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Inspired by the info on the Chaos Leviathan Dreadnought, and why I feel it's worth every point.

In short, Battleshock can be an absolute killer. This is something I learned in AoS, so naturally I'm looking for ways to best exploit it in 8th Ed.

Now, the Chaos Leviathan has access to the pricey Butcher Cannon Array. As pure stats, it's mostly a middling weapon. 8 strength 8 shots is tasty, but it's AP -1 and Damage 2 is perhaps a bit 'meh', especially as it's 80 points a pop....but....when it slays an enemy model, that unit suffers -2 Ld to the end of the turn. And that's where it becomes my go-to weapon.

That's a nasty sting for my opponent. The gun itself is probably capable of inflicting that golden causality in most turns of the game, even against multi wound infantry. And because Battleshock takes into account all the casualties suffered in a turn, it's a solid coup de grace.

Consider this. I play Thousand Sons. In theory (yet to play a game, hence the discussion) a Leviathan with two of these can be teamed up with two units of Rubricae to mess up enemy units in double quick time, especially smaller, more expensive units such as Terminators. Because with the combined casualties and that precious -2, even a middling body count can quickly become a Battleshock disaster.

Granted, it's not going to worry armies with native ways round Battleshock (Orks and Nids spring to mind, possibly Guard if they've got a strong Commisarial presence). But for anyone else, my opponent faces the very real chance of losing two whole units a turn. Nasty, yes? Especially if I can somehow pull it off early on, as it helps mitigate my typically lower model count. Worst case scenario is I instead force my opponent to expend two Command Points to preserve on of the units....

I'm currently on the look out for other ways to drop that Ld further - an effort hampered by not owning the main Chaos Index!

But what tricks do others have up their sleeves to make the most of this new approach to Ld? Be it ways to reliably mitigate your Battleshock, or cripple your opponents?

Raptors add +1 morale to enemies within 1 inch. Zhufor (FW Khorne Terminator Character) adds +1 to morale to all enemy units within 6 inches. Deep strike both in and shoot down an entire unit of something.

Hmmm... the -2 modifier has a potential to be knarly.

Would that make Treason of Tzeentch more effective?

 whembly wrote:
Hmmm... the -2 modifier has a potential to be knarly.

Would that make Treason of Tzeentch more effective?

The -2 modifier happens when you shoot at an enemy, ergo during the shooting phase and after you've already done your casting.

Well, that's that one answered!

Still quite far behind on unit knowledge, so do keep it coming.

All races and factions welcome in the discussion

Arachnofiend wrote:

 whembly wrote:
Hmmm... the -2 modifier has a potential to be knarly.

Would that make Treason of Tzeentch more effective?

The -2 modifier happens when you shoot at an enemy, ergo during the shooting phase and after you've already done your casting.

But how long does the modifier last? Usually, LD modifiers seem to be lasting until "the next *phase when it happened*"

Which means next turn's psychic phase it'd theoretically still be in place.

The butchercannon says the the modifier doesn't stack.
This appears to be an open ended restriction, so it won't stack with anything.

Saying that, there are a lot of things in the chaos arsenal that can give stacking ld debuffs.

Tho nothing that makes the slaanesh cacaphonic choir powrr even remotely worth taking.

Captyn_Bob wrote:
The butchercannon says the the modifier doesn't stack.
This appears to be an open ended restriction, so it won't stack with anything.

Saying that, there are a lot of things in the chaos arsenal that can give stacking ld debuffs.

Tho nothing that makes the slaanesh cacaphonic choir powrr even remotely worth taking.

That's not how I read it at all. I read it as it doesn't stack with shots from other butchercannons that might shoot at the same unit. In other words the "this" is referring only to the LD debuff that butcher cannons provide.