How to Play Necrons in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

The big structural change is Detachment Points. In 10th edition you chose one detachment; in 11th you get a DP budget — roughly 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points — and spend it on detachments that each cost 1 to 3 DP. You can now combine detachments.

The Necrons Faction Pack v1.0 layered this onto the existing codex: it set DP costs, added three new 1-DP detachments (Hand of the Dynasty, Skyshroud Spearhead, The Phaeron's Armoury) clearly designed to be stacked onto a bigger detachment, and retuned four codex detachments (Annihilation Legion, Canoptek Court, Hypercrypt Legion and Obeisance Phalanx). Because there's no full 11th-edition codex yet, a future book could change things again — but this is the current, live state.

Reanimation Protocols is the Necron identity and it carries over essentially unchanged. At the end of your Command phase, eligible units self-repair, reanimating lost wounds (D3 per activation in the current rules) and bringing destroyed models in a multi-model unit back once enough wounds are restored. Plenty of faction rules, enhancements and stratagems grant extra activations or add to the roll.

The strategic upshot: Necrons win by not dying. You trade durability for a slower clock, so the game plan is to weather the alpha strike, reanimate the losses, and grind the opponent off objectives. Anything that stacks more reanimation — characters, stratagems, the right detachment — compounds that core strength.

Your DP budget scales with game size: about 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points. Detachments cost:

• 3-DP detachments (Awakened Dynasty, Canoptek Court) fill your whole 2,000-point budget with one strong package.
• 2-DP detachments (Hypercrypt Legion, Annihilation Legion, Obeisance Phalanx, Starshatter Arsenal, Cursed Legion, Pantheon of Woe) leave 1 DP spare for a support.
• 1-DP detachments (Hand of the Dynasty, Skyshroud Spearhead, The Phaeron's Armoury, Cryptek Conclave) are the new glue — bolt one onto a 2-DP core.

There's one important restriction: no two detachments may share a Unique Tag. Hand of the Dynasty carries the DYNASTY tag (so it can't combine with Awakened Dynasty), and The Phaeron's Armoury carries HYPERCRYPT (so it can't combine with Hypercrypt Legion). Check tags before you pair.

Twelve detachments are legal. By role, with DP costs:

• Awakened Dynasty (3 DP) — the generalist; broad army-wide accuracy buffs. Start here.
• Canoptek Court (3 DP) — Cryptek and Canoptek-construct swarm.
• Hypercrypt Legion (2 DP) — teleport and redeploy for board control.
• Annihilation Legion (2 DP) — Destroyer Cult relentless-advance melee (buffed in the pack).
• Starshatter Arsenal (2 DP) — vehicle gunline that hits harder near objectives.
• Obeisance Phalanx (2 DP) — Noble and Lychguard bodyguard (rule rewritten in the pack).
• Cursed Legion (2 DP) — snowballing Destroyer melee.
• Pantheon of Woe (2 DP) — multi-C'tan bully list.
• Cryptek Conclave (1 DP) — adaptable Cryptek firepower support.
• Hand of the Dynasty (1 DP, new) — fast infantry that advances and acts.
• Skyshroud Spearhead (1 DP, new) — Tomb Blade deep-strike alpha strike.
• The Phaeron's Armoury (1 DP, new) — mobile, durable war engines.

Pick a core from your collection and playstyle:

• All-comers / unsure → Awakened Dynasty (3 DP). Board control and teleport tricks → Hypercrypt Legion. Destroyers → Annihilation Legion or Cursed Legion. Tanks and war machines → Starshatter Arsenal. Crypteks and Canoptek constructs → Canoptek Court or Cryptek Conclave. C'tan → Pantheon of Woe.

If your core is a 2-DP detachment, spend the leftover DP on a 1-DP support (mind the tag rules):

• Hand of the Dynasty to make Warriors and Immortals fast, aggressive objective-grabbers.
• Skyshroud Spearhead to add a deep-striking Tomb Blade strike element.
• The Phaeron's Armoury to bolt on a mobile, durable superheavy.

That 2 + 1 flexibility is the single biggest list-building change from 10th edition.

Two habits carry Necron games. First, protect your reanimation. Keep multi-wound units (Warriors, Immortals, Lychguard) in coherency and near their support characters so the Command-phase repair actually brings models back; don't let a unit get chipped below the threshold where reanimation stops mattering. Second, play the long game with CP. Necrons rarely need a flashy turn-one play — hold command points for the durability and repositioning stratagems your detachment leans on, and let the opponent break themselves on a wall that keeps standing back up.

And since 11th edition lets you run two detachments, remember you can draw on both detachments' stratagems — a 2 + 1 split quietly widens your toolbox.

If you're new or returning, build an Awakened Dynasty list first. It's the most forgiving detachment, its army-wide accuracy buff needs no extra sub-systems, and almost any Necron collection fits inside it. Once you're comfortable, try a 2 + 1 DP split — a Hypercrypt or Annihilation core with a new 1-DP support — to find your style.

Because Necrons are still on a faction pack rather than a full 11th-edition codex, keep an eye out for a future codex that could re-tune detachments and points. Until then, everything here reflects the current, live rules.