Dark Angels Units: Tier List
I'm not claiming to have the greatest expertise in matters competitive, but I do try to make at least an RTT or GT a month, and I also try and squeeze in some other games. There are some pretty good players in my area too, so I suspect the local meta is pretty competitive, but that could just be my ego talking. I've also been writing this blog for several months now, and it doesn't take a genius to see what's popping up frequently in competitive lists.
A-Tier
Azrael
I'm certainly biased, but I don't think anything we have is S-Tier. If we have anything that's close, it's Azrael. The Supreme Grand Master of the legion chapter has appeared in virtually all of our top performing lists, and it's not hard to see why. He's worth the points just to have sitting in the backfield generating command points, and he's capable of so much more than that. He's a value-add to any unit you can attach him to, and there are a lot of good choices - Hellblasters, Inner Circle Companions, Assault Intercessors, you name it. If the unit would benefit from Sustained Hits and an invulnerable save, Azrael is a natural choice to attach to the unit.
Deathwing Knights
Deathwing Knights have certainly had some ups and downs over the course of 10th edition. At the beginning of the edition, they were the only Infantry unit we had that had 3-damage melee attacks, and with their hoss defensive profile and the ability to take 10 in a unit gave us a very-difficult to shift brick we could have sit on an objective (or string out over 2). Then Games Workshop had one of those periodic episodes when they decide Dark Angels players can't have nice things, and nerfed their damage profile and their unit size. But then they released new models, and I imagine the sales figures weren't where GW wanted them to be, so they got enough of a glow-up that now it's not unusual to see multiple squads of them in high-performing lists. You battle brothers who painted up your DWKs from the Deathwing Assault box are ahead of me on the hobbying curve. I'm just working on mine now.
Inner Circle Companions
Inner Circle Companions were another kit that, on release, had underwhelming rules. I don't know why GW though the mystery badasses personally recruited by Lion Dad should have weapons that were objectively worse than those carried by Bladeguard Veterans, but that's what GW gave them. What a difference a pip of AP makes! ICCs are another unit that went from zeroes to heroes with the Balance Dataslate, and now they are frequently making it into competitive lists, often multiple squads of them. Their lack of an invulnerable save is an issue, but we have options to correct or mitigate it, attaching Azrael or Librarians to the unit to convey an invulnerable save, or a Judiciar so they Fight First.
Games Workshop really did we Dark Angels player a solid with the Balance Dataslate. Three of our unique units became solidly competitive, and Lion Dad is the third such unit. In his case, all it took was one little tweak - the ability to walk through walls. That increased his mobility to the point where we can reliably move him up the table in relative safety until we're ready to have him jump out and massacre some poor unsuspecting foe. He's essentially Infantry that's immune to Anti-Infantry rules now. I wish his Sweep profile would go back to being D2, and I'd like him to be a little cheaper, but I'll take him as is.
B-Tier
Ravenwing Command Squad
While you guys were painting your Deathwing Assault DWKs, I was painting up a second Ravenwing Command Squad. At the time it seemed like the more exciting and more competitive choice, and while I stand by that, now those of you whose DWKs are table-ready are in a good spot, whereas I'm scrambling to catch up.
That said, the Ravenwing Command Squad does bring a lot to whichever unit it's attached to, and even on it's own it's a not-inconsequential unit. Anything that can move 12+ inches and throw out 9 supercharged plasma shots can do some work.
The RWCS also buffs the unit it's attached to so much that it lifts the Ravenwing Knight Squad into B-Tier. Collectively, the RWCS and the RWBK squad synergize with each other nicely and can do a lot of damage. It can be a lot of fun give the Champion Fire Discipline and put their shooting into something you want to make go away, especially in Devastator Doctrine at an Oath target.
That said, there are reasons the unit isn't A-Tier. For one, it's too expensive. 130 points is a little high for what they bring to the table. 100 points would probably be more appropriate for what they bring to the table. Also, being a Mounted unit, they have to go around terrain instead of Kool-Aid-Manning it through walls like Infantry. The current bases give them a pretty big footprint too, which can be an issue when you're trying to move them around the table, possibly with other units competing for the space they take up. Finally, their close combat output is a little disappointing, and any unit you want to get within 9" of the enemy to do its work is going to wind up in close combat.
Ravenwing Darkshroud
The Ravenwing Darkshroud is in a bit of a funny place. Pre-Balance Dataslate, when the one competitive Dark Angels build was the Ironstorm Spearhead, it was appearing in almost every list - even sometimes instead of Azrael. It hasn't been showing up nearly as often since the competitive build became our current close combat focused Gladius, but it did turn up in last week's hybrid list that supplemented the Dark Angels combat goodness with a couple of Vindicators, almost like it had a mini-Ironstorm within the list.
I think there's a couple reasons for this. The first is that Infantry can use terrain to avoid coming under fire until ready to strike, and then can just bash through walls to go to work, whereas vehicles have to go around terrain more often than not. In addition to that, I've got the notion the Darkshroud's aura of durability buff is more consequential on Vehicles than on Infantry or Mounted units. Anti-armor guns tend to be low-volume, high-damage weapons, so making one of those shots miss matters a lot more than, say, making a few more high-volume low-damage shots miss. On top of that, the Darkshroud can possibly also tip a vehicle from not getting a save at all to getting a save, further strengthening the likelihood of a vehicle surviving an opposing unit's shooting. So, in the right kind of list, the Darkshroud would be A-Tier. It's just not so much in the current iteration of combat Dark Angels.
Asmodai
Maybe Asmodai will go up in the rankings, because he does seem like a good character to attach to a combat unit. For a relatively low price, he definitely enhances the output of a melee unit, and his own output is not bad. It's cute that he has a Strike/Sweep profile. However, it would seem like the best unit to attach him to would be a Bladeguard Veteran Squad. Not that BGVs are a bad unit, but ICCs seem to be just a bit better, and Asmodai doesn't help with the biggest downside of ICCs. Plus, he's competing with the Judiciar for leading a BGV unit.
I'm probably being generous putting Ezekial here, but on paper he has a lot going for him. He's got good saves, an interesting psychic shooting attack, a pretty decent melee profile (and Anti-Chaos 2+ is going to be relevant pretty often). He even buffs the output of the unit he's with, adding +1 attack per squad member. On the downside, his main datasheet ability is weak, generating Battleshock tests, which is barely worth taking the time to do. Like Asmodai, he'd probably be best used attached to a BGV squad, and like Asmodai he's competing with the Judiciar for that role.
I suppose it says something that the only thing I'd really be much inclined to do with Ezekial is run him solo in an Unforgiven Task Force and send him on a suicide mission to try and trigger my own units to be Battleshocked so I could activate improved versions of stratagems or wargear. It makes me sad because he was such a boss in 9th edition.
C-Tier
Ravenwing Black Knights
It pains me to rate Ravenwing Knights so low, because in 9th edition they were easily my favorite unit. I liked nothing better than to have Sammael tell them to go forth and be awesome, supercharge their guns, pop Weapons of the Dark Age, and have them delete trivial targets like full 10-man Custodes squads.
The 10th ed incarnation of Black Knights is a shadow of their 9th ed selves. On paper, with 18" 2-shot Rapid Fire 1 plasma guns, it seems like their output ought to be pretty similar to what it was before. Unfortunately getting the unit within 9" is more challenging than it seems at first glance, and 2 Damage-3 shots are much more efficient at picking up 3 wound infantry than 3 Damage-2 shots.
Also, their datasheet ability doesn't synergize with their main offensive output at all. Instead of doing something to buff their plasma talons' shooting, it buffs their close combat against Monsters and Vehicles. That's nice and all, but they aren't going to do enough damage in close combat to reasonably expect to pick up anything as tough as a Rhino. It seems intended for them to charge in and finish off a mostly-dead target, but if we need them to do that, we could play a strat to buff their combat damage.
As with the Ravenwing Command Squad, Ravenwing Black Knights have a big footprint that can be challenging to maneuver around terrain. That often makes Infantry a more practical solution to tabletop problems.
With a Ravenwing Command Squad attached, I think the Black Knights can at least aspire to be B-tier. They can certainly put a lot of plasma onto a target, and bring a not-inconsiderable amount of close combat attacks to the party. However, that also makes an even bigger footprint that's harder to move around the table.
And, ultimately, they just cost too many points for what they do. I think 75/150, maybe 80/160 would be more appropriate. Yes that's less than/equal to what Outriders cost. I think Outriders are overcosted too.
Sammael
Sammael is another unit I loved from 9th edition that has not transitioned well to 10th edition. The main problem with Sammael is that he's a character looking to be attached to a Mounted combat unit that Dark Angels just don't have. Neither Black Knights nor Outriders cut it in that regard. If we had a unit that threw down like Thunderwolves in close combat, then Sammael would be a B-Tier, possibly A-Tier unit.
That said, in close combat he does slap harder than any of our characters except Lion Dad and maybe Azrael, and he's arguably got the best gun of any of our characters, with the only other contender being Azrael. He just doesn't boost any of our units anywhere near as well as Azrael boosts a unit he joins. For the points, for what he can be attached to, a Ravenwing Command Squad is always going to be a better value.
Deathwing Terminator Squads
Deathwing Terminator Squads are another unit that has fallen far from their heyday in 9th edition. They are now slightly better than vanilla Terminator Squads, and the vanilla squads are not very good. Their offense, both ranged and melee, is underwhelming, and their durability is not where it needs to be for the amount of points GW expects us to pay for them. I can honestly say I've not once been tempted to use them in all of 10th edition. The closest I came was using a Deathwing Command Squad from the Index, and that was kitted out more like a Ternimator Assault Squad than the bog-standard storm bolter-power fist Terminator. I can also say with confidence that not one competitive list that I've reviewed in the last six months has featured a standard Deathwing Terminator Squad. Putting it in C-Tier may even be generous.
D-Tier
Belial
The Grand Master of the Deathwing is, unfortunately, an underwhelming character. The main reason for this are that his dataslate rules are sub-par. Probably any character is going to come up short compared to Azrael, but he comes up short compared to a generic Terminator Captain, too. I'd much rather have reduced cost stratagems and rerolling charge rolls than Precision on crits and retribute Mortals after the attached squad is dead. It's cute that both Belial's gun and sword have Precision, but with his sword being only AP -2, it's unarguably the worst of the big three leaders' melee weapons. It's even worse than Lazarus'.
Lazarus
Lazarus is a model I never bothered picking up, and I've never used him on the table. His current rules are underwhelming. Again, poor dataslate rules are to blame. He brings a fights-on-death on a 4+ and a personal 3+ FNP versus Psychic and Mortal Wounds, which is okay, but again a generic captain's reduced-cost stratagems outshine it, to say nothing of the once-per-game Super Saiyan mode. His sword having Anti-Psyker 2+ isn't terrible though, and will be relevant fairly often, assuming you can get him into combat against a psyker unit.
Land Speeder Vengeance
The Land Speeder Vengeance started off 10th edition fairly well, with it's plasma storm battery able to get up to Damage 3 on the supercharge. It compared reasonably favorably to the various Storm Speeders, filling a niche they didn't cover for a comparable price. It's dataslate ability to do retributive shooting when a nearby unit died wasn't terrible, but it wasn't overpowered either. At the time, I would have liked to pick up a couple. I only ever got one of those kits, and mine became a Darkshroud.
Like so many of our other units, the Vengeance took a hit when our codex released, and unlike the ones that are hot right now it didn't get any help from the Balance Dataslate. It got nerfed down to Damage 2 on the supercharge, and it's retributive shooting attack got nerfed to once per turn regardless of how many Vengeances are on the table. It didn't go down in points either. So, it essentially has the same damage profile as Hellblasters, but doing D6+1 Blast shots, whereas a comparable price of Hellblasters would do a flat 10. I'd rather have the Hellblasters, or a Predator Destructor.
Ravenwing Dark Talon and Nephilim Jetfighter
For time's sake I'm lumping these two in together, because they suffer from the same problems. Essentially, Games Workshop does not want Flyers to be good this edition, the Stormraven notwithstanding. The problems with Flyers is that you can't hide them and they can't hold objectives, and both of these units are significantly overcosted. The Nephilim is 195 points and the Dark Talon is a whopping 210. We have a whole lot of much better use of points than these two. It's a shame too, because they make great centerpiece models, especially for a Ravenwing army. Games Workshop has definitely not done the Ravenwing any favors this edition.
And that's my list. Other, more expert players may have different opinions, but I suspect they wouldn't disagree much. At the very least, I'd say the tournament data bears out the A-Tier picks. I hope you find this helpful in the course of your list building and purchasing priority. That said, don't be afraid to pick up a model you think is cool. Casual play is a different environment from competitive play, where you can afford to indulge in sub-par units. Also, having a deep collection makes you better positioned to do well when editions change and once-sub-par units become go-to units. Get your Deathwing Knights and Inner Circle Companions on the table now, but when they're table ready, you could do worse than reach down the list for your new hobby projects. 11th edition seems poised to be the Ravenwing edition, so maybe we can all be ahead of the hobby curve when that comes.
Well said.
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