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I am thinking of starting a "bad guy faction" as enemies for my Astra Militarum and am currently pondering starting Daemons. My question is if mono-god armies are viable in the 1500-2000 points range, or if you absolutely need to mix the gods in different detachments if you want to get somewhere. Or maybe you even have to take CSM allies? From what I have heard, Daemons on their own are one of the weaker armies in the current meta.

Having zero experience with daemons either as a player or as an enemy, I am also wondering what the rough playstyle of each god is like.
My first very superficial guess would be:

Khorne: Fast CC specialists who die quickly
Slaanesh: Even faster and more fragile CC specialists than Khorne
Tzeentch: Shooting department
Nurgle: Slow and durable, a pain in the ass to fight but not great in dishing out hurt themselves

Does that sound about right?

Depends on your level of competitiveness. Casually, each of the different gods brings unique things to the table. Here's how I would define them:

Slaanesh: Super fast speedsters. The most fragile of all the daemons. Least combo potential, but their speed means they are best able to take advantage of a weakly positioned opponent.

Nurgle: Super resilient and methodical. The least "punchy" of all the daemon. They have the most combo potential though, so with lots of stacking and buffs they are the most well-rounded and able to do many things.

Khorne: Super punchy and choppy. Once you're stuck in there, there's no one better at punching than Khorne. Not a lot of support needed to do their things well.

Tzeentch: Super psychic. Somewhat resilient and shooty too! Tzeentch is the best support force for Daemons. It's not to have units that can run away and smite so effectively.



Got that? Cool. So, having got that, you can see how a mixed Daemon force can be stronger than a mono-force, but if you do go mono-force it's probably best to go Nurgle. Each god does bring stuff to the table though. Slaanesh is great just to tie up your opponent's shooting stuff turn 1, Khorne brings the pain, Nurgle holds objectives, and Tzeentch whittles them down with mortal wounds.

If you want to go competitive, you need to soup up with the Chaos Space Marines. Currently, the strongest things to do are to utilize the fact that some Chaos Marine units are also Daemons, and so benefit from both the CSM and Daemon books to make super powered units. CSM also brings some better shooting. I personally think that Plaguebearers are still a fantastic unit for holding objectives, but most competitive players are preferring Poxwalkers right now.

currently the only "viable" monogod army is Nurgle - they've got about twice as many units as the other gods at this point and a lot of their stuff is quite good.

Tzeentch and Khorne are both pretty weak monogod, as Tzeentch is a psychic army with only 6 powers so they run into the old "Grey Knight Problem" and khorne is pure melee and their troops are pretty poor except for the one max-sized blob you stratagem the hell out of.

Slaanesh...just isn't great in general, IMO. The new Fiends are alright, but daemonettes, their chariots and seekers are absolutely bleeeh.

The locus bonus from Nurgle, Khorne and Tzeentch is so weak I would just pass it up tbh. only Slaanesh has an essential locus bonus.

Yeah, mix your units.

I've won like one game with mono-Khorne. Opponents sit back and shoot, wait for me to miss a charge, then come in and destroy units.

Mono-Nurgle is overrated in the current meta. Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Imperial Knights all have the tools to wipe them out.

 techsoldaten wrote:
Yeah, mix your units.

I've won like one game with mono-Khorne. Opponents sit back and shoot, wait for me to miss a charge, then come in and destroy units.

Mono-Nurgle is overrated in the current meta. Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Imperial Knights all have the tools to wipe them out.

if I were running daemons it'd probably be a battation or brigade with mostly nurgle stuff + a khorne letterbomb and then a slaanesh supreme command with syllesqe, the epitome and a herald on chariot+max size unit of fiends.

Daemons need to soup with CSM, not with other daemons.

Or, while it lasts, Heretic Astartes AND Renegades & Heretics.

5CP and three (really, really, really weak) backfield Objective holders for ca. 170pts

 techsoldaten wrote:
Yeah, mix your units.

I've won like one game with mono-Khorne. Opponents sit back and shoot, wait for me to miss a charge, then come in and destroy units.

Mono-Nurgle is overrated in the current meta. Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Imperial Knights all have the tools to wipe them out.

You will lose the locus by mixing but its personal preference or play style whether you want them.

Are Loci generally worth the effort to build detachments around them? Compared to SM chapter and AM chapter doctrines, they seem a bit forgettable.

Though I assume we'll see some changes to how they work with the PA Daemon rules once they come around.

 Esmer wrote:
Are Loci generally worth the effort to build detachments around them? Compared to SM chapter and AM chapter doctrines, they seem a bit forgettable.

Though I assume we'll see some changes to how they work with the PA Daemon rules once they come around.

only slaanesh IMO. Advance and charge on units as fast as those is pretty solid.

the_scotsman wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
Are Loci generally worth the effort to build detachments around them? Compared to SM chapter and AM chapter doctrines, they seem a bit forgettable.

Though I assume we'll see some changes to how they work with the PA Daemon rules once they come around.

only slaanesh IMO. Advance and charge on units as fast as those is pretty solid.

It certainly catches people off-guard when White Scar Bikers pull that trick, and Seekers don't have shooting to worry about giving up.

I'd really like to be able to mono-god Slannesh because I dig the models, but I think they need a way to deny overwatch and a way to auto-trigger the Icon bonus before they have any chance at being viable.