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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Tyranids

My beloved bugs are doing descent, but could be in a better spot. We're still having some trouble getting to top tables. But we've got great internal balance with four of our detachments all seeing play and at least some success. Unending Swarm is still the most in need of love after getting nerfed so hard.

NO!!! My beautiful Hive Tyrants! Why!

Well this does bring them in line with the other versions of the rule, and Guilliman caught this one too. Providing they're costed appropriately, you probably still take one for the CP reduction, cause it's still very good. Also, apparently they've decided the Psychophage needs some love. Give some of that love to our Screamer-Killers dammit!

So putting aside my sadness at my nerfed Hive Tyrants, what did they do to the Psychophage? Remember how Chaos Players complained the Psychophage was just a rip off of the Disco Lord? Yeah, um, they may have had a point . . . Pyschophages also got a +4” to their Move characteristic. Its melee attacks have also gained a pip of AP. Bio-stimulus has been changed too. It's no long an aura that grants a FNP. Instead, it improves the AP of all Tyranid melee attacks against a unit hit by psychoclastic torrent, including the Pyschophage itself. Oh, and just for fun, it can now pop Smoke.

Before I crack open the MFM, let's first look at our new snakey 'nids. Basic Raveners now come in fives, like Barbgaunts, and they look more like a bridge between guants and other burrowers as opposed to an adapted Warrior strain. They are pure melee now and no longer have the option to carry guns, but they still get their armoured thorax for a 4+ save. Their stats are otherwise unchanged. What has changed is their melee attacks. Each Ravener now gets far fewer attacks, only getting 3 a piece. But those attacks hit slightly harder with -2 AP and 2 damage. I'm not sure that's an improvement, but more of a sidegrade. It does make them “potentially” more effective against other elite infantry. They're still 25 pts a model, but now you have to take the five.

But that's not all!

We get a whole new Datasheet! I am not going to buy 6 boxes of Kill Team Typhon . . . (I may buy 3). Regardless! In this new Hyperadapted Raveners unit, you get 1 Ravener Prime and 4 Raveners. Three of the Raveners are equipped with heavy claws and talons, and one is equipped with a venom bolt. None of their other wargear options are represented. The Ravener Prime is a Syanpse Character with 6 wounds and 7+ Ld. Otherwise these models are standard Raveners. But their weapons have taken a significant boost! In addition to [TWIN-LINKED], all their claws have [ANTI-MONSTER 5+, ANTI-VEHICLE 5+]. No dev wounds, unfortunately, and their claws are otherwise the same as regular Raveners, though the Prime gets 6 attacks instead of 3 and Synapse will bump up their Strength a pip. Still this is a pretty general purpose profile that gives these new Raveners the chance to possibly punch above their weight. The venom bolt gives Tyranids yet another torrent weapon. Honestly appropriate for our faction. It's a decent flamer with D6+3 attacks at S6, AP-1, and 1 damage.

But that's not all! All of their attacks get [SUSTAINED HITS 1], further increasing their chances to take down bigger prey. But their big rule is that once per Battle Round, you can target them with either Rapid Ingress or Heroic Intervention for free! And this is the good version that lets you do it even if you've used the strat! This means you can Rapid Ingress a Lictor and your Raveners. Then in the next Battle Round, you can Intervene with your Von Ryan's Leapers, and your Raveners. So not only are they capable of punching up, they're likely to get to their chosen target.

Now the cost. The listed cost before the MFM is 165 pts, so you're paying 40 pts more for Synapse, 3 more wounds, more, harder hitting attacks, and potentially incredible mobility. I think these are a winner! Both Tyranids and Final Day GSC will love these, and that's before we get to the new detachment.

Now for the MFM!

Buffs Hive Guard: -10 pts/3 models Hive Tyrant: -30 pts Screamer-Killer: -10 pts The Swarmlord: -20 pts Winged Hive Tyrant: -30 pts

Nerfs Pyschophage: +15 pts

Wow! I'm actually genuinely surprised! We honestly didn't need all that much in the way of buffs, but these are some good ones. And at 135 pts, I might even consider taking a Screamer-Killer just to be a bundle of wounds that occasionally causes Battle-shock. The Pyschophage did need to take a nerf with its new abilities. That AP buff is going to be very nice, and the improved movement is going to help a lot. If it weren't for how vicious the Chaos books have been, I'd say we might be ready to be Tier-A 'Nids again.

Subterranean Assault

And now, for the last piece of Warhammer content I consume for this post, I get my new Detachment. I still feel bad. I like having another detachment, and I definitely wanted this particular detachment, but I think other factions needed one more. Still, I'm going to enjoy having a new use for my Trygon Prime.

The Subterranean Assault detachment is focused around our burrowers, particularly our Mawlocs, Trygons, and our new Raveners. While Raveners have been okay, Trygons and Mawlocs have never felt like they work right. Trygons can pop up outside of 6” of the enemy if they give up on charging, but why? Their shooting isn't worth it and they can't take units with them anymore. Mawlocs get to be a mortal wound bomb, but without an uppy/downy they don't get much done. Their ability also doesn't feel thematic to what a Mawloc is supposed to do, which is pop up beneath a unit sandworm style.

Let's see what GW has cooked up to make these units more interesting.

Oh! Oh my! It's beautiful! I'm literally crying! They finally did it! The mad bastards finally did it!

Okay! Wow, where do I start! Lets get the easy one over with. For some reason, even given what's left in this Detachment rule, we get army wide re-roll 1s to Hit. Great! Awesome! That's a Detachment rule right there. But we are not done!

Any time you setup a Burrower, ie. Mawlocs, Raveners, and Trygons, you get to place a 40 mm “Tunnel Marker” somewhere within 1” of that unit and outside of 3” of enemy units. Then, in the Reinforcements step of your Movement phase (no Rapid Ingress), you can set units up wholly within 9” of the Tunnel Marker, and outside of 6” of enemy units. No other restrictions.

If your opponent moves a non-Aircraft unit within 3” of your Tunnel Marker, it gets removed.

Guys! This is insane! They did it! They really did it! Burrowers can actually burrow and assault properly now. The only thing is that I don't think the Mawloc was meant to have this kinda power. This makes them kind of mean. Setting up a Mawloc outside of 6” of your opponent is potentially going to do massive damage. Wait! Scratch that, the Mawloc has to be setup specifically using Deepstrike to hit with its ability. Still this is very good!

But! We're! Still! Not! Done!

The Detachment clarifies that Trygons and Mawlocs have the Burrower keyword. But then, it lets you pick up to two of your Trygons to be Characters. Trygon Primes are back!

It's so beautiful . . . should have sent a poet . . .

Enhancements

Synaptic Strategy (15 pts): Give a Trygon the free Rapid Ingress your Raveners have, or give it to a Winged Hive Tyrant or some other Tyranid Character you want to have as a nasty surprise. Remember you can't Rapid Ingress to your tunnels. This is almost certainly going on another Trygon Prime so you can setup Tunnels after your opponent moves. Must have.

Tremor Sense (20 pts): Redeploy enhancement. Normally, this is a nice to have Enhancement. In this detachment, you're probably always taking it.

Vanguard Intellect (15 pts): Turn 1 Deepstrike. Maybe this goes on a Winged Hive Tyrant. But this is going to make your enhancement choices really tight!

Trygon Prime (20 pts): And there it is! Give one of your Trygons Synapse and +1 Strength and Weapon Skill. Sadly, this one probably gets left at home.

These are great enhancements. You probably take the first three in every list. If you absolutely must take a true Tyrgon Prime, I'd probably give up Tremor Sense and just deploy more defensively.

But seriously, this might be the Tyranid More Dakka. Let's see if the Stratagems bring this home . . .

Stratagems

Adaptive Optimization (1CP): Make a Mawloc or Trygon Synapse. We have Tyrgon Primes at home. Considering this comes with a +1 to Strength for all units in 6”, you'll probably use this often.

Replenishing Swarms (1CP): Oh come on! Our second strat is a healing strat? This is great! Just make sure to keep your Tunnels alive.

Enfilading Emergence (1CP): A unit you setup from reserves gets [SUSTAINED HITS 1] and [IGNORES COVER]. Is the Devilguant bomb back?

Tunnel Network (1CP): Uppy/Downy through your Tunnels. This isn't Deep Strike, so you can't trigger a Mawloc with this either. But you can definitely create Tunnels for this with them. Note, there is no Engagement Range restriction.

Swarming Assault (1CP): Wow! This is incredible! Re-roll charges out of 6” Deepstrike . . . for every unit within 6” of the target! This may need to be a 2CP strat!

Retreat Below (1CP): Uppy/Downy two Burrowers or one normal unit. Engament Range applies as normal. This will let you trigger multiple Mawloc attacks!

Guys this is probably our More Dakka detachment. It's honestly too good. The only thing holding it back is that Trygons and Mawlocs aren't actually that good. But you're using them as tech pieces to make the rest of your army sing. This Detachment may legitimately hit harder and faster than Vanguard. I'm not gonna do the fanboy thing and try and come up with the ways this isn't busted to try and justify its existence. Either this Detachment is going to get nerfed or the Burrowers are. Enjoy it while it lasts.

In the mean time, it's a good day to be a Tyranid player!

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Dark Angels

Dark Angels arrived with little fanfare and have basically been Codex: Not Quite Ultramarines since. When their unique units were good and Guilliman was bad, they were better. Now that their unique units aren't so good and Guilliman is overpowered, they're not doing well. All of their best results are taking place in Codex Detachments, with only Company of Hunters seeing any decent numbers. Though there is a mad lad that saw some success with Lion's Blade.

Sadly the WarCom article calls out only a buff to The Lion himself for the faction. This is definitely a good thing, as he could use a Guilliman style glow up. But this faction just needs more!

Hmm . . . So The Lion is losing his Vect ability, and instead now gets an uppy/downy ability. That's definitely a good rule, but CP economy is pretty potent. Still it wasn't that hard to play around. Martial Exemplar going to re-roll 1s to Hit and Wound is definitely an upgrade though. Finally Emperor's Shield is just changed to the new version of Transhuman. That's definitely a more consistent buff. All and all he's easier to get where you need him, and he's more impactful when he gets there. I think we might start seeing him on tables again.

Unfortunately that's all the Dark Angels are getting. For them, the MFM is silent and grey. This is pretty bad news. Given that other Divergent Chapters are getting buffed, many will happily swap from green to red or grey. Now nerfs to Ultramarines can somewhat help Dark Angels, as it makes them as the alternate “Codex” Chapter more attractive. But I think they'll be in trouble.

But wait! There might be hope for them yet! Dark Angels have been graced with a 12th Detachment Option, “Wrath of the Rock!”

Wrath of the Rock

The flavor text describes this as the Dark Angels combined arms detachment. Which I thought they already had? Either Unforgiven Taskforce is now supposed to be the Greenwing detachment, or GW wants another bite at the apple. Strangely though, for a Detachment called “Wrath of the Rock,” there's no mention of the forbidden weapons the Dark Angels still have access to.

This Detachment rule seems a bit familiar too. Dutiful Tenacity is a not quite army wide new Transhuman, effecting all your Infantry and Mounted units. So this isn't quite combined arms, but Greenwing, Deathwing, and Ravenwing. New Transhuman is a good rule to have on you, and can greatly increase the durability of your army. I'm not sure it beats out the mobility other Detachments (Gladius) have.

Enhancements

Tempered in Battle (Aura) (10 pts): A 6” aura of re-roll Battle-shock and Leadership centered on the model. It's cheap, I'll give it that. Maybe might work as a pts filler.

Ancient Weapons (25 pts): There's that Dark Age tech! Sadly it's just a melee buff. Don't get me wrong, it's a good melee buff, but I was hoping for something more from this one.

Deathwing Assault (15 pts): Turn. One. Deepstrike. If you're taking Deathwing, you're taking this.

Lord of the Ravenwing (10 pts): Re-roll Advance and Charge rolls. This is potentially fun on some Black Knights.

That's probably one auto-include and some points fillers. I'm whelmed. I honestly wish there was more here. I gotta say though, Deathwing Assault is definitely a thing.

Stratagems

Inescapable Justice (2CP): Uh oh! We're at 2CP! GW rarely gets these right! But I think this one might just be there. This strat lets you pick a second Oath of Moment target. Just the fact you have this might get you opponent to play cagier than normal. But either way, 2CP for army wide re-rolls to hit against a target is not bad.

Lion's Will (1CP): A Greenwing strat! This strat grants +1 OC and +1 to Hit for Greenwing. You'll probably only use this on Greenwing, so it's a pretty good buff.

Armour of Contempt (1CP): You're still Space Marines, you still get Armour of Contempt.

Tactical Mastery (1CP): Wait, am I reading this right? “You're unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it advanced. If your unit has the Ravenwing keyword, it is also eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it fell back.” No until end of turn or until end of phase? This has to be a mistake. Someone has to have copypasta'd the wrong text. If this is intentional, this is huge! But then this should definitely be 2CP or even more! This has got to be a mistake.

Relics of the Dark Age (1CP): Okay! Can you make up for that disappointing enhancement? And while I feel like a strat with this title should have some AP to it, +2 to Strength for ranged attacks is definitely a nice starting point.

Leonine Aggression (1CP): A short ranged Heroic Intervention that goes up to 6” if you use this on a Deathwing unit. Why is The Lion not Deathwing! He'd be the perfect target for this. Regardless the threat of this Stratagem will force your opponent to make some careful choices.

Alright! So that was a good, potentially epic, Stratagem suite. Combined with a nice durability boost to your army and an okay enhancement section, with one really good one, this detachment is pretty good. But . . . say it with me now . . .

“Is it better than Gladius?”

I don't think it is. The mobility Gladius offers is just too good, and it still has good enhancements and Stratagems. The only way this is better, is if that's not a mistake with Tactical Mastery. But honestly, until I see an FAQ on it, I'm not buying it. It's a 1CP advance and shoot and charge stratagem, the good kind that lasts all turn. There is no way a 1CP stratagem effectively gives your unit a new rule for the game.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Chaos Space Marines

While not as solidly middle of the road as their Knight allies, the Legions are still right about where they should be. Unfortunately, that's only from an external perspective. Of their 9 detachments, only 3 are doing well, though there is still a mad lad running around with cults. Creations of Bile and Renegade Raiders are still the way to go, but some players are doing well with Fellhammer. Every other detachment is struggling.

It looks like GW has noted this internal balance problem and called the Traitors out for some updates. The first is that their Daemon Princes now get Lone Op when near Infantry, the same as the Deity Legions. The second is that Vashtor's forces are getting a buff with updates to both the Arkifane himself and the Disco Lord.

And we indeed have some buffs! Walking Daemon Princes now have a whole new ability called Lord of Chaos to mimic their Deity brethren. Disco Lords practically have a whole new Datasheet. They've gained +4” to Move, a 4+ Invuln, they can now hit enemy Vehicles with a mortal wound bomb, and they now only need to see a Vehicle to be able to use Spirit Thief. That last one is technically a side grade and your mileage may vary. Finally their impaler chainglaive gets a massive glowup, gaining an attack, 2 pips of Strength, a pip of AP, and a pip of damage.

I think Disco Lords are back!

Of course the we get Vashtor. He also gets a new Lone Op ability in Indentured Daemon Engines, Reorder Reality now also inflicts -1 to Hit in addition to [HAZARDOUS], Unholy Mechanisms now grants +2 to Strength, and his hammer got a nice buff as well, including [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] on his Sweep profile. Though he did lose a couple of attacks for the new and improved Sweep, it's now -1 AP and 2 damage. Finally his strike has gone up to -3 AP.

None of this directly benefits Soulforged Warpack, and neither benefit from its Detachment Rule, but it does make two thematic units much more powerful. Still I wouldn't be surprised if we just see them taken more outside of Soulforged.

And despite being in the kind of position where GW likes to do internal balance passes, we aren't really seeing any today.

Buffs Chaos Lord with Jump Pack: -10 pts Dark Apostle: -10 pts Fellgor Beastmen: -15 pts Master of Possession: -10 pts Traitor Enforcer: -10 pts

None of these are really meta units, so it's hard to argue this is a meaningful buff to CSM, but it's still good news. I think the MoP in particular starts to look good at 60 pts. Year of Chaos is right! Considering the buffs above, CSM is in a pretty good spot. I don't think they compete with Death Guard, but they might still do quite well for themselves.

But even after all of that, we're not done yet! We've got a new Detachment to go through! Let's meet CSM Detachment #10, “Cabal of Chaos!”

Cabal of Chaos

We're gonna skip the article and tuck right into it. The Thousand Sons aren't the only famous Chaos Sorcerers (just the best). This new detachment gives you the ability to field a Sorcerer heavy force of other than Tzeentch. Though I guess you could still do Tzeentch if you really wanted to. They'd get a kick out of it!

Detachment Rule: Empyric Wellspring This rule further enhances your Dark Pacts. Whenever you have a unit take a Dark Pact, you gain one of two new abilities in addition to your chosen power. The first, Leaping Warpflame interacts with your Psykers and grants the unit +1 Strength on ranged attacks as long as it's within 9” of one. The second focuses on your Daemon Princes, and improves the AP of the units melee while within 9” of one. So despite the flavor text being about Sorcerers, you can actually choose to focus on Daemon Princes, or go for a combined arms approach. This is not the best Detachment rule Chaos has, but it's definitely useful.

Enhancements For 10 pts, Touched by the Warp lets you make a character a Psyker. That's a way to make sure a unit can always use Leaping Warpflame in a pinch. For 25 pts, Eye of Z'desh grants Scouts 6”. That's practically auto-include. Also for 25 pts, Mind Blade grants Lance to a unit. That's a nice buff to Chaos Terminators, Chosen, or Possessed, or even just a Dark Commune with Accursed Cultists. Finally for 20 pts, Infernal Avatar gives a nice melee buff to a Daemon Prince. That's one really good Enhancement, one potentially useful one based on your list, and two nice to haves. A good list!

Stratagems

Baleful Blessings (1CP): A unit gains a 5+ FNP against mortals. Situationally useful, it's always nice to have when you need it. But I think this should be 4+.

No Rest in Death (1CP): Oh wow! This one is nice. For 1CP you get to restore D3+1 lost wounds to a model as long as they're within 9” of a Psyker or Daemon Prince. But the kicker is if you pick a Battleline unit, you just bring D3 models back. D3 Chaos Space Marines returned to the unit. Nice!

Mutations Curse (1CP): 1CP always successful mortal wound bomb that can deal up to 6 mortal wounds. On average, you're not going to quite get 3 mortals out of this. Still, with a 12” range you can use this to finish off a tough unit. And if you can stack this with other mortal damage . . .

Soul Seekers (1CP): Grants [IGNORES COVER], which usually is just a flat bonus to your AP. Not flashy, but it will get the job done.

Unholy Haste (1CP): And here's the money maker! 1CP Advance and Charge! Always a good strat to see. A shame it's only Infantry.

Shroud of Chaos (1CP): For 1CP you give one of your Sorcerers or Daemon Princes a 6” aura of Stealth. This affects the unit, so a brick of Terminators with a Terminator Sorcerer is going to put out quite the aura. Stealth is a relevant ability, so this will be a good strat to use when you can take the most advantage of it.

All and all, this Detachment feels like it has a descent rule, with descent enhancements, and a descent Stratagem suite. I don't think this is going to make too much in the way of waves, but this still a fun and new way to play Chaos Sorcerers if you don't want to commit to Thousand Sons.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Xenos Factions

Aeldari

Despite initial worries, the new Eldar book has been pretty disappointing. It only has one detachment seeing any real numbers, and that's Ynnari. The crazy movement shenanigans Devoted can pull off is proving a true nightmare for the meta. However no other detachment seems to have the staying power to go all the way. Seer Council and Spirit Conclave keep getting to top tables, but then hitting a wall. The popular and feared Aspect Host has hit the meta like a wet blanket. So despite the surface level numbers, Aeldari need serious love.

The WarCom article calls out a nerf to Lethal Intent. While there is definitely a need for internal balance changes too, I'm hoping GW doesn't go too far here. Lethal Intent really was carrying the faction.

And boy did they nerf it! Lethal Intent has gotten a triple tap! The first shot, you can now only select a Ynnari Infantry or Ynnari Mounted unit. Cool! This is perfectly reasonable, and I completely approve. Next shot, the unit has to be within 6” of the destroyed unit. Also a nice change. Thematically, it makes sense a nearby unit would get the boost. The kill shot? That unit can only make a Normal move of up to D6+1”.

In isolation, I think any one or two of these changes would be fantastic. Getting to pick any non-Titanic unit in your army to make a full Normal move if your opponent kills so much as a single unit was obviously too strong. I definitely think allowing Ynnari transports to move off turn is a bad idea. But I'm worried all three of these combined will just be too much. Granted, Ynnari players can still use Swift as the Wind if they roll too low.

In the end, I think this will still allow the Ynnari player to do the one thing that other Eldar factions struggle with: hold objectives. Since the move still happens at the end of your opponent's Shooting phase, you can still move a unit to get back onto an objective in the open or contest a new objective. And you potentially still get Lethal Reprisal. But with that 6” limit, your opponent will be able to control which units get to use Lethal Intent. With good targeting priority, a Ynnari player may hardly get to use their Detachment rule.

But we're not done! Yvraine has had her Herald of Ynnead ability nerfed to re-rolling Wound rolls of 1. Considering that Eldar melee tends to not have the greatest Strength scores, this is a significant nerf.

Hopefully, with all of this, GW was comfortable in buffing some non-Ynnari units . . .

Though not a part of this balance pass, GW took this opportunity to fix two more things with the Aeldari Codex. First, the Shadowseer now has their wargear options written correctly. Second, the Ynnari Incubi demiklaives have been brought in line with Drukhari Incubi.

Looking at the MFM . . . Okay, I was genuinely worried things were going to be much worse than this. Let's break it down.

Buffs Fire Prism: -10 pts Shining Spears: -10 pts/3 models War Walker: -10 pts/model

Nerfs Fire Dragons (5 models): +10 pts Howling Banshees: +1 pts/model Warlock Conclave (4 models): +20 pts The Yncarne: +10 pts Ynnari Archon: +10 pts Ynnari Incubi: +2 pts/model

This is far more measured than I was expecting. I don't know if those buffs bring those units in play, but nerfs to Fire Dragons, Banshees, and big units of Warlocks make sense. The surprising thing is that Warp Spiders continue to escape nerfs. What is it with GW not wanting to nerf that unit this edition?

Either way it's bad news. This isn't enough to make non-Ynnari armies viable in the new meta, in fact it will have the opposite effect. And I definitely don't think Ynnari will have enough power to compete anymore. Eldar players are going to have it rough.

Drukhari

Ah, Drukhari! No other faction better demonstrates the effect a few faction specialists can have on stats. Skari took a break from events, and their win rate nearly immediately started to plummet! Do not let a 49% overall win rate and 3 event wins fool you, this faction needs some love. Will GW give it any before their Codex? Right now Reapers Wager seems the way to go. Realspace Raiders has good stats too, but I know at least some of that is literally just Skari.

Appropriately, Drukhari get called out for buffs in the WarCom article. But the strange thing is that the buffs are to Reapers Wager. I guess GW wanted Harlequins to have more of a role than just triggering the buffs.

The buff they chose is a simple one. If the unit is winning the wager, it now gets re-roll Hits of 1. This is a useful buff for both Harlequin and Drukhari units, so no matter what you'll have a meaningful Detachment rule.

And now the part I'm dreading. Has GW figured it out yet? Let's check the MFM!

And it's all green!

Buffs Mandrakes: -1 pts/model Raider: -5 pts/model Ravager: -10 pts Venom: -5 pts

These are all relevant units . . . okay maybe not the Ravager. But Mandrakes, Raiders, and Venoms all regularly see play. Raiders and Venoms are particularly important to Sky Splinter. Hopefully this will help Drukhari see a bit more success until their Codex comes out.

Genestealer Cults

As I thought, GSC players have taken what could have been considered a nerf and used the new reliability of their rules to keep showing their skill. The faction is still in need of some internal balance, as Host of Ascension is still overwhelmingly the way to go. But we do have a mad lad running around with Xenocreed Congregation.

GSC got nothing from the Dataslate and no new FAQ or Errata, so all we have is the MFM (and some new Raveners for Final Day.)

And well . . . I guess that's something.

Buffs Atalan Jackals: -1 pts/model

I love me my Jackals, though they're a bit tricky to use in the current GSC rules. So this is a good thing. But an internal balance pass would have been nice.

Leagues of Votann

The Kin are almost as middle of the road as you can get. Makes sense too, considering they're frequently referred to as the faction that is all about “fair 40K”. Despite an attempt to give some love to Hearthband, it just impacts too few datasheets. So Oathband is still very much the way to go.

Despite this, the WarCom article call out Votann for only one change: letting Ironkin with your Brôkhyr and Grimnyr ride in transports for free. As noted, this is kind of a quality of life improvement. Considering how much the Kin depend on their Sagitaurs, this will definitely be a welcome change.

As far as the MFM is concerned, Votann is perfectly balanced as all things should be. No more changes for the Kin today.

Necrons

The undying legions of The Silent King continue to be a force to be reckoned with. Not only is the faction pulling good numbers as a whole, nearly all of its detachments are doing well. Only Annihilation Legion seems to truly be in need of love.

So with Necrons doing well, GW has obviously decided it's time for another internal balance pass. Let's see what we get!

Buffs Canoptek Doomstalker: -5 pts Canoptek Wraiths: -5pts/3 models Deathmarks: -1 pts/model Illuminor Szeras: -10 pts Plasmancer: -5 pts Technomancer: -5 pts

Nerfs Lokhust Destroyers (1 model): +5 pts Skorpekh Lord: +10 pts Awakened Dynasty, Enaegic Dermal Bond: +15 pts

The Lokust Destroyer makes sense as GW seems to not like players taking cheap, 1 model units to run amok with, and Necron players did spam them. I'm not so sure about the Skorpekh Lord. Yeah, there are some players that spam it, but I think it could have just gone up 5 pts. There are more problematic units out there. Same think for Enagic Dermal Bond. As for the buffs, they could all use at least a little love, and honestly at this point a more careful hand is probably called for. Necrons don't really need any help, so going too deep in buffs could cause issues. I think they'll be just fine.

Orks

Suddenly having so much of their Dakka taken away certainly hasn't helped the Green Skins. Let's face it, More Dakka was ridiculous. I'm not sure what the writers were thinking there. However we got there, the faction is now hurting. Currently Taktikal Brigade and War Horde are the only detachments seeing real success, though the differences aren't by much. Bully Boyz, Green Tide, and Kult of Speed are all really struggling though.

And GW has decided its time for the Speed Freeks to get their turn! The WarCom article calls out buffs to their units and to their Detachment rule.

So what did they get? Well now Speed Freeks can also declare a charge in a turn in which they Advance or Fell Back. This is a huge mobility boost that should make the army feel much faster.

Bomb Squigs now count the number of squigs the unit has for their ability. This might need some errata. Kommandos and Squighog Boyz both list bomb squigs as equipment you can give the unit. But Tankbustas and Breakaboyz don't actually have them in their datasheet; it just says they get the tokens. Hopefully this will get clarified soon.

As for point boosts to Speed Freeks:

Buffs Boomdakka Snazzwagon: -10 pts Deffkoptas: -10 pts/3 models Kustom Boosta-blasta: -5 pts Megatrakk Scrapjet: -5 pts Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy: -5 pts Shokkjump Dragsta: -5 pts

Nerfs Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun: +10 pts Boyz (20 models): +10 pts Flash Gitz (10 models): +10 pts Lootas (10 models): +15 pts Tankbustas: +5 pts Trukk: +5 pts Zodgrod Wortsnagga: +10 pts

This may be the most mind boggling balance pass of this Dataslate. You guys know you nerfed More Dakka right? You know there's a smoking crater where that Detachment once was, right? Please tell me you noticed how quickly Ork win rates dropped afterwards. Like, I'm not saying that Orks don't need an internal balance pass, but this might be the wrong time for it. And seriously? +15 pts on 10 model Lootas?

Ork players are going to need to adapt to start having success after this. This isn't a buff to Speed Freeks. This is a “You will play Speed Freeks!” mandate. And I don't know if it will be enough. We'll have to wait and see.

T'au Empire

Another faction that has seen the meta shift and move around them and leave the behind, Tau are currently the worst performing pure faction. Between not having a diverse enough toolkit to handle the changes new armies bring, and indirect nerfs that have really hurt them, Tau just can't keep up. Their sole trophy is due to a mad lad winning with Kroot, but Kauyon is still their best detachment. They're another book that could use some rules buffs.

GW has decided the main thing T'au need is a buff to their Army Rule. Honestly, this should have been done sooner. Every other Army Rule is a flat buff to the army, though arguably KSons did impose some restrictions. But Tau's Army Rule actually includes an intended penalty for using it. I'm not sure that's going away, but it will at least be easier to mark targets now.

And wow! Yeah they just straight up rewrote the Army Rule! Just pick any number of Observer units. For each one that is not a Fortification, is not Battle-shocked, and is eligible to shoot, you pick an enemy unit to be marked. I'm not sure why, but you check these conditions after choosing your Observer units. I guess it's theoretically possible a rule could respond and Battle-shock a unit or make it ineligible to shoot. But why not just exclude Fortifications to start with?

Either way, any unit you didn't choose to be an Observer becomes Guided when shooting a marked unit and gets +1 BS. No more penalties if you don't shoot a guided unit. And Observers with Marker Light still grant [IGNORES COVER].

While the observer/shooter pairing was thematic, this is just going to be much easier to deal with. It also feel as lot more like the way Tau used to play with Marker Lights. After all, these are high tech weapons the Tau are using, painting a target should benefit anyone in the army.

Of course this means other rules have to change too. Kauyon gets hit with a major nerf and no longer grants [SUSTAINED HITS 2] when targeting a Spotted Unit. Instead, it grants immunity to modifiers to BS and Hit. Ouch! If the other detachments aren't brought up, this could turn out to be bad news for Tau! Through Unity Devastation also gets a small rewrite to note that any guided unit gets [LETHAL HITS], which is a significant buff to the enhancement. A similar change was made to Mont'ka Coordinated Exploitation enhancement, which is also a substantial buff.

Firesight Teams and Stealth Battlesuits keep their rules, but have benefited from rewrites as well. Meanwhile, Pathfinders no longer get to play Observer unit twice. Instead, the Pathfinder unit also gets to benefit from +1 BS when targeting their Spotted unit.

So with that kind of buff to Tau, will GW give them any love in the MFM, or will they decide that a bottom tier faction needs nerfs to compensate.

Nerfs Kroot Carnivores (20 models): +10 pts Stealth Battlesuits (3 models): +20 pts Kauyon, Through Unit, Devastation: +15 pts Mont'ka, Coordinated Exploitation: +20 pts

Deepest sigh. That nerf to Stealth Battlesuits in particular is just brutal! Sorry Tau players, I think you're in a better position now, but this is definitely going to put a damper on things.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes - Chaos Factions

Chaos Daemons

With a significant exception, the Neverborn have truly thrived under their new Index. Despite early looks, the baseline Daemonic Incursion appears to still be the strongest detachment, with the best win rate and the best percentage of players getting to top tables and taking home event wins, and Plague Legion isn't far behind. While Shadow Legion appeared to be the way to go at the start, and has taken home the most trophies so far, it's struggling to get its players into position to get them. And there's still a handful of mad lads having success with my favorite Scintillating Legion, even if no one has gone all the way. But in contrast to the success Emperor's Children players have seen, Slaanesh Daemons have been really struggling. A handful of skilled players keep making top tables, but no one is bringing any wins home.

And hold on! We've got a sneaky little buff to Scintillating Legion! They're definitely not the most powerful detachment, but they've been holding their own. But it's also my favorite Daemon detachment, so I'll take it. Pyrogenesis, the strat that improves the Strength and AP of a units weapons, is now 1CP.

But it gets better! Are you ready for the nerfs to this top meta faction?

Buffs Blood Legion, Slaughterthirst: -10 pts

Nerfs Nurglings: +5 pts/3 models Shadow Legion, Fade to Darkness: +15 pts Leaping Shadows: +10 pts

Yep. That's it.

Yeah Daemons are going to be fine!

Chaos Knights

The Traitor Houses are currently THE midtier faction. They're stats are as close to pure 50% as you can get. They are still suffering from their big knights just not being good enough to field, though more players are experimenting with it then before. As fun as Iconoclast Fiefdom seemed, Traitoris Lance is still the way to go. But CK players will soon have their hands on their book and all new detachments, so their future is unknown.

Death Guard

The Sons of Mortarion were already doing pretty well before they got their new book, with Plague company pulling decent number even if they were struggling a bit to get to top tables. Now their new book looks poised to dominate the meta for some time to come, with new life being breathed into nearly every Death Guard unit, especially Mortarion himself, and lots of strong detachments. The current leader seems to be Virulent Vectorium with impressive overall stats and 4 event wins. But a handful of players are having a lot of success with Champions of Contagion, and, while no one has brought home a trophy yet, Mortarion's Hammer is also looking strong.

GW decided to drop new versions of the rest of the Deity Legion FAQs with this Dataslate, so we'll take a quick look at each. I don't have any of the books, so all I can look at really are the FAQs. But Deathshroud Terminators have been brought in line with other 6” Deepstrikers, and cannot Rapid Ingress 6” anymore. I somewhat understand the confusion with the plagueburst mortar, but it's still a stretch. The way it reads, “struck by spores” reads somewhat like debuffs like “disrupted,” but without a duration. However it's clear this is supposed to be a one in done thing. The unit was struck and takes damage.

The MFM isn't completely silent for the Death Guard though. They have to take the same nerf to Nuglings that Daemons took. But considering how well they're doing, I don't think that will be much of a problem.

Emperor's Children

The newly reborn servants of the Dark Prince have made quite the splash! Hitting harder and faster than anything we'd previously seen in power armor, some are arguing that this is more the meta needing to adapt than faction power. But EC definitely have some strong rules. Currently Coterie is the clear leading detachment, but a handful of players have had some success with Peerless Bladesment, though they haven't brought home any major wins for Slaanesh just yet. And that's just where internal balance issues start! For such a small book, EC players are not happy with how their datasheets came out, especially Fulgrim.

EC was one of a set of armies that go FAQs in May, though their FAQ was the normally expected part of their Codex drop. Since I don't have that book, I don't know if these changes are buffs or nerfs, though I know Heldrakes were just changed to have their standard 3+ Save. But Unbound Arrogance continues the chain of rules that somehow allow models that aren't anywhere near the battlefield to use them. Strangely, Noise Marines get to break the standard for Battle-shock tests, and can barrage a unit with ever worse Battle-shock and Leadership tests. Potentially thematic, but I wouldn't be surprised if this gets changed.

Unlike the other Deity Codexes, EC has been in the meta long enough for GW to decide they need some changes.

Buffs Fulgrim: -20 pts

Nerfs Daemon Prince Slaanesh with Wings: +20 pts Lucius the Eternal: +10 pts Noise Marines: +10 pts Coterie of the Conceited, Pledge of Unholy Fortune: +10 pts

All of these nerfs are to relevant units, though the lists I looked at didn't use Pledge of Unholy Fortune. And yeah, Fulgrim needed the love. I'm not sure that's enough to get him on tables. But Lucius is already getting up their in points at 150, so hopefully he'll be good there. Still this is at least one unit gone from almost every EC list, so that will hopefully bring them in line.

Thousand Sons

Yet another army whose future is uncertain. Most KSon players seem pretty happy with their new Codex, and at least now they're not locked in so hard to unit choices. At time of writing, their Codex only became officially available for competitive play as of this past weekend. And even then many events wait until the first FAQ. I'm very eager to see how the changes will affect the faction.

As I said above, GW dropped new FAQs for the remaining three Deity Legions with this Dataslate. I don't have the books, so I won't be able to comment on all the rules changes. Aetherstride has just been brought in line with the other Deepstrike changes, and the profile changes look pretty standard to me. However the FAQ reinforces the incredible thing about the Channel the Warp rule. You do not have to decide if you Channel the Warp before you roll! You get to see what you roll first, then decide if you're going to roll a third dice. Further, it reinforces that you do not suffer mortals if you don't Channel the Warp. If you roll doubles, you can choose to stop right there and your Sorcerer takes no damage. This is honestly huge and also perfectly represents just what skill Psykers the Thousand Sons are.

World Eaters

The angriest Legion were fittingly angry recently. Of the Deity Legion books, World Eaters definitely was the least well received. And while stats are often a self fulfilling prophecy, Kharn and the Warbands are definitely struggling. I say Kharn, cause no one is taking Angron. It's still early to determine where the power is in the book, with four of the five detachments having pretty close stats. But Possessed isn't currently getting anywhere, so they'll probably need love.

As mentioned above, GW dropped new FAQs for the remaining Deity Legions. While I don't have the book, let's take a quick look at the World Eaters one. The first is a simple and needed clarification to Warp Stalkers. Yes, if you make a Charge move you can still end that move within Engagement Range. The second is just how rules apply to units, but this does make Khorne Daemonkin one of the few allied detachments where you can use your Faction rule on your allies.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Imperial Factions

Adepta Sororitas

Despite rolling back the nerf a little, the Sisters are still struggling. They honestly don't need too much to get them where they need to be, and I think some of that can happen by fixing internal balance. Hallowed Martyrs is currently the only way to go, though a handful of players are reaching top tables with Champions. Rolling back some of the nerfs to Bringers of Flame might be enough to get them back to solid stats.

The WarCom article calls out the Grotmas detachment for buffs. This detachment depends on the Sisters' Miracle Dice mechanic, so reducing the number of dice really hurt it. It also looks like we'll be getting some Datasheet changes to improve the options available to Sisters players.

And we're already off to a great start! Instead of spending Miracle Dice, you just pick 3 units to be Righteous. You can even pick units in Transports! So now you always have full access to your Detachment rule. And things keep going with the changes to Zephyrim and Retributors! Zephyrim now get both [SUSTAINED HITS 1] and [LETHAL HITS] when they Charge, and Retributors now re-roll both Hit rolls and Wound rolls of 1. However instead of getting full re-rolls when taking Retribution, they now get +1 to Hit and Wound. Depending on the situation, this can be a bit of a sidegrade, but it should also allow the Retributors to take revenge against bigger targets.

While the Sisters don't get any new FAQ or errata specific to this Dataslate, they did get a change in May. If you missed it, you now no longer have to spend Miracle dice to use Divine Intervention. Choosing to do so still increases the number of wounds the model regains.

And now, let's see what help they're getting in the MFM!

And that is all green!

Buffed Castigator: -10 pts Immolator: -10 pts Junith Eruita: -10 pts Paragon Warsuits: -10 pts Repentia Squad: -2 pts/model Retributor Squad: -10 pts Seraphim Squad: -1 pts/model Triumph of Saint Katherine: -15 pts

That's quite a few buffs! Castigators and Paragons are both relevant buffs, and I'm sure many Sisters players have been wanting to bring their Immolators back out. I think the Triumph probably still needs to be a bit cheaper, but maybe now Repentia and Retributors will see play. This is good news for the faction, and should hopefully go some way to getting them back on top tables without putting them too far above the 50% mark.

Adeptus Custodes

The Ten Thousand could definitely use some reinforcements. While they've got a good win rate, they're struggling to reach top tables and get trophies. Its possible some of this is distorted by how many Custodes players there are and how easy it is to get into the faction. But they don't have very good internal balance either, with Lions and Talons being the standout detachments. There's so much disparity that Stat Check seems to have forgotten Nullmaiden Vigil even exists.

While The Ten Thousand aren't getting any rules support this Dataslate, they did get a small FAQ back in may for Lions of the Emperor. This rule now triggers on a per model basis, instead of checking for the unit. Considering this Detachment is all about Custodes fighting on their own, this makes sense and is technically a buff to the Detachment.

Buff Allarus Custodians: -5pt/model

Unfortunately, GW tends to balance mostly by win rate, and they've decided the Emperor's Legion doesn't need much help. Allarus Custodians have gotten a significant buff to the unit. But I don't know if this alone will help Custodes reach top tables, especially with new predators on the loose.

Adeptus Mechanicus

What can I say about AdMech that hasn't already been said? They started out without Datasheets or Rules, then had their rules and Datasheets improved a bit, then had them improved again. And their Grotmas detachment didn't honestly add much, though it is one of their better detachments. Between the lack of interest in the faction and the fact that everyone already knows everything they can do, they're just not making headway. Beside Haloscreed, Skitarii are the go to. All their other detachments aren't doing much.

Unfortunately, the WarCom article doesn't highlight much for the faction. It looks like Kastelans are getting access to Doctrinas now, and there will be changes to the Cybernetica detachment rule. I'm hoping there's some good points changes then, because I don't think that's enough to improve AdMech's fortunes.

And since Legio Cybernetica now all get Doctrinas, Cyber-psalm Programming now grants 2” to Move and +1 OC. This should definitely help get your robots around the board now. This also means that Haloscreed's Transoracular Dyad Wafers needs a change to. It now only makes attached Kastelan Robots have the Halo Override keyword. As stated above, Kastelan Robots now get the Doctrina Imperatives, but so do Cybernetica Datasmiths, though I'm not sure why you'd have one without the other.

Next, before I tuck into the MFM, I think I should take a look at the new units. The Servitor Battleclade consists of 1 Servitor Underseer, 2 Gun Servitors, and 6 Combat Servitors, making it a 9 model unit. The Underseer has a pistol and their dataspikes. One Gun Servitor has a heavy arc rifle, the other a heavy bolter, and all the rest have phosphor blasters. All servitors also have servo-claws. You can replace one phosphor blaster with a meltagun, and you will. You can replace three of the remaining phosphor blasters with incendine igniters, and you may want to for the Overwatch threat.

Each model is a slightly tougher AdMech model with T4, a 4+ save but only a 6+ Invuln. So they'll die to basically anything. There attacks and firepower are mostly good for light to medium infantry, with the potential to get some wounds in on light vehicles. Its main purpose is as an action monkey, with an innate ability to advance and shoot and action. And it's only 60 pts, meaning you can probably fit one or two to do actions for you or hold your backfield easily.

Buffs Ironstrider Ballistarii: -5 pts/model Skorpius Disintegrator: -10 pts Sydonian Dragoons w/Taser Lances: -5 pts/model Haloscreed Battle Clade, Transoracular Dyad Wafers: -15 pts

Not as many buffs as AdMech probably needs. Granted, these are still buffs to their main weapons platforms, but AdMech players are probably going to need to hope that Kastelans are genuinely worth taking now. Otherwise they're going to continue to struggle.

Astra Militarum

From Codex release, the Guard have fallen quite a bit. It turns out none of their new detachments can really take the place of Bridgehead. Combined arms is still the way to go, though people are seeing some success with both Mechanised Assault and Hammer. It's obvious they still need some rules tuning to work.

The WarCom article warns that Guard will mostly just be getting pts changes. However it does mention that Leontis is getting yet another change to how he gives orders, and looks like they're at least partially undoing the nerf he took.

And honestly why. Just why! Just give him back his Codex/Index ability at this point. What can't he give orders to now? Demihumans? He can give orders to a Valdor heavy tank, but a Ratling squad is a bridge too far.

Oh and Militarum Tempestus Command Squads have now been Errata'd to have Voice of Command.

As for those points changes . . .

Buffs Bullgryn Squad: -10 pts/3 models Death Riders: -2pts/model Tempestus Aquilons: -10 pts

Nerfs Death Korps of Krieg (20 models): +15 pts Leman Russ Battle Tank: +10 pts Taurox: +10 pts Ursula Creed: +20 pts

Um . . . GW knows Guard isn't good right now, right? They know they have a 46% win rate, right? What the hell are these changes? First, that's basically where Death Riders should have been to begin with. And even if Death Korp does need a nerf, the faction on the whole needs a buff! And I don't think they need a 15 pts nerf! That's over 10%! And Ursula Creed for 85 pts? What do you think she's a fucking Space Marine? What is going on here!

Guard are in for a rough season.

Black Templars

From one of the best Space Marine chapters to the very worst faction in the game. The exodus has been real, with only a few die hards sticking around. And some of those are playing Gladius! Still, since most players are the fans at this point, you usually see Righteous Crusaders. But what you don't see is wins.

But GW has noticed and put some green in the MFM for them.

Buffs Chaplain Grimaldus: -10 pts High Marshal Helbrecht: -10 pts Primaris Crusader Squad (20 models): -10 pts Primaris Sword Brethren (5 models): -10 pts Primaris Sword Brethren (10 models): -30 pts

Time to start rolling back those nerfs! Honestly this is good news for the Templars. The big thing that holds any Divergent Chapter back is how their unique units compare to Codex units. This should bring Templars much more in line with Codex Space Marines. Hopefully the players will come back as well.

Blood Angels

As I said above, most Space Marines aren't doing too well. There are enough Blood Angels players this might be distorted by new players in the faction, but I'm not sure. They have two event wins, but that could also be attributable to faction specialists. Liberator is still the top Detachment, though a mad lad did get a win with Angelic Inheritors. Like many Space Marine factions, there seems to be a lot of imbalance in the detachments, but at least Blood Angels seems to mostly be staying in their Codex.

The WarCom article wants all of the Blood Angels units to feel good to play. The focus this time is on Death Company. This is good, as the Death Company is too storied a force to be left on the shelf.

So how are we fixing Death Company? Any Blood Angels character can now maintain discipline so that they can Fall Back and control objectives. I guess this makes sense. The lore is that more and more Blood Angels are succumbing to the Black Rage, so sooner or later ever commander is going to have to keep a fallen brother under control. Is this enough to make them usable? Let's see what the points say!

Buffs Astorath: -10 pts Baal Predator: -10 pts Chief Librarian Mephiston: -15 pts Commander Dante: -10 pts Death Company Dreadnought: -20 pts Death Company Marines w/Jump Packs (5 models): -10 pts Death Company Marines w/Jump Packs (10 models): -10 pts Sanguinary Priest: -15 pts

That is a lot of green! I have a feeling the biggest thing that's going to hold back Black Templars now is this buff to Blood Angels! I'm not sure Mephiston needed a buff, but the rest is all welcome. Maybe with the rules changes we'll see Death Company on the board again.

Deathwatch

Despite the clamoring to bring them back, only a handful of Space Marine players have honored their Chapters' oaths and reported to the Watch Fortresses. Deathwatch representation is as low as it's always been. That being said, like many faction experts, they are bringing results! The top Deathwatch players seem to easily be able to reach top table and bring home trophies.

And apparently GW is happy with that. Deathwatch stay untouched for this MFM. This is very good for their loyal fans, though I'm still surprised they didn't catch any nerfs. Honestly pretty shocked actually . . .

Grey Knights

The Knights of Titan are putting out mid tier numbers, getting to top tables well, but struggling to podium. Of their two detachments, there seems to be some give and take. Warpbane seems to do better at getting to top tables, while Teleport Strike seems to be better at sealing the deal. With their Codex around the corner, I wouldn't be surprised if GW doesn't give them much this go around.

We get another small stealth buff here. The visibility condition for getting re-roll Hits of 1 is now only for Ranged attacks. This means that if your Grey Knight unit is fighting through a ruin, you still get your re-roll.

While Grey Knights are awaiting their coming Codex, we get some green in the MFM for them.

Buffs Brotherhood Champion: -10 pts Brotherhood Terminator Squad (10 models): -20 pts Paladin Squad (10 models): -20 pts

Not really much here. I guess GW decided the asymmetric unit costs weren't doing what they needed to do. Again, I wouldn't say the Knights are hurting, so any buffs are just nice. But I'm sure GK players will be much happier when they finally get their Codex.

Imperial Agents

You know the score here. The only thing that matters is if they actually get addressed this time. If they don't, I will probably never mention this faction again until they do. It sucks! They got a book! People had to buy that book to get access to their allies! It even introduced that cool split points concept that GW hasn't touched since! Daemons aren't getting a book! So people had to buy this not an army book, but Daemons can't even get one last codex for the collection? This should have just stayed an Index!

And I'm calling it. Midnight June 6, 2025. Nurse please note the time of death.

It's obviously not that you can't have fun with Imperial Agents. But it's clear GW intends for this to be just a fun and fluffy army. Again! This should have stayed an Index, and Daemons should have gotten a real Codex!

Imperial Knights

Both flavors of Knight Households got buffs in the last MFM, but only the Loyalists have been able to capitalize on it. The Knights are running around 56% at events, with 9 event wins since the last Dataslate. While they've got good play rates, they're still the most over represented faction on top tables. As the meta has shifted, there just currently aren't enough guns in the average army that can deal with multiple big Knights and buffed Armigers. Unfortunately, the Questor Forgepact Grotmas detachment has had absolutely no success, meaning IK players will have to wait until their codex to see success with anything new.

And wow! Nothing huh? I know there Codex is just around the corner but not even a band-aid patch to tighten things up until the new book? Okay then!

Space Marines

Space Marine stats are always annoying. One, their popularity and common position as “first army” gives them the most distorted win rate of any faction. Two, this section still might as well read “Ultramarines.” There are still players trying to make their favorite chapter work, and they're seeing more success than they have the entire edition. But Guilliman and Calgar continue to dominate the Codex. Gladius is still your best detachment and arguably still one of the best detachments in the game. Vanguard and Ironstorm have both also seen some success. We also have two mad lads running around, one with a pure White Scars and one with Imperial Fists. That doesn't make either Stormlance or Anvil any good in Codex Marines though.

The WarCom article has decided the Guilliman and Calgar have had their day in the sun together. Now you only get Guilliman's CP reduction once per Battle Round, and Calgar only gets you CP if he's your Warlord. This is a meaningful change to Ultramarines!

And the nerfs are exactly as described. Honestly not much more to write about here. There will still be lists that include both, but I imagine more will choose which means of CP efficiency they want.

Now let's see what the MFM has to say.

Hah! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!

It's not that Space Marines don't need help. It's just . . . I mean just look at it . . .

Buffs Aggressor Squad: -20 pts/3 models Captain w/Jump Pack: -10 pts Heavy Intercessor Squad: -2 pts/model Hellblaster Squad: -1 pts/model Marneus Calgar: -10 pts/model Roboute Guilliman: -25 pts/model Vanguard Veteran Squad w/Jump Packs: -3 pts/model

They just can't do it can they? They can't have Bobby G. and Calgar be bad. They can't have Ultramarines be bad. They were overshadowed all edition, it will not happen again. Again, they did need buffs. But so did every other Chapter of Space Marines! Well, maybe not the Wolves but they're doing their own thing. I only have two more things to say about this.

One, Ultramarines are going to be just fine. Two, I better get a buff for my Hive Tyrants.

Space Wolves

Everything is about to change for the Rout. The book looks good, though once again most commentators are noting that the Supplement Detachments don't look like the way to go. I don't have access to it, so I'll let others comment on it. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for the Vlka Fenryka.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Chapter Approved Tournament Companion and Warhammer Community Article

As always, I like to start by seeing what WarCom has chosen to highlight for the balance changes. Let's look at the article!

It looks like this time we're getting a faction by faction run down! I'll be posting these in their own individual sections. The called out factions are Sisters, AdMech, Aeldari, Guard, Blood Angels, CSM, Dark Angels, Drukhari, Votann, Orks, Space Marines, Tau, and Tyranids.

Most of the other factions have either recently gotten, or are getting books soon. But do you know who's not mentioned? Daemons for starters! They're currently pretty strong but it doesn't look like they're being targeted, either to bring them more in line or give Slaanesh some much needed love. Black Templars also weren't mentioned, and they're really struggling right now. But most important, Imperial Agents didn't get a whisper. Rest well my sweet summer child.

I'm also going to spend a moment to discuss another issue with this balance pass: the new detachments.

The article titles them Quarterly Detachments. So this implies we can expect these to come out every three months or so. We'll likely get at least two more sets of Detachments before the edition is over, with maybe a third around the time they start ramping into 11th Edition. This is great! New rules and ways to play are great! New rules and ways to play FOR FREE are even better!

But . . .

The detachments are for CSM, Dark Angels, and Tyranids . . .

Do you know who didn't need new Detachments? CSM, Dark Angels, and Tyranids! And I'm a Tyranid player, and this is a Detachment we've been waiting for! And while Dark Angels are hurting, no Divergent Chapter needs new Detachments! With these new Detachments, CSM now have 10 to choose from, Tyranids have 8, and Dark Angels have a whopping 12! Ignoring the remaining factions waiting for their Codexes, Sisters have only 5, and most other only have 6. Oh yeah! And you know what other faction only has 5 Detachments? Imperial Agents! And in many cases, some of the factions with 6 Detachments have at least one major dud in their list.

And all the while, CSM and Dark Angels are begging for some internal balance passes to their Detachments, and Tyranids could really use a rewrite for Endless Swarm!

Again, I don't want to complain about free official rules and options. And I'm betting there's at least some of this that is, “Who has an idea for a Detachment?” But I wish they'd spread the love a bit more evenly.

Oh well . . .

With that rant, we're officially on to the Balance Dataslate. I don't think we've got any major rules changes, so from here on out it should all be in each faction's section.

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divineerdrick · 12 days ago

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Warhammer 40,000 Balance Changes for June 4, 2025 - Chapter Approved 2025-2026

Pariah Nexus was a substantial improvement on the already excellent mission structure introduced in Leviathan. On the whole, it resulted in fun and balanced games with a high degree of replayability. Considering that most players only get in a handful of games a year, it's a fantastic set. And combined with the Tournament Companion, it lead to a strong competitive environment. But all things can be improved, and Pariah Nexus certainly wasn't perfect.

Probably the first problem most people will note about Pariah Nexus is Secret Missions, the Mission Deck's catchup mechanic. While a substantial improvement from Leviathan's Gambit cards, Secret Missions still missed the mark. In theory, a player losing the game, or playing an army and strategy with the intent to score late, could use a Secret Mission to swing the score in their favor. In practice, they just weren't a reliable means of scoring. Players who found themselves genuinely losing were better served trying to eek out small wins or just giving their opponent a handshake. And players that had late game strategies were still just better off executing those strategies.

The second problem was that the deck was mostly designed and balanced around Matched Play and the Strike Force game size. While you could still use the deck to have fun with Incursion, Onslaught, or more thematic games, it didn't provide as tight an experience for those games. And with this edition of 40K locking all other game modes, except Combat Patrol, behind White Dwarf and Crusade books, it would be nice if the Mission Deck could be more multipurpose.

Finally, there were the printing issues. Unfortunately, those don't seemed to have been fixed by this edition of Chapter Approved. Though there's still time for GW to turn that around.

So how have things changed in this new edition of Chapter Approved?

Missions

Please note, that like most I don't have access to the cards yet, and won't until the end of the month. So I'll be relying on other content creators, mostly Art of War, Auspex Tactics, and Spikey Bits for information.

Let's start with what's changed the least, Primary and Secondary Missions. Primaries remain mostly unchanged with a few exceptions to tighten them up a bit more. The easy one is that Linchpin has been corrected to its errata. For the more complex changes:

Burden of Trust This mission has received a substantial rewrite. Previously, the player going first hand more opportunities to score than the player going second. This unfair advantage resulted in most tournaments removing the mission from their packets. Now, both players should have equal opportunity to score VP, starting with the player going second during the first player's turn in Battle Round 2, then ending with the player going first in the final turn of the game.

The Ritual You no longer remove the objectives in No Man's Land, so there will be more opportunities for early game scoring. In theory, the presence of these objectives will limit where you can place new objectives. I'm certain someone has already figured out optimal placements to both maximize the number of objectives on the board, and limit them even further.

Supply Drop This mission is no longer as random, so you can plan around it a little easier. Now the “natural” objectives disappear first in an order determined at the Start of Battle, and always leave the midboard objective behind. This mission will still reward armies that can adapt to the changing battlefield, but slower armies can now plan ahead and change their strategy.

Terraform You can now Terraform an objective that your opponent Terraformed. You now score 1VP for Terraformed objectives at the end of every turn, instead of 2VP in your Command Phase. So this mission will allow for a lot more back and forth action now.

Finally, the Hidden Supplies Mission Rule has become a Primary Mission of its own. You still place two objective markers in the mid board like before. Then, starting in the second Battle Round, each player scores 5VP at the End of their Command phase (or end of the game in Turn 5 for the player going second) for each of the following conditions met: They control one objective marker not within their deployment zone. They control two objective markers not within their deployment zone. They control more objective markers than their opponent.

Again, this should just be a much more balanced mission deck. The only one I know players wanted to see changed was Unexploded Ordinance. But considering other changes, that mission may no longer be as favorable to the first player as before.

For Secondary Missions, Containment has been removed. This was often free VP, so not much of a loss there. The following secondaries have been changed.

Cleanse If you manage to cleanse two objective markers while playing Tactical Missions, you get 5VP now instead of 4VP. Difficult to pull off on short notice, but a nice reward if you manage it.

Assassination You now only get 3VP for killing a character with less than 4 wounds. So this is no longer such and obvious counter to armies like Guard or GSC.

Bring it Down If you're playing Tactical you can no longer score this secondary multiple times, but you also get 4VP for bringing down any monster or vehicle.

Cull the Horde Large Terminator bricks no longer count as hordes. Instead, any unit that has 13 or more models, including Attached Units, score 5VP when destroyed.

Engage on All Fronts Now has a new reward tier. If you can get into two table quarters, you can gain 1VP. Auspex Tactics pointed out that this makes this mission still usable in late game if you don't have many units left.

Extend Battle Lines This one has also had the maximum VP reduced, down to 4VP. However you can now always score the 2VP version.

Marked for Death This now lets you choose a “gamma target.” You only get 2VP if you kill your gamma target, but that makes this card much more doable if you draw it early or are playing against an entrenched opponent.

No Prisoners You can now take this as a fixed objective outside of tournaments! This will probably be a mainstay for players that prefer Fixed over Tactical.

Recover Assets Now scores at the end of your turn, but you can only get up to 5VP. More balanced considering how many units you have to take out of the fight to max. This is also the one mission you can opt out of if you're playing Incursion.

There's also a couple of new secondaries. Display of Might rewards MSU builds by giving you 4VP if you have more units in No Man's Land at the end of your turn. You have to redraw it if you pull this card in Battle Round 1, but this could potentially get you an easy 4VP. A Tempting Target gets you 5 VP if you can control an objective in No Man's Land that your opponent chooses. This is challenging, but a nice swing if you can pull it off.

Finally, they've changed how you score and recycle Tactical Missions. You now have to score a mission if you meet any of its requirements, you can't hold onto it for later or discard it for a CP. You can still discard an unscored Mission card at the end of your turn for 1CP, and you can still spend 1CP on New Orders to draw a new card in your Command Phase. But now you can also discard cards at the end of you opponent's turn to draw a new one in your Turn. You don't get CP for this, but this will help get rid of dud cards much more easily.

Again, on the whole missions have just gotten tighter and more balanced. But that's not all of the changes that are coming. Let's talk about the big changes GW has made to other forms of play.

Twist Cards

Mission Rules are gone, though other than Hidden Supplies I don't see why you can't continue to use them if you and your opponent agree to. In their place are Twists. These cards aren't intended for competitive play, and you and your opponent need to agree on using them. These cards can greatly change the game and may favor some factions over others. On the one hand, you have cards like Lords of War that give each Warlord +3 Attacks to all their weapons, and Rapid Escalation which lets a limited amount of units arrive from Strat Reserve in Battle Round 1 if they don't Deep Strike. But then you have cards like Bloodlust which let units charge on 3D6, or Point Blank which makes all non-blast weapons Pistol.

A random draw from this deck has the possibility of completely favoring one player or the other, and causing complete havoc on the game. In my opinion, the best use for these cards isn't as a random add on to spice up the game, but as individual rules you choose to add to a game to make it more thematic or interesting. Have Angron, Fulgrim, and their sons battle it out with the Bloodlust card in play, or have White Scars engage Saim-Hann with High Octane, or any other interesting scenario you can think of. Either that, or draw the card before the Muster Armies step, and try to build your list to the new battlefield conditions.

Incursion and Asymmetric War

As I said before, the previous Leviathan and Pariah Nexus were balanced around 2000 pts Strikeforce games and intended primarily to create a balanced Matched Play experience. But GW decided to expand the product for Chapter Approved 2025-26.

First, the Mission Deck comes with new matched play rules for 1000 pts Incursion games. The new mission rules place limits on how many of each unit you can bring, limiting you to four of each Battleline unit, two of each non-Titanic Character unit, and only a single Titanic Character unit in your army. And while deployment maps for Strikeforce games are unchanged, the deck features new Deployment maps for Incursion that bring objectives a little closer together. It's a small change, but perfect for the smaller battles. Battleline units also get additional love, gaining the ability to Advance and perform Actions, and even shoot after they've started an action. Finally, as mentioned above, you can choose to discard Recover Assets and draw a new card when playing Tactical Missions.

All and all, these changes provide some much need balance improvements to Incursion games while allowing them to stay the more punchy and fast paced games we've come to love. The only weirdness, as Auspex Tactics points out, is why the limit is just placed on Titanic “Characters”. Not that I'm expecting my opponents to field multiple Baneblade variants in an Incursion game, but it just seems a strangely targeted limitation.

For more thematic and narrative style games, the Mission Deck also contains Asymmetric War cards. These missions have their own rules and encourage you to setup terrain based on the game you're going to play. In deployment, the defender usually begins in a more advantageous position but must deploy all their units first. The attacker usually has multiple deployment zones to choose from, often representing flanking or encircling the defender's position. They also get to go first, so they can deploy as aggressively as they like.

Three of the missions, Uneven Ground, Holdout, and Establish Control are scored similar to normal missions, where both players have the same objective. However, the Defender usually begins with multiple objectives in their deployment zone, while the attacker's home objective is usually safely tucked away in a corner of the board. This means the Defender will usually gain an early game advantage, but if the Attacker can breakthrough they can swing the game in their favor.

The remaining two missions, Syphoned Power and Denied Resources, have separate objectives for each player. In Syphoned Power the Defender begins with a 50VP Primary lead, but the Attacker can steal those VP by performing actions on objectives. In Denied Resources, the Defender can remove objectives and score them, similar to Scorched Earth, while the Attacker can only score VP by holding objectives.

While I'm sure these missions won't be anywhere near as balanced as their Match Play cousins, its nice to have new rules for more casual play. Combined with Twist Cards, I think that you can create some exciting and memorable games using these rules.

Challenger Cards

Now we come to the heart of it! What is certain to be the most controversial mechanic of the new Mission Deck! The new catch-up mechanic!

Leviathan's Gambits were a complete miss! Two of them were basically impossible for most players in a losing game, while the third put the game on a dice roll. Secret Missions were a substantial improvement. They allowed players to continue to play the game normally with a capped Primary score, while giving them a new, if difficult, way to score. But in practice they were also pretty difficult to do from a losing position, and relatively easy to block.

For this new Chapter Approved, GW is done with Hail Mary missions and has opted for a more progressive catch-up mechanic. If you're a fan of AoS Spearhead, you might find this new mechanic a bit familiar. Enter Challenger Cards!

Both players share the same Challenger Deck. At the start of a Battle Round, if one player is trailing by more than 5VP, that player becomes The Challenger. At the start of their turn, the Challenger draws the top card of the Challenger Deck. They can use that card during their turn, but otherwise at the end of their turn the card is discarded and they are no longer The Challenger. You can't horde your Challenger cards! Then at the start of the next Battle Round, you check to see if there is a Challenger again.

Functionally, this means that you'll draw no more that four Challenger Cards in a game, and are unlikely to draw more than three. So you'll need to make sure each one you get counts! But that won't be that hard, since the Challenger Cards are all pretty impactful.

So what is a Challenger Card? Each Challenger Card has two parts, a Stratagem and a Mission. Like I said, if you've played Spearhead these will be familiar. You can only use one part of the card, and no rules outside of Chapter Approved can really interact with this card. The Stratagem is a 0CP strat with a powerful ability. You can't decrease the cost of this strat to get a negative CP cost, your opponent can't increase its cost, and you can't use abilities to refund a CP from this stratagem. The mission is worth up to 3VP, and is scored separately from Primary and Secondary Missions, though it still can't bring your total over 90VP. The mission usually has at least 1VP you can get easily, and can stack with other Secondary or Primary missions during your turn. You can't discard it like a Secondary card, so it's not worth any CP if you don't use the mission.

On the whole, each Challenger Card is a tough choice between free VP, or a strat that might provide you with a significant advantage. But enough exposition! Just checkout the cards and see for yourself!

All In/Self Preservation The stratagem gives you the good version of 6” Consolidate (though not the best version where you can move anywhere), while the mission gives you 3VP if you can keep a unit outside of 18” from any of your opponent's units through your fight phase. This is probably the weakest of the cards, as you'll not always be able to take advantage of the strat and the mission fails if your opponent gets a good charge in. But both of these are still a strat or mission I'd love to have in a pinch.

Burst of Speed/Focused Effort Pick a unit that didn't move in your Shooting Phase, and move it D6”. The only restriction is you can't move again during your Shooting Phase. That means that you can move, shoot, move, then Charge. Meanwhile the mission gives you 3VP if you killed a model – yes a model – by attacking a unit with two or more units. So split fire of a single gun from one unit, then blast away with another unit. Kill at least one model? 3VP! This one is just busted! You'll probably decided which of these you do based on what your other goals are for the game. But move, shoot, move and charge is amazing.

Force A Breach/Secure Extraction Zone The Stratagem lets a unit move through terrain and models, while the mission lets you perform an uninterruptible action within 9” of a board edge outside of your deployment zone for 3VP. Infantry heavy armies will obviously just take this for the 3VP, but vehicle and monster spam armies will love this stratagem.

Great Haste/Over the Line One of your units gets D6” added to its Move. No restrictions! Or get a toe inside your opponent's deployment zone for 3VP. Honestly this one isn't even close. An extra D6” of movement on the right unit can do wonders. Still, if you need that VP and have a unit that you can sacrifice . . .

Harboured Power/Dug In Give a unit Hazardous and either Lethal Hits or Sunstained Hits 1 during your Shooting or Fight phase, or gain 1VP for each objective you control at the end of your turn (to a max of 3VP). The strat here isn't as unambiguously good as the others, but the mission will almost always result in at least 1VP, and usually 2VP. And on the right unit, that strat is still gonna wreak some havoc! Especially if you've got a rule or strat that gives you Critical 5s!

Opportunistic Strike/Sow Chaos The first part is an extra grenade strat on a unit within 6” that deals an average of 3 mortal wounds. The mission requires you to kill at least one model in two separate units. This is another mission that's basically free. But depending on your setup, you could potentially stack a lot of mortals onto a single unit in one turn with this strat. Between this, Grenade, Tank Shock, and any other units or strats that can do mortals, most Elite units start to cry.

Pivotal Moment/Attrition The stratagem is the best version of Advance and Fallback and Shoot and Charge, the one where it lasts an entire turn. The mission is 3VP if you can destroy a single enemy unit. Again, you'll probably pick the one you need more here. If you can easily pick off a unit, that's 3VP on top of any kill Secondaries. But the mobility granted by the strat will be loved by many elite units.

Renewed Focus/Establish Comms Grants re-roll 1s to Hit and Wound for a unit in either your Shooting or Fight Phase, or lets you send a unit off on its own to perform an uninterruptible mission for 3VP. The mission is great if you've still got that one unit in your backfield you needed to screen you home objective, or an otherwise fast moving sacrifice unit.

Strategic Retreat/Zone Defense Its a classic Uppy/Downy strat, while the mission lets you score 1VP for having a unit wholly within each given zone, up to a maximum of 3VP. One of the zones is your deployment zone, and one is No Man's Land. That's 2VP right there. The other two are within 6” of the center of the battlefield and your opponent's deployment zone. You can probably get within 6” with an MSU for the third VP pretty easily. But if you can't, Uppy/Downy strats are always good.

As you can see, all of these provide a great way for a player that's trailing an opportunity to catch up. And even in the worse cases, they can allow the losing player a moment of glory to snatch some satisfaction from their defeat. This will also do well to eliminate turn advantage, as the second player can see what kind of score the first player gets and act accordingly. If the first player scores poorly, they can choose to either take advantage and try to get an early lead, or curtail their scoring so as not to make the first player The Challenger. Likewise, if the first player gets off to a good start, the second player can somewhat curtail their scoring to become The Challenger.

We'll have to see whether or not competitive events decide to play with this mechanic. Some players are concerned that this might result in cagier, more defensive games where neither player wants to allow a large point spread. Many competitive players also rely heavily on per-measuring in their games. As Richard Siegler pointed out, you can't pre-measure around these cards. Finally, many of the concerns for Secret Missions still exist. A player can run a faction and/or army that can benefit from late game scoring, use Challenger cards to increase their advantage, then trounce their opponent in Battle Round 4 and 5.

But because these advantages are more incremental, they're unlikely to be as game changing as Secret Missions or Gambits. Likewise a Challenger could use their advantage to jump ahead in the game, only to have their opponent become the Challenger and claw their way back. While we'll have to see if this will be good for competitive play, I'm almost certain this will result in great moments for more casual games. AoS Spearhead is a great casual game, and their version of these cards is one of the reasons for it.

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