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So what's the general opinion on Khorne Berserkers?

Are they worth taking?

If they are worth taking, what's the best way to run them/use them on the field?

They can be good. Typically, you can get most of what they do with other units, even just CSM with Mark of Khorne. And those are cheaper.

The way that I run my squad is in a dreadclaw drop pod so that they can sit inside and then Kharn and friends can assault the turn after without getting shot at (ideally)

You can throw them in a land raider and roll up the field.

I'm open to other ideas....could use Be'Lakor to make a giant squad of them invisible.

I play Khorne Daemonkin, and I'm not even considering getting any Berserkers at this point. I have a squad of regular CSM with CCW's instead of Bolters to do what Berserkers do, plus the CSM can take meltaguns (useful to make the squad able to kill vehicles after disembarking from a Rhino). Berserkers really need a Land Raider to be effective, but they can't take one as a dedicated transport, meaning you have to waste a Heavy Support slot. To me, they just aren't worth it. To be fair, the CSM are not much better, but at least they can take special weapons and are cheaper (although they do lack Fearless).

They're gak. Pure and simple. They get no hidden Power Fists, have little in the way of transportation, and generally don't perform too well for the cost, or end up killing the target TOO well, which leaves them open (and dying, because they're MEQ for 19 points).

MoK Marines will do what you need for less, and MoK Terminators will be able to handle more targets.

I put a dark apostle in a medium size squad with icon of wrath. They'd be obscured by a Rhino for cover.

Sometimes the dark apostle would be marked khorne with an axe of blind fury.

Was kind of fun against in games where your opponent would want to come at you, but they definitely didn't pull their weight.

The formation where they can assault out of the drop pod on the same turn it arrives can be quite handy. Run 3 of those formations and you will have 40 angry berzerkers assaulting on the 1st turn. The formation is called Fist of Khorne.

I've stop even looking at their unit entry as a viable option in my Khorne Daemonkin army ages ago. If Chaos had access to LR Crusaders and the berserkers themselves could get power weapons then we'd be in business. Sadly we cannot


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Xerics wrote:
The formation where they can assault out of the drop pod on the same turn it arrives can be quite handy. Run 3 of those formations and you will have 40 angry berzerkers assaulting on the 1st turn. The formation is called Fist of Khorne.

Just pointing out that you still can't assault after your arrive from reserves. So you have to sit in the transport for a turn before disembarking and assaulting.

Not with the Fist of Khorne formation. They can immediately assault upon arriving from reserves.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hungry for Blood: This Formation's units of Berzerkers must begin the game embarked upon this formations Kharybdis Assault Claw. This unit can charge on the same turn that it disembarks from the Kharybdis Assault Claw.

 Xerics wrote:
Not with the Fist of Khorne formation. They can immediately assault upon arriving from reserves.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hungry for Blood: This Formation's units of Berzerkers must begin the game embarked upon this formations Kharybdis Assault Claw. This unit can charge on the same turn that it disembarks from the Kharybdis Assault Claw.

Right. But you still cannot assault on a turn you arrive from reserves. If the formation said you can assault on the turn you arrive from reserves like the Skyhammer does, then you'd be golden. But it doesn't say that. This says essentially that the assault claw is an assault vehicle. So you have to sit in the vehicle that turn it arrives, then charge your next turn.

No you don't. When a drop pod comes down you can leave it the same turn. This is the idea that space marines use all the time. If the Berzerkers leave the pod on the turn the pod comes down they can assault. The Assault Clas is already an assault vehicle in its rules. It wouldn't make sense to give the formation Hungry for Blood if it just gave them the ability to do something that is already granted by the vehicle itself. The rule says they can assault the same turn they leave the vehicle. If they leave it on turn 1, they can assault turn 1.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/10/tactica-khorne-daemonkin-fist-of-khorne.html

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/649067.page

Link to the YMDC on this subject for anyone interested. We will agree to disagree so we don't derail the thread.

Aside from the point of people who hate things that assault out of reserves (Mostly Shooty armies anyways) The Fist Of Khorne Formation is god awefully expensive and leaves your army almost null against other things, like heavy armor or anything above AV 13. Which is your opponent decides to bring, you're boned.

Wasnt there a fellow who brought one of those formations to one of the tourny's and the judge deemed that because the rule of the claw specifically states they can assault the turn they disembark it over rode the BRB? Personally I think having a rule written for an reason that is rather clear only to have people say they dont like it because X and Y dont agree with one another in the BRB is pretty distasteful on a Wargamers part, but thats a whole can of worms I wont TFG into nor bring up.

I don't play chaos, but I've played against berserkers once, and compared to what some other faction CC units can do (looking at you, Space Wolves), I wasn't terribly impressed. Also, the chaos player joked, "Wow, all ten berserkers are charging at once instead of dying like idiots. What a novelty."

Nothing in the CSM book is worth taking bar the heldrake and Belakor.

Berzerkers are considered bad in a codex that's widely considered the worst dex currently available. That should tell you all you need to know.

Edit;

If you must take them, then Kharn, 3 units of Zerkers in land raiders and a pair of heldrakes can give some armies fits, especially Tau without a stormsurge, but that's becoming increasingly uncommon these days, and the list certainly can't compete against the big boys, but then you're taking CSM, you shouldn't be playing at the big boys table anyway.

 Ignatius wrote:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/649067.page

Link to the YMDC on this subject for anyone interested. We will agree to disagree so we don't derail the thread.

What's there to disagree on? The formation is giving explicit permission for the Berserker Marines to charge from the Claw, already an Assault Vehicle. I know GW doesn't always proofread, but it is honestly stupid to argue they can't charge.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I play Khorne Daemonkin, and I'm not even considering getting any Berserkers at this point. I have a squad of regular CSM with CCW's instead of Bolters to do what Berserkers do, plus the CSM can take meltaguns (useful to make the squad able to kill vehicles after disembarking from a Rhino). Berserkers really need a Land Raider to be effective, but they can't take one as a dedicated transport, meaning you have to waste a Heavy Support slot. To me, they just aren't worth it. To be fair, the CSM are not much better, but at least they can take special weapons and are cheaper (although they do lack Fearless).

That's unfortunate. Khorne berserkers look amazing. In terms of fluff and aesthetics, they are really cool units.

Here is my experience with them,
Versus IG: Shot before they can assault.
Versus Orks: Killed a couple of boyz then got wiped out.
Versus a different chaos player: Got wiped out by a different Bezerker unit.

Bezerkers are so bad they can't even win against themselves. (Don't take that too seriously)

It is such a shame too: My first ever 40k models were three brilliantly painted bezerkers that I keep on display.

I'd love to take more khorne berserk, but they just don't work. They don't perform well in combat even when they charge. Unless you gave them chain axes and they're assaulting a unit that is vulnerable to those. But then they wipe the unit and die in the next shooting phase without fail. The last time they did anything for me was back when you could charge into another combat when consolidating, where they were frigging awesome as far as I'm concerned.
Without that they're pretty much dead weight unfortunately. The legacy that gives them feel no pain does go a long way to improve them mind you, but that works for (almost) everything else with a mark of khorne too.