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The eight edition is upon us and the way which Khorne daemons and mortals fight together has fundamentally changed. By next week the KDK is a thing of the past and It is all but uncertain if the forces of Khorne will ever get an unifying codex again. But this edition bears Khorne's sacred number and we would be damned to break allegiance with his gaze upon us!

So this thread is to exclusively discuss units with the Keyword KHORNE or WORLD EATERS on it. With the way the new books work, we can still field a Khorne army consisting of mortals, marines and daemons, but the way this works is considerably different to KDK of old. Most special rules are now gone, so are formations which made some units like Bikes and Hounds particularly popular. On the flip-side, we are now able to field more units than before. Even Khornes favorite marine can join the fray, something I was particularly looking forward to.¨

Units themselves have seen quite some changes, and while it's difficult to compare them to their 7th edition counterparts, given how much the core game mechanics have changed, there will be some shifts in popularity. Berserkers for instance have always been he iconic world eater unit. Unfortunately for the past few incarnations, they have been severely under-performing. This seem to change, as Berserkers are now cheaper, attack twice and have some useful weapon options.

These are but a few things of note by looking over the leaked stats. More analyses and opinions are welcome. I'll include them in the first post.


Blood for the Blood God!

World Eaters look very strong this edition. I am definitely excited to give them a try.

I assume you mostly want to talk about Kharn, Lord of Skulls, and Berzerkers, etc, but i think it is important to note that nearly all of the other Chaos units can have the Mark of Khorne, and even more (such as Noise/Rubric/Plauge Marines) can also and be Wold Eaters, which lets them benefit from Kharn's re-rolls, Psychic Powers, and Chaos Lord/Daemon Prince/Dark Apostle re-rolls.

Another thing to note is that although Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons can certainly be in the same army together, their units do not effect each other with most of their abilities, most notably re-rolls and psychic powers. The Chaos Daemon Prince is an exception to this, as his re-rolls of 1s effect both his <Legion> and other daemons of the same god, making it a good choice for a KDK style list. Because the HQ aura abilities and psychic powers are so good this edition, this is a somewhat important thing to think about.

Because of all that, it is probably good to focus mostly on either C:SM or Daemons as a default, unless/until you have a particular combo or theme in mind.

All that being said, I think Berserkers seem great, and i am sure they will be the core to any world eaters list. I plan to try out a list with 40 or so in 4 rhinos with 1-2 dark apostles for the re-rolls. This is about 1100 points depending on the exact loadout, so still plenty of room for either more assault units, some shooting elements, Khorne daemons, etc.

jcd386 wrote:
(such as Noise/Rubric/Plauge Marines) can also and be Wold Eaters, which lets them benefit from Kharn's re-rolls, Psychic Powers, and Chaos Lord/Daemon Prince/Dark Apostle re-rolls..

... ich. These units have a mark, which is not the mark of khorne. So cannot be world eaters.
Granted the language is vague, but really? Lets not.

It's dead Jim.

Captyn_Bob wrote:

jcd386 wrote:
(such as Noise/Rubric/Plauge Marines) can also and be Wold Eaters, which lets them benefit from Kharn's re-rolls, Psychic Powers, and Chaos Lord/Daemon Prince/Dark Apostle re-rolls..

... ich. These units have a mark, which is not the mark of khorne. So cannot be world eaters.
Granted the language is vague, but really? Lets not.

I agree it's not very fluffy, but they can clearly be in the Wold Eaters army since they are on the pages listed, they just can't be forced to choose Korne since they don't have <Mark of Chaos>. As written, anyway.

That being said, feel free to put whatever you want in your army. I was just talking about the options they now have.

They do have a mark of chaos. Read the into rules, if listed with a God entry that is thier mark of chaos specified for them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
There is some synergy to be had . Heralds and bloodthirsters have auras that trigger of Khorne Daemon units.

As almost all can units can be marked, and quite a few are daemon (inc juggerlord) they should benefit.

jcd386 wrote:


Another thing to note is that although Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons can certainly be in the same army together, their units do not effect each other with most of their abilities, most notably re-rolls and psychic powers. The Chaos Daemon Prince is an exception to this, as his re-rolls of 1s effect both his <Legion> and other daemons of the same god, making it a good choice for a KDK style list. Because the HQ aura abilities and psychic powers are so good this edition, this is a somewhat important thing to think about.

not true you can have a X god or unaligned sorcerer and cast warp time on something like berzerkers... In fact as unfluffy as it is this is a pretty sweet tactic for zerkers exiting a rhino with a biked or jump pack sorcerer near by

I'm going to run a screening unit of 10 flesh hounds supported by a deamon prince and herald on jugger. +1 Strength and rerolling 1s in combat, in addition to +1 str and +1 attack during the first round of combat, and flesh hounds could make a few dents before my rhino full of zerkers + Kharn rolls in. Another two units of 5 flesh hounds will be moving around the side to flank and prevent enemy models from retreating. I'm also trying to fit a Bloodthirster somewhere in there, maybe some Warp Talons, a Helbrute or two. So many options...

Captyn_Bob wrote:
They do have a mark of chaos. Read the into rules, if listed with a God entry that is thier mark of chaos specified for them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
There is some synergy to be had . Heralds and bloodthirsters have auras that trigger of Khorne Daemon units.

As almost all can units can be marked, and quite a few are daemon (inc juggerlord) they should benefit.

They have a mark of chaos, but they do not have the <Mark of Choas> keyword, the place holder that lets you pick which mark of chaos you want. If they had <Mark of Chaos> they would have to pick Khorne, but since they don't, they can't pick Khorne. They can however be in a World Eater's army, because they are Heretic Astartes with datasheets found on pages 16 to 42, meaning that their <Legion> placeholder can become World Eaters (see page 45 of the Chaos book for the rules). That's how it is written anyway. So you could have a unit of Noise Marines that are <Legion> World Eaters.

Most of the Abilities that give rerolls etc say they only effect <Legion>, meaning that a World Eaters Chaos Lord can let the World Eaters Noise Marines re-roll their 1s to hit.

The Chaos Psychic powers effect anything with the Heretic Astartes keyword, meaning that any Chaos Sorcerer can cast powers on any other chaos marine unit with that rule, regardless of the <Legion> or <Mark of Chaos> faction keywords.

I would expect an FAQ/Errata to kill the non-fluffy unit options (like WE Noise Marines).

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I would expect an FAQ/Errata to kill the non-fluffy unit options (like WE Noise Marines).

Yeah, hopefully when the Codex drops it goes away. I agree it's weird / not fluffy. Again I am just commenting that is it currently legal and an option if you wanted to do it.

What is the best way to run Zerkers? MSU ? 2 CCW ?

I feel that in most instances, you want 2 CCW. Pistols are great, and I guess more versatile. Able to shoot within '1 and shoot when your enemy falls back is pretty great. However, 2 CCW for 1 point is soooo good on Zerkers. Stacks onto having 2 fight phases. If your Zerkers didn't kill everything it touches in the fight phase, or at the very least maimed it beyond all belief - you picked the wrong fight. Also bolt pistols on Zerkers are extremely underwhelming, the BS 3+ and it being completely overshadowed by CCW makes it a no brainer for me.
Plasma pistols feel a bit expensive for what they do. Great for killing GEQ, but T4 is most the player base. Supercharge is always a risky business. Again, the BS 3+ doesn't help.

I feel that the most versatile build is 10 zerkers. 7 with 2 CCW (one with icon of wrath), 2 with plasma pistols, and your champ with lightning claw(s). Zerkers goal in life should be killing T4 and lower. I feel this build does that. Cost 204 points though, without Rhino.

Also I agree that Dark Apostle syncs super well with Zerkers. However does that stack with the Chaos Lord's one. Say I had a Lord and a Apostle. I re-roll my failed hits because of their ability (which goes first depends on how many 1s you rolled), can you then re-roll all the ones you failed again? Might sound a bit obvious, but that might really change how people player Zerkers.
Having 2 full squads of CCW Zerkers supported by a Lord and Apostle can be a super strong strategy, especially when this edition has no more templates.