The eagerly awaited Autumn Update has been released for Conquest! One of the three balance passes a year, Para Bellum generally cover three areas in these patches. Firstly, they’ll update any core rules that they feel benefits the health of the game. Secondly they tend to have a faction that’s due a ‘re-work’, generally tying in with new releases and to help realise the factions themes with the ever evolving gamestate. Finally, they’ll go over all the factions for some quality of life changes to adjust the balance where needed.
These changes are a combination of both their playtesting regime and feedback from the Chios World Championships, getting the perspectives from the most competitive event in the Conquest calendar to make adjustments where they’re needed. You can find the full changelog here.
General Changes
General Cross – There’s a couple of significant global changes here, most notably Fluid Formation and the Supremacy Phase rolloff. Fluid Formation effectively only gives the free reform to units 3 stands or less wide, significantly negating its usual use of extending the threat range of units by reforming one corner closer to reduce the charge distance. Yoroni and 100 Kingdoms Imperials were the worst offenders, but most factions had some way of using this interaction. This is a good change as it makes threat ranges more linear to measure across the board, and keeps Fluid Formation a tool for small regiments to manoeuvre around their heavier cousins. It does however make adding a character a bit of a problem as you’ll have to drop one of the original stands to the back to make use of it.
The Supremacy Phase roll-off change effectively undoes the change a year ago, which if nothing else shows Para Bellum will listen to the community. High activation lists had an advantage over lower ones as they could stall out the opponent’s actions, then counter at the end of the Round. By giving the modifier to the player with the least Command Cards, it balances this out and moves away from MSU being usually the best way to play. Frankly it’s also much easier to remember as I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve started a Round and tried to remember who had advantage last time!
There have been two updates to design philosophy as well that are reflected across the Factions themselves. Light Regiments almost universally can no longer score now, which deals with a growing “have and have not” problem between factions. Tenacious as a whole has been drawn down too, with effectively no cases of Tenacious above a value of 1. Weirdly Nords are the exception to both of these, retaining Light scoring with Blood of the Einherjar and Tenacious 3 against Volleys with Figurehead of the Naglfar.
The other changes are largely clarifying timings of Supremacy Abilities, Draw Events and stacking buffs. These aren’t strictly changes, but are much clearer for the player base.
100 Kingdoms – Winners
General Cross – A great day to be human! 100 Kingdoms were in a very respectable place already and see a swathe of points reductions on characters and heavy units. The Imperial Officer particularly likes the Bodyguard rule as 100 Kingdoms like to have their characters in frontline units, but don’t like duels. The world looks on with trepidation as Ashen Dawn regains the ability to add Stands to their unit, albeit at an eyewatering 90 points per stand…
Sam Isaacson (not Josh): The eternally-nerfed Ashen Dawn is probably the most heartwarming of this generally upward tweak for a Hundred Kingdoms fan, although for long-term players giving Men-at-Arms Support 2 feels entirely appropriate and will tempt the dusting off of the original starter set. Supremacy roll advantages to low-activation armies also brings back the strategic choice for big infantry bricks with Support 3. Probably nothing in there that will fundamentally change anyone’s preferred approach to the faction, but gifts that will reward those that lean into them.
Rob: Broadly agree, but for slightly different reasons to the above. At the meta level, there are wins and losses here, with the complete removal of the (previously trivial to access) light scoring regiments being a significant change to how many lists in the faction could play. However, this pales in comparison to the Sorcerer Kings being given enough modest nerfs to not slap the bejesus out of Hundred Kingdoms. This was the most challenging matchup for Hundred Kingdoms by far previously while the faction will need to figure out how it responds to the rejuvenated Dweghom and newly arrived Weavers, it should be able to do so from a good spot.
Spires – Losers
General Cross – Sorry Spires, try again next year. Spires have been long overdue a rework which we are assured will be at the start of 2026. Until then they simply have to make do with what they’ve got. The reduction of Tenacious against shooting may bring back Marksman Clones, the main competitive build until it was pushed out by shooting resistant armies earlier this year.
Thanqol: They can still score with Lights though! This update has been the first time a sweeping core rules change hasn’t sideswiped the Spires as a side effect.
The Lethal Demise changes now trigger when stands are destroyed rather than from failed defense rolls, meaning Resolve 1 Stryx are no longer ‘wasting’ wounds.
Sam Isaacson (not Josh): Spires players hungrily scrolled through their own rules to see what desperately-needed buffs were in store, and instead found an “under maintenance” sign. Fluid formation changes will frustrate a Lineage Prideborne that makes Leonine Avatara four stands wide, and Lethal Demise is now spoiled a bit for force-grown drones that reroll resolve failures and relied heavily on it to do any damage at all, although Stryx benefit. Keep on playing the waiting game.
Rob: Spires are the hardest hit by the fluid formation changes, with this rule now effectively lost on Leonine Avatara and Vanguard Clone Infiltrators if you join a character to the regiment. Stryx are a little better off but the Lethal Demise Force Grown Drone block (still a staple of some of my lists, if not really competition-worthy) took a big hit. I’ll come back to this faction in February.
Dweghom – Winners
General Cross – Dweghom received their delayed Faction rework, which is in too much depth to be covered here but will get a Faction Focus soon to give the detail it deserves. It’s clear that this extra time has been well used though, with the faction looking to have multiple strong builds to be explored.
Nords – Neutral
General Cross – Like 100 Kingdoms, Nords have generally been seen to be in a very solid design space as a faction, with multiple builds being viable. The only meaningful change was preventing Raiders from scoring alongside other Lights, but the Faction is deep enough that this shouldn’t be a problem. The only slight niggle is that the Volva/Shaman are nearly always the Warlord given how powerful their Supremacy is, and it would have been nice to see something to encourage more diverse Warlord choices.
W’adrhŭn – Neutral
Editor note: Children, stop fighting over the faction rating. We’re sticking with Neutral.
General Cross – W’adrhŭn are still consolidating from their Chant reworks to settle where we are now, and whilst in a competitively solid place they were very much reliant on Speakers units to keep them in the fight. Both the Winglord and Quatl saw a small points increase, but given that lists with 4+ of them were not uncommon this adds up quick. The Cult of War chant finally adds +1 to Cleave rather than just giving Cleave 1, making it actually viable outside of the Scion of War’s Supremacy. Lots of W’adrhŭn units have Cleave 1, and access to Cleave 2+ helps push past the proliferation of Hardened 1 that would stall them out. The Matriarch Queen gets a pseudo High Clone Executor Supremacy to activate two Regiments in a row which is neat but probably not enough to bump out the Thunder Chieftain and Scion of War as the main Warlord choices.
Internal balance remains the biggest thorn for W’adrhŭn, and despite being well represented at the competitive level the Faction just couldn’t keep up with Yoroni and Sorcerer Kings when they countered W’adrhŭn’s main build.
Magos Sockbert – “We don’t want to touch W’adrhŭn too much”, said Para Bellum, before substantially changing how you’ll build a W’adrhŭn army and knowingly leaving problem issues untouched (like the Chosen of Death, who can’t decide whether they’re a negative player experience for the opponent or the W’adrhŭn player). There’s some pain here, sure; your list probably just went up 20-60 points, depending on how much you loved Quatls, and RIP four wide Fluid Formation units like Thunder Chieftains in Raptor Riders, but I really don’t get the doomsaying around these changes.
War just became a lot better, no longer gatekeeping Cleave +1 behind the Scion of War and, if you think about it, almost giving you a second Supremacy; though I’m still going to be running a Scion of War just because how lethal Warbred can with Relentless Blows and Cleave (2). The meta is also a bit more friendly to W’adrhŭn as well, with the Sorcerer Kings “I cast remove Tontorr” taking a serious step down, though we are still vulnerable to bouncing off Yoroni bricks.
My only real gripe is the admission from PB that W’adrhŭn still need changes (Chosen of Death and the near-mandatory pair of Winglords and accompanying Hunting Packs as two of the more egregious) and we just… aren’t getting them.
Rob: I’m in firm dissent on the assessment of W’adrhŭn as losers, for reasons that can be found in my Hundred Kingdoms assessment. A faction can have some points increases but still come out ahead if its predators have been restrained, and changes to Sorcerer Kings especially are notable here. Chios showcased a suite of W’adrhŭn lists that were trying to adapt to Yoroni and which disintegrated as a sideways glance from Flamecasters, and the change to that dynamic is notable. The War Chant change is almost certainly going to be looked at some time down the line because easy access to Cleave 2 and 3 on many regiments shoots it immediately to top of the Chant ladder, but the faction feels in a credible place unless you’re the one player with the history of NFT and memecoin purchases necessary to make ownership of seven Quatls consistent with your vibe.
Old Dominion – Neutral
General Cross – Old Dominion don’t see much functional changes, but a lot of little efficiency savings that help. All their banners are free finally and no less than 6 artefacts saw a significant points reduction. They’re one of the few factions that has the old style Artefacts and Masteries, many of which are prohibitively expensive or situational. Chios saw Old Dominion falling back to a competitive staple in the big Xilliarch Warband, and the extra attack for Varangians could breath new unlife into this classic. Its worth noting that we haven’t seen the impact of the Theokrator yet which is an unusual but potentially very powerful unit that could change how Old Dominion play.
Thanqol – I disagree with calling Old Dominion winners specifically because archer units have been invited back into the meta in a big way with the reduction of Tenacious against shooting. A couple of points efficiencies here and there pale in comparison to being able to free ride on Yoroni pushing out ranged skirmishers from listbuilding consideration.
It also feels like the faction is increasingly consolidating around Xhiliarch or bust. Varangians going to 5A is great, but that is a huge push to double down on what was already working.
Rob: there are a lot of little pushes here that push Old Dominion in what I think are two broad list archetype directions now: Xhiliarch murder party, which is better than ever with the changes to Prodromoi and Varangians and a little more variety in possible Xhiliarch loadouts, and an Archimandrite warlord list that’s less about the Archimandrite and more about taking a very large quantity of the best impact cavalry for cost in the entire game. My assumption is that of the two, the Xhiliarch will emerge as the meta pick, as Old Dominion players didn’t figure out that the Hetarios exists any time in the last three months, so probably can’t be expected to realise moving forward either.
City States – Winners
General Cross – Aside from Dweghom, City States are probably the biggest winners of this whole update. An army that wanted to stack buffs but takes a long time to put it together tended to get overwhelmed in the mid game, the Faction can now execute its game plans much better than before.
What you now get is a list that is led by its characters, handing out orders to units that need them (Battlefield Orders are now Range 12” rather than Range Self) and can entourage into their unit to trigger the Strategic Stack bonus. This fundamentally changes the tempo which City States can layer its buffs and engage which will let it brawl with the other factions. Whilst there’s some small changes elsewhere (Thyreans will keep getting buffed indefinitely it seems), this is an exciting time to play City States.
Sam Isaacson (not Josh): Yes, City States felt like a bit of a sleeper faction in the run-up to Chios, and this update doesn’t hurt them. It gives thematic buffs that reward thinking through use of the strategic stack, simultaneously taking away the delay punishment from casual players, and rewarding the strategic mind through careful, complex planning.
Rob: Do not underestimate the effect of the change to Fire and Advance on City States. There a host of positive changes for them here; the Entourage rules change is tremendous for unlocking the faction’s potential, the Polemarch and Aristarch supremacies are both extremely compelling, but the faction also now needs to manoeuvre chariots like how you would expect them to manoeuvre and that’s going to represent a significant constraint. Overall, absolutely a winner, but there’ll be some learning curves to crest as people learn to play chariots that don’t Fire and Retreat.
Sorcerer Kings – Losers
General Cross – We all knew this was coming, and I don’t think any Sorcerer Kings players would deny that it was necessary. The last updates to Sorcerer Kings were well over the curve and could only really be countered by tailored 100 Kingdoms lists and the other meta monster of Yoroni. It wasn’t across the board; the combination of Fire Elementals, Ritual economy and activation control spiralled into something quite unhealthy for the game. The challenge was to bring them under control without crippling them.
Fortunately the change is generally quite elegant: to restrict buffs between different Courts. Homing Winds is still the best ranged buff in the game, but now you can only cast it on Court of Wind units. The Maharajah can still start a second ritual, but not of the same Court as the first. This along with some targeted nerfs such as the enhanced Rapid Volley on Flamecasters and losing the triple activation from Conflagration. Make no mistake, a pure Fire Elemental list is now a shadow of what it once was, but this should help diversity list building away from mono-Court to maximise the available synergies. Time will tell how successful this has been, particularly with the new Air and Water Court releases about to hit tables.
It’s possible that Sorcerer Kings nerfs have gone a little too far, but that’s through the lens of an army that fundamentally has to rethink how it plays. Much like W’adrhŭn had last year with their Chant rework, Sorcerer Kings has to reestablish its competitive identity.
Rob: frankly, the restraints have been applied here with quite a lot of care. I don’t think this is the tungsten rod from orbit that some people were expecting; there are a lot of small limitations imposed, some of the most powerful synergies removed, but this all happened at the same time as every faction with light scoring lost access to that mechanic (technically except spires, but if you see a spires player at a competition before February, just… just buy them a beer or something, ok?), and there were some buffs along with the restrictions. One very skilled Sorcerer Kings player of my acquaintance is even including Sardar in lists now, and that might officially be one of the signs of the apocalypse.
Yoroni – Losers (but only a bit!)
General Cross – Yoroni hit Conquest like a tidal wave (a tsunami if you will), fundamentally changing the metagame instantly. An elite army of extraordinarily high base stats, excellent offense and defence bonuses and activation flexibility that hadn’t been seen before, it rocked a meta that had been following a steady arms race to who could field the most MSUs. Yoroni challenged this with a force that would shrug off chip damage and force the rest of the game to invest in bigger, stronger offensive units.
With their mission achieved, Yoroni see mostly changes to their durability by reducing their widespread access to Tenacious 2 from shooting and their singular Tenacious 2 brick of Kami. The Mahotsu also sees some changes, no longer able to cast the same spell twice and seeing scaling appear on its healing spell to disincentivise healing bigger Regiments. The 20 points decrease in cost is a very fair trade for this though. On the upside the Shikigami get a compelling points drop and the Dai Yokai’s anime-style sweeping strike is not limited to directly forward, giving some interesting manoeuvrability tricks to a powerful monster.
The changelist to Yoroni is surprisingly small given the impact they have had and especially compared to Sorcerer Kings. Tengu are still extremely fast scorers, they have excellent defensive access to Tenacious and Evasion and they still retain their immensely flexible Chi card system, with its own powerful buffs. Yoroni were only really struggling with Sorcerer Kings until now, and there’s a genuine question whether this went far enough to let other Factions back into the fight.
Sam Isaacson (not Josh): The default Yoroni builds that have made them so disruptive to the meta were basically scoring Light units with Tenacious 2 against volleys. This update is going to substantially change that approach, although it’s not as heavy a nerf as most probably anticipated – and that feels about right. It’s still a pretty young faction, and this in itself ought to keep it attractive to play without overpopulating every competitive tournament with them.
Rob: I hope you’re ready for four to five months of Spiders.
Final Thoughts
Para Bellum slowed down their balance cycle this year, and the game has been able to stabilise as everyone got used to the meta and its demands. The balance patch has been overall positive, if somewhat unevenly distributed across the factions. The meta monsters were reigned in and most factions have something new and exciting to play with. The absence of any changes for Spires is very disappointing though, who will now have the entirety of 2025 waiting for the promised rework they need.
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