Here’s the full 40k rules breakdown for each faction inside the book as they power up Psychic Awakening’s Ritual of the Damned 40k update.
Coming from The Glacial Geek on YouTube, he’s done an incredible breakdown of all the rules and datasheet changes coming inside Ritual of the Damned for the three factions.
Dark Angels 40k Rules From Ritual of The Damned
Lazarus’ Datasheet & More
Lazarus is the all-new character for the Dark Angels with a pretty basic Primaris statline you might expect. 6 wounds, 5 attacks base, 3+, nothing super crazy. But where he really stands out is in his wargear and rules. Before we jump into his weapons of choice, check out Intractable Will. He gets to freely fight as he dies if he’s within 1″ of something. That’s a rule all Smash Captains are jealous of.
Being a named character, he’s also coming with some dope wargear. His sword will 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?
You might be thinking, How much does this dude cost?? and to answer that…we don’t know. GW didn’t print his points in the book so we’re sure we’ll see an FAQ soon.
UPDATE: Games Workshop published his points on their Facebook page: He will cost 105 to field.
As for Asmodai, the DA’s named Chaplain, he knows the Litany of Hate and two other litanies from the table in the book as well. That looks to be the only big change to him.
Dark Angels Devastator Doctrine Bonus: Relentless Hunt
Before jumping into the nitty-gritty parts of the book, it’s important to lay the groundwork for what the Chapter will be using at-large. For the Doctrine bonus, 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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Dark Angels-Exclusive Litany
Stoic Prosecution is dope for oppressive armies that like to footslog. Maybe a Hellblaster Squad with Plasma Incinerators walking up the board.
Dark Angels Stratagems
Starting off with the first sheet of Stratagems, Dark Angels have a hefty port from the Space Marine book with just a few keyword changes. One of the bonuses to the Ravenwing is High-Speed Focus. Which essentially lets you give 4++ invuln to a unit for just 1CP. They just have to be targetted first.
Deathwing Terminators are bringing in some cheap tricks to the table that might make them a competitive blob to throw down on turn 2. For 1CP, you can give them +1 to hit or make them +1 Toughness for a phase. Honestly, Terminators should probably already be T5, but that’s another story…
Keeping the focus on Deathwing, you can spend another CP for Outnumbered But Never Outmatched to give an entire unit +1 attack if they’re going against a unit that has 10 or more models. This will really help them get over the hump of being bogged down by Orks and Tyranids.
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.
Targeting Guidance might be a reason enough to bring a small Ravenwing force with at least one Land Speeder. For 1CP, you get a brutal reroll to hit roll against a unit within 12″ of the Land Speeder. This is a great reroll system to keep in your back pocket in case you don’t have a Chapter Master where he needs to be.
Deathwing & Ravenwing Warlord Traits
Looking toward some of the specialists of the Dark Angels, you’ll be able to choose a few nice Warlord Traits at your disposal. 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).
For the Deathwing, Watched is one of the more unique ones we’ve seen any Chapter get. Basically, he gets an auto-pass deny the witch with unlimited range. That’s brutal against psychic-heavy armies where one power might be able to turn the tides of war. Just imagine shutting off Wings of Sanguinius on a Blood Angels Libby Dread about to go in for the kill.
Relics of Caliban
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.
One of the more spicy options looks to be the Standard of the Unforgiving Hunt to add more speed to your army. This relic basically gives a 6″ aura of the new Blood Angel Chapter Tactic without the bonus to wound.
If you need a particularly annoying character dropped, the Reliquary of the Repentant is going to be hard to beat. Throw this on a Ravenwing Biker and he’ll be able to worsen the invuln save of a unit he’s in combat with by 1. That’ll be brutal against something like Morty.
As for the Special-issue wargear, you’ve got some decent options as well. Angels Ambit turns your basic auras into 9″ range. Bolts of Judgment is a dope way of squeezing out a near-guaranteed 3 damage against a unit that isn’t a vehicle or monster. Just put this on a Phobos Captain who can already target characters and let him finish off what your Eliminators didn’t.
And there you have it! Dark Angels are getting some pretty hot tricks in the new book. After looking at their Stratagems, you’ll probably want to run a few spatterings of Deathwing and Ravenwing to make use of all their incredibly cheap Stratagems.
New Thousand Sons 40k Rules Ritual of The Damned REVEALED
Even though they’re walking magical dust robots, they still get the bonus attack on the charge and the same port for bolt weapons Rapid-Fire as Space Marines. Pretty dope.
As for the Cults of the Legion, there are nine different sub-factions to choose from being:
- Prophecy
- Time
- Mutation
- Scheming
- Magic
- Knowledge
- Change
- Duplicity
- Manipulation
Each one of these has its own page dedicated to a Warlord Trait, psychic power, etc. These are broken down by DETACHMENT.
Note that these new benefits also do not affect Tzaangors, Cultists, or Named Characters.
Different Cult Rules & Bonuses
There’s a lot to go over on each of these so we recommend reading each one for yourself. However, we’ll be pulling out a few of the talking points on some.
- The cult of Prophecy is neat. While your Warlord will be a slippery dude being able to move 6″ after he fires overwatch, it’ll be difficult to actually track him down to break his nose.
- Pythic Brazier almost acts like a 6″ bubble of the Master Artisans Chapter Tactics for Marine Successors.
- The Divine the Future is essentially a miracle dice for the Sisters of Battle that you get to use on a ton of different instances.
The Cult of Time’s Immaterial Echo is a solid Warlord Trait if you’re bringing a dude who is going to be sitting back slinging powers all game. If he rolls a 9+ on a psychic test, he can cast another for free.
As for the Cult of Mutation’s Exalted Mutation relic, you can give a bearer +1 Attack and Toughness.
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Cult of Scheming is getting a Raven Guard-style psychic power called Seeded Strategy which lets a unit within 24″ (that’s fantastic) shoot and charge even if it fell back earlier in the turn.
The Cult of Magic has a dope pseudo-smite power called Astral Blast. It’s range is shorter, but it also dishes out a mortal wound to every other enemy unit within 3″ of the target unit.
The Cult of Knowledge has heat-seeking bullets in a relic pistol essentially turning it into a flamer. But since it’s a pistol, it can be shot while you’re in combat. Getting D6 shots at -2 AP isn’t bad and will help act as a deterrent for your squishy Psyker that might be getting close to the enemy.
Cult of Change has a dope Warlord Trait called Fickle Nature which lets him reroll charges. In addition, he can shoot and charge if he fell back in the turn. (Imagine that on a souped-up Daemon Prince).
The Sorcerous Facade power for the Cult of Duplicity is going to be adding some much-needed mobility to the army. Especially if you’re running an objective-based list, this is like a Da Jump port from the Ork codex.
And lastly, the Burning Influence Warlord Trait on the Cult of Manipulation is brutal if you want to turn your Warlord into a one-man tarpit. He can subtract 1 from all attacks from each MODEL of enemy units within 1″ of the Warlord.
Thousand Sons Get Even More Stratagems
And to top everything off, the Thousand Sons are getting another sheet of Stratagems that can be used by any Cult. Indomitable Foes is nice if you want to protect your Infantry a bit more and make them a harder speed-bump to kill. You can increase the entire unit’s invuln by 1 for just 1CP.
And one of the more interesting Stratagems we’ve seen is a 2D6 Heroic Intervention move your Rubrics/Terminators can pull for 2CP when a Tsons character gets charged. Plus, Yoked Automata makes it sound like the unit of dusty bois is absolutely JACKED.
Overall, the Thousand Sons’ main support focus came in the form of Cults. While they’re exclusive rules, the bright side is that you can pick a different cult for each Detachment you take.
New Ritual of the Damned Grey Knight Rules
Instead of Doctrines, the Grey Knights will be getting a new Masters of the Warp rule that lets you choose one of four tides to be dominant during the game.
Similar to Doctrines, you’ll be able to start the game with a bonus rule. It doesn’t rotate as the game keeps going. Rather, you can change it via psychic power. But giving your army one of four benefits from the very start of the game is definitely strong. Plus, you can cast the psychic power and re-pick any one from the list.
It’s way more flexible than the normal Marine Doctrines.
“You can change the active Tide by using the Warp Shaping psychic power, one of six new powers included in Ritual of the Damned as part of the Dominus discipline, which Grey Knights psykers can choose from instead of picking from the Sanctic discipline.”
New Grey Knight-Exclusive Litanies
One thing that nobody saw coming was an entire table of new Grey knight litanies…
One of the cooler litanies is called the Recitation of Projection This gives a bonus 6″ range to most melee weapons for a unit within 6″ of a Chaplain. We’re probably going to always see one Chaplain in every Grey Knights list bringing this along. It’s really too good not to bring it, even if it’s on a barebones Chappy model.
Another hot one we might see is Words of Power. This lets you reroll the damage result for a unit within 6″. This Fantastic for units like Purgation squads/ Dreadknights with psilencers
Grey Knight Psychic Powers: The Dominus Discipline
Looking at the new Dominus Discipline of Grey Knight powers, they’re getting 6 brand new tricks for the psychic phase.
Warp Shaping that we talked about earlier only needs a 5 to go off, then you can repick from the Tides of Warp chart. And if you need CP, which Grey Knights almost always do, you can take Empyrean Domination. This just lets your Psyker pull a CP out of thin air. And if you’re playing an all- Grey Knights force, you should be taking this on at least one unit. You can net a CP almost guaranteed every turn.
For those aggressive armies, you can cast Ethereal Manipulation. If you need to create some space and already upped the AP on your bolters with Psi-bolt ammunition, Ethereal Manipulation will let you reroll all your hits if you’re shooting at a unit within half-range. This is brutal if you’re taking a squad of 10 dudes with storm bolters.
Another saucy play is Armoured Resillience making a single unit -1 to wound. That’s a huge move to keep in your back pocket if you’re about to get hit with some serious firepower.
Grey Knights Stratagems & Tricks
Pulling out a neat Strat for the Grey Knights, Masters of Combat will let you squeeze more value out of your force than before. For 2CP, you can fight with your Paladin models as they die as long as they didn’t fight yet. That means if you’re in a sticky situation, you can pick another unit to kill off an enemy squad, then when your opponent alternates to attack and he picks on the Paladins, you’ll still have a good chance at wiping out the unit somewhat out of sequence.
Redoubtable Defence is great if you’re up against a Chaos Knights player bringing in dual gatling cannons. If he decides to wipe out a fatty unit of Paladins, you can pop the CP and have the damage reduced by 1 for the entire squad.
Empyric Surge lets you go over 9000 with this stratagem. If you’re bubbled up with a bunch of Psykers, pop the 1CP and give everyone around the blob a +1 to cast.
New Grey Knight Relics & Litanies
And for the relics, they have a nice list of new relics to bring in. One of the cooler ones is the Aetheric Conduit which lets a Techmarine heal 2D3 to a Vehicle instead of 1D3. You’d think that’s something more for Iron Hands, but hey, no complaints from the Grey Knights.
Stave of Supremacy is going to be another fun one to run against other psychic-heavy armies. Making units within 18″ suffer a perils on rolls of double means that they’ll either have to move out of the large bubble or take their chances of dealing a bunch of D3 mortal wounds to themselves.
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After looking at what each of the factions is bringing to the table, what will you be including in your list? What’s the first relic you’re going to try?
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About the Author: Andrew Schrank
Andrew Schrank
Job Title: Miniatures & Warhammer Hobby Staff Writer
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About Andrew Schrank: Over the past 15 years, Andrew has played all the games, including tabletop and video games, and immersed himself in the associated lore. Andrew joined the Spikey Bits team in 2018 and covers the Warhammer hobby and tournament scene, along with the latest in tabletop miniatures, each week.
Aspiring diplomat, Lord of Fluff, and Master of Ice Hammer, He loves Star Wars, Chaos Undivided, and Gundam. During his free time, he hunts Platinum trophies on PS5 and reads international news. On weekends, Andrew plays commander and cEDH games, often with unique strategies that push the limits.
He believes each day presents a new opportunity to grow and be challenged.
