Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Grey Knights (section)

===Why Play Grey Knights?===

The [[Grey Knights]] are the Emperor’s final creation, an army of Space Marines whose might and dedication eclipses all others. Their all-consuming mission is to confront the Daemons of the Warp wheresoever they might manifest. Each Grey Knight has the power of an army in his own right, capable of felling the greatest of Greater Daemons with a single blow. When the Chapter fights as one there are few who can oppose them. Yet, as the Imperium approaches its twilight, the daemonic threat grows ever greater and the Grey Knights ever more beset.

Though the Grey Knights wield the finest armaments that the armouries of the Imperium can provide, their chief weapon comes from within: a psychic might that can cleave through armour, summon sanctifying flame or return life to the dead.

A Grey Knights army will always be outnumbered (with the exception of facing custodes or Knights), but each of your warriors is easily as powerful as the mightiest hero in your opponent’s ranks. Terminator Squads, the elite of other Space Marine armies, are the mainstay of your force. 

Purgation Squads lay down a storm of heavy weapons fire, Purifiers immolate the foe with azure flame. Strike Squads attack wherever the enemy is most vulnerable, and towering Nemesis Dreadknights stride imperiously across the battlefield, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

=====Pros=====
* The Grey Knights are an army of Psyker Space Marines. That's pretty cool. Besides, casting Hammerhand you will succeed in 72.22% of cases.
* The Grey Knights have good assault and okayish close-range shooting. At a minimum, you're getting a storm-bolter and a force sword on every infantry model.
* Great looking infantry models with lots of customization options. They are not really hard to paint either to look decent and [[Duncan_Rhodes|Duncan]] has pretty neat tutorials on them.
* A low model count allows for easy movement and understanding of the game.
* Daemons and Psykers are a massive liability when playing against you. This benefit can't be understated, as GW is now focusing more on the Chaos vs Imperium conflict, and most Chaos armies rely on some form of daemon unit or psyker buff to function properly. 
* Force weapons ''absolutely everywhere'', and they're no longer subject to Deny the Witch, which means you're always putting out D3 wounds to everything in melee!
* All of your Squads can cast Baby Smite, and it doesn't increase in cost after the first and subsequent casts; expect to be putting out a lot of mortal wounds as the game goes on. Smack harder when turning them into consistent 2 MW per cast.
* You are one of the factions that benefit most from the psychic phase. You get a nice boost to both cast AND deny, and two stratagems that further boost your ability to ridiculous levels. Your psychic discipline is good but not TOP TIER, with some powers that allow you to buff yourself in both offense and defense, hurt others really really badly and FUCKING TELEPORT ALL ACROSS THE BOARD. Others, unfortunately, are very situational. EVERYONE CAN CAST. EVERYONE CAN DENY. Your Baby Smite maybe a little on the weak side, but unlike most armies, you can cast it all you want without having to deal with the rising WC penalty for it. 
* Pretty much ANY one of your units can start the game in deep strike reserve. Everyone has some sort of teleportation device - and even if they don't, there's a stratagem that allows you to teleport units in any way. Unfortunately, after 2018 BIG FAQ 2 this is no longer that great a boost. You need half units AND Points on the ground AND you can't deep strike at all during the first turn. That's not so good for an army that relies upon and is costed around deepstrike.
* Named character options are abundant, and overall pretty good even if overpriced.
* Good news, everyone! Grey Knights will be including in the next Imperial Armour: Talons of the Emperor. What changes this will bring have yet to be seen, and will focus only on Forge World models. 
* One of the only armies with Terminator troops. Even Dark Angels lost their Deathwing as Troops. So GK is a good army if you want to bring a pure Terminator army. After Ritual of the Damned Terminators look like a viable option (great stratagems and powers to boost them).
* Ritual of the Dammed and Chapter Approved 2019 brought great changes. A definitely competitive army now. How it will fare against current meta, time will tell.
* GKs are the only army now besides Craftworld Eldar, Orks and Thousand Sons who can get +4 to cast. Combine Sanctic Shard relic with Empyric Surge stratagem and you have +3 to cast that can further be modified by +1 with Artisan Nullifier Matrix if you need it

=====Cons=====
* A low model count means each loss hurts much more. In order to win, you must find ways to block line of sight, find cover saves, and get into assault as soon as possible.
* The codex is extremely limited in terms of unit selection.
* Other armies have access to high strength and AP weapons; 5++ isn't going to save you all the time. However, with new powers and stratagems, you can greatly increase the durability of key units, especially units with Terminator keyword (so Paladins too).
* Very limited access to AP-3 and better aside from the close combat weapons of your walkers.
* Poor long-range shooting options without combos. Somewhat mitigated lascannons but few things take lascannons. 
* Lack of stuff from Forge World. [[Derp| Despite the fact that Grey Knights were more or less established during the]] [[Second Founding]], leaving you at a disadvantage on tables when the models/rules are permitted.
* No Psychic Primaris Marines either, even [[Librarian]]s, despite you know, with this whole [[Great Rift]] situation Grey Knights should have been the first Chapter to be reinforced with them.
* Perils of the Warp is a thing. You may find yourself having to burn command points to keep your dudes from dying.
* Stratagems can be really good, but to play efficiently you are almost forced to bring a double battalion so you can actually fund them.
* Chaos Daemons have a Stratagem in their codex specifically meant to fuck with you. It's not a very good one, tho, so this is less of a 'con' and more of a 'meh'.
* Warlord traits are mediocre. There's the one that lets units in 6" re-roll charge rolls, but that's pretty much the only good one.