New year, new balance – the first update to Warhammer 40,000 of 2024 is here, and there are some significant changes to both rules and points. Before we get into the meat of the meta, Josh and Lewis chat about the juiciest changes coming to a tabletop near you.
Since the last Balance Dataslate – which was first of the new edition – several huge tournaments have come and gone, two new Codexes have joined the fray, and hundreds of thousands of games have been played at local game stores, on kitchen tables, and everywhere else. Each one brings new insights to balance, and the fruits of these labours are now ready to download right here.
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Aeldari armies still sit just above the ideal 55% win-rate, and so there are further adjustments to the number of
Fate Dicethey start with, changes to the
Phantasmstratagem, and a few targeted points increases. The intent is still to tweak a little at a time to ensure one change doesn’t entirely flip their fortunes, and to reduce the reliability of certain powerful abilities.
In contrast, their despicable Drukhari cousins have been doing less well for some time, and they now receive a much-needed boost. Changes include updates to points and Power from Pain mechanics, and there’s even Skysplinter Assault – an all-new Detachment* – while Archons can now hire Incubi bodyguards.
This update is starting to look deeper into internal balance – how units within a faction compare with each other. A number of BATTLELINE units have had their points lowered, from lesser Chaos Daemons to Space Marine Intercessors, while a wide assortment of Indirect Fire units – such as Whirlwinds, Plagueburst Crawlers, and Night Spinners – have had their points increased.
These changes aim to encourage a greater variety of viable armies at competitive levels while ensuring that casual players aren’t penalised for crafting characterful, if unoptimised lists.
Lastly, new clarifications have been used to help readers recognise where changes have been made. New changes are now marked with a ⨁ symbol, to differentiate them from the pink text used to mark rules changed from the original books, while points updates are colour-coded to show whether they have increased or decreased.
With the Deathwing Assault army box arriving in stores on Saturday, you might be wondering where the points are for units like the Inner Circle Companions. As Codex Supplement: Dark Angels isn't on shelves for a few more weeks, its rules aren't "official" for matched play yet, and so the points don't appear here. But rest assured there'll be another update to the Munitorum Field Manual when the Codex is released. Stay tuned!
The Rules Commentary is also being updated to answer questions about TRANSPORTS arriving from Reserves, which modifiers are ignored by certain unit abilities, and other fringe cases.
These documents are available at the Warhammer Community Downloads page, and any suggestions and queries you have can be sent straight to the balance team at 40KFAQ@gwplc.com.
* This is the first time a faction has received this kind of addition.