What makes dark angels unique

Thankfully, Warhammer 40, 9th edition has been quite kind to the Dark Angels, with many benefits that see them play in a flexible, but unique manner. This focus on mobility is brought to the fore in 9th Edition 40K, as the smaller general board size means you can get into the action even more quickly, and tie up enemy forces with ease.

In addition, Games Workshop has recognised that Dark Angels can be a mixed force, giving Ravenwing units a movement buff while the Devastator Doctrine is active primarily at the beginning of the game — which can be very nasty to face indeed.

This approach to flexibility carries across to the rest of the rules, which support your Dark Angels force. The Dark Angels are often thought of as three armies in one, as they have a core of regular Space Marines, surrounded by fast-moving Ravenwing units, and ultra-resilient Terminator Deathwing units. In addition, despite having a very powerful psyker in the form of Ezekiel, the need to bring a psyker is less pressing with a Dark Angels army.

This is because they bring many of their own survivability buffs: HQ units such as Azrael and Lazarus can provide a bubble of toughness, seeing your primary units survive any onslaught. The Interromancy Psychic Discipline is currently being widely lauded as potentially the best in the game.

The best psyker power, however, is Trephination. Consider this an upgraded Smite, if you want to send some mortal wounds into your enemy, then Trephination is going to be your favourite tool to do so.

Dark Angels armies often rely heavily on characters - so positioning is important. Dark Angels can also be reliant on character models — and 9th Edition rules for targeting characters make it much easier to be caught out and lose a critical model just when you need it, meaning caution and careful positioning is required at odds though it is with much of the Dark Angels ethos.

Starter boxes: Our guide to Warhammer 40K combat patrols. Rule the galaxy: Read our guide to 40K 9th edition codexes. Now, you should be able to field a Dark Angels army with pride, adding to it as you see fit, and evolving it into a force that can take on anything the galaxy can throw at you. Don't be afraid to join the fray! Be part of the conversation by heading over to our Facebook page, Discord , or forum. To stay informed on all the latest wargaming and tabletop games guides, news, and reviews, follow Wargamer on Twitter and Steam News Hub.

First off, Inner circle is a built in transhuman that gives morale immunity and the potential to not fall back if you roll over your leadership on 2d6. We know exactly how strong this is, and it has been extended to all units from the generic codex that have the Deathwing keyword.

Your Bladeguard Veterans, vanilla terminators and any captain that you upgrade to Deathwing are going to hang on for a very long time! Similar to Inner Circle, this has been extended to any of the generic Space Marine units that have the Ravenwing keyword, which is a huge boon for outriders, attack bikes, and normal bikers.

First up is Intractable, allowing a unit to fall back and still make shooting attacks and not make a roll for inner circle. Next up is line unbreakable, which in the fight phase means that only enemy models actually within one inch can swing, and preventing enemies within half an inch of a friend from fighting! This may be situational but against a large unit of orks, daemons, or any thinly spread unit this is going to be a backbreaker.

Need more defense? While many of the Space Marine vehicles have fallen out of favor, this is a great way to add a lot of defense to some otherwise unpopular units. Sensing a theme yet? Tap 2cp in and a deathwing knight unit will improve their wound rolls and ap by one when punching a vehicle or monster! We absolutely have to take a second and talk about a throwback to 8th edition, weapons from the Dark Age. And yes, this one is going to get its own paragraph. With near identical threat ranges, an inceptor squad has a variable 12d3 shots, which will average 24 or blast to Speed is king, I think, and the one higher strength is a bonus, but the hellblasters are actually shockingly close in output when you do a bit of math.

This strat is going to be extremely popular to build around for budding new Dark Angel players! I do want to focus on a few more key strats that will provide some good trickery when needed.

A simple 1cp puts a Dark Angel unit near your warlord into any doctrine, great value with the various options for the Dark Angel super doctrine, which we will discuss below. Stasis shells let a grenade launcher trap a unit in combat and prevent it from falling back for a healthy 2cp, while Swift Strike will let you disengage a cheeky charging Ravenwing unit after it has fought, preventing your opponent from attacking back!

There of course more stratagems in this book, and frankly none of them are useless, but these are the ones I will see myself using the most I think. Ok, lets talk about this doctrine, shall we? Dark Angels have a unique doctrine, where each of the three options will buff a different set of Dark Angels units, instead of one doctrine buffing every unit. Finally, those deathwing units will be rerolling their wounds against characters and 8 wound models in combat once the assault doctrine activates!

All of these buffs are pretty self explanatory on when to use, but for my money I think the Ravenwing buff will come up most. The Dark Angel relics are absolutely fantastic, and are going to be seen quite often. First up, the Penant of Remembrance has changed to target one deathwing core infantry unit, and give it -1 damage. Any large unit of terminators with inner circle, a few storm shields, and this relic, is going to be resistant to all but the most determined attacks.

One talonmaster feels mandatory, and this seems like the best relic he can be given. The Warlord traits are probably the least exciting aspect of this army, but frankly they are still on par with other armies, just not the strength of the book.

Watched, which allows you to automatically deny one enemy spell a game, is still very clutch if you can fit it, but most of these traits are not going to make the cut. Honestly, this is the most complete discipline in the game. While other tables have a few stars and some duds, this table legitimately has five great powers and one that is still solid, just not as exciting as the rest of the spells here.

Fighting last can be brutal, as it prevents your opponent from interrupting a charge or wanting to charge you, and this is one of my top 3 from the discipline. Many units rely on Auras. Auras buff your opponents units in multiple ways which can hurt your important units such as Ravenwing Bikes. If an enemy unit has re-rolls of any kind versus your Ravenwing Knights, you can deny them from benefiting from that aura. Decreased efficiency from your opponent increases your units survivability. I like this best on a Deathwing Knight — Knight Master.

This takes your sergeant in the squad to the next level with amazing damage output against Heretic Astartes. This is more of a meta call decision for sure. This is an auto include for a Deathwing Ancient. This relic alone is a great reason to include this Ancient in your army. Select a unit of Deathwing Knights in the front line to benefit from this relic and literally cut a ton of damage inflicted away.

This is not the strongest option at your disposal. This is mainly a secondary or tertiary choice if you really feel the need to make a character more difficult to hit.

The positive for this relic is that you will benefit against ranged and melee attacks. This relic is excellent on a Ravenwing Biker. Preferably on a Ravenwing Ancient.

This ancient will most likely be included in your force for utility already. This relic on top of its innate abilities will really make this a crucial unit for your gameplan. Advance in front of the toughest of units your opponent has and easily destroy these units such as Primarchs or high invulnerable save units. It is only a nice piece of tech if you were to place this on a Deathwing Terminator Sergeant with Storm Bolter. This can see some solid play when creating a character hunter.

A Captain with Thunder Hammer or Teeth of Terra Relic can really have a better chance at killing characters almost guaranteeing two chances to fight in back to back fights. This also negates your opponent from swinging first when they charge in which is great to deter your opponents from rushing into your units.

This is great on an Interrogator Chaplain. This can literally turn your heavy melee units such as Deathwing Knights or Bladeguard into monsters in combat. Use this at a time when you need that bit of extra volume required in order to get the most extreme efficiency.

This is best when keeping an important captain or buffing character alive. An added layer of durability is beneficial but in most cases not necessary. This may be best on a character that does not have an invulnerable save such as a Primaris Lieutenant.

This relic is not really necessary because most of your go to characters are in terminator armour. This makes them already get this buff across the board. This essentially is only best on a character without an invulnerable save such as a standard lieutenant or standard ancient. This can be an okay option when taking a captain with a thunder hammer or power fist.

Extra damage can go a long way especially when taking on the newly improved Death Guard with a built in minus one damage trait. This is not the greatest relic and very situational.

I would not recommend using this relic as spots are very tight already on what to bring. This is definitely a tough exception to make on this one, even for the additional mortal wound output. I really like this on a Ravenwing Talonmaster. Vehicles usually never get to take relics and this is a fantastic exception.

It also increases efficiency through volume, strength, armour penetration and damage. This is really great on a Ravenwing Talonmaster. A really great relic to have the most efficient overwatching unit in the book. Ignoring modifiers is always great and this is best when firing at units with modifiers built in or Aeldari factions that are hard to hit.

A plasma pistol on a captain is a great option. Upgrading to this ability is really impressive when shooting elite infantry. The best part is that there is no risk of losing your model like overcharging other plasma weapons.

Shoot Gravis armoured marines and other elite units. This is best on a Ravenwing Talonmaster. The twin heavy bolter is great against units with more models but this relic gives you this option against other units. This is best against higher wound models especially if they have a good armour save.

Purge the Enemy has a few tough choices depending on matchups. This is a solid alternative as you will want to be moving forward destroying units. To get the most out of this secondary, include Inner Circle and Deathwing units. The biggest key to take all these points is using a tough unit that is hard to remove once they have completed killing the character. This is a must take if taking a Ravenwing heavy army. Ravenwing models want to be moving full speed at all times. Move at full speed and destroy easier targets to consistently pick up points each turn.

No matter what army you make, this secondary is a must. You will be looking at an easy ten points at minimum. This is best when taking a first company detachment and Deathwing units are given the objective secured ability. Their durability makes the difference to achieve the most points from this secondary. I really like Azrael leading a Deathwing army. He is able to move forward at the same pace as every other unit. He is great for buffing your most lethal units with his Chapter Master ability.

Just for including him, you gain extra resources and a bunch of toolbox abilities. Essentially a secondary Chapter Master. Azrael and Belial do not need to both be included in your force. Both can be with Azrael being more for buffs and Belial as more of a combat master. When taking a heavy Ravenwing army, you have to include Sammael. He helps all surrounding units as a Chapter Master and Captain simultaneously.

He has extreme mobility which is key to be where you need him at the right times. Best used as a late game bully to clean up areas or take over objectives. Definitely the best psyker available to the Dark Angels. As a Chief Librarian, he can cast and deny multiple powers. With the great new powers in the psychic discipline, Ezekiel becomes an auto-include with plusses to cast powers innately.

Asmodai is a solid character to include in your force. When requiring a Chaplain, he does exactly what a priest needs to do. Take Asmodai as a support character for combat due to his special ability Exemplar of Hate. In combat he is solid, striking with his crozius multiple times and the Blade of Reason once.

Lazarus is definitely a unit that should be featured in your Deathwing forces. The Intractable Will ability is awesome to always have to fall back on when going into dangerous combats. His best buff against armies that produce tons of mortal wounds is his The Spiritshield Helm ability.

Being that Asmodai is available, he is the better option in most ways. The best way to make this chaplain work is when given a jump pack and relic — Cup of Retribution. This creates a fast Character with buffing abilities to combat units when charging into any enemy units. This is a must take for a Ravenwing based force.

The Talonmaster offers high-speed support for Ravenwing units. Increased efficiency as an active lieutenant is key for your army with ranged and melee attacks.