Warcry/Tactics/Hedonites of Slaanesh Daemons

Hedonites of Slaanesh Tactics

Faction Overview

Pros

• Easily one of-if not the-fastest warbands in the game.
• Dishes out a lot of attacks with high critical damage.

Cons

• Extremely frail, with your highest armor rating being 4 on the Hellstrider variants.
• Sort of reliant on critical hits to kill foes.

Abilities Overview

• [Double] Lithe and Swift : Add half the value of this ability (rounding up) to the Move characteristic of this fighter for the next move action they make this activation.
  • Fighter Commentary-- Makes your fastgirls faster. Can take daemonettes up to 8" move, but only lasts for one activation, so rush is more optimal if you're trying to double move and can't add 3". Pretty good at getting models in range so that they can also attack, however, or post-disengage, allowing even your daemonettes to fairly easily beat most other units to the punch.

• [Double] Sadistic Killer : Add 1 to the damage points allocate by this fighter this activation that have a Range characteristic of 3 or less.
  • Fighter Commentary-- Buffs your daemonettes and seekers to a 2/5, or your Heartseeker or Alluress to a 3/5. Pretty decent steroid for a double that's held back slightly by all of them having 3 strength. Locus of Excruciation buffs your models to 4 strength, and 4 strength 2/5 damage is respectable, but keep in mind that, realistically, if you also have Locus going, you'll only get to use Sadistic Killers twice a battle round at most.

• [Double] Crushing Grip : Pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter and roll a dice. On a 2+, until the end of this battle round that fighter cannot make a move action or disengage action.
  • Fighter Commentary-- A big part of the reason to take fiends. Slaanesh can go toe to toe with most small and mid-sized models, but lacks the punch or the resiliency to deal with a lot of real heavy hitters. Locking them in place for a turn can eliminate or at least minimize this problem. Even better, you can move, Crushing Grip, disengage leaving your hapless target stranded in place. Keep in mind it's not completely a sure thing, though the chance of rolling a 1 is low, it'll feel bad when it happens.

• [Triple] Impaling Strike : Until the end of this fighters activation the next time this fighter finishes a move action within 1" of and enemy fighter pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter. Allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability.
  • Fighter Commentary-- "Mounted unit charges and deals damage, blah blah blah", we've seen this ability a thousand times before. But perhaps not on such useless bodies. Hellstriders are pretty trash, and this isn't a great reason to take them. This does, however, score some big points in favor of the Hellreaver, as it gives him the highest damage output of any of the Slaanesh leaders.

• [Triple] Locus of Excruciation : Until the end of the battle round, add 1 to the Strength characteristic of attack actions that have a Range of 3 or less made by friendly fighters while within 6" of this fighter.
  • Fighter Commentary-- Your bread and butter leader ability. Boosts all of your fights up to be able to really tangle. You'll want to use this in most rounds you have a triple and plan on taking multiple attack actions into targets. Combos very well with sadistic killers, turning at least one unit into a 2/5 (or 3/5 for the Heartseeker and Alluress) with 4 power, which is great for the points cost of most of your units, but keep in mind you're spending a double and a triple to do that.

• [Triple] Mirror of Absorption (The Contorted Epitome) : Pick a visible enemy fighter that has not activated this battle round that is within 9" of this fighter. That fighter is said to have activated.

• [Quad] Deadly Venom : Until the end of this fighters activation, add half the value of this ability (rounding up) to the damage points allocated by critical hits from attacks actions made by this fighter. In addition, after each attack action made by this fighter, roll a dice. on a 5+, until the end of this battle round the target fighter cannot make move actions or disengage actions.
  • Fighter Commentary-- Why is this just a strictly worse Splintered Fang quad that you can only take on Fiends? It's almost never worth it. It's usually a better use of a quad to simply rampage with the fiends, or crushing grip if you really care about immobilizing a unit. If this were full value of the dice, rather than half value, it would be useful, but restricted due to only being on fiends, rather than the entire warband like Splintered Fang, but as it stands, you're relying on rolling an unreasonable number of sixes (not even including the 5+ success for the paralyzing effect) to make this worth the four dice. And that's assuming you have a quad 5 or 6. This ability is for anyone who loves high risk, medium reward gambling, or who's truly desperate. It is slightly better on the Blissbringer, who at least gets an extra attack dice.

Fighter's Overview

Leader

The Contorted Epitome

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 3; Wounds 28; 250 Pts.
  • Rule: Leader, Terrifying
  • Weapons:
    • Blast-Range 3"-7"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 3/6
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 6; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary - This is the reason you play them.

Infernal Enrapturess

• Stats: Movement 4"; Toughness 3; Wounds 22; 170 Pts.
  • Rule: Leader, Mystic
  • Weapons:
    • Blast-Range 3"-12"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary -

Viceleader

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 22; 190 Pts.
  • Rule: Leader, Warrior
  • Weapons:
    • Blast-Range 3"-7"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 3/6
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary -

Daemonette Alluress

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 145 Pts.
  • Rule: Leader, Warrior
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary - The more efficient leader, the Daemonette Alluress is decent for her points, and as the cheapest leader, she enables you more flexibility with builds, but with Movement 5 and 20 health, it can be easier for her to get into trouble than with your other leader options. The Alluress is a good mid-range fighter in and of herself, but not the best fighting to be carrying locus of excruciation, as it can be hard for her to be giving that aura where it's needed and also survive. Pretty good for swarm lists.

Fiend Blissbringer

• Stats: Movement 8"; Toughness 3; Wounds 35; 220 Pts.
  • Rule: Agile, Leader
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary - Probably gets the worst "leader upgrade" of the leaders vs their normal counterparts. Gains an attack as well as 1 point of damage to hits, but only 5 wounds, as opposed to the 10 point increase to every other leader. Still, it's a bigger threat than normal fiends, and can even use the underwhelming fiend quad somewhat decently with a potential 10 attacks.

Seeker Heart seeker

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 3; Wounds 30; 205 Pts.
  • Rule: Mount, Warrior, Leader
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary - A good mid-range leader. Fast and hits relatively hard, especially when empowered with its own Locus of Excruciation. The 10" move allows it to get Locus wherever it'll be most useful. With only strength 3 and toughness 3, however, it's prone to large swings of the dice, and large, tanky models, a weakness it shares with the rest of the warband.

Hellstrider Hellreaver

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 235 Pts.
  • Rule: Mount, Destroyer, Leader
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 2"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
• Fighter Commentary - At strength and toughness 4, the Hellstrider Hellreaver is probably the closest thing to a heavey hitter, and it's quite good. With 2" range as well, this model is definitely a threat, and can even pump his power to 5 with Locus of Excruciation. At 235 points, though, he's the most expensive leader option. Sometimes builds can afford the Heartseeker or Blissbringer but not the Hellreaver. Use where possible, but the Heartseeker isn't a significant downgrade.

Fighter

Daemonette

• Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 10; 75 Pts.
  • Rule: Warrior
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
• Fighter Commentary - High attacks, movement, crit damage, and average wounds, the daemonette is a standout fighter for the warband, especially taking into consideration that sadistic killers bumps it to a 2/5 damage profile. Daemonettes have 3 strength and 3 toughness, but that's not necessarily a sin for models in their point range. They don't necessarily survive extended combat, so don't go running them in alone.

Fiend

• Stats: Movement 8"; Toughness 3; Wounds 30; 150 Pts.
  • Rule: Agile
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
• Fighter Commentary - The fiend has fantastic move and wounds characteristics for its point value, but pays for it by having bad toughness, strength, and damage. This is a support unit, not a threat. With huge bases, a double that paralyzes its target, and the most wounds in the warband, their job is to get in the way, but be careful, with 3 toughness, they'll go down faster than you think.

Seeker

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 130 Pts.
  • Rule: Mount, Warrior
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
• Fighter Commentary - Daemonettes on mounts. Same toughness, attacks, strength, and damage, but improved wounds and a whopping 10" move. They are mounted, so they can't go through archways, doors, or climb, but this usually isn't a crippling drawback. Like the daemonettes, they can improve their damage to 2/5 with a double. Make use of their blistering fast move by using them to tie up points, grab treasure, or chase down fleeing units, but try not to get them tied down in extended combat.

Hellstrider with Claw-Spear

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 145 Pts.
  • Rule: Mount, Destroyer
  • Weapons:
    • Claw-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
• Fighter Commentary - 15 more points than the Seeker gives Hellstriders 1 more toughness, 1" more range, and 1 less attack. Their ability, Impaling Strike, lets them the value of the dice for a triple if they end their move within 1" of an enemy fighter, which can make up for the 1 less attack a little bit. Generally this comes down to preference, though seekers are better overall. Use Hellstriders much like seekers, letting them roam and making use of their movespeed where possible. Their higher toughness and 2" range might at least make them more survivable, but these aren't a significant enough upgrade from seekers to make them really worth the points unless you're really committed to them.

Hellstrider with Hellscourge

• Stats: Movement 10"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 145 Pts.
  • Rule: Mount, Destroyer
  • Weapons:
    • Reach-Range 3"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
• Fighter Commentary - For the same points as a Hellstrider with Claw-Spear, these models gain 1" of range and an attack, but lose their Impaling Strike and a point of crit damage. With their only attack being 1/3, these do the least damage in a warband that can already struggle to pump out consistent damage, and most of what it can do with 3" of range, the Hellstrider with Claw-Spear does just fine with 2". There's not much reason to take this over a Hellstrider with Claw-Spear, let alone a Seeker, which will likely put out more damage for 15 less points.

Example Builds

Warcry Tactics
Grand Alliance: Chaos	Corvus Cabal Cypher Lords Darkoath Savagers Horns of Hashut Iron Golems Rotmire Creed Scions of the Flame Spire Tyrants Splintered Fang Tarantulos Brood The Unmade Untamed Beasts
	Blades of Khorne (Bloodbound Daemons) Disciples of Tzeentch (Arcanites Daemons) Hedonites of Slaanesh (Sybarites Daemons) Maggotkin of Nurgle (Rotbringers Daemons)
	Beasts of Chaos Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Grand Alliance: Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Legions of Nagash Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers
Grand Alliance: Destruction	Bonesplitterz Gloomspite Gitz Ironjawz Kruleboyz Ogor Mawtribes
Grand Alliance: Order	Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Cities of Sigmar Idoneth Deepkin Khainite Shadowstalkers Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Sylvaneth
	Stormcast Eternals (Sacrosanct Chamber Thunderstrike Vanguard Chamber Warrior Chamber)
Monsters & Mercenaries	Chaos Gargant Chaos Spawn Chaos Warhound Chaotic Beasts Cygor Fomoroid Crusher Ghorgon Gotrek Kharibdyss Mindstealer Sphiranx Ogroid Myrmidon Razorgor Skitterstrand Arachnarok Terrorgheist War Hydra Zombie Dragon