Chaos Lord tactics/builds, need opinions.

[fok12]

I've been playing mostly Chaos since I started on Elite mod and recently I have started playing the Chaos Lord (I used to play Sorcerer). I have toyed around with lots of builds and I found that the Claws + Mantle of Hate/Armour of the Inferno + Icon of Khorne/Visage works great. It gives you a very nice tankyness with good dps output. The problem is that this is all T2 and also pretty pricey. What do you guys think about this? Is it better to invest in a T1 build and then switch when in T2 or just go straight to it? I would also appreciate it if you could give some reasoning/possible tactics behind your suggestions .

Thanks in advance.

[Nurland]

I know this is obvious but it all depends on the MU, what your enemy goes for and how you use the hero. There is no single build that is excellent for every MU. Claws, Inferno, IoK being the most common build in Retail and still being a solid build though not quite as good or popular in Elite.

And yeah CL weapons are a bit pricey but they are powerful and scale pretty well. The other wargear is not that expensive imo.

[Kilgarn]

Usually as I've seen with others too, Chaos Lord players usually either forgo T1 to spend resources on squads instead and kit out their commander in T2 or, if they do get anything they either get (in T1):
1. only a Combi Flamer (excellent parchise, good dmg and a nice AoE ability!)
2. Harness of Rage (good for sustain, melee dmg increase + great synergy with Dark Halo)
3. Dark Halo (lets you stay in engagements a lot longer)

The most common and popular Chaos Lord build is usually:

1. Harness of Rage + Dark Halo from T1 and Lightning Claws from T2
This build makes him tank absurd dmg and no sane player would want to have their units stay near the CL, since the claws do insane dmg, even to vehicles! Its not works always in every situation tho!

2. Armor of the Inferno(T2) for the Let the Galaxy Burn!, this alone in itself is devastating in a skillful hand as it can cause a world of pain to light infantry + nice with its small knockback :3 Amazing vs guardsman, eldar, ork, tyranids (not so much vs. sm, csm, gk XD), since low hp/unit.

3. Blood Maul + Armor of the Inferno + Icon of Khorne (all T2) is also a nice combo, since you will get a stun + knockback and some dmg increase. Also Sweep into a Let the Galaxy Burn! can hurt a lot! You can swap the Icon to the Visage too tho, works well, since you get a CC machine :3


Chaos Lord cannot be suppressed... use that to your advantege!
Though be careful with setup teams! Heavy bolters will do more dmg the closer you get (if you are in the fire arch that is xD). You can nullify this problem with the Harness of Rage + Dark Halo combo, since you will get a nice shield that consumes your mana (technically a 2nd health bar) but you will get it back in the meantime when you chop things up.
Just keep in mind that the CL is not a demigod. Even with this setup, he can be slowed down, rooted or just simply overwhelmed. Use him in conjuction of Raptors (the suppression is just sweet :3), Khorne CSM or Bloodletters, ect. He can do well alone yea, but he will go down fast if you over extend him or he has no support. Also, cultists with khorne worship can speed him up + make him do more dmg which also synergises well.

Depending what your opponent has, get either the Lightning claw or the maul. The Maul is nice vs. infantry heavy factions like IG or Eldar or Orks. Lightning Claw is great for high-priority single targets, like Wierdboy, Painboy, Terminators, heroes, ect. and can hurt tanks too
Try to figure out a retaliation to certain factions and squad setups. The same idea wont be good for different setups, same idea then in SC2 Just in smaller scale XD
Every race needs a different counter ^^

http://dow.wikia.com/wiki/Elite/Chaos_Lord/Upgrades
Here you go ^^ All the upgrades the CL can get, the other champs are there too =)

Also I highly advise to check Indrids casts for Chaos Lord play. We got some nice players who play CL skillfully You might be able to see some tricks and tips that will be useful for you to get a grasp on your own style of play ^^

Oh mai... I wrote a wall of text again -_- sigh ^^;

[fok12]

Wow, just the time it took you to write such a good explanation should be rewarded Kilgarn Thanks a lot . One question now, Daemonic Visage reduces both ranged and melee damage right?

[Nurland]

Now while Kilgarn's post had most of the stuff right and some good tips there, I'd like to correct/clarify a couple things.

First: Lightning Claws do not do a lot of damage to vehicles. Harness, Halo, LC CL can be used to tie down ranged walkers as he can tank some damage but he really doesn't do a whole lot of damage to vehicles. He can help whittle down walkers or tie ranged walkers in melee due to his tankiness but he really does not do a whole lot of damage.

Compared to AV melee wargear LC do pitiful AV damage. FC fist does 42,5 dps, WB Klaw does 47,5 dps, Commie Claw/Fist does 42,5 or so dps, PC fist does about 36 dps, HT Claws do 52,5 dps and CL Claws do 15 dps (16,5 dps with Harness of Rage). 15 dps to vehicles being the equivalent of vanilla Slugga squad damage output to vehicles.

Also iirc Weirdboy and Painboy both have infantry armor so the Maul and the Claws do the same amount of dmg to them. LC are great against enemies with HI/SHI/Commander armor.

Second: Khorne worship only increases speed, not damage output. The only way Khorne worship increases CL dmg output is by making kiting him a lot harder. Khorne Shrines give a 10% increase to dmg output in their vicinity.

[Nurland]

Yes. Visage reduces ranged and melee damage.

[Kilgarn]

Ok, my bad, for some reason I mixed the khorne shirenes buff with the cultists xD
And I think I forgot to metnion that the LC is not an AV weapon... Actually, I cant name an AV choice on the Chaos Lord :/
Only vs. infantry and heavy infatntry + commander, but no real AV option (which would be sorely needed XD).
Hmmm is it me, or does the CL is the only buffy champ that dont have any AV option (thinking about the mirrors like, Hive Tyrant, Warboss, FC, ect.)?
Would be nice if he'd get one actually x) but maybe laterz

EDIT: Hm for some reason I thought Painboy and Wierdboy have higher armor type... ah well :3 Though its strange I usually dont see maul used much lately. Its nearly always an LC Chaos Lord X) However I think the AoE sweep-knockback is great to tie down mass infantry, works great with Let the Galaxy Burn :3

[Kvek]

Ok, my bad, for some reason I mixed the khorne shirenes buff with the cultists xD
And I think I forgot to metnion that the LC is not an AV weapon... Actually, I cant name an AV choice on the Chaos Lord :/
Only vs. infantry and heavy infatntry + commander, but no real AV option (which would be sorely needed XD).
Hmmm is it me, or does the CL is the only buffy champ that dont have any AV option (thinking about the mirrors like, Hive Tyrant, Warboss, FC, ect.)?
Would be nice if he'd get one actually x) but maybe laterz

That would be extremly OP, i'm already tired of him eating my asm.