Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Thousand Sons (section)

===Heavy Support===
*'''Chaos Land Raider''' - Make sure to make use of its transport capability, or you'd get more out of a pair of las-Predators or one of the numerous other lascannon platforms. The 5++ from being {{W40Kkeyword|ARCANA ASTARTES}} doesn't really do anything to address the problems the land raider has always had, which is a shame.
**NOTE: Land raiders are fairly useful for the Thousand Sons as their large footprint allows them to cover a lot of space when used in conjunction with the warpflame gargoyles stratagem.
**'''Achilles (Forge World):''' Your land raider on steroids with 2 twin multi-meltas or two twin volkite culverins (45" Heavy 8 S8 AP0 D2 with every wound roll of 6 dishing out an extra 1MW) and a Quad Launcher (shatter shell for 24" Heavy 4 S8 AP-3 Damage 3 or thunderfire shells for 60" Heavy 4D3 frags that have Blast and ignore LoS). It has a 5++ by default but everything in your army has that so whatever. It can also take a Hunter-Killer missile. The only downsides are its increased cost and very limited transport capacity (6 infantry models).
**'''Proteus (Forge World, Martial Legacy):'''For a few less points and 1CP you get a LR with a few more options. By default it's like a standard LR but without the hull twin heavy bolters, but can take a single hull mounted heavy bolter, twin heavy bolters, a multi-melta or twin heavy flamers. It can also take Heavy Armour for a 5++ (never take that when you have it by default) or an Explorator augury web that denies deep striking within 12" of it but reduces the transport capacity to 6 models. It can also take a hunter-killer missile.
*'''Chaos Predator''' - It does Predator things. You're better off taking a Forgefiend with heavy hades autocannons; it's more efficient both offensively and defensively. If you're going with tanks there are two major roles that a Predator can fill: anti-tank or anti-infantry (or to a lesser degree, both).
**'''Annihilator:''' Starting at 155 points, you can grab a las-pred armed with 4 lascannons. You can give it an inferno combi gun of your choice and/or a havoc launcher if you have the spare points, but it is totally fine as-is without them, too - the havoc launcher makes it more efficient against all possible targets, but not radically so against the targets you want to bring the lascannons to bear against.
***Worse than a Forgefiend at killing literally any target in the game, for the points.  Do not take.
**'''Destructor:''' Costs 160 points; you can have the Dakka-pred armed with the "predator autocannon" (48" Heavy 2d3 S7 AP-1 D3) and Heavy Bolters sponsons, and you probably want a Havoc Launcher.
***Worse than a Forgefiend at killing literally any target in the game, for the points.  Do not take.
*'''Chaos Vindicator''' - For 130pts you get T8 and 24" Heavy 1d6 S10 AP-3 D1d6, which is ''incredible'' - the only problem is the 24" range (other than that, this is a quadruple-lascannon Predator but better, for the points) - it's better than a Forgefiend against heavy targets and worse against light ones. Take it if you want something to spearhead a vehicular assault; the close-range firepower will serve you well, and with a siege shield for Sv2+ against attacks, the tank will survive much longer than it should. 
**'''Laser Destroyer (Forge World)''' - The datasheet is in the Imperial Armour Compendium FAQ.  This glorious dakka-thrower can't take any wargear options other than a shitty hellforged hunter-killer missile you don't need, but the base gun is an ''absolute steal'' by TSons standards.  It has two firing modes, but you're not here for the weaker mode.  The stronger mode out-dakkas a normal Vindicator against heavy targets, which was why you were considering these tanks to begin with.  If you can field one of these, you should choose it over the base Vindicator, despite the lack of access to a siege shield.
***36" Heavy 3 S9 AP-3 D3+1d3
***36" Heavy 3 S10 AP-4 D6; if the shooter didn't remain stationary, each unmodified 1 to hit results in a mortal wound for the shooter after all shots resolve.
*'''Daemon Engines'''
**'''Defiler:''' Here's the deal, the Defiler is exactly what you expect him to be, he's a big, stompy, killy daemon engine that will inevitably draw in a lot of enemy fire because of how dangerous he is. 14 wounds, T7, 5++ invuln, '''Strength 16''' melee attacks. Long and short-range firepower with the Battle cannon, Reaper autocannon/Twin heavy bolter and Twin heavy flamer. Smoke launchers for defence and regenerates 1 wound at the beginning of each of your turns. Effective at range and close up but with options to suit your need. Replace the Twin heavy flamer and Reaper autocannon with a Twin Lascannon and havoc launcher and ruin some vehicle's day or bring a Defiler scourge and trounce any units that try to jump you.
***The plethora of psychic powers that can make the fiends scarier can also be used on the defiler, making the Giant Enemy Crab Engine even '''MORE''' deadly and less susceptible taking massive damage in a weak spot.
**'''Fiends''' - They're durable (12 wounds, 3+/5++ and they regenerate one lost wound at the start of each of your turns) and very effective point-wise. Another fun thing the thousand sons can do is use the fiends (or defilers) to play mad doctor due to the number of spells that can be used on them.
***'''Forgefiend''' - Or Dakkafiend. Comes standard with 2 Heavy Hades autocannons and a [[Nob|reinforced jaw to chomp harder on anything close-by]]. Can replace everything (including the jaw) with Ectoplasma cannons that have better AP, damage and blast rule for fewer shots. Bring a pack of 2 of these things and watch them output a ridiculous amount of firepower on a target. 
****Never replace the heavy hades autocannons with the ectoplasma. The hades autocannons statistically equal or beat the ectoplasma against every combination of toughness/save up to 8/2+.  Plus, they have higher range for an extra 10pts per gun.  Replacing the jaw is fine, however, as it's your only ranged option.
***'''Maulerfiend''' - Or Choppafiend. They're fast (10" base movement) and come standard with power fists that deal d3+3 and Magma Cutters. Magma Cutters are considered Assault 2 with 6" of range now (S8, AP-3 D6+2!), so the Fiend can start putting the hurt on a target right before they get into base to base contact and still shoot them in close quarters should they start the turn in combat. Pure win. They can also replace the pair of cutters with Lasher Tendrils for 1 damage each and 6 extra melee attacks, trading punch against heavy targets for more attacks to mulch through infantry a bit quicker. Like the Forgefiends they work better in pairs and tag-teaming a target.
****This beast is basically a giant, well-disguised can-opener. It can and will crack ANY tank open in melee and eat it for breakfast, and the tendrils threaten infantry as well. On the downside, It gets slower and weaker as it takes damage, so it stops being as scary at low wounds(though regeneration helps ALOT as the turns go by). It's FAST and WILL eat even dreadnoughts with relative ease, and it has Weapon Skill of 3+ and with the MASSIVE attention it will draw from any opponent who prefers their tanks unmolested. Overall - a respectable choice.
*'''Mutalith Vortex Beast''' - Another import from Age of Sigmar, the MVB seems like a weird addition at first glance, [[Bradley Fighting Vehicle|since it's just as fast a Maulerfiend, attacks 5 times like a Forgefiend, but has a 4+ armour save and 2 more wounds than either.]]  But it brings a variety of ways to deal mortal wounds for something so ugly. 
**Stats: M 10/8/6, WS 3/4/5, S/T 7, 14 wounds, 5 A and a 4+/5++. It casts 2 powers at top bracket, 1 from 4-6 wounds, and 0 on its last 3 wounds.  It recovers D3 wounds in your command phase, but due to the instability of its Warp vortex, it will explode on a 4+ for D3 damage.  It can attack with its tentacles at S7 AP-1 D1, but make 3 hit rolls for every attack, or attack with its claws, at S8 AP-2 3 Damage. 
** '''Healing''': The MVB is your only Heavy Support option that you can reliably heal. While Thousand Sons have lots of ways to recover infantry wounds, you have no way to repair vehicles outside of their native regeneration (you don't have a Warpsmith). Temporal Manipulation specifically locks out VEHICLES, but guess what, the Vortex Beast is a MONSTER, so combined with its native D3 regen, you could potentially recover 2D3 wounds a turn, which should be enough to bring it up a bracket.
** '''Cabal Points''': With a strat, your MVB can provide you with D3 more Cabal Points, which can be very helpful once you start losing sorcerers. 
** '''Mobility''': Sorcerous Facade only works on Infantry or Monsters; that means Rubrics or this guy, again locking out vehicles, and even dudes on Discs. 
** '''"Shooting"''': Unlike last ed, you do not roll to use the Vortex Powers, only have 4, and they are all meant to do damage, removing the +1 S and -1 Ap options you had previously. Each power can only be used once a turn, regardless of how many you MVBs you have, so plan accordingly. That being said, the number of casts degrade and the powers do tend to be situational, so position them well.
**Powers: 
***'''Immmaterial Flare:''' Select one visible enemy unit within 18", roll 1d6 per model and deal 1 mortal wound for every 6 you roll.
****Against a 12-member unit, ties with Turbulent Discharge, and past that just deals more.
***'''Turbulent Discharge:''' Pick the closest enemy unit within 18" that's visible, on 2-4 that unit suffers 1d3 mortal wounds, and on a 5+ it suffers 3 Mortal Wounds.
****Net MWs inflicted on average: 2.
***'''Maelstrom of Madness:''' Roll 1d6 per enemy unit within 9", each takes a single mortal wound on a 2+.
****Net MWs inflicted on average: 5/6 per unit (3 units gets you 2.5, the minimum to beat Turbulent Discharge).
***'''Beam of Unreality:''' Pick a visible enemy unit that has wounds of 10+ that's within 24". Roll 1d6, -1 from the result for {{W40Kkeyword|Aircraft}} and +1 for {{W40Kkeyword|Titanic}}. On a 3-4 the unit takes 1d3 Mortal Wounds and on a 5+ it takes 1d6.
****Net MWs inflicted on average: 1+5/6 base (worse than Turbulent Discharge), 2+5/12 when buffed, 1+1/4 when nerfed.  

====Forge World====

*'''Chaos Rapier Carrier:'''  This baby is the absolute business - it has several weapons options, but the only ones you need to care about are the quad heavy bolter, which is exactly what it sounds like: you get 4 heavy bolters (and a regular bolter, which doesn't matter) for the low low cost of 85 points, and the laser destroyer for 35 points more (120 total).  That's 21.25 points per heavy bolter, which is the most efficient dakka you can field, period. You can also replace the quad heavy bolters with a graviton cannon (36" Heavy D6 S8 AP-3 2D Blast, which increases the damage to 3 vs units with sv3+) for no additional cost, or for an additional 35pts you can take a laser destroyer (36" Heavy 3 S10 AP-4 D3+3) or also for 35pts a Quad Launcher (Shatter shell for 24" Heavy 4 S8 AP-3 Damage 3 OR Thunderfire shells for 60" Heavy 4D3 frags that has Blast and ignore LoS).
**The Graviton Cannon is worse against all possible targets than the Quad Heavy Bolter, and the Quad Launcher is worse ''per point'' against all possible targets than the Quad Heavy Bolter.  Never take them.
**The Laser Destroyer is better than the QHB against the targets you'd expect - generally speaking, targets with W5+ and the toughness and/or saves to notice how hard it hits.  The QHB is better against TEQ, MEQ, and GEQ.  Since the targets you'll have the most trouble killing are the hard ones - all of your troops can massacre hordes with reasonable ease - the laser destroyer might be your best bet.
**A QHB or LD Rapier Carrier is your most efficient murder machine available.
*'''Chaos Sicaran (Martial Legacy):'''
**'''Battle Tank:''' Spend 1 CP for something ''worse'' than a triple-ectoplasma Forgefiend; 165 points for 48" Heavy 6 S7 AP-2 D3 would be bad even if you didn't have to spend a CP on it.  Hard pass.
**'''Punisher:''' 36" Heavy 18 S6 AP-1 D1 is a horde-killer, and 155 points isn't ''bad'', but you just don't need more anti-chaff dakka in a TSons army, especially for a 1 CP price tag.
**'''Venator:''' The Sicaran Laser Cannon on this thing is 48" Heavy 3 S12 AP-3 D1d6, and if the shooter remained stationary, its D goes up to straight 6 - all for 170 points and 1 CP.  On the move, this can't possibly compete with a Vindicator Laser Destroyer, which doesn't even have to pay a CP to exist, and being forced to Remain Stationary all the time is just too steep a cost for something that can't ignore LOS.  Skip this.
*'''Chaos Whirlwind Scorpius (Martial Legacy):'''Chaos finally gets a Whirlwind! The Scorpius Multi-Launcher is going to do work at 48" Heavy 3d3 S6 AP-2 D2, Blast, Ignores LOS. Can also get a combi-bolter, but you aren't going to do that since you want it hiding all game and shooting - at 170 points it costs too much for just its output, and instead you want to abuse its incredible ''defensive'' value letting it hide in a corner, immune to being shot back at.