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I'm new to KDK and I've been brewing how to kit out my HQs. Here are the three I currently am contemplating running:

Lord - Juggernaut, Sigil, Fist, LC, Blood Forged Armour

This guy comes in at a whopping price but I think would serve as a devastating warlord. Is the armour worth it? Should I add the familiar? Should I drop the sigil? He will likely run as a deathstar with the Herald and a group of 15-20 flesh hounds. He seems quite underwhelming at base S4 and no good way of increasing it other than with the tide (better things to do) or with a fist.

Herald - Juggernaut, Exalted Locus of Wrath

The daemon buffmander, I was thinking of running him with a large group of hounds for some good hatred. Is the blade of endless bloodshed worth it, so he can get an extra attack? What other wargear would be good on this model? I was also thinking of running a Daemons Herald allied in with this wargear and a grimoire for extra value.

Lord - Bike, Kor' Lath Axe of Ruin

The least, but still expensive. Still only S4 which is quite bad for how many points he costs. I really like the mechanic of summoning a BT but with the extra wounds he would take, is it worth it?


Thanks!!

If you could take that armor with the fancy Axe, it would be worth it. You can't though.

I'd treat a Lord like I would a Juggerlord in the vanilla CSM codex. Run him with Spawn and give him that Axe that gets more powerful.

I've never had a Herald make his points back. He's a budget HQ when you just need a throwaway in that slot.

I've also never had deathstars work in KDK due to the fact that it goes against the entire idea of the codex (MSU) and you can't really make a powerful one.

What I've seen work well is a Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack and Korlath. Super cheap, doesn't have to do anything but survive till you turn him into a daemon prince and get a free bloodthirster, then his whole purpose is to run headlong into the enemy and either kill a bunch or die trying, in which case you get another free bloodthirster. Remember those wounds you take can be invul saved.

When you start making your HQ more expensive than your possessed you need to dedicate a lot of protection to him which is annoying. I've found going cheap for the better payoff (more summons) works better than thinking you're making some kind of reckting machine which, in todays shooting meta, won't even make it to the enemy half the time until you flood the board with high priority targets.

I run a similar unit of dogs, herald and lord and it has been pretty good. I'd never pay the blood armor thou I've always thought that it is way too much for Eternal Warrior and FNP, I'm usually against paying double for stuff so probably that's it.

I run mine with goredrinker instead and it has proven to be a great weapon, specially with the herald in the same unit as he can accept challenges instead of the lord so that he can usually charge up his weapon or wipe the rest of the unit.

Maybe try the Skull-helm and an Axe of Khorne instead of the armor and the lightning claw. 20 points cheaper, and probably more effective overall. I just got my Juggerlord model, so I haven't run one yet. I've always run my Lord on foot with the Possessed, and they actually work well together. I run them up the board in a rhino, then disembark and try to weather the storm that comes their way before they can charge.

For KDK the HQ I've had most success with is a Lord with Juggernaut, Sigil, Goredrinker, Lightning Claw and Combat Familiar. I usually join him with a small to medium (10 or less) hound unit from the Gorepack Formation, and have a second hound unit in close attendance so that the Lord can swap between them if need be, and you have a unit on hand to eat powerful Overwatch attacks. The Lord isn't really buffing the hounds the way a Herald with the Hatred Loci would be, so I find it better to not run a maxed out hound unit. This fits better with the MSU approach that benefits KDK so much due to the Blood Tithe system.

Scout the group forwards, then move (and run if necessary) to get into a decent position (hopefully in cover) to set up a Turn 2 charge against a fairly weak unit. This should easily let you cover the width/length of the table and be right next to or in the enemy deployment zone. The Lord has assault grenades so you don't need to worry about an initiative penalty from charging out of ruins for example, and the unit type doesn't suffer the -2" penalty to charge distance for difficult terrain. If all goes well your Lord will cause multiple unsaved Wounds from striking first in this combat and start reaping the benefits of the Goredrinker buffs early on. You'll also probably have killed a character in a challenge for a Blood Tithe Point.

In an ideal world you want to end up still in combat with 1-2 models in this Turn 2 combat so that you can't be shot at in the enemy turn. Providing you finish them off in the enemy turn you can then consolidate and move in your turn to try and set up the next charge. As the Goredrinker tally builds you can begin to target progressively tougher enemy units.

The first key thing to realise with this tactic is that you don't actually have to use the Goredrinker itself to build up the tally, as it counts unsaved Wounds caused by the bearer's melee attacks, not just those afflicted using the axe itself. So use the LC to attack at initiative with AP3 and Shred, allowing you to maximise those wounds. Unsaved Wounds from the Familiar also count towards the tally, hence why this is taken. The familiar is not a separate model but just gives the Lord two extra attacks at a set profile. Don't forget any unsaved Wounds from Hammer of Wrath too.

The second key thing is that the Goredrinker tally affects the bearer, not the axe itself, so in most cases you want to continue using the LC. After causing just 5 unsaved Wounds you can be attacking at initiative with 6 S9 AP3 attacks with Shred, in many cases hitting on 3's, plus any extra attacks you might gain from Rampage. There's also the Combat Familiar attacks but they don't benefit from the Goredrinker tally because of their set profile.

Once your Lord is buffed you can also reliably take on light to medium armour vehicles, and you can also use the Goredrinker itself here for S10 and an extra attack (from the bolt pistol) as I1 doesn't really matter if the vehicle can't attack in CC.

The only slight downside to this loadout is against 2+ saves where you'd really need to use the Goredrinker for its AP2, and therefore go at I1, but if you play it smart and don't expose the unit to focused shooting you can avoid things like terminators and seriously tear through units with 3+ saves or worse, and make a significant dent in the enemy forces.

The problem I've found with Goredrinker is you need to really kit out your lord to Daemon Prince levels for it to be viable, and then you have a unit the enemy knows to focus down before it gets too strong. You might as well be taking a Daemon Prince with Goredrinker and ignore the unwieldy penalty, slamming into enemies with furious charge after a unit of hounds absorbs overwatch or tar pits something down.

Crunched the numbers, a juggerlord with a bought invul save and Goredrinker/LC is sixty points less than a decked out Daemon Prince with the axe. So yeah the lord's cheaper by a unit of cultists and change, might be viable for some. Plus you can always warp the lord into a prince and keep the buffed axe and go on a killing spree with at initiative "power fist" attacks.

Options, options.