Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

=====HQ=====

*'''Keyword Changes:''' Several Dark Angel units gain additional Keywords. 
**{{W40kKeyword|Deathwing}}: Captain in Terminator Armour, Chaplain in Terminator Armour, all Librarians.
***You can apply Rites of Initiation to add, for points, this keyword to any other Captain, including the Ravenwing Captains, and to Primaris Lieutenants with Storm Shields.
**{{W40kKeyword|Ravenwing}}: Captain on Bike, Primaris Chaplain on Bike.
*'''Primaris Captain:''' Unique to the Dark Angels, your Primaris Captain has the option to swap their master-crafted auto bolt rifle for a special issue carbine (24", assault 2, S4, AP-2, D2), which is a great in-between of the MC auto bolter and the MC stalker bolter. You lose the optional master-crafted power sword (no you don’t, GWs retarded wording), but you can take a regular powerfist instead if you like. 
*'''Primaris Lieutenant:''' Another Dark Angel specific weapon option, you can replace his stock bolt pistol for a plasma pistol. Gives you a bit more oomph if you're going for the sword and sidearm gear, but why haven't you taken the MC power sword, storm shield, and volkite pistol?
*'''[[Interrogator-Chaplain]]:''' Has all the usual Chaplain things; Rosarius, Crozius, Spiritual Leader, and Litanies. Costs 5pts more, but that gets you the Inner Circle and Deathwing Keywords and rules, A4, W5, and Aura of Dread (enemy units within 6" count as being below half strength). 
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Wargear-wise, you can swap your bolt pistol for a weapon on the pistol, combi-weapon, or melee weapon lists, AND take an additional powerfist. This really only sees merit if you're taking a relic (Teeth or Terra + Mantra of Strength). He can still take a Jump Pack, to give him a chance of keeping up with Ravenwing if you're in a game that doesn't allow Legends units for the Biker. 
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<tab name="Terminator"> 
As above, but with Deep Strike, M5", W6, and Sv2+. Some of the rules-writers dribble got past their bib and their datasheet lists them as an Elites choice instead of a HQ like their points has them. This will be FAQ'd, so the rules are here to save them being copy-pasted from the Elite section at a later date. 
* Legends does allow this model to swap their storm bolter for a powerfist, lightning claw, thunder hammer, or storm shield. With storm shields now being +1 to armour saves and a 4++ invulnerable, this option is of dubious use considering you already have a 4++. Consider if the points cost are worth losing four bolter shots per turn for +1 to armour saves only. 
* Debatably the worst of all the chaplains, as with the new Litanies not working out of Deep Strike (for whatever stupid reason, why he can't just chant to the guys in the teleportarium next to him is anyone's guess) means that he can't do anything until round 3 by which point the guys you dropped him with have either charged or taken casualties making him much less effective than a power-armoured Jump Pack/Bike/Drop Pod version who can get into position turn 1 (or 2 at the latest) and still chant.
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<tab name="Biker (Legends)"> 
A beefy Biker Chaplain, and most useful if you want a Biker Deathwing Character. Standard fare is a twin boltgun, crozius, and bolt pistol. the bolt pistol can be swapped for a boltgun, combi-weapon, pistol, or melee weapon. They can also grab an additional powerfist; ''additional'', it does not replace one of their stock weapons. He doesn't have the 8.5 edition Litanies, and instead has the old Litany of Hate Aura, allowing Dark Angels within 6" to re-roll failed hit rolls with melee weapons. His Aura of Dread also makes enemy units within 6" suffer -1Ld.
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*'''Deathwing Strikemaster:''' Deathwing Lieutenants, equipped with Terminator armour. Inner Circle, Tactical Precision (6" re-roll wound rolls of 1 aura), and Company Heroes as per the usual Lieutenant fare. Crux Terminatus gives them a 5++, making them one of the few Lieutenants with a built-in invulnerable. Weapons are a plain storm bolter and power sword (neither are master-crafted). Both are swappable for twin lightning claws, the bolter can be swapped for a master-crafted power sword, thunder hammer, or mace of absolution (Sx2 (8) AP-2 D3, pretty much renders the thunder hammer pointless), and the sword can be swapped for a storm shield (4++ and +1 to armour saves), chainfist, or storm bolter (one per model)... it's such a retarded way of wording the options. 
**Translated, skipping the stupid options you won't consider, like thunder hammer + chainfist, the legal options are a Storm Bolter + Any Melee, Storm Shield + Any Melee ''except'' for Chainfist, Storm Bolter + Storm Shield, and 2x Lightning Claws, where "Melee" is Master-Crafted Power Sword, Power Fist, Chainfist, Mace of Absolution, and Thunder Hammer.
***The Thunder Hammer is just a poor choice, as it's the Mace But Worse and costs the same.  Likewise, the MC Power Sword is a bad idea - the Power Fist is the same cost, and the accuracy loss of *4/5 is generally less than you gain from going from S5 to S8.  For example, against even GEQ, the Fist compared to the Sword is *4/5*5/4=*1, so the ''same'' output, and this ''improves'' against harder targets.  The Twin Lightning Claws are cheap, but pointless - Storm Bolter + Power Fist is the same cost but better, and Mace + anything is more efficient melee if you want a melee beatstick.  Likewise, the Chainfist has no actual point - you can either save points to keep things cheap with a Power Fist or invest in a Mace, and either way you've made a better decision.  That means the only options you should consider are Storm Bolter + Storm Shield, Mace + Storm Shield, Storm Bolter + Mace, and Storm Bolter + Power Fist.
***The storm shield is not a bad choice for this model , effectively negating AP-1 and boosting the 5++ to a 4++. 
*'''Ravenwing Talonmaster:''' Ravenwing Lieutenants, equipped with a Land Speeder. Heavily-armed with a power sword, twin assault cannon, and twin heavy bolter. T6 W8 Sv3+ and Jink gives them good staying power. As for special rules, they have the Inner Circle keyword and rules, and have the typical Lieutenant friendly-<Chapter>-Core-units-within-6"-re-oll-wound-rolls-of-1 aura and Company Heroes to allow any two Lieutenants in one HQ slot. They also have the No Escape Aura, allowing you to pick one visible enemy unit and friendly Ravenwing units within 6" ignore light and heavy cover (but not dense cover) against that unit. 
** Eighteen shots with BS2+ and AP-1 will put down most GEQ and MEQ squads in one turn. Heavy bolters being bumped to D2 makes them far more effective against Marines and Bikers, as well as light Vehicles and Monsters. 
** Warlord Traits: A lot of good candidates. From the 9th edition Index, Impeccable Mobility lets your Ravenwing units within 6" advance and shoot assault weapons, Tactically Flexible lets your Ravenwing units within 6" choose which Doctrine to be in, and Outrider even has use in smaller games to let this model and one Ravenwing unit move 12" after deployment and before the first turn. 
** Relics: As a Vehicle, you've only got a limited selection of Relics available to you. Heavenfall Blade and Eye of the Unseen are your best two bets. 

======Special Characters======

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*'''[[Azrael]]:''' Azzy is no slouch in melee and with Sv2+/4++ can slug it out with all but the best of the enemy combatants. WS2+ and A5 base with his Sword of Secrets (S+2 AP-4 D2, unmodified wound rolls of 6 inflict an additional MW) will put down a lot of Characters. Lion's Wrath is a master-crafted boltgun (24", rapid fire 1, S4, AP-1, D2) welded to a master-crafted plasma gun (24", rapid fire 1, S8, AP-3, D2, no overcharge). For support, he has the Captain's Rites of Battle aura (Dark Angel Core units within 6" re-roll hit rolls of 1) and the Chapter Masters rule (one Dark Angel Core or Character unit can re-roll all failed hit rolls). Supreme Tactician gives you +2CP if he's your Warlord and Watcher in the Dark means you can attempt to deny one enemy psychic power per game and you can re-roll the dice if it was a Chaos model. His most useful rule is the Lion Helm, which gives Dark Angel Infantry and Biker units within 6" a 4++ invulnerable save against ranged attacks.
** He can't Deep Strike with Deathwing or keep up with Ravenwing. He either pulls babysitting duty with Infantry gunlines (Eradicators and Hellblasters with their heavy versions of their guns are excellent ranged choices, otherwise their assault versions make for a good mobile death star), or pile him into a Drop Pod or Land Raider with an appropriate retinue. 
**'''[https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/fhIvGdlLYSlvi3jX.pdf Primaris Azrael]:''' Since he couldn't really stick with either Deathwing or Ravenwing due to his loadout, why not turn himself into a Primarine so he can at least hide with the Hellblasters or Desolators in their Repulsor? He's now set at A6 and his Sword of Secrets got buffed to S+3 AP-3 D3 so he can definitely hold his own in a fight. Other than that, he's pretty much identical to his original appearance in purpose, while the Lion's Roar is pretty much identical save for the plasma part being AP-4 now.
*'''[[Belial]]:''' The Captain of the Deathwing still an excellent duellist; enemy melee attacks suffer -1 to their hit rolls against him and the Sword of Silence is S+2, AP-4, D3, and always wounds non-Vehicles on a 2+ (the non-Vehicle part is not a huge deal, as you wound T7 Vehicles on a 5+ anyway). He also comes with a master-crafted storm bolter (24", rapid fire 2, S4, AP-1, D2) which fires four shots at all ranges due to the Terminator and Bolter Discipline combination and a more specific Chapter Master ability that only affects Deathwing. To top him off, he also has Rites of Battle and an Iron Halo. 
** His diet Chapter Master ability isn't limited to Dark Angel Deathwing units, only Deathwing. RAW, it also affects Dark Angel Successors as long as they're Deathwing. This is awesome and very fluffy. 
** Legends gives Belial the option to swap his Sword of Silence and storm bolter for two lightning claws or a thunder hammer and storm shield. You should really only choose the lightning claws if he has no intention of fighting Characters and needs to focus on large groups, while the thunder hammer should be taken if you really need the +1Sv from the storm shield, since it even the sword beats the hammer for damage output. 
*'''[[Sammael]]:''' Worryingly only has one profile in the 9th ed. Index. One of the fastest and shootiest Characters in the Imperium, and a very comfortable melee combatant too. A plasma cannon and twin storm bolters (which always fire eight shots due to Biker + Bolter Discipline) means he can throw out the same firepower as a five man tactical squad all by himself. In melee, he gets A5 with the Raven Sword; S+2 (Sx2 if he charged), AP-4, D2. He gets an Iron Halo, Rites of Battle, and Turbo-Boost, on top of a Ravenwing-specific Chapter Master ability. T5, W8, Sv3+/4++ makes him very hardy as a cherry on top. 
** Similar to Belial, his diet Chapter Master ability isn't limited to Dark Angel Ravenwing units, only Ravenwing. RAW, it also affects Dark Angel Successors as long as they're Ravenwing. Again, this is awesome and very fluffy. 
*'''Sammael on Sableclaw:''' 8th ed. Codex only. A bit more expensive than the Jetbike, but comes with a lot more dakka: a twin heavy bolter and twin assault cannon for 6/12 shots respectively. He also still fights just as well with the Raven Sword if he gets engaged. Enemies can no longer shoot at him even if he is not the closest target, as he has 7 wounds now, and still has the 4++ invulnerable save to protect himself with. The primary issue he has is that the weapons he fires are all Heavy, so if he moves he drops down to hitting on a re-rollable 3+ ''(and with the FAQ to re-rolls, he can't re-roll 2's to hit when moving)'', and he ''cannot'' advance and shoot (unless you use the Strategem), so he doesn't have the same reach as Corvex.
**Sammael in either form grants a re-roll failed to-hit aura to any {{W40Kkeyword|RAVENWING}} unit within 6", and grants the ability to re-roll 1s to regular {{W40Kkeyword|DARK ANGELS}} within 6", too. Even if you don't take much Ravenwing, he puts out so much hurt by himself and is so comparatively resilient that it might be worth taking him in any army.
**When compared to Kor'sarro Khan, Sammael is now ''slightly'' inferior in a straight up fight, due to Khan's double strength modifier allowing him to wound Sammael on a 3+, but Sammy's extra attack pulls him back up, so the difference between them adds up to a 0.16 wound/turn difference, assuming Khan rolls average damage. This is not a true test though, since Sammael has more than twice the shooting potential of Khan ''(and pretty much any other character in the game too)'', does better against the "average" mook, and can {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}}.
** Often overlooked but stated above, Sammael has the {{W40Kkeyword|FLY}} keyword, meaning he can cruise over enemy units and to get to weaker units and fuck up enemy flyers as nearly almost all of them are T7 and below. Not to mention to fall back and unload his range arsenal on some heretics. Thanks to him flying he has some great utility that is nearly always forgotten. 
*'''[[Asmodai]]:''' As an individual, the Master of Repentance still has problems finding his place.  The Blades of Reason are still meh, making only one additional hit roll at SU, SP-1, D2d3. Rosarius, Crozius, and Spiritual Leader are his leftovers as a Chaplain, and he retains Aura of Dread, Inner Circle, and Deathwing from being an Interrogator-Chaplain. Exemplar of Hate turbo-boosts his Litany of Hate, being able to cast it on a 2+ and with a 9" range. 
*'''[[Ezekiel]]:''' The Dark Angels Chief Librarian now gains the Chief Librarian Keyword, with the ability to cast and deny two powers per turn and knows smite and three Librarius powers. He also comes with the Deathwing and Inner Circle Keywords, a Psychic Hood (+1 to Deny the Witch tests against powers cast within 12"), and +1 when casting an Interromancy power. His best ability is the Book of Salvation Aura, which grants Dark Angel Characters and Core units within 6" +1A; note that this explicitly does NOT stack with Shock Assault. Unlike other Librarians, he's more than happy to get stuck in with WS2+, BS2+, A5, and Sv2+/4++. For weapons, he has the bolt pistol The Deliverer (12", pistol 1, S4, AP-1, D2) and the force sword Traitors Bane (S+2, AP-2, Dd3, becomes D3 against Fallen or Heretic Astartes). 
*'''Master [[Lazarus]]:''' While his fluff is complete dog shite, his model is good and his rules are great against Psyker-heavy armies. Inner Circle, Iron Halo, and Rites of Battle are the standard affair. The Spiritshield Helm gives Dark Angel units within 6" a 5+ save against ''mortal wounds'' (it gives him a 4+ save) and Intractable Will lets him fight after he's been killed (does not stack with the Astartes Banner ability or Only In Death Stratagem). For weapons, he has a bolt pistol and Enmity's Edge (S+2, AP-4, D2, becomes D4 against Psykers).
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