Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Which of the 4 factions of daemons are more competative or is it better to mix and match. I was thinking of going plague and khrone for an assalt army. This is my first army so any help is appreciated, thanks!

It is generally better to mix and match. Each god has some good units, but some more than others

Tzeentch - Pink horrors, screamers, heralds on disks. These units form the basis of many daemon list, especially summoning ones. Fateweaver is worth mentioning here too.

Slaanesh - Daemonettes (most often summoned), seekers with heralds and soul grinders all add fast and hard hitting units to the army.

Nurgle - Best Daemon princes at the moment with their 2+ cover save poisoned instant death weapons. Nurglings are nice cheap troop choices. Plague drones can work.

Khorne - Flesh hounds with heralds are solid units. This is really your only good option for khorne.

If you are starting out then Be'lakor is considered by many to be one of the strongest HQ choices in the game at the moment, with guaranteed invis, 2+ cover save and flesh/armourbane attacks. Can't go wrong with that.

Big Bill is right on the money. You won't generally see a mono god army unless its a campaign. Tzeentch is good for psychic, slaanesh are very fast attack, nurgle is good toughness and the Nurgle Daemon Prince/Great Unclean One can do a lot with their increased saves. Khorne suffers, and don't have a ton of great units.

It's worth noting that Khorne has AP 3 melee stock on Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers. If they can make it to the fight, they drop MEQ units like crazy.

It's also worth noting that assault is generally bad, and bloodcrushers are 45 points a model and gets doubled out by battlecannons, melta, lascannons, missiles etc with only a 5++, so they're pretty terrible.

Bloodletters are footslogging guardsmen for double the points with no ranged weapon. They are not good, and are in fact the worst troops unit in the codex.

Being your first army, stay away from assault unless you want to lose pretty much every game. I wouldn't recommend daemons as your first army as they can be quite unforgiving at times, but if that's what your heart is set on, be prepared for a bit of a struggle.

Avoid assault as daemons? I thought daemons were 90% assault? Apart from all the psychic powers anyway.

Niiru wrote:
Avoid assault as daemons? I thought daemons were 90% assault? Apart from all the psychic powers anyway.

Unless you shot at the target before with the Skull Cannon (and hit with the blast), I think daemons get the initiative penalty for not having assault grenades. Kind of like howling banshees.

Slaanesh Daemonettes and Flying Daemon Princes/Great Unclean Ones are actually really great at assaulting as they are very fast. The problem with Bloodthirsters is that they are slow and cannot assault after deepstriking.

 jreilly89 wrote:
Slaanesh Daemonettes and Flying Daemon Princes/Great Unclean Ones are actually really great at assaulting as they are very fast. The problem with Bloodthirsters is that they are slow and cannot assault after deepstriking.

Great unclean ones are fast? They're slow and purposeful, and I dont recall them having any extra rules to make them quicker...

I think he meant a Nurgle Demon Prince with Wings. Being able to move 12" a turn with a 2+ Jink Cover save means you've got a really good chance of getting into assault unscathed on turn 2 (or even turn 1 if they come towards you).

Otherwise Demonettes, Seekers of Slaanesh and Flesh Hounds are the main units you should use for assaulting infantry units. They all have good movement and are very well priced, which is worth far more in practical terms than the AP3 weapons on Bloodletters or Bloodcrushers. Back them up with some psychic support (like Cursed Earth or Invisibility) or the Grimoire of True Names and you have some pretty scare melee units.