Kings of War 3rd Edition: Forces of the Abyss Review

Hello everyone! Welcome to another one of our Tiered Army reviews, this one covering the Forces of the Abyss, written by the fiend of the South and all around awesome guy, Todd Serpico.

If you want to check out our other Tiered Army reviews, find them here.

Tier Rankings: 

Trying to rank units in Kings of War is not a perfect science. By pure design, many units are meant to work in combination with other choices in the army and can be hard to judge on their own. For this exercise, it’s assumed the unit is being used to its utmost potential within the army. This is not just a math problem to determine the most cost-effective unit but to also see how they compare in scope, role, and impact across not just a single army but all Kings of War armies. For the most part, units will be treated as one entry; however, if an option or size drastically improves a unit it will be separately mentioned.

S Tier: Reserved for units that are widely acknowledged as either being significantly undercosted or having a combination of rules that perform well above units in similar roles. These units are often called “auto includes” as any list stands to be made better with their inclusion. Expect these units to be addressed in future CoK book updates.

A Tier: These units are some of the best the army has to offer. They excel in their specific roles and commonly help form the core of most competitive lists. While not auto include, they are great in almost any army they are taken in and will be seen frequently.

B Tier: These units have a mix of strengths and weaknesses that make them very playable but balanced. These units work great with specific roles in mind; however, their weaknesses mean they do not help every list. In a perfect world, all units would fit into this category.

C Tier: C tier units may still shine in niche lists and roles; however, they will feel underpowered when compared to similar units in other armies. Decidedly suboptimal, you could make them work but frequently will see other things that are just better. You will rarely see many lists take these units.

D Tier: Units that need some considerable love and attention. You will struggle to find any role for this unit that another unit couldn’t do better. Very often you will see these units labeled as “unplayable”.

Forces of the Abyss

Hello Dash 28 fans, I’m happy to have been invited here to share my knowledge and passion for the Forces of the Abyss army with you. I’ve been playing the army for more than 5 years, and it has really supplanted Ratkin as my signature, and favored army in the game.

It’s an army that is very versatile and is simply great fun to model, to paint, and to play.

Are you looking for an army that can incorporate big, stompy, fiendish crazy models? Fun to paint, open to all kinds of interpretation of themes? An army that is malleable to be able to fit most play styles, and do so well? Then you are reading the right review right now!
One of the things that I love most about the Abyssals is that it’s an army that can play almost any style well. From alpha strike, to a version of grinding, to toolbox armies, it can fit almost any playstyle that you want to use.

What is perhaps more unique about the army is that it is really a list that derives its true strength from the monsters and heroes in my opinion. As an army there definitely some strong, reliable units (i.e. troops/regiments/hordes), units that can apply pressure and worry your opponent. They can be your MVPs and win you games. But there aren’t any truly elite tier units (that said, on the flip side it’s hard to find a bad unit in the army either).

Where the army really shines though, is in having some of the best and most useful and/or efficient monsters/titans/heroes and especially living legends in the game. These units also synergize with the solid, reliable units in the list, and when you get the mix right, you bring to the table a very effective fighting force.

S-Tier

Well of Souls: this has always been the signature unit for the army and makes virtually every list. This beast will improve almost any list, of any style that you want to play with Abyssals. Speed 8, nimble flying means that it can backstop your army if needed. The ability Soul Drain, allowing you to pull off up to 20 wounds in a turn, and from multiple units, means that it can pair well with an infantry line to keep them chugging in the battle longer than your opponent thought possible. Or you can pair with Archfiends, Ba’el, and other nasty flyers to keep them in the battle when they would otherwise have seen untimely deaths.

Strider means that you no longer care about terrain, giving some additional needed terrain mitigation to the list, and ensuring that when you are charging into combats you are almost always going to be getting your full Lifeleech 3 wounds back every turn.

With a 300-point price tag and “only” speed 8, he is balanced more than overpowered, but the force multiplier that he provides leaves him just barely in the S-tier for me. If you aren’t sure how good this beast is, listen to some of the experienced players grumble about having to face them.

A-Tier

Gargoyles: Gargoyles remain one of the best chaff units in the entire game. For a budget cost, you have speed 10, flying chaff that can get where you need them when you need them. Also good at late game objective grabbing if you are careful and choose to play cagey with them in certain scenarios. They aren’t required in every list, but if you want chaff, these are your best bet.

*When originally posted, it was stated the Fiend had Nimble, this was a mistake and was apparently referring more to its speed and agility. The entry has been corrected to reflect this*
Abyssal Fiend: This unit has added something really special to the army, and has been in all of my lists of late (actually I’m running a pair of them). A budget-cost quick monster with staying power, brutal, ranged attacks to clear chaff or pick off wounded units in the late game, and packaged nicely with inspiring? Yes, please!

The extra inspiring source coming from a titan slot in your unlocks, also helps free up unlocks for heroes, which has always been a particular difficulty in list-building for the abyssal army. One of the more well-rounded and points efficient monsters/titans in the game.

Abyssal Champion: The Abyssals are an army not reliant on the Wings-of-Honeymaze in order to get flying individuals. The abyssal champion is a unit you probably don’t want to take on foot; expensive characters on foot are rarely worth their cost, as their threat projection, and ability to apply pressure in multiple battlefield situations, where and when needed, often makes it hard to get value back.

Where the abyssal champion shines is as one of a large number of options to get effective flying face smashers on to the board to harass and harry the enemy. Although more costly than the seductress who can do some of the same things, the Champion comes with +1 defense, 2 extra points of nerve, regeneration, mighty, and most importantly, comes with full inspiring.

Abyssal Warlock: Warlocks are close to being S-tier grade. They are another unit that has a budget-tool-box skill set, and always find something useful to do in any turn of the game, and in every phase of the game.

Firebolts with piercing to clear enemy chaff, or pop early wounds on units when you need to do so; inspiring for your lines; nimble large infantry with 5 attacks that can do surprising things charging flanks and rears late game when people expose them or overlook the warlock; unit strength to score and claim objectives; and all at only a 90 point price tag.

The unit also comes pared with good spell options that have strong synergy for the army as well. Add drain life OR bane chant, not both, as you don’t want to push the cost too high, or to be paying for spells you may not use much if at all. Keep the unit’s role tight and defined. For my current builds, I love the way that drain life plays in to my list, but both have value.

I don’t find that veil of shadows has consistent enough value in the current metas, but should shooting or war machines become more prevalent there is cause to look at it as well.

I generally prefer to run mine naked to keep the cost down and save points for elsewhere, but conjurer’s staff is a popular addition for some generals; fire-oil would have nice synergy with the firebolts, which are normal ranged attacks.

Mau’ti’bu’su: one of the pre-eminent flying individuals in the game. The low-ish nerve may give some pause, but with ensnare and stealthy she rarely has concerns in early rounds, and her skill set is exquisite, with Terrible Majesty (brutal D3) being particularly effective and worthy of fear. It regularly allows her to punch above her weight in winning combats that you might not otherwise expect her to win.

Ba’su’su: The queen of gargoyles is as nasty as ever and is a particularly hard-to-kill little “mini-dragon”. The 360-degree charge threat means that it’s especially hard to hide from this little ball of hate. Another great toolbox unit, she can pair with Ba’el or an Archfiend to wreak havoc, hunt enemy individuals and war machines, hold down a flank for a turn or two, or just combo in with solid, reliable damage to battles you need to tip in your favor.

Manifestation of Ba’el: This guy seems to be replacing the archfiend in many peoples’ lists of late, as well as competing with Ba’su’su, with a price point between those other 2 nasties. He’s not a direct replacement, as that 14/16 nerve means that he is more of a scalpel compared to the Archfiend, and you do have to be careful what combats you are putting Ba’el in to. But the regen helps him hang in there longer than some might think, and the rest of the tools at his disposal are quite impressive.

LB7 is great at picking up chaff and putting out early wounds, or picking off units late game, and when on a flyer it means you can reach almost anything on the board when you want to.

A-/B+ Tier

As I have stated above, Abyssals are an army that lacks any truly elite tier units. The units I’m putting in this category are definitely deserving of more credit than B-tier units, but for various reasons, don’t have the full package that you find in what I would consider being solid A tier units either. So, since I’m writing this review, I’m adding this fringe level, and placing these units here.

Succubi: the ability to put out a high volume of attacks on a small unit frontage, at a reasonable cost, makes these units a particularly good threat projection if you are looking for any form of infantry build in your lists. Stealthy gives protection from any possible war engine spam, and ensnare means that you will stick around a lot longer than you might think otherwise when looking at the unit’s defensive stats.
What holds them back from being higher is that at defense 3 and 14/16 nerve they can be easier to crack if you aren’t using them well and with precision.

The lurker upgrade is essentially an auto-take, giving your army some extra terrain mitigation, and first turn marching into some woods, or up behind a wall gives a strong position, meaning any units charging in without their own pathfinder or strider are going to be hitting you at -2.

The high volume of attacks and regiment discount means that this is also a unit that screams out to be given the Brew of Strength artifact, and if running multiple units Hammer of Measured Force or Dragonshard Shield both also have great synergy and value here.

Molochs: Another hammer unit, with crushing strength 2 and melee 3 Molochs put out a good amount of hurt, and will have to be accounted for by your opponent. Their Achilles heel is the defense 4 which can leave them susceptible to an alpha strike if you don’t screen them.

They do come with a couple of possible upgrades. The Despoiler Champion upgrade, 20 points to give fearless and brutal, I think is a real trap and I would never pay the points for it. In general, fearless is one of the better/more impactful rules. However, molochs already have fury, and a rather high 16/18 nerve, so the upgrade to fearless rarely actually comes in to play. So, what you are actually paying 20 points for (because let’s be honest horde is the only size to take these guys) is Brutal. Which you could have bought as an artifact for only 10 points.

On the other hand, sacrificial imps are a great upgrade. They aren’t quite in auto-include territory, however, I have found them to be really invaluable, and the look on my opponents face when he charges in doing 9-10 wounds, but only wavering, meaning that I counter charge with fury, and then the wounds melt away … well, it’s priceless. Paired with some drain life warlocks and/or a well of souls, and these molochs will keep crushing face all game long.

If you are considering items, pathfinder or Boots of Striding to get some extra terrain mitigation wouldn’t go amiss here, and on the budget side a healing brew to clean off even more wounds (used AFTER your regen of course) can also feed into what these units do well.

Abyssal Horsemen: When it comes to units in the army, after succubi and molochs, this is your other option to add some hammer punch to your lists. If you are looking to run a faster list, or just want a fast flank for your army, this is where you start looking.

Abyssal horsemen have an elite stat-line, fully deserving of A-tier status. From a threat perspective, they are one of the best cav units in the game. What relegates them to my A-/B+ category is that they also come with a hefty price-tag and a 14/16 nerve, meaning they just aren’t as points-efficient as I would expect from a pure A-tier unit.

If you are looking to beef them up, pathfinder and Boots of Striding are your mid-range options that scream out to be taken. Or on the more expensive side, taking the regiment discount for brew of sharpness makes them a truly fearful unit. If you lean that far into an expensive unit though, I recommend keeping a well of souls nearby to make sure that the unit stays in the game and earns it’s points back.

Archfiend of the Abyss: Archfiends are one of the signature units for the army. Let’s be honest, if you are playing Abyssals you probably doing so at least in part to use big, crazy, and fun monsters, and an Archfiend is a great option for that. I’ve run plenty of lists with even 2-3 archfiends, and it can be a lot of fun, and put a lot of pressure from different angles on your opponent.

The reason that the archfiend doesn’t appear higher in the list is that they aren’t as efficient as the “dragon” type heroes in other armies. Compared to the Basilean dragon the Archfien’d nerve is one lower, they lack fearless, iron resolve, and has one less attack while costing the same amount of points.

The counter is that they are fearless, brutal, and vicious, but that still means they are less survivable, and so if left to their own, are susceptible to losing battles against other dragon types.

That doesn’t mean that they aren’t a valuable piece of an army, or that they aren’t worth taking. It’s a great model, to paint, and to play with on the table. Paired with another Archfiend friend, Ba’su’su or the Well of Souls (or multiples thereof) and see your opponents quake in fear. When it comes to items, I prefer budget options here. The blade of slashing is effectively a 5 point extra attack, the healing brew can keep them in the fight longer, making up for that lower nerve point relative to other dragons. Mead of Madness or Brew of Haste can give you that extra charge range to out-pace opposing flying threats and give you the upper hand as well.

Despoiler Champion: This sometimes-overlooked character is a superhero in disguise. Nimble monster shenanigans, with crush 2, brutal, and defense 5 paired with a fearless 14 nerve point? What’s not to love, especially when it’s all packaged in a very points efficient package?! This beast has held flanks and won games for me, and I love them ever so much!

Seductress: A budget flying harassing unit coming with duelist, ensnare and stealthy, is a great piece to any list, and a great solution for hunting enemy casters and war machines. If you need an extra bane-chant, they also have cheap access to it. At their price point, they are almost definitely worth an A-grade, but if you only want one such character and have the extra points, Mau’ti’bu’su is worth the upgrade, so I knocked the seductress down a half-step.

B-Tier

Lower Abyssals: Solid, workmanlike units. In games, 2k points and above the regiments are not really efficient use of points. If you want units to hold an objective or block for heavy hitters, the just take the ghouls who do the job far more efficiently and just as well. Hordes are where the lower abyssals really shine and come into their own.

With good nerve and regen they stick around far longer than your opponents tend to expect them to. That higher nerve amount lets them survive the initial hits even with their average-low defense stat. Once again, as with molochs I find the sacrificial imps upgrade to be very attractive, and border on auto-include. The ability to quickly erase a high number of wounds has almost never failed me.

Personally I prefer to run my units with the two-handed weapon upgrade, as the crushing strength means that even hitting on 4’s your unit can reliably put out on average 6.5 wounds a turn on D5 targets. When paired with their regen, and some drain life assistance or a nearby Well of Souls for some additional wound mitigation, it is not uncommon for them to out grind an opponent’s hammer unit, winning a battle that your enemy didn’t expect to lose.\

Abyssal Guard: These are another real workhorse unit, that almost makes me want to put them in the tier above. When I run them in lists they are often the MVPs who win games for me. If you are going for an infantry build, there is definitely a place for them in consideration. I tend to prefer them to (same as the lowers) take the two-handed weapon upgrade. Sacrificial imps are as good here as they have been on the units before.

If you take the Guard, generally you won’t want to also be running lowers, these will fill their place, and really perform when you are going for a checkerboard style infantry build. I’ve been known to field 2-3 regiments each of these and the ghouls, and it’s able to hold a lot of board space and claim objectives, while still putting out damage, and pin down opponents for your big gribblies to come in and finish off.

Abyssal Ghouls: I’m glad that the community is finally coming around to understand my love for this unit. With an army that has often lacked for unlocks, here you get cheap, cost-efficient unlocks, and they aren’t wasted points. There’s a reason that rabble spam was and is an effective tactic for goblins, and these are essentially Abyssal rabble. They can give board presence, block for your hammers, grab objectives, and stick around winning you games. Very useful pieces.

Succubi Larvae: Larvae aren’t ever going to do much damage or win you any combats on your own. But having a non-shambling source of high, un-waverable nerve, coupled with one of the best rules in the game (ensnare), means that they aren’t going to be moved off objectives easily. March them up to an objective near difficult terrain or an obstacle, and just never counter charge. Watch your opponent’s frustration as they are eternally at -2 to hit, and you can keep enemy units locked in for your heavy hitters to come in and flank or finish off.

Tortured Souls: Tortured Soul regiments remain the superior form of this unit. At a relatively budget cost, they are able to act as harassers and jacks-of-all-trades. They can hold back to protect your flanks, harass enemy lines, hold up a flank for a turn or two, hunt war machines, act as chaff, with the shallow depth, they often fit into enemy flanks, and as speed 8 flyers have some reach to get out there with threat projection. They really do miss the speed 10 from 2nd edition, but they still have a good toolset and a place in many types of lists.

As hordes, they aren’t good, with only crush 1 and defense 4 they don’t stick around long enough to fill the role of cav that they are pointed at or above. The lack of nimble and only speed 8 means that even with fly it is not simple at all to work to a position to threaten flanks or rears.

Hellhounds: Hellhounds are a bit of a scalpel. They can be absolutely wonderful units, but you have to think about how you use them. If you want something to push out simply as chaff, look past these dogs, that’s not their role. At 120 points a troop you really don’t want to throw away this unit simply as chaff.

This is not to say that in the right situation they don’t fill a chaff role; rather, that you should not primarily look at this unit in that fashion. Troops and regiments both have their place in lists. With speed 9, nimble, and thunderous charge, they are harassers, they are skirmishers. Patience is key to get the full value out of this unit.

Pair them up with an archfiend or Ba’el, or another flying, inspiring threat, and work them slowly around the flank of your enemy as your main lines advance. Make your opponent choose which side they get flanked from. The job of hellhounds isn’t to charge or chaff turn 2 in most cases, it’s to be in a position to attack enemy flanks and rears in the mid-to-late game.

Hellequin-Blood-Masque: Solid mobile punch, on a fairly cheap character, gives options. These are the types of characters that are beloved in other lists, but the Hellequin is sometimes overshadowed by the fact that there are so many other options (seductress, champion, and various named heroes) who can fill the same role but as speed 10 flyers.

The advantage here is that the Masque does it cheaper. If you are building an army around speed, giving them the inspiring talisman and run them with a couple of regiments of the cav.

Efreet: A mobile fireball-15 platform, what else do you need to know? I wish there were some other spell upgrade options to synergize with the list a little more, but still, you have the chance to apply a lot of ranged pressure, and can easily hide them where the enemy will have trouble getting to them. Naked is the way to go most of the time, but the boots to be able to double move and shoot are also a not-uncommon item to spruce up your efreet, and with 15 dice, elite or vicious wouldn’t go amiss here either, although I personally wouldn’t pay so much for it.

C-Tier

Flamebearers: Flamebearers are not bad as far as shooting units go. Steady aim gives the ability to march to objectives without losing effectiveness on your ranged attacks, and the piercing shooting is nice. Troops and regiments both have their places in the right list.

I’ve definitely seen others do well including a small number of these in their lists, but for my money, the army has so many other options for small arms fire, and so many of the toys that make Abyssals tick take up points elsewhere, that I just never have a place in my plans for the flamebearers. I’m not saying that they can’t work … they can … the just don’t fit my style whatsoever, and I think that they take points away from where the army could better use them.

Chroneas: This is a unit where I might be subject to some criticism for my rating of them. As many of the members of our community have been composing these list reviews, there has been a healthy and respectful debate about what should be taken into consideration when evaluating a unit. Should you consider the unit’s internal balance relative to other options in the list who might be more cost-efficient in their role? Or should you only consider the unit’s external balance relative to the game at large, and their ability to do the job intended? In these conversations, I have consistently and regularly weighed in on the side of the “external balance of the ability of the unit is all that should matter.”

Well, on that basis this is too low of a rating for the Chroneas. His profile is a solid B profile, if not a B+ even. High nerve, high crush, hard to kill, he is the Abyssals version of a giant, and the cloak of death is a great ability that can cause a lot of problems for opponents.

So, why do I have him rated as C-tier? Well, because as I’ve said, this is an army that often struggles for unlocks, and performs best when built around its strong and varied list of heroes and monsters. And those units are expensive. And so is Chroneas.

Chroneas is worth that cost, and is a really great model from Mantic, fun to paint, and will do work for you if you choose to take them. But their cost is high enough that it takes away from other needed tools in the list in my opinion, and the abyssal fiend is just a more efficient option for the role, with a wider skill set as well, hence I’m dropping Chroneas to C-tier.

All of the above said, I will though say again – this is effectively the abyssal giant, and can do a great job in that role. If you like the model and fancy giving Chroneas a run-out, they will do a job for you, and do it well. Given what I’ve said about points efficiency, I think the drain life is a trap, and plays into the too expensive package, so if you take it, take them naked.

D-Tier

Imps: Their profile doesn’t look bad at first glance, but they have a 120mm frontage and are most likely to be tasked with protecting/chaffing for molochs … who have a 150mm frontage. Making them subpar at that job.

While I believe that units should be rated on their own merits relative to external balance, it’s also worth noting that these exist in a list with one of the best chaff pieces in the game, the gargoyles, which lends even more to the fact that these are just not good adds to most lists.

Sure you could run 3 regiments fronting for 2 hordes of molochs, but at that point, 2 troops of gargoyles do the same job cheaper, better, and with more versatility as far as late-game objective grabbing, or war machine hunting.

Abyssal Harbinger: The harbinger doesn’t have a terrible profile in-and-of itself, but there are so many other sources of inspiring in the list, who offer larger skill sets, and are key to so many builds, I have a hard time finding a reason to take this in any lists in the current edition.

Ok, that’s all well and good, but how do we put this information into lists that are able to do something? What can competitive lists look like? Why would I want to play the army? Well, for that you have to go over and check out the army intro, which will be posted in a few days. Thanks for having me, and may your dice ever be in your favor!