Can Chaos Knights Summon Daemons? The Definitive Guide
The burning question on many Warhammer 40,000 players’ minds is: Can Chaos Knights summon daemons? The straightforward answer is yes, they absolutely can, but with specific conditions. Any Chaos Knight Character that has been granted the character keyword can utilize the Daemonic Ritual ability to summon daemons onto the battlefield. This potent ability opens up a wide array of tactical options, allowing Chaos Knights to bolster their forces with terrifying warp entities.
This capability significantly enhances the versatility of Chaos Knights armies, shifting them from purely brute force melee juggernauts to a more adaptable and strategically nuanced fighting force. The ability to summon daemons adds a new layer of complexity and excitement to the gameplay, making Chaos Knights a force to be reckoned with on the tabletop. Let’s delve deeper into how this works, and explore some frequently asked questions.
How Daemonic Ritual Works for Chaos Knights
The Daemonic Ritual ability isn’t exclusive to Chaos Knights. It’s a common ability available to various Chaos Faction characters within Warhammer 40,000. To utilize it, a Chaos Character, in this case a Chaos Knight who has the Character keyword, can perform the ritual during their movement phase, instead of making a move. This means the character foregoes any normal movement to focus on the summoning process.
The specific daemons that can be summoned are limited to those possessing the Daemon Ritual keyword. This generally includes smaller units like Plaguebearers, Horrors, and other basic daemon units. These units can serve a variety of roles, such as holding backfield objectives or providing supporting fire.
The Trade-Off
While summoning daemons is a powerful ability, it’s not without risk. The summoning process is inherently unstable, and there’s a chance of the summoning character taking mortal wounds. This can vary, sometimes inflicting 3 Mortal Wounds on the summoner in worst-case scenarios, but even this is unlikely to severely impact a Chaos Knight who can have 20 or more wounds.
Furthermore, a Chaos Knight cannot move or Advance after summoning daemons, effectively rooting them in place for that turn. This is a critical consideration when planning your strategy, ensuring you position your summoning knight carefully before invoking the powers of the warp.
Strategic Implications of Daemon Summoning
The ability to summon daemons profoundly impacts how you play Chaos Knights. No longer are they solely focused on aggressive melee charges. Now, a more balanced approach is possible:
- Objective Control: Summoning cheap, expendable daemons like Plaguebearers or Horrors allows you to contest and secure objectives, especially in your backfield, which might be otherwise vulnerable.
- Screening: Daemons can act as a disposable screen, protecting your more valuable knights from enemy fire or charging melee units.
- Harassment: Smaller daemons can disrupt the enemy lines, harassing flanks and drawing fire away from your knights.
- Adaptability: The flexibility to summon daemons provides your army with a greater capacity to respond to different battle scenarios and objectives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some frequently asked questions to clarify the nuances of Chaos Knights and their interactions with daemons:
1. Can Any Chaos Knight Summon Daemons?
No, only Chaos Knights that have the character keyword are able to summon Daemons. This typically means named characters or those specifically given the keyword through a chosen relic.
2. What Daemons Can Chaos Knights Summon?
Chaos Knights can summon daemons with the Daemonic Ritual keyword, typically basic units like Plaguebearers, Horrors, Bloodletters, and similar.
3. Can a Chaos Knight Move After Summoning Daemons?
No, a Chaos Knight cannot move during their movement phase in the same turn they use the Daemonic Ritual to summon daemons. They sacrifice their move to summon.
4. Is There a Risk to Summoning Daemons?
Yes, there is a risk of the Chaos Knight suffering mortal wounds during the summoning process.
5. Can Imperial Knights Summon Daemons?
No, Imperial Knights cannot summon daemons. This ability is exclusive to Chaos factions.
6. Can Chaos Knights be Combined with Chaos Space Marines?
Yes, Chaos Knights can be combined with Chaos Space Marines, along with Daemons, to create diverse and powerful armies.
7. Are Chaos Knights Better Than Imperial Knights?
At the time of this article’s writing, Imperial Knights often have more synergy due to buffs, auras and warlord traits. However, Chaos Knights can have access to summoning and some unique stratagems that make them extremely powerful.
8. Can Chaos Knights Fall Back and Shoot?
No, Chaos Knights generally cannot fall back and shoot. However, they have the Super Heavy Walker rule which lets them move over non-titanic models and 4″ or less terrain as if they were not there.
9. How Do I Counter a Chaos Knight?
Utilize terrain and line-of-sight blocking to mitigate their threat. High damage output weapons and debuffs that reduce damage are also useful. Items like Blade Mail can punish their high damage output if they are attacked.
10. Do Chaos Knights Have Objective Secured (ObSec)?
Chaos Knights can make great use of powerful secondaries and, with fast and large models, can secure objectives effectively with their body count being treated as 5 models each.
11. What Is the Super-Heavy Walker Rule?
The Super-Heavy Walker rule allows Knights to move over non-Titanic models and move over certain types of terrain as if it were not there.
12. Can Chaos Knights Ally with Chaos Space Marines?
Yes, Chaos Knights can ally with Chaos Space Marines, and both can bring Be’lakor as an ally. The exceptions are that Thousand Sons, Death Guard, World Eaters, and CSM led by Lucius (Emperor’s Children stand-in) are not allowed.
13. What Is the Best Favour for Chaos Knights?
The Pantheon Undivided is one of the most useful favors and the Blessing of the Dark Master, which prevents rerolls on hits, wounds, and damage, is also particularly useful.
14. Do Chaos Daemons Bleed?
Yes, they have an equivalent of blood called **ichor** that flows within their physical forms when summoned into the material world.
15. Can Thousand Sons Use Daemons?
Yes, Thousand Sons can use Daemons if their army keyword includes
Conclusion
The ability for Chaos Knights to summon daemons adds a significant strategic layer to their gameplay. By understanding how this interaction works, players can harness the power of the warp to create dynamic and resilient armies. This capability, combined with their already formidable combat prowess, makes Chaos Knights an even more dangerous force in the grim darkness of the far future. Remember to carefully consider the trade-offs of summoning and position your Knights accordingly. Happy gaming!