From derision and dismissal at the launch of 10th Edition to the soaring heights of recent supermajor wins, the small player base of the Adepta Sororitas have kept the faith, and now their suffering and sacrifice is rewarded with a powerful new codex. Like the Tau and Custodes codices before them there are just four detachments on offer, but unlike some recent predecessors all four detachments offer power and options in spades. This is augmented by several datasheet buffs to create one of the most positive codex releases to date.
Finally, for those lapsed 9th edition Sisters players dreaming of one day returning to slay the 41st Millenium’s most powerful foes with nothing but an eviscerator and well-worn house slippers, it’s time to wake up and smell the Bloody Roses.
As always, we would like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Codex.
Army Overview
The Adepta Sororitas are regular humans, made powerful through their access to the Imperium’s finest equipment and unwavering faith in the Emperor. On the table this manifests as humble datasheets delivering overperformance through dice manipulation. The index detachment was one of the best on offer, with powerful fight-phase manipulation and utility tools to create scoring opportunities and supercharge weakened units.
The Codex turns the faction up to eleven as several key datasheets have become significantly less humble, and the new detachments offer options for either raw output or dice manipulation capabilities that would make even an elf blush.
We think the following are the five standout features of this book:
- Four excellent detachments. The ultimate combination of power and flavor. Perhaps too much power. By far the highest average power level of any book we’ve yet seen. Anyone who was mad they only got four should cut that out right now.
- Several underused units see buffs that will bring them to the table, while a few overrepresented units have been toned down, providing pretty good internal balance.
- Changes to the Miracle Dice economy offer new ways to manipulate dice, while many abilities now require an expenditure of dice to activate.
- A premium crop of Epic Heroes. If you love using these, Sororitas have some absolute rockstars.
- It’s exciting! Thus far in 10th, receiving a Codex has sometimes been a mixed blessing. This sits alongside Necrons and Orks as one where it’s clear that the people writing it really wanted it to be fun to use and to make every unit sing. Did they go too far? Ehhh don’t worry about it. By which we mean probably yes.
What Else is Coming?
As always, Crusade is getting its own article next Tuesday, and in the next few weeks we’ll also be publishing an Opponent’s Guide to this faction, as people loved the Chaos Space Marines one. For the two Codexes released today, we’re also holding off on Army Lists until the final points are out – both feel like the magnitude of change is just too great for either book points or MFM points to provide a realistic framework.
Army Rules
Adepta Sororitas armies gain access to Acts of Faith. This is the defining feature of the faction, and returns unchanged from the index. This is the defining feature of the faction and is what allows each unit to outperform its datasheet by eliminating variance at critical moments.
At the start of each turn, and each time an Adepta Sororitas unit is destroyed, the Sororitas player generates a Miracle Dice by rolling a d6 and setting it to the side to be called on later. Before making one of various roll types, a Sororitas unit can perform an Act of Faith by using a single Miracle Dice in the pool, which counts as having made an unmodified dice roll of the Miracle Dice value. This is an incredibly powerful tool for guaranteeing short charges, long advances, and critical saves.
New to the Codex are myriad ways to expend miracle dice for buffs and bonuses, as well as new generation mechanics. Disciplined resource-management will be critical for getting the most from the army, as the temptations of maximum output can deprive players of a critical ability at an inopportune time.
Datasheets
Normally we cover datasheets after the detachments, but the changes here are fundamental to how the army plays so we want to provide the necessary context with which to understand the detachment rules.
First, the bad news. The long crusade to investigate every signal has been completed, and our loyal Crusaders have gone to be with the Emperor for all eternity. Likewise their finecast friends are no more.
Removed Datasheets
- Crusaders
- Death Cult Assassins
- Missionary
- Preacher
New Datasheets
Two new Characters join the Sororitas roster, one completely new, and one effectively a consolidation of the Missionary and Preacher vibes.
First is, of course, the Canoness with Jump pack. Rocking three wounds and a selection of sweet melee weapons, out of which you’re probably picking from the halberd or eviscerator. She gets a once-per game ability to increase her attacks characteristic by 3 and add [Devastating Wounds], and she also makes a stratagem free for her unit once per battle round. The low wound count makes her fragile, but she’s a great carrier for several of the new enhancements. She’s certain to appear in lists alongside both Zephyrim and Seraphim, and on book points is cheap enough that you might consider just taking one solo in some situations – the once-per-game turbo mode makes her a nice missile, and she’s a small Deep Striking unit who can be used for Actions.
The Ministorum Priest, meanwhile, is an updated version of the Preacher datasheet, now with two loadout options corresponding to Taddeus the Purifier or Pious Vorne from Blackstone Fortress. They add +1 to Wound in melee to any unit they lead, and also get a once-per-game super mode of +3A +3S, which is quite nasty on the eviscerator build. Notably this is also the only character with the new <Penitent> keyword, which we’ll talk about later when we look at the Penitent Host, and they can lead Arco-flagellants, where the +1 to Wound helps make up a bit for the loss of Twin Linked.
Updated Datasheets
Nearly every datasheet has changed somehow, so we’ll focus on the most impactful changes and broad themes. Two datasheets stand out as getting particularly important changes, before we cover the rest.
The Triumph of St. Katherine
This is easily the most significant datasheet change. The Triumph of St. Katherine is much stronger now, and it’s not hyperbole to say that the decision whether to bring the Triumph is the most important step when designing a Sisters list. It features the same T3 18W statline as before, now bracketing at six wounds rather than five, as well as a selection of six auras at 6” from which to choose two at the start of each battle round.
The Ebon Chalice and Valorous Heart auras return unchanged, allowing units within 6” to perform two Acts of Faith per phase and receive a 6+ Feel No Pain, respectively.
The Fiery Heart no longer generates sixes for the Miracle Dice from nearby deaths, instead it now increases the movement of all nearby Sororitas units by 2”, and increases advance and charge rolls by one. This combines with some of the detachment abilities to send key units from ludicrous speed to full plaid. The elves stole dice manipulation in 10th edition, and so now Sisters have stolen their mobility.
Censer of the Sacred Rose now allows rerolled battleshock tests rather than increasing Leadership by one. The previous ability occasionally saw use against World Eaters to escape from Eightbound jail, but now you will neither use this ability nor lament its absence.
Simulacrum of the Argent Shroud previously increased the attacks characteristic of rapid fire weapons by one, and now allows wound re-rolls of 1 for all ranged weapons. If your battle plans include the advanced technique of “shoot gun at enemy”, you will find this useful.
Petals of the Bloody Rose previously provided Lethal Hits to all melee weapons within 6”, but now provides +1 AP in melee. This is among the most powerful aura abilities on offer to any unit in any faction, and while the Sisters units that best take advantage of it are not particularly durable, your opponents will now find that they aren’t particularly durable either.
Finally, and perhaps most powerful of all, the Triumph has received a new datasheet ability in addition to the auras: At the start of each battle round, generate one Miracle Dice with a value of six. This ensures you have at least one good roll each round when your dice might otherwise be cold, but when you’ve got a solid pool to draw on it will feel gratuitous. A wise man once said “Sisters are the Aeldari of the Imperium,” and he’s more right now than ever before.
Morvenn Vahl
Morvenn Vahl was already extremely good in the Index. Somehow, she still finds space to be a lot better. She keeps everything that already made her good, gets Devastating Wounds on her sweep profile, joins Paragons in general in jumping up to T7, and gets a massive boost to her Righteous Repugnance ability. Rather than being a once-per-game effect, which you awkwardly had to trigger in your Command Phase, she can now activate this whenever she Shoots or Fights by discarding a Miracle Dice, and if that sounds expensive don’t worry, because any time she destroys a unit (not just when charged up), you gain a Miracle Dice. Brutal stuff, and a squad of Paragons with Vahl also feels like a lock for most builds.
Other Characters
In general, character attachment has been broadened somewhat, with most power-armored characters (except the Triumph) now able to join any power-armored Sisters infantry unit. Additionally, Aestred Thurga now qualifies as a primary character for double-attaching leaders to a Battle Sister Squad alongside the Canoness, Palatine, and Junith. Double-attaching remains limited to Battle Sister Squads. A lot of Characters pick up mild through moderate stat and weapon improvements too!
Speaking of Aestred Thurga and her partner in crime Agathae Dolan, they now provide a Miracle Dice whenever their unit kills another unit, Agathae generates d3 miracle dice when she dies, and Aestred provides the unit’s weapons with Devastating Wounds. Note that this is not just melee weapons as in the index, it’s all weapons. If you’ve ever dreamed of strapping eight assassinate points to a unit of five Retributors and fishing for Devastating Wounds with your multimeltas, your dreams can now come true. Alternatively, double attach them with a Dialogus in a Sisters squad, and bypass the fishing.
Elsewhere in utility attachments, both the Hospitaller and Imagifier get powerful upgrades. The Hospitaller no longer heals Characters (pretty niche in Sisters due to low Wound counts), and instead revives one model, or d3+1 models for a Miracle Dice, in each Command Phase. This is great on more valuable stuff. The Imagifier, meanwhile, gives any unit she joins a 2+ save, not just Sacresants, so can be especially good in Bringers of Flame where she can combine this with their Armour of Contempt-like. She also gets the upside that if a model dying triggers Miracle Dice, you can re-roll them, so special abilities that grant these to specific models are in scope now. Celestine also gets in on improved healing action, getting to revive her choice of a Geminae or d3 other Bodyguard models, making her potent with big squads of improved Zephyrim.
The only Character to see a mild downgrade amidst all of this is Junith, who no longer generates a CP automatically in each of your command phases, instead offering the choice of either discarding a miracle dice or passing a leadership check to generate a CP. She also gets the awkward Mounted keyword, but is at least nowT5 and 8W.
Other Units
Across all units, the Simulacrum Imperialis wargear has changed to generate one Miracle Dice in your command phase on a 4+ for each objective under your control with this wargear within range. The wording here is a little tricky in that if the roll is passed, that roll becomes the Miracle Dice. This effectively gives most infantry units the previous Battle Sisters Squad ability, with the caveat that you can’t generate a dice value of 1-3. The output is less reliable, but the resulting dice are higher quality.
Moving on to specifics, there’s a lot of improvements to melee options, with Sustained and Lethal Hits being handed out all over the shop. Notable beneficiaries are Zephyrim and Sacresants. The former now choose between sustained hits or lethal hits when they fight, and can discard a miracle dice to get both. Notably this only works on “power weapons”, which gives you a reason to take the power weapon + handflamer loadout on the jump Canoness since otherwise she won’t benefit from this. Meanwhile, Sacresants jump to 3A base, and maces get lethal hits while halberds get sustained. Their datasheet ability now works with any attached character. Finally, Repentia, Penitent Engines and Mortifiers all gain the PENITENT keyword for compatibility with one of the spiciest detachments and all get Sustained Hits in melee. Repentia also get Wound re-rolls while their Superior is alive for good measure, instead of only when they charge.
The price for all this is that competitive favorite Arco-Flagellants have been toned down. Their Feel No Pain has changed from 4+ to 5+, and their weapons have lost Twin-Linked. They remain a potent anti-infantry tool that takes real investment to kill, but they’re no longer universally applicable to every situation.
Moving back to good news, Novitiates gain Infiltrators, adding that capability to the Sisters roster for the first time. This is especially fun because you can start them on a mid-field objective to get another Simulacrum in play early on. This new trick distinguishes them from Battle Sisters, who are now firmly the slow-and-steady objective piece, adding sticky objectives.
For melting things, both Retributors and Warsuits get some buffs. Retributors get an unusual but very potent ability – full Wound re-rolls against any opposing unit that has destroyed any of your units at any point in the game. Their existing re-roll 1s to Wound remain, so this is pure upside and pretty good, but it’s a bit of a tracking headache. Warsuits specialise a bit more in hunting large targets, swapping out Fall Back/Shoot/Charge for +1 to Hit and Wound against Monsters and Vehicles. Given that limited access to high S weapons is one of this army’s few weaknesses, this is very strong, and they also get some buffs to their toughness and the strength of the paragon blade.
Finally, the mechanized ecosystem has changed. Immolators lose Fire Support, now denying the benefit of cover to their target for the remainder of the phase. Castigators lose their rerolls and battleshock abilities, but increase AP by 1 for all subsequent ranged shooting against their target that phase. These combine to let you set up nasty dunks on a key target, but do dial back the extent to which Castigators solve your problems by themselves. Exorcists lose Heavy but gain a point of AP on both weapon options, and models they slay will trigger Deadly Demise on a 5+ instead of 6.
Anyway, that’s the end of datasheets, probably the biggest set of Index > Codex changes all edition, and overwhelmingly buffs. Now let’s find out what new tricks you have to play with alongside them.
Detachments
Sisters get access to four Detachments, which might sound like they’re getting short changed, but my goodness are they not. All four of these detachments are absolute rockstars, so however you want to unleash tremendous sacred violence on the foe, you’re probably covered.
Hallowed Martyrs
The index detachment returns, with some new stratagems and some slight tweaks to enhancements. Hallowed Martyrs was the detachment where barely failing to kill a sister’s unit was the worst outcome – they got really angry at you whenever they took significant damage.
Detachment Rule
This rule is unchanged from the index – the wording is the same.
While a Sister’s of Battle unit is below starting strength, add 1 to their hit rolls and while they are below half strength, add 1 to their wound rolls. Turns severely hurt units up to 11, especially potent on vehicles and units that have sufficient ablative models attached to their damage dealing ones.
Enhancements
Saintly Example gives you d3 additional miracle dice when the bearer is destroyed. This used to be very powerful when combined with the Triumph of Saint Katherine’s index version of The Fiery Heart, which gave automatic 6’s for miracle dice. With the rework to the Triumph, this enhancement is still quite valuable but considerably less powerful.
The index enhancement the Blade of Saint Ellynor has been renamed and the name co-opted by the Army of Faith. Now called Through Suffering, Strength this enhancement gives the bearer an additional strength, damage, and attacks on their melee weapons. This increases to two of each stat if the bearer has lost any wounds. This enhancement has been a mainstay on Palatine’s and Canoness’ alike over the last year of the index and this will prove to be no different moving into a proper codex detachment. This enhancement is particularly potent on the new Canoness with Jump Pack, as coupled with their once-per-battle rule they would then get 4 additional attacks with devastating wounds, moving their power weapon to damage 3 (4 if they’ve taken any wounds). One other thing to note is that with the Palatine’s wound characteristic being increased from 3 to 4, she can now safely overcharge her plasma pistol in an attempt to force a failed hazardous check to trigger the secondary effect of the enhancement.
Litanies of Faith shares the same fate as the Blade of Saint Ellynor, being renamed to the Chaplet of Sacrifice. This enhancement has been slightly reworked, now giving you the ability to re-roll one Miracle dice from your pool at the end of your Command phase, or up to three miracle dice if the bearer has lost one or more wounds or is leading a unit Below Half-strength (previously it only required the bearer’s unit to be below its Starting Strength). This enhancement didn’t see very much play in the index detachment, for while rerolling Miracle dice is nice, the Dialogus provided a handy use for sub-par miracle dice throughout the battle already.
Finally, that brings us to the Mantle of Ophelia, which is unchanged in both name and rule from the index detachment. This enhancement reduces all incoming damage to the bearer to 1 – a very strong enhancement when you’re setting out to make a particularly tanky Canoness.
Stratagems
Starting off strong, Divine Intervention is back and has an interesting change to it. The stratagem still allows you to resurrect a slain character model (except for Saint Celestine), but now you gain d3 wounds in addition to the 1 you gained previously for each miracle dice you discarded when using the stratagem. That means that characters will come back with up to 3 + d3 wounds remaining – this is both a buff and a nerf in the context of the detachment, as it means with the exception of Morvenn Vahl all characters will be above half strength when resurrected, only giving them access to the +1 to hit part of the detachment rule.
A favorite of sister’s players everywhere, Suffering and Sacrifice makes a comeback, with a slightly tweaked wording. Now the stratagem forces every model in a unit within engagement range to fight the selected unit, not just the models in engagement range. The wording on this is a little rough, and we could see this being adjusted to reflect the original index wording.
Spirit of the Martyr returns unchanged, giving Fight on Death to a sister’s unit for 2CP, provided the unit has not already fought. Still locked to when they are selected as a unit’s targets, it does prevent a reactive Fight on Death to another unit fighting on death.
Rejoice the Fallen has been renamed to Praise the Fallen, giving a reactive shootback at an enemy unit that just destroyed a model in the target’s unit. Still very powerful on Retributors and Battle Sisters, and at 1CP a stratagem that sees just enough play to keep the Sororitas’ enemies honest with their activation order.
Now we have two new stratagems, the first being Righteous Vengeance – which gives the target unit full rerolls to hit in the Fight phase, and full rerolls to wound if their unit is below half strength. On-demand access to full hit rerolls is a wonderful tool for this detachment, especially on big units of Zephyrim being led by a Canoness with Jump Pack. The combination of Sustained Hits 1 & Lethal Hits alongside the Canoness’ once per game Devastating Wounds makes for an extremely potent melee unit.
Secondly we have Sanctified Immolation; would you like to automagically trigger Deadly Demise for a rhino in the middle of your army and activate your detachment rule? If so, this is the stratagem for you! After an Adepta Sororitas Vehicle model from your army with the Deadly Demise ability has been destroyed, you use the stratagem and the mortal wounds are inflicted automatically.
Overall this detachment remains very strong and with the various updates to the datasheets summarized above will see a considerable amount of play. As compared to the index version, it will definitely miss the ignore modifiers provided by Light of the Emperor, which can now be found in the Army of Faith, as well as the Holy Rage stratagem that previously provided +1 to wound rolls in melee.
Penitent Host
As the name implies, this detachment is focused on Penitents. <Penitent> is a new keyword that appears on the Repentia, Arco-Flagellant, Penitent Engine, Mortifier, and Ministorum Priest datasheets.
If you enjoy watching the light go out of your opponent’s eyes as your Arco-Flagellants pass one Feel No Pain roll after another, or hearing their frustrated muttering as your Miracle Dice pool lets you move and charge like you’re playing Kill Team while they’re stuck playing 40k, this is the detachment for you. Perhaps you are tired of the nuance and synergy of the index, and yearn to return to a simpler time when Sisters castled up around an epic hero and controlled space using murder missiles with a ludicrous threat range to delete anything they touch – this detachment is for you too. The bad old days, they’re back.
Detachment Rule – Vows of Atonement
Penitent Host follows the Gladius/Synaptic Nexus archetype of three available army-wide Vows of Atonement to choose from at the start of the battle round that lasts until the start of the next battle round, with each only able to be selected once. The wording here is different from the Space Marine and Tyranid versions in that you are obligated to select a Vow at the start of the battle round, which means you’ll have hit all three choices before round 4. It’s not clear if this is intentional, but it’s not much of a drawback given what’s on offer.
- The Path of the Penitent: Penitent models add 3” to their move characteristic
- Absolution in Battle: Add 1 to the attacks and strength characteristics of Penitent models that charged this turn.
- Death Before Disgrace: Penitent models destroyed by a melee attack fight on death on a roll of 2+
This creates a pretty straightforward play pattern of movement for staging, a smashing go-turn, and then punishing your opponent’s response, which you can tweak depending on the matchup. The ability to threaten Death Before Disgrace will give your melee-focused opponents fits, while the threat range unlocked by Path of the Penitent will test your opponent’s screening discipline.
It’s worth noting here that the rules expressly affect only Penitent models, so attaching a Ministorum Priest to non-Penitent unit won’t give them access to the detachment bonuses (although it does open up some stratagem options, as we’ll discuss in a bit).
Enhancements
Each detachment gets an enhancement to augment their Miracle Dice pool, and Psalm of Righteous Judgment is almost certainly the best. Any character can wear it, and while that character is on the battlefield, each time a Penitent unit destroys an enemy unit you can change one Miracle Dice in your pool to a six. This of course requires you to have unused dice in your pool, but absolutely punishes your opponent for pushing trade-pieces, as losing a unit to Penitent shooting will boost the subsequent charge phase, and a particularly violent fight phase will feed the invulnerable saves of your backline tanks in the following turn.
The Verse of Holy Piety is only available to a Ministorum Priest, and once per battle allows you to select one Vow of Atonement to be active for its unit in addition to the currently active detachment. The Vows are quite powerful, so this will certainly see use.
The Refrain of Enduring Faith is also available only to Ministorum Priests, and provides their unit with a 5+ invulnerable save. This will make your opponents ask “what Arco nerf?” as they struggle to chew through the dregs of the Imperium.
The final enhancement is probably the most important, and at the imminently reasonable book price of 5 points, you’ll take the Catechism of Divine Penitence every time. This is available to a Canoness, Palatine, or Ministorum Priest, and gives them the <Penitent> keyword and allows them to lead squads of Repentia.
There’s no decision to make here – you’ll give this to a Palatine, and this will unlock the heinous combo of Sustained and Lethal hits on a unit that innately re-rolls all hits and has access to (stratagem spoilers) critical hits on a 5+. This combination is absurd everywhere it shows up, and the one mitigating factor here is that Repentia are significantly easier to kill than a Stormraven or Aggressors.
Stratagems
Final Redemption is the Sisters version of the World Eaters’ Blood Offering, allowing you to sticky an objective you control when a Penitent unit dies within range. Similar to its use in World Eaters, this allows you to punish an opponent for shooting you off of an objective without coming close enough to stand on it, and dovetails nicely with Death Before Disgrace to make an objective unassailable with an even trade. If you find your list is short on both characters and action monkeys, a lone Ministorum Priest is an excellent way to use this stratagem.
Sometimes your units would prefer *not* to die for the Emperor, and instead they can use Purity of Suffering for 1CP. This is used in response to being selected as the target of an attack, and gives Penitent models in a Penitent unit a 4+ Feel No Pain. This can make a unit of Arco-Flagellants or Penitent Engines truly miserable to deal with, particularly when combined with the 5+ invulnerable save from the Refrain of Enduring Faith enhancement, or just the 3+ base save on an anchorite Mortifier. This lets you punish an opponent who under-commits to removing a key unit, or lets you absorb multiple activations at an inopportune time.
When the time comes to purge the heretic, you’ll want the Passion of the Penitent. This gives Penitent models in Penitent units the ability to score Critical Hits on a 5+ in the fight phase. Every Penitent model has Sustained Hits 1, so this is a substantial boost to output no matter where you use it, but Repentia will get the most value from it with their full re-rolls to hit and the aforementioned access to Lethal Hits from including a Palatine. A full unit of Repentia with Palatine under the Absolution in Battle vow will kill on average a full unit of Wraiths with a Technomancer, or six Meganobz in the Waaagh turn. I’ll continue writing, but you’ll still be thinking about that when you get to the end of the next paragraph.
After all, it’s one thing to have an incredibly powerful beatstick, but it’s something else to connect it with its ideal target. Enter: Lash of Guilt. Use it for 1CP before you advance a Penitent unit, and that unit can now advance and charge. If you target a Penitent Engine, which could already innately advance and charge, you automatically advance 6”.
Let us now return to the small matter of the Triumph of St. Katherine. Armed with an aura of +2” to movement and +1” to advance and charge, a unit of Penitents like our humble Palatine and friends can disembark from a Rhino for 3” of extra movement, on the Path of the Penitent for another extra 3” of movement, advance using the 6 in your Miracle Dice pool which the Triumph guarantees you will have for a 7” advance, for a whopping 22” of movement *before making a charge roll*. This isn’t some crazy wombo-combo, this is an idiot-proof tool available to everyone for 1CP (and after Path of the Penitent has been used, your movement decreases to a mere 19”). A unit in a Rhino parked at the edge of your deployment zone can credibly threaten any objective on the table. Whether staging Repentia somewhere to dodge overwatch or preparing the world’s most obnoxious Arco-Flagellant fence, this stratagem works in conjunction with the change to the Triumph to create one of the game’s most infuriating positioning puzzles for your opponent. And reader, we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.
Boundless Zeal is not that best part. Take a moment to recollect your jaw as you read about this imminently reasonable stratagem. For 1CP, any unit in your army can fall back and either shoot or charge. If the unit is Penitent, it can both shoot and charge. This is great for allowing your melee units to hide in combat and then switch targets, or to allow your backline shooting to escape from bully charges. It’s good, but we’ve seen it elsewhere and it’s nothing absurd.
For the final word in absurdity we turn to our final stratagem; a new capability not yet seen in the 41st Millenium. Devout Fanaticism is the Sister’s first access to a Blood Surge move, pushing a Penitent unit d6” as close as possible towards the closest enemy unit, permitting movement into engagement range. What makes this so incredible? The timing on this stratagem is “Your opponent’s shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets”. Much like the Lone Operative-style stratagems in Pactbound Zealots, Canoptek Court, or Ascension Day (RIP to a real one), this happens before your opponent actually gets to shoot, which means if you can get into engagement range with your Devout Fanaticism move, you cease to be an eligible target. This. Is. Bonkers.
Imagine, if you will, a unit of Arco-Flagellants propelled by the will of the Emperor 22” across the board to move-block part of your opponent’s army, or steal an objective at point-blank range. Now your opponent’s move phase must contend with the need to be wholly 7.1” away from this unit in order to safely shoot at it without risking it ducking into engagement range. That’s a heavy lift for many armies, particularly armies without a strong melee component. Infiltrators, Scouts, and skilled deployment can prevent getting locked into Arco-jail on turn 1, but in the mid and late-game this remains a powerful tool to deny scoring and create an asymmetric mental load on your opponent.
Penitent Host might not be the best detachment in the book, but it is the most powerful positioning toolset. In skilled hands this army has the tools to be a movement menace, dominating the positioning game and mercilessly punishing screening and sequencing mistakes. In less-skilled hands, this detachment will still bring wins by simply firing Repentia across the board to delete the unwary. Whether it comes to dominate the metagame depends entirely on where points land at release.
Going full-send on Penitent units opens up traditional mono-phase vulnerabilities to armies with access to Fights First, indirect fire, or multiple transports, as the army is effectively mono-phase if there isn’t budget to sprinkle in ranged output. The shooting portion of the army gains nothing from the detachment itself, but watch this space if the points allow a large power-armored contingent to provide support alongside the Penitents themselves. Bluntly, there’s a real risk that this detachment is just too strong. However, and most importantly, this detachment is really cool, and Bloody Rose enthusiasts should be happy with a melee-focused option that proves the Emperor’s most devout don’t sully themselves with guns.
Bringers of Flame
Purging the foe with holy fire is a key part of the Adepta Sororitas’ vibe, and Bringers of Flame leans into this extra hard. It’s also unusual, in that it’s the most direct cross-faction copy of a Detachment we’ve yet seen, borrowing both a Detachment rule and several Stratagems from the Firestorm Assault Force in Space Marines. Anyone familiar with that Detachment will know that this is incredibly good news, as it’s a very strong one which plausibly has even better synergy with Sororitas than it does with Marines. The resulting detachment is very powerful if you want to run a shootier version of Sisters, though terrifyingly some of our review team think this might be the weakest of the four Detachments. That’s more a comment on the incredibly high average power level here than this detachment being bad, and I (Wings) am hotter on this one, and think it will create some of the best builds.
Detachment Rule – Fervent Purgation
This is a straight import from Firestorm – all your ranged weapons gain Assault, and get +1S within 12”. For an army that’s very heavy on melta, this is incredibly good, as 9 to 10 is a very valuable break point, and it’s certainly not bad on the various things it jumps from 4 to 5.
Enhancements
The Enhancements in this detachment are the main place this divergent from Firestorm, carving out their own little niche.
Righteous Rage is first, letting you channel up to three Miracle Dice when the bearer fights, getting +1A and +1S for each. Where this feels neat is on a solo jump Canoness as a counter-charge/missile – combined with her own ability, you can crank her up to have 11 S8 attacks with Devastating Wounds (or 9 S9 attacks with Sustained, your call), which ends up playing a lot like 9th Edition Howling Banshees. It’s not cheap miracle-wise, but it is cheap on points – that model is only 60pts in the book.
You probably don’t want that in the same list as Manual of Saint Griselda, which lets the bearer combine two Miracle Dice into one (adding their values together to a maximum of 6) in your Command Phase. This doesn’t feel necessary in this book, because you now have plenty of ways to use low-rolled dice.
Fire and Fury is a very exciting unit buff, giving models in the bearer’s unit either +1A on Torrent weapons or Sustained Hits 1 on other guns. This lets you punch up with whatever you fancy playing with, and the only tragedy is that you can’t get this into a Paragon unit. Don’t forget that you can use a Miracle to auto-trigger this, so you might consider it with a Dialogus.
Finally, the Iron Surplice of Saint Istalela gives a Canoness or Palatine a 2+ Save and 5+ Feel No Pain, which while very much a nice-to-have only costs 5pts in the book, so it’s something you might literally be able to just cash in with some floating leftovers. It’s also quite handy in a detachment with access to (spoilers) an Armour of Contempt equivalent.
Stratagems
And now, back to stealing stuff from Space Marines – starting (as trailed above) with Shield of Aversion, which is just Armour of Contempt. That’s fantastic for the Sisters, and particularly good on either a unit with an Imagifier for a 2+ save or on Paragons with Vahl.
Other tricks stolen from Firestorm are Blazing Ire, which lets a unit in a Transport get out and shoot back when the enemy has the temerity to shoot at their ride, and Cleansing Flames, which gives Torrent weapons in a unit Devastating Wounds (here costing only 1CP rather than 2). Blazing Ire is just a great thing to have around, as riding Retributors around in Immolators feels good here, while Cleansing Flames plays nicely with paired Penitent Engines or Mortifiers, as with their Twin-Linked flamers you can fish for lots of Criticals.
Rites of Fire is also similar to a Firestorm trick, but shaken up a bit. You use this on a unit that disembarked from a Transport, and when they shoot an enemy within 12” that’s on an objective, they get +1 to Wound and force a Battle-shock if they destroy any models. Obviously situational, but can be a huge lift – if you’re up against T10 targets, the combination of this and the detachment rule can shift you all the way from wounding on 5s to 3s with multi-meltas, which is exciting. You can also help get in position for this with Carry Forth the Faithful, which lets a Transport re-roll Advances and Disembark a unit afterwards (though can’t charge), providing some nifty extra reach. With all your weapons having Assault anyway you already have pretty good reach, so this may not come up that often, but it’s no bad thing to have around, and creates some headaches for opponents trying to work out your threat range.
Finally, to add a bit of melee punch, Righteous Blows gives a unit Lethal Hits in a Fight, and forces a Battle-shock test if they kill any models. Handy on Repentia to force through some damage, and can be tactically handy in a pinch to try and deny scoring – if your opponent Charges aiming to push you off an Objective with OC alone, gambling on killing a model and forcing a failed Battle-shock test may sometimes be worth it.
Realistically, if you’re running this detachment you want to use plenty of your CP on Shield of Aversion, and often some of the rest on Blazing Ire. While that’s fairly narrow use of the tricks, the detachment rule here is super strong going with it, and the incredible lift that access to Armour of Contempt provides to Vahl and units with an Imagifier should, I think, be enough to get this over the line to a really potent list.
Army of Faith
Is your detachment the most devout of the Sororitas Order’s? Do you have the most angelic members? You might be playing the Army of Faith. This detachment leans into the Acts of Faith mechanic and has many stratagems that synergize with “Angelic” Jump troops. But wait, theres more…..
Detachment Rule
Sacred Rites is the detachment rules and it is quite simple, each ADEPTA SORORITAS unit can do 2 Acts of Faith per phase, instead of just 1. I don’t think I have to tell you how strong this is, but man, this can change a lot of scenarios in your favor. Being able to use a miracle on a hit and wound, is pretty big, let alone other combinations, or just 2 sets of damage from a multimelta (Paragon Warsuits with Vahl anyone?) Unfortunately this doesn’t mean you can make both charge dice miracles, but it does let you use a second one if you have to reroll the charge. Worried about needing all these extra miracle dice? Don’t be, just read on.
Enhancements
All of these enhancements are pretty spicy, points depend on how many you take of course, but you are gonna want em. First off in our journey of Miracle Dice generation, is the Litanies of Faith. (The index version with the same name is part of the Hallowed Martyrs detachment called the Chaplet of Sacrifice.) A CANONESS or PALATINE only can take this enhancement and if they are on the battlefield at the start of your command phase roll a Leadership test (7+ on 2D6), if successful you get a Miracle Dice. Pretty straightforward.
The Blade of Saint Ellynor makes a return here in name only as well, the old index version is now the Through Suffering Strength enhancement in the Hallowed Martyrs det. It adds +1 Strength and AP to the bearers melee weapons, as well as gives them PRECISION. Also each time the bearer fights and destroys any enemy models, you gain 1 Miracle Dice. How about a Jump Canoness with this, swinging 5 strength 6 AP-3 2 damage Blessed halberd attacks, that all does precision against those pesky leader models? Or another option, if that Jump Canoness is in a Zephyrim squad, 4 attacks at strength 5 AP-3 2 damage, with lethal hits and sustained hits 1? Its not quite as spicy as the old index version, but it does make a solid assassin with this, not to mention easy Miracle Dice generation as well.
Ok, so are you confused about enhancements with old index names that are different? How about an entirely new one? Divine Aspect is a little more cheeky of an enhancement, but has some potential objective play. In your movement phase, select an enemy within 12″ of the bearer, that unit takes a battle shock test, and if failed you gain a Miracle Dice. OK, so check it, Jump Canoness (see a theme yet?) either moves to get within 12 to use this, or comes in from reserve, and you force a battleshock. This could be an enemy unit holding an objective, which could be a swing in both the enemy losing Primary and you gaining secondary points via holding objectives. On the other hand, this battleshock failure could be the difference in your other unit being overwatched, or stopping your opponent from interrupting a combat, or even using Armor of Contempt to keep themselves alive. Is relying on a Battleshock test swingy? Yes, but it can really flip some scenarios in your favor.
Lastly we have the Triptych of the Macharian Crusade. This enhancement is by far the most funny. Anytime the bearer uses an Act of Faith for a saving throw, it is successful regardless of the value of the Miracle Dice. So as long as you have dice, this character can auto pass 2 saves a phase. Which is kinda crazy. With the characters being toughness 3, this will get the most value going head to head with low attack high damage enemy models.
Stratagems
Ready to talk more about Jump Pack units? Good news these stratagems have you covered. Shield of Faith is a stratagem that gives protection against mortal wounds. Anytime an ADEPTA SORORITAS unit suffers mortals, you can target that unit of a friendly ADEPTA SORORITAS JUMP PACK unit within 3″. For 1CP models in that unit get a 5+ Feel No Pain vs mortals and if you targeted a Jump Pack unit all friendly ADEPTA SORORITAS units within 3″ gain the benefit instead. 10 Zephyrim can have a decently large footprint if you want (or 5 Seraphim hiding behind a wall), so this area of effect can really hamper enemies reliant on mortal wounds.
You remember the old Light of the Emperor stratagem? Well its back, and easier to use. 1CP in the command phase, target a unit of yours, that unit ignores modifiers to WS, BS, and any roll or test made for it (excluding modifiers to saving throws). Also if you targeted a Jump Pack unit, guess what happens? Every ADEPTA SORORITAS unit within 3″ also gets this benefit.
Faith and Fury is our first stratagem without an area of effect, but it can generate Miracle Dice, wooooooooo. Ok, 1CP in the fight phase, your unit gets LANCE and if any enemy models are destroyed, you get a Miracle Dice. With as many units that want to get into melee, LANCE is strong, and extra Miracle Dice is the icing on the cake.
Next up is Blinding Radiance. In your opponent’s shooting or fight phase, after an enemy unit has selected targets, you can use this for 1CP. Your unit gets -1 to be hit, and if used on a Jump Pack unit, it affects all ADEPTA SORORITAS units within 3″. -1 to hit is strong, especially vs stuff like Orks/Tau/Guard, so being able to spend 1CP and do it on more than one of your units is kind of crazy.
Oh boy, ready for something even more crazy? How about AP-5 Multimeltas? Well you can do it. For 1CP Divine Guidance gives an ADEPTA SORORITAS unit an extra AP in the shooting or fight phase. ANNNNNNNDDD, if you kill a model, you gain a Miracle Dice. Oh hey, remember the Blade assassin Jump Canoness? What if she was AP-4 and gave you 2 Miracle Dice for killing a model? Enemy leaders without an Invulnerable Save don’t stand a chance.
Last up for the stratagems is Angelic Descent. 1CP at the end of your opponent’s fight phase, put a Jump Pack unit back into reserve that wasn’t in engagement range. So you also have an uppy downy for Jump Pack units, which has so many applications for mission play and board state. I am starting to wonder what this detachment doesn’t do.
This detachment is bonkers if not just from the detachment rule alone, less dice variance is a huge benefit, and when you see the extra dice generation from the enhancements and stratagems, it seems to all be coming up milhouse. I think this detachment will see the most play myself.
How They Will Play
We’ve decided to do something a little different with this set of reviews: as points are not finalized yet (or at least that these authors know of!), we will be doing detachment-specific focuses as well as lists once those are released alongside the app update.
With the new codex, the Adepta Sororitas are set to make a big splash on the battlefield. Both the three new and the refreshed index detachments offer some serious versatility, whether you’re into melee brawls or holding the line with unshakeable faith. Each of the four detachments has its own unique flavor and strengths, giving players plenty of options to tailor their army to their playstyle. Whether you’re going all-in with the Penitent Host’s brutal close combat or leveraging the firepower and resilience of the Bringers of Flame, there’s something here for everyone.
Miracle Dice are still the heart and soul of the Sisters’ gameplay, and they’ve only gotten better. You’ll have more ways to generate and use these dice, making those clutch moments even more satisfying. Imagine guaranteeing that critical charge or save just when you need it most (often twice thanks to the Triumph of Saint Katherine or the Army of Faith!). The new buffs and bonuses you can get from expending Miracle Dice add a whole new layer of strategy. This means that while you’ll need to think carefully about how and when to use your Miracle Dice, the rewards for doing so are massive. All in all, the Adepta Sororitas are looking like a powerhouse army that’s both fun and strategically rich to play. Move over Muscle Beach, Hot Girl Summer is here!
Final Thoughts
Curie: This book feels really good – probably a little too good. Sisters have been quite the good army since the 2023Q3 dataslate and have taken quite a few big events by storm over the last 9 months. This book is largely an upgrade to an already solid index, and I feel like unless points go up considerably (10-15% army-wide), there is going to be a serious disparity between this army and many of the current factions.
Balance aside, this book feels great; while it “only” has 4 detachments, each one feels like it embodies the sister identity very well and provides a unique way to play the army. I’m looking forward to seeing what the community comes up with for each of these detachments, and also to see many heretics purged along the way!
Wings: Sisters make out like absolute bandits here, landing with a set of rules that’s probably better than anything except launch Index Aeldari, and they’re going to do some horrendous stuff to the metagame unless point hikes are a-coming. Which, to be fair, they probably are – this Codex has clearly benefited from Sisters taking a while to find their feet in 10th, picking up more buffs than were probably needed, but the points will be being finalised in an environment with a better understanding of their strengths.
Boy there are a lot of those – this book is definitely the closest we’ve come to a 9th-Edition style grand faction uplift in 10th, and damn near every single rule in this book has some compelling uses. I do like the focus on Miracle dice putting a bit more emphasis on the various flavours of Infantry rather than spamming tanks, but I suspect it’s going to turn out to be a little too easy to churn them out. I am, I will admit, also a bit mad at the Aestred datasheet existing as it does – we’ve seen Custodes and Genestealers pay heavily for their Index crimes, so why are you adding ways to get Devastating Wounds on multi-meltas in an army with access to auto-sixes? The Aeldari Index is still winning events a year later after like four rounds of nerfs. Simply do not do that!
It’s tough though, because this is such a fun read. It’s easy to remember the excesses of 9th and forget that the books also did a fantastic job of making the army fun to play with, just not always against. This is easily the most powerful book yet released in 10th, and it’s very much because the driving goal seems to have been to ensure every rule is viable – and that’s a good goal to have! For what it’s worth, I think the job done here does show some of the strengths of 10th Edition’s design for keeping such excesses in check – this is very strong, but it’s not the layered nightmares of Drukhari with Cult of Strife or Leviathan/Crusher Stampede, and if every book was releasing at around this power level I’d be thrilled. Given that quite a few factions are decidedly not at this power level, some point tuning will be needed, but if you’re a Sisters player you should still be very hyped – this is going to be a blast to use.
TwoHorse: My favorite aspect of playing Sisters in 10th has been using interesting rules to make middling units deliver great performance. The detachments here help to deliver further on that experience, with one significant caveat: there are no more middling units! All but four datasheets got buffs, including quite a few unneeded lethality boosts. It seems silly to complain about a wealth of options, but the best games feel like they’re won on the table rather than in Battlescribe. Sisters have now been given the tools to bully some opponents off the table with raw math and un-interactive set-pieces. That isn’t my preferred style at all – but I recognize it’s been a missing option for a lot of Bloody Rose stans out there, so at least now there’s a detachment for everyone.
Let’s not kid ourselves, I am without remorse and will of course be taking my girls on the road to enjoy our power windfall while I can. That said, my hope is that forthcoming adjustments to the overall state of the game keep Sisters in a healthy place. In the meantime these rules are hella-cool, and I’m going to have a lot of fun tinkering with all the new possibilities when points land.
Sisters win big at the Codex roulette table, but it’s not just them with new rules today – make sure to check out our reviews of the new Pariah Nexus mission pack and the Genestealer Cults Codex as well!
