2

I am just listening to the Corax Horus Heresy book, a selection of Novellas and short stories. There is a scene in Soulforge where Corax takes on 3 Defilers, 2 he destroys himself and the 3rd is destroyed by, I think a Thunderhawk, firing 3 missiles and pouring bolter fire into it.

Just before Corax enters the fight he sees as one defiler annihilates a squad of Raven Guard.

Now while the fight is not straightforward (Corax destroys the first easily, is then grabbed by the second, smashed into the ground several times and finally manages to get himself free before obliterating the Defiler) this feat does seem amazing even for a Primarch.

Is Corax known for being one of the strongest primarchs? I always thought his ability came from his speed and stealth. Do any of the source materials (including stat lines and game rules) suggest that Corax is capable of this kind of feat?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    Black Library books are incredibly inconsistent. I love them and I'm reading Soul Drinkers right now, but from book to book and author to author, you'll see crazy differences in what characters are capable of. My personal favorite is how orks scale up or down depending on the protagonist. Space Marine or human, an ork is always just strong enough to give them a run for their money.
    – Daft
    May 10, 2019 at 14:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

below is the statline of the different primarchs along with their point costs, these costs generally correlate with power in combat. as you can see Corvus certainly is not the runt of the litter but not quite on top either. Forgeworld has not yet released a statline for the lion so that is why his table is empty.

now referring to the encounter, i would say that corax is weaker there than before the Horus heresy, sustaining wounds that normally would have healed but they didn't because he felt guilty about the whole raptor ordeal and the dropsite massacre. Corax always was a great fighter, he was able to quickly defeat Lorgar and would have killed him during the dropsite massacre if not for the intervention of Kondrad Curze so yeah disregarding a individuals natural growth during the centuries of fighting i would say he was always more or less as strong as.
enter image description here

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    The mathematician in me loves to see an answer based on statistics, but are these numbers faithful to the power ratios between Primarchs in the lore? The goal of these statlines is to be balanced, so that players can use them in a game, and don't feel cheated if the Primarchs of the army they collect is not as competitive as the others. The books don't have this kind of constraints. For example, I don't think the rules of W40k could ever accomodate Magnus' godlike psychic powers.
    – Taladris
    May 10, 2019 at 16:20
  • 1
    @Taladris - It has been my experience that the numbers are generally at least respondent, if not reflective, of the lore. Some times due to balancing the numbers can drift in areas, but for the most part the numbers tend to reflect the lore. Typically in the cases you mention, like Magnus, I have noticed that their stats are reflective in other areas to showcase their abilities, like having a special attack that can hit more enemies or hit harder than is the norm.
    – Odin1806
    May 10, 2019 at 19:05
  • @Taladris If you are interested about the Corax tabletop power, there are results of the simulations of various primarch vs primarch fights: 1d4chan.org/wiki/Corvus_Corax tl;dr : Corax is bit fragile and relies a lot on hit & run tactic and chance to blind his opponents. He'd most likely loose to 9 of the primarch, tie with 2 and beat the rest/
    – Yasskier
    May 11, 2019 at 10:30
  • @Yasskier: did I misread the simulation? Lorgar only beat Lorgar, Alpharius and Rogal Dorn, no? "The rest" would be 6 Primarchs.
    – Taladris
    May 12, 2019 at 4:52
  • @Taladris Hmm, maybe I've misread it: Corax ALWAYS beats Lorgar, Alpharius, Dorn, is more or less even with Curze and Khan and has a chance to win with Fulgrim and Mortarion if he gets lucky. Since there is no data for Lion, then it is 3Wins/4Ties/10Loses.
    – Yasskier
    May 12, 2019 at 7:14
3

Yes, Corax is powerful - just like any other primarch, he is basically a demi-god and only something as powerful as another primarch could kill him.

In the "First Heretic" novel which partially takes place during the Drop Site Massacre Corax manages to smash his way through the possessed marines to his traitorous brother Lorgar and gets very close to killing him. Only the intervention of Konrad Curze saved Lorgar and still, Corax managed to fight his way out of this uneven duel.

As for his relative strength in comparison to other primarchs, you can check the results of the simulations on the 1d4Chan - out of 16 opponents (no data for Lion El'Jonson) he loses to 10 and ties with 4 - that is unless he is lucky as he is more of an assassin rather than a brawler.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.