Tons of 40k rules rumors are here for the Dark Angels update in Ritual of the Damned. From the looks of it, a lot of these have already been confirmed.
By now, you’ve probably seen what Warhammer Community revealed for the upcoming Chapter support. But it didn’t stop there. The Warhammer 40,000 Facebook also chimed in and gave us a bonus Warlord Trait. But after all of these confirmed previews, it looks like it might have just confirmed some earlier rumors.
Take a look at the latest:
Dark Angels Rules Previewed For Ritual of the Damned SPOTTED
New 40k Grey Knights Rules for Ritual of the Damned
Lazarus is the newly-previewed Psychic Awakening Primaris character for the Dark Angels. Being a named character, he’s also coming with some dope wargear. His sword was previewed revealing that he’ll be able to really hate on Psykers. Being -4 AP, any kind of named Psyker will be forced to take an invuln save. However, if he goes against other Marines and their Librarians, he’ll be able to melt through their armor outright.
Making him even more of a badass, he’s also giving off a 6″ 5+++ FNP to friendly Dark Angels UNITS that would lose a mortal wound. This is really similar to the 5++ invuln save that the Iron Father gave to all units but eventually got nerfed to just help Infantry models.
Will the same fate might lie in wait for Lazarus as well?
Dark Angels Devastator Doctrine Is What Every Chapter Takes ANYWAYS…
Soooo…Dark Angels have no real reason to ever move outside of the Devastator Doctrine. They get bonuses to Heavy, Rapid Fire, Assault, and Pistol weapons so why ever change? This is definitely the most wide-spread Doctrine bonus that we’ve ever seen come to a Chapter so far.
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A potent firebase for a DA list might be Lazarus babysitting two ten-man Hellblaster squads getting +6″ range to all their plasma.
Stoic Prosecution is dope for oppressive armies that like to footslog. Maybe a Hellblaster Squad with Plasma Incinerators walking up the board.
Deathwing & Ravenwing Support
Looking toward some of the specialists of the Dark Angels, you’ll be able to choose a few nice Warlord Traits/Wargear, etc. Outrider for the Ravenwing, for example, will let your Warlord and another Ravenwing unit move a free 12″ before any other models move when the game begins. That’s a great way to create some early game pressure. (This is very similar to the Death Company’s Forlorn Fury Strat).
Deathwing love their Termies, and if you bring the Key of Archrabael on an HQ, you’ll make them slightly above the spectrum of Primaris HQs. All in all, however, there are probably better relics to choose from than this one.
Combined Assault is a great way to make some saucy charges when you deepstrike a Deathwing unit in. They can come in 6″ away from an enemy model, but the Deathwing has to come in within 6″ of a Ravenwing Biker.
Warhammer 40,000 Facebook Revealed Another Warlord Trait
Keeping the theme of Dark Angel specialists, the Raven Wing had Warlord Trait revealed on the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook. This is essentially a slightly reworded/better/more niche version of the Dark Angels Chaplain Litany, Stoic Prosecution. However, this makes total sense if you plan on spamming Ravenwing Bikes, Speeders, and more.
If you’re into the Deathwing kind of vibe, you can make your Warlord and all his nearby friends a nifty little character or vehicle/monster killer. Rerolling all wounds is huge. It’s actually what got Guilliman nerfed. However, this Warlord Trait sticks to a more fragile body along with the restriction to melee attacks. Still really solid.
Early Dark Angels Rumors Confirmed After Previews?
These rumors were spotted making rounds on the web before the official Dark Angels rumors were spotted. There’s a lot to digest, so we’ll be highlighting the matching rumors to what was already previewed. Coming from more users than one on Bolter & Chainsword:
Doctrine kicker: While in Devastator Doctrine, Heavy and Rapid Fire weapons get +6″ range, Assault and Pistol weapons get +3″ range
Deathwing Warlord Traits:
- DW units within 6″ reroll melee wounds versus CHARACTERS or models with 8+ Wounds
- Wound rolls of 1 -3 automatically fail.
- Once per battle may Deny the Witch, unlimited range, auto pass
Ravenwing Warlord Traits:
- Ravenwing units within 6″ move and fire heavy at no penalty and Advance and fire Assault at no penalty
- Once per battle at start of round, select an inactive Doctrine, Ravenwing units within 6″ may use that instead of the active
- Start of first round, Warlord and one other Ravenwing unit may move up to 12″, no Advance, must stay outside of 9″
Stratagems:
- A bunch of the vanilla SM Codex Stratagems (incluing Vet Intercessors and their shooty ones)
- Combined Assault (2 CP): Teleporting unit of DW may set up within 6″ of a friendly RW unit that hasn’t Advanced and outside of 6″ from enemy
- High Speed Focus (1 CP): RW unit targeted by shooting counts as having Jinked that turn.
- Full Throttle (1 CP): RW unit that just moved immediately moves again, may not shoot or charge that turn
- Targeting Guidance (1 CP): Pick an enemy unit within 12″ of a Ravenwing Land Speeder and visible, Dark Angel units may reroll shooting hits against it this phase.
- Outnumbered Never Outmatched (1 CP): Deathwing unit chosen to fight gets +1 A when fighting enemy unit of 10 or more models
- Evasive Assault (1 CP): RW unit that charged or has been charged is chosen as a target, it gets 5++
Relics:
- Reliquiary of the Repenant: Ravenwing Bike only, Enemy models within 3″ reduce invul by 1 to minimum 6++
- Corvus Occuls: Talonmaster, +6″ to range weapons and +1 to hit with range weapons
- Standard of the Unforgiven Hunt: Ravenwing Ancient, +1 Advance/cherge for Ravenwing within 6″
- Blade of Burden: Deathwing Master w/ power sword, S+2 AP-4, D2, natural wound of 6 is 2 mortal wound
- Pennant of the Remeberance: Deathwing Ancient, 5+ Fnp for DW INFANTRY within 6″
- ???? – DW only, +1 Strength and Attack (We now know it’s the Key of Achrabael)
Special Issue Wargear:
- Adamantite Mantle
- Artificer Armor
- Mastercrafted Weapon
- Digital Weapons
- Arbiter Gaze: Ignores shooting and BS penalties, Overwatches on full BS
- Angel’s Ambit: +3″ to aura abilities
- Bolt of Judgement: pick a bolt weapon, it may fire a bolt of judgment, makes one attack at AP -2 and 3 D, wounds on 2+ except Vehicles/Monsters 6+
Lazarus:
- Standard Primaris Master Line (W6 A5)
- Emnity’s Edge S+2 AP -4 Dd3, reroll wound and damage vs Psyker
- Spiritshield Helm: 6″ 5+++ FNP versus Mortal wound aura
- Intractable Will: Built-in “Only In Death Does Duty End”
After chewing through all of these rumors, there are seven total confirmed pieces of info that line up exactly with the official previews. On top of that, there isn’t anything that was mentioned that is blatantly incorrect or required any rewording. With all of that taken into account, this looks to be the deepest look inside the Dark Angels we have to date. Before the book actually hits the shelves.
Do you think there is more in store for the Chapter we still haven’t seen? What looks to be some of the best units to take in a Dark Angels force?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
