Q1 2026 Balance Update Slate

[zulu.tango]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/o22qkepp/kasrkin-regain-their-elite-status-in-the-january-kill-team-balance-update/

GW put of Q1 balance update slate today, and I gotta say I'm a huge fan. 

 

Deathwatch got hit with a bunch of nerfs, while wolf scouts got out relatively unscathed. Canoptic Circle caught a decent nerf, but will still probably be among the strongest teams in game (when piloted well). Angels of Death can finally take both the eliminator and the Heavy Bolter, Kasrkin got a HUGE buff, along with a handful of other teams. 

The declassified teams got a slew of buffs which was nice to see. My beloved starstriders are back to near-peak performance levels

All in all I'm a huge fan of the slate, what do yall think? 

[Mandragola]

This is definitely a step in the right direction and all the changes are good. I think Wolf Scouts have taken a slightly bigger hit than you suggest. Storm's Bite now doesn't reduce attack dice when someone attacks them, meaning that enemies with 4 dice still have some hope of killing them in melee. The Pack Leader's ability is now much weaker as he can't do Savage Attackers and Counteract if he goes to 0hp. He's quite killable for other elites now - though I'm sure he'd do some damage on the way out.

 

It's nice to see so many other teams like Kasrkin, Kroot and Death Korps get buffs. I'm only sad they didn't do anything for my poor Stealth team. 

[zulu.tango]

I ran wolf scouts into the new Insidiants last night and Scouts are still pretty wild. All the changes are good, but they still need some more just to be fair. Reducing the size of the storm would be a good idea, and having frost weapons not affect the leader, at the very least, maybe change it ceaseless or balanced or something. Lethal 5+ 4/5 on every operative is crazy. Also the fangbearer buffs should either be nerfed a bit or drop when he is killed, because the entire team being immune to APL mods and Shock/Stun, while also ignoring injury is bananas. 
All that being said Murderwing is worse by far. I wouldn't be surprised if they lose an entire operative and are STILL overpowered. Three releases in a row with cracked teams has messed up the power scale something fierce, feels like they're playing catch-up with every data-slate rather than fine tuning things