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Epic Destiny

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'''Epic Destinies''' were a game mechanic introduced into [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition|the fourth edition]] of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], replacing the concept of [[Epic Levels|Epic-Level]] [[Prestige classes]] used in the previous edition. Whereas PrCs were optional sub-classes that you could take to make your character more powerful, Epic Destinies are effectively mandatory. You take an Epic Destiny at level 21, and it bolsters you from there to level 30 -- the next step along the line from the [[Paragon Path]].

Epic Destinies follow pretty standard motifs; they generally give you new class features at levels 21, 24 and 30, and a Daily Utility Power at level 26. Some alter this model, however. Many Epic Destinies allow you to cheat death, gaining a special restorative power as their level 24 power. All epic destinies come with a flavorful "immortality" feature, describing one probable fate for you after you hit level 31 and are retired from play. Although some Epic Destinies are tied into specific classes, many instead are more generalistic in tone.

Really, it's a pretty awesome concept. Want to become a fledgling god? A good-aligned lich? Somebody who travels the multiverse at will? A dragon? An immortal bastion against the forces of pure evil or the Far Realm? The genesis of an entire new planet/plane of existence/multiverse? Master of time itself? All of these and more are possible with Epic Destinies.

if you want to see the complete list, with sources and all of the original fluff, check out the Funin.space archive: http://funin.space/compendium/epicdestiny/

==Generalist Epic Destinies==
As their name suggests, these Epic Destinies are extremely open in origin. Many require at most belonging to a power source, but these have at most vague requirements (a feat, sufficient ability score, etc) or simply nothing more beyond being 21st level.

===[[Bahamut]]'s Vessel===
Those who crusade in the name of justice may attract the attention of the Platinum Dragon. To one who attracts his attention, he gifts a fragment of his divine might. What '''Bahamut's Vessel''' does with this power is up to them, but it is definitely likely that their goals will align with his in many ways. If this destiny permits, the vessel may be granted a place in his domain, but if a fatal incident occurs, the vessel will find that their duty is to sacrifice themselves to bring Bahamut back into the mortal world.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #378 in the "Channel Divinity: Bahamut's Champions" article and is available to ''any character who worships [[Bahamut]]''.

At 21st level, you have the ''Blessed Awakening'' feature, granting +2 to either Strength, Wisdom, or Charisma. It also allows you to use an action point to use a Healing Surge and gain +2 to all defenses, effectively negating second wind.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Courageous Presence'' feature. This gives allies within 5 squares a +2 bonus on saving throws, and grants a +2 to attack rolls and all defenses when targeted by a divine healing.

At 26th level, there is the '''Seven Canaries''' daily utility power. These canaries circle you, each granting a separate gift and as an immediate interrupt, you can sacrifice one to gain a +4 bonus to all defenses against an attack targeting you. The benefits are as follows:
:*Resist 15 cold
:*Resist 15 fire
:*Allies within 5 squares gain +1 to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks.
:*You can use all your actions while dazed and stunning still allows you to make a standard action
:*Your attacks deal 1d10 cold+fire damage
:*You have a hovering fly speed equal to your speed
:*Regeneration 2

At 30th level, you acquire the motherlode: the ''Platinum Rebirth'' feature. Once per day when you hit 0 HP, you restore all your health and turn into a large platinum dragon, replete with darkvision, resist 20 cold, resist 20 fire, a fly speed of 10 (hover), and all enemies within 5 squares take -2 to attack you - and this is all on top of being able to keep using your gear, with the exception of weapons. You also gain access to the '''Dragon Bite''' at-will (A melee attack with range 2 and deals 3d12+12 damage with a 1-square slide) and the '''Dragon Breath''' daily (close blast 5, hitting pushes enemies back 3 squares and save-ends immobilizes them while missing just pushes them back 1) that, when used, reverts you back to normal.

===Ceaseless Guardian===
The primary way for a protector to guard their charge, they must learn to exploit every opening and opportunity that their enemies open. Whether it is a reaction to the loss of a loved one or to ensure that no such thing may come to pass, always seeking to react faster than any opponent can act. They have sworn to always protect their allies and ensure their survival against all odds.

This Epic Destiny was found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #387 and is available to ''Any Class of the Defender Role ([[Fighter]]s, [[Paladin]]s, [[Swordmage]]s, [[Warden]]s, [[Battlemind]]s).''

At 21st level, you have the ''Guardian Mindfulness'' feature, adding +2 to an ability score of your choice and adding +1 to your speed.

At 24th level, you acquire the ''Impressible Defense'' feature, letting you take opportunity and immediate actions even when dazed or stunned.

At 26th level, you get the '''Always Ready''' daily utility power, allowing you to replace your initiative score with that of the highest among your allies +1. In the event of any surprise attacks, you can take a full turn.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Never Again''' at-will power, letting you spend 1 or 2 Healing Surges to heal a dead ally within close burst 5 back to life.

===Darklord===
The [[Shadowfell]] may be a dark and sinister plane, but it is still home to many, either because they were born there, or because they revel in the powers that the darkness can grant, or simply because they see a reflection of their own soul in its bleak and sinister environs. The '''Darklords''' seek to master the Shadowfell, binding themselves to its sinister magic and learning to shape it to their will. The mightiest of these will succeed, their history and their soul finding reflection in a strange and eerie kingdom that births itself from the cold mists of that realm, creating a place that they are blessed - or cursed - to rule forever more.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Stand in Two Worlds''' feature, which lets you use either the Planar Portal ritual ([[Prime Material]] to [[Shadowfell]] or vice-versa only) or the Sahdow Walk ritual for free once per day.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Return from the Shadowfell''' feature, which lets you revive yourself after being slain at the start of your next turn, healing to full health and gaining concealment and phasing until the encounter's end.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Shadow Stride''' Daily Utility power, which lets you teleport 20 squares as a move action, becoming invisible until either the encounter ends or you are hit by an attack when you reappear in your destination square.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Thrall in Death''' feature, which lets you revive any enemy you slay as a dominated 1 hit point minion; all such death-thralls are destroyed at the end of the encounter.

===Deadly Trickster===
[[Rogue]]s, [[bard]]s, and other trickster types who reach the levels of the epic [[adventurer]] find themselves regarded with great distrust, for such power in the hands of one guided by a love of mischief above all else can save or doom with equal ease. Should such a '''Deadly Trickster''' use their powers for good, then they will go be remembered forever as beloved saviors - but if they use their power to hinder and harm, then their names will become curses spat forever more.

This Epic Destiny is found in the Player's Handbook 1 and is open to ''any character with either Dexterity 21 or Charisma 21 as well as training in either Acrobatics, Bluff, Stealth, or Thievery''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Sly Fortune's Favor''' feature, which lets you reroll a D20 roll of your choice 3 times per day.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Trickster's Control''' feature, which means that if you roll an 18-20 for your first attack roll with a daily or encounter attack power, that power is not expended.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Epic Trick''' Daily Utility power, which lets you spend a minor action to gain one of the following benefits: regain all hit points and healing surges, automatically save against all "save ends" effects on you, regain all expended encounter powers, or regain all expended daily powers - except this one; Epic Trick only recharges if you complete an extended rest.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Trickster's Disposition''' feature lets you declare a D20 roll of the DM's to be an automatic 1, which cannot be re-rolled, once per day.

===Demigod===
In its way the purest and simplest of the Epic Destinies, '''Demigods''' are mortal adventurers who seek to carve out a place in the [[Astral Sea]]. Whether they will content themselves to serve another god or will strike out to make their own place in the pantheon is their business, but the way will always be long, hard and perilous.

This Epic Destiny is found in the Player's Handbook 1 and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Divine Spark''' feature, which increases two ability scores of your choice by +2.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Divine Recovery''' feature, which causes you to automatically regain hit points equal to half your maximum hit points the first time you are reduced to 0 hit points. This feature works once per day.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Divine Regeneration''' Daily Utility power, which grants you Regeneration equal to your highest ability score until the end of the encounter as a minor action.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Divine Miracle''' feature, which causes you to automatically recharge one Encounter power of your choice whenever you expend your last available Encounter power. Yes, you get to recharge a Encounter power of your choice when ''that'' one is spent too. And then another, and another... you can never run out of Encounter powers in the middle of a fight is what we're saying.

===Eternal Seeker===
The '''Eternal Seekers''' are cosmic vagabonds; free of the boundaries and guidelines of destiny itself, they are the ultimate free spirits, seeking only their own vision of what destiny may be.

This Epic Destiny is found in the Player's Handbook 1 and is open to ''Any Character''.

Its 21st level feature is '''Seeker of the Many Paths''', which lets them choose new class encounter or daily powers from ''any'' class they wish, although they don't gain class features that may be tied into those powers - an Eternal Seeker [[Fighter]] who learns a [[Wizard]] power or a [[Cleric]] power does not gain the ability to use Implements or Holy Symbols.

Its 24th level feature is '''Eternal Action''', which means that when they spend an action point to take an extra action, they also gain a bonus action on their next turn, which does not benefit from their Action Point feature of their [[Paragon Path]].

It's 26th level feature is '''Seeker's Lore''', which grants them a 22nd level utility power from a class of their choosing.

Its 30th level feature is '''Seeking Destiny''', which grants them the 24th level feature from another Epic Destiny of their choice.

===Emergent Primordial===
Introduced in '''Heroes of the [[Elemental Chaos]]''', the ''Emergent Primordial'' is a character who has become spiritually meshed with a Primordial, imbuing them with the power to tap into its elemental might. Their ultimate destiny is to either merge with it, or destroy it.

Qualifying for this ED requires that the character have either ''the Elemental Origin'', the ''Born of the Elements feat'', or ''any Elemental power''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Primordial Rebirth''' feature: +2 to one ability score of your choice, Origin changes to Elemental, and you gain both Resistance 15 and +3 to damage rolls with your choice of either Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Thunder.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Primordial Rebirth''' feature... again. This is your "once per day, when you die" feature; regain HP equal to your Bloodied value, and all allies within 5 squares can spend a healing surge. Additionally, all allies within 10 squares with this Epic Destiny gain +20 temporary hit points and can shift 1 square as a free action.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Primordial Form''' feature, your daily utility power. As a minor action, you can assume the form of a Huge Elemental, in which form you gain +2 Reach, Resist 5 to all damage, and a +4 damage rolls with melee attacks and attacks that have the Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Thunder keywords.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the '''Primordial Ascendance''' feature; when you score a critical hit or reduce a non-minion enemy to 0 hitpoints, each ally within 5 squares gains +10 temporary hit points and a +2 power bonus to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

===Exemplar of Evil===
To become the '''Exemplar of Evil''' is to embrace evil in its countless faces: allies are to be sacrificed, champions are to be slain, and your every crime is to be of such legendary wickedness that there will be no argument on their wickedness. The legacy of such villainy is not one to be denied, for their name will be one that haunts the annals of history for generations to come.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the Book of Vile Darkness and is available to ''Any Character of Evil Alignment''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Ability Score Increase'' feature, lacking any fancy name but giving +2 to two ability scores of your choosing.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Epic Evil'' feature. Whenever you kill someone, their body turns into a zone for a turn. Any enemies near or on it take -2 to attack and grant combat advantage to you.

At 26th level, you get the '''Vile Reassembly''' daily utility power. This takes you out of play the moment you hit 0 HP and heals you like you spend a healing surge. At your next turn, you come back to fight again.

At 30th level, you get the '''Victory at Any Price''' daily utility power. At any point when you hit an enemy with an at-will or encounter power, you can make one non-bloodied ally lose half their health so your attack automatically counts as a crit.

===Guardian of the Void===
The Shadowfell, being a plane of the dead, is the inevitable destinations of all entities mortal and divine alike. That said, however, it is not avoidable. Legend has it that there is a ritual called the "Echoing Void" that can grant immortality - but only through the sacrifice of millions of lives. Because of the very massive and overt signs that portend the ritual's performance, there is also an equal and opposite force that gathers to prevent it from completing. In some cases, the cosmos anoints certain individuals as a '''Guardian of the Void''', a being with power enough to stop the ritual and preserve the balance of life and death. By the time one becomes such a guardian, it is already clear that the ritual is well underway and time is of the essence to halt it.

This Epic Destiny is found in Heroes of Shadow and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Raven Guardian's Endurance'' feature, adding +2 to an ability score of your choice. This also grants you Resist 15 necrotic and Regeneration 5 whenever you are bloodied.

At 24th level, you attain the ''Guardian's Recovery'' feature, which gives you a +2 bonus to death saves, though this can be improved by +1 for each additional Guardian of the Void within 20 spaces.

At 26th level, you are granted the '''Soul of Destiny''' daily utility power. This gives you an aura 5 which allows anyone inside to sacrifice a healing surge to grant an amount of THP equal to their surge value as well as a +4 bonus to the next d20 roll they'll make.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Guardian of Death'' feature, letting you immediately recover from death to max HP and teleport to a fellow Guardian of the Void once per day.

===Harbinger of Doom===
For whatever reason, you are an omen for disaster. You have shattered whatever bonds fate has placed for you and now you are free to spread misfortune to others. That said, these misfortunes are beyond your control, and thus you are forced to move to other places lest you harm those you are close to. Even if you reach some matter of ultimate doom, you will be thrown off by the skeins of fate and be thrown into a distant future where you will be forced to act as the herald of misfortune again.

This Epic Destiny appears in the Player's Handbook 2 and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Shield of Ill Fortune'' feature. This allows you to re-roll a nat 1 on an attack (though this can't be re-rolled if you roll a nat 1 aagain), while enemies who roll a nat 1 to attack you get stunned and slide 3 spaces to a place of your choosing.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Master of Ill Fortune'' feature, letting you roll a save or spend a healing surge once per encounter when an enemy dies.

At 26th level, you're given the '''Cloak of Doom''' daily utility power. This forces enemies within 3 spaces to grant combat advantage to your allies, become unable to teleport, and suffer 5 damage whenever they miss an attack.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Doom's Reward'' feature, which grants you THP equal to half your level whenever you miss all your targets with an attack.

===Indomitable Champion===
There is a great war on the horizon that threatens the entire world. The '''Indomitable Champion''' is an individual with the skill, endurance, and power to stand a chance at turning back this war and secure a safe future.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Heroes of the Fallen Lands and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Epic Heroism'' feature, giving +2 to two ability scores of your choice.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Epic Resilience'' feature, giving +20 extra HP and +1 to all non-armor defenses.

At 26th level, you have the '''Epic Tenacity''' daily utility power. Once per day when you reach 0 HP, you spend a healing surge and gain +5 to all defenses.

At 30th level, you attain the '''Unmatched Defense''' daily utility power, allowing you to count one attack against you as having rolled a natural 1.

===Keeper of the Everflow===
The Everflow is a stream of souls within the Shadowfell that is meant to represent the cycle of life, death and rebirth. However, [[Nerull]] disrupted the flow by hoarding the dead souls for his purposes. The [[Raven Queen]] was able to undo some of the damage, and thus decided to judge the souls to wherever she sees fit. However, there is an order called the '''Keepers of the Everflow''' who seek to return the Everflow to its original state, even if this means enraging the Raven Queen herself. Her legions will stop at nothing to prevent the Keepers from accomplishing their agenda, preserving the flow of life as it is.

This Epic Destiny appears in Heroes of Shadow and is available to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Enlightened Rebirth'' feature. This adds +2 to an ability score of your choice and swap around your origin every long rest. Your origin even grants a special benefit:
*Aberrant: You gain Resist Psychic equal to 5+your level. You also get to deal psychic damage equal to a mental stat modifier whenever an enemy misses you with an attack that targets your Will.
*Elemental: You gain Resist 10 to Acid, Cold, Fire and Lightning. Your attacks will ignore any resistance to these damage types.
*Fey: You gain +1 to Reflex and Will and are immune to the Charmed condition.
*Immortal: You gain Regeneration 5 whenever you are bloodied. All your at-will attacks that deal untyped damage now deal radiant damage instead.
*Natural: You gain Resist 5 all and add +2 to all saving throws.
*Shadow: You gain Resist 10 Necrotic. You also get to deal psychic damage equal to a mental stat modifier whenever an enemy misses you with an attack that targets your Will.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Life Overflow'' feature, allowing you to resurrect at your bloodied value with all conditions ended once per day. Whenever you do so, you can also switch your origin and gain 5 THP for any other Keeper of the Everflow in your party.

At 26th level, you achieve the '''Lore of the Wheel''' encounter utility power, letting you or a fellow Keeper of the Everflow within burst 5 to use any skill as if they have proficiency and add +5 to all checks.

At 30th level, you get the ''Turn the Wheel'' feature. Whenever you crit an enemy with a Daily power, they're restricted to only normal attacks until the end of your next turn. Whenever you kill an enemy, you can then reincarnate them as a natural creature with no memory of their life - though you have no hand in guiding their reincarnation.

===Keybearer===
The [[multiverse]] is a source of endless fascination to those who can understand the scope of it. The '''Keybearers''' are those whose love of exploration meant that their awareness of the [[plane]]s was a source of purest joy, promising them an infinity of realms to explore as they see fit. For the mightiest of these mystical travelers, soon, even the planes are not enough. Alien planets, alternate realities, even time itself can open up for the most determined Keybearer.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Portal Mastery'' feature, which lets you cast either Linked Portal or Planar Portal for free 1/day and lets you, 1/day, respond to being killed by healing to your bloodied value and teleporting to a permanent teleportation circle whose sigil sequence you have memorized on whichever plane you prefer.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Traveler's Tricks'' feature, which lets you teleport 5 squares as a free action whenever you roll an 18+ on an attack roll.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Reality Distortion''' Daily Utility power, which lets you spend a standard action to create a close burst 3 zone that lasts until the end of your next turn, but which can be sustained until the end of your next turn again with a standard action. This zone moves with you when you move, ensuring you remain at its center. While you remain in this zone, you gain an extra move action but any other creature that starts its turn within the zone must roll 1d6 to see what happens to it:
#The target blinks out of existence until the start of its next turn. When it reappears, it returns to the space it left or the closest available space.
#The target is dazed and immobilized until the start of its next turn.
#The target is slowed and weakened until the start ofits next turn.
#The target gains vulnerable 15 to all attacks until the start of its next turn.
#The target grants combat advantage to all targets and takes a –5 penalty to all saving throws until the start of its next turn.
#The target blinks out of existence until the start of its next turn. When it reappears, it returns to the space it left or the closest available space.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Unfettered Passage'' feature, which grants you the Phasing trait; you ignore difficult terrain and can move through obstacles and other creatures, but must end your movement in an unoccupied space.

===Lord of Chaos===
In the ancient days of the world, a race known as the [[Reigar]] - a [[human]]-like people who revered personal freedom, expression, and artistry above all things, and who were all natural [[Wild Mage]]s - abandoned the material realms to pursue the power that could be found in the [[Elemental Chaos]]. Here, they learned to master the purest form of chaos magic, the power to create, transform, and destroy with purest thought. This discovery elevated them to a race of living godlings; self-centered, capricious, and driven only by their desire to experience new sensations and outdo each other in creative works. The brightest of the Reigar foresaw that this would ultimately doom them to dwindle and stagnate, and so they crafted a hyper-spell of their own design; a sentient, self-guiding force that would seek out brilliant and worthy souls and gift them with the powers of the Reigar, allowing them to preserve the race by preserving their spirit. Such '''Lords of Chaos''' are one in a million; brilliant, beautiful, willful and creative all at once, enough to be considered worthy heirs to the Reigar. Those Lords of Chaos who survive to master their powers go on to achieve many things, always drawn to the challenge of shaping and ordering their own private universe.

This Epic Destiny is found in Heroes of the Elemental Chaos and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Awakening''' feature, which transforms your Origin to Immortal (if it wasn't already) and gives you +2 Charisma. It also allows you to create a singular ''shakti'', part artistic sigil and part tool, a token of pure chaos-stuff that you can turn into a +5 magic weapon, +5 magic armor, +5 implement, or +5 amulet of protection at will, choosing whichever form suits you best. Your shakti turns to dust if somehow removed from you, but you can recreate it as a minor action. The value of its tool settings increases to +6 at 26th level.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Rapid Reincarnation''' feature, which lets you, once per day, choose to dissolve your body into golden motes of light and revive at a point of your choosing up to 1 mile away with hit points equal to your bloodied value instead of taking a death saving throw. Reviving when you use this feature takes between 1 minute and 1 hour.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Whim of Creation''' Daily Utility power, which lets you use a minor action to remove difficult terrain, create difficult terrain, or create nondamaging weather conditions of your choice in a close burst 5. Whichever effect you desire, it lasts as long as you wish.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Master of Chaos''' feature, which lets you teleport yourself or the triggering enemy up to 10 squares as a free action whenever you bloody an enemy or score a critical hit against an enemy.

===Lorekeeper===
When a '''Lorekeeper''' gathers enough knowledge, there comes a point where they are a living repository of all sorts of knowledge. If anyone ever has a problem or a question, they will turn to this veritable genius to hear what wisdom they hold, for it may be the answer to any great crisis that arises in the land.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 2 and is available to ''Any Character with either Intelligence 21 or Wisdom 21 as well as training in two Knowledge skills (Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature, Religion)''.

At 21st level, you get ''Lorekeeper's Wisdom'' feature, which lets you re-roll knowledge checks as well as giving a +2 bonus to damage against enemies that are covered under your trained skills (meaning if you're trained in Arcana, you add this bonus to attacks against elementals, fey, and shadow creatures, and so on).

At 24th level, you get the ''Lorekeeper's Cunning'', allowing you to re-roll any skill check for a ritual and double the time any non-creation ritual takes in exchange for halving the cost needed for it. You also gain a +2 bonus to hit against any enemies covered under your trained skills.

At 26th level, you get the '''[[Truenamer|True Name]]''' encounter utility power. For one turn, you reveal the weaknesses of an enemy and your allies all get to add your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier to any damage rolls against that enemy.

At 30th level, you find the ''Lorekeeper's Revelation'' feature, letting you turn two daily utility powers to encounter utility powers (or lets you retrain utility powers until you get two daily utility powers to do so).

===Prince of Hell===
[[Baator]] offers a siren call to many souls, tempting them to risk their immortal existences for temporal power. That's not enough for those who would call themselves '''Prince of Hell'''. They will not merely take the power that the Nine Hells offer, they will turn that power on the [[devil]]s themselves, carving out their own demesne in which to reign. It's a risky gambit... but, it's not impossible.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Infernal Form''' feature, which grants you +2 Charisma, Resist Fire 20 + 1/2 level, the Darkvision racial trait, and the Immortal Origin.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Hellfire Master''' feature, which means your fire attacks ignore fire resistance, and you can choose to apply the Fire keyword to one encounter attack power of your choice at the end of each short rest. Powers that already had an elemental damage keyword now do both types of damage.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Infernal Allies''' Daily Utility power, which lets you summon four Legion Devil Legionnaires within a close burst 3. These devils act according to your orders (free action) on your initiative count, and they gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls as long as you are conscious and alive. Each devil remains until it is killed, until you dismiss it (a free action), or until the end of the encounter.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Brimstone Step''' feature, which grants you a teleport speed of 5 and causes all creatures adjacent to you when you teleport away to take 10 fire damage.

===Prison of the Winds===
The dominion of [[Hestavar]] in the [[Astral Sea]] is famously scarred by the [[Dawn War]], as a [[Archomental|Primordial]] of storms and wind named Heur-Ket assaulted the place and has been trapped there every since. To maintain the bindings, mortal [[adventurer]]s of great power are used to seal away a small but crucial fragment of the Primordial's essence. But there have been many of these ''Prisons of the Winds'' over the eons; all have succumbed to Heur-Ket's power and been unraveled from within, discorporating under the relentless assault on their very soul. But new Prisons continue to step forth, and ultimately, there will come one who will either destroy the Primordial totally - or set it free to ravage the [[multiverse]] again.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #371, in the article "[[Hestavar]]: The Bright City", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Essence of Heur-Ket''' feature, which grants you +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, and +2 Speed.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Storm Surge''' feature, which lets you, once per day, use a free action when dropped to 0 hit points to spend a healing surge (or gain HP equal to your Constitution score, if you haven't got any left) and unleash a blast of wind which pushes all creatures within 5 squares of you a number of squares equal to your Constitution modifier before knocking them prone.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Fury of Heur-Ket''' Daily Utility power, which lets you enter a stance as a minor action in which you gain a fly (hover) speed equal to your land speed and can choose to either push an adjacent enemy squares equal to your Constitution modifier or knock it prone when you hit it with a melee attack.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Storm Form''' feature, which causes you to become Insubstantial when you are bloodied and lose this trait when you stop being bloodied.

===Planeshaper===
The [[Astral Sea]] abounds in dominions; proto-worlds and godly kingdoms, fashioned from the raw stuff of the soul itself. To the '''Planeshaper''', this is an opportunity like nothing else: the chance to breathe life into a world entirely of their own vision. Whilst they start small, for those few who have the greatest drive (and luck), eventually, they may see themselves as progenitors to whole new worlds.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Ultimate Adaptation''' feature, which grants you +2 Intelligence and lets you designate one encounter power at the end of each extended rest; this designated power can be used twice per encounter.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Astral Critical''' feature, which allows you to temporarily banish any enemy you inflict a critical hit against to your astral seed, removing them from the battlefield until the start of your next turn.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Planar Refuge''' Daily Utility power, which lets you spend a standard action to teleport yourself and each willing ally within a close 5 burst to your astral seed; you reappear in the space you vacated at the start of your next turn, but you can spend a healing surge and recharge one encounter power.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Shape Reality''' feature, which grants you an aura 10 in which you can reshape reality as you see fit. Once during each of your turns, you can alter the environment in any of the following ways by spending a minor action:
* Change the temperature. Creatures that start their turns within your aura automatically take 15 cold damage or 15 fire damage (your choice). You can spend another minor action to return the temperature to normal, eliminating this damaging effect.
* Permanently transform any squares of difficult terrain within your aura into normal terrain.
* Permanently transform any squares of normal terrain within your aura into difficult terrain.
* Create breathable air in any or all squares.
* Fill 9 unoccupied squares with a solid surface, such as stone or wood. If you fill a square with a solid surface that is not attached to another surface (in other words, you create a stone slab 5 squares up in the air), the surface hovers in place.

===Punisher of the Gods===
Vengeance is a power that surpasses all others, at least so preach those who attain the mantle of '''Punisher of the Gods'''. So dedicated are they to the grim business of bloody retribution that even the gods admire their stalwart dedication to punishment, raising them up as slayers of their enemies, and perhaps, in a distant future, to the ranks of the gods themselves.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Immortal Curse''' Encounter Power, which lets you designate one nonminion enemy that you have damaged within a close burst 10 as a free action. Whenever you score a critical hit against the target of your immortal curse, you gain 1 action point. You must use this action point before the end of your next turn, and doing so does not count toward the once per encounter restriction on spending action
points. This effect lasts until the end of the encounter
or until the target drops to 0 hit points, at which
point you regain the use of this power.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Devourer of Fate''' feature, which grants you a +5 bonus to saving throws against save-ends effects caused by the target of your Immortal Curse, and lets you make a saving throw when the target of your Immortal Curse makes an attack that could reduce you to 0 HP; if this save succeeds, that attack inflicts no damage and you can spend a healing surge.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Repel Legions''' Daily Utility power, which lets you create a Close Burst 3 zone of destruction and repulsion that lasts until the end of your next turn as a standard action. You can use a minor action to sustain the zone until the end of your next turn. This zone moves with you, always keeping you at its center. An enemy that starts its turn within the zone takes 15 radiant and necrotic damage and is pushed 3 squares away from you. If an enemy starts its turn within the zone and ends its turn adjacent to you, you can push that enemy 5 squares as a free action.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Bringer of Dooms''' feature, which causes you to automatically inflict maximum damage when you hit the target of your Immortal Curse.

===Radiant One===
While most who study the stars are driven mad and fall into the clutches of things beyond them, a '''Radiant One''' manages to uncover a greater truth. They become stars in their own right, aware of the cosmos, but vulnerable to the depredations of those beyond them. Perhaps, if they survive long enough, they may enter their place amongst their fellow stars.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #366 in the "Wish Upon a Star" article and is available to ''Any Character of 21st Level''

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Starborn'' feature, giving Resist fire+radiant equal to 10+level and deal additional fire+radiant damage equal to your Intelligence modifier whenever you hit while having combat advantage.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Starburst'' feature. Once each day when you hit 0 HP, you immediately spend a Healing Surge and fire+radiant damage equal to your surge value to all enemies within 3 squares.

At 26th level, you get the '''Star Flesh''' daily utility power. This adds your Intelligence modifier to all your defenses and lets you roll a saving throw against any ranged, area, or burst attack for the chance to utterly negate it.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Starry Rift'' feature, allowing you to act again during a turn once per day.

===Raven Knight===
The '''Raven Knights''' are a prestigious order that serves as the personal champions of the [[Raven Queen]], protecting the Shadowfell from its many enemies and ensuring that it remains in her hands. Those who take this path may eventually fade from memory, but their glory will forever remain as you spend your life in her service.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #380 in the "Channel Divinity: The Raven Queen's Champions" article and is available to ''Any Character who worships the [[Raven Queen]]''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Sorrowborn'' feature, granting a +2 to Constitution, Dexterity and Speed as well as Darkvision and changing your origin to Shadow. You also gain the ''Bleak Visage'' feature, making adjacent enemies take a -2 penalty to hit you.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Shadow Rush'' feature, turning you Insubstantial and Phasing when you run or charge and keeping you that way until the end of your next turn.

At 26th level, you learn the '''Dark Scythe''' daily utility power. This transforms a weapon or implement of your choosing into a scythe, retaining its features but also dealing an additional +2d10 necrotic damage. In addition, it lets you heal as if you spent a Healing Surge every time you kill a non-minion enemy and a once per encounter ability to inflict Weakened (save ends) on an enemy you hit.

At 30th level, you gain the ''On Sorrow's Wings'' feature, letting you teleport 10 spaces whenever you spend an Action Point for another action.

===Sage of the Swan Tower===
With devotion to [[Ioun]], one with enough esteem may be granted access to the Halls of Enlightenment. This is not enough however. They seek to uncover more about the universe and demystify the unknown. With enough persistence, they will finally be recognized as a '''Sage of the Swan Tower''' and join the timeless sages.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #397 in the "Channel Divinity: Ioun: The Sages of the Swan Tower" article and is available to ''Any Character who worships [[Ioun]]''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Expert in Your Field'' feature, granting you +2 to either Intelligence or Wisdom as well as letting you re-roll checks in one skill you are trained in (Pick between Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature, or Religion).

At 24th level, you get the ''Divine Arcana'' feature, giving you combat advantage with a divine power if you used an arcane power last turn, while using a divine power also grants combat advantage for your next arcane power.

At 26th level, you have the '''Knowledge Applied''' encounter utility power. This lets an ally re-roll a skill check, ability check, or saving throw with a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier or Wisdom modifier.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Secret of the Pillars'' feature, letting you roll an Intelligence or Wisdom check once per encounter when you take damage and reduce the damage taken by that amount.

===Shiradi Champion===
At certain occasions, the Queen of the Summer Court of fey will anoint a certain few warriors to protect her domain and charges. These are the '''Shiradi Champions''', peerless warriors dedicated to the Queen of Summer and beholden to no other archfey. While fey-born species tend to be chosen for his weighty role, a non-fey being could still be a possible candidate, drawing admiration from the fey who see this champion as worthy to join them.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Heroes of the Feywild and is open to ''Any non-evil character of 21st level''.

At 21st level, you attain the ''Fey Anointment'' feature, adding +2 to one ability score of your choosing, rendering you immune to charm and blindness effects, giving you Fey Origin, and darkvision.

At 24th level, you get the ''Armor of Stars'' feature, giving +1 to AC and Reflex. However, if you are adjacent to fellow Shiradi Champions, this is upped to a +2 bonus.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Audience with the Queen''' daily utility power. This removes you from play. While you are away, you can either return at the start of your next turn for up to two benefits, or wait until the end of the turn for all three of them. Fellow Shiradi Champions within 5 squares of you when you return all gain THP equal to your Charisma modifier+half your level. The benefits are as follows:
::*Recover HP equal to your bloodied value
::*Gain +2 to all attack and skill checks for the rest of the encounter.
::*Fellow Shiradi Champions gain a +2 bonus to saving throws when adjacent to you until the end of the encounter.

At 30th level, you have the ''Everlasting Champion'' feature. Once per day upon hitting 0 HP, you immediately recover your bloodied value in HP, raise up as a free action, and add extra radiant damage to all attacks equal to your Charisma Modifier for the rest of the encounter.

===Storm Sovereign===
Many beings see and respect the power of the storm, but none are as dedicated to mastering it as the '''Storm Sovereign''', the ultimate controller of wind, thunder, and lighting. Those who survive to attain the peaks of their powers are ultimately compelled to abandon the mortal realm for the [[Elemental Chaos]], where they can embrace their full elemental might and ascend to the ranks of the [[Archomental|Primordials]].

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''Any Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Stormborn''' feature, which grants you +2 Constitution as well as Resist Lightning and Resist Thunder 15 + 1/2 your level, and changes your Origin to Elemental.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Thunder and Lightning''' feature, which lets you react to being slain once per day by discorporating into a storm of elemental fury. You heal to one-half hit points and gain the insubstantial and phasing qualities. You gain an aura 5, and when enemies begin their turns inside that aura they automatically take 15 lightning and thunder damage, and you can slide that enemy 3 squares. You can use encounter and at-will powers, but you cannot use daily powers, activate magic items, or perform rituals. If you die in elemental storm form, you are dead. At the end of the encounter, after a short rest, you reconstitute yourself from the base elements. Your current hit point total is unchanged, but you no longer experience the other benefits and drawbacks from being in elemental storm form.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Scion of Chaos''' Daily Utility power, which lets you make a close burst 5 as an immediate interrupt when an enemy makes an attack against you. You choose a new target for the attack, which must be within the burst and the reach or range of the attack. Additionally, the attack roll for that attack is now considered to be a natural 20, regardless of what the original roll was.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Cyclone's Master''' feature, which grants you a Fly Speed equal to your Speed +2, the Hover trait, an Aura 5 that negates the thunder & lightning resistances of any other creature that enters or begins its turn within it, and lets you change the damage typing of your attacks to lightning or thunder at will.

===Thief of Legend===
Stories abound of [[rogue]]s who could achieve impossible feats of thievery. Tales are told of thieves who could steal the crowns from the heads of kings and queens without their royal victims noticing, move so stealthily that death itself couldn't notice them, and outwit gods - thieves who could steal laughter, memories, the color of a painting! You are one of these impossible rogues. You are a '''Thief of Legend''' - and you will prove it, or die trying.

This epic destiny appeared in the article "Old Souls: Heroes of Legend Reborn" in Dragon #388, and is open to ''Any character Trained in Stealth and Thievery''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Uncanny Prowess''' feature, which grants you +2 Dexterity and +2 to one other ability score of your choice.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Steal Back The Soul''' feature; when you die, after 1 hour, your body and possessions vanish. 24 hours after this, you reappear alive and at full hitpoints at a safe place of your choosing,
that is familiar to you, and that is on the same plane where you died. In addition, when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points or fewer, you can steal something intangible from that creature, such as the color of the creature’s eyes or its memories of its kingdom. The mechanical effects of this theft, if any, are left to the Dungeon Master.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Impossible Theft''' Daily Utility power. When you touch an unattended object or vehicle, you can teleport it to a safe location of your determination (which must A: be a place that you have been, B: be on the same plane, and C: cannot result in harm to any creature or the target) as a standard action.

Finally, at 30th level, you gain the '''Undetectable Thief''' feature, which grants you a passive Stealth score equal to 10 + your Stealth modifier. Any creature that has a passive Perception lower than your passive Stealth score, or that has an active Perception check result that does not equal or surpass your passive Stealth score, cannot see you unless you choose to let that creature see you.

===Twilight Tribune===
When one dies, their souls enter the Shadowfell and enter Letherna to reach their final destination. However, there are those mortal spirits that refuse this destiny and haunt the realms as all sorts of spectral entities. To combat these affronts, the [[Raven Queen]] established the '''Twilight Tribunes''', fearless heroes invested with the power to banish these undead menaces and send them to face their proper judgment.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Heroes of Shadow and is open to ''Any Character''

At 21st level, you get the ''Twilight's Insight'' feature, granting +2 to Wisdom and darkvision.

At 24th level, you have the ''Twilight Cloak'', rendering you insubstantial whenever you use second wind or total defense.

At 26th level, you get the '''Tribune's Authority''' daily utility power. This is a stance that renders you insubstantial with a fly speed equal to your land speed. If anyone attacks you or a fellow Twilight Tribune within 10 squares, you gain combat advantage against the enemy.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Tribune's Judgment'' feature. Any damage you take from an non-minion enemy melee attack has a 50% chance to reflect half that damage back. Anyone you kill also cannot be raised or turned into undead.
===Unyielding Sentinel===
Every [[adventurer]] has some role to play in conflict. Yours is to hold the line. You will die before you let them get past. In fact, you probably have died before retreating, maybe more than once. It doesn't matter. Your duty, your destiny, is to plant yourself on that spot when your allies need you and hold the line. You are the unflinching shield of those in your charge, and your resilience can never be doubted. In the greatest conflict of the quest, you shall be the rock of the eternal shore, and your enemies will crash against you and be broken. If this requires you to break as well, then what of it? Live or die, your story will be told forever, for none will forget that you held the line.

This epic destiny appeared in the article "Old Souls: Heroes of Legend Reborn" in Dragon #388, and is open to ''Any Class with the Defender role ([[Fighter]], [[Paladin]], [[Swordmage]], [[Warden]], [[Battlemind]])''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Stalwart Guard''' feature, which grants you +2 Constitution and +2 to one other ability score of your choice.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Unbreakable''' feature, which lets you roll twice when you make saving throws (including death saving throws) and pick the result to use.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Undying Vanguard''' Daily Utility power. As a minor action, you can enter the Undying Vanguard Stance. Until the stance ends, you cannot be subjected to forced movement unless you choose, you do not grant combat advantage, you automatically reduce all ongoing damage to 0, and you are immune to the auras of your enemies if you choose to be.

Finally, at 30th level, you gain the '''Vigor of Battle''' feature, which lets you regain hit points as if you'd spent a healing surge by dropping a non-minion enemy to 0 hit points. You only gain this healing once per round, even if you kill multiple enemies in that round.

===Wild Hunter===
When hounds are unleashed and rush out with their masters astride, there can be no doubt that a Wild Hunt has been called. Originally called about by [[firbolg]]s who seek to punish oathbreakers and traitors, there are those who become '''Wild Hunters''' by learning the traditions and in turn become agents of unrelenting justice.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Heroes of the Feywild and is available to ''Any Character at 21st level''.

At 21st level, you get the multifold ''Soul of the Hunter'' feature. This makes you of fey origin, you gain +2 to either Strength or Dexterity, and you get a +2 bonus to Perception and Insight checks.

At 24th level, you get the ''Strike of the Hunter'' feature. This works on only one encounter attack power. Once per encounter, that attack deals an additional save-ends 10 ongoing damage. You also gain combat advantage against anyone taking ongoing damage, be it from you or not.

At 26th level, you have the '''Hounds of the Wild Hunt''' feature. This summons two hounds of the hunt, each with a land and fly speed of 8, use your healing surge for their HP, and use your defenses with +2 to AC and Reflex. Like other summons, they waste a healing surge if they both die. These hounds unfortunately lack any attacks, instead being two flanking points whom you can move again with a minor action.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Avatar of the Wild Hunt'' feature. Once per day, when you hit 0 HP, you become the Avatar of the Wild Hunt. You regain HP up to your bloodied value, you recharge all your encounter powers, you become large with a reach of 1 and your at-wills all crit on an 18 or higher.

==Campaign-Specific Epic Destinies==
These Epic Destinies were tied into the three campaign settings that D&D 4e pursued; [[Forgotten Realms]], [[Eberron]], and [[Dark Sun]]. Obviously, they're best suited to those campaigns, and so may pose issues trying to reuse in other settings.

===Forgotten Realms===
====Chosen====
Like the ''Demigod'', the '''Chosen''' has awakened a spark of divinity within themselves. Unlike the Demigod, the Chosen has done so by bowing to the will of a power greater than themselves and through in their patron deity; a Chosen lives to serve the will of their patron, and hopes to one day rise to the rank of an Exarch - a lesser deity that will act on behalf of their god for all eternity.

This Epic Destiny is found in both the ''Forgotten Realms Player's Guide'' and Divine Power and requires that the character be '''21st Level'''.

Mechanically, this Epic Destiny is '''identical''' to the Demigod Epic Destiny, except that it replaces the level 26 utility power '''Divine Regeneration''' with a new utility power based on which god they worship. Because this appeared in the Forgotten Realms, only the 4e "greater gods" have valid powers:
* [[Amaunator]]: '''Renewing Dawn''': After you invoke this power as a minor action, whenever you or an ally spends a [[Healing Surge]], this power deals Radiant damage equal to your level + your [[Charisma]] modifier to an enemy within 5 squares of the creature that spent the healing surge. You can sustain this power as a minor action.
* [[Chauntea]]: '''Horn of Life''': You can spend a minor action to let yourself or one ally within a close burst 20 spend a [[Healing Surge]]. At the start of each of your subsequent turns, your ally with the fewest hitpoints above 0 gains Regeneration 20 until the start of your next turn. This effect persists until the end of your encounter or you become unconscious.
* [[Corellon]]: '''High Arcana''': Invoke this power as a minor action to affect yourself and all allies within a close burst 10 with one of two effects; a +2 power bonus to attack rolls, or a +2 power bonus to all defenses against arcane attacks. Either way, the effect lasts until the end of your next turn.
* [[Kelemvor]]: '''True Death''': Invoke this as a minor action to hit all undead creatures within a close burst 10. All creatures struck lose their resistances, the insubstantial quality and the ability to recharge powers until they make 2 saving throws. You also regain 2d20 hit points for each enemy hit.
* [[Moradin]]: '''Forge of Creation''': Invoke this power with a minor action to let you and any allies who hit with at least one attack regain their second wind, regain one healing surge and gain the use of another daily magic item power. This effect lasts until the end of your next turn.
* [[Oghma]]: '''Supreme Knowledge''': When you are hit by an attack against Fortitude, Reflex or Will, you can use this power as an immediate interrupt. It lets you make a monster knowledge check that corresponds to the creature attacking you; if the check result is higher than its attack roll, then the attack misses.
* [[Selune]]: '''Waxing Fortune''': Invoke this power as a minor action to gain a bonus to attack rolls equal to the number of bloodied yet conscious creatures that are within 10 squares of you at the start of your turn. This effect lasts until the end of your encounter.
* [[Silvanus]]: '''Divine Regeneration''': This is the same power that the Demigod gets.
* [[Sune]]: '''Sune's Censure''': As a minor action, choose two creatures within close burst 20; one of the targeted creatures gains the vulnerabilities of the other, with both remaining vulnerable in this way until the encounter's end, even if they were originally only temporarily vulnerable. If neither target is vulnerable to any specific damage types, then they gain Vulnerable 5 All until the end of the encounter.
* [[Tempus]]: '''Tempus's Glare''': Invoke this power as a minor action to cause every creature that attacks you and fails to hit to take damage equal to 1/2 its level. This effect lasts until the end of the encounter.
* [[Torm]]: '''Battle Judgment''': When you drop an enemy to 0 HP with a melee attack, you can invoke this power as a free action to regain hit points equal to the damage that you dealt with the attack.

The Divine Power version also has a selection of powers for the chief gods of [[Nentir Vale]]:
*[[Avandra]]: '''Freedom is Life''': As a minor action, this gives everyone within 20 squares a +10 to all saving throws until the end of next turn.
*[[Bahamut]]: '''Sheltering Wings''': Invoke as a minor action to grant you and one adjacent ally HP equal to your bloodied value.
*[[Corellon]]: '''High Arcana''': Invoke as a minor action. Until the end of the encounter, you and any allies within close burst 10 can choose between +2 to implement attack rolls or +4 to all non-armor defenses each turn.
*[[Erathis]]: '''Anthem of Progress''': As a minor action, you and all allies within close burst 10 can now score a crit with at-wills on a hit roll of 16 or better.
*[[Ioun]]: '''Unerring Knowledge''': Invoke as a minor action to grant one ally within 10 squares a bonus action on their next turn. You can continue this on future turns, but you cannot target any ally twice during an encounter.
*[[Kord]]: '''Test of Strength''': Invoke as a minor action so you and an adjacent enemy can make a free melee basic attack. If you deal more damage, you can take a free standard action with +4 to any attacks made.
*[[Melora]]: '''Wild Surge''': Invoke as a minor action. Until the end of the encounter, you and any allies within burst 5 can score a crit with their daily attacks on an 18 or higher.
*[[Moradin]]: '''Forge of Creation''': See above
*[[Pelor]]: '''Celestial Balance''': Invoke as an immediate interrupt. If anyone within close burst 10 spends an action point, you or one creature can spend a healing surge and gain +1 to all defenses for the encounter.
*[[Raven Queen]]: '''Death is Nigh''': As a minor action, if an ally fails a death save, you and your allies gain +2 to all attack rolls for the campaign.
*[[Sehanine]]: '''Horns of the Moon''': Invoke as a minor action. For the rest of the encounter, each turn has you give one ally +2 to attack and one enemy -2 to all defenses as a free action.

====Elf High Mage====
The most powerful and revered of all the sylvan mages, the '''Elf High Mage''' is an [[elf]] or [[eladrin]] [[wizard]] who has mastered the art of crafting Mythals; extremely potent, long-lasting ritual-based spells that can affect massive areas with near-permanent effects. The mightiest of these Elven High Mages will ultimately either pass on [[Arvandor]] as a near god-like figure of magical might, revered by their sylvan kinsfolk, or else will make the ultimate sacrifice by merging themselves with a Mythal, imbuing it with the power to heal, grow and change over time, whilst also allowing their spirit to be summoned forth from the Mythal in times of greatest need.

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Dragon #367''. Qualifying for it requires that the character be ''21st level'', ''[[Elf]] or [[Eladrin]] race'', and ''[[Wizard]]'' class.

At 21st level, you gain the features '''One With Magic''' and '''High Magic'''. The former grants you +2 wisdom, lets you use the Detect Magic function of the Arcana skill as a free action on your turn, and roll three d20 at end of each extended rest; the results rolled can be expended to replace the results of an arcane attack roll or an Arcana check. The latter means that you gain a +5 bonus to Arcana checks made as part of casting rituals, and halve the cost of rituals. You can also perform acts of High Magic, but these are essentially campaign story events, as they require months or years of work and unique reagents or components in order to perform drastic effects, such as crafting enormous fortress-cities from living earth or wood or laying protective wards over huge areas.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Sustained by Magic''' feature. Once per day when you become bloodied or reach 0 hit points, you can heal yourself by expending an arcane attack power. If you expend an encounter attack power, you can spend a healing surge, end one condition currently affecting you, and teleport up to 10 squares. If you expend a daily attack power, you can spend 1 or 2 healing surges, end all conditions currently affecting you, and teleport up to 20 squares. The power you expend has no other effect.

At 26th level, you gain the Daily Utility power '''Starshine Upon the People''', which requires a minor action and affects all allies within a close burst 10, letting them spend a healing surge and immediately make a saving throw against one "save ends" condition affecting them. All targeted [[eladrin]], [[elf]] and [[half-elf]] allies also gain a +1 power bonus to their attack rolls until the end of the encounter.

Finally, at 30th level, you gain the '''Empowered by Life''' feature. When you have no healing surges left, you can choose to use the tension of the boundary between your life and your death to power your magic. You can use an encounter power you have already expended or gain a +4 bonus to any attack roll with a spell. At the end of your turn after doing either, you lose hit points equal to one-quarter your maximum hit points. You can use a daily power you have already expended or turn a hit with a spell into a critical hit. At the end of your turn after doing either, you lose hit points equal to one-half your maximum hit points. You can do more than one of these in a single turn.

====Harper of Legend====
Many are [[Harpers|Those Who Harp]], but only a privileged few can call themselves Master Harpers. And of these, few can be said to call themselves worthy of being deemed a Harper of Legend, one so true to the Harper creed and so honored that they have earned the divine blessings of the Seven Gods of the Dancing Place - [[Corellon]], [[Mielikki]], [[Mystra]], [[Oghma]], [[Selûne]], [[Silvanus]], and [[Tymora]]. When death inevitably claims them, such an individual can look forward to an afterlife as a Ghost Harper, one of the noble spirits that watches over the Harpers and seeks to preserve their traditions.

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Dragon #367''. Qualifying for it requires that the character be ''21st level'', be ''Lawful Good or Good Aligned'', have training in ''2'' skills from a list of ''Diplomacy, Insight, Nature and Stealth'', and have ''membership in the [[Harpers]]''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Harper's Study''' feature, which grants you a bonus encounter power which is a 13th or lower level encounter power from your class (or any of your classes, if you are hybrid/multiclassed). You can retrain this choice later, but the bonus power must always have a level at least 6 levels below your character level.

At 24th level, you gain the feature '''Blessing of Mielikki''', which means you start the day with 2 action points and, when an enemy spends an action point, you gain the ability to spend 1 additional action point in that encounter.

At 26th level, you gain the Daily Utility Power '''Tymora Smiles''', which can be invoked as a free action to either end a "save ends" condition or to turn an enemy's critical hit against you into a mist.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the '''Spectral Harpist''' feature: once per day, when you die, your body disintegrates into silver dust and your spirit walks free. You regain your maximum hitpoints, but lose half your remaining healing surges, and enter spectral form; in this form, you have the traits Insubstantial, Phasing, Immunity (Poison) and Resistance (Necrotic) 30. You reform your body after your next extended rest, but if you die in spectral form, then you are dead.

====Mythic Sovereign====
You are a foretold sovereign, destined to rule with wisdom and prowess. Basically, this is the Legendary Sovereign ED with references to Forgotten Realms kingdoms and rulers sprinkled on it.

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Dragon #367''. Qualifying for it requires that the character be ''21st level'', and have the ''[[Fighter]], [[Paladin]], [[Ranger]] or [[Warlord]] Class''.

Mechanically, this Epic Destiny is '''identical''' to the Legendary Sovereign, except that it lacks the Legendary Presence trait (so no +2 Charisma bonus) and its daily utility power is renamed ''Sword of Valor'' instead of ''Sword of the Sovereign''.

Seriously, this is basically the setting-fluff-specific beta version of the Legendary Sovereign. Take that one instead.

===Eberron===
Ironically, at least half of these Epic Destinies have a flavor sufficiently generic that it could work for any setting, and even the Eberron Player's Guide admits this.

====Champion of Prophecy====
You always knew that you were special. And your feelings have been proven true. You are a character chosen by destiny - in Eberron, your coming was foretold in the [[Draconic Prophecy]] itself. You shall achieve great things, and your deeds shall foretell the coming of future champions, weaving a story that stretches back and forth through time.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Eberron Player's Guide''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level features are '''Prophetic Blessing''', which grants you a +2 to both one Physical Stat (Str/Dex/Con) and to one Mental Stat (Int/Wis/Cha) of your choice, and '''Unstoppable Prophecy''', which means you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls until encounter's end whenever you fail a death saving throw.

Your 24th level feature is '''Critical Junction''', which lets you spend a [[Healing Surge]] whenever you land a critical hit.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Prophetic Certainty''', an Encounter Utilty which can be triggered as a minor action and which grants you a bonus to the next attack roll that you make before the end of your next turn; this bonus equals +2 per milestone that you've reached since your last extended rest.

Your 30th level feature is '''Prophetic Renewal''', which lets you opt to regain an expended daily attack power instead of an action point when you reach a milestone.

====Dispossessed Champion====
[[Fallout|War. War never changes.]] Across the many worlds and throughout the many [[plane]]s, war brings ruin and destruction, leaving peoples dispossessed; cast out from their homes and set adrift to roam the land at the whims of fate and the mercy of others. You arose from such a people, and have sworn to do something about it. Whether by sword or by spell, diplomacy or force, you shall found a nation to let your people have hope and prosperity once more. Should you succeed, then truly you shall be a '''Dispossessed Champion''', your name going down in the legends of your people, becoming a symbol of hope eternal and promise for a better future.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Eberron Player's Guide''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level feature is '''Lead to Victory''', which means that whenever you shift, each ally within your line of sight can shift closer to you as a free action, shifting the same number of squares that you did.

Your 24th level feature is '''Burden of Leadership''', which lets you spend a healing surge to heal an adjacent enemy equal to their healing surge value whenever they are bloodied by an enemy attack.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Legendary Defense''', a Daily Utility which lets you enter a Stance as a Minor Action. Until this stance ends, all allies within 3 squares have Resistance (10) to All Damage and are Immune to Fear, whilst you can use a minor action once per round to grant an ally within 3 squares the ability to use a melee or ranged basic attack as a free action.

Your 30th level feature is '''Driven by Duty''', which means that the first time you drop to 0 hit points after an extended rest, you can spend a healing surge as an immediate interrupt. If you do, all allies who can see you regain 2d6 HP, with HP beyond their maximum hit points score being retained as temporary HP.

====Mourning Savior====
When the Day of Mourning dawned and the [[Mournland]] was created, Khorvaire was devastated. None yet know whence the Mourning came, or why. But the [[Draconic Prophecy]] speaks of one who shall come; a '''Mourning Savior''', who shall battle the monsters that plague the ravaged ruins of Cyre and ultimately sacrifice themselves to cleanse the Mournland and breathe life back into the ravaged lands once more.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Eberron Player's Guide''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level feature is '''Mournland Dedicate''', which grants you a +5 bonus to skill challenges related to the Mournland, makes you immune to Mournland affliction, lets you ignore obstacles and fantastic terrain unique to the Mournland, and lets you and all allies within 5 squares of you benefit from healing powers whilst within the Mournland. Outside of the Mournland, healing powers targeting you or an ally within 5 squares of you heal a further +2d6 hit points.

Your 24th level feature is '''Memory of Cyre''', which means that when you spend an action point to take an extra action, all non-undead and non-construct enemies adjacent to you suffer a -2 penalty to their attack rolls and all of their defenses (save ends).

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Cleansing Presence''', a Daily Utility you can use as a Standard Action to affect a Close Burst 20; all allies within the area of effect can spend a healing surge (with excess HP being retained as temporary HP), and all magical or supernatural-based fantastic terrain within the area of effect is permanently negated.

Your 30th level feature is '''Cyran Vengeance''', which causes you to gain an action point the first time that you become bloodied in an encounter; this action point must be spent before the end of your next turn, but it doesn't count against your normal action point limits, and if you use this action point to attack an [[undead]] or [[aberration]] type creature, gain a bonus to the attack and damage rolls equal to your Charisma modifier.

====Sublime Flame====
The [[Silver Flame]] was born from the souls of virtuous heroes, and it constantly seeks out like-minded souls. Those who prove worthy are scourged clean of darkness, filled with its purifying light and imbued with the power to serve as a vessel for the Silver Flame. These are the '''Sublime Flames''', and whilst their ultimate fate shall be to merge with the fires of righteousness and fuel them to burn against the darkness of evil and sorrow, until that time, they shall wield the Flame's power to punish the agents of evil.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Eberron Player's Guide''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level'', have a ''Divine Class'' and ''Worship the [[Silver Flame]]''.

Your 21st level feature is '''Chosen of the Flame''', which lets you select one of your Daily attack powers with the Fire or Radiant keyword at the end of each extended rest; the chosen power can be used 2/day.

Your 24th level feature is '''Argent Vessel''', which comes into play the first time you drop to 0 hit points after an extended rest. When this happens, each adjacent enemy takes 10 fire damage and 10 Radiant damage, and each adjacent ally regains 20 hit points, whilst at the start of your next turn, you regain hit points equal to your healing surge value.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Silver Flame's Embrace''', a Daily Utility which lets you enter a stance as an Immediate Reaction to being bloodied by an enemy. In this stance, you gain +2 to all defenses and saving throws, and whenever an enemy hits you with a melee attack, it must succeed on a saving throw or become blinded until the start of its next turn.

Your 30th level feature is '''Wrath of the Silver Flame''', which causes your Radiant attack powers to deal +2d6 Fire damage and your Fire attack powers to deal +2d6 Radiant damage.

====Reborn Champion====
This is not the first life that you have lived. You achieved great things - if not necessarily virtuous ones - in your first life. Guided by the memory of who you was, you once more walk the path to greatness as a '''Reborn Champion'''. In [[Eberron]], you are probably one of the champion-clones crafted by Mordain the Fleshweaver, and probably spent your childhood (or what passed for it) hidden in the village of Dolurrh's Dawn with other such clones and guarded from the hostile world by the Forest of Flesh... or perhaps you were brought back by the [[Draconic Prophecy]] itself. On other worlds, who knows what brought you back from the dead; a divine blessing, a loose stitch in the fabric of destiny, a curse, perhaps your own will. Whatever the cause, the reality is that you are here. And when you have achieved your goals, and faded from the world's eye, who knows? You already cheated death at least once: maybe you will return again...

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Dragon #365''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level feature is '''Deeds of Song and Story''', which lets you replace the results of a skill check with a 20 three times per day.

Your 24th level feature is '''Legends Never Die''', which replaces the Death Saving Throw table from the PHB with this alternative one:
::7 or less: You slip one step closer to death. If you get this result four times before you take a rest, you die.
::8-17: No change.
::18+: Spend a healing surge. When you do so, you are considered to have 0 hit points, and then your healing surge restores hit points as normal. You are no longer dying, and you are conscious but still prone. If you roll 18 or higher but have no healing surges left, your condition doesn’t change.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Stance of Legend''', a Daily Utility which lets you enter a stance as a Minor Action. In this stance, you gain a +2 bonus to all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks and saving throws. You can end this stance at any time during your turn as a free action, which lets you either regain your healing surge value in hit points or end all "save ends" conditions you are under.

Your 30th level feature is '''Legendary Action''', which lets you take an extra standard action as a free action whenever you score a critical hit on your turn.

====Heir of Siberys====
[[Dragonmark]]s are the building blocks from which the [[demihuman]] peoples of [[Eberron]] have risen to their present glory. But not all Dragonmarks are created equal. Some souls are chosen by destiny to bear the Dragonmarks of Siberys; the greatest and most powerful versions of all Dragonmarks. Often, these individuals were not originally marked, but found the mark coming to them when they became the individual that destiny required them to be. No wonder then that these individuals are considered the '''Heirs of Siberys''', for their very existence is intertwined with the [[Draconic Prophecy]]. And perhaps this life shall not be their last...

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Dragon #388''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level features are '''Blessing of Siberys''', which grants you +2 to two ability scores of your choice, and '''Will of Siberys''', which grants you a cumulative +2 bonus to saving throws each time that you fail a saving throw against an effect with the "save ends" trait. This bonus is lost when you do end that effect.

Your 24th level feature is '''Lifeblood of Siberys''', which lets you spend 2 healing surges once per day when you are either reduced to 0 hit points or fail a death saving throw.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Siberys Mark''', which grants you a single Siberys [[Dragonmark]] of your choice. All Siberys Dragonmarks are Daily Utility powers.
* '''Siberys Mark of Detection:''' Grant yourself Blindsight 10 until the encounter's end as a minor action.
* '''Siberys Mark of Finding:''' Target one creature within 20 squares as a minor action. Until the end of the encounter, the target grants combat advantage to you. Your attacks against the target deal 1d6 extra damage. The target does not benefit from cover or concealment against you as long as you can see the target, and you know the target’s precise location. If the target is more than 3 squares away from you at the start of your turn, you can teleport to any square within 5 squares of the target as a move action.
* '''Siberys Mark of Handling:''' Invoke this power as a standard action to grant yourself a bonus standard action for each turn until the encounter's end, which can only be used to use an at-will beast power, command a summoned creature, or grant your mount an attack.
* '''Siberys Mark of Healing:''' Invoke this power as a minor action to let yourself and each ally within a close burst 10 regain hit points as if you'd spent 2 healing surges (3 healing surges if bloodied).
* '''Siberys Mark of Hospitality:''' Invoke this power as a standard action to create a zone in a close burst 2, which lasts until encounter's end or until you move. You and all allies within this zone gain +2 to all defenses and regain +20 HP when spending a healing surge. Allies can use a move action to teleport 10 squares to any square within the zone.
* '''Siberys Mark of Making:''' Invoke this power as a minor action to automatically sustain all "minor action sustains" powers that you cast until encounter's end. After using this power, your powers will sustain themselves even if you are stunned or unconscious.
* '''Siberys Mark of Passage:''' As a move action, you can teleport 20 squares to any destination that you like; all allies adjacent to your starting position can choose to teleport to a square adjacent to your new location.
* '''Siberys Mark of Scribing:''' Invoke this power as a Standard Action to create a zone with an area of burst 1 within 10 squares. All enemies within this zone gain Vulnerable 10 against all damage and your allies can score critical hits against them on a natural attack roll of 19-20. The zone lasts until the end of the encounter.
* '''Siberys Mark of Sentinel:''' Invoke this power as a Minor Action to grant yourself +5 to your Will defense and automatically succeed on saves against charm effects, both traits lasting until the encounter's end.
* '''Siberys Mark of Shadow:''' Invoke this power as a minor action to become invisible to any creature that you have cover or concealment from until the end of the encounter.
* '''Siberys Mark of Storm:''' Invoke this power as a Standard action to create a Zone in a close burst 3 that lasts until the end of the encounter. The zone is difficult terrain for creatures on the ground. When a creature flies to a square within the zone, you can slide that creature a number of squares equal to its fly speed as an opportunity action, and then its movement ends. You can fly your speed and hover while within the zone. In addition, thunder and lightning attacks deal 1d10 extra damage against targets within the zone.
* '''Siberys Mark of Warding:''' Invoke this power as a Standard action to create a Zone in a close burst 3 that lasts until the end of your next turn (sustain minor). Enemies cannot enter this zone, and allies gain a +2 bonus to all defenses while within the zone, but the zone ends if a creature inside of it attacks a creature outside of it.

Your 30th level feature is '''Speaker of Prophecy''', which means that when you use an encounter attack power and miss all targets, that power is not expended.

===Dark Sun===
====Avangion====
Such is your dedication to the art of preserving that you have managed to find a place amongst the [[Primal Spirits]] themselves, who welcome you as true kin. Through their power, you ascend into a form of goodly magic and life incarnate, a champion of the preserver's call dedicated to undoing the destructive touch of defiling magic and a symbol of hope that Athas can be restored.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Dark Sun Campaign Setting''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level'' and belong to an ''Arcane Class''.

Your 21st level features are '''Avatar of Preservation''', which means you can no longer use the Arcane Defiling ability but you cease aging and gain a bonus to death saving throws equal to half your highest ability score modifier, and '''Perfection of Mind''', which means that any two of your Mental Stats that you select (Int, Wis, Cha) increases by +2 each.

Your 24th level feature is '''Avangion Transformation''', which grants you low-light vision, a fly speed equal to your speed, and the abilities to speak Supernal and to understand all spoken and written languages. Furthermore, as a free action, you can illuminate all squares within 5 squares of you with bright light; whilst you are glowing in this fashion, all of your attacks count as Radiant damage in addition to their normal damage type(s).

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Wings of Gold''', a Daily Utility which lets you create a zone within a close burst 5 that lasts until the end of the encounter and moves with you. Within this zone, all enemies with Vulnerability (Radiant) have Vulnerability (All) instead. Additionally, all allies that start their turn within this zone can make a save to end an effect on them, even if it is not a "save ends" effect, and if they are bloodied or dying they regain 10 hit points.

Your 30th level feature is '''Avangion Rising''', which lets you spend a healing surge as a free action whenever an ally that you can see drops to 0 hit points in order to heal that character an amount equal to your healing surge value plus your highest ability modifier.

====Dragon King====
Embracing the power of defiling magic, you take it to its ultimate conclusion and begin the process of ascending into an [[Athasian Dragon]]. Should you survive long enough to complete your metamorphosis, the world will tremble at your will, for it shall become your plaything - let the petty Sorcerer-Kings beware.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Dark Sun Campaign Setting''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''

Your 21st level feature are '''Skin of the Dragon''', which grants you low-light vision, +2 to Intimidate checks, +5 max HP and increases your healing surge value by your Constitution modifier, and '''Draconian Defilement''', which means Arcane Defiling now grants a +2 bonus when used to reroll attack rolls and a +6 bonus when used to reroll damage rolls.

Your 24th level feature is '''Draconic Transformation''', which grants you a Fly Speed of 8, the ability to speak Draconic, and a +2 to two ability scores of your choice chosen from Intelligence, Strength and Constititon.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Draconic Rampage''', a Daily Utility that lets you assume the form of a rampaging Athasian Dragon until the encounter ends. In this form, your size increases to Large, you gain 10 temporary HP whenever a non-minion creature within 10 squares of you drops to 0 HP, and you can make a melee 1 attack (primary ability score vs. reflex) as an immediate reaction whenever an enemy willingly enters a square adjacent to you; on a hit, that enemy takes 2d8 + ability modifier damage and is knocked prone.

Your 30th level feature is '''Draconic Terror''', which grants you access to the Scathing Breath encounter attack power (Standard, Arcane/Fire/Implement, targets all creatures in a close blast 5, attacks with primary ability score vs. Reflex, on a hit does 4d8 + ability modifier fire damage and blinds the target until the end of its next turn) and also lets you use Draconic Rampage as an encounter power without expending its daily usage. When used as an encounter power, though, Draconic Rampage lasts until the end of your next turn.

====Hordemaster====
Rejecting the lies and corruption of civilization, you become the ultimate champion of freedom; brutal and ruthless perhaps, but certainly cleaner and purer than the taint fostered by the Sorcerer-Kings. Assuming that you do not fall in battle, your actions shall reshape the Tablelands - for good, or for ill...

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Dark Sun Campaign Setting''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level''.

Your 21st level features are '''Horde Champion''', which grants you +2 to two ability scores of your choice, and '''Swarming Followers''', which means that when you are adjacent to an enemy, any ally that starts their turn adjacent to that enemy can shift 1 square as a minor action during that turn.

Your 24th level feature is '''The Legend Lives On''', which means that if you die and are not revived within 12 hours, one of your followers takes your place - this follower is identical to you in all mechanical details, and can be played as if they were you until and unless you are resurrected.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Persisting Command''', a Daily Utility that lets you create a zone in a close burst 5 that moves with you and lasts until the end of the encounter as a minor action. In this zone, all allies gain +2 to saving throws and double their healing surge value when they spend healing surges to regain health.

Your 30th level feature is '''Horde Attack''', which means that once per encounter, when you or an ally within 5 squares of you is bloodied, you and all allies within 5 squares of you can use an at-will attack as a free action.

====Mind Lord of the Order====
Through your mastery of psionic powers, you have caught the attention of the Order; a mysterious cabal of master psionicists who strive to guard the powers of the mind and keep them from being abused, lest they become as much a tool of evil as arcane magic ever was. For the sake of knowledge, if nothing else, you at least pay lip service to this cabal and allow yourself to be counted as one of its members. Whether you will stay loyal to their passive preservation of the status quo, or strike out to attain a greater goal, such as the toppling of the Sorcerer-Kings and the scourging of arcane magic entirely, well, that's up to you.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Dark Sun Campaign Setting''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level'' and belong to a ''Psionic Class that uses Power Points ([[Ardent]], [[Battlemind]], [[Psion]])''.

Your 21st level features are '''Ordered Enlightenment''', which grants you +2 Intelligence and +2 Wisdom, and '''Mind Lord's Armor''', which grants you Resistance (Psychic) 15.

Your 24th level feature is '''Mind Lord's Projection''', which lets you project your mind into the body of a willing ally within 10 squares of you whenever you drop to 0 HP or fewer. Whilst you are riding in a host's body, you ignore any effects that you were under when in your own body, but are subject to any effects that your host is under (except for damage). If your host body dies, you can project yourself into another willing host within 10 squares of the dying host. Whilst possessing another, you occupy their space but can continue to fight as yourself; you even retain the benefit of your magic items, but you cannot trigger their powers. However, you are still tethered to your original body, which is still taking damage and making death save throws as normal whilst you possess another; if it dies, you die, and if it is healed, you return to your own body.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Synchronous Minds''', which lets you spend a minor action to affect all allies within a close burst 10; these allies can immediately use an opportunity action to take a standard action, although you decide the order in which they act, and you and the targets gain telepathy 10 until the encounter's end, which can only be used to communicate with each other.

Your 30th level feature is '''Psionic Reservoir''', which causes you to regain 6 power points the first time that you start your turn without any power points during an encounter.

====Pyreen====
Kin to the [[Primal Spirits]] in some distant way, the [[Pyreen]] are the guardians of life and the preservers of nature, seeking to topple the Sorcerer-Kings and breathe life back into a world ravaged by black magic and war. Such is your affinity for the primal magics that the Spirits have rewarded you by transforming you into one of these eternal custodians. Perhaps you will find a place to claim as your own and slowly guide it back to true life again - or maybe you shall accomplish what others only dream of and throw down the Sorcerer-Kings, topple their corrupt cities, and guide the birth of new civilizations that will shed the dark lineage of the past.

This Epic Destiny appeared in the ''Dark Sun Campaign Setting''. To qualify for it, you need to be ''21st level'' and belong to a ''Primal Class or a Primal Theme''.

Your 21st level features are '''Child of All Races''', which lets you speak and understand all languages and roll twice & choose your preferred result when you make a Diplomacy or Insight check, as well as causing you to cease to age, and '''Strong in Mind and Spirit''', which lets you boost any two of your Mental Ability Scores (Int, Wis, Cha) by +2.

Your 24th level feature is '''Resurgent Spirit''', which lets you react to dropping to 0 hit points by regaining HP equal to your bloodied value and becoming insubstantial until encounter's end at the start of your next turn. You can benefit from this feature once per day.

Your 26th level Utility Power is '''Rejuvenate the Land''', a Daily Utility which can be activated as a minor action. It affects all allies in a close burst 5, and each target can choose to lose 1 or 2 healing surges. For each healing surge lost in this manner, one target regains hit points as though they had spent a healing surge and can make a saving throw against one "save ends" effect. Additionally, the targeted area becomes a zone that lasts until the end of your next turn (sustain minor); enemies treat this zone as difficult terrain and allies that end their turn in it regain 10 hit points and gain a +2 bonus to any saving throws until the start of their next turn.

Your 30th level feature is '''Pyreen's Restoration''', which means that any ally which starts their turn adjacent to you can immediately make a saving throw against one "save ends" effect they are suffering; if they fail their saving throw, you can transfer that affliction to yourself as a free action.

==Racial Epic Destinies==
These Epic Destinies, like their equivalent Paragon Paths, are only open to members of a specific race.

====Avatar of [[Io]]====
Though Io was regarded as having broken into two halves, [[Bahamut]] and [[Tiamat]], with only fragments being eaten by the Primordial Erek-Hus, there exists a sliver of Io's mind, hidden away from reality, that awaits for the time that the dragon god could return into being. Dragonborn, being the spawn of true dragons, are the ideal hosts for this shard. Though this shard is but an echo of the true power of Io, perhaps given enough time it will gather enough power to resurrect a god.

This Epic Destiny is found in ''Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn '' and is open to ''[[Dragonborn]] only''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Draconic Incarnation'' feature, giving +2 to Strength and Charisma only. You'd best hope that at least one of those scores is needed by your class

At 24th level, you gain the ''Wings of Io'' feature. You now have a hovering fly speed of 8 squares.

At 26th level, you have the '''Divine Resistance''' encounter utility power, letting you make a saving throw the instant you get affected by something.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Divine Discorporation'' feature. Once per day when you die with at least one healing surge, you can make a saving throw each turn, with a success spending a healing surge and bringing you back to life.

====Disincarnate====
While a [[Deva]] is able to reincarnate after death, there is a rule that says that those who die with a wicked soul or who die a nasty death are damned to become [[rakshasa]] in their next life. A '''Disincarnate''' is able to see past all these coming lives and understand their last incarnation as a bodiless entity floating through the spirit realm. By harnessing this power, they can not only determine how their lives will be now, but they can also shape how their futures will become by peering into the countless lifetimes they have lived and will live.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #385 in the "Winning Races: Deva" article and is available to ''Devas with the Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes Racial Power''

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Certain Destiny'' feature, granting +2 to Wisdom and +2 to another ability score of your choosing. You also get the '''Deceptive Veil''' at-will power, letting you disguise yourself as any humanoid with a bluff check to foil scrutiny, and the ''Fate Manipulation'' to expend Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes when an enemy makes a roll and subtract that roll by the die the power would have used.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Bodiless Dreaming'' feature. Once per day when you die, you return with HP equal to your bloodied value and get insubstantial, phasing, and a hovering fly speed equal to your land speed. You can also re-roll the die given by Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes. Once you finish a short rest, you become material again.

At 26th level, you get the '''Rakshasa Incarnation''' daily utility power. This transforms you into a rakshasa with darkvision and +6 unarmed attacks with +3 proficiency, 1d10 damage with high crit, while crits deal +5d6 extra damage. You also have an exclusive daily ranged attack that makes the enemy take one free attack against another enemy.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Fate of the Fallen Star'' feature, rendering you immune to radiant and necrotic damage as well as letting you select any result for a death save.

====Free Soul====
Though a [[Revenant]] can be brought back to life for a purpose, that does not mean that they will be forever bound to that purpose. Some of those half-dead entities manage to accomplish the impossible and reclaim their souls and destinies from that which chained them (normally the [[Raven Queen]]) and now they are forever '''Free Souls''', beyond the reach of time and death. No god or primordial can contest this fact, as now this soul can show up whenever they wish with no telling where their loyalties lie.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #376. in the article "Playing Revenants", and is open to ''[[Revenant]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the remarkable ''Destiny Claimed'' feature, preventing you from being forced to any re-rolls while allowing any re-rolls you make to always take the higher.

At 24th level, you get the ''Fate Denied'' feature. If you get stuck with a condition, you can make a free saving throw that prevents its condition from affecting you.

At 26th level, you get the '''Escape Fate''' daily utility power. You can re-roll a bad saving throw and now you can re-roll any future saves that you might need to make for the encounter.

At 30th level, you get the ''Twist Fate'' feature, letting you use the effect you saved with ''Fate Denied'' and inflict it upon whoever placed it on you.

====God-Emperor====
Unrelated to [[Emperor of Mankind|this guy]], though it does have a similarity in that this requires a man to reunite the scattered tribes of humanity into a single empire, greater than even Nerath. Though far from any supernatural entity, this '''God-Emperor''' is revered no less by their followers and is considered the heart of their empire. As time passes, it becomes ever clearer that their influence has become so great that their presence everywhere their empire reaches.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] 411 in the "Quests for Humanity" article and is available to ''[[Humans]]''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Gifted Ruler'' feature, granting +2 to two ability scores of your choice.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Unquenchable Spirit'' feature, giving you an immediate heal from 0 HP to your bloodied value once each day.

At 26th level, you have the '''The Sovereign Will''' encounter utility power. This gives an aura 2 that makes any diplomacy check taken within it count as a natural 20.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Your Protective Wing'' feature, immediately teleporting any dying ally to your side.

====Heir to the Empire====
[[Bael Turath]]'s fall was the fault of the proud and arrogant ancestors of the [[tiefling]]s who did not realize the true power they possessed. The true '''Heir to the Empire''' realizes that a kingdom ruled by fear and darkness cannot thrive, but one founded upon justice and liberty can. This new Bael Turath will not be the plaything of the devils that destroyed it before, but it will become even greater as it rises from those ashes.

This Epic Destiny appeared in "Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings" and is available only to ''[[Tiefling]]s''.

At 21st level, you have the ''Born to Rule'' feature, gaining +2 to Intelligence and Charisma while also gaining a +2 to diplomacy, insight, and intimidate checks.

At 24th level, you get the ''Imperial Wrath'' feature. Targets of your Infernal Wrath racial power are now dazed and prone.

At 26th level, you have the '''Ruler of Life and Death''' encounter utility power. This takes a dying non-minion enemy, gives them 1 HP and 30+Charisma score THP while also rendering them save-ends dominated. Every time they fail a save, they gain 20 more THP, but if they save...well, they're back to being dead.

At 30th level, you acquire the ''Irresistible Will of the Empire'' feature, making the first enemy who hits you in melee each encounter dominated for a turn.

====Raven Consort====
The [[Shadar-kai]] love and admire one deity above all others; the [[Raven Queen]]. Bound to her by ancient pacts, they continue to serve out of genuine faith in her preachings. To become a Sorrowsworn, one of her divine minions, is a right that countless shadar-kai vie to achieve - and some have loftier goals than that. '''Raven Consorts''' desire to achieve the greatest ranks of the Raven Queen's exarches, or even to become her lover. And some hold darker ambitions than that - those who wish to win her icy heart so they may become the power behind the throne... or those who wish to topple her and take her place, as she did unto [[Nerull]] in the ancient times of the [[Dawn War]].

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Playing Shadar-kai", and is open to ''[[Shadar-kai]] who worship the [[Raven Queen]]''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Quickened Corpus''' feature, which grants you +2 Constitution, increases your maximum hit points by an amount equal to your new Constitution modifier, and makes you immune to the death penalty suffered after being subjected to the Raise Dead ritual.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Cycle of Life''' feature, which grants you a cumulative +2 bonus to all defenses and saving throws each time you make a death saving throw (these bonuses vanish at encounter's end) and allows you to gain hit points for rolling a 20 on your death saving throw without actually spending a Healing Surge.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Vitality Eternal''' Daily Utility power, which can be used to immediately end all effects you are suffering that have the "save ends" trait.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Death's Companions''' feature, which causes any creature you kill to rise again as a Deathly Companion (treat as a [[Lich]] [[Vestige]] that has been dominated by you), which lasts until the encounter ends.

====Redeemed Drow====
There are those [[drow]] who realize that they truly a wicked race and thus seek to atone for their wrongdoings and reject [[Lolth]]'s claim upon them. As the '''Redeemed Drow''''s deeds gather fame, they gather the attention of better deities who guide them towards even greater acts. Inevitably, the Spider Queen will wish to reclaim this soul and summon her foul legions to fight them. Perhaps, if this soul survives, they may gain a second chance at life.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #367 in the "Children of Darkness" article and is available only to ''[[Drow]]''.

At 21st level, you get the '''Sacred Duty''' feature, letting you spend a healing surge when you kill a spider or demon enemy.

At 24th level, you have the '''Lift Her Touch''' feature, letting you sacrifice your Lolthtouched racial power to recharge another encounter power.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Light of Heaven''' daily utility power. Whenever you are bloodied, you can gain regeneration 15 and summon a bright light with a range of 10 squares that gives allies within it resist necrotic 10.

At 30th level, you have the '''Burden of Redemption'''. When you hit 0 HP once each day, you recover an amount of HP equal to your surge value and get resist 10 all for the rest of the encounter.

====Soul of the World====
While most [[deva]]s are able to recall the memories of their previous incarnations, there are those whose memories stretch far back in their existence, recalling their times as other races and other roles. These '''Souls of the World''' are unique in their recollections, as these memories are not guaranteed to accompany them beyond their current lifetime. Thus, it behooves them to make the most of these vast memories and figure out how best to change the world in a way that they will always remember.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #385 in the "Winning Races: Deva" article and is only available to ''Devas''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Past Spirit'' feature from the Reincarnate Champion (letting you count as one race and stealing a racial power at 21st and 24th level) and the ''Strengthened by the Past'' feature, increasing Intelligence and Wisdom by +2.

At 24th level, you get the ''Knowledge of Ancient Lives'' feature, allowing you to count as a second class when learning or retraining powers.

At 26th level, you have the '''Past Life Manifestation''' daily utility power. When you reach 0 HP, you suddenly get back up to bloodied value and turn into any race and class, gaining a racial power, the class' 22nd level utility power, and a recharge of Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes until your next extended rest.

At 30th level, you get the ''One With All Past Lives'' feature, letting you swap out one encounter attack with an equivalent-level encounter attack from another class each short rest.

====Winter Sovereign====
Amongst the [[Archfey]] of the [[Feywild]], there are many different factions, of which the Winter Fey are only one. Still, the '''Winter Sovereigns''' are [[fey]] beings who yearn for greater power, and they see in the ruthlessly pragmatic Winter Fey's ranks an easier route. By dedication, drive and perhaps assassination, a skilled and lucky fey adventurer may find themselves promoted from a mere agent of the courts of ice and snow to a full-fledged Archfey of winter.

This Epic Destiny is found in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, in the article "Masters of the Planes", and is open to ''any character with the Fey origin ([[Drow]], [[Eladrin]], [[Elf]], [[Gnome]], [[Hamadryad]], [[Hengeyokai]], [[Pixie]], [[Satyr]], [[Svirfneblin]], [[Wilden]]) ''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Lingering Cold''' feature, where enemies you hit with Cold attacks lose their resistance to cold (if any) until the end of your next turn. Enemies you hit with Cold keyword attack powers suffer a -5 penalty to saving throws made to end any effects that these powers create, and gain Vulnerable Cold 15 until the end of your next turn each time they fail a saving throw to end one of these effects.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Winter's Bite''' feature, which lets you designate one daily attack power at the end of each short rest to gain the Cold keyword (for existing elemental attacks, they now do dual-typed damage), as well as teleport 5 squares as a minor action until the end of your next turn whenever you hit at least one target with a power that has the Cold keyword.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Rime Armor''' Daily Utility power, which lets you spend a standard action to gain Immunity to Cold and a +10 power bonus to AC. Each time an enemy attacks you, reduce the power bonus by 1 (by 2 if the attack has the fire keyword). Any time an enemy hits you with a melee attack, the enemy takes 20 cold damage and is slowed until the end of your next turn. This effect lasts until the power bonus falls to +0 or until the end of the encounter.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Frozen in Ice''' feature, which you can use once per day as a free action when a creature fails a saving throw against an effect you caused with a power with the Cold keyword. The target is Restrained (save ends), and if it fails that save, it is instead Petrified. Cosmetically, it's frozen in ice instead of turned to stone, but all other effects of the Petrified condition remain.

==Power Source Epic Destinies==
A large number of Epic Destinies are limited to one of the six available Power Sources in 4e: Martial, Arcane, Divine, Primal, Psionic and Shadow. Some of them are available to all classes within this particular power source, while some are open to only one or two classes.

===Arcane Epic Destinies===
Membership in these Epic Destinies is only open to those who follow the paths of Arcane Magic; [[Artificer]], [[Bard]], [[Sorcerer]], [[Swordmage]], [[Warlock]] or [[Wizard]].

====Arcane Sword====
The '''Arcane Sword''' has become a master of sword and spells. Their sword is now an extension of their body and a channel for their arcane might, and their magic has become a barrier. With nobody left to teach them anything, they have become roaming warriors, learning from the countless battles they encounter and seeking even greater challenges. What becomes of them is ultimately your choice, be it becoming a legendary mentor to future generations or becoming one with their blades and turning into a relic.

This Epic Destiny is from Arcane Power and is ''only open to Swordmages''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Spellsword Recall'' feature, letting you recover a swordmage encounter power any time you spend an action point for an action.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Sword's Vengeance'' feature; this allows your sword to fight in your stead once per day whenever you die, now immune to any attacks and restoring a single HP once the battle is over and a short rest is had - though this hinges upon your body still being there once finished.

At 26th level, you get the '''Massed Aegis''' Encounter Utility power. This is a close burst 2 that marks anyone inside it with your aegis power.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Spellsword Perfection'' feature, turning one swordmage encounter power you have into an at-will.

====Archmage====
The '''Archmage''' is the epitome of [[wizard]]ry, in the eyes of most wizards. They are those wizards whose hunger for power is surpassed by their hunger for knowledge; to learn everything about magic, to touch the demispell - the hyperplanar construct that is the embodiment of all spells that are, were and ever will be - '''that''' is their goal. Through their unparalleled understanding of arcane magic, they learn to wield it with a grace that other wizards can only dream of, ultimately infusing spells into their very flesh. Whether they go on to found isolated studies in the depths of the most inhospitable [[plane]]s, or found wizardry academies, ultimately, the Archmage's understanding will transcend all others, leaving a legacy in the form of spells and rituals that other wizards will wield with respect.

This Epic Destiny is only open to the ''[[Wizard]]'' class and comes from the Player's Handbook 1.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Spell Recall''' feature, which lets you select one spell that you know and have prepared at the beginning of each day; the designated spell can be cast twice that day.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Arcane Spirit''' feature; once per day, when you die, you detach your spirit from your body and become an entity of living magical energy. When you enter arcane spirit form, you heal to your maximum hit points. In this form, you gain the Insubstantial and Phasing qualities, and can cast encounter spells and at-will spells, but you cannot cast daily spells, activate magic items, or perform rituals. At the end of the encounter, you can merge back into your body by completing a short rest; your hit points remain what they were when you were in arcane spirit form, but otherwise you are restored to normal. If your body is destroyed, you will need other magic to return to life, but can continue adventuring as an arcane spirit. If you are slain in arcane spirit form, you

At 26th level, you gain the '''Shape Magic''' Daily Utility Power, which lets you regain one expended arcane power as a standard action.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Archspell''' feature, which lets you designate one Daily spell in your arsenal as your Archspell, which you can cast once per encounter.

====Archlich====
You know the story about how a [[lich]] is made: they begin fearing imminent mortality, they start looking for forbidden texts, and eventually manage to find a way to become an immortal lich. An '''Archlich''' is like those in that way, but have managed to steel their minds enough to not go insane by the process of becoming a lich and their soul has slipped from the grasp of [[Orcus]], much to his frustration. You are now eternal, able to witness the coming and passing of countless things without end.

This epic destiny is available to ''Any Arcane Class'' and is from Arcane Power. Because many of its powers synergize extremely well with running in close and getting stuck in, it works particularly well for the swordmage.

At 21st level, you gain a lot of things: you gain the ''Archlich Knowledge'' feature to get +2 to Intelligence, the ''Archlich Phylactery'' feature, which lets you resurrect whenever you die so long as your phylactery (a small but insanely expensive item with only 40 HP and resist 20 all protecting it) remains intact, the ''Lich Resistances'' feature for resist poison+necrotic equal to 5+half your level, and the ''Shroud of Life and Death'' feature, which makes any living enemy within 3 spaces of you take 5 necrotic damage while any undead within that area takes 5 radiant damage.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Mastery Over Death'' feature, which lets you avoid death once per day by recovering half your HP, but now you cannot use any healing surges and enemies who harm you take 20 ongoing necrotic damage.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Archlich Potency''' Daily Utility power. This enables you to recover one expended arcane fear or necrotic daily or encounter power that you already used while also gaining resist all equal to 5+half your level for the rest of the encounter.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Essence of Undeath'' feature, letting you recover an expended arcane encounter power whenever someone dies within 5 spaces of you.

====Archspell====
During your journeys, you have found that there was always one particular spell that has always served you faithfully. This spell has fascinated you so much that you've delved into the countless intricacies of this spell as you try harder and harder to make this spell even better, even more perfect. Perhaps at the end of your journey, you might even become inseparable from that beloved spell - now anyone who uses it will know your name.

This epic destiny appears in Arcane Power and is available to ''Any Arcane Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Signature Spell'' feature, which has you select one arcane daily attack power you know to gain +2 to attack with it.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Returning Spell'' feature, which halts your death by recovering you to half your maximum HP and recharging your signature spell if it was used.

At 26th level, you get the '''Channel the Signature''' Encounter Utility power, giving you resist 15 all until you either use your signature spell or until the battle ends.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Living Spell'' feature, turning your signature spell into an encounter power.

====Draconic Incarnation====
In the ancient days of the world, it was the [[dragon]]s who first pioneered and mastered the arts of [[magic]], honing their power over the arcane in an age when the [[elf]] and [[dwarf]] empires were new. But the heights they pushed magic to have been all but lost; it is unknown if the dragon magic were [[Arcane Dragon|an entirely separate breed of wyrm]] or if they were taken from the ranks of the [[Chromatic Dragon|familiar]] [[Metallic Dragon|breeds]], but they were jealous and possessive beings, who hoarded their spells and refused to teach them to younger dragons, causing the extinction of their art. A '''Draconic Incarnation''' is a mortal arcanist who has a connection to these lost dragon-magi; a reincarnation of one such creature, most likely, or perhaps guided by an ancient dragon-mage spirit through spells they have unearthed. Those who survive to master this art will be reborn, transcending their humanoid origins and being reshaped into dragons in turn.

This epic destiny appeared in the article "Old Souls: Heroes of Legend Reborn" in Dragon #388, and is open to ''Any Arcane Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Ancient Resurgence''' feature, which grants you +2 to either Intelligence or Charisma, +2 to one other ability score of your choice, and the ability to fluently speak, read and write draconic.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Spirit of the Dragon''' feature; Once per day when you die, the spirit of the ancient dragon within you surges forth to defend your body long enough to resurrect you from the dead. This draconic spirit is under your control and has all of the same statistics and abilities as you, except as follows: the draconic spirit is size Large, has your maximum hit points, and is both insubstantial and has phasing. The draconic spirit shares your powers and abilities (it does not have a pool of powers of its own), and it can use your magic items as though it was wielding them, including weapons and implements. At the end of the encounter, if the draconic spirit has any hit points remaining, the spirit disperses and at the end of a short rest you return to life with 1 hit point. If your body is destroyed, the draconic spirit cannot resurrect you.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Draconic Form''' Daily Utility power. This lets you polymorph yourself as a minor action, shifting into the form of a Huge dragon until the end of the encounter. In this form, your Reach increases to 3 squares, you gain a Fly speed equal to your Speed +2, and you can use Dragon Mage Breath as an at-will attack power. This is a Standard Action close blast 5 attack that targets all enemies in the area of effect, making an attack roll based on your highest ability modifier +9 vs. Reflex and doing 3d8 + your highest ability modifier Fire and Force damage on a hit.

Finally, at 30th level, you gain the '''Ancient Arcanist''' feature, which lets you take 2 level 25 (or lower, but why would you bother?) Daily Attack powers from any Arcane class and add them to your list of powers.

====Fatesinger====
During [[Dawn War]], it was said that the heralds of the gods used music to inspire humans to heroism. In particular, there was one song that pushed humanity to turn the tides of the war, and this song - known as the Song of Heroes - still lingers around to this day. '''Fatesingers''' are those who have studied bits of this ancient melody and are even able to channel its power to inspire acts of legendary greatness, seeking to complete this powerful song and become one with it.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 2 and and is exclusive to ''[[Bard]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Destiny Fulfilled'' feature, letting you spend an action point to allow an ally within 20 squares to make an attack in your stead and recover it on a successful hit.

At 24th level, you get the ''Fate's Clarity'' feature. This allows the target of your Majestic Word to re-roll any checks until the end of next turn.

At 26th level, you have the '''Fragment of the Song''' daily utility power. This creates a burst 5 zone that lets allies inside it spend an action point for two free actions.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Heroic Inspiration'' feature, allowing an ally within 5 squares who spends an action point to spend a healing surge as a free action.

====Feyliege====
Those who master magic and gain the recognition of the fey become '''Feylieges'''. They are now lords of the Feywild, vested with the duty to protect it from threats - even if this threat were to come from the past. Their ultimate fate may perhaps lie in the Feywild, either as a member of the fabled Court of Stars or as another Lord, or they may perhaps remain a wanderer of great power.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Arcane Power and is available to ''Any Arcane Class as a [[Half-Elf]], a Race with Fey Origin ([[Drow]], [[Elf]], [[Eladrin]], [[Gnome]], Hamadryad), or a [[Warlock]] with the Fey Pact''.

At 21st level, you have the ''Feywild Charm'' feature add +2 to Charisma.

At 24th level, you get the ''Eternal King on an Eternal Throne'' feature. Once per day when you die, a future self appears at your bloodied value with concealment for the rest of the fight. After that fight, you can raise your current self or continue your adventure as your future self if the present self isn't possible.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Shields of the Eladrin Host''' encounter utility power. Whenever you or an ally within 5 squares gets hit, all allies within close burst 5 gains +4 to AC and Reflex and then lets anyone in the aura swap places with anyone else.

At 30th level, you have the ''Dominion of the Mind'' feature, allowing you to dominate until the end of the next turn when you crit with an arcane charm attack.

====Immanence====
Magic isn't about the fancy words or the implements, it's not even about the various signs that pervade spellbooks. The '''Immanence''' realizes the truth about magic: it's all about the transfer of power. This special power can be converted to be anything, from magic to living beings to even the cosmos itself, and the end goal is to figure out this unifying energy and become it.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Arcane Power and is open to ''Any Arcane Class''.

At 21st level, you're granted the ''Immanence Variable Resistance'' feature, which gives you resistance 20 against the type you are first hit with in the encounter.

At 24th level, you have the ''Spirit of Energy'' feature. This lets you cheat death once a day by recovering half your max HP and turning you insubstantial and phasing until you heal up from a party member or take a short rest.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Vary Resistance''' encounter utility power, letting you change the type of your variable resistance.

At 30th level, you have ''Shared Resistances'', giving allies adjacent to you all of your resistances and immunities.

====Lord of Fate====
Those who delve deep enough into their research come to realize a single truth: There is a grand cosmic balance to all things. These '''Lords of Fate''' embrace this balance and thus become champions who preserve it by any means. They know that all chaos must be brought to level with order and that no one single force can be allowed to dominate in a way that might trigger [[Stupid Neutral]] tendencies.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Arcane Power and is available to ''Any Arcane Class with an Unaligned Alignment''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Turnabout'' feature. This allows you to designate one target at the start of an encounter as a target. Whenever they inflict a condition on an ally, you can inflict that condition right back at them.

At 24th level, you have the ''Balanced Sum'' feature, letting you return from 0 HP with HP equal to your Healing Surge and THP equal to the damage that dropped you to 0 HP.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Golden Mean''' daily utility power. This allows you to spread an aura that makes all within it act as if they rolled a 10 for any checks. Though this aura can be sustained, its range shrinks each turn until it expires entirely.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Fulcrum of Power'' feature, making an enemy who hits you with a recharge power incapable of recharging that power until you attack them.

====Magister====
As one becomes more adept at the arcane, it comes to pass that one may become regarded as the foremost experts in magic. This is a '''Magister''', one who has studied from the greatest magicians of all time, someone who has practiced so much and so effectively that the power they wield slowly inches them closer to something that might be more than mortal. This secret promises to bridge together every single type of magic and open a great and endless destiny.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Arcane Power and is available to ''Any Arcane Class''.

At 21st level, you attain the ''Magic's Flow'' feature, which gives you a +4 to any defenses an arcane encounter or daily power you use targets, and the ''Magister's Knack'' feature, giving +2 to an ability score of your choosing.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Return of the Magister'' feature. Once per day, when you hit 0 HP, you teleport 10 squares, spend a healing surge, and roll saving throws against every effect you have.

At 28th level, you reach the '''Magister's Key''' daily utility power, restoring one item daily power.

At 30th level, you have the ''Magic's Master'' feature. Twice daily, you can perform a ritual as a standard action so long as it does not impact an enemy.

====Parable====
In the pursuit of knowledge, there might come a point where a '''Parable''' starts realizing how reality is truly relative. They begin peering further into the secrets of reality, finding out how the many laws of physics and divinity are ultimately just tales told enough times that they became concrete and immutable. By narrating their own personal narrative, they seek to bend these stories to better suit their ends and, ultimately, find the origin story that wrote all of reality and become the editor of that first tale.

This Epic Destiny is from Arcane Power and is exclusive to ''[[Wizard]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''As If Illusion'' feature, letting you ignore any difficult terrain you encounter.

At 24th level, you get the ''Never Really There'' feature, which negates any damage any missed attacks might deal.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Figment Step''' encounter utility power, letting you negate any attack that hits you and allows you to teleport away from it, though the power that triggered this does not count as expended.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Life's Illusion'' feature, letting you immediately respawn after dying with full health once per day.

====Sage of Ages====
Knowledge is power. Everything can be broken down and explained, and the '''Sage of Ages''' is one such individual who has managed to understand practically everything. They can even comprehend destiny itself and once they have, they become some of the greatest repositories of knowledge in existence, so valuable even gods seek out their aid.

This Epic Destiny is from Arcane Power and is available to ''Any Arcane Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Paragon of Learning'' feature, granting +6 to arcana, dungeoneering, history, nature, and religion checks.

At 24th level, you get the ''Keeper's Presence'' feature. You can now roll a d20 at the start of the encounter and replace one roll with that dice during your first turn.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Trick of Knowledge''' encounter utility power. This lets you roll an arcana check for a special result based upon what the result of your roll is.
::30 or lower: No effect
::31–35: +5 bonus to saving throws
::36–40: +2 bonus to all defenses
::41–45: +2 bonus to attack rolls with arcane powers
::46–50: Make saving throws at the start of your turn instead of the end of your turn
::51–55: Pick two benefits you can gain from a roll of 31 through 50
::56–60: Pick three benefits you can gain from a roll of 31 through 50
::61 or higher: Gain all four benefits you can gain from a roll of 31 through 50

At 30th level, you gain the ''Reverse Time'' feature. Once per day, you can go from dead to full HP while also moving your initiative so you go right after whoever killed you.

====Witch Queen====
The '''Witch Queen''' (or Witch King) is a being of such immense power that they realize their magic being an innate power rather than being fueled by something else. This merges the three aspects of the [[Witch]]: the Witch themselves, their familiar, and their powers. By merging these aspects, they become as powerful as the very patrons who bestowed them their power, and at some point they may become patrons of their own.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Heroes of the Feywild and is exclusive to ''[[Wizard]]s''.

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Witch Apotheosis'' feature. At any point where you die while your familiar still lives, your familiar snatches up your spirit and runs away. One day later, you'll just show up near one of your allies.

At 24th level, you have the ''Witch Queen's Presence'' feature. Using your Second Wind gives you Resist all 15 and a +5 bonus to saving throws until the end of your next turn.

At 26th level, you gain the '''True Prophecy''' daily utility power, a non-combat ability that gives one member of your party a +2 to initiative, defenses, and skill rolls until the end of your next encounter.

At 30th level, you get the ''Mastery of the Gift'' power, letting you swap and encounter attack power with one of equal level or lower each short rest.

===Divine Epic Destinies===
Membership in these Epic Destinies is only open to those who follow the paths of Divine Magic; [[Avenger]], [[Cleric]], [[Invoker]], [[Paladin]], or [[Runepriest]].

====Avatar of Death====
By this point, the mortal who reveres a god of death ceases to be a mere mortal. They become an '''Avatar of Death''', a mortal vessel containing the divine power of their deathly god. These deities care little about the concepts that may have driven them before, for all is rendered meaningless in the face of death. Inevitably, even this shell will expire and the power they have housed will return to its rightful place inside their revered deity.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is open to ''Any Divine Class with the Death Knell feat''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Death Comes to All'' feature, making powers ignore up to 20 necrotic resistance, and the ''Foresight of Mortality'' feature, giving +2 to Intelligence and Wisdom.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Deadly Revival'' feature. Once per day, you rise from the dead with your HP restored to your bloodied value and all enemies within 10 squares of you get vulnerable 15 necrotic until the end of your next turn.

At 26th level, you have the '''Inevitable Death''' daily utility power. All enemies within 10 squares are now in a save-ends curse that deals vulnerable 10 all and renders them unable to heal or regenerate.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Harbinger of Demise'' feature, instantly killing anyone adjacent to you with less than 25 HP.

====Avatar of Freedom====
Those who exemplify and espouse their deity's tenets of liberation and freedom against any opposition may in fact be an '''Avatar of Freedom''', a mortal incarnation of their god of freedom. Their battles against the tyrants and enslavers will never end, but now they have the power to take on and topple even greater threats than before. Even at the end, when they return to their deity form, their journeys will resume in their quest to liberate.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is open to ''Any Divine Class with the Path of Freedom feat''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Freedom of Mind and Body'' feat, gaining +2 to Dexterity and Wisdom, and the ''Liberate the Mind'' feature, giving +2 to saving throws against immobilization, domination, restraining, and slowing.

At 24th level, you get the ''Liberating Revival'' feature. Once per day, this returns you from dying to bloodied value and immediately ends any dominating, restraining, or immobilizing effects on allies within 10 squares.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Broken Chains''' daily utility power. This is a stance that lets any ally within 5 squares make a saving throw at the start of their turn.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Agent of Freedom'' feature. This renders you immune to dominate, immobilize, restrain, slow, and petrify effects. You also ignore difficult terrain and can shift your full speed as a move action.

====Avatar of Hope====
Those who have become mortal aspects of inspiration and optimism are the '''Avatars of Hope'''. These are the champions who stride into a world filled with misery and bleakness and act as a beacon of light for people to reach towards. As their legend grows, so will their undying reputation as an uplifting figure.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Character with the Hope Remains Feat''.

At 21st level, the features you get are ''Undaunted Will'', adding +2 to Wisdom and Charisma, and ''Indomitable Courage'', which renders you immune to fear and lets allies within 5 squares of you take +1 to saving throws.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Hopeful Revival'' feature, giving you a daily ability to turn from dying to bloodied and giving allies within 10 squares 20 THP.

At 26th level, you get the '''Elevate the Spirit''' daily utility power. This is a sustainable conjuration that raises a movable angelic figure that grants those in its space immunity to dominated effects (even immediately ending those in effect) and a +4 bonus to all defenses.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Triumph of the Heart'' feature, letting you give an ally a natural 20 once per day.

====Avatar of Justice====
When one becomes an '''Avatar of Justice''', they become the embodiment of the very concept of justice. In the coming years, their name will be forever remembered as a mighty ally of justice who fought against wickedness. Even as they eventually reunite with the god they descended from, these avatars will forever be remembered as champions of the just.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Class with the Immediate Justice feat''.

At 21st level, you get both the ''Justice's Mind'' feature, adding +2 to Intelligence and Wisdom, and the ''Just Consequence'' feature, giving an ally a +1 bonus to hit an enemy who hurt you or an ally adjacent to you.

At 24th level, you have the ''Just Revival'' feature, sending you from dying to bloodied and giving allies within 10 squares +2 to hit with their next attack while allies take -2 to hit with their attacks.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Word of Undoing''' daily utility power. This attack negates the damage one ally makes and makes them gain HP equal to the damage they would have taken.

At 30th level, you get the ''Instant Retribution'' feature, making any enemy who crits within 5 squares of you take an equal amount of damage compared to what they dealt.

====Avatar of Life====
The '''Avatar of Life''' is both the mortal warrior who seeks to protect life as they can as well as the deity who breathed life into the world. This particular union grants a peculiar perspective about the value of mortal lives, but it will not prevent them from taking part in a battle if the greater good is at risk.

This Epic Destiny appears in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Class with the Pulse of Life Feat''.

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Life's Wisdom'' feature, adding +2 to Constitution and Wisdom, and the ''Unfettered Durability'' feature, letting an ally make a saving throw any time you roll a nat 20 on a save.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Vital Revival'' feature, raising you from the dead at your bloodied HP value and letting all allies within 10 square take a Healing Surge.

At 26th level, you have the '''Font of Life''' daily utility power, giving you and allies within close burst 2 a regen value equal to 5+Wisdom Modifier for the encounter.

At 30th level, you get the ''Persistence of Life'' feature, letting you and allies within 5 squares take a healing surge as a minor action (or free if you could already do so as a minor action) and lets anyone recover double the amount for doing so.

====Avatar of Storm====
Those who become an '''Avatar of Storm''' are those whose very beings resonate with the forces of lightning and thunder. They will seek to travel the earth for however long they may last as an inspiration to allies and a threat to foes.

This Epic Destiny appears in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Class with the Storm Sacrifice Feat''.

At 21st level, you attain both the ''Storm Hand'' feature, converting any divine powers that deal either lighting or thunder damage to deal both lightning and thunder, and the ''Strength of the Storm'' feature, adding +2 to both your Strength and Constitution.

At 24th level, you get the ''Thundering Revival'' feature, raising you from death at your bloodied HP value and dealing 2d10+Con Thunder damage to all enemies within 5 spaces of you.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Gather the Storm''' daily utility power, making any enemy within 5 spaces get Vulnerable 10 Thunder+Lightning until the end of your next turn.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Windstrider'' feature, granting you both a flying speed equal to your walking speed+2 and the hover ability.

====Avatar of War====
To become an '''Avatar of War''', one must live and breathe battle. Though the reason they have been chosen to fight may vary, the drive to fight forever is a constant. They strive to engage in every conflict, for these will all be valuable when the avatar rejoins the deity who birthed them.

This Epic Destiny appears in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Class with the Path of War Feat''.

21st level grants you the ''Master of the Battlefield'' feature, making you never grant Combat Advantage, and the ''Power from Conflict'' feature, giving a +2 to Strength and your choice of wither Intelligence or Charisma.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Invoker of War'' feature, which improves the Path of War feat's Channel Divinity power by granting a +4 bonus to all damage while active.

26th level provides the '''Rouse Conflict''' daily utility power, allowing everyone affected to make a free at-will attack or encounter divine power.

30th level is when you achieve the ''Lord of War'' feature, which gives you a flat bonus of +25 damage to your first attack each encounter.

====Dead God Avatar====
Though a god may die, that does not mean that their time is at an end. Indeed, a particularly devout follower of this dead god may find their life being siphoned and gain the divine power. As this power grows, the god and mortal become closer and closer to one being until the revelation comes that this '''Dead God Avatar''' must die to resurrect their god - or perhaps they become their god.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #390 in the "Power Play: Divine - Dead Gods" article and is open to ''Any Divine Class that worships a dead deity''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''By Divine Command'' feature, granting resistance 10 psychic and immunity to charming, and the ''Divine Insight'' feature, which gives +2 to Wisdom or Charisma.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Astral Corpse'' feature. This makes any death save you pass count as a natural 20 and heals you by your healing surge value if you lack any to spend once per day.

At 26th level, you get the '''Summon Divine Presence''' daily utility power. This is a close burst 5 that deals vulnerable 10 to necrotic and radiant powers on top of another power based on the dead god you worship:
*[[Aurom]]: Enemies inside the zone are dazed.
*[[Haramathur]]: Allies in the zone gain +2 to AC and Fortitude, but enemies are slowed and are count as on difficult terrain.
*[[Laeris]]: Enemies count the zone is heavily obscured to all senses, including blindsight and tremorsense.
*[[Nusemnee]]: Allies in the zone gain +2 to saving throws and can use Second Wind as a minor action (or free if that was already possible).
*[[Sagawehn]]: Enemies in the zone take -2 to attack rolls and all defenses.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Sacrifice'' feature, allowing you to sacrifice healing surges as a minor action to recover encounter powers (or a daily power once per day).

====Exalted Angel====
The gods have the power to elevate their most favored servants to '''Exalted Angels''', immortal entities who are now in their masters' eternal grace. These beings are still able to assume mortal forms, able to access places that most angels cannot, but they still hold the unmistakable power of a divine being.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is available to ''All Divine Classes''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Angelic Nature'' feature. This provides a slew a features: immortal origin, immunity to age, fluency in Supernal, resistance 15 against fire and radiant damage, and immunity to fear. On top of all this, you gain a pair of wings with a fly speed equal to your land speed +2 though you have to land each turn.

At 24th level, you have the ''Reborn in Light'' feature. Your death emits a massive burst 10 blast that deals 2d10+Wisdom mod radiant damage and save-ends blinds them, while you can immediately reappear after the encounter, good as new.

At 26th level, you get the '''Angelic Hosts''' encounter utility power. For the next turn, your allies all gain your fly speed and +2 to all defenses while you gain a free action that lets any one ally fly 8 squares and land with no fear of provoking anything.

At 30th level, you get the ''Angelic Form'' feature, making attacks against you take a -2 penalty while you're not bloodied and making your wings hover and fly without landing.

====Revered One====
Throughout countless adventures, it could eventually become clear that the roles of men and deities in the cosmos is actually quite different than everyone thought. Though this is bound to provoke ire from those who believe that these '''Revered Ones''' are trivializing the gods, the truth is actually the opposite - all gods are to be revered as examples to learn from.

At 21st level, you get the ''Immortal Foe'' feature, making immortal foes take -2 to hit you while you add your Wisdom modifier to damage against these foes.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Manifest the Divine'' feature, letting you use all your Channel Divinity powers once per encounter and allowing you to take <nowiki>[Divinity]</nowiki> feats from gods you do not worship.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Serene Protection''' daily utility power. This sustain minor power gives you and all allies within close burst 5 resistance 30 to one type of elemental damage.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Bestow Grace'' feature, letting you sacrifice a healing surge to heal an ally who hits 0 HP.

====Rune Maker====
Runepriests are able to bend the runes to their will, but these runes are ultimately limited by their understanding. A '''Rune Maker''' realizes that these runes are not just conduits of divine power, but fragments of divinity itself. Their goal from there is to create new runes, unique in form and function and capable of reshaping reality itself.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is exclusive to ''Runepriests''.

At 21st level, you score the ''Rune of Might'' feature, adding +2 to Strength and letting you swap rune states as a minor action.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Lord of All Runes'' feature, which let you or an adjacent ally make a saving throw whenever you make change rune states.

At 26th level, you have the '''Persistent Runes''' encounter utility power, letting you activate a rune state despite missing with a runic encounter power.

At 30th level, you get the ''Rune of Immortality'' feature. This means that when you fail your last death save, you vanish and spend a healing surge. The next turn, you reappear with no conditions affecting you.

====Saint====
To be awarded the title of '''Saint''' requires countless years of loyalty, piety, and service to a god as an embodiment of their ideals. They are considered sterling examples of the faith to fellow worshipers and dreaded foes to the enemies of their deity. Though they are still ultimately mortal, their afterlife will see them elevated to the highest ranks of their deity's domain, to remain as a trusted servant.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Divine Power and is available to ''Any Divine Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Saintly Grace'' feature, which offers a slew of defenses. Your Non-Armor Defenses all gain a +2 bonus, you have a resistance to necrotic equal to 15+Wisdom modifier, and you can never be dominated, instead just becoming dazed.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Sanctified Touch'' feature. Any adjacent ally spending a healing surge can now make a saving throw (and vice versa if you granted them the save) while using the heal skill lets an ally spend a healing surge when stabilized or given a saving throw.

At 26th level, you get the '''Sanctified Revival''' daily utility. You can now resurrect an ally to max HP and end one effect that a save can end. For the rest of the encounter, this ally now gets +2 to attack rolls and to all defenses.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Golden Halo'', a personal light source that grants +2 to all diplomacy and intimidate checks and gives +25 to all divine healing powers.

===Martial Epic Destinies===
Membership in these Epic Destinies is only open to those who follow the paths of Martial Might; [[Fighter]], [[Ranger]], [[Rogue]], or [[Warlord]].

====Adamantine Soldier====
Many warriors believe that their armor is one of their most valuable tools, but to an '''Adamantine Soldier''', it is ''the'' most valuable tool. Not content with merely wearing their protective outfits, they seek to master the art of wearing armor and through it becoming unstoppable. To these [[adventurer]]s, their armor is like a second skin - indeed, their armor ''becomes'' their identity, and ultimately they will prove themselves as a living symbol of toughness and resilience, perhaps even ascending to the pantheon of martial godlings who look out on all their mortal faithful.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Fighter]]s and [[Warlord]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Armored Supremacy''' feature, which grants you +2 AC in Heavy Armor and lets you ignore the usual skill check & speed penalties for wearing it.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Unbreakable Skin''' feature, which grants you Damage Resistance (All) equal to your [[Constitution]] modifier whilst you're wearing Heavy Armor.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Inexorable Advance''' Daily Utility power, which lets you enter the Inexorable Advance Stance as a minor action. Until this stance ends, you can use your move action to shift 1 square into an adjacent enemy's space and then push it 1 square.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Hard to Kill''' feature, which lets you treat a saving throw as a natural 20 once per day.

====Beastlord====
Many [[ranger]]s choose to fight alongside animal companions, but none of those match the intensity of the bond felt by a '''Beastlord'''. Indeed, ultimately, a Beastlord proves that they are not merely partnered with their animals; they are one and the same, a single spirit in two bodies.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Ranger]]s with the Beast Mastery class feature''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Ultimate Understanding''' feature, which lets you use a minor action once per round to grant your beast companion a Standard, Move or Minor action.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Fused Fate''' feature, which allows you to designate your animal companion as an additional or alternative target to any effect which targets you, so long as it is visible to you and within 20 squares.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Quickened Companion''' Encounter Utility power, which lets you grant your beast companion a Standard, Move or Minor action of your choice as a free action so long as it's within 20 squares of you.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Shared Life''' feature, which means that so long as either you or your animal companion has at least 1 hit point left, the other '''cannot''' be killed, regardless of negative HP or failed death saving throws. That said, keep track of these traits; if both of you fall to 0 HP before you get patched up, then these take effect immediately.

====Dark Wanderer====
The '''Dark Wanderers''' are the stuff of story and legend; roaming cats-paw of fate who unwittingly bring luck and ruin in equal measure with them wherever they go. Some of these go on to become symbols of how fortune favors the bold. Others, grim arguments as to the inescapable pull of destiny. Some Dark Wanderers become figures revered as patrons (or prayed to for intercession) in matters of seeking or avoiding fate. Others become allies - or enemies - to gods of luck, fate and predestination. And others still? Nobody knows what happens to them...

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Ranger]]s and [[Rogue]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Not My Destiny''' feature, which causes creatures of your level or lower that hit you to suffer a -4 penalty to all attacks against you until the end of the encounter.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Dark Road''' feature, which allows you to mystically teleport to any single ''specified'' destination you want by spending 24 hours doing nothing but walk. If your specified destination is inside of a particular building, your path will end at the front door of that structure. Otherwise, you can go '''anywhere''' that you want, even if your location lies on a different [[plane]]; the [[multiverse]] literally bends around you, twisted and tugged by your destiny so that your focused march always brings you where you want to go. You can take a number of companions with you on the Dark Road, equal to 5 + your Wisdom multiplier, and on the Dark Road you are not subject to any hazards, attacks or other dangers, and do not need rest, food or water.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Never At A Loss''' Daily Utility power, which lets you regain a previously expended daily utility power as a minor action.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Long Walk Back''' feature, which means that when you die, your body and possessions all vanish after 12 hours, and then at 12 hours from that point, you walk up to your companions, the place where you died, or at any specific place that you consider home; your condition is as if you were subjected to a Raise Dead ritual, but you do not suffer any death penalties.

====Eternal Defender====
The ideal of the [[fighter]] as a defender of those who are weak is renowned across many worlds. To the '''Eternal Defenders''', this ideal is the only ideal worth living up to, seeking to hone their might and their vitality always for the purpose of better protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Some such souls become agents of deities who champion the defender's virtues, or even become worshipped as gods in their own right. Others establish a place in the multiverse to stand vigil against the destruction of assorted dark powers. Others still choose to watch over a chosen people, infusing their watchful spirits into the land as guardians, or even give up their essence to share with those who need most, and awaken new profusions of heroes.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Fighter]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Unending Strength''' feature, which grants you +2 Strength, doubles your normal/heavy/maximum load values, and lets you add a +10 bonus to a Strength check or Strength skill check of your choice once per day.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Godlike Stature''' feature, which causes you to increase your height by 25% and your weight by 100%; this does not directly change your size, but lets you wield weapons as if you were one size larger, and grants you +1 Reach if you were Medium or bigger before you gained this feature.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Implacable Destruction''' Daily Utility power, which lets you enter the Implacable Destruction Stance as a minor action. In this stance, every time that you miss with a melee or close weapon attack, you still inflict damage equal to your Strength modifier on the target.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Great Power''' feature, which lets you either treat a successful melee attack hit you made as a natural 20, or treat a melee attack miss you made as a successful hit, once per day.

====Godhunter====
Whether they are [[assassin]]s or hunters by trade, those who call themselves '''Godhunters''' live for the thrill of the hunt, and ache to prove their mastery over the mightiest quarries they can imagine. Nothing is safe should these unparalleled killers set their sights on them, and the fear that they cause ultimately becomes as deadly a weapon to them as their own skills.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Ranger]]s and [[Rogue]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Peerless Predator''' feature, which lets you reroll an attack roll against a creature of higher level than you once per encounter.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Deific Agony''' feature, which causes a creature of higher level than you which takes a critical hit from you to suffer a -5 penalty to saving throws and be unable to regain hit points or recharge any powers until the end of your next turn.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Deicidal Eye''' Daily Utility power, which lets you target one creature in a close burst 10 as a minor. You ignore the targeted creature's resistances and immunities, and the creature suffers Vulnerable 5 against your attacks, until either you are reduced to 0 hit points or you recharge this power and use it on a new target. Increase the Vulnerability by +5 if the target is either higher levelled than you or a solo creature, and by +10 if it is both.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Blasphemous Recovery''' feature, which lets you treat an attack against you by a creature with a higher level than yours as a miss once per encounter, regaining the use of your second wind and of one encounter power that you used during this encounter in the process.

====Legendary General====
All [[warlord]]s are leaders of men, but some... they have something ''more'' to them. Unparalleled in their expertise, these are the '''Legendary Generals''', those who conquer empires in their own world - or who are sought out to lead armies across the [[plane]]s themselves.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Warlord]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Mythic Inspiration''' feature, which means that when you spend your second wind, one ally within 20 squares of you can also use a healing surge.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Legendary Tactical Action''' feature, which lets your allies spend action points possessed by you or by other allies within sight of them once per encounter, ignoring the normal restriction of only being able to use 1 action point per encounter.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Legendary Exploits''' Daily Utility power, which lets you and allies within a close burst 20 regain the use of a level 25 or lower encounter or daily power. Using this power requires a standard action, and the power regained cannot be one that allows the target to regain the use of another power

At 30th level, you gain the '''Unyielding Company''' feature, which means that so long as you have 1 hit point left, all allies within 20 squres of you cannot fall unconscious at 0 hit points or die because of negative hit points. They still make death saving throws as normal and they can die as a result of failed death saving throws.

====Martial Archetype====
There are many paths to pursuing martial power, but for the '''Martial Archetype''', no ''one'' path is good enough. Instead, they drive to master them all, combining and mixing tactics, techniques and styles to form lethally inventive new disciplines all of their own imagination. Those who attain true mastery go on to become the stuff of legend, and will ultimately found entirely new schools of martial thought.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''Any Martial Class that is Paragon Multiclassed in a 2nd Martial Class''. (Some DMs may accept the argument to let hybrid-classed martials take this ED too.)

At 21st level, you gain the '''Archetype's Edge''' feature, which grants you a bonus attack power in the form of a 17th level encounter attack chosen from any Martial class of your choice, as well as letting you regain the use of 1 martial encounter attack power whenever you score a critical hit.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Reliable Warrior''' feature, which causes all of your martial encounter attack powers that have single-target areas of effect and do not have any effect on a miss to gain the Reliable keyword, which means they are only expended when you hit.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Warrior's Ascent''' feature, which grants you a level 22 utility power from any Martial class of your choice and allows you to spend a healing surge as a free action when you critical hit with martial encounter and daily powers.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Perfect Warrior''' feature, which grants you a bonus encounter attack or utility power of any level you like from any Martial class you choose, and also allows you to make a melee basic attack against each adjacent enemy as a free action when you critical hit with martial encounter and daily powers.

====Perfect Assassin====
What separates a mere killer from a '''Perfect Assassin'''? The understanding that dealing death is an ''art'', and that it takes a true dedication to become a virtuoso of slaying. Where that long and blood-soaked path ultimately leads? That's for the Perfect Assassin to decide; service to the powers of death, claiming the throne of the god of death, passing on their skills to a whole new generation of killers... the possibilities are theirs to decide.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Rogue]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Death's Eye''' feature, which lets you designate a visible enemy as your next target after you reduce a creature to 0 hit points; against this target, you gain combat advantage, and its attack rolls against you suffer a -2 penalty.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Assassin's Advantage''' feature, which means that when you miss an attack against a creature you have combat advantage against, you still inflict damage equal to your Dexterity modifier + (1 per die of Sneak Attack damage).

At 26th level, you gain the '''Spirit of Death''' Encounter Utility power, which lets you immediately end the dazed/immobilized/restrained/slowed conditions (if you are suffering any of these) and make a shift equal to your speed, counting as invisible and insubstantial until you end this shift. This power triggers when you reduce an enemy to 0 hit points.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Pierce the Weakness''' feature, which lets you make an attack roll against a creature's lowest defense and dealing your Sneak Attack bonus damage against that creature, even if you don't have combat advantage, once per encounter. Using this feature does not count against your limits on Sneak Attacks.

====Undying Warrior====
For most warriors, life on the battlefield is brutal and short. Not so for the aptly-named '''Undying Warriors''', who simply seem able to survive ''anything'' that destiny throws their way. At their mightiest, they may even become immune to death itself, gaining eternal life to do with as they please.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Fighter]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Wounded Resurgence''' feature, which lets you spend healing surges as a minor action whilst bloodied to restore your current hit points to your bloodied value, and makes you immune to the Death Penalty normally suffered by being subjected to a [[Raise Dead]] ritual.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Undying Stamina''' feature, which means you regain 1d4 healing surges each time you reach a milestone.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Undying Enmity''' Encounter Utility power, which lets you roll an extra D20 (or 2d20s, if you are bloodied) as a free action when attacking an enemy that you have marked or which is marking you and choose which result to use for your attack roll. These rolls '''cannot''' be rerolled.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Spontaneous Resurrection''' feature, which lets you return to life at will when slain (though you can also be subjected to [[Raise Dead]] if that would be quicker). Upon resurrecting, you appear in a space of your choice within 5 squares of where you died, with hit points equal to your bloodied value and freed of any temporary effects existing at the time of your death, though permanent effects remain. The time it takes for you to resurrect depends on how frequently you have been slain during that specific day: on your first death, you resurrect at the start of your next turn. On your second death, you return to life at the end of the encounter. On your third death, you return to life 1 hour after the end of the encounter. On your fourth death, you return to life 12 hours after teh end of the encounter. Finally, for your fifth death and all subsequent deaths that day, you return to life on your own 24 hours after the end of the encounter.

====Warmaster====
The Legendary Generals are great leaders of men, but even their skills pale in comparison to the '''Warmasters''', those geniuses of the battlefield, who can instinctively command their troops to victory in any situation, and who seek to prove worthy of the mythical Eternal War, a place where the greatest generals of all history train their skills endlessly against each other, a paradise for their kind and which may become essential to the survival of all that ever was at the foretold dusk of creation.

This Epic Destiny is found in Martial Power 1 and is open to ''[[Warlord]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Tactical Awareness''' feature, which means that during a surprise round, you and any ally you can see can still act and do not grant combat advantage, even if you were surprised. Also, each ally that can see you who isn't surprised can still take the normal standard/move/minor action trinity on their turn during a surprise round.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Shock and Awe''' feature, which means that when you spend an action point to take an extra action, one ally within 5 squares of you can also take an extra action on their next turn.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Spring the Trap''' Daily Utility power, which lets you spend a standard action to grant yourself and all allies within a 5-square close burst the ability to take a standard action, move action, or minor action, going in initiative order.

At 30th level, you gain the '''Tactical Genius''' feature, which means you can spend as many action points as you want during a single encounter.

====Dragonheart====
Across the many [[plane]]s and upon the many worlds of D&D, one truth remains constant: [[dragon]]s are seriously badass mothafuckers. As a '''Dragonheart''', you admire dragons for their symbolism as power incarnate, and seek to prove yourself stronger than strong, tougher than tough - to show the whole [[multiverse]] that you have the heart of a dragon. And if you survive to level 31, then that's ''exactly'' what you do; whether you have finally stirred the long-buried blood of a draconic ancestor, or simply proven yourself so awesome that the multiverse itself bends to your wish, you forsake your former humanoid life and are reborn as a fully-grown dragon, ready to pursue the existence of a draconic warrior.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Martial Power 2 and is open to ''Any Martial Class''.

Its 21st level feature is '''Dragon Spirit''', which gives you +2 Constitution and means you can make an immediate save to end any charm effects or fear effects, even if they don't normally allow this. For continuous effects like auras, you get to make the save and, if successful, are immune to the effect until the end of your next turn, at which you can make the save again.

Its 24th level feature is '''Dragon Blood''', which means you gain temporary HP equal to your Bloodied value the first time you become Bloodied in an encounter.

Its 26th level Daily Utility power is '''Dragon Shield''', which causes you to enter the Dragon Shield Stance as an immediate reaction whenever you are Bloodied. Whilst in this stance, you gain Damage Resistance to ALL damage equal to your Constitution modifier, which increases by +5 each time that you take damage from a melee attack. It lasts until you are knocked unconscious or are no longer Bloodied.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the capstone power '''Dragon Soul''', which increases your Healing Surge Value by 10.

====Invincible Vanguard====
Most young warriors believe that they are invincible - but you are dead set on proving it. Through some combination of determination, valor and sheer stupid luck, you always come out on top, and you shamelessly revel in proving yourself the greatest warrior that ever lived. Honing your skills to unimaginable peaks becomes your life's goal - and if you survive to the end of your career, then you have conquered everything that this world has to offer. How fortunate for you, then, that an entire [[multiverse]] awaits to challenge you; with that in mind, you leave this world for new realms and realities, always seeking the next battle. Such is the destiny of the '''Invincible Vanguard'''.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Martial Power 2 and is open to ''Any Martial Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Invigorating Charge''' feature, which grants you +2 Strength and means that all basic attacks you make as part of a charge have the Invigorating keyword (once per turn, if Trained in Endurance, gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier).

At 24th level, you gain the '''Forever War''' feature, which means that once per day, when you drop to 0 hit points, you immediately regain hit points equal to your Bloodied value and can, as a free action, stand up, shift 2 squares, and make a charge attack. If this charge attack hits, gain temporary HP equal to your Bloodied value.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Endless Assault''' Daily Utility Power. As a minor action, you can enter the Endless Assault stance, which grants you a power bonus to your Speed equal to your Constitution modifier when you charge, and which causes charge attacks to deal +2[W] extra damage.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the '''Unstoppable Assault''' feature, which means you don't provoke opportunity attacks when charging, and can make a charge attack against a new enemy as a free action whenever you critical hit an enemy with a melee attack, bloody an enemy, or reduce an enemy to 0 HP.

====Legendary Sovereign====
In the realms of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], rulers who gained their thrones at the point of a sword or with the swing of a club are legion. But some warrior-sovereigns are truly special; chosen by destiny to win admiration, glory and the ultimate power of a throne through their leadership skills and their martial prowess. These are the '''Legendary Sovereigns'''. And you are one such warrior, a hero who, whether defending an ancestral title, branching off to form a new dynasty, or emerging from humble beginnings, will go on to be respected and loved, leading your people to a golden age.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Martial Power 2 and is open to ''[[Fighter]]s, [[Paladin]]s, [[Ranger]]s and [[Warlord]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Legendary Presence''' feature, which grants you +2 Charisma. You also gain the '''Great Captain''' feature, which lets you grant each ally within 10 squares of you the ability to make a basic attack as a free action in response to you scoring a critical hit once per encounter. Finally, you gain the '''Homeland''' feature, which, with the DM's approval, grants you a realm you are destined to rule; within this land, you have property or estates sufficient to provide for your ordinary needs, including household maintenance and a small force of loyal retainers, as well as gaining a +4 bonus to any Charisma skill checks that you make in this land.

At 24th level, you gain the '''This Is Not My Fate''' feature, which lets you automatically regain hit points equal to your Bloodied value, end any effects on you, and stand up once per day instead of having to make a death saving throw.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Sword of the Sovereign''' Daily Utility Power. When you score a critical hit or reduce an enemy to 0 hit points, as a free action, each ally in close burst 10 gains temporary hit points equal to your level + your Charisma modifier, as well as a bonus to attack rolls with basic and at-will attacks equal to your Charisma modifier, with this attack bonus lasting until the encounter's end or your drop to 0 hit points.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the '''Sword of Kings''' feature, which lets you pick one Encounter attack power with the Weapon keyword; this power is no longer expended when used unless you miss every target.

====Star-Favored Champion====
You are destined for greatness. It is literally written in the sky, in the form of a special star that came to life when you were born, and which moves in the heavens in response to the actions you undertake, waxing as you triumph and waning as you suffer defeat, moving into conjunction with other stars in symbolism of the trials and triumphs you are facing. Astrologers know that you are a '''Star Favored Champion''', and that should you survive to the end of yoour long and perilous quest, you will be welcomed into the [[Astral Sea]] by the gods themselves, and your star will multiply to become its own constellation, forever reminding all mortals of your story.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Martial Power 2 and is open to ''Any Martial Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the '''Favored Warrior''' feature, which grants you +2 Constitution and a +2 bonus to Acrobatics and Athletics checks. You also gain the '''Favored Tenacity''' feature, which means that whenver your first first attack roll with an encounter power misses, until the end of your turn you can make a basic attack as a minor action.

At 24th level, you gain the '''Resurgent Star''' feature, which means that you automatically get 20s on your death saving throws so long as you have at least one Healing Surge left.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Sign of Hope''' Daily Utility Power. As a minor action, you can both regain one expended martial encounter attack power and spend a healing surge.

Finally, at level 30, you gain the '''Sign of Challenge''' feature, which grants you a Martial Encounter power of the same name. As a minor action, you can target one nonminion creature in a close burst 5. Until the encounter's end, you can roll twice when rolling to attack the targeted creature, and whenever you hit it, each ally that you can see gais a +2 bonus to attack rolls against any enemy other than that target until the end of your next turn.

===Primal Epic Destinies===
Membership in these Epic Destinies is only open to those who follow the paths of Primal Magic; [[Druid]], [[Seeker]], [[Shaman]], or [[Warden]].

====Fang of the World Serpent====
Among the primal spirits, the World Serpent's duty is to guard the earth from the many dangers within. However, when a menace is to be eliminated, the Serpent cannot destroy, for that is not its purpose. Instead, it falls upon the '''Fang of the World Serpent''', a living manifestation of the World Serpent's venom, to strike down this threat and protect the earth.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is open to ''Any Primal Character''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Serpent's Fury'' feature, making a melee attack made after another primal melee attack add your Strength modifier to damage.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Rampant Slaughter'' feature, allowing you to make two free melee attacks when you score a crit or bloody an enemy with a primal melee power - fortunately, only one of these free attacks need target the target of the last attack.

At 26th level, you get the '''Serpent's Retaliation''' daily utility power. This is a stance that gives +2 to speed and attack rolls against an enemy that hits you.

At 30th level, you have the ''Serpent's Resilience'' feature. At any time an enemy scores a crit against you, they must re-roll that attack roll again with a -5 penalty; if they still hit it remains a crit, but if it misses it's now just a normal hit and you spend a healing surge.

====Fury of the Wild====
The enemies of nature are many: aberrations from beyond that corrupt, demons that destroy, and mortals who seek to impose their own rule upon the untamed wilds. The '''Fury of the Wild''' is what happens when a being understands the pain of nature itself and thus goes on a warpath of destruction in order to restore nature's purity. Perhaps these furious ones may die knowing that they have brought calm to the world, but more likely their wrath will transcend mortality and become a crazed berserker spirit.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is available to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Fury's Strength'', giving +2 to either Strength or Wisdom.

At 24th level, you have the ''Land's Fury Feature. Whenever you score a crit, all unbloodied enemies within 10 squares take damage equal to 10+Strength or Wisdom modifier.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Fury's Form''' encounter utility power. Whenever you get bloodied, you gain THP equal to your level and a +2 bonus to attack rolls, defenses, and movement. On top of this, all attacks against unbloodied creatures add extra damage equal to your Strength or Wisdom modifier.

At 30th level, you have the ''Unstoppable Fury'' feature, letting you re-roll an at-will attack against an unbloodied enemy, but you have to take the latter result.

====Glorious Spirit====
Among the primal spirits that protect the world are those legendary heroes who stand as exemplars to their descendants. These are the '''Glorious Spirits''', the tireless champions who have faced countless enemies in triumph. With enough victories under their belts, they may one day finally die and be welcomed to the afterlife, welcomed by their fellow ancestral spirits and given the chance to guide their descendants.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 2 and is open to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Worthy Foe'' feature. Once per encounter, you can deem the closest enemy as a sworn enemy and your attacks that turn ignore resistances and insubstantial. Each turn, one attack you make towards this foe deals +2d8 extra damage and if you kill them, you spend a healing surge.

At 24th level, you acquire the ''Seeker of Foes'' feature, letting you immediately teleport next to an opponent once an encounter.

At 26th level, you get the '''Spirit Steed''' at-will utility power. Whenever your worthy foe moves somewhere within 6 squares of you, you can immediately fly over to their side, ignoring opportunity attacks.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Bearer of Doom'' feature, making any attacks that target the worthy foe but miss count as un-expended.

====Honored Ancestor====
There are those who share an incredibly close bond with the ancestor spirits. The reason for this is because they themselves are reincarnations of ancestor spirits and thus are able to sense the spirits in all things. These '''Honored Ancestors''' have taken mortal form in order to accomplish a legendary task, though the intentions of it are not always what they seem.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is available to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Spirit Guide'' feature and become immune to surprise and lo longer grant Combat Advantage for being flanked, dazed, or prone.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Spirit Migraiton'' feature, enabling you to teleport 5 squares when you use an action point.

At 26th level, you have the '''Spirit Warning''' encounter utility power. This forces an enemy that hits you to re-roll their attack with a -5 penalty and an inability to crit.

At 30th level, you get the ''Spirit's Protection'' feature. Once per day when you hit 0 HP, you can spend a healing surge to recover that amount of HP with additional HP equal to your Wisdom or Charisma score.

====Master Hierophant====
Druids, while capable of harnessing the power of nature itself, are not aware of just how interconnected the energy of all live is. Those that reach the rank of '''Master Hierophant''' realize that the primal spirits are but the latent power hidden in all living things, just like the elements. Though these powerful druids know how to hybridize primal and elemental magic, they are also very aware that being careless with this power could also spell the undoing of reality.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #396 in the "Class Acts: Hierophant Druids" article and is only available to ''Druids''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Epic insight'' feature, gaining +2 to Wisdom and one other ability score and becoming fluent in Primordial.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Epic Transcendence'' feature. You are now immune to aging and disease. You also gain the power once each encounter to enter suspended animation. You can no longer act, but you gain regeneration 5 and the ability to make a save at the start and end of each turn until the encounter ends or you decide to stop it.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Elemental Transmogrification''' daily utility power. You can turn into a huge elemental of one type:
::*Air: You now only have a hovering fly speed of 10 and can turn invisible whenever nobody is next to you until you attack.
::*Earth: You take -1 to speed but gain a burrow speed of 5 and can phase through earth.
::*Fire: You gain +4 to speed and a clumsy fly speed of 6. Whenever you're hit, all nearby foes take 10 fire damage.
::*Water: You are aquatic with a swim speed of 6. You also get +2 to hit non-aquatic enemies in water and the ability to slide enemies when you get hurt.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Elemental Ascension'' feature, letting you take two types whenever you use Elemental Ascension and immediately giving you 50 HP the first time you hit 0 HP each day.

====Master of the Eternal Hunt====
A [[seeker]]'s duty is to hunt down those that would despoil the natural world, be they mortal, primordial, or god. Though their first missions may have been menial in scope, they eventually gain the attention of the primal spirits, who told of even greater threats. No matter who these threats are, there were always more to take their place. Eventually, a '''Master of the Eternal Hunt''' realizes that their hunt must go beyond the realms of men to places beyond the reach of the Primal Spirits and, perhaps, transcend mortality in order to continue this endless hunt.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is exclusive to ''[[Seeker]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Relentless Hunter'' feature, increasing your Wisdom by +2 and negating all cover and concealment used by enemies within 10 squares.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Faultless Tracker'' feature, giving darkvision and tremorsense 10.

At 26th level, you reach the '''Relentless Step''' encounter utility power. Upon hitting an enemy with a seeker power, you and one ally teleport to two spots within 5 squares of an enemy.

At 30th level, you attain the ''Deathless Hunter'' feature. Once per day when you hit 0 HP, you immediately regain 1 HP and get resist all 20 against your killer's attacks. However, once that enemy dies, you're back to 0 HP.

====Mythic Spirit====
The greatest of the primal spirits are immortalized because people always tell and retell their stories of epic bravery. Though these '''Mythic Spirits''' are not the great spirits, they have appeared time and again alongside them. Each of their stories sees them taking part in monumental tales, and as time passes they become even more ingrained into the narratives of the spirits. Eventually, it might seem that they were always meant to be one of the spirits, to last beyond their mortal lifespan.

At 21st level, you get the ''Foretold Destiny'' feature, adding +2 to one ability score and getting +2 to saving throws while not bloodied.

At 24th level, you gain the ''It is Written'' feature, letting allies adjacent to you make a saving throw when you pass yours.

At 26th level, you have the '''Fate Averted''' daily utility power. This allows you to teleport a dying ally to your side and raise them back to their bloodied value (with an additional +1 HP) and let them make a free basic attack.

At 30th level, you get the ''Mythic Rebirth'' power, allowing you to immediately use second wind while you're dying without needing to make death saves.

====Perfect Guardian====
Those [[Warden]]s whose powers have become one with nature itself have become '''Perfect Guardians'''. The primal spirits they have fought for now entrust them with even greater power in exchange for their unyielding vigilance against their enemies.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is exclusive to ''[[Warden]]s''.

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Beast Strike'' feature. Now one attack each turn can prone an enemy or deal 2d8 damage to prone enemies (upped to 2d10 if they're marked by you).

At 24th level, you get the ''Eyes of the Sentinel'' feature, letting you see invisible creatures within 5 squares and getting a 5+ bonus to perception checks to see invisible creatures.

At 26th level, you get the '''Perfect Guardian's Pounce''' encounter utility power. This interrupts an attack on an ally, making you take the blow as you shift up to double your speed to a space adjacent to the enemy and marking them.

At 30th level, you get the ''Perfect Mark'' feature. This lets you mark all adjacent enemies as a free action. You can then stack on a second mark on an enemy, making that enemy take a -5 penalty to all attacks on your allies instead of -2.

====Primal Avatar====
The primal spirits are vast in number and diverse in goals. Those who understand enough about the natural world are capable of finding allies among the spirits regardless, and with enough training become one with them. Perhaps their actions will catch the eye of a powerful patron spirit, one who may bestow gifts upon the worthy champion. Perhaps their only reward will be joining the spirits upon their death. What matters is that they are one with nature.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 2 and is available to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Primal Travel'' feature, teleporting you 3 spaces the instant anyone hits you in melee.

At 24th level, you reach the ''Spirit Boon''. At the end of each extended rest, you select one ability score. You gain a +1 bonus to all checks relating to that score.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Walk with the Spirits''' daily utility power. This power turns you into a spirit, rendering you insubstantial and phasing with a hovering flight speed equal to land speed. This form lets you use at-will and encounter powers, but nothing else. You also remain in this power until you either spend a standard action to end it, you hit 0 HP, or end a rest, at which point you return to being material.

At 30th level, you have the ''Eternal Return'' feature. Upon dying with at least two healing surges, you can wait up to ten turns to spend those surges and return to your bloodied value without any conditions on you.

====Reincarnate Champion====
Not all champions consider death their end. Their souls remain in the physical world, waiting for the chance to be reborn again. These '''Reincarnate Champions''' have repeated this cycle before, and they will continue to repeat this cycle, and now they know how to draw from the powers of these past lives and will serve as guardian of the primal spirits.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is available to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Many Perspectives'' feature, granting +2 to any skill and ability checks using your mental stats, and the ''Past Spirit'' feature, making you count as a different race and taking a racial power that race possess. You then select a different race at 24th level and take a racial power from them.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Epic Vitality'' feature, granting +2 to one ability score of your choosing.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''Swift Reincarnation''' daily utility power. This allows you to return from 0 to half your max HP while also changing your appearance to that of another race, gaining use of that race's racial power instead of your own if you don't already have it. You can then go back to your original race after a long rest, though you can remain this new race if you've picked it as a past spirit race and turn your original race to a past spirit race.

At 30th level, you reach the ''The Champion Returned'' feature, giving you access to every racial power ever, though if the race isn't a past spirit race, you have to sacrifice one racial power to use it.

====Sovereign Beast====
Though all druids channel the primal beasts in their ability to wild shape, this power is still different than the power of their humanoid form. When these two halves become one, they become a '''Sovereign Beast''', a perfect hybrid of man and beast that embodies the greatest of both worlds.

This epic destiny appeared in Primal Power and is only open to ''Druids with the Wild Shape power''.

At 21st level, you acquire the ''Magnificent Beast'' feature, allowing you to make your wild shape form be of Large size and gain +2 to damage and speed.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Sovereign's Charge'' feature, giving a once-per-encounter ability to use a beast form encounter power at the end of a charge instead of an MBA.

At 26th level, you get the '''Resplendent Beast''' at-will utility power, following up from Wild Shaping to a large beast. You push away all adjacent foes and get combat advantage against enemies you see while they get a -2 penalty to hit you.

30th level sees you get the ''Sovereign's Inheritance'' feature. Now every time you kill a non-minion enemy, you can either spend a Healing Surge or regain a encounter attack power.

====World Tree Guardian====
Those who witness the World Tree, the eldest of the primal spirits and creator of the earth, become dedicated to protecting it and the world it is bound to. These '''World Tree Guardians''' become able to communicate with the World Tree and draw upon its ancient might and protect both world and tree for the rest of their days.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Primal Power and is available to ''Any Primal Class''.

At 21st level, you get ''Bark of the World Tree'', letting you respond to taking damage by gaining Resist All equal to 5+Constitution modifier.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Boon of the World Tree''. Once per day when an ally dies, you can die in their place, restoring them to their bloodied value. You then resurrect a turn later as if you spent a healing surge and with Regeneration 10 while you are bloodied for the rest of the encounter.

At 26th level, you reach the '''Boughs of the World Tree''' encounter utility power. This summons 5 sustainable boughs within close burst 20, each with Resist All 20. Upon summoning them, you also give one benefit for any allies next to them (+1 to attack, +1 to all defenses, THP equal to Strength or Wisdom modifier).

At 30th level, you acquire the ''World Tree's Growth'' feature, giving you a Regeneration value equal to how many healing surges you have left that day.

===Psionic Epic Destinies===
Membership in these Epic Destinies is only open to those who follow the paths of Psionic Magic; [[Ardent]], [[Battlemind]], [[Monk]], or [[Psion]].

====Cosmic Soul====
The great cosmos of beyond has always been a fascinating place, but it is such a vast place and there is no way to traverse the entirety of it as a mortal. A '''Cosmic Soul''' seeks to transcend these mortal moorings and reach the moment where they can see everywhere and everything at once with total insight.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Psionic Power and is available to ''Any Psionic Class''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Cosmic Awareness'' feature, enabling you to master as well as perform any scrying rituals without the need of a focus and with a +5 bonus on the ritual check as well as truesight 5. One ritual each day can also be made without expending materials.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Cosmic Experience'' feature, giving +5 to initiative and knowledge checks, as well as letting you speak any language.

At 26th level, you get the '''Merge With the Cosmos''' daily utility power. Whenever you die, you vanish from the field and leave a burst 10 zone centered on where you were, letting allies inside the zone take one standard action as a free action. You, meanwhile, recover a number of HP equal to your level and can then choose reappear a turn later - which ends the zone and gives you combat advantage against any enemies inside the zone - or remain hidden and perpetuate the zone.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Cosmic Connection'' feature, granting all of your ranged powers the range of your eyesight, making you able to hit anyone anywhere so long as they aren't hidden.

====Demiurge====
While most are satisfied with becoming gods, they are not the end-all be-all of greater entities and they are far from perfect. There is a source beyond their grasp, a perfect cause that is truly perfect. The '''Demiurge''' seeks to attain this perfect cause that is unreachable even by the gods and use its power to create a perfect universe of their own.

This Epic Destiny appeared in ''Psionic Power'' and is available to ''Any Psionic Class''.

At 21st level, you attain the ''Becoming One'' feature, granting +2 to Charisma and one other ability score of your choosing.

At 24th level, you get the ''Perfection in Action'' feature, giving you 2 action points each milestone and allowing you to use more than one action point in an encounter after reaching your second milestone.

At 26th level, you get the '''Demiurge Resistance''' encounter utility power. This power requires you not to be bloodied, but it grants you a free saving throw against an effect, and if you roll a 15+ on this save, you immediately regain use of this power.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Deification of the Self'' feature, rendering you immune to anything below level 20, and giving a +5 to saving throws. Once per day, you can also teleport away from whatever bloodies you, spending a healing surge and rendering you insubstantial for the turn.

====Diamond Soul====
A monk's truest test is their constant pursuit of perfection. Their techniques must be refined until they reach a level of flawlessness unseen by mortal eyes. Only when they have reached the ultimate tier of perfection can these '''Diamond Souls''' find the ability to move beyond mortality and pass these secrets to students.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is only available to ''Monks''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Diamond Body'' feature, adding +2 to Dexterity and rendering you immune to aging. You also gain the ''Monastic Perfection'' feature, enabling you to gain two monk encounter powers of your level or lower that you can reserve and swap one encounter power for each rest.

At 24th level, you have the ''Moving Perfection'' feature, giving +2 to speed and adding an extra square to any shifting.

At 26th level, you attain the '''Flawless Maneuver''' encounter utility power. This adds +10 to your next attack and makes it so that even a natural 1 doesn't count as a miss.

At 30th level, you have the ''Diamond Perfection'' feature, enabling you to re-roll one failed attack roll each turn.

====Eighth Seal====
The Keepers of the Cerulean Sign were an order responsible for building a barrier that protected the material world from the Far Realm. However, the seal will periodically weaken, and thus it falls upon the '''Eighth Seal''' to protect the world and begin the process of re-strengthening the seal. This deed requires the gathering of the Cerulean Seals, the incorporeal spirits of the original architects of the sign.

This Epic Destiny appeared Psionic Popwer and is available to ''Any Psionic Class''

At 21st level, you gain the ''Keeper of the Cerulean Seal'' feature, which gives several benefits: +1 to all defenses +2d12 radiant+psychic damage to all aberrant enemies, immunity to fear, and immortal origin.

at 24th level, you get the ''Mind's Shining Corridors'' feature. Whenever an enemy misses an attack targeting your Will, you deal 2d12 radiant+psychic damage and daze (or stun if already dazed) the enemy. In addition, if you are ever subject to a dazed, dominated, or stunned effect, you can roll a saving throw at the start of your turn to stop it before you do anything.

At 26th level, you get the '''Call Forth the Seven Keys''' daily utility power. This has you summon seven keybearers in a burst 10 area around you, each with 1 HP and resist all 20. At any point, you can sacrifice a keybearer to gain one benefit that turn.
:*You and all allies within 3 squares of you spend a healing surge
:*Resist all 15
:*+5 to all defenses
:*You and all allies within 3 squares get +2 to attack
:*You and all allies within 3 squares get +5 to damage
:*You and all allies within 5 squares teleport 5 squares.
:*End dazed, dominated, and stunned conditions for the party.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Nature Restored'' feature. Whenever you kill an aberrant foe, you either heal as if you spent a healing surge or make enemies within 3 squares of the aberrant take 10 ongoing psychic+radiant damage and dazed.

====Godmind====
As a psion progresses, their mind expands without end. This '''Godmind''''s consciousness will grow until they reach a point where even the impossible can be understood and that reality itself can be rewritten. These are the sorts that learn how to become what the average folk call gods.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is available to ''All Psionic Characters''.

At 21st level, you have the ''Lay the Mind Bare'' feature. Once per encounter, you can use a minor action to give one enemy vulnerable 5 psionic for the encounter.

At 24th level, you gain the ''Startling Insight'' feature, allowing you to re-roll one check you make after using Second Wind.

At 26th level, you attain the '''Rejuvenate Mind''' daily utility power. Using this gives you temporary HP equal to your highest ability score as well as the option to either restore all of your Power Points or recharge all of your daily powers (this excluded).

At 30th level, you gain the '''Wellspring of Mental Power''' feature, giving 4 extra power points.

====Grandmaster of Flowers====
There are those that believe that life, death, and rebirth are all cyclical. Each soul spends their reincarnations attempting to perfect themselves by improving upon the flaws of their past selves. There are those monks who envision it all as a garden, where death is a winter where the flowers die off while spring is when those flowers grow back. Only when they have perfected themselves will garden be truly perfect, free of all worries and moorings. These '''Grandmasters of Flowers''' then go into seclusion with their perfect bliss and share their knowledge with eager pupils.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Psionic Power and is only available to ''Monks''.

At 21st level, you gain the ''Balanced Mind'' feature. This allows you to take 10 on a saving throw against a charm, fear, or psychic effect while also dealing 10 damage to anyone attacking your Will. You also get the ''Enlightenment's Blessing'' feature, adding +2 to Dexterity.

At 24th level, you have the ''Ubiquity'' feature, letting you teleport 3 squares so you're adjacent to your target when you hit them in melee.

At 26th level, you acquire the '''A Scattering of Petals''' encounter utility power. This halves the damage dealt by a ranged attack while you make the attack hit up to two other creatures.

At 30th level, you have the ''Luminous Consciousness'' feature. Your movement now ignores everything, terrain, opportunity attacks, and even gravity (as in you can fly for your movement, though you still need to land). Shifting also can be replaced by moving your speed.

====Invincible Mind====
Countless many have taken a journey to become eternally known for the beasts they have felled, but their journey was prematurely ended at some great battle. An '''Invincible Mind''' reads of these many stories and seek to use them as examples for their great tales. They will inevitably form great stories of their own, but only a truly great warrior may finally become the greatest there is, the gold standard for all warriors thereafter.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is exclusive to ''[[Battlemind]]s''.

At 21st level, your feature is ''Battle Sovereignty'', adding +10 to initiative rolls and +2 to weapon attack rolls.

At 24th level, you get the ''Reinvigorating Attack'' feature, letting you regain +2 PP whenever you hit an enemy with an unaugmented at-will.

At 26th level, you reach the '''Indomitable Strategem''' daily utility power. You now get +2 to hit one enemy and any unaugmented at-wills you use now count as augmented (by 1 PP for those below 23rd level, by 2 PP for those above).

At 30th level, you get the ''Invincible'' feature, immediately interrupting you getting to 0 HP by spending a healing surge.

====Master of Moments====
As anyone who's read [[/co/|Watchmen]] can attest, time is far from a linear stream. It's a vast ocean of moments, each interconnected with each other with casual relation to each other. Though most cannot hope to grasp such a concept in its entirety, a '''Master of Moments''' is someone who can use their power to manipulate the sea of time and hope to one day free themselves of any temporal anchor that prevents them from achieving their ultimate goals.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Psionic Power and is available to ''Any Psionic Class''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Consummate Traveler'' feature, meaning you can now master and perform travel rituals with a +5 on the ritual check. You can also make one such ritual each day without any materials. You also have the ''Maximized Time'' feature, giving you a full turn (standard,minor, and move actions) whenever you spend an action point instead of just one action.

At 24th level, you now have the ''Bountiful Seconds'' rule, giving you a new minor action each turn (which means you can sacrifice both minors for a free move) and removing level restrictions on what travel ritual you can use.

At 26th level, you gain the '''Freeze Time''' daily utility power. This power locks an enemy you hit in place for a turn, rendering them incapable of any action while also rendering them immune to any attacks or effects.

At 30th level, you achieve the ''Boundless Presence'' feature, which gives teleport 5 as a new movement speed. Once per day, you can remove also yourself from play when you get bloodied or disabled. When you return next turn, you'll have taken a short rest.

====Topaz Crusader====
The battle against the Far Realm is endless. For each rift opened, two more erupt to take its place, and the load becomes increasingly impossible to manage. The '''Topaz Crusader''' understands that trying to stem the Far Realm's influence is impossible and changing the Far Realm itself results in nothing. The only alternative left is to utterly wipe it from existence, even if it costs them their life.

This Epic Destiny appeared in Psionic Power and is available to ''Any Psionic Character with the Psionic Augmentation Feature ([[Ardent]], [[Battlemind]], [[Psion]]).

At 21st level, you get both the ''Bound to Greatness'' feature, adding +2 to either constitution or Charisma, and the ''Topaz Focus'' feature. This little gem gives +1 to AC, +2 to Will against aberrants, the ability to find any aberrant and target them by ignoring cover, and immune to daze and dominate effects.

At 24th level, you have the ''Topaz Meditation'' feature, granting +2 to all defenses, 2 bonus Power Points, and immunity to immobilize, restrain, and polymorph effects (unless the polymorph helps).

At 26th level, you gain the '''Topaz Corona''' daily utility power. This gives a burst 5 aura that gives allies inside it +2 to all defenses and regen equal to 10 + main stat modifier. Any attacks against aberrants also deal 10 psychic damage and daze on an 18+.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Topaz Flare'' feature. When you run out of power points, your unaugmented at-wills either deal +5 psychic damage or recover 2 power points based on if the attack roll was odd or even and hits.

====War Master====
An [[ardent]] is already very aware of the benefits of marshaling the efforts of allies in concert with their own, but what separates them from a '''War Master''' is the ability to enforce order in the chaos of war. By mastering the power of coordination, these leaders seek to prove their skills are the greatest, perhaps even stronger than death...

This Epic Destiny appeared in Player's Handbook 3 and is exclusive to ''Ardents''.

At 21st level, you get the ''Unmatched Tactician'' feature, granting +5 to initiative for you and allies within 5 squares as well as a +1 bonus to attack if an ally is next to the target.

At 24th level, you get the ''Unyielding Inspiration'' feature. Any time you let an ally spend a healing surge, any allies adjacent to them gain 15 THP.

At 26th level, you get the '''Brilliant Strategy''' daily utility power. This sustain minor power targets one enemy within burst 5 and lets all allies gain a bonus to attack based on how many other allies are next to the enemy.

At 30th level, you gain the ''Boundless Morale'' feature. When an ally reaches 0 HP, you immediately spend a healing surge to heal them and they gain +20 extra HP.

===Shadow Epic Destinies===
These Epic Destinies revolve around tapping into and mastering shadow magic. As this power source, alas, was utterly ruined by the shift from 4e to Essentials, there's no real class dedicated to this power source beyond the [[Rogue#Assassin|Assassin]].

====Perfect Slayer====
The [[Raven Queen]] sends a particular type of assassin to resolve particular threats to her power. Though most threats she considers beneath her notice and lets the natural inevitability of death take care of them, those that could potentially destroy the natural order find themselves targets of the '''Perfect Slayers'''. These are her personal assassins, reincarnated but always aware of their purpose. Their only destiny is to kill this grand menace at any cost - even if they must die in the attempt.

This Epic Destiny appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #379 in the "Assassin: Epic Tier" article and thus is exclusive to ''[[Assassin]]s''.

At 21st level, you gain both the ''Lord of Battle'' feature, giving you combat advantage against anyone you have a shroud on, and the ''Perfect Form'' feature, adding +2 to Dexterity.

At 24th level, you have the ''Blooded but Unbowed'' feature. You can stay up for one turn after reaching 0 HP if you have a shroud on an enemy, and if you kill them before next turn you can heal as if you spent a healing surge.

At 26th level, you get the ''Killer's Judgment'' encounter utility power. This stacks four shrouds on a target and if you attack before the end of the next turn, those shrouds deal maximum damage.

At 30th level, you reach the ''Perfect Killer'' feature, making your shrouds persist after use, making them effectively permanent.

{{D&D4-Classes}}

Setting:Tri-Sector

2026-05-20T15:41:38Z

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A prime example of Homebrew, the TriSector project might just be the single biggest actually fleshed out homebrew setting designed to fit in 40k. Enjoy.

=The Tri-Sector=
Tucked away in the northernmost stretches of the Galaxy, at the edge of the territories of Mankind, and in the shadowy perimeter of the Astronomican, lie three Sectors. These Sectors, the Drumnos to coreward, the Cloudburst to rimward, and the Naxos to spinward, are the frontier of the Galactic North in the Segmentum Ultima, and the home of many hundreds of billions of humans in the service of the Emperor. Each has its own unique history, challenges, defenders, and occupants. Each has its own terminology, its own infrastructure, and its own enemies. The most noteworthy of their features are mentioned here, and all information contained within is fully compatible with the Warhammer 40000 roleplaying games, including the array of [[Dark Heresy]], [[Rogue Trader]], [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch]], [[Only War]], [[Black Crusade (RPG)|Black Crusade]], [[Inquisitor (role-playing game)|Inquisitor]], and [[Wrath and Glory]] rulebooks. Although the Cloudburst Sector is the core and focus of this material, the other two sectors of the Tri-Sector area are covered in broad theme and some specific content.

Note that this material was largely designed to be used for the pre-13th Black Crusade timeline, and so will be out of date if used in an Indomitus campaign.

==The Cloudburst Sector, the Enemies of Man, and the Blue Daggers==
===The Cloudburst Sector and Institutions===
This young, expanding region of Imperial space takes its name from its capital moon now, but that is a recent development. Although individual Imperial colonies existed in the area once known as the Oldlight Proximate Circuit for thousands of years prior to its formal establishment as a Sector in M39, its overall barrenness stems from several factors that initially prevented it from reaching Sector status. Originally, the band of inhabited worlds that comprised the Hapster Subsector along the extreme eastern edge of the Circuit was the extent of the coordinated human holdings in the region. The Subsector was, at best, an outlier of the nearby Naxos Sector, and even then, only on paper. The remains of an ancient supernova had littered the region with thick gas, all of it radioactive. Though quiet Cognomen sat alone in the voids of the Circuit, there was little else to offer the Imperium out there in the hot gasses.

All of that changed with the discovery of the Dawn-break, Triune, and Septiim systems, by the renowned Mechanicus Magos Explorator Justin MacDonald, in M39.012. The sudden awareness of five shirtsleeves-habitable worlds, that close to Naxos and unclaimed by aliens, shook the local Rogue Trader and Explorator fleets to their cores. How had they missed such wealth? How had five worlds for the Imperium gone wholly unnoticed?

A veritable gold rush of exploration trips began at once from the Naxos Sector Forge World of Fabique, and a hundred ships sailed off into the gas storms and dark stars of the Oldlight Proximate Circuit.

Discoveries and wealth poured into the Forge World’s hands. Archaeotech caches, contact with dangerous aliens, maps of worlds and stars, and more disturbingly, the wreckage of well over ten thousand Imperial and alien ships were found within mere years of the exploration craze beginning. The Inquisition’s name came up in frightened whispers more and more, between Rogue Traders and Free Chartists that spent their gold in the orbiting coaching house ''Star Gilt'' over Fabique’s shipyards. What had driven humanity from the Oldlight Proximate Circuit in the past? Captains and Traders saw the sheer number of dead worlds and dead ships in dark zones on the map with increasing unease. Clearly, humanity had lived in the Circuit once. Some of the dead ships that Rogue Traders found floating idly through the void were post-Unification Imperial, some even with Legionary markings.

The Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus stepped in. Sending a ''Longstrike'' cruiser and fifteen smaller vessels off on the heels of Magos MacDonald’s fleet, the Inquisition established a temporary Seal of Verboten Passage on the Circuit, while it went to investigate the anomalous findings.

Months stretched into years. Finally, twelve of the sixteen ships abruptly returned unheralded with MacDonald, and set in at the Inquisitorial Palace of Naxos. Weeks of sharing and deliberation followed. When the silence was at last broken, the message that the Spire of Astral Choirs at the Palace Naxos sent out was not what the Captains of the Circuit had expected.

MacDonald, the Inquisition declared, was a hero of Mankind. His fleets had pushed past the radioactive remnants of an ancient and unthinkably colossal supernova and supernebula, and found a rich bounty of lost treasures, lost worlds, and lost opportunities. Further, on his travels, he had found an additional ten shirtsleeves-habitable worlds to be earmarked for immediate scientific inspection by the Mechanicus, and for Rogue Traders and Administratum Colonization Department colony ships to prepare for Imperial habitation.

The shipwrecks, the Inquisition publicly claimed, were from a potent Warp current that had carried the remains of vast battles from the Great Crusade to the edge of current Imperial space. The finding of these wrecks was not an ill omen, the Inquisition soothingly insisted to the superstitious Captains and Lords Trader. They were, instead, a sign that the mercy and love of the Emperor was upon them, and it was time, in His Divine estimation, for Mankind to expand to the realms that the galaxy had previously barred to human entry.

Further, they declared, a new Sector would form in the Circuit, and loyal Humans of the Segmentae Ultima and Solar would settle it. Great ventures of manpower raising and construction would begin in the hives of the Segmentae, and ships would travel in the wake of the Administratum and Traders to begin the process of building the new sector. The Hapster Subsector would become a part of this new Sector, and a Sector Overlord chosen from the office of the Master of the Administratum Ultima.

Reassured by the Inquisition’s uncharacteristic full disclosure and prodding to do what they did best, Rogue Traders and Explorators took off by the hundreds, following the markers left by MacDonald’s trailblazers. New worlds were charted, and in the span of a mere five hundred years, the new Sector was declared established, In Nominae Imperator.

What the Inquisition, perhaps sensibly, did not disclose was what MacDonald had found beyond the Oldlight Proximate Circuit. Pushing past the radioactive clouds at the trailing edge of the Circuit and into the Oldlight Exo-zone proper, MacDonald had found an unspeakable charnel house of dead ships and planets. He had spent several years mapping this non-illuminatur region (so titled because it was outside the direct light of the Astronomican at its extreme northern edge). In that time, he had found psychic scars on planets, so intense that they left physical marks on their crusts. He had found totems and messages in alien languages, composed entirely of the power backpacks of Mark 2 Crusader armor, and at least three hundred planets subject to psychic or physical Exterminatus-level disasters. On one world, he had found over four hundred thousand skeletons of alien creatures, all fully made of metal. Weeks of study had yielded the horrifying truth behind them: they were the remains of cybernetic skeletons from vat-grown and cyber-augmented alien soldiers, locked in place and left to desiccate by an incomprehensibly powerful electronic warfare device. Such a device would have eclipsed even the Warp-tainted Electron Freezer of Moravec in power, especially since lingering radiation on their skeletal bodies suggested it had been triggered from eighty-two light years away.

Weeks of dangerous, slow, and violent travel by his Inquisitorial pursuers followed. When the Ordos of the Inquisition finally caught up with MacDonald at the edge of the Oldlight Exo-zone’s western border, at the very outskirts of the Astronomican’s light, he was researching a world-sized labyrinth of tunnels and metal tubes, apparently constructed by an Old Ones machine long ago and repurposed by the Eldar as a Webway technology test bed. The Inquisition was loathe to simply kill MacDonald for his knowledge, especially since the Inquisition actually knew less about what filled the Oldlight Exo-zone than he did, at that point. A deal was struck and sealed between the Mechanicus and Holy Ordos in the shadow of that ancient xenotech. MacDonald would return to the Proximate Circuit and lend his aid to the Rogue Traders that explored his findings, and the Inquisition would forget that MacDonald had ever come to that haunted place, in exchange for his findings and an oath not to return without the explicit permission of the Ordo Xenos.

On their return journey, however, a new discovery was made. The combined convoy of MacDonald’s Astra Explorators and the Inquisitorial ships halted over a world in the very center of the Oldlight Exo-Zone, where the light of the Astronomican was largely blocked by the many Warp Storms between their location and Terra. While taking a routine Navigation check, MacDonald’s ship sensors detected a colossal concentration of gaseous carbon and oxidized metal on the world below – a sure sign of a battlefield. After pestering the Inquisition to allow him to scan the world more closely, the Explorator began sweeping the planet with his mighty Grand Cruiser’s systems.

What he found horrified him. Below, on the surface of the planet that he immediately named Cladh in his ancestral language, he detected well over fifteen million human and alien bodies, decomposed to gas and powder. Millions of suits of alien and human Power Armor, thousands of wrecked tanks, a complex of psi-reactive crystals, an enormous dragon statue made from human teeth, and the remains of alien bio-horrors so complex that his systems couldn’t even tell what they were; they all lay in ruins on a vast plateau. The plateau, his cogitators helpfully informed him, had been created by the Lances on an Imperial Gloriana super battle barge, firing in Continual Discharge Mode, which would have reduced them to slag after only a few minutes. The Lances had boiled a canyon around the plateau, and judging from the heat damage on the Power Armor nearest the impact sites, at least some Crusade troops – including Astartes – had been alive and running towards the beams at the time of impact.

At this point, the Inquisition determined, a decision had to be made about MacDonald. A quick vote from the five Inquisitors present determined that disclosure would be more helpful than execution, and the Longstrike class cruiser hailed MacDonald’s ship.

The Emperor Himself after the culmination of the Rangdan Xenocides had quarantined the region, the Inquisitors explained. This particular world was unknown to even them, they hastened to assure him, but the evidence was clear enough. MacDonald looked at the surface below and immediately agreed to silence on the issue; he recognized the armor below as belonging to the Iron Warriors. Suits of armor belonging to at least five other Legions lay draped over a toppled building, originally shaped like a planarian worm or something akin to it.
MacDonald agreed to keep the secret of what had happened here, and the convoy departed for the Circuit once more. The Inquisition, aware of the history of the Rangdan Xenocides and now the Exo-zone, were content to know that MacDonald, at least, would probably not realize that they had flown over the site of the opening of the Labyrinth of Night.
MacDonald, his curiosity sated, compacted himself to the terms of the Inquisition’s bargain, and flew back to Naxos with the Inquisition. When the conclave was over, he ‘humbly’ accepted the Inquisition’s accolades, and set out once more, to catalogue the worlds of the eminently less classified Proximate Circuit. He achieved phenomenal success, ultimately categorizing twenty more systems in a mere decade. Eventually, his stellar rise to glory landed him a position as the Archmagos Explorator of the Sector, and a permanent posting on Cognomen proper.

Eight Subsectors, each named for an inhabited world around which their Control Fortress orbits, were created once the size of the Sector became clear. They are, in rough order from galactic east to galactic west (spinward to trailing): Hapster (by far the oldest), Cognomen, Celeste (which also contains the capital), Delving, Maskos, Spindle, Nauphry, and Rampart. The world now known as Brotherhood was once considered for a Subsector capital, but the decision ultimately favored Nauphry; this may have been a factor in the tragedy that befell Brotherhood. To compensate for the lengthy travel times between clusters of systems and the fact that several systems of the young Sector had multiple habitable bodies, System Overlords are generally installed instead of or in addition to individual Planetary Governors, and the Order Famulous is given the chance to render commentary on all high-profile Overlordship appointments. Overlordship is revocable only by unanimous consent of the Subsector and Sector Masters Administratum (the Overlord’s own peers), and is therefore a rare event, if the Ordo Hereticus doesn’t take matters into its own hands. Notably, the Sector Overlord’s entire family was deposed under a century ago.

The specific policy of the Sector Administratum is to integrate worlds of the nearby Cloudburst Circuit directly into the Sector proper, and is by no means adverse to creating a new Subsector if need be. The problem is that Cloudburst is on the very edge of the projection range of the Astronomican as of M41, and further colonization in the renamed Circuit will be dangerous at best. The radioactive gas left over in the region from the ancient supernova that blinded the Imperium to the Circuit’s potential in the first place is just thick enough to make non-psychic travel or communication difficult, and pirates roam by the hundreds of thousands. While plans exist to colonize some worlds Rogue Traders have secured for the Imperium in the Circuit, and a few worlds of cave dwellers and regressive primitives exist for potential acquisition, the majority of the Circuit will have to be far better mapped before the Administratum commits any more resources to the area than it already has. However, the Cloudburst Sector has lost two Agri-worlds in recent centuries, which has forced it to start importing food from neighboring sectors. With the loss of Chlorit to the Glasians and Scalding to Chaos, the sector’s food now either comes from the worlds where it is needed, or from Cassie’s World, Forender, Grendel, and Combine. Naturally, these worlds require constant defense from invasions. It is not helpful that the more powerful nearby Sectors sometimes drive retreating foes into Cloudburst to become their problem.

Today, Cloudburst is a triumphal example of the latter-day Imperial ability to keep expanding, despite having every reason to stop. Though its defenses were not particularly important prior to the arrival of the Glasians, it is now fortifying at a dizzying pace. Missionaries and Techpriests rush to worlds on the slightest hint of archaeotech or un-converted primitive humans. The stronger the Imperium’s arms and more thorough its faith, they preach, the better the odds that the Emperor will smile on them, and the Sector will survive another Glasian Migration. Rogue Traders and Explorators, rivals at the best of times elsewhere in the galaxy, work together to find more worlds and treasure for the sector. A full Space Marine Chapter digs in, deep in the sector’s heart, preparing for the worst, while ruthless armies of Astra Militarum and Skitarii ferret out enemies of the sector, within its borders and beyond them. The vast Forge World of Cognomen is now remorselessly disregarding stricture against Knight manufacture, while the Ecclesiarchy Cloudburst arms its Sisters on their beachfront palace. PDFs across the sector kiss their Aquila pendants and pray for mercy, while furious Nurglite Cultists strive mightily to break Tzeentch’s stranglehold on cult activity nearby. The Inquisition and Arbites burn all sign of corruption or heresy from the overtaxed populace of Cloudburst, even while fresh worlds are brought into compliance by the high-tech armies of Solstice and Septiim.
All the while, vile alien beasts stare unblinkingly at the stars of Cloudburst from their time-stasis prisons; their very cells realigning to the dark curiosity of foul Tzeentch. Cloudburst is a place of dynamism, violence, and perfidious hope. None know its fate, none but Tzeentch know when Tzeentch’s evil experiment shall end, and even he does not know what he will do with the Sector after he is finally done.

====Imperial Navy====
The Imperial Navy are often the first force under arms to confront the Glasian menace when it recurs in the Cloudburst Sector. [[Setting:Cloudburst/Navy|Cloudburst has an enormous navy]], by necessity.

====Imperial Guard====
The first few thousand years of existence of the [[Setting:Cloudburst/Guard|Cloudburst Guard]] did not strain the military capacities of the Sector overmuch, but with the advent of the Glasians, the Sector's Astra Militarum have radically improved... barring a few noteworthy [[Setting:Cloudburst/Soak|exceptions]].

====Institutions====
Within the greater Cloudburst Sector, the Imperial Adepta are hard at work. As a zone of expansion for the Imperium, the Cloudburst Administratum oversees colonization efforts and tithe efforts in a large and ever-changing area. As a result, the tithe and psyker collection ships they administrate need additions at all times. This, combined with the recent increase in needs among the military forces of the Sector, puts intense strain on the shipbuilding capabilities of the Sector.

The leadership of the Sector’s Administratum and Estate bases itself from the moon Cloudburst, while the local Officio Munitorum and Astra Telepathica are technically based there, but are more practically based from the orbitals of the nearby Subsector Capital of Celeste. The supreme command of all non-Astartes military assets in the Sector that do not answer to the Adeptus Mechanicus bases from a subterranean tunnel network on Cloudburst proper, but the local Officio Munitorum does own a Leviathan transport, which can carry field command to anywhere it can drive.

It is in the Cloudburst Circuit that the Imperial Adeptus Terra loses its grip, and the more militarized forces of the Imperium pick up the slack. Rogue Traders, Explorators, Navy patrols, the occasional Blue Daggers ship on its way to a surgical strike mission, and Merchant Privateers all cross the red-hot gasses of the Circuit on various missions. There are technically no ‘colonies’ in the Circuit, thanks to the fact that the Cloudburst Sector expands to include all colonies that are established in the Circuit. Since this means that the infrastructure of the Sector would have to expand to worlds far from the centers of industry and travel in Cloudburst, most of the Imperial-controlled worlds in the Circuit are instead referred to as ‘outposts,’ with all the lack of formal support that indicates. Some of the systems of the Circuit have been added to the Sector over the years. Many actual outposts, such as research stations and mining nodes, benefit from little protection, and crew of Navy ships stationed there consider it hazard posting at best.

There are many efforts in place among the civilian leaders of the Sector to prepare for the worst. Should worlds fall to the Glasians, evacuation protocols to resettle the refugees will be needed. So far, the plan is to move any surviving escapees from lost worlds to the many colony ventures in the Sector. Fathon Prime and Foraldshold are the most likely candidates to benefit from a surge in new refugees, although the Inquisition has grumbled about the possibility of Fathon Prime’s population interacting extensively with the rest of the Sector. If multiple worlds are lost but their populations saved, the capacity problem will be serious, however, and the Administratum is scrambling to find alternate destinations for displaced persons in the Cloudburst Circuit.

Inquisitorial efforts in the Sector are quite diverse, especially for a backwater Sector at the literal frontier of Imperial space. The Conclave here is represented by the Ordo Xenos in the majority with forty percent of the member Inquisitors, followed by the Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Malleus, the Ordo Militarum, the Ordo Machina, the Ordo Thanatos, the Ordo Chronos, and the Ordo Barbarus, with one member each of the Ordo Astra, Ordo Astartes, and Ordo Sicarius. The representative of the Ordo Astartes is present to monitor the Blue Daggers, since Lady Lerica is perfectly able to oversee the Deathwatch herself.

Some of the cultural trends that have taken root in other Imperial Sectors have been slow to arrive in Cloudburst. The use of subcutaneous Electoos, for instance, which are all but mandatory on Prison Worlds and Forge Worlds in the Segmentum Solar, is unheard of except among the spectacularly rich in Cloudburst, though it is making slow headway. Conversely, the Ecclesiarchy in most Imperial sectors is tightening its belt in these times of shortage and warfare, while the Cloudburst Ministorum has never been more profligate.

====[[Setting:Cloudburst/Techpriesthood|The Techpriesthood]]====
Because of the somewhat contentious circumstances of the founding of the Cognomen Priesthood, there are odd cultural motifs that wormed their way into the common practice of the Cloudburst Tech-adepts and Priests. None of it strays far enough from Martian dogma to be considered Heretek, Cognomen makes sure of that, but there is an oddness to it that any Solar visitor can pick out.

====[[Setting:Cloudburst/Ecclesiarchy|The Ecclesiarchy]]====
The Cloudburst Ecclesiarchy is obsessed with wealth and control, and lies in the domain of two extremely old men.

====Space Marines====
Standing astride the gaps in the defenses of the Cloudburst Sector are the Space Marines. The Adeptus Astartes of the region have served on many occasions to repulse the Chaotic and alien incursors who have challenged the sanctity of Mankind’s rule. The Sector is blessed by two significant presences of Space Marines: the Blue Daggers Chapter and the [[Deathwatch]]. The presence of Space Marines in the Sector, however, began long before either of those two Chapters established permanent bases in Cloudburst.

His Divine Majesty's Space Marine Chapter 0983: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Blue Daggers|The Blue Daggers]]

The silent, precise, diverse, and murderously effective [[Setting:Cloudburst/Deathwatch|Vigilant]] of the mighty Watch Fortress Dascomb.

==Departmento Astrocartigraphicae Planetary Database: Cloudburst Sector==
The Adeptus Administratum keeps a roster of all inhabited worlds in the Cloudburst Sector. The most significant are listed here.

===Sector and Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Celeste|Celeste]]===
A twin world, and the regional capital of the Imperium's power.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Septiim|Septiim]]===
One of the rare Pasture Gate systems, and the home of the Blue Daggers Chapter of His Divine Majesty's Loyalist Space Marines.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Cognomen|Cognomen]]===
Loyal but burdened sons of Mars, the sole Forge World (currently) in service in Cloudburst, and home of the mighty ''Legio Congelatio,'' of the [[Adeptus Titanicus]].

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Elumanie|Elumanie]]===
A worthless ball of gas, Elumanie 5 has in its orbit a moon of dark threat to Mankind.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Thunderhead|Xerxes Mark IV Naval Platform: Thunderhead]]===
A large Naval anchorage. This station has a population problem it simply can't seem to shake.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Drimmerzole|Drimmerzole]]===
The Agri-worlds of the Cloudburst Sector are generally quiet and peaceful places, but Drimmerzole is also the exclusive source of one of the galaxy's most useful antibiotics.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Clegran|Clegran]]===
This is a world of winds, cities, plains, and the most lethal [[Imperial Guard]] formation in Sector history.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Fathon|Fathon]]===
Once a place of heresy and secrets, now just secrets and primitives.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Remananos|Remananos]]===
The Mining World of Underbar, and its toxic oceans of liquid metal.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Hell's Vortex|Hell's Vortex]]===
A strange, time-shifting Warp Storm in the middle of the Cloudburst Sector.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Disaster|Disaster]] Asteroid Cluster===
An aptly-named cluster of space rocks and debris that predates humankind.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Maskos|Maskos]]===
Two inhabited worlds that form the capital of their own Subsector, and which birthed a dread and humiliating heresy in the Imperium's history.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Ghald|Ghald]]===
A horrifying hell of monstrous aliens, utterly inimical to human life.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Chlorit|Chlorit]]===
The first world lost to the monstrous Glasians; dead and gone.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Goldlight|Goldlight]]===
A system of mining wealth, farms, and plundering Guardsmen famous beyond the borders of the Sector.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Soak|Soak]]===
The crime-riddled water ball that is Obelisk II and its legendary pirate Guardsmen.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Spindle|Spindle]]===
The sole Hive World of the Cloudburst Sector, its largest recruiting ground, and the cabal of interrelated criminals who command it.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Mendic|Scalding]]===
A site of horrific violence against the human race; a world lost to Chaos because of a single psyker who went unclaimed by the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]].

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Cygnmo|Cygnmo]]===
A world of proud, violent Feudalists, and the Celestial Guard barracks that protects them.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Nauphry|Nauphry]]===
Bipolar, polluted, and teeming with industry; a Capital for a Subsector bursting with potential for wealth and violence.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Oscar India Golf|OIG]]===
The largest Orkhold in the Cloudburst Sector.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/N'Zark|AZH2109]]===
A mystery on a starmap from an alien race with more ambition than common sense.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Aule Windows|Aule Windows]]===
The subject of the Adeptus Mechanicus's ire, and host to the best refueling options in Cloudburst.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Coriolis|Coriolis]]===
A Fortress World of immense strength; the hub of the Cloudburst [[Astra Militarum]].

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Lockehold|Lockehold]]===
Hundreds of isolated cultures, all developing independently of each other in a feudal contest.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Delving|Delving]]===
A combination of slow terraforming and ceaseless mining defines Delving. Home of the largest abhuman population in Cloudburst, and an indispensable hub of regional industry.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Maleard|Maleard]]===
A planet of storms and a mad scientist who rules it.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Dranok|Dranok]]===
A verdant, productive Agri-world; one of the best in the galaxy.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/ABS00273|ABS00273]]===
Hive-minded primitives and a huge, mysterious energy shield.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/GHE656|GHE656]]===
A bizarre world that changes its appearance.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Clog|Clog]]===
A derelict space station undergoing haphazard reconstruction by a coalition of greedy Rogue Treaders.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Grand Anchor|Grand Anchor Scrapyard]]===
Rings of co-owned space stations, hosting the largest privately-owned starship yard in the Galactic North.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Jodhclan|Johdclan]]===
Two planets that serve as the headquarters and food supply of the local Ecclesiarchs.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Azure|Azure]]===

The blackened, scorched remains of a long-dead Imperial colony, which forces of Chaos now battle over for unknown reasons.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Tendrils|AHG2452]]===
A world of incalculable mineral wealth, dominated by rapidly-developing aliens of great hostility.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Foraldshold|Forald's Legacy]]===
A massive terraformed world, with a single, unfinished Mechanicus megacity barely holding out against a swarm of flying Orks.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/ABX2|ABX202020]]===
A planet that is technically illegal; the Cloudburst Sector's sole Knight World.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Triplicate|Triplicate]]===
A tripartite realm of three related primitive tribes, none of which are yet suitable for large-scale Imperial residence.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Vasari's Cruelty|Vasari's Cruelty]]===
A Warp storm with the nasty habit of flinging metal asteroids out of itself at relativistic speeds.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Starlight Hollow|Starlight Hollow]]===
A world of lost, ancient treasure, to which the Adeptus Mechanicus will deploy whole Titan maniples for protection.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Gorum's Folly|Gorum's Folly]]===
Crippling storms and feuding nobles tear at the surface of Gorum's Folly, interfering with the tithe and making it harder to defend from Glasians.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Hapster|Hapster]]===
An ancient world of humankind, with an inflexible caste system and precarious environmental damage.

===Subsector Capital System: [[Setting:Cloudburst/Rampart|Rampart]]===
The farthest point of light in the Imperial North, currently under colossal attack from Orks.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Forender|Forender]]===
A new and under-developed star system of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] agricultural network. Despite the youth of the colonies, they've already been subject to a burst of that most insidious heresy, liberalism.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Freehold|Freehold]]===
Pirates have entirely overrun this system. It has been annexed by the Free Corsair Coalition.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Oromet|Oromet]]===
The setting of the two worst acts of premeditated heresy in the history of the Cloudburst Sector.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Liprel Shoal|Liprel Shoal]]===
Once a peaceful, isolated frontier, this world benefitted from a miracle that allowed it to defend itself from the Glasians, several centuries ago.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Limmerdine|Limmerdine]]===
The Dark God [[Nurgle]] invaded and despoiled this world, which has necessitated colossal rebuilding efforts that may never pay off.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Avius|Avius]]===
A rugged and self-reliant Frontier World, with a lingering resentment of the greater Imperium.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Maxient|Port Maxient]]===
The largest space station in Cloudburst, and a phenomenal waste of money by the Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus.

==Timeline==
M22: The Cracks Show

The gradual rise of the human federation halts as a combination of complacency, alien incursions, Eldar decadence, and untrustworthy machine intelligences frays the structure and unity of human culture. The otherwise isolated regions of space that would eventually become Cloudburst enjoy initial stability, as close ties to each other’s economies and secure technological bases thanks to Martian ingenuity prevent some of the political damage from spreading that far from Terra.

M23: The Rise of Iron

The uprising of the Iron Men in the future Cloudburst Sector was as thorough and destructive as it was elsewhere in human space. During the Cybernetic Revolution, entire planets simply vanished as nanite weapons swallowed them up. Corers, employed to teleport or collapse the hearts of planets, destroyed several worlds, while unbreaking legions of robots marched through human cities, rendering them lifeless. Eight hundred years of non-stop war followed, with no hope in sight.

M24: The Foundations Crumbled First

Though the work of a coalition of alien and human factions prevailed over the Iron Men, new problems followed quickly. Hedonism and Godlessness among the Eldar saw to the beginning of their race’s decline, and the psychic distortions of their conduct ensured the increase in the expression of latent psyker genes in humankind and Orks. The birthrate of human Psykers and Ork Weirdboys rose sharply, and whole worlds that survived the tides of Iron Men fell into the Warp, while others were stripped of life by Enslaver and Psychneuein incursions. Some human worlds, including the most dogmatic Forge Worlds, survived the anarchy, but not enough.

M25: The Federation Dies

Though fixing an exact date on the event is impossible, at some point in this millennium, the human federation died, as millions of human worlds sloughed into the darkness. Ignorance, fear, anguish, superstition, tribalism, hate, and bitterness claimed a quadrillion souls, and Mankind as a whole and righteous force in the Galaxy ended. Shortly thereafter, Old Night descended in earnest, as the continuing decay of the Eldar accelerated the fall of their less psychically stable human allies. Abandoned by their former friends, humanity turned on itself. A thousand thousand pocket kingdoms and empires formed and burned as the human race cut its own throat.

The worlds of the future Cloudburst were crippled by the collapse of the Federation. Lacking stable Warp or Webway access, dependent on imports, and stripped of both their psychic and robotic support, the humans of the later Sector were teetering on the brink. The final blow came from the heavens, as the radioactive remains of a long-gone supernova began to wash over several older nebulae and black holes in the region, scattering lethal waves of radiation and atoms over several human Agri-systems, rendering them unsuitable for agriculture. Eighty percent of human worlds in the future Sector had driven themselves to extinction within six thousand years, and most of the surviving worlds fell prey to alien enslavement forces.

M26-M29: Old Night

The terror of this age is thankfully lacking in detail in much of Cloudburst records. Unfortunately, records of human worlds beyond Cloudburst are not so lacking. They tell of a vast, vile, and terrifying force of strange aliens, described by witnesses as ‘floating ropes’ and ‘tendrils of hate and hunger’ that drifted down from artificial moons and took the souls of those who couldn’t flee fast enough. Other threats are more quantifiable, such as records of ‘great green brutes,’ clearly Orks, and ‘lithe, psychic un-men with guns that fired agony and confusion,’ probably Eldar pirates, killing humans out of boredom. More obscure references exist to beings that Inquisitorial scholars have tentatively identified as either Slaugth or Rangdan, neither of which still exist in huge numbers in Imperial space. Most perplexing are the references to great floating eyes made of black and purple gas, which would extend teeth from holes that opened in their white surfaces, impale people, and pull out something blue and noisome, before disappearing and leaving paralyzed husks of men behind.

Oddly, the more bizarre alien forms seem to disappear from the records of the dead worlds and primitive cultures of the Cloudburst Circuit before the end of Old Night. The lack of any obviously Chaotic demons outside of a few specific cases is also puzzling to the Holy Ordos, since a world that close to the Eldar Empire and that far from Terra would have been hugely vulnerable to daemonic incursion.

Regardless of the individual causes, the human civilizations of the future Sector were all dead and gone, reverted to barbarism, or enslaved by M29, and would remain that way for varying lengths of time.

M30: New Light

When the birth of the Dark God Slaanesh broke the Warp Storms that had wracked the galaxy for so long, no organized human forces remained in Cloudburst to exploit it. Although over a hundred worlds still had either a few inbred remains of former colonies or cave-dwelling primitives left alive, most were dead or still enslaved when the Warp became navigable once more. On Terra, the rise of the Emperor to prominence over the forces of the Techno-barbarians is well documented, as he forged an Empire from the scraps of humanity’s cradle. When the Great Crusade surged past the Eye of Terror and into the region known now as the Oldlight Exo-zone, they found horrors that nearly consumed them all.

From the dark, whispers came. Rogue Traders Militant – hardly friends of the Emperor – reported that some of their number were gone, destroyed by odd alien pirates. The Expeditionary Fleets eventually moved into the region and began settling it, despite the navigation problems lent by the dimness of the Astronomican. In M30.859, however, whole worlds began to disappear in the wake of these Fleets. Recalls were sounded, and the Fleets returned, only to be slaughtered by Rangdan vessels. These terrifying cerbavores set upon the Imperium like wild animals, and ripped billions of brains from their human cattle.

The Emperor led elements of seven Legions of Space Marines, ten Titan Legions, massive forces of the Taghmata and Skitarii, the Ordo Reductor, two million elite Solar Auxilia and another three million Imperial Army conscripts, four hundred Custodes, and two thousand Sisters of Silence into battle against the monsters. Just before the turn of the century, the last of the Rangdan were killed, their Slaugth slaves (or owners) were killed off to the last known subject, and the Oldlight Exo-zone all but abandoned. The weapons employed in the conflict rendered hundreds of star systems barren of all life, and several unrelated alien worlds also died off as the Emperor unshackled the Labyrinth of Night.

M31: Rebellion

When the Horus Heresy began, it began quickly. Little of the Oldlight Proximate Circuit was colonized prior to the outbreak of the Heresy, and what little was colonized declared for the Warmaster. The intense fighting that characterized the fratricide of the era passed the Circuit by, perhaps for the long-term betterment of the sector. When the one world in the sector decisively to take a side, Fathon Prime, elected to hide from the Imperium after the fighting was over, the last significant signs of human activity in the region died down.

M31-M33: The Dark Quiet

The Oldlight Proximate Circuit maintained the quiet and the peace of the grave, for over two thousand years. What few human worlds remained in the Circuit had either thrown off their alien enslavers and promptly fallen apart, or died off completely, after being overlooked by the Crusade’s many thousands of fleets. Extensive evidence recovered far later from underground caverns reveals that Oglith, Gorkypark, and possibly Nauphry were visited by a Waaagh! at some point during this period, but that mass of greenskins is long gone.

Techpriests of Mars, exiling themselves for the desire to make flesh-indistinguishable augmetics instead of naked steel ones, settled on Cognomen in this time.

M34: We Happy Schismatic

Cognomen stands alone. Despite some limited colonization efforts in what would later become the Hapster Subsector, most human residents of the Circuit either have died off or live on Cognomen. Unbeknownst to Cognomen, however, some few dozen worlds in the enormous Circuit, including Fathon Prime, actually do still exist under human control, or at least human population and alien control. The only Imperial world outside Hapster Subsector and Cognomen itself, the Frontier World of Hangonne, on the border between Drumnos and the Circuit, is effectively a Drumnos world despite being inside what would later be Cloudburst. Slowly, the number of worlds in the Hapster Subsector grows to ten, but the physical barriers of Warp energy, radioactive clouds, and thick asteroid clusters that appeared on no map prevented Hapster from expanding to trailing.

M35: Nova Terra

The Nova Terra Interregnum and the spike in power of the Adeptus Ministorum does not scar the future Cloudburst Sector as it does much of the rest of space. The Hapster Subsector has some scrapes, mostly varying bands of Frateris Militia and Templars doing battle against each other over doctrinal disputes. The Mechanicus of Cognomen and the settlers of Hangonne find themselves siding with Terra and Mars; they are thus spared reprisal violence.

The rising tide of the Ecclesiarchy, and their return to prominence following the Ophelia relocation, brings faith to the fore in the Hapster Subsector. Wars erupt between the faithful, as they often do, but the sector itself is reintegrated into the Imperium after the battles between the faithful ended.

M36: An Era of Blood

The rise of the Era of Blood and the crippling effects of the cruel career of Goge Vandire are well documented, and need not be chronicled here. The aftermath of the Nova Terra Interregnum, the Reign of Blood, and the Plague of Unbelief in succession, with two Black Crusades in the same period, kept the Imperium from exploiting its true power, and from reaching the heights of prosperity that they should have attained. The reforms of Sebastian Thor at least ensured at the Imperium survived the madness of his predecessor. When the wave of reformation reaches Hapster, the fervor and degree of selfless devotion that Thor preached rings true in the hearts of the weary faithful. Eventually, the violence between the worlds of Hapster subsides.

M37: Whispers of Change

M37.039: Uprisings Thwarted – A circle of human psykers living on Oglith drive off the daemon cult that ruled it, then turn on each other ensuring that all human life on Oglith dies off within four years.

M37.040: The Pirates’ Life – The Voidlife pirate flotilla successfully robs Hapster’s orbitals of billions of Thrones of tithe goods. The Inquisition promptly executes the Planetary Governor for failing to prevent this, while the full force of the Battlefleet Subsector Hapster chases the pirates to the edge of the Naxos Sector, destroying four ships and losing the rest of the Voidlives in the Raoclos Nebular Cluster. Only a few million Thrones’ worth of cargo and salvage are recovered.

M37.077: The Taint of Nurgle – The Rot Soul Brigade, a Traitor Guardsman brigade of light armor, appears from the Pox Ring Warp Storm in the heart of the Corumbino Nebula in the Naxos Sector. Setting off on a hijacked Imperial Tithe barge, the Rot Souls make their way trailing, infecting over a dozen planets with the poison of sedition and the poison of Nurgle alike. In the end, over eighty Space Marines and two thousand Guardsmen are needed to kill the Rot Souls on the scarred battlefields of Barda’s Shield, only five light years from Fabique. This is not the final appearance of the Rot Souls in the history of Naxos and the Circuit, as they return twice over to plague the Imperium.

M37.243: The Dark Lights – A ripple of Warp Energy from the shrinking Warp Rifts in the heart of the Corumbino Nebula disrupts a long-dormant Webway Gate floating in the cold space of the Nebula. Dozens of silent Dark Eldar ships slip into the region, seeking flesh and souls for the Dark City.

M37.247: Sudden Horror – A flight of Dark Eldar Kabal ships appear in the night over the Imperial military capital of Arnopax in the Lucern system of the Naxos Sector, abducting tens of thousands of Imperial military family members from their beds, never to be seen again.

M37.787: Expanding Sights – The world of Limmerdine is formally colonized by the Administratum in the Hapster Subsector, only for the colonists to all immediately be uprooted again as the first wave’s Techpriests locate massive metal structures mere feet below the surface of the spot selected for the world’s first power plant. After being castigated for having missed it completely, the priests hasten to assure the Administratum that there could be no more. Two years later, the colony erupts into a vicious civil war as a Mechanicus force investigating these metal structures goes completely mad, and turns their war-servitors on the farmers.

M37.971: The Scouring of Pholemnos – At the same time that the world of Pholemnos in the Gothic Sector is scoured of mutant life at the hands of an anti-Tzeentch Inquisition task force, four other Tzeentch cults in the undercities of Hapster are purged, hoping to distract the Change God with the simultaneous losses. Tzeentch watches in amusement at the petty Imperial efforts, and promptly dispatches a Thousand Sons cruiser to assault the Inquisitorial staging area, killing thousands.

M38: A Tense Time

M38.090: Blood Sun – An army of Khornate daemons abruptly assaults the Imperial Shrine World of Larodar 4 on the border between the Naxos Sector and the Hapster Subsector, killing over a billion humans in an orgy of blood and terror. A Grey Knights task force arrives two months later, to find the daemon army gone, and the surviving population teetering on the brink of outright heresy in their despair at the Emperor not having sent his Angels to aid them fast enough.

M38.402: Strength of Arms – Lord Fabricator Richardson of Cognomen formally petitions to have the edict against raising a Titan Legion raised by Mars redacted. No response is forthcoming from the Red Planet, so Lord Fabricator Richardson quietly begins organizing the planetary militia in the form of his very own Taghmata. Declared Heretek Inculpa Belisarius by the Ordo Machina of the Inquisition, he barely escapes from Cognomen with his life, and spends the next two years fleeing from the Inquisition, before being caught and killed by a strike team of Stormtroopers on Fabique.

M38.560: Looking Outward – The Forge World of Fabique completes a four hundred year long manufacturing project and establishes the Grand Docks distretta. This massive, interconnected network of orbital platforms, dry-docks, berthing yards, temples, low-G tube-trans trains, satellites, and metallurgical factories allows for Fabique to construct any Imperial hull class smaller than 14 kilometers, and can dock vessels up to twice that size for refits or repairs. Higher in the world’s orbit, Fabique orders a large space station built into a convenient asteroid, named the ''Star Gilt''. Home to a huge coaching house and auction hall, the station becomes the hub of nearly all major Rogue Trader activity in the Naxos Sector, just as the Fabique Explorators had hoped. Fabique is able to buy vast sums of archaeotech and other materiel from returning Rogue Traders at the auction houses, without any risk to themselves.

M38.612: An Unheralded Arrival – Future Archmagos Explorator Justin MacDonald finishes his training on Cognomen, and joins the crew of a senior Explorator on their search for a safer Warp route between Cognomen and the Drumnos Sector.

M38.799: Frothing Disease – Thousands of Nurglite cultists disembark from camouflaged barges and troopships onto the surface of Limmerdine, and the world turns from a pastoral wilderness paradise to a festering hell of plague and death. Cities run green with the melting flesh and pus-rivulets of millions of dying Imperials. Thinking quickly, the local Ecclesiarchy and Munitorum press the entire planetary population into a single vast militia, and march seventeen million citizen-soldiers into the force of Nurglites. By sheer weight of numbers, the Chaotic warriors are overrun and defeated, but the world’s recovery will take over five thousand years by the most conservative estimates.

M38.999: Claws of Hate – Cognomen, for the first time in its long history, is assaulted directly by its enemies. The vast Ark Mechanicus ''Archetype'' is attacked in its usual patrol by a force of mixed Renegade Space Marines. The Age of Strife-era auspexes and sensoria aboard the ancient ship are enough to see the enemy coming, and the ''Archetype'' signals for help from the planet proper as it attempts to return to the planet’s orbit. Before help can arrive, the ''Archetype'' is boarded by the force of Traitors, including Gorlabe the Unyielding, a Black Legion Terminator. The crew of the ''Archetype'' number over one hundred thousand people, however, and put up a vicious fight against the boarders, even as the vessel crawls towards Cognomen’s defense net. Two dozen smaller vessels, mostly Defense Monitors, rush to the aid of their flagship. Meanwhile, the actual objective of the raid, Cognomen itself, is left all but defenseless. Two dozen Black Legion and Word Bearer Terminators teleport to the surface of the planet, directly into the great data-library of the main Fabrication Temple Plant. Desperate counterattacks from the local militia are unable to stop the Terminators from looting over four thousand blueprints, then setting electrical fires in the rest of the building and teleporting free. Though the ''Archetype'' was quickly secured and Gorlabe’s forces driven off, the damage is done. Hundreds of thousands of blueprints, some older than the Imperium, are lost forever. Cognomen is forced to beg for fresh copies from Mars, and those copies are provided only begrudgingly, with a force of eighty thousand Skitarii along with them. These Skitarii will form the core of the world’s bolstered defenses.

M39: A New Beginning

M39.002: A Fate-Heavy Voyage – Explorator Justin MacDonald is promoted to Magos, and given command of his own ship, the Grand Cruiser ''Long Vision of Knowledge''. He takes off into the nebulae that surround his homeworld in search of stable Warp Routes, despite being repeatedly assured that none exists save the one the fleet originally used to colonize Cognomen, thousands of years before.

M39.004: A Fatal Error in Judgment – A collection of corrupt members of the Adeptus Arbites succeed in murdering the second in command of the Hapster Administratum and covering it up, blaming it on a visiting Deathwatch Kill-Marine. The Marine barely escapes retribution by uncorrupted Arbites, unaware of their comrades’ corruption.

M39.009: Foreboding – The Space Hulk ''Mortifracture'' appears from out of the great clouds of radioactive gas that girdle the Cognomen system. Initial exploration of the Hulk by the Iron Hands Chapter reveals that the entire structure of the Hulk is completely overrun with Orks, but many seem starved or malnourished, and they do not put up a good enough fight to resist the Iron Hands’s Terminator boarding forces, which capture the Hulk for the Mechanicus. Cognomen, however, has no records of any Orkholds close enough to contain that many Orks.

M39.010: Recidivism – A vast army of human Renegades and Traitors descends on the planet Northrop in the neighboring Drumnos Sector. Over eighteen million of these assailants, out of twenty-one million total, are eventually identified as being descendants of the Imperial prison planet St. Hobson’s Patience, which had vanished into the Warp a thousand years before. Disturbingly, many of the original criminals are also identified as having been present for the invasion, begging the question: what could have kept them alive for so long, while leaving them time to reproduce? The Renegade force assaults Northrop’s defenses with manic rage, and only a combined force of Salamander, Red Scorpion, Angels Vermillion, Emperor’s Nightmare, Death Lights, Celestial Knights, and Angels of Redemption Astartes, alongside over a million star-sailors of the Imperial Navy, manage to stop the incursion before the whole world is destroyed.

M39.012: The Great Discovery – To the shock of the Rogue Traders, Explorators, Astrocartographers, and Navigators of Drumnos, Naxos, and the rest of the Ultima Segmentum, Explorator Magos Justin MacDonald announces that he has discovered three shirtsleeves-habitable star systems, one with three Garden Worlds in it, within a few weeks’ flight from Cognomen. Named [[Setting:Cloudburst/Triplicate|Triplicate]], for the three completely unrelated primitive cultures living on it and apparently unaware of each other; [[Setting:StarlightHollow|Starlight Hollow]], named for the artificial star MacDonald found crashed into the planet’s surface; and [[Setting:Cloudburst/Septiim|Septiim]], for the ancient Terran poet and inventor of renown, the three systems had all tested as safe for immediate human habitation, and none were more than fifteen light-years from Cognomen.

M39.014: Gold Rush One – Propelled by discoveries of immense value by MacDonald’s fleet, over one hundred Rogue Trader and Explorator ships leave Fabique for the Oldlight Proximate Circuit.

M39.015: Unease – Several dozen Rogue Trader and Explorator ships return to the ''Star Gilt'', with words of caution on their tongues. They spoke of dead worlds, dead ships, and whole systems of utter devastation, out in the void. Pict-captures and solid remains of wrecked Great Crusade ships, some with Legionary markings, surface in Fabique. After months of speculation, the Inquisition steps in.

M39.016: Gold Rush Two – The Inquisitorial expedition, minus four ships, and MacDonald return. A conclave is held at Palace Naxos. Official declaration of Discovery is made. Over one hundred more Rogue Trader and Explorator ships depart.

M39.093: Ambush – A routine co-operation exercise between the Basilikon Astra Cognomen and Basilikon Astra Fabique ends in total catastrophe when the fleet of Ork Freebooter Commodore Grotwhip assaults the asteroid base around which the joint exercise was conducted. The ''Archetype'' is lost with all hands when its Magos Dominus self-destructs the hybrid core after boarding by Orks. The fleet of Cognomen would never fully recover from the loss of their ancient flagship and home, and reserve a special hatred for Orks.

M39.098: Putting Down Roots – The initial colonization effort of the Oldlight Proximate Circuit begins, with population drawn from the many overpopulated hives of the leMarkos system in the Drumnos Sector.

M39.100 ~ 700: Expanding the Imperium – The Mechanicus and Administratum undertake a massive colony-building effort in the Circuit and its border regions. Fabique contracts to build several hundred colony ships and logistical barges, mostly for the colonization of Thimble and Nauphry IV, the only two worlds in the new Sector with populations of over twenty million within the first year.

M39.387: Empty Houses – The abandoned Rogue Navigator fortress of Coriolis is discovered by now Archmagos Explorator MacDonald. The world is promptly claimed by the Astra Militarum, and turned into the regional staging area.

M39.398: Wildfires – The Hapster system is raided by over three full flights of Infidel Raiders. Though the Defense Monitors of the SDF managed to sink one and slam it into one of Hapster’s two moons, the other nine successfully steal the Rogue Trader cruiser ''Lucre William'', killing its crew, with Rogue Trader Roger Calavna only escaping by hiding in a messenger pod and launching himself to the world below. Calavna swears undying revenge on the unknown pirates and fails.

M39.519: The Birth of the Cloudburst Sector – With the discovery of the twin worlds of Cloudburst and Celeste, the Administratum declares that enough worlds have been found to justify the establishment of a new sector. The twin worlds are declared the new capital, though colonization is delayed by jurisdictional squabbling between the Ordo Hereticus, Ecclesiarchy, and Administratum. The new Sector Overlord, Lord Ramius Kruzedyvech Lubgrov, previously served as a Lord Administrator for the Hapster Subsector, though not a Subsector Overlord.

M39.628: Haunted soil – Explorator vessel ''Omnisssiah’s Great Bounty'' discovers the Oglith system. Detecting the taint of Chaos on the planet from orbit, the ship requests the Ordo Malleus investigate. Two years later, the world is found to have been the site of a horrific human sacrifice to or by an unknown daemon, but there is no multicellular life on Oglith’s surface at the present time. Cautious plans are drawn up for colonization. During preliminary efforts, however, a fully subterranean colony of Feral Orks is discovered, apparently unaware of either the current or previous human colony efforts, or the Chaotic interlude. The decision is reached to colonize the world, and then assault the Orks all at once after a colony is well established.

M39.631: Tearing Up an Oath – Mars formally rescinds the Titan Restriction order placed on Cognomen. Cognomen begins building new Titans and accepts six as a starter group from Mars. The new Legion is entitled Legio Congelatio, or Frostbite Army. Mars dispatches copies of the three basic Titan blueprints and leaves Cognomen to do the work themselves.

M39.648: Under the Rocks – A former Terran Federation system is discovered in Cloudburst, including its world Drolorium. After an extensive, decades-long conversion effort by the young Missionary Maskos and his Ecclesiarchal allies, the world is made a part of the Imperium, and the Mechanicus examines its treasure trove of STC mining equipment.

M39.839: The Stars Come to Kill – A panicked call for help from the nearby Naxos Sector reaches Cognomen. A war to drive off Dark Eldar from the Corumbino Nebula has taken a turn for the worst, as a Webway Gate explodes and sends a squadron of Daemonships into the nebula through the resultant Rift. Though Imperial War-Savants believe the Rift may eventually close on its own, the Daemonships deposit over eight thousand Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Mutants on Dynarix 3, the Imperial Navy staging world for the brutal war. Cognomen agrees to dispatch its fledgling Titan Legion and a small fleet of its limited Basilikon Astra to aid the Imperials.

M39.916: Betrayal of Confidence – The Rogue Trader house Jiax is annihilated in the span of five days by the Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus and the Officio Assassinorum. No explanation is ever given to the other Traders of the region.

M39.955: The First Rebellion – The Subsector Capital of Delving rocks from an internal rebellion. Hundreds of thousands of disaffected Imperial citizens turn on the Administratum in the span of two weeks. Pacification eventually requires chemical weapon usage, or so claims the Imperial Guard general staff sent to implement reconquest by the Sector Commanders. The Inquisition’s Ordo Militarum establishes a permanent presence in the Cloudburst Sector at this time, to watch for other potentially unneeded uses of non-conventional weapons.

M40: Building Strength

M40.003: Bureaucracy Sets In – The Adeptus Terra has, by this point, taken over the administration of the new Sector directly. Over a hundred new star systems have been added to the Imperium, with several more mapped, several beyond that earmarked for exploration, and two identified as having been so heavily infested by aliens that colonization is not feasible.

M40.102: Codification – The total number of star systems in the growing Cloudburst Sector demands fresh Subsectors. Oglith and Maskos, two grand success stories of Imperial expansion, are made Subsector Capitals, as is Cognomen, to nobody’s surprise greater than their own. Septiim is considered for the honor, but is passed over for Delving since the problem of determining which Septiim world to honor is too fractious to be worth the trouble.

M40.145: The Phlebotomist Rises – A cult of sadistic killers on the planet Hapster rises to the attention of Khorne, who needs do very little to shift their conduct to something more pleasing to him. The cult goes on a rampage against the local Arbites, killing over a dozen Arbitrators and Judges and sixty local police before being halted by a sniper team with Enforcer support. Their leader, a former surgeon named The Phlebotomist, escapes the massacre, and continues a solo killing spree for eighteen years before dying of infection.

M40.189: A Theft – A horde of Orks descends on the Imperial Fortress World of Coriolis in the hope of looting it of its vast stockpiles of cruise missiles. Valiant Imperial Guard and local PDF armies drive the aliens off, losing an insignificant eight hundred missiles.

M40.201: A Metal Marble – The bizarre and unique world of Underbar is discovered. Competitions between Mechanicus and merchant assets to best extract the valuable resources of the liquid metal seas are fierce, and nearly escalates to violence before Cognomen steps in and forces a compromise.

M40.234: A Rising Name – A plague rips through the mid-levels of several Thimblan hives, leaving multiple criminal gangs leaderless. The future House Nailspitter steps in and assumes command of them, rising to become a force of nature in the criminal underworld of Thimble overnight.

M40.247: Winds of Darkness – The formerly isolationist band of pirates known as the Black Wind violently annex two small neighboring pirate groups, and capture several Imperial ships. Three Chartered freight-carriers of the Drumnos Sector disappear within days afterward, so quickly that no messages are sent.

M40.289: An Unexpected Honor – Fifteen regiments of Septiim Guard are demanded of Septiim by the Officio Munitorum for a crusade in the adjacent Drumnos Sector, against the expanding Green Empire of Morkstar Redfangs. All fifteen regiments are told in advance that they will not be coming back, but will instead gain colonization rights and titles of conquest upon successful resolution of the campaign. All forty-six thousand volunteers are given formal funerals by their families before departing, never to return. Four months later, the Septiim Regiments return, the Green Empire homeworld having been destroyed by a gamma ray burst. Some regiments are eventually reassigned to Rogue Trader fleets in the Cloudburst Circuit.

M40.400: The Map Shrinks – Unstable projections in the Astronomican, hard enough to see this far from Terra and blocked by so many Warp Storms, make life challenging for Rogue Traders in the Cloudburst Circuit and Oldlight Exo-zone. Fifteen Rogue Trader ships vanish in under a year. Four later turn up as part of the Space Hulk ''Speeding Death'' in the Gothic Sector.

M40.470: The Winds Grow – The fleet of the renamed Dark Winds capture a Cobra Destroyer from the Lawrencium patrol squad. The pirates then vanish into the border darkness between Drumnos and Cloudburst.

M40.569: Entropy – The Tovash system, on the border between Drumnos and the Hapster Subsector, drops out of all contact with the greater Imperium. A Navy patrol squadron arrives to investigate, and detects the planet’s continents flying out into space, the result of an unprecedentedly large Hrud migration loosening the tectonic bonds. The Ordo Xenos is baffled by this behavior; Hrud often do not care about the state of a planet when they’re done with it, but to destroy it pre-emptively at the cost of their own lives is outside their usual mode of conduct.

M40.610: The Gyronax Crusade Begins – One hundred regiments of Imperial Guard are raised across Drumnos and Cloudburst to participate in the Gyronax Crusade to liberate the Aelthus Cluster, far to the galactic north of Port Maw. The lack of able defenders in the sectors makes repelling pirates and slavers temporarily more difficult.

M40.666: A Dark Parallel – A Slaaneshi daemon infiltrates the planet Maskos, nigh-perfectly recreating the Missionary Maskos’s techniques, this time to turn the world that bears his name into a Daemon World. A mission to stop it costs the Arbites a precinct’s worth of men, and ends with the deaths of over two thousand cultists.

M40.798: The Paradox Stars – A flicker in the web of Warp energy in the Hell’s Vortex Warp Storm reveals that the binary stars at its heart are not the same size they were when observation began.

M40.745: Lightning Strikes – Piracy is an annoying but frequent concern in the border regions of the Imperium. Ships and forces belonging to criminal groups sometimes successfully assault Imperial holdings, and the most common response from nearby civilians is to batten down the hatches and wait for the Navy to drive them off. On the planet Lemankonstruert in Drumnos, a massive force of armored pirates, driving Mars quality tanks, roll into an Imperial warehousing district. The pirates make off with over one million Gold Gelt Thrones’ worth of trade goods and food, over four hundred prisoners, and eight cargo ships, then vanish without a trace. Enraged Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Militarum, and Mechanicus investigators demand to know which local Imperial military force could have been so careless as to allow Mars-quality tanks to fall into the hands of pirates. No Imperial military force is found to be at fault. Horrified Mechanicus officials realize the truth: the Dark Winds have an STC.

M40.834: Crime and Punishment – Two Task Group-strength forces of Adeptus Arbites storm the pirate asteroid base of Rum-slog, killing the motley band of raiders that commanded the Ork and human fleet of pirates. Although hundreds of pirates are killed and a thousand more captured, six thousand escape on their vessels to plague the Imperium again.

M40.844: Crippling Loss – Thousands of Dark Eldar, Imperial, and Chaotic ships assault each other and the ground in the savage war for the vast wealth of the Corumbino Nebula in Naxos and its super-fast Warp routes. The Dark Eldar find themselves unable to consistently outmaneuver both enemies at once, while the Chaotic forces are conscious of the need to open a foothold on the worlds of the Nebula before the Warp Rift that allows their Daemonships to maintain a realspace connection closes. The Imperials need merely outlast the Chaotic fleet before the closure of the Rift drives them away, and then they can focus all their brute firepower on the Dark Eldar. Cognomen again dispatches their original Martian Titans to aid the local forces. The Mechanicus and Naval force from Cognomen is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of their opposition. The prospects of Imperial victory grow dimmer as the entirety of the newly gifted Legio Congelatio are destroyed in a savage three-way battle between the Mechanicus, Traitor Guard, and a Dark Eldar Archon’s forces. Though the loss of the Legion enables the Imperial defenders to destroy the Chaotic staging area and blow up their entire ammunition cache, ultimately tipping the ground war in the Imperium’s favor, it is no consolation to Cognomen. Cognomen relates this defeat to Mars, who reply that Cognomen is on its own if they want more Titans. With nothing but wreckage with which to rebuild, Cognomen starts the work with heavy hearts – they had insulted Sacred Mars with their losses.

M40.899: Ludovic’s Toxins – The Tzeentchian mage Ludovic the Sorcerer assaults Oglith with his warband of over eighty thousand Chaos-aligned raiders and cultists. Though the Oglith PDF is eventually able to contain and kill the cultists, Ludovic achieves his goal: destroying the Chaos artifact buried in the planet’s crust, over which an Imperial bank had been built. Ludovic dies laughing, as do over a third of the planet’s Astropaths. Over the next fifteen years, a virulent mutagen disease sweeps the world’s water supply, killing hundreds and mutating tens of thousands. The Ecclesiarchy and Arbites are pressed to the limit killing the mutants, though this also has a constraining effect on the subterranean Ork problem. Orks are not immune to mutation, not when it permeates their entire food and water supply.

M40.914: The Second Rebellion – Another, larger uprising on Delving nearly costs the Imperium the planet. Thorough covert action by the Ordo Hereticus succeeds in stopping the rebellion from spreading off world, but the Imperial Guard General sent from Thimble to stop the uprising deploys plutonium bombs to put a stop to it. This makes the second time the Officio Munitorum has resorted to using contaminating weapons to stop a domestic war, and the Officio Munitorum forces said General’s retirement. Mutant birthrates on Delving rise dramatically.

M40.967: A Conclave of Killers – Fifteen Inquisitors and six Assassins converge on the Maskos Inquisitorial Palace, all from Terra, with an assignment they did not want to entrust to the Astropathic Choir. Lord Inquisitor Cloudburst Aronbel hears them in private, and re-routes them to the venerable Deathwatch Watch Fortress named Fort Pykman, deep in the Oldlight Exo-zone, where the team passes beyond the Cloudburst Inquisition’s sight.

M40.989: A Glorious Occasion – The Ecclesiarchal Mission ship Sacred Voices stumbles across the planet Oromet in the Cloudburst Circuit and hastens to begin proselytizing to the few thousand humans left alive on the storm- and plague-wracked world. Mechanicus atmosphere control machines begin converting the world to a more tolerable place.

M40.998: Rolling Thunder – The Dark Winds launch brutal raids on multiple Drumnos Sector border forts and listening posts, especially on the galactic north spinward of the Sector. Alarming reports of entire merchant flotillas disappearing into Dark Winds territory chill local travel; Chartist Captains spend fortunes finding alternate routes for freighters. As local Ecclesiarchal officials note depressed tithe income thanks to the diverted ships, their complaints reach the ears of the Ordo Hereticus. However, it is only when two Drumnos Sector vessels independently report sighting newly-built Raiders on the border that a decision is made to put an end to the Dark Winds forever, because now they have a means of building their own warships. A force of Drumnos Mechanicus and Navy assets begin a grinding war of assault on their own border, slowly pushing back the pirates, who have now existed long enough to have developed their own communities and home worlds with self-sustaining populations. Two worlds in the Drumnos Sector are found to have whole cities of Dark Winds populations, and are promptly flattened by the vengeful Navy. The Dark Winds respond by airlifting whole factories into space and resuming production of weapons, while slowly retreating towards the less heavily defended Cloudburst Sector.

M41: End of Two Eras

M41.029: Gas Storms – A vast force of Orks, more than twice the largest ever before recorded in Cloudburst, appears at the edge of the Sector, as foretold by the Tarot. A covert Ordo Xenos task force assembles to intercept them, when the Orks suddenly veer off course. The Ordo follows them, and discovers that a binary rocky-gas planet has drawn their attention. Vast coils of gas spin off the giant and descend as a liquid to the surface of the rocky world, where a tribe of Orks has set up nothing less than a refueling station for other Orks. The Ordo identifies the phenomenon as being caused by a Beast-era Graviton Compressor Array, and covertly erects a listening post at the edge of the system, hoping for a chance to steal it. The Ork fleet gradually scatters over the three nearby Sectors, causing headaches for the Navy.

M41.100: For Terra and Mars – The partially rebuilt Legio Congelatio, alongside one hundred thousand Skitarii, four hundred Ordo Reductor Specialists, and two hundred thousand Imperial Navy and Basilikon Astra sailors, engage the massive Dark Winds gang of pirate Renegades at the border of the Drumnos and Cloudburst Sectors. The group captures over one hundred thousand prisoners and secures two warships for the Drumnos Sector Fleet. They also seek to regain the favor of Mars. In the wreckage of the pirate deep space repair foundry, an intact Standard Template Constructor for the baseline variant of Leman Russ Tank is found. Though it is a copy of one Mars already has in abundance, it is sent to Mars in a great Mechanicus Forge Ship, after the plans are meticulously copied. Though the Fabricator General recognizes that as a transparent attempt to buy favor, he grudgingly gives his thanks.

M41.103: Dark Needles – The Kabal of the Fiend Ascendant conducts a massive raid on Hapster, Oglith, Cognomen, Septiim Tertius, Grendel, Coriolis, Locke’s World, and Gorkypark. The Inquisition is able to determine that this is not a raid of conquest, but mass abduction; Commorragh needs slaves. Millions vanish screaming into the Webway. Two Deathwatch Kill-teams and two brigades of Celestial Guard fly out to engage the raiders. The Dark Eldar retreat after minimal direct combat and the Webway Gate the slavers use is hunted down by meticulous Mechanicus and Inquisitorial ships. The first two ships to approach are skewered by Dark Eldar guns, but the next nine successfully destroy the gate, closing off the preferred route of Dark Eldar in the region.

M41.189: Requisitions – Twenty thousand troops from Cassie’s World and four hundred thousand more from Thimble fly off to support the Rogue Trader fleet of Tomás Reledar the Second, on his ongoing campaign to capture the worlds of the southern Cloudburst Circuit.

M41.299: Disappearance – Hundreds of thousands of Chaotic pirates, Renegades, Traitors, Daemons, and other foes of the Imperium simply vanish from across the Cloudburst Sector. Oglith, which had been fighting against Chaos pirates for some years; Thimble, beset by mutants; even Grand Anchor, long assailed by Warp-tainted pirates and alien ships, suddenly had no enemies to fight. Stranger yet, a band of Tzeentch cult ships appear on the border between Naxos and Cloudburst, hulled and burned by what had clearly been the Terminus Est. The Ordo Malleus launches extensive investigations, and locates hints to the disappearance in an underhive of Thimble’s desolated northern continent. Extensive forensic work on an abandoned building with Chaotic graffiti reveals that the building had, until weeks before, contained a potent navigation and 3D rendering cogitator, apparently being used to plan a complex stellar route to the Drumnos Sector without crossing through any Imperial-controlled Navy Checkpoints.

M41.304: Deathly Quiet – All contact is lost with Naval strongpoint Iron Beach, on the edge of the Cloudburst Circuit. A Navy investigator team unearths massive plasma burns on the interior bulkheads of the drifting void platform, indicating a boarding action, or perhaps a malfunction. The station is repaired and put back to service the following year.

M41.340: Abhor the Thinking Machine – A specialist team of two hundred Skitarii and Arbites quarantine a bunker on one of the few islands of Obelisk II, suspecting it to be a concealed cache of Iron Men from before the Age of Strife. The bunker opens to the air hours later thanks to an internal security mechanism, and two thirds of the team dies before the breach is sealed by a stasis trap and a sustained shelling of the strange metal beings that emerge. The Techpriests leading the force claim that whatever the creatures were, they were not Iron Men. True Iron Men in that number would have overrun them in seconds. The identity of the metal beings remains a point of scholarly concern on Cognomen and security concern to the Deathwatch.

M41.351: A Scream of Absolution – The fullest might of all three extant Convents of Sororitas in the Sector falls upon the heretical uprising on the planet Cassie’s World. Seven hours later, the planet is as pious as a preacher in the pews, and the smoke from the burning city at the heart of the heresy is visible from space.

M41.378: The Emperor’s Finest – Fifty Space Marines from three different Dark Angel Successors pass through the sector on their way to the Oldlight Exo-zone, collecting ammunition and other supplies from Cognomen on the way. They refuse to speak of their mission, and Cognomen chooses not to press the matter.

M41.382: Expansion Plans – The world of Foraldshold is formally added to the Imperium by a Mechanicus survey team. A single colossal city is planned, and the first surveys begin. The intent is to make the world a satrap of Cognomen, in the hopes that a subsidiary world would able to handle much of the mundane manufacturing of the larger Forge World, so that it can focus on its planned military expansions.

M41.399: Confusion and Intruders – Ripples of odd Aetheric energies from the Cloudburst Circuit presage troubled dreams among the Cloudburst Sector’s scarce psychics. Readings of the Tarot bespeak disasters, destruction, and war. The Inquisition begins hardening its defenses, and engages in discussion about the possible forms the problems the Tarot foretells may take.

M41.399: Greatness – Lord Commander Solar Macharius conquers over one thousand worlds for the Imperium in a mere seven years. The Cloudburst Sector played no direct role in the Crusade, though the depleting effect it had on the Imperium’s short-term resources would later prove telling in the Inquisition’s decisions.

M41.400: A Bolt from the Blue – With no broadcasted warning, no precedent, and no hesitation, a vast force of aliens, numbering well over two million heads, assaults the Septiim, Maskos, and Drimmerzole orbitals. Enormous spacecraft, looking somewhat like the archetypal Imperial Grand Cruiser, materialize at the edges of star systems and burn their way inward. The ships carve through the defenses of these three systems and ravage the people below, then deposit strange hovering tanks on the crusts of the planets. Only after the intervention of five Astartes Chapters, eight Deathwatch Kill-Teams, five Inquisitorial retinues, four hundred thousand Imperial Guardsmen, and multiple Sector and Subsector Battlefleets are the aliens finally killed. Sifting through the rubble, the Ordo Xenos tentatively identifies their attackers by a word that sees frequent use in their primitive cogitators: Glasian. Representatives of the Celestial Knights, the Novamarines, the Angels of Fury, and the Red Templars assemble to discuss their findings after the battles end, while the Carcharadons vanish without a word. The Ordo Malleus makes a concurrent discovery: the Glasians were corrupted to a being by Tzeentch.

M41.400: Drowning – The entire city of Nelabaster on Obelisk II sinks into the waves after catastrophic damage caused by an asteroid impact.

M41.402: Assembly – Inquisitors, Magi, Psykers, Marines, Admirals, and Generals of every sort convene for an emergency meeting in the Cloudburst Administratum Palace. Fierce debates begin on the topic of the Glasian migration and the effects it had on the Sector.

M41.405: Garrisoning the Front – A force of 120 Space Marines assemble in Septiim to watch for future Glasian incursions. The Inquisition formally establishes Exigent Task Unit Cloudburst.

M41.406: The Long Wait – The Exigent Task Unit Cloudburst settles in on former Mechanicus mining base Gleamlock and awaits further Glasian incursions. Brisk harvesting of gene-seeds ensures that the separation of so many Marines from their home Chapters is not permanently crippling.

M41.437: A Dire Heresy – The planet Oromet in the Thimble Subsector is wracked by a premeditated act of heresy and conspiracy by its reigning Archbishop, who plunges the whole system into a crippling war for power. Caught completely off-guard by the speed of the uprising, the Inquisition mobilizes an emergency task force, but it is too late: by the time a joint Arbites, Astra Militarum Scion, and Inquisitorial Ordo Hereticus retributive unit cuts their way to Archbishop Haggar and beats him unconscious for his secret trial, over a billion souls are lost. Haggar’s crime, it transpired, was claiming that he and he alone could accurately interpret the Emperor’s Tarot; to the commoners this may have appeared true, since Haggar was a hedge psyker. How this had been allowed to happen is unknown, and is also a source of lingering embarrassment to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica Scholastica Psykana.

M41.467: Forlorn – An Imperial mapping ship taking on supplies on a Mechanicus station at the edge of the Oromet system detects a Space Hulk in the darkness outside the system thanks to light from the star reflecting off its hull. The Inquisition later dubs it the Forlorn Sight. It drops back into the Warp four months later.

M41.480: Vast Frontiers – Lord Captain Lavarr Redneick finally finishes mapping the Spiraling Fastness Nebula in the Cloudburst Circuit. Five new worlds are discovered in the remains of the supernova that birthed the region. One is already inhabited by humankind, and the other four are either formerly inhabited or never have been.

M41.499: Lesquire’s Dismay – Inquisitor Ronald Lesquire’s investigation into a possible heresy of the flesh comes to a crashing halt as a mutant cult on the planet Cassie’s World rises up against him, killing four Throne Agents and two Interrogators. A full Arbites mobilization is needed to put the cult down, costing millions in property damage.

M41.500: Return of the Darkness – A second wave of Glasians, ten percent larger than the first, returns to assault the Cloudburst Sector. The entire population of Agri-world Chlorit IV dies in days as a wave of hovertanks and fighters kills every person on the planet. Ordo Xenos Inquisitors watch in astonishment as the Glasian ship then retrieves its warriors and splits the planet down the middle with its FTL engines. The ship is later intercepted off Coriolis and destroyed. The Exigent Task Unit suffers forty percent casualties and the total loss of its headquarters when a bizarre Glasian ship assaults Septiim.

M41.502: Reconclave – The remaining Exigent Task Unit Marines and the Inquisitors of the Ordos Cloudburst assemble in the Inquisitorial Palace of Maskos. The group deliberates for almost a year on the outcome of the second invasion, and eventually resolves to create a permanent garrison.

M41.519: Brotherhood – The planet Azure, once a logistical and governmental hub of the Nauphry Subsector, changes its name in Imperial records. No other changes are noted by outside observers, and life appears to proceed as normal. However, when an Inquisitorial vessel makes dock above the world to take on supplies some weeks later, it is captured by an unidentified force of raving cultists, who throw themselves on the Inquisitor with savage ferocity. The Inquisitor barely has time to call for aid by Astropath before the ship is taken, and he is drawn and quartered by the lunatic mob. Ordo Hereticus reinforcements arrive four months later to find that the world’s government has fallen to a collective of fanatical cultists named the True Brotherhood, who have listened to the whispers of a recidivist Astropath. The Astropath, the Inquisition learns, has gone utterly mad, and has declared that he can bestow psychic powers on his most devout worshippers. He has turned the whole planet against the Imperium, and even changed the name of the world to better reflect its new station. The Inquisition summons every Battle Sister in the Sector and Circuit to a Mechanicus refueling station at the edge of the system, and upon their assembly, descends on the world with four thousand Templar Militia and twelve thousand Guardsmen in tow. Brotherhood burns as Inquisitorial and cultist forces fight in the streets, propelled by their clashing faiths to a battle of no quarter. Finally, after suffering extensive losses, the Inquisition declares the world Perdita, and reluctantly calls in Exterminatus on the planet. Psychic scars on the population by the mad Astropath and his rogue psyker legions were great enough that the world could not be salvaged. The Sisters of Cloudburst bear the incident as a mark of shame to this day.

M41.525: The Blue Daggers are Born – After decades of work and preparation, the Blue Daggers Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes is formally Founded in the Septiim system. Taking the hollow asteroid dubbed ''Gargantuan'' as its Fortress Monastery, the Daggers collect gene-seeds and equipment from the Novamarines and Angels of Fury to establish their starter population of one hundred twenty Marines. The Mechanicus of Cognomen are given the honor of building the additional equipment of the Daggers until they can get their own forges up and running. The Daggers select Brother Lieutenant Augustus Alderoster as their new Chapter Master. The Chapter begins busily expanding their assets and numbers.

M41.538: A Gang of Thugs – The absurdly overzealous collective of pirates named The Endless Party attack Watch Station Discus in the Nauphry system, hoping to steal the Inquisitorial armor and weapons within. The Deathwatch slaughter them all in minutes by teleporting into their ships and sabotaging their life support systems. The Nauphry SDF arrives to help, just in time to be handed the captured ships by the disinterested Deathwatch, who view the entire exercise as a distraction.

M41.589: The Peaceful Faith – The Abbey of the Martyred Emperor opens in the Septiim system, housing over a thousand priests and nuns of the Ecclesiarchy. The tiny Battle Sister contingent of the abbey flies in from the Segmentum Solar to serve as its defenders, and quickly establish the tone of their relationship with the Daggers by refusing to allow a Dagger representative to attend the abbey’s consecration.

M41.600: The Third Glasian Migration – As predicted by the Ordos Xenos and Malleus, a third wave of Glasians, this one even larger, assaults the Cloudburst Sector. This time, the Daggers stand ready. Although the Glasians attack four disparate systems, the six hundred Battle Brothers of the Daggers work alongside over two million Guard and forty million PDF and sailors to drive the aliens back into space, where teleporting Dagger Terminators destroy them with sabotage.

M41.624: Mysterious Murder – The Lord Sector Cloudburst Roger Holdlt Coliard dies to an assassin’s bullet on the porch of his sprawling underground mansion in the caves of Cloudburst. The assassin is captured alive by an Arbites bodyguard squad, and find him to be under the control of an unknown alien machine, embedded in his thyroid.

M41.669: Pox – Without warning, a massive fleet of Nurglite pirates, tainted aliens, and even a few Death Guard Marines surges from the tainted heart of the Naxos Sector. The Daggers begin their first extra-Cloudburst mission, as they work alongside the Celestial Knights and their own parent Chapters: the Novamarines and Angels of Fury. The combined force of Marines and Imperial Navy beat the Nurglites back into the perimeter of the Corumbino Nebula, where vengeful Chaotic reinforcements fall on the Imperium’s fleets. The Blue Daggers vessels take a savage pounding, and although they lose no ships larger than an Escort, their fleet is left at two thirds strength. Eventually, the pirates are driven into the Warp Storms at the heart of the Nebula by Battlefleet Naxos and the Celestial Knights.

M41.688: Whiplash – On the Frontier world of Hangonne, scraps of an archaeotech cache are found by enterprising gold prospectors. The Mechanicus snatches it up, and finds it to be left over from an abortive colonization attempt by Terra, over eighteen thousand years before. All usable technology has decayed beyond any use, save one: a shipping pallet of electric whips, apparently used for fighting off predators. Cognomen Electro-Priests eagerly add the whips to their arsenals.

M41.700: The Fourth Glasian Migration – Again foretold by the Tarot, the Glasians strike Cloudburst Sector. The expanding military forces of the Cloudburst Sector meet the aliens head-on, and although the Glasians come harrowingly close to destroying Nauphry VII, the Imperium again defeats them.

M41.704: The Rot Souls Rise Again – After thousands of years dying and reawakening in the pits of the Warp for the amusement and defense of Nurgle, the Rot Soul Brigade abruptly appears in the roiling Warp Storms at the extreme galactic north. The Nurglites rampage unchecked until they arrive in the Cloudburst Circuit’s fringe, where they are detected by horrified Astropaths of the Rogue Trader House Rowsdower. The Rogue Trader fleets of the region quickly marshal their forces and blunt the Nurglite assault, but four Rot Soul troopships escape the death of their escorts and escape into the Circuit proper. The Basilikon Astra move a fleet of their own to intercept, but the ships instead abruptly shift course and discharge their diseased cargo onto the world of Combine, specifically to attack a Blue Daggers company there for a mission. The Daggers rout and slaughter the Nurglites before they can contaminate the soil of the indispensable Agri-world.

M41.742: Macragge Stands – The Tyranids assault Macragge, the homeworld of the Blue Daggers’ ultimate progenitor Chapter, the Ultramarines. Although casualties run into the millions of humans and hundreds of Marines, the Ultramarines eventually drive off and destroy most of Hive Fleet Behemoth.

M41.749: Overambition – Warships of the Battlefleet Drumnos report that one of the hundreds of lesser pirate fleets that operate in the Oldlight Exo-zone has vanished. Local worlds on the Drumnos-Cloudburst border brace for the worst, and indeed the Frontier World of Hangonne is promptly invaded by the pirates, seeking plunder and recruits. A force of Blue Daggers and Cloudburst Defenders intercept and destroy the pirate ships as they retreat, and manage to return some small amount of stolen goods to the grateful people of Hangonne.

M41.750: Hunger, Evil and Infinite – The news of the arrival of the Tyranid Hive Fleets, albeit in a sanitized form, reaches the ears of the Cloudburst Sector. Civil unrest and upset damage productivity on some Cloudburst worlds before the Arbites restore order.

M41.760: Greater Need – A dozen Battle Brothers and two Techmarines of the Blue Daggers depart Septiim to join the Deathwatch, at the specific request of Watch Fortress Excalibris. Only the Techmarines and two Battle Brothers return alive, fifty years later.

M41.788: The Scadial Campaigns – Fifteen Imperial Guard regiments, each raised from a different world in Cloudburst, dispatch to the Cloudburst Circuit, alongside fifteen Navy and Space Marine ships and twenty Daggers. Their ultimate objective is far beyond, in the Exo-zone, where the Segmentum Ultima battlefleet is staging to attack the Ork empire of Bluddrunk Bonesquat. Though most of the Daggers and starships of the fleet return, the Imperial Guard survivors are too few in number to become a reconstituted regiment, and they are left behind as a permanent garrison on Bluddrunk’s former homeworld to defend it against uprisings of Feral Orks.

M41.799: Heresy Stirs – Oromet’s Ecclesiarchal servants lose control of a dangerous heretic in their own number, the Deacon Woldenbar. He has turned his soul completely to Chaos, and manages to convince a million humans of the Oromet system and beyond of the true divinity of the Dark Gods. The Inquisition captures him alive, and cryo-freezes him for torture and interrogation on Celeste.

M41.800: The Fifth Glasian Migration – Once more, the alien monsters in the thrall of Tzeentch enter into the realms of men and assault the Cloudburst Sector. Although the Blue Daggers are able, with the aid of the sector’s millions of defenders, to kill the Glasians and sink their command ship before it has the chance to destroy any Imperial worlds, the civilian casualties in Septiim and Mendic rise into the millions.

M41.826: Fire and Death – The Imperial colony Letrione in the Mendic system falls to Chaos Undivided in mere weeks. How and why Tzeentch allowed this is unknown, but whatever the cause, an entire system is lost to mankind.

M41.839: Green Waves – Though not numerous or directed enough to be considered a true Waaagh!, the Orks of an unknown world in the Oldlight Exo-zone stage an invasion of the Cloudburst Circuit. Hundreds of ships from human, Ork, and at least one unknown alien species’ fleets race to strategic points in the hot gasses of the Circuit, and fight over the uninhabited worlds. The Imperium manages to force an uneven peace by destroying enough Ork ships that the survivors can no longer mount sufficient force to both attack the other factions and defend their holdings, while the mysterious aliens disappear.

M41.848: An Unremarked Beginning – The future leader of the Free Corsair Coalition, Langdon Reith, graduates with honors from the Nauphry War College, and witnesses some of the ships he will someday command in the FCC attack the ship on which he first serves. He barely escaped with his life in the fighting, and watches as the leaders of the pirate attackers are ripped to shreds by Navy retaliation forces.

M41.862: Rampancy – A Mechanicus research base on the border between the Hapster Subsector and the Naxos Sector, AGF322, drops out of contact. Basilikon Astra ships sent to investigate are fired upon by cogitator-controlled lasers on the asteroid into which the lab is built. The Basilikon destroys the asteroid. No freshly-slain bodies are found in the remains, indicating that the Mechanicus personnel in the base were already long-dead.

M41.874: Clog – The Imperial Navy station ''Bulwark'' suffers a crippling hit from the pirate ship ''Wealthy Lads'', destroying its function as a proper logistics hub of the Navy. It is sold and renamed.

M41.879: Full Strength – The Blue Daggers reach the nominal full strength of their Chapter. This totals to just under 1400 Marines, not counting Dreadnoughts and Marines in the Deathwatch. Although the Daggers have sufficient gene-seed to continue expanding, they elect to at least try to adhere to the Codex, despite their Honor Guard far exceeding the number they are traditionally allowed.

M41.897: Necrons – Although contact between the human race and the Necrons had first occurred many hundreds of years before, the destruction of Sanctuary 101 by the Necrons is the first contact of which any video records survive of individual aliens. News of their existence filters through the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Adeptus Astartes, leading some Deathwatch Marines to question whether border facilities like Dascomb would be better deployed in places where they could protect the Imperium from the Necrons.

M41.900: The Sixth Glasian Migration – The fleets of the Glasians arrive in the Cloudburst Sector once again, and promptly lay siege to four star systems. Overall, the full-strength Blue Daggers are able to repulse the Glasians, but the Mining World of Lordarine is nearly lost to the Imperium when the aliens overrun the capital. Only a last-minute destruction of their Cylinder by a Terminator Squad from the Daggers prevents a repeat of the Chlorit disaster.

M41.904: Rebellion – Future Admiral Reith steals a Light Cruiser from the Imperial Navy and defects, forming a pirate group. His first successful capture is against an Imperial freight convoy, which mistook his ship for a legitimate defender. He ambushes and loots the convoy before they even have a chance to confirm his identity.

M41.912: Foreseeing – The potent Pscryer of Oglith, a recognized Tarot-Reader and Sanctionite, detonates on the job. Two minutes later, a ship carrying Ork Weirdboys crashes on the planet, guided by a psychic signal the Imperium can barely detect. Oglith Jaegers hunt and kill the Weirdboys, but the Orks manage to locate the entrance to the underground Feral Ork communities before they die, and were minutes from contacting them when the Jaegers kill them.

M41.917: Downfall – The Colliard family, which has ruled Cloudburst for nine hundred years, is officially deposed by the Senate of the High Lords for remorseless and repeated misuse of Adepta resources and attempted conspiracy. After a brief discussion between the Administratum and Ecclesiarchal leaders of the Sector, the Quintus family is elevated from the high court of the Celeste Subsector to the throne of Cloudburst. Although none alive in the Sector now know, this was instigated by a retired member of the Adeptus Custodes, in their function as a member of the Eyes of the Emperor.

M41.931: Ingrates – A rebellion sweeps Hive Walden on Thimble, and the Overlord mobilizes the Argent Shield and Sword to suppress it. Four hundred thousand citizens and half a million rebel PDF and militia perish before order is restored, at the cost of forty percent productivity in the Hive’s factories.

M41.939: Unbreathing – Over four thousand daemon-worshippers of the allegiance of Slaanesh and Tzeentch either buy passage or hijack passage to the Dead World of Brotherhood, and begin fighting over the ruins of the Exterminatus-flattened world. Inquisitorial observers, watching from stealthed ships in orbit, are baffled by their ferocious fighting in vac suits and enclosed armor. Their objective remains unclear. All die within four months.

M41.942: Conscription – A brigade of Thimblan Argent Swords and four regiments of Septiim Guard deploy to the Pox Ring Containment, a special detachment of the Officio Munitorum raised to drive off the Nurglite armies rampaging through central Naxos. They are joined by two squads of Blue Daggers, three Techmarines, and an Apothecary, to serve as advisors and emergency backup if needed.

M41.948: Shields – An archaeotechnological machine is discovered by Explorators on the Feral World ABS00273. The machine appears to be a hybrid power plant, collecting geothermal, wind, tidal, solar, and thermoplasmic energy to fuel an enormous Void Shield of Dark Age origin. The Void Shield appears to cover a previously undiscovered and subterranean storage chamber on the world of cavemen and tribals. The Mechanicus begins restoring the advanced technology and probing the edges of the chamber, which seems inaccessible from the surface. Initial surface-penetrating radar scans suggest it to have been cold storage for a shipwreck of some kind. The Void Shield is over one hundred fifty percent the strength of a contemporary Mechanicus Void Shield of equivalent generator size, and unfathomably ancient, dating to even before the Rise of the Iron Men.

M41.949: Hidden Knowledge – The Space Hulk ''Dreadful Sight'' skids through the outer edges of the [[Setting:Triplicate|Triplicate]] system. To prevent any contamination of the helpless primitives on the planet Triune itself, a combined force of Solstice, Cognomen, and Fabique Skitarii intercept and board the Hulk with help from ten Blue Daggers Terminators. Aboard the Hulk, they find over two dozen Khorne daemons, fighting just as many Tzeentch daemons for control of the vessel. Now that the Hulk has left the Warp, they are vulnerable to direct attack, and the Skitarii and Marines manage to purge them, with casualties. The Hulk is still on a collision course with Triune, however, and so the Mechanicus reluctantly destroys it, though not before pilfering the datacores and ammunition of the ships in the Hulk.

M41.961: Beggars and Thieves – The nomadic fleets of vagrants and scavengers that eke out a living in the spinward edges of the Drumnos Sector come under sudden attack from unknown Eldar and Ork pirates. The nomads flee towards the Cloudburst Sector, but only one third make it before the pirates capture the rest.

M41.977: The Rot Souls Drive On – A collection of Nurgle cultists on the border of the Naxos and Cloudburst Sectors abruptly go public and begin assaulting an Arbites Courthouse on their homeworld. The arrival of Inquisitorial reinforcements from Cloudburst drives the cultists off world. They capture a freighter and fly off into the nebulae between Naxos and Cloudburst, where they successfully summon the Rot Souls. The Rot Souls and their cultist backup fly towards the previously secured worlds of the Corumbino Nebula, and assault Imperial mining colonies there. The overstretched defenders of Naxos barely hold on against the pustulent tide.

M41.984: Murmurs of Crime – The great Merchant House Herrera endures a scandal as four of its mercantile offices on Septiim Primus are found to be smuggling illegal gene-mod technology. Arbites and Ordo Hereticus investigations yield four executions and over five hundred arrests, and the impounding of two Herrera freighters.

M41.985: Darkness Rises – Fluctuations in the Astronomican and surges in Genestealer activity in the northern Segmentum Ultima lead to unrest and civil disturbances on hundreds of worlds in the region. Two outposts in the Circuit go dark.

M41.989: Betrayal – The Imperial Luna Cruiser ''Swift'' and its two escort Cobras abandon the Imperium for the growing power of the Free Corsair Coalition. The Imperial Naval Commissariat of the Ordo Praefector issues an ‘Assassinate on Sight’ command for the traitorous Admiral Reith.

M41.990: Annexation – The FCC invades and instantly conquers Zlodziei. The Imperium does not immediately respond.

M41.992: The Battle of ANKH 909 – The FCC captures the Imperial Endeavour Light Cruiser ''Flame'' so quickly that its Astropath does not have time to call for help.

M41.993: Iconoclasm – A cabal of Heretical progressives on the world Forender-b corrupt the Bishop of the little agri-colony. He preaches the inherent equality of all mankind for two years before the Ordo Hereticus notices and burns him at the stake.

M41.994: Surge – A blast of aetheric energy two light-years outside the Foraldshold system presages a thinning of the Materium boundaries, but to the surprise of observing Magi, nothing else happens.

M41.995: Preparation – Citing the increased demands on the sector’s resources from securing the borders against the FCC while also fighting the Glasians, the Cloudburst Sector Administratum increases tithe requirements from all worlds able to pay them. Civil disobedience follows on some worlds.

M41.996: Recall – The Blue Daggers summon all of their brothers on deployments outside the Sector back to prepare for the arrival of the Glasians.

M41.997: Imperial Warnings – The Tarot foretells Glasian assaults in more systems than ever before. Imperial Navy and Blue Dagger ships fly to the future invasion sites to begin preparing for the fighting.

M41.998: Oglith Burns – A force of well over two hundred sixty thousand Orks invade Oglith when a mistake in their fleet’s navigation directs them away from Gorkypark. The Sector Administratum makes the tough call of diverting most of their Glasian defenses to Oglith to attempt to secure and protect the Subsector Capital.

M41.998: Reinforcements – A task force led by over a full Battle Company of Celestial Knights arrive in Septiim to negotiate backup to reinforce the Cloudburst Sector. After stocking up on ammunition on the ''Gargantuan'', the task force under Seventh Battle Company Captain Irlain Ironhand departs to the Forender system, led by the Strike Cruiser ''Citadel of Stone''.

M41.998: Infiltration – After a year of debate, the Inquisition determines that the Zlodziei invasion represents too clear a threat to the security of the Imperium to be allowed to fester into something worse. However, most Sector assets are either bracing for the Glasian Migration, relieving Oglith, or aiding Rogue Traders in securing and looting the Cloudburst Circuit and Oldlight Exo-zone. Thus, four specialist teams of Throne Agents, Interrogators, and Inquisitorial special operations Scions and Stormtroopers fly to Zlodziei undercover to infiltrate and kill the Admiral that has bound the Coalition together. If needed, an emergency relief force of Clegran Hunters can dispatch to reinforce them.

M41.999: Anarchy – The Lord Primarch Roboute Guilliman, Lord of the Thirteenth and Master of Ultramar, awakens on the Throne of Corrections in the Fortress Hera on Macragge. Cadia explodes when Abaddon the Despoiler crashes a Blackstone Fortress into it. Machinations of the Custodes, Inquisition, and Drukhari result in some temporary repairs of the Golden Throne. Khaine’s Gate in the Undercore of Commorragh shatters; the ancient Aeldari weapons that Asdrubael Vect stationed there to stop a daemon incursion are instantly overcome. The 13th Black Crusade to split the Imperium begins and captures several worlds around Cadia. Mordax falls to Orks. The Hadex Anomaly and the Eye of Terror begin expanding. Belisarius Cawl begins deploying Primaris Marines. The Space Hulk ''Predator'' crashes on an Imperial mining colony on Lossos.

M42.000: The Seventh Glasian Migration – The Glasians attack the Cloudburst Sector, hitting six systems this time, including several worlds that lack the means to stop their invasions outright. One hundred thousand Orks descend on the Forald’s Legacy system and attack the Mechanicus colony there. The Blue Daggers, the Imperial Guard, the Scions, the Mechanicus, the Imperial Navy, the Deathwatch, the Inquisition, and unnumbered millions of PDF and SDF prepare for the worst as the darkness closes in.

==People, Places, and Words==
===Noble and Merchant Houses===
In any place where the immense wealth of the Imperium is allowed to concentrate into a small handful of families, the inevitable effect is patronage. The noble Houses of the Cloudburst Sector may not have the immense pedigrees of the Sol Sector families, but there are some who have managed to accumulate so much wealth that they have been able to subsidize entire industries to their will.

====Mercantile Noble Houses====
=====Mercantile Noble House Herrera, Septiim=====
The Septiim system offers endless opportunity for a freighter captain out to make some money. Of all the systems of the Cloudburst Sector and Circuit, it has the largest number of inhabited bodies, with three rocky planets, three gas giants with inhabited moons, a Forge Moon, and multiple Lagrange stations. It was natural for such a system to develop a large merchant and freight business, and so House Herrera has grown to fill the gap.

The House started as a fairly unimpressive shipping concern until the Glasian Migrations began. Suddenly, the House was inundated with business as people moved off Septiim to other worlds in the hopes of avoiding Glasian attention. The House quickly began exploring other shipping contracts, such as the movement of food and textile materials from Agri-worlds and Paradise Worlds to Thimble, and moving outside Septiim proper to ship materiel for the Navy if dedicated haulers weren’t available.

Those efforts may have moved Herrera from a regional player to a large one, but it didn’t become the dominant shipping concern in Cloudburst until they scored the coup contract to become the exclusive transportation agent for the huge supply barges carrying finished goods from Coriolis and Combine to their shipping partners. Being the exclusive shipping agency for the largest military base in the Galactic North and the most productive Agri-world in Cloudburst catapulted them ahead of their competition.

Success has gone to their heads, however. Several members of the House’s senior leadership have recently been arrested by the Inquisition for transporting illegal gene-mod technology. The secretive nature of the Inquisition means that the rest of the House may never know precisely what was being transported, and the shameful lack of documentation for the products in question means that the Inquisition was able to seal the incident up, probably forever.

The House may have been diminished by that scandal, but it is not broken. Already, the House is recouping its losses and attempting to expand its fleet to operate outside the Sector proper. However, it has so far constrained its efforts to the Exo-zone and Circuit exploratory outposts, not into the Drumnos Sector. The Drumnos Sector mercantile concerns are far wealthier than Herrera can ever realistically hope to be, and could easily out-bid them.

=====Mercantile Noble House O’Neill, Thimble=====
Thimble is the beating heart of industry in the Cloudburst Sector, as a Hive World generally is. The vast population capacity of the city allows for the planet to create and design products no other world in the Sector except possibly Cognomen could produce, or need in such volume.

Naturally, in the money-driven and aristocracy-choked hell of the Imperium, the noble houses that best sponsor the enormous manufacturing concerns are often able to become great profit ventures themselves, until there is no difference between the manufacturing company and its noble patrons. House O’Neill of Thimble already had extensive patronages of manufacturing companies in their Hive, as did several other noble houses, but the O’Neills were ambitious. In time, the O’Neill family expanded their interests to consume several of the supply companies that fed their factories, the shipping companies that moved those supplies, and even the production firms that refined the raw goods.

The O’Neill strategy was a patient one, not exactly original. Vertical Control has been a part of manufacturing technique since M2. However, the O’Neills mastered it, and did so with a combination of business acumen and legal finagling that has allowed them to reap ludicrous profits. So far, House O’Neill and House Zhong have worked together to manufacture starships of such quality that the Navy could scarcely do better, and even the Mechanicus finds it distantly impressive.

However, the true triumph and core business of House O’Neill doesn’t lie in space. The unique history of Thimble in the Sector allows it to serve as both the undisputed non-Mechanicus manufacturing hub of the region and a grossly underutilized one. Thimble has both a complete manufacturing hegemony on non-Cognomen goods and a nearly exclusive monopsony on several refined minerals that few other worlds need. As a result, the only competitors in scale for House O’Neill goods are the Mechanicus and out-of-Sector businesses.

House O’Neill’s founders and strategists realized early that that meant that the Houses that managed to be the ‘competition’ for Mechanicus products and lock down those markets would effectively run totally unopposed in pricing and quality for those who couldn’t afford Martian perfection. Aircars, clothing, construction tools, chemicals, synthetic rubber, household goods, and other products that Cognomen makes are exquisite in their production standards, but unreachably expensive for people on many worlds that lack Thimble or Celeste’s robust economy.

Therefore, House O’Neill manufactures the best knockoffs of those Cognomen products that they can, sells them on as many worlds as possible, and aggressively researches ever more ways to build and store them without sacrificing much quality or stepping on the Cognomen Magos’ Council’s toes. The O’Neill stamp of quality can be found on all but two of the worlds in the Sector and has spread beyond. Although the Mechanicus is somewhat exasperated by this, there is little they can do about it. To share their own advanced designs and engineering with the House would be to elevate those uninitiated in the ways of the Sacred Machine to their own level, which their pride cannot allow. To let the O’Neills simply research new techniques without inhibition would be sinful, and to stamp them out would be a gross impeachment of their Treaty of Mars.

So, for now, Cognomen and House O’Neill exist in a simmering state of rivalry which only the Cognomen contingent seem to care about, and House O’Neil never acknowledges. As far as House O’Neill is concerned, as long as their customers are usually happy and they themselves are grotesquely rich, they couldn’t care less what the Techpriests think.

Outside of their extensive manufacturing concerns, House O’Neill is a noted patron of arts and education, having sponsored great art schools on several planets, including Coriolis and Celeste. This is not because of some great philanthropic worldview on the part of the O’Neills, but rather an effect of having so much money that there is little else on which they can legally spend it.

However, several scions of the family have perished in the use of alien weapons in the blood-sport so common among the Thimble idle rich, and have thus come under rising scrutiny from the Ordo Xenos, especially in the last hundred years. The current Lady Inquisitrix Cloudburst is herself a former Ordo Xenos Inquisitor of immense skill, and prosecuted the opposition to the Cold Trade in alien technology for two hundred years before rising in rank. She knows perfectly well how much the Thimble Highborn love to collect alien gadgetry, and has her subordinates watching them like hawks. House O’Neill is hurriedly performing internal review to ferret out which of its scions is responsible for the huge upswing in alien artifacts making their way into the Household before it is too late.

=====Mercantile Noble House Zhong, Thimble=====
The building of ships in the Imperium is an undertaking like few others, with the costs rising far above what any one non-governmental force could afford in most cases. House Zhong is a rare exception. It is the only entity outside the Mechanicus and Navy authorized to manufacture Warpcraft in the entire Cloudburst region.

Zhong holds one other distinction of note: it is the oldest surviving House in the Sector. It can accurately trace the core of its gene-line back to the original Levitna Colony Group, well over twenty thousand years before, and its origin to a long-dead Terran noble family from the age of the Terran Federation. Zhong survived the Age of Strife and the long darkness between the Heresy and the coming of the Imperium to the region by essentially claiming the least desirable hive on Levitna’s radiation-scarred surface for itself and killing all comers. It wisely bowed to the Imperium when it arrived, and was rewarded with the honor of being the only noble house elevated in its native hive. They were passed over for the privilege of becoming the Planetary Ruling Clan, but has prospered anyway, thanks to being able to do something no other hive can: total industrial devotion.

In the other hives of Thimble, the hives are all fairly inter- and intra-dependent in their manufacturing needs, as could be expected from the great vertical cities. The Zhong hive, however, which they named after themselves, is not. It is a resource hog in every way, being unable to even develop most household goods. The Zhong hive is dedicated solely to the manufacture of starship components, and to their elevation to space for use in the great orbiting shipyards. Lacking an Orbital Spire, they make do with very high-elevation launch pads.

As most shipbuilding concerns do, the House yards began as simply making the components of naval ships, and not performing any assembly. Gradually, however, economies of scale allowed Zhong to do more and more of the preparatory steps, including some circuit fabrication and assembly. The Navy was pleased by this since they had to do less work and didn’t have to rely on the Adeptus Mechanicus as much. Over time, Zhong shipbuilding took over more of the House’s time, until they became less a noble family and more a corporate Board of Directors, although they are still accorded a title in the Thimblan peerage. The components they made were initially no different than those of any other shipbuilding corporation, but over time, Zhong made more of a conscious effort to diversify their offerings to lure in the cheaper Chartist Captains and Rogue Traders. Eventually, the inevitable shift occurred, and Zhong bought their own shipyard in orbit over the Mining World of Delving.

The Delving yard was a metaphorical goldmine for the House Zhong. Here, with direct access to the refined minerals from the planet below, the House was able to produce ships of nearly Navy quality without any interference from the Thimble authorities, and to meet contracts from Rogue Traders. Unlike some of their Great House contemporaries, however, Zhong never compromises on quality. A shoddy toaster or clock may be a minor inconvenience, but a shoddy starship engine can kill hundreds of thousands of people. Thus, and to the Mechanicus’s approval, the breakaway from the stifling leadership of the Thimble government did not yield a reduction in appreciable quality from the Zhong industrial output.

Zhong yards today work around the clock in the great orbitals of Delving and Thimble, manufacturing vessels for Rogue Trader and Departmento Astrocartigraphicae mapping voyages. They have patronized the Grand Anchor yards more than once, buying shipwrecks and scrapping them for parts, and have even played a role in the disassembly of Space Hulks that managed to achieve stable orbits in Cloudburst systems. Zhong merchants ply their wares of spare parts and upgrade kits at every private shipyard in the Sector and even some in the Naxos Sector beyond.

However, the House Zhong does have its limits. They know better than to try to break into the territories of the far older and wealthier merchant combines in the Drumnos and Naxos Sectors. Drumnos has far busier space lanes, but has its own Houses to supply it, and the Naxos Sector is a crumbling warzone, too dangerous to insure properly thanks to the Nurglite pirates ripping it apart.

Likewise, the House subcontracts uncomplainingly to the Mechanicus in two critical ways. The psionic Thrones Navis used by Navigators to pilot ships through the Warp, and the actual Warp Drive Cores used to propel them, are the exclusive remit of the Cognomen Orbital Yards, and the House Zhong has no intention to try to break into that market. Only Adeptus Mechanicus Techpriests of Forge World certification are permitted anywhere near the blessed components when they are purchased in bulk from the forges of Cognomen and Solstice, and the House pays their prices without complaint. The Warp is simply too dangerous to risk tampering with.

=====Mercantile Noble House Carvan, Celeste=====
From the impossibly abundant fields of Combine to the endless latifundae of Cassie’s World, the breadbaskets of Cloudburst do business at every turn with House Carvan. This young and expanding mercantile concern has sprawled over the Sector like an indolent cat, and has a partial or fully vested ownership in a third of the farms on the technologically advanced worlds of the Sector.

Unlike some of the other manufacturing Houses of the Sector, however, Carvan rarely administrates most of their holdings directly. They prefer a less centralized approach to business that has served them well in the slow-acting field of agriculture. The science of agriculture is also more challenging than most interstellar trades, thanks to the combination of the slowness of Warp travel and the fact that no two planets have seasons of the same length (and may not have seasons at all). As a result, the work that Carvan does has to be customized to their target markets, and can’t be applied uniformly, thanks to the sheer variety of their vendors. This includes great deep-space hydroponic floater ranches where animals breed, live, and die in zero gravity so as to have less burdensome bones, seabed sponge farms, great herds of grox and cattle on the plains of wind-swept worlds, and slaughterhouses that fill whole cities. Attempting any degree of uniformity in most regards would be nothing better than a waste of time.

Thus, House Carvan prefers to rely on local oversight and supervision for their partner and subsidiary food vendors. The House has override and veto authority on most crucial decisions, but only employs it when needed and never without review, and always works their hardest to comply with the relevant Sector and Imperial laws. These laws concern things like tolerable bacterial and synthetic molecule load, expiration dates, and shipping regulation, as well as things like supplying ships that travel outside Imperial jurisdiction.

This does not mean Carvan is lax in its scrutiny of its foods, of course. The Carvan name can be found from the undercrofts of Gorum’s Folly castles to the gourmand kitchens of the highest Celeste society, and everywhere in between. Carvan’s most prestigious contracts are generally awarded by members of other Imperial noble families and Houses, including the Quintus family itself. The House also does not force itself to comply with a single brand identity, and has created thousands to apply to every conceivable market. Their most profitable is the ‘Clear Suns spacer foods’ brand, sold by the gigaton to ship crews, and often containing the most preservative-filled but guiltily delicious foods a low-ranked crewer can look forward to eating between the stars. For crews of very small ships, or ships that take decades to travel to between destinations, Carvan offers the ‘Solitas Meals’ brand, consisting of far higher-quality foods that stay good so long as specific storage and preparation requirements are met, since nothing drives an overstressed crew stuck in the Warp mad faster than lousy food.

Of course, the nobles of the Sector wouldn’t be caught dead eating such things unless they were slumming it, and so Carvan also offers the ‘Nine Star Dining’ courses, which consist of locally-prepared gourmet foods and come with a price tag to match. Most of these foods are actually prepared and eaten on the same planet on which they were grown or butchered, making the ‘Nine Star Dining’ brand ironically the most widely-varying in quality.

However, while Carvan are savvy marketers and regulators, their record of actual quality is less than perfect. Whole lots of megatons of food have had to be recalled by Carvan at catastrophic losses when pieces of metal from broken scoops or agitators were found in boxes of food labelled ‘metal detector certified.’ While alien bacteria are rarely a concern for human illness thanks to humanity’s unique cell membrane and receptor composition, it is a huge concern for food storage since some alien bacteria can digest nearly anything that is dead even if it is harmless to living humans.

The House Carvan headquarters is technically located on Celeste, but it may as well not be. Almost four sevenths of its production and eighty percent of its corporate staff are located on Combine, where they produce gigatons of food for the Imperium. Because Combine is one of the precious Agri-worlds that is in no danger of soil depletion, the world also takes in some fertilizers from other worlds to replenish the nutrients of the soil in a proportion to the rate it is taken away, instead of the more machine-like Agri-worlds that simply run their soil ragged. Carvan’s presence on the world means that they are able to take a more active role in the oversight of their vendors and farms than they usually are, even heading up the staff on several themselves.

Carvan is one of the few merchant Houses in the Sector that began as a merchant family and only gained a nobility title later, which is the source of some derision from their peers. However, this has served them in one crucial fashion: they are the only Cloudburst Peerage merchant family to have a foothold on the vast space station [[Setting:Cloudburst/Maxient|Port Maxient]]. They established their greenhouses there before receiving titles of aristocracy.

=====Mercantile Noble House Albert, Celeste=====
While some Imperial worlds practice the harsh and draconian law of their own warlords, civilized Imperial worlds prefer to adopt customs that allow for the benefits of Imperial law without the lack of subtlety inherent to the more primitive worlds. This can result in civilized worlds adopting vast and intricate law systems that have a dizzyingly complex array of subcodes and strictures that no layman could ever understand. While the Arbites enforce Imperial law with as close to true neutrality as they can muster, the law of some planets is so convoluted that dedicated experts are needed for consultation on its finer points and applications.

Enter House Albert. This ancient House is the smallest by employee count of all of the intact Great Houses of the Sector, but its wealth and influence could well eclipse most others. The House Albert staffers and barristers are able to aid and advise on nearly any legal matter of the worlds Cloudburst, Celeste, Septiim, Cognomen, Hapster, Nauphry, and Thimble, and their senior council of trial lawyers has worked with the Arbites on twenty worlds more. Albert’s lawyer staff are specifically forbidden by Sector law from participating in the House’s actual duties as members of the Cloudburst peerage, and so the House nobility and barristers can’t be the same people. House Albert’s staff has absorbed several private law firms and sponsors law colleges on Thimble and Celeste, and is always looking for fresh talent. The sheer length of time that some Arbites-led trials can take allow for Albert lawyers to be called in from offworld in many cases.

=====Mercantile Noble House Joun-Lee, Celeste=====
Where the Imperium goes, there is always war. The beautiful countryside and endless beaches of Celeste may not routinely house invading aliens, but much of the rest of the Sector experiences warfare, from the internecine conflicts of local nobles to the private armies of Rogue Traders. House Joun-Lee is the pre-eminent provider of men under arms in the Sector, and has been for over a thousand years.

Thanks to the rather restrictive laws regarding the legality of private militias in Sectors being different from Sector to Sector, there is little chance that House Joun-Lee will expand to other regions of Imperial space. They have a large and competent corps of marketers and salesmen, who have liaised with planetary officials, noble houses, field commanders, and recently Cardinal Drake to provide armed personnel for various tasks.

Despite the unsavory reputation of mercenaries in much of the modern Imperium, the majority of the House Joun-Lee contracts that they have served over the past few hundred years have been security and patrol contracts for prisons, Penal Legion camps, construction sites, and colonial outposts in the Cloudburst Circuit. This is steady work, well-paying, and not very risky, at least not compared to warfare against aliens. The longest contracts the House has served are providing security guards and trainers for the same to the great storage yards on Coriolis, where hundreds of millions of military families cache their larger possessions while their loved ones go on tour among the stars. They also retain the possessions left behind when a family on deployment is killed in action until they can be auctioned. The House Joun-Lee mercenary companies occasionally also work with Rogue Traders, but this isn’t as common among House members as it is among freelance groups, due to the low probability of returns on investment.

The House Joun-Lee is permitted a much larger contingent of soldiers than most Houses on Celeste ever will be, thanks to contracts of exclusivity granted to them by the Sector Overlord many centuries ago. Any noble house that wanted to sponsor a mercenary group now would need to be shrewd and play a lot of catch-up work to overtake Joun-Lee’s enormous investments. Additionally, House Joun-Lee has a significant force of atmospheric transports and fighters, most of them not quite up to Forge World standards or even Naval ones, but more than enough to flatten a small city if need be. These are expensive to transport and even more expensive to refuel and rearm after missions, so they are fielded only for the most exorbitantly pricey contracts.

As with all mercenary work, Joun-Lee’s field is not without its dangers, especially around the times of the Glasian Migrations. Nobles or government officials who want to prioritize the defense of a specific place, instead of the more general work of the PDF or the Astra Militarum, will hire House Joun-Lee forces to provide the extra muscle. The fact that the House has been able to hire troops out to so many places is indicative of their logistical skills, which are often called into service to aid in the transport of PDF troops on those occasions that they work with the House.

The House buys most of their equipment from either House O’Neill or the Mechanicus, although they are also known to manufacture some simple equipment, including uniforms, in the great factories of the city of Civitavecchia. As might be expected for a mercenary company, the House Joun-Lee logistical bottleneck is Warpflight. When a contract is levelled to hire House Joun-Lee troops, the client is generally expected to pay for transport or supply it themselves. When a Rogue Trader is the contractor, this is trivial, but when the contractor is merely some noble or Governor who may not have a fleet of their own, transport is usually provided by sympathetic merchant Captains, who may well appreciate having a massive anti-boarding force at their disposal. When no other option exists, the House Joun-Lee leaders can hire House Lunther logistical ships to transport them. The Household would also very much like to buy a Universe-class Mass Conveyor, but the Inquisition has kindly informed them that that would subject the House Joun-Lee to a far higher level of scrutiny. After all, Lord Primarch Roboute Guilliman specifically divided up the Imperial military to avoid a Horus Heresy on smaller scales in the future, where one charismatic Traitor turned half the Imperial military by subverting eight people. Of course, as a house of the Imperial Peerage that has no actual presence in the Administratum, House Joun-Lee isn’t technically bound by that separation of forces edict, but the Inquisition has enough headaches to deal with, and the House isn’t willing to press their luck any harder on the subject.

At the present time, literally all of the House Joun-Lee forces that are not tasked with pre-existing contracts have been hired indefinitely by Cardinal Lamarr to defend Johdclan’s Paradise. As such, its entire ground contingent has been scrambled to defend the planet except those needed to resupply their long-term postings elsewhere. It is this, above all other hirings made by the paranoid Cardinal, which has driven up the suspicion of the Ordo Hereticus. Retaining a few troops to defend groundside holdings is one thing, but tasking an entire mercenary fleet to feed and transport an army for unclear durations is quite another. House Joun-Lee would not hesitate for one instant to sell out the Cardinal if their continued association with him would get them in hot water with the Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus.

=====Mercantile Noble House Senai, Coriolis=====
When it comes to the beauty of the natural world, the artificial society, and their blending at the seams, there are few groups in the whole Cloudburst Sector that have quite captured the art of it all like House Senai. The Coriolis-based House of military nobles are high-standing members of the Sector Peerage, and had ruled an entire Fortress-citadel on Coriolis for over two thousand years. Their indulgence in high art is a more recent phenomenon, and of all of the House patronages in the Sector so far, the relationship between the nobles of the House and the group they patronize is most distant in Senai’s case. Very few of the Senai family members are actual artists, as opposed to House Joun-Lee, which has several of its youths as actual midshipmen in their command vessel, or House Albert’s many family lawyers.

As is the case in many of Coriolis’s noble families, the roots of the House Senai are planted deep in the Imperial Navy. The Holy Fleet of the Imperium is a refuge for the untalented youngest children of many Imperial peer families, of course, and has been since after the Scouring ten thousand five hundred years before, but for House Senai, it is a point of pride.

The House Senai origins are all tied up in the ancient remit of the Imperial Navy to supply transport and air combat roles for the Imperial Guard. As was imposed by the Lord Regent Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, over ten thousand years ago, the Imperial Guard may no longer maintain a fleet of its own, and no armed air nor space craft. Instead, those were to be provided by the Imperial Navy or Adeptus Mechanicus, so that no one faction of the Imperium may amass both enough ground and space firepower and transport capability to conquer any territory. House Senai was originally a household of lifer Imperial Navy officers, many thousands of years ago, who were responsible for transporting the many millions of Segmentum Solar and Ultima soldiers and colonists who built the first wave of Cloudburst colonies. Eventually, the House settled down, then nothing more than a very wealthy family with a very small noble title, in the leadership of a refurbished Navigator fortress on Coriolis.

Eventually, the House expanded their remit over the surrounding land, using their money to create efficient and clean irrigation systems, surveillance networks, and galleries of entertainment and sport for the people who lived around their fortress. When Coriolis was formally declared a Fortress World of the Officio Munitorum, the Senai family was elevated to a proper title of Earldom, and given a high posting in the newly established Coriolis aristocracy.

As with all noble families that received their title through hard work, the Senai family lorded their position over their rivals, and immediately began flaunting their power. Keeping up the tradition of sending their youngest off to serve in the Navy with commissions, deserved or no, the House Senai family never quite lost sight of their roots in service, but have taken to the Coriolis nobility like a Terran Highborn. The family eventually lost the position of fortress administration with the shifting tides of economy and politics on the planet, but by that point, they had diversified their holdings to include far greater varieties of money-making businesses. The House had then moved into direct patronage of many of Coriolis’s artists and universities.

As a part of their patronage of the many art colleges of the planet Coriolis, the House Senai funds many up and coming painters, sculptors, and photographers in their journey through their mediums. Many of the House itself are not involved in the process at all, and simply spend a bit of money to enjoy the outcome. However, the House Senai elders have hired many vendors and curators to dispense and sell the artwork of their patronages to galleries and museums across the Sector and beyond. As can be expected, the Ordo Hereticus and Ecclesiarchy have covertly examined the artworks the House distributes for signs of Slaaneshi corruptions.

Senai-affiliated merchants also salt the works of their patronages through the great auction halls and guild offices of the greater Sector, as much for exposure as money. After all, Senai isn’t the wealthiest noble house around, but there’s no harm to be found in good publicity.

Artworks that the House has taken possession of directly are stored in huge, pressure- and moisture-controlled vaults. These vaults have expensive cogitator-controlled thermostats and light level controls purchased from the Cognomen factories, to prevent the natural damage that artworks can suffer when improperly exposed to the environment. When a piece is bought, it is loaded by House technicians into simple grav-sleds and lifted into waiting shuttles for delivery to the happy customer. All Senai facilities are guarded by House Joun-Lee mercenaries, despite that being something of an overkill gesture on the most heavily defended planet in the Sector.

=====Mercantile Noble House Lunther, Hapster=====
One of the key advantages of the complex and interdependent economy of Hapster is that its lines of patronage and commerce are very well defined. Laws that govern noble patronage are clear and unambiguous. There are thousands of years of precedent behind every decision, and the Imperial government has ample knowledge of all the local rules and protocols by dint of their tremendous age. There are noble families on Hapster that predate much of the Terran aristocracy.

As a natural result, some of the ancient lines of patronage between the Hapster aristocracy and the guilds, laborers, and artists they patronize are so ironclad in their age and circumstance that they have become economic fixtures of their own. The House Lunther, by far the wealthiest in the Subsector by two orders of magnitude, is one such fixture and the largest. House Lunther has one colossal advantage over the younger noble families of the Sector. Its ancient ties to the Navigator House True allow them to be the only noble House in the Sector to have a staff of Navigators on retainer. As such, House Lunther’s ships are faster than any other in the Sector save possibly the Daggers and Astra Explorator. Their ships, lacking the massive armor and weapons of a warship to slow them, can speed along Warp paths that fly narrower routes and longer distances than most others. The speed of their ships allows them to serve in a niche that no other House in the Sector could fill: logistics. The House Lunther fleet carries all manner of supplies, information, and passengers across the Sector, for a price.

House True is nominally based on Terra, of course, as most Navis Nobilite Houses in good standing are. However, House True once felt a distant tie of kin to the Hapster Subsector, seeing as that is the rough region of space in which they took shelter during the ancient purges of the mutant populations of Terra. Today, of course, most ties between True and Hapster are purely commercial. Given how few psychics in general and Navigators specifically there are in the Cloudburst Sector, however, it is well worth the investment for True to send some of their younger scions out to the hot reaches of Cloudburst for work with the House Lunther fleet. They have the market utterly cornered, with only official Imperial Adeptus Administratum and Officio Munitorum vessels having more ready access to the skills of Navigators there (beyond the Inquisition’s dark fleets, of course).

House Lunther is active in the politics of Hapster, too, but thanks to the highly stratified and procedure-driven laws of Hapster they can exert little direct influence over the governing or legislating of the Subsector. Lunther flotillas occasionally contract with House Joun-Lee mercenaries for transport services. Their most frequent subcontractor is House Ritria, for whom House Lunther often transports supplies.

=====Mercantile Noble House Ritria, Oglith=====
In the Cloudburst Sector, the supply lines of the overstressed Adeptus Mechanicus often prevent the timely installation of resources needed for large-scale construction. Full colony ventures are usually spared this, but land development can be time-consuming and costly on those worlds that lack an industrial base. House Ritria is a collection of nobles, related by marriage, that have stepped into the gap. The House pools its resources and funds construction firms, most originally based on Oglith, and buys them mass transit with their equipment to worlds that need them.

House Ritria is a far looser House than most. Oglith has very little aristocracy, thanks to its origins as a fairly high-tech Frontier World. As a result, its Houses are more like extended Clans, of the Thimblan sort, than a traditional Imperial peerage. The House Ritria concerns were not originally trans-stellar at all, but confined to the Rampart system. Eventually, however, the construction firms that the House patronized grew so wealthy that they were able to pay back all of the House’s investments. Rather than cut the firms loose, the House used their new glut of money to buy passage on a freighter to Hangonne, where they were able to corner several construction niches immediately with their great wealth and experience.

Ever since then, Ritria has been an odd duck among the many noble Houses that sponsor industrial or service corporations in the Cloudburst Sector. They stay well out of the way of Sector politics, preferring to spend as little time politicking as possible to get the job done and stay profitable. They work well with the other Noble Houses, and spend their money promptly, rather than hoarding it forever. The House has also been able to score lucrative construction contracts with those planetary governments that are uninterested in playing ball with the Mechanicus for metalwork and masonry.

House Ritria is the only authorized user of Maskos machines outside of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Maskos government not under Administratum control. Officially, the House does not use slaves. Unofficially, their lower-level employees could well be called slaves for how little money they make. The construction firms that House Ritria employs often make use of teams of indentured servants and people working off debts that the company purchased from their creditors.

====Territorial Houses and Turf Gangs====
The nature of the few worlds in the Cloudburst Sector to have large cities means that relatively small numbers of places in the Sector are plagued by gang warfare. However, the few that do have endured vicious and destructive conflicts that have claimed hundreds of lives and millions of Thrones’ worth of property. While some of the gangs are purely local concerns, such as the piratical turf-trading thugs of Soak, others are gigantic crime syndicates or mercenary armies with thousands of troops. The largest are the massive noble-sponsored gangs on Thimble, which serve as proxy armies for the Thimblan nobility in their endless fights for prestige, manufacturing contracts, publicity, and wealth.

None of the organizations listed here have even a fraction of the power and wealth of the Cloudburst Mercantile Noble Houses. Any attempt by these lesser organizations to enter into direct warfare against House O’Neill or House Zhong, for instance, would end with the upstart organization butchered to the last with the full consent of the local law enforcement. However, to those denizens of the Spindle system who are not incalculably wealthy, some of these organizations are insurmountable forces of corruption and violence.

Because the population of Thimble is so much smaller than the population of the vast and ancient Hive Worlds of the Segmentum Solar, most of the populace of Thimble has managed to avoid being dragged directly dragged into the gang wars. However, the larger gangs are still thousands-strong, and some even control entire structures inside the hives. The lines between Noble and Hive Gang Houses on Thimble can blur when the nobles themselves partake of the gang warfare, for sport or to prove themselves.

=====Noble House Lienzo, Thimble=====
Lienzo is a prime example of how the aspirations of the poorer noble houses of Cloudburst are never enough to carry them to supremacy. Among the ruling gangs of the world Levitna before it was renamed to Thimble, the house was in prime position to rise to a position of rulership in the new Imperial order. However, they failed to kowtow to the new Adeptus Administratum reconstruction and integration officers as the ruling houses did. Now, Clan Ahad and Houses Zhong and O’Neill rule supreme over the Spindle system, with colossal wealth and power, while their former rivals scrabble about in their leavings for scraps of money.

So the embittered and weary leaders of House Lienzo imagine, at the least. In practice, the industrial and political power they wield here would amount to many times the amounts needed to become unassailable powers on worlds like Clegran, Obelisk II, or even bipolar Nauphry IV. Lienzo’s leadership are simply so engrossed in their tiny affairs that they can’t see the opportunities that knock upon their doors. They fund billions of Thrones’ worth of industrial activity in their home hives, their scions have helmed ships in the Imperial Navy, and their Clan-mates rule whole corporations of vast wealth. All of that pales beside the power of the Clans Ahad and Vorbach, which could crush Lienzo like insects at a whim. That, and that alone, is the subject of the musings and bitterness of House Lienzo.

This bitterness crops up at inconvenient times. While they are far subtler than most in this regard, the House Lienzo youth are often practitioners of the Cold Trade of proscribed xenos artifacts. Between that and their boredom, the House is directly responsible for some of the harder-to-explain reports of xenos weapon discharges in the underhives of Thimble. Much of the Ordo Xenos attention paid to the world stems to the volatile alien artifacts of the upper Highborn going out of control, or being used in petty squabbles. The House Lienzo use of alien weapons is more insidious and crueller. Bored scions of the family have thrown their lots in with the street gangs populated by the children of the House Lienzo factory workers. Startled Enforcer and Judge reports have reached the Arbites and Inquisition, concerning apparent battles between Craftworld Eldar and human forces in the underhives, fought entirely by weapons carried by Lienzo troublemakers.

As a result of this alien dabbling, the House Lienzo gangs are a force to be reckoned with in the underhive wars. The rank-and-file of these gangs are the commoners of the hives themselves, given a taste of the power of a Clanless House. Rising to become a member of the noble house itself is impossible, thanks to specific breeding requirements for membership. However, those commoners who acquit themselves well in battle in the service of the spoiled offspring of the House Lienzo can expect rewards bestowed on their families, perhaps in the form of shortened shifts in the Lienzo factories.

Lienzo is no so flush with alien artifacts that they can afford to arm themselves with xenotech exclusively. House Vost are generous sellers of xenotech, but Lienzo doesn’t get much of a discount. The House equips its scions with alien weapons on missions for the House, but on expeditions of pure boredom, few House members would dare arm themselves so. The rank-and-file hivers equip themselves with shotguns and rifles in the main, with a few lasguns in the hands of those who earn them. Given the rising Ordo Xenos scrutiny levelled against the planet Thimble of late, the House’s internal security might start to crack down on obvious uses of xenotech.

The leader of the House is the decrepit, withered old banker Gareth al-Lienzo, who is so far gone in his old age that he can barely move. The battles to succeed him have ended, and his youngest son Saïd shall inherit his father’s throne.

=====Noble House Vost=====
Of all the houses and gangs of Thimble that do not control sprawling, interstellar merchant empires, the House Vost is the wealthiest. There is one reason for this. They are the source that feeds the hundreds of xenotechnological artifacts into the rest of the Thimblan combatants.

House Vost has spent centuries ingratiating themselves into the networks of Rogue Traders and Techpriests who ‘dispose’ of xenotech by selling them to others. While this is hardly a new trait for the Rogue Traders of the galaxy, the Cloudburst Sector’s long focus on corralling the Cold Trade has left those Traders with few options. The Inquisition’s best efforts can’t entirely overcome the natural proclivity of Rogue Traders to seek wealth by ignoring the Emperor’s strictures on alien science.

Originally, House Vost spent their fortunes as many lesser nobles on Thimble did at the time: buying up derelict buildings on the surface and in the hives, so that when the Imperium ordered them brought back online and operational, the nobles would profit. House Vost focused their efforts on buying buildings around the perimeters of hive footprints, where they could control entry and exit from the huge city towers. However, the exterior of Thimble is a very low priority for the Adeptus Mechanicus’s restoration teams. Even now that the planet’s hives are almost entirely back online, the outside wilderness remains almost uninhabitable. While roving gangs of hivers and scavengers do exist outside the glittering silver walls of the hives, most of the open world of Thimble is devoid of people. Thus, most of the buildings that House Vost spent their money on turned out to be worth little beyond their insulative capacity. Many were stuffed full of Adeptus Mechanicus life support and maintenance equipment, and little-used beyond that. There are external gateways to the hives that have not been opened in thousands of years.

That meant that House Vost, at the end of the initial surge of Levitna’s rebirth as Thimble, owned substantial amounts of access to something next to useless. While the house did manage to recoup some of their losses by turning derelict buildings into residential towers and landing assemblies for freighters and cargo ships, most of the holdings of House Vost have turned out to be almost useless.

However, in recent centuries, two positive developments have arisen from these early purchases. The first is that Thimble’s massive population increase has led to a squeeze on housing. That has helped to ensure that the space in the long-uninhabited outer shells of buildings has risen in demand. The second is that as more Rogue Traders have come to Thimble to sell xenotech they can’t turn a profit on elsewhere, House Vost is uniquely suited to accommodating discreet meetings and exchanges.

The House has enough experience in such things that they have been able to train appraisers to evaluate the worth of alien technology. Shielding such experts from the Inquisition is a real trick. With the elevation of Lady Inquisitrix Lerica from her previous role to the leadership of the Sector Conclave, Inquisitorial scrutiny has dropped somewhat, allowing House Vost to flood the market – chiefly House Lienzo, their largest customers by far – with alien weapons.

The alliance between House Lienzo and House Vost is a purely financial one. House Lienzo would sell Vost out in a heartbeat, and Vost would do the same. Their gangs have even gone to war against each other in the past, although that is a rare occurrence. The larger threat to both, besides the Ordo Xenos, is the spreading influence of the hiver House Kaung, which would no doubt leave either in tatters if it were to focus its full efforts against one or the other.

Most of House Vost’s fielded gangs are tenants of their buildings, whom they give discounts on for rent in exchange for service. Clan Ahad’s lax oversight of the residential districts of the hives means that they rarely bother to intervene in this technically-illegal arrangement. Vost’s residential gangs are not uniformed, but they can identify each other by the distinct curling geometric shapes of the house’s tattoo design.

Judith Vost is the current leader of the House, and she has ambitions to rise higher yet. Joining one of the ruling Clans of the world would allow the House a measure of immunity from the further attention of the Inquisition, as well as chances to spread their business into areas where they are presently not welcome.

=====Hiver Gang House Kaung=====
The Imperial Creed is one of vicious intolerance. While its interpretations and factional sectarianism have waxed and shifted over time, many things remain constant. To follow the Imperial Creed is to deny the witch, abhor the thinking machine, deny the witch, scourge the demon, slay the mutant, and burn the heretic, in a litany of exclusion and violence that any loyal Imperial citizen knows by heart.

Thus, House Kaung is a true aberrance, in both senses of the word. The House is almost exclusively mutant in composition, and yet the public face of the House is as pious as the Ecclesarchy when it comes to denouncing the flaws in the Imperial hoi polloi and hoi aristoi.

This is not as contradictory as it initially appears. The many byproducts of Imperial industrial activity are highly toxic, and the general disregard for the wellbeing of its citizens that it holds ensures that many are exposed to them. Mutations that stem from exposure to the mutagenic power of Chaos are never, ever tolerated, but there are some small allowances made for mutants whose flesh-twisted forms are the product of their mothers being exposed to the Imperium’s own waste. The mutant members of House Kaung are among them. Technically permitted to live by Adeptus Arbites precedent, mutants on Thimble are forced to register with the government of their hive. Once they have done so, they can apply to attend Adeptus Ministorum-run education facilities, which have a well-deserved reputation for utter brutality.

Thus, the mutant population of Thimble live as second-class citizens in the guts of the hives. The thing that separates the mutants of Thimble from those of nearly every other hive in the Imperium is coordination. House Kaung is no mere rabble of gene-dregs. They are an organized and very public force in the life of Thimble. Their numbers are not clear to Clan Ahad’s authorities, but they might actually eclipse those of every other House that isn’t O’Neill. Members of the house go about in heathered grey tunics, tabards, and boots, with pants in colors that match the official colors of the hive they inhabit. More zealous members of the House don masks of the same material, to hide their faces from the humans they live beside.

The root of this elevated organization is that of a common piety. Since it is clear to the Genetors of the Thimble Mechanicus that the mutations of the populace do not derive from Warp exposure, but are instead a side effect of the Imperium turning the planet’s industrial equipment back on, its mutants are not in violation of the Imperial Creed. The mutants of Thimble may not be identical, but the grudging tolerance of the Ecclesiarchy has let them find a common identity in their second-class status. The leadership of House Kaung are elder mutants and rogue Adeptus Ministorum priests who have united in their desire to turn the mutant population to the Emperor’s light.

Unlike the other Houses of Thimble, House Kaung did not arise from the union of pre-Imperial scavenger Clans into a Noble House. House Kaung only came to be centuries after Levitna became Thimble. This means that the House has no sprawling financial base to turn to, as House Zhong did. However, through sheer force of numbers, the House is a genuine rival to the other Houses of the planet.

Behind its façade of total unity, however, House Kaung is riven by internal dissent. The mutants of the House are quick to show the public their commonality, but the leaders of the House are not of one mind about how best to expand and improve the House’s fortunes. Some of its members are simply grateful to the Emperor for letting them live in an Imperium that detests them and would happily burn them at the stake if given the chance. Others seethe with resentment towards the Imperium, but venerate the Emperor as a perfect and benevolent god, and believe they should destroy the local Imperial government to replace it with one of greater tolerance. Others yet think that holding the Emperor and His Imperium responsible for their status is a waste of time, and simply want to destroy the other Houses for making their lives hell.

The two largest factions are polar opposites in their approach to Thimble. One, which calls itself the Projectionists, believe that publicly professing their faith will make it harder for the human citizens of Thimble to curtail them as they take over the underhives of every city on Thimble. The other, dubbed the Revanchists, have no problem with expressive faith, but favors armed confrontation with as many of the other factions of the planet’s hive populations as possible, even if the Ecclesiarchy itself would condemn them for it. The Revanchist goal would undermine the Projectionist one, and thus they come into conflict more often than not.

More than a few of the younger members of the House are unhappy with that status quo. Why, they ask, should the House concern themselves with the Ecclesiarchy at all? Is the Ecclesiarchy itself not the ultimate root of so many of their problems? Is it not the doctrine of the supreme, unaltered human that is used to justify every single purge and oppressive act against the mutant? Older members of the House preach caution, however, as nothing would unite the human population against the mutant population faster than the mutants turning on the Ecclesiarchy. Hives are vast places. The Ecclesiarchy are often the only large body of organized humans that encounter mutants in any significant number on Thimble. If the rest of the population, the part that has no allegiance to the Houses, were to suddenly find a great deal of rowdy mutants on their doorsteps demanding change, would the fact that they aren’t Chaos mutants really stay the hands of the superstitious normals for long?

Thus does the House Kaung exist in an uneasy peace with itself, with much of its internal structure defined by mutually exclusive goals under the cover of united means. The sheer numbers of the House, which continue rising unabated no matter what genetic control measures the hives enact, ensure that even with their low-tech weapons, they could easily throw down any other one non-Merchant House and give any two Noble Houses a run for their money. The fact that the House uses faith, whether genuine or false, as its cover for movement and organization, is part of the reason that Houses Vost and Lienzo strive to hide the sources of their xenotech from the House Kaung leaders. House Kaung despises those two Houses, with a bitter, seething hate. They flout the laws against xenotechnological use openly, and are rarely called to task for it, whereas House Kaung’s members live every waking moment in fear of a lynching by superstitious humans. If the House Kaung leadership committee, which contains several ordained Ministers of the Adeptus, were to capture unequivocal proof of the ties Vost and Lienzo have to xenotech smugglers, the hives would erupt in a war that could cripple them for generations.

Kaung troops make use of repurposed industrial equipment and military weapons in the main, along with ancient hunting weapons and the occasional looted grenade launcher. While the street-level gangs of mutants that the House uses as their muscle are numerous enough for maintaining their turf, the true might of Kaung lies in the overwhelming numbers the House could bring to bear if its own members were roused to battle. This has never actually happened, but if all of House Kaung were to gather in one place, they might outgun an entire hive PDF.

The House has few allies. The only body they can call true partners in survival on Thimble are the nomadic Clan Ironsights, in whom they see a common drive to live and overcome all odds. The fact that their territory doesn’t overlap helps keep the peace between the two. House Nailspitter sees the bond between these two difference Houses as a rising threat, and has taken covert actions in the past to split them apart.

House Kaung has no true leader. Decisions are made collectively by a committee of forty elder mutants, family leaders, and a few Ecclesiarchal advisors.

=====Nomadic Clan Ironsights, Thimble=====
The millions of farmers, scavengers, and nomads who live in the barren, hostile wilderness of the planet Thimble exist in an ugly equilibrium. Some settlements do not need protection from raiders, but many do, and the population of raiders near the south pole is high enough that the PDF sometimes sorties to shield the farms there from roving packs of criminals.

Clan Ironsights may not be a real Clan like Ahad and Vorbach, but to the occupants of the wilderness, that is a minor distinction. There is no middle ground on the opinions of Ironsights among the wastelanders. They are either in awe of it, loathe it, or don’t care at all.

The Clan’s huge crawlers roam about the wastelands, collecting scrap and loose minerals from the wastelands, and taking their fill of the ruins of the hives that were too badly damaged to bother rebuilding. The raider gangs that dwell in the hive ruins fight back often, and have long preyed upon the Clan caravans. The roots of their struggle go unrecorded, but the clashes between them have spanned centuries.

The Clan rarely has reason to engage with the Houses and Clans that dominate the hives, but that may be changing. In the past few years, the raiders that have assaulted Clan Ironsights fuel depots and crawlers have had better weaponry and vehicles. There is no source for this equipment in the wasteland itself, which means that it is coming from the hives. Covert infiltrations of the marketplaces of the hives has revealed to the Clan that the only probably source of this weaponry is House Nailspitter, which has been stockpiling munitions themselves.

The Clan’s forces in the wastelands are hugely diverse, with the numbers and equipment they can deploy being situationally dependent on the climate of their engagement zones. Near the poles, where they face more competition from raiders, they tend to deploy more outriders and foot units. Near the equator, where they alone can operate with impunity, the Clan tends to keep to their huge crawlers. If they get wind of a major find of archaeotech that their crawlers are needed to loot in the hot zones, they dispatch forth, leaving their escorts behind. The crawlers are generally quite safe, but the escorts and outriders need to fend for themselves until the crawler gets back.

The foot soldiers of the Clan generally carry a mishmash of Imperial, pre-Imperial, and kludged weapons as available. Not being in the hives, they have few options for replenishing their stocks of weaponry. With the rising tensions between themselves and House Nailspitter, the Clan has had to spend more and more on modern weapons, with an emphasis on burst-fire rifles that can be fired from mounts. This has led them to charge more for their protection efforts on behalf of the settlers in the wasteland. The conflicts between Clan Ironsights and their enemies have grown large enough that the PDF has taken notice, and has resolved to simply shoot any raiders or Ironsights people sighted near the polar farms until they learn their place.

The Clan doesn’t bother with identifying insignia. Their hyper-white crawler shells are all the identifying markings they need.

The leader of the Clan is elected on a ten-year basis from the Captains of the individual crawlers. The incumbent at the turn of the millennium is Rieka bint Malati of the Silver Turtles caravan, but her term will run out in under a year.

=====Hive Ganger House Nailspitter, Thimble=====
The Nailspitters plan for the long game. Although they are not one of the ancient familial Houses that dominates Thimble, the Nailspitters have risen quickly in firepower and money for the past several centuries, to the point that they are now posing a serious challenge to the territorial domination of House Lienzo.

The Nailspitters started as a turf gang, founded by an ambitious off-worlder named Ralgo. Ralgo, an expatriate of the Naxos Sector capital world of Asklepian, was one of many who moved to Levitna when it was rebuilt as Thimble. He and millions of others were flown in to resettle the planet and help bring the hives online. Unlike most of the expatriates, he had no particular logistical or technical skills. He was chosen by lottery, to escape the menial drudgery of the Naxos Sector’s endless attrition wars.

Upon arriving in Cloudburst, Ralgo began a campaign of subtle intimidation, blackmail, targeted violence, and robbery to impose his will over the people. The hives of Thimble, at that point, were still expanding back into their historical roots, and had far more living space than they had people to fill them. Ralgo exploited the circumstance to stake claims on ideal quarters, and slowly built a gang around himself.

The gang pushed around their neighbors, but also took control of some of the reconstruction and industrial efforts on Thimble, gambling that the ruling Clans would not be interested in the efforts of their social inferiors as long as quotas were met. Sure enough, no ruling clan nor the Arbites felt the need to dislodge them so long as order was kept.

The gang long outlived Ralgo, and probably would have continued to toil in their criminal and industrial workings – so commonly linked on Thimble – were it not for a stroke of fortune. A plague struck the world in M40.234, decapitating dozens of lesser criminal syndicates that did not seek aid for fear of doctors reporting them to local law enforcement. The gang that would one day become House Nailspitter quickly swooped in and took control of them, dectupling their territory without firing a shot.

The gang spread and spread, recruiting thousands of disaffected gangers to do their bidding. The group’s leaders quashed former tribal identities by forcing all of their new troops to submit to the Nailspitter initiation rites and hazing rituals. The gang swelled, and may have been brought low by the Arbites had the gang not shifted their focus.

With their new size ensuring them a measure of safety, the newly-minted House set their sights on stability. The Nailspitters take pains to ensure that those territories they control – usually the mass transit operations that connect the poorer parts of the hives to the outside and each other – are as stable and quiet as can be. They use steel-fisted brutality to ensure this, including against the members of the other Houses. Concurrently, the House uses more covert means to ensure that none of the other Houses attain the level of power that the ruling Clans do. This has extended in the past to outright murder and sabotage against the Clanless noble Houses, even some with formal titles of Imperial aristocracy. They use measures of stealth to ensure that no trace of their sponsorship remains on those they patronize to perform these crimes.

The Nailspitters don’t constrain themselves to just attacking those higher on the Thimble pecking order, however. The House also attacks weaker targets, including independent gangs and even Clan Ironsights. Their aim is to capture any source of wealth, labor, or property that other organizations could use to ape their own success. The Nailspitters, in their long wisdom, know that a group as large as theirs could be brought low with another plague, a Glasian Migration, or some other event entirely outside the planning of their rivals. Thus, they ensure that at all times, a clear line of succession exists for their leadership.

Nailspitter exists on two planes of operations. The first is their public facing, with their own troops and the street gangs they employ maintaining order on their levels of the hives. These are the Nailspitters that the people of Thimble are familiar with, and to whom the locals pay their protection money. They employ a mixture of slug, shot, and las-weapons, and use highly visible insignia on their arms and clothing. The abundance of cheap, quality fabric on Thimble allows them to get quite creative with their gang insignia and costumes.

By contrast, their private forces are quite invisible. Using camouflaged equipment and clothing, hand signals to keep silent, Stormtrooper-quality suppressed weapons, and a mixture of bribery and stealthed aircars, they terrorize and murder those the Nailspitters expect to get in the way of their eventual goal: overthrowing House O’Neill.

Indispensability is the key to the House’s long-term survival. The House managed to avoid being slaughtered by the Arbites and the local Enforcers during their takeover of their rivals by virtue of playing a role in keeping order in the hives during the plague. House O’Neill is playing a super-high-stakes game of chicken with the Adeptus Mechanicus. There is no way the O’Neills, for all their wealth, can win a true tariff war with the Adeptus Mechanicus and its infinite wealth. Thus, to displace the O’Neills, the Nailspitters can either try to bring down their rivals with sabotage, or else stir the Mechanicus to action.

However, the long history of the Adeptae ignoring the day-to-day life of the human race on Thimble has suggested to the Nailspitters that the Mechanicus will not be prompted to take the O’Neills down unless something catastrophic happens to the Mechanicus. The only way that the Nailspitters’ leadership can think of to do that is to start destroying Mechanicus facilities on the planet. However, to do so would surely cause the planet to collapse into anarchy, since the Mechanicus is the only faction around that can maintain Thimble’s overtaxed life support and terraforming devices. Thus, the Nailspitters have begun a campaign of attack and bribery against the customers of the O’Neills, its family members, and its less-guarded assets, while publicly appearing to be a force of stability for the world. They have even begun arming the enemies of the other Houses on the planet while using their black-ops teams to kill off their own enemies. The Nailspitters know that Clan Ahad doesn’t give a damn who is in charge of the transit stations as long as they work.

Presently, the Chief Nailspitter is Nikkyo Kasumoto, who has led the House with an iron fist and a taste for the finer things. He rose from the private face of the House, and it shows, with his taste for resolving problems with bribery and kidnapping instead of street battles.

=====The Waveriders, Obelisk 2=====
The piratical gangs of Obelisk 2 are the dominant force outside the core of the floating cities. Convoys of cobalt freighters and other tithe-bearing ships sail unmolested thanks to the protection of the military, but pirate attacks and raids on non-tithe assets often claim whole ships. There are hundreds of these gangs, in addition to the sanctioned ones that get deputized as city militia and the PDF.

The Waveriders are a typical, if large, example of these gangs. Most such gangs have a few dozen to a thousand riders, all of whom get around on the oceans using combinations of smaller jet skis and larger boats, with a few submarines here and there and a drone or two. The gangs also typically have a foot contingent as well, either stationed on cities they have conquered or in large boats used for boarding actions. The Waveriders are no exception.

The Waveriders are one of the older gangs, and have maintained their position of relative strength by virtue of being smart enough to extort significant sums of money from the processing and waste management hubs that handle the tithe goods. They don’t interdict the goods directly, but instead bleed those who produce the goods dry, knowing that a little problem like monetary loss will not be an acceptable reason for the tithe-producers to use to explain to the Administratum why they’re behind on production.

The gangs generally operate one of two ways: either democratically electing the four highest officers with each larger vessel captain getting a vote, or through a battle royale of all those who want a shot at the title after the old one dies.

The Master of the Waves is the self-styled Admiral Eiler Gustavsson, who cut his way to the top, in the way of the piratical gangs with no formal democratic structure.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Rogue Traders|Rogue Trader Houses]]===
In the Cloudburst Sector and the neighboring, less inhabited territories, there are dozens of Rogue Trader individuals and family enterprises that have made a mark. Here are several.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/House Matraxia|Questor Mechanicus Matraxia]]===
The sole Knightly house of the Cloudburst Sector, and the dark secret it hides.

===[[Setting:Cloudburst/Dead Houses|Dead Houses]]===
Not all the stories of the Cloudburst Sector's Rogue Traders end well, nor do all noble families decline with grace.

==Notable Persons==
[[Setting:Cloudburst/People|Cloudburst Sector is led and plagued by a vast assortment of people.]] The leadership of the Sector is tenuous in some Subsectors, vibrant and omnipresent in others, and cruelly oppressive in yet more.

However, the Sector also has heroes, monstrous enemies, and sinister infiltrators. It has an assortment of devilsome pirates, Chaos cultists, and even a few Terran intercessors of terrifying power.

==Regional Terminology and Astrocartographic Nomenclature==
The Cloudburst Sector is a loose sector, with many large star clusters or nebulae. The sector is on the east side of the Segmentum Ultima/extra-Obscurus border, at the extreme galactic north. Large belts of asteroids drift through the void, with the occasional Space Hulk ejected from the Warp and skidding through the darkness. There have never been any large incursions of [[Tyranids]] or [[Necrons]] in the sector, though there are some feral Orks here and there. There is evidence of a much larger [[Ork]] presence in the past, perhaps the remains of an abortive Waaagh! No Tau have reached the sector, and what few Demiurg, Thraxians, Vespids, and [[Kroot]] there are about are mere mercenaries, ultimately of no political consequence. There are no Eldar Craftworlds or Exodite colonies about, and what Eldar are present in the sector are generally pirates, Dark Eldar raiders, or refugees fleeing the Necrons, never in one place for long. Oddly, the sector appears to have been partially passed over for colonization by the ancient Eldar, the Slann, and the primeval Martian and Terran Empires. This is especially strange in the case of the Septiim system itself, since it contains a shocking three shirtsleeves-habitable planets, which in any other sector would have been a prize of unfathomable value to the colonists of old. No unique STC printouts or creations, or components, have ever been found within thirty lightyears of the Septiim system, and there are only four Webway gates within moderate Warp flight distance. The Ork colonies in the area are small, feral, and of little threat, though the Navy has made a point of annihilating the ones it finds growing in size, generally with space-to-surface artillery or precision lances. Were there more battleships in the sector, they may even try to destroy the greenskins. The principal consistent alien threat in the region is instead from Ork Freebooterz. They constantly visit the area, refueling at Gorkypark, the one significant permanent Ork presence in Cloudburst.

The Cloudburst Sector centers on the Celeste system, which contains the moon after which the sector is named. Celeste itself is a planet, a verdant and beautiful paradise world. There are no peripheral Sectors, as the Cloudburst Circuit is not a sector; the Drumnos Sector borders Cloudburst coreward. To trailing, there is the Oldlight Exo-zone, spinward is the Naxos Sector.

The Sector has a common trend among the names of its worlds and stars: they tend to be named after the first or middle names of the Rogue Traders who found them (if an Explorator didn’t get there first). This stems from ancient conflicts among Rogue Trader houses of neighboring Naxos fleets. The Naxos Trader houses competed viciously for naming rights on new Proximate Circuit systems and properties, and thanks to the unpredictable time effects of traveling uncharted Warp routes, sometimes Rogue Traders would arrive at Fabique having equally legitimate claims to having discovered a world.

To resolve this, the Administratum’s Departmento Astrocartigraphicae and the Mechanicus’s Astra Explorator stepped in. They decreed that all Rogue Trader ships that were seeking new worlds in the Proximate Circuit would carry clocks, built to Forge World precision on Fabique itself, all set to the same time. When a Rogue Trader came to a Forge World with a claim of discovery or conquest on a new world in the Circuit, and it was contested by another, the clocks would be compared, and the one with less time displayed on it would be judged accurate. Tampering with the clocks would result in the striking of Colonization Rights from the Warrant of Trade or Writ of Marque the offending Trader Dynasty possessed, plus the less quantifiable scorn of the Machine God.

This new system was immediately put in place and uniformly enforced. It became common practice among exploring Rogue Traders to find a world, perform the fastest possible scans of its atmospheric composition, officially name it after themselves, leave a beacon at the edge of the system declaring this to be the case, and then make a direct course for Fabique to lay staked claims. Worlds with names like Gorum, Johdclan, Foralds, Vasari, and Locke appeared on maps in the Fabique Astrocartigraphicae vault, each with bare minimum settlement data and a meticulously determined date attached. Before long, between the relentless pace of MacDonald’s fleet and over two dozen Rogue Trader flotillas hard at work, the outline of the modern Cloudburst Sector formed. Even the sector’s capital moon orbits a world named after a Rogue Trader, though the Capital was placed on the rainy moon instead of the magnificent paradise of the world itself – perhaps, some mutter, to prevent a Rogue Trader from getting too much credit for their lucky discovery.

Like all regions of His Divine Majesty’s territory, the Cloudburst Sector either uses, or is germane to, terms that come up often in Inquisitorial discussions of it. The following is a list of several.

'''Cloudburst Circuit''': A term for the distant, hard-to-navigate, and mysterious clusters of stars and radioactive gasses that hang beyond the formal ‘edge’ of the Cloudburst Sector, between Imperial territory and the roiling Warp Storms that delineate the outer limits of the Galaxy. Prior to the establishment of the Sector proper, this was titled the Oldlight Proximate Circuit; it was larger, and encompassed the region now known as Cloudburst Sector and the Cloudburst Circuit. The galactic limit Warp Storms, called Terminus Shock, of severity ranging from hideously tumultuous to nearly ‘safe,’ shroud the entire Galaxy. In the Cloudburst Circuit between the Cloudburst Sector and the Galaxy’s northern edge, the storms are thin but violent, and on the rarest of occasions, unmanned probes may even pass beyond them. The Circuit itself has thousands of planets and superasteroids within, but thanks to the high radiation levels of the Circuit’s ubiquitous nebulae, they are hard to reach. Among Imperial Astrocartigraphers, there is a persistent and empirically sound theory that the Warp storms are generated by the fact that the Warp is a mirror of all sentient life, and there are no bodies near the Galaxy that could support life. Therefore, the Warp Storms represent not only the physical edge of the Galaxy, but the practical limit on the range of human Faster-Than-Light travel that relies on total Warp Immersion (as all human and Ork ships do). While this also means Chaos cannot spread to other Galaxies if true, this is small comfort for the Imperium and no comfort for those mad Rogue Traders who have travelled beyond the Warp Storms to find new galaxies to inhabit, who are most surely all dead now.

'''Emergency Command Asset Force (ECAF)''': This formation is unique to Cloudburst. It consists of a single flag-grade officer, usually a Brigadier General, along with their Honor Guard, a small group of specialists including Chaplains, Sanctioned Psykers, Commissars, and Stormtroopers, a handful of vehicle crews, and roughly two hundred veteran infantry. These forces stage from Coriolis and Septiim and fly to their destinations in Fast Clippers manufactured over Hapster.

Each ECAF dispatches to locations where official Guard leadership is needed, and take command of whatever forces await them. ECAFs dispatched to sites of larger conflicts, where an officer higher in rank than Brigadier would command, instead serve as advisors to whomever is already present, perhaps to fill gaps in a chain of command. The field units from each ECAF filter out to cover deficiencies in the present Guard or PDF structure, while the specialists and advisors either attach to the command staff to consult, or take to the field as well as force multipliers. The exact composition of ECAFs can change as Sector Command attaches or removes assets as needed.

For instance, it is common practice to append an extra sniper or rangefinder to an ECAF that will be taking command over an artillery-heavy formation, to augment their target acquisition capability, or a snowmobile Rough Rider unit to an ECAF that will take over an arctic warfare infantry force. ECAFs can exert no control over Navy assets, but they do sometimes include paratroopers with an attached Imperial Navy transport.

Each ECAF lasts only as long as it needs to in order to complete a mission, after which all surviving personnel and equipment are recycled into the general pool of assets on Coriolis and Septiim. When an ECAF is needed, the Imperial Guard authorities on Septiim and Coriolis pack whatever personnel are needed into the new ECAF, which is then given a serial number and the services of an Astropath, shoved into a Navy ship, and sent wherever they are required. Of course, not all Imperial Guard and PDF officials take well to being displaced by a newcomer from off-world, but when the alternative is losing a war, they generally manage to stifle their pride.

Elevation to ECAF General is challenging, and the criteria are different from most advancement opportunities in the Imperial Guard. In order to be promoted to a flag-grade rank and become eligible to assume command of an ECAF, an Imperial Guard officer must have spent at least two years as a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel in the Guard and have won at least two campaigns against the Emperor’s enemies. Given that wars in the Cloudburst Sector are usually either small brush fires among factions in a planetary population or fought by Rogue Traders in the Circuit, this means that there are relatively few opportunities for a Guard officer to actually qualify to run an ECAF inside the Sector proper.

Thus, many ECAF Generals rise to their rank by being part of a regiment raised to fight in the constant battles against Chaos in the Naxos Sector or against the never-ending pirate hordes of the Drumnos Sector. The Inquisition is aware of this and encourages it, for the most part. High Inquisitrix Lerica may not call herself a Monodominant, but she does hold its tenets that humans should work together to drive all other contenders for galactic rulership extinct in high regard.

Some ECAFs arrive in time to see the war they were supposed to oversee end before they can make a difference, either because the Imperium has lost or because the PDF and Guard were able to drive their threat away. When that happens, by the request of Sector Command, the presiding General can become a permanent part of whatever remains of the Astra Militarum structure on the planet, or collect any defeated survivors and take them for quarantine and interrogation elsewhere. On the rarest of occasions, an ECAF may merge entirely with the command structure of an existing larger formation of the Astra Militarum, and serve as the elite core of that formation. However, this costs Sector Command their most experienced assets, and is done only if Sector Command believes that there is a significant chance that the planet in question might actually fall if it is not done.

Because of the scarcity of psykers in Cloudburst and the sheer distance between Cloudburst and Terra, ECAFs are sometimes the only source of Primaris Psykers and War Psykers in an Imperial command structure. Their use against pirate forces in Drumnos is especially devastating; even pirate lords with a pet hedge witch or two cannot counter the raw, horrible power of a Terra-trained Adeptus Astra Telepathica War Psyker. A Primaris Senior can devastate a whole infantry company with just a few seconds of prep time, drive daemons back into the Warp, or explode the minds of Orks; mere pirates stand little direct threat.

The ECAF model is so successful that some Imperial Commanders have pointedly asked why so few other Sectors have embraced them. The obvious answer of territorial conduct by nearby Sectors, jealous of their own structures and tactics, doesn’t seem to hold up, since the Imperium is desperate for advantages over its enemies. In reality, however, the layout of most Sectors prevents the ECAF structure from being especially useful elsewhere, since most Imperial Sectors are more densely packed with worlds than Cloudburst.
Cloudburst’s astrogeography has small clusters of worlds shoved close together by the billowing gas of its host supernebula, isolated from each other by up to a dozen light years of hard-to-traverse, radioactive space and Warp rifts. It also has a relatively low population and few psykers. Other Sectors simply do not have these problems, and so the ECAF structure would be more redundant than helpful.

'''Orbitals and Void Platforms''': While the ancient nature and diverse roots of culture and architecture in the greater Imperium have resulted in wildly differing types of space construction before, the Cloudburst Sector is much smaller, younger, and more internally organized. Thus, the types of deep-space construction common in the Sector can be sorted into several distinct categories for the convenience of travelers. Some belong to more than one category.

# Deep Voids: These are constructs designed specifically to drift through the depths of space, nowhere near a star. The common Imperial Navy anchorage series model Xerxes is one such Deep Void. These can technically include most models of Star Forts, as well, as those are generally too large to orbit a planet directly.
# Star Forts: This is a category of enormous and self-sufficient space platform, so large as to be able to stage whole starships of capital displacement or even construct warships of Escort weight. A Star Fort is able to defend itself with firepower equivalent to or greater than that of a Battleship with ease, and serve as the lynchpins of large fleet maneuvers and campaigns. They are generally immobile, and must be pulled into port with a tug or many tugs. These are ruinously expensive to build and relocate, and so are only fielded in times of great need.
# Firepoints: These are former asteroids. Sometimes called ‘monitors,’ a Firepoint is a hollowed-out natural planetoid or rock that has been filled with life support and combat equipment, and uses its natural rocky shell to serve as extra armor. Hard to destroy and cheap to build, they are very popular among Imperial Navy personnel who must station these defenses along the Imperium’s outer border. However, they are also not very well-armed for their weight, and their spherical shape makes it challenging to bring a preponderance of their firepower to bear on a single target.
# Void Platforms: A general term for any space platform constructed within the gravity of a star but not in direct orbit of a planet. Some Void Platforms have large, self-contained solar and hydroponic wings, able to provide abundant light, heat, food, and electricity to the crew of the Platform, or even export a surplus. These tend to have light point defenses, if they have any at all. Others are bristling walls of guns and armor, and defend the most direct routes from nearby Mandeville Points or Warp Gates to the orbital pathways of inhabited planets.
# Orbitals: This is the term for any space construct that has a permanent human crew and directly orbits a planet. This can range from the colossal orbital plates of ancient Terran Federation worlds with hundreds of millions of residents to the light observation rings that circle Frontier Worlds with a crew of four. Some are defended, but most are purely scientific or commercial.
# Satellites: While this term technically refers to anything that orbits a world, the common usage is for an unmanned device that circles a planet and fulfils some purpose-built role, like observation, debris interception, or defense. These are cheap and easy to replace, and any vessel with an internal hangar can repair them, so they are very common as throwaway defenses of planets with no dedicated surface-to-space guns, but may also augment the defenses of the worlds that do. Others use telescopes and cameras to record objects at the outer limits of a system, using machine patience to record an area too huge for direct human observation.
# Space Station: Imperial Space Stations are a broad subject. Common Space Station types include the commercial hubs and customs platforms that allow for the trade of cargo in a system far away from its defensive perimeter. They also often include those constructs that fill the gravitationally-predictable Lagrange points of a planet or moon’s orbits. Technically, all orbital plates and Void Platforms are Space Stations, but not all Space Stations fit into those categories. Some laymen use the term ‘space station’ to refer to all inhabitable objects built in space, but this is not strictly accurate, for a Space Station is generally purpose-built and well within the gravitational range of a star, and are rarely self-sufficient.
# Orbital Spire: In the most purely technical sense, a Spire is not a void construct at all. However, all Orbital Spires have two anchors, and one is invariably an Orbital itself. These Spires are vast spindles of carbon nanotubes, homogenous mixtures of metals that bond together, and power transmitters in the form of microwave beamers. A Spire is essentially a combination of roadway and elevator, and can take many shapes. The simplest is a single cable that connects an asteroid in geosynchronous orbit to the planet below, and serves as a guy-wire to a flotilla of tiny floating cargo cars that ride the cable up and down, carrying cargo without having to use polluting rockets or expensive plasma boosters. More complex models include entire enclosed roads, on which electric cars drive over charged strips of metal and plastic, collecting motive energy from the very surface beneath them. These are ludicrously expensive, and are used only in worlds with extremely high gravity where space flight would be too costly to regularly perform, or worlds with enormous shipping volumes where fuel needs couldn’t be realistically met. The most expensive of all Orbital Spires are nothing less than orbit lifter trains, which use vast robotic cargo lifting machines to drag thousands of tons of cargo in vacuum-tight boxes from freight depots on the ground to Orbitals high above. Only Forge Worlds and the wealthiest Paradise and Hive Worlds can afford these, and in Cloudburst, only Cognomen can.

'''Oldlight Exo-zone''': This is the first section of the galaxy’s territory outside of the Cloudburst Sector to trailing, and it is at least partially within the light of the Astronomican on the southern edge. It is not a Sector, per se, but is instead the region of space between the northern edge of the Segmentum Obscurus and the edge of the Galaxy proper. For over eleven thousand years, since the first Iron Warriors scouts visited the place during the early Great Crusade, this region of space has been of little interest to the Imperium. Were it not for the existence of the Eye of Terror, it would no doubt have been explored and exploited thoroughly. However, the Storm of the Emperor’s Wrath and several smaller Warp Storms stand between the edge of Obscurus and the actual maximum range of the Astronomican, thus screening it from Terra and making Navigation excruciatingly slow. As such, the border of the Cloudburst Sector is traditionally the border of the Imperium. Thus, though ships that follow the Warp currents without Navigators can travel there as easily as they can anywhere else, there are few colonies here; Imperial warships could not come to their defense in haste if they were attacked. The name stems from the fact that at the outer edges of this region, light from before the opening of the Eye is visible, and the galaxy can still be viewed un-marred by the hubris of the Eldar. The region once played host of the savage war between the Imperium and the Rangdan, and possibly their mysterious allies/servants, the Slaugth. Only specific Explorators and Inquisitors are aware of this. Unofficially, however, the general Ordo Xenos is fully aware that the region is a terrible hotbed of violent aliens even now. There are no fewer than four massive Deathwatch Watch Fortresses within three weeks’ travel of the Oldlight Exo-zone: Excalibris, Pykman, Castillos Nullifact, and Dascomb.

'''Rangdan Xenocides''': The Rangdan Xenocides were a trio of wars, spanning thirty years from M30.861, and a few skirmishes afterwards, between Imperial Humanity and the Rangdan alien species. The Rangdan, made aware of the Imperium thanks to the Astronomican, were cerbavores, and made a delight and a spectacle of harvesting the nerves and brains of thinking beings. Humans, perhaps the most delicious after Eldar, were ideal prey for the beasts, and they launched a crippling assault against the Imperium as soon as they came within range of it. The resultant slaughter saw the brains of over eighty-nine billion humans eaten by the monstrous creatures from Old Night’s depths. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 11th, and 20th Legions of the Astartes had committed their fullest strength to repelling the monsters, and only barely survived the attempt. The 11th, it is whispered, did not.

The Rangdan, it transpired, were not even the principal threat behind the wars. Living weapons, deployed at the end of the war by Rangdan with oddly shriveled skeletons, revealed that at least some of their technology, so much more destructive than that of the early Crusaders, actually came from the Slaugth. This race of flesh-eaters was the stuff of the nightmares of the Age of Strife. Their frighteningly advanced technology and nearly indestructible flesh-horrors proved to outmatch the Imperium in destructive power; the Emperor was forced to utilize His most powerful weapon to destroy the core of the Rangdan race. Unshackling a secret weapon known only as the Labyrinth of Night, and compelling it to serve him with pure psychic power, He turned the power of the Slaugth against their Rangdan brain-slaves, killing them and destroying nearly all non-Martian technology for light-years in every direction. Between the total devastation of all nearby habitable worlds, the loss of all archaeo- and xeno-tech caches for dozens of light years, and the fact that the Astronomican was barely visible in the area, the Imperium had abandoned the region to its fate. The possibility that the Slaugth were controlling the Rangdan, or the reverse, has been blocked from further investigation by Imperial decree.

'''Septiim Economic Zone''': A term used to refer to the 10-light year sphere around the Septiim system, which contains three star systems with no habitable zones, but many servitor-operated mining platforms and freighter stopover platforms. The Zone contains the Septiim system, the ANKH 909 system, the ANKH 910 system, and the Adeptus Mechanicus mining colony and research base Feldsprite in the ANKH 911 system.
The Zone also contains all of the military facilities belonging to the Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines called the Blue Daggers. The Daggers defend the Zone from the Glasians and other threats, and draw their recruits from the populations of the worlds and mines within. The Zone has its own Imperial Navy detachment at all times, one that is a significant percentage of the strength of a Subsector Battlefleet. This is a necessary measure, however, despite the cost, since the Navy is expected to help the Daggers disable the defenses of the colossal Glasian Control Cylinders that spearhead each Glasian Centennial Migration.

'''The Long March''': This refers to the great colony venture sponsored by the megacorporations of ancient Terran Europe that seeded the first technologically-advanced colonies in the region: Levitna and Hapster. It is of some academic interest to the local authorities for the fact that it apparently missed dozens of habitable worlds in its path, including some more habitable and comfortable than Hapster or Levitna have ever been, like Celeste and Septiim Tertius.

'''Waaagh! Igzok''': This was the first Waaagh! to threaten the region, during the absolute height of the Terran Federation’s power, immediately prior to the rise of the Iron Men. It is known that it managed to enter the region by flying aboard some Space Hulks, but broke against the Federation’s fleet. Records from that era are understandably sparse, but they indicate that the Orks had been set on their course by a massive surge of aetheric energy from the edge of the Galaxy, perhaps from a star falling into a Warp Storm’s core. The exact date of this battle is lost to history.

==Glasians==
{{Main|Setting:Cloudburst/Glasians}}
The bizarre, extra-galactic aliens that bedevil the Cloudburst Sector.

==The Free Corsair Coalition==
{{Main|Setting:Cloudburst/Free Corsair Coalition}}
A collective of amalgamated pirates and gangs under the rulership of a rogue Imperial Navy Admiral and his mysterious Eldar cohort.

=Neighboring Space=
The sprawl of radioactive gasses, stones, and debris that delineates the Cloudburst region is cut up by arbitrary boundaries, as is often the case in early Imperial mapmaking. The boundaries of later Imperial maps were better-informed. The nearby regions of Imperial territory are far more heavily populated than Cloudburst is, and their problems don’t recur every hundred years: they are constant.

The nearest two populated areas of Imperial space are the Naxos Sector and the Drumnos Sector. These two Sectors are thousands of years older than Imperial claims to the Cloudburst region. Their gross populations are correspondingly greater as well, and both Sectors have entire networks of ancient Hive and Forge Worlds to provide goods and services on scales that dwarf the total output of Thimble and Cognomen in Cloudburst. However, both Sectors are under significant assault by the enemies of Terra around the clock, rather than being only intermittently troubled by hostiles as Cloudburst usually is.

The entire region is referred to colloquially as the Tri-Sector area, thanks to their having few physical boundaries between each other (which is rare in Frontier Sectors, which may have no physical proximity to other Sectors). Each Sector is responsible for raising their own military forces, but may trade with each other without license, and are surcharged only a nine percent tax to raise Imperial funding.

The Naxos Sector is directly to the spinward of Cloudburst, and is a much larger Sector by both physical volume and total population. The Drumnos Sector is coreward of Cloudburst, and has even larger population counts, but is only ten cubic lightyears larger in total thanks to the completely uninhabitable Ruinwall Warp Storm that borders it on the trailing side and brutal pirate fleets that have stymied its growth to rimward and spinward.

==Naxos==
[[Setting:Tri-Sector/Naxos|Naxos Sector]] lies to the spinward of Cloudburst, and is under constant assault from the armies of Nurgle.

==Drumnos==
[[Setting:Tri-Sector/Drumnos|Drumnos Sector]] sits coreward of Cloudburst. It is a vast and densely-populated realm of colossal commercial endeavors, trade guilds, and ancient colonies, with one of the greatest [[Forge Worlds]] ever built at its heart.

[[Category:Homebrew Settings]]
[[Category:Warhammer Homebrew]]

Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Tyranids

2026-05-20T15:40:34Z

185.220.100.247:

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KEEP STRIKETHROUGHS OFF OF THE FUCKING TACTICS PAGE. THEY '''NEVER''' BELONG ON TACTICS PAGES YOU USELESS FUCKS

Please note that this is the tactics for 8th edition Tyranids. Their current tactics can be found [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Tyranids (9E)|here.]]

==Why Play Tyranids==
===Pros===
* <span style="color:purple">'''OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM'''</span>
* Because you want to play an army that can horde like Imperial Guard and fuck up tanks with insectoid mini-Godzillas.
* Your melee specialist units move like cheetahs on crystal meth.
* A Wal-Mart-sized car park of crazy monsters to "play around" with.
* An insane amount of customization that can rival Chaos. Some units like Warriors and Carnifexes can fill entirely different roles depending on which weapons you give them, and the 8E Codex has given them a bunch of their old 4th edition wargear back. Blood of Baal expanded this even further with the ability to make your own Hive Fleet Adaptations and the introduction of Adaptive Physiology.
* Multiple delivery options for putting units on the battlefield where they need to be: Lictors, Raveners, Spores, Mawlocs and units in Trygon Tunnel or Tyrannocyte can all be placed outside of your deployment zone.
* So many Assault weapons holy shit.
* Synapse gives you the staying power other horde armies only dream of.
* One of the most strategically flexible armies in the game. Gunline? Melee? Deep-Strike heavy? Alpha-Strikes? Tyranids have a way of fulfilling all of this and more!

===Cons===
* A gunline ''is'' viable, but you'll probably have to get close, making you more vulnerable to Rapid Fire
* Poor AP on average is a considerable issue when you're fighting armies with good armor saves (e.g. Space Marines).
* Most tyranid armies, especially Hive Fleet Hydra, need lots of bodies to function effectively. This can make the army one of the more expensive to assemble, paint, and transport.
* Your characters and venomthropes in the role of being a buff stick work only for strain-specific units, instead of across multiple spectra of units.
* Very few good allrounders. While beeing flexible on what kind of army to build, you aren't that flexible on the battlefield.
* Your melee, while highly damaging, is relatively low in Strength.
* No standard movement speed for your army.
* Your Characters are rather expensive. That means it's hard to get command points with pure Tyranids.
* Painting your bugs can be an exercise in monotony (like most other horde armies.)
* While 'nids can spam wounds and models like the best of them, there is a general lack of solid armor. 3+ saves are rare (there are no 2+s in a normal way), and heavy bolters/autocannons can eat up your standard 4+, 5+ and 6+ saves. Have faith in wonky psychic invuln saves on your big nasties when your opponent aims 10 lascannons at them.
* As of early 2020, if you're not Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos, or Tau, then you're already behind the competitive power curve.
**Nids especially were up shit creek without a paddle for a good while. But thanks to some useful new stuff in Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal, and recent nerfs to the Space Marine big codex/supplements, we've finally begun to CLAW (yup, I said it...) our way back up the ladder?

==Faction Keywords==
Other than the obvious {{W40kKeyword|TYRANIDS}} keyword the other one is {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}}. Every Tyranid unit needs to be assigned a Hive Fleet, either from the established fleets (Behemoth, Kraken, and Leviathan to name a few) or one of your own devising. The abilities in a Tyranid force only affect units from the same {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}}. We assume, in the below Tactics write up, that you will be playing with units all with the same {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} keyword.

Compared to other armies, the Tyranid named characters are unusual in that you can choose their {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}}.

==Special Rules==
No matter what edition of the game, Tyranids have traditionally been defined by three special rules: '''Synapse''', '''Instinctive Behaviour''' and '''Shadow in the Warp'''. For some reason, designers have tended to tinker with these every time a new codex comes out, much to the endless aggravation and rage of countless Tyranid players. 8th edition seems to be no exception, with the rules being changed not once but twice. Once for the index, and again for the codex. '''When in doubt, rely on the codex version until the rules inevitably get changed once again'''.

*'''Instinctive Behaviour''': If a {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} unit with this ability is more than 24" away from a friendly {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} '''Synapse''' unit, then it suffers a penalty to shooting and charging unless the target is the nearest visible and viable unit. If shooting, the penalty is a -1 to hit, and if charging, the unit suffers a -2 penalty to its charge move. An ''even less'' restrictive Instinctive Behaviour, so we're better off than ever before.
**Formerly, instinctive behaviour limited a unit to only being able to shoot and charge the nearest visible enemy unit. The current is a much welcome quality of life improvement, as you will no longer need '''Synapse''' units to babysit your Pyrovores, Biovores, or anything else not particularly interested in successfully rolling to hit with shooting or making a charge roll, such as a Tyrannofex shooting its Acid Spray. At the same time, it gives your bigger creatures that wouldn't benefit from Morale immunity in the first place more room to wander off without being penalised for it.
**Worth noting that this just affects shooting and charging targets. You unit can still act normally regarding moving, advancing, and retreating.
**With the recent changes, choosing the correct '''Synapse''' units for your army has become far more forgiving. However, it is still a good idea to try and pair units up based on their roles. Keep fast units with fast units (Broodlords and Genestealers, for instance) and slower ones with your second wave or artillery units.
*'''Shadow in the Warp''': Enemy {{W40kKeyword|PSYKERS}} must subtract 1 from any Psychic test they make if they are within 18" of any units with this ability. {{W40kKeyword|TYRANID}} {{W40kKeyword|PSYKERS}} are not affected.
**Was formerly listed at 8" in the index but has been changed for the codex. The addition of a whopping 10" to this rule is understandably quite a big deal now that its range is long enough to mess with Smite spammers.
**Frankly, a rule often forgotten in the 7th Edition days due to how infrequently it came in use. Now with the increased potency and ease of manifesting powers, plus the new mechanism of denying a power cast within 24" of one of your psykers, putting them at a -1 disadvantage makes this an ability worth having.
**Reminder: {{W40kKeyword|GENESTEALER CULT}} {{W40kKeyword|PSYKERS}} also count as {{W40kKeyword|TYRANID}} {{W40kKeyword|PSYKERS}}. On the one hand, you can add {{W40kKeyword|GENESTEALER CULT}} units to your army without having to play careful positioning games, but on the other hand, if you're playing against them, '''Shadow in the Warp''' is worthless.
*'''Synapse''': {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} units automatically pass Morale tests if they are within 12" of any friendly {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} units with this ability.
**Was formerly listed at 8" in the index, but has been changed for the codex.
**The removal of templates and this rule makes Tyranids one of the best armies to run large blobs of units with.
**Automatically passing Morale tests is a big deal in 8E. Much of the new meta is about killing the enemy army via morale attrition, and the Tyranids raise a middle appendage to such mechanics. While it's less helpful to Carnifexes and other monsters which deploy as individuals (and therefore were already unaffected by morale), Gaunts and other units that work best with a lot of models have more to lose from a bad morale roll and will benefit the most from Morale immunity.
**Makes Imperial Guard players really jealous since their Commissars got nerfed, [[That guy|so be sure to rub it in their face]].
*'''Extensions of the Hive Mind''': Objective Secured, Tyranid edition.
===Hive Fleet Adaptations===
Another Codex brings another set of Chapter Tactics-equivalents, representing the main 3 Hive Fleets in the fluff (Behemoth, Kraken, and Leviathan) as well as 4 others that range from the obscure to the entirely new. Unlike other factions with Chapter Tactics-equivalents, your choice of Hive Fleet does '''not''' limit which special characters you can take. Splinter fleets take the Adaptation of their progenitor, while Hive Fleets not otherwise listed can pick and choose whichever Adaptation they like.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|BEHEMOTH}} - Hyper-Aggression''': Re-roll failed charges; gives you 8" charges 65.97% of the time and 9" charges 47.84% of the time. Consider taking adrenal glands on deepstriking Trygons, Gargoyles, Hive Tyrants, and Hormagaunts.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|GORGON}} - Adaptive Toxins''': Re-roll wound rolls of 1 in the Fight phase. Great on anything really, but bugs with Scything Talons (big and small) and Toxin Sacs are real nice.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|HYDRA}} - Swarming Instincts''': Re-roll failed hits in the Fight phase against units that you outnumber. Your Hormagaunt and Gargoyle swarms will thank you for taking this, because why '''''wouldn't''''' they outnumber their targets?
** Unfortunately this is completely useless on any of your big bugs. Furthermore, later in the game after your horde has been thinned out it can more or less render this adaptation meaningless. Luckily, their Stratagem can address the latter issue.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|JORMUNGANDR}} - Tunnel Networks''': Non-{{W40Kkeyword|FLY}} units always count as being in cover for shooting attacks, but advancing or charging makes this drop until your next Movement phase. Requires a slight drop in mobility to make it work, but it compensates by offering better defence in return. Consider using Trygons alongside Jormagundr's Stratagem to make up for the lost mobility. If you want to be [[That guy]] model your army as a bunch of shark fins sticking out of dirt.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|KRAKEN}} - Questing Tendrils''': Can charge after Falling Back, and rolls 3d6 keep the highest for Advance rolls (average: 4.96", up from the baseline of 3.5"). The correct choice if you go Genestealer heavy, since between this and the Stratagems they can rocket to the opposite side of the board on the first turn. Also good on Carnifexes since you can always trigger Living Battering Ram on your turn. Also very useful for controlling the board, whether it be objective-grabbing or preventing Deep Strikes from fucking your game up. Long range/shooty armies will shed salty biomass when half your army is already within kissing distance by turn 2, eager to give loving hugs with their talons and maws.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|KRONOS}} - Bio-Barrage''': Re-roll hit rolls of 1 in the Shooting phase if you didn't move - basically the Cadian Doctrine, but without the ability to use an order to make it apply to melee instead of ranged. Much needed for shooty Nids given their average BS, and the requirement to be stationary doesn't matter as much for Tyrannofexes and Exocrines since you'll probably keep them still anyway.
** If you want to play Dakkefexes, this isn't a good Adaptation for them considering their main strength is mobility
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|LEVIATHAN}} - Synaptic Imperative''': 6++ FNP within 6" of a Synapse creature, provided that the unit in question has not been affected by Catalyst (which overrides this). One more backup save with the potential to negate mortal wounds never hurt anyone, and it's less specialised than the other Adaptations so it allows a greater degree of flexibility in your army.
**Naturally that goes for the synapse creature itself as well, since - of course - it is within 6" of itself. Duh.
====Custom Adaptations====
Like several armies before them, the Psychic Awakening expansion will offer the Tyranids the ability to create bespoke Hive Fleet Adaptations by combining any two of the rules listed below.
Keep in mind that unlike other races with similar custom traits, tyranids don't get to choose a main strain to be a successor of (though the FAQ may end up saying otherwise). So while choosing your custom adaptations let's you tailor
your hive fleet to fit your army, you don't get access to hive fleet specific stratagems or psi powers.
*'''Adaptive Exoskeleton''': 6++ for gaunts, gants, and gargs.
*'''Bestial Nature''': +2 attacks to models with a damage table and on the last row.
*'''Bio-metallic Cysts''': Improves AP of all Scything Talon weapons by one. ('''FAQ'd.''' Now only affects basic scything talons. No love for monsters.)
*'''Bio-sphere Consumption''': 6+ ranged FnP for Monsters in the first turn, or who have not moved in the movement phase.
*'''Cranial Channelling''': Once per turn, when a psychic test is taken for a model with this adaptation, you may re-roll the result. ('''FAQ''' clarifies that it's once per turn for a single psyker unit in the army. Utter Bullshit.)
*'''Feeding Frenzy''': 6" pile-in.
*'''Horror From Beyond''': -1 LD to enemy units within 3" of Monsters. When will GW learn that low range -LD auras don't work.
*'''Hypermetabolic Acceleration''': Reroll Advance rolls.
*'''Membranous Mobility''': -1 to hit against your units with fly in melee. Stacks with blinding poison from gargoyles.
*'''Metamorphic Regrowth''': Regain 1 lost wound at the beginning of each turn. Great adaptation for monster heavy armies. Makes Old One Eye virtually immortal, especially if he's your warlord.
*'''Morphic Sinews''': '''MONSTER''' Models do not suffer the penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons, or advancing and shooting assault weapons. Surprisingly good, as it makes up for lack of range.
*'''Pack Hunters''': -1 AP to melee weapons when you fight units with fewer models.
*'''Prey Sight''' +1 to hit rolls for Monsters that charged, are charged or heroically intervened. This is a lovely little adaptation for Nidzilla armies. Trygons hitting on 2s with a reroll. Same for Hierodules. Carnifexes hitting on 2s with their crushing claws as long as Old One Eye is along for the ride. Haruspexes being borderline useful.
*'''Senses of the Outer Dark''': FnP 4+ against enemy Overwatch. Cuts 50% of all overwatch damage taken. Fuck. The. Tau. Thats pretty damn good, though useless when you charge a model that is built around melee to begin with (CC nators, most Orks, etc).
*'''Shrewd Predators''': Consolidation moves can be made wherever you want as long as there aren't enemy models within 3.
*'''Sporemist Spines''': can advance when falling back.
*'''Synaptic Augmentation''': If a unit is within 6" of a Synapse creature, it may re-roll 1 hit roll when chosen to shoot or fight. Works best on MSU and monster heavy lists.

==Tactical Objectives==
;11 - Swarm
: 1 VP if you control more objectives than your opponent at the end of this turn.
;12 - Crush
: 1 VP if an enemy unit was destroyed by either a {{W40Kkeyword|MONSTER}} or a unit with more than 10 models
;13 - Dominate
: 1 VP if at least 3 psychic powers were manifested.
;14 - Decapitate
: Score 1 VP if you killed at least one {{W40Kkeyword|CHARACTER}} this turn; d3 VP for two or more.
;15 - Terrify
: 1 VP if an enemy unit failed a morale test this turn. Gain d3 VP if 3 or more enemy units failed their morale tests.
;16 - Devour
: 1 VP if an enemy unit was destroyed in the Fight phase this turn. If 3 or more were destroyed, gain d3 VP. If 6 or more were destroyed, gain d3+3 VP.

==Stratagems==
As of the latest FAQ, these only work with {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} detachments, not any {{W40Kkeyword|Tyranid}} detachment, meaning they do not synergise with Genestealer Cults in any way. In most cases, these were worded to say {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} anyways.

===Universal===
*'''Adrenaline Surge (3 CP)''': Use during the end of the Fight phase. Select a Tyranid unit that has already fought, that unit may fight again. I don't need to tell you how crazy this is, so be sure to use it when the time is right considering its cost.
** If your unit didn't charge that turn (ie started in combat), you can kill a unit, consolidate 3" into another unit, then attack ''that'' unit. Or combine it with the overrun stratagem.

*'''Bounty of the Hive Fleet (1 CP/3 CP)''': Mandatory bonus relic stratagem.

*'''Caustic Blood (1 CP)''': At the start of the Fight phase, select a unit. Whenever a model from that unit dies, the enemy which inflicted the killing blow takes a mortal wound on a 6+. Your 30+ model Gaunt blobs were going to take losses anyway, so why not make them into potential suicide bombs? Elite armies such as [[Adeptus Custodes]], [[Grey Knights]] and [[Harlequins]] hate this considering their low model count.

*'''Death Frenzy (2 CP)''': Use when a Character dies, that unit can immediately fight as if it was the Fight phase, or shoot as if it was the Shooting phase. A last fuck-you attack sounds nice but do mind of its cost and that anything with a damage chart has to use the bottom. Finds use by squeezing the last drop of violence out of Old One Eye when he is very close to killing something important. This is for your low health broodlords: throw them at characters, monsters, and vehicles you need killed before they die, 12 attacks at s5 -3 d3dam hitting on 2s with rerolls to wound will end things, especially if they have no invuln.

*'''Digestive Denial (2 CP)''': Use after deployment but before the first turn starts. Choose a piece of terrain other than a fortification. Units fully within or on this piece of terrain do not gain any bonus to their saving throws for being in cover. Situational, but can really fuck campy armies in their holy passage.

*'''Feeder Tendrils (1 CP)''': When a Genestealer, Lictor, Venomthrope, or Toxicrene kills a {{W40Kkeyword|Character}} in the Fight Phase, gain D3 CP. At the very least, this is effectively free since gaining 1 CP will still be enough to negate the cost of using the Stratagem in the first place. More often, it'll let you turn opposing characters into an opportunity for bonus CP.
** Currently there is a debate going on if this stratagem works on the unit type rather than the keyword. Should FAQ clarify it works only on unit types, it doesn't work on Broodlords.

*'''Grisly Feast (1 CP)''': Use this stratagem in the morale phase. Select a unit of Ripper Swarms or Haruspex from your army. Your opponent must add 1 to any morale tests taken for enemy units that are within 6" of that unit.

*'''Implant Attack (1 CP)''': select a model that is still alive after being wounded by a Tyranid unit in the fight phase. Roll a D6 for each enemy model that was wounded, on a 2+ the unit suffers a mortal wound. Sounds bad until a situation arises where a nasty opposing character survives a Fight phase with 1 wound left.

*'''Invisible Hunter (1 CP)''': use during the movement phase. select a Lictor from your army within 1" of an enemy unit, that model can fall back, shoot, and charge in this turn.

*''' Metabolic Overdrive (1 CP)''': Use during the movement phase. Pick a Tyranid unit that has moved, that unit can move (and advance, if you wish) again. However, roll a D6 for every model in the unit; on a 1 that unit suffers a mortal wound. Additionally, the affected unit cannot shoot or charge for the turn. A small price to pay for giving a unit a second (or if you're also going to use Hive Commander or Overrun, third) movement phase for your turn.
** It cannot be underestimated how useful this is, You can turn the Maleceptor into a psychic missile, send Venomthropes to shroud a unit in the frontline, use it to deliver an emergency Synapse(use the Maleceptor and you can do both this and the above) and any other kind of crazy things you can pull off.
** Remember that is has been FAQ'd that you CANNOT advance twice in a single phase. However, when you trigger this stratagem on a unit that just advanced, it's movement characteristic remains modified. E.g. If a unit has an 8" movement characteristic and you rolled a 3 for advance (total 11"), when you pop this stratagem on them, they get to move another 11". Adrenal glands won't give the bonus again thou.
** Also remember that Onslaught has been FAQ'd to not work with this.

*'''Overrun (1 CP)''': Use after your unit killed an enemy in the Fight phase. As long as they are not within 3" of an enemy model, the can move (and Advance) again but cannot go within 1" of an enemy model. The term 'Fast Food' has never been so literal.
** Has interesting usage when combined with Adrenaline Surge, as fighting again includes pile in and consolidate moves. Obliterate the screen, advance to the backline and touch all their tanks for 4 command points total.

*'''Pathogenic Slime (2 CP)''': In the Shooting phase, select a Tyranid {{W40Kkeyword|Monster}}. Its shooting attacks now deal 1 extra damage. Your Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots are now souped-up Autocannons. The new and improved Devourers look even scarier now.

*'''Pheromone Trail (1 CP)''': Use when a Tyranid Infantry unit from your army is set up on the battlefield as reinforcements if there is already a Lictor from your army on the battlefield. You can set up the unit wholly within 6" of the Lictor and more than 9" from any enemy models rather than following the normal rules for setting up the unit.
** It works best for narrative plays where you are forced to put non-DS units on reserve.
** The only other use would be to get more room to place your models. It can be quite challenging to place 30 Hormagaunts within 3" of a Trygon and still leave both units with that 9" charge.

*'''Power of the Hive Mind (1 CP)''': Use at the end of the psychic phase. A Tyranid Psyker that manifested a power can attempt to manifest one additional psychic power this turn.

*'''Psychic Barrage (1 CP)''': Use when a Zoanthrope unit of at least 3 models is within 6" of 2 other such units. None of them make any psychic tests; instead, select a point within 18" of the Zoanthrope units that is visible to all of them. For all units (friend and foe) within 3" of that point, roll a d6 (subtracting 1 if it's a Character and adding 1 if it's a unit with at least 10 models). On a 4+, the affected unit suffers 3d3 mortal wounds. A cousin of the Space Marine/CSM Linebreaker Bombardment, this trades the potential for more mortal wounds from casting Smite from each individual Zoanthrope brood for an AOE effect and greater reliability (since it's a Stratagem effect, it can't fail to go off, trigger Perils, or get denied). But do mind the risk of friendly fire. [[Commander Kubrik Chenkov|Or don’t, you have enough bodies.]]

*'''Rapid Regeneration (2 CP)''': Use at end of your movement phase. A targeted {{W40Kkeyword|Tyranid}} model regains d3 lost wounds. Gives the Swarmlord and other big things the boost they need to move them up a bracket on the damage table.

*'''Scorch Bugs (1 CP)''': Use when a Tyranid unit from your army is select to attack in the Shooting phase. You can add 1 to all wound rolls made for that unit's fleshborer or fleshborer hive attacks. Tyrannofexes are going to wound MEQs and GEQs at 2+ with 40 shots. Ouch.

*'''Single-minded Annihilation (2 CP)''': Use at the end of the shooting phase. A Tyranid {{W40Kkeyword|Infantry}} unit can shoot again. Did someone say '''180-shot-devilgaunts?''' Or use this on your Hive Guard to destroy another vehicle you don't like

*'''Sporefield (3 CP)''': Use after both armies deploy but before the battle begins. Add up to two units of Spore mines to your army as reinforcements and set them up anywhere on the battlefield more than 12" from enemy models. Too bad you have to pay reinforcement points for this. Actually that's up for debate, and will likely be FAQ'd. Page 99 states "...Spore Mines' points cost does not come out of your pool of Reinforcement Points" but specifically when produced by units that create them ie. Biovores and Sporocysts.
** FAQ is out and hilariously it confirms that yes, you do need to pay reinforcement points for these.
** While costly (2 CP would be more reasonable), this stratagem has one important function: alpha strike denial. Particularly if you are going second, this allows you to set up two lines of 9 spore mines each about 15"-17" away from your battle lines to create a huge no-fly zone for tactical reserves. Each unit when carefully positioned covers an area of about 18" x 34" of tactical reserve denial. Just make sure you also bring something else to spend those 180 reinforcement points on in case your opponent is not going heavy on the reserves (read: playing CSM). Perhaps a unit of 22 Devilgants to Endless Swarm behind enemy lines.

*'''Voracious Appetite (1 CP)''': Use in the fight phase when a Tyranid monster or character from your army is chosen to attack. You can re-roll all failed wound rolls for that model until the end of the phase. Wanna put the hurt on that land raider? Drop this on ol' Swarmy and watch the tears flow.
*'''Call the Brood (3 CP)''': At the end of the movement phase, add a new unit of up to 5 Genestealers, wholly within 6" of a Broodlord or infestation node but more than 9" from any enemy model.
**Yes, you have to pay the reinforcement points for these too.

====Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal====
*'''Aggressive Adaptation (1 CP)''': Use in the Fight phase, when an attack from a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} model in your army destroys an enemy unit. Until the end of the battle, improve the AP of that model’s unit’s melee weapons by 1. You can only use this on a unit once.

*'''Buried Threats (1 CP)''': Use in the Movement phase, when a {{W40Kkeyword|RIPPERS}} unit is set up with the Burrowers ability. For as long as it remains stationary, units shooting ranged weapons against it get -1 to hit.

*'''Encephalic Diffusion (2 CP)''': Use at the start of the turn and pick a {{W40Kkeyword|MALECEPTOR}} model in your army. For the rest of the turn when someone makes a ranged weapon against a friendly unit within 6” of that Maleceptor, subtract 1 from the weapon’s Strength characteristic to a minimum of 1.

*'''Feeding the Hunger (1 CP)''': Use in the Fight phase when a {{W40Kkeyword|HARUSPEX}} unit is picked to fight. For the rest of the phase, it can re-roll hit rolls.
**Worth noting that total rerolls (not just 1's to hit) is a very rare Tyranid ability and well worth the 1 CP tax.

*'''Feral Instincts (1 CP)''': Use in the Fight phase. Pick a {{W40Kkeyword|HORMAGAUNTS}} unit and for the rest of the phase, its melee weapons get +1 AP.

*'''Grasping Tendrils (1 CP)''': Use in the opponent’s movement phase, when an enemy unit without a minimum move characteristic is within 1” of a {{W40Kkeyword|TOXICRENE}} unit and attempts to fall back. Roll a D6 and add1 if the unit is an Infantry unit. On a 3+, it can’t fall back this turn.

*'''Hive Instinct (1 CP)''': Use in the Charge phase and pick an enemy unit within 1” of a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} Synapse unit in your army. Until the end of the phase, when a charge roll is made by a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} unit that targets that enemy unit, roll an extra D6 for the charge roll and drop the lowest result. The first model you move as part of the charge has to end up within 1” of that specific enemy unit otherwise the charge fails and no units move.
**A natural pairing is to combine the Arachnacyte Gland relic (preferably on a Trygon Prime or a Flyrant) and this stratagem. The relic-bearer deep strikes in and declares a charge first. If they succeed, then you use the stratagem and help other nearby units get stuck in. In the case of the Trygon Prime, that is most likely whatever accompanied it in its tunnel.

*'''Hunter’s Drive (1 CP)''': Use in your Charge Phase and pick a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} unit in your army. Until the end of the phase, when that unit declares a charge that targets a unit that lost any models to ranged attacks made by {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} SYNAPSE models this turn, roll an extra D6 and discard the lowest die when making the charge roll. The first model you move when charging has to end up within 1” of that unit or else the charge fails and no models in the charging unit move.

*'''Progeny of the Hive (1 CP)''': Use before the battle to give a Tyranids Infantry unit or one Monster in your army an Adaptive Physiology. You can’t pick a unit that already has an Adaptive Physiology and you can only use this once per battle.

*'''Psychic Fissure (2 CP)''': Use at the start of your opponent’s Psychic phase. For the rest of the phase, if an enemy psyker takes a psychic test within 12” of a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} Synapse unit from your army and fails the test, they take D3 mortal wounds. This syncs quite nicely with the Kronos-specific warlord trait, and will make psychic heavy armies extremely wary around you. No one wants to take 2D3 mortal wounds to the face. Or 3D3 if they roll perils on a double-1!

*'''Savage Distraction (1 CP)''': Use in the Fight phase, when an enemy unit is killed by a model in a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} unit from your army. In your opponent’s next Shooting phase, when an enemy unit within 6” of that {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} unit fires a ranged weapon, they get -1 to hit.

*'''Skyswarm Fusillade (1 CP)''': Use this Stratagem in your Shooting phase. Pick a {{W40Kkeyword|GARGOYLES}} unit in your army. For the rest of the phase fleshborers in that unit become type Pistol 1.

*'''Surprise Ambush (1 CP)''': Use in the Charge phase. Pick a {{W40Kkeyword|LICTOR}} that’s entirely on/within a terrain feature or set up this turn using Hidden Hunter. Until the end of the turn, it can’t be Overwatched and add +1 to its Charge rolls.
**Turning off Overwatch is a big deal, especially against shooting heavy lists like Tau and Iron Hands. While a Lictor may not survive to make its points back, the ability to help another unit get stuck in should more than balance the cost.
**Also applies to Deathleaper as he unsurprisingly has the {{W40Kkeyword|LICTOR}} keyword. Niccccccccce *trails off into a hissssssssss*.

*'''Symbiotic Devastation (1 CP)''': Use at the start of the Shooting phase. Pick an {{W40Kkeyword|EXOCRINE}}. Until the end of the phase, it’s counted as not having moved. (FAQ clarifies that this does not allow an Exocrine to advance and shoot. Still usefull to get in range or line of sight.)

*'''Synaptic Channelling (1 CP)''': Use in your Psychic phase. Pick a {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} {{W40Kkeyword|Psyker}} unit in your army. Until the end of the phase, it knows all the powers known by friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<Hive Fleet>}} {{W40Kkeyword|Psyker}} units that are on the battlefield.

*'''Unexpected Incursion (1 CP)''': Use in the Movement phase, when a {{W40Kkeyword|MAWLOC}} model is set up using the Terror from the Deep ability. When determining the Mortal Wounds from the Terror of the Deep ability, add 2 to the rolls.

*'''Unyielding Chitin (1 CP)''': Use in the Charge phase or your opponent’s Shooting phase when someone shoots at a {{W40Kkeyword|TYRANID PRIME}} or {{W40Kkeyword|TYRANID WARRIORS}} unit from your army. For the rest of the phase, reduce the damage characteristic of incoming ranged attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1.

===Hive Fleet-Specific===
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}} - Brute Force (1 CP)''': Use when a unit charges. Roll a d6 for each model within 1" of an opponent. If the unit is a monster, it causes a mortal wound on a 2+. Otherwise, it causes a mortal wound on a 6. 1 CP is cheap for an average of 5 mortal wounds per 30-unit blob charging (Really? how likely is it you'll get all 30 models in that unit within 1" of an enemy?), and it stacks with the Carnifexes' Living Battering Ram for good measure. The Swarmlord, Adrenal Glands, and the Behemoth trait can help with ensuring said charge.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Gorgon}} - Hyper-Toxicity (1 CP)''': In the Fight phase, pick a unit with the Toxin Sacs biomorph. It now triggers its damage bonus on a 5+ instead of a 6+. Works best in big units of Genestealers and Hormagaunts.
**It should be obvious, but don't use this when you are only wounding on 6+, as a roll of 5 will still fail.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}} - Endless Swarm (2 CP)''': Use at the end of the movement phase. Select a destroyed unit of Termagants, Hormagaunts, Gargoyles, or {{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}} Infantry. Add an identical unit to your army and set it up as reinforcement wholly 6" of any board edge and more than 9" from an enemy. Technically any Hive Fleet can use this Stratagem, but only {{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}} can apply it to non-Gaunt infantry like Warriors or Venomthropes. And there's nothing that explicitly says that this can't bring back the Tyranid Prime or Neurothrope you made your Warlord since they're Infantry too...
**As of the FAQ, this now costs reinforcement points. In other words, this is pointless in Matched Play.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} - Enemy Below (1 CP)''': When a single {{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} {{W40Kkeyword|Infantry}} unit is set up, you can put it underground instead of deploying it normally. Whenever you deploy a Ravener squad, Mawloc, Trygon, or Trygon Prime from underground, said infantry unit can deep strike within 3", but more than 9" of an enemy unit. (this does mean Trygons can now deep strike multiple units at once). Sadly, the distance requirements mean Mawlocs can't both use this and benefit from their gimmick. Notable uses are:
** Bring a Broodlord along with the Genestealer unit accompanying your Trygon. (Conveniently enough, the Start Collecting! set for Tyranids contains that very mix of units.)
** Drop Pyrovores within their weapon range to torch enemy infantry.
** Bring Tyrant Guard in with your Raveners (or Trygon) right next to your Swarmlord in a Tyrannocyte to give him protection while he hurls the Raveners/Trygon at the enemy lines.
** Venomthropes for protection to weather enemy shooting in case of failed charges.
** Drop Hive Guard with Shockcannons in range of enemy vehicles.
**Use Raveners as a budget Trygon for deep striking purposes if you want to save slots.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} - Opportunistic Advance (1 CP)''': Use in the Movement Phase. Choose a {{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} unit that does not have the Fly keyword. When Advancing you can double the number you roll when determining how much to add to the unit's Movement characteristic, <i>"rather than following the normal rules for Advancing"</i> (whatever the last part means, read the third point).
** Combined with Kraken's adaptation, you have a 70% chance of adding 10+" to your movement. Using this on a sufficiently speedy unit in conjunction with Metabolic Overdrive, Overrun, and/or Hive Commander will let you cover more ground in one turn than some armies can move in an entire '''''battle'''''.
** FAQ: faqs confirms that this stratagem cannot be used with Hive Commander. All stratagems that say they must be used in a particular phase can only be used in that phase. They can't be used with out-of-phase actions like Hive Commander.
** <b>"rather than following the normal rules for Advancing"</b>, it's a messy puzzle with some cracks. What this probably means is that instead of just rolling a dice and adding the result to the unit's movement characteristic, you're instead rolling and then doubling that number, thus "not following the normal rules for advancing" but still counting as so.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kronos}} - The Deepest Shadow (1 CP)''': When a Psyker within 24" of a {{W40Kkeyword|Kronos}} unit tries to manifest a psychic power, it can only roll one die for its psychic test. Makes powers with a Warp Charge of over 6 unusable, and when combined with Shadow in the Warp and the Kronos WT you should be able to shut down Craftworld Eldar and Tzeentch armies easily.
** Use Biovores to fire spore mines before popping this to ''really'' piss off your opponents.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Leviathan}} - War on All Fronts (1 CP)''': Use during the Fight phase. Select an enemy unit within 1" of at least one {{W40Kkeyword|Leviathan}} unit that can FLY and one unit without {{W40Kkeyword|Fly}}. You may reroll all To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1 against that unit. Hard to pull off, but since Tyranids don't have characters that provide rerolls to hit or to wound this will be a big help against especially resilient units. At the very least, it'll be more efficient than spending CP for individual re-rolls.

==Psychic Powers==
The Hive Mind discipline is the only psychic table your psykers will be rolling on, or choosing from. With the Codex, there are now 6 powers plus the automatically known '''Smite''' power.

*Because everyone knows it, I'll put this here for reference - '''Smite''': WC5, +1 WC for each attempt to use it in a turn after the first. Targets the closest visible enemy unit within 18". That unit suffers d3 mortal wounds. If the casting value rolled was over 10, the unit suffers d6 mortal wounds instead. It's pretty versatile overall.

#'''Dominion''': WC5, Select a friendly Tyranid unit within 36" of the psyker, until your next Psychic phase they ignore Instinctive Behaviour and automatically pass morale. Not a must have now that IB is not so bad, but still pretty nice to have.
#'''The Horror''': WC6. A unit within 24" that is visible to the caster subtracts 1 from their to hit rolls and Leadership characteristic.
#*Basically hobbled versions of the old 7E Powers of the Hive Mind ''The Horror'' and ''Paroxysm'' rolled into a single power.
#**-1 penalties can screw over armies that rely heavily on rerolls and effects that trigger on to hit rolls of 6. For instance, necron tesla weapons will never go off since all their 6s become 5s.
#**Also great against plasma heavy armies, as any supercharged weapon kills the bearers on 1s and 2s. If they shot Sporecyst Carnifexes or units close to a Venomthrope, that penalty rises to killing on a 3 as well, so they'll have a 50/50 chance of blowing themselves up if they supercharge.
#'''Catalyst''': WC6. A {{W40kKeyword|TYRANID}} unit within 18" of the caster gets to ignore any wound or mortal wound it takes on a roll of 5+, until the Tyranid player's next psychic phase. Remember that FnP equivalents can be used to nullify mortal wounds.
#*Basically a longer range version of the old ''Catalyst'' power but one that doesn't affect both the caster and target.
#*Note that this is not a save which is taken before damage gets allocated. It's a save against wounds, which are worked out after damage is applied. A failed save against a 3 damage weapon means 3 of these additional rolls will be needed. So while not as effective against multiple damage weapons it can still help reduce the impact on your larger creatures. Leviathan has a Hive Fleet Adaptation with a similar effect, so it doesn't benefit quite as much.
#'''Onslaught''': WC6 (seeing a theme here on the charge values). An 18" power that allows a {{W40kKeyword|TYRANID}} unit to advance and shoot in the same turn without suffering any penalties to the BS for moving/advancing with Heavy Weapons or Assault weapons. Oh, and they can charge after advancing too!
#*The old ''Onslaught'' power on steroids.
#*Even if the unit has no guns this allows a unit to advance and still charge.
#*Since powers are now picked expect to see this power on every level 1 psyker (albeit you can only attempt to manifest this on one unit a turn in matched).
#*Somewhat of a gamble, as you Advance before Psychic Round so if you fail to manifest the power you've shut down the unit you planned to boost. Consider casting this with a Maleceptor, as his +1 to Psychic Tests makes this a lot more reliable. Alternatively, if you're trying to get that unit of Gaunts up the table in turn 1, then paired with The Swarmlord you could have your little critters Move as normal (no advance), then have The Swarmlord cast Onslaught on them. If it doesn't go off, you're still able to move them again (instead of shooting) using Hive Commander and so are still able to Charge. If it DOES go off, you can Move AND Advance with Hive Commander (which you do in the shooting phase), and still charge. i.e. No risk of losing your charge.
#*Most effective with Kraken (which has better advance rolls and more reason to advance when possible) and Behemoth (which will appreciate the further boost to its rerollable charges).
#'''Paroxysm''': WC5. Select an enemy unit within 18" of the Psyker, that unit fights last until your next Psychic phase. If the unit has an ability that allows them to fight first then they are considered to not have that ability. Fuck [[Slaanesh]].
#*It’s worth noting that according to the Tyranid Codex FAQs the Counter-Offensive Stratagem cannot be used on units under the effect of this psychic power, which is a nice buff to melee heavy armies.
#'''Psychic Scream''': WC5. The nearest enemy target within 18" suffers D3 mortal wounds. If the target is a psyker, roll 2d6; if the result is higher than their Ld, a randomly chosen psychic power they know is disabled for the rest of the battle. Doesn't have quite the same potential to inflict damage as Smite, but the ability to disable a unit's potential to buff allies or throw around mindbullets of their own more than makes up for it. It's not gonna be easy to use on characters though, so your best targets are probably Thousand Sons, Tzeentch daemons, and Grey Knights (because they ''deserve'' even more pain).
#*This can also force your opponent to take the same power on more than one Psyker to try and counteract the disabling effect. Since the Rule of One in Matched Play prevents repeated attempts to manifest a given power more than once per psychic phase, you can weaken your opponent in the psychic phase even if you don't actually manifest this power- either you cripple the other guy's psykers, or you force then to waste a valuable power slot. Either way, you benefit.
#*Keep in mind this is not Smite, it's possible to Smite AND Psychic Scream with one unit (Psychic Scream can be used only once per turn as normal)
#*RAW, this can force a Psyker to lose access to Smite. Have fun making Smite spammers even more useless.

===Hive Fleet-Specific===
As of Psychic Awakening, each Hive Fleet also gets a power only it can use.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}} - Unstoppable Hunger (WC7)''': Pick a friendly Behemoth unit within 9”. Until the end of the turn, add 1 to the wound rolls for that unit’s melee attacks.
**This power is amazing on multiple units. On Genestealers, your rending claws will trigger on a 5+, while letting your mid-size bugs tackle their MEQ equivalents.
***Not multiple units at once, obviously!
****It WOULD be more amazing on multiple units at once, obviously!
*'''{{W40kKeyword|Leviathan}} - Hive Nexus (WC6)''': The range of the Synapse ability for anything that has it is increased to 18".
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} - Synaptic Lure (WC5)''': Pick an enemy unit. Until the end of the turn, re-roll charge rolls made by friendly Kraken units that target that unit.
**Unless it gets an FAQ, this power currently has a range of infinite, so consider throwing it on a backfield neurothrope you want babysitting your biovores and hiveguard.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Gorgon}} - Poisonous Influence (WC6)''': Until the start of your next psychic phase, improve the AP on melee weapons for friendly models within 9” of this unit by one.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} - Lurking Maws(WC6)''': Pick a visible enemy unit. Until end of turn, re-roll hit rolls against that unit from friendly Jormungandr units set up on the battlefield this turn. You cannot cast this in the first battle round.
**This is another source of total rerolls, which is something Tyranids have been sorely lacking. Combines well with anything that can come in via Tyrannocyte or Trygon tunnel, but Hiveguard, Shooty warriors, or devourer gaunts all stand out as obvious picks.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kronos}} - Symbiostorm (WC6)''': Pick a friendly unit 12”. Until the end of the turn, when that unit rolls a 6+ to hit with a ranged weapon, you get an additional hit.
**This combines well with a Tyranid Prime's +1 to hit aura for warriors (and you can even let them shoot twice for 2 commandpoints) or even better with an Exocrine that stood still (or pretends to have stood still with the new stratagem).
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}} - Death Shriek (WC5)''': Until your next Psychic phase, when a friendly hydra model that is within 6” of both this psyker and an enemy unit is destroyed, roll a D6. On a 6, the closest enemy unit takes 1 mortal wound. Another way of turning your Gaunts into a blob full of suicide bombers.

==Warlord Traits==
====Universal====
*'''Adaptive Biology''': From the end of the first phase in which the Warlord suffers a wound until the end of the battle, the Warlord takes 1 less damage from any attack (to a minimum of 1). Old One Eye has this trait, making him incredibly hard to kill
*'''Alien Cunning''': Before the battle begins, you can remove your warlord from the battlefield and deploy him again. Deploy your flyrant first, let your opponent counter deploy his force, then redeploy your warlord at the end to fuck with them. Swarmy comes stock with this.
** A Flyrant may be redeployed into reserves with this.
*'''Heightened Senses''': Warlord never suffers any penalty to their to hit rolls. Fuck Alaitoc/Stygies/Raven Guard. Use this on a walking Dakkarant when trying to fight flyer-heavy armies to save some points. Red Terror comes stock with this one.
*'''Synaptic Lynchpin''': +6" to Synapse. Good but not great considering the increased range of normal Synapse, but if you're fielding lots of swarms with only a few Synapse units (e.g. you run Hydra) this can be a lifesaver.
**On the other hand, since the IB is not an army killer thing anymore, and you can even play it out, and lastly, the other warlord traits are better than this, you should consider to not take this one.
*'''Mind Eater''': If your warlord kills a character in melee, then they can make an allied unit that is within 3" move (and advance) at the end of the fight phase. This is Deathleaper's trait. Practically made for Broodlords and Genestealers.
** As you are moving as if in your Movement Phase, you can't end up within 1" of an enemy.
*'''Instinctive Killer''': At the beginning of the battle, select a unit. Your warlord can re-roll all failed to hit rolls when targeting that unit or any other unit with the same datasheet (target a tactical squad and get the bonus against all tactical squads). Having trouble with spam armies? Not anymore.

====Hive Fleet-Specific====
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kronos}}- Soul Hunger''': When an enemy psyker fails a psychic test within 18" of the Warlord, the psyker takes D3 mortal wounds. And what do you know, that just so happens to be the same range that Shadow in the Warp covers. Don't forget to pair it with Kronos's Stratagem if you ''really'' want to ruin a psyker's day.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}}- Monstrous Hunger''': Any to wound roll of 6 in melee causes one additional damage. Same bonus as toxin sacs, but now stacks-fun when combined with {{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}}'s relic.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}}- One Step Ahead''': In each fight phase, you can pick one friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} unit within 6" of the warlord. That unit can fight first. If the enemy has charging units or ones with similar abilities, alternate staring with whoever's turn it is.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Leviathan}}- Perfectly Adapted''': Once per battle round, you can reroll a single to hit, to wound, damage roll, advance roll, charge roll or saving throw roll. Save on that CP
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Gorgon}}- Lethal Miasma''': At the end of the fight phase, roll a dice for each unit within 1". On a 4+, they take a mortal wound.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}}- Insidious Threat''': Enemies never get the bonus for having cover against the warlord and against friendly units within 3" of him.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}}- Endless Regeneration''': Roll one dice at the beginning of each of your turns for each wound your warlord has lost. Regain a wound for each 6+. IWND on steroids- with good rolls, your Warlord can ''completely heal'' itself every turn.

==Adaptive Physiology==
Instead of a Warlord Trait, a Tyranid army can grant an extra rule to an infantry unit or monster of its choosing. In addition, the Progeny of the Hive Stratagem can, for the low cost of 1 CP, grant a (second) unit in your army an Adaptive Physiology. Sadly, the stratagem can only be used once per battle and no doubling up on bonuses.
*'''FAQ'd'''. Cannot be given to Named Characters. (We all knew that this was gonna happen. But it was fun to take a Str 9 Ap-4 4dmg Swarmlord for a few weeks.)

===Infantry===
*'''Enhanced Resistance''': When resolving an attack made against the unit with AP -1 or -2, that weapon has AP 0 for the attack.
*'''Adrenal Webs''': When this unit consolidates, it can move up to 2D6”.
*'''Abhorrent Pheromones''': –2 Ld to enemy units within 1”.
*'''Unnatural Reactions''': This unit can Heroically Intervene as if it were a character, and it can move up to 6” when doing so.
*'''Dynamic Camouflage''': The user's cover bonus is increased to +2. Excellent on Hive Guard or Warriors to make them almost entirely unmovable in cover or combine with Jormungandr for a 2+ save in the open.

===Monster===
*'''Dermic Symbiosis''': The model gets a 5+ invulnerable save and is considered to have double the number of wounds left for determining what profile row to use on its damage table.
*'''Voracious Ammunition''': At the end of your shooting phase, pick an enemy unit that lost a model to this unit’s attacks. That unit takes D3 mortal wounds. Excellent for a dakkafex, exocrine, tyrannofex, or flyrant.
*'''Accelerated Digestion''': At the end of the Fight phase, if this model killed an enemy model, it regains up to 1 lost wound, to a max of 3 per turn. Combine with the regeneration hive fleet trait on any melee monster (especially a Haruspex or Hive Tyrant) for big beasties that just won't go down.
*'''Synaptic Enhancement''': This model gains Shadow in the Warp and Synapse and gains the {{W40Kkeyword|SYNAPSE}} keyword. Perfect for your backline shooters like Exocrines or Tyrannofexes that don't want to deal with instinctive behavior hampering their shooting. Alternatively, give it to a tyranocyte to give synapse to the unit you are deep striking.
*'''Murderous Size''': Before the battle, pick a melee weapon this model is equipped with. It gets +1 Strength, +1 Damage, and +1 to its AP. Could have been devastating if the Swarmlord could still take it, but the FAQ now forbids it. Still awesome for making a Hive Tyrant, Trygon, or Carnifex a better CC vehicle eater.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
The biggest difference, other than two thirds of the below do multiple damage per wound, is how many melee weapons now have a Normal, Monstrous and Massive variant that is the same stat line but the bigger they are the greater the potential to do more damage.

A note on tails: The awful days of being forced to make one terrible tail weapon attack are over. All of the tails are optional now and do not take an attack away from the user. This does mean, however, that units with tails had their actual attack stat lowered by 1 to compensate. This equals out to a wash but do take note when reading the codex that your Hive Tyrant's now 4 attacks aren't crippled by losing one to the tail. (Trygons got to keep their six attacks, meaning that the tails are actually now purely a bonus on them!)

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====Basic Melee Weapons====
Represent the basic melee weapons of a Tyranid rather than a specialized biomorph.

*'''Claws and Teeth''': The stock CCW for your Rippers and Termies. (And Zoanthropes as well, but really those guys don’t belong in combat in most cases)
*'''Powerful Limbs''': The fallback CCW for models not meant for combat like the Tyrannofex and Exocrine. Deals 2 Damage at AP-2. Decent as a deterrent, but hampered by most users having pitiful WS and few attacks.

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termateeth.png|its teeth
exolimb.png|powerful limb

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====Bone Swords====

*'''Boneswords''': Somewhere between a chainsword and a power sword, dealing AP-2 alongside their extra attack by just owning a pair.
**'''Lash whip and Bonesword''': Same statline as paired Boneswords, but instead bizarrely replaces the free attack with the ability to make all attacks on the turn it is slain.
***Thematically we just assume that having a sentient whip allows the wielder at some point to immobilize the target and get their digs in (or not) before/as they die.
*'''Monstrous Boneswords''': The Hive Tyrant's Boneswords deal 3 damage at the same AP as its little brethren, marking them a step up in lethality if you want a melee beast.
**'''Lash Whip and Monstrous Bonesword''': Same as above, but now with a Monstrous Bonesword's statline.
*'''Bone Sabres''': Papa Swarmy's famous blades, these deal AP-3 and 3 Damage each, and causes a mortal wound on a To Wound roll of 6+ ensuring that all but the toughest units in the game will get blenderised.

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Bonesabre.JPG|Bone Sabre
bonesword.png|Bonesword
Bonesword+lashwip.png|Bonesword and Lashwhip

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====Crab Claws====

The closest the Tyranids have to Power fists. Used to open up enemy food cans (AKA vehicles)

*'''Crushing Claws''': These things have essentially become Powerfists for Tyranids. Sx2, AP-3, and D1d3 at -1 to hit, the price tag will have you consider alternatives though at 25.
**'''Monstrous Crushing Claws''': The Carnifex equivalent. Same as above, but now with D3. Hitting on 5+ (4+ on the charge) is not fun, but you can stick Old One-Eye nearby to try and cope.
**'''Massive Crushing Claws''': Meant for Tervigons. Now inflicts D1d6, but you now need 5+ to hit and have no possible source of a +1 buff to negate it. Do not take.
**'''Shoveling Claws''': The Haruspex's hands. Essentially Monstrous Crushing Claws, but without the penalty. So you can crack open the can full of food people.

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crushingclaw.png|Crushing Claw
shovelingclaw.png|Shovleing Claw

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====Mouth Weapons====

*'''Acid Maw''': This is a free power sword. The weapon of the former biggest joke of 40k, the Pyrovore, now with AP-3 on all (i.e. both) its attacks. Can also be taken by Genestealers. DO THIS, they're basically free power swords for every 4 models in a unit.
**'''Monstrous Acid Maw''': An option for the Carnifex, with SU AP-5 and D1d3. Because you ''really'' want to make sure somebody won't get its armor save. Doesn't replace any other melee weapons either, so you can always use the talons if you want more reliable damage. Mutually exclusive with Enhanced Senses, Bio-Plasma, and Tusks.
*'''Blinding Venom''': It's only S3 AP-0, but if it wounds, it forces the enemy to take -1 to all hit rolls for the next turn. A decent free sucker punch for your Gargoyles. After poking the opponent with this, weather their now weak attacks, then on your next turn, fall back and shoot your Fleshborers into them.
*'''Distensible Jaws''': The "Maw" in Mawloc. AP-3 D1d6, but can only be used once per turn. A nice sucker punch against any high wound models.
*'''Ravenous Maw''': The freaky Hentai Mouth of the Haruspex. Deals D3 hits for each attack allocated to it, and each hit does a respectable AP-1 D3 Damage. It's pretty much encouraging you to go all-in.

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distensiblejaws.png|Distensible Jaws
Ravenousmaw.png|Ravenous Maw

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====Rending Claws====

This is what makes genestealers universally feared.

*'''Rending Claws''': A cheap AP-1 weapon, with Rending being replaced with a 6+ on a wound roll giving the attack AP-4.
**'''Monstrous Rending Claws''': Deal AP-3 D3 Damage, on a 6+ on a wound roll makes the attack AP-6 and a flat 3 damage. Also confers re-rolls to wound, which allow for more 'rending' 6s and is important as the Tyrant generally needs higher numbers to hurt things now than in previous editions. Considering that they are also FREE, the claws should be your go-to melee weapon of choice for the Hive Tyrant.

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rendingclaws.png|Rending Claws

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====Tail Weapons====

Tail weapons typically grant an additional attack that must be made with it, and all of them only allow up to one attack to be made with them.

*'''Biostatic Rattle''': Exclusive to Trygon Primes, this AP-1 weapon forces any unit hurt by it to add 1 to their Morale tests at the end of the turn. Don't waste all your attacks on this weapon, but one or two bitch slaps will help with sending enemies running.
*'''Bone Mace''': Available only to 'Fexes as a tail, this is a cheap monstrous thing. At S8 AP-1 and D1d3, this thing's far worse than its Scything Talons, but if you took guns in all arms and went with Enhanced Senses over the Monstrous Acid Maw this allows you at least one decent knock.
*'''Prehensile Pincer Tail''': SU AP0 D1d3. Awesome on the Red Terror, terrible on the Hive Tyrant (but at least now it's "free").
*'''Thresher Scythe''': Another tail weapon, this time at S4 AP-1. It makes 1d3 attack rolls. Nice if you want to thin out a horde a bit.
*'''Toxinspike''': Another tail weapon. S1 AP0 D1d3, and always wounds non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} models on a 2+. It ties with the Prehensile Tail as the cheapest tail. Its lack of AP makes it a weapon of debatable usefulness, especially on the Trygons where their Massive Scything Talons are better in almost every scenario. Worth considering on a Mawloc since its Strength value goes down as it gets hurt.
*'''Wicked Spur''': Found only on the Crone, this is essentially an AP-3 Bone Mace made airborne.

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biostaticrattle.png|Toxin Spike
bonemace.png|Bone Mace
Prehensile_pincer_tail.png|Prehensile Pincer Tail
File:thresherscythe.png|Thresher Scythe
Wickedspur.png|Wicked Spur

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====Scything Talons====

For all your mantis-like killing needs.

*'''Scything Talons''': Your basic melee weapon found on just about anything that wants to be in hand-to-hand. Scything talons now allow a model to re-roll to hit rolls of 1 when attacking with this weapon (something they used to do back in 5th). In addition, if the model has more than one pair, they can make 1 additional attack with this weapon. Note: GW has rather uncharacteristically taken the wind out of the sails of the burgeoning RAW vs RAI battle before it really began and confirmed via FAQ that multiple sets of talons grant only +1 attack total, not +1 per set; this applies for all sizes of Scything Talons.
**'''Monstrous Scything Talons''': AKA scything talons XL. Found on Tyrants and the Carnifex. Same rules as above but AP-3, 3 Damage.
**'''Massive Scything Talons''': AKA scything talons XXL. Found on Tervigons, Maleceptor, Trygon, Trygon prime, AP-3, D6 Damage.
**'''Gargantuan Scything Talons''': Only available on the Hierophant. You lose the ability to re-roll your 1s to hit but they strike at a massive Sx2 (so, S20!), AP-5, D2D6. Ensuring any tank or titan you've charged is gonna have a really bad day.
**'''Scything Wings''': AKA Scything Talons for your flyers. Found on Harpies and Crones. AP-2, D3 Damage.
**'''Sickle Claws''': Dimachaeron's pride and joy, sporting S10 AP-2 and D3 Damage, but to hit roll of 6 pump it up to AP-4 and D6.
**'''Grasping Talons''': The Lictor's other weapon, these deal 2 Damage and AP-1. Don't go through armour as well, but against multi-wound low-armour models like Grotesques and Nobz, they're fantastic.
**'''Grasping Talons and Thorax Spine-Maw''': Yep, Dimachaeron's chest is now a weapon. S7 AP-2 D1, but against {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} a to hit roll of 6 turns it into Sx2 D6 goodness.

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scythingtalons.png|Scything Talons
Scythingwings.png|Scything Wings
sickleclaws.png|Sickle Claws
graspingtalons.png|Grasping Talons

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{|class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=2 | Tentacle weapons
! Toxic Lashes
| The Venomthrope's means of protecting itself, they're CCWs with a re-roll to wound and D1d3. These also allow the beast to always go first in combat, even if it didn't charge.
|-
! Massive Toxic Lashes
| As above, only now at AP-2.
|-
|}

===Ranged Weapons===
Tyranids still maintain a wide selection of ranged weaponry, much of it now with improved range. It still suffers from terrible AP and makes up for it with volume of shots. Many weapons have a Normal version and then a Heavy/Upgraded/Massive variant that tends to have the same amount of shots but gain a couple of extra points of Strength and the potential for more damage.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Bio-Plasmic Weapons</div>

The Hive Mind's answer to the Imperium's Plasma Weapons.

**'''Bio-Plasma''': Always rather meh for the price, it's now Assault d3 and S7 AP-3 for only 9 points. On the Carnifex, it's mutually exclusive with the Monstrous Acid Maw, Enhanced Senses, and Tusks, all of which are more useful in most cases.
**'''Bio-Plasmic Cannon''': The Exocrine's gun. It's got a similar statline as the basic Bio-Plasma, but with three times the range, Heavy 6, and does 2 Damage each hit.
**'''Bio-Plasmic Scream''': Exclusive to the Screamer-Killer. Assault d6, 18" range, and AP-4 make this a much better weapon overall than the standard Bio-Plasma and lets it soften things up before it charges.

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Bio-Plasma.PNG|Bio Plasma
Bio-Plasmic-Cannon.png|Bio Plasmic Cannon

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Bio-electric Weapons</div>

These use channeled shocks of electricity to annihilate enemies.

**'''Bio-Electric Pulse''': The Trygon's way of dealing with range, This is an Assault 6 S5 ranged weapon. Not good for killing by power, but by attrition.
**'''Bio-electric Pulse with Containment Spines''': The Trygon Prime equivalent. Now at Assault 12.
**'''Shockcannon''': The Hive Guard's anti-vehicle weapon. It's decent enough at S7 AP-1 d3 Damage, but if it rolls 4+ on Wound against a vehicle, it issues a Mortal Wound that coincidentally makes its low AP completely irrelevant. Roll a 6+, and that becomes d3 Mortal Wounds. Thanks to the change from small templates to D3 shots, this is now actually plenty scary against vehicles of any size.
**'''Tentaclids''': The Crone's big surprise. These Babies only have S5 to their name and a re-roll to hit flying units, but if they wound a vehicle on a 4+ it deals a Mortal Wound with a 6+ dealing d3 Mortal Wounds. Unlike before, these can actually be used again and again.

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Niddex2014e.jpg|Shock Cannon
Tentaclid2.jpg|Tentaclid

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Choking Spores</div>

More a distraction than anything. While it's only S3, the Assault d6 means that it has many odds to hit, and the ability to re-roll wounds to inflict d3 damage ensures it will hurt anything below MEQ. Its shining purpose however is the ability to remove any cover benefits from anyone these things attack.

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Somebody get an image

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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Crystalized Venom Weapons</div>

These weapons were described in previous codices as firing crystalized venom at speeds capable of piercing tank armor. They are a flexible option, found on many units.

**'''Venom Cannon''': In keeping with blast templates being removed, this once small blast gun is now Assault D3 and at 36" range counts as one of our few 'long range' guns. Received a boost in Strength from 6 to 8 making it fairly reliable at hurting VEHICLES and MONSTERS, but at only -2AP and d3 damage it might take a while to kill higher wound models if you're unlucky.
**'''Heavy Venom Cannon''': A bigger venom cannon for the MONSTERS. With an extra point of Strength and the ability to put down a flat 3 damage per shot, this thing should strip high Toughness models of their wounds quite reliably while posing a decent threat to light and medium vehicles.
*** Absolutely effective against Custodes, S9 means that you're wounding them on 3+, AP-2 is just enough for their Invul, and 3 Damage means that you insta-kill their Troops(and their Elites if you use Pathogenic Slime)

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venom_cannon.png|200px|Venom Cannon

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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Living Ammunition Weapons</div>

These weapons fire a variety of maggots, beetles, or worms that devour their victims from the inside. Yum!

**'''Deathspitter''': Even more deadly than Devourers, you get +1 Strength, -1AP and +6" of range for just 1 point more. Solid choice.
**'''Deathspitter with Slimer Maggots''': New on the scene for 8E. A bigger deathspitter with +2 Strength for the MONSTERS in the Tyranid force. Comes as a pair so puts out double the amount of shots. Unfortunately, its only real use is for popping transports and other light tanks. The Devourer with Brainleech Worms matches or outperforms it in almost all other circumstances. [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s-SPshi8Rph0EXxnbInr34zp1qvtOL6fLfszxnsahI8/edit?usp=sharing Weapon Comparison]
**'''Devourer''': 3 shots, S4 with an 18" range that can still be fired while Advancing. Heavily overpriced with 4 points.
**'''Devourer with Brainleech Worms''': A bigger devourer with +2 Strength and double the shots for the MONSTERS in the Tyranid force. Comes as a pair so it puts out 12 shots. Two sets of these gives 24 shots, pretty good overall, made even better with the Pathogenic Slime strategem.
**'''Fleshborer''': The basic gun of the Termagant, an S4 pea-shooter. Since Termagants armed with these are the only ones a Tervigon may spawn, you'll want these for at least 10 of your squad.
**'''Fleshborer Hive''': The Tyrannofex's version, it's a Heavy 20 Fleshborer at S5. Has good synergies with stratagems, but the fact that you have to stand still and its extremely short range make it hard to pull off.

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deathspitter.png|Deathspitter
devourer.png|Devourer
Fleshborer.png|Fleshborer

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Rupture Cannon</div>

A massive gun only fielded by the Tyrannofex. Used to be our only long range anti-armor gun (and that usefulness was hotly debated due to being only AP4). Has now become a 3 shot Lascannon but with S10 (and since Tyrannofexes shoot twice if they stand still, it can fire enough shots to trash all but the heaviest of tanks). Expensive, but worth it with the sheer damage it can provide.

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rupture_cannon.png|Rupture Cannon

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Spine Weapons</div>

these fire hardened spines of chitin to impale their enemies. They vary from the relatively short-ranged spine fist to the anti-vehicle Impaler Cannon.
**'''Impaler Cannon''': One of the Hive Guard's guns, it's basically a Heavy 2 missile launcher (with 36" range), S8 AP-2 and D3 damage, that does not need line of sight and does not allow cover bonuses to the armor save. Perfect for cleaning out an armored objective camper.
**'''Spike Rifle''': Another Termie weapon, this trades off 1 Strength for a slightly better range. Not worth taking - especially that you can take only 1 per 10 gaunt (What *were* they thinking?). No rules in the Codex, but still available with the Index rules.
**'''Spine Banks''': Unique to the Carnifex and the Thornback. 6" Assault 4. S5 and no AP is lackluster, but like a pistol it can be fired into melee- and unlike pistols, it can be fired at units that are locked in melee with another unit. Unfortunately, you can't take it without giving up the option for Spore Cysts, so don't bother on regular Carnifexes.
**'''Spinefists''': One of two weapons that are now classed as Pistol. In this case, it's a 12" Pistol that can fire as many shots as the wielding model has Attacks. The ability to fire these weapons in the shooting phase while in combat might make these an interesting choice on Tyranid Warriors, since it lets them get a few extra hits in before the Fight phase begins. Also interesting for Raveners, as this lets them spew out 4 shots no matter where they are.
**'''Spinemaws''': An upgrade for the Ripper Swarm which has had a downgrade in Strength, making it a bit pony. A very short range Pistol 4 with 2 Strength. Presumably designed to give the Rippers something to do in their shooting phase. Odds are it won't actually hurt anything, but it adds some weight of damage when these guys get stuck in and, with 8th edition wounding rules, makes for a shocking amount of harassment against tanks (given they're just as likely to wound a Predator as they are to wound the Marine standing next to it).
**'''Stinger Salvo''': The Harpy's/Tervigon's/Tyrannofex's gun, it's Assault 4 with S5 AP-1. Decent enough against small things. Funny on the Tyrannofex when he gets to shoot it twice.

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Impaler_cannon.png|Impaler Cannont
Spike-Rifles-5-1024x768.jpg|Spike Rifle
Spikebank.png|Spine Bank
Spinefist.jpg|Spinefist

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Spore Mine Launcher</div>

The Biovore's Pride and Joy. It has an impressively big range, and it almost always does something. On a failed hit it instead drops a Spore Mine nearby that has to wait a turn before moving, but doesn't cost reinforcement points to generate (in Matched Play, this is one of the only ways to generate units mid-battle without paying for them in advance). On a 1 to wound does nothing and on a 2+ it does a Mortal Wound, but on a 6+ it deals d3 Mortal Wounds. Went from a horde killer to a pinpoint wound remover, and one of the few weapons capable of consistently inflicting mortal wounds at long range regardless of its target.

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spore_mine_launcher.png|Spore Mine Launcher

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Spray Weapons</div>

This Covers a wide variety of short range weapons that auto-hit their opponents. Flavors come in Acid, More Acid, and fire.
**'''Acid Spray''': The equivalent of a Flamer with 2D6 attacks and deals D3 Damage and AP-1. Tyrannofexes can use this for burning down multi-wound models and are pretty good anti-Flyers
**'''Bio-Acid Spray''': The main ranged weapon of the Scythed Heirodule. A 2d6 flamer with S6, AP-2 and D3 damage per hit.
**'''Drool Cannon''': Another Flamer-like with Assault d6, but at S6, AP-1 and D1. This allows a Hive Crone to hurt lightly-armored things, but little else.
**'''Flamespurt''': The Pyrovore's reason to exist. It's like a Drool Cannon but with slightly better range and slightly weaker Strength. Interestingly, it has precisely enough range to fire after getting out of a Tyrannocyte. Probably not a coincidence.

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acid_spray.png|Acid Spray
DroolCannon.jpg|Drool Cannon
Flamespurt Cannon.PNG|Flamespurt

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Strangler Weapons</div>

these weapons fire explosive seeds that rapidly spread out and strangle their victims to death. They gain +1 to hit against units with 10 or more models.
**'''Barbed Strangler''': Assault D6, Strength 5 and -1 AP for 10 points. Costs 5 points more than Deathspitters for 0,5 more shots on average and +12" range.
**'''Stranglethorn cannon''': A bigger Barbed Strangler with +2 Strength for the {{W40kKeyword|MONSTER}}s in the Tyranid force. Keeps the above +1 to hit rule and also inflicts 1 more damage. Kills light Infantry more efficiently than the HVC. Combine with Enhanced Senses and laugh at the look on your opponent's face as a ''Carnifex'' hits on a 2+.
**'''Strangleweb''': 8" range, assault d3 and S2. Only 1 of 10 termagants can have one of those

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[[File:Stranglethorn_Cannon.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Stranglethorn Cannon]]

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{| class="wikitable"
! Tentacle weapons
| these weapons cover an assortment of short range weapons designed to hook onto or grab prey at close range.
**'''Flesh Hooks''': Though they are considered Assault weapons, these are weapons useful for close range firing, as they can be shot within 1" of an enemy and into other melees, just like a Pistol. This are basically Pistols+1, combining all the close range effectiveness of Pistols with the Advance-and-shoot goodness of Assault weapons. Unfortunately still don't allow a model/unit to mantle over impassible terrain or vertical surfaces like they should.
**'''Grasping Tongue''': The Haruspex's creepy hentai tongue. It's rather fierce at S6 AP-3 and d3 damage, it gains further use since it can be used within close range and regains a wound if it kills something, so it can add to survivability.
**'''Toxic Lashes''': Essentially a CCW with Assault 2 and S2. It can fire within 1" of an enemy and re-rolls to wound.
**'''Massive Toxic Lashes''': The Toxicrene's version, now with Assault d6 AP-1 and d3 damage.
| [[File:Grasping Tongue.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Grasping Tongue]] [[File:File.png|200px|thumb|left|alt text]]
|}

===Biomorphs===
*'''Adrenal Glands''': Adds 1" to the distance the model/unit can move when it advances and/or charges. '''This is amazing''', especially when combined with Onslaught, as the target model can benefit from it on both the advance and the charge for peanuts per model (a measly 1 point for non-{{W40Kkeyword|monsters}}, and only 5 points otherwise). Combine with {{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} and movement boosting Stratagems, and that seemingly small bonus can make a big difference; relevant Stratagems include Metabolic Overdrive (which won't stack with Onslaught or allow charging), Overrun, and Opportunistic Advance (which is {{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} only). Obviously, also combines well with the Swarmlord.
*'''Toxin Sacs''': Wound rolls of 6+ by the model/unit in the Fight phase cause 1 additional Damage. Use on models with low Strength. Situationally useful, but good synergy with wargear, like rending claws, which activates on the same condition, and obviously best used against multiwound models like terminators or, weirdly, vehicles, since they don't have keyword restrictions on what they hurt. Best when paired with {{W40Kkeyword|Gorgon}} for its access to Hyper-Toxicity.

====Carnifex-Only====
*'''Chitin Thorns''': Carnifexes and Thornbacks only, and mandatory on the latter. On a 6+, enemy units within 1" of the user at the end of the Fight phase take a mortal wound. Only costs 5 points, but doesn't do enough to justify that. Maybe if it was models it could be good, but right now just skip it.
*'''Enhanced Senses''': Standard and Thornbacks can take this, but on the former, mutually exclusive with Tusks and two of the weapons (the maw or the bio-plasma). Boosts BS to 3+. An absolute must-have for any self-respecting Dakkafex, although the acid maw might still be worth considering if you suspect that your Dakkafex may be forced into melee and don't want to risk being caught with only the generic CCW.
*'''Spore Cysts''': Carnifexes and Screamer-Killers only, mutually exclusive with the spine banks. Imposes a -1 penalty to hit with ranged attacks against the user. It won't stack with Venomthropes, so it's like having a portable, built-in Venomthrope unit that frees up your actual Venomthropes to buff something else. Expensive at 10 points, but better than the spine banks, for certain.
*'''Tusks''': Carnifexes only; mutually exclusive with Enhanced Senses, Monstrous acid maw, and bio-plasma. On the turn you charge, you gain +1A. Great on any melee built Carnifex, because it won't have guns for Enhanced Senses to boost and unless you plan to go up against a fuckton of heavily armored units you probably won't benefit from taking the Monstrous Acid Maw.

===Bio-Artefacts (Relics)===
====Universal====
*'''Miasma Cannon''': Replaces a heavy venom cannon. Compared to the heavy venom cannon, it gains the ability to auto-hit anything within 8", and always wounds non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicles}} on a 2+.
** Effectively Hive Tyrant only, as it's the only character that can take a venom cannon to start with, and should always be paired with Wings so you can get into auto-hitting range faster.
**Better than the basic version against T5+ non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicles}}, and of course against anything within 8", but not nearly as good as a Venomthorn Parasite in general, due to the Hive Tyrant's already good BS and the fact that the Venomthorn is like a *1.5 multiplier, which would require at least a T10 target for this to meet or a T18 one to beat, and good luck finding those. Don't take this unless you've already handed out a Venomthorn.
*'''Reaper of Obliterax''': Replaces a lash whip and bonesword or the monstrous version. Same stats as the normal one, but on a wound roll of 6+ it doubles its damage. With Toxin Sacs on the monstrous version, that's a whopping 7.
** Because this upgrades a weapon that isn't free, cost matters, but the strength of the underlying weapon really doesn't, since the special ability triggers only when you're definitely wounding regardless of strength. As a result, this is actually best on a Behemoth Warlord (for more damage) or Gorgon (for more reliability) Tyranid Prime; the difference is clearest in the Behemoth case, where you're spending 102 points minimum on WS2+ A4 S5 AP-2 D1, increasing to D4 on 6s, as opposed to 158 minimum on WS2+ A4 S6 AP-2 D3, increasing to D8 on 6s.
*** Note on calculating damage: Because of the order of operation, the damage is first multiplied. After that, you add the extra damage. So you are 'just' dealing 8 damage at max. Nevertheless, if you want something dead, use Adrenaline Surge for attacking a second time or Voracious Appetite to increase the chance of dealing high damage.
*** Just an idea: Give this to a winged Hive Tyrant with adrenal glands, toxin sacs and the '''{{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}}'''-Warlord Trait. You get a high chance for a Turn 1 Charge and the opportunity to kill the enemies bigger threats - for example a Land Raider or ,if you're lucky, a superheavy
*'''Ymgarl Factor''': It's back! at the beginning of each fight phase, randomly gain +1T, +1A, ''or'' +1S. The stat returns to normal after the fight phase.
** Generally not worth it, due to its random nature and the fact that it only last a fight phase - you have only a 2/3 chance of rolling a stat that might help you kill things better in melee, and if you roll strength, it might do nothing at all.
***This and the Norn Crown are the two Relics that don't require any existing equipment. If your warlord has an odd loadout, or is a Zoan, this can be a good Relic just because of a lack of better choices.
*'''Maw Claws of Thyrax''': Enhances a model equipped with rending claws or monstrous rending claws. If you slay a model in the fight phase, you can re-roll ''all'' failed to-hit rolls in melee for the rest of the game.
**Because monstrous rending claws are ''cheaper'' than rending claws, absolutely superb on a Hive Tyrant. (An odd statement given that MoRCs are only available to Broodlords & Tyrants which are considerably more expensive than a Prime + RCs, lol, but the point stands.)
**Overkill on a Broodlord, rerolling ones only after a successful fight is not worth.
*'''Norn Crown''': Models within 30" do not suffer the penalties from Instinctive Behaviour. Probably the weakest choice here, but could be useful if you don't plan on using many synapse units (e.g. you run Hydra and want to save your Troops slots for more Gaunts).
**Note that it doesn't grant immunity to morale, like synapse would, so really only useful on units that have no moral issues (like single model monster units). Main value is if you need to space out your giant ranged bugs, but don't want to take penalties when shooting at further targets. The Tyrannofex's rupture cannon, for example, has 48" of range, but he's only BS5+ if he's not in synapse and not targeting the closest unit.

====Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal====
*'''Resonance Barb''': Psyker only. This model can manifest an additional power per turn and deny an extra power. Also, when you take a psychic test, add 1 to the total. Arguably, the best relic for Tyranids flat. Put on a Hive Tyrant and combine with Power of the Hive Mind and Synaptic Channeling to get a quad casting threat with access to the entire psychic school plus their hive fleet power.
**Neurothropes get more mileage out of the Resonance Barb than a Hive Tyrant. All Tyranid Psychic powers other than Unstoppable Hunger are WC 5 or 6. With the +1 to cast from the Resonance Barb, if you failed a WC 5 Psychic Test, you rolled at least a single 1 (You can't get 3 or less between two dice without rolling a 1). Similarly, if you failed a WC 6 test with the Resonance Barb, 83.33% of the time you have rolled at least a single 1. I mention this because Neurothropes have an aura that allows you to re-roll 1's on Psychic Tests, something a Hive Tyrant doesn't get. It almost is equivalent to a re-roll on Tyranid Psychic tests. Oh, on top of this, Neurothropes can heal themselves or other Zoanthropes via Smite damage, and this +1 to cast makes you more likely to hit that tasty D6 damage on Smite, which means the chance of healing more is higher. Lastly, unlike a Hive Tyrant, a Neurothrope has low enough wounds to not get railed by shooting the turn after it drops in, and it also has a good enough invulnerable save to survive the inevitable sniper fire it will attract. All-in-all, it's a better option for a Neurothrope than it is for a Hive Tyrant.
***On the other hand, Neurothropes only know smite plus one psychic power, and can already cast two per turn. The plus one to the psychic test and extra deny is useful, but the extra cast will be wasted every turn unless you pop the new Synaptic Channelling stratagem.
*'''Pathogenesis''': Add 8" to the range of the user's ranged weapons, and it can re-roll a single hit and wound when shooting or firing Overwatch. The Dakkatyrant's new best friend. (alternate option, use it on a tyranid prime or trygon prime to almost double his threat range, well only if you don't have other options to spend a relic)
*'''Xenogenic Acid''': Replaces a model’s toxin sacs. When you make a melee attack, unmodified wound rolls of 5+ inflict an extra mortal wound on top of other damage. It's truly a shame that the Broodlord can't take this because he would murder anything with his 6 attacks that reroll to wound, but we're not space marines so we don't get nice things.
*'''The Venomthorn Parasite''': Upgrades a stranglethorn cannon or heavy venom cannon. When you shoot the cannon, it always does its maximum number of shots
*'''Arachnacyte Gland''': Replaces adrenal glands. When you make a charge roll for this model, roll an extra D6 and discard the lowest die. Also, you get +1 to your Advance rolls. Pairs well with Trygon Prime that needs to make that charge out of deep strike.

====Hive Fleet-Specific====
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kronos}} - Balethorn Cannon''': Replaces a stranglethorn cannon. Identical to the standard version, save for one very important difference - it ignores ''all invulnerable saves''. While that won't affect TEQs too much since they still get a 3+ from their armor, anything whose invuln save is at least as good as its armour save will definitely notice, especially Tzeentch daemons. That said, this is functionally a 25 point Hive Tyrant only gun which is ''always'' in direct competition with the Miasma Cannon, so it's best to take it against things that will definitely notice losing their invulnerable saves- in addition to the aforementioned Tzeentch daemons, Harlequins and IG with slabshield Bullgryn and Crusaders are good choices to use this on.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Hydra}} - Slimer Maggot Infestation''': Replaces two deathspitters with slimer maggots. Gains the ability to re-roll failed wound rolls. Nice on a dakkatyrant, but it's a shame Hydra relies more on flooding the board with Gaunts than it does on shooting things.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Gorgon}} - Hyper-Adaptive Biology''': After the end of the first phase in which the bearer suffers a wound, the bearer gets +1T for the rest of the battle. Could work well when paired with the Adaptive Biology Warlord Trait if you have a way to live through that one phase, which is the same problem the Trait has.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Behemoth}} - Scythes of Tyran''': Replaces a pair of Monstrous Scything Talons. It gains +1S and +1A, and To-Hit rolls of 6+ generate another attack but loses its rerolls of 1. This means they're functionally the same as the stock pair of Monstrous Sything Talons (1/6 chance of extra attack instead of 1/6 chance of reroll) with +1 Strength, which really only makes a difference against T6 and T7. The Scythes are a little more bursty with their damage, with a small chance of dealing 6+ wounds ina single Fight phase. The real selling point of these is that it only eats up one weapon slot, allowing you to have a bit of shooting, or double down on attacks with a pair of boneswords or monstrous rending claws.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Leviathan}} - Slayer Sabres''': Replaces monstrous boneswords. Same stats, but if it wounds an {{W40Kkeyword|Infantry}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Biker}} ''model'' that is still alive at the end of the fight phase, roll 1d3. If the roll exceeds the model's remaining wound count, it is instantly slain. It's only really useful against ''exactly'' 4 or 5 wound models of unit types which rarely have that number, but becomes much more useful against armies with widespread access to FnP equivalents (read: anything related to Nurgle), which are more likely to survive being wounded.
**Alternative take: What people don’t realise is that these swords are meant for duelling, hell the Implant Attack stratagem might as well have been made for this relic - the generic HQs of other armies actually do typically have 4/5 wounds, and the average of D3 is 2. 3 Damage means 1 unsaved wound and that captain is down to 2 wounds, Implant Attack for another mortal wound leaving them with 1, so on average they die from the Sabres’ ability. If you’re lucky on the D3 roll or get a toxinsac attack through or both you can oneshot 6/7 wound characters as well. That said this use is somewhat niche but they aren’t quite as bad as they seem at first glance.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}} - Chameleonic Mutation''': Opponent takes a -1 to hit rolls when shooting ranged weapons at this model. Always good on your monsters, and it stacks with Venomthropes' Shrouding Spores or Malanthropes; one possible way to help keep your Hive Tyrant (or Tervigon) alive. Also stacks with The Horror. Not useful against Space Marines [[butthurt|(effectively against half of all existing armies...)]], because they presumeably will bring their new Oculus Marine thingies, what ignores any covers and any penalties to hit.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} - Infrasonic Roar''': {{W40Kkeyword|Monster}} only. Enemy units within 6" of this model must subtract 1 from LD. Could be good if you want to use Psychic Scream a lot, otherwise meh; the real shame is the type requirement, effectively restricting it to winged Hive Tyrants or Trygon Primes, due to its very low range.

==Unit Analysis==

Due to the 2018 C.A. update, most things got a significant point reduction (or a peripheral point reduction in the form of reduced cost for both types of Venom Cannon) which makes taking multiple battalions or a brigade detachment easy.

===HQ Units===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Broodlord</div>
[[Image:Broodlord.jpeg|thumb|left|Oi, ready to die, ]]

An old but well-remembered unit makes its reappearance. Way back in 4th edition, the broodlord was introduced as a cheap alternative to the expensive Hive Tyrant. However, the 5th and 6th edition codices said "screw that", and made it into the equivalent of a genestealer sergeant. Now, the Broodlord is back with a vengeance, and ready to get back to what he does best: ripping marines in half. And damn boi, he is good at it.

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*Like his smaller kin, he has a 5++ invulnerable save, and can both advance and charge in the same turn. With a base move of 8", that means this guy's average threat range is a staggering 19.5", and can be further boosted by taking the Kraken or Behemoth Hive Fleet Adaptations. Your opponent had better avoid setting up on the 24" line!
*As a level 1 Psyker, he knows Smite and one other power from the Hive Mind Discipline. He can attempt to cast and deny one power a turn. In addition, the Broodlord has gained '''Synapse''' (no more needs casting ''Dominion'') and '''Shadow in the Warp'''.
*Any friendly Genestealer unit within 6" of this fellow gets to add 1 to hit in the Fight phase. That is, if he hasn't already murdered everything around him with his 6 monstrous rending claw attacks that also re-roll to wound.
*As a {{W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}} model with "just" 6 wounds, he can't be targeted by enemy shooting unless he's the closest target, so make sure he's with some buddies. (Except when you face a Deathwatch player, who will happily pay 2 CP for shooting through your genestealers to kill the Broodlord.)
*He's also {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}}, so take the opportunity to boost his 4+ save with some terrain.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Hive Tyrant</div>

[[Image:HiveTyrant.jpg|thumb|left|Classic 'nid poster boi]]

Hive Tyrant is the original Tyranid HQ unit and has remained through every incarnation of the codex. While the Tyrant's popularity has waxed and waned over the years, make no mistake that this unit can get shit done if used correctly. The current version is an extremely customizable unit that can excel in the shooting, psychic, and melee phases. Furthermore, his 18" synapse radius and access to psychic powers makes him an exceptional anchor for your army. However, any opponent with an ounce of experience knows to target the Tyrant first, so it '''will''' draw fire.

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* Defensively, the Tyrant is stacked with a toughness of 7, 12 wounds, a 3+ save and a minty fresh 4++. This can be further enhanced with Hive Fleet Adaptions, warlord traits, and wargear. However, it also has degrading scores for Movement, WS, and BS, and most critically, can be picked out by enemies even if it is not the closest unit.
* He's a Psyker and can cast two powers a turn and deny one as well as knowing Smite and 2 powers from the Hive Mind Discipline).
* ''Winged tyrants deserve a special mention'' for the options they bring to the table. With a movement speed of 16" while undamaged, they are extremely fast and can bring pressure exactly where it is needed. In addition, winged tyrants can execute a powerful alpha strike via a deep strike or Fall Back and still shoot thanks to the {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} keyword. ''(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)''
*'''Dakka'rant''': This venerable build is not quite what it used to be. The Deathspitters are a waste of your time - there's nothing they'll excel at killing for their points - and, unfortunately, so is the stranglethorn, which is better than Deathspitters, but not by enough to matter. Instead, you should be looking at either quadruple Devourers, which gets you a whopping 24 shots at S6, or a Heavy Venom Cannon to replace two of the Devourers, for hunting enemy heavies.
*'''Melee tyrant'''
**Ignore his "default" loadout; his free melee weapon choice is monstrous rending claws, ''not'' monstrous scything talons, which cost as much as lash whip and monstrous bonesword at 15, or you can take the really expensive option of a pair of monstrous boneswords for 20(don't). The claws are easily his best melee weapon available, not only due to their cost, but because they re-roll all failed wounds; if you want to spend points on upping his melee, buy him toxin sacs to with his claws, but his other weapon should ''always'' be a gun to make sure he has something to do before he gets stuck in.
**If you insist on double melee, he can take two sets of talons for 20 points total (which will give you 5 attacks with them), which is strictly better than talons and boneswords; rending claws or lash whips and boneswords can both be paired with a pair of boneswords, giving you 4 attacks with the better weapon and 1 with the boneswords pair, '''but your points efficiency will be garbage at that point''', except against multi-wound targets with T6 and higher (with regards to the rending claws/bonesword combo specifically) If you’re fine with points inefficiency however (or say you’re using power levels) you can get up to 6 attacks base if you take a pair of monstrous scything talons and use them as the Scythes of Tyran relic, and then take a pair of monstrous boneswords, for 5 S7 AP-3 D3 attacks with even MORE attacks on 6+ to hit and 1 S6 AP-2 D3 attack (and also a tail attack), making this the strongest melee tyrant you can build. With toxin sacs, this tyrant actually outperforms the Swarmlord ''against T5/6''. You can also make a 'budget' Swarmlord by taking two pairs of monstrous boneswords and making one of them the Slayer Sabres for 6 S6 AP-2 D3 attacks.
*'''Balanced Tyrant''': In general, a balanced loadout with one close combat and one ranged option looks to be the early approach on how to build a Tyrant. Adrenal Glands for advance and charge bonuses is a must, Toxin Sacs synergises nicely with Monstrous Rending Claws which are a free and effective close combat option, and a pair of Devourers with Brainleech Worms are great horde mulchers, or a Heavy Venom Cannon against heavies.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Malanthrope</div>

[[Image:Malannthrope.jpeg|thumb|left|A lot less insidious than he looks.]]

Moved to HQ (again), but still can be taken in broods of 3, is still a synapse creature, and still has the Venomthrope's ability to debuff the to-hit chance of enemies, which works on all units rather than just {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} (FAQ confirms this benefit is conferred to units with a model in range like the old Shrouded rule). Being a character with 9 wounds now means it's harder to hit than ever before, and while it can only use a grasping tail to attack its ability to cause mortal wounds on a 4+ means most foes won't try to engage it in melee in the first place. And any time the last model in a unit is slain with the Malanthrope 1" away, '''all units with the same {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} keyword''' re-roll 1s to hit against any model that shares the Faction keywords of the slain enemy. As a result, you can gain re-rolls against every Imperial army just by killing off a Guardsman near it. Use against the jackass who thinks his <'''WU-TANG CLAN'''> Taudar army is hot shit.

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* Malanthropes are great babysitters for backfield artillery units like Exocrines, Biovores, and Tyrannofexes with Rupture Cannons. Their slow speed isn't a factor and the protection they offer is much appreciated.
*On the other hand, even an assault army can benefit from it quite a bit, the -1 to be hit in the first turn allows you to worry a bit less of how you set a unit of hormagaunts or genestealers as long as you babysit them with a Malanthrope (see daisy chain)
**While using them to babysit your backfield is a perfectly viable strategy for these things, you will get more out of them if used more aggressively to support your frontlines. While Malanthropes are well priced, Synapse and -1 to hit is a bit of waste for the points if it's only being applied to a couple of backline gunbeasts, particularly given that the sort of single shot weapons that will be blasting big holes in them are the perfect home for shooting phase CP rerolls. On the other hand, that kind of support is invaluable for your big squads of Stealers and Gaunts ''where -1 to hit will likely reduce their incoming damage by 25 or 33%'' depending upon your opponent's BS, and getting up close and personal makes it that much more likely that you'll get to actually capitalise on the Malanthrope's other abilities. The issue of course is keeping up with them; consider using the Metabolic Overdrive stratagem to effectively double their speed.
*Malanthrope became a bit least perfect unit, since Chapter Approved changed it's point value from 90 to 140. Ouch. That's 55% price rising.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Neurothrope</div>

[[Image:Nuerothrope.jpeg|thumb|left|Leechy.]]

Shifted to HQ, but otherwise still a bigger, nastier Zoanthrope for all intents and purposes. It retains the ability to heal itself and nearby Zoanthropes with Spirit Leech, but only for 1 wound. It also allows nearby Zoanthropes (and itself) to re-roll 1s on psychic tests.

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*Strangely, it can cast 2 powers but only knows 1 in addition to Smite, basically forcing it to be a Smite spammer.
*Consider making this thing your Warlord; they have a nice invulnerable save and few enough wounds that they can reliably hide behind a screen of other nids. Adaptive Biology is a relatively solid choice for the Warlord Trait; not only can you turn it on yourself via Perils, you can regenerate the wound you lose to turn it on via Smite.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tervigon</div>

[[Image:Tervigon.jpeg|thumb|left|A fellow fa/tg/uy hissing at his Mum for coming into the basement without tendies]]

Though no longer able to cheese out by becoming a Troops Choice, it still remains an incredibly useful resource. Use the Termagants in order to shield it, as it has a degrading Movement, BS, and WS, and if it dies, nearby friendly {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} Termies eat d6 Mortal Wounds. In other words, stick to few big units to mitigate the backlash. Unfortunately, its gun is pretty terrible for the cost, and it can't hide behind the Termagants it's supposed to be babysitting, so it's usually not a great idea - it'll just evaporate in short order to incoming lascannons. Instead, consider a Neurothrope with Onslaught or Catalyst, if you want Termagant support.

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*The bitch has quite a lot of wounds, can take Chameleonic Mutation for -1 to hit, and she'll probably die not earlier than 2-3 rounds. That's a whole squad of Termies that can fill the cracks formed in your 1st locust wave. I'd say it's worth the points if your shock troops can get stuck in.
*Friendly {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}} Termagants within range re-roll hit rolls of 1 when shooting, which is fantastic with the amount of shots a big blob of them pumps out.
*It's a Level 1 Psyker that can cast or deny one power a turn and knows one power from the Hive Mind Discipline. Consider ''Catalyst'' to make that blob of Termagants more durable.
*It can spawn a new clutch of 10 Termagants (which will cost you reinforcement points) or reinforce an existing mob within range (which won't), but these models can only use Fleshborers (in the latter case, only lost Termagants with Fleshborers can be returned). This will kill any incentive to use anything else if you buy one. However, since Termagants can mix and match weapons, you can take a unit with 10 ablative Fleshborers and 20 Devourers for actually hurting the enemy - bringing multiple Tervigons to replenish the same unit is legal, but a really bad idea.
*Just remember that most of the time it’s worth taking the Tervigon’s point value in Termagants rather than a Tervigon; she costs 180pts after CA 2019, which can get you a Termagant brood with 15 Devourers and 15 Fleshborers.
*All in all, the Tervigon is kind of useless in this edition. She has too many wounds to hide behind the little bugs she produces, you have to pay reinforcement points for a new group of maximum ten termagant - why don't you just buy and bring 'em? - and she will cause a fucklot of mortal wounds to her babies, if she dies. What probably happens in the enemies' first shooting phase.
*With a new point drop in CA 2019 and the rules from Psychic Awakening, she might actually have a purpose now. You can give her the Dermic Symbiosis ability for a 5++ save and slowed stat degradation, which helps her not explode on turn 1. Walk her up the board with her babies and she might be able to draw anti-tank fire from your other monsters.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2019)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tyranid Prime</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Prime.jpeg|thumb|left|Bigger than a warrior, smaller than a tyrant, and just as hangry]]

The other {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} Tyranid HQ. It's still rather pricey, and it's still got the Warrior's share of weapons (except for the Bio-cannons, which it doesn't know how to carry). Unlike before, though, this has a use with other Warriors, as it adds +1 to Hit rolls for nearby Warriors and Shrikes (if you use the Index) of the same {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET>}}. Plonk down next to a blob of Deathspitter-Warriors and watch them shoot things to death or plonk him down in the middle of a blob of Bonesword-Warriors and watch them shred. Because +1 to hit has a larger impact the worse the stat it buffs, this means his net impact is usually more felt when used for ranged support than melee support (although he can do both). Also, note that because he doesn't buff himself and carries worse weapons, once he's inside a Warrior blob, he's usually the least useful unit in it, as he buffs Warriors up to matching his own accuracy.

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*Math-wise: Everything may vary based on the equipment and if you prefer a versatile character or more wounds, but generally, if you plan to take a lot of warriors, Prime buff is price-effective for around 7 warriors (7 warriors+prime > 12 warriors)
*CA 2019 reduced the cost of Warriors by 2pts per model to a total of 18. 12 Warriors with Deathspitters fire 36 shots and hit with 18; this will cost you 23pts per model or 25pts with boneswords for a total of 300pts. For the same number of points, 9 Warriors and a Prime all with Deathspitters and boneswords fire 30 shots and hit with 20. This doesn't account for any bio-cannons you may have snuck into your Warrior units, but obviously you want those expensive guns to hit. If you're running lots of Warriors and have HQ slots to fill, a Prime isn't a bad choice, though keep in mind that keeping 9 Warriors within the Prime's bubble limits the units' mobility somewhat (only one model from the unit of warriors is required to be in range of the ability for the buff to apply).
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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====Special Characters====
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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Old One Eye</div>

[[Image:Old One Eye.jpeg|thumb|left|Who needs two eyes if you only charge in one direction?]]

This bastard got more focused on '''''smashing''''' now, and with his regeneration of 1 wound on each of your turns, he worries a lot less about damage, expecially since he's got 9 wounds, so that he is able to hide behind other units! A great buffer piece for a Carnifex-heavy army.

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*Charging gives him a 4+ chance to deal d3 Mortal Wounds to whatever he gets into melee with, and adds +1 to his hit rolls on the first turn of charge. On top of that, for any hit roll of 6+, he gains an extra attack with the same weapon (tail excluded). With its charge bonus and Alpha Leader rule, effectively giving him +2, that means on a roll of 4 or more he gets an extra attack, multiplying his attacks (outside of debuffs) by 1.5 with his talons (7.3 total on average, after accuracy), or by 1.33 with his claws (5.5, after accuracy). '''Yummy.'''
*Nearby friendly {{W40kKeyword|<HIVE FLEET> CARNIFEX}} gain +1 to hit in melee, ''including himself'', making him a natural leader for a crew, and meaning he usually hits on a 2+, even with his claws.
*If he's your Warlord, he has to have Adaptive Biology, which is particularly nice for synergy with his regeneration, making him incredibly hard to kill.
*He's obviously bad under {{W40kKeyword|Kronos}} or {{W40kKeyword|Hydra}}, and pretty bad under {{W40kKeyword|Jormungandr}}, but {{W40kKeyword|Gorgon}}, {{W40kKeyword|Kraken}}, and {{W40kKeyword|Behemoth}} all make him better at his job, and {{W40kKeyword|Leviathan}} heaps even more durability on him, if you didn't bring ''Catalyst'' along.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">The Swarmlord</div>

[[Image:The Swarmlord.jpeg|thumb|left|How does one design a Tyranid? Take an old one, add 100% swords, 200% Size and 99999% the price!]]

The Biggest Beast with a Beastly Pricetag. He's still the boss for combat with his Bone Sabres and a Pincer tail, but his Movement, Strength, and Attack scores will decrease as he takes damage, and if he dies, he has a chance to deal d3 Mortal Wounds to all nearby units. Maximum combat damage output is 27 wounds, meaning the Swarmlord is capable of decking an Imperial Knight in a single round of combat (though statistically unlikely), taking into account damage from the Swarmlord’s level 2 psychic abilities. Expect to see many, if not most, Nid armies with him as warlord.

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*He's stacked with a 4++ (upped to 3++ in melee), something he was missing last edition, and can really be felt (on average 15.43 astartes lascannon shots are required to kill him [same for other hive tyrants]).
*He can grant a nearby unit the ability to move and/or advance during his shooting phase as if it was the movement phase, which is incredibly awesome to have for a choppy army. Remember he only affects one unit with this, so make sure it's a big unit, and combine it with Onslaught to allow shooting or charging without penalties. ''If the Swarmlord Hive Commanders and Onslaughts himself, his total charge threat range is, on average, a whopping 33"!''
**'''This does not mean he should run off on his own and get himself shot to death'''. His place should be with the rest of you army, providing that sweet synapse and psychic powers, all this while launching hormagaunts, carnifexes and genestealers units at the enemy.
*He's a Level 2 Psyker (meaning he can cast or deny 2 powers a turn as well as learning Smite and 2 powers from the Hive Mind Discipline) with an 18" range for Synapse and Shadow, like all Hive Tyrants, except for the improved Deny.
*He has two weaknesses to be aware of. Annoyingly enough, he doesn't have any kind of AoE re-roll buff, which most characters have this edition, not even anything like the scything talon hit or rending claw wound re-rolls that normal tyrants can get. This makes his damage output somewhat unreliable despite being probably the best single-model melee unit in the codex. As such care should be taken when engaging units with Hit debuffs or high toughness, particularly if said units are also strong in melee (knights, primarchs etc.), but also in cases where they aren't, as if he charges a tank and fails to kill it the enemy will likely fall back and blast him to pieces next turn (actually, the latter is probably even more likely to happen if he does kill it). Secondly like the other Hive Tyrants he has 12 wounds, so the enemy can always choose to shoot him, and being stuck footslogging that is not good news if the enemy is aiming all their guns at him (not when we're strangers to [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|that special, but guarranteed scenario]]). Though you really should have either Tyrant guard or extremely high threat saturation (you are playing Tyranids after all) to combat this.
*Avoid sending him up against Guilliman before he has died for the first time. Mathematically the Primarch has a huge edge on the tabletop - he hits and wounds on the same numbers but can re-roll both, has a better chance for a lot of mortal wounds, and doesn't degrade. You need lucky rolls to kill him before getting drowned in mortal wounds, or worse maimed down to your last set of stats, at which point you have very little chance of winning. Watching in frustration as your expensive beatstick flails around with 4 S6 attacks and a tail attack, with no re-rolls against T6 2+/3++, is not fun.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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===Troops===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Genestealers</div>

[[Image:Genestealer Brood.jpeg|thumb|left|Yeah, Genestealers and the 'Nids are pretty much bros]]

One of the best troop choice for Tyranids, and maybe even in the game, with a shiny 5++ invulnerable. They are no longer infiltrators, so they now set up with the rest of your army. To help with this, they can now advance and charge in the same turn. With a base move of 8", that means they have an impressively long maximum threat range of 26" (average 21.5"). But remember they are less glass cannons and more laser scalpels duct-taped to a pencil and are very much like Howling Banshees in that they are going to be shot at A LOT, and are likely to be wiped out after the first use. While craftworld Eldar get to enjoy their cozy Wave Serpents (though on the other hand you can actually kill things, instead of just being tarpits) you have to use other tricks and even with a proper deployment you still can lose a lot on overwatch, especially against flamers/heavy flamers. Learn your lesson, charge monsters first.

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* Don't leave them footslogging, even if you have 90 genestealers on the board it is still a bad idea. Infestation Nodes are your saving grace, as well as strategems. If you are feeling crazy enough you can even take a Tyrannocyte.
* Can take free Scything Talons as well if they wish. Adds a bit of flexibility against unarmoured opponents as they can re-roll 1s to hit; combined with the Broodlord ability. This means means they are hitting on 2s re-roll 1s for maximum dismemberment.
* If 3 attacks (4 if the unit is 10 or more strong) at -1 AP with rending AP -4 on a 6+ to wound isn't enough you could always buy them toxin sacs to make those 6s also cause 2 damage. But at 4 points a model that could get pricey. DO THIS against TEQ and keep a pocket unit of exactly 10 hidden in the nodes to slay unsuspecting heavies that though they were tough enough to leave their deployment zone.
* '''One in 4 can take an Acid Maw for no cost''', which is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING, allowing the 'stealer to dish out power sword hits at no additional cost. Also, one in 4 can pay for flesh hooks.
* If you can swing the points and elites slot for it, and for the memes, it might be worth investing in their culty brethren for one simple reason, [[Chimera Transport|trans]][[Goliath_Truck|ports]].
* For 2 extra points, Extended Carapace causes them to lose their ability to advance and then charge, but will also give them a shiny 4+ armour save. Fortunately, Stratagems can compensate for the drop in mobility. With Jormagundr's Hive Fleet Adaptation, they'll have MEQ-tier saves at all times, not to mention access to a potent subterranean deep strike stratagem for advantageous positioning. Stack this with the Adaptive Physiology : Dynamic Camouflage and you can give 20-40 Stealers fucking Terminator-level saves (T4, 2+, 5++).
*They absolutely love Kraken's Hive Fleet Adaptation- not only does it let them make the most of their ability to advance and charge in the same turn, the ability to Fall Back and then charge lets them escape from hard-hitting melee units that have the potential to curbstomp them if they get the first swing in (e.g. A Space Marine with double chainswords can really fuck you up). With the Stratagems they can reach truly ludicrous speeds, as in faster than a Stormraven.
* Instead of deploying normally, up to 4 Infestation Nodes can be placed in your deployment zone. Genestealers can deep strike within 6" of any of these nodes, but like the Terminators' Teleport Homer the node will be destroyed if an enemy gets too close.
* These old-skool space hulk trippin' TDA-shreddin' classics absolutely adore the new Blood of Baal "Senses of the Outer Dark" fleet adaption giving them a FNP4+ to all overwatch damage, especially when stuffed into a Tyrannocyte or being the recipients of Catalyst. Don't overlook the new stuff! Adrenal Webs is also a fantastic unit adaption, because nothing wipes the smirk from a Tau player's face when he thinks that his units are safe and your 'Stealers consolidate 2D6" up his <strike>rectum</strike> back-line into a unit over 3" away, totally bypassing overwatch and their FTGG ability.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Hormagaunt</div>

[[Image:Hormagaunt Brood.jpeg|thumb|left|'Lil mantis friends]]

These little murder machines are fast and cheap and all around fantastic. Their movement stat is a staggering 8" and their Bounding Leap allows them to pile in and consolidate up to 6", making them very fast. Additionally their talons let them re-roll Hit rolls of 1 and if they're in the numbers you should be fielding them they also re-roll 1s To Wound for good measure, and all that with 2 attacks for each bug. '''Yikes'''. Play units of 30 and shove them across the board. ''Keep your paws off those Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs though'', as they will increase their cost rather astronomically.

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*'''Alternative Take''' - Toxin Sacs could just be worth it if you mentally dedicate that Hormagaunt squad to tackling stuff they're only going to be wounding on 6+ anyway. If you're tackling a vehicle or monster you'll need 6 to wound regardless so why not make every wound count twice? It's a 40% price increase for a 100% damage output boost which is pretty good when you consider you always reroll 1s to hit, and 1s to wound as long as there's 20+ in the squad.
*Great synergy with Hydra's Hive Fleet Adaptation; if your Gaunts aren't outnumbering their target in melee, you are doing something horribly wrong.
*Ironic truth is that Genestealers now coast more than Chaos Space Marines and are now frankly overkill in most situations. Hormaguants are a good cheap alternative when you simply need to clear out a lot of GEQ.
*The true differentiating factor between Gaunts and Stealers is the ability to charge after advancing, then AP. Let the Gaunts assume vast numbers and casualties, preserve your stealers.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Ripper Swarms</div>

Hit on 5+ so don't expect much. Are now always burrowers so make use of it to get close to the enemy (or, more likely, objectives).
*Always remember that these are {{W40kKeyword|SWARMS}}, and hence not {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}}. While this has some downsides, like trying to get cover from various terrain pieces, it has upsides as well - many enemy abilities are {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} specific. Many, many, many abilities are {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} specific, and it will behoove you to become familiar with these if you field Rippers.

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[[Image:Ripper Swarm.jpeg|thumb|center|Remember 'Effing Worms?]]

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Termagaunts</div>

[[Image:Termagant Brood.jpeg|thumb|left|Your pretty little kittens, pointy tails, happy smiles, skinborrowing flesheating worms]]

Your little dakka bugs. Use them to bubble wrap important characters. Always remember that they can mix and match their weapons, so always place a few (like 5 to half of em) Devourers on the unit so it has some decent shooting but also keep enough other weapons along to soak up the damage they will draw. In big units of 20+ models they re-roll 1s To Wound when shooting and when next to a Tervigon they also re-roll 1s To Hit, in case you didn't have enough incentive to place them next to a Tervigon yet. If you don't appreciate the fact that you can arm every single one of them with a weapon that hits like a heavy stubber, you don't have a soul.

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*May have a new lease on life with Psychic Awakening. While it might seem strange to give a pseudo-WT to a fodder unit, consider that a Jormungandr brood with Dynamic Camouflage can have 4+ armour in the open, and Mommy (who received a point drop in CA 2019) can replenish the ranks each round while also providing 5+ FNP. A unit with 20 Devourers, 10 Fleshborers, and a Tervigon to back them up may not be the most deathy of deathstars, but they can be surprisingly difficult to shove off the board for opponents used to seeing them die in droves.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tyranid Warriors</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Warriors.jpeg|thumb|left|Router Squad]]

Your only Synapse Troops, the Warriors keep your swarm together and with Instant Death being gone this may now be their place to shine as they can survive Missile Launchers to the face far better now. The Warriors are generally useful all-rounders, but this time it may be in your best interest to give each Warrior a Deathspitter and a pair of Boneswords. This combination gives them a bunch of decent attacks in melee and a nice gun to shoot with. Only go with different equipment if you can't afford this. ''Alternatively, since you KNOW that they'll be shot at, keep them cheap and use the points for more models or Venomthropes or something.''

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*TL;DR take boneswords and deathspitters as the best all-round loadout. Don’t ever troll yourself by taking two pairs of boneswords unless you really have a hard-on for [[swarmlord|four-armed bugs with pointy ends]] - you’ll still [[fail|only get 1 extra attack]] (as per the FAQ)
*Obviously, Warriors make excellent babysitters for Gaunts, as they're Synapse and carry melee and ranged weapons, allowing them to buff up the weak melee of Termies and ranged of Hormies.
*If you do go warriors, always bring the Prime. While this combo is still fairly vulnerable, it can do work on the offense.

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===Dedicated Transport===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tyrannocyte</div>

[[Image:Tyrancocyte.jpeg|thumb|left|It's a spongy floating ball of marshmallow... Full of buddies... Covered in guns]]

Fleshy Drop Pods that you can stick either a Monster of your choice (but only if it has 14 max wounds or less- no shoving a Hierodule in there; Sporocysts and '''other Tyrannocytes can't be put inside a Tyrannocyte either''') or up to 20 Infantry models into. Disembarking models must be placed 9" away from the enemy, but with all your great guns, that shouldn't pose a problem. And after the Tyrannocyte has released its cargo it isn't a helpless kill point waiting to happen, as it floats across the battlefield shooting its 5 guns into the enemy. The main problem with the Tyrannocyte is its BS of 5+, which means you pay out of your nose for its guns, knowing full well that two third of its shots won't do a thing. The Barbed Stranglers are twice as expensive as the Deathspitters, but they also increase accuracy when firing upon larger units. With the crappy base-BS, this makes a huge difference. Just make sure you are actually able to fire at a large unit, either by dropping the Tyrannocyte right next to one or by providing synapse support... possibly from inside the Tyrannocyte itself.

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*Being so versatile means lots of odd combos exist beyond just podding the Swarmlord. Any infantry/critter can be housed. Venomthropes, Zoanthropes, Shrikes, Tervigons and many others can be re-positioned. You can save 40 points, drop a Tervigon and have 10 gaunts insta-charge tanks. You can also have a small variety of toolbox units and choose which one goes in pods during deployment. Another element could be to pod in a Swarmlord and a Harpy or flying hive tyrant to give vast agility in re-positioning your army.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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===Elites===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Haruspex</div>

[[Image:HaruspexGW.jpeg|thumb|left|He looks familiar because he starred in the tentacle hentai you just watched]]

The Haruspex's primary function is infantry chewing and almost everything in its arsenal is meant to help with that. Its Maw makes D3 Hit rolls for each attack allocated to it, meaning it averages 8 attacks, and for every model it kills with said Maw, it gets to make another attack with its claws, so it can rack up a pretty impressive body count if you send it at the right units. And if there is no tough infantry to chew, just throw it at a transport, which it can crack open with the claws. Its tongue gun heals it when it kills something with it, and if it kills at least one model in melee it also heals a wound, so throw it at the opponent and watch it heal all the damage the opponent painstakingly put into it. That said, don't expect the Haruspex to kill too much. If the opponent knows about it, he will do his damnedest to shoot it down before it can reach his gunline, which is also great because then he doesn't focus on the rest of your army, and with T8 13 wounds and a 3+, this is easier said than done.

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*Haruspexen cost a ''whopping'' 198 points, which is ultimately why they will reliably disappoint you. In general, any problem you would solve with a Haruspex, you should be solving with a Carnifex.
**Alternate alternate take: The maw gives an average of 8 attacks, for 4 hits. Against GEQ, that's about 3 dead. You then get to make 3 more attacks with your claws, killing another 1~2. So this monster whose purpose is supposedly to kill lots of infantry will kill about an average of only 4~5 guardsmen per turn in melee. Which, for ~200 points, on a model with 7 inch movement that needs to get within 12 inches of the enemy to do anything at all, is quite pathetic. It really would need to get a lot more attacks to be even potentially viable. Else no matter how tanky it is, your opponent can just safely ignore it. Therefore, the Haruspex is probably the worst monster in the codex. Considering that the codex already dropped the points cost by about 80 compared to index, that is ''really'' sad...
**As of Chapter Approved 2019 a Haruspex will only set you back 150 points and it seems from Blood of Baal that GW are really trying to make Haruspexen a "thing". With the right combo of hive fleet traits (think Prey Sight + Metamorphic regrowth) you can have yourself a Haruspex that hits on 3+ on the charge and gains a wound back at the start of your turns even before it's gobbled anyone up. Then consider dropping Dermic Symbiosis on it for a 5++ OR Murderous Size to make that maw into a strength 8, AP-2, damage D3+1 MEQ killer. Either or those adaptive physiologies, combined with the unique Haruspex strategem, may finally make them into the murder machines they were always meant to be. They certainly aren't an auto-take, but they might have a future in some lists.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Hive Guard</div>

[[Image:HiveGuard.jpg|thumb|left|That Pink-thing from Doom, but with a bigass gun]]

Once, the premier transport killers, the Hive Guard are still a fantastic ranged unit. Both their weapons are great at killing vehicles, but the Impaler Cannon is also great at killing Monsters and hiding in bunkers while doing so, ''because it doesn't need line of sight''. If you don't want to take a Tyrannofex and still want some anti-vehicle firepower, take a unit of these and have done. Do note that Impaler Cannons are Heavy, so you'll be at -1 to hit if you move, but with reasonably competent deployment and 36" range on these now, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Unlike most 'Nids, Hive Guard are dedicated to shooting and are good at it; Impaler Cannons are BS3+ Heavy 2 S8 AP-2 D1 d3, so a good salvo from these has a fair chance of knocking out or at least seriously degrading medium tanks.

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* Alternately, the Shockcannon is an Assault weapon, so you can move and fire without penalty, albeit at shorter range. It has the irritating random 1d3 shot thing going on, but with a minimum of three models per unit, you'll probably average out to 2 per. Also, mortal wounds vs vehicles on a 4+ in addition to other damage (and potentially even more on a 6+). Mathematically, a full squad of 6 armed with Shockcannons will average 5.33 extra mortal wounds against any vehicle, which is already enough to outdamage a full unit of Impaler Hive Guard and the similarly priced (238 to Shockcannon Guards’ 234) shoot-twice Rupture Cannon Tyrannofex against Land Raiders and the like, not even factoring in the damage that the actual shots do. They’re also cheaper than Impalers, but of course the problem is their range at only 24”, consider deepstriking them with Jormungandr strat/Tyrannocyte. And they’re going to die faster as you can’t hide behind walls and bunkers and still shoot at things without having line of sight, but then again you can accomplish significantly more vehicle damage with Shockcannon guards than with Impaler guards while they’re alive, which somewhat counteracts this.
**With Impaler Cannons, these things are a great way to preserve your firebase vs the inevitable massed lascannon Alpha Strike to which things like Exocrines are unfortunately quite vulnerable. Assuming your table has even halfway decent LOS blocking terrain, a squad of three shouldn't be difficult to stick behind a solid wall or similar, and you can then cheerfully rain salvos on your opponent without fear of retaliation, because you can fire without being fired upon.
***''A full squad of 6 with Hive Fleet Kronos and the Single-Minded Annihilation strategem is pumping out 24 S8 shots at 3+, re-rolling 1s. Go think about that for a while and bring the tissues back when you're done.''
****''Oh wow Kevin, that witty line about the tissues really makes me wonder a haruspex makes you do...yeesh...grow up you balding neckbeard

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Lictor</div>

[[Image:Lictor.jpeg|thumb|left|The Fluff says these guys are Hot Shit, the Codex says they're just shit]]

A single Lictor isn't particularly scary. It has a scary profile, but a full unit of anything won't be too impressed. However, each one has a 47.84% chance of making its charge when it pops up (which won't stack with {{W40Kkeyword|behemoth}} in any way), and Chameleonic Skin makes them completely immune to anything with WS6+, which means a pair of them will usually (72.8%) be able to tarpit a problematic tank that's been left outside of its bubble wrap. Lictors also have access to a couple of the best stratagems you have, which have the usual problem of not being able to be spammed - Feeder Tendrils lets you gamble on a 2/3 chance to make a CP profit, and Pheromone Trail lets you deliver Genestealers or Trygon Devilgants next to the Lictor instead (which is where you'll really notice your inability to spam the Stratagem). They also intrinsically don't care about Synapse, since they're 1-model units and don't have Instinctive Behaviour.

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*That said, Lictors are pretty bad. Their best trick is Pheromone Trails, which is why {{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} has ''absolutely'' no use for them - The Enemy Below ''is'' spammable, because you use it outside of any game phase.
*A points drop in Chapter Approved 2018, and an additional Lictor-specific strategem in 2019, might have breathed some life into the old mantis stalkers. For 1CP you have a model with the potential to shut down an entire unit's worth of overwatch with a +1" re-rollable charge. Just imagine your opponents face when his Knight Valiant is denied its Conflagration Cannon's overwatch for the sake of a 34 point resin model, and your 'fexes make it in unmolested!

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Maleceptor</div>

[[Image:Malecepter.jpeg|thumb|left|Looks like an amalgam between the queen from Alien and a gummy bear]]

A giant Zoanthrope stuffed in an oversized Carnifex that doesn't quite fit either role. The Maleceptor has some impressive survivability with T7 W12 3+/4++, but it fundamentally costs 172 points - enough to buy ''two'' Neurothropes with plenty of points left over, and they can hide behind your army, with a better invuln save and the ability to heal with their Smites. It has massive scything talons it can't drop, but M7 A3 WS4/5/6+r1 S7/6/5 AP-3 D1d6 really isn't scary for the points. Its psychic capabilities are... weird. It knows Smite and one power from the Hive Mind discipline, and can cast and deny two powers per turn, but it also gets +1 to cast and deny, so it adds a bit of reliability. It can also forego casting its power and instead send out a shockwave that hits up to 6 enemy units (the maximum drops as it is wounded) within 6" for an average of 1 1/6 mortal wounds each, kind of like a Mawloc, but with more range and fewer wounds dealt. If it had a way to get that close when it needed to, this would be a very different discussion, but it just isn't very fast and it can't deep strike. Save yourself the trouble - you have better sources for everything the Maleceptor offers (Synapse and Mortal Wounds spam).

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* Well there is one way you can deliver a Maleceptor. Be Kraken, Advance and use your fleet stratagem, then use Metabollic Overdrive and advance too. You have about 30" of movement. Is this viable at all? No, but it can be plenty of [[fun]].
* There is one and ONLY ONE reason to take a Maleceptor over 3 Zoanthropes... and that's if you're using {{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}}. With Jormungandr your Maleceptors gain a 2+ save anywhere they go, giving them much better survivability, maximizing your use of your Hive Fleet as well as gaining the Psychic and Synapse support you'll definitely want.
*Well, two reasons. On the flip-side, point for point the Maleceptor is possibly the best single-unit mid-backfield defensive Synaptic-line-anchor in the codex. Cheaper than a Tervigon by far, it's also way more resilient to S9+ -2AP+ heavy weapons fire thanks to it's 4++ invuln., where things like lascannons wound it and a Tervigon on 3s but the 'Ceptor shrugs off 50% of the hits on average. Sure, autocannons are 50% more effective vs it than a Tervigon (going from wounding 2/6 to 3/6 of the time, 50% increase) but if autocannons are chipping away at this buffing-synapse lump they're not hitting anything else. It's tougher than equal points of Zoanthropes and can hold it's own in melee better than most other Synapse units where it's decent T7, Sv3+ & 4++ combined with Overload can help it survive vs other melee Elites until help arrives, even vs thunder hammers. You don't need to worry about the model's 7" move so much if the enemies are coming to you. The deciding factor is how important Synapse is to you in 8th edition (and if you want to run lots of Monsters or not)...
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Pyrovore</div>

[[Image:PyrovoreGW.jpeg|thumb|left|Finally made it]]

The formerly worst unit in the whole game got yet another buff. They now seem to be predestined to be shoved into a Tyrannocyte, as their Flamespurt has just high enough range to be used right after disembarking, but that's a loooot of points to pay for delivering a maximum of 3 Pyrovores. They're also better in melee then they used to be, and are decently cheap now. Considering how awesome Biovores are now, your Pyrovores will probably still be counts-as-Biovores. If you could legally fit multiple units into a Tyrannocyte, these guys would be a ''lot'' better. For now, at the very least they are cheap efficient melee deterrent, with flamer-overwatch, acid blood, ''and'' the ability to explode.

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* {{W40Kkeyword|Jormungandr}} can pop them out using their hive-fleet specific strategem The Enemy Below as well... but with those 60mm bases (and a Trygon or squad of Raveners as well) you're going to need a lot of real-estate or it's going to be a tight fit.
**Alternative take: Don't forget that these chuck out mortal wounds as they die. AND they have a longer range heavy flamer and a power sword. For 25 points. While being tougher then a warrior. They might not be amazing, but they can definitely make your opponent think twice if they get too close.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tyrant Guard</div>

[[Image:Tyrant Guard.jpeg|thumb|left|Flunkies for your Big Evil Monkey]]

Dedicated bodyguards for your Hive Tyrant. These guys can intercept shots meant for your Hive Tyrant, which is great as it keeps your big boss safe that much longer. Should the Tyrant die regardless, they all gain 1 extra attack the turn after it dies. The Guards themselves have a pretty decent profile with 7" movement, WS3+, S/T5, 3 attacks and 3+ armour and can take some great gear.

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*With crushing claws they become decently scary hitting on 4+ with 3 S10 AP-3 DD3 attacks each, giving them tank-wrecking power enough to contest with Carnifexes or Hive Guard and making them a veritable threat against elites that don't have good invulnerable saves. This loadout is costly however at 49 points per model before even considering adrenal glands/toxin sacs (though Hive Guard with impaler cannons are a close 48 points per model).
*''With the wording at the moment, if your Tyrant manages to cast Catalyst upon himself then the Tyrant will first get his normal save, then his Catalyst save, and finally his 2+ guard save.'' This may be FAQed in the future.
*Unfortunately rather cost-inefficient considering their lack of the {{W40Kkeyword|character}} keyword, and easily killed, because aside from wounds, they're actually rather fragile. Could be decent on a Walkrant.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Venomthrope</div>

[[Image:VenomthropeGW.jpeg|thumb|left|Yeah, you saw these guys in your hentai too]]

These are mainly used to keep the rest of your swarm safe. Enemy units take a -1 To Hit penalty when shooting at any infantry that hugs Venomthropes, so keep them in the middle of your swarm, preferably behind some Monsters, since the Venomthropes aren't characters and so if the opponent can draw line of sight to these rather tall models, he can hit them.

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*The codex changed the aura to a 6" and can shroud Monsters if they have 3 models in a unit, with 6 models in a unit it becomes 9". So the choice between Venomthropes and Malanthropes depends on your taste. Malanthropes can survive longer, give re-rolls when they wipe out a unit, and are Synapse (especially important in a Leviathan detachment) but their range is miniscule, Venomthropes can be easily shot at, but have higher damage output and longer range in addition to the ability to use the Feeder Tendrils stratagem for farming CPs.

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{| class="wikitable"
|'''[[Zoanthrope|Zoanthropes]]''': Once the Tyranids' premier tank killers, the Zoanthropes took a couple of hits this time. First, you now have to field them in units of 3 or more. Second, their ability to blow holes the size of a Predator Tank into a Predator Tank has been reduced to them shooting out a slightly stronger ''Smite'' at a longer range, though the power boost only applies in units of 4 or more 'thropes (although 2d3 or 3+d3 mortal wounds isn't to be sneezed at). That said, in units of 4 or more, they can also cast a second power, which makes them much more useful, but also forces you to play at least 4 or 5 of them.
|
|}

====Special Characters====

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Deathleaper</div>

[[Image:Deathleaper.jpeg|thumb|left|A boi that will kill the guy you spent 6 months painting]]

Deathleaper remains a character killer, even more so in an edition where characters can no longer hide inside large units to avoid him.

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*His '''superior chameleonic skin''' forces enemies to subtract 2 from their hit rolls. That includes ranged AND melee. That is quite a debuff, especially for characters that normally hit on 3+. In addition, he adds 2 instead of 1 while in cover, giving him a cool 3+ anytime he's hiding.
*'''It's after me!''' is now a re-roll to hit and to wound in the fight phase on a character chosen at the start of the game. He no longer has his amazing deployment rules and is now forced to deploy like a Lictor, that is, 9" away from all enemies. This severely neuters what was a pretty good harassing unit or character killer. He got two wounds to compensate so... yay? Still, his -2 to hit, re-roll charge on the turn he pops up, and 6 wounds mean he's well suited to tying up irritating heavy weapons squads or big angry tanks; denying them a round or two of shooting can pay for him straight up regardless of whether he actually kills anything.
**Do watch out for "Heroic Intervention" and similar abilities when doing this. Deathleaper won't be tying up much of anything apart from his own innards if a CC monster like Abaddon is within 3" of whatever you want not to shoot.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">The Red Terror</div>

[[Image:The Red Terror.jpeg|thumb|left|]]

A super Ravener to make your other Raveners hit better. If you want to take him, make sure he has some of his buddies with him. Ideally, you want an Trygon Prime to spread Synapse around, the Red Terror, at least 6 Raveners and something to come out of the Trygon's tunnel to pull this off. If you have all these pieces together, you can do some [[/d/|unspeakable things]] to your opponent's army with extremely accurate Raveners that don't run ever.
**He is also the 2nd cheapest elite slot unit (lictors are cheapest), and his '''Swallow Whole''' ability allows him to devour any model, so long as you can roll equal to or greater than that model's maximum wound characteristic with a d6. Since he is so cheap, and a very fast character with deep-strike, you can use him as an assassin to instakill a character or elite infantry model, ignoring any saves or feel-no-pains! Though you want to have 1 CP at hand in case you need to reroll the Swallow. With some luck, he can even swallow an Ad-Mech [[Ironstrider Ballistarius|chicken walker]]! [[Anal Circumference|(Best not to dwell on the logistics of that one...)]]

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*It is easy to overlook The Red Terror's '''swallow whole''' rule, as it needs all 4 of its attacks to hit before even rolling to see if it goes through. Made worse considering it only has 4 attacks and the tail slap doesn't count. However, then you realise it hits on 2+ and has 2 pairs of scything talons, giving it 1 more attack and allows it to re-roll 1s to hit. Hitting 4 out of 5 attacks on 2+ re-rolling 1s looks very possible, then roll 2+ to instantly take out a pesky Terminator or roll a 6 and swallow a whole Broadside. '''Bon appetit!'''
**An additional note on this rule: it specifies rolling above the target's wound characteristic i.e. their maximum number of wounds, not current number of wounds, so the dreams of The Red Terror scoffing down a wounded Chimera will sadly never be realized. It may be a Tyranid, but it has the decency to at least open its lunch box. With an exception for Ork Warbuggies (and Eldar Vyper/Venoms), those are slim enough to fit into The Red Terror's diet.
***An additional additional note: swallow whole specifies the attacks must come from his scything talons. This means that if he somehow gets in a position where he can't use his talons due to a specific rule or some-such (i.e. against Jain Zar), [[fail|'''he cannot swallow''']].
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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===Fast Attack===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Gargoyle</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Gargoyle.jpeg|thumb|left|A bat with a gun]]

Have blinding venom which gives them some use in combat. They have finally been acknowledged as flyers so they can make use of being able to fall back and shoot, even if it's only with Fleshborers. Squads of 20 or more get to re-roll 1s when shooting like termagants. Seem a bit pricey.
* Not mentioning being able to deep strike in? Pretty useful for putting 10-30 fast moving (12" base) blobs of dakka harassers into someone's back-line (if they'll fit!) or into the path of a major threat heading towards your back-line. Combined with the Endless Swarm 2CP stratagem, Gargoyles are a good bet for a late-game line breaker VP, or to tie-up fire support units, you know, the usual back-end mischief (ooooooooohhhhh).
* It could be better as Gargs only have a single attack each, but Blinding Venom makes them a useful hammer to an enemy unit already in combat vs the anvil of another unit. No overwatch, Gargs charge in and even 10 attacks should just about kill 1 MEq which is all you need for that unit in the gribbly sammich to get -1 To Hit, stacking the odds even more in your favour. Cackle as that power fist or thunder hammer flails about needing 5s to hit.
* Also dropped in price, so the MSU is now just 50pts.

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Nothing to see here.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Mucolid Spores</div>

[[Image:Mucolid.jpeg|thumb|left|Big. Floaty. Goes Boom]]

Beefed up Spore mines. 20 points a pop nets you T3 W3 6+ Sv that behave exactly as Spore mines, but when they explode on a roll of 2 - 5 they inflict D3 mortal wounds or D6 on a roll of 6. Decent for trolling flyers, as all mines in this edition have the {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} keyword.

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Nothing here. Move along

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Ravener</div>

[[Image:Ravener Model.jpeg|thumb|left|Sword Snake]]

Goddammit Raveners we've wanted to like you for about six editions now and we may finally have our chance. Their two biggest weaknesses ie. cost and no frags have both been fixed. They're cheap now, real cheap; (<30 if you don't dick about with Devourers or Deathspitters, why are you doing that?) and swing first on the charge. Additionally they can still deep strike and attempt to charge that turn, but the real beans of these guys is the sheer number of attacks they put out. With Spinefists and 2 x Talons they're putting out NINE attacks a turn. '''NINE'''. Granted the Spinefists are only hitting on 4+ at S3 but the 5 CC attacks are S4 and hitting on 3+ with re-rolling 1s. For two more points and the sacrifice of one attack you can have rending claws instead; DO THIS. Marines will have to save a LOT of wounds on 4+ even before the inevitable rends. A full squad of Raveners with claws and Spinefists comes in at around what a Landraider used to be, which isn't bad when they're getting a 4+ in cover vs small arms fire and they're no longer subject to instant death vs S8+.

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*Comparison with Shrikes - Both move 12" but Raveners don't fly, so Shrikes are slightly better at bouncing around and can charge flying things. Shrikes also have the better save (4+ vs 5+ and being Synaptic they'll never have to worry about morale making half the unit run away, but then again on the other hand Raveners can pop up and try to charge the turn they arrive; at most they'll have to sit for a turn before getting into combat whereas Shrikes are perhaps more likely to get tagged a couple of times on the way in. Shrikes have more flexibility in weapons loadout (no Boneswords for Raveners) and on the whole are probably about 25% better, but they're also 25% costlier. Point for point, 9 Raveners is about 7 Shrikes, at which point the former is somewhat better against infantry while the latter is somewhat better against vehicles. ''On balance, if you're already taking foot Warriors for combat and are having them pop up with a Trygon, take Raveners to accompany them. If you're fielding neither Warriors or Raveners, the Shrikes are a good compromise between the two''.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Sky Slasher Swarm</div>

[[Image:Sky Slasher Swarm.jpeg|thumb|left|Like the worms in your ears, but with wings]]

Skyslashers have been around for 3 editions now and have never been any good. That hasn't changed but now at least they're as amusing as hell so that has to count for something. They're Swarms and with the Fly rule they ignore terrain. With cover changing they're never getting better than a 5+ save but now can't be doubled out by S6+ and unless your opponent turns d3/d6 weapons on them they're not going to be evaporating big chunks of these in a hurry (moral victory to you sir/ma'am if your opponent starts turning Missile Launchers or Lascannons from your big bugs to these goons). They've also lost Hammer of Wrath, but nobody ever used them anyway so that's hardly a loss. Additionally they only hit on 5+ now which ''sucks in so many ways'' it's probably fair on balance to say that they have (somehow) been nerfed. ''On the other hand at 11 points base'' they've become significantly cheaper and for 2 more points a base (ie an 18 point investment for a full sized unit) they can all have S2 pistols that fire FOUR shots each. Given that pistols can now be fired in or into combat, '''that's a hilarious 8 papercuts a turn per base'''. Picture the look on your opponent's face when they get shot with 36 BS2 S2 pistols then charged with what amounts under 7th ed thinking to 36 WS1 S3 attacks; any kill is a victory and will annoy the hell out of them. In terms of mathhammer, this unit will land 4 wounds vs MEQ in the shooting phase and another 4 in the assault phase so it all takes is a little bad rolling and half a squad of the ''Emperor's finest'' have had their faces eaten off by low flying and extremely hostile alien piranhas. '''And don't forget that since they fly, they can jump out and shoot again in their own turn.''' They cost very little and while they're unlikely to be particularly effective they're going to be worth huge laughs. Make sure to talk about how funny it will be if they take the last wound off a very big and very damaged centrepiece like a Land Raider or a Wraithknight; your opponent will kill it himself before he lets that happen.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Spore Mines</div>

[[Image:Spore Mines.jpeg|thumb|left|Small. Floaty. Smelly. Goes Boom]]

3" move. 7+ save. Purchased units can "Float Down" (Deep Strike). They cause between 0 and D3 mortal wounds if there is ever an enemy model within 3". Do not award VPs, cannot claim objectives. In Matched Play, they and Mucolid Spores do not detract from reinforcement points if they're created by other units (e.g. Sporocysts, Biovores, etc.).

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No text!

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Shrike</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Shrike.jpeg|thumb|left|A warrior on uncle's crack cocaine]]

Now with 4+ saves so they're carbon copies of warriors plus wings. Sexy as hell, they've gone from being blasted away by Bolters to standing up to Heavy Bolters, Autocannons, and even being able to shrug off a few Krak missiles with some luck. Also one of the scariest things a soldier can face. Sure Gargoyles are a lot swarmier and Flyrants and such are bigger and deadlier, but at least you can watch gargoyles drop and monsters stay in the sky or don't come in large numbers. Shrikes are in that perfect combination of deadly and swarmy and flying to be downright terrifying. If groups of 9 foot tall monsters with huge swords that cleave through armour like butter and acid spitting <strike>machineguns</strike> auto-shotguns descending on you doesn't make you shit your pants then you clearly [[Space Marine|are brain dead]]. Since they can obviously {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}, give them double Boneswords and sicc them after enemy fliers, which they are allowed to assault. Sure, that flier can fall back and still shoot, so you won't be able to tarpit it, but with AP-2 and a whole bunch of attacks after your shooting, you will put quite a dent into them before they can fly away.

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The rest have text.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Dimacharon</div>

[[Image:Dimachaeron.jpeg|thumb|left|Fun fact: This boi can munch as much as a pothead, but still stay this skinny]]

Degrading M, WS and A. The Dimachaeron's new incarnation is interesting to say the least. He's sporting 6 attacks that are kinda hindered by -2 AP, but his Sickle Claws make for a decent anti-tank weapons if you really have to wreck some Russes around. He also no longer have access to FnP, but now every time he '''NOMS''' some {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} pleb he gets himself 5++ for the rest of the game, which is really nice considering the amount of plasma your opponent will spew at him. Oh, and his signature skill, '''Leaper killer''', is really trollworthy - whenever the Dimachaeron moves, you do not count any vertical distances it moves against the total it may travel. And he moves '''[[Awesome|12 WAFFLING INCHES]]'''. Use Swarmy's "Hive commander on him" or the Metabolic Overdrive stratagem and watch your opponent's face as the Big Bad Lictor literally crossed half the board on turn 1.

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*FAQ alert: the grasping talons and thorax weapon has been FAQ'd. When you roll a 6+ to hit with this weapon, the strength value changes from 7 to <strike>12</strike> 14 (it's Sx2; weapon's S, not the unit's) and the damage increases from 1 to d6. <3

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Meiotic Spores</div>

[[Image:Meiotic Spores.jpg|thumb|left|Boom. Skibbedi pap-pap]]

Boy, isn't this edition cruel to the poor mines. They no longer produce ordinary spores upon death, and in terms of gameplay, Meiotic Spores are just -1 T, W and Sv Mucolid Spores. Did i mention that min size squad costs 54 points? Avoid x3.

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*However these spores come down before the movement phase 12" away from enemy units, this allows them to move then charge giving them only a 9" charge compared to the other spores 12" charges.
**Alternate take: Why charge when you can use metabolic overdrive, move, run, then overdrive with hive fleet kraken - is almost a guaranteed turn 1 bomb.

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===Flyer===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Harpy</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Harpy.jpeg|thumb|left|Bombs your opponent's backline like during a good day in Vietnam]]

Now costs the same points as the Crone as of CA2019, but trades with flier hunting buffs for more reliable shooting and the ability to carpet bomb your opponent with spore mines. Its decent damage output is hampered by your average tyranid BS, although its Stranglethorn Cannons gain +1 to hit against units of 10 or more models (ideal for an infantry meta, whereas the Heavy Venom Cannons are better suited towards vehicle hunting).

Their ability to drop spore mines is, however, useful, and a valuable source of mortal wounds. The Harpy works best as a backline harasser, helping you deal with those pesky Predators/Basilisk/Onagers.

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* Be very careful when using the Harpy. They're fragile and will get shot down if focused, so use your ability to charge to your advantage; use it to protect your bae from being shot down by forcing your opponent to fall back with their backline unit (or if you're lucky: units).
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Hive Crone</div>

[[Image:Hive Crone.jpeg|thumb|left|A biiig harpy, but without the bombs]]

Crones got a bit of a boost in this edition, simply because there's more stuff that can {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}, and their Tentaclids re-roll failed to hit rolls against units with this keyword. The Tentaclids also deal mortal wounds against vehicles on a 4+ and you're going to need those as the damned things are only at Strength 5. Low Toughness and a disappointing save make the Crone a '''maybe''' rather than a ''must'', but still- probably worth taking 2 if you want to ruin a Tau player's day. Degrading M, WS and BS. Just like the Harpy, the Hive Crone is not {{W40kKeyword|HARD TO HIT}} and suffers the same fate.

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*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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===Heavy Support===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Biovore</div>

[[Image:Biovore8E.jpeg|thumb|left|Be careful of your opponents flipping the table]]

They don't need to roll to wound, they just skip to rolling Mortal Wounds damage roll: 1d6; 0 on a 1, 1 on 2-5, 1d3 (average 2) on a 6, for a total average of 1 per hit. If you miss, you get to place a Spore Mine that the opponent ''has'' to walk around, due to the magical 1" barrier all models have during the Movement phase, and can optionally charge into to eat the damage (but shouldn't). Sometimes missing with them is better than hitting to create a temporary wall or to get that surround on a transport, so consider moving and using instinctive behaviour to stack negative hit modifiers.

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*No, really. You can damage LAND RAIDERS AND TITANS on a 2+, and even if you "miss", the spore mine will not only wound them anyway, but can block forward movement if you manage to get two off and space them 4" apart, since they can't move within 1" of enemies. '''[[That Guy|Just spam Biovores and Malanthropes and you win.]]'''
*Consider this. 3 squads of Biovores is 150 points, and is not only intrinsically immune to Morale, but also doesn't mind Instinctive Behaviour, since it's so often better to miss anyway. On a triple miss, those 150 points add 30 points to your army without using reinforcement points. Bear in mind you don't actually need to charge with them and eat overwatch; you just need to be within 3" at the end of the charge phase, so the mines can get there via regular movement. There's only so much incidental firepower the average person will be able to throw at them while managing other threats, so as turns pass and their guns are either killed or tied up, you'll have more of these building up and slamming mortal wounds into special snowflakes with increasing regularity. Now, also consider that you can't target characters unless they're the closest unit, but you can target (and miss) the unit next to them, then place the Mines as close as possible to said character. ''If you want to be a troll, move the Biovores first'' while outside of Synapse, to increase their odds of placing a Spore Mine to 5/6 (5 or less).
**Make sure to clarify how Biovores work with your opponent if you're using the new beta deep strike rules. These rules, by RAW, would apply to any spore mines created by the biovore's ability, which means you may not be able to produce spore mines outside of your deployment zone turn one. ''This is incredibly stupid, and you probably shouldn't play with anyone who insists on it'', but be aware.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Carnifex</div>

[[Image:Carnifex.jpg|thumb|left|Classic Crabby lad]]

The old mainstay had its ups and downs. Currently it is an extremely cheap to field model (as in: you-can-field-a-Carnifex-for-fewer-points-than-a-unit-of-Warriors) with tonnes of versatility. Stat-wise it's pretty much a Dreadnought, and is far more customizable than the rotting tuna cans. Living Battering Ram lets it add +1 to hit when it charges, in addition to dealing 1 mortal wound on a 4+. The options given back to the 'Fex can suit them into any role you want<strike>, and sometimes even better at it than the monsters made for the job (looking at you, Haruspex)</strike>. There are multiple ways to take one, but ''always'' take the Spore Cysts, so your Carnifex will survive long enough to do some work. As a result, ''never'' take Spine Banks. More details follow below, but you should also be avoiding the bio-plasma and the chitin thorns. Here are a few common ways to build a 'Fex:

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*Dakkafex: Ignore the Deathspitters and the Stranglethorn; even if you think you have a use-case for them, you should be looking at a Thornback for that (see below). Take 4 Devourers with Brainleech Worms (7 each) for 24 S6 shots, Enhanced Senses for 25% more shots hitting (usually 16, rather than 12), and, of course, Spore Cysts. That's 115 points for generally landing 16 S6 shots. While usually not the best idea, the Monstrous Acid Maw could be useful if you don't want your Dakkafex to be completely helpless in melee, especially since the Devourers only have an 18 inch range.
*Meleefex: Ignore the Maw. It looks good (and it is), but you've got enough melee weapons already - and the crushing claws, which usually only boost you from wounding on 5+ to wounding on 3+ against enemy heavies, at a relatively severe accuracy penalty (''unless you charge, in which case you're fine''). Take the Tusks and keep the basic two pairs of monstrous scything talons, Spore Cysts to live long enough to get there. Naturally, you will want adrenal glands and toxin sacs, and you should grab a bone mace tail. Assuming you charge - ''which you need to'' - that's A6 WS3+r1 S6 AP-3 D3 (D4 on wound rolls of 6+) and one WS3 S8 AP-1 D1d3 (D1d3+1 on wound rolls of 6+), plus half a mortal wound, which will wreck the majority of heavy infantry or light vehicle/monster opponents, like Rhinos, all for 111 points.
*Hybrid: While it may be tempting to take pure dakka or melee carnifexes, the more optimal loadouts revolve around a mix of the two as they can be far more points efficient in smaller numbers (2-3 ish) by being able to shoot as they stomp towards the nearest tin can, whereas with pure melee, you are risking the carnifex being blown away before it makes back a single point. There are three main builds worth considering, the 2nd of which are helped immensely by OOE. The first is MST, Devourers, and Enhanced Senses, allowing you to advance up the table while picking of light chaff and providing another immediate target your opponent has to deal with. The second is Monstrous Crushing Claws, Devourers, and Enhanced Senses or Tusks, which when paired with OOE, transforms them into tank blenders by now hitting on 3s with 4 Strength 12 attacks on the charge while still contributing in the opening turns of the battle. Additionally, swapping enhanced senses for tusks, gives a better chance at wrecking tanks in one go. The third option is MCC, HVC, and Enhanced Senses which featured in the winning Nid list at the London GT in 2018. While not the most optimal choice, especially how the meta has shifted, it can still pack a punch both at range and in combat.

[[Image:Screamer Killer.jpeg|thumb|left|Stabby Crabby lad]]

'''Screamer-Killer''': The classic Carnifex, now with its own datasheet. Two pairs of Scything Talons, and a free Bio-Plasmic Scream that's Assault d6, S7 AP-4, and 18" range that gives it something to mess up MEQs as it moves into charging distance. In addition to Living Battering Ram, it makes enemy units within 8" add 1 to any Morale tests they take. As one more bonus, they can take Spore Cysts, which penalises the hit rolls of opponents shooting at them by -1. It doesn't stack with a Venomthrope, but those shouldn't be following Carnifexes into melee to start with.
*Do consider that Screamer Killers are more expensive than regular Carnifex (90 points instead of 67) for the Bio-Plasmic Scream and the special rule. It cannot take a tail nor Tusks. As stated above, a regular Carnifex with a melee build is around 111 points, if you take all the Biomorphs listed above, while a Screamer Killer will cost 124 and it won't have the additional attacks from the Tusks and the tail. Make sure to use that Bio-Plasmic scream on something if you take it, since that's its main draw.

[[Image:Thornback.jpeg|thumb|left|Shooty Crabby lad]]

'''Thornback''': A more specialised anti-infantry version of the Dakkafex, the Thornback makes up for its comparative weakness in melee combat with several tricks that will deter assaults on it. Thorned Battering Ram lets it inflict d3 mortal wounds rather than the usual 1 when charging {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}, and the compulsory Chitin Thorns further discourage assault troops. More importantly, its attacks ignore the cover bonus to saves for {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}. It starts with monstrous scything talons, which it can and should swap for a Stranglethorn Cannon (unless you have a specific plan to use Thorned Battering Ram a lot, such as against Tau) and two Devourers with Brainleech Worms, which it should be swapping for two Deathspitters with Slimer Maggots, as well as buying Enhanced Senses. The lack of Spore Cysts hurts, but you're still looking at 114 points for typically landing 4 S7 AP-1 D1 and 2.33 S7 AP-1 D2 shots that bypass cover saves on {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}, making it better than a Dakkafex at wiping out TEQs/two-wound models in cover and taking potshots at light vehicles.

[[Image:Stone Crusher Carnifex.jpeg|thumb|left|Pesky Tankybreaky Crabby lab]]

'''Stone-Crusher Carnifex (Forge World)''': The tried and true vehicle (and building) Murder-fex. These babies cost a fair shake more than a stock 'fex or Thornback. Like a Thornback, their mortal wounds from charging increase to 1d3 against their chosen target, which for them is {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}}s or {{W40Kkeyword|buildings}}s, but they don't get +1 to hit from charging. They're also the only breed of 'fex that can't take toxin sacs or adrenal glands, and they use the old Index definitions of the thresher scythe and bone mace (because they are printed directly on the model's datasheet), meaning the scythe is an auto-buy over the mace (you can't field them without tails). It comes with two wrecker claws; you can swap one claw out for a bio-flail ''if you're deliberately trying to make the 'fex worse'', as you'll make it more expensive and worse at melee at the same time (anything you'd attack with the bio-flail, you should be attacking with the scythe).
*Those wrecker claws are absolute beast; for an 18 point pair, you get Sx2 (S12) AP-3 D1d6, ''and'' they'll re-roll both failed hits and failed wounds against {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}}s and {{W40Kkeyword|buildings}}s. You can buy bio-plasma, which really isn't a bad gun, it just won't do much against the targets you'll be trying to shove your Carnifex into. All told, your Stone-Crusher should come out to 105 points with two claws and a scythe and no bio-plasma. You'll be inferior to a stock Fex in most regards (no glands, sacs, cysts, or tusks, no +1 to hit when charging): combining to make your nidzilla a sad panda - but wrecker claws are legitimately strictly better than crushing claws in every possible respect, and your thresher scythe doesn't come with its own attack but ''can be used with all 4 of your stock ones'', letting you fall back on it against hordes to double your swings on average, so this Carnifex can be surprisingly punchy, and if you can get it to the enemy alive, will absolutely wreck some face.
*Note that the [[RAW|specific wording]] of the Wrecking Claws means that a 'fex armed with 2 Wrecking Claws re-rolls hits with it's Tail Weapon as well.
* For Hive Fleets, Jormungandr are a great choice considering now that they get Land Raider armor against shooting. Kraken are good if you want to use a lot of Melee-fex as second-wave charging unit. The others benefit them not as much as these two.
* All in all, an incredibly flexible unit capable of acting either as a melee Dreadnought or somewhere between a Predator or Razorback equivalent. Sacrificing durability for mobility and cheapness.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Exocrine</div>

[[Image:Exocrine.jpg|thumb|left|The Shootiest 'nid lad]]

A massive middle finger for anyone bitching about Tyranid AP being bad. Its gun is 36" Heavy 6 S7 AP-3 D2, and if it doesn't move it gets to shoot twice and add 1 to its 4+ hit rolls. Show those Terminators what scary dakka means when you hose them down with <strike>acid</strike> plasma from 36" away. Even though the Nids now have a real Plasma Cannon, try to avoid long range shootouts with other [[Tau|Plasma]] [[Dark Angels|Spam]] [[Adeptus_Mechanicus|armies]]. Seriously, don't do it, unless you want Heavy 1d3 or worse for the return fire. Like other long range artillery, they need meat shields for their survival.

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*One thing to consider about the Exocrine is that the number of shots he fires and the BS he uses fluctuates wildly and that's even before he starts to degrade through damage. If he stands still and foregoes charging (why would charging be a serious option, though?) he can fire 12 shots at 3+ (well technically he fires six shots twice so two different targets if need be). If he moves, that's 6 shots at a miserable 5+. Not only do you miss out on the +1 to hit for not moving or charging, but you take a -1 to hit penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons, because despite being dedicated to shooting, he lacks the Bio-tank rule of the Tyrannofex which allows it to ignore said penalty. Best used parked in cover at the rear, beside a Malanthrope, meaning he's safely in synapse range with a synaptic 9 wound character who is unlikely to get sniped while shooting directed at him are -1 to hit, and he has a 2+ save for his 12 T8 wounds. Like the Tyrannofex, Kronos will make sure its shots count.
*Blood of Baal introduced a strat that allows the exocrine to move (but not Advance - FAQed!) and still gain the bonuses for standing still at the cost of 1CP, giving our favourite pseudo-plasma gun beast a much needed manoeuvrability boost.
*Blood of Baal also granted Tyranid players some new psychic powers and adaptive physiologies that seem purpose built for Exocrines. Symbiostorm will make your sixes count as two hits (especially nice for Kronos players) and Voracious Ammunition will see any unit that's lost models to your shots take an additional D3 mortal wounds if the unit somehow survived. Bye-bye Terminator squad!
*As of Chapter Approved 2019 it costs 155 points to field one of these fellas. An Exocrine now cost 10 points less than a single squad of 5 Hellblasters, whilst having 6" more range, 2 more shots (at ALL ranges), and doing 2 damage without the overcharge risk!! Sure, no S8, but you can't have everything!

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Mawloc</div>

[[Image:Mawloc.jpeg|thumb|left|"Maw" means mouth, btw]]

The '''Terror of the Deep''' no longer relies on random scatter to go off, meaning it just deep strikes in at >1" away from the enemy and 6" away from your other Deep Striking Mawlocs, then it deals an average of 1.5 mortal wounds to every enemy unit within 2". It can't charge the turn it surfaces, but a gigantic gob worm rising right in the enemy ranks works as a neat [[distraction carnifex|distraction]]. You end up paying 104 points (105 if you buy a Toxinspike, or even more if you spring for the Adrenal Glands or Toxin Sacs) for 1 mouth attack which is anti-tank, then 8 anti-infantry attacks from its talons, then 1 anti-infantry attack from the tail, ''but not on the same turn you sprang up'', meaning if you want to do anything with it other than spring it up as a shiny red ball to get shot, you want to be {{W40Kkeyword|Kraken}}, so you can Fall Back from the inevitable tarpitting, and still charge (nothing you do will let the Mawloc Burrow out of a tarpit). Perhaps its best ability is simply Deep Striking so close to the enemy, which means you can reliably shove it onto an objective much of the time.

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*Mawlocs are very cheap and the submerge ability allows for some flexibility. You can deploy them normally, allowing you to qualify for the 50% rule, and then burrow and join in the fun. It's not a full null-deployment, but it's a tool that depends on your opponent. The ability to shut down a strong shooting model for a turn via charging will also pay dividends. Of course, they excel at harassing a whole group of units, forcing tough choices. The ability to appear anywhere on the board post turn three is also powerful in objective-based games. They cost very little, have an unique ability in 40K, and come in at less than ten points a wound. By focusing on the Strength of the Mawloc, you don't have to buy a Trygon and another unit to do backfield harassment; they do this role on a budget.
**One highly overlooked ability of the Mawloc is to block off corridors. The model is on a 120 by 90 mm base. If you deep-strike it into a street or other corridor, the opening would need to be almost ten inches wide for Space Marines to scoot past it (120mm base + 25mm to either side because enemies cannot move within an inch of it + 32mm for the base of the space marine). While it will likely get shot off the board the turn after you set it down, it can easily slow down your opponent getting onto an objective by a turn, and in a game that usually only goes for 5 turns, that can swing the game your way quite a bit.
**With the new beta rules, the mawloc might be the worst unit in the codex. It can't arrive in enemy deployment until turn 2, which means it can't charge a backline unit until turn three.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Toxicrine</div>

[[Image:Toxicrine.jpeg|thumb|left|The big daddy of Hentai]]

Nothing is really safe from a Toxicrene. Everything it does re-rolls to Wound, which combined with Strength 7 means that unless you consciously target monsters with it, it will usually wound with all its hits. It has some scary (if low-ranged) shooting and in melee it strikes before everything else and has 6 attacks. The real kicker however is its Hypertoxic Miasma which has a chance of inflicting a mortal wound on every enemy ''model'' within 1" of it.

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* Like the Haruspex, this big old hentai monster suffers from not being durable or fast enough to make it into combat, and it's degradation chart really hampers it even if he does.
** With the new Codex the Toxicrene hits on 3+ before degradation and has an AP of -2 with his tentacles, which improves his close combat damage quite considerably.
* Chapter Approved 2019 has further reduced the cost of a Toxicrene to 125 points. They're now barely more expensive than a well-equipped Carnifex and look a lot scarier, which might make them a nice distraction. They also look like a nice place to put the "Murderous Size" adaptive physiology, since that would make their hentai tentacles Strength 8, AP -3, Damage D3+1. Since they can already re-roll wounds that could make them into a genuine threat to vehicles.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Trygon</div>

[[Image:TrygonGW.jpeg|thumb|left|Scares babies and Space Marines alike]]

With three sets of Massive Scything Talons (which have no purpose since you only get one extra attack as per the FAQ) and six attacks, the Trygon is once again a proper murder machine.
* Its Subterranean Assault ability lets it appear anywhere on the table, more than 9" away from the nearest enemy, at the end of the movement phase.

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*You have the option of dragging along a unit of troops, but they also have to be placed more than 9" away from the nearest enemy, which means assault is a somewhat iffy proposition, even if you plan on spending command points for re-rolls and have Adrenal Glands. Or just place them in a Behemoth detachment to pretty much guarantee the charge. Jormungandr's Stratagem can open up far more potential for this, since it will allow the Trygon to bring along two units instead of one.
*''However'', if you pop the Trygon up sideways, just shy of 12" away from your enemy, you can place ~25 devilgants able to shoot in the same direction around it. If you do this, you are required to bring a bucket of dice with you.
'''Trygon Prime''': A slightly meaner Trygon bawss. [[Hive Mind|Wields the Tyranid Matrix of leadership]] and has the Character keyword, so you can give him relics and warlord traits.
* Starts equipped with Biostatic Rattle which adds +1 to Morale rolls for any unit taking unsaved wounds from it.
* Facing off against Leman Russes, Eldar tanks, or other T7 W10+ Sv3+ units? Take a Trygon Prime! Psychic Awakening has a few fun toys for him to play with. Kit it out with Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs. Give it the Murderous Size Adaptive Physiology trait. Deep strike 9" away from the target. Spend 1 CP for rolling your charge distance on 3D6-drop the lowest, and then add +1" from your glands. Now that you're in, watch your opponent's eyes well up as you attack with 7 S8 AP-4 D6+1Dmg (D6+2Dmg on wound rolls of 6+), averaging 17 damage. That'll outright kill most things that don't have an invul or a good FnP. If you need more insurance (or if you're dealing with a T8 Repulsor) spend 2 more CP and re-roll all failed wound rolls. Now you're pumping out a whopping 23dmg (19dmg against T8 = dead Repulsor)! If you're worried about taking Overwatch, you can always put the Trygon in a detachment with the custom Hive trait that gives you a 4+ FnP against Overwatch.
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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Tyrannofex</div>

[[Image:Tyranno.jpg|thumb|left|You point at a target and it's gone with this beasty]]

Versatile fire support that might actually be seen with other loadouts than Acid Spray this edition, now that it can move and fire heavy weapons with no penalty, but can shoot twice if it stands still, so you still won't move it if you can help it. It carries a compulsory Stinger Salvo for 8 points, which combines nicely with the Spray or Hive for clearing out infantry.
* Can be equipped to deal with a variety of enemies:
** The '''Acid Spray''''s strength degrades as the Tyrannofex is wounded, but with 7 shots hitting compared to the Hive's usual of 10, better AP and Damage mean that against almost all targets, it's a better gun than the Hive on multi-wound targets or anything with an armor save.

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** The '''Fleshborer Hive''' is better against big hordes that don't rely on saves (like Horrors), and can be buffed with Scorch Bugs to wound MEQs and GEQs on 2s, but it's not useful in remotely as many contexts as the Acid Spray.
** The '''Rupture Cannon''' costs a fuckton, driving the dude's cost up to 230 points, but it will fuck up very heavy targets with 2x3 S10 lascannon-equivalent shots. Taking it with Kronos' adaptation all but guarantees that tanks will die.
*(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018)

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===Fortification===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Sporocyst</div>

[[Image:Sporocyst.jpeg|thumb|left|Not sure if we copied Starcraft, or Starcraft copied us]]

Degrading Str and A. Can shoot its weapons even when in combat, which is useful, seeing as it can't move. Set up more then 9" away from enemy models just before the first turn, has synapse itself if in synapse range, and spews out spore mines or mucolid spores (as an actual weapon, so if there're no targets within 9" you can't make any splodey things). If you're not paying points, then go all Barbed Stranglers for 5D6 S5 AP-1 shots at 36"(with BS 4+ against units of more than 10+ models).

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*Amusing in objective missions, given that it "deploys" anywhere outside 9" of an enemy unit after deployment is finished but before T1 starts - pop the thing on a vacant objective your opponent is likely to try to claim and hurl Mucolid Spore Mines at them when they try. With 12 wounds it's unlikely to evaporate to small arms, and with the ability to deal d3 to d6 mortal wounds, plus a hail of ill-aimed gunfire to back that up, your opponent won't be claiming that objective with a couple of otherwise useless incidental dollies, although, like all your big bugs, it will go down in a screaming heap if isolated and eating heavy weapons fire.
*The codex gave them a point reduction and the ability to spawn spore mines ''in addition'' to firing them, and you don't have to pay reinforcement points to do so either. Left alone they can fill the board with spores. Hope you have enough models!
*As you are going to have to take a separate detachment to get even 1 of the guys anyway, remember that you must have the same {{W40kKeyword|Hive Fleet}} keyword as both the {{W40kKeyword|Synapse}} unit and the rest of your army in order to get any benefit.

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===Lords of War===

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Barbed Hierodule</div>

[[Image:Barbed Hierodule.jpeg|thumb|left| Doesn't look much like the other 'nids]]

As the better Hierodule in the previous edition this guy is still no pushover. Having 22W, T8, and a 3+, this guy is pretty tough to kill. As with all of our big bugs, it has a degrading movement, BS, and attacks. He is armed with 2 Bio-cannons and Massive Scything Talons. The cannons are Heavy 6 (which doesn't matter as he's a {{W40kKeyword|TITANIC}} {{W40kKeyword|MONSTER}}) S8, AP-2, and D3 damage at BS 4+ to start. All in all, this guy is a pretty strong ranged unit. Like all scything talons, his re-roll 1s to hit, and with S10, AP-3 and D6 Damage at WS4+, this ranged monstrosity can hold his own in CC.
*Both versions of the Hierodule have a special rule called Agile, which is simply Turbo-boost from most Biker units: they can advance a flat 6 inches instead of rolling. In addition, they roll 3d6 and drop the lowest when charging. This makes them remarkably quick when they need to be.

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*In terms of both cost (monetary and point wise) and stats, the Heirodules are very comparable to the imperial knight in 8th (especially with the latter getting a price hike). The Barbed Hierodule will deal more damage than a Knight Paladin at 36", even with the latter's higher BS (though if a Knight Paladin has a Stormspear Rocket Pod, it will inflict 0.33 more hits - and two of its hits will do 1.5 more damage). Regardless, it can give the other patterns a decent run for their money. However, the lack of invulnerable save and having 2 fewer wounds than a Knight can hurt a Hierodule in the long run.
**One way to solve this is to use the new Adaptive Physiologies and give it the Dermic Symbiosis. This would increase its survivability immensely and the doubling wounds characteristic makes it hit harder for longer.
*It can really benefit from hive fleet traits, Behemoth to re-roll his already impressive charge, Leviathan for a nasty 6+++, Jormugandr for the cover and so on. The Hydra one is really the only one wasted on him.
*It takes relatively few missiles or lascannons shots this edition to cause a problem for both Hierodules. They're somewhat less effective as a [[Distraction Carnifex]], which is a shame because that's really what they should be doing.
* At its current points cost you would be better served by running 3x Exocrines instead of 1x Barbed Hierodule (more shots, 1 better BS, higher AP, reliable damage, and 14 more wounds).
**Another alternative (if you really want to save points) is a 6-man unit of Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons. For only 258 points, they have the same 12 shots, 1 better BS, same strength, AP, and damage. What's better is that their shots ignore cover, they can fire twice for 2CP, and they don't need line of sight. So, you can keep them hidden from enemy fire while they cause their mayhem.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Scythed Hierodule</div>

[[Image:Scythed Hierodule.jpeg|thumb|left|Hierodule with more pointy ends. And looks like an oversized Zergling.]]

The melee cousin of the Barbed Hierodule and cheaper by 30 points. Trades the bio cannons for an extra set of talons and a bio acid spray. This 8 attack monster wants to be in melee, so get him there quick. Degrades on movement, WS, and attacks.

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*In a fight between an Imperial Knight and a Scythed Hierodule, the entire fight can come down to a single lucky roll of the dice. The Hierodule has twice the number of attacks as a Knight and hit just as often (if not more so), but the Knight's reaper chainsword will deal more damage with each hit, taking huge chunks from your monster. Try and mitigate this by being the first to launch a charge and by softening up a knight before closing for the kill.
* With the Adaptive Physiology: Dermic Symbiosis the Hierodule gains a distinct advantage over a Knight in melee, as it will have a 5++ save while its profile only degrades by 1/2. Stack with Catalyst for a 5+++ FNP. For 3CP the Hierodule can also fight twice, an ability that for Imperial Knights is hard-locked to only one Household. The Hierodule can also easily make a T1 charge with help from the Swarmlord's Hive Commander ability + Onslaught, with the caveat that you will need to clear a path through your opponents screens to get it where it needs to go.

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Hierophant</div>

[[Image:Tyranid Hierophant.jpeg|thumb|left|This thing is kind of like if they made Big E playable.]]

Last edition, this cost nearly half an army's worth of points and was a bitch to take down without an opposing Lord of War. Now it costs over 1800 points and is all kinds of terrifying. Defensively, it's toughness 8, 2+/5++, and most importantly '''50 fucking wounds'''. 38 average shots from lascannon Devastators and it still won't be dead, ''or 3600 lasguns to bring it down''. Cast catalyst and you are almost immortal. Offensively it is almost as terrifying. For ranged - has two Macro 6 Dire biocannons that are S10 (which can double for the price of taking D3 mortal wounds, like Tau units overcharging), AP-2, 2D6 damage (doubled against buildings and other {{W40kKeyword|TITANIC}} units), and a heavy flamer that's pistol 2D6 shots. In Melee it has S10, 6 attacks base (degrades as it takes damage) at (degrading) WS3+, that it can use with Monstrous scything talons that is Sx2 AP-5 D2d6, or lashwhip pods that are SU AP-1 D1 and makes 3 to hit rolls per attack. In conjunction with its 12" base (degrading) movement, ability to walk over enemies, and massive footprint it is a threat anywhere it lays its gaze. It can also pick either incendiary ichor to deal mortal wounds to units that hurt it in melee, or an incubation chamber for transport capacity for troops units and tyrant/hive guard.

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*Note that unlike the Imperial/Chaos Titans and their Void Shields, your invulnerable save doesn't degrade and works against melee attacks as well as shooting attacks. Use this to your advantage, as the Hierophant is the only Titan which has an invulnerability save in prolonged combat, with imperials having no extra save while eldar Titans will lose there’s a turn later after not moving.
*Maths-wise, the Hierophant will outshoot most targets once in range, with ONE of its guns dealing 18.6 wounds against a Warhound, meaning that if you dedicate all of the Hierophant's shooting something, '''it will die''', unless it’s Reaver-size or up (see [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Apocalypse(8E)]] for the numbers).

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<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Harridan</div>

[[Image:HarridanGW.jpeg|thumb|left|It's a dragon]]

A 30 wound flying version of the barbed Hierodule. A titanic transport monster, the harridan has four damage tiers and a degrading M, WS, and BS. It is armed identical to the Barbed Hierodule with two bio-cannons and Massive Scything Talons. It's hyperactive metabolism rule allows it to add d6 to the cannons strength in return for taking d3 mortal wounds. It also retains a vector strike-like ability to deal d3 mortal wounds to a unit it flies over, and with a base move of 30", you can bet it will reach something. Finally, it can also carry 20 gargoyles into battle. Downside is that in a 1k point game, the Harridan will eat 4/5th of your points.

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No text here.

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==Tactics==

*'''Synapse and you''': When choosing synapse units for your army, it's worth considering where they are going to be placed and what role they will fill. If you want an Exocrine providing fire support while your Broodlord and a unit of Genestealers advance, then having a cheap synapse unit (such as a Malanthrope or a bare bones unit of warriors) to babysit him will help keep him on target. Conversely, if you want a fast moving core of Hormagaunts to advance on the enemy, relying on a slow moving unit of Zoanthropes for synapse is asking for trouble. Walking Hive Tyrants, the Swarmlord, Broodlords, Maleceptors, and Trygon Primes can all keep pace with your basic assault units like Hormagaunts and Genestealers. If you intend to run fast units (12" move or higher), such as Raveners, Harpies, Crones, Gargoyles, or Sky-slashers, then adding Shrikes or a winged Hive Tyrant will help you keep up. If you intend to invest in Biovores, Exocrines, Hive Guards, or a Tyrannofex, consider taking a Tervigon (with associated termagant screen), a Malanthrope, or a unit of Zoanthropes. Warriors and Tyranid Primes are your flexible option. Equip them as required, but don't go overboard.
**Don't forget the penalties for being outside of synapse aren't quite as terrifying anymore. Your guys will still run faster than a Slaaneshi daemon high on crack, so you can get around the targeting restrictions with careful unit placement - and some units, like Biovores or, if you're feeling silly, Lictors or Pyrovores, don't have a practical reason to care about Synapse.
*'''Mortal Wound Spam''': Tyranids have a ridiculous number of units that can cause mortal wounds either directly or indirectly. Zoanthropes with Smite, Biovores with spore mines (and the spore mines themselves), Mawlocs, Maleceptors, Venomthropes and Toxicrenes with their miasma, Pyrovores when they die, Harpies dropping spore mines, Hive Guard with shock cannons, Hive Crones with tentaclids, and a Carnifex on the charge, and the death spasms of almost all your monstrous creatures can all pile on mortal wounds. Keep these in mind when facing high durability units.
*'''Brood Brothers''': With the ability to add a detachment of Guards if you ally with GSC a whole new age of sweet, stinky cheese has come upon the bugs. Get an auxiliary detachment or a supreme command detachment if you want your CPs, fill it with two Magos and an Iconbearer then use a spearhead detachment for the Guard (for the Leman Russes with Objective Secured) and another 'specialist' detachment for the Tyranids. Use the Guards for ranged and mobile anti-armor or character assassination, It's a shame they can't take a Doctrine if taken this way, but hey- you can still legally take a Baneblade with your 'Nids.
*'''Anti-Psyker''': It cannot be underestimated how hard Nids shut down Psyker-heavy armies. Shadow in the Warp makes their powers harder to cast and Psychic Scream can force opponents to double-up on a power on different units just to make sure you don't completely make a power unusable and can make one power Psykers literally useless. Kronos turns this up a notch with its Warlord Trait and Stratagem. The Stratagem makes any WC7 power impossible to cast without a +2 bonus at minimum (poor, poor Farseers), and the Warlord Trait means that any casters get the equivalent of Perils upon any failed psychic test. It's a niche protection to be sure, but an important one considering the smite-spam meta.
**I see this mistake a lot, Shadow in the warp do make the Powers harder to cast but it doesn't work on the opponnent's deny ability, it's a different test to take.
*'''Threat Saturation''': Tyranids' main playing style involves LOTS AND LOTS OF SHIT, you should be throwing so much shit that your opponent has no way to deal with them all at once (or at least think they can't). Do they shoot those Carnifexes advancing and threatening to charge? Or the Trygon Prime that just popped out with a brood of Genestealers about to slice his face off? Or maybe the Gaunts that just sprinted from halfway across the board that can tie up their artillery in the next turn? Or..."shit", they say as a Mawloc appears inside their deathstar or the wall of Spore Mines that they ignored is getting a bit too close. Remember the quote how if they militarised every Imperial citizen and if every shot that they make are kill shots then they wouldn't still be enough to kill the Tyranids? Apply that to your battle-plan and harvest those biomass!
** Sadly, Space Marines, and Imperial Guard (maybe more) have the firepower to shoot every one of your units.

===Specific Strategies===
*'''The Genestealer Slingshot''' This is a technique made popular on several competitive lists and is used to get a first-turn charge with Genestealers. You will need the Swarmlord, a broodlord, and a large unit of Genestealers all from Hive Fleet Kraken. This technique will also need 2-3 command points, plus potentially more for rerolls for crucial pyschic powers (The Resonance Barb relic can be key in this regard.)
**First, move and Advance The Swarmlord and Broodlord into the midfield. Then use Metabolic Override to move the Broodlord even further ahead. (remember that you do not re-roll the Advance die when moving a second time. Instead, you use the modified Movement characteristic of the unit from the first time it Advanced.)
**Secondly, use Opportunistic Advance on the Genestealers, but remember to leave at least one model within 6″ of The Swarmlord. In the following Shooting phase, use The Swarmlord’s Hive Commander ability to allow the Genestealers to move and Advance a second time. If needed apply Opportunistic Advance a second time to move even further. At the end ensure that at least one model is within 6″ of the Broodlord for his Brood Telepathy power. Follow this up with Synaptic Lure, Kraken's signature psychic power on your target of choice for re-rolling charge distance. Charge.
**When the dust settles, your genestealers can have moved up to 40″ in a single turn, and will usually be in position to make a very easy charge.

*'''Kronos Gunline''' Take 2-3 Neurothropes across 2-3 Kronos detachments. Equip one with the Resonance Barb relic and the Kronos power Symbiostorm. Now load up with 2-3 Exocrines, 3 hive guard units (two of which with Impaler Cannons, and one with Shock Cannnons), and one 3-man unit of Venomthropes. Two Exocrines should be equipped with Dermic Symbiosis for the 5++ and the padded damage table. Try to max out least two of the Hive Guard squads. Use your remaining points to fill out battalions with tyranid primes and as many min. squads of Termas/Hormas/Rippers as you can. The Impaler Hive Guard should immediately be hidden away in LOS blocking cover. Deploy everything else a little tight to maximize the Venomthropes' -1 to hit bubble. Come the Psychic Phase, you should have little trouble casting Symbiostorm with the Neurothropes' +1 to cast and re-rolling 1s. Take turns giving exploding 6s to your Exos and your Guard, as needed. Remember that your shooters shouldn't be doing much moving. You want to keep your re-roll hits of 1 intact. Let your Tyranid Primes, and your squads of little bugs run around to grab objectives and screen. Reserve a good portion of your CPs for giving an Exocrine +1 dmg, for letting an Exocrine move and shoot as if it stood still, and for letting hive guard shoot twice. Send your Shock Cannon Guard at vehicles of any toughness and dump a bucket of MWs on 'em...possibly twice! Get as much out of the Shock Cannons as you can early, because once your enemy sees how dangerous they are to their vehicles, they will mow them down. Nevertheless, you should have no problem wiping out a few vehicles/monsters/flyers (or at least 1 1/2 knights) per turn. What's more, Exocrines and Hive Guard also excel at killing Primaris EQ infantry. Two things to beware of with this play style: 1. Avoid close combat all together, but especially keep your shooters from getting charged. 2. Be prepared to deal with your enemy's backline shooters, specifically ones that don't need LOS. You can bring a Tyrannocyte to drop your Shock Cannon HG behind enemy lines and bid those Thunderfire Cannons, or Night Spinners goodbye.
*'''Psychic Bomb''' Send 1 neurothrope with 2 groups of zoanthropes, you'll get 23 wounds of ++3 invulnerable flyng, preferible kraken, smite spaming, self healing, 1 rerolling, 2 spell monsters that can easily lock nonflyers in combat, making them unable to shoot or allowing other units to charge without fear of overwatch.
*'''Termagant Bomb''': Simple really, a 30-bug group of Termagants equipped with Devourers (maybe only 20-25 of them) appears from a Trygon tunnel, or a nearby Ravener if you're using the Jormungandr stratagem and want to save points (or if you're insane: Tyrannocyte). That's up to '''180''' S4 shots that will kill any hordes and almost anything else. Best used to clear away bubble wrap for your gribblies to get to the enemies' gooey insides. Somewhat weakened by the nerfs to deep strike, but still a fairly viable strategy. It just isn’t the amazing alpha strike it once was.
*'''Old One Eye and the Tusker Gang''': Get a brood of Carnifexes, and equip them all with dual Scything Talons, bone mace, tusks, adrenal glands, toxin sacs, and spore cysts, and add Old One Eye. This gets you some pretty speedy and deadly second wave melee monsters with 5 (6 after charging) S6 AP-3 D3 (4 on a wound roll of 6) hitting on 2+ rerolling 1s on the charge attacks on top of the mortal wounds they cause just for charging. Kraken recommended for the ability to keep charging the same unit repeatedly, but don't use the stratagem; you want all of them to be in range of OOE's aura. Great for murdering TEQs, and can deal some pretty heavy damage to vehicles. While the Carnifexes themselves aren't that expensive, costing 111 each, OOE ''is'', so it's recommended to use this in high-point games.

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]][[Category:Tyranid]]

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Orks

2026-05-20T15:39:49Z

185.220.100.247:

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This is the [[Warhammer_40,000/7th Edition Tactics|previous Edition's]] Ork "tactics". The [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Orks(8E)|8th Edition Tactics are here]] while [[Warhammer_40,000/6th_Edition_Tactics/Orks|the 6th Edition Tactics are here.]]

==Why Play Orks==
'''''WAAAGH!'''''

Because you want to be a hulking, green, English football hooligan with a machine gun, and you like beating people upside the head with said machine gun, while yelling at the top of your lungs. Joking aside, [[Ork|da Orks]] are one of the easiest armies to learn Warhammer 40k with, and everybody will love you for playing them. Seriously, everyone loves Orks.

But here is a fair warning. Don't let the simple starter games against a friend or a "friendly" store manager fool you; this army is easy to learn but hard to master at a competitive level, and an Ork army is a punch in the wallet once you start racking up models. Most of your units are not point effective and are relatively slow, so you have to plan multiple turns ahead to do anything against armies that can outmaneuver you or just shoot you down before you reach your goal. It has one the [[skub|wonkiest]] codices in the 7th edition of 40k, and don't let any one who sells models convince you otherwise, even if they show you the fancy new Gorkonaut or some other expensive kit that "will win you games".

== Pros and Cons ==
[[File:LOOTEDCARNIFEX.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"It's a right an' proppa [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|Orky distraction]] now, boss!"]]

=== Pros ===

:* '''''WAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''''

:* High Model Count, seriously. You can compete with Tyranids for being able to put the most models on the board and still be effective

:* Scratch Buildability. The fluff for Orks is intentionally setup in such a way that you can get away with basically anything. From [[Awesome|Looted Carnifexes counting as Gorkanauts]], to The Entire Collection of all the Cars from Mad Max rendered as Ork Trukks. You can safely look at every faction in the entire game, and just think of ways you can steal their shit to use as yours.

:* Everyone will love you for playing Orks. Seriously, Ork Players are universally loved at FLGS's for being fun to play against and totally awesome.

:*Lots of awesome and hilarious fluff. While other codices paint Orks in a bad light, Orks, in reality, simply fight to have fun and may or may not ''break various scientific laws'' in order to do it. It also can be interpreted various ways, so making a backstory for your army is easy and fun. In fluff terms, Orks are the one faction with the brightest future. There's only war? Thanks, Boss.
:* What with the Ork codex being decidely competitively subpar at the moment (more on that below), it is rather easy to find Ork armies and bits at cheap prices.

:* Tying in with the point below, Orks have perhaps the best heavy support options of any faction in the game, and their fast attack options aren't bad either. Only two units are overpriced (and even then, only one is dramatically overpriced.) and all of them have very good usage; Killa Kans are the bane of Tau Fire Warriors (and really any gunline army), Mek Gunz are a very cheap way to get a lot of anti-vehicle, anti-air, and anti-infantry firepower on the board, and Lootas are 14 point psuedo-autocannons (you have to roll to determine the number of shots each time, and can be 1-3 per unit). That's not even mentioning ork warbikers, deffkoptas, dakkajets, or Gorkonauts/Morkonauts.

:*Da big gunz neva tire! Outside of the Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment the Orks have the most artillery type units in the game and if you like this type of unit then the orks are the only way to play outside of forge world.

:*As mentioned previously, Orks are very easy to learn (but not that easy to master). Far less special rules than most armies, basic Troops and HQs, and simple tactics: run Boyz up to enemy, krump, and go home. On the flip side, there's a huge variety of units and playstyles that players can use. Trukk Shoota Boyz, Nob Bikerz, Looted Wagon/Loota gunline, among many others. However, when you step into the optimised competitive category, your boyz start to struggle and it's up to your generalship as da big kunnin' boss to smash all da overbuffed umiez. Ye better be a sneaky kommando.

:*Fun to paint with a lot of variety and actually a good army to learn how to paint if you want to learn to paint well: lots of big muscles to learn how to paint flesh, lots of big orky heads to learn how to paint faces, lots of opportunities to paint different materials like leather and scratched / rusted / damaged metal. Even in an army that's composed mostly of boyz, you'll have a lot of opportunities to pick a central color scheme but largely paint squad by squad and individual by individual as you want without having one model that sticks out, because they're all intentionally ragtag. Compare that to a squad of marines where you decided to paint one git's shoulder pads a different shade of red...

=== Cons ===

:* Extremely point inefficient. The rest of the tactica goes into better detail about this, but every model in the entire codex costs almost double the points of similar models and options in other codices, and yet performs less. A great example of this is the '''[http://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dice_9d2.png?4872cc Random Strength Guns, costing 50 points, and being roughly equivalent to a plasma cannon that costs only 15.]'''. Furthermore, all of your heavy weapons suffer dramatically from a piss-poor Ballistic Skill, meaning the intrinsic value they add to your list is drastically lower than they would be in the hands of something like a Space Marine.

:* Among the worst codices in the entire game. This is for a variety of reasons: lack of low AP weapons outside of Power Klaws, overpriced units (Flash Gits), many of your units will die by being breathed on and only a single now outdated and discontinued IA, leaving nearly all our forgeworld models as paperweights or at best proxies. Statlines and special rules have hardly changed even as their worth has diminished incredibly. Note: Furious Charge used to give +1 initiative as well as +1 strength.

:* High model count. Even if you try to keep your numbers low, you have to have at least 40+ Boyz in order to stay competitive. Lots of time and effort must be put into painting and putting them together like Imperial Guard and Chaos Daemons. Plus it's a total hassle to put them on the table and move them, basically making Trukks an Battlewagons a must.

:*Special characters are not special at all. Mad Dok and Grukk are underwhelming, while specialized characters like Zagstruk or Badrukk are basically buffed Nobs in their respective units. Vanilla Warboss or Big Mek usually suffice for whatever needs you have.

==Sources==

Orks are one of the armies that have a lot of sources to choose from, far more than just their current codex. This is great since it offers more flexibility and a great way for players to make their own unique army, but this also has its downsides. The biggest one is that is is sometimes hard to find the most current rules for the models; the other is that it is easy to miss out on some great rules, or even use the older rules by mistake. This section is here to help you find the things that you need. The sources listed also make great inspiration for scratch building and converting interesting-sounding units.

Here is a table of each of the sources, also used in the (____)'s for reference keeping. They are sorted chronologically (newest on top):

<u>In print</u>

*'''Codex Orks 7th edition''' - The current official Codex for Orks, and the first Codex to drop in 7th Edition.
*'''WAAAGH Ghazghkull''' - Released together with the 7th Ork Codex, which it supplements. Offers different Warlord traits, formations, equipment, and a slightly altered Mob Rule, among other things.

**'''WAAAGH Ghazghkull Re-release:''' Differs from the older book by replacing the force organization chart with a decurion-like detachment instead. Also, alters the wording on some rules to allow for army flexibility. As per the new FAQ, the older edition of WAAAGH! Ghazghkull's unique FOC and Green Tide formations are still usable and valid even though they were not reprinted in the updated decurion edition.
*'''White Dwarf 21 (21st June 2014)''' - Released towards the beginning of the 7th edition. Contains the entry for the Looted Wagon that was taken out of the 7th Edition Ork Codex. The issue is no longer be available in stores, but digital copies can be found on Black Library or floating around the web. The Looted Wagon dataslate was released for free on the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page on June 30th.

*'''Sanctus Reach: Hour of the Wolf''' - A starter set and a campaign that featured Orks, Ork missions, and Ork formations.

*'''Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh!'''

*'''Sanctus Reach: Stormclaw (Box Set)'''

*'''Escalation''' - It is still for sale but all rules in it are outdated. The reason why this is mentioned is because FW released a update for it with relevant rules in it.

*'''Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse 2013''' - GW's most recent Apocalypse book ( notice it was written in 6th but is still for sale ) The Ork units in this book are split between the normal entries and the campaign part of the book (Warzone Armageddon). It's really easy to miss the second part, but it contains some interesting units, such as the Famous Big Mek Stompa.

*'''Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2013''' - Contains some updated units, mostly from Imperial Armour 8. The go-to book to field an Ork Superheavy. Not to be confused with the standard Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse book, above.
*'''Imperial Armour Aeronautica''' - Contains some very niche Ork units, as well as the Flakka Dakka Trukk.

<u>Out of print</u>, these books are no longer for sale and are all released in previous editions. They are mentioned because some players and tournaments make use of them

*'''6th Edition Dread Mob Update''' - While the Dread Mob list is apparently dead and will no longer be updated, the units within the update for it (eg Gun Trukks, Grot Tanks) can still be freely taken within a Codex: Orks army. Find it free on the Forgeworld site here [https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/fw_site/fw_pdfs/Warhammer_40000/Ork_Dread_Mob_Army_List_Update.pdf]. The ITC still uses this document, and has written its own errata for it. They call it a FAQ but it involves major rule updates and some unusual rule interpretations, including the famous discount Stompa.

*'''Imperial Armour 8''' - Written for the 5th edition. It featured all FW Ork models and even had rules for things that did not have models. This used to be the alternative source for Ork rules. It is no longer for sale. Some of the units have been updated in more recent publications, but many have not. Like many other Imperial Armour books, it was awesome.

==General Rules==
*''' 'Ere We Go:''' Orks may re-roll one die when determining charge distance. This is a very good rule, potentially changing a 2" charge to a 7" one. Literally every unit in the Codex besides vehicles and Grots have this rule. There is a table demonstrating your odds of rolling at least a target number with and without the rule, assuming you, like a sane person, always choose to reroll the smaller die when you fail to make a charge. If you simply want to roll as high as possible, re-roll the smaller die if and only if the smaller die is 3 or less; this will increase your average charge distance from 7.5" to 8.139" (8 and 5/36 inches).

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
|+ Charge Distances Comparison
! Rule !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12
|-
! Base
| 100.00% || 97.22% || 91.67% || 83.33% || 72.22% || 58.33% || 41.67% || 27.78% || 16.67% || 08.33% || 02.78%
|-
! 'Ere We Go
| 100.00% || 99.54% || 98.15% || 94.91% || 89.35% || 80.56% || 68.06% || 52.31% || 35.65% || 19.91% || 07.41%
|}

* '''Mob Rule: ''' No longer does having more Boyz necessarily make them less likely to run away, if you fail a ''morale'' or ''pinning'' check you get to roll another D6.
**'''1 Born to Fight:'''' The unit fails the check as normal, unless it is locked in combat in which case it counts as passing instead. This result can lead to a single resilient boy staying stuck in against even a bloodthirster, but is obviously useless when getting shot at. Waaagh Ghazghkull has a way to avoid rolling this, at the price of making the other options ''worse''.
**'''2-3 Breaking Heads:''' If the unit contains a character (or independent character) it takes some extra S4 hits as the boss knocks lumps out of his buddies, but then the unit counts as passing the check. If there is no character, the squad fails the original morale check as normal. If there are only characters, then they auto-pass without doling out wounds.
**'''4+ Squabble:''' If the unit contains 10 or more models, the unit knocks lumps out of itself as if it contained a character; otherwise, they fail the check as normal.
***'''Note:''' Although the codex says "4-6," it may as well read "4+" due to the FAQ ruling for Waaagh Ghazgkull that "rolls above 6 count as 6."

*'''Waaagh!''' Available on Warbosses and Ghazghkull only, but can be given to others with the Prophet of the Waaagh! Warlord Trait. Once per game, all Orks in your army may declare Assaults even on the turn that they run. Not terribly bad, since it will allow your army to close the gap surprisingly quickly.

==Powers of da Waaagh!==

:;Overview
::Available to [[Weirdboy|Weirdboyz]]. Naturally, every Ork psychic power except for two is meant to destroy things loudly and spectacularly, and two of those five are AP 2; the Powers of da Waaagh are not subtle. This makes using Weirdboys fairly predictable if you're planning on running them as "another gun" to round out your army. Da Jump is fairly gimmicky, but Warpath can give a mob that extra boost right before it charges.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
|+ Powers of da Waaagh!
! Number !! Name !! Type !! Range !! Target !! Description !! Charges
|-
! data-sort-value=0 | Primaris !! Frazzle
| Witchfire || 24 || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=24|strength=6|ap=3|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Blast}} A reliable Marine killer. Strictly better than [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Broodmind_.28Genestealer_Cults.29|Psionic Blast]], at +1S compared to it, and therefore also strictly better than [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Librarius.2FSinistrum|The Emperor's Wrath]], at +1S and +6" range.
| 1
|-
! 1 !! 'Eadbanger
| Witchfire (Focused) (Profileless) || 24 || Model
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=24|strength=-|ap=2|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Ignores Cover}} Model hit must pass a Toughness test or suffer a wound with no armour or cover saves allowed. [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Biomancy|Haemorrhage]] and [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Sanguinary_.28Blood_Angels.29|Blood Boil]] both inflict *two* tests at 18" (and Blood Boil ignores invuln saves), followed by propagated damage, and [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Plague_.28Nurgle.29|Rancid Visitation]] only hits at 12" but is a Nova (all enemy units in range are hit, can hit units locked in combat) and propagates damage; the benefit of 'Eadbanger is that those other powers are WC2 and this one is WC1, but its output is much less than half as good. Try to avoid getting this power if you can; Frazzle will serve you much better, in particular.
| 1
|-
! 2 !! Warpath
| Blessing || Self || Unit
| All models in the Weirdboy's unit that have the [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Orks#General_Rules|'Ere We Go!]] special rule gain +1 Attack.
| 1
|-
! 3 !! Da Jump
| Blessing || Self || Unit
| Deep Strike the Weirdboy's unit anywhere. Strictly worse than [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101#Sanctic|Gate of Infinity]]; if you roll doubles on scatter, your unit can only Snap Fire for a turn. Given standard Ork accuracy, this is not all that bad of a problem, as long as you don't need to fire blasts. Use at your own peril. Great at setting up Killbolt or Power Vomit, if you roll one of them.
| 2
|-
! 4 !! Killbolt
| Witchfire || 18 || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=18|strength=10|ap=2|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Beam}} For killing tanks or things in straight lines...no other special rules needed to make this nastier.
| 2
|-
! 5 !! Power Vomit
| Witchfire || Template || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=Template|strength=7|ap=2|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Template}} A psychic flamer. Quite powerful.
| 2
|-
! 6 !! Da Krunch
| Witchfire || 24 || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=24|strength=2D6|ap=4|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Large Blast, Barrage}} The mighty foot of Gork (or possibly Mork) descends from the heavens in the form of a large blast barrage. If the Strength rolled is higher than 10, the foot comes down again...and again...until less than 10 Strength is rolled or the target is dead.
| 2
|}

==Warlord Traits==
#'''Prophet of the Waaagh!:''' The Warlord gains the Waaagh! special rule. If the Warlord already has the Waaagh! special rule then, in addition to the usual effects, all friendly models with the ’Ere We Go! special rule gain the Fearless special rule when he calls a Waaagh! until the start of their next turn. Ghazghkull, understandingly, comes standard with this.
#'''Bellowing Tyrant:''' The Warlord, and all friendly units with the Orks Faction within 12″ of him, re-roll failed Morale checks and Pinning tests. Zagstruk and Grukk have this.
#'''Like a Thunderbolt!:''' The Warlord, and all friendly units with the Orks Faction within 12″ of him, can re-roll all the dice when determining Run moves or charge range.
#'''Brutal but Kunnin’:''' The Warlord can re-roll one failed To Hit or To Wound roll each turn. Mad Dok Grotsnik comes with this.
#'''Kunnin’ but Brutal:''' The Warlord can re-roll one failed armour or invulnerable saving throw each turn. Not as good as Brutal but Kunnin' since you will never lack To Hit and To Wound rolls but you will always lack Invulnerable saves. Not too bad if you got a mega-boss, he'll be that much harder to kill. Kaptin Badrukk has this as standard (fitting, as he has both a 3+ save and a 5+ invo save).
#'''Might is Right:''' The Warlord receives +1 to the Strength characteristic on his profile. Strangely useless in a lot of situations, since +1 Strength isn't doing much good when your Power Klaw is already making you S10, and if you don't have a Warboss HQ, then you have one that should be avoiding the front lines. Great for an 'eadwoppa boss tho.

==Wing Leaders==
In Death from the Skies' second edition, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to roll on the Wing Leader chart for each of your flier wings. This is a free upgrade for all wings. With Orks you'll use the Mekboss Wing Leaders table if the Ork Wing Leader pilots a Wazbom Blastajet, and the Flyboss table if the leader pilots anything else.

'''Mekboss Wing Leaders table'''
#'''Supa-rangefinda''' - +6" for the flyer's weapons. Nice one, Dakka even further.
#'''More Killier!''' - +1 weapon Strength. not life-saver, but not bad either.
#'''More Dakka!''' - Boss plane's weapons fire one more shot (except for one use stuffs). A dual-shooting Tellyport Mega Blasta is great. A triple shooting Blasta in the WAAGH's turn is even better.

'''Flyboss Wing Leaders table'''
#'''Ablative Armour Plates''' - +2 armour until the first glancing/penetrating hit. Usually anti-air has no problem punching it straight through, but offers some protection against massed bolter or pulse rifle fire.
#'''Extra shooty''' - roll on the Mekboss table. Contrary to the Mekboy's stuffs, who got already high-powered weapons, this can give hilarious results: S7 supa shootas, S6 firebombz and skorcha missiles, S8 boombombz. Or dakkajets with 15 shots on Waagh turn.
#'''Blessings of Gork (or Possibly Mork)''' - Ignore Hull-point loss on a 5-6. Not a big deal, since you'll still suffer the effects of a penetrating hit, but might keep your plane in the air a bit longer.

==Tactical Objectives==
Being the first Codex made for 7E, the Ork Codex gets several Tactical Objectives available only for Orks in the Maelstrom of War missions. These can replace the normal Capture & Control Tactical Objectives generated by the other armies.

===Codex: Orks===
*'''11 - More Dakka:''' Win 1 VP for destroying a unit by shooting.
*'''12 - Get 'Em Boss!:''' 1 VP when the Warlord kills an enemy in a challenge. If he kills an enemy Warlord, he wins d3 VP.
*'''13 - Stomp 'Em Boyz!:'''1 VP if you kill an enemy unit during assault. If you kill at least 3, you get d3 VP. If you kill more than 6 enemies, you get d3+3 VP.
*'''14 - More Speed! Go Fasta!''' 1 VP if three Ork units Turbo-Boost, Flat-Out, or run 6".
*'''15 - Grab Da Loot!:''' Roll a d6. If you control the objective marker equal to that result, you get 1 VP. (i.e. roll a 5 on the d6, control Objective #5, get 1 VP)
*'''16 - 'Ere We Go! WAAAGH!:''' Win 1 VP if you charged an enemy over 10" before modifiers. If you do this 3 times, you get d3 VP.

These are fun and fluffy, but not really good when you look at them. Controlling an objective can be done by any unit in any turn, while some of these are very situational.

===Waaagh! Ghazghkull===
*'''11 - Get 'em Lad! Waaaagh!:''' Win 1 VP if at least three of your units made successful charges during your turn.
*'''12 - '''Da bigger dey are...:''' Mark the enemy model with the most wounds/hullpoints remaining, gain one VP if you kill it.
*'''13 - Kunnin' and Brutal:''' Choose an objective and the enemy chose one of their units, or chose an enemy unit an the opponent chooses a objective, if you control/destroy one of them during your turn, gain 1 VP, if you control/destroy both, gain d3 VP.
*'''14 - Dead kunnin':''' Choose and write down an objective number, tell you opponent the number or lie, if you capture it and lied gain 1 VP, d3VP for the truth.
*'''15 - Dead Brutal:''' Chose a number between 1 and 6, if you kill that many enemy units in a single turn, gain that many VP.
*'''16 - Show 'em whos' da Boss!:''' Win 1 VP if you destroy an enemy character in a challenge.

==Orky Know-wots (Wargear and Vehicle Equipment)==
===Basic Weaponry===
'''Shooty'''
*'''Slugga''' - S4 AP6, 12" pistol. Nothing special. Mostly there to give an extra attack.
*'''Shoota''' - Same profile as a slugga but it's 18" and Assault 2. Pathetic in small numbers because of Ork BS2, but when fired en masse by a whole mob of Boyz it can cause a hilarious amount of wounds.
*'''Big Shoota''' - S5 AP5, 36", Assault 3. Basically an Orky heavy bolter that can be taken as a special weapon in some units or mounted on vehicles. Just hope you're not just pissing in the wind when you fire it.
*'''Rokkit Launcha''' - A S8 AP3 potshot, special weapon for most units or vehicles and standard for Tankbustas. Best when fired in groups.
*'''Skorcha''' - Basically a heavy flamer, but we're not complaining
*'''Kombi-weapons''' - Ten points nets you a shoota with a one-use rokkit or skorcha, available for Nob units and most HQs. Better than a regular shoota, at least.
*'''Kustom-mega Weapons''' - Orky plasma weapons at S8 instead of S7, available to Meks and a few other units. Comes in slugga (plasma pistol), blasta (plasma gun but Assault 1 and not Rapid Fire), and kannon (plasma kannon). Remember that you still have Gets Hot!, so you're just as likely to kill yourself as you are to hit.
'''Killy'''
*'''Choppa''' - Orky chainsword. Nothing new, but right n'propa.
*'''Big Choppa''' - Available to Nobs and HQs, you get a giant Two-Handed S+2 AP5 axe. Because, y'know, an axe the size of <s>three people swung around by a giant green hooligan can't even cut through Scout armor</s> <span style='color:green;font-size:110%'> Oi! It ain't da size uv tree orkz! 'Oo yoo kallin' peepul?</span>
*'''Power Klaw''' - Your ace in the hole and the weapon you give to your Nobs and Warboss at nearly every opportunity. It's just a Power Fist at Sx2 AP2, Unwieldy, Specialist Weapon, but it's one of your few sources of AP2 weaponry. If your opponent isn't swamped by the loads of attacks that came before, then your Nob with a Power Klaw will typically be the one that cleans up the rest.
*'''Killsaw''' - Only available to Meks and Meganobz. A chainfist (Power Klaw w/ Armorbane) in saw-form that can be surprisingly effective at mincing vehicles given the higher number of attacks Orks tend to get.

===Unit upgrades===
*'''Ammo Runt''' - Allows model to reroll one To Hit shooting attack. Nifty on a Big Mek or Flash Gitz
*'''Attack Squig''' - Lets model reroll a single melee attack. Nice on a Warboss and not much else. But very expensive and obsolete with Da Lukky Stikk.
*'''Bosspoles''' - Bosspoles now allow you to re-roll the D6 result of Mob Rule, though Breaking Heads result cannot be rerolled and will always make a Bosspole bearer resolve the Breaking of the Heads thereof. Nigh on obligatory.
*'''Cybork Body''' - FnP (6+). Does not stack with painboyz so it's kinda worthless.
*'''Gitfinda''' - If a model with this doesn't move, they get BS3 until the end of the turn. Neat little perk for stationary Meks. Note, Slow And Purposeful doesn't allow you to get this sweet bs3. You need to stay in place regardless.
**Note that the above definition is exactly correct; RAW, it sets BS to 3, rather than applying a modifier. As set values happen after all other modifiers, this means a Gitfinda renders you immune to other modifiers, such as several [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Psychic_101|maledictions]] that subtract a value from your BS.
***While the sequencing rules will help tremendously, expect some [[skub|disagreement]] over the result of multiple modifiers that set value, as usual for Gee Dubs.
**Likewise, if you manage to scrounge up an additive or multiplicative BS buff from somewhere, a Gitfinda will turn it off if used; note that the Gitfinda effect is compulsory on any model that has one.
*'''Warbike''' - Twin-linked Dakkaguns and all the rules that normal bikes have. including +1 toughness. Turbo-boosting gives it +1 to cover, which can be combined with Jinking to get an amazing 3+ cover save. It's not like TL Snap Shots really hurt with an Ork's BS 2 anyway! Best thing ever.

===Vehicle Upgrades===
*''' 'Ard Case''' For keeping backfield shooty wagons with killkannons alive. Makes the vehicle no longer open-topped. Used to reperesent your looted rhino.
*'''Boarding Plank''' - If a unit disembarks an open-topped vehicle with this, they get +2 to their charge distance. Very good but costs accordingly.
*'''Reinforced Ram''' - Allows re-rolling difficult terrain.
*'''Deffrolla''' - For Battlewagons only. Serves the same purpose as the Reinforced Ram but in addition deals out d3 S10 AP4 hits ''if'' the tank shocked unit makes a Death or Glory attack ''and'' fails to destroy the wagon. Pass on it. Nowhere near its old glory. You're better off getting a reinforced ram and wreckin' ball to try and take out enemy armour close range.
*'''Extra Armour''' - Even a grot knows what this is! Great on anything that can't afford to spend a turn sitting still. Though, it might be more effective to get a back-up truck for the points spent on this upgrade.
*'''Grabbin' Klaw''' - Allows the vehicle to prevent a single enemy vehicle within 2" of the Klaw from moving during their movement phase on a roll of 4+. Flyers and Skimmers may not be targets, however. Used exclusively by the Battlewagon at a meager 5 points, it's worth taking.
*'''Grot Rigger''' - These grots now confer It Will Not Die, which definitely adds to survival for vehicles. Fantastic on walkers...if only they didn't suck so hard to begin with.
*'''Stikkbomb Chukkas''' - Unit is treated as having stikkbombs when disembarking. Very meh. Note that it counts as a weapon, so the vehicle can fire a stikk bomm at the enemy.
*'''Red Paint Job''' - +1 to Flat-Out movement, which is always a plus. Or useless. Depends on how you look at it.
*'''Wreckin' Ball''' - A surprise 3" Assault d3 S9 AP4 attack. Gimmicky, but fun if you actually wreck a vehicle with it.

===Gifts of Gork & Mork===

They are unique, and a model can take only one gift of Gork and Mork. (There seems to be some discussion about this. Don't delete it, read your rulebook again and go to the talk page[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Talk:Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Orks%287E%29#Relics_can_take_only_one_discussion] to discuss why you think this has to be something else if you want to change it )

*'''Da Finkin Cap:''' Give your warlord an additional Warlord trait from the Strategic table. With two WTs being unsuitable for Orks, and a third only being useful on certain maps, it's probably for the best to ignore this.
**'''Alternative take''' Are you nuts? This thing is great. Strategic traits are da best. You probably have a reroll on it, and it is dirt cheap. Can really be a huge buff for the entire army for just 10 pts!
*'''Gazbag's Blitzbike:''' Bigger bike with S6 AP3 Twin-Linked guns (read the text above the stat line), can turbo boost 18", granting the rider +1 cover save while turbo-boosting. Now you can make your own [[Wazdakka Gutsmek]]!
*'''Da Lucky Stikk:''' Like a bigger Waaagh banner but does not stack with one. Grants +1 WS to the unit, and allows the bearer to re-roll any to-hits, to-wounds, or saves that he likes! Unfortunately if he fails any three of these rolls (in any combination) in a single turn, the bearer drops down dead and is removed as a casualty. Hilarious for beefing up Slugga and Shoota boy WS, since the HQ carrying this can be attached to literally any infantry unit. And can make your own 2+ re-rollable mega-character. Or 3+ re-rollable cover biker character.
*'''Headwoppa's Killchoppa:''' Strength +2, AP5, Rending. To wound rolls of 6 cause instant death (in addition to AP2 from rending). It's pretty goddamn vicious in ways only Genestealers know. However, you're better off with a regular PK most of the time. But still not bad and looks cool.
**'''Alternative take''' This thing is great for taking on monstrous creatures. Get your warboss sat on a warbike and put this in his hands then let him loose towards tervigon and the like and take advantage of our glorious (and surprising to opponents) initiative 4. Get a lucky 6 or two and you can chop their heads off and mount them to your bike before they've even noticed you're there.
*'''Da Fixer Upperz:''' Big Meks only; [[Fail|Though the rules say Meks can take it, Meks can't take Gifts of Gork and Mork]]. Like the Mek's tools, but fixes stuff on 3+, which comes into play especially when involving heavy stuff like Stompas, Orkanauts and Battle Wagons.
*'''Da Dead Shiny Shoota:''' Assault 6, Twin-Linked Shoota at a knock down price of only 5 points! If you're not taking any of the pretty damn good selection above this is obligatory. Its downside is that any misses (after the TL reroll) must be rolled again, any 1s hit the closest friendly unit (not your own) within 6", so basically no downside, but a right proper '''ORKY''' one.

==Unit Analysis==
===HQ===
*'''Warboss:''' Any respectable Ork army should have one of these bad boys. The Warboss is a monster in close combat and he's also a tough nut to crack with T5 (T6 on a bike) and 3 wounds. He has a huge wargear selection as well and can fulfill a few different roles in any Ork army. Remember that you need a model with the WAAAGH! special rule to actually be able to call one. The boss has two options for weapon upgrades: The Power Klaw and the Big Choppa. Take the Klaw. Attacks at S10 AP2 are just way too good to pass up. Just keep in mind that you will be attacking last, so remember that before you go running into a challenge only to be killed before you can rip him apart. The Big Choppa ''could'' be a decent alternative, as S8 attacks on the charge is nothing to scoff at and it costing only five points, but apparently a gigantic chainsaw axe being swung by a very pissed-off hulking green brute can't go through decent armour unless it's the chaos berzerker version.. The thing's only S +2, AP 5. Compared to Klaw's ded killy S x2 AP 2.
**'Eadwoppa's Killchoppa finds it's home here, as getting to use the full initiative of a warboss with the potentials for rending and instant-death might make it a viable alternative over the standard klaw. If you know your opponent has lots of Monstrous Creatures, 'eadwoppas truly shines.
**Mega armor grants a 2+ armor save to the boss and gives him a Power Klaw, Twin-Linked Shoota, and Slow and Purposeful, all for 40 points. Definitely worth the cost. He does great with a unit of either Nobz or Meganobz in a Battlewagon, leading a huge mob of Shoota Boyz on foot in a Green Tide army, or letting a squad of 15 Lootas fire at full BS while moving with Slow and Purposeful while tanking any hits. Combined with Da Lucky Stikk (and only using it to re-roll armour saves) the bearer is effectively invincible to non AP2 weaponry - chances of failing a 2+ save with a re-roll are 1 in 36.

*'''Big Mek:''' A versatile HQ less suited to direct combat, the Big Mek's role in an army is largely defined by one of two upgrades he's able to take, the Shokk Attack Gun or Kustom Force-Field, described below. While he's no slouch in close combat (he's a Nob with respect to his stat-line), his expensive upgrades usually mean you should keep him away from a direct fight if possible. Note that he'll have only one Close-Combat Weapon, but can take the Big Choppa for a meager 5 points.
**'''Shokk Attack Gun''' - Hoo boy, this thing is a ''[[skub|doozy.]]'' We have an Ordinance pieplate at AP2 where you have to roll 2d6 for the Strength. However, if you roll a double you'll have to consult a table to see what happens, most of the results being pretty bad. But overall it's not a bad weapon; an AP2 pieplate at any strength is nothing to scoff at, and at even S4 its capable of evaporating Space Marines. Recommened to be paired with either Grots as cheap meatshields or Lootas for a pretty nasty firing line.
::: '''1,1:''' The Big Mek dies instantly i.e remove the model as a casualty. Better luck next time, ya grot.
::: '''2,2:''' Your opponent chooses the target of the blast. Assume LoS and range still count towards this and that your opponent isn't [[That Guy]].
::: '''3,3:''' Resolve the shot on the nearest unit, be it yours or an enemy. Let's hope it just hits a pile of Gretchin instead of your juicy Boyz.
::: '''4,4:''' The blast becomes a small one and is resolved at S6, AP6. ''[[Meme|Pathetic]]''
::: '''5,5:''' No shot is fired, rather your Big Mek zooms to the target in question and is considered locked in combat. While unintentional and very detrimental in the long run, if your Big Mek has a Power Klaw it can be a hilarious way to tie up a unit and whiddle them down, granted he doesn't die in the first Assault phase.
::: '''5,6:''' Only non-double result. The shot is considered S10, but only the model under the template hole is hit.
::: '''6,6:''' ''Awww yeah.'' The shot has the [[Awesome|Vortex]] rule. As long as it doesn't scatter, whatever poor bastards that will be hit cease to exist. The blast remains in play for a while and scatters randomly, so keep in mind that it'll be a huge environmental hazard later on if you wish to charge forward.
**'''Kustom Force Field''' - Now changed to a flat 5++ invulnerable save against shooting for every model within 6" of the Big Mek. What makes this utterly invaluable is that this invulnerable save transfers over to a transport if the Mek is inside it. Keep in mind this is the ONLY invulnerable save (well, except Badrukk's armour plate) in the Ork codex, and of fucking course it only works against shooting attacks.
**Taking Mega Armor on a Big Mek really depends on personal taste; do you want a Big Mek in the back lobbing artillery or do you want him on the front lines? Keep in mind you can stack saves and make him pretty bulky: with KFF you have a 2+ armor save and 5++ against shooting. As with the Mega Armored Warboss, you can confer Slow and Purposeful onto Lootas or Mek Gunz, making them move and fire at full BS. And with the KFF, they all now have a Daemon save against shooting.
***'''Tellyport Blasta''' - If your Big Mek does have Mega Armour, he can take one of these, which is a shoulder mounted S8, AP2 Blast weapon that causes instant death or auto penetrating hits on any to-wound rolls of 6. However the range is the same as a standard pistol- one bad scatter (bear in mind the standard Orky BS2) and you could be blasting your own Orks. Slow and Purposeful justifies this as you can freely move and shoot it. Just remember that if you've already invested in Mega Armour and this thing for a Big Mek, you might as well give him three Ammo Runts to make sure your gambit pays off.

*'''Weirdboy:''' Weirdboyz are your Psyker. Clocking in at 45 points for a Nob with a Force Staff, the Weirdboy is fairly cheap. Furthermore, they have a special rule where if they're within 12" of 10 or more Orks, they generate an additional Warp Charge, yet should they fail to successfully manifest a power that turn, they take an S2 hit...So even before you upgrade, 45 points for 2 Warp Charge seems really good, and yet despite this, the Weirdboy is **Not** a priority HQ choice for many Ork armies, unlike in other Psykers. This is because they don't have access to any of the base rulebook disciplines besides the Daemonology ones (Sanctic and Malefic), they compete slotwise with Painboyz, Meks and the Warboss, and they don't have any actual options available to them other than upgrading to ML 2. Most notably, this means they cannot take a Bike, which severely limits their own mobility and ability to get into ideal positions to use their deadliest powers. If you really want to use Weirdboyz, the simplest option is to just run them as an HQ-filler/"Squad Support" weapon. 2 dice plus whatever you get from the D6 from harnessing warp should be enough to toss a Eadbanger here and there, while not slowing down the Mob from running or doing their own thing.

*'''Painboy:''' Yup, he's an HQ now, and there was much [[skub|rejoicing.]] Priced 50 points for a Feel No Pain in a squad of your choice. Can take a Warbike to keep up with those faster squads and give him something to shoot, considering he has no ranged weapons. This is the reason why you should take the Ork Horde detachment: to snag a Painboy in that third HQ slot.

*'''Mekboy'''- Basic Mekboys can still be taken as free upgrades to loota/burna units. They can now also be taken by themselves as a free HQ slot for every other you have filled, and must be attached to a unit. Still a very, very cheap way to repair vehicles with the added advantage of being more plentiful, especially since they can equip Grot Oilers. You can throw it in a mob of Boyz to keep your Nob out of dangerous challenges. Come standard with a Choppa and Slugga, but can take an absurd amount of weaponry: Kustom Mega-sluggas and Blastas, Rokkits, Kombi-weapons, and a Kill-saw. A Kill-saw can make the Mek a nasty little thorn to suck up challenges and hopefully chew some holes in some vehicles.
**Note: The Mek is still an HQ slot, and thus could be taken as your mandatory HQ for a CAD. Though you would not get the option for another Mek, this can be useful for any "second detachment" where you wish to increase your slots and wish to save points.

====Special Characters====
*'''Kaptin Badrukk''' - The Flash Git Kaptin that we've had a model for for a VERY long time, but until now had no unit to stick him with. He's basically a Nob with +1 WS and +1 attacks. He doesn't have any other special rules unique to himself other than his wargear, which comes with the standard Slugga/Choppa configuration, along with scavenged Power Armour and force field bitz for the 3+/5++ saves. He also has a Kustom Ogryn Ripper gun that is essentially an Assault 3 Plasma gun. He's not bad, being survivable allowing him to reroll his saves from Gets Hot, and if Gitfinda isn't doing the trick, a few Ammo Runts can help.
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' The jolly Kaptin' is sadly overcosted for what he does. A Warboss with a Eavy Choppa, Gitfinda and Gazbag puts out the same amount of shots at the same but twin-linked, and costs less points to boot! Sure, Badrukk is AP 2 instead of 3, but the Boss is tougher, more mobile, can provide board presence, and there are no real units worth attaching Badrukk to. The only other AP 2 shooting in the codex generally prefers to stay in the Ork player's backfield, while Badrukk costs the same as an entire unit of Flash Gitz alone. Plus, to choose Badrukk as a Warlord means forfeiting the ability to Waaagh, which is just plain un-Orky.

*'''Mad Dok Grotsnik''' - Grotsnik is an interesting character. His profile is -1 Strength away from being a Warboss and his '''One Scalpel Short of a Medpack''' rule got better, so he no longer runs about the battlefield in circles. Instead, he makes a unit Fearless and grants them Rampage, on top of Feel No Pain from the Dok's Tools. Despite that and a nice T5, he's only I3 (Power Klaw is Unwieldy anyway) and 4+ armor, so any schmuck with a power maul could kill him. ''Do not'' try to put him in a challenge with a beefed up captain or chaos lord. He will get smashed, guaranteed. He's mostly meant as a pseudo-[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] and melee anvil with a pack of Nobz.
**While One Scalpel Short of a Medpack all sounds cool on paper, ''Rampage'' only activates when the squad is outnumbered and this is only really going to happen to Orks when fighting against Guardsmen or Nid blobs or if he joins Nobz. If the Orks find themselves outnumbered by other forces it's typically a sign that the combat has not gone very well for them already and they should expect to see more boyz drop, so therefore being Fearless with Rampage guarantees an [[Awesome|Epic]] Last Stand in a small unit with a fair bit of bite. IF you take him, make sure you dedicate that unit to getting stuck in, as he can't leave a unit he's joined to until it's entirely dead.
***Can be devastating if you pair him with a barebones unit of Meganobz. You'll number at four guys, whereas most infantry units have five or more guys. Unless you're running up against MCs, you'll be outnumbered and get Rampage like 75% of the time. And on the charge, you'll have 21-29 S9 AP2 attacks if you're outnumbered. Kit them out with killsaws for maximum damage and to compensate for those times when you're not outnumbered, for a maximum of 24-32(!) attacks on a charge with Rampage. Plus Fearless and FNP keeps those MANz on the table much longer.
*'''Boss Zagstruk''' - Boss Zagstruk is a "cheap" HQ, costing only slightly more than a naked Warboss. With a Rokkit Pack and Eavy Armor, his unique power is that his Hammer of Wrath attacks are S8 AP 2; this mainly exists to punish enemy armies where characters are forced to accept Challenges. In practice, Zagstruk is a backfield vehicle hunter and charge supporter, able to assume a low model profile before using the Waaagh to benefit from a large threat range; six Strength 6 attacks are a reasonable threat vs most vehicles. That said, Zagstruk is generally not seen compared to using the second HQ slot for a Big Mek or Painboy, though he has utility as an "assassin."
*'''Grukk the Face-Rippa (Stormclaw):''' Now the only footslogging Warboss special character since Zagstruk and Badrukk are both just big Nobs ''(pun intended)''. Grukk isn't half bad though. As for a generic character with equivalent gear it'll cost you 119 points, for the extra 11 points Grukk gets ''true'' (5+) FnP and his power klaw has the ''Shred'' USR and his warlord trait is fixed as Bellowing Tyrant which helps his army deal with the now more perilous morale checks. Grukk would be a staple in games of 1000 pts or below, if only he wasn't a rare model... which means make your own, scour EBay, or look for Chinese recastors. GW now has a pack with this guy and pack of Nobz for about $50, not bad.

*'''Zhadsnark 'Da Rippa' (Forge World):''' People used to call this guy the better Wazdakka, now he's the ONLY biking special character left. He has twin Big Shootas, a power klaw at normal initiative (Space Marine no less!) and he can choose to Turbo Boost ''and then Tank Shock'' a unit (just don't try to figure out how this works vs vehicles). He also gets to take warbikers as troops, no surprise this is one of the only character that still does this. But, he comes with a catch: No Deff Dreads, Kans, or Big Gunz (Big gunz are no longer in the codex Mek gunz are...) This means he must be used as a close combat shock unit, and needs a warbiker or nob-biker retinue. His lack of an any kind of decent save (he has a T-shirt save) or Eternal Warrior makes, and his high point cost makes him risky for competitive play. His rules are never updated to 7th so he does not have the 'ere we go special rule. Read your rulebook again to know just how sad this is. '''Note that this is the ONLY way to still get bike troops.'''
** Alternative take: though his armour is paper, he has the Jink special rule, which, along with the Skilled Rider USR, offers a nice, 3+ cover save. Not something to rely on against Tau, and Ignore Cover weaponry, but with a unit of scouting warbikes, immune to dangerous terrain test, and rolling in 3+ cover can be a nasty surprise.

*'''Mek Boss Buzgob (Forge World):''' Hoo boy, its Buzzgob. The poster boy of the entire IA volume, this dude is full of win but has not aged well overall. First off he is more expensive then a warboss. His entire statline is better than a Big Mek. He comes with 'eavy Armor, a Big Choppa, and a Bosspole from the start. He also runs around in an orky Full Tech Harness, the Mek Arms. They give him D3 attacks on the charge ''in addition'' to the +1 he gets normally. Unfortunately this makes him a close combat monster against hordes and unarmored unit. Then he lacks Cybork Body and Eternal Warrior, which means he dies to Railguns/Lascannons very quickly. He has to be the warlord and has a horrible warlord trait that makes nearby dreads scoring only does a thing in the dreadmob list where troop dreads don't score. So who does really want to spend so much points on a mek with buffed stats but no good weapons or good extra abilities such as good repair rols or a foce field. The trick is to put him in his transport with a mek(boy) retinue to ensure his success. The update is using the older codex as a reference so he does have the WAAAGH special, making him the ONLY non-Warboss model that can call a WAAAGH. Buzgob is also famous for smuggling a MEK STOMPA into Appocalypse or similar "larger games" for a bargain. Previously we all had to agree that our regular game size fits in that category, agree on using dubious source and ignore the fact that FW admitted that it was an oversight. Nowadays we have the ITC ruling who does this for us.

*'''Skalk Bluetoof (Forge World):''' Missed because he only gets mentioned much later in IA8, but unlike all of the other special campaign characters, he ''does'' have a listing as an HQ choice for a normal Orks army. He's an old wily Death Skull and has -1 Strength compared to a normal Warboss and also misses out on "Ere we go" because it's from an older version of the rules. However, he has Eternal Warrior due his luckiness, a Kustom Mega Blasta that only Meks usually get and his army may take a mob of Lootas as a [[Awesome|Troops]] choice because of the Deathskulls penchant for nicking everything. As a final bonus, he and a squad of Nobs may be mounted on "Bonemuncha" (a Gargantuan Squiggoth) as a unit option '''not''' a Lord of War choice. Bonemucha is a trap, don't use it Gargantuan Squiggoths are hugely overcosted compaired to other gargantuan creatures * cough wraithknights cough, knights*

===Troops===
*'''Boyz''': Basic unit and right proppa. Most times, regardless of what kind of list you run, Boyz are the core of your army. With a mediocre Ld of 7 be prepared to babysit them with a Warboss or a Big Mek, and unlike previous editions, buying a lot of boyz doesn't help with this. Without FnP or 'Eavy Armor they will go down due to Leadership and a paltry 6+ t-shirt save. Still, 6 points per T4 boy isn't bad, 7 if you upgrade to shoota boyz.
**'''Shootas or sluggas?''' It's not so apparent in 7th Edition as sluggas do have their advantages like costing less, not shooting the enemy out of charge range and with the return of the old WAAAAGH! you'll find yourself running instead of shooting way more often. However, shoota mobs are far more versatile and can still beat the majority of whatever they face in close combat, by sheer weight of numbers since the difference between a slugga and a shoota boy is just one attack. A very interesting phenomenon is that your opponent will have a tendency to ignore Shoota Boyz in favour of attacking other [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|apparently]] greater threats, due to the ''(true)'' perception of Orks being a melee army and its basic shooting not worth shit, especially now that everything scores it becomes less imperative to take out the Troops units first. Shoota Boyz have 1 less attack than Sluggas but still get all the other rules and can of course have a kitted out Nob ''(see below)'', so that 1 point upgrade can actually save your unit more than it costs in psychological tricks. Also, there are free stikkbombs now, for what little good they do. Here's a basic rundown of your options:
***'''Slugga Boyz:''' Boyz with a Slugga and a Choppa. They're not too great in the Shooting phase, the Slugga's only there to give them +1 Attack and to give them something to do as they charge toward the enemy. They're awesome on the charge; 4 Attacks per model, at Strength 4, will handily rip apart infantry of all flavors. Just remember that everyone goes before you, except Unwieldy Weapons . Also, the world's greatest [[Tarpit|tarpit]]. One point cheaper than shootas. Try to stick to the theme. If you run a footslogging army, you're better off with the majority of them footslogging, if you're aiming for lightning assault, stick them in transports. 'Ere We Go, the new Waaagh! and boarding planks made getting into combat easier than ever. Getting your boyz stuck in by turn two is entirely possible. Sluggas have become a thing once more. It is suggested to add high leadership HQs, Painboys, or 'eavy armor as Trukks are still fragile and with explosions being S4 they will likely have to take two leadership checks one for pinning and one for losing 25%. NEVER buy any ranged weapon upgrades for slugga boyz, they are a waste of points since they can't be used in close combat. Generally speaking, if you are foot-slogging boyz, you want to have majority be sluggas in order to keep the price down.
***'''Shoota Boyz:''' 1 point per model upgrade. Sure, every other git shoots better than you; don't cry, all your weapons are Assault. Who sez we're stupid; shoot 'em, charge 'em, let the Grots clean up the mess. Also, Shootas are Assault 2, and have an 18" range, meaning you can still bring the dakka even if those gitz with Rapid Fire weapons can't. If you have a mob of 30 boyz with Shootas, bring a bucket of dice. 60 shots means roughly 20 hits, usually 10+ wounds. Getting charged? No problem! Overwatch will help you out a little. Bring some Big Shootas along for even more fun. Put 'em in a Trukk with Reinforced Ram and Red Paint Job. Watch your opponent cry as your effective range goes from 18" to 31" with 24 shots. Just remember that Snap Fire makes you worse shots than usual.
**'''Mob size''' - The recommended sizes for fielding Boyz is 12/20/30, depending on the point value you're playing and/or if you're using the Orks organization chart. Generally speaking, though, you're still playing Orks, so more orks is always better. Conventional wisdom says that the only reason you ever take less than the full 30 boyz is because 30 don't fit in a battlewagon or a trukk.
**'''Upgrades''' - Quit mucking' about. You gitz is always muckin' about.
***'''Nob''' - Always bring a Nob, even if it is just to have a character in your mob to make the Mob Rule less punishing (rolling a 3 or 4 means you auto fail the check if there is no character in the unit). Give him a Bosspole and a Power Klaw, though the Bosspole is not as mandatory as it was before, as it only allows you to reroll on the Mob Rule table rather than rerolling Ld checks, but it's better than nothing. And the Power Klaw is still our Swiss army knife. Never leave home without one. It will handily krump gits of all sizes, including ones hiding in metal boxes. The Nob has access to the ranged weapon options and can take a shoota for free. As the Klaw is a specialist weapon and the Big Choppa is 2 handed there is no CC advantage to taking a slugga on your nob over the shoota. Well done gitz you just got yourselves an extra shot!
****'''Note''' - In 7th, if the challenger does not kill a Nob (in the case of things like distraction guard sarge), all of that nob's overkill hits the squad, so really no big deal. If you are worried about losing a nob challenges, add a cheap, bare-bones mekboy in the squad to accept challenges so your nob can use his power klaw on the rest of those poor gitz.
***''''Ard Boyz:''' A 4+ armour save upgrade, making your boyz much more durable. Can get expensive, however, especially in high numbers. No limitation anymore. When you run out of HQ slots for Painboyz to give your boyz some much needed protection from the Mob Rule table, upgrading a mob with 'Eavy Armour has become a viable option since it triples your chances of surviving hits from it. Combine with a Painboy for a nigh unkillable tarpit. This upgrade is usually better for the Slugga boys, who are more likely to be shot at. A full mob of Sluggas charging down at something, with 4+ armour save protecting them, will bring down anyone not lucky enough to have power weapons or en masse rending, or give sluggas that added bit of survivability to win shoot outs with other basic infantry. With luck, it is possible for them to take out a full squad of assault terminators (except that 4+ armour does not help anymore than 6+ against AP3 lightning claws or AP2 thunderhammers...). This is almost required if you are running Trukk Boyz, as the the 4+ armour will make it to when that trukk explodes your boys can practically laugh it off. Beware of AP4, if you go up against anything with AP4 you might as well forgo the armour for t-shirts with silly phrases on them, they'll fare just as well. 'Ard Shootas are better for use at holding objectives since they have that extra +4 and can keep the enemy away/at bay for a bit. Especially useful with objectives that have little to no cover around them, and if you're running Orks your opponent is gonna NOT want your ladz to have any cover when holding.
***'''Rokkit Launchas''' - Rokkits are dirt cheap now, at 5 points. If you have points lying around, feel free to bring a few in a slugga unit. Don't count on them to kill anything reliably, but the added AP3 firepower is nice against MEQs in a mob full of sluggas. Since they are mutually exclusive with Big Shootas, never take on a shoota unit. One can be taken for every ten models in the unit.
***'''Always use Big Shootas on Shootas''' - Big Shootas reach out and touch the enemy while you're mucking about, and are 5 points apiece, like the Rokkits they are mutually exclusive with. Going from a Shoota to a Big Shoota costs less than adding another Shoota to the unit by 2 points (5 instead of 7), and shoots 150% the dakka at 200% the range, 125% the strength, and 200% the effective penetration. In fact, Big Shootas also outperform Storm Bolters in every way, while costing what dem kanned 'umies usually have to pay for them. Big Shootas give you options to return fire at units like Dark Reapers/Devs/Warp Spiders or simply rake troops on the opponent's line with your objective holders.
****Rokkits and Big Shootas are the same cost for Slugga and Shoota Boyz, meaning a Big Shoota boy in a Slugga unit costs a point less than one in a Shoota unit, and likewise for Rokkit Launchas.
*'''Gretchin:''' Dirt-cheap and expendable, usually used as screening units for infantry, holding objectives while your Boyz do the fighting, or for tying up more dangerous units in assault. Gretchin are one of those diamond in the rough units, with a low points cost and low footprint, your enemy will time after time ignore these guys. Especially in multiple objective games, chuck your objective in a piece of terrain (preferably in the heart of a ruin) and your opponents will likely be distracted with the sea of Orks. Total up your objectives at the end of the game, and let your opponent know that they forgot that one objective held by ten Grots. Their ranged attacks can actually do a decent amount of damage to enemy infantry, owing to the Grots' higher Ballistic Skill, as well as the volume of shots coming from a large unit. If you're fielding big units of footslogging boyz, you NEED to field Gretchin to protect them from incoming fire and Overwatch. If you're doing a mob list, these guys are essential as 5/6 games now have objectives, and leaving a mob behind doing nothing will lose you games. ALWAYS TAKE THEM. Laugh your fucking ass off when one Gretchin kills a terminator on overwatch and earns back his entire squad's points. Also brilliant cover campers, as most barricades/ aegis defence lines completely hide them.
**'''Rustgob's Grunts (Stormclaw)''' - ''Overcosted for no reason''. it's just a normal Grot mob with a Squig Hound and grabba stick. Costs 5 points ''more'' than just building the same unit manually. Never field this.

===Elites===
*'''Burna Boyz:''' Orks with Burnas, 7th edition put Burnaboyz in a somewhat awkward spot due to the changes to casualty allocation; you no longer can "clip" a few models from an enemy squad in order to pile on casualties. They also compete with Tankbustas and Meganobz while lacking the all-comers combat potential of either. The *main* reason to take Burnaboyz in 7th is because you can swap out up to three of them for Mekboyz; keep them safe and you have a relatively reliable "mechanic" unit that can do spot cover-flushing in a pinch.
*'''Tankbustas:''' Orks with Rokkit Launchas. Your primary anti-tank/MEQ infantry unit, Tankbustas have Tank Hunters and their special rule '''Glory Hogs''' grants an extra Victory Point if the Ork player uses them to First Blood against an enemy vehicle. That said, even though the Glory Hogs is fairly situational, they are one of the few reasonably-costed units in this Codex, and with the entire unit possessing Rokkit Launchas and Tankbusta/melta bombs, they do a pretty good job at trashing vehicles. Their models are horribly expensive when buy the official box; convert as many as you can.
**'''Loadout:''' Not too many options other than their unit size. You have the option to give Bomb Squigs to up to 3 models, or to have two models swap their Rokkit Launchas for Tankhammers. Tankhammers are essentially an Unwieldy melee-profile Rokkit Launcha, with the addition of a single one allowing the unit some additional punch in melee; however, they are expensive. Bomb Squigs on the other hand are strongly worth considering, serving as a one-shot S8 AP 4 hit that always hits on 2. Since AP 3 does not benefit weapons vs vehicles, taking the maximum of three Bombsquigs is barely more than the cost of a single Tankbusta, and gives the unit that much more reliability; after all, their lack of armor means that you cannot bank on a Tankbusta unit getting more than one good turn to shoot.
**'''Taking a Nob''': Tankbusta nobs get more out of big choppas than nobs in any other unit. Given that the mob they're leading has all AP 3 all the time, they aren't exactly desperate for help vs MEQs and wreak most things with AV in assault anyway, which takes away from the Power Klaw being as much of a must-have as with most other mobs. Big Choppas, on the other hand, give an extra edge in thinning mobs with their strength bonus and AP 5, which helps a comparatively small mob of boyz kill guardsmen and the like fast enough to keep from being overrun. Even if the likes of Land Raiders and Ironclads are out of reach for the nob (taking a weapon on the Nob doesn't remove his Tankbusta Bombs, so he can still attack Land Raiders and the like), the rest of the mob also has tankbusta bombs and several tank-hunting s 6 or 7 hits mean he can still contribute to bustin' tanks with the rest of the lads.
**'''Transport:''' Tankbustas want a Transport. They are fragile, and a Tankbusta unit deployed in the open has a giant target painted on them. If your opponent agrees to Forgeworld, the Gunwagon is the most efficient option for this purpose as it can be squadroned and has really good durability for its cost. Otherwise, it's a tossup between the Battlewagon and the Looted Wagon; Trukks sadly remain too fragile for their cost.
*'''Kommandos:''' Orks in camo. They're basically 10-point Slugga Boyz with Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Stealth, and access to Burnas. The models look great but they are finecast and really expensive, so just convert some of your own out of boyz. Good siphon unit when infiltrating in squads of 5-10 with minimal upgrades (nob w/ bosspole), forcing your opponent to shoot at them on the first turn. Even if you don't have any good spots to hide them in your opponent's deployment zone, just throw them 6" ahead of your other boyz to give them a head start while providing cover saves like grots. If you want to run big squads of kommandos with all the shiny toyz your best bet is to outflank them to create some mid-late game pressure when your opponent is already busy dealing with the rest of your army. You can take two special weapons as Burnas, Big Shootas, or Rokkit Launchas in any order. Rokkits are a tad unreliable considering you only have two shots per turn, so it's recommended that you take Burnas to make the most out of being behind their juicy flanks.
**'''Boss Snikrot:''' Is now an independent character and is his very own Elites choice [[Sly Marbo|all to himself]], though if you have a squad of Kommandos he does not take up an Elites slot. If you attach him (and NO OTHER character) to the Kommandos and keep them in reserve, they can come on from any board edge and gain Shrouded on the turn they arrive; attacking the enemy from their rear is always great fun but since you can no longer assault out of reserves, but Shrouded should back you up from at least a few of these hits. Once again though he's not that fantastic all on his own. He causes Fear, and he does have stikkbombs which gives him a shooting attack, albeit at short range and low strength. Finally his Mork's Teeth are pretty basic AP5 Shred weapons which aren't too great against marines though he WILL chew up guard squads with sheer numbers of attacks.
*'''Nobz:''' Nearly three times more expensive than a normal Ork Boy, but with +1 Wound, +1 Attack, and +1 Strength. However, like the Warboss, they get access to the shiniest wargear available to the Ork army, from [[Choppy|Power Klaws]] to [[Dakka|Kombi-shootas]] to 'Eavy Armor. Great in both close combat AND shooting. Best used as bodyguards for your Warboss. This massive Orky beatstick will likely cost several hundred points, and isn't going anywhere fast without something to cart them around. However, this mean, green pain machine is quite cost-effective by many armies' standards; let them Ride Trucks, Battlewagons or Bikes and opponents will bitch and moan. Do not run these guys without some way of raising their Leadership or giving them fearless. They should be bodyguards for your Warboss anyway. They can take Kombi-weapons, so their potential for firepower is something to consider.
**What melee weapons you give them really depends on taste and how many points you're willing to dish out. Giving all of them Power Klaws will be hideously expensive (more so than usual), yet with just Big Choppas they'll struggle to take down even Space Marine Scouts in CC despite the Strength boost. You need to strike a balance between cost and power with Nobz
**'''Waaagh! Banner''' - The Waaagh! Banner adds +1 WS, making the ''WHOLE SQUAD WS 5'', and has the added advantage of making your mob look even more badass (and yes, that applies to HQs attached). If you ever ''think'' about ''not'' taking one, punch yourself in the face.
**'''Biker Gangs:''' Even worse is the notorious [[cheese|"Nob Biker"]] unit, a tactic that lasted three entire editions and fueled much [[RAGE]]. Toughness 5 warbikers with an Armor, Cover, ''and'' an Invulnerable save ''with'' Feel No Pain they are some-what close to invincible. As bikes you get Hammer of Wrath to reinforce your massive wound-output machine on the charge. You will pay for them dearly in both points and money, and it's a great way to get people to hate you. Unless, of course, your opponent is fortunate enough to have S10 Blast weapons on hand, or weapons that inflict Instant Death. But since most Instant Death comes from close combat, you have a good chance to counter it with your wound-allocation and high WS, or just plain avoid it. Twinlinked Dakkaguns mean that Jink's snapshot only rule does not affect Orks as much as other armies.
**'''Skrak's Skull-Nobz (Stormclaw)''' - A Fixed formation of Nobz, this requires a full-armor, 2-Klaw, 2-Pole, Kombi-Skorcha mob with an Ammo Runt. Not much more expensive than the stock loadout, but you get a model with a free Bosspole and Hammer of Wrath by taking it
*'''Meganobz''': Nobz in Mega Armor with Power Klaws. At first, there's a lot to like about Meganobz. Getting 3 Power Klaw Attacks base and a 2+ armor save for only 40 points, combined with Furious Charge, means they're very efficient at dismantling enemy infantry (save for truly ''dedicated'' Close-Combat or HQ units), or for pulling wounds away from your less-armored Orks. The entire unit can take Kombi-Weapons, meaning once per game, they can throw out a decent volley of Rokkit or Skorcha fire, possibly wrecking or crippling vehicles and infantry prior to assaulting. They can also replace their Power Klaws and Twin-linked Shootas for a pair of Killsaws. Almost mandatory on one Nob. Then you realize how many issues they have holding them back. '''They are terminators that lack any Invulnerable Save''' unless you pay to get a Big Mek with Mega-armor and KFF (which doesn't work in close combat) and they can't take a Waaagh! Banner. '''Slow and Purposeful''' means that they can't overwatch, run, or sweep and lack any access to heavy weapons to at least give them something useful to do while waddling slowly towards the enemy. They are still Orky Terminators, though, and naturally their Transport will be a high-priority target. One of their biggest issues is with leadership; unless they are accompanied by a leader (preferably a Warboss), these guys have a good chance of hitting the dirt after a single pinning wound is taken, or the moment they lose combat. The Mob Rule table fucks them over, hard. They will never have ten or more models so grab a bosspole or keep them in melee constantly if you run them, preferably both. Keep them *far* away from S 8/9 MC's, any form of AP2 or ID, all of which makes these MANz melt. The bright side is that they're relatively cheap and have a min squad size of 3 - means you can run just 3 of them in a Trukk with reinforced ram and a bosspole for just 160 pts. And even 3 of those guyz will murderise almost anything that's not an AP2/massed rending in melee. It's called MANz missile. And it works if you're careful with their Trukk. Another thing is that Meganobz can have combi-skorchas for just 5 pts. Not half bad for a heavy flamer, eh.

====Forgeworld====
*'''Grot Tanks:''' An odd unit. You get ''another'' vehicle squadron of 2HP Armor 10 all-around Metul Bawkses, seemingly the Orky specialty. They get 5+ invulnerable. saves from all shooting attacks that ''aren't'' Ordinance, Destroyer, or Armorbans which is uncharacteristically neat. They also count as Tanks, so you can Tank Shock things, too. However, what makes them really fun is their Ballistic Skill. Having BS3 gives them an advantage to using Orky weapons, all of which are listed below. The Grot Tank's only real caveat is their unreliable 2D6" movement. Plus, if you roll double-ones, one of them takes a [[FAIL|Penetrating Hit]]. Getting a Kommanda Tank is always a good idea, what with the 2 different weapons and ability to fix your terrible movement roll when it inevitably happens. Their Tank status, 5+ invo., small model size and high fire power make them perfect for ramming big holes in enemy formations. ''Modeling note: Don't bother with Forgeworld. Easy to build and make look better than Forgeworld for MUCH cheaper.''
**'''Unit Synergy:''' Just like Warrbuggies, only better. They can Tank Shock bothersome units off of their advance. Their 3-6 numbers can give an even wider cover spread when advancing. Additionally, since these guys count as Elites, you can exchange them with Warbuggies and vice versa to swap similar units around your force organization chart.
** Can prove to be more useful than Kans due to higher numbers, a full squad of 6 can pack 7 weapons as opposed to 3 and becomes far more deadly. This will cost you a lot more points-wise, so take that into consideration. Decide what you want them to do and use a squad of Kanz or a Mega Tank with different weapons to balance out. Keep some Meks close by though.
**'''Grotzooka -''' 14 SMALL BLASTS! Fucking cheese, especially against horde armies like 'Nids. Simply smack them into the centre of the mass and drink your opponents tears.
**'''Big Shoota -''' Owing to the BS3, this makes for a nice little way to hurt enemy infantry and be more threatening to enemy vehicles while saving on points.
**'''Skorcha -''' You still need to get close, and given the variable movement, this doesn't seem very useful when you could be bringing the dakka at range, but if screening your boyz, might be good to ruin up a critical unit before a charge. If they haven't been destroyed first...
**'''Mega-Blasta -''' Still comes with the risk of getting hot, and with the risk of rolling double 1's on movement means that this makes your tanks even more [[Fail| fragile]], although the 5+ invuln at least gives you a chance to save it. Not worth the risk and points.
**'''Rokkit Launcha -''' Fantastic at ruining a vehicles day, especially with working alongside Deffkoptas. Chuck out some rokkits to the front while the Deffkoptas roll for [[FATAL| anal circumference]]. However the Str 8 AP3 also means they are superb at crippling Marines or any other toughness 4 units too.
*'''Mekboy Junka:''' The Mekboy Junka looks like an Ork Looted Wagon with a price hike on it in exchange for getting three Big Shootas and a quirky Turbo-Boosta ability; the Turbo-Boosta lets the vehicle elect to become Fast on a 2+, but risks Immobilization on a 1 (fortunately without HP loss), so having Mekboys on-hand becomes paramount. This vehicle has a lot of options to the poi that that it looks like it ''cannot'' decide what it is or it wants to do, and it's very easy to get carried away on spending points to upgrade it. The question then becomes what you want to do with this customizable vehicle.
*Supa-skorcha?
**Big-Zzappa?
**''Kustom Force Field?!''
**'''Two Grot Bombs:''' The alphastrike option, a Mek Junka can take two Grot Bombs for the cost of a Trukk. Though it can only fire one each turn due to them being Ordnance, they provide a cheap and relatively accurate barrage weapon, allowing for the ability to murder Power Armor or chip hull points from vehicles, all while ignoring intervening cover. Don't feel bad about only having two bombs; it's not like Junkas are durable and meant for protracted engagements.
** TURRET-MOUNTED SHOKK ATTACK GUN!?! Yep, this monster can pack some pretty heavy ordinance.
** Don't forget that it also counts as a dedicated transport for a Big Mek, so you can have one without it eating up your precious Elites slot, so long as you have a Big Mek. (And you do have a big mek, right? What self respecting Ork army doesn't have one?) Just remember to not actually put your Big Mek in the Junka, because that consolidates your KFFs and negates the whole point!

===Dedicated Transports===
*'''Trukks:''' Available as Dedicated Transport for 12 eager Orks and our main transport in the ork codex. Most units now have access to this as a dedicated transport (Ork Boys, Nob squads, Meganob, Burnas...) but it's mostly a mixed bag due to its fragility. If you field one, don't expect it to stick around for long. When choosing upgrades, it's often better to get more vanilla Trukks than a few "super"-Trukks. On one hand, it's a fast, cheap, open-topped vehicle which can provide your Orks with an amazing assault range. On the other hand, it's very fragile (AV 10, Open-topped, 3 HP)causing them to explode when looked at. Due to their habit of exploding, it's risky to add on fancy bits (otherwise learn the lesson of putting your all your eggs in one basket.)
**Note that a Mob can purchase a Dedicated Trukk, even if it cannot fit inside it. Though it's a fringe use, keeping an empty Obsec Trukk or two in Reserve can help with scoring Maelstrom objectives. Deffkoptas do it better, but the Trukk doesn't use up a FA slot, meaning another Bike or other unit option.
**In conjunction with the new Mob Rule, when the Trukk explodes, you'll typically lose the orks inside unless they're wearing 'Eavy Amour, which ups their cost. An alternate option is to fill them with special units, like Meganobs who can shrug off the explosions.
**12 regular Ork Boyz are not adept at dealing with enemies in assault, save those who shouldn't be in assault anyway. While they can mess up Tau, or Tactical Marines, the moment they charge into a unit of Grey Hunters, the results aren't pretty.
**Ramshackle downgrades penetrating hits to glances on a 6+ now.

*'''Battlewagons:''' The most durable non-Super-Heavy-Vehicle transports we have. One thing most armies should have is some way to reliably deal with heavy armour, especially of the Land Raider variety. Marines and Guard get Meltaguns and Lascannons. Eldar get Lances. Tau get Meltaguns and Railguns. Tyranids get Zoanthropes (and the Tyrannofex to a lesser extent). Orks get the Battlewagon (note that since the nerf of the Deffrolla, the Battlewagon is no longer the anti-heavy armour beast-machine it used to be. You're much better off using Mek Gunz and Deff Dreads to take on those large metal boxes. Still great transports though). Costing 110 points, you start off with a chassis, and no gun. From there, you have several options:
**'''Weapons:'''
***'''Rokkits/Big Shootas:''' The Wagon can take up to 4 Rokkits and/or Big shootas for 5 points each.
***'''Killkannon''' for 30 points, but it reduces the transport capacity to 12 (still fits a unit of Nobs+Warboss+Painboy just fine). The Killkannon Wagon is best used at distance, so if you are going to fill it with a unit, make sure said unit '''doesn't''' want to be in combat. Also, keep in mind that the Killkannon is an ordnance weapon which means that other guns and passengers (as of the FAQ) will be shooting snapshots whenever you let that Killkannon loose. If you absolutely, positively have to have it, go cheap: give the battlewagon that killkannon you want, an 'Ard Case, and Extra Armour. Grot Riggers and Reinforced Ram if you really want it to live.
***'''Kannon, Lobba, or Zzap gun''' for 10 points. This depends on how you want to use your Battlewagon. A Kannon can be fun with 4 Rokkits and Tankbustas inside to create a rokkit-crazed Wagon of Glory. The Lobba is interesting as Barrage ignores the Orks' typical BS2. Considering the amount of firepower your wagon is going to be attracting, the Zzap Gun is perhaps the least useful option of the three to take due to the chance of Gets Hot and the low BS of the Wagon making the risk-to-reward ratio deeply unfavorable.

===Fast Attack===
*'''Stormboyz:''' Slugga Boyz that pay 3 pts for a freaking rokkit stuck on their backs. They are Fast, really fast, even faster than normal jump pack infantry, (they get to run 2d6, but must take dangerous terrain if doing so) and ded killy with 30 of them, all for not much more than an average boy. With the option to use your Jump pack once per turn you can trade in the 12" move for a reroll on your charge dice that also has hammer of wrath. The guyz can perform insane charges from time to time. When you call a WAAAGH! they can fly 12" then run 2d6 and then charge 2d6 with 1 dice rerollable. That's an average of 23-27" charge range. Watch out for your opponent's jaw flipping the table on the way to the ground when you perform a charge across half the board. Especially effective in an army of footsloggas that lack such spead and threat range. A squad of ~10 stormboyz with a pk/bp nob for ~130 pts is possible to hide behind blobs or in good cover and still be choppy enough to kill stuff dead even after rokkitpack losses and overwatch. But don't try attacking a gunline with five. It's not going to tie them up for a turn. Orks take fire due to large numbers - attacking alone with a small unit they'll get massacred.

*'''Deffkoptas:''' Basically a jetbike version of the Warbuggy, more maneuverable, and can also scout. T5 and '''2 Wounds''', even though they aren't nobs who fly them. Their standard twin-linked big shootas make them pretty good for harassing groups of infantry, especially when accompanying groups that have might not be able to Overwatch, like Burnas and MANz. Their twin-linked rokkits and/or buzzsaws make them good tank-hunters since they can very easily get into a position where they can fire at the side or better yet the rear armor of a vehicle. They can take a 4+ jink but have to fire snap shots next turn. They'll have trouble against vehicles like Land Raiders or Monoliths since they have armor 14 on all sides, though they can at least glance it to death. The biggest problem from using them is their leadership; basic Ld is 7 and no option for a bosspole, a character or a squad of 10 or more. Meaning they will automatically fail on the Mob Rule table unless they are in close combat (why would you want them to be?) or unless you attach a character on a bike. They should be fielded in small units of 1-2 outside of Apocalypse games.**They got cheaper and weapon upgrades are free!
**Alternative take: These guys are jet bikes with scout, meaning that their scout move is 12" or they could outflank. Combo that with the big bombs for s4ap5 lg blasts. If you have first turn scout and take the full 12" movement to see if you can destroy any infiltrators or scouts that the enemy has. if you go second then outflank and use the big bombs to harass enemy GEQs.
**Alternative take: These things are great never leave home without them. They are dirt cheap, our best objective grabbers in the game and a perfect suicide squad to absorb overwatch.
**Alternative take: Take a single Deffkopta and attach a Warboss on a Bike with a Power Klaw, Da Lucky Stikk and all the upgrades that make him super killy. Scout the Warboss up first turn and get into an ideal position to start krumping turn two, using that Deffkopta as Overwatch fodder. If the Deffkopta is still alive, use it for Linebreaker with a 24" turbo-boost or making a mad dash towards an Objective.
**Alternative Alternative take: Take five Deffkoptas, give them Buzzsaws, attach a kitted-out Warboss and Painboy on bikes. Laugh as your toughness 5, 2 wound '''DEFFSTAR''' (it sounds so much better) tanks anything from Lascannons to Thunder Hammers to the face all the while ravaging your opponents [[anal_circumference | anus]] worth of tanks and Space Marines. Just don't send them up against anything with a substantial invuln (+4 or better).

*'''Warbikers:''' Really. ''Really.'' FUN. These guys are the core of any mobile Ork army. Surprisingly durable; Toughness 5 for the bikes, 4+ Armor Save base and +1 to cover saves after turbo boosting, which when combined with jinking leads to copious tears when your enemy's guns fail to kill anything. Bikers are also great because they have their hilarious Dakkagunz, Twin-linked, Strength 5, AP 5, and Assault 3 lets you move 12", send home (on a normal squad) about 3 really solid shots into the infantry you're assaulting, and then crash right into the opponent's lines and send thirty Furious Charge attacks their way, plus some Initiative 10 Impacty goodness. The only obvious downside to the Bikers is their point cost. They are really pricey, at 3 times the cost of a normal Ork Boy, and their squads are only practical in 5+ man squads. They are best for larger games, where they can safely suck up points and use their Nob+Bosspole+Power Klaw to full effect, but using "Look Out, Sir!" is only for dire circumstances. Watch out for stuff that ignores their cover saves. Heavy Flamers will ruin your Bikers' day, just like they do to all of your infantry. On a final note, you CAN field squads of 12, letting you use Mob Rule, but they become nigh-impossible to move without getting stuck in terrain or moving into the open. However, thanks to their 4+ jink cover save (come on, you're BS2 TL, of course you take it), they're a lot more survivable out in the open than your Boyz are.

*'''Warbuggies/Wartrakks:''' Now that twin linked rokkits are free and the squadron can outflank, Buggies are extremely useful as a cheap distraction unit, and also has a high chance of stripping some hull points to boot. Their speed and ability to provide support weapons are very useful to the Ork advance, but are rivaled by their cousin the Deff Kopta. The Big Shoota adds little beyond normal Ork shooting. The Skorcha or Rokkit Launcha remain the primary reasons to take these vehicles. A good tactic is to use two Big Shootas and two Skorchas. Any more Skorchas likely won't get in position and will waste their shot, whereas one or more Big Shootas can continue to fire regardless and make the unit useful.
**'''Warbuggies vs. DeffKoptas:''' While they aren't quite as good at moving into a position where they can strike at an enemy vehicle's rear armor as Deff Koptas (since terrain is actually a problem for them), Warbuggies are vehicles and don't struggle with leadership like Deff Koptas do. In regards to durability, S4 weapons glance Buggies on a 6+, wound Koptas on a 5+. S5 weapons wound Koptas on a 4+, but now start to pen Buggies on a 6+. Open-topped means a heavy bolter can blow up the Buggie, whereas S10 is required to ID the Kopta. On the flipside, S3 weapons can still wound the Kopta while doing nothing to the Buggie. The Kopta can jink, however, thus increasing the chance of your opponent wasting shots. But 1-2 casualties means they will most likely fly away and never come back. Buggies can lose most of their squad and one will still be zoomin' around and shootin' stuff. Then there's close combat. Vanilla Marines hit Buggies on a 3+, glance on a 6+, and receive no damage (unless a powerfist blows one up). They hit Koptaz on a 4+ and wound on a 5+ (to a 4+ save) then take some shots from the pilot. Plus Koptaz can shoot at vehicles then charge them to finish the job, or charge units to keep them from shooting for a turn. The Buggie gets left out in the cold there, with no ability to tank shock and ram (wishlist). Warbuggies can upgrade to use Skorchas (getting the Trakk upgrade in the mix), so it does have a weapon option the Kopta doesn't (and a fairly significant one on such a fast platform). So which one is better? Who cares? Take both.
**'''Unit Synergy:''' Rokkit Warbuggies make good escorts for Battlewagons, on the accounts of being able to block off assaults, screen against mobile anti-tank elements, or to block enemy vehicles from moving away from the Deffrollas. Warbuggies provide much-needed anti-tank firepower for Zhadsnark lists, while maintaining a low-enough profile that one can easily provide cover saves for the Buggies by using Bikes to screen ''them''.
**'''Trakk Upgrades:''' Basically works like Reinforced Ram, allowing re-rolls on difficult terrain. Upgrading to a Skorcha includes Trakks in the cost.
***You can now take up to 5 Buggies in squadron.

*'''Dakkajet:''' (Fighter) AV10 flier with two S6 assault 3 supa-shootas attached. Spend 20 points on a third supa-shoota and 15 on a flyboss for +1 BS against air targets (which includes skimmers and jetbikes too). Thanks to Death from the skies, Fighters now have a -1 BS against ground targets, but with built-in Strafing run you're shooting them with BS2 all the same. Against Air targets the hilarity grows, if you use formation bonuses. Add in Unmerciful attack pattern, and hammer those jets with a successive rounds of BS3-BS3-BS4 TL shots. Declare a Waaagh! and you go from 9 to 12 shots that turn. If you want you can go ahead and paint it red too for 5 points, just to get that incredibly-important extra inch, especially when you can fly 36 inches already and you need to throw away five points. Can be a rape machine against infantry, light vehicles, and air targets in the proper formation. Only downside is starting in reserve. Contrary to popular belief, they are passable at shooting down enemy flyers. Dakkajets are probably the squishiest flier in the game and taking one against an opponent without anti-air is not too unbalanced, especially against MEQ's. However, with their 110 points they're at the cheap end of the price scale, along with the Space Marine flying bricks.
**'''Anecdote'''- my Dakkajet has taken down Flyrants, Flying Daemons, and the occasional Daemon Prince. If you need anti-air and you want Lootas to shoot elsewhere, the Dakkajet is your boy Unless you can't be bothered to take a battery of Traktor Kannons (see below) or you can't afford the £28 price tag on a 40 point model.

*'''Burna-Bomma:''' (Bomber) A somewhat unique flyer in the 40K universe, this is what happens when Burnaboy meks take inspirayshun from Flyboyz. Another piece of anti-infantry and light-vehicle eraser that the Orks don't necessarily need, but love to take anyways. It does have a lot of ignore cover weapons, which is a Gork-(or Mork-)send against pesky, jinking skimmers and jetbikes. It can take up to 6 Skorcha Missiles as well, but don't get too much carried away with it; usually you'll end up dead/off table before you could use all of them. That being said, there's some merit to slamming every Skorcha missile into a prime target (heavy support infantry in cover, huge tarpits, jink-happy things, T5 Tyranid squads) on the first change you get. Ork flyers aren't typically tough, so squeezing every point out as soon as possible may maximize your value.

*'''Blitza-Bomma:''' (Bomber) Is suddenly absolutely amazing. Its bombs now strike at S7, ap2, Large blast and Armorbane, so it can fuck up just about anything you point it it. And as dropping a bomb is not technically a shooting attack - it's a bombing run - it can target invisible units and the enemy can't opt to jink against it. Add in the flying patterns' Ignores Cover or Tank Huntesr bonus to remove nearly any kind of enemy armour around. Still has the table of fun things that can happen when you drop the bomb, but you're Orks and you live to watch your own dudes self destruct, so that shouldn't be an issue. Rolling "dakka-dakka-boom" got even better, as the free gun hits now get automatic back armor, but it sadly doesn't work RAW cause you won't be able to draw line of fire from its weapons after it's finished the move over an enemy, so make sure your opponent doesn't mind a little RAW violation as codex writers might have overlooked it. With the nerf to "Waaagh Plane" hurting the dakkajet really badly, the blitza-bomma's time is nigh. Great distraction to draw fire.

*'''Wazbomb Blastajet:''' (Attack Flyer) The Wazbom Blastajet is an interesting Ork flyer, which also happens to look totally badass. It contains an impressive amount of dakka, coming with a Smasha as well as a Twin-Linked Kustom Mega-Kannon as default, which can be swapped to avoid gets hot with a twin-linked Tellyport Mega-Blasta for peanuts. The only problem is the range on the Smasha and the Tellyporta don't synergize all that well, so take it for what you will. The good thing is that the Tellyport Mega-Blasta is affected by both the Waagh Plane special rule and the More Dakka Wing Leader ability. If you happen to have both, feel free to rake the battlefield with 3, potentially insta-gibbing blast markers! You can take a Twin-Linked Supa-Shoota with Interceptor at the fairly expensive price of 20 points if you're really worried about other fliers. The Blastajet also comes with a Stikkbomb Flinga, which can be used once per each shooting & dogfight phase for a 5+ invuln save against a glancing or penetrating hit. Perhaps more interesting is that the Flinga can be swapped with a Kustom Force Field, but at the cost of 25 points. This seems to be for the purpose of running the jet in a wing or with other Ork flyers, but by that point you've probably sunk 300+ points into the damned things (the fully decked out blastajet is almost 200 points by itself) only to have their crummy AV10 cause them to fall out of the air anyway, and in my experience my opponents have typically wanted this thing dead.

====Forgeworld====
* '''Warkoptas''' (6th Edition Dread Mob Update): 1-3 AV10 Skimmers that can carry 10 models (except MANz). The basic guns on these guys are a Big Shoota and a Twin-linked Deffgun. It can swap its Big Shoota out for the other basic heavy weapons, and while that's okay for infantry popping, you're gonna want more. GIVE THIS SUCKER A TWIN-LINKED RATTLER CANNON. It shoots 2D6 AP6 Bolter madness, but if you roll double 1's, it's automatically destroyed (a Mek can still repair it). Give it Red Paint Job to make it go FASTER! Give it Big Bomms to nuke crap in its spare time!
**'''Note:''' If you don't like the idea of using AV10 transports, check out the Heavy Support section. The ork codex might give you the idea that this and the battle wagon are our only transport options. But the truth is that we have the most transport options avalable of any codex in the strange thing is most of them are crammed into the heavy support section.

*'''Fighta-Bommer:''' Your Focke-Wulf. The '''FOUR TWIN-LINKED''' big shootas are kind of good for hammerin' out dice at everything, but as most flyers tend to have AV 10 somewhere, they'll still ward off most fliers, as long as you attack the weak areas. Additionally as far as aircraft go they are pretty damned tough mofos, but the main reason you want these is the absolutely nasty ordinance they can carry, Grot bombs are more outright destructive but can't be used against aircraft while rokkits can bring the pain to anything in the game. Shame about the limited ammo though. With Imperial Armour Aeronautica, these ground-pounders do best loitering around the battlefield and waiting for the perfect time to strike, then heckling and drawing fire. Honestly, it feels a little underpowered, but can still serve as an anti-armor Burna-Bomma. Use it as a Fighta-Bommer ya git! It's in IA:Aeronautica, and it allows ya to use it in regular games. It's even got amazing Apocalypse-only munitions. Man up and don't use any panzy Burna Bommer. Pretty much to closest thing to a Thunderbolt the Orks will get, while other units can do one thing better, the utility of the Fighta-Bommer allows you to use it in anti-infantry, light anti-tank, and air-superiority duties.

*'''Fighta:''' Your Messerschmitt. Pretty useless now since the Dakkajet does everything it did better, can be upgraded to BS3, and isn't Forgeworld.

*'''Grot Mega Tank:''' (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II) This is an interesting vehicle. The Mega tank has the same 5+ invul as its smaller brethren, but is still too fragile with 12/11/10 and only 3 HP. It mounts 5 Killa Kan weapons, 2 of which are Twin-linked, and it has BS3 and fires weapons independently, which makes it potent on the battlefield. It's pretty cheap, but its point cost reflects its survivability. Auto-comes with a Dozer Blade, Reinforced Ram, and Grot Riggers, meaning it [[meme|does as it pleases]] and has a chance to recover when the the enemy decides to [[Meme|FIRE THEIR LASCANNONS]], but it ''is'' still Armor 12 11 10. Boom Kanisters help deter those pesky Meltabombers and Haywire-welders, but don't guarantee anything. You need to take a mob of Grot Tanks alongside it, so you already have a cover screen (pray for some 4-ups!).
**'''Unit Synergy:''' You need to dish out weapons amongst the Grot Tanks and the Mega Tank equally. Form them up and give them fitting weapons for what you want them to do. Remember you lose 5 of 'em when your Mega Tank becomes shaken. However, as it is able to independently fire all of its guns, adding a mix of various weapons remains a viable possibility. Staying in the middle of the field, it can then rapidly respond to a variety of threats. Modeling note: These are VERY fun to model on your own and are easy to do. I suggest you make your own instead of buying from forgeworld.

===Heavy Support===

*'''Lootas''' One of the main issues Orks have is that most their weapons are very short-ranged. When dealing with [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Eldar|Panzee]], [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Dark Eldar|Dark Panzee]], [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Tau|Blue Gits]], or [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Guard|Squishy Umie]], this is annoying, as the bad guyz tend to Dakka on your army. Lootas for da win. You only get three squads at most (less, if you wish to take any other Heavy choice), but they are also the most point-efficient source of Strength 7 shooting ''in the game'', even with the awesomeness that is Ork accuracy taken into account. Their main role (which is critical in the majority of Ork builds) is to cover your advance, shooting enemy artillery, light speeders, and other targets which would harry your footsloggers or Trukks. Lootas work quite well on pretty much ''anything'' (without 3+ saves) nowadays, since three Glances will bring down most vehicles soundly, and with their volume of shot they are bound to throw out enough to cripple even heavy tanks, Armor 14 is the only thing they can't touch. Overwatch means they can react to charges well, but they will still die in one turn if they don't kill what charges them first. They can also Snapfire on the move now, so they're not totally stationary. Also, they do a reasonable job of Anti-air. Don't be afraid to go to ground with these guys when they're at risk of getting blown off the table. As said before, snap firing isn't that big a deal for a BS2 army because of its ridiculous shot density, but the added coversave is. Now cheaper and competing with other Heavy Supports... The fuck? Can upgrade up to 3 lootas to mekboyz for free, if you so desire. < (Could keep a Battle Waggon or Big Trakk going for you..)
**Alternative take: Take a Big Mek or Warboss with Mega Armour and Da Lucky Stikk and stick them with a fifteen man Loota squad. Suddenly you've got a 2+ re-rollable armor save tanking for your beloved Lootas, which also have Slow and Purposeful so they can now move and shoot (doubling their firepower)! You can't Overwatch, but 45 WS5 attacks still kills 3 MEQs on average and then your Warboss can mop up with his re-roll to hit and wound Power Klaw. Remember that Lootas get Stikkbombs, so you do have Assault Grenades for what they're worth.
*'''Flash Gitz:''' New dex took them from "could be good if they were half the cost" to "better than they used to be, for half the cost." They no longer have heavy armor and can no longer take any upgrades to their Snazzguns, but what they do have is being 3 points per model cheaper, and the Snazzguns are now s5 apd6 ASSAULT 3 (this means that half the time a squad of five is a -1S Vulkan Mega-Bolter or better), meaning you might actually hit something with them now. Speaking of hitting something, Gitfindaz now grant BS3 if you don't move. Could be tricky to pull off, but the joy of watching your opponent shit bricks at the amount of low AP, quasi-accurate dakka these guys can throw out will be worth it. Keeping them in vehicles or near a Kustom Force Field (or preferably both) is highly recommended, as 6+ armor is not fantastic an a 22pt model.
**A few tricks to try with these guys include: Giving them a Painboy to help offset their poor 6+ save; Giving them a Mega-Armored leader to give them all Slow and Purposeful and trying to claim that Gitfindas work regardless of whether you move or not; Replacing Lootas with these guys in the KFF/Mega-Armored close-support Big Mek strategy (and throwing a Painboy in there for fun) and seeing how it stacks up to a Warboss/Nob Squadron with Battlewagon transport.
*'''Mek Gunz:''' A wonderful unit. Brutal in lower point games (1000 points) and still very effective in high end games. We '''USED''' to be limited to just 3, but now (thank Gork and Mork) we can take 5 in whichever variety we wish. Just shut up and field a battery of these guys. "But what if-". No, shut up, just do it. Get the full number of cheap-ass Grot bodies for absorbing wounds, and cheap Ammo Runts to help offset your average Ballistic Skill, all at 3 points a pop. Note that when we say "average" ballistic skill, it is a relative term. Orks have BS2, while Grots always have a more average ''BS3 statline''. BS 3 units might as well be a giant sniper rifles in an army book of BS 2 blunderbusses! To make it even better, the new artillery rules state that the crew now uses the guns' toughness. T7 Grots? Yes, please! Want to be a jerk with these guys? Put a normal unit of Grots out front for that sweet cover save. The main problem with fielding Mek Gunz is that they take up a Heavy Support slot, which may or may not pose a problem for your list. You can choose to mix and match the guns below, and if you're only taking one Mek Gunz squad you might want to. Having a pocket Traktor Kannon is a must for a take-all-comers list. However, if you're able or willing to take more than one squadron of Mek Gunz, you'll probably want them to be grouped by the type of target that squad should be shooting at. Bubblechukkas, Lobbas, and Kustom Mega-Kannons are can be grouped against infantry, with Traktor Kannons, Zzap Gunz, Smasha Kannons in the anti-tank role. Kannons can mix in just about anywhere. GW being who they are they overcharge like fuck for these things (like ''£28 for a forty-point model'' overcharge). If you're poor, then in true orky fashion build your own: stick together a bunch of other guns you have lying around and putting them amongst a squad of Grots.
**'''Kannon -''' For 18pts, you get a 36" Missile Launcher(Shells) unit with BS3. It can switch to Frag rounds that are Str4 AP5 Small Blast; very versatile good if you don't know what you'll be facing. Be the bane of Space Marines: 135pts for a fully manned semi-twin-linked Str 8 artillery battery is peanuts. Take 5.
**'''Lobba -''' The Lobba provides ''perhaps the best anti-infantry'' Orks have to offer. 48-inch range and Barrage allows you to hide behind terrain and fire safely all day long. S5 AP5 Small Blasts are awesome to drop around for a midrange army; park your Lobbas behind a building and start sniping sergeants. Less utility than kannons, but greater range and much easier to keep alive for the exact same price as Kannons. A true Morksend. Take 5.
**'''Kustom mega-kannon -''' S8 AP2 Plasma Cannons, what's not to like? You also get a nice Blast area. Morksend 2, plasma boogaloo. Take 5. And bring 2 extra Gretchins per gun, to ensure survival of the dreaded Gets Hot! rolls.
**'''Traktor Kannon -''' Perhaps the most beautiful, unique creation Games Workshop/Gork/Mork has created. This is, by some, considered '''THE BEST ANTI-FLIER WEAPON IN THE GAME''' (although Tau and Skitarii players will disagree). Orks used to have to rely on Lootas aiming upwards for AA fire, but now we have something ''OH SO MUCH BETTER''. 30 pts per kannon (but you generally want some extra Grots or Ammo Runts too) gets you a Krak Missile with Skyfire adn the new Traktor rule, which can be semi-Twin-Linked using Runts. 2-3 Traktor Kannons with some Ammo Runts is all you need to mess up any Flyer/FMC you're likely to face in a single round of shooting.
***The Traktor rule makes it so that for every glance or pen from this weapon, a Flyer also suffers an Immobilized result (which as of 7th has a 1/3 chance of auto-killing Flyers), and against FMC's, when they take a grounding test, they take it at a -3 (so a 6+ to succeed) It's the glorious reverse-Lifta Droppa.
***The new Skyfire rules also state you can shoot at Skimmers without having to Snap Fire. That means these gunz are must-takes against Tau, Necrons, and all flavors of Eldar.
***You can add one or more of these things to any of your batteries, since you upgrade on a per-gun basis. Meaning you won't be stuck with a useless anti-air battery half the time, but instead you can just slap one of these babies in your Kannon gun line for some added anti-air duty should the need arise. It's cheap enough to not be missed if it can't fire at flying things. That said, split up the anti-air and artillery when you can for the most efficient barrages.
***In my experience, these are the most passively effective weapons in the game. People know what they do, and most of the time will do whatever they can to keep their flyers out of range. With some clever deployment you'll force opponents to second guess their movement and gain a big advantage on the table without even firing the fucking things. Imagine seeing that Flyrant across the table float around aimlessly in the backfield and hard flank, having to pick on some placeholder Grots instead of ripping apart the mobs of Boys in the center of the table, all at the mere sight of a couple Traktor Kannons. I have. It rules.
**'''Zzap Gun -''' The 1st of the Random Guns. The Zzap Gun's variable Strength (averaging at 6.889), low AP, and potential to ''kill its own crew'' makes it too unreliable for tank-hunting. '''IF''' you really like randomness in your army (or are going for some sort of theme): sure, take them. But compared to the other options for 18 points a gun, this isn't worth it, regardless of what anyone tells you. Don't take 5. Or any. People will tell you that this might be useful against Riptides and Wraithknights, but they're wrong. Why? Because Gork and Mork said we could do better with the Smasha Kannon.
***'''Alternative opinion:''' In this authors opinion, these guns are a perfectly viable alternative to Smasha Kannons - with Smasha Kannons you are basically paying 6 points to lock the second D6 at a completely average number: it's average strength is 7.5, which is only 0.6 higher than the Zzap gun. The Smasha Kannon's AP1 is offset by the Zzap Gun's extra Range and automatic Crew Shaken inflicted on ANY glance, and Gets Hot! doesn't matter as much when you have Ammo Runts.
**'''Smasha Kannon -''' The 2nd Random Gun. The so-much-more-effective version of the Zzap Gun. This is the new answer for Orks dealing with AV14 ''without'' running up and hitting it. S4+d6 and AP1 makes this gun like the Zzap Gun, but INFINITELY more reliable. No chance to fry your own crew, and your margin of Strength error is much lower. Plus, every now and then the unit decides to become a 5 man unit of Rail Guns, and that's just awesome. Take 5.
**'''Bubblechukka -''' The 3rd Random Gun. Did you like how random the Zzap Gun was? Well Games Workshop knew you did! And gives you the [[AIDS | ''absolutely fantastic'' ]] Bubblechukka! Note sarcasm. As with the Zzap Gun, there's really no reason to take this outside of the "Fun" or "absolutely-pissing-around" area. One d6 determines both Strength and AP simultaneously. When you can slice through that terminator armor like a hot knife through butter, you need 6's to wound, but when your strength is high enough to wound on a 2, everybody and their pet Kroot get an armor save. That said, with up to 5 large blasts you will throw out enough wounds to cause quite a few deaths anyway, even on terminators. You could do worse, but you could also do so much better. Maybe, but probably not, take 5.
***Final Note: As with Lootas, feel free to attach an IC with Slow and Purposeful, like a Big Mek in Mega Armour, to move and shoot these guys. Hint, hint.
*'''Killa Kans:''' As a general rule, Walkers in armies are either horribly fragile gun-platforms, or are taken in single squads. Blurring the line between these two extremes is the [[Killa Kan]]. Not as durable as a normal Dreadnought or Deff Dread, but with thicker armor than other squadded Walkers, lacking extra guns, but packing a strong Combat Weapon, the Kan is a rather versatile unit. Mobile and accurate, pretty much every weapon choice is viable for this unit. Armor Plates and Grot Riggers are always a good option, keeping Penetrating Hits from slowing you down and getting lost Kans back on their feet. In many armies, you cannot go wrong with a squad of Kans. Just remember that you only have two Hull Points. ''Only two.'' More importantly, if 25℅ of Kans in a unit are destroyed the remainder have a chance to suffer Crew Shaken - they're still Grots at heart, after all. If you can, always take 6 if only to make six pack jokes. If you have room in your Heavy Support, Kans now work amazingly with Deff Dreads, with the Kans providing a cover save for the Dread, and the Dread giving the Kans a boost an their "don't be a cowardly grot" check.
**'''Loadout:''' Every Killa Kan has a Kan Klaw by default, making it effectively S7 AP 2 in melee; their low WS and lack of attacks unfortunately mean they're a supporting unit at best. Aside from the Klaw, each Kan has its choice of gun: The Skorcha can be ignored since it doesn't take advantage of the Kan's BS 3 while the Kan is too slow to truly use it. The Big Shoota, Rokkit Launcha, and Mega-Blasta are all options for taking advantage of BS 3, though the Rokkit Launcha is probably the best option since you *need* anti-tank and don't want to blow yourself up too much. That said, the final option (and the main one if you're considering Kanz) is the Grotzooka: Two Strength 6 blasts at 18" are enough to force saves.
**'''Krumpa's Killa Kanz (Stormclaw)''' - 3 Kanz with a Grotzooka, a Shoota and a Rokkit Launcha. It's a slight more expensive than normal, but it allows the Grotzooka-firing Kan to be a Deff Dread so they can regroup around him. The grotzooka kan also is a character, meaning he can issue and accept challenges. Perfect for crippling enemy leadership by sniping the sergeant.
*'''Deff Dreads:''' A dedicated close-combat Walker, the Deff Dread is able to dish out a ton of S10 hits in an assault, with the right upgrades. Of course, being an Ork, it's got abysmal ranged capability, so it should usually spend its Shooting phase running at whatever needs to be krumped. Be careful, having only 3 Hull Points and Armor 12 means it can't take much anti-tank punishment. Armour Plates and Grot Riggers also highly recommended. As a Heavy Support choice it's often overshadowed by more versatile choices, like Killa Kanz or Battlewagons. And unlike Dreadnoughts or Penitent Engines, ''you cannot take squadrons of these things;'' one Deff Dread eats up a Heavy Support slot and that's that. The only thing saving him is the amount of attacks he can dish out and how cheap he is, making him useful in smaller games. Get him stuck in the assault an' keep 'im dere.
**'''Loadout:''' The Deff Dread comes with two Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons by default, and must take its choice of two additional weapons. Slapping on extra Close Combat Weapons is one option as is extra Skorchas, but you end up locking yourself into a "short-range only" role. You "could" take Big Shootas, but a pair of Rokkit Launchas also provides additional utility; finally there's taking a pair of Mega-Blastas if you're feeling lucky. For most purposes though, this choice is fairly superfluous; if you're taking a Deff Dread, you're probably not 100% concerned about optimization anyway.
*'''Gorkanaut:''' New big walker. It's pretty well armored with 13/13/12 and 5 hp, has 2 rokkits (meh), 2 twin link big shootas, a scorcha, and the Deffstorm mega shoota, which pumps out a whopping 3d6 s6 ap4 shots a turn. This loadout is very nice on the overwatch, with lots of dakka being supported by a template. Also is s10 ap1 with 4 attacks and rampage in CC, so it'll shred most things it comes into contact with. Overall, it's an infantry wrecker. Has a 6 man transport capacity with no assault vehicle or firing points for...reasons, so don't use it to transport anything that wants to assault or shoot.
*'''Morkanaut:''' New big walker. Shares the armor, hp, strange transport capacity, and some of the weapons with the Gorkanaut above. What's different is the lack of rampage, a kustom mega-blasta instead of a scorcha, and a kustom mega canon (think s8 plasma cannon) instead of the deffstorm shoota. What truly sets this thing apart is the ability for it to take a kustom force field, if you want to take advantage of a 6" radius KFF extending from a fatass base.
** Both the Gorka/Morkanaut can take grot riggers, which cost 20 points and grants IWND.
** Wanna know what to use that Transport Capacity on? Pay for a Gork or Morkanaut. Give it Extra Armour and Grot Riggers. Then buy a Big Mek and pay for both Da Fixer Uppers and a Kustom Force Field (if you picked the Morkanaut, you can pay for it's Forcefield instead). 360pts minimum, but the 'Naut will absolutely refuse to die thanks to a 5+ Invulnerable against shooting, It Will Not Die, ignoring Crew Stunned & Shaken results and the ability to fix either Weapon Destroyed, Immobilized or Hull Points on the roll of a 3+.
** You can do a discount version of the above by using Burna boys with maxmimum meks, or even the slotless meks each HQ choice unlocks.
** While not what you should ever be doing at all, you can take a squad of meganobz along as portable cover if you want to run your 'Naut as a long ranged weapons platform. vomit the fuckers out right in front of you, fire, then dare your opponent to try and charge through your TEQwall.

*'''Looted Wagon (White Dwarf 21):'''Av 11 front. 37 point tank that can buy a 30 point killkannon without losing transport capacity. Can take up to 3 smaller weapons (scorcha/rokkit/big shoota) in any combo for 5 pts a pop. Other than that, can take anything from the vehicle equipment list pretty much. Good for a cheap, '''24" s7 ap3 Large 5" blast''' marine killing template or for getting a more durable transport than a trukk, if it weren't for the fact that heavy support is probably the biggest fight for space with the new dex.
**'''Alternative take''' Don't see the looted wagon as some old nostalgic choice that likes to eat up heavy support slots, see it as a 7 point upgrade for that turns trukks into open topped rhinos with no gunz. And who would not want that. Just try to imagine the face of a space marine player when he realized that the only thing he had to do to make it an assault vehicle was to cut off the top.

====Forgeworld====

*'''Big Trakks:'''AV 12 front. Can be taken in squadrons of up to 3. This is the variable-use workhorse of the Imperial Armour 8 vehicles list and the next step up in durability from a Looted Wagon. The Big Trakk can also take 'ard Case, which makes it a inferior as a transport, but tougher as gunboat. Your first choice should be to give one of these a gigantic gun. Ignore the "classic" first tier gunz, go straight to the big stuff. Take two of these suckers with Supa-kannons if you want to play Guard and shell everybody with Orky Earthshakers (which you do). Remember that you can have three in a squad to manage your Heavy Support slots. They will probably be dead by endgame, too, so try not to deck them out too hard.
**'''Transport:''' These vehicles are somewhere between a Battle Wagon and a Trukk. They give a significant armor bonus, and can mount 4 infantry-portable weapons just like a Battle Wagon. If they are Open-Topped, they make a good assault transport, but they are still vulnerable to Lascannons in ways that Battlewagons just aren't. Due to the changes to scoring in 7th Edition, using a Big Trakk as a point-taking cavalry is a good idea, particularly because of how well it deals with terrain. It can take four Big Shootas which can upgrade to Rokkits or Skorchas, and two Grot Sponsons. This could mean that you could charge this thing onto a point, and drop out a 12-ork squad of Burnas with a Mek to point-guard while the Trakk deals metric tons of lighter Snap Shot firepower. The greater ruability of the Big Trakk paired with a mek or two could really earn their points. This strategy is untested.
**'''Dedicated Anti-Tank-Weapon:''' You can slap a Big Zzappa on this thing (works just like a regular Zzap gun, but with more range and d3 shots), along with up to ''4'' Rokkit Launchas. That's potentially 7 shots per turn, 4 spelling doom for light armour, d3 being anything from s5-10.
***While a Big Trakk with just the Big Zzappa is actually ''cheaper'' than an un-upgraded battery of Zzap guns, it also has a random number of shots each round, has to deal with the drawbacks of not being crewed by Grots (namely, BS2; but then again, you also can't fry said Grots) and is a lot easier to destroy. On the plus side, it can be repaired, and if you choose to pay for the upgrades, you can slap the aforementioned 4 Rokkit launchas on it (note that it comes with 2 Big Shootas inbuilt, so you already have a good measure of protection against 'Weapon Destroyed' results). Best set up behind an Aegis line, with a squad of Lootas (including a Mek or two) nearby to facilitate repairs.

*'''Mega-Dread (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II):''' This thing is fun. It's a dedicated close combat shock unit, but boy oh boy does it do its job well. The Rippa Klaws wreck everything in close combat, and get Wreckers stratagem in Cities of Death. The Killkannon, normally too short-ranged to be effective, finds its home here. This thing will blast apart your enemy squads, before the Dread will munch them to bits in close combat. It is also very hard to stop, being armor 13 everywhere but the back (which is 11) and has base strength 10 making for a tasty HoW. Careful around prolonged Termie throwdowns, you never know what they wield. This guy can also get a Twin-linked Supa-Skorcha that will make MEQs do the burny dance like there's no tomorrow, but the Killkannon can eat Marines at farther ranges. Don't even bother with the Mega-blasta, the Rokkit Launcha has the same Strength (8) and can fire off the same number of shots (one), has the same range (24"), is 5 points cheaper, and does not suffer from the gets Gets Hot! rule. The Mega-Dread can also get Grot Riggers (handy), an additional Big Shoota for Snap Fire, and a Mega Charga (helpful until inevitable tard-out). Best against Marine Equivalents and Light Vehicles/Walkers.
*'''Kustom Meka-Dread (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II):''' A more badass cousin of the Mega-Dread. It can take a Kustom Force Field, freeing your Big Mek to be doing other things, and providing more sorely-needed 5++ protection for your force. The Mega Charga allows you to have Fleet, which is nice because the Meka Dread should be in close combat all the time (rolling a 1 really sucks, though). The Rokkit-Bomb Racks counts as Lobba that can fire D3 shots a turn, but it has 1/3 chance of running out of ammo any time you fire it, so it tends to be a waste of points. Remember, then, to only take the KFF. It can also replace one of its Rippa Klaws with a heavy weapon (Rattler Kannon recommended), though you may want to keep the close combat krumpiness. And holy shit those Fixin' Klaws! It adds '''2''' attack on the charge, ''and'' the Meka Dread can attempt to repair itself. An AV 13, 3 HP, 5 S10 AP1 attacks, self-repairing monstrosity? Yes please. But on the other hand this thing is expensive as hell (both in RL money and in-game points cost, especially with KFF), and needs at least one other Mega-Dread in your standard Ork army to be taken.
**'''Vanilla Kan Mob:''' If you don't wanna play around trying to get a version of Imperial Armour 8, get a taste of what you are missing by making the most of your Kustom Meka-Dread's Kustom Force Field (which you took, right?) by surrounding him in Killa Kans. The Kans can screen shots for the Meka-Dread, which will inevitably draw a lot of fire anyway (so circling the wagons isn't exactly a worse attention magnet). The Meka-Dread will give the Kans a 5++, which makes them much more survivable and gives them more time to make good use of their BS3 weapons. Since cover saves stack, your Meka-Dread will be getting 4++, on top of all of its already impressive durability.
**'''7th Ed Shenanigans:''' With the revision to how Grot Riggers work, its possible that you could give the Meka-Dread the ''It Will Not Die'' special rule, instead of the older 5th Edition version of Grot Riggers that Imperial Armour 8 assumes. This means that, in addition to the Fixin' Klaws repairing the Dread, you have a 1/3 chance to automagically regain an HP at the end of your turn.
*'''Gun Trukks (Forge World):''' These are bog-standard AV 10 all-around Trukks, but with bigger guns in them. Big Lobbas are great for softening up those shooty units that won't stand still long enough for you to charge them, and the large blast makes those scatters a little less painful. You can also take a Supa-Scorcha, creating a fast vehicle with a s6 ap3 template weapon that HAS to be dealt with, taking attention off your important units. Note that these trukks can be put in a squad of up to 5 in a single force organization slot.
**'''The Mek Gunz Comparison:''' With the advent of the 7th Edition codex, the orkish field artillery got a whole lot better. When choosing between the new Mek Gunz and the older Gun Trukks, you will need to consider their place in your army. Gun Trukks bring a different variety of weapons to your army than vanilla Mek Gunz, namely kannons and mortars. Mek Guns the benefits of the Artillery unit type namely a large pool of expendable crew, while Gun Trukks enjoy greater mobility.
*'''Flakk Trukk (Imperial Armour - Aeronautica )''' This was the primary orkish ground based anti-aircraft unit before Traktor Kannons, it is still not bad. Instead of having two twin-linked Heavy 2 guns like the Hydra, the Flakka-Dakka gun just has a single Heavy 4 weapon. It's very useful against infantry in a pinch, just like its Imperial counterpart, but its lack of twin-linked goodness causes it to suffer somewhat in accuracy. The reason you don't just go straight to a guntrukk squad with Flakka Gunz is the special rules. Flakka-Dakka Gunz can move flat out ''and'' fire their weapons, provided their target is a Flyer. This can let you keep up with a Flyer ''and'' move across the board to hit some rear armor next turn. The front and side armor is also higher than a Trukk, and you can get a co-axial bolter to spot for you, giving you that twin-linked goodness you so desperately need (and trust us, with Orkish aiming skills, you need it.) Put on a troll face for when you blast those hideously expensive Thunderhawks out of the sky for a fraction of the price.
**'''Alternative take''' Just use loota's in a trukk. They also use a heavy support slot and you get more dakka for your points.
**'''Anuver Alternatif?''' Why chase fliers all over the table? Stick a Big Mek with KFF and Gitfinda in an Aegis Defense Line with an Icarus Lasscanon. Up to three ammo runts for to-hit re-rolls, if you feel like it. That's between 175 and 184 pts but it can give a red nose to any enemy flyer AND to any enemy AV14 vehicle virtually ANYWHERE on the table within LOS. Remember that your orks will also allways need effective long-range anti-armour support. 175/184÷2= 87/92 pts for each capability (AA and AT). You can drop the KFF if you still think it's expensive (125/134÷2=63/67 pts) and it will remain more survivable than any Flakk Trukk or Flakk Trakk. It can't move but it doesn't have to either, because of the 92 inch Icarus fire range and because you wanna shoot every turn with BS3 anyway. Place it on an objective in your backfield. It is a relatively small and difficult target for even large-blast barrage weapons and at the same time is not too expensive so as to be considered a DEFFSTAR. This set is by no means a game-winner either, but after you popped his first Stormraven/Land Raider (maybe even on turn one if you're lucky), it will become a huge distraction for your oponent and would have already redeemed its points-value. This is a virtual heavy support that doesn't compete with other heavy support choices for a slot in the FOC and threatens flyers and tanks at the same time from the very begining of a game. Oh! By the way: Scratch-build the Aegis and Icarus models in orky fashion, out of a discarded lascannon and some unused imperial dozer blades. It'll be money-wise more economical than any FW/GW product. Now you tell me: how's that for a combo?

*'''Flak Trakk (Forge World):''' AV12 front. Just imagine a Flakka-Dakka gun on a Big Trakk and you are done.
*'''Gun Wagon (Forge World)''' Av13 front. It's an AV13 Battlewagon with half of its transport capacity and less gun options, that can be bought in squads of 3 for twice the cost of a Trukk. This thing might be called Gun Wagon but it doesn't have to take a Big Gun, and it is actually not bad transport capacity for its point cost. These guys are a venerable Forge World model, from days long past.
*'''Lifta Wagon (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II):''' AV14 Front. An other unit that took a huge hit with the IA Apocalypse update. It's a Battlewagon with ''motherfucking titan weapon'' strapped to its back. Unfortunately the Lifta Droppa got nerfed into the ground. Now, in contrast to the proppa version of a Lifta Droppa, it gently moves vehicles a few inches. It only hit on 5+ now (but Mork save you if you roll a one), but it deals d3 Glancing Hits or a single Explodes! result regardless of what you roll on the scatter die to move the vehicle. The enemy can take Cover Saves against the Lifta Droppa, so be wary of terrain, smoke, sneaky Eldar Fields and Jink saves. It can also target Flyers now, but snapfires. Almost too random for its cost, even for the most mental mekaniaks.
*'''Big Squiggoth (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II):''' A monstrous transport, this is an odd one. Check your rulebook nope you are not mistaken that creature type does not exist so expect a lot of strange rule situations with this one. FW makes 'em but they can also be made out of old dino toys, green stuff and plasticard if you're the inventive sort. It's a big dumb beastie that's part angry dinosaur, part tank. Treat it like a support Carnifex that can eat almost all the dakka sent at it with impunity (although the [[Dark Eldar|spiky panzees]] will love you for fielding it), then dive into a squad of (nearly) any infantry and mulch it while the 15 boyz up top either hang out the top shouting expletives or pop out and support it. Unfortunately the daft thing needs some encouragement to not run away with its pathetic LD 5, so your Boyz may need to get stuck in with it, if only to provide ''emotional'' support. It can carry a small artillery piece (in the Kannon, Lobba or Zzap gun variants), and it has Dead Space Marine<sup>TM</sup> barding providing a nice 3+ save. At WS2 they don't hit much in close combat, but conversely with Toughness 7 it also takes a lot to wound it back. That said it has a few tricks up its sleeves to offset the poor Weapon Skill: Trample gives you d3+1 Hammer of Wrath hits when you charge in, and the Wild Rampage rule gives it d6 additional attacks (much like a Chaos Spawn) on top of the measly 2 it has base, after losing at least 1 of its 6 wounds. Lastly, for 15 points more, the Snakebitez can jam-pack it full of <s>[Doomrider|cocaine!]</s> dodgy drugs that send it into a tizzy, letting you roll once on this chart after deployment:
# Start the game with one less wound! Unlucky, but thankfully can only happen once. On the plus side Wild Rampage is now active from turn one.
#The drugs make the Squiggoth go all red, gains Fleet. Very useful, but maybe not worth 15 points.
#Lets you re-roll the dice determining the amount of attacks for both the Trample and Wild Rampage rules, vastly improving ability to dish out damage.
#Preferred Enemy (Infantry). Being a bit more reliable in close combat isn't a bad thing, but it's not ''that'' great either.
#FNP (5+), aww yeah! You can't get much tankier than that!
#You lucky git! You get to roll on this chart again, ''twice''. Any more 6s are re-rolled until you get any other result though, no exploding dice.

*'''Grot Bomm Launcha (Imperial Armour 8)''': Forge World still produces these. Used to be unknown where they fit, but ITC places them here in Heavy Support, squadrons of 1-3. Basically a Buggie with a Shoota and Grot Bombs: 24-72" S8 AP3 Barrage Ordnance pie-plates, which count as Twin-Linked but can only fire once per game. Hilariously cheap for something that can evaporate entire squad of marines in a heartbeat, or blow holes in any vehicle. Once they launch all their bombs, you can Flat-Out the buggies into the middle of battleground, blocking enemy paths and LoS like those pesky Humie Land Speeders.

=== Lord of War ===
''Note: Don't waste yer [[toof|teef]] on da stuff [[GW]] sells, an' don't get yerself arrested punchin' out dere teef neither. Make yer own lords of war. Ell more den wun git built imself a stompa outa a mister potato head!''

*'''[[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]]:''' Inexplicably moved to Lord of War, despite his profile remaining the same as before... He costs a metric shitload, but his 5++ Cybork body has been nerfed to a FnP 6+. He's immune to Instant Death and is a close combat monster on his Waaagh!, which makes his 2+ save into a 2++, and due to his Warlord trait also grants Fearless to the army with his sheer amount of power and beef, but watch out, as it only lasts one turn now instead of two. In his Waaagh, Ghazzy can take on almost every HQ in the game in a 1-on-1. Take him when you absolutely positively got to kill anything or anyone in a challenge. Be wary of Eternal Warrior with 3++ or better foes (he will get crushed every time guaranteed) and you won't have to worry about anything other than incredibly unlucky/lucky rolls. Feel free to give him a Nob guard for some Look Out Sir! meatshielding, so you can direct his phenomenal number of Power Klaw attacks into whatever you want to die without worrying so much about the initiative problem. ''Prophet of the Waaagh!'' is now not as shitty, as it allows Mega-nobz and Ghazzy to run on that turn (in addition to the usual Ork effect of allowing charges after running).
**Don't forget to give him an Attack Squig! Now that Ghazhgkull can take anything from the Runts and Squigs section, there's no reason why you shouldn't buy him a pet squig to help him tear shit up in close combat.

*'''Gargantuan Squiggoth IA 8:Raid on Kastorel Novem:''' A fun, strange and sadly overcosted unit. Gargantuan Creature and counts as an open-topped transport that moves 20 boyz straight into the thick of the fighting, then beats up on people with super-high strength attacks at ''WS 2'' (thank Gork for the Stomp attack). Ignores strength 4 and below attacks, making [[Awesome|bolters useless]], and since it's a gargantuan creature, poison and sniper weapons can only hurt it on a six. Can carry bigger artillery pieces and two of them to boot, as well as 6 passenger-fired Big Shootas. Armor save poor for what will come its way. The only big downside (aside from its point cost) is the huge fire magnet taped to its back. Deathmarks, Vortex Grenades, Railguns, Hammer Blows, Dreadnoughts, and pretty much any other high-strength weaponry will ruin it's day. Even '[[Autogun#Autocannon|Autocannons]]' will ruin your day. Three Defilers, Ironclad Dreadnoughts, or enemy Deff Dreads will just outright butcher you.

====Stompas====
*'''Stompa (Codex: Orks):''' a massive superheavy walker with 13/13/12 and 12 hull points. it comes equipped at with a Supa Gatler, 3 Supa Rokkits, a few Big Shootas, and a Skorcha. Not to mention the S10 AP1 goodness that is the Deff Kannon. But this comes at a cost of 770 points- and for 30 more points, it can have ''It Will Not Die''. Oh, and the Supa Gatler cannot pump out infinite shots in a single phase anymore. It's 3 shots at S7 AP3 Assualt 2d6- each 2d6 can be fired at a different target. However, after the first firing, a doubles roll for number of shots causes it to run out of ammo.
** If you have access to IA8 and don't mind using some of the stranger rules Forgeworld has to offer, then go with the Kustom Stompa. It gives you more upgrade options and is cheaper in points. even if you made the exact same Stompa for around 170 pts less. See below for more info.
**One of the nastiest things you can do is fill it with as much meks as possible by using several 5-man squads of Burna Boys/Lootas with 3 Meks in the Stompa, mek boyz and big meks. Depending on the Stompa load out, that's up to 18+ repair attempts a turn, making it all but impossible to destroy the Stompa unless you manage to do it within a single turn. And since superheavies ignore any vehicle damage except loss of hull points, you don't even have to worry about accidentally bangin' yer own krew ova da hed wiv a spanna (Dem softies shoulda stopped kumplainin' ennewayz).
**Really don't get carried away with it. I assumed it was indestructible the first time I used it and it lost all 12 of its hull points during Turn 2 in a 1500 point game. Surround it with enough Ork Boyz to protect it from any ridiculous anti-armour units (hyper-upgraded Hive Tyrant and 3 Tyrant Guard with crushing claws), since even the most OP unit isn't going to get through 30 Fearless Orks in a turn. It shoots better than it fights, remember that. Although, to be fair, it did annihilate the Tyrant back by standing on him.

*'''Kustom Stompa (Forge World):''' An interesting and varied titan choice. This unit was designed to be fully-customizable Stompa-maker for kitbashers and kustomizers, so that you can build goofy Stompas and make them game-legal (with fair price tags). These guys can do anything you want, including bullet-spamming, pie-plate dropping, and [[Rip and tear|rip-and-tearing]] (for the right price, of course). The only problem is that this Stompa is generally weaker-skinned than other Stompas, having fewer Power Fields than the Big Mek Stompa and fewer Structure points than some of the other Stompa variants. All this compounds with the points cost if you go overboard on the guns. And you ''want'' to go overboard on the guns. ''So much.'' All-in-all, this is unit is whatever you want it to be. Send cheap hordes of them armed with Titan CCWs at your enemy, or stand back and watch just one release game-breaking firepower from functionally ''6 main titan-class weapons '''at once.''''' Definitely lives up to the classic Gargant name in terms of [[Dakka]].
** NOTE: You can give this thing '''3 Gigashootas''' allowing for '''18D6 Str 6''' shots per turn!

*'''Klawstompa (Forge World):''' A cheap (points-wise) and fun titan. You can make one by taking a Kustom Stompa and equiping it with two (Str D) claws. It doesn't have his own entry in the book, but it should, since it's so different from a normal Kustom Stompa. You will miss out on most ranged weapons, but it gives you close-combat buffs instead and the option of a guaranteed 12" charge range upgrade. This makes him a close combat monster, but still has the option of a big flame-thrower S6 AP3 Hellstorm-template weapon. Who doesn't want automatic S6 hits? Bonus hint, always equip it with an other cheap ranged weapon to do the Imperial Knight Stubber Trick.

*'''Buzzgobs Mek Stompa (Apocalyse, 6th Edition Dread Mob Update)''' So you want a Stompa with all the gunz, but you don't want to pay the points for it. Don't worry Buzzgob might just know the way to smuggle one in using the ITC rulings. More on that later. This is your goofy and shooty Titan. Comes with Lifta-droppa, for dealing with those pesky Land Raiders, and an extra shield for soaking up those Volcano Cannon kame-hame-has coming your way. Unfortunately it's not that good in practice, given the high points cost and the fact that its single-shot strength-D Gaze of Mork and Lifta-droppa both have to hit on BS2. The best thing you can do is stuff it full of Lootas and Meks to keep it moving and give it an all-around shooting boost.
**'''How to get it for a discount'''. Play the ITC rules and get it as an upgrade for Big Mek Buzzgob and get a stompa as a 300 point upgrade. You will have to know the secret link to this outdated FW document and you will have to use multiple dubious interpretations of the text in but that doesn't matter for the ITC. If do use those rules Buzzgob can sneak one of those monsters in and you will now have a stompa that is not in the codex or any supported document. Here is the link: [https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/fw_site/fw_pdfs/Warhammer_40000/Ork_Dread_Mob_Army_List_Update.pdf]

====Tanks====

*'''Kustom Battlefortress: (Imperial Armour Apocalypse II)''' the Battlewagon's super heavy big brother. They are and look like looted Baneblades variants. Use it exactly like you would a regular Battlewagon, just on 'roids. Has a massive 30-man transport capacity, Open-Topped by default, and comes with 3 Big Gunz of your choice, mix and match, built right into the starting cost. You can pay to replace the Big Buns for ''bigger'' gunz (sacrificing some transport capacity for certain guns) or enjoy the novelty of having a relatively cheap Super-Heavy that can take 30 Boyz into the thick of it (likely) unharmed. A wide array of options for pintle-mounted guns are also available, just in case you want to add more dakka.
**'''Note 1:''' This is also a legitimate way to take Grot Bomms, as they currently have no CAD slot on their own, but can be mounted on this.
**'''Note 2:''' A Kustom Battlefortress setup with Kannons, Supa-kannons and max rokkits makes the Battlefortress one hell of a Gun-wagon, but still pales in comparison to the Kill Bursta.

*'''Kill Tanks (Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition):'''These come in three flavors, the '''Kill Krusha''', the '''Kill Blasta''' and the '''Kill Bursta'''. Creative, yes. One thing of note is that all of these can transport up to 12 models and count as open topped. So those of you who take battlewagons filled with nobz equipped with killkannons, go nuts, these can do the same but better. Oh so much better.
**A note on the kill tanks: they ONLY count as open topped for the purpose of embarking or disembarking. Every other rule regarding O.T is ignored.
** '''The Krusha's''' Kannon comes with a variety of sexy shells which are all pretty good, but still no Bursta kannon. The main two are Boom Shells ('''60" range, S8 Ap3, 5" Blast''') and Tankhammer ('''S10, Ap2, no blast''') while the other two are pansy anti-infantry crap that you'll never use. The Krusha Kannon (and Kill Krusha itself) can go a little wonky on occasion, so be mindful of how much pressure you put on this tank to perform on the front lines. This tank, more than the others, is an up-scaled [[Leman Russ Battle Tank|Leman Russ]], a Apocalypse-scale middle-range Main Battle Tank. It should be in the front, heckling "classic" tanks while avoiding the [[Baneblade|Apocalypse heavy-hitters]].
** '''The Blaster's''' Giga Shoota is somewhat meh, giving you 6D6 S6, Ap4 shots. In theory that should be nice. Mathematically, the average is 21 shots, and 90% of the time you should get at least 16. However, when it really matters rolling a few ones can make his thing next to useless. In general this tank supports infantry advances well, and tends to eat enemy infantry and light vehicles. Though Apocalypse being what it is, those two tend to come in bushels or not at all, relegating this behemoth to lumber behind your Green Tide and protect it from other infantry-eaters. It's not ''bad'', but for the points you spend on a kill tank, there's so much better:
** '''The Bursta''' is where the real class is , although for some (complete bullshit) reason it comes with the actually good (see below) Belly Gun as standard and you need to buy the motherfucking Bursta Cannon. Anyway, once you've bought it you are able to seriously bring the pain. It's essentially a [[Vindicator|Demolisher Cannon]] on steroids. It only has a 36" range, but it's a '''Destroyer weapon with Ap 2 and a 7" Blast'''. And it is pure ''fucking'' class. It'll blow MASSIVE holes in ''anything'' you point it at. Terminators? ''Land Raiders?'' Pfft. '''Fuck''' that shit. All dead in one shot. If you can land ''one blast'' on a reasonably pricey unit, you'll pay for it twice over, and that's why the Bursta's amazing. Particularly if you scratch build them (and why wouldn't you? You just need a box with tracks and a ''big fuckin' gun''), then even getting them Laser-Destroyer'd in the second turn after you rape an HQ/terminator/GK paladin/ANYTHING squad is still just as sweet because you paid ''nothing at all'' for the privilege to do so.
*** ''In defense of the Belly Gun'': Now, hold on just a minute there. While I'm not going to say that the bursta isn't pure ''fucking'' class, and It's certainly worth the 50 extra points it costs (the tank itself is 350, you can afford it), I find that the Belly Gun actually has potential. S7 AP3 vaporizes any MEQ it catches, but the amazing part is the area of effect. Each time you fire, it has a blast radius of 3d6". '''Radius''' (as the special rule specifically states). At worst (.46% or the time or 1 in 200 shots) you've got a battle cannon with -1S and a slightly larger (6") blast. 90% of the time you're getting at least a 7, throwing a ''large dominoes pepperoni pizza'' downrange. 90% of the time! On other far end, again at .46% of the time (1 in 200), you roll that holy 18, and put down a ''three fucking foot'' blast (thank Gork it's 36"!). Go ahead and clear half the table. Mork'd be roight proud. Sure, it's not strength D. It's not going to be clearing termies and land raiders like the Bursta Cannon will. But if you're going up against Nids, Deldar, blob guard or other Orks, consider giving this thing a try. At it's worst it's merely okay, and randomly it'll be awesome. If you're playing orks then you know that as far as random guns go, this ain't half bad. Frankly it's kinda sad that these two amazing weapons are both strapped to the same tank. The bursta cannon is so very good and so badly needed to handle enemy superheavies (almost all of whom can blast massive holes in your army and so demand an effective answer) that the belly gun just gets kinda forgotten. Even performing at it's worst it'll demolish a squad per turn. If you're playing big games consider taking one of each. the belly gun will either take the heat off your titan hunter, or it'll force your opponent to respect the potential 3' blasts. Possibly both. Seriously when was the last time you needed a blast marker bigger than a manhole cover? *(Alternate take: Be prepared to get into tons of arguments / be banned from using this model / never get a game again as while this is certainly RAW - and basic math terminology - this is certainly not RAI)*

==== Non-Lord of War Super Heavies ====

=====Tanks=====

*'''Skullhamma Battle Fortress (Apocalypse):''' If the Battlewagon is the Ork equivalent of a Land Raider, then the Battle Fortress is the Ork version of the Baneblade. Can carry a metric shit-ton of orks and royally wreck the shit of anything that gets in their way. Very customizable like the Battlewagon, and generally if it works for the Battlewagon it works for the Battle Fortress. Unlike the Wagon, the Skullhamma Fortress gets some really sweet guns, and it can carry full sized mobs into the midst of the enemy.

*'''Dethrolla Battle Fortress (Imperial Armour 8)''' One take on the Deathrolla Fortress is that it is a nice, cheap Super-Heavy Tank. Another take on the Deathrolla is that it's just really an 'ard-Cased Battlewagon with twice as many hull points, +1 to Side and Rear armour values, and a big gun for thrice the cost. To be fair, that sounds pretty good when you take into account that it won't immediately explode under anti-tank fire like the normal Battlewagons tend to. Dethrollas like ferry huge swaths of Boyz to the front lines, and act then like infantry support tanks. The actual usefulness of this Super-Heavy transport role is up to you.

=====Fliers=====
FW doesn't make the models for these super heavy fliers, so you have to make them yourself.

*'''Bomma (Imperial Armour 8) :''' Your Heinkel. Like the Fighta-bommer only bigger and slower with more dakka and ordinance. Enough defensive weaponry is on this thing to see off waves of interceptor aircraft, while it carries enough ordinance weapons to pretty much wipe out an entire formation on turn one. Just one of these can spit out enough supa-rokkits to wipe an Leman Russ company off the gameboard or drop enough grot-bombs to turn six full sized Gaunt Broods with an accompanying Hive Tyrant ''with'' Tyrant Guard ''and'' Warrior Prime (about to tear into your front lines) into a few scattered bugs and a lonely Hive Tyrant who will be blown apart by your Lootas next turn. It also comes with ''eight'' (8!) Big Shootas mounted along the flanks, which can shoot at differing targets.

*'''Blasta Bommer (Imperial Armour 8) :''' Your Henschel, AKA: the ''Panzerknacker''. Much like the Marauder variant for Imperials, instead of bombs and ordinance this thing carries lots of heavy guns for ground attack. Think of this as an Orky A-10 Warthog (the Orkiest of all airplanes). It can crank out a hilarious amount of Shoota, Zzap Gun, and Rokkit hits to mow down large numbers of enemies, while having the range to buzz around, loitering out of reach of the enemy's guns. The lack of Blast weapons means this is more suited for destroying a few hard targets over obliterating large formations, playing counterpart to the traditional Bomma. However, it is the death of Titans, MEQs, and any vehicle anywhere. Just think of it in terms of it's gun: 120" Range, Str 9, Ap 3, Heavy 3D6, plus D3 Supa Rokkits.

==Supplements==
===Waaagh! Ghazghkull===
This book was originally released as a pre-order bonus back when the Codex was released. It was eventually re-released later on, to fall slightly further in line by adding an Ork Decurion, but it's otherwise pointless.

*'''Biggest an' Da Bestest''': Independent characters must issue and accept challenges. Additionally, if the warlord successfully kills a character in a challenge he can reroll to-wound rolls for the rest of the game. This shit sucks. Orks have access to wound rerolls on our warlord traits and with the lukky stik. You never want to be forced to take a challenge you can't win with your warlord. Some say it's the orky way to blindly accept challenges. I say it's even orkier for the big boss to shove a few boyz in front to deal with a formidable opponent before it's your turn to krump em (kunnin eh?).
*'''Da Boss iz Watchin'''': Units with this rule in mobs get +2 on Mob Rule rolls, but if they roll Breaking Heads or Squabble, they take d3+3 S4 AP- hits. Yeah, you better pray that you pass morale, because the price for failing got much higher.
**''''Alternative take'''' This is kinda a blessing for larger units since they no longer can roll a 1 so they don't flee as fast.
***''''Alternativer take'''' This does more bad than good. Sure, your units of 10+ boys won't run from shooting, but you'll never roll a 1 to stay locked in combat, and units of less than 10 boyz have a 1/6 chance of passing on the table (must roll a 1 to get a breakin eads result), and if they do they take a bigger beating. This rule alone is enough to forgo the great waaaagh! detatchment all together. Such fucking bullshit.

Also, you gain "The Great Waaagh!", which allows your warlord to declare a Waaagh! every turn, including the first. Use Council of the Waaagh! as your Command choice, use Ghazkull as your warlord, and huzzah! you have a warboss with a 2++ every turn including the first! Now go and kill a Daemon Prince every turn! (Prices start at 1053 points with no upgrades whatsoever.)

===Warlord Traits===
#'''Supa Shootist''': Warlord has BS3. [[Ork Snipers|ORK SNIPERZ]]!!!!! WOO!! in all honesty, it's better than nothing...
#'''Waaagh-mongerer''': Warlord and unit get Crusader. Neato since it means you can run a bit further when you Waaagh!.
#'''Madboy''': Warlord gets Rage.
#'''A Kunnin' Plan''': Warlord and his unit get Outflank. Neat tactic if you need to surprise someone with a big mob of boyz sandwiching them, especially if you add in Snikrot's formation. Even better, stick your Warlord in a STOMPA and have it come in behind Guard players' enemy lines and watch them panic.
#'''Kallin' in a Favour''': One weapon the Warlord gets (that's not from the Kustom Gubbinz list) gets Master-Crafted. Considering how craptacular Orks are with guns, you're better off putting it on a melee weapon.
#'''Dead 'Ard''': Warlord has FNP. Awww yea, (Unless you already bought Da Supa-Cybork upgrade. There's no mention on the FNP stacking, making this combo a washout)

===Orkimedes' Kustom Gubbinz===
Unlike artifacts from the normal Ork book, you can (presumably) stack Orkimedes artifacts together, however only the formations and detachments from the supplement can use the Gubbinz and, as pointed out above, that's a questionable decision. The wording of the newer version of the supplement specifically states that you can use both vanilla ork dex artifacts as well as the waaaugh! ghazghkull artifacts: so do not feel limited to using one set over the other.

*'''Choppa of the Ragnarork''': A '''MURDA CHOPPA''' (+2S, AP5) that gets better the more you kill. At the end of every assault phase where the wielder gets a kill it gains +1S and -1AP, maxing out at S+6 AP1, and this stays the entire game. HOLY CRAP YOU BETTER PROTECT THIS GIT! Run any character who takes this with some other squad level character so that he does not get challenged and forced to fight with a AP5 weapon against a Space Marine Captain or sit that turn out and not kill anything to get a better choppa.
**'''Alternative take''': This weapon is a lot of fun to play with and watch as it gets stronger, but the thing really is terrible. To max out this weapon you have to be in close combat for at least 2-4 turns, possibly not killing anything with its weak base stats, causing the weapon to not get any stronger. By the time you do manage to make this weapon useful and dead-killy, it will almost be the end of the game. This weapon would be far better if it got better for each kill made, instead of getting at least 1 kill in the turn.
*'''Big Bosspole''': Bearer and his unit get Fearless, which is a good thing if you have a unit chock full of boyz. Brutal synergy with the Green Tide formation available from this Book.
*'''Da Supa-Cybork''': User gets FNP (5+), Relentless, and eternal warrior. Give it to a big mek with a shokk attack gun to shokk on the go! Fluffy but waaaaaay too expensive. Might be useful if you're really afraid to loose your boss to ID (In which case, it's probably better to just choose Ghazzy and the Waaagh! every turn formation for an 2+/2++/5+++ EW strikes at initiative monster for around the same price as a kitted out warboss with this).
*'''Da Killa Klaw''': It's a daemonic Power Klaw that's Dead Killy. Seriously. Like the Black Legion's Hand of Darkness, you can exchange all your melee attacks for one ID hit. Better make sure you can survive long enough to make this shit work.
**'''Extended Opinion''': The only thing interesting about this item is giving it to a Warboss that already has a Power Klaw so he can get that +1 attack for two weapons. At S10, you are already insta-killing most stuff anyway, and the stuff you aren't is taking one hell of a beating when you swing. Honestly, Headwoppa's Killchoppa is far better than this item because it is cheaper, lets you keep all your attacks which can cause instant death, and lets you actually make use of that initiative 4. Put him on a bike and watch him drive with those 2 hellhuge klawz!
*'''Mega Force Field (Big Mek only)''': Essentially an improved Kustom Force Field that works on a 4++ instead of a 5++, and does not require replacing the Big Mek's Slugga. The same issues with the KFF are here too, but the Mek can at least take a Shokk Attack Gun with this, if you care more about HQ slots rather than point efficiency.
*'''Kill-Dakka''': This gun is weird. It's got 6 different firing modes, with one that gets selected before deployment. Overly expensive for the results, but pretty damn fun. (Has some pretty nice synergy with a flashgit Battle Wagon Big Mek, also extremely fluffy in this formation).
# 24" S7 AP4 Heavy d3+1 shots. Basically an autocannon with up to 4 shots. Great if you get this with Mega-armor.
# Assault 1 Flamer with S5 AP4. Meant to make dead blobs.
# 24" Assault 3 S6 AP4 shoota. Well, you just got a heavy bolter.
# 24" Assault 1 S2d6 AP4 Zzap gun.
# 24" Assault 1 S6 AP5 Blast.
# 24" Assault 1 Sd6 APd6 Bubblechucka Large Blast.

==Formations and Detachments==
The Orks just got a new version of WAAAGH! Ghazghkull, featuring a decurion-style version of The Great WAAAGH! detachment. This whole section needs an update, so please do some editing where you see fit.

===Detachments===
*'''Ork Horde (Codex):''' This was a big thing when our codex dropped since this was the first alternative detachment, but has since dropped far off the deep end in usefulness since the dawn of the Decurion. All this adds is three more Troops units (one more compulsory) and a third HQ. However they DO NOT get the "Objective Secured" rule that the CAD gets, instead they get a special rule where if an Ork Unit contains 10 or more models, and rolls a 10 or more on charge distances, they all get Hammer of Wrath for that charge. This strategy favors high model counts of Orks versus high unit count of Orks. Units that have high enough body counts to have more than 10 boyz in a squad by the time they reach the enemy to charge Boyz and Stormboyz. This combines well with Da Finkin' Cap as it allows Orks to roll on strategic trait's chart from the main rulebook, giving the possibility of outflanking up to 3 units. Remember that most Ork models with 'Ere We Go are S3, so this will likely lose effectiveness against high toughness, low model count armies.
*'''The Great Waaagh! (Waaagh Ghazghkull)''' You must take 1+ core choices (warband or goff killmob), with 1-10 auxiliary and 0-1 command choices. For your trouble, you get the Biggest an' da Best and Da Boss iz Watchin (meh....), a reroll on the warlord trait table, hammer of wrath on units of 10+ orks whenever they make a charge (not just a charge of 10+ inches now), and the ability to call a Waaagh every turn INCLUDING the first. This can help you get stormboyz and trukk mobz into combat, and help your boys get a charge infiltrator/scout units, as well as assault themed armies that are going to meet you half way and advance (if you go second). This can also make your orks fearless if you take ghazkull or roll a 1 on the ork warlord trait table. The problem is that to get Ghazghkull you have to spend 600+ points on the Council of the Qaaagh, AS WELL AS 600+ points on a core unit. On top of this, you get the biggest and da best/da boss is watchin, which are somewhat detrimental. Personally, I'll continue to play the formations separately just to not deal with the 2 shitty rules, while still having access to multi-waaaghs for the majority of the game, a 1/6 rerollable chance of getting fearless from turn 2 and on, and possibly access to the Orkimedes' Kustom Gubbinz.
**'''Biggest an' Da Bestest''': Warlord must issue and accept challenges. Additionally, if the warlord successfully kills a character in a challenge he can reroll to-wound rolls for the rest of the game. This shit sucks. Orks have access to wound rerolls on our warlord traits and with the lukky stik. You never want to be forced to take a challenge you can't win with your warlord. Some say it's the orky way to blindly accept challenges. I say it's even orkier for the big boss to shove a few boyz in front to deal with a formidable opponent before it's your turn to krump em (kunnin eh?).
**'''Da Boss iz Watchin'''': Units with this rule in mobs get +2 on Mob Rule rolls, but if they roll Breaking Heads or Squabble, they take d3+3 S4 AP- hits. Yeah, you better pray that you pass morale, because the price for failing got much higher.
*'''Great Waaagh! Detachment:''' It was not reprinted in the Waaagh! Ghazghkull re-release, but the FAQ says this and the Green Tide formation are still valid. Take your typical CAD and add an extra 2 Troops and 2 Elites. 1 HQ, 2 Troops, and 1 Elite are compulsory. For using this, you have to deal with '''Biggest an'da Best''' and '''Da Boss iz Watchin'''', which is rather painful. The 'benefits' are the customary Warlord Trait re-roll and the ability to roll a die for each unit from this detachment, adding +1 to any unit that is classified as Troops. Any result of 6+ gives that particular unit Deep Strike.
**'''Biggest an' Da Bestest''': Warlord must issue and accept challenges. Additionally, if the warlord successfully kills a character in a challenge he can reroll to-wound rolls for the rest of the game. This shit sucks. Orks have access to wound rerolls on our warlord traits and with the lukky stik. You never want to be forced to take a challenge you can't win with your warlord. Some say it's the orky way to blindly accept challenges. I say it's even orkier for the big boss to shove a few boyz in front to deal with a formidable opponent before it's your turn to krump em (kunnin eh?).
**'''Da Boss iz Watchin'''': Units with this rule in mobs get +2 on Mob Rule rolls, but if they roll Breaking Heads or Squabble, they take d3+3 S4 AP- hits. Yeah, you better pray that you pass morale, because the price for failing got much higher.
*'''Air Superiority Detachment (Death from the Skies):''' The very same, as all other factions get with an access to air-force. Really, not much to talk about, if your enemy brought the same detachment, most of your perks are being nullified anyway, and you don't have transports to capitalize on the Object Secured planes. Look rather for the Ork Skwadron, or the Kustom Wazmob formation.

====Da Great Waaagh!====
Coming with the re-release of this book was an Ork Decurion. However, it's clear that this was very phoned-in.

*'''Command Benefits:''' There are three benefits. The first is being able to reroll your Warlord Trait if rolling on the Ork Table. The second one is '''Stampede''' which states that if your Warlord is a Warboss from this detachment, you can Waaagh every turn. The final benefit is called '''The Greenskin Hordes''' which states that every time a unit from this Detachment which starts the Assault Phase with 10 or more models manages to successfully charge an enemy and roll a 10 or more for charge distance, it gets Hammer of Wrath. Extra hits are appreciated, though sadly they're only S3 hits. [[Wat|It must be confusing that Gretchin benefit from this too]].

=====Core (1+):=====
*'''Waaagh!-Band:''' [[Fail|Literally the exact same Formation as the Ork Warband in the basic Ork Codex, with a different name. The benefits are exactly the same as the Great Waaagh, meaning this effectively gets no bonus]].
*'''Goff Killmob:''' A Warboss (possibly replaced by Grukk) joins a pack of Nobs, 3 bands of Boyz, 1 pack of Kanz, a Gorkanaut and 2 Deff Dreds. In exchange, the Infantry units from this formation may reroll their charge distance. Although the benefit is better (since it stacks), it does mean taking a Gorkanaut...

=====Command (0-1 per Core)=====
*'''Council of da Waaagh!:''' Pretend you're in 5th Edition all over again! Ghazghkull and Grotsnik get to grab 2 Warbosses, a Big Mek, and a mob of Nobs with a banner. They now count as a squad. Aside from netting the bonus rules standard for the supplement, they net +1 WS on the bosses and the ability to roll for two Warlord Traits from the supplement and add them both to Ghazzy's default trait. The Banner-bearer also gives THE ENTIRE SQUAD AN ADDITIONAL +1 WS (on top of the normal +1 of the banner), as well as giving all Orks within 12" a re-roll on failed Morale and Pinning tests.Some people may argue that you only get the +1 WS on the Nobs, but the Waaagh! banner does say the unit gains the bonus, just like in a standard group of a Warboss and a Nobz squad with Waaagh! Banner, the Warboss would gain that bonus there too.As close as you'll get to your Herohammer deathstar and can be quite tanky to boot. Give the Big Mek the relic force field, take the Nobz in a small as possible squad and give the Warboss' Mega-Armour and 1 of them the Eternal Warrior relic. This will run you up 800~ points but will still fit in any transport, be mostly Toughness 5, have a 2+ and 4++, and FnP and EW on the 2 main damage soakers. Will also put out enough S10 attacks to kill anything* in a single turn of combat: 16 + D3*3 if you're outnumbered at WS8 (on the warbosses (+1 from formation, +1 from Waaagh! banner and another +1 for the special banner)).Warning Terms and Conditions apply on "Anything". Your 4+ invuln save is only good against shooting and all klaws are still I1. Any real close combat squad will laugh at these wannabees.

*'''Oddboyz:''' Your non-Warboss HQ choice. Just grab a Mek, Big Mek, Painboy, or Weirdboy.

=====Auxiliary (1-10 per Core)=====
*'''Ghazghkull's Bully Boyz:''' 3 separate units of 5+ Meganobz. As a very melee-based formation, they not only get Fear and Fearless, but they also get +1 WS, making them even more of a threat in combat. There's still a lot that can blow them up though, and S&P will make it easy to wreck them. This formation does, however, fix the main problem with Nobz - their piss poor LD. Fearless means their LD7 no longer matters which is the main reason they suck. Put the whole formation in Battle wagons and you can be sure the enemy will have to kill every last Nob. Take Kombi Skorchas on every Nob so you have 15 single use heavy flamers to melt any tarpits that get in your way.
*'''Da Vulcha Skwad:''' Zagstruk grabs 3 packs of Stormboyz. This formation is sadly trash [[fail|since it must start in Deep Strike Reserve, while lacking the ability to charge from Reserves or mitigate Scatter. Furthermore, the entire Formation makes a single Reserve roll and Orks do not have innate Reserve manipulation and so unless you sink extra points into a comm-relay, there is a 1 in 3 chance that the Formation fails to arrive. The only other bonus is that the Formation can merge into a single unit, yet do you really want to Deepstrike a mob of 30+ unarmored Orks in an easy-to-pieplate group]]?
*'''Badrukk's Flash Gitz:''' Badrukk grabs 2 bands of Flash Gitz. A surprise formation, Badrukk joins up with 2 mobs of 10+ Flash Gitz. They can join into a single superblob similar to the Vulcha Boyz, [[fail|but this is not worth it since they can only shoot one unit at a time and you do not get bonus points for overkill]]. Their other bonus is that their Snazzguns gain Master-Crafted; however, each Snazzgun fires three shots, and Master-Crafted only lets you reroll one miss per weapon. [[rage|Say you have 20 Flash Gitz in your super-unit: they do not roll 60 shots before rerolling up to 20 misses. Rather, you roll three shots at a time, rerolling up to one miss, and repeat this process a total of 20 times. Your opponent will hate you not for the damage you do, but the amount of time it takes to resolve the attack]]. In short, this Formation is another hard pass; take Flash Gitz if you want, but not in this Formation.
*'''Boss Snikrot's Red Skull Kommandoz (Waaagh! Ghazghkull)''' - Boss Snikrot grabs four Kommando Mobs; no more, no less. This formation gets the same ability to jump in on any side of the table and get Shrouded when they arrive, but they also get a re-roll on a failed cover save if they don't shoot the turn they arrive.
*'''Blitz Brigade:''' Five Battlewagons, all with either rams or deffrollas. Surprisingly, they get Scout, which is pretty hard to imagine for an Ork vehicle, but if they do so, anyone embarked on them won't be able to charge on the first turn, unless you take turn two, then you can charge away, otherwise they are useful as delivery for either shootas or flash bitz or as mobile cover for other chargers. With the new update of Waaagh! Ghazghkull, all battlewagons ram at S10. Sweet.
**However, with this formation a good choice would be killkannons. Firstly, taking 'ard case wouldn't be a problem if units inside can't charge out of it turn 1 anyway. Secondly that scout move gets them up and into range turn one. with five large blasts at S7 AP 3. Your opponent is gonna have to duck and cover in order to survive that kind of on salvo turn 1.
*'''Gorkanaut Krushin' Krew:''' Grab 3 Gorkanauts that will become huge fire magnets not only because of their standard mega-ness, but because they get additional rules as the game goes on. On Turn 2, they get Rage. On Turn 3, they get Hatred. After that, they get Shred. Keep them alive that long, and you'll have the ability to crush anything you get near. Just remember to keep them in the best possible positions (in close combat, hidden from Lascannons, screened by smaller units, etc), because until they start [[meme|gettan gud]], they are only basic Orkanuats, and basic Orkanauts are basic bitches.
*'''Dread Mob:''' A Big Mek and Painboy grab 2 Gorka/Morkanauts in any combination and 3 each of Killa Kanz and Deff Dreads.
*'''Air Armada:''' 3 Dakkajets grab a Burna-Bommer and Blitza-Bommer.
*'''Dakkajet Skwadron:''' 3 Dakkajets
*'''Burna-Bommer Skwadron:''' 3 Burna-Bommers.
*'''Blitza-Bommer Skwadron:''' 3 Blitza-Bommers.
*'''Speshulists:''' Grab a pack of speshul boys: Kommandos, Flash Gitz, Burnas, Tankbustas, or Stormboys.
*'''Speed Freeks:''' Grab a pack of Warbikes, Warbuggies, or Deffkoptas.
*'''Mekboyz' Big Stuff:''' A Stompa, Morka/Gorkanaut, Battlewagon, or Mek Gunz. Whatever fits, really.

===Dataslate Formations===
*'''Painmob (Start Collecting! Orks box)''' - This formation requires a Painboy, a mob of Boyz, a mob of Nobz and a Deff Dread. The pros are that you get a free Painboy slot, which is definitely welcome, and the other units aren't restricted to a specific size (you needed a big blob of Boyz anyway, right?). A mob of Nobz can be kept cheap (minimal with no upgrades is around 50 points) and small enough to be kept as a hidden backfield objective holder, or you can kit it out to be brutal. The only real tax unit here is the Dread, which doesn't really synergize with the rest of the formation as-is. To offset that, you get the special rule Pile On Da Pain, which lets all the units in this formation, once per game, get an extra round of Close Combat during the Movement phase if they're already stuck in, and the enemy can't hit back. But since GW gives with one hand and takes with the other, all units with this rule need to perform it at the same time. If you're taking this unit, at least stick some Killa Kanz around the Dread so it won't be dead before it hits enemy lines.

*'''Ork Warband''' - This requires 1 Warboss, 1 Mek, 1 unit of Nobz/Meganobs, '''6''' units of Boyz & 1 unit of Gretchin and gives you all the same benefits as the Ork Horde detachment (re-rollable traits + HoW if 10+ models roll more than 10" charge). In addition your Warboss can call a Waaagh [[Awesome|EVERY TURN AFTER THE FIRST]] You'll never have to play a battleforged army ever again! Just add unbound Ork units after you've qualified for the formation.
**This formation is easily overlooked and underestimated: when taken bare-bones it forms the core of a 1000pt army that still has room for more Nobz, Boyz, or a few good toys and upgrades that lets you overwhelm an opponent with superior numbers. Waaagh-ing every turn even the first will let you shoot up the board faster than your opponent can anticipate with more bodies than they can deal with unless they take very specific lists. And even then, HoW hits are much easier to achieve. Additionally, all the required units have a use on the field: Grots maintain their use as a screen or backfield objective holder, while a small 3-Nob squad can do the same job while being just as easily ignored by the enemy. That Mek can babysit Mek Gun batteries, help Lootas with Mob Rule or take challenges for a PK Nob/Boss. And while you can't count on it to happen, rolling a 1 on the Ork traits table (with the reroll this formation allows) means '''your army is Fearless every turn even the first''', assuming you can protect the Warboss. Putting a (cheap) Finkin' Kap on that (cheap) Warboss allows for further shenanigans. This formation gives a ton of strategic opportunities that your opponent WILL underestimate. The one downside is model count; not for a new player, but it's a way to keep your footslogging army from previous editions viable.

*'''Grukk's Rippin' Krew (Stormclaw)''' - All of the Unique Stormclaw formations go here. Thankfully, Grukk allows everyone to re-roll morale (Cowardly Grotz included), and the ability to Deep Strike. If you decide to pull everyone in Reserves (which'd be kinda ridiculous) they'll all automatically arrive on the first turn so you can shock them by not being automatically disqualified. This formation would be great if you weren't forced to use the named units of the storm claw box that are all kind of oddly equipped.

*'''Dread Mob (Waaagh! Ghazghkull)'''
**NOT the same as the Apocalypse formation. This one has a Big Mek and Painboy joined by 2 Gorka/Morkanauts, 3 Deff Dreads, and 3 squads of 3 Killa Kans. With the new units put onto this unit (one of which has dubious use here), the entire formation gets a re-roll on one charge dice and d3 HoW hits, which make the walkers slightly more killy. Most important to note: if you take another detachment with a Warboss as warlord, the fact that all the walkers have '''Ere We Go!'' makes them benefit from calling a Waaagh!, allowing them to run and then charge in the same turn, just like da boyz! To make the best of this formation you are going to want to get those walkers into close combat by any means necessary, including screening the larger walkers by way of the Kans. Hordes of Boyz may end up blocking the metal death machines from getting stuck in as soon as possible, so <s>don't be stupid</s> play accordingly.

*'''Green Tide (Waaagh! Ghazghkull)''' - Another remade formation, this one limits the Warboss to staying with 10 mobs of boyz. The only thing that remained this do-over is the ability to Waaagh! on end. The unit becomes more valuable now, as they're now worth 11 VP if they're entirely destroyed, which kinda kills the incentive to use them, especially now that they can't just grab any more boyz to boost their numbers. They also get HoW if they charge 10+ and the ability to allocate wounds if they roll anything other than a 1 on Mob Rule, which kinda keeps them alive, but it's not as good as the Apoc form. Although giving your Warboss a Big Bosspole means the unit is Fearless, negating Mob Rule entirely. Since the Formation allows you to take Unbound units while keeping the Formation's special rules (you weren't going to bother with ObSec in this list anyway), tossing in a single Painboy gives the entire blob FnP, and a KFF or two near the front/sides/rear of the unit - basically moving to wherever your opponent is hitting you from - helps keep your boyz much more protected than your opponent will anticipate. Orks: it's all about underestimation! This formation has proven to be very powerful. But not easy to master as it's a helhuge single squad with all it's goods and bads. The goods are that the buffs like FNP and Fearless affect everyone. The bads are you're running a single freaking squad that can get stuck into an invisible or hardy enemy attacking from the flank, so positioning and support are VERY important.

*'''Gorkanaut Krushin' Krew (Waaagh! Ghazghkull Supplement Update)''' - 3 Gorkanauts that will become huge fire magnets not only because of their standard mega-ness, but because they get additional rules as the game goes on. On Turn 2, they get Rage. On Turn 3, they get Hatred. After that, they get Shred. Keep them alive that long, and you'll have the ability to crush anything you get near. Just remember to keep them in the best possible positions (in close combat, hidden from Lascannons, screened by smaller units, etc), because until they start [[meme|gettan gud]], they are only basic Orkanuats, and basic Orkanauts are basic bitches.

*'''Mogrok's Bossboyz (The Red Waaagh!)''' - A Warboss grabs 3 Big Meks and an ML2 Weirdboy. One of your Meks gets Kunnin' But Brutal, giving him some extra protection with his KFF (which you took, right?). You also get +1 on the Seize and can give d3 units Outflank and Acute Senses for extra sneeky if you use this alongside Snikrot's boyz. Of note, you can outflank ANY unit, including [[Creed|Stompas and Orkanauts]], right into your opponents lines (bonus points for Burna-laden trukks)! (TAKE IT FOR THE GREEN TIDE! THE LULZ JUSTIFY EVERYTHING)

*'''Skyboss Wingnutz' Sky Armada (The Red Waaagh!)''' - Pack in 3 Dakkajets (one with a Flyboss) with a Burna-Bomma and a Blitza-Bomma. This is meant to purely piss off anyone aiming at them, as they can jump off the Table to Ongoing Reserves, restoring their HP and One-Use weapons before going again.

*'''Grukk's Goff Killmob (The Red Waaagh!)''' - Grukk and Skrak's Skullnobz have to join 3 mobs of 20+ bare-bone boyz, a Gorkanaut, 2 Deff Dreads, and a 3-Kan mob. They get Fear for joining up, but the Boyz and Nobs also get a re-roll on the Charge just to make sure they make it. Not much else, though.

*'''Ork Skwadron (Death from the Skies)''' - A formation-level alternative of the air superiority detachment. You must take 3 wings from Dakkajets, Burna Bommerz, or Blitza Bommers in any combination. One wing gets +1 BS and agility, plus the Skilled rider USR. The whole formation move flat out and can shoot, provided all the wings are in an attack pattern, and they are not more than 24" far away from each other. Shame, that it can be nullified by shooting out one wing (or at worst, a single plain from a 2 plane-strong wing).

*'''Kustom Wazmob (Death from the Skies)''' - A speshul wing, which is led by a Wazbom Blastajet (with a compulsory kustom force field), followed by three other planes (Dakkajet, Burna Bommer,Blitza Bommer, or Wazbom Blastajet, in any combination). If you fly in a Fortitude pattern, you'll get 3+ invulnerable save. RAW it can be used against hits from the Clipped 'im! results on you Blitza Bommers' bombing runs. Still can be nullified by shooting down a single plane from the formation, but the whole lot can be fielded just under 500 pts.

==Apocalypse==

If you like scratchbuilding, large games and, silly rules and playing unbound this is the game type for you.

===Apocalypse Strategic Assets===

===Apocalypse Finest hour & Divine Intervention===

===Apocalypse Formations===
These formations are Appocalypse only.Most of them are more powerfull then normal formations and you can't use them in most normal 40k games.

*'''Battlewagon Steamrolla Squad (40k Apocalypse)''' - 3-5 Battlewagons all grab Deffrollas and start rollin'. When in Broadsword pattern, the Wagons can all re-roll how many hits their Deffrollas inflict and gain a 4+ Cover save against front armor damage, making them really tough against oncoming enemies. Now that Deffrollas only work when enemies choose Death or Glory, this squad is best used in a wall formation to [[meme|take enemy infantry, and push them somewhere else]].

*'''Burna-Bommer Squadron (40K Apocalypse)''' - 3-5 Burna-Bommers. Let's rock. When in Arrowhead pattern, 2+ of the Bommers can make a bombing run and keep one of the Blast markers used in that run on the board after all is said and done. This marker now denotes the area as Lethal Terrain, which can help if used properly. In addition, if they hit anyone, the enemy must subtract the number of flyers from any morale or pinning tests they make in that turn.

*'''Da Bully Boyz (40K Apocalypse)''' - 5 Warbosses (One who could be Ghazgkhull) each take a mob of either Nobs or MegaNobs to get stuck to for the game. One of the Bosses (or Ghazzy if he's available) becomes the Supreme Boss. The first big thing you'll see is that this gives them all a welcome FNP and Fearless, making them very ready to get stuck in. In addition to that, the Supreme Boss (or Thraka) gets to use a special Rok Strike that's infinite range Assault 1 S10 AP1/S8 AP3/S6 AP5 Apocalyptic Blast. Quite blatantly, this will make every Orbital Bombardment suck a big one because you got the biggest boom in town.

*'''Dread Mob (40k Apocalypse)''' - 2+ Deff Dreads are put with 2+ squads of 3 Killa Kanz. The survivability of these things is boosted first by getting It Will Not Die. In addition, each model gets to roll d6 for new gubbinz: 1 gives them HoW (irrelevant now that all Walkers get it by default), 2-3 gets +1 S, 4-5 gets a 5+ Invul, while 6 gives you all of this. No matter what you get, you'll find something to use from this force of angry tin cans. Note that this has nothing to do with the Army of the same name from Imperial Armour 8.

*'''Green Tide (40k Apocalypse)''' - A Warboss gets stuck in with 10 mobs of boyz for a propa footy WAAAGH!!! This is how da Orkz do it! First off, any mob of boyz within 2" of the Tide must join it at all costs, even if they have to disembark from a transport, while Characters besides the lead boss can join or leave whenever. Any mob that retreats within that range can also join in and automatically regroup. In doing so, the force can now Waaagh! every turn, with a bonus die given to their charge distance (picking the highest 2) if the rest of the army uses Waaagh! GO NUTZ!

*'''Bikeboyz Kult of Speed (Warzone Armageddon)''' - A Bikerboss takes 6+ mobs of bikerboyz, 2+ squads of buggies, and any number of Nobz on bikes.
** This is the best way to run bikes. They can shoot whenever they want, even if they Turbo-Boost or Flat Out. They can also move absolutely anywhere if they arrive from reserves, so long as they keep out of 12" of the enemy at any point in the arrival.

*'''Karnage Skwadron (Warzone Armageddon)''' - 3+ Dakkajets. TIME TO SHOOT!
** Plain and simple, this is a kamikaze formation. Yes, they get +1 on their jink saves, but they need to be 2" from any other models/bases. Therefore, their use comes from their other rule: Once they move to a Superheavy, each jet can sacrifice themselves and place a Large Blast that scatters 2d6. Anyone hit by this takes d3+1 S10 AP2 random hits (on side armour for vehicles) that can ignore all shields.

*'''Ork Stormer Elite (Warzone Armageddon)''' - At least 3 mobs of Stormboyz take to the skies. Since they're forced to footslog it, they get a nifty bonus FNP and Fearless to keep them fighting a bit longer. In addition, they can charge from reserves, removing d3 of the gitz that do charge.

*'''Overlord Von Strab (Warzone Armageddon)''' - One lone Company Commander (read: [[Heresy|HERETIC]]) gets to hire a 9-Nob mob. Doing this works like Cypher: all Guard units now have Hatred against this unit, and every Guard Unit within 12" MUST charge his ass. He also counts as a controlled asset for his side, but becomes a controlled asset for the other side if he ever dies. In addition, he can't grab an extra Strategic Asset.

*'''Red Skull Kommandoz (Warzone Armageddon)''' - Boss Snikrot leads a mob of Kommandoz. This unit just oozes with sneaky. First off, whenever they arrive from reserves, the boss gives Orks within 12" of him Shrouded for the turn. Second, they can jump into Ongoing Reserves on any Ork turn so long as there are no enemies within 12" of them.

*'''Stompa Mob (Warzone Armageddon)''' - 2-4 Stompaz with an optional Big Mek Stompa unite for hugeness. This is your superheavy formation. None like it. If the Big Mek Stompa is with them and they use Arrowhead Pattern, the Mek's fields get to protect everyone in the formation, which is neato. If in Broadsword Pattern, the Stompas can then re-roll all Stomp results, making them even bigger threats.

*'''Shokk Attack Battery (Apocalypse Datasheet) ''' 3 Shokk Attack Guns and a Snotling herd, a new unit which are basically Grots but with BS1. One Mek is designated the Boss Mek, which doesn't affect his stats. These Meks can fire at the same time using an Apocalyptic Barrage, though it should be noted that this also applies the negative effects across the board between the three gitz. They use as many die as there are Shokk Attack Guns remaining in the battery. On a Triple 1, all three models are removed and a Vortex Grenade effect is placed where the Boss Mek was standing.

==Building Your Army==
:;Picking Your Detachment
::The Orks have access to many different detachments. Besides the Normal Combined Arms and Unbound options in the base rulebook, there are formations and the Ork Horde Detachment. Formations have a lot more requirements than FOC, so you will need to meet them. Many Formations are interesting choices, but the lack of freedom and options means they will likely be joined by another detachment.
::Decide whether or not you want Objective Secured; in the tournament scene stealing objectives is considered a top-tier strategy. In friendly or lower tiers of play this might not be a factor. The Ork Horde Detachment is a good option if you want to field more HQs, though this requires the tax of more troops.
:;Picking Your Warlord
::If you want to take the Warboss as your warlord, remember that the Waaagh! is a powerful ability for the Orks and is only accessible if the Warboss is your warlord. However, if you are making a gun line as opposed to a melee charge, don't worry about him. The warlord in an Orky gunline army could be anything, though it is good to take an HQ that has survivability (such as Big Meks) and access to Gifts of Gork and Mork.
::Weirdboyz can actually benefit from the Ork Warlord Traits, with only the fifth trait being a borderline-useless wash. Special characters are always a good choice, but if they force you to have a warlord trait make sure that it's one you want or one you can use. Otherwise you can just take them as a secondary HQ, and have a generic HQ to get you your preferred trait.
:;Picking Your Troops
::There aren't many choices for Ork Troops now that FOC HQ's don't exist. Play unbound if you want to skip this selection. But if you want to play with a battle forged army, feel free to fill this slot with minimum squads of Grots.
::It won't take up a lot of points and will leave you to build the rest of the army as you see fit. Ork Boyz are always a solid choice for the Warboss on a close-combat rampage. Need to take them on a trip? You can doggy-bag them in a Trukk. If you want to play around with Objective Secured, Ork Boyz are your best bet as they have the mob rule to keep them in line. Grots will just run or get procedurally eaten by Squig Hounds.
:;Picking Your Elites
::Elites are pretty lackluster for Orks. Mostly they are units that you want to get into melee, the only exceptions being Kommandos and Tankbustas. Even then, Kommandos only can take a limited number of heavy weapons. That in mind, Kommandos are meant for backfield distractions and shoving Rokkits up AV 10 rears.
::Tankbustas are great anti-vehicle choice since every one of them gets a Rokkit Launcha, Tank Hunters, and Tankbusta Bombs. Burnas are anti-MEQ in close combat and solidly anti-horde at close range; they are good for holding points and abusing cover, but really shine with a transport. Nob squads are more elite versions of Ork Boys with access to all the toys, but they aren't as hilariously slaughter-matic as they used to be.
::Now that Cybork Body got nerfed to the ground, all of the old problems with Nob squads are starting to really show through: insufficient armor, bad initiative, can't square off with other 5-man close-combat death squads and expect to survive, and easy so blow far too many points on. Nowadays they don't even get the 5++ that saved them from Instant Death. Most Elites are a complement to or reinforcement of your squads of Boyz. Figure out what you want to do better, and then set it loose.
::The exception to all of the above are Grot Tanks. Grot Tanks fantastic, tournament-competitive, and not anywhere in the basic codex. They came from Imperial Armour 8, and got ported over during the 6th Edition jump, which means that they are legal in any game without the need to be running an actual capital-d Dread Mob Army. Treat them like Warbuggies on steroids: screen units, harass flanks, and generally make moving around hard for the enemy. Keep track of all their little eccentricities, because most of them are super irritating for the enemy.
:;Picking Your Fast Attack
::This is where most people will throw their Warbikes on the table from. The stuff here is fast and is great for moving about the board, and Orks can pick up a surprisingly large volume and variety of highly-mobile units.
::Bikes are a tough, fast and deadly unit that can close the distance to close combat in Turn 1, though it hardly needs to thanks to its useful guns and multiple survival tactics. Warkoptas take over the scouting role that you might want to put bikes in: even more flexible than the biker boyz since they can fly over terrain, and great for taking rear-armor rokkit pot-shots.
::Stormboys are the Turn 1 assaulters, even more so than bikers, though they tend to attract a lot of attention so keep them in close combat lest they be forced to take a volley of bolter-fire. Don't bother with Warbuggies or Wartrakks, just take a squad of Grot Tanks.
::Ork fliers were the new flavor of 6th Edition, and still maintain a rather large presence in the Fast Attack section. All vanilla-codex Ork fliers are thin-skinned glass cannons, and will fall out of the sky if a Hydra so much as looks at them, so resist the temptation to kit them out too hard. That said, both bombers and fighters will barf shocking volumes of fire on their chosen targets, especially if you let loose with some of your plentiful one-shot bombs and missiles.
::Orks are naturally great at airplanes, because all of their weapons are configured for that classic orkish BS2. Dakkajets are the weakest of the bunch, but they're cheap and can tear other fliers out of the sky like nothing else. Blitza-Bommas are dedicated armor killers, which Orks need desperately. If you absolutely positively need that Leman Russ dead Turn 2, accept no substitutes. Burna-Bommas are a middle-ground, designed to kill dug-in infantry. You have a lot of anti-infantry as Orks, but a Burna-Bomma can eat entire squads of cover-abusing gunlines and MEQs in a single turn, if you are willing to blow your whole load at once.
:;Picking Your Heavy Support
::This is the most crowded section in the codex, as well as one with the most firepower. Heavy Support comes in two flavors, Heavy and Support. As a general rule, you will want to find a way to synergize these units with your other force organization choices, not the other way around.
::If you want to Support your Boyz and their toyz, you are mainly looking at Lootas and ways to make Lootas not run off the table (Painboys with bosspoles) or die to blast weapons (Meks with KFF). You may also consider the Mek Gunz for the same role as the Lootas. Mek Guns are your swiss army knife: you can kit them out to take on various threats, but only really one threat at a time.
::Also, they are the best anti-air unit in the game as of release. Depending on how deeply you want to dig into the Ork Rules Rabbit Hole (or Squig Hole, as it were), you can pull out the Imperial Armour 8 rules and summon Big Trakks with Supa-kannons and pretend you've got Basilisks (for a pretty penny in cash and points alike).
::Your other flavor is Heavy: close combat and close-support units to put bigger gunz in with your boyz. You have three sub-flavors, walkers and tanks and Flash Gitz. Flash Gitz are an actual option nowadays, but unless you're running Kaptin Badrukk's Flash Gitz to maximize your damage output, you may want to go with Burnas or Lootas. Walkers are next, and Orks get a lot of them.
::Kans are good screening larger Dreads, and in smaller games can support infantry advances well with their BS3 Grotzookas and Rokkits. Deff Dreads are selectively useful: with 4 DCCW arms they can feast on most other units in close combat, but they are very susceptible to being shot to death and their ranged weapons are underwhelming. Other options such as the Morkanaut with KFF give a nice boost to your army's overall defenses, but the Orkanauts don't really know what they want to be, and tend to not be worth their points.
::Battlewagons are usually good for moving units around (like Flash Gitz and Tankbustas), and make great battering rams for inserting Nobs, Burnas or Warbosses into close combat. They can even be taken as Dedicated Transports by some units, which frees up your Heavy Support slots for more Lootas. Also, consider looking at Mega- and Meka-Dreads, which make a fantastic distraction and have a tendency to consume whole vehicles, monstrous creatures, and buildings in a single assault phase.
:;Picking Your Transports
::Don't be fooled by the 7th Edition Ork codex. You are not stuck with only paper thin Trukks or expensive Battlewagons. We have the most transport options out of any codex. Marines have technically more, but they just call every rhino-chassis tank with a different gun a different transport and that doesn't ''really'' count. I'm talking about ''real choice''.
::From AV 10 open-topped skimmers all the way to AV 14 'ard-Cased battlewagons and literally everything in between. The only thing that is missing are flyer transports (and you can get those if you play an IA8 Dread Mob army). Check the Heavy Support section for more info, and seriously consider playing Unbound if you want to avoid cluttering up the Heavy Support section, since most Ork transports come from the Heavies section.
::Transports are a big deal for Orks. Since we rely on huge infantry waves or swarms of lightly-armored vehicles, each list needs to find the transport that is right for the job. Do you want to dump the points for the Battlewagon to move units, since you need to make it Open-Topped to be useful? Do you want to risk the now-nerfed Trukks in favor of more esoteric choices like Big Trakks for just a few dozen points more? Do the math on survivability versus speed versus firepower.
::Also keep in mind squad sizes: Boyz need to be in big groups and shoving them in 12-model transports cuts their maximum squad size in more than half, but Burnas and Tankbustas can be effective in squads of only six.
:;Picking Your Lord of War
::You want, you need the Stompa. With so many unfair choices out there for other armies (KNIGHTS) the Stompa is the most balanced Super-Heavy in game. Sadly your only limitation is that Tournament Organizers will ban super-heavies, and taking them in low points matches is a dick move. Ghazzy is a great option and with his built in fearless Waaagh! means you are all set to use him and leave the HQ slot for your important stuff.

==Tips and Tricks==
*'''Mob Rule and boyz:''' Always keep the Mob Rule table in the back of your head. Either equip your Boyz with a way to negate the wounds they inevitably suffer from rolling a 2-6, or make sure the odds of getting forced to throw on the table are as low as possible. The first is done by having your units upgraded with 'Eavy Armor or FnP, at least granting you a chance against the wounds you take, as the hits you will take for failing Mob Rule are AP-. With FnP, this means you get to take your 6+ t-shirt save as well as your 5+ FnP check. It's roughly as efficient as 'Eavy Armor. If you're truly autismal about losing boyz (why should you be? You're playing orks.) you can just give them both upgrades. Or you can just throw them in a Battlewagon for safe keeping. The second option is done by cranking up the mob's Leadership by adding a Big Mek, a Warboss or Grotsnik to the unit, upping their Ld to 8, 9 or just giving good old Fearless. These options are expensive, mind, but will add some reliability to the mob, because the odds of being forced to throw on the table are lessened. Also, always take a Nob with a Bosspole, just in case.

*'''Mob Rule and small units:''' Mob Rule poses an entirely different problem for small units. At first glance it sounds nice, being able to pass Ld checks by taking a few wounds, regardless of unit size, but the chart is deceiving. I am not talking about taking D6 Str4 hits, I am talking about not meeting the conditions on the Mob Rule table and outright running off the board or getting pinned. Most small units will not run more than 5 models, and if they run over 10, they are abysmally expensive and will generally only be done by Lootas. Having less than ten models in your unit means a 50% chance of your unit not succeeding on the Mob Rule table and legging it. The problem is increased if you roll a 1. Most of our small units do not want to be in close combat, or only reluctantly so. Meganobz are the main exception here. But think about Lootas, Burnas, or God forbid, Deffkoptas. Which brings us to the last problem. Not having any characters in your unit further increases your chances of fucking up on the table by 33%. This means Deffkoptas will fail on the Mob Rule table 100% of the time, unless you are in close combat, because max unit size is 5 and they cannot have any characters unless you add an HQ on a bike. Lootas suffer from the same problem, but this can be solved by buying an HQ Mek and attaching it to the squad, at least guaranteeing the Character requirement on the table. In short, when taking small units with Mob Rule always take a character with you, always take a Bosspole when possible because the reroll is worth its weight in gold, and always try to get 10 models unless the unit is a throw-away, like a MANz missile in a trukk.

*'''More Reliable Shokk Attack Gun:''' If you take the Shokk Attack Gun there are several pieces of wargear that will help you drastically. The downside to this is that you have to put a lot of points into the Big Mek which could be for naught if you roll double 1's. Note that none of this allows you to reroll the strength. Wargear as follows:
**'''Gitfinda''' - Gives the Big Mek BS3 if stationary that turn. Helps to mitigate the scatter.
**'''Mega Armour''' - Slow and purposeful grants the entire unit Relentless. Note the ''unit'' needs one model with Mega Armor; the Big Mek can't take it with the Shokk Attack Gun.
**'''Warbike''' - Gives you speed, survivability and... relentless.
***BE AWARE: Per the most recent FAQ, a Gitfinda does not stack with Relentless of either type (bike or mega armour). *Ork tears inbound*
**'''Da Lucky Stikk''' - This allows re-rolls of To Hit or Armor Save. This means that they can re-roll scatter once per attack.
**'''Ammo Runts''' - Cheap expendable counters that allow you to reroll the scatter. Nothing new here.
**'''Tank bustas'''- Attach your Big Mek to these guys to pick up Tank Hunters for him.

*'''Zhadsnark's Psycho Deffstar''' A hilarious bike-heavy Evil Sunz deathstar reserved only for the maddest of Speed Freaks who reminisce to the good old days of Armageddon and are pissed that GW removed Wazdakka from the book. Here's what you will need:
**'''Zhadsnark Da Rippa''' - FW Biker Hero (see above)
**'''Biker Warboss''' - With Gazbag's Warbike and a klaw (You will probably just use your old Wazdakka conversion that's gathering dust)
**'''Painboy on Bike''' - This git is important, protect him.
**'''Warbikers/Nob bikers''' - It's up to you which type of bike you field, but Warbikers are much cheaper and will gain the Scout rule when joined by Zhadsnark
**'''Big Mek on Bike w/ Shokk Attack Gun''' - This is optional. Nothing stops you from using a SAG and a bike, and doing so will allow you to shoot on the move
**'''Big Mek on Bike w/ Big Boss pole''' - Also optional. Ally into the Ghaz supplement and pick up the relic bosspole, granting fearless and fixing any LD issues
**'''Big Mek on Bike w/ KFF''' - Also optional, but a nice way to keep your bikers safe from nasty ignores cover weapons. If you really have the spare points and want to make them even harder to kill, take the Mega Force Field

The idea is pretty simple, a massive terrifying mob of bikers lead by several power HQ's, all protected by a painboy's FNP. But the presence of Zhadsnark provides some interesting bonuses. For starters he will make all your Warbikers into troops, either letting this unit or other Warbiker mobs in your army score easier, not only being very fluff-accurate for any Evil Sun players want the focus to be on bike lists.

Zhadsnark's Skilled Rider special rule grants 1+ to cover saves (Adding to the Warbike passive rule, giving a 2+ when Turbo boosting) and you ignore the dangerous terrain checks needed when driving over difficult terrain. These effects will benefit his entire unit as long as he remains alive. He also gives his own warbiker unit the option to Scout which in turn, grants the ability to also Outflank should you choose. Nothing is better than seeing the look on your opponents face as your horde of biker's makes a free 12 inch move towards him before the game has even begun. Or they simply roll on from one of the table edges, unleashing their vast and brutal Dakkagun fire. Don't forget that Gazbag's Blitzbike is ap3, and as he wields a kustom klaw that strikes at initiative 4 Zhadsnark can krump almost any Monstrous creature he runs into, even weaker HQ's will need a decent invuln if they have any hope of surviving. Defensively, the unit is as tough as you would expect and Zhadsnark's lack of any kind of save or invuln is negated by the painboy being around. Whilst not the most reliable or cheesy Deathstar around, this will catch the gits at your LGS unaware, and is the fluffiest way to portray a classic Speed Freak army.

*'''Strength in... Somewhere:''' Unless you are running 180+ boys (because Tau/AM/Eldar exist and because you're asleep most of the time) look to the other troops choice. Use Grots like combat-squaded Marines, or 6-man Fire Warrior teams: do nothing but sit on an objective. 40 Points vs whatever you're running for Boyz; the less points spent on Boys the more points you have for toys! Consider not bringing Power Klaws with your Boyz either, because if you can't drown it in weight of dice, maybe you should think twice. Be very, very cognizant of every points trade you can make, and everywhere you can save points for better value elsewhere. Think specifically Elites and Fast Attack FOC. All the walkers are trash. But sacrificing a squad of Tankbustas to take out two Wave Serpents isn't a bad trade. Speeding some Burnas into the fleshy underbelly of your opponent's army is satisfying. Lootas and Mek Guns can provide all the firepower you need whilst using <s>Buggies</s> Grot Tanks, Kommandos, and some of the better formations to handle back/mid/fore-field disruption. Or just run ALL Grots... no nothing else... All Grots Motherfucka.

==Allies==

'''Allies of Convenience:''' Chaos Space Marines. The Lost and the Damned. (Imperial vehicles with their points costed to reflect BS2..? *cough* Looted vehicles. *cough* OG Blood Axes.)

'''Desperate Allies:''' Dark Eldar, Eldar, Necrons, Chaos Daemons, Tau

'''Come the Apocalypse:''' Armies of the Imperium, Tyranids

Orks only look out for number one. Blood Axes and Freebooterz will work with both the Tau and Imperial Guard as guns for hire. Orks don't care who gets them to the fight, in fact they are probably the least racist race in the grim, dark future. You want to show them a good fight? They will always fight with anyone, its just everyone else who has to get over their own egos to work with the Orks. That being said Orks always treat everyone the same, show us a good fight and we will show you one as well.

When running allies, always consider filling in the parts your own army lacks. For orks, this is high Strength, ranged AP2. We do not need choppy things, we need a very particular kind of shooty, or otherwise useful anti tank weaponry. There are generally three useful allies for Orks that give us what we need: Tau, Necrons, and Imperial Guard. Some examples of what you could run:

Keep in mind you can now team with Come the Apocalypse so expect a sharp increase in looted Carnifexes on the board.

=== Allied buffing / debuffing ===
Since only the Tyranids have a worse choice of allies than us, don't expect much in the way of allied buff synergy. At best we get the Chaos Demon Skarbrand, with a 12" RAGE and Hatred bubble that specifically works regardless of ally status. Rage and Hatred are pretty nice for our melee hooligans, but this is a bit of a tricky combo with 6" One Eye Open. Too bad Skarbrand's true murdering instakill potential isn't in play if he isn't the warlord.

Generally we're not going to get any buffs from allied detachments. Instead, consider Allied ''debuffs''. The Fiends of Slaanesh and the dark eldar have some nice options for reducing enemy initiative, Imperial Rad-weapons reducing toughness, Mechanicus BS reducing attacks, and Chaos marines and Eldar providing options to throw away your opponents overwatch.

To put it anudder way: <span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Dem gitz wez work with can't make da boyz any bedder, cuz deys already green and green is best! But... deze 'ere udder gitz can make our foes weak'r dan grotz! Har har, let's get stompan, boyz! </span>

=== Specific Ally tactics ===
'''Alpha Legion Intervention:''' -
*'''HQ:''' Lord/Sorceror/Daemon Prince. Build to Compliment list. The mandatory HQ choice.
*'''Fast Attack:''' Spawn/Bikers/Raptors to compliment speed freaks.
*'''Heavy Support:''' Havocs/Forgefiend to Compliment Lootas. Maulerfiends to compliment Speed Freaks.
*'''Troops:''' Two blocks of Cultists or Marines with banner. If using Marked Lord/Sorceror use complimenting traitor legion.

'''Formations:'''
*'''Helbrutes dataslate:''' Mayhem pack for some decent disruption.
*'''Khorne Bloodstorm:''' works to same effect.

'''Eagle Day:'''
Clear sky on turn 1, then you blitz your opponent into the ground on turn 2 with enough flyers to make Herman Goering blush. Run this with dakkajet-spam lists.
*'''HQ:''' Generic CCS. Keep him cheap, but you might want to replace him with [[Creed]] for extra shits and giggles
*'''EVERYTHING ELSE''' As many Valkyries/Vendettas as you can possibly fit in using dedicated transports and fast attack.

'''Tau Railgun Central:''' -
*'''HQ:''' Generic Battlesuit Commander. Keep him cheap. The mandatory HQ choice.
*'''Heavy Support:''' The XV-88 Broadside Battlesuit and/or Hammerhead Gunship. Under our old codex and their old codex, broadsides were about the best thing we could take for allies. Their guns are now "Heavy Rail Rifles": Str8, AP1, 60". Still great, but these days a case can be made for taking the Hammerhead gunship for the old school Str10, AP1, 72" tankwrecker. Why not a few of each?
*'''Troops:''' The bare minimum number of mandatory Fire Warriors.

'''Tau Suicide Squads:'''
*'''HQ:''' Generic Battlesuit Commander. Keep him cheap. Deep Strike and hunt armor.
*'''Troops:''' Kroot Carnivore Squad(s), give them sniper rounds to pick off SGTs and possibly pin units. Otherwise outflank to control space.

'''Green Imperial Tide:'''
*'''HQ:''' Lord Commissar (either power weapon/fist or Gunslinger Plasma/Bolt Pistols)
*'''Troops:''' Infantry Platoon. Load out as desired, using Priests and Primaris Psykers to boost.

'''Necron Night Fighting:'''
*'''HQ:''' A Generic Overlord with Warscythe and possibly a resurrection orb to get the most out of your warriors, and a Cryptek. Make the Cryptek a Harbinger of Destruction and buy him a Solar Pulse. This'll give him a big fat long ranged S8 AP2 armor zappin' staff, and more importantly, it will give him the ability to turn your opponent's turn into fucking ''night fighting.'' Yes, this means your giant fucking horde blobs of boyz now get a free turn of not giving no shits about getting shot at. Hilarious in combination with a KFF.
*'''Troops:''' Two squads of warriors. Size depends on your preference. They're just there because the FoC wills it so, and to catch bullets for your Cryptek while he goes ZZAP MOTHERFUCKER. Cart them around in a Ghost Arks with the Cryptek and overlord if you've got the points.
Alternatively, minimum size immortals squads are cheaper.
*'''Fast Attack:''' A fuckload of Canoptek Scarabs. Land Raiders giving you asspain? Not anymore.

'''Skitarii'''
Turn everything about Orks inside out and you get Skitarii. On one hand, they're great for dealing with combat-focussed Cs and ICs due to Precision Shots, as well as flamers and blast special weapons. On the other, they've got a completely different army dynamic, so every point you spend on Skitarii will weaken your big green assault (fighting alongside Ruststalkers won't work due to One Eye Open). Get a small force of Rangers and/or load out a Dunecrawler with anti-tank weapons, keep them back where they can use Protector Imperatives over and over again, and use them to assassinate everything your opponent has up his sleeve so your Boyz can do their thing unimpeded.

== Alternative Rules ==

Where there are fanboys, there's a way. The Orks are currently gutter-level in terms of the 40k balance, so naturally some gits have gone about making their own variations that try to keep the unique Orky flavour while making the army more viable in the general game scene. You should consider talking your gaming group into adopting the [[Codex Orks: Space Odin Edition|Space 0Din fandex. ]] It vastly improves your experience with playing orks by making them not suck, and has changes such as a Mob Rule that doesn't hurt your own dudes, and a WAAAGH!!! that benefits either shooting or melee.. Just in case you wanted your WAAAGH'ing dudes to just shoot twice as many [[dakka]]

Alternatively you could try Dr. Zoidbork's [[Codex: Orks Rewrite|Codex: Orks Rewrite]]. Be warned: book'z a big 'un!

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40000 Tactics]]

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics/Old]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Orks]]

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}