Cultist
 This article or section is EXTRA heretical. Prepare to be purged. |
Cultists AKA Dregs, Cannon Fodder, Chaos Munchies, Whining Bitches, Annoying Squeakers, Edgy Fuckers and Khorne Berserker meatshields are the ragtag team/army of renegade humans, Imperial Guardsmen or peasants who have forsaken the Imperium in turn of having the freedom of indulging in extra heretical pleasure. They are considered as the eviler and spikier counterparts to the Imperial Guard. While they have smaller balls than their loyal brethren, they are still larger than the Chaos Space Marines.
(Despite being the lowliest cannon fodder of Chaos they can be dangerous. Billions of Cultists are enough to exterminate even First Founding Chapters as it was almost the fate of the Blood Angels)
Chaos Cultists are diverse and range from Iron Maiden lookalikes to BDSM Dark Eldar wannabes, worshipping either Chaos as a whole, a particular Chaos God, or none of the above.
Overview[edit]
All planets and civilizations belonging to the Imperium can harbor Chaos organisations, which themselves are as diverse in practice and membership as is imaginable. From the blood-soaked sacrificial cults of feral worlds to the philosophical secret societies of more advanced worlds, the temptations of Chaos can capture all. Indeed, according to the Ordo Hereticus, Chaos Cults can arise from any class of Imperial society, be it impoverished, noble, hive-gang, Abhuman, soldiers, or Mutant.
At first glance they are indistinguishable from normal men, but under their clothes, the flesh is tattooed and branded with sigils that hurt the eyes of any faithful who look upon them. When the Chaos Space Marines come to a planet, the true colours of the Cultists are revealed. The more grotesquely mutated among them, the so-called "Accursed Cultist Mutants", are far more conspicuous, and the leaders of such squads are often just a few steps away from devolving into an Unnameable Beast.
The objective of the Chaos cult is to survive and eventually dominate the society. Mere survival is particularly important on Imperial worlds, where Chaos worship is the greatest of heresies and Inquisitors are always vigilant and ready to wipe out any taint of Chaos.
Generally clandestine in nature, as discovery could bring with it attention from local Arbites all the way up to the Inquisition, cults often hide behind the front of some form of legitimate organization in their attempt to accumulate local or planetary power, such as trade unions, charitable organizations, accepted religious groups and even local variants of the Imperial Cult. By extension, any honest folk which try to form said organization for real might end up burned at the stake because an inquisitor has a lot on his plate and would rather be safe than sorry.
Extreme political organizations make good fronts for cults, as they naturally attract power-hungry and mentally unbalanced individuals, which make particularly good material for potential cult members. A very successful organization can gain real political power, even gaining enough power to make it possible for the cult to become the governing body of the planet without having to resort to rebellion.
After taking root, and as it expands in power and influence, eventually the cult may end up effectively ruling anything from a township to an entire planet. Eventually, an uprising breaks out, either on purpose or because the cult has grown too large and/or unruly to remain secret any longer. At this point, the cult can be expected to summon aid from their Chaotic masters, ranging from incurring daemonic possession to summoning the Traitor Legions. Cults may also begin to rebel in concert with an invasion of Chaos Marines. The ultimate aim of the cult's uprising is to overthrow the Imperial government and attain direct control of the world. After the conflict, cultists are often taken back into the Eye of Terror where they either join the damned population of a Daemon World or are formed up into a Chaos Warlord's armed forces.
There are many types of Cults, all of which can be seen here.
Equipment[edit]
The Chaos Cultists are garbed in ragged cloaks, macabre masks and sinister-looking hoods, and display an array of intricate features from studs and straps to daggers, wires and pouches. Cultists often carry a mixture of primitive close combat weapons and ranged weapons, including Spiked Flails/Mace, Swords, Axes, Warhammers, Spears/Halberds and Knives, alongside Flintlock Pistols, Muskets, Blunderbusses, Stub Guns, Sawn-Off Shotguns (Including their pump-action cousins), Stub Rifles, Crossbows, RPGs, Autoguns and Autopistols, as civilian populaces rarely have access to armouries until after the uprising has succeeded. They also, on occasion, carry a bunch of Frags, Kraks or Incendiary Charges to start a riot. A notable exception to this being when PDF troops join the fray, with or without their superiors' knowledge. Occasionally, Imperial Guard regiments turn as well. Backed by their probably also heretical home system with a Hellforge, a Hive World and an Agri World, these make the deadliest available cultists. Any such grand prize of a relatively functional Chaos worshipping star system will also invariably be under joint patronage of Heretic Astartes and Dark Mechanicus.
Kill Team[edit]
On the Kill Team tabletop, Cultists are unique in that they pretty much level up like Grimdark Pokemon. Compared to the Dark Commune which all received "buffs", Cultists are still useful here as they are in the mainstay tabletop.
The standard Cultist is your basic bitch cultist who doesn't have much to their name than a knife and a pistol. However, you've got ten of them and GA2 to make use of it. If you get to bless them, they turn into...
An Accursed Cultist Mutant, here they heal at d3+1 wounds. While unable to shoot, their melee weapon's a bit better since it gets Ceaseless and Rending on top of their boosted damage and they get a 6+ FNP for extra padding. That said, don't expect them to pick up anything, as all objective actions take an additional AP to accomplish. If you get lucky and bless one of these, they can become...
A Accursed Cultist Torment, an absolutely swollen monstrosity that heals d3+3 wounds, with 13 max wounds and the inability to hide behind light terrain or anything with 11 or fewer wounds. That 5+ FNP is going to see a lot more use here since they can't hide behind anything smaller than them. Fortunately, their claws are deadlier and you'll have two mutations to use. By this point, objectives are a lost cause for them, they can't even perform the actions for those.
Cultists alongside their Digivolved mutations, are categorised under Combat and Scout.
Variants[edit]
Thanks to Darktide, we now have some variants of Cultists which are called Dregs in the game. These are:
Dreg Bruiser[edit]
The more murderhobo counterpart to the Scab Bruiser, the Dreg Bruiser is one of the most common normal enemies you find in Darktide. They are the standard cult of Admonition goon, the Dreg Bruiser is armed with blunt melee weapons such as Mauls.
Dreg Bruisers are the more CQC specialists to the Dreg Stalker's dakka playstyle. Blessed with the poxes and plagues of Nurgle, they are a basic and irritating foe to face, as they typically show up with much more lethal 'friends'. Their AI is simple, even when compared to other simple AIs like the Scab Bruisers, as they are programmed to simply charge at any players they see and proceed to try and hit them with their weapon until one of them are down.
Funnily enough, compared to the Scab Bruiser, the defences of the Dreg Bruiser are the opposite as, whilst they wear nearly next to no armour, their heads are actually protected via a Flak helmet or mask. This means that they offer a different playstyle as you are now more incentivised to ignore headshots and simply go for their unclothed torsos.
However, do not get fulled by their nakedness, Dreg Bruisers have more health than their militant cousins and, whilst still ridiculously easy to take down, in numbers they become more trouble than they are worth.
Because they are so common, they are often seen in hordes.
Dreg Stalker[edit]
The more murderhobo counterpart to the Scab Stalker, the Dreg Stalker are one of the most common normal enemies you find in Darktide. They are the standard cult of Admonition goon, the Dreg Stalker is armed with a ballistic rifle that fires in bursts
Dreg Stalker are the more dakka specialists to the Dreg Bruiser's RIP AND TEAR playstyle. They are armed with an Autogun, making them more deadly when it comes to suppressive fire at the expanse of accuracy when compared to their Scab counterparts. Outside of their guns, they are also armed with a shovel, cleaver or blunt weapon for close combat as a sidearm, switching weapons depending on engagement range. This makes them one of the most versatile troops in the game and one without any noticeable weaknesses.
As Dreg Stalkers cover both the roles of Scab Stalker and Shooter for their faction, they may be led by both Dreg Gunners and Dreg Shotgunners when in groups, as well as Ogryn Reapers or Bulwarks on higher difficulties.
Dreg Stalkers fire three quick successions of bullets in a split second after the typical warning cue. They prefer to engage at a closer distance than Scab Shooters and, while they do use cover, are somewhat less likely to remain entrenched in combat.
Dreg Shotgunner[edit]
Like their more militant counterpart, Dreg Shotgunners specializes in charging-in and going in close to shove their boomstick up the enemy's asshole. They all carry around Combat Shotguns with an affixed bayonet to the front.
Unlike the Scab Shotgunner, the Dreg garden variety is more common than usual. Nevertheless, despite their commonality, they still share the same retarded AI as their Scab cousins. That is, the tactic of slowly walking up in front of the player without taking any form of cover or tactics. Dreg Shotgunners are even easier to take down than their Scab counterparts, owing to the fact that only their chest is protected by flak armor leaving their limbs and head exposed, only compensating for this weakness with their abundant numbers.
However one shouldn't really underestimate them, as their numbers means that they are able to pressure and corner players allowing them to relentlessly blast enemies with their high damage shotgun until they drop dead, or an ally comes in to save the day. Nevertheless, like their Scab counterparts, despite being listed as 'elite' enemies, they behave more like up jumped cannon fodder and should be treated as such.
They are identifiable by their robes and sickly yellow cloak adorned with a mantle of spikes and skulls on their back making them easily identifiable. But overall, there is nothing too much to write home about for these guys. Grab a gun and cap their sorry asses.
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Scab and Dreg Shotgunners -
Dreg Gunner[edit]
Like their more militant counterpart, Dreg Gunners are in charge of displaying an overwhelming amount of firepower in the general direction, in order to provide covering fire for their meatshields allies. Unlike their more militant cousins who are well-off with more modern weapons, Dreg Gunners are forced to rely on older, stripped-down Heavy Stubbers for their weaponry.
Compared to the Scab Gunner which offers relatively 'accurate' laser fire in the form of their Hotshot Volley Guns, Dreg Gunners use their Heavy Stubbers to spray and pray that their bullets hit something. As such, whilst more inaccurate than their Scab cousins, the Dregs does not need a pause in their fire and will just continue to press the trigger until it runs out of bullets and need to reload. Additionally due to the lack of a laser trail, and their similar appearance to the rest of the dregs they than can occasionally be harder to spot compared to their Scab counterparts.
In terms of their AI, they share a lot with their Scab counterparts. It is relatively simplistic, consisting of just aiming and shooting. At least they share the common sense in firing their weapons from afar, behind a mob of Poxwalkers and taking the occasional cover as a result. They are therefore, one of the more balanced enemies in the game, offering a degree of difficulty without going into Bullshit territory unlike some enemies in the game.
Like the rest of the cult, Dreg Gunners can be identified by their sickly yellow robes/clothing, additionally they are adorned with pieces of flak armor around their chest and shoulders providing them with some protection albeit sparse, while less armored than their scab counterpart they have higher health to compensate for the shortcomings of their armor, however they are still easy to take out when not hiding behind cover or other units.
Dreg Rager[edit]
The goddamned Khornate cultist in a Nurglite-heavy game. The Dreg Rager is a Cultist so amped up on Drugs that he goes loco in a trance like a budget Eversor Assassin. These guys wield a wide variety of RIP AND TEAR including Mauls, Swords, Axes, and Warhammers, alongside their own flavours of Chain Cleavers, Pulverizers, Axe-Rakes and Saw Blades.
In terms of gameplay, these guys are actually more dangerous than their more militant counterpart as they are fast, tough and could swing their dual-weapons so damn fast you would think you're fighting against a Khorne Berserker, although they themselves are one-upped by the Scabs once they too, also started to dabble in the Rager-craze. They are very dangerous in close combat, and their strength in quickly recovering from most staggering effects makes them even more lethal in CQC.
They are definitely one of those mooks you don't want to fuck with as even an Ogryn would find it hard press in dealing against these guys. The safest option when dealing with them is to take them out from range, as this allows you to avoid their troublesome melee attacks. They come only in the unarmoured variety, with the armoured versions actually being the Scab Rager.
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The unarmoured variety.
Drex Tox Bomber[edit]
A new type of Dreg released in the 2024 update. The Dreg Tox Bomber is the murderhobo counterpart to the Scab Bomber and, like the Dreg Tox Flamer, offers a different but more dangerous playstyle to fight against.
Since the 2024 update gave us the Pox Gas environmental hazard, it only makes sense that the Drex Tox Bomber would also be introduced alongside this deathcloud. Compared to the regular Scab Bomber, who just carries a shit ton of conventional grenades to make things go boom, the Drex Tox Bomber is covered in Blight Grenades. Yeah, seeing a murderhobo covered in enough severed heads to give Khornholio a run for his money is going to be a sight to behold alright. And what we mean by that is that he is going to stand out like a sore thumb. Possibly a necessity given that the Blight Grenades he chucks around blankets an entire area in what is effectively, temporary Pox Gas.
Because of this, he is effectively a dangerous area-denial enemy that can trap players in a corner or force them apart to be hacked to death. And, unlike the conventional grenades thrown by the Scab Bomber - whose danger ends right after their grenades either explode or circumvented by jumping around - the effects of the Blight Grenades lingers. Sure, it does less damage-over-time compared to an Incendiary Charge, but it heavily limits visibility and the gas itself would force players to lose Toughness and eventually gain Corruption, while their toughness regeneration will be severely limited. The gas also applies a buff on enemies, making them tougher to kill and harder to cleave through. You know, in case these guys weren't a even bigger pain in the ass already.
So yeah, blow their fucking heads off the first thing you see.
Dreg Tox Flamer[edit]
Possibly the most dangerous of the lot. The Dreg Tox Flamer like their militant counterparts, act as the close-range orientated shocktroops in Darktide. However, compared to the more vanilla counterparts, the Dreg Tox is far, far more dangerous as they wield the deadly Alchem Flamer.
It is interesting to note how Nurglite Cultists in Darktide manage to gain a special weapon that used to be exclusive to the Death Guard, these Alchem Flamers have a notoriety for being god damned nasty to both the user and the target. How they manage to gain the know-how to create these toxic weapons is unknown given that they came from the Death Guard in the Horus Heresy/Great Crusade days.
Anyways, in terms of gameplay, they act the same as the normal counterparts, with the exception being that their greenish chem flamers lasts far longer than normal and causes corruption, making them a rare exception of being more dangerous than the official soldiers-turned-traitors. Therefore, it is best to deal with them at a longer range to avoid their nasty ass chem-fire effects, astute players will hear them coming before even seeing them due to the iconic sound of a clicking pilot light signifying their arrival onto the field.
Fortunately, their deadliness of their weapons is offset by the fact that, like all cultists, they wear minimal armour, unfortunately however they are considered "maniacs" allowing them to take less stagger from small arms meaning that once they get burning the only thing that will stop them is death, melee weapons, and some beefier ranged options.
Oh yeah, a fun fact, according to fluff and voice lines, they're all female. Huh. An all-female militant sect that is obsessed with fire, sounds familiar...
Jakhal[edit]
The World Eaters manage to have their own cultists, these guys being a bunch of chainsword-wielding lunatics hopped up on a special cocktail of combat drugs. While led by champions, they also employ Dishonoured, even bigger and roid-rager than the rest and carrying around massive weapons called Skullsmashers.
Alternative Modeling Options[edit]
It's almost a shame that cultists are so disposable, because when it comes to modeling, converting, and proxies, cultists have the capacity to be some of the most characterful units in a Chaos army, even more so than the marines, as Cultists offer almost complete creative freedom with what they can be. Humans, mutants, xenos, whatever, if it's roughly human-sized and either has or can be fitted with a basic weapon, it'll work. Chaos has never been picky about what they use as lasbolt catchers, and cultists can represent that to the fullest.
Naturally, two of the most common/accessible cultist alternatives are inevitably Beastmen and Skaven models from Warhammer Fantasy. And with the return of Necromunda, the cultist options have expanded even more like Jakhals. The Genestealer Cult models also come with a variety of different weapons that can be used when creating chaos cultists.
Pete The Wargamer has a series of videos showing how to kitbash your own cultists themed around the different traitor legions, check them out [here].
In Dawn of War[edit]
Dawn of War 1[edit]
- – Cultists being a little too optimistic on their chances
In Dawn of War, Cultists are the basic scout unit/cannon fodder of the CSM (that's short for Chaos Space Marine) faction, able to go invisible and detect cloaked units, but are also Squishy as hell (pun not intended). While they are pitifully weak, once they get upgrades with a Chaos Space Marine leader and grenade heavy weapons, you can kiss your ass goodbye (that is until an assault unit gets close and they're murdered in seconds as despite being a choppy scout unit; they fold like wet paper against everything else.). They appear to use a heretical variation of the standard Imperial Laspistol, but it's so fucking weak that they're better off just screaming Chaaaaaaaaarge! (Skip to 2:00) into their enemies' faces. They're also the cheapest and most numerous (spammy) unit you can field in any CSM army, so much like in tabletop, you can also use them as a squealing meatshield for your heavy hitters.
They are infamous for their high-squeak voices sounding more in line with a constipated Mickey Mouse. Their hilarious voice acting and general weak sauce makes them prime fuel for meme-baits and also birthed this adorable monstrosity.
"Aaaaugh, My Spleen!"
Dawn of War 2[edit]
Dawn of War 2 took out the iconic "FOR KHAOSSS!!!!" voice with a much more grittier and manlier voice. Ironically the voice acting made the Cultists more manly than the Imperial Guard. Their weaponry matches their voice acting, as they come with close combat weapons and SUICIDE BOMBS by default and can be upgraded with grenade launchers and autoguns for maximum Lulz. They also became more useful with the ability to build a ritual shrine for each of the chaos gods that suppresses enemies, shoots magic missiles, or spawns short lived bloodletter fodder respectively.
"No! My fingers! My fingers are gone!"
In Warhammer Fantasy[edit]
Chaos Cultists exist within Warhammer Fantasy as well, though they are not used as often as battleline, but instead as a mix of the Genestealer Cults and traditional Chaos cults in terms of tactics, infiltrating society and trying to sneak into top ranking positions in order to overthrow civilization from within. However, unlike Genestealers who do this largely involuntarily due to mind-fuckery, the chaos cultists largely do so willingly as they see Beastmen, Warriors of Chaos, Norscans, and other chaos-aligned factions growing in power and wish to be on the right side of the war.
Chaos Cults are lead primarily be a Cult Magus (Gee that name sure sounds familiar) and is full of Cult Acolytes, (Overflowing with creativity, Geedubs) who both make up the select few who know the true nature of the Chaos Cult and what they are doing. The cult can be devoted to any of the Chaos Gods, including the Ruinous Four, but there is even one in the empire devoted to worship of The Great Horned Rat called the Cult of the Yellow Fang, as after the Skaven released the plague onto the Empire, some believed that humans were meant to be the true children of the Great Horned Rat and have thus started to live like Skaven with poor dental hygiene, extremely secretive societies, constantly paranoid of one another and society, and going out at night instead and living in lowly an poorly kept housing. Of course, with Skaven being a secret in the Empire, it falls onto the most schizophrenic of Witch Hunters to hunt them down-which are just as likely to accidentally kill your Grandma's book club by mistake.
Civilizations such as the Empire, Cathay, Bretonnia, Kislev, Estalia and Tilea are constantly trying to find and hammer out these cults as they risk undermining their society, with Cathay being inflitrated by Tzeentch's cultists constantly trying to use the nation in their Great Game. The Empire, being so close to Norsca, has to deal with Chaos Cults constantly as they seek to infiltrate society. The Colleges of Magic and Witch Hunters therefore seek to stamp them out with extreme prejudice. Tilea is openly aware of the Skaven an the other activities of the Chaos Cults an so is better at preventing and stamping out their actions. Estalia has The Inquisition (which is a nod likely to both real life History and 40k as unexpected as it may seem), and is the more aggressive version of Tilea's Cult of Myrmidia, often putting the country to flame in order to eliminate any perceived threat and prevent chaos corruption from taking hold. Kislev is able to prevent chaos from taking hold due to their constant fighting allowing them to be more aware of the warning signs, especially for their Patriarchs, who are the most zealous and devoted to the Gods of the North and how they will protect against the heathen hordes invading the Great Bulwark of the North. Bretonnia's means of stopping chaos is to oppress the peasants, just as every solution in Bretonnia is.
Other nations seem more tolerant of Chaos Cults, though whether its because of their societal structure and those in power as is seen in the Dark Elves and their Cult of Pleasure or due to people just not caring like in Araby is up to chance.
The only nations seemingly immune to this infiltration are the Lizardmen, due to their nature as the Old One's tools at preventing Chaos from taking hold, and the Tomb Kings, due to everyone already being dead and their souls being protected by their Gods from being eaten by Daemonic forces. Everyone else has to be oh so slightly paranoid.
Hordes of the Warriors of Chaos 
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|---|---|
| Champions: | Chaos Lords - Daemon Prince - Chaos Sorcerer - Exalted Hero - Aspiring Champion - Druchii Anointed |
| Chaos Warriors: | Chaos Warriors - Chosen - Forsaken - Chaos Knights - Chaos Chariot - Gorebeast Chariot |
| Mortals and Fodder: | Chaos Marauders - Marauder Horsemen - Cultists -Chaos Warhounds - Marauder Horsemasters |
| Monsters and Daemonic War Engines: | Chaos Spawn - Dragon Ogre - Dragon Ogre Shaggoth - Manticore - War Mammoth - Chaos Trolls - Chaos Giant - Chaos Ogres - Hellcannon - Chaos Beast - Chaos Warshrine - Slaughterbrute - Chimera |
| Khorne: | Skullreapers - Wrathmonger - Skullcrushers |
| Tzeentch: | Mutalith Vortex Beast - Chaos Dragon - Doom Knights |
| Nurgle: | Putrid Blightking - Bile Trolls - Plague Ogres - Rot Knights |
| Slaanesh: | Hellstrider - Mirror Guard |
| Auxiliaries: | Beastmen - Norsca - Chaos Dwarfs - Chaos Daemons - Skaven - Dark Elves |
See Also[edit]
- Khornholio - He wants tippy for his chaotic bunghole. The most infamous Cultist to date. Originated from the hammy voice acting in Dawn of War: Soulstorm.
- Cultist-Chan- Another famous Cultist originating, yet again from the bizarre accent of the Dawn of War 1 Cultists.
- Lost and the Damned - When Cultists get their shit together and fight on par with the Imperial Guard.
Gallery[edit]
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Looks like an Edgy Fucker but sounds like a shrill squeaky cartoon henchman -
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