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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Regarding the above talk of dropping in Dreadnoughts, what do you guys figure is the best option? I definitely like the dual ccw set-up for maximum flamer use, but there aren't a whole lot of dreads that can have that particular armaments. Specifically, we get chaplains, relic contemptor, and leviathans. For 16 pts over the chaplain, the contemptor gives you an extra strength, chainfists, more movement, and more wounds, so I think that's an obvious choice. Not sure if the Leviathan is worth 100 for s and t 8 plus 2 meltagubs, though.
   
Made in us
Dark Angels Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries





 Snail22 wrote:
To break from the optimisation, any word of podding plasma vets with jump lt and jump cap?


I tried it. It's basically a glass cannon. Sure they will put the hurt on something, but they get all the focus and collapse the next round. Not good for how many points they cost. Not bad for a casual game, but not competitive
   
Made in us
Potent Possessed Daemonvessel





 ZergSmasher wrote:
 Snail22 wrote:
To break from the optimisation, any word of podding plasma vets with jump lt and jump cap?

I expect it's cheaper and better to just take plasma Inceptors, together with the aforementioned characters.


Yup, at best vets put out 10 plasma shots for 145 points then you need to pay 85 to pod then in so 230 points. 3 plasma inceptors is 177 and average 12 plasma shots. You can stick another 5 man squad in the pod, but they cannot use WOTDA, and would still make the unit more than 6 in inceptors. I think if you wanted to use
Said squad a razorback would be a better transport
   
Made in be
Mysterious Techpriest





Belgium

What are you guys thoughts on Ravenwing Land Speeders ? I'm thinking getting 2-3 of them, supported by Sammael, and also why not a Land Speeder Vengeance. Just wondering what gear to give them, full multi-meltas ? Full heavy flamers ? I don't know which duty they'd do best, multi-meltas seems nice as they can be at the other side of the board really quickly, to destroy a backfield artillery or a transport. With a unit of 3, I get 6 multi-melta shots, on a unit with 20", that can advance and shoot with the Speed of the Raven stratagem, while rerolling their 1s and 2s to Hit thanks to Sammael. 372 pts for the unit of 3, plus 183 or 216 for Sammael. Worth it ? How do you guys use Land Speeders ?

40K: Adeptus Mechanicus
AoS: Nighthaunts 
   
Made in us
Dark Angels Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries





 Aaranis wrote:
What are you guys thoughts on Ravenwing Land Speeders ? I'm thinking getting 2-3 of them, supported by Sammael, and also why not a Land Speeder Vengeance. Just wondering what gear to give them, full multi-meltas ? Full heavy flamers ? I don't know which duty they'd do best, multi-meltas seems nice as they can be at the other side of the board really quickly, to destroy a backfield artillery or a transport. With a unit of 3, I get 6 multi-melta shots, on a unit with 20", that can advance and shoot with the Speed of the Raven stratagem, while rerolling their 1s and 2s to Hit thanks to Sammael. 372 pts for the unit of 3, plus 183 or 216 for Sammael. Worth it ? How do you guys use Land Speeders ?


First, I'd say get a Talonmaster. They are criminally good.

I personally would not recommend multimeltas. Speeders are going to be on the move constantly, which means a 50/50 single shot weapon every round. I'd rather put those on POTMS vehicles or tarantulas, or even devs before speeders.

Heavy bolters and assault cannons work great, especially next to Sammy and Talonmaster.

If you want antivehicle speeders, I'd say go with typhoons.

I've been thinking of doing heavy flamer speeders, but since I haven't tried them can't say how they'd perform. I want to say that with Talonmaster they might be fun. Don't need Sammy as much either with auto-hits.
   
Made in au
Regular Dakkanaut




Here's the first draft of my full codex review. Happy reading. I welcome any and all feedback. In fact, the more feedback the better!

p.s. I hate writing in forum code, so apologies for any odd formatting. I'm happy to make the word doc available for anyone interested in reading in a nicer format.
Chapter Traits
Spoiler:

Grim Resolve (requires pure detachment)
On the one hand, the re-rolling 1s part of this means our armies will be even less inclined to move. On the other hand, it actually frees us to move somewhat more frequently. Let me explain; Hitting on a 3+ rerolling 1s is obviously a strong incentive to stay still, but there two reasons this means we can move more often. The first reason is that because we hit slightly more often with our heavy weapons this way, there will be more occasions where we have destroyed all visible targets, and can therefore move. The second reason is that our Company Masters no longer need to remain in our DZ inspiring our fire base. In fact, we now have fewer reasons to take company masters in the first place, which frees up a chunk of points to consider our other HQ options.

A key point to remember with this rule is that committing to using it every turn will hamper you in a lot of ways. Think of this more as a nice bonus for 3 turns of the game. If you have a reason to move, move. Do not throw away objectives or better fields of fire just to retain a reroll. We are not alone in having a chapter wide rule which isn't used 100% of the time, and that's not a bad thing.

Never losing more than one model at a time due to morale may not seem like much, especially when using 5 man units. However, there are occasions when that will be particularly beneficial. Perhaps not every game, but definitely occasions. For example, in my first tournament of 8th edition, I encountered two games against Night Lords. They apply a LD modifier for each of their units near the unit taking a morale check. This cost me a surprising number of models. Models which I would not have lost had this codex been out already.

Additionally, this means we get to get some more use out of And They Shall Know No Fear. No matter what you roll on that second attempt, the result will never be worse. No more rerolling a 5 to a 6 and losing additional models.

Ravenwing
On its own, 4+ jink may not be all that impressive, especially when many Ravenwing weapons cannot fire after advancing. Bikes are primarily shooting units, even the black knights, so advancing isn't a frequent occurrence. This shines however when we look at stratagems later.

Bikes will often want to move, and with this, now they will often want to advance. This means the stationary requirement of Grim Resolve is of limited use. However, it does still exist and perhaps the best way to use Ravenwing now is to alternate between advancing and remaining stationary. Land Speeders, sadly, are likely to want to remain stationary all game.
Remember, whether a unit moves or not doesn't matter, it's the model that matters. You can leave an attack bike stationary, while moving the other bikes around it (daisy chain!) to keep the accuracy on the most important model. The same trick can apply to the special weapons in the unit.

Inner Circle (formerly Deathwing)
Auto-passing morale reduces the value of Grim Resolve for Deathwing. On the other hand, you can look at this as Grim Resolve +1, because now we never lose more than 0 models to morale. Rerolling against Fallen is useless, except when it isn't. I don't know anyone who plays Fallen.

Combat Squads
It’s worth remembering that this rule only applies to a full sized unit. Without taking full sized units, we may as well not have the rule. Take large units, find out what your opponent has, and deploy accordingly. If you obviously aren’t going to finish deploying first, there’s little harm in splitting your units. Just remember to match this to how you intend to use your auras.
 


Units
HQ
Spoiler:

Azrael
Having Azrael as your warlord in a typical army (battalion) effectively gives you 3 extra CPs. 1 immediately and 2 you’ll get from Brilliant Strategist. 3 CPs gives your army a surprising amount of flexibility – more than enough to make up for Azrael’s own lack of mobility.

Azrael's invulnerable save aura has many uses, as does his reroll aura. Given devastators are going to be getting rerolls simply from standing still now, Azrael really wants to be moving. He can't keep up with bikes, but he can happily keep up with regular marines, primaris marines and terminators. That 4++ can be particularly useful near standard or tartaros terminators as you get the benefit of cataphractii without the penalty.

The Sword of Secrets is a good weapon, though in certain situations a power fist or thunder hammer would be preferable. The Lion’s Wrath on the other hand is just a master crafted bolter on a regular combi plasma gun. You do not choose your army based on either of these items, but they are good in their own right.

Azrael always wants to be surrounded by as many units as possible to hand out many re-rolls. Beware of parking-lot syndrome where your warlord spends his whole time surrounded by tanks, not directly contributing anything to the battle.

Belial
The Sword of Secrets makes Belial an excellent choice for your army. He’s a character and monster killer. This is helped by having the Huntsman warlord trait which aids you in getting him into combat with the enemy models which you most need to kill. 2 damage may seem low, but with wounding on 2s and AP -3 few characters will survive more than a few hits. Belial is an assassin and should be used as such. This is compounded by Parrying Blade which helps to preserve your warlord in one-on-one combat with enemy beat-sticks.
His benefits as an aura producer are more questionable. He needs to be surrounded by combat units (assault marines, veterans or deathwing) to clear out the chaff so he can focus on killing his preferred targets. It’s questionable which Deathwing units he benefits most, and this is something which bears further investigation.
One thing is certain, this is not a model for baby-sitting your firebase. Belial always needs to be in the thick of the fighting, probably via deep strike.

Sammael
Correct usage of Sammael is tricky. Taken as an individual, he’s a skirmisher – always wanting to shoot and charge, fall back, shoot, charge. However, virtually nothing else in your army can do the same thing, so you must take care not to get him stranded. Always fall back, always shoot, and charge back into the same combat if you have to.
Jink is irrelevant – he has a 4+ invulnerable anyway. Only advance when capturing objectives. Speaking of which, he’s our best chance at claiming Priority Orders Received.
Choosing units to provide rerolls to is also tricky. Land Speeders never want to be moving due to their heavy weapons, whereas Sammael should always be moving. He cannot keep up with the minimum move of aircraft for more than a turn. That leaves the various bikes. Black Knights are the only ones to truly benefit in both shooting and fight phases, but they’re too expensive to take en masse. Instead, take a healthy mix of regular bikes, black knights and make sure you bring a Ravenwing Ancient for the extra attacks (remember Sammael benefits from that too).
...on Corvex
The strengths of Corvex are the higher strength and AP of its plasma cannon and its price. Otherwise, Sableclaw is better in every way. The plasma cannon is dubious at best, providing too few shots to really compete with the twin assault cannon. Even against its preferred T6 and T7 targets, the greater chance of wounding doesn’t counteract the extra shots.
Corvex should be your choice for small games where points or power is at a premium.
...in Sableclaw
An extra wound, a lot of shots and best of all, no temptation to risk Gets Hot.
Sableclaw has a hidden benefit of being a larger model, thus providing a slightly larger bubble of rerolls.

Asmodai
Compared to an interrogator chaplain, Asmodai’s key benefit is the bonus attacks for infantry and bikes. Sadly, he lacks the mobility to work with bikes and jump units, so he’s limited to drop pod and rhino units- assault marines and veterans.

Ezekiel
Ezekiel is the most resilient Librarian. 2+, 4++, 5W. Like many of our named characters, he wants to be in the middle of combat where his aura takes effect. Otherwise, the best argument in his favour is his ability to deny two powers per turn. For approximately 1.5 librarians, you get the defensive benefit of 2 librarians.

Master
Discussion of the Master really needs to answer the question, ‘why not take Azrael instead?’ Possible answers to this question are: mobility, parking lot, mixed detachments (no Grim Resolve fixed with Courage of the First Legion), combi-melta (see Huntsman) and cost.
Of these, parking lot and cost will often go together. For less than half of Azrael, you can boost your tanks and land speeders without ever ‘wasting’ your combat potential.
...in terminator armour/cataphractii
If you want a storm shield, but still want two weapons, consider cataphractii. Otherwise, the benefit of terminator armour is deep strike, 2+ save, and the overpriced chainfist option. If you’re not planning to deep strike, I’d avoid this as the other benefits are tiny.
...Gravis
The lack of options for this model makes it very unappealing. The gauntlet makes the sword pointless against anything other than T3 characters.
...Primaris (not gravis)
There are a few options here, perhaps the most appealing is the stalker- coupled with Huntsman, you can make your warlord into a sniper. This is likely the most appropriate choice for your parking lot as he can contribute meaningfully to the battle while providing his aura to your tanks. He’s not even that expensive.
Standard Build: Master Crafter Stalker Bolt Rifle + Huntsman trait.

Librarian
See Psychic Powers.
Librarians are not a powerhouse in our codex; take them for power denial first and foremost. Force weapons are essentially master crafted power weapons. Smite is ok, but our other powers don’t warrant the cost a librarian.
...in terminator armour
You pay a lot to keep an unimportant model alive. You’d be better off paying a few more points to take Ezekiel instead and get double the denies.
...on bike/Jump
While it’s true that speed helps us to use our short ranged powers, none of them are worth using to begin with, so why bother? The best this option offers is greater control over who you smite.
...Primaris
Extra attacks is a good thing.

Chaplain
There is little reason to take a standard chaplain on foot. Infantry horde assault army we are not. He also acts as a LD 9 boost for units, but given Grim Resolve and ATSKNF, that’s of limited benefit. It’s worth noting this is more useful if you take Dark Angels as allies in a mixed detachment.
...on bike
Allows you to accompany Ravenwing, where at least the re-rolls to hit can be put to decent use (corvus hammers).
...Jump
Deep strike on the cheap to help out terminators.
...Primaris
Like the plain foot chaplain, there is no point to this in a Dark Angels army.
...Interrogator Chaplain
Again, on foot there’s not much point. No point lowering LD of units out of range.
...Interrogator with jump pack
With a jump pack he can keep up with our assault units and push for that extra model slain thanks to LD reduction.
...Interrogator in terminator armour
Finally an option worth considering. In terminator armour, he’ll be right next to your Deathwing where he’s actually needed to compensate for the -1 to hit on power fists.

Lieutenant
As tempting as it is to arm this guy to the teeth, you’re probably better off leaving him as cheap as possible. In all likelihood, he’ll be standing with your firebase contributing little to the battle directly. A combi weapon is worth considering, but since that replaces the master crafted bolter, it’s less beneficial than normal.
His main benefit is to sit with your heavy weapons where that 1 to wound is most painful. Keep him with your devastators, hellblasters or tanks. Arm him for defence of those units. This means swapping the chainsword for a power sword (or axe).
...Jump
As always, the jump option is a consideration based on where you want the model to be. Only take this to support bikes, jump troops or deep striking units.
...Primaris
For those of us who are purists trying to keep primaris out of the Dark Angels, there are blessedly few reasons to take a Primaris Lieutenant. Mainly, it’s the extra attack and wound. Their weapon options aren’t impressive. The master crafted auto-bolt rifle is the only one really worthy of consideration here, potentially producing 4 damage per turn.
Even our currently unique access to a plasma pistol/power sword combo isn’t that impressive.

Talonmaster
Preventing your RW units' targets from benefiting from cover is particularly useful when you look at the plasma and melta options we have. Use your speed to get in range of your opponent's firebase (which will inevitably be in some cover) and blast away at them with your high AP weapons. Alternately, sit this guy near some Land Speeder Typhoons to bust lighter vehicles (T6&7) from afar.
Rerolling 1s to wound is always useful, no matter what units this guy happens to be near.

Additionally, this model has many of the strengths of Sammael – 18 mid strength AP-1 shots per turn on a platform that cannot be shot easily.

Techmarine
It’s easy to overlook the techmarine for his lack of aura and psychic powers. For just under the price of a basic lieutenant, you can fill an HQ slot with a power axe and optional power fist attack. This model can then keep your predators or other parking lot units alive (and firing at higher brackets) longer than they should. What’s more, he can help to screen them from combat by tying up enemy units that seek to tie up your tanks. He’s an excellent 2nd HQ in any battalion with multiple gun vehicles.
Best to replace his bolt pistol with a bolter or combi weapon so you can make use of the 2+ BS.
...on bike
Putting your techmarine on a bike would be useful in two situations; your vehicles are moving a lot or your vehicles are going to deploy spread out.
 


Troops
Spoiler:

These three units really need to be considered in relation to each other. The advantages listed below are in that context – not measured against other units in the codex.
Defenders of Humanity (Objective Secured)
This is actually a detachment rule, but since it only applies to troops…
There aren’t too many occasions where control of an objective is actually contested, but it’s a nice boost when available. Scouts get the most benefit, as they will both be forward (in the face of the enemy) and often have low numbers (due to easy casualties).
Tactical Squad
Advantages:
* Melta bombs
* Special, Heavy and Combi weapons
* Rhino/Razorback/Drop pod transport
Aside from that, they are the middle option in many ways. Better resilience than scouts, but not as good as intercessors, and so on. Technically scouts can go in transports too, but there’s no obvious reason to do so.
A proper analysis of Tactical Squads comes down to an analysis of their weapons, and combinations thereof. A squad should generally be given a fixed purpose, and armed accordingly. However, their role within the [lore] codex is as the ultimate generalists, and there is some value in arming them accordingly. The become the unit that’s not worth killing, while being able to threaten every possible enemy.

Special/Combi
Flamers are essentially short range, multi shot bolters. 9 points is a lot to pay to have a model standing around with no targets a lot of the time. The combi option is slightly more pleasing as at least he still gets to fire his bolter. D6 hits is equivalent to 3.5 * 6/4 = 5 ¼ bolter shots. So you’re paying 9 points for an increase by 3 ¼ shots at less than normal rapid fire range.
Grav guns and plasma guns fit almost entirely the same role, with grav being the better option against infantry, and plasma the better against vehicles and monsters. The longer range of plasma puts it ahead for defensive squads. Grav is more suited to a unit that will be in a transport to negate its range issues.
Meltaguns are best against opponents who rush you with vehicles (usually flyers) to act as a back-up threat- giving your opponent a reason NOT to get that close to you. When you don’t know your opponent, you’re probably better off looking to heavy weapons for your anti-tank capability, and leaving meltaguns for bikers.

Heavy
Grav cannons, like their smaller brother have issues with range. Put them in a rhino and hunt heavy infantry.
Heavy bolters make a good option for tactical squads in particular due to their low cost. Couple with plasma and combi-plasma for a unit that will sit in your fire-base, on an objective, screening your more vulnerable targets.
Lascannon is strangely one of the best options for tactical squads – especially squads of 5 with no other upgrades.
Missile launchers are just not worth it right now. You’re better off with lascannons against anything other than a true horde.
Multi-meltas should only be considered if you plan to drop pod, or know your opponent will rush you with vehicles/monsters.
Plasma cannons suffer like all former blast weapons from not having enough shots. They’re no good at killing vehicles and they don’t have enough shots to worry infantry. Again you’re better off with the lascannon.

Unit Size
People often bad mouth tactical marines for their lack of resilience for their cost. Yet those same people generally take minimum squads. A squad of 10 takes concerted effort to remove. Yes, taking two squads of 5 gives you more weapon options and a second sergeant, but that’s at increased unit count/kill points/deployment drops, and likely the cost of first turn. If you’re worried about saving points and wanting a small unit, stick with scouts.

So long as your weapon choices are sensible, tactical marines can be cheap, resilient and effective in one bundle. They’ll never be the star of the show in terms of output, but they’re consistent performers and low priority targets. Never underestimate the value of pouring 5 turns of bolt gun fire into your enemy, especially with 6’s always wound as a factor in the game.

Standard Builds:
10 man; grav, combi grav, grav cannon, rhino = 190 & 72 = 262 pts
10 man; plasma, combi plasma, heavy bolter = 168 pts
5 man; lascannon = 90 pts
[Not recommended] Generalist build: 10 man; melta-gun, combi-flamer, missile launcher = 193 pts

Scout Squad
Advantages:
* Cheapest troops unit at 55 points
* Can deploy virtually anywhere, allowing
* * Deployment on objectives
* * Deployment as a forward screen
* * Deployment 9" from a unit you want to assault
* Objective secured AND infiltrate combined to prevent first turn midfield objective grabs
* Small bases, and therefore small footprint allowing deployment into terrain that might be too small for other units
* Option for shotguns
* Option for sniper rifles
* Option for pistol and blade, while being objective secured
I have deliberately excluded camo cloaks from the list of advantages because it's no better than having power armour in cover instead. Additionally, the cost makes them more expensive than having power armour in the first place. You're paying more for scouts to have durability AND the infiltration. However, scouts should never be thought of as a durable unit precisely because of the infiltration. They will be the first to receive the brunt of enemy firepower, and will be much easier to charge than your tactical marines. Camo cloaks are no help in combat.
 
For forward screening, no unit in our codex does it better. For side screening, Company veterans are cheaper.
 
If we rule out camo cloaks, what wargear do we chose? That depends on what role you want to set them, and you MUST select a role.
Are they a screen in front of your army? Keep them cheap.
Are they a screen for your flanks in a castle deployment/aura focussed army? Sniper rifles for the range.
Are they to tie up enemy units in combat? Pistol and blade, or possibly shotgun for S5 goodness.
Are they to sit on mid-field objectives and stay put? Bolters for the range.
Heavy weapons should only be for units which are not screens and are not far forward. Otherwise they'll die too quickly. A heavy bolter may be tempting, but you've just pushed up from 55 to 63 points, entering Tactical Squad territory. Be truthful with yourself about how likely they are to die in the first turn or two.
Heavy weapons in a sniper unit are also very tempting as they'll be near your back line anyway, but you pay a lot for it, and reduce your sniping power in the process. If you bought snipers, don't you want to maximise the potential for those mortal wounds on characters?

Shotguns vs pistol and blade. If you get close enough, such as deploying 9" away then moving, you have the S5 of shotguns to work with. Against T4 and T8, that's an advantage for sure. 10 shots wounding on 3s instead of 4s or 5s instead of 6s. The rest of the time, the pistol and blade gets you a shot, and two close combat attacks instead of 1, with a potential extra shot in later rounds. Also, if you're thinking of going after a T8 unit (say, to lock it in combat) you already have krak grenades.

In addition to the above options for the unit as a whole, the infiltration can be used as a combi-weapon delivery system. The sergeant can take a combi weapon [via the index entry], which means you can get a flamer or melta in close range on turn 1 very easily.
 
A final use for them is as a distraction. Again keep them as cheap as possible, but deploy them behind LOS blocking cover vaguely near the enemy line. Don't worry about moving them to attack (unless he creates a vulnerable opening). Just wait for him to get paranoid and spend time moving to attack them - likely to be with a far more expensive unit- thus wasting his time.
Standard Builds:
5 man; pistol and sword for harassment of the enemy line = 55 pts
5 man; bolters for midfield objective holding = 55 pts
5 man; snipers for backfield/flank screening = 75 pts

Intercessors
 Advantages:
* Bolt rifles/Assault bolters/Stalker bolt rifles
* 2 wounds
* 2 attacks
* Aux. grenade launchers
Repulsor transport
Intercessors want to move a lot to make full use of their resilience and combat ability, so auto bolt rifles are tempting. The fact this gun has a cost is the problem. If they were the same price as regular bolt rifles, I could see uses for both. As it is, auto bolt rifles really only make sense on a unit which you intend to run into your opponent’s zone to capture objectives late game. Three turns of run and shoot gets you into their zone pretty reliably (28.5” average), where you can capitalise on Objective Secured. It likely won’t matter if you’re down to 1 model by turn 5, as many players neglect to leave troops on their home objectives.

However, outside of Maelstrom (where you want a faster unit anyway), there’s not a lot of reason to get across the table in 3 turns, so why not take all 5 turns and use the cheaper, more powerful bolt rifles? In the same 3 turns, you’re getting almost as many hits due to the -1 penalty for running.

Additionally; Reivers are cheaper than Intercessors with auto bolt rifles – yet come with heavy bolt pistols, shock grenades and Terror Troops.

Likewise, stalker bolt rifles suffer from having a cost. Without it they’d be contenders. With it, they’re just a trap option. Only take them when you also plan to ensure there’s an objective close to your own table edge. Sit them on it and rely on their range to remain useful. The -2 is great, but coupled with S4, D1 and crucially, 1 shot, they just aren’t that exciting. In this case, I’d stick with a unit of 5 also.

If standard bolt rifles are the best choice, how many do we want? We’ll rule out 6-9 due to Power and aux grenade launchers. 5 or 10 then? Per my note on combat squads, I recommend units of 10 as a general rule. The only advantage of 5 is having a second sergeant, and therefore potential second power sword. It’s something to consider when: a) you’re trying to maximise detachments for CPs, and; b) have points to spare which may as well go on more power swords.

Aux. grenade launchers get a lot of positive feedback. You’re giving up one or two shots with your main gun to fire at S6, D3. Since it’s only 1 point that’s probably worth it. However, it’s definitely an afterthought for when you have points left after army construction, not something to put on as a default.
Standard Builds:
10 man; bolt rifles = 180 pts
5 man; stalker bolt rifles = 100 pts
 

Elites
Spoiler:

Ancients
With the exception of Deathwing and Ravenwing, Ancients mostly provide the 4+ chance for an extra shot/attack. Note that this is models within 6”, not units and it only applies to infantry. The extra attack in the fight phase is more of a Deathwing thing, yet you’re pretty much prevented from using it that way due to having no mobility.
The leadership benefit is questionable in a Dark Angels army.
Picking where to use the chapter and company ancients is the tricky part. They want to be near a) lots of models, or b) models with very powerful guns. That means heavy concentrations of tactical marines (a rare choice to begin with), hellblasters or devastators. The internet seems to like pairing them with hellblasters, but for the price, you could just take more hellblasters.
...Chapter Ancient
Make that free attack more likely to hit. Same weapon options as Company Ancient.
...Company Ancient
The key advantage of this option is the chance to take combi weapons or melee weapons.
...Primaris Ancient
6 points for a better gun, extra wound and extra attack. Seems good, but it means you can’t take a melee weapon, which you might want.
...Deathwing
Consider this option whenever planning a deep strike assault. Great with any terminators, but especially great with power fists/thunder hammers because it provides the additional attacks they need to overcome their hit penalty.
...Ravenwing
Given the lack of attacks Ravenwing have in general, this guy is almost a must-take. Being able to provide a large bubble of extra attacks is extremely beneficial.

Apothecary
Apothecaries exist to use their narthecium. That means either healing characters or resurrecting models.
Resurrecting models is not guaranteed, and in fact, from an army planning point of view, is only going to succeed twice during the game (5 turns /2, rounding down because of various factors including apothecary death). If you’re really planning to use this, it must be on units with very expensive models. Frankly, that means Deathwing knights or Ravenwing black knights. Nothing else warrants the cost. Even inceptors aren’t going to be worth the cost of an apothecary that can keep up (RW).
The real use is in keeping your characters alive. An apothecary backing up a close combat strike force of beat-sticks is invaluable as you’ll be keeping very expensive models alive, without any need for a 4+ roll to succeed. Put him in the same delivery system as the characters themselves, be that bike, deep strike, land raider or drop pod.
...Primaris
These have the most interesting gun, but that’s really all there is to say. Their statline appears to be missing the extra attack that primaris models normally get.
...Deathwing
The obvious choice to pair with Deathwing Knights, and some characters.
...Ravenwing
The obvious choice to pair with Ravenwing Black Knights or Inceptors. Generally the best choice of the lot due to his ability to keep up with your characters, no matter their method of movement.

Champions
Champions do nothing for the units around them. They are combat characters. Each has essentially the same S7 melee weapon, which is good, but just means wounding on 3s. Oddly enough, they make pretty good vehicle hunters.
...Company Champion
Sadly this guy has the problem of most power armour character. No range coupled with no mobility. He is very cheap though, making for an excellent counter-attack character to help defend your firebase.
...Deathwing Champion
This guy may well be the star of the champions due to his extra weapon rule granting additional attacks. He’s the most versatile because he isn’t wasted in fighting infantry.
The Deathwing champion is also the most capable on his own. He can deep strike into tight corners, hide until the following turn then move out to strike characters, vehicles or even infantry.
...Ravenwing Champion
The advantage of this model is obviously his speed and plasma talons. This is the champion best suited to actual character hunting. He can move into position to get clear shots, turbo-boosting if necessary, taking the S7 plasma shots then charging to finish the job. Many actual assassins would struggle to do the same.

Imperial Space Marine
The disintegration gun is essentially a combi-grav. It just does more damage. He’s a bit like a lieutenant with combi-grav and grav pistol, but he’s traded the reroll to wound for the price of the guns.

Aggressor Squad
If you want lots of S4 AP0 shots, there does not seem to be a better way to get it. These guys put out more than tactical marines, more than intercessors with auto bolt rifles, more than inceptors, more than terminators. They have powerfists just like terminators. In fact, if you don’t need cyclone missile launchers and you aren’t planning to deep strike, these guys are a better choice than terminators.
Thanks to their special rules, these guys will either be standing still or advancing. There is never a reason to move normally. This means you can get them into firing range on turn 1 on a roll of 2+.

Company Veterans
Like most units in the game, you really need to have a purpose in mind when selecting company veterans. It’s very easy to make this into an extraordinarily expensive unit, while remaining no harder to kill than a tactical squad. Their veteran status does nothing to improve their durability. For this reason they are prime candidates for putting in transports.
As the cheapest unit in our codex, a basic unit of two company veterans with bolters can be used to secure a flank in your deployment zone – preventing enemy deep strike due to the 9” rule. This is a great option to consider if you’re planning an army which will castle deploy or which will very quickly move up the battlefield – you can afford to leave them in your deployment zone to prevent your enemy appearing behind your force to divide your attention. Just remember to deploy them out of LOS, or you’ll be handing your opponent First Blood for free.
The option for storm shields appears to be a trap – they’ll die just as fast to regular AP0 weapons as any other marine, so giving them a 3++ is no real defence. Combat shields fair little better, as they pay a lot for being an additional item rather than a replacement.
With universal access to combi-weapons and near universal access to special weapons, they can hold a lot of firepower. From plasma for use with Weapons from the Dark Age, to be used at range, to melta in a rhino to destroy a super heavy, to power weapons and chainswords to massacre infantry, they can be given any role.
On foot, I believe it’s best to keep them cheap – storm bolters and chainswords gives them a great number of attacks, without bumping them up past the cost of intercessors. This is also one of the best loadouts for use as body guards, as you are not going to want to lose an expensive model each time your protected character gets hit.
Against hordes, take combi-flamers and mount up in a razorback with twin heavy flamers.

Standard Builds:
Screen = 2 man; bolters = 32 pts
Horde v1 = 5 man; storm bolters, chainswords = 90 pts
Horde v2 = 5 man; 5 combi flamers, chainswords = 135 pts, in a razorback with twin heavy flamers (104)
Superheavy = 5 man; 4 melta guns, 1 combi melta = 167 pts in a rhino or razorback
General = 5 man; 4 plasma guns, 1 combi plasma, chainswords = 157
Melee = 5 man; 5 power axes, 5 chainswords = 105 pts, probably 2 units, in a land raider, probably with character support (chaplain?).

Deathwing Terminators
With the introduction of aggressors, there is even less reason to deploy terminators normally. You’re paying for the ability to deep strike. Use it, but use it wisely. Teleporting in to a hornets’ nest unsupported is just going to get you killed. Do not rely on charging when you arrive either, not only will you fail even with re-rolls, it won’t save you from many enemies as they can fall back and shoot you with everything else in the army. Drop into cover, give yourself 1+ saves and shoot until someone is foolish enough to come close, or until you can move safely.
Our heavy weapon options aren’t brilliant, but getting 4 shots with a cyclone missile launcher through the Deathwing Assault stratagem isn’t a terrible idea. If you’re really game, take 10 models and get 8 shots this way. That’s enough to put a hole in anything. However, there may be a better candidate for this in Tartaros.
As a general rule, the plasma cannon is a bad idea, the heavy flamer will be out of range all game and the missile launcher is too expensive. Stick with assault cannons and focus on killing infantry.
Thunder hammer/storm shield terminators are outclassed by Deathwing Knights. Lightning claw terminators suffer from the perpetual mobility problem.
...Cataphractii
 Cataphractii are more expensive at first glance. However, they can reduce their price somewhat by swapping power fists for lightning claws. This coupled with the 4++ makes for a tempting ‘deploy’ unit rather than a deep struck one, however, see aggressors. The heavy flamer is never a good choice for cataphractii due to the slower movement.
...Tartaros
Tartaros share lightning claw option discussed above for cataphractii. This actually makes them the cheapest terminator option, until you add in the plasma blaster and heavy weapon.

The reaper autocannon is tricky. On one hand, it's a poor man's assault cannon with only 4 shots. On the other hand it does have S7 which makes it significantly better at hurting medium vehicles (T6, T7). It also has better range, meaning it will be free to target other units more often than the assault cannon.

The sergeant's weapon options provide the other key difference for this unit. Sadly the volkite charger is Heavy on a unit that wants to be moving a lot, therefore the plasma blaster is generally the better choice - it pairs well with the reaper autocannon, being the same strength and therefore often having the same desired targets.

Deathwing Knights
Deathwing Knights are brilliant, but expensive. The flat 3 damage on the maces and the carry-over of wounds from the flail make them good against all manner of units. The price makes you want to have a minimum unit of 5, but the unit can still be focussed down quickly. Adding an extra body or two is a good idea, as is supporting them with a Deathwing Ancient, chaplain or Belial.
As with all terminators, don’t deep strike into a hornets’ nest and don’t rely on a first turn charge.

Reiver Squad
Grav chutes vs grapnel is like deep strike vs outflank (including enemy table edge!), plus the vertical movement ability, which is mini fly. Grapnels win.
In most situations, the bolt carbine (assault bolt rifle!) is going to be better than the heavy bolt pistol because sheer volume of fire outweighs a d6 modifier of 1.
This is a unit with no clear role other than being in the enemy deployment zone. Intercessors do most of the same job for the same price without the deep strike/outflank ability (which costs extra anyway). The funny thing is, Reivers are cheaper than Intercessors with auto bolt rifles – yet come with heavy bolt pistols, shock grenades and Terror Troops.
The other factor is Terror Troops -1 LD, but that is so short ranged as to only be useful in combat. This might make them combo well with a librarian, but it isn’t a compelling reason to take them in the first place.

Servitors
Do not do anything to help tech marines anymore. They’re cheap single attack powerfists, but they’re going to hit on 6s, so never take. The BS 5+ makes the heavy weapons useless too.

Dreadnought
Regular dreadnoughts work well as a defensive unit – helping to keep your predators and devastators safe. For this reason, keeping the power fist is a good idea.
All dreadnoughts benefit from Grim Resolve’s reroll
Standard Builds:
Assault cannon, power fist, storm bolter: 134 pts
Twin lascannon, power fist, storm bolter: 162 pts
...Venerable Dreadnought
20 points more for BS 2+. A good option for heavy weapon dreadnoughts. Unless you’re short on points, this is a straight upgrade and always worth taking.
Cheaper than predators, with a reroll, hitting on 2s, but with a worse second gun (missile launcher). If they could take quad lascannons they’d be the same price, but hitting 35/36 instead of 24/36. No-brainer. To the best of my knowledge, there is no venerable mortis dreadnought.
Standard Builds:
Twin lascannon/missile launcher: 165 pts
Quad autocannon: 156 pts
...Contemptor Dreadnought
For the first 8 wounds, this dread is as good as, or better than the standard dreadnought so don’t be put off by the damage table. What it lacks is weapon options. There aren’t many targets for S7 D1 weapons in this game because there aren’t enough low wound T6 models (like carnifexes and land speeders). That makes the kheres assault cannon look like a regular assault cannon. Yes it can hurt T7 on 4s, but it doesn’t have the damage value or AP to back that up.
The multi melta looks like a better option, because unlike regular dreadnoughts, this one has a bit of extra speed to make use of that weapon. On turn 2 you’ll be in half range.
Standard Build:
Multi melta, fist, storm bolter: 167 points.
...Redemptor Dreadnought
 This unit is just weird, but then so is the repulsor. So many guns, so little coordination between them. Both main weapons are genuinely good, for very different targets. There’s never a reason not to swap the heavy flamer for the onslaught Gatling cannon. Likewise, you should swap the grenade launchers for storm bolters. Both of these changes make the model (slightly) cheaper. Then it’s just the question of plasma vs Gatling.
Unlike a regular plasma weapon, this one has enough shots to matter.
Standard Builds:
Plasma, Gatling, storm bolters, fist: 191 pts
Double Gatling, storm bolters, fist: 196 pts
 


Fast Attack
Spoiler:

Assault Squad
This is the only unit which can match Sammael’s skirmishing tactic of fall-back, shoot and charge again.
Assuming your intent is to get into combat; Jump packs are almost mandatory. If you don’t put them in a drop pod or rhino, you’re going to need the packs to get anywhere.
In the age of primaris, assault marines are as lost as ever. They simply don’t have enough attacks to be a credible threat on their own. This makes them fall by default into a sort of fire support role, where plasma pistols are your best option. Take a small unit, bounce around into cover, then put some plasma into an otherwise protected unit. Consider melta bombs instead of the third pistol (on the sergeant).
Forget eviscerator, a single 4+ to hit is never going to be worth 22 points.
Flamers may be of use, but as always, they are just like bolter hits, so of questionable value compared to just taking more bolters elsewhere.

If you want to use them in their traditional role of jump assault troops, flamers and a power axe or fist should make for a capable unit. Take the fist and add in melta bombs and now you have a sergeant capable of causing up to 12 wounds on a vehicle while his mates clear out the chaff. Also good for surprising an enemy character.

There is an alternate use of assault squads to consider – that of an inverse distraction carnifex. Instead of being an obvious threat, and therefore shot, they are an obvious non-threat, so may go unmolested. Advance them up the board on foot, with no upgrades, until they either get into combat with something, or protect your other units by posing as a distraction.
Standard Build:
5 man, 3 plasma pistols, jump packs: 101 pts
10 man, 2 flamers, power fist, melta bombs: 195

Inceptor Squad
A deep striking unit that doesn’t want to land exactly 9” away. How refreshing. Twin short ranged heavy bolters for a comparable price to two devastators with heavy bolters. High mobility coupled with decent ranged weapons. There’s a lot to like about this unit.
The plasma option is alright, but significantly more expensive. It’s one of highest rate-of-fire sources of plasma in the book. The fact it can get easily to targets which might otherwise be hidden makes it very useful, but I think the bolter option is better most of the time. The plasma option makes them too obvious a target, and will likely get them killed before they cause much damage.
Pick a target, land in cover, shoot a lot, and move to more cover, repeat.
Standard Build:
5 man, assault bolters: 225 pts

Ravenwing Bike Squad
Chainswords vs bolt pistols. Chainswords are better if you're charging as it means more hits before the enemy strikes back. Bolt pistols are equal if you don't initiate the combat - you'll get punches in your opponent's fight phase, and then shoot him in your shooting phase. Chainswords are also better if you plan to fall back. So it's Chainswords 2, bolt pistols 0. Always swap to chainswords.
 
Taking the optional attack bike may seem pointless when you can take one separately. Remember that there’s no limitation to fire at the same target anymore, and being in the same unit reduces your number of kill points and deployment drops.

Special weapons should always be paired. You get plenty of plasma elsewhere, and these are a one of the few units able to make proper use of flamers and meltas. Pick one of those, depending on what you want out of the unit. If you go with melta, consider the attack bike with multi melta, as it can be behind your other models, and still be in melta-half-range, neatly avoiding any issues you might have with tight gaps in terrain.

* An argument has been made that 3 bikes, each with plasma/combi plasma plus their regular bolters is actually more firepower for fewer points than black knights. This is true. You get the same number of plasma shots (within 12”), plus 4 bolter shots per model, which outweighs the potential 2 corvus hammer attacks. And that’s without the regular bikers having to charge (which they can do on top with chainswords...). It’s more powerful and cheaper but cannot be made into a larger squad without losing efficiency. Note that this option comes from the Index, not the codex, but is still valid.

If you’re taking upgrades, look at getting extra models to soak up the initial wounds. 6 models works well for Power as well as points. It has historical value (from the 6th ed codex) where 6 bikes was the max.

If you just want them for the mobility, take a squad of 3 with no upgrades (other than the free chainsword obviously), but consider scout bikers instead. On second thoughts, give the sergeant a melta bomb. It’s still very cheap, but gives them an option to cause some damage if/when the opportunity presents itself. However, don’t let it distract you. This unit’s objective is objectives not fighting.
Standard Builds:
3 man, 3 chainswords, melta bombs = 80 pts
6 man, 5 chainswords, combi melta, 2 melta guns = 203 + optional attack bike with multi-melta 62 = 265
6 man, 5 chainswords, 2 flamers = 168

Ravenwing Attack Bike Squad
Heavy bolters don't typically benefit much from being on a mobile platform because targets for heavy bolters are so plentiful. Multi-meltas do benefit a great deal. Furthermore, in a pure Ravenwing list, your bikes will generally provide your anti-infantry fire power through sheer bolter volume. The weapon choice is easy - Multi melta every time.
The tougher question is when should you take an attack bike squad? The answer appears to be – in Pure Ravenwing lists. If you don’t have lascannons because you’ve eschewed devastators and predators, you’ll need the anti-tank/monster oomph of multi meltas.

Ravenwing Land Speeders
Land speeders cost as much as razorbacks, with far lower stats, similar weapon options and more speed. Land speeders don’t have transport capacity, but people aren’t using razorbacks as transport anyway. Hopefully land speeders will see another points decrease in the future, but until then, their best loadout is dual heavy flamers – advance every turn (jink), ignore the shooting penalty. Put that 16+1d6” to work by making an 8” gun useful. Think of them like flyers- with a minimum move of 17” a turn, don’t expect to stay in one place firing at the same target twice, keep moving.
Taking a unit of 3 or more increases their speed, making the heavy flamers even easier to use. However, 3 of these cost a comparable price to 2 whirlwinds, so choose wisely.

Ravenwing Black Knights
Black knights are a truly powerful unit, but people know this so they will draw a lot of fire. They are no tougher than regular bikes, so keep them protected. Plasma is great against so many targets, and you have adequate combat power to back it up. Keep Sammael and/or an RW ancient and/or a Talonmaster nearby.
Try to only charge units which have been damaged enough that you’ll kill them this turn or in your opponent’s turn. You don’t want to be stuck in combat on your next turn. Additionally, only charge when it’s heavily in your favour. The rest of the time, you want to be kiting around 18” to make the most of getting 2 shots at full range. This obviously depends on your target and what weapons/range they have. Against 24” rapid fire, it is actually quite a powerful trick to minimise return fire.
I don’t see value in the grenade launchers because I don’t see value in trading AP -3 for 1d3 damage. The things you want to do the extra damage to are likely to save.

Ravenwing Darkshroud
This is a sizeable investment, but well worth it in the right situations. If you want to use a darkshroud, ensure you’ve got a cluster of units to benefit from it – whether that is a fire base, cluster of bikes or just a mass of infantry walking up the board.
A dark shroud is not something to be taken as an afterthought; you must incorporate it into your plan.
As for the weapon, take it matched on what you’re trying to protect. If it’s your firebase, you need the range of the heavy bolter.

Ravenwing Land Speeder Vengeance
The vengeance has a damage value of 2, making it one of the few plasma weapons to be specialised at killing multi-wound, multi-model units. On the other hand, for the same price you could have 3 more black knights – putting out a more reliable number of shots.
With two heavy weapons, this isn’t going to want to move, so the assault cannon is likely a poor choice. You need the range of the heavy bolter to ensure you can shoot all the time. It’s cheaper too.

Scout Bike Squad
It’s weird that these guys have more weapons than their fully trained counterparts.
Stick with the bolters unless you’re hunting vehicles… and if you’re hunting vehicles, there are better ways to spend your points.
They are faster than regular bikes but have less armour. Good for quick objective grabs, but you better keep them out of sight when they’re not needed.
Standard Build:
No upgrades. 3 models, used for capturing objectives only.
 

Heavy Support
Spoiler:

Tanks do not get Grim Resolve. Infantry, bikes and dreadnoughts do. For Dark Angels, that means a reduced reason to take them. Bear this in mind for the rest of this section.
Devastator Squad
I think there are only two sensible options for devastators at the moment. Lascannons and heavy bolters. This unit always wants to sit still, so grav and multi-melta are both out. Plasma and missiles both suffer from not enough shots against infantry and not enough punch against vehicles.
Taking 4 weapons in a minimum squad just makes the unit too much of a target. Always include enough extra bodies to keep your heavy weapons alive when the unit gets shot in the first turn. This can be by not taking 4 weapons, or by purchasing the extra models.
If you’re taking single shot weapons, the armorium cherub is like having a hunter killer missile, for one point less. If you have lascannons, it better and cheaper.
Standard Builds:
10 man; 4 lascannons, cherub = 235 pts
10 man; 4 heavy bolters = 170 pts

Hellblasters
Like Intercessors, this is really an analysis of guns.
Unlike Intercessors, the assault version actually has merit – it has the same AP and will wound infantry just as often. That means the extra shot from 15-24” is actually an improvement in firepower. They make an absolute mockery of regular marines and other MEQ. Terminators, as always will fall back on their invulnerable saves, so the -4 AP is wasted against the more elite targets.
For Dark Angels specifically, the standard version has more benefit – rerolling 1s makes overcharging a safer bet without the need for babysitting.
The heavy version looks like an anti-vehicle weapon, but isn’t. It doesn’t do enough wounds, even with overcharging and stratagems. This is because you’re not getting enough shots to capitalise on the increased damage.
Plasma pistol; if you’re hellblaster squad is in combat long enough to benefit from this; something has gone wrong because you’ve already lost an entire round of shooting. A single plasma pistol shot is not going to get you out of combat any faster. Run away instead. Let someone else shoot.
More than most units in our army, hellblasters really need support from other units- either as a screen or as combat characters to rescue them. The unit is just too tempting to shut down by engaging them in combat.
Standard Builds:
5/10 man; Plasma Incinerators = 165/330 points
5/10 man; Assault Plasma Incinerators = 175/350 points

Predator
Predators must be compared with devastator squads since they’re typically using the same weapons. The predator is cheaper, harder to hurt, can suffer the same number of wounds before losing efficiency. It can move much faster for those times when you have no targets. What it lacks is the signum benefit,
Standard Builds:
Autocannon/heavy bolters = 150
Quad-las cannon = 190

Vindicator
At first glance, the vindicator doesn’t get enough shots (D3), but a lot of the time, you’ll be aiming at units of 5 or more, so it’s actually a more respectable D6. It wounds the vast majority of infantry and bikes on 2s. Nevertheless it’s an odd unit, best aimed at multi-wound squads like terminators – units which are fairly rare to begin with.
Perhaps another way to think of it is as a razorback with twin (1d3 = 2 avg) lascannon. The demolisher is very similar to a lascannon vs vehicles. Considered like this, you’re paying 55 points for something which is roughly equivalent to a 50 point weapon. Not terrible. It’s a 5 point difference, with more versatility. The vindicator is tougher than the predator and rhino/razorback too.
In direct comparison with the predator then, the let-down is the lack of sponson weapons.

Whirlwind
Like the Vindicator above, it’s best to compare the whirlwind launcher with similar weapons. You have an option between twin auto-cannon (vengeance) and assault-cannon with 0 AP (castellan). Both cases have longer range and the ability to shoot hidden targets. The former seems like the better choice (which makes sense considering it’s the more expensive option).
Sadly S7 AP-1 isn’t that impressive in general as the majority of vehicles have Sv 3+. Averages: 4 shots, 2 hits, 1 wound, 0.5 failed saves.

Stalker
Very much like the whirlwind with vengeance launcher, but specialised at targeting flyers. The stalker gets more shots compared to the average whirlwind. It’s a 6 shot auto-cannon on T8 tracks.

Hunter
This is essentially a razorback with single lascannon specialised at targeting flyers. A pair of lascannons anywhere else in your army is going to do a better job; even with the -1 to hit they’ll suffer. Point for point, a quad-las predator is more efficient at destroying flyers.

Land Raider
It’s natural to think of terminators when we think of land raiders, but transporting terminators may not be the best use of their transport capacity. Terminators can teleport. Other units cannot. On the other hand, you can disembark, move and charge in a single turn, thus getting around the 9” charge issue associated with deep strike.
It’s easy to spot the weaknesses of a land raider: one is just under the price of two quad-lascannon predators, for example. Its strengths are in the 2+ save and the Power of the Machine Spirit.

The base version makes the best use of PotMS- as it’s the one with the most heavy weapons (not counting flame storm since they auto-hit anyway). Add a multi-melta on top and you have a vehicle which is particularly good at hunting other vehicles/monsters. So what should be inside it?

The answer to my mind is that you need an anti-infantry unit inside to balance it out. Veterans with one or more support characters for example. You could have veterans all armed with combi-flamers pop out in short range and absolutely roast an infantry screen, allowing the tank to focus on bigger game. The other answer is to fill it up with characters that have no transport options – the named characters.
...Crusader
The crusader has the most seats and is therefore the best option if you want to transport terminators – you can have a full squad and multiple support characters. As the tank is very much an anti-infantry vehicle, the unit inside needs to have an answer to vehicles and monsters. Whether this is in the form of melta guns or melee weapons is up to you. However, you really want to be charging to make use of the frag assault launchers’ mortal wounds.
...Redeemer
Much like the crusader, the redeemer is an anti-infantry vehicle. However, this one is more suited to hunting elite infantry with multiple wounds thanks to the 2 damage of the flamestorm cannons.
...Excelsior
 Acts as a master for rerolls of 1. Nice, but doesn’t really go in hand with Power of the Machine Spirit which makes you want to move away from your parking lot – which by nature will not want to move.
 


Dedicated Transport
Spoiler:

Rhino
Rhinos serve several purposes, not all of them are obvious: transport for tactical/assault/devastators squads, prevention of overwatch on your more fragile assault troops by charging first, line of sight blocking and objective capturing with a model that takes effort to kill.
When transporting units, pick the ones which have short range issues, advance turn 1, deploy, move shoot/charge. Often that means grav or melta for tactical and devastators. For assault marines, it’s like paying over double for jump packs, admitting you’ll only use them once, then having the tank itself take the overwatch and/or continue on its own separate mission.
...Rhino Primaris
This is a very expensive option with a nasty one-shot weapon. You only want it for its ability to add 1 to the BS of a nearby unit. That’s very handy, but for the price, you can probably take another of the same unit (or 50% thereof). For example, a predator with twin las and heavy bolters is only 10 points more, so why increase the BS of a predator? For 15 points more, you can have 5 more hellblasters.
It’s cool, but not something you need to remember as an option for your army.
Razorback
The razorback sits in an odd place – its heavy weapons make it want to sit still, which goes against its role as a transport. If you do want to use it as a transport, consider the twin heavy flamer [index] option. This weapon suffers no penalty for moving and in fact will encourage you to move in order to get in range.
Otherwise, this is a fairly points-efficient way of getting heavy weapons on the board while ensuring they have enough ablative wounds to survive (7 pts /wound). Predators for comparison pay 8 pts/wound.

Primaris Repulsor
This should really be thought of as a land raider variant. It’s in the same price range, with similar weapon options. The key advantage is that it has fly, so can escape from combat and keep shooting. There are essentially two ways to build it – lots of shots vs lascannons.
If you’re playing primaris marines, this is their only transport, and you’re probably lacking long ranged anti-tank.
Standard Builds:
Dakka: Heavy onslaught, onslaught, twin heavy bolter, storm bolters, Icarus ironstorm, two fragstorm, additional heavy stubber. 295 pts
Las: Twin las, las talon, ironhail stubber, 2 storm bolters, Icarus rocket pod, auto launchers = 316 pts

Drop Pod
I’m utterly convinced that the price of drop pods is so high because of their footprint. You can use them (Rules as Written…) to block off large sections of the table. On the other hand, this also makes them very hard to use, especially if you want more than one.
There is no reason to take the deathwind launcher at this stage. 1d6 S5 shots does not beat 4 S4 shots at the same range + 2 at twice the range. Given the 9” margin for deep strike, the deathwind is almost impossible to use more than once.

Land Speeder Storm
Costs the same as a rhino or razorback while having much lower toughness and wounds. It makes up for this with speed and the ability for the scouts inside to fire while embarked. The Cerberus launcher is essentially just an expensive storm bolter as it will be getting a similar number of shots at a similar range.
As scouts can infiltrate to most of the board anyway, the value of the land speeder storm is questionable. Perhaps its best use is as a chariot for a scout sergeant with combi-melta. Allowing him to have a movement of 18” – very useful for getting into melta range.
 

Flyers
 
Spoiler:

Disclaimer, I've never used flyers. I don't think they belong in 40k at all.
For the Dark Talon and Nephilim, it is important to remember that Strafing Run only cancels out the penalty for moving.
Dark Talon
The rift cannon is pretty comparable to the twin lascannon of the Nephilim. The Dark Talon is significantly cheaper however. For vehicle/monster hunting, I believe this is the better jet.

Nephilim Jetfighter
The twin lascannon appears to be something of a trap option considering the comparable price of a predator with 4 lascannons. This is more of an anti-infantry vehicle in my opinion, so stick with the avenger mega bolter for a total of 16 ap-1 shots. The blackswords are more likely to be fired at mid-toughness targets like bikes and skimmers.

Stormraven Gunship
As the ‘flying land raider’ the obvious choice with the Stormraven is to fill it with terminators, race to the enemy DZ and make a turn 2 charge. But the terminators are capable of doing that without paying for a ~300 point transport. Yes, it adds durability to the unit, but so does spending those same 300 points on 6-7 more terminators. No, it has other better uses.

It can be armed to the teeth with 8 guns, many of which can be anti-infantry or swapped for anti-tank. It’s also quite durable due to supersonic, W14 and T7. It seems to be best used either as a pure gunship or as a transport for those units which cannot get to the other end of the board via inherent deep-strike. Examples being tactical squads, assault squads (without jump packs) and company veterans. The fact you can put a full squad and two characters inside it immediately shows a benefit in comparison to the humble drop pod.

It can have a dreadnought strapped to the back. Any type of dreadnought. Suddenly the shorter ranged default weapons on the Redemptor don’t seem so out of place. Give the Stormraven anti-infantry weapons, put a dreadnought on the back, and let the dreadnought deal with vehicles while the Stormraven clears the chaff.
 

Stratagems
Spoiler:

Relics of the Rock
2nd or 3rd relic. Can't decide between the Mace of Redemption and the Heavenfall blade? Take both! This can add some much needed hitting power to lieutenants.

Linebreaker Bombardment
You really have to be planning to use this when you build your army, which makes it obvious to your opponent, and very easy for them to shut down. If you really want to use it, start with 4 vindicators, not just the requisite 3. That way, you stand a good chance of being able to use it not just once, but twice in consecutive turns. Much like orbital bombardment, this is a great one for armies that also include snipers to finish off any characters you manage to inflict mortal wounds on. If your opponent has clustered tightly enough to make this really work, why not hit them with the orbital bombardment as well? Really punish your opponent for trying to make hyper-use of those auras.

Deathwing Assault
Situational use of this is good. But the cost is too high considering the armament of a regular 5 man Deathwing squad. Better used when you have 10 models in the squad. Ideal targets are going to be those more than 12" from where you dropped in, as you will not be wanting to blow your chance of charging after deep strike.

Stasis Shells
Only against characters? Assault weapon though? So can advance to do it.

Hellfire Shells
Sometimes you wish your heavy bolter was something that had more punch. This gives you that option. Cannot be used on land speeders.

Orbital Bombardment
This one is so expensive, that you have to really have a good reason to use it. Keep an eye on your opponent's units, especially in the first turn. If you see a tight cluster of many units (including characters), then it may be worth using as the 50% chance to deal mortal wounds to units is much better when you have the greatest number of rolls at that 4+. The radius is variable, so imagine what you can fit under a large blast template. If you can get 4 or more units under that template it's worth considering. Never rely on rolling a 6" for the radius.
 
This stratagem gains additional value if you have snipers to capitalise on any mortal wounds you dealt to characters. Pair it with sniper scouts or a vindicare in an imperial soup list.

Wisdom of the Ancients
This grants re-rolls of 1, which we will already have most of the time. May be useful as a backup plan however for those occasions when you really need to move your firebase to get better LOS for future turns.

Tactical Flexibility
This one is all about grabbing multiple objectives at the last minute. Do not use any other time.
Ok, that was harsh. Maybe use this first turn after dropping in 10 terminators and using Deathwing Assault. Now you’ve payed 4 CP total to have an extra turn of shooting with 2 terminator units. Do you feel good?
This stratagem has more use in other armies where morale of large units is an issue. With Grim Resolve, we don’t need to split into MSU to counter the effects of morale, so deploying large squads then splitting achieves nothing if you’re not doing it to grab two objectives instead of one.

Armour of Contempt
Given this is a 5+, you really only want to use it when your vehicle has been, or is going to be hit by more than 2 mortal wounds. It's a good countermeasure against the likes of Eldar Hemlocks or incoming Smite spam. Especially true of the latter as by this point you can already tell which is the closest unit to those psykers.

Only in Death does Duty End
Given characters are generally armed for combat rather than shooting, you'll be looking to use this when your character is unceremoniously taken down by the enemy beat-stick. Hit him back. He deserves it.
On the other hand, if you have a combi melta on your Huntsman warlord as detailed below… that's another good time to consider this stratagem.

Cluster Mines
… scout bikers… yeah. I suppose this is handy if you use them, but I don’t see myself buying the models.

Flakk Missiles
Best used when your target is 1 or 2 wounds away from being destroyed, but also useful when they're close to dropping a bracket on the damage table.

Auspex Scan
Another one of those rules which really only matters on large units with many shots, or units with very strong weapons. For us that means 10 man units of Deathwing, or any all-plasma unit, or devastators.

Never Forget, Never Forgive
Only useful against chaos marines.

The Lion and the Wolf
I believe this belongs in narrative play only. It’s too risky to use any other time. However, if you really wanted to, a (company/RW/DW) champion would be a great model to use this on, resulting in S8 thus wounding on 2s vs most characters.

Hunt the Fallen
It's easy to dismiss this as a Narrative based stratagem, but it does have tactical uses. If, after seeing your opponent's army list, you feel there is one particularly nasty character that you want to send all of your assault elements against, you can use this. It's a double edged sword because you're making that character even better. However, this may be particularly useful against non-combat armies like Tau.
Datalink Telemetry
This helps to make whirlwinds a tiny bit better, but is a gamble. You have to use it before determining how many shots you’re going to get, so it’s not really that much different to a reroll of the number of shots or a reroll to hit.

Weapons from the Dark Age [of Technology]
This is obviously going to be most useful on units that have the most plasma. Namely;
Black Knights- up to 10 models/20 shots
Hellblasters- up to 10 models/10 or 20 shots
Company Veterans with combi plasma- up to 5 models/5 or 10 shots
Devastators with plasma cannons- 4d3 (8) shots- at long range while standing still...
Ravenwing bikes with 2 plasma guns and a combi plasma/3 or 6 shots
Inceptors with plasma exterminators- up to 6 models/6d3 (12) shots
 
After the 20 shots provided by black knights and hellblasters, the others look a bit lackluster, but take heart. 20 shots is the potential for 60 damage, and short of titans, I'm not aware of anything with that many wounds. The potential 18 damage thrown out by a minimum black knight unit, or a unit of RW bikers is still sufficiently scary.
 
Sometimes it will be better to employ this stratagem instead of super charging. For example; when you have a -1 to hit
Sometimes it will be better to super charge. When you have rerolls and/or are low on CPs
Sometimes it will be better to use both together. When you really have to kill a T4, T7 or T8 unit. Emphasis on T7 and T8, because those are typically the only models with enough wounds to warrant dealing 3 damage per failed save.

Intractable
Useful on many occasions, and particularly useful for black knights. Expensive though, so not something you’ll plan to use. Like Counter-Offensive, this is a stratagem to remember about and use when your opponent locks you up against your will.

Empyric Channelling
We honestly don't have enough good psychic powers to warrant having 3 librarians in the first place, but at least with this you'd have a better chance of actually casting one of our powers.

Speed of the Raven
Highly useful for any Ravenwing, including land speeders. Yet to be determined if this counts as not having moved for assault/heavy. FAQ pending. ####

Secret Agenda
Must use whenever playing the Spoils of War mission. Less useful in other Maelstrom missions. I find if I don’t have the cards face up, I forget what my objectives are anyway, so this is dangerous to use.

Honour the Chapter
If this weren’t so expensive to use, it would be a very nice stratagem to pop on a regular basis, but at 3CP, it’s virtually consigned to the ‘never use’ bucket. It can only be used at the end of the fight phase, so you must first assess if you have enough models left in the unit to be worth using. Then you must assess if hitting again is going to achieve anything. Then you must also assess if wiping out the enemy unit is going to be of benefit or hindrance, which basically comes down to, ‘who goes next?’

Fortress of Shields
Useful for Deathwing Knights (or TH/SS) any time they’re in combat, but of most use when facing large numbers or high quality weapons.

Kill Shot
Considering this stratagem affects all three predators, it’s amazing that it’s so cheap. It effectively hands you alpha-strike on a plate, and first blood if you have first turn. It doesn’t even matter too much what weapons the predators have – even heavy bolters are scary when they have +1 to wound. Vs T7, that effectively bumps them up from S5 to S7.
The real cost is in having to have 3 fairly expensive units, none of which benefit from Grim Resolve.

Inner Circle
Let’s be honest here. This stratagem only applies to units which do not benefit from Inner Circle, so that part is irrelevant (unless fighting fallen becomes a thing). Gaining the Deathwing keyword is only relevant if you have Belial or a Deathwing Ancient in your army. The chance of either of these characters being near dreadnoughts or land raiders is laughable.
 

Warlord Traits
Spoiler:

Fury of the Lion
+1 Strength on the first round of combat. It's useful when it alters what you need to roll, so this is one where you need to think about what weapons you have and who you'll be fighting. Obviously, this is not a trait to use with shooty warlords.
S4 weapons vs T4: chainsword, power sword, lightning claw, force sword
S5 weapons vs T3, 5 or 6: power axe, force axe
S6 weapons vs T6 or 7: power maul, power lance, relic blade, Heavenfall Blade, force stave
S7 weapons vs T4, 7 or 8: Mace of Redemption.
Sx2 weapons vs T5, 8 or 9: power fist, thunder hammer
 
Note the freaky way stats are calculated in 8th ed means you modify your base strength first, then apply the weapon modifier. Thus S4 +1 with power fist or thunder hammer becomes S10.

Secondly and more importantly, this bonus applies to units within 6” as long as the warlord charged/whatever. Therefore, in addition to the above, Maces of Absolution become S10, thus better against T5, 8 and 9, just like thunder hammers/power fists. Brilliant vs bike heavy armies (white scars?), and vehicle heavy armies (Imperial Guard russes).

Best used in combo with:
Assault marines
Intercessors, Reivers
Ravenwing Bikes (not black knights who don’t really benefit much)
Deathwing (any flavour)

Courage of the First Legion
The 12" range of this aura is it's only saving grace. Only take it against armies that can utilise a lot of LD penalty effects such as Night Lords. Even then, it's best used in an army that has a lot of full sized units.

 Huntsman
This is a clever little option which may quickly become my favourite. At least, when using Company Masters and their 2+ BS.
Pistols, assault, rapid fire, grenades. Of these categories, there are obviously better and worse weapons to pick for utilising the sniper part of the rule. Specifically;
Pistols: Plasma and grav are the obvious choices. Neither is really 'good' for this trait however. Grav would be my choice, but then you're only doing 1 damage. I feel overcharging plasma is just too risky on my warlord. Yes, it's generally going to be a 1 in 36 chance of failing, but SLAIN is too much to risk unless you're on your last wound anyway or are otherwise doomed in your opponent's next turn.
Assault: Sniping with a combi flamer might make for a good laugh, and may have the added bonus of making your opponent's brain implode as they imagine how that even works. Combi-Melta on the other hand is WHERE IT'S AT. Sniping with a meltagun folks. Just think about that for a moment. Wounding most characters on 2s. AP-4.
Rapid Fire: Storm bolters aren't a terrible choice for this, but aren't all that exciting either. Combi grav makes for the best option if you want to fire the bolter component as well. Combi plasma will again tempt you to risk SLAIN on your Warlord and give your opponent a free VP, all while doing the same average damage as the combi-grav. Bolters by themselves aren't impressive here, even when they are master crafted or are bolt rifles. The winner in this category has to be Foe Smiter. Honorary mention goes to the Combi-Disintegrator on the Imperial Space Marine. An unlikely warlord, but tempting with this trait.
Grenades: If only we could have melta bombs on HQ these days. But then, if you're within 4", or even 6", you're probably able to target the character anyway.
 
The assault component is also interesting, and it really shines for Belial with his blade, Silence. I've yet to see how often piling in and consolidating towards a character will be useful, but it definitely has potential.
 
To take full advantage of this, I strongly suggest a dedicated Character killing HQ. Jump Pack or Terminator Armour (as you see fit) to get the Deep Strike. I prefer the jump pack, as you can drop behind LOS blocking cover and charge the following turn for a guaranteed charge after moving 12" and ignoring terrain. Protecting your warlord is important. Leaving him stranded after a failed 9 or more inch charge is on my 'never do' list. Take a Combi-melta, for that 35/36 * 5/6 * chance of failing invulnerable save. Against characters with no 2+ armour and no invulnerable, you've got an 81% chance of dealing D6 wounds. Throw in a relic blade or Relic such as the Heavenfall blade. If you don't kill them with the gun, jump over their screen on the charge and cut them down. Force weapons may not be a bad option here too.

Brilliant Strategist
If you have 6 CPs, and spend them one at a time, you expect to have 8 CPs to use during the game. 9 if you count the free reroll it provides. The key thing to remember with this trait is that it works best when you avoid those 2CP and 3CP stratagems. That means you should avoid this if you’re building a list around Deathwing Assault.

 Master of Manoeuvre
The advancing portion of this is only really useful for desperate objective grabs. The charging part is more important.
A deep striking character (jump pack or terminator) supporting multiple deep striking assault units has particular promise as it's similar to having free CPs to reroll your charges (although you have to reroll both dice in this case). If you see a 6 on one of the dice, go with spending a CP instead. However, even with this reroll of both dice, assault from deep strike is not something we should rely on too heavily. The chance of succeeding a 9" charge is 28%. The chance of succeeding a 9" charge with a reroll of both dice is 48%. That's still going to fail more often than it succeeds.
CHECK THE Probability on that statement
 
Also very useful for Ravenwing in general. Sammael or any other bike character (or even a Talonmaster) supporting black knights again allows for a much more reliable close combat force. Especially when combined with the other boosts Ravenwing can get from RW ancients etc. A key thing to note about this trait is that it affects the warlord himself, so don't forget to reroll his own charge distance.
 
Honourable mention must go to assault squads and company veterans here. They may not be Deathwing knights, but company veterans armed to the teeth do NOT want to fail a charge.

Stubborn Tenacity
If you don't want Huntsman or Master of Manoeuvre, consider this. It's not amazing, but it might save you a VP in a tight spot. It works best on a character who isn't going to want to move in the first place. The only candidate I can think of there is the Talon Master with his heavy weapons.
 

Relics
Spoiler:

Lion's Roar
I want to like this because it has been with us for three codices but I honestly think the regular combi-plasma is a better gun. How often are you going to be 12.1-18" away from your targets really? We have so many nice relics to choose from that this one holds little value.

 Shroud of Heroes
Does your opponent field a lot of snipers? No? Mine doesn't either. In shooting this is of very limited value because of the Character rule. It may be better on those weaker characters that are more likely to be targeted by snipers, such as ancients and apothecaries.
In close combat, it can be a real winner. Great choice for combat oriented characters like interrogator chaplains.

 Foe-Smiter
This one actually has a lot of uses. Good with Huntsman, and on characters who come with storm bolters as standard. 4 shots at AP-1 is a great start as many targets for Huntsman have invulnerable saves that reduce the value of higher AP anyway. More importantly, 4 shots at damage 2 can put a world of hurt on certain enemy units.

Mace of Redemption
This was my favourite in 7th ed, and it's still a great option. Combined with Fury of the Lion on your warlord, you can make your warlord into a serious anti-vehicle/monster character.

The Heavenfall Blade
Why pay for a relic blade when you can upgrade a power sword to the equivalent of a relic blade with an extra attack? You're saving points and gaining an attack. Win-win.
The choice between this and the Mace of Redemption is tricky. You need to weigh up an extra attack vs S7. If you're hunting infantry, the Blade is probably the better option.
Mathhammer required

Eye of the Unseen
The -1 LD is basically only going to be useful in combat. Add it to an Interrogator to become -2. On all other characters, I consider the leadership penalty to be largely irrelevant. Against hordes, 1 extra morale loss isn't that exciting. It may be of more value against elite multi-wound enemies however.
 
Forcing enemy characters to fight last is brilliant. Have Autarchs and Slaanesh Daemons got you down? Not anymore! Sick of your opponent's beat-stick character destroying you on the charge? Heroic Intervention yourself over there and laugh in his face. Best if paired with Huntsman to ensure you're near enemy characters as frequently as possible.
 

Psychic Powers
Spoiler:

There's a reason why I stopped using librarians after my first couple of test games with the index. Smite was the only good thing they had, which left me with a second power to cast each turn which was lackluster at best, or just plain out of range.
 
Remember folks; Warp Charge values convert directly into percentages as there are so few modifiers to look for.
And always, that 6% chance of Perils.
Smite
83% chance of casting. 8% of which is supercharged to D6 mortal wounds.
Mind Worm
72% chance of casting.
Shorter ranged targetable Smite that always rolls a 1 on D3. Not great so far. Selecting your target is good, but at 12", that target if often going to be the closest enemy anyway.
The more important part of this power is forcing an enemy unit to fight last. Even if they have charged, which they can't have done because it doesn't last into their turn. Errata please! So that irritating point aside what is this good for? Are you planning to launch a lot of charges? Do you already have a lot of units in ongoing combats? If so, then this might be useful. Maybe.
 
I really don't like this one. Best thought of as a secondary smite.

Aversion
72% chance of casting.
This power is actually useful. Reducing the enemy's firepower or melee hitting power is always beneficial. The downside is that even with 24" range, you need to be deep striking, on a bike or using a jump pack to cast this on the most pertinent targets as they'll be sitting in your enemy's parking lot most of the time.
 
Righteous Repugnance
58% chance of casting.
Key targets for this power will be your assault focused units. Which, frankly means Deathwing knights. It's obviously useful any time you have a unit stuck in combat, but at 58% chance of success, you really want to ensure you have assault elements in your army before picking this power.
 
Trephination
58% chance of casting. 8% chance of adding 2 to the next roll:
Roll 2d6 again… When most of the units in the game either have, or have access to LD 8, you're effectively at looking at a 41% chance of dealing mortal wounds.
In other words, this power has around a 24% chance of actually doing anything each time you attempt it. Compare that to the 83% chance of doing mortal wounds with Smite. Sure, it can theoretically deal 4 or more mortal wounds on your enemy, but the chances are miniscule under normal circumstances.
 
There are ways to improve this if you really want to invest, or if you've made the investment for other reasons and want to capitalize on it. Eye of the Unseen on an Interrogator Chaplain backed up by this power against low LD hordes? Now you've got a useful power. LD 6, -2, against your 2d6 roll. That's a lot better, but how often is that actually going to come up on the table?
 
Mind Wipe
58% chance of casting.
Did I not just get done saying that a 25-30% chance of achieving anything was bad? This one is even worse because the targets you will naturally want to pick will have LD equal to yours, if not higher!
The best tactical advice for this power is to look through your opponent's army and codex before picking it. Does any single model in his army with nasty weapons (anti-tank/strong close combat weapons) have LD lower than 9? If not, pick something else!
If by some miracle there is a nasty model in his army with low leadership, you still need to get within 18" and succeed on an approximate 1/3 chance. Yes, the effect lasts to the end of the battle, but if the target is that much of a problem, you're going to be killing it soon anyway.
Leave this power at home. Better yet, cross it out of your codex. It's a trap!
 
Ok, that was a bit negative. What would you use this on? Units with 20+ wounds that will take multiple turns to destroy. Use it every turn to continually reduce the stats of a Shadowsword or Necron Pylon. Each time you succeed, the next attempt gets easier.
In the absence of titanic/gargantuan units, focus on vehicles and monsters which have 10+ wounds and a degradation table. Each time you succeed, this will be like forcing the target an extra step down that table due to the reduced BS and WS.
 
In a pinch, this can also be used in combination with our LD modifying friends, the Eye of the Unseen and Interrogator Chaplain.
 
Engulfing Fear
72% chance of casting.
This is another one which relies on your target having a low leadership score. At least there's not a roll off this time, but that's because there's a hidden roll off. You have to cause enough slain models in the target unit(s) this turn to trigger potential morale failures. And even then, your opponent may roll low enough to save himself, or use a stratagem to bypass the check altogether.
 
 

Tactical Objectives
Spoiler:

We don’t get to choose these, but they’re still worth examining.
Just like previous editions, I’d be much happier with the standard 11-16 objectives from Maelstrom. These suck.
Not One Step Back
We’re not less likely to fail morale than other marines, so this is actually a bit tricky. Grim Resolve does let us use ATSKNF more freely as discussed above, but this is still a risky card to hold onto. The mission you’re playing needs to factor into your decision. Are you going to be able to draw other achievable cards by getting rid of this one after a single turn? It’s a gamble – if you’re stuck in place, unable to push forward to capture numbered objectives, it may be beneficial to hang onto this for longer but that D3 could always be a 1 anyway. Really you’ll be choosing between 1 or 3 turns and 3 turns is a very long time in 40k.
On the other hand, if you’re running a lot of Deathwing, this is brilliant because you’re immune to morale anyway.

No Forgiveness
This is like a trickier version of Overwhelming Firepower, without the benefit of extra points for exceeding the requirements.

Confess!
You have to have an Interrogator-Chaplain or Librarian to even use this card. If you drew it, pray you have a Librarian, because a crozius arcanum is a terrible weapon to rely on.
In fact, given house rules for discarding unachievable objectives, I’d say this is another nail in the librarians’ coffins.
Seize and Interrogate
Assassination, again, but only in combat? Good god that’s terrible. We are not a combat army. Pray you have Deathwing Knights backed up by a lot of characters.

Flawless Strategy
Our chances of drawing this before having already deployed all Deathwing are ridiculously low. It’ll get discarded one way or another. Hopefully through house rules for auto-discarding.

The Path of Redemption
Charge a higher power rating… What units will we charge with? Expensive ones. Again, terrible.
 


Final Thoughts
Spoiler:

Getting the most out of the Dark Angels codex requires careful thinking. You simply cannot rely on the obvious choices being the best. If you want to play a Deathwing army for example, the obvious choice for your Warlord is Belial, but in reality, you're better off with an Interrogator Chaplain as your warlord. You can still take Belial in the list, just don't make him the warlord. By combining Belial's rerolls, the chaplain as the warlord with Master of Manoeuvre and the Eye of the Unseen, backed up by a Librarian and maybe a Deathwing Ancient, you can have a deep striking force that hits extremely hard on the first turn, and then maintains most of its hitting power, instead of one that teleports in, fails half of its charges and gets torn to pieces.
 
This is just one example.
 
 

Combinations
Spoiler:

Here are some sample units for making good use of specific rule combinations:
Deep Alpha strike ~800 pts
Drop pod, containing:
Azrael & 5 devastators w/ 4 multi meltas, lieutenant and 3 veterans.
Accompanied by 10 tartaros terminators armed to the teeth.
Use Deathwing Assault combined with Azrael and Lieutenant auras to clear a sizeable hole in any nearby troops while the multi-meltas take care of a monster or tank. The veterans are just there to fill seats and can head off on their own direction to grab an objective, keep them cheap with storm bolters and chainswords.
~800 points to destroy your opponent's backfield. And the terminators are then free to move with Azrael to pincer any units that moved into the midfield. With luck there will even be an objective that one of the doors of the pod can capture.

Sniper HQ
Primaris Master + Primaris Lieutenant +scouts. The HQs take Stalker bolt rifles and the scouts take sniper rifles.
1x 35/36 + 1x 32/36 S4 D2 AP-2 shots. Or in other words, two nearly guaranteed hits.
This is a brilliant idea. Right up until you remember only the warlord has Huntsman.
Nevermind.
It’s still useful, but the lieutenant doesn’t get anywhere near the benefit. Probably better have a regular lieutenant tooled for combat to rescue your scouts if they get charged. He won’t be able to shoot the same targets.
   
Made in us
Potent Possessed Daemonvessel





Just a note- when you mention weapons of the dark age you have 6 inceptors as 6d3 shots. Remember each inceptors has 2 plasma exterminators so 6 of the would have 12d3(24) shots. point for point the are the most efficient target for WOTDA.

10 Black knights = 460 points for 20 shots = 23 points per shot
10 Helblasters = 330 points for 20 shots (if you get in range) 16.5 points per shot (350 points for assault version of you want more range on double shots 17.5 points per shot)
6 plasma inceptors = 354 points for an average of 24 shots or 14.75 points per shot.

One note is helblasters have better AP and durability


This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/12/26 13:51:24


 
   
Made in ru
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




Is it actually possible to stack several mind wipes on one model like a shadowsord? Sounds kinda OP to be true, like stacking multiple darkshrouds
   
Made in us
Potent Possessed Daemonvessel





It seems like you can, that said it would take multiple turns to do so, thus it seems unlikely to really be super viable.

1) you need to get in 18" range
2.) pass a wc 7 psychic test (about 70% is you use a re-roll strat is you fail and have a 4+ on one dice)
3.) not get denied if applicable let's put this at 20% chance
4.) pass an opposed LD test which unless you are otherwise lowering its LD is against LD 8 about 60% (70% with re-roll if you did not use it already and have CP)

So assuming 1 cp is used somewhere along the way you have about a 35% chance of it going off the first time. The second is a bit easier due to lower enemy LD, but that assumes you live. So I would not really call it OP

   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Breng77 wrote:
Just a note- when you mention weapons of the dark age you have 6 inceptors as 6d3 shots. Remember each inceptors has 2 plasma exterminators so 6 of the would have 12d3(24) shots. point for point the are the most efficient target for WOTDA.

10 Black knights = 460 points for 20 shots = 23 points per shot
10 Helblasters = 330 points for 20 shots (if you get in range) 16.5 points per shot (350 points for assault version of you want more range on double shots 17.5 points per shot)
6 plasma inceptors = 354 points for an average of 24 shots or 14.75 points per shot.

One note is helblasters have better AP and durability


thanks for sharing the math, I'll add this to the OP. This is what I've been screaming since we saw the strategem. It's true that inceptors are less durable on the table, but deep strike means they'll never get hurt before they shoot at least once.

Battlescribe Catalog Editor - Please report bugs here http://battlescribedata.appspot.com/#/repo/wh40k 
   
Made in us
Potent Possessed Daemonvessel





Except against eldar potentially. The biggest thing I have found is 6 inceptors is often overkill so 2x3 tend to work better


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though 1 big unit can combat squad so if there is a single big target to remove that can be the way to go.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/12/26 17:34:19


 
   
Made in ca
Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch





Nova Scotia

Breng77 wrote:
Except against eldar potentially. The biggest thing I have found is 6 inceptors is often overkill so 2x3 tend to work better


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though 1 big unit can combat squad so if there is a single big target to remove that can be the way to go.

The other thing is you can split all your fire too, so you'd get maximum usage out of a unit of 6, popping the strat, and having 3 fire at one enemy and 3 at another (or however you want to split it).
   
Made in us
Dark Angels Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries





Zustiur wrote:
Here's the first draft of my full codex review. Happy reading. I welcome any and all feedback. In fact, the more feedback the better!

p.s. I hate writing in forum code, so apologies for any odd formatting. I'm happy to make the word doc available for anyone interested in reading in a nicer format.
Chapter Traits
Spoiler:

Grim Resolve (requires pure detachment)
On the one hand, the re-rolling 1s part of this means our armies will be even less inclined to move. On the other hand, it actually frees us to move somewhat more frequently. Let me explain; Hitting on a 3+ rerolling 1s is obviously a strong incentive to stay still, but there two reasons this means we can move more often. The first reason is that because we hit slightly more often with our heavy weapons this way, there will be more occasions where we have destroyed all visible targets, and can therefore move. The second reason is that our Company Masters no longer need to remain in our DZ inspiring our fire base. In fact, we now have fewer reasons to take company masters in the first place, which frees up a chunk of points to consider our other HQ options.

A key point to remember with this rule is that committing to using it every turn will hamper you in a lot of ways. Think of this more as a nice bonus for 3 turns of the game. If you have a reason to move, move. Do not throw away objectives or better fields of fire just to retain a reroll. We are not alone in having a chapter wide rule which isn't used 100% of the time, and that's not a bad thing.

Never losing more than one model at a time due to morale may not seem like much, especially when using 5 man units. However, there are occasions when that will be particularly beneficial. Perhaps not every game, but definitely occasions. For example, in my first tournament of 8th edition, I encountered two games against Night Lords. They apply a LD modifier for each of their units near the unit taking a morale check. This cost me a surprising number of models. Models which I would not have lost had this codex been out already.

Additionally, this means we get to get some more use out of And They Shall Know No Fear. No matter what you roll on that second attempt, the result will never be worse. No more rerolling a 5 to a 6 and losing additional models.

Ravenwing
On its own, 4+ jink may not be all that impressive, especially when many Ravenwing weapons cannot fire after advancing. Bikes are primarily shooting units, even the black knights, so advancing isn't a frequent occurrence. This shines however when we look at stratagems later.

Bikes will often want to move, and with this, now they will often want to advance. This means the stationary requirement of Grim Resolve is of limited use. However, it does still exist and perhaps the best way to use Ravenwing now is to alternate between advancing and remaining stationary. Land Speeders, sadly, are likely to want to remain stationary all game.
Remember, whether a unit moves or not doesn't matter, it's the model that matters. You can leave an attack bike stationary, while moving the other bikes around it (daisy chain!) to keep the accuracy on the most important model. The same trick can apply to the special weapons in the unit.

Inner Circle (formerly Deathwing)
Auto-passing morale reduces the value of Grim Resolve for Deathwing. On the other hand, you can look at this as Grim Resolve +1, because now we never lose more than 0 models to morale. Rerolling against Fallen is useless, except when it isn't. I don't know anyone who plays Fallen.

Combat Squads
It’s worth remembering that this rule only applies to a full sized unit. Without taking full sized units, we may as well not have the rule. Take large units, find out what your opponent has, and deploy accordingly. If you obviously aren’t going to finish deploying first, there’s little harm in splitting your units. Just remember to match this to how you intend to use your auras.
 


Units
HQ
Spoiler:

Azrael
Having Azrael as your warlord in a typical army (battalion) effectively gives you 3 extra CPs. 1 immediately and 2 you’ll get from Brilliant Strategist. 3 CPs gives your army a surprising amount of flexibility – more than enough to make up for Azrael’s own lack of mobility.

Azrael's invulnerable save aura has many uses, as does his reroll aura. Given devastators are going to be getting rerolls simply from standing still now, Azrael really wants to be moving. He can't keep up with bikes, but he can happily keep up with regular marines, primaris marines and terminators. That 4++ can be particularly useful near standard or tartaros terminators as you get the benefit of cataphractii without the penalty.

The Sword of Secrets is a good weapon, though in certain situations a power fist or thunder hammer would be preferable. The Lion’s Wrath on the other hand is just a master crafted bolter on a regular combi plasma gun. You do not choose your army based on either of these items, but they are good in their own right.

Azrael always wants to be surrounded by as many units as possible to hand out many re-rolls. Beware of parking-lot syndrome where your warlord spends his whole time surrounded by tanks, not directly contributing anything to the battle.

Belial
The Sword of Secrets makes Belial an excellent choice for your army. He’s a character and monster killer. This is helped by having the Huntsman warlord trait which aids you in getting him into combat with the enemy models which you most need to kill. 2 damage may seem low, but with wounding on 2s and AP -3 few characters will survive more than a few hits. Belial is an assassin and should be used as such. This is compounded by Parrying Blade which helps to preserve your warlord in one-on-one combat with enemy beat-sticks.
His benefits as an aura producer are more questionable. He needs to be surrounded by combat units (assault marines, veterans or deathwing) to clear out the chaff so he can focus on killing his preferred targets. It’s questionable which Deathwing units he benefits most, and this is something which bears further investigation.
One thing is certain, this is not a model for baby-sitting your firebase. Belial always needs to be in the thick of the fighting, probably via deep strike.

Sammael
Correct usage of Sammael is tricky. Taken as an individual, he’s a skirmisher – always wanting to shoot and charge, fall back, shoot, charge. However, virtually nothing else in your army can do the same thing, so you must take care not to get him stranded. Always fall back, always shoot, and charge back into the same combat if you have to.
Jink is irrelevant – he has a 4+ invulnerable anyway. Only advance when capturing objectives. Speaking of which, he’s our best chance at claiming Priority Orders Received.
Choosing units to provide rerolls to is also tricky. Land Speeders never want to be moving due to their heavy weapons, whereas Sammael should always be moving. He cannot keep up with the minimum move of aircraft for more than a turn. That leaves the various bikes. Black Knights are the only ones to truly benefit in both shooting and fight phases, but they’re too expensive to take en masse. Instead, take a healthy mix of regular bikes, black knights and make sure you bring a Ravenwing Ancient for the extra attacks (remember Sammael benefits from that too).
...on Corvex
The strengths of Corvex are the higher strength and AP of its plasma cannon and its price. Otherwise, Sableclaw is better in every way. The plasma cannon is dubious at best, providing too few shots to really compete with the twin assault cannon. Even against its preferred T6 and T7 targets, the greater chance of wounding doesn’t counteract the extra shots.
Corvex should be your choice for small games where points or power is at a premium.
...in Sableclaw
An extra wound, a lot of shots and best of all, no temptation to risk Gets Hot.
Sableclaw has a hidden benefit of being a larger model, thus providing a slightly larger bubble of rerolls.

Asmodai
Compared to an interrogator chaplain, Asmodai’s key benefit is the bonus attacks for infantry and bikes. Sadly, he lacks the mobility to work with bikes and jump units, so he’s limited to drop pod and rhino units- assault marines and veterans.

Ezekiel
Ezekiel is the most resilient Librarian. 2+, 4++, 5W. Like many of our named characters, he wants to be in the middle of combat where his aura takes effect. Otherwise, the best argument in his favour is his ability to deny two powers per turn. For approximately 1.5 librarians, you get the defensive benefit of 2 librarians.

Master
Discussion of the Master really needs to answer the question, ‘why not take Azrael instead?’ Possible answers to this question are: mobility, parking lot, mixed detachments (no Grim Resolve fixed with Courage of the First Legion), combi-melta (see Huntsman) and cost.
Of these, parking lot and cost will often go together. For less than half of Azrael, you can boost your tanks and land speeders without ever ‘wasting’ your combat potential.
...in terminator armour/cataphractii
If you want a storm shield, but still want two weapons, consider cataphractii. Otherwise, the benefit of terminator armour is deep strike, 2+ save, and the overpriced chainfist option. If you’re not planning to deep strike, I’d avoid this as the other benefits are tiny.
...Gravis
The lack of options for this model makes it very unappealing. The gauntlet makes the sword pointless against anything other than T3 characters.
...Primaris (not gravis)
There are a few options here, perhaps the most appealing is the stalker- coupled with Huntsman, you can make your warlord into a sniper. This is likely the most appropriate choice for your parking lot as he can contribute meaningfully to the battle while providing his aura to your tanks. He’s not even that expensive.
Standard Build: Master Crafter Stalker Bolt Rifle + Huntsman trait.

Librarian
See Psychic Powers.
Librarians are not a powerhouse in our codex; take them for power denial first and foremost. Force weapons are essentially master crafted power weapons. Smite is ok, but our other powers don’t warrant the cost a librarian.
...in terminator armour
You pay a lot to keep an unimportant model alive. You’d be better off paying a few more points to take Ezekiel instead and get double the denies.
...on bike/Jump
While it’s true that speed helps us to use our short ranged powers, none of them are worth using to begin with, so why bother? The best this option offers is greater control over who you smite.
...Primaris
Extra attacks is a good thing.

Chaplain
There is little reason to take a standard chaplain on foot. Infantry horde assault army we are not. He also acts as a LD 9 boost for units, but given Grim Resolve and ATSKNF, that’s of limited benefit. It’s worth noting this is more useful if you take Dark Angels as allies in a mixed detachment.
...on bike
Allows you to accompany Ravenwing, where at least the re-rolls to hit can be put to decent use (corvus hammers).
...Jump
Deep strike on the cheap to help out terminators.
...Primaris
Like the plain foot chaplain, there is no point to this in a Dark Angels army.
...Interrogator Chaplain
Again, on foot there’s not much point. No point lowering LD of units out of range.
...Interrogator with jump pack
With a jump pack he can keep up with our assault units and push for that extra model slain thanks to LD reduction.
...Interrogator in terminator armour
Finally an option worth considering. In terminator armour, he’ll be right next to your Deathwing where he’s actually needed to compensate for the -1 to hit on power fists.

Lieutenant
As tempting as it is to arm this guy to the teeth, you’re probably better off leaving him as cheap as possible. In all likelihood, he’ll be standing with your firebase contributing little to the battle directly. A combi weapon is worth considering, but since that replaces the master crafted bolter, it’s less beneficial than normal.
His main benefit is to sit with your heavy weapons where that 1 to wound is most painful. Keep him with your devastators, hellblasters or tanks. Arm him for defence of those units. This means swapping the chainsword for a power sword (or axe).
...Jump
As always, the jump option is a consideration based on where you want the model to be. Only take this to support bikes, jump troops or deep striking units.
...Primaris
For those of us who are purists trying to keep primaris out of the Dark Angels, there are blessedly few reasons to take a Primaris Lieutenant. Mainly, it’s the extra attack and wound. Their weapon options aren’t impressive. The master crafted auto-bolt rifle is the only one really worthy of consideration here, potentially producing 4 damage per turn.
Even our currently unique access to a plasma pistol/power sword combo isn’t that impressive.

Talonmaster
Preventing your RW units' targets from benefiting from cover is particularly useful when you look at the plasma and melta options we have. Use your speed to get in range of your opponent's firebase (which will inevitably be in some cover) and blast away at them with your high AP weapons. Alternately, sit this guy near some Land Speeder Typhoons to bust lighter vehicles (T6&7) from afar.
Rerolling 1s to wound is always useful, no matter what units this guy happens to be near.

Additionally, this model has many of the strengths of Sammael – 18 mid strength AP-1 shots per turn on a platform that cannot be shot easily.

Techmarine
It’s easy to overlook the techmarine for his lack of aura and psychic powers. For just under the price of a basic lieutenant, you can fill an HQ slot with a power axe and optional power fist attack. This model can then keep your predators or other parking lot units alive (and firing at higher brackets) longer than they should. What’s more, he can help to screen them from combat by tying up enemy units that seek to tie up your tanks. He’s an excellent 2nd HQ in any battalion with multiple gun vehicles.
Best to replace his bolt pistol with a bolter or combi weapon so you can make use of the 2+ BS.
...on bike
Putting your techmarine on a bike would be useful in two situations; your vehicles are moving a lot or your vehicles are going to deploy spread out.
 


Troops
Spoiler:

These three units really need to be considered in relation to each other. The advantages listed below are in that context – not measured against other units in the codex.
Defenders of Humanity (Objective Secured)
This is actually a detachment rule, but since it only applies to troops…
There aren’t too many occasions where control of an objective is actually contested, but it’s a nice boost when available. Scouts get the most benefit, as they will both be forward (in the face of the enemy) and often have low numbers (due to easy casualties).
Tactical Squad
Advantages:
* Melta bombs
* Special, Heavy and Combi weapons
* Rhino/Razorback/Drop pod transport
Aside from that, they are the middle option in many ways. Better resilience than scouts, but not as good as intercessors, and so on. Technically scouts can go in transports too, but there’s no obvious reason to do so.
A proper analysis of Tactical Squads comes down to an analysis of their weapons, and combinations thereof. A squad should generally be given a fixed purpose, and armed accordingly. However, their role within the [lore] codex is as the ultimate generalists, and there is some value in arming them accordingly. The become the unit that’s not worth killing, while being able to threaten every possible enemy.

Special/Combi
Flamers are essentially short range, multi shot bolters. 9 points is a lot to pay to have a model standing around with no targets a lot of the time. The combi option is slightly more pleasing as at least he still gets to fire his bolter. D6 hits is equivalent to 3.5 * 6/4 = 5 ¼ bolter shots. So you’re paying 9 points for an increase by 3 ¼ shots at less than normal rapid fire range.
Grav guns and plasma guns fit almost entirely the same role, with grav being the better option against infantry, and plasma the better against vehicles and monsters. The longer range of plasma puts it ahead for defensive squads. Grav is more suited to a unit that will be in a transport to negate its range issues.
Meltaguns are best against opponents who rush you with vehicles (usually flyers) to act as a back-up threat- giving your opponent a reason NOT to get that close to you. When you don’t know your opponent, you’re probably better off looking to heavy weapons for your anti-tank capability, and leaving meltaguns for bikers.

Heavy
Grav cannons, like their smaller brother have issues with range. Put them in a rhino and hunt heavy infantry.
Heavy bolters make a good option for tactical squads in particular due to their low cost. Couple with plasma and combi-plasma for a unit that will sit in your fire-base, on an objective, screening your more vulnerable targets.
Lascannon is strangely one of the best options for tactical squads – especially squads of 5 with no other upgrades.
Missile launchers are just not worth it right now. You’re better off with lascannons against anything other than a true horde.
Multi-meltas should only be considered if you plan to drop pod, or know your opponent will rush you with vehicles/monsters.
Plasma cannons suffer like all former blast weapons from not having enough shots. They’re no good at killing vehicles and they don’t have enough shots to worry infantry. Again you’re better off with the lascannon.

Unit Size
People often bad mouth tactical marines for their lack of resilience for their cost. Yet those same people generally take minimum squads. A squad of 10 takes concerted effort to remove. Yes, taking two squads of 5 gives you more weapon options and a second sergeant, but that’s at increased unit count/kill points/deployment drops, and likely the cost of first turn. If you’re worried about saving points and wanting a small unit, stick with scouts.

So long as your weapon choices are sensible, tactical marines can be cheap, resilient and effective in one bundle. They’ll never be the star of the show in terms of output, but they’re consistent performers and low priority targets. Never underestimate the value of pouring 5 turns of bolt gun fire into your enemy, especially with 6’s always wound as a factor in the game.

Standard Builds:
10 man; grav, combi grav, grav cannon, rhino = 190 & 72 = 262 pts
10 man; plasma, combi plasma, heavy bolter = 168 pts
5 man; lascannon = 90 pts
[Not recommended] Generalist build: 10 man; melta-gun, combi-flamer, missile launcher = 193 pts

Scout Squad
Advantages:
* Cheapest troops unit at 55 points
* Can deploy virtually anywhere, allowing
* * Deployment on objectives
* * Deployment as a forward screen
* * Deployment 9" from a unit you want to assault
* Objective secured AND infiltrate combined to prevent first turn midfield objective grabs
* Small bases, and therefore small footprint allowing deployment into terrain that might be too small for other units
* Option for shotguns
* Option for sniper rifles
* Option for pistol and blade, while being objective secured
I have deliberately excluded camo cloaks from the list of advantages because it's no better than having power armour in cover instead. Additionally, the cost makes them more expensive than having power armour in the first place. You're paying more for scouts to have durability AND the infiltration. However, scouts should never be thought of as a durable unit precisely because of the infiltration. They will be the first to receive the brunt of enemy firepower, and will be much easier to charge than your tactical marines. Camo cloaks are no help in combat.
 
For forward screening, no unit in our codex does it better. For side screening, Company veterans are cheaper.
 
If we rule out camo cloaks, what wargear do we chose? That depends on what role you want to set them, and you MUST select a role.
Are they a screen in front of your army? Keep them cheap.
Are they a screen for your flanks in a castle deployment/aura focussed army? Sniper rifles for the range.
Are they to tie up enemy units in combat? Pistol and blade, or possibly shotgun for S5 goodness.
Are they to sit on mid-field objectives and stay put? Bolters for the range.
Heavy weapons should only be for units which are not screens and are not far forward. Otherwise they'll die too quickly. A heavy bolter may be tempting, but you've just pushed up from 55 to 63 points, entering Tactical Squad territory. Be truthful with yourself about how likely they are to die in the first turn or two.
Heavy weapons in a sniper unit are also very tempting as they'll be near your back line anyway, but you pay a lot for it, and reduce your sniping power in the process. If you bought snipers, don't you want to maximise the potential for those mortal wounds on characters?

Shotguns vs pistol and blade. If you get close enough, such as deploying 9" away then moving, you have the S5 of shotguns to work with. Against T4 and T8, that's an advantage for sure. 10 shots wounding on 3s instead of 4s or 5s instead of 6s. The rest of the time, the pistol and blade gets you a shot, and two close combat attacks instead of 1, with a potential extra shot in later rounds. Also, if you're thinking of going after a T8 unit (say, to lock it in combat) you already have krak grenades.

In addition to the above options for the unit as a whole, the infiltration can be used as a combi-weapon delivery system. The sergeant can take a combi weapon [via the index entry], which means you can get a flamer or melta in close range on turn 1 very easily.
 
A final use for them is as a distraction. Again keep them as cheap as possible, but deploy them behind LOS blocking cover vaguely near the enemy line. Don't worry about moving them to attack (unless he creates a vulnerable opening). Just wait for him to get paranoid and spend time moving to attack them - likely to be with a far more expensive unit- thus wasting his time.
Standard Builds:
5 man; pistol and sword for harassment of the enemy line = 55 pts
5 man; bolters for midfield objective holding = 55 pts
5 man; snipers for backfield/flank screening = 75 pts

Intercessors
 Advantages:
* Bolt rifles/Assault bolters/Stalker bolt rifles
* 2 wounds
* 2 attacks
* Aux. grenade launchers
Repulsor transport
Intercessors want to move a lot to make full use of their resilience and combat ability, so auto bolt rifles are tempting. The fact this gun has a cost is the problem. If they were the same price as regular bolt rifles, I could see uses for both. As it is, auto bolt rifles really only make sense on a unit which you intend to run into your opponent’s zone to capture objectives late game. Three turns of run and shoot gets you into their zone pretty reliably (28.5” average), where you can capitalise on Objective Secured. It likely won’t matter if you’re down to 1 model by turn 5, as many players neglect to leave troops on their home objectives.

However, outside of Maelstrom (where you want a faster unit anyway), there’s not a lot of reason to get across the table in 3 turns, so why not take all 5 turns and use the cheaper, more powerful bolt rifles? In the same 3 turns, you’re getting almost as many hits due to the -1 penalty for running.

Additionally; Reivers are cheaper than Intercessors with auto bolt rifles – yet come with heavy bolt pistols, shock grenades and Terror Troops.

Likewise, stalker bolt rifles suffer from having a cost. Without it they’d be contenders. With it, they’re just a trap option. Only take them when you also plan to ensure there’s an objective close to your own table edge. Sit them on it and rely on their range to remain useful. The -2 is great, but coupled with S4, D1 and crucially, 1 shot, they just aren’t that exciting. In this case, I’d stick with a unit of 5 also.

If standard bolt rifles are the best choice, how many do we want? We’ll rule out 6-9 due to Power and aux grenade launchers. 5 or 10 then? Per my note on combat squads, I recommend units of 10 as a general rule. The only advantage of 5 is having a second sergeant, and therefore potential second power sword. It’s something to consider when: a) you’re trying to maximise detachments for CPs, and; b) have points to spare which may as well go on more power swords.

Aux. grenade launchers get a lot of positive feedback. You’re giving up one or two shots with your main gun to fire at S6, D3. Since it’s only 1 point that’s probably worth it. However, it’s definitely an afterthought for when you have points left after army construction, not something to put on as a default.
Standard Builds:
10 man; bolt rifles = 180 pts
5 man; stalker bolt rifles = 100 pts
 

Elites
Spoiler:

Ancients
With the exception of Deathwing and Ravenwing, Ancients mostly provide the 4+ chance for an extra shot/attack. Note that this is models within 6”, not units and it only applies to infantry. The extra attack in the fight phase is more of a Deathwing thing, yet you’re pretty much prevented from using it that way due to having no mobility.
The leadership benefit is questionable in a Dark Angels army.
Picking where to use the chapter and company ancients is the tricky part. They want to be near a) lots of models, or b) models with very powerful guns. That means heavy concentrations of tactical marines (a rare choice to begin with), hellblasters or devastators. The internet seems to like pairing them with hellblasters, but for the price, you could just take more hellblasters.
...Chapter Ancient
Make that free attack more likely to hit. Same weapon options as Company Ancient.
...Company Ancient
The key advantage of this option is the chance to take combi weapons or melee weapons.
...Primaris Ancient
6 points for a better gun, extra wound and extra attack. Seems good, but it means you can’t take a melee weapon, which you might want.
...Deathwing
Consider this option whenever planning a deep strike assault. Great with any terminators, but especially great with power fists/thunder hammers because it provides the additional attacks they need to overcome their hit penalty.
...Ravenwing
Given the lack of attacks Ravenwing have in general, this guy is almost a must-take. Being able to provide a large bubble of extra attacks is extremely beneficial.

Apothecary
Apothecaries exist to use their narthecium. That means either healing characters or resurrecting models.
Resurrecting models is not guaranteed, and in fact, from an army planning point of view, is only going to succeed twice during the game (5 turns /2, rounding down because of various factors including apothecary death). If you’re really planning to use this, it must be on units with very expensive models. Frankly, that means Deathwing knights or Ravenwing black knights. Nothing else warrants the cost. Even inceptors aren’t going to be worth the cost of an apothecary that can keep up (RW).
The real use is in keeping your characters alive. An apothecary backing up a close combat strike force of beat-sticks is invaluable as you’ll be keeping very expensive models alive, without any need for a 4+ roll to succeed. Put him in the same delivery system as the characters themselves, be that bike, deep strike, land raider or drop pod.
...Primaris
These have the most interesting gun, but that’s really all there is to say. Their statline appears to be missing the extra attack that primaris models normally get.
...Deathwing
The obvious choice to pair with Deathwing Knights, and some characters.
...Ravenwing
The obvious choice to pair with Ravenwing Black Knights or Inceptors. Generally the best choice of the lot due to his ability to keep up with your characters, no matter their method of movement.

Champions
Champions do nothing for the units around them. They are combat characters. Each has essentially the same S7 melee weapon, which is good, but just means wounding on 3s. Oddly enough, they make pretty good vehicle hunters.
...Company Champion
Sadly this guy has the problem of most power armour character. No range coupled with no mobility. He is very cheap though, making for an excellent counter-attack character to help defend your firebase.
...Deathwing Champion
This guy may well be the star of the champions due to his extra weapon rule granting additional attacks. He’s the most versatile because he isn’t wasted in fighting infantry.
The Deathwing champion is also the most capable on his own. He can deep strike into tight corners, hide until the following turn then move out to strike characters, vehicles or even infantry.
...Ravenwing Champion
The advantage of this model is obviously his speed and plasma talons. This is the champion best suited to actual character hunting. He can move into position to get clear shots, turbo-boosting if necessary, taking the S7 plasma shots then charging to finish the job. Many actual assassins would struggle to do the same.

Imperial Space Marine
The disintegration gun is essentially a combi-grav. It just does more damage. He’s a bit like a lieutenant with combi-grav and grav pistol, but he’s traded the reroll to wound for the price of the guns.

Aggressor Squad
If you want lots of S4 AP0 shots, there does not seem to be a better way to get it. These guys put out more than tactical marines, more than intercessors with auto bolt rifles, more than inceptors, more than terminators. They have powerfists just like terminators. In fact, if you don’t need cyclone missile launchers and you aren’t planning to deep strike, these guys are a better choice than terminators.
Thanks to their special rules, these guys will either be standing still or advancing. There is never a reason to move normally. This means you can get them into firing range on turn 1 on a roll of 2+.

Company Veterans
Like most units in the game, you really need to have a purpose in mind when selecting company veterans. It’s very easy to make this into an extraordinarily expensive unit, while remaining no harder to kill than a tactical squad. Their veteran status does nothing to improve their durability. For this reason they are prime candidates for putting in transports.
As the cheapest unit in our codex, a basic unit of two company veterans with bolters can be used to secure a flank in your deployment zone – preventing enemy deep strike due to the 9” rule. This is a great option to consider if you’re planning an army which will castle deploy or which will very quickly move up the battlefield – you can afford to leave them in your deployment zone to prevent your enemy appearing behind your force to divide your attention. Just remember to deploy them out of LOS, or you’ll be handing your opponent First Blood for free.
The option for storm shields appears to be a trap – they’ll die just as fast to regular AP0 weapons as any other marine, so giving them a 3++ is no real defence. Combat shields fair little better, as they pay a lot for being an additional item rather than a replacement.
With universal access to combi-weapons and near universal access to special weapons, they can hold a lot of firepower. From plasma for use with Weapons from the Dark Age, to be used at range, to melta in a rhino to destroy a super heavy, to power weapons and chainswords to massacre infantry, they can be given any role.
On foot, I believe it’s best to keep them cheap – storm bolters and chainswords gives them a great number of attacks, without bumping them up past the cost of intercessors. This is also one of the best loadouts for use as body guards, as you are not going to want to lose an expensive model each time your protected character gets hit.
Against hordes, take combi-flamers and mount up in a razorback with twin heavy flamers.

Standard Builds:
Screen = 2 man; bolters = 32 pts
Horde v1 = 5 man; storm bolters, chainswords = 90 pts
Horde v2 = 5 man; 5 combi flamers, chainswords = 135 pts, in a razorback with twin heavy flamers (104)
Superheavy = 5 man; 4 melta guns, 1 combi melta = 167 pts in a rhino or razorback
General = 5 man; 4 plasma guns, 1 combi plasma, chainswords = 157
Melee = 5 man; 5 power axes, 5 chainswords = 105 pts, probably 2 units, in a land raider, probably with character support (chaplain?).

Deathwing Terminators
With the introduction of aggressors, there is even less reason to deploy terminators normally. You’re paying for the ability to deep strike. Use it, but use it wisely. Teleporting in to a hornets’ nest unsupported is just going to get you killed. Do not rely on charging when you arrive either, not only will you fail even with re-rolls, it won’t save you from many enemies as they can fall back and shoot you with everything else in the army. Drop into cover, give yourself 1+ saves and shoot until someone is foolish enough to come close, or until you can move safely.
Our heavy weapon options aren’t brilliant, but getting 4 shots with a cyclone missile launcher through the Deathwing Assault stratagem isn’t a terrible idea. If you’re really game, take 10 models and get 8 shots this way. That’s enough to put a hole in anything. However, there may be a better candidate for this in Tartaros.
As a general rule, the plasma cannon is a bad idea, the heavy flamer will be out of range all game and the missile launcher is too expensive. Stick with assault cannons and focus on killing infantry.
Thunder hammer/storm shield terminators are outclassed by Deathwing Knights. Lightning claw terminators suffer from the perpetual mobility problem.
...Cataphractii
 Cataphractii are more expensive at first glance. However, they can reduce their price somewhat by swapping power fists for lightning claws. This coupled with the 4++ makes for a tempting ‘deploy’ unit rather than a deep struck one, however, see aggressors. The heavy flamer is never a good choice for cataphractii due to the slower movement.
...Tartaros
Tartaros share lightning claw option discussed above for cataphractii. This actually makes them the cheapest terminator option, until you add in the plasma blaster and heavy weapon.

The reaper autocannon is tricky. On one hand, it's a poor man's assault cannon with only 4 shots. On the other hand it does have S7 which makes it significantly better at hurting medium vehicles (T6, T7). It also has better range, meaning it will be free to target other units more often than the assault cannon.

The sergeant's weapon options provide the other key difference for this unit. Sadly the volkite charger is Heavy on a unit that wants to be moving a lot, therefore the plasma blaster is generally the better choice - it pairs well with the reaper autocannon, being the same strength and therefore often having the same desired targets.

Deathwing Knights
Deathwing Knights are brilliant, but expensive. The flat 3 damage on the maces and the carry-over of wounds from the flail make them good against all manner of units. The price makes you want to have a minimum unit of 5, but the unit can still be focussed down quickly. Adding an extra body or two is a good idea, as is supporting them with a Deathwing Ancient, chaplain or Belial.
As with all terminators, don’t deep strike into a hornets’ nest and don’t rely on a first turn charge.

Reiver Squad
Grav chutes vs grapnel is like deep strike vs outflank (including enemy table edge!), plus the vertical movement ability, which is mini fly. Grapnels win.
In most situations, the bolt carbine (assault bolt rifle!) is going to be better than the heavy bolt pistol because sheer volume of fire outweighs a d6 modifier of 1.
This is a unit with no clear role other than being in the enemy deployment zone. Intercessors do most of the same job for the same price without the deep strike/outflank ability (which costs extra anyway). The funny thing is, Reivers are cheaper than Intercessors with auto bolt rifles – yet come with heavy bolt pistols, shock grenades and Terror Troops.
The other factor is Terror Troops -1 LD, but that is so short ranged as to only be useful in combat. This might make them combo well with a librarian, but it isn’t a compelling reason to take them in the first place.

Servitors
Do not do anything to help tech marines anymore. They’re cheap single attack powerfists, but they’re going to hit on 6s, so never take. The BS 5+ makes the heavy weapons useless too.

Dreadnought
Regular dreadnoughts work well as a defensive unit – helping to keep your predators and devastators safe. For this reason, keeping the power fist is a good idea.
All dreadnoughts benefit from Grim Resolve’s reroll
Standard Builds:
Assault cannon, power fist, storm bolter: 134 pts
Twin lascannon, power fist, storm bolter: 162 pts
...Venerable Dreadnought
20 points more for BS 2+. A good option for heavy weapon dreadnoughts. Unless you’re short on points, this is a straight upgrade and always worth taking.
Cheaper than predators, with a reroll, hitting on 2s, but with a worse second gun (missile launcher). If they could take quad lascannons they’d be the same price, but hitting 35/36 instead of 24/36. No-brainer. To the best of my knowledge, there is no venerable mortis dreadnought.
Standard Builds:
Twin lascannon/missile launcher: 165 pts
Quad autocannon: 156 pts
...Contemptor Dreadnought
For the first 8 wounds, this dread is as good as, or better than the standard dreadnought so don’t be put off by the damage table. What it lacks is weapon options. There aren’t many targets for S7 D1 weapons in this game because there aren’t enough low wound T6 models (like carnifexes and land speeders). That makes the kheres assault cannon look like a regular assault cannon. Yes it can hurt T7 on 4s, but it doesn’t have the damage value or AP to back that up.
The multi melta looks like a better option, because unlike regular dreadnoughts, this one has a bit of extra speed to make use of that weapon. On turn 2 you’ll be in half range.
Standard Build:
Multi melta, fist, storm bolter: 167 points.
...Redemptor Dreadnought
 This unit is just weird, but then so is the repulsor. So many guns, so little coordination between them. Both main weapons are genuinely good, for very different targets. There’s never a reason not to swap the heavy flamer for the onslaught Gatling cannon. Likewise, you should swap the grenade launchers for storm bolters. Both of these changes make the model (slightly) cheaper. Then it’s just the question of plasma vs Gatling.
Unlike a regular plasma weapon, this one has enough shots to matter.
Standard Builds:
Plasma, Gatling, storm bolters, fist: 191 pts
Double Gatling, storm bolters, fist: 196 pts
 


Fast Attack
Spoiler:

Assault Squad
This is the only unit which can match Sammael’s skirmishing tactic of fall-back, shoot and charge again.
Assuming your intent is to get into combat; Jump packs are almost mandatory. If you don’t put them in a drop pod or rhino, you’re going to need the packs to get anywhere.
In the age of primaris, assault marines are as lost as ever. They simply don’t have enough attacks to be a credible threat on their own. This makes them fall by default into a sort of fire support role, where plasma pistols are your best option. Take a small unit, bounce around into cover, then put some plasma into an otherwise protected unit. Consider melta bombs instead of the third pistol (on the sergeant).
Forget eviscerator, a single 4+ to hit is never going to be worth 22 points.
Flamers may be of use, but as always, they are just like bolter hits, so of questionable value compared to just taking more bolters elsewhere.

If you want to use them in their traditional role of jump assault troops, flamers and a power axe or fist should make for a capable unit. Take the fist and add in melta bombs and now you have a sergeant capable of causing up to 12 wounds on a vehicle while his mates clear out the chaff. Also good for surprising an enemy character.

There is an alternate use of assault squads to consider – that of an inverse distraction carnifex. Instead of being an obvious threat, and therefore shot, they are an obvious non-threat, so may go unmolested. Advance them up the board on foot, with no upgrades, until they either get into combat with something, or protect your other units by posing as a distraction.
Standard Build:
5 man, 3 plasma pistols, jump packs: 101 pts
10 man, 2 flamers, power fist, melta bombs: 195

Inceptor Squad
A deep striking unit that doesn’t want to land exactly 9” away. How refreshing. Twin short ranged heavy bolters for a comparable price to two devastators with heavy bolters. High mobility coupled with decent ranged weapons. There’s a lot to like about this unit.
The plasma option is alright, but significantly more expensive. It’s one of highest rate-of-fire sources of plasma in the book. The fact it can get easily to targets which might otherwise be hidden makes it very useful, but I think the bolter option is better most of the time. The plasma option makes them too obvious a target, and will likely get them killed before they cause much damage.
Pick a target, land in cover, shoot a lot, and move to more cover, repeat.
Standard Build:
5 man, assault bolters: 225 pts

Ravenwing Bike Squad
Chainswords vs bolt pistols. Chainswords are better if you're charging as it means more hits before the enemy strikes back. Bolt pistols are equal if you don't initiate the combat - you'll get punches in your opponent's fight phase, and then shoot him in your shooting phase. Chainswords are also better if you plan to fall back. So it's Chainswords 2, bolt pistols 0. Always swap to chainswords.
 
Taking the optional attack bike may seem pointless when you can take one separately. Remember that there’s no limitation to fire at the same target anymore, and being in the same unit reduces your number of kill points and deployment drops.

Special weapons should always be paired. You get plenty of plasma elsewhere, and these are a one of the few units able to make proper use of flamers and meltas. Pick one of those, depending on what you want out of the unit. If you go with melta, consider the attack bike with multi melta, as it can be behind your other models, and still be in melta-half-range, neatly avoiding any issues you might have with tight gaps in terrain.

* An argument has been made that 3 bikes, each with plasma/combi plasma plus their regular bolters is actually more firepower for fewer points than black knights. This is true. You get the same number of plasma shots (within 12”), plus 4 bolter shots per model, which outweighs the potential 2 corvus hammer attacks. And that’s without the regular bikers having to charge (which they can do on top with chainswords...). It’s more powerful and cheaper but cannot be made into a larger squad without losing efficiency. Note that this option comes from the Index, not the codex, but is still valid.

If you’re taking upgrades, look at getting extra models to soak up the initial wounds. 6 models works well for Power as well as points. It has historical value (from the 6th ed codex) where 6 bikes was the max.

If you just want them for the mobility, take a squad of 3 with no upgrades (other than the free chainsword obviously), but consider scout bikers instead. On second thoughts, give the sergeant a melta bomb. It’s still very cheap, but gives them an option to cause some damage if/when the opportunity presents itself. However, don’t let it distract you. This unit’s objective is objectives not fighting.
Standard Builds:
3 man, 3 chainswords, melta bombs = 80 pts
6 man, 5 chainswords, combi melta, 2 melta guns = 203 + optional attack bike with multi-melta 62 = 265
6 man, 5 chainswords, 2 flamers = 168

Ravenwing Attack Bike Squad
Heavy bolters don't typically benefit much from being on a mobile platform because targets for heavy bolters are so plentiful. Multi-meltas do benefit a great deal. Furthermore, in a pure Ravenwing list, your bikes will generally provide your anti-infantry fire power through sheer bolter volume. The weapon choice is easy - Multi melta every time.
The tougher question is when should you take an attack bike squad? The answer appears to be – in Pure Ravenwing lists. If you don’t have lascannons because you’ve eschewed devastators and predators, you’ll need the anti-tank/monster oomph of multi meltas.

Ravenwing Land Speeders
Land speeders cost as much as razorbacks, with far lower stats, similar weapon options and more speed. Land speeders don’t have transport capacity, but people aren’t using razorbacks as transport anyway. Hopefully land speeders will see another points decrease in the future, but until then, their best loadout is dual heavy flamers – advance every turn (jink), ignore the shooting penalty. Put that 16+1d6” to work by making an 8” gun useful. Think of them like flyers- with a minimum move of 17” a turn, don’t expect to stay in one place firing at the same target twice, keep moving.
Taking a unit of 3 or more increases their speed, making the heavy flamers even easier to use. However, 3 of these cost a comparable price to 2 whirlwinds, so choose wisely.

Ravenwing Black Knights
Black knights are a truly powerful unit, but people know this so they will draw a lot of fire. They are no tougher than regular bikes, so keep them protected. Plasma is great against so many targets, and you have adequate combat power to back it up. Keep Sammael and/or an RW ancient and/or a Talonmaster nearby.
Try to only charge units which have been damaged enough that you’ll kill them this turn or in your opponent’s turn. You don’t want to be stuck in combat on your next turn. Additionally, only charge when it’s heavily in your favour. The rest of the time, you want to be kiting around 18” to make the most of getting 2 shots at full range. This obviously depends on your target and what weapons/range they have. Against 24” rapid fire, it is actually quite a powerful trick to minimise return fire.
I don’t see value in the grenade launchers because I don’t see value in trading AP -3 for 1d3 damage. The things you want to do the extra damage to are likely to save.

Ravenwing Darkshroud
This is a sizeable investment, but well worth it in the right situations. If you want to use a darkshroud, ensure you’ve got a cluster of units to benefit from it – whether that is a fire base, cluster of bikes or just a mass of infantry walking up the board.
A dark shroud is not something to be taken as an afterthought; you must incorporate it into your plan.
As for the weapon, take it matched on what you’re trying to protect. If it’s your firebase, you need the range of the heavy bolter.

Ravenwing Land Speeder Vengeance
The vengeance has a damage value of 2, making it one of the few plasma weapons to be specialised at killing multi-wound, multi-model units. On the other hand, for the same price you could have 3 more black knights – putting out a more reliable number of shots.
With two heavy weapons, this isn’t going to want to move, so the assault cannon is likely a poor choice. You need the range of the heavy bolter to ensure you can shoot all the time. It’s cheaper too.

Scout Bike Squad
It’s weird that these guys have more weapons than their fully trained counterparts.
Stick with the bolters unless you’re hunting vehicles… and if you’re hunting vehicles, there are better ways to spend your points.
They are faster than regular bikes but have less armour. Good for quick objective grabs, but you better keep them out of sight when they’re not needed.
Standard Build:
No upgrades. 3 models, used for capturing objectives only.
 

Heavy Support
Spoiler:

Tanks do not get Grim Resolve. Infantry, bikes and dreadnoughts do. For Dark Angels, that means a reduced reason to take them. Bear this in mind for the rest of this section.
Devastator Squad
I think there are only two sensible options for devastators at the moment. Lascannons and heavy bolters. This unit always wants to sit still, so grav and multi-melta are both out. Plasma and missiles both suffer from not enough shots against infantry and not enough punch against vehicles.
Taking 4 weapons in a minimum squad just makes the unit too much of a target. Always include enough extra bodies to keep your heavy weapons alive when the unit gets shot in the first turn. This can be by not taking 4 weapons, or by purchasing the extra models.
If you’re taking single shot weapons, the armorium cherub is like having a hunter killer missile, for one point less. If you have lascannons, it better and cheaper.
Standard Builds:
10 man; 4 lascannons, cherub = 235 pts
10 man; 4 heavy bolters = 170 pts

Hellblasters
Like Intercessors, this is really an analysis of guns.
Unlike Intercessors, the assault version actually has merit – it has the same AP and will wound infantry just as often. That means the extra shot from 15-24” is actually an improvement in firepower. They make an absolute mockery of regular marines and other MEQ. Terminators, as always will fall back on their invulnerable saves, so the -4 AP is wasted against the more elite targets.
For Dark Angels specifically, the standard version has more benefit – rerolling 1s makes overcharging a safer bet without the need for babysitting.
The heavy version looks like an anti-vehicle weapon, but isn’t. It doesn’t do enough wounds, even with overcharging and stratagems. This is because you’re not getting enough shots to capitalise on the increased damage.
Plasma pistol; if you’re hellblaster squad is in combat long enough to benefit from this; something has gone wrong because you’ve already lost an entire round of shooting. A single plasma pistol shot is not going to get you out of combat any faster. Run away instead. Let someone else shoot.
More than most units in our army, hellblasters really need support from other units- either as a screen or as combat characters to rescue them. The unit is just too tempting to shut down by engaging them in combat.
Standard Builds:
5/10 man; Plasma Incinerators = 165/330 points
5/10 man; Assault Plasma Incinerators = 175/350 points

Predator
Predators must be compared with devastator squads since they’re typically using the same weapons. The predator is cheaper, harder to hurt, can suffer the same number of wounds before losing efficiency. It can move much faster for those times when you have no targets. What it lacks is the signum benefit,
Standard Builds:
Autocannon/heavy bolters = 150
Quad-las cannon = 190

Vindicator
At first glance, the vindicator doesn’t get enough shots (D3), but a lot of the time, you’ll be aiming at units of 5 or more, so it’s actually a more respectable D6. It wounds the vast majority of infantry and bikes on 2s. Nevertheless it’s an odd unit, best aimed at multi-wound squads like terminators – units which are fairly rare to begin with.
Perhaps another way to think of it is as a razorback with twin (1d3 = 2 avg) lascannon. The demolisher is very similar to a lascannon vs vehicles. Considered like this, you’re paying 55 points for something which is roughly equivalent to a 50 point weapon. Not terrible. It’s a 5 point difference, with more versatility. The vindicator is tougher than the predator and rhino/razorback too.
In direct comparison with the predator then, the let-down is the lack of sponson weapons.

Whirlwind
Like the Vindicator above, it’s best to compare the whirlwind launcher with similar weapons. You have an option between twin auto-cannon (vengeance) and assault-cannon with 0 AP (castellan). Both cases have longer range and the ability to shoot hidden targets. The former seems like the better choice (which makes sense considering it’s the more expensive option).
Sadly S7 AP-1 isn’t that impressive in general as the majority of vehicles have Sv 3+. Averages: 4 shots, 2 hits, 1 wound, 0.5 failed saves.

Stalker
Very much like the whirlwind with vengeance launcher, but specialised at targeting flyers. The stalker gets more shots compared to the average whirlwind. It’s a 6 shot auto-cannon on T8 tracks.

Hunter
This is essentially a razorback with single lascannon specialised at targeting flyers. A pair of lascannons anywhere else in your army is going to do a better job; even with the -1 to hit they’ll suffer. Point for point, a quad-las predator is more efficient at destroying flyers.

Land Raider
It’s natural to think of terminators when we think of land raiders, but transporting terminators may not be the best use of their transport capacity. Terminators can teleport. Other units cannot. On the other hand, you can disembark, move and charge in a single turn, thus getting around the 9” charge issue associated with deep strike.
It’s easy to spot the weaknesses of a land raider: one is just under the price of two quad-lascannon predators, for example. Its strengths are in the 2+ save and the Power of the Machine Spirit.

The base version makes the best use of PotMS- as it’s the one with the most heavy weapons (not counting flame storm since they auto-hit anyway). Add a multi-melta on top and you have a vehicle which is particularly good at hunting other vehicles/monsters. So what should be inside it?

The answer to my mind is that you need an anti-infantry unit inside to balance it out. Veterans with one or more support characters for example. You could have veterans all armed with combi-flamers pop out in short range and absolutely roast an infantry screen, allowing the tank to focus on bigger game. The other answer is to fill it up with characters that have no transport options – the named characters.
...Crusader
The crusader has the most seats and is therefore the best option if you want to transport terminators – you can have a full squad and multiple support characters. As the tank is very much an anti-infantry vehicle, the unit inside needs to have an answer to vehicles and monsters. Whether this is in the form of melta guns or melee weapons is up to you. However, you really want to be charging to make use of the frag assault launchers’ mortal wounds.
...Redeemer
Much like the crusader, the redeemer is an anti-infantry vehicle. However, this one is more suited to hunting elite infantry with multiple wounds thanks to the 2 damage of the flamestorm cannons.
...Excelsior
 Acts as a master for rerolls of 1. Nice, but doesn’t really go in hand with Power of the Machine Spirit which makes you want to move away from your parking lot – which by nature will not want to move.
 


Dedicated Transport
Spoiler:

Rhino
Rhinos serve several purposes, not all of them are obvious: transport for tactical/assault/devastators squads, prevention of overwatch on your more fragile assault troops by charging first, line of sight blocking and objective capturing with a model that takes effort to kill.
When transporting units, pick the ones which have short range issues, advance turn 1, deploy, move shoot/charge. Often that means grav or melta for tactical and devastators. For assault marines, it’s like paying over double for jump packs, admitting you’ll only use them once, then having the tank itself take the overwatch and/or continue on its own separate mission.
...Rhino Primaris
This is a very expensive option with a nasty one-shot weapon. You only want it for its ability to add 1 to the BS of a nearby unit. That’s very handy, but for the price, you can probably take another of the same unit (or 50% thereof). For example, a predator with twin las and heavy bolters is only 10 points more, so why increase the BS of a predator? For 15 points more, you can have 5 more hellblasters.
It’s cool, but not something you need to remember as an option for your army.
Razorback
The razorback sits in an odd place – its heavy weapons make it want to sit still, which goes against its role as a transport. If you do want to use it as a transport, consider the twin heavy flamer [index] option. This weapon suffers no penalty for moving and in fact will encourage you to move in order to get in range.
Otherwise, this is a fairly points-efficient way of getting heavy weapons on the board while ensuring they have enough ablative wounds to survive (7 pts /wound). Predators for comparison pay 8 pts/wound.

Primaris Repulsor
This should really be thought of as a land raider variant. It’s in the same price range, with similar weapon options. The key advantage is that it has fly, so can escape from combat and keep shooting. There are essentially two ways to build it – lots of shots vs lascannons.
If you’re playing primaris marines, this is their only transport, and you’re probably lacking long ranged anti-tank.
Standard Builds:
Dakka: Heavy onslaught, onslaught, twin heavy bolter, storm bolters, Icarus ironstorm, two fragstorm, additional heavy stubber. 295 pts
Las: Twin las, las talon, ironhail stubber, 2 storm bolters, Icarus rocket pod, auto launchers = 316 pts

Drop Pod
I’m utterly convinced that the price of drop pods is so high because of their footprint. You can use them (Rules as Written…) to block off large sections of the table. On the other hand, this also makes them very hard to use, especially if you want more than one.
There is no reason to take the deathwind launcher at this stage. 1d6 S5 shots does not beat 4 S4 shots at the same range + 2 at twice the range. Given the 9” margin for deep strike, the deathwind is almost impossible to use more than once.

Land Speeder Storm
Costs the same as a rhino or razorback while having much lower toughness and wounds. It makes up for this with speed and the ability for the scouts inside to fire while embarked. The Cerberus launcher is essentially just an expensive storm bolter as it will be getting a similar number of shots at a similar range.
As scouts can infiltrate to most of the board anyway, the value of the land speeder storm is questionable. Perhaps its best use is as a chariot for a scout sergeant with combi-melta. Allowing him to have a movement of 18” – very useful for getting into melta range.
 

Flyers
 
Spoiler:

Disclaimer, I've never used flyers. I don't think they belong in 40k at all.
For the Dark Talon and Nephilim, it is important to remember that Strafing Run only cancels out the penalty for moving.
Dark Talon
The rift cannon is pretty comparable to the twin lascannon of the Nephilim. The Dark Talon is significantly cheaper however. For vehicle/monster hunting, I believe this is the better jet.

Nephilim Jetfighter
The twin lascannon appears to be something of a trap option considering the comparable price of a predator with 4 lascannons. This is more of an anti-infantry vehicle in my opinion, so stick with the avenger mega bolter for a total of 16 ap-1 shots. The blackswords are more likely to be fired at mid-toughness targets like bikes and skimmers.

Stormraven Gunship
As the ‘flying land raider’ the obvious choice with the Stormraven is to fill it with terminators, race to the enemy DZ and make a turn 2 charge. But the terminators are capable of doing that without paying for a ~300 point transport. Yes, it adds durability to the unit, but so does spending those same 300 points on 6-7 more terminators. No, it has other better uses.

It can be armed to the teeth with 8 guns, many of which can be anti-infantry or swapped for anti-tank. It’s also quite durable due to supersonic, W14 and T7. It seems to be best used either as a pure gunship or as a transport for those units which cannot get to the other end of the board via inherent deep-strike. Examples being tactical squads, assault squads (without jump packs) and company veterans. The fact you can put a full squad and two characters inside it immediately shows a benefit in comparison to the humble drop pod.

It can have a dreadnought strapped to the back. Any type of dreadnought. Suddenly the shorter ranged default weapons on the Redemptor don’t seem so out of place. Give the Stormraven anti-infantry weapons, put a dreadnought on the back, and let the dreadnought deal with vehicles while the Stormraven clears the chaff.
 

Stratagems
Spoiler:

Relics of the Rock
2nd or 3rd relic. Can't decide between the Mace of Redemption and the Heavenfall blade? Take both! This can add some much needed hitting power to lieutenants.

Linebreaker Bombardment
You really have to be planning to use this when you build your army, which makes it obvious to your opponent, and very easy for them to shut down. If you really want to use it, start with 4 vindicators, not just the requisite 3. That way, you stand a good chance of being able to use it not just once, but twice in consecutive turns. Much like orbital bombardment, this is a great one for armies that also include snipers to finish off any characters you manage to inflict mortal wounds on. If your opponent has clustered tightly enough to make this really work, why not hit them with the orbital bombardment as well? Really punish your opponent for trying to make hyper-use of those auras.

Deathwing Assault
Situational use of this is good. But the cost is too high considering the armament of a regular 5 man Deathwing squad. Better used when you have 10 models in the squad. Ideal targets are going to be those more than 12" from where you dropped in, as you will not be wanting to blow your chance of charging after deep strike.

Stasis Shells
Only against characters? Assault weapon though? So can advance to do it.

Hellfire Shells
Sometimes you wish your heavy bolter was something that had more punch. This gives you that option. Cannot be used on land speeders.

Orbital Bombardment
This one is so expensive, that you have to really have a good reason to use it. Keep an eye on your opponent's units, especially in the first turn. If you see a tight cluster of many units (including characters), then it may be worth using as the 50% chance to deal mortal wounds to units is much better when you have the greatest number of rolls at that 4+. The radius is variable, so imagine what you can fit under a large blast template. If you can get 4 or more units under that template it's worth considering. Never rely on rolling a 6" for the radius.
 
This stratagem gains additional value if you have snipers to capitalise on any mortal wounds you dealt to characters. Pair it with sniper scouts or a vindicare in an imperial soup list.

Wisdom of the Ancients
This grants re-rolls of 1, which we will already have most of the time. May be useful as a backup plan however for those occasions when you really need to move your firebase to get better LOS for future turns.

Tactical Flexibility
This one is all about grabbing multiple objectives at the last minute. Do not use any other time.
Ok, that was harsh. Maybe use this first turn after dropping in 10 terminators and using Deathwing Assault. Now you’ve payed 4 CP total to have an extra turn of shooting with 2 terminator units. Do you feel good?
This stratagem has more use in other armies where morale of large units is an issue. With Grim Resolve, we don’t need to split into MSU to counter the effects of morale, so deploying large squads then splitting achieves nothing if you’re not doing it to grab two objectives instead of one.

Armour of Contempt
Given this is a 5+, you really only want to use it when your vehicle has been, or is going to be hit by more than 2 mortal wounds. It's a good countermeasure against the likes of Eldar Hemlocks or incoming Smite spam. Especially true of the latter as by this point you can already tell which is the closest unit to those psykers.

Only in Death does Duty End
Given characters are generally armed for combat rather than shooting, you'll be looking to use this when your character is unceremoniously taken down by the enemy beat-stick. Hit him back. He deserves it.
On the other hand, if you have a combi melta on your Huntsman warlord as detailed below… that's another good time to consider this stratagem.

Cluster Mines
… scout bikers… yeah. I suppose this is handy if you use them, but I don’t see myself buying the models.

Flakk Missiles
Best used when your target is 1 or 2 wounds away from being destroyed, but also useful when they're close to dropping a bracket on the damage table.

Auspex Scan
Another one of those rules which really only matters on large units with many shots, or units with very strong weapons. For us that means 10 man units of Deathwing, or any all-plasma unit, or devastators.

Never Forget, Never Forgive
Only useful against chaos marines.

The Lion and the Wolf
I believe this belongs in narrative play only. It’s too risky to use any other time. However, if you really wanted to, a (company/RW/DW) champion would be a great model to use this on, resulting in S8 thus wounding on 2s vs most characters.

Hunt the Fallen
It's easy to dismiss this as a Narrative based stratagem, but it does have tactical uses. If, after seeing your opponent's army list, you feel there is one particularly nasty character that you want to send all of your assault elements against, you can use this. It's a double edged sword because you're making that character even better. However, this may be particularly useful against non-combat armies like Tau.
Datalink Telemetry
This helps to make whirlwinds a tiny bit better, but is a gamble. You have to use it before determining how many shots you’re going to get, so it’s not really that much different to a reroll of the number of shots or a reroll to hit.

Weapons from the Dark Age [of Technology]
This is obviously going to be most useful on units that have the most plasma. Namely;
Black Knights- up to 10 models/20 shots
Hellblasters- up to 10 models/10 or 20 shots
Company Veterans with combi plasma- up to 5 models/5 or 10 shots
Devastators with plasma cannons- 4d3 (8) shots- at long range while standing still...
Ravenwing bikes with 2 plasma guns and a combi plasma/3 or 6 shots
Inceptors with plasma exterminators- up to 6 models/6d3 (12) shots
 
After the 20 shots provided by black knights and hellblasters, the others look a bit lackluster, but take heart. 20 shots is the potential for 60 damage, and short of titans, I'm not aware of anything with that many wounds. The potential 18 damage thrown out by a minimum black knight unit, or a unit of RW bikers is still sufficiently scary.
 
Sometimes it will be better to employ this stratagem instead of super charging. For example; when you have a -1 to hit
Sometimes it will be better to super charge. When you have rerolls and/or are low on CPs
Sometimes it will be better to use both together. When you really have to kill a T4, T7 or T8 unit. Emphasis on T7 and T8, because those are typically the only models with enough wounds to warrant dealing 3 damage per failed save.

Intractable
Useful on many occasions, and particularly useful for black knights. Expensive though, so not something you’ll plan to use. Like Counter-Offensive, this is a stratagem to remember about and use when your opponent locks you up against your will.

Empyric Channelling
We honestly don't have enough good psychic powers to warrant having 3 librarians in the first place, but at least with this you'd have a better chance of actually casting one of our powers.

Speed of the Raven
Highly useful for any Ravenwing, including land speeders. Yet to be determined if this counts as not having moved for assault/heavy. FAQ pending. ####

Secret Agenda
Must use whenever playing the Spoils of War mission. Less useful in other Maelstrom missions. I find if I don’t have the cards face up, I forget what my objectives are anyway, so this is dangerous to use.

Honour the Chapter
If this weren’t so expensive to use, it would be a very nice stratagem to pop on a regular basis, but at 3CP, it’s virtually consigned to the ‘never use’ bucket. It can only be used at the end of the fight phase, so you must first assess if you have enough models left in the unit to be worth using. Then you must assess if hitting again is going to achieve anything. Then you must also assess if wiping out the enemy unit is going to be of benefit or hindrance, which basically comes down to, ‘who goes next?’

Fortress of Shields
Useful for Deathwing Knights (or TH/SS) any time they’re in combat, but of most use when facing large numbers or high quality weapons.

Kill Shot
Considering this stratagem affects all three predators, it’s amazing that it’s so cheap. It effectively hands you alpha-strike on a plate, and first blood if you have first turn. It doesn’t even matter too much what weapons the predators have – even heavy bolters are scary when they have +1 to wound. Vs T7, that effectively bumps them up from S5 to S7.
The real cost is in having to have 3 fairly expensive units, none of which benefit from Grim Resolve.

Inner Circle
Let’s be honest here. This stratagem only applies to units which do not benefit from Inner Circle, so that part is irrelevant (unless fighting fallen becomes a thing). Gaining the Deathwing keyword is only relevant if you have Belial or a Deathwing Ancient in your army. The chance of either of these characters being near dreadnoughts or land raiders is laughable.
 

Warlord Traits
Spoiler:

Fury of the Lion
+1 Strength on the first round of combat. It's useful when it alters what you need to roll, so this is one where you need to think about what weapons you have and who you'll be fighting. Obviously, this is not a trait to use with shooty warlords.
S4 weapons vs T4: chainsword, power sword, lightning claw, force sword
S5 weapons vs T3, 5 or 6: power axe, force axe
S6 weapons vs T6 or 7: power maul, power lance, relic blade, Heavenfall Blade, force stave
S7 weapons vs T4, 7 or 8: Mace of Redemption.
Sx2 weapons vs T5, 8 or 9: power fist, thunder hammer
 
Note the freaky way stats are calculated in 8th ed means you modify your base strength first, then apply the weapon modifier. Thus S4 +1 with power fist or thunder hammer becomes S10.

Secondly and more importantly, this bonus applies to units within 6” as long as the warlord charged/whatever. Therefore, in addition to the above, Maces of Absolution become S10, thus better against T5, 8 and 9, just like thunder hammers/power fists. Brilliant vs bike heavy armies (white scars?), and vehicle heavy armies (Imperial Guard russes).

Best used in combo with:
Assault marines
Intercessors, Reivers
Ravenwing Bikes (not black knights who don’t really benefit much)
Deathwing (any flavour)

Courage of the First Legion
The 12" range of this aura is it's only saving grace. Only take it against armies that can utilise a lot of LD penalty effects such as Night Lords. Even then, it's best used in an army that has a lot of full sized units.

 Huntsman
This is a clever little option which may quickly become my favourite. At least, when using Company Masters and their 2+ BS.
Pistols, assault, rapid fire, grenades. Of these categories, there are obviously better and worse weapons to pick for utilising the sniper part of the rule. Specifically;
Pistols: Plasma and grav are the obvious choices. Neither is really 'good' for this trait however. Grav would be my choice, but then you're only doing 1 damage. I feel overcharging plasma is just too risky on my warlord. Yes, it's generally going to be a 1 in 36 chance of failing, but SLAIN is too much to risk unless you're on your last wound anyway or are otherwise doomed in your opponent's next turn.
Assault: Sniping with a combi flamer might make for a good laugh, and may have the added bonus of making your opponent's brain implode as they imagine how that even works. Combi-Melta on the other hand is WHERE IT'S AT. Sniping with a meltagun folks. Just think about that for a moment. Wounding most characters on 2s. AP-4.
Rapid Fire: Storm bolters aren't a terrible choice for this, but aren't all that exciting either. Combi grav makes for the best option if you want to fire the bolter component as well. Combi plasma will again tempt you to risk SLAIN on your Warlord and give your opponent a free VP, all while doing the same average damage as the combi-grav. Bolters by themselves aren't impressive here, even when they are master crafted or are bolt rifles. The winner in this category has to be Foe Smiter. Honorary mention goes to the Combi-Disintegrator on the Imperial Space Marine. An unlikely warlord, but tempting with this trait.
Grenades: If only we could have melta bombs on HQ these days. But then, if you're within 4", or even 6", you're probably able to target the character anyway.
 
The assault component is also interesting, and it really shines for Belial with his blade, Silence. I've yet to see how often piling in and consolidating towards a character will be useful, but it definitely has potential.
 
To take full advantage of this, I strongly suggest a dedicated Character killing HQ. Jump Pack or Terminator Armour (as you see fit) to get the Deep Strike. I prefer the jump pack, as you can drop behind LOS blocking cover and charge the following turn for a guaranteed charge after moving 12" and ignoring terrain. Protecting your warlord is important. Leaving him stranded after a failed 9 or more inch charge is on my 'never do' list. Take a Combi-melta, for that 35/36 * 5/6 * chance of failing invulnerable save. Against characters with no 2+ armour and no invulnerable, you've got an 81% chance of dealing D6 wounds. Throw in a relic blade or Relic such as the Heavenfall blade. If you don't kill them with the gun, jump over their screen on the charge and cut them down. Force weapons may not be a bad option here too.

Brilliant Strategist
If you have 6 CPs, and spend them one at a time, you expect to have 8 CPs to use during the game. 9 if you count the free reroll it provides. The key thing to remember with this trait is that it works best when you avoid those 2CP and 3CP stratagems. That means you should avoid this if you’re building a list around Deathwing Assault.

 Master of Manoeuvre
The advancing portion of this is only really useful for desperate objective grabs. The charging part is more important.
A deep striking character (jump pack or terminator) supporting multiple deep striking assault units has particular promise as it's similar to having free CPs to reroll your charges (although you have to reroll both dice in this case). If you see a 6 on one of the dice, go with spending a CP instead. However, even with this reroll of both dice, assault from deep strike is not something we should rely on too heavily. The chance of succeeding a 9" charge is 28%. The chance of succeeding a 9" charge with a reroll of both dice is 48%. That's still going to fail more often than it succeeds.
CHECK THE Probability on that statement
 
Also very useful for Ravenwing in general. Sammael or any other bike character (or even a Talonmaster) supporting black knights again allows for a much more reliable close combat force. Especially when combined with the other boosts Ravenwing can get from RW ancients etc. A key thing to note about this trait is that it affects the warlord himself, so don't forget to reroll his own charge distance.
 
Honourable mention must go to assault squads and company veterans here. They may not be Deathwing knights, but company veterans armed to the teeth do NOT want to fail a charge.

Stubborn Tenacity
If you don't want Huntsman or Master of Manoeuvre, consider this. It's not amazing, but it might save you a VP in a tight spot. It works best on a character who isn't going to want to move in the first place. The only candidate I can think of there is the Talon Master with his heavy weapons.
 

Relics
Spoiler:

Lion's Roar
I want to like this because it has been with us for three codices but I honestly think the regular combi-plasma is a better gun. How often are you going to be 12.1-18" away from your targets really? We have so many nice relics to choose from that this one holds little value.

 Shroud of Heroes
Does your opponent field a lot of snipers? No? Mine doesn't either. In shooting this is of very limited value because of the Character rule. It may be better on those weaker characters that are more likely to be targeted by snipers, such as ancients and apothecaries.
In close combat, it can be a real winner. Great choice for combat oriented characters like interrogator chaplains.

 Foe-Smiter
This one actually has a lot of uses. Good with Huntsman, and on characters who come with storm bolters as standard. 4 shots at AP-1 is a great start as many targets for Huntsman have invulnerable saves that reduce the value of higher AP anyway. More importantly, 4 shots at damage 2 can put a world of hurt on certain enemy units.

Mace of Redemption
This was my favourite in 7th ed, and it's still a great option. Combined with Fury of the Lion on your warlord, you can make your warlord into a serious anti-vehicle/monster character.

The Heavenfall Blade
Why pay for a relic blade when you can upgrade a power sword to the equivalent of a relic blade with an extra attack? You're saving points and gaining an attack. Win-win.
The choice between this and the Mace of Redemption is tricky. You need to weigh up an extra attack vs S7. If you're hunting infantry, the Blade is probably the better option.
Mathhammer required

Eye of the Unseen
The -1 LD is basically only going to be useful in combat. Add it to an Interrogator to become -2. On all other characters, I consider the leadership penalty to be largely irrelevant. Against hordes, 1 extra morale loss isn't that exciting. It may be of more value against elite multi-wound enemies however.
 
Forcing enemy characters to fight last is brilliant. Have Autarchs and Slaanesh Daemons got you down? Not anymore! Sick of your opponent's beat-stick character destroying you on the charge? Heroic Intervention yourself over there and laugh in his face. Best if paired with Huntsman to ensure you're near enemy characters as frequently as possible.
 

Psychic Powers
Spoiler:

There's a reason why I stopped using librarians after my first couple of test games with the index. Smite was the only good thing they had, which left me with a second power to cast each turn which was lackluster at best, or just plain out of range.
 
Remember folks; Warp Charge values convert directly into percentages as there are so few modifiers to look for.
And always, that 6% chance of Perils.
Smite
83% chance of casting. 8% of which is supercharged to D6 mortal wounds.
Mind Worm
72% chance of casting.
Shorter ranged targetable Smite that always rolls a 1 on D3. Not great so far. Selecting your target is good, but at 12", that target if often going to be the closest enemy anyway.
The more important part of this power is forcing an enemy unit to fight last. Even if they have charged, which they can't have done because it doesn't last into their turn. Errata please! So that irritating point aside what is this good for? Are you planning to launch a lot of charges? Do you already have a lot of units in ongoing combats? If so, then this might be useful. Maybe.
 
I really don't like this one. Best thought of as a secondary smite.

Aversion
72% chance of casting.
This power is actually useful. Reducing the enemy's firepower or melee hitting power is always beneficial. The downside is that even with 24" range, you need to be deep striking, on a bike or using a jump pack to cast this on the most pertinent targets as they'll be sitting in your enemy's parking lot most of the time.
 
Righteous Repugnance
58% chance of casting.
Key targets for this power will be your assault focused units. Which, frankly means Deathwing knights. It's obviously useful any time you have a unit stuck in combat, but at 58% chance of success, you really want to ensure you have assault elements in your army before picking this power.
 
Trephination
58% chance of casting. 8% chance of adding 2 to the next roll:
Roll 2d6 again… When most of the units in the game either have, or have access to LD 8, you're effectively at looking at a 41% chance of dealing mortal wounds.
In other words, this power has around a 24% chance of actually doing anything each time you attempt it. Compare that to the 83% chance of doing mortal wounds with Smite. Sure, it can theoretically deal 4 or more mortal wounds on your enemy, but the chances are miniscule under normal circumstances.
 
There are ways to improve this if you really want to invest, or if you've made the investment for other reasons and want to capitalize on it. Eye of the Unseen on an Interrogator Chaplain backed up by this power against low LD hordes? Now you've got a useful power. LD 6, -2, against your 2d6 roll. That's a lot better, but how often is that actually going to come up on the table?
 
Mind Wipe
58% chance of casting.
Did I not just get done saying that a 25-30% chance of achieving anything was bad? This one is even worse because the targets you will naturally want to pick will have LD equal to yours, if not higher!
The best tactical advice for this power is to look through your opponent's army and codex before picking it. Does any single model in his army with nasty weapons (anti-tank/strong close combat weapons) have LD lower than 9? If not, pick something else!
If by some miracle there is a nasty model in his army with low leadership, you still need to get within 18" and succeed on an approximate 1/3 chance. Yes, the effect lasts to the end of the battle, but if the target is that much of a problem, you're going to be killing it soon anyway.
Leave this power at home. Better yet, cross it out of your codex. It's a trap!
 
Ok, that was a bit negative. What would you use this on? Units with 20+ wounds that will take multiple turns to destroy. Use it every turn to continually reduce the stats of a Shadowsword or Necron Pylon. Each time you succeed, the next attempt gets easier.
In the absence of titanic/gargantuan units, focus on vehicles and monsters which have 10+ wounds and a degradation table. Each time you succeed, this will be like forcing the target an extra step down that table due to the reduced BS and WS.
 
In a pinch, this can also be used in combination with our LD modifying friends, the Eye of the Unseen and Interrogator Chaplain.
 
Engulfing Fear
72% chance of casting.
This is another one which relies on your target having a low leadership score. At least there's not a roll off this time, but that's because there's a hidden roll off. You have to cause enough slain models in the target unit(s) this turn to trigger potential morale failures. And even then, your opponent may roll low enough to save himself, or use a stratagem to bypass the check altogether.
 
 

Tactical Objectives
Spoiler:

We don’t get to choose these, but they’re still worth examining.
Just like previous editions, I’d be much happier with the standard 11-16 objectives from Maelstrom. These suck.
Not One Step Back
We’re not less likely to fail morale than other marines, so this is actually a bit tricky. Grim Resolve does let us use ATSKNF more freely as discussed above, but this is still a risky card to hold onto. The mission you’re playing needs to factor into your decision. Are you going to be able to draw other achievable cards by getting rid of this one after a single turn? It’s a gamble – if you’re stuck in place, unable to push forward to capture numbered objectives, it may be beneficial to hang onto this for longer but that D3 could always be a 1 anyway. Really you’ll be choosing between 1 or 3 turns and 3 turns is a very long time in 40k.
On the other hand, if you’re running a lot of Deathwing, this is brilliant because you’re immune to morale anyway.

No Forgiveness
This is like a trickier version of Overwhelming Firepower, without the benefit of extra points for exceeding the requirements.

Confess!
You have to have an Interrogator-Chaplain or Librarian to even use this card. If you drew it, pray you have a Librarian, because a crozius arcanum is a terrible weapon to rely on.
In fact, given house rules for discarding unachievable objectives, I’d say this is another nail in the librarians’ coffins.
Seize and Interrogate
Assassination, again, but only in combat? Good god that’s terrible. We are not a combat army. Pray you have Deathwing Knights backed up by a lot of characters.

Flawless Strategy
Our chances of drawing this before having already deployed all Deathwing are ridiculously low. It’ll get discarded one way or another. Hopefully through house rules for auto-discarding.

The Path of Redemption
Charge a higher power rating… What units will we charge with? Expensive ones. Again, terrible.
 


Final Thoughts
Spoiler:

Getting the most out of the Dark Angels codex requires careful thinking. You simply cannot rely on the obvious choices being the best. If you want to play a Deathwing army for example, the obvious choice for your Warlord is Belial, but in reality, you're better off with an Interrogator Chaplain as your warlord. You can still take Belial in the list, just don't make him the warlord. By combining Belial's rerolls, the chaplain as the warlord with Master of Manoeuvre and the Eye of the Unseen, backed up by a Librarian and maybe a Deathwing Ancient, you can have a deep striking force that hits extremely hard on the first turn, and then maintains most of its hitting power, instead of one that teleports in, fails half of its charges and gets torn to pieces.
 
This is just one example.
 
 

Combinations
Spoiler:

Here are some sample units for making good use of specific rule combinations:
Deep Alpha strike ~800 pts
Drop pod, containing:
Azrael & 5 devastators w/ 4 multi meltas, lieutenant and 3 veterans.
Accompanied by 10 tartaros terminators armed to the teeth.
Use Deathwing Assault combined with Azrael and Lieutenant auras to clear a sizeable hole in any nearby troops while the multi-meltas take care of a monster or tank. The veterans are just there to fill seats and can head off on their own direction to grab an objective, keep them cheap with storm bolters and chainswords.
~800 points to destroy your opponent's backfield. And the terminators are then free to move with Azrael to pincer any units that moved into the midfield. With luck there will even be an objective that one of the doors of the pod can capture.

Sniper HQ
Primaris Master + Primaris Lieutenant +scouts. The HQs take Stalker bolt rifles and the scouts take sniper rifles.
1x 35/36 + 1x 32/36 S4 D2 AP-2 shots. Or in other words, two nearly guaranteed hits.
This is a brilliant idea. Right up until you remember only the warlord has Huntsman.
Nevermind.
It’s still useful, but the lieutenant doesn’t get anywhere near the benefit. Probably better have a regular lieutenant tooled for combat to rescue your scouts if they get charged. He won’t be able to shoot the same targets.


I feek that you did Asmodai an injustice by not calling out Deathwing Knights. Reroll misses and +1 atk (which stacks with DW ancient) is a great combo.
   
Made in us
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A garden grove on Citadel Station

For a venerable dreadnought you can also go twin las + twin auto if you don't want the somewhat weak missile launcher.

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 anticitizen013 wrote:
Breng77 wrote:
Except against eldar potentially. The biggest thing I have found is 6 inceptors is often overkill so 2x3 tend to work better


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though 1 big unit can combat squad so if there is a single big target to remove that can be the way to go.

The other thing is you can split all your fire too, so you'd get maximum usage out of a unit of 6, popping the strat, and having 3 fire at one enemy and 3 at another (or however you want to split it).


Assuming you have range and LOS to multiple good targets.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The other advantage to a split drop is avoiding stratagems that allow shooting deepstriing units.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/12/27 02:01:34


 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Timur wrote:
Is it actually possible to stack several mind wipes on one model like a shadowsord? Sounds kinda OP to be true, like stacking multiple darkshrouds


As was stated above, the psychic powers, specially mind wipe, is anything but OP. It's trash to be more exact. Things that require either lots of setup (stacking -LD, etc), or require multiple %50 rolls are not good, they are not consistent, can not be relied upon and are just a bad idea to take. If your goal is too shut down a shadowsword, you should be taking aversion, and investing in enough Lascannons to take him down a level or 2 so he's hitting on 6's, which could be done in 1 turn fairly easily.

While I don't agree with all of his assessments, the psychic powers are bad, like really really bad, except for 2. Aversion is extremely good, and righteous repugnance is really good. The rest are terrible, period.

   
Made in us
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A Protoss colony world

I don't think units with Fly can fall back and then charge again in the same turn as the review seemed to say. White Scars can due to their Chapter Tactics, but our boys in green cannot unfortunately.

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Ute nation

I'm running blades of vengeance (the first DA Primaris successor chapter) for an escalation league, what do you guys think would be a good allies for a primaris only DA chapter? Thinking about bringing in an imperial knight, Or maybe some DA in the form of a ravenwing or deathwing detachment (got to keep an eye on them to make sure they are not on team luther).

Constantly being negative doesn't make you seem erudite, it just makes you look like a curmudgeon.  
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Dark Angels psychic powers are fine, but nobody fields Librarians of any chapter because they're just not reliable compared to other space marine abilities.

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Fresh-Faced New User




I think I see many rules misundertandings in this analysos such as charging after fallback or firing heavy flamers after advancing.

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
   
Made in de
Focused Dark Angels Land Raider Pilot




Germany

I began a unit rating for myself, but might aswell post it to open the discussion.
I didn't rate every unit, because I just dont have all of them and therefore dont care.

HQ:

Azrael: A+ [No explanation needed I guess. Great to keep Devs/Hellblasters alive]
Asmodai: A- [Great DWK Force Multiplier, but no Teleport Strike. Relies on riding a Landraider with a unit of DWK. Also works great with Company Veterans geared for melee.]
Sammael: A+ [Swift and deadly. Great Support for Black Knights and other Ravenwing units aswell. Can assault flyers with his S8 sword making him super versatile.]
Belial: B [Great Deathwing Multiplier and Combat beast, but suffers from the same problem every melee buff character has - he might not make the charge to support his unit.]
Interrogator Chaplain: C+ [Very expensive compared to a chaplain. The extra -1 to morale is rarely worth it. Pick a chaplain or Asmodai instead.]
Chaplain: B- [Good Melee Buff. When used in Terminator Armour to deep strike with terminators you have a high chance of him not making the charge and therefore not beeing able to buff the charging units. Works great in a transport though.]
Librarians C [Don't like our Powers, so librarians mostly don't see the board anymore.]

Troops:

Scouts: A- [Cheap and very versatile troop choice. Great to take objectives early on and harass/charge shooty units.]
Tactical Squad: B [The same solid troop choice as ever. Sturdy, can take many different weapons and are very flexible. Kind of expensive though, since our best units are super pricey. Need a Razorback or Rhino for best effectiveness or are doomed as a backline place and forget unit.]

Elite:

Deathwing Knights: A- [Pure deadlyness. Even better with Asmodai and a Deahwing Ancient. May get stuck if your Landraider blows early though. Darkshroud helps a lot to prevent this.]
Deathwing Terminators: C [Price and outshined in melee by DWK. For shooting there are better choices. Great to harass a backfield unit though and soak up enemy fire. If left alone they can hurt quite badly, so the enemy HAS to deal with them.]
Dreadnoughts: B+ [As Rifledreads a very solid choice, specially with our new reroll 1s. No degrading aswell. I prefer 2 with Twin Las/Twin Autocannon in my force.]
Venerable Dreadnoughts: A [Very potent backfield heavy weapon plattforms. BS2+ and reroll 1s almost guarantees hits. And they come with a 6+ FNP for extra toughness. worth the 20P upgrade!]

Fast Attack:
Black Knights: A [Some of our best units. Deadly. Fast. Reliable. With Weapons of the Dark Age also super deadly. 6 can kill a Monolith in 1 shooting phase. They are also small enough to evade enemy fire if placed carefully. In melee they are "ok". Not as great as they used to be, but can still pack a punch with sammy and/or an ancient. Very expensive though.]
Ravenwing Bikes C- [Very expensive for what they bring to the field. Mediocre in melee, mediocre in shooting. I see little reason to field these guys.]
Darkshroud A [Great defensive tool. Let it protect the backfield, your transports or your bikes. It makes your units a lot tougher for very little points. Don't bother with weapon upgrades, it's not there to shoot stuff.]
Land Speeders B- [Very expensive, but versatile. Best used stationary because of their heavy weapons, and this is exactly where they are outshined by Dreadnoughts.]

Heavy Support:
Devastators B+ [Superb Heavy hitters for your backline. With rerolls to 1s and our Plasma Stratagem they can really hurt stuff for reasonable points. Add Azrael or other buff units to make them even better. Might die quite easily though, since the unit is just 5 Marines.]
Predators A- [Tough and can hurt a lot. Best used with Predator Auto Cannon and Las Cannon sponsons. Other than Ven Dreads they lose BS when taking damage, making them less effective the longer the battle lasts.]
Landspeeder Vengeance D [Nopes. Just don't]
Land Raider Redeemer A- [Love this thing with DWK in it. The flamers are also great to kill flyers and other hard to hit stuff. Creates a nice threat bubble, but is kinda slow. Also can leave combat due to our new stratagem, eliminating one of the greatest weaknesses of landraiders. But who would want to charge this thing anyways?]
Land Raider Crusader B+ [Greater transport capacity, but less dmg output. IMHO the Darkshroud is better to take the anti horde role.]

Flyers:
Nephilim Jetfighter: B+ [Great damage output and survivability. Can get kinda expensive though. Still a solid choice.]
Dark Talon: A- [One of our best anti horde tools. Cheap, tough and reliable. BF2+ hurricane bolters can get stuff done. The rift canon is a great addition to take on heavier targets. The stasis bomb is a 1 time gimmick - a good one.]

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2017/12/27 14:38:02


 
   
Made in us
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Interesting rating on RW bikes. Point for point they are better than BK unless you want to charge into combat. The big BK advantage is that they can be a big squad for stratagem use, and can advance and fire without stratagem. In small squads they are killer than knights point for point, 3 man squad is 122 points vs 138 points and comes with an extra 12 bolter shots on top of your plasma. 3 Bikes kill 4.2 MEQ on the charge, 3 BK kill 3.7. Against GEQ bikes kill 7.56 to 5.25. Against T7 vehicles bikes do 5.8 to 5.2.


So unless BK are in a large squad benefiting from weapons of the dark age and a ton of buff characters they seem worse to me. If you start adding BK bikes add models almost 2-1. 5 bikes with 3 plasma and all chainsword is cheaper than 4 BK. 7 bikers = 5 BK. At that point the bikers put out 40 S4 attacks (bolters + close combat and 6 plasma shots, the BK put out 11 S5 attacks and 10 Plasma. So obviously better with plasma and WOTDA. The get the edge on T7 at that point (7.4 to 8.6, 9.6 to 12.3 with strat) but still lag behind against meq and geq.
   
Made in gb
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain





Earth

Just going off my experience so far

Belial: A, I play deathwing and this guy is a must, and for the first time I'm taking him with the sword, his huntsman ability has actually proved very useful in several games (picked off a magos in the middle of a unit), also went toe to toe with the swarm lord, the -1 to hit us very good.

Land speeder vengeance: B, I take two in my ravenwing (I'm a purist) and with the darkshroud they are able to move up to a good spot and lay down some good firepower, I have my hunsmaster with them at all times and they act as a mobile fire base, solid to me.

Doredo dreadnought: A++ by far the best dread choice for dakka we have right now, by far the best of any chapter too, grim resolve, invuerable and plasma battery makes this bloody horrific, 5 shots at str 8 doing 3/4 damage per wound, the other weapons are good but it's the plans where this shines for us, and best of all it doesn't need a character to to babysit it, hits most flyers on a 2+ as well with helical targeting array, amazing.

Chaplain dreadnought: I tried this bad boy out with 5 knights in a stormraven, it makes them str10 and is a character, really really recommend the chaplain dread to any dark angels player if for no other reason it is just thematically awesome for us.
   
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Fort Campbell

 Formosa wrote:
Just going off my experience so far

Belial: A, I play deathwing and this guy is a must, and for the first time I'm taking him with the sword, his huntsman ability has actually proved very useful in several games (picked off a magos in the middle of a unit), also went toe to toe with the swarm lord, the -1 to hit us very good.

Land speeder vengeance: B, I take two in my ravenwing (I'm a purist) and with the darkshroud they are able to move up to a good spot and lay down some good firepower, I have my hunsmaster with them at all times and they act as a mobile fire base, solid to me.

Doredo dreadnought: A++ by far the best dread choice for dakka we have right now, by far the best of any chapter too, grim resolve, invuerable and plasma battery makes this bloody horrific, 5 shots at str 8 doing 3/4 damage per wound, the other weapons are good but it's the plans where this shines for us, and best of all it doesn't need a character to to babysit it, hits most flyers on a 2+ as well with helical targeting array, amazing.

Chaplain dreadnought: I tried this bad boy out with 5 knights in a stormraven, it makes them str10 and is a character, really really recommend the chaplain dread to any dark angels player if for no other reason it is just thematically awesome for us.


The only thing puts me off on the Deredeo is the 24" range. Has that been a problem for you at all?

Full Frontal Nerdity 
   
Made in gb
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain





Earth

 djones520 wrote:
 Formosa wrote:
Just going off my experience so far

Belial: A, I play deathwing and this guy is a must, and for the first time I'm taking him with the sword, his huntsman ability has actually proved very useful in several games (picked off a magos in the middle of a unit), also went toe to toe with the swarm lord, the -1 to hit us very good.

Land speeder vengeance: B, I take two in my ravenwing (I'm a purist) and with the darkshroud they are able to move up to a good spot and lay down some good firepower, I have my hunsmaster with them at all times and they act as a mobile fire base, solid to me.

Doredo dreadnought: A++ by far the best dread choice for dakka we have right now, by far the best of any chapter too, grim resolve, invuerable and plasma battery makes this bloody horrific, 5 shots at str 8 doing 3/4 damage per wound, the other weapons are good but it's the plans where this shines for us, and best of all it doesn't need a character to to babysit it, hits most flyers on a 2+ as well with helical targeting array, amazing.

Chaplain dreadnought: I tried this bad boy out with 5 knights in a stormraven, it makes them str10 and is a character, really really recommend the chaplain dread to any dark angels player if for no other reason it is just thematically awesome for us.


The only thing puts me off on the Deredeo is the 24" range. Has that been a problem for you at all?


Not in the slightest, every game I've played with it so far has had the enemy either advancing on me pretty fast, deep striking or deploying quite far forward, so if I deploy this the usual 12" flawed too, first turn I can move and shoot with it, or they move forward and I stay still and shoot, if they have deep strike then I bubble wrap the 2 I have and black the deep strikers, it also deletes vehicles very quickly.

Add to that the 6 heavy bolter shots, 2d3 ailos shots that don't need line of site and 60" range, this baby can reach out and touch people anywhere on a 2+ re rollable, it's solid, plop a huntsmaster next to it for even more death.
   
Made in be
Mysterious Techpriest





Belgium

I see you're all quick to dismiss our Librarians. I plan on using at least one in every game with DA, because the powers Mind Worm, Aversion and Righteous Repugnance are very good, especially the last one. It may be difficult to cast with a WC7, but giving rerolls to Hit AND to Wound on a unit of Deathwing Knights is really appealing, it frees you of using Belial or a Chaplain for the rerolls to Hit, and nothing else allows you to reroll all failed to Wound rolls. Anyone tried this ?

And why a so negative vision of the Land Speeder Vengeance ?

40K: Adeptus Mechanicus
AoS: Nighthaunts 
   
Made in de
Focused Dark Angels Land Raider Pilot




Germany

The vengeance rolls a single one and is out of the game for good.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Has anybody considered Company Champion spam? I can see adding a few of them in a transport to fill space or dumping them out of a drop pod behind another dropped unit or some bikes that are charging up the field. They're stupid cheap for how effective they are in combat, so as long as you can get them there safely, you're in good shape.

To flesh that out a little bit, I think I may run a drop pod with like 7-8 champions in it, have sammael as my warlord for charge rerolls and just hope for the best when the champions come in. I'm thinking a unit of bikes for chaff clearing and firepower redirection. I'm pretty likely to get at least 2-3 champions into combat turn 1 and really go to town on that flank. That all runs in the 800-pt range, so you have a lot of room for other nonsense in the list.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/12/27 21:30:47


 
   
Made in be
Mysterious Techpriest





Belgium

Aeri wrote:
The vengeance rolls a single one and is out of the game for good.

Sammael can help, or just not shooting in Overcharge ?

40K: Adeptus Mechanicus
AoS: Nighthaunts 
   
Made in gb
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain





Earth

Aeri wrote:
The vengeance rolls a single one and is out of the game for good.


Just adding a caveat to this as its not true, at all.

IF you overcharge it then it takes 3 mortal wounds and the plasma battery cannot fire for the rest of the game, it still has a heavy bolter and can run distraction duty like charging to take hits from more important units, it just loses its main firepower, that being said, put Sammy or a Master next to it and you mitigate this risk greatly.

Basically treat it like any other plasma weapon, dont always overcharge and risk "killing" yourself.
   
 
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