One of the best things about dooming your fellow humans to an eternity of torture at the hands of thirsting gods is the awesome gear you pick up along the way. The eightfold path to ascension is littered with powerful weapons for cracking mortal skulls – and the most dangerous of these are more than mere blades and bludgeons. They’re inhabited by malevolent warp entities, who want nothing more than to be your new best friend. Probably.
And in the upcoming Codex: Chaos Space Marines, this daemonic armoury will grant your champions power, glory, or maybe just an unfortunate end.
Bending a daemon to your will is a tricky business, as the immortal creatures of the empyrean are beings of pure Chaos who have known true freedom since the first thinking beings crawled from the mud. Wielding a Daemon Weapon is therefore a constant battle of wills – the bearer must wrestle their unwilling compatriot into line, lest their very soul become a tasty lunch box.*
Of course, the character in question could always stow away their rambunctious armaments until they’ve calmed down a bit – but then they’ll suffer the ignominy of needing to slap their foes to death. Damnation, or humiliation? We honestly can’t decide which is worse.
For those able to corral their infernal accessories, the reward is power beyond any mortal blade. The new codex includes a daemon weapon for each of the Chaos Gods to bequeath upon their champions – KHORNE, NURGLE, SLAANESH, and TZEENTCH – and even those who praise CHAOS UNDIVIDED will find the power of the warp within their grasp.
Each of these five Relics can be given to one of your characters – but while mortal Relics are usually tied to a specific type of weapon, the mutable nature of daemonhood allows you to make a daemon weapon from almost any kind of melee masher. Fancy jamming Ul’o’cca the Black into a massive axe? How about a crackling force stave? Why not! You could even bind it to some squirming mechatendrils…
Daemon weapons are the crown jewels of the Chaos Space Marine armoury, but are by no means the only Relics on offer – plenty more await, including those unique to your Legion of choice.
And you’d be right to be wary of claiming their immense power. Only one man – if he can still be called such – has ever managed to keep his pet daemon firmly under lock and key.** If that isn’t impressive enough, he might just carry the strongest daemon weapon the galaxy has ever seen.
Yeah, it’s that guy.
Abaddon the Despoiler unearthed the daemon blade Drach’nyen deep beneath the planet Uralan, during his First Black Crusade, and has used it to slaughter enemies beyond number in the millennia since. His indomitable will is so strong that he never needs to roll for control – the howling sword is only too happy to slice through man and vehicle alike.
Bind your own daemon weapon and conquer the festering Imperium when Codex: Chaos Space Marines arrives for pre-order soon – and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter for even more reveals delivered to your inbox in the coming weeks.
* Whatever happened to those Relictor fellows, anyway?
** Eisenhorn might argue the toss, but we’d be wary of calling Cherubael a “pet”...