Veritas Vitae: Litanies of Battle

[Jolemai]

Welcome to the Veritas Vitae Series!

Following the release of the 9^th edition Supplement, there is no better time to discuss all the tools that we have access to. This ongoing series of articles focuses on what a Blood Angels Force Commander has at their disposal, with advice, information, and tactics plucked from the readily available to the more obscure parts of GWs rulesets.

Like all Veritas Vitae articles, these remain active and are in flux, so we can add and update them as the information contained within changes. So please chip in with any and all suggestions to help your fellow Frater to vicory against the daemon, the heretic, the xenos, and the traitor.

Litanies of Battle

A Blood Angels force has a number of Litanies of Battle available to it and these can be found in the various support books available to us. This guide explores what they are, what they do, an how best to maximise their use for our army.

Article Setup
The following are notes on the setup of article below:

• Header in Blood Red, power is found in Supplement: Blood Angels
• Header in Enchanted Blue, power is found in Codex: Space Marines
• Keywords will appear in Bold format
• Important points will appear in underlined format

Locations
The following points are where the psychic powers listed can be found in each sourcebook:

• Litanies of Battle begin on page 112
• Mass of Doom is found on page 68

Common rules
The following are common rules which apply to Litanies of Battle:

• Litanies of Battle are either selected or randomly chosen by rolling a D6 (re-rolling duplicates)
• All Chaplains know Litany of Hate
• The Chaplain's datasheet details how many additional Litanies it knows and how many it can recite each turn
• Unless otherwise stated, each Litany is inspiring on a D6 roll of 3+
• Unless otherwise stated, each Litany lasts until the start of your next Command phase
• Unless otherwise stated, the same Litany can not be chanted more than once per battle round

Links
The Litanies of Battle a Blood Angels force can use are split into two different categories, the links to which - along with any relevant support - can be found below:

• Litany Support
• Litanies of Battle: Generic
• Litanies of Battle: Blood Angels
• Obscuration Discipline
• Sanguinary Discipline

Edited November 22, 2021 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Litany of Battle Support

The following page is a list of things that can boost our Chaplain's ability to use Litanies of Battle:

Chapter Command
Master of Sanctity

• Gains keyword Chief Librarian (If you field Astorath, this needs to be from a different Chapter)(Unavailable to a Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought)
• Gains ability Master of Sanctity: knows one additional litany from Litanies of Battle and can recite one additional litanies it knows (provided no other friendly Chaplain has recited it this turn)
• Gains access to Wise Orator (Warlord Trait): Add 1 to to see if the litany being recited is inspiring, Command Oratory Stratagem costs 1 CP
• Gains access to The Emperor's Judgement (Relic): No re-rolls on attacks against this model and enemy units within 6" roll 2D6 for Morale tests and discard the lowest dice
• Very nice for a Jump Pack "Reclusiarch" with the Warlord Trait as this is often the best choice for Command Oratory. Alternatively, being able to know and recite an extra litany offers much flexibility in that you can retain what you'd normally take and opt for Mantra of Strength for emergencies, or plump for two support litanies.

Relics
Vox Espiritum

• Primaris model only
• Add 3" to the range of the bearer's aura abilities
• In theory, this increases the range of a Primaris Chaplains Litany of Hate, Litany of Faith, and Canticle of Hate to 9"

Stratagems
Commanding Oratory

• Cost: 2 CP
• Duration: Start of any phase (not Command), lasts until the start of your next Command phase
• Description: Select one Adeptus Astartes Chaplain that hasn't recited a litany this turn. Can recite one which hasn't already been recited by a friendly model this turn and it passes automatically
• Combos: TBC
• Gets around a Chaplain being off the board (Reserves, Embarked) during the Command Phase. So it gets deployed, and then you can pop a single Litany (such as Canticle of Hate). Note that Lemartes's special rule takes precedence here (so he can still use a Litany already used this turn)

Edited November 8, 2021 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Litanies of Battle: Generic

The following datasheets have access to these Litanies of Battle:

• Astorath
• Chaplain
• Chaplain in Terminator Armour
• Chaplain on Bike
• Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought
• Lemartes (Note that these only work on Death Company and can be recited if another Chaplain already has with no stacking of duplicate Litanies permited)
• Primaris Chaplain
• Primaris Chaplain on Bike

Litany of Hate (Aura)

• Description: If inspiring, then while a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest it an re-roll he to hit roll for melee attacks
• Combos: Canticle of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Mass of Doom
• Sure, it's the default Chaplain setting, but any combat force loves re-rolls to hit in combat - especially if there are debuffs involved. So whilst Terminators and other thunder hammer wielding troops can make good use of this, it also works great on high attack units (double chainswords) and anything which grants exploding dice

Litany of Faith (Aura)

• Description: If inspiring, then while a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest receive a 5+++
• Combos: Mass of Doom
• Pretty much anything, even Death Company, can benefit from a 5+++, so whether you take it or not depends on the role you wish for your Chaplain. An advance one will more than likely take an offensive litany, so perhaps this is a good secondary or one that needs you to hold somewhere important

Catechism of Fire

• Description: If inspiring, select a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest. Each time a model shoots the closest eligible target, add 1 to the to wound roll
• Combos: Recitation of Focus
• Ideally suited to short-mid range fire squads like massed Intercessors or possibly, Devastators in Drop Pods

Exhortation of Rage

• Description: If inspiring, select a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest. Each time a model in that unit makes an melee attack, add 1 to the to wound roll
• Combos: Canticle of Hate, Mass of Doom, Litany of Hate
• Often the most overlooked due to our built in traits, this becomes more appealing if you roll different ones as a Successor Chapter or if you are facing armies like Death Guard. Best combo'd with something that increases hit chance too.

Mantra of Strength

• Description: If inspiring, add 1 to this Priest's attacks and melee weapon damage
• Combos: Canticle of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Litany of Hate
• Useful for Astorath and Lemartes to give them that little bit extra, or any Chaplain that expects to be doing some heavy lifting.

Recitation of Focus

• Description: If inspiring, select a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest. Each time a model makes a ranged attack, add 1 to the to hit roll
• Combos: Catechism of Fire
• Putting this on a character is quite niche given the majority of those with a decent ranged weapon are BS2 already - meaning you need to weigh up if negating a debuff is worth it (an example is a Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought with a twin lascannon), however, one armed with Quake Bolts could well to the balance. On a squad it combos well with anything that has mover but would prefer not to (i.e Devastators) or those with to-wound buffs (Catechism of Fire, Tactical Precision) in play. Useful for a Chaplain sitting back/playing defensive

Canticle of Hate (Aura)

• Description: If inspiring, then while a friendly <Chapter> Core or <Chapter> Character unit is within 6" of the Priest, add 2 to the charge rolls and it can pile in & consolidate an additional 3". Not that neither of these are cumulative with any other bonus
• Combos: Canticle of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Litany of Hate, Mass of Doom, Descent of Angels, Commaning Oratory
• Pretty much the go to for most Blood Angels forces (moreso for those Successors using different traits). If you go down the rote whereby you arrive from Deep Strike and wish to use Commanding Oratory, make sure no other Chaplain has used it already! Also, remember that you can pre-measure whenever you wish, so practice getting things lined up. Either move the Chaplain first and then the unit(s), or the unit(s) first and leave a hole for the Chaplain. Obviously suited to an offensive Chaplain.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Litanies of Battle: Blood Angels

The following Litany of Battle is only available to the following datasheets:

• Astorath

Mass of Doom

• Description: If inspiring, select a Blood Angels Core or Blood Angels Character (excluding Vehicles) within 6" of the Priest and roll a D6. In addition to each model adding to their melee attack hit rolls on a 1: one model is destroyed; on a 6 the unit gains a 4++
• Combos: Canticle of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Litany of Hate
• Hugely useful on anything with power fists or thunderhammers, or any unit which has had their melee to hit rolls de-buffed

Edited November 8, 2021 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Right folks, so get thinking! There are a number of combos, synergies, and strategies that I've likely missed, so post them below and I'll add to the thread as we go along^TM - by combos here, I also mean things the litanies can be combo'd with or decent targets for them. So Stratagems + units + litany, that sort of thing. What gems have you come up with?

[BloodyB]

Recently I ran a 9th Company themed list in a large game. I had a lot of success buffing my Dev centurions shooting with +1 to wound using my Chaplain, combined with a Storm of Fire Captain. Due to packing Hurricane/Heavy bolter, I felt +1 to wound was more useful than +1 to hit. It worked well, let me do some real damage to the green tide coming in fast.

 

In general, I find Chaplains to be a very versatile source of buffs, as I can pick which buff I need for my list. For that reason, I value the Firstborn Chaplain more than the Primaris.

 

If I take the FB, I can pick from a range of weapons to improve his impact on the battle, admittedly, a single combiweapon or Inferno pistol won't often turn the tide, but I'm sure we all have that time it came up good. Additionally, a Firstborn can take Jump packs or terminator armour, both grant deepstrike capacity, and give the Chaplain that little bit more specialisation for the battle. The only exception is the Outrider Chaplain, which is just excellent for supporting bikers of all kinds.

 

Dragging myself away from my usual 'Unit of the Week' monologue, and back to the actual subject of what prayers one should be intoning and when, I can honestly say tha the one prayer I use more than any other is Litany of Hate. The simple reroll to hit prayer is as useful now as it was back when I bought my first Reclusiarch back in 5th edition. The fact that it now affects multiple units is only improving on an already excellent buff. With the Vox Espiritum, or the Heroic Bearing WT, you can squeeze an immensely powerful attack force in range while still dealing death, the fact that it is even more efficient to use on attack rolls with negative modifiers is just the business. And it comes as standard.

 

For the prayer I actually pick, I most often go for Canticle of Hate. +2 to Charge alone makes it tasty, everything else is gravy. Alaa take this on a guy with Vox Espiritum/Heroic Bearing or Wise Orator. The fact that this affects so many units is heehaw-larious, and I cannot count the number of times I have used this to plant 20 terminators in a once-impenetrable defence line.

 

EDIT: Heroic Bearing doesn't affect all 'Aura' abilities, just the Leadership bubble, my bad. Thanks guy below me, you rock!

Edited November 26, 2021 by BloodyB

[Khorneeq]

One thing to remember: Heroic Bearing doesn't affect range of Litanies

 

And back to topic litanies, Mantra of Strength is nicely paired with a power fist armed Chaplain, additional attack helps to hit and bonus damage is delivered nicely with Ap-3