Whispers from the Warp have brought another substantial update to Warhammer 40,000. In this update, we have updated the Balance Dataslate, the FAQs, and the errata documents, and there are some points adjustments in the Munitorum Field Manual as well. Here’s the Design Studio with more information
This year we released four updates to the game: two Balance Dataslate updates and four points updates. This was the plan we have kept throughout the year – but moving forward we will be updating this plan after seeing your feedback and trying to navigate the challenges of points-only updates.
In 2025 we will plan to make four updates again, and each time we will potentially make changes to the Munitorum Field Manual, Army Rules, Datasheets, Detachments, FAQs and Erratas. We believe this is the best way for each update to improve the game experience for all players.
In this Balance Dataslate we’ve focused on two major changes to certain rules across multiple armies.
3” Deep Strikes
We’re making some blanket changes to rules that allow units to Deep Strike 3” away from enemy units. We felt this wasn’t the most interactive rule and created some haves and have-not armies with reserve denial rules. We’ve moved the range out to 6” to reduce the feeling that some players had no options to counteract the rule.
AP Stratagems
We’ve also reduced the strength of Stratagems that reduce AP for incoming attacks for the full phase. They have now been changed to reduce the AP of incoming attacks from one unit. Our hope is to give players more options for interaction with this defensive strategy.
As for major faction specific changes, we focused on the Adepta Sororitas, the Genestealer Cults and Codex: Space Marines.
Adepta Sororitas
We have adjusted the rate at which players can generate Miracle Dice to make them a more precious resource, and one to be spent only at the most critical moments. In addition, we have made some adjustments to the Bringers of Flame Detachment to bring it in line with the other detachments presented in the Codex.
Genestealer Cults
Alongside a few stat adjustments and datasheet abilities, the big change here has been to rework Cult Ambush to remove the random nature of how units return. Now players will get a set number of Resurgence Points to spend based on their game size, which they can use to pick which units return, as long as they have the sufficient amount left.
Space Marines
If your army does not include units with the Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch or Space Wolves keywords you are getting an upgraded version of Oath of Moment. This is designed to even the playing field between players who want to use Codex: Space Marines, as opposed to those who also have their own unique Codex supplement to draw from.
In addition, we have made profile and ability adjustments to encourage players to revisit a number of units that now have some great new options.
Changes have not been limited to these three factions. We have made tweaks to Army Rules, Detachment Rules, Unit Abilities, and Datasheet profiles across the range. All of these have been made to further improve the external balance between different factions and the internal balance within the factions, allowing players to feel they have more powerful options than ever.
We've also made changes to the points for units that have proven too powerful – though overall there are fewer points changes this update, due to the proximity to the previous points update. Additionally, with all the new Detachments coming out for Grotmas, we preferred not to overdo any changes. We're going to perform a review after all of them have been released – when we can we start to see what trends emerge.
We hope you enjoy all of the changes!
The complete update can be downloaded for free below, and the changes are already filtering through on the app. Please note that one of the changes in the Company of Hunters Detachment for the Dark Angels contains an error: the change is meant to affect the Mounted Strategist enhancement rather than Master of Manoeuvre. This error will be corrected in January.
