Tainted Psyker

Tainted Psyker
Faction	Chaos
Health	200
Armor	500
Damage

Tainted Psykers are human psykers – people with a strong psychic affinity to the Warp and able to derive physics-defying power from it – driven mad by constant exposure to this dark force, falling to Chaos and being stripped of all that once made them human.

Most of Imperium is suspicious towards any psykers, and for good reasons. Imperial Sanctioned Psykers pass through the intensive and painful training that renders them (usually) capable of resisting the manipulations of the Ruinous Powers, whereas Unsanctioned Psykers are vulnerable to the taint of Chaos and are hunted down by the Inquisition. Tainted Psykers are consumed by the reality-warping power within them, and during the Chaos invasion of Graia, many such people are possessed to aid the Chosen of Nemeroth.

During the height of battle they explode into powerful Warp portals, allowing daemons and Chaos Space Marines a conduit into this reality. While playing host to these Warp rifts, they are shielded by their immense psychic power, which protects them from all but the most violent of attacks.

Strategy

Tainted Psykers are easily identified in battle, located in the epicentre of the warp rifts they maintain, and in fact during combat it is advisable to check if any given warp rift has a Tainted Psyker powering it, though not all do. When encountered, KILL THEM FIRST, as they can deal quite a bit of damage with their psychic attacks, are difficult to kill, and are generally keeping Warp portals open, bringing in a limitless supply of Chaos forces. It's best to take cover and eliminate them from range, as they sit at the centre of Warp portals and generally summon reinforcements which make physical approach difficult, but not impossible. A good way to deal with them is with a Lascannon from extreme distance, or with a carefully aimed and fully charged plasma gun shot. Their psychic attack is a multi-coloured arc of energy akin in appearance to lightning.

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