Legio Custodes

"I hold the power of the Emperor’s displeasure in my hands" -Constantin Valdor, Captain-General of the Legio Custodes

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Faction Overview

The Legio Custodes (LC) are one of the playable Factions in The Horus Heresy: Legions. Command the most elite force in the Imperium and strike down your enemies with unrelenting might. The LC bring some of the most unique traits (and troop type) of all factions, lots of high value cards and a play style focused, like in their lore, flexibility and the ability to take down any threat, no matter how big. Such, is the Emperor's will. The Legio Custodes were the 13th Faction to be reworked, moving their original pool of cards to Legacy.

Strengths:

• One of the strongest "Midrange" type Faction, but with the adaptability to focus more in Control or Aggro.
• Powerful, for low cost, troops.
• Many ways to deal with any type of threat.
• Sentinel hard-counters "trap" Factions, and prevents you from milling yourself.
• Punishes opponents that depend on hard hitting troops with Nemesis, or that fill their board with Exemplar and Cleave.
• A lot of units with First Strike, which makes for safer trades.
• Strong, well-rounded warlords.

Weakness:

• Very hard gameplay, with a high ceiling to master. Thus, is a "hard" Faction for new players and not recommended when starting out.
• Weak to heavy-control or heavy-aggro.
• Even with a good amount of cards that draw, Sentinel it's still a complicated mechanic to work with, as missing solutions, or not having the necessary cards in hand at the necessary moment, can lead to defeat.
• Your high cost troops with Nemesis can feel underwhelming, as triggering the effect becomes harder, and experienced opponents should be able to circumvent it.

Warlords

Standard

• 
  Constantin Valdor
• 
  Amon Tauromachian
• 
  Ixion Hale
• 
  Caecaltus Dusk
• 
  Vettranio Shapura
• 
  Debeeran Kalimakon

Legacy

• 
  Constantin Valdor
• 
  Amon Tauromachian
• 
  Arascid Nassau
• 
  Vettranio Shapura

Troops and Tactics

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  Troops
• 
  Tactics

Traits and Available Effects

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Gameplay

The LC Troops main gameplay revolves around overwhelming the enemy with strong stats and utility.

The LC Tactics main gameplay revolves around Troop and Warlord support.

Most of the LC Warlords focus on dueling and drawing cards.

The LC have Archetypes like: Midrange, Control, Aggro, Duelist, Tempo.

For a more complete look on the Faction gameplay, check — How to Play: Legio Custodes

Collection and Cosmetics

The LC cards can be obtained from the Inferno Crate and the Titandeath Crate, or bought in the Daily Shop.

The LC Card Backs and Badge Cosmetics can be obtained randomly from the Cosmetics Crate, or bought in the Daily Shop.

Premium Cards appear randomly in any Crate, and can be bought from the Collection tab.

Additional Information

Balance History
Date	Changes	Notes
05 dec 2024	Darian Helsates: Gained Cleave 2 Dankanatoi Ancient: Gained Cleave 3 Heateron Lictor: Gained Cleave 2, Attack lowered from 4 to 3 Incarnate Purpose: Description changed to ‘Your Warlord gains Cleave 2 and Blood Thirst this turn’
07 oct 2024	Rothrian Constor: Lower Health from 4 to 3 Cleomens Wardens: Lower Health from 6 to 5 Darian Helsates: Lower attack from 6 to 5 and change description to: ‘Sentinel. Flank. Nemesis: Gain +2/0 this turn and First Strike’ Ares Gunship: Change description to: ‘Deal 4 damage (Ordnance 4)’ (instead of 5 damage)
04 sep 2024	Caecaltus Dusk: Lower initiative from High to Medium Agamatus Jetbikes: Lower attack from 4 to 3 Ancient Parradon: Change description to: ‘Front Line. Nemesis: Gains Survivor 3‘
05 aug 2024	Ixion Hale: Increase ability cost from 1 to 2 Golden Legion: Increase cost from 0 to 2 Amon Tauromachian: Lower initiative from High to Medium and passive to ‘When you trigger Nemesis, gain +1/0 on the next attack this turn’ (instead of this turn) Ganestus Venatari: Lower Health from 4 to 3 Darian Helsates: Lower Health from 4 to 3 Tharanatoi Aquilon: Change Rally to Nemesis Incarnate Purpose: Increase cost from 3 to 4 Auric Muster: Lower cost reduction from 2 to 1 Emperor’s Host: Lower amount of Custodians drawn to 2
02 jul 2024	Caecaltus Dusk: Passive ability changed to ‘Exemplar: Gains Survivor 1’ (previously Survivor 2).
27 jun 2024	Caecaltus Dusk Added	Event reward
26 jun 2024	Nemesis: Changed effect to ‘Does something when played from hand if the enemy controls a troop with higher or equal attack’ (instead of only higher attack)	Changes to Keywords
26 jun 2024	Golden Legion (Ixion Hale’s Special): Change description to: ‘Lower the cost of all Custodian in your hand by 1’ Amon Tauromachian: Change ability to ‘(2) Deal 2 damage’ (instead of only to a troop) Constantin Valdor: Change active ability to ‘(2) Choose one: Draw a card or Give +1/+1 to adjacent units’ Reckoning (Valdor): Increase cost from 15 to 18 and change description to: ‘Your Warlord becomes Emperor’s Spear. Lower cost by 2 when you trigger Exemplar’ (instead of lowering cost by 1) Emperor’s Spear: Change description to ‘First Strike. Exemplar: Gain +2/0 (2) Deal damage equal to your Attack’ Rothrian Costor: Change description to ‘Sentinel. Nemesis and Exemplar: Gains +2/0’ Agamatus Jetbikes: Change description to ‘Flank. Nemesis: Gains First Strike’ Dankanatoi Sagittari: Change description to ‘Sentinel. Exemplar: Your Warlord gains +2/0 until your next turn’ Kykanatai Custodian: Lower ability cost from 1 to 0 Heateron Warden: Increase attack from 3 to 4 and change description to: ‘Sentinel. Front Line. Exemplar: Gains 0/+3’ Custodian Prefect: Increase Health from 5 to 6 Darian Helsates: Change description to ‘Sentinel. Flank. First Strike. Nemesis: Gain +3/0 this turn’ Valdus Sodality: Change description to: ‘Sentinel. Exemplar: Deal 3 damage to a random enemy, two times’ Firepike Terminators: Increase attack from 6 to 7 and change description to: ‘Sentinel. Exemplar: Deal 2-3 damage to all enemies’ Proconsul Tasolian: Change description to ‘Sentinel. After your Warlord is attacked, give it Survivor 2’ Tharanatoi Aquilon: Change description to ‘Sentinel. Rally and Exemplar: Destroy the enemy troop with highest attack’ Binding Oath: Change description to ‘Give Front Line and +1/+2 to a friendly troop’ (instead of +1/+1) Magna Imperator: Change wording to ‘Your Warlord gains “When a friendly unit triggers Exemplar, it triggers twice”‘ (now applies to warlord’s Exemplar too) Unyielding Sentinel: Change description to ‘Give Survivor 3 to your Warlord and adjacent units’ (instead of Survivor 2) Emperor’s Host: Lower the cost from 10 to 9 and change description to ‘Draw 3 Custodians and lower their cost to 0’
21 jun 2024	Faction Reworked

Lore

The Legio Custodes, the "Ten Thousand" or just simply Custodes, are responsible for protecting the Imperial Palace and Emperor of Mankind, as well as serving as His most important emissaries, His companions, and the keepers of His many secrets. The Custodes are an elite cadre of genetically-engineered transhuman warriors who are even more potent in combat than the Legiones Astartes. They are to the Space Marines as the Emperor is to His primarchs, and it is rumoured that each was created by the Master of Mankind personally. His might permeates them, burns in their eyes and flows through their veins as surely as their blood. As such, the Legio Custodes are widely regarded as the deadliest warriors in the galaxy, Human or otherwise. Where Space Marines represent the mass-produced, genetically-engineered soldiers of the Imperium of Man, the Legio Custodes are a force of individual warriors, each a bastion in their own right and a sentinel of unmatched capability and singular purpose created to counter any possible threat -- Human, alien or Daemonic. These warriors have stood in the presence of the immortal Emperor of Mankind since before the time of the Unification Wars. To accomplish the ends to which the Legio Custodes were designed, not only is a Custodian's superhuman physical power honed to a razor's edge, but so also is the individual Custodian's intellect, mental fortitude and martial skill developed with ruthless application and zeal. The result is the creation not simply of a preternaturally deadly fighter or master assassin but to create a being whose perception and apprehension of threat and how to counter it is literally beyond the natural limits of Humanity or the powers of a machine. While every Custodes engraves their names (giving to them by their deeds accomplished) in their armor, Constantin Valdor, prior to the Horus Heresy, had earned 1932 names. The Captain-General was one of the closes confidants of the Emperor, His "Spear", and believe by many to be as strong as any Primarch. Valdor was one of the few that understand that Horus' betrayal wasn't just treachery, but a manipulation by the forces of Chaos. Unfortunately, the Legio Custodes couldn't participate in full during the Horus Heresy, as after Magnus had broken the psychic barrier protecting Terra in an attempt to warn the Emperor, Daemons started pouring out of the webway. Now, a large contingency of their warriors are forced to hold this evil at bay, while the shadow of the Warmaster gets closer to Terra.

Trivia

The Faction received one of the biggest "emergency-nerfs" of the game (only 5 days later after their reworked debut), as they were massively overpowered at launch. On that regard, they're also one of the most re-balanced Faction (of the reworked ones), as they seem to be overpowered or underpowered depending on the Balance Patch.

Notes

If looking for more info on how to play (in general) or aspects of the game, check our Guides:

• New Player Guide -The basics of the game are here.
• Advance Guide -More complex mechanics and variations of gameplay.
• Buyers Guide -For the Daily Shop, and an overall idea of what to spend your Gems.
• Deck Building Guide -The basics of how to build Decks (for all Factions).
• Community Decks -Decks made by the Player's base.

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