How to Play Chaos Space Marines in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

The structural change is Detachment Points. In 10th edition you chose one detachment; in 11th you get a DP budget of roughly 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points, and spend it on detachments that each cost 1 to 3 DP, so you can now combine detachments.

For Chaos Space Marines that means the eight returning codex detachments were joined by nine more, of which the Faction Pack prints all nine in full: Cabal of Chaos, Devotees of Destruction, Murdertalon Raiders, Warpstrike Champions, Cult of the Arkifane, Creations of Bile, Nightmare Hunt, Huron's Marauders and Renegade Warband. Seventeen are legal in total.

The pack also amends seven codex detachments in its Rules Updates section: Chaos Cult, Deceptors, Dread Talons, Pactbound Zealots, Renegade Raiders, Soulforged Warpack and Veterans of the Long War. Only Fellhammer Siege-host is named nowhere in it.

And it adds or reprints ten datasheets: Kravek Morne, Mutilators, Defiler, Huron Blackheart, Masters of the Maelstrom, Red Corsairs Raiders, Red Corsairs Reave-Captain, Nemesis Claw, Raptors and Warp Talons.

One datasheet change matters more than its size suggests: the Master of Executions lost 'Leader' and gained 'Support', so it can now be attached to a unit that already has a Leader. Version 1.2 gave the same treatment to Masters of the Maelstrom.

If your Army Faction is Heretic Astartes, each time a unit with the ability is selected to shoot or fight it can make a Dark Pact. If it does, it takes a Leadership test first; on a failure the unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Either way, you then select [LETHAL HITS] or [SUSTAINED HITS 1] for that unit's weapons until the end of the phase.

Two official clarifications are worth knowing. You cannot select a unit to shoot when it has no eligible targets purely to make a pact. But a unit selected as the target of the Fire Overwatch stratagem can make one, because it is being selected to shoot.

The second army-level rule is Cults of the Dark Gods, which lets you include Khorne Berzerkers, Rubric Marines, Plague Marines and Noise Marines as Heretic Astartes, capped by battle size at 250 points at Incursion, 500 at Strike Force and 750 at Onslaught.

Read that gamble carefully, because it is the shape of the faction. Dark Pacts is opt-in per unit per phase, so the real skill is choosing which units pact and when. A detachment that improves the payout (Pactbound Zealots), the reliability (Cult of the Arkifane's Touch of the Arkifane), or the survivability of the backlash (Cabal of Chaos healing) is changing the maths of a decision you make ten times a game.

Your DP budget scales with game size: about 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points. Costs:

• 3-DP detachments (Creations of Bile, Huron's Marauders, Pactbound Zealots, Renegade Raiders) fill your whole 2,000-point budget on their own, so they run solo.
• 2-DP detachments (Chaos Cult, Cult of the Arkifane, Deceptors, Dread Talons, Fellhammer Siege-host, Nightmare Hunt, Renegade Warband, Soulforged Warpack, Veterans of the Long War, Warpstrike Champions) leave 1 DP spare for a support.
• 1-DP detachments (Cabal of Chaos, Devotees of Destruction, Murdertalon Raiders) are the glue, and three of them together also make a legal 3-DP army.

Those DP values are not printed in the Faction Pack, but they are published officially in the Munitorum Field Manual, and Wahapedia's 11th-edition page independently agrees on all seventeen. None of them is contested. Points updates move them, so confirm in the app before you build.

There is exactly one pairing restriction. Chaos Space Marines have a single Unique Tag, NIGHTMARE, carried by Murdertalon Raiders (1 DP) and Nightmare Hunt (2 DP). No two detachments may share a tag, so those two can never be fielded together. That is worth saying twice, because 1 + 2 = 3 makes them look like the obvious pair.

Seventeen detachments are legal. By DP cost:

3 DP, run alone

• Pactbound Zealots — the Marks of Chaos crit engine, and the default full-army pick.
• Creations of Bile — army-wide Experimental Augmentations chosen once at the start of the battle.
• Renegade Raiders — [ASSAULT] on everything plus +1 Armour Penetration against anything standing on an objective.
• Huron's Marauders — a Command-phase choice of two abilities for all your infantry, doubled near Huron Blackheart.

2 DP, with a point to spare

• Veterans of the Long War — nominate one enemy unit each turn and re-roll hits against it.
• Deceptors — free Infiltrators on Legionaries and Cultist Mobs.
• Dread Talons — a 12\" aura that forces Battle-shock tests at -1.
• Nightmare Hunt — the same fear premise with a much larger payout. Carries NIGHTMARE.
• Warpstrike Champions — pick up Terminators, Obliterators and Mutilators at end of turn and redeploy them.
• Cult of the Arkifane — every vehicle becomes a Daemon with a 5+ invulnerable save.
• Renegade Warband — deletes Dark Pacts entirely in exchange for [ASSAULT] and a hate mechanic.
• Soulforged Warpack — Daemon Vehicles trade a worse pact roll for a much better payout.
• Chaos Cult — mortal cultists and Traitor Guardsmen making Desperate Pacts to move faster.
• Fellhammer Siege-host — -1 to wound against high-Strength shooting.

1 DP, the splash picks

• Cabal of Chaos — Psykers and non-Khorne Daemon Princes hit far harder when they pact.
• Devotees of Destruction — Havocs and Obliterators gain [HEAVY].
• Murdertalon Raiders — jump-pack infantry prey on broken and thinned units. Carries NIGHTMARE.

If you only remember one line from this section: Devotees of Destruction is the cheapest real upgrade in the faction. One point giving your two heaviest gun units [HEAVY] is a lot of output for a splash, which is why so many 11th-edition Chaos lists are a 2-DP core plus a 1-DP gun package.

Pick a core from your collection and playstyle:

• All-comers marine army → Pactbound Zealots (3 DP). Fabius Bile and infantry → Creations of Bile (3 DP). Objective aggression out of transports → Renegade Raiders (3 DP). Red Corsairs → Huron's Marauders (3 DP). All four fill the budget and run alone.
• Terminators and Obliterators → Warpstrike Champions. Daemon engines and tanks → Cult of the Arkifane or Soulforged Warpack. Night Lords terror → Dread Talons or Nightmare Hunt. Alpha Legion tricks → Deceptors. Iron Warriors grind → Fellhammer Siege-host. Cultist horde → Chaos Cult. Black Legion focus fire → Veterans of the Long War. No Dark Pacts at all → Renegade Warband. All are 2 DP and leave a point spare.

If your core is a 2-DP detachment, spend the leftover DP on a 1-DP support:

• Devotees of Destruction if you own Havocs or Obliterators, which is the default answer.
• Cabal of Chaos to add ranged mortal wounds and a real threat from a Sorcerer or Daemon Prince.
• Murdertalon Raiders to add jump-pack reach, but note it cannot pair with Nightmare Hunt, since both carry NIGHTMARE.

One trap is worth spelling out. Renegade Warband removes the Dark Pacts ability from every Heretic Astartes model in your army. That is legal alongside anything, but it silently switches off any partner whose rule keys off making a pact, so Cabal of Chaos does nothing there and the Devotees stratagem Ruination's Bounty cannot be used. Murdertalon Raiders is the only 1-DP detachment whose rule never mentions Dark Pacts, which makes it the honest partner.

A concrete 2,000-point example: Dread Talons (2 DP) + Murdertalon Raiders (1 DP). Dread Talons forces Battle-shock tests at -1 across a 12-inch bubble; Murdertalon Raiders pays you re-rolls and a defensive penalty against exactly the units that fail them.

Two habits carry Chaos Space Marines games. First, do not pact reflexively. Dark Pacts is optional every single time, and a failed Leadership test is D3 mortal wounds on the unit you were about to swing with. Pact with the unit that is going to hit something worth hitting, and skip it on the squad clearing a screen. Leadership matters here in a way it does not for most factions, so know which of your units are battle-shocked before you commit.

Second, watch which phase your stratagems live in. The three 1-DP detachments have only three stratagems each, so a mono-1-DP list runs out of things to spend command points on. The 2-DP and 3-DP detachments each carry six, and several of the best ones are reactive: Empyric Dislocation, Contemptuous Disregard, Unfailingly Obdurate, Steadfast Determination and Undying Hatred all fire in your opponent's turn. Hold a point for them.

And since the Master of Executions is now a Support character, plan your characters as pairs: it can share a unit with a Chaos Lord or Dark Apostle that already leads it.

If you are new or returning, build a Pactbound Zealots list first. It is the most forgiving detachment, it works with almost any Chaos Space Marines collection, and its Marks of Chaos rule teaches you the rhythm of the army rule without asking you to commit to daemon engines, cultists or a jump-pack theme. Note that Faction Pack v1.2 tightened its Restrictions: characters can only attach to units sharing their Mark, and a unit can only embark within a Transport if both share a Mark, so plan Marks and transports together.

Once you are comfortable, try a 2 + 1 DP split. The cleanest one to learn on is a 2-DP core plus Devotees of Destruction, because it adds firepower without adding rules overhead.

Because Chaos Space Marines are still on a faction pack rather than a full 11th-edition codex, expect a future codex to re-tune this detachment lineup and its points. Until then, everything here reflects the current, live rules.