Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons of Chaos

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This is the general tactics page on how to play Daemons of Chaos in Total War: WARHAMMER.

Why Play Daemons of Chaos?

  • Because why choose between flavors of Daemons when you can have all of them?
  • Why would the denizens of damnation require mortal assistance to destroy the world?
  • It's not everyday we get a bad guy faction that is actually reasonably flexible so this is a nice change of pace.
  • Hey, what other factions lets you wreck the world with your perfect OC?
  • You're really loyal to the 8th edition army book
  • You really like playing dress up with your lord
  • When you want to play as "Chaos" you want your army to look like multicolored vomit from beyond the ken of man
  • Because you wanted some more time with the guy from the prologue cause let's be real, the story of the prologue campaign is more interesting than the main campaign.

Pros

  • Flexibility: Easily the biggest advantage this faction has over the Monogods. Since you have the Daemons from every god, you can actually pick and choose what kind of tactics you want to go for instead of going all out in one department. So if you want to rep Daemons but not get immediately counter picked because you picked Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle or Slaanesh this is the faction for you.
  • Unbreakable: What the fuck is going to scare you when you're literally a Daemon? Most of your units crumble instead of running away.
  • Terror: Fear and terror are going to be very common across your roster because, you know, literally crawled out of the pits of hell. Factions like Skaven or Beastmen who have leadership problems will find their forces running a ton.
  • Quality: Your units are all very good at what they do, and as such you have some very strong elite options that can fill out numerous holes in your roster. There really isn't a department that anyone can say you're weak in.
  • Resistances: Ward saves, physical resistance and magic resistance abound in this army. You can't throw a rock without hitting something that's resistant to some type of damage.
  • Everyone is here!: You are the only non DLC race that released with your entire 8th edition army book ready to go at launch. Your roster is MASSIVE, especially compared to your other game 3 counterparts and you have so many options to butcher your enemies with. Plus, no DLCS to worry about pay to win bullshit in multiplayer.

Cons

  • Lack of Specialization: The downside to trying to appease all the gods at once is you don't get quite as good in any one department as going Monogod. Khorne will out fight you, Tzeentch will out magic you, Nurgle will out last you and Slaanesh will out run you. Add on to the fact that you don't get any of the Exalted Greater Daemons or Mortals in multiplayer (and must specially recruit them in single player) and you can feel how much they outweigh you in certain ways. If you only want to play one playstyle, you'd be better off with Monogods.
  • Lack of Armor: Evidently armor is hard to come by in the Realm of Chaos. Aside from a few options (mainly from Khorne) armor values are pretty low so missiles might be a bit of a problem if you can't shut them down.
  • Expensive: As is the trend with factions that have a ton of high quality stuff, price points might be a bit high. While you do have some chaff in the form of Nurglings, Blue Horrors, and Slaanesh Marauders, expect to go into most fights outnumbered.
  • Lack of Range: While having access to the full daemon roster gives you some ranged options none of them are very long ranged, aside from Skull Cannons. Like a lot of Chaos factions you're first and foremost a melee rush army.
  • Lack of Updates: You know how most factions get major updates alongside DLC? And you know how you have your entire roster? Yeah... While some balances changes are inevitable, don't expect big additions to your roster in the form of DLC. Though we may get some of the DLC units of the Monogod factions, if we're lucky that is.
    • Exceptions may apply if CA gives Daemons of chaos pieces of DLC made for the dedicated gods. So if Khorne get's a DLC pack then Daemons might get a unit or two at the same time from that pack, but that is pure speculation.
  • Hard as FUCK: You are a demon, every single mortal hates you and unlike the other daemons legendary lords, you start pretty close to Kislev and the Empire. You start at war with an empire province , kislev and wood elves and dwarfs, who will send waves after waves at you. Your only respite is with the Norscan tribes and beastmen you can talk with.

Universal Traits

  • Daemonic: Undead with extra steps, really. Once your daemonic units lose enough leadership, they'll begin to lose health and fade back into the Warp in the same vein that undead units crumble away. The good news is that even if your daemons are doomed to evaporate, they'll at least stick in and fight to the last model.
  • Barrier: All Tzeentch daemons have two health pools; their regular health pool, and their Barrier health pool. As long as some of the barrier is left, it will absorb the damage of anything that hits the unit. It probably won't be too big, but it'll be enough to buy your troops some time to do what they need to do. It recharges when out of combat, so it encourages a hit and run ranged style of combat for your ranged units.
  • Cloud of Flies: A trait shared by all Nurgle daemons. As they stay in melee combat they actively gain Melee Defense, encouraging you to let them grind it out against the enemy.
  • Devastating Flanker:most of your Slaaneshi daemons have this special ability which doubles their charge bonus when attacking an enemy unit from the flank or rear.
  • Hellblade: Some (not all) of your Khorne daemons get this ability, which gives them 20% base and AP damage when they get 60 kills. Designed to reward you for being aggressive with your units with more damage. It'll be easier to get this off on squishy swarm factions (you'll get this fighting Skaven in no time) than smaller tank factions (good luck getting this fighting Dwarfs or especially Lizardmen and Woodelves with all their single-entity beatsticks), although it might be reworked to relate to damage instead of raw kills, anything else would make fighting especially against Ogres a nightmare.
  • Reign of Chaos: As your lord deals damage a meter on the right hand side of the screen fills up, unlocking three different abilities at three tiers. This meter can fill up more than once, meaning that as long as you keep dealing damage you can unlock these abilities pretty much endlessly. Unlike the other Chaos God factions, who have three set tiers of abilities, your army abilities randomly select from the army abilities of the other four Chaos Gods. You never know exactly what you'll get, only that it will be one of the four abilities for that tier.

Lords

Legendary Lords

  • God-Slayer: Customisable daemonic version of Lich King. You can customize not just the look, but the playstyle of him depending on which Chaos God (or Gods) you decide to worship. Looks alone aren't everything though. Each item you can customize also impacts the God-Slayer's stats and abilities. Should you take the Chaos Undivided route, you get access to the entire roster of all 4 gods (there seems to be a myth floating around that you don’t get certain units, that’s untrue, you get the entire roster for every god as undivided) to form the rank and file of your armies. What you lack in specialization you more than make up for in versatility. keep in mind your tech boosts are not as strong at boosting some units as a monogod faction can be.
  • Be'lakor: Confirmed to be a LL for the Daemons of Chaos, he can be unlocked in campaign and custom battle by beating the single player campaign.

Generic Lords

  • Daemon Prince Undivided:
  • Daemon Prince of Khorne:
  • Herald of Khorne: A melee focused lord who can be mounted on a Bloodcrusher or Blood Throne and has various AoE buffinf abilitties that boost the killiness of nearby units. - can be leveled into an exalted bloodthirsty at level 15
  • Daemon Prince of Nurgle:
  • Herald of Nurgle: A slow and tanky hybrid lord with either the Lore of Death or the Lore of Nurgle. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or a Palanquin of Nurgle.- can turn to an exalted great unclean one at level 15
  • Daemon Prince of Tzeentch:
  • Herald of Tzeentch: A dedicated caster lord with access to either the Lore of Metal or the Lore of Tzeentch. Can be mounted on a Disc of Tzeentch or a Burning Chariot, both of which give him added range attacks. - level 15 turn into lord of change option
  • Daemon Prince of Slaanesh:
  • Herald of Slaanesh: A fast and deadly hybrid lord with either the Lore of Slaanesh or the Lore of Shadows. Can be mounted on a Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot. Has the Devastating Flanker ability, as well as Loci buffs for nearby units. - level 15 turn in exalted keeper of secrets

Generic Heroes

  • Alluress: A hybrid hero with the Lore of Slaanesh and/or Shadow magic along with AP in melee. Your only hero choice with the Devastating Flanker ability. Can ride the Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot.
  • Bloodreaper: He appears to be a combat/support character for going around murdering groups of infantry while also giving offensive buffs to your units. He can ride both a Juggernaut and a Blood Throne, making him a strong mobile threat. With AP and anti infantry he's a scary melee character that can also give other units a helping hand. Has an ability that gives 66% magic resistance to nearby allies, so a must-have against magic heavy armies like Tzeentch or the Vampire Counts.
  • Iridescent Horror: A more dedicated wizard hero, and also your only ranged hero. They have some Loci abilities that allow them to buff troops in combat without using magic. They come with the Lores of Metal and Tzeentch and can mount up on a Disk and a Burning Chariot. On the chariot he comes with a missile attack, allowing him to be pretty decent at kiting enemies.
  • Plagueridden: Another hybrid hero with the Lore of Nurgle/Death and a lot more survivable in melee than the Alluress. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or Palanquin of Nurgle.

Units

Infantry

  • Blue Horrors of Tzeentch: Horrors will have a flaming range attack to pepper enemies from afar, though they will likely be the worse of the lesser daemons in combat (not that they will be useless). They will serve as your chaff infantry, meant to throw off some magic volleys then run in and die to hold for your more important troops. The range attack is meant more so as a precursor attack before charging into melee, especially since they only have 5 ammo.
  • Bloodletters: Your mid tier Khornate unit, meaning that unlike Furies these guy might actually kill what they're fighting. They wield great swords with fire, magical, AP damage and anti-infantry, so they're really good at busting through armored infantry. As Daemons they're also unbreakable and contain nice defensive buffs, which is good because 30 armour isn't great. They will likely be your cheapest source of AP in the infantry fight, which will make them highly desirable when fighting heavy armor.
  • Exalted Bloodletters: Bloodletters plus. They're a very similar unit only just much better at the job but also much more expensive. These guys will let you carve through more elite options than your standard Bloodletters can.
  • Daemonettes: Very fast, very AP heavy, and very squishy Daemonic infantry unit. Roughly equivalent to Wardancers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Has Devastating Flanker.
  • Exalted Daemonettess: Faster, killier, sexier Daemonettes. Roughly equivalent to Bladesingers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Have the Devastating Flanker and Soulscent passive abilites.
  • Nurglings: The first real swarm unit in the game. While there are technically only 60 models in a unit, those models consist of roughly 5-6 Nurglings meaning there's roughly 300 of these little shits in the same unit. In terms of use, they're chaff and look to be damn good chaff at that. They have Vanguard in order to block the enemy attack and mostly just exist to waste the enemy time and wear them down.
  • Plaguebearers: The tank to your Daemonettes and Bloodletter's spank. As slow as zombies and minimally armored, but decent melee stats, regeneration/poison, and a fuckheug HP pool means they'll hold for ages and grind most basic infantry to dust through attrition.
  • Exalted Plaguebearers: Aside from being a standard upgrade, they have the ability to throw a smaller versions of the Plague Drone’s Death’s Heads at foes as they approach, similar to Dwarf Miners and Chameleon Stalkers.

Missiles

  • Pink Horrors of Tzeentch: Upgrades to the blue guys. Has a better flaming range attack, and actually decent melee stats. Sadly, it has been confirmed that they will not split into Blue Horrors upon death. Will likely replace Blue Horrors once you have the money for them, as they do everything that they do but way better.
  • Exalted Pink Horrors of Tzeentch: And the Pink Horrors will be replaced by these guys. They come with insane ranged damage, out damaging the elite skirmishers of other factions, and increase the Winds of Magic recharge rate for your army as long as they're alive. This will be one of your likely Doomstacks in the late game, as strong missiles combined with extra magic is something no one will want less of. No AP on the ranged attack, but with a missile damage of 35 heavily armored units still won't like being hit by these guys.

Cavalry and Chariots

  • Plague Drone: Same as Nurgle, your armor piercing flying cavalry. Comes in two variants, standard melee (essentially an upgrade of rot flies) and a ranged version that tosses Death’s Heads at their foes.
  • Bloodcrusher: An angry Daemon riding a Robo-Rhino. Well armored and has an Anti Infantry bonus.
  • Blood Shrine of Khorne: A support oriented single entity chariot. Tt will likely be the weakest of the motorcycle Khorne units in combat but will provide leadership and melee attack buffs to nearby units. Plus, it heals while it's in melee so the poorer melee stats won't be the worst thing in the world for it as it'll be hard to bring down.
  • Burning Chariot: A flying ranged focused chariot that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the entire game. It can apparently shred infantry formations and monsters but has low armor and ammo to compensate. Probably won't be the best chariot in melee, but the ability to fly and shoot flames will likely make up for that. Try to hold it in reserve for particularly valuable engagements, as you'll want to make the most out of every shot.
  • Pox Rider: Essentially just an upgrade to the Plague Toads, only with Plaguebearers on top of them instead.
  • Seekers: Extremely fast light cavalry, unfortunately they don’t even have any armour, so cycle charging might be your best strategy when using them. Has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment, making them well suited for getting right up in the face of range-heavy armies.
  • Heartseekers: Named after the unit champion of Seekers, these things are most likely meant to be a straight upgrade. Unlike your regular Seekers these guys have the Soulscent passive ability which increases their armour piercing and melee attack capability when within range of an enemy unit with morale wavering or lower. Also has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment.
  • Seeker Chariot: A low model chariot unit with poison and Devastating Flanker. Super fast for a chariot but probably even more brittle when trapped in prolonged melee.
  • Hellflayer: Essentially acts as a giant lawnmower, able to plough through infantry. Unfortunately it’s a wide target so might get singled out by ranged fire. Has Devastating Flanker but unlike the other chariots this one also has the Soulscent ability.
  • Exalted Seeker Chariot: An extremely fast but extremely fragile single-entity chariot that will mow down any heavily armored infantry it comes across. Has Poison, Perfect Vigour, and Devastating Flanker.

War Beasts

  • Chaos Furies (Undivided): Basically Chaos Furies who incorporate aspects from all the chaotic factions, with a preference depending on which side you are currently favoring.
  • Flesh Hounds: They share the same speed as normal Warhounds (95) but have a much smaller model count per unit but are much stronger and tougher. They also have magic resistance of 50% like Furies do. They seem to inhabit that space of smaller war hound units from Drycha and the Norscans, and act as light cavalry.

Monsters

  • Soul Grinder of Tzeentch: This thing channels the power of Zeus to chuck lightning bolts from its hands that do AP and Anti Large damage. It seems to be a very versatile unit as it can deal with large units from afar and still deal some good damage up close. It also has magic attacks, so it will also be hitting for most of its damage. Still pretty decent in melee, but it's the Anti Large range attacks you want this thing for.
  • Soul Grinder of Khorne: Based on what has been revealed it is a tanky cannon platform that can fire while moving. It also comes with a scattergun that does 800 damage with 120 range. The Khorne soul grinder can chop up the Tzeentch + Nurgle variants in melee, but gets it's ass handed to it by the Slaanesh version who traded the cannon away for anti-large choppy power.
  • Soul Grinder of Nurgle: Looks and acts like a 40K Plague Hulk, only replace the sword with a claw. Probably not the most useful Soul Grinder available to you as its gimmick of being an artillery unit is covered by dedicated pieces.
  • Soul Grinder of Slaanesh: A purely melee version of the Soul Grinder with 75 speed, anti-large, and lots of armour piercing damage.
  • Flamers of Tzeentch: A mobile flamethrower unit that can pump out ludicrous damage to unarmored targets. Apparently still ok in melee, though don't expect them to last long against most dedicated melee units. They require good positioning to use effectively, especially since they only have 10 ammo. Notably it's the first flamethrower unit that has AP damage, which might signal some hope for things like Irondrakes or Warp Fire Throwers.
  • Exalted Flamer: A single entity purple version that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the game, able to deal heavy damage to both infantry and large units. Downside is that it has very limited ammo, so every shot has to count. It also applies Fire weakness in both melee and ranged, allowing it to set up your other unit to do more damage to the enemy.
  • Fiend of Slaanesh: Imagine faster and bigger Rat Ogres with poison and you’ll get the idea. Able to keep up with the rest of your forces, but unfortunately have just as much armour as other Slaaneshi daemons. Has the Sophoric Musk passive ability which lowers enemy melee defense and melee attack.
  • Lord of Change A flying bird that is said to be a full spellcaster. In campaign there are technologies that can unlock more spells for them, but game footage so far shows that in multiplayer they're limited to the Blue Fire of Tzeentch and the Pink Fire of Tzeentch. Both of these spells have a low Winds of Magic cost, meaning LoCs will be useful for spamming cheap spells to fill your Eye of Tzeentch meter. It is a decent monster in melee, though don't expect it to go toe to toe with a Bloodthirster any time soon.
  • Bloodthirster: The smaller, more accessible version of its Exalted cousin. It trades a lot of the scary combat stats in return for Anti Large, making it more of a dedicated monster fighter. Aside from that, it functions as a cheaper version of the Exalted lord version.
  • Rotflies: Riderless Rotflies. They appear to be melee only, using their flight speed and armour piercing to harass enemy back lines.
  • Plague Toads: A surprising addition from the Forge World Throne of Chaos book, but a cool one non the less. Fairly slow, being giant amphibians and all, but have a very high charge bonus and do well against infantry.
  • Great Unclean One: Nurgle's big bulbous boys of mass and rot capable of withstanding the blast from a hell cannon and shrug it off. These jolly green giants are casters of the lore of Nurgle and the massive swords they wield can shear through armour.
  • Keeper of Secrets: Slaanesh's Greater Daemon unit is fast, has lots of weapon strength and armor piercing, as well as Blissful Rapture, Devastating Flanker, and Strider. Can cast two spells from the Lore of Slaanesh: Lash of Slaanesh and Acquiescence. Will likely be a powerful duelist character but will struggle with dealing with hordes compared to the other Greater Daemons.

Artillery

  • Skull Cannon: Your only artillery option, not counting the soul grinders. It has good range and damage, and its mobility allows it to keep itself safe from enemy ranged and cavalry that try to take it out. Plus, if something does get its hands on it, it'll be hard to kill with its high armor and ability to regenerate in melee. With good micro this thing has to potential to be frustrating as hell to play against. Of course, it has only 18 melee defense so if something does catch it it might take some hits, but they'll have to actually catch the damn thing first. If it runs out of ammo it can replenish it by killing enemies in melee.

Campaign Strategies

You start off in Norsca at war with Nordland, a nearby Norscan tribe and Konstantlyn.

It would be wise to get a non-agression pact with Skarbrand so he doesn't curbstomp you. . . which may be easier said then done with the most bloodthirsty bloodthirster to ever thirst for blood in all of space and time, maybe think about dedicating to Khorne above the other's

Expand you territory towards the Kislevite factions while waiting for the Rifts.

Multiplayer Strategies

Having the favor of all 4 chaos gods means you can take advantage of their roster in ways nobody else can. Bring a plaguebearer frontline and support them with fast Slaanesh flankers. Trigger fire vulnerability with flamers of Tzeentch right before you slam your enemy with flaming attacks from bloodletters and skullcannons. Stack your army with expensive Khorne heavy hitters and back them up with healing from the lore of Nurgle. Use your imagination and go nuts.

Alternately, you can go for a mostly monogod strategy. Your opponent has to spread himself thin to prepare for every crazy combination you can pull out of your ass so a good chunk of his army will be stuck with unfavorable matchups if you go all in on one god. Building rosters for particular match-ups was a big part of TW2 and the unpredictability you get as Chaos Undivided means you have a high chance of winning the pre-battle mind game. Someone who brought a bunch of armor piercing to deal with armored Khorne units isn't going to be happy when they find out you bought an unarmored Nurgle/Slaanesh STD themed army.

  • Beastmen: Nurgle Daemons are a great option against the squishy beastmen. Their lack of range units means Tzeentch Daemons are free to damage them without risk
  • Bretonnia: Nurgle and Tzeentch Daemons are very useful. The former stops the Bretonnian charge while the latter burns them!
  • Daemons of Chaos:
  • Dark Elves: Slaanesh Daemons are a must to rip-through their armor
  • Empire: Flexibility vs flexibility
  • Greenskins: Nurgle units are great at bashing the Orcs in melee. Tzeentch Daemons easily outclass them at range.
  • Khorne: Biggest advantage is access to various Lores of magic. Use Nurgle melee units combined with Tzeentch range.
  • Nurgle: Use Tzeentch Daemons to whittle them down and force them to rush you, that's when you use Slaanesh Daemons to flank and finish them off
  • Ogre Kingdoms: Tzeentch/Nurgle or Slaanesh/Nurgle combo is great here
  • Slaanesh: A combined Nurgle-Tzeentch army would counter and decimate Slaanesh
  • Tzeentch: Play mostly with Slaanesh units with a few Tzeentch/Nurgle air units. Use Nurgle's Lore to heal the squishy Slaanesh units.
  • Wood Elves: This is one match up Daemons Undivided has a better chance than all of the Monogod factions. Combining Nurgle units (to absorb hits and slowly advance at the Wood Elves) with Tzeentch (for range damage to quickly obliterate squishy Elves) or Slaanesh (to outflank and brutally overrun them) to deal a lot of damage
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