Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Psychic 101 (section)

====Malefic====
:;Overview
::There's a reason most armies don't use this; it's a major sink for your Warp Charges.  Unless you can ensure that you've got a lot of them (which Daemons really can do, hence [[The Ultimate Chaos Daemons Cheese List|this]]. although the core strategy used in that list no longer works) don't be expecting to make clusterfucks appear at a whim. But if you do have a ton of Warp Charges to throw around, you may be able to make your army double in size in a couple of turns. '''However''', even if you do, realize that using your entire army to make more army doesn't actually accomplish anything (unless you plopped a new scoring unit on a tactical objective, anyway); at some point you need to stop recursing and ''actually kill the enemy''.  Sacrifice is effective enough on its own to cast at every opportunity, but you can bet your ass that the enemy can clear off (or at least cripple) a Summoned unit with a smaller point investment than you used to get those 6-8 dice.  Used mindlessly you ''will'' get out-paced, but used surgically you can make even the best opponents tear their hair out.

{| class="wikitable sortable"  style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
|+ Malefic Daemonology Powers
! Number !! Name !! Type !! Range !! Target !! Description !! Charges
|-
! data-sort-value=0 | Primaris !! Summoning
| Conjuration || 12 || None
| Summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 10 Bloodletters, 10 Pink Horrors, 10 Plaguebearers, 10 Daemonettes, 5 Flesh Hounds, 3 Flamers, 3 Nurgling Swarms, 5 Seekers. The reason this was used was because of the massive clusterfuck you could make with this, since Horrors are psykers and could get Summoning as well so you could summon psykers to summon psykers to summon psykers, repeat ad nauseam.  This is currently FAQed away, as "new" Horrors don't get Daemonology; there is [[skub|no explanation]] what the FAQ means by "new", but Horrors conjured by this power seem to unequivocally qualify.  As a result, there are ''two'' big limits to the use of this power. The first is obvious: who the hell has that many horror models? The second is that you're summoning ML1 horrors with access to ''only'' the Change discipline. Since they do have mind bullets, they now have more kick, but even with this buff it does not change the fact that the daemon swarm is just not that good. If you're at home using Daemons as lackeys then don't go overboard on summoning. Do it to get reinforcements, but the 'bacterial swarm' is best used for the occasional fun list with a lot of proxy models. See below this chart for further notes on Summoning.
| 3
|-
! 1 !! Cursed Earth
| Blessing || data-sort-value=0 | Self || Model
| All models with the Daemon special rule (allied and enemy) within 12 inches of the user gain +1 to their Invulnerable save and do not scatter when Deep Striking within range of the user. If you have a good blob unit or deathstar, then this power will go a long way in allowing them to survive a little further. Use with the chaos demon Grimoire for a 2+ invulnerable (and with Tzeentch daemons to make it re-rollable; the infamous "Screamerstar"). Also, be careful: to get the most out of this your daemons have to be within 12" of the caster, meaning you have to bunch up a bit. Not a deal breaker thanks to the higher invulnerable, but something to remember. Also remember that this power applies to enemies with the Daemon rule, too. So yeah, that's one thing not to cast if you're facing down an Avatar of Khaine. If you have a bunch of daemons already this will probably draw every remaining die your enemy can throw at it in a mad attempt to Deny it. Don't let them, either by draining their pool first with frivolous bullshit or by throwing enough dice at it that denial is unlikely. Or, use it as the bait for something else, like an unholy barrage of beams and witchfires the enemy is now powerless to stop.
| 1
|-
! 2 !! Dark Flame
| Witchfire || data-sort-value=20 | Torrent || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=Torrent|strength=4|ap=5|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Torrent, Soul Blaze}}  It's a fierce weapon, so...yeah, not a bad power, but nothing compared to the utility of Cursed Earth, and there are better psychic shooting attacks.
| 1
|-
! 3 !! Infernal Gaze
| Witchfire (Beam) || 18 || Unit
| {{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|range=18|strength=3|ap=4|type=Assault|rof=1|rules=Beam, Armourbane, Fleshbane}}  Use of this power comes with a penchant for red sunglasses and disrespecting your hot, psychic wife.  Absolute PAIN on any infantry it hits.  However, it is only ONE hit, so it won't be killing legions of Spehss Mehreens or hordes of chittering gaunts (unless they're conga dancing). What it WILL do, though, is seriously mess up any priority target you set your eyes upon. Best ignore anything other than infantry though. Even though it's got Armourbane, S3 is so low that it is nowhere near reliable against any vehicle and generally not worth the dice.
| 1
|-
! 4 !! Sacrifice
| Conjuration || 6 || None
| Summons a Herald of your choice (with up to 30 points' worth of wargear options) within 6 inches of the user. However, the user or another friendly unit in range suffers a single wound with no saves allowed (so FNP works, as usual). Don't expect it to survive for long on its own, so you'd better summon some mooks to help him survive. This is a slick little power to have on hand if you get blindsided or if you bite off more than you can chew. For instance, sudden combat with an overzealous challenge character? Bring in a Herald of Khorne with an Axe of Khorne and show him what's what. My favorite trick is to summon a bunch of Tzeentch Heralds on Disks over the course of the game who turbo to hiding spots all over the board only to emerge turns 5-7 as needed to contest and take objectives.  The Imperial Knight formation that has people in a tizzy has almost no defense against this trick as they have nearly no Objective Secured. Also, for the love of the Emperor, be polite and have some Heralds pre-kitted before the game starts so you don't have to hunt in the codex for a few minutes in the middle of the game to see your options. Like Cursed Earth, this draws Deny aggro like nobody's business. If you need it to go off, throw at least 3 dice at it; otherwise, it makes great bait so you can cast everything else with impunity.
| 1
|-
! 5 !! Incursion
| Conjuration || 12 || None
| Summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 3 Bloodcrushers, 3 Screamers, 3 Plague Drones, 3 Fiends. This generally isn't used for much unless you're planning to cheese your way to an infinite Screamerstar, or you're looking for some Distraction Daemons.  While you shouldn't forget about this if you get it, if you're gonna get the Primaris anyway due to psychic focus, then the limited use will mean you won't cast this all that often. Bonus points: summon three screamers next to your enemy's Land Raider and watch him devote untold forces to getting rid of them.
| 3
|-
! 6 !! Possession
| Conjuration || 6 || None
| Summons a Greater Daemon of your choice within 6 inches, and removes the user as a casualty. (If the user was part of a unit with a Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers, the whole unit is removed.) If the Psychic test to manifest this power fails, the user automatically suffers Perils of the Warp. (Just imagine the look on your opponent's face when your otherwise useless Wyrdvane Psykers explode into a Bloodthirster. Or your Lord of Change, on his last wound, [[Oinkbane|explodes into a new and fully healed Lord of Change]].) The spell specifically states you must summon either a [[Bloodthirster]] of any variation, a [[Lord of Change]], a [[Great Unclean One]] or a [[Keeper of Secrets]], so no, you can't summon a named greater daemon. This generally isn't used because of the mighty cost it takes, but the reward it allows (especially if you're running Daemons) makes it insanely tempting. Use at your own peril. Also note, as per the May 2016 FAQ, Flying Monstrous Creatures must now be declared to be either Swooping or Gliding when conjured or summoned to the table, so you now have the choice of whether to keep them in the relative protection of the air, or on the ground so that they can get stuck in sooner. Note: they still are still deployed as per Deep Strike and so cannot charge that same turn, this just means you don't have to waste an additional turn switching flight modes.
| 3
|}

=====More on Summoning=====
* "New" horrors can't roll from Daemonology per Wrath of Magnus/latest FAQs. Whoops.
** "New" is not explained, so it could mean all Horrors ("new" meaning "latest rules"), or only ones that join your army after list creation ("new" as in "conjured").  The FAQ does not clarify.  Either way, summoned horrors can't roll on it.
* Some quick math; you generally want to throw 6-8 dice at the Summoning to make it go off reliably.  A 10-man Horror squad is only Mastery 1 (they're taken in lists because you spend 9 points for a second warp charge, a min squad is crap), so your return on investment is at best 20%.  Even if you successfully cast it 5 times in a turn, you're only able to pull off one more Summoning than you were before, assuming none of your squads get wiped by the thousand-odd points of return fire (you do actually have to pay points for your initial warp charge).  Even if you do, a horror unit minus its warp charge (since that's getting used for recursion) is basically a 10-man unit of Imperial Guard ''without lasguns''.  Making even a hundred more cultist-equivalents for a thousand points of input energy is a bad trade; you have to do something with all that warp charge to actually win the game, like summon Daemonettes (who can actually kill people without using your precious warp charges) or channel a bajillion Flickering Fires out of all those horrors.  Recursion is a fine way to spend your first turn while you advance into range, but make sure you have a plan for how to get work out of it.
* In lower points games, Summoning is an excellent tool for a lot of situations. Summon Bloodletters in front of Spess Mehreens as a Distraction Carnifex (because they will either get shot down or tear MEQs a new asshole), summon Horrors as objective-holders and batteries, summon Daemonettes for messing up infantry, summon Plaguebearers to hold objectives / pluck apart MCs, summon some Flesh Hounds to harrass Heavy Weapon teams or summon a bunch of Flamers close enough to units they can actually kill with their shots. If you use this only to make more army, you might as well leave it. Seekers are much less useful than Daemonettes, and Nurglings are out-performed by Plaguebearers. If you summon those units for a purpose, however, you can easily change the course of the game with it. However, the more points you play with, the less useful this power is. If you summon 100 points worth of unit in a 500 point game, you just increased your army by 20%, which is freaking huge. As the games get bigger, the impact of this spell is lessened, though.
* Also keep in mind that if you manage to pull this power off, it is almost impossible to deny. 3 Warp Charges minimum with no modifier to deny the witch means on average 18(!) dice minimum to negate this, which nobody has, and if they did, they wouldn't blow them all to negate your Summoning.