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 Xenos factions, talking about what changed and what it means for your games.
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.
Aeldari
Ynnari dodged any sort of nerf in the previous Dataslate, and have been the most dominant single build of this season as a consequence. Other Aeldari builds have been mid at best – you’ve had a scattering of strong performances with Aspect Host and Seer Council and a few breakthroughts with Warhost or Spirit Host, but outside of the Ynnari menace, nothing earth shattering.
Points Changes
- Foot Autarch: +10
- Fire Dragons: +10 / –
- Howling Banshees: +5 / +10
- Warlock Conclave: – / +20
- Yncarne: +10
- Ynnari Archon: +10
- Ynnari Incubi: +10 / +20
- Fire Prism: -10
- Shining Spears: -10 / -20
- War Walkers: -10 / -20
Rules Changes
- Lethal Intent given three changes:
- Now restricted to INFANTRY and MOUNTED only
- Must have been within 6” of a destroyed unit to activate
- Instead of a full Normal Move, now just d6+1” Normal Move
- Yvraine datasheet: Herald of Ynnead ability changed to only reroll wound rolls of ‘1’
Impact
Significant Loser
Thoughts
Boon: Once upon a time, in ninth edition, D-Scythe Wraithguard were a rarely-seen unit of little note in competitive circles. However, during that period I had created an army build that leveraged them efficiently and I found great success in using them. In doing so, I won multiple events and carried them all the way to a GW finale best overall win. Was the unit overpowered? Certainly not, but they were effective and worked very well for my playstyle and needs. When GW pulled out the nerf hammer and banished them back to the shelf shortly after I was both bemused and honored; GW didn’t nerf D-Scythes, they nerfed me.
So when I bounded down the stairs and opened up the preview of the MFM like a child on Christmas, I was taken aback by the lump of coal that awaited me. A nerf to the 4x Warlock Conclave, a unit I’ve used two of since the release and knew of almost no one else finding success globally with these. Here we go again, I thought. But no! Wings was there to check my ego and politely inform me that something far more incompetent was at play. After all, never chalk up to malice what can simply be attributed to incompetence. No, in fact it turns out the 4x Conclave was starting to catch on after all… in Ynnari.
Reader, I think at this point it is fair to ask if GW, like a boy with a misbehaving dog, is responsible enough to continue to have a Ynnari.
The complete lack of understanding represented in this update is bewildering and I’d be professionally embarrassed were I responsible. Setting aside for a moment that the rule change to Lethal Intent was both necessary and obviously warranted during the last update, the team behind these updates apparently felt that extremely limiting that rule wasn’t enough, they also needed to reduce the effectiveness of Yvraine and increase the cost of common Ynnari units, and even uncommon ones! The 4x Warlock Conclave took a hit because a single unit of these dared to appear in recent Ynnari lists. Banshees and Autarchs both took hits… I guess the team believes these can only be used in Ynnari or they aren’t uniquely benefitted by Ynnari. Then some Ynnari-specific units took additional point increases just to make sure everyone was clear that this is now a dead detachment competitively.
Three. Straight. Editions. Entering into this update Ynnari were a problem. Hell, entering into the last update Ynnari were a problem. Just as has been the case in the last update, and has been the case in every update since 8th edition, the wider Craftworld faction suffers at the hands of an overperforming Ynnari faction that GW routinely gets wrong then blindly corrects by punishing the underlying units. This time, Autarchs, Banshees, Conclaves, Fire Dragons – not only do those units not operate in the same way in a non-Ynnari build, they don’t operate the same way in a post-Lethal Intent change build. The reality here is that the Dataslate adjustments would have been enough to curb Ynnari dramatically.
Meanwhile, the rest of the faction struggles – since the last dataslate (which saw point hikes on units also used by Ynnari), in almost 5,000 games, non-Ynnari Eldar are averaging win rates of ~45% with some falling below 40%. An army performing in this manner would expect to see a wide array of adjustments to units that aren’t seeing use, but to do that you have to understand the army deeper than “Ynnari good”. Some will make the argument that, “The top players will move and improve the other detachment win rates.” Which is a thing you say on Reddit when you don’t attend tournaments but think you have it all figured out anyway. The reality is that there are very few faction experts that are also “top players”, most players will just hop over to an easier to play faction rather than bang their head against a wall trying to make a handicapped roster work competitively. What you have left is a few extremely skilled faction experts finding success, then a mass of players who struggle even harder than they did previously. I expect Aeldari win rates to approach 42-44% after this update.
Eldar did get minor positive points adjustments to Fire Prisms, War Walkers, and Shining Spears. They don’t even come close to scratching the surface on solving why these units don’t work competitively.
I do take comfort in the fact that the same approach applied to reigning in Ynnari will undoubtedly be applied to other similar circumstances like Guilliman / Calgar and the Ultramarines. No way Space Marines get a bevy of point drops to compensate for the rules changes, right? Would be ludicrous if they did, right? Right?
Right?
Wings: Normally I am the voice of Elf moderation to Boon’s doomerism, but I’ll admit I share some of his exhaustion here. This trajectory was locked in the moment Lethal Intent got missed in the last Dataslate, and now we have to live with the consequences. Bluntly – other than Fire Dragons +10pts, no other increase here is justified once you account for the change to Lethal Intent, and the faction’s going to be in a terrible spot for the next three months (with Ynnari outright unplayable due to getting triple tapped with more rules and points changes).
The War Walker and Fire Prism changes are nice, sure, but if you’re hitting the best part of a faction this hard you have plenty of power budget to work with that you could have spent on, say, the Avatar, or maybe dropping Shining Spears down further than -10pts (especially because they’re nowhere near as scary now Lethal Intent is dead). Unlike Boon I get to be (mostly) sad rather than angry, because I have another army and that one got surprisingly generous buffs, but I was having fun playing Seer Council and I’m going to miss that when the pressure of my Canoptek Court build just being obviously better pushes me off what is theoretically my main faction.
Curie: Alright non-elf player here weighing in – these changes go too far. Ynnari definitely needed adjusting, and they did that with the rules changes – most notably with the heavy-handed rework to Lethal Intent. From that though, the other nerfs carry a bit too far and I feel like Aeldari will struggle in the new Chapter Approved world.
Drukhari
Drukhari have largely only been seen in the hands of dedicated fans this season. That has lead to a few weeks where their win rates spike up considerably, but in the aggregate some help is clearly needed. The best builds have largely been leaning on the extremely good Stratagem suite of Reaper’s Wager, with a varying number of Harlequin units mixed in depending on how much a given player feels like having a detachment rule. Most builds have leant on Scourges for damage dealing, often with some Talos as anchors.
Points Changes
- Mandrakes – Go down 5pts/10pts for 5/10 models
- Raider – Goes down 5pts
- Ravager – Goes down 10pts
- Venom – Goes down 5pts
Rules Changes
One change to the Reaper’s Wager detachment – the Callous Competition Detachment rule now gives the winning side re-rolls of 1 for Hit rolls, while the losing side keeps re-rolls of 1 for both Hit and Wound.
Impact
Neutral to Slight Loser
Thoughts
Liam: Reaper’s Wager has been doing ok recently, at least when played by Cody Jiru, and gets a buff here. The points drops certainly make some units cheaper. As ever with Drukhari the problem is that you just don’t have a lot of levers to pull, and saving 10-20pts in a list doesn’t incentivise massive changes. It’s a 45% win rate army with a TiWP of exactly 1, it’s ok to be a little braver than this!
That 45% win rate has a really big swing depending on match-up, too. The bad news for Drukhari players is that all of Death Guard, Emperor’s Children, and Adepta Sororitas are appalling match-ups for them and will remain so, especially Death Guard and Sisters who are untouched and buffed by the slate respectively, while their very favourable game into Blood Angels just got that bit harder. That said, handing out free re-rolls of 1 to Hit is pretty spicy, so maybe the hope is that that will be enough to encourage players to pick up Drukhari again.
Genestealer Cults
Genestealer Cults lists have been few in number this season, but have sustained a surprisingly good win rate. Cut through to top finishes has been limited, but the faction is clearly not bad in the hands of players who know how to use it. Most high performing lists have been on Host of Ascension, but some players have worked with Biosanctic and Outlander as well.
Points Changes
- Atalan Jackals: -5/-10
Rules Changes
- Resurgence Point cost to respawn minimum-sized Atalan Jackals or Purestrain Genestealers reduced from 3 to 2. Full sized units remain at 6.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
TwoHorse: GSC have been doing well but not extraordinarily so, and so get a bit of internal balance help for one of their less-seen datasheets (which is coincidentally the coolest bike kit GW has ever produced). The points change puts Jackals on price-parity with purestrains, which may see a single unit swapped into Host of Ascension lists for a slightly larger early board presence footprint.
The Resurgence cost changes opens the door to respawning units that aren’t 5-model squads of hand flamer Acolytes, allowing you to choose Purestrains or Jackals without costing yourself a whole unit (or two if you went for 3×3-cost units for some reason). Every detachment can make great use of Purestrains, and being able to flex into respawning multiples of them will be a welcome option when fast melee is what the board needs. Biosantic Broodsurge particularly benefits from the flexibility to choose between Aberrants or Purestrains as the respawn focus depending on the matchup. Atalan Jackals seldom see use outside of Outlander Claw, but for Claw lists this is a welcome chance to lean further into the detachment toolkit.
Overall, a welcome moment of stability and internal balance for the Emperor’s finest in a turbulent meta.
Leagues of Votann
Votann continue to be perfectly balanced due to their low centre of gravity. Look, I (Wings) will stop using that line when it stops being true. They’re the perfect example of being just fine – strong enough to win a big event, not overly dominant, and just deep enough that you can flex a bit with the metagame, mostly by sliding the number of Hearthguard up and down.
Points Changes
None
Rules Changes
Some very minor rule changes here in the Balance Dataslate. Now the E-COGS that are part of the Brokhyr Iron-Master and Grimnyr units, no longer take up transport space. So now for the purposes of riding in Sagitaur or Land Fortress’, the Iron-Master will take up 2 slots (assistant still counts), and the Grimnyr will take 1.
This opens up a few possibilities, now a Grimnyr can ride with 10 Hearthkyn in a Land Fort or 5 Hearthkyn in a Sagitaur, and the Iron-Master can ride with 3 Brokhyr Thunderkyn in a Land Fort or alongside 10 Cthonian Beserks in a Land Fort. Will this shake up the meta? No, but there are just a few more options at least.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Curie: Leagues of Votann have been remarkably stable the last few months, winning quite a few big events, and performing similarly well at teams events. The index has certainly lost its lustre, so short kings everywhere can pray to their ancestors that the codex is coming soon.
Shane: I am kinda hyped to throw my Iron-Master in the Land Fort alongside one of my Beserk squads now. Having more options for where he can be, as well as being able to get out and heal the Land Fort in the same turn could be good. I wish I could put the Iron-Master in a Sagitaur alongside 5 Hearthkyn, but alas the Ironkin assistant prevents my wish from coming true.
Orks
Orks burned bright and fast this season, getting a few weeks with More Dakka where they utterly dominated before a halt was called. Since then they’ve been a little underwhelming, though Taktikal Brigade and War Horde lists have been fine.
Points Changes
- Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun – Goes up 10pts
- Boomdakka Snazzwagon – Goes down 10pts
- Boyz – Go up 10pts for 20 models
- Deffkoptas – Go down 10pts/20pts for 3/6 models
- Flash GItz – Go up 10pts for 10 models
- Kustom Boosta-blasta – Goes down 5pts
- Lootas – Goes up 15pts for 10 models
- Megatrakk Scrapjet – Goes down 5pts
- Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy – Goes down 5pts
- Shokkjump Dragsta – Goes down 5pts
- Squighog Boyz – Go down 10pts/20pts for 4/8 models
- Tankbustas – Go up 5pts
- Trukk – Goes up 5pts
- Zodgrod Wortsnagga – Goes up 10pts
A targeted set of changes here, with all the components of good Taktikal Brigade lists going up (plus big squads of Lootas, which kind of feels like a hangover from More Dakka!), and the underutilised buggies and Deffkoptas all getting drops. 5pts is probably a little conservative with the buggies, but then they do get a buff from the the rules changes.
Rules Changes
The Kult of Speed’s Adrenaline Junkies detachment rule gets a huge errata – SPEED FREEKS units can now Advance/Fall Back, shoot, and charge.
In smaller news, Bomb Squigs on Tankbustas get another wording change – they now say “Once per battle, for each bomb squig this unit has.” This doesn’t change anything from how it was before except that some people were reading the “twice per battle, for each bomb squig” and assuming they could do two squigs twice, I guess.
Impact
Significant Loser
Thoughts
Liam: Recent Taktikal Brigade lists were running three SAG Meks, three Tankbustas, a 10-model Flash Gitz, and anywhere up to five Trukks, and these changes stick 80pts on that, more if they were running Zodgrod Wortsnagga. That’s a pretty heavy set of changes. Having recently had my arse handed to me by a very good player with basically that list, I’m not upset about it, but it’s a big blow to the faction, especially as Green Tide takes a meaty hit at the same time
On the other hand, Kult of Speed is the worst detachment in the book, with a non-existent play rate, and nobody’s put a buggy on the table all edition. Buffs to those are certainly welcome, and Advance/Fall Back and charge is huge for them even if it also renders part of the Waaagh! a little redundant. It’s probably not enough, but it might at least make the detachment playable, which is better than where it is now.
Necrons
Necrons have had a low-key strong season, with lots of success for Awakened Dynasty builds running decked out Warrior brick and lots of supporting Skorpekh with Lords, and a recent resurgence of Starshatter Arsenal as a better meta pick into Death Guard. Other builds like Hypercrypt have seen some play too.
Points Changes
- Skorpekh Lord +10pts
- Enaegic Dermal Bond (Awakened Dynasty) +15pts
- Lokhust Destroyer (single model) +5pts
- Canoptek Doomstalker -5pts
- Canoptek Wraiths -5/10pts
- Deathmarks -5/10pts
- Illuminor Szeras -10pts
- Plasmancer -5pts
- Technomancer -5pts
Rules Changes
None
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Wings: …huh. These changes are a gift for me, personally, the one person still solidly on the Canoptek Court train, paid for entirely by correcting the over-generous boosts to Skorpekh Lords and finally spotting that the Enaegic Bond has always been too cheap. Well OK then.
I solidly guarantee you that Canoptek Court with +50pts-ish to work with is extremely real, but these are also pretty relevant to some of the Starshatter lists that have been putting up strong performances recently. You were already seeing one Wraith brick in most builds, and sometimes two, now two should become the standard, especially as they’re strong into Blood Angels and Death Guard. Necron numbers had already been quietly climbing (just as the Silent King likes it), and that’s going to accelerate here.
T’au Empire
T’au have been having a rough time of it, performing poorly on both win rate and top finish metrics. Successful builds have mostly been falling back on fairly classic Kauyon setups, with a few hordier Kroot Hunting Pack lists also emerging.
Points Changes
- Kroot Carnivores: – /+10pts
- Stealth Battlesuits: +20pts/ –
- Through Unity, Devastation (Kauyon): +15pts
- Coordinated Exploitation (Mont’ka): +20pts
Rules Changes
- For the Greater Good is completely re-written. Now, at the start of the Shooting Phase the T’au player picks units in their army (that are eligible to Shoot) to be Observers, and a visible enemy unit for each Observer to designate as a Spotted unit. From there, any non-Observer unit that targets a Spotted unit is a Guided unit and gets +1 Ballistic Skill, and also Ignores Cover if the Observer was a Markerlight unit. This means there are no longer any penalties for splitting fire (though if only some of your targets are Spotted, you only get bonuses against them).
- A bunch of other rules change to account for this:
- Through Unity, Devastation is updated so it applies for all units targeting the Spotted unit.
- Coordinated Exploitation is updated so it applies for all units targeting the Spotted unit.
- Stealth Battlesuits are updated so that their Forward Observers rule applies to all units targeting their Spotted unit.
- Firesight Teams are updated so their rule still works.
- Patient Hunter (the Kauyon detachment rule) gets sidegraded – Sustained Hits 2 against Spotted units is gone, replaced by ignoring any or all Modifiers to hit or Ballistic Skill when targeting a Spotted unit.
- Pathfinders no longer double-Observe with Target Uploaded – instead, they can benefit from +1 to Hit and Ignore Cover when targeting their own Spotted unit.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Wings: The bookkeeping headache of For The Greater Good is banished in this update, becoming far easier to use, and far more potent for T’au players who are trying to alpha strike key enemy units, especially when boosted by Stealth Suits or the Kauyon/Mont’ka enhancements. This is, obviously, a big boost for units with the most guns, and is especially powerful for stuff that wanted the option of splitting fire, making incidental smart missiles (or seeker missiles) more powerful, and units like the Stormsurge worth a second look.
Even smaller stuff benefits significantly from not being locked into a single target, and it’s helpful for Crisis toolbox-style lists to be able to split shots from a Commander out from their squads without paying a massive price. It also reduces the pressure to rack up massive numbers of smaller units to ensure you already have enough spotters. Do note, however, that there is still some planning required – all Observers are chosen at the start of the shooting phase, so you have to plan upfront what’s on buff duty and what’s killing stuff. Easier to plan than before, but does carry some risk of over/undercommitting that you can’t later go back on.
This is very clearly a power-boost rules-wise, but it does have to be qualified by the fact that the points have gone up on some of the things it helps most (with Stealth Suits being especially impactful as 3×3 are in essentially every list), Kauyon’s late-game output takes a considerable cut, and T’au weren’t in a very good spot before this. In this instance, I’m pretty comfortable that you want to see how this lands before cutting points too, but while this is a net buff to the Greater Good, my suspicion is that we will still see some more buffs needed in the next Dataslate to get them properly operational. Unless, like, double Stormsurge Mont’ka is busted or something, but I’m skeptical.
Tyranids
Tyranids have had a robust but fairly dull season, with a good win rate and lots of strong finishes for the classic mix of Maleceptors, Exocrines and Tyrannofexes in Invasion Fleet. The only point of excitement is that the Norn Emissary has been on the rise, bringing a bigger bug to many armies.
Points Changes
- Psychophage +15pts
- Hive Guard -10pts/-20pts
- Hive Tyrant -30pts
- Screamer-Killer-10pts
- Swarmlord -20pts
- Winged Hive Tyrant -30pts
Rules Changes
- New Detachment – Subterranean Assault. Check out our thoughts here.
- Hive Tyrants and Winged Hive Tyrants can only do their CP reduction once per Battle Round instead of once per Turn.
- The Psychophage datasheet gets a shake-up, becoming an offensive tool instead of its current status as a defensive buff platform:
- +4” Movement.
- Bio-Stimulus now gives your army +1AP in melee against the Psychophage’s shooting target for the rest of the turn.
- Its melee weapons go from d6+1 attacks at 6/1/2 to flat 6 attacks at 6/2/2 while keeping Devastating Wounds and Anti-Psyker 4+.
- It gains Smoke.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Wings: Various tinkering with Tyranids that nets out to them being winners. Hive Tyrants getting a reduction in their Stratagem capability is obviously a nerf, but they get a huge points cut to compensate, and the Swarmlord sneaks in behind them despite uh, not actually losing anything. Elsewhere, it’s mostly upside – Screamer-Killers look pretty decent at 135, the new detachment looks fun (though we don’t yet have the new Ravener datasheet we assume is coming with Kill Team to really unpack it), and I also think Hive Guard may have snuck up to a point where you consider chucking in an MSU of them, either with shock cannons out of Strategic Reserves or just a home objective babysitting unit with impalers.
The only other big change is to the Psychophage, which is…probably a qualified success. The AP boost is pretty real if you’re running Hormagaunts in Invasion Fleet or melee Warriors anywhere, and a (still) cheap, fast model with Feel No Pain 5+ and OK output is a helpful piece of glue. I think the only sadness is that you’d really like to still be able to take one of the old ones for the now-departed FNP aura, but c’est la vie. I do expect to see them alongside the newly cheaper Swarmlord making further waves in Assimilation Swarm, as they’re a Harvester and Tyrant Guard (which were in a fringe but strong build of this) love a bit of AP improvement.
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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