He’s back!

The highly opinionated rvd1ofakind is back with another Chaos Daemons review. If you missed the first one, check it out here. Also, pop in to the Tactics Corner for more great articles to up your 40k game!

I use 4 things to review these units:

1. Tournament results
2. Mathhammer
3. Top player opinion
4. Personal experience

Tournament results: (deamon prince is mostly thousand sons)

Mathhammer: (everything is by pts value, so when I say something is durable and you see it is T3 6++, remember – without points cost, the stats mean nothing)

Before I start with characters, here’s a Chapter Approved update for daemonettes going 7->6 ppm:

Their 2 comparisons are Letters and Cultists. They now do more damage than letters when it comes to T3 S5 (up to S4 with herald). However the damage falls off as soon as we get to T4 S3 or better (even with herald). Durability wise you’re paying 1 point less for the same stat line as letters. But… no 3d6 charge.

Compared to cultists (which I think is reasonable as they stat lines are very similar) they are better in durability, however cultists usually come with -1 to hit, which skyrockets them above anything daemonettes could ever dream of. Even at 5ppm cultists do similar damage. When vets, double shoot comes into play, they do the same damage as daemonettes buffed with characters. Finally Cultists can go 1 step beyond and also get characters and then they do about twice the amount of damage for -1 pts at range instead of hoping to get to melee.

However if daemonettes make it into combat – that’s a different story. With all the minuses to hit and attack characteristics – they survive very well and can grind it out (heh). Top players are now considering a Slaanesh 90 daemonettes + heralds detachment instead of Nurgle or cultists. So they have gone from suboptimal to situational-competitive.

Daemon Princes:

Description:

• A (usually) flying psyker with great close combat abilities, who gives re-roll 1s for hits to daemons of their god. In competitive play the only DP that sees play from the codex is the Khorne Skullreaver DP. However since it’s the same miniature, I’m going to include all the Thousand Sons DP (the most popular version) and the Death Guard DP. Usually taken with wings (to be able to fly over and snipe characters) and claws (the most versatile weapon).

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• The #1 chaos unit.

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: above average, or one of the best in game for Skullreaver DP.

Personal opinion:

• It is the most successful chaos unit for a reason. A chaos list is not complete without a DP. It not only is a force multiplier in both shooting and fighting, it also does really good damage on its own and is pretty mobile. The Thousand Sons DP has 2 spells instead of 1, their smite doesn’t degrade AND all spells have +6” range AND you have 18 spells to choose from so it’s the default pick for a damage dealer and a supreme command with Ahriman, DPs, sometimes sorcerers is seen in almost every competitive chaos list due to their smites not getting worse and getting access to 18 spells, a lot of which are smite equivalents that can target characters. The Khorne Skullreaver DP can kill 2 knights on average rolls with fight twice… 180 pts for 700+? That’s pretty good, you just need to get him there alive which is sometimes easier said than done. Finally the Death Guard DP is the choice when you want to buff your DG+Nurgle army. The Slaanesh CSM DP +relic is the last on the list of good DPs, he got a bit better because Slaanesh got a lot cheaper but it’s not game breaking. The other DPs don’t see play is because the DG/TS/Skullreaver DPs are just upgraded versions for the same cost.

RATING: Competitive

Be’Lakor:

Description:

• A flying psyker with great close combat abilities and CSM powers, who gives re-roll 1s for hits to all daemons.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• Doesn’t see competitive play at 280

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average on terms with winged DP with no defensive bonuses
• Damage: above average on terms with winged Tsons DP.

Personal opinion:

• So why does a unit go from the best unit in the faction to unplayed if the they do almost the same thing and efficiency is somewhat maintained? He’s the jack of all trades, master of none. He wants to be in a mixed daemon army but he breaks the Locus bonuses of the detachment so he’s probably best in the Slaanesh Herald + Be’Lakor + filler troops (brimstones, nurglings) detachment. His biggest strength is that he buffs all daemons, however that’s not as important because you want to bring a bunch of DPs anyway. He access to only 3 spells, thought they too shabby. The reason why he gets the situational rating post changes is that he isn’t focused on a role: if you want a psyker – you take a Tsons DP for +6” range, non-degrading smite and 18 spells instead of 3, that also comes with the perks of Tsons stratagems; if you want a beat stick – Skullreaver DP does up to 3 times the amount of damage and that’s without re-rolls against titanic. Finally, he’s just more of a risk because if a DP is exposed – he’ll die and you’ll lose 180 pts – in Be’Lakor’s case that’s 240 pts instead.
  

RATING: Suboptimal (280) -> Situational (240)

Heralds:

Description:

A (usually) footslogging psyker with OK close combat abilities, who gives +1 strength to daemons of their god. In competitive play primarily the heralds that see play are Nurgle (Poxbringer), Tzeentch (Changecaster or Fluxmaster) and Slaanesh (foot or on steed). The latter two also dropped in points in CA for some reason – yay!

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• the #8 chaos unit.

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: average

Personal opinion:

• These are your HQ fillers that also are really great force multipliers and utility units. Poxbringer is taken in Plaguebearer armies with, usually, the -1 to hit spell (making Plaguebearers -2 to hit). Tzeentch Herald comes walking or on disc, usually determined on how many points you can spare, and he leads Pink Horror armies with, usually, flickering flames(making Pink Horrors S4 +1 to wound) and gaze of fate. This one can also be the warlord for the re-roll 1s to wound in shooting phase trait. The Slaanesh herald is a must for any Slaanesh daemons army, however it is still used with 0 other Slaanesh daemons because it’s a MASSIVE tool box against melee armies for 60 points: you can take a -1 to hit spell (or just smite), a -1 attack aura (warlord), a -1 attack stratagem and the forbidden gem relic so the big scary beat stick that just charged into your army to snipe characters just scratches it’s head instead of fighting in the fight phase. Access to all of this for 60 pts? I’ll take it! Probably in a soup detachment because who cares about that Tz/Nurgle locus anyway. Khorne herald doesn’t see too much play because letters are already s5 most of the time, which is usually the sweet spot, they don’t care about killing T3 models because that’s wasting efficiency and they kill them anyway. To add to that – he’s not a psyker so the utility drops hard but he’s still used as a filler HQ. The chariot heralds are awkward to use because of their gigantic bases and they cost too much for the same utility. Sure they might do more damage but it’s more efficient to pay points for troops to do that damage.

RATING: Competitive

Skulltaker:

Description:

• A footslogging beat stick, who gives +1 to hit rolls for units with the bloodletter keyword. Tournament results and top player opinion:
  the #32 chaos unit.

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: above average

Personal opinion:

• The other Khorne HQ filler. This one is used with Bloodletters in squads of 20 or less because you get the same buff for having 20+ Bloodletters or Skulltaker within 8”. You deepstrike Bloodletters and charge and string a line out to him so even if you lose your 20+ bonus on overwatch, you still get it anyway.

RATING: Situational

Karanak:

Description:

• A footslogging beat stick, which can deny 2 powers.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• the #32 chaos unit (tied)

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: above average

Personal opinion:

• The other Khorne HQ filler. This one is used when you are in a psyker heavy meta.

RATING: Situational

The Changeling

Description:

• A tricky footslogging psyker, that gives 6+ feel no pain to Tzeentch Daemons. He copies all the melee stats and the weapon profile of his enemy when fighting.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• the #32 chaos unit (tied)

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: hard to evaluate

Personal opinion:

• Going from auto-include (when it had -1 to hit aura) to situational. Taken in Tzeentch daemon armies with a lot of wounds. Since those don’t really see play – the Changeling doesn’t either. He has the added utility of making the enemy infantry beat stick characters very scared to get close to him as he can dish the same amount of damage right back. Sadly he can’t copy a lot of the really scary stuff so the utility drops down.

RATING: Situational

The Blue Scribes

Description:

• A tricky flying kind of psyker that annoys the enemy psykers within 12”.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• saw only 1 top placing

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: really bad

Personal opinion:

• Just not worth it. Costs too much, casts a random power and usually not the one you actually want and the -1 to psychic tests aura is only 12” on a very fragile character.

RATING: Sub-optimal

Epidemius

Description:

• A guy who sits in the corner and globally buffs your entire Nurgle Daemons army based on how many unit kills they got.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• #13. Nick Nanavati has said that he’s a “win more” character. When you’re doing well – you’ll do better. But if you’re already doing well – what’s the point?

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: below average

Personal opinion:

• Sees play in pure Nurgle Daemon armies. However Nurgle is pretty bad at actually killing stuff so you usually ally in CSM Nurgle Obliterators (who can then stand on the tree for a 0+ save but lose the shoot 2x ability) or DG vehicles to do that part of the job. Once the kills stack up – your army becomes very hard to beat but you’re probably winning already.

RATING: Situational

Horticulous Slimux

• Aka: Snaily the Snail aka the best model (scientifically proven, don’t question it)

Description:

• A beat stick with a ton of abilities: buffs beasts of Nurgle, annoys people that want to fall back from him, plants trees and heals 1 wound for a Nurgle Daemon every turn.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• Doesn’t see competitive play 🙁

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: below average

Personal opinion:

• I’m sad. The beast of Nurgle synergy is not used because beasts of Nurgle aren’t used. The 1 wound heal is not used because multi-wound non-character models for Nurgle are not used (except Nurglings but restoring 1 wound to them doesn’t matter). People don’t fall back from him because you usually surround them anyway. So the only thing he has left is the tree planting ability and that’s not enough. I’m sad. Why didn’t he (or beasts of Nurgle) get a points drop in CA :(? Did I mention I’m sad?

RATING: Sub-optimal

Sloppity Bilepiper

• Aka GW naming convention

Description:

• The guy that makes Icons proc more often and gives +1 attack to non-plaguebearers.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• #20

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: very bad

Personal opinion:

• You just take him with Plaguebearer units so their Icons proc more often (as you roll 2 dice and pick the lowest for morale). The +1 attack to (mostly) nurglings is mostly irrelevant. People tend to drop him after failing to roll a 1 on two dice too often though.

RATING: Competitive

Spoilpox Scrivener

Description:

• The guy that makes plaguebearers a lot better offensively. Got a pts increase in CA

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• #13

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: very bad

Personal opinion:

• You take him with Plaguebearer units so they move 2” faster, get +1 to hit and generate extra attacks. However Plaguebearers still don’t do great damage even then. So you mostly take him for the +2” move. Some people have already started dropping him before the pts increase.

RATING: Competitive but might become Situational.

The Masque of Slaanesh

Description:

• A melee beat stick that gives -1 to hit to daemonettes in the fight phase. Also adds +1 to hit against an enemy unit within 1” in the fight phase. Got a pts decrease in CA

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• Saw no competitive play before CA

Mathhammer:

• Durability: below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: below average

Personal opinion:

• A must have with large daemonette units. If they make it into combat with masque they’ll be really hard to kill in the fight phase: multiple -1s to hit, multiple -1 attack auras, fighting first. The +1 to hit though is very risky because you’re placing a T3 5++ model on the front line.

RATING: Situational–Competitive. Completely dependant on the Slaanesh battalion being competitive

Infernal Enrapturess:

Description:

• The new hawtness. 24” range to make enemy perils on a double. She can summon Slaanesh daemons with +3 on the roll and resurrect a model from units within 6” on a 6 every turn.

Tournament results and top player opinion:

• New model.

Mathhammer:

• Durability: very below average (as tends to be with characters)
• Damage: below average

Personal opinion:

• So the resurrection is meh as the most expensive model you’ll usually be resurrecting is a daemonette (6pts) and that’s only on a 6. Fiends and seekers will usually be elsewhere as they’re faster. There’s something to say about resurrecting Slaanesh obliterators though but on a 6… eh… the opponent will usually want to finish them off anyway. The summoning bonus is slightly useful for summoning daemonettes in a summoning list or summoning Keepers of Secrets as those are very efficient for their pts damage wise. Finally the perils on doubles is pretty good. It increases the chance from 1/18 to 1/6 because the range is the same or bigger than all the attacking spells so armies like Tsons just kinda have to deal with it to use their army and they’re pretty much forced to spend re-rolls on those casts as you can always turn that D3 MW into 2D3 MWs with the daemon stratagem.
• The gun on her is fine but that’s not enough of a reason to take more than 1 of her (since the auras don’t stack). I could see her replacing the 2nd slaanesh herald for flavor or if the meta is offensive/debuffing psyker heavy as those will have to be within 24″ of her. This model remind me of a weaker scrivener – it just has so much stuff piled on it that it can’t ever be THAT bad.

RATING: Situational–Competitive.

 

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