Hey everybody! The Dak here, today we are talking about the new and improved Dark Apostle. Surprisingly, one of the units that received the biggest changes was the Dark Apostle. There is a fair amount of ground to cover so lets dive in.
The Old
In the Beginning, The Dark Apostle was strictly a support unit that gave a nice re-roll failed hit rolls in CC. He also came with a very nice little leadership bubble and was often accompanied by blobs of cultists. Sometimes, a mob of bezerkers or a similarly scary CC unit. Otherwise, he was kinda squishy and didn’t fight all that well himself, preferring to stay out of combat. However, when paired with an exalted champion, even blobs of cultists became scary CC units. Beyond that, you didn’t see him used for much else.
The New
Wow, quite a lot has changed here and I’m not just talking about the updated mini. The Dark Apostle has seen a big change to how his auras work, now he is a Priest much like how they work in AOS. In fact, its clearly the same mechanic that AOS implements. Now, you have to roll a 3+ for his aura to go off for the turn. While at first this may seem like a huge de-buff, he has also gained access to whole host of new prayers. Giving players a ton of flexibility, The Dark apostle is no longer a one trick pony.
His profile also changed a little. Now he comes with an Accursed Crozius, instead of a power maul. The Accursed Crozius is DMG 2 which is a nice touch, and while you only get +1 strength, the old +2 strength usually wasn’t all that impactful. However, he only has 3 attacks base so he still isn’t someone who wants to get stuck in without some buffs. which, I will go over next.
The Buff’s
OOOO WEEE, now thats a lot of stuff! So, lets start with Benediction of Darkness which gives a friendly legion unit -1 to be hit by shooting attacks. This is obviously an awesome one, and incidentally is a great boon to World Eaters players. World eaters don’t normally have access to any form of -1 to be hit modifier and are thus very vulnerable to shooting. This, would finally give them a bit more protection charging up the board. Also, its just dumb on Alpha Legion units. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to be restricted to infantry so feel free throw it on a Land Raider or Lord Of Skulls.
Litany of despair is the second one, and is clearly meant for you Night Lords players out there. Sadly, you cant give him a jump pack, but if you manage to close the distance then this will make those Morale tests even nastier.
Omen of potency is what you want if you plan to brawl with your Dark Apostle. Dang, this one gives him three more attacks and makes his weapon AP-4. Turning him from a support character to a mini beatstick. All and all, its a solid choice if you think he’s going to be stuck in/ you want to surprise your opponent.
Warp-sight plea is more than a little surprising, as Dark apostles traditionally only cared about CC. This one gives a unit within 6” +1 to shooting attacks plain and simple. This is always good and allows the Dark Apostle to fill a backfield roll normally reserved for cheap Chaos Lords. Better still, is keeping a Chaos Lord around for some re-rolls. Also, this doesn’t have a restriction to infantry so feel free to toss it on a Forge Fiend, or maybe a Land Raider. Really, anything with good guns.
Soultearer portent gives a unit within 6″ +1 to wound in CC. Theres nothing fancy here, its just good. Most everything can benefit from this one, but one in particular is World Eaters bezerkers. Combined with Veterans of the long war ‘zerkers can wound knights on 3’s and damn near everything else on 2’s. A squad of 20 with these buffs could demolish nearly anything in the entire game. Especially if you have them fight a third time.
Illusory supplication is a bit of an odd one. This one gives every model within 6″ (not unit) a 5++ save. Ok, so this seems to be fore particularly squishy units like cultists, but the fact they all have to be so close is problematic. My recommendation would be to use this near a trio of predator tanks or vindicators. These units would be able to get the aura easy enough and would likely benefit from a an invulnerable save. However, it seems even better when used near the fancy Forgeworld stuff, like Sicaran tanks and some of the hellforged vehicles.
The Marks of Chaos
ok, so these are the prayers you get for taking a certain Mark of Chaos. Generally speaking these all seem to focus on helping Dark Apostle himself, as opposed to nearby units. so lest evaluate these really fast.
Khorne gets you wrathful entreaty which gives you +2 strength. Not too bad, as the Dark Apostles CC attacks will hit as hard as an auto-cannon. Seems useful if you need to put a few wounds on light vehicle. Tzeench nabs you Mutating invocation, which heals the Dark apostle for D3 wounds. This is one of those things thats always nice to have. Nurgle bestows feculent beseechment, which gives you +2 toughness. I can see this as way to help keep your Dark Apostle alive. Namely, the late game if he’s going to be sitting on an objective and you really want him to stick around. Lastly, you have Blissful Devotion from Slaanesh. This lets your Dark apostle advance and still charge. Sadly, wasted if you play Red Corsairs but can be good otherwise.
But Wait There is More
So, you might be still be salty about the fact you have to roll for these on a 3+ but don’t fret. There are ways to to make it better. One, is to bring along along some Dark disciples, as these guys will add +1 to your Roll. Secondly, you can take the new specialist detachment the Cult of the Damned. This unlocks chorus of the true Faith, and for 1cp adds another +1 to the roll. Now, this means it will auto pass as natural 1’s are not a failure. The other sweet part of bringing Dark disciples is that they are only 5pts each.
The Verdict
The Dark Disciple is now a proverbial swiss army knife, and can be useful in any list. In fact i cant think of many reasons to not bring one. Hopefully, we will see a similar idea implemented for the Sisters of Battle(and I don’t even play them). So Im saying its an absolute Buy. The only reason you might not want a new one is if you already have the old models. However, the new kit also comes with the new Dark Disciples. If your still not convinced, then the new model looks fun to paint at the very least.
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Also a big thanks to Games Workshop for the images used in our article.
