Want to build a defensive powerhouse squad that can brace powerful attacks from the enemy?

This is the first of a three-part build guide to create an Aegis-based squad of Grey Knights. The power of the Aegis protects the Grey Knights from the threats of Chaos. This build makes the most of your Aegis abilities to ensure your units withstand the vile forces of Nurgle long enough to strike back. The Justicar is a versatile unit, but uniquely able to get full advantage from Aegis abilities. In this build, we will focus on:

Ranged Weapons
Aegis Shield
Honour the Chapter
Provoke
Charge

Ranking Up

Our immediate priority is to make the Justicar as bulky and defensive as possible. We’ll start with the Aegis Shield talent via the Terminator Armour side of the ability tree. The Justicar already has a passive bonus for the Aegis Shield, so coupling that with the passive Armour granted by Terminator Armour means that you can boast up to 6 Armour after one cast of Aegis Shield. Then we can move to investing in Ranged Weapons. Both the critical hit chance upgrade and critical damage upgrades are great choices. We also recommend picking the Psycannon upgrade to boost overall damage as soon as possible to replace the Stormbolter.

Ranks 4-6

Starting at Rank 4, we should finish off our investment into the Ranged Weapons discipline by unlocking Rapid Reload. This will allow us to replenish our ammo without spending action points. At Rank 5 we can purchase the second Aegis Shield upgrade and the Warp Charge Aegis upgrade. This should result in a total of 10 Armour from our Aegis Shield when the ability is Warp Charged while wearing Terminator Armour. This is enough to repel the attack of two separate Boltgun Marines. At Rank 6, we can dip into the Provoke discipline and pick up the Enduring Reflexes upgrade, which will increase all our Auto Uses by 1. This means that we can trigger Auto-Reload and First Strike twice in a single turn.

Ranks 7-9

Starting at Rank 7, we can begin our investment into the Honour the Chapter. This will assist us by providing extra action economy to our fellow Grey Knights. At Rank 8, the extra Wargear passive upgrade provides plenty of additional utility. Then we can add the Charge ability with our second Rank 8 point. Finally, at Rank 9 we can purchase the HP upgrade and the Stun upgrade for Charge. By this point, the main portion of the build is complete and we’ll have a heavily prepared tank Justicar that can disrupt the enemy by charging in.

Aspect of Aegis Justicar Build - Skills 2

Equipment and Wargear

Halberds and Force Swords typically carry the First Strike and Parry Autos respectively. This build takes advantage of the Enduring Reflexes passive which increases Auto use by 1 per turn. This means that our Justicar can serve as a frontline defender and have another means to deal damage or protect themselves effectively without cost. When deciding between First Strike or Parry for your Justicar, consider the rewards you are gaining from missions. Here is a list of notable Weapons, Armour, and Wargear to go along with this build:

Halberds

Doom Lance (Tier 1): This weapon’s purpose is to maximize activation chance of First Strike. It boasts a default activation chance of 50% and can be upgraded to increase the activation chances of First Strike by +1. This synergises well with Enduring Reflexes and could give us 3 First Strike activations per turn.
Lightsinger (Tier 2): This is a direct upgrade to Doom Lance. It boasts more damage and an initial higher activation chance for First Strike starting at 75%. Just like Doom Lance, First Strike’s activation uses per turn can be upgraded by +1 meaning it can possibly activate up to 3 times per turn if you have Enduring Reflexes. Additionally, this weapon has an upgrade where it can inflict knockback on an attack, this synergises with First Strike innately which will cause any enemies entering your melee range to not only be struck by you, but will also be repelled by a knockback out of your melee range.
Titan’s Wrath (Tier 3): As before, Titan’s Wrath is a direct upgrade from Lightsinger. The most notable difference between this weapon and its predecessor is that it boasts a 100% activation chance for First Strike. While Titan’s Wrath does not deal more damage than Lightsinger initially, it can be upgraded with an additional +1 DMG bringing it up to 6 from 5. Titan’s Wrath also has the same upgrades to its activations per turn for Force Strike and the additional Knockback added to its attack as well. Making it the best Halberd for our build.

Force Swords

Drystan’s Talon (Tier 1): Drystan’s Talon’s main draw is the high Parry activation chance which is an impressive 75%. Parry will help keep your Knight protected from melee attacks and will nullify any incoming damage from a single melee attack. Drystan’s Talon can be upgraded with an additional use of Parry per turn for a total of 2 activations and an additional 10% CRIT chance.
Sword of Days (Tier 2): Sword of Days is unique in the aspect that it grants both the First Strike and the Parry Auto simultaneously. This can create situations when facing mobs in which we are able to not only protect ourselves from attack but potentially thin out enemy forces during their own turn. This weapon synergises extremely well with Enduring Reflexes for this reason.

Stormbolters

This build is focused on using the Psycannon as the Justicar’s ranged weapon, but Psycannons are not immediately available to use on Justicars so there are few recommendations:

Odeon’s Gift (Tier 1): If you’re lucky enough to have this Stormbolter already this is a good choice. This weapon’s base damage is 5 and carries the same range as a Stormbolter.
Fury of Deimos (Tier 1): This weapon offers additional damage from a Knight’s Overwatch ability. Overwatch’s Range can also be upgraded, increasing it to 9 Range total. This synergises well with our defense-oriented playstyle and can help soften up enemies trying to assault your position.

Psycannons

Psycannons serve as our main Ranged Weapon type for this build. They typically boast more damage than a Stormbolter and benefit greatly from Rapid Reload due to their low ammo capacity.

Retribution (Tier 1): Retribution is a Psycannon focused on enhancing Overwatch as an ability. Though it has a low ammo capacity of 2, it can be upgraded to hold an additional round of ammunition for 3 total ammo. We can also upgrade the damage dealt by Overwatch by +1 through an upgrade. This makes a good pairing for a defence oriented build by planting your Justicar in a high traffic position, using Aegis Shield and allowing enemies to walk into your Overwatch cone.
Foereaper’s Mercy (Tier 2): This weapon synergises extremely well with this Justicar setup. This weapon boasts high damage, long range, and an innate chance to afflict Enrage on targets. This weapon’s range can be upgraded to a total of 14 Range, and the affliction chance can be upgraded to a total of 40% before focus buffs. This fits extremely well with our build and should not be ignored should this come up as a reward on a mission.
Bellower (Tier 3): Despite being Tier 3, in terms of power it is comparable to Foereaper’s Mercy. The main difference between the two is the affliction that's granted on Bellower which is Pinned. Pinned reduces the AP an enemy has if afflicted and can be instrumental in reducing the impact an enemy can make on their turn. This weapon’s upgrades however are relatively meagre, we can only upgrade the duration of Pinned up to 2 turns per affliction and boost this weapon’s CRIT to a maximum of 25%.

Armour

For the purposes of this build, we are going to opt exclusively for Terminator Armour.

Refuge in Faith (Tier 1): This armour offers a small boost to HP and the standard +2 Armour all Terminator Armours have. What we really want out of Refuge of Faith is the +10% Focus, which can be upgraded to 20% total. This will give out auto’s and any afflict chances we have on our weapons a much-needed boost in activation chance.
Resilience in Faith (Tier 2): This is a direct upgrade to Refuge in Faith. It offers a slightly higher HP boost, and more base Focus % bonus. This armour can be upgraded to have 3 total Armour, 25% total Focus, and can be upgraded to grant an extra 1 WP which should not be ignored.
The Gold Carapace (Tier 3): This is one of the best armours for this build provided it can be upgraded right away. It offers a significant HP boost, upgraded this equals +9 HP as well as a total of +4 Armour. It also offers a Passive Equipment Slot after an upgrade which we will want to stack passive bonuses with.
Power in Faith (Tier 3): This also serves as a very good armour for this build and is the Tier 3 version of Resilience in Faith. It offers a good HP bonus, standard armour bonus, 20% Focus and an additional 1 WP before upgrades. It can be upgraded to provide +6 HP, +4 Armour, +35% Focus and +2 WP. Though we lose a Passive Equipment slot compared to Gold Carapace, this armour paired with a Sanctic Shard item can max out our Auto chances to 100% and provide +100% Affliction chance on some weapons provided they are upgraded. Consider these factors when deciding which armour you want to use.

Servo Skulls, and Passive Equipment

Servo Skulls

Medicae Skull: Keeping your Justicar’s HP high is crucial to sustaining hits that get through armour. Plagued and Burning are also insidious afflictions that ignore armour and can be dealt with via this skull.
Autoloader Skull: this skull keeps your ammo reserves stocked up, helping when Rapid Reloads are not enough.

Passive Equipment

Artisan Nullifier Matrix: This offers a +3 Armour bonus to activating Aegis Shield.
Sanctic Shard: This item offers a bonus to Focus across all tiers. It will also increase our Afflict chances and Auto activation chances.
Blessed Greaves: Blessed Greaves offer a passive Ranged critical hit bonus and are a great choice if we gain an additional slot.

The might of the Justicar build can weather any plague-ridden storm and pave the way for your damage-dealing units. Let us know if you try it out and share the results via our social channels and stay tuned for Aegis build guides for the Chaplain and Interceptor units!

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