Warhammer 40,000/10th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons
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This is the current 10th Edition's Chaos Daemons tactics. 9th Edition Tactics are here.
Why Play Chaos Daemons
Pros
Cons
Faction Rules
- The Shadow of Chaos: Somewhat familiar if anyone used daemons in the first edition of the Horus Heresy. Certain areas of the board will be under the shadow, which lets you buff units inside it. While you always have your DZ as under the shadow, you can also take the middle of the board and the enemy's DZ respectively if you manage to cap over half of the objectives in that part of the board.
- Daemonic Manifestation: When one of your units is under the shadow, you can add +1 to their Battleshock checks and can recover 1d3 wounds on a passed check, with Battleline units instead resurrecting 1d3 models.
- Daemonic Terror: When an enemy is under the shadow, they suffer -1 to their Battleshock checks and suffers 1d3 additional wounds if they fail.
- Daemonic Pact: The way you can ally in daemons with any other Chaos Army. That said, this detachment can only reach a certain limit (250/500/750 for Incursion/Strike Force/Onslaught) and this detachment can't take any enhancements.
- This does come with restrictions for the mono-god armies. The World Eaters can only take a mono-Khorne detachment, The Death Guard can only take a mono-Nurgle detachment, The Thousand Sons can only take a mono-Tzeentch detachment, and a CSM detachment led by Lucius (please don't make us wait for an EC army GW...) can only take a Slaanesh detachment.
Detachments
Daemonic Incursion
Special Rules
- Warp Rifts: You can set up your daemons anywhere within your Shadow of Chaos, so long as they're over 6" away from any enemies. The reduced distance means that your chances of charging out of a Deep Strike are significantly improved.
Enhancements
- A'rgath, the King of Blades: Khorne only. +1A and S on the bearer's melee weapons, and while within your Shadow of Chaos, make that +2.
- The Endless Gift: Nurgle only. Bearer gets a 5+ FNP, improving to a 4+ when within your Shadow of Chaos.
- The Everstave: Tzeentch only. +1S and +3" on the bearer's ranged weapons that become +2 and +6" within your Shadow of Chaos.
- Soulstealer: Slaanesh only. Whenever the bearer kills an enemy model in melee, they recover a wound on a 4+ - Doing this in your Shadow of Chaos grants you a +1 to the heal roll.
Stratagems
- Corrupt Realspace (1 CP): During any command phase, you can corrupt one objective that you're already capping, not only making it always count as capped even when your units aren't next to it, but also making the area within 6" of it count as being under the Shadow of Chaos. Keep in mind that a Battle-shocked unit has its OC set to 0, which means that it can't capture objectives- and, therefore, it'll remain controlled by you!
- Denizens of the Warp (1 CP): When a unit deep strikes, they can arrive at least 3" away from an enemy. While they can't charge, consolidation is still in the cards for entering a fight.
- Warp Surge (1 CP): A unit of daemons under your shadow can charge after advancing. Excellent for your Khornates and Slaaneshis, whom all live for charging into combat anyways.
- Daemonic Invulnerability (1CP): when targeted in the shooting phase, one unit rerolls Invul save of 1.
- The Realm of Chaos (1cp): Taken from the Gray Knight's Teleport Strike Force detachment. At the end of the opponent's turn, place one unit not in engagement range, or two if both are within your Shadow of Chaos, into deepstrike Reserve.
Equipment
- Daemonic Icon: Improves the Leadership of your units by +1, which means a lot more thanks to Shadow of Chaos letting you resurrect units on a successful Battleshock Test. While bonuses can't stack, this can offset any penalties you may encounter.
- Instrument of Chaos: Adds +1 to any charge rolls.
Unit Analysis
Undivided
All the daemons that can be used with any alignment.
Characters
- Daemon Prince: While beefed at T10 W10 with a 2+/4++ save with a one-use 3++, they can no longer hide behind the other daemons - instead, those daemons instead want to be within 6" to get Stealth. Their Hellforged Weapons is pretty much an amalgamation of their old sword, axe and claws with a split profile, though their Strike only sees them able to take on other smaller monsters and tanks while their swipes make them only somewhat able to handle MEQs while their Infernal Cannon lets them shoot something.
- Of course, each god gives a bit of a boost on the prince. Khorne provides a hefty boost to the Strength of the melee weapons, Tzeentch only boosts the number of shots the cannon makes, Nurgle adds extra Toughness and Slaanesh adds to the Movement. What you don't get from any of this is any psychic power whatsoever.
Epic Heroes
- Be'lakor: Considerably beefed up with T10 W18 while still benefiting from both a 4+/4++ save (meaning last edition's variable saves are dead) and Stealth. On top of that, he's also a mobile emitter of the Shadow of Chaos, letting him assist any allies within 6" of him...and that's on top of his Shadow Master auras in that same range, which lets him pick one psychic power each turn (Enemies can only attack allies in the bubble when they're within 18", any enemies inside the bubble below their starting strength must take Battleshock tests, or friendly units can re-roll Battleshock or Leadership checks).
- His Blade of Shadows remains just as versatile, with the sweep profile giving 14 S8 AP-3 attacks to carve mobs while Strike gives 6 S14 AP-4 D1+d6 with Lethal Hits so you can more easily carve apart enemy monsters and tanks. This is supplemented by a new ranged psychic weapon that gives him a cover-negating barrage of S5 AP-2 Devastating Wounds shots or an even bigger barrage of S6 AP-3 shots with Devastating Wounds and Hazardous.
Monsters
- Soul Grinder: A towering beast with T11 and W14 3+/4++ but it remains plenty mobile by its ability to walk over terrain and friendly Monsters and Vehicles. The Harvester Cannon gives a pretty powerful weapon to take on tanks, the Iron Claw can tear those tanks apart and is supported by your choice of either the more numerous attacks of the Warpclaw or the higher-damage Warpsword thanks to Extra Attacks.
- While the Grinder can also be dedicated to a god, these only give you extra guns. Khorne provides you with a heavy flamer to cook through crowds. Tzeentch offers a Warp Gaze to blast apart mobs with prejudice. Slaanesh gives a Scream of Despair which can pierce through armor with Devastating Wounds. Nurgle gives a Phlegm Bombardment, offering traditional artillery with Indirect Fire.
Khorne
All the daemons aligned with Khorne
Characters
- Bloodthirster: Remains the combat monster it was meant to be with both the axe and great axe providing terrifying attacks on both profiles while also letting you roll 8d6 for a chance to deal MWs on each 4+ after all the attacks. Naturally, all he has is the basic +1 Strength buff to friendly Khorne units.
- Bloodmaster:
- Skullmaster on Juggernaut:
- Rendmaster on Blood Throne:
Epic Heroes
- Skarbrand:
- Skulltaker:
- Karanak:
Battleline
- Bloodletters: Remain dependent on their deep-striking abilities to last long enough to actually get somewhere with those standard-issue power sword alikes, 5++ save or not. Fortunately, those same swords can re-roll 1s to wound and can re-roll any wound if the enemy's below half-strength.
Beasts
- Flesh Hounds: Your very mobile hunters. Each one comes with a pretty decent bite with S5 AP-1 while their leader also gets a flamer-like roar to give them some form of shooting. To your benefit, these hounds can always use the Heroic Intervention stratagem for free, even after using it on someone else.
- Regrettably, these hounds are pretty flimsy. A mere T4 and 5++ save is rather underwhelming against most things so expect to use Daemonic Manifestation a lot to raise them. Their only truly good defense is their collars, which provide a 3+ FNP against psychic weapons.
Mounted
- Bloodcrushers: The Juggernauts remain tanky things with T7 W4 and a 4+/4++ save.While their Hellswords remain plenty dangerous against GEQ and MEQ alike, the Juggernaut's horn gives some impressive additional attacks with Lance offering a bonus to wound on the charge and Brass Stampede giving them a chance to deal d3 mortal wounds against the enemy they just charged.
- Skull Cannon:
Fortification
- Skull Altar: Surprisingly has Infiltrator so it can arrive where you want. While not a permanent structure, it does act as cover and gives a giant 6" bubble for your Shadow of Chaos with friendly Khorne units inside it able to re-roll Battle-shock checks so you can spawn more troops.
Tzeentch
All daemons aligned to Tzeentch.
Characters
- Lord of Change: This big chicken has shifted careers from nerdy master of magic to master of (magical) artillery ordinance. It starts with an aura that boosts ranged attacks of friendly Tzeentch units with +1 strength. Then add a barrage of 9 S9 AP-1 attacks (or AP-2 Dd3 if you want to risk Hazardous) from Bolt of Change that could have the Ignore Cover, Lethal Hits, or Sustained Hits D3 rule for that turn.
- Exalted Flamer: A self-important flamer (despite being a character, it can't be the warlord or take Enhancements) with double the wounds and the ability to join other flamers, granting the ever-vital Assault rule so they can always keep torching things. Unlike their lessers, the Exalted Flamer has two settings on their torches, with Pink Fire being the more familiar heavy flamer with 2d6 hits and the Blue Fire requiring to roll to hit but negates cover and is powerful enough to melt a marine. Whichever way they use it, any non-Vehicle non-Monster unit they hit in the Shooting Phase has a 50/50 chance of being set on fire until the end of their next turn, dealing no further harm but robbing -2" to their movement and -2 to any advance or charge rolls they make.
- Fluxcaster:
- Changecaster:
- Fateskimmer:
Epic Heroes
- Kairos Fateweaver: While the basic bird can act a bit like ordinance, the two-headed one is absolutely dedicated to it with Infernal Gateway having Blast and Indirect Fire to get past any campers. While he has a buff aura for friendly Tzeentch units, it doesn't improve anything for them - Instead, whenever you use a stratagem on those units, you have to roll a d6 against the round number and refund a CP if you beat that number. On top of that, he has a single-use ability to force one stratagem that the enemy uses to cost an additional CP to throw the enemy off their game.
- The Blue Scribes
- The Changeling:
Battleline
- Pink Horrors: Your tarpit unit, still with nesting doll ability for one Pink split into two Blues and Blue into a Brimstone with a 50% chance each time a model is destroyed. Paired with +4 Invul save and Daemonic Manifestation, they are a pain to remove.
- Blue Horrors: As your horrors split, you'll notice that not only do their weapons degrade in Strength and WS/BS, they also lose a point in Leadership and OC. However, a unit comprised entirely of Blues have some special rules not triggered while there are Pinks.
- Blue Horrors: Starting at a weaker form, blues want to get into your face rather than the more range-focused Pinks. Infiltrators and -1 Leadership within 6" plus Brimstone Horrors exploding into MWs in the fight phase show they want to claim objectives.
Infantry
- Flamers: A bunch of floating S4 AP-1 flamers (that is, actual flamers and not whatever the fuck last edition errata'd them into) with Psychic, protected only by a 4++ save. Fortunately, they remain pretty nimble with a 9" movement and remain able to shoot after falling back.
Beasts
- Screamers: Surprisingly effective S6 AP-2 D2 bites on a very fast if frail platform. In addition, one unit they fly over still get a 50/50 chance of eating a mortal wound.
Mounted
- Burning Chariot:
Slaanesh
All daemons aligned with Slaanesh.
Characters
- Keeper of Secrets: A fleet-footed menace, but it's still relatively frail with T10 and a 5+/4++ save. Fortunately, Mesmerising Form makes all attacks targeting it suffer -1 to hit. Its Witstealer Sword remains a pretty effective weapon with S8 AP-2 D3 and Snapping Claws giving Extra Attacks with S6 AP-2 D3 with Devastating Wounds. You can also pick up another set of attacks with the Ritual Knife with S6 AP-2 D2, a Living Whip for a ranged attack that doesn't bother with casting, or a Shining Aegis to gain a 5+ FNP save. Its lone ranged attack is Phantasmagoria, a psychic power at 18" S6 AP-2 with Devastating Wounds, given the option of either the basic attack or an extra couple of attacks at the risk of Hazardous. Other Slaanesh Daemons also benefit from being near a keeper, as it has a 6" aura that improves the AP of their weapons by 1.
- Contorted Epitome: A giant mirror that can join some Daemonettes, providing a 4+ FNP against mortal wounds and psychic weapons. While it has no shooting, it does have a power during the enemy's shooting phase for a chance to make enemies take -1 to hit their unit. In combat, it can provide a good lot of claw swipes from the attending Daemonettes while the mirror has tentacles that can spring out and take some additional swipes.
- Infernal Enrapturess:
- Tranceweaver:
- Tormentbringer on Exalted Seeker chariot:
Epic Heroes
- Shelaxi Helbane:
- Syll'Esske:
- The Masque:
Battleline
- Daemonettes: Fragile but fleet-footed, the Daemonettes make up for their less-than-stellar claws by using Devastating Wounds and re-rolling 1s to hit, which is upped to all hits if they're on an objective.
Beasts
- Fiends of Slaanesh:
Mounted
- Seeker Chariot:
- Hellflayer:
- Seekers:
Nurgle
All daemons aligned with Nurgle.
A common trend among the forces of Nurgle here and in the Death Guard is a reliance on Lethal Hits. That said, it's not quite as frequent here outside of melee - a field that tends to otherwise be neglected.
Characters
- Great Unclean One: Still that fat rancid bastard we know, complete with a vomit weapon. Gives out that missing 6+ FNP to Nurgle units within 6" and a power to make an enemy within 12" suffer -1 Toughness. Gets choice between Plaguesword for versatile damage or Doomsday Bell to resurrect nearby Plaguebearers with each kill, and between Plague Flail vs Plagueblade for many very short-range attacks or more reliable extra attacks.
- Poxringer: The no-nonsense combat hero when compared to his gimmicky contemporaries.
- Sloppity Bilepiper: Support hero that adds +1" movement and re-rolls advance rolls for their Plaguebearer unit. Has a second role in that enemies within 6" of them during the Fight phase have to make a battle-shock test.
- Spoilpox Scrivener: Support hero with hand flamer that gives an attached Plaguebearer unit Sustained Hits 1 and +1 OC. Pretty good for helping a unit wrest control from the enemy with OC 3 Plaguebearers who trigger both an instant wound and extra hit from a critical hit.
Epic Heroes
- Rotigus:
- Epidemius:
- Horticulous Slimux:
Battleline
- Plaguebearers: Pretty much only protected by a 5++ save and can only fight with their S4 AP-1 Plagueswords with Lethal Hits. While they're just as slow as ever, any objectives they cap will remain capped.
Swarms
- Nurglings:
Beasts
- Beasts of Nurgle:
Mounted
- Plague Drones:
Fortifications
- Feculent Gnarlmaw: A giant but relatively frail pile of rot that acts as cover to anyone behind it as well as giving a 6" bubble of Stealth for any Nurgle units inside it.
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