Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Adeptus Custodes (section)

==General Tactics==

===Psychic/Anti-Psychic Support===
If you find yourself facing a psychic-heavy army (Craftworlds, Thousand Sons, Daemons, etc) you will want to invest in some ways to supplement the built-in 6+++ Custodes have in against psychic mortal wounds (unless you take a sadistic pleasure in watching your guys die). You're either going to want to pick up some allied psykers yourself or find ways to negate the abilities of your enemy. Here are some strategies:

*'''Inquisitor-Lord Hector Rex:''' For a mere 100 points a 2-known, 2-cast, and 3-deny (with a +1 to his deny rolls) psyker; if that is not enough you can spend 1CP to give him +1 known, +1 cast, and +1 deny.  Did I mention that he is 2+/3++, '''DEADLY''' against demons, and can teleport strike? His powers should be '''Mental Interrogation''' to generate CP, '''Terrify''' to bypass overwatch and '''Dominate'''/'''Castigation'''. A bargain at 100 points and 1CP, definitely your best choice.
*'''Supreme Command of AM Primaris Psykers''': For only 138 points, you can bring a supreme command detachment of Astra Militarum Primaris Psykers. At the VERY least, this nets you 3 smites, 3 Denies (for the psychic defense we're talking about), and 1CP to boot. This is a good option for players that prefer to run Custodes as close to pure as possible, but are worried about the 4-5 psykers and tonnes of mortal wounds that their friend is likely bringing to face them on the weekend. Run these guys up behind whichever footslogging Custodes you're bringing to keep the Psykers safe while covering the Custodes with Smites and Denies.
**In terms of psychic powers to choose from, at first it seems bleak since 4 out of the 6 options are buffs for other AM units. The only two possible options turn out to be more useful than they first appear. '''Terrifying Visions''' goes off on a 7 and debuffs an enemy unit within 18" for -2 Ld. While not amazing, this could be incredibly useful if the Custodes squad in front of your psyker is about to chop an enemy unit to bits and you want that extra insurance that any survivors will flee to morale. The second choice is '''Psychic Maelstrom''' which also goes off on a 7 and allows you to mortal-wound a target on progressively harder D6 rolls until you fail one. 2+ (1 MW), 3+ (1 MW), 4+ (1 MW), etc. While this won't go off as easily or wound as reliably as smite, it does have the benefit of allowing you to '''target''' an enemy unit within 18" instead of having to select the closest. This can allow you to microwave an enemy character's brain that your opponent thought he had protected behind a bubblewrap. It may not always kill the character depending on their stats, but many 3 or even 4 wound characters will be sweating as you roll those dice; ESPECIALLY if they've already lost a wound or two earlier in the game. Then whatever support aura they were supplying to their units is gone and your Custodes friends can get stuck in with even less worry. If neither of these powers applies to the current turn, just smite away! Remember, you took these 3 guys for the Denies and the CP.
*'''Sisters of Silence:''' Exactly what it sounds like, get Sisters of Silence, put them in front of your Custodes, and most of your Smite Spam problem will be solved. The fluffiest option of the lot and they don't even need to pass a DtW test to stop powers from being used.
*'''AdMech- Graia:''' A somewhat under-appreciated version of the Rusty 17, the Graia stratagem lets you stop a psychic power on a 4+, giving you a 75% (with a reroll) chance of auto denying any power of your choice. For only 1 CP per turn, this can do wonders against that Warptiming Magnus or stopping that Doom going off against your Telemon.

===Flight of the Golden Valkyries===
The custodes jetbikes are dangerous. Full stop. They run around at 14”, advance 6”, are toughness 6 (which protects against S3, 5, 6, & 10 weapons), 4 wounds, 2+/5++, and hit with 4 attacks on 2’s, strength 6, rerolling wounds on the charge, ap-3 DD3. 3 units of 3 headed up by [[Chapter_Master_Smashfucker#8TH_EDITION:_CAPTAIN_SMASHFUCKER_GOES_BANANA|Captain-Commander Smashfucker]] (the toughest unnamed character in 8E at T6, 7W, 2+/3++/5+++ with rerolls) will kill everything on the charge. <s>How many guardsmen will you kill? 38.75. Terminators? 19.68 (the average Damage value of an interceptor spear against a 2W model being 1.667). Baneblades? And even Reaver titans? They will take 39.90 damage, enough to outright annihilate the former and cripple the latter</s> All of this math is old, as of June 20th. We'll get back to you once we figure out exactly which shield host and other shit these guys should be using. All of this comes at the cost of roughly 980 points (depending on your guns, no misericordias unfortunately) in an Outrider detachment, giving you the most powerful, fastest, and toughest death star in the entirety of 40k. And that is before you even take into account their guns. How does 120 bolter shots sound to you hitting on re-rollable 2’s? Well, that alone would give you 51.85 dead guardsmen, 19.44 dead marines or even 6.41 damage to a baneblade. In short, you have no reason to not take a detachment of custodes bikers. And the icing on the cake? Your 10 unit, 1000 point army will only cost you <s>£117.6</s> £105 to £140, depending on a discount. (Other countries pricing may vary, for example, the US pays the equivalent of £164 to £193.27.)

*Agamatus versions of this tactic are also available, but you can only afford the Lastrum bolters on your 9 bikers. In a 2000 point game, you can take the las pulsars, but the great strength of your bikes is their balance between impressive melee power and ranged volume of fire. If you want to take bikes with pulsars it is advised that you take them as a supplement to your main melee Death Star. If you want to have more than one flying circus Death Star, however (at least until they release rules for a jet pack shield captain) you will need to take three units of agamastus custodians because of the rule of 3.

===Matchups and Counterplay===
These tactics are good and all, but knowing your enemy is important. For simplicity's sake we're going to assume that you and your enemy's list is NOT a soup list, which is the slang term for taking multiple factions that share the {{W40kKeyword|Imperial}}, {{W40kKeyword|Chaos}}, or {{W40kKeyword|Aeldari}} keywords or the like in the same army. Feel free to add any strategies that have worked against these factions.
====Imperium====
*'''Space Marines:''' They'll know you hit like a sock with a brick inside in close combat and will do whatever it takes to screen you out. Here are some select Chapter Tactics: Ultramarines can fall back and shoot with a -1 to hit penalty, so you have to either surround surviving models (not an easy feat given you're playing Custodes) or just go for the squad wipe (much easier). Raven Guard's -1 to hit outside of 12" is fairly easy to counter with FGLTC, Terminators, and your Vertus Praetors. Imperial Fists ignore cover and gain bonuses against fortifications, neither of which hard counter you unless you like to hide in cover from Bolt Rifles and other AP-1 weapons. Black Templars re-roll failed charges, and since it's combat-oriented and doesn't give them true bonuses in the combat phase (hint: you excel at that) it's to their detriment and your benefit. Iron Hands have nice overwatch and 6++, but overall that's not the main issue. Your main problem with them will be their vehicles, which are hard to bracket.
*'''Blood Angels:''' Red-colored Marines that specialize in Blitz attacks. While they shoot as good as basic Marines above, their main draw is essentially a plus 1 to wound rolls modifier in the first round of combat. That is huge against Custodes, as even basic scouts will go from wounding on 5+ to 4+, and their power fists and Thunder Hammers will wound you on 2+. Custodes rely on their toughness to survive, and the Blood Angels hard-counter that toughness and can throw down in the Combat phase better than other marines. Also, Death Company and any characters with the Black Rage stratagem gain a 5+ shrug and add 1 to attacks when they charge. This won't be like basic marines where close combat will be a one-sided walk in the park, pick and choose your combats. Bring Storm Shields to counter said power fists and thunder hammers.
*'''Dark Angels:''' The Mean Green Marines. Their chapter tactic lets them re-roll 1s to hit in shooting and overwatch if they stand still, and they are almost immune to morale (and Deathwing units are Fearless). If they're using standard Power Armor or Primaris units, they're likely going for a gun line. Their specialty is in Plasma weaponry, and their infamous Weapons of the Dark Age stratagem adds 1 to the damage characteristic of a given unit's plasma weapons. That's right, a Dark Angel marine overcharging a plasma gun with that stratagem can 1-shot a Custodian guard or Warden. To this end, beware the hell out of Dark Angel Hellblasters.
*'''Space Wolves:''' The furries are roughly the same as blood angels, and you deal with them in the same way. Termies (and allied in snipers, like the Vindicare or the Primaris Eliminators) to assassinate the psykers. These guys also need to get into melee to function effectively, so bring a caladius grav tank to soften up the big ones like Bjorn and Murderfang, then use Telemons with a pair of Caestuses (Caestusi? Caestusae?) to take them down. Use jetbikes to outmaneuver them, and adrasite weapons to bring down primaris units thanks to their lovely S: 5 (= wounding on 3s) AP-3 (= 6+ save) D3 (so a straight kill.) 
*'''Grey Knights:''' Hey look it's budget Custodes with psychic powers. With the number of mortal wounds they can put out, plus the odd Vortex of Doom power, your 6+ shrug in the psychic phase won't save you and neither will the relic Vexilla or Warlord trait. Allies, especially sisters of silence, are beyond crucial here; you WILL lose if you don't take them. Their smite has reduced range, so take a good deal of shooty units, and use terminators (having W4 is invaluable as they can tank a d3 wound smite at full blast) to assassinate the characters, who can manifest more than once (especially Voldus). Draigo, true to being the mother of all mary sues, is an absolute beast in melee with a 2+/3++ and The Titansword hitting at S8 (+1 to wound with the Hammerhand psychic power), so wounds on 2s. your best bet against him is sending storm shield-wielding guard at him, along with a vexilla imperius, to drown him in attacks and force wounds. If you take Valoris, ensure he has a bodyguard of sisters at all times.
*'''Deathwatch:''' They're Marines that have special issue ammo. Watch out for hellfire rounds at range since those rounds don't give a shit about your T5/6 and wound you on 2+. Frag Cannons are also a bitch by handing out 2d6 S6 AP-1 auto-hitting shots or can fire two slug rounds (S7 AP-1 above half range, S9 AP-3 up close), and a single Veteran squad can have four of those brokenly good things.
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus''' BEWARE DRAGOONS, they are no slouch in melee and can put some real punishment into your units, either shoot them down or make sure you're charging and fighting first. Like facing other shooting armies the vexilla magnifica is your best friend, use it to reduce the effectiveness of the robots, blind their sensors with golden light. Do watch out for armies spamming Skitarii Vanguard, their Radium Carbines put out a surprising amount of shots and with wound rolls of 6 dealing 2 damage flat, a few unlucky failed saves can chunk your banana boys with shocking efficiency.
*'''Imperial Guard:''' '''FOR EVERY ONE OF US THAT FALLS, TEN MORE WILL TAKE HIS PLACE!''' is the rule here. These guys have bodies, and with that, a large volume of dice. Your Banana Boys will die under massed Lasgun fire, so don’t underestimate a Guardsmen squad. Pask/Tank Commanders can spell trouble with their varied load-outs, and Baneblade variants can kick your shit in. Your objective is to turn Infantry into mulch with your Jetbikes (you did bring Jetbikes, right?) and cripple or eliminate any armor. The biggest weakness of mechanized Guard lists is a lack of Invuln saves; use this to your advantage. Beware their Psykers; nothing says FUN like a Baneblade with Psychic Barrier and Nightshroud on it. 
**Special mention to Tempestus Scions: they are an entirely different beast. These little shits will be bringing their Specialist Detachment and safely dropping out of Valkyries, loaded for bear with regular Scions and Command squads carrying cheap Guard Plasma. If you can get the first turn on them, shoot those sitting ducks out of the sky before they can drop on you.
*'''Imperial Knights:''' A super-elite army versus another super-elite army. The dirty secret about knights is that they aren’t very good - they put out surprisingly little damage, and die surprisingly quickly, especially to high strength weapons that force their 5++). Expect a lot of shots to be missed and a lot of saves to be failed; of course, this isn’t an excuse to be cocky - Knights hurt when they hit and are difficult to wound thanks to army-wide T8. They are also pretty quick so try to not get flanked.
**If you don't have Forge World, use your Jetbikes and deep-striking Allarus termies with Castellan Axes to get up close as quickly as possible. You can try and win off of objectives, but Custodes are such a low model count army that the Knight player will have a bit easier of a time trying to up and table you to win the game than they usually would. In melee you have the particular problem that a knights proper melee weapon ie chainsword, will kill one of your guys in one hit, wiping out 50+ points at a time, and even with a storm shield a knight can reliably kill one custodian each round of combat.
**If you have the money, consider making your whole army from spearhead detachments, bringing bare-bones SCs, Valoris as your warlord, and a shit ton of Telemons with the storm cannons (at least one should have twin Caestii) and Grav-tanks with the Arachnus cannon. An expensive list (in both points and dollars,) and one with very few CPs, but is insanely tough (Telemons are actually TOUGHER than knights to put down and come at half the price) and will curb stomp a knights army reliably often, and pretty quickly as well (watch out for the Dominus Castellan though, that thing shits anti-armour like nothing else in the game).
*'''Sisters of Silence:''' The Talons are doing wargame practice. These guys won’t cause you any trouble as their special anti-psyker rules don’t mean shit against you (this may be the only matchup in 8e where your not having Psykers is an actual ADVANTAGE. They are quite hard-hitting in melee but have nothing on you. Charge them or shoot them, doesn’t matter.
*'''Sisters of Battle:''' If you face sisters TAKE JETBIKES. They’re fast enough to escape you being outmaneuvered (which will probably happen), their hurricane Bolters blenderize sister squads (12 S4 shots vs T3) and the salvo launchers will evaporate penitent engines and the like. Shield captains on said Jetbikes will annihilate all their characters in cc (A5, WS2+ reroll 1s, S6 vs T3, AP-3, Dd3). Again, however, the biggest threat in this matchup is not likely to come from the units on the board, more the person wielding them.
*'''Adeptus Titanicus:''' Just give up. You have no chance. Sorry.
**(In all fairness though, this is the same with every single faction in the game so don’t feel alone in this).
*'''Other Imperium Factions:''' This is for the Inquisition and Assassinorum and other factions that are index only or have mini-dexes.

====Chaos====
*'''Chaos Space Marines:''' May the Chaos gods have mercy on your opponent if they are using the Black Legion Tactics, otherwise you're going to stomp him harder than you already will with attacks that explode on a 4+. Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors play out like Raven Guard and Imperial Fists, respectively. Read the loyalist marine section to see how you deal with those. The closest analog Slaanesh type shooter units can focus fire and wipe out your units if they get in range. Berzerkers don't give a fuck how tough you are (but they are soft themselves, charge first) Tzeentch and Nurgle guys are tougher and throw psychic bullshit at you. They can combo up some pretty nasty warlords as well. Abbadon is a mighty beast, but as mentioned, the Custodes can fuck him up proper. 
*'''Chaos Daemons:''' Hordes of daemonic freaks galore. Nurgle Daemons have Disgustingly Resilient which gives them a 5+ shrug against all of your attacks. Your guys will have to put in double time to get rid of them. Khorne Daemons hit like freight trains on the charge with a potential 2 damage coming from a basic Bloodletter's sword. Tzeentch Daemons will spell doom for you with psychic spam, akin to the Thousand Sons below and the Grey Knights. Ironically Slaanesh's daemonettes will be a cinch at range considering that they can only get up to S4 on their units and are way too fragile against ranged attacks. Assault Cannon Venerable Contemptor Dreads and the standard Jetbikes will rip holes in their number quite good, and avoid close combat with their greater Daemons unless you throw a squad of Stormshield guard at them since Greater Daemons struggle to get around high invuln saves in close combat.
*'''Death Guard:''' Mortal wound spam (both psychic and non-psychic), plus Mortarion. Have fun! They are not very numerous though, but they are disgustingly resilient. Pox walkers, on the other hand, form their screens and are quite the tarpit. Their elite infantry is also very tough potentially resulting in prolonged combats, something to keep in mind.
*'''Thousand Sons:''' Mmmm… did somebody say ooey-gooey Psychic cheese? With Custodes alone, you do have the Spark of Divinity Stratagem to Deny the Witch, a built-in 6+ against wounds caused in be Psychic phase, and the Impregnable Mind Warlord trait to Deny and get a +1 when doing so, but you're going to need more. They can spam their powers while you cannot spam that Stratagem or a Warlord Trait, so ally in either other Psykers or take Sisters of Silence. Think of the Thousand Sons Psychic phase as a second Shooting phase, since nearly everything can at least cast smite. Additionally, all their basic guns are AP -2, the perfect AP for taking on Custodes as you’ll pretty much always be using your 4++ to save. If your opponent is taking Magnus, remove him quickly, using a Telemon's Fisters or an Ares’ dakka; he’ll buff himself up and others if you don’t. It also doesn’t help that Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators have All is Dust to give them -1 to hit, and they’re pretty tanky too. Removing whole units at a time is key here, as it removes one more Psyker each time.
*'''Renegade Knights:''' Like Imperial Knights, but even nastier in close combat. Even after their Codex, they still play very similarly to their Loyalist counterparts.
*'''Renegades and Heretics''': Think Guard, but with all their strengths and weaknesses amplified. Their fodder is even more pathetic, but they can field so much of it, it is a possibility you will literally not have enough guns to kill all of them, unless you brought Allarus Terminators or sniper allies, and kill all of them you must, as their Enforcers almost completely negate Morale loses. Meanwhile, their vehicles may not be quite as mean as their loyalist counterparts without things like Regimental Doctrines or Tank Orders, but a Leman Russ Demolisher is still point-for-point the nastiest tank in the game, and the boys in R&H can field a LOT of them.

====Xenos====
*'''Craftworlds:''' Sneaky space Elves who specialize in psychic shenanigans, and spamming -1 to hit modifiers like no tomorrow. Their psykers will fuck you up something fierce by spamming smite and Executioner to hell and back, plus Warlocks and Spiritseers can cast buffs on their units, and debuff your units. Their fleshy aspect warriors are easy enough prey, but take care against any of their wraith units; they come packed with enough D to one-shot your dudes and are slightly sturdier (if the opposing player bothers to support them properly, at least) for it. Still, they'll fall quickly enough if you get the jump on them first. Their squads are also very overspecialized - if you outmaneuver them you’ll have a much easier time of it. Be wary of getting swamped by shuriken weapons, which will force you to rely on your invulnerable saves. 
*'''Dark Eldar:''' Sadomasochist space Elves. They won't give a damn about your higher than average toughness, but many of their basic weapons will struggle to get through your armor. Conversely, they may as well be flouncing around naked for all the armor they have on. What's better is you won't need to worry about psychic shenanigans from this flavor of spess elf. Watch out for disintegrator cannons, they are prime Multi-wound killers, as well as Coven type models who can partially match your durability. Otherwise, you may find that their army doesn't have as many anti-TEQ options as others. However, they can swamp you in cheap shots and their Wyches bring a very high volume of attacks for cheap models. 
*'''Harlequins:''' Clown space Elves, almost as dangerous in melee as you are, but much, ''much'' faster and considerably more numerous. They have fewer options to engage your Custodes at range and their T3 bodies are mostly protected by a 4++, so you won't be wanting for ways to kill them. Charge first if you can, don't let your squads get surrounded, and don’t forget the Interrupt stratagem to strike first in combat. The Vexilla Imperius will help you enormously in this matchup.
*'''Orks:''' You shouldn't need any help killing Orks, but just in case, remember your Hurricane Bolters on your bikes. You can quite easily play keep-away while hailing shots on the Ork hordes. Also, don't go wantonly charging in with your close combat units since that will play right into the Ork player's hands. Whittle them down like every other race, knock out the supporting Nobz and Warboss, then mop up the weaklings.
*'''Tau Empire''' Make sure the Magnifica is in your army, and laugh as the space communists hit your foot slogging troops on 5s (put the radiant mantle on your warlord for 6s to hit). Note that half the army has {{W40kKeyword|fly}} so tying up units is not easy. Also like facing guard, beware of volume of fire. Else wise Tau have a plethora of weapons that can fire a ton of shots AP -1/2 with high damage, the perfect sort of weapons for facing down golden boys. On the plus side, they have no access to psykers! Pro tip from a T'au player: Fear the Riptide, for it is the literal definition of a perfect counter to your army. The longer you are in melee, the less they will be shooting at you. However, the more aggressively you play, the more easily they can catch you in a trap. Units to eliminate on sight are Markerlight sources, Riptides, and any vehicles or drones the Weebs might have brought. Know the Sunshark bomber: It can dish out mortal wounds on your {{W40kKeyword|infantry}} units on a 4+. 
*'''Necrons:''' Play for keeps, don't fight in half-measures. Focus down a Necron unit until it is wiped, otherwise, you'll likely see a majority of the unit stand back up with Reanimation Protocols. These guys also can’t take psykers so exploit that and bring some SM librarians in a SCD and see how psyker suffering looks from the other side. Watch out for destroyers, they are fairly tough and their beefed-up gauss weapons are prime Custode killers. 'Crons can be slow, but they can also slug it out if you can't kill them efficiently. Wraiths can also be a problem and may survive longer in melee than you would like, though they are only deadly when very expensive. 
*'''Tyranids:''' One of the most fun matchups in the current meta, as nids and custodes are both combat-based. The key to taking on nids is, as always, to take out the synapse creatures and the big ones. Also, this is one of the few times where you don't want to get in combat immediately; at least try and whittle down the genestealer and gaunt blobs before you charge them. Beware of many heavy melee weapons they have which are a straight 3D. Nids have potent psychic output as well and can surprise you in the shooting phase. 
*'''Genestealer Cults:''' Deep-striking Genestealers and other terrifying close combat units. Fun!



[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]]
[[Category:Adeptus Custodes]]
{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}