Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Genestealer Cults (section)

===HQ===
A quick reminder: the following 5 characters are the only things in the GSC codex that can take GSC warlord traits.

*'''Acolyte Iconward''': With a fairly standard statline and equipment list, the Acolyte Iconward doesn't really stand out in combat. You take the Iconward for its abilities. The first is '''Nexus Of Devotion''', which allows friendly {{W40kKeyword|CULT CORE}} units to Summon The Cult while within 6" (but somehow isn't listed as an aura, which means enemy abilities can't turn it off), so as soon as you would've bought 4 Cult Icons, 1 Iconward is a cheaper solution, provided you don't mind the positioning hassle. In addition to this, the Iconward can perform an Action at the end of your Move Units step that ends at the beginning of Charging (so just don't shoot your one shot, strength 3, no AP, damage 1 pistol and you'll be fine) that provides +1 to charge rolls for {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}}, {{W40kKeyword|BIKER}}, and {{W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}} units that ''aren't'' {{W40kKeyword|Genestealer}}s (probably because pure-blooded tyranids can't really feel emotions like inspiration) .
**You can stack an Iconward with Cult Icons, but the way it works is you roll twice and the cap per turn is 6 for Neophytes and 3 for everyone else, so the average with either one alone is 3.5 for Neophytes and 2 for everyone else base, 5.44 for Neophytes and 2.89 for everyone else with the combo, meaning you get diminishing returns.
**There's not too much to say about the Iconward. Either stick him in your backline and have him help your Neophytes regenerate or stick him in the front and have him help Acolytes charge and maybe regen if it's convenient. He's useful, he's just not complicated. He's probably worth taking in most lists.
*'''Jackal Alphus<sup>{{W40Kkeyword|Crossfire}}</sup>''': A sniper on a bike who works best with other fast units. Her sniper rifle is Heavy 1 S5 AP-3 D2, with the standard ability to ignore Look Out Sir, and inflicting a bonus MW on a 4+ to wound, not a 6+. She can use her Priority Target ability to pick a friendly {{W40kKeyword|<CULT> CORE CROSSFIRE}} (which is redundant - all of your core units are crossfire) unit within 9" and one visible enemy unit within 36". When the friendly unit you picked and/or the Alphus shoots at the enemy you picked, the enemy counts as Exposed (which, remember, does nothing unless it also has a crossfire token). She can also use Atalan Jackals and Vehicles within 6" as perfect bodyguards (they make her untargetable with ranged attacks unless she's the closest target), has a permanent -1 to be hit, and can shoot and charge after falling back.
**Because her sniper rifle is D2, whatever you hit with it gains a crossfire marker. Important to remember when you want an enemy unit to have a crossfire marker that your whole army can take advantage of without wasting valuable firepower.  In fact, this makes her functionally ''better'' at ranged support than a Primus when what you want dead has no crossfire token on it and you don't already have your units in position for exposed - a 5/6 chance of +1 to hit and wound for her supported unit on top of her radically superior shooting mean she's immediately earned her keep as soon as she starts supporting even 1 unit of neophytes with grenade launchers and seismic cannons, and the benefits are so substantial that a Primus needs to support at least 4 10-dude units (or 5 units and one 20-dude unit, because fielding a big unit helps the Alphus more than the Primus when they compete) with launchers and cannons to beat her - or, of course, you can simply shoot something that's already got a crossfire token, as +1 to wound is worse than 7/6 to hit ''and'' wound unless you wound on 1s or 2s base, and if you shoot something that already counts as exposed, the Alphus is of no benefit.  And don't forget, the Alphus and the Primus stack.
***If you're trying to support Hand Flamer spam (so the Primus can only provide 1 unit with x7/6 to wound), the Alphus is again better, because a 5/6 chance of +1 to wound (or a guaranteed chance, if the target unit already has a crossfire token) is better than x7/6 to wound unless you already wound on 5s.
***'''TL;DR''' An Alphus is generally better ranged support than a Primus unless you're supporting a lot of units or the enemy already has crossfire/exposed.
*'''Magus''': Your standard issue Psyker, comes in old man or bald lady flavors depending on whether you buy it standalone or as part of the Broodcoven set. Like the Patriarch, the Magus is a know 2+1/cast 2/deny 1 psyker. Her stats in combat are nothing to write home about, so you take her if you've already got a Patriarch or you want a cheaper caster. She also has an easy-to-forget aura that grants {{W40Kkeyword|<cult> infantry/biker}} units within 6" of her a 5+++ against mortal wounds in the psychic phase only, (don't forget that it helps protects your Magus from perils).
**She's probably best off staying back in your deployment zone, out of deny range, casting blessing powers, especially now that you have a strat that lets you apply these buffing spells at any range.
*'''Patriarch''': The Patriarch is the master of a Genestealer Cult - if you're a Tyranids player, He has a similar statline to a Broodlord (except the Patriarch can advance and charge). The Patriarch's statline and weapons make him an all-rounder blender, relatively fragile as far as melee characters go but with obscene damage output. He is also a know 2+1/cast 2/deny 1 Psyker. Unfortunately, He doesn't do much for the rest of your army - the Patriarch's only aura is one that makes nearby {{W40Kkeyword|<Cult>}} models ignore Combat Attrition modifiers, which is honestly nothing. If you take a Patriarch, He has to be your Warlord, but the Leaders Of The Cult stratagem lets you give Warlord Traits to two other models if your Warlord is a Patriarch.
**The Patriarch is a beatstick, pure and simple. With an 8" move and the ability to charge after advancing, He can go where He wants to go. Once He's there He's got 6 attacks at S5 AP-3 D2, with 6s to wound becoming AP-6 and D3, and He has full re-rolling to wound. At 140 points, this is pretty reasonable.
**Your Patriarch wants to be in the thick of things, so equip him accordingly. Biomorph Adaptation and some of the {{W40kKeyword|<Cult>}} relics are both worth looking into. It should be noted that there's unfortunately no way to stack buffs on the Patriarch to get him up to S8 and wound T4 on 2s, and his ability to hit super hard on 6s to wound has no scaling at all with higher Strength, so even with Strength buffs like Twisted Helix can give him, he won't hit significantly harder.
**Your Patriarch is probably the best choice to give melee support Psychic powers such as Might From Beyond and Mass Hypnosis, as He's more likely to be where those need to happen than your Magus is.
**Don't be afraid to let him Advance all He likes - it's Falling Back, not Advancing, that disables Psychic Powers in 9th.
**When the Patriarch fails a saving throw, unquestioning loyalty will succeed on a 3+ instead of the normal 4+, which functionally means that He has a 3+++ FNP against non-mortal wounds, without the need of stratagems, warlord traits, or relics (except it's even better, because you roll unquestioning loyalty ''before'' damage is applied, e.g. a Dd3+6 attack is ignored on a single roll), provided He has minions nearby. That's like Tau drone spam only better.
*'''Primus''': Probably the standout HQ for this edition. The Primus's statline is respectable, and for melee (he's WS2+) he has a Toxin Claw at A+1(5, or 1 with his Bonesword) SU(4) AP-1 D1, always wounds non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} non-{{W40Kkeyword|titanic}} on 2+ for, surprisingly enough, murdering hordes, not high-T targets, simply because his other weapon is better or equal for W2+ Sv4-, but the free extra attack is always nice, as well as a Bonesword at AU(4) S+1(5) AP-2 D2 for murdering anything else, although it's only particularly good at murdering MEQ and TEQ.  For range he has a Scoped Needle Pistol: BS2+ 18" Pistol 1 S1 AP0 Dd3, always wounds non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} non-{{W40Kkeyword|titanic}} on 2+, but he can't hand out Crossfire tokens, so this isn't remotely why you take him - you take him for his abilities.  His first is the very standard aura that grants re-rolls of 1 to hit to {{W40kKeyword|<CULT> CORE}} models within 6". The second, Meticulous Planner, is simple - in your command phase, pick one friendly {{W40kKeyword|<CULT> CORE}} unit within 9". That unit gets re-rolls of 1 to wound. 
**That means unless you have a very credible plan for keeping your Primus near your significantly faster Jackals or your melee-focused Acolyte Hybrids or Hybrid Metamorphs, his best use is supporting Grenade Launcher+Seismic Cannon Neophytes (especially as his accuracy buff will help them hand out Crossfire tokens more effectively).  Remember, web weapons don't roll to hit or wound, so he can't help them at all, and flame weapons don't roll to hit.  Even if you can keep him close to your Acolyte Hybrids, their best melee weapon is their Drill, which doesn't roll to wound.
***If you keep your Primus and Nexos together, which you should, you can broadcast the Primus' arua to far off units. While you can only do this to one unit at a time per Nexos, or twice with the Nexos specific relic, you'll be improving your melee damage whilst keeping your linchpin character safe. And hey, there's nothing stopping the Primus from buffing some shooting dudes while doing this via standing next to them.
**You can multiply his points cost by 6 to find out how many points he needs to support to break even on his cost, but remember if he puts his re-roll 1s to wound on a unit in range to also get re-roll 1s to hit, you need to count that unit twice.  At current costs, he's 80, so breaking even happens at 480, and a 10-dude Neophyte squad with 6 autoguns, 2 grenade launchers, and 2 seismic cannons is 100 points, so you can field him with 5 such squads if they're not in range for re-rolling 1s to wound or 4 if they are, and since he can pick an obnoxiously large unit as well, if you take a 20-dude squad (200 points) and slap re-rolling 1s to wound on it, it plus 1 10-dude squad is sufficient.
** The Primus can be upgraded with the Proficient Planning ability Exacting Planner. For an additional 1 PL and 15 pts, he gets a once per game ability to use Meticulous Planner twice in one phase, and the second target doesn't have to be {{W40kKeyword|CORE}}. This is a pretty powerful ability that, combined with other buffs like Crossfire and Exposed, can help set up a powerful alpha strike.
**It's hard to see a situation where you wouldn't want a Primus in your list. He gives out critical buffs and he can pull his own weight in combat. For all of 80 points, what more would you want?