Editing Warhammer 40,000 8th edition (section)

===Known Faction Updates===
'''This list is based primarily on GW's pre-release blog and should be considered incomplete until further notice. Full details can be found on each faction's tactics page.'''

*'''Chaos Space Marines:''' Basic CSMs stated to have some kind of overall buff making them more viable Troops choices. Khorne Berzerkers have a rule called "Blood for the Blood God", which allows them to fight twice in each Fight phase. Chaos Leviathan Dreadnoughts confirmed as a new unit. '''Death to the False Emperor''' rule seems to be universal for CSM - it allows extra attacks for any results of 6+ that hit in the Fight phase against units with keyword: Imperium. Once, the extra attacks cannot produce any more attacks.
**Failbaddon (and we still feel comfy calling him that because apparently every single member of the 13th crusade minus himself fucked off after Cadia) has his rules leaked: S4 T5 A6 2+ 4++, seven wounds, any weapon that successfully damages him has its damage halved (rounded ''up'', so he can still be chipped away to nothing by small arms). Black Legion units within 6 inches reroll failed to hit, the first time Abby has ever really done anything for his army. His weapons are basically the same, Drachnyen is S+1 AP -3 with the same Daemon Weapon bonuses as before, Talon of Horus is Sx2 AP -3; both do Damage D3, as does his Talon-mounted twin bolter. Also, his Mark of Chaos Ascendant allows all friendly Heretic Astartes to auto pass morale checks within 12 inches. 
**'''Death Guard:''' They're getting the Thousand Sons treatment with several new units, weapons, and psychic powers. The new unit we know most about is the Poxwalkers, a gang of zombies that ignores the effects of morale and adds another model to its unit for every infantry model they kill. Typhus' special ability buffs them with +1 Strength and Toughness. Other new units include Foetid Bloat-Drones (Daemon Engines with what might be lascannons), the Malignant Plaguecaster (a Nurglite sorcerer), the Noxious Blightbringer (a plasma-toting banner bearer equivalent), and the Lord of Contagion (a Chaos Lord equivalent in Cataphractii Terminator armor and what appears to be a giant two-handed chainaxe). Plague Knives now reroll to wound rolls of 1 in melee. Plague Marines get a new toy called the Blight Launcher- an Assault 2 weapon with 24" range, Strength 6, D3 damage, and AP -2. One of their new psychic powers is called Miasma of Pestilence, which forces enemies to take a -1 to hit against the unit targeted by the power. All Death Guard units seem to share the Disgustingly Resilient rule used by Daemons of Nurgle.
**Obliterators are <s>''weird''</s> GREAT now. And also probably not good. Each time they shoot, they get <s>two</s> <s>four</s> six shots at Strength 6+D3, AP -(D3), Damage D3; roll separately for each before rolling to hit with the entire unit. Max range 24 inches. No longer a long ranged shooter (you have Havocs for that), Deep-striking is what they were designed for.
*'''Imperial Guard:''' [[Commissars]] mitigate losses in Morale tests. Leman Russes have 12 wounds, Toughness 8, and a 3+ armor save. Seven different orders exist, all of which activate automatically without any need to roll. Only one with known rules is FRFSRF, which makes all [[Lasgun|lasguns]] and hotshot lasguns Rapid Fire 2- that's 4 shots per lasgun at half range! A whole lot of diddly indeed. Veterans are officially dead - they cost twice as much as a regular infantry squad, have been moved to Elites, lost their doctrines (no more carapace armor or camo cloaks), and have worse leadership. What you end up getting is a paper-thin special weapon squad that happens to shoot straight. This is especially annoying as GW promised that they would be MORE useful in this edition, not less. This is probably GW's hamfisted way of getting you to buy more <s>Zions</s> Scions who can be taken as TROOPS! Meanwhile [[Rough riders]] miraculously survived being cut from 8th Edition - they have 2 wounds and can Outflank, and are now as cheap as any bog-standard infantry squad.
**The [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Punisher|Leman Russ Punisher]] becomes a whole lot more useful despite not actually changing that much due to the way wounds are resolved now.
**The [[Wyvern Suppression Tank|Wyvern]] can potentially roll '''24 dice''' (typically 14) when it fires, and while it loses re-rolls to hit, it still re-rolls to wound; it also saw a big cost increase, which is probably fine since it was cheap as all hell before anyway.
**Uriah Jacobus now has both the Adeptus Ministorum and Astra Militarum faction keywords, acting as an incredibly buffed up Ministorum Priest.
**[[Sly Marbo]] does another freaking disappearing act after being brought back for about two months. Hopefully, he'll show up in a new codex or get released as a data slate, and maybe we won't have to wait years for it this time.
**The loss of platoons puts an end to being able to cram multiple units into a single slot, forcing you to put a lot more thought into your slot choices now and weigh your options rather than just loading up until you hit your points limit. On the other hand, Guard players are no longer constrained by the "go big or go home" attitude that the minimum sizes for platoons, formations and decurions of 7th seemed to enforce, greatly reducing the cost of a playable Guard army in both points and dollars.
*'''Craftworld Eldar:''' All [[Phoenix Lords]] now have 2+ armor saves, though none of them can take Warlord Traits or Craftworld Attributes (though they don't penalize your Craftworld army for taking them). Asurmen now can inflict mortal wounds and grant invulnerable saves to nearby Aspect Warriors. Jain Zar allows Howling Banshees to always fight first in combat. Aside using a stratagem for it, the move-shoot-move technique from 7th Edition is gone. Fleet is also gone. Battle Focus now only removes the -1 penalty for advancing on Assault weapons. [[Striking Scorpions]]' Mandiblasters deal extra mortal wounds at the start of a Fight phase. Howling Banshees can now advance and charge during the same turn, and are again immune to Overwatch. Warp-Spiders can still Flickerjump to impose a -1 to-hit penalty, but can no longer bounce away when shot at. Swooping Hawks can enter and leave the battlefield at will, so long as they've at least shown up once before the 3rd turn. They additionally can fly over enemy infantry and sprinkle mortal wounds over models passed. Dark Reapers always hit on a +3 with their Reaper Launchers. Wraithguard/Wraithblades are yet more durable, having a +3 save, T6 and now 3 wounds per model. Wraithlords benefit from a +3 save, T8 and 10 wounds, but now suffer from a degrading statline. [[Avatar of Khaine]] is now a HQ unit and can ignore some mortal wounds, and both forms of the Wailing Doom roll 2D6 for damage, selecting the higher number for the result. All Eldar share the Aeldari keyword, and can all be taken in each other's armies without penalty (though many abilities and auras remain mutually exclusive to their respective factions).
*'''Ynnari:''' Strength from Death received a major nerf; only <Ynnari> Aeldari infantry or bikers can benefit from a Soulburst, which (for Matched Play) now can only occur once for each action per turn (If one unit uses a Soulburst to shoot a second time, no other units may shoot during any other Soulburst for the rest of that turn). Additionally, Ynnari units may only Soulburst on their player's turn. In regards to using the Ynnari as an army, all Asuryani, Drukhari, and Harlequin armies sacrifice Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Power from Pain, and Rising Crescendo respectively in exchange for Strength from Death. In order to declare a Detachment as Ynnari, Yvraine, the Yncarne or the Visarch must be declared the Warlord of the player's army. Due to this, Ynnari Detachments fielded on their own lose access to all Craftworld Attributes, Asuryani, Druhkari and Harlequin stratagems, Relics and Warlord Traits. If a secondary detachment comprised of Asuryani, Drukhari or Harlequins is taken along side a Ynnari Detachment, players can then access their respective stratagems and even use them on relevant units within the Ynnari Detachment.
*'''Chaos Daemons:''' Each Daemon type gets their own unique ability. Khorne Daemons gain an extra attack and Strength point whenever they charge or get charged at. Tzeentch Daemons get +1 to all invulnerable saves. Slaanesh daemons almost always hit first in combat even if they weren't the ones charging, and Nurgle daemons ignore wounds on a 5+. Lords of Change have a 4+ invulnerable save and 16 wounds. Daemonettes gain an extra attack if taken in units of 20 and a to-wound roll of 6 for them makes their attacks have AP-4. Nurglings can deploy closer to enemy units than normal. 
*'''Tau Empire:''' Stormsurge anchors now convey a +1 to hit in shooting. Stormsurge can fire at different targets for each of its 10 weapons, ignores the penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons, and can fall back from combat without giving up its ability to shoot. Markerlight hits now confer a stacking buff that changes depending on how many Markerlight tokens the targetted unit currently has, 1 Markerlight token allows re-rolling of a to hit roll of 1, 2 tokens allows models with Seeker Missiles to fire them at regular BS, rather than hitting on a 6+ only. Crisis Battlesuits can also fire at different targets with all their weapons and share the ability to fall back without being unable to shoot. Drones now set up with the unit to which they are "attached" at the beginning of the battle, but are treated as separate units from then on, making them full fledged units rather than weird unit/wargear hybrids. No more penalties for Ethereals dying, and Invocations of the Elements seem to be usable once per turn per Ethereal, rather than once per game. Seeker Missiles now inflict Mortal Wounds. Riptides changed to 209 blank and lose squading (painful but necessary) and stormsurges are...150 points (making them now a viable choice).(although those prices are before paying for weapons and other wargear).
*'''Dark Eldar:''' Dark Eldar transports get a 5+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks and can fire heavy weapons after moving with no penalty. Incubus leaders gain +2 damage on a to wound roll of 6, and klaives are S+1 AP-3. Dark Lance is S8 AP-4 D6 damage, Disintegrator Cannon is 3 shots with AP-3 and 2 damage. [[Wyches]] have a 4- invulnerable save in assault and force a roll-off against units trying to fall back; if the Wych's controller wins the roll-off, the enemy can't fall back. Drazhar grants unspecified buffs to Incubi. 
*'''Imperial Knights:''' Ion Shield is now a 5+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks that isn't restricted to facing. Base stats for a Knight Errant are 8" movement, WS/BS 3+, Strength 8, Toughness 8, 24 (!) wounds, 4 attacks, Leadership 9, and a 3+ armor save. Thermal Cannon is Heavy D3, S9, AP-4, D6 damage, rolling 2 dice and picking the highest value when in half range. Battle Cannon deals d6 shots when used against a unit with at least 5 models. Reaper chainsword and thunderstrike gauntlet do 6 damage, and the latter's throw ability allows it to deal D3 mortal wounds on a target within 9" on a 4+. They can also leave combat with regular infantry without losing the ability to shoot. Stomps apparently modified to act more like regular melee attacks. 
*'''Tyranids:''' Swarmlord's base stats are 9" movement, WS 2+, BS 3+, Strength 8, Toughness 6, 12 wounds, 7 attacks, Leadership 10, an armor save of 3+, and a 5+ invulnerable save that upgrades to 4+ in melee. His boneswords are AP -3 and deal d6 damage, and he has an ability that allows a friendly unit to move again in the shooting phase (which is very powerful given that most Tyranid units will have very high movement scores and that the Swarmlord can use it on himself to move 18" in a single movement phase). Catalyst gives the ability to ignore wounds suffered on a 5+. Hormagaunts have a movement of 8". Genestealers have a 5+ invulnerable save, 8" movement, can charge after advancing, have their attacks increased to 4 when in a unit of at least 10, and have a WS of 2+ when a Broodlord is taken with them. Additionally, their Rending Claws are AP-4 on a to wound roll of 6, which means that a full unit of 20 Genestealers is going to be causing 80+ attacks that hit on a 2+ and have a chance to ignore any armor. Synapse now grants total immunity to morale to all Tyranids in range, making it invaluable for swarms. Pyrovores briefly described as "one of the most improved units in the new edition".
*'''Orks:''' Meganobz have 3 wounds. Choppas are S User, AP 0, 1 Damage and add an extra attack (like a Space Marine chainsword). Big Choppas are S+2, AP-1, and 2 Damage. A Warboss within 3" of an Ork unit trying to flee can inflict d3 hits on them to stop them from doing so. Nobs can roll a d6 for any nearby Ork units trying to flee; on a 6 the unit doesn't flee. Mob Rule now allows an Ork unit to set its Ld value equal to either its unit size or the Ld value of a nearby unit, which means the average blob of Boyz will be packing a Ld at least double that of other line infantry (and make the morale issues that plagued Orks in 7e a thing of the past when combined with the Warboss and Nob abilities). Painboy grants nearby infantry and bikes a 6+ against wounds suffered, and Big Mek with Kustom Force Field grants a 5+ invulnerable save. Warboss's WAAAGH! ability lets allied Ork units within 6" to charge after advancing. 'Ere We Go! allows failed charge rolls to be re-rolled. The psychic power Da Jump allows an Ork Infantry unit within 6″ of the Weirdboy using it to be teleported to any point more than 9″ away from enemy units on the battlefield. According to the Index, [[Rage|'Ard Boyz have been removed.]] All Orks (aside from Gretchin) have their strength increased by 1 from previous editions, but have lost Furious Charge. Mobs of Boyz get bonus attacks in melee if they charge in with units over 20+.
*'''Genestealer Cults:''' Cult Ambush now allows units deployed with it to move on the same turn they arrive. All Characters have a Look Out, Sir! equivalent called Unquestioning Loyalty that allows them to avoid taking an unsaved wound on a 4+. Mass Hypnosis disables an enemy unit from firing Overwatch, forces them to strike last in combat even if they were the one who charged that turn, and adds a -1 penalty to hit. A Genestealer Cult Battle-forged army can take one Astra Militarum detachment for each Genestealer Cult detachment present, even in Matched Play (in order to represent Brood Brothers; however, the detachments can't mix keywords- they have to be either all Genestealer Cult or all AM). Clearance Incinerator has 12" range and hits d6 times. Demolition Charge Cache is d6 shots, Strength 8, AP -3, d3 damage. Goliath Rockgrinder's Drilldozer Blade is S 8, AP -2, 6+d3 Attacks, and d3 damage. Patriarch allows nearby units to ignore morale.
*'''Space Marines:''' Primaris Marines are a thing, as has been previously mentioned; while an individual one has better stats and gear than a "normal" marine, they cost significantly more points and have highly limited wargear choices, more akin to Aspect Warriors than Marines. Centurions have 2+ armor and 3 wounds. Centurion Missile Launcher is S8, AP -2, d3 damage. Grav-Cannon/Grav-Amp combo is 24" range, Heavy 4, S5, AP -3, 1 damage (d3 damage if the target's armor save is 3+ or better): while it's still a pretty good choice against heavy infantry with multiple wounds, it's far from the unstoppable death machine it used to be. Predators are T7 with 11 wounds. Guilliman's gun is Rapid Fire 3, S6, AP-1, 2 damage; his sword is S +2, AP -4, 3 damage, and on a 6+ it causes d3 additional mortal wounds. The Armor of Fate has a 3+ invulnerable save and lets Guilliman revive himself on a 4+ the first time he's removed as a casualty. All Ultramarines witin 6" of Guilliman re-roll ''all'' failed to hit and to wound rolls. Dreadnought CCWs are S12, AP -3, and 3 damage, and the Dread itself is T7 with 8 wounds.
**Primaris Marines are confirmed to be getting their own transport. Besides the reveal of the Repulsor (AKA the hideous bastard child of a Predator and a Rhino with a Land Speeder's grav-plates for treads), the leaked datasheets for the Land Raider variants has revealed that it ''cannot'' transport Primaris Marines. That's right, the Raider can transport Marines, jump pack Marines, Terminators, Centurions, and ''Primarchs'' (in 30k at least), but Primaris Marines are just ''too special'' for that. Same goes for all other Space Marine transports. 
*'''Adeptus Ministorum:''' So it seems that somebody finally realized that the Sisters were a part of a bigger faction, and as such their book seems to get a name change, and one hell of a buff! Seriously while the leaks have yet to include points values, if the Power Levels are anything to go by they'll stay pricier than guard but less than Marines, and all of their abilities have been bumped up.
**To start with, Acts of Faith are semi-random, in that you have to roll to see if they're performed still, and you only get one per turn. You can increase this by getting an Imagifier or Celestine, and the Acts of Faith basically give you extra phases. You may move as if it were the movement phase, shoot as if it were the shooting phase, fight in close combat as if it were that phase, or restore wounds to a model/bring a dead model back to life as if you were a cheating bastard taking advantage of a distracted opponent. The advantage of being able to move/shoot/attack twice shouldn't be underestimated, as this means you can immediately attack your opponent in melee, then disengage in the movement phase to allow other units to shoot them without the chance of that other unit fighting back.
***A key wording detail means that units without the Acts of Faith ability can still have Acts of Faith manifested on them by Celestine or a Simulacrum Imperialis carried by an Imagnifer; Only the board-wide Act of Faith you get for free via the Ministorum on a 2+ requires a Unit have the "Act of Faith" ability, while other sources only require a keyword. This permits your vehicles (Exorcists first in line considering the punch they pack) to receive an Act of Faith from Celestine or an Imagnifer if they are within 6 inches.
***Because of this, and because of how pistols and assault works now, Seraphim stand to be one of the best assault units, as they can fire their Hand Flamers/Inferno Pistols while in close combat ''TWICE'' before attacking to finish off whoever's left. Assuming they survived the opponent's turn, anyway.
***In addition to being able to heal D3 wounds through AoF's, Hospitallers can choose instead to resurrect one dead model on a 4+.
**Shield of Faith still gives the 6+ Invuln (and Celestine now bumps that to a 5+) and it also allows you to Deny, on a D6 <s>and with different deny rules. Instead of rolling to beat the opponent's roll, you just need to roll to beat the casting value. While this does mean that things like 7+ powers can't be stopped by Shield of Faith, it also means you've got a 1/3rd chance of not getting hurt by common powers like Smite.</s> Actually, no: Since you have to be beat the result of the opponent's 2d6, the only way you deny Smite or anything else of 5 warp charge is if they rolled exactly 5 on 2d6 and you rolled a 6 on 1d6.
***'''Maths''': Since there is a 1/9 chance of them rolling exactly a 5, and a 1/6 chance of you getting the six, this means there is a 1/54 chance of getting a deny, compared with a 1/6 chance they fail, so it may come up once every few games at most.
****More direct math: Having this rule lets you decrease the success rate of a WC5 power from 45/54 to 44/54, with better performance against WC4.
**All HQs are a lot more durable. Celestine is still a tank (having 7 Wounds now) and the Canoness is bumped up to 5 and given a Rosarius as standard (fitting as no player ever ran her without one), and with the removal of Instant Death this means your squishy HQs won't be instantly wiped by one plasma gun.
**Dominions got a new rule, one that allows them to move at the start of the game as if it's the movement phase, and if they're in a transport this means the transport does the move instead. Combined with AoFs this means they can move three times in one turn in case you wanted to make the Eldar look slow.
**All Sisters vehicles got buffed. They keep Shield of Faith (which Celestine can buff, keep in mind), gain a better profile and the weapons changes also made the Immolater's damage output good again while the Exorcist causes D3 Wounds now.
**Celestians gained a form of Look Out Sir! Every time a friendly Sisters model loses a Wound, on a 2+ they don't suffer the Wound and the Celestians suffer a Mortal Wound.
***Given how the Sisters can resurrect each other now, a small Celestian squad could definitely be worth it since this applies to both ranged and melee attacks.
**Repentias got nerfed, in that they're only AP-2 whereas most Eviscerators are AP-4 (presumably so that you don't spend your AoF on only them so that they fight twice). However, the Repentia's weaker Eviscerators are effectively half the cost of the standard Eviscerator after factoring in the cost of the base model. Otherwise they're still great in melee as they can re-roll failed too hits while their Mistress allows them to re-roll failed Shield of Faith rolls.
**Penitent Engines retain the spot of weaker CC Dreadnoughts; however, they now have a roll that allows them to make their full set of attacks ''TWICE'' if you roll a 4+. Sadly, they don't get Acts of Faith, despite being fluff-wise basically a Repentia on steroids.
**Not everything is nice, however; most 'normal' Sisters have WS4+ now, though they keep their BS3+, and most units that used to be capped at 10 are now capped at 5. Still, those are minor drawbacks compared to fairly substantial buffs.
*'''Necrons''': Reanimation Protocols is back to the late 5th ed/6th ed version (the Matt Ward codex version), where models that go down are set aside, and you roll for them to come back to life on a 5+. The change is that now the roll for it is done at the start of your turn (instead of the end of the phase) and models who fail to stand back up can roll again to come back ''next'' turn, and the turn after that, and every turn until either the whole squad is wiped or they finally pass.
**Necron characters have Living Metal, essentially Super It Will Not Die that always succeeds.
**Heavy Destroyers have a good Movement stat, [[Rape|ignore the penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons, reroll 1's to hit, and shoot S9 AP -4 D6 Damage shots from their guns]].
**The Gauss special rule appears to be gone entirely, but we'll keep our eyes peeled. Instead all guns with Gauss in the name have better AP stats, such as AP -1 for the lowly Gauss Flayer (for comparison, boltgun has no AP bonus).
**[[Monolith]] is [[Awesome|T8 20 wounds, Living Metal]]. And it can deep strike and let other Necrons deep strike. Did we mention that any non-Vehicle, non-Monster unit charging at it takes D6 mortal wounds on a 4+? (Decreases to a 6+ if the Monolith takes too much damage)
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus''': The [[Skitarii]] and [[Cult Mechanicus]] factions are now grouped into one faction, although both remain as subfactions. Doctrina Imperatives are joined into the Canticles, and both have been nerfed. Kastelans are now separate from their data-smith but can also be increased to a 2+ armor save and a 4+ Invulnerable save. Ranger and Vanguard Alphas lost a wound, and every unit has a 6+ invulnerable save like Sisters of Battle.