Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: January Balance Update Expectations
Goatboy here. As we end the year in a few weeks, here’s what the smart money says to expect when the 40K January Balance Update comes out.
While I doubt we’ll see major core rules changes, I do expect a whole slew of point “fixing” will be something that will come out. Plus – with some new codexes coming out soon afterward, we might not see changes and just wait for the stealth update that his when they arrive. Here’s what to look for:
1. Point increases coming to Chaos Space Marines
There is no way that some of the current “best” Chaos Space Marine units are going to remain as cheap as they are. I am looking at those pesky Accursed Cultists, Dark Commune, and Forge Fiends. I am wondering if we’ll see the point shifts first, and then actual rule changes come later when the CSM Codex comes out. Things like reshifting some of their unit rules to help “balance” them a bit or just major shifts. But on the point sides of things, look at all the heavy hitters to get nerfed with something to increase their point cost and leave the army not getting everything they want in it and still being decent.
2. Rules Changes for Chaos Space Marines
We know, most likely, Dark Pacts is staying for the army as an entire rule. It flows into all the things they used to do and keeps the same sort of feel. The bigger question is, are the Marks going to flow into each of the Detachments? I am getting the feeling no, with just the Slaves of Darkness having the “pile of marks” with the other ones going into either specific Marks or rules saying they can only take one type. The reason I see this, is the army has such heavy Stratagem to Mark links that it leaves no other real options beyond just the more expensive Armor of Contempt. We’ll have to see later on in Spring as the army gets its new rules.
3. Eldar Point Increases – AGAIN!
Some of the things that are still left in Eldar will get more point hikes, with a few rarely-taken units getting drops. I expect the Night Spinner to get hit again and a few others. The only idea of rules that would ever change again would be maybe some bulk rule changes that only one unit can be affected be the anti-move rule that Spinners have. But the army is still winning, still powerful, and most likely will get point increases on all the things you see in the recent winning builds.
4. Marines Get More Point Shifts
There are some flyers coming, and I bet they get hit with a point shift in the next update. It is the same with Aggressors, and Centurions as they feel like units that got tougher without a real shift in their points. The less taken Space Marine units will get dropped a bit. I do wonder if some of the other “non-marine” Marine books will get point hits to match how powerful they got with their new codex they can use.
5. Necrons Point Shifts
There are a few things that feel a bit too cheap in the Necron codex, and while we wait to see how much they wreck the meta, they might see a change. I can expect to see Wraiths getting hit, as a lot of players still have 18. in lists. That just means they will show up, win some games, and get noticed by GW. Just wait and see.
6. Lot of Point Drops For Rare Units
Daemons need a lot of point drops to get viable. I would love to see Berzerkers get cheaper to make them feel better when compared to Chosen/Plague Marines. Dark Eldar needs some point shifts, too, as the army feels just all over the place. I think Big Knights need some shifts to make them viable again. They are currently pretty wrecked in both good guy and bad guy flavors. Orks feel alright – especially since they are getting a new codex soon. Also our poor Adeptus Custodes probably need some point tweaks while I would still make sure to prevent them from having 10-man units.
7. New Tournament Ruleset
That’s right, I expect a whole new slew of 40k missions and rules built upon the framework of the game right now. I wonder if GW will push away from fixed missions more as it started to show up locked in a lot of big-name lists the last few weeks. Having 2 fixed missions makes for a very boring game to watch and engage with. Most of the time the armies are designed to do these 2 missions without really needing to worry about true interference from the enemy beyond – just killing the crap out of their units.
I don’t think it will be huge rules changes as there is a whole slew of codexes coming out that will have those changes in there. Especially things like cleaning up data cards to be less abusive and just overall changes to things. There is no way the Undivided reroll everything strat stays the same when we get the book and I am sure there are a few others that follow suit.
What do you think? What kind of shifts are we going to see in January?
