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

===Heavy Support===

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Forge World Heavy Support'''

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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