Forces of the Abyss 2025

Rory · March 17, 2025, 11:26am

Well, I have played approximately 8 games with Forces of the Abyss since their refresh, and I lose more consistently with them than I do with Ogres or Empire of Dust.

They’re a very fun army to play, and I’m not suggesting it’s “them” that’s the problem, necessarily, but more the way I play them.

I’ve tried a variety of lists, and played games at everything from 1000pts to 2300pts+.

Thoughts on PROs and CONs, at least how I play them…

PROs

Usually outnumber the opponent. Lower abyssals are so cheap, and I usually have several units crowded in front of a nagarri. One of the bunch will have 2 handed weapons.
Fury is found widely and is great.
I seem to be dishing out quite a bit of fireball these days.
Berserkers are fast and nimble is great.
Lots of regeneration in general.
Since the errata, I actually find the nagarri substantially more useful as a late-game attacking unit. Side charged a goredrake yesterday and took it off the table.

CONS

OK, you have lots of lower abyssals, but my god they’re terrible at actually dishing out any damage.
Regenerating really well doesn’t matter that much if you’re just getting killed before you have the chance, or suffering colossal amounts of damage. After playing a lot of Forces of the Abyss it does make me see why playing a really high defence army might feel amazing
Berserkers throw a lot of attacks down, but they’re only CS 1 and hitting on 4+ means you can end up with less than expected. And they don’t stick around. A nagarri can boost their regen, but I find nagarri struggle to keep up, factoring in speed and the larger bases.
Overall, maybe a lack of significant CS in my lists in general is an issue…
The Chroneas I’ve never managed to get his points worth out of him. Good CS, and I like cloak of death, but just too few attacks, he needs colleagues at all times?

…

Final thoughts-

Units I am currently not playing… Molochs, Abyssal horsemen, efreet, Despoiler, Abyssal Guard…

Thoughts welcome.

Sceleris · March 17, 2025, 1:51pm

Personally not overly convinced that going lower abyssal heavy is really the way to go with FoA - even though you can do synergy with nagari, chroneas healing & Well - due, as you say, to their poor me5? If going down that route, a regiment or two of abyssal guard for the additional rally definitely helps.

Molochs and abyssal horsemen are a couple of the heavier hitters in the list with me3 and cs2/tc1+cs1 and most of my lists tend to have 2 moloch hordes (with despoiler upgrade) and a cav reg. It’s also easier for them to benefit from the nagari regen buff.

Had decent success with quite a monster mash set up with two chroneas and the well and get the stuck into combat - the well strips damage of the chroneas and recovers with LL5 and 2 lots of temporal ruptures.

Rory · March 17, 2025, 10:54pm

Reviewing his evening, I think some horsemen and molochs are the way to go.

KillingJoke · January 16, 2026, 10:23am

Sadly Abyssal Guard were removed and I think their absence is definitely felt.

Boss_Salvage · January 16, 2026, 2:19pm

I miss them for sure and am awaiting their triumphant return in the expansion book

Sam_Urai · January 16, 2026, 2:24pm

FoA look kind of boring.

Hellhounds aren’t good for much. Lower Abyssals are like Goblin Rabble with Regeneration.

Berserkers suffered so much. Nobody cares about Speed 7 and Wild Charge 1. I would always prefer Molochs if Support is possible. And it probably is, because the Fiend - without Inspiring or Regeneration I don’t field one. Naggarri got decent stats, but Alessio doesn’t like Auras, and they don’t even have Regeneration anymore.

Still okay are Chroneas, because they heal the army further. And maybe even the Well of Souls.

But I still mourn about the loss of Abyssal Ghouls aka Fleshlings.

Now there is just

an avil (Lower Abyssals with CS1 are useless with 25 attacks on 5s)
a quick, expensive unit (Gargoyles can do the same job better)
glasscannons called Succubi which maybe will rise
Flamebearers, my preferred Core choice, because they are not much more expensive than Lower Abyssals

And the Command Orders are not that good either. Who cares about increased defense against shooting if it works on the cheap units only? Shooting against FoA is annoying already, due to regeneration and the new rules. So nobody will shoot your uninteresting units, but your bigger ones.

Boss_Salvage · January 16, 2026, 3:59pm

On the lead up to this edition, I fully agreed. Abyssals were an already boring army that didn’t look like it was going to have much going on this edition either, plus my guard had been axed so My early take was that all the good stuff was in support, the warlords were actively bad, and the core was probably going to be min/max trash regiments to unlock.

So it’s with some irony that I’m giving them a shot over my Trident Realm as we kick things off Primarily this is because a) I have a WHFB legacy daemon army I’d like to do something with and have an excuse to hobby on, b) TR are looking to be pretty popular thanks to an amazing command suite, and c) maybe Abyssals can be good at the parts of the game that aren’t tearing faces off?

Here’s what I’m bringing to my club’s 2150 GT next weekend:

Forces of Nurgle [2150 / 2150]

Mau’ti-bu-su [U] (Hero (Inf)) 1 [225]
Harbinger [2] (Hero (Inf)) 1 [95]
Harbinger [2] (Hero (Inf)) 1 [95]
Despoiler [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Regiment [100]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Regiment [100]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Succubi (Inf) Regiment [150]
Berserkers (Lrg Inf) Regiment [260]
– Brew of Strength [40]
Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Troop [135]
Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Troop [135]
Chroneas (Mon) 1 [235]

I’ve only had one practice game, against a really solid Dwarf list (infantry castle + fast bird/brock flank), and I dominated on scenario, shuffling stockpile tokens back onto harbingers while grinding the castle down. Chroneas was as good as expected,* while the berserker hammer only swung once, shattering the Dwarf beast lord in the final turn or two (because the berserkers were outpaced by the brocks + birds so had to lurk as a second wave finisher). My regens were obnoxiously good, and flanking with the CS1 lowers often did more than expected for being idiots. As for Mau’ti, I kind of threw her away stopping a regiment of birds from advancing on me, but her sacrifice kept them out of the game so maybe a worthy trade.

On the orders, fireball on demand is very cool with so many units, and forced the Dwarf castle to engage otherwise I’d just keep slowly burning them down at 12”. Unholy Shield wasn’t super awesome in my game - pushing the chroneas to De 6+ felt good (it’s Upper Circle!), even against the Dwarf cannon, but otherwise I just used it in case of throwing mastiffs, which ironically the Dwarf command failed to load half the time.

I’m pretty concerned I’ll get turned to jelly by murder lists, but if I can figure out how Withdraw! works I might be able to punish the more elite 3E style hammer lists that don’t have very deep lines. I think the scariest matchups are going to be into infantry blender hordes, like palace guard Elves or tribesfolk NA. Go wide Ogre warriors / hunters will no doubt hurt as well, with consistently high damage into De 4+ and also brutal. Or me vs the clock as I finagle so many mediocre units.

Either way, I’ll report back on how things shake out.

** I did have a ridiculous flank with the chroneas into ironguard where its 18 attacks turned into 1 damage So not exactly an infallible god of death!

Sceleris · January 16, 2026, 6:17pm

Think there is still plenty of mileage in a FoA list - just that many v3 lists won’t work anymore.

Berserkers are still decent and out-range most comparable heavy hitting LI and a decent amount of LCav units. Admittedly they aren’t stupidly broken now!

Hellhound regiments are a decent core unit if wanting to build a fast list - although agree the troops are outclassed by the gargoyles.

While losing the guard is a shame, as you actually lose the only real solid combat infantry unit (succubi are still too squishy - nice, but need the healing support units) - the list has plenty of rally floating around.

Boss_Salvage · January 29, 2026, 3:12pm

If you want to read about me having a bad time with Lower Abyssals, the report is up: FORCES OF NURGLE: DEAD OF WINTER GT 2026 – BLOODFIRE

TastyBagel · January 29, 2026, 5:28pm

Oof, some tough games, but great reads! Thanks for sharing. Four games in one day would absolutely melt my brain. Will add tags to the comment here just in case…

Game 1

Clocking out in 3? Ouch. Good for you in the short-term, but seems to have given you some tougher games later on. I very much dig their list otherwise. Hopefully they improved as the day went on.

Game 2
Keith had shared his list online, and I liked a lot of it. Air Elementals and the Hammer do seem like a strong combo, and Greater Air is nice too. All that speed, even Shambling, gives the relatively slower Herd some really great threat projection now to keep cavalry and such at bay.

Looks like a decent job engaging and trying to get things locked up, and dice and heals let the Herd prevail.

Game 3

Dwarfs piloted whom I would presume is Mike Rossi?? Another fun game, even if it is not his list. I dug his commentary in the US Masters stream, though admittedly have yet to dig into any of the Kings of War novels.

The Retaliate order looks both situational and harder to pull off, needing a 5+, but the Throwing Mastiffs still workable to me, if one was taking Ironwatch or other shooting to assist. A really close game from the look of it! Do you think the lack of CS from the Dwarfs helping your Abyssals grind better?

Game 4

Oof, yeah, the Basileans look really strong in 4E. The Paladin glow-up is really slick, though Dwarf Ironguard got additional attacks too. I like that Mantic is diversifying their unit types a bit. These both feel more like the best-of-the-best on the field.

Is the NE more speedy and alpha-strikey? Their approach looks strong to me. Your list lacked hammers, so seems like with the Zerks falling, quality units were able to do their thing against you.

You were admittedly leaning into the weakest parts of the roster, which, as someone struggling with wrapping my mind around the 4E Abyssals was interesting to see, but your list seemed to struggle. Hopefully I’ll get my own lists on the table soonish to share, but my hot takes…

I’d agree that grinding with Ensnare with Mau seems like a trap. I was looking at Ba’su’su as a Warlord. Same kind of disruptor role, but hopefully a little more survivable.
Neat to see sprawling over the field, but I don’t think the 5+ Lowers deserve that much attention. I think some Hordes could be really neat with a more layered line (They don’t have Retaliate, and can actually withdraw and be sneaky if needed). At 100 points, regiments can help fill the core tax to take more toys, but I would not expect much from them.
They got a Nerve bump, but I am lukewarm on Succubi. They don’t have Regen, so will struggle to grind, and losing the Lurker makes them harder to instigate with. Perhaps as part of that second line they could be useful? I just don’t know.
Moloch troops do admittedly look like fun. I hobbied up a pair for smaller games, but have yet to run them ever. Part of me says it’s a waste of a valuable support slot to run them as Troops instead of Regiments, but I could see that doing work with flanking charges to support a Lower Abyssal horde.
I don’t know if I like Harbingers now. One with the Rampage Aura and Lute worked well in 3E, but both abilities, and the Abyssal Guard I liked running them with are all gone now. Fine in a pinch, but the Harbinger seems like a weak hero option.
Despoiler Champs look like fun though! And they finally got stats that make more sense! I think these guys will be very fun in 4E, though as a Large Inf character, I think I need to rebase mine now… The Bloody Cardinal also looks like a very fun fighty character.

So much has changed for the Abyssals. Traits matter now, and the Circle levels make things a little harder to plan and use. I love our few Specialist slots and am excited to compare and contrast those. The Support slots are fine, but Core options all look rough, and really needs to be taken with an eye to supporting the rest of the list - I don’t think it’s something the army gets to really lean on, but this is already a very long-winded reply. Three cheers for putting the core options through their paces anyways!

Boss_Salvage · January 29, 2026, 6:25pm

The very same! He had to field several judge calls during our match as well, so extra kudos to him for throwing dice at me. As for the orders, reloadable mastiffs are fine and cool, I don’t hate on shooting orders (and am playing Abyssals for the fireball one). Retaliate! is just real bad, if they made it Vengeance from 3E then suddenly we’re talking. Currently hard to pull off and rarely on units that care.

Another Abyssal player at the tournament was running Ba’su and I’m much hotter on him, as he’s actually got the stats to grind and fight. Going forward with a budget Seductress myself but it does feel like 200 points ill-spent … until she starts winning me games on scenario alone, hopefully.

I’ve yet to do a withdraw in a game! It seems relevant with the many regenerating Lower Abyssal carpets.

Thanks for your thoughts @TastyBagel ! For the curious, here’s my list for this weekend:

Forces of Nurgle (Despoilers) [2300 / 2300]

Battalion 1
Seductress (Hero (Inf)) 1 [195]
Despoiler [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [155]
Despoiler [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]
Succubi (Inf) Regiment [170]
– Hammer of Measured Force [20]
Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Troop [135]
Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Troop [135]
Molochs (Mon Inf) Troop [150]
Molochs (Mon Inf) Troop [150]
Chroneas (Mon) 1 [235]

Battalion 2
Despoiler [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [155]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Regiment [100]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Lower Abyssals (Inf) Regiment [100]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]

I liked the Harbingers very much, but Despoilers feel better in every way save for points and inches of inspire

Rathnard · January 30, 2026, 8:02am

Thanks for the report! I’m also looking at refurbishing my Abyssals for 4th. Like most my experience with 4th is pretty limited, and for me it’s almost entirely restricted to my Dwarfs.

I’m not yet convinced that a Warlord is worth taking for most armies, unless they have a great command, or they unlock a unit that helps you build your army list. Abyssals have neither of these, so I think Champions are a much more cost effective way to go for now.

I think Lower Abyssal Hordes have great potential as a meat shield. Take the initial charge, then Withdraw to allow your heavy hitters to clean up. That Regenerate should (hopefully) give them a chance to recover and stay effective into the late game.

I’ve seen the power of mid ranged shooting, especially when it’s on a unit that hits on 5s (4s when stationary). So Flame Bearers definitely have a role this edition.

With that in mind, here’s the initial list I’m thinking of…

2026 Forces of Abyss [1985 / 2000 (15 Remaining)]

~ List Valid ~

Battalion 1

Efreet [2] (Hero (Inf)) 1 [135]

Inspiring Talisman [30]
Fireball (7) [0]

Despoiler [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [160]

Blade of Slashing [5]

The Bloody Cardinal [U] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [140]

Flame Bearers (Inf) Regiment [120]

Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]

Two-handed Weapons [0]

Lower Abyssals (Inf) Horde [155]

Imps (Lrg Inf) Troop [65]

Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Regiment [205]

Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding [15]

Tortured Souls (Lrg Inf) Troop [135]

Molochs (Mon Inf) Regiment [220]

So basically 3x blocks of Lowers, backed up by Mollochs and Flame Bearers with some Tortured Souls for flanking duties. Naturally I’ve no idea how good it’ll be, but I figure it’s a start!

Boss_Salvage · January 30, 2026, 3:07pm

Abyssals have IMO pretty great champs too. I could run my chick with a whip as another Despoiler … but I’m quite interested in what Sp 10 flying US 2 can do for winning games. If I can somehow fight the urge to throw her into a flyer to buy 1-2 turns

Nice carpet of demons! Double or triple Molochs was the “only way” to play Abyssals in 3E before Berserkers blew up the meta, and they’re simply better now Good luck with the Tortured regiment, I tried to make those (hordes) work as hammers last edition and wow did they disappoint me constantly.