Goonhammer Hot Take: The Big Power Levels Update

It’s August 10th and as promised, Games Workshop updated the Warhammer 40,000 app (well, the Android version anyways) and published a PDF with new PL values for all of the game’s units. While normally competitive games use points instead of Power Levels, these changes still have far-reaching consequences beyond casual play and Crusade: Several rules in competitive 40k, such as the new Strategic Reserves rule, the Daemonic Ritual Summoning rules for Daemons, and some stratagems all use Power Level as a factor.

So what changed and how big a deal is it? We dove into the app this morning to find out and summarize the biggest impacts. For the most part, Power Levels changed to be in-line with the current points costs of units, though there were a few areas where it seems like strategic decisions have been made with Strategic Reserves costs in mind.

Note that we aren’t going to cover every faction and unit here. Mostly because not all of them matter – Power Levels really only matter in Matched Play for some units and we’re mostly interested in either those units or how they affect units being put into Reserves. If you’re looking for the full list of Power Levels, you can find them here.

Imperium

Adepta Sororitas

Sisters of Battle have a fairly recent codex, so their point changes are primarily just slight inflation, with 1 PL increases here and there. A few of them have some impacts if you’re actually playing with PL.

• Junith Eruita went up by 2 PL, likely due to her being a (Look out Sir eligible) vehicle with two heavy flamers.
• Battle Sisters Squads and Celestian Squads get identical PL. They’re unchanged for 5 models (4PL), +1PL for 10 models (7PL), and if you want to give every blast weapon maximum shots against your 15 woman battle sister squads, you’ll pay 10 PL for the privilege. Of note is that you can still cram 2 squads into 1 CP worth of Strategic Reserves.
• Missionary and Preacher went up by 1 PL.(3 and 2 PL.)  Not too big on its own, but you might want to stick these with other things in reserve. Daisy chaining back to a preacher that failed its charge got a lot harder, though, so they already weren’t too attractive for Reserves.
• Sisters Repentia went up by 1 PL for both 4 and 9 repentia (3 and 6 PL now, respectively.) The biggest change here is that, combined with the Preacher doubling in PL, a strategic reserves package of 9 repentia, a superior and a preacher went from 8PL to 10PL, plonking it just into 2 CP territory. A rhino seems like the best delivery mechanism for these gals by far.
• Dominion Squad went up by 1PL for a 10 woman squad (5 PL for 5, 8 PL for 10). This is part of a pattern of 10 model squads getting a price hike while the 5 models that come with all the juicy special weapons go unchanged. In the case of the Dominions it’s somewhat justified as a lot of their weapon options went down in cost, but the first 5 Seraphim that come with 4 inferno pistols cost the same as the last 5 seraphim, who come with just bolt pistols.
• Mortifiers and Penitent Engines unchanged at 3 PL a model for both. There remains absolutely no reason to ever take Penitent Engines if you’re playing PL(not that you’re likely to take them playing points either, given the stratagems the Adeptus Sororitas keyword unlocks.)
• Dedicated Transports went up by 1PL. Pretty much anything you’re going to stick into these is going to take them over 10 PL and into 2CP strategic reserves territory.

For points players there’s not too much changed. A few Reserves packages either cost you more or get less effective. If you’re thinking of playing with PL, the main takeaway is that minimum squads didn’t get more expensive, but 10 model squads did and you’re probably joining points players in MSU land.

Adeptus Astartes

Bikes, vehicles and heavy units appeared to take an increase, as did more popular infantry units.  Other units which are not so popular got reductions. The only real exceptions are Tactical Marines and Reivers, which are neither popular and got a PL increase.  To me, it looks like they gave vehicles an across-the-board power level increase, and raised the PL of the Repulsor Executioner enough to make it prohibitively expensive to bring in smaller games. 

The one interesting bit to me is the changes to the Sicaran tanks. These are now substantially cheaper in power level, and now in the heavy support category instead of the inexplicable elite category they were in 8th edition.  As the PL changes are now published as an FAQ, I think we can safely say that they are all Heavy Support.  This prevents them from getting to use Servitors to cheaply and easily unlock them, however.  However, for some reason, GW only changed the role of the regular, Punisher, and Venator Sicaran in the App.  The Sicaran Arcus and Sicaran Omega tanks are still elites per the App, but received PL decreases.  

• All Heavy Support units got a +2 increase except:
• Whirlwind got a +3
• Eliminators are +1
• Predator remained unchanged
• Stalker got a +1
• Vindicator got a +1
• Land Raider is unchanged
• Land Raider Redeemer and Crusader -1
• Sexy Rexy the Repulsor Executioner is +4
• Relic Sicarans are at -3, and now listed as Heavy Support in the App.  
• Dedicated Transports are +1: except the Land Speeder Storm, which is unchanged and Impulsor which is, predictably, +3
• Flyers: Stormhawk and Stormtalon are +1, Stormraven is +2
• Troops: Everything is unchanged except Tactical Marines and Infiltrators are +1
• HQ: Primaris Librarian +1, Techmarine +1, All Chaplains +1, Captains unchanged.
• Elites: Cataphractii Terminators -1, Both Apothecaries +1, Terminator Ancient +1, Dread, Venerable Dreadnought, Contemptor Dreadnought, Redemptor Dreadnought +2, Ironclad Dread +1, Invictor +2, Aggressors and Centurion Assault +1  
• Edge of Silence Marines are all unchanged

Adeptus Custodes

The changes here are minor. Adeptus Custodes mostly received point drops that bring them in line with the new points in the 9th edition Munitorum Field Manual. None of the changes here are too important in points based play because they’re on units that either natively deep strike or will want to start on the board, but they’ll matter in Crusades that use PL.

• Shield Captains are down by 1
• Shield Captain in Allarus Terminator Armor down by 2
• Allarus Custodians are down 4 to start and cheaper per extra model
• Custodian Wardens are down 2 and cheaper per extra model
• Venerable Land Raider down 5

Adeptus Mechanicus

Admech almost universally went down in PL. This is somewhat expected, as their point costs have also been drastically reduced since the codex was published. Big winners were Admech troops, with all troop choices dropping points. Sicarian Infiltrators and Servitors dropped in half

• Belisarius Cawl down 3 to an even 10PL.
• Tech-Priest Dominus down 2 to a nice round 5PL.
• Kataphron Breachers down to 5PL for 3 models from 8PL for 3 models (and 20PL for 12 models). This is important because the Agripinaa Forge World has a strategem Fresh Converts to redeploy a unit of Kataphrons at full strength (i.e. resurrecting dead models as long as the unit hasn’t been wiped), and is costed based on their PL. 1CP for ≥5PL, 2CP for ≥10PL, and 3CP for ≥20PL. Previously, the most Kataphron Breachers you could redeploy would be 6 for 3CP (meaning resurrecting up to 5 Kataphrons). Now you can redeploy 12 Kataphron Breachers for 3CP (meaning resurrecting up to 11 of them, which is 385 points worth of models). This is Admech’s only strategem that keys off power level.
• Kataphron Destroyers down to 7PL from 10PL for 3 models. Note that unlike for Kataphron Breachers, this PL reduction doesn’t change the CP cost of the Fresh Convert strategem or how it can be used. This is because resurrecting 3 Destroyers still costs 2CP, and resurrecting 6 Destroyers (the max) still costs 3CP.
• Skitarii Rangers/Skitarii Vanguard down to 5PL from 7PL for a max unit of 10 (and units of 5 are down to 3PL from 4PL)..
• Servitors dropped in half, from 4PL to 2PL. Not terrible as an objective holder, and you can equip a unit with two Multi-meltas or two Plasma cannons.
• Sicarian Infiltrators dropped in half to 3PL from 6PL for 5 models. 10 Infiltrators are now 6PL instead of 12PL.
• Sicarian Ruststalkers down to 4PL from 6PL for 5 models. 10 Ruststalkers are now 8PL instead of 12PL. Ruststalkers are still bad.
• Serberys Raiders did not change. Still 2PL for 3 models. I’m still including it as a bullet even though it didn’t change because 2PL for 3 of these is a ridiculous steal.

Astra Militarum

The big concerns with Astra Militarum are going to be around putting units into Strategic Reserves. The faction’s major Troop choices – Infantry Squads and Militarum Tempestus Scions – were unchanged, so that leaves tanks to talk about, and most of those either didn’t change or didn’t change enough to matter. There are only two changes that immediately jump out when looking at the Imperial Guard:

• Bullgryns came down in PL a little, to 5 for the minimum size squad, though going up to 6 will cost you 10 PL and still mean 2 CP for reserves. A max size squad is now 15 PL. Ogryns also came down, but now 4-6 of those will only be 8 CP, leaving you room to outflank them for only 1 CP.
• Hellhounds went up to 7 PL per model, so a unit of 3 will now cost you 3 CP to put in Strategic Reserves.

Grey Knights

Most of the Grey Knights’ non-vehicles have the Teleport Strike ability, preventing them from using Strategic Reserves and others can be put into a teleportarium for 1 CP with the Teleportarium Stratagem, so this PL update isn’t the biggest deal for them. Purifier Squads don’t have this ability however, and went down by 2 PL (from 9), while Purgation Squads also held firm. The Nemesis Dreadknight also came down to 9 PL from 11, making it cheaper to put into Strategic Reserves.

Imperial Knights

Imperial Knights saw a few minor adjustments, but none that have an immediate impact on their cost to be put into Strategic Reserves.

Chaos

Chaos Daemons

One of the factions most impacted by any shifts in PL values is Chaos Daemons – both summoning and the Denizens of the Warp Stratagem rely on units’ Power Levels to determine the difficulty/cost of use. The big thresholds we’re worried about here are at the 8 CP to 9 CP jump, where Denizens starts costing 2 CP, and anything that drops a bigger daemon’s PL lower and closer to 10.5, the average roll on 3D6. The other big thing we’re going to find out is whether there are now units that cost less CP to put in Strategic Reserves than to put into the warp with Denizens. Spoiler: There aren’t, but the drops on 

Khorne

• Bloodthirsters dropped substantially – the Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster is now only PL 12, while the Unfettered Fury is 13 and the Insensate Rage is 14. This drop from 17 makes Bloodthirsters much, much easier to summon, though you’ll now face the challenge of getting off a successful charge with them the turn they arrive. Skarbrand dropped by 2, making him easier to summon but still so difficult that you probably wouldn’t bother unless you had 4 dice or a re-roll going.
• Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds didn’t change, but Bloodcrushers went up by 1 PL, making them trickier to summon on 2 dice. 

Nurgle

• Nurglings have dropped from 3 PL to 2. They’re easier to summon and teleport in than ever, but that’s not their ideal use – you want them on the battlefield as the game starts.
• Plaguebearers got hosed however, going to 5 PL. This means that a squad of 20 costs 2 CP to put into reserves with Denizens or outflank with Strategic Reserves, so you’ll still end up using Denizens, which doesn’t keep upscaling on cost.
• The Great Unclean one is now PL 14, making it substantially easier to summon one of these big lads, and the same thing happened to Rotigus. Our boy Epidemius went up by 1, so you’ll definitely be throwing 3 dice to summon him to make sure he comes out.
• Beasts of Nurgle held firm, so if you’re planning an army that revolves around summoning a bunch of them mid-table, you’re still good to go.

Tzeentch

• The Lord of Change is now PL 14, making them substantially easier to summon, while Kairos Fateweaver dropped by 5, making it possible to summon him now on 3D6 with no modifiers.
• Flamers and Screamers both dropped by 1 PL each, making them trivially easy to summon a base unit on 2D6 and potentially worth looking at a larger unit size on 3D6.

Slaanesh

• The Keeper of Secrets went up to 12 PL (from 11) and Shalaxi Helbane went up to 13 PL, making them a little more difficult to summon. Syll’Esske went up by 1 PL as well.
• Most importantly, the Contorted Epitome went up from 10 PL to 11, making it a bit less likely you’ll summon one on a standard roll of 3D6. It’s not devastating, but it’s something to keep in mind if that was part of your strategy (the average roll on 3D6 is 10.5).
• Daemonettes and Fiends held pat, while Seekers went up by 1. All three Herald options from Engine War went up by 1, though the Infernal Entrapturess stayed put. 

Undivided

• Soul Grinders’ PL went down by 2, making them reliably easy to summon on a 3D6 roll. You’ll still need to spend 2 CP to outflank one of them, however.
• Furies dropped by 1 PL.
• Daemon Princes still cost 8 PL, but now adding Wings will give them +2 PL instead of +1, making them the single, mythical unit in the Codex that had 9 PL in some configuration and would have been cheaper to put in Strategic Reserves rather than Denizens. Now you’ll want to use Denizens instead since they both cost 2 CP for a Winged Daemon Prince.

Chaos Knights

Almost all of the Chaos Knights went up in PL by 2-3, but only one of these changes actually makes a real difference.

• The big change here is the Knight Rampager, which went from 19 PL to 21 and so now costs 3 CP to put into Strategic Reserves. 

Chaos Space Marines

For Chaos Space Marines there are a few units we’ll be interested in putting in Strategic Reserves and the changes to Chaos Daemons affect the faction significantly in armies that want to summon daemons.

• Defilers dropped by 2, putting them square in the “pay 1 CP to put me in Strategic Reserves” cost bucket. That’s a big change for a unit that was already in a better place in 9th edition. 
• The Forgefiend also went down by 1, making them a little easier to put in Strategic Reserves with something else.
• Khorne Berzerkers are unchanged at the 5-model level but are now 10 PL for the 10-man squad option, making putting them in Strategic Reserves a rough proposition. Better to put them in a Rhino or Terrax Termite Pattern Drill. This was probably always the case, but now it’s more definitive. Kharn dropped by 3 PL though so if you don’t own transports it’s easier to put him and a squad into Strategic Reserves.
• Noise Marines went down by 1 PL for the 5-model version of the squad but went up to 20 PL for the 20-model version, moving them from costing 2 CP to 3 CP to put the full squad into Strategic Reserves. Though if you were outflanking 2 10-model units you’d have been paying 3 CP anyways and it may still make sense to spend 3 CP for the 20-model squad given how devastating they can be on arrival.
• Helbrutes went up by 1 PL to 7. So did the Lord Discordant on Helstalker (to 10), making them now 2 CP to put into Strategic Reserves. That’s not great for a unit that will sometimes want to outflank.
• Bikers went up to 5 PL for the base squad, stayed at 9 for the +3 bikers option and went down to 13 for the full-size option. That’s helpful if you wanted to put them in Strategic Reserves, either by themselves or with other units.
• Chaos Spawn are now 1 PL per model. That’s pretty good for an underrated unit that can benefit from being placed in Strategic Reserves. A full squad of 5 is now only PL 5.
  

Death Guard

Death Guard are a slow army, so there’s a real need for Strategic Reserves with them. Any drops here on units with a 4” or 5” Movement value will be helpful.

• Mortarion went up by 1. He’s still 3 CP to put in Strategic Reserves, but it might be harder to put him there with other units.
• Myphitic Blight-Haulers have gone down by 2 PL, mow making it possible to put a squad of 3 into Strategic Reserves for only 2 CP. That’s pretty neat!
• Foetid Bloat-Drones dropped by 1 PL as well, though they’re fast enough you’ll likely want them on the table.
• Helbrutes went up by 1.
• Poxwalkers and Cultists stayed the same but Plague Marines went down by 1 for the base unit – making it easier to put them in Strategic Reserves – but a squad of 10 will still cost you 10 PL, forcing you to spend 2 CP to put them in reserves. There’s some leeway here for squads of 6-7 however, potentially making that the correct number to take.
• Even bigger, Defilers dropped by 2, putting them square in the “pay 1 CP to put me in Strategic Reserves” cost bucket. That’s a big change for a unit that was already in a better place in 9th edition.
• Chaos Spawn are now 1 PL per model. That’s pretty good for an underrated unit that can benefit from being placed in Strategic Reserves and given Contaminated Monstrosity to shrug off wounds.

Thousand Sons

For the Thousand Sons most of our units can either Teleport or be put into the Webway, but there are a few units where PL changes are worth noting and the changes to Daemons may also be important.

• Defilers dropped by 2, putting them square in the “pay 1 CP to put me in Strategic Reserves” cost bucket. That’s a big change for a unit that was already in a better place in 9th edition. 
• The Forgefiend also went down by 1, making them a little easier to put in Strategic Reserves with something else.
• Magnus the Red went up to 24 PL. This doesn’t change that much for him, since he still costs 3 to put into Strategic Reserves.
• Chaos Spawn are now 1 PL per model. That’s pretty good for an underrated unit that can benefit from being placed in Strategic Reserves. A full squad of 5 is now only PL 5.
• Rubric Marines went down by 1 PL to 6 for 5 models with a champion, and add 6 for each additional 5 models. This doesn’t really change the Reserves math for them, but you can now fit three MSUs into 20 PL / 2 CP.
• The Mutalith Vortex Beast went down to 7 PL.

Aeldari

Craftworlds Eldar

Craftworlds already have access to the ability to Deep Strike nearly all their units – only Wraithlords, Knights and the Avatar are lacking the keywords to let them join the battle via either Cloudstrike or Webway Strike. However, because you can only use one of those in each game, it’s theoretically possible that units going over a key breakpoint here might matter.

The possibly relevant changes are:

• HQ:
• • • Foot Warlock Conclaves go up by 1PL for the unit. That means that you hit 10PL on including 5 models and 20 on 10, increasing the cost to bring squads of these sizes in.
    • Warlock Skyrunner Conclaves go down by 1PL for the unit. That means you can get one more model in under the 10PL breakpoint, but has no effect beyond that.
    • Warlocks go up to 3PL. You could plausibly bring these in as a reliable source of buffs, so if you’re trying to combine them with other units it’s slightly more expensive. It also makes the equivalently costed Spiritseer more attractive in Crusade.
    • The Avatar and Asurmen both come down by a point. Largely only relevant for Crusade, as they stay in the same bracket for reserving. The Avatar could theoretically bring slightly more friends to benefit from his re-roll for charges.
    • Karandras comes down by a point, while Fuegan and Maugan Ra both go up 1. Mostly this is shuffling stuff for Crusade.
• Troops
• • • Guardians go up by one point on 11+ model squads, going to PL10. This is a hit – otherwise there might have been a fringe argument for running 20-model squads with Superior Shurikens to come in and unleash death on something. 
    • Storm Guardians go up by a point at all sizes, increasing the reserve cost on a full squad.
• Elites
• • • Striking Scorpions go down by 1. They have native Deep Strike, so this is Crusade only.
    • Wraithguard come down by 1, but are still 10/20 so it’s of limited relevance.
• Fast Attack
• • • Windriders come down a point on larger squads. This doesn’t take them over a break point.
    • Vypers come down by a point per model. This is the first outright very positive change here, as it lets you run three for 9PL, under the first reserve threshold. It genuinely makes them slightly more likely to see play.
    • Swooping Hawks go up, Warp Spiders go down, both natively deep strike so it doesn’t matter.
    • Full size Shining Spear units go up by 1, but they don’t cross a threshold.
• Heavy Support
• • • Wraithlords go down by 1. Cool for Crusade, but no relevant breakpoint hit, even on multiples.
    • Support Weapons up by 1. This is a hit, as it means you can’t, say, deep strike three D-cannons for 1CP. That might genuinely have been worth it, and they were one of the few units with no access to the other strats. It looks real steep at 2CP.
    • Dark Reapers get massive increases on medium and large squads, but don’t actually cross a breakpoint.
    • Falcons go down by 1, but not in a relevant manner.
    • Crimson Hunter Exarchs jump by 2, taking them to 11. That’s a hit – there are definitely matchups where you want to DS with them, and being able to reserve them and (for example) a unit of Spears might have been good.
    • Hemlocks up by 2, but for them it isn’t a relevant breakpoint.
• Lords of War
• • • The Wraithknight goes down a lot – but only to 21, because GW are cowards.
• Forge World
  • Shadow Spectres go to 20 rather than 19 for a full size squad, a genuine hit.
  • Hornets go to 6PL per model, which lets you reserve three for 2CP. Plausibly relevant in some fringe build.

Drukhari

Strategic Reserves are kind of a “nice to have” add on for the Drukhari, who can already teleport units of any size onto the table for 1 CP or 3 CP to do two units, meaning that using Strategic Reserves will typically require having a second unit of 9 PL or lower to put into Reserves. Those aren’t really in the Drukhari army. The only notable change from the PL update is that Wyches now start at PL 3 and go up to 12, meaning that putting a full-size squad into Strategic Reserves will cost you 2 CP instead of 1, so if you’re going full-size and want to protect/teleport your Wyches in, Webway Portal is the way to do it.

Harlequins

Nothing noteworthy in the PL changes for Harlequins.

Ynnari

Nothing noteworthy here. The Visarch and Yncarne go up by 1 PL each.

Other Xenos Factions

T’au Empire

A number of units changed, though the most notable adjustment for the T’au is the Stormsurge, which drops from 20 PL to 18 and can now be put into Strategic Reserves for only 2 CP, helping protect it until it can arrive to dish out some pain. This is potentially a major protective boost, though it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to make it worth taking. Broadsides also came down 1 PL per model, making it possible to put a full unit of 3 in reserves for only 2 CP. Given they can now move and fire with no penalty (as they are not INFANTRY), that’s a helpful boost. The Ghostkeel also came down to 9 PL, giving it the ability to outflank for only 1 CP (though deploying it forward is almost always going to be the correct move). On the downside, the Hammerhead went up to 10 PL from 9 and Riptides went up to 15.

Genestealer Cults

Genestealers don’t really get access to the Strategic Reserves rule, thanks to almost every unit in the army having the Cult Ambush rule instead. So the big changes here are mostly for allied Astra Militarum detachments that affect Genestealer Cults via the Brood Brothers rule. There were a few notable changes to Genestealer Cults’ PL otherwise: Atalan Jackals went up 1 PL. Aberrants also went up by 2 PL.

Necrons

Necrons are another faction that didn’t really need a lot of help from Strategic Reserves, but both of their vehicle-based teleporting options (Monoliths, Night Scythes) are risky and overpriced, so there’s potentially some value in putting a few units into Strategic Reserves.

• Lychguard came down by 1, to 7 PL. Canoptek Wraiths also came down 1, to 8 PL
• The Transcendent C’Tan comes down by 2 to 10 PL but it isn’t enough to get them over the threshold ot cheap outflanking.
• The biggest change here is the Doom Scythe, which drops from 11 PL to 9, now allowing it to be put into Strategic Reserves for only 1 CP. Given how versatile Aircraft can be on arrival, this is a major boost to the unit. Putting three of them into Strategic Reserves to protect them until they can show up and use Amalgamated Targeting Data is now much, much less hateful, costing only 3 CP instead of 6.
• The Doomsday Ark also dropped 1 CP to 9, making it easier to put in reserves. This is probably something you’ll want to avoid however, since it means you’ll have two turns of not shooting it on full power. Better to put it on the table and hope the Quantum Shielding holds.

Orks

Boyz are now 4 PL / 7 PL / 12 PL depending on size (+1 for each of the larger size tiers), making them slightly more expensive but not really affecting your costs for Strategic Reserves. Really what we want to talk about here are buggies, bikes, and trukks. Of these, Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies came down 1 to 6 PL, so you can put a full unit of 3 in Strategic Reserves for only 2 CP and Shokkjump Dragstas came down by 1 (to 5 PL each). Warbikers came up slightly, to 16 PL on full-size squads.

The Bonebreaka got a heartbreaking +1 PL increase here, driving it over the dreaded 10 PL threshold and into 2 CP reserves territory. Flash Gitz and Deff Dreads also went up 1 PL each, while Killa Kanz came down to 2 PL / 7 PL / 14 PL depending on size. All of the Ork flyers went up but only the Wazbom Blastajet went up to 10 PL, again putting it in the “2 CP to put in reserves” club.

Tyranids

Some important Tyranids units saw significant changes: The Exocrine came down 2 PL to 9, allowing it to be put into reserves for 1 CP, though generally you’ll want yours on the table double shooting with the Weapon Beast ability. Screamer-Killers went up to 7 PL, so a unit of 3 will now cost 3 CP to outflank. Tyranid Warriors came down 1 PL, while the rest of the Tyranids’ Troops options remained the same. 

What’s Next

This is just the start of our examination of this week’s changes and news – we’ve also got a review of the new FAQs and points adjustments coming, so stay tuned for that. And as always if you have any questions or feedback, drop a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.