Warhammer 40k Balance Dataslate January Chaos Points Changes arrived along with the January Dataslate, with Chaos Daemons and Chaos Knights players eating good.
While the Warhammer 40k meta has been okay since the September dataslate, the community was keenly awaiting the January update. After a brief delay, it was shipped, bringing about some hefty rules changes, as well as some much needed updates to the Rules Commentary – and of course, points! After the points changes of the Imperium, let’s look at the forces of Chaos, hellbent on destroying the galaxy.
Warhammer 40k Balance Dataslate January Chaos Points Changes
The Forces of Chaos
Chaos Daemons
Chaos Daemons got a “nerf” aimed at other Chaos factions taking their bigger units as allies, while they got some hefty buffs. While Nurglings and The Blue Scribes went up in points, almost all of their smaller Daemons became cheaper, aimed to enable some build variety in the faction.
So far, it was only big monsters and some filler units, but now you could play all flavours of the Daemon Soup. Of course, some big boys got help as well, with Skarbrand, the Great Unclean One and Kairos Fateweaver also going down in points. Chaos Daemons have been struggling with a 46% winrate according to the latest Metawatch, but they should be back in the game after these changes!
Chaos Knights
Just like their Imperial counterparts, the Chaos Knights also got buffs across the board. Outside the War Dog Karniver, Stalker and Huntsman and the Knight Rampager every version of big and small CK got point decreases – except the War Dog Brigand, which is more aimed at Chaos factions taking it as an ally. Overall Chaos Knights were in an almost okay spot, and now they can enter the middle of the pack.
Chaos Space Marines
While the Chaos Space Marines were one of the strongest factions before the dataslate, they took some hard hits: Transports can only carry units of the same Chaos Mark as well as Dark Obscuration and Profane Zeal getting nerfs. Sadly, CSM was nerfed even more, with Accursed Cultists, Chaos Chosen and their Lord, Obliterators and Forgefiends going up in points. While these models were in every CSM tournament list, the cumulative effect of these changes might be akin to that of the nerf Custodes got back in September.
But hey – the Lord of Skulls is cheaper!
Death Guard
Death Guard has been in a nice spot ever since their buffs in September, and Games Workshop doesn’t really want to push them down. Even though the Biologus Putrifier got a small hit, Deathshroud Termies, Foetid Bloat-drones, the Lord of Virulence and Tyhus all became cheaper.
While Plague Marines and the Plagueburst Crawler got points increases, they are still fine – although, Plague Marines are on the edge of becoming a tad bit too expensive to play. Still, Death Guard will remain in the middle of the pack with these changes.
World Eaters
Even though Games Workshop failed to put World Eaters’ winrate in the Metawatch article, they still managed to hit the with nerfs on both the rules and the points end. While Favoured of Khorne went down 5 points, Eightbound, Exalted Eightbound, the Master of Executions and Kharn all got increased. These made up the brunt of most World Eaters forces, and WE players might have to rely more on Berzerkers.
But hey – the Lord of Skulls is cheaper!
While the Imperium changes were mostly good, the points increases and decreases for Chaos factions are not that great – Games Workshop might overshot with some of the factions. Nevertheless, Chaos Knights and Chaos Daemons players should be very happy – hopefully, this pushes them to some tournament wins!