This page indexes how the Psychic Phase works in the Horus Heresy wargame.
How It Works
Generating Psychic Powers
Like in 6th edition, psychic powers are generated BEFORE the game starts. A given psyker has access to a certain amount of psychic powers and disciplines, depending on his mastery level and faction. Each discipline has 6 numbered powers (from 1 to 6) and a seventh 'Primaris' power.
To generate its psychic powers, a given psyker first chooses how many powers it wants from each psychic discipline they know, up to a total of its Mastery Level. In other words, a Mastery Level 2 Space Marine Librarian generates two psychic powers, and can choose to generate them from any of the psychic disciplines marked in his Codex entry (discipline access is therefore entry-specific and not based on Mastery Level). Of course, this already accounts for Aetheric Lightning, a default power given to all psykers.
The odds of a psyker of a given Mastery Level (ML) being able to guarantee a given power by rolling on the same discipline until it gets it is ML/6, which is slightly better than multiple psykers at lower MLs doing it: for example, an ML2 psyker can guarantee a power with odds 33.33%, while two ML1 psykers both trying for it will manage it (on at least one of them) with odds 30.56%.
- Notes:
- A psyker may not know multiple copies of the same power; should you roll the same power multiple times for the same psyker while generating powers, you'll simply reroll the 'extra' copies in the same discipline until you end up with different powers. It is, however, entirely possible for multiple different psykers to know the same power.
- Psykers with a Mark of Chaos or psykers that are Daemons of a particular Chaos God instead automatically know the primaris power of their chosen deity, regardless of the other powers they might generate.
- A psyker who has a force weapon of any description automatically also has the Force psychic power to actually activate the weapon. This does NOT count as one of his mastery level picks, nor does it prevent him from getting Psychic Focus.
- A psyker who has fixed powers of no discipline (Ezekiel's Mind Worm / Ahazra Redth's Mirage) does not count these towards psychic focus so long as he generates any remaining powers from a single discipline. This stops them from losing out on Psychic Focus just by having a pre-set power.
- Some psykers - like most Grey Knight units, Eldar Hemlocks and so on - know only predetermined set of psychic powers. Unless otherwise mentioned, these are the ONLY powers they know, they do NOT generate additional ones, and are NOT eligible for Psychic Focus.
- Unlike in previous editions, a psyker's potential power selection is NOT limited by his mastery level. That is, a Mastery Level 1 psyker knows generally speaking one power, but that power may well be Warp Charge 2 or 3 - though a low-level psyker with high-charge powers will have to rely even more on luck of the dice and other psykers in his army to produce enough dice for casting.
Casting Powers
They Psychic phase as you know it is gone. We're back to the old days pf powers going off during the turn/
The player actively casting powers (you, in this exercise) chooses one of his psykers and one of the powers that psyker knows. You then roll 2d6, trying to roll under the psyker's Leadership.
Notes:
- Casting psychic powers no longer affects the rest of the psyker's actions on the turn; a psyker can cast any of the powers he knows regardless of whether or not he moved on his Movement Phase, and casting psychic powers does not prevent him from running, shooting, or declaring a charge on the following Shooting and Assault phases. Being locked in combat does not prevent the psyker from generating dice, but does prevent the psyker from casting Witchfire and Focused Witchfire (shooting attack) powers. Buffs, debuffs and summons are A-OK though.
- A psyker may cast multiple different witchfire (shooting attack) powers during your psychic phase, as long as he has the necessary dice, may target them at the same or different units as he pleases, and unlike with regular shooting attacks, is not limited to charging at one of those targeted units in his assault phase.
- A psyker in a building or a transport can manifest ONLY witchfire and focused witchfire (shooty) psychic powers, and even then only if he can draw line of sight to his target from the transport's/building's fire points or the transport itself (if open-topped). If your psyker intends to cast buffs/debuffs or anything more elaborate than blowing shit up with his brain, he's got to climb out of that metal box first. Similarly, units that are inside a transport or building cannot be targeted by a psychic power, beneficial or not. (The battlements of a building are not considered to be 'inside' a building, so a psyker can stand, say, on the roof of a Bastion or on a Skyshield Landing Pad and gain a degree of protection from that).
- Any one psyker can only attempt to manifest a given power once in a psychic phase, regardless of if it failed or succeeded. Two psykers knowing the same power can of course each (attempt to) cast it, at different or same targets.
- A single unit can only be affected by one copy of a given blessing at any one time - so Hammerhand, for example, no longer stacks. Two DIFFERENT blessings on the same unit are A-OK, though.
- Since psychic powers are used in the Psychic phase, you cannot use a witchfire power to shoot Overwatch if you get assaulted.
- Perils of the Warp as we knew it have been done away with, replaced with the more generic d3 save-ignoring wounds. Of course, any invulns can still be taken.
Deny the Witch
While one player's psykers cast powers, the other player's psykers try to counter them. Denying the Witch is how you can (try to) keep the other player's powers from activating.
When your opponent successfully casts a psychic power that affects one or more of your units, you choose one of them to make a Deny the Witch roll. Basically you choose the unit, pick a number of dice from your own pool of psychic dice, roll them and add modifiers:
- +1 if the unit has one or more models (attached or otherwise) with the Psyker, Psychic Pilot, or Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers special rules.
- +1 if the unit has one or more models with a Mastery level higher than the casting psyker's Mastery level.
- +1 if the unit has one or more models with the Adamantium Will special rule.
Every roll of 6 or more on a Deny the Witch dice negates one successful warp charge from your opponent's casting attempt. To successfully Deny a psychic power, you must negate -all- successful warp charges used in casting that power. If you failed to get enough successes on the Deny roll, the dice are simply wasted and the enemy power still activates.
If none of your units were targeted by the psychic power (the power was a blessing or summoning power, for example, that doesn't directly effect your units) you can still try Deny the power; instead of choosing a unit to Deny the power with, you simply choose how many dice to use in your Deny attempt. Each roll of a straight 6 on a dice negates one warp charge.
Notes:
- To successfully Deny a power, you must counter ALL the successful warp charges used in casting the power. If your opponent uses four dice to cast a 2-charge power and gets three successes, you must counter all three. Two will NOT be enough.
- You decide whether or not to attempt to Deny a power (and how many dice you use, if any) AFTER your opponent rolls his psychic test for casting the power. You can't be suckered into Denying powers that wouldn't activate anyways, and you can opt to not try Denying powers that you don't have a chance to succeed in countering anyways (powers with four successes when all you have is three dice, and so on).
- Obviously rolling multiple sixes on a Deny roll will NOT trigger a Perils of the Warp attack.
- If a psychic power targets multiple units, only one of those units gets to do a Deny attempt. If a psychic blast power scatters and hits two of your units, you pick one to do a Deny with, not try to Deny twice.
- Psychic Hoods have changed - now a unit within 12" of a friendly unit targeted with a psychic power can roll the Deny attempt as if it was targeted for the power instead of the actual target. Generally this means getting to benefit from the psyker and his mastery level in the Deny attempt. If the Deny roll fails, the power still affects the original target, not the bearer of the Hood.
- Note that the rule specifically says friendly unit. You cannot, therefore, use a psychic hood to Deny a power targeted at an Ally of Convenience unit or use the hood to boost your odds of denying a blessing. Only units from an army that is Battle Brothers with the hood-bearer can benefit.
- Successfully denying a power that succeeded, but triggered Perils of the Warp, means the power does not activate but the casting psyker still ends up suffering the results of the Perils attack.
- Like with casting powers, any dice not used in Deny attempts are lost and wasted at the end of a given psychic phase.
Resolve Power
Unless otherwise stated, psychic powers with a duration last until the start of the Psyker’s next Psychic phase. The ongoing effects of any one particular power do not stack on the same unit, but benefits from different powers are cumulative. Unless otherwise stated, powers cannot modify characteristics above 10 or below 1 (or below 2, in the case of Leadership). For Psychic Weapons, this would be the point where you start rolling to hit and all that like the weapon it's supposed to be.
When a power summons a unit, it Deep Strikes within the power's maximum range; the new unit is under your control and is treated as having arrived from Reserves for all rules purposes. If the new unit suffers a Deep Strike mishap and ends up in Ongoing Reserves, it can Deep Strike anywhere on the board when it enters play. Summoned psykers cannot use summoning on the same turn they're summoned. Unless otherwise stated, summoned units have no upgrades and generate all random attributes (such as psyker powers) as soon as the power resolves. Summoned Chaos Daemons can take an Icon and/or Instrument of Chaos, and/or upgrade to a character, if their codex entry says they can (and they do it for free).
Psychic Tactics
So that's how you mind bullet, but what do you do with them?
Well the problem with tactics is the fact that not all armies get the same favor with psykery. While the Legiones Astartes do have Librarians, their power levels are pretty heavily limited due to the Edict of Nikea...unless, of course, you take those assholes from Prospero. Similarly, certain loadouts for Ruinstorm Daemons might see you have plenty of psykers to throw around.
Step one is to therefore consider how you and your opponent's mind bullets stack up to each other. If you have a clear lead in mental fire power you can afford to spread your charges thinner as your opponent won't be able to deny you as easily. If on the other hand the playing field is roughly even you need to play more carefully, while if you're completely outclassed pick one or two powers you really need to go off and spend all your charges on them, so that even with twice as many or more warp charges they can't completely deny you, although your psykers are likely to implode before the game is half over if you do it every turn, so pick your moments.
When casting powers, first budget what powers you need most to go off, (example: invisibility) then cast all your other powers in least to most importance before it. This way your opponent is forced to save his deny dice for either the big very important one or basically give you free reign in the phase. While that works if you're in the lead, and very useful if you're evenly matched in terms of warp charges since he might think he can spare the charges, it's much less effective if you're completely out classed since your opponent may have the charges to deny your final important power, and you won't have the power to force it though because you spent the charges on 'deny fodder' first.
That all said, the mere presence of a big power alters the flow of the phase a lot. Your opponent (or you, this goes both ways) now has to choose between saving his charges for the big one, or attempt to spend his charges denying all the little powers.
General Psychic Tips
- As a rule, Psychic Powers are innately unreliable, and require a lot of investment for them to pay off. While lucky rolls can give you a super-happy Psychic Deathstar of Doom, they generally support an army rather than define it.
- Some armies will take units simply to serve as secondary "batteries" for other casters, though they will weigh the costs of this accordingly. For example, if you want a unit of Terminators for your army, a unit of Grey Knight Terminators is more cost-effective than similar Terminator units, but their one WC point can only go towards buffing themselves in melee, and so it effectively gets farmed off to other Psykers with more dramatic powers. This is if you're running Terminators anyway/running Grey Knights anyway.
- Generally speaking, the three most popular core disciplines are Divination, Malefic Daemonology, and Telepathy. They don't have any real "dud" powers and most will find use in nearly any game (rather than being conditionally awesome every other game), but most importantly, they have really good Primaris Powers.
- Psychic Shriek is a power with a wide potential for effects. On "average", it may inflict two wounds on an enemy unit, but when the dice are hot, it has the potential to one-shot a unit of Terminators, or a Monstrous Creature. It doesn't need to make a "To-Hit" roll, so you can occasionally use it to smack monsters out of the sky as well.
- Prescience is a no-frills power. Being able to reroll to-hit is very useful on nearly any unit.
- Summoning lets you bring more units into the game, though if your Psyker is not a Daemon you'll Peril like a motherfucker.
- You don't have to limit yourself to these disciplines, but they tend to be the safest starting off. Biomancy can be nice if you bank on rolling Iron Arm, and most armies have at least one good army-specific Discipline to work with (except Tyranids, alas), but you now run the risk of rolling an underwhelming power, and having to settle for a situationally usable Primaris ("I can penalize the Invulnerable Saves of Daemons..." "I'm playing Necrons." "Right...curses.")
- Biker Psykers are more than just a cute rhyme. They can give you a unique threat vector, due to the ability to move, cast powers, then turbo-boost to another position. The same can be said for Jump Packs and Flying Monstrous Creatures.
- Conjuration Powers are interesting. When 7th first came out, people theoryhammered about being able to Summon Horrors, who could summon more Horrors, but such armies never really materialized (ha!) as a threat. That said, Summoned units make good "bait"/threats that must be dealt with. Because you are dealing with Deep Strike, the units can end up away from your intended point of entry. Thus, it's ideal to summon "fast" units like Daemonettes/Flesh Hounds/Screamers, to correct any deviations.
- Feel No Pain is your best friend. It's the only "save" you're allowed against Perils and can really help a charge-heavy caster, especially a malefic summoner.
Rules Interactions to Watch Out For
- Beams do not target models or units, so are a good way to psychically murder something that cannot be targeted, such as Invisible enemy unit.
- Profileless Witchfires quite often ignore armor saves, but because they lack a profile, the wording is usually "ignores armor saves", not "AP2", which means you disregard rules based on the AP of the weapon - for example, Aun'Va's Paradox will not trigger, and you similarly get no bonus to damaging vehicles as you would from an actual AP2 weapon.
- Because a specific model can only Deny the Witch when it or a nearby model friendly to it (in the case of a Librarian's Hood, for example) is affected by a power, Blessings are inherently more powerful than Maledictions in that they are harder to Deny, as no model will get to use its special rules on it.
- Chariots are the only vehicle that allows full casting from an embarked Psyker. All other vehicles, including buildings, only allow Witchfires, which means e.g. you can't cast a Blessing while embarked (unless embarked on a Chariot).
- Look Out, Sir works on Psychic powers just fine, including Profileless Witchfires, but it is triggered by allocating Wounds, so it can only be used if the Power inflicts wounds - for example, Jaws of the World Wolf Removes From Play without Wounding, so Look Out, Sir does not apply.
- Similar reasoning applies to Feel No Pain.
Psychic Disciplines
One thing you'll notice as a massive departure from last edition is the inclusion of Psychic Weapons. See, instead of using types like Witchfires and Novas, your psykers just gain special weapons. Aside from Aetheric Lightning, all of these weapons have the Psychic Focus rule, which requires you to make a psychic check before you can attack with them.
As a matter of fact, psychic types as a whole have been abolished, as even Blessings and Maledictions are just lumped under Psychic Powers. Not that this changes much on them, as the list of psychic powers has drastically shrunk.
Rulebook Psychic Disciplines
This section lists the psychic disciplines outlined in the general rulebook; they can be used by psykers from multiple Warhammer 40,000 armies.
Force
- Overview
- Force counts as a Psychic power, but it does not actually belong to any discipline nor does it count against how many powers you know. Remember, you need to make a psychic test in order activate it so you'll need to pick out the prime opportunity. Additionally, it can be denied, but it's unlikely your opponent would want to take that chance unless your psyker is looking at something he does not want to die.
Force
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
N/A |
Force
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
All Force weapons in the Psyker's unit gain Instant Death.
|
Aetheric Lightning
- Overview
- The default power known to all psykers. Just as modern 40K gives Smite to every psyker, this acts as your Smite. It's pretty flimsy on the outset by virtue of only being S3 AP4, but it also has Force, meaning that if you pass a Psychic check, you can bump this up enough to cut through a couple marines with some support from an attached squad.
Aetheric Lightning
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 4
|
3
|
4
|
Force
|
Biomancy
- Overview
- Biomancy is taken for two main reasons: You want to make your Psyker a fighter, or you're gonna make someone else one. For the former, it's usually better to attempt to buff a character that's already an acceptable fighter, rather than trying to make a weak unit suddenly awesome; Daemons in particular can get some excellent mileage from Biomancy, as (barring Blue Scribes), every character they have with access to it is at least Strength and Toughness 5.
Biomancy Powers
Name |
Description
|
Biomancer's Rage
|
Biomancer's Rage
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
-
|
Melee
|
10
|
4
|
Rending(4+), Psychic Focus
| With Smite now an automatic add-on, your next-best buff (Iron Arm, in case you were wondering) has become a special weapon of its own, a smash attack capable of turning marines to paste and potentially making a dent on a tank.
|
Biomantic Augmentation
|
Instead of shooting, you can cast this on a friendly unit within 6" and give them +1 Strength. If you pass a Psychic test, you can boost this to also add +1 to Toughness as well. Regardless of whether or not you opt for that boost, you're still giving a decent boost to someone, if hamstrung by the very limited range.
|
Divination
- Overview
- Divination is a powerful Discipline to have, simply because it gives you protection against a bad die roll ruining your game-plan. While all of them help protect you in some way, it's clear to see that more people want Prescience, Perfect Timing, Forewarning, and Foreboding more than the others, if only because their uses are the most direct ones.
Divination Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Prescience
|
Blessing |
12 |
Unit
|
Target can re-roll to hit, regardless of context. If you've ever played a game of 40K with a Divination Psyker, you know what a boon this is, and the Psychic Focus makes any Divination-based psyker become worth it.
|
1 |
Foreboding
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
Grants Counter-Attack and allows them to Overwatch at full BS (though anything that can't overwatch still can't). Overall nothing to argue with, as this gives you a better chance at mulching anything that charges you. The issue is that most armies nowadays are focused on shooting, so you have a good chance of never actually being charged, making this power possibly useless.
|
2 |
Forewarning
|
Blessing |
12 |
Unit
|
Grants a 4++ Invulnerable save. It's basically Azrael's helmet of trolling in a 1WC package, and gives anything with worse saves than Termies insurance against high AP weapons, or makes blobs hair-rendingly difficult to remove.
|
3 |
Perfect Timing
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
The Psyker and his unit have Ignores Cover on their weapons. Use it on weapons you know will kill them and be assured that they'll be wiped! Also works on jink saves. Be warned, however, that it only affects the psyker's unit, so if you roll this power, consider reattaching your psyker to a squad that can make use of it.
|
4 |
Precognition
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
A much more advanced form of Prescience, this gives your Psyker (and ONLY your Psyker) re-rolls to hit, re-rolls to wound, and re-rolls on any saving throws. It sounds really useful, and it is, but compare being able to buff one model to a unit and you see that, while good, it's not the most useful power here. Of course, just like with Biomancy self-buffing powers, if your psyker is already a scary solo model that can rip apart tanks and shit, giving him a re-roll on (almost) everything is massively awesome. With a psyker with a 2+ armor save, you can actually get a lot of mileage out of having them use this power while in the front of a unit to tank wounds. A 2+ re-rollable is tough to crack with volume of fire, and in a situation where you can actually up the psyker's invul save, will work against low-AP weapons as well, or for the more nervous among us, can be easily look-out-sir'd to someone in the unit if your psyker is in danger of getting insta-death'd.
|
5 |
Misfortune
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit
|
Makes it so that any attacks against the target get rending. This sounds epic on paper, and if you're willing to throw enough dice at a target, it can be epic, but notice the important part of that sentence, "enough dice". You need to have all the pieces set up before hand to get the most out of it. Say, cast it on a Land Raider just before you open up with six autocannons, or on a Terminator squad or a Rhino before you fire 50 lasguns into it. Using it just to nerf an enemy unit that is only going to get shot at by only one other unit (unless that single unit has a LOT of shots) is just not the best use of this power.
|
6 |
Scrier's Gaze
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
Allows you to re-roll reserves, outflanking, and mysterious objectives. Also, you can drop one Tactical Objective card and draw another. Scrier's Gaze fits into that rather odd category of being a "meta advantage"; it does not help you fight better, but it helps you (the player, not the dudes) play the mission better. It's not really helpful in the conventional sense, but it can allow some good rescues.
|
Pyromancy
- Overview
- Pyromancy is good for only one thing: melting light infantry hordes. Orks, Guardsmen, Tyranids, Daemons maybe. Thanks to the ability to squeeze out more than one witchfire a turn, this power could unleash a lot of hurt. Not the first choice for disciplines, but a decent secondary if you're fighting low armor save cover campers and blobs. Additionally, for those really interested in indulging in fiery fantasies of destruction, consider taking a Salamanders Librarian. They can take, if using their chapter tactics, a book that provides the Molten Beam power, and +1 strength on all the Witch Fires listed below.
- Soul Blaze
- This rule comes up a lot in Pyromancy, so it's worth explaining here. If an unmarked unit takes at least one unsaved wound with Soul Blaze, mark it with something. At the end of each turn, roll a die for each marked unit. On 1-3 the unit is not marked anymore; on 4+, the unit takes D3 S4, Ap5 hits (randomly allocated) with Ignores Cover. This means the expected number of hits at the end of a turn is 1 (which must then get past toughness, armor/invuln, and feel no pain), while the expected number over infinite turns is 2. Commonly considered useless.
Pyromancy Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Flame Breath
|
Witchfire |
Template |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
Template
|
Assault 1
|
5
|
4
|
Soul Blaze
| It's a Soul Blaze heavy flamer. Not much to add. Eats anything short of a Space Marine and is inferior to the actual weapon. Strictly worse than Destructor/Renewer.
|
1 |
Fiery Form
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
The psyker gains a 4+ Invulnerable save, their melee attacks have Soul Blaze and they may re-roll failed to-wound rolls for all subsequent Pyromancy psychic powers they manifest. Not as good as some of the Biomancy self buffs (what is?), but this isn't a bad power just before the Psyker gets stuck in. Unlike a lot of powers like it, this one does some good while not in close combat since your other Pyromancy powers get more reliable.
|
2 |
Fire Shield
|
Blessing |
24 |
Unit
|
Grants a 4+ cover save and all enemy units in 6" treat all terrain as Dangerous Terrain. 4+ is good, Stealth turns it to 3+ before you go to ground. A useful buff spell.
|
3 |
Spontaneous Combustion
|
Witchfire (Focused) (Profileless) |
18 |
Model
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 1
|
6
|
3
|
Soul Blaze
| If the unlucky model dies, he turns into a strength five AP4 blast marker with Ignores Cover and Soul Blaze. Good at taking out cover camping wimps. Unlike with other focused witchfires, don't try and snipe heavy weapons out; go for models that can get you a cluster of hits with the blast.
|
4 |
Sunburst
|
Witchfire (Nova) |
9 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
9
|
Assault 2D6
|
4
|
5
|
Nova, Ignores Cover, Soul Blaze
| Remember that novas hit each different unit in range independently, so that's 2D6 hits per target. Also remember that the range is the radius of the power; you actually have an 18 + <base size> inch diameter area of burning. Get your psyker into place and cook lightly armored infantry.
|
5 |
Inferno
|
Witchfire |
24 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
24
|
Assault 1
|
4
|
5
|
Blast, Ignores Cover, Soul Blaze
| A light infantry cooker. I'm sensing a theme here...
|
6 |
Molten Beam
|
Witchfire (Beam) |
12 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
12
|
Assault 1
|
8
|
1
|
Beam, Melta
| Gott im Himmel! It's a psychic meltagun. With some really good luck you could explode maybe two tanks or three Terminators if you line it up right. The issue with this power is that it's only really good against tanks, and usually the reason you're rolling for Pyromancy powers in the first place is because you have vehicles covered by something else, and you need something to cook light infantry.
|
Telekinesis
- Overview
- With generally high strength, Telekinesis is trying to be the anti-tank power set, and three powers do just that (although one does it shakily). One other power's pretty worthless against anything but a horde in the open, and there are two support powers. This is not exactly an all-purpose set of powers and, like Pyromancy, they not strong enough to be used by themselves. Telekinesis is a decent backup to another, more powerful discipline. All in all a pretty mixed bag.
Telekinesis Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Assail
|
Witchfire (Beam) |
18 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 1
|
6
|
-
|
Beam, Strikedown
| Quick recap on what Strikedown does: it means the targets you hit have to move through difficult terrain next turn, regardless of whether they saved the wounds or not. Definitely worth smacking up some units with this if you want to keep them from an objective or stop a charge to buy yourself another turn to shoot them. No AP means this power has trouble killing things reliably.
|
1 |
Crush
|
Witchfire (Focused) (Profileless) |
18 |
Model
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 1
|
2D6
|
1D6
|
-
| Rolls of 11 or 12 for strength auto-wound, or penetrate if the target is a vehicle. Worth it? Well, if you think you like your luck or bother running Flash Gitz, then give it a try. With an average strength of 7, this can penetrate a transport, but without an AP of 1 or 2 exploding it is impossible. Though if you're relying on this very random psychic attack to destroy vehicles, you probably have bigger problems to sort out.
|
2 |
Objuration Mechanicum
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit
|
Target has Gets Hot! on their guns, and vehicles take an automatic Strength 1 Haywire hit. This is very useful for dealing with flyers and vehicle squadrons, especially squadrons of 2HP vehicles (Landspeeders, Killa Kans, Warwalkers, Vipers, Pirahnas and so on), and even more so if they pack a lot of non-twin-linked dakka to kill themselves with Gets Hot! glances, since they will only need one after they get Haywired. And since psychic powers don't count as shooting they can't even Jink against it. Haywire for everyone! This is obviously meant to nail hordes of low-BS units. Mathammer-wise, Orks or Guardsmen firing at T4 targets would deal as many wounds to themselves as to their targets before saves are made, wiping out up to 30% of their own squad in one volley (with shootas and first rank fire, respectively). This power can also be painful for more elite units that rely on the volume of fire, like Swooping Hawks, Scourges, Venoms or Leman Russ Punishers. And when it comes to Overwatching under the effects of Objuration Mechanicum...well, chances are they would take double or triple the damage they would deal to your units.
|
3 |
Shockwave
|
Witchfire (Nova) |
9 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
9
|
Assault 2D6
|
4
|
-
|
Nova, Pinning
| Powerful against swarms, but that lack of AP renders it useless against anything else. Although, if you get a good roll on how many hits it inflicts, it could be hard for medium or even heavy infantry to make all the saves. Compare with Sanctic Daemonology's or Pyromancy's far superior Novas that trade Pinning for AP, Ignores Cover, and higher strength.
|
4 |
Levitation
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
A new blessing that shows how cheesy this edition got. This makes the Psyker and his unit (unless they're Zooming, Swooping, or in combat) move 12", ignoring terrain or other units. However, starting or landing in Dangerous Terrain means taking a test, and you can't charge afterwards. Remember, powers are used after moving, so if you're already in a jump squad you can jump in the movement phase and then in the psychic phase for a 24 inch move. Dark Eldar be jealous. Your first idea would be to use it to get into combat faster, but you cannot charge out of teleport, so you'd be sitting ducks for an entire turn, much like with Deep Strike. Better uses would be jumping away from a close combat unit, jumping close in order to flamer, melta or rapid fire a target to death, jumping behind vehicles to lay some painful dakka on their rear armor or claim objectives (especially useful on Maelstrom). To sum it up, a great power to move elite specialist weapons like Chosen or Sternguard or relentless heavy weapons like Centurions exactly where they're needed.
|
5 |
Telekine Dome
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
Gives everyone within 12" of the psyker a 5++ against shooting. Is it useful? Ask an Ork player if he would ever field an army without at least one KFF. If your guys have 5+ or 6+ saves, this thing is great, and even if they're MEQs, you can fit more squads under that 12" bubble to ensure they won't be ass-raped by those low-AP blasts everyone tends to spam nowadays. Note that you might have 5+ cover saves often enough that taking this power would be redundant, unless you're facing a lot of template/ignore cover shooting, and that this power, at 2 warp charges, is overpriced and largely inferior to a Dark Angels power field generator or the aforementioned KFF.
|
6 |
Psychic Maelstrom
|
Witchfire |
12 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
12
|
Assault 1
|
10
|
1
|
Large Blast, Barrage
| Basically your own pocket Demolisher cannon. With a large blast, this is arguably better than the D strength Vortex of Doom in Sanctic Daemonology. Whatever you throw this on, it WILL get hurt if it hits. Generally, a proper Vindicator/Medusa/Demolisher is a better bet, since you need to sink 7 warp charges to make it work reliably (and even then, your psyker is likely to suffer Perils of the Warp), and those warp charges aren't cheap. Though you are gaining the benefits of survivability and mobility, since your psyker can hide inside METAL BOXES, some infantry blob or even fly on daemonic wigs, raining pipe plates of death on the poor chaps below. Note that if you're an Eldar player using a Farseer, Eldritch Storm is a superior power to this in every way except AP.
|
Telepathy
- Overview
- Telepathy is a generally powerful support discipline. The exceptional Primaris and two incredibly powerful defensive Blessings (one of which is considered overpowered by a lot of players) alone make it worth rolling for. The other powers are more situational due to being based on overloading your opponent with Leadership checks, but they become increasingly dangerous if you have access to reliable Leadership debuffs.
Telepathy Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Psychic Shriek
|
Witchfire (Profileless) |
18 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 1
|
-
|
2
|
Ignores Cover
| Roll 3D6 and subtract the hit unit's Leadership. It takes the difference in wounds. MAKES ME WANNA WAIL!! Best used on small, elite squads or monsters on whom those wounds will hurt more. Demons with very low Leadership will also suffer from this a lot. All witchfires generally have to roll to hit, but not this one, because it really has no profile (AP2 is listed because "no armor saves may be taken"), so you can totally scream Flyrants off the board. For reference, your expected wounds against leadership 7 through 10 are 3.61, 2.78, 2.04, and 1.42, before invulnerable saves or feel no pain; this is roughly equivalent to a BS 5, Poisoned (2+), AP2, Assault 5.2/4/3/2 Ignores Cover weapon, respectively. However, remember that it does not roll to hit, and so will, for example, hit a unit with Invisibility up.
|
1 |
Dominate
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit
|
If the target wants to move, cast powers, shoot (including Overwatch), run, or charge they have to pass a Leadership test. Generally speaking, most units will pass the test, but should some unlucky Crisis Suit or named Character fail even once, then the once would be enough. This is mainly a psychological tool, though. At some point, your enemy might simply leave the unit alone instead of making yet another Leadership test. Do note that this does not affect casting psychic powers and making some exotic moves, like jetpack/jetbike JSJ moves, flat out move, or different kinds of teleportation (GK interceptors, warp spiders, levitation, etc.).
|
2 |
Mental Fortitude
|
Blessing |
24 |
Unit
|
Makes a friendly unit immediately regroup if it was falling back and become Fearless. Rather simple for a blessing; go to ground one turn and get them to stand up to shoot the next.
|
3 |
Terrify
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit
|
Like an evil twin to Mental Fortitude, it has a 24" range and inflicts -1 Leadership on one target, who then has to pass a Morale test at the end of the phase, and makes them treat all enemy units as having the Fear special rule. Use this before you cast Psychic Shriek for best results. Be VERY careful with this; you do not want a unit to run away from you and put you out of rapid fire range. Also note the morale test is independent of the Fear rule, so units that normally don't have to worry about Fear (such as any of the 12 types of Space Marines) still have to pass a morale test or leg it.
|
4 |
Shrouding
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
Grants all friendly models within 6" of the Psyker (including himself) the Shrouded special rule. Like some other powers, the issue with this one is that to affect more than one unit you have to bunch up your army a bit. Even so, with only 6" you're likely to only get two units anyway since you only need one model in range to affect the whole unit. A nice power; remember that you only need one model in a unit to have Shrouded for the whole unit to have Shrouded.
|
5 |
Invisibility
|
Blessing |
24 |
Unit
|
Makes it so all shots taken at the target are treated as snap shots (i.e., anyone shooting at them does so at BS1) and they can only be hit on a 6 in close combat. It sounds simple enough, but remember, you can't snap fire blasts and templates. This is the worst power in the whole game, not because it's bad, but because it's too good. This leads to Deathstars everywhere because on top of only hitting on sixes, you then need to get through whatever armor, cover saves, or invulnerable saves they may have. Ridiculously cheesy. There are not a lot of counters since most options such as line makers just can't be snap fired. You could use beams to hit nearby units and just happen to aim them though the invisible unit. Maledictions and Novas still work since they don't roll to hit. Your best option, however, is to Deny the Witch this thing with every warp charge die you have. That is not a polite suggestion. DO IT! However, as of 2015 the new Skitarii Cognis weapons snap fire at BS2, and the Rhino Primaris allows a unit to snap-shoot at full Ballistic Skill. The best counters to this power, by far.
|
6 |
Hallucination
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit
|
Roll a D6 on the table to determine what happens to the target. On a 1-2, the unit must take a Pinning test. On a 3-4, the unit reduces their Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Initiative and Attacks by 1 to a minimum of 1. On a 5-6, a randomly determined character model in the unit suffers a number of Strength 3 hits equal to the number of other models in the unit; if no such character model is available, treat this as a 3-4 result instead. While none of these are particularly bad, they're not very good either. Only 3-4 and 5-6 are useful. 5-6 might strip a wound off a character through sheer volume of hits; make that warboss pay for leading 30 boyz!
|
Daemonology
A few notes about Sanctic and Malefic before we start. Unlike the other powers that peril only on a double six, these powers peril on any double unless you're a Grey Knight (who can only use Sanctic) or a Daemon (ditto but for Malefic). This means your psyker is much more likely to implode and will do so much faster if not from these armies, so think carefully if the risk is worth it.
Sanctic
- Overview
- Generally speaking, Sanctic Daemonology is used for building a better Deathstar. The reason for this is simple: All the Blessings in this Discipline directly target the Psyker's unit. Hammerhand makes them hit harder, Sanctuary makes them harder to kill, and Gate of Infinity gives them protection against being tarpitted. Round this off with two two "High Risk/High Reward" Witchfires for good effect. The main weaknesses of this Discipline are that it doesn't do much to benefit MSU builds, it has a very situational Primaris, and it has a good chance of blowing up your caster. Of note is that a lot of these powers were originally unique to Grey Knights back in 5th edition. They remain the only army that can use these powers without suffering Perils on any double roll, and many of their units get "fixed" powers on this table, allowing you a surprising degree of reliability in using this discipline.
Sanctic Daemonology Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Banishment
|
Malediction |
24 |
Unit (Daemon)
|
Can only be used on units with the Daemon special rule. This will reduce the Daemon's Invulnerable save by 1 (So the basic 5+ Daemon Invulnerable becomes a 6+). It's a situational power at best, only really useful when dealing with Malefic Psykers who summon Daemons and/or Daemons themselves. Although far more situational, this can be absolutely horrific to a Daemon player who was unlucky enough to already have their invulnerable save reduced by 1 by rolling 4 on the Warp Storm table. Watch your Daemon opponent sob and grovel as you widdile down their Great Unclean One or destroy a squad of Bloodletters in one Shooting Phase since they have no more saves except maybe FNP or Warp-Forged Armor.
|
1 |
Gate of Infinity
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
Allows a single unit that isn't swooping or zooming to Deep Strike anywhere. Of course, this is your fabulous SURPRISE FUCKERS! However, remember the 1d4chan advice for deep striking: you want to be able to survive a turn of shooting, and assault troops are going to get shot up before they can do their thing. Best done with a tough shooting squad or something you're willing to DISTRACTION CARNIFEX with.
|
2 |
Hammerhand
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
Grants the caster and his unit +2 Strength. You remember how it was back in 3rd edition when you still had Daemonhunters? Yeah, it's like that. While obviously best done before getting stuck in, you might consider using it defensively. E.g. "Do you really want to charge my strength six Assault Marines?" On the down side, this power has the same issue as Iron Arm and Warp Speed: unless you were already planning to run the Psyker with a squad made to punch faces, then you're not getting the most out of this power.
|
3 |
Sanctuary
|
Blessing |
Self |
Unit
|
The caster and his unit gain +1 to their Invulnerable save. If the unit does not have an Invulnerable save, they gain a 6++. Additionally, all Daemons (allies and enemies) within 12" of the caster treat all terrain including open ground as Dangerous Terrain. This is mostly helpful in buffing preexisting Invulnerable saves, since conferring an unreliable 6++ is practically a waste of Warp Charges; though it could be helpful in preserving hopefully enough troops in your blobs if you plan on using it as a Tarpit or to drown a priority target in armor saves. Conversely, it's helpful against daemon hordes especially if combo'd with Banishment, as putting it on just a few units placed ahead of the main body of army can mean seeing lots of daemons disappear as they move ahead to engage your troops, as well as seeing a blob of daemons get ruined because they had the balls to charge you. Just bear in mind that Assault Terminators with a 2++ is likely to lose you friends.
|
4 |
Purge Soul
|
Witchfire (Focused) (Profileless) |
24 |
Model
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
24
|
Assault 1
|
-
|
2
|
Ignores Cover
| Both your psyker and the hit model must roll a D6 and add Leadership to the roll. If the enemy loses, he takes a wound (with only Invuln and FNP allowed). Overall, it's low risk, low reward. While not a waste of warp charges, it's not the most effective use, and they could and probably should be spent elsewhere. Almost always strictly worse than Psychic Shriek, which will do more wounds, on average, regardless of caster and target. Use it to zap special weapons or squad leaders, it won't do much against enemy HQs as they usually have better/equal leadership and an extra save.
|
5 |
Cleansing Flame
|
Witchfire (Nova) |
9 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
9
|
Assault 2D6
|
5
|
4
|
Nova, Ignores Cover, Soulblaze
| This can destroy anything with armor weaker than a Marine, and a lot of them, if you get your psyker in the right place. Refer back to power one. If you get them both, engage your troll face.
|
6 |
Vortex of Doom
|
Witchfire |
12 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
12
|
Assault 1
|
D
|
1
|
Blast, Vortex
| High risk, high reward. Failing the test to manifest this power automatically causes Perils of the Warp. DEVASTATION. EVERYWHERE. Given it's a small blast, aim for monsters and tanks. Troops are tempting, but if they're fully spaced out you'll have trouble getting the most out of this. Don't forget that this is Vortex, so the blast template is very likely to wander the field uncontrollably until the end of the game, eating random units it lands on, so never cast it near the bulk of your own army. Since this requires three charges, you'll have to use a lot of dice to get it to work reliably, and since Daemonology causes Perils on any double roll, and not just double sixes, your psyker is almost guaranteed to fry his brain while attempting this. You need some serious psychic boons and some dire circumstances for this shit to be worth it. As it has the vortex special rule, it will jump around the board every turn until doubles are rolled for the scatter distance.
|
Malefic
- Overview
- There's a reason most armies don't use this; it's a major sink for your Warp Charges. Unless you can ensure that you've got a lot of them (which Daemons really can do, hence this. although the core strategy used in that list no longer works) don't be expecting to make clusterfucks appear at a whim. But if you do have a ton of Warp Charges to throw around, you may be able to make your army double in size in a couple of turns. However, even if you do, realize that using your entire army to make more army doesn't actually accomplish anything (unless you plopped a new scoring unit on a tactical objective, anyway); at some point you need to stop recursing and actually kill the enemy. Sacrifice is effective enough on its own to cast at every opportunity, but you can bet your ass that the enemy can clear off (or at least cripple) a Summoned unit with a smaller point investment than you used to get those 6-8 dice. Used mindlessly you will get out-paced, but used surgically you can make even the best opponents tear their hair out.
Malefic Daemonology Powers
Number |
Name |
Type |
Range |
Target |
Description
|
Primaris |
Summoning
|
Conjuration |
12 |
None
|
Summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 10 Bloodletters, 10 Pink Horrors, 10 Plaguebearers, 10 Daemonettes, 5 Flesh Hounds, 3 Flamers, 3 Nurgling Swarms, 5 Seekers. The reason this was used was because of the massive clusterfuck you could make with this, since Horrors are psykers and could get Summoning as well so you could summon psykers to summon psykers to summon psykers, repeat ad nauseam. This is currently FAQed away, as "new" Horrors don't get Daemonology; there is no explanation what the FAQ means by "new", but Horrors conjured by this power seem to unequivocally qualify. As a result, there are two big limits to the use of this power. The first is obvious: who the hell has that many horror models? The second is that you're summoning ML1 horrors with access to only the Change discipline. Since they do have mind bullets, they now have more kick, but even with this buff it does not change the fact that the daemon swarm is just not that good. If you're at home using Daemons as lackeys then don't go overboard on summoning. Do it to get reinforcements, but the 'bacterial swarm' is best used for the occasional fun list with a lot of proxy models. See below this chart for further notes on Summoning.
|
1 |
Cursed Earth
|
Blessing |
Self |
Model
|
All models with the Daemon special rule (allied and enemy) within 12 inches of the user gain +1 to their Invulnerable save and do not scatter when Deep Striking within range of the user. If you have a good blob unit or deathstar, then this power will go a long way in allowing them to survive a little further. Use with the chaos demon Grimoire for a 2+ invulnerable (and with Tzeentch daemons to make it re-rollable; the infamous "Screamerstar"). Also, be careful: to get the most out of this your daemons have to be within 12" of the caster, meaning you have to bunch up a bit. Not a deal breaker thanks to the higher invulnerable, but something to remember. Also remember that this power applies to enemies with the Daemon rule, too. So yeah, that's one thing not to cast if you're facing down an Avatar of Khaine. If you have a bunch of daemons already this will probably draw every remaining die your enemy can throw at it in a mad attempt to Deny it. Don't let them, either by draining their pool first with frivolous bullshit or by throwing enough dice at it that denial is unlikely. Or, use it as the bait for something else, like an unholy barrage of beams and witchfires the enemy is now powerless to stop.
|
2 |
Dark Flame
|
Witchfire |
Torrent |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
Torrent
|
Assault 1
|
4
|
5
|
Torrent, Soul Blaze
| It's a fierce weapon, so...yeah, not a bad power, but nothing compared to the utility of Cursed Earth, and there are better psychic shooting attacks.
|
3 |
Infernal Gaze
|
Witchfire (Beam) |
18 |
Unit
|
Range |
Type |
S |
AP |
Special Rules
|
18
|
Assault 1
|
3
|
4
|
Beam, Armourbane, Fleshbane
| Use of this power comes with a penchant for red sunglasses and disrespecting your hot, psychic wife. Absolute PAIN on any infantry it hits. However, it is only ONE hit, so it won't be killing legions of Spehss Mehreens or hordes of chittering gaunts (unless they're conga dancing). What it WILL do, though, is seriously mess up any priority target you set your eyes upon. Best ignore anything other than infantry though. Even though it's got Armourbane, S3 is so low that it is nowhere near reliable against any vehicle and generally not worth the dice.
|
4 |
Sacrifice
|
Conjuration |
6 |
None
|
Summons a Herald of your choice (with up to 30 points' worth of wargear options) within 6 inches of the user. However, the user or another friendly unit in range suffers a single wound with no saves allowed (so FNP works, as usual). Don't expect it to survive for long on its own, so you'd better summon some mooks to help him survive. This is a slick little power to have on hand if you get blindsided or if you bite off more than you can chew. For instance, sudden combat with an overzealous challenge character? Bring in a Herald of Khorne with an Axe of Khorne and show him what's what. My favorite trick is to summon a bunch of Tzeentch Heralds on Disks over the course of the game who turbo to hiding spots all over the board only to emerge turns 5-7 as needed to contest and take objectives. The Imperial Knight formation that has people in a tizzy has almost no defense against this trick as they have nearly no Objective Secured. Also, for the love of the Emperor, be polite and have some Heralds pre-kitted before the game starts so you don't have to hunt in the codex for a few minutes in the middle of the game to see your options. Like Cursed Earth, this draws Deny aggro like nobody's business. If you need it to go off, throw at least 3 dice at it; otherwise, it makes great bait so you can cast everything else with impunity.
|
5 |
Incursion
|
Conjuration |
12 |
None
|
Summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 3 Bloodcrushers, 3 Screamers, 3 Plague Drones, 3 Fiends. This generally isn't used for much unless you're planning to cheese your way to an infinite Screamerstar, or you're looking for some Distraction Daemons. While you shouldn't forget about this if you get it, if you're gonna get the Primaris anyway due to psychic focus, then the limited use will mean you won't cast this all that often. Bonus points: summon three screamers next to your enemy's Land Raider and watch him devote untold forces to getting rid of them.
|
6 |
Possession
|
Conjuration |
6 |
None
|
Summons a Greater Daemon of your choice within 6 inches, and removes the user as a casualty. (If the user was part of a unit with a Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers, the whole unit is removed.) If the Psychic test to manifest this power fails, the user automatically suffers Perils of the Warp. (Just imagine the look on your opponent's face when your otherwise useless Wyrdvane Psykers explode into a Bloodthirster. Or your Lord of Change, on his last wound, explodes into a new and fully healed Lord of Change.) The spell specifically states you must summon either a Bloodthirster of any variation, a Lord of Change, a Great Unclean One or a Keeper of Secrets, so no, you can't summon a named greater daemon. This generally isn't used because of the mighty cost it takes, but the reward it allows (especially if you're running Daemons) makes it insanely tempting. Use at your own peril. Also note, as per the May 2016 FAQ, Flying Monstrous Creatures must now be declared to be either Swooping or Gliding when conjured or summoned to the table, so you now have the choice of whether to keep them in the relative protection of the air, or on the ground so that they can get stuck in sooner. Note: they still are still deployed as per Deep Strike and so cannot charge that same turn, this just means you don't have to waste an additional turn switching flight modes.
|
More on Summoning
- "New" horrors can't roll from Daemonology per Wrath of Magnus/latest FAQs. Whoops.
- "New" is not explained, so it could mean all Horrors ("new" meaning "latest rules"), or only ones that join your army after list creation ("new" as in "conjured"). The FAQ does not clarify. Either way, summoned horrors can't roll on it.
- Some quick math; you generally want to throw 6-8 dice at the Summoning to make it go off reliably. A 10-man Horror squad is only Mastery 1 (they're taken in lists because you spend 9 points for a second warp charge, a min squad is crap), so your return on investment is at best 20%. Even if you successfully cast it 5 times in a turn, you're only able to pull off one more Summoning than you were before, assuming none of your squads get wiped by the thousand-odd points of return fire (you do actually have to pay points for your initial warp charge). Even if you do, a horror unit minus its warp charge (since that's getting used for recursion) is basically a 10-man unit of Imperial Guard without lasguns. Making even a hundred more cultist-equivalents for a thousand points of input energy is a bad trade; you have to do something with all that warp charge to actually win the game, like summon Daemonettes (who can actually kill people without using your precious warp charges) or channel a bajillion Flickering Fires out of all those horrors. Recursion is a fine way to spend your first turn while you advance into range, but make sure you have a plan for how to get work out of it.
- In lower points games, Summoning is an excellent tool for a lot of situations. Summon Bloodletters in front of Spess Mehreens as a Distraction Carnifex (because they will either get shot down or tear MEQs a new asshole), summon Horrors as objective-holders and batteries, summon Daemonettes for messing up infantry, summon Plaguebearers to hold objectives / pluck apart MCs, summon some Flesh Hounds to harrass Heavy Weapon teams or summon a bunch of Flamers close enough to units they can actually kill with their shots. If you use this only to make more army, you might as well leave it. Seekers are much less useful than Daemonettes, and Nurglings are out-performed by Plaguebearers. If you summon those units for a purpose, however, you can easily change the course of the game with it. However, the more points you play with, the less useful this power is. If you summon 100 points worth of unit in a 500 point game, you just increased your army by 20%, which is freaking huge. As the games get bigger, the impact of this spell is lessened, though.
- Also keep in mind that if you manage to pull this power off, it is almost impossible to deny. 3 Warp Charges minimum with no modifier to deny the witch means on average 18(!) dice minimum to negate this, which nobody has, and if they did, they wouldn't blow them all to negate your Summoning.
Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
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General Tactics
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Imperium
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Chaos
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