Grey Knight 9th Edition Codex Rumors?

[Biscuittzz]

Brotherhood of Psykers is indeed gone. 

 

Full smites are back though. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Biscuittzz

[Biscuittzz]

So I've gotten through the reviews mostly and while I'm pleasantly happy with how we will play now and the multiple options we have, the likely hood of 3/4 dreadknights as a crux of lists is looking like it's making a return.

[Captain Coolpants]

Yeah I was getting the same vibe. They're really trying to get rid of the stockpiles of those ugly ugly baby carriers. Edited August 7, 2021 by Captain Coolpants

[Skywrath]

Goonhammer review up: https://www.goonhammer.com/codex-grey-knights-9th-edition-the-goonhammer-review/

 

Overall impressions: Mixed bag. I'm personally glad to see Draigo as a beatstick and with a native 3+ invuln. That being said, they took a lot of good out of the codex as well.

 

Oh yeah, and I told you we lost the +1 to cast.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Skywrath

[Biscuittzz]

Gone over it in more depth now and overall feeling is leaning towards a negative outlook.

 

Seem to have gone backwards really in selection choices - at one stage there was an argument for strikes, terminators and palaldins. Now strikes are far and away the number 1 choice like original 8th Ed had them. Goonhammer spot on that they are pricing terminators as if they are C:SM terminators +1, which they are not.

 

Paladins are only getting buffed from Draigo now if I'm reading it correctly. I'm kind of flabbergasted, GW have given us a plethora of options through traits, powers, relics and brotherhoods etc. but have really hamstrung our regular unit choices. An already small unit selection feels much smaller. 

 

Nearly every power, ability, relic and unit leaves me with a " but they could've given it X and it still wouldn't be OP" feeling. Incredibly timid and feels like 8th Codex 2.0.

[techsoldaten]

There's potential.

 

As Winters SEO points out:

 

- Paladins get 4 attacks base

- Falchions give them +1 attack

- Brotherhood Ancient gives them +1 attack

- Symphonic Strike gives them +1 attack

 

That would be 35 attacks for a 5 man squad, hitting on 2s, rerolling wounds and 6s cause mortal wounds in addition. 

 

Seems like the theme of this book is "everything can be buffed."

[The Wolf Time has come 6th]

So if you work on the weekend you just can’t get the box hexfire is already sold out as are the dice

[The Wolf Time has come 6th]

Anyone still looking for hexfire https://www.firestormgames.co.uk/ still has some

[Skywrath]

*delete this* - figured out we don't have access to the Master of Sanctity, nice.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Skywrath

[Sweetcurse]

Funny how the mood is completely the opposite in the TS areas everywhere. Let’s be frank, this codex is a huge letdown. Man GW REALLY hates GK. I thought all the sly remarks and verbal slights were just teasing, nope, they really think we are a joke. Kind of depressing. I was going to buy everything today but now not sure I want to plop money on junk.

[Captain Coolpants]

Its a very strange one. There's definitely going to be another learning curve since a fair bit is different, but I don't think we're any worse off. I believe we're in a better spot than before.

[Skywrath]

Funny how the mood is completely the opposite in the TS areas everywhere. Let’s be frank, this codex is a huge letdown. Man GW REALLY hates GK. I thought all the sly remarks and verbal slights were just teasing, nope, they really think we are a joke. Kind of depressing. I was going to buy everything today but now not sure I want to plop money on junk.

 

They are phasing us out as a faction, like they did the Inquisition back in 7th (?). That would also explain why we don't have primaris yet, no new models, and we are still working with half of our rules still being 8th (such as no Chief Apothecary/Master of Sanctity rules). Did they honestly just forget we are a marine chapter, or are they just that incompetent to just put two and two together and realise that we are still marines?

 

I love my Grey Knights, but for competitive events and with each codex release being stronger than the previous one (except us, yay), I see a hard road ahead for us. Legit, GW looked at the faction that weren't selling well and decided to make them OP. You know how I know that? Because in 8th, no-one played Dark Angels, and even less played Thousand Sons. Not sure about Drukhari. But hopefully there might be synergies people discovered we haven't thought off yet. 

 

Its a very strange one. There's definitely going to be another learning curve since a fair bit is different, but I don't think we're any worse off. I believe we're in a better spot than before.

 

Do you think so? Compared to the other options generic marines have, and how our abilities are more expensive than theirs, I think this codex is a thinly-veiled nerf to us. Look at the other strategems we have - most of which are copy pastes from other codexes, such as that Dreadknight charge (which is a reword from the Eviscerating something from Drukhari). 

[Biscuittzz]

The next few codexes will be telling. GK may be the first codex where they recognised that power creep was out of control and took a tamer approach. If tyranids, eldar and in particular Custodes as they're elite like us are all similar in their toned down approach I'd be fine with it as at least GW are working it out. If they're similar in respects to Drukhari and Ad Mech then we just got shafted.

[Skywrath]

The next few codexes will be telling. GK may be the first codex where they recognised that power creep was out of control and took a tamer approach. If tyranids, eldar and in particular Custodes as they're elite like us are all similar in their toned down approach I'd be fine with it as at least GW are working it out. If they're similar in respects to Drukhari and Ad Mech then we just got shafted.

 

Do you know why I think our codex is *weak*?

 

Because if you look at their posts, this codex was supposed to launch 2 months into 9th, into the meta where Necrons and regular SM's were dominant. There was no Admech  , no Drukhari  . Were our codex launched then, I would have considered this maybe an A tier codex. Not S tier, but A tier, in other words a good release.

 

Currently, it's evident this codex is written with that meta in mind, not the later codexes. Then as the codex got delayed, I suspect they took a good long 5m look at the current situation (the situation being the OP codices), and tweaked our rules so we have a weak leg to stand on. Of course the half of the codex that wasn't re-written still remains an echo to the fact that we are out of time. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Skywrath

[Sweetcurse]

The next few codexes will be telling. GK may be the first codex where they recognised that power creep was out of control and took a tamer approach. If tyranids, eldar and in particular Custodes as they're elite like us are all similar in their toned down approach I'd be fine with it as at least GW are working it out. If they're similar in respects to Drukhari and Ad Mech then we just got shafted.

But we were released in tandem with TS and their codex is aces.

[Sweetcurse]

Am I wrong to think terminators are like 10 points too expensive compared to Strikes?

[Gnomeo]

People these are reviews with some of them contradicting. I understand hearing negative things about our favourite army is hard however please refrain from rage. From what I have heard and read I agree with the goonhammer mention of 1) we had super good combos but weak datasheets. And gw panicked when they improved are datasheets. 2) they wanted to make use a mirror image of thousand sons (nice idea) but having massive deny buffs when playing tau for example means its just a tax. Though I will with hold full judgment until the dex is in my hand.

[Sweetcurse]

Strikes are way too cheap compared to terms and out army wide ability is passive and dependent on others. I HATE my army ability be dependent on what others do to activate. It’s very frustrating.

[Sweetcurse]

Psy bolt ammo different too. I guess it’s nice that the cost depends on unit size but no more +1 damage really sucks. Edited August 7, 2021 by Sweetcurse

[Corvus Fortis]

Long post here. Looked through new rules and here are my thoughts:

 

Aegis

 

Loss of +1 to cast (while 1k sons is gaining it) is one of the most insulting changes. On top of that, our really important casts are going to 6-7 and this outright sucks. We have a couple of ways to play around it, of course, but non of them are reliable or cheap. On the other hand, messing with enemy casts is still with us, as well as new 5+++ against ANY wounds, which makes us extra durable against certain enemies, which I like. Overall, though, trade-off is not nearly worth it. I would gladly exchange both abilities for +1 to casts.

 

Brotherhoods

 

1st: Strat is nice, when you want to maw down something nasty in single turn. Cast: even more nice, if you want to do it with vehicles Trait: very nice, if you are taking any vehicles other than NDKs. Venerable dreadnought with armored resilience, 4+ invuln and -1 damage is going to be very hard to shift. However, you can simply use sanctuary. Good, if you want it somewhere else. Overall impression: skip, unless want to have some vehicle fun. 

 

2nd: Strat: useless more or less. Maybe, you want to scare some drukhari? Cast: very nice for deepstrike charges. But if you want to capitalize on it, you have to trade tide of celerity for escalation. It is less stable, but rewards you more, if you casts are successful. Trait looks kind of meh, tbh, Maybe you want very fast interceptors or move that terminators blob? Overall: it is good if you want to get to your enemy from reserves, but you have to trade all your close combat buffs.

 

3rd: strat is nice, I wanted it for a long time. Cast is strong against armies which relies on blobs, buffed by auras.. Which are not that many as it used to be, to be honest. Trait: kinda meh. Turn off denies if you roll high. Rarely a concern, to be honest. If you already rolled 8+, chances that you are pretty safe. Maybe useful against SoBs, but otherwise... Overall: don't think it can withstand competition with other brotherhoods, but not bad.

 

4th: Strat: once again, nice if you want to drop unit somwhere out of buffs. But since we've got tactical prescision, it has less value. Cast: kind of ok against melee armies. There is no such thing is enough mortal wounds. Trait: unfortunately, it is our only way to receive additional CPs. Which is a shame beacause... Overall: meh. We are no more a shooting army, unfortunately. We can replicate most of the stuff in this brotherhood and taking additional detachment just for CP regain won't payoff quickly. Also, we have much better traits. Maybe, if I am taking a detach with non-BC units anyway, I can include one. Otherwise... maybe, xenoinquisitor is a better choice now? 

 

5th: strat: surely, vendread with 8 move, reroll charges and d4 ccw is cool and all, but why bother when we have dreadknights? cast: and here goes something interesting. 6+ FNP never hurts, and near an apothecay it becomes whooping 5+. And there's not even zero, it is "minus infinity" reasons you won't be taking an apothercary in every single list. You can build quite a castle with this psychic power. Trait: +3" of aura abilities. Kind of useful, especially for said apothecary, but we have better stuff. Overall: the best brotherhood, if you want to go max. defense.

 

6th: Strat: basically, revives old augurium scrolls for 1 unit. Since we have 3-4 attack base on each model now, very scrong power multiplier. Cast: What, bonus hits on 6's are not enough? How about straight up +1 attack? You can see where it goes. Trait: kind of nice on GMNDK, don't see much worth otherwise. Overall: best melee botherhood. You will decimate anything foolish enough to be within 1" of you. 

 

7th: Strat: heroic intervention may be very strong in certain situations, but our choppiest units are already on frontline. Cast: very good horde cleaner. Maybe, one of the best answers to admech blobs. Trait: eh, really? Between brotherhood banners and know no fear I cannot see one ever taking this. Overall: looks to me like the weakest brotherhood. It is really good against skitarii/ork blobs, but a hard skip for me otherwise. Which is a shame, I like it fluff wise very much.

 

8th: Strat: fall back and charge is very good, nothing to add. Cast: don't want to fall back? Simply kill everything that ties you and charge again. Once again, I wanted that ability for as ong as I play GK and now I have it. Trait: turns your GMNDK to a pure beast. Fight first and reroll hits. FIGHT FIRST AND REROLL HITS. I. LIKE. IT. Overall: while very strong, I think, 4th and 5th are just better, unfortunately. However, I may want to take it for pur/pal detach just to gain trait on gmndk.

 

Conclusions: I see a lot of competitive potnetial in 4th and 5th and quite a bit in 2nd. I am afraid, that 5th maybe a bit overkill, and 4th wins for me because of its cast. In general, I am content. The worst hit for me is Empyrean Domination not only going to stick to brotherhood, but it is meh brotherhood and you have to take its warlord trait. I am afraid, we have to learn to be friends with inquisition and assassinorum for bonus CP now. 

 

Wisdom of Prognosticars

 

My disappointment is immesurable, not only they are all once per battle, but you have to give up a daemon hammer or two to take one.

 

Visions

 

Augury of Aggresions - one of the better once. Drukhari or repentia should thing twice before charging you. 20 pts is a hefty price though. Or you can just stick 4 incinerators to your unit for this price.

Heroism's Favor - if you want to be able to HI with any unit without 7th brotherhood, here's your solution. I don't think it is worth it though.

A noble death - give obsec to a single unit or double models for obsec units. I think, it is one of the better ones. However, you have a similar WT already, which is always on.

Omen of Incursion - Discussed. I don't like it much, but may be handy.

Presaged Paralysis - I don't know how the best of them ended up also a cheapest, but even though once per battle, it is very strong to turn off overwatch. Yes, it is nerfed in this edition, but have you ever charged a 20 warriors blob?

Foretelling of Locus - this is the only one that I will call strong. And it is very strong. Just remove three units and set them in strategic reserves for free bypassing all restricion? HECK. YES. It is absolutely worth 30 pts, imo.

 

Gifts of the Prescient

 

True Name Shard - if you 100% sure you will fight Morty or Belakor, it is worth it. Otherwise - skip.

Temporal Bombs - extra hard skip.

Servant of the throne - since you can use it on GMNDK, maybe interesting.

Deluminator of Majesty - see TNS.

Gem of Inoktu - since we lost all our bonuses to cast - maybe? I don't know if it is really worth the points.

Severance bolt - skip.

 

Overall, a couple of good abilties, but except for Foretelling of locus, I'd better take more special weapons.

 

Stratagems

 

Psychic Channeling - buffed to work till the end of the phase. Not so good, since we only cast twice at most per phase, but still important, if you want to go off stuff like gate or amplification.

Psychic Onlaught - got cheaper and that's good since we will want it a lot after ToC nerf. Also looks very good on NDKs now.

Steel heart - discussed. Fury of the Proven was better.

Death from the warp - +1 to hit never hurts. A cheaper way to ignore move penalty with purgators.

Powerful Adept - once more, it extends to any casts now, which is nice. We are going to love it a lot for our maledictions.

Sanctified killzone - discussed. Really should be 1 CP or for any unit. 

Final Justice - hardnerfed only in death. Still worth it.

Shadow of Undying Legends - I like SM name more. Pretty nice strat for dreadnought to keep in mind.

Purity of Machine Spirit - same as above. I doubt that we are fielding any MS vehicles anytime soon though.

Empyric Declamation - very strong strat but expensive at the same time. The worst thing is that you are either try to roll naturally or spend 2 CP. But our litanies are worth it.

Chiruric Ressurection - Return a model to a paladin or terminator unit for 1 CP. Remember, you are always taking apothercary now?

Psychic locus - 2 CP when we lost our innate bonus and have to pay to actually return CP? WHY GW? WHY? I am afraid, it is just too expensive to afford.

Finest hour - why is this thing is still here? Well, it is at the start of any phase, so now you can actually provide your charged knights with auras without being close to them.

Thunderous stride - discussed.

Armory of Titan/Exemplar of Silver Host/Shield of humanity/Endowment in extremis - Standard requisition stratagems. We know them, we like them.

Mental focus - really important one in certain cases. Say, you want terminators to cast both hammerhand and symphonic strike. Since we are limited to two casts per model max, I can see this being used quite often.

Haloed in soulfire - Since it is only limited to core, NDKs may benifit from it quite a lot, but -1 to hit never actually hurts.

Untainted and unbowed - we get this instead of 4++ and autopass morale and for 2 CP. It is way worse on 2 wound models than on 3 wounds, but still may prolong your purifiers lifespan.

Psylance bombardment - our version of orbital bombardment.

The need to know - why on earth will you want to change your secondary after you know your opponents secondaries? 

Alloy of disciplines - kind of nice to have this tool in your pocket if you play paladins. Wardmaker strat but only for them.

Martial Presciense - good, if you have lots of ruins, where you can set to defend. Drukhari may obliterate their own units. 

Steely advance - enother rename. Discussed.

Hexagrammic Wards - renamed aegis. Now 1 CP, which is great. Now you cannot use it with you Rhino (whatever).

Teleportation Shunt - now our ceptors cannot just jump - you have to pay 2 CP for it. Lamest of lames. Good news is that now your gmndk can do the same!

Mist of Deimos - epic rename for smoke launchers.

Truesilver Armor - we lost redoubtable defense but retained transhuman physiology on any unit (ok, any core infantry unit). However, it comes at a hefty price of 2/3 CP for 5/6+ man unit. Since we are starved on CP, we have to use it wise.

Psybolt ammunition - that's a tough one to judge. First of all the bad news - you are not making your bolters psy weapons any more. Good news - target's toughness don't matter any more. You simpli auto-wound on rolls of 6 to-hit. Which is roughly 6-7 auto-wounds from 40 shots, which is nothing to sniff at. However, they are no longer damage 2 in any way, which is a great shame. Still, we retain AP bonus and now pay only 1 CP for 5 man units.

Zone of Warding - ok, now we lost our 5++ or +1 invuln in close combat for just holding a stave. However, for 1/2 CP we can make it back in shooting phase too and for the whole unit. I think, it is a strong trade off and you will want a single stave in any unit just for this strat. 

Psyk-out grenade - actually useful thing now to throw at thousand sons. 

Frag-assault launchers - bring a land raider in your game and then maybe we can talk about it. Maybe.

 

Overall, we lost really good stuff - 4+ invuln on purifiers, fight on death for paladins and, most importantly, -1 damage on terminators in shooting phase. Certainly there are some good stuff, but I'd say that loss of redoubtable defense is the hardest hit in the whole book. With is, I would straightly place us in A tier, but now I am not sure.

[casb1965]

There's potential.

 

As Winters SEO points out:

 

- Paladins get 4 attacks base

- Falchions give them +1 attack

- Brotherhood Ancient gives them +1 attack

- Symphonic Strike gives them +1 attack

 

That would be 35 attacks for a 5 man squad, hitting on 2s, rerolling wounds and 6s cause mortal wounds in addition.

 

Seems like the theme of this book is "everything can be buffed."

Put Voldus with them for re-rolls and dump Malediction on their target just for fun.

[Grimlock]

I’ll wait for my judgement till I get the book in my hands.

[Corvus Fortis]

Relics

 

Soul Glaive - unchanged (+1 stength because of halberd buff);

Destroyer - unchanged (but now it grants additional AP, since standard hammers lost one);

Fury of Deimos - with +1 damage and +1 AP it now actually looks very interesting. You can add 1 more AP for 1 CP, if desperately need to kill something now. All in all, it is twin linked heavy bolter with more AP. Good;

Banner of Refining flame - nerfed, imo. Yes, it is AoE now, but it is psychic action, and you cannot expend its range of 6" any more. Deals only d3 mortal wounds too. Not garbage, but far, on the contrary, it can deal quite a bit of damage at right place, but I prefered d6 at 12";

Domina Liber Demonica - ok, now it is not trash, if you face daemons. It is simply bad. I probably won't take it even if I face daemons;

Cuirass of Sacrifice - actually a buff. Now it adds +1 save, which is = reduce rend for our characters. Under tide of shadows you reduce it by two. Nice to have on an apothecary;

Sanctic shard - nerfed to the ground. After-undbind on unmodified 8+. If you really hate somethign to be cast, can combine it with Hexagrammatic Wards, but I don't see why to waste a slot on it;

Gyrotemporal Vault - I think, it is now our best relic. Gives fight first to any friendly core and character, which is HUGE. Yes, you can give it to gmndk. No other comments, really.

Blade of the forsworn - a buff, I guess? Wounds vehicles and monsters on 4+ and daemons on 2+. The problem is that you can't give characters, except librarian. Still very nice.

Sigil of Exigence - when someone wants to shoot your character, you can basically gate it for free as a respons. Imagine this on dreadknight. You can also hide your vulnerable characters. Nice thing, but there are lots of other relics too.

Augurium scrolls - nerfed to only provide single reroll to the bearer. However, you can now give it to Justicar or Paragon with hammer. If you are not taking hammer, why not to just take soulglave instead?

Stave of supremacy - unchanged.

Kantu Vambrace - antoher good defensive relic, but against mortal wound. Also reduces damage by 1. Can't give to dreadknight (like cuirass). It think, that cuirass is simply better.

Artisan nulifier matrix - cannot change dice any more, but simply turns off perils in range. It is a good relic, but with two wounds, apothecary and 5+ fnp it is not as important as it used to be.

Aetheric conduit - nerfed to only 3 wound per repair, just because.

 

Overall - loss of sanctic shard hurt quite a lot, but we have a good pool of relics. I wouldn't leave home without gyrotemporal vault. Matrix and cuirass are very good too. For attack we have glaive and sword. Our relics are good, but I will miss old ones.

 

Psychic Powers

 

Dominus. It is sitll character only, but quite a lot of stuff from sanctic moved in here. In general, our characters will know more powers but will be able to cast less. I think, it is for the better, since always we will have all we need.

 

Gate of Infinity - now range 18, but costs 7 to cast. With no more innate +1 to cast, this is a huge nerf. We can make the cast stable, but it will cost a huge chunk of our CPs. Good news is that it is not tied to infantry or core. Fell free to throw a landraider through the board, if you ever field it.

Empyric Amplification - it is what remained of old convergence tide. And you want to keep it on your enemy unit as long as you have psiweapons. However, it buffs Nemesis weapons too (yikes!). Damage 3 on halberds and swords, damage 2 on falchions. Psycannons with damge 3 are nothing to sniff at too.

Sanctuary - actually, if we forged about +1 to cast loss, it is buffed more or less. It is straight up 4++ and no limitation to core or infantry and has 18" range. Want to have two 4++ landraiders? Here they are. Bad news, of course, that you want be getting 3++ on your ndks or characters anymore. But I can live with that. 

Vortex of Doom - huge buff. It is hard to cast with 7+, but it is 2d3 to a single target ALWAYS. HECK. YES. Bad news is that units within 3" will suffer only 1 MW. It could be even for better, since you won't be blasting yourself with it. Wait. You can't any more. It affects only enemy units.

Warp Shaping - became even cheaper. Not so important now, because our tides mostly suck. Still you will want to jump between them at some point.

Ghostly Bonds - Handy to have and with 18 range you can screw your opponet's movement. I wish, it Halved charges too, but we have what we have.

 

Sanctic discipline

 

Finally, finally psychic confluence rule allows us to repeat psychic powers with -1 to cast penalty, which bearable. You don't want most of them to be cast more than a couple of times anyway. Now bad news. Only Librarian and Paladins can chose them freely. For other units they are locked in datasheet. And even so, only caster may benifit from them. No throwing freely at friendly units like before. That's a shame. Draigo of brochamps would like Hammerhand a lot.

 

Astral Aim - discussed. Huge nerf for us, but still hadny. Locked to Purgators.

Purge Soul - now you can deal either 1 mw (if equal) or d3 mws. All in all, I like it. It rarely did huge damage for me and often did nothing. Only Librarian and Paladins can use it.

Hammerhand - discussed. Actually, a buff to the units, which can use them. Locked to strikes, termis and dreadknights.

Purifying Flame - finally, it is worth it. 9" and straight up 3 MW. D3+3 if lucky to roll 11+ (yikes!). Obviously, locked to purifiers and Crowe. And it is real saving grace for them. What's better, it is 5 WC only, so you can easily throw it 2-3 times. I like it a bunch.

Armored resilience - I really wish it is stated the same at least, but alas, just +1 armor save now. Locked to Dreadnoughts.

Etherial Castigation - renamed edict imperator. Locked to interceptors.

 

Overall, I see this as a nerf to our psyhic potential. They would be great if they were cheaper. Now we have to pray to the emperor, that these powers go off. We really need it. 

 

Litanies of power

 

Another huge nerf for us just cause - chaplain only know one litany. Since we weren't given acess to high paladin, if you want multiple litanies, take multiple chaplains. The problem is, you probably want. 

 

Litany of Explusion - generic one, rename of space marines one. All chaplains know this one from the start.

Words of Power - strong start. Additional wound on 6+ to-wound and it doesn't prevent effects from tide of convergence. 

Intonement for Guidance - didn't change at all;

Psalm of Purity - old version of invocation of focus but slightly nerfed. It affects bolt weapons and flamers too now, but only gives bonus AP on roll of 6 to-wound. It is only shooting now though;

Refrain of Convergence - now it straight up removes all psychich powers that are in effect upon chosen unit and prevents any further powers to be cast on it. And it is only enemy powers, absolute win. Very good against chaos;

Recitation of projection - didn't change much. Now affects bolt weapons too. In tide of convergence it only adds 3 to psiweapons to a total of nine. I don't think, that we can rely on psyweapons anymore, so I wouldn't ever take a precious slot for it;

Invocation of Focus - now simply give +1 to casts, and we really want it for all our prescious powers to go off. It affects only blessings, however, so don't expect to throw more smites with it.

 

So, tough choice here, since all powers a decent, and you cannot make a backup any more. I'd go for words of power or psalm of purity in most cases. However, if you really concerned for gate, sanctuary, hammerhand, etc. to go off, invocation may be better choice. 

 

Warlord Traits

 

Daemon slayer - finally useful now with bonus attack in addition to basic effects. Stack it on GMNDK for most fun or make fluffy choice of warlord with draigo. Otherwise I wouldn't bother;

Hammer of Rightousness - buffed a bit to word in the first round of combat. It is ok;

Unyielding anvil - it jumped from worst to best trait quite fast. Now it gives obsec to any unit within 6" of warlord. Core or Character. I think, it will be the first one to add in my list. It think, this trait will make us actually competitive. Kill enemy obsec units and enjoy the show - they cannot move you from an objective. Stick gate to that character, so you can jump over a field wherever he is needed. Give him cuirass, so there's no hope to kill him.

First to the Fray - a nerf, imho, but you can play out an interesting combo. With tide of celerity you need to find only single 5+ to make charge with it. Now all of your gk units, which charge the same unit as your warlord witll need to find 5+ out of two dice. Want more? Take your warlord in blades of victory for a free reroll. There's also possiblity to go to escalation and cast rerolls on all units that you need, but it is a risky task. Still a strong trait, harder to use though;

Nemesis Lord - it was ok, it changed, but still ok. I don't think that our characters have weight of attacks to make it worth spending a CP;

Psychic Epitome - I wouldn't bother. Ok, it is a mortal wound in addition, but we have much better traits to spend CP on.

 

Overall, traits got buffed, except poor loremaster and FttF is fluffy but in weird spot. I think, that potential is still great. Unyielding Anvil is a musthave now, imo. Combined with Noble Death it can grant you victory just by itself. 

[Corvus Fortis]

Abilities

 

Well, we can sigh with relief. No more Rites of Banishment. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are bound to 1 wound smite no more and do not have to be in specific tide to enjoy additional damage. And full 18" range in addition. 

 

Knights of Titan are equivalent to Angels of death, containing several standard abilities.

 

Bolter Discipline and ATSKNF (marine version) are still with us. We still have combat squads and teleport strike. The latter, by the way, are finally given to all our non-vanilla units. Purifiers, purgators, even dreadknights - all of them. No way to deepstrike dreadnoughts now though, but they can go into outflank.

 

Masters of the warp took a HUGE hit. And by "huge hit" I mean "absolutely decimated". Ok, maybe not them but the way we are used to use them. 

 

Tide of Convergence is the worst offender. No more buffs to ranged weapons except +6" range which is, imo, not worth it without +1S and +1D. I don't get why would they nerf our weapons, if we lost the tide itself. Second part, however, is very strong. It gives additional MW on wound roll of 6 with nemesis weapons. Yep, we will remove anything in combat. Literally. No "ifs". 

 

Tide of Celerity - discussed and with FttF and Blades of Victory it really can have use, when we are going out of reserves and want to charge;

 

Tide of Shadows - nerfed to be only outside of 12". Which is manageble. Wordings changed to be "light cover" and "dense cover" so no more -1 to-hit for Dreadknights, which is a shame. Still, it functions greatly when you need to close distance. Probably, our best tide, while we are outside of combat.

 

Tide of Escalation - has nothing to do with smites now, but allows multicast of brotherhood powers. Situational, but very nice thing to have. Can do nasty stuff with blades of victory, preserves, rappiers and silver blades.

 

Tide of Banishment - we don't really need much reroll 1's to wound in close combat, but come on, GW, this anti-daemon stuff is not even that good. 

 

Yeah, tides nerfed pretty hard to what it was, but I expect shift between shadows, celerity and escalation. I wish, gw didn't mess up with tides that much at all.

 

Units

 

Lord Kaldor Draigo - well, changes are expected. And I think, he is a must-have now in every list. He knows 3 powers from dominus now and can gives rerolls to any core units, not tied to brotherhoods. His trait is better, old stromshield is back and even bolter got a boost. Daddy is back in the house!

 

Voldus - hit hard. Ok, they left his hammer untoched, but he only can cast 2 and deny too, because you cannot have psyker as strong as Tigurius or Mephiston in psyker-centered chapter. He still knows 3 powers, but he is tied to Wardmakers which, imo, are far from top choice. I am pretty sure we will see him way less now, being outclassed by draigo;

 

Grand Master - outclassed both by draigo and GMNDK. See little place for him out of narrative play.

 

GMNDK - buffed to heavens. The only downside is no more 3++ or just once per game. He still can be victim for melta's but at such cost you won't be devastated by losing him. He benifits from lots of brotherhood stuff - better in melee, better survivability, better shooting. Heavy cannons are way better now. Incinerator has twice more shots, additional power on psilencer and +1 s and ap on psycannon. I expect this guys back and rocking hard. 

 

Crowe - yeah, finally black blade of antwyr is not a CCW anymore. He lost rerolls, but now can HI up to 6" and can fight first always. Sacrifice stayed as it is. I think, for his points he is great  and he can throw purifying flames in addition. No bonuses for brotherhood though, but he is good enough as he is.

 

Stern - they didn't fix his reroll ability, ZoB stayed the same, he lost additional cast and he is even more expensive than BC. Poor Stern, onto the shelf he goes.

 

Brother-Captain - true winner. Tactical Prescision is finally with him and, unlike stern, he has access to customization. Finally, he can give +1 to cast aura for 2CP. I think, he is an auto-include. 

 

Brotherhood Champion - nice, cheaper alternative to crowe. He lost stance abilities, but retains all crowe abilities. Suprisingly, he cannon fight on death without strat anymorel.

 

Librarian - lost 1 deny, but stayed the same otherwise. He has access both to dominus and sanctic now. But since you can cast sanctic on friends, I think, that the only good power for him is pufifying flame;

 

Techmarine - standard SM C&P;

 

Chaplain - same, expcept one less litany;

 

Terminators - gained +1 attack and +1 wound. Enough to justify their existance. It is hard to assess them vs strikes, but competition could be though. They cost way more for 50% more wounds, but same attacks. They are termies, so they always benifit from bolter discipline. They have +1 save in inbuilt invuln. Probably, worth it as 10 man fist. They are also great at defending objectives. They will like preserves very much.

 

Strike squad - our old workhorse. With +2 attacks and +1 wound they seem great. I think, spamming 5's of them is going to be as good as always;

 

Apothecary - as I mentioned, I am not leaving home without this guy anymore. Cheap, fighty, heals, revives, give 6+ or even 5+ FnP. Sadly, lost a point of WS;

 

Brothehood Ancient - unfortunately, doesn't give +1A to paladins anymore, buffs only brotherhood core infantry. If you are going with Strikes and Terminators, he is your choice;

 

Paladins - no Brotherhood hurts them a bit, but they are 2+ WS now, got additional attack and can take two powers from sanctic. I think, that preservers terminators are better at survivablity and rapiers terminators can fight as good, being cheaper and retaining other bonuses. I am not sure, if they have a place now, but you can at least give them obsec. Probably, if you want to save points on banner, they are worth it;

 

Purifiers - these guys can easily outclass strikes now. They can gain Obsec with UA, now have deep strike and purifying flame is godly. You can easily start any list with 3x5. It is 9 mortal wounds each turn as soon at they are into the range. Two Flamers per 5 guys is also super-awesome. Old combo with LRC, 15 purifiers and crowe could actually work now. +1 to PF casts also great;

 

Paladin ancient - this guy either buff paladins or gives +1 hit in melee to single GK units (including ndks). Well, paladins are true grinders near him, but I feel it is a bit overkill. I like termies with their banner more;

 

Servitors - same action fodder as always;

 

(Ven)Dread - received expected changes inline with vanilla dreads. They could be nice, but I don't think there is enough place for them out there. We want so much other stuff besides them.  But you are not shooting your leg by taking one. 4++, 2+ save, 6+ FnP, -1 damage - pretty durable;

 

Inteceptors - loss of free shunt removes the charm from them. They are still 12" movement infantry and still can perform it for hefty cost of 2 CP if needs must;

 

NDK - absolute winner. Core gives him slight edge over GM is certain situation. You easily want three in every roster;

 

Purgators - mostly discussed. If you want something dead really hard, they can make it for you. But requires quite a bit CPs/casts to reach full potential;

 

Landraiders - nothing new here. They can receive 4++ now, but that's it. Maybe, we will find a place for them, eventually;

 

Flyers - also nothing new here. Stormraven looks formidable in 1st brotherhood, but you have to be sure he survives first turn;

 

Rhino/razors - same. It may be fun to spam latter in 1st, but don't see much worth otherwise;

 

Weapons 

 

Incinerators are big winners for me. They are free, they are great without any buffs, they are very anti-meta. Unless you want to maximize attacks on 3+ guys, there's no reason not to take one in each squad;

 

Psilencers - they still can be great with onslaugh and amplification. You are not losing much by taking them either, since they are free or only 5pts. Purgators can make them really deadly;

 

Psycannons - buffed against 3 wound targets, but without convergence, I think, they should've left them with 4 shots. Can be very devastating with proper set-up in purgation squads. Don't think it is worth it to take them in 5-man squads;

 

Falchions - worst choice when unbuffed, but when buffed fully, they outclass everything. Take 10 strikes in rapiers, cast Symponic Strike and use star, cast hammerhand with strat, stick a banner nearby, chant words of power, give rerolls from Draigo, cast ampification on target. At this point you are probably killing anything in this game in single swing; 

 

Swords and Halbers - both are good in certain situations. Current meta leans toward halbers, but all may change later. Swords, on the other hand, ignore those pesky AP-2 ignore abilities or AP reduction. I think, GW managed to balance them amlost perfectly;

 

Warding stave - lost innate 5++ in close combat, but now got a great strat. It won't hurt to have one in every unit, or at least, any unit of 10;

 

Hammer - nerfed but still very decent choice. Increased number of attacks still make it deadly on paragons. Actually, may be worth spamming on paladins.

 

Conclusions

 

Forgot about missions - I really don't like them anyhow, and nothing about crusade, but I think, it should be fun.

 

All in all, I can't measure our power now. We lost a lot but gained a lot too. It is certainly better than bare bones 8th codex, but looks weaker than pre 9 PA. But I am certain that is is better than 9th ed PA.

 

Cons:

- shooting way weaker;

- lost a lot of great strats, powers and relics;

- no more reliability in casting essential powers;

- very CP-hungry and it is harder to gain CP now;

- less interactions between units.

- less flexibility in psychic phase.

 

 

Pros:

- devastating melee;

- increased overall durability;

- easy acess to obsec on strong units;

- Dreadknights are rocking again;

- mortal wounds atop mortal wounds.

 

I would place us at least at tier B now, even lower tier A probably. But book is so different from previous one, we have to literally forget everything we knew and strat from scratch.

 

I definitely see draigo and ndks in every list, crow is a very strong addition as well as purifiers. 10 purgators may become our main damage dealers. For missions, both strikes and terminators are very strong, while blob of 10 termies/paladins still very hard to shift.

 

We have certain problems to solve:

 

- get in melee asap;

- make our casts stable, while maintaining other buffs;

- minimize CP usage to save them for strongest strats.

 

Please, hear me out. I agree, codex may seem weaker at first, but there is so much stuff out there, we have at least try couple of games with different armies and look, if we are in top placings in any GTs. 

 

I think, we have all the tools we need to win.

 

Emperor be with us for We are the Hammer!

[Biscuittzz]

Am I wrong to think terminators are like 10 points too expensive compared to Strikes?

 

Bit of both, terminators are slightly over costed but strikes are definitely under costed.