Greetings, Citizens.
We’re entering a short downtime between seasons from 2pm-4pm BST (UTC+1) for some server maintenance, but the new season will begin as soon as we’re back online!
Harry (MadEmp) here, dropping in again for the latest Balance Change. Coming out of the natural horror of the Tyranids, we launch into the technological supremacy of the T’au. With a chance to focus on the T’au, we’re looking to bring a number of long-standing cards back to the front of the roster as well as introduce plenty more.
So without further delay, let’s dive into the changes:
T’au
Shas’vre Tassar – Vior’la Sept XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit
+25 Wounds, +9 Ranged
Dahyak Grekh – Kroot Tracker
+5 Range, +5 Melee
Kor’vesa #9974902 – Vior’la Sept MV71 Gun Drone
+15 Wounds
Shas’la Dau – Vior’la Sept Pathfinder
-2 Points, +4 Ranged
Shas’vre Kai’leath – N’dras Sept Stealth Battlesuit
+15 Wounds, +9 Range
Kor’vesa #3134554 – T’au Sept MV71 Sniper Drone
-2 Points
Shas’o Maisos – Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit
+15 Ranged
Kor’ui D’aano – T’au Sept Sun Shark Bomber
+15 Wounds, +20 Ranged
Kor’el Kai’naar – T’au Sept AX-5-2 Barracuda
+30 Wounds
Kor’ui Kor’ai – T’au Sept Sky Ray Gunship
+25 Wounds, +20 Ranged
Kauyon Shi’ur – Vior’la Sept KV128 Stormsurge
-55 Wounds, -52 Ranged
The Stormsurge is having a relatively heavy nerf due to its trait pairing. Both traits suit the model [as well as giving T’au access to Fear], so at this time, we are choosing not to change them. However, when paired with the Stromsurge’s stats, even at its cost, it is much more powerful than other cards of the same weight class. Nearly 500 Wounds with max Fear are incredibly difficult to deal with, and combined with the damage output of 274 ranged with Barrage puts it in a very strong position both defensively and offensively. Lord of War cards should stand out, but they shouldn’t be in a position, particularly against other Lord of War cards, where they can be overwhelmingly powerful.
Aeldari
Torhaedril – Striking Scorpion Aspect Warrior
+9 Melee
For a hard-hitting ambusher, Torhaedril hasn’t been hitting quite hard enough, so a boost to his melee should give melee decks more viable access to Target Acquired.
Necrons
Vengeance of Sekemtar – Sautekh Dynasty Destroyer Lord
+25 Wounds, +10 Melee
With a large roster of Destroyer cards in the Necron roster bringing plenty of Berserk for Necron players to choose from, the Vengeance of Sekemtar has slipped behind in recent seasons. Some additional health and a bit more punch should help it compete with the other Destroyers more evenly.
Servants of the Emperor
Dejedris Garamach – Vindicare Assassin
+20 Wounds, +10 Ranged, +5 Melee
The iconic assassin has been making an impact in the new 10th edition tabletop but not having such glory days in game. As such he is receiving an all-around boost to give him a bit more of an edge.
Space Marines
Sanguinary Priest Dalecio – Blood Angels Sanguinary Priest
-2 Cost, +12 Melee
As the most expensive Space Marine Medicae Dalecio has struggled against the other options, cost being a key factor when choosing a Medicae card for all factions. As such, he’s being reduced by a few points in cost. Additionally, with a large melee buff, he should both reflect the Blood Angels chapter better and also offer a role as a damage dealer. This should differentiate, and give different reasoning to pick him over the other option.
Chaos
Honoured Gor’zrak – Red Corsairs Possessed
-2 Cost
With other similar options, Gor’zrak has slipped behind, so to differentiate, we’re bumping him down a few points to make him as a cheaper option compared to the other alternatives.
Orks
Da Mad Mangler – Bad Moons Clan Gorkanaut
Precision Shot -> Deathblow
To differentiate it from Da Giga-Blasta, we’re swapping Precision Shot out for Deathblow, in keeping with that brutal Klaw of Gork.
Tyranids
Specimen: BH-104-IA-Θ – Hive Fleet Behemoth Genestealer
Endless -> Furious Charge
Chirda – Genestealer Cults Hybrid Metamorph
Furious Charge -> Endless
By swapping the traits of these two cards around, it provides a bit of differentiation for the low-cost melee-only space for Tyranids and gives access to a multi-attack endless card. Additionally, it’s a better-fit lore-wise and reflects the Genestealer Cults’ iconic tabletop rules.
Reach out to us on the usual channels and let us know what you think of the changes! See you out there in Farsight Season!
MadEmp
Deathblow for the gorkanaut is useless until he gets to the highest levels.. that was a bad call. All the rest are good but why do you have to do da mad mangler dirty like that?
Interesting changes but deathblow for da mad mangler is very bad idea. It didn’t require nerf but this one is huge nerf for snikrott decks…
Totally agree. His melee attack is way too low to have much of an effect, where most people may have the card in low-to-mid range of levels. Both Snikrot and Badrukk will feel this nerf once again. It’s going in the wrong direction for the orks imo.
It needs a bump in melee damage at lower levels, if it should have any relevance for the majority of the players.
Big Game Hunter would be too strong, but nothing else than precision hunter makes sense for it imo.
Hello, I know this had nothing to do with the current update. Would it be possible to introduce the yellow Space Marines or the Blood Raven Space Marines in a future update?
Really a bad change for the gork……
This is great news
Keep up the good work.
While I don’t use Tau a lot, the heavy nerf definitely doesn’t help low/no-spenders. While I kinda agree with the nerf at higher levels, the overall nerf hits hardest to those that can’t spend thousands to max it
Yes yes we know the death blow change is bad and completely bonkers but let’s not ignore that the storm surge got nerfed because of how it will perform at max level. Who even has this card at level 5 yet? Considering that there are no doubt some folks who bought all the bundles when the storm surge released, this absolutely feels like y’all made something that looked insanely fun and then nerf it after you got your money. You can go ahead and say that you needed the nerf because “it is much more powerful than other cards of the same weight class” meanwhile the Space Marines LoW is untouched here and would have never had a problem I bet. Shielded on anything in the Space marine roster is way too overloaded if you ask me, and yet there it is on the LoW. Not a good patch all in all with the nice things being to the rest of the tau roster, and changing around the tyranid traits. 3/10
These nerfs to the Stormsurge and Gorkanaut have just ruined two of my favourite decks running Shadowsun and Snikrot. I’m not going to shell out £20 for any more meaty cards in future. Tau and Orks are my favoured factions, so I am biased – and have been hit with a double whammy that’s made me start looking at other games to play instead now.