Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Thousand Sons (section)

===Flyers===

*'''Heldrake''': AKA the Helturkey. No Hard to Hit, no Airborne, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it still has Infernal Regeneration and it's robust, but not unkillable, and arguably better than later 7th Edition because due to loss of facing it's now a turret weapon again. A price drop has meant the Baleflamer is pretty much an auto-take at this point, as it costs the same regardless. The reason for this is that being a Daemon Engine the Heldrake has a terrible BS of 4+ and moving around bumps that to 5+ on Heavy weapons. Other than shooting, the Heldrake can be used effectively in melee; with 4 attacks, WS 3+, S7 AP -1 Dd3 claws, with a +1 to hit against <FLY>. This makes the Heldrake the best anti-<FLY> Flyer in the game as few flyers can fight back. Also being a unit with <FLY> means it can charge something and then fall back while still melting faces with daemonic fire. A supreme backfield nuisance or tool to shut down an opponents heavy guns for a turn, the drake can even fill the role of flying assassin against exposed enemy characters (though it will probably fail against any TEQ units). Keep in mind the bonus to hit also applies to Jump-Packs and Jet-Bike units.
**The lack of Aircraft rules cuts both ways. It can be charged by ground units, but it can also be used to pin down enemy units as they cannot fall back through its base like they can with Aircraft. Similarly, Knights and other Super-Heavy Walkers cannot fall back across it; watch your opponent flip the table when he realises cannot Fall Back with his Castellan through any of your units pinning it in combat because they all have weird keywords.

====Forge World====
*'''Chaos Fire Raptor Assault Gunship''' - An very powerful flyer that looks immense and fits right into the lore of the Thousand Sons. It particularly benefits from the psychic buffs on a Thousand Sons army, too. Keep Prescience, Glamour of Tzeentch and Weaver of Fates cast upon it to maximise survivability and firepower. Also keep an aura giving HQ nearby to reroll 1s to hit. Avenger Gatling Cannon (10 s6 ap-2 damage 2 shots), Quad Bolter (24 s5 ap-1 damage 1 shots) and 4 Lascannon shots (S9 ap-3 damage d6, though you need to convert on the lascannons) are the best option, even if they bring the price up to 452 pts (Chapter Approved has been errataed, the base cost of the Fire Raptor is now 280 points without wargear, not 190). Hitting on 2s, rerolling 1s, this birdy will blow the opponent away.
** If you take this monstrosity then expect all of the DAKKA to target it on turn one. You might want to take Magnus as well so that one of them gets to survive, but be careful as this might cause an unsuspecting opponent to have a stress seizure and turn into a Chaos Spawn (though only if he/she have the appropriate reinforcement points).
*'''Chaos Storm Eagle Assault Gunship''' - Less useful for Thousand Sons as the transport aspect isn't too helpful. Dark Matter Crystal, Deep Strike Stratagem and the lack of melee capacity of Rubrics takes away the urgency for flying transport.
** Think of this baby as a flying Land Raider with double the transport capacity. While it's not as tough, it's way faster and can take the same weapons, Twin Heavy Bolters, two Twin Lascannons and a Vengeance Launcher  on top for a total of 10 points less than a Land Raider.
*'''Hell Blade''' - Courtesy of the Dark Mechanicus's warped minds comes one of the better anti-flyer units in the game. Only 130 points with twin helstorm cannons (Heavy 2 S6 AP-2 D3 and wound rolls of a 6 cause an additional mortal wound), with a 3+/5++ and Hard to Hit plus a +1 to hit against other units with {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}. Can swap its two Helstorm cannons for two Lascannons. With a 18"-60" movement that doesn't degrade as you take damage and a funky rule that allows it to pivot up to 90 degrees at the beginning AND end of each movement phase, you will be hunting enemy flyers in style. Pairs nicely with the stratagem Warpflame Gargoyles.
*'''Hell Talon''' -  Expensive at 240 points, but considerably tougher than its baby brother the Hell Blade with 12 wounds and T7 as well as its 3+/5++. In addition to the mandatory Helstorm cannon and twin Lascannon, you can choose between three (free) sets of bombs, all used at the end of the movement phase (see below). This is a flying Predator spending 70 extra points to get {{W40kKeyword|FLY}}, Hard to Hit, 20"-60" move, 5++, no penalty to move & fire Heavy weapons and a bomb that will likely do some Mortal Wounds to a unit you fly over.
**Pyrax incendiary bombs: The anti-infantry option. Once per battle, pick a unit you flew over and roll a d6 for each model in the unit up to a maximum of 20d6. Each 5+ (or 4+ if targeting infantry) causes a mortal wound.
**Warp-pulse bombs: Pick a unit you flew over and roll 3d6 for each vehicle or monster in said unit, or 1d6 for each other model, up to a maximum of 9d6. Results of a 5+ cause mortal wounds. In addition, the unit targeted is at -1 to hit and -1 leadership until the start of their next turn. 
**Baletalon shatter charges: The demolition option. Pick a unit you flew over and roll 6d6 for each vehicle, building, or monster in said unit, or 1d6 for each other model, up to a maximum of 6d6. Results of 3+ cause mortal wounds. Pick this one.
*'''Xiphon Interceptor''' - A flyer that the Thousand Sons loved to pieces during the Heresy-Era, to the point that they replaced all of their other Interceptor-Fighters with it. A solid anti-air option. Like the Hell Blade, it has +1 to hit against {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} units, hitting on a 2+ against them at full wounds. It looks cheap from its points value, but once you tack on the two twin lascannons and the Soulstalker missile launcher (Heavy d3 autocannon with AP-2 and wound rolls of a 5+ cause a mortal wound in addition to normal damage), it is well over 200 points.