Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

==Generic Relics==

Unlike previous editions, as long as your army is battle-forged you now get a single free relic and can pay CP to get 1 or 2 more. There are some restrictions though; as you can't put more than one relic on any '''CHARACTER''' and you can't give them to any named characters either. In addition almost all melee artefacts replace '''Power''' weapons, therefore you can't give them to Daemon Princes. Many relics also sit awkwardly on certain characters due to their default equipment and roles. For example, you can give them to Sorcerers but you have to drop their Bolt-Pistols for a Power-Weapon and then you replace that with the artefact, but still retain your force-weapon. Due to this expect to find that many relics compete for the same or similar role, as well as a few coming with awkward "activation" requirements. 

Few relics are real stand-out options for your Warlord - Especially if you can take a Thunder Hammer on the model, or would be better off as a named character for their respective legion. This means you are going to find yourself giving your relics to characters who have specific roles in your army - so make sure you use them to their full potential i.e. Don't be giving a Melee-Relic to a Shooting-Focused Character. If you want to find Legion-specific relics, you'll find them attached to their respective Legion entry. 

Daemon Weapons are a type of relic found in '''Psychic Awakening: Faith and Fury'''. Being daemonic they can be used to replace several Hell-forged Weapons. The catch is 4 out of the 5 new relics are also locked to specific {{Template:W40kKeyword|MARK OF CHAOS}}. They function identically to other relics, but have a 1/6 chance to deal a mortal wound to the bearer, in which case they don't work. The first time in a fight phase a model is chosen to attack, roll 1d6. On a 1, the bearer takes a mortal wound and can't use the weapon to make attacks, on a 2+ they can use the weapon as normal. Remember you can always burn a command point if things go south and the extra power they give you is usually worth the investment.
 

'''<big>Universal Relics</big>'''
*'''The Black Mace:''' Replaces a power maul or accursed crozius. Melee weapon with S+3 AP-2 D2. Roll 1d6 anytime you slay a model with it; on a 6, the model's unit suffers an additional mortal wound at the end of the phase. You can't cheese out and give this to a Prince anymore, but it's a very effective weapon either way. Also the only way your Dark Apostle can get a properly killy melee weapon outside of being a Word Bearer or praying real hard.
*'''THE MURDER SWORD:''' Replaces a power sword. Melee weapon with Strength +1, AP-4, D1. At the start of the game, name an enemy character. All of your successful melee hits against that character cause mortal wounds. Very nice. Just a straight upgrade to a Power Sword and with a very useful NOPE-ing ability against 2+/3++ Characters. If you have transportation for it, this is easily one of the best ways to take the character hunting special rule for an Exalted Champion from being a funny gimmick to a terrifying threat. Girlymaaaaaan, where are youuuuu? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDpipB4yehk]
**Aside from ignoring invulnerable saves, it also does not require to-wound rolls, so extremely impressive against high Toughness enemy characters, such as VEHICLE or MONSTER characters.
*'''Ul’’O’Cca, The Black Axe<sup>Daemon Weapon</sup>:''' Replaces a power axe, force axe, or daemon axe. SU AP0 D1, same as your CCW you have by dint of existing. Any unmodified wound roll of a 4+ causes 1 mortal wound in addition to any other damage. While this is best on an Exalted Champion, because the underlying weapon is so bad, and the weapon only works 5/6 of the time, usually worse than another weapon choice, like a Thunder Hammer.

'''<big>God Specific Relics</big>'''
These Relics are restricted to characters with the appropriate {{W40Kkeyword|MARK OF CHAOS}}.

'''Khorne'''
*'''Axe of Blind Fury:''' Replaces a model's power axe. S+3 AP-3 and Dd3, but to-hit rolls of 1 cannot be rerolled or modified. Instead, they hit friendly units within 1". Now ANY Lord, Exalted Champion, or Warpsmith dedicated to Khorne can be [[Kharn the Betrayer|a fun guy to be around!]] Overall - a bad choice seeing as how Chaos Lords and Exalted Champions are better utilised as force multipliers and the gimmick clashes a Lord's re-roll ability. On the plus side, it increases your CQC damage output dramatically. However, if you don't want your axe-murderer to genocide your own guys, you'd have to make sure that they are outside the 1" betrayal reach, which can be tricky. Some Anons argue that it's better to just take a power fist and the Talisman of Burning Blood to ensure that you pull that charge off.

*'''Talisman of Burning Blood:''' The bearer can advance and charge in the same turn and can reroll failed charge rolls. Good on a Juggerlord, better on a winged Daemon Prince. Might also help a Khorne-marked Lord Discordant, if you don't use that Specialist Detachment.

*'''Zaall, the Wrathful<sup>Daemon Weapon</sup>:''' Replaces a Power or Hell-forged sword. While being AP-5 and D2 is already dangerous enough, you add your Daemon Weapon roll to the weapon's Strength (so 2 to 6); you can think of it as S(U+3.33) AP-5 D2, which is certainly better than the Axe of Blind Fury, but that is a low bar to compare too. Works well on a Terminator Lord, but best on a Daemon Prince, as when it fails, you can fall back on Malefic Talons with the prince but only the faq close combat weapon of the Lord. Also on a Prince it doesn't have to compete with other choices, like a Thunder Hammer or G'holl'ax.

'''Nurgle'''

*'''Puscleaver:''' Replaces a power sword, AP -2 and 1D3 damage. It's ability is to wound all non-vehicles on 2+. Try it out on a Terminator Lord and laugh as he makes his points back hunting CC monsters three times his price.

*'''G'holl'ax, the Fist of Decay<sup>Daemon Weapon</sup>:''' Replaces a Power Fist, but is in all ways a Thunder Hammer that always wounds on 2+ - which makes you question why it needs the strength boost but Nurgle is a joker afterall. At first this is deceptive as for Basic Lords and Jump Lords you can take a Thunder Hammer. However as it replaces a Power Fist this is effectively a 31pt saving for these models as you only need to pay 9pts for the fist. This is also the only way to give a Terminator Lord a weapon with the Thunder Hammer stat line - since they can't take them as a wargear choice. Also works well on an Exhalted Champion as with to-wound re-rolls it's almost guaranteed to put the hurt in on anything stupid enough to take him on. 

'''Slaanesh'''

*'''Intoxicating Elixir:''' Add 1 to the bearer's strength and attacks. Makes a killy dude even killier. Combine with ''Diabolic Strength'' for MAXIMUM EXCESS (especially on a Daemon Prince with Emperor's Children WT).  Usually the best melee relic available to you.

*'''Thaa’ris and Rhi’ol, The Rapacious Talons<sup>Daemon Weapon</sup>:''' Replaces a pair of Lightning Claws or Malefic Talons. SU AP-2 D2, and can re-roll wound rolls. The bearer can make an additional number of attacks with this weapon equal to the result of their Daemon Weapon roll. If you want a light infantry shredding character then these aren't the worse choice around. The downside is your stuck with using your FAQ melee weapon if you fail. Also has limited use on a Daemon Prince as it competes with the Intoxicating Elixir with double Malefic Talons. This is because its average number of attacks is ''worse'' overall compared to the flat 3 that dual talons give you - again due to the 1/6 chance of not working.

'''Tzeentch'''

*'''Eye of Tzeentch:''' Add 1 to the psychic test when manifesting Smite, casting on a 4 and getting extra wounds on a 10.  Raises the expected output of Smite from 1.79 mortal wounds to 2.08. Not worth building around as if you wanted Tzeentch marked smite spam you should take TKSons as allies who don't incur the creeping difficulty penalty.

*'''Q'D'AX, the Bandless<sup>Daemon Weapon</sup>:''' Replaces a power sword, force sword, or hellforged sword. S:U AP-3 and 1d3 Damage. When resolving an attack with this weapon, invulnerable saves cannot be made. Probably the most useful relic when used on a Daemon Prince with Wings and the Diabolical Strength or Warptime psychic power. This turns a Daemon Prince into a very effective flying assassin who can slingshot itself across the board (using Warptime), Smite a target (using the Great Sorcerer power) or Buff Itself (using Chaos Familiar Stratagem) and then charge in denying the target invulnerable saves without needing to make a Death Hex cast. Thanks to Hateful Assault, even if you fail the Daemon weapon roll, you get 6 attacks with its talons at S7 or 7 attacks at S9 if you used Diabolical Strength so failing isn't as punishing as the other weapons (just as planned).