Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

== Friends and Allies ==

=== Renegades and Heretics ===
Sadly all Legends now, and mostly far from competetive in any event. 
There are a few things your heretical mudfoots can offer their masters, and all on a budget! If you're going bare minimum, you can drop ~600 points on a big pile of GEQs and a few Chaos griblies and still have plenty of points left over for your big boys/girls. Second is summoning fodder. Renegade Commanders and Enforcers are some of the cheapest Chaos {{WH40kKeyword|CHARACTERS}} in the game, and are mostly likely going to be undivided to boot, letting you use Daemonic Ritual without risking a much more valuable and expensive CSM or Daemon {{WH40kKeyword|CHARACTER}}. Finally, R&Hs bring what Chaos Daemons painfully lack: long range fire support. Leman Russes, Basilisks, Malcadors and even the mighty Baneblade, there will certainly be something you can use. And if your opponent doesn't seem concerned about a Daemon horde advancing under the cover of an Earthshaker barrage, check their pulse because they're likely dead.

=== CSM ===
The obvious choice for both fluff and functionality.  Aside from the obvious souping perks, CSM also have a lot of the heavy shooting Daemons don't have, with Havocs providing cheap fire support, Predators for dealing with infantry and tanks depending on loadout, Fiends having either big scary guns or big meaty claws to spook heavy infantry and armor, Obliterators for a crippling mass of fire from out of nowhere, and lastly Defilers for being better than Soul Grinders in every conceivable way.  Cultists also give you a cheap fodder unit to camp objectives and hold angles while your blocks of daemon troops are busy [[/tg/_gets_shit_done|getting shit done]].  Rhinos are also a nice thing to grab since they can block enemy LOS and allow your squishier daemons like Bloodletters or Daemonettes to run from cover to cover and set up charges unmolested.
*Seriously, the buffs Defilers have had through the edition change and FAQ put Soul Grinders to ''shame'', since they're so much cheaper base, can take heavier or punchier weapons, AND have a (albeit CP-intensive) method of gaining full rerolls.  The only thing that sets the Grinders apart is their daemon allegiance, but even then the amount of overpay for a unit that's permanently stuck between trying to shoot things and trying to punch things makes it not all that worthwhile by comparison.
*Night Lords are ironically very powerful allies to attach Daemons to thanks to all their Leadership bomb abilities. With the improved perks of Manifestation, you can have them deep strike much closer to the enemies through strategic Strat spam and getting a Warp Locus in there.


Of course, these all involve attaching Daemons as allies. Using CSM as the allies throws this all off due to loss of any faction bonuses. Regardless of who allies to who, you'll have to grapple with the issues of no keyword synergy, as now Daemons have a different keyword than the marines, and thus you can't have your DPs benefit both mortal and daemon units or have your greater daemons boost your cultists.

=== Renegade Knights ===
With the release of the Renegade Knights codex via a Games Workshop FAQ, bringing a Knight to assist your daemons became a lot easier; points for the typical Renegade Knights were lowered slightly, and Renegade Knights Dominus and Renegade Armigers were added as well. As the best Daemon codex unit for long-range fire support was the Soul Grinder and its 4+ BS, replacing it with a single Knight as a Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment lets you have that long-range fire support (give the knight two of whatever ranged weapon you want, which loyalist Knights aren't allowed to take and is its main advantage over them and their Knight Houses) and don't forget the Renegade Knight strategem letting you reroll all failed hit rolls for a knight in a single phase for 2 CP. Or, run it as a close-combat knight and make your opponent choose which group of foes he wants to get killed by. Alternatively, Knights Dominus give some anti-Lord of War capabilities with the Volcano Lance and its 3d3 damage per hit, and if points are more restricted, Armigers aren't too shabby either. Though take more than one or two super-heavies and you'll be Knights supported by Daemons more than Daemons supported by Knights.