Let’s cut to the chase: there’s a massive balance update available for Warhammer 40,000 – including points changes, substantial buffs, and targeted nerfs – and you can download it right now.
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While the old dial-up modem warms up, Josh and Kenny from the Warhammer 40,000 design team have recorded a very long and thorough video unpacking all the major changes: what’s new, why they’ve been made, and what to expect.
There are numerous points to highlight, including targeted changes to reduce the power of Orks and Necrons lists, and to increase the effectiveness (and points cost) of the Adeptus Mechanicus. There are additional changes to most other factions – not least the Dark Angels – plus new points values, including for the likes of the Adepta Sororitas and Genestealer Cults, plus plenty more for the purposes of internal balance and encouraging list diversity.
The Studio have been kind enough to write commentary for the more substantial changes, which you can find below.
Stratagems
The core Stratagems give players a versatile suite of tools. However, we felt a few tweaks were required to ensure they fit the immersive narrative originally envisioned. Grenades, for example, is intended to replicate the cinematic use of explosives: destroying your foes while fleeing away from combat is not the dramatic moment we are trying to recreate.
Similarly, Tank Shock was supposed to represent the desperate moments when your tanks – not known for their proficiency in melee – crush a few foes beneath steel treads. It has been used by Walkers with high-Strength melee weapons just to hit their targets harder. With the change we've made here – basing the rolls on Toughness rather than Strength – we've brought the Stratagem back in line with its intended narrative.
We’ve already had a go at addressing abilities that modify the cost of Stratagems, or allow repeated use. While the solution we decided on was successful in curbing the worst abuses of those abilities, we weren’t satisfied with it – the Battle Tactic distinction was felt by some to be arbitrary, and didn’t have a uniform impact across Detachments or factions.
The changes we’ve made this time work in a more balanced way. Abilities that reduce the cost of unspecified Stratagems (i.e. those that are not named by the ability) now all do so by 1CP, regardless of the cost or type of the Stratagem. This means we’ve removed the distinction for Battle Tactics, and this now won't be a way to use an unspecified 2CP Stratagem for free. In most cases, you’ll find your unit’s abilities now work as you feel they should.
We've made all abilities that increase the cost of a Stratagem work the same way, and you'll now have to get a unit with that ability to within 12" of its target. We’ve done this because these abilities were being used in ways that didn’t feel right, and in some cases were unduly punishing.
Abilities that allow repeated use of Stratagems have continued to have a disproportionate impact on the game, so we’ve decided to remove them, with the exception of those that specify the Stratagem that can be used.
Movement
We’ve changed the movement rules to make them much simpler to use, and to answer your many questions about this crucial aspect of the game. We know that people were finding it difficult to measure pivots – parts of a move where their model turns on the spot. This was leading to some units being unduly punished, and some very unsatisfying experiences when moving your models around the battlefield!
Models now move in a combination of straight lines (which needn’t be in the direction the model is facing) and pivots, where the model turns around its centre. While moving in a straight line, a model can move through any space its base can move through, and for most models, pivots are now free, so you’ll be able to move models in a way that feels and looks great. For the remainder of models – Monsters and Vehicles that aren’t on round bases – you ‘pay’ 2” of their movement the first time they pivot during a move, and then for the rest of the move their pivots are free. Taken together, these changes make it far easier to move your models – even Monsters with large wings and long Vehicles – around the battlefield.
We understand that this is a big change to how movement works, and we know that this may have knock-on effects in your games and new questions that come up as a result. We’ve aimed to make the rule as straightforward and unambiguous as possible, and we’re keen to get your feedback and to continue to improve these rules.
Mortal and Devastating Wounds
We have already made a change to how Devastating Wounds work – with the issue we were trying to remedy being that any excess damage was having too dominant an effect. This change had the unintended consequence of rendering certain defensive abilities much less useful than they should be. We feel that the new change – where Mortal Wounds specifically do not spill over when they originate from Devastating Wounds attacks – will help detachments like The Talons of the Emperor now operate as originally designed.
Adeptus Mechanicus
Your prayers to the Omnissiah have been answered with blessings to the faithful. Sections of the army that were without the Army Rule now receive the faction ability and can join in the canticles of their brethren. The aim of these changes is to increase damage output and reduce model count, and to enable players to build lists that truly embody the Protector or Conqueror Imperatives while maintaining tactical flexibility.
The changes to the Army Rule build on the buffs already given by the Skitarii Battleline units that are the core focus of the psalms of the Omnissiah, while changes have been made to certain datasheets to improve their damage output. With all these changes the points of certain units have been increased to reflect their new potential and their use in a number of detachments.
Other changes in the faction errata are to the Skitarii Marshal which enables them to rally their brethren, the Onager Dunecrawler to scuttle over terrain features, and units embarked in the Skorpius Dunerider to use the hatches on top as a Firing Deck. Last but not least the Prime Conduit Belisarius Cawl has had upgrades to enhance his efficacy and allow him to live up to his reputation. It is hoped that all of these changes bring enjoyment to the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Thousand Sons
The Thousand Sons have been a strong performer, and instead of increasing their points and reducing their model count further we’ve instead tackled some of their more “feels bad” interactions with Rituals and abilities. As a result, we’ve made a few changes to specific Rituals, such as Doombolt, Temporal Surge, and Twist of Fate to help increase counterplay against these mechanics. The rules for Rituals didn’t specify how many Rituals could be used by a Psyker each turn so players were able to cast all their Rituals through one Psyker. Now Psykers can also only use one Ritual per turn helping spread out where Rituals come from.
Dark Angels
We saw that players were not really taking the Inner Circle or Deathwing Knights due to their points cost and rules relationships to other similar models. As a result, we’ve improved their weapon profiles to bring them more in line with similar units. We’ve also applied some power improvements to both the Inner Circle Task Force and Unforgiven Detachment rules to help nudge them in the right direction, while we continue to look at them for the future.
Orks
Tearing onto the scene in a wave of green muscle, the Orks arrived a little over-enthusiastically, in typical Orky fashion, and we very quickly became aware of a couple of dominant lists that were creating some skewed matchups. The Green Tide Detachment was putting too much pressure on the board state, combining manoeuvrability and durability a little too well for their numbers. As such, some targeted adjustments have looked to rein this in so that it becomes a more consistent challenge level for all armies while reducing the need for list tailoring. We also took a long, hard look at the Meganobz, who were proving a little too mega, and their Feel No Pain ability has been reduced accordingly, meaning they are now a little less durable but more appropriate for their points cost.
Tyranids
As one of the first Codexes out of the gate, we have had a lot of time to see how the army has landed and wanted to give Tyranids something of a refresh based on how the edition has shaken out. The biggest change we have made is to increase the Strength of their melee weapons while in Synapse range, which pushes many of their weapons over those critical thresholds that they were struggling with before. This has been complemented with some improvements to their heavier-hitting ranged damage dealers in the form of the Exocrine and Tyrannofex to better handle the meta we are seeing today.
The Crusher Stampede also sees some gains, with some increased mobility options helping them out on the more dense terrain layouts and an Objective Control boost to help them play the objectives. Finally, we have made a number of isolated, but significant, adjustments to characters to help them achieve their role better, such as Neurotyrants leading Zoanthropes, several models gaining the Synapse keyword (including the Parasite of Mortrex) and the Hive Tyrant’s aura becoming ever more tyrannical.
Adeptus Custodes
While we feel that Adeptus Custodes are the faction that likely benefits the most from the change to Devastating Wounds and Mortal Wounds, there were a couple of extra opportunities we wanted to take the time to implement in order to give the Emperor's Chosen a bit of extra power. The Martial Mastery abilities described in the Shield Host Detachment are both great abilities, but we felt restricting them both to one use only was in hindsight a bit too restrictive, with the result that the Detachment ability applied for less than half the battle. We’ve changed it so now one of the abilities can apply every turn.
The Auric Champions Detachment is heavily themed around the characters of the Adeptus Custodes, but restricting the Detachment rule to only apply to those individuals was perhaps too limiting – opening the Assemblage of Might Detachment rule to apply to character ‘units’, rather than ‘models’ does not break the overall theme of this Detachment, but it does help it keep up with the power of the other Adeptus Custodes Detachments.
Chaos Daemons
The Shadow of Chaos is a unique and engaging army rule that really defines the playstyle of the army, but it is also very tempo-controlled, based heavily on the mission specifics, such as the placement of the objectives. Given we are dealing with beings of pure warp energy, we wanted to open up their play experience a little and give the Chaos Daemons players more agency and aggression in what they can do with their army. To this end, we updated both the army rule and the Greater Daemons themselves to make them real linchpins for the army - simultaneously buffing nearby friendly units of the same Chaos God and allowing them to arrive from Deep Strike much closer. This makes the army noticeably less reactive, able to threaten and push into areas earlier than before while giving the player more choice in how to approach each mission layout.
Points and FAQs
We’ve also taken a large swing at tackling outstanding FAQs to help the community have one place to come for their answers about Warhammer 40,000. Our goal is that anyone who wants to play a game of Warhammer 40,000, wherever they go and whoever they play against, is going to be playing the same game with the same rules as their opponent.
While answering questions, we’ve made some errata to help reduce the need for questions or remove them altogether.
We’ve answered many questions, and we will continue to review these answers in light of new feedback to ensure that playing games of 40K is as clear and fun an experience as possible. Some players will also have noticed that we’ve taken this opportunity to review and improve the rules commentary, part of which has included moving some entries into the appropriate errata document so they are easier to find during gameplay and better referenced when looking for rules in the app.
Finally, every time we release a new Codex we review the points values for the units in that faction so they are appropriately costed for how effective that unit is in the meta today. Players will notice that the Adepta Sororitas datasheets have all had a modest increase in points since the last Munitorum Field Manual. This reflects the fact that almost all Adepta Sororitas datasheets have had an improvement since their Index incarnation, in addition to them having access to several powerful new Detachments. The points values in this latest Manual should be a better reflection of the Adepta Sororitas’ improved efficacy on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium.
Thanks Kenny! Metawatch returns to the Mortal Realms next week, with a thorough examination of a new meta for the new edition.
Translated versions of the individual faction FAQs and Erratas will be available for download soon.