Games Workshop dropped a new Dataslate today, giving us another set of game wide balance updates as well as updated points for new units and Detachments. In this article we’re looking at the changes made to the game’s Xenos Factions - what changed, what it means, and how it changes the faction’s outlook toward the overall meta moving forward.
Before we dive in, we'd like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of this update for review purposes.
Aeldari
Aeldari got hit with a considerable set of nerfs over the last two balance Dataslates, and they’ve been noticeably struggling ever since the latest one. While they still can win events, the last round of nerfs definitely appeared to have gone too far.
Points Changes
- Asurmen +10 points
- Wraithguard -10 points
- Wraithblades -10 points
- Wraithlord -10 points
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Winner?
Thoughts
The hit to Asurmen is painful for one of Aeldari’s best anti-Victrix/anti-Custode tools, but the buff to Wraith units is welcome and potentially lets the Elves join the absurdly durable 3W infantry bandwagon. Ultimately the changes to Necrons are more likely to boost Eldar than the changes to the Wraith units though for those on the edge of taking Wraithlords this may push them to include one or two.
Drukhari
The Lords of Commoragh have been putting on a stellar show lately, specifically in the form of Spectacle of Spite lists featuring heavy amounts of wych cult units supported by heavy weapon-toting Scourge.
Points Changes
- Haemonculus -10 points
- Scourges with Shardcarbines -5 points
- Wracks -5 points for 5 models, -5 points for 8 models, -10 points for 10 models
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
This is probably not enough to get Wracks or the Haemonculus on the table, nor to make Covens viable, but the Shardcarbine Scourges might make more appearances. Good news overall, even if it’s just the absence of pain. Or maybe that’s bad?
Genestealer Cults
A plan generations in the making. Muscle beach. All dreams of a long-lost meta.
Points Changes
None.
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
GSC have seen some play with specialized builds built for hunting C’tan, but the faithful have been biding their time and laying low. Perhaps the day of ascension is at hand?
Leagues of Votann
Berekh Stronbrow stomps onto the scene, ready to lead his Cthonian Beserks towards fresh yields.
Points Changes
- Berekh Stornbrow at 110pts (new)
Rules Changes
- Brandfast Oathband’s Secure Positions stratagem now can be used even if your army does not have Hostile Acquisition.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Berekh definitely feels overpriced at 110pts - he’s more than 5 of the Beserks he can lead and doesn’t double their output. Leading a 10-strong unit in Delve Assault Shift will be quite interesting, but this probably won’t shift things considerably for the Kin.
The change to Brandfast seems slight at first, but it is quite significant as now this stratagem can be used every turn as opposed to just early game when your army is in Hostile Acquisition. This gives the Detachment quite a bit more play, as it had no way to stay in Hostile Acquisition to leverage the stratagem previously.
Orks
Orks have mostly been on a few limited variations of Ghaz powered War Horde lists with some mild success for a while now. The new Detachment has not made much of a splash so no changes here means that things will likely coast the same for the next few months.
Points Changes
None.
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
With the new Detachment not seeing very much uptake, there isn’t too much to talk about here. No changes to the army is somewhat disappointing given their recent performance.
Necrons
Necrons are the big bad of this edition. Thankfully with this update dropping before Adepticon there’s a chance that the Adepticon 40k Champs will not be a complete joke like previous years…
Points Changes
- C’tan Shard of the Deceiver +10pts to 295
- C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer +10pts to 325
- C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon +10pts to 320
- Transcendent C’tan +10pts to 315
- Nekrosor Ammentar +20pts to 185pts
- All C’tan Enhancement costs go up 15pts in Pantheon of Woe
Rules Changes
- Starshatter stratagems no longer affect MONSTER units.
- The Infectious Murderer-madness aura from Necrosor Ammentar no longer affects MONSTER units.
- The Silent King auras no longer affect MONSTER units.
Impact
Slight Loser. But who are we kidding? They made off like bandits.
Thoughts
C’tan remain one of the toughest units to crack, and their points barely shifted here. This entire update hinged on the question of what Games Workshop was going to do about C'tan and the answer appears to be "let them continue to run wild for a few more months."
Wings: From the perspective of a known criminal C'tan enjoyer, the serious answer here is that this does move the dial a fair bit - Starshatter and Pantheon C’tan builds do take a hit, the latter probably being a little bit of a trap now because they’re mostly +100pts, while the former can’t set up re-rolls. However, on rate C’tan are still incredibly good, and you’ll see more people trying the variants of stuff I’ve been repping, running in Awakened herohammer shells or as value pieces in Canoptek Court or Cursed Legion. You’ll probably see one fewer C’tan in some lists as people build in a bit more synergy instead, but the overwhelming impact of pushing multiple star gods forward is still very much here. People have also been doing just fine with entirely C’tan-free Starshatter builds, and you’ll obviously keep seeing those.
This is a weird change in that I think it will change the composition of top builds quite a bit, but I would bet on there being at least a few multi-C'tan builds people can figure out that are still oppressive, and the very worst case for them is that the Deceiver is merely an incredible value piece you can add to any build, because still being sub-300pts is wild (though at least his title as the single most undercosted unit in the game has now been definitively stolen because...)
T’au Empire
What the hell Twin Lance is 160 points? We just talked about this and said something along the lines of "If this thing is less than 200 points it's an auto-include in every list."
Points Changes
- Twin Lance is 160
- And I guess Stealth Suits went down 10
Rules Changes
- You only have 1840 points to use in lists because you already put Twin Lance in it. You can however roll an intelligence check at list-building, and if you fail the test you unlock the full 2000 points for list building. But don’t fail the test. Run the Twin Lance.
Impact
Lance Lance Revolution
Thoughts
Norman: In what god damn world is the Tyranid Prime 85
Curie: Berekh is ONE HUNDRED AND TEN POINTS and these nerds are 160? I guess Norman is right, they are pretty dope models.
Tyranids
Points Changes
- None unless you count the new Tyranid Prime. You shouldn’t count him, he costs 85 points for some reason.
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Loser. Major morale hit.
Thoughts
Norman: It seems that the Tyranids were so hungry they ate 30 of Twin Lance’s points and allocated them to the Tyranid Prime. When we talked about this model we were mostly considering it depending on how much cheaper they were gonna be compared to their winged counterpart. The fact that it's 20 points more expensive means this guy will never see the table. See ya in 11th space bugs.
Final Thoughts
The big question coming into this update was always going to be “what are they going to do about C’tan?” And the answer here is that there are some nerfs, but likely not enough to actually prevent the army from dominating. Meanwhile the other question we had was, “How many points will the Twin Lance cost?” and the answer there was “enough to immediately improve the output of every T’au army on the planet.” This was an interesting update in the sense that the biggest, most important updates were to Xenos factions but at the same time a bit of a letdown in that if you weren’t playing one of those factions it likely felt like Games Workshop forgot about you.
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