Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

=====<span style="color:#471F5F;">General</span>=====
Note: the most recent codex only includes an entry for the existing plastic herald kits, so hold onto your indexes.

*'''Keeper of Secrets:''' With the release of the new plastic model the Keeper has gotten a new revised datasheet and 210 pts base cost. The new price includes one of three options: the living whip, ritual knife, or sinistrous hand. Or you can take the shining aegis for 220 pts.  An already frightfully speedy unit (who gets slower the more wounds it takes) its movement has increased to 14", and now has 16 wounds. Its combat ability's been changed up a bit, it now does a straight 3 damage with its Snapping claws (AP-3 default and becomes AP-4 with a 6 to wound), and Witstealer sword (S+2 AP-3 and if a model takes a wound from this they subtract 1 from their hit rolls). The best part is you don't have to choose between the two; you get to make bonus attacks with the claw for a total of 10 (!) attacks at full wounds. These bonus attacks mean that even at the lowest bracket, your KoS gets to swing her feminine penis around with 6 attacks at full strength and WS2+. Mesmerizing Aura penalizes enemy attacks in melee with -1 to hit. Cast Symphony of Pain on the target of your charge for an additional -1 to hit. In combat wound them with Witstealer for an additional -1 to hit. Now characters are hitting on a 5+. If you make it your Warlord and take Bewitching Aura and enemies with 6” are -1 attack. That’s a brutal stack of bonuses in combat: -3 to hit, and -1 attack. Or alternately, take the free Soulstealer relic sword which is +1S/AP-3/D3; and recover previously lost wounds by killing enemy models. Take the Celerity of Slaanesh warlord trait for +3" to movement for Move 17", Advance and Charge D6+2D6" for a charge distance of 18-33" with an average of 28". Watch the look of horror on your opponents face when they realize just how fast these guys are with the locus of Slannesh - "yes I do want to move 14", advance and charge in the same turn". If you make the charge into a chaff unit she'll kill 6 and recover 6 wounds. If she still needs to heal more wounds on your turn cast Hysterical Frenzy; to fight again potentially wiping out the unit and allowing you to charge something else in the combat phase. Soulstealer also allows her to re-roll to wound versus Aeldari units. The Keeper of Secrets can now cast 2 powers, while it can attempt to deny 1 power, knowing Smite and 2 powers from the Slaanesh discipline. For psychic powers, Symphony of Pain and Delightful Agonies are your best options. As forcing the enemy to hit back on -1 is always good. Delightful Agonies grants a 6+ to ignore wounds. So, you can skip the Shining Aegis which it can't stack with anyway and take the far more useful living Whip or Sinustrous Hand.   210-220 points depending on kit. Unfortunately, Daemon princes are still better costing 45-55 pts less fully kitted out, and with 9 wounds has character protection. Being able to hide behind allies and having a 3+ save makes them a far more reliable source of high strength attacks and with wings they will move almost as quickly.
**The Keeper received a gorgeous plastic model, at long last! And as an added bonus, it comes with new wargear options: 
***'''Living Whip''': 6"/S6/AP-2/Damage 2/Assault 6/attacks from this weapon can target enemy units within 1".
***'''Shining Aegis''': roll D6 whenever the model takes a wound on a  6+ the wound is ignored; mortal wounds are ignored on a 5+.
***'''Ritual Knife''': each time the model finishes a consolidation move select an enemy unit within 1" and roll D6: one a 1, nothing happens. On a 2-5, that enemy units suffer 1 mortal wound. On a 6 the unit suffers D3 MW.
***'''Sinustrous Hand''': If the user kills any non-vehicle in the Fight phase, it heals D3 wounds. What, was the Soulstealer sword not enough healing for you?
**''Important Note:'' Summoning is based on 3D6, which is most likely to roll 10-11. The Keeper of Secrets is Power 14 (the other three are 17.) That means the Keeper is the only Greater Daemon you are mathematically more likely to successfully summon than not. It's not over yet, with the Soul Sacrifice stratagem, you can roll up to 4d6 for the summoning roll, which will most likely guarantee the summoning of your Keepers of Secrets. Wait! Did I just say Keepers of Secrets? Yes, definitely, use the Daemonic Pact stratagem, roll another 4D6 and rejoice while your opponent struggles to come up with a way to deal with 2 Keepers of Secrets charging at him. Each of the new Infernal Enrapturess's you take gains +3 to their own summoning rolls.

*'''Infernal Enrapturess:''' The new generic Herald being released in the new Wrath & Rapture box set. She's primarily a support unit the Infernal Enrapturess provides powerful sonic fire support with her Heartstring lyre! The Heartstring Lyre has two profiles two choose from in the shooting phase. Cacophonous Melody: Range 18”/S4/AP-1/Dam 1/ Assault 6; and Euphonic Blast: Range 24”/S8/AP-3/Dam 3/Assault 1. So Her Harp is basically Noise Marine Blastmaster but with half the range. Cacophonous Melody can wound a Marine on a 4+ and reduces their armor save to a 4+ save. While Euphonic Blast can take the last few wounds off-tank armor or a monster. Her stat line is: Movement 7", WS 2+, BS 2+, S4, T3, W4, A2, LD8, and SV 6+. So her Heartstring lyre will be hitting on a 2+ while she moves up the board at Daemonette speeds. But wait there's more! Her Discordant Disruption ability causes enemy psykers within 24” to suffer Perils of the Warp on any doubles. This 24" aura is incredibly powerful especially in conjunction with the Daemonic Possession stratagem; effectively letting you shut down the psychic phase over a huge area for 1CP. Causing enemy Psykers to suffer 2D3 mortal wounds on a perils. Meanwhile, Fiends with move 14" along with Advance and Charge can quickly reach and disrupt Psykers outside of the 24” aura. Or if their within 12” of a Psyker whose within the 24” aura; they completely shut down the psychic phase. A Vanguard consisting of Infernal Enrapturess, and 3 Fiends can effectively boost any chaos army. Effectively neutering Psyker heavy armies and those dependent on Psyker support. The only issue is she doesn’t do much if the opponent doesn't use Psykers.  Finally, she has the Harmonic Alignment special rule. If an Infernal Enrapturess attempts to summon a SLAANESH DAEMON unit to the battlefield you can add +3 to the resulting summoning roll. Adding 3 to any summoning rolls enables her to safely summon a unit of 10 Daemonettes, Masque, a Herald, or two Fiends of Slaanesh on a single dice. Without the risk of suffering MW. Also at the start of each of your turns, you can roll D6 for each SLAANESH DAEMON unit within 6”; on a result of 6 a single slain model is returned to that unit. So she can reinforce existing units that have suffered losses; even multi-Wound models such as Fiends, Seekers, or Obliterators! Position an Infernal Rapturess with a unit of Obliterators as her Euphonic Blast has a similar range and damage potential; and she can also resurrect a dead Obliterator on a 6. Deep strike her into the mid-field together with 1-2 units of Obliterators to position her anti-psyker bubble for maximum impact. Take her in a Slaaneshi Daemon detachment and those Obliterators can now advance and charge in the same turn. All for a mere 70 pts!

*'''Viceleader:''' The newly named Herald of Slaanesh on foot. Sadly the official miniature is still resin only but easily converted from various Slaanesh plastic kits. She grants +1 strength to all Slaanesh units within 6" of her. She's fairly speedy at 7" with Quicksilver swiftness, and is a Psyker who can cast/deny 1 power, knowing smite and one power from the Slaanesh discipline. That +1 to strength is...very much worth it. S3 has always been a shortcoming of Daemonettes and other Slaanesh units. The foot Herald gained the Daemonette keyword in the 8th Ed Codex allowing her to benefit from the Masque's -1 to hit penalty, finally. Her Ravaging Claws are still S: user and AP-1 but now are DMG 2. Chapter Approved 2019 reduced her cost to 50 pts. 

*'''Herald of Slaanesh on Seeker Chariot:''' Tired of having very fragile Heralds? Have this fairly fragile one. With Steed of Slaanesh going Legends, They are now your mounted herald, and you can find its most recent data sheet in Engine War. The regular Seeker Chariot variant is now 90 pts, and like all Slaanesh units, it is a bit of a glass hammer. 12" move, Toughness 5, a 4+ Save, and 7 wounds to let it hide behind screens gives you a mobile , but it will crumple if it gets focused down. There is some potential for some play if you give the Herald the Slothful Claw relic. Otherwise, you are looking at six strength 5 attacks and four bonus attacks at strength 4 with no AP. If you manage to charge, you can cause mortal wounds to enemy models within 1" on a roll of a 6, which just reinforces the units roll as a chafe cleaner. Charge into into a screening unit, clear it out, and hopefully, your Keeper of Secrets will have a clear path to something important. All in all, you are paying some extra points for extra toughness and wounds, a few extra attacks, a small  chance of mortal wounds when charging, and, most importantly, a bigger base, which means his aura of +1S is bigger. It's probably the best Herald, but it's hard to maneuver, so be careful.

*'''Herald of Slaanesh on Exalted Seeker Chariot:''' Sadly inferior to the smaller chariot. On paper, it starts off nice. With 16 attacks in melee (8 from the Herald's ravaging claws and 8 from the mounts) it would seem to be a strong melee threat. Furthermore, its scything impact rule triggers on a 5+ instead of 6, making it more deadly on a charge. Then you run into the problem of getting it to your opponents battle line. 12 wound looks nice but that means you can't hide behind a blob, and if you lose half your wounds (and it will be soon enough, trust me) it becomes slower and worthless in melee because of Damage table. To seal the deal, it costs 1/3 more than a normal Herald on Seeker Chariot. Avoid this.

*'''Herald of Slaanesh on Hellflayer:''' A brand new option added to the Daemon Codex with datasheet included in Chapter Approved 2019 and Engine War. For a 10 pts more than a Herald on a Seeker Chariot, you get a unit with all the Seeker Chariot's strength while being slightly better at tackling mid-toughness targets. The Hellflayer replace the Scything impact with a unique wargear; Bladed Axle. This is is 2X strength melee weapon, so with the Heralds +1S aura, it does D6 extra attacks at S10/AP-1/Dmg 2.

*'''Herald of Slaanesh on Steed of Slaanesh (Legends):''' Updated with Chaos Daemons - Legends. A basic Herald mounted on a Steed which grants 14" movement, re-rolling charges, and +1 wound for 85 pts. Taken in a Slaanesh Daemon detachment she has a 6" aura which allows units to advance and charge in the same turn. The Legends update finally gives her Ravaging Claws with S: user/AP-1/Dmg 2/Counts a AP-4 on a wound roll of 6. Which can now be swapped out for the Slothful Claw relic.

*'''Contorted Epitome''': "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, whose ass is going to be fucked up worst of all?" 2 heralds riding on a magic mirror. This magic mirror acts as a psychic turret, casting and denying two powers per turn with a +1 bonus to do so. Taken along with an Infernal Enrapturess and Fiends it can provide excellent Psychic Defense. It also has a 2+ save against mortal wounds that protect it further from enemy psykers, and enemy units including fliers that get within 6" of it have their ability to fall back restricted. Needing to test the highest LD of the unit on 3D6 before they can fallback.  Be sure to take Phantasmagoria for its 12" penalty aura of -1 LD as one of its powers. There is only ~37.5% chance to roll lower than LD10 on 3D6 and pass the test. Debuffing LD even by -1 reduces the chance of an LD7-8 unit escaping to ~26%, Brutal, but it only gets worse as you stack on LD penalties like Zarakynel -2 LD penalty that would make units -3LD. Now an LD10 model only has a ~9.26% chance of escaping. Anything LD7 would effectively be stuck as they only have a ~0.46% chance to escape. Best of all any flier without a hover style rule that cannot fallback automatically dies.  It has the herald aura of +1 Strength, moves as fast as a prince with wings, gets 2 attacks using a prince's sword profile and 8 herald attacks all at strength 6. Add in the princes WS and the character protection and we got a beast.  But the Contorted Epitomes isn't just an extra killy Daemon Prince its also an amazing Psyker. What really makes the Mirror powerful is its synergy with the Infernal Enrapturess and Fiends. It will be very hard for enemy Psykers to stay out of range on all those de-buffs given the mobility of those units. It also synergies well with Fiends providing an additional means of holding units including flyers in combat. The Epitome is an auto-include. Not only is it good on its own it can follow the initial engagement forces no matter their speed. If you spam chariots, take an Epitome with them for their loci and herald aura following at the same speed. Because of its speed, the Epitome is best taken alongside chariots, fiends or seekers. If you're running swarms of Daemonettes take Syll'Esske if you have the extra points. As clarified in the new Slaanesh Daemon specific FAQ released on 05-29-2019 the Mirror Heralds can be upgraded with the Slothful Claw relic but loose all +8 attacks if they do so. Derp. The FAQ also states that it a model with a minimum Move characteristic wishes to Fall Back whilst within 6" of a Contorted Epitome fails its LD roll its destroyed. The Flyer must also declare it will hover before it makes the LD roll. Strangely, the datasheet for this model doesn't include the PSYKER keyword.