Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters has all kinds of classes to mess around with - most of them highly specialized. If you want a melee beatstick, you have the interceptor. If you want a bit of healing and support, the Apothecary has your back. What if you wanted the best of both worlds, however?
This is where the Chaplain comes into play. The Chaplain is a brutal melee combatant combined with a support-focused kit that can skyrocket your Squad in terms of power and efficacy. No other class quite hits the same notes as the Chaplain, and he is well worth a look.
What Is A Chaplain
Chaplains are the Warrior-Priests of the Adeptus Astartes. They are able to unleash devastating acts of faith and inspire their brothers to deeds of heroism written only in legend. Traditionally donned in black armor and sporting a harrowing Skull Mask, the Chaplain is a force not to be reckoned with and can just as easily destroy the Emperor’s enemies, as he can lead armies into battle.
Skills And Abilities
Innate Abilities
Chaplains are more than regular Grey Knights. They are leaders, advisors, and warriors. To make them stand out, they have innate abilities unique to them.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Chaplain |
Chaplains can only wear Terminator Armor, and by default, they gain +1 Armor. |
Core Discipline
These are your basic skills and passives that branch off into more specialised trees.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Willpower x3 |
The Chaplain gains +2 WP permanently. |
Rosarius |
The Chaplain gains +1 Armor permanently. |
Convergence Discipline
The tree unlocks and upgrades the Refrain Of Convergence Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Refrain Of Convergence |
Each Knight, regardless of range, gains +10% Resistance. |
Resistance Upgrade x2 |
This Litany gains +10% Resistance. |
Equipment Slot |
The Chaplain has an additional Wargear Slot than can be used to equip Passive Wargear. |
Provoke Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Provoke Psychic Attack.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Provoke |
This attack has a Range of 10 and a Blast Area of 2. Enemies hit by this attack are Enraged for 2 turns. Enrage enemies will attempt to Melee Attack the Chaplain. |
Area Upgrade |
Provoke gains +1 Area. |
Warp Charge |
Provoke inflicts Crazed instead of Enraged. Crazed enemies will randomly attack their allies. |
Willpower |
The Chaplain gains +2 WP permanently. |
Hated Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Litany Of Hate Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Litany Of Hate |
Buffs ll Knights, regardless of range. Knights will gain +1 AP when Executing an enemy. |
Uses Per Turn Upgrade x2 |
This Litany gains +1 uses per turn. |
Willpower |
The Chaplain gains +2 WP permanently. |
Active Ability
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Emperor’s Will Psychic Support.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Emperor’s Will |
The Chaplain targets a Knight at any range and grants them +2WP. |
Reduce AP Cost |
Emperor’s Will costs -1AP to cast. |
Warp Charge |
When activated, Emperor’s Will will transfer all of the Chaplains WP to the targetted Knight. |
Focus Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Invocation Of Focus Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Invocation Of Focus |
Each knight, regardless of range, has a 15% chance to gain +1WP after using Warp Charge, Psybolt, or Force Strike. |
Auto Chance Upgrade (1) |
This Auto gains +15% chance to trigger. |
Auto Chance Upgrade (2) |
This Auto gains +20% chance to trigger. |
Focus |
The Chaplain gains +20% Focus permanently. Focus increases the chance for the Chaplain to trigger Afflictions and Autos. |
Faith Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Litany Of Faith Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Litany Of Faith |
Each Knight, regardless of range, gains +1 Armor when using the Aegis Shield ability. |
Armor Upgrade x2 |
This Litany provides an additional +1 Armor. |
Ruthless Precision |
When the Chaplain lands a Critical Hit with a Melee Attack, there is a 50% chance he will gain +1AP. |
Power Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Words Of Power Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Words Of Power |
Each Knight, regardless of range, gains +2 Critical Hit damage. This damage bonus applies to Ranged and Melee Attacks. |
Crit Damage Upgrade x2 |
This Litany provides an additional +1 Critical Hit damage. |
Rosarius |
The Chaplain gains +2 Armor permanently |
Guidance Discipline
This tree unlocks and upgrades the Intonement For Guidance Litany.
Skill |
Description |
---|---|
Intonement For Guidance |
Each Knight, regardless of range, gains +35% Critical Hit chance with Ranged Weapons. |
Crit Chance Upgrades x2 |
This Litany provides an additional +10% Crit chance for Ranged Weapons. |
Mental Focus |
Whenever the Chaplain lands a Critical Hit with a Ranged Weapon, they have a 50% chance to gain +1 AP. |
Essential Skills
This Chaplain is a unique beast. He has very few direct bonuses to his own damage output, which puts more of a focus on his equipment and his ability to buff your entire team. All of the Chaplain's Litanies have infinite range, which makes him a potent force at all times. This infinite range also applies to half of his Psychic abilities, which is even better.
Unfortunately, the Chaplain's Litanies (his main draw) are varied. In an ideal world you would have a Chaplain built to do very specific things, and then swap them out for other specialized Chaplains. This makes them much harder to build, and more awkward to actually use in combat. This is esaserbated by the toggle-nature of Litanies and the inability to freely swap or combine them.
These are the best abilities for the Chaplain, but they won’t necessarily combine together to make a good Chaplain.
- Litany Of Hate
- Intonement For Guidance
- Words Of Power
- Invocation Of Focus
Litany Of Hate
Litany Of Hate is a Litany that can break the game. AP is precious in Chaos Gate, and any way to gain more AP is a quick path to success. Litany Of Hate doubles the AP bonus (which was already fantastic) of Executions. In addition, once upgraded, Litany Of Hate can be cast multiple times, allowing you swap in and out of it more often. Do note the bonus only applies to the Knight Executing the enemy. Regardless, all Knights will still gain the standard +1AP, which is still a very useful bonus.
Combined with a character like the Paladin, who has massive Stun potential, or the Apothecary who can provide Stun bonuses, Litany Of Hate can trivialize combat. The downside is that it requires multiple characters (Chaplain, Paladin, and/or Apothecary) to pull off, and this will limit your squad's scope substantially.
That being said, you still have space for an Interceptor, for example, who will make use of that bonus AP to slaughter entire patrols and even some bosses.
Intonement For Guidance
Intonement For Guidance is far less explosive but still incredibly powerful in the right lineup. By the time you get the Chaplain, you will have started to get more powerful Master Crafted weapons. These often come with Critical Hit modifiers that stack with Intonement For Guidance’s substantial boost.
For example, the Golden Mandate Storm Bolter has a 25 percent Critical Hit chance, +3 Critical Hit damage, and gains a bonus +50 percent Critical Hit chance when using Psybolt. This, combined with Intonement For Guidance, will land highly damaging Critical Hits 100 percent of the time. Many weapons can get near, or meet this level of reliability.
Words Of Power
Words Of Power can combine with just about any Squad, and it works wonders with Intonement For Guidance - although you would need two Chaplains working together to pull it off. Words of Power grants +2/+4 bonus Critical Hit damage to your entire squad, which is a massive boost to damage if you can land reliable Critical Hits. Many classes come with Hammerhand or Astral Aim, both of which have 100 percent Critical Hit modifiers.
Words Of Power, combined with a Critical Hit damage-based weapon and Hammerhand/Astral Aim can punch straight through enemies and seriously damage bosses. Not only that, but this ability stacks with the Apothecaries' Warp Speed Biomancy which provides an additional +2/+4 Critical Hit damage modifier.
Invocation Of Focus
A quick and easy way to deal damage is to spend WP on Warp Charge abilities, Psybolt, and Force Strike. These will likely be your most-used abilities, and the Chaplain makes them even better. Once upgraded, each Knight will have a 50 percent chance to restore +1WP when using these abilities, making many of them free.
Not only that, but the Chaplain himself can gain Focus, which gives him a 75 percent chance to get that +1WP refund - making his already stretched resources go further.
Invocation Of Focus is a nice utility pick to round out a build, as opposed to something you would rush.