“Fasta, boyz! We’z got lots of gits ta krump!”
– Boomdakka Snazzwagon
After this first month of collecting, fighting and experimenting after the last balance update, the ranks have slowly been stabilizing and denoting the Warlords and strategies that have seen a larger degree of success. To address this disparity, a balance update will soon make its way into the game before the first-ever ranked season of competitive play begins during next week, stay tuned to find out when!
Some factions such as the Ultramarines have been clearly favoured by the community this month. While some of that favour could be attributed to the faction’s popularity within the franchise, most of it is undoubtedly due to the massive win rate their Warlords have achieved in the ranks. This is further reinforced by the current standing of the Black Legion, another fan-favourite faction that has not been able to break past the 40% win rate.
Even though the current data standings are very much lore-accurate, our aim is for every faction to be fun to play on the ladder. The upcoming update aims to tone down the success of the Ultramarines while boosting the cards that are most used by the least successful Warlords. The only faction that will not be updated yet is Hive Fleet Leviathan, as we wanted to study it a bit further before applying any significant changes.
Ultramarines
The Ultramarines have seen the greatest degree of success in all steps of the rankings. On the highest steps of the ladder, Marneus Calgar managed to accrue a massive 76,2% Win Rate. Varro was no stranger to victory either, achieving a very high 65,9% of successes in battle. We are aiming to rein in the most oppressive Ultramarine strategies, toning down some of the most widely used cards.
- Octavio Infiltrator: Rally effect changed to “Give Blind to a damaged enemy” instead of “Give Blind to an enemy”
- Primaris Inceptor: Lowered Ranged attack from 4 to 3
- Honour Guard: Lowered Ranged attack from 4 to 3
- Inceptor Sergeant: Increase Melee attack from 3 to 4. Lower Ranged attack from 6 to 5
- Primaris Judiciar: Lowered Melee attack and Health from 6 to 5
- Epistolary Librarian: Changed description to: “Codex: Draw a card and give Shield to your Warlord”
- Point-Blank Shot: Changed description to “Deal 2 damage. If the target dies, draw a card.”, instead of always drawing a card
- Death from Above: Reduce damage from 5 to 4
- Angels of Death: Deploy 3 troops instead of 4
Goff Orks
The Goff Klan has seen all degrees of success this month, but unfortunately, their decks have not been as varied as we would have liked. The Goff’s vehicle-focused cards have seen little play during this month, so we’re aiming to give them a push to make them more attractive to build around
- Greatest Warboss (Ghazghkull Thraka’s Talent): Change the description to “Ephemeral. Give +1M and +1R to your troops. If you don’t control any, deploy two Grots”
- Spanner: Improved the random bonus given to vehicles
- Deffkopta: Increased Melee attack from 2 to 3
- Killa Kan: Increased Melee attack from 5 to 7
- Boomdakka Snazzwagon: Increase Health from 4 to 5
- Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy: Lower Ranged attack from 7 to 6. It now has Flank
- Deff Dread: Increase Health from 7 to 8
- Gunwagon: Increase Melee attack from 4 to 5. Increase Health from 7 to 8
- Gorkanaut: It now has Armour 1
Sautekh Dynasty
The Necrons of the Sautekh Dynasty have been a force to be reckoned with, with two of their Warlords (Imotekh and Orikan) achieving a win rate of over 60% and often creating frustrating board states that sentenced their enemies. We are tweaking a few key cards in creating those board states but will keep an eye on this faction to see how it behaves in the new meta.
- Psychomancer: Increased Health from 4 to 5. Changed description to: ‘Rally: Stun an enemy’, instead of this being an Artifice ability.
- Lychguard: Lowered Melee attack from 5 to 4
- Tomb World: Lowered the number of troops deployed from 6 to 5
Black Legion
Abaddon and his crusade have fallen short this month, not conquering much of the ranks. None of the faction’s Warlords have seen a win rate over 40%, indicating a general problem in the Legion’s card pool. With the update, we are mainly redistributing and boosting the stats of many of their troops, which have felt underwhelming in comparison to other factions. We’re also aiming to make two of their Legendary feel more impactful.
- Chosen of the Four (Abaddon’s Talent): Changed description to ‘Ephemeral. Give a random Dark Pact to a friendly troop or +2 Health to your Warlord’
- Noise Marine: Lowered Melee attack from 2 to 1. Increased Health from 3 to 4
- Possessed Marine: Increased Health from 3 to 4
- Master of Executions: Increased Strike ability damage from 3 to ‘3 – 5’
- Lheorvine Ukris: It now has Blood Thirst. Changed the description to ‘Strike: Gain a Dark Pact of Blood’
- Sorcerer: Increased Ranged attack from 5 to 6
- Helbrute: Increased triggered ability damage from 1 to ‘1 – 2’
- Obliterator: Increased Melee attack from 4 to 6
- Maulerfiend: Changed description to ‘Armour 1. Strike: Deal 1 damage to all enemies for each Dark Pact on your troops’ instead of only this troop
- Iskandar Khayon: Lowered by 2 the cost of Stratagems created by his Artifice ability, instead of 1
- Hosts of Chaos Lowered the cost from 4 to 3
Saim-Hann Craftworld
The Aeldari of the Saim-Hann Craftworld have felt quite consistent in their strategies, but not oppressive or dangerous enough to apply considerable changes to their card pool. However, Eliac’s talent has not felt as good to play with, and the randomness in the Blackout Offence card has not succeeded in creating an interesting battle scenario.
- Path of the Warrior (Eliac Zephyrblade’s Talent): Changed description to ‘Ephemeral. Give Shuriken 1 to your units this turn’
- Blackout: Changed description to ‘The first Troop each turn costs 1 less’
These changes will soon be available in the game with an upcoming update. This update will also prepare the game for an exciting future, bringing the first-ever Warpforge competitive season! Get ready to check your decks, polish your strategy and fight to the last drop of blood! Good luck on the battlefield.