Warhammer 40K: How Good Is Every Chaos Army?
Every Warhammer 40K Chaos army got an updated Codex/Index – here’s where they stand in the meta now.
Overall the Chaos option are pretty good with the majority setting up to be pressure style builds that reward higher level of play. Almost all of them hit very hard, reward smart deployments, and really are some of the heavy hitters within any given tournament. The fact we have seven Chaos army options that are all pretty decent with multiple levels of play is pretty awesome for 10th Edition.
World Eaters
We’ll start with my favorite army currently – the World Eaters. I think outside of the cults it is a bit weaker with rules that feel pretty fair, points that should probably drop in a few places, and a play style that isn’t just hoping you go first and make your charges. Yes the army is an aggressive one, but has changed from the index to become a more mid-range army with some powerful shooting and stacked combat options. The reworked Index detachment feels pretty fun and the daemon combo Khorne Daemonkin option is also very good. I think the army has to work a lot harder then some of the other ones we will look at but still rewards the player with a fun time and rewarding interactions. You see some point drops on important MSU units (Eightbound and Exalted Eightbound) and you could see this army become a lot more powerful.
Emperor’s Children
The newest Cult Legion to be fully added is the Emperor’s Children that has really replaced the speed we had with the old World Eater index. This army is fast, punishes foes, and feels pretty fun. I think the lack of choices hurts it more than the other books but it really makes up for this with a detachment that lets you bowling ball over the enemy. I do hope we see some things added to the book in the future with some things to help cover “long ranged” damage options like a Predator or just a cool Helbrute. This is one of the armies I want to work on in the future and feel with the new updated Chaos Knight book and point levels could help shore up the army with some long range damage from a Despoiler throwing out piles of Daemonbreath Thermal Cannon fire.
Chaos Knights
We’ll go the Chaos Knights next as it is the newest codex and with the points really pushing bigs might be a giant spoiler for a lot of other “aggressive” assault books. Yes they lost a point of Toughness but having 4+ bigs running around, sticking objectives, and just getting in the way is a huge hurdle for some armies to get through. I really think this is a great fast army to play for just about anyone and could be a great forgiving book. We have to wait for the Forge World update to truly see how important some of the bigs will become but just be prepared to hit a tabletop and see 4-5 Chaos Knight giants ready to rush forward, throw out a ton of damage, and make you wonder how you can get OC6 on an objective.
CSMs
Chaos Space Marines have a few builds that are important right now. This is the king of pressure builds with things like the Creations of Bile and Pactbound causing a lot of trouble. Really the Codex can just about kill anything with so many different options. Vindicators are still amazing, Possessed still seem good, and now we have Lord Discordants to worry about. Renegade Raiders are amazing and having the ability to pull in any of the cult troops becomes a hassle when you combo it with different detachment rules. This army is good and even though it is older in the book release schedule you can always expect them to be in the top with just damage, pressure, and powerful rules and interactions.
Chaos Daemons
Chaos Daemons is also an interesting one with the Index update and the Shadow Legion detachment really amplifying their power. A buddy from Texas did amazing with the Index Detachment and 6″ deepstriking Bloodthirsters coming in hot and throwing out damage. The Khorne side of things looks really good and just the overall power of giant monsters, good saves, tons of wounds, and damage potential looks to be taking players towards the top. I do wonder how it will do when Chaos Knights start running around but will just have to wait and see.
Thousand Sons
Thousand Sons looks very good and while it isn’t my favorite army to play with a lot of other players are loving its rules interactions and powerful damage. They are going to move all over the place, have things that feel too cheap, and can just about kill anything. Their new Ritual set up looks pretty forgiving and while they limit some of the nonsense it is still full of nonsense that will probably wreck you. I expect will see some point changes coming and I hope the players building the army didn’t go to hard into some things that might get too expensive. I know a client is sending me more things to paint up once I finish his Emperor’s Children commission.
Death Guard
Finally we have Death Guard and the army I feel will get hit pretty hard whenever the next true update comes or some kind of emergency point shift. I don’t think their rules will get massively changed and would rather see the army just get less things on the tabletop. It is just hard for me to think that a 100 point mini tank that combos with a character, is hard to kill, and throws out a ton of damage costs so little. The army sorta feels like it does too many things and just has too much stuff. Yes you can kill these stinky bois but it feels like there are too many more on the tabletop. Right now their win rates look really high which should be more than enough for GW to take notice – but we might be in for gross ride for awhile.
What do you think? Is this a right idea? Do you think Death Guard and Thousand Sons going to be the best out of all the Chaos Stuff? Will some sneaky CSM builds get through with Crit 5 Vindicators leading the way? Will we finally see a Lord Discordant on the top tables?
Death to the False Emperor!
