Dark Angels Update 9/14/2026

 
Greetings honored battle brethren! It was a more measured weekend for the legion chapter, with a lower win rate than we've seen for the past several weeks, but we still had several lists do very well. As we've come to expect, the vast majority of those lists are Company of Hunters + Darkflight Pursuit (Recon) lists, but there were a couple oddballs that also managed to rise to my attention, so we'll take a look at those. First, though, we'll look at the top CoH+Darkflight list of the weekend, which can be a stand-in for all of them. 

That speedy list belongs to Eirik Rokne Stensland, who piloted it to a 6-0 event record and 1st out of 106 players at Invasion 2026 40k. Let's check it out!

🪽🛩️🏍️ Lion Dad - Warlord Sammael Ravenwing Command Squad: Recon Hunter     Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys Techmarine Invader ATV: melta buggy Land Speeder Land Speeder Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

This isn't the first time Nephilims have turned up in high-performing lists, so apparently it wasn't a flash in the pan. Let's take a look at the profile of a Nephilim to see what they bring to an 11th edition tabletop. The Nephilim is a Toughness 8 platform with a 3+ Save and 11 Wounds with the Vehicle, Aircraft, Fly, and Ravenwing Keywords. Being an Aircraft means it can only make Ingress moves and gets removed from the table at the end of the opponent's turn, but being a Ravenwing Fly Vehicle makes it benefit from detachment rules and stratagems that affect those keywords. It's Lightning-fast Manoeuvres rule makes enemy attacks -1 to Wound - just straight up -1, not with the stipulation that the Strength of the attack has to be higher than its Toughness, so it's less likely to take damage from lower-Strength, higher-shots weapons like heavy bolters or onslaught cannons. It's also got a 5++ Save, so it will occasionally scam some attacks that would bring down other vehicles.

The Nephilim brings some interesting firepower to the table. It's main gun is an Avenger Mega Bolter, which is basically a 10-shot heavy bolter complete with Sustained Hits 1. The plane also has a Twin Heavy Bolter, providing another 3 shots with rerolls to Wound. Rounding it out, it shoots a pair of Blacksword missiles a turn, which are Strength 8 AP -2 Damage D6, but with the added bonus of being Anti-fly 2+, so they probably won't wound a Land Raider, but they'll make Mortarion take saves. Giving Thundercowl Turbines to the Nephilims lets them enter play Turn 1, which Eirik the opportunity to get angles on opponents' units and riddle them with Ignores Cover bullets even if that opponent hasn't gone yet. He can at least probably count on picking up his opponents' pesky skirmishing utility units, and if he's lucky more important units. That is a good Intercessor-equivalent killing profile. 

I suspect the secret spice of the Nephilims is their ability to hamper an opponent's Movement phase. The Nephilim's base is roughly 5" long and 3.5" wide. They can only make Ingress moves, but with 2" Engagement Range, they create a 9" x 7.5" bubble opponents' units can't end a Normal/Advance Move in. With most games going the long way across the table, that can block off 18" of the 44" opponents have to work with and funnel their units into the center of the table, where they are subject to getting blasted by the Vengeances and pummeled by Lion Dad. 

The rest of the list consists of well-known quality units. The profile for the Vengeance's plasma storm battery speaks for itself, and the Thunderstrike helps them punch up into tougher targets. Plus, another benefit of having the Nephilims is that Eirik doesn't have to task the Vengeances to take out chaff. Sammy and his unit will deliver melee disaster to whatever opponents carelessly leave too far forward and then will be kind of a pain to remove, and Lion Dad can pick up anything he can touch while scamming their clapbacks with his -1 to be Wounded by higher Strength attacks and 3++ Save. 

One last point about the list - I have an RTT coming up this weekend. I don't usually straight-up netlist, but I own two Nephilims I haven't gotten to use in a while and they're great looking models, so I'm going to copy this list as closely as I can for it - I only have access to two Vengeances, so I'll have to modify it somewht.

The list that came the closest to knocking Eirik out of the event win was the one he faced in the 1st round, where he squeaked to victory 87-85 against Berserker World Eaters (Purge). The rest of his games were WTF-lopsided. 2nd round he crushed Dominus+GWL Imperial Knights (T&H) 100-28. 3rd round he devastated Awakened Necrons (T&H) 100-13. 3rd round he smashed more Dominus+GWL Knights (T&H) 97-16. 5th round he massacred Ceramite Sentinels Imperial Fists (T&H) 100-10! Eirik wrapped up his reign of terror by punishing Subterranean Tyranids (Disrupt) 100-31. Congratulations on the big win Eirik!

I'm making an editorial decision to reach down the rankings a bit for the following two lists, but if I just cover the top three lists they'd all CoH+Recon lists. Instead, here's Addison Peek's Unforgiven Task Force + Interrogation Conclave (Take & Hold) list, which Addison went 4-1 with and took 8th out of 48 players at Level Up Gaming 40k GT 9/12/26. Let's check it out!

The Rock and a Hard Place
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
    Attached: Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
Ancient in Terminator Armour: Pennant of Remembrance
    Attached: Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Chaplain in Terminator Armour: Limitless Zeal
    Attached: Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Land Raider Redeemer
Land Speeder
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

If your goal is to make the Takeiest and Holdiest Dark Angels list you can, this is the detachment configuration to do it with. The Unforgiven Task Force ensures that your units will never not have OC and can have extra OC as needed, and the Interrogator Conclave lets you have Chaplain-led units run around killing things to cause radius Battle-shock tests. Addison only has the one Chaplain-led unit in this list, but a squad of Deathwing Knights led by a Terminator Chaplain is a doozy. 

This list has a pretty diverse set of tools to apply to any problem Addison may have encountered on the table. It's hard to go too far wrong starting off with Lion Dad and a pair of Deathwing Knight squads. I'm sure the Chaplain's squad rides in the Redeemer to cause trouble, while the squad with the Ancient probably walks to a center objective and sits on it, making opponents trying to remove them miserable with a combination of Deathwing Knights being Deathwing Knights, a Feel No Pain from the Ancient, a 4+ Feel No Pain against Mortals from Lion Dad, and an urestricted -1 to be Wounded in the Fight phase from the Unbreakable Lines strat.

Addison's list doesn't have a lot of long-range shooting, but its close in shooting is formidable. There's the full squad of Eradicators to make any big thing that gets close regret its life's choices, the Land Raider Redeemer with its Torrents of doom, a small squad of Sternguard with Azrael to generate some Dev wounds, and the Thunderstrike. The likeliest use for the Thunderstrike is to buff the Eradicators' shooting, but let's not discount buffing the Redeemer's shooting either. With the Thunderstrike buff, the Flamestorm Cannons are wounding almost anything in the game on 4's, at AP -2 Damage 2. It wouldn't take shocking luck to have the Flamestorms pick up a 10-wound Monster or Vehicle all by themselves with that buff, to say nothing of its Multi-melta and Twin Assault Cannon. Plus, the Land Raider is good to have in the list because the Int Con has a strat that allows a Chaplain-led unit to make a reactive move after a unit has made a Fall Back move from it, which can let them hop into the track, avoiding getting shot or charged in the process.

Addison got the event off to a solid start, crushing Changehost+SoC Thousand Sons (Recon) 98-38 in the 1st round. 2nd round, sadly, was a brutal 26-100 loss against Bile Chaos Marines (Purge). 3rd round the mojo returned with a 100-87 win against Blitz+Runt+Wreckas Orks (T&H). 4th round was a close 85-76 against Kauyon+EPC T'au (Recon). 5th round Addison had a strong finish with a comfortable 83-68 against Lions+MoM Custodes. Well done Addison!

The last list I'm going to review this week doesn't meet my usual X/1 threshold, but to its credit it won more games during its event than most X/1 lists I cover do. The list in question is Chris Miller's 1st Company Task Force + Interrogation Conclave (T&H) list, with which he went 5-2 and took 23rd out of 163 at Crucible 2026, becoming the top Dark Angels player at the event. Let's check his list out!

If You’re Not First Company, You’re Last
Lion Dad - Warlord
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad: The Imperium's Sword
    Attached: Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Chaplain in Terminator Armour: Iron Resolve
Ancient in Terminator Armour
    Attached: Terminator Assault Squad: 10 awesome chonky smashy boys
Chaplain in Terminator Armour: Fear Made Manifest
Ancient in Terminator Armour
    Attached: Terminator Assault Squad: 10 awesome chonky smashy boys
Captain in Terminator Armour
Eradicator Squad: 3 chonky melta boys
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Reiver Squad: 5 edgy boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

So, you may be wondering why Chris chose the 1st Company Task Force for this list and not the generally-considered objectively far superior Inner Circle Task Force. I think the answer to that question is Battle-shock shenanigans, but we'll get to that.

The reason you hardly see the 1st Company Task Force played is because its detachment rule only functions for 1 turn - it gives rerolls To Wound against the Oath target for that 1 turn. Also, 2 of its Enhancements and 5 of its strats are keyworded to veteran Marine units in general and in many cases Terminator units in particular. However, it does have some spicy strats. Legendary Fortitude can make any eligible just-charged unit effectively Deathwing Knights for a turn, reducing damage from failed Saves by 1. Orbital Teleportarium lets you pick up a Terminator unit and put it in Reserves for 1 CP, subject to the usual terms and conditions. Terrifying Proficiency makes every enemy unit within 6" of the target unit take a Battle-shock test in the opponent's next Command phase. The Iron Resolve enhancement gives the bearer a 5+ Feel No Pain, which once per game can be extended to the bearer's unit for a phase. Finally, Fear Made Manifest gives the bearer a 6" Aura that forces enemy units that fail Battle-shock test in it lose models. Keep that one in mind for a minute.

It's hard to miss the fact that list is based around two chunky 10-man Terminator Assault Squads. Both units have 9 hammer-shield guys and 1 lightening claw guy, and with both being led by Chaplains they'll be wounding anything on the game on no worse than a 4+. Still, why these suckers and not Deathwing Knights? Battle-shock shenanigans. At the beginning of the Fight phase, every unit engaged with one of these squads has to make a Battle-shock test. Thanks to the Interrogation Conclave detachment rule, any unit within 6" of one of these units is at -1 Leadership, and a full 10-man unit of Terminators has a big footprint. Then, during the Fight phase, if one of these units kills another unit, every enemy unit within 6" of it has to make another Battle-shock test. Chris can then play the Terrifying Proficiency strat (which he has to play in the Fight phase) to trigger enemy units around one of his Terminator units to take more Battle-shock tests during their next Command Phase. Now let's circle back around to that Fear Made Manifest enhancement. Every time a unit (not counting Monsters or Vehicles) fails a Battle-shock test within 6" of the bearer, it loses a model. Not takes Mortal Wounds, loses a whole model. Unit of Chaos Spawn fails a Battle-shock test next to that guy? Loses a model. Fresh Invader ATV fails that Battle-shock test? Pop! Lucius the Eternal fails his Battle-shock next to that guy? The opposing player kvetches about how broken that is, and loses the model. And also once per game Chris can decide instead of losing 1 model, his opponent's unit loses D3 models. Imagine having 3 Deathwing Knights just disappear because you happened to roll a 6 on 2D6 within 6" of that guy, which is not that unlikely, especially when you may have to make3 Battle-shock tests in the space of 1 turn. 

The rest of the list is mostly pretty self-explanatory. Lion Dad is great just on his own personal beatstick merits, and is a value-add in any list relying on punching things to death. Sammy's unit is in the list to give Chris an Advance+Shoot+Charge threat. I think the Scouts are probably in the list to hold the backfield objective. The Reivers bring more Battle-shock shenanigans to the party, plus I'm constantly amused by the fact that all their attacks have Precision. I expect the main reason for the Eradicators is to have something that can come out of Reserve next to a pesky backline gun tank and slag it. Then there's the Terminator Captain, who I think is probably in the list to be an uppy-downy scoring unit, as Chris can pick him up with the Orbital Teleportarium strat and a single model on a 40mm base is going to be hard to screen out entirely. 

Chris started the event by knocking off a more-meta CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list 95-63 in the 1st round. 2nd round he had a close 69-62 against Forgefathers+Lib Con Salamanders (Priority). 3rd round he took a bruising 72-87 loss against Lions Custodes (T&H).  4th round he drubbed Butchers+Slaugherband World Eaters 100-69. 5th round he blunted another DA CoH+Darkflight list 85-76. 6th round he humbled Hearthguard+Needgaârd Votann (Priority) 100-69. Sadly he took his 2nd loss in the 7th round, 75-100 against Argent+Banishers Grey Knights. Well done Chris! Man, just imagine if the 1st Company Task Force had a good detachment rule!

Honorable Mentions

Gabriel Baughman went 5-0 and took 1st out of 31 players at the North Coast Grand Tournament with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list. 

Gary Moore went 4-1 with a 4-0 event start and took 5th out of 48 players at Level Up Gaming 40k GT 9/12/26 with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list. 

Christian Bailey went 4-1 and took 10th out of 82 players at TEO - Carolina Major with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list. 

Ryan McDonald went 4-1 and took 11th out of 82 players at TEO - Carolina Major with his CoH+Darkflight (Disruption) list.

Colin Johnson went 4-1 and took 9th out of 60 players at Battle in the Bush 2026 with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list.

Simon Avery went 4-1 and took 6th out of 36 players at Brewtown Bloodbath 2 with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list.

Brock Estell went 4-1 and took 6th out of 30 players at the War for the Forge 40k GT with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list.

Brethren, I salute you!

Statistics

The number of players was good. There were a lot of X-results (all but 1 CoH+Darkflight). There were 2 event wins, 1 at a 100+ player event. However, the win percentage was down sharply. Over the weekend 50 Dark Angels players played 263 games and won 125 of them for a 48% win rate. There were 9 X/0-X/ results and 2 event wins.

Propping up the numbers something fierce were the 22 Company of Hunters + Darkflight Pursuit (Recon) players, who scored a 56% win rate, 8 of the X-results, and both event wins.

Without the CoH+Darkflight players, the overall win rate drops to a dismal 41%

The other significant block of players were the 7 playing Wrath of the Rock (Priority), who tragically only scored a 32% win rate.

The rest of the players took an eclectic mix of configurations. 4 players took Company of Hunters paired with something besides Darkflight Pursuit. 5 players took the Inner Circle Task Force paired with a variety of 1 point detachments.  5 players took the Unforgiven Task Force with a variety of supplementing 1 point detachments. And 5 players took vanilla SM detachments as their primary detachments. 

That, honored battle brethren, is what I have for you. Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming on YouTube for Dark Angels content created by real enthusiasts for the legion chapter. Until next week my brethren. May your games be fun and victorious. For the Lion!