Type / to choose a block

Support

Molochs – A
Molochs have been the main hammer for Forces of the Abyss for what feels like forever.  They come with a great profile of 20 attacks hitting on 3s with Crush 2.  This makes them exceptional on their own, and even better as a target for Blessings of the Dark God.  They have a high nerve value of 19+, which combines well with their inbuilt regeneration 5+ and makes them especially good against gunlines.

The unit is not perfect.  With only defense 4 it is very vulnerable to units with lots of attacks like berserkers.  At only speed 6 it does not want to be in the front line as it can’t control engagement range.  They will die quickly if flank charged or focused on.  They are happy to be height 3, because they absolutely need a screen of height 1/2 chaff in front of them.

The biggest downside by far is they have the downgrading keyword Retaliate, which means they can never withdraw to reposition and heal.  This is the worst keyword in the game and comes with a significant debuff, worse than the yielding keyword.  

In theory Retaliate also offers a minor buff, but the situation where it applies is so rare and insignificant it won’t change a game.  First off, Retaliate offers +1 crush to your unit when you are engaged with two units and survive.  A Moloch is base crush 2, so the benefit of this keyword can only be realized against enemies with at least Defense 5.   I have played many games against armies that were all defense 4 (Nightstalkers, Ratkin, Goblins) where it was not even possible to get a benefit from this keyword for any reason.

Then, you have to survive against two units.  With only defense 4 Molochs are unlikely to survive against two units to begin with.  The main issue here is that your OPPONENT controls how many units you are engaged against in their turn.  This means that against a skilled opponent they will never give you the opportunity to use this rule.  Or, they will have committed multiple units against you only because it gets them the sure kill on the Molochs.

In practice this means that you are only benefiting from Retaliate if the opponent overcommits and rolls the dreaded double 1s on the break test, or they overcommit and just roll outrageously bad.  Both of these cases are very unlikely.  I have had the benefit of the rule come up most often from double 1s, but then remember that you are probably devastated and have only half your attacks.

A unit of Molochs hits 13.5 times on average, or 6.5 times when devastated.  With only a +1 to your crush, and only against units that are engaging you that are already defense 5, the once in a blue moon you can take advantage of this rule you average two extra wounds on your attacks, or one extra wound if you are devastated, which is by far the most common scenario.  So your benefit is 1 or 2 extra wounds done on a counter attack if your opponent makes a mistake or gets super unlucky.  Wow.

What do you pay for this teeny, tiny buff?  100% of the time you cannot withdraw.  Withdraw can be a vital tactic, especially in the late turns of the game when your positioning for score.  It doesn’t matter if your opponent is all low defense where the extra crush doesn’t matter, the debuff applies.  It doesn’t matter if every combat is 1 on 1 duels, the debuff applies.  Fresh unit of Molochs looking to score late game… well if you get hit by a garbage chaff unit you are now stuck in place.

I think the designer that wrote this rule thought that it was narrative and thematic but did not do the work to do the math of the cost/benefit.  It is a tiny buff that applies maybe less than 1% of the time with a critical debuff that applies 100% of the time.  In general, anything with Retaliate should immediately sink to the bottom of your choices if you are going to play in a competitive game.

As for whether retaliate is a worse keyword than yielding?  In short, I have never lost a game because I had a hero with yielding.   I HAVE lost multiple games because I was not able to withdraw with a key unit that had retaliate.  Remember, the downside applies 100% of the time.  You really have to measure whether it is worth the risk of losing a game to include units that have this terrible keyword.  Be warned.

With all that said this is probably the best all around hammer the army has access to, warts and all.  This army in general struggles to find great hammers elsewhere in the roster.  You normally want to include at least 1 to 2 units in every list, perhaps more with a Despoiler or Archfiend which move them to the specialist slot.  You just have to live with Retaliate and try to play around it as you need a dependable crush 2 damage dealer, especially in matchups against Defense 6 spam.

Nagarri – B
Nagarri are a combo hammer and support piece.  They are chariot type which has advantages in that it is good into phalanx and isn’t impacted by Slayer or Rampage.  They have universal Rally which affects your entire army.  As mentioned throughout this review, raising the nerve on your army is important so that you can survive the initial charge and start healing through regeneration.  The large chariot base size means that their rally will also cover a large part of your force.

On offense they are merely OK output with only 12 attacks, but because they are usually in your second rank they are more likely to find a flank.  Speed 7 is OK, but this unit does not want to be in the front line because it has low nerve, only defense 4+ and no regeneration or healing.

The reason the unit is only average is because it has several downsides.  The most apparent is that the unit lacks regeneration.  Because of this they can be a magnet for enemy missile fire.  If I have the points I try to give them a Healing Brew or Dwarfen Ale to help mitigate all the ranged damage and inevitable wavering they are likely to suffer.  Like many units in the army they are saddled with the Retaliate rule debuff of not being able to withdraw.

I struggle to fit in more than one unit in a list because there are better hammers in the support slot, and in general Forces of the Abyss always needs more hammers.  They are very squishy for the points, and so rely on you as a general positioning them well.  When they work they work great, but that won’t be every game.  That said, the rally alone is worth always considering taking one unit.

Chroneas – B
The Chroneas is a very average monster that is still a competent choice in any list.

The good side:  This is a rare choice in FoA that comes with Strider.  The 50mm base size means this can fit in very small spaces.  With Fearless and a high nerve value of 18+ it is not necessarily an attractive shooting target.  The Cloak of Death aura withers down the enemy.  Defense 5 is good for this army in general.  It has Crush 3 which is very hard to get natively out of this army.  Finally, the reason most would include the model, it can heal up to 3 damage to Upper or Middle Circle units.

The bad side:  One of the few units without regeneration, so it loses out on all the synergy.  Because of the lack of regeneration it WILL attract missile fire.  The healing can only work on upper and middle circle units, but most of your best units are lower circle (how great would it be if this could heal Nagarri?  heal Molochs?  but alas, it cannot).  With speed 6 it can’t control engagements.  You want it in the front for Cloak of Death, but it probably needs a screen.  Speaking of Cloak of Death, an enemy can only be affected by one Cloak per turn, so this needs to operate away from where you are casting Dark Pit to get value.

Taking a pair will allow them to heal each other, but again you are probably losing out on cloak damage as the auras will overlap.  And then that is taking up most of your support slots.

A Chroneas can be a powerful addition to the army.  With the latest rules out of Fracture I feel this loses some important synergy that exists now.  Before The Dark Pit spell existed the Chroneas was a lot more valuable.  Monster mash is still not very good.  Chroneas are good against other big, elite units, but are pretty bad into hordes, and hordes are very common right now.  The Chroneas is not top tier, but it is also not garbage tier.  A cheerful mid-tier menace.

The Well of Souls – C
The current version of the Well of Souls is very hard to recommend.  It is a speed 8 flying monster with 10 attacks that hit on 4s.  It does not have terrain mitigation of any kind and is Unique so it can’t be given a magic item.

The big trick of the Well of Souls is that it can take damage to itself to heal your units within 9″, and that healing has no restriction.  This means it can really help the units in your army without regeneration like the Chroneas or Nagarri.  Sadly it is competing in slots for the very units it works with.  Also, to heal itself the Well has lifeleech, but that requires it to actually hit in combat and potentially to expose itself.

The low melee value and lack of terrain mitigation means that the average offense is terrible.  Because it damages itself to heal if you use the healing heavily you are just handing this unit to your opponent.  The nail in the coffin though is the price point.  At 275 points it is just overcosted.  It is better to just take two of whatever unit this would heal for cheaper.  I have struggled to get it to have an impact on a game that is equal to what I could get by just taking that points value in units.  At that price this could be another whole Abyssal Guard horde, and I would always choose another horde over this.

Abyssal Fiend – D
The Abyssal Fiend is truly terrible and belongs in its own, lowest ranking tier.  It takes up a valuable support slot.  It has a large 75mm base that can be hard to work with, but only 7 speed so it can’t control engagements.  It only has 7 attacks and no terrain mitigation so its offensive output per point is pitiful.  It has Brutal which does not stack with Dread, and you are using the Dark Pit so you already have Dread.

It rallies, but only upper circle (lower abbysals, gargoyles, succubi, etc.) which are all units it does not naturally compliment.  The restricted rally is especially bad in the support slot as Nagarri are 30 points cheaper, have a universal rally and more offense at the same speed.  Just a total lack of internal balance.  It does not have regeneration or easy access to healing, so does not synergize with the commands or what the army is trying to do or allow it to take advantage of its defense of 5.  

It is burdened with the Retaliate rule which is a huge nerf to the model.  The Fiend only has a 17+ Nerve so it is very unlikely to ever survive being double charged.  However, Retaliate means it can never withdraw when it does survive a single charge.  Losing access to basic and vital tactics while gaining no benefit in return just makes the Fiend more worthless.

The unit is overcosted at 205 points.  This is due in part because it has a mostly useless Fireball(5).  This unit needs to be in melee to have any chance of earning its value, and should not be standing around chipping in a couple wounds in the shooting phase.

I tried to make the Abyssal Fiend work in a fireball build, but even there it fails.  Flame Bearers are middle circle so don’t benefit from the rally.  You get better fireball for cheaper out of efreets if that is even what you want.  And it isn’t tough enough to tank a double charge to ever use the purely theoretical benefit of Retaliate.

Remember, at a 205 price point the Abyssal Fiend is competing directly with Molochs in the same slot.  But Molochs have triple the number of attacks also at Crush 2, 2 better nerve AND regeneration.  At 7 attacks this unit is not a hammer.  At 17+ nerve and no regen this is not an anvil.  The conditional rally means It is a worse support piece than the Nagarri, also in the same slot.  It fills NO role.  Competing with Teynne for the most expensive Fireball casters?

The Abyssal Fiend is the single worst unit in the Forces of the Abyss 2026.  It makes Tortured Souls and the Well of Souls look good by comparison.  It does not belong in any army for any reason.