Unit Review: Deathwing Knights

 

Hello battle brothers! Ever since the spring 2024 balance dataslate, Deathwing Knights have emerged as a linchpin unit in competitive Dark Angels lists. Every list that has placed highly over the past two months have included multiple squads of Deathwing Knights. They are also one of the newest models in our range, having gotten a facelift to be included in the Deathwing Assault box set. Let's take a look at these amazing models, and see what makes them tick on the table.

At the beginning of the edition, Deathwing Knights had taken a nerf compared to their 9th edition profile. The Mace of Absolution went down from Strength 8 to Strength 6, and their AP was reduced to -1, which was in line with pretty much all other close combat weapons in the Space Marine armory. They remained Damage 3 though whereas thunder hammers went down to Damage 2, so they had a capacity we couldn't get from any other Infantry platform. I got some good use out of them in early 10th. With a Chaplain and Oath of Moment, they would kill pretty much anything they touched. Other players got use out of 10-man squads to sit on objectives, as with their 2+/4++/4 Wound/-1 Damage profile they were extremely hard to shift. We weren't taking the tournament scene by storm, but they would occasionally pop up in competitive lists. 

I don't know what the Games Workshop developmental team was smoking when they wrote the current edition of Codex Supplement: Dark Angels, but they made some egregious decisions regarding the elite of the Deathwing. They nerfed the squad size down to 5, the maces were nerfed to Damage 2, and the sword profile was objectively worse than those carried by Bladeguard Veterans. The ham-handed treatment of Deathwing Knights was a big part of the reason the book was a misfire on release.

Deathwing Knights started to creep into competitive lists when their price per unit went below 200 points, but they really began to shine when the current Balance Dataslate got released. Both weapon profiles were buffed, and they went up in points per unit, but it didn't take long for competitive players to realize their potential. In pretty short order, we began seeing lists built around them. 

Let's take a look at the unit profile.

To start with, they have a pretty sturdy unit profile. The 2+ save, 4+ invulnerable save, and 4 wounds is a lot of beef to chew through, and Toughness 5 makes the resilient against low strength attacks. The 5" movement and OC 1 are the unremarkable aspects of their profile, no better or worse than any other Terminator.

I'm going to skip ahead to their abilities because that's been the main draw to them for most of 10th edition. In particular we're looking at their Inner Circle ability. Subtracting 1 from incoming damage is huge. A lot of attacks are Damage 2, and this reduced their impact by 50%. The -1 damage effect also means a D6 damage attack would need to get at least a 5 to remove a Knight in one go. I'm not saying opponents can't pick them up, but it'll take more resources than they'd like. You can make it take even more if you have the CP to spend on Armor of Contempt, and don't sleep on Go To Ground either. I've had DWK squads taking their full saves against Magnus' shooting with that particular one-two combo.

I have to admit, I've been sleeping on the Teleport Homer because I've been setting up my DWK squads on the table at deployment. I don't see an opponent letting us use them if we set them up aggressively, but it might be worth doing nonetheless, because it adds to the decision load an opponent faces. 

Now let's take a look at what they're bringing to the table for offense. Back in 9th edition, Deathwing Knights were a unit you could reliably put into the toughest targets in the game and expect them to bring it down. At the beginning of 10th, they lost that and became more of an elite-killer, though pairing them with a Chaplain could mitigate that failing. Now, the mace profile has Anti Monster/Vehicle 4+ built in. A full squad with maces can reasonably be expected to do 8-10 unsaved wounds on a monster or vehicle with a 3+ save, and that's not counting the Knight Master's weapon. The Knight Master is apt to sneak in another 2 unsaved wounds. 

Games Workshop also added the sword profile. It lacks the Anti ability, but has an extra attack per Knight. The combined squad can put out a blistering 26 Strength 6 AP -2 Damage 2 attacks. That's apt to be 18-20 unsaved wounds against a 3+ save target of T5 or less. This makes them a unit we can put into elite units to grind them up. They don't actually do that much worse against larger targets than the maces either. The combined squad can be relied upon to do 8-10 unsaved wounds against a Toughness 6-11 3+ save target, jumping to 14 if we can play Honor the Chapter on them. 

These calculations are not based on putting them into an Oath of Moment target either. Hitting on 2's means we can put them into opponents that are not our Oath target and expect good results, which frees us up to use Oath to buff our offense into other targets. Unlike a lot of other units, they also do fine without a supporting character. It can be nice to attach a Captain, Chaplain, or Librarian to them, but that's an investment in points that could go elsewhere. We might attach a Captain to them for free Rapid Ingress or to reroll charge rolls off Deep Strike, or a Chaplain to a sword wielding squad to boost their output against monsters and vehicles, but every character we attach to them is a unit we don't have somewhere else. We don't get as much return on that investment as we do from attaching a Harmacist to an Eradicator brick, or Azrael to a Hellblasters squad, so generally DWKs hit the table on their own, and are none the worse for wear for it.

Don't sleep on Honor the Chapter even if you are using maces. It may not help you wound bigger targets, but if you're in Assault Doctrine it does boost your attacks AP. It's played in the Fight phase, so you can use it for the AP buff even if the unit didn't charge. A lot of the things we're going to put DWKs in are going to have an Invulnerable save, but not everything will, and sometimes you might want to counteract some joker playing an AoC equivalent. 

Deathwing Knights have been the backbone of competitive Dark Angels lists since the Spring Balance Dataslate. Mace Knights have been the go-to choice and have been in literally every list that has won or gone X-0/X-1 at an event. Sword Knights don't always appear in competitive lists, but it's not unusual to see them. Usually they're included in a list that has at least one and usually two other DWK squads packing maces. 

The original Deathwing Knight models were release in 7th edition. They're great looking models, but they're a little busy, with a lot of ornamentation and finicky little bits of detail. I can't even identify some of the little bits of gear some of them have on their belts. Their weapons are a lot more ornate than the current models too. 

As of this writing, one may still occasionally find these models on store shelves. The previous edition's Deathwing Command Squad box set also contained the parts needed to make a squad of Deathwing Knights. If you're trying to add them to your roster and don't see the current kit, look for the Deathwing Command Squad kit.

The current models, debuted in the Deathwing Assault box, have been increased in size to match the current Primaris scale, and the models have been cleaned up, so they're actually easier to paint than the older models. They look fantastic on the tabletop. They're so good I'm actually a little tempted to replace my older models with the newer ones. I'm not going to, but my desire to do so is definitely greater than zero.

Deathwing Knights can find a home in any list in any detachment, but the detachment that gets the most out of them is the Gladius Task Force. They benefit from both Assault Doctrine and Tactical Doctrine, to reach combat and then to be in combat on their own terms. The Gladius also has a useful buffing strat in Honor the Chapter, and it's also useful to have Only In Death Does Duty End for the pricey but guaranteed fights on death. 

People have been trying to make the Inner Circle Task Force detachment work since our book dropped, but it just doesn't. One guy managed to get a good result with it at a GT, and since then  it's been consistently having a win rate in the 30% range. 

An argument can be made for the Vanguard Spearhead. Its detachment rule debuffs one's opponent's long range shooting, which can only benefit DWKs on the table. We could attach a character with The Blade Driven Deep enhancement to be able too Infiltrate a squad - I can't help but think no one wants to see DWKs set up as Infiltrators. There are a couple of decent strats. A Calculated Feint may prevent an opponent from succeeding in a charge against them, Surgical Strikes grants a squad's melee weapons Precision which could be used to snipe out characters, and Guerilla Tactics could be used to rapidly reposition these ordinarily slow walking anvils. That said, no one has as yet demonstrated that the Vanguard is as competitive as the Gladius. 

The Unforgiven Task Force would actually probably not be terrible. We could use its updated detachment rule to increase the Objective Control of the squad, which is one of its weak points. Strat-wise, Unbreakable Lines is a good debuff you can throw on a charging enemy unit, and Unforgiven Fury can give a squad Lethal Hits in combat. It'd be tempting to throw an Ancient with the Pennant of Remembrance into a squad to add a 6+ Feel No Pain to the stack of defense they already have, though that'd be an 85 point package. Then for laughs we could also have a Captain with Weapons of the First Legion to give him a Damage 3 relic blade or power fist. However, as with the Vanguard, it hasn't been demonstrated to be as competitive as the Gladius. 

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In conclusion, Deathwing Knights are a value-add to your competitive Dark Angels lists, but to get the most out of them, play them in a Gladius. If you haven't already gotten three squads of them battle ready, Lion Dad says get cracking! I kid. You can get by with two. Seriously though, they are the best unit we have, and they're a signature Dark Angels unit to boot. Put some on the table, you'll be glad you did!