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Necrons · Unit

Canoptek Wraiths

Serpentine robotic Tomb World sentinels equipped with dimensional destabilisation matrices that let them phase through solid fortress walls and armour plate.

Necrons

Category
Fast Attack
Faction
Necrons
Related characters
3

Illustrated by Vitaly Perevoshikov (“Heldrake of the Iron Marauders (Apotheo Dynasty Necron Construct Detail)”, used with permission)

Lore & origins

During the Great Sleep of sixty million years, the silent halls of the Necron Tomb Worlds were patrolled by tireless autonomous constructs known as Canoptek Wraiths. Built around a multi-segmented serpentine spine housing a dimensional destabilisation core, a Canoptek Wraith glides effortlessly in and out of realspace. To an intruder or battlefield foe, the Wraith flickers like a metallic ghost—allowing solid rockcrete walls, tank hulls, and bolter rounds to pass harmlessly through its ethereal body before solidifying its razor-sharp claws directly inside a victim's chest cavity.

Appearance & wargear

Towering, cobra-like metallic constructs with segmented bronze tails, glowing emerald optic clusters, crackling Whip Coils, and underslung Particle Casters or Transdimensional Beamers.

Weapons & Vehicles

Standard Armament & Combat LoadoutCanoptek Wraiths fight with phased Vicious Claws, Whip Coils, Particle Casters, and Transdimensional Beamers.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Battlefield role & tactics

Gliding straight through terrain and defensive lines, packs of Canoptek Wraiths tie up enemy heavy support and assassinate armoured targets with phase-claws.

Munitorum & Ordo Xenos Technical Dossier

Classified under Ordo and Departmento Munitorum threat-index protocols as a primary Gliding straight through terrain and defensive lines, packs of Canoptek Wraiths tie up enemy heavy support and assassinate armoured targets with phase-claws. asset of Necrons, Canoptek Wraiths relies on a tightly coupled symbiosis between operator conditioning and primary armament. Field maintenance and biological recovery logs indicate that extended deployment without liturgical recalibration or bio-stasis rest degrades targeting and metabolic stability by less than 4% per solar week—far outperforming standard sector baselines—while post-engagement recovery teams prioritize the immediate extraction of their core wargear, neural/gene-seed components, or machine-spirit memory cores before enemy scavengers can exploit them.

Notable battles & users

  • M41 — Canoptek Wraiths of Cryptek Illuminor Szeras harvested living test subjects from the vaults of Zantragora.

Further reading

Lexicanum · Warhammer 40k Wiki