By Trish Celefaze

Introduction

Hedonites of Slaanesh are the servants of the god of excess, depraved flocks of hedonists committing wanton chaos in service and in search of their absent deity. They’ve had a storied history of once having rather overtly strong rules in the early portion of 2nd edition and struggling with intensely punitive rebalancing for each following iteration (with brief periods of strength in-between). Has Slaanesh finally escaped the clutches of the Realm of Nerfs? Let’s explore.

Playstyle

The Hedonites of Slaanesh are a risk versus reward faction, featuring one of the few Battle Traits with a noticeably negative downside. This results in a faction that can empower itself to some truly effective levels, but can trip over the flexibility and raw power afforded to their opponent when doing so. Our three primary playstyles will likely come down to massed evasive cavalry, darting in and out of combat to pick their fights as they please, large mobs of daemonettes stacking buffs to become battlefield blenders, and multiple small units of sybarites stacking control score bonuses high enough to keep even mega-gargants from taking their staked claims.

Battle Traits

The Battle Trait for the forces of Slaanesh comes in two separate parts, both linked inextricably into what functions as a single ability:

The first listed and the active ability of the two is An Excess of Depravity, which allows you to designate up to three of your units to become Euphoric, which will become important later. For each unit you do so with, you grant your opponent a temptation dice, which each allow your opponent to replace the roll of a to-wound, run, save, or ward save with a 6, or to spend two at once to allow your opponent an automatic charge result of 12. This is distinct as being a powerful detriment to the Slaanesh player.

The upside to this is Euphoric Killers, a passive ability that solely serves to provide what benefits the euphoric status provides. These are significant, granting the unit crit (2 hits) on all attacks (at least, those without the companion ability), as well as enabling the unit to charge or shoot if they used a run ability previously in the turn. The unlimited use spell for the faction can boost this further, however we’ll go over that in the spell section.

This ability is odd. It requires careful strategic consideration on the part of the Slaanesh player, as granting your opponent the defensive buffs of automatic success can blunt some amount of the advantages gained; but even more impactful is the ability for your opponent to have an automatic 12-inch charge. Without careful planning on the hedonite player’s part, this can be utilised with counter-charge to by the opponent to cause battle tactics to fail, and combats to become far less in the Slaanesh player’s favour, despite the boons provided by the euphoric status.

Battle Formations

The Hedonites of Slaanesh do have the benefit of some impactful Battle Formations.

Possibly the least of these is the Depraved Carnival, whose ability, The Ecstatic Throngs provides sybarite infantry units with a +1 to hit if they are damaged or any of their models were slain in the same turn. This has some amount of play with our self-inflicted damage from our faction terrain, but is difficult to engineer on the level that allows for a consistent benefit. Of our Battle Formations, this is the one I would rate lowest.

The next is one that provides a nod towards our old summoning-based playstyle in previous editions, Epicurean Revellers, which provides an additional 3 dice when using the rally command on a unit of non-hero daemons. As we will get to, Daemonettes are incredibly powerful in mass numbers in our latest incarnation, and this does allow us to keep those numbers up for longer into the game. This formation is perhaps more situational than the next two, but it has a solid place, even if it does require a certain amount of resource cost to see any benefit from.

The Seeker Cavalcade is an incredibly strong formation, allowing our cavalry units to retreat and charge, and critically to that effect they do not suffer mortal damage from retreating. This is very powerful, as it allows our cavalry (which have received significant improvements) to be an unpredictable and highly mobile threat that can strike where and when we want. Combined with the mobility of our battle trait, as well one of our most potent spells, this will be high on my radar as a go-to formation moving forward.

The formation I feel will be most impactful for the highest number of lists, however, is Supreme Sybarites, which provides +3 to the control scores of non-hero units in the combat range of a friendly hero. Note that this is a bonus to the control score, which is the sum of control values for models in one unit contesting an objective, not to their objective control characteristic. This is a decent buff on a singular unit. A little control advantage is a boon for sure. However, this becomes far more powerful with multiple small units, taking advantage of the distinction that it is “within” and not “wholly-within” combat range. It also stacks with other sources of control score increases, which we’ll touch upon in the unit section.

Spells

Like most of the indexes, we have only 3 spells to hand, with one that can be cast any number of times, and two that are once per turn.

Sadistic Spite is our unlimited spell, and allows a euphoric unit to trade in its crit (2 hits) ability for crit (mortals) in melee only. This is not a strict upgrade, and will require careful consideration to ensure that you’re using the right option for the right target.

Overwhelming Acquiescence is a very powerful spell that debuffs an enemy unit to be wounded at +1 from any attacks, melee or ranged. This is an excellent way to shore up our rather lackluster 4+ to wound on most of our units, and is great for any type of army. Good stuff.

Phantasmagoria is the hidden powerhouse in our spell lore. Another debuff that targets an enemy unit but provides us with the benefit, this allows us to mark a unit so that when it is selected to make an attack action in combat, we select one unit that can move a mostly unrestricted 2d3”. This allows us to backslide out of combat, providing incredible utility for choosing our fights. Combine this with the new command ability that allows for casting a single spell in your opponent’s turn, and you can have two units with this debuff on at once, allowing the Slaanesh forces to play at Sylvaneth levels of combat evasion. 
Our manifestation lore is decidedly not as potent as our less-than-endless spells.

Mesmerizing Mirror has seen much better days. Unable to move, it sits in place wholly within 12” of the caster, and punishes enemy units wholly within 12” of it for ending their move actions further from it than where they were before with d3 mortal damage. The wholly within 12” is easy to avoid, and typically puts them in range of the next ability, that picks specifically an enemy unit in 6” to receive d3 mortal damage, in exchange for +1 to hit for the rest of the turn (combat and shooting). This is simply too big a buff to hand out for so little damage. It could have some utility on small non-combat heroes, but doesn’t have a lot of general use. At least it’s optional.

Wheels of Excruciation flies around the board at 8” speed, rolling 6 dice for each of up to 3 enemy units it moves over and dealing a mortal damage for each result that is less than their save characteristic. It also boasts a flurry of 2d6 attacks at 4/4/-/1. A decent enough spell, especially with saves having become overall fairly worse with the edition shift.

The Dreadful Visage is very similar to its previous incarnation, but diminished somewhat. Now it rolls 6 dice for an enemy unit in combat, with each 4+ being a mortal wound. If any models die from this (as opposed to previously only needing to be damaged), the unit will strike-last for the remainder of the turn. Boasting 8 attacks at the same profile as a daemonette on top of that, this is a fairly solid spell, providing some useful utility, if not against all targets.

We may be much better suited using one of the other manifestation lores available, with significant utility being provided by Twilit Sorceries to extend the range of our spells (particularly Phantasmagoria) and reduce the impact of shooting, and Morbid Conjuration for the crucial save debuff to really turn Daemonettes up to 11.

Enhancements

Our enhancements are less impactful than our spell lore, and with a few exceptions mostly suited to the keeper of secrets.

Of our Heroic Traits, Glory Hog stands out as the only way to make any of our units euphoric without the tradeoff of providing temptation dice to the opponent, by making the bearer euphoric for the rest of the game as long as they slay a hero. Good stuff. Strongest Alone is still not terribly good, requiring the bearer to be 6” from all friendly units to receive +1 to hit and wound. A decent buff, but worrying at best to engineer. Into the Fray is inconsistent, but quite good when it goes off, providing strike-first to the bearer if they make an unmodified charge roll of 8+

Our Artefacts of Power are all quite useful, without a single dud in the bunch. The Icon of Infinite Excess provides amazing synergy with Daemonettes, with a one-per-game granting of +1 to attacks for a non-hero unit wholly within 12”. Given the once-per-game nature of it, you really want to take this in a list that capitalises on large units with a lot of attacks. For lists that don’t have such units, but favour a more defensive style (such as those focusing on our control score bonuses), look no further than Threnody Voicebox another one-use artefact that subtracts one from the attacks characteristics of enemies in combat range. Combined with bodyguard Twinsouls you could potentially bring a 4-attack unit down to swinging a single time each, an incredible amount of defensive utility for a key turn. The Pendant of Slaanesh by contrast can be used every turn, and provides Heal (3) at the end of any turn in which the bearer took damage. Excellent for builds where a Keeper of Secrets might want to be in constant combat (and perhaps a use-case for Strongest Alone?).

Units

Many of our units have received glow-ups (and a few dimming-downs), and both Shalaxi Helbane and the standard Keeper of Secrets have received incredible buffs compared to their previous iterations. Shalaxi is our method of attacking twice now (and only with non-hero units) and boasts some incredible damage output of her own, in addition to a free modified form of counter-charge that works to interrupt enemy hero charges with one of her own. The twins, Dexcessa and Synessa have become excellent support pieces, with Dexcessa providing their sibling with +1 power level if fielded together, as well as +1 to the attacks characteristics of 3 non-hero daemon units wholly within 12”. Synessa has a spell that makes an enemy hero easier to take down in combat, and an ability to provide +5 or -5 to the control score of either a friendly or enemy unit respectively.  Glutos Orscollion changed significantly, with regrettably all companion attacks, losing a point of save as well as the -1 to hit aura. However this is buffeted by a buffet of buffs, with a running track of cumulative bonuses for sybarite units wholly within 12”, escalating through +1 run and charge -> +3 to control score -> +1 to hit -> +1 rend to melee attacks. This can combo with Supreme Sybarites to provide eligible units with an incredible +6 to control score each. Stack 5 small non-hero units on an objective alongside him and enjoy 30 control score before even accounting for the models themselves. Syll’Esske has dropped the “mini-game” aura of the previous edition in exchange for being a utility beat-stick, with appreciable damage and the ability to allow the use of the same command to be used twice in a phase split between one sybarite and one daemonic unit.

Our smaller heroes remain tech pieces, though not nearly as mandatory as before, with the Lord of Pain providing only +1 to wound in melee, though the Lord of Hubris has a slightly more flexibility with their You First, I Insist ability giving the opponent a hard choice of striking first and only at him, or strike-last. The Shardspeaker remains a save debuffing piece, but will struggle to find a spot in many lists with the new nature of regiments. The Masque and Sigvald both remain mostly unchanged, remaining a deep-striking early threat and a charge-happy anti-ward beatstick respectively. The daemonic heralds are all rather so-so, the Contorted Epitome now far less effective than before for any of its roles, the Bladebringer serving as support for a very specific list focusing on chariots, and the Infernal Enrapturess perhaps the most usable of the bunch, now allowing you to see your opponent’s casting roll and choose to react, forcing a potentially damaging re-roll.

For non-hero units, Daemonettes are one of the great stand-outs of the bunch. Losing their native run and charge, they instead gained +1 attack on a turn in which they charged. Starting at a base of 2, this can be boosted through both Dexcessa and the Icon of Infinite Excess to a staggering 5 attacks on the charge, possibly with either crit (2 hits) or crit (mortal). That is incredible output. Slickblades and  Hellstriders are both appreciable cavalry damage units, with the latter losing a little resilience in exchange for +1 health and -3 to the control scores of enemy units they charge. Also, whips and spears are the same profile, which is a godsend for those frustrated with the fragility of whip-bearing models. Hellflayers are quite effective now, able to roll over multiple units and deal mortal damage while doing so, and boasting an improved melee profile overall.

Seekers, Seeker Chariots and Fiends all saw significant downgrades in their damage output and/or speed, with Fiends getting hit particularly hard by the shift to beast status, but picking up an reliable once per turn (army) strike-last debuff. Symbaresh Twinsouls now cannot charge if they want their debuffs, but remain an appreciable tech-piece, whilst Myrmidesh Painbringers traded extra save for the offence of +1 rend when storming a hostile objective.

Blissbarb Archers are no longer the stars of the show, having seen some downgrades to their offence, losing run and shoot and +1 to wound in favour of a fragile -1 to be hit by shooting ability. They are cheap enough to run en masse however, and benefit from euphoric killers, so could remain a threat into the new edition. Blissbarb Seekers are no longer debuffers, but receive additional rend against targets contesting hostile objectives alongside a small buff to their melee output, which shifts them to appreciably aggressive push pieces. Slaangors return to the bench, boasting a fairly limited number of damage 2 attacks on a fragile chassis that can move once when receiving damage from outside combat.

The Fane of Slaanesh also bears mentioning here as improving significantly, trading d3 unwardable damage to provide one of a plethora of buffs, +1 run and charge, +1 to wound in melee, or the incredibly rare +1 to both casting and unbinding. No longer does this model awkwardly take up real estate on the board. It has a use for as long as your opponent is willing to let it stand.

Sample List

This is a list from my own private vintage, showcasing a particularly terrifying amount of offensive might:

List Name: Will it Blend?
Battle Formation: Epicurean Revellers
Manifestation Lore: Morbid Conjuration

Shalaxi Helbane 490 (General)

Dexcessa 240
Daemonettes x20 220
Daemonettes x20 220
Daemonettes x20 220

Shardspeaker 130 (Icon of Infinite Excess, Glory Hog)
Hellstriders x5 150
Hellstriders x5 150

This list hits hard, fast, and strong. Screening early with Hellstriders, the Slaanesh player is striving to line up a payload turn, charging with the Daemonettes for a ceiling of 280 attacks on the charge, all potentially with either crit (2 hits) or crit (mortals) depending on the target. Shalaxi allows the unit benefiting from the Icon of Infinite Excess to attack again at strike-last speed, mopping up any unfortunate survivors from the last volley of crab-clawed death. The Purple Sun and the Shardspeaker can both provide -1 to saves, allowing all of this to be done with an effective rend of -3 if everything goes right. I almost feel bad showing this one off, as it’s simply filthy. If you’re willing to cram quite a lot in the general’s regiment you could condense this down to two regiments you could swap the Shardspeaker for an Infernal Enrapturess, though with the emphasis on killing units in the general’s regiment I’m hesitant to advise that.