Meta Report: The December Dataslate

Just over a week ago the latest Balance Dataslate for Warhammer 40,000 was released, in this new series of blog posts I am going to regularly review the main changes, to the game itself and what this will mean for the wider meta.

I am Charles, a highly experienced tournament player who has played at events all over the world. Being the lead analyst for the UKTC.tv coverage of our events allows me the best insights into what changes actually mean for the UK meta and how the top players approach breaking down these changes.

State Of The Meta

Going into this slate there were a few clear bogeymen leading the pack in terms of power level:

Aeldari remaining a menace with their ability to dance in and out of transports creating a very nasty play pattern that some armies really struggled to interact with. Personifying the adage, fast gun good.

Adeptus Mechanicus Pretty undercosted on the whole, with Haloscreed Battle Clade seeing great success in leveraging their horde playstyle, with buffs from the last dataslate taking the sicarian units to auto-take status, this army was definitely the biggest winner from the previous updates.

Space Marines, or more specifically the Victrix Honour Guard, causing waves with the latest unit coming out the gates more than a bit strong, with the unit having about every rule you could wish for with easy access to Advance/Fall-Back & Shoot/Charge, Blood surge, Reactive Moves, and -1 to wound all the time. These chaps were an absolute steal at 210 for 6 and truly meta defining for the Leicester Super Major - where we saw Nassim Fouchane take down the competition in convincing fashion.

The Slate

This was a pretty substantial change, with points changing for most factions, and a few rules tweaks here and there starting to shift the balance and as we will see - likely knock the dust off of some of the more iconic units in the game.

Aeldari: Received some very stern points increases, and by far the most rules changes of any of the factions - stopping a lot of their un-interactive play patterns, with most of the top lists going up well over 100 points, Initial reactions to this have been mixed, with many elf players proclaiming that the sky is falling, and their opponents asking "Are we sure they got hit hard enough?"

The reality is somewhere in the middle, whilst the combination of points and rules nerfs can be devastating for some armies, the Aeldari codex is VERY deep and a real toolbox of units to pick from. Aspect host probably still remains one of the strongest and most consistent damage dealers in the game, but now relies of positioning properly more than ever - units like the Avatar of Khaine will come back to the fore as a very strong answer piece and provides a suitable answer to the persisting Victrix Guard.

The Aeldari Grotmas detachment, the Serpents Brood, focuses on the Harlequins and marks the second detachment these masked clowns have received, albeit with significantly better reception this time, with access to a strong suite of strats and mobility we will likely see some experimentation with this as the meta settles.

Ad Mech: The Adeptus Mechanicus saw a few points increases on their problem units, with Belisarius Cawl, Ironstrider Ballistarii, Skystalkers, and both flavours of Sicarians going up in points. The tournament admech list went up about 115-150 points, which roughly equates to losing a unit or two of battleline somewhere and moving on with your day.

They still remain a very dominant board control army with plenty of damage to back it up, but are creeping towards a point of good balance. The Electropriest + Manipulus combo still remains a mainstay in the haloscreed lists and will likely continue to be a top performer into the new year as Aeldari see a fall from grace.

Space Marines: This section will focus on the core Space Marine codex, with further details on the non-compliant chapters following shortly. The main points change here once again targeted the Shadowmark Talon, the newest Ravenguard detachment, seeing increases to key characters and units from that archetype, with Vanguard Veterans, Aethon Shaan and Devastator Centurions receiving some pretty hefty increases, certainly looking to slow the fast shooting and repositioning of that detachment.

Worryingly for most players, however, is the lack of substantial change for the victrix guard. In an interesting sidegrade, the points for a 6-man unit have increased, but the points for the 3-man unit have dropped. This is likely a very fair acknowledgement that the balance team have spotted the problem but does not have enough data to accurately change the points appropriately. What this unfortunately means is that they will not be going anywhere and will remain a key profile for every player to have a contingency for.

Adepta Sororitas: More commonly known as the Sisters of Battle, this faction has been relatively quiet on the tournament stage, though always a very solid performer in an experienced pilot's hand. The UK meta is seeing a bit more variety than globally, with multiple builds in Hallowed Martyrs, Bringers Of Flame, and Champions of Faith all performing incredibly consistently.

Some pretty hefty point changes across the board for the sisters, as the key units of Morvenn Vahl, Sanctifiers, and Retributor increases will be felt across all the lists, some more targeted increases to the Celestian Sacresants and Hospitaller will lean out the Champions & Hallowed Martyrs builds.

Ultimately this change will bring them back into line but the raw consistency and output of the faction remains largely unchanged, and I expect we will continue to see the experienced players continue to do very well with them.

Non Compliant Chapters

We saw some increases to the Black Templars specific units, a gentle tap to the main characters and the repulsor executioner, not overly impactful but will likely see one less units of scouts in their lists.

For the Space Wolves there were some interesting drops to force multiplier units, Bjorn, Iron Priests, and the Venerable Dreadnought all going down. A very nice change here for the Sons of Fenris as they avoided any increases which were perhaps expected to units like Thunderwolves and Wolf Guard Terminators.

Blood Angels: Saw just The Sanguinor getting a small drop, a nice enough update, especially with their latest Grotmas detachment looking to be very popular. Providing plenty of damage and utility to the death company, their speed and punch allows them to take the fight to the enemy from turn 1.

Chaos Daemons: Some points changes, but a BIG buff to the Lord of Change damage output, becoming flat 3 damage on the hazardous profile. Expect to see the Scintillating legion out in force, as the output from that list when it connects is brutal! Already a rising star in the chaos pantheon, the speed and firepower of this list is not to be underestimated.

Astra Militarum: No Points changes, which is a very good thing in the context of their new detachment, the headlines here are Bullgryn, Bullgryn, and possibly more Bullgryn.

Being described as Combined Arms Plus, this detachment does everything that the Guard excel at, combining combat, shooting, and extreme primary control. The grizzled company will be making waves in the new meta for sure, providing rerolls and stacking buffs for key units - taking the damage output to the next level.

The Rest

With the main changes being covered, I will now do a whistle-stop summary of the rest of the changes.

Adeptus Custodes - Some small points drops on Allarus and Custodian Guard

Chaos Knights - Despoiler Up, Melee Knights a bit cheaper.

CSM- Bile up, Forgefiend & Terminator Lord Down

Deathguard - Landraider Down, Rotigus Up

Deathwatch - Indomitor Kill team small increase

Drukhari - Reavers Up, Ravager Down

Emperors Children - Points drops on less seen models, Winged Prince Up (again)

Genestealer Cults - No Points changes

Grey Knights - Purgation, Inceptors both down

Imperial Agents - No Change

Imperial Knights - Some small drops to the big knights

Leagues Of Votann - some nice drops across a few units

Necrons - No Change

Orks - No Change

Tau - Riptides, Sky Ray Up. Breacher, Storm surge, Strike Team Down.

Thousand Sons - Points drops on a few of the historically problematic units, biggest change here is daemon allies getting the cabal ritual buffs, we may see more of these rear their heads with the Lord Of Change buffs.

Tyranids - A few points drops, with Carnifexes now approaching a considerably scary price point of 90pts per model.

World Eaters - Angron down, key characters and enhancements for Berzerker Warband Up

The Big Winners

The biggest winners of this slate are by far the Marines, by avoiding significant nerfs to the Victrix Guard I expect we will see a strong showing of them until more changes can be brought to bear.

If you are a disciple of Tzeench you can consider yourself a big winner here, with the Lord Of Change getting a significant damage increase. Both as part of the Scintillating legion and Thousand Sons allies.

Astra Militarum and Blood Angles look like they are going to be one of the strongest factions now with their new Grotmas detachments and lack of points changes, on paper and initial testing both seem to be very well positioned to counter Victrix and with Aeldari and Admech dropping away will be less likely to keep them down.

The Meta Going Forward

Whilst the Aeldari and AdMech drop in power they will still be a presence as they remain well-suited to play the missions very well. A rise in Guard and Blood angels will seek to counter the Ultramarine popularity.

The race is on for Tzeench players to catch up on the hobby lag with the Lord Of Changes as I will not be surprised to see their representation increase.

The first Super-Major of the new year is just around the corner - The Nottingham GT will be the first chance that the UKTC sees for the new dataslate in competitive play. With tickets still available you can secure your spot today and bring your best answer to the meta at this massive weekend of Warhammer.

Tickets Available here.