Volkite Weaponry
- – Volkite Guns
Volkite weapons are Martian death-rays. In Warhammer 40,000, Volkite weapons are ancient and advanced weapons based on the principle of imparting so much heat to the enemy that he literally bursts into flames inside his armour. These flaming victims then cause more damage to their own squad, as they run around screaming while emitting the temperature of a rather large and unwieldy furnace. Their main drawbacks are that they are fairly short-ranged (although not to the same extent as Melta weapons), and are somewhat less effective at piercing armor than Bolters.
History and effects[edit]
They are quite literally Martian ray-guns, as only the techpriests of Mars could make them. When the Great Crusade was just starting out, there were enough to equip every single Space Marine Legionnaire with them, on top of the Solar Auxilia, the Mechanicus armies, and several large tanks. Sadly, as the Crusade got underway and the Primarchs were found (thus, greatly increasing the numbers of Legionnaires), demand far outstripped supply and Volkite guns were relegated to "special weapon" status. Which, makes little sense because there should have been hundreds of millions of them at this point given how they were standard fare for practically the entire Crusade. Then, with the Horus Heresy, the defection of large parts of the Mechanicum, and 10,000 years of a technological roller coaster ride, the know-how to repair them was lost and Volkite weapons gradually disappeared from the galaxy. Hopes were rekindled among fans for their returned when Games Workshop brought grav-guns back into style with the new Codex: Space Marines and further reinforced when the new Cult Mechanicus codex revealed the Martians had access to a brand new Volkite called a Blaster which is about the same as a Culverin.
And apparently their return has been outright confirmed with the arrival of the new Primaris Lieutenant and their Neo-Volkite pistols, thank you Archmagos Cawl! Still not a lot of them, but it's better than nothing.
The most similar weapon in popular fiction to Volkite Weapons is surprisingly Phasers from Star Trek. If they were turned up to the highest setting (vaporizes fleshies) and had a rate of fire comparable to a Micro Uzi or ShKAS machine guns (over 1000 rounds per minute). The beam is even reddish-orange. Though unlike Phasers we don't have technobabble describing how Volkite weapons work, yet.
Volkite weaponry could be based on some kind of microwave laser, which would explain its deflagrating properties, (microwaves of the correct wavelength vibrate sympathetically with water molecules causing them to rapidly heat up, which is how a microwave oven works,) its short range (microwaves that interact with water molecules would be dissipated rapidly in atmosphere, and there's also the square-cube law,) and its poor armour penetration (microwaves are pretty low energy so they are pretty easily deflected by hard materials).
A note on the above, Volkite weapons were excellent assault weaponry, especially when facing massed infantry, and had more potential against light vehicles than a Bolter did, but that was pretty much their niche. Bolt weapons, which were much easier to manufacture, had a slightly longer range and marginally better armor-piercing ability, and could use numerous specialty rounds, were a better tactical weapon that could adapt to numerous situations, as well as easier to field in the numbers demanded by Legions. The main drawback in the field was that Bolters were most often fitted with standard rounds, while specialty munitions were still rare enough to only be issued to specialist squads alongside their regular bolts.
Of course, given the manner in which Volkite weapons deal damage and the effectively unimportant small difference between its armor-piercing to that of boltguns, Volkite weapons would leave a heavily armored opponent vulnerable to more to follow up shots due to severely weakening the target's armor. Bolters have to blow their way through with repeated shots if they fail to outright penetrate. Ultimately, Volkite weaponry is superior to bolters. Cover is useless or even a disadvantage against it, groups of enemies are excellent targets for its wielder, light armored vehicles are sufficiently vulnerable to its death ray, and heavy vehicles and powered armor would take significantly fewer shots to get through than a bolt weapon would. It is, therefore, a highly effective all-purpose weapon for anti-infantry, anti-light and heavy armor, and anti-powered infantry. Its only blind spot is that it is ineffective against aircraft that do not come low enough to be in range of it. Ironically, this means that the Astartes had the opposite trajectory as the Wall of Guns, switching from a complex but highly-effective energy weapon to a simpler, less-resource-intensive ballistic weapon.
Each weapon is named after really old real-life firearms and cannons, except the chierovile which is made-up gibberish, and the blaster which is... just a normal word? Obviously they are just picking out random words that sound "cool" when it comes to naming these things. Not only are all the weapons named after other weapons (may actually be a riff on the Mechanicum's ignorance) but the name "Volkite" is seemingly gibberish, meaning "People-Stone" or "People-Mineral, People-People," etc. The Votann naming of Volkite weapons as "Volkanite" does shed some light on this, implying they were originally named for volcanoes (because fire, duh).
Their signature ability, deflagrate, means "a subsonic combustion caused by rapid heat transfer" which is a fancy way of saying "shit's on fire, yo." That is, it's literally the science word for normal fire. Volkite Weaponry was thus favored by the Night Lords due to its results. Larger version are implied to be more effective then other weapons against void shields with the Eradicator and Destructor both having a 'shield destroying' reputation.
Imperial and Chaos Volkite Weapons[edit]
On the table, A Volkite weapon has good strength and decent AP, but its real power is the Deflagrate ability; any unsaved wounds suffered from a Volkite weapon each inflict another hit on the same unit at the weapon's profile (minus the Deflagrate effect; the wounds do not chain infinitely). Pretty nice.
There's one thing to acknowledge however, and is obvious from the profiles below: GW has no particularly good idea how differentiate different types of Volkite weapons (i.e. like how bolters largely come in major broad-but-standardized flavors of: [heavy/bolt] pistol, bolter/bolt rifle, and heavy bolter), and has resorted to slowly bloating the family with arbitrary names that don't necessarily imply where they actually belong in the Imperial manual of arms unless you look up their stats and what they're attached to.
Volkite Serpenta[edit]
The machine pistol of the family, highly effective and powerful sidearm but with obviously low range and high rate of fire. The Adeptus Mechanicus still have a few of these on hand, but like most of the good stuff, instead of taking it apart and reverse engineering it, they instead keep most of them locked in stasis vaults and ogle them.
According to the announcement of the Moritat model the plural term is ”Volkites Serpenta.” Also, the Moritat model holds them like guns akimbo whilst doing a cool pose, and they deliciously awesome like that. According to the Angel's Tears, it's Volkite Serpentas. So.... And regardless of the plural, given the actual cannon it's named after is a Serpentine. Also a great weapon on Destroyers(as they can equip two to give them four shots) supported by Rad Missiles & as secondary weapon for Biker units, Jetbikes included. Firing Protocols(X) allows bike units to fire two weapons during the shooting phase. So you can spam Volkite while you Volkite.
Neo-Volkite Pistol[edit]
Apparently Archmagos Cawl finally figured out how to make new Volkite weapons, because these shiny new pistols are being given out to the newest batch of Primaris Lieutenants. As per the release for the multipart Bladeguard kit standard Bladeguard Sergeants can take them now too, but not Captains or Ancients.
What is so different from the old one, we have no idea, but it could be as minor as the difference between each iPhone iteration (such as the miniaturization of the powerpack, so no more lugging around a giant energy cell connected by flimsy cables, yaaaaaaaaaaay!). So for all intents and purposes, the whole schlick of the "Imperium losing technology" has been thrown out of the window; demotes the Grimdark a bit, while cutting out some of the Grimderp. It also makes sense when one remembers how many high ranking magos are millennia old and Cawl is far from the only one who lived in the Great Crusade era. So Cawl coming out with this might begin smoothing that out and we can waive ten thousand years of “forgetting” as either excuses for hoarding more and more tech, and/or being distracted by increasing projects to reverse-engineer old technologies making slow but real progress.
According to this faction preview it's classified as a pistol 2 class weapon with a range of 15", a strength of 5, armor-piercing of 0, damage of 2, and a special rule that each unmodified wound roll of 6 inflicts 1 mortal wound on the target in addition to any other damage. Making it comparable to a Volkite charger just as a pistol. Essentially its just a Serpenta with the range of a Charger. ...Or Cawl slapped a new name onto some Charger blueprints and handed them out to his Primaris boys; even during the Heresy-era, it's fairly common to see Volkite Chargers used as pistols instead of Serpenta's.
Volkite Discharger[edit]
With the revamp of the old Spyrer models in Necromunda, the Orrus Hunting Rig received a new ranged weapon to further boost its firepower.
The Volkite Discharger is a type of wrist-mounted volkite weapon dual-wielded by the Orrus and twin-linked. As you can imagine, for a such a small package, it is unleashing firepower equivelent to four Volkite Blasters. Pretty nasty weapon against multiple soft targets, which, given this is Necromunda, are found aplenty. Of course, their short-range means that they are not suitable at anything long-range, but it does make the Orrus wearer someone you don't want to fuck with at close-range.
On the tabletop, unfortunately, despite the potential in the fluff, on the crunch, they done fucked it up. Whilst it costs the same as a Bolt Launcher, it is far, far worse. As a volkite, its range is shit, which anyone would expect at only 10". Usually, such short-range is compensated by being pretty powerful (See Meltas or Flamers). But, for some reason, they have no AP, and get a terrible Ammo roll despite being S5. Yeah...ammunition problems...for a direct-energy weapon. They do have a special weapon trait called Deflagrate which causes a second hit if damage is inflicted by the first. But that is not enough to offset its shit range and bizarre gimping. Even when augmented, it is pathetic, as it only increase the measly range to a whole...2"...yeah just stick with the trusted Bolt Launchers.
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Side view.
Volkite Charger[edit]
The rifle of the family, as stated previously, at the outbreak of the Great Crusade were the goddamn standard weapon for the Adeptus Astartes. Which I'm sure was a terrifying prospect for the enemies of the Imperium. Whilst not benefiting from the range or power of its larger cousins, the charger retained the volkite beams deflagrating effects and allows its wielder a greater degree of movement. Volkite chargers are often employed by Legion Tactical Support squads. A Mastercrafted version is also the favoured ranged weapon of a certain Sick Fuck.
Unfortunately the laborious nature of their manufacture resulted in them being relegated in favour of the Bolter, which was much easier to manufacture and supply (well, maybe not supply because of the complex physical ammo), which was important as the crusade grew from a few thousand marines, a planet, and a moon to many hundred thousands of marines, quadrillions of Imperial Army troops, and an entire galaxy of shit to conquer. By the 42nd Millennium they are exclusively used by Tartaros Terminator Sergeants, with both armor and weapon millenia older than the Space Marine using them. Whether Cawl or Guilliman has authorized Admech Techpriests and Astartes Techmarines to resume low level production, or if they even can, is up in the air for now. Sure, the Astartes rarely need to use any of ten special types of bolts and could simply carry a few with a bolt pistol in case they’re needed but otherwise use dramatically scaled up hellguns attached to their powered armor’s basically infinite energy supply but…um…there’s a reason? Look a Commissar!
On the other hand, Veletaris squads were heavily equipped with Volkite Chargers and normal Solar Auxilia could use them as special weapons. The Solar Auxilia that made up twenty to twenty-five percent (A fifth to a fourth) of the Imperial Army by the Horus Heresy. So, there were literally quadrillions of these being made by then. Most likely the shift to Bolters can be explained by their wide variety of Special Ammunition (even normal Bolt Shell production would quickly become waaaaaay more expensive than Volkite Chargers). If so, was a moronic decision as Bolt Pistols with anything except non-standard shells while using Volkite Calivers and Chargers as standard would have been far better. Mechanicum Infantry also used the Volkite Charger, further crippling the lore about demand out-stripping supply for the vastly less numerous Astartes. Thus the only real reasons for the change would be the Charger's poor armor penetration and the need for coolant compared to Bolters, though we don't know how it's cooled so coolant might not be used and it's armor-penetration is said to only be slightly lower than a bolter in the fluff. As a direct energy weapon would heat up faster and for longer than an air cooled projectile firearm (depending on what cooling tech was used, though, and how hot the projectile weapon got). Also, Ryza has cooling systems that prevent freaking plasma weapons from overheating, and that may have been the norm. At the very least, the Astartes would have the best available and so their volkite weapons might just not overheat.
Apparently the Dark Angels had enough of them to arm their Fucking New Guys with Volkite Chargers during the Horus Heresy. Something that shouldn't be much of a surprise because The First had (and still might have) stocks of weapons from the Good Old Days. Despite times call for desperate measures and The Lion is the kind of guy who doesn't screw around.
Volkite Caliver[edit]
A long range tactical Volkite weapon.
If the Volkite Charger is the assault rifle of the Volkite family, then the Volkite Caliver would be considered as the light machine gun of said family. A rifle Volkite variant with a devastating effect on flesh and bone, the volkite caliver was often employed by mobile Legion Tactical Support Squads, utilizing firepower and accuracy far and above superior to that of the more common bolter. The larger frame of the Caliver means that it is able to house a larger energy storage and battery to power the entire weapon at a more efficient and cost-effective way.
It is also somewhat comparable to a light squad support weapon, longer and bulkier than the Charger, though still loaded from a box magazine and fairly easy to carry. With a better range than the Charger at a cost of being unable to fire on the move.
There are some claims that the Volkite Caliver was the standard issue Astartes weapon in the early years of the Great Crusade instead of the Charger. Perhaps a typo or perhaps just yet another layer of conflicting lore.
A few Calivers were present on the Forge World of Graia at the time of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun. The burning effect is switched out for making enemies explode, damaging more enemies, and Veteran Sergeant Caedo is so awesome he can fire it on the move. Otherwise, it does a pretty good job for being non-AdMech Volkite's first major outing in vidya.
Volkite Blaster[edit]
The only (non-Neo) Volkite weapon in regular plastic 40k besides Charger armed Tartaros Sergeants and Relic Dreadnoughts (and not itself found in any 30k books, even the Mechanicum Red Book), and only seen on Tech-Priest Domini to boot. It might have been custom-constructed, or it might have started life as a Caliver before being integrated into someone's arm, but trades the tip of the Caliver's range for 50% more dakka.
Seeing as how it is now permanently attached to a Tech-Priest, the Volkite Blaster gets most of its source of power from the inner workings of whatever cybernetic hijinks that the Domini has incorporated into his body. Which allows it to technically have an indefinite amount of shots so long as the Tech-Priest is still alive and kicking.
As they are one of the few Volkite weapons still in use in the 41st millennium, the Techpriests in charge are understandably quite touchy and paranoid about this elusive piece of tech. Guarding it pretty viciously to any tech-thieves or bandits. However with Big Bobby G running around right now, the status of the Volkite Blaster being the only Volkite weapon in production might change in the near future. And it's happenend, look at the Neo-Volkite's entry above this one to see a brand spanking new death ray.
There is also a special prototype up-volted Volkite Blaster lazily named Weapon XCIX, designed in Ryza. Unlike most of the results of Ryza's experimentation, this actually found its way onto the battlefield where it has proven to be devastatingly powerful.
Volkite Cavitor[edit]
The shotgun of the Volkite family, exclusive to the Night Lords' Contekar Terminator Elite. With how much chaos Volkite weapons usually generate, it is not surprising to see the legion of Batman sociopaths hogging all the good Volkite shit. For those who do not know, the Contekars were recruits from Nostramo's ruling class. What this means is that like the Kabalite Trueborns of Dark Eldar society, they tend to view the common plebs with utter disdain. Now why the Contekars are a melee-heavy Assault Terminator-esque squad despite the whole Night Lords' doctrine of fighting fast and hard, we aren't too sure.
Nevertheless, despite the strange change in legion tactics, Contekars still do strike as much fear as a rampaging World Eaters berserker. Seeing as how all Contekars could wield a chainglaive, the introduction of the Volkite Cavitors serve as a highly complementary sidearm for these aloof twats. How the Cavitor could split its beams, we dunno, but the ability to hit multiple targets at once, who, in turn, may further spread the flames to their allies, makes the Cavitor a powerful force multiplier. Unfortunately, the Cavitor is stupidly short-ranged, as in, Inferno Pistol levels of short-range. This means that a certain absolute chadman, in one final fuck you, could quite literally run towards the Contekar who lit him ablaze and proceed to give him a warm, Vulkan-level hug.
On the tabletop, Cavitors spray four Strength 6 murderbeams, but at a measly 10" range (That is shorter than a Flamer mind you). Comes included with a Chainblade to further fuck things up at close range, because why the hell not? This means it sucks at fighting other Terminators. Especially those with Cyclone Missile Launchers or Plasma weapons. It is a pretty good MEQ mulcher though. Fitting, that the Night Lords elite would specialise in terrorising units lighter than them...
Volkite Incinerator[edit]
A motherfucking laser chest beam!
The Volkite Incinerator was a powerful purpose-designed Volkite ray weapon that was mounted in the chest-unit of each Ursarax Tech-guard, allowing it to both attack its victims at range with a lethal Volkite beam and also by grabbing its foe within its claws and drawing them in to suffer the full brunt of this discharge at point-blank range.
This confined ray blast was particularly devastating in its power and was able to disintegrate even heavily armored warriors in mere moments at such short range, which makes it almost all but impossible to fight these things head-on in CQC.
Unfortunately, in terms of crunch, in contrast to the standard-issue lightning claws, the Volkite Incinerator isn't too great in CC despite the dictation of the fluff, as four attacks at S10 almost always beats ONE S6 instant death attack (even if the target is T6) but if you get locked in multiple rounds it can be okay enough against T6 models.
Volkite Sentinel[edit]
The weapon-sponsons of the Volkite family.
The Volkite Sentinel was an automated, slaved weapon systems controlled independently by its own Servitor-brain. Volkite Sentinels were used as defensive weapons found on a number of larger Mechanicum war engines, most commonly the Triaros Armoured Conveyer.
Each Volkite Sentinel was actually a pintle-mounted Volkite Charger which could be fired in addition to any other weapons the vehicle was carrying. Because of its Servitor brain, the Volkite Sentinel was able to target units separately from the vehicle's main armament or the direction of its gunners.
Crunchwise, Volkite Sentinels are a subtle, but potent feature. Essentially they are two Volkite chargers that may target independently of the Triaros itself (and presumably the other Volkite weapon); these can be used to take out "Chaff" units (exceptionally important if you're using this in 40k).
This weapon is one of the rare instances of a weapon variant specifically designed as a sponson or pintle-mounted armament. Almost any other time it is simply a heavy weapon duct-taped to the vehicle.
Volkite Saker[edit]
One of the three primary weapons of the Sabre Strike Tank
In contrast to the Sentinel, the Volkite Saker is a relatively large weapon of the Volkite family that offers a true 'medium' between the lighter hand-held Volkites to the fuck huge superheavy Volkites mounted on Knights and superheavy tanks.
As one of the primary weapons for the new and improved Sabre, the Saker is unfortunately hull mounted, meaning it is only as effective if the front of the vehicle actually faces something. You would expect that something like a Volkite, would be mounted on a more effective turret.
On a more interesting tidbit, although Saker may sound like gibberish, it is actually a type of medium cannon that was slightly smaller than the Culverin, another type of cannon. The more you know.
Volkite Culverin[edit]
The heavy weapon, bulky, powerful, with a massive rate of fire and equally large ammunition requirement. The largest most potent man-portable Volkite weapon in the Imperium's arsenal, its beam has a devastating effect on organic matter, explosively burning flesh into ash and jetting fire. Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts could mount two Volkite Culverins on a single arm for a devastating primary weapon.
It's like a heavy bolter if it fired even faster, had longer range and its shots caused the enemy to spontaneously combust. Perfect for taking out that 20 man squad of assault marines and mounting on Scimitar Jetbikes to vaporize MEQ infantry & below.
Heavy weapon squads full of these guys are your best option for long-range multipurpose murder, as they will incinerate entire squads of light infantry in a single salvo, and 5 shots at S6 is pretty solid against light to medium vehicles as well. 45" is far back enough that only vehicles and Sniper units can return fire.
Volkite Veuglaire[edit]
The Volkite Veuglaire is a type of Imperial Volkite Weapon.
Used on the Knight Moirax, the Volkite Veuglaire is a cousin of the Volkite Culverin and was a rare and ancient type of weapon. They were known for their complex mechanisms that were often beyond the ability of simple Sacristans to repair.
But for those Households that still operate them, Volkite Veuglaire are prized for their ability to clear light infantry from the battlefield. Combined with the Gyges siege claw, the Knight Moirax is a pretty nasty beast in CQC all things considered.
Volkite Falconet Battery[edit]
The Volkite Culverin's big sister.
The Volkite Falconet Battery is a pair of extremely large Volkite weapons mounted exclusively on the Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought. The size of the Volkite Falconet Battery allows it to lay waste to large numbers of enemy units, and we mean a metric shit ton. Seriously, just look at the size and length of the barrel and imagine it being dual-wielded by a dreadnought. 'Tis some scary shit.
The Volkite Falconet Battery is often paired with the Boreas Air Defence Missile Platform, which makes the Deredeo a sufficient anti-air vehicle whilst having the weapon to deal with those pesky infantry trying to outflank it.
Volkite Demi-Culverin[edit]
The bigger brother to the Culverin, this is only available to the Solar Auxilia (for now). A powerful weapon from the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon could tear through infantry squads with ease, it is basically one of the best tarpit cleansers if used correctly as the beams can jump from target to target on a much wider and longer range then normal Volkite weapons.
It boasts one more point of Strength and one more shot than the man-portable version, and is found on the spiffy Leman Russ Incinerator. Demi-culverin. For when you want to say "Screw that guy and everyone around that guy."
The Demi-Culverin is one of the best examples of Ad Mech naming incompetence in 40k. IRL a Demi-Culverin fired a shot half the weight of a full Culverin (Demi is French for "half"). So why the Ad Mech decided to make the Demi-Culverin more powerful than the Culverin is a mystery.
Volkite Cardanelle[edit]
The Volkite Cardanelle is one of the primary weapons used by the Kratos Heavy Assault Tank. A heavy Volkite weapon that is, for all intents and purposes, the bigger brother of the Volkite Demi-Culverin, the Volkite Cardanelle is built when the Imperium and later Traitor forces, wanted a Volkite weapon that will ignite more units without needing to face the high procurement cost of larger Volkite weapons during the Great Crusade. Lo and behold, the Cardanelle was created.
On the tabletop, the Cardanelle is obviously meant to be used against infantry. A metric shit ton of infantry. Like, we are talking 2-3,000 points worth of infantry. Obviously, this makes the Cardanelle a nightmare against horde armies like Ork and Tyranid players. Fortunately for those two, the Kratos is considered a relic tank and is only (For now) used in the Horus Heresy games.
Volkite Chieorovile[edit]
Big goddamn Volkite gun mounted onto the Questoris Knight Styrix. Just think of it as a Volkite Culverin on steroids as the Culverin is situated on a Dreadnought, this mother of a gun is situated on a Knight.
Seeing as how a normal Volkite Charger can already turn a few unfortunate bastards into radioactive isotopes, the Volkite Chieorovile can eliminate large numbers of enemy infantry at range far greater than a typical Volkite.
With a range equal to the Culverin version, this baby puts out five S8 AP3 shots which is great at turning entire armies into flaming soon-to-be-corpses. Who wouldn't want to use a gun that kicks out the equivalent of 5 Krak missiles that set blobs on fire per turn?
Volkite Combustor[edit]
The more Edgy sister of the Volkite Chieorovile. The Volkite Combustor is another Knight-based Volkite weapon, used exclusively by the Chaos Knight Abominants.
Like the rest of its Volkite family, the Combustor is able to atomise elite infantry and light vehicles alike under a beam of deflagrating death. However, what makes it different from the Chieorovile remains to be seen until rules comes out. And rules it definitely did came out.
On the tabletop, this monster is a god damned tarpit cleanser and even light vehicle sweeper. An Abominant-exclusive weapon, the Volkite Combustor clocks in at 30" Heavy 6 S10 AP-1 D3; making it more than capable of burning through crowds, while the 3 mortal wounds on a natural 6 to wound allows it to wreck light vehicles.
Volkite Carronade[edit]
Disgusted by the prospect of the largest weapon in a given type being able to be held by a person, those crazy Martians decided to supersize it and put it on the turret of the Fellblade super-heavy tank, creating the Glaive in the process.
At first glance it's almost comically short-ranged for a super-heavy tank weapon, but when you consider it hits absolutely everything in a straight line (which is as wide as the weapon's barrel, which is about the same as the height of a space marine) between its smoking barrel and its max range, turning entire tank columns into molten heaps of slag and reducing infantry formations into screaming, flaming soon-to-be-corpses who proceed to set their own allies alight, it ends up looking pretty good. And unlike psychic beams, the beam's strength is only reduced by other super-heavies and buildings.
That said, it hits YOUR units too, so don't place anyone you don't want to lose in front of it when it fires. And don't think being inside a transport when it hits will save you; if the transport takes a penetrating hit, even if all it ends up doing is Crew Shaken, you take a bunch of hits. With the normal volkite ability to generate more. Dark Eldar, don't even bring Raiders; they'll just make it hurt more.
...although maybe they like that.
Volkite Eradicator[edit]
A Titan-sized Volkite weapon used by Warhound and Reaver-class Titans as a shield-popper. These things are devastating weapons that could either set half of an entire legion of Space Marines into cooked, medium-rare transhuman meat or turn weakened Titans into a pair of stilted legs. Due to this, they're quite popular among the more belligerent of Titan Legions. This is the point where it gets legitimately awe inspiring, because at this size it stops setting things on fire in favor of reducing flammables to ash and boiling anything that isn't.
It is considered a carapace-mounted weapon for Reaver Titans while it is an arm-mounted weapon for Warhound Titans.
On the Titanicus tabletop, the Volkite Eradicator is a 20 point S5 weapon that could fire 3 shots and have the Voidbreaker ability, which forces the target to make two extra void shield saves so long as a single shot hits. Unfortunately, breaking shields is what it is only good for. At S5, the Eradicator isn't really what you would consider a dedicated Titan-killer, so it is best used for its intended role.
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Warhound variant.
Volkite Destructor[edit]
The final word (so far) in groundside Volkite weaponry, the Destructor is an arm weapon for the mighty Warlord-class Titan. Like its smaller brother, the Eradicator, the Volkite Destructor is a dedicated shield popper; capable of overloading enemy Titan Void Shields in short order. Over twice the size of the Carronade, it is the largest Volkite weapon known. Not so much for boiling entire tank platoons as it is for setting entire fortresses ablaze and scorching entire battlefields at this point.
The Volkite Destructor is an arm-mounted weapon for Warlord Titans.
In terms of rules for Adeptus Titanicus, the Destructor is a tad bit more powerful than the Eradicator, making it less egregious when it comes to its effectiveness versus its price. At 40 point and at S6, the Destructor is similar to the Eradicator, being able to fire 3 shots whilst also having the Voidbreaker ability.
Moreover, unlike the Eradicator, the Destructor has additional unique abilities, such as the Beam and Draining traits, meaning that if you position your model correctly and push the reactor you can simply skip rolling to hit and guarantee three shots will hit the target (even if you make a called shot). By itself, S6 isn’t particularly terrifying, but this can be offset by applying bonuses such as Scorched Earth from the Extergimus maniple or applying a Coordinated Strike from a Squadron such as with Legio Venator or Vulcanum. Particularly enthusiastic and/or insane players could consider applying Experimental Weapons in the hopes that the Volkite Destructor is selected for the +2 bonus and then follow up with Overcharged Cannon to add an additional +2.
Volkite Storm Accelerator[edit]
The biggest Volkite weapon of all, and the only one to be used in naval combat, only ever mounted on Imperator Somnium, the second flagship of the Emperor. They were, as imagined, constructed during the ancient Dark Age of Technology.
Not much is really known about them, unfortunately, and even less in terms of what it looked like. We are forced to assume its barrel is fashioned into a mighty golden dong, and mighty rays of doom spew forthwith. Although a few fanart, such as the one on the right, which was drawn lovingly by LordCarmi, does give us some speculation of its dimensions.
As far as its effects go. Well. If Titan-scaled Volkites can vapourise entire fleets of armoured vehicles, a Voidship-scaled Volkite would be more than capable of doing this to entire Hive cities. Pretty much a budget Exterminatus.
Squat Volkite Weapons[edit]
Volkanite Disintegrator[edit]
A Squat-made Volkite weapon.
These are a type of hand-held pistol/submachinegun weapons used by the Leagues of Votann and even then, it is largely reserved for high-ranking members due to the inherent dangers of volkite weapons. In this regard, the most common users are either Kâhls or Hearthguards. Due to it being Squat, these Volkites are superior to their Imperial counterparts, however, superior in what degree is up in the air, although if we take the crunchrules seriously, it is possibly in increased firepower.
Despite having a slightly different spelling, volkanite is basically the same as volkite.
Crunchwise, they are 18" HunTR 3, S5 AP0 D1, with 6s to hit doing 1 mortal wound. Good old volkite guns, with a better fire rate than most. An alternate upgrade for your Kahl and Hearthguard.
In action[edit]
- A volkite charger equivalent in the game Killing Floor 2 *CHOOMING* zombies can be seen in action here.