GW confirmed the new Daemonic Pact 40k rule, which lets you take Daemons in a Chaos Knights or Chaos Space Marines army!
We’ve seen a ton of rumors for the new codex, but only a few actually confirmed by GW, so it’s good to get more from them. This is nice as it lets you combine your forces without losing too many rules for either faction!
Warhammer Community just unveiled the rules, but first, let’s check out the Daemon saves and other profiles we’ve seen.
Warhammer 40k Daemon Saves
Conventional armaments use crackling power fields and explosive force to punch through armour and alien hide, yet these munitions have little effect on inhuman horrors from the empyrean. Daemonic Invulnerability provides your seething hordes with two unmodifiable saves. The first represents their durability in melee, and the second offers them a defence against ranged firepower.
As you’d expect, Bloodletters care little about where the blood flows from in melee – and with those new stats, they’re even better at shedding it than before – but they make for a more challenging target at range. It might be their unnatural loping gait, or perhaps Khorne’s just too busy enjoying the spectacle of close combat to lend his protection?
As you can see, they are changing the saves to actually be two-parters (no longer just a single Daemon save), with one for melee and one for shooting. They also say they are unmodifiable, so even things that ignore invulnerable saves do not affect these (they say even Railguns don’t ignore them).
On top of that, Bloodletters are getting way better with extra Strength, Toughness, and an attack. However, it does look like they are all going down by 1 LD.
On the other hand(s), Pink Horrors are even squishier than before in close combat – but bullets and flames simply pass through their shifting forms as they blink in and out of existence. As with everything, this is by Tzeentch’s design – slaying one Horror just leaves you grappling with two more.
Pink Horrors having a 3+ invuln from shooting is actually pretty crazy. However, that’s offset by their 6+ in melee. Their profile isn’t changing much other than 3+ BS, which is nice, but again their LD goes down by one.
Plague Bearers
This turn of the rotting wheel means the forces of Nurgle lose their Disgustingly Resilient rule, which is replaced with a swollen Toughness stat, more Wounds, and those all-important daemonic saves.
Take the humble Plaguebearer, now more fecund than ever thanks to a hearty dose of Nurgle’s warp-phlegm and polish.
So, going to 2 wounds, Toughness 5, 2 attacks, and a 5+/4+ is a huge improvement! They will be much harder to kill; with a 4+ from shooting and 5 Toughness, they will be even better for absorbing shots and sitting on objectives!
Slaanesh Daemons Rules
The Daemonettes now boil out of the warp faster and stronger than before. They can also shrug off more gunfire thanks to the new Daemonic Saves, meaning these lightning-fast killers are getting into close combat in record time.
Their claws gain an extra point of Armour Penetration, but lose their chance to rend right through armour – a small price to pay for Slaanesh’s other blessings.
So, they do lose rend but get more natural AP, and with two extra attacks a piece, it should be pretty nice. Then, they get an increase in Strength and a huge 3″ movement buff. So they’ll be faster and stronger than ever before. Their save is going to 5+/4+, however, with only one wound and T3, they will be one of the easiest daemons to kill.
40k Daemonic Pact Rule Lets the Forces of Chaos Combine!
So long as your CHAOS army includes just one LEGIONES DAEMONICA Detachment, which accounts for no more than 25% of your total Power Level, every model within it gets the AGENTS OF CHAOS keyword. This allows you to ignore many Detachment Ability restrictions** when checking to see if everyone’s on the same team, just like Chaos Knight Dreadblades.
The ability to appear as if from nowhere makes daemons excellent shock troops, charging from tears in reality to seize objectives. This makes them excellent allies in Chaos Knights armies, where manpower is at a premium and Troops with the Objective Secured rule are valuable.
The Daemonic Pact rule will really help out (or could) Chaos Knights as 25% of your force could be troops who can take objectives or just fill up the battlefield a little bit. Plus, being able to deepstrike them will keep your opponent guessing!
While this removes your daemons’ control over Warp Storms, the ability to mix and match your units forges versatile armies. Allowing you to combine durable Space Marines, hard-hitting daemons, and stompy Dreadblades to tackle whatever the galaxy can throw at them.
Even though you lose the Warp Storm Points, you don’t mess up any of your other keywords, as long as the Daemons follow the same god as the main army! Overall, a decent way to include them in your existing forces.
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Here’s the most up-to-date list of new Games Workshop bits from all preview models that we should watch out for. Click on the gallery above to see dozens of Rumor Engines with new models still left to be revealed!
All the Latest Chaos Daemons Rules & Rumors
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Joined: 2019
Socials: @paschbass
Bio: Dark Eldar Dracon and Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the third edition in 1998. He also loves camping because you can only paint so much! He joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the main daily writer since 2020.
Maybe one day, he’ll finish converting all his Ad Mech models and turn into a true tech enjoyer, complete with sad and happy robot noises!
