Just something I have been banging on about for the longest time but never took to the forums to be discussed. For 500 LP you can take the Multimelta which is able to quickly melt vehicles in short order and performs it's intended function. It removes vehicles at close range with the downsides of leaving you utterly vulnerable to any and all melee and ranged attacks from every other class. However, for 20 more points you could invest in a regular meltagun and meltabomb combo which performs the exact same role in a quicker, easier and more versatile manner as you are both able to obliterate any vehicle and defend yourself in melee while being quick enough to escape most ranged encounters. This begs the question, what is the intended strength of the multimelta? The regular meltagun is both easier to use for self defense and the outputs enough damage that the difference between the two is negligible while the downsides for the heavier variant are huge. How should this be rectified? Should the regular meltagun be rebalanced or should the Multimelta be given more versatility to make it a worthwhile choice? As a side, I have heard of Orks complaining that the Kannon is rendered somewhat useless by the shoota boys' rokkit launcha. The theme of more versatile classes being able to more effectively engage armour without apparent penalty is also a welcome topic to be discussed in a broader sense.
I can think of no reason to take the multi over the standard melta. Move speed, melee (and a plas pistol is nice if you have the poitns), cap ability, stamina. Nerfing the melta will leave SM without a reliable rapid anti-armor solution, because the multi is stuck on a dev. The dev will never be able to get into position (barring a transport drop right in front of the enemy, but then you're most likely trading your vehicle for theirs). One of the reason's fire dragon's are so annoying is they are fast and they destroy tanks in sub 3 seconds. If they attack from the right direction it can be difficult to take them down before they get they wreck your shit. A multi is gonna get shot or stabbed way before he closes those gaps.
Doesn't the MM have like 33-50% more range? I remember them giving it more range for that exact reason after it came out, but all melta weapons have been buffed and nerfed so much I don't know where any of them are supposed to stand in relation to everything anymore.
Well the problem there would be that the Multimelta, while longer range than the regular meltagun, is still a short range weapon. It's ability to destroy vehicles is unquestioned, provided that you can actually get into position to use it. A lot of the problem stems from the lack of flexibility of the weapon and the overlap between tacticals/traitors and devastator/havoks. Both meltaguns in their current forms are nigh useless outside of suicide runs to destroy vehicles before you redeploy as something else. Since changing the way the tactical works would most likely be unfeasible, I would think that making the multimelta able to actually support a squad in close range encounters against infantry would increase it's usage and more evenly spread out the usage of Dev/Havok weapons from the usual suspects of HBs, LCs and the odd PC.
There was once a time when multimelta was viable agains infantry, and it got nerfed to oblivion with stupid turn speed and melta-effect. Back then devs with multimeltas really supported their squads and could hold narrow passages (like Harkus pipe) just like melta should be able to. Now i dont see a single MM, and meltas are only on chaos side (RTP ones), i guess noone wants to invest in such narrow-niched weapon (though it is needed by the team). Plasma cannons also useless against vehicles and their explosion radius is shit, but noone compares plasma cannons with plasma guns coz they are obviously differrent roles.
It's been stated that is coming, however they require animations for it and it is a low priority so it will be a long time coming.
At least multimelta is somewhat decent vs infantry, you WILL melt charging melee and if you're build for durability, you WILL melt tactical with bolter shooting at you. I still would love to see melta and MM being more effective vs infantry in general, so the owners aren't defenseless. Hell, given how powerful certain weapons are, I wouldn't even mind if melta weapons were back to short, powerful burst with long cooldown which will OHK you if you don't react instantly. Except for fusion pistol as that would be OP AF.
Melta + grenade works great VS stationary vehicles that are deploying troops non-stop (so speed it's crucial). Multimelta it's better for hunting vehicles on the run, as you can melt them as they go away for a longer time, but the lack of extra defensive weaponry it's a huge (HUGE!) handicap.
