Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Daemons of Chaos (section)

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
Like the ones from 40K, only better and considerably so. There are three Greater Daemon and four herald characters.

''Note:'' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.


*'''Be'lakor, the Dark Master:''' The Dark Master is a very frightening tool for you, with his best value being in trolling. Aside from being a flying Daemon Prince, he's also a Level 4 Loremaster of Shadow with a 4++ Ward (And shots take an additional -2 to hit him), making him a very mobile monstrosity. This power gets boosted more if he makes an enemy unit fail a Panic or Break test, where he gains d3 more power dice to spend, which CAN take him over the power pool limit, but which only he can use. Enemy units within 12" have -1 Ld. Melee-wise, he's pretty decent, with an armor-ignoring magic sword, as well as all his daemonic attacks. If you're keeping him in combat, you're not using him right. Note, the -2 to hit only applies in the Shooting phase, so you won't benefit from that if your opponent chooses to stand and shoot against a charge (not that you should be charging a shooty unit head-on, given his lack of armor save). One of your few Ld 10 characters.

*'''Skarbrand, the Exiled One:''' 610 pts. for the angriest sonnova bitch of a Bloodthirster ever! He also has three stats maxed out to 10 (WS, BS and I) whilst bypassing armour and getting +1A with his axes. He also has S5 breath weapon while bestowing friendly and non-friendly units with hatred and is frenzied himself. Keep in mind that unlike other bloodthirsters, Skarbrand does not fly .

*'''Kairos Fateweaver:''' 565 pts. for the greatest magic user in the game - seriously, even compared to Slann! Nagash has rules now! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!' He's a level 4 wizard that knows no less than 15 spells that you may CHOOSE, not roll for, you CHOOSE which spells you want before the game begins. You get 4 from Life, Metal, Light and Heavens; 4 from Death, Beasts, Shadow and fire; and all spells from Lore of Tzeentch. Only problem is you have to choose each turn which set you're using, though you always have Tzeentch. His stat line is god-awful for his cost, apart from a 4+ ward save (coupled with a spell or two from the Lore of Life, this can make him extremely hard to kill), but you're taking this guy for the magic phase rape.

*'''Ku'gath, the Plaguefather:''' 625 pts. for a nigh-indestructible monstrous, stone-thrower with S5, ignores armour and a misfire just means no shots that turn. He also rides a Palanquin of Nurglings, but the real cool feature is, again, the fact that he hurls Nurglings fit to burst from sucking his fatass off! Can effectively neutralize war machines that would otherwise be shooting at him.

*'''Isabella the Accursed''': That's right, you finally have a Lords model that isn't huger than all hell, and it's the resurrected corpse of [[Isabella von Carstein]]. Issy's now a Level 3 Vampires/Daemon!Nurgle Wizard, makes undead units she wounded in combat take d3 additional unsaveable wounds, and enemies in base contact during the Magic Phase takes an armour-ignoring S1 hit. Her statline adds +1 WS/T, becomes Initiative 8 (Wait...we sure this is Nurgle?) and A6. Oh, and she replaces her chalice with a new Plague Chalice that becomes a grenade. After placing the small blast on herself, she moves it in a direction ahead of her 3d6 inches and anyone who touches it must now test Toughness or take an unsaveable wound. Oh, and she has Hatred (Undead), so totally throw her in front of Mortarch Vlad.

Alternate Take: This character is pure, undiluted shit in a Daemon army, as she lacks Daemonic Alignment; she cannot join any friendly units, and is a nice 300+ pts lone character in an edition in which that is suicide. Skip. Skip for miles. Avoid like the plague (of Nurgle)

*'''U'zhul Skulltaker:''' RAGE INCARNATE! Essentially a herald of Khorne with a Lesser Locus, a WS and I of 9, flaming attacks, magic resistance, a 3+ armour save and heroic killing blow in duels! Great for hiding in a unit of Bloodletters or Bloodcrushers - just watch out for those always strikes first characters and dragonhelm/dragon armour, they can still fuck him up.

*'''The Masque of Slaanesh:''' Although better than her 40K incarnation, still not really worth it as she cannot join units. Pretty good in close combat with her unnatural reflexes and awesome at disrupting units with her eternal dance.

*'''Epidemius:''' The Nurgle version of Skulltaker, with T5, virulence locus, and gives continuous buffs to Nurgle units in your army. Pretty sweet if you have the points to spare and essential if playing an all Nurgle army. You may want to think about buying the Kazyk the Befouled model to use instead of the Epidemius one. It looks better and, even though it's Forgeworld, is actually cheaper than the GW Epi model!

*'''The Blue Scribes:''' A tougher herald that randomly generates bound spells. Not really worth it.

* '''The Changeling:''' special character that can shore up the lack of close combat ability in a squad of horrors. Basically a herald with -1A and Van Horstman's Speculum, he swaps stats (WS,S,T,I and A but not wounds so be careful) with an enemy in base contact/a challenge.(Unfortunately... nope, this guy got a huge nerf bat as he doesn't switch stats... he only copies them... so most of the time he will be destroyed by geared up characters as he doesn't copy items... only stats...)

* '''Karanak, Hound of Vengeance:''' Born & bred to rape wizards.  Can nominate one character before battle to re-roll to hit and to wound against with his 4 S5 I6 attacks at WS7. His special toy is a brass collar (see Flesh Hounds) that causes a S10 hit against any wizard within 12" before they get bent over by their miscast roll.  He also gives his unit frenzy. You're going to pay for all of this, however, since Karanak costs twice what you would pay for a bare bones generic herald. Is he worth it? Ask yourself two questions: is your opponent undead or does he have pointed ears? If you answered yes to either laugh as Karanak takes a chunk out of Teclis'/vampire general's/hierophant's crotch.

====Generic Characters====

NOTE: You can always swap out results for magic ''weapons'' (or one of the Hellforged Artifacts, if using the Exalted Gifts chart), when rolling on the Gifts chart.

*'''Bloodthirster:''' You know him, you love him, Khorne's greater daemon retains his throne as one of the most killiest characters in the game. On top of the usual daemon awesomeness, he comes with two hand weapons, heavy armour, can fly, has magic resistance (2), and 10s in WS, BS, with I9, on top of Thunderstomp. Like last edition, this guy is susceptible to shooting, given that he will attract ALL war machine and general ranged attacks from your opponent, because if he doesn't, he has to face a fucking Bloodthirster in close combat and get [[rape|raped]]. This guy is also the only greater daemon that can't use magic, which has the strange ability of making him the potentially cheapest of the lot - you don't even have to buy this guy much, but if you must, you can purchase up to 100 points worth of Daemonic Gifts, keeping him just under the 501 point mark when loaded out. 
**'''Unfettered Fury:''' Basically the basic Bloodthirster under End Times Archaon.
**'''Insensate Rage:''' 100 more points for Frenzy, HKB, and a Great Weapon.  He'll be epic at cleaning out challenges or monsters, but really, that shouldn't be worth 100 points.  It's also not giving you anything more than what you got.
**'''Wrath of Khorne:'''150 more points gives more of a boost.  Frenzy, Devastating Charge, Magic Resistance 3, and a S5 Flaming breath weapon.  He also gets Hatred (Characters) with a bonus 3" added when charging one and weapons that give +2S on the charge and an extra attack.  Issue is that for the cost of a kitted Greater Daemon with Wizard, you're just getting more ways to murder things without any better protection against warmachines.
***'''Alternative take''' : Spending 400 + points (let us be honest, You DO invest quite a bit in this guy) on a totally unreliable glass cannon does not work in DoC, especially with the new Army Book. You do lack the AS to stay long enough in close combat, and no, a 5+ Ward Save is not a reliable defensive mechanism, especially on a costly Lord! Moreover, using BT means no  4 level Wizards for You, which is a shame, considering DoCh no longer holds the advantage of having killy and finely priced units as they used to have. Excluding Beasts of Nurgle. So I do like to ask You, dear readers : Do you really want to pump points into a combat Lord, expensive one may I add, who has little to none defense and acts as the best Glass Cannon WHFB? The price is high : lack of a 4 level Wizard and the possibility of losing this guy to one cannon ball shot (Yes, this may happen to all GD but remember, they are all wizards and do provide You with fine magical support). To sum up, It is yours to decide if you have the balls to use this GD. I do choose a safer option. 

*'''Lord of Change:''' Tzeentch's big bad spellcaster. Not as physically imposing as the other Greater Daemons (having less weapon skill, initiative, or attacks); however, what he lacks in combat prowess he makes up in magic and trickery. He is the cheapest by far to raise to level 4, starting with a base level 2. With the new book he no longer knows all the spells of the Lore of Tzeentch, but now he can use the Lore of Metal instead if he chooses to. Metal is a decent lore because it has the tools to answer high armored units (i.e. Searing Doom) and the Banner of the World Dragon (i.e. Final Transmutation.) He's taken a slight hit thanks to there being only two good Daemonic Gifts that apply to a spell caster. Now, even though he's not as combat-ready as his Daemonic counterparts, he is still a monster that flies. Fly around, cast spells, and charge at the right target and at the right time, just like the scheming Tzeentch-playing bastard that you are.

*'''Keeper of Secrets:''' Probably one of the best choices here, solid magic ability, excellent close combat skills and have had a significant point drop (down to 375). Again, the change to Gifts has significantly changed how you use this guy, no more crazy gift combos, but still very good for tearing through infantry or kitted out to be a fairly efficient character killer. As is the norm for monsters, expect your opponent to fire everything they have at it so pray for some good rolls on the gift table.One thing to note is that with some fairly jammy rolling you could end up with things like +1W, no armour saves against his/her/its attacks, regen 1W at end of the phase when you cause wounds in melee, 2+ armour save (that cannot be improved) or +2 attacks thanks to the Daemonic gifts table. Suprisingly, this guy works well with Tzeentchian units. Lore of Shadow can cripple T and M of enemy units, making them greatly less resistant to Warpflame tests. Stick him behind something with many Wounds (Beasts of Nurgle anyone?) and have some T test FUN.

*'''Great Unclean One:''' He's fat, ugly and slow. He also has 6 wounds. Also throws down with poisoned attacks. The Lore of Nurgle is pretty slick for shredding low T/S units but Lore of Death is the first choice lore recommended to put on this guy, but no need to really splurge here. He got an extra point of toughness but that really doesn't mean shit with how 8th edition works. His lowered point cost, now 375, does make him more viable for smaller games though for an extra 75 points he could end up with 2 of the daemonic gifts listed in the keeper of secrets analysis. Of all the GD, he's probably the most well rounded option as he can hold his own in combat fairly well (WS6 and T7), coupled with some luck on the Daemonic Gifts chart you will have a nigh unkillable wizard. 

*'''Daemon Prince:''' The other generic lord-level unit. Cheapest by far, clocking in at a basic 250 pts. You HAVE to dedicate them now but Slaanesh is free and the rest are pretty cheap so it isn't a big deal. They can now be pumped to a LvL 4 wizard and take 4+ armour ''and'' wings in addition to their Gift allocation. Slap wings on em and go eat some wizards/warmachines, overall a very solid choice.

*'''Heralds:''' Your generic hero choices that come in 4 flavors as below. Note, all the heralds have access to abilities called "Loci," which makes them share their special power with a unit of troops of that Chaos god. They can also ride mounts or chariots of their gods. 
** '''Herald of Khorne:''' Close combat awesome! WS7, S5 and lots of killing blow attacks! His locus powers are either Magic Resist 2 (30 pts), Frenzy (60 pts) or Hatred (75 pts) granted to the Khorne unit he is in. Can also take 50 pts. of gifts. You can also put him on a Juggernaut or chariot. The HoK came out worse than before due to having to buy a Locus and lowered S.
*** *'''Blood Throne of Khorne:''' The only way you can get this thing in. But is it worth it? It's a chariot, has two Bloodletters on board, and the Blood Throne itself can attack (and heal itself if it causes wounds on impact hits!) However, the model looks like a cover from a Lady Gaga album, and I'm left wondering what happened to [[Doomrider]]. Build your kit to make a Skull Cannon instead, and BAM! Free Herald of Khorne in the box! The throne does let all Khornate units within 6" benefit from the herald's locus, but if your opponent has any brain cells he'll aim everything he has at it turn 1. Might be useful if you bring something else that is a bigger fire magnet *cough* Bloodthirster *cough*. *NOTE* you could take 4 of these in place of a Bloodthirster but that is a bit of an iffy idea. '''Alternative Take''' : NOT AS SHIT as You might think, dear Readers. It has a nice armor save, fielding a Herald with it provides him with a 2+ AS, which is awesome, considering most daemons are fucking naked. The Greater Locust of Fury should be Your main and ONLY choice here. It boosts up Bloodletters to a level of medium usefulness and proves a good shooting magnet. The 5+ Ward Save is really handy here. Remember that You can actually park this guy near a unit or 2 of Letters and just push the lane heavily, most opponents will try to avoid them due to the Killing Blow. NOT AS BAD. Still, the model blows. 
** '''Herald of Tzeentch:''' Magic awesome! Not much of a stat line, but he comes as a level 1 wizard and can re-roll ward saves and channeling rolls of 1. He has 3 loci: d3+1 blue horror counters (25), random strength each turn (35) (that just sounds like a bad idea), or +1 strength to spells cast by the herald and the unit he joins (50). You could instead put him on a Disc or Chariot of Tzeentch, but you're wasting the locus power. Not much point taking them without some pink horrors to keep him safe.
** '''Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch:''' You know that humble Burning Chariot in the rare slot? Well what if I told you there's a way to take it at half the cost, in a less limited selection slot, and you could put it in a unit of skirmishers? Then my friend you are in luck because someone at GW decided to make a Battlescroll that does exactly that for 90 points. Madness I know, but hey when your friends use Banner of the World Dragon you are free to punish them with this not-war machine hero. No guarantee you will have friends left but at least you killed those elves really well that one game.
** '''Herald of Slaanesh:''' A very cost effective herald, comes with a pretty kickin' rad stat line with armor piercing. Its three loci are: auto-pass dangerous terrain, Look Out, Sir!, and all stat tests except Ld (5), Always Strikes First (50)<--<b>YOU WANT THIS</b>, or you get to choose who answers your herald's challenges and all enemies in b2b are at -3 initiative (60). Can be mounted on steed, seeker chariot or exalted seeker chariot of Slaanesh. Can also be upgraded to Lv1 wizard with access to lore of Slaanesh or Lore of Shadow.  Might be worth it since all the daemon lore attributes let you add models to your units.
** '''Herald of Nurgle:''' Still T5, still tougher and stronger than your average Plaguebearer. Can ride a Palanquin, giving him a 50mm base footprint and 4 Wounds! Can get very expensive very fast though, especially if you load him out with the 50 points of Daemonic Gifts and buy casting options for him. Can choose from one of three Loci: Virulence (unit get Poison on a 5+), Fecundity (unit gets Regen), or Contagion (if any model in the unit scores a 6 to Hit for poison, the enemy suffers an additional S4 auto-hit). The curse of the leaper spell allows you to increase a units T by D3 and watch a your opponent cries at your unit of 30 T7, 4+ ward plague bearers thanks to regen save from the second loci. '''Alternative take''' : Consider Fencer's Blades! 10 WS and +1 attack combined with -1 to hit means most rank and file shit will hit You at 6'.