New 11th edition Adeptus Mechanicus detachments give Skitarii, Tech-Priests, and Electro-Priests new ways to play in their Faction Focus.
The priests of Mars are the penultimate stop on GW’s 11th Edition Faction Focus tour, and the Warhammer Community reveal splits the new detachments cleanly by archetype. Skitarii get recon and Ignores Cover, Tech-Priests get a vehicle disruption and shooting shenanigans, and finally Electro-Priests get melee sustain plus an Overwatch shutdown. This just might be the cleanest division of labor Adeptus Mechanicus has had in editions.
Plus, the other thing worth keeping in mind is these three slot into 11th edition’s new Detachment Points system at 1-DP each, where you can stack multiple detachments up to three in a 2,000-point game.
GW even called out the obvious combo of Cohort Acquisitus plus the existing Skitarii Hunter Cohort working together that get Stealth and all the Skitarii buffs piling on top. So the decision becomes less “pick one of three” and more “which two of these go in your list.”
Don’t forget that AdMech took home a Warhammer Worlds Championship, so the timing on three new rule sets for a faction that can win at the highest level is a big deal as well.
Cohort Acquisitus Hands Skitarii Recon, Speed, and Ignores Cover
- Cohort Acquisitus turns Skitarii into a recon-heavy detachment that ignores cover on the move: Enhanced Augurs and the Defect Scrutiny stratagem hand your fastest units the ability to spot hidden VIPs and trade Ballistic Skill penalties for actual damage.
- Lords of the Forge wraps Tech-Priests in an improved Invulnerable Save plus Feel No Pain: Baffling Data Screed adds a Vehicle debuff or a friendly safeguard, and the Holy Avarice enhancement keeps a Tech-Priest swinging between archaeological dig and battlefield command.
- Luminen Auto-choir lets Fulgurite Electro-Priests heal while they fight and shuts off enemy Overwatch: Voltagheist Reliquary turns off Overwatch against the Tech-Priest’s unit, and Momentum Feedback punishes anything that fails to kill them outright.
The Skitarii legions get configured for whatever mission the Tech-Priests are running this week, and Cohort Acquisitus is the recon-flavored configuration. The whole detachment is built around finding hidden enemy units, closing the distance quickly, and hitting them before they can fire back.
Your Serberys Raiders go from “fragile cavalry” to “invisible carbine platform with 18-inch Devastating Wounds,” which solves their problem of normally dying too fast.
- Enhanced Augurs is the recon ability the Skitarii needed. Pack it onto your fastest Codex units, and you reveal hidden VIPs while closing with the enemy on the same turn.
- Serberys Raiders go invisible-ish at will. Their 15-inch Lone Operative gives them plenty of time to spit out Devastating Wounds, so the squad you used to lose on turn one suddenly hangs around long enough to score.
- Defect Scrutiny stratagem makes Recon Augury units buddy up. Two units supporting each other’s shooting with Ignores Cover is real damage in 11th edition, where Ballistic Skill penalties are the thing nobody wants to eat.
The stack here is what makes this detachment scary. On its own, Cohort Acquisitus is a solid recon pick. Paired with Skitarii Hunter Cohort under the new 11e Detachment Points system, you get every Skitarii buff at once, plus Stealth on your cyber-mounts so they no longer need to wedge inside terrain to survive.
Lords of the Forge Turns Tech-Priests Into Immovable Objects
The Adeptus Mechanicus is essentially its Tech-Priests, so a detachment built around the Priesthood was overdue. Lords of the Forge takes even the most modest Tech-magus and gives them an improved Invulnerable Save and the Feel No Pain ability.
- Improved Invulnerable Save plus Feel No Pain on Tech-Priest Characters. Not dying is a great skill for Characters to have, and now they keep doing it under volume fire.
- Baffling Data Screed debuffs a Vehicle or safeguards your own troops. Same ability, two jobs, which is exactly what you want when the matchup might be Knights or might be Guard armor.
- Holy Avarice enhancement keeps a Tech-Priest doing two jobs at once. Their enhanced minds run an archaeological dig and battlefield command in the same turn, and woe betide whatever sits between them and the next relic.
The Lords of the Forge also gets a really big gun enhancement that, on its own, could take down some vehicles with a lucky roll or two. The casket-flavored weapon is the work-of-pure-destruction option, which is on-brand for a faction whose entire shtick is overengineering.
Luminen Auto-choir Makes Electro-Priests Heal, Hit, and Shut Off Overwatch
Electro-Priests are already weird, and the Luminen Auto-choir is the detachment that lets them act like it. Fulgurite Electro-Priests already make excellent Bodyguards for Tech-Priests thanks to their native minus 1 to Wound when escorting a Character, and the detachment now lets them heal while they hit people with electro-staves.
Combine that with a stratagem that turns off Overwatch against the Tech-Priest’s unit, and you have a melee package that gets the charge without dying on the way in.
- Fulgurite Electro-Priests heal while whacking people. The minus 1 to Wound on the escort is still there, and now they self-sustain in melee instead of disappearing on the swing back.
- Voltagheist Reliquary turns off Overwatch. Now charging Electro-Priests stop rolling 5+ Invulnerable Saves into a wall of return fire, which is the failure mode that used to make taking this unit a coin flip.
- Momentum Feedback punishes everything that fails to kill them. The stratagem is the persuasive argument; anything that doesn’t put the sparky boys down is barrelling straight into whatever shot at them.
Either way, the Electro-Priest detachment also fixes the longstanding problem of running headlong into combat being the only thing they do well. Now they do it without melting the moment Overwatch hits, and the retaliation damage means even a failed charge punishes the opponent for shooting at them too.
Final Thoughts on the New 11th Edition Adeptus Mechanicus Detachments
Stacking detachment is the play here, not picking them. The new 11th edition Detachment Points let you pair two (or three) of these detachments under one army, and each archetype gets 100% better with its special rules on top of the existing Codex detachment.
Now, we’ll have to see how this all shakes out competitively. AdMech recently took home a Warhammer World Championship with the 10e detachments, so the 11e versions getting more flexibility under Detachment Points is the kind of update that should get noticed pretty quickly at GTs.
The Faction Focus tour finishes tomorrow, and after that, the full 11th edition rules cycle hits in June 2026 per the 11th Edition release roadmap. So there will be plenty more to react to before the new books actually drop.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Adeptus Mechanicus Hub: News, Rules & Updates
- Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Rules, Rumors, and Reveals
- Ad Mech’s Previous 10e Detachments Revealed
- 40k Codex Release Schedule and 11e Roadmap
- How to Play 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Army Guide
- AdMech Win the Warhammer World Championship
- New AdMech Thulia Ghuld and Hastarii Reveal
