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So A friend of mine is still trying to figure out how to best play chaos... in a unit by unit comparison i am starting to think that Slaanesh noise marines with the Icon of Excess make for pretty damn good stand alone units especially with sonic blasters, they have a heavy volume of gunfire, able to take melta bombs, power weapons ect. I am starting to think that also with their higher init score they prove to be pretty damn amazing as well once close combat start though the extra point for the additional close combat weapon kinda blows ... but for the sheer weight of gunfire i suppose it's only fair.

but I am a stranger to the ways of Chaos... so i need a bit of a guide. as far as a stand alone unit compare to others what is your opinion of them?

are they capable assualters if the need arises?

Does the FNP pay off?

Just how devastating can the sonic weapons be?

Doom siren seems pretty powerful any opinions?

I would say that they are better being kitted out to a single role, rather than making them "Jack-of-all-traders", otherwise it ends up being crazily expensive.

So, for a shooty unit, I would recommend something like:

Noise Marines - 252pts.
w/ 10 x Members, Icon of Excess, Blastmaster, 4 x Sonic Blaster.

Here, you have 4 ablative wounds in the form of the Champ and 3 naked Noise Marines to soak up fire whilst the Sonic Weapons blast away at the opponent. Best place for these guys would be just before the centre-line in your deployment zone to get best map-coverage.

For a close combat unit:

Noise Marines - 222pts.
w/ 9 x Members, Icon of Excess, Swapped CCWs, VotLW, Lightning Claw, Meltabombs, Doom Siren.

This unit is quite a scary bully unit, with a rhino they can advance quickly and still have a Slaaneshi Lord attached to them to make the a very scary linebreaker. Keeping them mobile is key.

Feel no Pain is definately worth the points, especially with the CC Noise Marines, it gives them tremendous staying power and allows them to be able to beat some dedicated assault troops.

Hope this helps!

Well, in the former editions I used NM in Rhinos, 6 Marines w/ bolter, bp, ccw, incl. AC w/ power weapon, melta bombs, doom siren. It worked pretty well.
However, this edition is more shooty and I'd add some ablative wounds to the squad.
Sonic blasters and blastmasters are not really worth it.

Noise Marines are NOT built for combat. All they do is strike before MEQ do, and while that's not to be underestimated, it's just a bonus on top of their shooting. Sonic weapons are why you take NM-you get a lot of shots, and/or some high strength decent AP shots. The Doom Siren is sweet but expensive, so use it only if you intend to get up close and personal (I wouldn't recommend it, just sit in cover and shoot, just one Overwatch with a DS isn't worth it). So while you can adapt them to many roles, they're best at shooting with their crazy salvo weapons, and keep the cost in check-they're not indestructible.
Concerning the Icon of Excess, I would only take it if you want to take just a single blob or two large blobs of NM, and even then, it would give me pause for thought. It's really expensive, and don't expect to be as tough as our Plague brethren, since we lack T5. If you take several units of NM, you should give serious thought to just taking another squad instead of giving them all icons.

the icon is worth it if you are already taking MoS(noise marines have it standard) and if you are going to be protecting 9+ wounds. So with a full squad yes, a half squad and an attached lord yes. A 5 man with doom siren no.

5 man with ccw, doom siren, rhino. Cheap effective objective clearers.

Two units of 5 are better than a unit of 10. Two doom sirens!

I don't like the sonic blasters. Too expensive and ignore cover isn't all that great on weapons with no ap.

Blastmaster seems too pricey too for the 10 men you have to buy with it. For the price of the unit there are better shooting options. 3 obliterators would be cheaper.

Or another option is to roll them with all sonic blasters, a blast master, icon of excess, and a Slaaneshi sorcerer kitted with mastery level 3, mark of slaanesh, and a steed. Gives you a huge, durable, outflanking unit, coupled with the socerer can do a crapload of damage. Symphony of pain is just ridiculous coupled with the amount of shots that they can get. Here is how i run them. (Keep in mind that this gets pretty expensive, and that i take them as allies)

Sorcerer 175
Two Extra Mastery Levels, Mark of slaanesh, Spell Familiar, Steed of slaanesh, Power Fist
Elites
Noise Marines (12) 322
7 More Noise Marines, 11 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Doom Siren, Icon of Excess


Now you have a really powerful unit that can keep enemy units from getting to your objective, or can outflank and take a throwaway unit trying to hold an objective, like cultists or grots or kabalyte warriors behind an aegis trying to hold an objective. And if they get caught in combat, they are still potent

Sounds like too many points tied up in one unit.

Or make sorcerer non marked and non steed and roll all 3 powers on biomancy and go for the relentless, FnP one so they can salvo 3 and move