Jaskier

Warscroll early thoughts, apologies for the long post; Keepers; first off, an extra two wounds + leaner degrading chart (start at 9) + no degrading on the greatblade is already a big improvement. I'm glad to see the shield isn't the only buffed wargear choice, even if I think it's probably the default choice (because it adds an effective 8 wounds) the whip, knife and hand all got big buffs and have cases where they will shine. Dark Temptations got a dramatic improvement, it's essentially a free D3 mortals or depravity points every time any Keepers (it only triggers once per phase regardless of how many Keepers you have) are within 3" of something in the combat phase. Excess is different but in my view stronger even though it's only once per game now; it no longer eats up your command for that phase, leaving you free to do something else, and it synergises beautifully with the new Euphoric Killers to ensure you get as much Depravity as possible from a single combat. This also got a lot of indirect buffs by virtue of Slaanesh now having a bunch of ways to add bonus attacks, add +1 to-hit and to-wound, and lots of ways to debuff enemies (to make the Keeper survive longer) as well as -1 save debuffs to amplify its damage and ensure those 5 Damage claws get through. Then you add on the artifact/trait combinations it can take that can give it anything from; bonus attacks, strikes first, 6" pile-ins, bonuses to Rend and Damage, all the way to debuff zones with -1 attack auras, strike last auras, etc you can get really crazy combos going. At 400 it's pricey and not so much worth it as a combat monster, but as a decently tough utility piece that can punch hard in the right circumstances? This has a lot of play. Shalaxi; much of what I said above applies here too, but the biggest thing here is Shalaxi is now no longer useless against non-heroes. Firstly her spear is now D3+3 Damage instead of D6 and gained a bonus attack, making her average output way higher; for reference, her average unsaved damage against a 4+ save was ~9 (using a median score on the D6) and it's now closer to 15! A big buff. Her Cloak now works against everything, not just heroes, meaning she's permanently -1 to be hit and wounded; combine that with the 16 wounds and 5++ from the shield and she's legitimately pretty darned tough. She does get this instead of +1 save but those are easier to come by so I think the new version is definitely a lot stronger. Overall, she's not as good as a Keeper by virtue of not having Excess or access to traits/artifacts but they did at least fix her rules; she will, on average rolling, kill a Skarbrand equivalent in one go. Noice. Like the Keeper, she also got indirect buffs in the forms of the various +1 attack/hit/wound sources; there's definitely a world in which she can one-shot even the tougher heroes in the game, so that's something. I believe she should revert to being cheaper than a normal Keeper, but she definitely at least distinguishes herself as a fighter properly now. She belongs in Invaders where she can benefit from the Icon and (potentially, this depends on whether uniques are eligible to benefit from this heroic action) Best of the Best through the heroic action chain to literally double her attacks. Synessa; I'm disappointed the twins stayed largely the same and even got what I feel are undeserved points hikes, but I still see merit in Synessa at least. The changes here are she lost knowing all lore spells and unlimited range Pavane of Slaanesh, but her shooting attack is far more potent - it can and will instagib support heroes virtually guaranteed, though it's unclear if it is intended that she can bypass the GalleChamp rules for targeting - and her Voice rule now actually has a purpose by acting as an unlimited range free command. Her warscroll spell also got a nice buff, as a targeted +1 to-wound is going to be more impactful than a targeted +1 to-hit given how much more accessible the latter is. She's also a Warmaster which is neat. The points increase and uncertainty over whether she can actually ignore the current hero targeting rules leaves me questioning her usefulness, but I figure that if she can actually snipe heroes she's absolutely a good unit just on that virtue alone. Dexcessa; besides gaining the Warmaster rule, Dexcessa didn't change at all (going off the assumption that her missile weapon is a misprint and is actually a melee weapon) save to go up by a lot of points, the opposite of what she needed. Conceptually she's not bad, just not quite at the right point bracket; ideally once she's cheap enough she'll be a good 'distraction' unit that opponents can't really afford to ignore, but her initial damage is just a tad too weak to justify her current points. She's also a Warmaster which is pretty handy given she gets a free command every turn, and for both twins it's worth mentioning that both get more out of the new depravity buffs than before, as the -1 stacks with their own to negative positive to hit modifiers, and the 5+ ward is theoretically easier to reach than ever. Syll'Esske; I'm a big fan of what they've done here, they've improved the melee profile of both weapons (dramatically in Syll's case) and changed the wonky aura ability to an incredible +1 to-hit and to-wound bubble, albeit still with a tricky activation clause. Where I can this being really valuable is on the flanks, or in the middle if you are clever with your positioning to move units just out or in of the wholly within to buff others. Even if you have this unit only within range of itself and say a unit of Slickblades, you're still going to be quite happy. Interestingly, the output increase means this unit is pound for pound one of the more deadly heroes in the book, and it's now a Warmaster to boot. They're bloody good, and for what feels like the first time ever, I'm happy to say I don't think I'm the only one who will field them! The Masque; if there's a contest for most improved unit, I think the Masque probably wins it. +1 to-wound and +1 Damage make her a very, very relevant combat character suddenly, and her bonus attacks got changed from D3 to flat 3; combine this with hew new ability to ambush pre-battle just outside of 3" of any enemy units to set up cheeky turn one charges for Euphoric Killers farming or just to assassinate vulnerable small heroes and so on and I honestly could care less that she lost her flying 6" pile-in gimmick. There's absolutely going to be situations where you run up Blissbarb Seekers or other support pieces to stack save debuffs on her target, pop Finest Hour immediately and just push your army onto the -1 to-hit threshold before your opponent even gets a turn. She's freaking great and regardless of anything else will force your opponent to be extremely cautious in their deployment. Glutos; while it doesn't look like many changes at first, this guy got some mega buffs. First off, he doesn't lose his companion abilities anymore, meaning all those bonus stat profiles stay there (which offsets losing an attack on the big guys.) He degrades less harshly in general and lost a few minor abilities, but the big thing here is that he now has a permanent 5+ ward save; given he used to lose this after suffering 5 wounds, this is a pretty dramatic improvement. Further, his command ability is now just an ability...and thus incredible to freely use on himself or Sigvald, making for one of the absolute tankiest units in the game. He retained his -1 to-hit aura which considering 12DP provides an army-wide -1 to-hit aura means taking Glutos completely negates All Out Attack for your opponent. His damage output shot up too as he gained a super reliable Damage 6 attack albeit with 0 Rend, and -2 Rend on the luggers' claws. He also retains his amazing spell, though he did lose his +1 to casts/etc. This is another case like Twinsouls where our multiple -1 to save abilities can dramatically change the math, especially with that 6 Damage shooting attack. In any case, fantastic unit that you'll be more than happy to use as a screen/anchor point due to how rapidly he'll just heal himself back up. Sigvald; losing Lurid Haze ambush, but gaining an in-faction 3D6 charge spell (Godseekers) and flat Damage 2 on his sword leaves me quite high on Sigvald. Definitely still a great unit. Viceleader; at 140 this is a spendy hero, but it now deals double Damage, synergises with Daemonettes to strike out of sequence, and its warscroll spell is greatly improved. These are very good. Enrapturess; she's another way, like all our ranged units, of pinging units to activate our tempation dice mechanic. She lost her dispel but her mortal wound ability now affects casting rolls that include any 6s; I think ultimately she remains a utility summon for the most part. Bladebringer on Exalted Chariot; this is the only chariot I own so it's the only one I'm going to cover. Like with the other daemon heroes, the damage output is improved a fair bit, the warscroll spell is much improved, and this unit now has a really cool trick to issue two commands (the second being free) to two seperate Exalted CHariot units simultaneously. The big change is in the mortal wound grind; gone is the passive mortals at the start of each fight phase that generate bonus attacks, but the charge mortals got revamped instead; it now scales based off the charge roll (and thus synergises perfectly with Godseekers and the 3D6 charge spell) and does a mortal per roll that exceeds the targets' save characteristic, meaning it's gone from a grinder to an elite blender. The better a targets' save, the easier it is to proc the mortals, meaning something like a Megaboss would have to be quite worried about one or more of these slamming into it. It is extremely expensive for how fragile it is, but it's definitely a cool unit - and again, the amount of attacks really key off the new DP ability for 6s do mortals in addition. I do think the regular Exalted Chariot might have more play by virtue of being a lot cheaper and thus easier to run multiples, with the added bonus rule of gaining additional damage each time they receive a command; this can get really crazy really fast if it wasn't obvious. Epitome; another unit that screams "pick me" but with the caveat that it may be tricky to keep alive to make the most out of it. Being a 2 cast wizard that re-rolls casts and a Galletian Champion with a 2+ ward against mortal wounds is incredible in the current season, especially with a hefty points drop of 50 - this unit is going to see a tonne of play, regardless of anything else. In the new book, it has a plethora of really strong traits to choose from that can turn it into a legitimate combat monster; Strength of Godhood and Flaming Weapon plus any source of +1 to-hit and +1 to-wound (the latter it can conveniently access through its own spell) turns this into an absolute blender. Further, while it lost its old locus rule to stop enemies attacking it and be pseudo-survivable in combat, it now has an arguably far stronger overall effect for a game state in the form of a no retreat and no commands (issued or received) ability that affects enemies within 3". While it is going to be very vulnerable in melee, there are ways to cheese this, notably by edge-tapping units with it and then engaging on another side, or even better, corner-tapping both sides of a big scary unit like Chosen with this and a Lord of Hubris, forcing them to stay in combat, not be able to pile-in closer to either unit without breaking coherency, and waste their time trying to get through a 4+ ward hero that can have numerous debuffs stacked around him to ensure he never dies. It also, like Viceleaders, now gives +1 to-wound via its spell, targeting D3 units at 24", and it's still fast as heck. Incredible unit. Absolutely incredible. Lord of Pain; a lot tougher, reflecting more mortal wounds, and possesses one of the best aura abilities in the game that is very easy to trigger. This will be seen in any list that takes mortals, especially because his aura even affects missile weapons. Seriously, he's bonkers. The math on every mortal unit in the book needs to be considering this guy next to them. Lord of Hubris; the 5+ save is weird, but honestly the combination of the taunt ability and giving both Myrmidesh and Symbaresh fight on death when considering that both units are likely going to be nastier than ever is a big win in my books. I think this guy has a tonne of play with players that know how to abuse his taunt, especially considering you can edge tag units with him and engage most of the unit with something else. I think the Lord of Pain is probably the more 'obvious' take of the two Lords, but in good hands, this model - especially if you combo it with a Contorted Epitome, or the spell that allows a unit to retreat from an enemy when they are chosen to fight - can do some incredible work. Shardspeaker; another huge glowup, -1 save and -1 attack debuffs are some of the strongest in the game and she has both of them. She also gets a 4+ ward save and turns into a Lord of Pain melee-wise the moment she casts a spell, making her an obvious Arcane Tome user (to ensure she gets at least 1 spell off.) She's so inexpensive and so potentially strong that you're probably looking at a near-obvious auto-include unit. Blissbarbs; so, the best way to analyse these is in context of Depravity. In the old book, these were the primary way to generate DP through pinging numerous units, but they were strong and cheap enough to also focus fire things if needed. In the new book, they've gone up a bit in points and no longer ping units for DP, but they serve a different function; temptation dice. If you're hit by a Blissbarb unit from afar, you're guaranteed to either chug an extra D3 mortals or give the Slaanesh player D6 DP. They also went up to 3+ to-hit on their warscroll, meaning that when boosted - such as by a Lord of Pain, or just by All Out Attack (and their Homonculus) - they are now rocking on 2s and 3s. These are now comparable to Namarti Reavers and thus a highly efficient shooting unit before even considering that they will usually be dealing D3 mortals on top thanks to spreading temptation dice. The kicker is they barely increased in points. Myrmidesh; 3+ base save with an optional +1 that's quite easy to trigger (your opponent gets on an objective, you move your Myrmidesh up to fight them your Myrms get a 2+ save!) A bonus attack offsets the loss of the mortals (which they gain back through allegiance) though this does come with a steep price increase. However, contextually these will now usually be -1 to-be-hit and it's much more likely they'll gain the 5+ ward in a game now. I think these are great, and while some might want to reinforce them I see a lot of value in 5-man bully units; they will usually be outnumbered on objectives so triggering the +1 is easy, and with 16 attacks from a base unit they're going to punch well above their weight. Symbaresh; short of not having 3 wounds like was rumored, these are definitely one of the more interesting units in the book. At a glance they lost some mobility and their offensive output is reduced with no access to re-roll hits, a worse to-wound score, less reach and less attacks, but on considering that they now have easy ways to gain +1 to-hit and to-wound (and natively hit on 3s) as well as the Rend, plus the context of being in an army that has a plethora of -1 save debuffs, these may well be deadlier than ever as they won't hit like paper against high armor units. They're also going to be tougher due to the mix of reducing enemy attacks, the always-on 5+ ward (once within 3" of enemies) and the nigh guaranteed -1 to-be hit. Slickblades; besides Seekers, these are likely the new fastest melee cavalry unit in the game and that by itself means they're a darned good unit. Losing exploding 6s on hits (bonus hits) and wounds (mortal wounds) does even out them gaining -2 Rend and potential bonus attacks, but once you hit the 24DP threshold and stack bonus attacks or the various +1 sources for hitting and wounding these can be absolutely terrifying. They're still very much glass cannons but these are a prime unit to farm depravity early in the game, and will likely see a lot of play for that reason alone. Blissbarb Seekers; don't let the 12" range fool you, these hyper-mobile cavalry (their actual effective total shooting range is 32") have the all important distinction of pinging a unit with -1 to saves until the end of that turn the moment they suffer an unsaved wound against them. Without any buffs, this unit averages at least 2 unsaved wounds on any save bracket, forcing that -1 to saves. You will take these. You will combo them with massed stacked bonus attack melee hammers, and you will kill anything you touch. Fantastic. Slaangors; from the uncontested worst unit in the game to an absolute blender glass cannon unit, these retain the same warscroll from the Beasts of Chaos book but are arguably in a better spot here (it's a tradeoff of the ambush versus the supercharged buffs they can get.) Alongside Slickblades and Twinsouls, these are the biggest beneficiaries of stacking save debuffs and hit/wound buffs, easily accessed because they are mortals, meaning they also benefit from other mortal specific abilities such as Glutos' bravery abilities. Given that this unit can also natively fight twice, they are a perfect counterpart with a Lord of Hubris (to protect them) so they can farm an excessive amount of depravity through Euphoric Killers. Hellstriders; the first and most obvious change is both units soaring up 30 points which never feels great, though it bears mentioning these are now unlockable and not default Battleline. Like some other units, gaining a 5+ Rally built-in is neat enough, as is the new +1 to run and charge; they do lose the old +2 Bravery, meaning battleshock is now a real issue for them even with the re-roll. For the spear unit, gaining an attack and a further bonus attacks and Damage for their spears just as long as they are near enemies (meaning it doesn't require a charge) is neat and oddly enough makes them somewhat comparable in terms of output to Slickblades, trading Rend -2 for Damage 2. The problem here is that it only works if they are near the enemy unit at the start of the charge phase, meaning you won't get the buff on the turn you charge into an enemy unit. It's an unusual rule for sure. The scourge unit also gained an attack but traded their gimmicky -1 to be hit rule for just completely shutting off objective scoring for 1 to 2 wound models within 3" of them; I shouldn't need to explain why the scourge unit is easily the better of the two units, but I will anyway - your fast, decently tough 5-strong screening Battleline units can charge into weak units like Clanrats and completely negate their scoring. This gives them a cool niche that Slickblades can't fill. Daemonettes; these got a nice improvement in the form of 3+ to-hit and native 5+ Rally. They trade the old form of exploding 6s for the potential new one, making them absolutely a force to be reckoned with even summoned in late in the game where the depravity buffs pull a lot of weight. These are solid, I'm not sure you'd necessarily want to start with them over say Myrmidesh but these can actually blender things now which is very much worth mentioning, and once the buffs stack up they will shred things faster than anything else. Fiends; D3 damage all the time on the claws, Rend -2 on the stingers. Losing a claw attack and old exploding 6s again balances this out somewhat, but the big news here is that Fiends now always have a -1 aura for both hitting and wounding that isn't conditional on their unit size; this is yet another unit that negates All Out Attack, and the -1 to-wound gives them a huge buffer even in a small 3-strong unit. The other thing to note, as it's very relevant for them, is that the army now has easily accessed bonus attack sources, which given the spikey nature of their stingers can be a big deal. Furthermore, their anti-wizard tech now extends to unbinding and dispelling, indirectly buffing your own casters. Where these used to only be worth it reinforced, I definitely see even small units being quite good as annoying tarpits. Seekers; the actual fastest melee cavalry in the game, these are another unit that had some very deceptive changes, gaining a 5+ Rally, as well as +1 to run and charge rolls. Their Soul Hunter rule got a more pronounced change, now only activating off units with 1 or 2 wounds per and only affecting the claws but it's now permament and, surprisingly, stackable. Though not as punchy as Slickblades, the key thing to note here is that, in conjunction with depravity abilities to tank them up and the 5+ Rally, these can sustain very well and have the unique distinction of stackable permanent attack bonuses, meaning a big unit can theoretically gain up to +9 attacks on their claws going into the last fight phase of the game. Given that these are now also Battleline by default (which is fantastic as they are a hyper fast screen that blocks a lot of space and are cheaper than Hellstriders) I think these will absolutely have play. With only a 1" reach I doubt you would ever want to hyper invest into a blob of them, but units of 5 or 10 both look respectable as super mobile blockers and chaff clearers that can in theory become incredibly deadly if left alone.

Assuming that artifact only works while you're still holding onto it, I don't think you want to do a permanent sacrifice; Fane (1 turn), Acquiescence, Finest Hour, Syll'Esske, etc all give +1 to-wound anyway so it shouldn't be necessary. Another place to look at is Invaders where the Keeper can get two sources of +1 attack through Best of the Best (via heroic action or being the chosen general) and the Icon of Infinite Excess, I dunno if the maths ends up being better than a buffed Godhood Keeper but it's worth mentioning as an alternative. If the Invaders heroic action works on Shalaxi she might actually be worth looking at there too.

Basically the difference is Pretenders will have a boat load of guaranteed CP versus Invaders having to roll for theirs (if they do that heroic action) and Pretenders having some extreme debuff tech, the triple-commands are also incredible.

It says "roll a dice each time you pick a friendly Invaders hero to carry out a heroic action" emphasis mine, I think the each time surely means it's supposed to work on each hero, no?

So, the first thing to note is a lot of details from the battle report and the leak were wrong, likely due to the battle report players getting stuff wrong themselves (as usual!) That aside, gonna post some general thoughts (I'm going to split these into multiple posts as otherwise they will take up too much space!); Allegiance stuff; So, our actual depravity generation mechanic is much more intuitive and easy to track than before, and like before it also has its bad matchups (i.e. a tanky army that doens't offer many good options to charge, or a shooting army that just alpha strikes you, or an MSU army that doesn't offer much EK potential) but I'd say it's overall stronger just by virtue of favoring wiping units out rather than leaving them alive, which is a big uptick in the age of super Rallies and stuff. The Temptation mechanic is a great boost to the army even if it never yields any DP just by virtue of being a passive form of mortal wound generation in an army that can force it very often through shooting and so on. Overall, definitely an improvement from the last book. The passive abilities are stronger, the summoning costs essentially tripled and some options were lost (like 30 Daemonettes) but overall it looks like the army will have an easier time maintaining those very strong buffs and using the summons not to prop up the faction but as a toolbox addition. Nice. However, I can't lie that losing the Locus and being the only monogod book without one is a really odd choice; I don't see why they couldn't have just retained the pile-in reduction, but it is what it is. Losing the old exploding 6s version of EK effectively strips +1 to-hit from the army, but the offset here is some units got +1 to-hit baked into their scrolls (Daemonettes, Symbaresh) and this army has an INSANE amount of ways to give +1 to-hit. Overall, thumbs up! Side-note, the Fane also got a boost; even though (spoiler alert) this army has a lot of +1 to-wound sources now, +1 to-wound is still a much better buff than +1 to-hit by virtue of +1 to-hit being easier to access in general. Subfaction stuff; So, I can confidently say I was *not* expecting each host to have its own spell lore. That's super cool, and obviously it's now another factor that affects your subfaction choice. Also, the best thing here is that we now no longer have mandatory traits/artifacts from these, so we are free to pick and choose what we want and not be locked in to other stuff. I can also say right now that Pretenders are obviously the best subfaction; as a spoiler, Pretenders can replicate the others' gimmicks or certain traits/artifacts they have available and do them and other stuff better. With that out of the way, these are all stronger than they used to be and I'm glad that they all actually do something cool and unique for the army, even if one of them does stand tall. Pretenders are insane, but also have the obvious downside of really relying on keeping your general alive; risk and reward personified. Let me just put it plainly, issuing triple commands *and* getting 3CP per hero phase instead of the normal 1CP for your general being alive on the battlefield is insane. For those who have never played against Ironjawz, that means everything from; triple Rallies (which we retained the 5+ Rally on some units like Daemonettes) triple Redeploys, triple Unleash ****** (though hard to pull off due to how charges are resolved) triple All Out Attacks (i.e. you will always have +1 to-hit where you need it) triple All Out Defences (this one is also crazy given how much more durable the army is now overall) triple Inspiring Presence, etc. That's one thing, but getting triple the normal amount of CP per turn? Yes, per turn, not per round; other armies generate 2CP over the course of a battle round through their general being alive (specifically I'm not counting the start of battle round CP) we generate 6! You will have too many CP to play with, and you triple up on them for maximum efficiency. By default, Pretenders are the strongest subfaction by far...just keep your general alive! In the age of Galletian Champions, that's easier than ever, and even if you go the route of a Keeper of Secrets, they too are tougher than ever (but probably still not safe into a shooting army.) Beyond all that goodness, they also have some great command traits. Strength of Godhood is nuts, pure and simple; assuming it doesn't stack (and to be honest, good) that +1 Rend and +1 Damage goes a long way, whether on a Keeper, an Epitome with Flaming Weapon or whatever. I don't rate Strongest Alone in comparison simply because there's so many ways to get those buffs elsewhere without forcing your general to not be in Look Out Sir (and no shoot) range. Monarch of Lies is interesting and absolutely the default if you're not using Strength of Godhood, but...you'll likely always want to run Strength of Godhood, unless your general isn't interested in getting into combat of course. Onto artifacts...these might be even better! The Crown, if you can set it up (and remember, your heroes are all fast) and not get shot off first, is one of the strongest debuff pieces in the game; a 6" range means you don't need to directly engage the target, and there's countless units in the game that get absolutely *ruined* by this. The Sceptre is also quite cool, being a return of the old school Locus rule albeit on a 5+. Breathtaker is weird, but kinda cool? Spells! Soulslice Shards is interesting, it's a low range and conditional on Bravery; basically, it'll be decent into Destruction armies and some Order and Chaos armies like Skaven, and nigh useless elsewhere. Phantasmagoria, on the other hand, is tricky to setup but incredible if you can get it off. It reads to me like a punish spell for alpha strike armies; if a Megaboss crashes into your lines before you get a turn, cast this spell on it afterward and render it nigh useless until your next turn. This also lets you freely attack a unit then fall back...which is insane. Potentially tricky to get off when you need it thanks to the short range but it's nonetheless fantastic. Born of Damnation is a fine second spell just by virtue of being easy to cast and netting you an average 3DP each time it's cast, which given the thresholds being what they are could be key. I think you always take Phantasmagoria here, then maybe Born on a backup caster. Godseekers is...fine. Re-roll charges that you can mimic on three units via a Pretenders general, and a quirky (but not as good as the Khorne equivalent because you can't tag units with it) free move rule - these are fine. What's funny to note is they basically swapped the Godseekers buff with the Daemonette banner, meaning Daemonettes still get +1 to charge and re-rolls to charge in Godseekers - they're still as reliable charging out of deep strike as ever. The command traits are similarly fine with nothing really standing out, strike-first on the charge is always handy as it means you get to fight with at least two units before your opponent gets to retaliate; it's a defensive trait, not an offensive one, in that sense. Mortal wounds on the charge obviously combines with the Slaaneshi Warshrine from Slaves to Darkness and its 3D6 charge prayer for a mortal wound bomb, so that's a cool idea to lean into - the other way to maximise it is the Paths spell Godseekers can take. The third trait being restricted to Keepers is odd, basically combining +1 attack with the no pile-in version of the now removed Locus rule. +1 attack on Keeper weapons is nice, but I do wonder if the strike first ability is just going to be better because of its more defensive applications. As far as artifacts go, the Cameo is cool (but again, Pretenders) for that one turn you want to burn all your CP - just keep in mind it's restricted to the usual issuing one command per phase restriction. The Voicebox is also cool, but it's yet another piece, like the Cameo, that I look at comparative to Pretenders and am left feeling iffy on. It's definitely worth using. The Girdle is the auto-take for a Keeper in conjunction with any of the command traits, as there's a lot of fun to be had with a flying 6" pile-in monster. It's not amazing, mind, as it's limited by the warscrolls it's available for not being *that* scary. As for spells. Paths as mentioned prior is cool, but it is restricted to the usual 12" charge; it makes those 12" max charges more reliable and combos with the mortal wound artifact. Progeny is great, full stop. Shutting off Redeploys against one of your key units makes your charges more reliable and can ensure things like battle tactics and charges onto objectives, etc. Great spell. Slothful isn't the hero-destroyer it used to be, but its arguably just stronger anyway; max move of 3" and charge/runs of 3" is, in many cases, an even stronger move debuff spell than Glutos'. Overall, two fantastic spells prop up an otherwise middling (compared to Pretenders) subfaction. As a person that pretty much always played some form of Invaders over the years, I quite like the changes here. Every Invaders hero is a general, full stop. This means your start of turn CP for the general being alive is extremely difficult for opponents to deny, and bigger command ranges for everyone; this also unlocks Battleline like in the old book, meaning Invaders by default have the most diverse lists available to them. The Heroic Action chain is also really cool; make sure you do the important heroic action first to avoid the 1s cropping up when you least want them to. This one is interesting too because you have to duplicate the same heroic action on everyone, not pick a different one; at minimum, you can try to replicate the Pretenders CP farm (by the way, it's really funny and ironic that Pretenders are now the CP faction and not Invaders) by doing the 4+ roll for CP on everyone, and that's really handy. I like these buffs a lot, even the unique heroic action they get; of course, the bonus command trait is limited by the Invaders traits themselves. Best of the Best is fine and easy to pull off. Glory Hog is only useful for getting a 'free' Inspiring Presence from what I can tell; nothing wrong with it. Hurler of Obscenities is another -1 save source and thus very much worth looking at. I need to find the exact wording of it but I assume it doesn't stack, as otherwise you've got the means to stack this via the heroic action chain on every eligible hero. Regardless, Hurler is obviously the best trait here. As for artifacts, the Rod is weak and only actually triggerable on something like an Exalted Chariot. You need at least 6 unmodified 6s from your hit and wound rolls, and the only unit that's going to do that even semi-reliably is the Bladebringer. This is likely best used with Best of the Best for the bonus attacks, but I can't see this really being viable...1DP? All that hassle...for 1 DP? I don't like it. I like the Icon a lot more than the Rod, that's for sure; the Icon now having infinite range and a much stronger effect make it quite worth using I feel. The Gem is also cool, -1 Attacks effects are always strong and even against Bravery 10 that 3D6 roll for it is pretty reliable. Yes, it's not as strong as the Pretenders equivalent, but it can be used against different units at least. Spell-wise, the Lash is good to great depending on what you're targeting; against monsters (bar units of dragons) it's not worth using, but against stuff like 6 blobs of Varanguard or any 6+ model melee hammer, it's going to pull a lot of value. Pavane is also great, but the fact it can't be used on the same unit means a bad roll for its effect can really neuter it; however, if you manage to slap, say, a Chosen unit with a lucky -3 or -4, they'll be virtually useless. Both spells have the same weakness a lot of the other spells have, which is the range is counterintuitive to their effects, but in terms of potential effects? Thunbs up. Hysterical not being a horde killer anymore is fine because it used to have a horrible wholly within requirement that meant it almost never got good usage; the new effect is funny, being more punishing for elite units, but even on Bravery 10 units it averages out to about 4 mortals. Eh. Overall, I really like the new Invaders and will happily run them as they are better than before, even if I still think Pretenders are better; I rate Invaders above Godseekers as well, for what it's worth, but I like that all three subfactions are at least doing cool unique things and not just providing different flavors of Depravity generation.

oh my

It's been established that Slaanesh retains their three distinct subfactions each with their own traits and artifacts, so them being split further by mortals or daemons is actually very unlikely. For reference, all three other monogod books have had a daemon/mortal split since 2nd edition, Slaanesh has been the odd duck out the whole time. To another posters' worry, Strength of Godhood is very likely available to Keepers going off current precedent, I'd be very surprised if not. @Poryague that's actually a great point, this seasons' rules do a lot to fix the issues the Shardspeaker classically had. She definitely looks more interesting overall now.

Like, even if the Keeper doesn't get buffed stat-wise at all (which we know is not the case going by the leaks) it's still taking its attacks from -1 2 and -2 5 to -2 3 and -3 6. Against a 4+ save baseline, the swords' average output doubles.

Regardless, it's very clearly not intended to stack, especially as the subfaction it belongs to allows the triple commands. Like, it's so obviously not intended lol.

Strength of Godhood uses "if" wording, not "each time" so it only triggers once regardless. @Ibel we don't know anything else so far, the battle report was small and limited to mortals, so not much i sights on daemon stuff or other possible army abilities.

This depends on how the chariot works with regards to being a mount, as mounts never benefit from command traits unless otherwise stated. We'll see but it'll definitely be at least the second best user. *EDIT*: Apparently this was wrong, never mind.

Well if Keepers are even halfway decent, and from that leak we had yesterday it very much sounds like they are, a Pretenders general (triple commands) with Strength of Godhood (+1 Rend and +1 Damage to all their melee weapons the moment they issue a command to another unit) is actually going to be a force to be reckoned with just like when the original Hedonites tome came out!

It sounds like it, but honestly being native Rend -2 is a big deal already, and run and charge means they are virtually guaranteed turn one charges. Depending on points I'm looking at them squarely as my turn one suicide missile to farm Euphoric Killers, there's very little most armies will be able to do about it!

Yep, this is what I'm seeing. The 3 wound 3+ save Chosen, the run-and-charge Slickblades with 4+ save and Rend -2 attacks, etc all speak to enormous statline buffs. I'll transfer my notes on the battle report to this page so it's easier for everyone to find. Ok guys, the new Warhammer+ battle report is up, I don't have it so just relaying what others say on discord (I'll be editing extra details as they come in.) One of our grand strategies is to have 36 Depravity at the end of the game. One of our battle tactics is to pick an enemy unit contesting an objective, pick them for Euphoric Killers and destroy them. Another battle tactic is to pick an enemy unit and have wounds caused by attacks made by 3 or more different friendly units allocated to them that turn. The Strength of Godhood command trait now triggers if the general issues a command to another Hedonites unit, giving the general +1 Rend and +1 Damage on their melee weapons until the end of the turn. Slickblade Seekers now have run and charge and Rend -2 glaives. Slickblades now have a 4+ save. Slickblade Seekers' 6s do mortals is now +1 Attacks with their glaives when fighting a unit with Wounds characteristic 3 or less. It looks like the Pretender general thing is now they get to issue the same command 3 times in the same phase, basically the Megaboss rule (no CP spent on the 2nd and 3rd uses.) Blissbarbs hit on 2s? Sounds like they natively hit on 2s, wow! At the very least they hit on 3s natively now, still 3s to-wound with the little guy too. The Shardspeaker spell is now Reflection Eternal; casting value 6, range 12". 1 enemy unit in range gets -1 attack to their melee weapons until your next hero phase. Her Twisted Mirror rule is now; once per turn in your shooting phase, pick 1 enemy unit within 9" and roll a dice. On a 4+, target unit has -1 save rolls until your next hero phase, and same unit can't be affected more than once by this ability. Mist Lurkers now gives the Shardspeaker a 4+ ward instead of +1 to save if it triggers, still keeps the bonus melee profile. Ego-driven Excess on Twinsouls is now -1 attacks for enemy units within 3" of them. Fiendish Reflexes is now a 5+ ward if the unit is within 3" of any enemy units. It sounds like both these abilities are now active simultaneously, but this is unconfirmed (would be a big buff if true.) Twinsouls now naturally hit on 3s but wound on 4s, still Damage 2. It sounds like the new character has a 4+ save on top of the 4+ ward. Oh...he gets to pick 1 friendly Myrmidesh or Twinsouls unit wholly within 12" at the start of each combat phase and let them fight on death. WOW!

Ok guys, the new Warhammer+ battle report is up, I don't have it so just relaying what others say on discord (I'll be editing extra details as they come in.) One of our grand strategies is to have 36 Depravity at the end of the game. One of our battle tactics is to pick an enemy unit contesting an objective, pick them for Euphoric Killers and destroy them. Slickblade Seekers now have run and charge and Rend -2 glaives. Slickblades now have a 4+ save. Slickblade Seekers' 6s do mortals is now +1 Attacks with their glaives when fighting a unit with Wounds characters 3 or less. It looks like the Pretender general thing is now they get to issue the same command 3 times in the same phase, basically the Megaboss rule (no CP spent on the 2nd and 3rd uses.) Blissbarbs hit on 2s? Sounds like they natively hit on 2s, wow! At the very least they hit on 3s natively now, still 3s to-wound with the little guy too. The Shardspeaker spell is now Reflection Eternal; casting value 6, range 12". 1 enemy unit in range gets -1 attack to their melee weapons until your next hero phase. Her Twisted Mirror rule is now; once per turn in your shooting phase, pick 1 enemy unit within 9" and roll a dice. On a 4+, target unit has -1 save rolls until your next hero phase, and same unit can't be affected more than once by this ability.

Yeah I view the Depravity buffs as the Slaanesh host getting more and more excited by the violence and brutality as the fighting descends from orderly battle-lines meeting into a chaotic orgy of bloodshed. It's perfectly loreful. @DoctorPerils Honestly I would grab a D60 die or something like that at this rate 😅 Even just based off what we already know, our depravity generation is going to be many times faster than before (which given that we've heard repeatedly summoning is slower, and judging by the passive buffs having higher 'costs', the summoning costs will also be increased to offset this) and even using our current warscrolls as a barometer the army can pretty easily get to 24DP by the end of the second battle round. If Seekers, Exalted Seekers or Hellstriders are any good (and truth be told all three units are nearly there already) one unit of them is probably going to be mandatory just to use Euphoric Killers on turn one to get the farm going.

I mean if you look at other 3.0 tomes and compare old warscrolls to new ones in them, they generally got stat boosts. Our current book is very anaemic, and the scrolls were most likely held back by the basekit exploding 6s - with that gone, it'll necessitate improvements to the warscrolls themselves. I would not be surprised if both Khorne and Slaanesh units gain dramatic improvements to their output.

Temptation dice are strong and given how strong the passive Depravity buffs are, people will absolutely not want to be giving us free Depravity points unless they absolutely have to. It's 6D3 mortal wounds/6D6 depravity points or any mix in between per battle round. Even in the worst case scenario where your opponent never accepts them, averaging 12 mortal wounds passively just for playing the army is pretty freaking great. Also, we've now officially transitioned from the army that wants to keep enemy units alive and not focus them down (which in general AoS terms with stuff like Rally, objective play, etc was generally a bad idea) to the army that wants to focus things down so that they die to death. Hooray!

The temptation tricks are great, it basically adds a free D3 mortals to your incidental Blissbarb shooting or your opponent can give you D6 DP...which give us incredibly strong passive abilities now. These are way stronger than the White Dwarf ones, and the costs being higher makes sense when you read Euphoric Killers. Seriously, those common 20-wound chaff units like doggos and Clanrats are going to be food for our speedsters.

The temptation dice thing is, as I understand it, dice that you generate that you can offer to your opponent for use in certain rolls - i.e. they fail a charge, you can offer them a replacement die so they succeed, with the caveat that if they take it you generate depravity points and if they refuse the unit in question suffers D3 mortal wounds. Where it's going to be really cheeky is using it on units where that roll is not going to make a difference but the unit doesn't want to cop the mortals, i.e. a wizard with 1-3 wounds left that fails an unimportant spell, you give them the offer and they have to weigh up giving you summoning points or potentially killing the wizard all over just getting off, say, an Arcane Bolt. If the rule works as I think it does, and depending on how impactful the depravity points are - if summoning is as slowed as I think it is, and there's an expanded chart from the White Dwarf that covers bonuses for saving them up - this could make Slaanesh a real tactical challenge for opponents on a micro level as, currently, there's little reason not to roll things 'just because' in the game and this mechanic would add a lot of risk back into it; for reference, you'll see players attempt to roll 11"+ charges not on the belief they will make it but just seeing if they can, or running when it's not so necessary just because there's usually no downside to doing so. This rule might really force opponents to stop and think about what and when they will do rolls, which is a form of mind-game I don't think this game has really had before (outside of spell steal stuff.) Oh, and I absolutely believe the 3-wound Myrmidesh rumor. Though they might only be on 32mms, being a 5-man unit as opposed to a 10-man unit means they are capped at 15 models at max squad size whereas Chaos Warriors (their current equivalent) are capped at 30. In that regard, it makes a lot of sense that they would now be Chosen equivalents instead. The temptation dice are confirmed, both from what I've heard and given multiple different people attested to their existence in that discord chat. One of those people also mentioned Slaanesh are a "very good" book with a high skill floor and ceiling, and another mentioned that Keepers apparently are well worth their points. This all points to what most of us were hoping for; an army with stronger warscrolls and allegiance rules with the offset of slowed summoning, transitioning more into a technical-style army that fills the glass cannon archetype.

We can only hope!

The summoning will 100% stay because it has for Nurgle and Tzeentch, it's clearly a "thing" for the monogod books. I bet it'll be brought in line with Nurgle in terms of 'speed' and usefulness, which is to say it'll still be important but not the defining aspect of the army. I expect some new allegiance rules to compensate, of course.

Besides the fact it won't be relevant in a few weeks, the wording is just a relic of the old way allegiance abilities were worded. The rule doesn't specifically override the GHB/core rule that allies don't benefit from allegiance abilities, so no, it does not provide those units access to allegiance abilities. As for coalition units, keep in mind those units would still also lack the Hedonite keyword which is necessary to benefit from those particular rules. Unfortunately, Syll'Esskan Host was written well before the drive of Chaos factions to get reduced benefits from using coalition units compared to Order. As someone who took Syll'Esskan Host to a number of events, the actual tradeoff of not having any artifacts or command traits was double depravity and a bunch of cool battalions, my personal favourite being the good old Daemonsteel Contingent. Once the current Slaanesh book came out, they changed double depravity to a much weaker bonus, then when 3.0 came out they nuked the warscroll battalions. Long gone are the days of 3+ save Soul Grinders and generating ~150+ (all the way over 200) depravity in one game. In 2023, there is no good reason to run it. That's just life.

I equate him to the Askurgan Truebloods, his ability is theoretically easiest to use on the charge in conjunction with other units but (likely) low mobility will make it difficult to setup properly a lot of the time. It's an incredible ability *if* you can get it working, and the fact it requires no roll is great. Also, a generic foot hero with a 4+ ward? As long as he's not too pricey, he might be an auto take just to have a strong GC option. By the way, I'm surprised we're getting a new cover given our existing one was already super high quality and seemed to fit with the other 3.0 covers. I'm also surprised they chose an artwork with Fiends front and centre 😅 Looks good though, and how good is it to know for sure we've got a new book coming soon!

It's gotta be Khorne and Slaanesh, right?