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

===Arm Weapons===
====Ranged====
=====War Dog=====
*'''War Dog Autocannon''' - 60" Heavy 2D3 S7 AP-1 D3. Exactly the same profile as the Predator autocannon, which was already really good, except with two extra added benefits. First is a 12" increase in range, but the best part is these autocannons specifically ignore the hit roll penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons. This allows your war dogs, who come with two of these at a time, to skirt around the battlefield as a fantastic hit and run unit. Just be careful, as taking the twin autocannons means you have no chain-cleaver, and by proxy no defense against enemies that charge you rather than just running away. Fortunately, 14" movement means you will probably outrun anything that isn't jump infantry or a bike/skimmer.
*'''Thermal spear''' - 30" Assault D3 S8 AP-4 D1d6 melta (roll an additional die dropping the lowest for damage at half range or less). Basically just a longer ranged meltagun with more potential shots. Will absolutely annihilate vehicles, especially if combined with the meltagun you get if you replace the default heavy stubber. 30" range means you can get into half range with more safety against counter attacks. 14" movement makes getting in range a cakewalk and if any enemies do get close enough to counter attack you've at least got the chain-cleaver to clear out mobs of enemies.

=====Tyrant=====
*'''Conflagration Cannon''' - 18" Heavy 3D6 S7 AP-2 D2 auto hits. This is '''the second''' most powerful flamer-like weapon in 40k (just after the Warhound's Inferno gun), but it comes at a risk. Being 18" range on such a massive model makes it very vulnerable to being focused down by enemy guns. And having to take the harpoon with it means you're a lot more limited in long range fire. However if you're fighting a big horde army like orks or nids then it will single handedly scorch a swathe through their hordes. It also has the upside that being its a giant flamer, the auto hits means you don't have to worry about missing shots due to degrading ballistic skill.
**Becomes straight up ridiculous when combined with Daemonic Power on Infernal Chaos Knights. You're essentially throwing 3D6 thunder hammers up to 18" inches away. Have fun!
*'''Plasma Decimator''' - 48" Heavy 2D6 Plasma gun with all the same stats as a plasma gun and the same ability to overcharge for +1 strength and +1 damage at the risk of suffering a mortal wound if you roll a 1 to hit. Due to the sheer number of shots you can get with this thing you generally want to use the trail of destruction stratagem to get as many successful hits and as few rolled 1's as possible. Went up to 40 points in the 2019 Big FAQ.
**A decent combo for Infernals: take D3 Mortal Wounds, pick Daemonic Power, buff the Plasma Decimator, use Trail of Destruction and supercharge. You're now shooting 2D6 S9 AP-3 Damage 3 plasma shots. Who needs Cawl's Wrath, anyway?
*'''Thundercoil Harpoon''' - 12" Heavy 1 S16 AP-6 '''DAMAGE 10!''' The highest damage weapon in 40k (discounting the D12 power claw on the Warlord Titan), with the added benefits of re-rolling hits when targetting a vehicle or monster. In addition if it inflicts ANY damage the target also suffers D3 mortal wounds meaning it can dead upwards of 13 damage in one hit. Even if your opponent makes 9/10 fnp rolls you still deal the D3 mortal wounds as well. Any vehicle or monster with less wounds than a predator will most likely go from 100-0 in one shot, Daemon primarchs and enemy questoris/dominus knights will be severely wounded by it. With some lucky rolls, you can kill [[Roboute Guilliman|Granddaddy Smurf]] in a single shot. With Strength 16 and AP-6, 99% of the things the harpoon hits will wound on 2's and will not have an armour save meaning the only thing that can stop this weapon is a successful invuln save. If you want to ensure that doesn't happen, ally in a Thousand sons sorcerer with death hex to strip your targets invuln save ahead of time. The harpoon does have one major weakness however, that being its range. 12" range is extremely short for a knight weapon meaning you will have to get very close to use it and you will also most likely be in range of your enemies meltaguns, plasma guns or lascannons, and unlike the conflagration cannon, you don't have the safety net of auto hitting. You only get the re-roll hits against monsters and vehicles, and while your knight may be able to move 10" per turn, it may still take a while to get in range and give your prime target the business. However, be careful when going up against Mechrons, as their {{W40kKeyword|Quantum Shielding}} special rule means that, RAW, you cannot damage them at all with the Harpoon. Overall, the Thundercoil Harpoon is a "fun" option and is best suited for:
** Stuff with lots of wounds but no invulnerable saves, like Baneblades, Land Raiders, Tyranid monsters of all types, and Gorkanauts
** Dealing the final fuck you to said stuff when they are at 11 wounds or less (10D + d3 mortal wounds).
*'''Volcano Lance''' Basically a smaller Shadowsword [[Volcano Cannon]], with slightly fewer shots, (SS has 3D3 Dominus gets D6) 40" shorter range, 2 less Strength and 3D3 wounds instead of 2D6 from its Shadowsword-mounted cousin. But a 80" Heavy d6 S14 AP-5 3d3 D gun that rerolls failed wounds against {{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}} units is still nothing to sneeze at. It also doesn't get the Shadowswords +1 to hit {{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}} which is a bit of a bummer. But the trail of destruction stratagem helps make sure that whatever you shoot at with this thing gets put down, '''PERMANENTLY'''. Also weirdly enough this is the only dominus arm weapon that actually costs points to bring. The Spring 2019 Big FAQ bumped it up to 70 points, this combined with the Plasma Decimator's price bump makes Knight Castellans 110 points more expensive now.

=====Despoiler=====
*'''Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon and Heavy Stubber''' - The battle cannon is no longer the reliable MEQ-slayer it once was, and this version is no different. 72" Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-2 D1d3. It does have massive range, tied with the ironstorm missiles for the longest range weapon available to the Despoiler class, and unlike Imperials, you can take two of them for good backfield sniping. Add a carapace gun for even more ranged blasting.
**The middle cost option, at 92 points for each package.
*'''Thermal Cannon''' - What melta guns dream of being when they grow up: 36" Heavy D6 S9 AP-4 D1d6 melta. Dirt cheap at 55 points, and doesn't bring a secondary weapon with itself like the battle and gatling cannons do; it really needs to be targeting multi-wound models to make it count. Mind, you can always double up on them because god-damn that's a lot of heat. 36" range means you'll be a lot safer if you walk into half range to get that extra damage roll. Will typically evaporate whatever you're aiming at.
**The cheapest option now by a pretty significant margin. Even ranged Chaos Knights like being up close with the Iconoclast Household Ambition, so double Thermal Cannons is a pretty tempting option.
**If you're not up close, the RFBC by itself does do more A*D (this does 12.25 against a target with 6 or more wounds per model; an RFBC does 14 on average against a target with 3 or more wounds per model), albeit at slightly worse S and AP.  Up close, this scoots up to ‭15.65 A*D, on average.
**However, this weapon also has more variance than the others - your number of shots will vary more than the RFBC's do, and the Gatling Cannon doesn't vary at all; the same thing applies to the damage roll, although up close your variance is actually less than the RFBC's.  Taking these means you need to rely on volume of fire to average out your rolls to the point where you can reasonably predict what they'll do - you should always take 2 of them if you're taking any, rather than 1 and something else.
*'''Avenger Gatling Cannon and Heavy Flamer''' - The best all-rounder, albeit the most expensive at 99 all told. Heavy 12 S6 AP-2 D2 is the absolute champ against all kinds of infantry, including TEQ (that 2 damage in particular will make Primaris marines and the like cry), although it has clearly been designed exclusively with GEQs in mind (S6 wounds them on 2s, and -2AP ensures they don't get a save). Tears up light vehicles and can do useful work against the heavy stuff - outshooting the RFBC even if it doesn't match the Inferno cannon. With a pair of these you will put out an ''outrageous'' 24 shots per turn - goddamn!
**Combined with Daemonic Power (Infernal Household Ambition) this is strong as fuck, but has competition now with the very efficient double Thermal Cannons.

=====Desecrator=====
*'''Laser Destructor'''- Newest weapon found on the Knight Desecrator, but at 60" S14 AP-4 and D1d6, plan on eating tanks alive with this new and improved loyalist killer! (except it only gets D3 shots so you're not gonna kill much with it) To top if off on a wound of 6+ it deals d3 Mortal wounds on top of everything else!
**ALWAYS take The Diamonas relic if you want to take this weapon. Even just the change from Heavy d3 to Heavy 3 is worth the command point(s), let alone bumping up your strength so you can wound other knights and Lemans Russ on a 2+.

====Close Combat====
Renegade Knights come with both the close combat weapons base, which you should probably upgrade as quickly as possible. These guys have lost the big "D", and in exchange do a flat 6 damage per hit. Great at wrecking vehicles and MCs, but they can be very binary - there's lots of things like dreadnoughts with >6 wounds that take two hits to kill and can leave a nasty mark if they get to hit back, so it's always advisable to try to soften these targets up a bit first. As noted below, you're better off kicking most infantry to death instead.

=====War Dog=====
*'''Reaper Chain-Cleaver''' - A smaller reaper chainsword for the armiger, obviously weaker than its big brother, but it comes with two weapon profiles instead of one: an Sx2 AP-3 D3 Strike, or an SU AP-2 D1 Sweep that makes 2 hit rolls for each attack instead of one. Effectively giving you either 8 strength 6 attacks, or 4 strength 12 attacks for either hordes of enemies or tougher vehicles. It's worth noting though that unlike the armiger's big brothers, they don't have titanic feet, meaning if you don't bring the thermal spear and chain-cleaver, you will be left without a way to defend yourself in melee.

the sweep attack benefits greatly from the infernal damage boost, going from 1 to 2 damage.  the bonus strength is unlikely to matter though.

=====Everyone Else=====
*'''Reaper Chainsword''' - S14/AP-3/D6. Best for light-medium vehicles and medium-sized gribblies. It's not bad against stuff like Landraiders, but the gauntlet edges it out.
*'''Thunderstrike Gauntlet''' - S16/AP-4/D6. Higher strength and AP in exchange for -1 to hit and a meager +5 points. (Of course, Wraithknights get the best of both worlds with Sx2 and no hit penalty, but it's not like I'm salty or anything.) This excels at pretty much the same things the Inferno cannon does; anything T7/3+ or better. Plus, you get the lulzy spectacle of chucking a dead razorback at his warlord for extra mortal wounds, keep in mind that if you do this you are required to tell your opponent that they've been thunderstruck. The choice between the two is pretty much a toss-up depending on your opponent - take the gauntlet vs. IG and the sword vs. Deldar, etc, but either one will do the job most of the time.
*'''Titanic Feet''' - Now we're talking. Triple attacks at S8/AP-2/DD3, this replaces Stomp and makes infantry cry. This beats the other (cooler) melee weapons against any 1- or 2-wound models, including terminators. It's also surprisingly decent at kicking Rhinos and the like to death, but falls off badly against anything T8 or with a 2+. This is also the only melee weapon that Dominus knights have access to.