Today brings us the June 2025 Balance Dataslate, unleashing a host of changes and setting the stage for the next quarter of 40k. As always, we’re unpacking the changes and the impact across the game’s factions, and in this article we’ll be covering the Chaos factions, talking about what changed and what it means for your games.
It’s summer and there’s a new balance dataslate to go along with the new Chapter Approved missions pack. We’ve had a deluge of Chaos content over the past few months with the release of all four cult books and the pending release of Chaos Knights on the horizon. This leaves us in an interesting point for the dataslate, as many of these armies are brand new and have only had a week or two of competitive play to show how they’ll shake out – and Thousand Sons haven’t even had that! So it might not surprise you to read that Games Workshop took a light touch on Death Guard and World Eaters, though with the former we think some changes were warranted.
The rest of our Dataslate coverage can be found at the links below:
There are also three new Detachments released with this Dataslate:
- Chaos Space Marines – Cabal of Chaos
- Dark Angels – Wrath of the Rock
- Tyranids – Subterranean Assault
Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Dataslate and associated material.
Important Note: When we rate a faction as winners or losers, we are considering that relative to their current position in the metagame. A top faction that’s a net loser in the dataslate can still be a cut above other factions once the dust settles, and a weaker faction can be a winner while perhaps still not picking up enough help to fix all their problems.
Chaos Daemons
Daemons have been doing well recently, with several different builds all showing up either winning or hitting the top spots at recent events – specifically, Plague Legion, Daemonic Incursion, and Shadow Legion lists, though we’ve seen the occasional Scintillating Legion list pop up as well, usually at teams events. These results help buoy the faction and give it some variety, keeping it firmly in the upper third of factions in terms of win rates.
Points Changes
- Nurglings go up slightly to 40/70 for 3 and 6 models, respectively
- Slaughterthirst enhancement in Blood Legion goes down 10 points
- Fade To Darkness and Leaping Shadows enhancements in Shadow Legion go up a combined 25 points
Rules Changes
- Nurglings can no longer be taken in 9-model units.
- The Pyrogenesis stratagem from the Scintillating Legion detachment was reduced in cost to 1CP
- Soul Grinders have to be used on their (frankly unplayable) Age Of Sigmar bases
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Mike P: Daemons come out of this balance update relatively unchanged. They remain a solid army. The only big miss for me is the complete lack of buffs for Slaanesh, which got put into the dumpster after Legion Of Excess flew too close to the sun.
The most impactful change is that the new base size document now requires Soul Grinders to be played on their uniquely massive 160mm bases. This is a heartbreaking choice for a unit whose build instructions literally tell you not to put it on a base when playing 40K. Soul Grinders have effectively been removed as a viable option, because they almost literally cannot move on any decent board. So long Soul Grinders, and thanks for all the souls you ground up along the way.
In terms of Nurglings, it’s a bit of a bummer that you can’t bring 9 models in a unit anymore. I’m sure there were some Nurgling aficionados out there that owned more than 36 and can’t run all of their models anymore. Nurglings also went up very slightly in points. On the other hand, Nurgling spam was both very rare and extremely obnoxious, and Nurglings are still useful for their points. This is ultimately an irrelevant change.
Reducing the cost of Pyrogenesis honestly goes a long way to making the Scintillating Legion detachment better. Scintillating Legion has a ton of durability and shenanigans, but is very light in damage output. Being able to use Pyrogenesis much more often will make units like Lords Of Change and Flamers much better. Do note that you still have to sacrifice a Flux Token to get the upgraded version of the stratagem. The enhancement point cost tweaks are minor. Blood Legion lists going down 10 points and Shadow Legion lists going up 25 points (you’re still bringing both enhancements) does not change their overall strength, for better or worse.
TheChirurgeon: The Nurgling change is interesting because I suspect it’s going to come with a datasheet change to bring them in-line with Death Guard and having a 5+ invulnerable save. At least, I hope so. Either way, not being able to take 54 Nurglings in a list any more is a good thing. It wasn’t something I saw happen in real life, and now I can rest assured knowing that won’t change.
The Soul Grinder change is brutal. You can still move a single one around the table with the various stratagems which allow you to move through walls, so that’s something – but 160mm is a huge base area and getting them around is a massive pain even when you can walk through walls. There are some GW layouts where you can make it work, particularly with short terrain. They are unplayable on WTC layouts or tables with taller terrain.
Daemons didn’t need a lot of help coming into this but I agree that Legion of Excess at the very least needed some help. I’m generally OK with Legion of Blood not seeing any changes because well, if you want to run Khorne Daemons you can do that in Shadow Legion, so dropping their points just makes Shadow Legion better.
Curie: Soul grinders have bases! That is all – I will retreat back to my lair now.
Mike P: Sigh.
Chaos Knights
We just saw last weekend that the new Codex: Chaos Knights is going up for preorder this weekend, indicating we’re about to see everything change for the faction. As such, it doesn’t make sense to make changes to them in this dataslate or points update.
Points Changes
- None
Rules Changes
- None
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Mike P: Chaos Knights are firmly in the codex waiting room at this point and were left untouched in their final Index update. I can’t wait to see what is in store for Chaos Knights.
Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Space Marines find themselves in a weird spot near the middle of the pack as we headed into this update. There are some solid builds in the faction – specifically around Creations of Bile and Renegade Raiders – but they feel a bit outclassed next to Emperor’s Children and Death Guard, who do fast melee and shooting better, respectively. The faction didn’t need a lot of help, but some small tweaks could go a long way.
Points Changes
- Chaos Lord with Jump Pack -10 to 80 points
- Dark Apostle -10 to 65 points
- Fellgor Beastmen -15 to 70 points
- Master Of Possession -10 to 60 points
- Traitor Enforcer -10 to 55 points
- Noise Marines (in Emperor’s Children) +10 to 145
Rules Changes
- New Detachment – Cabal of Chaos. Check out our thoughts here.
- Daemon Prince gains the Lone Operative ability while within 3” of Heretic Astartes Infantry
- Lord Discordant datasheet massively upgraded
- Vashtorr datasheet massively upgraded
- Defilers have to be used on a base
Impact
Significant Winner
Thoughts
Mike P: PRAISE THE DARK GODS!
One thing I really have to give GW credit for in 10th Edition is being willing to not only tweak points, but also tweak the datasheets themselves for units that need some more love. DiscoLords were a unit that couldn’t be saved by points cuts, so GW decided to overhaul their datasheet instead. This is exactly what CSM players have been waiting for!
DiscoLords got the following buffs:
- +4” Movement to 14”
- +1 Invuln to a 4++
- Corrupt Machine Spirits changed to do d3, 3, or d3+3 MW to a visible Vehicle within 12”
- Spirit Thief now requires visibility to the enemy Vehicle
- Chainglaive upgraded to 5 Attacks at S8/AP3/3 damage
Did you miss your Lord Discordant being a complete wrecking ball? Those days are back! Getting faster, scarier, and more durable, at 160 points they are now an excellent unit. Time to dust off your 3 DiscoLords from 8th edition and have some fun.
Vashtorr was the other huge winner. He now gains Lone Operative within 3” of a friendly Vehicle. His Reorder Reality ability now grants -1 to be Hit and works on melee attacks too. His Unholy Mechanisms ability now grants +2 Strength, which is especially spicy on Forgefiends and Venomcrawlers. Lastly, his melee strike gained +1 AP, and his melee sweep gained +1 Damage, Devastating Wounds, +1 AP, alongside a decrease to 12 Attacks. Vashtorr is one of the very best units in the entire codex now.
The rest of the changes are great quality of life changes, but much less impactful. Walking Daemon Princes now gain Lone Operative while near friendly Infantry, but still don’t do very much. A bunch of niche characters and Fellgor Beastmen went down slightly in points. Dark Apostles at 65 and Masters of Possession at 60 are both viable options now to lead units like Chosen. The only negative for CSM players is that Defilers now have to be played on a large base, which makes them much harder to move and ensures they won’t be seen outside of Soulforged Warpack, which gives them a stratagem to move through walls. Noise Marines going up 10 in Emperor’s Children also indirectly affects CSM players who loved running them in detachments like Renegade Raiders.
Chaos Space Marines will remain a strong army, and the Vashtorr and DiscoLord datasheet rewrites will give us some new list ideas to explore.
TheChirurgeon: The changes here to the Lord Discordant are kind of bonkers. Like two or three of these would have been plenty. Just giving him a 4++ and a better melee attack would have been enough to make him playable. But all of these together? Expect to see three of these in every single Renegade Raiders list, where the fact that they’re MOUNTED is tremendously relevant.
A stealth nerf here is Noise Marines going up 10 points, making the Renegade Raiders detachment a bit harder to field. None of these other changes really offset that, though those lists will need to be fully rebuilt with the new Lord Discordant (or three) anyways. Renegade Raiders will still run Noise Marines because even at 145 points they’re a great deal and AP-2 heavy bolters with IGNORES COVER are just fantastic weapons.
Death Guard
It’s pretty clear coming out of the gate that the Death Guard are overtuned. They have some weaknesses – mobility is still a major problem for them – but it’s clear that some of their good shooting units are just too good, and early results have seen them dominate the top 4 placings at events. The good news is that most or all of these problems can be solved with point changes. The bad news is that the Death Guard didn’t get any of those.
Points Changes
- Nurglings up +5/10 for 3/6 models
Rules Changes
- None
Impact
Significant Winner
Thoughts
TheChirurgeon: I know it’s early. I know we’ve only had Death Guard for a couple of weeks. I know I’ve enjoyed playing them in that time. But Bloat-drones need to come up. Not a ton – if you raise them to 130+ people will just take Predators instead – but to about 120. Bring Blight-Haulers up to 100. And likewise Deathshroud Terminators need a small increase as well, to something like 150 for three models. And a few of the characters need some increases – despite my love/hate relationship with the Tallyman, I think a Death Guard character shouldn’t cost 40 points. Take a good 100 points off the top lists and Death Guard look a lot more reasonable, especially in a meta where Ynnari are no longer a factor.
Mike P: I’m just going to say this as a Chaos player: Leaving Death Guard untouched is a big mistake.
I understand it’s early… but at the very least I would have appreciated closing the “loopholes” on Deathshroud Rapid Ingressing 6” away and Plagueburst Crawler spores triggering continuously (although thankfully, reasonable TOs are not allowing that anyway).
The fact that the only change is Nurglings getting a tiny bump is actually the funniest part. Glad we addressed the niche unit that can only be run in the niche detachment that no one is running because Mortarion’s Hammer, Virulent Vectorium, and Champions Of Contagion are too strong. Did anyone else have “Death Guard Nurglings go up more than Heavy Blightlauncher Drones” on their bingo card?
Emperor’s Children
As one of the game’s newest factions, the Emperor’s Children have some clear strengths – blinding speed and very good melee output – and some big challenges, like long-range shooting and reliance on a very small number of key datasheets. This can make balancing the army with points difficult, as small changes to key units will cause bigger problems.
Points Changes
- Winged Daemon Prince +20 points
- Fulgrim -20 points
- Lucius the Eternal +10 points
- Noise Marines +10 points
Rules Changes
- None
Impact
Loser
Thoughts
TheChirurgeon: This is really rough for the Emperor’s Children – the Winged Daemon Prince is the army’s best unit. Your standard Coterie list will lose around 90 points from these changes, and there’s not a lot they can do about it outside of just “not bringing any shooting units.” This is an area I’d have preferred to see some increases offset with dataslate changes to make the other Detachments a bit more viable.
At 365 points, Fulgrim suddenly looks a lot more interesting. He was already seeing some play in the Carnival of Excess Detachment alongside daemons of Slaanesh, and it’ll be interesting to see if he makes the table more often or if we’re having this conversation again in six months when he drops to 350.
Curie: Agreed with Rob’s take on this – Emperor’s Children were already starting to struggle into Death Guard, especially into Mortarion’s Hammer lists. Losing 90 to 100pts will make things more challenging for sure.
Mike P: Agree with Rob and Curie, but I also want to make one thing clear: Emperor’s Children are still pretty good. This update is showing the issues with balancing an army with so few units. When the core handful of units gets nerfed, it feels like everything gets nerfed.
Thousand Sons
The Thousand Sons aren’t even out yet and while there are a few things we’d keep an eye on, it’s too soon to be making changes to the army. We’d love a little clarification on the confusing wording around Rituals, but generally no changes here is the right call, especially until we see how they fare in a meta dominated by Death Guard.
Points Changes
- None
Rules Changes
- None
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Mike P: Good luck to all the Thousand Sons players with their new codex! I do believe Thousand Sons will end up too strong, but given the timing there was never a chance they were touched in this dataslate.
World Eaters
The other recent kids on the block, the World Eaters are in the opposite boat from Death Guard. They’re aggressively fine but only just that – they feel anemic going up against tougher targets and rely a lot more on shooting with Forgefiends than World Eaters players would like. There are two currently two viable builds with the faction – Daemonkin and Berzerker Warband – and of those, Daemonkin look to be the more competitive, using the tricks supplied by Bloodletters to supplement an army of bruisers.
Points Changes
- None
Rules Changes
- None
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Mike P: I would have liked to have seen a bit of internal rebalancing. It would have been nice to give Exalted Eightbound and Berzerkers and Angron a little points decrease, and give Forgefiends and maybe Helbrutes a bit of a points increase. That being said, the overall power level of World Eaters is in a good spot, so I understand leaving them alone in their early codex days. World Eaters come out of this update in a completely fine position.
TheChirurgeon: Yeah, I get why these guys went untouched along with Death Guard but in both cases I think it was the wrong call. Angron needs to come down, a tiny drop on Berzerkers and Eightbound of both varieties need to come down – they’re way overpriced for what you get. That said, this army doesn’t need a lot of help to get to a good place. I’d also consider dropping Rhinos and Land Raiders a bit to encourage players to take the Goretracks Detachment.
Wrap Up
Make sure to check out the rest of our Dataslate coverage by following the links at the top of the article.
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