Warhammer 40k July Errata Fixes Some Mistakes That Should’ve Been Fixed Already

Warhammer 40k July Errata changed something in almost every faction, and while it isn’t a balance update, it tried to influence the strength of some armies.

The Warhammer 40k July Errata dropped yesterday. Even though Games Workshop didn’t advertise it, the much-awaited changes took the internet by storm. This errata only aimed to fix spelling and consistency errors, and while the community is still waiting on some buffs to the weakest performing armies and some nerfs to the strongest ones, this update is not a balance one – although, it still tried to sneak in some nerfs for the top performers, so that Aeldari and Imperial Knights don’t have a 65% win rate at events such as the Tacoma Open.

Warhammer 40k July Errata – all the changes

The full list of changes is very extensive, so I’ll try to keep it brief, only commenting on the changes and corrections that are aimed at factions that had unusable or problematic rules, as well as the top factions:

• Adeptus Mechanicus:
  • While AdMech has been one of the worst performing factions, GW didn’t change anything for the positive – but they took away the Onager Dunecrawler’s heavy phosphor blaster, made it so that the Archaeopter Transvector can’t transport Jump Pack or Kataphron models, and corrected the Kastelan Robots’ card, so now that they take a close combat weapon with their twin Kastelan phosphor blaster. Adeptus Mechanicus desperately needs help, but as this is not a balance patch, Games Workshop didn’t change much.
• Aeldari:
  • Even though Aeldari had their Army Rule, Fate Dice changed to once per phase instead of using the predetermined dice whenever they want, they are still the best performing faction. They didn’t get any proper nerfs, but some things have been ironed out so that they are not as oppressive as before.
  • The Ynnari now can’t take any units with Phoenix Lords, Avatar of Khaine, Solitaire and Haemonculus Covens keywords,
  • The Solitaire now only get’s 3 extra attacks to it’s Solitaire weapons when using it’s Blitz ability,
  • The Spiritseer can only revive it’s bodyguards in the Aeldari Command phase, not in both players’,
  • The Phantasm Stratagem has been changed, as it can’t be activated in response to Aircraft moving close to an Aeldari unit,
  • The Autarch’s Reaper launcher’s Starswarm profile’s damage has been reduced to 1, and their Wargear Options have been changed as well,
  • The Corsair Voidreavers and Voidscarred received some changes, like getting a close combat weapon profile,
  • The Wave Serpent’s twin starcannon now has 2 attacks, and it’s Wave Serpent Shield can only be used in the Shooting Phase

This still doesn’t mean that Aeldari won’t be nerfed in the next balance update, which is rumoured to be at the beginning of September. The Elves are still very strong thanks to their great weapon profiles and keywords and their Detachment rule, which let’s them reroll a bunch of tests. Pair that up with Fate Dice, and you can see while they need some nerfs.

• Astra Militarum:
  • The Imperial Guard got some love as their exterminator autocannon now has Rapid Fire 4, as well as the Ogryn Bodyguard receiving a close combat profile. However, their biggest change is that the Death Korps of Krieg now can’t take more than one medi-pack,
• Black Templars:
  • This faction also got some much needed keywords, such as High Marshal Helbrecth getting the Chapter Master keyword or the Castellan getting Lieutienant,
  • Their Neophytes’ Astartes chainswords can be swapped for Neophyte firearms and close combat weapons,
  • The Black Templar Primaris Sword Brethren got their twin lightning claws back
• Chaos Daemons:
  • Be’lakor now has the Psyker and Fly keywords
  • Blue Horrors now worsen the Leadership of enemy units within 6” by 1
• Chaos Space Marines:
  • The Legionaries’ Havoc autocannon now has a 4+ Ballistic Skill
  • The Raptors got a close combat profile
• Death Guard:
  • While the Death Guard is also in desperate need of help because of their weak rules and low win rate, they won’t get that assistance for a while. However, GW buffed them a bit by giving the Pistol keyword to every pistol weapon for their models – which should’ve been there for the first place,
  • Their Death Guard Sorcerer in Terminator Armour also has it’s Putrescent Vitality properly worded, as it can be used at the start of the fight phase
• Deathwatch:
  • Deathwatch was one of the factions which got some weapon changes, such as Kill Team Cassius’ Long Vigil melee weapon now having 3 Attacks, 5 Strength and 2 AP, or their heavy flamer having 5 Strenght and 1 AP from now on.
• Genestealer Cults:
  • The Cults have been among the top 3 factions next to the Imperial Knights and the Aeldari, as they can score huge amount of points with little to no effort, as well as having fairly good shooting for a horde army – oh, and also their refusal to death. Games Workshop have cleared some problems up with their Army Rule, Cult Ambush, specifying that the resurrected unit counts as a new one instead of the old one coming back. This means that GSC units that have one-shot weapons, such as Demolition charges can use them again after coming back, so this is basically a buff to one of the best factions in 40k 10^th
• Grey Knights:
  • The Brotherhood Chaplain now has the Leader ability, so he can legally lead his brothers into battle,
  • The Land Raiders now have a 12” move, in line with other faction’s Land Raiders,
  • The Death from the Warp Stratagem now works until the end of the turn
  • These buffs doesn’t really help the Grey Knights, as their main problem is their lack of anti-tank – and also missed that the Grey Knights Grand-Master can only grant a free stratagem once per game, even though similar characters can do that once per battle round,
• Leagues of Votann:
  • The Leagues are the worst performing faction in the game as of the last Metawatch, boasting a mighty 29% winrate. In order to help them, Games Workshop made their enhancement, Appraising Glare actually do something as it now stays on the chosen objective for a whole round, and Uthar can now change Wound rolls to a 6 – but only for himself, so he’s still not worth taking. Go Space Dwarves! Maybe in September they will actually become playable.

•  Necrons:
  • Transcendent C’Tan now has Reanimation protocols,
  • The Cryptothralls Systematic Vigour now only works for them, not for their unit,
  • The Silent King’s Deadly Demise is only for him, not for his bodyguards,
• Orks:
  • Orks also had one of their Stratagems fixed, as Mob Rule didn’t do anything, but now that it’s in effect until the start of your next Command Phase, it’s actually usable,
  • Trukks have been nerfed, as they can’t transport Ghazkhull Thraka anymore,
  • The tanky Gretchin are also gone, as unless only the Runtherd remains, the Toughness of the squad is 2 at all times.
• Space Marines:
  • Space Marines had a ton of changes as they are the most popular faction of Warhammer 40k, adding close combat profiles, melee and ranged weapons, while also giving Dreadnoughts that missed the Dreadnought keyword the Dreadnought keyword,
• T’au Empire:
  • Their accelerator burst cannons now have -1 AP for every model that can take them
• Tyranids:
  • The Barbgaunts, which were introduced in the Leviathan box can only use their Disruption Bombardment on Infantry, so they can’t slow vehicles on monsters anymore,

• World Eaters:
  • Their Rhino also got Firing Deck 2, just like the other Rhinos,
  • Their Enhancement, Favoured of Khorne now only let’s you reroll a Blessings of Khorne roll once per battle round, not indefinitely.

Of course, there are loads of changes not listed – you can find the complete errata here. It’s great to see that Games Workshop is giving us regular updates, as this has been the third one since the edition dropped last month. However, the errata is still too little, as the top and bottom factions are basically playing a different game, which is causing some discontent among the players of Warhammer 40k. GW promised a points update at early September, but more meaningful changes are only coming at Winter – until then, what are factions such as the Grey Knights or the Leagues of Votann supposed to do?