It’s Balance Dataslate time once more, bringing joy/terror to 40K players worldwide, and sowing the seeds of a whole new metagame. As always, we’re unpacking the changes and the impact across the game’s factions, and in this article we’ll be covering the game’s Xenos factions – Aeldari, Drukhari, T’au, Orks, Genestealer Cults, Necrons, Votann, and Tyranids – and talking about what changed and how it’ll affect your games.
The rest of our regular Dataslate coverage can be found at the links below:
This time around there are also four new Detachments and an Index update, giving three factions that have had their Codexes for a while some new toys, and unleashing a whole raft of changes and a new Be’lakor-themed detachment for Daemons. These can be found below.
- Index Chaos Daemons 2.0: The Goonhammer Review
- Detachment Focus: Shadow Legion (Daemons)
- Detachment Focus: More Dakka! (Orks)
- Detachment Focus: Lions of the Emperor (Adeptus Custodes)
- Detachment Focus: Experimental Prototype Cadre (T’au)
Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of the Balance Dataslate and associated content.
Aeldari
Points Changes
- Fire Dragons: +10 per 5 models
- Striking Scorpions: +10 (5 models only)
- Dire Avengers: +5 per 5 models
- Dark Reapers: +15 (10 models only)
- Wave Serpent: +10
Rules Changes
Asurmen’s once a game Hand of Asuryan ability is adjusted from 3+ anti-infantry to 5+ anti-infantry.
Edit: Also, as a late entry – yes (via errata), Ynnari Asuryani can ride in Falcons/Serpents, no you don’t have to invent quantum keywords to make it work. Also, Corsairs get Battle Focus now, which is neat!
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Boon: Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Ynnari returning to their glory by escaping all accountability for their sins while the Craftworlders eat the consequences once again.
In general, we have a bit of a perplexing set of changes that I think are probably directionally correct but how we get there feels a bit like throwing darts. Fire Dragons were obvious, and the increase to the Dark Reapers is excellent, being both warranted and displaying restraint to not blanket increase on the 5-man. But it’s unclear to me just what Dire Avengers did (or what they do in general) to warrant the increase even while the change on Asurmen’s ability is a good one. Wave Serpents eating a point increase likewise feels premature as they were already expensive vs other entries in their class and are valued more for their protection of T3 Infantry than anything else. Likely targeted at raising the cost of the army overall.
While the adjustments in total are limited, they are impactful to Aspect Host and Warhost armies in particular which are two of the leading subfactions. Which makes the complete whiff on Ynnari that much more odd. Ynnari needed a clear adjustment to how Lethal Intent is handled, and as the leading detachment in terms of performance, their complete avoidance of an adjustment here is baffling. I cannot make up my mind on whether these adjustments were already determined at codex release or not. They do see point increases from Fire Dragons – but much like the color of a dress, the internet is bitterly divided on whether Ynnari can ride in Wave Serpents. Completely on brand for this collection of malcontents, they wreck up the place and everyone else pays the bill.
Overall the update is effective in curtailing the top-end with the noted Ynnari exception, but I think many players, myself included, have looked at the performance to date and hoped for some slight tweaks in both directions, not just increases, to improve on underwhelming units like Wraithblades and Shining Spears. Eldar have done well out of the gate, but nowhere near what many feared as they have settled nicely into the goldilocks zone… so far.
I’m sure labeling this as a win will cause many well considered and thoughtful reactions from the coolest Redditors we know, but this faction doesn’t play in a vacuum and some of the more difficult matchups, particularly Bridgehead, ate significant nerfs. Given the nearly untouched nature of the Ynnari and the otherwise minimal and targeted adjustments, the Eldar should continue to play their game, avoiding at least one boogey-man, with good players continuing to make the most of the dynamic and flexible ruleset.
God, I can’t believe Ynnari got away with it again.
Drukhari
Points Changes
- Kabalite Warriors -10pts
- Wyches -10pts
Rules Changes
None
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Wings: Sure. No spectacular changes, but you’ll have 20-30pts to shuffle around in a lot of builds, and are slightly more incentivised to take a Lelith/Wych unit again.
Genestealer Cults
Points Changes
- Neophyte Hybrids +15pts for 20-model squads.
Rules Changes
None
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
TwoHorse: The change to units of 20 (but not 10) neophytes is a precisely-targeted hit against the dominant Host of Ascension build, and a gentle nudge to the folks running a single brick in Final Day to put the enhancement on a different unit. There are several strong GSC builds that remain untouched, so overall the faction comes out okay as most of the top predators have taken a haircut. Unfortunately high-volume Ork shooting is phenomenal into GSC profiles, so our new Dakka overlords may hold GSC down for the next cycle.
Wings: 80 Neophyte Host of Ascension has been affirmatively back for the last month or so, and a hit on big units is one of those “safety valve” changes that GW sometimes make to ensure a build doesn’t sweep to dominance when its predators are removed. Cults probably needed some sort of small boost elsewhere to compensate, but there are valid configurations of Final Day, Outlander Claw and Biosanctic out there, and Day of Ascension isn’t going to be outright dead from this, so the faction should still be relevant if not dominant.
Leagues of Votann
Points Changes
None
Rules Changes
The bonus from Ruthless Efficiency, which let you hand out Judgement Tokens to four targets at game start, has now been split up. Half of it (i.e. picking two targets) becomes part of the army rule (so is available to Hearthband) and the other half remains part of Ruthless Efficiency.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Wings: Ugh are you going to make me learn what Hearthband does now? Really? One moment.
So sarcasm aside, this is a very smart change – GW have recognised a problem (that Votann balance was fully dependent on pre-game tokens) and directly addressed it in a sensible way. Does that make Hearthband worth a look? Probably still not, though I can imagine there might be an extreme Sagitaur spam build that wants to try it. Access to re-rolls is something Votann don’t get much of otherwise, and now you actually get a head start on Tokens you can theoretically make good use of it. However, re-rolls being tied to the closest target means that a smart opponent can hold their marked stuff back, and he lack of access to Appraising Glare (and indeed the Enhancements in Hearthband just being kind of naff) is probably still a killer.
That leaves Votann as almost entirely unchanged in any meaningful sense, where they maybe needed something? They’re OK and can win the odd event, but is anyone actually excited to run Hearthkyn yet? No? Maybe take another 10 off there and see what happens. Live a little.
Orks
Points Changes
- Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun +10pts
- Tankbustas +15pts
- Mek Kaptin +10pts
Rules Changes
- New Detachment – More Dakka! Find out about it here.
- Taktikal Brigade gets a hit to Lissen Ere’ – you only ever apply a single Taktik, and always have to take a Leadership test and risk a Mortal Wound.
- Tankbustas now very explicitly can only use one Bomb Squig each time they make a normal move, and now require the target to be visible.
Impact
You’d think Loser buuut…..
Thoughts
Wings: Taktikal Brigade gets hit very hard in this update – it’s leapt ahead of other Ork builds sure, but its metagame position probably didn’t necessitate it getting hit quite this hard, though we supposed it was a bit odd that Orks were just flatly better at giving Orders than Guard. Don’t put your shooty toys back on the shelf just yet though, because part of what makes the hits on Taktikal seem disproportionate is that the new More Dakka! detachment is extremely strong, to the point where it would have replaced the shooter versions of Taktikal Brigade anyway.
Expect players who want to jam lots of Lootas and Tankbustas to pivot to Dakka (and probably see an improvement in win rates), and players who like a more all-rounder setup to return to War Horde. You may still see some Taktikal lists too, as Mek Kaptin’ (even at the higher price) plus Battleline Stormboyz do provide some unique strong draws that Dakka can’t imitate, but this likely ends up fringe rather than a mainstay.
Necrons
Points Changes
- Doomsday Ark +10pts
Rules Changes
None
Impact
Very Slight Loser
Thoughts
Wings: I see we have finally acknowledged the glaringly obvious fact that cutting Doomsday Arks to 190pts was a mistake. Marvelous. Necrons still have plenty of other great stuff, Doomsdays are still fine at 200pts, and should do just fine now that some of the builds that could just carve through them on raw numbers have seen a power reduction.
T’au Empire
Points Changes
- Kroot Long-Spear -10pts
- Krootox Rampagers -10pts per 3 models.
Rules Changes
- New Detachment – Experimental Prototype Cadre. Read about it here.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Points changes here are mostly nice-to-haves, though maybe a bit more exciting for players of both Auxiliary Cadre and Hunting Pack, especially Krootox in the former. The real meat here is the Experimental Prototype Cadre, which reintroduces the uncomplicated joy of turbo-charged weapon Enhancements for Commanders, alongside a strong Stratagem suite for those that like murdering people with Battlesuits. Statistically, that covers 99.9% of T’au players, so enjoy.
Tyranids
Points Changes
- Increases
- Exocrine +5pts
- Tyrannofex +10pts
- Discounts
- Hive Tyrant -10pts
- Neurolictor -10pts
- Trygon -10pts
Rules Changes
None
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
These changes are kind of whatever; you can probably argue that the point changes net out to a slight nerf, since 3x Exocrine and 2x Tyrannofex is pretty common, but most builds also use one Hive Tyrant, and closing the gap between a Neurolictor and regular Lictor on price gives you more flexibility to use the (better) former option. If Tyranids were languishing in the depths of the metagame this would be nasty, but given they’re currently doing decently, this is extremely survivable in a world where Marines and Guard caught big hits.
Final Thoughts
That’s it for the Xenos factions, but there’s plenty more to unpack across the game, so make sure you check out the rest of our coverage, which you can find linked from the top of the page or from the Overview.
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