Ork Lootas are terrible

[Epostle]

So playing many matches as Ork, I've came to the conclusion... Ork Lootas suck terribly. Their range is terrible, their damage is somewhat lacking imo, and no matter what, they always die. The only viability I've found out of them is t2 and that's just for slowing vehicles. Any comments/suggestions on how to use these pieces of crap?

[Cyris]

Lootas aren't terrible. I find them very useful as Ork for a couple of reasons:

1- They compliment Ork's high damage, low durability T1 units very well, much like Shuris for Eldar.
2- They deal the highest damage of any setup team, and quite a lot at close range.
3- Stealth is AMAZING. Use it to ambush, or bait over extensions.
4- Beamy upgrade is one of the best spike damage AV options in the game. Combo it with stealth (which avoids mis-fires at infantry) and WAAAG and you can wreck vehicals before they realize they are in trouble.

[Crewfinity]

using lootas makes me sad because they aren't aggressive enough for my usual orky tastes.

That said they can be amazing in team games, and are often crucial in 1v1 warboss play as well.
Most of the ork T1 is very high damage and deal with infantry armies very well, but has trouble scaling to deal withy fast vehicles. lootas completely solve this problem, while letting you hold down large chunks of the map in T1 without having to bleed from shootas or sluggas to keep the real estate.

Lootas can be awesome in team games with a bunch of waaugh banners behind them. the stealth makes them tough to dislodge from cover, and sluggas are great at chopping up any jump troops who try to counter initiate.

Cyris had a lot of good points, another is this: sometimes in 1v1 you dont want to get stormboys (vs warp spider exarch or plague champion for example) and lootas give you a lot more freedom in build orders since you can hold the map after pushes instead of having to constantly be forcing the enemy out of defended positions.

Their range is standard for suppression teams, so im not sure what you're complaining about there. some food for thought:

lootas do more damage than any other suppression team in one burst (390 where 300 is standard), but less dps overall (208 where 220-240 is standard). so they're much more of a bursty setup team than most. added to this is their range modifiers. they have lower range modifiers at long and distant ranges (.2 instead of .3), but are much more deadly up close (1.4 and 3.5 for medium and short range isntead of 1.25 and 2.75). so really, lootas are best at dealing a lot of damage in a short time over short ranges. fortunately, they can infiltrate! what this means is that you can set them up just behind any point you hold and infiltrate and wait for the enemy to come decap. a lot of times you can deal half or 2/3 health damage to a squad in one burst, if they aren't paying attention you'll wipe them in no time.

if you're losing models a lot, try to play more defensively with them: stick them in green cover and infiltrate, then push up with shootas. once the enemy starts to engage, pull back to the loota cover and you'll have a huge edge in the engagement. really cannot emphasize how good their infiltration is, it lets you use them a lot like havocs under worship, and i'm sure most people know how powerful that is (except hastaga it would seem ).

their beamy deff gun is just about the hardest AV you can get, since it deals 240 armor piercing damage per shot. that's a razorback dead in 2 shots (1 with rear armor) and walkers will take huge chunks of damage. this is one of the areas where orks usually struggle, since tankbustas are fragile and slow, but with infiltration the beamy lootas can ambush vehicles really well. if you set up and infiltrate as a vehicle starts to push up, you can let them move up halfway through your firing arc and then go to town.

try using double sluggas into lootas, push up and win map with the sluggas then hold it with lootas in cover through T1. if the enemy pushes your sluggas can charge into the suppressed units, or counter any attempt to force off the lootas.

I've been playing a lot with them recently and i've been quite impressed.

[Toilailee]

Are you playing retail? Lootas got major buffs very early on in elite and they've been a competetent unit ever since. For anti infantry dps and supression they're no different from other setup teams and their AV has the trade off of more damage without snare. Also they're the easiest set up team to preserve because of their high hp per model and their habit of spreading each model out so they won't get wiped by nade spikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U42Bx5kYhWk

[DandyFrontline]

Check out Codex before posting such a BS. Also, looks like you didnt play a lot, as you dont know that beamy gun doesnt even snare vehicles

[saltychipmunk]

I would dare say lootas are damn near a requirement in some matchups , especially in team games. They are quite possibly the best ranged based commander killer in the game. you time it right and you can instantly kill any commander under 500 hp.

And you NEED crowd control in the ork early game for team games that have a ton of blobing. orks are infantry dominated and their primary t1 ranged unit is extremely power heavy for what it does . You will not win against a blob of ranged heavy infantry of equal investment without something that can provide constant suppression.

Hell i use lootas WAAAAAAY more than i use stormboyz.

[SinisterLaugh]

Please rename the subject to "Ork Lootas are terribly good"

[Cyris]

so really, lootas are best at dealing a lot of damage in a short time over short ranges. fortunately, they can infiltrate! what this means is that you can set them up just behind any point you hold and infiltrate and wait for the enemy to come decap. a lot of times you can deal half or 2/3 health damage to a squad in one burst, if they aren't paying attention you'll wipe them in no time.

I wanna put emphasis on this. I sometimes use Lootas like I use Catachans - stand invisible on a side VP and wait for a ninja-capper to show up, then force retreat or get a squad wipe. After that, they are free to move up and do a little capping or meet up with main army.

The high close range damage also makes them ideal at forcing off suppression immune commanders (BC, HT, CL). Bait them into moving up, then decloak and unload a volley. Alternetivly use the loota to suppress the army behind the tanky commander, and switch targets to him as he closes for that big close range damage.

[Epostle]

Thank you to the people who actually posted advice. At least with those stats I can now see why it seems they don't do much damage at times and other stuff.

It's better to hear advice from a person who has played a bit rather than just reading dry stats because stats don't tell completely everything in some cases.

[Cyris]

Thank you to the people who actually posted advice. At least with those stats I can now see why it seems they don't do much damage at times and other stuff.

It's better to hear advice from a person who has played a bit rather than just reading dry stats because stats don't tell completely everything in some cases.

Always happy to help! Please try to post more constructively next time. Like: Lootas: Not working for me? Talk about your problems with Lootas. Experienced players will usually respond with tips. Much more constructive then claiming they terrible, which they aren't

[Oddnerd]

Be more creative with them - they are the only support team with a natural infiltrate.

I play IG and I wish my HWTs could infiltrate when static. Its great in long range firefights because if you arent attacking then your opponent cant see you, meaning they need to get closer to engage. It also means you can put them at key spots, wait for a stray squad to cap it. Place them close to a point while your army is away on other business... when your opponent sends a squad to capture it you can hold off attacking until they are very close, then let loose and ruin them. You could put them behind your line of shootas so that when jump infantry land in the middle of the shootas, you suddenly open up with the highest suppression burst DPS in the game.

[PhatE]

Lootas are probably the best thing that Orks have in T1 right now for what they offer. They don't do huge numbers of damage but they're far more reliable than what they used to be.

I encourage any one playing orks to get them as they solve a lot of issues that orks have going into T2. Having the option of getting a really decent invisible AV squad is invaluable as well as being able to put them anywhere and surprise your opponent which you nearly guarantee model losses or at the very least force off a squad is really good.

[Epostle]

Yeah as I play more 1v1 and learning to anticipate actions it's becoming easier to use them. I finally was able to get one to lvl 4 and it felt so good!