What's Broken in the Thousand Sons Codex?

Competition, April 02, 2022

And how do we fix it?

Where do we even start?

Picking up on my last article there’s a lot of things I pointed out that are suffering in the current iteration of the Thousand Sons 9th edition codex. I wanted to dive a bit deeper into more of the issues that seems to be lurking in the book. The tough part is that there are a lot of things that could be better but not everything inherently broken.

What does “Broken” even mean?

The best way to try and focus on these things is to break it down into the aspects of the book that need the most attention. The rating system I have for this is very simple:

Healthy - things are okay and no changes unlikely needed until the next codex
Unhealthy - things aren’t critical here, but aren’t fine either; urgent changes may not be needed but would help
Broken - things are bad, urgent changes are needed

The Army

Unit	Rating	Notes
Ahriman	Healthy	Staple taken in many lists; the re-roll to cast is worth the price
Exalted Sorcerer	Healthy	Staple taken in many lists; lots of options with relics and upgrades
Infernal Master	Healthy	The newcomer continues to shine; perhaps at risk of being unhealthy due to being a crutch to support Terminators
Sorcerer	Healthy	Very well priced for what they do
Terminator Sorcerer	Healthy	Perhaps slightly overpriced when compared to Exalted Sorcerers but not enough to make them unreasonable to take
Daemon Prince	Healthy	Not taken very often but is still very easy to justify in any list; offers solid melee potential
Troops
Rubric Marines	Healthy	The stable troop option now, as we all likely want it to be; great options and support throughout
Cultists	Unhealthy	Cheap cannon fodder and taken from time to time in lists still; no support at all is overboard
Tzaangors	Unhealthy	Little support, no rules for all the build options in the box, overpriced?
Elites
Helbrute	Broken	One of the few Core units but expensive and awful weapon loadout options; unreasonably slow
Scarab Occult Terminators	Healthy	Arguably the best unit in the codex, lists are built around them
Tzaangor Shaman	Broken	Does nothing but also priced like it does nothing; Has nothing really to support
Contemptor Dreadnought	Healthy	Best shooting platform available, good options, and Core
Deredeo Dreadnought	Broken	Penalized for sitting in the middle of the Contemptor and Leviathan; pricing is out of wack
Leviathan Dreadnought	Healthy	Despite not having Core it sees play due to being tanky with relatively good weapon options
Decimator	Broken	Incredibly overpriced and the Soulburners lure you into the trap of taking these things - not worth it
Fast Attack
Chaos Spawn	Healthy	Great melee and counter assault unit; good support; priced well
Tzaangor Enlightened	Broken	See previous article
Dreadclaw Drop Pod	Unhealthy	Surprisingly effective but not a mainstay; better options for mobility
Flyers
Heldrake	Broken	Expensive, fragile, very little output and very little support
Fire Raptor	Broken	Overpriced and very little support; hobbled by current edition's rule set
Storm Eagle	Broken	Overpriced and very little support; hobbled by current edition's rule set
Xiphon Interceptor	Broken	Overpriced and very little support; hobbled by current edition's rule set
Hell Blade	Unhealthy	Price saves it from being Broken; okay output; lacks support
Hell Talon	Broken	Overpriced and very little support; hobbled by current edition's rule set
Heavy Support
Land Raider	Broken	Over priced and lacks a role
Predator	Broken	Over priced, no support, weak weapons
Vindicator	Broken	Over priced, no support, weak range
Defiler	Broken	Over priced, no support, too big
Forgefiend	Broken	Over priced, no support
Maulerfiend	Broken	Over priced, no support
Mutalith Vortex Beast	Broken	Over priced, hampered by it's own rule restrictions
Land Raider Achilles	Broken	Over priced and lacks a role
Land Raider Proteus	Broken	Over priced and lacks a role
Rapier	Unhealthy	Delicate and tough to protect but unique weapons like the Laser Destroyer have some use; could be cheaper
Sicaran	Broken	Over priced, no support, weak weapons
Vindicator Laser Destroyer	Unhealthy	Effective vs Knights but otherwise dismissed by "Transhuman"
Whirlwind Scorpius	Broken	Over priced, no support, weak weapons
Dedicated Transports
Rhino	Unhealthy	Over priced, no support, out-classed by the meta but cheap enough to see some play
Termite Drill	Unhealthy	Over priced, no support, decent weapons and rules gives it some play
Lords of War
Magnus the Red	Broken	Over priced, no support, weak weapon and delivery options

As you may have noticed I cut off a lot of the other Lord of War options as most of those are simply designed/pointed for fun games and shouldn’t really be factored into the discussion.

Cults

Cult	Psychic Power	Warlord Trait	Relic	Notes
Mutation	Healthy	Healthy	Broken	Has potential but overshadowed by better options
Prophecy	Broken	Unhealthy	Broken	"Fate" system underwhelming vs meta alternative
Time	Healthy	Healthy	Healthy	Sees consistent play competitively
Scheming	Healthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Good units already have obsec and relic is restrictive
Magic	Healthy	Healthy	Broken	Relic is a joke vs ritual costs
Knowledge	Healthy	Unhealthy	Broken	Re-rolling 1s is okay; Relic is too weak
Change	Broken	Unhealthy	Broken	Power has limited uses; Relic is too restrictive
Duplicity	Healthy	Healthy	Healthy	Still the king
Manipulation	Unhealthy	Healthy	Healthy	Sneaky good trait and relic but power holds them back

While I’m sure you have your own opinions on these I’m sure that for the most part we’re close. The winners, for now, are still Time and Duplicity. These two just offer the better package for the army when playing within the competitive mission set.

Stratagems

Stratagem	Rating	Notes
Fated Mutation	Healthy	If you use Chaos Spawns, you know how good this is
Ensorcelled Infusion	Healthy
Unwavering Phallanx	Healthy
Wrath of the Wronged	Healthy
Infernal Fusilade	Healthy	Not seeing use currently due to meta
Ensorcelled Infusion	Healthy
Inhuman Savagery	Healthy	Good stratagem for a bad unit
Vengeance for Prospero	Healthy	Magnus did nothing wrong
Great Sorcerer	Healthy
Malignant Pact	Healthy	Good combo with Rites upgrade on Terminators
Unholy Susurrus	Healthy
Biomechanical Mutation	Unhealthy	Too limiting for what you get
Metaphysical Focus	Healthy
Psychic Dominion	Healthy
Malevolent Machine Spirit	Broken	Expensive; limited options; doesn't "act at full"
Masters of the Immaterium	Healthy
Sorcerous Might	Healthy
Schemes of Change	Healthy
Risen Rubricae	Healthy
Webway Infiltration	Healthy
Implacable Guardians	Healthy
Coruscating Beam	Broken	Expensive; damage is too limited
Vector Strike	Broken	Should just be a built-in ability
Inescapable Forewarning	Healthy
Selfless Automata	Healthy
Empyric Resevoir	Unhealthy	D3 is not enough
Slow and Purposeful	Healthy
Aetheric Saturation	Unhealthy	Should just be a built-in ability
Soulreap	Broken	Too limited to make use of it
Warpflame Gargoyles	Unhealthy	Not enough damage
Arcane Smokescreen	Healthy
Malefic Scroll	Unhealthy	Doesn't scale with larger casts

As you may note I did not rate the “upgrade” or list building stratagems, these generally tend to be pretty common across most codexes.

Psychic Powers

Power	Rating	Notes
Tzeentch's Firestorm	Healthy	The new 9th version is a solid and useful upgrade
Glamour of Tzeentch	Healthy
Doombolt	Healthy
Temporal Manipulation	Unhealthy	Needs a way to scale for larger targets
Weaver of Fates	Healthy	Solid upgrade vs 8th edition
Baleful Devolution	Broken	Needs an option for smaller units
Cacodaemonic Curse	Broken	Very ineffective in almost all situations
Pyric Flux	Healthy
Perplex	Healthy
Gaze of Hate	Healthy
Twist of Fate	Healthy
Dark Blessing	Healthy
Presage	Healthy
Swelled by the Warp	Healthy
Temporal Surge	Unhealthy	Restrictions limiting options in the codex
Psychic Stalk	Broken	Difficult is too high for slaying just 1 model
Desecration of Worlds	Unhealthy	Solid idea but too restrictive to proc wounds

Infernal Pacts

Pact	Rating	Notes
Bladed Maelstrom	Broken	Too restrictive and most targets simply shrug this off
Fires of the Abyss	Unhealthy	Okay power but really needs better scaling since you only get 1/turn
Capering Imps	Unhealthy	Requiring visibility holds this back
Diabolic Servant	Broken	Only works on the infernal master and cabal bonus is pitiful
Glimpse of Eternity	Healthy
Malefic Maelstrom	Healthy

Warlord Traits

Power	Rating	Notes
Arrogance of Aeons	Healthy
Seeker After Shadows	Broken	Actions don't need 3D6 and generating 1 cabal pt is pitiful
Undying Form	Healthy
Lord of Forbidden Lore	Healthy
Otherworldly Presence	Healthy
Aetherstride	Healthy

Secondaries

Secondary	Rating	Notes
Mutate Landscape	Healthy
Burn Empires	Broken	Needs a way to complete faster
Wrath of Magnus	Healthy
Sorcerous Prowess	Unhealthy	Shouldn't be limited to just enemy characters

Relics

Secondary	Rating	Notes
Athaenean Scrolls	Healthy
Conniving Plated	Healthy
Coruscator	Unhealthy	Relatively weak for relic weapons
Egleighen's Orrery	Healthy
Helm of the Daemon's Eye	Broken	Needs to do something else/better than the cabal ritual
Incandaeum	Unhealthy	Weak for a relic weapon
Paradoxical Chatterfowl	Broken	Great ability, too difficult to make use of it
Pentakairic Armour	Broken	Offers no substantial bonus that's needed
Seer's Bane	Healthy
Skaeloch's Talon	Broken	Weak for a relic weapon
Change-Wrought Chalice	Broken	Offers no substantial bonus that's needed
The Chronos Tutorum	Healthy
The Prism of Echos	Healthy
Stave Abominus	Broken	Weak for a relic weapon
Thrydderghyre	Healthy
Umbralaefic Crystal	Healthy
Warpweave Mantle	Healthy

How do we fix it?

Now that I’ve tried to identify all the things in the book that need to be adjusted, let’s shift the focus towards how to fix it. All of us, even myself, are guilty of looking at rules and thinking “it just needs this change and everything is fine” - when we all know it’s never that easy. I’m the first to admit that many of the changes I’ve going to offer in here are geared towards trying to address each and every problem as it exists. My expectation would never be that all of these changes get adopted all at once. My goal is to help foster ideas and focus them on the elements of the book at that need them.

That being said, I’m trying to keep these suggestions as realistic as I can. To me, this means certain updates/changes are not possible, such as:

Complete Ability Overhauls
Adding abilities to profiles
Making up new abilities/functions

With that, let’s jump into the log of changes that I’d like to see fix these issues.

Thousand Sons Future Errata

Page 47 - Arcane Focus
Change the last sentence to read
‘Until the end of the phase, each time you would use a Cabbalistic Ritual on this unit, it costs D3 fewer Cabal points (to a minimum of 1).’

Page 49 - Attempted Possession
Change the first bullet point to read:
‘The unit suffers D3 mortal wounds’

Page 53 - Empyric Reservoir
Change the last sentence to read
‘If that model generates Cabal points, generate D3+3 additional Cabal points’

Page 53 - Soulreap
Change the ability to read:
‘Each time an attack is made with this weapon against a unit that contains 6 or more models, make 2 additional hit rolls instead of 1’

Page 53 - Malefic Scroll
Change the last sentence to read:
‘That manifestation inflicts 3 mortal wounds instead of D3 or 6 mortal wounds instead of D6 (no dice roll is made).’

Page 54 - Seeker After Shadows
Change the second bullet point to read:
‘If your army is a Cabal of Sorcerers (pg 71), each time you generate Cabal points, if this Warlord is on the battlefield, you generate D3 additional Cabal points.’

Page 55 - Bladed Maelstorm
Change the first bullet point to read:
‘That unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.’
Change the second bullet point to read:
‘Until the start of your next Command phase, halve that unit’s movement and subtract 2 from Advance and Charge rolls made for that unit.’

Page 55 - Fires of the Abyss
Change the ability to read:
‘If this pact is successful, the closest enemy unit within 15” of and visible to this Infernal Master suffers 3 mortal wounds.’

Page 55 - Capering Imps
Change the first sentence to read:
‘If this pact is successful, select one enemy unit within 24” of this Infernal Master.’

Page 55 - Diabolic Savant
Change the first bullet point to read:
‘At the start of your next Psychic phase, if your army is a Cabal of Sorcerers (pg 71), you generate D3 additional Cabal points.’

Page 58 - Baleful Devolution
Change the power to read:
‘Witchfire:Baleful Devolution has a warp charge value of 8. If manifested, select one enemy unit that is not a Character and within 18” and visible to the Psyker. Roll a number of D6 equal to the result of the Psychic Test: for each roll of 6, the enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. If that unit contains 5 or fewer models’, the enemy unit suffers 1 mortal wound instead of D3.’

Page 58 - Cacodaemonic Curse
Change the power to read:
‘Malediction:Cacodaemonic Curse has a warp charge value of 8. If manifested, select one enemy unit within 18” of this Psyker. Until the start of your next Psychic phase, whenever that unit makes an attack, an unmodified wound roll of 1-3 always fail, irrespective of any abilities that the weapon or the model making the attack may have.’

Page 59 - Temporal Surge
Change the power to read:
‘Blessing:Temporal Surge has a warp charge value of 8. If manifested, select one friendly THousand Sons Infantry, Thousand Sons Calvary, Thousand Sons Beasts, or Thousand Sons Monster unit within 6” of the Psyker. That unit can make a Normal Move.’

Page 84 - Warp Vortex
Change the ability to read:
‘Warp Vortex: In your Shooting phase, this model can use a number of Vortex Powers as specified in its characteristics table above. Each time this model does so, select one of the powers below that has not yet been manifested by this model this turn and resolve its effects’

Balance Dataslate

Add the Core keyword to the Keywords section of the following datasheets:

Predator Annihilator
Predator Destructor
Mutalith Vortex Beast
Chaos Vindicator
Chaos Land Raider
Chaos Rhino

Magnus the Red

Reduce Wounds to 16

Points Updates

The following section contains only the units that have changes being made to them.

HQ
Sorcerer in Terminator Armour Inferno Combi-melta	95 pts +5 pts
Thousand Sons Daemon Prince Wings Daemonic Axe Hellforged Sword	140 pts +25 pts +10 pts +10 pts
Troops
Tzaangors Brayhorn Herd Banner	6 pts +5 pts +10 pts
Elites
Helbrute Inferno Combi-bolter Multi-melta Twin-Heavy Bolter Heavy Flamer Twin-Lascannon	85 pts +5 pts +5 pts +10 pts +10 pts +20 pts
Tzaangor Shaman	60 pts
Chaos Deredeo Dreadnought Aiolos Missile Launcher Hellfire Plasma Carronade Volkite Falconet Battery	160 pts +10 pts +5 pts +10 pts
Chaos Leviathan Dreadnought Cyclonic Melta Lance Hellforged Hunter-killer Missile Storm Cannon	180 pts +10 pts +5 pts +10 pts
Decimator Soulburner Petard	140 pts +10 pts
Fast Attack
Tzaangor Enlightened	14 pts
Flyers
Heldrake	145 pts
Heavy Support
Chaos Land Raider Inferno Combi-bolter Inferno Combi-flamer Inferno Combi-melta Havoc Launcher	200 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts
Chaos Predator Annihilator Inferno Combi-bolter Inferno Combi-flamer Inferno Combi-melta Havoc Launcher Heavy bolter Lascannon	100 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +15 pts +20 pts
Chaos Predator Destructor Inferno Combi-bolter Inferno Combi-flamer Inferno Combi-melta Havoc Launcher Heavy bolter Lascannon	100 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +15 pts +20 pts
Chaos Vindicator Inferno Combi-bolter Inferno Combi-flamer Inferno Combi-melta Havoc Launcher Vindicator Siege Shield	110 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +10 pts
Defiler Inferno Combi-bolter Inferno Combi-flamer Inferno Combi-melta Twin-Heavy Bolter Twin-Heavy Flamer Twin-Heavy Lascannon Defiler Scourge	145 pts +5 pts +5 pts +5 pts +10 pts +15 pts +20 pts +10 pts
Forgefiend Ectoplasma Cannon Heavy Hades Autocannon	110 pts +10 pts +10 pts
Maulerfiend Lasher Tendrils	125 pts +10 pts
Mutalith Vortex Beast	130 pts
Lord of War
Magnus the Red	400 pts

Weapon Updates

The following represent updated profiles for various ranged and melee weapons

Weapon	Range	Type	S	AP	D	Abilities
Ectoplasma Cannon	36"	Heavy D3	7	-3	4	Blast
Heavy Hades Autocannon	48"	Heavy 4	8	-2	3
Predator Autocannon	48"	Heavy 6	7	-2	3
Divining Spear	Melee	Melee	+1	-2	2
Incaladion's Cry	12"	Pistol D6	6	-3	2	Each time an attack is made with this weapon, this attack automatically hits the target.