Games Workshop quietly dropped a new FAQ this week, but to our surprise it was for Kill Team and not Codex: Drukhari. The new Kill Team FAQ addresses several key things in the new Pariah Nexus book and has some major impacts on how marines play, specifically. So without further ado, let’s walk through the key changes and what they mean.
Deathwatch: New bolt weapons were added to the Special Issue Ammo List
Something we pointed out in our review of Pariah Nexus was that the reprinted rules for Special Issue Ammo weren’t inclusive to some of the newer datasheet weapon options. This has been changed in the FAQ, with errata adding the following guns as options for Special Issue Ammunition:
- Absolver bolt pistol
- Vigil spear
- Master-crafted versions of weapons on the list
So there’s still no option to get special issue ammo on a heavy bolt rifle or executor bolt rifle, but now you can apply it to a couple of your Commander options, making them a bit more useful. This makes the Watch Master a bit more useful, along with all of your other Deathwatch Commanders sporting master-crafted bolt weapons.
Deathwatch: Aquila Kill Teams can now retain the ADEPTUS ASTARTES keyword
One of the odder holes in the rules was that Deathwatch Kill Teams lost the ADEPTUS ASTARTES keyword (and gained DEATHWATCH in its place), leading to a couple of broken interactions such as the Shrouding Psychic power not working on Deathwatch Kill Team models. The new wording gives Deathwatch Kill Teams the ADEPTUS ASTARTES keyword, though not as a faction keyword – so while this won’t open you up to using Adeptus Astartes tactics for your Deathwatch (still no Death Denied), it will let you effectively use abilities that look for an ADEPTUS ASTARTES model on the table once the game has started. It’s not a major change, but it does shore some things up and it makes Phobos Librarians better Commander options for Deathwatch.
Death Denied now costs 3 CP
One of the most frustrating things about Kill Team is the way Games Workshop seems hellbent on lazily copy-pasting the same errors from book to book, giving us new instances of 2 CP Death Denied each time and a new errata to follow. The most recent example was in Pariah Nexus, where Death Denied was once again moved back to 2 CP, making it incredibly strong again and turning marines into a major powerhouse thanks to the cheap tactic and their access to new cheap T5 3W models. This is such a big deal that the 2021 Champions Rules packet for events already corrected it back to 3 CP in order to keep things balanced. Well, Death Denied is now thankfully back to its much more sane cost at 3 CP, ensuring that marines players can still use it once or twice per game (and likely should), but will need to plan for it.
Sternguard Veterans: Fixed a typo on the weapon loadout
A Sternguard Sergeant can replace its special issue boltgun for a bunch of other weapon options, or even add another weapon or shield in its other hand. Previously, an error in the rules text said that doing so only gave them the option of taking a regular boltgun or a combi-weapon. That was corrected to ensure that they can now keep their special-issue boltgun even when you give them a storm shield or melee weapon. A welcome change.
Ranged Weapons: Added the Stalker Pattern Boltgun
The Stalker Pattern Boltgun was missing from the Pariah Nexus weapons list for space marines, and it has now been added. Its stats haven’t changed – it’s still 30″ range, Heavy 2, S4 AP-1, 1 damage.
The Gravis Captain’s Level 2 Points Cost was fixed
An obvious typo was fixed here, changing the cost of a Captain in Gravis Armour (level 2) from 18 points to 108 points. Our long national nightmare of nearly-free Gravis Captains is over.
Lychguard: Dispersion Shields were significantly buffed
The sole change for Necrons is a buff to Dispersion Shields, which now act in a similar fashion to Space Marine Storm Shields – they give Lychguard +1 to their non-invulnerable saving throws and grant a 4+ invulnerable save. This is a massive buff over just having a 4+ invulnerable save, and comes at no additional cost, suddenly making Lychguard much more attractive as options in Kill Team. Having a 2+ save to go with a T5, 2W body is nothing to sneeze at, and their damage output is nasty to boot. They recently got an extra attack in Pariah Nexus and while the two-handed staff is still a much better finishing weapon, the shield giving an extra +1 to their regular 3+ saves suddenly makes sword-and-board Necrons much more viable.
That wraps up our look at this week’s Kill Team FAQ changes. If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
