One of the things we were emphatic about in our review of the new War Zone Nephilim GT pack last week was that we didn’t yet have the full picture – in big part because we were missing a points update. Today Games Workshop is dropping the first ever fully digital points update to go alongside Nephilim, and it’s chock full of big changes that are bound to shake things up in a meta that’s already undergoing seismic shifts.

Before we dive in we’d like to thank Games Workshop for sending us a preview copy of the points for review purposes. 

Please note that we have not seen any accompanying Balance Dataslate or FAQ changes (if there are any) as part of the review material, so these opinions are based on points and the Nephilim mission pack alone.

Overview

The big factions that were dominant – Tyranids, T’au Empire, and Craftworld Eldar – all got major nerfs and point increases, though Harlequins escaped unscathed, while many factions that were struggling – Death Guard, Orks, Necrons, the Adepta Sororitas, and Space Marines got a number of drops that help bring them back into contention. And then there are several factions that saw only minor or no adjustments, such as the Adeptus Mechanicus, Grey Knights, and Genestealer Cults.

When writing this, we were tempted to refer to this as the vehicle points update, since the biggest winners this time around are vehicles, most of which got some kind of points decrease to reflect the newer, less hospitable meta for tanks and the like. It’s a change we’d hoped would happen for some time, since tanks are rad but under-utilized in 40k.

The Factions

Imperium

Adepta Sororitas

Shane: Sisters get some key drops in units that needed them, namely Sacresants and Jump troops. Additionally, Celestian Squads drop a whole point, if that is what you are into. Tank appreciators will also rejoice in that nearly every tank that has a gun got a points drop, so if you had hopped on the Castigator train you get a free bonus. There is one increase: Retributors again have to pay for a Simulacrum. Combine these point drops with the new secondary changes, and Sisters are looking real good.

Key changes

• Sacresants drop a cool 2 points per model, with the bodyguard changes, they needed it.
• Zephyrim and Seraphim drop 2 points per model as well.
• Castigator drops 15 points, Exorcist and Immolator drop 10 points!
• Retributors Simulacrum Imperalis back up to 5 points, up from zero.
• The Triumph drops 20 points, this only matters to crazy people like Shane though.

Adeptus Custodes

The Custodes held on surprisingly well after their nerfs in the April balance dataslate and replacement by Harlequins, continuing to put up strong results thanks to an army full of solid datasheets and a few decent, albeit reduced tricks. That said there were still clearly a few outstanding issues with the faction balance-wise and while they’ve avoided getting hit too hard, they got some tweaks in the form of a big points hike for Trajann (+40), and small hikes for the Forge World Contemptor dreadnoughts (+10 each). On the whole Trajann is still absolutely worth taking at 200 points and likewise for the Contemptors, though Custodes players will need to find one more spot to squeeze out 40-70 points for them. 

Key changes

• Trajann +40
• Galatus and Achillus Contemptor +10

Adeptus Mechanicus

Pendulin: Blessed be the Points Update Machine, though changes for Adeptus Mechanicus are both meek and meager. The golden child of the codex, the Sicarian Ruststalker, has dropped by a single point. Many armies take 15 of these, which means those armies pick up a free Rusty with this update. The only other change on the Skitarii half of the faction is for Serberys Raiders, who see a 2 point drop, which helps with pregame move and character sniping shenanigans.

For Cult Mechanicus, both flavors of Electro-Priests have dropped by a point. While Priests certainly need a bump up, this doesn’t herald in an upcoming priest-heavy meta. Fulgurites are still outclassed by Ruststalkers, especially with rusties being cheaper than before. Corpuscarii are in a bit better place than their staff-wielding brethren, but they still hurt from Armour of Contempt dropping their attacks to a functional 0AP in many matchups.

And that’s it. That’s all the changes. I hoped for more, especially to buff our lackluster vehicles like the Sydonian Dragoon who never recovered from losing Core. It’s confusing to see Ruststalkers drop in points, when that unit was already pulling its own weight. I had also hoped to see Skitarii Ranger/Vanguard wargear point drops, which would have let the codex come full circle and bring it back to the “hordes of skittles” approach from the codex launch. Astra Millitarum gets their wargear for free, and now so does Death Guard, but Admech is stuck paying a premium on the guns that they themselves manufacture.

One day the crude biomass you call Adeptus Mechanicus will wither and you will beg for the Points Update Machine to save you. But it has already saved (its point drops for other factions).

Key changes

• Ruststalkers down 1 points per model, for some reason, and Serberys Raiders down 2
• Both Electro-Priests down 1 point per model
• That’s it. That’s all the changes

Astra Militarum

TheChirurgeon: As pretty much the worst faction in the game, the Astra Militarum need ongoing help and support in the form of point drops and rules updates and once again they get some help here. In a continuation of the trend we saw in the April dataslate, many units, such as Company Commanders, Tempestus Scions, Veterans, and Commissars, now get most of their weapon upgrades free, only having to pay for the likes of meltaguns, while vox casters, power swords, and standards are free upgrades. The same goes for Sentinels, which now only pay for hunter killer missiles and chainsaws, and likewise for the super-heavy tanks, which now only pay for lascannons, and those got cheaper.

In terms of actual units going down, Bullgryns dropped another 5 points, which hopefully is enough to make them playable as a midtable objective holder.

Key changes

• Most wargear options become free – Vox casters, power swords, plasma pistols, plasma guns, regimental standards, and boltguns, while power fists drop to 5 points
• Yarrick +5
• Bullgryns -5 points per model
• Armoured and Scout Sentinels went up 5 points but most of their weapon options became free – only Hunter-killers and chainsaws cost points
• Weapon upgrades on the super-heavy tanks became free except for Lascannons, which are now +30 points (20 points cheaper)

Grey Knights

TheChirurgeon: Following the addition of Armour of Contempt in the April balance dataslate, Grey Knights have done OK. They’re a strong faction with some clear play, but struggle mightily against specific enemy matchups – particularly Tyranids – and this has kept them from really breaking through. As a result, they don’t get much here- the costs on their Land Raiders drop 20 points each, which admittedly might make them viable, while Stormravens and Razorbacks also got a bit cheaper. For the Grey Knights that’s largely fine – they’ll get more out of the Tyranid and Eldar nerfs at this point.

The other big area where points dropped was for the special unit upgrades – every option in Wisdom of the Prognosticars and Gifts of the Prescient dropped 5 points.

Key changes

• Land Raiders -20
• Stormraven -30
• Razorback -10; Twin Lascannon +10
• Wisdom/Gifts options -5

Imperial Knights

The Imperial Knights are too new a faction to receive point updates.

Space Marines

Condit: There are a few changes in some interesting spots, with most of them landing in the Heavy Support slot. Centurion Devastators save 5 points per main weapon, dropping a minimum squad of heavy bolter centurions by 30 points. Not bad. Eliminators no longer pay a premium for the Las Fusils, so if you were taking those, now they’re cheaper. 

Your armor is almost universally less expensive, making tanks that much more tempting of a choice. Gladiators drop 15 points across the board, bringing the Gladiator Lancer down to 150, which at the very least makes it an option for Iron Hands. Every Land Raider in the book also loses 20 points, and the Vindicator drops 10 points to a somewhat respectable 120. Repulsors drop 25, while Repulsor Executioners are down 35, and Predators lose 15 points for the Annihilator and 10 for the Destructor.

The Fast Attack slot has one of the most interesting changes, though: Assault Squads make out like bandits here, as nearly all of their wargear choices – including the jump packs – are now free. Want some relatively inexpensive nerds to move out and start doing Activities on a mid-field objective? Now you’ve got the perfect unit for that in a slot that’s not very contested.

As for other Chapter-agnostic changes, I guess the Stormraven dropped 30 points. Good for it.

For the Codex chapters, the headline is an 80-point drop on Guilliman, though Calgar and the Victrix Honour Guard also came down 30 and 10 points, respectively, per model. The same was true for many of the other chapter characters, such as Lysander (-10), Kantor (-10), Tor Garadon (-10), Agatone (-15), He’Stan (-15), and Iron Father Feirros (-15), who appears to have finally paid the penance for his 8th edition debut.

Key changes

• Assault Squads: Jump Packs and most weapons are now free
• Guilliman: -80
• Spartan: Drops to 420
• Astraeus: Drops to 550
• Land Raiders -20 points
• Repulsor/Executioner -25/35
• Gladiators -15
• Eliminator Las-fusil now free
• Centurion Devastator upgrades now free

Black Templars

TheChirurgeon: Only one big points-wise for Black Templars, who were otherwise in an OK place as far as marine chapters go – Primars Crusader squads now get free upgrades except for the Pyroblaster, which clocks in at only 5 points. This is a pretty solid upgrade to the squad, which now looks much scarier. Unfortunately this didn’t translate to the firstborn Crusader squads, but overall it’s a decent improvement.

Blood Angels

TheChirurgeon: The Blood Angels make out like bandits here, with drops on Astorath (-10), Sanguinary Guard (-2), and Death Company (-2). They also get some drops to Baal Predators (-10). Generally speaking, these are big improvements for a chapter that was already leading the pack in terms of competitive play and likely to improve with the new secondaries.

Dark Angels

TheChirurgeon: The Dark Angels don’t get quite as much help as the Blood Angels, but they do get small drops for Deathwing Knights (-4 and Ravenwing Knights, for whom the Corvus picks became free, dropping them down a second time this year to what will hopefully be a low enough cost to merit play. Azrael and Ezekiel also came down 10 points each, as did the Darkshroud and Land Speeder Vengeance, hopefully opening up a few more vehicle options. Finally, Rites of Initiation dropped 5 points per upgrade.

Deathwatch

TheChirurgeon: The Deathwatch don’t get much help here to their specific units, but they do get a 5-point drop on each of their Kill Team specialisms, which will help them quite a bit when fielding the Kill Teams Army of Renown.

Space Wolves

JonK: Another set of points changes and another miss on key units like Thunderwolf Cavalry.  Having said this, Hounds of Morkai going down 2ppm now brings them into the territory of usable. 20 points for a unit that can tank mortals and really mess around with psykers would be a welcome addition to any list in the right meta. Skyclaws going down 2ppm and many of their weapons becoming either free or dropping by 5 makes this unit quite a bit cheaper which is exactly what you want for an action unit on the table.  

The Character changes while nice still do not really help the mainstream competitive lists as you are (almost) always running successor chapters.  

GW continues to try and tempt players into lowering their win rates by dropping the points for the flying bricks (Rob: -30 point each for the Stormwolf and Stormfang). It’s a trap! 

Overall it is hard to complain about getting some positive changes; I know the human instinct is to look over at the Blood Angels and say “WHY DIDN’T WOLVES GET THAT” but what good will this do?  Work with what we got, which is some decent changes to units that help you play the mission better.  

Chaos

Chaos Knights

The Chaos Knights are too new a faction to have received point updates, aside from those issued yesterday in the faction’s FAQ.

Chaos Space Marines

TheChirurgeon: The points here give us a glimpse into the future of Chaos Space Marines and the upcoming codex but there’s little reason to believe they’re not identical to the unreleased book. 

Death Guard

Mike P: Nurgle has delivered Death Guard players another blessed gift with this points update. With small but significant points drops almost across the board, Death Guard gain a significant power bump with this points update. This is especially true after the Nephilim mission pack improved all their bespoke faction Secondaries, collectively moving Death Guard into the game’s upper tier of factions. 

In one of my favorite updates in all of 9th Edition, all Plague Marine special weapons are now free. This is a HUGE boost for one of the most iconic units in the game. One of the previous issues with Plague Marine was they were durable for their points if they were cheap, but quickly shot up in points if you wanted to add actual weapons. Now Plague Marines can get the best of both worlds, retaining significant durability for their points while also being very dangerous once they connect. This is also a nice nod to collectors who built their Plague Marines from the mono-pose sets or added random bits to their models. You’re no longer going to regret including a random plasma gun in the squad. 

The drops to Daemon Engines are very valuable, as they are the best sources of mobility in an otherwise slow army. Well-rounded armies that bring together different types of units together are likely the way forward for Death Guard players. 

TheChirurgeon: This is massive for Death Guard players. All of the nonsensical nerfs of the January 2022 points update have been reverted – we’re back to 5-point Poxwalkers (just in time for the new Spread the Sickness objective), plus 40-point Blightlords and 50 point Deathshrouds (who keep the free second pistol). But the biggest change is to Plague Marines – There’s absolutely a path forward that runs 2-3 squads of fully decked-out marines in 10-man squads. And they’re an absolute melee nightmare.

Death Guard have options again and it’s likely that Terminus Est Assault Forces are back on the menu as well. Good times.

Key changes

• Malignant Plaguecaster down 5
• Mortarion down 40(!)
• Almost all Daemon Engines and Vehicles drop 10-15 points… including PBCs
• Plague Marine special weapons and melee upgrades are all free
• Poxwalkers drop back down to 5ppm and Terminators all drop a few points
• Deadly Pathogens all dropped 5 points

Thousand Sons

TheChirurgeon: The other standalone Chaos Marines faction needed less help than Death Guard, but still wanted some slight tweaks – and we got them. Following a common theme in this update, some wargear options for Rubric Marines became free, making them more attractive options alongside the two 10-model units of Scarabs you’ll be packing. The big upgrade here is that Warpflamers are now +3 points per model, making that 10-model squad in a rhino pretty tantalizing. The Icons of Flame are now free as well, so every Rubric squad is essentially worth 2 Cabal Points, making it easy for an army to get up to 14-17.

Magnus also dropped 30 points, clocking in now at 420 points… it’s a tantalizing prospect to consider bringing him, especially since a knight will cost you 3 CP on top of the points. And all the Legion Command upgrades dropped, making it a bit less painful to trade points for an extra relic instead of CP. 

Key Changes

• Rubric Equipment drops – Warpflamers -3, Soulreaper -5, all other options now free (including icon.
• Helbrutes -10
• Magnus -30
• Land Raiders, Predators, Vindicators all down 10-20 points
• All Legion Command Upgrades -5

Daemons

Mike P: Daemons have been freefalling competitively, but don’t worry Daemons players. They suffered from a lot of interesting units that are just priced out of viability, but that’s the exact kind of thing a points change can fix. In addition, Daemons suffered more than any other army from the CP changes in the Nephilim packet. Giving them some points drops would really help ease the pain from that. So let’s take a look at the complete list of changes to Daemons in this points update:

And that’s the entire list. That’s right, Daemons somehow got no points changes in this update. I don’t really know what to say. 

The one upside is that this may be a sign that the Daemons codex is coming sooner than we realize, so they didn’t bother updating Daemons points. And we were thrown a tiny bone in the sense that all the FW Greater Daemons like Aetaos’rau’keres and Zaraknyel got 50 point drops. You’re still not taking them competitively, but they’ll be a bit cheaper if you happen to own one of these amazing models and just want to get it on the table. 

Key changes

• Absolutely
• Nothing
• Well not literally true–all the FW Lord Of War Daemons dropped 50 points. 

Xenos

Orks

Wings: Orks do very well out of these points changes, getting a double whammy of some of the increases from last time being rolled back, plus some drops to their Troops that have been needed since the book dropped. Let’s start there – all three Troops options go down by a point, and yes that includes Grots going down to four points per model, something that’s been barely seen in 9th Edition. This variously means that Grots are now extremely cheap if you just want to fill a Battalion (and useful for the improved Get Da Good Bitz Secondary), Beast Snagga Boyz look like even better value than they already were as Goffs, and maybe there’s a build somewhere that could consider lots of Boyz if Hail of Doom Eldar end up as less of a factor in the meta.

That same one point drop is mirrored on a bunch of other Infantry, including Kommandos and Stormboyz, so filling out on board control is pleasingly cheap. On bigger ticket items, three important units that caught nerfs last time see these partially or wholly reverted – both Squigbuggies and Squigosaur bosses go down 15pts, making them more attractive, and Kill Rigs get the full 20pt drop to their original 190pt price tag. Beast Snaggas in Kill Rigs looking pretty spicy, not going to lie.

Key changes

• Troops -1pt across the board.
• Squigosaur Boss & Squigbuggies -15pts
• Kill Rig -20pts, restoring it to its initial price.

Necrons

Wings: It is once again time for Necron players to get hyped, and just maybe this time it won’t end in disappointment. Necrons get another massive swathe of point cuts, and this time around they’re much more broad in what they target, rather than generating a few skew builds. Almost all Characters see anywhere between a 5pt and 15pt drop, and lots of Infantry see boosts this time. Immortals drop a point, making it slightly easier to fill out the all-important Battalion (which another cut to Ghost Arks also helps make less painful), which is a great start. Continuing on, some of the elite infantry also sees desperately needed discounts, with 3pts coming off the price of each of Deathmarks (still whatever because of how bad their gun is), Triarch Praetorians and (most excitingly) Lychguard. Lokhust Destroyers of both flavours also drop a further 5pts on top of their previous discounts, and surely, surely that must start getting them to the point where they’re actually good? Maybe? Please?

All of that on top of the previous changes mean that you’re going to have more points to spend on exciting toys after assembling the core of your army and good news – some of those drop in price as well! All three named C’tan go down 50pts (particularly nice for the Void Dragon), and Transcendents drop by 40, making the inclusion of one of these much more practical. At the top end, all Lords of War and both planes get drops of various magnitude too, and yes that includes the Silent King, now down to 400pts, which comes pretty close to making him a mandatory inclusion, especially given the extra value his Command Point boost now offers, and that he makes Code of Combat super good. Oh and one final thing – every Cryptek Arcana option went down by 5pts, so get ready to hand these out like candy (especially since points upgrades are generally better in a low CP world).

Where does this leave Necrons? Look, we’ve been through this a few times, I know, I know, but maybe? Maybe this time? All this and one of the best sets of Faction Secondaries in the game? Maybe it will be enough. Or maybe it will improbably prove to be hilariously too much, and Necrons will rule War Zone Nephilim. They are on the cover after all.

Key changes

• Immortals down 1pt.
• Most Characters down 5-15pts.
• Lychguard down 3pts.
• Hefty drops to all C’tan
• Silent King down to 400pts.
• All Cryptek Arcana down 5pts.

Genestealer Cults

Wings: This is one of the stranger sets of changes here, mostly because there are almost none – a 2pt discount on Atalan Jackals, and that’s it. That’s perfectly welcome, sure, but (Editor’s note: Nope, not even that, our notes of the old cost were wrong) despite how cool the Cult book is it definitely needed a bit more help here – a Necron-style 5pts off almost every Character and a few targeted tweaks to other units would have gone a long way. Their Secondaries are improved, which might help here, and the reduction of indirect fire in the metagame is definitely good for them, but I think it would have been reasonable to expect more out of this.

Key changes

• Atalan Jackals down 2pts.

Tyranids

Wings: Three factions get the nerf bat squarely applied to them in this update, and there are no prizes for guessing that Tyranids are one of them. The update here is pretty broad and pretty brutal – it’s just a general up-rating of almost everything, hitting hardest on the very best stuff from the monster mash builds like Tyrants (+20),  Maleceptors (+50, and probably too harsh after the initial FAQ nerfed them) and Harpies (+35 for the HVC build), but also going after the Kraken Pressure builds by stapling some increases on the undercosted bundles of wounds they favoured, with Raveners catching a 5pt increase and Pyrovores 10pts. Finally for the really notable stuff, all builds get hit by a +5pt increase on Warriors.

Tyranids pretty much indisputably had the best datasheets in the game going into this, and definitely needed to come down a lot, but this is very much at the “what they did to AdMech” level of nerf, and could prove painful to adapt to, especially as their Secondaries are on the weaker side (though the big upgrade to Cranial Feasting helps a bit). That said, the other two armies that have been in contention for top spot catch nerfs too, and with fewer powerful tricks available to opponents, dealing with what Tyranids throw down could prove more challenging. A few key things dodge the nerf bat too – your mandatory one unit of Zoanthropes remains unchanged, and the recent innovation of putting Alien Cunning on a Parasite of Mortrex also dodges the bullet. Forge World is also unchanged, so it’s possible the Scythed Hierodule could rotate back towards being a popular choice.

Key changes

• Malceptors +50pts
• Hive Tyrants +20pts
• Heavy Venom Cannon Harpies +35pts
• Raveners and Warriors +5pts
• Pyrovores +10pts

T’au Empire

Wings: Next on the chopping block are Tau, who catch some impactful point increases, but probably get hit the least hard of the current top three armies. Mostly that’s because where Craftworlds and Tyranids get increases on almost everything, Tau’s are a bit more targeted, and they’re largely the ones you’d expect. Commanders and Crisis Suits jump by ten points apiece (except Crisis Bodyguards, who only go up 5), with the same also applied to Broadsides (like Maleceptors, probably not needed given changes already made to them). You also pay a bit more for some weapons – airbursts go up by 5 on their first two ticks (fairly whatever, as they’ve dropped off post Balance Dataslate anyway), but the real bite is on plasma rifles, which go up 5 on every tick for Crisis, and the top one for Commanders. That makes Crisis teams a much heavier investment, and significantly raises the floor of price for clever builds.

The other place where most lists will see an increase is Ethereals and Drones – the former go up 20pts for all flavours, while shield drones go up to 15pts, a small additional tax. Finally, the Stormsurge catches a big jump, going up to 400pts base, which is potentially an overcorrection, though their statline is so pushed that they could need it when armies have fewer fancy tools for taking them down.

All that hurts – but unlike for our other two big losers, that is at least it, and plenty of other units that see top level play are untouched. Longstrike, Farsight and Shadowsun, all even better in the new pack, stay at current prices, Fire Warriors in Devilfish (a perfectly strong unit) see no changes other than drones, Hammerheads and Sky Rays (which have been seen teaming up in skew builds) are still priced to move, and Kroot Hounds remain one of the cheapest sacrificial units out there. Tau definitely come down a peg, but you can very clearly see how strong builds emerge from this with plenty of punch remaining.

Key changes

• Ethereals +20pts
• Commanders +10pts
• Crisis Teams +10pts, Bodyguards +5pts
• Plasma and Airburst up in price.
• Broadsides +10pts
• Stormsurge +70pts

Craftworld Eldar

Wings: Our third contestant in the game of Nerf! That! Faction! Here the solution appears to have been “if in doubt, +1ppm/+5pts”, with a select few Aspect Warriors going up by 2ppm, and very hefty units like the Avatar, Yncarne and Phoenix Lords going up 10 (except Irrilyth, so they might be the best now?). For many of these that’s fair enough, and Craftworlds do provide the balance challenge that their array of buffs and tricks make pivoting to new units very easy. In addition, quite a lot of the best units are in the 5pt increase category – given that as many as three Farseers are turning up in high end lists, a 5pt increase should probably be considered a bullet dodged by Asuryani players. There are also a select few units that avoid much of a change – Troops and Wraiths are largely left alone and Vypers stay as hyper cheap sacrificial pieces, but the real prize is that shuriken catapult Windriders, fast emerging as one of the best units in the book, stay at their current price point. It seems likely that a change to Hail of Doom is coming down the pipe, which will make these less obnoxious, but they’re still going to be pretty strong in whatever emerges in Nephilim (quite likely some sort of Ulthwe shenanigans).

As an Eldar player, on points alone this feels OK – there are a few things like the Avatar and planes which did not need an increase, but there are definitely tools to work with here, and plenty of good stuff in the codex. The issue for the Asuryani is that this hit pairs with some very poor Secondaries, one of the worst sets in Nephilim, and with the best of those (Wrath of Khaine) now harder to build for, as Aspects and Phoenix Lords are more expensive. The Asuryani feel like they’re going to be the acid test (alongside Ad Mech) for whether a poor set of objectives can significantly tank a faction under the new model.

Key changes

• Most Characters +5pts
• Phoenix Lords +10pts
• Most Aspects +1/2ppm
• Scatter Laser Windriders +5pts
• Falcons & Wave Serpents +5pts
• Vectored Engines +10pts

Drukhari

TheChirurgeon: The Drukhari only saw a single change – Wyches went down by 1 point per model. This isn’t nothing, but it’s also not much for a faction that’s managed to hang on to competitive viability through a number of nerfs. While the secondary changes weren’t super kind to Drukhari, this is likely another area where they’ll improve by virtue of their top predators decreasing in power.

Key changes

• Wyches -1

Harlequins

TheChirurgeon: In a move that will turn Boon into the Joker in real time, Harlequins only got a single point adjustment – a +15-point cost hike on Death Jesters. Harlequins were still hanging around and doing well competitively post-April dataslate, and they don’t really get weaker with this change, which nerfs a unit most had already removed from their rosters. Harlequins stand to be among the game’s top armies in Nephilim.

Key changes

• Death Jester +15

Putting it All Together

What does this mean for the game moving forward? Well, let’s break this down into winners and losers based on what we’ve seen.

Winners

• Necrons win big here, with some point changes that immediately make us excited about playing them.
• Death Guard also make out very well here, and we suspect they’ll suddenly have a lot of play in competitive games with a play style that favors a more mobile force.
• Sisters of Battle are big winners here as well, benefitting from both these point updates and improved secondary objectives.
• Blood Angels are the big Marine winners here, with significant drops on units they really want to take.
• Orks get a bunch of key drops that should help springboard them back into competitive viability.

Losers

• Tyranids eat a number of point hikes designed to substantially reduce their output.
• Craftworlds Eldar likewise get a bunch of small point increases across the board, making the whole army generally more expensive and unwieldy.
• T’au Empire armies are going to be operating with fewer toys now, and the number of viable T’au builds will decrease. Expect to see more hammerheads and fewer Stormsurges.
• Chaos Daemons really needed some help, especially in Nephilim, and just didn’t get it. 
• Adeptus Mechanicus armies really needed some help and also didn’t get much of it. 

What’s Next

That concludes our look at the point changes but stay tuned for the second part of our Nephilim round table, in which we discussion these point changes and how they affect armies, especially once the new secondaries have been taken into account. And as always, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.