Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Chaos Space Marines (section)

==Unit Analysis==

===HQ===
*'''[[Chaos Lord]]''': Your vanilla leader. Lots of customization and a solid statline. Can be very cheap & effective considering what he can do, but is somewhat outclassed due to being unspecialised outside of being a beatstick. 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> CORE}} units. You can keep this guy around Chosen/Havocs or even Helbrutes to make use of his aura. Also a fantastic beatstick, with a whopping 6 attacks, the most on a standard character in the whole game, and a selection of excellent melee weapons and relics.
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<tab name="Chaos Lord">
Honestly, kinda obsolete compared to his terminator brothers.
At the very least, you get to pick up some different weapons. By default, you get a Thunder hammer, the only one in the damn book, for some serious smashing power, but this makes him cost as much as his termie brother. They only get their stock Plasma pistol or a Bolt pistol for guns. Can dual wield Power fists if you want to make a silly beatstick with the Slaanesh Daemon weapon; is otherwise only really useful if kept super cheap because you can't afford termie armour. All his gear with the exception of the Thunder Hammer is free now.
*'''Legends''' not only allows you to reclaim your combi-weapon, but also restores access to your Jump pack. This kinda bites because not everyone will accept Legends, crippling your availability.
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<tab name="Chaos Terminator Lord">
This is your heavy-duty Chaos Lord, the one you will want if you're bringing a lord. 7W and a 2+/4++ makes him tanky, but pick your targets. For weapon upgrades you get your choice of Combi-gun (or a Lightning claw), and in the other hand a Power weapon, fist, claw or stock Exalted (D2) Power axe. He is the only dude in the book who still kept his Lightning claws, if you're a fan of those. Take a Combi-melta for big game, and whatever relic melee weapon of your choice. 
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<tab name="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.
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<tab name="Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mounts (Legends)">
Before we get into these, '''all of these options are Legends, and are thus unsupported by new codices'''. Though they all have the DAEMON keyword, they lack the new DAEMONKIN keyword that the new CSM buffs rely on.  It also means that when the Daemon codex comes out, they're likely ''not'' going to have the cross-faction synergy that they got you in 8E. 
**'''Chaos Lord on Juggernaut (Legends)''': Slow for a mounted Chaos Lord, with only 8" movement, but you're 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 UMWR of 6, 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 {{W40kKeyword|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]]. 
**'''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.
**'''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 re-roll to 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 and shoot without penalties. Give him some brutal melee weapons to take advantage of the extra attack.
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*'''[[Dark Apostle]]''': The generic buffer of choice. Although his stats and gear are nothing to write home about, he has a variety of abilities that are a great force multiplier. Demagogue helps with the Ld issues cultists have to worry about, while Prayers can offer significant buffs, but only to {{W40kKeyword|cores}} and {{W40kKeyword|characters}}. His God-Prayers now affect others instead of only himself. Nowadays, he's best used as a lynchpin for a Core squad of objective-holders defensively or even footslog with them across the board. If you're playing Word Bearers he can do both with a relic.
**He is now hoisted with his two cultist caddies by default, which cements him as a defensive anchor - you can't just shove him in a transport with your assault squad anymore. And he has no delivery vectors on his own, unlike loyalist Chaplains.
*'''[[Dark Commune]]:''' The new Cultist HQ, here to <s>cosplay as [[Nazgûl]]</s> act as a “utility” HQ. While remaining just as squishy as cultists and with lacking strength, their main use is being a consolidated Priest, Psyker and buffer, with a 6" bubble that not only gives cultists a crappy Leadership buff but also a re-roll on 1s to hit. Absolutely costly for such flimsy heroes? Fuck Yes. It's also able to carry out multiple roles at a higher cost than a Dark Apostle or Sorcerer without the usefulness. Their selection of prayers and spells is half of what a typical model has, and can’t be a Warlord if you have a single <Heretic Astartes> character. You’re better off getting an Apostle if you want to have any good prayers or Sorcerers for spellcasting. If you want prayers get an apostle, if you want spells get a balefire tome. 
*'''[[Daemon Prince]]''': The literal melee monster HQ. Will absolutely smash anything it gets into combat with. 8 wounds means he still benefits from "Look out, Sir!", so plan accordingly. It's almost always the correct choice to buy him wings, given he has no other delivery vectors, and a DP not in melee is 145 pts of relatively dead weight; you will also have to either get him a flying goon squad or Warptime. You have to shell out for a Mark of Chaos, which alters the DP's statblock - Khorne DPs gain +1 S and A, while the others become Psykers, giving them access to a big toolbox of pretty scary spells. Sadly, you only get to cast one spell per turn now, so make your choice count.
**Note on Daemon Weapons:  DPs with their D3 pokers are the best wielders of Daemon Weapons, so bear in mind that if you strap one onto your DP, each time you fight you have a 1/12 chance of the weapon getting uppity. You are a demon hitting people on the head with another demon.
**Mark of Khorne:  You become S8 base and S9 when charging/charged/intervening, as well as A7, which means you're just here to zip forward and smash things, so pack your wings and a sword to guarantee you can get into melee on your own terms. Khorne's Daemon Weapon is pretty damn ok on a Hellforged Sword, but look at the other gods before making a choice like that - Khorne's big thing is dealing a lot of damage, but the other gods have their own tempting options.
**Mark of Tzeentch:  Offers you limited protection against artillery, although you're not here to get shot with artillery. Your mandatory psychic power ups your own shitty melee invuln to 4++; or you can hand it out to your goonsquad, which is usually more value. And it is hard to cast too. Tzeentch Daemon Weapon does work very well on a Hellforged Sword given its AP, but you could just take and cast Death Hex instead.
**Mark of Nurgle:  Those rare S6 and S12+ weapons suffer -1 to wound you, which is meh, and your mandatory power is -1 to be hit, which is very nice provided the enemy isn't already suffering -1 to hit and isn't immune to modifiers (like when firing Overwatch). And then there's the gem, Nurgle's Daemon Weapon, which is the best in the codex, automatically wounding on hit and denying all wound denial, slapped on a guy rocking six attacks with AP-3 and D3. Take Death Hex, cast it, and enjoy ruining the day of those named assholes who thought they can't take more than X Wounds per phase. Wipe the floor with Nightbringer. Challenge Girlyman to a cage match. Tip over a Knight. Poke your head in a Bastion like it's The Shining. Daemonically humiliate any other HQ in the game. Have all the fun, take the cake and eat it too, just make sure you charge them first, or they will tear you seven new assholes.
**Mark of Slaanesh:  ASF, and your mandatory power is a 5+++, which you can also hand out to anyone nearby, and it is the easiest to cast. FnP is the most reliable of the mandatory powers and works on all sorts of things, like the MWs from a Daemon Weapon getting uppity. You can put Slaanesh's Daemon Weapon on a Sword DP for an acceptable, if largely wasted, blender (or just go Khorne, you know), or grab the Intoxicating Elixir and another relic weapon to be a denying asshole.
*'''[[Exalted Champion]]''': Hey, remember that one guy who was an auto-pick for any melee list with his 'Shred Everything' aura and 'I Hate Characters' passive? Well, forget him, he's dead and gone now. In his boots is a gimped Marine Lieutenant with no options. And I mean ''none''. Ironically he's the only non-termie HQ who still has a Combi-melta (or any Combi-gun really), so there's that... He also packs a D2 Power Axe for all that's worth against Loyalists... Oh, and he costs like a Lord but has no Invuln nor options. Solid design, Robin.
**The absolute worst part is that despite this gear limitation, [[FAIL|the model is no longer sold in their official stores; making the rule changes pointless.]]
**Legends does implement all the missing combat options, including Lightning claws and Cypher-style twin-pistols. You are still crap though.
*'''[[Lord Discordant]]''': Hands (and Mechatendrils) down the biggest rapetrain in the codex, the Disco lord is nothing but hype, and though they reigned in his (frankly absurd) amount of abilities and weapons from 8E, all of it was a net benefit to the Disco Lord. Also, even though he's a "Lord", you can take more than one Disco Lord in a detachment. 
**9W is a massive upgrade because he can now benefit from character protection. 6A base with his chain glaive S+2(6) ap3 D2 and +1 to wound on the charge, plus 4 more mount attacks S6 (not user, just flat six) AP2 D2, and finally his tentacles for 4 S4 AP0 D1 attacks. All of these attacks are improved by the Technovirus injector, which makes any melee attacks against Vehicles +1 Dam. Built right, he can fuck a Knight really badly, and some builds will let him survive the counterattack.
**He's still got the Baleflamer, which you'll always take over the autocannon. He also still has the magmacutter, but you'll always want the injector.
**In your Command phase, he can corrupt machine spirits within 9", and can do it twice if he's killed a vehicle in this game:
***If it corrupts an enemy model, roll a number of D6 equal to the Wounds characteristic of that model: for each 6, that model's unit suffers 1 mortal wound (to a maximum of 6 mortal wounds).
***If it corrupts a friendly model, until the start of your next Command phase, each time that model makes a melee attack, add 1 to that attack's hit roll.
**Builds:
***Nurgle- The Tough Discolord. Give him a mark and the black rune of damnation. The Rune, besides it fuck Psykers aura, gives a permanent -1 to wound, which stacks with the situational Mark of Nurgle. When he's hit by a S6 or a S12+ attack (such as from the Vehicles he's fighting), they'll be at -2 to wound. Without other modifiers, you're looking at a Disco Lord with pseudo transhuman. You don't have to give him the Unholy Fortitude WT, but it helps.
***Slaanesh - Might actually be the best god for the Discolord, because they give Discolords a lot of flexibility. While fight first is always fun, you have two great relics to choose from: The Slaaneshi Daemon weapon gives you +D3 attacks on two weapons, which can go on the Glaive and the Tendrils. Give him the Flames of Spite WT and he gets to reroll the wounds for all those attacks, while also throwing out a MW on a Six. 
***You can also give it the Intoxicating Elixir instead. When activated, it gives +D3 attacks AND the ability to take ''only'' 3 W in that fight phase. While it's only a one phase boost, the Intoxicating Elixir plus Fight First means that it could get charged by a Knight and it'd survive while still being able to do some hurt in return. Give it the WT to halve all incoming damage or the 5++++ FNP, and pop a strat for -1 Dam, and you wont even have to use the Elixir until you really, really need to
*'''[[Master of Possession]]:''' New Age Sorcerer that uses daemon-flavoured Malefic discipline over vanilla Dark Hereticus. Comes with a 5+ invulnerable save and slaps nearby Psykers with an extra MW when they Peril, which comboes with his staff causing Perils on hit. He can also stab friendlies for a +2 to cast. As of the newest codex, this guy is now more versatile, being able to support non-daemons as well. His stats are nothing to write home about (he is literally a Sorc with a bunch of stuff tacked on), but his unique discipline allows all kinds of fun shenanigans, like resurrecting 90pts Obliterators for free, and/or playing a spotter for them. Daemons are all around this book, and there are tons of combinations you can try, so go wild!
**Note that he can deal d3 mortal wounds to any <Infantry> units, [[what|except Cultists for some reasons,]] so he can be given a +2 to Malefic Discipline tests. While this seems somewhat useful, a Venomcrawler can apply a +1 to psychic tests without hurting your own army. They do stack, however, and if you gave him the Eye of Tzeentch, that's +4 to cast ''and'' any cast of 9+ is undeniable. 
**He has (''sigh'') no mobility options, so give him the Liber Hereticus to make his spells less reliant on range while also letting him cast three times. 
*'''[[Sorcerer (Warhammer 40,000)|Sorcerer]]''': Pretty standard. You cast two powers and deny two, stats are in line with the rest of your warriors and... that's it, really. With the lack of any native invulnerable save, it makes one wonder if GW's trying to phase out the humble Sorcerer for something more...
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<tab name="Sorcerer">
While his stats are pretty much the same as ever, the humble power armor Sorcerer lost ALL his loadout options. All you get is a goddamn Bolt pistol and Force staff. While loss of guns on this guy is negligible, he also lost '''the mothfucking Jump pack''', so gone are the days of him supporting anything fast-moving. If you're taking him, you might wanna reconsider for...
*'''Legends''' allows you to restore some manner of versatility to the Sorcerer, giving back your Combi-weapons, Force weapons and the Jump pack.
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<tab name="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 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 Force Staff, which is something, but his main value comes from being able to Deepstrike with other guys and support them with buffs, traits, and well-timed Smites to the face.
*The Termie sorcerer is also the only one who can take a Familiar for some security on one psychic test.  
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<tab name="Sorcerer on Bike (Legends)">
Tough and fast. The extra wound and toughness are nice, but again this guy has no invulnerable save. If you don't plan to use his speed for keeping him safe, you may as well choose another option. 
*The 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.
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<tab name="Sorcerers on Daemonic Mounts (Legends)">
Before we get into these, notice that Daemonic Mounts give the model the {{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 from the Daemon detachment.
*'''Sorcerer on Disc (Legends)''': Ironically, the god of magic's mount is actually the worst mount to throw on a sorcerer. Without an invulnerable save or any stat buffs over the basic sorcerer, all you're paying for is the speed boost. If you REALLY want a disc, go play Thousand Sons.
*'''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 {{W40kKeyword|NURGLE}} {{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.
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*'''[[Warpsmith]]''': Swiss army knife man with a pimping new model! For 10pts less than a Techmarine with similar loadout you get +1W, +2A, +1Ld. That includes a Hand flamer, an Inferno pistol, a Plasma pistol (any of which you're unlikely to ever fire), 2+ Save for his Artificer Power armour, a Fancy Power axe, and Naughty tentacles for some extra melee pokes. All this kit lets him <s>hold his own against small squads of MEQs</s> bully in CC things that don't know how to fight, in the unlikely scenario you ever get into said CC. Read, he can maybe shoo away cheap Deepstrikers from the tank he's been assigned to support. He has (''sigh, say it with me'') no mobility options, so he's usually stuck wherever you deployed him. 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. Or you could just let him do his damn job and have him repair your vehicles for d3 lost wounds each turn and give them +1 to hit ''with ranged attacks only'' (If you're looking to buff melee attacks, take a look at Lord Discordant instead), in an edition that's largely stripped that sort of bonus away from them. Alternatively, he can 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 objectives. Don't overlook this guy. The only wargear option Warpsmith has is switching Exalted Power Axe to Thunder Hammer if you're feeling saucy. Combi-weapons have been thrown into Legends...
**Using Legends to give him a combi-melta makes him an exceptionally dangerous against tanks at short ranges. 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 damage works against ''anything'', meaning you can char-broil enemy Characters that might be squaring off for a fight.  

====Warhammer Legends====
This section covers HQ units that were included in the 8th Edition Index but did not receive a new entry in the 2019 codex, and an honorable mention from years long past. These units have gained the Angels of Death special rule through FAQ. Both of them have now been moved into Warhammer Legends, where they remain playable in every game mode.

*'''Chaos [[Hellwright]]<sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Added to Warhammer Legends: Imperial Armour. A better Warpsmith for all intents and purposes with +1 strength, +1 toughness, and +1 wound when compared to the standard CSM counterpart, though he has better weapon options. Like the soul-burner pistol that shoots two mortal wounds, Voidcutter (S8 AP-4 D3 Assault 1 8"), flamer, mechatendrils and an S+1 AP-3 D2 axe. On top of healing a wound per turn, he now has 5++ that subtracts 1 from to-hit rolls against him and an aura that grants +1 attacks and Ld to friendly legion vehicles. He costs a fair bit more, but given the better statline and 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>''': Added to Warhammer Legends: Forgeworld. All the same options as above with the inclusion an extra gun and boosted statline. That's more toughness and wounds plus the warpfire lance (16" heavy 2 S6 AP-3 Dd6). 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.

====Special Characters====
Note that any special characters belonging to a specific legion/renegade chapter can be found in their own Legion section, this is merely for any {{W40kKeyword|AGENT OF CHAOS}} heroes. More info about Abaddon or Bile can be found in their Legion tabs.

*'''[[Abaddon]]''': Will become a {{W40kKeyword|SUPREME COMMANDER}} and {{W40kKeyword|AGENT OF CHAOS}}, allowing him to be souped with any Legion and any {{W40kKeyword|CHAOS}} faction without breaking monofaction bonuses. For more info, check the Black Legion section. Keep in mind, the rules stipulate he only gets his Legion Trait if every unit in his army is Black Legion.
**Another thing to keep in mind is that if he's given Warlord Traits, quite a few of those traits will specify <LEGION>, so they'll all be useless when bringing him with the other Legions. 
*'''[[Cypher]]''': Cypher is the last of the Fallen... at least in the CSM codex. He not longer has the {{W40kKeyword|Imperium}} keyword, making him entirely exclusive to Chaos. Stat-wise Cypher has an extra wound, +2 attacks, but lost an inch of movement. Weapons wise he's for some reason gained frag and krak grenades, but his pistols have seen impressive boosts. Plasma pistol makes and extra shot at Pistol 3, but his bolt pistol has been risen to staggering Pistol 6 with an increased range to 18". His abilities have likewise been updated. He lost Lord Cypher (since there are no Fallen for him to lead) and No-one's Puppet. Blazing Weapon remains the same with its advance and fallback and still shoot. Mysterious Protection has been reworked, still retains the 4+ invuln but now instead of denying victory points, hit rolls of 1-3 always fail against him. As for new abilities, Cypher is NOFOS if he's in the same detachment with a Chaos Lord. Escape can put him in Reserves once per game for free after the shooting or fight phase (taking a page from Sly Marbo's book, I see). His tastiest ability is that he has a chance to deny your opponent from generating command points from anything that isn't the Battleforged Bonus from the core rulebook like Adept of the Codex or Precognition, just to shit on any Ultramarine's parade.
*'''[[Fabius Bile]]:''' Old Fabulous has his own not-Legion he can field called Creations of Bile, and he has an entry in that section. One thing to not about Fabius is that he doesn't get his own Legion Trait since he has the {{W40kKeyword|Agent of Chaos}} keyword, which overrides his {{W40kKeyword|Creations of Bile}} keyword. This falls in line with the Silent King's FAQ and his lore, I guess, but it sucks. Abaddon, however, is exempt from this specifically.
*'''Zhufor The Impaler (Legends)<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 opponent's leadership like all similar abilities), that result becomes 2 as per the order of modifier priority. Until FAQed, this  means that Zhufor is so scary that he actually stops daemons coming out of the warp to fight him.
*'''[[Vashtorr]] the Arkifane''': The only literal daemon in the army now that 3 out of the 4 god-aligned legions have split off into their own armies. He's pretty tough at T7 W14 with a 2+/4++ save and the ability to reduce any incoming damage by 1. His combat setup is surprisingly rather consistent with a 2+ WS and 3+ BS (which is irrelevant anyways because his one gun is an S5 AP-3 flamer) with the degrading statline only affecting attacks and speed. His hammer proves to be quite a potent tool at Sx2 (S14 with his S7) AP-2 D3 that deals 4 mortal wounds on a natural 5+ to wound to '''Vehicle''' units only, though.
**His major draw is his Will of the Arkifane power, which gives him one of three powers each turn. He can either give a {{W40kKeyword|Traitoris Astartes Daemon Engine}} (Excluding {{W40kKeyword|Character}}, {{W40kKeyword|Titanic}} and {{W40kKeyword|Aircraft}}, so you can't use this on Heldrakes or the KLoS) within 3" a +1 to hit for the turn, make one enemy within 18" treat all ranges for their guns as halved to fuck over meltas, or make one enemy {{W40kKeyword|Vehicle}} within 18" treat their movement and attacks as halved in case you're running against a lot of Dreadnoughts.
**Vashtorr's biggest problem is that for all the hype and role he plays in the Arks of Omen, his rules are seriously lackluster for a demi-god of Chaos. Like his hammer having no name despite that according to Wade Pryce is the "Hammer of the Forge of Souls". He's also over 100 points less than his primary rival Be'lakor and lacks the ruleset to even be considered comparable. Needless to say, he feels a little underbaked and is stuck between Daemon Prince and Greater Daemon in terms of weight-class, not someone who should be by all rights on par with a Daemon Primarch.

===Troops===
*'''Accursed Cultists:''' So 9E saw a whole new set of models for the cultists no one wanted, and one of them just happened to be the mutant rabble who never really had an actual model, outside the old Forge World line. If you're expecting anything stronger than a mere cultist, don't - T4 doesn't mean shit when you have a barely-there 6+ save with 6+++ FNP and the inability to hide in transports doesn't help either. Instead, you take them because it's almost hard to get rid of these the unit. Each turn gives them the ability to resurrect flat 3 mutants, though that won’t help the moment you’re shot at anything with a single point of armor piercing. Also included is their 6" bubble of -1 Leadership which doesn’t do much for them compared to Possessed, Warp Talons, or a Daemon Prince.
**Accompanying the mutants are Accursed Cultist Torments, bloated and hyper-mutated abominations who act as bigger walls with 3 wounds, and you can rez one each turn instead of the mutants. Their offensive prowess is far more decent with 2d3 AP-2 D2 attacks but still hitting 50% of the time. They suffer the same flaw as their lesser kin where they die to any slight armor piercing. You’re better off running spawns for their regeneration.
*'''Cultist Mob''': Took a one-point price hike in 9th Edition. Cultists can now be set for melee or range with no changes in points, though unlike Legionaries, you achieve the same damage from shooting as getting into combat without being punched back. In honesty don't run 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 free 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 an upgrade if you plan to camp objectives or push out enemy Deepstrikes with them. New to this edition is the Grenade Launcher, giving them something high-powered with AP-1 but held back by its swingy d3 damage. 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 that 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. It's not all negatives however; Cultists easily snowball into a semi-comparable threat when under the various buffs that other Chaos units can provide. They especially synergize well with Dark Apostles who fix their low leadership while providing a 50% chance to hit them. This can be improved further with them acting as a bodyguard to a Cold and Heartless Iron Warriors unit with their strat. A Sorcerer or Balefire Tome nearby can throw on Prescience for a slightly more threatening autogun bulletstorm. It can still be easy for your opponent to efficently get rid of them even without blast weapons; if they do commit such firepower, it's just cheap Cultists. At least it wasn’t Abaddon or a Helbrute, right?
**Blobs and hordes took a hit in 9th Edition, so huge cultist bombs will require serious micro-management, especially with unit coherency.
**Cultists did not receive a new lease on life, and are the same as they were in 8th edition. With a Dark Communion to gather basic buffs to a squad and 2 kinds of accursed cultists to utilize; there were tons of possibilities for aspiring players. Then the codex came out and the rules for Cultist-related armies was quickly tossed into the toilet thanks to Mere Mortals and an arbitrary selection of stratagems, relics, and warlord traits that the Cults are allowed to use.
*'''Legionaries''': Legionaries, as they're now called, are now thrice the price of a mob cultist. For that, you now receive, well, a lot: with 2 wounds and a staggering 3 attacks per model (so you'll '''always''' have more punches than bolt shots) along with power armour and bolt weapons. They are stronger, tougher, and more accurate up close and at range and they get a slew of new options, like equipping a guy with a Heavy Chainaxe, putting a Daemon Blade on your champ, and making one guy a psyker with a Balefire Tome. Critically, you cannot substitute cultists for CSM unless you load up on elites and heavy support, but expect to pay a premium there; comparatively, Legionaries are a cost-effective all-rounder {{WH40kKeyword|CORE}} choice versus Raptors, Chosen, Havocs, Bikers, or Terminators. If you're looking for a solid melee Troops choice, this is it: a chainsword-wielding legionary pumping out 4 attacks per dude will tear down anyone they run into. Add in some specialist melee weapons and you will chew through most things with relative ease. Keep in mind though that unlike the last editions of this book, you are now capped at a maximum of 10 legionaries per squad, so if you were hoping to build a legionary bomb in this edition, sorry!
**They are now the only unit in the codex that's able to Shoot/Fight again with a stratagem at 2CP. It is pricey, but a nice trick to have in your backpocket. Imagine the look on your opponent's face when they charge your 10-man squad of Slaaneshi Legionaries only to have them fight first ''then'' fight again. 
**Tzeentch boys with an Icon have better heavy weapons because of the extra pip of AP, but Khornates get S5 ''and'' AP2 chainswords. Slaaneshi boys with icons get to hit on 2s/3s with their Heavy Chainaxes/Power Fists. 
**Most builds tend to be based around MSU squads with an optional Tome/Heavy Weapon or Fist on sergeant if kitted for melee with the relevant marks. Full sized units work best kitted for melee (given the new caps on special weapons) if you take Khorne and chainswords, a fist on the champion, additional heavy chainaxe and icon. There’s also an argument to be made for going Slaanesh and taking a tome for psychic shenanigans at the cost of extra strength and AP.
*'''Traitor Guardsmen Squad''': What we wanted was a whole Codex, but we'll have to settle for this for now: the rank-and-file from the Kill Team Moroch boxset. They're only slightly better than cultists with a standard Ld 6, 7 with the Sergeant, and lack any rules for any of the Kill Team squad specialists, but have pretty much all the options of loyalist guardsmen. One top of the flamer and grenade launcher that the Cultists could already buy, you can also purchase a meltagun and plasma gun (serious suicide unit weapons here) as well as a sniper rifle in case you seriously think that you can rely on cultists to act as snipers. For the Sergeant, he has the standard range of auto, bolt, and plasma options for pistols and chain or power for swords. Or, he can sacrifice melee power entirely for a boltgun, which you should, these guys aren't any good in CC anyways. 
**Sharing the Cultists keyword, Guardsmen can be buffed by anything that would also buff Cultists, and you can also grab a Vox-Caster as well at no cost, robbing a cultist of a different gun but allowing the Renegade Enforcer's special rule to apply anywhere within 24" of that not-Commissar.
**With that said, you’re better off running them for your selected chaff because of their better stats, weapon options, and a bit more rules to work with compared to the cheaper commonfolk.

===Elites===

*'''Slaves to Darkness''': This is where your Rubric, Plague, and Berzerkers went. Each of their datasheets are available wherever their Legion’s rules are. In order to take them, you ''must'' buy their Mark, but they do not benefit from your Legion trait despite getting your Legion keyword and {{W40Kkeyword|CORE}}, so they benefit from auras and the like. Best thing is that they gain '''Let the Galaxy Burn''' even though their parent legion doesn’t (this is best on Rubrics). 
<tabs>
<tab name="Rubric Marines">
Walking Dustbins led by a Mage, who enchants their weapons to be AP-2. Unlike their brothers who’ve stayed loyal to Prospero, they can only use the Hereticus Discipline, but are still otherwise full psykers. They are tanky, but in a different way from Plague Marines: whereas Plague Marines are toughness 5, and treat S5 and 10+ weapons as if they were weaker, Rubrics get +1 to their armor against D1 weapons, giving you 2+ Save against bolters  and the first failed save for the unit each turn is coerced to D0. Benefit '''greatly''' from Let the Galaxy Burn, as you now have D6+2 S4 AP-2 autohitting flamer shots at only 3 pts more, which means every model in the unit should be packing a flame weapon.
*Sadly, the Icon of Flame they can buy from their own codex does NOT confer the {{W40Kkeyword|ICON}} Keyword, so no lulzy AP-3 bolters.  In fact, the Icon does ''nothing whatsoever'' since you can't field an all-TSons army using the CSM codex, so never buy it.
</tab>
<tab name="Plague Marines">
Walking pus-sacks that are too oblivious to pain to die. T5 ''and'' their Mark means that these guys will shrug heavy bolters like they’re nothing and fair a little bit better against Demolishers than their DG brothers. Speaking of, since you’re using the Death Guard datasheet and points values, ''all of your weapon options are free'' (because that's how GW balances things these days)
*Plague Marines under Undivided can benefit from CSM stratagems, like '''Grandfather’s Blessing''', which gives them Transhuman. It’s a bit overkill, though, because the Mark already makes S5 wound on 5s, and S10+ wound on 3s rather than 2s, and the stratagem can be applied to anything with the Nurgle keyword. Cloud of Flies, though, can make them untargetable, which is a lot better when you’re throwing Cultists at the enemy and parking Nurglites on an objective. 
*Plague Belchers and Spewers aren't flame weapons but automatically hit, so they gain no benefit at all from Let the Galaxy Burn.
</tab>
<tab name="Noise Marines">
Take the 8E Noise Marines [[Meme|And crank it up to 11]]. All Noise Marines come with boltguns (which you'll obviously be replacing with the Sonic Blaster (Assault 3 S4 AP-1 D1), pistols, and the Mark of Slaanesh for fight-first. One guy can take the Blastmaster, for either an Assault 6 S5 AP-3 d1 (Varied Frequency) or 48" Heavy 3 s8 ap-3 3D. The Champion can take the sonic blaster, a doom siren (12" Assault D6 S5 AP-1 autohits), and one weapon from the Melee Weapons chart. 
*What makes Sonic Weapons so good now is that whenever a Sonic Weapon is shooting at something within half-range, you get to add 1 to the Damage Characteristic, making your Blastmaster and Sonic Blasters all the more potent, and giving you lots of incentive to get close. Thus, Noise Marines will be advancing for most of the game.
*Doom Sirens aren't flame weapons but automatically hit, so they gain no benefit at all from Let the Galaxy Burn.
**Sonic Blasters are Assault weapons, meaning Noise Marines are on the very short list of units you can field where every model has an Assault weapon for benefiting from Let the Galaxy Burn on every turn after the first.
</tab>
<tab name="Khorne Berzerkers">
Same problems with the chosen: weapon choices are removed in favor of a generic profile that limits what they can fight, and have plentiful attacks should they enter combat.  Fortunately, their AP-2 chainblades can be supplemented by adding heavy-duty S+3 AP-4 D2 eviscerators in case you need to demolish anything harder than a marine. Luckily for them, the only thing they lose from replacing their Legion Trait for Let the Galaxy Burn and a Mark is the extra attack when charging.
*New with their codex, they also gain a special reaction that lets them move d6" towards whoever is closest, ideally to get stuck in. The issue with this all occurs AFTER your red guys take their damage, severely limiting the value of this power the further away they are. 
**Taking an Icon merely lets you pull this off without foiling your ability to perform objective actions on top of the AP boost given. If you aren't bothering with any secondary objectives where this will matter, you'll be okay with leaving the Icon at home.
</tab>
</tabs>
*'''Chaos Terminators''': The 9E codex that Chaos Players waited 2 years for rewards their patience with...whatever this is. 3W 3A, each Terminator is armed with a combi-bolter and an "Accursed Weapon," which is a power sword that gives you +1A. All of your customization is now very limited.
**One Terminator can swap his combi-bolter for a Reaper Autocannon or Heavy Flamer (you'll pick the flamer every time).
**Another can switch his for a combi-plasma.
**...but up to two guys can swap theirs for combi-meltas, and another two guys can do combi-flamers ([[Derp|so you can have all combiweapons, just not all of the same type, and only combi-plasma once for some reason]]).
**One guy (and only one guy, [[Rage|so fuck you in particular if you built lightning claw termies]]) can quit guns entirely and take an extra accursed weapons for +2 power sword attacks, but can't dual-wield Fists and Swords.
**Three Guys can replace their swords with Power Fists.
**And one guy can replace his sword with a Chainfist.
**In effect, you can take a smorgasboard of combi-weapons and have 4-5 attacks with your accursed weapons, but only ever have 4 chainfist attacks at most (well, base; better fish for those 6s). The Traitor Legions, who are supposed to have the ''freedom'' to not be bound by some [[Roboute Guilliman|pencil pusher's]] [[Codex Astartes|book]], have more limited (and convoluted) weapon options than the Loyalists; one can hope that all Champions can take a wider variety of weapons. Even the [[Thousand Sons|nerds]] get at least master-crafted/force swords for that sweet, sweet damage 2. In terms of meta, it appears Games Workshop attempted to curb the effectiveness and prevalence of termicide bombs, forcing you to choose a wide array of weapons instead of spamming combi-plasma, melta, or flamers. However, their gimping pales in comparison with what they did to...
*'''Chosen''': GW really hated how no one took Legionaries in 8E, so their solution was kneecapping Chosen. They've got 3 wounds, which is great, and can take Chaos Icons for the Keyword and gain more from Marks (and +1 to combat attrition, I guess, but you have Ld 10 anyway). But, as with Chaos Terminators, all you get is your boltgun, a bolt pistol, and all your melee weapons are now Accursed Weapons and that's it, <s>unless the Champion have their own separate armory</s> Champion has no separate armory and shares options with rest of the Chosen unit. At least the accursed weapon gives you 4/5 attacks base. 
**For every 5 models in this unit (so double this at max): you can take two plasma pistols over bolt pistols, and two guys (who can be the same guys, if you're feeling stupid) can strap on a combi-weapon to their bolters. One guy can dual wield “accursed weapons” (and a pistol) for maximum failure, and one can wield a bolter-and-power fist and a pistol for substantially less failure.  One model in the entire unit (no scaling per 5) can take a Chaos Icon for a fully functional Mark of Chaos. [[rage|After 2 years and a new kit chock full of weaponry and choices, and this is what we have to play with?]]
**Should this unit destroy another unit, they count as having Wanton Destruction, Massacre, and Slaughter for the rest of the game.
*'''Fallen''': [[fail|Completely missing from the codex despite Cypher being included. Maybe if you shelled for the White Dwarf you would have some rules]]
*'''Helbrute''': No more penalties to move and shoot! The Helbrute is one of the best [[Distraction Carnifex]]es Chaos can field for its price. It's ''expendable'', durable, and scary, 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 (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.   If you have the CP for it, you should ''strongly'' consider a Chaos Contemptor Dread, which will outperform your Helbrute at ranged no matter what. 
**For Ranged Builds: To start off, NEVER use the '''missile launcher'''; they're significantly worse for their stats right now with their weaker ap than a multi-melta. Lascannons have much longer range and higher strength, but are costly and best paired with the Scourge. The reaper autocannon is alright, whilst the twin heavy bolter remains the superior anti-infantry weapon of choice. The helbrute plasma cannon is a tradeoff for a potential to hurt yourself, but what’s the point of fun without a little risk?
**For Melee Builds: The default Helbrute Fist can take a heavy bolter or a heavy flamer for free, so dual wielding can result in some intense close-ranged combat. 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 or World Eaters Army for [[rip and tear|maximum carnage]].
**Hey guess what? 9th edition brought back marks for your <s>Chaos Dreadnought</s> Helbrute - remember when that was a thing? Obvious stand-outs are Tzeentch or Nurgle as they buff the survivability of the brute. Mark of Tzeentch is way better considering it allows you to ignore the damage from the first unsaved hit, which is amazing considering the amount of anti-tank punishment Helbrutes attract. MoN meanwhile requires a hit of at least S14 to only dial down the to-wound roll from 2+ to 3+, which isn't terribly common and doesn't prevent any damage. Marks of Khorne or Slaanesh are both okay for CC Brutes, but the MoK is more for Brutes with two Fists while the MoS is for a more flexible loadout.
*'''[[Master of Execution]]:''' Similar to Exalted Champions, he is meant to be a character killer. Has a greater heroic intervention range of 6" if there are any enemy characters within 6" and can re-roll all wound rolls when fighting them. His Axe of Dismemberment is basically a power-fist without the penalty to hit and on a 6 to wound those hits are considered MWs.
** A Slaanesh Master of Execution with the Intoxicating Elixir will become somewhat a formidable threat. First, good luck killing him that phase he uses it, as he'll only take three wounds. Second, that axe is making an additional d3 attacks, which only increases his odds of shitting out mortal wounds.
** 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.
*'''Mutilators''': Are now gone. If you bought the old models, [[fail|you’re shit outta luck.]] Might as well run them as [[Counts as]] Obliterators.
*'''Possessed''': With 3 wounds, 5 attacks at S5 -2 AP dealing 2 damage a pop, this new squad of glow-up marines will rip and tear with more raw damage than the Chosen or Terminators above. They may not be able to shred TEQs in the era of Armour of Contempt (not even with MoP help) but the sheer volume of attacks and damage output will see Possessed overwhelm almost anything in close combat - and on top of that, will also subtract a leadership from whatever they slam into. They don't ''need'' a Master of Possession as much as they did in 8th edition to pull out their potential and now that they have a 9" move, they will quickly leave him behind. However, the new spells from the MoP can jack them up with either a 4++ save, auto-wounding hit rolls of 6, an increase in their strength and/or toughness, [[Awesome|respawn whole models lost]] or even a free +1 to wound against a specific target. Overall, anyone running their these models, old or new (or you [[Neckbeard|kitbashed your own like many have in the past]]), will be happy to see this unit become more powerful than they were before, now with a little more independence.
*'''Gellerpox Infected''': Kill Team Annual 2022 brought back these zombie mutants as a special unit available only to the Death Guard and other Nurgle-aligned marine detachments as not-quite Agents of Chaos. This unit in particular is split between the S4 T4 mutants with frags and AP-1 melee weapons and the three Nightmare Hulks, each toting S5 and 5 wounds and wielding even meaner melee weapons, with one of them also getting an S4 AP-1 gut-flamer as well. This alongside the old 5+ FNP save makes these guys a touch more effective than the poxwalkers the Death Guard use, but those zombies are far more numerous. Also an issue is that the Elites Slot has always been rather overcrowded for Chaos between Termies, Dreads, and special characters as well. 
**'''Mutoid Vermin''': The hordes of chittering insects and cyber-Nurglings are their own separate unit, but they won't take up a slot if you also took the Gellerpox. Naturally, these swarms are utterly pathetic and only get a 6+ save and 6+ FNP to protect them, but you can resurrect d3 of the buggers each Command phase, making them more of a hassle to get rid of.
*'''Traitor Enforcer:''' The evil Commissar and his pet Ogryn are a separate unit from the rest of the traitor guardsmen from the Kill Team Moroch box. The Commissar gets his power fist and a 5++ Invuln as well as the ability to force one squad of Traitor Guardsmen within 6" (and ONLY the guardsmen, meaning he's useless to your normie cultists and muties) that fails their morale check to auto-pass any attrition checks they need to make (effectively making this a non-Commissarial {{BLAM}} because one model already fled from bombing the morale check).
**Taking the Ogryn is a costly option, but it gives you quite a lot besides a big beefy dude. Not only do all attacks target him first, any hits must roll to wound against the Ogryn's Toughness and he degrades the AP of any attacks hitting him by 1, making him the ultimate meatslab. He's also pretty good in combat, as he has an S+! AP-1 D2 maul he can use for most fights and a single swipe from his AP-2 D3 mutant claw in case you really needed one more dead marine.
*'''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. As a Daemon Engine, it can spend to CP to re-roll its hits and wounds. For the weapon options, 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 no longer provides a leadership debuff, now it's just a vanilla gun similar to an autocannon. It's not a bad weapon by any means, but the other options are much better. The conversion beamer is a viable option now that space marines have 2 and 3 wound units everywhere. Long range, flat 3+ damage is hard to come by. Finally, the storm laser is pure anti-GEQ. In short, take Decimators if you need Mortal Wounds, and durability without Warpsmiths/Hellwrights following them around, get Helbrutes for everything else. 
**Also, remember that its +1D Heavy Flamer is a flame weapon, so Let the Galaxy Burn turns it into 5.5 shots on average with D2.  Still not as awesome as Soulburner Petard (unless you've gone down your wound track), but still something to remember.
*'''Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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 lets it swap both fists for ranged weapons. 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]]. Melee wise take the ChainFist over the combat weapon and a Shooting weapon. 
**Now that heavy bolters are D2 they have to be the default option you compare against. Decent range, good (non-variable) rate of fire, and a solid strength means that it will do work against any target short of Space Marine dreadnaughts with their -1D effect. If you have a specific target in mind, specialize, but you can't go too far wrong with this workhorse.
*'''Chaos Deredeo Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</sup>''': Chaos finally got the Dorito Dreadnought! A lot of people have wanted this for a while and rightfully so, it kicks ass. is A copy and past of the marine version with the inclusion benefiting from Chaos markets and legion bonuses.
*'''Chaos Leviathan Dreadnought <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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 'Dreadnought' keyword this bad boy can be buffed by your legion traits - Emperor's Children always fights first comes to mind. As for valid weapon options, all are nasty and downright deadly in the right circumstances but are very expensive on an already expensive model. 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.
** Weapon choices have changed with the new FW Compendium. Gone are the days of the Butcher Cannon and Hellflamer, but on the bright side our leviathan is finally on par with the loyalist one (in fact other than keywords they are exact copypastes of each other). Every weapon option on the leviathan is free except for Storm Cannons (10 pts per), Cyclonic Melta Lances (20 pts per) and Hunter Killer Missiles (5 pts per). Storm Cannons are now just 4 autocannons glued together, the cyclonic melta lance gives you d6 S9 melta shots at 18" (which at the 20 pt premium really makes this option not that attractive). The Grav Flux bombard is probably the best choice for a ranged weapon, delivering 2d3 S8 -3 D2 shots at 24" range that get upped to D3 when targeting anything with a 3+ save or better. The melee weapon options are both decent, coming free with a built in melta gun; the claw gives you another attack at S14 -3 D3 while the siege drill gives you an extra AP and a whopping 2d3 dmg that increases to flat 6 when hitting a vehicle. Finally for the carapace guns you have a choice between two heavy flamers and two volkite calivers (both free), the volkite is the more interesting choice, giving you 4 shots at S5 0AP 2dmg with the potential to do mortal wounds on 6's to wound. Then the hunter killer missiles are a one use only S10 krak missile, which are nice to own if you have pts to spare but aren't mandatory by any means.

===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.

*'''Chaos Terrax-Pattern Termite Assault Drill <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''' - It's a giant 180 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 14 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. It won't kill a Knight, but it has a pretty good chance at killing light vehicles. Don't forget this thing has ''FIVE'' Melta guns on it, so if you're planning on charging that knight, you can potentially knock it down a few wounds before ramming the drill into it's knees to bring down the beast!

===Flyer===
*'''Heldrake''': AKA the Helturkey. As of the Sons codex is an official weirdo plane with all the ups and downs (including being able to Deepstrike from Strategic reserves and bugger off the table edge if things look south), except it is explicitly permitted to charge and eat other {{Template:W40kKeyword|Aircraft}} while remaining Hard to Hit. Its stats now also degrade closer to a vanilla plane, which means it always retains its 5 attacks (yes that's one extra now). Its dreaded Baleflamer is now Assault 2D3 instead of Assault D6, and Hades autocannon grew a point of AP, both costing the same now. The claws are D2 and D4 against other {{Template:W40kKeyword|Aircraft}}, which is respectable. Its +1 to-hit against {{Template:W40kKeyword|Fly}} now affects all attacks it does, not just melee. Hover Jet is also there in case you want your metal dragon to score objectives and/or eat people. All that fiery goodness for +15 points to the old one. The rest is unchanged, including its Daemonic 5++ and Regeneration on top of 12 wounds, making the Helturkey very fast, tough, versatile, and incredibly unpleasant to face. Also, the Vector Strike from editions past is back in Stratagem form for some decent extra MWs. It's a good time to be a metal daemon dragon.

*'''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.

*'''Chaos Storm Eagle Gunship <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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.

*'''Chaos Fire Raptor Gunship <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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.

*'''Chaos Xiphon Interceptor <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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 W3 M14 and benefitting greatly from the nerfs to Chosen and Terminators, Chaos Bikers can be a fast and surprisingly tough special weapon delivery unit, with bonus flexibility from Marks. 
**Can take Icon and Marks, so are quite flexible. Tzeentch for making flamers AP-1, Khorne for S+1 and AP-2 chainswords
**Best taken MSU (unless you're Red Corsairs) and kitted out with combi+chainsword. LTGB makes flamers extra spicy, guaranteeing theyre always doing at least 3 shots each. 
**DAMN good as Red Corsairs, and are actually competing with VenomCrawlers for your Fast Attack slots (being the Biker-themed traitors after all). While crawlers are fast daemon engines that blend any type of infantry and are strong enough to threaten vehicles, these guys make great objective stealers and can tough out counterattacks. Red Corsairs count as 2 models on an objective, so gear them to kill enemy troops and seize their objectives for an easy 3 VP via the Long War Stratagem
*'''[[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 <s>with a Combi-Melta Jump Lord. With precision deep-strike to get in rapid-fire range and the lord's aura to reroll 1s, the amount of overcharged plasma you put out will make your opponent [[butthurt|Groan]] while also being substantially cheaper than Combi-Plasma Terminators</s> Jump lords are dead because fuck all 13 people who played Night Lords I guess. They can do melee with the Mark of Khorne and an 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 meltas/flamers, then use Warptime and slingshot them across the board.
**You can now make deep-striking raptor attacks (shooting and melee) re-roll for one command point. If you also mark them as Slaanesh you can make them shoot twice and still re-roll. Set up just within 12 inches and LET FLY ALL GUNS! With overcharging plasma you can unsafely deal 12 damage (8 of which will hit) per squad 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, even though all Vigilus Formations now cannot be used in 9th Edition. 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''' "NOOOOOOOOOBLRLSD" *BLAM*:  A legendary meme and now dedicated meatshield. These are the guys (or things?) you want in front because of their higher Movement, higher Toughness, higher (and regenerating) 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 while something that can actually kill them moves in closer.
** With point changes you can get 5 for 125pt. With its deceptive toughness and decent mobility, there are worse things to use to draw fire or fill out a brigade.
** Mutated beyond reason keeps them from performing actions, and unfortunately they're not Infantry, so no secondaries.
*'''[[Warp Talons]]''': Got major points increase for 9th, and their no overwatch gimmick is now a roll-off with your opponent if you're engagement range of one of their units. If you win, that unit cannot fall back. Gimmicks aside, the 5++ invuln (even moreso when boosted to 4++ with Cursed Earth) is not as nice as it used to be before the age of AP modifiers. In addition, they lack the {W40Kkeyword|CORE}} keyword, so the buffs they get are limited to whatever a Master of Possession can provide. All that being said, they do have an incredible 5 attacks, ''6'' on the Champ, so a minimum size unit is pumping out '''''26''''' attacks on the charge, which should make mincemeat of guardsmen, and put a sizeable dent in marine equivalents. Couple that with the buffs to the Malefic discipline and a nearby Master of Possession, and you have a unit that can put a suprising amount of hurt on things that might not see it coming.  
**Creations of Bile put them up to S5 so they can wound most infantry on 3+ and most vehicles on a 5+. Combine this with the re-roll to wound on the claws to let them threaten any target, but you still want to focus on infantry as they are only D1 each.
**Interestingly they benefit from the Emperor's Children stratagem ''Honor the Prince'' for a guaranteed 6" on your charge as well as the Black Legion stratagem ''Tip of the Spear'', which lets them re-roll charges. Consider running them in either of those detachments if you wish to deep strike them.
**Right, so you're gonna compare these guys to Possessed considering they're the exact same price and attacks per model and basically do the same thing - the issue is in how they do it. Comparatively, Possessed will win out: they're more durable with 3 wounds each and their attacks drop 2 damage per hit. Talons trade that in for a slightly faster M, deep-striking, an easier time wounding, and that gimmicky no-fallback rule.
*'''[[Venomcrawler]]:''' Oh hey, look who got reshuffled into Fast Attack? Now cheaper, costing as much as a basic helbrute, with 9W and thus a non degrading profile. Despite being the squishiest of the daemon engines in terms of wounds, the crawler makes up for this with its speed and utility. Gives friendly psykers +1 to cast in an aura, so with its speed it's an excellent backfield screen against deepstrikes, as it's got a big ol' base, as well as decently ranged guns and the speed to run up the board once your opponent has deployed their reserves. 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. And when it inevitably does the fact it explodes on a 5+ can be a liability or a boon depending on how close it made it to the enemy. Definitely one of our best fast attacks.
*'''[[Blood Slaughterer]]<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 firepowers, 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 its 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, all the benefits of being a Daemon Engine, plus Sickly Resistance being a 5+ FNP rather than the Death Guard's damage reduction should mean that this won't be anytime soon.
*'''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 who cost 2 slots each or even Obliterators, who count as 3, or even a Dread/Decimator (thanks FAQ, making it the only viable delivery vector for our choppy walkers), which counts as 10. 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.

===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. Somehow, they made a land raider good. Well, sorta. You're paying 265 points for something whose max output is being a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] that refuses to die, so you're going to have to build a list around such a big investment and make it worth it. 
**Now a whopping T9, with a 2+ save supported by armour of contempt. Can carry 10 guys, with possessed and terminators taking 2 slots each. Now has Soulshatter Lascannons that hit for d6+2 damage, making it actually somewhat threatening. Take it in Iron Warriors and give it -1 to wound, making meltas wound on 6s, lascannons on 5s, and railguns on 4s. This thing properly supported is not worth the effort to kill, so fill it with your favourite melee blender and just push it up the board tanking everything.
*'''Chaos [[Predator]]''': This is your tank. Got a big buff for 9th, making it maybe viable. 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 2 brand new soulshatter lascannons, for 2 d6+2 shots on top of the sponson-mounted bog-standard ones to blow tanks apart. You can give it a Combi-X of your choice and/or a havoc launcher. 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. 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 a bad idea because spliting your fire each round 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. 
**Predators compete in a clogged heavy support role between Mauler Fiends, Havocs, Defilers and Land Raiders, but remain an attractive choice if you can't think what to put into a list.
**Recieved a boost in Arks of Omen, Heavy Bolter sponsons are now free, can take free havoc launchers and pintle-mounted weapons, and lascannons took a points drop, though this comes at the cost of having lost Armour of Contempt.
*'''Chaos [[Vindicator]]''': Stuck in a bit of a niche killing very heavy infantry and monsters, far from useless however. Seems the warpsmiths have been tinkering with their shells because it now hits for a nasty d3+3 damage, as well as having -4 AP. 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), even more so now that these options are free. Take it if you want something to spearhead a vehicular assault; the close range firepower will serve you well. Its main gun has "Blast" which can be quite useful against hordes while still threatening tougher units, this also has great syngergy with Iron Warriors' Methodical annihilation to reroll a damage roll, count enemy squads as twice the size for blast, and shoot in combat. Definitely pay up for a siege shield (it’s free now), getting a 2+ save makes you far more durable vs anti tank weapons.
*'''[[Defiler]]''': This is a big, stompy, killy daemon engine that will inevitably draw enemy fire because of how threatening it is. They can be pretty destructive for their cost (which went up some 20pts in the transition). What we've got now is a solid block of wounds protected by a 5++, regeneration, and Smoke launchers (yes, it is the only daemon engine to rock smokes), festooned with various now accurate guns, and punchy to boot (A5 now). Daemonforge strat is now changed to hit on 2s, and good riddance, because daemon engines can now hit shit without being glorified spiky CP sinks. Its array of guns can threaten armour, infantry, and anything in between, and even stock it is surprisingly menacing, particularly with its D3 howitzer. For melee it can get extra tentacles, although they grew in price and do less damage now. A backline anchor or a close assault vehicle, big metal crab here can do it all in style.
**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, now given a lease on life in 9th edition, turning a frankly garbage dinobot into a competent fire support platform, with a hefty price hike in the process. This here daemon engine is reasonably tough and comes with two flavours of gun: buff Hades autocannons (now with full range and an extra point of AP) and ''Ecto''plasma cannons (with extra range and flat D3 Blast), one of which can replace the damn thing's face. Is that metal or what. Said upgrade is not strictly necessary since both guns have different range bands and Strength, making them suited for different targets. Still, Dakkafiend is a convenient source of heavy plasma cannons (that never get hot), which have their niche, while Hades are just souped-up autocannons that need no introduction. Just keep that thing away from melee, and it will happily gun medium-sized shit down for you.
*'''[[Havoc|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. 
** They are T5 because they have fight other marines to get their heavy weapons and it shows. Against [[bolter]] fire or the [[shoota|like]]. This sounds great until you run into a proper Guard gun line, which doesn't care about the difference between T4 & T5. 
**'''Havoc Autocannons''' The cheap and direct option with a bonus AP compared to the standard model, Havoc Autocannons are solid for their 48 inch range, decent str and 2 damage a piece shots. They wont outright kill a big unit or vehicle but it will repeatedly punch holes into it from a safe distance. Great for pissing off primaris and sniping overextending troops off objectives. ''Yup, chaos snipers wield autocannons''
**'''Heavy Bolters''' Competes with the Autocannon, but unlike the Loyalist Autocannon, doesn't invalidate it. You gain 1 shot, but lose range, AP, and S. Where the Autocannon is the MEQ-killing Sniper, the Heavy Bolter provides suppressing fire. 12 shots at S5 AP-1 D2 is tempting, but you're only going to be scoring exploding 6s in the first turn and most players will try to avoid giving you LOS/Range in the first turn. Very situational.
**'''Reaper Chaincannon''' 24" 8 Shots S5 AP-1 D1, Reaper Chaincannons are ''statistically'' your best option for killing most types of infantry, but is really ham-strung by its middling range and the fact that it's only D1. Just like the Heavy Bolters, 8-32 S5 shots is ''amazing'' for proccing LTGB, but you have to be within 24" to make the most out of it, and AoC really made it inefficient against MEQ. This is ''probably'' better on Legionaries because the 24" overlaps with their bolters, and you're not really going to feel that -1 to hit when you've got 8 shots. Havocs should spend their points on long-ranged weapons. 
**'''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. 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 decent against heavy targets, monsters, and overextended characters. It does its job very well but isn't point efficient against other targets.
*'''[[Maulerfiend]]''':  The Choppafiend, fast and capable of cracking open any tank it comes in contact with, now ''vastly'' improved for the same price. With WS3+ and 6A at S7x2 AP-3 Dd3+3, this thing is a freaking turbocharged can-opener that will eat light vehicles for breakfast. Said 6A also don't degrade now. For kit it's got Magma cutters, which are a pair of full-on inferno pistols (except Assault, not that it matters much, all vehicles shoot in melee now), or Lasher tendrils, which still grant a huge pile of extra attacks albeit at D1 and cost extra. You basically choose between straight up more damage to your intended targets and chaff-clearing potential in case you get bogged down on the way there. Both choices are very solid for such a cheap and vicious unit. Oh, and it ignores Charge penalties now because why not.
*'''[[Obliterators]]''': The big and shooty boys are back, and are no longer Randumb! 5" move, but they can still deepstrike, and have 5 wounds and 4 attacks at Sx2(10) AP-3 D3. But that's not why you take them, you take them for all the Fleshmetal guns they have, which now have 3 profiles, with something for every occasion:
**'''Warphail''': 24" Heavy D6 + '''9''' S5 AP-1 D1 attacks for mulching GEQs and Boyz.
**'''Ruinous Salvo''': 24" Heavy D3+3 autocannon-ish shots (S7 AP-2 D2), the D2 being excellent for taking out marines and the extra pip of AP for AOC.
**'''Focused Malice''': 24" Heavy D3 S9 AP-3 D4, which is pretty good for breaking vehicles when it gets through.
**Obliterators also get Big Guns Never Tire but with a different name (''Unrelenting Firepower''), letting them shoot in melee or on the move as if they were vehicles. 
**Because of their <Daemonkin> keyword, they can benefit from a '''Master of Possession'''. Apply Warp Marked on an enemy to guarantee a 2+ to wound or even [[awesome|bring back a destroyed 90 point model for free]] if the squad still exists. Overall, a very solid unit when you want something shot off the board, regardless of what it is.
**If you're wondering where Mutilators went, don't bother, hardly anybody took them, they were just a waste of a heavy slot. Obliterators now do the jobs of both. Plus you have Maulerfiends to round out your detachment regardless. 
*'''Chaos [[Vindicator]] Laser Destroyer <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': This bad boy cannibalizes tanks. You should almost always supercharge the Laser Volley Cannon because the odds of rolling a 1 is small and a single MW (that happens ''after'' shooting) is peanuts. For the same reason, don't be afraid to move this vehicle around.
*'''Chaos [[Land Raider Achilles]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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.
*'''Chaos [[Land Raider Proteus]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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.
*'''Chaos [[Rapier Armoured Carrier|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). The quad heavy bolter's good against infantry blobs, and the graviton cannon will fuck up marines. All the weapons it can carry are good, but what you gain in point saving you lose in durability. These have stats on par with a generic character but without Look Out Sir, so keep them well hid. Lastly never forget to have some sort of aura affecting it, missing with its heavier shots is devastating.
*'''Chaos [[Whirlwind#Deimos_Pattern_Whirlwind_Scorpius|Scorpius]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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.
*'''Chaos [[Sicaran Battle Tank]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</sup>:''' a Series of Relic tanks, having an improved rhino-land raider-hybrid chassis with 14W and 2+Sv. The downside is they all have Martial Legacy. In addition to its main gun and a single Heavy Bolter, you can grab 2 sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters or 2 Lascannons, a hunter-killer missile, and a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter, if you crave more dakka. The Sicaran Battle Tank has lost its anti-skimmer special rules and got nothing in return, meaning its essentially a souped-up predator. Comparatively you get an improved statline, and on the main cannon you get max shots and a better pip of AP (fuck you Salamanders). Whether those are worth the extra points cost and CP will be up to you.
*'''Chaos [[Sicaran Venator]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</sup>:''' The Venator will <strike>rape</strike> explode any vehicle it looks at. Of the sponson options, go with the Lascannons. They have the same range and want to shoot the same targets as the main cannon, which will assist with securing utter deletion of your enemies. Unfortunately this tank is extremely similar to the Vindicator Laser Destroyer, which is arguably the better vehicle. Field the Venator if you can afford to buy the sponsons, can make good use of the better range, and want to bring a vehicle with a much <strike>bigger cock</strike> cooler design.
*'''Chaos [[Sicaran Punisher]] <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</sup>:''' The draw is the Punisher Rotary Cannon- 18 S6 Ap-1 D1 shots guaranteed to make any hordes within 36" hate life. Enjoy making Orks and Tyranids cry.
*'''Chaos [[Sicaran Arcus]]''': Another Sicaran variant, acting like a bigger Whirlwind Scorpius, this one is armed with a multi-launcher. 48" Heavy 2d6 with S6 AP-1 D2 Blast and ignores LOS. if your taking an Arcus over a Scorpius, your trying to make the most out of that 1 CP and heavy slot buy butting sponsion weapon on it.
*'''Chaos [[Sicaran Omega]]''': Its Omega Plasma Array has two modes; in its normal mode, which is 36" Heavy 6 S8 Ap -3 D2 and gain +1S & D on overcharge but a MW on 1s to hit. Being a threat to TEU and vehicles while the Venator is pure vehicles and titanic units.
*'''Chaos Predator (legends)<sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': It's a Predator with some extra rules and guns. Standard Pred weapons with the ability to choose Flamestorm Cannon to bubbles 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).

===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 OF POWER''' 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.
**Fun fact, has the <CHAOS> keyword and as a result of which allows it to benefit from the 5++ aura from a nearby Noctilith Crown (see below) should you happen to place them together.

*'''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. Can be used in place of a Dark Apostle to provide your backline campers (i.e. Havocs) with a 5+ invulnerable.

===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. As a {{Template:W40kKeyword|VEHICLE}} 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.
*Rune was reworked be viable by not take mortal wounds from psychic abilites on a 4+ rather than causing perils on any doubles(and not working)

*'''Hellforged Spartan Assault Tank <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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)).<strike> 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.</strike> Now removed and basically a carbon copy of the loyalist version! So load them up with Possessed/Terminators and go nuts! 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] [Martial Legacy]</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] [Martial Legacy]</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] [Martial Legacy]</sup>''': The Baneblade's exponentially meaner cousin is now a quite reasonable 550 without bells and whistles. 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.

*'''Hellforged Falchion <sup>[Forge World] [Martial Legacy]</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] [Martial Legacy]</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] [Martial Legacy]</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>''':

*'''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.