Warriors of Chaos Tier List The Old World

You do not want to spend a fortune on Chaos units that then do not perform on the table, right?

If you are about to start an army and you do not want to get steamrolled, but you also want to play units you actually like, here is an updated tier list.

I am sorry to tell you that Chaos is not the best army right now, and there are units that, as much as people like them, simply are not worth it at the moment. I explain it in 4 minutes.

Let’s get into it.

tier list chaos warriors warhammer the old world theoldwarrior

Warriors of Chaos tier list updated for 1.5.2

Chaos Lord in Warhammer The Old World: You will always see one.

The Chaos Lord gives you access to a dragon with Toughness 6 and 10 Wounds, which is very interesting. The problem is that, without gear, he costs 480 points, so we cannot go too wild because of the 500-point character limit.

In any case, he is still very good and everyone uses him.

Another option is to run him on a mount inside a unit of Chaos Knights, if you prefer more of a death star instead of playing a dragon or double dragon. That gives you access to more gear, such as taking the Ogre Blade and not needing to spend so much on defensive items, because he is protected inside the knight unit from many things, like shooting or magic.

I am not going to repeat it throughout the post, but the Brazen Collar gets used a lot. If the Chaos Lord is not carrying it himself, then the unit champion is. The Brazen Collar gets used so much because it gives the whole unit Magic Resistance (2).

Aspiring Champion in Warhammer The Old World: The replacement for the second Chaos Lord

Since you cannot take two Chaos Lords, if you want to play double dragon you need to take an Aspiring Champion on dragon.

The Aspiring Champion can also be your Battle Standard Bearer, but the most common thing is to run him on dragon with defensive items. And even though he has Toughness 5, he can get access to regeneration without hitting the 500-point limit, unlike the Chaos Lord, so he is also very resilient.

Marauder Horsemen in Warhammer The Old World: You see them in almost every list

You see these guys in basically every list. They are very fast, which makes them great at scoring, and on top of that they are cheap. So you can bring a unit of 7 or 8 skirmishers that move from one point to another, grabbing objectives, destroying supply trains, protecting yours… very versatile.

On top of that, they are also a good bunker unit if you want to include a mounted wizard to throw magic missiles, for example. I already talked about those wizards in the post where we analysed all the options and how to get the most out of Chaos magic, which I will link here.

Giant Spawn in Warhammer The Old World: Nurgle, always Nurgle

The Giant Spawn is really good, but always, always, always with the Mark of Nurgle, because it gives it regeneration. The poisoned attacks are just a side bonus. Do not think the Mark of Nurgle is overpriced, because that regeneration is genuinely very good.

Remember that wounds saved with regeneration still count towards combat resolution, BUT this model is Immune to Psychology, so it is not nearly as important.

On top of that, it has Random Movement, which catches a huge number of enemies off guard, especially because they cannot flee from its charge and all that.

Below I will leave you a link to the rules section so you can see how to get the most out of Unbreakable and Random Movement. There are things you can do with those rules that I am pretty sure you did not know.

Warpfire Dragon in Warhammer The Old World: The only army with a durable triple dragon build

Right now there are two Chaos lists, and one is the double spawn list while the other is the Warpfire Dragon list, the model that lets you play three dragons in the army.

Three very powerful dragons.

I covered both lists on the website, and you can find them in the section dedicated to this army.

And even though this dragon does not have a rider, it still has its Stomp Attack, hits pretty hard, is very durable and, if you use it properly, it stops the enemy from using their ward save. Very interesting.

By the way, it is immune to unit champion challenges because it is not a character.

It can be a wizard or not, depending on how you like to play it. You can run it in all kinds of ways and with several lores. I already explained that in the magic post I linked earlier.

Chaos Knights in Warhammer The Old World: Yes, but no

The knights are not mandatory. Unlike the Marauder Horsemen, I do not see them in every list and, honestly, I do not like them that much.

They have Counter Charge, which is pretty nice, because it is a unit that can be played with cavalry lances, and in fact I have not seen anyone use them that way. But the problem is that, even though they are a core unit, they are still expensive.

If we want a unit that can actually take a hit, we need to include them.

Warhounds in Warhammer The Old World: Brilliant

They are genuinely very good because they let you do several things. Warhounds give you the option to screen Frenzy in Chaos so that our dear Khorne lunatics do not launch themselves forward like they have a rocket up their arse into the enemy’s strongest unit. They also let you add deployment drops so your opponent has to place their main units before you do, letting you see where they are going and deploy accordingly, all for a unit that costs only 30 points.

On top of that, in march column they move incredibly far, they can get in the way all game long, they are very expendable and, not only that, they can also surprise your opponent by running off and killing their supply wagon in a single turn. Very good.

Daemon Prince in Warhammer The Old World: I like him more every day

The prince is very interesting and, if you do not want to play a dragon, he is a model that can be built in many different ways, although the standard thing is always to give him wings, whether you want him to be a wizard or not.

For example, a Tzeentch Daemon Prince as a wizard, with the machine-gun caster setup I talked about in the magic post, can be very useful. And a Nurgle Daemon Prince with the Ogre Blade can also hit very hard.

With this model you need to watch your back because he only has 4 Wounds. Be careful with magical attacks, because they remove his regeneration.

But he is also a model with a lot of Initiative. He can take the daemonic gift that makes the enemy strike last. That makes him very interesting, because you can even place him in front of certain enemy units to block them if they do not charge you. And if they do charge, because they are so close they do not get their Initiative bonus and you strike first.

Dragon Ogres in Warhammer The Old World: One of the best units in the game

Dragon Ogres are a fantastic unit, but they look like they hit harder than they actually do. Keep in mind they have WS 4. Most units in the game will usually hit them on 4+.

I talked about them in a post dedicated entirely to them, so I will not go into detail here, but remember:

ALWAYS great weapons and heavy armour.

In any case, always keep in mind that, if you make them your main unit, the problem is that no matter how much Unit Strength they have, they will never claim objectives because they are a special unit.

Level 3 or 4 Chaos Sorcerers in Warhammer The Old World: Durable and dangerous at the same time

This wizard has his ward save and wears armour. He is one of the few wizards in the game that can wear armour and still cast spells. I covered him in depth in the long magic post, but you can run him on a monstrous mount and in Marauder Horsemen.

Running him on a Manticore is unreliable because of Impetuous even if that rule has improved, and also because he is Toughness 4, not Toughness 5.

Level 1 or 2 Chaos Sorcerers in Warhammer The Old World: Meh…

Running him as a magic missile caster can be interesting, but he gets expensive because you need to pay for the mark and you do not really get all the benefits.

For example, you would need to pay for the Mark of Tzeentch to get +1 to cast, not only for the wizard himself but also for the unit he joins.

The combinations available are not especially interesting, but it is playable.

Forsaken in Warhammer The Old World: They never make it into combat

Forsaken are playable.

Some people think they are better than Chaos Warriors.

Some people think they are not.

A unit with Toughness 4 and a 5+ ward save. That may sound very good, but keep in mind that a 5+ ward save can be granted to units by quite a few of the magic lores in the game.

So, is that ward save actually useful? I think it is, but you do need to keep that anti-synergy in mind when building lists. If you take a unit like this, it might save you from needing that ward save from your battle magic lore, so maybe Daemonology fits better into a list that includes these guys.

Another downside is that they are fairly slow. You need to buff them with something like the Daemonology spell that lets them fly 12 inches if you want them to reach combat before they die.

Keep in mind they wear heavy armour, and you cannot improve that with a shield or anything similar. So that is a 5+ armour save, which means they are not actually that tough even with a 5+ ward save.

They are 19 points each. It is true that the mark is included. And, in my opinion, the best mark for them is Khorne, to make the most of their Furious Charge, mutations and high number of attacks.

But depending on your local meta, Tzeentch may work better for you, giving them Magic Resistance (3) and making the enemy think twice before targeting them with spells.

And importantly, they are Loners and Impetuous. You cannot put any character in this unit, such as the Daemonology buff wizard.

In any case, you can run a unit of 5 of them for only 100 points, and it works quite well as a support piece. You need to protect them from shooting during the first turns of the battle, maybe with some Warhounds.

Chaos Warriors in Warhammer The Old World: One disappointment after another

Even though Chaos Warriors have some interesting combinations, like the one I explained in that other post with Initiative 7 and a 3+ save in combat, they are still one-attack models on 30×30 bases, and they are very expensive.

So, are they actually worth it? No. I wish they were.

The only good thing they have is that they are core, so they can score objectives. But we also need to keep in mind that, being such an expensive unit, we are not going to use them just to sit on an objective. The whole point is to send them into combat.

So those are two roles that often do not work together. You have to choose one or the other.

Chaos Marauders in Warhammer The Old World: Another unit that makes no sense

They are too expensive for what they do. Even if they are the army’s “cheap” unit, we still need to compare them to the cheap units other armies get. Now they are on 30×30 bases, so they take more incoming attacks and are harder to manoeuvre.

They can hold a backfield objective, yes, but the riders can do that too and give you way more options. I do not think they bring much to the table on foot.

Chaos Chariot in Warhammer The Old World: Yet another chariot

Horse chariots cost 110 points. While they have Toughness 5, 4 Wounds, and a 3+ save, which sounds pretty good, the problem is the same one all chariots have in Old World.

If the enemy stays too far away, the chariot will not make the charge because it does not have Swiftstride, and if they stay too close, you do not get the bonus impact hits on the charge because you need to move more than 3 inches to get them.

So for 110 points, Chaos has access to better support pieces, like 1 Dragon Ogre, or even, depending on the list, some Forsaken.

Shaggoth in Warhammer The Old World: A model that stays in the display case

If you really like the Shaggoth, you can play it, but honestly, compared to other, better monsters in the game, there are things it is missing.

Its Stomp is weak, the number of attacks is not very high, it has no impact hits on the charge, and the spell it casts is easy to dispel and only matters once it reaches combat.

And if you are going to play it, make sure it is always alongside Dragon Ogres to make use of the special rule.

Also remember that you cannot give it a 2+ armour save anymore because it is neither cavalry nor infantry.

This guy’s durability is not actually that high either, so even if it does not look like it at first, you do need to protect it from Ogre Blades, cannons and other things that deal multiple wounds.

Chimera in Warhammer The Old World: A leadership 5 joke

It is a flying monster and a Large Target. Those two rules together are genuinely very good.

So what is the problem with the Chimera? It has 4 Wounds and Toughness 5. And with 4 Wounds and Toughness 5, even if you give it regeneration and push it up to 195 points, it is still not enough.

And here we run into the same problem as with the Shaggoth, only even worse. The Shaggoth has D3+1 Stomp Attacks, while this one only has 1 Stomp Attack, which ends up being completely anecdotal.

On top of that, the Chimera has 6 Strength 6 attacks. With WS 4, they will hit on 4+.

If I wanted to play it, I would only ever run it with the Scythed Tail, which costs 10 extra points, and Regeneration, which costs 15, and instead of taking one I would take three.

If you only play one, it is very easy for the enemy to focus it down and destroy it.

Keep in mind this is a model that moves 10 while flying.

So it needs to be in combat by turn 2.

Another problem the Chimera has is that it gets compared to the Nurgle Giant Spawn. And that monster is extremely good. When you have access to that, it is very hard to include something else without feeling like your list is becoming suboptimal.

And the same thing happens with the next one, the Giant.

Chaos Giant in Warhammer The Old World: Another one living in the shadow of the Nurgle Giant Spawn

The Chaos Giant is a monster that, for 200 points, is Immune to Psychology and has 6 Wounds and Toughness 6.

You can pay for 6+ regeneration, but because it is only 6+ and costs 20 points, I think it can be played with or without it. It is neither especially bad nor mandatory.

In any case, this one actually is Unbreakable and has 1D6 Stomp Attacks. So even though its attacks are random, that Stomp is good enough to guarantee a few kills.

Personally, I like the Giant. The problem is obviously that, being a giant, it does not fly. And because it does not fly, your opponent can tie it up with things you do not want. It has Movement 6, which is not terrible, but not amazing either.

But if you like it, I do think it is a playable model. And personally I also think it is very fun.

Now let us move on to the stuff that is so bad it just cannot be played.

Chaos Ogres in Warhammer The Old World: Very customisable trash

The Ogres are terrible, but they are the least terrible if you compare them to other elite units. They have access to several different weapons, but once you start comparing the damage they can actually do and the rules they have against what other units get, they fall apart.

These are rules that, to really get value from them, force you to spend a lot of points, and in the end they just do not make sense.

It feels like, in some way, you are paying for rules you are not even using.

Gorebeast Chariot in Warhammer The Old World: Not its best moment

That chariot is even slower than the other one. The Gorebeast might work as a mount for a Daemonology wizard maybe, but in reality it does not improve either durability or save compared to the horse chariot.

So it dies just as easily as the other one.

It costs more and is slower. So it is not really interesting. It is one of those units that, when the book has many better options, ends up completely outside the list. I do not see it.

Hellcannon in Warhammer The Old World: This guy really is one of GW’s jokes

I still have not seen anyone play the Hellcannon, aside from me. It has extremely anti-synergistic rules. It is “good” in combat, but it cannot march and shoot. On top of that, you never know when it is going to move. And if you want to move it on purpose, it moves very little. Honestly… it is a mess.

It is Immune to Psychology on a unit that is mainly for shooting. So it is not even going to benefit much from that.

And if you take it into combat to try to use that side of it, any Chaos unit will get there much faster than the cannon itself. So the cannon will not shoot and it will not support your other unit either.

Honestly, I do not know who came up with this design, but something tells me they made it out of obligation because they had to include it, not because they actually wanted anyone to ever use it.

Chosen in Warhammer The Old World: On foot or on horseback, same crap

Whether mounted or on foot, Chosen have all the same problems as Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, but multiplied. Even if they can take a bit more punishment thanks to their Chaos Armour 6+ and 2+ armour save, they are not something that truly makes a difference.

What does make a difference is the absurd number of points they can end up costing. You start adding all the equipment options and it looks like a unit made up of one-wound characters.

That point cost, combined with the fact they are not core, makes them impossible to fit into a list.

Trolls in Warhammer The Old World: If the ogres were bad, these are completely hopeless

Trolls are absolutely worthless. They have low Leadership and Stupidity.

Remember that even if they pass the Stupidity check, they still do not score because they are not core troops. A joke.

They are truly awful. Keep in mind that, in this edition, Leadership matters a lot. Infantry with reasonably high Leadership can often survive combat even if they lose badly, because they will probably Give Ground or Fall Back in Good Order.

With these guys, because their Leadership is so low, what is going to happen is that they will flee due to combat resolution, and they will die very easily. This gets even worse because, even though they have regeneration, the wounds they save still count as negative combat resolution. So there is no saving them.

They do not hit hard enough and they do not survive well enough either. They are probably 41 points you are throwing in the bin for each model. They do not work in big units and they do not work in small ones.

Chaos Spawn in Warhammer The Old World: Moving at their own pace

Chaos Spawn look tougher than you might think. They are not very expensive and they do soak up a decent amount. The Mark of Slaanesh is the most interesting one because it lets them strike first. That causes a few casualties and, as a result, they take fewer attacks back.

But that only lasts until they hit something with Stomp Attacks, strong hits or multiple wounds.

That is their nemesis and it wrecks them.

And we see those things every single day in the current meta.

In any case, units of Chaos Spawn are never playable because of their 2D6 Random Movement. On top of being random, because it is 2D6, the average move is 7 inches a turn. That means they get into combat, at best, on turn 3 or 4, and they never earn back their points.

I have thought about them every possible way, I have tried everything I can think of with them, but there is just no way to make them genuinely worth what they cost.

Aspiring Champion in Warhammer The Old World: The guy who brings the least to the army

Aspiring Champion is like the aspiring champion, the legendary paladin we talked about earlier in the top section, but without access to a dragon and with worse stats.

He costs a bit less, but in reality he is useless. He brings absolutely nothing to the army. No damage, no durability, no interesting special rules, nothing.

In fact, I would even say that the day the reign of double dragon or triple dragon ends in the meta, this paladin will still not see play.

Well, I hope this has helped you, and that if you are thinking about starting a Chaos army, you now know exactly what NOT to buy.

And above all, if you play against Chaos, I hope this helps you clearly spot the army’s weak points, where to attack, where your opponent is going to try to catch you, and how to counter it.

Thanks a lot for sharing the post. If this post helps you, you can help other people by sharing it in subreddits, Facebook communities or on other social platforms.

See you in the next one.

Any error in the post, feel free to reach out at theoldwarrior@theoldwarrior.com.

Warriors of Chaos Tier List. The WORST CHAOS UNITS in Warhammer The Old World 1.5.2