Warhammer 40K: Which CSM Legion Has The Best Trait?
Chaos Marines have a new codex and a lot of new rules, let’s see which CSM Legion came out on top.
Chaos Space Marines are finally in luck. After a long wait, they’ve got a shiny new book. So far it seems pretty solid. One thing it is not lacking is options, there are a lot of choices and just a ton of variety in the book. This time around the individual Chaos Legions in the book have gotten a lot of fleshing out. Today let’s take a look at their traits and rank which we think are best, and which are ones to skip. (Note I’m just looking at the trait as it’s the main non-optional rule you’ll be getting).
8. Alpha Legion
Coming in at 8th place for the worst new Legion Trait of the book we’ve got the Alpha Legion. The old -1 to be hit was a super-powerful rule several years ago when it first showed up in 8th Edition. Now, however, I just don’t think it’s all that good. Since you can’t stack negative modifiers, and there are other ways of getting -1 to be hit, it ends up wasted sometimes. Other times your enemy will just have a way to ignore it. On top of that shooting has got a heck of a lot more accurate. -1 just doesn’t cut it much. Falling back and being able to charge/take actions is a situationally useful rule, but not all that amazing either. Overall I just don’t think these guys are very exciting in their traits.
7. The Black Legion
This rule loses a lot of points for its first half. Normally morale just isn’t that huge a thing in modern 40K. Buffing your defenses vs it is kind of useless most of the time. Getting a +1 on to hit is a better buff, but it’s kind of situational here. This one isn’t high up, not because it’s bad, but because I think there are just better options for traits.
6. Emperor’s Children
This trait is kind of a mixed basket to me. Ignoring hit/WS/BS modifiers can be pretty powerful as it can let you blow through enemy defensives a bit better. It’s kind of amazing that it just destroys the whole Alpha Legion trait (hence one reason AL are the lowest on my list). On the other hand, it doesn’t actually do anything to make your troops better, it just takes away enemy protections. If the enemy didn’t have any protections it won’t help you at all. Effectively you are taking a rule that just takes away enemy rules, it doesn’t give you anything. The addition of 6s getting extra AP isn’t that spicy to me either, it’s random and not super helpful.
5. Iron Warriors
Similar to the Emperor’s Children rule the ability to ignore cover can be pretty useful, even if it doesn’t directly buff your own troops. And, like the EC rule, it’s only useful if the enemy has cover, it’s actually pretty common for at least some enemy units to be in cover during a game. This rule is likely going to come up. On top of that, the AP rule is pretty solid. Since it stacks with Armor of Contempt it means your whole army can effectively ignore AP 2. That’s pretty dang solid, considering a lot of the rapid-fire D2 weapons that can mow down MEQ don’t have great AP.
4. Word Bearers
To me, the Word Bearers are a far superior version of the Black Legion trait. Both have a defensive component. However, losing models to mortal wounds is far more common than losing them to morale. For that reason, I feel that getting saves vs MW is just a better and more useful option. Likewise, I prefer the Word Bearers full re-rolls over the Black Legion +1 to hit. Now using the Word Bearers rule only applies in combat, not shooting, but it’s far less restrictive. You will get to use it a whole lot. It also pairs better with Wanton Slaughter, since the re-rolls allow more chances to get 6s. Overall I think it’s pretty solid.
3. Night Lords
No cap folks, I think the Night Lords trait is pretty good. Now, normally I dismiss anything to do with leadership or morale. It just doesn’t work out. But the Night Lord trait just might be strong enough to make morale matter at all. Just for potentially opening up a new way to play/build an army I’d give them a lot of points. This might actually be ok. On top of that +1 to wound is just always a good rule. With the Night Lord ability to stack some negative leadership modifiers, you can get this buff a decent amount. Night Lords seem like an army that will take some skill to play but could be really good.
2. Red Corsairs
Both of the Red Corsairs rules are solid and will see use pretty much every game. Getting to advance and charge is always a great rule. It can really let you shoot units across the table, and get into combat quicker. This is just generally useful. Likewise counting as extra models for controlling objectives is a solid as heck rule. Combined Red Corsairs can get where they need to be faster and control the objectives when they get there.
1. Creations of Bile
And here we have it. When it comes down to Legion Trait alone I think Creations of Biles have got this locked up as the best one in the book. An additional point of movement and strength is just always useful. Having this for your whole army is kind of crazy honestly. It is something that will affect you every turn of every game. Sometimes it will have a minor effect, in other cases, it could have a really major effect, but you are going to get constant use of it. Just that alone would be pretty rad.
Creations however get a second rule allowing destroyed models to fight in combat if they haven’t already. This is also a super-powerful rule as it makes all your units extra deadly. The enemy can’t count on a sudden decisive combat strike to wipe you out without taking damage back. Instead, they still risk taking a lot of damage. Combined these rules really give Creations of Bile the best Legion Trait of the book.
Let us know which trait you think is best, down in the comments!
