Warhammer 40K: December 2024 Balance Update: What You Need to Know
Goatboy here with the biggest changes to 40K’s meta from the brand new December 2024 Balance Dataslate. Here’s what you need to know.
The latest Warhammer 40K updates gives us a points update as well as a rather hefty Balance Update as well. Both of these things continue to try and tweak 40K in ways to help alleviate some of the edge cases armies that seem to be working too well. Beyond just nerfs and changes to the best armies they also added some rules to existing codexes in hopes to help get things working in a better way. Let’s dive in and see some of the things I think will end up mattering the most.
Points Changes Nicely Organized – Thanks GW!
On the point side of things the overall changes were not too drastic. We had the big stuff hit like a lot of Astra Militarum stuff. There were a few tweaks on some other armies but for the most part it stayed the same. The best thing in this update and kudos to GW for doing this – they added how many points things changed by. This is amazing and an excellent update.
Deep Strikes
Now let’s talk about the Balance update. There were two major big rule changes that will hit all the armies that used these rules. The first one was a general shift on how units could deep strike within 3” of the enemy. All those rules that had that ability have now been changed to being 6” instead of 3”. This is huge as it means opponents can block out areas a lot easier and most likely fixes a bit of the “rapid deployment” issue we had with the AM Aquillions. I wonder if their rule will shift even more when their book comes out and it just says – can’t be used with Rapid Ingress.
Armor of Contempt
The other big branching rule change is to Armor of Contempt style rules – those that shifted the AP of an incoming attack by 1 for the entire phase. Those are now limited to only shifting that AP for that attack that is hitting it. This means if you have two units shooting at an enemy – the Armor of Contempt ability will only work on one of those attacks. This is huge and a big hit to all those armies that utilize those rules to create little tank units. It’s a pretty big hit to all the Marine armies as that rule is a stratagem in all their detachments which is just now not nearly as good as it once was.
Sisters Not So Miraculous
Onto the individual army updates – a big hit right away is a change to how the Adepta Sororitas Acts of Faith rule works. Now they gain a Miracle dice at the start of each battle round and only gain 1 dice during a phase in which a Sisters unit dies. This already cuts half of their Dice off as they will just be gaining a flat 5 dice to start with instead of the 10 they got now. Also the change in how they gain dice for dying means at most they could get 1 Dice in your shooting phase, 1 dice in the assault phase, and 1 dice in their assault phase if you kill something. This is a heck of a lot of dice lost. The Triumph now also only makes the dice you gain during the start of the Battle Round an automatic 6 and doesn’t grant an extra dice. There were some other shifts in some of their rules too but the Miracle dice is the big one.
Custodes Bikers Buffed
Adeptus Custodes got some shifts as well with their Vertus Praetors and Shield-Captain profiles went up to toughness 7 and more wounds to match them riding bikes. They also shifted each of their weapon profiles with the Salvo Launcher going to a Twin Linked, Strength 10, AP -3, and Damage D6+1 attack. The Hurricane Bolter also gained a pipe of AP and went to Damage 2. They then changed the Bikes Quicksilver Execution Ability to be used during a normal move and not just an advance. This means a biker unit can hit you, mortal wound you, and then shoot/charge you. All of this really tells you to get some bikes if you don’t have any.
RavenWing Rejoices!
Dark Angels see the Company of Hunters Detachment gain some rules. Mounted units can fallback, advance, shoot, and charge which seems pretty cool for their biker armies. You mix this in with Black Knights Melee weapons gaining Devastating wounds and you might have a mean little bully unit to deal with. Samael even gets an update that if the unit can already Advance and Charge they now get to add a 1 to Advance and charges. If only they would have made a new plastic model of this guy already!
GW Reworks GSC Reinforcements … again
Genestealer Cults got one of the biggest updates. It’s like any kind of free regrow mechanic is bound to be broken so GW has went in and again completely changed it. Now the army gets a certain amount of Resurgence Points in which they can spend to bring back dead units. It isn’t a large amount with at most you could get back 5, 2 man units of Acolyte Hybrids. We’ll see if this kicks them down too far as they tweak how many points they can utilize. One of the enchantments even gives you more Resurgence points to mess with too.
Astartes Get Minor Tune-ups
Space Marines saw a ton of new rules added to characters that seem to make the non supplement marines better. Oath of the Moment for the regular Codex Marines now grant a +1 to wound roll against the selected target. All the named characters got an Inspiring Commander section that either grants more OC to units they join or some other rules. Infernus Marines got an extra Pip of AP on their flamer weapons making the unit a heck of a lot scarier. A lot of small shifts to units are showing up with Outrider bikers loosing Turbo boost and gaining Thunderous Impact which gives an extra pip of Strength mixed with an extra point of damage. Roboute also got a bump up with being able to pick 2 Author of the Codex Abilities instead of just one at the beginning of the Command Phase.
Odds & Ends Tweaks
Orks finally got their Waagh rule updated in that you call in during your Command phase. There is no more needing to call it at the beginning of the turn and now you just have more control over it. They tweaked some of the Big Hunt stratagems to help with the army and how they pick their Prey. They can now select Characters instead of just Monsters and Vehicles.
Lord Solar got a change in only being able to give orders to Regiment Units and Squadron units. This means no more Ogryns or the old meanie Bullgryns getting orders from this horse riding maniac. You mix this with a bunch of point hits and you see how the Astra Militarum players will have less to work with.
All the Predator Annihilators got their re-roll damage of 1 shifted to Reroll the damage roll. This is a lot better as well saving your from that 1 is cool – letting you reroll it just makes more sense. This means they will still be showing up in Chaos Armies that can take it.
Oh and while World Eaters didn’t get any points update they did shift how the Daemon Princes Infernal Fortitude ability now works. It is a locked – you get a 5+ Invulnerable save if you don’t already have one. This is because you could have used the Gone to Ground stratagem to get a 6+ invulnerable save and then a 4+ if you are near the Daemon Prince. Still there wasn’t any more nerfs so I am happy about it.
Balance Update Verdict?
There is a lot in this update and we’ll see how much will matter. I think the Armor of Contempt rules getting hit is probably going to be the biggest thing next to the shift from 3” deep strike to 6” deep strike. Just removing some of the tank ability armies had will be a big hurt in the end. I am excited to play next year and just happy this is all coming out before my next big event. Between this and a few very exciting Detachments – my December is looking awesome.
Happy gaming!
