The Q4 Balance Dataslate is here, along with a slew of 6 new Detachments for factions as part of GWs Grotmas Event Calendar. The Q4 Balance Dataslate saw less mass rules and army changes, with more focus on points adjustments in several key areas.
There were some significant changes to some of the more dominant factions such as Aeldari, who got absolutely gutted in this dataslate, along with the Shadowmark Talon detachment which had become a popular Space Marine staple at competitive events. Across the board, the Q4 Balance Dataslate was a healthy adjustment to the game in combination with these new Grotmas detachments. Let’s get into the biggest winners and losers.
Warhammer 40K Q4 Balance Dataslate 2025: Biggest Losers
Aeldari
Everyone knew that Aeldari were going to take a hit in the Q4 Balance Dataslate, but I’m not sure players were prepared for just how hard the hammer would drop. There are several key changes here which impact how Aeldari, and particularly Aspect Host and Warhost, play the game.
First up, the change to the Star Engines Battle Focus ability. No longer does it allow an Aeldari Vehicle to gain D6+1″ of extra movement when making a Normal Move. Now, it simply gives the Vehicle unit’s weapons the Assault ability. While certainly a nerf in how this was used to offload Fuegan and 10 Fire Dragons to get into melta range at will, it still has some potential use being able to Advance something like a Fire Prism or Falcon and still get to shoot. It’s not enough to be even considered a “sidegrade” from it’s previous ability though and is most certainly a nerf.
To add to this, the Skyborne Sanctuary stratagem in both Aspect Host and Warhost detachments now requires that the unit was eligible to fight in the fight phase to re-embark. A significant game-changer for Aspect Host builds that liked to dump those Fire Dragons and Dark Reapers out of a transport, shoot, and safely hop back in. Fire and Fade, another “get back in the truck” stratagem in Warhost, also now explicitly prohibits embarking on a transport after being used. It’s still a nice little stratagem to shoot and move back behind a ruin wall however so it still has SOME play.
Attached Phoenix Lords can no longer benefit from their units Aspect Shrine Token to flip a hit/wound roll to a 6 to spike crazy abilities like Sustained Hits on Fuegan’s melta 6 gun or Maugan’s Dev wounds from his long-ranged shooting attack.
And if all that wasn’t enough to tone down the knife-ears, they saw substantial points increases across the board with units like Jain Zar, Lhykhis, Swooping Hawks, Fire Dragons and Warp Spiders. In other words, all the units Aeldari like to use. Notably they also saw NO points decreases for any of their other units.
With the two most popular detachments taking significant blows in Aspect Host and Warhost, it will be interesting to see where Aeldari players turn. My money is on the new Harlequins detachment, Serpent’s Brood, which looks to offer some of the same things that made Aeldari problematic before just repacked in a colorful clown costume. One thing is certain, Aeldari were delivered the most painful of all updates in the Q4 Balance Dataslate.
Adeptus Sororitas
The nuns with guns had been steadily rocking the tournament scene since the Q3 Balance Dataslate with several major event wins under their belt. GW reversed course on them with the Q4 Balance Dataslate. Although there were no real changes to any of their army rules, they saw significant points increases across the board on popular units like Retributors, Sanctifiers, Sacresants (in 10 model units), Dominions and Morvenn Vahl. Looking at the Munitorum Field Manual it appears to be a sea of red under the Adeptus Sororitas entry. We will see if these changes have a significant impact on their results, but my guess here is that it will be enough to move the needle on them and bring them back into a reasonable win rate moving forward.
Ad Mech
The Q3 Balance Dataslate gave Ad Mech essentially an army re-write in the form of updated unit abilities for Cawl, changes to weapon profiles to match the lethality of some of the other factions in the game, and some points drops. While they haven’t seen any roll backs to any of these new rules, it was clear that many units were under-costed. Like Sisters above, their nerfs came mostly in the form of points increases to some of the more problematic units like Infiltrators, Ruststalkers, Skystalkers, Ironstrider Ballistarii and Cawl. While the points changes were significant, it was clear they were needed as cheap Infiltrator and Ruststalker units on giant 40mm bases being able to move up and jail in the opponent was quite oppressive in the competitive 40K scene. The army still has some punch, but it is unlikely they can retain their place among the top of the meta food chain now post-Q4 Balance Dataslate.
Warhammer 40K Q4 Balance Dataslate 2025: Biggest Winners
Adeptus Custodes
Custodes have been suffering from a low faction win rate since the Q3 Balance Dataslate, which saw reductions in points to Custodian Guard squads. GW felt that must not be enough, so they dropped their points again in the Q4 Balance Dataslate making them an even more viable option moving forward. Allarus Custodians also saw some good points drops here along with Vigilators and Witchseekers. While they didn’t get any updates to their army rules, the fact that we see more points drops on the Custodian Guard gives them the option to maybe squeeze out one more unit of Prosecutors or Witchseekers etc for screening and secondary play. Custodes seem to come out of the Q4 Balance Dataslate in a good position, but it will remain to be seen if they will be able to move the needle.
Astra Militarum
Coming in hot with one of the best of the new Grotmas Detachments in the form of the Grizzled Company detachment, Astra Militarum saw no changes in either their rules or their points. While the Grizzled Company detachment itself wasn’t technically part of the Q4 Balance Dataslate, considering the army saw no negative changes to rules or points, it is entirely a straight buff to the faction. Grizzled Company has an amazing detachment rule allowing Officer models to issue an additional order as well as provide units under the effect of an order to re-roll a hit roll of 1 and to re-roll wound rolls of 1 while their targets are within rang of an objective marker. The ability to attach a Commissar to a Bullgryn squad and give them +1 OC and Weapon Skill really ramps up their power level on the table as well. Astra Militarum were already doing ok after the last Balance Dataslate and are positioned quite well to be a big winner in the Q4 Balance Dataslate.
Space Wolves
Space Wolves got some key points drops in the Q4 Balance Dataslate. Bjorn, Grey Hunters, Iron Priests, Murderfang, and Venerable Dreadnoughts all saw points reductions while the faction saw no points increases anywhere. Space Wolves find themselves in a similar position to Astra Militarum above while not seeing direct rules changes in the Q4 Balance Dataslate, they got a pretty awesome new detachment in the form of Saga of the Great Wolf which offers Space Wolves players a flexible “Gladius” style of choices of three different detachment abilities to choose from to use once per battle (or more than once if you include Logan Grimnar in your army). The detachment has some great buffs to choose from when you need them most such as giving your ranged weapons +1 to hit or giving your melee units either Lethal Hits or Sustained Hits 1. Combined with a pretty great suite of strats and their points reductions on some key units you will want to include in Saga of the Great Wolf, Space Wolves come out as a pretty big winner here in the Q4 Balance Dataslate.
Warhammer 40K Q4 Balance Dataslate 2025: Other Notable Changes
Space Marines
Space Marines generally came out ok in this Balance Dataslate. The new Assault Terminators Datasheet was released giving them a boost to 3+ Weapon Skill on their Thunderhammers. Victrix Guard did see a change in points, where the three man units dropped from 130 to 120 points, the scary six man unit took a big hit going up 30 points from 210 to 240. Is that significant enough to slow them down? I personally do not think so but much remains to be seen. Vanguard Veterans did also see a notable point increase likely because of the Shadowmark Talon detachment. That detachment also saw a change to the Hunter’s Instinct enhancement which allowed a unit in reserves to arrive a turn earlier which has now been restricted to the Movement phase, meaning no more Rapid Ingress on a big unit of Vanguard Vets on your opponent’s first turn. Aethon Shaan also saw a substantial (and needed) points increase going up 25 to bring him to 110 points. Overall, Space Marines came out ok in the Q4 Balance Dataslate.
World Eaters
Angron dropped in points…again. Down 20 points to hit the 340 points mark. Will it be enough to get him on the table? We will have to see, but it’s certainly got to be at least tempting for World Eaters players. Goremongers also saw a 10 point reduction. Down to 75 points they are certainly approaching auto-take status now.
Thousand Sons
Notoriously and somewhat mysteriously, Thousand Sons took a huge hit in the Q3 Balance Dataslate receiving points nerfs and a significant change to their army rules with rituals. Some of those points changes have since been rolled back as Thousand Sons have obviously been struggling to find their footing post Q3 Balance Dataslate. Additionally, GW made some changes to the Scintillating Legions (Tzeentch Daemons) units in the codex allowing them to now benefit from the rituals. Kairos Fateweaver and the Lord of Change also saw boosts to the damage of their shooting profiles as well which is a nice addition. Thousand Sons may not have been huge winners here, but even some of the points changes getting rolled back will surely help soften the hard blow they took in the previous Balance Dataslate.
Blood Angels
Blood Angels didn’t see any major shifts, although The Sanguinor dropped by 10 points down to 130 making him much more of a consideration in Blood Angels lists. They also received a new detachment in the form of the Rage-Cursed Onslaught detachment during Grotmas, which is sort of a mish-mash hybrid of all the best parts (or most of them) from Lost Brethren and Liberator Assault Group. While they lose the ability to gain Lance in the new detachment, they can easily off-set this by using Chaplains with their Death Company Jump Pack units and opting to go with the Spears for the Sanguinary Guard who natively just have Lance built in. This army is positioned quite well to be the “anti-Victrix” build in the new meta as they have the speed, volume of attacks and lethality to really make Victrix lists suffer in a meta that offers relatively few counters to them at the moment.
T’au Empire
T’au didn’t see many changes either, but GW saw fit to increase the Riptide’s points up to 200, which was a needed change given their durability and ability to lay out devastating firepower. Oddly enough the Stormsurge saw a points reduction here coming down a whopping 40 points down to 360. T’au were performing quite well in major events post-Q3 Balance Dataslate and looks like they may continue that performance as we enter the post-Q4 Balance Dataslate meta.
Final Thoughts
This Q4 Balance Dataslate was less about major sweeping changes to factions and likely won’t have as severe an impact as the previous Balance Dataslate, but there was substantial emphasis on points adjustments. Aeldari may have finally been neutered out of the top ends of events for a while although the new Serpent’s Brood detachment does look very promising. The impact of the points increases to Victrix Honor Guard could be significant but without a lot of natural predators out there for the army, Space Marines and specifically Ultramarines, could be setup for a dominant run over the next few months. All in all this was a pretty fair Balance Dataslate and answered a lot of the most egregious issues in the larger metagame.
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