Feb Balance Dataslate = Coven nerfs

New Balance Dataslate is up on WC.

Artists of the Flesh damage reduction only works on weapons with STR less than 8.

Talos and Cronos both lose CORE keyword.

Frankly, I'm fine with the change to Artists of the Flesh, but loss of CORE keyword is, IMO, overkill. The Talos and Cronos lose a LOT of synergy because of this.

Weirdly, DT Cronos came back as a super good unit. They don't use the Haemi for themselves, they can't reroll to hit, and they don't care about -1 damage.


Talos on the other hands are dead. I mean, dead. With any coven.
Wracks Artists still super good, just a bit more fragile against Sr8+...I mean, I'm fine I guess, they still 8ppm

Don't think this kills Talos at all but I am probably going to be running fewer of them. Why bother when Wracks and Grotesques are barely touched?

Actually think this is probably way too light a nerf for us, given the last few months.

Burnage wrote:

Don't think this kills Talos at all but I am probably going to be running fewer of them. Why bother when Wracks and Grotesques are barely touched?

Actually think this is probably way too light a nerf for us, given the last few months.

I don't know why I should play any Talos with AoF now that takes nearly no-bonusses at all. Sr6 is going to wound me better, while Sr8 is going to push me better. So yeah, I mean...I can't find a way to field them.

Talos still might be worthwhile in the more offense-based Covens (Coven of 12, etc), if you view them as more of a slightly tougher glass cannon beatstick, than as a tank.

DT Cronos and Artist of Flesh Wracks are interesting. Coven of 12 wrack spam is also very appealing to me. Thicc city as we know it is dead in the water though.

Taking more than 3 Talos is going to cut into your points and hurt when you lose them, and it's much easier to lose them.

If there's one thing we know about Talos competitively over the Editions: if you can't take 6 or more, you can't take any. I've never been a fan of pain engines though, thematically and in terms of their models. So I'm happy to pivot to other units.

i'm more sad about the loss of core than AoF personally.

The other covens (with the exception of DT) were barely options as it were. At least now there's some real choice, could have been done better though.

But without core, Taloses are in a weird spot. They benefit from the haemi's healing, but not his buff. they can't be healed or buffed by Cronoses, but they can still benefit from pain syphon. "an esoteric kill, delivered from afar" straight up doesn't work on them, despite taloses being specifically mentionned in it.

I don't like it, and I don't even think that'll be a useful nerf, just confusing.

I think, from now on, I'll take taloses in units of 1, and just send them as distractions to keep my raiders from getting shot. There's barely a point to them hanging out with haemonculuses anymore, that'll be the grotesque's job

At least I have a reason to play coven of twelve now.

I was hoping that Master of Pain and Sculptor of Torments targeted <COVEN> units, but unfortunately they only work on Core units as well. :/
Fleshcraft still heals them for D3 wounds though, and PoF also heals them for 1 wound. And PoF makes all coven count as T7 basically. That might be the new most durable coven now.
Oddly, I'm mostly sad that their Strength near Urien is now reduced. It may not have been the best way to run them, but I just loved how Urien's +1S aura for Talos scared a lot of my opponents. :/

honestly, I personally don't care too much for the aof nerf, I never used it, but I can understand disappointment at it.

Removing CORE from talos though?? That's a huge frak change, and urien's lost a good chunk of his value too. Is there even any point in keeping talos near a haem now other than occasional fleshcraft?

Personally i would only have put back the points of the Coven pre-points-nerf and thats it!
Thick city only appeared because GW allowed us to create it with a completely unexpected and useless point nerf.
Everything cult related is almost entirely dead now, so they already succeeded in tuning us down.
We were already in check if it wasnt for the Coven points nerf

But i know thats a lot to ask to an international company to admit they made a mistake by going back on their decision

I'm just happy Wracks were left untouched. That being said, how bad are Talos pain engines now? They're my second favourite kit in the dark eldar range, and I'd like to keep using them.

Wrack_Enthusiast wrote:

I'm just happy Wracks were left untouched. That being said, how bad are Talos pain engines now? They're my second favourite kit in the dark eldar range, and I'd like to keep using them.

I'm miffed that Haemonculi can't buff their toughness anymore. But I'm going to play around with them. I'm planning to test an experimental creations/obsessive collectors list, and maybe a coven of 12 list. I'm not entirely convinced that there is a *huge* amount of difference between T6 and T7 in practice anyway (though S6 weapons are definitely going to hurt more). In any case, I'm only going to take 1 unit of 3 as more of a lone wolf offensive unit/distraction carnifex, than as a tank.