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The Devastator Squad is the first posting of a newly made battle-brother in a Codex Chapter. Before he is trusted with close assault or the flexible Tactical role, the Codex Astartes requires him to learn patience, fire discipline and the value of supporting fire. Each Battle Company holds two Devastator Squads, and the 9th Company is a reserve made up entirely of them.
Devastators are taught to judge range, target priority and the movement of enemy armour. Their sergeants are often specialists in directing fire. Many carry a signum, an auspex-linked device that feeds targeting data to the squad.
Devastator Squads are the Space Marines' heavy weapons teams. Under the Codex, Marines move from the Scout company into a Devastator squad, learning patience and discipline before they move on to Assault squads. They carry the Chapter's heavy weapons and provide long-range fire support.
A Marine receives a heavy weapon only once he has proven to be a steady and reliable warrior, able to aim true and keep his nerve under heavy fire. After serving in a Devastator squad, Marines may be offered special duties, such as a place in a Command Squad, or promotion to the 1st Company. Sergeants are experts with every heavy weapon but usually fight with a bolt pistol and chainsword.
Appearance & wargear
Up to four members of a Devastator Squad carry heavy weapons, which may include heavy bolters, missile launchers, lascannons, multi-meltas, plasma cannons or grav-cannons. In the 8th edition kit an Armorium Cherub, a small cybernetic familiar, flies alongside to carry spare ammunition.
They wear power armour with Devastator markings and carry heavy bolters, lascannons, missile launchers, plasma cannons and multi-meltas. Sergeants carry signums, and recent editions add armorium cherubs.
Weapons & Vehicles
The Imperium's premier long-range anti-tank laser cannon, firing a blinding lance of coherent light that punches cleanly through battle…
A belt-fed 1.0-calibre automatic support cannon known to Imperial troops as the "Backbreaker," scything down massed infantry and light …
A volatile directed-energy rifle that hurls bolts of miniature sun-hot plasma capable of vaporising Terminator plate and tank armour—at…
A short-ranged thermal sub-molecular agitation weapon that flash-melts battle tank armour, bunker doors and heavy walkers into bubbling…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
A heavily armed infantry fighting vehicle built on the Rhino chassis, trading half of its troop capacity for a roof-mounted twin heavy …
An armoured orbital-insertion capsule fired like a shell from a Space Marine Strike Cruiser, slamming into the heart of the enemy battl…
Space Marines in armoured warsuits worn over their power armour, built to break sieges with grav-cannons and siege drills.
The Space Marines' main battle tank, a Rhino chassis with a heavy turret, built to hunt infantry or enemy armour.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Devastators set up in good firing positions, often on high ground or in ruins, and destroy enemy tanks, monsters and heavy infantry before they can reach the Space Marine line. Their mix of anti-tank and anti-infantry weapons lets them answer almost any target.
In the Era Indomitus the role is shared with Primaris Hellblasters and Eradicators, and with Devastator Centurions.
They provide covering fire, destroy tanks and monsters and suppress infantry. They are vulnerable if flanked.
Devastator squads fight from fixed positions and move only to advance, fall back or reach a better firing position. A squad can split into combat squads to take on both tanks and infantry. Missile launchers carry frag and krak missiles, so they can engage either. Devastators are vulnerable to assault and to being outmanoeuvred.
Notable battles & users
- 9th Company: in the Codex structure this reserve Devastator company supplies fire support to the whole Chapter.
- Imperial Fists: the siege specialists of the Chapter make heavy use of Devastator fire to break fortifications.
Related
Characters (2)
Roboute Guilliman · Primarch of the Ultramarines, Lord Regent of the Imperium
Rogal Dorn · Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Praetorian of Terra
