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Hi there, so I am trading for a large Chaos Daemons army, of which I have no experience. I have read the codex but do not own it yet and would like some advice on how to build an effective Daemons list. The might just get sold right off the bag (an if you're interested, feel free to PM me) but anyway, here's the list of what I'm getting

Keeper of Secrets
Bloodthirster
Daemon Prince with wings, armor, sword (painted nurgly)
Epidemius

4 Beasts of Nurgle
3 Bloodcrushers (NIB, might build, might not)

30 Bloodletters
12 Plague Bearers
10 Pink Horrors
10 Daemonettes

Soul Grinder
Forge world Blood Slaughterer of Khorne Impaler

I've considered just throwing everything in a list and spending points until it fits 2250 or 2500 but nobody plays that high of points levels and I can't really take that to any tourneys, so I was thinking a 1000, 1500 or 1850 pts level list. If you see something that catches your eye and might be a good idea for a daemons army, just chime in, like I said, I have no experience playing this army so every little bit helps!

The armies that do consistently well in my area include:

Fateweaver
2-3 Heralds of Tzeentch on Discs (One with Portalglyph and one with Grimoire of True Names)
Some Plaguebearers babysitting an Aegis Defense Line with Quadcannon
A few squads of 15+ Horrors
9 Screamers
As many Level 2 or 3 Tzeentch Demon Princes with Wings and Warp-forged armor as you can fit.

Everything except the Plaguebearers re-roll failed saves of "1" and with lots of Heralds as your second HQ slot you have a good chance of getting multiple Heralds with Forewarning. Fateweaver lets you re-roll the Grimoire test when trying to give a Tzeentch demon unit that has Forewarning +2 to it's Invulnerable Saves. Screamerstar, as it's called, apparently. The portalglyph craps out d6 Lesser Demons. If you have CSM allies to get a Heldrake, Scryer's Gaze works great for making it arrive.

After people use this list, they don't look back.. but some variants include Seekers or Flesh Hounds instead of Screamers. Maybe a Greater Unclean One with the Grimoire instead of a Herald.

This makes me think that maybe "shooting isn't king" but "psykers are king" in this edition which is a bit ridiculous considering we don't even have a "Psyker" step like they have a magic phase in Fantasy.

Are there Daemon builds that use less Psykers that still do well or is this pretty much "how you play Daemons in 6th edition"?

There are some but many use some of the tactics illustrated above. Taking Fateweaver gives you more control over the Warp Storm table, which is an important part of playing Daemons in the first place so it's no surprise that people take him. It's safe to say that Tzeentch demons are the best at the moment.

To answer your question, there are a lot of Nurgle Daemon lists in my area that do well with low psyker count but they still at least use Demon Princes a lot because of how good Biomancy is. As for the rest of the world, I haven't cared enough to research Daemons tactics in 6th edition besides observing (and using) them in my area

How about something like this? A 1500 pt Khorne-y assault list with support units courtesy of Papa Nurgle.

HQ:
Bloodthirster, One Lesser Reward, Two Greater Rewards

Daemon Prince of Nurgle, Wings, Mastery Level 2, either buy the 3+ Armor or gamble the same points on greater rewards

Elite:
3 Bloodcrushers

Troops:
20 Bloodletters (I'd like to buy the banner here but not sure)

10 Plaguebearers

Heavy Support:
Soul Grinder of Nurgle with Phlegm Bombardment

Daemon Prince of Khorne, Wings

Skull Cannon of Khorne

Seems kind of gimmicky but so do Tzeentch daemons so it's really less about that and more about whether or not it would be effective. I'd have to proxy the skull cannon and 2nd daemon prince to try this list. Maybe the Impaler is about the same size as the cannon, not really sure.

I think that is actually a good 1500pt list..

Consider giving the bloodcrushers an icon and deep striking the blood letters off them. That gives you more things in their face turn 2. Also, a grimoire on something to use on the crushers so they get a little more survivability.

Also, given that you're going all assaulty here the daemonettes might serve better than plaguebearers, who won't be doing much more than catching bullets. Or better yet, put a portalglyph in there somewhere for the daemonettes to pop out of.

Yeah I was kind of hoping the plague bearers would just catch bullets. I need a scoring unit to sit on a back field objective considering like 5/6 games are objectives now. I would swap them out for Daemonettes or just take a portal glyph but the first is more fragile and the second isn't consistent enough to always land a unit on the objective when I need it (ie the last turn of them game) I would probably hold the plagues in reserve as long as I can, and then have them walk onto the field to claim an objective in my DZ. I might use the portal glyph anyway. It's definitely an option but I still have to take my mandatory two troops choices.

So looking over my options, DS the pack of 20 bloodletters using the Crushers with an icon could actually work, because running the letters up normally would probably get them into the thick of it turn 3 anyway so I could save them a turn of being shot at by holding them in reserve

As much fun as a 300 point Bloodthirster with a ton of gifts is, I think I'm just going to run him bare and give his two greater rewards to the Khornate Daemon prince. He needs them a lot more. The lesser reward I was going to put on him will pay for the Bloodcrusher icon. And I'm just going to buy the armor on the Nurgle Prince. No point in messing around with gambling for it. He needs that 3+ save so he can keep flying around casting powers and occasionally swooping in to smash something