Slaanesh is the most beguiling of the Chaos gods. His power comes from temptation and excess, and he promises a supreme satisfaction kept tantalisingly, maddeningly out of reach so as to drive worshippers to further heights of depravity.
Unlike his brothers, Slaanesh does not reside in the Realms of Chaos. His throne in the Six Circles of Seduction lies vacant, for the Dark Prince is imprisoned in a twilight sub-realm between Hysh and Ulgu known as Uhl-Gysh, the Hidden Gloaming. How he got here is no mystery – but a plan enacted in vengeance.
Slaanesh had always savoured the exquisite perfection of aelven spirits – and when the World-that-Was came to an end, the Dark Prince gorged himself on aelf-souls, becoming more powerful than ever before. In the Age of Myth, the aelven gods Teclis, Tyrion, and Malerion, along with the sorceress Morathi, formed a truce, using their own souls to tempt Slaanesh into a trap, binding him with unbreakable chains formed from a paradoxical blend of light and dark magic.
Though he is caught in this hidden pocket of existence – lost to his followers and invisible to his fellow Chaos Gods – Slaanesh's influence is still felt keenly throughout the Mortal Realms. He draws his power from that most mortal of afflictions: excess. Whether that be a gourmand’s quest to taste the most extravagant delicacies, an artist’s drive to create a sublime work, or a duellist’s desire for perfect form.
Overview
Though their master is sealed away in a prison beyond reach, the Hedonites of Slaanesh do not rest. And while mortals are still compromised by their emotions, the Dark Prince will slowly grow in power. He has worked tirelessly for centuries to loosen the fetters that hold him at bay. Morathi-Khaine unwittingly accelerated this process in her pursuit of apotheosis, releasing the twin daemons Synessa and Dexcessa when she dived into Slaanesh’s gut for more aelven souls. The pair are living shards of their patron, and they roam the realms laying the groundwork for his return.
Draped in fine silks and covered in jewelled armour, Hedonites prefer to give battle as carnivals of carnality. Lords of Pain and Hubris command their Sybarite followers with sneering arrogance, while Blissbarb Archers scamper with unnatural grace as they fire volleys of arrows smeared with poison, and Slickblade cavalry lope across the battlefield with speed that defies comprehension. Champions of the Dark Prince like Sigvald and Glutos Orscollion sometimes grace the Sybarite hosts with their presence, as they attempt to curry favour with their god.
Where the Hedonites of Slaanesh spill blood and tempt their enemies to join them, the walls of reality erode, and daemons coil out from the Realm of Chaos. Captivating Daemonettes promise an eternity of pleasure and excess even as they slice their prey to ribbons, great chariots scything through whole regiments with their elegantly bladed wheels. Their presence and profligate debauchery transform the field into a phantasmagorical paradise, an agonising prelude to the carnival of ecstasy and violence that Slaanesh will usher in when he finally breaks loose from his impossible prison.
Battle Traits
The Hedonites of Slaanesh do not engage in half-measures during war. Each battle round is an opportunity to unleash an Excess of Depravity, an offering of pain and predation to their unholy patron.
This ability turns three of your units into Euphoric Killers, losing their minds in a frenzy of slaughter and powerful bonuses.
The enemy is given a chance to turn things to their favour, gaining a temptation dice for each of the units you picked. These can be used to ensure success in certain aspects of battle – but doing so is a double-edged sword that carries with it the chance of mortal damage. Such is the price of dealing with the Prince of Pleasure.
Battle Formations
The Hedonites of Slaanesh enjoy many styles of warfare. Even suffering grave wounds in battle is seen as nothing but another pursuit of sensation for a Depraved Carnival of SYBARITES, and their warriors descend into a frenzy as The Ecstatic Throngs suffer in battle.
Other battle formations revolve around Seeker cavalry chasing with reckless devotion at breakneck speeds, slipping in and out of combat without reprise, or work to scrape down the winnowed walls of reality and supplement their daemonic hordes, or focus on egotistical champions whose reverent warriors claim objectives to honour their ever-perfect masters.
Arcana and Incantations
Wizards devoted to Slaanesh practise the Lore of Extravagance, weaponising their own emotions – and those of their foe – to great effect. With Sadistic Spite, they can goad their EUPHORIC allies into acts of indescribable carnage.
The magic of the Dark Prince can also cause enemy units to lose themselves in an arcane haze that lowers their defences, and bewilder foes with illusory creatures that let your warriors dart out of combat.
Unit Focus
The most bellicose of Slaanesh’s champions is Shalaxi Helbane, a Keeper of Secrets struck by an all-consuming obsession – to utterly humble all the enemies of the Dark Prince in single combat.
Like all greater daemons of Slaanesh, Shalaxi possesses a Supernatural Grace, deftly dodging incoming blows with minimal effort. As a Paramount Hunter they will seek out the greatest foe available, intercepting enemy heroes even as they attempt charge into combat.
While duelling with their favoured opponents, Shalaxi encourages allies to partake in an Excess of Violence, gesturing for them to redouble their efforts and fight for a second time in the same Combat phase.
The daemonspawn of Slaanesh are strange and beguiling creatures all, but Fiends are perhaps the most unholy fusions of beast and nightmare.
Exuding a Soporific Musk, they lull enemies into a powerful stupor before attacking with their elegant and deadly pincers. The Disruptive Song they sing has a keening melody that slices through a sorcerer’s concentration, making even the simplest act of spellcasting a terrible effort.
Mortal warriors of Slaanesh are no less terrifying than their daemonic kin. They are egomaniacal warriors who have often made dark pacts for their powers. Symbaresh Twinsouls have offered their bodies to daemons to gain Fiendish Reflexes that make them untouchable in combat.
These conjoined killers prefer enemy combatants to come to them, provoking foes to charge before entering into a friendly competition of Ego-Driven Excess with their fellow Twinsouls, attacking with a ferocity that only escalates, overwhelming their enemies and leaving them with little time to retaliate.
The depraved actions of the Hedonites of Slaanesh can summon a Fane of Slaanesh into being, profane altars that act as a Damned Conduit to the Dark Prince himself.
By making a sacrifice of flesh to the fane, a unit will receive a boon for the rest of the turn, either becoming faster, more powerful, or more proficient in the arcane arts.
The Word From the Studio
Jimbo: “The battle traits have been rewritten to give the Slaanesh player more agency when buffing their units. They must balance their desire for success through excesses (Euphoric Killers) against the risk of the temptations that they give to their opponent (An Excess of Depravity).
“Each time you buff a unit to increase its damage and mobility, you give your opponent a temptation dice that they can use to try to guarantee a roll of 6. Each temptation dice must be rolled, and failure can result in these warriors succumbing to their own depravity – perhaps a gamble worth making to force through a key charge or guarantee a devastating blow lands on the frenzied revellers that they face.”
Spearhead Spotlight
In Spearhead, the Hedonites of Slaanesh deploy a potent combination of mortal warriors to extend the will of the Dark Prince on the battlefields of the Mortal Realms. The Blades of the Lurid Dream are led by a Shardspeaker who directs murderous libertines that strike from clouds of intoxicating fog.
The Temptations of Slaanesh are powerful enough to tamper with reality when they are accepted – you can offer temptation dice to your enemies each battle round, and accepting will let them correct failed rolls, while refusing your generosity will inflict mortal damage. However, each temptation dice they accept will build up your depravity points, giving powerful buffs to your whole Spearhead force. Either way, the depraved disciples of Slaanesh get to continue their salacious revelry.
No foe is safe from the Slickblade Seekers that ride into battle on trilling mounts with Unrivalled Velocity, re-rolling failed charges, the momentum of their motion giving their glaives the power to sever heads.
Tomorrow we’ll go from clouds of incense to the fug of marsh-mist, as the Kruleboyz lunge out of the swamps of the Mortal Realms for a truly kunnin’ Faction Focus.
