Age of Sigmar: Nighthaunt Ethereal Update Incoming
The warriors of the ghostly Nighthaunt are about to get a re-work to their Ethereal ability along with a new order to help the stick around.
Games Workshop is finally ramping up the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar 3.0 Battletome releases. Players have been waiting for the Nighthaunt and Daughters of Khaine books even since they were announced. We got a teaser with Arena of Shades, too. And now the books are on the horizon and GW is talking about some of the changes headed to the Nighthaunt.
One of their key abilities has been Ethereal. Previously, this ability just made their armor saves unmodifiable — that counted for both positives and negatives. The new version still does that but with a twist.
“The ectoplasmic warriors of the Nighthaunt have always benefited from the Ethereal ability, which dismisses modifiers to their save rolls, but the new battletome makes this bonus even more substantial. Er, insubstantial? Your gathered ghosts can now avoid even the most heinous wounds with a ward of 6+, befitting their intangible nature.”
Nighthaunt Ethereal Update
This new version is actually three rules in one:
- Nighthaunts have a 6+ ward.
- Nighthaunts can retreat and still charge in the same turn.
- Nighthaunts Ignore modifiers (both positive and negative) to save rolls for attacks that target them.
This might not sound like a huge change but it’s going to be a BIG shift. The Nighthaunt used to only get the ward save if a Hero was within range — that restriction is gone now. Furthermore, the retreat and charge addition is going to be amazing for this army.
GW also hinted that the Wave of Terror ability is going to change. Honestly, I’m really looking forward to this change, too. The Nighthaunt army currently has an ability where they can attack during the charge phase if they roll high enough. It was basically like playing a slot machine — unreliable and only mattered if you hit otherwise it did absolutely nothing. (I once went to a tournament with my Nighthaunt where I didn’t get a single Wave of Terror charge bonus for two straight games. Then the third game happened and my entire army decided to do them all at once…I won that third round game.)
New Order – Discorporate
“Unfortunately, being Ethereal makes it pointless for your lamented leaders to command an All-out Defence… so the Nighthaunt can Discorporate instead. This unique command ability boosts a friendly unit’s ward to 5+, as they flicker eerily between states of corporeality.”
So this is a nice order for the Nighthaunt. It bumps the ward save from a 6+ to a 5+ and it’s a welcome addition. While it still doesn’t modify the Nighthaunt armor save it does at least boost that ward to a 5+ and that additional survivability is going to be super handy.
More changes to the Nighthaunt are coming. Stay tuned!
Now if we could just get a release date on these book…
