Welcome back to the Age of Sigmar Metawatch from the Warhammer Studio! We know you’ve all been eagerly awaiting the next Battlescroll, so without further ado… here it is.
The first thing you’ll notice with this Battlescroll is that we’ve tweaked the format a bit to carry forward any rules changes from previous Battlescrolls that are still in effect. In future, Battlescroll changes will be handled as follows:
There will only ever be one active Battlescroll at a time.
Rules changes will be carried forward until they have been printed in a book (e.g. core rules changes from Battlescroll: Gods & Heroes have now been printed in the latest General’s Handbook).
New rules changes will be highlighted in magenta.
Points changes will be summarised but will not be carried forward into future Battlescrolls as they will be implemented in the Age of Sigmar app and Warscroll Builder.
All changes – including points – will be included in errata documents for the appropriate factions, available here.
As we explained in the previous instalment of Metawatch, we have three primary short-term goals for balance in competitive play for Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
External Balance: All factions should have a win rate of between a 45% and 55%
Internal Balance: At least 60% of warscrolls should be used in at least 5% of army rosters
Universal Options: Universal warscrolls (such as Endless Spells and Incarnates) and universal enhancements should be used in under 10% of army rosters
These goals are in priority order, and we’re careful to try not to change too many variables at once so that we can isolate and measure which changes are having what effect.
External Balance
As shown in the graph above, we currently have a handful of factions outside of our target win rate, and we have made targeted adjustments in this Battlescroll to try to bring their win rate in line. These factions tend to fall into one of the following categories.
1. Consistent strength
Maggotkin of Nurgle, Beasts of Chaos, Sons of Behemat, Bonesplitterz, and Seraphon have consistently been near the top of the standings over the past months. Seraphon win rates have recently dropped, but there are a couple of sub-factions (Fangs of Sotek and Thunder Lizard) that are still overperforming by significant margins and pushing the overall win rate above 55%.
We’ve applied some targeted points increases (based on unit inclusion and per-unit win rates) to Maggotkin of Nurgle, Bonesplitterz, Seraphon, and Beasts of Chaos. We have also tweaked the Primal Roar monstrous rampage to generate fewer primordial call points to reduce Beasts of Chaos’ summoning capacity.
Sons of Behemat have just received a brand new battletome, so we’ll wait and see how it impacts their external win rate before making any adjustments.
2. Krondspine combos
A few factions have recently surged in the rankings thanks to an increase in rosters that have made particularly effective use of the Krondspine Incarnate, most notably Daughters of Khaine and Disciples of Tzeentch.
We’ve applied a significant points increase (+80!) to the Krondspine Incarnate to help bring it within our universal option targets, which should help target these builds. We’re keeping a close eye on both factions.
3. Underperforming factions
Gloomspite Gitz, Ogor Mawtribes, Hedonites of Slaanesh, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Slaves to Darkness, and Kruleboyz are currently underperforming relative to our targets. Most of these factions are getting some significant points breaks in this update, while Slaves to Darkness will earn a big boost from their shiny new battletome. Kruleboyz in particular are getting points drops across numerous popular warscrolls, and there’s also a change to the Swampcalla Shaman to allow them to use their powerful spell lore and still buff nearby units with deadly poisons.
Internal Balance
While our top priority has been external balance, we’ve also taken our first steps towards improving internal balance, starting with those factions with the most warscrolls which don’t see much use in competitive play. It is important for us to avoid negative knock-on impacts, so we’ll be making a limited set of adjustments to target units, and measuring the results before proceeding with the next group.
For this battlescroll we’ve chosen to focus on Stormcast Eternals, Cities of Sigmar, Soulblight Gravelords, Skaven, and Seraphon. There are points reductions to a series of underused warscrolls, providing new options for building rosters.
As our largest battletome, Stormcast Eternals have had numerous reductions – Krondys and Karazai lose 50 points each, while Annihilators, Praetors, Vigilors, and Vanquishers all see drops.
Universal Options
Last month we tweaked the Purple Sun of Shyish, and we’re happy to report that we’ve seen a 35% reduction in inclusion since. Purple Sun is now sitting at 15.1% inclusion over the past 60 days – still above our target, but now trending downward.
The Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur is currently included in 12.2% of rosters, but the average win rate for armies which included it was 58%, so we’ve increased its points cost.
We’ve also made a handful of smaller adjustments to Chronomatic Cogs, Lauchon the Soulseeker, and Umbral Spellportal to help bring them within our targets. We’re keeping an eye on Horrorghast and Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws, which, while comfortably within our inclusion targets, appear to have strong win rates.
Next Steps
We’re going to be in for an exciting few months of change, as new battletomes have recently landed for Disciples of Tzeentch, Lumineth Realm-lords, and Sons of Behemat, while Ogor Mawtribes and Slaves to Darkness are coming soon.
One important note – to make sure that events are as fair as possible, limited-release battletomes, such as the special edition included in the upcoming Slaves to Darkness army set, will not be considered legal for Matched Play at Games Workshop events until the battletome goes on general release and the rules are broadly available to all players. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar app and Warscroll Builder sites will continue to display the previous rules until then.
We’re excited to see how the rankings evolve over the remainder of the season, and we’ll continue to update you all on the state of the meta along the way. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions and comments after the last article – we’re building a list and will dig in to answer your questions in the next instalment of Metawatch. If you have a question you’d like answered, you still have time to send it in - just email us at aosfaq@gwplc.com.
October Battlescroll Update Summary
All of the latest changes in one place:
Beasts of Chaos
Change the Primal Roar monstrous rampage from White Dwarf issue 473 to
‘Roll a dice. On a 3+, you receive 1 primordial call point.’
Kruleboyz
Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot: Remove this text from the Poisons and Elixirs ability:
‘, instead of attempting to dispel an endless spell or cast any spells with this unit in that phase,’
Gloomspite Gitz
Add the following to the Notes section of the Arachnarok Spider with Spiderfang Warparty Pitched Battle profile:
‘Battleline if general is Spiderfang’
Endless Spells
Purple Sun of Shyish:
Change the End Given Form ability to:Subtract 1 from save rolls for attacks that target units within 6" of this endless spell. In addition, roll a dice for each unit within 1" of this endless spell after this endless spell has moved. On a 1, that unit has been touched by the Purple Sun’s rays. If that unit has a Wounds characteristic of 9 or less, 1 model in that unit is slain. Otherwise, that unit suffers D6+6 mortal wounds.’
Note: This change was first introduced in the General’s Handbook 2022-23 Season 1 errata published on September 21, 2022, but it has been included on this Battlescroll for ease of reference.