Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Imperial Knights (section)

====Cerastus Knights====
All Cerastus knights are a bit faster than stock, with a 14" move, and have three extra wounds, which is nice. They are limited in which stratagems they can take, as they are Cerastus pattern. They can only ever get relics/traits by being your Knight Lance Character; the Heirlooms and Exalted Court stratagems are Questoris or Dominus only. They are fast, and quality out of the gate, but limited and cost more points. Sadly, the Summer 2019 update stripped them of Flank Speed, probably to reduce the ridiculousness that some Movement speed builds were producing.

*'''Cerastus Knight Acheron''': The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. I have only the most up-to-date cultural references. The Acheron flame cannon does 2D6 S7 AP-2 D3 hits at 18". This is a solid choice against pretty much any target, almost as good as the Avenger against infantry, almost as good as the Thermal Cannon against vehicles (only really falling off vs. the really heavy stuff). Barbecue those annoying Tau stealth suits with their negative hit modifiers. Twin heavy bolter is just gravy. The chainfist is equivalent to the gauntlet, trading the volleyball effect for no -1 to Hit, which is probably a worthy exchange.
**With the flame cannon hitting with '''''3''''' damage, charging an Acheron is basically suicide to any unit. The Acheron enters and leaves fights on its own terms, no one else's. This can be a good strategy to mess with hard hitting melee units.
** Pair this with House Raven for some ludicrous reach, being able to advance and still fire your flamer as if moving normally allows you to reliably knock out medium and light vehicles with ease, flyers in particular, which would normally rely on their speed to pick off vulnerable targets while avoiding retaliation, are particularly vulnerable.
**''Acheron vs. Valiant'': Now you might be thinking, which flavor of crispy burning goodness do I want to inflict on my opponent? In the Valiant's favor, its Conflagration Cannon is better at it's job of murdering infantry. +1D6 hits over the Acheron's Flame Cannon at the cost of -1 damage means it deals the same amount of overall damage to heavy targets, but roasts a greater number of 1W and 2W squishies. In addition, the Valiant packs an impressive amount of anti-tank weaponry with which to murder heavies. On the other hand, the Acheron is MUCH quicker, allowing you to get in there and start setting people on fire that much sooner. It also packs an actual melee weapon, letting you give some unfortunate tank an Imperial Fisting after reducing its infantry escort to ash. Finally, the Acheron is a fraction of the cost of the Valiant, allowing you to squeeze in an additional cheap Knight or a couple of Armigers to run up the field alongside it AND doesn't burn up half of your CP to use Rotate Ion Shields. In summary, the Valiant has the better flamer and can handle a broader range of targets, but the Acheron carries it better and is more easily taken with friends to cover its weaknesses.
***Take both and burn everything (smaller than a superheavy). Bonus points if you use Hawkshroud tradition - ''no one will dare charge you.''
*'''Cerastus Knight Atrapos''':The weird middle child of the knight family with some unusual weapons and sculpting. Same stats as all other Cerastus chassis with the same abilities except for a shiny new 5+ Invuln save that works in melee and +1 hit modifier for shooting units with the TITANIC keyword. So overall, a nice buff that makes it ideal for dueling other super heavies, both at range and in melee. Its weapons are very similar, and received a hefty rework in the Summer 2019 update. The Graviton Singularity Cannon is a whole different beast now, with two firing modes. The first, Contained, is more or less the old profile, minus the "lottery", at 4 S8 AP-3 D4 shots. The other mode is Singularity, which is a toned down version of the old "jackpot", granting ''4+D6'' S14 AP-4 D3 attacks. The catch is that when you pick the profile, roll a D6; on a 1, 2 or 3, you take D3 Mortal Wounds. Overall a significant buff, allowing you to hit like a de-orbiting cruiser when you need to and avoiding needless self damage when you don't. Its other weapon, the lascutter, is even better now! It still has 2 profiles, a Heavy 1 S12 AP -4 Damage 6 shooting attack that now shares the melee mode's Wound re-roll vs Vehicles and Monsters instead of its old extra attack on kill mechanic, and a S+6 (so 14, same as its old flat Strength) AP -4 Damage 6 melee attack that can roll failed wounds against monsters or vehicles. In addition, the Atrapos differs from other Cerasrus Chassis by having an additional ability; Macro Extinction Protocols. This adds plus 1 to any hit roll of an attack made against a unit with the TITANIC keyword. This makes the Knight Atrapos quite a good pick when going up against a vehicle or monster heavy army, as well as be a bit more of a bullet sponge, just be aware of the very short range on your weapons. Now that the lascutter is tied to Strength. It makes the Atropus an ideal target for Strength boosting effects to reach that S16 sweet spot.
*'''Cerastus Knight Castigator''': Comes equipped with a Castigator bolt cannon and Tempest Warblade, which now might be the forefront for "new best melee weapon". The Castigator bolt cannon now puts out an impressive ''16'' str6 AP-2 D2 shots at a decent BS. Meanwhile, the Warblade strikes at str+6 AP-3 D3, two less damage than before, BUT it now swings twice for every attack you make with it. That's 8 Attacks base before any traits or Household Traditions. As you can imagine, this stack beautifully with any boosts to Attacks.
**Possesses the best anti infantry gun a knight can have, the only better gun any model can have (without twin linking etc) is the Vulcan mega bolter, which puts things in perspective.
*'''Cerastus Knight Lancer''': This is your ''real'' close combat specialist. Following the 2019 FAQ, the shock lance gets a boost to Sx2 8 D on the charge and has one better AP than the chainsword. However what really makes this stand out is that it gets a 4++ in the fight phase, which lets it spar much more comfortably with other melee bruisers (note this does mean you're technically vulnerable to out-of-phase attacks like Acts of Faith etc.), and imposes a -1 to hit against enemy titanic models in melee, which coupled with its 4++ invulnerability save makes it the toughest of all the knights against a all targets except a reaver with a melee weapon. Its ranged attack isn't too bad and at 420 points it's not even that expensive.
**Your main issue with this knight is getting it into melee with another knight or Titan as your opponent will see it coming from miles away and keep all their super heavies as far away as possible from your probing lance. With the new codex, take full advantage of this knight. Rotate ionshields works on its melee invulnerable save and with the right choices this thing will make first turn assaults. Take the landstrider trait for +2 advance and charge. Take helm of nameless warrior for 2+ws. Use the advance and charge stratagem to nuke that superheavy turn one. Combine with household traits for more goodness, Terryn being the best.  Advance 3d6, dropping the lowest, then charge 3d6, dropping the lowest.  With Land Strider, a Lancer has an average move/advance/charge threat range of 36 inches.