Detachment Focus: Vessels of Wrath (Updated April 26, 2025)

In this series of articles we take a deep dive into a specific Detachment for a faction, covering the faction’s rules and upgrades and talking about how to build around that faction for competitive play. In this article, we’re covering the Vessels of Wrath Detachment for World Eaters.

Blood for the Blood God! World Eaters are one of the game’s newest full factions, releasing late in Ninth edition, and as of this writing they’re in the process of receiving a major update in the form of their long-awaited Tenth edition Codex. The Vessels of Wrath Detachment, released before the Codex, was intended to work with the new rules, and has a lot to offer players looking for another way to play the army.

Changelog

• 4-26-2025 (Latest): Updated for the 10th edition Codex
• 2-19-2025: Updated with FAQ/Errata
• 2-17-2025: Added a new list
• 12-23-2024: Initial Publication

Detachment Overview

The Vessels of Wrath Detachment trades out army-wide bonuses on the charge for the ability to give up to three units in your army an additional, guaranteed blessing each round. This allows you to trade some of your damage output for much more versatility and guaranteed movement buffs when you need them most, and can make some strategies much more viable just through virtue of their reliability. From a construction standpoint this doesn’t really push you in any crazy directions but will keep you grounded in Infantry-heavy armies and away from Jakhals as the bonuses only apply to characters and the marine units.

Detachment Rule: Wrath of Khorne

At the start of the battle round, after activating Blessings of Khorne, you can pick one or more models from your army (including ones in TRANSPORTS) to gain the VESSEL OF WRATH keyword. You can pick from either WORLD EATERS CHARACTERS (except EPIC HEROES), or the Champion models for either type of Eightbound, Khorne Berzerkers, or World Eaters Terminators units, up to a maximum number depending on the game size:

• Incursion: 2 Models
• Strike Force: 3 Models
• Onslaught: 4 Models

Until the end of the battle round, you can pick an additional Blessing of Khorne from among those you haven’t already selected which will apply to all VESSEL OF WRATH units in your army in addition to any that were already active. This doesn’t seem to require you choose something you could have gained via your roll, so feel free to use it to slam out Devastating Wounds against Infantry or Lethal Hits on three units per turn as you like. And although you can’t use this on Kharn the Betrayer or Lord Invocatus, you can use it on the champions of the units they join, letting them get the benefit as well. Ironically, Angron can’t benefit from this.

Losing out on army-wide +2 Strength and +1 Attack on the charge is a big deal but the key to why you’d take this Detachment is consistency – when rolling for Blessings you may often fall short of getting two of the harder-to-roll melee bonuses, or you may opt for two melee bonuses because you need all the help that you can get, leaving charge re-rolls and 6″ Pile-in/Consolidate moves by the wayside. Having the ability to force through a third buff to your key units lets you get the most out of your whole army, and provides value you just don’t get anywhere else.

Enhancements

You’re going to be surprised to learn that most of these are about doing things in melee. They’re also pretty good. 

• Archslaughterer (25 pts) – Gives the bearer +1 AP on their melee weapons, and +1 Damage if they’re a VESSEL OF WRATH as well. This is basically your replacement for the Berserker Glaive, which was more or less a must-take in the Berzerker Warband Detachment. This is fantastic, especially on a Daemon Prince, where his biggest drawback is having a relatively weak AP -2 attribute on his sword. It’s also great on a Master of Executions, where he wants an AP-3 axe attack as well.
• Vox-Diabolus (20 pts) – Each time the bearer’s unit destroys an enemy unit with a melee attack, gain a CP on a 4+, or a 3+ if the bearer is a VESSEL OF WRATH. This is pricey for the effect, but you don’t have a lot of ways to get extra CP in World Eaters, so it’s worth some consideration.
• Avenger’s Crown (15 pts) – If the bearer is destroyed by a melee attack and hasn’t fought yet this phase, then it can fight on death on a 2+. Cheap and cheerful.
• Gateways to Glory (10 pts) – DAEMON PRINCE or MOUNTED model; you can move horizontally through models and terrain features when making a Normal, Advance, or Charge move. The now somewhat standard wall-hack feature for big models, helpful in World Eaters that can bring relevant numbers of them to the table. This does a lot to make the already on-the-cusp Daemon Prince playable since he can now use terrain a lot more effectively than before while still handing out a 4+ invulnerable save to nearby Eightbound. It’s near-worthless on a Lord on Juggernaut, unless you’re taking him solo.

Stratagems

The six Stratagems here are heavily combat-focused: Three are used in the Fight phase, while another two are focused on getting into combat or chasing down a unit trying to run. They’re all priced at 1 CP.

• Aspire to Infamy (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, for one unit of Berzerkers or Jakhals that hasn’t fought yet and is within 8” of a friendly CHARACTER. Until the end of the phase, non-CHARACTER models in your unit get +1 Strength and AP. Berzerkers absolutely need this – AP-2 is a key missing component to their combat effectiveness and does a lot more for them than +1 Strength. It’s also fantastic on Terminators, who can use this to get to AP-3 on their accursed weapons.
• Overshadowed by None (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, on one INFANTRY, MOUNTED, or DAEMON PRINCE unit that hasn’t fought yet. Until the end of the phase, get re-rolls to Wound against MONSTER or VEHICLE units. This is a solid Stratagem which you’ll use regularly, particularly with a Daemon Prince or Master of Executions rocking the Archslaughterer Enhancement. Any time you can combine Devastating Wounds and full re-rolls you’re doing well, and having that option on a second unit in the Codex is huge.
• Gory Dedication (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used at the end of the Fight phase, just on a WORLD EATERS unit from your army that destroyed one or more enemy models with a melee attack that phase. Pick one objective marker you control that your unit is in range of and sticky it. Letting units move on from sitting on points is a helpful capability for an army that wants to get up and punch things. It’s not quite as good as being able to sticky an objective on Death, but having an alternative option as you move through an objective is pretty good. The errata to this one makes it much more useful and versatile, and fixes a timing issue that prevented you from using it to sticky an objective your opponent held.
• Punish the Craven (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Movement phase, just after an enemy unit is selected to Fall Back (except for MONSTERS and VEHICLES). Pick one of your INFANTRY or DAEMON PRINCE units in Engagement Range of that unit; when the unit Falls Back all models have to take a Desperate Escape test, and at -1 to the roll if your unit is a VESSEL OF WRATH. This is more of a threat than something you want to use – it’s the kind of thing you mention to an opponent to play mind games, making them too risk-averse to drop back. It’s better against smaller, elite units, but because it doesn’t work against vehicles or monsters you can’t catch anything big with it. You don’t actually want to use this most games.
• Meet Force with Force (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase just after an enemy unit has shot. Pick one INFANTRY, MOUNTED, or DAEMON PRINCE unit from your army that lost wounds from those attacks. You can make a Blood Surge move, ending as close as possible to the closest enemy unit (except AIRCRAFT), and you can move into Engagement Range. Khorne Berzerkers or VESSEL OF WRATH units can re-roll the D6. A careful opponent will try to play around this, but this is still potentially helpful for catching someone out and getting into combat instead of standing around getting shot. People expect this from Berzerkers, they don’t from everything else and being able to surge with Terminators is huge. Also note that the trigger here is wounds and not lost models, so you can use it to get a surge with berzerkers even if you didn’t suffer casualties, which might be good for getting out of sight before you do start taking casualties. That’s pretty much the only time you’ll want to use it on Berzerkers, since you can’t surge multiple times in a round any more.
• Brazen Contempt (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets; pick one of your units that was targeted. Until the end of the phase, your opponent’s attacks get -1 to Wound if that attack’s Strength is higher than the unit’s Toughness, or for VESSEL OF WRATH units they just get a straight -1 to Wound. This is potentially very helpful for getting something through a phase without being shot to pieces, especially on something like Eightbound where T6 can help push even heavier weapons to 4s and light stuff to 6s to wound. Terminators also love this, and flat -1 to wound is super helpful when you’re trying to tank a bunch of smaller arms fire as well.

This is a very good suite of Stratagems to have. You’e got a pair of very good damage output buffs, the ability to make blood surge moves, a defensive buff, and the ability to sticky objectives. 

Playing This Detachment

This is a tough Detachment to play well, particularly compared to the some of your other options. It gives up the raw power on the charge you get in Berzerker Warband and Goretrack Onslaught in exchange for the reliability and versatility you get from additional blessings of Khorne. Plus the stratagems here are very useful. Because of the unit counts and how the champions can be chosen, it can feel like this Detachment was made with the 30-terminator build in mind, and now that they have 7″ movement it’s a lot easier to see how you could make that list work with the loss of Advance and Charge. Giving them Lethal and Sustained Hits plus a 6″ pile-in and charge lets them pull off some nasty combat tricks, and they come with re-rolls to their charges built-in.

The name of the game here is consistency. While your ability to rocket across the table with a unit and completely kill something has been reduced in the codex, you’re trading that out for additional movement and combat effects most of the time, ensuring you can get some of the harder-to-roll effects on your units and tripling down. 

There’s no world where you build around this and don’t want to include the Archslaughterer Enhancement, though whether you put that on a Master of Executions joined to a unit of Berzerkers in a Rhino or on a Lord on Juggernaut is going to come down to personal taste. While Kharn can’t be a vessel himself in this Detachment, the champion of the berzerker unit he’s attached to can, enabling you to get the buffs on him that way. 

Strengths

• Triple Blessings. Having the ability to automatically apply blessings to three units gives you a ton of consistency and the ability to have Lethal Hits, Sustained Hits, and 6″ Pile-in and Charge going at the same time.
• Stratagems. Great Stratagems give you a good mix of movement, damage, and defensive buffs.
• Enhancements. The Master of Executions and Daemon Prince are just as good here as in the Berzerker Warband.

Weaknesses

• Raw Melee Power. Losing +2 Strength and +1 Attacks from Berzerker Warband is a big drop in combat effectiveness.
• Speed. There’s no advance and charge here, and nothing to boost your speed.
• Unit limits. You need to be careful about which buffs in this Detachment work and on who – it’s easy to mess that up and spread a bonus someone isn’t supposed to have.

A Sample List

It’s a new day for Vessels of Wrath, but we think it’s very much a space to run Terminators, where you can get a lot of value out of them having a 7″ move and still being relatively cheap.

Sample list - click to expand

There are three obvious targets here for your Vessels every round: Your Terminators, your terminators, and your terminators. The goal is to support them with regular combat buffs, use that and the Daemon Prince to keep them healthy and at -1 to be wounded, and then hit like a brick when the time comes. The Forgefiends are your fire support and fire magnets.

Final Thoughts

There’s a very real chance that Vessels of Wrath flies under the radar with the new Codex releasing, and that’ll be a shame because we think it has a lot of power with the new book. The Stratagems and Enhancements here are solid, and tripling up on blessings is huge. We expect players to revisit this one and be pleasantly surprised in the coming week.s

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