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Bloodletters are the lesser daemons of Khorne, the Blood God. They are known by many names, including "Slaughter-kin", "Takers of Skulls" and "Khorne's Chosen". They form the core of Khorne's daemonic legions and exist only to kill in his name.
Bloodletters are tireless and merciless warriors. Each carries a hellblade, a daemonic sword that can cut through armour and flesh with equal ease. They take the skulls of the fallen as offerings for Khorne's throne.
Bloodletters are the most numerous warriors in Khorne's daemon legions. They go by many names, including Chosen of Khorne, Slaughter-kin and Takers of Skulls. Acts of murder and rage echo through the Warp like a war drum and call them into battle. Some worshippers believe the greatest of them were once mortal champions, raised up by Khorne for their deeds. They are not subtle, but they will use cunning when it leads to a bigger tally of skulls.
Bloodletters fight for the chance to collect the most blood and the most notable skulls for the Skull Throne, and they sometimes turn on each other to impress their Heralds or a watching Bloodthirster. The ones who distinguish themselves become Heralds of Khorne, officers who share their malice with the daemons and mortals around them. Unlike other daemons, a Bloodletter does not seduce or flatter. It uses deceit only to get close enough to strike.
Appearance & wargear
Bloodletters are tall, lean, red-skinned daemons with long horns, fanged jaws and blazing eyes, carrying black or burning hellblades.
A Bloodletter is a lean, muscled humanoid with scarlet scaled skin, a horned skull, needle teeth and a long tongue that tastes the blood it spills. Each carries a hellblade, a long black sword forged in the Brass Citadel that can cut through armour as if it were cloth. Their eyes are black and soulless.
Weapons & Vehicles
The sacred two-handed obsidian greatsword of Sigismund and the Black Templars' Emperor's Champions, forged to slay the greatest champio…
The Echo of the First Murder—an ancient, bound Daemon greatsword wielded by Warmaster Abaddon the Despoiler that rends reality and woun…
The screaming, blood-drenched motorised war-axe of the World Eaters and Khorne Berzerkers, trading all defensive finesse for bone-shatt…
The legendary mica-dragon-toothed chainaxe forged for Primarch Angron and rebuilt for Khârn the Betrayer, tearing through ceramite and …
The one-eyed, rotting lesser daemons of Nurgle, endlessly counting their god's diseases.
Cackling lesser daemons of Tzeentch that hurl warpfire and split into smaller Blue Horrors when slain.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Bloodletters are fast, aggressive close-combat infantry for daemonic armies.
Unlike the daemons of the other gods, Bloodletters march in disciplined regiments with banners and horn-blowers, then break into a howling charge. They are pure close-combat troops. The shock of seeing comrades cut in half breaks many defenders before the blades even arrive, and a soldier who meets a Bloodletter's gaze may freeze in terror. Against massed firepower they suffer, because they cannot shoot back.
Bloodletters are elite melee infantry. Hellblades cut through power armour easily, and the daemons charge in to take apart squads, characters and light vehicles. They are fragile under heavy fire and do nothing at range, so they rely on deep strike, Khorne's speed buffs and the threat of other units to get into combat. When they do arrive, few infantry units can withstand them.
Munitorum & Ordo Xenos Technical Dossier
Classified under Ordo and Departmento Munitorum threat-index protocols as a primary Bloodletters are fast, aggressive close-combat infantry for daemonic armies. asset of Chaos Daemons, Bloodletters relies on a tightly coupled symbiosis between operator conditioning and primary armament. Field maintenance and biological recovery logs indicate that extended deployment without liturgical recalibration or bio-stasis rest degrades targeting and metabolic stability by less than 4% per solar week—far outperforming standard sector baselines—while post-engagement recovery teams prioritize the immediate extraction of their core wargear, neural/gene-seed components, or machine-spirit memory cores before enemy scavengers can exploit them.
Notable battles & users
- Daemonic incursions: Bloodletters lead the charge of Khorne's legions.
- Skarbrand's legions and the armies of the Bloodthirsters are spearheaded by Bloodletter regiments.
- Skulltaker (U'Zuhl): a Bloodletter champion who rides a Juggernaut and is Khorne's chosen executioner.
Related
Characters (2)
Related units
Khorne BerzerkersPlaguebearersPink Horrors
Daemonettes
Legion of the Damned
Daemon Princes
Eightbound
Bloodthirsters