40k’s latest FAQ made some big waves over the weekend, but there’s still a ton more to be gleaned from it all for followers of the Ruinous Powers!
The FAQ changed the meta as we know it. Screens are now even more powerful and flying units took a big hit. But let’s take a look at who won and lost on the Chaos side of things.
New Meta Busters & Changers: 40k 8th Edition FAQ
Jstove here, and after coming back from a long camping trip I’m looking at the hot new FAQ that dropped into the game while I was away.
Fly Keyword & Assault Walking
With the change to the Fly keyword, flying models still hop over whatever they want in the movement phase, but turn off the jets or stop flapping their wings in the assault phase. They are forced to walk on the ground like normal peasants when they charge.
Winners
Daemon Princes and Jump Chaos Lords. Why did they win here? It’s very simple. Because a nerf that affects all flyers affects them the least. Chaos Lords and Daemon Princes are still super cheap and utilitarian. They didn’t lose any steam this FAQ.
Furthermore, between Daemon allies, cheap Bikers, Maulerfiends, Chaos Knights, and Spawn, Chaos Flyers have a lot of friends that can still run interference for them when they want to move up the table. Were they nerfed? Absolutely, but they won’t feel as bad as Slamguinius, as I’ll explain below.
Losers
Slamguinius and any other variation of flying marine hero. Slamguinius took a huge shot below the belt in this FAQ. He had his wings clipped and also went up in points. He was also pretty thirsty for CP, which we’ll talk about later. Slamguinius is a heat-seeking missile that your opponent can just point at a problem and erase. There’s not a lot that a juiced up thunder hammer won’t kill.
If you kill him in the process, that only makes him kill you harder thanks to the stratagem that allows marine heroes one last hurrah when they die. But now that Slamguinius can’t float over a screening unit or a piece of terrain on the charge, he can’t just delete any Daemon Prince or Chaos Knight he wants anymore. Since Slamguinius and his bros were one of the biggest problem solver buttons in the Imperial arsenal, the fly keyword nerf is a big problem for the Imperium.
Knights Dying of Command Point Thirst
Three keystone stratagems in the Knight codex have all gone up in command point cost. The ability to farm CPs has been slashed across the board to one CP per round.
Winners
Questor Traitoris are super happy about this nerf. Chaos Knights are super self-sufficient thanks to their ability to double down on any gun they want. What they lack in Stratagem shenanigans or noble Houses, they make up for by ensuring the business with weight of dice. With two Gatling Cannons and a pair of heavy Flamers, you don’t need command points to do work.
Losers
Corpse Worshiper Knights are no longer a brainless auto-includes in Imperial lists. They’re thirsty for command points. Not even the loyal 32 will keep these guys up past turn one. The first turn Gallant charge into the death squeeze with the Paragon fist is still real, but Knights were hit by a crippling shot to the boiler that will bleed a lot of steam out of their lists.
Expect to still see Knights in Imperial lists since pound-for-pound and point-for-point they’re still competitively priced. But their ability to keep their momentum up has been kneecapped and slamguinius can’t help them either!
Forward Operator and Pre-game Deployment Shenanigans
We’ve received a final ruling on deepstrikers, pre-game sneaky deployment, alpha strike Cultist blobs, as well as Raven Guard infiltration and turn one GSC ambush among others, is at an end.
Winners
Chaos. Despite the fact that the forward operating Slaanesh/Alpha Cultists doubled down with endless cacophony, vets of the long war, and a follow up with tide of traitors was nerfed into next week, the Imperial machine is so out of gas that this CP-thirsty alpha strike is no longer a first turn requirement to keep pace.
Without a required Alpha Legion detachment to get forward operator Cultists, Chaos armies effectively have a free detachment again to list build with.
Losers
Everyone else with forward deployment options. Chaos Cultists were the premiere “forward deployment alpha strike squad”. They had stratagem options for double shooting, +1 to wound rolls, and a refreshed unit without paying for reinforcement points. Losing the best forward operators in the meta didn’t hurt Chaos compared to how much Imperials are hurt by the FAQ.
Everyone’s FO’s got nerfed, and Imperials also lost their most important list building tools. This was nothing but wins across the board for Chaos and what we lost for it was cheap at the price.
Good Looks in Chaos Moving Forward
- Traitor Knights: With huge nerfs to CP farming and the thirstiness of loyal Knights, the self-sufficient double-gunned Renegades look better and better.
- Noise Marines: Now that deepstrike and forward operator stratagems have been kneecapped into oblivion and you have a good chance of not running into an instant swamp on turn 1, Noise Marines are looking great. With guns that ignore cover (For the turn 2 stratagem) and the ability to automatically pop when they die, (A cooked-in ability that other factions pay stratagems for) Noise Marines are in a good spot to deal with the new deep strikeless static first turn meta.
- Khorne Berzerkers: Berzerkers are like Noise Marines in that they aren’t bad, but they aren’t all-stars. They’re super useful with a cooked-in double fight stratagem. Without the extra Imperial gas to keep heavy hitters running and first turn infantry looking static, Berzerkers are looking good in a meta where they might live long enough to get them where you want them and peel away some bubble wrap or down a Knight with help from Vets of the Long War.
- Abbadon: Why is Abbadoodle suddenly looking so good? He wasn’t bad before, but all the indirect nerfs to everyone else and the direct nerf to Cultists really helps his case. Now that an Alpha Legion detachment is no longer a requirement and Cultists are going to go back to doing their jobs as bubble wrap, Abby’s fearless bubble is looking even better. Static infantry deployment means more value for Abbadoodle’s signature fearless bubble.
Even More Good Looks
- Obliterators: The favorite turn two deepstrike problem solver unit of Chaos looks better and better. How did Obliterators get better despite not changing? Without forward operating Slaanesh Cultists fighting over key stratagems, Obliterators can be even more greedy with command points.
- Daemon Princes: Got nerfed minorly by fly keyword, but reaped dividends for it. Daemon Princes got away with murder and you can still legally have NINE of them in a 2k army if you want. All thanks to data slate shenanigans. More importantly, with all the cheap, fast and effective movers in Chaos, the DP is still better at abusing the character rules and picking his targets than the severely nerfed Slamguiniuses.
Make sure you check out the faction you play and read up on the errata yourself. These were just a few of the bigger changes we noted.
After a long awaited time, do you think this FAQ will get the job done equalizing some of the most OP units in the meta?
About the Author: Jack Stover
