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Aaron Dembski-Bowden

2022-06-09T10:24:43Z

2600:387:3:803:0:0:0:A6: /* Criticisms */

{{heresy}}

[[File:ADB.jpg|250px|right|thumb|The mag size indicates that he only has about 6 shots. The question is, did he already fire four, or six?]]
'''Aaron Dembski-Bowden''' is not [[Graham McNeill]].

ADB is a writer for the '''[[Black Library]]'''. He also [http://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com has a blog]. He is known to be fairly responsive to fan inquiries on the Internets. He has actually given his [[Awesome|thanks to /tg/ in print]] as "the elegan/tg/entlemen", in the ''Night Lords'' omnibus acknowledgements page.

He's considered a controversial figure in the black library for style of moralising 40ks villains, his stances on representation, his seeming determination to flesh out beings that would otherwise be beyond the comprehension of regular humans, and his own personal creative commentaries.

Outside the Black Library, Aaron has also worked on ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'', wrote a short story for League of Legends ''From the Ashes'' and penned the short pieces of fiction, [[Dude, Where's my Land Speeder?]] and "[[What it's like]]". He's well-liked by Daemonhunter lore masters, due to his effort in at least making the new [[Grey Knights]] lore more palatable (given the rage-inducing material he had to work with). Where there were once just [[Mary Sue]]s after the Glory Days of 3rd Ed., now there is at least a semblance of deeper character to the 5th Ed. Grey Knights, outside the idiocy written by a certain [[Matt Ward|Spiritual Liege]]. He even ties them back into threads left from [[Ravenor]], so that the influence of [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] can cleanse them. In fact, he's pretty good at making all factions awesome but imperfect. See, for example, his portrayal of Angron: while Angron is indeed a dreaded unstoppable killing machine, he's also a pitiful character who blames others for his problems. ABD also wrote the greatest speech in the entirety of GW published works for Angron in Betrayer making him at once a figure of pity, a sad portrayal of a man whose lost his will to continue and a righteous badass on the search for revenge.

He has also committed himself to rehabilitating the reputation of [[Abaddon the Despoiler]], with all the controversy that implies. He's certainly not above ripping into old Failbaddon either, as evidenced in the ''Night Lords'' trilogy where Talos has nothing but open contempt for him, point blank outlining all the reasons the Despoiler and his Legion suck, [[awesome|''to his face.'']] This is particularly noteworthy when contrasted with Talos' genuine respect for Huron Blackheart's power, authority, and achievements, even while planning on backstabbing the Corsairs.

He also wrote arguably the best speech in the 40k setting in [[Grimaldus]]'s rallying cries to the people of Helsreach. Go check it out, seriously, it’ll give you goosebumps.

==Criticisms==
Lest you think we're going soft, though, we should point out that he has received some pretty harsh criticism, particularly for his portrayal of the [[Emperor]] as a raging torrent of incompetence and jackassery the likes of which Earth had not seen since Mussolini made his last public appearance upside down at a petrol station. Then AGAIN, this view isn't exactly unheard of; while it's been acknowledged that Emps might've been a bit of a dick in some aspects, and the idea of the Emperor as a completely flawless human being can read like something clung to heavily by Imperial propaganda, some of these portrayals Big-E are from the point of view of Traitor Legions, who already have a... [[Heresy|less-than-positive view of the guy]], and this is where the joke that "the D in ADB stands for 'Daddy Issues'" springs from.

Some have even accused him of turning the ''Horus Heresy'' books into a public therapy session for his daddy issues, which, to be fair, is comparable to [[C.S. Goto]] using his books as a public therapy session for his depression and not having the chops to be a Hollywood screenwriter. He also has a major issue with making the characters he likes look perfect while shitting on other groups: see his [[Grey Knights]] book especially, which just becomes a [[Space Wolves]] wank, and ''The First Heretic'', which is often considered utterly fantastic ''outside'' of the two pages his beloved Night Lords show up and snark all over Lorgar and the Word Bearers. Oh, and let's not forget a chapter serf of the Mentors being armed with a shotgun with an underbarrel grenade launcher rocking three [[Warp_Weapons#Vortex_Grenade|Vortex Grenades]]. You know, the kind of of weapon [[Cato Sicarius]] himself was issued only one of during the second battle of Damnos where the honour of the Ultramarines chapter was supposedly at stake?

More and more, he seems to be getting his way at Black Library, especially in the Horus Heresy series, and some well-loved fluff is being rewritten after a very long time going unchanged. Many point at ''Master of Mankind,'' the book specifically about Big E, which no one at BL was smart enough to realize they shouldn't assign to the guy constantly criticized for how he writes that character. There is also the matter of the [[Blood Ravens]], whom in older lore were heavily implied to be missing loyalist offshoots of the [[Thousand Sons]]. ADB apparently tried to jettison this theory by having the "missing" Thousand Sons from the Horus Heresy reappear in one of his novels. A later index would retcon them to be Ravens afflicted by flesh-change, but the 'damage' was already done: Some neckbeards [[RAGE|just don't like it when you fuck around with the bread and butter]], and who are we to blame them? As indicated in the sections below, his approach to writing more female and non-white characters into the setting has also caught some [[Skub|inevitable flak]].

He also said in one interview he had wanted to add female Custodians and kill off Lorgar "like a dog", and the only reason he didn't was because of direct intervention from his superiors. In another one, ADB admitted he adds aforementioned female/minorities characters in his works just to trigger the haters. Yeah.

Insofar as one can actually speak for a large, completely anonymous community, [[/tg/]] appears to have mostly turned against old Aaron as of late, and even in a best-case scenario opinions will still be mixed. That said, "as of late" are the keywords; some of the hate is just as likely to be aggravated newer posters as it is some of the older guard changing their mind, or some mixture thereof; ADB still has his fans, of course, but mentioning him is much more likely to generate [[skub]]. Well lets face it he writes Big E like he were a Chaos God of Shakespearean rage.

His most recent fuck-up is in [[Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters]]. As writer of the games' script, he apparently saw nothing wrong with having Mortarion (and hordes of his best men) be defeated by Draigo and 4 chosen Grey Knights while in the Garden of Nurgle. This is quite likely to be worse than the heart-carving incident, and by someone who should know better.

==Common Themes==
Through his novels you can notice a handful of common themes, listed below:

*He likes Chaotic Neutral(ish) characters.
**He is hence great at writing Robert E. Howard-styled characters (how is it that he hasn't written any Conan pastiche?).
*He enjoys writing in first-point-of-view, although he can work in third-point-of-view.
*He mostly portrays Space Marines in his novels, although he has a few works with non-SM as well.
*If there is a ship at one of his stories, expect him to make the ship be controlled by a young woman. He says he tries to balance the testosterone with female mortal characters, which naturally draws the usual accusations of [[SJW|diversity quotas]], [[waifu]]-shilling and the like.
*He tends to write events through the protagonist's perception, and thus has to spend lots of time telling people not to take the opinions of said protagonist (for example, anything said by or about the Emperor in MoM) at face value.
**Considering the average [[neckbeard]]'s tendency to erect anything written as holy unalterable canon, it is a necessary reminder. Unfortunately ADB seems to have forgotten this himself, as he treats his own writing as holy, unalterably canon that nothing else can ever contradict or oppose.
*He seems to have spearheaded breaking the classic image of the Emperor, turning him from a grimdark, space-fascist [[Sigmar]] into an emotionless Lex Luthor - this is ''still'' [[Grimdark|the approximation of "good"]] in 30k and 40k, mind.
*He considers the 40k franchise [[Heresy|fated to be ultimately won by Chaos.]] Despite all the anti-Chaos stuff in 40k. (It would be funny seeing him getting charged to write some stuff about [[Age of Sigmar]].) Seriously though, with the Eldar, the Tyranids, Orks, but especially the Necrons, and all that anti-psyker and anti-Warp tech everyone else has, the non-chaos gods of the warp, and the infighting of Ruinous Powers themselves, even with the Great Rift cutting the galaxy in two Chaos needs a boost to have a real chance. To say nothing of the C'tan.
*He is quickly approaching [[Dan Abnett]]'s record of number of beloved characters murdered. Seriously. Reading his books, especially the Horus Heresy ones, is like watching him rip your heart out and chew on it while he coos: "Was it good for you too?"

== ADB on the Emperor in Master of Mankind ==
TL;DR: Everyone who has the chance to be in the Emperor's presence perceives something different, based on their own experiences and expectations. Nothing He ever says should be taken at face value, since it is 'warped' by the narrator's interpretation.

In response to criticisms on his portrayal of the Emperor, ADB posted this detailed answer:

''That's true, and I definitely wanted to bring out a better understanding of his vision and what he was up against, but that's also lore I'd wager anyone with a deep knowledge of the setting already had a handle on to some degree, whether explicitly or not. What I wanted to avoid was too much "new" stuff. You have to put in something new, and thankfully what little newness I do introduce in my work is seemingly well-regarded, but I've always said our job (as I see it) is to illustrate the setting and show what it's like to live there, not to set it in stone. As much as the fandom adores "advancing the storyline", it's not something that interests me, by and large. I try my best to show things from the perspectives of characters on the ground level, bring a few perceptions of the setting through the lens of my own imagination and the insight I'm lucky enough to get endlessly talking about the setting with its creators and inheritors, and then get out. Most of my books are, to some extent, not definitive. They're about Some Guy, not the entire faction.

''Grimaldus in Helsreach has no bond to the wider war on Armageddon and hates that he's been left behind by the Black Templars, but he's (hopefully) a good example of what it feels like to be a Black Templar, and to think like one, and - crucially - what it feels like to be a human around them. Talos and the other characters of First Claw spend a trilogy unable to decide what the Night Lords Legion really was, and each of them remembers their glory days differently. I didn't want to speak for the whole Legion. Hyperion in The Emperor's Gift is a largely generic Grey Knight present in dire circumstances. HH-wise, I didn't want to show all of the Word Bearers and base a book around the expectations of Kor Phaeron, Lorgar, and Erebus, so I focused on the Serrated Sun in the middle of the changes taking place across the galaxy. Savage Weapons is largely about Corswain, not about Curze and the Lion. The Master of Mankind is about Ra, Zephon, Jaya, and Land in the heart of the Emperor's plans for the species, not about the Emperor himself. As much as I wrote about Angron and Lorgar, they get significantly less in-their-heads screen time than most other primarchs in most other books.''

''It's harder to do that with the Heresy, but - again - I do my best to present individual experiences and mindsets in characters like Khârn, Argel Tal, and Ra, rather than definitive looks at the entire Chapter/Legion/faction and setting its events in stone. I try to present a feel for how it is to live inside that culture and be part of the experiences they go through; it's about immersion into the Chapter or Legion, presenting them as believable and real, not definitively saying "All of Chapter X are like Y."
''
''So: I'm reluctant to talk about TMoM and the Emperor's perception in that book in any real detail, partly because the book is still new and there's a lot individual readers would do better discovering for themselves without my thoughts in public, and partly because everything I'd say is ultimately in the book. Anything I say will be taken out of context or weaponised one way or another somewhere, and used in a way that makes me sigh, cringe, or a dramatic melange of both that shall hereafter be called the sigh-cringe.
''
''(Plus, most of all, I have faith in readers. They don't need me defining anything, even if it might be interesting for a few peeps.)''

''So, I'll just say this. The Master of Mankind is entirely from the perspectives of people that meet the Emperor in pretty specific circumstances. There are, obviously, other circumstances to come. Nothing in it is definitive, even less so than my usual work. Any definitive statement you can make about how the Emperor sees something or does something is almost always contradicted in the book itself. That's not an escape clause or an excuse. It's the point. Writing him definitively would've been the easiest and most disappointing thing in the world.
''
''(And on that note, remember, everyone views 40K differently. What Person X is absolutely certain is the truth of the Emperor and the best way to present him would be laughed off by Persons A, B, and C. The flip side to that is that not every perspective is founded in fact or understanding. The earliest "I've not read this yet, but..." criticisms and misunderstandings of TMoM in, ah, certain reddit/chan-style locations was regarded by GW IP folks as, I quote: "These angry people seem to be beholden to a version of 40K that has never existed...")
''
''But in all seriousness, I don't want to delve too deeply into explaining the ways the Emperor's contradictions matter or don't matter. They're there, and they're definitely formative - totally agree - if not exactly definitive. With the Emperor, a lot of interaction is about getting out what you put in. You get what you give. Your perceptions and expectations are reflected back on you because that's how the human brain perceives everything (a fact that cannot be overstated; the science behind it is fascinating and all-important), especially when you're talking about someone who exists on that plane of power. At one point the Emperor makes mention of the notion that he's not even speaking, that being near to him allows the conveyance of meaning through psychic osmosis, and communication telepathically. He's not even talking. It's raw understanding filtering through a mind, or just the way the mortal mind comprehends the aura of what the Emperor intends, or, or, or...
''
''That's what I mean. TMoM is littered with that stuff. Does he only address the primarchs by number instead of name? Some characters will swear he does that, and doesn't that just perfectly match their perspectives of the primarchs as either emotionally-compromised "too-human" things that think they're sons (Ra), or genetic masterworks that have become galaxy-damning screw-ups that have literally let the galaxy burn and brought the Imperium to its knees, leading people to be exiled from their homeworlds (Land). Do you think Sanguinius will agree? Or care that's what mortals think? The Emperor's portrayal on that isn't even consistent between Ra and Diocletian, two of his Custodians - and on PAGE ONE, the only time he interacts with a primarch himself, and the one and only thing he says to Magnus the Red is...?
''
"''Magnus''."

''Like... that's a pretty strong indication that the interactions which follow are playing by different rules. Ra sees the Warlord of Humanity, just a man, but a great mean, weary and defiant, burdened by responsibility. Daemons see their annihilation, and go insane in his presence. One of the Knights, as they're marching through the Throne Room, is caught in religious rapture, unable to do anything but stare at the glorious halo of the Emperor of Mankind on the Golden Throne. One of the Sisters of Silence, in the same room, literally just sees a man in a chair. Another character, not Imperial, asks a Custodian if the Emperor even breathes. She believes he's a weapon left out of its box from the Dark Age of Technology. (With thanks to Alan Bligh for that one, he adores that theory.)
''
''So I don't think it's exactly a spoiler to say that if and when I get to write a character like Sanguinius in the Emperor's presence, or Malcador, they'd have entirely different experiences than Ra and Land. I'd loved to have had that in TMoM, but as much as it would've given wider context, these aren't rulebooks and essays; it would've been self-indulgent for the sake of 'hoping people get it', and cheapened the story being told, which was ultimately in a very narrow and confined set of circumstances. Breaking out of that narrative would be offering a sense of scope and freedom I was specifically trying to avoid in a claustrophobic siege story. Because theme and atmosphere is a thing.''
''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:ADBDoesn'tPlayTheGame.jpg|Just like [[you]], ADB doesn't play 40k or paint minis.
Image:AdbNonsense.png|ADB on your nonsense and why it's "easy to ignore"
Image:Adb_goes_all_defend_abbadon.jpg|ADB, defending Abaddon, and comparing forced [[meme|memery]] to the antics of his small children.
Image:Difference_between_adb_and_abnett.png|[[Skub|A well-thought-out comparison between ADB and Abnett's storytelling styles.]]
Image:How_to_ask_adb_a_question.jpg|How to ask ADB a question
Image:ADB Self Insert.png|Pure [[Edgy|OC DONUT STEEL]], directly from the man's work. Big tiddy goth eldar gf included.
Image:ScourgeWaifu.png|Trying to justify said Deldar online, because he didn't do it in his books.
Image:TGOnADB.png|A fa/tg/uy on Spears of the Emperor
Image:QuotasInYour40k.jpg|Writing different protags is one thing, but "50-50" [[SJW|just screams tokenism]] unless you remember only about one tenth of the population of the real world is white and we're dealing with 40,000 years of megacity melting pots. It should be a hell of a lot less than 50-50 (by that logic there shouldn't be any races at all).
Image:Female Custodes.png|He considered writing [[Female Space Marines|female]] [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodes]] in, but was overruled. Probably for the better, [[Skub|people are pretty attached]] to their fabulous Sacred Band of Thebestodes.[[PROMOTIONS|Not that it'll stop some fans.]] More importantly, while female Custodes would not have the issues of Female Space Marines they could breed with male Custodes and Empy is big time against transhumans breeding.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Writers]][[category:Black Library]]

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

2022-06-08T21:35:39Z

2600:387:3:803:0:0:0:A6: /* Chaos Bosses */

{{wh40k-stub}}
[[File:Daemonhunters_40k_Game_Cover.jpg|700px|thumb|center|''Who you gonna call? Daemonhunters!'']]

'''Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters''' is a Turn-Based Strategy game in the vein of [[XCOM]] and a sequel/reboot of [[Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate]]. It's a pretty good game and provides much of the XCOM feel that was lacking in Chimera Squad and Legends. Just make sure you remember that the lore and gameplay are kept quite separate, otherwise you'll get an aneurism.

==Story==
The game follows Strike Force Xiphos of the [[Grey Knights]] after a long, mostly offscreen crusade against a [[Khorne|Khornate]] cult called the Kaedium that had devastated three sectors before it was stopped, banishing its [[Bloodthirster]] leader back to the [[Warp]] at the cost of Strike Force Xiphos' Force Commander Agravain and most of its battle-brothers. Brother Ectar appoints you to lead the journey back to [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]], the home base of the Grey Knights, but Strike Force Xiphos was intercepted by an Ordo Malleus [[Inquisitor]], Kartha Vakir, who commandeers their heavily damaged [[Strike Cruiser]], the Baleful Edict, to investigate a [[Nurgle|Nurglite]] plague called "The Bloom" in the nearby Tyrtaeus Sector, much to the chagrin of the ship's [[Techpriest]] Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis and the profound irritation of their immediate superior [[Grand Master]] Kai.

Vakir's research shows there are "seeds" that the followers of Nurgle carry with them to spread the Bloom. This leads the Knights and the Inquisitor to the ruined Craftworld Usa'rya, which is being used to incubate the Bloom. The Craftworld's still-uncorrupted Avatar of Khaine comes to life just long enough to reveal the existence of five "Reapers" sent to act as the Bloom's vectors, and warns the Knights that if left unchecked it will bring on an apocalyptic event called the Morbus to ravage the galaxy. The Inquisitor's party is then nearly overrun by Nurglite forces led by the Daemon Prince Kadex Ilkarion, but the appearance of [[Kaldor Draigo]] buys them an opportunity to escape. Before they do so, the Supreme Grand Master confirms the truth of the Avatar's warning and tasks Vakir with stopping the Bloom before it's too late.

In spite of the Bloom's newly accelerated spread and the Knights' outrage over her perceived carelessness, Vakir has a plan. She kept a piece of corrupted Wraithbone from the Craftworld's Infinity Circuit that can be attuned to the psychic stench of the Reapers, a creation she calls the Codex Toxicus. Should the Reapers be defeated and the Prime Seeds that they watch over be claimed, the strains of the Bloom they oversee will die off.

After collecting three of the Prime Seeds, Kadex attacks the Baleful Edict and destroys the Codex Toxicus. Vakir is able to bind Kadex, but without the Codex Strike Force Xiphos has no way to find the remaining Reapers. With no further options available, Vakir volunteers to scour the Daemon Prince's mind for any useful information. She manages to stay sane through the ordeal and discovers the source of the Bloom: a collection of roots hidden deep within the Garden of Nurgle. While she fears that Xiphos will have no way to find the Garden in the Warp, let alone destroy the roots, Ectar reminds her that Draigo still wanders the Warp. He proposes to use the Prime Seeds to generate enough Warp energy to warn him of the Bloom's threat and gain his assistance.

He agrees, but as the Inquisitor returns she has a vision: Kadex has warned his master of Draigo's arrival, and an ambush has been set. Ectar is enraged and attempts to execute Vakir, but is stopped by Lunete, who proposes that Xiphos move to support Draigo in the Garden. Ectar scoffs at the idea, but Vakir believes that if they banish Kadex they can follow him back to his master. It is only when the purgation ritual is complete that she reveals her true intentions: to allow Kadex to claim her soul so Xiphos may use it as a beacon to find the Garden. Ectar is horrified that [[Grimdark|she would allow herself to be tormented for eternity]] for the sake of their mission, but she insists on going through with it nevertheless. Only in death does duty end.

After fighting their way past another one of the Reapers to reach the Garden, Strike Force Xiphos reunites with Draigo to confront the true mastermind behind the Bloom: [[Mortarion]], who is all too eager to pay the "heart-carver" back for his past defeat on Kornovin.

After severing bloom roots, killing hordes of Nurgulite forces, and fighting Morty himself, [[Bullshit|Draigo and his 4 comrades succeed and force Mortarion to flee]]. While the Baleful Edict goes back to Titan to commemorate the sacrifices made for their mission, Draigo's force stays in the Warp. A skull with Kadex's soul is shown capturing Vakir's soul, declaring his [[Rape|intent to use her]] for [[Grimdark|his future plans]].

==Characters==
*'''Brother Ectar''': Your head advisor. A Purifier, he was a skillful warrior but his lack of confidence in his own command combined with the machinations of a handful of Inquisitors trying to use a rebellion instigated by a [[Lord of Change]] to topple a corrupt planetary government led to [[Not As Planned|disaster]], and as penance he has denied himself the opportunity for an honorable death in battle and a position of command in lieu of supporting Xiphos' commander. As a result, he appoints you (the player) to take command of Xiphos after Commander Agravain's death in the tutorial. As befitting his order, his general response to any form of [[Chaos|chaotic taint]] is to [[Exterminatus|purge it with extreme prejudice]], which often puts him at [[Skub|odds]] with Inquisitor Vakir, who sees merit in studying the enemy to defeat them.
*'''Inquisitor Kartha Vakir''': A Thorian with a grudge against [[Nurgle]] after the death of her parents to one of his "gifts", she is the one who first sets Strike Force Xiphos against the Bloom and takes it upon herself to study ways to combat it. Cocksure and prideful in her abilities, her methods are borderline [[Heresy|heretical]] and come across at haphazard at times, [[Just As Planned|but it works out]]. Combined with her attitude, she is constantly at odds with the rest of the crew since she is after all endangering the Edict by collecting and researching [[Daemon|daemonic]] material, opening herself and the vessel up to [[Chaos|chaotic]] [[Heresy|corruption]]. Ultimately, her willpower and sheer resolve to end the Bloom manages to impress even Ectar.
*'''Magos Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis''': An ancient Tech-Priestess (we know, it's hard to tell with that many implants) who has served for centuries aboard the Baleful Edict and is old enough to remember when Draigo was a Justicar. She very bluntly expresses her lack of concern for anything beyond the Edict, and [[Rage|butts heads]] with Ectar and Vakir if the Edict's safety is put into question. However, she's also the voice of reason whenever the two are squabbling, [[/tg/ gets shit done|breaking up their arguments to focus on the matter at hand]]. She's rather [[Belisarius Cawl|progressive]] for a Techpriest, willing to [[Heresy|modify]] Servo Skulls to help Vakir collect blight seeds and expressing a scientific interest in xenotech like [[Wraithbone]].
*'''Grand Master Vardan Kai''': Grand Master of the First Brotherhood and Steward of the Armoury who once did battle with [[M'Kar|M'Kar the Reborn]] and [[Tyranid]] forces at the same time, and the Grand Master Xiphos answers to. Kai serves as the Councilman in this game, reviewing Strike Force Xiphos' performance and providing them resources (Requisition) every 60 days. As Steward of the Armoury, Kai offers a selection of battle-brothers and wargear you can redeem using Requisition for completing missions, and you can upgrade your armoury access during his reports (also with Requisition) so that better armor and troops show up as potential mission clear rewards. Don't piss him off unless you want to lock yourself out of mission rewards for a couple months. He is unconvinced of the threat that the Bloom poses and would very much prefer that you be reassigned to more important warzones, and coupled with a major beef with the Ordo Malleus, constantly berates Inquisitor Vakir for seemingly wasting his troops on simple grunt work. Voiced by the famous actor Andy Serkis.

==Gameplay==
Like how the original Chaos Gate was ''[[Blood Ravens|inspired by]]'' the original X-COM, Daemonhunters take many cues from the modern XCOM games, with some elements from other successors like ''Phoenix Point'' and ''Gears Tactics''. The strategic layer lets you select some research for Inquisitor Vakir to pursue that will aid the fight against the Bloom, select which part of the Baleful Edict Dominus Lunete should prioritize repairs, and wait for a mission in the <s>Geoscape</s> galaxy map to defeat the servants of the [[Nurgle|Plague God]] (does this sound familiar to XCOM players already?). Certain story events will have your crew butt heads over the mission, and picking sides will grant bonuses or maluses to their department, such as faster research times for supporting Vakir or increased exp gain for supporting Ectar.

Across the sector, each planet has a corruption meter that increases all sorts of nasty shit that can happen as it rises, usually in forms of buffs for enemies and debuffs for your dudes. Missions will appear randomly on different planets and you have a limited time to race across the Warp to do them before they expire and raise the planet's corruption meter, which means you [[Grimdark|can't save every planet]]. Most missions have objectives like killing every enemy or specific ones, but you can optionally choose to undertake a secondary objective (aka "Glorious Deeds") if available, from killing a certain number of enemies with melee, taking at most a certain amount of damage , not using any Will points, or completing the mission using only basic equipment. Completing primary and secondary objectives award Requisition, the resource used to redeem mission rewards from new recruits or stronger wargear, but failing secondary objectives costs you 1 Requisition, so you must choose wisely whether you are fit to do them.

Down in her makeshift lab, [[Inquisitor]] Vakir needs to progress her research into defeating the Bloom, and to do so she requires blight seeds extracted intact from enemies during missions. Some enemies will be marked as "seed carriers", which have seeds implanted in certain parts of their bodies. The primary method of extracting seeds is to kill these enemies in melee, [[Metal Gear|Zandatsu style]], but melee critical hits will allow you to extract the seed straight away if the enemy can't be immediately killed. Ranged or environmental kills won't yield any seeds, but ranged crits with Precision Shot (i.e., the Astral Aim ability) can sever enemy body parts that contain seeds, which will still award you the seed. One of Vakir's researches unlocks a servo-skull that can harvest a seed directly, allowing you to safely and reliably extract seeds at very long range; several of the Apothecary's skills also allow them to extract seeds more easily. Blight seeds can also be found scattered around the map in incubation pods which can be collected by any of your Knights. Initially, there is only one strain of seed, but Vakir discovers the existence of four other strains, each with their own seeds.

Besides unlocking new research, blight seeds can also be spent to unlock Purity Seals on master crafted weapons, granting access to bonus stats or abilities such as increased critical chance or armor pierce on psybolt.

Meanwhile, Dominus Lunete oversees the repairs and upgrades of the Baleful Edict, each section requiring a number of [[Servitors]] and days to work on. Servitors are a resource that can be collected on missions and during random events, and are consumed when you begin repairs to a particular section. Certain events can also allow you to sacrifice Servitors in order to avoid risking your Knights or spending seeds, so you have to weigh in which resource you're most willing to sacrifice in these events. The Baleful Edict can also take damage to its hull integrity in such events, or later on if you encounter a [[Death Guard]] ship or Warp Storm without the necessary upgrades. Naturally, if you lose all your hull points, you lose, but you can order Lunete to repair the hull, as well as upgrade the Edict's systems to better deal with enemy ships or events.

The tactical layer allows you to deploy up to 4 Grey Knights Space Marines to the field, and plays similarly to XCOM, although instead of a move + action vs longer move, each marine starts with 3 action points (AP) to spend on movement, abilities or attacks in any order. Warp-based abilities, from powering up attacks with psychic power or psyker powers, cost [[Mana|Willpower (WP)]] to use, but increases the Warp Surge gauge which activates some debilitating effect when full. The Warp Surge gauge fills every turn at an amount dependent on corruption level, acting as a timer to prevent turtling much like XCOM 2's mission timer, but you're not completely screwed if it 'runs out' as it merely disadvantages you instead of immediately failing the mission. Still, you wouldn't want to let it fill up too often as it can quickly put you at a disadvantage and heightens the risk of permanently losing a battle-brother. The exact effects it has depend on the strain of the Bloom present on the planet, with different strains favoring different effects:
* '''Poxus, the Strain of Disease''': The first strain you'll encounter. Warp Surges associated with the Poxus strain tend to inflict negative status conditions on your Knights while increasing the debuff resistance of enemies.
* '''Mortus, the Strain of Death''': Warp Surges associated with the Mortus strain interfere with using psychic abilities, either directly by means like increasing willpower costs and disabling Stratagems or indirectly by providing enemies with the ability to reduce willpower with their attacks.
* '''Dolorus, the Strain of Agony''': Warp Surges associated with the Dolorus strain are prone to inflicting damage directly to your squad, stopping you from healing, and boosting the amount of damage enemies can inflict on you.
* '''Necrosus, the Strain of Decay''': Warp Surges associated with Necrosus revolve around reducing the effectiveness of your attack and defense and provide enemies with more armor to further reduce your ability to hurt them.
* '''Tentarus, the Strain of Growth''': Warp Surges associated with Tentarus pile on Mutations (mostly in the form of HP boosts) and can summon Bloomspawn to get in your way.

However, being [[Space Marines]] and all, each battle-brother won't be instantly killed if they drop to 0 HP in battle; rather they will enter a critically wounded state which they will recover from (albeit with their maximum health cut in half) if healed or after taking 3 turns to catch their breath. Still, if a critically wounded Knight drops to 0 HP again in the same battle, they will die for good, and even if they survive the mission, they lose a Resilience point, which is the number of times they can get critically wounded and survive- if it goes down to zero, they stay dead. Fortunately, getting [[PROMOTIONS|promoted]] increases maximum Resilience, so it pays off to preserve your forces as much as possible. And unlike XCOM, your Grey Knights know which end of the Storm Bolter the shots come out of so there's no risk of missing your attacks. You do however have a chance to score critical hits (both in melee and at range, though the former happens more often), which let you deal bonus damage, ignore armor, or debuff enemies in a variety of ways. It becomes imperative to abuse crits as much as possible later on when more nasty enemies show up in order to disable their more dangerous weapons and abilities, which can be optimized via certain skills and wargear.

The battlefield contains many obstacles such as classic explosive barrels and statues that can be shot or smashed to take out multiple enemies at once, and you can knock around enemies with skills and explosives, potentially blasting them into bottomless pits for instant kills, giving you an incentive to position properly (Be warned! They can do the same to you!). There exist high and low cover objects scattered around; as there is no accuracy factor in this game, all attacks will connect barring certain auto abilities that have a chance to block certain attacks. Thus, you have to rely on cover and armor to absorb fixed damage, where high cover blocks more damage than low. This is important especially in the early game, where your [[Indrick Boreale|spess mehreens]] in default wargear are [[Wat|actually pretty squishy]] starting out, such that lowly cultists armed with autoguns and heavy stubbers can quickly [[Dakka|pepper them down]] if they stand in the open.

Another key mechanic in the tactical layer are stuns and [[Blam|executions]]. Many enemies have a stun bar that scales with difficulty; depleting it via stun damage (not the same as HP damage) will stun the enemy, opening them up to a [[Anal Circumference|guaranteed crit]] from the next attack. Performing a melee attack on a stunned enemy gives you the option to execute them, instantly killing them while restoring 1 AP to all Knights. This can be very [[Cheese|exploitable]] as it can [[Rape|allow you to wipe out multiple pods in a single turn]] if you manage to chain stun them all.

Finally, Inquisitor Vakir can support your Knights from the Edict via Strategems, which can be unlocked through her research, acting as once-per-mission spells that include granting additional AP, group teleportation or healing. However, they will be disabled if she is temporarily wounded through random events, a Warp Storm is active over the mission location, or if she personally takes to the field in certain story missions, using a custom set of equipment and psyker powers.

==Grey Knight Classes==
4 classes of Grey Knights are available at the start of the game, while 4 more advanced classes can be unlocked later after a story mission.
* Basic Classes
** '''[[Interceptor Squad|Interceptor]]''': Offensive class that can teleport through the Warp to flank enemies or tactically retreat from trouble, without triggering those pesky enemy auto skills. They start off pretty weak and [[Derp|unable to teleport]] [[Wat|without investing in the skill]] (though since it's an initial skill choice it should almost always be available to you, but advancing their teleportation and melee trees grants them [[Rape|insane damage output and mobility]]. They don't have much on the defensive side, but with support from allies, they are one of the best classes if not [[Cheese|the best class in the game]].
** '''[[Justicar]]''': Defensive class that focuses on tanking enemy attacks, but can work as an offensive frontliner too. A very [[Ultramarines|jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none]] class that doesn't really stand out alone, but can support allies well especially by giving them more AP and armor. Can equip Terminator armor to improve durability, but doing so limits their mobility.
** '''[[Purgation Squad|Purgator]]''': Offensive ranged focused class that can equip [[Dakka|big guns]] like the [[Psycannon]], [[Psilencer]] and [[Incinerator]], granting them heavy firepower in exchange for poor melee attacks, so keep them away from melee foes. They can also specialize in grenades, gaining additional grenade uses and improving blast radii to the approval of [[Tarkus]] and [[Kommando|Ork Kommandos]]. Going down the Astral Aim tree allows your Purgators to become [[Ork Snipers|snipers]], scoring guaranteed critical hits that can also disable targets by [[Abaddon|shooting off their limbs]].
** '''[[Apothecary]]''': Support class that focuses on healing injured battle-brothers with their Narthecium and supporting them with Servo-skulls. They can also specialize in extracting blight seeds from certain enemies which are needed for further research, but that becomes obsolete once you have reliable crit builds later on. They also have some offensive and supportive psychic powers; despite the latter's short range if you don't have a specific servo-skull from a specific upgrade, the buffs themselves are a significant boost to any melee class. Can also equip Terminator armor.
* Advanced Classes
** '''[[Grey Knight Paladin|Paladin]]''': Defensive class like the Justicar but more specialized in frontline tanking, knockback and inflicting stuns/critical hits. They're limited to only Terminator armor, but is also the only class that can use the Storm Shield, which they can forgo for Psycannon if you specialize them in it, trading more durability for some firepower. Although they don't get direct boosts to the Aegis like the Justicar and lack most of its support potential, they've got a nifty skill that lets them automatically attack anything in a wide area while also drastically boosting their armor, and with the right upgrade they can outright cancel the first critical wound they get on a mission.
** '''[[Chaplain]]''': Support class limited to Terminator armor that is similar to the Justicar, buffing allies and taunting enemies into attacking them. With a greater focus on buffing allies, they use litanies and prayers that last forever but only one of which can be active at a time and uses willpower as long as it's on. Using a different litany or prayer cancels out the previous one, allowing you to adapt to different situations if needed. They are the only class capable of using the Crozius Arcanum, which has a chance to inflict the Vulnerable debuff on enemies with attacks.
** '''[[Librarian]]''': Offensive spellcaster limited to Terminator armor with a variety of powerful psychic powers, from group teleportation to energy vortexes that [[Rape|mulch groups of enemies]] AND [[Butthurt|disable vehicle weaponry]]. As a result, they're mostly limited by the number of Will points they have, and because their use will involve raising Warp Surge a lot, they can also reduce the Warp Surge meter, otherwise it can quickly spiral out of control later in the game.
** '''[[Purifier]]''': Offensive ranged focused class like the Purgator, but with a greater focus on the Incinerator and an obsession with setting things on fire that rivals the [[Salamanders]]. They can also be trained in Astral Aim and grenade-fu like the Purgator, but unlike the Purgator, can become specialized in melee to scorch adjacent enemies with the purifying flames of their soul. True to their name, their purity makes them immune to hazards, capable of purifying enemies of their buffs and applying a purifying flame damage over time on them, which can become ''permanent'' when upgraded. Like the Purgator, they cannot use Terminator armor.
The Castellan Champion edition adds '''[[Castellan Crowe]]''' as a playable unit, wielding the '''Black Blade of Antwyr''' with a unique skill tree. This would sound [[Awesome|great]] if not for the fact that he's effectively [[Games Workshop|day one DLC gated behind $10]].

==Chaos Units==

* '''[[Cultist]]s''': Come in a few variants, but most of them can still be quite dangerous. They die very quickly if you actually strike back, but don't underestimate them. Generally, they will try to pin your units with overwatch, suppressive fire and grenades, forcing pinned units to take damage if you try to move them without dislodging the Cultists first. One overwatch shot isn't too bad, but five or six of them at once...not so much.
* '''[[Poxwalkers]]''': Typical zombie-type enemies that swarm in large numbers, and their groan ability can turn nearby corpses into weaker but still annoying "lesser Poxwalkers". One variant is the bloated Poxwalker, which has more health and explodes on death in a toxic cloud that improves other Poxwalkers' max HP and inflicts plague on your units; it'll become enraged when its health is low and try to blow up in your face, so either inflict a crit to disable the death explosion or take it out from a safe distance (preferably after clearing out any other chaff).
* '''[[Apostate Cardinal|Apostate Preacher]]''': Enemy caster that focuses on buffing Nurgle troops, debuffing your Knights, and forcing Warp Surges. Only slightly tougher than a regular Poxwalker, but will hang in the back to cast bolts of armor-piercing warp-stuff if he attacks.
* '''Bloomspawn''': Big ugly plants that spit explosive globs of goop which inflict debuffs when they hit you and heal other enemies caught in the blast, or smack you with armor-piercing vines. Several variations of them exist with different amounts of HP, but all of them should be fought from heavy cover and/or from a safe distance.
* '''[[Feculent Gnarlmaw]]''': A surprisingly hardy tree monster that produces a damage field that hurts anyone too close while healing and buffing allies in its range. But you'll have to get close to do substantial damage to it, because it has an aura that reduces ranged damage it receives for both itself and its allies.
* '''[[Death Guard|Death Guard]] [[Plague Marine]]s''': Early game analogues to your Justicars- slow, but well-armored and have a self-heal. Like the cultists, they'll try to set up overwatch traps to lock your Knights down, and they also possess a melee attack that disables auto abilities. Some of them have Plague Belchers that poison the ground, making it hazardous to walk over, [[Derp|but perhaps due to buggy AI]], instead of unflinchingly marching up to your knights to shart on them, [[FAIL|they will often waste their turn to shart on the empty ground behind themselves if your Knights are too far away]].
* '''Plague Champions''': Stronger Plague Marines with significantly increased survivability. They can give orders to their allies to help them beat you up better while stealing your Willpower, smashing your cover, and debuffing your defense. At least they can't heal themselves.
* '''[[Blightlord Terminators]]''': Heavier armor than the regular Plague Marines, access to suppressing fire from their autocannons, and the ability to automatically melee attack the first Knight to walk next to them make these guys a nasty piece of work, to say nothing of their ability to debuff your ranged damage with their blight grenades. Either try to outrange them or bring someone that can disrupt their melee counter.
* '''Blightlord Champions''': Nurglite equivalents to your Paladins: they don't have any ranged attacks, but they hit hard in melee and can lock down chokepoints with the best of them with their equivalent of the Paladin's Defend skill. Engage them at long range, preferably with a weapon that has Armor Pierce or Armor Break; they've got an AoE that debuffs melee attacks, so while you could try to beat them at their own game it's not a very good idea.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|Unnamable Beasts of Nurgle]]''':
* '''[[Foetid Bloat-Drone]]''':
* '''[[Myphitic Blight-Hauler]]''': Lots of armor, but once that breaks has surprisingly low health, which also makes it easy to kill with armor ignoring attacks. Can do heavy damage and smack your units away if they're in melee. Has a special "Mortar" attack that will blow up small areas after a turn, can smash up cover, and has a multi-melta that breaks armor.
* '''[[Helbrute]]''': At long range, they blast you with armor breaking attacks that wreck cover or charge you in an attempt to knock you over, and up close they can grab your Knights to leave them unable to act before throwing them a turn later. Focus fire on him with high powered attacks from as far away as possible, since he tries to charge and grab whoever hits him and explodes a turn after he dies.
* '''[[Nurgling]]s''':
* '''[[Plaguebearer]]s''': The most common Nurgle daemons are slow as molasses, but they can take a beating and gain a new mutation every turn. Take them down quickly before they get the mutation that lets them survive the first fatal hit they take, or at least have a way to purge those mutations before they start to add up. Keep in mind that they have a chance to negate one melee attack per turn, and watch out for the debuffs they can inflict.
* '''Plague Ridden''': Elite Plaguebearers with a ranged spread attack that debuffs Knights and heals allies at the same time and can provide mutations for nearby allies as well. The first hit they take in a turn increases the Warp Surge counter for good measure, and they're just as tough as you'd expect. They have an aura that reduces ranged damage for themselves and their allies, so unlike the standard Plaguebearers you'll want to get up close to beat them.

==Chaos Bosses==
* '''Kadex Ilkarion, Warden of the Bloom''': The [[Daemon Prince]] presiding over the Bloom's spread, Kadex first introduces himself when Inquisitor Vakir and your Knights discover the origins of the blight seeds inside an infested [[Aeldari]] [[Craftworld]]. As Vakir tries to get a sample from the corrupted Infinity Circuit, he must be fought off alongside waves of Nurglite reinforcements while protecting the Inquisitor. He possesses a number of abilities designed to [[Troll]] you, from teleporting a Knight to a random spot (typically right in front of a bunch of Plague Marines and Plaguebearers), cursing a Knight to take damage when Kadex is wounded, creating illusory duplicates of himself when he's hit, and simply calling even more reinforcements on top of the ones that already spawn in constantly. Turns out he [[Butthurt|has a bone to pick]] with Vakir for [[Not As Planned|foiling]] one of his plans in the past. He shows up again later to invade the Baleful Edict, doing all of the same shit but matters are complicated further by your intially being only able to use Vakir. Your Knights will eventually show up, but you won't have any control over which ones they are- you ''have'' been leveling everyone up, right?
* '''Aeger the Benevolent, Reaper of the Poxus Strain''': A [[Great Unclean One]] said to have an extensive history of defilement, and is always accompanied by a mass of his Nurgling "nephews". He has 100 health, spawns Nurglings with the help of a handful of Nurgling spawners in his arena, and is armed with both a Plague Flail and Doomsday Bell. The flail knocks your men back and plagues them, while the bell makes him consume Nurglings and turn them into [[Plaguebearers]]. Take out the Nurgling spawners first, as his most powerful abilities need a bunch of Nurglings nearby to work properly.
* '''Malathian the Harvester, Reaper of the Mortus Strain''': Another Great Unclean One, this time armed with a Bilesword and Bileblade. His psychic attacks get stronger with the number of other daemons he summons to the point of being able to cause one-hit kills, plus he creates effigies that boost his armor to massive levels and also inflict powerful debuffs as long as they're present. Worse, the effigies add further debuffs to his attacks, including one that kills the victim in 3 turns (and by sheer coincidence, its debuff causes Knights whose HP hits 0 to outright die rather than taking a critical wound). Keep an Interceptor around to take out the minions and effigies while one of your tankier Knights keeps Malathian busy.
* '''Cruciatus the Generous, Reaper of the Dolorus Strain''': You might think that having to take down a [[Chaos Knight|Knight Desecrator]] with just four Grey Knights and no access to dedicated anti-vehicle weapons might be just a tiny bit unfair, and you'd be absolutely right. His health is surprisingly low for a boss, but he's got tons of armor, multiple AoE attacks, and a melee attack that incapacitates a Knight for a turn before either dealing damage or outright inflicting a critical wound. Fighting him requires lots of armor piercing/armor breaking abilities combined with careful exploitation of his habit of rushing at the first Knight that shoots him. Critical hits will be a big help too, as one of his parts will increase his vulnerability to future crits if broken.
* '''Munificus the Undying, Reaper of the Tentarus Strain''': This powered up [[Chaos Spawn|Unnameable Beast]] isn't called "Undying" for nothing- if an attack doesn't outright kill him he'll immediately heal right back up to full health. Most of his attacks aren't especially strong, but they're AoE and possess knockback that'll bounce you around the arena. The secret to beating him is to use criticals to break his body parts- that'll reduce his max HP until it becomes possible to take him down in a single hit. Naturally, it's not that simple to do because he'll dump a hazard zone and a Bloomspawn every time he takes a crit before jumping out of reach, and his arena is also full of chasms that Power Armor can jump cross, but Terminator Armor can't. Thus, Purgators/Purifiers with Astral Aim, crit focused Interceptors and Librarians with upgraded Gate of Infinity are easiest ways to quickly chase him down and knock off his bits, while being able to quickly clean up the weeds that keep spawning in. Abilities that remove mutations will also help since he gets a new one with every turn.
* '''Morgellus the Corroded Prince, Reaper of the Necrosus Strain''': A big, bulky [[Plague Hulk]] with access to a bunch of abilities to break your armor and disrupt your ability to fight him, backed up with high health and armor. He's immune to critical hits under normal circumstances, but if you stun him you can remove that immunity from him. You'll want to have a melee damage dealer for this since he takes less damage from ranged attacks until you break his claws, but with all the knockback he can bring you'll need an Interceptor to stick near him at all times. Oh, and watch your footing because he'll try to break parts of the platform you're standing on and send you falling to your doom. Take too long, and the entire battlefield will fall apart with you on it.
* '''[[Mortarion]]''': [[Bullshit|Ok, ok, try to suspend your disbelief that Draigo and 4 other Grey Knights can take the fight to a Daemon Primarch in his own backyard]]. Believe it or not the writer responsible for such fluff-rape is [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]] rather than [[Matt Ward]] this time. Mortarion is fittingly the single deadliest enemy you'll ever face. With 200 health, 10 armor that can't be broken, and a -50% critical chance, this fight will truly be a test of endurance. He's also 2-3x as fast as any other boss or enemy in the game and doesn't trigger overwatch when he moves. Morty's weaponry also packs a punch. Lantern is an AOE attack which ignores cover, armor, and sends your knights flying. Silence will also send them flying, hobble them, and do heavy damage while breaking 2 armor. His many abilities are geared towards AOE effects and debuffs as well, while Barbaran Plate ensures the greatest blows aren't permanent. Draigo himself is an important part of the fight, because if he goes down the Death Lord will try to take his soul- if he isn't disrupted '''immediately''' you lose on the spot. During the battle, Mortarion will power himself up using one of the Bloom Roots in his arena with every 40 HP he loses- he's invincible when he does this and only Draigo can destroy the roots. In addition to all of this, you'll also have to manage a second squad to prevent a massive army of Death Guard goons from joining their Primarch and making an already fearsome battle even more of a struggle than it already is. Make sure this team is tanky and has plenty of ranged firepower, because they'll be up to their armpits in Blightlords.

==Links==
* [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1611910/Warhammer_40000_Chaos_Gate__Daemonhunters/ Steam Page]
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/ChaosGate Youtube Channel]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Inquisition]]
[[Category:Grey Knights]]
[[Category:Death Guard]]

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

2022-06-08T21:12:58Z

2600:387:3:803:0:0:0:A6: /* Chaos Bosses */

{{wh40k-stub}}
[[File:Daemonhunters_40k_Game_Cover.jpg|700px|thumb|center|''Who you gonna call? Daemonhunters!'']]

'''Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters''' is a Turn-Based Strategy game in the vein of [[XCOM]] and a sequel/reboot of [[Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate]]. It's a pretty good game and provides much of the XCOM feel that was lacking in Chimera Squad and Legends. Just make sure you remember that the lore and gameplay are kept quite separate, otherwise you'll get an aneurism.

==Story==
The game follows Strike Force Xiphos of the [[Grey Knights]] after a long, mostly offscreen crusade against a [[Khorne|Khornate]] cult called the Kaedium that had devastated three sectors before it was stopped, banishing its [[Bloodthirster]] leader back to the [[Warp]] at the cost of Strike Force Xiphos' Force Commander Agravain and most of its battle-brothers. Brother Ectar appoints you to lead the journey back to [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]], the home base of the Grey Knights, but Strike Force Xiphos was intercepted by an Ordo Malleus [[Inquisitor]], Kartha Vakir, who commandeers their heavily damaged [[Strike Cruiser]], the Baleful Edict, to investigate a [[Nurgle|Nurglite]] plague called "The Bloom" in the nearby Tyrtaeus Sector, much to the chagrin of the ship's [[Techpriest]] Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis and the profound irritation of their immediate superior [[Grand Master]] Kai.

Vakir's research shows there are "seeds" that the followers of Nurgle carry with them to spread the Bloom. This leads the Knights and the Inquisitor to the ruined Craftworld Usa'rya, which is being used to incubate the Bloom. The Craftworld's still-uncorrupted Avatar of Khaine comes to life just long enough to reveal the existence of five "Reapers" sent to act as the Bloom's vectors, and warns the Knights that if left unchecked it will bring on an apocalyptic event called the Morbus to ravage the galaxy. The Inquisitor's party is then nearly overrun by Nurglite forces led by the Daemon Prince Kadex Ilkarion, but the appearance of [[Kaldor Draigo]] buys them an opportunity to escape. Before they do so, the Supreme Grand Master confirms the truth of the Avatar's warning and tasks Vakir with stopping the Bloom before it's too late.

In spite of the Bloom's newly accelerated spread and the Knights' outrage over her perceived carelessness, Vakir has a plan. She kept a piece of corrupted Wraithbone from the Craftworld's Infinity Circuit that can be attuned to the psychic stench of the Reapers, a creation she calls the Codex Toxicus. Should the Reapers be defeated and the Prime Seeds that they watch over be claimed, the strains of the Bloom they oversee will die off.

After collecting three of the Prime Seeds, Kadex attacks the Baleful Edict and destroys the Codex Toxicus. Vakir is able to bind Kadex, but without the Codex Strike Force Xiphos has no way to find the remaining Reapers. With no further options available, Vakir volunteers to scour the Daemon Prince's mind for any useful information. She manages to stay sane through the ordeal and discovers the source of the Bloom: a collection of roots hidden deep within the Garden of Nurgle. While she fears that Xiphos will have no way to find the Garden in the Warp, let alone destroy the roots, Ectar reminds her that Draigo still wanders the Warp. He proposes to use the Prime Seeds to generate enough Warp energy to warn him of the Bloom's threat and gain his assistance.

He agrees, but as the Inquisitor returns she has a vision: Kadex has warned his master of Draigo's arrival, and an ambush has been set. Ectar is enraged and attempts to execute Vakir, but is stopped by Lunete, who proposes that Xiphos move to support Draigo in the Garden. Ectar scoffs at the idea, but Vakir believes that if they banish Kadex they can follow him back to his master. It is only when the purgation ritual is complete that she reveals her true intentions: to allow Kadex to claim her soul so Xiphos may use it as a beacon to find the Garden. Ectar is horrified that [[Grimdark|she would allow herself to be tormented for eternity]] for the sake of their mission, but she insists on going through with it nevertheless. Only in death does duty end.

After fighting their way past another one of the Reapers to reach the Garden, Strike Force Xiphos reunites with Draigo to confront the true mastermind behind the Bloom: [[Mortarion]], who is all too eager to pay the "heart-carver" back for his past defeat on Kornovin.

After severing bloom roots, killing hordes of Nurgulite forces, and fighting Morty himself, [[Bullshit|Draigo and his 4 comrades succeed and force Mortarion to flee]]. While the Baleful Edict goes back to Titan to commemorate the sacrifices made for their mission, Draigo's force stays in the Warp. A skull with Kadex's soul is shown capturing Vakir's soul, declaring his [[Rape|intent to use her]] for [[Grimdark|his future plans]].

==Characters==
*'''Brother Ectar''': Your head advisor. A Purifier, he was a skillful warrior but his lack of confidence in his own command combined with the machinations of a handful of Inquisitors trying to use a rebellion instigated by a [[Lord of Change]] to topple a corrupt planetary government led to [[Not As Planned|disaster]], and as penance he has denied himself the opportunity for an honorable death in battle and a position of command in lieu of supporting Xiphos' commander. As a result, he appoints you (the player) to take command of Xiphos after Commander Agravain's death in the tutorial. As befitting his order, his general response to any form of [[Chaos|chaotic taint]] is to [[Exterminatus|purge it with extreme prejudice]], which often puts him at [[Skub|odds]] with Inquisitor Vakir, who sees merit in studying the enemy to defeat them.
*'''Inquisitor Kartha Vakir''': A Thorian with a grudge against [[Nurgle]] after the death of her parents to one of his "gifts", she is the one who first sets Strike Force Xiphos against the Bloom and takes it upon herself to study ways to combat it. Cocksure and prideful in her abilities, her methods are borderline [[Heresy|heretical]] and come across at haphazard at times, [[Just As Planned|but it works out]]. Combined with her attitude, she is constantly at odds with the rest of the crew since she is after all endangering the Edict by collecting and researching [[Daemon|daemonic]] material, opening herself and the vessel up to [[Chaos|chaotic]] [[Heresy|corruption]]. Ultimately, her willpower and sheer resolve to end the Bloom manages to impress even Ectar.
*'''Magos Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis''': An ancient Tech-Priestess (we know, it's hard to tell with that many implants) who has served for centuries aboard the Baleful Edict and is old enough to remember when Draigo was a Justicar. She very bluntly expresses her lack of concern for anything beyond the Edict, and [[Rage|butts heads]] with Ectar and Vakir if the Edict's safety is put into question. However, she's also the voice of reason whenever the two are squabbling, [[/tg/ gets shit done|breaking up their arguments to focus on the matter at hand]]. She's rather [[Belisarius Cawl|progressive]] for a Techpriest, willing to [[Heresy|modify]] Servo Skulls to help Vakir collect blight seeds and expressing a scientific interest in xenotech like [[Wraithbone]].
*'''Grand Master Vardan Kai''': Grand Master of the First Brotherhood and Steward of the Armoury who once did battle with [[M'Kar|M'Kar the Reborn]] and [[Tyranid]] forces at the same time, and the Grand Master Xiphos answers to. Kai serves as the Councilman in this game, reviewing Strike Force Xiphos' performance and providing them resources (Requisition) every 60 days. As Steward of the Armoury, Kai offers a selection of battle-brothers and wargear you can redeem using Requisition for completing missions, and you can upgrade your armoury access during his reports (also with Requisition) so that better armor and troops show up as potential mission clear rewards. Don't piss him off unless you want to lock yourself out of mission rewards for a couple months. He is unconvinced of the threat that the Bloom poses and would very much prefer that you be reassigned to more important warzones, and coupled with a major beef with the Ordo Malleus, constantly berates Inquisitor Vakir for seemingly wasting his troops on simple grunt work. Voiced by the famous actor Andy Serkis.

==Gameplay==
Like how the original Chaos Gate was ''[[Blood Ravens|inspired by]]'' the original X-COM, Daemonhunters take many cues from the modern XCOM games, with some elements from other successors like ''Phoenix Point'' and ''Gears Tactics''. The strategic layer lets you select some research for Inquisitor Vakir to pursue that will aid the fight against the Bloom, select which part of the Baleful Edict Dominus Lunete should prioritize repairs, and wait for a mission in the <s>Geoscape</s> galaxy map to defeat the servants of the [[Nurgle|Plague God]] (does this sound familiar to XCOM players already?). Certain story events will have your crew butt heads over the mission, and picking sides will grant bonuses or maluses to their department, such as faster research times for supporting Vakir or increased exp gain for supporting Ectar.

Across the sector, each planet has a corruption meter that increases all sorts of nasty shit that can happen as it rises, usually in forms of buffs for enemies and debuffs for your dudes. Missions will appear randomly on different planets and you have a limited time to race across the Warp to do them before they expire and raise the planet's corruption meter, which means you [[Grimdark|can't save every planet]]. Most missions have objectives like killing every enemy or specific ones, but you can optionally choose to undertake a secondary objective (aka "Glorious Deeds") if available, from killing a certain number of enemies with melee, taking at most a certain amount of damage , not using any Will points, or completing the mission using only basic equipment. Completing primary and secondary objectives award Requisition, the resource used to redeem mission rewards from new recruits or stronger wargear, but failing secondary objectives costs you 1 Requisition, so you must choose wisely whether you are fit to do them.

Down in her makeshift lab, [[Inquisitor]] Vakir needs to progress her research into defeating the Bloom, and to do so she requires blight seeds extracted intact from enemies during missions. Some enemies will be marked as "seed carriers", which have seeds implanted in certain parts of their bodies. The primary method of extracting seeds is to kill these enemies in melee, [[Metal Gear|Zandatsu style]], but melee critical hits will allow you to extract the seed straight away if the enemy can't be immediately killed. Ranged or environmental kills won't yield any seeds, but ranged crits with Precision Shot (i.e., the Astral Aim ability) can sever enemy body parts that contain seeds, which will still award you the seed. One of Vakir's researches unlocks a servo-skull that can harvest a seed directly, allowing you to safely and reliably extract seeds at very long range; several of the Apothecary's skills also allow them to extract seeds more easily. Blight seeds can also be found scattered around the map in incubation pods which can be collected by any of your Knights. Initially, there is only one strain of seed, but Vakir discovers the existence of four other strains, each with their own seeds.

Besides unlocking new research, blight seeds can also be spent to unlock Purity Seals on master crafted weapons, granting access to bonus stats or abilities such as increased critical chance or armor pierce on psybolt.

Meanwhile, Dominus Lunete oversees the repairs and upgrades of the Baleful Edict, each section requiring a number of [[Servitors]] and days to work on. Servitors are a resource that can be collected on missions and during random events, and are consumed when you begin repairs to a particular section. Certain events can also allow you to sacrifice Servitors in order to avoid risking your Knights or spending seeds, so you have to weigh in which resource you're most willing to sacrifice in these events. The Baleful Edict can also take damage to its hull integrity in such events, or later on if you encounter a [[Death Guard]] ship or Warp Storm without the necessary upgrades. Naturally, if you lose all your hull points, you lose, but you can order Lunete to repair the hull, as well as upgrade the Edict's systems to better deal with enemy ships or events.

The tactical layer allows you to deploy up to 4 Grey Knights Space Marines to the field, and plays similarly to XCOM, although instead of a move + action vs longer move, each marine starts with 3 action points (AP) to spend on movement, abilities or attacks in any order. Warp-based abilities, from powering up attacks with psychic power or psyker powers, cost [[Mana|Willpower (WP)]] to use, but increases the Warp Surge gauge which activates some debilitating effect when full. The Warp Surge gauge fills every turn at an amount dependent on corruption level, acting as a timer to prevent turtling much like XCOM 2's mission timer, but you're not completely screwed if it 'runs out' as it merely disadvantages you instead of immediately failing the mission. Still, you wouldn't want to let it fill up too often as it can quickly put you at a disadvantage and heightens the risk of permanently losing a battle-brother. The exact effects it has depend on the strain of the Bloom present on the planet, with different strains favoring different effects:
* '''Poxus, the Strain of Disease''': The first strain you'll encounter. Warp Surges associated with the Poxus strain tend to inflict negative status conditions on your Knights while increasing the debuff resistance of enemies.
* '''Mortus, the Strain of Death''': Warp Surges associated with the Mortus strain interfere with using psychic abilities, either directly by means like increasing willpower costs and disabling Stratagems or indirectly by providing enemies with the ability to reduce willpower with their attacks.
* '''Dolorus, the Strain of Agony''': Warp Surges associated with the Dolorus strain are prone to inflicting damage directly to your squad, stopping you from healing, and boosting the amount of damage enemies can inflict on you.
* '''Necrosus, the Strain of Decay''': Warp Surges associated with Necrosus revolve around reducing the effectiveness of your attack and defense and provide enemies with more armor to further reduce your ability to hurt them.
* '''Tentarus, the Strain of Growth''': Warp Surges associated with Tentarus pile on Mutations (mostly in the form of HP boosts) and can summon Bloomspawn to get in your way.

However, being [[Space Marines]] and all, each battle-brother won't be instantly killed if they drop to 0 HP in battle; rather they will enter a critically wounded state which they will recover from (albeit with their maximum health cut in half) if healed or after taking 3 turns to catch their breath. Still, if a critically wounded Knight drops to 0 HP again in the same battle, they will die for good, and even if they survive the mission, they lose a Resilience point, which is the number of times they can get critically wounded and survive- if it goes down to zero, they stay dead. Fortunately, getting [[PROMOTIONS|promoted]] increases maximum Resilience, so it pays off to preserve your forces as much as possible. And unlike XCOM, your Grey Knights know which end of the Storm Bolter the shots come out of so there's no risk of missing your attacks. You do however have a chance to score critical hits (both in melee and at range, though the former happens more often), which let you deal bonus damage, ignore armor, or debuff enemies in a variety of ways. It becomes imperative to abuse crits as much as possible later on when more nasty enemies show up in order to disable their more dangerous weapons and abilities, which can be optimized via certain skills and wargear.

The battlefield contains many obstacles such as classic explosive barrels and statues that can be shot or smashed to take out multiple enemies at once, and you can knock around enemies with skills and explosives, potentially blasting them into bottomless pits for instant kills, giving you an incentive to position properly (Be warned! They can do the same to you!). There exist high and low cover objects scattered around; as there is no accuracy factor in this game, all attacks will connect barring certain auto abilities that have a chance to block certain attacks. Thus, you have to rely on cover and armor to absorb fixed damage, where high cover blocks more damage than low. This is important especially in the early game, where your [[Indrick Boreale|spess mehreens]] in default wargear are [[Wat|actually pretty squishy]] starting out, such that lowly cultists armed with autoguns and heavy stubbers can quickly [[Dakka|pepper them down]] if they stand in the open.

Another key mechanic in the tactical layer are stuns and [[Blam|executions]]. Many enemies have a stun bar that scales with difficulty; depleting it via stun damage (not the same as HP damage) will stun the enemy, opening them up to a [[Anal Circumference|guaranteed crit]] from the next attack. Performing a melee attack on a stunned enemy gives you the option to execute them, instantly killing them while restoring 1 AP to all Knights. This can be very [[Cheese|exploitable]] as it can [[Rape|allow you to wipe out multiple pods in a single turn]] if you manage to chain stun them all.

Finally, Inquisitor Vakir can support your Knights from the Edict via Strategems, which can be unlocked through her research, acting as once-per-mission spells that include granting additional AP, group teleportation or healing. However, they will be disabled if she is temporarily wounded through random events, a Warp Storm is active over the mission location, or if she personally takes to the field in certain story missions, using a custom set of equipment and psyker powers.

==Grey Knight Classes==
4 classes of Grey Knights are available at the start of the game, while 4 more advanced classes can be unlocked later after a story mission.
* Basic Classes
** '''[[Interceptor Squad|Interceptor]]''': Offensive class that can teleport through the Warp to flank enemies or tactically retreat from trouble, without triggering those pesky enemy auto skills. They start off pretty weak and [[Derp|unable to teleport]] [[Wat|without investing in the skill]] (though since it's an initial skill choice it should almost always be available to you, but advancing their teleportation and melee trees grants them [[Rape|insane damage output and mobility]]. They don't have much on the defensive side, but with support from allies, they are one of the best classes if not [[Cheese|the best class in the game]].
** '''[[Justicar]]''': Defensive class that focuses on tanking enemy attacks, but can work as an offensive frontliner too. A very [[Ultramarines|jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none]] class that doesn't really stand out alone, but can support allies well especially by giving them more AP and armor. Can equip Terminator armor to improve durability, but doing so limits their mobility.
** '''[[Purgation Squad|Purgator]]''': Offensive ranged focused class that can equip [[Dakka|big guns]] like the [[Psycannon]], [[Psilencer]] and [[Incinerator]], granting them heavy firepower in exchange for poor melee attacks, so keep them away from melee foes. They can also specialize in grenades, gaining additional grenade uses and improving blast radii to the approval of [[Tarkus]] and [[Kommando|Ork Kommandos]]. Going down the Astral Aim tree allows your Purgators to become [[Ork Snipers|snipers]], scoring guaranteed critical hits that can also disable targets by [[Abaddon|shooting off their limbs]].
** '''[[Apothecary]]''': Support class that focuses on healing injured battle-brothers with their Narthecium and supporting them with Servo-skulls. They can also specialize in extracting blight seeds from certain enemies which are needed for further research, but that becomes obsolete once you have reliable crit builds later on. They also have some offensive and supportive psychic powers; despite the latter's short range if you don't have a specific servo-skull from a specific upgrade, the buffs themselves are a significant boost to any melee class. Can also equip Terminator armor.
* Advanced Classes
** '''[[Grey Knight Paladin|Paladin]]''': Defensive class like the Justicar but more specialized in frontline tanking, knockback and inflicting stuns/critical hits. They're limited to only Terminator armor, but is also the only class that can use the Storm Shield, which they can forgo for Psycannon if you specialize them in it, trading more durability for some firepower. Although they don't get direct boosts to the Aegis like the Justicar and lack most of its support potential, they've got a nifty skill that lets them automatically attack anything in a wide area while also drastically boosting their armor, and with the right upgrade they can outright cancel the first critical wound they get on a mission.
** '''[[Chaplain]]''': Support class limited to Terminator armor that is similar to the Justicar, buffing allies and taunting enemies into attacking them. With a greater focus on buffing allies, they use litanies and prayers that last forever but only one of which can be active at a time and uses willpower as long as it's on. Using a different litany or prayer cancels out the previous one, allowing you to adapt to different situations if needed. They are the only class capable of using the Crozius Arcanum, which has a chance to inflict the Vulnerable debuff on enemies with attacks.
** '''[[Librarian]]''': Offensive spellcaster limited to Terminator armor with a variety of powerful psychic powers, from group teleportation to energy vortexes that [[Rape|mulch groups of enemies]] AND [[Butthurt|disable vehicle weaponry]]. As a result, they're mostly limited by the number of Will points they have, and because their use will involve raising Warp Surge a lot, they can also reduce the Warp Surge meter, otherwise it can quickly spiral out of control later in the game.
** '''[[Purifier]]''': Offensive ranged focused class like the Purgator, but with a greater focus on the Incinerator and an obsession with setting things on fire that rivals the [[Salamanders]]. They can also be trained in Astral Aim and grenade-fu like the Purgator, but unlike the Purgator, can become specialized in melee to scorch adjacent enemies with the purifying flames of their soul. True to their name, their purity makes them immune to hazards, capable of purifying enemies of their buffs and applying a purifying flame damage over time on them, which can become ''permanent'' when upgraded. Like the Purgator, they cannot use Terminator armor.
The Castellan Champion edition adds '''[[Castellan Crowe]]''' as a playable unit, wielding the '''Black Blade of Antwyr''' with a unique skill tree. This would sound [[Awesome|great]] if not for the fact that he's effectively [[Games Workshop|day one DLC gated behind $10]].

==Chaos Units==

* '''[[Cultist]]s''': Come in a few variants, but most of them can still be quite dangerous. They die very quickly if you actually strike back, but don't underestimate them. Generally, they will try to pin your units with overwatch, suppressive fire and grenades, forcing pinned units to take damage if you try to move them without dislodging the Cultists first. One overwatch shot isn't too bad, but five or six of them at once...not so much.
* '''[[Poxwalkers]]''': Typical zombie-type enemies that swarm in large numbers, and their groan ability can turn nearby corpses into weaker but still annoying "lesser Poxwalkers". One variant is the bloated Poxwalker, which has more health and explodes on death in a toxic cloud that improves other Poxwalkers' max HP and inflicts plague on your units; it'll become enraged when its health is low and try to blow up in your face, so either inflict a crit to disable the death explosion or take it out from a safe distance (preferably after clearing out any other chaff).
* '''[[Apostate Cardinal|Apostate Preacher]]''': Enemy caster that focuses on buffing Nurgle troops, debuffing your Knights, and forcing Warp Surges. Only slightly tougher than a regular Poxwalker, but will hang in the back to cast bolts of armor-piercing warp-stuff if he attacks.
* '''Bloomspawn''': Big ugly plants that spit explosive globs of goop which inflict debuffs when they hit you and heal other enemies caught in the blast, or smack you with armor-piercing vines. Several variations of them exist with different amounts of HP, but all of them should be fought from heavy cover and/or from a safe distance.
* '''[[Feculent Gnarlmaw]]''': A surprisingly hardy tree monster that produces a damage field that hurts anyone too close while healing and buffing allies in its range. But you'll have to get close to do substantial damage to it, because it has an aura that reduces ranged damage it receives for both itself and its allies.
* '''[[Death Guard|Death Guard]] [[Plague Marine]]s''': Early game analogues to your Justicars- slow, but well-armored and have a self-heal. Like the cultists, they'll try to set up overwatch traps to lock your Knights down, and they also possess a melee attack that disables auto abilities. Some of them have Plague Belchers that poison the ground, making it hazardous to walk over, [[Derp|but perhaps due to buggy AI]], instead of unflinchingly marching up to your knights to shart on them, [[FAIL|they will often waste their turn to shart on the empty ground behind themselves if your Knights are too far away]].
* '''Plague Champions''': Stronger Plague Marines with significantly increased survivability. They can give orders to their allies to help them beat you up better while stealing your Willpower, smashing your cover, and debuffing your defense. At least they can't heal themselves.
* '''[[Blightlord Terminators]]''': Heavier armor than the regular Plague Marines, access to suppressing fire from their autocannons, and the ability to automatically melee attack the first Knight to walk next to them make these guys a nasty piece of work, to say nothing of their ability to debuff your ranged damage with their blight grenades. Either try to outrange them or bring someone that can disrupt their melee counter.
* '''Blightlord Champions''': Nurglite equivalents to your Paladins: they don't have any ranged attacks, but they hit hard in melee and can lock down chokepoints with the best of them with their equivalent of the Paladin's Defend skill. Engage them at long range, preferably with a weapon that has Armor Pierce or Armor Break; they've got an AoE that debuffs melee attacks, so while you could try to beat them at their own game it's not a very good idea.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|Unnamable Beasts of Nurgle]]''':
* '''[[Foetid Bloat-Drone]]''':
* '''[[Myphitic Blight-Hauler]]''': Lots of armor, but once that breaks has surprisingly low health, which also makes it easy to kill with armor ignoring attacks. Can do heavy damage and smack your units away if they're in melee. Has a special "Mortar" attack that will blow up small areas after a turn, can smash up cover, and has a multi-melta that breaks armor.
* '''[[Helbrute]]''': At long range, they blast you with armor breaking attacks that wreck cover or charge you in an attempt to knock you over, and up close they can grab your Knights to leave them unable to act before throwing them a turn later. Focus fire on him with high powered attacks from as far away as possible, since he tries to charge and grab whoever hits him and explodes a turn after he dies.
* '''[[Nurgling]]s''':
* '''[[Plaguebearer]]s''': The most common Nurgle daemons are slow as molasses, but they can take a beating and gain a new mutation every turn. Take them down quickly before they get the mutation that lets them survive the first fatal hit they take, or at least have a way to purge those mutations before they start to add up. Keep in mind that they have a chance to negate one melee attack per turn, and watch out for the debuffs they can inflict.
* '''Plague Ridden''': Elite Plaguebearers with a ranged spread attack that debuffs Knights and heals allies at the same time and can provide mutations for nearby allies as well. The first hit they take in a turn increases the Warp Surge counter for good measure, and they're just as tough as you'd expect. They have an aura that reduces ranged damage for themselves and their allies, so unlike the standard Plaguebearers you'll want to get up close to beat them.

==Chaos Bosses==
* '''Kadex Ilkarion, Warden of the Bloom''': The [[Daemon Prince]] presiding over the Bloom's spread, Kadex first introduces himself when Inquisitor Vakir and your Knights discover the origins of the blight seeds inside an infested [[Aeldari]] [[Craftworld]]. As Vakir tries to get a sample from the corrupted Infinity Circuit, he must be fought off alongside waves of Nurglite reinforcements while protecting the Inquisitor. He possesses a number of abilities designed to [[Troll]] you, from teleporting a Knight to a random spot (typically right in front of a bunch of Plague Marines and Plaguebearers), cursing a Knight to take damage when Kadex is wounded, creating illusory duplicates of himself when he's hit, and simply calling even more reinforcements on top of the ones that already spawn in constantly. Turns out he [[Butthurt|has a bone to pick]] with Vakir for [[Not As Planned|foiling]] one of his plans in the past. He shows up again later to invade the Baleful Edict, doing all of the same shit but matters are complicated further by your intially being only able to use Vakir. Your Knights will eventually show up, but you won't have any control over which ones they are- you ''have'' been leveling everyone up, right?
* '''Aeger the Benevolent, Reaper of the Poxus Strain''': A [[Great Unclean One]] said to have an extensive history of defilement, and is always accompanied by a mass of his Nurgling "nephews". He has 100 health, spawns Nurglings with the help of a handful of Nurgling spawners in his arena, and is armed with both a Plague Flail and Doomsday Bell. The flail knocks your men back and plagues them, while the bell makes him consume Nurglings and turn them into [[Plaguebearers]]. Take out the Nurgling spawners first, as his most powerful abilities need a bunch of Nurglings nearby to work properly.
* '''Malathian the Harvester, Reaper of the Mortus Strain''': Another Great Unclean One, this time armed with a Bilesword and Bileblade. His psychic attacks get stronger with the number of other daemons he summons to the point of being able to cause one-hit kills, plus he creates effigies that boost his armor to massive levels and also inflict powerful debuffs as long as they're present. Worse, the effigies add further debuffs to his attacks, including one that kills the victim in 3 turns (and by sheer coincidence, its debuff causes Knights whose HP hits 0 to outright die rather than taking a critical wound). Keep an Interceptor around to take out the minions and effigies while one of your tankier Knights keeps Malathian busy.
* '''Cruciatus the Generous, Reaper of the Dolorus Strain''': You might think that having to take down a [[Chaos Knight|Knight Desecrator]] with just four Grey Knights and no access to dedicated anti-vehicle weapons might be just a tiny bit unfair, and you'd be absolutely right. His health is surprisingly low for a boss, but he's got tons of armor, multiple AoE attacks, and a melee attack that incapacitates a Knight for a turn before either dealing damage or outright inflicting a critical wound. Fighting him requires lots of armor piercing/armor breaking abilities combined with careful exploitation of his habit of rushing at the first Knight that shoots him. Critical hits will be a big help too, as one of his parts will increase his vulnerability to future crits if broken.
* '''Munificus the Undying, Reaper of the Tentarus Strain''': This powered up [[Chaos Spawn|Unnameable Beast]] isn't called "Undying" for nothing- if an attack doesn't outright kill him he'll immediately heal right back up to full health. Most of his attacks aren't especially strong, but they're AoE and possess knockback that'll bounce you around the arena. The secret to beating him is to use criticals to break his body parts- that'll reduce his max HP until it becomes possible to take him down in a single hit. Naturally, it's not that simple to do because he'll dump a hazard zone and a Bloomspawn every time he takes a crit before jumping out of reach, and his arena is also full of chasms that Power Armor can jump cross, but Terminator Armor can't. Thus, Purgators/Purifiers with Astral Aim, crit focused Interceptors and Librarians with upgraded Gate of Infinity are easiest ways to quickly chase him down and knock off his bits, while being able to quickly clean up the weeds that keep spawning in. Abilities that remove mutations will also help since he gets a new one with every turn.
* '''Morgellus the Corroded Prince, Reaper of the Necrosus Strain''': A big, bulky [[Plague Hulk]] with access to a bunch of abilities to break your armor and disrupt your ability to fight him, backed up with high health and armor. He's immune to critical hits under normal circumstances, but if you stun him you can remove that immunity from him. You'll want to have a melee damage dealer for this since he takes less damage from ranged attacks until you break his claws, but with all the knockback he can bring you'll need an Interceptor to stick near him at all times. Oh, and watch your footing because he'll try to break parts of the platform you're standing on and send you falling to your doom. Take too long, and the entire battlefield will fall apart with you on it.
* '''[[Mortarion]]''': [[Bullshit|Ok, ok, try to suspend your disbelief that Draigo and 4 other Grey Knights can take the fight to a Daemon Primarch in his own backyard]] (while the root of this cancerous fluff is [[Matt Ward|Wardian]] in origin, the source of this narrative fail surprisingly comes from [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]! Perhaps he's lost his touch...) Mortarion is fittingly the single deadliest enemy you'll ever face. With 200 health, 10 armor that can't be broken, and a -50% critical chance, this fight will truly be a test of endurance. He's also 2-3x as fast as any other boss or enemy in the game and doesn't trigger overwatch when he moves. Morty's weaponry also packs a punch. Lantern is an AOE attack which ignores cover, armor, and sends your knights flying. Silence will also send them flying, hobble them, and do heavy damage while breaking 2 armor. His many abilities are geared towards AOE effects and debuffs as well, while Barbaran Plate ensures the greatest blows aren't permanent. Draigo himself is an important part of the fight, because if he goes down the Death Lord will try to take his soul- if he isn't disrupted '''immediately''' you lose on the spot. During the battle, Mortarion will power himself up using one of the Bloom Roots in his arena with every 40 HP he loses- he's invincible when he does this and only Draigo can destroy the roots. In addition to all of this, you'll also have to manage a second squad to prevent a massive army of Death Guard goons from joining their Primarch and making an already fearsome battle even more of a struggle than it already is. Make sure this team is tanky and has plenty of ranged firepower, because they'll be up to their armpits in Blightlords.

==Links==
* [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1611910/Warhammer_40000_Chaos_Gate__Daemonhunters/ Steam Page]
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/ChaosGate Youtube Channel]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Inquisition]]
[[Category:Grey Knights]]
[[Category:Death Guard]]

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

2022-06-08T21:11:37Z

2600:387:3:803:0:0:0:A6: /* Chaos Bosses */

{{wh40k-stub}}
[[File:Daemonhunters_40k_Game_Cover.jpg|700px|thumb|center|''Who you gonna call? Daemonhunters!'']]

'''Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters''' is a Turn-Based Strategy game in the vein of [[XCOM]] and a sequel/reboot of [[Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate]]. It's a pretty good game and provides much of the XCOM feel that was lacking in Chimera Squad and Legends. Just make sure you remember that the lore and gameplay are kept quite separate, otherwise you'll get an aneurism.

==Story==
The game follows Strike Force Xiphos of the [[Grey Knights]] after a long, mostly offscreen crusade against a [[Khorne|Khornate]] cult called the Kaedium that had devastated three sectors before it was stopped, banishing its [[Bloodthirster]] leader back to the [[Warp]] at the cost of Strike Force Xiphos' Force Commander Agravain and most of its battle-brothers. Brother Ectar appoints you to lead the journey back to [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]], the home base of the Grey Knights, but Strike Force Xiphos was intercepted by an Ordo Malleus [[Inquisitor]], Kartha Vakir, who commandeers their heavily damaged [[Strike Cruiser]], the Baleful Edict, to investigate a [[Nurgle|Nurglite]] plague called "The Bloom" in the nearby Tyrtaeus Sector, much to the chagrin of the ship's [[Techpriest]] Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis and the profound irritation of their immediate superior [[Grand Master]] Kai.

Vakir's research shows there are "seeds" that the followers of Nurgle carry with them to spread the Bloom. This leads the Knights and the Inquisitor to the ruined Craftworld Usa'rya, which is being used to incubate the Bloom. The Craftworld's still-uncorrupted Avatar of Khaine comes to life just long enough to reveal the existence of five "Reapers" sent to act as the Bloom's vectors, and warns the Knights that if left unchecked it will bring on an apocalyptic event called the Morbus to ravage the galaxy. The Inquisitor's party is then nearly overrun by Nurglite forces led by the Daemon Prince Kadex Ilkarion, but the appearance of [[Kaldor Draigo]] buys them an opportunity to escape. Before they do so, the Supreme Grand Master confirms the truth of the Avatar's warning and tasks Vakir with stopping the Bloom before it's too late.

In spite of the Bloom's newly accelerated spread and the Knights' outrage over her perceived carelessness, Vakir has a plan. She kept a piece of corrupted Wraithbone from the Craftworld's Infinity Circuit that can be attuned to the psychic stench of the Reapers, a creation she calls the Codex Toxicus. Should the Reapers be defeated and the Prime Seeds that they watch over be claimed, the strains of the Bloom they oversee will die off.

After collecting three of the Prime Seeds, Kadex attacks the Baleful Edict and destroys the Codex Toxicus. Vakir is able to bind Kadex, but without the Codex Strike Force Xiphos has no way to find the remaining Reapers. With no further options available, Vakir volunteers to scour the Daemon Prince's mind for any useful information. She manages to stay sane through the ordeal and discovers the source of the Bloom: a collection of roots hidden deep within the Garden of Nurgle. While she fears that Xiphos will have no way to find the Garden in the Warp, let alone destroy the roots, Ectar reminds her that Draigo still wanders the Warp. He proposes to use the Prime Seeds to generate enough Warp energy to warn him of the Bloom's threat and gain his assistance.

He agrees, but as the Inquisitor returns she has a vision: Kadex has warned his master of Draigo's arrival, and an ambush has been set. Ectar is enraged and attempts to execute Vakir, but is stopped by Lunete, who proposes that Xiphos move to support Draigo in the Garden. Ectar scoffs at the idea, but Vakir believes that if they banish Kadex they can follow him back to his master. It is only when the purgation ritual is complete that she reveals her true intentions: to allow Kadex to claim her soul so Xiphos may use it as a beacon to find the Garden. Ectar is horrified that [[Grimdark|she would allow herself to be tormented for eternity]] for the sake of their mission, but she insists on going through with it nevertheless. Only in death does duty end.

After fighting their way past another one of the Reapers to reach the Garden, Strike Force Xiphos reunites with Draigo to confront the true mastermind behind the Bloom: [[Mortarion]], who is all too eager to pay the "heart-carver" back for his past defeat on Kornovin.

After severing bloom roots, killing hordes of Nurgulite forces, and fighting Morty himself, [[Bullshit|Draigo and his 4 comrades succeed and force Mortarion to flee]]. While the Baleful Edict goes back to Titan to commemorate the sacrifices made for their mission, Draigo's force stays in the Warp. A skull with Kadex's soul is shown capturing Vakir's soul, declaring his [[Rape|intent to use her]] for [[Grimdark|his future plans]].

==Characters==
*'''Brother Ectar''': Your head advisor. A Purifier, he was a skillful warrior but his lack of confidence in his own command combined with the machinations of a handful of Inquisitors trying to use a rebellion instigated by a [[Lord of Change]] to topple a corrupt planetary government led to [[Not As Planned|disaster]], and as penance he has denied himself the opportunity for an honorable death in battle and a position of command in lieu of supporting Xiphos' commander. As a result, he appoints you (the player) to take command of Xiphos after Commander Agravain's death in the tutorial. As befitting his order, his general response to any form of [[Chaos|chaotic taint]] is to [[Exterminatus|purge it with extreme prejudice]], which often puts him at [[Skub|odds]] with Inquisitor Vakir, who sees merit in studying the enemy to defeat them.
*'''Inquisitor Kartha Vakir''': A Thorian with a grudge against [[Nurgle]] after the death of her parents to one of his "gifts", she is the one who first sets Strike Force Xiphos against the Bloom and takes it upon herself to study ways to combat it. Cocksure and prideful in her abilities, her methods are borderline [[Heresy|heretical]] and come across at haphazard at times, [[Just As Planned|but it works out]]. Combined with her attitude, she is constantly at odds with the rest of the crew since she is after all endangering the Edict by collecting and researching [[Daemon|daemonic]] material, opening herself and the vessel up to [[Chaos|chaotic]] [[Heresy|corruption]]. Ultimately, her willpower and sheer resolve to end the Bloom manages to impress even Ectar.
*'''Magos Dominus Lunete Ozmarantis''': An ancient Tech-Priestess (we know, it's hard to tell with that many implants) who has served for centuries aboard the Baleful Edict and is old enough to remember when Draigo was a Justicar. She very bluntly expresses her lack of concern for anything beyond the Edict, and [[Rage|butts heads]] with Ectar and Vakir if the Edict's safety is put into question. However, she's also the voice of reason whenever the two are squabbling, [[/tg/ gets shit done|breaking up their arguments to focus on the matter at hand]]. She's rather [[Belisarius Cawl|progressive]] for a Techpriest, willing to [[Heresy|modify]] Servo Skulls to help Vakir collect blight seeds and expressing a scientific interest in xenotech like [[Wraithbone]].
*'''Grand Master Vardan Kai''': Grand Master of the First Brotherhood and Steward of the Armoury who once did battle with [[M'Kar|M'Kar the Reborn]] and [[Tyranid]] forces at the same time, and the Grand Master Xiphos answers to. Kai serves as the Councilman in this game, reviewing Strike Force Xiphos' performance and providing them resources (Requisition) every 60 days. As Steward of the Armoury, Kai offers a selection of battle-brothers and wargear you can redeem using Requisition for completing missions, and you can upgrade your armoury access during his reports (also with Requisition) so that better armor and troops show up as potential mission clear rewards. Don't piss him off unless you want to lock yourself out of mission rewards for a couple months. He is unconvinced of the threat that the Bloom poses and would very much prefer that you be reassigned to more important warzones, and coupled with a major beef with the Ordo Malleus, constantly berates Inquisitor Vakir for seemingly wasting his troops on simple grunt work. Voiced by the famous actor Andy Serkis.

==Gameplay==
Like how the original Chaos Gate was ''[[Blood Ravens|inspired by]]'' the original X-COM, Daemonhunters take many cues from the modern XCOM games, with some elements from other successors like ''Phoenix Point'' and ''Gears Tactics''. The strategic layer lets you select some research for Inquisitor Vakir to pursue that will aid the fight against the Bloom, select which part of the Baleful Edict Dominus Lunete should prioritize repairs, and wait for a mission in the <s>Geoscape</s> galaxy map to defeat the servants of the [[Nurgle|Plague God]] (does this sound familiar to XCOM players already?). Certain story events will have your crew butt heads over the mission, and picking sides will grant bonuses or maluses to their department, such as faster research times for supporting Vakir or increased exp gain for supporting Ectar.

Across the sector, each planet has a corruption meter that increases all sorts of nasty shit that can happen as it rises, usually in forms of buffs for enemies and debuffs for your dudes. Missions will appear randomly on different planets and you have a limited time to race across the Warp to do them before they expire and raise the planet's corruption meter, which means you [[Grimdark|can't save every planet]]. Most missions have objectives like killing every enemy or specific ones, but you can optionally choose to undertake a secondary objective (aka "Glorious Deeds") if available, from killing a certain number of enemies with melee, taking at most a certain amount of damage , not using any Will points, or completing the mission using only basic equipment. Completing primary and secondary objectives award Requisition, the resource used to redeem mission rewards from new recruits or stronger wargear, but failing secondary objectives costs you 1 Requisition, so you must choose wisely whether you are fit to do them.

Down in her makeshift lab, [[Inquisitor]] Vakir needs to progress her research into defeating the Bloom, and to do so she requires blight seeds extracted intact from enemies during missions. Some enemies will be marked as "seed carriers", which have seeds implanted in certain parts of their bodies. The primary method of extracting seeds is to kill these enemies in melee, [[Metal Gear|Zandatsu style]], but melee critical hits will allow you to extract the seed straight away if the enemy can't be immediately killed. Ranged or environmental kills won't yield any seeds, but ranged crits with Precision Shot (i.e., the Astral Aim ability) can sever enemy body parts that contain seeds, which will still award you the seed. One of Vakir's researches unlocks a servo-skull that can harvest a seed directly, allowing you to safely and reliably extract seeds at very long range; several of the Apothecary's skills also allow them to extract seeds more easily. Blight seeds can also be found scattered around the map in incubation pods which can be collected by any of your Knights. Initially, there is only one strain of seed, but Vakir discovers the existence of four other strains, each with their own seeds.

Besides unlocking new research, blight seeds can also be spent to unlock Purity Seals on master crafted weapons, granting access to bonus stats or abilities such as increased critical chance or armor pierce on psybolt.

Meanwhile, Dominus Lunete oversees the repairs and upgrades of the Baleful Edict, each section requiring a number of [[Servitors]] and days to work on. Servitors are a resource that can be collected on missions and during random events, and are consumed when you begin repairs to a particular section. Certain events can also allow you to sacrifice Servitors in order to avoid risking your Knights or spending seeds, so you have to weigh in which resource you're most willing to sacrifice in these events. The Baleful Edict can also take damage to its hull integrity in such events, or later on if you encounter a [[Death Guard]] ship or Warp Storm without the necessary upgrades. Naturally, if you lose all your hull points, you lose, but you can order Lunete to repair the hull, as well as upgrade the Edict's systems to better deal with enemy ships or events.

The tactical layer allows you to deploy up to 4 Grey Knights Space Marines to the field, and plays similarly to XCOM, although instead of a move + action vs longer move, each marine starts with 3 action points (AP) to spend on movement, abilities or attacks in any order. Warp-based abilities, from powering up attacks with psychic power or psyker powers, cost [[Mana|Willpower (WP)]] to use, but increases the Warp Surge gauge which activates some debilitating effect when full. The Warp Surge gauge fills every turn at an amount dependent on corruption level, acting as a timer to prevent turtling much like XCOM 2's mission timer, but you're not completely screwed if it 'runs out' as it merely disadvantages you instead of immediately failing the mission. Still, you wouldn't want to let it fill up too often as it can quickly put you at a disadvantage and heightens the risk of permanently losing a battle-brother. The exact effects it has depend on the strain of the Bloom present on the planet, with different strains favoring different effects:
* '''Poxus, the Strain of Disease''': The first strain you'll encounter. Warp Surges associated with the Poxus strain tend to inflict negative status conditions on your Knights while increasing the debuff resistance of enemies.
* '''Mortus, the Strain of Death''': Warp Surges associated with the Mortus strain interfere with using psychic abilities, either directly by means like increasing willpower costs and disabling Stratagems or indirectly by providing enemies with the ability to reduce willpower with their attacks.
* '''Dolorus, the Strain of Agony''': Warp Surges associated with the Dolorus strain are prone to inflicting damage directly to your squad, stopping you from healing, and boosting the amount of damage enemies can inflict on you.
* '''Necrosus, the Strain of Decay''': Warp Surges associated with Necrosus revolve around reducing the effectiveness of your attack and defense and provide enemies with more armor to further reduce your ability to hurt them.
* '''Tentarus, the Strain of Growth''': Warp Surges associated with Tentarus pile on Mutations (mostly in the form of HP boosts) and can summon Bloomspawn to get in your way.

However, being [[Space Marines]] and all, each battle-brother won't be instantly killed if they drop to 0 HP in battle; rather they will enter a critically wounded state which they will recover from (albeit with their maximum health cut in half) if healed or after taking 3 turns to catch their breath. Still, if a critically wounded Knight drops to 0 HP again in the same battle, they will die for good, and even if they survive the mission, they lose a Resilience point, which is the number of times they can get critically wounded and survive- if it goes down to zero, they stay dead. Fortunately, getting [[PROMOTIONS|promoted]] increases maximum Resilience, so it pays off to preserve your forces as much as possible. And unlike XCOM, your Grey Knights know which end of the Storm Bolter the shots come out of so there's no risk of missing your attacks. You do however have a chance to score critical hits (both in melee and at range, though the former happens more often), which let you deal bonus damage, ignore armor, or debuff enemies in a variety of ways. It becomes imperative to abuse crits as much as possible later on when more nasty enemies show up in order to disable their more dangerous weapons and abilities, which can be optimized via certain skills and wargear.

The battlefield contains many obstacles such as classic explosive barrels and statues that can be shot or smashed to take out multiple enemies at once, and you can knock around enemies with skills and explosives, potentially blasting them into bottomless pits for instant kills, giving you an incentive to position properly (Be warned! They can do the same to you!). There exist high and low cover objects scattered around; as there is no accuracy factor in this game, all attacks will connect barring certain auto abilities that have a chance to block certain attacks. Thus, you have to rely on cover and armor to absorb fixed damage, where high cover blocks more damage than low. This is important especially in the early game, where your [[Indrick Boreale|spess mehreens]] in default wargear are [[Wat|actually pretty squishy]] starting out, such that lowly cultists armed with autoguns and heavy stubbers can quickly [[Dakka|pepper them down]] if they stand in the open.

Another key mechanic in the tactical layer are stuns and [[Blam|executions]]. Many enemies have a stun bar that scales with difficulty; depleting it via stun damage (not the same as HP damage) will stun the enemy, opening them up to a [[Anal Circumference|guaranteed crit]] from the next attack. Performing a melee attack on a stunned enemy gives you the option to execute them, instantly killing them while restoring 1 AP to all Knights. This can be very [[Cheese|exploitable]] as it can [[Rape|allow you to wipe out multiple pods in a single turn]] if you manage to chain stun them all.

Finally, Inquisitor Vakir can support your Knights from the Edict via Strategems, which can be unlocked through her research, acting as once-per-mission spells that include granting additional AP, group teleportation or healing. However, they will be disabled if she is temporarily wounded through random events, a Warp Storm is active over the mission location, or if she personally takes to the field in certain story missions, using a custom set of equipment and psyker powers.

==Grey Knight Classes==
4 classes of Grey Knights are available at the start of the game, while 4 more advanced classes can be unlocked later after a story mission.
* Basic Classes
** '''[[Interceptor Squad|Interceptor]]''': Offensive class that can teleport through the Warp to flank enemies or tactically retreat from trouble, without triggering those pesky enemy auto skills. They start off pretty weak and [[Derp|unable to teleport]] [[Wat|without investing in the skill]] (though since it's an initial skill choice it should almost always be available to you, but advancing their teleportation and melee trees grants them [[Rape|insane damage output and mobility]]. They don't have much on the defensive side, but with support from allies, they are one of the best classes if not [[Cheese|the best class in the game]].
** '''[[Justicar]]''': Defensive class that focuses on tanking enemy attacks, but can work as an offensive frontliner too. A very [[Ultramarines|jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none]] class that doesn't really stand out alone, but can support allies well especially by giving them more AP and armor. Can equip Terminator armor to improve durability, but doing so limits their mobility.
** '''[[Purgation Squad|Purgator]]''': Offensive ranged focused class that can equip [[Dakka|big guns]] like the [[Psycannon]], [[Psilencer]] and [[Incinerator]], granting them heavy firepower in exchange for poor melee attacks, so keep them away from melee foes. They can also specialize in grenades, gaining additional grenade uses and improving blast radii to the approval of [[Tarkus]] and [[Kommando|Ork Kommandos]]. Going down the Astral Aim tree allows your Purgators to become [[Ork Snipers|snipers]], scoring guaranteed critical hits that can also disable targets by [[Abaddon|shooting off their limbs]].
** '''[[Apothecary]]''': Support class that focuses on healing injured battle-brothers with their Narthecium and supporting them with Servo-skulls. They can also specialize in extracting blight seeds from certain enemies which are needed for further research, but that becomes obsolete once you have reliable crit builds later on. They also have some offensive and supportive psychic powers; despite the latter's short range if you don't have a specific servo-skull from a specific upgrade, the buffs themselves are a significant boost to any melee class. Can also equip Terminator armor.
* Advanced Classes
** '''[[Grey Knight Paladin|Paladin]]''': Defensive class like the Justicar but more specialized in frontline tanking, knockback and inflicting stuns/critical hits. They're limited to only Terminator armor, but is also the only class that can use the Storm Shield, which they can forgo for Psycannon if you specialize them in it, trading more durability for some firepower. Although they don't get direct boosts to the Aegis like the Justicar and lack most of its support potential, they've got a nifty skill that lets them automatically attack anything in a wide area while also drastically boosting their armor, and with the right upgrade they can outright cancel the first critical wound they get on a mission.
** '''[[Chaplain]]''': Support class limited to Terminator armor that is similar to the Justicar, buffing allies and taunting enemies into attacking them. With a greater focus on buffing allies, they use litanies and prayers that last forever but only one of which can be active at a time and uses willpower as long as it's on. Using a different litany or prayer cancels out the previous one, allowing you to adapt to different situations if needed. They are the only class capable of using the Crozius Arcanum, which has a chance to inflict the Vulnerable debuff on enemies with attacks.
** '''[[Librarian]]''': Offensive spellcaster limited to Terminator armor with a variety of powerful psychic powers, from group teleportation to energy vortexes that [[Rape|mulch groups of enemies]] AND [[Butthurt|disable vehicle weaponry]]. As a result, they're mostly limited by the number of Will points they have, and because their use will involve raising Warp Surge a lot, they can also reduce the Warp Surge meter, otherwise it can quickly spiral out of control later in the game.
** '''[[Purifier]]''': Offensive ranged focused class like the Purgator, but with a greater focus on the Incinerator and an obsession with setting things on fire that rivals the [[Salamanders]]. They can also be trained in Astral Aim and grenade-fu like the Purgator, but unlike the Purgator, can become specialized in melee to scorch adjacent enemies with the purifying flames of their soul. True to their name, their purity makes them immune to hazards, capable of purifying enemies of their buffs and applying a purifying flame damage over time on them, which can become ''permanent'' when upgraded. Like the Purgator, they cannot use Terminator armor.
The Castellan Champion edition adds '''[[Castellan Crowe]]''' as a playable unit, wielding the '''Black Blade of Antwyr''' with a unique skill tree. This would sound [[Awesome|great]] if not for the fact that he's effectively [[Games Workshop|day one DLC gated behind $10]].

==Chaos Units==

* '''[[Cultist]]s''': Come in a few variants, but most of them can still be quite dangerous. They die very quickly if you actually strike back, but don't underestimate them. Generally, they will try to pin your units with overwatch, suppressive fire and grenades, forcing pinned units to take damage if you try to move them without dislodging the Cultists first. One overwatch shot isn't too bad, but five or six of them at once...not so much.
* '''[[Poxwalkers]]''': Typical zombie-type enemies that swarm in large numbers, and their groan ability can turn nearby corpses into weaker but still annoying "lesser Poxwalkers". One variant is the bloated Poxwalker, which has more health and explodes on death in a toxic cloud that improves other Poxwalkers' max HP and inflicts plague on your units; it'll become enraged when its health is low and try to blow up in your face, so either inflict a crit to disable the death explosion or take it out from a safe distance (preferably after clearing out any other chaff).
* '''[[Apostate Cardinal|Apostate Preacher]]''': Enemy caster that focuses on buffing Nurgle troops, debuffing your Knights, and forcing Warp Surges. Only slightly tougher than a regular Poxwalker, but will hang in the back to cast bolts of armor-piercing warp-stuff if he attacks.
* '''Bloomspawn''': Big ugly plants that spit explosive globs of goop which inflict debuffs when they hit you and heal other enemies caught in the blast, or smack you with armor-piercing vines. Several variations of them exist with different amounts of HP, but all of them should be fought from heavy cover and/or from a safe distance.
* '''[[Feculent Gnarlmaw]]''': A surprisingly hardy tree monster that produces a damage field that hurts anyone too close while healing and buffing allies in its range. But you'll have to get close to do substantial damage to it, because it has an aura that reduces ranged damage it receives for both itself and its allies.
* '''[[Death Guard|Death Guard]] [[Plague Marine]]s''': Early game analogues to your Justicars- slow, but well-armored and have a self-heal. Like the cultists, they'll try to set up overwatch traps to lock your Knights down, and they also possess a melee attack that disables auto abilities. Some of them have Plague Belchers that poison the ground, making it hazardous to walk over, [[Derp|but perhaps due to buggy AI]], instead of unflinchingly marching up to your knights to shart on them, [[FAIL|they will often waste their turn to shart on the empty ground behind themselves if your Knights are too far away]].
* '''Plague Champions''': Stronger Plague Marines with significantly increased survivability. They can give orders to their allies to help them beat you up better while stealing your Willpower, smashing your cover, and debuffing your defense. At least they can't heal themselves.
* '''[[Blightlord Terminators]]''': Heavier armor than the regular Plague Marines, access to suppressing fire from their autocannons, and the ability to automatically melee attack the first Knight to walk next to them make these guys a nasty piece of work, to say nothing of their ability to debuff your ranged damage with their blight grenades. Either try to outrange them or bring someone that can disrupt their melee counter.
* '''Blightlord Champions''': Nurglite equivalents to your Paladins: they don't have any ranged attacks, but they hit hard in melee and can lock down chokepoints with the best of them with their equivalent of the Paladin's Defend skill. Engage them at long range, preferably with a weapon that has Armor Pierce or Armor Break; they've got an AoE that debuffs melee attacks, so while you could try to beat them at their own game it's not a very good idea.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|Unnamable Beasts of Nurgle]]''':
* '''[[Foetid Bloat-Drone]]''':
* '''[[Myphitic Blight-Hauler]]''': Lots of armor, but once that breaks has surprisingly low health, which also makes it easy to kill with armor ignoring attacks. Can do heavy damage and smack your units away if they're in melee. Has a special "Mortar" attack that will blow up small areas after a turn, can smash up cover, and has a multi-melta that breaks armor.
* '''[[Helbrute]]''': At long range, they blast you with armor breaking attacks that wreck cover or charge you in an attempt to knock you over, and up close they can grab your Knights to leave them unable to act before throwing them a turn later. Focus fire on him with high powered attacks from as far away as possible, since he tries to charge and grab whoever hits him and explodes a turn after he dies.
* '''[[Nurgling]]s''':
* '''[[Plaguebearer]]s''': The most common Nurgle daemons are slow as molasses, but they can take a beating and gain a new mutation every turn. Take them down quickly before they get the mutation that lets them survive the first fatal hit they take, or at least have a way to purge those mutations before they start to add up. Keep in mind that they have a chance to negate one melee attack per turn, and watch out for the debuffs they can inflict.
* '''Plague Ridden''': Elite Plaguebearers with a ranged spread attack that debuffs Knights and heals allies at the same time and can provide mutations for nearby allies as well. The first hit they take in a turn increases the Warp Surge counter for good measure, and they're just as tough as you'd expect. They have an aura that reduces ranged damage for themselves and their allies, so unlike the standard Plaguebearers you'll want to get up close to beat them.

==Chaos Bosses==
* '''Kadex Ilkarion, Warden of the Bloom''': The [[Daemon Prince]] presiding over the Bloom's spread, Kadex first introduces himself when Inquisitor Vakir and your Knights discover the origins of the blight seeds inside an infested [[Aeldari]] [[Craftworld]]. As Vakir tries to get a sample from the corrupted Infinity Circuit, he must be fought off alongside waves of Nurglite reinforcements while protecting the Inquisitor. He possesses a number of abilities designed to [[Troll]] you, from teleporting a Knight to a random spot (typically right in front of a bunch of Plague Marines and Plaguebearers), cursing a Knight to take damage when Kadex is wounded, creating illusory duplicates of himself when he's hit, and simply calling even more reinforcements on top of the ones that already spawn in constantly. Turns out he [[Butthurt|has a bone to pick]] with Vakir for [[Not As Planned|foiling]] one of his plans in the past. He shows up again later to invade the Baleful Edict, doing all of the same shit but matters are complicated further by your intially being only able to use Vakir. Your Knights will eventually show up, but you won't have any control over which ones they are- you ''have'' been leveling everyone up, right?
* '''Aeger the Benevolent, Reaper of the Poxus Strain''': A [[Great Unclean One]] said to have an extensive history of defilement, and is always accompanied by a mass of his Nurgling "nephews". He has 100 health, spawns Nurglings with the help of a handful of Nurgling spawners in his arena, and is armed with both a Plague Flail and Doomsday Bell. The flail knocks your men back and plagues them, while the bell makes him consume Nurglings and turn them into [[Plaguebearers]]. Take out the Nurgling spawners first, as his most powerful abilities need a bunch of Nurglings nearby to work properly.
* '''Malathian the Harvester, Reaper of the Mortus Strain''': Another Great Unclean One, this time armed with a Bilesword and Bileblade. His psychic attacks get stronger with the number of other daemons he summons to the point of being able to cause one-hit kills, plus he creates effigies that boost his armor to massive levels and also inflict powerful debuffs as long as they're present. Worse, the effigies add further debuffs to his attacks, including one that kills the victim in 3 turns (and by sheer coincidence, its debuff causes Knights whose HP hits 0 to outright die rather than taking a critical wound). Keep an Interceptor around to take out the minions and effigies while one of your tankier Knights keeps Malathian busy.
* '''Cruciatus the Generous, Reaper of the Dolorus Strain''': You might think that having to take down a [[Chaos Knight|Knight Desecrator]] with just four Grey Knights and no access to dedicated anti-vehicle weapons might be just a tiny bit unfair, and you'd be absolutely right. His health is surprisingly low for a boss, but he's got tons of armor, multiple AoE attacks, and a melee attack that incapacitates a Knight for a turn before either dealing damage or outright inflicting a critical wound. Fighting him requires lots of armor piercing/armor breaking abilities combined with careful exploitation of his habit of rushing at the first Knight that shoots him. Critical hits will be a big help too, as one of his parts will increase his vulnerability to future crits if broken.
* '''Munificus the Undying, Reaper of the Tentarus Strain''': This powered up [[Chaos Spawn|Unnameable Beast]] isn't called "Undying" for nothing- if an attack doesn't outright kill him he'll immediately heal right back up to full health. Most of his attacks aren't especially strong, but they're AoE and possess knockback that'll bounce you around the arena. The secret to beating him is to use criticals to break his body parts- that'll reduce his max HP until it becomes possible to take him down in a single hit. Naturally, it's not that simple to do because he'll dump a hazard zone and a Bloomspawn every time he takes a crit before jumping out of reach, and his arena is also full of chasms that Power Armor can jump cross, but Terminator Armor can't. Thus, Purgators/Purifiers with Astral Aim, crit focused Interceptors and Librarians with upgraded Gate of Infinity are easiest ways to quickly chase him down and knock off his bits, while being able to quickly clean up the weeds that keep spawning in. Abilities that remove mutations will also help since he gets a new one with every turn.
* '''Morgellus the Corroded Prince, Reaper of the Necrosus Strain''': A big, bulky [[Plague Hulk]] with access to a bunch of abilities to break your armor and disrupt your ability to fight him, backed up with high health and armor. He's immune to critical hits under normal circumstances, but if you stun him you can remove that immunity from him. You'll want to have a melee damage dealer for this since he takes less damage from ranged attacks until you break his claws, but with all the knockback he can bring you'll need an Interceptor to stick near him at all times. Oh, and watch your footing because he'll try to break parts of the platform you're standing on and send you falling to your doom. Take too long, and the entire battlefield will fall apart with you on it.
* '''[[Mortarion]]''': [[Bullshit|Ok, ok, try to suspend your disbelief that Draigo and 4 other Grey Knights can take the fight to a Daemon Primarch in his own backyard]] (while the root of this cancerous fluff is [[Matt Ward|Wardian]] in origin, the source of this narrative fail surprisingly comes from [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]. Mortarion is fittingly the single deadliest enemy you'll ever face. With 200 health, 10 armor that can't be broken, and a -50% critical chance, this fight will truly be a test of endurance. He's also 2-3x as fast as any other boss or enemy in the game and doesn't trigger overwatch when he moves. Morty's weaponry also packs a punch. Lantern is an AOE attack which ignores cover, armor, and sends your knights flying. Silence will also send them flying, hobble them, and do heavy damage while breaking 2 armor. His many abilities are geared towards AOE effects and debuffs as well, while Barbaran Plate ensures the greatest blows aren't permanent. Draigo himself is an important part of the fight, because if he goes down the Death Lord will try to take his soul- if he isn't disrupted '''immediately''' you lose on the spot. During the battle, Mortarion will power himself up using one of the Bloom Roots in his arena with every 40 HP he loses- he's invincible when he does this and only Draigo can destroy the roots. In addition to all of this, you'll also have to manage a second squad to prevent a massive army of Death Guard goons from joining their Primarch and making an already fearsome battle even more of a struggle than it already is. Make sure this team is tanky and has plenty of ranged firepower, because they'll be up to their armpits in Blightlords.

==Links==
* [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1611910/Warhammer_40000_Chaos_Gate__Daemonhunters/ Steam Page]
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/ChaosGate Youtube Channel]

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