One of the most interesting - and powerful - aspects of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters is the Stratagem system. Heavily inspired by the Tabletop equivalent, these abilities can turn crushing defeat into heroic victory. So long as you have a couple of these up your sleeve, there is always a way to get out of a sticky situation.

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That being said, not all Stratagems are created equal, and when your resources are stretched thin, researching the best ones and bypassing the duds is almost a must. Why go into battle with a hand of mediocrity when instead, you could go in with a selection of Stratagems that break the game in half and turn you into indestructible demi-gods of death?

18 Willpower 1

Chaos Gate Stratagem Willpower

At the bottom of the barrel is Willpower 1. This Stratagem restores one Knight’s WP to the max. This might seem useful, and that’s because it is. Even the worst Stratagems have their uses. But that doesn’t mean it’s work picking up or using. WP can be easily restored through other means, and any character that needs WP can self-sustain without any hassle.

The Stratagem gets worse the further into the game you get, as your Knights start to have more WP than they can reasonably spend in a single mission.

17 Willpower 2

Chaos Gate Stratagem Willpower 2

Unsurprisingly, this Stratagem crawls in pretty low. It restores less WP but restores it to the entire squad. The only reason this Stratagem ranks higher is that it has more use in the early game when you have less WP to play with. Even then, this Stratagem doesn’t do enough to warrant a pick.

16 Mass Purification

Chaos Gate Stratagem Mass Purification

Mass Purification is a weird Stratagem that has a place - but it shares its place with better Stratagems. This one removes any Affliction from your squad and heals them all 2HP. The Purify aspect is excellent, but that 2HP heal is so inconsequential that it borders on useless. There are better Stratagems that Purify than this and you gain access to them earlier to boot.

15 Dominate

Chaos Gate Stratagem Dominate

Dominate sounds like a great Stratagem on paper. It Dominates a single enemy for 3 turns which functionally takes it out of the fight and gives you a bit extra firepower for a bit. In practice, it’s a single-target crowd control that, in most cases, could be replaced with a bolter round to the head.

You are Grey Knights. You don’t work with Heretics.

14 Surge Prevention 1

Chaos Gate Stratagem Surge Prevention

Now we are getting to the good stuff. Surge Prevention can be used to great effect. Preventing Warp Surges for a full turn can be incredibly beneficial - especially when a planet is high on corruption. Not only does this stop the clock from ticking, but it also allows your Knights to use their abilities without having to worry about a portal tearing through space and time. It would be higher had there not been a better version.

13 Heal 1

Chaos Gate Stratagem Heal

This Stratagem is great in very specific situations. The ability to heal a Knight to full HP instantly, without having to run an Apothecary into range, is invaluable. Well, it is in certain situations. It’s not uncommon for classes like the Paladin, or the Interceptor to get stuck into close combat and take a bit too much damage in return. This Stratagem can top them right up and remove any overzealous mistakes you may have made.

Not only that, but it’s excellent on any build or composition that relies on a tank, such as Paladin, Justicar, or Chaplain. These guys have a lot of armor and can tank an awful lot of damage. This Stratagem makes them even harder to kill.

12 Heal 2

Chaos Gate Stratagem Heal 2

Heal 2 can be swapped freely with Heal 1 in terms of effectiveness. It heals less than Heal 1, but it heals your entire squad. This has less use in some situations, and more use in others. There are many missions in Chaos Gate that have you defending a key objective from all sides. These missions are very difficult, and you can’t just tank with a single Knight.

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Heal 2 can make these missions much easier, as it allows you to quickly top up your entire squad - something that can’t be done any other way.

11 Righteous Endurance

Chaos Gate Stratagem Righteous Endurance

Righteous Endurance revives your entire squad. This Stratagem is either useless or game-winning. Sometimes the going gets tough, and you start losing Knights to the hordes of Chaos. Righteous Endurance can give you a second wind and could give you just enough of a push to scrape out a win. It’s not a must-take, but it’s certainly very handy to have on hand.

10 Surge Prevention 2

Chaos Gate Stratagem Surge Prevention 2

Surge Prevention 2 outclasses Surge Prevention 1 in every way. It prevents Warp Surges for three turns, which is amazing. If you are going to a heavily corrupted zone, then this Stratagem is almost a must-take. You can freely use your abilities, and get through missions without having to deal with RNG nonsense - it’s just so good.

It’s situational, of course. So don’t slot this in every time.

9 High Sanctuary

Chaos Gate Stratagem High Sanctuary

This Stratagem, at first, seems pretty underwhelming. Gaining +3 armor on all of your Knights isn’t exactly a mind-blowingly fantastic effect. However, you gain this armor for five turns, which throughout a battle, is an awful lot of damage mitigation. Heck, just the +3 Armor on a tank is enough to make this worthwhile in the right situation.

Negating 60 damage over five turns across four Knights is just a good effect to have in your back pocket. This is another excellent pick for defense-focused missions since you are typically assailed from all sides and cover won’t always protect you.

8 Bloom Excision

Chaos Gate Stratagem Bloom Excision

Mutations aren’t exactly a big deal in the early game. They only come from Warp Surges, and they don’t do much. Things change once Daemons and Psykers start entering the field, however. Mutations turn into damage bonuses, huge armor gains, and other nasty effects that make even basic cultists a pain to deal with.

There are many ways to Purge these mutations outside of Stratagems, but Bloom Excision is a pretty good option nonetheless. It has a Blast Area of four, which is pretty hefty, and you can easily strip a squad of its bonuses with a single-use.

7 Precision Bombard

Chaos Gate Stratagem Precision Bombard

Precision Bombard deals six damage over a Blast Area of four. Six damage is a very important number, as this is the exact amount of damage required to kill any cultist or Poxwalker in the game. These may not be threatening individually, but in large numbers, they can easily chew through a Knight.

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Precision Bombat is perfect for nuking a hunkered-down position and deleting units from the field. It’s like an extra-large grenade that fires from space and deals more damage. It can also be used to deal huge damage to other targets, like Plague Marines. At the very least, it will strip most enemies' armor, making them much easier to kill.

6 Strength Of Spirit

Chaos Gate Stratagem Strength Of Spirit

Critical Hits are very important in Chaos Gate. Not only do you deal bonus damage, but that damage can be amplified with Master Crafted Weapons and unlockable skills. Just about every class can benefit from critical hits - especially when a Chaplain or Apothecary is around providing buffs.

Strength Of Spirit gives all of your Knights a +50 percent Critical Hit Chance for a turn. This is easily converted to a 100 percent chance once you hit the mid-game. Don’t forget that Critical Hits can also be used to dismember larger enemies and prevent them from using their weapons and abilities.

5 Tide Of Shadows

Chaos Gate Stratagem Tide Of Shadows

Tide Of Shadows is Mass Purification, only good. You can access it sooner, and the effect is much better. Firstly, Tide Of Shadows applies Purify, which strips all of your Knights of any Afflictions. This is just good to have around as many afflictions can be crippling to the point of defeat.

On top of that, however, Tide Of Shadows also makes your squad immune to Afflictions for three turns as it applies +100 percent Resistance. This bonus outclasses Mass Purification to the point that you should never use Mass Purification.

4 Torpor

Chaos Gate Stratagem Torpor

Torpor is another fantastic Stratagem. Unlike many of the other Stratagems on this list, its use is much broader. It Immobilises every visible enemy. This is excellent in so many situations that you might just slot it in as a permanent Stratagem. Ranged enemies are nasty, but the ones that need to get into melee are nearly always more damaging.

Torpor keeps them away and lets you gun them down with ease. It only lasts one turn, but that’s more than enough to wipe out a horde of Plague Bearers.

3 Word Of The Emperor

Chaos Gate Stratagem Word Of The Emperor

Now we are getting to the truly excellent Stratagems. Word Of The Emperor is a late-game Stratagem, but it’s also one of the best. Especially when brought along in a composition that is focused on Stun and Executes. Word Of The Emperor applies +3 Stun to every visible enemy, which is enough, on its own, to stun Cultists. Just about everything else will crumble when hit by a buffed Paladin.

Being able to Stun enemies is important because Executions provide +1AP to every Knight on the board. If you can chain-execute enemies, this bonus only goes up. Not only that, but Execute is an instant death attack - it doesn’t matter how much HP they have. Finally, Chaplains can boost the AP gained by Execute to the point where landing a single Execute grants so much AP that you will win any encounter instantly.

2 Quicksilver

Chaos Gate Stratagem Quicksilver

Quicksilver is the first Stratagem you unlock, and that is part of the reason it places so highly. Sure, Word Of The Emperor has more combos, but that Stratagem is obtained so late, that it doesn’t have much of an effect. Quicksilver, however, can be used to great effect immediately.

Quicksilver grants one Knight +2AP. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s a 50% increase in base AP, and when applied to the right class, it can lead to entire squads dying in a single activation. Interceptors, in particular, love the bonus AP, and when combined with a Justicar who can also grant bonus AP, you can have an Interceptor rocking 10+ useable AP in a single turn.

10AP on a single character - especially one as powerful as an Interceptor - is game-breaking. Quicksilver is only part of that strategy, but it’s an integral part of it.

1 Gate Of Infinity

Chaos Gate Stratagem Gate Of Infinity

Gate Of Infinity is so powerful, and so overwhelmingly good, that it should be picked the very second you get the opportunity and it should never leave your loadout. Gate Of Infinite can be researched as your second ever Stratagem, so nothing is stopping you from getting this thing early-game.

But what does it do? Why is it so good? Gate Of Infinity teleports your entire squad to any visible location. This sounds useful, but not exactly game-breaking. Consider this, however, most missions end once you complete the objective. For example, kill a Bloomspawn, a Spreader, or a Boss.

Well, with Gate Of Infinity, you can teleport on top of that boss (once you’ve found it) for 0AP. Your entire squad is now within touching distance of this target, so all you have to do is apply whatever buffs you need and then focus everything you have on it. You can kill just about anything in a single turn if you apply enough pressure. Once it dies, the mission ends, and you don’t need to worry about the hordes of enemies you ignored.

Not only that, in missions where you need to do more than kill a single target - such as Bloom Carrier missions, you can use Gate Of Infinity to teleport your squad to a defensible position or to teleport away to wait out the timer. The uses are endless.

Finally, Gate Of Infinity gets more powerful once you unlock the ability to use it two, or even three times per mission. The game shatters under your Squads mobility. Nothing compares.

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