The June Balance Dataslate was a big shift in the Warhammer 40K competitive scene. With several armies getting nerfs, others getting buffed via points updates or new detachment rules and others remaining untouched. It has been over a month since the June Dataslate release. Let’s take a look at some of the best competitive 40K detachments since the update.
Imperial Knights – Noble Lance
Imperial Knights have seen a huge surge in win rate per Stat-check since the dataslate. With modifications to their datasheets to lower their toughness and increase their wound count, they also received massive points reductions on many of their large knight chassis. Canis Rex has dropped by 70 points for example.
These point reductions and datasheets also extended to their Imperial Armour (Forge World) versions which have also seen a lot of play including the Atrapos and Lancer versions.
Noble Lance is the index detachment since the Imperial Knights have not yet had a codex release. It is sitting with a staggering 59% win rate. Builds tend to focus on Canis Rex, 1-2 Atrapos or Lancers and the rest filled out with Armigers of both flavors (Helverins and Warglaives). Imperial Agents allies often feature in these builds with the Calidus Assassin or Adeptus Sororitas Immolater (for stripping cover off targets).
Death Guard – Mortarion’s Hammer
Death Guard have been dominating the competitive 40K meta since their codex release. Going entirely untouched with the June Balance Dataslate, the faction’s dominance has continued with a 56% win rate and coming in as the most played faction across large events globally.
Mortarion’s Hammer has emerged as a top contender as one of the best competitive 40K detachments in the game. Death Guard have a bit of trouble in the Imperial Knights matchup with most of their other detachments but Mortarion’s Hammer seems to be the answer.
Most of the builds tend to lean very heavily on vehicles such as Predator tanks, Plagueburst Crawlers and Foetid Bloat Drones with Heavy Blight Launchers with smatterings of poxwalkers to camp objectives, screen and be action monkeys.
One example is Steve Trimble’s list from the July GW Tacoma Open GT which I featured in my recent article with top 10 lists of July.
Genestealer Cults – Host of Ascension
One of the surprises of the June dataslate has been the emergence of GSC and their Host of Ascension detachment. Currently this detachment is sitting at a 60% win rate.
The reason for the rise is due to the ability of the detachment to bring down large blobs of Neophytes from reserves with powerful shooting with Sustained Hits. They have plenty of firepower to drop big knights quickly. GSC Host of Ascension has propelled to the top of the meta in a brief time and serve as a very strong counter to the Knight heavy meta with great shooting and massive board control options.
Chaos Knights – Infernal Lance
While the Lords of Dread came out as the early favorite as the “best” detachment in the codex thanks to the powerful sticky with OC 5 strat, it looks like Infernal Lance has popped up as the detachment with the best results.
This detachment is an update on the Index version and features an incredibly powerful detachment rule with a great suite of Strats that compliment the big Knight chassis.
This detachment is currently sitting at a 60% win rate and is among the best competitive 40K detachments in the game currently.
Drukhari – Reaper’s Wager
Drukhari has seen a huge resurgence since the June dataslate with Reaper’s Wager emerging as among the best competitive 40K detachments in the game presently.
Most Drukhari players have shifted to running mostly all Drukhari units in the detachment instead of going half and half with Harlequins making the most of the reroll hits of 1 for all their units.
Combined with a great set of stratagems to choose from with just about any great ability you can ask for, Reaper’s Wager offers a lot for any Drukhari player. Currently they are sitting at a 53% win rate which makes them borderline problematic but they counter the knights heavy meta very well with powerful anti-vehicle units like Scourges. Expect to see this detachment gain steam as we move forward in the big knight heavy meta the rest of the summer.
Final Thoughts
Imperial Knights and Chaos Knights have certainly landed changing the metagame and a lot of players are having to adjust to compensate in this current landscape.
It will be interesting to see how the next few months unfold and what other factions and detachments emerge as some of the best competitive 40K detachments.
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