Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: What Will Be Good After the Nerf?
Goatboy here with what’s going to rise to the top of 40K after all the broken stuff gets cut off at the knees?
We know a big 40K nerf is incoming to some of the pretty nutty things still in the game right now. So my question today is – what is going to be good when the bullies get nerfed?
What’s Getting Nerfed?
Let’s look at the things that probably will get hit. We have heard Towering is going to get hit, a lot of Aeldari stuff, and all this problematic Indirect Fire. Each of those things looks to getting a tweak and it makes me wonder – will it be enough?
Let’s look at the things left – we have Thousand Sons that appear to be in that 6th man spot ready to wreck the starters with some deep 3’s and explosive defense. Now of course if Devastating Wounds get hits in a way that limits it, TSons may get hurt. But I think the army can just still wreck shop with consistent damage and targeted but not targeted mortal wounds options. We’ll just have to see if that gets tweaked.
Speaking of tweaks – are we going to see some kind of balance to all the “can reuse a strat already used” nonsense? I can understand how it can be ok with some options. However, throwing out multiple Overwatches could be so damaging it ruins the game for someone. I still think Overwatch should just be 12” and not 24” but will see if that gets a change.
Can you tell I am sad about my assault armies just not working anymore? It is frustrating, and it makes me feel that the armies that rely on assault need to have their assault pushed more. More AP, more hits, and just faster abilities to get into combat would be for all the armies.
I know who still won’t be good in all of this – the Death Guard. Wow, is that army just not set up right? It isn’t tough, it doesn’t shoot enough, and with its slow nature, its army rule just doesn’t work. I really don’t know how to fix them beyond just a complete rethought on how they work. With a Codex not coming for awhile we are left looking at our forlorn Death Guard models contemplating the decomposing point of collecting these gross jerks.
Who Is Waiting to Shine?
We all know if the big bad armies get nerfed the most likely winners will be Adeptus Custodes. They are sitting just a tad below the power factions, are the only assault army that works, and still got winning stuff from FW. I’ve got a few buddies playing an upcoming Team event (ATC WOOO!!). I really think grabbing a big body Adeptus Custodes army is a perfect choice for the evolving meta. The Custodes act as the weird little middle army that can take on most things and even survive a bit vs Eldar and their mortal wound nonsense.
All of this is frustrating because working on a new army is annoying enough and waiting on if all those models are nerfed is just annoying. Or all the armies we spent a ton of time working on are just not good? What’s a plastic addict supposed to do?
Overall I bet the game tries to get less lethal in shooting and that would lead to games becoming vehicle-heavy for a bit. I could see some of the bigger tanks/etc getting much better once all the devastating wounds, towering nonsense, and point tweaks happen. Will it be as bad as it was during 5th edition parking lot? I don’t know will just have to wait and see. Any army that can field a solid motorpool looks ready to shine. Looking at you Astra Militarum.
Remember – It’s Very Early
What do you guys want ya think? Should we bring down lethal shooting? Should we amp up assault and give World Eaters a reason to smile? Should everyone get a vehicle like their dad owns the dealership?
I know the game will be a lot more interesting by the end of the summer. The game has barely been released, and we are all just digging into it and finding the rough bits. It is a pain to try and balance all of this at once, and while an ill-formed idea might come out – this will get hammered down, updated, and fixed before long. If it is too good to play with, you know it won’t stay that way.
So don’t go rush out and buy Wraith Knights, don’t go buy all the Fire Prisms, and don’t invest in all the weird FW stuff until we get the balances and tweaks we have this week. It just isn’t worth it.
I look forward to serving our new post-nerf 40K overlords!
