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

===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).