Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Chaos Knights (section)

==Special Rules==
*By and large, you're always looking at the same statline, including a 5++ invuln, and they all '''explode''' on a 6+, 2d6", 1d6 mortal wounds.
*They also all share some flavor of the '''Super-heavy Walker''' rule.
**A Chaos Knight can Fall Back in the Movement phase and still shoot and/or charge during its turn. When a Renegade Knight Falls Back, it can even move over enemy INFANTRY models, though at the end of its move it must be more than 1" from all enemy units. In addition, a Chaos Knight can move and fire Heavy weapons without suffering the penalty to its hit rolls. Finally, a Chaos Knight only gains a bonus to its save in cover if at least half of the model is obscured from the firer.
*'''Traitoris Lance''': Slightly different than the loyalists, If your army is Battle-forged, select one model in each '''{{W40Kkeyword|Questor Traitoris}}''' Super-heavy Detachment in your army. Each model you selected gains the '''{{W40Kkeyword|Character}}''' keyword. In addition,  you get no CP if your Detachment contains no Knights with the '''{{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}}''' Keyword or 6 CP if you have at least three Knights with the '''{{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}}''' keyword.
**'''Daemonic Ritual''': That's right, fuckers. Now that they can pick up the '''{{W40Kkeyword|Character}}''' keyword, your giant stompy robots can summon up their own escort! You know the drill: roll 3D6 and get that many Power Levels of tiny buddies, 1 MW on double, D3 on triple. Knights actually are very good for this, since their massive wound pool lets them soak any resultant damage; doubly so for Forge World Knights, who regenerate wounds. Best to use with a purely ranged Knight who was just camping an objective and not moving anyways. On a related note, you will never EVER attempt an '''Arch-Daemonic Ritual''' with a Knight, ''EVER''. Although, if you're playing with enough points to include both a Knight and Aetaos'rau'keres, you're probably playing Apocalypse and the loss of a single Knight is tolerable (in the sense that the one rich guy's second Warlord Titan already smoked half your teams Knights, so what's one more).
===Household Ambitions===
The Chaos Knight answer to the Household Traditions. You only have two options, but they're so powerful that the lack of variety is insignificant. 
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Iconoclast Household}} - Conquerors without Mercy''': If a model with this rule charged, was charged, or made a Heroic Intervention, it gains 1 extra attack AND improves the AP of all its melee weapons by -1 (e.g. AP0 becomes AP-1). On top of that, enemy units within 12" of a unit with this rule lose one more model in failed Morale tests.
**[[Angry Marines]] on steroids, and effectively combines 3 separate faction traits into 1. Obviously set up to encourage you into melee, knights are already better in melee than shooting, so having 15 stomp hits at S8 AP-3 Dd3 on the charge will be very much appreciated. Throw on a bonus to morale casualties to make chaos iconoclasts straight up superior to loyalist ones.
**An addition point of AP also allows a chainsword to strip another knight or baneblade of all its armour, while the gauntlet will be walking around with ap-5 (scary against Land Raiders and Titans).  That said, the biggest benefit is absolutely on the feet, although a sword-and-gauntlet Knight will have 18 buffed feet attacks.
**In fact, a conflagration cannon/thundercoil harpoon Tyrant gets some of the biggest benefits from this: generally, anything you shoot with the harpoon will be in range of the morale debuff, and not only is it usually feasible to get the cannon into debuff range, charging you is now an even worse idea, because on top of the cannon's obnoxiously good overwatch, you'll hit back like an even bigger truck.
**Another small point in this ambition's favor is that it gives Wardogs with Autocannons a slightly better chance of kicking their way out of melee should they get trapped. Since all models were FAQ'd to have a "Close Combat Weapon" (Strength: User/AP: 0/Damage: 1) this ambition applies here as well. 
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|Infernal Household}} - Daemonic Surge''':  Remember the Riptide and its Nova Reactor ability? This is basically the same thing but for all your Knights- take one mortal wound to gain one of 3 buffs based on a d3 roll, or take d3 mortal wounds to choose the specific buff you want. Fortunately, Infernal Households have access to a healing Stratagem to keep their wounds at an acceptable number. The buffs themselves are as follows:
*#'''Daemonic Hunger''': +2 to Movement and +1 to Advance and Charge rolls. Perfect for one of the forge world knights to give them guaranteed turn 1 charges.  
*#'''Daemonic Fortitude''': +1T. Your go-to against S8 (PF/TH MEQ) or S9 weapons (lascannons), but against low strength weapons on an already toughness 8 unit you won’t notice anything. 
*#'''Daemonic Power''': +1 to a chosen ranged weapon's S and D. Superb on most of your guns, but is best suited to high rate of fire weapons with a strength value just below a wounding threshold. Just remember if you're planning on using this with a dual gatling cannon despoiler, it will only buff ONE of the gatlings, not both of them.

===Household Bonds===
Psychic Awakening: Engine War gives rules for specific Chaos Knight households in addition to the household ambitions found in the codex, each with their own Bond, Warlord trait, relic, and Stratagem. House {{W40Kkeyword|Lucaris}}, {{W40Kkeyword|Herpetrax}}, and {{W40Kkeyword|Khymere}} must use the rules for {{W40Kkeyword|Iconoclast}} households, while House {{W40Kkeyword|Vextrix}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Khomentis}} use the rules for {{W40Kkeyword|Infernal}} households.

*'''{{W40Kkeyword|House Herpetrax}} - Dauntless''': Add 2 to the wound characteristic for Knights that aren't War Dogs, and 1 to the wound characteristic for War dogs.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|House Khomentis}} - Profane Symbiosis''': 5++ for any wounds lost during the psychic phase. When a Knight has lost half its wounds, add 1 to its attack characteristic and add 1 to hit rolls for its melee weapons.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|House Khymere}} - Rampant Cruelty''': Re-roll wound rolls of 1 for all melee weapons except titanic feet. War Dogs with Chain-Cleavers will like this since it has two profiles to deal with both vehicles/monsters and infantry.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|House Lucaris}} - Virtue Through Strength''': Add 1 to hit rolls for melee weapons if a Knight has charged, was charged, or performed a Heroic Intervention.
*'''{{W40Kkeyword|House Vextrix}} - Titankin''': When a Knight shoots, fights, or fires Overwatch, you may re-roll a single hit and wound roll.

====Custom Household Bonds====
In addition to the Household bonds above, you can also choose to build your own custom household using the rules below. Unlike the set household Bonds above, a custom household can choose to be either an {{W40Kkeyword|Iconoclast}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Infernal}} household. You may select either 1 major bond or 2 minor bonds.

'''Major Bonds'''
*'''Endless Torment''': When a Knight fires in the shooting phase or Overwatch, you can re-roll a single dice when determining the number of shots.
*'''Enlightened Idolators''': AP-1 attacks are treated as AP-0 against your Knights. You no longer need to make one of your Knights a Dreadblade for access to Galvanized Hull. Combine with Vow of Dominance and the Veil of Medrengard on an {{W40Kkeyword|Iconoclast}} Knight Tyrant for [[Rage|maximum lulz]].
*'''Gheists of Ruin''': Your knights are treated as being in cover when shot at from more than 24" away.
*'''Hellforged Construction''': Exactly the same as the household Bond for {{W40Kkeyword|House Herpetrax}}, only now you can run them as either an {{W40Kkeyword|Iconoclast}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Infernal}} household at the cost of their other goodies.
*'''Heretical System-bond''': Add 1 to all hit rolls for a Knight if it's under any negative hit roll modifiers. Suck it Alaitoc!
*'''Vengeful Outcasts''': Re-roll wound rolls of 1 against {{W40Kkeyword|Imperium}} units.
*'''Warp Vision''': Enemy units ignore cover bonuses when shot at by your Knights.

'''Minor Bonds'''
*'''Abominable Constitution''': Add 1" to a Knight's movement speed and always use the top bracket of the Knight's damage table when determining movement speed.
*'''Bold Tyrants''': Add 1 to a ranged weapon's armor penetration if firing within 12" of an enemy unit.
*'''Dark Forging''': Add 6" to a weapon's range if it has an unmodified range of 24+", otherwise add 2".
*'''Frenzied Attackers''': Unmodified hit rolls of 6 with all melee weapons except for titanic feet gets an extra hit through.
*'''Harrying Packs''': War Dogs may shoot with a -1 to hit penalty or charge the same turn they fell back.
*'''Hate-driven Charge''': Add 1 to the AP of all melee weapons except for titanic feet when a Knight has charged, was charged, or performed a Heroic Intervention.
*'''Infamous Heredity''': When a Knight shoots, fights, or fires Overwatch, you may re-roll a single hit roll. Half the Bond of {{W40Kkeyword|House Vextrix}}.
*'''Loathing for the Masses''': Add 1 to a Knight's attack characteristic when within 1" of an enemy unit with 11+ models.
*'''Pinpoint Cruelty''': Like Infamous Heredity, only you instead get the option of re-rolling a single die when determining damage.
*'''Pride-fuelled Fury''': When a Knight has lost half its wounds, add 1 to its attack characteristic and add 1 to hit rolls for its melee weapons. Half the Bond of {{W40Kkeyword|House Khomentis}}.
*'''Rapid Offense''': Ignore the penalty for advancing and firing with assault weapons.
*'''Slayer of Kings''': Add 1 to hit rolls for melee weapons against {{W40Kkeyword|Monster}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicle}} units.
*'''Unhallowed Inscriptions''': 5++ during the enemy's psychic phase. The other half of {{W40Kkeyword|House Khomentis}}'s Bond.

===Dreadblades===
Like the Freeblades, Dreadblades get a set of Pacts and Damnations that help or hinder them (respectively), and can either be selected or rolled for. Ordinarily, only one Dreadblade ''model'' in a detachment can have any Pacts/Damnations, but since you can have multiple Dreadblades in a detachment, and the Tyrannical Court strat permanently renders a chosen knight a character, and the Rune of Nak’T’Graa relic grants a Pact and a Damnation, it's possible to get 2 Pacted Dreadblades into the same detachment.  

Like the Freeblades' Burdens, Damnations only take effect upon failing a Ld check at the start of each turn. Failure happens when a 2d6 roll meets or exceeds the Knight's Ld.  Ordinarily, this means War Dogs fail 5/12 of the time, and everyone else fails 5/18 of the time - i.e. in a 6 turn game, even the latter Knights expect to fail roughly twice.  There is a Pact that modifies this, as well as a Damnation, and you can take a relic for +1Ld.

Unlike Freeblades, Dreadblades still benefit from Household Ambitions, because the {{W40Kkeyword|Dreadblade}} keyword is ''in addition'' to the {{W40Kkeyword|<Questor Traitoris>}} Keyword, rather than in place of it, and having rogues among a faction of rogues is fun, and gives you a way to mitigate some of the variety gap in comparison to their Loyalist counterparts.

====Pacts====
Choose any 1, or roll twice, with duplicates having no effect.  This means even when you roll, 1/6 of the time you won't get a second Pact, so you should always choose.  Most of the time, your best options are Knower of Profane Secrets, which amounts to gaining a CP in exchange for your Damnations, and Galvanized Hull, which makes you somewhat harder to kill.

#'''Path to Glory'''- Re-roll hits (yes, all of them!) against {{W40Kkeyword|Character}} or {{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}} targets.
#*Useful when it comes up, but remember, you usually can't shoot characters, and very few targets will ever be Titanic.
#*Pretty dang crazy on a Knight Tyrant armed with a volcano lance and plasma decimator. The lance will have re-roll everything against Titanic at that point and remember, it has 3D3 Damage... See that Baneblade? Now you don't.
#'''Thunderous Charge'''- After this unit finishes a charge move, roll 1d6 for each enemy unit within 1". On a 4+, the enemy unit takes 1d3 mortal wounds.
#'''Daemonic Vigor'''- roll 1d6 when this pact is chosen. On 1-3, add +2 to the unit's move. On 4-5, improve the Dreadblade's WS by 1. On a 6, improve its BS by 1.
#*Even when you choose this Pact instead of rolling for it, you then have to roll for its effect, making it practically one of the worst ones, because you can't plan for what it will do.  Plus, when rolling for pacts, rolling this one twice still does nothing, even if it would result in 2 distinct effects.
#*It's an edge case, but this isn't such a bad idea on a Despoiler armed with a chainsword, gauntlet and a stormspear rocket or ironstorm missile pod. More movement just means earlier charges, WS1+ makes the gauntlet a no-brainer when faced with heavy tanks and BS2+ rockets aren't half bad either.
#'''Knower of Profane Secrets'''- +1 leadership; at the start of the first battle round, gain 1 command point if any models with this Pact are on the battlefield. One of the best options, both for the additional CP and the leadership bonus, which makes Damnations less likely to kick in.
#*Because the CP gain does not stack, using this Pact on multiple Dreadblades is a bit wasteful - without the CP, all you're practically doing is giving your model a Damnation and then making it less likely.
#*Damnations go off 15/36 (5/12, slightly less than half) of the time for Ld8 (War Dogs), 10/36 (5/18, slightly less than one third) for Ld9 (War Dogs with this Pact, all other Knights base), and 6/36 (1/6) of the time for Ld10 (non-War Dogs with this Pact).  Plan accordingly.
#'''Galvanized Hull'''- Attacks that target this Knight which would normally be AP-1 are downgraded to AP0.
#*Your only way to “improve” your armour save in the codex, but only against AP-1.  Still, one of the better Pacts.
#'''Arch-fiend'''- The Dreadblade can perform heroic interventions when an enemy is within 6" and can move 6" when doing so.
#*Combine with the Infernal Quest Warlord Trait to make a great objective camping Despoiler. You now have Objective Secured and count as 10 models for it and if anyone comes within 6" you get to jump into combat with them. Due to your base size, you can also stand on the objective in such a way that it's impossible to contest it without being in Heroic Intervention range.

====Damnations====
Choose any 2, or roll once.

#'''Forsaken'''-  While this Damnation applies, the Dreadblade cannot be the target of '''''any''''' stratagems used by the controlling player, including Command Point Re-roll. Furthermore, this Damnation makes the Damned Knight less likely to have its Damnations trigger, as it gets -1 to the roll, which is equivalent to +1 Ld for the roll.
#*Damnations go off 15/36 (5/12, slightly less than half) of the time for Ld8, 10/36 (5/18, slightly less than one third) for Ld9, 6/36 (1/6) of the time for Ld10, and 3/36 (1/12) of the time for Ld11 - you can simulate Ld11 by combining this Damnation with the Knower of Profane Secrets Pact.  1/12 is low enough that fully half of your games will see your Damnations never go off.
#'''Warp Rage'''- While this Damnation applies, the Dreadblade cannot fall back and has a BS of 6+. A Rampager won't give a shit about this.
#* Iconoclast Rampagers give a mild shit, as they can't fall back 1" and re-charge a unit for +1A if combat drags out more than one turn. 
#'''Volatile Reactor'''- While this Damnation applies, roll a d6 at the end of any phase that the model lost a wound. On a 4+, the Dreadblade loses one additional wound.
#*We talked a lot about letting your knights taking more wounds above... but come on, having your knight get bruised and scratched to get buffed or summon daemons is one thing, but letting your opponent do more damage to on purpose with no benefit is inexcusable. DO NOT TAKE THIS!   
#'''Warp Fugue'''- While this Damnation applies, the Dreadblade always fights last regardless of if it charged or has any abilities/relics that make it fight first.
#*Not a huge issue unless you're up against something that can actually hurt you (such as another knight) ''and'' you charged it - anything charging you would fight first anyway, and if you charged a tarpit on purpose, it'll just bounce off harmlessly most of the time.  On a ranged Knight, you often have no reason to care about this at all.
#'''Single-minded Hatred''' While this Damnation applies, the Dreadblade can only shoot at the nearest visible enemy and charge the nearest visible enemy.
#'''Defiant Machine Spirit'''- While this Damnation applies, subtract 1 from charge and advance rolls and 1 from hit rolls.
#*Combine this with the Helm of Warp-Sight on a ranged Knight and stop caring - you were never going to charge or advance anyway, and now you ignore hit roll penalties.