Detachment Focus: Talons of the Emperor

In our Detachment Focus series we take a detailed look at the game's Detachments - how they work, what to know about playing them, and successful lists using that Detachment. In this article we're looking at the Talons of the Emperor Detachment for the Adeptus Custodes.

The Sisters of Silence are a real part of the Adeptus Custodes army and have become more prominent as tenth edition has gone on, becoming a key way for the army to field cheaper units to hold objectives and punch up surprisingly well in a pinch. If you're looking for a Detachment which really puts the emphasis on both unit types instead of just being about Custodes, then Talons of the Emperor may be the Detachment for you. Or if you want to run Land Raiders. We'll come back to that.

Detachment Overview

Although it's not the flashiest or most popular of the Custodes factions, Talons of the Emperor has seen a big competitive resurgence since the Q4 dataslate in late 2025, relying on the Detachment's ability to run relatively cheap units of Custodian Guard and give enhanced durability and movement to those units and, more importantly - the Venerable Land Raiders carrying them. It's a strategy that leans heavily into a kind of "golden horde" approach to the game, and can be downright terrifying to face down in person.

Detachment Rule: Revered Companions

ANATHEMA PSYKANA units from your army gain the following ability:

Null Aegis (Aura): While a Custodes unit is within 6", models in that unit get a 5+ Feel No Pain against mortal wounds and psychic attacks.

On the other hand, all of your non-PSYKANA Custodes units gain this ability:

Deadly Unity (Aura): While an Sisters of Silence unit is within 6" of your unit, those models get +1 to hit with their attacks.

Let's get something out of the way: +1 to hit on Sisters of Silence just doesn't matter. The only unit you really want to be attacking with are the Witchseekers, and that's because they all have flamers. What really brings value here is that Feel No Pain against mortal wounds and psychic attacks, and even that is situational. It's a very good ability to have right now because the Q4 Dataslate made Lord of Change shooting 3 damage, turning Scintillating Legion into a Custodes-killing monster overnight. Having a 5+ feel no pain against those attacks makes Custodian Guard much more durable, and makes Scintillating Legion much less of a meta threat to the army. It's also cute for avoiding damage from things like the Grenades Stratagem but ultimately you're here for the Stratagems.

Custodian Guards. Credit: Pendulin

Enhancements

All four of the enhancements here can be given to Custodes or Sisters of Silence models and they're just kind of OK. The good news is that competitive lists may not even run a character who can take one so don't spend too much time thinking about them.

Radiant Mantle [30 pts]– Incoming attacks on the bearer's unit are -1 to hit if the attacking model is within 12". A solid defensive buff, though not necessarily one you'll want to spend 30 points on it.
Gift of Terran Artifice [15 pts] – The bearer gets +1 to wound on melee attacks. This is fine on a Blade Champion if you have the extra points for it.
Champion of the Imperium [25pts] – Increase the range the bearer's Null Aegis or Deadly unity ability to 9". Another one you don't really need.
Aegis Projector [20 pts] – Once per turn, the first time the bearer's unit fails a saving throw, you can change the Damage characteristic of that attack to 0. This is very specific in unhelpful ways, since your opponent can play around it by throwing garbage attacks at your unit until they fail their first save. That makes it difficult to justify the cost on this one.

Sisters of Silence: Prosecutors - Credit: Pendulin

Stratagems

There's a theme with these Stratagems, which is that they can all either be used on two units - provided one of them is a PSYKANA INFANTRY unit within 6" of that first unit - or they require a second unit nearby. This makes your cheap units of Sisters pretty useful and important to keep around. Note that this only works if exactly one of them is a PSYKANA unit, so you can't pick two PSYKANA units to get the bonus, either. The big Stratagem here is Taloned Pincer - you're going to build and plan your army strategy around that one.

Hunt as One (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used at the start of your Movement phase on up to two units (one has to be a Psykana unit within 6" of the other target if you pick two). Until the end of the turn, your units can Fall Back and shoot and charge. This is a really solid ability, and something that helps you avoid tarpit situations and undesirable combats. It also lets you refresh your fight, acting as a way to fight first again on your turn.
Talons Interlocked (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your shooting phase on up to two Infantry units (one has to be a Psykana unit within 6" of the other target if you pick two), with a single enemy unit that is an eligible target for every unit you pick. Until the end of the phase, your units can only target that enemy unit but they get +1 to the Strength and AP of their ranged attacks when doing so. This a very solid way to punch up against better targets with your guardian spears but it's particularly solid on Witchseekers, where suddenly having S5 AP-1 Flamers is really good.
Empyric Severance (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent's Shooting phase or the fight phase, after they pick one of your CHARACTER units as a target. For the rest of the phase, CHARACTER models in your unit have a 4+ Feel No Pain ability. It'd be busted if you could do this for a whole unit, but as-is it's incredible protection for a character from a large threat and a great deterrent against [PRECISION] weapons.
Emperor's Executioners (Battle Tactic, 2 CP) – Used at the start of the Fight phase on up to two units (one has to be a Psykana unit within 6" of the other target if you pick two). Until the end of the phase, each time one of your units targets an enemy unit below Starting strength, they're +1 to Wound. Just being below Starting Strength is an easy bar to clear, and while 2 CP is a lot, +1 to wound is a huge help into bigger targets, letting you go all-out with [SUSTAINED HITS 1] on your spears against anything that's T13 or lower.
Taloned Pincer (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent's Movement phase on up to two units (one has to be a Psykana unit within 6" of the other target if you pick two), just after they end a Normal, Advance, or Fall Back move within 9" of your units (they both have to be within 9"). Your units can make a normal move of up to 6". A full 6" reactive move is huge, and lets you pull of some crazy moves, notably allowing you to get back into Land Raiders when an opponent tries to move around you or away.
Shield of Honour (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent's Shooting phase after they pick a PSYKANA INFANTRY unit as a target of attacks and one other non-PSYKANA Custodes Infantry unit within 6" of the targeted unit. Until the end of the phase, any attackst hat target your PSYKANA unit have to instead target the Custodes unit unless it's not an eligible target. This is great for protecting a key unit of Sisters, where you can shunt attacks that otherwise will completely demolish a unit of T3, 1-wound Sisters onto your Custodian Guard, where they'll struggle to wound.

Custodes Kill Team
Credit: Pendulin

Playing This Detachment

The reason this Detachment has seen a resurgence is because of the point drops to Custodian Guard and Venerable Land Raiders. The resulting lists run a horde of Custodian Guard with three Venerable Land Raiders, pressing them forward and dumping out the units inside, ready to charge because ultimately being able to move 13" with a Disembark is still better than 6+D6" when you Advance and Charge with a Blade Champion while the Land Raider adds guns and durability and is only 100 points more. Which isn't to say you can't still include a Blade Champion - they're definitely an option, and you'll want Draxus around to give one unit very strong shooting. You may not need to think about the Land Raiders any more after they cross mid-table, but you can keep pressuring the opponent with them and threatening to re-embark with the Taloned Pincer Stratagem, using it to reactive move if an opponent threatens your space or can't move away.

If you're running a contemporary list, you'll likely end up with more units of Custodian Guard than can fit in a Land Raider. In those cases you can advance the unit behind the Land Raider and cycle them - the unit inside gets out and charges while the the unit behind advances to climb in, and then does a move, disembark and charge on the following turn.

Your list still wants Sisters for objective holding, actions, and to activate your protection against mortal wounds and your key units there are going to be units of Witchseekers, which get the most out of the Talons Interlocked Stratagem. The extra AP on that one is also huge with Draxus and the Custodian Guard unit's ability to shoot twice in a phase once per game. You'll still want a unit of Prosecutors to hold your home objective as well.

Strengths

Reactive Move. Having a full 6" reactive move is a big deal, and lets you put much more early pressure on an opponent, getting in their face and then pulling back (or forward) as they try to respond.
Psychic Defense. The 5+ Feel No Pain against Psychic Attacks and mortal wounds is a big deal in a meta where Scintillating Legion can put out a lot of three-damage wounds that would otherwise be devastating for standard Custodians.
Sister Support. Having some support for your cheap Sisters of Silence models is cool, and Talons Interlocked in particular can make Witchseekers pretty scary.

Weaknesses

Dual Unit Requirements. A lot of the value here comes from having units of Sisters of Silence near your Custodes units and while you have a way to protect those units, they're very spongy.
Enhancements. The enhancements here aren't anything to write home about and you're likely to skip them unless you have points you can't spend.
Detachment Rule. There's some value in this Detachment Rule but it's more of a nice-to-have that happens to be helpful in a meta filled with Scintillating Legion lists than something you really use.

Sisters of Silence by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

A Sample List

Are you ready for a very hateful list? Allow me to introduce you to the current cutting edge of the Adeptus Custodes meta. Spike Haider took this list to a 5-0, second place finish at the "I swear there was an LVO here" GT in late January, and similar lists have shown up all over the place, particularly in Teams events where the heavy armor skew plays very well when you can pick tables that allow multiple Land Raiders to move around freely.

Sample List - Click to Expand

I hear you like stat checks (2000 points)

Adeptus Custodes Strike Force (2000 points) Talons of the Emperor

BATTLELINE

Custodian Guard (190 points) • 5x Custodian Guard • 4x Guardian spear 1x Misericordia 1x Praesidium Shield 1x Vexilla

Custodian Guard (190 points) • 5x Custodian Guard • 4x Guardian spear 1x Misericordia 1x Praesidium Shield 1x Vexilla

Custodian Guard (150 points) • 4x Custodian Guard • 3x Guardian spear 1x Misericordia 1x Praesidium Shield 1x Vexilla

Custodian Guard (150 points) • 4x Custodian Guard • 3x Guardian spear 1x Misericordia 1x Praesidium Shield 1x Vexilla

Custodian Guard (150 points) • 4x Custodian Guard • 4x Guardian spear

Custodian Guard (150 points) • 4x Custodian Guard • 4x Guardian spear

OTHER DATASHEETS

Prosecutors (40 points) • 1x Prosecutor Sister Superior • 1x Boltgun 1x Close combat weapon • 3x Prosecutor • 3x Boltgun 3x Close combat weapon

Prosecutors (40 points) • 1x Prosecutor Sister Superior • 1x Boltgun 1x Close combat weapon • 3x Prosecutor • 3x Boltgun 3x Close combat weapon

Prosecutors (40 points) • 1x Prosecutor Sister Superior • 1x Boltgun 1x Close combat weapon • 3x Prosecutor • 3x Boltgun 3x Close combat weapon

Venerable Land Raider (220 points) • 1x Armoured tracks 2x Godhammer lascannon 1x Hunter-killer missile 1x Storm bolter 1x Twin heavy bolter

Venerable Land Raider (220 points) • 1x Armoured tracks 2x Godhammer lascannon 1x Hunter-killer missile 1x Storm bolter 1x Twin heavy bolter

Venerable Land Raider (220 points) • 1x Armoured tracks 2x Godhammer lascannon 1x Hunter-killer missile 1x Storm bolter 1x Twin heavy bolter

Witchseekers (45 points) • 1x Witchseeker Sister Superior • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Witchseeker flamer • 3x Witchseeker • 3x Close combat weapon 3x Witchseeker flamer

ALLIED UNITS

Callidus Assassin (100 points) • 1x Neural shredder 1x Phase sword and poison blades

Inquisitor Draxus (95 points) • Warlord • 1x Dirgesinger 1x Power fist 1x Psychic Tempest

Exported with App Version: v1.46.2 (108), Data Version: v732

The math behind the Land Raiders is easy: They're 220 points, durable as hell, and moving 10" + 3" disembark is more than 6 + D6" when you Advance with the Blade Champion. On that note, some of these lists run a Blade Champ or two; this one runs Draxus as its Warlord and goes a little heavier on Sisters. On that note you have a whopping six units of Custodian Guard here, three of which start in the Land Raiders and will get out and charge with the second set cycle into them. The strategy here is simple: Dump three units of Custodian Guard down your opponent's throat, then while they're dealing with this, dump out the other three. It's as close to a Custodes horde strategy as you'll find and it's an incredible amount of pressure to face down, with just enough shooting to threaten larger vehicle targets.

Final Thoughts

The Talons Detachment has some interesting tools. And while several of them are very situational or just OK, the ones you end up using the most - particularly Talons Interlocked - do a lot of heavy lifting. What remains is a versatile army which can act as a major stat check at events, even if you don't run three venerable land raiders.

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