Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Dark Angels (section)

===Melee Weapons=== 
*'''Chainsword''' - Now actually has a use! Still the basic CCW profile, but allows for one extra attack. Cost nothing and good at clearing out hordes.
*'''Power Weapons''' - Each type of Power Weapon has its own profile now, so pick the right one for the situation. All Power Weapons have a damage value of 1:
**'''Power Maul/Power Lance:''' S+2, AP-1. This is the one you want to use against lightly armoured or high armour, high invuln units that rely on toughness to shrug off hits scuh as Orks and Custodes.
**'''Power Sword:''' S User AP-3. No direct boosts to Strength, but good enough against SoBs and other T3 units with good armor saves.
**'''Power Axe:''' S+1 AP-2. A good enough compromise between the Sword's armor negation and the Maul's brute force.Your best bet for dealing with MEQs and TEQs.
***Note: Power weapons, aside from the Power Fist and Thunder Hammer, are very cheap now, and with the ability to charge after firing, it isn't a bad idea to give Sergeants a melee weapon if they're going to be close to the front, e.g. a Tactical squad in a rhino, Ravenwing squad, etc.
*'''Relic Blade''' - Available to Captains. A S+2 AP-3 weapon that deals d3 damage per attack, you can think of them as bare-bones Heavenfall Blades. Company Champions get superior Blades of Caliban ''(see below)'' but Captains can at least choose something else if they want to. Relic Blades fall somewhere between fists and claws in effectiveness as it's good at fighting both infantry and vehicles/monsters, though not to the point of weapons designed for that specific task. This weapon is notably best used with Challenger characters: It's solid combination of High-strength, High-rend, High-Damage with no penalty to swinging makes it outright deadly to characters that rely on large numbers of wounds to stay in combat.
**'''Alternate Take:''' Your Captain/Lieutenant can just upgrade to a Heavenfall Blade for free or 1CP, and get the same profile with +1A at 4 points instead of 9. However, you can only take one Heavenfall in your entire army, as the rest are owned by named characters.
*'''Blade of Caliban:''' Available to Company Champions and Ravenwing Champions in place of the Master Crafted Power Sword. Good, because these masterpiece weapons are S+3, AP-3 and d3 damage, making them superior to every basic power weapon and are better even than Relic Blades. While they are a little less reliable than the MC sword's flat 2 damage, but wound everything up to toughness six on a 3+. It keeps this edge up to T13 (still wounding on 5+), the cost of the blade is now free, and comes built in to the cost of the Champion.
*'''Corvus Hammer:''' S+1 AP-1 damage 1. Equipped by Black Knights and Ravenwing officers. At first glance it looks like a poor man's Power Axe or Maul, slightly inferior to both, though remember that the whole unit gets access to this and now strikes at S5 and drop power armour saves back to 50%. Furthermore, if you roll a 6+ to wound then the wound becomes damage d3 instead of 1. For some strange reason now, the Ravenwing Apothecary/Ancient don't have this unlike the index rules, and the Black Knights can optionally take one (might as well as they cost absolutely nothing). Huh.  
*'''Lightning Claws:''' S User AP-2 D1. Allows you rerolls to wound and gain an extra attack if you have two of them. Needless to say, always bring them along in pairs. Which they won't because Deathwing players will take DW Knights for melee instead. Unless they're idiots and want to miss out on Cyclones and Plasma Cannons. [[Rage|As even Cataphractii will cost three points less than a Deathwing Knight.]]
*'''Power Fist''' - Sx2 AP-3 d3 damage. Unwieldy has been replaced with a -1 penalty on to hit rolls, which can be annoying but does mean you're no longer screwed by being forced to attack last all the time. As with last edition bringing a lightning claw is still a viable option, using the claw for shredding lightly armoured units without the -1 to hit, however the -1 to hit is also the reason that this isn’t needed any more, as you aren’t screwed by attacking last any more. In short it’s a situational upgrade where you value quantity of hits over quality of hits. Which in this blob heavy edition is worth considering.
*'''Thunder Hammer''' - Like a Power Fist, but deals 3 damage instead of d3. All the strengths ''(and the -1 to hit modifier)'' of the Power Fist, with none of the random damage but more points, damn it. Cheapskates will take Deathwing Knights for free Maces of Absolution instead.
*'''Chainfist''' - Like a Power Fist, but AP-4 and a fixed 2 damage. Better at punching through armour, and more damage against W2 models. You also pay a hefty tax for the extra reliability, because the Power Fists dropped to 12 points [[Fail|but the Chainfist didn't change in price at all]].
*'''Eviscerator''' - Unlike his baby brother, this heavy chainsaw sword is a two-handed chainfist: Sx2 ''(S8 for Marines)'' AP-4 D3 damage -1 to hit which actually makes it a less reliable but potentially more damaging Chainfist. Since the option in the Assault Squad states that any one in five models may equip it, you can give it to the Sergeant who has 2A to get better use from the expensive weapon.
*'''Force Weapons''' - Librarians come with these. Identical to their Power Weapon counterparts (with Force Staves filling in for the Power Maul), but deal d3 damage instead of 1 damage.