Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Thousand Sons (section)

==Psychic Powers==
Being the premier Sorcerers of 40K, the Thousand Sons get two large disciplines to use (plus an additional power based on their Cult). Though we lost access to the Discipline of Tzeentch and all of the synergy with daemons, we gained 6 powers in both of the two disciplines, and now both of them are useable by all our psykers except for the Tzaangor Shaman, who is limited to Change. Whether you want to shit out mindbullets, buff allies, debuff enemies, or any combination of the above, the Thousand Sons will have it covered. Listed based on your random generation rolls.

A note on powers that deal mortal wounds: competing with Smite is difficult for most powers under ordinary circumstances, but you have easy access to an array of buffs that buff Smite ''more'' than other powers.  For example, your flat +1 to all casts raises Smite's output from 1.7917 to 2.0833 mortal wounds - a larger benefit than most powers will get - but you can use a Cabbalistic ritual to add +1 or +2 to the cast (or +3 with the Warlord trait for 2 rituals at once), which will continue to emphasize Smite more than other powers, and since you can use any of your multiple ways to re-roll a cast to re-roll a successful Smite to fish for a bigger one (e.g. with just a base +1 modifier and a re-roll, you can re-roll 9 or less to try again for the 10+ you need for a bigger Smite), those buffs ''also'' encourage Smite more.  To keep things simple, mortal wound analysis below will only assume you have +1 to the cast and you're working with the base WC of the power.

An obvious fact is that there is nothing stopping you from doubling up on using Smite and other mortal wounds dealing psychic powers since most of the psykers in this faction can cast more than once, should you feel the need for even more mortal wounds. Sometimes the correct answer is ''both''.

{|class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="border:2px solid black;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;"
|+ style="font-weight:strong;white-space:nowrap;" | Psychic Powers of the Thousand Sons
|-
! scope="col" data-sort-type="text" | Discipline
! scope="col" data-sort-type="text" | Name
! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" | D33
! scope="col" data-sort-type="text" | Type
! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" | Warp Charge
! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" | Range
! scope="col" class=unsortable | Description
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan=9 | Change
! scope="row" | Tzeentch's Firestorm
| 11 || Witchfire || 6 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Select a visible enemy unit within 18″ of the psyker. Roll 9 dice, the enemy unit takes a Mortal Wound for each roll of a 6. But if you roll an ''unmodified'' 9+ on the psychic test, the mortal wounds go off on a 5+. 
*Doombolt always does 3 mortals, but this power does 1.5 and increases to 3 on a 9+.  You sacrifice mortal wound output for the ability to pick your target.
*One last note on this power. It lets you make something of a psychic assassin when combined with the Athenaean Scrolls and Devastating Sorcery. 3d6 drop 1 with a re-roll gives you a very reliable way to make that 9+ and zap the bejesus out of someone from behind their screen unit. Couple with Malevolent Charge for an extra d3 MW. 
|-
! scope="row" | Glamour of Tzeentch
| 12 || Blessing || 6 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Target a friendly {{W40kKeyword|Thousand Sons}} unit within 18"; enemies have -1 to hit that unit. Great for keeping a valuable unit (e.g. Magnus) alive. 
|-
! scope="row" | Doombolt
| 13 || Witchfire || 6 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Deals 3 Mortal Wounds to the closest visible target within 18" of the psyker. Smite without the chance of rolling a 1 or getting lucky with a 6.
*Finally, a power worth casting.  This beats Smite, by a ''lot'' - it deals 2.5 mortal wounds on average, thanks to your +1 to cast.  Definitely worth considering.
*If you're taking powers for a Witch-Warrior Sorcerer, this is ''still'' better - being able to re-roll Smite's mortal wounds spikes its output to 2.46 mortals, still less than 2.5 - but that's silly.  Just give this power to some other psyker in your army and let the Witch-Warrior cast Smite.
|-
! scope="row" | Temporal Manipulation
| 21 || Blessing || 5 || 12"
| style="text-align:left" | Select a friendly {{W40kKeyword|Thousand Sons}} non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} '''model''' within 12" of the psyker, that model immediately heals D3 wounds. Each model can only be healed once per turn.
*Expected healing after your +1 to cast is 0.92 for a target missing 1 wound, 1.53 for a target missing 2 wounds, and 1.83 for a target missing 3 wounds.
**As a result, the usually optimal choices for targets of this spell are a Mutalith or Magnus, to help uncripple their statline.
|-
! scope="row" | Weaver of Fates
| 22 || Blessing || 7 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | A friendly {{W40kKeyword|Thousand Sons}} unit within 18" gets a 4++ invulnerable save.
*Since everything you have is already at a 5++ and 7 is more than 6, Glamour of Tzeentch is a significantly more reliable spell for keeping a unit alive.
*While it is a shame that you cannot use it to push your big sorcerers to 3++ anymore, 4++ is nothing to scoff at on any squad from 10 scarabs to even a squad of 5 spawn.
|-
! scope="row" | Baleful Devolution
| 23 || Witchfire || 8 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Select a visible enemy unit within 18" of the psyker that contains 6+ models and roll D6s equal to the test's result. Every 6 deals 1d3 mortal wounds to the unit, which means you deal 1/3 of your result to the target, provided your result was 8 or more (i.e. you see a 7 or more, thanks to your +1).
*Worse than Smite, but better than Firestorm, at 1.88 mortal wounds normally.
|-
! scope="row" | Cacodaemonic Curse
| 31 || Malediction || 6 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Select an enemy unit within 18" and until your next psychic phase it gets -1S on its ranged weapons.
|-
! scope="row" | Pyric Flux
| 32 || Blessing || 5 || 12"
| style="text-align:left" | Select a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Arcana Astartes}} (rubrics, scarab occults, sorcerers, and exalted sorcerers are the only ''relevant'' targets, though) unit within 12" of the psyker and add +1S to their warpflame pistols, warpflamers, and heavy warpflamers (these are listed by name, not by type like how malicious volleys works with all bolt weapons, so this spell ''does not'' work on warpflame relics like Incandaeum or <s>Incaladion's Cry</s> Wrong, dumbass. The codex literally states that it affects any relics that replace one of those weapons. So yes, it will affect shit like Incaladion's Cry) until the end of the turn (although it's nearly impossible for this to come up in more than one phase, expiring at the end of the turn ensures you don't have this up for Overwatch). Never let your Warpflamer Rubrics leave home without this.
*''Stacks'' with an Infernal Master's Malefic Maelstrom for S5 pistol flamers, S6 assault flamers, and S7 heavy flamers, not that S7 is useful.  Since either power can work in tandem with the other failing, you can also bring both for reliability on your +1S.
|-
! scope="row" | Perplex
| 33 || Malediction || 7 || 24"
| style="text-align:left" | Select one enemy unit within 24" of the psyker and until your next psychic phase that unit cannot shoot at targets more than 24" away. Nice for stopping snipers from attacking your backline.
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan=9 | Vengeance
! scope="row" | Gaze of Hate
| 11 || Witchfire || 5 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick an enemy unit within 18" to have a staring contest with and roll 3 dice; any results of a 4+ cause a mortal wound, so you cause 1.5 mortal wounds on average after succeeding (unbuffed Smite causes 2.15 on average after succeeding; with a +1 to the cast, it's 2.27), and normal casters deal 1.375 net mortal wounds on average.
*You need to be on your ''fifth'' cast of Smite for this to be better - i.e. you need to have already attempted Smite 4 times.  Hard pass except for Ahriman on a disc trying to put as many mortals as possible on a target with chaff in the way.
*Strictly worse than Tzeentch's Firestorm, in general.
|-
! scope="row" | Twist of Fate
| 12 || Malediction || 8 || 12"
| style="text-align:left" | Target an enemy unit within 12" - they cannot take invulnerable saves until your next psychic phase. 
*There is a very crucial difference between Twist of Fate and Null Zone; Null Zone is a 6" bubble around the psyker that can affect your allies, whereas Twist of Fate has a longer range and can choose a specific target, which arguably makes it much more flexible. Since you're only unable to target characters in the Shooting phase without the discbirds, you can strip Girlyman or Cawl or Celestine of their invuln save and then rip them to pieces in close combat.
|-
! scope="row" | Dark Blessing
| 13 || Witchfire || 6 || 6"
| style="text-align:left" | Targets a visible enemy model within 6". Roll a die. If you roll higher than the target's toughness, it suffers d3+3 mortal wounds.
* Ties with your Smite against T3, is worse against T4+, and is better against T2 or less - in other words, a waste of your time.  Hard pass.  The range is too low and the number of targets for whom the number of mortal wounds is credible is too low to bother.
|-
! scope="row" | Presage
| 21 || Blessing || 7 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick a friendly {{W40kKeyword|Thousand Sons}} unit within 18"; that unit adds 1 to their hit rolls (shooting and melee) until the next psychic phase. Good old reliable, now easier to pull off because of the innate +1 to cast. 
|-
! scope="row" | Swelled by the Warp
| 22 || Blessing || 6 || 12"
| style="text-align:left" | Targeted friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Thousand Sons}} model within 12" of the caster gains +2S and +1A. Magnus the Red can cast this, and is nasty as hell when he's under its effects.
|-
! scope="row" | Temporal Surge
| 23 || Blessing || 7 || 6"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Thousand Sons Infantry/Cavalry/Beasts}} unit within 6" of the psyker; that unit can immediately move as though it were the movement phase. 
*Cannot be used on Magnus, as he hasn't got the right keywords.
|-
! scope="row" | Empyric Guidance
| 31 || Blessing || 4 || 6"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick one friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Thousand Sons}} unit within 6" of the psyker; until your next psychic phase, that unit adds 6" to the range of rapid fire and heavy weapons.
*Ideal on your shortest range heavy weapons, like a Leviathan's Cyclonic Melta Lance, but don't assume that a short range heavy weapon is necessarily worth taking with this power to "fix" it - for example, on SOTs, the Soulreaper Cannon is still a better choice than the heavy warpflamer.  
|-
! scope="row" | Psychic Stalk
| 32 || Witchfire || 5 || 18"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick a visible enemy unit within 18" of the psyker that ''isn't'' a {{W40Kkeyword|character}}, {{W40Kkeyword|monster}}, or {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} and roll 2d6; if the roll ''exceeds'' the unmodified Leadership of that unit (which is defined as the highest unmodified Leadership characteristic of any model in it), one model dies.
*''Unfathomably'' bad, because you need to succeed on the test (and doing better on the test is of no benefit, so +X to the cast is of marginal utility) and then you need to beat, not just meet, target Leadership on a roll you have no way to add bonuses to.  This is so awful it's only slightly better than ''half'' as good as Smite against Meganobz, for example.  Don't take this.
*While hilariously outclassed by every other power, if you see a player bringing the primaris ATV (T5 W8 Ld7), use this power and pop one whole model for shits and giggles.
|-
! scope="row" | Desecration of Worlds
| 33 || Malediction || 7 || 24"
| style="text-align:left" | Pick one visible enemy unit within 24" of the psyker; until your next psychic phase, any time that unit moves or charges, roll a d6 for every model in that unit. On a 6 the unit suffers 1 mortal wound. Force your enemy to be scared of moving, but don't expect to deal much damage. And who knows? You may get lucky and watch a horde grind itself into dust trying to get to you.
*You need this power to try to kill something 18 times to beat Smite, which could be an 18+ member unit that only moves or charges, or a 9+ member unit that does both.  Of course, your target can choose not to move to opt out of risking the mortal wounds, which is the ''real'' point of this power, to get a large unit to hold still.
|}