Now that we’ve had some time to digest the information overload from 40k Chapter Approved, join us as we break down the latest points changes.
Chapter Approved previews stormed the internet after multiple hobby Heroes on Reddit opened up the pages to everyone. There looks to be at least 16 pages of Points changes for Warhammer 40k.
Chapter Approved 2018 Points Changes
It looks like whole datasheets may have entries in the book as well on pages 140-143.
note also that some points match the values found in the corresponding codex; some of those are provided to support the updated datasheets found later in the book, while others update point values that appeared in the last edition of CA
Let’s break down the pictures piece by piece into bite-sized chunks of information.
Space Marine Characters & Wargear
Now that you’ve scrolled through a few of the pages, let’s break down everything and see what it all means!
How Did Space Marines Turn Out?
- Blood Angel characters: except Gabriel Seth had points tweaks. (Dante from 215 down to 175) (Mephiston went up from 145 to 160.)
- Space Marine characters: have dropped in some form or fashion. You may not be able to fit another tactical squad in with their reductions, but it was definitely needed and we feel like these changes are fair. It’s weird seeing a named Space Marine under 100pts.
- Power weapons: got a hefty points reduction with the Chainfist points being cut in half. (22 to 11.)
- Sniper Scouts: are still the best “cheap” Space Marine screening unit with Sniper Rifles points cut in half. (4 to 2.) Keep in mind, this isn’t a huge change but Space Marines need any kind of point reductions wherever they can get them.
- Terminators: in any kind of armor variant got some love and are actually worth taking in some lists now.
- Centurions: Used to be 80 pts a piece without wargear (Not sure what they did to make GW angry). But are now 40pts. without wargear. Remember, All kinds of weapons has gone way down as well. These guys cound now be around 50pts a piece on the table.
- Land Raiders: are considerable now costing 200 pts without wargear (you can probably tack on another 20-40 pts). Roboute Guilliman/Knight Gallants used to cost as much as one of these things.
- Dreadnoughts: Are on the same level as Ork Deff Dreads now. Dreadnoughts cost only 60pts. Depending on what you want him loaded out with can bring him in the upwards of 100pts ballpark.
There’s still a ton of changes left to be talked about. These were the most significant ones we noticed in terms of competitive play.
The Scoop on Grey Knights
- Characters: look to have dropped at least 25 pts apiece. Draigo got cut by a whopping 60.
- Army wide point reduction: Aside from a Servitor, nearly everything in the army including wargear got a point reduction.
- No Full Smite: From what we can tell, the rumors about Grey Knights getting a full smite was bologna.
- Paladins: Still look to be the better alternative to Terminators except for the fact that Terminators can be taken as Troops.
- Heavy Incinerators: got cut in half in terms of points cost (from 40 to 19). We could see “suicide” Dreadknights deepstriking in and flaming multi-wound crowds now.
Grey Knights were designed for Daemon players to play on hard-mode. It wouldn’t make sense for them to be geared out to face every single threat out there in the universe. With that said, they were way too expensive in the first place. Romknightyt on the Reddit forum said:
That just stripped 340 points off my list…. That’s significant. This is what people were saying when they said we were playing with a handicap lol
He basically just said that he could throw a Knight in FOR FREE after these changes. These changes don’t seem too far-out and look to be well-deserved. People may blow the dust off their models and be brave enough to actually try them on the table.
Grey Knights Points Changes:
Units
Apothecary (-15) : 90->75
Brother-Captain (-40): 150->110
Brotherhood Ancient (-38): 128->90
Brotherhood Champion (-23): 113-90
Chaplain (-39): 144->105
Dreadnought (-22): 87->65
Grand Master (-30): 160->130
GMNDK (-20): 190->170
Interceptor (-2): 23->21
Land Raider (-39): 239->200
Land Raider Crusader (-44): 244->200
Land Raider Redeemer (-64): 244->180
Librarian (-44): 157->113
Paladin Ancient (-42): 140->98
Paladin (-6): 53->47
Purifier (-7): 26->19
Servitors (+3): 2->5
Techmarine (-36): 91->55
Terminator (-2): 41->39
Venerable Dreadnought (-25): 110->85
Stern (-52): 157->105
Crowe (-45): 125->80
Voldus (-37): 190->153
Draigo (-60): 240->180
Weapons
Combi-Flamer (-3): 11->8
Combi-Melta (-4): 19->15
Combi-Plasma (-4): 15->11
Dreadnought Combat Weapon (-10): 40->30
Flamer (-3): 9->6
Heavy Flamer (-3): 17->14
Heavy Incenerator (-21): 40->19
Heavy Plasma Cannon (-14): 30->16
Heavy Psycannon (-6): 30->24
Icarus Stormcannon (-12): 22->10
Incinerator (-5): 14->9
Incinerator (Terminator) (-7): 20->13
Missile Launcher (-5): 25->20
Multi-Melta (-5): 27->22
Plasma Cannon (-5): 21->16
Plasma Cutter (-2): 7->5
Psilencer (Terminator) (-2): 10->8
Psycannon (-7): 14->7
Psycannon (Terminator) (-9): 20->11
Servo-Arm (-12): 12->0
Twin Heavy Plasma Cannon (-36): 60->24
Twin Lascannon (-10): 50->40
Twin Multi-Melta (-14): 54->40
Typhoon Missile Launcher (-12): 50->38
Adeptus Mechanicus Changes
Admech has been one of the armies that weren’t exactly “sweeping the meta” in 8th edition. They weren’t in the worst spot…but they most definitely weren’t where they should be. That’s why we can see a vast amount of points drops in some key units out of their army.
Cawl 240 -> 190
Fulgrite electropriests no change
Ballistarii 50 -> 40
Breachers 30 -> 20
Destroyers 30 -> 15
Dunecrawler 90 -> 70
Servitors 2 -> 5
Infiltrators 16 -> 12
Ruststalkers 15 -> 10
Tech Priest Dominus 115 -> 80
Tech Priest Enginseer 35 -> 30
Everything in their army (including what looks to be most wargear) got some kind of points reduction. One of the most welcome changes being that Servo Arms cost 0pts. This used to be a whopping 12. When you run an army that has a Servo Arm on everyone and their grandma, you would eat up points quickly.
Last but not least, Cawl is going WAY down. 60pts to be exact. With Cawl being able to repair himself up to 3D3 in a turn as well as give some crazy rerolls, we may see the Admech Gunline archetype make an appearance.
With the point drop and Stygies rumoured -1 to hit nerf, Cawl went from an auto-include to “Literally what are you even doing if you are playing AdMech and not using a Cawl dakka bubble?”
Tyranid Changes
Tyranids were one of those armies that shook the meta when their codex came out. Then, everyone else started getting their codex and they hit the slippery slope of becoming an obsolete faction. Chapter Approved fixed a lot of the units that nobody was taking as well as a few tweaks that could bring them right back into the meta.
Broodlord: –47 points
Exocrine: – 46 points
Harpy: – 16 points
Haruspex: – 28 points
Hive Crone: – 18 points
Lictor: – 11 points
Maleceptor: –12 points
Neurothrope: +20 points (because reasons?)
Pyrovores: –13 points
Tervigon: –45 points
Toxicrene: –17 points
Tyranid Prime: –30 points (I guess this is their cheap HQ choice now)
Tyrannocyte: –28 points
Tyrannofex: –30 points
Deathleaper: –30 points
Red Terror: –25 points
Swarmlord: –50 points
Heavy Venom Cannon: –7 points
Trygon claws: –20 points
Stranglethorn: –10 points
Venom Cannon: –8 points
reddit user Caridor had this to say:
I expect to see less Neurothropes being used for cheap HQs but apart from that, great changes. Despite his amazing ability, Swarmlord was still a hard sell at 300 points, so I expect to see more of them. Toxicrenes have fantastic damage output for their cost and even more so with these changes, but they don’t suit the current meta so we’ll see how that works.
I expect to see more lists featuring Exocrines and Tyrannofexes. Tervigons might see play in a swarmy list featuring a lot of maxed out squads of termagants. Harpies and Crones might make a few appearances.
Trygons are probably going to see play and not even deep striking. They’re quick, 148 points, 14 wound monsters with 7 attacks that deal D6 damage each. If you manage to get that onslaught cast, use the swarmlord on them, they can one shot a knight and reliably chunk it down to a lower stat bracket.
Imperial Guard Changes
This one is a mind-boggler. Guard lists out there actually went down in points. Here lately, it seems like the Imperial Guard are GW’s poster child instead of Space Marines.
From user Trickstick:
4pt Guardsmen
5pt Veterans
25pt cheaper tank commanders
half price demolisher cannons
lots of vehicles are cheaper, like 10pts off armoured sentinels and 15 off chimera/hydra
Artemia pattern hellhound cannon up 20 points (same price as a Hellhound.) But still does 2 damage and blows up on 4+.
- IG Veterans: We’re not exactly sure if 1pt more is fair to give +1 BS for Guardsmen Vets. With the way armor saves work, a even a squad of 10 regular Guardsman can make short work of some Space Marines on-foot.
- Tank Commanders: dropped 25pts. We could see Supreme Command Detachments solely set on Leman Russ spam because of the drop.
From c0horst:
Yea, there’s literally no reason to not take 3 tank commanders now if you’re doing a leman russ heavy army. 15 points for +1 BS and orders on a Russ is great.
- Valkyries, Scout Sentinels, Lord Commissars &More: dropped in different point values. These are minor changes. Nonetheless, we didn’t think Guard would be getting point drops quite like this.
All in all, Guard have remained as one of the meta Titans since the start of 8th. Their firepower combined with cheap bodies means that they can maintain board control and sniper hey targets that can cause problems as the game goes on.
Necrons Aren’t as Bad as They Were
Necrons were by no means a faction players were spooked about seeing on the table in 8th. They did get some welcome points drops and have some kind of “Aspiring Overlord” rule coming their way. However, nothing jumped out at us that says these guys would be back and better than ever.
Named characters:
Imothekh the Stormlord: 200 > 160
Nemesor Zhandrekh: 180 > 150
Vargard Obyron: 140 > 125
Illuminor Szeras: 143 > 120
Trazyn the Infinite: 100 > 90
C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer: 210 > 180
HQ’s:
Lord: 73 > 65
Catacomb Command Barge: 138 > 124
Troops:
Warriors: 12 > 11
Immortals (including wargear): 17 > 15
Elites:
Deathmarks: 19 > 17
Triach Pretorians: 22 > 16
Triach Stalker: 117 > 85. With Twin heavy Gauss Blaster: 171 > 125.
Shield Lychguard: 34 > 28
Canoptek Tomb Stalker: 165 > 130
Fast Attack:
Wraiths: 55 > 48
Canoptek Tomb Sentinel: 180 > 145
Heavy Support:
Anihilation Barge: 133 > 100
Doomsday Ark: 193 > 160
Monolith: 381 > 320
Transcendant C’tan: 225 > 200
Heavy Destroyer (or rather, his heavy gauss cannon changed): 57 > 50
Sentry Pylon (w/o wargear): 100 > 70
Tesseract Ark (w/o wargear): 220 > 160
Dedicated Transports:
Ghost Ark: 160 > 145
Flyers:
Night Scythe: 160 > 135
Doom Scythe: 205 > 150
Night Shroud: 220 > 185
Lords of War:
Obelisk: 426 > 380
Tesseract Vault: 496 > 566
Gauss Pylon: 550 > 475
Eldar Changes
Eldar got a few points drops here and there. Some of the more significant changes were that Eldrad dropped a bit (Even though he was still seeing play in the meta) and Shining Spears went up. This was honestly needed as they were on almost the same power level as the Blood Angel Slam Captains.
- Wraithknight: is in a much better spot than it was. The fact that it doesn’t have an invulnerable save still hurts. but it did get hit with a crazy points cut.
Eldar Unit Changes
Dark reapers : 12 (no change)
Falcon : 110 (-15)
Farseer : 110 (no change)
Fire Dragons : 10 (+3)
Night Spinner : 110 (-25)
Shining Spears : 24 (+6)
Spiritseer : 65 (no change)
Storm Guardians : 6 (-1)
Striking Scorpions : 10 (-3)
Support Weapons : 25 (-5)
vyper : 40 (-10)
war walkers : 40 (-10)
warlock : 55 (no change)
warlock conclave : 45 (no change)
wave serpent : 120 (+13)
windriders : 16 (-2)
wraithknight : 315 (-87)
wraithlord : 85 (-18)
Avatar : 220 (-30)
Eldrad : 135 (-15?)
Fuegan : 140 (-10)
Jain Zar : 117? (-23?)
Karandras 125 (-25)
Yriel : 70 (-30)
Weapons
Missile Launcher : 20 (-5)
Avenger Catapult : 3 (-1)
Biting Blade : 5 (-3)
D-Scythe : 20 (-2)
Death Spinner : 6 (-2)
Dragons Breath Flamer : 14 (-3)
Firepike : 17 (-3)
Flamer : 6 (-3)
Fusion gun : 14 (-3)
Fusion pistol : 7 (-2)
Scatter Laser : 7 (-3)
Scattershield : 30 (+10)
Scorpions Claw : 9 (-3)
Shadow Weaver : 12 (-13)
Shimmershield : 10 (-10)
Starcannon : 13 (-2)
Suncannon : 60 (- 58)
Twin Missile Launcher : 40 (-10)
Twin Scat Laser : 12 (-5)
Twin Shuri Catapult : 2 (-3)
Twin Starcannon : 24 (-4)
Vibro cannon : 15 (-15)
Wraithcannon : 15 (-2)
Tau Battlesuits & Farsight
From what we could tell from the pictures, Battlesuits got a lot better in the fact that they got cheaper. The best thing Tau had to offer for the longest time was either Fire Warrior Gunline or Forge World Y’vharra spam which looks to have not changed.
We’ve also got Commander Farsight and his Eight to look forward to. It is over a 1,000 pt LOW unit now
TAU CHANGES:
GEAR:
Advanced Targeting system (All other models) 12->6
XV8-02 Crisis Iridium Battlesuit 15->10
Cyclic Ion Raker 39->32
Flamer 9->6
Fusion Blaster 21->18
Fusion Collider 35->30
High-output Burst Cannon 20->16
Ion Accelerator 65->50
Missile Pod 24->15
Plasma Rifle 11->8
Pulse Driver Cannon 97->50
Quad Ion Turret 45->30
Rail Rifle 17->12
Railgun 38->30
UNITS:
XV88 Broadside 60->35
XV8 Crisis 42->27
XV8 Crisis Bodyguard 45->30
TY7 Devilfish 80->70
XV95 Ghostkeel 82->70
TX4 Piranhas 38->30
TX78 Sky Ray Gunship 100->80
CHARACTERS
Farsight 151->125
Shadowsun 167->110
MV1 Gun drone 12-> 10
The Eight (22 models including drones) 1120
Heretic Astartes & Daemons
- Great Unclean One: (cheapest variant) at 275 pts.
- Rotigus: at 285 pts.
- Skarbrand: now costs 330 pts. Cheaper than a Land Raider at the beginning of 8th edition (lol).
- Bel’akor: now costs 240 pts.
- Death Guard Daemon Prince: now costs 170 pts-ish while CSM Daemon Prince costs 180.
- Chaos Terminators: cost 28 pts and Imperium Terminators only 23. We’re not exactly sure why there’s such a point deficit between the two other than GW’s value in the “marks of Chaos” possible?
- Mutilators: dropped down to just over 30pts. These guys are the melee variant of Obliterators. With only a few points more than a Chaos Terminator, these guys may be a healthy option for some kind of Khorne/melee list.
Slaanesh Daemon Changes
Daemonettes 7pts -> 6pts
Seekers 20pts -> 15pts
Fiends 46pts -> 42 pts
Seeker Chariot 70pts -> 50pts
Hellflayer 93pts -> 70pts
Exalted Seeker Chariot 100pts -> 80pts
Herald of Slaanesh 66pts -> 60pts
The Masque 78pts -> 66pts
Keeper of Secrets 223pts – > 165pts
Soulgrinder 235pts -> 180pts
Chaos seems to be in a better position overall. We didn’t expect there to be too many crazy point reductions on the side of the Heretic Astartes as they were in a slightly better position than their Imperium counterparts.
As for Daemons, (especially the named ones), they really needed a break. The bigger Daemons would get shot off the board turn one because of their squishy 5++ Daemon save and mediocre toughness. Regardless, these changes seem to be fair all in all.
How do you feel about the changes in Chapter Approved? Do you agree with Guard dropping in points? What Space Marine units are you going to be giving a try first? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
