Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Daemons of the Ruinstorm (30k) (section)

===<big>WATCH THE FUCK OUT FOR INSTANT DEATH WEAPONRY.</big>===

This needs to be stated, then restated, then carved into your skin next to the Hexagrammic Wards. Why is this so much of an issue for you, even moreso than armies like Talons of the Emperor? Simple, it's because the Custodes do not have their stats degrade over the course of the battle, and it's much harder to stack these effects on them. Starting off with cheap troops that are S5, T5 and 2 Wounds sounds awesome, but when they're going to start getting hit by power fists or similar weaponry in turn 3, or instantly killed by quad-mortars spamming out shatter shells it's going to be significantly less so. Daemon Swarms have this same problem but in a much worse way, that being as soon as turn 5 hits you can lose the entire unit because bolter fire will instantly kill them (this can also happen turn 3 if they're anywhere near Sisters of Silence, or if you're up against Solar Auxilia using Blast-chargers). Most importantly, any kind of Dreadnought with a fist will fuck your day up royally.

Now with that in mind, maybe you're thinking you're going to go for the tougher models then, the ones who are T6 base, so even when turn 5 rolls around they'll still be T5, sounds good right? Well hold on a second, because something a lot of armies can take is Melta Bombs. They don't seem too bad at first because they're going to only cause one wound and the models with them can only make one attack after you've made yours, what if your opponent is taking Rad Grenades or has either allied in or is playing Mechanicum? All of a sudden that 160+ point T5 model is going to become T4, and they'll go up instantly to a single successful Melta bomb or Power Fist (naturally this also gets a lot worse if your opponent is using Custodes). This can even happen as early as turn 3 if you're playing against an army that has at least two of the following: Sisters of Silence, Rad Grenades, Rad Furnaces, a Psyker who rolled up Enfeeble.

As a whole Melta Bombs and Krak Grenades are going to be a great threat because of the sheer number of them the enemy can use against you in melee, especially since even the Krak Grenades are going to outright ignore your native save, forcing you to rely on that 5++. Because of this, don't write off options like Daemon Brutes just because you can take Greater Daemons, Daemon Shrikes or Greater Ruinstorm Daemon Beasts. A unit of Daemon Brutes might just be infantry (and therefore won't ignore saves unless you want to try using Crushing Claws), but they're going to be so much harder to kill compared to the others as your opponent cannot choose to use Krak Grenades/Melta Bombs against them.

As a rule, anything that can ID you from afar needs to go immediately. Adrathic Weapons? Get those involved in combat as soon as possible, preferably by charging them with one of your troops and then a monster so that the monster doesn't die to lucky overwatch fire. Vindicators? Throw Rift Barbs at them immediately. Even shit that carries anything with the Psi-shock rule needs to go if you've bought mastery levels for your Daemons, because you're going to find those 6-10 wounds evaporating really fucking quickly. If you're up against Sisters of Silence or those new Destroyer Squads who can spam this shit then taking Font of the Warp for your Arch-Daemon is the equivalent of pissing 700+ points away (on top of losing your Lord of War).

So what else can you do about it? Fortunately for you, there are options. The first is to consider whether or not you really want your Daemon Lords to be flying solo. On the one hand, flying Monstrous Creatures are great and have a lot of additional survivability thanks to everything without Skyfire being forced to snap shot them. On the other hand, Skyfire's a thing, as are grounding tests, as is the fact that you have to use up an entire turn to change your flight mode and the fact that your stats are only going to get worse. Because of this, if you want a mobile but survivable Daemon Lord who you plan to get into combat, consider getting a few Daemonic Brutes to go with him and giving them all Daemonic Wings (yes you're just a jump unit).

Another thing you can do, if you're not against somebody ready to spam out Psi-shock, is buy several mastery levels for your Daemon Lord and pick Endurance. Giving your Daemons Eternal Warrior takes away the biggest downside of using them and the Feel No Pain's going to help a lot with the saves the Krak Grenades are going to force on your monsters. You can also buy Warp-scaled Hide or Brass Collars (even if you're not up against any Psykers, because it's cheaper than Warp-scaled Hide) purely because saving a wound on a 3+ is much more likely than it is on a 5+.

Another option is to invest in Possessed. They're your only real choice for ranged AP2 (discounting allies and psychic powers like Smite), they're cheap, and you can put a ton of models in the unit which translates to a shitload of bodies on the table. Try to go up to Legionairies if you can or get them some sort of cover, just so that the whole squad doesn't evaporate when a Volkite weapon looks at them funny. The fact that they don't have their stats degrade over time is also a plus.

Finally your last option for dealing with ID weaponry, is to ally in something else that can take care of them for you. Enemy Vindicator? Get Laser Destroyers or squads with Tempest Grenades. Sagittarum Guard? Get your own Vindicator. Worried that your decreased stats will take away from your ability to hold objectives? Get Troops from somewhere else and charge on ahead. Failing this you can also try to mitigate how much your troops get shot by [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|adding in something much more immediately threatening]], like a Thanatar or a unit of Castellax. Hell, if you're playing a large points game your could even go in with [[Anacharis_Scoria|the big boy.]] Also make sure to never forget that you're technically Sworn Brothers with all Traitors, which means that you can buff them with Warlord Traits and Daemon Chosen. Plasma Support squads are going to be much more deadly for your opponent if you can re-roll Get's Hot and failed wound rolls, while also providing the ranged AP2 your list lacks. Word Bearers in particular are a good choice since they have access to Malefic Daemonology.