Today we've got a bumper crop of Faction Pack updates, arriving ahead of the Eye of Terror book that goes up for pre-order on Saturday.

There's a massive amount of stuff in these. We've got six new detachments, which get their own articles (linked below), plus new or updated Datasheets for:

Chaos Space Marines
All four Cult Legions
Imperial Knights
Adeptus Mechanicus

These are also accompanied by a few balance tweaks to recent releases; C'tan and the Twin Lance get some nerfs, while Berekh and the Tyranid Prime get their points dropped (and some buffs for the latter) to make them more appealing.

This article covers all the Datasheets and Balance Changes. If you're looking for the detachments, check them out below:

Do remember that we also already took an early look at many of the Datasheets in our hot takes - we now have points to go with them, but inevitably some of today's thoughts will cover the same ground.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for review purposes. Any points referenced in this article are subject to change until published on Warhammer Community or the 40K App.

Chaos Datasheets

There are three Chaos Datasheets to look at in this update: Kravek Morne, Mutilators, and the Defiler. We already talked about their rules last week when the datasheets dropped; now we have them in the context of both their points and the new Detachments.

Kravek Morne

Source: Warhammer Community

At 120 points, Kravek Morne is well-priced. He's a huge upgrade for any unit of Chaos Terminators you can pair him with, and while he's (fairly) more than a Chaos Lord or Terminator Sorcerer, he won't set you back near as much as Abaddon. A fair trade given he's less of a melee monster though honestly he does more for his Terminator unit than Abaddon does - neither the re-rolls to hit nor the 4+ invulnerable save do much for them meanwhile +1 AP on their weapons against the closest target is huge.

While Obliterators with +1 AP is pretty gnarly, Morne just can't match their shooting output and putting a 120 point model on top of the 160 point unit is a huge expenditure for not enough payoff. Likewise Mutilators with Morne are certainly interesting but the raw output value you get from Terminators at +1 AP is just too large to pass up. Morne is a solid pick who we expect to see in a few lists as he finally makes Chaos Terminators worth looking at. He's also likely to be something you want to take in the Warpstrike Champions Detachment, if you run it.

Mutilators

Source: Warhammer Community

We really weren't sure what Mutilators were going to cost on launch but at 200 points they're substantially more than we'd have hoped. It's the kind of thing that makes sense given their durability but not given their actual melee output - they just don't have the volume of attacks you'd like to see and once you lose one model they're going to feel really anemic. Obliterators remain a superior choice. These might see play if they come down in price but at 200 it's a hard sell for an army that has lots of faster melee threats.

The Defiler

Source: Warhammer Community

The Defiler got a huge glow-up, gaining additional weapons with improved profiles and special abilities but an increased price point to match - at 250 points for a Defiler, it's difficult to justify more than one or two in your list, which is fine given how hard it was to deploy more than one or two.

The big winners here are the Chaos Space Marines and World Eaters Defilers; the former's once per game re-rolls are very tasty and the latter's Rapid Fire and extra attacks and movement make it more of a melee threat. Five attacks on the claws isn't enough and you'll need to take the scourge with it to ensure it can actually kill things. The Death Guard and Thousand Sons Defilers may also have some play in the right Detachments - stripping cover with the former is interesting and the improved overwatch with the other can create some silly situations. The odd one out here is the Emperor's Children Defiler, which feels like the weakest of the bunch but can at least expect to see play as s the only good tank-like object they had.

Imperium Datasheets

For the Imperium we have new datasheets for the Adeptus Mechanicus and the new Knight Destrier. We reviewed the Datasheets for these last week as well, and now we have their points and the new Detachments intended for use with them.

Adeptus Mechanicus

Thulia Ghuld

Source: Warhammer Community

Thulia provides AdMech with a second centrepiece Cawl-tier Character, focused on the always enjoyable destroying stuff. Stats and cost-wise she’s a close mirror to Cawl, weighing in at 210pts with a solid defensive profile (10W, T8, 2+/4+ Invulnerable, Lone Operative while near other AdMech units), and while she’s a Monster, she also has the Datasheet ability to walk through walls, Primarch style.

As you’d expect from the Archmagos Terminus, Thulia can throw out damage both at range and up close. Gun-wise, she’s packing the snappily named Jericho-class conversion resonator, which can either shoot two titanic impacts at S12 AP-3 Dd6+2 with Devastating Wounds, or a shockwave version at d6+2 shots, S6 AP-2 D1 with Blast and Sustained 1. Both of these hit at 24” range, which is a little bit of an upgrade on Cawl’s, albeit a little less deadly once you’re within 9”. However, when up close, you also get to supplement this with the Secutor of Olympus ability - at the start of your Shooting Phase, you pick an enemy Vehicle within 12”, and deal it d3+1 MW on a 2+. That last bit doesn’t need Line of Sight, which can be handy for chipping stuff down if the foe is being cowardly. In melee, Thulia also hits considerably harder than Cawl - either 6A at S10 AP-2 D3 or 12A at S6 AP-1 D1. All-in-all, she’s a bit nastier than Cawl on the offence, and as an Archmagos she brings some Primarch style abilities to battle as well.

Now up front - none of these are as good as Cawl’s Oaths re-rolls. You can’t really compete with stealing another Faction’s entire Army Rule. Hers are much more focused - all of them target either herself or one friendly Skitarii unit within 6” in your Command Phase, and give them one of the following:

Advance and Shoot/Charge
Fall Back and Shoot/Charge
Grant both Doctrina Imperatives to the unit till your next Command Phase.

All of these are pretty good - handing out Advance/Charge, in particular, is always a strong effect, the key targets you want to drop it on have the right Keywords, and it’s helpful for the faction to have access to this outside a sub-set of Detachments. Double Doctrinas is also solid, and Fall Back/do stuff can be good, though that suffers a little because of the timing; you need to make sure Thulia is really central in your army so that you can tag the abilities onto whoever needs them. Being able to self-target means there’s a decently high floor on the impact too - worst case, she can get real mad and rocket out to punch something.

Thulia fits very best in the new Eradication Cohort detachment, which massively ups the impact of the double Doctrina effect, and is otherwise desperately missing Advance/Charge and has a source of hit re-rolls that isn’t Cawl. If you want to try that, you very much want her. Does she beat out Cawl anywhere else? Ehhhhh probably not - she’s fine, but Oaths is a game-changing effect that’s tremendously difficult to leave on the bench. Both? Probably too many points to spend on force multipliers rather than stuff.

Hastarii Exterminators

We’ve had melee elite Skitarii, flying elite Skitarii, cavalry elite Skitarii, but now finally we just have some elite guys with guns. They run you 135pts for a squad of five, each sporting two guns (an arc blaster and an eradication caster), plus a power weapon on the sergeant (mercifully, not a replacement for the guns as the preview images made it look like). Stat-wise, they’re chunkier than their melee equivalents, but also slower - M5”, T4, Sv3+/5++, W2.

Now, those guns. These guys have brought some guns. The arc blasters on their shoulders get one shot each at BS4+ 18” with S6, AP-1, D2, Anti Vehicle 4+ and Devastating Wounds. That’s pretty spicy for what’s effectively a sidearm, and if you can get some re-rolls onto these, you’re going to apply meaningful damage to hulls with this. Skitarii Marshals and Duneriders are very much the plan here, and while the overall package isn’t cheap, there’s real output just from these.

Their main gun is completely different in focus, but also strong. At baseline, these are 2 shots, S5, AP-1, D2 with Anti-Infantry 4+, and at half range they have a second profile that gives them +1AP. They also get Sustained Hits 1 when not shooting at a Monster or Vehicle.

Essentially these end up running like they’re toting a heavy bolter each, but with ways of getting upside. If you’re close, more AP on the main guns. If you need to shoot a tank, some of your shots are Anti- with Devastating Wounds. Run these around with a Marshall, and they’ll do some damage for you, and they’re the kind of unit that means you need to completely re-evaluate a Leader, because these are much nastier than anything they’ve been able to run with before. The biggest standout here is giving one Battle-Sphere Uplink in Hunter Cohort, because Fire and Fading these in and out of a Transport is going to drive your foes crazy.

These aren’t cheap, but they help you set up some very nasty swings, and being able to deploy these out of a Transport is pretty interesting. I think they could probably have landed a few points cheaper, but given some recent Datasheet experiences, a bit of caution on something with Devastating Wounds on it is probably no bad thing.

Hastarii Fusiliers

Source: Warhammer Community

Skitarii toting lascannons, why not. These cost you 140pts for five, same statline as the Exterminators, and with phosphor blasters as a shoulder sidearm (2 shots, S5 AP0 D1, Ignores Cover). The main event here is their neutron fusils, which literally are just lascannons with R24”, and which also gain Ignore Cover when shooting at a Monster or Vehicle.

That’s a very polarised unit, and probably not really something you need. They sit in an awkward spot where they cost enough that they’re not an incidental include, and they don’t really bring you any new profiles like the Exterminators, and at that point you probably just invest in something heftier. The place they may see use is, again, with a Battle-Sphere Uplink Marshall in Hunter Cohort, because they can trivially be dodging in and out of a wall while contributing hefty firepower, and don’t need to be quite as close to the action as the Exterminators to really shine.

Imperial Knights

Knight Destrier

Source: Warhammer Community

Imperial Knights get a whole brand new frame. Bellatus Knights (the name for the new knight classification) sit much where you’d expect as something that lives between an Armiger and Questoris frame. They have a 12” move, are T10, the same save profile as everyone else, 18 wounds, and 8 OC. A lot of this is what you’d expect, but keeping the full 12” move is great along with some nice OC.

Rules wise, you get three abilities to play with; Ram Jets gives you an extra D3” when you move or advance. Honestly this should’ve just been a flat 14” move on this guy but what can you do. If you equip it with two melee weapons, you get an extra two attacks thanks to Thundercharge, which is great for your strikes and nice for your sweeps. Lastly, Saturation Fire lets you ignore cover for units on objectives. This is pretty mediocre as we’ve seen the same rule on Chaos Brigands and those things have been dead ever since.

For weapons, you get two guns and an option to replace them with two different melee weapons. The Chastiser Gatling Cannon is a mini Avenger, losing 6 shots, a pip of AP, and 12” of range in exchange for Assault. This is still a great profile for sweeping up chaff and will be a workhorse whenever you can give it proper Ignores Cover. The Frag Bombard meanwhile is a suped up Deathwatch Frag Cannon, sitting at D6+3 shots at S7 AP-1 D2 with rapid fire D6+3 Assault and Blast. This pairs nicely with the Chastiser, but if you’re picking one or the other, the Chastiser wins out in my book. Lastly there's a stubber on this guy which is the same as all your other stubbers but it also has Assault.

For melee weapons we have the Bellatus Reaper Chainsword which gets 5 attacks at S12 Ap-3 D D3+3 or a sweep with 10 attacks at S8 Ap-2 D2. This is a solid workhorse profile that's solid in a lot of the situations this knight is gonna find itself in. The Thundershock Spear meanwhile predictably gets Lance on both profiles with the strike having 4 attacks at S12 Ap-3 D D3+3 and a sweep of 8 attacks at S6 Ap-3 D2. This one’s more of a toss up. I think I like the Spear more even with the less attacks because lance all the time seems great, but if you think you’re gonna be in sustained combat the chainsword is the way to go.

This guy costs 250 points and at that cost I expect a lot of folks will be trying out 3 of him. He’s a Titanic Character so he benefits from a lot of the stuff already in the codex and can get enhancements, although you probably want that on a more durable frame. For loadouts, we at the Goonhammer offices are pretty split. On one hand the double shooty version can output an intense amount of firepower and all with assault on an already very fast frame. That said, Imperial Knights don’t really have a melee unit they can saturate the board with so the all melee option is very appealing. All that said, the verdict here is this guy is very good and you can expect to see a lot of him.

Wings: From building lists with the Destrier, it feels like the melee version fills much more of a niche. While the reach on the gun version is great, it’s noticeably weaker than a dedicated big Knight, +2A and the option to pick Lance when needed on the double melee variant gives you an excellent range of profiles, and adding an Enhancement can often push the lethality close to a melee big Knight at a much lower price point. I do think it’s likely that the dedicated builds see most usage rather than the mixed setup - that feels like it’s not quite good enough at either thing to really land.

Balance Changes

Necrons

The Nightbringer. Credit: Wings

C’tan Shard of the Deceiver +15pts
C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer +15pts
C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon +10pts
Transcendent C’tan +10pts

Wings: A quick glance at the Necron win rates and top finishes this week suggests that this was still very much justified, as triple (or more) C’tan builds are still dominating. This essentially drops you out an entire utility activation if you want to keep doing that, so will probably increase the number of builds pivoting back to one C’tan and the Silent King/Doomsday setup, though the multi-C’tan builds also remain fine (and will still be what I’m doing). The only real gripe is that the Transcendent probably didn’t need to be hit, and I’m not clear why the Nightbringer is deemed to need more of a nerf than the Void Dragon - they could very easily just be at point parity.

Oh, no, one other gripe actually - both the Necron and T’au changes here are totally justified, but not putting in +20pts on Fortis Kill Teams at the same time is a big oversight, and likely to slightly overshadow the final competitive act of 10th.

T'au

The Twin Lance. Credit: Rockfish

Twin Lance +25pts
Twin Lance can now only move at the end of the Fight Phase if they were Eligible to Fight that phase.

The Twin Lance get a swift kicking, taking them from the best Datasheet in the game (not close) to merely one of the best Datasheets in the game. In line with changes to Aeldari previously, unconditional ways to hide stuff at the end of the Fight Phase simply aren't good for the game, and it's no surprise to see it removed. They can still kickflip off incautiously positioned enemies, especially as unlike most T'au they can do some damage up close, and they're very much still essentially an auto-take for any serious list.

Leagues of Votann

Berekh Stornbrow. Credit keewa

Berekh Stornbrow -15pts

A mild pleasant surprise for Votann - their new toy landed way too pricey, and that’s been recognised, so he’s cheaper now. Still not free, but way better now that he’s south of the cost of just taking the second half of a Beserk unit. He broadens their capabilities and play patterns quite a bit, most critically because him plus five fits in a Sagitaur, and he also stays relevant down to the very last wound. The Votann players in our review team were unanimous that Berekh is very much worth it now.

Tyranids

Tyranid Prime with Lash Whip

Tyranid Prime with Lash Whip -20pts
Lash whip profile becomes Extra Attacks.
Datasheet is now compatible with the Warrior Bioform Onslaught.

Speaking of previously pricey new toys - the Lash Whip Tyranid Prime now costs the same as their winged cousin, which is obviously welcome, and gets a massive boost to lethality; their Lash Whip is now an Extra Attacks profile, so they add a bunch more volume whenever they swing.. They still have the issue that the only detachment which really wants Warriors is Vanguard Onslaught, and there you need the Winged Prime for the keyword, but they're now sufficiently lethal and cheap that you contemplate them in other contexts. A Warrior MSU with one of these isn't a bad package, and attaching one to a Hormagaunt unit is probably worth a look.

Wrap Up

All change. Again! There should be plenty of excitement left in 10th thanks to all this, and hopefully players of all the factions blessed with new Datasheets are hyped about it.

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