It’s Q4 2024 and that means it’s time for a major shakeup to the meta with the Q4 balance update for Warhammer 40k! This time around we’re dataslate-free, instead looking at a series of points update for every faction in the game, plus some errata and FAQ items. In this article we’re looking at the changes to the game’s Space Marines factions – who won, who lost, and how these changes impact each army.
Thanks, as always, to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the balance update.
Space Marine Codex
Space Marines aren’t really a faction. I mean, they clearly are, but the detachment system in tenth edition reduces them mostly to whatever Epic Heroes you’re running – otherwise, why would you play vanilla space marines when four superior options are available and ready to run the same detachments? As a result, the only way to buff Space Marines as a faction without also buffing those four special chapters is to buff the special characters – most notably, the Ultramarines heroes.
Points Changes
Someone at Games Workshop is upset with the Fire Discipline Eradicators stack, because every part of that combo has gone up in points – the Apothecary Biologis, the Eradicators, and Fire Discipline itself. Frustratingly Eradicators get a bump on both the three and six model version (+5/+10 respectively), even though the MSU ones weren’t harming anybody.
Jump Intercessors get a bump too on the five-model version, up to 90pts, while Vanguard Veterans get a by-blow from the Blood Angels lists that have been running them by going up at both five and ten model unit sizes. The jump Intercessors are fair enough, as they’ve been very popular for actions and objective-grabbing, but the Vanguard Veterans feels a little rough as the faction getting the most out of them is about to change anyway.
Otherwise there’s some reasonable drops, though we’ve yet to find the price at which Reivers are a unit you want in your army. Probably the most interesting are the three Storm Speeder variants, with the Hammerstrike at 125pts looking extremely real all of a sudden. Blood Angels players may also be very interested in Suppressors going down, as they already looked like a good fit for taking advantage of the objective play on offer from the Angelic Host.
Most of the rest of the drops are kind of whatever – Phobos Captains, Heavy Intercessors, the Invader ATV and Invictor, both kinds of Terminator – but Guilliman going down (by a massive 65pts) turns him into something worth trying, and the Ballistus is down to 130pts.
Within the Stormlance Task Force, there’s ups and downs on enhancements – Hunter’s Instincts heads up a little and Feinting Withdrawal goes down to 10pts.
Rules Changes
A couple of errata changes in here – Lieutenants are now allowed to join a Captain in “a unit it can lead” rather than specifying, which resolves the question of whether they could do so in things like Crusader Squads where it was a little ambiguous. Forged in Battle from the Firestorm Assault Force is now clarified to give you an unmodified 6.
Desolation Squads catch a random stray as their Targeter Optics ability has the part where it ignored the hit penalty for indirect fire removed – not sure these have seen a table for a year now anyway, and no change to their points, so this is just twisting the knife a little.
Finally, Uriel Ventris gets a surprisingly big change – his Unorthodox Strategist ability is now a Lord of Deceit-style ability, adding to opponent CP costs within 12”, rather than the previous pseudo-Rites of Battle thing.
To finish off there’s three FAQ answers – yes you can use Rites of Battle on units in Reserves, no you can’t fire a Hellblaster if it’s destroyed by something other than an attack (presumably not overriding the designer’s note on the unit itself, which allows them to shoot if killed by their own attacks), and A Deadly Prize remains in play if your opponent takes an objective off you but doesn’t actually work until you take it back.
Impact
Status: Complicated
There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s all tangled up in those four other Codexes. If you’re playing Ultramarines, things are better for you, and Guilliman is massively cheaper. If you’re playing a special chapter, read on. If you’re playing Imperial Fists, White Scars, Salamanders, Iron Hands, or Raven Guard, well, we’re sorry that Games Workshop has forgotten you.
Thoughts
This is a bit of a weird one because many of the best datasheets get point increases, but compared to non-compliant Chapters, Codex Marines are both more reliant on the wider sweep of datasheets in the book (so more likely to benefit from discounted Storm Speeders and the like), and benefit from the massive buffs to Ventris and Guilliman. Ventris plus Company Heroes and Bobby G are such a nasty mid-board tag team on dense tables that they feel like a genuine incentive towards trying a Codex build, so you could argue they’re relative winners in terms of how likely they are to see successful play.
Black Templars
When we published our Hammer of Math article on faction standings on Monday and suggested Marines weren’t a faction in need of help, someone asked if we were joking. And the answer was unfortunately that while Space Marines had a low overall win rate, the four special chapters – Black Templars, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, and Blood Angels – were doing just fine. Each faction is basically Marines+, and that works in their favor.
Points Changes
Our own Campbell McLaughlin has been developing a sudden competitive streak with the Lethal Sussy Five Plussy Black Templars build, and the things you like in that list all got more expensive – Grimaldus, Helbrecht, the big Crusader Squad, and both sizes of Primaris Crusader Squad (though the big version goes up more, to a chunky 320pts, than the small one which is 150). That’s fine – these guys were death-touching anything in the game and so they deserve to cost a bit more for the privilege. Castellans and Marshals drop a little to offset it, but lists still end up more expensive than they are at the moment.
Rules Changes
Despite a reissued index, there’s no actual rules changes for the Templars, though they get an additional FAQ answered – Fervent Acclamation’s additional vow stacks with the enhanced versions of other Stratagems when they target units with a particular vow.
Impact
Status: Loser
While there are small drops here, on the whole it’s negative for Black Templars, who have to make room to accommodate their more expensive units.
Thoughts
All the stuff that was showing up in their lists got more expensive, and they get the extra hit from jump Intercessors going up too. It’s not the changes you’d want if you’re a Black Templars player.
Blood Angels
The Blood Angels are the biggest question mark here, and likely the reason we’re seeing the update this week. Their new codex drops this weekend, necessitating new points for its units. Before that, Blood Angels were doing just fine, and we expect they’ll do just fine after, though it remains to be seen if there’s enough play in their new Detachments to merit multiple builds.
Points Changes
Not exactly “changes” in this case, because the MFM is comparing them to the book points which we all know are a fake idea. On balance these look okay, with the Sanguinary Guard dropping down to 135 per 3 particularly attention-grabbing – they felt very pricey in the printed points, but this is a much better price for them and they may see actual play. Jump Death Company are 130 or 240 for five or ten respectively, and apparently get to keep their extra power fist in the first 5 guys, which probably explains it. The costs for the Index version (i.e. the one with full Hit re-rolls and special weapons one every guy) was 140 for five or 280 for ten, so it’s a substantial saving at the bigger size which probably keeps them alive in the new book. Lemartes drops 10pts, too, so a big squad with him is 50pts cheaper than it was before.
Death Company Captains of both types and the on-foot Marines look decently costed too, so this is overall a decent result for the Sons of Sanguinius – and perhaps most surprisingly Mephiston stays exactly where he was at 125pts.
Down in the enhancements, there’s tweaks up and down – all the Angelic Host ones go up except Archangel’s Shard which drops, while the Icon of the Angel goes up in the Liberator Assault Group while Speed of the Primarch goes down. These probably end up as a wash.
Rules Changes
Some light changes as you might expect for a new codex, mostly just correcting sloppy drafting – the Blood Angels Detachments now properly prevent you taking other Chapters’ unique units in them, Death from the Skies has been erratad to happen in your Movement phase so that its ability to let you Advance/Fall Back and shoot actually works, and Sanguinary Guard are now allowed an inferno pistol per three instead of per unit. They also get the option to mix swords and spears, which is kind of surprising as the issue with them was that there’s no way to build a sword and banner in the box – which apparently is still legal to do even if you can’t model it.
For non-changes, jump Death Company are apparently allowed an extra power fist or power weapon in the first five models compared to what the build instructions and available options suggest. This looked like an error but is apparently intended, so enjoy having two fists and an eviscerator in your five-model units.
FAQ-wise, there’s one straightforward yes answer (the Sanguinor can be placed in Engagement Range of two or more units as long as one of them made a Charge move), and then one weird one. The Sanguinor is allowed to use Miraculous Saviour in the first battle round, except if it isn’t – which is basically just what the rules say already. I guess it’s nice to be reminded that the tournament pack restrictions are technically optional, so if you want to do wild turn 1 deep striking shenanigans you can go ahead and do that in… whatever the other missions are called now.
Impact
Ask again later.
Thoughts
Judged on the merits of the codex, this is a pretty good slate – the rules changes are just fixes for drafting errors and the points have largely fallen in the Blood Angels’ favour. It remains to be seen if the points on the new version of Death Company offset the loss of power from the index, but it’s at least looking like they might, so that’s something.
Wings: Mephiston staying at 125pts wounds me to the very core of my being. Enjoy putting him in every list till he gets overcorrected massively in January.
Dark Angels
The Dark Angels had a very strong showing coming into this update, built primarily on the backs of Deathwing Knights, a unit which, post dataslate buffs, has quietly become one of the most durable units in the game. As a result, every single successful Dark Angels list was running fifteen of them, making them stand out as a surefire nerf target. On the other hand, Ravenwing were more or less unplayable and the Primarch was only showing up as a goof, so there was room for buffs in the faction as well.
Points Changes
- Azrael +10 to 115
- Deathwing Knights +15 to 250
- Land Speeder Vengeance -20 to 120
- Lion El’Jonson -15 to 285
- Ravenwing Command Squad -10 to 120
- Sammael -15 to 115
Rules Changes
No notable changes.
Impact
Status: Slight Loser
The point drops for Ravenwing units are pretty tasty, and Jonson may be worth considering now, but three units of Deathwing Knights and Azrael were showing up in every competitive Dark Angels list, and if you were playing one of those you’re now sixty points down.
Thoughts
TheChirurgeon: Dark Angels take a big hit with the point increases to Azrael and the Deathwing Knights, losing around 60 points to what was already a pretty elite army. Adding additional hurt is the points increase to the Fire Discipline Enhancement in Gladius Task Force, which went up another 10 points and was showing up occasionally in successful lists. These are some tough hits to take and while the list still has legs, it’s going to feel quite a bit worse missing an entire additional unit.
On the upside, the drop to Jonson is intriguing – he can be quite the missile when pointed at an opponent, and he’s starting to approach a cost that makes that worth considering. On the other hand the drops to the Land Speeder Vengeance and Ravenwing Command Squad are neat, but we’re not sure they do enough to make a Ravenwing army viable – the problem is still the damage output on the Black Knights.
Space Wolves
Coming into this update the Space Wolves were one of the game’s best factions, vying with Thousand Sons, Adepta Sororitas, and Drukhari for the coveted A-Tier/top faction billing. The army primarily ran on “Wolf Jail” lists which made heavy use of Thunderwolf Cavalry and other durable melee units to lock an opponent into their deployment zone while controlling the middle of the table and scoring secondary objectives. As a testament to the faction’s prowess, we’ve started to see a wider variety of lists to the standard Stormlance Task Force one, running Champions of Russ and a wider variety of units.
Points Changes
- Bjorn the Fell-Handed +10 to 190
- Logan Grimnar +15 to 115
- Long Fangs -30/-35 to 120/145
- Skyclaws (10/15 models) -15/30 to 165/240
- Thunderwolf Cavalry +20/+40 to 120/240
- Wolf Guard -10/20 to 85/170
Bjorn, Logan, and Thunderwolves all go up, i.e. all the things you were running in Wolf Jail lists. Meanwhile there’s drops on Hounds of Morkai, Long Fangs, Skyclaws (in the bigger unit sizes, not the five-model), and Wolf Guard. The hit on Thunderwolves is particularly big, going up a full 20 or 40 points for three or six models, respectively.
Rules Changes
The only rules changes for the Space Wolves are the IMPERIUM keyword being added to their stupid wolf flyers (did you even notice they didn’t have it?) and two FAQ answers, one ruling you out of using an Apothecary Biologis if you have any SPACE WOLVES units (which the index forgot was different to just an Apothecary), and one similar to the Black Templars answer which allows you get the extra effects for a Stratagem which wants a particular Saga to be active if you use Warrior Pride on that unit first. They’re also impacted by the core rules change to Surge moves, particularly the bit where you can’t make them when Battle-shocked (which they previously could). There’s also an added FAQ that allows Space Wolves running the Champions of Russ detachment to benefit from the enhanced versions of stratagems when counting as having completed a saga with Warrior Pride. This one is a nice buff as it allows unlocking fairly useful abilities without the difficulty of completing said saga.
Impact
Status: Loser
We all expected Space Wolves to get hit hard in this update, and that’s exactly what happened. Thunderwolf Cavalry take the biggest hits here, and given lists were running 18, that amounts to a full 120 points worth of damage to their lists.
Thoughts
Again, the points changes hit all the stuff Space Wolves players were taking, and they get an additional by-blow from points nerfs to Hunter’s Instincts in Stormlance and jump Intercessors. No longer being able to surge move when Battle-shocked is a loss, too.
TheChirurgeon: The drop on Long Fangs is at least interesting – they’d shown up in a couple of lists, usually running the Champions of Russ Detachment – and that’s a pretty big drop in cost for them. Bjorn going up 10 hurts but isn’t that big a deal given how versatile – and annoying – he is when paired with a Callidus Assassin and she stayed pat. Ultimately what hurts most here are the TWC hikes – losing 120 points is a lot, and arguably a bigger hit than what Thousand Sons took. This may not fully kill Wolf Jail, but it’s difficult to imagine those lists still being successful given how little room they had for anything else after dumping all those points into 18 Thunderwolves and three characters to support them.
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