Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Dark Angels (section)

==Tactics==
While essentially space marines with a twist, the Dark Angels do have some different tactics, mainly because of the Ravenwing, the Deathwing and the named characters.
*'''Army Construction''' Dark Angels are space marines first, so anything that goes for normal marines applies more or less to Dark Angels. What makes Dark Angels different are a few of their unique units and their stratagems. Dark Angels are spectacular shooters, and pretty good close-combatants as well. They have great options for either, and a few options for both. When playing Dark Angels, it is therefore usually better not to focus on just one aspect (like Ravenwing or Deathwing) but to see which units complement each other. You will want to include, in varying degrees, enough anti-infantry firepower, enough anti-tank firepower, and enough close combat power. How you balance these three aspects, and what units you use depends on personal preference and the local meta. I think a few units deserve special mention for Dark Angel tactics:
**Talonmaster: a lot of anti-infantry firepower on mobile chassis, and a decent close combat character, especially if equipped with the proper relics.
**Sammael: like the Talonmaster, but better for Ravenwing and often worse for everything else. Also combines well with a Talonmaster.
**Company champion: Very cheap close combat character.
**Black knights: expensive, but they are good all-rounders with their plasma weapons and decent attacks. They also combine well with a few stratagems and with Sammael. With combat doctrine and new stratagem can beat the shit out of enemy on turn1 and fall back IN THE SAME TURN
**Deathwing: none of them can be wounded on 1-3 (plasma, powerfists, thunder hammers get rekted). all of them has nice support characters. DW knights hit with hammers on 2+. DW classic termies can gain obsec, at the cost of not including anything else but Deathwing in a Vanguard Detachment.
**Company Veterans: at first: buy them for sexy bits, then, as mentioned above, if you need a close combat punch, these guys are great as they can also have a few combi-weapons to boost shooting power. Add power weapons and a company champion and you have a dangerous but fairly cheap hitting machine.
**Dark talon: This plane is EVIL. For the low price of 210 points, you get a S12 cannon that goes through every save in the game, dealing 3 mortal wounds per successful wound roll. Fantastic unit.
Use the above mentioned units and some of the Dark Angel named characters to enhance your army, but don't rely on just the Dark Angel only units. A predator, intercessor squad, normal lieutenant or dreadnought is still a great unit and will serve you well.
*'''Character buffing:''' Dark Angels have a few tricks for massive bubble-wrapping (by which I mean stuffing as many units in as many buff-bubbles as possible. Azrael is the most obvious first choice because of his 4++ save bubble. Expect to see him used a lot. Second on the list is the Lieutenant with his reroll ones to wound.
**Make sure if you bring Belial or Sammael to bring Deathwing and Ravenwing respectively to make the most out of their re-rolls to hit for their respective DW and RW brothers. Sammael is a special case as he is far more shooty than Belial, has great mobility, and excellent close combat ability meaning he can perform well in nearly any Dark Angel list.
*'''General Notes:'''
**Plasma overcharge: This tip is valid for other marine chapters as well, but since Dark Angels use more plasma than an other Astartes force it should be mentioned here. If your unit is equipped with 2 or more plasma weapons that will fire multiple shots, always remember to roll them separately on overcharge, a model at a time. This can be quite time consuming for plasma-equipped Inceptors with their separate 2D3 shots, but can mean the difference between losing a whole unit, or just a single model.
***Also remember that Plasma weapons kill the wielder after the weapon fires all of its shots; this means a model firing overcharged plasma from a plasma gun at 12" gets to fire both shots even if 1 of them rolls a 1, and it will die afterward.  However, the same model firing 2 plasma pistols has to shoot one at a time, and if the first pistol kills the model, the second pistol does not fire.  In general, for the same amount of plasma shots, you want to try and use as few distinct guns as possible, so the math on this will be as forgiving as possible.
*** Example: you're within rapid-fire range with your 3 remaining Hellblasters and go for overcharge. You roll 1,1,3,3,5,6. If you didn't roll separately, your opponent can assume that the two 1s were rolled for 2 separate models, meaning you'll lose 2 figures. If you roll separately, you'll see if 2 models had a 1 in their shot, or only one of them rolled two 1s, saving your other Hellblaster.

*'''Battle Strategy:'''
**'''Ravenwing Alpha-Strike:''' There is scarcely unit in the game that can keep pace with your Ravenwing on turn 1 AND be able to fire all their weapons. This is particularly important for Invader ATVs, Land speeders of all kinds, and attack bikes. These models are eligible to fire their heavy weapons if they advance, on turn ONE only - barring shenanigans with Brilliant Strategist or the Tactical Appraisal Strategem. The maneuverability this grants to all Ravenwing units is exceptionally powerful, and you should use it to strike as hard as you can at a key position in your opponent's lines as much as possible. In particular, you can use the Targeting Guidance strategem to mitigate the penalty for advancing and firing weapons. You may also wish to accompany a unit intending to Alpha-strike in this manner with a Primaris Chaplain on bike, reciting Recitation of Focus. The +1 to hit from Targeting Guidance will cancel out the -1 to hit from advancing, and then you will get +1 more to hit from the Chaplain - hitting your target in a 2+. Bring Sammaael for truly disgisting shenanigans.
**'''Ravenwing Utility:''' In the mid-to-late game, your bikers and speeders can put the hurt on the enemy in a different fashion. The ability to flip your Ravenwing into the devastator doctrine with the aforementioned abilities means that you can move and advance them into your enemy's rear lines with relative ease. This permits you to strike an unexpected location and either remove an irritating enemy unit, or steal an objective from them; frequently you'll wind up doing both.

**'''Deathwing Melee:''' Your Deathwing Knights, Lightning-claw or thunderhammer squads, and Bladeguard all fall into this category. First, don't bring a Thunderhammer squad, because your DW Knights do it better. Second, with the loss of Combined Assault, Deathwing can no longer be landed on the table at the 6" mark - we are back to needing 9" charges like everyone else. This means that you either need to find a way to buff their charge range (Canticle of Hate from a Primaris Biker Chaplain) OR you have to find a way to get them across the field in one piece. The first option is self-explanatory; the second option is to take an appropriately sized landraider for the first two melee DW varieties, or an equivalent Repulsor for the third example. If you're feeling particularly brave, you could also mount the Bladeguard in an Impulsor and send them up the field to anchor your Ravenwing. Note that currently there is no way to deep-strike your Bladeguard. If you want them to show up on a flank, you're spending CP for that privilege.
**'''Deathwing Ranged:''' The Deathwing at range are a truly frightening tool for your army, and have some fantastic tricks you can perform as well. Both your relic termie squads and your standard termie squads can combat squad when the game begins. If you choose, you may bring 10-model squads with 2 heavy weapons, and then split the squads such that 2 heavy weapons are in a five-model squad. In this manner, you may double-down on the amount of force you apply to a single area of the battlefield. 2 Reaper Autocannons and a Plasma Blaster/Volkite charger is a somewhat daunting problem for an enemy to address. Equally daunting, a pair of assault cannons or cyclone missile launchers will definitively mess with your opponent's day. The plasma cannon, while an attractive option under specific circumstances, does not have the flexibility of the cyclone missile launcher nor the damage potential of the assault cannon - simply due to volume of shooting. Needing to fire at a unit of 6 or more to get 3 shots simply isn't worth it against a guaranteed 6 shots or a pair of S8 shots. Additionally, always save 2 CP in order to use Deathwing Assault - regardless of your target, +1 to-wound will make your day that much better, and your opponent's day that much worse. Combo with Fury of the First for Dreadwing-level decimation.

**'''Greenwing:''' This section includes everything that is not explicitly Deathwing or Ravenwing. What you bring from your battle brothers who are... less read-in than your Inner Circle should complement and support whatever you have selected from your specialized wings. Unless you're running primary Greenwing, in which case the opposite is true. For example, if you intend to bring a strong force of Ravenwing, consider units that can provide close support - Infiltrators, Incursors, Invictus Tactical suits, and other units that can get up close to aid your biking brethren. Since most of the Heavy Support slot is included in the Greenwing, always remember that having a unit or two that can reach out and obliterate an troublesome enemy unit is valuable. Devastators, Predators, and Vindicators excel in this role.
***Dreadnoughts: Dreadnoughts are heavy weapon platforms that can support an infantry advance without suffering a loss of firepower, due to the change for heavy weapons for non-infantry in 9th. Thus, these ancient giants should be used to anchor an infantry line where one is present. Regardless of the type of Dreadnought, there is no way to deep-strike them (ummm FW Dreadnought Drop pod says Hi) and as such they will cost CP to get up the field via strategic reserve.
***Repulsors and Gladiators: These will frequently be fire magnets. The Gladiator tanks are, like many Primaris options, inflexible. They exist purely to destroy a certain type of unit, and outside that role will struggle to earn their points back. The Repulsors, conversely, can be outfitted to be jacks-of-all-trades, enabling them to be a flexible, hardy centerpiece for your battleline. If they are to truly excel, they should be transporting *something* forward up the battlefield. Often this will be a unit that is either short-ranged, or needs a turn of protection before being unleashed to raise hell. Aggressors, Hellblasters, and Eradicators are all units that should start in a Repulsor in case the opponent gets the first turn and tries to blow that unit off the field. While Repulsors do hit very hard, they do not hit as hard as those units do when applied to the appropriate target.
***Specialists: As mentioned above the Dark Angels have access to the same Primaris specialists as all other Space marine Chapters, as well as new access to thunderfire cannons, Centurions, and some other fun toys previously unavailable. Each of these units, much like the Gladiator tank variants, has a specific role to play - bring them to play that role in your army. Don't bring a centurion assault squad to walk across the field and expect it to be useful - shove it in a land raider.
***Land raiders: These may look like main battle tanks; they are not. They are heavily armored troop carriers, with a pile of weapons on the sides to discourage enemies blocking their ramps and to punch holes in enemy battle lines. They should be used in this fashion. If you intend to bring a land raider, put something in it that can do work up front in the middle of the carnage. If this payload is not Terminators, then Company veterans are a good choice - bring them with a full compliment of meltaguns or plasmaguns, or armed to the teeth with swords and boards with a bolter tactical squad. Such a squad will in most cases give the opponent a hearty headache front and center, especially if you shove a character inside to buff the squad you're preparing to disgorge.
***Artillery: Your artillery needs to play nicely with the rest of your army. Every unit that can be considered artillery will benefit immensely from STANDING STILL. You get +1 to-hit when you do so, so bring artillery that can afford to do so. In order to accomplish this, you need your artillery to have range, or have a good way to get around the battlefield so that it can stay the hell put whenever possible. So if you want to bring Grav-devastators, make sure they have a rhino or razorback. Plasma, Heavy Bolter, and Lascannon devastators don't have that problem. Predators can reach out and blow something to smithereens - Vindicators can't, and need to get up the field quickly in order to smash their targets. The other thing about artillery is that your opponent WILL try to avoid it, in the same manner you should be trying to avoid theirs. Make this as difficult as you can, OR use this to your advantage and station your artillery with clear firing lines to places they want to be. If your heavy bolter or Gravcannon Devastators spend the whole game overlooking an objective your opponent NEEDS to have, then they've done their job by killing things off that objective or attracting inordinate amounts of firepower that could have gone onto your objective scorers.

**'''Deployment and Movement:''' There's a neat trick you can play on your opponent. During deployment, you may wish to position your Alpha-striking Ravenwing at the forefront of your army - because turn order is now a blank roll-off with no advantage to either player that requires the winner to take first turn, your opponent does need to react to the forward deployment of an Alpha-strike unit. However, regardless of their reaction to such a deployment, you have access to The Hunt for 2cp. This Strategem permits a single Ravenwing unit to make a normal move after deployment but before the first turn. Thus, you can use this to counter whatever your opponent's reaction is. If they've hidden your target, then jump forward or to the side to reacquire it. If they've won first turn and can now assail your unit, run away with it. While saves are almost never worth a cp re-roll, that 255pt unit of ATVs or landspeeders is very likely worth your 2cp to hide and save for after you've been shot. Note that the Warlord trait from Ritual of the Damned is no longer available to achieve this effect.
**'''Fight Phase:''' DO NOT FORGET GRIM RESOLVE. If you are charged, you will not have moved that turn and as such, you will get +1 to-hit. Use this to your advantage every chance you get! 2CP to interrupt a dangerous enemy and thin their numbers is a good price, especially when you can hit first with your Deathwing Knights against an equal unit and clobber them at a better to-hit.


===Matchups and Counterplay===
This section has been removed due to non-completion, repetition, and irrelevance to tournament play. You do not get to tailor your list in a tournament, so advice on "what units to bring against X faction" is unhelpful. Feel free to reinstate the section with specific tactics that are valuable against various factions.
*Against Hordes, you'd do well to take advantage of the Dark Angels-specific stratagems to fall back with a key dakka unit and light them up. Think about Intractable.
*Against tougher, more elite armies, you are known for spamming Plasma, you shouldn't have too much trouble here.
*As a general rule, Apothecaries are invaluable no matter what kind of list you skew towards. Be it the Firstborn, Primaris, Ravenwing, or Deathwing variant, the ability to revive fallen models and have access to one of few FNP abilities in 9th Edition is critical.
*Another Blue Chip unit is the Ravenwing Talon Master. His fire support, durability, Tactical Precision aura ability, and his ability to occupy the same slot with a different Lieutenant equivalent give him a home in almost any "Take All Comers" Dark Angels list outside of a thematic army.