Codex Incoming!

[Slasher956]

I cannot be negative about the new Codex. The Army is better than it was. Take that from an old First Sergeant

or is that an original Palatine? or a Celestian Sister Superior? :p 

[Blurf]

Blurf, you do know how "copy paste" works right? It's not hard for a mistake to repeat itself if you copy paste it over to prevent transcription errors. This kind of stuff is not that uncommon and you're making it to be a massive case of negligence when it was likely someone who doesn't write the rules was tasked with pasting in rules or points costs from a different document. Should it have been caught? Maybe. It's easy to forget how our brains smooth over mistakes based on what it expect to be there meaning that it could have easily been missed by accident.

 

And I don't believe the redesign is as bad as you claim. At this point it's clear that a lot of people are still reacting emotionally to the changes in the book, not comparing them to what we had to get a clearer picture on how much actually changed much less trying to see how to make the changes work instead of immediately blasting the book as worse just because it's no longer trying to push the leading edge in broken.

 

The old book, as much as I liked it, had balance issues internally and externally. Most of those have been looked at and tweaked to smooth a lot of the rough spots down. Is it weaker? Very slightly. But I'd argue this change is a good one as we do not need a book that is the next Drukhari. Taking a step back in power to have a more balanced book that is more interesting to play is far better than a book that buffs everything up to the strongest points of the old book, both for the game and the faction.

I would argue that it being a copy paste error doesn't exactly make it less negligent. It just becomes systemic issue rather than specific one.

 

Point of clarification: When I said 'failing to redesign' I was specifically referring to things like Tale of the Stoic and The immolator self destruct stratagem, the rules we all, no matter what our opinion of the book as a whole was, looked at and went...wat? I would argue that the rest of the codex doesn't really qualify as a 'redesign'.

 

And while I agree with the sentiment of your last paragraph, that a more interesting book is better than a more powerful book, it doesn't change my contention that I don't agree the army has been made more interesting and that making even unproblematic options weaker (Immolators received several nerfs, don't forget) is at all superior to bringing the top down slightly(I do absolutely agree that retributors needed another nerf and would have been fine with one for repentia as well. In fact repentia are one of the things in the new book that I am completely okay with.) and raising the rest up a bit. This is a fundamental disconnect between us that I feel like is not going to be overcome anytime soon.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Blurf

[Blurf]

What's illogical about the Immolator explosions? Its generally the flamer units like Hellhounds that have that kind of rule. If a Heavy Bolter immolator was extra explody a Castigator should be even more so.

 

I'm not really concerned about its narrative logic so much as I am about its gameplay implementation. It helped a struggling unit find value and now it's only an option for a loadout that isn't particularly common anymore. 

@blurf ya it was totally the search function on the app that didn't let me pull up sequencing. Good to know there's still an option to drop and rod, though I am partial to big amount of flame hits.

 

Awesome, that's great news. I would have missed my deadly descent Seraphim, especially considering RoD is essenitally a free 12pts instead of 10 if you have 2 units of seraphim.

Hand Flamer Serpahim + Cleansing Flame is some good hotness for Ebon Chalice for those who previously liked assassinating Seraphim.  Can even Deadly Descent them to double the fun since it happens in the Movement Phase and then again in the Shooting Phase.  3CP to max it out like that, but a healthy number of bolter+flamer shots mixed with up to 6 mortals is probably nothing most characters want any part of.

Not a bad option for those running EC. One of the things they managed to keep in this book is that most of the orders have some kind of niche, even if they're not the top 2 (VH and BR in the previous book, AS and BR in the current one) so there's still some interesting combinations to be had. My one gripe a number of those combinations cost significant CP.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Blurf

[Purifying Tempest]

I'm not going to dwell on the proofreading and production value too much outside of this:

 

I would rather have a codex brimming with flavor and options than one completely devoid of formatting and grammatical errors.  If we can find it in ourselves to read past the obvious dumdum mistakes (min 1 damage to paragons, 80 points ea instead of 240), we have a nice book that is rather playable in the environment as is.  FAQ and Errata makes the "common sense" interpretations law.  Whatever.  But if the book were 100% perfect and 100% sucked... well, this conversation would never be: "wow, this book is absolute garbage for rules, but I love how they finally landed it without needed a FAQ rewording or errata on a points value!  We've reached the promised land boys!"

 

So where are our priorities?  Looks like GW have expressed theirs, and I hope it stays on function over English degrees.

[taikishi]

 

 

What's illogical about the Immolator explosions? Its generally the flamer units like Hellhounds that have that kind of rule. If a Heavy Bolter immolator was extra explody a Castigator should be even more so.

I'm not really concerned about its narrative logic so much as I am about its gameplay implementation. It helped a struggling unit find value and now it's only an option for a loadout that isn't particularly common anymore.

On top of it, Immolation Flamers are now heavy though they did become 18" range. Still now worth 130 points, though. Or even 120 if Immo Flamers hadn't increased in cost.

[taikishi]

I'm not going to dwell on the proofreading and production value too much outside of this:

 

I would rather have a codex brimming with flavor and options than one completely devoid of formatting and grammatical errors. If we can find it in ourselves to read past the obvious dumdum mistakes (min 1 damage to paragons, 80 points ea instead of 240), we have a nice book that is rather playable in the environment as is. FAQ and Errata makes the "common sense" interpretations law. Whatever. But if the book were 100% perfect and 100% sucked... well, this conversation would never be: "wow, this book is absolute garbage for rules, but I love how they finally landed it without needed a FAQ rewording or errata on a points value! We've reached the promised land boys!"

 

So where are our priorities? Looks like GW have expressed theirs, and I hope it stays on function over English degrees.

I disagree and blame the current status (rules and monetary pricing) on lack of competition. I would rather have a 100% air tight ruleset with no ambiguity (while acknowledging copy-paste errors happen), even if the codex was bad, than many of the interactions the game has in part because GW designs around "rule of cool."

 

As for 'bad codexes', if GW had better play testing practices (like listening to them or more than a handful who aren't GW employees) and real competition in the market, you'd see less 9E Dark Eldar and 8E Iron Hands, less 2E Sisters, less 7E Orks and Tyranids, and more balance between codexes -- and GW has always strived more for internal book balance than balance between armies. There would still be tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, etc armies and good/bad units, but the gap would be smaller between players of equal skill and players of better skill could win even with the bottom tier army.

[Blurf]

 

 

What's illogical about the Immolator explosions? Its generally the flamer units like Hellhounds that have that kind of rule. If a Heavy Bolter immolator was extra explody a Castigator should be even more so.

I'm not really concerned about its narrative logic so much as I am about its gameplay implementation. It helped a struggling unit find value and now it's only an option for a loadout that isn't particularly common anymore.

On top of it, Immolation Flamers are now heavy though they did become 18" range. Still now worth 130 points, though. Or even 120 if Immo Flamers hadn't increased in cost.

That ends up being on of the weirdest things to me. They put a lot of effort into making the immolation flamer better(S6, AP-2, 18" range) but slap a price increase on it that wipes out their own work. Even accounting for how much it synergizes with Argent Shroud AND dominions, it's only just now at a point where the previous cost would be fair. It feels like they thought they were doing the tank a big favor, rather than just fixing its problems.

[BitsHammer]

I'm not really concerned about its narrative logic so much as I am about its gameplay implementation. It helped a struggling unit find value and now it's only an option for a loadout that isn't particularly common anymore.  

40k runs on narrative causality though. I get that people get different things from it, but the game has always written rules around the way the models look like and the lore (to varying degrees of success).

[taikishi]

Honestly? I wish some of that writing would stop. I'm fine with Crusade rules existing (other than thinking we should have a generic living saint model and not just the Crusade rules), and even have no qualms with the banner unit having a Crusade-only rule so long as it doesn't affect her points cost and PL. But I'm tired if rules like "Settra bows to no one" or super-powerful units (potentially including Vahl) for no other reason than "they're this way narratively and it's cool". Want to have something that restrictive because it fits fluff? Make it a narrative only or Crusade rule. The change in the stratagem was completely unnecessary, especially for a unit that wasn't seeing much play as is.

[ThePenitentOne]

I was surprised they didn't give us the option to include a Living Saint in matched- I thought they would have done it as an upgrade like the DE Master HQs; I know you didn't particularly like that as a solution either- we've talked about it before- but that would have been something. A compromise.

 

I'm glad I'm a Crusade player; if I wasn't I'd be pretty jealous.

 

Actually, if I hadn't already committed to Crusade, this dex would make me- it isn't just the Saint; the stuff with the Repentia is brilliant; I chose ThePenitentOne as a handle because PEs, Arcos and Repentia have always been my favourite units in the game. I can't believe my good fortune to receive content of this caliber.

 

Again though, I understand things are always going to be different from the perspective of Matched and Open players.

[BitsHammer]

So with the rules floating out in the ether I've started looking at how to tackle playing the army, and decided to take a deep dive into the book and think about the roles of the different parts of the book and how those things could be used. So less a tiered ranking and more of "how can this be best used" thing to get a feel for each order leans, as well as a look at blessings, warlord traits, hymns, relics, and sacred rites to get a better idea how to lay a foundation for our armies going forward.
 
Order Convictions
Order of Our Martyred Lady: Pairs best with mechanized Sisters carrying 10 model units to gain miracle dice from losing the transports and have enough models to be able to better gain their +1 to hit bonus (sadly this is probably the worst conviction if you like setting heretics on fire due to how it buffs to-hit rolls exclusively). There is some argument for large bricks of Battle Sisters as well but either way it's encouraged to run a lot of characters to better use their unique stratagem and gain extra Miracle Dice over the course of the game. One of the stronger orders for the new Acts of Faith secondary as well. 
 
Order of the Valorous Heart: Still our strongest defensive choice. Pairs well with Paragons and Tanks thanks to the way it negates some of the perks of mid-strength AP weapons like Autocannons, but it will attract MSU builds as well since the higher defense will allow for small units to survive longer on the table. Dominions and Retributors will both enjoy benefits from the stratagem as well. All around still a solid choice for a lot of playstyles since it doesn't really push you one way or another.
 
Order of the Bloody Rose: Lends itself best to the melee units (both past and present). Lost some teeth in regards to pistols to likely balance it further, and now only smashing hard in the first turn of combat before evaporating they'll hit like glass cannons, meaning that melee will need to be planned out to prevent from losing units in poor trades. Still one of the strongest Convictions since you can clear objectives more effectively with them, but less of an autopick.
 
Order of the Ebon Chalice: A stronger choice than the last edition since you can tailor your Sacred Rites choices to your opponent, plus they can throw the most 6s out for Miracle Dice of any Order. As a bonus their Warlord trait lets you recycle your CP 1/3 of the time. Also a great choice for flamer heavy Sisters lists thanks to their stratagem that can easily tag 3 Mortal Wounds everytime you use it.
 
Order of the Argent Shroud: Do you like Retributors? Dominons? Heavy weapons? Sprinting like you're a Naruto cosplayer? This is definitely the order for you. Battle Sisters are best used in MSUs of 5 with a multi-melta to use both halves of their conviction, but it'll work with Multi-melta Retributors, Storm Bolter Dominions (counts as stationary after sprinting up close to get that rapid fire bubble). Basically the more you like to shoot the better this is. Arguably great for Castigators, Exorcists, and even Immolators, but tanks remain squishy so expect to end up trading them rather quickly.
 
Order of the Sacred Rose: Good for two things: large units and farming Miracle Dice (you basically double your Miracle dice over the course of the game), and ignoring Combat Attrition means taking large units for taking over objectives more easily fit well together. Provides the least to MSU units and tanks directly (other than the extra Miracle Dice), this is a strong pick if you want to use the Acts of Faith secondary that pairs well with larger units. The warlord trait is great for recycling low number Miracle Dice by using them as 6s as well, but it also lets units fall back and shoot which is great for how the Conviction makes it easier to step back from combat and stay alive. And speaking of shooting, the stratagem pairs well with massed shooting as well, which fits well with massed bolt guns, lending them well to taking large bricks of Sisters.
 
Minoris Convictions: Honestly this is where the book is the weakest. Three of the convictions are tied to the holy trinity but can't be taken together, there is no ability to recycle or gain extra Miracle Dice, and there are no Minoris Convictions that increase mobility. Heck, they didn't even bother to fill both pages. Unless you need a specific trait for a small patrol detachment to attach to your larger army (say, Rites of Fire for the +4" flamers, or Raging Fervour for counting as half range for melta weapons if they're assault and pistols (or 18" or less range for Multi Meltas). 
 
Blessings of the Faithful
Word of the Emperor: Great for melee focused armies, or just supporting a single melee unit thanks to the fight last ability, and the ability to turn off invulnerable saves for a turn is incredibly strong if you like to ask "will it blend?". Due to the short range of the abilities though this is not great for shooting heavy armies. While not making the bearer better at combat, it's a good support piece meaning this will likely show up on models like Palantines who want to be near combat, even if they're not really contributing much themselves.
 
Rapturous Blows: Do you want a Canoness who can cave a Hive Tyrant's head in like Canoness Paxedes? Well this won't quite help your Canoness do that, but she will smack things harder in melee. Paired best with a Blessed Blade (bringing you to S6, -3 AP, 3 dmg) or a chainsword (S4, AP, 2 dmg with a bonus attack). If you're using the Limited Edition (to soon be the started set Cannoness) it'll turn your power sword into a Blessed Blade, but in all other cases take the Blessed Blade instead. The Miraculious effect goes bast on anything you can stack large numbers of attacks on that has the <Order> core keyword, so Repentia can make a good escort for your Canoness. A good trait to take for a Cannoness with a more defensive relic or a ranged relic as well since this blessing can't stack with melee relics.
 
Divine Deliverance: Great for turning off key auras from opposing character models and that's about it. The miracle is situational since ignoring Combat Attrition is so common that forcing a single model to flee isn't particularly useful most of the time. That said, the Miracle doesn't require you to be near an enemy unit so it has situational utility at least.
 
Emperor's Grace: Great for making a defensive oriented Cannoness. Pair with the Mantle of Ophelia to never take more than 1 damage per failed save to keep your Cannoness around for a lot longer than your opponent wants. The Miraclous Ability can be great for messing with an opponent who has access to a lot of re-rolls (namely Space Marines), and can tag multiple units which makes for a great way to take some of the lethality of your opponent's army. Pair with Valorous Heart for extra defensive trolling.
 
Righteous Judgement: Boom. Headshot. Meet the sniper Cannoness. Great for picking off characters hiding behind units she can help take the buff out of the opponent's army. Consider running with a Condemnor Boltgun if you have a lot of psykers in your meta to do an easy 3 Mortal Wounds even when they're behind a screen, or the Redemption Relic so you can tag the psyker and the unit he's behind at the same time with an S8, AP-3, D2 plasma shot. It's not a lot of damage, but chip damage is always useful.
 
Blinding Radience: Another good defensive blessing. The always on effect means it's a little safer to let your Canoness or Palantine out into the open, but the miracle can be a real boon to dealing with both shooting and melee. Honestly it's hard to recommend where to use this because the answer is basically "everywhere".
 
Warlord Traits
Inspiring Orator: great for sneaking onto a Dogmata or a Dialogus as it increases the range of their hymns and other auras. Slightly nerfed as it doesn't work on abilities (only works on abilities used in the Command Phase) that are always on, so less useful on the Cannoness.
 
Righteous Rage: full re-roll to hit and wound rolls for melee attacks are always handy for any Canoness who likes turning things into a fine paste. An autotake for any melee focused Canoness.
 
Executor of Heretics: Situational at best. Only really good when dealing with factions who can't negate combat attrition.
 
Beacon of Faith: a free command die for your warlord's personal use is great for the Acts of Faith secondary as Miracle Dice are a little harder to acquire in this codex than before, plus if you have Sacred Rose as your Conviction using it allows you to generate a new Miracle Die on a 4+ you can add to your pool.
 
Indomitable Belief: great for metas with high AP weapons running around, or for keeping your tanks alive since it means they'll ignore 1/3 of the wounds inflicted. Best on a support character who is already handing out buffs like a Dogmata or Imagifier, especially if you know AP is going to be an issue.
 
Pure of Will: the usefulness of this one will come down to how prevelant Thousand Sons and Grey Knights become in the coming months, but it can be a nice utility option to sub in on a second character via stratagem as needed. Doesn't stack with the Minoris Conviction for +3 to Deny the Witch tests though so no, we'll never have access to a 6+D6 deny attempt. 
 
Shield Bearer (Our Martyred Lady): Honestly not a bad trait. -1 damage (min) for your warlord is a great way to keep them alive, and if she's killing things you gain an automatic 6 on a Miracle Dice. Likewise she takes the OML trait of gaining Miracle dice from losing units up a notch by making them 6s as well. A real strong synergy for OML armies that means this trait will see a lot of use for anyone who prefers to run OML.
 
Impervious to Pain (Valorous Heart): Free healing a wound when you perform Acts of Faith and a 5+ FNP effect for all wounds (not just mortals like the rest of the order) means she'll be sticking around for a while. You can't stack this with the Emperor's Grace blessing so best kept on two seperate characters, but a great way to keep your Warlord around buffing your units.
 
Blazing Ire (Bloody Rose): The other melee focused warlord trait, only locked to Blood Rose. A bonus attack and being able to charge after advancing puts this one best in the hands of "Becky with the Good Blade" to have a Canoness who swings Beneficence with a minimum of 9 attacks in the first round of combat and up to 12 attacks if there are at least 6 enemy models near her when she gets stuck in (10 and 13 attacks if you have someone pop War Hymn on her as well). If you like to Rip and Tear, or just want to run keep running Becky in the current edition this is an automatic pick for Blood Rose canoness everywhere.
 
Terribly Knowledge (Ebon Chalice): Never have to suffer not having a 6 in your Miracle Dice poll at the start of the game and keeping 1/3 of your command points is incredibly handy. I wouldn't take this on my Warlord, but more likely on a support character so the warlord could have better options, but worth having in every Ebon Chalice list.
 
Selfless Heroism (Argent Shroud): 6" heroic intervention and a fight first mechanic in an army that buffs MSU shooting? Probably stick this on the Dogmata and give her the fight twice hymn (and you should be running a Dogmata in Argent Shroud since she allows you to shoot and take actions at the same time allowing you to crank your efficiency even higher) otherwise I just don't see it being used much compared to other options.
 
Light of the Divine (Sacred Rose): Allowing you to turn weak Miracle Dice into free 6s whenever your Warlord needs one is a great boon, especially since you can then get a free Miracle Dice back on a 4+ after spending that one, but the fall back and shoot is probably the strongest part of this warlord trait since it allows units like Battle Sisters to get out of combat and fight more on their own terms instead of fist fighting something like an Ork.
 
Hymns
War Hymn: Every priest model has this one for free and despite the change to only triggering it on a 3+ it's arguably improved from before now that you can use it on a unit on 6" and they keep the +1 attack until the start of your next command phase. Use it on Repentia or Celestian Sacroscants to bring them to 3 attacks base, Paragon Warsuits or Zephrym to bring them to 4 attacks base, Arco-flaggellants to bring them to 3 attacks base (which you can then multiply by 3 via strat to have them swinging with nine attacks each, take a unit of 10 and drown someone in 90 attacks), or just use it on Becky and let her get up to 13 attacks on her own. Even Morvenn Vahl appreciates the bonus attack as it brings her up to 12 attacks when sweeping with her spear (and then she can fight twice and do 12 more). Basically put a priest of some kind in every list just for this alone. You will get mileage out of it because it just helps make everything better.
 
Refrain of Blazing Piety: D3 Mortal wounds to a enemy unit within 12" and visible to the bearer (and an auto 3 to Chaos keyword models) just by rolling a 3+? We may not get psykers but this is definitely a fun one to have in your back pocket to throw around. A must take in Chaos heavy metas as well.
 
Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude: Dealing with a lot of psychic powers in your meta? Tired of being debuffed, or having your invul turned off? Congrats, now you can ignore them by rolling a single 3+! Not only that, the unit you buff with this can't be affected by any psychci powers until the start of your next command phase meaning it's a great way to shut down psyker combos aimed at your key units (doesn't work on tanks though).
 
Psalm of Righteous Smiting: Honestly I'd only recommend this one for the Dogmata since it gives +1 attack, improves the AP of melee weapons by 1 and lets you fight twice. For her that means she's attacking 4 times (5 if she's Bloody Rose and it's the first round of combat) at S5, AP-3, 1 dmg, and then she gets to swing again. Not bad if you want to smash stuff, but not great either. Hilarious if you also get a War Hymn off on her as well (bringing her to 6 attacks if she's Bloody Rose and it's the first round to combat, and letting her attack a second time), but I wouldn't use this combo for more than a bit of fun honestly.
 
Litany of Enduring Faith: +1 to your Shield of Faith save is not bad and you can stack this with Indomitable Belief to bring a unit to a 4++ Shield of Faith save. Probably going to be used most on Repentia, but if you like bricks of Sisters and aren't Valorous Heart (because VH needs to be hit with AP-3 to start feeling a real pinch) effectively negating anything over AP1 on a block of 20 Sisters this way isn't bad. Best used for something you need to really anchor an objective, or to keep your Paragon Warsuits alive.
 
Verse of Holy Piety: Bonus Sacred Rites are never bad since this lets you flex a unit as needed any direction you want. Honestly a great utility piece for TAC lists since it means you'll always have a tool in your back pocket to flex into.
 
Catechism of Repugnance: Honestly I like this one on a large brick of Sisters. If you're in rapid fire range (assuming no special weapons for easy maths) that's 40 shots, 8 of which auto-wound and AP-1 on all of the saves. You can use it in other places as well, like on Storm Bolter Dominions or Heavy Bolter Retributors, but I just really like the idea of that much holy Dakka coming out of a brick of Sisters.
 
Relics
Blade of Saint Ellynor: the Blade of Admonition has been renamed (as the original Blade of Admonition is now a Legendary Relic over in the Crusade relic where it auto hits character models and +3 S, -3 AP, and 3 dmg). Still a great weapon with +2 S, -3 AP, and 3 dmg but it can't be used with Rapturous Blows. 
 
Brazier of Eternal Flame: So I am going to take a moment here to go on record about pronunciation here: it's pronounced "brāZHər", not "brəˈzir". The former is a pan that holds coals, the later is a bra. I only mention this because of the number of reviews that kept calling it the "Brassiere of Eternal Flame" (or referencing the generic version as the "Brassiere of Holy Fire"). PSA over, there are three reasons to take this: 1. you play in a meta with a lot of Daemons; 2. you play in a meta with a lot of psykers; 3. you play in a meta with a lot of daemons and psykers (some of which are also daemons). The minus 1 to hit versus daemons and the perils to enemy Psykers who roll doubles on their psychic powers when in 18" is nice, but this is only available for a Canoness and we can only have one Canoness per detachment so it's a meta driven pick.
 
Wrath of the Emperor: It's an 18" Pistol 4 Heavy Bolter. Take it on a support character like a Dialogus, Hospitaller, or a Dogmata to give them a little extra pop pop so they can watch the heathens drop.
 
Litanies of Faith: Dropping to a one per battle round re-roll of a Miracle Dice means this one is going to sit on the shelf for most people. It's just too situational. Eligible for a Superior with the Sacred Burden stratagem which is about the only place I'd use it.
 
Mantle of Ophelia: Every want to tank a knight with a Canoness? Congrats, now you can! All attacks allocated to the bearer become Damage 1. You'll still drown under weight of dice, but heavy weapons and powerful attacks are going to hilariously bounce off.
 
Triptych of the Marcharian Crusade: Something missed in a lot of reviews is that this only goes on Sanctified or Cult Imperalis models, limiting this to the Missionary, Dialogus, Preacher, and Hospitaller. All other Sanctified and Cult Imperialis models are named characters. Knowing that, +1 toughness, a 4++ and turning the first failed save each turn to 0 damage is incredibly good for keeping these support pieces alive. Sadly the Dogmata can't take this so there goes the best relic for a Smashmata build.
 
Book of Saint Lucius: +3" to auras is basically good on anything with an aura. Basically an auto-pick.
 
Iron Surplice of Saint Istaela: Only available to Sisters of Battle models, this gives +1 wound, ignores to-wound rolls against the bearer of 1-3 and bumps the bearer up to a 2+ armour save. If you feel like running Smashmata for some reason, then stick this on her. Otherwise I'd use it on a support HQ like the Palatine if the Canoness already had the Mantle of Ophelia.
 
Ecclesiarch's Fury: available to models with a chainsword (so Missionary, Preacher, and Canoness) +2 S, -3 AP, 2 dmg isn't a bad statline, but it comes with a -1 to hit and +1 to wound means you're trading off hitting for wound rolls. Decent for since it means wounding anything below T5 on 2s, T5 on 3s, and anything up to T10 on 4s. With the 2 dmg statline it's basically a Marine killer, so might be worth considering on Becky if you're in a MEQ meta. Eligible to be used on a Superior with the Sacred Burden stratagem.
 
Redemption: 12" plasma pistol that never over heats and always fired a charged shot that can hit multiple units. Honestly it's not a bad option in most cases, but I like it best with Righteous Judgement since it lets you hit a character and their screen at the same time. Eligible to be used on a Superior with the Sacred Burden stratagem.
 
The Sigil Ecclesiasticus: Priests only (so Missionary, Preacher, Dialogus, and Dogmata), you get to know an additional Hymn and use 2 a turn (but can't use one that's been intoned already this turn. Basically an auto-include if you're just taking 1 Priest, or want one to double up some buffs.
 
Blessings of Sebastian Thor: Lets you have a unit using two Sacred Rites instead of those from your army. Eligible to be used on a Superior with the Sacred Burden stratagem which is great for buffing a single unit to have different abilities based on their load out.
 
Simulacrum Sanctorum: Imagifier only. Lets you have two tales instead of one, but you can't double up on any tale another Imagifier knows unless all three are already known. Basically an auto-include if you want just one Imagifier.
 
Chaplet of Sacrifice: Once per game an Epic Deed strat costs 0 CP, the bearer can re-roll hit rolls, and the bearer isn't removed when it's destroyed but instead gets to shoot as if it were the shooting phase or fight as if it were the fight phase at the end of the phase it was destroyed before being removed. Honestly the biggest bonus are the first two parts with the last part just being a small buff since the army doesn't have any real melee or shooting power house characters who can take this. Probably best on a Palatine or a support character you don't want to give another relic. Most cases this will save 1 CP unless you use it for Divine Intervention which costs 2CP.
 
Sacred Rites
Hand of the Emperor: +1 to advance and charge rolls means this is going to see a lot of mileage in Bloody Rose and Argent Shroud lists. It's decent in others as well, but those two get the most work out of it thanks to how they play.
 
Spirit of the Martyr: Great for melee armies like Bloody Rose, defensive armies like Valorous Heart, or just anyone who plays in a melee heavy meta. It caps at 6 mortal wounds back to the attacking unit, but anything to get some damage in while losing models is handy.
 
Aegis of the Emperor: Playing in a psychic heavy meta or just that one guy who loves smite spam? Take it and enjoy shutting their powers off 1/3 of the time, otherwise leave it at home.
 
Divine Guidance: Great for shooting heavy armies like Argent Shroud or Sacred Rose since it can help buff your AP values. Best on bolters and flamer weapon heavy lists since those are the weakest of the Holy Trinity for AP.
 
The Passion: Great for melee armies since it gives your melee attacks exploding 6s to hit.
 
Light of the Emperor: Ignoring leadership modifiers and combat attrition modifiers? Not unless Night Lords start taking over the meta I'm afraid.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Fulkes

[Montford]

Refrain of Blazing Piety actually gives Sisters armies a chance to get a Miracle Die during the Command Phase

[BitsHammer]

Refrain of Blazing Piety actually gives Sisters armies a chance to get a Miracle Die during the Command Phase

That is a great point I hadn't thought of!

[taikishi]

I'll look over the rest of the wall of text when I have more time, but Spirit of the Martyr isn't very good. I get it shouldn't be automatic, but I also think it should be better than "I lost a model in melee only, it has a 1/6 chance of popping a mortal on the attacker." The previous version wasn't great, but I would much rather have "shoot/swing back at the attacking unit" just because I have a generally higher chance of success than 17%.

 

Losing an entire unit of 20 Battle Sisters averages 3MW with a 1 in 10 chance of capping out at 6. To have a 50% chance of capping out at 6MW, you'd need to lose 34 Battle Sisters. You would need to lose 60 Battle Sisters to have a 95% chance of inflicting 6 MW.

[BitsHammer]

I'll look over the rest of the wall of text when I have more time, but Spirit of the Martyr isn't very good. I get it shouldn't be automatic, but I also think it should be better than "I lost a model in melee only, it has a 1/6 chance of popping a mortal on the attacker." The previous version wasn't great, but I would much rather have "shoot/swing back at the attacking unit" just because I have a generally higher chance of success than 17%.

 

Losing an entire unit of 20 Battle Sisters averages 3MW with a 1 in 10 chance of capping out at 6. To have a 50% chance of capping out at 6MW, you'd need to lose 34 Battle Sisters. You would need to lose 60 Battle Sisters to have a 95% chance of inflicting 6 MW.

I think they tried to balance it so it doesn't get too nuts when you use a 20 woman brick with it. 

[taikishi]

I get that, I just think they could have done something better than either version we've seen of Spirit of the Martyr. Even a unit of 20 "only" has a 70% chance of inflicting 6MW. A unit of 15 has a 38% chance. A unit of 10 has a 7% chance. At the same time, killing 20 Battle Sisters in one round of melee isn't something that's going to happen very often.

[BitsHammer]

I get that, I just think they could have done something better than either version we've seen of Spirit of the Martyr. Even a unit of 20 "only" has a 70% chance of inflicting 6MW. A unit of 15 has a 38% chance. A unit of 10 has a 7% chance. At the same time, killing 20 Battle Sisters in one round of melee isn't something that's going to happen very often.

Oh I get that. I think the idea isn't to have us do 6 MW, but more for us to do a couple, and then cap it in case our dice go hot.

[taikishi]

Even then, "a couple" will be rare given:

 

S4-5, AP-3 or better, WS/BS 2+: 0.46 damage per attack. Every 13 attacks averages 1MW back.

S6+, AP-3 or better, WS/BS 2+: 0.58 damage per attack. Every 11 attacks averages 1MW back.

 

10 Blood Angels Assault Intercessors charging a unit of Battle Sisters in Assault Doctrine will kill 15 models with their Astartes Chainswords (2A base, +1 for Shock Assault, +1 for BA Super Doctrine, +1 more attack on the sergeant, AP -2 from weapon and Assault Doctrine). In return, those Battle Sisters will deal 2 Mortal Wounds to the unit - basically killing one Intercessor in return.

 

Losing 15 battle sisters for a 50/50 chance at killing one Assault Intercessor isn't very good. I can math out other squads later if you'd like, I just started with something fairly quick and basic, but based on this quick data sim Spirit of the Martyr would be the absolutely last Sacred Rite I would take of the six unless my opponent had 0 Psykers, then it would be 5th on my list.

Edited June 10, 2021 by taikishi

[BitsHammer]

Even then, "a couple" will be rare given:

 

S4-5, AP-3 or better, WS/BS 2+: 0.46 damage per attack. Every 13 attacks averages 1MW back.

S6+, AP-3 or better, WS/BS 2+: 0.58 damage per attack. Every 11 attacks averages 1MW back.

 

10 Blood Angels Assault Intercessors charging a unit of Battle Sisters in Assault Doctrine will kill 15 models with their Astartes Chainswords (2A base, +1 for Shock Assault, +1 for BA Super Doctrine, +1 more attack on the sergeant, AP -2 from weapon and Assault Doctrine). In return, those Battle Sisters will deal 2 Mortal Wounds to the unit - basically killing one Intercessor in return.

 

Losing 15 battle sisters for a 50/50 chance at killing one Assault Intercessor isn't very good. I can math out other squads later if you'd like, I just started with something fairly quick and basic, but based on this quick data sim Spirit of the Martyr would be the absolutely last Sacred Rite I would take of the six unless my opponent had 0 Psykers, then it would be 5th on my list.

It's not failed saves, it's dead models so it doesn't matter how many attacks they do, but how many they kill. But yes, it's a weak ability, I won't argue that. I just feel like GW means it to be a minor buff not a major one.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Fulkes

[Montford]

Here's a thought for holding an objective: a 20 model squad with two Flamers (S5) and two Heavy Flamers (S6). The idea is for them to be there for Overwatch purposes. Place something on them that helps keep them around and maybe park a Hospitaller behind them to bring back models. I haven't thought this through in view of overall Army functionality but its something we can do now so I thought it would be worth considering even though in the end it may prove impractical.

[Montford]

 

I cannot be negative about the new Codex. The Army is better than it was. Take that from an old First Sergeant

or is that an original Palatine? or a Celestian Sister Superior?

 

LOL Now you have me thinking of painting chevrons and a diamond on the sleeve of my Palatine!

 

Hmm maybe I will.

[Purifying Tempest]

I'm intrigued by Ebon Chalice, honestly.  Exploding 6s in melee and +1 to Advance and Charge in melee backed up by pretty much 3 mortals a turn from flamers... starting off with a 6 MD for your opponent to stare down with shield of faith, and getting back CP on a 5++ throughout the game sounds like a solid package all around. I don't think it'll spike the highest, but should be able to present a threat in just about every phase of the game.

 

I ended 9th with a flock of Bloody Rose Seraphim with hand flamers dousing backfield objective holders and Zephyrim doing the character hunting options.  I think that same option is open to Ebon Chalice, but they gain the option to do it to characters for a premium of CP, which kinda dings the Zephyrim in that role so may free up some space.  I really miss the -1 AP on Bloody Rose pistols of all things, lol.  It was a nearly forgettable change that just stings me every time I think of it! :)

[SkimaskMohawk]

Bloody Rose is still, imo, too hard to pass up.

 

The problem is that while they shuffled stuff to be broadly similar power, they also just added a bunch of new, good, melee units. There also isn't a good ranged equivalent to army wide +1a -1ap and exploding 6s from passion. Tale of the warrior also still exists to pump up core strength as well. A lot of resource-free synergy there.

[taikishi]

It's not failed saves, it's dead models so it doesn't matter how many attacks they do, but how many they kill. But yes, it's a weak ability, I won't argue that. I just feel like GW means it to be a minor buff not a major one.

An ability can be minor and good. SotM isn't.

 

And I said nothing about failed saves. That 50% chance of dealing 2MW is based on simple math, though I did make an error in favor of the Battle Sisters unit. The Intercessors should have 51 attacks, not 41 because I forgot the extra attack from the chainsword.

 

51 * 2/3 (hit on 2s) * 5/6 (wound on 3s, +1 from BA CT) * 2/3 (3+ save made into a 5+ from the weapon and Assault Doctrine) * 1/6 (SotM proc) = 3MW on average.

 

In fact, that unit of Intercessors has a 45% chance to kill 18 battle sisters (average 18.9) and a 42.9% chance of killing 20.

 

Losing 20 Battle Sisters and getting to do 2-3MW back isn't a very good trade.

 

Assuming Paragons don't get to ignore D1, there's a 46% chance of losing all three to that same assault and you have a 65% chance of not dealing a single MW back.

 

I would rather have any of the other Rites before I took Spirit of the Martyr.

 

Edit: SotM isn't bad just because of the the math. It's bad because of what you give up to use it - other Sacred Rites and models that can only have died in melee combat. It's bad because of the volume you have to lose to get anything in return and because you have to be losing (units, possibly even the game) to get anything of value from it.

 

Second edit: Making the Intercessors chapter agnostic results in 12 dead Battle Sisters and 2MW in return on average. 71% chance of dealing 1-2MW meanwhile the Intercessors have a 54% chance of killing up to 11 Battle Sisters.

 

Trading 11 Battle Sisters (121 points) for 1 Intercessor is an abysmal trade.

Edited June 10, 2021 by taikishi

[TheFinisher4Ever]

So if I'm reading this right, Sacred Rights are now army wide, even applying to Ministorum units.

 

So with that comes 2 thoughts. First, penitent engines will get a huge buff from this. Since they can advance and change, hand of the emperor giving them +1 to both of those rolls is gold. Divine guidance will also proc on their flamers, which will definitely come up if you use the strat for max hits.

 

And a question then, if you're using Celestine and the Passion, when you roll a 6 to hit, does it do 4 mortal wounds?

 

You can also use the Passion and a relic to make a very dangerous preacher. With War Hymn and Song of Smiting, you are looking at 5 attacks, rerolling all hits and exploding on 6s, with S6, Ap-3 and D2. And they get to fight twice. Not too bad. Alternatively, if you want to be tankier, trade out the Sigil for the Triptych for T4, a 4++ and ignore first wound through.

 

And apperantly all of the above is wrong.

Edited June 10, 2021 by TheFinisher4Ever