Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Dark Angels (section)

====Forge World====

*'''Whirlwind Hyperios:''' While it's still best used against aircraft because of its +1 to hit against flyers (and -1 against everything else), Heavy 2d3 S8 AP-2 D3 D isn't something to take lightly. Combine with 'Data Link Telemetry' and RW land speeders (of all types) to automatically hit ground targets once you have scoured the skies.  
*'''Rapier Carrier:''' A dirt-cheap source of heavy bolter fire, which can also be used as a cheap counter to "light" superheavies like Knights if taken with Laser Destroyers or act as artillery if you use the Quad Launchers (added in the FAQ). Now coming stock with a 12-shot quad bolter at 3/4 of what you pay for a devastator squad armed with same, on a fairly sturdy chassis. Fills out the heavy support requirements of a Spearhead detachment real nice, but keep the gunners safe or it gets auto-removed just like the Thunderfire Cannon.
**<s>Quad Heavy Bolters are terrible, costing more than 2 twin heavy bolters for the same guns.</s>
**The average damage from a laser destroyer is less than its weight in lascannons - 183.33% of the damage for 240% of the price; the difference in strength will never matter against practical targets, while the improvement to AP will come up and won't make up the difference.
**As a result, hands down your best bet is always going to be the Quad Launcher.
***In Shatter mode this will, for 45 points, outdo two lascannons for 50 points, as losing a point each in strength and AP is more than made up for in doubling its attacks, and the difference in damage is not only slight, it also deals predictable damage, making it invaluable in many contexts, such as shooting Quantum Shielding.
**In Thunderfire mode, this will shoot what amounts to 8 heavy bolter shots, losing a point of AP in exchange for indirect targeting and improved range.  This is inferior to the Quad Heavy Bolter option, so you should regard it as a bonus to the Shatter mode, rather than a good gun in its own right, and take this gun for the purpose of killing off enemy heavies, not massacring enemy lights.
*'''[[Mortis Dreadnought]]:''' Your go-to dakka dread. It costs 5 points more than a standard dreadnought, with the exact same profile, but it brings the option to double up on weapons the regular dread cant. You can take a pair of twin bolters, autocannons, or lascannons, or a pair of regular missile launchers, assault cannons, Multi-Meltas, or heavy plasma cannons. All good choices for laying down firepower, with the best guns depending on what you plan to shoot and how many points you can spare. 
**For the classic twin Autocannon rifleman setup, you're usually better off with a regular dread. They have the same stats for a few points less, and it's the only gun the normal dread can double up on. Only take an Autocannon Mortis if you really need a heavy support instead of an elite. As the Relic Deredeo can do the same job.
*'''Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought:''' It can do everything the regular Mortis could but is superior in just about every way, with BS 2+ and Atomantic Shielding. It can also take a Cyclone Missile launcher just like the Relic Contemptor. Making twin Heavy Plasma Cannons a little redundant. So always take Cyclones if you have the leftover points. Unless running with Multi-Meltas. As it won't benefit as much from the extra shots if the Contemptor Mortis is within twelve inches of the target.
**One of these with a pair of twin Heavy Bolters (yes, that's 4 Heavy Bolters total) will, by and large, outperform its weight in Heavy Bolter Devastators, which is very rare in the vehicle world. The Contemptor Mortis is serious contender in a Dreadnought-heavy army for the non-relic slot you're using to let you bring a Leviathan or Relic Land Raiders (see below).
*'''Siege Dreadnought:''' This Dread specializes in short-range firepower, coming stock with an Inferno Cannon that acts as a souped up heavy flamer and a seismic hammer with built-in Meltagun that suffers from a -1 to hit but will wreck anything that gets hit. With the ability to re-roll all to wound rolls of 1 in the Fight phase when targeting a BUILDING or a unit with a movement stat of 0", its niche as a building killer should be obvious. 
*'''Relic Leviathan Dreadnought:'''The Leviathan Dreadnought is easily one of the deadliest single models in the entire game, barring actual ''Titans'', packing a series of quite frighteningly powerful weapons that can make short work of virtually anything. It packs a Strength and Toughness of 8, with a 2+/4++ saves line, and a whopping 14 wounds. In addition, it actually received a fairly decent points decrease in 8th edition, having dropped in cost by 50 whole points even after all wargear is accounted for. A few things were lost though, as the Leviathan no longer has his frag-launchers but in exchange his whole loadout has gotten huge buffs.  Mix this up with a company master / chaplain to boost those hits. It comes stock with 2 Heavy flamers and 2 Leviathan Siege Claws (Sx2 AP-3 D3 Re-roll failed wounds against Infantry) with in-built meltaguns stock.
**The Claws can be swapped out (without losing the meltaguns) for Drills, which up the AP and D to -4 and 4, but you stop re-rolling failed wounds against Infantry.
**The Claws can also be swapped out along with their meltaguns for:
***'''Cyclonic Melta Lance:''' Capable of destroying a Land Raider in a single volley, while being able to shave off 15 wounds from a Knight (leaving it sufficiently weakened that it will no doubt then die to being slammed with 15 additional wounds in melee).
****Note that this actually has worse AP than the Bombard (although it will usually only matter against Land Raiders and the like, as against any Invuln save at all or a 3+ save or worse they'll tend to equal out), with better rate of fire against 4 or fewer model units and worse damage against Monster/Vehicle/Titanic models but better damage otherwise.  A Leviathan with 2x Bombards costs 275, while 2x Lances costs 325, which means that against a Land Raider, the Lances are only better inside melta range. The Lance will do better against vehicles where the difference in AP doesn't matter, regardless of range (such as any 3+ vehicle, or a 2+ vehicle with an invuln), provided the target unit has 4 or fewer models.  It will also do better against infantry units of 4 or fewer models, but as soon as the target unit has 5 or more models in it, the Bombard will simply take over.
***'''Storm Cannon Array:''' Has a whopping 10 shots, which do 2 damage each. While not quite as horrifyingly deadly against vehicles as the Cyclone Melta, it exchanges sheer output for more reliability. This can be useful since 2-wound weapons occupy a fair niche in the current meta, for their ability to 1-shot the numerous amount of multi-wound models, without suffering from overkill. This makes it the perfect weapon for dealing with models like Terminators.
****This is basically a seriously up-gunned heavy plasma cannon, with ''quintuple'' the usual shot volume and one worse AP in exchange for one better D, and an inability to Overcharge.  Costs 5/6 the amount two of the cannons would cost you, though.  It is far and away the most efficient gun you can take against most targets of 4 models or less - it will actually outdamage both the Bombard and the Lance against anything T6 or less and T7 Sv 4+ or worse, and that's assuming the target has enough wounds left that no damage gets wasted.
*****For serious, take this gun seriously.  It is far and away the most generally useful of the lot; a pair of them will murder most anything foolish enough to get in your way.
***'''Grav-Flux Bombard:''' Now your dedicated horde killer. It deals 1d3 shots, and gains an additional 1d3 shots for every 5 models present in the target unit, which means the Leviathan can get a whopping 7d3 shots when targeting a mob of Conscripts, or [[Rape|14d3]] if equipped with two of these. This essentially means that the grav bombard is your designated weapon loadout if you expect to go up against Infantry Blobs, as it can fry an entire 50 man squad each and every turn.  It also does more damage (5, rather than 2) against Vehicles, Buildings, and Titans, making it more useful than the Lance in many cases.
****A pair of these is the way to go for horde scrubbing - 2d3 shots every 5 models in the target means you average 4 shots for every 5 targets.  The gun is only 18" and you'll take a BS penalty (typically down to 3+) for moving and shooting with it, taking you to 3 1/3 and 2 2/3 hits for every 5 targets, respectively. At S9 AP-5 D2, ''usually'' one wound per target is all it will take; assuming you're up against T4 or less without an invuln save, you're looking at 2 7/9 or 2 2/9 (after moving) dead ''for every 5 models in the target'', or around 50% casualties.   Hopefully Morale will do the rest of the work for you, or you can just bring two of these things.
*'''Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer:''' This thing brings to the battlefield the unique Laser Volley Cannon, which is a 2 shots Lascannon with a few twists: they only have a range of 36" instead of 48, they do a fixed 3 damages (so a little less than the average you do with 1D6) and can be overcharged to go to S10 AP-5 with a fixed 6 damages. Trade-off being that if they shoot that way, they take 3 mortal wounds on each rolls of 1. If it does not move, however, it can shoot twice, but not in overcharged mode. Also note that it gets +1T and +1 wound compared to a predator, but moves 2" less. All in one, this tank is kind of odd. It costs roughly the same as a classic predator with a full Lascannon setup, and can pump 4 shoots if it stands still, for an average amount of wounds slighty lower. Its overcharged mode might give you an edge on T5/T9-10 opponents or target with extremely high armor saves, so what you lose in range you get it back in versatility, at price: 2 shots against 4 and the risk of wounding yourself. Between increased durability, shorter range and movement, and varying fire modes, it is hard to draw a clear line between the Predator Annihilitor and the Vindicator Laser destroyer in term of battlefield role, but the later being clearly less efficient while on the move, you might want to invest your money in other Forge World models.
*'''Relic [[Land Raider Proteus]]:''' The old school Land Raider. This is actually the first of the "pure dakka" Land Raiders. It's small amount of internal space means that it performs poorly as a transport. Rather you take the Proteus as "the leader" of your armored spearhead. Comes standard with two Twin Lascannons. It's weapon upgrades are: a Heavy Bolter, Multi-Melta, Twin Heavy Bolter and Twin Heavy Flamers. Take either the Multi-Melta or the Heavy Flamers. As the Heaver Bolters lack the damage output of the other weapon options. Equipment enhancement are Heavy Armor or the Explorator Augury Web. Reducing its space to six models. Still enough room for a Devastator Squad or Pseudo-Sternguard Company Vets and the HQ to buff them or the Proteus. The Augury Web is better as it prevents enemy units from deploying from within 12 inches of the Proteus. 
*'''[[Land Raider Helios]]:''' Also has twin lascannons, but it brings along a Helios Launcher- a Heavy weapon that fires 2d6 autocannon-equivalent shots (albeit only 1 damage) that can fire without LoS. A decent combo of the Whirlwind's different missile types, and it can transport 6 models too.
*'''Land Raider Prometheus:''' A fun toy for your Warlord- if he's embarked within it, one of the Stratagems played on your turn costs 1 less CP to use. It doesn't reduce the cost below 1, but it helps. As an added bonus, its attacks all ignore cover saves, which make its 12 heavy bolter shots absolutely terrifying to light infantry. Carries 10 models.
*'''Land Raider Achilles:''' The rage-inducing and expensive Achilles is back in a big way in 8th ed. T8 with 19 wounds, a 2+ save, and a 4++ Invuln save for good measure makes this raider insanely tough. The Achilles is armed with a hull-mounted Quad Launcher and 2 sponson-mounted TWIN Multi-Meltas (Heavy 2). The Quad Launcher can fire Shatter shells at Heavy 4 S8 AP-2 3 Damage, or Thunderfire shells at Heavy 4D3 S5 AP0 1 Damage (and can target units not visible to the Achilles). It can also grab a hunter-killer missile and a Storm Bolter for a little extra dakka. This weirdness is compounded by a transport capacity of 6, including terminators and jump pack models. Seriously, go look up a picture of this thing.