Balance Dataslate - June 2025

[Joe]

Slates are now updated on Warhammer Community, alongside FAQ / Errata.

[redmapa]

Templars units went down some points, it really took them a while to realize 30pt per model for a unit with no invulnerable save and that needs character support was a bit much. 

[kabaakaba]

oh, nice, Leontus now can orders Titanic units

[CL_Mission]

Oh boy, they really didn't like me giving a character fnp in Awakened Dynasty, especially not on my Skorp Lord. 

[Orange Knight]

I'm very happy to see Hellblasters and Aggressors get a reduction. I've not had a look over the actual Erratas yet.

[Indy Techwisp]

T'au got their entire army rule changed, I see.

No split firing penalty, everyone shooting the spotted unit is guided (unless they're spotting something else), Pathfinders self-spot now, Firesight Team gets their ability against their own spotted unit as well (if I'm reading that right).

 

Kayon got nerfed from Sustained 1 and Sustained 2 when guided to Sustained 1 and ignore BS/WS modification when guided, which makes sense since having army-wide Sustained 2 into a unit is probably not healthy at the range T'au can shoot stuff from.

[Tokugawa]

They don't touch DG cost in this update. It's bad news for DG players since it probably result more cruel adjustment in future.

[kabaakaba]

they remove power wepon from kasrkins... so now we have one power weapon source less..

[CL_Mission]

Oh hey, the downloads page for 40k has rules for the new Servitors and Raveners, Raveners get 2 datasheets.

[Marshal Loss]

The EC points changes were expected but still hurt in an army with so few datasheets. Had hoped to see some tweaks to Slaanesh's Chosen but I guess it's still very early days for the army, so maybe next time. 

[Orange Knight]

10 minutes ago, Marshal Loss said:

The EC points changes were expected but still hurt in an army with so few datasheets. Had hoped to see some tweaks to Slaanesh's Chosen but I guess it's still very early days for the army, so maybe next time. 

 

How is that army fairing in general? I must admit I've been somewhat pre-occupied last few months and a lot has skipped me by. I haven't encountered it yet.

[Borbarad]

That’s some nice glow-ups gor the DA 

[Mogger351]

10 minutes ago, Orange Knight said:

 

How is that army fairing in general? I must admit I've been somewhat pre-occupied last few months and a lot has skipped me by. I haven't encountered it yet.

Meta Monday's have shown them as very middle of the road.

[Emperor Ming]

1 hour ago, kabaakaba said:

oh, nice, Leontus now can orders Titanic units

But not ogryns

 

The guard nerfs, esp to the kreig inf are rather shocking, esp when they all got wacked on release day

 

Points decreases for necrons wraiths... the unit that gets spammed

[N1SB]

14 minutes ago, Emperor Ming said:

Points decreases for necrons wraiths... the unit that gets spammed

 

Along with Technomancers the HQ they get spammed with!  What is going on!?

[DemonGSides]

1 hour ago, kabaakaba said:

they remove power wepon from kasrkins... so now we have one power weapon source less..

This is for the Combat Patrol, and is an old change. 

 

 

The unsung hero on this round is the base size document. The amount of fighting about what a Lord of Contagion should be on in online discussions was ridiculous. Silly that GW doesn't sell a LoC with the appropriate base, so if someone is rocking up with a Felthius on a 40 I don't think there's really an issue, but it puts paid to the idea that kitbashed LoC should be on a 40mm, which always struck me as silly. 

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, Tokugawa said:

They don't touch DG cost in this update. It's bad news for DG players since it probably result more cruel adjustment in future.

 

Indeed, look how hard they hit Eldar overall for the sins of the Ynnari. 

[Magos Takatus]

I got off really lightly with the Aeldari nerfs. I lost out with my big unit of Banshees and my Fire Dragons, but I got a reduction on my Fire Prism and all three of my War Walkers, so my army list actually got buffed over all. 

 

Hopefully the Shining Spears will still be more affordable by the time they zoom off my painting table.

[crimsondave]

1 hour ago, Borbarad said:

That’s some nice glow-ups gor the DA 

Old Dad got some nice buffs.  Must have put a new battery in that shield.

[01RTB01]

2 hours ago, Marshal Loss said:

The EC points changes were expected but still hurt in an army with so few datasheets. Had hoped to see some tweaks to Slaanesh's Chosen but I guess it's still very early days for the army, so maybe next time. 

I'm not sure noise marines needed the increase. They still die like marines and are our only real source of shooting. Daemon princes definitely expected though.

 

As always, the spammers make it worse for the regular gamers.

[LSM]

2 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

 

How is that army fairing in general? I must admit I've been somewhat pre-occupied last few months and a lot has skipped me by. I haven't encountered it yet.

 

I think the average is in the desired range (pushing the top; around ~54% win rate at tournaments). They're also pretty fun, conceptually, and very well themed (running around like madmen, trying to trade up). They can get pretty hard countered by Knights/Tank lists though.

 

Their main issue is a pretty shallow unit pool, with units either having no competition for a role, or there being a clear winner. As such, when you sit down to build a list, you go:

1. 2 Tormentors
2. 2 Infractors with Lords Exultant
3. 2 Noise Marines
4. 2 Winged Daemon Princes
5. Rhinos

And then sprinkle in Lords Kakophonist, Lucius, a Daemon Prince, maybe some Maulerfiends (perhaps instead of the Winged Daemon Princes), Spawn, Fulgrim, a Land Raider... maybe a Heldrake (though they've lost their 2+ save). 

 

People playing Flawless Blades and Terminators aren't crazy, but they're more "for fun". Sorcerers are bad though. If there are any future tweaks to units, I'd expect these to be the targets (ie. +1D on Flawless Blades' weapons).

 

What seems to be happening is that... a lot of people just add more of that "1 to 5", creating a very standard look. Thankfully, that includes lots of "troops", so the army feels less spammy than it otherwise might. The outlier is the triple Winged Daemon Princes... but they're not busted, they just do something (putting MWs into hard targets) that nothing else in the army is capable of reliably doing. Even with the points increase to them, I imagine there'll still be two in most lists. They just do something that needs doing.

 

The 'Chosen of Slaanesh' detachment also needs some work (its gimmick is that when a Champion unit destroys an enemy unit they become the Favoured Champions, and get to reroll Wound rolls. Which... your Infractors are already giving your LEs Wound rerolls, and then you're stealing the buff after you've done something in a turn... it's a lot of mental book keeping for little reward.)

 

//

 

For the next dataslate/points adjustments, I'd like to see:

• Spruce up the Chosen of Slaanesh detachment
• Add a new Sonic Cult detachment (I get that the last decade's lore has downplayed Noise Marines, but it's nuts that there wasn't at least one detachment to cater to people who actually like EC for Slaanesh's Cult Troops)
• Allow all detachments (besides Carnival) to take 25% Daemons (this goes for the other Cult Legions too)
• +1 D for Flawless Blades
• Drop EC Terminators points a tad
• Replace the Sorcerer's Warped Interference with something worth taking (currently provides Benefits of Cover)
• Not happening, but: change the Lord Kakophonist's Doom Siren ability name to Fatal Sonacy, and replace the Noise Marines' Close Combat Weapon melee profile (A3, WS3+, S4, AP0, D1) with a Doom Siren melee profile ([Sustained Hits 2], A1, WS3+, S5, AP-1, D2). Give the Disharmonist's Power Sword [Extra Attacks]. 

[Nephaston]

Wow, this new CSM detachment is just a grab bag of all the fun toys: Buffs to ranged or melee weapons when pacting, enhancements giving a unit lance, scouts 6", psyker keyword for a non-psyker character to make them interact with the detachment rule, and a melee boost for daemon princes.

Stratagems to give a unit FNP5+ against mortals, stealth, ignores cover, advance and charge, healing/reviving a units models, or a pistol range mortal wound bomb.

 

Now if only DPs can be undivided again, I would be so happy.

Edited Wednesday at 02:52 PM by Nephaston
accidentally a word

[LSM]

3 minutes ago, Nephaston said:

Wow, this new CSM detachment is just a grab bag of all the full toys...

 

Seriously. I just finished giving it a look over, and for the "price" of taking Sorcerers and Daemon Princes you get literally everything you could want out of an Enhancement/Stratagem pool.

[HeadlessCross]

2 hours ago, 01RTB01 said:

I'm not sure noise marines needed the increase. They still die like marines and are our only real source of shooting. Daemon princes definitely expected though.

 

As always, the spammers make it worse for the regular gamers.

Noise Marines absolutely needed a hit in some capacity. 10 points more than Lascannon Havocs and the Noise Marines hurt Knights and Land Raiders about the same on average (Pacts not included for Havocs and forgetting cover since Noise Marines ignore it) AND shred all infantry much quicker. Outside certain circumstances like Tzeentch Heavy Bolter Havocs, there's little reason to not go Noise Marines. 

 

Now it DOES suck for Emperor's Children since they have as many datasheets as I do fingers, but they shouldn't have a gutted army selection like that to begin with. 

37 minutes ago, LSM said:

 

Seriously. I just finished giving it a look over, and for the "price" of taking Sorcerers and Daemon Princes you get literally everything you could want out of an Enhancement/Stratagem pool.

While Daemon Princes are good, Sorcerers aren't exactly the best, so I can definitely see it as an opportunity cost. I'd rather not have had the army rule tied to Psyker units and maybe just the overall Strats/Enhancements. 

[Joe]

Defiler base size is overdue, but damn, the 40,000 documents continue to look like right stinkers next to Sigmar's.