Lets start by just going through the models base stats. Destors actually have a very solid basic stat line. Most of their stats fall along the middle line of cavalry models with good speed, defense, armor, decent numbers in both attack stats, and 5 boxes. Being cavalry they also benefit from having the option of making impact attacks and getting boosted charge attack rolls.
Impact attacks are going to lead us directly into our first rules interaction. Destors have quick work allowing them to make a basic ranged attack when they destroy an enemy model during their combat action. The underlined part is important as impact attacks do not occur during their combat action and thus do not trigger quick work.
That leaves us two options for actually trigger quick work. We can kill a model with the lance if we charge or if we are not able to charge we can make an attack with the mount. The mount is a melee attack but can not be used on a turn in which the Destors charge. The lance rule is perhaps the second obtuse and potentially frustrating part of the Destor package.
The lance can only be used to make a charge attack. The most simple way to define a charge attack is "the first melee attack made by a charging model against it's charge target" I added the underline for emphasis because Destors have a number of ways to kill their charge target prior to actually making the charge attack. If you use assault or an impact attack to kill your charge target you can not redirect the lance into a different target.
So why do I have assault? Remember assault is an optional rule it is not required and you should consider whether or not it is the right choice depending on your target. Assault gives you the option of putting an additional damage roll into a harder target that is likely to survive your initial charge. It is useful to ping a couple of points on light jacks and beasts or armor buffed cavalry. It is also useful with casters that are capable of increasing the damage output against harder targets such as on Ossyan's feat turn. Using assault against light infantry is probably the wrong choice unless you are using it strictly as a threat extender. Remember, while you get to make your assault shot on a failed charge you can not re-position after a failed charge.
What is gunfighter and when am I going to use it? Gunfighter allows you to make ranged attacks against any model you are in melee with. Models are in melee when it is either engaged or engaging. This means that you can make gunfighter attacks against any model engaging you even if they have longer reach than your available melee weapons. This is helpful in allowing you to make quick work attacks against other models still engaging you after you destroy your charge target. Gunfighter does not allow you to make ranged attacks out of melee. If you are in melee your only option with gunfighter is to make a ranged attack against a model you are in melee with.
I'm engaged to start my activation...what can I do?
Destors do not have an ability to make both their initial ranged and initial melee attacks in a turn. So you have to choose whether you want to make your mount attack or use the Gunfighter rule to make your ranged attack. Usually the smart choice is to opt to make your mount attack. Mount attacks are melee attack so killing a model with a mount attack on a turn you did not charge will allow you to make a Quick Work attack.
I think that about covers the rules...now how do you use the things?
Destors are actually pretty good at killing light targets. Mat 7 (possibly boosted to hit from the cavalry rule) and rat 6 are not horrible stats and we do have some buffs available. In a best case scenario each Destor can kill a model or 2 with an impact attack, kill their charge target with a lance attack, and the go on to kill an additional model with a quick work attack. It is unlikely a whole unit ever manages to live the dream like this but because of the threat ranges involved it really isn't out of the question for 2 or 3 destors to be able to make attacks against a few targets each while the others (if you are running a max unit) set up to charge in again next turn. Command 9 on a large base allows quite a lot of leeway in positioning. In this scenario you probably do not want to attempt to use assault and will need to position carefully to avoid catching your charge target with an impact attack. Impact attacks are not individually optional if you choose to make an impact attack when you contact an enemy model you must make the impact attacks against all models currently in the mount's melee range.
The other strong target choice for Destors are light warjacks and warbeasts. Destors are fast and accurate enough to threaten most of these pieces. Against these pieces you are likely to want to use your assault attack to add some additional damage. Against an arm 16 target an assaulting destor can expect to do 11-12 damage between its assault shot and its charge. This isn't that much different than most harder hitting cavalry would expect to do to that sort of target. An Uhlan or Venger (with battle driven) will see similar output.
What about harder targets? This is where Destors really start to fall off. Against an arm 19 target, like most heavy warjacks you can't really expect to do much with an unbuffed assault shot. At dice -5 on the charge you expected damage output starts to slide compared to harder hitting cavalry. A ps16 attack can expect to do 7 to 8 damage while the Destor, for all its volume, should really only expect 5 to 6 because the assault attack is unlikely to add much if any damage. This damage difference means that 3 charging destors aren't particularly threatening to a heavy target while more typical "heavy" cavalry models threaten to cripple or with a buff outright destroy a heavy.
What do Destors need?
This is an interesting question. There are a lot of players that dislike the lance rule in general and think it should be removed from the game. For me, once you really get into how destors function and target selection the lance is annoying but not crippling. My issue with the destor is that at 4 points per model you pay a very premium price for what are just simply not premium attacks. As a general rule Ret does not struggle overly hard to remove light infantry. Most of our models have solid accuracy out of the gate including both of the other units available in the Legions of Dawn theme. A speedy alpha unit in the Legions theme does have some potential but only if you have the appropriate targets. The high armor brick style lists that are likely to be the target drop of a Legions of Dawn list are likely to be able to just absorb the alpha from Destors leaving them as an expensive unit without a real target.
Destors largely sit in this strange middle ground where their ranged attacks are basically like a small unit of Invictors and their melee attacks are slightly worse than a small unit of Sentinels but they cost about the same as a maximum unit of either. Their advantage is having better speed and some resilience due to having boxes. I've found them to typically function better in a minimum unit as 12 points isn't an unreasonable investment for a fast unit that can either function on its own out on a flank or take up space and set the line of engagement in what is otherwise a relatively slow theme force.
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