their cities long enough to weather the first contact with the AI. Strategically they lack the twists of factions like Chaos Marines or T’au, making them easier to master than other factions.
Don't want to read this absurdly long guide? Go straight to the "Guide Summary" section for the most important points.

Please refer to my General Impossible Guide for non-faction specific advice on beating this difficulty. (The guide you're reading now will focus on strategy which is meant for the Necrons specifically, particularly where it may contradict the general advice.)

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000649357


Here is my Ork-specific Guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3029674153

Or if you'd rather play with tanks:

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3067031734

And if you're not afraid of the Dark Gods:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3051622207

Or, join the Emperor’s Angels in reclaiming Gladius for the Empire of Mankind!

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3389488283

The Necrons provide fast, steady development with good units at all tiers.

• Constant Healing. Almost every Necron unit heals itself every turn without resting via Reanimation Protocols (or Living Metal for vehicles). This is particularly useful for the early game because you can push your expansion without having to spend so much time idling units to heal them.
  
  
• Excellent starting units. Necron warriors are some of the best opening units…all statistics such as armor, damage, and weapon range are moderate to good, and their healing and cheap costs means that you can go on the offensive more quickly than with most factions.
  
  
• Rapid Rise. Much of the early game in Gladius consists of construction of buildings and units. The first twenty turns are usually spent just creating basic infrastructure. The Necrons have a unique shortcut for instant purchase with influence which can shave many turns off city development in the early game.
  
  
• Less resources to manage. Our skeletal robots don’t eat (except maybe the Flayers), so you don’t have to worry about food when locating cities.
  
  
• No negatives on map tiles. Most factions have some map tiles which reduce resource production of a certain type (less food in the arctic, for example). The Necrons can thrive almost anywhere.
  
  
• Simple research options. Necron technology advances are generally very straightforward. Most simply unlock a building or a unit, and many of the rest improve existing resource production or traits.
  
  
• No critical DLCs. You can win with the Necrons just fine without any DLCs. You might miss out on the Gauss Pylons or the Immortals, but there aren’t any lacking pieces that make the game unwinnable. Try winning with the Space Marines with no DLCs if you really want a suicidal challenge! 😊

• City location limitations. Necron cities can only be built on Necron tombs which often limits your ability to tap into the best resource locations. It’s not so much a problem for your first city (because you can restart over and over), but it can be frustrating to find a decent spot for the others.
  
  
• Ore dependency. Necrons use ore for upkeep, not only for buildings but for population and units. You can quickly find yourself falling behind in ore production if you don’t manage your supply carefully, and you’ll need huge amounts to sustain your end-game vehicles.
  
  
• Limited healing. Although the units all have inherent healing, there are few ways to heal critically wounded units quickly. I guess that’s a selling point for the Ghost Ark DLC!
  
  
• Slow moving vehicles. Infantry can zip around the map using Dimensional Corridor, but heavier vehicles tend to be quite slow. On bigger maps, this can mean 15 turns just getting that Obelisk into the fight.

We’ll use the settings mentioned in the general guide, with some exceptions: Turn down Tropical two steps, and increase Volcanic and Arctic each one step. This is because Tropical terrain provides no bonuses for the Necrons.

What’s the best setting for Necron Tomb frequency? “Very high, naturally,” you’d think, right? Oddly, that may backfire…on the Very High setting, the tombs are quite often four hexes apart. Consider that you need a five-hex spacing to build another city, and you can see the challenge. I’d recommend starting a few maps on Very High and a few on High, and seeing which one works best for you.

Any opposing faction will work; you’ll probably be most challenged by the T’au or Astra Militarum, and have an easier time with Adeptas Sororitas or Space Marines. However, you can beat any opponent with this faction.

I recommend leaving the story turned on…it helps considerably with resources in the early game (particularly with Necron Warrior production), and provides a good starting build order. It’s also easy to exit from the quests before they get too distracting.

I prefer to play Gladius with a friend against the AI, but I always try my strategies solo to make sure they’re effective.

I’d say Necrons are in the bottom half of factions for co-op play. Their best units are really slow and so may not be able to help an ally in time. Also, although Necron infantry can move across the map between Infinity Gates with Dimensional Corridor, they can’t teleport to help an ally until you’ve lugged a monolith to your friend’s city.

Your starting city location is important with all factions, of course. For the Necrons, a few things to consider:

• Tropical terrain provides no modifiers. On the bright side, no terrain provides negative modifiers.
  
  
• Ore, ore, ore! And research…. Basically, look for a start with prioritizing ore and with at least some research bonus. Energy won’t be much of a problem until you’re supporting a large air force, and influence is good but less critical.
  
  
• Build your first city on the hex where your Spyder starts. Wandering the map looking for a better tomb is a great way to lose five turns when you can least afford it. Restart until you find an acceptable spot.
  
  
• Unlike most factions, the Royal Court (the city Headquarters) produces 50% more ore and energy at baseline. This means that placing your city on a hex with an ore bonus can really give you a good start on ore production. Energy is less critical because so many of your buildings will produce it.
  
  
• Plan ahead from the first turn for your second city. If you can’t locate a decent second tomb site nearby (e.g. due to water or cliffs), you may need to restart.

Overall, the Necrons are one of the most forgiving factions for your first city. This is because they never suffer from terrain negatives, and their technology tree boosts all resource production buildings eventually. So don’t agonize forever over finding that “perfect” site. As long as there are at least three compounds within three tiles of the city, and some ore and research, you’ll progress just fine.

Early goals are to get your research going and to found a second city. You may be building an ore production building quite early to stay in the positive…that’s okay, as you’ll need less energy and housing buildings than other factions.

The build order from the general guide works well. I’ve added some Necron-specific notes below.
First, acquire the best research tile you can, and build the research building on it. For most factions, having your research output equal to the turn number is “par.” The Necrons can meet this goal (or come close at least) even in the early game, and easily exceed it later.
Then, build a Summoning Core (the infantry building) so that you can clear and protect sites for your Fortresses. Necron Warriors are good starting units, and the Necrons have a lot of great early infantry units. More good news…the summoning core will also boost your loyalty and research, which will delay the need to build those buildings. Not enough for you? The Core also advances the story quest, which will essentially give you a free infantry unit.
Once you’ve built the Core, get that Pyramid going. If you can use rapid rise, now’s the time! Most factions have trouble getting a second unit building constructed early in the game, but the combination of the Lord’s population boost and Rapid Rise means the Necrons can usually pull it off.
Move your infantry slowly outward, sticking together. If you get into trouble, pull back toward the city, which can use its weapons to help kill pesky units.
Let the Necrons heal! Your damage output drops dramatically with each lost sub-unit, so use your best trait to keep them at full health!
The Lord is an excellent hero. True, he’s mediocre at damage, armor, and health. But healing 2 health per round (and soon it’ll be 4) is truly amazing for heroes, as their damage reduction effectively makes this a lot more. Get him to the front to support your warriors, gain experience, and soak up overwatch.
His Dynasty power will ultimately be his best feature, and you can use it from level one, preventing the population crunch you get with so many other factions.
Necron vehicles will eventually rule the landscape…but not at first, so use your turns on something else for now.

Because everything uses ore, it’s easy to go from a small positive balance to a sharp decline in just a few turns. Try to keep production above 10 (and preferably closer to 20) in the early game to prevent a sudden switch into negative numbers. That will slow your entire game, and might even be enough to ruin it.
You won’t get quite as trapped as the Space Marines with their requisitions, but it can still delay you when you’re trying to develop.

You start with two Necron Warriors; they are tough but far from invulnerable. Allow them to heal when they drop below full health…their damage is quite substantial when they have a full unit, and you can use the two of them to push steadily against the neutrals. Do *not* lose these units. If you need to save scum, then do it! Early mistakes will compound over time to substantially hurt your later game.
Heal them often…in addition to their inherent healing, they will heal twice as fast in your city tiles, but a Compound will also give a bonus. You’ll get a third if you follow the storyline, and hopefully a Necron Lord soon after. A fourth Warrior isn’t a mistake (range 2 means they can still concentrate fire), but consider adding a Flayer instead.
Keep the warriors in a group to allow you to kill hostile units rather than slivering them. It’s really frustrating when you get those Hybrids down to a single health point, but then they run off and heal. Later, you’ll see your “safe” compounds captured by the same critters. Set up overwatch traps in forests next to captured compounds; Stingwings and Cultists find the outposts irresistible, and you can get a free attack when they try to reclaim the compound. Don’t wander too far from your city until you have at least three units of some sort.
Get that first Canoptek Spyder out quickly to build your second city. This will anchor your territorial gains and delay any resource shortages. Build it close to your first city to consolidate your forces and keep an area reliably free of neutral raiders.

The Necron Rapid Rise power is common in other strategy games but unique in Gladius. This trick is truly powerful, particularly in the early game when every turn counts. If you’re following the story, you’ll probably use it first to rush a group of Necron Warriors, which will essentially pay itself back with the resulting influence reward.
Once you have a Lord out, consider using any extra influence to rush buildings. They tend to be a better value than units, particularly the Mastaba, which will in turn speed the creation of other buildings.
I recommend waiting one turn to rush a building…in other words, allow your city to produce for a whole turn before finishing it with Rapid Rise. The reduction in influence cost is well worth the wait.
Finally, be happy with owning 6 or 7 compounds in the early game. Haring off into the wilderness to grab that tempting Shard of Vaul is a sure way to get isolated and killed. Once you have four infantry and a Lord, you can get more adventurous.

You’ll be tempted to always go for the highest-level technology you can afford, but don’t fall into this trap. If an early technology will help you right now, then take it! Usually, the time cost is low, and overflow research points aren’t lost, so it may not even slow you down at all. A good example is Flayed Ones, which adds an excellent melee unit to your early lineup (assuming you have the DLC).


The first priority is securing your perimeter, so I open with the Royal Pyramid so I can get my first Lord into the field to expand my population cap and improve my expeditionary legions. Next is Core Refinements which speeds up your infantry production. Flayed Ones should be early as they are an excellent close-in combat unit. You’ll be spared this decision if you don’t own the Assault Pack DLC, however.

I usually take Immortals or Deathmarks, but not both (and if you don’t have any DLCs, then neither of these can be yours). Shelters are an obvious necessity for city expansion, but your Lord can delay the need to actually build them.

First, get Canoptek Spyders and build one immediately to get that all-important second city. The Destroyer Lord may be an insane berserker, but he’s a great fighter, so research this if you’re considering building a second hero right away. I usually wait on more heroes (preferring to use influence for a Tantalizing Icon or Rapid Rise), so I take Baroque Shrine and move on to Tier 4.
Don’t be fooled by Immortal Forms…despite the name, this one improves vehicle healing, not infantry . If you’ve followed my strategy, you won’t need this until later. However, if you just couldn’t resist Tomb Blades, then this is an absolute necessity for keeping those guys alive!

seems to have good stuff for all the factions. For the Necrons it’s infrastructure…you definitely need the Slave Mastaba (the “building building building”) so that you can finally start churning out new buildings with some speed. Research this first, and then build them in all your cities. Rapid Rise them if you can!

After that, research Preliminary Excavation to give your cities some breathing room to expand and maybe absorb some additional compounds to help with production.
And wow, Scarab Hives is a great technology! Now, for free, your Canoptek Spyders can instantly create a tiny, super mobile unit to send scurrying around the map. Utterly disposable, these little guys can reveal enemy positions, absorb a hit or two, spring overwatch traps, and retake compounds from rogue neutrals. They’re so cheap that killing them doesn’t really give the enemy any experience, so there’s essentially no downside to making as many as you can.
At this point, consider spending a few turns filling in technologies from earlier tiers…they should be very quick to research, and then they’ll be ready when you are. Notable here are Dimensional Corridors, which become more useful as your troops stray farther from home. You’ll want a Cryptek, which are low cost heroes with excellent support capabilities.

Heroes are important to the Necrons but only the Lord is truly critical, and that’s mainly for his infrastructure improvements.

Move your heroes first each turn! Particularly the Cryptek; you’ll feel like a heel if you could have used Chronometron to shield a unit before sending it to its death by overwatch. “I’ll remember next turn,” you tell yourself. But will you? I didn’t 😊
Heroes really shine when they are kitted out properly from the Jokero encampment. I send each new hero to a Jokero encampment immediately to purchase a Tantalizing Icon. This spooky object will add 8 influence per turn, which will more than offset the maintenance of each hero, and will act as an investment to buy future items. Influence also fuel Rapid Rise, so this artifact is doubly important for the Necrons.
Other must-have artifacts include the Zoat Hide Jerkin, and the Adamantium Weave Vest. Note that armor values over 10 don’t improve damage resistance, but they do help mitigate armor piercing enemies. With the Jerkin and Reanimation Protocols, your heroes can usually fully heal after a single turn of rest in a city.
Dusk Blades are helpful for your Destroyer Lords as they will self-heal any minor damage from creeps. Once you have extra influence to spend, give your Crypteks the Tome of Magnus , each of which is worth a Forbidden Archive (Lore note: Magnus the Red was a Primarch and currently a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch who was known for his reckless intelligence and the fact that he was quite literally bright red.)

Lords are the best fighters you can get in the early game, being resistant to damage and capable of some support in the form of Voidstrike (offensive) and Defensive Protocols. Their Level Six power Royal Guard is useful throughout the game as it summons a unit of Praetorians who can immediately move into combat, absorbing overwatch and distracting enemies.
Ultimately, however, the Lord’s best boost isn’t exciting at all. Dynasty, which can be used from Level One, increases population limits in all cities. This means that if you have three cities and two Lords, you’ve saved yourself having to build six population buildings. Even better, you can benefit from this power starting when you most need it in the early game.

Now this is a hidden gem of a hero…she has four good support abilities, and all of them work at range. She has Resurrection Orb, a mid-level heal which works at range two (keeping her clear of danger)…however, this suffers from a three turn cooldown. Mindshackle Scarabs reduces morale, which is only a moderately useful power. However, it does work at range three, so you can fling it around while skulking behind tougher units.


Better is Chronometron which can be used every turn to grant a prodigious amount of invulnerable damage reduction. This is one of the few sources of damage reduction available for the Necrons, but it can make units like the Destroyer Lord nearly invulnerable. Later, the Tesseract Vault will need a lot less repair if you have a Cryptek nearby to prevent damage in the first place.

The Cryptek’s signature power, Solar Pulse , places a tremendous accuracy penalty on all enemy units within three tiles. This radius is large enough to effectively disable whole swaths of enemy forces, allowing other Necrons to regroup.


These guys live up to their name…this is a tough hero both offensively and defensively. He’s useful even in the late game, as long as you have him fully kitted with artifacts (Dusk Blade, Axe of Blind Fury, Adamantium Vest, etc.) and strongly consider a Cryptek to support him with Solar Flare and/or Chronometron. He is designed specifically to be used as a berserk battering ram, so don’t be too upset if he ends up as a victim of his own enthusiasm.


Jet Charge gives the Destroyer Lord a burst of speed and damage reduction, making it an ideal linebreaker attack. As a skimmer, he can zoom over wireweed to hit enemies and then absorb any return fire. Again, make sure he’s prepared for the retaliatory strikes. I usually activate Reaper and then Jet Charge to keep him healthy while he’s out causing havoc.


Bloody Crusade makes him better at killing groups of units. Destruction Protocols not only helps him destroy his enemies, but weakens them for all other attacking units as well.


Reaper gives him perfect accuracy and armor for three turns, but it has a long cooldown, so time it carefully.
In summary, use this hero as a sort of guided missile…activate a Cryptek buff and his own Reaper power, then use Jet Charge to get him into combat. Don’t linger more than two turns because the Reaper buff will wear off just as the enemy is bringing their toughest responders to the fight. Get back out, let him heal and recover, and then do it again.

As usual, the middle game is about boosting resource production to high level so that you can afford the truly mighty late game units. For the Necrons, this means ore, ore, and more ore. And plenty of Hypostyle Temples to produce these game-winning units.
Side note: “hypostyle” [pronounced high-puh-style] just means a building with pillars. In case you were wondering.

Cities should be specialized by now! Each city should pick two resources to produce. Ore producers should have multiple Quarries, influence cities should have lots of Stelae, etc. You can back off building new Archives (the research building) as you’re probably on a good path for research. If not, build several Archives in a row until you are producing well over the “par” amount (i.e. the current Turn number) and then stop worrying about this production.
Keep your population limit at least six points higher than your current population. Hitting a population cap is a quick way to stonewall your city growth. Fortunately, Lords make this easy. In the later part of the game, Lords will emerge at level 5, so they can immediately grant the full population cap bonus. Don’t hesitate to build three Lords, even if some of them just sit in cities admiring their Icons and reading their Tomes.

At this point you are probably doing well in resources. Because you produce so much energy and consume so little, you may be a bit overconfident here. Remember that even though Obelisks and Monoliths require ore for upkeep, they need huge amounts of energy for the initial build. Also, your air units will become an increasing sap on your energy supplies as you prepare for the AI hordes.

Expand your empire! Strategically stay to the edges of the map to avoid meeting the AI too early, and clear any corners behind your cities so that you have some compounds adding to your economy even during the invasion. Tactically, lead with your Lord or Destroyer Lord to absorb overwatch, and follow with infantry units to kill slivered enemies or take unguarded compounds. Artifacts (the spinning tetrahedrons) are like gold, and should be prioritized. The Siren Caster is my usual favorite for its loyalty boost to all cities.
Be thorough at clearing creeps as you move. You’ll notice that a neutral unit often won’t attack you until you either attack first or advance into a compound within its territory. However, once you do attack, that lone Cultist will get help from its five friends, who will charge in and kill your units. You can minimize this by staying in a group and rotating wounded units to the back. Necron units will heal quickly and be ready to go back to the fight.
I typically use my early game squad of Warriors, Flayers and heroes. I expand this roster to include Immortals (or Deathmarks), and then eventually a Ghost Ark. As the game progresses, you can send out Doomsday Arks and Monoliths alone or in small groups to open up new fronts for territorial expansion.
When you have to choose, it’s usually better to finish a slivered (nearly dead) unit, rather than damage a different unit (this may not always be true against the main AI opponent, however). By destroying the unit, you’ll get experience and morale, and it won’t be able to run off to heal.

Okay, there’s no secret to the Necrons. Well, maybe I’ll just remind you how important Rapid Rise can be in the early game. But otherwise, the Necrons are superbly positioned to build superheavy units and defensive Gauss Pylons to weather any assault, and then gradually push back as they continue to increase their ranks.

I used to stop with two of each unit production building, and then focus on loyalty and population for the rest of the game. Then I thought…why? The extra cost to build additional unit producers is negligible at this point, and I’m competing with a hyperproductive AI with two or three times as many cities as I have. So now I’ll build three or four unit-making buildings of each type until I can build whatever I want in a single turn. You can specialize a city in unit production, or spread it out based on which cities have production bonuses.
If you’re unsure what to build, put in another loyalty building…that gives a 6% boost to all production (and more if you have outposts to increase your loyalty efficiency).

The Necrons offer more infrastructure improvements than just about anybody else. Reanimation Rituals and The Lord’s Command respectively improve city growth and cheapen Rapid Rise; these are investments in the future, so take them early. Atomic Flayers incrementally improve your Gauss weapons and thus your numerous Necron Warriors. (Weirdly, the improvement for Tesla weapons is at level 4, even though you use Gauss first.)
More interesting, Triarch Stalkers provide a “Markerlight” ability to boost other units and complement your Warriors nicely.

brings the mandatory Cryptek Datastyles to improve your research…like all of these improvements, the earlier you get it the more effective it is. Get your now-upgraded scientists to start working on Efficient Reanimation Protocols which boost regeneration to amazing levels, healing heroes in just a few turns without interrupting their other actions. The plum unit here is the Doomsday Ark which will be the first of your mechanical units to truly dominate the battlefield (before the endgame mega-units appear, of course).
Another tier where you get infrastructure boosts and one great new unit. Nameless Causeway allows production of the excellent Doom Scythe (reached at the next tier), so get started building them now. Monoliths are expensive and tough, and their Eternity Gates will boost the potential movement of all your infantry and heroes.
Gloom Prism - Witchfire damage reduction? And for just one unit type (and nearby friends)? Don’t hurry to get this one.

Often Tier 8 technologies are game-changers for their factions. Not so for the Necrons. There are two highlights…Doom Scythes finally give you a good air unit; their mobility is a real relief in the otherwise sluggish Necron armies. Transcendent C’tan are a supremely tough infantry/monstrous unit with some excellent artillery powers; they won’t dominate the battlefield in my experience, but they are a necessary part of the titanic Bound Coalescent.
Leave the rest for now (unless you need the loyalty from Baroque Covenant) and move to the mighty Obelisk in Tier 9.

Obelisks at last. Although I discuss them more fully in the Units section of the guide, suffice to say that these things are beginning of the end for your opponents, if you can afford them.
And at last, Unearthed City will finally let your cities expand to that third ring of hexes. Does this seem underwhelming? Not if your technology has lagged and your cities are running into some serious real estate shortages.

All of these technologies are excellent, although some are more contextual. The big shiny one is obviously Bound Coalescent, allowing you build the strongest unit in the base game. [Remember that the poor Space Marines topped out at [i]Vindicators[/i] without DLC! 😊 ]. There are also a trio of technologies which will turn the game around for you if you’re the victim of an AI siege. Ineffable Obstacles and Static Targetting will greatly help your units if they are fighting to defend your cities (and later, when they are conquering the enemy’s cities). With the appropriate DLC, Gauss Pylons can appear suddenly in your districts to rip apart the AI units at ridiculous ranges.
Dire Necrodermis is more subtle, but means you can heal any unit as much as you need, limited only by influence. This can rescue a key hero or heavy unit to the extreme frustration of your opponents.

Eventually the dreaded moment arrives when you’ve found the enemy. Typically, you’ll spot a weak-looking scout unit and the introductory message will flash up. Tempting as it may be, don’t send your units haring off after the AI. Right behind that lone Scout Biker is a huge mass of enemy units ready to surround you, cut off your retreat, and destroy you.

Instead, pull back from the visible range. You now have two or three turns to begin consolidating and preparing for the huge wave of air units which is about to arrive. The T’au are probably the worst, with punishing overwatch, long-range attacks, and strong air units. Fortunately, your units are well-balanced and can take a lot of hits, so you shouldn’t be completely overrun in the first few rounds.

Once those first units show up, you’re probably going to feel pretty overwhelmed. Because of various boosts, the AI units will be much tougher than similar neutrals, and far better at concentrating fire. If you haven’t lost many (or any) units so far in the game, you’re about to get a lesson. Those Necron Warriors which dominated the neutrals will be atomized by an enemy Rogal Dorn. Stay grouped up tightly, and don’t be afraid to fall back into a forest or ruin to minimize the AI’s line of sight and prevent ground units from rapidly flanking you…these also give a big boost to ranged damage reduction. Keep heavier units such as Monoliths out front to soak up damage, but cycle them when they get below half health.

Air units are expendable! I usually have a three Nameless Causeways in the same city turning out a new Scythe every 1-2 turns. Using Jink (before you move, not after!) means that the AI will expend a lot of attack power to kill air units, and spare the damage to your less agile ground units.
Your healing is a superpower! Even if your infantry units are slivered, try to retreat them…they’ll heal in just a few turns and be ready to go back out to take some more punishment. Don’t forget that vehicle healing is relatively much weaker because of percentages…four hit points per turn is a lot for a Warrior, but not so much for an Obelisk.

If (or when) that first attack begins to overwhelm you, consider making an orderly retreat toward your nearest city, buying time to finish up those Tier 9 and 10 units. Also, Tier 10 is full of technologies to help you defend your cities…hang in there until you can turn the tide. If you’re farther afield, a sacrificial Obelisk can take a LONG time for an enemy army to destroy, particularly if it’s in an Outpost and surrounded by terrain. Make liberal use of ruins, forests, and outposts to help your infantry withstand the AI attacks.

Wounding air units will send them scurrying away, which isn’t as good as a kill, but at least puts them in the penalty box for a few turns while they heal. The AI is pretty inefficient at healing, so wounded units can clog their supply lines.

Eventually, you’ve built out your high-tier army, and can begin the Necron-slow push back against the enemy. Tesseract Vaults have a lot of hit points, which make them hard to kill but also hard to heal, so don’t let them drop below half health before considering rotating them out. Obelisks shouldn’t all be turned into Coalescents, as they are ridiculously good at digging in against all enemy attacks.

Overconfidence kills! Now’s where it’s easy to make the classic rookie mistakes such as sending that damaged C’tan forward to chase a retreating Stormtalon, or flying in three precious Doom Scythes to take out a Carnifex, leaving them open to a vicious counterattack. Or worst of all, overextending a Tesseract Vault and having it get hacked apart by a sea of lesser units.
Usually, the initial probing attacks will develop into a very Warhammer-style static front line, often stretching vast distances…literally dozens of hexes. The AI is excellent at flanking you, and sending groups of units tuned specifically to the weaknesses of your units. Stop any salient from forming, keep whittling away at their army while being very conservative with yours, and eventually the tide will turn.

Finally, you’ll begin to push them back, inch by inch. Now it’s a matter of patience…once you find and kill that first city, the game is (probably) in the bag, and you can either declare a win or push on to destroy the other five or six cities, and get that sweet victory screen.

Here’s my individual breakdown of Necron units. My usual mantra is that “all units have their place.” This is a little less true of the Necrons since they are such late bloomers in their vehicle builds. I’ll try to give my perspective to assist as you develop your own style. (Note that heroes have their own section above because they are so integral to early game strategy.)



The Necrons have one unique weapon trait worth mentioning separately…anything labeled “Gauss” will add damage based on the health of the enemy (I think current, not maximum, based on this piece of code: <minDamageFromHitpointsFraction add="0.05"/> ) to a maximum of 1.2. This can be an impressive addition to damage against large opponents attacked by units with multiple Gauss attacks, particularly if the unit’s base damage is low. For Necron Warriors, this can theoretically double the damage against very healthy units, for example. In practice, it’s usually much less (each 20 health adds one-tenth point of Gauss damage), but still a hidden boost that’s hard to quantify in a guide like this one.

Necron Warriors. They aren’t the best at anything, but they aren’t bad at anything…range, armor, damage, etc. However, they are probably the best starting unit because of that healing magic! (Tactical Space Marines end up being the best, but only after a pile of upgrades). This means that your early exploration isn’t slowed by having to rest in your cities…they can simply pull back a tile or two and rest up.
They won’t be front-liners in the endgame, but they are still useful for expanding your map control in neutral territory away from the main combat.


Flayed Ones. In my haste to move up the research ladder, I usually skipped Flayed Ones. I don’t do that any more…they are pure melee, but are perfect complements to the Necron Warriors. They can explore new areas without fear of overwatch, and their ten(!) attacks are perfect for taking out neutrals with large numbers of sub-units (like Chaos Cultists).
Flayed Ones (and the Flayer Curse) are so integral to the Warhammer lore that I’m a bit disappointed that you can’t use them without the Assault Pack DLC. But you’re going to buy it anyway because you definitely need the Chimera and the Scythed Hierodule.


Deathmarks. Are you playing co-op? If so, these are great…teleport them anywhere on the map to help an ally expand or defend in the early game. In single player I like them only for their range of 3, but they suffer from the usual sniper problem of carrying a “Heavy” weapon, which means they need to be still for a turn to provide much damage. Not bad, but not particularly necessary. And not accessible until you buy the Firepower Pack DLC.

Immortals. In most ways, these are pretty much a straight upgrade to Necron Warriors. They have more armor, do more damage, and their Tesla Carbine damage doesn’t fall off at range 2. Bear in mind that they lack that little bit of armor penetration that the Warriors have, but otherwise you should build them to replace Warriors when they die.
I’ve been using these so long I’d forgotten that you need the Reinforcement Pack DLC to access Immortals.

Canoptek Spyder. You don’t really have a choice about building these, because they are the only way to get new cities. However, I find that they are good to have around as fighting units throughout the game…at first, they provide another source of damage (particularly from close range). Later, you’ll use them mainly for their healing ability and the Hive Scarab upgrade which allows them to manufacture Scarabs in the field. They are also *really* cheap to maintain.


Heavy Destroyers. I’ve found these less useful than their statistics would suggest. They are infantry with good armor and damage, and the first with excellent armor penetration to break down those Kastelans. They’re even quite mobile, and can move up quickly on an enemy.
So, should you use them? If you’re playing an infantry-centric game, then definitely. However, I find that by the time I’d be ready to use them, I’m already getting close to having some solid vehicles in my army, and the Necrons eventually have to switch to mechanized warfare in order to win. Still, they are very inexpensive (you can maintain four Destroyers for the price of one Monolith), and can make a good supplement to your scouting infantry armies.


Canoptek Wraiths. Quick and slippery, Wraiths go wherever they want, whenever they want. They can even move *through* enemy units!! I’m not sure any other units can do that.
Unfortunately they are melee units, which means that they need to get up close to do damage, and they’re just not tough enough (even with their damage reduction trait) to do that effectively. However, I like the “metal shrimp” enough that I usually use them anyway…I’ve found that their best role is as an upgraded Flayer. Sadly, they show up just as you’re transitioning from infantry to vehicles and they require the Specialist Pack DLC.



Triarch Praetorians. I use these all the time…as free summons from the Lord’s Royal Guard. As a buildable unit, they don’t feel strong or unique enough to be in Tier 6. Their attacks are short range, and because they have five sub-units, they are quickly weakened when taking damage to their anemic health pool (20 baseline), which is just one more per unit than Immortals, who have range two and the same armor. If you must use them (mainly for their armor piercing, I’d think), save their jump ability to leave combat, not enter it…otherwise you’re donating a healthy chunk of experience to your enemies.


Scorpekh Destroyers. These fit into the “Heavy Infantry” class that Gladius seems to be creating with its DLCs…plenty of health, lots of accurate armor piercing attacks, but pure melee. Like other similar units (Wraithblades, Assault Terminators) they are vulnerable to being stuck behind enemy lines. I like to send them through an Eternity Gate to provide cover for a Monolith while it is probing enemy defenses. A nice addition from the Demolition Pack DLC.


Transcendent C’tan. A truly magnificent infantry unit, fully upgraded C’tan take on a god-like quality appropriate for their lore. They have a lot of health and are protected by strong damage reduction (C’tan Necrodermis); even better, the unit has only a single subunit so they aren’t weakened by damage. Once upgraded they can heavily damage infantry or armored units at range, and they have excellent freedom of movement to back out when things get bad. All this for a relatively modest 6 ore per turn upkeep.
Even if you don’t like them, you’ll build them as a necessary ingredient for the Bound Coalescent. I usually keep an unbound one around, though, as its anti-infantry barrages can help clear pesky enemy groups.


Important Note! C’tan are the only Necron units without Reanimation Protocols (or the equivalent Living Metal)! Necrons don’t have a lot of ways to heal infantry because they mostly rely on self-healing. For C’tan, you’ll need to retreat them and let them heal like any other faction, or pair them with a Cryptek or Ghost Ark to keep them in fighting condition.

"History requires two parties. The historian, and their audience. Without that, one is just talking to oneself. So kindly stop screaming, and you might learn something."
-Trazyn the Infinite (while providing a guided tour through his museum.)
This is where the Necrons truly excel. They have several excellent vehicles, and two truly awesome ones…but first you have to get through the unimpressive examples.


Tomb Blades. Yes, they’re a starter unit, but that’s not enough to make me use these guys. I like the concept of a speedy hover-bike that can move up to *seven* hexes with their Turbo Boost. Unfortunately when used as scouts they often end up venturing too deep into the unknown, and ending up scrap. Eight hit points? Three armor? Sure, you can improve them if you research two or three additional techs, but that’s just not worth it in the early game where every turn counts.


Annihilation Barge. Not as fast as Tomb Blades, but still fast…a substantial improvement over Tomb Blades, and available at Tier 3. With reasonable armor and armor penetration they can augment a force of Warriors and Lords. They are an absolute requirement if you’re going to use a vehicle strategy from the beginning. Otherwise they are a decent option, but by no means necessary.


Ghost Ark. They share a family resemblance to the Doomsday Ark, but have a completely different role than their big brothers. The Necrons are sorely lacking for infantry healing (only the Cryptek provides it otherwise), so Ghost Arks are great to have nearby to help accelerate healing, particularly for Transcendent C’tan (who lack inherent regeneration) in the later game. As transports they can move a bit faster than most infantry, and they have enough firepower to defend themselves. You can live without them if you aren’t lucky enough to own the Escalation Pack


Canoptek Scarabs. These aren’t built by cities…instead they’re birthed by Canoptek Spyders with the Scarab Hive upgrade. So of course they’re a good value, but are they any good? Yes! For a pittance of an upkeep, you get a unit which can move incredibly quickly over the whole battlefield. I use them to re-capture Outposts taken by guerilla neutral units, and to get the last hit on a damaged enemy. But most importantly they are like ablative armor…they can take a shot from some powerful enemy like a Baneblade that might have otherwise damaged a more important unit. Sure, the Scarabs will be vaporized, but then again, they were free, right?


Triarch Stalker. This one took a while for me to properly understand. With low armor and few hit points, the Stalker seemed like a lost cause, despite looking cool. Its heat ray wasn’t bad at cutting up armored targets, but it just didn’t seem worth the time.
Where this big spider shines, though, is in teamwork. The Targeting Relay trait greatly improves accuracy for any other unit shooting at the target. To make it work, however, you need some planning. Make sure the Stalker goes first! The Relay only lasts a turn, so if you use it late in the round it won’t have any effect. Second, it’s most efficient on a victim which will require several hits, because the relay will help all of the units which shoot at the target. This could be a big enemy tank, or a large group unit like Poxwalkers.

Doomsday Ark. Finally, we’re getting that true Necron goodness. The Ark is one of the best Tier 6 units, if used correctly. It has two powerful weapons which can be activated separately, meaning that it can potentially kill two targets in the same turn. It’s also boasts a 3 hex range with its high-power Doomsday Cannon, a rarity among Necron weapons.
But…it is a completely different machine once it’s moved. Both of its weapons are much less effective, and the Cannon even loses a point of range. It’s not useless, but you’re not getting the right bang-for-buck ratio. The secret is in placement; put the Doomsday Ark on an open area close to the front lines, and let it sit for overwatch. Both weapons will fire at full capacity on overwatch (once it’s rested for a turn) and clear out AI advance units. Then, you can fire it on your turn at full power and hose down whatever’s left.

Monolith. The Necron trend continues…as the vehicles get bigger, they get much, much better. The Monolith finally brings some intimidation to your arsenal. It’s just a little more expensive than the Doomsday Ark, and a little slower…but. It’s got double the hit points, excellent armor, and a weapons array that’s much less sensitive to position than the Ark. You’ll need to be right next to your target to get the full blast from your weapons (due to Rapid Fire), but the Flux Arc is independently targeted and Gauss, so it’s great against enemy superheavies.
And let’s not forget that Eternity Gate. It’s like having a portable Webway gate for your infantry. This is good for bringing troops forward, but it’s also a way to retreat quickly without going all the way home (if you have a monolith a few hexes behind the front lines.)


Obelisk. A truly terrifying super-heavy skimmer which would be a great top-tier unit for any faction, but it’s not even the best that the Necrons have to offer. You’ll need one of these to combine with a Transcendent C’tan to create the Tesseract Vault.
But don’t think of the Obelisk as just an ingredient. It has nearly 100 health, 10 armor (giving the maximum reduction), and a fantastically powerful weapon system (though lacking any armor penetration). The Obelisk also has a combination of traits which I overlooked when I first played the Necrons. You won’t though, ‘cause I’m gonna tell you about them 😊
When you’re first facing the AI, you are usually attacked by a huge wave of air units which swamp your forces. They often move behind you to cut off retreat, and because they’re flyers, they can target your units five or six times per turn. They are in for a surprise…
The Obelisk can use its Sleeping Sentry power to become nearly invulnerable, combining its high armor with a 67% damage reduction. While Sleeping robs it of its attacks and movement, it still passively sends out a Gravity Pulse in a three hex radius, which is huge! This damages enemy flyers and skimmers 10% every turn, ignoring all damage reduction, and slows them to a crawl so that you can pick off wounded units easily. Meanwhile the Obelisk is healing every turn, and you can always use Necrodermis Repair to heal it even further.
Even a single Obelisk can be an enormous hindrance to the enemy, particularly if the Obelisk is parked in a compound at a choke point. I’ve stalled AI armies of 20 units for ten turns with a single Obelisk. And now, build a Gauss Pylon nearby…

Gauss Pylon. The ultimate static defense, you build a Gauss Pylon with a single click within your city limits. In the late game, it may even be worth building a fourth city as an outpost just to construct these. They are the perfect complement to a turtled Obelisk…they have a range of 4, inherent damage reduction (plus city defenses), and Skyfire, so they wreck enemy fliers.
You can see the strategy, right? Put a Sleeping Obelisk near a Gauss Pylon, and you are damaging, slowing, and resisting enemy flyers while destroying them every turn with the Pylon.
The Fortification Packis one of the best DLCs, in my opinion, and the Gauss Pylon is one of the reasons.

Tesseract Vault. The ultimate superweapon in the game of Gladius, the Tesseract Vault has the most health of any unit, does the most damage, has the highest armor rating, and moves as a skimmer. Its weaponry is essentially a combination of the Obelisk’s attack, plus separately activated “god powers” courtesy of the C’tan trapped inside the transformed Obelisk.
You’ll pay for all this power, of course…16 ore per turn means that you’ll be building a lot Al-Khemic Quarries to suppor

The Necrons are a clever and well-balanced faction. Although not quite as simple as the Space Marines, they are extremely straightforward to play.

• They don’t use food.
  
  
• Their constant healing reduces infantry micromanagement in the early game, and allows steady early expansion.
  
  
• Their technology ladder is mostly just new units and infrastructure improvements.
  
  
• Their heroes are strictly mid-range, but the Lord provides so much living space that your city management is more straightforward.
  
  
• Their endgame units seem tailored to resist the overwhelming strategies employed by the Impossible AI.
  
  
• Best of all, you don’t have to drop twenty bucks on DLCs to have a well-rounded and effective army.

Overall, the Necrons are the best faction to take the plunge from Ultra Hard to Impossible difficulty.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the guide and learned some things you didn’t know, even if you’re not playing Impossible just yet. Good luck, and please leave comments to help me improve.

***Super Secret Necron Strategy*** Not really so secret…use Rapid Rise in the early game!!

1) Build your city to focus on research (and ore if possible). Do not settle for a poor starting location! Start planning your second city location immediately.

2) Research and build infrastructure including a Summoning Core (infantry building), and a Royal Pyramid (hero building.)

3) Get another pair of Necron Warriors, which will happen naturally if you follow the story. Expand with your units to capture outposts and secure spots for your second and third cities.

4) Remember the twist…Necron unit need ore to maintain like everyone else, but energy to build. Keep a substantial energy surplus.

5) Use Rapid Rise to shorten long build times, particularly for Mastabas, which should be built as soon as they are available. Level up that Lord to reduce your need to build Shelters, saving more time.

6) Move up the tech tree; if in doubt pick infrastructure improvements. For units, consider Flayers or Immortals in the early game (or if you prefer, just lots of Warriors). Early vehicle support can include Ghost Arks or Annihilation Barges, but you can probably just rely on infantry until Doomsday Arks and Monoliths.

7) Meet the enemy and do not engage initially. With my settings, you should be ready for total war by turn 70-80.

8) Once you have established the enemy’s likely attack path, strongly consider retreating to a fortified position (like a forward city). Necrons shine on defense, so get an Obelisk and a Gauss Pylon to greet those pesky fliers.

9) Advance to victory by surviving the initial standoff, rotating wounded units, and finally moving steadily forward with newly forged Tesseract Vaults in the lead. Use your Doom Scythes to pick off the AI’s strongest units before they can run away to heal, and be prepared to replace a LOT of losses.

Necrons make reasonably good co-op partners if you make an effort. Build Deathmarks to assist your partner early in the game (you should have enough Necron Warriors to be able to spare at least one Deathmark). Rush for Monoliths so that you can move an Eternity Gate into your ally’s territory, thus making for quick transport of infantry.

Ideally, you’ll try to tempt the AI to attack you rather than your partner because Necrons are so good at city defense, and not so good at rushing to aid allies. This means building the third city relatively far forward. The best partner in this situation is probably the Space Marines, who can drop in from anywhere to help you. Then again, the Space Marines are probably the best partners for any faction.

• Negative loyalty is twice as bad as positive loyalty is good (-2% versus +1% per point). Therefore, *stay out of negative loyalty situations.*
  
  
• Assume every forest and ruin is full of enemies until you’ve scouted it. Avoid overwatch traps!
  
  
• Attack units you can destroy, because this will simultaneously raise your morale and lower theirs.
  For this reason, carefully consider the order of your attacks to maximize these advantages.
  
  
• Move rear-echelon units forward *before* landing the killing blow with a different unit. Any unit within three tiles will gain experience and morale.
  
  
• The Jokero trading items can turn a mediocre hero into a near-invulnerable tank. If you don’t know what to buy, non-combat heroes should start with the Tantalising Icon to avoid negative influence (I buy it for all my heroes). All heroes should consider the Zoat Jerkin, the Adamantium Weave, and Endurance Implant in that order. Fighting heroes should eventually shop for the Dusk Blade, Axe of Blind Fury, and Mourning Blade of Lazaerek. Note that all three of the latter only aid melee attacks.
  
  
• Building a lot of good early-game units (such as heroes) is a good substitute for building a few mid-game units, and lets you focus research elsewhere.
  
  
• Deploy combined arms. The AI is remarkably good at countering single-unit strategies.