Warhammer 40K Hot Mess – Knight Abominant
The Knight Abominant just doesn’t have what it takes. Today let’s see if we can make the psychic Chaos Knight better without making it bonkers.
Man I remember when this model was “showcased”. It looked awesome, was creepy, and the idea of a Psychic knight was pretty dang cool. Of course when reality hits and you wonder how this giant monster just doesn’t do enough – well you get a little bit sad inside. The Knight Abominant is one of those models that feels like an edition before it might have been scarier.
It currently just feels a bit off due to its overall lack of “battlefield” presence. Sure it can be tough to remove but it really doesn’t do a whole lot. Its only real job is to be creepy. Maybe it’ll throw a little bit of wounds on something, and if it’s get lucky throw out a smite or two. Overall it just feels underwhelming when you compare it to some of the other Knights and the little baby Wardogs that just do more for their point cost.
Help the Knight Abominant Help His Friends More
The big knights need to help out the baby knights more. Even though they are Chaos and probably bad – they should want their little ones to get buffed. I think the best thing to do – especially with a psychic Knight is to update that FNP power and let the aura of help to his doggies always work. They don’t need the “bigger” cast to activate and just let it be a power that always works whenever they cast the spell.
I also like the idea to make them more like a Master of Possession with a heal option too – again it only works for the War Dogs. This way the Knight Abominant becomes a much more supportive character that isn’t just a weird psyker with a kind of off attack profile. Heck make all his auras and abilities pyschic so it isn’t automatic. Just let him be more supportive to the team beyond just being an angry dude in a suit covered in birds.
Fix the Abominant’s Gun
Volkite is an interesting gun that needs to always have a lot of shots to be worth the trouble. Currently the Abominant’s gun is just not good enough to get him over the hump of being a weird Knight that isn’t “deadly” enough. The chance for mortal wounds is so low as you have to get over the hump of hitting your target. I think doubling its shots would most likely be the best choice to make this go from a ok I got a little bit lucky to something that will throw out at least 3 mortal wounds to its target. Sure there is a chance to spike but that is the fun of this game where the spiking effects can cause some interesting swings in the game.
Remove the Random Number of Tail Attacks
It just needs to be 3 attacks and if you want to get cute with it make it Malefic. Heck just make it where he has 3 auto hits at the end of combat as it does a little twirl of destruction. I always hate the aspects of d3 attacks. Rolling of a 1 then having to roll to hit is just frustrating.
Imagine if I were 50 ft tall!
Let Khorne Ones Be More Than Melee Options
You now how interesting it would have been if this chassis had a “Dark Apostle” like option for just Khorne. It would let a Khorne Knight Abominant become a very unique unit beyond just kind of meh psychic powers and a cool looking kit. I’ve always felt there was a lot of room in the whole Prayer aspect of the game. Adding that to this – especially as it is evil prayers – would have been cool and let Khorne have a little fun.
God Specific Spells
Finally I felt there was a thought missed when they didn’t have God Specific psychic powers. I don’t know what they would be to differentiate them from the CSM book and Daemons. But it would have been sweet to see something new and unique. Maybe some AOE’s for Nurgle, a massive Psychic Bolt for Tzeentch, and something super creepy like an advance and charge for Slaanesh. It would help set up the model to be something you want in the army to gain instead of just being a kinda cool idea.
I just want this model to be as cool as it was when we first saw it. The scary psychic option of doom who is just more then a basic psyker who can barely smash apart some Sisters of Battle.
Let us know how you would fix the unit, down in the comments!
