Digging for Chaotic Gold: How to Get the Most Out of Overlooked CSM Units

The Chaos Space Marines codex is extremely deep. The best units are really great, the good units are still great, and the bad units are still solid… or at least some of them are.

Today at Warphammer, we’re going to take a look at your minis collecting dust on your shelf and figure out how to get them back onto the table. We’re going to cover a lot of the unloved units in the Chaos Space Marines codex, and help you find success (and have more fun) if you want to run them.

Let’s get one caveat out of the way: No one will agree on what the “bad” or “overlooked” CSM units are, therefore people won’t agree on what units should be talked about in this article. I think Obliterators are one of the best units in the entire army, so I won’t talk about them here. Plenty of CSM players think they’re bad, and would think they should be included in a discussion of bad units. Ultimately I had to make a bunch of judgement calls when deciding which units to include here. See any glaring omissions that you want to get my thoughts on? Just let me know.

Without further ado, let’s talk about one of my favorite and most underrated units in the entire game: Possessed.

Possessed

Issues

Low AP, low strength, just really mediocre damage outside of potentially spiking Devastating Wounds once per game

Benefits

T6, invuln save, lots of wounds for cheap, 9″ move, can take buffs well

General Thoughts

I’ll be real with you: This entire reason I wanted to write this article was to talk about Possessed, so let’s get right to it.

Possessed are an elite unit. Now is your time to buy-low on them, because I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more of them over the coming months.

Let’s start with the bad about Possessed: AP1 isn’t great. It’s not as bad as AP0, but it’s not as good as AP2. It’s definitely not as good as AP3 either, and far worse than AP4. 2 damage is also just okay. It’s much better than 1 damage (usually), but it’s not as good as 3 damage (usually). Take that, UnitCrunch and Stat Check. People can get all their advanced mathhammer done right here at Warphammer.

So why do I like Possessed? Their durability and mobility for the points is excellent, and CSM have a few sources of support to elevate them to the next level. The once-per-game nerf to their Dev Wounds is also really overstated. The only loser of the Dev Wounds nerf is the Master of Possessions, who can’t borrow their access to Dev Wounds whenever he shot. You only really need Dev Wounds once per game on a unit of Possessed played aggressively anyway. A typical game for a Possessed brick is to charge a screening unit you don’t need Dev Wounds against early, charge and kill something durable with Dev Wounds on the following turn, and then they’re all dead. Possessed don’t need 5 turns of Dev Wounds anyway.

I think the big issue for many players is that they want Possessed to be glass cannons that detonate the opponent’s army when they connect. That’s just not how they work in 10th Edition, and you’ll be disappointed if that’s what you expect. But they are an excellent board control piece and can tie up an opponent’s entire army, and that’s at least as valuable when it comes to winning games.

How I’d Use Them

I’d use Possessed one of four different ways.

The most boring way is as a durable and fast MSU skirmisher in basically any detachment. That’s a very solid option, and you can’t go that wrong with bringing one unit for 120 points.

The more fun way is as a big brick in Renegade Raiders. With their extreme mobility (can move 9+d6″ + 2d6″ + 3″ + 3″+ 9″ for up to 42″ in one turn) and ability to get Precision and extra AP on objectives, they can really disrupt an opponent’s gameplan. This is an extremely strong unit, and a replacement worth considering for anyone who can’t fit AC/DC into their lists anymore.

The even more fun way is as Undivided units in Pactbound Zealots. Reroll wounds makes their Dev Wounds go turn absolutely terrifying. The one downside to Pactbound is you have 0 durability or mobility buffs for them, so they’re a little easier to play around.

The best way in my opinion? Going all in on 30 Possessed in Fellhammer. I’m not joking. I think this is by far the best Fellhammer list, and one of the best lists CSM can write right now. I left it out of my Fellhammer guide because I was planning to take it to a Teams event and didn’t want to telegraph what I’m bringing, but now that we decided I’ll be playing a different list at the Teams event I can talk about it.

Fellhammer Possessed are a legit glitch in the game. T6 is an amazing breakpoint in Fellhammer, because it’s too high for mediocre weapons to wound effectively, it’s low enough that you’re getting -1 to Wound against guns that can threaten them, and it’s high enough that you’re often getting wound on 4’s by anti-tank weapons. Here is the damage output from 3 Castigators shooting a unit of Fellhammer Possessed with Siegecraft active:

Fellhammer Possessed literally just laugh at things like Battle Cannons. With Persistent Assailants and Brutal Attrition, their damage output in melee matchups also becomes much higher. 30 Fellhammer Possessed just swamp the board too quickly for opponents to stay in the game, and its only 720 points! You still have an entire CSM army of damage dealers backing them up. It’s not like you bring 30 Possessed and that’s your only chance to do damage. You get to bring a fast, durable wall of meat and then still bring plenty of Vindicators, Predators, Abaddon, Chaos Lords, Obliterators, etc to back them up.

I’ve been playing 30 Fellhammer Possessed for a while now, and the list is completely undefeated in testing and feels like one of the strongest lists I’ve played in 10th Edition.

Long story short: Possessed are very, very good, and you can run anywhere from 5 to 30 Possessed and feel great about it.

Nemesis Claw

The recently released Nemesis Claw models don’t really fit into this article because they’re so new, but this article is a perfect time to talk about them at Warphammer. Let’s sneak them in!

Issues

Less mobility than Chosen, less OC and not Battleline compared to Legionaries, expensive for Marine bodies, low-damage weapons options

Benefits

Stopping opponents from using stratagems in Engagement Range is potentially very spicy, good volume of attacks, Stealth

General Thoughts

The new Nemesis Claw unit is cute. The theming is fun, and it feels like the first time in forever I’ve seen Night Lords get any sort of love from GW.

Their ability to deny stratagem use in Engagement Range has some real merit. The most valuable usage is to prevent combat interrupts. Facing a unit like Sanguinary Guard that you need multiple combat units to put down, but can’t multi-charge because they’ll interrupt and wipe out everyone that charged them? Send in the Nemesis Claw to let you dogpile them unfairly… just like Konrad Curze intended. It’s also very useful to stop things like -1 Damage stratagems (sorry, Death Guard and World Eaters) in melee or prevent opponents from using Fight on Death stratagems.

Their datasheet ability is also very solid. +1 to Hit units below Starting Strength is thematic and will come up often. It’s easy to trigger into targets you want to fight with Grenades or random shooting. Giving +1 to Hit to an attached Chaos Lord is useful to get the hammer hitting on a 2+…. just be careful exposing the squad to any shooting, because the Nemesis Claw lose the benefit of Stealth if there is a model without Stealth attached.

Having Sustained Hits on several of their weapons innately means you can Dark Pact for Lethal Hits and get the benefits of both. Whenever you can stack Lethal Hits and Sustained Hits in 10th Edition, you have a unit that can potentially spike some real damage.

This seems like a legitimately good unit. So why don’t I like them more? Well, I do like them! 110 is just a lot for 5 Marine bodies. We’re also just not in a meta where preventing non-Monster/Vehicle units from using stratagems in Engagement Range is as valuable as it could be. Blood Angels and Black Templars are in a bit of a rut, and those are two of the main non-Monster/Vehicle melee armies.

One interesting thing to note: Nemesis Claw are 110 points for a 5-man, but only 190 points for a 10-man. That is one of the bigger price discounts I’ve seen for bringing a full unit in 10th Edition. The second 5-man is only 73% as expensive as the first 5! I think it’s great that GW is thinking harder about how units are actually used and pricing them accordingly, and the Nemesis Claw pricing is just good game design.

How I Would Use Them

The Nemesis Claw seem like a great tool in Renegade Raiders. If you’re running “boys in boats” Rhino spam, why not swap out a unit of Legionaries or Rubrics for one of these guys?

If you’re willing to pay 1CP for full hit and wound rerolls after they disembark and charge an objective holder, they actually hit even harder than Legionaries. And in matchups where their no-stratagem ability is relevant, they’ll be game-winning. That’s a fair tradeoff for 20 points, as long as freeing up those 20 points won’t require you to re-do your entire list.

Nemesis Claw also have some value in Fellhammer. Stacking Stealth with the Fellhammer rule to give them both -1 to hit and -1 to wound versus shooting means they are legitimately semi-durable, and their ability helps cover some of Fellhammer’s innate weakness to melee.

Heldrakes

Issues:

Inflated points cost, not durable, not particularly damaging to most targets

Benefits

Solid melee output into flying targets, solid flamer, Aircraft shenanigans

General Thoughts

If you’ve painted a Heldrake, you’ll want to put it on the tabletop. All of those hours meticulously painting trim can’t have gone to waste! I get it.

The reality is that Heldrakes don’t really do anything. Heldrakes aren’t overlooked, they are just legitimately bad. The reasons to pay over 200 points to bring a Heldrake in your list starts and ends with thinking flying evil turkeys are really cool…. which is actually a really fair point.

They are mobile, I’ll give them that. Moving 20″ is no joke. They’re durable enough to tie units up, so they’re decent at disrupting opponents.

The Baleflamer is a legitimate overwatch weapon and will do real damage to some small units. I wouldn’t want to be Jump Pact Intercessors or Warp Spiders ending a move within 12″ of a Heldrake. But even into those targets, you need to shoot them in both your Shooting Phase and then Overwatch to actually kill a MSU unit reliably.

Let’s talk about their melee, because the combo of Sustained Hits, +1 to Hit, Dev Wounds, and Anti-Fly 2+ means they’ll put ~8 Dev Wounds into any target with the Fly keyword. That is a legitimately spicy meatball. The downside is that they are just abysmal at fighting anything without the Fly keyword. It cannot be overstated how awful Heldrakes are in melee into most things. They average 1.4 wounds into a Rhino. 1.4 wounds! Random marines punching a Rhino usually do more damage than a giant daemonic dragon descending upon it.

GW, do you see those huge sharp claws on a Heldrake? Why do they have less strength and AP then a random Power Fist? What the hell are we even doing here?

How I Would Run Them

First of all, you always put them in Hover. Their whole value is disrupting the opponent, and they can’t do that if they can’t charge units and tie them up and have to wait a turn to come in. Heldrakes are a 20″ moving unit, not an Aircraft.

If I had to run a Heldrake, I would go one of two ways.

The best way is marking them Slaanesh and running them in Pactbound Zealots. That lets them up to 26″ before shooting and charging, and means you can deploy them a bit more safely and then still get easy turn 1 charges. It also gives them Sustained Hits on a 5+ in melee. This brings their average Dev Wounds up from 8.3 to 9.7 against Fly targets, and makes them much more likely to actually kill something like a Voidraven Bomber when they catch it.

The other option is in Renegade Raiders. Getting extra AP on the Baleflamer and claws will help them skirmish with cheap objective holders, and Opportunistic Raiders giving them a 20″ Fall Back move after they charge something means they are basically guaranteed points on Behind Enemy Lines or Engage On All Fronts.

Daemon Princes

Issues

Expensive, low AP, low strength, not very durable

Benefits

It has the best “Tank Shock” in the game now that actual Tank Shock got nerfed, it’s relatively mobile, and it takes enhancements well

General Thoughts

Daemon Princes’ big issue is that they don’t really have any good targets for their offensive profiles. Want to tear apart big things? Their strength and AP is too low. Want to beat up chaff? They’re way overcosted for that role. They’re also durable enough to require a real commitment, but not durable enough to live through a real commitment.

That doesn’t mean they’re bad, and they can indeed be very spicy at times. The charge mortals let them go for plays where they charge a weakened screening unit, kill it in the Charge Phase, and then Pile In and fight a unit behind the screening unit. Also look for plays where you charge a unit, and only end in Engagement Range of a wounded model in the unit. You kill that model with your charge phase mortals, and are now no longer engaged. This means that unit can’t use Fights First or combat interrupt to fight you first, and you’ll always be able to fight them when you want with your Daemon Prince.

How I Would Run Them

Daemon Princes are an excellent target for Rapid Ingress. If I were running them, I would run exactly 1 so I can Rapid Ingress them when I see a juicy spot on turn 2 or 3.

The main thing that comes to mind is putting them in Renegade Raiders and giving them the Dread Reaver enhancement and the Mark of Khorne. Giving them +2 Strength and full Hit and Wound rerolls means they’ll actually pose a real threat to medium tanks and heavy infantry. That is really not a bad unit.

The issue I see with the Dread Reaver Daemon Prince is that Dread Reaver is a better fit for a Chaos Lord. Access to Dev Wounds means that Chaos Lords were designed in a laboratory to pair with full Wound rerolls. The Dread Reaver DP Daemon Prince also costs almost twice as much as the Dread Reaver Chaos Lord.

The other spicy option is running a Slaanesh Daemon Prince in Pactbound Zealots with the Intoxicating Elixir. A 5+++ Feel-No-Pain stacks with their 2+ save and 4++ invuln to make a legitimately tanky unit. The ability to trigger Battleshock when you shoot and fight is also powerful. Stack those sources of Battleshock tests with the Daemon Prince’s innate ability to trigger Battleshock when it flies over a unit, and you have a great disruption piece.

Does your opponent have a key unit that you want to multi-charge but don’t want to let them interrupt in combat? You can trigger 3 Battleshock tests from your Intoxicating Elixir Daemon Prince on that unit before they get to interrupt, making it likely that they will be battleshocked by then.

Lord Discordant on Helstalker

Issue

Genuinely pathetic offensive output, short range on abilities, slow

Benefits

OC4 is a great number, DiscoLords are vaguely durable and vaguely fast, and their ability to potentially turn off shooting from a Vehicle and buff your own shooting versus a Vehicle is not completely useless

General Thoughts

How the mighty have fallen.

DiscoLord are legitimately one of the most pathetic offensive units in the game. They can’t even beat up 5 Marines reliably, let alone anything tougher. Like the Heldrake, their Baleflamer can disrupt how your opponent uses some squishy units, but that’s about the extent of what they can do offensively.

They’re also weirdly slow, with a massive base and only 10″ of movement. They’re not durable enough to withstand the extra turn in the open it takes them to reach the opponent.

In theory, their abilities to disrupt enemy Vehicles are actually pretty good. Their ability Corrupt Machine Spirits either giving an enemy Vehicle -1 to Hit or preventing it from shooting entirely is valuable. The issue is with only 12″ range and only triggering after your opponent has had a movement phase to get out of range, if the opponent really cares then you’ll never get to use this ability.

I genuinely can’t believe that the DiscoLord’s ability ever actually worked in any testing games the GW playtesters played, but it must have popped off for them to cost DiscoLords at 190 points for most of the edition. Whatever playtester got beaten by a DiscoLord turning off their Vehicle’s shooting, I highly recommend you reach out to me and sign up for Warphammer coaching to improve at the game!

Warphammer Coaching and Patreon

With that smooth transition out of the way, let me throw a quick plug out there before we continue.

I’ve loved working with the last few Patrons that signed up, and have space for plenty more. If you’re interested in a monthly list (including a writeup on how to play it) while supporting Warphammer, hop on over to the Warphammer Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Warphammer) and sign up at the $10/$20 tiers and then message me on discord or shoot me an email so I can talk to you and find out what you’re looking for. If you just want to show your support of Warphammer because you find it neat, there are some low tiers available and those are still greatly appreciated.

Coaching!

I’m open to working with a few more clients, so please reach out via WarphammerOfficial@gmail.com or on Discord to Mike_All_In to get your coaching process started! It’s so rewarding helping people along in their 40K journeys, and I’d to help you improve both your success and your enjoyment in competitive 40K.

Here is the full Warphammer coaching elevator pitch:

5 Hours of Calls Per Month. I recommend doing 1 hour weekly calls and then a “flex hour” per month so we can do 2 hours of prep before tourney or some extra time for us to hop into TTS and practice deployment or such, but the exact schedule is up to you. General topics I’ve covered in my coaching calls (note that different people want different things):

Mindset: This is unique to Warphammer coaching, and something I’m very excited to translate from my own experiences receiving performance mindset coaching. We’ll talk about any mental blocks holding back progress (such as tilt in game, sportsmanship, self-sabotaging before games, communication issues with opponents, or lack of confidence) and find ways to improve your mental game.

List-Writing: We’ll talk about how to write strong lists that fit into your own playstyle/desire to run certain units

In-Game Decision Making: The details of this vary from person to person and army to army, but we’ll talk about tips for every stage of the game and give you new ways to approach the game.

Winning Different Matchups: We’ll talk about playing your army into various factions and come up with gameplans for beating armies you see.

I always give a few caveats before starting coaching.

1) We’re going to be realistic about results given experience/practice time/life constraints–I’ll give you 100% and we can improve your performance, but a lot of factors go into results like life constraints that we can’t control.

2) From my experience, I think Warphammer coaching is a better fit for people in the US or European timezones. Its been really hard to coordinate schedules with Australian clients, and I recommend any from outside of the US or Europe find a coach that better fits their schedule. I hold myself to a high standard and always bringing 100% focus and energy to my coaching, and I think that will be very difficult to do if we’re calling at 4AM before I’ve had my coffee.

Cost: $200/month. I understand Warphammer coaching isn’t in everyone’s budget, and that’s okay! If you choose not to move forward, I’d still love to see you around the discord and in the Warphammer community. The reality is I get very invested in the success of my coaching clients, and I’d rather work with a fewer people who really want to grow as players rather than stretch myself too thin trying to help everyone.

Cost for the GW Playtester Who Kept Getting Destroyed by a DiscoLord in Testing: You can have a call for free, on the house. Something deeply sad happened in those DiscoLord testing games, and I want to figure out what it was and how we can prevent it from ever happening again.

How I Would Use DiscoLords

The only real way to run DiscoLords is in Renegade Raiders, where their Mounted keyword gives them access to some cool plays. A DiscoLord that can advance/shoot/charge with +1″ to charge is much more mobile than one that can’t. The real spice would be using Opportunistic Raiders to move 10″ after fighting and dropping that OC4 onto an objective.

They’re also vaguely interesting out of Strategic Reserves. Rapid Ingress is your only real shot at triggering their anti-Vehicle abilities, and if you can find an angle to come down where there aren’t any big guns point at you, they’re going to be durable to chip shooting.

Maulerfiends

Issues

Slow, low AP, mediocre melee, near useless datasheet ability

Benefits

Cheap, kind of has 4 melta shots, high upside in melee

General Thoughts

Maulerfiends are okay, which is honestly fine when they’re priced like they’re just okay. They have the same mobility issue as DiscoLords, but being way cheaper and more durable makes that a lot less of a problem on Maulerfieds.

This might be a potential hot take, but Maulerfiends are actually totally fine. They’re decently durable for their points cost. They can do some damage in melee. Their 4 6″ melta shots are not entirely nothing.

In detachments that add to their mobility, durability, or damage, you could honestly do far worse than a Maulerfiend or three. The fact you can get 3 Maulerfiends for under 400 points is pretty cool! I view them as identical to Haruspexes in Tyranids: Not amazing, but cheap enough that they end up solid. Their datasheet ability is a bit mediocre since there are basically no abilities in the game that reduce movement/advance/charge rolls that both affect Vehicles and you’re likely to ever see, but it is there for a very niche situation.

How I Would Use Them

There are 3 standout ways to use a Maulerfiend.

The first is running them in Pactbound Zealots and marking them Slaanesh. Access to advance/shoot/charge means you’re more likely to get in range for both their 6″ meltas and get off charges, and Sustained Hits on a 5+ gives their high strength fists real spike potential.

The second option is in Fellhammer, and going all-in on being durable and rushing the opponent. It’s not the way I like to play, but if you just want to rush your opponent, throwing 130 point Maulerfiends that are only wounded on a 4+ by Lascannons at your opponent will disrupt their gameplan.

The final good option is in Soulforged Warpack, and that’s where I think Maulerfiends can really shine. The ability to move through walls let’s them stage safely before hitting the opponent. Getting both +1 to wound in shooting and 2 extra attacks in melee are amazing offensive buffs, and access to a +1AP stratagem helps make up for the mediocre AP of their fists. I’ve run Soulforged lists with 2 Maulerfiends a few times, and was legitimately impressed by how the Maulerfiends performed.

Final Thoughts

I don’t like how many people try to improve their performance by continuously buying new units, instead of using the units they already have better.

While some CSM units are way better than others, we still have an extremely deep roster of units that you can both have fun and have success with. Hopefully this article encouraged you to give a new look at some fun units you want to run.

As always, have fun, stay safe, and may the Dark Gods bless your rolls!