Daemon Prince
This page is for the ascended champions of Chaos. If you are looking for the page about the D&D and Pathfinder deities, please see Demon Lord.
This article or section is EXTRA heretical. Prepare to be purged. |
In Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and the Age of Sigmar, people fall to Chaos for many reasons. Of these, the ones who desire power, sometimes called Chaos Champions, are most ambitious, and thus most likely to catch the attention of the Ruinous Powers. The road to daemonhood begins with the desire to ascend in power and stature above their peers, performing extra-ordinary feats that gain them notice from the denizens of the warp and other champions of Chaos. They do more for their dark masters, and in return, they are blessed further and further with their power, fueling their growth. Each deed performed in service to the ruinous powers requires the champion to one-up themselves (or others above their station) to prove that they are worthy of the continued attentions of the gods, so their journey is paved in deeds more terrible than the last.
When the champion earns enough of their patron god's favor, they can be rewarded with Daemon Princedom. They forfeit their souls to their god and are granted a daemonic form and name, given power beyond any mortal, heretical or otherwise, armed with a fuck awesome Etherblade and (if they are a shooty Daemon Prince) a Kai Gun; they are often placed at the command of an army, or a Daemon World.
Of course, the road to Princedom is a high-stakes game with only two outcomes, success or failure; there is no middle road. Those who fail their god's expectations, find themselves on the wrong end of a Chaos God on a bad day (even if that god is papa Nurgle, apparently), or could not handle the ascension to Princedom, are "rewarded" with Chaos Spawndo- NO WAITFSDASDAGIAJDFASHDSDFd... *BLAM* Additionally, their rise to fame attracts all manner of threats, from without and within. If they aren't going to get killed by the enemies of Chaos, they might instead get killed by other Chaos champions who aren't particularly fond of their rising career. You are a stepping stone to someone's journey, just as much as they are.
The few that beat the odds and their god's expectations are rewarded with their god's personal blessing and close favor: the greatest things a mortal could possibly ask a god. Not everyone can achieve daemonhood; many will die in their quest, many more will fall short and be turned into something best not described, but for the chance of immortality and near limitless power, any heretic with more ambition than common sense will rarely be able to resist such a prospect. And with all this taken into account: this is why Daemon Princes are some of the most dangerous entities in both settings. They weren't just handed power on a whim; it is a reward they paid for in untold amounts of blood, death, scheming, and pain.
In the Fantasy Flight Games WH40KRPG Black Crusade (RPG), this is what happens to a player character who reaches 100 Corruption with the GM's arbitrarily selected Infamy Threshold for Princedom. Should a PC reach 100 Corruption with less, he will be transformed into a Chaos Spaa... ha caught myself on that one, don't want to end up like my previous writer!
Daemon Princes are a lot like videogame final bosses: In-universe they are held up as these badass mofos guaranteed to curbstomp you, but out-of-universe their job is still to eventually be beaten by the heroes. The only perk they have is that if they get their ass chopped up they are banished to the Warp where they will derp around until they are called by the Chaos Gods once more to attempt to be useful to them.
For roughly half an edition, Warhammer Fantasy also had Exalted Daemons, which were a kind of lesser Daemon Prince created by fusing a daemon and a still-mortal human together, sort of like possession, but without necessarily killing the soul of the possessed in the bargain. This idea, like Chaos Undivided being its own power and granting its own mark, was removed with the update from Hordes of Chaos to Warriors of Chaos. Now, if your goal is just to get daemon up there are some other ways to do that...
Famous Daemon Princes[edit]
Daemon Primarchs[edit]
- Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers, really, really dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Doesn't do shit these days, but recently got off of the couch to teach Abby new techniques for summoning daemons. After the Great Rift opened, Lorgar finally decided to get a real job and has started to personally lead his legion again. He has recently been seen in the material realm leading a large host of Word Bearers for reasons yet to be known.
- Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, technically dedicated to Chaos Undivided, but mostly to himself. Doesn't do much these days, but manages to royally fuck shit up when he does. Taking advantage of the Great Rift by launching a massive invasion of his own like Lorgar.
- Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard, dedicated to Nurgle. Gets into some antics with Grey Knights once in a while. Has now appeared to have gotten off his ass and is now bringing
death and decayGranddaddy's cuddles to the wider Imperium. - Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, dedicated to Khorne. It's hard to be certain of course, but it'd probably be safe to say that he's the strongest of Khorne's Daemon Princes, at least in terms of raw combat prowess. Somewhat gained the favour of the fanbase since before GW decided to Advance the Storyline with the end of 7th Edition and the beginning of 8th, Angron was the only Daemon Primarch who reliably, actually did shit. Also notable for being the first Daemon Primarch with rules since Epic. Before his physical, 30K version got rules. Post-Great Rift he's continued business as usual, and given a new model on the way as well as a serious marketing push, it seems he has something big in the works. Starting with painting an entire world red due to a psionic device on it giving him a migraine.
- Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons, "dedicated" to Tzeentch. Spent most of the last ten millennia hanging out at the top of his wizard's tower, derping out and shouting "JUST AS PLANNED" when something happens and it can be interpreted as beneficial. Occasionally has an actual fight with the Space Puppies. Recently avenged Prospero by wrecking the Fenris system. He got banished by Logan Grimnar, which was JUST AS PLANNED, because the Space Wolves went to Cadia, leaving Fenris undefended, at which point, he brought his daemon planet into the Materium and has been fucking the Imperium up ever since. Just. As. Planned. Also participated in the Invasion of the Stygius Sector.
- Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor's Children, except it's actually just his body possessed by a Daemon. Or maybe not. Shit's weird at this point. Dedicated to Slaanesh. Spends his days on his Pleasure Planet getting bored with mass-daemonette-orgies. TOTALLY has nothing to do with the giant, serpent bodied monster currently fucking 11 different kinds of shit up with Lucius. Speaking of which, he and Lucius are also launching their own invasion of the Imperium. The Word Bearers lamenting on how numerous and powerful the Emperor's Children are see Fulgrim as a potential challenge.
- Horus Lupercal of the Sons of Horus died at the end of the Horus Heresy in the Siege of Terra, and his soul was wiped from existence, meaning he never ascended as a Daemon Prince.
- Konrad Curze of the Night Lords allowed himself to be assassinated by the Officio Assassinorum and never became a Daemon Prince.
- Alpharius Omegon of the Alpha Legion isn't/aren't (weren't?) a Daemon Prince, and that is all that is known for sure about him/them.
Dedicated to Khorne[edit]
- Doombreed, the first Daemon Prince of Khorne, and some sources say the first Daemon Prince ever. (The rest say it was Be'lakor, a possible way to reconcile is that Doombreed's the first Human Daemon Prince, while Be'lakor was some ancient alien.) Likely Genghis Khan.
- Kraxnar, his bro in the original counter-based game "Warmaster" who was later replaced with some asshole called N'kari.
- Azariah Kyras, heretical Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens and, apparently, Khornate Sorcerer. He still gets killed in DoW II: Retribution. Since his ascension was only partly finished, he may still have been mortal, meaning he might be back eventually, though odds are that he was permakilled. Although it was Ulkair who turned him to the dark ones, it was the very daemon freed from the first game of Dawn of War that made it's home in his body
- Samus, a weird warp entity with no relation to the vidya character (he'd probably bite the gravel if he tried to fight her for the right to be called the one true Samus), who is basically just summoned by arbitrary death when the plot of the Horus Heresy calls for it. According to Forge World, he's basically a daemon prince of the Ruinstorm and fucked with the Smurfs a lot, and was also one of the first daemons encountered by Horus before he fell to Chaos (though at the time, it was assumed to be "only an unusual xenos"). Might still be active in M41, though less powerful without his Ruinstorm bonuses.
- Sindri Myr, though it wasn't long before Gabriel Angelos banished him. Sindri was probably expecting to just come back, since the whole reason you become a Prince is to be immortal, but instead found himself in the belly of a Greater Daemon (he's only technically one of the K-man's princes since he ascended using a Khornate daemon's power, but he himself was undivided).
- Valkia the Bloody, a daemonic equivalent of a Valkyrie, she was originally a badass viking shield maiden, killed a lot (and we mean a lot) of people for her patron God, had two children, killed her husband and a bit later defeated a Slaanesh daemon prince in close combat. She then mounted the head of said prince on her shield and went to the Chaos Wastes to present her trophy to Khorne, but tripped at the goal line. Khorne was mad as fuck and brought her back to life, turning her into the entity she is today, coated in armour that constantly bleeds and being quite literally dead sexy.
- Uraka Az'baramael, also known as the Warfiend. He and his armies had shed so much blood in life that upon his death he was summoned to Khorne's realm. There Khorne issued a challenge. He must defeat a Bloodthirster in single combat. If he won, he would be elevated to daemon prince, if he lost, he would become something less nice. He accepted, and chose a Great Executioner's axe as his weapon. He battled and decapitated the bloodthirster and was elevated to daemon princehood. He leads the daemonic warband known as Uraka's Head-Hunters. He was last sighted during the Vraks Campaign where he battled and was defeated by the Grey Knights.
Dedicated to Slaanesh[edit]
- Some Slaaneshi asshole called N'Kari... maybe. Nowadays they're apparently a Greater Daemon.
- Ax'Senaea the Thrice Possessed, a power-mad lady who completely subjugated the planet of Laodomida, but wanted to control her mind (note that she is so solipsistic that these are the same to her). She was bonkers, so a sorcerer convinced her to be possessed by a Slaaneshi Keeper of Secrets, hinting that it would give her the power to do so, but in reality, the sorcerer was expecting the daemon to kill her. After all, no one but the most potent of psykers can hope to bind a greater daemon to their will without being completely possessed by the daemon instead. It backfired on him, getting himself killed in the process, as Ax'Senaea managed to subjugate the daemon through sheer arrogance and self-obsession. Yes, she managed to make a greater daemon heel by being a bitch. She eventually used her new-found psychic powers to exert even more control over Laodomida and more nearby planets, in the process, drinking up two more Keepers of Secrets after draining each of them of their power before banishing them back to the warp. When she got to the fourth one, Slaanesh had noticed her talent and turned her into a daemon princess, which was also a jab to his/her servants for being too weak to defend themselves from a human. In true Slaaneshi fashion, however, despite attaining the highest daemonic honor her god(dess), she still desires more power and control over everything, and now seeks to subjugate daemons now instead of just humans. That's right, this egotistical psycho ate at least three Greater Daemons and has almost certainly continued post ascension. Lowkey one of the most terrifyingly powerful if her quest for soul food continues.
- Doomrider, bike riding Slaanesh prince on fire. Back in the old days he'd show up, wreck face and disappear back into the warp before the game's end. Now he's apparently a severed head in the White Scars' Fortress-Monastery.
- The Mistress of Spite, a horrifically fat daemon princess who ascended after singlehandedly eating the populations of entire worlds. Used to be one of N'Kari's girlfriends before he dumped her; she started taking over the Daemon World of Contrition to try and woo him back, but now she simply makes life there hell for the resident daemons for the sheer sake of feeding on their despair. Notable features include 6 horns, three arms (the third has a huge pincer for a hand) and horrifically vagina-like orifices on each forearm that are sheathes for razor-sharp extendable bone spurs. (are we sure that this is Slaanesh's work, or is this some Tzeentchian monstrosity................. probably both)
- Azazel, the Prince of Damnation, literally the first Daemon Prince character to ever be playable (way back in Champions of Chaos). Said to have been the leader of the Gerreon Tribe in Warhammer Fantasy, but he betrayed Sigmar and fled to the Northern Wastes to serve Slaanesh. Looks like an incredibly beautiful angel, until one spots the horns that curl from his brow, the chitinous claw of his left hand, and the two-headed scorpion-like tail that sprouts behind him. So beautiful he can hypnotise anyone who looks at him and turn them into his slave. In the End Times, he attacked Karl Franz and tried to taunt and shit talk him but since Karl had merged with Sigmar, he got destroyed.
- The Sapphire King, a metaphysical manifestation of the Iron Hands being really really cross at Fulgrim. He can turn Iron Hands into Chaos You-know-whats just by standing next to them. He got his shit pushed in by Ironfather Kardan Stronos.
- Esske. A former gladiator in the pits of pleasure who fell in love with a Slaaneshi Hearald and almost died before being raised to Princehood and joining his lover in becoming a super-powerful murder-couple.
- Dechala the (no longer) Denied One also got to ascend after the End Times, to the point of being worshipped by mortals as "She Who Was Denied".
- Sigvald the Magnificent has returned after getting a golden shower from a troll. After the End Times, his soul drifted randomly until Nagash trapped him in a mirror and tossed him into Uhl-Gysh. He got busted out by some corruptible people and got welcomed back into the Palace of Slaanesh.
- Loth'Shar is worshipped in the realm of Hysh, where a ceremony dedicated to him was botched by a poor merchant's son named Glutos Orscollion. The Daemon Prince cursed him with an eternal hunger, which he sates with the most exotic tastes.
Dedicated to Tzeentch[edit]
- Phokulozortis, a Daemon Prince residing in the Screaming Vortex. A shapeshifter who loves to answer botched summonings and bungled invocations whilst pretending to be the intended daemon, in which guise he feigns being the sorcerer's loyal minion, but secretly screws them over. In his true form, he has the many-mouthed tentacled mass of a lower body like a giant Flamer of Tzeentch, four arms, and three heads like those of a Lord of Change. Artwork vs. descriptive text contradicts each other if he has wings like a Lord of Change as well, though.
- Ghargatuloth, one of the most powerful Daemon Princes in existence, requiring over 300 Grey Knights invading a planet to kill it (there's obviously not better alternatives though considering his power and trickery it could have backfired). His body is, in essence, a thousand-mile high erect penis with mouths and eyes all over it. Despite massive amounts of Just As Planned with a scheme taking a thousand years to fulfill, and allegedly being one of the most intelligent daemons that Tzeentch has ever created, he fails again and again because of the Grey Knights - armed with plot twists so contrived and plot armor so thick that not even the Shaper Of Ways' right hand had a chance.
- Thunderfist, originally a Tzeentch-worshipping alchemist whose cult fled after his mutation (psychedelic skin and dimensional instability) became discovered, but somehow survived long enough to lead an army of misfits and monsters. Tzeentch elevated him to daemonhood after he singlehandedly slew the Nurgle champion Festus with only his spells. One of two Chaos Champions created by Games Workshop back when they first wrote Realms of Chaos, used to highlight how the Path to Glory rules worked.
Dedicated to Nurgle[edit]
- Bubonicus, originally the sole member of his village to survive a plague thanks to his prayers to Nurgle, who led a horde of beastmen and cultists out of the forests of the Old World and into the Chaos Wastes, where after many years of hardship and struggle they reached the Glades of Nurgle, where Nurgle rewarded Lothar's faith with daemonic ascension. One of two Chaos Champions created by Games Workshop back when they first wrote Realms of Chaos, used to highlight how the Path to Glory rules worked.
- Mamon, or the "Arch-Corruptor of Vraks," a deacon who fell to Chaos and brought down most of Vraks and Cardinal Xaphan with him.
- Cor’bax Utterblight, a Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm brought into the Horus Heresy by the Word Bearers. More or less a mountain of filth, Nurglings and plague.
- Ignatius Grulgor, a former Captain of the Pre-Heresy Death Guard 2nd Great Company. Famous for getting killed by Nathaniel Garro, only to be raised a Plague Marine, killed again, and eventually raised a Daemon Prince. Like a lot of Nurgle Daemon Princes, Grulgor doesn't do a lot lately, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
- Foulspawn - The only Chaos Spa... THING ever raised to Princedom.
Dedicated to Chaos Undivided[edit]
- Nemeroth, who got it even worse than Sindri: he was killed DURING his ascension rather than immediately afterward, which means he might not be back.
- M'kar, some loser from the Word Bearers whose only purpose for appearing in any fluff is get to his ass handed to him by the Space Marines. Ironically, he's taken more seriously in Grey Knights. (Mostly because he managed to troll Kaldor "He makes it happen" Draigo. And then it sort of backfired....*) he is One of very few daemon princes to be officially dead.
- Eliphas the Inheritor as of the Dawn of War series, but not really. In Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, he can take it as his ultimate upgrade; since the Blood Ravens were the canon victors in that story, he instead gets mulched by an unnamed daemon prince for failure. In Dawn of War II: Retribution, the outro for the Chaos campaign gives a glimpse of a newly-daemoned-up Eliphas. Of course, with Dawn of War 3 out to verify what we already know, the Blood Ravens are the canonical winners again. That leaves Eliphas either dead again or serving penance as the bottom for Abaddon's pet Chaos SpaAARRGH. It's largely moot in the end of course, since Eliphas is so badass that becoming a Daemon Prince is a demotion for him.
- By which we mean the playable Daemon Prince upgrade from Dark Crusade sucks (trading campaign exclusive upgrades for a daemon prince unit designed for multiplayer balance, and not a separate unit for the campaign upgrade), so you should never take it.
- Be'lakor, the very first Daemon Prince who was such a badass in life that Princehood was a demot-- wait, we just made that joke, didn't we? Shit. Well, anyway, in WFB he led the hordes of Chaos at the dawn of time, but then he became an arrogant bitch, so Tzeentch cursed him to Princehood and made him the Harbinger, who would crown the Everchosen of Chaos. In 40k, he was also the first Daemon Prince, as well as (according to some) the first, last, and only Daemon Prince elevated by the joint action of all four Chaos Gods. He was greatly involved in Abaddon's rise to power (according to him), although it's likely he plans to betray the Warmaster at some point in time (something Abaddon is fully prepared for). Quite notably, Be'lakor has shown a strong tendency to undermine the plans and ambitions of other Chaos Champions; although he himself believes this to be a product of his own free will and the desire to prove his own superiority over his potential rivals, it is in fact the result of all four Chaos Gods using him as a pawn to strike at one another. Apparently unknown to them is the fact that Be'lakor's ultimate goal is to find a way to become a Chaos God himself. Also has a pretty sick metal band named after him so maybe it not all that bad.[1] Some people suspect he was the Dark Knight's Joker, because seriously that guy didn't even need an army to turn up Gotham City into a bloody mess and before you say he is prehuman, well, the Warp is atemporal, so yeah, traitorous Agent of Chaos anyone? (Except that it can't be right, because the Joker is on one long streak of Just As Planned for the entire goddamn movie, barely spills a drop of blood and doesn't inflict plague or despair. So he's Tzeentch through and through, with maybe a little Slaanesh in the mix.)
- Cherubael, a daemon who is unfortunate enough to wound up bound in the mortal realm as a daemon host and controlled against his will, multiple times. Whether or not he is actually a daemon prince is up for debate as that's just what Gregor Eisenhorn called him and he never bothered to correct him. He seems to be old school as he reveres a long dead daemon king that died millennia ago when he lost a war against the Four as they came to power. Whether daemon prince or greater daemon, Cherubael is unbelievably powerful, being able to obliterate other more loosely controlled daemon hosts who have greater access to their powers as a result. Currently serving as Eisenhorn's attack dog.
- Kor Megron, like any Word Bearer legionary, began seething at the Imperium after the raising of Monarchia. He eventually achieved apotheosis ten millennia later, and was then nicknamed "Reaper of Rhodax", after the sacrificed cathedral world. Along with his Forsworn warband, he went through several rampaging campaigns, until he was put down and righteously defeated by Cato Sicarius.
- Barban Falk the Warsmith, an Iron Warrior Horus Heresy veteran and Honsou's former boss.
- Torvann Lokk, another Iron Warrior. Ascended to Daemon Prince after the Great Rift. Apparently Chaos Undivided likes the Iron Warriors for their pragmatism, as unlike Word Bearer Undivided ascendees, they get shit done.
Crunch[edit]
Warhammer Fantasy[edit]
Ironically, despite how iconic the Daemon Prince is from a lore perspective, they actually didn't show up until the middle of Warhammer Fantasy's lifespan! Yes, it actually took us until 5th edition before the Daemon Prince would actually become a fully-fledged tabletop unit. Okay, 3rd edition's Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness did have mechanics for "evolving" your Chaos Champion if you got really lucky with the Path to Glory, and similarly you might have been able to randomly evolve your Chaos characters into one if you got really lucky with the Chaos Rewards mechanic in 4th edition, but we'd need to double-check that, but 5e was when you could just take them as a standard character option.
3rd Edition[edit]
To become a Daemon Prince in 3rd edition, you need to have a Chaos Champion and then roll a 96-00 on the Rewards of Chaos table. Once you do that, you have to check which of these criteria you meet:
- 6+ Chaos Attributes: Chaos overwhelms and forsakes you, transforming you into a mewling abomination of unsanity wrought in flesh, giving you +d6 Chaos Attributes.
- Less than 6 Chaos Attributes AND Less than 6 Chaos Gifts: Gain a Chaos Weapon and either +1 Attack and +1 Wound (if Wizard), or 1 Magic Level (if Warrior) - if devoted to Khorne, you instead get a Collar of Khorne.
- 6+ Chaos Gifts: Congratulations, you made it! You become a Daemon Prince!
Becoming a Daemon Prince doubles your Strength, Wounds and Initiative values, and gives you the Daemonic special rules. You lose all of your followers (except Daemonic Familiars) and can no longer gain Rewards of Chaos, but you can now act "as the commander of a unit of daemonic troops, or the leader of a band of Chaos Champions". You might also gain the Horns, Wings and Tail Attributes if you don't already have them, but this isn't mandatory - if you do gain them, don't worry, you don't risk becoming a howling horror, this is just the Dark Gods touching you up so you look like a proper daemonic lord.
5th Edition[edit]
Realm of Chaos saw the Daemon Prince simplified to a simple character. Now joining the Greater Daemons as one of the Daemonic Warlord options, a Daemon Prince in 5e costs 275 points and have Movement 6, Weapon Skill 7, Ballistic Skill 7, Strength 6, Toughness 5, Wounds 4, Initiative 8, Attacks 5 and Leadership 10. They have the Daemonic rule (duh) and a 4+ Daemonic Save, Cause Terror, can Fly, and can take both 0-2 Daemonic Rewards and a single Mark of Chaos (+45 pts for Khorne, +40 pts for Nurgle, +10 pts for Tzeentch, +35 pts for Slaanesh).
This edition basically set the mold for all future editions; Daemon Princes would become just a standard Chaos character option from then on.
6th Edition[edit]
Debuting in Hordes of Chaos, a 6e Daemon Prince uses up a Lord slot and a Hero slot - it also gained a junior counterpart in the Exalted Daemon. They cost 300 points base, and have Movement 6, Weapon Skill 8, Ballistic Skill 0, Strength 5, Toughness 5, Wounds 4, Initiative 8, Attacks 5 and Leadership 9. They have the special rules Daemonic, Cause Terror, Fly, Mark of Chaos Undivided, and Unit Strength 3. You can outfit them with up to 100 points of Daemonic Gifts, swap out their Mark of Chaos Undivided for one of the Chaos Gods, and make them a Sorcerer for +40 points per level - unless you give them the Mark of Khorne (no spellcasting for you!) or the Mark of Tzeentch (become a level 4 Wizard automatically, using Lore of Tzeentch). Sorcerous Daemon Princes can use the Lore of Death, Fire or Shadow if Undivided, and their god's patron school of magic if Marked by Nurgle or Slaanesh.
Whilst Daemonic normally means that they treat Daemons as Core Units and both Mortals and Beastmen as Special Units, there are two cheap but flavorful Chaos Rewards to let you make either Mortals or Beastmen your Core Units instead, representing your daemonic prince maintaining strong ties with human or not-so-human worshippers or even just still wanting to hang out with his original warband.
7th Edition[edit]
Since Games Workshop made its "brilliant" decision to break up the Hordes of Chaos into Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos, the Daemon Prince has been duplicated, each in a subtly different method. As a result, they need to be looked at differently depending on which army you're looking to play out.
In your Mortals army, Daemon Princes are your most expensive Lord choice at a whopping 300 points, the same price as in 6e, but with their stats now being Movement 8, Weapon Skill 8, Ballistic Skill 0, Strength 5, Toughness 5, Wounds 4, Initiative 7, Attacks 5 and Leadership 8. They come Unmarked, but can take Marks of Khorne (Frenzy, +10), Nurgle (-1 to hit the Daemon Prince with both shooting and melee, +30), Tzeentch (Ward save increases to 4+ and if wizard gain +1 to casting rolls, +15), or Slaanesh (Immunity to Fear, Terror and Panic, +5), as well as up to 100 points of Gifts of Chaos. Non-Khornate Daemon Princes can be made Wizards for +40 points per level; Marked Daemon Prince Sorcerers must use the Lore of their god, but Unmarked ones can use Death, Fire, Heavens or Shadows magic. They cause Terror, they Fly, they're Stubborn, they have a Unit Strength of 3, they have the standard "The Will of Chaos" special rule common to all Warriors of Chaos heroes (which means they get to reroll failed Panic tests), and they have the rule Scion of Chaos (can't join units, 5+ Ward save).
In your Daemons army, Daemon Princes still cost 300 points and have the same statblock as in the Warriors of Chaos Army. But the devil is in the details. Firstly, they can only be 2nd level wizards at best (+50 points for 1st level, 85 points for 2nd!) and it now costs a flat +35 points to dedicate them to a Chaos God... which has no bonus outside of letting them spend 50 points of their 75 points allotment for Daemonic Gifts on God-specific gifts, which is frankly kind of bullshit. Daemon Prince wizards use the Lores of Death, Fire and Shadow if unmarked, and the Daemonic Lore of their patron god if marked.
Beastman Daemon Princes got Squatted, despite how awesome it would be to have a minotaur Daemon Prince.
8th Edition[edit]
Same stupid deal as in the last edition, with separate versions for Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos armies. One thing universal is that, despite Chaos Undivided Daemon Princes having been around since 3rd edition, that's no longer the case - now you have to dedicate them to one of the four Gods of Chaos.
Mortal Daemon Princes are the cheapest yet at a mere 235 points - comparable to a Chaos Sorcerer Lord, but +25 points more than the base Chaos Lord. Their stats are now Movement 8, Weapon Skill 9, Ballistic Skill 5, Strength 6, Toughness 5, Wounds 4, Initiative 8, Attacks 5 and Leadership 9, which is arguably their nastiest profile to date. They also have the special rules Daemonic Attacks, Daemonic Invulnerability, Cause Terror and Unbreakable. Now, remember, this may seem cheap, but you also have to fork out the points for their "Daemon of (X god)" upgrade, which gives them Hatred (Daemons of Rival God) and a unique bonus - +10 points for Khorne (+1 Strength on turn when charges) or Nurgle (-1 to hit daemon prince with melee), +15 for Tzeentch (reroll Ward saves of 1, and channeling results of 1), +5 for Slaanesh (Armor Piercing Attacks). Non-Khorne Daemon Princes can be Wizards (+35 points per level, max level 4), with their magic options being affected by which god they serve; Tzeentch/Metal, Nurgle/Death, Slaanesh/Shadows. Finally, they can take Chaos Armor for +20 points, can Fly for +40 points, can take 25 points of magical items, and up to 100 points of Chaos Mutations/Powers. All in all, these characters can be real point-sinks and that's not good considering that they're so damn fragile; all they get is a lousy 5+ Ward Save, and a 4+ armor save if they spend 20 points on it. Their ability to spend 25 points of a suit of magic armor can make them a little more survivable, but all in all, they're glass cannons.
Daemon Princes in a Daemons army get pretty unfairly gimped; they cost more than in a Warriors of Chaos army (250 vs. 235), only get 75 points of Daemonic Gifts vs their 100 Chaos Powers + 25 Magic Items, and they have to roll randomly on their Gifts instead of choosing. The only plus side is that their Marks are much cheaper (-5 points compared to their Warriors versions - yes, that means Daemon Princes of Slaanesh only cost their default 250 points) and they retain their formidable statblock from the Warriors of Chaos book. Their special rules here are Daemonic, Large Target, and Cause Terror.
Warhammer 40k[edit]
The Daemon Prince is considered to be an HQ in both of the Chaos Codices (Although they can also be a Heavy Support choice instead if a Greater Daemon with the same alignment is an HQ in the Daemon codex. More on that later). They both also cost the same at 145 points without upgrades, and when one looks at their stats, they will be amazed and wonder why are they so cheap? Well, here's the catch: they MUST choose a Mark (or a Daemon) of a Dark God, which will increase the point cost (with the exception of Be'lakor, who is the only Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided). Then you see it has a crappy save, albeit an invulnerable one - so you also have to spend 20pts to give it a 3+ armour. Wings aren't needed unless you're facing foes that ignore cover and/or can instant gib the Prince (again, will explain that later on), or don't want to deep strike the Prince and want to get into combat fast. To top it off, you don't have any weapons to start with. Again, not required, but you'll be missing out on the awesome toys it can take (The Black Mace, Staff of Change, Blade of Blood, etc.). Now that cheap Monstrous Creature became expensive, and sometimes close to the same cost of a Land Raider.
There's something else one must consider when taking a Daemon Prince, which is that they no longer have Eternal Warrior. This can be fixed by taking powers from the Biomancy table, but again, it increases the already expensive price tag, and the powers are random, so even if you go all out, you may end up wasting 75 points and still not get Iron Arm. A Khorne Prince can't even take psychic powers, not that you want to anyway if you worship the Blood God. This means the Toughness value is docked to 5, and there's no other way to increase it (except by buying Greater Gifts and trying to roll a one on the table, but obviously you should know the drawback to this). Some even argue that the Daemon Prince is overpriced for this reason, not just because of the needed upgrades, but the fact the damn thing can still be instant killed by Force Weapons, Railguns, and things of that nature. And given that you can take a Greater Daemon in the Chaos Daemons codex that are either equal cost or are much cheaper, why would you bother taking the Prince over their stronger counterpart?
But they do have some saving graces, and they move to Heavy Support (in the Daemon Codex) when a Greater Daemon of the same god is taken as an HQ, so this means you can take a Keeper of Secrets (cheapest MC out of the four), and then take the Daemon Prince with Wings, Warp Forged Armour, Lash of Despair, and one or two Biomancy powers. The Prince suddenly becomes an awesome anti-air MC, albeit an expensive one, that can fight against Flyers, Transports, and even horde units if you roll well. You can also run an army list around these if you want to run multiple Daemon Princes just for shits and giggles.
As for Chaos Space Marines, their Prince can wield the Black Mace. The weapon is AP4, but when a Daemon Prince takes it with him, he can dish out armour-ignoring wounds that can fuck up almost anything it comes across (thank you Monstrous Creature USR), so it makes their points cost worth it in the long run. It also comes with the extra Curse rule, which can completely remove ANYTHING that fails a toughness test in a 3" radius of the Prince (chances are low for more juicy targets, but somewhere in the grimdark future, the dice gods are laughing at your next victim)! Plus the fact that you can get lucky and turn one of your HQs/Champions into a Daemon Prince if they roll for it when they take Gift of Mutation. Gift of Mutation re-rolls both Daemonhood and Spawnhood results although a Champion of Chaos has a chance to become one when they kill a character in combat.
So in short, the Daemon Prince is considered to be an expensive (sometimes overpriced) rape train. Despite how it can get instant killed in a bad situation, and the bitching about the points cost when taking them to battle, the Daemon Prince is overall still a good choice, IF you can protect it and use them wisely.
Warhammer 40k 8th edition[edit]
He no longer has access to the Black Mace or pretty much any of the weapon relics. Sorry, everyone who modeled one with cool weapons. He CAN take the non-relic weapons. He also MUST swear allegiance to a god; for Khorne this gives him +1 attack for a deadly and fluffy 8 attacks, while the other three make him a psyker. Yay for Smite spam! Lastly he gains the trademark 8th edition 6-inch aura of reroll 1's to hit - while initially this only affected models sworn to the same god, it was later FAQ'd to apply to any models with the same legion and any daemon models sworn to the same god, giving him much greater utility. Also interesting to note about DPs: unlike other monsters, they don't have a damage table that mars their statline as they take more wounds throughout the battle. Certainly advantageous considering they're gonna take wounds throughout the course of a battle - if anyone tells you differently, they're lying and you're dumb.
Daemon Princes can have different loadouts and options depending on in which army they're fielded. Obviously, there's going to be different access to relics and psychic powers. Overall though, CSM princes hands down win comparing wargear selection as they have far more relics to choose from albeit with variable utility. On top of that, CSM princes get a bonus piece of wargear not found in Chaos Daemons armies - the warp bolter. It's basically a boltgun but with a higher AP and damage and it gives the prince a ranged attack so it would be very confusing indeed if a CSM prince didn't take one.
Age of Sigmar[edit]
Daemon princes in Age of Sigmar are hard-hitting hero/monsters, though not so much as their greater daemon counterparts. Each daemon prince can choose between Daemonic Axe (average hit/wound with 2 rend) and Hellforged Sword (slightly better to-hit with 1 less rend), in addition to Malefic Talons, with all attacks potentially doing multiple wounds each. Their other stats are 12" move (default 8" with 12" if it can fly, and there's no reason to not give it flight as of yet), 8 wounds, 3+ save, and 10 bravery. Good but not great, until your alignment choices are taken into account.
Daemon princes in AoS cannot be unaligned, but they get different command abilities depending on their other alignments.
- Khorne DPs can half run and charge rolls of enemy units within 18" of them until their next hero phase, once per turn.
- Nurgle DPs can allow a friendly SLAVES TO DARKNESS NURGLE unit within 12" of them to cause d3 mortal wounds each time an enemy unit rolls at least one 6 to hit them with melee attacks.
- Tzeentch DPs can allow a friendly SLAVES TO DARKNESS WIZARD within 12" of them to add +1 to their casting rolls until the end of their hero phase.
- Slaanesh DPs can allow a friendly SLAVES TO DARKNESS SLAANESH unit within 12" of them that had a model slain by an enemy unit's melee attacks to add +1 to hit rolls against that enemy unit until their next hero phase, once per turn.
Hordes of the Warriors of Chaos | |
---|---|
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 |