Dark Excommunication?

[Denied]

Hey all, I have been playing grey knights for the last several months and I know I should know this at this point, but I haven't played against many Daemon or Chaos players in some time. The wording of Dark Excommunication: The Grey Knight weaves an enchantment that severs the Daemon's connection to its dark master. This power can be used during the Assault phase (in either player's turn) after assault moves have been completed, but before any blows are struck. If the Psychic test is passed, choose an enemy unit in base contact with the Grey Knight. Any Daemonic Gifts possessed by models in that unit cease to work until the end of the phase.

So, I don't know about any of you, but I have not had a chance to use this that I am aware off. What kind of "Gifts" does this affect? I never played Chaos Daemons and I am fairly new to the game so I am uncertain what they have that are gifts. Can someone give me a run down of the possible uses or targets of this Psychic power? Does it only really work for Chaos Marines or Daemons because they are the only ones with gifts or are there other armies that this can do something to?

Thanks in advance for any advice/ info.

[Mr.Pickelz]

It takes away most upgrades a daemon player can give his units, such as a Bloodthirster can take, Blessing of the blood god, which gives it a 2+ invul against force weapons and psyker powers, Unholy Might, which increases the base strength by 1, etc... overall, this is a super powerful "F-U" to daemons in general.

[mstingray]

In the White dwarf when the grey knights came out they play it as all daemonic gifts are nullified regardless of if they're an upgrade or not. So anything that is listed in the daemonic gifts section in the daemons codex will be nullified. Chaos space marines don't have gifts so are unaffected by this power. Your best bet for the power is against Khorne bloodletters because of their hellblades.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

The Chaos Daemons codex doesn't have Wargear, it has "Daemonic Gifts" instead. Basically, Dark Excommunications turns off every nearby model's wargear.

It has no effect on anything from the Chaos Space Marines codex, since that codex uses wargear instead of Daemonic Gifts.

[Lerra]

It gets rid of everything that is called a "Daemonic Gift" in the Chaos Daemons codex. That includes armor saves, power weapons, rending, poison, all upgrades, all shooting attacks, and daemonic mounts. It does not remove "special rules" like Feel No Pain or Daemon (which gives Eternal Warrior and Fearless).

The real question is what happens when a Herald temporarily loses its mount. The mount gives it stat upgrades including extra wounds. Do those wounds come back when the Dark Excommunication expires, or are they gone for good?

[Mr.Pickelz]

i would rule that he looses the stat bonus, since the power only lasts till the end of that phase. So he would then regain any bonus after that phase is over, should he still be kickin that is. :D

[FTE-Charge!!!]

The mount question is a tough one. Luckily few players take heralds lol.

As a daemon player this power is incredibly disruptive and potent, in a codex already full of toys to use against us. Like stated above it removes all 'wargear' from the daemon in questions; which usually is the specialty of the unit.

BUT it does not remove special rules. This is a point that has confused many a player in my local shop; the daemon codex specifically states what abilities are special rules and which are gifts.

For instance, using Dark Ex on bloodletters will remove their power weapons, but not take away their furious charge.

So, it is a quite useful and potent power; one that I always try to negate by stomping on Nemisis dreadknights asap

[The Twilight Fade]

Yuck!! It is very nasty and completely ruins a daemons day, the only saving grace is that many units don't come with it as stock and unless you are tailoring are unlikely to have many units with it.

Seeing as though the internet has decided dreadknights suck then there are only a few other "good" units that have it (Coteaz been one of them)

Removing blessing of the blood god and power weapons kinda cripples you but can only affect one squad at a time so multi-charges are your friend :D