Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

==Unit Analysis==
===HQ===
HQ units are broken down into Greater Daemons and Heralds. Greater Daemons (including Daemon Princes) bring a lot of hurt but cost a lot, especially the named Daemons; conversely, Heralds are cheap, disposable HQ and you can take a shitload of them as they bend the rules a bit for HQ selections.

====Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes====
*'''Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury:''' This guy is your basic "big stabby HQ". He is an unholy rape train, with WS10, I9, 6A, and he comes with an '''Axe of Khorne''' (AP 2 and rolls To Wound of 6 cause ID), a '''Lash of Khorne''' (S6 AP2 shooting attack, albeit with only a 12" range), and '''Warp-Forged Armour''' (a 3+ save a la power armour). He comes standard as a Flying Monstrous Creature, which lets you swoop around the field assaulting whatever you want. Remember that you can Vector Strike (to troll people) and use Smash Attacks (to crush tanks to death). Although he can ''technically'' be seen as an anti-air choice, don't rely on him, since you can't assault flyers and the Lash of Khorne (your only shooting attack) is a.) short-ranged and b.) only S6 (which will have trouble penetrating most flyers). He gets the three levels of Gifts, most of which make him even better, but also make him cost a fair bit more and unlike the other Greater Daemons, he doesn't really ''need'' upgrades to make him a total badass. He is worth every point of his cost.  Just keep the force weapons as far away as possible!
**'''Skarbrand, the Exiled One''' - While he lacks the FMC abilities of other Bloodthirsters, Skarbrand more than makes up for it by combining Fleshbane/Armourbane and Instant Death on a single model. Throw in a better statline than a regular Bloodthirster's already-awesome one (+1 I and A), Rage and Hatred and he's all but guaranteed to curbstomp any non-Apoc HQ or MC in the game on the charge - and all for cheaper than a regular 'Thirster. The problem is that like the Black Mace Daemon Prince he lacks defensive power. While some might say T6 is enough, most CC beasts have S8+ weapons that are AP3 or lower and let's be honest - a 5++ save isn't going to stop him from taking 2-3 wounds. Skarbrand's best-use is as the ultimate [[Distraction Carnifex]] - he'll straight-up demolish even heavy-hitters like Big Papa Smurf or The Swarmload if he gets the charge on them, and as such will attract a shitload of heavy firepower/your opponent's best assault unit to stop that happening. Be sure to grab the Grimoire of True Names to fix this problem, and Deep Strike this beast so he can get to the thick of it! Plus, for what he delivers he is stupidly cheap, and if he is the warlord, he grabs instant death on his melee attacks, which is SO SCARY it will cause him to draw the attention of EVERYTHING 
**'''[[Angron]] (Forge World/Apocalypse)''' - Hell yes! At first glance Angron looks like a slightly buffed (+1 W,I,A) Bloodthirster at literally twice cost. His master-crafted instant-death sword is pretty nice to take out other monstrous creatures, and big 12" bubble of -1 Ld is good too, but the main reason you take him is his retinue of 2-12 Bloodthirsters. And everything they charge would die - even Aetaos, Scabeiathrax and An'ggrath (though, this would never happen, cause Angron and An'ggrath are good fellows). On Armageddon this squad wiped out ONE HUNDRED Grey Knights, and while they'd have trouble pulling it off on the board, it's still a unit that would give even veteran Grey Knight players serious pause to be facing on the table.
*'''Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster:''' Has an Axe of Khorne, Hatred (Characters) and Adamantium will with 2 new items: Hellfury, a Template Weapon which is basically a Soulblaze Heavy Flamer (good for taking out Hordes). The next is the Bloodflail which acts as a shooting weapon with 12", S7 AP2 and Assault D3 (Think of it as a Plasma Pistol, that doesn't get hot and can potentially fire 3 shots) while in melee it's S: User, AP2 and Specialist weapon. Use this one exactly like a Dakka Flyrant. Also 50 points more than the classic one
*'''Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage:''' 25 more points than the classic BT gets you '''[[RAGE]]''' and a Great Axe of Khorne which is [[Rape|S:D AP2]] but is so massive it had to get new rules because Monstrous creatures ignore Unwieldy. For the record, it has the Colossal rule which literally is unwieldy, but for Monstrous Creatures. So, yeah. [[Rape|8 D strength attacks on the charge.]] If what ever attacks it doesn't kill it before it piles in, it's fucking dead. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. If there was ever a reason to abuse grimoire/cursed earth/invisibility, it's staring you in the face right here! This guy will draw ALL the fire your enemy has and will not survive a turn on the ground without at least 2 of those tricks cast on him. This guy wrecks Super heavies for fun but won't get close without buffs to his survivability.

*'''Great Unclean One''' - Being a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, it's no surprise that this little guy can take tons of punishment, being one of the toughest units in the entire game with the ablity to reach T10(!) by having access to Biomancy. Despite his fat and bloated appearance, The Great Unclean One can also bring the pain in close combat by having five S6 attacks with no upgrades. However, the Great Unclean One is terribly slow, being only able to move 6" a turn due to Slow and Purposeful. As a result, Deep Strike is an absolute necessity for him to ever reach any sort of combat. Now here's where it gets tricky. Any 40k player worth a damn is going to ignore shooting this unit because of its sheer bulk and target your other more squishy units instead. You ''need'' to invest in plenty of upgrades for this guy, or he's going to be the world's fattest statue. A good loadout for The Great Unclean One involves two Greater Rewards (the Exalted Rewards table is pretty meh for this kind of unit).  As for psychic powers two points in Biomancy for ridiculous buffs, and one point in Plague to gain access to a shooting attack ''might'' seem like the obvious route, but what tends to be more practical is all three powers on Biomancy for maximum chance at Iron Arm; besides the Great Unclean One doesn't really need a shooting attack (and Psychic Focus means you'll get one anyway). Deep Strike him on an objective or behind your opponent's delicious gunline, and you just made the Great Unclean One something that ''cannot'' be ignored by your opponent. Then giggle manically as they struggle to put down a T7-T10 Monstrous Creature with 6 wounds, all while the rest of your forces come in to help clean up. However, you will always need to watch out for tarpit units, Fleshbane, poison or sniper weapons (Nurgle weak to poison?! HERESY! But seriously they hurt). 
**'''Ku'gath, The Plaguefather''' - A Great Unclean One that's a bit more expensive than a regular Great Unclean One. Don't be fooled by the shiny AP3 Large Blast. Only Psyker Level 1 and no rewards mean this guy is a great deal weaker than a pimped out GUO. But he gets stuff that regular GUO's can't even buy, for example he is even BETTER in melee than a regular Great Unclean One and he gets to throw AP3 Poisoned 4+ Large blasts with BS3 at the enemy every turn! Oh, and one last thing. He has no model, and apparently he travels around on a pontoon-like palanquin filled with laboratory instruments carried by an entire battalion of Nurglings. So before you go spending hundreds of dollars (and hours! Jesus!) on converting this model, just use a regular Great Unclean One model (or a Forge World Daemon of Nurgle) and say that he decided to walk today. Nobody will mind. (Also he can have nearby Nurglings gain a wound back every turn.)

*'''Keeper of Secrets''' - Similar to the Bloodthirster except fleet and tricksy instead of flying and beefy. He lost his big bag of tricks and now must rely on random Rewards like anyone else, but again they pumped his stats like crazy (WS9 I10 anyone?). Not to mention at 170 pts base he is a STEAL for a T6 monstrous creature, and with Fleet and an extra 3" Run move he's quite mobile for a footslogging MC. Pair him up with a Bloodthirster and go crazy. That said, he's not a CC killer in the same way that the 'thirster is. Despite an awesome statline, he's more geared towards mowing down the rank and file than taking on anything terribly strong - without the Flyer-related defences of a 'thirster or LoC, or the durability of a GUO, T6, 5 wounds and only a 5++ will not last long against most challenge-geared HQs or heavy shooting, but his high WS and Init will ensure most troops will be hitting him on 5s long after he's torn through them. Greater Rewards will mitigate your survivability issues somewhat, as 4 out of 6 will increase your defenses in some way. As a situational bonus, the Keeper of Secrets now has Preferred Enemy against Eldar and Dark Eldar. Given that both have had new codices that pump their CC ability in a lot of places, this can be very useful.  

*'''Lord of Change''' - What Bloodthirsters are to stabbing LoCs are to magic. If you're going down the shooty path, be sure to bring Pink Horrors with Heralds, just so your opponent doesn't get Feel no Pain (Even if you do grant them FnP, in most cases the unit will only have a few models left by the time they get it, unless you're shooting at MCs or Nurgle bikers, in which case you were stupid for trying anyway). For a melee LoC, take the Psyker (Master Level 3) upgrade with full Divination, The Eternal Blade & a Staff of Change and you have a LoC that's hitting like a Bloodthirster! Do not sleep on these guys! They are the most versatile Greater Daemon in the book; buff, combat, or shooting, take your pick 'cause he does it all. 
**'''Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeench''' - One of the strongest units in the 'dex and a lynchpin to nearly every list. THE Psyker of 40k (Level 4) with a points decrease and two heads that are always better than one. Each head knowing all the Change powers as well as randomly generating a power from all the standard disciplines except for Telekinesis. No longer flees when things don't go [[just as planned]]. Overall a very deadly flying psyker. Use the Grimoire of True Names on him and watch him become harder to kill than before! Do not take him into CC, he doesn't belong there, doesn't like it there and will turn you into [[Chaos Spawn|something that shan't be named]] if you bring him there. Use his staff to reroll WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANT!!! A fun little trick with it is manipulating the warpstorm table; say you roll a 6 and a 1? Using Kyros's warlord trait is risky cause one of your die are high already, instead, use his one die ability and reroll the 1, now at worst your result is a 7-12! So yea, be creative, you have an army wide chronometron so enjoy it!  Remember, you can still use your reroll even if Fateweaver has flown off the board as he simply needs to be alive and you get a reroll on both yours and your opponent's turn so don't think you have to save it to use on their turn.   

*'''Daemon Prince''' - Your customizable killing machine, and with WS 9, S6, I8,and 5 attacks it's not to be sneezed at - and that's before the mandatory upgrade to a Daemon of a Chaos God (one of them had to promote the lucky mortal after all). Most of the time these guys won't be your HQ if you like your Greater Daemons, because when you buy a Greater Daemon of your choice God, a Daemon Prince of that God moves to a Heavy Support choice (Similar to the Tyranid Tervigon, except they're taken as Troops). Its strength is that it can be tailored to your liking. CC monster? Spellcaster? Vector-Striking flyer? He can do it all if you're willing to shell out the points - which brings us to the main flaw: it will become more and more costly as you upgrade it and in most cases you should consider investing your points to the more powerful Greater Daemons as they are damningly more cost effective (and sometimes cheaper as with the GUO and KoS) than the Daemon prince, which both says something and is pretty fucking sad. It's better to take this Build-a-Daemon as your Heavy support choice. Just do not, I repeat, '''DO NOT''' go overboard on the gifts and upgrades! Keep in mind that Wings and Armour are damn near mandatory. <br />They do however have a few roles for you to consider, such as the Slaanesh Lash Prince. Consisting of a DP with wings, Lash of Despair and a biomancy psyker, pray to Slaanesh that you roll Iron Arm and fly around all game throwing 2d6 S9 shots (which is absolutely insane!) at enemy flyers. It's unreliable as fuck but if you wanted reliability, you picked the wrong codex. Alternatively, you can build a monstrous creature hunter by taking a Nurgle Prince, give it the Balesword and three points into Biomancy. Buff yourself up with the fantastic Biomancy buffs to make yourself a very tough cookie to take down (watch out for Tau, however. They love their Skyfire and Ignore Cover). Get him into assault with a MC, prepare to drink your opponent's tears: stab 'em with your Balesword for an AP2 Instant Death attack. The big drawback with the Balesword is its lack of AP but because DPs are monstrous creatures they can bypass this drawback.
**'''Uraka the Warfiend (Forge World)''' - One of two named Daemon Princes from Forgeworld. His stat line remains unchanged except for Ld 9 and he costs 200 points now. His axe lost Instant Death proper but gained Fleshbane and Decapicating Blow (ID on a to-wound of a 6) to compensate. Uraka's added goodies include a nice shiny Collar of Khorne, Warp Forged Armor, and Unholy Frenzy. This is cool and all but he is still likely to get shot to death before he does anything productive. Still not enough of a badass to make us believe he beat a Bloodthirster before gaining daemonhood.
**'''Mamon, Daemon Prince of Nurgle (Forge World)''' - The other FW named Daemon Prince. His stats are similar to a Great Unclean One, putting him at WS7, S6, T7, 5 wounds, I4, 4 attacks and Ld 9. Throw in Feel no pain, Poisoned 2+ attacks, Daemon of Nurgle and a poisoned 2+ AP3 template weapon. Not bad at all!
**'''[[Be'lakor]] The Dark Master'''- A returning character from Fantasy, Be'lakor gets Eternal Warrior that regular Daemon Princes lack and is a Level 3 Psyker with all spells from Telepathy Discipline by default. He comes with the unique rules Shadow Form (4+ invulnerable save and Shrouded) and Lord of Torment (gains a bonus D3 Warp Charge points by making enemy units fail morale checks). He also has wings and possesses a unique weapon called the Blade of Shadows (S+1, AP2, Fleshbane, Armorbane, and Master-Crafted). He also doesn't need to be devoted to a chaos god, as he serves all of them. At 350 points, he's an OP steal with access to ALL telepathy powers. Hitting on 6's in shooting and assault phase? Also no blast and templates? Emprah have mercy for those he gets close to. Also his model is arguably the coolest GW has ever made, too. The only mediocre thing about the awesome Be'lakor is that in a battleforged list he takes up an HQ/Daemonlord slot all on his own due to lack of devotion.

====Heralds====
The following HQ selections are Heralds and differ from the Greater Daemons and Princes because up to four Heralds may be taken in a single HQ slot in a detachment, meaning you could have lots of them if you wanted to. The following count as Heralds: Skulltaker, Karanak, Epidemius, and the Changeling, as well as the <strike>four</strike> five generic Heralds (the FAQ added an Exalted Flamer); the Masque and the Blue Scribes don't, however. 

=====Heralds of Khorne=====
*'''Herald of Khorne''' - With WS7, BS7, and initiative 6, the Herald of Khorne is a 55 point character/TEQ killer. Just watch out for the strike back, because you're only 6+ 5++... As for what to equip him with, either one of the Etherblades, Blade of Blood or Axe of Khorne, really depends on what you want to throw him in. If you plan on butchering hordes with your unit of choice, an Etherblade is a better choice (hordes with higher toughness values should be dealt with via Greater Etherblade); units with higher initiative or model count are better served with the Blade of Blood. The Axe is meant for challenges and chopping the heads off of Monstrous Creatures, so take that instead if wish to spill blood in a badass way. Additionally, you could take two of these weapons and get the benefits of both.
**'''Blood Throne of Khorne''' - Your personal Khornate Pimpmobile. It's the slowest but toughest of the chariots (Armor 12 with 3 HP, with a 50% chance to regain one every-time it wounds something), and its Hammer of Wrath attacks are at Strength 7. It offers your Herald good protection and mobility, but more than anything else it broadcasts his Locus to all Daemons of Khorne within 6". Just imagine this massive blob of power weapons with either 3 attacks each on the charge or Hatred for everything... Uniquely this can give loci to demons that could not normally befit from them like the few demon vehicles or monstrous creatures.
**'''Skulltaker''' - The new book changes how he rolls. WS9 I9 A4, 3+ Armor, Eternal Warrior, Adamantium Will for the whole unit and a Power Sword with Soul Blaze that has Instant Death on 6s to-wound. All this at the bargain price of 100 points. Like other Khorne heralds and Bloodletters, he can turn MEQs and under into bloody stains on the pavement. Yeah, he must always issue and accept challenges, but if he's not actively hunting the opponent's most dangerous character you're doing it wrong. Unfortunately he lost his 4+ Rending (having no Rending at all now) and he has only 2 wounds, so The Taker of Skulls will himself get decapitated by enemy models with 2+ armor. A standard Khorne herald with an Axe of Khorne can probably do his job just as well if not better. ''However,'' his saving grace is that he can take a Juggernaut for 45 points; making him far more mobile, giving him another attack, and adding another wound (bumping him up to 3) for him to make use of his 3+ armor and Eternal Warrior.
**'''Karanak''' - This big ol' doggy is made for hunting down special snowflakes. You can nominate one at the start of the game: Karanak will get to re-roll ALL To-Hit and To-Wound rolls against him/her/it, and at that point it's only a matter of getting him in melee. Don't think that daemon-Cujo here is a one-trick pony though. He's got a better statline than a vanilla Herald, Hates everyone and everything, gives his whole unit Rage and as a frosting all psykers within 12" suffer Perils of the Warp on a double (problem, Grey Knights?). All this for a only 120 points. Also this guy has Scout like other Fleshhounds, so it is fun to run him with crushers and have them scout that much closer to brain bashing distance. If your deathstar character hunting unit is not Juggernaut Skulltaker with 6 Bloodcrushers, then it's Karanak with 10 other Fleshhounds.

=====Heralds of Nurgle=====
*'''Herald of Nurgle''' - These guys actually got a buff this time around. They have got high WS, BS, S and T but MAINLY provide your Plague units with FNP. These guys can be Psykers and can take from Plague and Biomancy. Keep them lv 1 and take Plague for either some very nasty witchfires or an amazing blessing that turns your Plaguebearers into scary CC killers. They also hit at Initiative 4 with AP 2 (if you give them the Etherblade) which is awesome as you can actually kill something relatively tough without being killed first! Can't recommend these guys enough! You can actually give them the stats of a daemon prince for way cheaper, minus the weapon skill and initiative. A Herald on a Palanquin with a greater Etherblade costs 105 points and has 4 wounds at T5 and 5 S6 attacks in cc at AP2. They lack the ID ability nurgle DP's get but if you want one of the cheapest most durable beatsticks in the game consider a Herald.
**'''Epidemius''' - As of the new codex, Epidemius got nerfed hard. He's only just usable in a Nurgle based army. He could possibly pump up your units to absurd levels, so long as they are Daemons of Nurgle within 6". Now as he only has a 6" bubble that he gives buffs to (+1T, +1S, +1FNP, etc) and he only buffs Daemons of Nurgle, not Mark of Nurgle, he will be rarely used. The Buffs got better but the area of effect makes him far less useful than before, especially as he doesn't even give FNP to his unit to start with like a cheaper Herald could. Can actually be very effective if you build a list around him. There are many FW units that can count as Daemons of nurgle and have exceptional ranged weapons allowing you to build up pretty high tally stacks from turn 1.

=====Heralds of Slaanesh=====
*'''Herald of Slaanesh''' - A decently balanced, faster unit. Give her an Etherblade, Greater Loci of Swiftness and a Steed of Slaanesh or Exalted Chariot. Stick her in a squad of Seekers so that you have yourself an angry mob of initiative 10 Daemons being lead by an even bigger Daemon with AP2, or a squad of angry fast Rending machines on Speed.
**'''The Masque''' - The Masque is only 75 points. She can re-roll her 5++ and has three debuff dances to choose from: -5 to WS and can only move/run/fall back/charge d3", -5 to BS and no overwatch, and an S1 AP2 Ignores Cover hit per model in the unit. A dance can target one unengaged, non-vehicle enemy unit within 12" within the Masque’s line of sight.  Dancing occurs at the start of the shooting phase, so she is still free to run after the dancing begins; she can jump out and move, nerf something, then run into cover. Debuffing BS -5 and preventing overwatch sounds particularly delicious. She can't join units so be extra careful with her, but her nerfs are the last word in countering death stars so consider her carefully if you opponents use them often.
***A very important note, though she's in the herald part of the book, she's not actually listed as a herald, so she takes up a full HQ slot by herself, not the 1/4 a normal herald takes up, a MAJOR detriment.

=====Heralds of Tzeentch=====
*'''Herald of Tzeentch''' - A lot of dakka in a small package. Upgrade to Mastery 2/3 and if you roll on Change, hope for Infernal Gateway or take the primaris and roll all others on divination; a lot of dakka with great div buffs zipping around on a disk is very effective. Alternatively, go ALL Malefic and you got yourself a cutrate Daemon generator. A solid choice. The chariot he can take has weaker armor than a rhino (10 on all sides) meaning that bolters can glance it to death with sixes, but hang on - your Herald counts as stationary while inside it AND he can move 12" ahead, cast spells and then flat-out in the shooting phase. This guy is the linchpin of the "screamer-star" unit. put him on a disk with the grimoire of true names and have him zip around the battlefield with your screamers. This guy is amazing if you roll an 11 on your warpstorm, since the new Herald has to be BASIC and Tzeentch Heralds happen to be Psykers as basic, so you gain a nice Divination bonus for free, whereas the other Heralds are only really usable with upgrades.
**'''Exalted Flamer''' - The new 7E Errata now allows a single unit of Exalted Flamers to be taken outside of their chariot for half the points cost.  Though it gained independent character, it is now jump infantry thanks to the FAQ! Join a unit of flamers and jump around with S5 Ap3 Torrents(just remmeber they're heavy!)!  Counts toward your Herald allowance.
**'''The Changeling''' - Now works similarly to the fantasy Changeling, with the caveat that you only alter your own profile. You can replace any or all of your WS, Strength, Initiative, toughness, and/or attacks with that of a single model in base contact. Might be useful to tie up a generic close combat character, but will quickly get outclassed by anything with special snowflake gear. Statistics will never be in the Changeling's favour. The best you can hope for is 50%, given the target has no wargear at all. One fun trick is against characters that have an 'X' or '*' for their characteristic. 
**'''The Blue Scribes''' - Cheap multi-purpose character who should be kept out of melee at all costs. They lost "Watch This!" and now have a Hellforged Artefact "Scrolls of Sorcery" for which each turn you choose a discipline, roll d6 (no primaris swap) and auto-manifest the power with no tests needed and no charges expended (as they aren't actually psykers) and a spell siphon ability that recycles used charge points by enemy psykers on a 6. Makes decent support with horrors around as you can cycle those warp charges onto them and then use their flicker fires to dump that extra spell charge into even more mind bullets. Or you can be that Tzeentch guy, and keep rolling on demonology to summon a greater demon of anything you want right in the middle of them, and laugh as they focus on an 81 points greater demon as the rest of your army wails on them.
***A very important note, though they're in the herald part of the book, they're not actually listed as a herald, so they take up a full HQ slot by themselves, not the 1/4 a normal herald takes up, a MAJOR detriment.
***Note that the Scribes are '''NOT''' an Independent Character, so they cannot hide in a unit and are fragile if your opponent can target them. If you do take them, you need to abuse their Jetbike profile to the max. Move 12, Manifest a power, Turbo back to safety. Rinse and repeat, and beware of Deep Strike/Outflank. That said, his cheapness is one of his major advantages.
***The Blue Scribes are the only one of two options, the other being the Demon Prince, to get Telekinesis, and are the only way to get Pyromancy and, most interestingly, Sanctic Daemonology, since they are Rulebook disciplines. While at first glance self-defeating, Sanctic could be interesting since only one of its powers directly harms demons outside of the Primaris, though the self-buffs are questionable on a squishy unit like the Blue Scribes.

===Troops===
Troops for Daemons tend to be an afterthought in most cases. This is not to say they are awful, but the strength of the Codex lies in its HQs and Fast Attack. Unsurprisingly, Nurgle units are durable for their cost and thus handy for objectives. Bloodletters and Daemonettes are melee glass-hammers, with their main difference being in terms of whether to hunt Marines or lightly-armored infantry and the occasional Riptide. Horrors are "the ranged unit" of the Codex, and are special enough to discuss in their entry.

*'''Bloodletters of Khorne''' - These guys are one heck of a mixed bag. On the one hand, their base weapons are AP3, and they hit at S5 on the charge (thanks to Furious Charge), which will cause any MEQ army to give them respect. And they're now only 10pts a model - perfect for horde tactics. On the other hand, you will need said horde numbers to have any hope of doing much damage. They've got a pisspoor armour save, a weak invulnerable save and no grenades, which greatly mitigate their longterm effectiveness. With just one base attack, you need all the bodies you can get. If you give them a Herald with a Locus give them Greater Locus of Fury (Rage) - it helps remedy their low number of attacks. Another problem is that they will always endure at least 1 turn of shooting (if not 2) so unless your opponent ignores them they will have lower numbers when they get into combat. The Blood Banner is essential here, greatly improving their chances of getting a successful charge in; and the Character upgrade can be effective especially with access to that Axe of Khorne. Deep Strike is another useful card to play, especially if the unit has an instrument, allowing another Khorne unit to come down on top of it.
*'''Daemonettes of Slaanesh''' - 9pts each, with Fleet and Rending. Like every other force organization slot, the Slaanesh unit is faster but less reliably killy than the Khorne unit, just as the Nurgle unit is slower but more durable. With 'letters reduced to AP3, Rending gives Daemonettes a new niche in the army, as they're a lot more capable of dealing with TEQs on their own. They are also arguably better vs some MEQ's than the 'letters as I5 means any damage you deal will reduce damage you take, rather than 'letters striking at the same time and taking the full amount of attacks. However Daemonettes have notably less armor ignoring attacks (even as they have more base) as compared to the guaranteed AP3 swords the 'letters all have. If you have enough Daemonettes the difference between rending and AP 3 will diminish, but in small units the difference will be more notable. With their speed and Deep Strike, they're good at tying up enemy units before they can really blast your more fragile units. And being relatively cheap, you can take big units to mitigate your rather crappy Toughness and Inv save. If you take a Herald go ahead and spring for the Exalted Locus (reroll all To Hit rolls); it gives them more teeth (something they lack) and ups their likelihood of getting a rend.
*'''Horrors of Tzeentch''' - There are three different types of Horror unit: Pink Horrors, Blue Horrors, and Brimstone Horrors. However, their rules are similar enough and intertwined with one another such that they are discussed together.
**No matter the type of Horror Unit, each one is considered a Brotherhood of Sorcerers unit with access to the Lore of Change. The immediate implication of this is that a single Horror acts as the "point of origin" for Flickerfire, thus allowing the unit to engage in pseudo-sniper shenanigans; the model you choose will determine "which" enemy model is considered the closest for casualty removal, which can make all the difference when you wish to pick off a specific model from a unit, or whether you can hit a vehicle's side arc. Since they are Psykers, they can then run back into coverin the Shooting Phase.
**However, the units are also worth keeping in the open due to their other special trait. When a unit of Pink Horrors or Blue takes casualties, they can "split" into their lesser bretheren; One Pink Horror splits into two Blue Horrors, one Blue Horror splits into a pair of Brimstone Horrors. The key things to remember are that "splitting" happens at the end of any phase where a unit suffers casualties, models destroyed by Daemonic Instability do not split, and that newly-split Blue and Brimstone Horrors MUST be placed within 6" of the unit they were split from, and they must join a unitif such a unit is within 6" of them, or else they create a new unit.
***As an example, suppose you take two units of 10 Pink Horrors, with 12" of space between them. One Pink Horror unit loses two models, and thus splits off four Blue Horrors into a new unit. If the Blue Horror unit is placed in between the two Pink Horror units and within 6" of the second Pink Horror unit, then any Blue Horrors split from the second Pink Horror unit would have to join the Blue Horror unit in the middle. If, however, the initial Blue Horror unit was placed on the opposite side of the Pink Horror unit, then the Blue Horrors split from the second unit would split into their own unit.
**Each unit generates 1 Warp Charge by default. Pink Horrors generate 2 Warp Charge if they have 11-15 models, and 3 if they have 16 or more models.
**Pink Horrors are Strength and Toughness 3, and have the options to take a Musician, Icon, and Iridescent Horror. Blue Horrors are S2 and T2, while Brimstone Horrors are S1 and T1, with W2. Though that last part looks silly, this actually highlights a critical weakness that Horrors have, in that they really do not wish to be in Assault, and multi-assaults can be especially devestating to them; every slain Brimstone Horror counts as "two" wounds inflicted. A Daemon player could be "cheeky" and try to place a unit of newly-split Horrors "in front" to discourage shooting them beforehand (since a unit can only charge a unit it has shot at beforehand), but this is unreliable at best. Worst comes to worst, do not leave Horror units exposed to chargers, and use your blocking unit of choice (Drones, Screamers, etc) to interdict. DO NOT split off Brimstone Horrors next to your unit of Screamers, or bad things will happen!
***'''Note:'''Wrath of Magnus' rules update came with a price: Malefic Daemonology has been omitted from the datasheets, and it was on purpose. It's a fair trade-off since Horrors now split into 2 units which become new bases themselves as they die. It doesn't really stop the summoning cheese armies since Horrors will just become batteries for that LoC/Herald.
***'''Note:''' GW has stated ''new'' Pink Horrors cannot use Daemonology (Malefic), with no explanation as to what they mean by ''new''; [[skub|discuss with your opponent]] if this means "the ones from Wrath of Magnus" or "the ones created after the beginning of the game by a special rule, such as the Summoning power" or some other interpretation one of you favors.  However, this ban is explicit in the Wrath of Magnus FAQ, whatever it means.
***The Chaos Daemons FAQ, on the other hand (which came out a month ''after'' the Wrath of Magnus FAQ), specifies:
****AMENDMENTS
*****Various – Psykers
******Any model with the Psyker or Brotherhood of Sorcerers special rule may generate powers from the Daemonology discipline in addition to the others listed in their Army List Entries.
***As this is standard-issue [[skub|GW grade rules clarity]], discuss with your opponent, but it still comes back to what exactly the word "new" means in the Wrath of Magnus FAQ.
***'''FINAL NOTE''' I have had confirmation from a GW employee that the new Horrors Datasheet in Wrath of Magnus COMPLETELY replaces the old horrors. This is also stated in the Wrath of Magnus book. The reasoning is that because the new horrors split, they took off Malific in order to balance them a little. Therefore, you CANNOT summon with Horrors at all anymore.
*'''Plaguebearers of Nurgle''' - Plaguebearers may have lost FnP and got their toughness docked by 1, but they got a dramatic points reduction in exchange - and, more importantly, Shrouded. Since they are no longer Fearless and have Shrouded they can go to ground for 2+ in any cover. With this, they're not far off being as durable as they were before. However, objective camping isn't their sole use - now their attacks always glance on a 6, which means that these are actually decent at anti-tank. A massive unit of these with a Herald could march across the board and kill a hell of a lot of stuff that your other units might struggle with (see Wraithlords and AV13 Walkers). If you take a Herald, take the Greater Locus of Fecundity (Feel No Pain) to make camping Plaguebearers unkillable or to survive the march to your enemies' vehicles. Or you could bring Plague Drones/Seekers/Bloodcrushers with Icons to get them where you need to go, which is a better idea because they have Slow and Purposeful.  These guys definitely need a Herald to give them their FNP back to truly shine at backfield objective camping. Otherwise they're a few markerlights or flamer blasts (beware the sisters of battle) away from oblivion.
*'''Nurglings''' - A four wound tarpit, Nurglings have lost their amazing Eternal Warrior and are now incredibly vulnerable to instant death. In 7th edition, the rule disallowing Swarms to be scoring units has disappeared which means these things score and have Objective Secured! Plus they have the Infiltrate Special Rule, and they're decent at distracting units with a lot of dakka and missile launchers, allowing your assaulting units to move up and chop them to pieces. Alternately, they can grab a vital objective early in the game. Taking about 6 should do the job, but taking more isn't a bad idea. Just don't expect them to do much. Be careful, however, using these guys against Tau. Infiltrating units with four wounds seems like a perfect solution to keep some of that shooting off your army as they run up the board, but sadly any S6 shooting or templates will absolutely destroy the unit in no time at all, and Tau unfortunately have tons of that. 
**If playing apocalypse, you can usually find a place behind the enemy to infiltrate to. Take a bunch of 3-base units and [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]].

===Elite===
*'''Beasts of Nurgle''' - Toughness 5, 4 Wounds, Shrouded and It Will Not Die? Beasts are amazing tarpitters, and can even charge in the enemy's assault phase. Yes you read that right. One of the best countermeasures to your weaker units being charged in the book. They last forever and will hang around long enough for hopefully some one else to come and help. Pairs well with Plague Drones, BUT remember to keep them in cover! They are Beasts, and as such they ignore difficult terrain, so take advantage of the free saves. Great as road bumps for Death Stars and also good at distracting assaulting units in a shooty Daemons army. As long if you're willing to invest in Tzeentch units and focus on one target at a time, Beasts can really help as a meatshield for your shooty units.
*'''Bloodcrushers of Khorne''' - With 6+ (Why does it even have this?) 5++ and T4, Bloodcrushers are possibly the worst hit by the new codex. They still hit very hard, and now they have 3 wounds, but the whole loss of the 3+ save means that Bloodcrushers will die quickly when in the open. On the other hand, now they're a proper Cavalry unit, so what they lost in survivability they gained in mobility, but that ''won't'' save them. Plus they cost 5pts MORE than their 5th edition counterpart. Trading their 3+ armour save, T, and their Eternal Warrior in exchange for 1W and counting as Cavalry for 45 pts? Pass. On the other other hand, if you manage to cast the Grimore of True names on them, they'll be nigh-unkillable with 3 wounds and a 3++ save. Their main use in this book is to attach Karanak with five Bloodcrushers with an Icon so you can deep strike your Khorne/Slaanesh (HERESY!) units safely (within cover of course) so they can launch an assault next turn after the Bloodcrushers do. Again, if you're worried about their their survival, grant them the True names and they'll do fine for the most part.  Using these in range of a Leman Russ, Exorcist, Krak missile long fang squad, or Hive guard tends to end hilariously.  For the enemy anyway.  For you it'll probably just make you cry.
**'''Alternate opinion:''' Conversely: Leman Russ, Exorcist, Krak missile long fangs, or Hive guard may be all that can take them out. According to math hammer 20 bolters can drop a Crusher in one fusillade, 20 lasguns and other strength 3 shooting can not, and with three attacks per model even small units can do a lot of damage on a charge (but only against MEQ), lastly as Demons they will not route from shooting and must be shot off the board to be fully dealt with. If you do want to use Bloodcrushers you could use small units of them as a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] to draw a lot of fire, safe in the knowledge that they can't be ignored as they will just run out and eat you opponents face if they do due to their cavalry speed. Counterpoint: They are still undeniably fragile, in the league of Rough Riders, Warp Talons and Howling Banshees, they can be badly hurt by everything from Lasguns to Lascannons. As a distraction they're too expensive/fragile to draw much fire, and even if they do make it into melee range they can almost always be beaten by similar points of non MEQ. Their best use then is a mid-late game glass-hunter, possessing the speed and power to hunt down and eliminate vulnerable high value targets.
**'''Fatecrusher Revised'''- Around the end of 6th, one tournament player attempted to revive the old Fatecrusher army from 5th as a means to counter gunline armies, with some minor degree of success. To some degree Fatecrusher can work if you're OK with the fact it's an expensive bully and will most likely be out-attritioned by other deathstars or Knights. The idea is to take a Herald of Khorne in Juggernaut and make him the Grimoire bearer; with a Hellblade, he can afford to go without a weapon swap. You then attach him to the Bloodcrushers, adding a Bloodhunter for an Axe, and an Instrument. Then you add Fateweaver and a Tzeentch Herald with the Oracular Dais. Come turn 2, you use the Dais to auto-pass the reserve roll for the Crushers/Grimoire Herald, then use the Instrument to have Fateweaver automatically follow-up. You activate the Grimoire and Fateweaver's reroll, and preferably support them as with Cursed Earth.
*'''Fiends of Slaanesh''' - These guys look *weird* and they're adequately killy. They're pretty fast (Beasts) with 3 S4 rending attacks at a good initiative (6). Don't go full Marbo because with WS4, S4, T4 and A3, they're basically unarmoured and unarmed Assault Marines, although 5++ and 3 wounds sorta helps them survive a little longer. Their MAIN use is that any unit they charge has -5 I. Hell yes! The downside? Enemy psykers have -1 Ld when within 12" of them, but considering that LD is no longer used in any way for psychic tests the entire Disruptive Song ability is about as useful as a third dick. If you're going Psyker hunting, just bring Flesh Hounds. Overall they're less dangerous but more hardy than in previous editions, with less tricks up their sleeve. 
**For extra lulz, have a Keeper of Secrets with a Witstealer Sword charge in a unit with the Fiends, laugh when your opponent tries to pass his Initiative test but fails thanks to these Beasts!
**Easily made out of Seekers by adding some scything arms and a little greenstuff. or if you want to get really creative, what's left over from the rest of the kit. 
*'''Flamers of Tzeentch''' - At one point, fielding Flamers would have caused your opponent to leap over the table and strangle you. Now he will thank you for giving his Space Marines Feel no Pain - if he doesn't mind losing half his squad first. 23 points for a warpflame Strength 4 AP4 flame template. However, they have one saving grace: they still kill models with 4+ saves and higher in droves and since most of these models are T3 half of the time you get D3 extra auto hits. Remember, it's at THE END of the Shooting Phase when the unit must take a toughness test, unfortunately actual shooting attacks as compared to the mind bullets Pink Horrors have is rare in this dex with one other unit (the burning Chariot which thankfully is useable now) with a built in weapon, Soul Grinders and Lashes for Slaanesh unit commander that can take rewards. In general, though, I would not worry too much about the feel no pain you can give; assuming you hit only 4+ targets, you should do enough damage that even if they get the feel no pain, they won't have the numbers to really use it. By the way, I don't recommend you putting nine in a squad, because with that many models it's unlikely all of them will be able to get all their flame templates on a target. This is a unit meant to harass and distract your opponent's squads while your troops gets within charge range to finish them off. Six flame templates are plenty to do that job.
*'''Decimator Daemon Engine (Forge World)''' - Compared to the Soul Grinder, it costs a LOT more, is not as well armoured (13/12/11) but potentially more durable. Like other daemon vehicles it has daemonic resilience and gets a 5+ invulnerable save, but unlike other daemon engines it has an ace up its sleeve: "Unholy Vigour." This nifty special rule allows a Decimator to regrow destroyed weapons and unimmobilize itself on 5+. Additionally, it can revive itself from a Wrecked result on a 6+ on any turn! This thing also gets access to smoke launchers for 3 pts., so buy them! The Decimator can additionally mount the following weapons:
**'''Decimator Siege Claws''': Your decimator comes stock with two of these, providing a total of 4 S8 AP2 lightning-claw attacks plus they have built-in heavy flamers. These claws can also perform a smash attack that if it penetrates a transport or building, you get to make D6 heavy flamer attacks against anyone inside. Sadly, this isn't totally necessary against buildings as you can just heavy flamer them, but most transports aren't open topped, so Falcon Punch them when you get the chance.
**'''Butcher Cannon''': The butcher cannon will help against things like dreadnoughts, medium armour and when bought as a pair, can lay down an eye-watering 8 S8 AP4 shots at 36". Potentially more useful than an allied CSM [[Forgefiend]] as you can deepstrike this bad boy within gun range as opposed to setting him up to be las-sniped. Trouble is that it's way more expensive and a Forgefiend has better guns.
**'''Storm Laser''': 36" S6 AP3 Heavy D3+2. Like the butcher cannon, the laser is best bought as a pair and is a cost effective alternative to them. Storm Lasers are best at chewing up MEQ infantry: Necron Lynchguard/Destroyers/Praetorians/Tomb Spyders, Blood Angels in power armour, PAGK's, the occasional Tyranid monstrous creature, but especially Tau Battlesuits! Watch out for that early-warning override because it'll wreck your shit.
**'''Soul Burner Petard''': Named after the Petard mortar, itself named for the middle French word for what was essentially a medieval breaching charge (from the Latin for "breaking wind"), it gives you a S5 AP5 Rending Large Blast for smashing Orks, 'Nids, or Guard (or any other blobs you may need to remove). You only need to buy one of these (as it's an Ordnance weapon), allowing you to retain a Siege Claw for the fighty bastards that get too close. 
**'''Heavy Conversion Beamer''': 6th edition gave this thing a purpose, for now you can hide one of these in a building while taking another gun for more dakka and dedicating this vehicle to Slaanesh for the defensive grenades.
**The Decimator can be marked by the Gods (requires an Independent Character in the army with the same dedication) for +15 pts. as follows:
***'''Khorne:''' Gains Rampage. Great for tearing apart lots of things in hand to hand and goes well with the double claw or claw plus petard.
***'''Nurgle:''' Gains It Will Not Die. Arguably the best, making an already hard to kill unit even harder to kill!
***'''Slaanesh:''' Counts as armed with assault and defensive grenades. Assault grenades are marginally useful, but defensive grenades are good for a camping decimator with a heavy conversion beamer. You can also, rather hilariously, ''"throw"'' a grenade in your shooting phase prior to an assault. Yes, that's as silly as it sounds. Still, best to use the defensive grenade to blind your target and oh look! You're striking first now.
***'''Tzeentch:''' Re-roll to-hits of 1's for shooting attacks, and heavy flamers (if any) get Soul Blaze. Arguably better for gun Decimators as soul blaze sucks ass, but re-rolling 1s ups your hit chances nicely.
***One more thing about marked decimators that is easily overlooked and/or misinterpreted: in a Codex Daemons army, if given a mark, they also count as daemons of the specific god they are marked by for the purposes of Daemonic Hatred and the Warp Storm table. They do NOT get the special rules for Daemon of X so if [[That Guy|That Guy]] tries to tell you his Nurgle Decimator (or Knight Titan for that matter) has Shrouded as well as IWND feel free to call him out for being a powergaming D-bag.
*'''Spined Chaos Beast (Forgeworld)''' - Basically, it's a daemonic construct made from flesh instead of metal. It's a deep-striking monstrous creature with WS5, S7, T6, 4 wounds with It Will Not Die. It makes an ''excellent'' beatstick and bonus hardpoint; think of it as an extra greater daemon or DP. Must be a Daemon of a Chaos god:
**'''Khorne:''' free furious charge! +1S on the charge is nice for Instant Death attacks on the charge. Although it isn't an earth-shattering bonus, it's hard to beat a price of 0.
**'''Tzeentch:''' +5 points, does nothing for psychic powers but re-rolling 1's for saves is nice and quite a bargain at only 5 points, granting an almost 4++.
**'''Nurgle:''' Oh how the mighty have fallen - 15 points for shrouded and slow and purposeful. Alright, so you already get a 5+ save from being a Daemon and slogging through difficult terrain to buff that cover save makes you even slower - which paired with Slow and Purposeless makes this thing a 155 point sink that has a chance to do FUCK ALL during a battle when foot-slogged. In case you forgot, this thing is exclusively an assault unit, so being a Daemon of Nurgle gives it all the failings of CSM [[Mutilators]]. Deep-striking it into cover may get you closer but you still have to waddle over to your targets (which will be agonizing) or you can scatter onto bad stuff for a mishap, again giving you the opportunity to have a 155-point sink. Topping it all off, you won't get your cover saves in close combat, which hangs a massive question mark over the whole goddamn thing! What's really sad is that the bonus it replaced (FNP) was way better; just skip it.   
**'''Slaanesh:''' Got bumped up by +5 pts. but is no longer the cheapest or worst of them all - actually, this is arguably the best. Fleet, rending and an extra 3" of movement are pretty sweet. Great for running up the field, dashing through cover or deep-striking and running out of LoS. You also don't have to smash to pop lighter vehicles with rending, which is nice. All in all, like Khornate Daemonhood, there are no drawbacks or wasted abilities here. A Slaaneshi Chaos Best combines the good parts of a Daemon Prince (high WS, easier to Deepstrike) with a Soul Grinder (strong and remarkably tough), although you lose access to ranged weapons, gifts and psychic powers. Still, it undercuts ''both'' those competitors by a fairly significant margin.

===Fast Attack===
*'''Plague Drones of Nurgle''' - Plaguebearers riding on giant jetpack cavalry flies. And you thought you were badass. Can be upgraded with Poison (3+) or turn one of their attacks into Instant Death (Stinger tail to the face). The whole unit can also get an upgrade for Str user assault 2 poisoned 4+ 12" ranged attacks. There is also the champion upgrade that gives you +1 attack and gives you access to that AP2 Etherblade (this makes them hit very hard). Don't forget that because they are jetpack cavalry they can move 12" in the movement phase (kinda like a jumppack with their dangerous terrain test if they start or end turn in terrain), then shoot you with Death heads and then they have Fleet and Hammer of wrath for their charge (again ignoring any terrain they have to charge through (bar a dangerous terrain test). Oh, and they have 3 wounds each at T5 so they ain't going anywhere quickly! And if you don't fancy charging don't worry, you can move 2D6" in the assault phase for free like Tau Battlesuits, making their move average at 19" per turn and with shooting. NOTE: They also make great ICON bearers so you can Deep Strikes your other units more effectively and pretty far across the board turn 2 since they are so fast and tough. 

*'''Flesh Hounds of Khorne''' - Good points: they're fast, have multiple wounds, can effectively deal with any non-melee unit that isn't wearing power-armor. That and they have +2 to Deny the Witch rolls as standard. Bad points: their attacks don't ignore armor saves so anything that's as tough as a Space Marine will laugh them off. As a counter to this, Karanak or a Herald on a Juggernaut can give the squad he is in RAGE which makes them really scary on the charge and since they are so fast and ignore difficult terrain ALL THE TIME, being beasts, they should be charging. Along with Karanak's perils'-causing collar, him and the Hounds make great psyker hunters. These guys also now have Scout and just generally better stats. A cheap group of ten is well worth their points if your opponent has at least one annoying psyker pissing off the Blood God. These guys are also borderline mandatory when playing against very shooty armies, such as Tau, IG, or Eldar. Use a squad of ten to sponge up most of your oppenent's firepower on turn one, and roll your other fast units up the board. Using a large blob of them buffed by the Grimoire with Karnak is typically considered a [[Troll|most excellent dick move.]]
**'''Models note:''' If you want to add Flesh Hounds to your force but don't have the money to buy them (They cost $50 in America for five Hounds), you can get either the Beastmen/WoC Hounds or the Vampire Counts Dire Wolves for "Count as" models for half the price AND twice the amount you get. Did I mention they're plastic rather than Finecast? Hmm, mi casa hay muchas cucarachas, Me gusta! 

*'''Furies of Chaos''' - These got a total change this time around, but still suck. They have jump packs but only one attack each and rubbish stats make them un-usable. Even for 6 points a pop they have leadership 2. Yes, you read that right, Grots and Conscripts have more balls than they do - these are undoubtedly the biggest pussies in all of 40k (well sort of, daemons don't fall back like Grots and Conscripts do). That means if they EVER lose combat they are gone, no ifs or buts about it; if they ever have to take a morale check they are unbelievably fucked. You can make them dedicated if you want but seriously don't bother wasting a precious fast attack slot and points on these guys. For extra Fluff-Heresy you can Mark Furies. Even though they were scorned by each god to be mark-less abominations of despair and eternal punishment for the fickle mortal they once were. Other than the Slaanesh Mark, we aren't to sure why you would want to do that.   
**'''Alternate opinion:''' Something to keep in mind for Furies, they're demons, meaning they follow Daemonic Instability and won't take moral tests unless they lose a combat, and every turn spent shooting at Furies is a turn not spent shooting at some other more expensive target. At less then 150 for 20 jump infantry with 5++ that may be against some armies (Cough*tau*cough), a credible threat that the enemy will have to deal with or get hit with 20 strong flock of demon tarpits. If they get shot: good, they're cheap; and if they don't then 40 attacks potentially with +1S or rending and 20 HoW attacks can actually let them win combats, especially if they use their speed to hit vulnerable units. Aim them at heavy weapons squads, engaged squads, cover campers, TEQ (what a waste of power weapons...), or just deny a charge. You can dedicate them or not but only either Khorne or Slaanesh, staying cheap and winning combats are all they need. To summarize, don't expect much from them, but as something that can draw fire they are cheap, fast, expendable, 5++, and if ignored in lieu of other more dangerous targets they can be a thorn in your enemy's side.
** With the new Daemonic Incursion Detachment, Furies gained a much-needed niche use; forming the full Daemonic Incursion from any normal Core Choice. At just 35 points for a basic squad, this is the cheapest option to upgrade any of the core choices into a full Daemonic Incursion. This is a godsend for any of those armies as the other options (unless they're needed) are prohibitively expensive on top of the core choice, moreso if you want to run any Daemon Lords. For the Infernal Tetrad, this is probably the only way to upgrade them to a full Daemonic Incursion without going into apocalypse-level of points, as that one formation alone can cost an upwards of 1200 points 

*'''Screamers of Tzeentch''' - Flying magic stingrays of Tzeentch. They're expensive and fragile, though 2 wounds help. They're "ok" combatants, with 3 attacks each and Hammer of Wrath, but that's not why you take them. Their first special rule, '''Slashing Attack''' is very similar to a Vector Strike, only it's done via Turbo-Boosting, and only does D3 S4 AP - hits; it's still cute for assassinating hidden special/heavy weapons however. Their second rule, '''Lamprey's Bite''' is basically a Smash, except it does a single S5 AP 2 Armorbane attack. Although you may think of this ability as meant for Terminator hunting, its real use is to turbo Screamers point-blank into a group of Metal Bawkes, daring them to Tank Shock past. [[Troll|Problem Astartes?]]
**'''Loadout:''' What loadout? You have 3 Screamers and can add up to 6. If you're running 3, you're either Summoning said Screamers, or are running extreme MSU (probably a Burning Skyhost). If you're running a full unit, you're running a Screamerstar. This means they're escorting a Herald of Tzeentch or two (more is overkill, but ymmv), rolling for Cursed Earth and carrying the Grimoire turning the unit into a super fast completely unkillable deathstar; naturally, the Grimoire implies Fateweaver. The Screamerstar is brutally effective and is a mainstay of competitive Daemon lists.  The unit does require a fine bit of finesse to use properly as getting the proper amount of offensive impact from them can be difficult (though don't underestimate the power of a unit that simply never dies). The difference between a decent screamer player and a good one is pretty large (just watch out for Wraithknights and 3++ed up Riptides w/ an Ethereal nearby for Stubborn LD10 as a canny player will attempt to hold up your screamer unit for a very long time if he manages to get into combat with them, I recommend a rescue assault unit that kills Monstrous Creatures effectively like plague drones with heralds and venom stings or seekers with their rending to scare away or kill the roadblock and let the screamerstar continue to rain havoc down on the enemy).

*'''Seekers of Slaanesh''' - Got changed this time around, Seekers are now a solid unit that one should consider when making their lists, even in a fluffy Khorne army (HERESY!). These cavalry units are cheap-as-chips (12 pts), they may just seem like daemonettes on mounts, but when you take a closer look, you see that they have Acute Senses and Outflank. They also have an extra attack, which gives them 4 on the charge, and if that's not enough, they run an extra 6' in the shooting phase, so Seekers are both fast AND deadly! Seriously, for only three points more just for all of that makes me think their point costs is a print error. Whether you use them for a fast offence unit, an Icon carrying squad, or to simply distract your opponent from your other units, you can't go wrong with Seekers. Even if you were to maximize the unit to 20 seekers, it won't take up your points and still leaves you room for other units, unlike the other unit that requires the Grimore to be effective and are an expensive investment *CoughBloodcrushersCough*.
**'''Note:'''Seekers have 1 attack more than Daemonettes, but the increased cost is less than half of the Daemonette's points. This means for the same points of Seekers and Daemonettes, you get the same amount of attacks on the charge, but more attacks in subsequent phases. The tradeoff for this is obviously for the same amount of points Seekers only have 3/4ths of the wounds Daemonettes bring. For that tradeoff, you get all of the extra rules listed above at no additional cost. If it ever comes down to a choice between Daemonettes or Seekers, always take Seekers as their mobility will compensate for the loss of 1/4th of the wounds (and at this cheap, you can afford a little less durability since you will be outnumbering marines and even Necron Warriors).  

*'''Hellflayer of Slaanesh''' - The Hellflayer was overlooked when it was first launched on account of it sucking during that brief update from White Dwarf. Let's not kid ourselves, this thing is still fragile and will succumb to most gunfire with ease. Granted, should it survive, you will quite literally drink the tears of your enemies troops as the chariot deals out D6 S4 Rending HoW hits per hull point remaining, granted it only starts with two. However, the Exalted Alluress riding the thing gets an additional attack per unsaved wound inflicted on top of the four with which she starts! Like we said, there's an incentive to kill this thing before it drives into the soft, moist folds of the rank and file. There's just one critical problem: 'flayers are 60 pts each whereas seeker chariots cost 20 points less, have the exact same profile and can be taken in 1-3 vehicle squads. If you can't take those or Exalted chariots (likely because you don't have any free Heavy Support slots left), only then shall you consider this unit. They aren't very good if you got the memo as they pay 20 points for a gimmick.

*'''Blight Drone (Forge World)''' - A fast flyer with a Reaper Autocannon, an old-style Mawcannon (Phlegm and Vomit only) and now Deep Strike and the Daemon of Nurgle rule. At 150 pts., it's a nifty fast attack vehicle. With the increased points, it is now closer to a soul grinder. The downside? It's BS2. The upside? It has Shrouded so evading for a jink is 2+. One the contenders for best fast attack choice since it's a good load of dakka on a flyer with Shrouded which many armies lack effective counters to. Beware that these explode when destroyed (wrecked/explode) so keep them away from squishy friendlies. These can also be taken as a 1-3 squadron. Never hurts to double tap, and opens slots up for other fast attack awesome.

===Heavy Support===
*'''Skull Cannon of Khorne''' - Basically auto-include if you're bringing Daemonettes or Bloodletters. Not because S8 cover-ignoring blast (which is still nice at popping-out vehicles), but because your guys can charge anything hit with this blast without initiative penalty for not having assault grenades. If the enemy gets too close, it's a chariot, so charge them with your D6 S7 Hammer of Wrath hits with 2A S4 WS5 from bloodletter crew (4A S5 on charge) as of 7th FAQ! Then die horribly as they shove a power fist up your armour-12 front. (Chariots always use front facing)
*'''Burning Chariot of Tzeentch''' -Cheap and fragile but very killy. Only 100 points with 10AV all around but is in fact a Daemon of Tzeentch and 3HP make it more durable than most fast skimmer... chariot... things. The Exalted Flamer will be shooting AP3 torrents and 18" heavy d3 lascannon shots, which unfortunately have Warpflame. Even its Hammer of Wrath attacks have Warpflame. Here have FnP while I burn you alive. [[Just as Planned]]. Alternatively you can give a Herald of Tzeentch one of these to pimp around in, casting Divination, Change, and/or Malefic Daemonology powers all over the place. Or you could use a Warpblade to spawn the shit put of your opponent using sweep attacks, then 'accidentally' flamer the t5 spawn, as well as the enemy squad, and let the nomming commence.
** Warhammer 40,000 7th Edition update. Now in 7th Edition chariot riders count as not moving. It means exactly what you think it means - our beloved av 10/10/10 skimmer can now move 12", torrent another 12" and because it's open topped it can be from anywhere on the vehicle. While the durability is low, 3 HP, chariots can now never be immobilized only, explode on 7 for damage roll (remember it's open topped though, so can be blasted with tau pulse rifle) and they can pass off hits/wounds to the rider.  And if you do choose to run the Herald on this instead, remember that you can spew psychic powers in the psychic phase and then flat-out into safety in the following shooting phase.
**'''Blue Horror Crew'''
***All enemy units within 6" of one of more Burning Chariots that have Blue Horror Crew suffer a -1 penalty to their Leadership. 
*'''Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh''' - These guys are cheap. A squad of three of these used to be unusable due to their massive bases and deepstriking, but now they can deploy safely. Rules for these girls are simple: Charge the enemy. Your d6 per hull point Hammer of Wrath Attacks with RENDING due to its Fleshshredder rule owns everything. These things are very delicate but at only 40 pts a chariot they are worth it. Be careful with the rules in cc as it gets very confusing with the exalted Alluress in combat. After countless hours of rules cross-referencing, one thing to be constantly aware of is that units in close combat with a chariot can choose to direct their attacks at either the Chariot body OR the rider - and if your Alluress with her pathetic T3 takes even one single unsaved wound, the entire model (chariot and all) is wiped completely off of the table.
**'''Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh''' - Same as above only 4 HP instead of 2. These units are the definition of Risk vs Reward. Bring a 3 Chariot strong Exalted Cavalcade and buy all of the riders Lash of Despair to make sure that NOTHING survives your 6D6 shooting hits followed by your unholy 12D6 S4 automatic Rending Hammer of Wrath hits per charge BEFORE YOU EVEN ATTACK AT I5. Guzzle the tears of your fleshy enemies as ANYTHING that isn't a <s>vehicle</s> '''LANDRAIDER''' is churned to a pulpy milkshake consistency beneath your wheels. You could even put a Herald on there and take the Locus of Grace to give all your chariots ignore difficult terrain all the time (HOWEVER, as per the new May 2014 errata, Heralds that buy a Chariot to ride lose the independent character rule. The Grand Cavalcade formation may restore this, but I'm not sure. Be doubly wary when using these though, because a Herald with a Locus and a Lash of Despair on an Exalted Chariot will run you 150 points each, and they can still only take 2 wounds at T3 in close combat before being completely destroyed. You read that right. an entire cavalcade of Exalted Chariots can be utterly decimated by 2 charging Hormagaunt models. BE SURE YOU CHARGE FIRST.
*'''Soul Grinder''' - In 4th edition, Games Workshop decided to expand its repertoire of things stolen from intellectual properties and so knicked something a bit more recent (from Doom, specifically). It was a shitty waste of points back then because its [[RIP AND TEAR|HUGE GUTS]] made deep-striking it an exercise in annoyance and failure, but we don't talk about that much no more. For this codex, the <s>Spider Mastermind</s> <s>Cyberdemon</s> Soul Grinder is very similar to what it once was in terms of stats and cost. He still comes with a harvester, has one Iron Claw (it's a power fist, actually) and still has that same, rather solid stat-line. So what's new? Well, he can Skyfire if he wants with his new S7 AP4 3-shot harvester but has to buy all his other weapons from scratch. However, losing a Mawcannon won't remove all the the profiles you upgraded it with so that's a plus, right? Speaking of weapons and profiles:
**'''Baleful Torrent''' - just like the last one, S6 AP4 but now with torrent!
**'''Phlegm Bombardment''' - very similar to the phlegm profile it replaces, your half-range battle cannon doth return. Note, you have to snap-fire all other weapons when shooting it now because it's Ordnance and this is post-6th Ed.
**'''Warp Gaze''' - why? Oh sure, S10 AP1 seems terrifying, but its range is pathetic and you can expect to miss as often as you can to hit with it; could be worth it on camping Nurgle/Tzeentch Grinders just to add more dakka. This would've been ''awesome'' if you could give it to a Daemon Prince!
**'''Warp Sword''' - your back-up if you lose your Iron Claw and a pricey one at that, but it will also give you a bonus attack, being that both your claw and this sword are specialist weapons. Warp Swords are also master crafted, which is totally a plus for close-combat grinders.<br />Soul Grinders must now be upgraded to a Daemon of a god in which it gets special god-related bonuses: 
**'''Khorne''' - This one is free as the Iron Claw already doubles strength (making furious charge useless unless someone shoots off your claw) but also means you'll almost always be loading up with a Warp Sword just in case. However the real strength of Khorne is that if paired with a Blood Throne you can take advantage of Loci: Rage or Hatred on this thing? yes please!
**'''Tzeentch''' - The next cheapest, giving you jack shit in terms of psychic powers but 5 pts for a re-rollable save 1's is fantastic!
**'''Nurgle''' - Best by far for Shrouded Soul Grinders (2+ cover behind ruin anyone?) but be careful with an ADL as it might be too small to obscure him properly. Of course, any of the Sanctum Imperialis line of terrain kits would give you a useful selection of cheap MC chest-high walls with fairly decent special rules (moreso for the Sanctum Imperialis, which grants Night Vision and Adwill, and the Shrine of the Aquila, which grants Hatred (Imperium), than the rather meh gains from the Basillica Administratum and the Manufactorium). MACCs are also good if you don't mind MORE random tables. Always double check that this massive model is obscured before assuming he is. Otherwise, you're gonna be shooting so take phlegm, maybe Torrent and ''maybe'' Warp Gaze. Keep in mind that this thing will be in the backfield, which is a weird position for daemons that are more used to taking the fight to the enemy.
**'''Slaanesh''' - the +3 run, Fleet and Rending. This is the close-combat Grinder Daemon, although it's radically different from how you would think to use it and rending doesn't do jack shit for your S10 attacks (unless you're coming across something with Armour 15, but you are arguably way more fucked than this thing can help you). Regardless, grab yourself a Warp Sword and Baleful Torrent. Use your speed to dart around cover and soften up whatever you can with torrents and Harvester volleys.
:While the Soul Grinder is usually worth taking, it is annoyingly counter-intuitive. It offers Skyfire, but only has BS3 and if used, prevents the use of Phlegm or the torrent (requires some Divination trickery); they have access to powerful guns, but have criminally short ranges; they come with strong close combat options, but also great ranged options. The trick is to figure out what you need it to do in your army and use it to fill in the gaps. Most importantly, play to its strengths: it's a walking tank! It's way more durable against things that threaten [[Dreadnought|other walkers]], like autocannons or krak grenades so don't be afraid to leave yourself a little vulnerable at times. Just be aware that it does have certain weaknesses like melta, haywire and lance weaponry. If you're really concerned, take them in pairs for safety.
:Generally speaking, you'll want to go with Nurgle if you plan to stand back and shoot, Slaanesh if you plan to move up and assault and Tzeentch if you plan to be able to do either depending on the opponent's forces. Aligning with Khorne is a cheapskate's bet for the most part unless you got a blood throne to give it something with kick!
*'''Plague Hulk (Forgeworld)''' - Essentially a Soul Grinder of Nurgle with a poisoned 3+ S5 AP3 flamer instead of the Harvestor and a rending phlegm bombardment with 2 fewer strength but at 150 instead of the 180 for the codex version with Phlegm. Replacing the Iron Claw with a Warp Sword for +25 points is a hilariously bad idea which you should not do. Definitely worth the points but wants you to get close to take advantage of the poison template (which is counter intuitive of Nurgle Grinders siting back abusing Shrouded). Since you can take it in CSMs too its a good way to get a 4th Grinder via allies if you really like them. You are losing the versatility that the Harvester gun has but for being the most budget Grinder it's always worth consideration.
*'''Blood Slaughterer (Forgeworld)''' - '''FUN'''<font size=5>*</font> name notwithstanding, these jacked-up chaos dreadnoughts are bad fucking news! Front armour 13, WS5, two dreadnought close combat weapons, Rampage, Daemon of Khorne, Deepstrike, Fleet, Daemonic Resilience and +D3 attacks on the charge spell death for anything they touch. You can either stride them across the table but they will likely get kited because they have to run towards the nearest enemy unit in sight. Fortunately, you can instead choose to deep-strike them close to that thing you want to die; this is a marginally better proposition as individual Slaughterers are roughly dreadnought sized and it's fairly easy to place one (and in most situations, the other two). If you take a full squad of three, give them all Impalers (a Blood Angels magna grapple with one worse AP and a scant 12" range; it can never be snap-fired): they always hit on a 4+ and drag penetrated vehicles or wounded and unsaved monstrous creatures 2D6" closer to them. Oh, if you happen to drag anything into base contact it's blender time as the model is now in a close combat with the Bloodslaughterers which count as having charged. Did we mention that multiple Impaler hits are cumulative? Or that these are one of the few things that can assault and sweep on the turn they deepstrike? [[RIP AND TEAR]]!

===Fortifications===
Here are the general tactics for fortifications http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Fortifications

Before the new book, these were a pretty silly idea, but now that you can choose to deploy regularly, some of these are worth it; Stronghold Assault added a lot of new stuff, too. If you're going to take any of the buildings selections with emplaced guns, it's best to hole-up a small squad of Bloodletters into them; it might seem counter-intuitive to place close-combat troops in a building to engage in ranged shenanigans, but their BS5 makes them hilariously dangerous with any weapon they get their evil little claws on. Otherwise, Plaguebearers are the other troops choice for holding a fort as their toughness and shrouding make them more durable. Basically, if you're gonna take fortifications in your army, you'll have to commit to it.

*'''Imperial Strongpoint:''' Basically combines the selections below into one fortification selection, with 1-3 bastions, 1-5 aegis defense lines and a skyshield (you could also take an Honoured Imperium, but that's dumb). Individually, these selections have their own merit; this however is possibly overkill unless you really, REALLY need the dakka. Be sure to have enough squads of Bloodletters to occupy it.
**'''Aegis Defense Lines:''' One of the more reliable Skyfire/Interceptor choices, although, being a very choppy army, you probably won't benefit much from the cover saves. A Herald of Nurgle with a minimum unit for meat shields can use it's higher BS to fire the emplacement and hold a backfield objective.
**'''Skyshield Landing Pad:''' Your Deep Strikers don't have to scatter and you can get improved Invulnerable Saves, given you already get 5++. 
**'''Imperial Bastion:''' Put Bloodletters in this guy and put your trollface on as you fire a quad gun or Icarus lascannon at BS5 at their precious aircraft. Oh what's that? They're getting too close? Better loose those 4 heavy bolters on them, then! Few things are as trolly-polly as an Imperial Bastion in Daemon hands garrisoned by Bloodletters.
**'''Honoured Imperium:''' You are '''NOT''' playing an Army of the Imperium - don't even ''think'' about this one!

*'''Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Network:''' These are a colossal waste of points and money for Daemon players! A huge section of building and terrain that will plug up your guys' movements with guns that your Bloodletters can't shoot. There may be a slim case for using Vengeance Weapon Batteries, but everything else is fucking useless.
**'''Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defense Line/Emplacement/Bunker:''' They're only going to get in your way and are nowhere near large enough to hold, much less obscure a Nurgle Grinder.
**'''Wall of Martyrs Firestorm Redoubt:''' It's a Fortress of Redemption, but you can't use your Bloodletters to shoot any of the guns! Spend the extra 20pts. base and get the goddamn Fortress already.
**'''Wall of Martyrs Vengeance Weapon Battery:''' A nice, cheap source of dakka let down by the fact that you can't hole-up Bloodletters inside them - just imagine how sweet it would've been to shoot a Punisher Gatling Cannon at BS5! If you're taking them, upgrade the guns to either battle cannon or quad-Icarus lascannon because punishers at BS3 are meh.

*'''Void Relay Network:''' Together, these aren't special but taken separately with other sections they can be interesting (except the Honoured Imperium, of course).
**'''Promethium Relay Pipes:''' Could be hilarious to take in order to give your Flamers torrent... assuming you took flamers.
**'''Void Shield Generator:''' Projects a little AV12 bubble within 12" (can project 2 more at 25 pts. each). A glancing/penetrating/D-strength hit will collapse the shield, but it can be revived on a 5+ next turn if the generator is still up. Makes a nice little hidey hole for a Nurgle Grinder or two!

*'''[[Fortress of Redemption]]:''' Everything you like about Imperial defense lines and bastions, with more dakka. Put a squad of Bloodletters on it and troll with 4 BS5 Heavy Bolters, a BS5 Krak/Fragstorm, and a BS5 Lascannon with Interceptor and Skyfire. Add a Herald of Khorne for that nearly non-scattering missile silo for extra lulz!

*'''Aquila Strongpoints''': Taking one of these fortifications is on the high-side of insanely destructive and expensive. Both cost a smidgen over 500 pts. but feature absurdly dangerous weapons and AV'''15''' all around!
**'''Macro-Cannon:''' The Macro-Cannon gives you either a 6-foot long D-strength AP1 double tap or a 15-foot long apocalyptic mega-blast that can crash and burn nearby flyers or do D3 wounds to FMC's and FGC's. Totally worth it if you have the points and a squad of 'letters (maybe a Herald, too) to emplace.
**'''Vortex Missile:''' As above but you get vortex missiles instead. Specifically, that's 7 shots with an ''infinite range'' D-strength AP1 large blast that hops around the board after being fired. It is every bit as insane as the Macro-Cannon.

===Lord of War===
Note: According to the new Imperial Armor 13, all the "Daemon Lord" Lords of War can only be [[FAIL|25% of your army cost]], which renders the first four basically unplayable in anything short of Apocalypse. No An'ggrath in your normal games, sorry.

*'''An'ggrath, the Unbound''' - "Ill kill you so hard that you will die to death" Costs thrice as much as a normal Bloodthirster pointswise at a whopping 888 (sacred numbers are fun) points but is an unholy monster in close combat - anything within range of his axe is pretty much dead but is just too stupid to realize it. And when I say "anything", I really mean anything - not even an Imperator titan or Hierophant would survive close combat with this thing. His melee capability is pretty much unmatched; if it's in base contact with him, it's going to be dead within the turn. He costs A LOT and is a massive firemagnet, but as a flying gargantuan creature he is now insanely durable (as in T8 2+/3++ save with FnP that you can only hit on 6's durable), and can rip apart enemy fliers. On the plus side, he eats titans and superheavies like Abaddon eats people; hell he could eat Abaddon for breakfast. He gets +D6 attacks on the charge and has a lovely 2+ Deny the Witch. Thanks to the new Gargantuan Creature rules he can now be locked in close combat, so be wary of tarpits should anything survive your charge. On the brighter side you now no longer have to trade all of your attacks to Stomp attack, so once you have launched all of your strength 10 AP 2 Instant Death on 6's hits, throw down some Stomp attacks on anyone that managed to survive. He's still overpriced though - Zarakynel does it almost as well for 222 points less, regenerates wounds and Dat Ass.... On the other hand, because superheavy vehicle rules regarding D-strength hits are much better than gargantuan creature rules, he can get ganked with horrible ease by D-Strength weapons , keep him flying and away from anything that can smack him with an SD hit like your life depends on it (this is now only a secondary priority now strength D only ignores invun on a 6, although it will still ignore your armour and FNP no matter what).  Because going down to two turbo-laser shots is not fun.  If you see a Tau Manta or Tigersharks; prepare to cry because they're going to sodomize you and there's nothing you can do about it.

*'''Scabeiathrax, the Bloated''' - Will never, ever, ever, ever die. He is to Great Unclean Ones as An'ggrath is to Bloodthirsters. Though he costs 777 points, with 6 wounds, Feel no Pain (4+), Invulnerable saves (3++), Daemon of Nurgle (Shrouded), and toughness 9 (which means that heavy bolters and down can't hurt him and he has a pretty good chance of just laughing off lascannons on toughness alone) there is practically nothing in the game that will kill him. He has a bunch of Nurgling attacks, though not that many of his own - but any wounds he inflicts become 2 wounds to the model he strikes should they fail a toughness test. Additionally should anything that doesn't have Mark of Nurgle or is not a Daemon be within 6" of him they must take a toughness test or suffer a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed. This helps considerably should something try to keep him locked in close combat thanks to the new Gargantuan Creature rules. He's kind of like Typhus if Typhus were mutated by nuclear waste that had Papa Nurgle had spilled his latest concoction on. He's a big firemagnet, but given the amount of effort it takes to kill him; that won't do anything to him and in fact will be very good for the rest of your army.  Destroyer weapons do not ignore invulnerable saves, making them a minimal threat to Ol' Scabies. Unless they roll a 6. Then he's just dead.

*'''Zarakynel, the Bringer of Torments''' - Essentially the An'ggrath of Keeper of Secrets. While she is the weakest of the Uber Greater Daemons at 666 points, she is no slouch and will bring massive levels of oh so literal assrape to everything in her long reach. She has both Init and WS 10, gains D3 attacks on the charge, counts as armed with assault grenades when charging and re-rolls all failed to-hit and to-wound rolls - pretty much guaranteeing that she will go first and hit rather regularly with her AP1 instant death sword that replenishes her wounds on a 2+. For extra lulz, non-fearless units have to pass a leadership test before they can try and hit her back. The latest edition gives her a 36" S6 AP3 shooting attack with D6 shots and pinning albeit at BS3. So essentially, like Lucius the eternal turned up to eleven. Plus [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION BOOBS]]!

*'''Aetaos'Rau'Keres''' - 999 points of titleless pain. He's been changed up recently but still grows your army at the expense of your opponents' with Riftbringer or heals himself with Soul Eater. For the shooting phase, he comes with Wind of Chaos, a shooting attack which summons horrors with 48" of him AND his staff can exchange his shooting attacks to drop an '''INFINITE RANGE''' (AP3) poisoned, haywire, apocalyptic barrage that can hit up to 9 times. In addition to his high toughness, large number of wounds, 3++ invulnerable save, and flyer rules, this Daemon Lord is a Mastery Level 4 psyker that can rebound psychic powers back onto their caster with after a successful DtW and a 4+ on a D6. The only catch is that he MUST roll at least 2 powers on the Tzeentch table and can only generate from one additional table (Divination is recommended). If you see this guy leading a tetragon of darkness you're getting screwed. The only winning move is to find the tournament organizer and punch them in the throat. Aetaos'Rau'Keres does have a set of drawbacks however: if he gets within 18" of a Greater Daemon, Daemon Prince or another Daemon lord, he'll direct all his shooting attacks upon the poor sod. Second, he has to pass a leadership test to call down his apocalyptic barrage and if he fails, your opponent gets to place the blasts.

*'''Samus, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm''' - At last!  A Lord of War that won't rape your wallet AND points allowance!  Samus is one of the few units you got that get the fun Daemonkin immunity to Daemonic Instability, and thus get both Daemon of Khorne and Fearless without any downsides.  He also gets IWND, S/T 7, 6 Wounds, Hatred (Infantry), Adamantium Will, and Fleet.  He's only armed with an AP2 CCW with Murderous Strike (ID on a 6 to wound) and Armourbane, but his fun isn't in combat.  See, he can (but not must) elect to enter from reserves wherever a character is killed (yours or theirs) and can deep strike without scattering within 3" of that dead character, making buying those sergeants finally worth something.  In addition, Samus also triggers other sorts of fuckery just by being in your army: Your enemy takes -1 from all reserves (With rolls of 1 being auto-fails), any blessings used by either side cost an additional Warp Charge (Which means that they'll have to think even harder about casting Hammerhand or Prescience or something lest you deny them and waste those points) and he forces anyone charging him (and testing Fear) or in combat with him to halve their Leadership unless they're Stubborn or Fearless.
** IF you plan on using him in HH's "Age of Darkness" FOC (And Daemons can use this), then he gets to become an HQ choice instead of a LoW and must become Warlord.  This lets your entire army re-roll a d6 when rolling Instability and if you roll doubles on the Warp Storm table, you get to replace it with Warp Surge.
** A possible answer to Imperial Knights? Unless you roll a 6 for Malefic daemonology, take Skarbrand, one of the Daemon Lords, or the Skullreaver relic axe, most Imperial Knights will be a pain in the ass. With high initiative and WS, decent attacks, and an armorbane AP2 CCW, Samus can be a budget answer to everyone's superheavy walkers. Get a Herald on a Blood Throne close with the Crimson Crown and Exalted Locus, and its fate is all but sealed.

*'''Cor'Bax Utterblight, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm:''' Ruinstorm LoW Number 2, meaning he lacks Instability.  This guy's a frightening one because despite being Nurgle, he gets INITIATIVE 9.  I repeat, this guy can bear FUCKING ELDAR to the punch.  Oh, and he also has the Slime Trail Beasts use to protect themselves.  Aside from that, he's the same as a normal GUO statwise except for exchanging an Attack for Toughness 8.  He's also ML2 and can use Biomancy and Nurgle's Plague powers, which could (at least temporarily) grant him EW, unlike Samus.  In melee, he's got some vicious tricks with 3+ Poison and the ability to inflict Instant Death on a 5+ TO HIT against infantry.  Add that to his standard AP2, and things are bound to die (But not enough to rely on it).  He also gets d3 HoW hits on the charge, which ignores all terrain and comes with Assault Grenades, meaning he will reach his enemy that much quicker.  If he dies (Which is going to happen, especially against GK or Eldar), he drops a Massive Blast that inflicts Poisoned (3+) AP4 hits on anyone inside that's non-Nurgle Daemon (Meaning fellow Plague Marines can still be hurt), making him a pricy kamikaze.
** IF you plan on using him in HH's "Age of Darkness" FOC , then he gets to become an HQ choice instead of a LoW and must become Warlord.  This lets your entire army re-roll a d6 when rolling Instability and if you roll doubles on the Warp Storm table, you get to replace it with Warp Surge.

*'''Kytan Daemon Engine of Khorne (Forge World)''' - The Khornate answer to Imperial Knights. At 525 points, it comes with Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, Crusader, IWND, Rage, Unstoppable Slaughter (If its Kytan Gatling Gun, 48" S8 AP3 Heavy 8 and Pinning, destroys something in the Shooting Phase, it may charge something else), and all the Super-Heavy Walker rules. It also has a Great Cleaver of Khorne like the Lord of Skulls for the unholy AP1 Destroyer attacks. Also something that is awesome about this little fucker is that he's Initive 5!! Now we have an answer to Imperial Knights besides throwing Monsterous Creatures at them!

*'''Chaos Knight (Forge World)''' - [http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/C/Chaos-Knight.pdf Rules here.] The Chaotic answer to the Imperial Knight. Comes in Paladin and Errant forms. Click and paste of the normal Knight rules and weapons, but with fun Daemon upgrades and the ability to take Dirge Casters. As well as getting the Daemon Special Rule (which is ungodly since it now has an invuln save in close combat) each Deity dedication grants the Knight a special ability as follows:
**Khorne: D3 extra attacks on the charge instead of 1, can re-roll the amount of stomp attacks it gets, and has Hatred (Slaanesh). A nice buy. Think of it as Rampage that is always active.
**Slaanesh: Opponents must make a Leadership test at -2 or become I1 for the fight sub-phase. Has Hatred (Khorne). Mediocre since it relys purely on your opponent's luck, but if so, you can kill them with the D-chainsword and then stomp them when they make their attacks.
**Tzeentch: Heavy Stubbers gain the Soulblaze Special Rule, re-rolls 1 to-hit, and has Hatred (Nurgle). Utterly shit. The most effective weaponry on the Knight is blast weaponry, and the Stubber is shit. It would've been better if the main weapon got Soulblaze. 
<s> OH SO NOT TRUE! The Tzeentch Knight if played right can be easily the strongest, are we forgetting it gains the Daemon and Daemon of Tzeetch rules? Now while thats nothing too grand on its own It means it can be buffed. KNights get a 4++ on the shield front and now it has a 5++ on every other facing and in combat. This makes them better than other knights easily but this aplpies to knights of all 4 gods so why Tzeentch? Well its the re-roll saving throws of a 1. 4++ re-rolling 1s isn't bad but its got Daemons so get a herald and slap the Grimoire of True names on a Tzeetch knight! now u have a 3++ rerolling 1s on all facings and a 2++ rereollings ones on the shield facing. Put cursed earth down etc and your Daemon knight of Tzeentch has a 2++ re-rerolling 1s on ALL Facings and in close combat. In other words its unstoppable, Put Grimiore on a herald or a flying prince and you're well away. </s> It counts as alligned with Tzeentch, it doesn't actually have Daemon of Tzeentch. The Invul increase though is still a possibility though.
**Nurgle: Gain IWND and Hatred (Tzeentch). Incredibly powerful, and incredibly expensive.
***Fun thing to try out: take Fateweaver and a nearby Herald of Tzeentch with the Grimoire. Have Fateweaver cast Forewarning on the Chaos Knight and then Grimoire it for a 2+ Invulnerable save! [[Rage|Your opponent will hate your guts for it.]]
***His foe-reaper chainsword should not be underestimated:  Against MC's and GMC's it gets [[Awesome|+1 to all D-strength rolls]]. This means extra-ultra kill on 5+ rather than only 6's. Wraithknight? SPLAT.