Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

===Enemies of Concern===
Try thinking of Daemons as an evil old-edition Eldar with tons of glass cannon shit. Because of that, they have a few weaknesses especially against certain armies that are very capable at dealing with glass cannons.

*'''Grey Knights''' - What can we say about the Grey Knights that hasn't already been said? They are an army ''specifically designed'' to defeat Chaos Daemons. In a perfect world this would be fine as Daemons would be both great and terrible (read - "cheesy," [[Matt Ward|like 7th Ed Fantasy Daemons]]); trouble is that Daemons, now just like all the other 40K "bad guy" armies are less terrifying credible threat than they are Space Marine fodder, more or less. Grey Knights have taken a substantial down-grade in 7th Ed, forcing most of their units to roll for their psychic powers and removing some of their cheesiest powers (Dark Excommunication is '''GONE''' - hurray)! Unfortunately, even the weakest PAGK unit can fuck up your toughest guys because of their Daemonbane Force Weapons will re-roll to wound on everything you have with Force on top of that. Then there's their special weapons which will tear through your army like rancid cardboard, the [[Stormraven|one flyer they get]] is damn near impervious to everything you have, there are [[Nemesis Dreadknight|baby carriers]] that can one-hit your monstrous creatures AND everything has access to Sanctic powers, with most units getting Banishment and Hammerhand for free.
**'''How To''' - Now that the new Grey Knights Codex has repealed the vast majority of Matt Ward's greatest flaw, dealing with Grey Knights has become easier. This does not mean that they are easy army to fight, but rather the challenge has become more rewarding for Daemon and GK player. For one, Daemonettes led by Heralds with either a greater or exalted locus are terrifying to both PAGKs, but especially TAGKs. Be warned though, because they will likely bring incinerators against you and your troops will not survive them very well; instead, try supplementing with tougher things like beasts of Nurgle and Soul Grinders. If your opponent likes to field Dreadknights, a DP of Nurgle with the Balesword will very quickly make short work of them - Sanctuary be damned they will be going down to many instant death poisoned attacks! Stormravens do present a problem but there are tactics to deal with flyers below. Basically, dealing with GK is all about hitting them hard and fast before they can get a chance to react to you.

*'''Tau''' - Markerlighted missiles will table you in 2 turns because their drawback is in their AP, which is irrelevant against Daemons. Also they're S7, which means nothing in your codex is resilient against them except maybe a Soul Grinder or Great Unclean One with Iron Arm (if you last long enough to cast it). Just say goodbye to your Nurgle Daemon's awesome cover saves. Also, your vehicles and monstrous creatures (even your flying monstrous creatures) will not hold up against Tau firepower - just don't!
**'''How To''' - Try and find ways to make target priority difficult for them by throwing a lot of fast and scary units at them. Tau are always a tough fight, but make it into combat and they fall like wet noodles. Quantity is more important than quality here, because pricey elite units are going to get ripped to pieces in very short order, no two ways about it. Lots and lots of Daemonettes, Seekers, Flesh Hounds, screamers, and (most hilariously of all) ''motherfucking furies'' are positively terrifying to Tau players. You read that right - furies scare Tau, especially furies of Slaanesh with their fast movement and S4 rending attacks. If you need more oomph, consider Beasts of Nurgle or Fiends of Slaanesh; don't take Bloodcrushers as they will die too easy against Tau guns. For anti-air, consider a fortification as anti-air broadsides will likely be sniping your MCs and weedy flyers out of the sky.

*'''Eldar''' - With loads of Wraithcannon/Heavy Wraithcannon, even some of your Greater Daemons will suffer instant death from their fucking bullshit D-strength shooting. Additionally, shuriken catapults are nasty and easily available on their shittiest units. Just thank the Gods that they don't block psychic powers anymore now that all the Daemon "abilities" are Psychic powers.
**'''How To''' - Let's start with the good news: many of those D-strength weapons have a laughably short range, so don't let them line your guys up for a shot. From there, dealing with Eldar becomes somewhat varied, making it tricky in general, but there are three general things that they will field that can mess you up. If your opponent wants to '''guardian''' spam you (not just guardians, but anything piloted by them), use vehicles and use many of them. Even warwalkers will shit bricks when you put a soulgrinder behind them; even more amusing with bloodslaughterers. From there, it's all a matter of cracking open transports, which is easy enough with your vehicles. If they're '''wraith''' heavy, use hordes and FMCs; plaguebearers and Daemonettes (and other Slaaneshi Daemons) will be useful at dealing with wraithlords and wraithknights while the flyers shave off wounds with near impunity. If they prefer '''aspect warriors''', with their high WS, initiative and attacks, that's where you use elite daemons (but not bloodcrushers because they suck). Fiends, Plague Drones, Beasts and goddamn Flamers are absolutely cruel to aspect warriors; one that could prove problematic are the Crimson Hunters, but deal with them like any flyer. Lastly, if they try for a combination of approaches, rest assured that that particular strategic path faces a budgetary constraint, meaning they won't have too many trouble spots for you to eliminate. The Wraithknight is terrifying with it's D-Cannons but a Daemon Prince of Nurgle  can down one before it can hit back (due to Balesword and D3 wounds from ID), and Daemonettes can shave off 3-4 wounds each round due to rending.

*'''Tyranids''' - Shadow of the Warp subtracts Psykers Ld by -3 ''period'' (which is a big deal when it comes to Daemonic Instability, as you'll see below), and they can bring a lot of anti-infantry guns. Also they can spawn more troops to gun you down. Thank our Dark God who wrote their book again they can't take Rulebook powers anymore.
**'''How To''' - dealing with Tyranids is arguably the easiest of the troublesome armies for Daemons. Yes, Shadow of the Warp is a pain in the arse, but this isn't as big of problem now that psychic tests are not done with leadership and it requires you to lose in close combat (not bloody likely in most cases with your guys). Plus, it isn't too bad if you come rolling with the Blood God's finest; Heralds and Bloodthirsters will normally wreck elite Tyrranid units and Winged DP's come in handy against bugs because they only have access to FMCs just like you. You should however watch out for Genestealers and their high-volume of rending attacks although most of your MCs can actually strike before them and your lack of armour isn't as big a deal for getting hit by rending attacks as it is for other armies. If you're really concerned about blobs of Genestealers or just blob-nids in general in CC, consider Flamers - Warp Flame is less of a stupid rule against things that can't armour save against it! Seeker Chariots and Hellflayers are also excellent choices for mowing down hordes of units and eventually smashing into Tyranid MCs.

*'''Imperial Knights''' - What did you expect? They're giant robots damn near impervious to everything you have to throw at them. Your flyers are largely powerless against them, heavy weapons are fickle and nearly everything you could pitch at it in CC is a fucking speed bump at best - Soul Grinders, Blood Thirsters, whatever!
**'''How to''' - Yeah, that's a good one. Okay, there are two ways to deal with Imperial Knights and this largely depends upon how a Knight is fielded against you. If you're fighting a single Knight taken as a detachment or as a single LoW, then one of the easier ways to deal with it is throw another super-heavy at it in a straight counter. If you're facing more than one, then a) [[That guy|your opponent is an asshole]] and b) you're gonna use a bunch of Nurgle and Slaanesh units to autoglance and rend by attrition. Your losses will be heavy; you've been warned... (Throw Skarbrand at an Imperial Knight, especially if he has been buffed by the Grimore. He will take it out in one turn easily, before it can think about fighting back).Or you could always fight fire with Warp Flames considering that Renegade knights are technically Chaos so when they point a big gun at you, maybe you could ally a Renegade and point an equally big gun back. 

*'''Sisters of Battle:''' - Yes, believe it or not, one of the weaker armies in the game can actually pose a problem for you, depending on what allies they took and how they're set up (If they took an Imperial Knight, you might be in real trouble). They're a close range army for the most part, which means they won't be overly put out when you get your close combat troops get in close, and their massive abundance of Flamers and Heavy Flamers can rip straight through your troops cutting right though the shrouding on Plaguebearers. And, not to pile on, but Exorcists are god tier Monstrous Creature killers.
**'''How to''' - Focus on your strengths. They may have a ton of flamers, but they don't have any Warp Charges, which means you should focus on Summoning and Buffs, since their Adamantium Will won't help them against those. Careful what you summon and where though; Nothing is more frustrating than summoning a unit of Plaguebearers and watching them all get killed when the girls blast a Heavy Flamer across the whole unit, unless you wanted to use the Plaguebearers  as a distract to absorb that heavy flamer blast. Over all however, don't worry too much; Sisters are so rarely played that you won't have to face them often.