Grey Knights Fires of Purgation Detachment Guide

Fires of Purgation is all about maximising the lethality and disruption of Purgation Squad shooting. In broad strokes, the detachment rule turns their volley of special weapons into a more punishing and destabilising threat — not just raw damage, but the kind of pressure that degrades enemy units beyond their wounds lost. That gives a traditionally melee-centric faction a reliable ranged anchor, which pairs beautifully with the army's teleport tricks: shoot a target apart, then reposition. Because this is a brand-new detachment, treat the specific effect and any conditions as provisional and read the current wording from the Faction Pack before you plan around it.

Expect stratagems that spike your ranged damage at the key moment — reroll or bonus-damage effects that let a single volley punch far above its normal output against a priority target. The play pattern is to pick the turn where deleting one enemy unit swings the game, then pour Command Points into making that volley count. Grey Knights never have many shots, so efficiency matters: use these tools to convert a good target into a dead one rather than spreading fire thin. Verify the exact stratagem names and CP costs in the live rules, as new-detachment stratagems are frequent early errata targets.

The enhancements here are about elevating your Purgation shooting further — think of a character upgrade that boosts the strength or reliability of the squad's fire so it threatens even heavily armoured targets. Attach it to the leader travelling with your main Purgation unit so the buff lands where the guns are. As with all the 1 DP detachments, you have a small, focused toolkit, so choose the enhancement that best fits whether you're hunting elites, vehicles or hordes. Confirm the available enhancements and their points in the current Faction Pack.

Purgation Squads are the star — build around one or two well-equipped squads and give them a leader to unlock the detachment's buffs. Support them with the usual Grey Knights toolkit: Strike Squads and Terminators to hold objectives and threaten melee, plus a Dreadknight if you want a mobile secondary threat. The trick with a shooting-focused Grey Knights list is protecting your gunline while still using Gate of Infinity to reposition — don't let your Purgation Squads get caught in the open or tied up in combat where their guns go quiet.

Take Fires of Purgation when you want to add real ranged threat to a melee-heavy faction, or when you already own Purgation Squads and want a cheap way to make them shine. At 1 DP it slots neatly beside a 2 DP codex detachment in Strike Force games, giving you a shooting package on top of a broader plan. Skip it if you're going pure melee alpha-strike or prefer a whole-army detachment. See how it fits into a full list in the Grey Knights army guide.