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

==Unit Analysis==

===HQ===
*'''Chaos Lord''': Your vanilla leader. Lots of customization and a solid statline. You may want to take another version as your Warlord, but this guy is useful as a secondary HQ for his aura, which lets you re-roll every 1 to hit in a 6" bubble for friendly {{Template:W40kKeyword|<LEGION>}} units. You can keep this guy around plasma Chosen or even Predators/Helbrutes to protect them and let them use the overcharge more freely. Note that this aura, like all auras, also applies to himself. You have the option for a Jump-Pack. Also interesting is that the vanilla Chaos Lord is cheap as chips even after you throw him a load of shiny toys. Even his gear options are notably cheap unless you go for something crazy like Combi-Melta and Power Fist and even then he's still coming in under 100pts. What this means is that there's very little reason not to take one to buff your units. Hell, give him a pair of Lightning Claws and he becomes an excellent babysitter that can keep your Havoc Gunline safe from assassins like Lictors, and all of that without having to pay for Power Fists on your Havoc Champions.
** There is one fun trick you can do with this Lord that the loyalist equivalent (Captain) can't: dual wielding Plasma pistols. If you can't decide between going shooty or choppy with your Lord, this is a decent compromise. Two Plasma Pistols cost 1 point less than a Combi-Plasma, and it gives you the exact same number of plasma shots at 12", provided you don't overcharge. You're basically trading the ability to make a single plasma shot at 24" for the ability to shoot in close combat. And remember, his reroll-1s aura applies to himself, so don't be afraid to supercharge that shit. Just Woo it! Oh, and remember that posh Moritat model from HH that nobody used? Well now you've got an excuse to field it! Arguably just taking the combi-plasma is better, tho... Because Daemon shells are a thing.
*** Note that a plasma gun or combi-plasma doesn't kill the wielder until all shots resolve, but with dual plasma pistols, if the first pistol rolls a 1, the wielder is dead before they can fire the second pistol.  This means the two pistols will deal fewer wounds to the target than the rifle, as well as fewer wounds per point (due to the high cost of the lord, the 1 point savings is less significant than the decrease in output, even with re-rolling 1s).
** With the release of the revamped codex Chaos lords are one of a few units that can now take a Thunder hammer! However they can't take a thunder hammer if they're in terminator armor. So put your lords on bikes or give them jump packs and enjoy the smashlords. Just don't forget that the -1 to hit prevents Death to the False Emperor from triggering.
**Jump chain sword lord, take a Lord with jump pack and 2 chain swords in black legion, use the relic chain sword and the WLT for Mortal wounds on 6+, use buffs to +1 to wound rolls. So you can get 2+ to hit re-rolling 1's, with mortal wounds on a 4+ with veterans of the long war and the prayer. You can also use psychic powers and give the psyker a WLT from the Host Raptorial for extra utility. 

*'''Chaos Terminator Lord''': Like above, but with Terminator Armour. Sadly, unlike loyalists you don't have a choice between different types of armour, you're stuck with the Indomitus. 2+ armour, an extra wound, comes stock with Combi-Bolter and Power-sword and ability to Teleport onto the field from Turn 2 onwards (Thanks FAQ). This is your heavy duty Chaos Lord, the one you will want as your Warlord. Can be very cheap & effective considering what he can do. For weapon upgrades a pair of lightning claws. A combi-plasma w/ Chainfist if you don't want to give up shooting. Or a Combi-Bolter and a melee relic.
**Thunder Hammers now cost nearly double for this guy as of CA2019 while Lightning Claws got a tad cheaper, both single and paired. Consider making him Slaaneshi while running him with the Slaanesh Daemon weapon from Faith & Fury, even unbuffed he can throw out up to 11 AP-2 D2 attacks on the charge if you roll well and that is before counting warlord traits and other buffs although this is all at S:User rather than Sx2. That said buffs like Diabolic Strength will still have him hitting at S6 meaning he still wounds MEQ on 3s and is more efficient at blending Primaris.

*'''Dark Apostle''': Although his stats and gear are nothing to write home about, he has a variety of abilities that are a great force multiplier. Demagogue essentially fixes most of the Ld issues you have to worry about, while Prayers can offer significant buffs, ranging from flat buffs to friendly units (+1 to hit with ranged weapons, +1 to wound in melee), to debuff for your opponent (roll 2 Dice for Leadership discard lowest). Nowadays, he's best used as a backfield totem who hangs around nearby units that could benefit from a little help. If you need your Sorcerer to fly around throwing out smites and warp-timing things, rather than be stuck backfield casting prescience on Havocs, use a Dark Apostle to do it instead. Need to make those deep-strike disrupting cultists last longer, but they aren't Tzeentch marked? Use a Dark Apostle to give them an invulnerable save and Ld 9. Think of him more as a multi-role support unit than the melee leader of old.
**The Dark Apostle now needs to roll to activate Dark Zealot, and the inability for him to activate any Prayers while in a transport (as units not on the board cannot affect the board unless specifically stated), means he'll be getting out without chanting for at least a turn if you want to use him near your front lines (and his disciples take up extra space in the transport). 
**Multiple Apostles can't repeat the same prayer, so you can't use multiples of him to make a bigger bubble of re-rolling misses in melee.  Instead think of him working like a Psyker now - who has to roll to succeed, with a maximum of 1 attempt at a prayer, period, no matter how many of him you have.
**The primary use of multiples apostles is keeping them close to the same pair of Disciples, and using the entire cluster to buff a specific unit/group of units multiple times.  This means the best prayers, practically speaking, are -1 to be shot on a target unit, +1 to shoot on a target unit (safe plasma!), and 5++ to all nearby units.
**A special note goes to the Word Bearers, as he can benefit greatly from The Voice of Lorgar WT, since as of the FAQ it also affects prayers, boosting the range of them by an extra 3". This might not sound like much at first, but going from having a 12" diameter for Illusory Supplication to an 18" diameter (not including his base) will be noticed immediately, as you can cover most (if not all) of your backfield with it along with a great portion of your front lines. You can also give him the Cursed Crozius and then go for the Omen of Potency to royally fuck up some Space Marines and even Custodes. Don't ever send him out unsupported, though; with the relic and prayer he can dish out the pain, but he'll go down like a bitch if he has to take it.
**Consider a Word Bearers Dark Apostle with the Flames of Spite Warlord Trait and the Cursed Crozius.  You'll have upgraded him with Apostle of the Dark Council, natch.  Have him chant Omen of Potency and Soultearer Portent on himself.  He'll kick all ass in the name of the Dark Gods, handing out mortal wounds like candy on a 5+ and just generally beating the shit out of people.  Have a sorcerer with Warptime handy to help him actually get where he needs to go (and remember, with Malevolent Covenant, Word Bearer sorcerers just got super reliable), or keep him as backline counter-assault protection.

*'''Daemon Prince''': No longer the one man army he used to be, though his melee is still rather powerful. Use him to support other units with his 6" bubble and psychic powers. 8 wounds means he can't be targeted by shooting if he's not the closest unit, so keep him behind another unit that can match his 8" move speed. Unless you're playing a Khorne army, always take him as a psyker, the +1 attack isn't even close in to doing what his psychic powers can do (especially considering one gives him an extra attack anyway). The new Codex made all the melee weapon options for them the exact same cost, so now it's a choice between two more attacks (Talons), doing 1 more Damage per attack (Sword), or having your Strength, AP and Damage by 1 better at the cost of -1 to hit (Axe). The Talons are probably still his best equipment choice unless you're desperate for something to kill vehicles with, but even then, 7 (8 for Khorne... ''I see what you did there GW'') attacks at -2 AP are nothing to scoff at. An Emperor's Children Daemon Prince is especially brutal. Take the Intoxicating Elixir relic for +1 strength and +1 attack; and the Stimulated by Pain WL trait for +1 attack per wound taken up to +3 attacks. With Malefic Talons that's S8/AP-2/DMG 2 with 8-11 attacks once he starts taking wounds! He can also cast Delightful Agonies on himself for 5+ FNP. Or Diabolic Strength for S10 and 9-12 attacks! He can also take a Warp Bolter for some but not game-breaking shooting. 
**''Important Note:'' Thanks to the 2019 FAQ ALL Daemon Princes: Chaos Space Marines, Chaos Daemons, Death Guard, and Thousand Sons are all now count as the same datasheet for purposes of Matched Play. So, now despite the number and type of detachments you take you're now limited to a max of 3. So, Daemon Prince spam has been nerfed.
**''Important Note:'' Fly again allows models to move across enemy models while charging. However, flyers can no longer block movement, and a demon prince that flies into ruins in the movement phase can still be stuck there in the charge phase. 
** Don't forget the extra attack you get for his standard one set of malific talons!

*'''Exalted Champion''': One of your main close-combat buffers and an automatic requirement for melee-focused armies, as he provides a re-roll failed to-wound aura for friendly {{Template:W40kKeyword|<LEGION>}} units within 6" during the Fight Phase. Also a bit of a duellist as he re-rolls all hits against enemy Characters (including overcharged Plasma pistols in melee so grab one). Can take a range of different weapons to help him in melee, and with the codex update, a Thunder Hammer. No model yet, though any suitably kit-bashed model will do. Benefits greatly from a Mark of Khorne, as it gives him access to the fight twice stratagem. If you're feeling really mean, keep a Dark Apostle and an Exalted Champion next to your Berzerkers or Chosen armed with power weapons for re-rolls on hits and wounds. Only downside is his lack of mobility-increasing options and painful lack of Invulnerable save.
**Synergises well with nearly every Relic in the codex and Vigilus ablaze, except maybe the shooting relics as he wants to be in CC.
**When comparing him to other HQs in pure character killing potential, Executioner is slightly better than a Champion with a Powerfist, but almost twice as bad against a Hammer Champion for 50pts extra, a Lord is marginally worse with both due to Unwieldy. The higher the mark's Toughness, the better Exalted compares.
**As a duellist type, he is a prime candidate for Anathema, and an obnoxiously cost-effective one at that. DTTFE on this build is hilarious, exponentially more so with Flawless Host crazies. Add in Fury of Khorne for some spectacular character-mashing - 8 mortal wounds is enough to deck most characters, and with enough luck you can solo Big Bobby G in one round. That being said, a Lord is situationally better with this build due to his self-reliability with Sigil and Deepstrike shenanigans.

*'''Lord Discordant''': The answer to the question "What do you get when you cross a Warpsmith, a Chaos Lord with a mount, and a Daemon Engine?" The Lord Discordant is...eccentric to say the least, and despite being geared towards targeting vehicles, is surprisingly well-rounded for what you pay. '''Beware though''' that having 12 wounds means he can be targeted in the shooting phase, so expect your giant spider rider to be shot off the table turn 1 if you don't plan in advance (Benediction of Darkness, Prepared Positions, etc). He can take a fair beating, though, having a 2+/5++, an automatic wound healed on your turn, as well as having the choice to either heal 1d3 wounds or deal 1d3 mortal wounds to an enemy vehicle within 12" after killing an enemy vehicle. Provides a buff to friendly Daemon Engines which at the same time debuffs enemy vehicles, though you'll use him much more for the former than the latter. Also, with BS2+ his aura will naturally cancel out the negative modifier to hit after moving, should you decide to equip him with the autocannon instead of the baleflamer. He actually excels best in melee combat with MEQ and TEQ over multiple rounds, rather than vehicles, due to the damage and AP profiles of his weapons. Just be careful, though, as he can become bogged down by blobs like everyone else (and can't escape). His attacks also require a bit of book-keeping and a little head scratching to employ practically. The Lord Discordant himself has 4A base with his Chain Glaive, hitting at S+2 (usually 6) or x2 (usually 8) if you Heroic Intervened or Charged, AP-2 D2. This means he's best taking on vehicles if you can get the charge off; otherwise, he's probably going to be wounding on a 5. His mechatendrils then provide 2A at SU (usually 4) AP0 D1 which will largely be used to target either GEQ or as a Hail Mary to chink off a final wound on a vehicle. Depending on his remaining health, the spider then gets to chip in, striking with 3 to 5 (depending on wounds remaining) S+3 (usually 7) AP-2 D1d3 and a Techno-Virus Injector at S+4 (usually 8) AP-4 D1d3, which deals an additional 1d3 mortal wounds to {{W40Kkeyword|vehicles}} it successfully wounds.  He can swap the injector for a magma cutter if you're an idiot, so don't be an idiot.
** His +1 to hit means he naturally triggers Death to the False Emperor on 5+.
** Take a Disco Lord in a Flawless Host detachment, throw the Ultimate Confidence trait and Intoxicating Elixir relic on him. Then have a prince or sorcerer nearby to cast prescience on him and you now have a 160 pt model that can kill a knight in one fight phase. You get 5 S10 -2 2dmg attacks, 5 S8 -2 D3 dmg attacks and a 1 S9 -4 D3 dmg attack all that proc 3 extra hit rolls on a 4+ (4 hit rolls if your target is imperial). Have fun.

*'''Master of Executions:''' Similar to Exalted Champions, is meant to be a character killer. Has a greater heroic intervention of 6" if there are any enemy characters within 6" and can re-roll one hit roll, wound roll or damage roll that targets a character once per fight phase. His Axe of Dismemberment is basically a power-fist without the penalty to hit and deals additional mortal wounds on wound rolls of 6+. 
** A Slaanesh Master of Execution with the Intoxicating Elixir will come up at WS2+, S10, A6, AP-3 D3. In addition to character-killing, this allows the MoE to punch some pretty big holes in vehicles and monsters. It is so cheap that it will almost always make its points back should it get into melee.
** Now cheaper and more efficient along with rhinos, now even more attractive as a character hunter especially with all the factions getting cuts to their characters as well.

*'''Master of Possessions:''' A slightly retooled Sorcerer. No weapon options beyond the bolt pistol and force staff, but comes with a 5+ invulnerable save and forces Psykers within 12" to treat ''all'' doubles rolls as Perils of the Warp. He also uses Malefic powers instead of Dark Hereticus powers. Unclear where he's meant to fit in the big picture across the army, as most his powers focus around Daemon buffing. Unless you really want to run Daemonkin and a normal Sorcerer isn't doing it for you, there are better things than this guy.
** This guy also force multiplies Daemon Engines like nothing else. Cursed Earth and Dark Power are both auras, so you can cram several Forgefiends in range for a big ball of dakka that refuses to die. If you add a Defiler, it also gets better in melee allowing you to chase off any pesky Deep Striking units and makes its guns more than just an afterthought. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you can use Chaos Familiar to swap a power for Warptime, throw the MoP across the board and cast Incursion to summon Daemons right on your opponents doorstep, in the process bypassing virtually all of the drawbacks of conventional summoning.

*'''Sorcerer''': Pretty standard. You cast 2 powers and deny one, stats are in line with the rest of your Warriors and... that's it really. He can take a Jump Pack if desired and  Force Weapons are cool, but don't let this guy join melee if you can avoid it; his 3+ WS and 3 attacks mean he's not good enough to fight tough units (where his D3 damage would be really handy) and not good enough to take on hordes (since excess damage is wasted). He is however your primary source of Mortal Wounds and Buffs. Important to note that in the bump over from 7th Chaos Lords were given a invulnerable save, most Sorcerers however, were not. Make sure he's well guarded or surrounded by screen units, as he'll fall over quicker than you'd expect.
**Note: As of the FAQ, exalted sorcs are more expensive than regular ones, making this guy a reasonable option again for 'cheap" psychic options, unless you're playing Thousand Sons.
**Don't forget his Bolt Pistol, with his 2+ BS this guy is an excellent target for Daemon Shell to dish out another 1D3 Mortal Wounds.

*'''Terminator Sorcerer''': Heavy duty Sorcerer. Note that this guy costs slightly more than the vanilla one, but where mobility isn't a concern, is overall a better investment. Termi-Sorcerer's come with +1W, and more importantly, a 5++ save as standard, just remember to [[Nemeroth| wear a helmet]]. You can make him a second-line fighter, using a combination of wargear and psychic powers, but don't bother. His stock equipment is a Combi-Bolter and Power Sword, and where possible the sword should be changed for a Staff almost immediately, as overall the +2 Str on a character like this is more important than the -3AP. Strangely, despite being obsessed with warp-trinkets and magical items, not many relics fit well on this guy. 

*'''Warpsmith''': Drastically improved for 8th edition, the Warpsmith is the cheapest HQ you can get, but don't let his low cost deceive you - he is figuratively a Swiss army knife. As standard, comes with a range of tools in the form of a Flamer, Meltagun, and Bolt Pistol (which you will never fire). Having no mobility-increasing options, he'll be advancing everywhere, but his base weapons are Assault anyway so it doesn't really matter. His pistol can also be swapped out for a combi-weapon, which isn't a bad idea at all, as the most expensive choice, the combi-melta, means he still comes in just 1pt more than a standard, unequipped Chaos Lord. This is made all the better considering he shoots at 2+, comes with a 2+ save thanks to his modded power armour, and his stock melee options are a power axe and mecha-tendrils (two chainswords), letting him hold his own against small squads of MEQs. With so much kit for what you pay, he can slot in pretty much anywhere and contribute, though it can often be hard to determine where he'll add the most. Also comes with a few helpful abilities; the first lets him repair your vehicles, allowing one he ends up within 1" of to regain d3 lost wounds at the end of the movement phase. The second lets him curse an enemy vehicle, dealing a mortal wound on a roll of 2+ within 18".  Another option is to have him assist your artillery and long-range firepower by repairing them or protecting against deepstrikes. Alternatively, he can be used to ride shotgun in a Land Raider that, once it deposits whatever it was carrying, he can then repair and ride off in to go sit on an objective or two. With all the bells and whistles that come with other HQ options it's very easy to overlook this guy; don't.
**Giving him a combi-melta makes him an exceptionally dangerous tank hunter at a variety of ranges. BS 2+ and the bolter allows him to reliably hand out Mortal Wounds at 24" with Daemon Shell, at 18" enemy vehicles are in range of being Cursed for even more Mortal Wounds, and a pair of meltaguns at close range will wreck virtually anything short of super-heavies. It's also worth noting that the meltagun's bonus works against ''any'' target in 8th, meaning you can char-broil enemy Characters that might be squaring off for a fight.
**Of course, the combi-melta is less efficient than the combi-plasma outside of 6", provided you don't mind overcharging (and you generally shouldn't).  
*'''Chaos Lord on Bike <sup>Index only</sup>''': This Lord is fast and durable. 14" movement, Toughness 5 and the extra wound are very nice. If you can't decide if you want a tough or a fast Lord, you cannot go wrong with this guy. Now that you can shoot all non-pistol weapons, swap his bolt pistol for a second combi-bolter. Currently he and the Bike Sorcerer are the only Chaos HQ's that can legitimately have two combi-bolters. 8 S4 shots at 12" on a guy that can hit on 2+, reroll 1s, and move 14" per turn? Yes please.
**With Bolter Drill a Combi-Bolter Lord makes a solid Outrider HQ choice backed up with 15 Bikes of Various special weapons and combinations. Clocking in around 570pts you can really throw out alot of shots down range without turbo-boosting.

*'''Chaos Hellwright <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': A suped up Warpsmith for all intents and purposes with +1 strength, +1 toughness, and +1 wound when compared to the standard CSM counterpart, though he has altered weapon options. He costs a fair bit more, but given the better statline and similar wargear (and healing) he can be a solid choice if you wanted quality over quantity, and don't have to buy more than one to take care of your vehicles. That said, their Master of Mechanisms allows them to heal allied Chaos Knights, so if you're taking one, giving them D3 wounds/turn back on top of everything else is probably worth the price tag.

*'''Chaos Hellwright on Dark Abeyant <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': All the same options as above with the inclusion an extra gun and boosted statline. If you really only want one Hellwright and he's likely to be targeted and/or you have points to spare, you'll want him on the Abeyant. The Abeyant is also valuable for escorting melee-focused daemon engines into the fight, as it allows the Hellwright to move at their full 8 inches and not have to run his ass up. Thanks to the mortal wounds his pistol spits out and the improved damage of his axe, he's also much more able to make a valuable contribution once it's time to get stuck in.

*'''Chaos Lord on Bike (Legends)''': Tough and fast. The extra wound and toughness are nice, and the Sigil grants him decent protection. Throw him alongside some fellow bikers if you really want to make it hurt.

*'''Sorcerer on Bike (Legends)''': Tough and fast. The extra wound and toughness are nice, but again this guy has no invulnerable save and jink isn't a thing anymore. If you don't plan to use his speed for keeping him safe (and even then why not use a jumpack?), you may as well choose another option. 
** One thing this variant has over any other type of Sorcerer is mobility. The ability to zip 20" across the board and still cast psychic powers can drastically improve the viability of shorter-range psychic powers like Warptime or Prescience.

*'''Chaos Lord/Sorcerer on Daemonic Mount (Legends)''': Before we get into these, notice that Daemonic Mounts give the model the {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} keyword. This is both good and bad. Good, because this means you get buffed by nearby Heralds (+1 Strength is nice), so if you want to go Daemonkin you have some synergy right there (confirmed in the Designers' Commentary). Bad because things like Grey Knights are that much stronger against you, keep it in mind when you choose your Lords and Sorcerers. Remember that despite having {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} you do not gain god specific bonuses. For example, Ahriman with a disc has both {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} and {{Template:W40kKeyword|TZEENTCH}} keywords but he does not gain +1 to his invuln because he lacks the Ephemeral Form special rule.
** As per the FAQ: ‘If your army is Battle-forged, all Character, Infantry, Biker and Helbrute units in Chaos Space Marine Detachments gain a Legion Trait, so long as every unit in that Detachment is from the same Legion.’ Means  that Characters on Daemon mounts can benefit from Legion Traits.
**'''Chaos Lord on Juggernaut (Legends)''': Slow for a mounted Chaos Lord, with only a 8" movement, trading off speed for punch. Has the same stats as the Chaos Lord on Bike but with S5, and the Juggernaut itself has 3 attacks at S5 (+2 on the charge) and AP-1 with its bladed horn. Solidly killy and one of the best to go for if you plan an assault-heavy army, after all, S5 means S10 powerfist swings. He can also do decent damage with dual claws, and Flames of Spite. Re-rolls to hit and wound while getting extra mortal wounds on a 5+, even for the 3 mount attacks. Statistically, he kills most HQs in a single activation. They can no longer take Thunder Hammers per the newest BIG FAQ (AKA BIG FAQYOU).

**'''Chaos Lord on Disc (Legends)''': The only mount that does not boost the statline of the Chaos Lord, instead you get 12" movement and the FLY keyword, as well as a weak single attack from the mount itself. There's nothing he can do that a Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack can't, aside from [[FAIL|getting killed easier by Grey Knights]]. He can, however, benefit from a variety of {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} buffs, such as Heralds.
**'''Chaos Lord on Palanquin (Legends)''': The slowest of the Chaos Lords. You'll go at par with the Terminator Lords, with the big difference being you can't teleport onto the field. T5 and 6 wounds, like the Bike Lord, and some negligible extra attacks from the Nurglings. Fairly cheap, which makes him a decently tough lynchpin for a gunline, as he can buff the Plague Marines while intercepting any melee threats. Fun fact: because he has the {{Template:W40kKeyword|NURGLE}} and {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} keywords, any units he wipes out count toward the Tally of Pestilence for Epidemius. 
***Now that the FAQ has confirmed that CSM characters can summon daemons, he performs the "lynchpin" role even better by being able to summon in Nurglings and Plaguebearers to screw with deepstrikers or tie up and harass anyone who gets close.
**'''Chaos Lord on Steed of Slaanesh (Legends)''': The (in)famous Chaos Lord on Steed of Slaanesh has lost all his tactical advantages in the new edition, but he's still pretty good. 12" movement and he can advance and still charge. He gets the extra wound of the bike but not the Toughness improvement; he gets an extra attack instead. Consider giving this guy a Combi-Flamer, so he can advance, shoot without penalties and still charge. Give him some brutal melee weapons to take advantage of the extra attack.

**'''Sorcerer on Disc (Legends)''': Tzeentch blessed him with a 5+ invulnerable save, which makes this guy pretty interesting. However, if you're taking a caster on a disc, you're probably playing <strike>Tzeentch</strike> Thousand Sons, in which case an Exalted is better. A sorcerer of Tzeentch is still interesting to cast Weaver of Fates on non Thousand Sons units like Tzeentch Possessed for a 4++.
***If you are playing one of the Undivided Legions, consider this guy as a further upgrade over a Sorcerer with Jump Pack; the Tzeentch keyword isn't as crucial, and you're not obligated to take the God-aligned power. He has the same mobility to reach crucial areas and provide psychic support, and the increased durability allows him to operate better as a lone wanderer. The price difference between the two is almost identical to what you'd have paid to give a character an Invulnerable save in previous editions.

**'''Sorcerer on Palanquin (Legends)''': Unlike the Chaos Lord, being slow is not as big of a deal for a Sorcerer, so this may be a good option since it's cheaper than giving him Terminator Armour. Fun fact: because he has the {{Template:W40kKeyword|NURGLE}} {{Template:W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} keywords, any units he wipes out counts toward the Tally of Pestilence for Epidemius.
**'''Sorcerer on Steed of Slaanesh (Legends)''': Extra attack and the ability to advance and charge are not good selling points for a Sorcerer's mount. Yes, force weapons are mean, but you don't want this guy in melee if you can avoid it. Yes, it gives you an extra wound and more mobility, but so does the Bike. In smaller games, where you can't afford many HQs, this guy may be useful as a jack-of-all-trades.

====Special Characters====
Note that any special characters belonging to a specific legion/renegade chapter can be found in their own Legion section; for example, you'll find Abaddon in the Black Legion section.

*'''[[Cypher]]''': Technically more of a renegade, but close enough for the purposes of the rules, sporting both the {{W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} and {{W40kKeyword|CHAOS}} keywords. Has the same protection as a Chaos Lord as well as the same stats and +1" Movement, Cypher is a bargain for what he does. Not only can he put out a lot of hurt with his weapons, but he buffs nearby Fallen allowing for plasma-spam out the ass and the best part is that if he goes down, roll a D6. On a 2+ (keep a CP ready) he doesn't count as being slain for the purposes of any mission victory conditions, just to spite your opponent.

'''Forgeworld'''
*'''Lord Arkos <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': A Chaos Lord who has two sub-faction keywords: {{W40kKeyword|THE FAITHLESS}} and {{W40kKeyword|ALPHA LEGION}}. He has good synergy with the Alpha Legion stratagem, being able to infiltrate 12" away from enemy lines for free and supplying +1 CP which can be used to infiltrate a retinue for him. His tankiness tends to be fairy deceptive, as he has only a 3+/5++, yet he has a built in -1 to shooting against him which stacks with the Alpha Legion trait for a -2 to shooting against him outside of 12". However, with his combi-melta and Black Blade of Venom (melee SU AP-2 3 Damage(!), gets +1 to wound things that aren't {{W40kKeyword|VEHICLE}} units), he wants to be able to close into melee. Also note, that you can take a Flames Of Spite warlord trait for him and after then use VotLW stratagem in close combat to inflict 1 mortal wound on the non-vehicle target in addition to any other damage [[Awesome|for every wound roll of 4+]]. Luckily, his aura effect which gives +1 to Advance and Charge rolls for {{W40kKeyword|THE FAITHLESS}} (''not'' {{W40kKeyword|ALPHA LEGION}}) units within 6" allows him to do precisely that. Overall, he's a pretty versatile choice of HQ to use. He's not so good in smaller points games where you may only run 1 HQ, but running him with only 1 HQ is a waste of his WL trait anyways. In higher-points multi-Warlord games, you can run him with the I Am Alpharius warlord trait, abusing his infiltration and CP bonus for a free turn-one nuke and simply switching to the next warlord down the list once he and his retinue are overwhelmed.
** ''Modellers Note:'' As a Forge World special character from after the Heresy, and B: a special character for one of the least popular legions, Arkos has no model. One of the more popular choices for conversion is the Aspiring Champion, since he comes with a combi-melta slung over his backpack, suitably serpentine horns, and arguably the the most vicious-looking combat knife in the range.

*'''Zhufor The Impaler <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Another Dual-Legion character, this time as a {{W40kKeyword|WORLD EATER}} / {{W40kKeyword|SKULLTAKER}}. His re-roll aura only buffs {{W40kKeyword|Skulltakers}}, which means that while you can take him in a World Eaters list, you ought to take him in a Skulltakers list.  At 120 points he's a solid HQ choice, and Zhufor will tear his way through any 2-wound units and most of the generic characters he comes across. Comes with a Named Power Fist and Power Axe, the fist being the same as a standard power fist, whilst the Axe goes from AP-2/D2 to AP-4/D3 on rolls of 6+ against characters. He's also quite durable, boasting 7 wounds and a 2+/4++. Uniquely, he also has the ability to deny a Psychic Power, which gives him more mileage in a World Eaters list as a psychic deny option (on top of your stratagem and relics). Not to mention, he also has the ability to deep strike, preventing him from having to run a marathon. Add onto this that he also forces an opponent to ''add'' 1 to their Leadership rolls whilst within 6 inches. As far as Khorne-aligned Terminator Lords go, he's an almost automatic preference, as for comparison purposes, a Khorne Chaos Lord with Power Axe (which is less AP and Damage) and a Power fist (which he loses his bolter for), comes to 109 points.
**GW Have yet to clarify if Zhufor's ability causes a Daemon Banner "Reality Blink" to fail. RAW, Reality Blink occurs on a roll of 1, however as you add one (rather than subtract from the opponents leadership like all similar abilities), that result becomes 2 as per the order of modifier priority. Until FAQ'd, this  means that Zhufor is so scary, that he actually stops daemons coming out the warp to fight him.

===Troops===

*'''Black Legionnaires [Blackstone Fortress]''': A two-man unit of Chaos Space Marines found in Blackstone Fortress. These guys must take the {{Template:W40kKeyword|BLACK LEGION}} keyword. Such a small squad means they are effectively immune to morale, because you can't run away when you are dead. Problems arise though as the pair costs 26 points - meaning they cost more base than normal CSM's, they may actually be useful hiding out of LOS in your back-line as a Deep-Strike screen. Your opponent is either going to try to track them down, or have to waste long-range shots to kill a pair of marines. If you are Black Legion and find yourself a few points free, give them consideration.  You also need Obsidius Mallex as well, to prevent them from rendering their detachment no longer battle-forged.
**These guys also have the unique drawback of not taking up a force organisation slot in a detachment when Obsidius Mallex is in it, so they won't help you complete a detachment to qualify for its CP.

*'''Chaos Space Marines''': Seems these dudes are now 11 points, a damn honest cost considering the bonus rules they've been getting. Yet they are still struggling to be the first choice troops in most lists. CSM's are... okay and getting more attractive with each micro-buff (eg. Bolter Drill, New Renegade Traits, Stratagems, new weapons like the Reaper Chain-cannon and a minor reduction in points per model in CA2019), and from tweaks to other units (eg. Mere Mortals for Cultists). They are best deployed for a specific purpose - either as a camping unit, bodies to support horde killers (thanks to Bolter drill) or to chip in with a wound or two to bring down a vehicle (thanks to special and heavy weapons). However they still don't bring enough to the table to build your wider plans upon. Part of the problem is that Havocs and Chosen do a similar job, but with easier access to weapons - so if you don't need Troop slots filled, take those instead. Also, compared to their loyalist counterparts, CSM's come out worse overall unless you're actually fighting '''IMPERIUM''' forces, In which case they <may> be better assuming you can get to combat and roll well. MSU's are better than a large unit, you aren't vulnerable to morale, while still being able to get two special weapons (one in the unit, one on the champion). Get a Pair of MSU squads with combi-melta/flamer and a regular melta/flamer and chuck them in a Rhino, Since most opponents won't pay attention to them, they can reliably support your better stuff, chip in all around the field and at the end of the day threaten an objective with Ob-Sec. As for the Icons a squad can take are, they are all lack-lustre, but the most helpful are an Icon of Despair for when your other guys win combat, or an Icon of Vengeance if you are going larger squads. With Bolter Drill, the Chainsword/Bolt-Pistol option for these guys is obsolete, as you can achieve far greater damage output by rapid firing; instead of charging into combat and giving the enemy the chance to attack back. If you really want a melee legion, then make them Slaanesh and give the Champion a Power Fist. Combined with some form of aura re-roll, he's likely to deal at least some damage before he and his squad gets wiped out. 
**The current state of affairs means that CSM's tend to tote around a Reaper Chaincannon, as this turns them into a nice little objective camping choice. Give the champion a combi-bolter and you've got a squad that can deal with light and medium infantry fairly well, dealing 10 bolter shots and 8 heavy bolter equivalent shots out to 24" if you don't move. Given that a unit of Havocs will get focused down really quickly at close range, these guys have a good use in toting around extra chain-cannons for later rounds.
**Take 10 and bring 2 lascannons. 3 squads in a battalion garners you pretty good anti tank with 8 ablative wounds each, allowing the rest of your army to run around and chop bitches up.
***Boltguns get you 2 S4 shots with rapid fire up to 24" if you did not move, then 2 S4 attacks on the charge. '''4 S4 altogether''', though at range.
***Chainswords get you 1 S4 attack at 12" with your pistols, then 3 S4 attacks on the charge. '''4 S4 altogether''', yet your still getting 3 total S4 attacks in subsequent turns, while also being attacked in retaliation. There could be use for a having single 20 man blob with chainswords, Mark of Khorne and Icon for 210 points and hurled at your enemy with warptime, but its normally better to give them boltguns and take squads of ten with special/heavy weapons and camp. 

*'''Chaos Cultists''': Your 'cheap' Troop choice. Cultists can now be set for melee or range with no changes in points, though like CSM's you achieve the same damage from shooting as getting into combat without being punched back. In honesty, don't bother running them as melee as other units are always going to be much better at it. The unit is also pretty much calling out to be ranged too, since Cultists have access to special range weapons but not special melee weapons. As far as these choices go, Flamers make them a bit more reliable when up close, while Heavy Stubbers are a cheap upgrade if you plan to camp objectives or push out enemy Deepstrikes with them. As a GEQ, unit they come with alot of problems: first they're T3, 6+ save means that they die, frequently and often; whilst the current cover systems guarantees anything larger than a MSU is going to struggle to get the benefit. Also, more are going to run away the moment they start dropping, as with their terrible Ld of 5 (6 with the Champion) you shall find them wanting, especially if they are left alone somewhere without support. However it's not all negatives; Cultists easily snowball into a real threat when under the various buffs that other Chaos units can provide; and especially synergise well with Dark Apostles who fix their low leadership. This can be improved further with them acting as a body-guard to a Cold and Heartless Iron Warriors Warlord or to Abaddon who'll make them Fearless and provide re-rolls too. You can then also use Prayers to give the unit -1 to Be Hit, +1 to Hit with Shooting and a 5++. A Sorceror nearby can then throw on Prescience, and if you mark them as Slaanesh, you can also throw on Delightful Agonies onto them for a 5+++, or if Tzeentch up their invulnerable save to 4++, or with Nurgle make them -2 to be hit. Finally add in the Veterans of the Long War Stratagem and a seemingly harmless blob of cultists is now an incredibly real threat to nearly all MEQ infantry in rapid fire range, and even models above T6 as they are wounding on 4's and 5's most the time and forcing saves (though TEQ will largely laugh at this). It's also becomes incredibly difficult for your opponent to get rid of them and even then, if they do commit the firepower, it's just a Blob of Cultists anyway and if you have the CP spare they can come back on a table edge at full strength. 
**Thanks to '''Mere Mortals''' the cultists listed here are now objectively inferior to those in the Renegades and Heretics list. If it's CP your after, the Unworthy 32 (x2 Commanders, x3 Renegade Militia) basically provides everything you want them to do for under 200 points.
**Received a 20% reduction in points in CA2019. It's only 1ppm but that adds up quickly in large blobs. Even one 30 model unit will save you 30pts and with the price increase of Thunder Hammers for characters in CA2019, you're going to need those savings elsewhere.
*'''Daemons''': Technically not part of Chaos Space Marines but worth mentioning because Daemonic Ritual can summon them. Quick PSA about Instruments and Banners: One odd quirk about all the Troop choices is that you're given the option to take 1 Instrument and 1 Banner ''per 10 models in the unit.'' However, your unit can only benefit from one of each of them. What's the point of this, you may ask? Summoning rolls and reinforcement points in matched, that's why. You see, you still have to spend the points on the models, but nothing says you have to decide what models are in each unit. This means you can have a 30 model unit ready just in case you roll that 15 for summoning, but can bring them in one 10-man unit at a time if you only get a few 5+ rolls and they can all still have those extra goodies to help them out. Food for thought.

**Summoned units do not count as part of your detachment and therefore cannot receive Legion Traits.

*'''Bloodletters''': Still the same glass cannons they've always been, they're an assault infantry unit that is very good at butchering multi-wound heavy infantry like the Primaris Marines and Terminators. 2 attacks each on the charge, at AP -3, hitting on 3+, wounding on 3+ (against MEQ) and potentially dealing 2 damage with one swing? These guys are brutal. Deep Strike these guys next to an unsuspecting unit of Primaris Marines and engage troll-face. Then cry as they all get shot down in overwatch.

**'''Daemonettes''': The Daemonettes were the best daemon at ripping up armour until 8th came along and made Bloodletters more reliable at it. This isn't to say these girls aren't good at the job but they have been overshadowed, especially now that TEQs tend to have multiple wounds. They still have more attacks (and if you have a unit of 20 or more, you add 1 to their attack characteristic), higher speed and strike before anyone, which would make them great as a MSU... if only they weren't so frail! Instead, use them like you would Genestealers - send these girls to overwhelm some camping shits in cover. Daemonettes rely on getting into combat ''fast'' so be sure you buy an instrument and use your loci to get them into it. 

**'''Horrors of Tzeentch''': Greatly changed from their previous incarnations, when a Horror is killed it splits into smaller horrors and also stays as part of the same unit. Unfortunately for matched play, the "new" horrors come out of your "reserved for summoning" points allotment, fully utilizing this increases the relative cost of Pink horrors by 120%, although its "summoning" is always a success. Thankfully those points don't have to be reserved just for Horrors and can can be used for other summoning purposes as well. While this does reduce the overall size of your force, you could easily use this to keep bodies in the unit on objectives or in high-threat positions. Similarly, the threat of having whatever your opponent kills in a charge splitting off might be enough to make them think twice about it.
***'''Pink Horrors''': (Note: This Unit had its Power Rating reduced by 1 in Codex: Chaos Marines 2.0) Expensive at full bore - 7 base, but 17 if you want to afford its blues, and 23 to afford full splitting, so it's just about never worth spending the necessary points on split, but if you want an Instrument for speed, taking 1 (without paying for split) to upgrade to Iridescent for free to carry it can be justified; ''never'' take an Icon unless you bring at ''least'' 7 Pinks, as the Icon can't bring back any other color, even though its shitty Morale immunity on a 1 will still work. Another interesting note, their guns are Strength "User" so if you park them next to a Herald their shooting jumps from up from 3 to 4. Given the way wounding works in 8th this can make a huge difference, more if you can find a way to bump it further to 5 (either cast Boon of change and hope for the best or bring a Mutalith to boost their Strength, or bring multiple, as their effects are cumulative).
***'''Blue Horrors''': Like a Pink Horror without the 'gun' and worse BS/WS, but also does not really cost anything either, at 5 points (8 if you want to be able to afford to split them). Not a good idea, don't use them unless hey come from Splitting Pink Horrors.
***'''Brimstone Horrors''': The cheapest troop choice chaos (or anyone) has access to, so useful for filling out big detachments with low points investment, otherwise they're not worth it as they die like mosquitos to a can of raid.

**'''Plaguebearers of Nurgle''': Slow but tough and okay in melee with their re-rolls to wound. If you want to hold the line, they are the right choice especially in packs of 20+ (so get 30 to keep the bonus for a while). Two or three blobs of 30 can flood the field and can be surprisingly (disgustingly) resilent and soak up a lot of fire and damage.

===Elites===
*'''Chaos Terminators''': Standard 2A, 2W, 2+, 5++ Termies. Tough and killy, now cost as much as their Loyalist counterparts at 23ppm. Unlike the Loyalists, Chaos Terminators take chainaxes as standard; making them cheaper overall before customisation. They're also slightly more versatile thanks to marks/powers and Icons. Taking Khornate Terminators and giving them an Icon of Wrath does still make Turn 2 Strikes an option, adding a Prescience will allow you to fire both parts of a combi-weapon and/or hit with power/chain fists without penalty! Want a termi-bomb? Take 10 Terminators with combi-plasma and chainaxes. Mark them with SLAANESH and teleport them in and activate Endless Cacophony for 40 shots S7/AP-3/D1 shots. Take a Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince for re-rolling 1's to hit, and Sorcerer or Daemon Prince for +1 to hit with Prescience. For maximum cheese use Veteran of the Long War for +1 to wound and overcharge the plasma for 40 shots S8/AP-3/D2! There are downsides to this however, despite their save and 2 wounds they die quick and they eat up points fast, so you're best suited to focus them on one specific task, and have them do it the second they show up (either after deep-striking or leaving their transport). Don't use them too early either, as your opponent will be too heavily screened and have much of their remaining army to wipe them. Send them in too late and you'll have lost too much from your opponents killy units or killed so much they wont make their points back. They're the kind of unit that you can build your army around as a sucker punch or late game wildcard - but don't expect them to do much if what they were built to kill has already been dealt with.
**Consider: at 23 points per model (CA2019), terminators can take a Combi-Bolter (2pts) and a Chainaxe (1pt) for 26 points per model. This is a 130 point unit with a 2+/5++, 2 wounds a piece, 20 4/-/1 shots a turn and 13 5/-1/1 melee attacks, with deep strike. Consider what you can otherwise get at this price and it's difficult to match.

*'''Chosen''': The flexible elite, with everything it entails and with making CA2019 making them cheaper, they are all the more attractive  Give them the gear to deal with a problem and they will do so beautifully, but these guys aren't cheap. Trouble with light infantry? give them '''Flamers''' and/or '''Combi-Flamers'''. 6d6 AUTO HITTING flamers shots. Armour problems? Take Plasma/Melta's, You can take 5 '''Combi-X''' and 1 '''X-gun'''. You want Light/Medium melee killers? Give ''any'' Chosen an additional melee weapon ''without replacing their bolter.''Always take the '''Chainsword''' regardless of what you're doing with 'em,  as there's literally no downside because it's free. Don't forget to give them a transport if you're going to send them off to beat face, and always remember the Veterans of the Long War stratagem as it makes them that much better! 
**Bolter Drill has made Chosen look more like...What Chaos Space Marines should be. Take two Squads of 5 with Combi-Bolters and Chainswords and share a Rhino Between them. This gives you a very cheap objective chaser with a Mobile Speed Bump to back then up. They can hold their own in Close Combat (as 16 Attacks per squad can cause a wound or two) and their shooting with VOTL can cause a lot of hurt onto enemy troop choices that stray too close.  
**If you're getting them in melee then consider making them Emperor's Children. The Chosen can be great offensively but are no tougher than ordinary marines, and this way they'll be guaranteed to attack unless they get charged, and they'll also get access to the Excess of Violence stratagem.
**At 1 point more than a regular chaos space marine this means they are basically a 1 point upgrade that gives you +1 attack, +1 leadership and more power weapons at the cost of ObSec, but if you're using them in an aggressive strategy then that's not really a downside.
**Chosen are one of the only non-HQ units in the codex that can take Thunder Hammers, at a slight discount of points too. With Hateful Assault now granting an extra attack, Hammer-Chosen could be a reasonably attractive choice. In a World Eaters detachment, a squad of Thunder Hammer kitted Chosen with an Icon of Wrath, gives you 25 Attacks on the charge. Hitting on 4's and wounding most things on 3+. Add in Veterans of the Long War and that's 2's for everything but a Knight which is 3's. At 160pts that's a deal most melee armies can't and won't want to turn down - Especially because they come with Bolt Pistols and Boltguns as standard and don't need to give them up.
**With the new hateful assault rule these guys get 3 attacks each when they charge or get charged, this makes a unit of thunder hammer chosen absolutely terrifying in melee combat even a five man unit will get 16 thunder hammer attacks base, now consider veterans of the long war, prescience, soultearer portent, fury of khorne and a nearby lord that's now 32 attacks hitting on 3's re-rolling 1's and wounding a knight on 2+ at AP -3 and 3 damage each!

*'''Dark Disciples''': Buffers for your Dark Apostle and you don't want to go without them. Going from a 1/3 chance of failing a prayer to a 1/6 chance is a big deal, and even if you do fail it means your command point re-roll is much more likely to succeed. They're cheap, very hard to shoot (effectively being characters so long as they're near the Dark Apostle) and don't take up a FOC slot, so there's no excuse for skipping them if you want your zealots.

*'''Fallen''': Basically Chaos Chosen with the {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} keyword. Additional benefit is that they get to re-roll 1's in the Shooting phase if they didn't move in the Movement phase, and can never lose more than 1 model to a failed Morale test (presumably they rotate Commissar duty). Otherwise, they are identical to Chosen in both stats and options, but without benefits from Marks and Legion Traits. Outside of their specialist detachment, they can't use transports. In addition, again outside their specialist detachment, only Cypher buffs them. Fret not though, there is still one thing they are absolutely fantastic at: adding even more plasma into your army. Between Chosen and Fallen, you can technically field 36 Plasma Guns (assuming the 'Rule of Three' data sheet limitation and a few being Combi-Plasmas). Consider putting Cypher and Fallen Plasma-spam in a Vanguard Detachment and take the Vigilus Specialist Detachment. This then lets them be buffed by Sorcerers and take Rhinos. You can also give them melee weapons, but aside from Chainswords (they're free) you don't want to, there are better units for the role. Yes their re-roll works on their pistol even in close combat. No, it won't prevent them from being ripped apart.
*'''Greater Possessed:''' A bigger, badder Possessed that comes in squads of up to 2 which then behave as individual units after deployment (like Dreadnought talons). Each one is a Character, and they've got 5s in Strength, Toughness, Wounds, and Attacks, making them a force to be reckoned with in battle. As an added bonus, they buff all {{W40Kkeyword|DAEMON}} units that they share a Legion and Mark of Chaos with +1S (So bunch everything up in one cluster for the daemon buffs, then watch your opponent shoot you to death the entire game). Super-strong Maulerfiends anyone?

*'''Helbrute''': Given a new lease of life with consistent points drop. The Helbrute is one of the best [[Distraction Carnifex]]'s Chaos can field for its price. Overall it's ''expendable'', durable, and scary, in that order, as it takes a decent amount of applied firepower to be put down and doesn't degrade as it gets wounded. Can serve as a semi-mobile gun platform (make sure to keep a lord nearby for re-rolls) or it can be kitted out for melee to protect a back line from hard hitting deep-striking units (though the very things that you want it to fight will probably tear it multiple new assholes in no time). That being said it is possible to make this a very threatening harassing unit, as they do have good options, gain Legion traits and have their own stratagem. 
**For Ranged Builds: To start off, ditch the '''multi-melta'''; they're garbage for their points right now and everything else can outperform it in its own area, especially the '''lascannon''', which does what the '''multi-melta''' does, but better. The '''reaper autocannon''' is now more reasonable with the points drop taken into account, whilst the '''twin heavy bolter''' remains the anti-infantry weapon of choice. The '''helbrute plasma cannon''' is now far better priced down to 16pts from 30pts, but still don't use it with the intention of harming the helbrute to trigger crazed; the chance of that happening when you fire the weapon is 2.7%, meaning you're better off just paying for something that will cause damage to the enemy rather than killing the helbrute faster. '''Missile Launchers''' also went down in price, making the versatility over stopping power trade-off more palatable. Kitted for range, a Helbrute can be potentially devastating if you roll up additional shots with Fire Frenzy. Finally, to round off the list, if you give them Mark of Slaanesh and make them Emperor's Children, you give it the ability to take a '''Doom Siren''' as a cheaper option to the Fist/Flamer combo. It can also swap out its Multi-Melta for two '''Blastmasters'''. This is an excellent choice if you want a purely ranged Helbrute; just slap a missile launcher on its other arm and abuse the shit out of Fire Frenzy (thanks Forge World's Forces of Chaos FAQ).
**For Melee Builds: The default '''Helbrute Fist''' is still statistically better than the '''Helbrute Hammer''', as it outperforms the hammer thanks to the -1 penalty to hit. The '''Power Scourge''' is also worth considering, being better against MEQs and lower compared to the fist. Helbrutes can also opt to bring two power scourges, allowing you to fulfill your dreams of turning your helbrutes into wacky octopus monsters or waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men (do this if you know you're up against T4 W2 models and watch them melt). Bring one in an Emperor's children Army for [[Rape|maximum hentai]]. Hateful Assault also applies to these guys, meaning they are now point for point a really nasty distraction carnifex.
***Due to a hilariously poorly worded FAQ, every model in the game has a close combat weapon in addition to what you see on its datasheet, meaning Battering Onslaught only needs one datasheet melee weapon listed to trigger, so the second fist doesn't actually help you. Clarify with your opponent before hand.

*'''Khorne Berzerkers''': One of, if not the biggest reasons you don't need to build your regular units for close combat (except maybe Hammer-Chosen) and now a whole point cheaper each in CA2019. As these guys are always going to kick their ass at it. Almost mandatory you take an Icon of Wrath for the charge re-rerolls. Advice is to ditch the pistols on your standard Zerkers as killing things with bullets makes charges harder; whilst a Chainaxe and Chainsword combo tends to get you more returns anyway. The Champion benefits greatly from a Power Fist (punching in at S10) and as long as you get your charge, you get to fight twice before anyone who didn't charge! Twin Lightning claws will also give you a re-roll to wound and a sweet extra attack. Also, doesn't lose DTTFE. Keep in mind however that they're no more durable than a normal CSM and so they need a transport to help them get where they need to go. In addition if they are charged they can all go down fast. That being said if you really want a Deathstar (and why not, since they're troops in a World Eaters list) then put 18 of them with Axe, Sword and Fist on the champ (or 3 5-man units, for maximum fistiness) into a Kharybdis assault claw, then join an Exalted Champion with A Talisman of Burning Blood and A Cheap Lord riding shotgun. Anything they hit, they'll run right over. Also work well as a shock-troop in Black Legions list without character support as using Let the Galaxy Burn allows them to re-roll to hit rolls of 1 for 1CP.
**As per the FAQ, attacks from the bonus World Eater Legion trait only apply to the first activation in the fight phase. The true benefit behind Berzerkers is how they combine quantity ''and'' quality of attacks like no other unit when rocking Chainaxes!
**RAW Hateful Assault adds its attack to both activations rather than the 'subsequent fight phase' as it lasts to the end of turn.
**Since they count as troops for World eaters, they should be your primary choice in a World Eaters army; as taking them with the Legion tactic + Hateful Assault makes them damn right monstrous on a melee charge. Armed with the chainsword/chainaxe combo, a 10 man squad are basically getting 92 attacks on the charge (+1 for the Charge, +1 Hateful Assault, +1 with the Chainsword and then another round of attacks minus Butchers Nails due to Blood for the Blood God). This many attacks at strength 5/6 no less will make even Ork and Blood angels players think twice when getting into melee.
**Hateful Assault now makes overkill even more of a problem. The issue being these guys are too damn good at killing! Simple remedy is to up your squad size and attempt to multi charge units, ideally from transports; when your pumping out 80 + or more S6 AP-1 attacks you need to make sure each one of those causes damage and doesn't simply get wasted. This also allows you to tie up enemies that are posted to shoot after falling back or something later on. Further, larger units can withstand more casualties, and you know these guys will receive A LOT of return fire.
**Consider an underground party bus against gunlines like guard and tau. A termite assault drill can carry 12 models, 2 units of 5 berzerkers with icon each, a chaos lord and an exalted champion. each unit of can potentially charge a unit at their edge and so trap a neighbouring unit in combat. With the immense number of attacks being put out by the berzerkers you can potentially neuter a big chunk of enemy shootyness. Plus a big melta drill on tracks now close to enemy lines will force enemy to reassess their battle plan. Pricey but not as much of a gamble with 4 charge rolls, 2 of which get rerolls from icon of wrath. 
**Modeler's note: Don't use the old ugly (and now approaching dwarf-level short) Khorne Berzerker models. The new kit for Chaos Marines is glorious, all you need to really make them work as Berzerkers is get a hold of some Chainaxes and Khornate heads. Age of Sigmar Wrathmongers, Skullcrushers, or Blood Warriors are all excellent sources for the latter.

*'''Mutilators''': Outperformed offensively by Terminators and slow as fuck, Mutilators do have two advantages: The first is that like the Possessed they're Daemons, and so benefit from Daemonic units like Greater Daemons/Heralds as well as their Psychic Powers (you could also further buff them with Fabius Bile). The second is that they give a shitload of wounds, decent attacks, AP and Damage for their points value, especially considering they clock in at just over 100pts (Again Hateful Assault and Word Eaters helps here). They're not going to hit as <consistently> hard as a kitted out unit of termies but they also won't cost anywhere close to as much, and point-for-point they do very well for what they cost, just Deep-Strike them and treat them as backup for your main force or as a body guard for an expendable Choppy Lord. Use Veterans of the Long War to help them fuck up everything they bump into. Certain Legion Traits like Emperor's Children or Renegades to help their terrible mobility also do well in helping them get where they need to be and hit before the enemy, otherwise if you roll well on their S/AP/D you'll want to use the fight again stratagem through Mark of Khorne.
** Stick them in a Land Raider with a Master of Possessions, Greater Possessed and Chaos Sorcerer in Termie Armor. Sure, it'll be a little expensive, but we're squeezing blood from a stone here.
** After Gaining Hateful Assault and using Red Corsairs Renegade Trait this solves some of there mobility issues, these are cheap disposable deep striking distraction carnifex's 

*'''Noise Marines''': These guys are so good, being one of the best ranged units you have with great mobility (as they can advance and still shoot) and good weapons; that might as well have AP-1 so long as you're shooting at anyone in cover.  Even them dying isn't that much of a worry since they can shoot after they take a wound but before you remove them (even if they're killed in melee). On their own they're a strong reason for playing Emperor's Children, though despite their attacks, option for a Doom Siren, Stratagem, Icon of Excess and Legion Trait they're not going to be as good at close combat as Berzerkers, or other units like Chosen, not to mention choosing to enter combat like that means you lose you sonic blaster and racks the points you need to make back up significantly. You can also buff them with Psychic Powers, but that's just more points used on them instead of a squad of Berzerkers. They're not bad for the role, you're just not going to get nearly as much bang for your buck compared to just sticking with ranged builds for them and leaving the combat duty to units like Chosen/Terminators, especially since they're as likely as Berzerkers to get shot off the table or counter-charged, in which case their Legion Trait won't do shit.
**Got a points drop in CA 2019. A squad of 10 with 2 Blastmasters will cost you 36 points less thanks to the cheaper bodies and Blastmasters.
**Note: The rule that protects characters from being directly targeted specifically states it only applies to the shooting phase, so if you have Noise Marines die in the psychic or fight phases, Music of the Apocalypse will let you target characters regardless of nearby units! Also if you choose to take plasma on the Champion, then you can also supercharge it when he dies at no risk to himself.

*'''Plague Marines''': One of the more expensive options, the Plague Marines are tough as shit, but in a different way to the Rubric Marines. Rubrics hold up better against mass low Damage (which typically means low Strength) weapons, while the Plague Marines are better against high Strength, unless they also come with high AP and high damage like Overcharged plasma guns (and they're very marginally worse against non-charged plasma guns). They can also be built for melee, with good options that can have decent Damage and that boost your Strength (while allowing various re-rolls), and as such they're a good option if you want slightly weaker Berzerkers who aren't in danger of getting their shit kicked in if they are charged or shot.
**The champ as well as two other dudes in a five man unit can take a plasma gun, and with Disgustingly Resilient, they can shrug off quite a bit of damage. You still need a Lord or equivalent for rerolls, as an overheat just auto removes the model from play, rather than dishing out a wound.

*'''Possessed''': If you're getting these guys then remember a few things: they need a Master of Possession and a Greater Possessed to babysit them in order to bring out their full potential, and they can benefit from both the Malefic powers and any auras from Chaos Daemon characters. Thanks to their two wounds and Daemon save, they are actually about as tough as normal Plague Marines, even though they lack the Disgustingly Resilient rule. D3 attacks with what amounts to Power Axes is only slightly inferior (6/7) to a Plague Marine with a Bubotic Axe. In this comparison, the Possessed are cheaper and faster, deal almost as much damage, and can be affected by a Herald of Nurgle if you're willing to include one while lacking the ranged damage that plague marines can do. Small units of them are both cheap and effective, both as melee units and as distractions, and every round they take is not directed at your special weapons. If you're interested in mob killers though, then you're better off with Khorne Berzerkers and if you want just resilient ranged units, stick with the aforementioned Plague Marines. Possessed make an okay middle ground between the two if you want decent melee units that know how to take a punch. You can also give them the Mark of Slaanesh for Delightful Agonies if you want them to be even tougher (and then further benefit from something like Hysterical Frenzy).

*'''Rubric Marines''': An interesting choice and now cheaper making their inferno bolters free. They can cover numerous bases and so long as you keep them out of close combat; because your force weapons aren't likely to win the fight for you. Working best as objective campers by being difficult as shit to remove (for everything besides plasma/heavy weapons) - while being able to fire off armour-melting shots and maybe a mortal wound now and again. If you want to boost them, swap out the Sorceror's smite using the Chaos Familiar stratagem for something else. Warptime takes away their biggest downside and turns them into a threat the opponent can't ignore or avoid. Do note that if you do want just pure shooting and aren't worried about them sticking around, then you're better off with Noise Marines instead, and be careful with your Sorcerer casts. If he kills himself via perils he can take a couple of Rubrics with him.
**With the updated bolter rules these guys can do some serious anti-infantry work at a decent range. Pop them on an object/cover in your deployment zone and give them a soulreaper and watch them mulch your enemy's troops.
**Warpflamers got a 2pt reduction in CA2019.


'''Forge World Elites'''

These units can be found in Imperial Armour and Imperial Armour Index: Chaos.

*'''Chaos Decimator <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The Decimator has essentially become an oddball Helbrute, It's weaker in melee against everything T5 and above (despite the extra attack) while better against everything T4 and lower, it's sort of better at range in that it has fantastic options, Butcher Cannons being a very notable one and has a fantastic debuff, although the Helbrute with Blastmasters has much better AP and being able to use Fire Frenzy, which the Decimator has no access to. It still has uses compared to the Helbrute though. As a Daemon Engine it can, for 2CP, ignore movement penalties to its heavy weapons and re-roll its to hits and wounds. Meanwhile the Soulburner petard is a downright fantastic anti-everything weapon and even the Mortal Wounds it causes to the Decimator aren't a concern since it can just naturally heal those off. You can even take two since you can only hurt yourself once per gun. The Butcher Cannons meant more for offensive lists as debuffing an enemy unit before engaging in them Melee can be much more valuable than just shooting them again. With a 5++ it should live long enough to affect the later turns of a game. Recommended that you skip the C-beam cannon though as the arm slot is better spent on another weapon. In short, take Decimators if you need Mortal Wounds, Leadership debuffs and durability without Warpsmiths/Hellwrights following them around, get Helbrutes for everything else. Can also theoretically benefit from the 2 Melee Weapons equipped ruling as per the 'Everyone has a Close Combat Weapon' if you decide to go Siege-Claw/Gun mode.
**''A general note on all non-superheavy Daemon Engines'': While robust and toting huge guns, their dreadful WS and BS effectively makes them CP sinks, so if you expect ANY meaningful damage from the things, prepare to spam Daemonforge and Blasphemous Machines. Bring a second Battalion or prepare for disappointment.

*'''Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The Contemptor remains as good as it ever was. It has a huge amount of options and can be kitted out to whatever role you want without much issue (especially since the FAQ lets it swap both fists for ranged weapons), even its degrading stats aren't a problem since it only gets a 4+ at absolute worst and you have many ways of buffing your army. Like the Decimator it can get a '''Butcher Cannon''' for a solid strength long range weapon and debuff, though its '''Soulburner''' isn't nearly as good. Use a Decimator if you want to spew out the Mortal Wounds, as there are other things the Contemptor can do better. The '''Twin Heavy Bolter''' remains cost effective, however the '''Kheres Assault Cannons''' may be a better choice overall when facing tougher elite infantry such as [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodes]]. Like the Decimator, give the finger to the '''C-beam Cannon''' as with the butcher cannon cost reduction in CA18, double butcher cannons are a very efficient loadout that can threaten most targets. Melee wise take the ChainClaw over the DeathClaw and a Shooting weapon. Similar to a Helbrute and the poorly worded FAQ you can still benefit from Dark Fury which requires 2 melee weapons to be equipped to gain the bonus).

*'''Hellforged Predator <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Confused to see this in the elites slot? So is everyone else! Anyway, it's a Predator that's an elite with some extra rules and guns. Standard Pred weapons with the ability to choose Flamestorm Cannon to fuck up those pesky Primaris Marines, Magna-melta Cannon, a super multi-melta and bad idea that won't make its points back, and C-beam cannon that should be skipped as it's not as good as a Lascannon no matter how FW try to sell it to you. Surprisingly this is one of the few models that have characteristics that improve as it takes damage, and as such you'd do well to choose something that allows it to close in while ignoring the modifiers to its BS, making the flamers shoe-ins for the role. The plasma destroyer can also work well for softening up a unit so that the Predator can finish them off itself, in turn allowing it to heal thanks to Machina Malifica.
**Per the FAQ, you can't use the Kill Shot Stratagem with Hellforged Predators.
**A rather terrifying way to use this thing is with the Flamestorm Cannon, Two Heavy Flamers, and a Combi-flamer. T1, advance and pop smoke, warptime if you need to. T2, blaze away with your autohitting flame weapons, which don't give a damn about degrading accuracy, and charge for 5+D3 attacks as S6 AP-3, (with Hateful Assault and Rage-fueled Rampage). The more damage it takes, the more killy it is in melee, and since Hellforged models don't give a damn about spam like Relics do, spam two to three of these things (and become That Guy).

*'''Hellforged Sicaran <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': An even bigger vehicle in the elites slot? No it's not the Slaanesh dust kicking in, this is real life. The Sicaran is still a beast at T7 W14 3+, but as always we take it for its main weapon, and its huge mobility lets it track down those flyers it was meant to shoot down (as well as get into combat so that it can eat people to heal). The Sicaran is one of those models that can actually do dual roles quite well since its boosted autocannons can cause damage to everything, and the choice of heavy bolters/lascannons allows you to fill in whichever other hole you're lacking, more anti-infantry for the former, more anti-armour for the latter.

===Dedicated Transport===
*'''Chaos Rhino''' -  The Workhorse is back, and now cheaper thanks to GW realising that loyalists rock 20+ different transport options (including Forgeworld) compared to the Chaos half-dozen or so (including Forgeworld). Rhinos are basically assault vehicles now, though you can't disembark from a vehicle after it has moved. They are durable enough that it requires a commitment of firepower to take down, but alone are not enough of a threat to qualify as a Distraction Carnifex; especially if you pop smoke the first turn it moves or advances. When it comes to loading up on extra gear like the Havoc Launcher and/or other weapons make sure you don't cross the threshhold of making it a notable threat. Keep in mind that even if you don't plan on driving upfield with them, they can still protect your (expensive) infantry quite reliably from turn 1 shenanigans, moving on to providing fire-support and mobile cover later on. After the Rhino has dropped its cargo, make sure it does the thing its best at: Annoying the Ever-living Fuck out of Your Opponent. Achieve this by Parking it on an objective and deny it for as long as possible, or charge it into melee to soak overwatch/deny the enemy their shooting. Alternatively hide your other units behind it for cover. The instant your opponent becomes irritated enough to shoot it, it has already gone above and beyond for its points. Cheese on.

*'''Terrax-Pattern Termite Assault Drill <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''' - It's a giant 134 point drill that can carry up to 12 <LEGION> infantry. The ''Subterranean Assault'' ability lets you put this (and its payload) into reserve and Deep Strike, and the guys inside can disembark on the same turn this thing shows up. The real selling points on this are that its Toughness 8 with 10 Wounds and has a ''mean'' melee weapon in the form of its drill. Mathhammer'd out and at top profile, the drill will do 6 damage against a Knight. Additionally, if you don't kill something with a drill after melee, you roll a D6 and on 2+ it takes a mortal wound, then a 3+, then a 4+, etc, until you fail, doing 2.5 MWs on average after attacks. It won't kill a Knight, but it has a pretty good chance at killing light vehicles.

===Flyer===
*'''Heldrake''': AKA the Helturkey. No Hard to Hit, no Airborne, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it still has Infernal Regeneration and it's robust, but not unkillable, and arguably better than later 7th Edition because due to loss of facing it's now a turret weapon again. A price drop has meant the Baleflamer is pretty much an auto-take at this point, as it costs the same regardless. The reason for this is that being a Daemon Engine the Heldrake has a terrible BS of 4+ and moving around bumps that to 5+ on Heavy weapons. Other than shooting, the Heldrake can be used effectively in melee; with 4 attacks, WS 3+, S7 AP -1 Dd3 claws, with a +1 to hit against {{W40kKeyword|<FLY>}}. This makes the Heldrake the best anti-{{W40kKeyword|<FLY>}} Flyer in the game as few flyers can fight back. Also being a unit with {{W40kKeyword|<FLY>}} means it can charge something and then fall back while still melting faces with daemonic fire. A supreme backfield nuisance or tool to shut down an opponents heavy guns for a turn, the drake can even fill the role of flying assassin against exposed enemy characters (though it will probably fail against any TEQ units). Keep in mind the bonus to hit also applies to Jump-Packs and Jet-Bike units.
**The lack of ''Aircraft'' rules cuts both ways. It can be charged by ground units, but it can also be used to pin down enemy units as they cannot fall back through its base like they can with ''Aircraft''. Similarly, Knights and other Super-Heavy Walkers cannot fall back across it; watch your opponent flip the table when he realises cannot Fall Back with his Castellan through any of your units pinning it in combat because they all have weird keywords.
**''A general note on all non-superheavy Daemon Engines'': While robust and toting huge guns, their dreadful WS and BS effectively makes them CP sinks, so if you expect ANY meaningful damage from the things, prepare to spam Daemonforge and Blasphemous Machines. Bring a second Battalion or prepare for disappointment.


'''Eyrine Cults (AKA Forge World Flyers)'''

*'''Hell Blade <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Courtesy of the Dark Mechanicus's warped minds comes one of the better anti-flyer units in the game. With a 18"-60" movement that doesn't degrade as you take damage, a funky rule that allows it to pivot up to 90 degrees at the beginning AND end of each movement phase, as well as its heavier weapons you will be hunting enemy flyers in style. If you think a Heldrake's not going to do it (or you want something that can't be charged by ground troops) then you might as well go with the Hell Blade. It's also cheaper than a Heldrake at 130 points with Helstorm cannons.

*'''Hell Talon <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Nearly twice the cost as a Hell Blade, meaning the choice between Hell Blade and Hell Talon is an actual decision again (for the wrong reasons). It's appropriate to think of the Hell Talon as a flying predator or actual flying version of the Heldrake, trading its split focus between air and ground to become a pure flyer/bomber. The helstorm cannon is mandatory (you technically can swap it, but you'll never want to) as are its twin lascannons learn to like 'em. As for its bombs, Pyrax are best if you want to go after infantry mobs, though Warp-pulse bombs can also do you well if you have plans to debuffing their leadership (if you're playing Night Lords for example) or even if you don't want to get shot at, as its debuff applies to all hit rolls. Baletalon shatter charges are outright better against vehicles and monsters than Warp-pulse bombs, despite both sharing a similar bonus, but you already have good weapons that deal a lot of wounds so only take them if you expect a ton of monsters/tanks/buildings.

*'''Storm Eagle Gunship <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Eye-wateringly priced to be the best transport flyer Chaos has to offer; allowing you to ram 20 Berzerkers 45" into your enemy's face. It's durable, has good firepower and should be kitted out to deal with whatever its passengers struggle with. Carrying Havocs with anti-armour? Take weapons to deal with groups. Carrying Berzerkers? Take anti-armour. As soon as it drops off its passengers it can go deal with those threats or spend a couple of turns ferrying units around to hard to reach objectives. Don't overlap roles if you can; as if the unit it drops off can't do their job on their own, then the Storm Eagle shouldn't be carrying them.

*'''Fire Raptor Gunship <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Choose two Quad Heavy Bolters and two Twin Lascannons and your Fire Raptor will happily delete a ten man Tactical Squad per turn or an Imperial Knight in two. Very expensive but while it lives, it destroys while needing dedicated firepower to remove in turn. Put Prescience on it to really get the most out of being your enemy's Priority Number 1. Want to go even further? Grab yourself a Nurgle Sorcerer, throw Mark of Nurgle on this bad boy, then use Miasma of Pestilence to make it even harder to hit. Dark Apostle can pray for an additional -1 to hit.

*'''Xiphon Interceptor <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Another solid anti-air option. Like the Hell Blade, it has +1 to hit against {{W40kKeyword|<FLY>}} units, hitting on a 2+ against them at full wounds. It looks cheap from its points value, but once you tack on the two twin lascannons and the Soulstalker missile launcher it is well over 200 points. Unfortunately it's not going to be as efficient at its job as the Hell Blade/Heldrake are, and can be skipped in favour of those, especially since the Hell Blade doesn't degrade, and the Helldrake's degradations are negligible until its last 3 wounds (and the dragon regenerates wounds).

===Fast Attack===
*'''Chaos Bikers''': T5, 2 Wounds and 14" Move lets them pull off tricky movement and kite most things around the board. With a drop in price in CA 2018 to both the Bikers and Weapons, these guys are pretty good at filling the hole left in any army. Need anti-horde? Take Flamers and move+advance 20" to unleash auto-hitting hellfire on the Greenskins. Need anti-armour? Take melta, have the option to move+advance and still fire, and force your opponent to split their shooting between these guys and your other heavy hitters. Plasma is a good all-rounder option but works best with HQ support. Don't charge with them or gear them for assault, you're trolling with them and they can easily become bogged down. If you must go into melee swap their bolt pistols for chainswords as it is the best option and has no points cost. A good general use for these guys is to take three units at MSU of 3, give the champion combi-melta/plasma/flamer and the other two melta/plasma/flamer and treat all nine like a sort of really fast glass-cannon. Run up the board and unleash hell with all their guns and always keep the combi-bolter when adding special weapons to up your shooting. Should easily make their points back, and against light infantry charging after unloading a powerful flamer/combi-bolter salvo isn't the worst idea.
**Boosted like all Marines by Bolter Drill. A squad of 5 Bikers with A Combi-Flamer and Flamers gives you 20 Bolter Shots and 3D6 Auto-Hitting Flamer Shots for less than 150pts. Tack in a Lord and Veterans of the Long War and melt entire conscript or boy squads in a single round of shooting.  
**A biker with a combi-bolter and a chainsword is 25 points. Compared to 2 Chaos Space Marines with bolters, you get the same number of wounds, the same number of attacks, a higher toughness, a 14" move and the same number of shots rapid-firing, which you can do at 24" while moving unlike a Marine. Plus on top of this you can add a plasma gun for the same price as a Marine, without having to replace your basic gun. 
** DAMN good as Red Corsairs or Raiders

*'''[[Chaos Raptors]]''': Your Assault Marines EQ, but with spooky masks. Useful for tactical disruption and for applying special weapon fire to vulnerable targets (arm them with meltas for sneak-shots at back line vehicles or plasmas for MEQs). Raptors are Surprisingly different Assault Marines as they can take 2 Special Weapons PLUS a combi-weapon, with special melee weapons only available for the Champion. [[Dakka|Making Clear what their intended role is.]] If you want to be dirty, take 2 5-man Raptor squads with 2 plasma guns and a Combi-Plasma on the champs and deep strike in with a Combi-Plasma Jump-Pack Lord. With precision deep-strike to get in rapid-fire range and the lord's aura to reroll 1's, the amount of overcharged plasma you put out will make your opponent [[butthurt|Groan]], while also being substantially cheaper than Combi-Plasma Terminators. They can do melee with Mark of Khorne and Icon of Wrath, though their melee is only helpful if you're playing certain Legions and even then they're better at deep-striking near vulnerable shooty units and charging them. If you don't want to deep-strike to use plasma, or still want melta's/flamers, then use Warptime and slingshot them across the board.
**You can now make deep-striking raptors attacks (shooting and melee) reroll for one command point. If you also mark them as Slaanesh you can make them shoot twice and still reroll. Set up just within 12 inches and LET FLY ALL GUNS! With overcharging plasma you can safely deal 12 wounds of damage to a squad of meq, or around 8 to a Toughness 7 vehicle before you boost your wounding.
**These guys as night lords in the host raptorial are unbelievably good, they get a 5" 3d6 charge out of deepstrike and for 1 CP tie up a unit a turn, so long as it isn't a vehicle and doesn't have a minimum move characteristic (like an aircraft). Against armies like tau this can be a game changing combo as they rely on only a few units shooting to do all their damage and their units are completely incompetent in combat so your raptors can just sit there pinning two riptides for the whole game.  

*'''Chaos Spawn''': An old, dead meme and now dedicated meatshield. These are the guys (or things?) you want in front because of their higher Movement, higher Toughness, higher Wounds and okay combat ability. If you're footslogging anything or want anti-smite bubblewrap then these are your... something. They can do decent in close combat, but they're not great at it since they cost similarly to Terminators who're likely going to outperform. What they can do is soak Overwatch or Smite so there's not much harm in charging in. You might as well get a bit more out of them before they go down, and even if your opponent doesn't target them they can tie up ranged units quite well (and with some lucky rolls, even manage to kill them). Be sure to laugh if you manage to tie up something like a Broadside because there were more threatening/pricier targets for the enemy to be shooting at. Also as Super-Heavy Walkers (i.e. Imperial Knights) can only fall back over Infantry and Swarms you can use Spawn to tarpit them for a turn or two whilst something that can actually kill them moves in closer.
** With point changes you can get 5 for 100pt. With it's deceptive toughness and decent mobility there are worse things to choose to draw fire or fill out a brigade.

*'''[[Warp Talons]]''': Lightning claws will guarantee they will mess shit up, especially as they prevent overwatch if they charge on the turn they deep strike (a blessing against Tau). If done to warlords or other prized units, it's downright cheesy and a 10 man unit at 190pts as of CA 2019 can tie up alot of your opponents army assuming they survive the retaliation in melee. 5+ invuln is also nice (even more so when boosted to 4+ with Cursed Earth), though not as nice as it used to be before the age of AP modifiers. That said, that 9" charge is no more likely for them than it is for everything else and they can't take Icons because claws don't let you grip flag poles very well. Keep in mind Warp Talons have the {{W40kKeyword|DAEMON}} keyword - when combined with the mark of chaos, this allows them to benefit from the auras of like-marked chaos daemon characters (ie. Daemonic Loci and Buffs) well as the auras of Greater Possessed and Malefic powers. A fun, cheeky little strategy that showcases this is giving a squad of Warp talons the mark of Khorne so that when you've pulled off the charge you can use the fury of Khorne stratagem to give them another round of '''RIP AND TEAR''' and having an allied Herald of Khorne nearby gives you two rounds of power axe attacks that re-roll wounds.
**Your going to want these guys in a host raptorial just to get that +2 to charge out of deepstrike, it doesn't sound big but this makes a huge difference to your chances of getting that charge off particularly considering that you can reroll your charge when you come down.


'''Forge World Fast Attack'''

As with elites. Found in Imperial Armour and Imperial Armour Index: Chaos.

*'''Blood Slaughterer of Khorne <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': THE best melee walker for its points, the Blood Slaughterer is a blender on spiky legs. Expect it to attract a lot of firepower, so much that its Infernal Regeneration is not going to be enough, especially if it scuttles halfway across the board. Using Warptime on it is a must if you want to get into combat turn 1, otherwise DO NOT try to get it all the way to the enemy in only one turn, have it come at the enemy with at least a few other units, preferably alongside something like Warpsmith/Hellwright to repair some of the damage it's going to take. Going up alone's going to put you in range of everything, possibly rapid-fire range of several units and you don't want it weathering that much firepower. Once you get to the enemy however, go nuts as there isn't anything that it's bad at killing and both loadouts are good depending on what you're fighting (harpoon for vehicles/monsters, which also helps make the charge, blades for everyone else). 
** This almost goes without saying, but take this with a (or multiple) Lord Disco in a Soulforged Pack. Adding two to your move characteristic and having the assault after advancing stratagem makes your threat range 18"+2d6" (+2 if you land a harpoon). Add in warptime to go faster than a Heldrake on speed.

*'''Greater Blight Drone <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The big drone's weapons combined with it's movement make this unit pretty dangerous, though it's a pricey unit to field. Unlike the Blood Slaughterer you do want this to go alone and make it to the enemy as fast as possible (made easier thanks to Carrion Haunter, making it so that you don't even need Warptime), as its Bile Maw needs to be somewhat close and it has a much higher chance to explode when it dies. Fortunately T7, an invuln and regenerating wounds should mean that won't be anytime soon.

*'''Hellforged Dreadclaw Drop Pod <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': For the price of almost two Spiky Metal Bawkses you can get yourself a Flying Spiky Metal Bawks... that functions more like a mobile drop pod. However, true to its FW origin, it also packs a shopping list of confusing features. Transport-wise it can haul Raptors and Termies (herp-de-derp Obliterators count as one model each due to wording) or even a Dread/Decimator (thanks FAQ, making it the only viable delivery vector for our choppy walkers). It zips around with flat movement of 15" and {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}, meaning that damage doesn't slow it down and it ignores terrain. Zoom-zoom! It packs a surprisingly good melee weapon (that sadly deteriorates) and it can also burn nearby fuckers with its jet wash, though that's more of a mulligan for before you eat people to heal yourself. Something to remember is that since its move doesn't degrade it can be used to deep-strike, drop off its payload and then fly over to whoever else you want to shuttle around, or charge a ranged unit way in the backfield who really doesn't want to be in combat with anything. Just like a Rhino, so long as it's annoying the shit out of your opponent it's doing its job.

*'''Hellforged Kharybdis Assault Claw <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Dreadclaw not have enough spikes? Ever wanted to field a model that weighs as much as its point cost? Well here you go! Expensive (in every way), tough and somewhat shooty, the Kharybdis is one of those that can really piss off your opponent provided you deep-strike it in, unload however many Berzerkers you took, and get that immediate charge before they were able to react before whisking the thing 15" away next turn to burn and shoot more shit. It's no wonder it was hit with a points hike since it really does justify it, though if you just want it for its troop capacity and are worried about it getting destroyed, you'll be better off with a Storm Eagle.

===Heavy Support===

*'''Chaos Land Raider''': The Big One. The Iron Beast of Unholy Destruction. It's the Land Raider, and the logical choice for adding something HUEG to your army that can blow shit up and bring your big boys along for the fun. Functionally identical to the Loyalist Land Raider Phobos, though this one can take Combi-weapons and a Havoc Launcher instead of a Multi-Melta. Fast (for its size) and its durability is fantastic, ESPECIALLY once you put Delightful Agonies or Miasma of Pestilence on it, making it an infuriating task to destroy. Note that while this ''can'' take a Combi-plasma, supercharging it will result in it possibly killing itself in one go. Don't do it, man. Got even cheaper in CA 2019 at 180pts before wargear meaning they are no longer eating as many points in an army before. 

*'''Chaos Predator''': It does Predator things, split fire has buffed it A LOT. In comparison with Havocs: the Predator is more durable at T7, has more wounds, said wounds can be healed by a Warpsmith, is immune to Morale, has access to two very relevant stratagems and moves twice as fast without needing an expensive transport to be able to do so. The Havocs have more flexible weapon options, can hide and use cover easier, benefit from Legion Traits, do better in melee, aren't as vulnerable to D6 damage weaponry and don't have degrading shooting stats when they lose wounds. Some people like tanks, some people like boots on the ground, but if you're going with tanks there are two major roles that a Predator can fill. Anti-tank, or anti-infantry (or to a lesser degree, both). For the anti-tank role, you can grab a las-pred armed with 4 lascannons. You can give it a Combi-X of your choice and/or a havoc launcher if you have the spare points (especially now that havoc launchers are cheaper). It is also totally fine as is without them too. For the anti-infantry role, you can have the Dakka-pred armed with the much improved "Predator Autocannon" and two Heavy Bolter sponsons. Unlike the las-pred you are definitely going to want to spring for a Combi-X and Havoc Launcher, as it still ends up being cheaper anyway. You can also choose to do a mix and match of both by picking one of each layout (Heavy Bolters with a Lascannon turret mainly) and shooting each weapons at whatever its best optimised for. That said, mix N' matching is generally still a bad idea. If you split your fire each round it usually means that you're not killing stuff fast enough, or at the very least slower than if you had specialised the Predator into anti-tank or anti-infantry. 
**Finds itself competing in a clogged heavy support role between Mauler Fiends, Havocs, Defilers and Land Raiders. Still it remains an attractive choice if you can't think what to put into a list.

*'''Chaos Vindicator''': Stuck in a bit of a niche killing very heavy infantry and monsters, far from useless however. T5 infantry and below are going to suffer, and vehicles are going to take a beating from that much firepower (make sure to focus on Vehicles/Monsters first). Benefits from Combi-Weapons and Havoc Launcher quite well, in particular a combi-melta supplements the Vindicator's anti-vehicle firepower nicely letting it drive forward and tanking light-arms shots effectively (being T8). Take it if you want something to spearhead a vehicular assault; the close range firepower will serve you well. Extra points if you give it Delightful Agonies or Miasma of Pestilence to make it absorb even more fire. With the Codex: Space Marines updates, we got an erratum that changes the demolisher cannons to d6 shots. It's a nice change, but d6 is so swingy that you can't rely on it. 

*'''Defiler''': Here's the deal, Deffy is exactly what you expect him to be, he's a big, stompy, killy daemon engine that will inevitably draw in a lot of enemy fire because of how dangerous he is. Well priced, he can be incredibly destructive and how you run him really depends on what you like doing. Replacing his flamers and auto-cannon for a Havoc Launcher and Twin Las-Cannon can ruin some vehicle's day - just make sure to use Prescience, Blasphemous Machines and Daemon Forge on him if you do. Otherwise keep him cheap by bring a Defiler Scourge and Autocannon and run him up the board, in which case Deffy gets [[Awesome|4 STR 16 AP-3 D6 damage AND 3 STR 12 AP-2 D3 attacks plus a +1 of either of these thanks to Hateful Assault]] in Melee, something very few units could EVER dream of at such a cheap price (<150pts), [[Rape|Then there's Daemonforge on top of that]]. However, regardless of how you build him, he will inevitably attract quite a bit of... [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|Attention]] from your opponent, intentionally or not. Meaning theres a good chance he MIGHT die before it gets into melee, [[cheese|Though you can off-set this with Miasma of Pestilence, Delightful Agonies, or Weaver of Fates combined with Smoke Launchers]]. Take 2, and arm them with Scourges, and watch whatever units they charge be deleted from existence. Also pairs well with drawing shots away from your (cheaper) Shooty Helbrutes and can pretty much solo-protect a back-line from intruders. This guy comes in at 136 points when you swap the Twin Heavy Flamer for the Havoc Launcher, doing so gives you a 48” range weapon and saves you 22 points. If a Defiler is in Flamer range it is in charge range, a place  it is quite comfortable in against most deep striking units. If you really have to have a Flamer put a Combi-Flamer on it for 8 points, you still save 14 points, points useful for other Spiky Dudes. 
**''A general note on all non-superheavy Daemon Engines'': While robust and toting huge guns, their dreadful WS and BS effectively makes them CP sinks, so if you expect ANY meaningful damage from the things, prepare to spam Daemonforge and Blasphemous Machines. Bring a second Battalion or prepare for disappointment.
**Because Defilers don't have bases, any part of the model can be used to measure distances. This is especially important in melee, where you can actually attack from your claws. This (depending on the pose of your model) can mean that you can actually reach support characters behind units. Don't forget that you can only attack units you declared a charge against if you're charging though.

*'''Forgefiend''': The Dakkafiend, comes standard with 2 Hades Autocannons and a [[Nob|Reinforced Jaw]], but that jaw can and should be replaced by an ectoplasm cannon whilst a nearby Lord and Warpsmith counter-attack any deepstrikers. Received a nice little points drop on both the unit and its weapons. Due to this the Autocannons should stay, as they cost the same as the plasma but deal more shots at higher Strength. For Plasma spam you've got Chosen and Fallen for that anyway. Bring a pack of 2 of these things and watch them output a ridiculous amount of firepower on a target making sure your Warp-Infused Grease-Monkeys are nearby to tend to them. They work best when buffed by things like Prescience and Daemon Forge stratagem as their BS is only 4+ and it gets really shitty when it degrades. Abaddon's also a hell of a buff for them, though you should only use him with them when you're doing the strategy of marching him across the field and have his aura only buff the Forge-fiends while they're in it (don't have them follow him).
**''A general note on all non-superheavy Daemon Engines'': While robust and toting huge guns, their dreadful WS and BS effectively makes them CP sinks, so if you expect ANY meaningful damage from the things, prepare to spam Daemonforge and Blasphemous Machines. Bring a second Battalion or prepare for disappointment.

*'''Havocs''': Now come only in squads of 5 with an improved Toughness of 5 which, make no mistake, does not make up at all for the loss of extra bodies. They must take 4 heavy weapons, and treat Heavy Bolters and Lascannons as the default loadout. In addition, they can move and fire heavy weapons with no penalties to Hit, drastically enhancing their mobility. 
**'''Autocannons''' were once the generalist weapon, it's now outshone by the Reaper Chaincannon. The biggest problem is that you may find that although you hit often, especially if buffed by prescience, wound often, the majority of damage can be negated through saves, and unlike the Chaincannon it doesn't have the high volume of fire to make up for this deficiency. All that aside, regular Chaos Marines can take them now too so if you still want them, get them there instead. 
***They could actually be a really decent choice over Reaper Chaincannon, if this tool is used in the right place. Reaper Chaincannon is H8, 24" S5, AP -1 at a cost of 20, D1. Autocannon is H2, 48", S7, AP -1, D2 at a cost of 10. Reaper Chaincannon will always outperform Autocannon against hordes with low toughness, armor, and HP (Standards MEQs). But Autocannons are more versatile with its S7, it could be really good against Eldars-like (thanks to Strength>=Toughnessx2), any vehicles with Toughness<=6, and they could also damage Doomsday Arks easier, which could negate lascannons with their Quantum Shielding, plus they can kill Primaris at longer range, with only one hit. Buffed the right way, they could do their job really well, being a whole 70 point cheaper than a Dakka-pred, and 40 points cheaper than Reaper Chaincannons Havocs.
***One, admittedly more niche, use for Autocannons - Custodes.  Their strength is high enough to wound their infantry and bikers on 3+, their 2 Damage is admittedly not as spectacular as a Dd3 or D3 gun, but better than chipping away at them with D1 weapons, and they have just enough AP to force them to invuln saves without wasting AP or points on it.  Again, it's a bit of a weird case and would work better with higher volumes of autocannons, but in a generalist list it's still a decent deterrent and might even be enough of a threat to direct their attention away from something more threatening overall.
**'''Heavy Bolters''' and '''Reaper Chaincannon''' fit into they same niche; the Reaper Chaincannon offers nearly triple the shots while having 12" less range and they both shred infantry. The downside of course is that Chaincannons are twice as expensive, and losing one hurts. Since you don't have extra bodies in the unit anymore, consider using one or two Heavy Bolters with the Chaincannons if you want to just go after Infantry and removing those before the Chaincannons to be a little more points-efficient. Strictly speaking though the Chaincannons will outclass almost every other weapon (except the Lascannon and against armoured targets). Consider sticking a unit or 2 of Chaincannon armed havocs in a Termite assault drill with a Chaos Lord or Sorcerer against tau or guard and watch a gunline turn to fine red mist. Iron Warriors legion trait means there's nowhere for them to hide too.
**'''Missile Launchers''' are now the most flexible weapon, they're almost as good as the Lascannon against heavy targets, but not that useless against everything else especially with the points drop in CA 2018. This is the weapon you want in smaller games, when you don't know your opponent or you want just one Havoc squad to fire support your army and want to move on on other stuff. The perfect "what if" weapon. Do note that if you know what your opponent's bringing then it's actually the least appealing option as Lascannons outperform it against armour, Heavy Bolters outperform it against Infantry, though you might want to keep at least one hanging around if flyers are giving you a hard time, simply because the Flakk Missile stratagem is a thing.
**'''Lascannons''' are absolutely terrifying against heavy targets. It does one job but it does it well, absolutely useless against everything else (except Monster/Character Killing, but nobody's dumb enough to let you shoot them).

*'''Maulerfiend''':  The Choppafiend, fast and capable of cracking open any tank it comes in contact with especially with its drop in points as per CA 2018 and another in CA 2019. Make sure to swap for the lasher tendrils, as although the Magma cutter's nice your degrading stats and base of 4A you want to pick up extra attacks where you can, especially since they have decent AP and Damage (and Daemonforge affects them too). Like the Forgefiends they work better in pairs and tag-teaming a target or threatening elite infantry who can't fight them effectively hand to hand. Make sure to get them across the field fast (Warptime helps) as they will draw a shitload of attention from anyone who doesn't want their tanks ripped open.

*'''Obliterators''': Chaos Space Marine - CA 2019 confirms that they are 95 pts each now. Your [[Skub|Randumb]] gunners. While the weapon's profile is random, it's biased towards targeting high Toughness, multi-Wound models, so basically vehicles, monsters, elite infantry, as even with the points drop their weapons are just not point efficient against hordes of infantry. The short range basically means that they have to deep-strike to be effective, which isn't really a mark against them since its far enough away to avoid Counter-Deepstrike stratagems like Auspex Scan. You can also choose a bullshit method of delivery like certain Forge World transports because [[Derp|they forgot to make sure that Obliterators take up more than one space]]. If you really want to up their shooting, make them Slaanesh so that you can use a Stratagem to fire twice, preferably after dropping them in right near a very expensive unit. Other than that, don't charge them in, they're not meant for combat despite their termie-like durability, their A3 and S5, it's a waste of their guns which can always do more and their stats should be seen as more of deterrent for enemy units thinking about charging them. Also keep in mind that they are Daemons, so they can be buffed by Daemon Characters and their psychic powers. Keep in mind though that if what you want is special weapon spam, you should go Chosen over these guys and Havocs do the ranged game better, Obliterators are best used as a really shooty bomb that appears out of nowhere.
**Another option to consider with Obliterators is to give them Mark of Nurgle and ally in a detachment of Feculent Gnarlmaws. The Magic-Trees can be deployed across the battle-field to areas you may want to deepstrike to. Drop in the Obliterators and laugh as your opponent struggles to remove them with anything but the heaviest anti-tank fire.
**With Shadowspear, their guns are now Assault 6, and their statline is boosted to T5 and W4. They also get a new melee weapon in the form of Crushing Fists (S+1 AP-1 D3 D). However it seems they are going to be going up in points cost, but this can be slightly offset by Obliterators being able to deploy in units of 1-3 like they could back in 7th edition.

*'''Venomcrawler:''' The new Daemon Engine on the block. Unusual in that its ranged weapons are also affected by the damage table, so it's a good thing they have an improved Daemonforge that also regenerate wounds when it gets a kill in the Fight Phase. Benefits from sticking around a Master of Possession, since the MoP adds 1 to his summoning rolls if he's within 6" of it. Also, both his guns and his melee attack proc off his innate S value, meaning any buffs to his S (such as the greater possessed) will buff his shooting and his close combat. Despite being the squishiest of the daemon engines in terms of wounds. The crawler makes up for this by being as fast as a maulerfiend, and having assault weapons. Meaning you can keep the crawler moving or advancing up the board and not suffer the same accuracy penalties that the other daemon engines do. Be careful not to put your opponent in a position to think this is the biggest threat on the table, it surely can be but if you do it will immediately die. On the flip side using a Venomcrawler as a bullet sponge to protect your Greater Possessed is a worthwhile strategy and can be used to make your opponent focus it down. The buffs the Venomcrawler gets from the 6 Greater Possessed nearby make it extremely powerful thus forcing the opponent to shoot at it, especially useful in objective games where your troops need that first turn or two to get into good positions. A Red Corsair auto-include. 
**''A general note on all non-superheavy Daemon Engines'': While robust and toting huge guns, their dreadful WS and BS effectively makes them CP sinks, so if you expect ANY meaningful damage from the things, prepare to spam Daemonforge and Blasphemous Machines. Bring a second Battalion or prepare for disappointment.

'''Forge World Heavy Support'''

*'''Chaos Vindicator Laser Destroyer <sup>(See Forge World FAQ)</sup>''': Rather lazily copied over from the Space Marine entry, so it's amusingly the only thing in the Chaos Astartes roster that can take a Storm Bolter and a Hunter-Killer Missile. Otherwise, it comes with the Laser Volley Cannon, a Heavy 2 D3 Lascannon with a foot less range, but with the option for overcharging it to a ruthless S10 AP-''5'' D6 statline that can shoot twice, but at the risk of dealing 3 Mortal Wounds back onto it on To-Hit rolls of 1. It also gains the Infernal Hunger melee weapon and the Machina Malefica ability, as well as the {{WH40Kkeyword|HELLFORGED}} keyword. So ultimately, you're getting a much better deal than the loyalists, as your tank destroyer can start eating Guardsmen if they stray too close.

*'''Hellforged Deredeo Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Chaos finally got the Dorito Dreadnought! A lot of people have wanted this for a while and rightfully so, it kicks ass. The Butcher Cannon Array and Ectoplasma Battery are in direct competition with each other, and against MEQ's and better they both do almost the same amount of damage, but the Butcher Cannon is still a better option because aside from higher range you also get the benefit of knocking down the opponent's leadership making it the better choice overall. Skip the Malignatas Saker, while it's likely to wound your shots are too low and damage is too unpredicatable. The Greater Havoc Launcher is a good choice as you can battle it out, than hide behind a rock when you have low wounds (and/or are waiting to be repaired) to stay relevant, but it also competes with the Hellfire Veil. If you've got a few backline units such as Havocs, skip the launcher and get the veil, it'll provide a much greater benefit to you as they can handle what the launcher was going to shoot anyway, but if you've already gotten something like a Noctolith Crown then feel free to go for the launcher as the saves won't stack. Finally, remember the cool ranch upgrade is better than the nacho cheese one.

*'''Hellforged Land Raider Achilles <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Your land raider on steroids with 2 twin multi-meltas and a massive soulburner bombard that has a range of 48" with 2D3 shots. Not only is it capable of dealing massive damage and mortal wounds, it has an inbuilt 4++ which can be buffed to a 3++ if you give it Mark of Tzeentch and cast the spell off. You WILL lose friends playing it this way as you shouldn't have to be reminded how much of a pain in the ass a land raider with a 3++ is to get rid of. The only downsides are its increased cost and very limited transport capacity (6 infantry models). Put Chosen in it rocking plasma spam and send them off to kill heavier infantry while you deal with vehicles/whatever survives them (meltas for vehicles, soulburner for survivors).
**As of the Current FAQ the Achilles does not have Daemonic Machine Spirit like the vanilla Land Raider, meaning it will suffer penalties for moving and shooting. This particularly sucks ass since your soulburner is heavy, so try to find a way to put Prescience on it if you can, or use Blasphemous Machines to remove this penalty.

*'''Hellforged Land Raider Proteus <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': For a bit more points you get a LR with some fantastic additional abilities. Standard loadout but boosted combat ability and regen, its Phylactery is good if you're going Night Lords or want to further debuff a unit hit by a butcher cannon, as well as making your opponent want to deep-strike their anti-armour outside of rapid-fire/melta range. Definitely worth considering if you want to travel somewhere with a unit like Chosen without worry of them being taken out by assholes who drop down and overcharge plasma into your ass. Also note that since its melee is boosted, it does better with assault units or other units who need to get in close as that allows it to get a charge off itself, hopefully heal from the damage and continue being a massive pain in your opponent's ass. Make sure to grab a havoc launcher, otherwise its default loadout is pretty good.
**As of the current FAQ, the Proteus does not have Daemonic Machine Spirit like the Vanilla Land Raider, meaning it will suffer penalties for moving and shooting. You can use Blasphemous Machines to remove this if you want/need to, sucks you need a CP to do it.

*'''Hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Whatever was sacrificed in the name of Chaos to make these available... it was worth it. This super dreadnought is a monster and priced very well for what it does. Since all FW Dreadnoughts received the 'Helbrute' keyword this bad boy can be buffed by your legion traits - Emperor's Children always fights first comes to mind (thanks FAQ). As for valid weapon options all are nasty and downright deadly in the right circumstances but are very expensive on an already expensive model. Butcher Cannon arrays are the most well rounded but the AP-1 can really detract from the potential damage. The Grav option is good against large groups of infantry but are often a waste of points since the only 40k infantry that come in 20+ models are often cheap as chips and individually poor target choices. Soulburner is good anti-tank but has a short range and leviathan's are slow. Often the Leviathan Dread is a brilliant distraction unit, but unless you have a foolproof way of getting it into combat quickly he's unlikely to really make his points back. Place him at the front of your army in the middle and use him to make your opponent sweat whilst havocs and obliterators pop heavier targets.

*'''Hellforged Rapier Battery <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': You will likely take these for the cheap Laser Destroyer and blow enemy vehicles apart (a trio of them can royally fuck up a Knight), though C-beam cannon's good as an all-comers choice and the quad heavy bolter's good against infantry blobs. It can also eat people in melee, but given its statline and purpose, you should do everything you can to prevent that from happening. Lastly never forget to have some sort of aura affecting it, missing with its heavier shots is devastating.
**Note that '''Daemon Unleashed''' ''cannot'' actually trigger, as of the current FAQ, as it triggers on Crewmen in the same unit being slain, and its unit has no Crewmen in it; hence, none can be slain to trigger the ability. Also note that '''Death Guard''' and '''Thousand Sons''' ''cannot'' take these, as of the current FAQ.
***Note as well that due to the FAQ, because the Crewmen are a seperate unit the rapiers ''cannot actually be fired at all'', as they need a Crewman in they're unit to do so.

*'''Hellforged Scorpius <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Chaos finally gets a, somewhat expensive (points and monetary), Whirlwind. The Scorpius Multi-Launcher is your main investment here allowing you to lob 3D3 Str 6 AP-2 D2 shots into the fray without needing LOS. Upgrades come in the form of an additional combi-weapon and a Havoc Launcher - but you aren't going to do that since you want it hiding all game and standing still - As doing so lets you fire the Multi-Launcher a Second Time. Like the other Hellforged it has a boosted melee ability, though you really don't want it there as staying still to fire twice at targets is way better, just get a Warpsmith/Hellwright if you want/need to repair it, and save the infernal hunger for if enemy units stray too close to you.
**For modelling purposes a Whirlwind with a third party turret should be fine for most opponents.

*'''Hellforged Sicaran Venator <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''':  The Venator trades the regular Sicaran's quantity of anti-skimmer shots for vehicle annihilation; it has a Malignatas Beam Laser, which is AP-5, Damage 2D6 and you roll 3d6 vs the target's Ld to wound. It has Undying Hatred, which lets it roll a 4th dice (discarding the lowest) to the Malignatas wound roll if it kills any model. Often seen in games without the sponson options and for good reason, you're paying for one of the best medium anti-tank weapons in the game, there's no need to sink more points into this tank. 

*'''Plague Hulk of Nurgle <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Want a worse but tougher Defiler who doesn't heal himself? You found him! Unfortunately, you're getting the short end of the stick in that deal, as while he's going to punch the crap out of enemy armor and do decently against other targets, the Defiler is (tiny) head and shoulders above him in terms of damage output. It can also be summoned, but with 12 PR it's not going to happen reliably (outside of a Master of Possession casting Incursion), and now that the Defiler's points are lower, the hulk's simply not going to give as good a return on investment. As of April 2019, this guy now packs the {{WH40Kkeyword|<LEGION>}} & {{WH40Kkeyword|DAEMON ENGINE}} keywords, so it has plenty of native synergy with Warpsmiths and Daemonkin units, and can now utilize the Daemonforge Stratagem and benefit from those linked to the Soulforged Specialist Detachment.

===Fortification===
*'''Chaos Bastion''': Found in CA2019, this thing now deserves an honourable mention. It's an Imperial Bastion with numbers filed off, except it trades a point of Save (largely irrelevant) for a point of Toughness... bringing it to frankly ludicrous '''T10''', so for 200pts two squads can kick back in a fuckoff 20W tower that bounces off lascannons like grot gunz and will require a superheavy to knock over before the game ends - all the toughness of an Aquila Strongpoint for half the price.

*'''Noctilith Crown''': Good for providing backfield protection to your own dudes, in case you didn't want to invest in a Deredeo's Hellfire Veil, and that's its main function. Sure it can help you get your psychic powers off, though it's possible you're going to be out of its range a lot of the time given the range of most of your abilities unless you want to keep using Prescience (which isn't a bad choice). Do be aware that it's not invincible as it can be shot and destroyed, though given its toughness it's still going to take quite a bit of firepower or a unit getting into close combat with it. If you're going to use it then you're going to want to move your Havocs and any other backfield units a little further away from it come turns 2 and 3, nothing's going to suck more than seeing it get destroyed, having it explode, and then watching as it wipes out the units it was protecting. A final note: Be aware that all buffs work on Chaos units in general, not just your own, so in a Chaos vs. Chaos game you will give your opponent an advantage too.
**A Noctilith Crown can be used in place of a Dark Apostle to provide your backline campers (i.e. Havocs) with a 5+ invulnerable save instead of having a Dark Apostle back there.

===Lords of War===
*'''Hades Diabolus (Open Play Only)''': Make-A-Raider rule exclusive to Open Play that allows you to pimp yo big spiky ride (almost) as you see fit. The example given in Chapter Approved 2017 shifts its Twin Heavy Bolter onto extra sponsons in order to instead mount a Reaper Autocannon, making it slightly more shooty at the cost of 5 transport capacity. Yes, you can make a legit Chaos Terminus Ultra with this rule. No, you can't bring it to a normal game. Figures.

*'''Khorne Lord of Skulls''': Depending on how good you want the hand and cock cannons to be, KLOS runs from either 400 points or 479 points as of CA 2019. The guns are better for the more expensive version, but you want KLOS in close combat and even though he has a tank instead of legs he can't shoot his cannons if a Rhino nudges him. Like the Kytan, he can SMASH and SLASH with his enormous axe and as he actually gains attacks when low on wounds he throws out 24 slash attacks if below 7 wounds. At only 4 more wounds than a Knight, you might think he's not worth the points but the 5+ invulnerable save in the Fight phase really makes up for any lack of wounds. Be aware that while he gets more attacks as he's hurt, he also gets slower so make sure that he's at least somewhat protected/hidden/guarded in the first turn, as there's nothing sadder than having 8 attacks and not being able to use any of them. Use your CP re-rolls to get him in combat; you paid for him so you had better use him. If you want to get rid of the goofy look, consider using a Kytan Ravager as a proxy (forge world even states on its page that its designed to echo the LoS).
**Ichor cannon is the cheapest of the three torso guns and the only one with a range higher than 18". It can threaten light vehicles as well as small, elite units like Primaris marine aggressor. The 48" range and -4 ap are the real strengths of this gun.  
**The Daemongore and Gorestorm cannons are share similar stats but different roles. Both are 18" flamer weapons with a strength that matches the KLOS and flat damage. The Daemongore is better at taking chunks off vehicles with its 3 damage, while the Gorestorm is better against hordes. 
**Hades Gatling Cannon: The more expensive of the two arm options at 30 points more than the Skullhurler, the Hades is an Avenger Gatling Cannon, but better. +12" range, +2 strength. all for 4 points LESS than the Avenger. Admittedly, you have to buy a heavy flamer with the Avenger, so you technically have fewer shots. However, ask yourself if an extra d6 attacks at 8" is worth the trade off? probably not.  
**The Skullhurler is the cheaper arm option and the most likely to be seen on a bare bones KLOS. Its advantages are its 60" range,  high strength, and bonus shots against units of 10 or more.  Its weaknesses are its random shots and 1d3 damage, making it a poor vehicle killer.  

*'''Kytan Ravager <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The Kytan is a good alternative to a Renegade Knight but has the {{Template:W40kKeyword|Heretic Astartes}} and {{Template:W40kKeyword|<Legion>}} keywords so you can target him with Warptime and Prescience, not to mention Diabolic Strength. Has less wounds than a Knight but his invulnerable and regen helps mitigate that a bit, and his Legion keyword means that unlike knights a Warpsmith/Hellwright can repair him mid-fight. His SMASH helps make sure that other big hitters and characters go down fast. Like the Brass Scorpion it can shoot while in combat, so you really want to get it in there fast so you can get to CLEAVING LOYALIST FILTH. Keep in mind he also benefits from the Daemonforge stratagem, re-roll all hits and wounds for 1 CP!? YES PLEASE.
*'''Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Still a beast capable of bringing a ton of pain and handling most things, including hordes (thanks to its ability to shoot whilst in combat), and like most such things, it's very durable thanks to its Invulnerable, Regen, and Runes, ensuring that anyone who thinks to whittle it down via Smite will be reconsidering their plan. Even before combat its shooting is capable of putting any type of unit on its ass. In combat the scorpion attacks with a fuckton of high strength, high AP, high damage, and can dish out a nice dose of flamer attacks. With a 3D6 charge range and 12" base movement, deploy this daddy last and right at the front, with a first turn charge as your opponent watches in absolute horror as you send a nuke scuttling towards his line. Do keep your eye on it though as, with the changes to rules and only 20 wounds, this unit can reliably be brought down in a turn or two (first turn charge is the key). This Metal Murder Scorpion is expensive (FAQ 2018 took it up to a whopping 650pts) and at its points cost you need to make sure you smash your enemies with it immediately or you may be better off with a Defiler, a Forgefiend and a Maulerfiend for the same cost. A shame you can't use Warptime on it.
**Note that its Runes rule, which causes Psykers trying to cause mortal wounds to it to Perils on any double, even post-FAQ, is still so badly worded that it takes some interpretation to let it work on Smite - and it won't work, period, on any psychic power that lets the caster choose the target.  This is because all powers in the game that choose a target do so after manifesting, which is the only time it's possible to Perils.  Because Smite's target is forced, it's possible at manifest time to determine if the Scorpion will be the target, so Runes presumably will work, but remember, the way 8E is broadly built is that every discipline has 1-2 powers in it that do fewer mortal wounds than Smite does in exchange for letting the psyker choose the target, so Runes won't work - you can only use it to make psykers Perils more often when you know during the cast that the scorpion will be the target.

*'''Hellforged Spartan Assault Tank <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Your super LR sadly got moved to the LOW slot, however it's not letting that get it down! Very likely to deliver the payload unless your opponent's using other Forge World models against you (in which case, you better be Word Bearers because you're going to need to pray (very literally, to have a 5++ from the prayer)). Despite being an impressive delivery system, don't fill it with expensive models like Terminators, you're likely to lose several thanks to In the Belly of the Beast (Berzerkers are still a good choice). Try not to put characters in it either, losing them instantly like that can really gimp your gameplan. For ranged weapons, keep the quad lascannons, the laser destroyer won't put out the same amount of damage. The heavy bolters are also a good thing to keep, if you want to deal damage up close then you have the CSM's you're carrying to do that for you, and you can then charge it in to use Infernal Hunger once you drop them off (pick a different target than the one the payload's chopping at). Never leave it in combat either, always make sure to pull it out, then shoot and charge again. The havoc launcher's also cheap and useful, so make sure to get that too. The final thing to keep in mind is that if you want something capable of delivering expensive squads with characters without this much risk, you'll be better served with a Kharybdis.

*'''Hellforged Cerberus Heavy Destroyer <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': This thing is expensive but nasty. So on top of the rules we've seen for the other Hellforged tanks, it's even more durable and thanks to Steel Behemoth it can always shoot or charge even when falling back but enough of that, let's talk about that FUCKHUEG gun sticking out of the front of it. Wounding on Leadership instead of Toughness means on average you're going to wound '''EVERYTHING IN THE GAME''' and deal an absolute minimum of 5 damage per wound, nasty. Use it to nuke Land Raiders, other units as heavy as it, monsters, etc. It costs a lot of points (and works beautifully with any Night Lords units) and you need to make those back fast as it's going to attract a lot of firepower. Put it within an aura re-roll (especially while it still has 2+ BS) and avoid shooting models less than 150 points if you can. It can take heavy bolters and lascannons but it doesn't need either, and that just add numerous points you still have to make back. The havoc launcher's dirt cheap as well as useful, so you might as well grab that. Like most of the tanks, don't try to use Infernal Hunger unless the opponent comes to you, your wounds should be healed off by a Warpsmith/Hellwright, not by driving up to munch on people so that you get exposed to more weapons, which is more likely to get you killed than healed.

*'''Hellforged Typhon Heavy Siege Tank <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Your tank for when you absolutely need 1 unit dead, and also one of the few vehicle units with a BS of 2+ (before it degrades anyway). Put it within an aura and laugh as its cannon becomes great against everything, especially Terminators/Primaris. That being said you still want to make its points back, so don't go shooting something like a unit of conscripts or even regular guard squads, find the priciest/deadliest thing within range and unload. To help it in that endeavour, get lascannons, you're already putting so many points into it that you might as well go all the way, and never try to drive it up to use Infernal Hunger. Its ideal range is 48" and moving not only drops that, but it opens you up to return fire/charges from units who can actually take you on. Ignore the WS improvements from the damage chart, as well as Machina Malifica and only use it in melee if a unit ends up coming to you.

*'''Hellforged Fellblade <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Incredibly expensive, even more so due to the Chapter Approved points hike it got, but still the Baneblade's exponentially meaner cousin. The two shot types and multiple sponsons allow the Hellforged to fulfill multiple roles, which it does quite well, being essentially anti-everything. Keep the quad lascannons and keep the twin heavy bolters, the other options aren't going to help you nearly as much and always get a havoc launcher. All-in all, keep this beast at around 36"-48" range to get the most use out of its weapons (don't worry too much about the demolisher not being in range) and make sure to have a re-roll aura on it, as you don't want to miss those crucial AE shells when they're going to make a difference. Good take for non-apocalypse games, just don't expect to have room for any other expensive units. Too bad its best range is well out of Eternal Hunger range since its WS actually gets better as it loses wounds.

*'''Hellforged Falchion <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Incredibly expensive and at first glance it would look to be one of the best units in the game for deleting titanic targets, but there's one major fucking problem: It has the Titanic keyword. If you take on a Titan with this thing then its macro weapons will tear this thing a new asshole and all you'll be left with is regret. So Titans are out, but smaller targets are good then right? NOPE, the Falchion overkill to an extreme degree for anything smaller, and you're not likely to make your points back before it's shot down (especially since it has no invuln). 

*'''Hellforged Mastodon <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Have you ever wanted to transport 40 Marines at once while trashing flyers and generally being nigh-indestructible? Then the Mastodon is the LoW for you! With 30 wounds and a 5+ void shield, the Mastodon is a fucking tough nut to crack, made even more so if it somehow gets into the 6" range for its siege melta array's reroll to kick in.

*'''Sokar Pattern Stormbird Gunship <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Pretty much the largest flyer/transport/model Forge World offers next to titans. Damn expensive in points and tangible money alike, it can ferry the entire army onto the battlefield. Has like 8 lascannons, a host of various missiles and bombs, void shields, and a few heavy bolters here and there for flavor. The void shields can extend and overlap nearby troops 8" away that jumped out if it has hovered. Has 40 wounds, T9, a 5++ after the void shields.

*'''Thunderhawk Gunship <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''':

===Lords of War: Titans===

*'''Chaos Warhound Scout Titan <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The smallest Titan option, still clocking in at <s>1500</s> [[Rage|2000]] points (though all weapons options are free.) Finally lives up to its "scout" name by being able to move a ludicrous ''twenty-four inches'' when at full wounds, though it has a little more limited weapon selection than its bigger brothers, between the turbo-laser destructor, Titan plasma blastgun, inferno gun, and Vulcan mega-bolter you can set it up to target just about anything.

*'''Chaos Reaver Battle Titan <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': The medium class of titans. It's a 4000 points (weapons are free) model, with an impressive statline, and some awesome weapons, the Melta especially makes short work of anything close enough. But the biggest factor here is that all of its arm weapons have THE MACRO RULE! This is important, as it means that whenever you fire at Titanic units, the D is doubled! This is insane with weapons like the Volcano canon or melta canon. This model can kick ass like no other... well, except for the one below.

*'''Chaos Warlord Battle Titan <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': A beast at 6000 points (weapons are still free, so yay) The Warlord has a statline unlike anything in the game with T16 S16 and a whooping 70 wounds! That's on top of its ridiculous protection against everything, as well as all the weapon options which are pretty impressive, being capable of knocking out any other model in the game in a single shooting phase. One of the best ones is the sunfury plasma annihilator, in addition to its pretty impressive damage output the possibility to hit units you didn't shoot at can wipe out Astra Militarum/Tau parking lots, massed assaults or wipe out characters hiding around the (the more models in the original unit, the better as it spreads out its radius). Whatever you go with, the Warlord is ridiculously powerful, and very hard to kill.