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Greetings,

I've been considering building a Daemon army as of late because I have some old Bloodletters, Chaos Furies and Flesh Hounds sitting around collecting dust since chaos was splt into Woc and DoC. It seems like a shame to have them laying and not use them.

Now as the title would suggest I'm curious to know what the essential units are for DoC and why. From the battle reports and army lists I have looked at it would seem that Bloodletters and Flamers the two most impoartant units. I've only seen a smattering of lists with Pink Horrors or Daemonettes. What is it about Bloodletters that make them better then Daemonettes or Horrors and what other units for the DoC are important to have?

Bloodletters have Strength 5 and Killing Blow, they also get hatred with a herald and reroll misses the first round of combat with a unit. Daemonettes get the Always Strike First which lets them reroll misses of their Initiative is higher then their opponent at all times, however their strong benefit over 'letters was their 2 attacks and only 1 attacks are allowed from the 2nd rank so 3 attacks for the unit in front and unit behind while 'letters get 2 for the one in front one behind at 2 more strength and killing blow. A horde of Bloodletters beat my 11 strong Ogre bull unit to a pulp before I had a chance to strike back.

Horrors are great too their unit size increases their magic level, my friend took 39 in our 1,250 battle with a herald giving him a level 2 and level 4 wizard and he dominated the magic phase. Add in a Herald of Tzennetch and their ward save goes from a natural 5+ to a 4+. So ditch the Daemonettes and Plaguebearers and go with lots of Bloodletters and Horrors. Flamers are great take a unit of 5-6 they will allow you to participate in the shooting phase.

Interesting. Heralds are hero choices right? Also, what about special and rare choices? Are there units from those categories which are important to have?

Well, I've never played daemons, but I've played about 15-20 games against them, if that helps.

First and foremost, the greater daemons are huge. I know they require like 2k games at a minimum to field, but they add a punch the rest of the army can't.

As stated, bloodletters are a solid unit, S5 KB is almost too good to pass up, add the herald and now they have hatred as well. In 4 games against a guy at my LGS, his letters have torn apart both of my hydras in 2 of the games, in the other 2, he conceded on turn 2 and the other I didn't take a hydra!

Horrors are great when you get their level up. The tzeentch spells are pretty good, but their main strength is they give you a lvl 4 in sub 2k games, which is great for both casting and dispelling.

Never played against deamonettes, so I'll refrain from comment.

Plaguebearers took a hit this edition with their regen not stacking with the ward anymore, but they are still their only T4 core unit, have poisoned attacks, and the nurgle herald can take some nasty items.

As far as rare choices go, bloodcrushers are a wrecking crew, if it wasn't for my dark elves higher initiative, I would have been toast on more than 1 occasion.

Flamers are also pretty good, with the potential to pump out a crazy amount of shots from a relatively small platform, they're mobil (being able to march and shoot) and can hurt things being S4 shots. And with S5 in combat, still are no slouch, though WS2 hurts.

Haven't faced beasts of nurgle, but I could imagine they would take a back seat to the other options.

Fiends are great warmachine hunters (or in my case, chasing down my lone casters). That M10 is crazy.

As far as the specials go, the fleshhounds of khorne are a great unit, and their 2+ward save to magic is kind of sexy. My brother almost always takes a unit with karanak in them. They just hurt when they hit things. Put them on a flank and watch your opponent sweat thinking of ways to hurt them.

Seekers seem like a pretty solid unit, they're fast cav right? I don't have a book, but I'd assume a unit w/ M10 to be fast cav... the AP they come with is a nice bonus considering the S3. Their points put them close to most other armies' fast cav iirc.

Screamers could be fun, with their little swoop attack deal they have going on. Once again, never fought them so can't say too much.

Nurglings look like they can be quite the pest. Packing more punch than your average swarm. They have poisoned attacks and a great unclean one can spawn more of them. Haven't fought them either, but have seen them used effectively in battle reports.

Anyway, if I missed a unit, it's because I can't remember it, just commenting on mostly what I've faced personally.

Heralds of Tzennetch also can get Mastery of Sorcery for 25pts giving them access to any of the lores in the rulebook.