What's the Best Daemon for YOUR Army?

[ElectricPaladin]

It's been confirmed. Although the details about how psychic powers are going to work in the new edition are still unknown, it is now clear that anyone can summon Daemons. Specifically...

the Primaris power allows you to summon one of the following:
• 10 Bloodletters
• 10 Pink Horrors
• 10 Plaguebearers
• 10 Daemonettes
• 5 Flesh Hounds
• 3 Flamers
• 3 Nurgling Swarms
• 3 Seekers

Additionally, with a different power, you can summon one of the following:
• 3 Bloodcrushers
• 3 Screamers
• 3 Plague Drones
• 3 Fiends

Note that the conjured unit will appear within 12'' of the psyker. Conjuration powers are new, and it is not yet known exactly how the unit will enter the table (merely placed? as per Deep Strike?) or what limitations will be placed on their actions on that turn (will they be able to act normally? will arriving count as their movement, but they can still shoot and assault? will they be treated as entering from Reserves and be unable to assault?). When that information is released, it may alter our findings, but I see no reason we can't begin discussing now.

Here's the question as I see it: in most cases, those of us who aren't primarily Daemons players aren't going to want to buy one of each. We are probably going to want to get one - maybe two - top choices. The right Daemons for our army.

The question is, which Daemon is that?

The following armies (all armies with psykers who are not Tyranids) can summon Daemons:

Astra Miliatrum

Blood Angels

Chaos Space Marines

Dark Angels

Eldar

Grey Knights

Orks

Space Marines

Space Wolves

Let's have a lively discussion. When some kind of consensus is reached, I will modify the OP with a summary of our findings and a brief explanation of the logic that led to that recommendation.

[Lord Krungharr]

Where did you read that those are the Daemons which could be summoned? I haven't seen that yet. I just read about the White Dwarf battle where a Dark Angel Librarian became a Bloodthirster.

But if these lesser D possibilities are accurate, then it's very situational. And who knows if one must choose the unit before the game, or just right before or after the power is successfully used? Daemonettes and Bloodletters are my favorites, Horrors always suck when I use them, and Plaguebearers generally don't do anything (can't even run) and they seem to die pretty easily as well despite Shrouding.

Given that each discipline has 6+1 powers now, I don't think they will alter that, so Daemonology will also have 6+1. Then we must ask, what other powers might there be?

[ElectricPaladin]

Where did you read that those are the Daemons which could be summoned? I haven't seen that yet. I just read about the White Dwarf battle where a Dark Angel Librarian became a Bloodthirster.

But if these lesser D possibilities are accurate, then it's very situational. And who knows if one must choose the unit before the game, or just right before or after the power is successfully used? Daemonettes and Bloodletters are my favorites, Horrors always suck when I use them, and Plaguebearers generally don't do anything (can't even run) and they seem to die pretty easily as well despite Shrouding.

Given that each discipline has 6+1 powers now, I don't think they will alter that, so Daemonology will also have 6+1. Then we must ask, what other powers might there be?

The powers are spoiled in the 7th Edition thread. Let me see if I can't find it and repost it here...



Basically, the other powers are
• The primaris power described above.
• Improve nearby Daemons' invulnerable saves.
• Torrent template.
• Beam attack.
• Turn a nearby model into a herald with 30 points of wargear.
• The second conjuration power described above.
• Turn your psyker into a Bloodthirster, Lord of Change, Great Unclean One, or Keeper of Secrets.

That said, remember that the number of powers a given psyker knows is both random and limited. The chance that you are going to get both a summoning power and the one support power are pretty low. My personal feeling is that if you get two or three powers, you're going to want to trade one in for the primaris power, and then try to get either one of the other summoning powers or one of the attack powers. Unless you're a Daemons of Chaos player, the support power isn't going to be that useful. Otherwise, I don't think I'd want to waste a power on the ability to boost the survivability of a unit that I might never have the chance to put on the board (if I don't get lucky or my opponent outplays me in the psychic phase and cancels my powers).

[The Sovereign]

The following armies (all armies with psykers who are not Tyranids) can summon Daemons:

Astra Miliatrum

Blood Angels

Chaos Space Marines

Dark Angels

Eldar

Grey Knights

Orks

Space Marines

Space Wolves

Where did you see this? Haven't seen any info leaked yet about who gets access to Malefic Daemonology...

But as to the answer to your question, I choose screamers. Always screamers...

[ElectricPaladin]

Where did you see this? Haven't seen any info leaked yet about who gets access to Malefic Daemonology...

White Dwarf strongly implies it. We have Ezekiel using Malefic Daemonology. We know that everyone but 'Nids gets some kind of Daemonology. I think it's a safe guess that if EZEKIEL gets it, any loyalist who wants it gets Malefic Daemonology, probably as well as Santic.

[The Sovereign]

Okay, fair enough. Personally, I'm not assuming Imperial armies will all have access to Malefic Daemonology yet (and if they do, I'll pass on giving it to my loyalists, because FLUFF), but for the purpose of this thought exercise, I'm down.

My Orks could probably benefit from horrors and a herald of Tzeentch...

[ElectricPaladin]

It makes sense to me, fluffwise. Radical Inquisitors summon Daemons - why shouldn't the more pragmatic sorts of Astartes, Astera Militarum psykers, and so on? The fluff evolves in this game. I'm cool with that.

[Tepogue]

Of the primary list, assuming Horrors get to roll for powers, they are the best all around. My second would depend on my opponent, bloodletters for ap3 or daemonettes if fighting 2+ armor save models. I'm assuming summoned units can't claim or deny objectives so plaguebearers are dead last.

On the other list, screamers are my top choice, them khorne/fiends based on the AP I need to crack.

[DrBored]

Keeper of Secrets, Daemonettes, Seekers of Slaanesh, and Fiends of Slaanesh. Hard to beat such a fast unit that also gets lots of attacks and rends.

[daboarder]

I look very forward to summoning swarms of plague drones with my ML3 Nurgle Psykers

love the models just havent had an excuse to pick them up yet.

as to the small guys, I'd go nurglings, mostly because I have a conversion in mind for them that should be a damned site cheaper than the plastic crack versions