So what is the deal with Doom of Malan'tai in 6th Edition?
I know he can be a bit hit and miss, but I am a long time fan of Doomy, having played him a lot ever since he was introduced into our Codex. I have had some fantastic fun with him, regardless of how many dudes he actually kills. Just hearing the groans from my opponent as I declare he is in reserve is worth taking him alone!
Things have changed for Doomy a bit since 6th Edition came out, as he can now swap out his psychic power for a choice of Biomancy, Telepathy or Telekinetic powers, but is this worth it? I heard everyone talking about swapping powers on doomy when 6th hit, but I continued to soldier on with Cataclysm, as I had always done well with it.
No need to say that Doomy needs to come down in a pod, and he needs to come in as soon as he can, which should be turn two, as you will have Hive Commander on your Flyrant! Placing Doomy is key, as it's always very tempting to go for an isolated unit that the rest of the army is going to have a hard time with. What you should be doing is looking at placing him somewhere in the centre of the table or where the action is, and is going to be later in the game. Don't just think about the turn he comes in, he only moves six inches, so you need to reach as many units as you can each turn.
Once he arrives, suck those souls up and get his wounds/strength up as much as you can, I find I can usually get him up to seven to ten with good placement and a few bad Leech rolls from my enemy. Then it's time to lay down that Cataclysm large blast marker, strength seven/ten at AP1 is a very useful weapon indeed at 24" inches! There will be no doubt that your enemy will be shooting every double toughness weapon he can into him, as his biggest downfall is one failed invulnerable save to an instant death gun and he is dead.
So what about swapping out his Cataclysm? The popular Choice is the Primaris power on the Telepathy table, Psychic Shriek. This is similar to the Spirit Leech he already has, but is 12" in range and has the added benefit of not allowing cover saves. Double the trouble for your enemy troops, but lacks the potential to kill any vehicles that the Cataclysm has. This is a very fun and annoying combo indeed and has the potential to do a lot of damage to your opponent.
The second popular swap out will be on the awesome Biomancy table. A one in six chance of getting Iron Arm and solving his main big problem of being instant deathed. You will however be vulnerable for one turn, whilst you wait to get the power up in you next turn, but Doomy with Eternal Warrior and an increased strength and toughness, could be around for a long time to cause a lot of damage, if you can get him into the heart of the battle. Failing a good roll on the chart, some of the other powers are still pretty good, like Endurance, or you could just go for the Primaris power, Smite.
If you consider that Doomy in a pod only costs 130 points, how can you go wrong with any of the these options?