This article will detail the Hedonites of Slaanesh army starting from its lore, describing the main units and their roles, how the army plays and finally our personal opinion of the army.
For a complete run-down of the different armies available in Age of Sigmar, consult our Age of Sigmar army overview article.
In this article we will refer often to Matched Play and other technical terms like allegiance abilities, command points, army roles in building a list, core battalions, Endless Spells/Invocations, etc. We assume the reader will be knowledgeable with those terms, otherwise please refer to the relevant guides for more details.
Age of Sigmar 4.0
This article has not been updated yet with the newest rules and discoveries from the fourth edition of Age of Sigmar. We will be reviewing all articles and updating them really soon.
Overview of Hedonites of Slaanesh Army
Slaanesh, while the youngest of the Chaos gods, is the most influential one as he does not feed on specific emotions but rather on all type of excesses. While still imprisoned by the Aelven gods, his followers revel in the multiple experiences they can find in the Mortal Realms. They call themselves Hedonites, from which the name of the battletome.
Slaanesh is one of the original Chaos gods, and even if at the start of Age of Sigmar had the smallest range between them, it has since been expanded with a recent release of his mortal followers, the Sybarites, that greatly improves the range and compensates some of the demonic limitations. Today the army combines 10-years old models with extremely new sculpts.
In game, their unique playstyle is represented by the temptations they can provide to the actual opponent players. Those allow him/her to choose if to favour Slaanesh players in exchange for a better roll, or resist to the temptation and be damaged.
The new battletome resolves the problem of summoning that made most daemonic models over-costed, bringing Slaanesh to the third edition with a competitive book.
Lore of Hedonites of Slaanesh Army
Slaanesh is one of the four Chaos gods, the youngest of them. Yet, he was already an ancient being when the World-That-Was was destroyed. At that time, he had the chance to feed on the most succulent of all souls: the elven ones. When he uncovered the creation of the Mortal Realms, immediately used his daemons to tempt mortals in any sort of excess they would prefer.
Because is through that indulgence, that the Dark Prince obtains his power. Often represented as a being with both female and male traits, he is usually extremely fascinating but really, he can take the aspect of whatever you truly desire. Anyone can fall prey to his temptations, from a soldier mastering his martial prowess to an artisan perfecting his skills.
At the beginning of the Age of Myth, the Aelven gods (the Shadow King Malerion and the brothers Tyrion and Teclis), lured the Dark Prince in a sub-realm between Hysh and Ulgu: the Hidden Gloaming of Uhl-Gysh. Here, between light and shadow, was trapped with the help of Morathi, High Oracle of Khaine, and the aelven plan to extract the lost souls from his belly started soon after.
Through this operation, the Aelven gods recovered many of the poor beings lost with the destruction of the World-That-Was: Morathi to create her own army of Scáthborn and Teclis first freed the Idoneth Deepkin and later perfected the operation with the Lumineth Realm-Lords.
But Slaanesh cannot be imprisoned forever. Every depraved act done in the Mortal Realms makes him stronger, and his followers, the Hedonites, in their own sadistic acts bring everyday closer the escape of the Dark Prince. Already few chains have been broken, and a shard of his essence reached the Mortal Realms when Morathi tricked every other god and managed to enter Slaanesh body to obtain the essence of the most powerful souls still trapped inside and finally obtain godhood.
The Hedonites are divided in three main groups, with the Godseekers that scour everywhere in search of their lost god, the Invaders just revelling in utter destruction and the Pretenders that claim to be the legitimate heir to the throne of the Dark Prince, aiming one day to actually depose him should he ever re-appear.
Army rules for the Hedonites of Slaanesh
But how does the Hedonites of Slaanesh army play on a tabletop? First let’s go through the main rules for this army.
The first choice determines which subfaction to use, unlocking further battle traits, command traits, artefacts and spells. But before that, let’s see the other abilities common to all of them.
The most unique way to obtain depravity points, the main currency for the army to obtain bonuses, is through temptations. You generate 6 Temptation Dice each battle round and you can offer them to the opponent player each time they fail a hit, wound or save roll. If they accept the offer, the roll becomes automatically a 6, but the Slaanesh player obtains D6 depravity points. If they refuse, they receive D3 mortal wounds. A unit can receive maximum one offer per phase, and all dice unused by the end of the battle round are lost.
Another simpler way to obtain those points is through Euphoric Killers: a unit selected at the start of the combat phase that is already engaged with an enemy unit. Each wound or mortal wound allocated to that unit by the Euphoric Killer unit will grant a depravity point.
Depravity Points have two main uses: army-wide bonuses and summoning. The latter uses some of those points to summon daemonic units, starting from 10 Daemonettes for 18 points, up to a Keeper of Secrets for 36. The bonuses instead are triggered immediately as soon as you reach that threshold, and are of course lost if you spend those to summon. They are all cumulative:
- At 12 points enemies subtract 1 from the hit rolls targeting Hedonites of Slaanesh units.
- At 24 points unmodified hit rolls of 6 on melee attacks generate 1 mortal wound in addition to any other damage.
- At 36 points all friendly Hedonites receive a 5+ ward.
Finally, Slaanesh armies can benefit from coalition units:
- 2 units every 4 can be Slaves to Darkness units with the Mark of Chaos keyword. They obtain the Slaanesh keyword
- 1 unit every 4 can be a Beasts of Chaos unit without the Tzeentch or Slaanesh keyword. They obtain the Slaanesh keyword.
- No unit can have the Khorne keyword.
Returning back to the subfactions, there are three of them: Invaders, Pretenders and Godseekers.
The Invaders are the vast majority of the Hedonites, revelling in combat. In game, every hero is treated as a general and when picking a hero to perform an heroic action, on a 2+ you can pick another one to perform the same action. They even have their own heroic action, Escalating Havoc, that allows another hero to obtain a command trait (from the Invader list) that didn’t have, and was not already chosen, and use it for the rest of the turn.
The list of command traits for Invaders include Hurler of Obscenities that gives +1 to hit but also -1 to save to an enemy unit or Best of the best that gives +1 attack to the general as long as within 6″ of another hero. The artefacts include the Icon of Infinity Excess that gives a +1 melee attack to all Hedonites on the battlefield once per game. The Invaders have their own Lore of the Despoiler.
The Pretenders are those that claim to be the rightful heirs to Slaanesh gilded throne. In game, you receive 3 command points instead of 1 if the general is alive at the start of the hero phase and he can issue 3 times the same command at the cost of 1 point.
The list of command traits include great options like Strength of Godhood, that increases the rend and melee attacks of the general by 1 if he issued at least a command in the same turn, while between the artefacts we have The Crown of Dark Secrets, that permanently reduces to 1 the number of attacks of an enemy unit while within 6″ of the bearer. Pretenders’ spells are described in the Lore of the Magnificent.
The Godseekers are those more zealously searching for their lost God, following his scent. In game they can re-roll charge rolls if they are within 12″ of a friendly hero and at the start of each battle round up to D3 units not engaged can move up to D6″ remaining outside the usual 3″ from any enemy unit.
The command traits all focus on the charge phase of your general and they are all equally valid. They can be further enhanced by artefacts like the Girdle of the Realm-racer that allows to enter combat and pile-in from 6″. Godseeker’s spell lore is the Lore of the Pursuer.
Units and their roles in the Hedonites of Slaanesh Army
Heroes in Hedonites of Slaanesh
Heroes can perform Heroic Actions, in addition to the other abilities they can perform. You do it in the hero phase and you can only do one heroic action. Here is the list:
- Heroic Leadership: on a 4+ (or 2+ if your general has been slain) get a command point only that hero can use.
- Heroic Willpower: one non-Wizard hero can attempt to dispel or unbind a spell for that phase like he was a wizard.
- Their Finest Hour: can be used only once by each hero to improve save and wound rolls by 1 for that turn.
- Heroic Recovery: a disengaged hero can heal D3 wounds if he rolls less or equal to his bravery with 2D6.
The Keeper of Secrets is the emblematic daemonic leader of Slaanesh armies. It’s a huge model with multiple assembly options so that 2 can be completely different from each other. Of the weapons, the Living Whip is the most interesting because it adds a shooting attack and a debuff of -1 attack to an enemy unit in the combat phase. However, in a Pretenders army, the Shining Aegis provides a 5+ ward that is essential to his/her survival.
He/she is a double caster with a not-so-impressive melee profile, although unmodified 6s to wound are automatic mortal wounds. The signature spell is a short-area damage for units with low Bravery. But the most interesting ability he/she provides is Excess of Violence that once per battle can allow a unit to fight a second time at the end of the combat phase. Combined with a Euphoric Killer unit, can be used to harvest more depravity points. Points that can be also collected with Dark Temptations where every combat phase, if the enemy unit selected does not decide to self-inflict D3 wounds, it provides D3 depravity points.
Shalaxi Helbane is the named version of the Keeper of Secrets coming from the same kit. She has less weapon options but still the choice between the whip and aegis that are the most interesting. A -1 to wound and hit against it, and few abilities that affect enemy heroes are not enough to justify its cost.
Synessa and Dexcessa come from the same kit and represent a portion of Slaanesh’s soul escaping during Morathi grand ritual. Synessa is the wizard: single caster and warmaster (always general even when not picked as first option), who can issue one command per turn for free and cast a spell that can debuff an enemy hero if she can beat its bravery with 3D6.
Dexcessa instead is a mix between a melee and a shooting fighter without excelling in either. While sharing the same -1 to hit against with Synessa, a 4+ save and no ward would not allow her to last protracted fights. That’s why she can run and charge and retreat and charge so if you pick your fights carefully she can survive enough to to take advantage of her permanent +1 attack bonus after each battle round she fights. He melee profile changed with the most recent FAQ that makes her a bit more useful.
Syll’Esske, the Vengeful Allegiance is a communion between a herald of Slaanesh and a mortal that is now a daemonic duo to be reckoned with. They are a wizard and a warmaster (counts as an added general) and a niche mini-game where if you have the same number of daemon and mortal units within 18″ of Syll’Esske, everyone in the range gets +1 to hit on melee attacks.
Independently from that, they are a great model and a tremendous melee profile, without considering they are still a single caster with a signature spell that prevents an enemy unit from issuing or receiving commands until your next hero phase.
The Contorted Epitome is a double caster (can cast or unbind 2 spells per turn) with the ability to re-roll casting rolls that is already great, but in addition they can stop units engaged from issuing or receiving commands and from retreating. Imagine equipping them with the Crown of Dark Secrets from the Pretenders artefacts’ list: with 12″ movement they can quickly engage the targeted enemy unit, forcing it with a single attack, unable to retreat until they kill the Epitome (4+ save and 2+ ward against mortal wounds) plus at 12 depravity points they get -1 to hit and the Epitome spell can tag up to D3 units within 24″ giving all other units attacking them +1 to wound…
They are a great addition in any list, so prepare your best combos.
The Infernal Enrapturess is here to disrupt enemy wizards, forcing them to re-roll successful casting rolls and with a chance to do them mortal wounds. She has 2 different missile profiles that can choose from before shooting but overall she seems to be a better summon than something you would enlist from the beginning.
The Masque, cursed by Slaanesh to dance for the eternity, is a great pinning unit, with the ability to be re-deployed anywhere in the opponent battlefield just outside 3″ of an enemy unit, with a 4+ ward and 6 attacks that can become 9 (at the start of the hero phase has to choose between healing 3 wounds or adding +3 to the attacks). It can also be used as turn 1 Euphoric Killer to maximise the amount of depravity points you collect.
The chariots are the exemplification of what Slaanesh is with the pain to assemble them in the perfect way and the excess in having a model that can be assembled only by combining 2 boxes. Indeed, to assemble an Exalted Chariot you will need 2 kits. In addition, there are 3 different chariot setups, and each one of them has a leader version called Bladebringer, for a total of 6 warscrolls from 1 single kit.
The Bladebringers are all single caster mounted wizards with a spell that adds +1 to wound against the targeted enemy unit.
The Herald on Seeker Chariot does damage on charge and can buff the charges of other Seeker Chariots nearby, in addition can retreat and charge.
The Herald on Hellflayer instead has a chance to do mortal wounds to enemy units at the start of the combat phase and can improve its attack characteristic. It also buffs other Hellflayers ability to do mortals.
The Herald on Exalted Chariot instead can issue 2 commands at the cost of 1 but only to Exalted Chariots, and has an extremely deadly damage on charge against heavy armoured units (the chance of damage is higher the lower is the Save characteristic of the target, i.e. 2+ or 3+).
The Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh, is a wizard hero Daemonette with the ability to fight together with a nearby Daemonettes unit, run and charge and a 5+ ward. Too little to justify her current price.
Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttons with a 3+ save, 5+ ward and -1 to hit to all enemy units in range is the most resilient unit in the army, ideal for an anvil role. He has a list of sequential buffs that gets activated each battle round from +1 Bravery to Slaanesh units in range on round 1 to re-rolling casting and dispelling rolls in the fifth one.
He can heal back through a designated mortal unit wounding enemy units nearby and as a double caster can do quite a bit of mayhem including his signature spell that halves Move, run and charge roll to an enemy unit.
The Lord of Hubris is the latest model added to the army. His ability was exploited until the FAQ corrected it, but basically he can give strike-first to an enemy unit but they are forced to attack him if they are within 3″ of each other. You can still wiggle a bit by selecting units with 1″ weapon range and stay exactly outside of the 1″ either by preventing pile-in, interposing 25mm base units or obstacles, forcing that way the opponent to skip their combat phase. But you can’t use Phantasmagoria spell anymore to obtain the same effect. The Lord of Hubris can also allow a Myrmidesh o Symbaresh unit to fight after being slain.
Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh revels in his new miniature that is a favourite of many painters and won several awards. He is a hammer with good resilience (3+ save, 4+ ward) when he charges thanks to the +3 to the charge roll, strike-first when he charges and an attack profile equal to the charge roll, starting from 5 and preventing the use of wards…. If you need a euphoric killer in later stage of the fight, he is your man.
The Lord of Pain is a useful utility piece to keep near the objectives as he provides a +1 to hit and wound to all Slaanesh Mortals around him as long as he is contesting an objective. And if the opponent wants to get rid of him, every time his 4+ ward negates a wound from a melee attack, the attacker suffers one back.
The Shardspeaker of Slaanesh is our last hero, single caster and mortal, but by no means she is the least. Her main ability has a chance to reduce the save of an enemy unit, that well combines in Invaders with the ability Hurler of Obscenities that can be given to her even if she is not the general through the Invaders specific heroic action.
Her spell reduces enemy melee attacks and if she casts successfully a spell that is not unbound, her attack profile explodes with 5 -1 rend 2-damage attacks and a 4+ ward that makes her unpredictable in melee.
Monsters in Hedonites of Slaanesh
Monsters can perform special abilities called Monstrous Rampages at the end of the Charge phase. Each action can be performed only once per phase therefore only up to 4 monsters can perform one at a time. Here is the current list:
- Roar: on a 3+ an engaged enemy unit cannot issue or receive orders in the following combat phase.
- Stomp: on a 2+ do D3 mortal wounds to an engaged unit that is not a monster.
- Titanic Duel: + 1 to hit rolls against another engaged Monster.
- Smash to Rubble: on a 3+ demolish a close-by terrain feature, disabling its scenery rules.
Slaanesh armies can count on 4 monsters, all leaders: the Keeper of Secrets, Shalaxi, Synessa and Dexcessa, but no extra monstrous rampages or abilities favouring them.
Battlelines in Hedonites of Slaanesh
The Daemonettes are the basic daemonic battleline for Slaanesh and one of the most iconic. With run and charge, +1 to both with a banner bearer, Rally on a 5+ with an icon bearer (command ability to bring back slain units in the hero phase) and re-roll battleshock tests with a musician, they are not a bad unit, but they shine more once the depravity point buffs start to kick in.
The Seekers are the other daemonic battleline, representing the light cavalry. They have the same assembly extras than the daemonettes with same buffs (musician, icon bearer and banner bearer) but they can improve their own attacks for the rest of the battle each combat phase they slay enemies with a wound characteristic of 2+.
Running 2D6 instead of one and running and charging, they represent a great and fast alternative to your standard battlelines.
The Blissbarb Archers are the only base mortal battleline for Slaanesh, and the first one that introduces a reliable shooting capability. They can run and shoot and are on 3+/3+ before any buff as long as the Homonculi accompanying the unit is still alive.
As battleline goes, Blissbarb Archers are a great option, especially if you are focussing on Mortals.
Conditional Battlelines in Hedonites of Slaanesh
The Seeker Chariot and Hellflayer are alternative assembly options of the same kit that allows to do also their leader version, the Bladebringer. However, to get an Exalted Chariot, you’ll need to combine two of those kits.
They have a similar profile to their Bladebringer version that provides them small buffs and transforms them in battleline if the corresponding hero is chosen as general.
The Seeker Chariot does D3 damage on charge, the Exalted Chariot an amount depending on the charge roll and the enemy Save characteristic, while the Hellflayer does mortal wounds at the beginning of the combat phase with a chance to increase its attacks as well.
Overall they are good options, especially on Godseeker lists.
The Myrmidesh Painbringers are elite Mortal infantry, unlocked as battleline by a Lord of Pain or Lord of Hubris as general. They represent the tank version of the kit (Symbaresh being the alternative option) with a 3+ save and a +1 bonus when in enemy territory or in range of an objective you don’t control. They cover their role quite efficiently.
The Symbaresh Twinsouls are the other half of the Myrmidesh kit. They could have been a hammer unit, instead they are a hybrid with 4+ save and when engaged a 5+ ward plus reducing the enemy attacks by 1. They overlap too much with the Myrmidesh without having the same resilience but maintaining a similar damage output.
The Hellstriders are the old cavalry kit and they become battleline if any Slaanesh Mortal is chosen as general. They have two warscrolls based on their weapon profiles: Claw-spears or Hellscourger. The main difference is that the Claw-spear are dangerous in protracted fights (they improve if they are already engaged at the start of the combat phase), while the Hellscourger does not have rend but has more attacks and prevents enemy units with wound characteristic of 1 and 2 from contesting an objective while the Hellstriders engage them. They don’t even need to be in range of the objective to nullify the opponent unit. With 14″ movement and a cheap profile they can be used in skirmishing tactics.
Wizards and Priests in Hedonites of Slaanesh
Slaanesh does not have priests, but there’s plenty of wizards in the army. Differently from other armies, the various spell lores are split by subfaction rather than by specific unit keyword.
The Invaders have the Lore of the Despoilers, with good options like Pavane of Slaanesh that can reduce movement of an enemy unit or Hysterical Frenzy that can be lethal to high-bravery units.
The Pretenders instead use the Lore of the Magnificent, with options like Phantasmagoria that allows to select an enemy unit, and each time they are picked for fighting, one Slaanesh unit engaged with them can immediately retreat or Born of Damnation, for a chance to generate up to 6 depravity points.
Instead, the Lore of the Pursuer is used by the Godseekers, probably the best spell lore that includes Slothful Stupor that reduces movement, charge and run rolls until your next hero phase.
Slaanesh can count on a huge list of wizards with the Keeper of Secrets, Shalaxi, the Contorted Epitome and Glutos as double casters, while Synessa, Syll’Esske and all Bladebringers are single casters.
Other units in Hedonites of Slaanesh
The Fiends would represent a mid-range cavalry but are neither heavy-armoured (5+ save and no ward), fast (12″) or greatly damaging (their damage profile depends on the wound characteristic of the target starting at 1 for base units up to D6 for models with more than 4 wounds).
They can debuff a bit: -1 to cast, dispel and unbind for enemy wizards and -1 to hit and wound for melee attacks targeting them, but is that enough to see them on the battlefield?
The Slickblade Seekers are the newer cavalry model, representing a light mounted troop. They can run and charge and hit more when encountering low-wound characteristic opponents.
The Blissbarb Seekers are the other assembly options for this cavalry unit, representing the skirmish option with 12″ shooting attacks. They can run and shoot, and their arrows can be quite annoying as they reduce also the save characteristic of the target by 1.
The Slaangor Fiendbloods represent Slaanesh mutations of the Gor-kin (from the Beasts of Chaos army). They hit like the Mymidesh, but they die much faster. Once per game, they can fight twice in the same combat phase, if they are still alive that’s it…
The Dread Pageant is a Warhammer Underworlds warband that started the Direchasm season (fourth). Their particularity is to be able once per game to strike-first.
Coalition units for Hedonites of Slaanesh
Coalition units do not benefit from the allegiance traits, neither can be chosen as general but can be given army enhancements as long as all other keyword match.
Apart from Archaon, a jolly for most Chaos armies, Slaanesh has access to many Slaves to Darkness units, including various Chaos Lords, the Daemon Prince, Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights. The latter two provide some toughness that the army is lacking, in particular the Chaos Warriors are great in their role in any Chaos army.
From the Beasts of Chaos, all units in the roster without the Tzanngor (or Slaangor) keyword are available, but there’s not much particularly interesting except maybe a Cockatrice combined with The Crown of Dark Secrets Pretender’s artefact that would force the top enemy unit to a single attack per model hitting only on a 6…
Endless Spells, Terrain and Start Collecting in the Hedonites of Slaanesh Army
Slaanesh has 3 endless spells: the Wheels of Excruciation that does mortal wounds on units it crossed over based on their save characteristic, the Dreadful Visage that does much less mortal wounds but can apply strike-last effect to the targeted unit, plus buff enemy Bravery and increase Slaaneshi units’ Bravery, and the Mesmerising Mirror.
The latter is a great tool to generate depravity points or to do mortal wounds: units that move, run or retreat within range have to move towards it or suffer D3 mortal wounds, and units that are still in range at the end of the movement phase, either receive D3 mortal wounds or generate D3 depravity points.
Slaaneshi faction terrain is the Fane of Slaanesh that can be used in place of a hero as focus point for summoning daemons. Apart from that, a Slaaneshi hero within 6″ can self-inflict a mortal wound or destroy an artefact he owns to get +1 to wound bonus. If the artefact was sacrificed, the bonus lasts the entire battle.
Slaanesh replaces his old outdated Start Collecting box with a brand new Vanguard focussed on the Mortal side: 1 Shardspeaker of Slaanesh, 3 Slaangor Fiendbloods, 5 Slickblade Seekers, which can alternatively be built as Blissbarb Seekers and 10 Blissbarb Archers and their Blissbrew Homonculus.
If it was not for the Slaangors, this box would be an extremely high quality box in the current edition. The Shardspeaker is a good wizard of which you could even see 2 in the same list, but the Slaangors force the purchase of this box to a single one.
Tactics and Final Verdict on the Hedonites of Slaanesh Army
Hedonites of Slaanesh is an interesting army with a thematic interaction. Many of the problems of the past have been resolved, leaving the army a fast glass cannon, that hits first to maximise the damage and becomes more powerful the longer the fight lasts.
However, the interaction with the opponent is a bit convoluted. In the middle of rolling dice, you need to stop your opponent and tell them one of those can become a 6 if they fall in temptation. The correct answer is almost always take the mortal wounds as the more depravity the army collects, the more damaging they will be.
If the opponent plays correctly, one of the basic battle trait of this army becomes “do 6D3 mortal wounds per turn” that is not bad but neither is resolutive. There’s also the mismatch between who is tempting the opponent units (the player representing Slaanesh itself? a generic hero on the battlefield even if they are all dead?) and the actual action, without considering that there’s also no way for the opponent to stop it.
Luckily for the Slaanesh players, there’s plenty other more reliable ways to obtain depravity points to empower the army, one of which is the use of Euphoric Killers. As it can only be used in your combat phase, you need to maximise those, and ensure you can attack even in the first round. Fast units help, but depending on the scenario, it may be necessary to take the second turn or use tricks like the Masque appearing on the enemy battlefield after deploy. Many units with run and charge can also cover huge portions of terrain, especially if they are 14″ movement cavalry.
There are other ways like the Pretender spell Born of Damnation, but the bottom line is that you need to get at 36 depravity points as fast as possible, to obtain the 5+ ward that gives a bit more survivability but that is also after the unmodified 6 to hit generating mortal wounds in melee. If then you have enough points to keep your buffs and summon some daemons, the better.
Inexperienced players will give to temptations and allow you to quickly ramp up points, completely transforming the last rounds. Slaanesh armies are overall fast and high-damaging but they have low save rolls and can melt like snow in spring against protracted fights. That’s where abilities like retreat and charge from Dexcessa and the Seeker Chariots, can be extremely useful. But to pick the right fight you can also run and charge with the Daemonettes and Slickblade Seekers or run and shoot with the Blissbarb Archers and Seekers.
The Keeper of Secrets and in particular Shalaxi, are not that scary anymore, but Glutos is definitely on the rise. He is perfect to buff your mortals until you have time to summon more daemons and as a double caster with decent melee profile and a 3+ save/ 5+ ward he can make the difference even in a fight.
Overall the Mortal side has better options than the daemonic counterpart with great heroes like Glutos, Sigvald, but also the Lord of Pain and the Shardspeaker. On the daemonic side some nice options to consider include Syll’Esske and the Contorted Epitome, while in some list you should consider the Infernal Enrapturess, a Keeper of Secrets, the Masque and Synessa.
For battleline, if you have a strong base of mortals, chances are that you have a general that allows you to bring as battleline the Myrmidesh Painbringers and the Hellstriders to variate a bit from the Blissbarb Archers, but those remain great options together with the Daemonettes and the old Seekers.
You should have enough casters to justify bringing the Mesmerising Mirror that is a good way to obtain depravity points or do splash mortal wounds. The Wheels are good, but only against enemies with low save rolls (5+ or more), although, as Slaanesh models are immune, you can still think about it.
The toughest decision is on which subfaction to choose as each will provide a special playstyle and each has some great options in their artefacts/ command traits/ spells. The Invaders focus on heroes, so if you have enough you could pick this one and use the heroic action that would give your non-general heroes the remaining command traits for a turn, in particular Hurler of Obscenities for a nice -1 save debuff to an enemy unit.
We didn’t touch much about the debuffs, but this army thrives in providing -1 to save (the Blissbarb Seekers and the Shardspeaker to name few) and -1 to hit (12 depravity points), while giving itself +1 to hit and +1 to wound (the Lord of Pain, the Contorted Epitome or the Bladebringers for example).
The Pretenders can stash up an insane amount of command points, sometimes even more than you actually need. But they do have the artefact The Crown of Dark Secrets that reduces a unit melee attack characteristic by 1 when within 6″ of the bearer, and Phantasmagoria, a powerful spell that allows a unit to retreat when the targeted enemy unit is picked to fight, leaving them alone.
Finally the Godseekers are all about speed, here Chariots can definitely thrive. And they have most likely the best spell lore of the army.
The Pretenders are by far the more used and successful, but all have viable lists and uses so we would encourage to experiment.
To conclude, Slaanesh third edition is a much improved experience, it’s a strong army that can do well in competitive games. It’s still clunky and would need refinement and maybe a better theme. Something that would represent clearer the excess and that wouldn’t depend on other player actions. Until then, Slaanesh is anyway on the rise. Be careful of the Dark Prince temptations!
Other resources
Some excellent information that we often use from articles like this one comes from YouTube channels like Warhammer Weekly with Vince Venturella, AoS Coach and of course The Honest Wargamer.
If you are interested in the competitive standpoint, when we talk about statistics, a tremendous effort is done by Rob from the Honest Wargamer, Ziggy and Tsports Network! in the AoS Stat Centre with precious information, constantly kept up to date.
Really good informative material is also collected by Dan from AoS Shorts.