April means quarterly update time, the focus here is largely on making lots of small downwards points adjustments across the board - but there are a couple of more targeted changes here. FEC and auxiliary spam are the main targets of the design team’s ire (you know what you’ve been doing, Seraphon players), whilst Lumineth and Tzeentch have had a surprisingly light touch given the results that they’ve been posting. Another overall trend looks to be a realigning of the lowest price point for chaff units, with lots of 1 Health infantry dropping down to 80 points. Hopefully this will encourage a bit more screening and push armies to get a bit larger.
Core Rules
As alluded to above, there’s been a change to the way auxiliary units work, with each aux unit you take incurring a cumulative 20 point cost. For most players this won’t change list construction at all, but does go a long way to stopping particularly abusive spam lists that Skaven and Seraphon were doing with large numbers of auxiliary Deathmasters/Spawn of Chotec. Now that your third auxiliary Spawn of Chotec will cost you an additional 40 points, then 60 etc etc, this will pretty much kill those builds and any future similar builds stone dead, and that’s only a good thing for the game.
To save us covering it in individual sections - any faction that has received a Battletome since the last update has had the relevant section deleted from the Faction Packs section of the battlescroll.
Order
Cities of Sigmar
Points
Battlemage on Griffon -20
Dreadlord on Black Dragon -10
Marshal on Griffon -20
The ven Densts -10
Pontifex Zenestra -10
Tahlia Vedra -20
Freeguild Cavaliers -10
Freeguild Command Corps +10
Freeguild Fusiliers -10
Freeguild Steelhelms -10
Wildercorps Hunters -10
SoG Freeguild Cavaliers -10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Lots of minor drops, plus a minor increase to the Command Corps which won’t stop you taking them, but might discourage the lists taking more than one. Minor drops to both types of Cavaliers seem mostly unnecessary given their regular appearance in lists, and we also see some minor changes to Tahlia and Zenestra which compensate for some previous hikes. Cities are performing pretty poorly at the moment, so it’s a bit surprising that the drops weren’t more generous.
Fyreslayers
Points
Auric Runemaster -10
Auric Runesmiter -20
Grimhold Exile -10
Auric Hearthguard -20
Hearthguard Berzerkers w/ Broadaxes -10
Hearthguard Berzerkers w/ Poleaxes -10
Vulkyn Flameseekers -10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Fyreslayers are battling with Kruleboys to be the least played army in the game and have an abysmal winrate; this means we really should be looking for more radical changes than fiddling 10 points here and there. Even trying to find examples of lists that have done decently well recently to see if the changes move the needle much is tough. There was a top 20 list at Adepticon that’s gone down about 60 points, so with a bit of fiddling maybe could fit another foot hero. In the context of almost every other army also getting similar points drops, this feels like we’re treading water.
Idoneth Deepkin
Points
Akhelian King -10
Aspect of the Storm -20
Ikon of the Storm +10
Isharann Tidecaster -10
Volturnos -20
Leviadon -20
Morrsarr Guard -10
Reavers -10
Thralls -10
SoG Thralls -10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Last Battlescroll we pointed out that you could take 90 SoG Thralls and still have 1100 points left over and nobody took them. So now you can take 90 SoG Thralls and have 1280 points left over. Namarti are always underrepresented and I don’t really see that changing - they’re a painting challenge, they’re fiddly to play and they suffer from having too many dedicated support heroes that do one little thing and eat into your efficiency. Most Deepkin players are still running shark spam and that’s likely to stay the same until we see what happens with that SoG battle formation. Occasionally you see someone place decently with the Akhelian Army of Renown and these points do actually open up your options on that front - Morssar Guard are pretty efficient and you can cram a lot of them into an army now, and they really benefit from the on-tap strike-first.
Kharadron Overlords
Points
Aether-Khemist -10
Aetheric Navigator -10
Arkanaut Admiral -10
Drekki Flynt -10
Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit -10
Null-Khemist -10
Arkanaut Company -10
Arkanaut Ironclad -10
Grundstock Gunhauler -10
Grundstock Thunderers -10
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Whilst the drops aren’t big enough to buy a typical army a new unit, they likely will let you upgrade a unit to something a bit better in your list, and that’s fine. Arkanaut Company at 80 points are seriously efficient, so there could be scope for players to start taking multiple reinforced blocks of them to control boardspace.
Lumineth Realm-lords
Points
The Light of Eltharion +10
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
Likely to be the part of the Battlescroll that players consider to be missing something, as there’s no FAQ here about Lyrior’s strike-first spell, or more specifically, how it interacts with the Warhost of Duality’s Strike as One battle trait. The community seems to have coalesced around the idea that because the Strike as One pick happens at the same time as your normal pick, nothing else is eligible to be picked alongside Lyrior (because not all strike-first units have activated yet). That seems reasonable, but we’ve still seen some TOs rule in the opposite direction and let Lumineth players have 4 activations in a row (Lyrior plus another, then the first fight of the regular combat phase accompanied by another pick). A bit surprising not to see it ruled here; perhaps the designers thought it was clear enough, or perhaps nobody wrote in about it.Otherwise it’s a reasonably light touch. Eltharion has been a heavy presence so a slight points increase makes sense, alongside which Valorous Intervention has been updated so that he can only teleport to friendly LRL units in combat, rather than any RoRs you’ve taken along also benefitting. The faction manifestations are the other errata targets. Hyshian Twinstones gains the “more than 9” from enemy units” wording common to other predatory endless spells, and the Rune of Petrification gets a slight update to clarify that it inflicts strike-last on 3 or more mortal damage, rather than only exactly 3. The Sanctum gains missing wording to clarify that it has multiple parts which all get removed if one does.
Overall, just some post-Battletome tidying up so far - clearly the AoS team feel it is too early to call it on any more significant points changes.
Seraphon
Points
Scar-Veteran on Aggradon -10
Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur -10
Skink Oracle on Troglodon -20
Skink Starseer -10
Stegadon Chief -20
Aggradon Lancers -10
Basitladon with Solar Engine -20
Engine of the Gods -20
Hunters of Huanchi w/ Bolas -10
Kroxigor Warspawned -10
Ripperdactyl Riders -10
Saurus Guard -10
Saurus Warriors -10
Spawn of Chotec +10
Stegadon -20
Impact
Loser
Thoughts
Whilst I’m glad that spamming Spawn of Chotec is gone from a game-health perspective, it was kind of keeping this faction afloat. The overall winrate for this army has been really poor recently and whilst this is a lot of drops, in the context of the rest of this Battlescroll I’m not sure that they help. Saurus are reasonably efficient at this point, but the obvious push here is for people to do a bit of monster mash in the dying days of the faction pack. One of a few armies desperately still waiting for a Battletome.
Stormcast Eternals
Points
Celestant-Prime -20
Drakesworn Templar -30
Ionus Cryptborn -20
Karazai -20
Krondys -20
Bastian Carthalos -20
Lord-Vigilant on Morrgryph -20
Neave Blacktalon -20
Vandus Hammerhand -10
Yndrasta -20
Desolators -10
Fulminators -10
Praetors -10
Questor Soulsworn +10
Stormstrike Chariot -10
Stormstrike Palladors -10
Vanquishers -10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Great news here. I’ve been running a monster mash list featuring the Celestant-Prime (honorary monster) and Ionus, and 40 extra points there plus some of the drops above mean some options for taking more interesting filler characters/units than the current 5 Vigilors and a Knight-Vexillor.
Yndrasta seems to be appearing in a few more lists currently, and a 20 point discount there is going to be appealing, as is 10 points off of Fulminators and Desolators. 20 points might not be enough to move the needle on Karazai and Krondys currently, but the Lord-Vigilant on Morrgryph is now an incredibly lithe 180 points. The warscroll abilities are still situational, but that’s really not a lot of points for something with 12 wounds, a 12” move, and 11 multi-damage attacks. Personally, I quite like the idea of one of these hanging out with SoG Iridan to benefit from their extra rend prayer on the Glaive. It’s probably not world-changing, but I do think it’s worth a go.
Overall, a bunch of changes that should shake up listbuilding a little, which can only be a good thing.
Sylvaneth
Points
SoG Revenant Seekers +10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
SoG Rev Seekers are really really good so this points adjustment is technically a nerf. On the other hand, the Battletome just dropped and we reckon that it’s much stronger than the faction pack, and it also contains lots of lovely points drops that more than pay for this increase.
Chaos
Blades of Khorne
Points
Mighty Lord of Khorne -10
SoG Mighty Lord of Khorne -30
Blood Warriors -10
Bloodcrushers -10
Bloodletters -10
Skullreapers -10
SoG Bloodcrushers -10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Khorne have been doing just fine recently, and despite having a massive roster of warscrolls to choose from there are drops here on units that people actually take, rather than the -10 off of some junk that you’d typically expect. Bloodletters, Skullreapers and Blood Warriors all see play, so armies running multiple reinforced units could stand to save 60-80 points which is into the realm of being able to add new units to your list - always a bonus. It’s also nice to see the push towards an army that actually looks like an army rather than a collection of heroes.
Disciples of Tzeentch
Points
Curseling - Chaos Spawn added to regiment
Fatemaster - Chaos Spawn added to regiment
Burning Chariot +10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Having more flexibility in being able to slot the all important spawn into your armies is a good thing, but the real boon for this army is that it was already very strong and got the lightest possible slap on the wrist in points changes. With FEC copping a nerf, Tzeentch remain positioned to do well in much the same way as LRL.
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Points
Keeper of Secrets -20
Lord of Hubris -10
Lord of Pain -10
Shalaxi Helbane -20
Shardspeaker of Slaanesh -10
Syll’Esske -20
The Masque -10
SoG Syll’Esske -20
Blissbarb Seekers -10
Myrmidesh Painbringers -10
Slaangor Fiendbloods -10
Symbranesh Twinsouls +10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
A lot of changes, and I feel like a lot of these are things that aren’t seen that often in event lists, save the Keeper and Twinsouls. Perhaps the points drops might encourage a bit of a change up. Twinsouls have been a staple, especially in lists that centre around Glutos, so it’s not too surprising to see those go up a touch. Overall, don’t think this will be driving a huge amount of change.
Helsmiths of Hashut
Points
Daemonsmith -10
Urak Taar -10
SoG War Despot -10
Anointed Sentinels -20
Dominator Engine w/ Immolation Cannons -20
Infernal Cohort w/ Blades -10
Infernal Cohort w/ Spears -10
Infernal Razers w/ Flamehurlers -10
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
It’s not hugely surprising to see Sentinels and the gun-toting Dominator Engine drop a little here, although perhaps it’s a little more surprising to see Urak Taar and the Infernal Cohort cop a discount. These might be enough to discourage quite so much Bull Centaur spam, although generally Helsmiths feels like it hasn’t had terrible internal balance and you do already see other lists, perhaps explaining how they avoided an increase. Both Cohorts being 200 points or less for a reinforced block seems pretty great.
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Points
Belga the Cystwitch +10, and she can now take 0-1 Plaguebearers units as well as her previous Regiment options
Bload Rotspawned -10
Festus the Leechlord -30
Great Unclean One -30
Morbidex Twiceborn -10
Orghotts Daemonspew -10
Rotigus +10
Beast of Nurgle -10
Rotmire Creed -10
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Festus the Leechlord is the focus of this Battlescroll, with a big 30 point drop as well as a couple bits of errata. His “The Leechlord’s Curse” spell gets a clarification that its bonus Leech Point applies for the rest of the battle, updating the wording to match his Annelid Engorgement rule. That rule also gets an update to clarify that he gains control score per point he gained this turn, which clarifies that his Control Score doesn’t increase exponentially as you gain more and more points. With a 30 point decrease he’s a more appealing inclusion in the army, but 290 is still a big price to pay.
Elsewhere it’s pretty small balancing changes, with the GUO being the biggest winner with a 30 point drop that might make it appealing, especially when factoring in that Rotigus also went up 10 points (Scourge of Ghyran Rotigus remains unchanged though).
Skaven
Points
Arch-Warlock -10
Grey Seer -10
Krittok Foulblade -10
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace +10
Thanquol -10
Verminlord Corruptor -20
Verminlord Warbringer -20
Verminlord Warpseer -20
Vizzik Skour -20
Warlock Engineer -10
Warlock Galvaneer -20
Doom-Flayers -10
Ratling Warpblaster -10
Warplock Jezzails -10
Warpvolt Scourgers -10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Skaven are truly sat in the middle of the fat middle right now, with a few different skew builds being viable. You see monster mash, Rat Ogors, infantry spam and even the odd Doomwheel centred build placing well. What you see less of currently is the shooting build, so the battlescroll is trying to push that a little bit here. Warpvolt Scourgers and their hero getting cheaper is nice for high quality shooting, and whilst neither Jezzails nor the Warpblaster are particularly strong warscrolls they are now getting seriously cheap. I’m not sure Skryre gunlines are going to push out what was already doing well, but could see some cheap shooting being added into other lists to give a bit of reach.
Slaves to Darkness
Points
Abraxia -10
SoG Abraxia -30
Darkoath Warqueen -20
Gaunt Summoner -20
Gaunt Summoner on Disc -20
Gunnar Brand -20
Chaos Chosen -10
Chaos Warriors -10
Darkoath Fellriders -10
Mindstealer Sphiranx -10
Mutalith Vortex Beast -10
Varanguard -10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Some nice points changes here. Slaves to Darkness remain a popular army, but have perhaps dropped off a little in the past few months. Chaos Warriors and Varanguard are both popular inclusions, so a few drops there might free up a few points to vary up the rest of people’s lists. Scourge Abraxia feels like a great pick now that she’s 30 points cheaper.
Death
Flesh-eater Courts
Points
Ghoul King on Terrorgheist +20
Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon +20
Gorewarden -10
Royal Decapitator -10
Crypt Ghouls -10
Zombie Dragon +10
Varghulf Courtier -20
Savage Beyond Reason +40
Stronger in Madness +10
Charnel Vestments +10
Grisly Pennant +10
Splintered Femur +10
Revered Monstrosity +10
Impact
Significant Loser
Thoughts
A not-unexpected hammerblow to FEC, but we think one in a long line of heavy handed FEC nerfs that always seem to land when the players start to have fun with it. The points increases on monsters are fair enough, the glut of increases for their enhancements do sting and you can be looking at spending 30-70 points just for showing up. Notably, every single artefact now costs points. If other overperforming armies like LRL, Tzeentch and Nurgle had been similarly nerfed this might feel a bit less bad, but they all seemed to get away with it. The Varghulf doesn’t need to be 20 points cheaper; it needs a total conceptual redesign.
Nighthaunt
Points
Awlrach the Drowner -20
Guardian of Souls -20
Kurdoss Valentian -20
SoG Kurdoss Valentian -20
Reiknor the Grimhailer -20
Spirit Torment -10
Black Coach -10
SoG Black Coach -20
Chainrasps -10
Craventhrone Guard -10
Dreadblade Harrows -10
Dreadscythe Harridans -10
Grimghast Reapers -10
Hexwraiths -10
Pyregheists +10
Spirit Hosts -10
Impact
Loser
Thoughts
A rough one for Nighthaunt, who are an army that has been coasting on the Pyregheist warscroll despite the previous round of nerfs and in general have been doing quite badly. Even with the points drops here, the points increase on Pyregheists straight up kills a bunch of the Nighthaunt lists that have performed well recently. The problem the army faces really is that without some major rules rewrites on some key units the only viable path GW has is to get the melee ghosts cheap enough to the point you can throw masses of crap at your enemy, and I don’t think we’re there yet.
Soulblight Gravelords
Points
Ivya Volga -20
Lady Annika -10
Lauka Vai -10
Mannfred von Carstein -20
Nagash -20
Necromancer -20
Sekhar -20
SoG Sekhar -20
Wight King -10
Wight King on Steed -20
Wight Lord on Steed -10
Askurgan Trueblades +10
Barrow Guard -20
Barrow Knights -10
Deadwalker Zombies -10
Fell Bats -10
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Another fat middle army that is competitively reliant on a narrow number of warscrolls. In this case the army is largely held up by the vampire warscrolls and so this is a mild nerf to anyone spamming Askurgan Trueblades - which will probably end up pushing people to Blood Knights more than they already do. The exciting changes here are really to Fell Bats and Barrow Knights. Fell Bats are just good bozos and getting them for cheap is solid. Barrow Knights don’t hit quite as hard as Blood Knights but are a good deal tankier and can be recycled, getting them at a decent discount vs Blood Knights might incentivise a different cavalry build if nothing else.
Destruction
Gloomspite Gitz
Points
Droggz Da Sunchompa -20
Frazzlegit Shaman on War-Wheela -10
Loonboss -10
Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig -10
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs -20
Rabble-Rowza -10
Snarlboss -20
Snarlboss on War-Wheela -10
Dankhold Troggboss -10
Doom Diver Catapult -10
Fellwater Troggoths -10
Mangler Squigs -10
Snarlfang Riders -10
Sneaky Snufflers -10
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
One of the few factions with cheap enough units to make significant use of small points drops, Gitz players will be eating well here. Nothing truly revolutionary, but we’d expect to see a bit of a reshuffling of the go-to units for certain battlefield roles. Snarlfang Riders are now back to the same price as Spider Riders, so players can now take their choice of whichever is more visually appealing to them as a fast screen/objective grabber.
Ironjawz
Points
Ardboy Big Boss -10
Megaboss -10
Weirdnob Shaman -10
Ardboyz -10
Brutes -20
Maw-grunta with Hakkin’ Krew -10
SoG Gore-gruntas -20
SoG Weirdbrute Wrekkaz -10
Impact
Winner (Tentative)
Thoughts
20 points off of Brutes is a pleasing thing to see, as are a few other minor changes. I’ve labelled it as a tentative win, because I think I’ve been burned too many times and truly don’t believe that it’s possible to have a positive gameplay experience with Ironjawz outside of the big pig army. It would be great news for my Warhammer Open prospects if it was, though.
Kruleboyz
Points
Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth -20
Gobsprakk -20
Killaboss on Vulcha -20
Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof -10
SoG Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof -10
Swampboss Skumdrekk -20
SoG Swampboss Skumdrekk -20
Hobgrot Slittaz -10
Marshcrawla Sloggoth -10
Swamphorde Bullies -30
Slippery Skumbag -20
Mork’s Eye Pebble -10
Swamp Staff -10
Tough ‘un -10
Skaregob Totem -20
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
After the Gutrippaz nerf this army has fallen off the radar and barely gets any competitive play, but tends to post up reasonable results for the play that it does get. I think we’re on for a winner here, as whilst a lot of these units don’t get a huge amount of play the reductions on all of the enhancements and terrain and support units mean that even armies going down the route of putting a huge number of bodies on the table will almost certainly save enough to get one more unit down.
Ogor Mawtribes
Points
Frostlord on Stonehorn -10
Frostlord on Thundertusk -30
Huskard on Stonehorn -10
Huskard on Thundertusk -30
Gnoblar Scraplauncher -10
SoG Gnoblar Scraplauncher -10
Ironblaster -10
SoG Ironblaster -20
Ironguts -20
Mournfang Pack -10
Stonehorn Beastriders -10
Thundertusk Beastriders -20
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Mawtribes post decent results already, largely off the back of putting lots of wounds on the table with some solid buffs behind them. SoG Ironblasters and Ironguts are both units that see tabletime on the reg, but not in quantities that will result in big savings to make major changes to lists - you’re looking more at upgrading a unit or paying for a manifestation that you previously couldn’t fit. For the monster mash players it’s similar, the changes are nice but you’re looking at upgrading Thundertusks to Stonehorns.
Sons of Behemat
Points
Gatebreaker -10
King Brodd -20
Kraken-eater -20
SoG Kraken-eater -20
Warstomper -10
Mancrusher Mob -20
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
I’m sure there must be some maths that it is possible to do to explain how meaningful changing the points of a 500 point unit by 2% is, but it’s beyond me. Dropping Brodd to 520 and the Gatebreaker to 490 means that you can now take Brodd and three of those (why), meaning that “pick any 4 Mega-Gargants” is now a valid statement for listbuilding. If you take Brodd and one of each of the 3 cheapest (Brodd, Kraken-eater of either variety, Warstomper, Beast-Smasha) you can now also include a single Mancrusher Gargant, so I suppose it is a meaningful change really. Thanks for coming on that journey of discovery with me.
Universal Manifestations
Points
Krondspine Incarnate -20
Morbid Conjuration -10
Primal Energy -10
Impact
Hello again Krondspine Incarnate, my old enemy
Thoughts
Mostly sensible points changes to reflect that more and more armies are taking their own faction manifestations that are typically free, and that the universals now represent a tax on armies without a good manifestation lore. Morbid Conjuration is still the best Universal lore, so still costing some points makes sense from a balance perspective. You might see a bit of a swing back towards things like the Krondspine and Morbi Conj after this, especially if armies end up only gaining a handful of points out of their changes.
Final Thoughts
Quite a minor Battlescroll really, in the grand scheme of things, outside of FEC who were unfortunate enough to win a few events recently with a gimmick list and therefore be in the crosshairs. There are some definite trends over the last couple of Battlescrolls and that’s to cut down on the bullshit and to make armies overall a bit larger. I think both of these are very positive changes.
I know some people will be upset at the changes to aux battalions as it’s a pretty blunt instrument and ultimately does take away some list writing creativity from what is already the most restrictive version of AoS, but I think it’s the lesser of the possible evils for fixing the spam problem. Raising the costs on individual warscrolls that get spammed is just playing whack-a-mole and hurts the players that aren’t spamming, and something like a rule of 3 would be a nightmare for AoS where armies don’t typically have deep benches of warscrolls to choose from.
Units trending towards getting cheaper is also broadly positive, as armies at the start of the edition were very small and this gives you a bit more room to breathe (and does ease up a bit of the aforementioned list writing creativity problem). So probably no huge meta swings in the leadup to the next GHB and whatever that may bring, but probably a good indication of where the design team want to take the game.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website, and subscriber-only content covering competitive Warhammer 40K!
This website uses cookies. Learn more.
Goonhammer App and Patron Updates: April, 2026
Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Issue 46 Review
Kill Team Tournament Report: Engage, Party, Repeat's March Madness 2026
