Games Workshop has confirmed the release window for its Q4 2022 Warhammer 40k balance dataslate – the next in a series of regular updates which aim to level the game’s competitive playing field. A ‘Metawatch’ article published on GW’s Warhammer Community site on October 6 confirmed that the balance dataslate is planned to hit Warhammer 40k factions “later this month”.
Studio staff also discuss the state of the game ahead of the balance dataslate in a 23-minute video, which you can watch below.
The last balance dataslate was released in June 2022 along with the War Zone Nephilim mission pack, tweaking Warhammer 40k faction rules to ensure that armies remain competitive and feel fair to play.
Since these releases, GW says it’s been monitoring win rates from competitive events, crunching the numbers to determine how the Q4 balance dataslate will take shape.
Warhammer Studio says it aims to ensure all factions win roughly 50% of the time, with a 5% margin for error. The data released by GW shows that most factions do fall into this window at the moment, with only two armies falling behind.
Both Space Marines and Adeptus Mechanicus have win rates of 39%, indicating the Q4 balance dataslate will most likely give those factions a boost.
At the other end of the table, GW says Tyranids and Harlequins are currently winning games 59% and 58% of the time respectively. It’s fair to say that, if you’re a Tyranid or Harlequins player, you can probably expect a few nerfs coming your way by the end of the month.
In the same Metawatch article, GW discussed the issues surrounding gathering and implementing this data. For example, the mighty Space Marines may be second from the bottom of the win rate table but this lumps in most variants of Space Marine – from Ultramarines, to Dark Angels, to Salamanders.
This means a faction may look – as a whole – to be in a dire state, but in truth, only needs minor tweaks – while some specific subfactions require more serious changes than others.
If you want to read more about faction rebalancing, head over to our article diagnosing the recent Leagues of Votann nerfs.
Source: Wargamer
