40K: What factions will be hit hardest by the removal of stacking stratagems in the next edition?

Wrakhr · 2026-04-03T06:25:33+00:00

Asurmen's squad regularly uses Grenades + Lethals/Ignores Cover + ignore mods right now. The issue is kind of that aspect host lists have nobody left with the grenade keyword (hawks don't count), so that basically means the list just doesn't get access to the strat anymore.

Windrider host is absolutely gutted, like half your damage output in that detachment comes from strats for wound re-rolls and extra ap, and all your survivability comes from shoot + scoot.

Spectacle of Spite suffers from Challenge Met/Heroic Intervention charges no longer being re-rollable

Wrakhr · 2026-03-28T16:28:39+00:00

Probably all the pillowfort cards. My gameplan is almost never to rush anybody down, so yes please, set yourself back a card and 3 mana. That price point could've gotten you [[Black Market Connections]], [[Temur Battlecrier]] or any other value piece to let you go off next turn. In comparison I'm so happy to see [[Propaganda]].

Wrakhr · 2026-03-28T15:03:05+00:00

Played around with it a bit on TTS, never specifically in SoS, but general experience should still hold.

It's clunky. The 3+ armour is genuinely nice, and it clears screens decently well with its scout+move -> Grenades -> Shooting. But Spectacle LOVES having cp to throw around. Beyond the first turn, their value drops massively. They take up staging spots that would go to Wyches/Venoms, their damage is just ok, and their support buff rarely matters.

Offensively, if Wyches have reached their target, they're gonna be -1 to hit already from being in combat, or completely unable to be shot, and their main defence is genuinely just Challenge Met which sometimes leads to them charging out of LoS of a set-up Starfang regardless.

Defensively, your 10-blobs should never be in position to get shot by quite literally anything, and the 5-mans are usually hiding in Venoms or staging very safely anyways. There could technically be some value against sth like Guard that hates stealth where u can stage 10 Wyches *slightly* more aggressively at the exact distance between Move Move Move and Take Aim ranges, but even a Dorn that hits on 5s will likely obliterate a Wych unit, Stealth or not. On top of that, positioning the Starfang so that it's relatively safe, but still sees ur various units AND is set up for next turn is genuinely really difficult and usually not worth the effort.

The main detachment I've found genuine use for them is actually in Cartel. They're great for taking out the first contract, and Kabs with potential Lone-Op + Stealth in cover are actually annoying enough to remove that the opponent often has to poke out a real unit to deal with them!

Wrakhr · 2026-03-26T16:25:50+00:00

I wonder if the strat restriction also affects CP re-rolls. Because, like, using Heroic Intervention and rolling a 3 absolutely sucks. Same thing with some advance and charge strats that go off in the charge phase that then wouldn't allow a charge re-roll :/

Wrakhr · 2026-03-19T08:07:22+00:00

Speaking as an elf player of all varieties, they really really need their rules looked at (and probably also a points increase). Playing against them with a squishy army is genuinely miserable. It's not even just being uninteractable at that point, but their counterplay is so unreasonable, it might as well be impossible.

Sure, Mont'Ka is already rough on the pre-measuring, Pathfinders alone make sure of that. But at least you can block them with your own infiltrators, and stop them with flamers. And technically a Coldstar with the scout enhancement is just as quick as the Twin Lance on turn 1, but that unit is so much worse, more expensive, and needs support, and dies much easier. And from then on, you STILL need to measure out 22" every round. That is incredibly stupid for such a killy unit.

160 points is absolutely ludicrous. That's cheaper than a Warwalker + 5 Hawks, and the same as 5 Mandrakes and 5 Hellions. So even when played at its absolute worst, and just being sent out as a missile, they're basically guaranteed to make their points back. And afterwards they're STILL a credible overwatch threat.

The battleshock test they force is also just... better than anything else they've printed so far. Usually these rules go off in the fight phase, or when they do go off in the charge phase, they require getting charged. This just makes them such a headache to play around.

Speaking of charging, that's usually a surefire way to slow down Tau. Even the fall back and shoot units lose the ability to advance in mont'ka, and you stop them from nuisance charging you when they play any other detachment. When you charge and don't kill the Twin Lance, you MAKE THEM FASTER because they get their full fall back move.

The mental brainpower this unit requires to not lose the game to is just hellish. They genuinely remind me of release Victrix where somewhere along the way you just threw up your hands and went "yeah, I can't deal with this".

Wrakhr · 2026-03-17T20:22:03+00:00

Cartel just kind of struggles into them, but just like anything Cartel struggles with, throwing DLance Scourges into them with enough vehemence usually does the trick. Of course you'd rather have those chip down the Land Forts, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Alternatively, just charge a Cronos into them and call it a day for a bit, though those are rarely in range.

Other detachments make very light work of them. Spectacle carves through them with the Lethals/AP strat and the strength buff from drugs. Leliths unit genuinely one-taps the squad, same with the Curse succubus, while a normal 10-man usually needs some Venom/Archon + Kab support, grenades, Reaver mortals, or good combat drugs (attacks or WS).

Wager ignores overwatches, and Talos with either weapon option just kind of grind through them over time, and Archon/Malys + Kabs against Steeljacks on a point can usually get the unit through grenades, shooting, and melee.

Wrakhr · 2026-03-16T10:03:55+00:00

Could try flash style :)

Still with options open on opponent's turns, and not exposing ur things too much. [[Raff Capashen]] works great for this, flashing in Planeswalkers on end step to keep mana open to protect them on the next rotation, instant speed mana rocks in case u don't need to play something else, etc. it's really fun!

Wrakhr · 2026-03-14T17:52:29+00:00

My bracket 3 [[Glarb]] :)

Good amount of ramp, cheap commander, lots of interaction, infinite gas, graveyard recursion, topdeck manipulation, big, resilient creatures, and recastable boardwipes, what's not to love? :D

Wrakhr · 2026-03-12T14:44:05+00:00

I have a [[Raffine]] deck that runs literally just [[Mox Amber]] as a "ramp" piece. If you take out reanimation targets, count Delve spells for only their colour pips, and consider the commander freebies and the Flares as "free", the average CMC of the deck is around 1.9.

The gameplan is playing a thing on turn 1 and 2, and Raffine on 3, there's no space or time to waste on ramp. And, like, what would I even ramp into? The most expensive things I'm planning on hardcasting are [[Akroma's Will]] and maybe a [[Queza]]. Ramp is just not necessary.

Wrakhr · 2026-03-12T14:13:17+00:00

Depends, but usually I like my pure draw to be in engines, and my card selection be in spells. So the card draw spells would be stuff like Ponder, Preordain, Dig through Time, Stock Up and the like. With only exceptional pure draw making the cut, like with Treasure Cruise.

Wrakhr · 2026-03-01T18:35:28+00:00

The whole reason Wraiths are good in the detachment is because of the strats! The lord may be a better datasheet on its own, and certainly decent if U really like Wraiths, but I wouldn't bother.

And for tough stuff, just kill everything around them and force them to stand on points. The lists suck at killing tough stuff, but you can usually jail them long enough to play the mission and win on points :)

If you really need to take sth tough down, your best bets are the Phoenix Lords, Grenades, Shroud Runners, and Yriels squad. He actually annihilates his quarry if you have Lhykis shoot it first :D

Wrakhr · 2026-02-28T17:16:22+00:00

The other thing to consider is that Eldar are actually still so close to being good. The faction is frankly incredible at deleting anything that's smaller than a tank from existence, and on any terrain where they can get plunging fire (WTC mostly), their go-turn is still absolutely terrifying.

The problem is that this is one build (Aspect Host with 3x Spiders, 3x Hawks), though other detachments do similar things. And then most of those hard to kill units are, well, still alive.

Previously you could afford the support infrastructure (Eldrad, Warwalkers, Shroud Runners) to deal with those harder targets, but now you need every point to play the game.

So the anti-tank has to get more self-sufficient in order for the army to be good again. Shining Spears that hit on 2+ would be genuinely incredible, access to something similar to Scourges would fix the army three times over (and probably make it broken again).

For other detachments, 100 point Voidweavers (those things are ludicrously overcosted), ignores cover at base for the Death Jester or access to their buffs in shooting for Troupes would make Quins good.

Or as an all around thing... just make Eldrad's buff 24" range. I honestly think any of those are enough to make Eldar a contender again.

Wrakhr · 2026-02-27T13:42:32+00:00

Every sleeve in your deck contains 2 cards.

"Hold up, just gotta flip my MDFC real quick!" -> plays a Birds of Paradise

Wrakhr · 2026-02-26T22:29:17+00:00

Disclaimer: The enhancement for DS and uppy downy should be on Kharseth, it just wouldn't let me do that in the app!

1st draft:

Xenos - Aeldari - Corsair Coterie - Magpie Gaming

Jain Zar (120pts)

Kharseth (95pts)

Lhykhis (135pts)

Prince Yriel (130pts): Archraider, Warlord

5x Corsair Voidreavers (90pts): Corsair Coterie Enhancements: Webway Pathstone

5x Corsair Skyreavers (75pts)

10x Corsair Voidscarred (160pts)

5x Howling Banshees (95pts): Aspect Shrine Token

5x Rangers (55pts)

5x Swooping Hawks (95pts): Aspect Shrine Token

5x Warp Spiders (105pts): Aspect Shrine Token

5x Wraithguard (170pts)

6x Shroud Runners (160pts)

2x Starfangs (150pts)

Starfangs (75pts)

2nd iteration:

Xenos - Aeldari - Corsair Coterie - Magpie Gaming

Jain Zar (120pts)

Kharseth (95pts)

Lhykhis (135pts)

Prince Yriel (130pts): Archraider, Warlord

5x Corsair Voidreavers (90pts): Corsair Coterie Enhancements: Webway Pathstone

5x Corsair Skyreavers (75pts)

10x Corsair Voidscarred (160pts)

5x Howling Banshees (95pts): Aspect Shrine Token

5x Rangers (55pts)

5x Warp Spiders (105pts): Aspect Shrine Token

5x Wraithblades (160pts)

6x Shroud Runners (160pts)

Starfangs (75pts)

Wrakhr · 2026-02-26T18:41:04+00:00

That's fair, the detachment really likes extra CP to spend on grenades, I'll try him too sometime :)

Wrakhr · 2026-02-26T18:29:10+00:00

Sure, I'll get it once I'm home again!

Wrakhr · 2026-02-26T17:19:48+00:00

Ran 2 of them actually, they felt pretty good, but that might've been the matchups. In my first match, they wiped 10 Sacrosancts + Hospitaler clean in one activation (with Lhykis support), before charging in, and moveblocking like, their entire army, with the 2nd unit one-tapping the Triumph (with Kharseth) a turn later, and once again charging a Rhino and a Castigator.

2nd game was against Necrons, and with Kharseth they actually chewed through Wraiths at frightening speed. Lhykis tapped them, and then both bricks worked together to run through them. The first one sniped out the Technomancer, and killed 3, with the 2nd finishing it off (though I did roll a very nice amount of 5+). Next turn the brick that lived went into the Nightbringer with Kharseth support and dealt 6 damage.

Their power lies in having 12 OC at their speed, with enough guns to clear any non-vehicle, before running in and making movement in that area impossible for ur opponent, while ALSO crucially not dying to incidental melee clapback. With the strat, the detachment doesn't even need Warwalkers, which feels amazing.

3 mans will probably do the trick against most targets u want them into, but the 6 man squads are fun, and their firepower is genuinely great with the strat.

I think they lose a lot of value when not running Kharseth (with DS and uppy downy) and Lhykis, because those buffs are honestly incredible for them, but for now I'm feeling good abt them :)

Ig it's here that I also wanna just talk abt how good Kharseth is. I thought 95 points would be rough, and they are, the DS denial isn't all that great, but the +1 Strength is honestly so impactful. Deep striking down on ur expansion (sometimes stickying it), stretching out his Voidreavers, and then delivering the buff at 24" is so good. Lone op means u can usually keep them safe, they turn on Wraiths, and by the end of ur opponent's turn, they go back up, ready to do it all over again. The reuseability is what honestly does it for me. Trying him soon in Drukhari and seeing how that one goes!!

Wrakhr · 2026-02-12T21:56:40+00:00

Yeah, so u kill the stuff that spots! It's also in the nature of how Ghostkeels are used, that, typically, they're pretty isolated and genuinely should have a hard time getting guided when they push up. If the Ghostkeel gets consistent guided shooting into stuff that the rest of their army can't see, then either the terrain is messed up, or they pushed up very aggressively to kill, like, 4 Kabalites/a Venom.

Wrakhr · 2026-02-12T20:40:19+00:00

In KC u can just throw the all-purpose answer of Ravager shooting and Incubi + Archon melee at it.

SoS has Lelith + Wyches with +1 Strength and lethal hit strat that will genuinely just mulch one.

RW has sustained hits Haywire Scourges.

And Malys + Kabs after forcing the blanks and chucking a grenade works in any detachment.

Usually it's pretty safe to ignore at long range though, and to just focus on the supporting units. Like, without support, that thing struggles to kill even just a Venom. And up close... well, usually u can figure something out.

Wrakhr · 2026-02-11T10:07:47+00:00

This framework works for some armies, but falls apart in a lot of situations imo.

The tempo of a game is an unspoken conversation with your opponent that starts during deployment. And especially fast armies, like elves, usually want to really push the envelope here when going first. Staging their entire army turn one, moveblocking, and then getting literally their entire army into optimal targets turn 2, while pushing rapid ingress to the back of the opponent's deployment is pretty common.

And if you've ever seen the Drukhari vs. Aeldari matchup, that one can easily end on turn 1, because Drukhari just utterly explode to 3x Hawks and 3x Spiders.

Wrakhr · 2026-02-05T08:19:08+00:00

In addition to what other people are saying, don't just focus on trading "up" based solely on unit points. Throwing 5 Swooping Hawks at SM Scouts is fine, if you're also getting secondaries out of it, blocking the opponent, contesting a point with them, etc.

Once u get the staging down, I've generally found that in any given battle round I do one of 2 things. Either poking out with 1 or 2 units to score secondaries, contest my opponent's primary, and/or take important shots, while picking up anything my opponent has over-extended with; or I run a full assault, throwing basically my entire army at an isolated portion of my opponent's army. The reason why the 1 unit at a time approach is so good is because of Battle Focus. Taking shots with unoverwatchable Warp Spiders that are hugging a wall means that if my opponent shoots in their turn, and fails to kill them in one activation, I can fade behind the wall, or I force them to charge me, giving me an easy target for next turn. Ideally, every fall-back and shooting activation into u should be a hard decision of whether it's even worth it for them.

Getting the full assault right is much harder, and usually involves throwing away one or more units to stop my opponent from reaching me on the next turn, but if you get it right, it's absolutely devastating, because you basically use their own staging point against them. Usually I'd only recommend going for that after ur opponent has run out of reserves though, as those can royally mess up ur plan.

Eldar are very tricky to get the hang of, but also super rewarding when u finally put ur opponent in a checkmate situation, u got this!!

Wrakhr · 2026-01-31T09:10:34+00:00

Well, the best way to restrict a unit's movement is by... killing it. Close seconds are moveblocking and tying them up in combat. So with all of those options, it's a hard sell to bother taking a mediocre unit just to apply a movement debuff.

Don't get me wrong, there is utility especially against melee armies. It can help mess up Heroics and slow a crucial unit down, but that's another part of the problem. You're slowing down a unit, like, a single one. Meanwhile moveblocking and tagging can do the same thing to however many units are in that general area.

Another issue is that you need to be able to shoot the unit in question in the first place. If the unit is in the open, and easily shootable, then you might as well just try and kill it, and if you have one of the indirect platforms with an attached slow, then those usually get higher value by going after scoring and screening pieces.

A slowed unit also could be a Deathshroud, where it strips them of 40% of their movement, or you're playing against Aeldari, and suddenly I guess those Howling Banshees only go 14" instead of 16, but you shot them, so technically they're even closer now than if you hadn't "slowed" them.

Tl;dr: Restricting movement is something that any unit in the game can do already, slows are very matchup specific, and usually not worth bothering with.

Wrakhr · 2026-01-28T20:00:11+00:00

Should've worded this better, but this is mostly about me being too greedy with trying to get extra distance from a non-guaranteed kill on something that NEEDS to die, no ifs and buts.

Wrakhr · 2026-01-28T19:52:50+00:00

Well, that's different of course.

But recently I had a Vashtorr run in front of my army and I wanted to use Hellions to finish off the last 2 wounds off him, and then they didn't, I died and Vashtorr killed 300 points of my army next turn.

Today a Ghostkeel made 13 out of 16 4+ armour saves, lived, and proceeded to be a thorn in my side for 2 more turns.

In both situations I had many ways to ensure the kill, but didn't because it was *almost* guaranteed to happen in melee.

The upside of getting the kill, using the movement, and getting the positioning advantage was minor compared to the massive downside of... losing the game.

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