What's the best way to play DW7000

[Crow]

So I like all the deathwalkers and zetian gaurds. I ussually have great success with DW9000 and DW8000, but I can almost never make DW7000 worth playing. The few times I have had an success was when I hid him until my opponents moved into a cluster and then ran him out for big damage and when I have used X17 to hold units in place. But there has got to be some sort of strategy!

So any ideas, or known "best way to use DW7000" would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the help in advance!

[Sir Yeshua]

You'll find an old strategy guide for the DW7000 here. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't have one. lol

Welcome to the site!

[ollie]

Ultimately I think you just have to accept that in many (almost all, in fact) situations DW7K is going to have a tough job justifying his 100pt price tag. That's no reason not to play him. Like you, I love the Deathwalkers and DW9K and DW8K see lots of play, and DW7K pops up occasionally.

The most success I've had with him is in a nearly-all-valiant 4th Mass army. For example:

Deathwalker 7000: 100
Concan: 80
4th Mass x5: 350
Total: 530pts, 22 hexes.

Charge out with DW7K to kill what you can, ideally getting a self-destruct in at your opponent's biggest hero. Then, usually, you're left with a very powerful all-valiant army against whatever your opponent still has (which will probably be worth more points than yours).

[Tornado]

DW7K is the one unit we house ruled.
You can decide to set DW7K to explode upon destruction. Then Jotun can use him as a grenade.

[flameslayer93]

We came up with a warlock who can teleport explosives (including DW7k), and gives +3 to the roll. It works for us.

[Not User Name]

I think the only way to get his points back is never draft him in the first place. That's just me though.

[Rich10]

I have always thought that DW7K would benefit from house rules. If DW7K had Ghost Walk and Disengage (like Agent Carr), DW7K could be an effective assassin. I could also see treating DW7K as a common hero (which thematically makes sense since he blows himself up).

[TheAverageFan]

The sad truth is that there's not much of a good way to use him, other than the obvious "don't let yourself be forced into situations where you have to SelfDestruct on units that aren't worth it".

However, using C3V/SoV units such as the Zettian Infantry, Hopiltron, and DeathCommander Mark3 help him significantly. At least you won't have to waste OMs on him.

~TAF

[Smithy Winfred]

Use Zettian infantry and don't think of him as a walking bomb, use him to sneak around and target enemy ranged units, he's tough to kill and most people will fear his explosion. If you get too bogged down, blow him up, he bought you time to set up your infantry and other big borgs, and if he can take a few down with him, all the better. He still is a bit pricy, maybe consider using Delta+ pricing for him (I wanna say he's around 80 or 90 points on D+). Not tournament ready but still cool and funny to use.

[Auror Faust]

The little 7k is best used against ranged squaddies trying to hold position. Stealth Dodge makes it obnoxiously difficult for them to kill him, provided you're lucky, and Self-Destruct bypasses defense and hits multiple adjacent targets, making hilltop pods more dangerous.

Sometimes, the threat of eating a walking nuke can cause people to play sub-optimally, such as moving their ranged when they'd be better off camping, or putting them too far away from the action, but the more experienced your opponent is, the less likely that is to happen.

For my anti-ranged unit, I usually go with Drake or the Krav, depending on the map. More reliable, less cripplingly over-specialized.

[Sir Yeshua]

Heh, I finally got to play a game with the DW7000 and my brother wasn't even fazed by him.

[Smithy Winfred]

On this note again, he also works well with Beorn Boltcutter, whose upgrade power is probably least likely to fall off DW7K, since it's so easy for him to block attacks. And a +1 to attack and move makes him 7 move, 4 attack, which is both fast enough to get in past ranged units, and strong enough to kill them easily. Pair him with the Zettian Infantry, and your enemy will have to fight a war on two fronts, and in the end, if things look grim, just blow him up, you'll have distracted your opponent, and given time for your slower Borgs to grab good position.