Warhammer 40K: Be’lakor Needs A Grimdark Buff
The First Daemon Prince is getting an amazing new model and we’re sure hoping he’s getting some fancy new rules in 40k to match!
Wait a minute, didn’t we do this already? That was for Age of Sigmar, and yes – Be’lakor should totally get a re-work in AoS. He’s got a special rule that’s a bit on the annoying side to play against. But what about his powers in 40k? Well, they sure don’t seem to fit that amazing new model. Let’s take a look at what he does vs some similar options to see what we mean.
Grimdark Be’lakor
Clocking in at 14 Power Level and 280 points, Be’lakor is pretty pricy. He’s also had some FAQ changes which we’ll go over in a moment. But stat-wise, he’s got great movement with 14″ and can fly. He’s hitting on 2s for both melee and shooting (even though he has no shooting weapon). He’s got a strength and toughness of 6, 8 Wounds, 6 attacks and a 4+ save along with a 5++ invulnerable from Daemonic. He also has a re-roll for his failed saves thanks to Shadow Form. A 4+/5++ re-roll isn’t terrible.
Now, in the FAQ, the Daemonic Ritual was removed from his Datasheet. And he also has a few other things redefined for him as well:
His Lord of Torment is a flat -1 to Leadership to enemy units within 12″. Is this power good? Well, ask yourself how important leadership is in 40k. I think you’ll come to a particular conclusion on that pretty fast. Prince of Chaos is actually nice. It’s a hit re-rolls of 1 that applies to all friendly Chaos Daemon units within 6″ of Be’lakor. He is universally appreciated in daemonic circles I suppose.
He’s got some pretty great attacks in close combat however. The Blade of Shadows is actually pretty darn scary. And Malefic Talons aren’t shabby either. It’s a lot of potential damage on the table – if you can get him into close combat. Psychically, he’s tossing out two powers a turn and can attempt to deny just one. Overall, he’s not bad – but is he worth 14 power level / 280 points? Eh…But keep in mind these are the rules for THIS model, too:
280 Points for this guy? The profile stats DO fit…
Now, just for comparison sake, let’s look at a Daemon Prince.
We’ll add in the wings so it’s going to start at 170 Points and start at a Power Level of 9. A Daemon Prince basically has the same stats as Be’lakor, minus 2″ of movement, and 2 attacks. However, they gain a point of strength and they are more customizable. They are also more focused on supporting their own <allegiance> of daemons. Daemon Princes can also cast just 1 Psychic Power and deny 1 power a turn. They come with a 3+ save and a 5++ invulnerable, too.
Now, depending on which flavor of chaos Daemon Prince you get, you also get some other changes as well – but at most you’re paying 180 points for a Daemon Prince vs Be’lakor’s 280. So basically a Daemon Prince is 100 points cheaper than Be’lakor and is almost as good. Hmm…
If The Rules Don’t Fit…
Now, considering that the current Daemon Prince and Be’lakor models are about the same size and do about the same thing but are only 100 points different I have to ask you: does the same hold true for a model that looks like this:
“I’m basically a Daemon Prince but way easier to shoot and kill in 40k now.”
I mean, we’ve done the size comparison and if this is accurate, I’m MUCH rather run a Daemon Prince instead of Be’lakor in 40k because, well, look:
One of these guys is able to hide just fine. The other is going to be target practice for DAYS.
If Be’lakor doesn’t get some special rule in 40k to protect himself during the enemy shooting phase you can pretty much rule out ever taking him again. Why are you going to spend the points on him when he’s going to be a highly visible target on the tabletop. I mean, he looks fantastic, but he’s also going to really hard to hide.
That said, lore-wise, he is the First Daemon Prince and has a “Shadow Form” rule already. Maybe GW can tweak that to make him harder to hit. Given that to hit mods are capped at -1, is that going to be good enough? It’s surely a start! And yes he IS a character but will GW up his wounds to reflect his new statue and thus make him even harder to hide? Oof. That’s a double edged sword for sure. He’s going to need a big rework.
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what GW will do for the new 40k version of Be’lakor but I sure hope they are going to do something to make this new model more palatable to play within 40k. If GW just uses the current rules for him and up-size his model, well, he’s pretty much DoA on the 40k side of things. So please GW, give him some new rules – I want to see this model get some action on the tabletop!
How would you make the rules of Be’lakor match his model? Let us know in the comments!
