Chaos Knights – Warhammer 40k Guide

The Chaos Knights embody raw power, unbridled fury, and the corrupting influence of the Dark Chaos Gods. These towering war machines have turned their backs on the Imperium and the God Emperor of Mankind and now wreak havoc across the galaxy, bringing destruction in the name of Chaos.
Once noble Imperial Knights, they now serve as twisted avatars of ruin, guided by the malevolent whispers of Chaos.

Join us as we explore the terrifying strength and unrelenting destruction of the Chaos Knights.

Who Are The Chaos Knights?

The Chaos Knights were once proud Imperial Knights, dedicated to defending the Imperium of Man. However, through exposure to the warp, many have fallen to Chaos, their towering machines corrupted and twisted by the influence of the Dark Gods.

These once-loyal warriors now pledge themselves to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, or Slaanesh, or serve Chaos Undivided, reveling in their newfound power and immortality.

Led by Tyrants, the mightiest of their kind, Chaos Knights are engines of pure destruction. From towering Desecrators to rampaging War Dogs, these knights bring chaos wherever they tread. They revel in battle, driven by madness, hatred, and the insidious influence of their dark masters.

What Are Chaos Knights Army Strengths?

Chaos Knights are a powerful force on the battlefield, known for their immense size, devastating firepower, and unmatched resilience. Here’s what makes them stand out:

Sheer Firepower: Chaos Knights bring heavy weaponry that can decimate enemy lines from afar. Their ability to mount a variety of destructive weapons like the Desecrator’s Laser Destructor or the Despoiler’s Avenger Gatling Cannon allows them to obliterate infantry and vehicles alike.

Durability: With high toughness and wounds, Chaos Knights can soak up damage that would destroy most other units. Their towering frames make them difficult to bring down, and many possess invulnerable saves through their corrupt wargear.

Fearsome Presence: The aura of fear and terror that surrounds Chaos Knights can debilitate enemy forces. Units facing them may struggle with morale, making them more likely to flee or break under pressure.

Melee Brutality: While formidable at range, Chaos Knights also excel in close combat. Armed with chainswords the size of tanks and stomping feet that can crush whole squads, their melee potential is terrifying.

However, their size and power come with drawbacks: Chaos Knights are few in number, meaning every loss is keenly felt, and their lack of smaller, fast-moving units can make them vulnerable to flanking or objectives-based play.

Where Should Beginners Start?

If you’re new to Chaos Knights, here are a few essential models to get started and why they’ll help you learn the army:

Knight Desecrator: This versatile model is an excellent starting point, equipped with both long-range weaponry and brutal melee options. Its aura abilities also benefit nearby War Dogs, making it a great leader for your early army.

War Dogs: Small but deadly, War Dogs are fast and pack a punch in both melee and ranged combat. Their mobility and firepower make them perfect for harassing enemy forces and supporting your larger Knights.

Knight Rampager: A melee powerhouse, the Rampager excels at tearing through enemies in close combat. Its Chainsword and Thunderstrike Gauntlet allow it to crush infantry and tanks alike, making it perfect for aggressive players who like to get up close and personal.

Knight Despoiler: With the option to mount a wide variety of weapons, the Despoiler is highly adaptable. Its ability to engage at range while providing heavy firepower is perfect for players learning how to balance offense and defense.

Knight Abominant: A Knight designed for close combat. It wields devastating melee weapons and features a distinctive, fearsome aesthetic, embodying relentless destruction on the battlefield.

Starting with these units provides a well-rounded force, giving you experience in ranged firepower, mobility, and brutal close combat.

How To Paint Chaos Knights?

Painting Chaos Knights is an exciting challenge, as you get to unleash your creativity by bringing their corruption and battle-scarred armor to life. Here’s a guide to specific Citadel color schemes, along with tips and techniques:

Color Scheme

House Lucaris (Black and Red)

Base Coat: Begin with Abaddon Black on the armor. For red details, use Mephiston Red.
Layering: Highlight the black armor with a dry brush of Eshin Grey, and the red areas with Evil Sunz Scarlet for depth.
Details: Use Retributor Gold for trim and accents. For a final touch, add a light wash of Nuln Oil to enhance shadows.

House Khymere (Brass and Red)

Base Coat: Apply Leadbelcher to metallic areas and Mephiston Red for the armor.
Highlighting: Highlight the brass with Stormhost Silver for a weathered look, and layer the red with Evil Sunz Scarlet.
Details: Use Agrax Earthshade to wash over the metal areas for an aged, grimy effect. Highlight purity seals and markings with Screaming Skull.

Chaos Knights Painting Techniques

Base Coating: Start with a solid spray primer like Leadbelcher for a metallic base or Abaddon Black if you want a darker, more sinister look. Even application of the base coat is crucial to ensure smooth layering later on.

Washing: Use washes like Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade to add grime and depth to the armor, especially in crevices and joints. These washes give Chaos Knights the war-torn, corrupted look they’re known for.

Dry Brushing: Dry Brushing is perfect for adding texture to weathered armor. Lightly dry brush the edges with Necron Compound or Stormhost Silver to create a worn, battle-damaged effect.

Edge Highlighting: Edge highlighting with bright metallics like Stormhost Silver or a lighter red for your accents can make the armor pop. Focus on sharp edges and raised surfaces to enhance the model’s details.

Contrast Paints: Citadel Contrast Paints are great for adding shading quickly. Basilicanum Grey over metallics can give armor a darker, corrupted look.

Chaos Knights Lore and History

The Chaos Knights, known also as the Dread Households or Iconoclast and Infernal houses, are corrupted Noble pilots who have turned their towering Knight suits to the service of the Dark Gods. Once proud scions of Imperial Knight houses, these warriors have been twisted by the Warp into something far more terrifying — their war machines fused with daemonic energy, their pilots driven mad by whispers from beyond the veil.

The corruption of Knight households can be traced back millennia, sometimes to the Horus Heresy itself, when several houses sided with the Warmaster against the Emperor. Houses like House Lucaris and House Khymere were among the first to fall, their Thrones Mechanicum — the neural interfaces that bond pilot to machine — becoming conduits for daemonic possession. Over ten thousand years, the line between pilot and machine has blurred entirely in many Dread Households.

Unlike their Imperial counterparts, Chaos Knights often operate alone or in small groups, their madness making coordinated action difficult. They are known as Dreadblades — solitary Knights who have abandoned or been cast out from their households, wandering the galaxy as mercenaries of destruction. These lone wolves are feared even by other Chaos forces, as their motivations are unpredictable and their rage boundless.

The war machines themselves undergo horrifying transformations under Chaos influence. Armour plates warp and twist into leering faces, weapon systems become fused with organic matter, and the machine spirits within are either consumed by daemons or driven into feral madness. The War Dogs, smaller Knight-class walkers, are particularly prone to developing pack-hunting behaviours that mirror predatory animals, stalking their prey across battlefields with unsettling coordination. The sight of a Chaos Knight striding across a battlefield is enough to break the morale of even veteran soldiers.

Chaos Knights in the Current Meta

Chaos Knights bring a unique competitive profile to the tournament scene as one of the game’s few super-heavy armies. Running a low model count force of towering war machines, Chaos Knights trade board presence for overwhelming firepower and dread-inducing psychological warfare. The army’s Dread abilities — which impose penalties on enemy units near your Knights — create a distinctive tactical dynamic [VERIFY].

Competitive Chaos Knights lists typically balance Abhorrent-class big Knights with packs of War Dog support units. War Dogs provide the objective play and screening that the larger Knights lack, while the big Knights bring the killing power. The Traitoris Lance detachment offers strong army-wide synergies, and skilled pilots can leverage the army’s high damage output to table opponents before board control becomes an issue [VERIFY].

The main competitive challenge for Chaos Knights is their vulnerability to armies that can efficiently deal with vehicles and their limited ability to hold multiple objectives simultaneously. Games are often decided by whether the Chaos Knights player can eliminate enough of the opponent’s scoring units before being outmanoeuvred. Despite this, the army consistently posts solid tournament results in the hands of experienced players. See our faction tier list for current standings.

Collecting Chaos Knights

Collecting Chaos Knights is one of the most budget-friendly ways to get into Warhammer 40,000, as the army requires very few models to reach a full 2,000-point force. A typical competitive list might contain only 8-12 models total, making it achievable even on a limited budget — though individual kits are more expensive than infantry boxes, the total cost is often lower than horde armies.

Start with the Chaos Knights Combat Patrol for the best value entry point. From there, a single Knight Desecrator or Knight Rampager kit adds a powerful centrepiece, and an additional box of War Dogs rounds out a solid 1,000-point force. The big Knight kits are highly versatile — most can be built as several different variants using the same kit, and magnetising weapon options is highly recommended to maximise flexibility.

One of the great advantages of collecting Chaos Knights is the conversion potential. The large, flat armour panels are perfect canvases for freehand painting, sculpted details, and Chaos iconography. Many competitive players enjoy kitbashing their Knights with parts from other Chaos kits to create truly unique war machines. Check our painting guide for tips on achieving a suitably corrupted appearance.

Painting Chaos Knights

Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced

Painting Chaos Knights is a hobby project that rewards patience and creativity. Each Knight is essentially a display piece, with large armour panels that demand clean work but also provide ample canvas for freehand designs, weathering effects, and Chaos corruption details. The key is to break the model into sub-assemblies — paint the skeleton, armour panels, and weapons separately before final assembly.

Key paints: Leadbelcher (skeleton/metalwork), Abaddon Black and Mephiston Red (common armour colours), Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust (weathering), Nurgle’s Rot and Blood for the Blood God (corruption effects). Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil are essential for shading the metalwork. For glowing energy effects, Tesseract Glow or Hexwraith Flame add supernatural menace.

The corruption and battle damage on Chaos Knights is where the hobby magic happens. Stipple on chipped paint effects, apply rust weathering to show millennia of neglect, and use texture paints to create organic growths on the armour. Many painters add sculpted details using Green Stuff — tentacles, faces, and mutations that make each Knight truly unique. The large, flat panels are also excellent for practising freehand heraldry and Chaos star designs.

Related Armies

If you enjoy Chaos Knights, you might also like these armies:

Imperial Knights — The dark mirror of Imperial Knights — fallen nobles piloting corrupted war machines.
Chaos Space Marines — Chaos Knights often fight alongside Chaos Space Marines as devastating heavy support.
Slaves to Darkness — The Slaves to Darkness are the Age of Sigmar equivalent of undivided Chaos forces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the Chaos Knights?

Chaos Knights are towering war machines corrupted by the Ruinous Powers, piloted by nobles who have sworn allegiance to the Chaos Gods. These corrupted Knight suits are twisted reflections of their Imperial counterparts, bristling with daemonic energy.

Are Chaos Knights good for beginners?

Chaos Knights are excellent for beginners due to their low model count — a full army can be as few as 4-6 models. This makes them fast to build, paint, and learn. Each model is powerful and durable, forgiving of tactical mistakes.

What are the strengths of Chaos Knights?

Chaos Knights hit extremely hard with devastating ranged and melee weapons. Their dread abilities debuff nearby enemies, and their low model count means you invest heavily in each powerful unit that dominates the battlefield.

What are the weaknesses of Chaos Knights?

Chaos Knights have very few models, making each loss devastating. They struggle with board control and holding multiple objectives simultaneously. Massed anti-armour firepower can bring down individual Knights quickly.

How many models are in a Chaos Knights army?

A typical 2,000-point Chaos Knights army consists of 4-8 models, depending on the mix of large Questoris-class and smaller War Dog-class Knights. This makes them one of the smallest armies in terms of model count in all of Warhammer 40k.

Community Advice

Drawing from the collective wisdom of experienced players who have spent years mastering Chaos Knights – Warhammer 40k Guide, here are some practical tips that will help you get the most from your army on the tabletop.

Start with a core: Veteran players consistently advise building your army around a reliable core of units that perform well in most situations before adding specialist choices. This gives you a stable foundation that can handle a variety of opponents, and you can then tailor your remaining points to address specific weaknesses or lean into particular strengths depending on the meta you expect to face.

Play games early and often: Theory-crafting army lists is enjoyable, but nothing replaces actual table time. Many units that look mediocre on paper perform excellently in practice, and vice versa. Start playing games with whatever models you have painted, even if your list is not optimised. The experience you gain from understanding movement, positioning, and timing is far more valuable than having a perfect list that you do not know how to pilot effectively.

Learn your matchups: Understanding how your army interacts with different opponents is crucial for competitive success. Keep notes after each game about what worked, what did not, and what you would change. Over time, you will develop an intuitive understanding of your army’s strengths and weaknesses against various factions, which will inform both your list building and your in-game decisions.

Magnetise key models: Many experienced hobbyists recommend magnetising weapon options on larger models and vehicles. This small investment of time allows you to swap loadouts between games, giving you flexibility to adapt to different opponents and meta shifts without purchasing and painting duplicate models.

Resources and Links

Staying connected with the community is essential for keeping up with the latest developments, finding opponents, and improving your play. Here are the best resources available for players interested in Chaos Knights – Warhammer 40k Guide.

Faction-specific subreddits on Reddit are treasure troves of information, featuring army list discussions, painting guides, conversion inspiration, and tactical advice from players at every skill level. The community is generally welcoming and happy to help newcomers find their footing with the faction.

On Discord, dedicated faction servers provide real-time discussion, list reviews, and the opportunity to arrange games through Tabletop Simulator or other online platforms. These servers often have channels dedicated to competitive play, casual gaming, hobby progress, and lore discussion, making them a one-stop resource for all aspects of the hobby.

Content creators on YouTube and Twitch regularly produce faction-focused content including unit reviews, battle reports, painting tutorials, and tier list discussions. Following creators who specialise in your chosen faction gives you access to expert analysis of new rules, points changes, and emerging strategies as soon as they develop. Podcasts dedicated to specific factions or broader competitive play are also excellent resources for keeping your finger on the pulse of the community.