Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Daemons of the Ruinstorm (30k) (section)

==Unit Analysis==
===HQ===
'''Ruinstorm Daemon Lord:''' Hardcapped at 0-1, the Daemon Lord is the equivalent of a Praetor for your forces who is always the Warlord when chosen. These guys are the equivalents to your greater daemons as an MC with Strength 8 and WS 6/BS 5 for a good all-rounder.  Of course, his vital importance allows him to drop in guaranteed on the first turn. You must roll normally if you wait until Turn 2+. The Daemon Lord can bring a group of special Daemon Brutes who can take shots for the Daemon Lord like the true bodyguard they are. Your lord can forgo his retinue for the ability to soar among the clouds.  Flying Monstrous Creatures are one of your few ways to deal with Flyers. A Daemon Lord can select from up to three emanations and has '''NO''' hardcap on Lord of Sorcery levels. Select Biomancy powers and you can easily have a S10 T9 A8 whirlwind of carnage for starters.
*Although a Flying Monstrous Creature is not permitted to take a Brute retinue, this restriction does not apply if Wings are taken as an emanation. Allowing a Jump Monstrous Creature to take a retinue of Jump Pack Brutes.
*Having a Brute retinue also allows an Independent Character to be attached to the unit in the form of a Chosen. This can give your Monstrous Creature ''Preferred Enemy'' and the possibility of an extra psyker granting stacking buffs to the squad and back to the Daemon Lord in turn. 

'''Ruinstorm Greater Daemon:''' These represent your ''normal'' greater daemons, we all know and love. They can select up to three emanations.
*The issue here is that you aleady have multiple ways to get Monstrous Creatures in your army and only one way to get Independent Characters. Your first choice of Monstrous Creature should ''always'' be a Daemon Lord or special character as yoir centerpiece, leaving you only two more HQ slots in a regular FOC. If you were going to take a monstrous creature with wings then a Shrike would save you the HQ slot for more Chosen to attach to squads and provide buffs.

'''Ruinstorm Daemon Chosen:''' These are your Heralds. Your only Independent Character capable of joining other units and with certain powers can make a unit that is very hard to remove. At the start of the game, they can select a ''Preferred Enemy'' of choice which will then confer on the squad, so be sure and chose emanations for everyone that fits them best. The Chosen can take three emanations of his own and is one of few units that can be a full blown psyker.
*While it might seem counter intuitive, it might be best to take emanation options that don't turn Chosen into death machines. A single Chosen is actually weaker than a Daemon Brute, so they aren't exactly centrepiece units, you have Monstrous Creatures for that. Being a psyker is obviously your first choice, but a spare ranged attack would also not go amiss.
*Aim for psychic disciplines that buff the squad they are attached to, such as Biomancy (Endurance) or Divination (Forewarning). When coupled with Preferred Enemy your Chosen can be more useful as a force multiplier compared to an expensive Greater Daemon who will be more inclined to buff themselves or just shooting MIND-BULLETS as opposed to enhancing their friends.
*Do note that thanks to the wording, they can choose to have Terminal Lucidity Injectors, but can't qualify for any other psyarkana due to not being Legiones Astartes or being able to swap wargear.

====Special Characters====
'''[[Ka'bandha]], Daemon General of Signus:''' Ka'bandha costs over twice as much as a generic Daemon Lord, but for that you get WS9, T7, 8W, I6, 7 Attacks, and a 3+ save, as well as Sunder and It Will Not Die. His Emanations are preset as Horned Crown, Brass Collar, and Molten Blood. He adds +1 to the number of attacks he and allied models within 12" make from Rampage and also gets 4++ when in a challenge, and just in case something survived combat with him in a previous assault he can place a Hellstorm template that hits anything that it covers with S6 AP- attacks equal to the number of wounds he scored in that last fight sub-phase.
*If an enemy army includes Sanguinius, Ka'bandha gains Preferred Enemy and Hatred against him and gains a new Secondary Objective; if Ka'bandha defeats Sanguinius in a challenge he gains 2 VP, but loses 1 VP if Sanguinius defeats him. More thematic than anything else, but it's something to take note of. 

'''[[Samus#In Warhammer 40,000|Samus]] Unbound, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm:'''

'''Cor'Bax Utterblight Unbound, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm:'''

===Elite===
'''Ruinstorm Daemon Brutes:''' Your ONLY option. While not quite as strong as a Greater Daemon, these guys are still plenty strong for Infantry and possess three wounds each. In addition, you can buy up to three of these guys to act as a bodyguard for your footslogging Daemon Lord, giving a massive wall of bodies. Can guarantee to materialize in the mortal realm on the first turn. Up to two Emanation options.
*The auto arrive turn one cannot be overstated enough. In an army where you will pretty much be deploying nothing on the board, these guys stop you losing turn one right off the bat due to bad dice rolls or oppression from afar. Even though they start the game with Toughness 7, give them Warp Scaled Hides or Brass Collars for the 3+ save right away, just do it. These guys are basically Castellax without the guns. Taking a couple of units of these with a 3+ and ''Rending'' gives you some really durable units turn one that can crump mortals pretty reliably. Other emanations are good, but you really want that armour save if you can, otherwise you're at the mercy of autocannons and heavy bolters which are a lot more common than you think.

===Troops===
'''Ruinstorm Lesser Daemons:''' Your basic foot infantry, starting at 60 points for five daemons with two wounds and two attacks with fours in the rest for 12 points each, while this seems cheap for a pretty good stat line buying emanations can rack up the points really quickly. A squad of 10 is 5 points cheaper than a 10 man tactical squad, and at 20 daemons, they only cost 15 points more than the equivalent in tacticals. The differences are that these have +1 attack, +1 wound, a 5+ invulnerable save and a 4+ save... Adding the usual brass collars/warp scaled hide and flensing talons, a squad of 20 costs 400 points, but is comparable to a squad of 20 terminators, as their 2 wounds roughly makes up for the terminator's improved armour save, however these get S5 and T5 for the first two turns, making them one of the most effective deathstars in the game and an unbelievable troops choice!

'''Ruinstorm Daemon Beasts:''' Despite having better statlines compared to Lesser Daemons, they only come in squads of 3-10 and have the same number of wounds and attacks with fewer available models, it's only a +1 Strength/Toughness difference so don't really expect them to mulch their way through big units or create tarpits as the game progresses. The fact they are Beast-type units means you now have a fast moving choice which can be useful even if you're not using one of your weird objectives since they can happily deny an objective. It also allows you to set them up as troubleshooters that are able to react quickly and get where they need to be for a counter charge. Because of the inherent rules of Beasts, the Quicksilver Speed emanation is completely redundant on this unit.
*Giving your beasts Rending and 3+ saves is a good shout if you don't have anything more specific planned for them, as heavy bolter fire will delete these guys without a decent save. 
*Sundering Fangs might be a more focused choice, as you are only losing one attack each to effectively gain a S10 attack that rerolls armour penetration until turn 5, turning them into fast moving tank hunters. Against anything else, their higher toughness should also help them weather the first strike to ensure they actually get a chance  to attack.

'''Ruinstorm Daemon Swarms:'''  Adorable little balls of demonic goodness, with four wounds a base, these guys are great for tarpits and holding backfield objectives if you are crazy enough to play the objectives like a real astartes! Beware when it gets to the later turns of the game as these guys getting ID'd by bolter fire is funny for approximately 0.12seconds then it becomes soul draining.
*Don't try to get these guys into combat, you don't really have the stats to seriously take on anything, spending more points on it would probably not help you as much as you think; you only get one choice of emanation so you should make it count. That time you got six Rending attacks for each model might be funny, but realistically your squad is going to get squished in short order and other units can throw out more/better attacks with more bodies. With fewer models at least their emanations don't cost so much. Take 3+ armour to keep them standing where possible, or daemonic wings to help them move around.
*With only Strength 2 these units will dissolve automatically at turn 7 due to the Tides of Madness rule. This is worth bearing in mind for objectives and victory points purposes.
*They probably work best in Maddening Swarm Dominions, as the extra emanation and the ability to become psykers turns what is essentially a throwaway unit into something with a lot more bite.

'''Ruinstorm Possessed:''' Your choice of auxilia or legionaries hosting neverborn with no mixing between the choices. Throw them in as disposable chaff: they are only Support Units, they don't benefit from any Aetheric Dominion, they will never score ''(irrelevant if you are using special objectives)'' and they are barred from joining Independent Characters. Despite all of that, they are your only unit in the whole army that has ranged weapons by default and they have a rather nice variety of options, including being your only venue for melta, plasma, and Fists/Thunder Hammers (for legionaries), so they are going to be your only troops choice that can realistically deal with vehicles. Your enemy scores nothing from killing them, and having them allows you to have a presence on the board until your daemonic legions enter the field. They can also deny objectives too, so bear that in mind. 
*Deploying normally also makes them useful for defending Warp rifts if you decided to set them up in your own deployment zone.
*While they appear equivalent to Auxilia/Legionaries, try not to think of them that way. They all lost a point of Initiative in the act of possession, so most instances they will be striking last in close combat. They don't have any other supporting benefits such as ''Provenances'' or ''Legiones Astartes'', no access to transports or any cool wargear to enhance them in any particular way means they will perform below your expectations. They do have all Ld9 at least, so are competent enough to be trusted to hold a position, but they are probably going to swept up in the first combat they lose. It is best to think of them as classic skirmisher units: get them into a position your enemy wants and harass them with a few shots, forcing the other player to deal with them. A couple of turns shooting/assaulting a unit that gives him no victory points is another couple of turns your own Daemons have to get into a better position for a charge.
*Ask yourself if you even really need to spend the points on Space Marines when you could just have more disposable men, or another squad, for the same cost as the upgrade. Get them into a position with cover and lascannons or plasma will treat them all the same way in the end.

===Fast Attack===
*'''Ruinstorm Daemon Cavalry:''' They cost the same as Daemon Beasts but have a weaker statline, dropping -1 S/T in order to gain an extra attack. Could be good when coupled with a certain Emanations and Dominions as the extra attacks are more likely to trigger Rending. They already have Hammer of Wrath, so a good candidate for Horned Crown for extra hits ''(but remember Hammer of Wrath doesn't benefit from any other special rules like Rending)'' Contend with a Flying Monstrous Creature in the limited FA slots.

*'''Ruinstorm Daemon Shrike:''' Very similar to Daemon Princes of old, minus psychic shenanigans, the Shrike is a flying monstrous creature that will be in your opponents backfield in no time. Vector Strikes coupled with Rift Barbs is one of the few sources of anti-air you can muster. Can select from two of the emanations.

===Heavy Support===
'''Greater Ruinstorm Daemon Beast:''' A cheap MC that has +1 Strength over a HQ Greater Daemon, but are otherwise inferior in every other respect. Greater Daemons even use the second tier of emanation upgrades where Greater Beasts use the third, meaning that most ''(but not all)'' upgrades are more expensive for these Heavy Support choices, and they can never take wings... However, Daemon Beasts are cheaper per model and can be taken in squads, allowing you to have lots of big monsters in your army if you choose and [[Distraction Carnifex|nothing quite puts a scare on]] as as much as a squad of big beasts barreling down on something.
*Great Beasts get three emanations, but any option you buy has to be applied to each member of the unit, and these guys use the most expensive tier of pricing. So even though you can have three of these for the same price as a Behemoth below, you have to then pay three times the cost for each upgrade. Remember all the rules that come stock on ''Monstrous Creatures'' and that they are affected by the Aetheric Dominion of the army, so realistically they have all the tools you will ever need right there. 
*Consider carefully whether your upgrades will actually give you any significant benefit before spending on them: ''Shred'' and ''Rending'' are largely lost on models that already ID marines on 2+ that ignore armour; and with Initiative 3 they aren't usually going to be striking first, even if they took Ephemeral Terror ''(Assault Grenades)'' so don't waste your points.
*S8 means Rift Barbs are S10 if you feel you need some ranged anti-tank, though bearing in mind that if you take them in a squad, that costs 45 points for only one shot, since only one model is allowed to fire. As an alternative: while Spine Volleys are generally the worst ranged option in the army on other units, when taken here it becomes several shots at S7-8 depending on the turn.

'''Ruinstorm Daemon Behemoth:''' A monstrosity that is between a monstrous creature and a gargantuan one; as such it already has many of the tools you already want it to have to do its job, such as AP2 attacks that cause Instant Death ''(most of the time)''. T7 and W10, [[Awesome|you are immune to bolter fire for the first two turns of the game]] ''(thanks to the T+1 coming from the Tides of Madness)'', along with a rule that normally belongs to Gargantuan creatures, the Behemoth is the only non-character MC that won't get gibbed by Instant Death so this bad boy won't be leaving the game for a while. At I2 you get to strike before those Power Fists and Thunder Hammers that might actually threaten you, so you only really need to worry about Primarchs and their equivalents, and how you fare against things like Lascannons and Melta. This all means that you can relax when it comes to choosing your Emanations rather than trying too hard thinking about how to customise them.
*As a single model with a base S8, it means that the Behemoth is probably one of the better candidates for the Rift Barb emanation. Capable of firing off a S10 Armourbane shot before you follow it up with a charge ''(and you will be in charge range)''. 
*Consider Molten Blood as one of your emanations. For every wound this bad boy takes you will cause an automatic hit S8 hit. Yes, the enemy still gets his save, but that is instant death for Space Marines up until the 5th turn of the game. The fact you have ten wounds means there are a lot of chances for the enemy to fail their saves and fall down dead.
*Spending on the 3+ save probably depends on whether you want to splurge on the points. It's practically impossible to tarpit you for the first two turns, and anything that has a good chance of actually hurting you will probably be ignoring a basic armour save anyway.

===Lord of War===
'''Ruinstorm Arch Daemon:''' And here they are. The real motherfuckers. The Exalted Greater Daemons. 10 wounds, S9/T8, and 6 attacks on a gargantuan creature with an innate 4+/5++ save for prices beyond most Primarchs at 600 points. Unlike the other daemons, these monstrosities get their own list of emanations to buy up to three of. Your Arch Daemon can also change it's type from Gargantuan Creature to the even more impressive Flying Gargantuan Creature for only a <strike>modest</strike> a lot amount of points. No more do you have to worry about being the focus of your enemies armies, while you move towards their line. And don't forget some of your your gargantuan creature rules : smash giving you AP2, FNP 5+, fearless, fear...

*'''Super-duper ultimate emanations of the dead :''' 
**''Lord of Chaos'': Increasing this daemons invulnerable save to 4++ to shooting and 3++ in combat. More reason for primarchs to run away from you. 
***''Always take this, seriously this is your go-to upgrade.
**''Reaper of Souls'': Trade your attacks for a number of attacks equal to any one enemy unit you are in combat at half strength. Coupled with your stomps you aren't getting tarpitted.
**''Breaker of Titans'': The gargantuan equivalent of a titan-stomp. Halve the number of attacks they have to slap the targets with Destroyer hits. Do save this to crush titans (of course) and annoying primarchs.
**''Font of the Warp'': Gain Psyker ML4 and adding your current remaining wounds to your warp pool instead of your psyker level. Still can't use Daemonolgy powers though. This is the single most expensive upgrade available at 100 points.
**''Wound in Reality'': Self-Destruct mode activate! If Beyond  Death prevents your daemon from dying, this is how they die in the most spectacular way possible. Like Catastrophic Damage bad.
**''Beyond Death'': You get a security policy for your big bad daemon dying like a bitch. Upon dying, you have a 50% chance of recovering d6 wounds. This is plenty expensive, but it means that this thing can hang around for a little longer to kill.
**''Torrent of Unreality'': Your first shooting power grants an S6 AP4 Hellstorm attack with Soul Blaze. It'll cook hordes of auxilia, and it's still able to safely harm legionaries.
**''Warp Burst'': Your second shooting attack gives an S8 AP4 assault 1 massive blast. While legionaries can save on this, it's pretty much overkill on them.
**''Rend Time and Space'': You can place another rift marker within 6" of the table edges and 2" from the model, giving you a possible means to deploy from the middle or from enemy territory. Be wary though, you can't be engaged when doing this and it only happens at the end of your turn. 
***This can be used to gain an additional VP for Creeping Scourge objective.
***Even if you have nothing left in reserves, remember that Warp Markers grant rerolls to invulnerable saves, meaning you have effectively thrown down a sanctuary for your remaining units. Combo with Lord of Chaos and when this goes down at the end of your turn you will have made yourself practically invincible.
**''Warp-forged Plate'': Gain equivalent to artificer armor.