Commander + 2x fully upgraded nob squad did not kill carnifex, how?

[potatoman]

I was meant to save the replay but forgot - anyway what I witnessed was just wrong. Do nids have an ability to make a target unit invincible for a short period? I know other races have this - but you at least have a visual indication the target unit is being buffed (certainly I didn't think vehicles could be made invincible).

There were 2 carnifexes standing near each other, and a handful of zoanthrope's lingering. I had 2x fully upgraded nob squads (both upgrades + nob leader), at full health. My commander had big bang hammer+heaviest armor+boss pole.

As I charged in, I activated frenzy + waagh + user yer choppas on one nob squad, and ard boys on the other. I had 750 waagh, enough for a strike, but figured this would be better. Anyway maybe 10-15 seconds later, the carnifex is *at full* health still, and I'm thinking wtf. My nobs engaged in close combat at virtually full health. By the time both squads dead, carnifex just a touch above 1/3 health. Now I've taken out a carnifex easy with a single nob squad + commander in the past, so something was different.

Does anyone know what buffs could have been used to make this happen? I'm pretty sure it was a case of carnifex not dieing as fast as it usually does, as opposed to my nob squads getting killed too fast. The second carnifex was standing off to the side. At no point did my units get suppressed.

The carnifex I was attacking had no signs of a special buff (glows or whatever), though it might have been hard to see amongst the mob of nobs.
If I have two nob squads, can they even engage the carnifex at the same time, or should I assign one nob squad per carnifex in future?

[theM]

Err... you've got at least part of your answer in the setup you gave. The Zoanthropes.

Zoanthropes give health synapse, which boosts regen on neary units... And the effect is more pronounced on units with high hitpoints like the Carnifexes (I recall the regen increase on them is 8HP/Sec, but don't quote me on that).

Zoanthropes ALSO, and this is the big one, disrupt your Nobs by tossing them on their asses. When the Nobs are sitting, they're not hitting the Carnifex. Always kill the Zoanthropes first. They're made of glass, anyway.

[potatoman]

I guess that makes sense, though I read elsewhere that carnifex health regen is not terribly fast, even with synapse (unlike other units). I imagine it's way op if it regens health faster than nobs can take it down. Anyway I'll look into it.

They may well have been dishing out constant knockback, can't remember how heavily were being knocked back at the time - it was just wierd that health only started dropping towards end of skirmish, as if some buff effect finished. I really needed to save replay damnit :(.

[JaxGaret]

I read elsewhere that carnifex health regen is not terribly fast

Fexes regen 3 health per second, one of the highest values in the game, if not the highest. The Eldar Avatar doesn't even regen health at that rate.

[cyborgZero]

Had the same thing happen to me several times, the truth is that you had more chance taking him down with 1 Nob squad and 2 tankbustas. Carnifex are really weak to AT damage, which no one gets versus nids because all they fight is 100% infantry.

And the zoax should be your main target, because they simply rape and help the carnifex regen faster than he already does.

[Buguba]

and a handful of zoanthrope's lingering

That's your problem. They didn't even need to carnifex for you to lose all your guys that fast.

[iko]

There's a bug where the 'Uge Hammerz upgrade isn't properly applying, therefore they are hitting the Carnifex with their measly low-dps 'Uge Choppaz.

[cyborgZero]

There's a bug where the 'Uge Hammerz upgrade isn't properly applying, therefore they are hitting the Carnifex with their measly low-dps 'Uge Choppaz.

First time i heard that... but would explain it.

[Chronos525]

I was about to respond with something similar; I've heard reports of 'Uge Hammers not increasing damage to Carnifxes in specific (I've heard of this multiple times in the past, but apparently it hasn't become very widely known yet).

Someone should test it.