Grotmas brings with it a whole new Balance Update, and today we’re unpacking all the changes as we find out which factions have ended up on Da Red Gobbo’s naughty and nice lists.
This article covers the Chaos factions. You can find the rest of our coverage via the links below:
We would like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of the balance update for review purposes.
Chaos Daemons
Things have been relatively quiet on the Daemons front, with the faction putting up regular but unimpressive results with a variety of different builds - we’ve seen TiWP results from each of Daemonic Incursion, Scintillating Legion, Blood Legion, Plague Legion, and Shadow Legion lists over the last four weeks, though of these Incursion remains the most popular.
Points Changes
- Kairos +15
- Lord of Change +10
- Keeper Of Secrets -40
- Shalaxi -40
- Rotigus +15
- The Endless Gift enhancement -15
Rules Changes
- Lord of Change and Kairos go to flat 3 damage on their main guns.
- Lord of Change’s Rod Of Sorcery changed to 18” range and flat 2 damage.
- Endless Gift enhancement changed to a 5+++ Feel No Pain from a 4+++.
- Walking Daemon Princes gain Lone Operative within 3” of Daemon infantry.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Mike P: Christmas came early for Tzeentch fans.
Flat 3 damage on a Lord Of Change and Kairos? Let’s go! These were already solid datasheets, and getting a huge boost to both their average damage and consistency really makes Daemons much more powerful in the shooting phase. Both units got a slight point increase but that is a more than fair price to pay. Scintillating Legion was already very good in the right matchups, and honestly that detachment is just straight up A Tier or higher now. Lords Of Change are also going to be very strong in the other teleporting detachments (Shadow Legion and Daemonic Incursion).
Keepers and Shalaxi finally got the real points drop they needed to compensate for the nuclear nerf that was dropped on them after Legion Of Excess was way too strong and everything associated with Slaanesh was torn down. Shalaxi really interests me in Daemonic Incursion again.
Let’s talk about the big nerf: Endless Gift changes from a 4+++ Feel No Pain to a 5+++ Feel No Pain. The Great Unclean One with the Endless Gift was a staple in Daemonic Incursion. The enhancement got a slight points drop but it’s cancelled out by Rotigus’s points increase, so if you were running both together, your points stay flat and you just have a big nerf. For the record… I don’t think it’s a completely unjustified nerf. That enhancement was wildly strong on a Great Unclean One. I’m just confused why it’s happening now, and I would have liked to see a little bit more of a compensatory points drop.
The final change was walking Daemon Princes getting Lone Op near Infantry like all other walking Daemon Princes in the game. I appreciate them noticing the discrepancy and fixing it, and that’s actually a solid datasheet that will make its way into some lists.
The increase to flat 3 damage on the Big Birds is the main takeaway, and for that reason, Daemons are coming out of this update as winners.
TheChirurgeon: I’m not sure I’d call Daemons a winner given Incursion was the most popular (and successful) way to play the faction, and it took a big hit with the change to Endless Gift. That said, I don’t think 4+ feel no pain should exist in the game to begin with, so I am fine with this change. The adjustments to the Lord of Change and Kairos make Scintillating Legion lists suddenly very interesting, and I think those were underrated to begin with.
Wings: I think in a Victrix world, the
Gift change ends up mattering more than the Tzeentch changes for all-rounder lists, because damage three doesn't help chew through the four wound bricks.
Chaos Knights
Chaos Knights have been putting up OK but underwhelming results since their nerfs back in September. More important than the faction taking a hit, however, was the way those nerfs killed the faction’s diversity - currently every winning list runs at least two and usually three double gatling Despoilers, and there isn’t a ton of room for innovation.
Points Changes
- Desecrator -10
- Despoiler +15
- Ruinator -20
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
Mike P: I’ll be real with you: Chaos Knights had become a bit boring with basically every list running 3x Despoilers and Karnivores (and often Rotigus as an ally). This update targets that specific list with +45 or +60 points to the common lists, and leaves basically the rest of the faction alone. That seems pretty fair. If you weren’t spamming Despoilers (and respect to you for that), then your list is practically unchanged. And just to be clear: Despoiler spam is still good. You probably drop Rotigus, keep 3 Despoilers, and shift some points around. Chaos Knights are also extremely thankful to see the uninteractive Fuegan and Fire Dragon unit nerfed.
TheChirurgeon: Yeah I don’t think this is a big loss for Chaos Knights who probably just lose three Nurglings as a result. You could potentially make the case that some lists may run double Despoiler, 1 Desecrator, but I’m not sold on that being worth it. The Ruinator still isn’t worth it with a 20 point discount.
Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Space Marines are an army which feels capable of putting up solid results - recent success from the Veterans of the Long War Detachment showed what was possible - but as a whole the faction feels underpowered compared to many of the other threats in the field. It’s capable of some solid damage output, but too often ends up forced to play “honest Warhammer” and is saddled with Datasheets that haven’t changed since the tenth edition index was released.
Points Changes
- Terminator Lord -10
- Fabius Bile +15
- Forgefiend -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Mike P: CSM were already in a fine spot, so it makes sense that they got very few changes outside of the new Nightmare Hunt detachment. I encourage you to completely ignore their bad winrate. CSM are a good army and did not really need any buffs.
The Bile and Chosen in a Rhino gets slightly more expensive, but is still a great unit. Forgefiends go down slightly and are worth more consideration in lists, especially in detachments like Soulforged Warpack and Pactbound Zealots that give them strong support. Not really much to say to CSM players. Go out there and keep having fun with your army.
TheChirurgeon: Mike had CSM as Neutral but I’ve bumped them to “Slight Winners” here. The points increase to Bile is easy to work around and only on a single unit while the drop to Forgefiends legitimately buffs Pactbound Detachments and may mean they end up showing up more in place of Vindicators. Admech are still an issue here but Eldar and Sisters taking hits are good for CSM overall and there are more nerfs to around than buffs this time. On top of all that we get a cool new Detachment with Nightmare Hunt and while it’s not gonna break the game it’s at least interesting and worth testing. It’s not a big win, but I think the overall movement here is positive and with a faction as lackluster as CSM are right now, some positive movement is a win.
Death Guard
After a dominant summer, the Death Guard ate some nerfs in September and quietly slid into more of a B-tier standing with regard to the game’s factions. They can still put up impressive results and have many strong units but frequently underperform relative to their player population size.
Points Changes
- Land Raider -20
- Rotigus +15
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Mike P: Death Guard are in a good spot so I’m glad GW largely left them alone in this update. Land Raiders get a slight points drop to move in line with the other Chaos faction Land Raiders, and Rotigus gets a slight points nerf to move in line with the Daemons nerf.
There are some small internal tweaks that could have been made, but leaving Death Guard almost completely alone is a totally fine choice.
TheChirurgeon: This is another area where I’ve bumped the faction to “Slight Winner” as despite the lack of real improvements, staying put is all this faction really wanted anyways. There’s a ton of value still in Death Guard units and nerfs to the armies that were pushing Death Guard to the B+ tier should help them inch back up to A- status.
Emperor’s Children
The Emperor’s Children have been struggling since their Codex release, trying to work around one of the smallest unit pools in the game while weathering repeated nerfs to some of their best units. They’re a skill-intensive army that are on the lower side of the win rate/TiWP spectrum. In addition to these changes there's also a new Detachment - Court of the Phoenician.
Points Changes
- Chaos Spawn -10
- Terminators -15
- Daemon Prince -15
- Winged Daemon Prince +15
- Keepers Of Secrets -30
- Shalaxi -40
Rules Changes
- Rapid Evisceration detachment rule changed to also give the reroll 1’s to Transport models.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Mike P: This is a solid set of changes for EC.
The biggest takeaway is the nerf to winged Daemon Princes. On the one hand, it’s fair that they were nerfed. There were multiple in basically every good EC list. On the other hand, is it really fair to penalize EC players for spamming Winged Daemon Princes when the roster is as shallow as a puddle? I get both arguments and it’s honestly hard to say.
The rest of the points changes are buffs, and they’re all honestly very welcome as a way to help internal balance. The standout for me is Chaos Spawn going down 10 points. Having a cheaper cheapest unit will help EC players fit lists together easier, and EC Chaos Spawn are legitimately good. Points drops to Keepers and Shalaxi will help Carnival players have some fun experimenting, and walking Daemon Princes are now worth consideration in many lists.
I quite like the small but meaningful Rapid Evisceration buff. The big change in practice is that if you are firing Noise Marine Blastmasters out of a Rhino with the Firing Deck rule, you still get the reroll 1’s. That’s helpful. It also makes Land Raiders more viable in Rapid Evisceration, if you’re playing on maps that actually let the model physically move around. This is a cool detachment.
TheChirurgeon: This is an area where I disagree in the opposite direction - I think EC players lose out here. The Rapid Evisceration rule change doesn’t do enough to make that Detachment playable, because your big issue is still losing a turn of shooting every time you get back into the transport. And also that you’re always vulnerable to some clown with a meltagun ruining your day. The Winged Daemon Prince probably could have used the nerf but it was the unit single-handedly holding up the army. I’m also just nonplussed by the Detachment.
Wings: I think the fact that even after the
big point increases last time, triple Prince Coterie
still ended back on top suggests they did need a further change to the Princes, but agree they needed something more to go with. Just add Forgefiends via digital datasheet, c'mon GW.
Thousand Sons
Thousand Sons came out of the gate strong but were stymied in part by having bad matchups into some of the game’s top armies - particularly Death Guard. They’ve been nerfed since, and to the point that it was fair to ask if the nerfs had gone too far. As a faction they’re above average on TiWP representation and average on win rate.
Points Changes
- Predator Destructor -10
- Forgefiend -10
- Maulerfiend -10
- Mutalith Vortex Beast -5
- Rubric Marines -5 for 5 models, points unchanged for 10 models
- Sorcerer -5
- Tzaangor Enlightened -10 for 3 models, points unchanged for 6 models
- Bow Tzaangor Enlightened -5 for 3 models, points unchanged for 6 models
- Kairos +25
- Lord Of Change +20
Rules Changes
- Twist Of Fate, Destiny’s Ruin, and Temporal Surge rituals now affect Daemons in Changehost of Deceit.
- Kairos and Lords Of Change also get the datasheet buffs that Chaos Daemons received.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Mike P: This change is aimed at increasing list variety, and I really like these Thousand Sons changes. Thousand Sons are always a very difficult army to balance and honestly I worry these changes might push them back into being a bit too good, but I’m just glad that they were given a lot of attention to detail in this update.
The main change is that the Changehost of Deceit detachment instantly becomes way more interesting. Rituals now being able to work on the Daemon units unlocks some very fun (and powerful) synergies. A Lord Of Change that is flat 3 damage and can get rerolls from Destiny’s Ruin to fish for 6’s with Sustained D3? Sign me up.
The points drops to Forgefiends and Predator Destructors is also going to make listbuilding way more interesting for the Warpforged Cabal, which is a really underrated detachment and has almost every rule you could want for vehicle heavy lists.
TheChirurgeon: Those Predator and Forgefiend drops are insane. I’m already picturing a Warpforged list that just runs nine hulls - three each of Annihilators, Destructors, and Forgefiends, plus a pair of Mutalith Vortex Beasts. This is a big win for the faction, who gained quite a bit of breathing room when it comes to building lists. The change to Changehost also makes that worth considering now but I suspect they’ll continue to get passed up because the Stratagems in that Detachment just aren’t very good.
World Eaters
World Eaters armies have been a mixed bag. They have builds which pose a clear and significant threat - that Berzerker Horde list is no joke - and as a result have been putting up some decent results with both that and a stock all-rounder Berzerker Warband setup with a couple Berzerker units and a couple Forgefiends. They’ve also been helped by a big push on Exalted Eightbound and Slaughterbound last Dataslate. That said, the army also has some clear weaknesses, and list variety has suffered a bit since the nerfs to the Daemonkin Detachment.
Points Changes
- Angron -20
- Goremongers -10
- Lord On Juggernaut +15
- Slaughterbound +15
- Berzkerer Glaive and Helm Of Brazen Ire +10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Liam: I’ll be honest, I was expecting a little more damage here. As it stands the changes feel about right, rounding the edges off some of the most commonly-taken units in the army without completely ruining them. Flicking through recent top 4 lists, the worst points increase is around +50, with most coming in at about +35 depending on exactly what they’re running. Your risk with a roster as slim as World Eaters’ is that even small changes can be difficult to adapt to, but 35pts should be achievable to find - and if you’re Seth Piper and you won a GT last week with Angron in your list you’re laughing, as it goes up net 5pts to 1995. Theoretically Goremongers getting cheaper helps too, but in practice a lot of lists were running 2x10 Jakhals and they’re now equalised on points, so you don’t save anything there.
Having mentioned Angron, I guess we’re stress-testing how cheap you can make him before he becomes good. 340 still may not be low enough - is he better than 2.5 units of Eightbound? - but if the datasheet isn’t going to get changed then points are the only lever available and 20pts off the top will help.
Wrap Up
Did the Red Gobbo bring you all the buffs you wanted? If he didn't, can you at least salve the blow by pointing and laughing at elves? Make sure to check out the rest of our coverage from the links up top.
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