After nearly three months, it’s time for another quarterly update for Warhammer 40,000 and this time it’s just points. Today’s points update gives us updated points for every faction in the game, though as usual some have been touched more than others. There’s a ton to go through and evaluate and as usual, we have rundowns of everything that changed and what it means for your army and your games.
In this article we’re talking about the changes to the non-Marine Imperium factions.
Before we dive in, we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with an advance copy of the Q2 Munitorum Points Manual for review purposes.
Agents of the Imperium
The sole “just good for allies” index, Agents of the Imperium have been popping up regularly in tournament winning lists all across the Imperium factions. The two datasheets that are seeing the most play are the Callidus Assassin and Kyria Draxus, with the Eversor Assassin following closely behind.
Status: Loser
Changes
Callidus Assassin +10
Kyria Draxus +10
Inquisitorial Henchmen +10 (only the 4-model size changed cost)
Impact
Curie: The Callidus going up without any meaningful changes to their datasheet is a direct hit on this model’s viability. That being said, they do offer a highly mobile scoring unit as well as CP shenanigans for your opponent, so could still be seen. Inquisitorial Henchmen were being taken as list fillers for a lot of Imperium armies, expect this to change. Kyria was really only seeing major play in Adeptus Custodes and Adeptus Mechanicus lists, will have a minimal impact.
What’s Next
Curie: As it stands the Callidus Assassin was taken in the majority of non-Astra Militarum lists, this will probably change as the points will start to get awkward at 100 points. Kyria Draxus will probably not see much play outside of Adeptus Custodes, as Adeptus Mechanicus have other things to explore now (see below). Inquisitorial henchmen will probably be replaced by the Voidsmen squad for a bigger screening footprint.
Adepta Sororitas
The Sisters of Battle have been tearing up the meta these last 3 (one could argue 6) months while maintaining a somewhat low play rate. Their favourite archetype of 30 arco-flagellants, some tanks, and the Triumph of Saint Katherine has done consistently well in this time period, despite nerfs to all of these in the Q1 2024 and the Q4 2023 balance updates. Sisters are the highest-performing Imperium army in the current meta, with 8 GT+ event wins and a 55% win rate since the Q1 2024 balance dataslate.
Status: Loser
Changes
Arco-flagellants +1 ppm
Celestian Sacresants -1 ppm
Crusaders +5 ppm
Daemonifuge -10
Death Cult Assassins +5 ppm
Mortifiers -5 ppm
Penitent Engines -5 ppm
Triumph of Saint Katherine +15
Blade of Saint Ellynor +10
Impact
Curie: The worst offenders in Sisters of Battle lists were hit (again) – specifically the Triumph and Arco-flagellants. Cheap scoring units in the Crusaders and Death Cult Assassins were also hit fairly hard. Minor buff to units not being taken at all (Sacresants and Daemonifuge), and an unexpected buff to Penitent Engines and Mortifiers.
What’s Next
Curie: I don’t expect Adepta Sororitas lists to change too significantly – Vik Vijay’s Oxford Super-Major winning list went up a whopping 60 points. I think at this point Sisters players will want to take a good hard look at Crusaders and potentially swap them for a cheaper (per model) unit like Repentia, Sacresants, or more Zephyrim.
These changes give more room for Adepta Sororitas players to explore Engines of Redemption – I think many lists will now start with 3 Penitent Engines for the high speed mobility and durability that this datasheet now provides for a very cheap cost. Sisters lists do struggle with Bring It Down, but more and more the Morvenn Vahl + Paragon combination is being played less, so this concern tends to also become less of an issue.
The second consecutive hit to Arco-flagellants reflects that they are not okay – the level of durability afforded at 150 points for 10 was clearly too high and now they are 160 points. I think that lists will still see 2-3 squads of these, as very few armies have the volume of attacks to efficiently chew through the 40 effective wounds in each one.
Adeptus Custodes
Look – they’re a new codex that completely rewrote their index detachment. They’ve been dominant for months now, but who knows what this new book has in store for them at these points?
Status: IDK Anymore
Changes
(Curie: these changes are written with respect to the Q1 2024 MFM, not the codex points as we all know those are fake)
Aleya -5
Blade Champion -10
Knight-Centura -5
Trajann Valoris -10
Valerian -5
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought -15
Impact
Curie: As the Adeptus Custodes codex gets its official release this Saturday, here now are the points to work with! With no surprise to this particular author, the points are very close to the previous Munitorum Field Manual ones. Minor tweaks to a few characters, nothing else of substance.
What’s Next
Curie: In all honesty, I don’t really know where Adeptus Custodes go from here. As highlighted in our review of the codex, there might be some play in each of the detachments, but these points don’t give them much wiggle room on their old builds that mostly got strictly worse. I will say Trajann at 150 points is quite attractive as a melee beatstick – just not to the degree he used to be.
Going from here I expect that the basic core of most Adeptus Custodes lists of 3×5 Custodian Wardens + Trajann + 2 other leaders will remain mostly unchanged. These still provide the best efficiency in terms of durability for the army. From here generals can flex into either Caladius Grav Tanks or include more Custodian Guard, possibly with Kyria Draxus leading one unit.
Adeptus Mechanicus
Status: Let the Bodies Hit the (points) Floor
Changes
Belisarius Cawl -30
Kastelan Robots -20 (90 points per model)
Kataphron Destroyers -10 (35 ppm)
Onager Dunecrawler -10
Sicarian Ruststalkers -10 (12 ppm)
Skitarii Rangers -10 (8 ppm)
Skorpius Disintegrator -10
Sydonian Skatros -5
Impact
Pendulin: Despite eight point drops, including a 30 point drop on Belisarius Cawl, this won’t impact Adeptus Mechanicus on the competitive scene. Units in Admech currently fill one of three roles: dealing damage, playing the mission, or bodies on the battlefield. If a unit doesn’t perform one of these roles, then they don’t hit competitive tables. Kataphron Breachers? Damage, they’re in. Pteraxii Skystalkers? Mission, they’re in. Skitarii Vanguard? Little bit mission, little bit flooding the battlefield.
All these point drops are for units that don’t excel at any of these roles. Sicarian Ruststalkers, despite dropping to 60 points and hitting the fabled Admech Standard Ratio of $1USD per point, don’t kill things fast enough to be damage dealers, lack the Infiltrator ability which prevents them from playing the mission as well as Sicarian Infiltrator, and that only leaves them to be bodies on the battlefield. They’re tempting at 12 points per model, but it’s still a 50% premium over Skitarii Vanguard’s 8 points per model. Dunecrawlers and Disintegrators are notionally damage dealers but, even going down 10 points each, are difficult to justify when Kataphron Breachers and Ironstriders exist.
However, if you’re just playing casually, there’s some fun stuff in these changes. Kataphron Destroyers bring either four plasma shots, or four Anti-Vehicle 2+ shots for only 35 points. Kastelan Robots still punch things to the moon, and are tempting at only 90 points each. Belisarius Cawl, one of the coolest models in the entire game, is hard to include in a list even at 150 points. But that’s cheap enough that you can toss him in a list for fun to be an unexpected beatstick.
What’s Next
Looking at recent Adeptus Mechanicus’s Faction Top 4s, most lists will be impacted by a single 10 point drop on their lone unit of Skitarii Rangers. This isn’t a meaningful change, but I could still see lists getting slight adjustments. The Dunecrawler at 130 points is approaching spamably-cheap for a 2+, 4++ T10, 11W vehicle. It’s not there yet, but it’s getting close. And despite the Skatros not really doing anything on the battlefield, he’s still a 8” move, Stealth, Lone Operative character. Now at 60 points, someone might throw one into a list to be a hard-to-shift objective holder. Probably not though, as that’s a mighty tall order for a mighty tall boy.
Astra Militarum
Let’s be honest – no one enjoys playing against the Imperial Guard’s indirect castle of 3-5 indirect pieces. It’s much more fun to see 60 ponies on the other side of the table ready to rush you down. Despite the strength of their indirect castles and general good mission play with Kasrkin and Bullgryn, they’ve been a decidedly subpar army this meta window, with 7 GT+ event wins and a 47% game win rate since the Q1 2024 balance dataslate.
Status: Loser
Changes
- Attilan Rough Riders -2 ppm
- Basilisk +15
- Bullgryn +10 points for 3
- Hellhound -10
- Hydra -10
- Kasrkin +20
- Leman Russ (all variants except the Demolisher Cannon) -10
- Manticore +10
- Militarum Tempestus Squad -10
- Tempestus Scions -1 ppm
- Medusa Carriage Battery +15
Impact
Curie: Games Workshop is doing their best Michael Jordan “stop it, get some help” impression with these changes. Heavy hits to all the indirect pieces being taken by many Guard lists, with some really nice changes to units that aren’t seeing a ton of play. Units being taken in 2 or 3’s by nearly every successful Astra list (namely Bullgryn and Kasrkin) suffer from substantial increases. Nassim Fouchane’s 2nd-place list at the Oxford Super-Major went up 125 points. Would be interesting to see the rematch between him and Vik after these changes!
What’s Next
Curie: Tough spot for Astra Militarum players – Manticores, Bullgryn, and Kasrkin were all fairly instrumental to their current gameplan. I think we start seeing more Attilan Rough Riders in small squads as at 60 points for 5 they’re quite the nice little trade unit. John Winter Russell has now won 2 GT+ events using a 10-strong Rough Rider unit as a bully unit, I could see more Astra players adding this into their list.
The impact on the traditional indirect castle of 2 Manticores & 1 Basilisk is fairly substantial when paired with the rest of the increases. This may push Guard players away from the indirect meta and more into direct fire options (especially with the decreases to Leman Russ tanks).
Scions getting another point drop should have most good guard players taking a closer look at that datasheet – when coupled with the Q1 2024 Dataslate change allowing them to be given orders when they’re set up from reserves gives them a lot more play.
Grey Knights
Grey Knights have been a bit of a Dark Horse this meta – they’ve done exceptionally well at several tournaments, but aren’t seeing a bit uptick in meta representation as a result. They currently stand at 9 GT+ event wins and a 52% game win rate, while only making up 4% of the playerbase since the Q1 2024 balance dataslate.
Status: Loser
Changes
Brotherhood Librarian +10
Brotherhood Techmarine +10
Interceptor Squad -1 ppm
Nemesis Dreadknight +10
Purgation Squad -1 ppm
Purifier Squad -1 ppm
Strike Squad -1 ppm
Impact
Curie: The NDK spam build got hit mildly, while power armour spam lists got a little more to work with. This also marks the second increase to the Brotherhood Librarian in as many MFM updates.
Wings: This is definitely a net nerf, but a full Purifier unit with Crowe shows up quite often, and a couple units of Interceptors and/or strikes is fairly routine, so this probably does succeed at encouraging a bit more use of them.
What’s Next
Curie: Many lists will still make use of the Librarian, either as a unit leader or as a solo secondary scoring unit (more likely). The Grey Knights detachment ability coupled with the Librarian’s Vortex of Doom gives them mobile damage while still being able to score secondaries like Deploy Teleport Homers.
I expect that there will be a slight decrease in the prevalence of 5-6 Dreadknight lists in favour of a little more power armour-driven builds.
Imperial Knights
Big Stompy robots. Mediocre meta representation and performance as they’ve only won 2 events since the Q1 2024 balance dataslate, and a mediocre 47% game win rate while making up 3% of the playerbase.
Status: No Change (Loser?)
Changes
None!
Impact
Curie: Imperial Knights have been doing ok as of late, with no exceptional or lacking performances in the tournament scene. No change could be taken as a sign Games Workshop sees this faction as being in a good place balance-wise. Or they just have no idea what to do balance-wise with them!
What’s Next
Curie: Not listed here, but above in the Agents of the Imperium – some space will have to be made for the Callidus or Inquisitorial Henchmen point increases. Most likely this will come in the shape of swapping around a Warglaive for a Helverin to make up the 10 points more for the Callidus.
Final Thoughts
Curie: No real winners on the Imperium side here – but that’s fine as many of them were doing reasonably okay (even Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus are winning GT’s). The worst offenders in Sisters, Grey Knights, and Guard got light tapped while a small amount of life was breathed into their lesser picked units.
The next couple months are going to be very interesting for the meta as we’re having quite a few codexes join the fray. Custodes are going to be interesting to watch as I think there may be a little more life in them than initially thought. Orks are going to be wild. T’au are going to be largely points dependent (watch this space in a couple weeks?). We also have Chaos Space Marines on the near horizon, at least based on the Adepticon previews.
Meta felt good going into this slate, will probably feel pretty good for the next couple months as well.
