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

==Tactics==
While essentially space marines with a twist, the Dark Angels do have some different tactics, mainly because of the ravenwing and the named characters. Look for this section to be updated with the Codex.
*'''General tactics''' Dark Angels are space marines first, so anything that goes for normal marines applies more or less to Dark Angels. What makes Dark Angels different are a few of their unique units and their stratagems. Dark Angels are great all-rounders, not being focused on either shooting or close combat. They have great options for either, and a few options for both. When playing Dark Angels, it is therefore usually better not to focus on just one aspect (like Ravenwing or Deathwing) but to see which units complement each other. You will want to include, in varying degrees, enough anti-infantry firepower, enough anti-tank firepower, and enough close combat power. How you balance these three aspects, and what units you use depends on personal preference and the local meta. I think a few units deserve special mention for Dark Angel tactics:
**Talonmaster: a lot of anti-infantry firepower on mobile chassis, and a decent close combat character, especially if equipped with the relic Heavenfall Blade.  Provides the complementary re-roll your Chapter Tactics need.
**Sammael: like the Talonmaster, but better for Ravenwing and often worse for everything else. Also combines well with a Talonmaster.
**Company champion: Very cheap close combat character.
**Black knights: expensive, but they are good all-rounders with their plasma weapons and decent attacks. They also combine well with a few stratagems and with Sammael.
**Deathwing: expensive, and terminators are vulnerable to certain weaponry like overcharged plasma, but they do pack a punch. Combine well with Deathwing ancients.
**Assault squads: These I mention because they are NOT that great for Dark Angels. They don't have a lot of attacks, nor high strength or AP. They are fine for taking down smaller light infantry squads, but will struggle against tougher opponents. Don't expect too much from them. Unlike Blood Angels or normal marines, who have access to things like Red Thirst or veteran jump pack assault marines, Dark Angel Assault marines or very basic. If you need a good punch, company veterans in a transport will do much more damage. Or Deathwing.
**Company Veterans: as mentioned above, if you need a close combat punch, these guys are great as they can also have a few combi-weapons to boost shooting power. Add power weapons and a company champion and you have a dangerous but fairly cheap hitting machine.
Use the above mentioned units and some of the Dark Angel named characters to enhance your army, but don't rely on just the Dark Angel only units. A predator, intercessor squad, normal lieutenant or dreadnought is still a great unit and will serve you well.
*'''Plasma overcharge:''' This tip is valid for other marine chapters as well, but since Dark Angels use more plasma than an other Astartes force it should be mentioned here. If your unit is equipped with 2 or more plasma weapons that will fire multiple shots, always remember to roll them separately on overcharge, a model at a time. This can be quite time consuming for plasma-equipped Inceptors with their separate 2D3 shots, but can mean the difference between losing a whole unit, or just a single model.
**Also remember that Plasma weapons kill the wielder after the weapon fires all of its shots; this means a model firing overcharged plasma from a plasma gun at 12" gets to fire both shots even if 1 of them rolls a 1, and it will die afterward.  However, the same model firing 2 plasma pistols has to shoot one at a time, and if the first pistol kills the model, the second pistol does not fire.  In general, for the same amount of plasma shots, you want to try and use as few distinct guns as possible, so the math on this will be as forgiving as possible.
** Example: you're within rapid-fire range with your 3 remaining Hellblasters and go for overcharge. You roll 1,1,3,3,5,6. If you didn't roll separately, your opponent can assume that the two 1s were rolled for 2 separate models, meaning you'll lose 2 figures. If you roll separately, you'll see if 2 models had a 1 in their shot, or only one of them rolled two 1s, saving your other 2 Hellblasters.
*'''Character buffing:''' Dark Angels have a few tricks for massive bubble-wrapping (by which I mean stuffing as many units in as many buff-bubbles as possible. Azrael is the most obvious first choice because of his 2 bubbles, namely the 4++ save bubble and the re-roll hits bubble. Expect to see him used a lot. Second on the list is the primaris lieutenant with his re-roll 1's to wound bubble. Great when using high-strength weapons. 
**Make sure if you bring Belial or Sammael to bring Deathwing and Ravenwing respectively to make the most out of their re-rolls to hit for their respective DW and RW brothers. Sammael is a special case as he is far more shooty than Belial, has great mobility, and excellent close combat ability meaning he can perform well in nearly any Dark Angel list. 
*'''The ass-hole 1500:''' A past favorite for trolling players that don't use the 'LOTS OF INFANTRY' tactic has been taken down a peg due to the Codex, but can still be effective. Take Azrael, a primaris lieutenant and a Darkshroud for the 6" bubble and stuff a dreadnought with assault cannon, 4 predators with full lascannons or autocannons and 2 techmarines in the bubble for massive damage output. Knights, terminators, squadrons of tanks and infantry units will vaporize every turn. Anything comes close, the dread and azrael can cut it to pieces. This is a spearhead and supreme command detachment, plus Azrael for 6 command points. Don't use against your friends, as you won't have many left after. As of the new Codex, this mound of cheese is not as potent as it was in the Index. As per Azrael's new rules, his 4+ invuln bubble only works on Infantry and Biker models. While all of your vehicles still benefit from his full rerolls, gone are the days where you can have an entire gunline of 4+ invuln tanks and dreads. Not only that, but Grim Resolve making models that stand still reroll hit rolls of 1 have made characters with a reroll bubble less important for static gunlines. It is still recommended to bring your Primaris Lieutenant to reroll wound rolls of 1 though.
*'''Flexibility is key:''' If you're playing DA be sure to make use of all three of your Wings as needed: Deathwing, Ravenwing, and Greenwing. Pure Deathwing armies are going to struggle like Grey Knights, since Termies as a whole just aren't <s>''quite''</s> pulling their weight at all in 8th edition. Less is more. Unless your willing to shell out extra cash for Forge World Dreadnoughts, Land Raiders and Flyers. Which everyone and their mother have by now. Keep in mind you can only give Inner Circle to no more than one choice. Ravenwing are faster and more coldly vicious than ever, and Greenwing have lots of Ultramarine-flavored toys to help out with their plasma gunline. Pick one and flavor with the others as needed, keep your opponent on their toes. No matter which style army you pick, make sure to provide them with the meat shields or long range fire support they will need to survive. 
*'''Ravenwing & Deathwing:''' With the buffs to Terminators and Bikes DW and RW have outright double their small arms survivability but weapons do now cause damage beyond one so it evens out. Make sure to focus down those high damage dealing weapons as both RW & DW have the capability to deal with hordes with SB and TWB being fierce against hordes with the right buffs. Let Deathwing & DW Knights and Ravenwing Black knights deal with heavy units or elite units while Ravenwing Bikes, attack bikes, and land speeders deal with chaff (TWBs, HB, Flamers + HF, and Chainswords) or weaken heavier units (melta guns). Saying that both lack long range weapons in good quantity or for cost effectiveness so make sure you have predators, whirlwinds, Dreadnoughts, flyers etc. to help support. 
*'''Belial the Unsmackable:''' Are you about to rush the Grand Master of the Deathwing into combat, and want to pretty much guarantee that he never gets hit by anything but the best CC? Well, here's how you pull that off. With the Sword of Silence, Belial causes those he fights in the Fight Phase to be at -1 to hit. Next,  grab a Librarian, and have them cast Aversion on the target of your aggression. If you make the required rolls, your unlucky opponent is now at -2 to hit. Now, in an ideal world, having an enemy be at -2 to hit is just fine, but remember that opponents with Power Fists / Thunder Hammers usually suffer an inherent -1 on top of all that, totaling a -3 in these cases, meaning he can just wade into squad of Terminators and [[Awesome|only be hit on a 6+]]. Just remember that many characters have auras that provide rerolls to hit, which are little to no use against Belial in many cases. Thanks to the skubtastic FAQ/errata that stated that re-rolling happens before you apply modifiers, [[Roboute Guilliman|some]] [[Abaddon|characters]] will simply not be able to hit Belial on 2s or 3s.
**This also works with any non-named character equipped with the Shroud of Heroes relic. 
**If you're thinking about using a Darkshroud, Belial doesn't get anything special, just the normal awesome bonus. Darkshrouds only work against shooting attacks, while the ''Parrying Blade'' rule only works in close combat. You should probably use the Darkshroud anyways. Than pull it back to cover a Vengeance or something once he reaches base contact. As Uncle Roboute, Moloc and any other shooty character with a decent melee weapon will bust a few caps in Belail's ass. Knocking a few wounds off before the charge if the other player isn't a moron. You would think he would have something better than a standard issue Storm Bolter by now. Nor does his conflicting rules in the Codex and Index help matters either.
*'''Follow Designer Commmentary in Rule Erata on GW website, if your unit have Codex and Index datasheet, then you must use Codex version for datasheet, but you still can use Wargear Options in Index (but if your weapon(wargear) has new abilities/rule in Codex, you must use it new abilities/stats). So there will be something like this:<br>
**Ravenwing Biker Sergent still can access to Sergent Equipment List... So there will be a squad of 3 with RapidFire 6 Bolter shots and RapidFire 3 Plasma shots (2 Plasma Gun and 1 Combi-Plasma for the Sergent)
**Ravenwing Land Speeders still can have dual Heavy Flamer, Heavy Bolter ... Say hello to 10D6 heavy flamer shots for a unit of 5 R.LandSpeeders
**Ravenwing Apothecary, Ancient still can use their Corvus Hammer. Hit hard my friend.
**Belial still can use his Thunder Hammer and Stormshield, BUT, with NEW Ability Parrying Blade that give him the buff "-1 to hit" for any attack against him in Fight phase WITHOUT the requirement of carrying his Blade of Silent. So, your Belial more and more durable in combat.
**But beware, my friends, there are reasons that GW remove or change their wargear options, so your Wargear Option Index Version will be gone in the near future, I believe. So I think we still okay to use both version, but as I do, I recommend you following the Codex Version.
*'''Azrael's Combi-Plasma Lawnmower:''' Here's something dirty you can try: Stuff Azrael and five Company Vets armed with Combi-Plasmas into a Razorback upgraded to Twin Assault Cannons and Storm Bolter. You now have 26 ranged shots during the shooting phase, or more at closer range or with Bolter Discipline up (which it generally won't be). Don't forget to replace yours Vet's Bolt Pistols with Storm Shields, [[rage|because your opponent is going to shoot the shit out of them after you dropped a load of PEW & BRRRRT on his Deathstar unit]]. You won't have to worry about being charged during the Assault Phase as Grim Resolve and Azrael's auras cover that (assuming you held still). Azrael's buffs mean you can save Weapons of the Dark Ages for a unit with better Plasma, allowing you to use overcharged Overwatch without having to fire the Bolters nor worry much about losing wounds. The Bolter half will hardly be needed, except for Overwatch, as long as he is on the table - unless this unit is somehow charged by an infantry blob. This setup gets even more brutal if you substitute a Vet with a Tech Marine equipped with Lion's Roar or Foe Smiter and a Servo Harness. 
*Personally I recommend checking out the old 6th edition page here on Dark Angel tactics as the page contains still relevant information on list building and tactics that still work today. Here is  the link: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/6th_Edition_Tactics/Dark_Angels#Building_your_army


[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]
[[Category:Dark Angels]]

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}