Editing Khaine (section)

===On the Tabletop===
[[File:LatestKhaine.jpg|thumb|right|300px|FOOL! YOU DARE QUESTION THE SIZE OF MY LOINCLOTH?! ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])]]
The Avatar of Khaine took a bit of a beating with 8th edition. For starters, the Avatar now costs 220 points while not improving too much. What you get for that cost is a whopping WS2+ A5 monster that hits at S8 AP-4 D6 damage, with an ability that lets you roll two dice and take the highest to determine damage. This means that the Avatar of Khaine can punch holes in tanks and monsters like it's nobody's business. Do note that it has only 5 attacks and it deals no Mortal Wounds, so it can kill a maximum of 5 models per turn. If you really want all your attacks to hit, give him an Autarch buddy for rerolls for your To Hit rolls. On top of that it can also shoot with that profile as an 12" Assault 1 weapon, and thanks to Battle Focus does not get -1 to hit if it advanced the same turn. Paired with its 7" movement and a re-roll on failed charge rolls one of the Avatar's largest problems in earlier editions, its low speed, has been kind of addressed. As for saves it gets a 3+, a 5++ due to being a Daemon and its Molten Body ability has been reworked into granting yet another 5++ save instead of immunity to flamers and melta weapons. With the advent of multi-wound weapons this is quite useful and it would be one hell of a job to write down exactly which guns count as flamers or melta now that the keywords regarding them are gone, it is still sad to see such a flavorful ability disappear. With T6, W8 and no degrading of its abilities as it gets hurt the Avatar can stay in the fight long enough, but two lucky Lascannon shots can put it down for the count with frightening ease (although if you lose a character to shooting in 8th edition you probably don't know what you're doing). Don't forget that it's a Character, so as long as it remains screened by other units it should be able to get close enough to the enemy to deal damage. Be wary of flyers with powerful weapons, for they can easily assassinate your Avatar because of the high speed of the rest of the Eldar army compared to it.

If you're not running a Saim-Hann list the Avatar's '''12"''' aura (which allows units to re-roll failed charges and makes them immune to morale) can be pure rape. Use him to propel Howling Banshees up the table, or to lead a horde of Guardian blobs.

When using Power Ratings instead the Avatar clocks in at 13 points, the second-most expensive unit behind the [[Wraithknight]]. Nothing much changes about it, so stick it in combat as soon as you can to get the most out of it.

9th Edition Codex is here. My god... after all this time, the face of the Craftworlds got a glow up and my god does it bring a tear to the eye. Now towering over the mere mortal Aspect Warriors, the Avatar of Khaine has finally become something to behold. Not just aesthetically either. His Piercing Strike profile is tailor made to ruin the day of elite or single model units; 7 attacks at S14 AP-5 and d6+2 will indeed lay low practically everything without a solid invuln save or some ability that prevents damage altogether (like your Phoenix Lords' Favoured of Khaine ability, for example). Alternatively, his Sweeping Blows (like the name suggests) trades sheer strength and damage to double the number of strikes he makes, going from 7 to 14 separate S7 AP-2 D2 attacks. Though TEQ units may be able to shake off a glancing blow, the staggering number of attacks hitting on a 2+ will almost assuredly doom the "lucky" son of a bitch anyways. Now, that ranged profile he used to have? Instead of a random d6 hits, the Avatar instead picks a target at 12" away (if it's a unit with multiple models, he has to pick the one closest to him) and strikes. If it hits (pretty likely with that BS2+), that unit and every unit between the Avatar and them is hit by the attack. Unfortunately, this does reduce the total potential output against a unit (only killing one model per unit), but at S12 and d6+2 damage, any multi-wound unit isn't walking away scratch free. Defensively, the Avatar lost his FNP rule, but in exchange received a full 2+/4++ save at T8. Should something manage to make it through that statline, the Avatar halves the damage of every attack that lands true (rounding up). Needless to say, don't put him up against targets that can reliably proc mortal wounds or have him strike them down first, you don't want that 4++ and halving damage to be wasted.

Long story short? This guy has become an absolute beast on the battlefield and is a solid pick to form the core of a Craftworld Deathstar. There are a couple drawbacks that do warrant consideration though. The first (and obvious) issue; his price point. This towering monstrosity is pretty pricey at 270pts and may find it challenging to fit into smaller armies without severely limiting the number of boots on the ground. Second, his upgraded statline, while extremely beefy, does now degrade. While his accuracy with the blade in combat never depreciates, he does become slower and lose attacks as he brackets. Coupled with being much bigger and freely targetable, as well as not having any healing options for him, this can be a major problem if you can't get him stuck in. Which brings up the next major con: While 10" is respectably quick, it's not ideal when your massive melee monster needs to spend a turn or two slogging across the battlefield. You have zero options for speeding him up and if your opponent doesn't need to guard anything in particular, they can potentially spend the whole day kiting this thing from one end of the table to the other. The last major downside? The Avatar of Khaine can no longer take any Warlord Traits or equipment what-so-ever (so never make him your Warlord). Regardless, his upgraded base kit more than makes up for these flaws and if you need something to drop kick an enemy Landraider or Imperial Knight equivalent off the table, you can't go wrong with the Avatar of Khaine.