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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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