Just because I'm on hiatus doesn't mean I'm not paying attention to 40K right now. Especially since I'm still planning on doing that "What I Got Wrong" post, I've been trying to keep an ear to everything that's going on. Plus it's pretty relaxing to just kick back with a Survivor style game and listen to competitive 40K podcasts and news.
As such, I'm very aware that competitive 40K is not in a good place right now. Just when it seemed that the nerfs to Aeldari might have had an impact, the Eldar players went back to their Index and came back with some new strategies. Hell! Some of them are still just bringing double Wraithknight and getting results! And to make matters worse, there are Meta boogiemen like GSC, Custodes, Imperial Knights, KSons, and Necrons that are just waiting for Aeldari to get hit with the nerfbat. My subfaction in particular is poised to rise up and overthrow their pointy-eared overlords the moment GW strikes. Of course, they're also very much on the radar for the nerf bat, so the factions beneath them are what fans are really worried about.
At the same time, nearly a third of the factions are struggling to the point they just aren't showing up anymore. Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Sisters, AdMech, Death Guard, and Votann are in some of the worst places a faction has been since 8th Edition. Between players tired of elf covered podiums and players that just want to play their army, fans have been all but holding their breath for today.
THE METAWATCH ARTICLE
Warhammer 40,000 Metawatch – Changes Abound in the First Balance Dataslate of the Edition
Stu popped onto Metawatch again to talk about the changes and the reasoning behind them. While the article itself goes into some of these changes, Stu went through more and detailed them out a bit.
Towering
Towering units like Knights no longer have a blanket ability to see over all ruins on the board. Instead, Knights now need to toe into a ruin to see over it. This means it will be easier for units to hide from Towering opponents. I'm curious to see the exact wording, as they mentioned Towering targets will also be able to hide behind ruins.
Overwatch
Overwatch is now once per turn, unless a rule specifically references it, and requires line of sight. They're also making changes to how many rules that give you free Stratagems work using the Stratagem categories that had returned to mostly being flavor. Now most of these rules will only allow you to use Battle Tactics Stratagems.
Insane Bravery
Unless you have specific rules to take advantage of it, Battle-shock just isn't very useful. And if your army needs Battle-shock to function, then for 1CP your opponent can turn it off for an important unit. Now Insane Bravery can only be used once per game and needs to be used before the roll.
Devastating Wounds
According to Stu, Dev Wounds were always supposed to be a rending ability. But by giving them Mortal Wounds, they've become all purpose. So now, Dev Wounds will only bypass saves and no longer deal Mortal Wounds. This will also affect the few rules that give FNP vs. Mortals.
Custodes
The biggest problem with Custodes is that they are a gatekeeper for any melee army. Since their Fights First Strat isn't a Battle Tactic, they won't have as much access to it any more. Additionally, their unit size has gone down.
Aeldari
Oh boy. This could be 9th Edition Drukhari and Tyranids all over again. At least Phantasm is getting a change. Stu is gambling on the other rules fixing things. But I think Aeldari's rules are just too good. At least they're getting points changes.
Genestealer Cults
GSC is getting a nerf to their rules, though. So the absolute top army with two overpowered rules is fine, but second place is too good? Still, this is a good change. I'm just worried that Aeldari is going to 65%, while GSC might drop quite a bit.
Imperial Knights
The fact that Imperial Knights are doing so well but Chaos Knights are fine sent the message that something needs to change here. So Bondsmen abilities will now only affect Armigers.
Thousand Sons
Cabal Point generators are going up in points, but that appears to be it.
Desolators
For one final note on nerfs, Desolation Squads will be going down from 10 mans to 5 mans. Not sure this will make them any less auto-include, but Space Marines aren't really overpowered currently anyway.
Adeptus Mechanicus
In addition to points buffs, Skitarii have had their durability increased. Hopefully this will help, but their rules are what really need the buff. Still, their Codex is on the roadmap at least.
Death Guard
Death Guard are getting one of the most comprehensive changes, now getting selectable contagions! I'm curious to see what these exactly are.
Leagues of Votann
The Kin are getting a change to their Detachment Rule, getting far more Grudge Tokens at the start of the game. I still think they need more here, but apparently they're getting some heft points buffs too.
Tau Empire
Tau are getting some points buffs, but that appears to be it.
THE BALANCE DATASLATE
But enough preamble! Let's take a look at the actual document!
First, I just want to mention I like the formatting here! It starts with a section clearly labeled CORE RULES and uses the same page numbering the Core Rules do.
Devastating Wounds
As above, no saves can be made against Dev Wounds now. An interesting note is that attacks that trigger Dev Wounds are allocated last. I'm pretty sure this means you'll roll all the attacks for your Dev Wounds weapons at once as normal, then you'll assign any normal wounds, then you'll assign the Dev Wounds, then you'll move onto the next weapon type if any remain. Since this wording only applies to attacks that actually trigger Dev Wounds, I'm pretty sure this doesn't affect the order you actually shoot your weapons.
Stratagems
We're adding a whole new rules text to the Core Rules here, some of which I'm pretty sure is from the Rules Commentary.
So first of all, you can't modify the cost of a Strat that affects multiple units unless all the units have the same rule. For example, I can't use Will of the Hive Mind to target two units with Adrenal Surge for free, as this ability only lets me target one unit with a Stratagem.
Next is the nerf mentioned above that it can only affect Battle Tactics. They leave an exception here for all the Titan abilities that nerf Stratagem costs. Finally, they end with the nerf that you can only repeat a Battle Tactics Stratagem unless a rule specifically says otherwise.
Fire Overwatch is nerfed as above, though I forgot to mention that you can't use Fire Overwatch on Titanic units now. Same thing with Insane Bravery.
Towering
Wow! That was more economic than I was expecting! Just two sentences! And I'm pretty sure it does the trick too! Towering might legitimately be fixed!
Adeptus Custodes
Wait! Why are Vertus Praetors getting nerfed? Sometimes I think GW predicts problems that aren't really a thing. Maybe they're worried that point nerfs will make Praetor spam attractive?
Adeptus Mechanicus
Still need to see the point buffs, but I don't think AdMech had a durability issue. Still, they need these units to get many of their rules to work. Keeping them on the table longer isn't a bad thing.
Aeldari
. . .
There better be some massive nerfs in the Field Manual.
Agents of the Imperium
Here's the nerf everyone was asking for! It's not that you have the point values backwards for two of the Arbites units, it's that Exaction Squads were too big! This'll bring those top armies in line!
Sheesh . . .
Death Guard
Oh wow! It's a Detachment Rule! That means you get Gifts and you get this new sickness! That's actually a pretty nice change! And it doesn't replace the old rule either! It's completely additive!
Skullsquirm Blight is a penalty to Ballistic Skill and Weapon Skill, not a penalty to hit! That's really good! Rattlejoint Ague hits their Save characteristic, which is awesome in 10th edition! Finally, Scabrous Soulrot hits their Leadership and OC. I guess they can't all be winners.
I still think Death Guard need a toughness boost, but this is definitely a cool rule that will hopefully have a big impact on the faction.
Deathwatch
Deathwatch is currently the only really successful Space Marine Chapter. I'm guessing they felt they needed a preemptive nerf, plus something that might bring them more in line with the Gladius. Now all of the Special Issue Ammunition Stratagems only affect bolt weapons. While that's a lot of guns in a Space Marine list, that's still a significant blow to Deathwatch.
Genestealer Cults
Oh wow! That's a huge nerf! I'm actually kind of grinding my teeth here. That's a significant nerf to their rules, while Aeldari got a slap on the wrist! It basically means that if you get hit by an alpha strike, you're probably going to lose those units. Still, they needed the nerf. Hopefully the points changes are on the light side.
On a plus, they gave a small bonus to Atalan Jackals to try and make them a bit more useable.
Grey Knights
Again, what? I know this might be future proofing, but what? Grey Knights did not need a nerf!
Imperial Knights
In addition to the Bondsman ability nerf, they're also changing several of their Stratagems. This could actually be pretty huge. We'll have to see how this effects their standing with their traitor counterparts.
Leagues of Votann
Ruthless Efficiency is now based on the battle size. A competitive game will let them select 4 units to have 2 Judgement Tokens at the start of the game. Additionally, while they only get the CP bonus once per game, destroying any of those units grants them the bonus.
I think the Kin need more than this. This is definitely not even close to the buff Death Guard got. But we've still got to see points.
Space Marines
We end with the change to the Desolation Squad. I still think you take three of these, depending on points. And speaking of which!
MUNITORUM FIELD MANUAL
I'm not going to go through every change here. I'm going to mostly look at the each factions page and see what the overall temperature is. I'll probably pick out a few key units to see how they're doing.
Adepta Sororitas
Sisters have gotten points drops across the board! The only thing that went up were the Crusaders. Other than that, nearly all of their units got some buffs. Some of them are significant too, with Warsuits going down 40 pts. This is a promising start to this document.
Adeptus Custodes
Wow, these are some interesting changes. A lot of tournament staples have been nerfed, but many of the Custodes units have actually been buffed. Some of them, such as Vertus Praetors, really needed it too. It looks like just because the community is calling for heads to roll, that doesn't mean that the rules team isn't trying to get some balance within the faction as well.
Adeptus Mechanicus
Again, sweeping buffs! Probably the most notable ones are the buffs to Skitarii, which were already getting a durability boost from the Dataslate. Rangers are now 9 pts a model and Vanguard are now 8 pts. AdMech armies are about to get much bigger.
Aeldari
Oh boy, the community is not going to be happy. While there are significant nerfs here, I'm sure people were wanting more. Combined with no further addressing of the faction's rules, there are going to be a lot of people claiming they didn't go far enough.
As far as actual nerfs, Farseers have gone up 15 pts, which is a lot but won't stop them from being in every list. Fire Prisms went up 30, which might be enough to have an effect. The Yncarne went up a whopping 80 points, which will likely take it off of auto-include. War Walkers went up 15 pts, which I don't think will affect them much. Warp Spiders went up 3 pts per model, which is pretty significant but probably still has them seeing play, same with Wraithguard. I wonder if maybe they should be locked at 5 mans. The Wraithknight went up a further 35 points. Combined with the other nerfs, that might actually bring them somewhat in line.
All and all, I'm still very worried about Aeldari.
Agents of the Imperium
I don't know what is going on here. The Exaction squad is now more in line with the other Arbites squad, going up a whopping 3 pts per model. But I have no idea what's going on with Voidsmen or the Callidus. Voidsmen didn't need a nerf, and the Callidus definitely didn't need a buff.
Astra Militarum
Guard got buffs to nearly all of their infantry and vehicles. Catachans are down to 5.5 points per model, hopefully making them playable for their fans. Some of Guards artillery pieces took further nerfs, though the Basilisk wasn't one of them. Strangely, the Thunderbolt also took a small nerf.
Black Templars
Black Templars are one of the few Chapters that competes with the Gladius, so this might be predictive of some overall Space Marine buffs. Nearly every model got a buff, with the exception of the Lancer and the Marshal, both of which took 5 pts nerfs.
Blood Angels
Blood Angels are in much more need of help, and they've got sweeping buffs too. Everything but the Baal Predator, Corbulo, and both Tychos got help. Death Company with Jump Packs went down 5 pts a model and San Guard went down 8 pts. Their detachment still needs help, but maybe they'll get more options when their Codex drops.
Chaos Daemons
The Neverborn aren't in a terrible place right now, so it looks like GW is trying to address some internal balance. Many tournament staples got nerfs, such as Be'lakor and Shalaxi, while a handful of other units got some buffs. I won't lie, I don't know enough about the faction to know if these buffs are enough to shift the way Daemons are usually played.
Chaos Knights
The same thing appears to be true for Knights, though I know a bit more here. Right now, Chaos Knights are heavily dependent on War Dogs with some lists being made up entirely of these smaller patterns. Apparently, GW is worried Knights might rise a bit in the rankings, as nearly all the War Dogs have been nerfed. But the Karnivore went down. Other than that, the Rampager got a small buff.
Chaos Space Marines
Like their former brothers, CSM could use a little love but might just benefit from having the top factions brought down a peg. Their points changes are much less sweeping than the two loyalist Chapters we've seen so far. Some of their staples have gone up in points, such as Abaddon, Forgefiends, and Oblits, but mostly it's good news.
Dark Angels
Again, it's all good news, though not as sweeping as Blood Angels or Black Templars. Dark Angels make pretty good use of the Gladius Taskforce, so this isn't too surprising. Again, it's their Detachment that really needs fixed.
Death Guard
This is a substantial buff on an already substantial buff! Nearly everything has gone down, including Mortarion, Poxwalkers, and Typhus! Only the Predator Annihilator and the Plague Surgeon were untouched. Plague Marines are now 16 pts per model!
Deathwatch
In addition to their Stratagem nerfs, Veterans and the Proteus have both gone up in points. Meanwhile the Spectrus and Bikers have gone down slightly. This is nearly all internal balance, so it's clear that the strats are supposed to bring Deathwatch in line with the other Space Marine chapters.
Drukhari
Again, we have a struggling faction, and again it's all good news. Ravagers have taken a nerf, but other than that it's sweeping buffs. Even Lelith went down in cost.
Genestealer Cults
Again, we deserve it. But again, I just don't feel like these nerfs are in line with Aeldari. At least our Genestealers went down. We're definitely going to need to be much more careful with our resources now.
Grey Knights
Despite the slight nerf in the Dataslate, these are some really good buffs. I feel like Grey Knights are one of those faction you need to take light touches to, though. Their mobility is really potent. But at the end of the day, they lost a lot of striking power. Something needs to make up for it.
Imperial Knights
Oh wow! What is this? Both Armigers went up to 150 pts while Canus Rex actually went down to 460! Chaos Knight players are not going to be happy. The nerf to Bondsmen better be enough.
Leagues of Votann
Every datasheet! Every. Single. Datasheet! Einhyr are now 30 pts per model. The Sagitaur is 100 pts. Hearthkyn are now 11 pts per model, below where I said they needed to go. And probably most importantly, Kâhls went down 20 pts. This is a good start to getting Votann back in the fight.
Necrons
Necrons are in a spot where they could potentially become the next faction to beat. They have some incredible toughness and were untouched by the Dataslate. But GW has decided to focus on internal balance. Many of their problem units have taken nerfs though, including the Reanimator, Lychguard, and the Transcendent C'tan. But Warriors actually went down to 11 pts per model. Necrons could be in really good shape for the new meta.
Orks
Again, GW looks to be taking an opportunity to address some internal balance. Only a handful of units took nerfs though: the Beastboss on foot, Mek Gunz, Trukkz, and Big Trakkz. All the rest is good news, including a buff to Kaptin Badrukk.
Space Marines
The poster boys need some love this time around, and they're getting it. Lancers, Inflitrators, Hailstrikes, Thunderstrikes, Sternguard, Guilliman, and, strangely, Assault Terminators went up. But other than that it's all buffs and lots of them. I'd say over half the index got buffed, and that's a lot of datasheets. Oh, and Desolators went up to 40 pts per model. Get wrecked!
Space Wolves
I was a little worried when the last metawatch somehow had Space Wolves in the clear, that they weren't going to get the love they needed. Other than a nerf to Wolf Scouts, though, it's all good news for them. Again, they need their Detachment fixed, probably more than any Chapter, but this should help a little for Space Wolf players willing to run a Gladius.
T'au Empire
Again, it's all good news. There's honestly too many good and meaningful buffs here, that I'm a little worried T'au might be too good. At least I would be if Eldar hadn't gotten such a light touch.
Thousand Sons
This isn't all bad news, as there does appear to be some genuine attempts to improve internal balance here. But it's still mostly bad news. Every character went up considerably, and it's definitely going to hurt. Hopefully KSons players can still take advantage of some of the other faction nerfs.
Tyranids
Our Codex technically isn't out yet, but we're getting some preemptive point changes. I don't know if these are nerfs or buffs from where they are in the codex, so I can't really speak here. I knew there were some odd costs though, almost certainly due to the book going to print before certain other changes were made. But it's clear they're trying to do some internal balance passes here. Oh, and they're very obviously nerfing Biovores further as well as making sure you never take Mucolids or Spore Mines. I also see a weird change to Ripper Swarms where you take them per base. I guess that works better with the way the kits work.
I need to see the codex before I'll comment more, though I think it's clear I want to.
World Eaters
Melee armies are in a bad spot and that means World Eaters are in a bad spot. So with the exception of Forgefiends, it's buffs across the board! Of note, the obviously overpriced flavors of Eightbound have both gone down a significant amount of points.
RULES COMMENTARY
But wait! There's more!
The Rules Commentary was also expanded. Let's see what questions have now been answered.
We get another clarification on when a model is eligible to shoot. If a model has a ranged weapon and fires, it is no longer eligible to shoot until the next phase. This honestly was obvious based on the rules for the Shooting phase, but there it is.
We also get a clarification to how Vehicles with bases work that was obvious based on the Commentary for base-to-base contact. Still again, it's nice to have it spelled out somewhere.
And . . . that's it! That didn't actually address any of the questions I've seen in community posts about rules interactions. Hopefully we'll start getting FAQs to go along with the Codexes again.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, watch out! I'm huge!
I was one of the players that believed that the changes to Aeldari were going to be meaningful before. But Aeldari players just kept showing how good their faction rules were. GW believes the changes to the Core Rules and Phantasm are enough that now the faction just needs points changes. But I'm worried we've seen this story play out before.
GSC on the other hand feel like they've been nuked from orbit, with significant changes to their Army Rule and heavy points nerfs. Those that were nipping at their heals for second place have also gotten some pretty heavy hits with the nerf bat. Of them, Necrons feel like they're walking away in the best position to challenge the throne.
For the other factions, we'll have to see. The bottom factions all got significant buffs. Most of them should be in better position now, especially Death Guard. But some of them, such as AdMech, need rules not models. And they're not getting them. Votann, well, they need rules and Datasheets. Hopefully they have more coming when their Codex comes around.
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