Well GW, you did it. I am impressed. The competitive meta was looking a little rough for a couple of months, but GW did the right thing by coming out with a very comprehensive balance patch roughly a month before it was due. Smarter minds than mine (or time) will be able to tell us if this is truly a balancing of the meta, or if it is just a slight shift, but I can honestly say I am more excited to go to 40k tournaments after this Balance Dataslate. My favorite faction in the game, my beloved GSC, received no changes in this latest balancing. Some GSC players were upset to see this, but I feel like it was the correct decision. Sure, there are things about the Codex that could be improved, but the more I play with this new GSC Codex the more I feel like it is one of the best balanced books GW has ever produced. GSC was hovering right around a 50% win rate in a dreadful meta, so any buffs or nerfs the army received could have really knocked the army off balance. There is no denying that the changes to other factions in 40k will affect the way GSC players will need to plan their army lists, and game strategies, going forward though.
Armor of Contempt:
Ok, let’s start with some not great news. Basically anything that was wearing Power Armor in the game received the ability to subtract one AP from any incoming attacks. This ability is so strong that I am going to predict a huge resurgence of Space Marine armies in the meta. Recently some Space Marine factions had win rates in the 40, or even 30, percent range, but with this new Balance Dataslate Space Marines are going to jump right back up toward the top of both meta representation and win rates.
For the Cult this means that we need to start taking a hard look at any profiles that are sitting at AP1 or AP2. Unfortunately this means Seismic Cannons. Previously 4 Seismic Cannons firing at their 3 shot S6 AP2 D2 profile had about a 53% chance to kill 3 or more Marines. Currently those same Seismic Cannon shots only have about a 32% chance to kill 3 Marines. These are the numbers for Seismic Cannons hitting on 4s with no re-rolls. Even taking into account the ability to use the S4 AP1 profile of this weapon with 24 shots coming from 4 Seismic Cannons buffed to 2D with the Overload Fuel Cell Stratagem the unit only kills 3 or more Marines 33% of the time with Armor of Contempt. That extra AP is killer. Since the Seismic Cannon is a steep 15 points I don’t think they can be relied on in the new era of Armor of Contempt Marines.
Fortunately the GSC also have a weapon that doesn’t care about the target’s Armor Save! The Webber’s D3 shots that simply need to roll over the target’s S value to cause a mortal wound is an excellent way to get around Armor of Contempt Marines even when they are in Cover! 4D3 shots that don’t need to roll to hit, or wound, for 40 points is a better bargain in my book. Admittedly, against Marines a roll of 5+ will be needed to cause a Mortal Wound which is not amazing, but causing mortals on 5+ with 4D3 shots might feel better than the Seismic Cannon alternative.
While the Shooting phase may have gotten slightly more difficult, GSC still have amazing ways to deal with Marines in melee. Twisted Helix Purestrains kill 7 Marines 67% of the time with 40 attacks even with the new Armor of Contempt rules! Even Purestrains who do not get the bonus from Twisted Helix kill 5 or more Marines 70% of the time. Purestrains are fast enough that they can ensure they get the charge into their target, and they are even resilient (for a GSC unit) with their 4+ Invulnerable Save. I took 30 Purestrains in my Pauper Princes list before, and I am extremely excited to run 30 as Twisted Helix.
Abberants have taken a slight hit with this new Balance Dataslate with their AP2 attacks only giving them a 50% chance to kill 6 or more Marines. These are disappointing numbers for a unit who comes in at 300pts and who will almost definitely be wounding Marines on 4+ in combat due to Transhuman Physiology. Another weakness of Abberants is their lack of Objective Secured. With Death Guard Terminators gaining Objective Secured, and already putting up some impressive even results, the lack of this rule on Abberants may hurt slightly more than it did before.
Changes to Indirect:
This is all amazing news for the Cult! Our T3/T4 5+ save bodies HATED Tau/Craftworld indirect fire. Many armies saw it as an annoyance of high volume, low damage and low AP shooting, but these kinds of weapon profiles were exactly the ones the Cult wanted nothing to do with. With that changes this Balance Dataslate brings to indirect fire I think the 40k meta is going to see a steep decline in these types of weapons.
Prior to this change I played Pauper Princes specifically for the 5+ Invulnerable Save Relic due to all the crippling indirect fire in the game, but I feel more comfortable experimenting with Cults like the Twisted Helix who are all about aggression. Now Indirect Fire modifies the firer’s BS to 1 worse, and it improves the Armor Save of the target unit. This mean the majority of Indirect Fire will put a unit of 5+ Save models who are in cover just right back to a normal 5+ Save which is what my Pauper Princes were working with pre-Balance Dataslate. The buffs from Twisted Helix have always been amazing, but I was always a little hesitant to give up the 5++ from Pauper Princes due to fear of Tau/Aeldari indirect fire. It may turn out Pauper Princes is still my go to Cult Creed, but I am very excited to give Twisted Helix a try.
Overall:
I think GSC are in a much better place than they were before this Balance Dataslate even without any direct changes to the army itself. The power level of some of the deadliest shooting armies in the game as gone down which is excellent news for an army like GSC who has amazing melee threats that can flood the board. Even with some of the other factions receiving things like Armor of Contempt, or Death Guard Terminators receiving Objective Secured, GSC have a much better game into all the different kinds of Power Armor factions than they ever did into old Tau or Aldari. I am extremely excited to see what the top Cult players can do after this new Balance Dataslate in upcoming tournaments.