The Magaera was the stand out titanic knight for Chaos Knights in the eighth edition codex. Every list that did well ran two (or three) of them alongside some Moiraxes.
Now that the model has been updated to have the Abhorrent keyword, it can once again make full use of the ninth edition codex rules, including the relics, warlord traits, and Favors of the Dark Gods.
This article will explore why the Magaera is an incredibly strong option for the Chaos Knights faction, what Warlord Traits, Relics, and Favors I like best on it, and some combinations that i think are worth looking at with other pieces in the faction.
Note: I am looking at options purely from an Iconoclast House perspective in this article – I have yet to play a game with Infernal houses where I didn’t just wish I was playing with Iconoclast, and as a result I cannot talk intelligently about that side of the Knightly traditions.
What Makes a Magaera So Good?
The Magaera shares most of the baseline Abhorrent class rules with the Abominant, Rampager, Desecrator, and Despoiler. It’s a T8 Vehicle with a 3+ Armor Save. It has 24 wounds baseline, and its WS and BS are both 3+ like the Abominant and the Despoiler.
It’s a might bit faster than most, keeping up with the Rampager at MOV 12, and it can take a Chainsword or a Siege Claw which is a slightly more efficient Warpstrike Talon when going for the sweep profile and a slightly less efficient Warpstrike Talon when not.
At this point, the differences start, and they matter quite a bit.
First, and most importantly to my mind, Magaera models have a 5+ Invulnerable save in Melee as well as at Range. In a world of AP -3 and AP -4 tank killing weapons, this is hugely important.
Next, it flat out ignores cover with its ranged attacks – a very important tool on the terrain dense standard boards GW uses – and even more important when considering its highly efficient ranged package.
Aside from the Despoiler, the Abhorrent class knights have somewhat limited ranged options. The Desecrator has its planet ending laser gun, the Abominant has the seriously unreliable Volkite Combuster, and the Rampager makes pew pew noises with the Heavy Stubber it carries around.
None of these weapons are particularly versatile, and this is where the Magaera really starts to shine.
First, it has the flashiest gun in the faction with its lightning cannon.
| Range | Type | Strength | AP | Damage |
| 48” | Heavy 8 | 7 | -2 | 3 |
That’s not a bad little gun there, but it also has this rule:
“Each time an attack is scored with this weapon, an unmodified hit roll of six causes two additional hits”
On average, this gun should hit about eight times, but it’s also got the potential to go off the rails. Statistically, somewhere in the neighborhood of once per game you can expect to roll 3 or more sixes in one of these attack sequences, and when that happens things tend to melt.
That’s not all! Instead of a Heavy Stubber, the Magaera gets a Phased Plasma-Fusil. Let’s compare the two:
| Heavy Stubber | ||||
| Range | Type | Strength | AP | Damage |
| 36 | Heavy 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Phased Plasma-Fusil | ||||
| Range | Type | Strength | AP | Damage |
| 24 | Rapid Fire 2 | 7 | -3 | 2 |
The Stubber edges out the Plasma-Fusil range wise, but after that the two are dramatically different creatures.
The Plasma-Fusil will wound most things in the game on 3s, cause most models to make saves that are either 5+ or an Invulnerable of some sort, and comfortably one shot Space Marines. The Stubber contributes the occasional damage to a Space Marine and slips through the occasional murder of a Xenos warrior of some sort and that’s about it.
The Magaera is a brawly model. With its 5+ melee Invulnerable save and its next gun, it really likes to get into close range of specific targets and obliterate them. If and when you get within 12 inches of something with this model it will hurt it and hurt it badly.
The final piece of offensive ranged tech the Magaera brings to the table is the Twin Rad -Cleanser, which is a weapon that only comes along if you bring the Hekaton Siege Claw.
| Twin Rad-Cleanser | ||||
| Range | Type | Strength | AP | Damage |
| 12 | Assault 2d6 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
On the surface, this looks like a terrible weapon. Fortunately, it has a pair of extremely strong special rules. First:
“When resolving an attack made with this weapon, do not make a hit roll: it automatically scores a hit.”
These are basically flamers, albeit strange AP 0 Damage 3 Flamers.
Second:
“Attacks made with this weapon wound on a 2+ unless the target is a VEHICLE or TITANIC unit.”
This gun is an absolute menace. It gives a big knight a really reliable Overwatch weapon, causes all kinds of headaches for basically every kind of infantry model – even Terminators – when the Magaera points it at them, and is the literal nightmare of Daemon models. He’s been beefed up a little since the last time I did this, but every game I’ve played against Bel’akor, a Magaera has walked up to within 12” of him and promptly ended his life – mostly with the Rad-Cleanser.
To sum up, the Magaera is an excellent mixed arms piece with a hugely versatile set of ranged weapons and a reasonably good melee weapon (that also brings along the silliest flamer I’ve ever seen). It’s fast, relatively durable, and consistent, all of which a Chaos Knights army really wants.
These good baseline traits can be further enhanced with Warlord Relics and Traits, Favors of the Dark Gods, excellent defensive stratagems such as the one that reduces melee damage by 1, the new version of Rotate Ion Shields for a 4+ Invulnerable save at range, and the powerful rules that Harbingers of Dread give the army access to.
Top Customization Options:
Warlord Traits:
There are three main Warlord Traits that I consider when reaching for a Magaera.
The first is almost always going to be Aura of Terror.
“While an enemy unit is within Dread range of this WARLORD, each time a Morale test or Dread test is taken for that unit, your opponent must roll one additional D6 and discard the lowest result.
I find this ability to be game defining in almost every matchup, either preventing a huge pile of damage to my models by denying charges or causing enemy units to fail actions and let me get vastly ahead on secondary objectives. I have also had enemy units flee extremely consistently needing 5 or higher to run away with the second dice. It doesn’t sound like much, but when it is a Terminator or something equivalent that packs a lot of nasty firepower, even one more guy running is a big deal.
With every game, I’ve found Harbingers of Dread to be monstrously strong, and the overwhelming feedback from opponents has been something like “I didn’t respect that rule enough, it was a huge factor in my losing the game/almost losing the game.”
If I want the Magaera to be even killier, and this usually goes if I have a second Abhorrent knight in the list, I’ll put Knight Diabolus on it.
– Add 1 to this WARLORD’s Attack Characteristic
– Each time this WARLORD makes a melee attack, re-roll a hit roll of one.
I find this particularly a useful trait when combined with the +1 to hit stratagem that Iconoclast Knights have access to, making the Magaera take 18 sweep attacks that hit on 2s, re-roll 1s to hit, and are all damage 3 and AP -3.
At about the same rate as I reach for Knight Diabolus, I reach for Infernal Quest as my second Abhorrent Warlord Trait.
This WARLORD has the objective secured ability.
This is just a nice way to bully enemy primary scores, as combining this with something like Panoply of the Cursed Knight for a 2+ Armor Save and then either Blessing of the Dark Master for no re-rolls and potential Transhuman to Hit or Mark of the Dread Knight for a guaranteed Feel No Pain is very resource intensive for the enemy army. There will be games where past turn 2 or 3, the enemy list cannot feasibly take down the big knight on their objective without losing most of the rest of their army in retaliation or taking a massive hit on primary points for multiple turns in a row.
I find the other three Warlord Traits to be uninspiring most of the time for these big knights, and though I think many of the house specific traits are excellent, I also haven’t played much beyond House Herpetrax so I’m not going to comment on them here.
Relics:
I think, once again, that there are three main relics to consider when looking at the Magaera.
The first is, I think, the Panoply of the Cursed Knights.
This model has a Save characteristic of 2+
This bumps the already reasonable defensive profile the Magaera brings to bear up further, as it effectively makes the big guy immune to AP 0 guns.
The second option I consider is Veil of Medrengard.
– This model has a 4+ Invulnerable save against ranged attacks.
– This model has a 6+ Invulnerable save against melee attacks.
Most of the other big knights want this intensely for the melee invulnerable save, but the Magaera comes with one already. The only thing this really does is offset the 2 CP cost to make its ranged Invuln a 4+, and in that respect it’s still a good trade off in many situations. Spending 1 CP before the game starts to never have to spend CP on that particular knight again is really nice.
The third relic that I will occasionally look to is Helm of Warp-Sight.
Each time the bearer makes a ranged attack:
– You gan ignore any or all hit roll and Ballistic Skill modifiers.
– The target does not receive the benefits of cover against that attack.
This is obviously an excellent relic, but the Magaera already has the second piece of it baseline, which makes taking it a bit of a stretch.
I don’t find the rest of the generic relics worth discussing on the Magaera – the exception being the Blasphemous Engine, but I am talking about Iconoclastin this article so it is not a consideration – and the only Iconoclast House relic that I would seriously consider taking on the big guy is the Herpetrax Crown of Jedathra.
Each time a melee attack is made against the bearer, subtract 1 from that attack’s hit roll.
This is obviously just another excellent piece of defensive tech, but it’s hard to justify the CP for it unless skewing extremely defensively. It also, to me, falls short of the Panoply of the Cursed Knights, and so loses out on being part of a single Abhorrent class list.
Favors of the Dark Gods:
To the surprise of no one, my first choice for the Magaera is Blessing of the Dark Master.
– This model gains the Pantheon Undivided Keyword.
– Each time an attack is made against this model, your opponent cannot re-roll the hit roll, cannot re-roll the wound roll, and cannot re-roll the damage roll.
– Favored Ability: Each time an attack is made against this model, an unmodified hit roll of 1 – 3 for that attack fails, irrespective of any abilities that the weapon or the model making the attack may have.
This is easily the strongest favor of the bunch on Abhorrent class Knights, and it’s the one that I reach for first on a big knight. Oddly, this is a much less compelling trait on a War Dog. This is usually going on the Knight with Aura of Terror and Panoply of the Cursed Knights so that you can force your opponents to shoot at the model they’ll (ideally) miss half the time and never get to re-roll against instead of the rest of your army.
After the Blessing, the rest of these traits are all really powerful options on the Magaera and should be tailored to your individual playing styles.
I have really enjoyed Mark of the Dread Knight on Abhorrent knights lately.
– This model gains the Pantheon Undivided Keyword.
– Each time this model would lose a wound, roll one D6: on a 6, that wound is not lost.
– Favored Ability: Each time this model would lose a wound, roll one D6: on a 5+, that wound is not lost.
Giving something with 24+ wounds a Feel no Pain effect is really strong and should not be underestimated.
Another Favor I think is excellent on specifically a Magaera is Cursed Rune of Fate.
– This model gains the Tzeentch keyword.
– Each time a ranged attack is made against the bearer, on an unmodified saving throw of 6, the attacking model’s unit suffers 1 mortal wound after all of the unit’s attacks have been resolved (to a maximum of six mortal wounds).
– Favored Ability: This model has a 4+ Invulnerable Save.
Magaera’s have an easier time than most of the other knights in getting 10 wounds of things dead at range consistently to unlock the very powerful second half of this favor, and actually wants to get into melee with things unlike the double gun Despoiler that would also be able to unlock this reasonably quickly.
Finally, I think Beguiling Majesty is worth a look.
– This model gains the Slaanesh Keyword.
– Each time a melee attack is made against this model, subtract 1 from that attack’s hit roll and subtract 1 from that attack’s wound roll.
– Favored Ability: This model gains the following ability ‘Beguiling Majesty (Aura): While an enemy unit is within 6” of this model, subtract 1 from the Attacks characteristic of models in that unit.
Just another excellent piece of defensive tech that makes the Magaera even more difficult to to engage with in melee. A cute thing you can do with the Magaera that is significantly more difficult with the other knights is using Overwatch to unlock the last few wounds on this particular favor. Favors unlock at the end of phases, and if you are able to knock off 1 – 2 models with the Rad-Cleanser and unlock the aura, suddenly your opponents unit is both hitting you less accurately and less hard, but they’re also just flat out making less attacks.
Quick Caveat: If you want to take this Favor, strongly consider the Tyrant’s Banner Warlord Relic for an extra 3″ range on your auras.
Any of the Slaanesh favors are also a secret damage buff, as the Murderbliss Stratagem gives you an extra melee attack against units with 6 or more models or TWO extra melee attacks against units with 11 or more models.
Best case scenario you just get to make a casual 24 sweep attacks hitting on 2s and re-rolling 1s (Knight Diabolus, Strat for +1 to hit), wounding on 2s (or 3s) and 3 damage per attack.
Synergies:
I really like the Magaera as the sort of “elite infantry clear” models in the army. If bringing one, I still recommend taking at least one Executioner for its insanely long range Autocannon, but if you’ve got two Magaera in the list then it’s possible that every other gun you bring should be either Gatling Cannons for serious chaff clear or Thermal Spears for tank busting.
I also think that a double Magaera list has enough ranged firepower in the big knights that you can afford to bring a Karnivore or two and still retain a comparable amount of firepower to a list with two other Abhorrent class knights and seven War Dogs.
There is a Favor I do specifically want to call out as being important in an army with your “big guns” topping out at Strength 7 – Aura of Corruption.
– This model gains the Nurgle Keyword.
– This model has the following ability: ‘Corruption of the Body (Aura): Whilst an enemy unit is within 6” of this model, subtract 1 from the Strength characteristics of models in that unit.’
– Favored Ability: This model has the following ability: ‘Corruption of the Soul (Aura): Whilst an enemy unit is within 6” of this model, subtract 1 from the Toughness characteristic of models in that unit.’
This is a Favor that I have seen basically no chatter about, and I think that it’s actually excellent with the Magaera and frankly every other model in the Chaos Knight roster when it comes to the shooting phase.
Let’s do some quick math here.
This is what it looks like when a Magaera shoots at a unit of Space Marines with Armor of Contempt with them being their usual Toughness 4 compared to Toughness 3. As we see, the expected result is only one extra dead model, but in Chaos Knights that’s a huge change in terms of likelihood of breaking during morale, and it probably won’t be the only model shooting at those marines (making your Gatling Cannon wound Space Marines on 2s is also pretty sweet.)
As always, these are all from unitcrunch.com – a fantastic 40k dice simulator.
Next we look at a T7 Vehicle with 10 wounds and Armor of Contempt similar to a Rhino. You can see clearly here that in the first picture, the Magaera is super unlikely to kill the thing in one round, but when -1 Toughness is applied it spikes up to a pretty reasonable shot to kill the thing.
Finally we look at the math of taking on an Imperial Knight with its baseline 5+ Ranged Invulnerable Save. Without the -1 Toughness aura, the Magaera is sad and only doing 6 damage to the big guy, and that number jumps up by 50% to 9 damage with the -1 Toughness.
If you’re curious, I ran the math on Two Magaera and one Executioner against a single Knight and to my surprise they drop it slightly more than half the time with the -1 Toughness aura applied. These aren’t even the anti-tank weapons in the army!
Obviously, this set up requires a bit of work to pull off – the War Dog in question needs to kill 5 wounds worth of things AND be in a good position for this to do anything at all. That said, I think the potential payoff is strong enough that it’s worth putting in the reps to get comfortable with that activation sequence.
Alternatively, just play a Magaera with Deathguard, they get all the -1 toughness auras it could ever want! (I’m kidding, please don’t actually do this – Plague Marines are way too efficient to swap out for a Knight).
Sample Lists:
I’ve got two lists for consideration here today. The first is a variation on the list that I’ve been loving to pieces this year since the codex dropped. You can read about that in my recent tournament reports here and here.
This version drops both the Abominant and the Desecrator for two Magaera, and it drops both Executionors in favor of a single Brigand to make the points work out for the expensive second big guy.
The Executioner that remains gets to be in Precision Cruelty, which combos nicely with the Mirror of Fate allowing it to auto six a hit, wound, or save roll once per round.
++ Super-Heavy Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Chaos Knights) [105 PL, 1,995pts, 2CP] ++
+ Lord of War [105 PL, 1,995pts, -4CP] +
Chaos Questoris Knight Magaera [27 PL, 530pts, -2CP]: 6. Aura of Terror, Character (Traitoris Lance), House Herpetrax, Lightning cannon, Panoply of the Cursed Knights, Phased plasma-fusil, Stratagem: Relic [-1CP], Stratagem: Warlord Trait [-1CP], Titanic feet, Undivided – Blessing of the Dark Master [2 PL, 30pts], Warlord
. Hekaton siege claw: Twin rad cleanser
Chaos Questoris Knight Magaera [27 PL, 540pts, -1CP]: 5. Infernal Quest, Character (Tyrannical Court) [-1CP], House Herpetrax, Lightning cannon, Phased plasma-fusil, Titanic feet, Undivided – Mark of the Dread Knight [2 PL, 40pts]
. Hekaton siege claw: Twin rad cleanser
War Dog Brigand Squadron [9 PL, 170pts]: Iconoclast Dreadblade, Precision Cruelty
. War Dog Brigand [9 PL, 170pts]: Avenger chaincannon, Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Tzeentch – Mirror of Fates [1 PL, 15pts]
War Dog Karnivore Squadron [17 PL, 300pts, -1CP]: House Herpetrax
. War Dog Karnivore [9 PL, 160pts, -1CP]: Corrupted Heirlooms [-1CP], Diabolus heavy stubber, Helm of Dogs, Reaper chaintalon, Slaanesh – Beguiling Majesty [1 PL, 20pts], Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Karnivore [8 PL, 140pts]: Diabolus heavy stubber, Reaper chaintalon, Slaughterclaw
War Dog Stalker Squadron [25 PL, 455pts]: House Herpetrax
. War Dog Stalker [9 PL, 165pts]: Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Nurgle – The Putrid Carapace [1 PL, 20pts], Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Avenger chaincannon, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
++ Total: [105 PL, 2CP, 1,995pts] ++
This next list trades out all the favors for pure efficiency of running 10 War Dogs and then the singleton Magaera. It packs a ton of ranged output into the list, and then relies on three Karnivores to handle anything in melee that comes too close – although there are four Stalkers in the list a well to bang up things that get too close to you.
I’ve given the Brigands the Precision Cruelty Dreadblade Bond so that any sixes to wound they roll are an extra AP and damage – very useful for Chaincannons – and I gave Bold Tyrants to the Executioner so that its Autocannon is super consistent within 18 inches of it.
I would actually be really interested to try this list out entirely in Bold Tyrants as I think the extra AP across the board would be very good, but it’s hard to give up 24 extra wounds from Herpetrax.
++ Super-Heavy Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Chaos Knights) [99 PL, 1,840pts, 3CP] ++
+ Lord of War [99 PL, 1,840pts, -3CP] +
Chaos Questoris Knight Magaera [27 PL, 530pts, -2CP]: 6. Aura of Terror, Character (Traitoris Lance), House Herpetrax, Lightning cannon, Panoply of the Cursed Knights, Phased plasma-fusil, Stratagem: Relic [-1CP], Stratagem: Warlord Trait [-1CP], Titanic feet, Undivided – Blessing of the Dark Master [2 PL, 30pts], Warlord
. Hekaton siege claw: Twin rad cleanser
War Dog Brigand Squadron [16 PL, 310pts]: Iconoclast Dreadblade, Precision Cruelty
. War Dog Brigand [8 PL, 155pts]: Avenger chaincannon, Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber
. War Dog Brigand [8 PL, 155pts]: Avenger chaincannon, Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber
War Dog Karnivore Squadron [24 PL, 420pts, -1CP]: House Herpetrax
. War Dog Karnivore [8 PL, 140pts, -1CP]: Corrupted Heirlooms [-1CP], Diabolus heavy stubber, Helm of Dogs, Reaper chaintalon, Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Karnivore [8 PL, 140pts]: Diabolus heavy stubber, Reaper chaintalon, Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Karnivore [8 PL, 140pts]: Diabolus heavy stubber, Reaper chaintalon, Slaughterclaw
War Dog Stalker Squadron [24 PL, 435pts]: House Herpetrax
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Daemonbreath spear, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
War Dog Stalker Squadron [8 PL, 145pts]: House Herpetrax
. War Dog Stalker [8 PL, 145pts]: Avenger chaincannon, Diabolus heavy stubber, Slaughterclaw
++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment -3CP (Chaos – Chaos Knights) [8 PL, 155pts, ] ++
+ Lord of War [8 PL, 155pts] +
War Dog Executioner Squadron [8 PL, 155pts]: Bold Tyrants, Iconoclast Dreadblade
. War Dog Executioner [8 PL, 155pts]: Diabolus heavy stubber, 2x War Dog autocannon
++ Total: [107 PL, 3CP, 1,995pts] ++
Final Thoughts:
The Magaera is an incredibly versatile knight that adds a lot to the Chaos Knight arsenal. It’s not going to individually shake up the entirety of list composition – they’d need to drop points quite a bit for that – but they do offer some alternatives to the Desecrator and Abominant which have been the only real competitive builds for knights.
The Magaera is fast, consistent, and durable. It has the weapon profiles to take on most threats in the game, and is a credible threat in its own right as well.
I highly recommend giving one a try in a future game if you haven’t already!
What have your experiences been with the Magaera in ninth edition? Has it performed well? Has it had any horrible matchups? Have I missed any awesome combinations? Please let us know in the comments!
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