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* The Tau's "Fish of Fury" tactic turned two Devilfish transports into a mobile bunker for their Fire Warrior cargo. Enemy fire couldn't target the infantry without going through the hover tanks, but the Tau were at the same time able to fire "under" the very transports that were shielding them. Though firepower-heavy armies could just swat the [=APCs=], melee-oriented forces were unable to hit these floating yet impassible barriers, thus negating the Tau's one great weakness and rendering them assault-proof. The tactic was so abused that many ''Tau players'' would denounce it, and one of the changes to skimmer rules in 5th Edition allowed them to be attacked in close combat.
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* The Tau's "Fish ''Fish of Fury" tactic essentially turned two Devilfish transports into a mobile bunker for their Fire Warrior cargo. Enemy fire couldn't target the infantry without going through the hover tanks, but the Tau were at the same time able to fire "under" the very transports that were shielding them. Though firepower-heavy armies could just swat The size of the [=APCs=], melee-oriented forces were unable to Devilfish combined with charge and skimmer rules at the time[[note]]The size prevented most units from charging around it, while skimmer rules meant only hit these floating yet impassible barriers, rolls of 6 counted[[/note]] also meant it was essentially assault-proof, thus negating the Tau's one great weakness greatest weakness; while armies with heavy guns could try and rendering them assault-proof. punch through the bunker anyway, it would usually be difficult due to Disruption Pods and/or Stealthsuit ambushes on anything attacking the bunker. The tactic was so abused that many ''Tau players'' would denounce it, and one of the changes to skimmer rules in 5th Edition allowed them to be attacked like any other vehicle in close combat.
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Added note about errata to 10e Dev. Wounds
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* While the aforementioned abilities were powerful & deserved to be nerfed, GW eventually realized that the Devastating Wounds rule itself was too powerful to leave unchecked. The ability to ignore saves is already incredibly powerful on its own, but converting all the damage to overflowing mortal wounds was excessive. As the last two entries showed, high damage weapons meant for anti-vehicle or anti-elite roles would suddenly wipe out entire infantry squads, especially if they had ways to guarantee a Critical Wound, so GW bit the bullet & removed the overflowing damage part of Devastating Wounds relatively early in the edition's lifecycle to prevent future codex releases from causing more headaches.
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[[folder: Tenth Edition]]
* One that was spotted almost immediately was the so-called "Deathwatch Devastating Wounds bomb". Deathwatch had a stratagem called Hellfire Rounds, which could grant a target unit Anti-Infantry 2+ and Anti-Monster 5+ on their ranged weapons for a turn, meaning that a Critical Wound was dealt on that particular roll against that specific target. Unfortunately, the standard Deathwatch ranged weapon is the Long Vigil Ranged Weapon, which has the Devastating Wounds ability to turn all damage from a Critical Wound into Devastating Wounds which ignored all saves and, crucially, would spill over onto the rest of the target unit after killing the first model. In combination, the Deathwatch could easily delete infantry units and even threaten monsters via high volume of fire, since a Captain could duplicate this normally once per turn stratagem onto his own unit. This was nerfed almost immediately by forbidding the use of Hellfire Rounds on Devastating Wounds weapons.
* Upon release, the Craftworld Aeldari were ''the'' competitive terror, for good reasons:
** Their army mechanic, Strands of Fate, gave them a number of pre-rolled dice depending on game size which could be substituted in place of almost any roll at the Aeldari player's discretion. Need this attack saved? Fate Dice. Need this shot to hit? Fate Dice? Need this attack to deal six damage? Fate Dice. Initially there were very few restrictions on the use of Fate Dice, you could spend them rapidly on one powerful alpha strike. Even discounting the later parts of this section, this mechanic was so powerful on its own that it was nerfed such that only one Fate Dice could be used ''per phase''.
** The standout example of how ridiculous the Aeldari were was the previously AwesomeButImpractical Wraithknight, in which several broken mechanics collided. It could use the Fate Dice as mentioned to guarantee critical actions at the player's discretion, and it was always taken with the dual Heavy Wraithcannon loadout to outright abuse their Devastating Wounds damage by using one Fate Dice for a guaranteed Devastating Wound, which would then do ''2D6'' damage (which again, could be guaranteed a high roll via Fate Dice). A Wraithknight could effortlessly hoover up whole squads via the Devastating Wounds HerdHittingAttack property on a weapon which was supposed to be anti-tank/monster. As the cherry on top, the Wraithknight could take full advantage of the Towering rule as a Knight-level model, meaning it could effectively see (and shoot!) straight through ruins terrain so long as it could glimpse a model in the target unit, so even the tried and true tactic of being out of sight was of little use. Technically you ''could'' shoot it back, but between -1 damage to anything that hit it, 18 wounds, a 2+ armor save and the ability to use Fate Dice to guarantee saves, anything that survived the Wraithknight's fire likely couldn't do much to scratch it. The Wraithknight would proceed to take three hefty nerfs, firstly the aforementioned Strands of Fate change so that you could no longer use Fate Dice on the same attack's hit and damage rolls, secondly a heavy points increase of 20% among a game-wide increase to the cost of Towering units, and finally a change to Towering that meant the Wraithknight had to be touching a terrain piece to see through it.
** Even putting the Wraithknight aside, D-Cannon Support Platforms were critically undercosted (starting at 40 points per platform) and came with both Devastating Wounds ''and'' Indirect Fire to create many of the same issues as the Wraithknight, deleting whole squads, and unlike the Wraithknight the Support Platform couldn't even be shot back if it was behind terrain. Tellingly their points cost would more than ''triple'' to 125 in the round of blanket Towering/Indirect Fire nerfs.
[[/folder]]
* One that was spotted almost immediately was the so-called "Deathwatch Devastating Wounds bomb". Deathwatch had a stratagem called Hellfire Rounds, which could grant a target unit Anti-Infantry 2+ and Anti-Monster 5+ on their ranged weapons for a turn, meaning that a Critical Wound was dealt on that particular roll against that specific target. Unfortunately, the standard Deathwatch ranged weapon is the Long Vigil Ranged Weapon, which has the Devastating Wounds ability to turn all damage from a Critical Wound into Devastating Wounds which ignored all saves and, crucially, would spill over onto the rest of the target unit after killing the first model. In combination, the Deathwatch could easily delete infantry units and even threaten monsters via high volume of fire, since a Captain could duplicate this normally once per turn stratagem onto his own unit. This was nerfed almost immediately by forbidding the use of Hellfire Rounds on Devastating Wounds weapons.
* Upon release, the Craftworld Aeldari were ''the'' competitive terror, for good reasons:
** Their army mechanic, Strands of Fate, gave them a number of pre-rolled dice depending on game size which could be substituted in place of almost any roll at the Aeldari player's discretion. Need this attack saved? Fate Dice. Need this shot to hit? Fate Dice? Need this attack to deal six damage? Fate Dice. Initially there were very few restrictions on the use of Fate Dice, you could spend them rapidly on one powerful alpha strike. Even discounting the later parts of this section, this mechanic was so powerful on its own that it was nerfed such that only one Fate Dice could be used ''per phase''.
** The standout example of how ridiculous the Aeldari were was the previously AwesomeButImpractical Wraithknight, in which several broken mechanics collided. It could use the Fate Dice as mentioned to guarantee critical actions at the player's discretion, and it was always taken with the dual Heavy Wraithcannon loadout to outright abuse their Devastating Wounds damage by using one Fate Dice for a guaranteed Devastating Wound, which would then do ''2D6'' damage (which again, could be guaranteed a high roll via Fate Dice). A Wraithknight could effortlessly hoover up whole squads via the Devastating Wounds HerdHittingAttack property on a weapon which was supposed to be anti-tank/monster. As the cherry on top, the Wraithknight could take full advantage of the Towering rule as a Knight-level model, meaning it could effectively see (and shoot!) straight through ruins terrain so long as it could glimpse a model in the target unit, so even the tried and true tactic of being out of sight was of little use. Technically you ''could'' shoot it back, but between -1 damage to anything that hit it, 18 wounds, a 2+ armor save and the ability to use Fate Dice to guarantee saves, anything that survived the Wraithknight's fire likely couldn't do much to scratch it. The Wraithknight would proceed to take three hefty nerfs, firstly the aforementioned Strands of Fate change so that you could no longer use Fate Dice on the same attack's hit and damage rolls, secondly a heavy points increase of 20% among a game-wide increase to the cost of Towering units, and finally a change to Towering that meant the Wraithknight had to be touching a terrain piece to see through it.
** Even putting the Wraithknight aside, D-Cannon Support Platforms were critically undercosted (starting at 40 points per platform) and came with both Devastating Wounds ''and'' Indirect Fire to create many of the same issues as the Wraithknight, deleting whole squads, and unlike the Wraithknight the Support Platform couldn't even be shot back if it was behind terrain. Tellingly their points cost would more than ''triple'' to 125 in the round of blanket Towering/Indirect Fire nerfs.
[[/folder]]
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Ironstriders regained CORE a while ago -
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** Serberys Raiders and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Raiders clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and come packing an Assault 2 S4 AP-1 D1 galvanic carbine. While the basebase stats of this weapon aren't incredible on their own, Raiders have the ability to ignore Look Out, Sir! and deal an additional mortal wound on an unmodified 6 to hit. Combined with a 12" pre-game move and a Data-Tether to make them viable targets for buffs from a Skitarii Marshall, they can become terrifying character snipers that can pick off key buffs before the enemy can even react. To cap it off, they have the Tactica Obliqua Strategem, allowing them to move once per round when targeted for a charge, making getting into melee with them (and more importantly, the units they were screening for) virtually impossible. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Serberys Raiders and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Raiders clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and come packing an Assault 2 S4 AP-1 D1 galvanic carbine. While the basebase stats of this weapon aren't incredible on their own, Raiders have the ability to ignore Look Out, Sir! and deal an additional mortal wound on an unmodified 6 to hit. Combined with a 12" pre-game move and a Data-Tether to make them viable targets for buffs from a Skitarii Marshall, they can become terrifying character snipers that can pick off key buffs before the enemy can even react. To cap it off, they have the Tactica Obliqua Strategem, allowing them to move once per round when targeted for a charge, making getting into melee with them (and more importantly, the units they were screening for) virtually impossible. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had gained the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a character's Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.Stratagems.
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* The Pyrovore was broken in a different way due to poor wording. It's a Tyranid artillery unit that explodes when killed, but the rule was expressed in a way that said that instead of every unit in a small radius taking damage, every unit ''on the table'' took damage based on the number of units in said radius. Tyranids specializing in ZergRush tactics, a Pyrovore was certain to have swarms of bodyguard units around it, ensuring that each one was a walking thermonuclear bomb.
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* In an edition that was already being memed on for constant 'Codex Creep', GW one-upped themselves with the return of Squats as the Leagues of Votann. The army's 'Judgement of the Ancestors' rule applies a ''permanent, stacking debuff'' (max 3 stacks) to an enemy unit anytime it destroyed a Votann unit, performed an action, *stood on or near an objective*, or was targeted by any number of Votann Strategems or character/warlord abilities. If '''any''' Votann unit attacked an enemy with this debuff, their attacks would auto-wound on a 6+, with each stack of the debuff lowering the auto-wound threshold (5+ at two stacks, 4+ at three). These auto-wounds were also treated as unmodified 6's. This paired disgustingly well with the army's 'Magna-Rail' weapons (their equivalent of lascannons), which have a rule to cause any excess damage to a model to overflow to the next model in the unit on an unmodified wound roll of 6 as well as innately ignoring invulnerable saves. All of this was capped off by the entire army being almost comically undercosted, the standout being their 230 point Hekaton Land Fortress that, for no cost, could equip a ''Strength 14, AP -4, 2D3+6 Magna-Rail Cannon.'' Players quickly realized that these rules & point costs would result in levels of firepower that the T'au could only dream of, and several groups even considering ''banning the Leagues'' before their codex had even released. GW, perhaps realizing that pushing out yet another army that threatened to invalidate every other one, issued an emergency errata '''less than a week''' after the Votann codex had released, before even a single kit had hit the shelves. This removed the "auto-wounds count as unmodified 6's" part of their 'Judgement of the Ancestors', as well as hitting every unit in the codex with a 15-30% points increase.
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* In an edition that was already being memed on for constant 'Codex Creep', GW one-upped themselves with the return of Squats as the Leagues of Votann. The army's 'Judgement of the Ancestors' rule applies a ''permanent, stacking debuff'' (max 3 stacks) to an enemy unit anytime it destroyed a Votann unit, performed an action, *stood on or near an objective*, or was targeted by any number of Votann Strategems or character/warlord abilities. If '''any''' Votann unit attacked an enemy with this debuff, their attacks would auto-wound on a 6+, with each stack of the debuff lowering the auto-wound threshold (5+ at two stacks, 4+ at three). These auto-wounds were also treated as unmodified 6's. This paired disgustingly well with the army's 'Magna-Rail' weapons (their equivalent of lascannons), which have a rule to cause any excess damage to a model to overflow to the next model in the unit on an unmodified wound roll of 6 as well as innately ignoring invulnerable saves. All of this was capped off by the entire army being almost comically undercosted, the standout being their 230 point Hekaton Land Fortress that, for no cost, could equip a ''Strength 14, AP -4, 2D3+6 Magna-Rail Cannon.'' Players quickly realized that these rules & point costs would result in levels of firepower that the T'au could only dream of, and several groups even considering ''banning the Leagues'' before their codex had even released. GW, perhaps realizing that pushing out yet another army that threatened to invalidate every other one, one might just break the playerbase in half, issued an emergency errata '''less than a week''' after the Votann codex had released, before even a single kit had hit the shelves. This removed the "auto-wounds count as unmodified 6's" part of their 'Judgement of the Ancestors', as well as hitting every unit in the codex with a 15-30% points increase.
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* In an edition that was already being memed on for constant 'Codex Creep', GW one-upped themselves with the return of Squats as the Leagues of Votann. The army's 'Judgement of the Ancestors' rule applies a ''permanent, stacking debuff'' (max 3 stacks) to an enemy unit anytime it destroyed a Votann unit, performed an action, *stood on or near an objective*, or was targeted by any number of Votann Strategems or character/warlord abilities. If '''any''' Votann unit attacked an enemy with this debuff, their attacks would auto-wound on a 6+, with each stack of the debuff lowering the auto-wound threshold (5+ at two stacks, 4+ at three). These auto-wounds were also treated as unmodified 6's. This paired disgustingly well with the army's 'Magna-Rail' weapons (their equivalent of lascannons), which have a rule to cause any excess damage to a model to overflow to the next model in the unit on an unmodified wound roll of 6 as well as innately ignoring invulnerable saves. All of this was capped off by the entire army being almost comically undercosted, the standout being their 230 point Hekaton Land Fortress that, for no cost, could equip a ''Strength 14, AP -4, 2D3+6 Magna-Rail Cannon.'' Players quickly realized that these rules & point costs would result in levels of firepower that the T'au could only dream of, and several groups even considering ''banning the Leagues'' before their codex had even released. GW, perhaps realizing that pushing out yet another army that threatened to invalidate every other one, issued an emergency errata '''less than a week''' after the Votann codex had released, before even a single kit had hit the shelves. This removed the "auto-wounds count as unmodified 6's" part of their 'Judgement of the Ancestors', as well as hitting every unit in the codex with a 15-30% points increase.
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** Serberys Raiders and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Raiders clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and come packing an Assault 2 S4 AP-1 D1 galvanic carbine. While the basebase stats of this weapon aren't incredible on their own, Raiders have the ability to ignore Look Out, Sir! and deal an additional mortal wound on an unmodified 6 to hit. Combined with a 12" pre-game move and a Data-Tether to make them viable targets for buffs from a Skitarii Marshall, they can become terrifying character snipers that can pick off key buffs before the enemy can even react. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Serberys Raiders and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Raiders clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and come packing an Assault 2 S4 AP-1 D1 galvanic carbine. While the basebase stats of this weapon aren't incredible on their own, Raiders have the ability to ignore Look Out, Sir! and deal an additional mortal wound on an unmodified 6 to hit. Combined with a 12" pre-game move and a Data-Tether to make them viable targets for buffs from a Skitarii Marshall, they can become terrifying character snipers that can pick off key buffs before the enemy can even react. To cap it off, they have the Tactica Obliqua Strategem, allowing them to move once per round when targeted for a charge, making getting into melee with them (and more importantly, the units they were screening for) virtually impossible. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Serberys Sulphurhounds and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Sulphurhounds clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and can chew through infantry with a pair of D3 Blast S5 AP-1 D1 pistols and a D6 S4 AP-2 D1 flamer per model (in a unit of up to 8 models). They also have an ability to treat both weapons as Assault weapons after Advancing, allowing them to cover an insane distance on Turn 1 and start mowing down the enemy's frontlines. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Serberys Sulphurhounds Raiders and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Sulphurhounds Raiders clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and can chew through infantry with a pair of D3 Blast S5 come packing an Assault 2 S4 AP-1 D1 pistols and a D6 S4 AP-2 D1 flamer per model (in a unit galvanic carbine. While the basebase stats of up to 8 models). They also this weapon aren't incredible on their own, Raiders have an the ability to treat both weapons as Assault weapons after Advancing, allowing ignore Look Out, Sir! and deal an additional mortal wound on an unmodified 6 to hit. Combined with a 12" pre-game move and a Data-Tether to make them to cover an insane distance on Turn 1 and start mowing down viable targets for buffs from a Skitarii Marshall, they can become terrifying character snipers that can pick off key buffs before the enemy's frontlines.enemy can even react. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards had their unit sizes bumped up to be able to contain up to 20 models per unit, on top of their already decent primary guns receiving buffs. Their combination of keywords also makes them a viable target for just about every non-vehicle buff the faction could apply to a unit, allowing them to become disgustingly tanky. The right combinations of buffs could have a unit of Skitarii marching up to an objective with Move/Advance & Shoot (Metalica) or teleporting straight onto it (Ryza), A 5+ Feel No Pain or Light Cover from a Tech-Priest along with being able to ignore AP -1 and AP -2 from the Holy Order of the Logi, a +1 to their Ballistics skill or Armor Save from a Skitarii Marshall on the other side of the table thanks to a Data-Tether giving their buffs infinite range, and then finally being upgraded to become a Veteran Cohort to give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Stopping a blob of Skitarii from reaching their objective, let alone getting them off it, requires almost comical amounts of focused gunfire, all the while dealing with the 40-60 shots each unit is putting out while ignoring light cover thanks to an Omnispex. And then you have to factor in that most armies will be running 3-5 units of them...
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** Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards had their unit sizes bumped up to be able to contain up to 20 models per unit, on top of their already decent primary guns receiving buffs. Their combination of keywords also makes them a viable target for just about every non-vehicle buff the faction could apply to a unit, allowing them to become disgustingly tanky. The right combinations of buffs could have a unit of Skitarii marching up to an objective with Move/Advance & Shoot (Metalica) or teleporting straight onto it (Ryza), A 5+ Feel No Pain or Light Cover from a Tech-Priest along with being able the ability to ignore AP -1 and AP -2 from a Tech-Priest in the Holy Order of the Logi, a +1 to their Ballistics skill or Armor Save from a Skitarii Marshall on the other side of the table thanks to a Data-Tether giving their buffs infinite range, and then finally being upgraded to become a Veteran Cohort to give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Stopping a blob of Skitarii from reaching their objective, let alone getting them off it, requires almost comical amounts of focused gunfire, all the while dealing with the 40-60 shots each unit is putting out while ignoring light cover thanks to an Omnispex. And then you have to factor in that most armies will be running 3-5 units of them...
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** Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards had their unit sizes bumped up to be able to contain up to 20 models per unit, on top of their already decent primary guns receiving buffs. Their combination of keywords also makes them a viable target for just about every non-vehicle buff the faction could apply to a unit, allowing them to become disgustingly tanky. The right combinations of buffs could have a unit of Skitarii marching up to an objective with Move/Advance & Shoot (Metalica) or teleporting straight onto it (Ryza), A 5+ Feel No Pain or Light Cover from a Tech-Priest along with being able to ignore AP -1 and AP -2 from the Holy Order of the Logi, a +1 to their Ballistics skill or Armor Save from a Skitarii Marshall on the other side of the table thanks to a Data-Tether giving their buffs infinite range, and then finally being upgraded to become a Veteran Cohort to give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Stopping a blob of Skitarii from reaching their objective, let alone getting them off it, requires almost comical amounts of focused gunfire, all the while dealing with the 40-60 shots each unit is putting out while ignoring light cover thanks to an Omnispex.
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** Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards had their unit sizes bumped up to be able to contain up to 20 models per unit, on top of their already decent primary guns receiving buffs. Their combination of keywords also makes them a viable target for just about every non-vehicle buff the faction could apply to a unit, allowing them to become disgustingly tanky. The right combinations of buffs could have a unit of Skitarii marching up to an objective with Move/Advance & Shoot (Metalica) or teleporting straight onto it (Ryza), A 5+ Feel No Pain or Light Cover from a Tech-Priest along with being able to ignore AP -1 and AP -2 from the Holy Order of the Logi, a +1 to their Ballistics skill or Armor Save from a Skitarii Marshall on the other side of the table thanks to a Data-Tether giving their buffs infinite range, and then finally being upgraded to become a Veteran Cohort to give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Stopping a blob of Skitarii from reaching their objective, let alone getting them off it, requires almost comical amounts of focused gunfire, all the while dealing with the 40-60 shots each unit is putting out while ignoring light cover thanks to an Omnispex. And then you have to factor in that most armies will be running 3-5 units of them...
** Serberys Sulphurhounds and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Sulphurhounds clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and can chew through infantry with a pair of D3 Blast S5 AP-1 D1 pistols and a D6 S4 AP-2 D1 flamer per model (in a unit of up to 8 models). They also have an ability to treat both weapons as Assault weapons after Advancing, allowing them to cover an insane distance on Turn 1 and start mowing down the enemy's frontlines. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
** Serberys Sulphurhounds and Ironstrider Ballistarii, the faction's premier Fast Attack units, are terrifyingly efficient gun platforms for how little they cost. Sulphurhounds clock in at a mere 20 points per model[[note]]before a November 2021 Dataslate bumped up their points, they were even cheaper at 16 points per model[[/note]] and can chew through infantry with a pair of D3 Blast S5 AP-1 D1 pistols and a D6 S4 AP-2 D1 flamer per model (in a unit of up to 8 models). They also have an ability to treat both weapons as Assault weapons after Advancing, allowing them to cover an insane distance on Turn 1 and start mowing down the enemy's frontlines. Ironstriders, meanwhile, come packing an Assault 2 S9 AP-3 D3+3 damage lascannon at the low price of 85 points per model[[note]]Prior to the November 2021 Dataslate, this combination was only 75 points per model[[/note]] while being able to pack up to 6 in a unit, giving them the perfect statline to chew through both elite infantry and vehicles alike. Prior to an errata, Ironstriders also had the coveted '''CORE''' keyword, allowing them to be buffed by a Tech-Priest's Holy Orders, a Warlord Trait, and various Strategems.
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** Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards had their unit sizes bumped up to be able to contain up to 20 models per unit, on top of their already decent primary guns receiving buffs. Their combination of keywords also makes them a viable target for just about every non-vehicle buff the faction could apply to a unit, allowing them to become disgustingly tanky. The right combinations of buffs could have a unit of Skitarii marching up to an objective with Move/Advance & Shoot (Metalica) or teleporting straight onto it (Ryza), A 5+ Feel No Pain or Light Cover from a Tech-Priest along with being able to ignore AP -1 and AP -2 from the Holy Order of the Logi, a +1 to their Ballistics skill or Armor Save from a Skitarii Marshall on the other side of the table thanks to a Data-Tether giving their buffs infinite range, and then finally being upgraded to become a Veteran Cohort to give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Stopping a blob of Skitarii from reaching their objective, let alone getting them off it, requires almost comical amounts of focused gunfire, all the while dealing with the 40-60 shots each unit is putting out while ignoring light cover thanks to an Omnispex.
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* The new Adeptus Mechanicus codex reworked a large number of units and how the factions buffs could be applied, mainly to break up the infamous 'Wall of Cawl' strategy from Eighth. The end result took the army away from the defensive castle gunline army... and instead turned them into a nearly unshiftable gunline horde army.
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* Primaris Aggressors have a rule where if they remain stationary, they can shoot twice. A full squad of six with Auto-Boltstorm Gauntlets and Fragstorm Grenade Launchers can get anywhere between 84 and ''144'' shots in a single round of shooting (and that's before factoring in such things as Imperial Fist Bolter Drill, which allows for even more shots), which combined with rerolls provided by a captain/lieutenant combo can delete entire hordes of infantry and even badly damage vehicles in one volley. Moreover, Aggressors are relatively cheap, so one could in theory bring three full squads to bear against the enemy. ''252-432'' shots with rerolls will kill pretty much anything that stands in front of it, no matter how big or nasty it may be. Aggressors lost this and their ability to advance and fire their weapons without penalty in the transition to 9th, making them a much less viable pick for the Space Marines.
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* The build created by [[ImageBoards /tg/]], lovingly named "Chapter Master Smashfucker". Which, completely legally, creates a monstrously hard to kill juggernaut of death using the Iron Hands Chapter Tactics. It is catalogued [[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Chapter_Master_Smashfucker here]], but can be summed up as "How to take the rules for Space Marines and break them six ways to Sunday, legally, and in a way that creates an unstoppable monster."
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* The build created by [[ImageBoards [[Website/FourChan /tg/]], lovingly named "Chapter Master Smashfucker". Which, completely legally, creates a monstrously hard to kill juggernaut of death using the Iron Hands Chapter Tactics. It is catalogued [[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Chapter_Master_Smashfucker here]], but can be summed up as "How to take the rules for Space Marines and break them six ways to Sunday, legally, and in a way that creates an unstoppable monster."
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[[folder:Ninth Edition]]
* With the release of the Drukhari Codex comes a few broken combinations stemming from unintentional rule interactions that have been sweeping tournaments with a ''70%'' win rate:
** Razorflail Succubus with certain combinations from the ''Book of Rust'' creates an unstoppable whirlwind of death from stacking Attacks on a single character. She starts out with 6, Adrenalight adds one (7), the Hyperstimm Backlash Strategem adds another (8) and Razorflails allows two hit rolls for each attack instead of one (effectively doubling, 16A). Then you add the Competitive Edge WT, which means every attack that ''does not'' wound inflicts another attack... which hits twice, thanks to the Razorflails. Throw in the Art of the Kill strategem to reroll wounds, and you have a ''nasty'' piece of work that can inflict up to ''42'' S4 AP-1 D2 attacks with to-wound rerolls.
** Dark Technomancers obsession on Wracks with Liquifier guns are some of the most damaging shooting pieces in the game (especially when loaded into Raiders to enhance their threat range). D6 auto-hits with AP-2 with +1 to wound and Damage, with no downside - Dark Technomancers normally inflicts one Mortal Wound on the unit if they roll a natural hit roll of 1, but because they are technically flamer-equivalents and they automatically hit... Yeah.
[[/folder]]
* With the release of the Drukhari Codex comes a few broken combinations stemming from unintentional rule interactions that have been sweeping tournaments with a ''70%'' win rate:
** Razorflail Succubus with certain combinations from the ''Book of Rust'' creates an unstoppable whirlwind of death from stacking Attacks on a single character. She starts out with 6, Adrenalight adds one (7), the Hyperstimm Backlash Strategem adds another (8) and Razorflails allows two hit rolls for each attack instead of one (effectively doubling, 16A). Then you add the Competitive Edge WT, which means every attack that ''does not'' wound inflicts another attack... which hits twice, thanks to the Razorflails. Throw in the Art of the Kill strategem to reroll wounds, and you have a ''nasty'' piece of work that can inflict up to ''42'' S4 AP-1 D2 attacks with to-wound rerolls.
** Dark Technomancers obsession on Wracks with Liquifier guns are some of the most damaging shooting pieces in the game (especially when loaded into Raiders to enhance their threat range). D6 auto-hits with AP-2 with +1 to wound and Damage, with no downside - Dark Technomancers normally inflicts one Mortal Wound on the unit if they roll a natural hit roll of 1, but because they are technically flamer-equivalents and they automatically hit... Yeah.
[[/folder]]
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These were placed on Warhammer, not Warhammer 40,000.
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[[folder:Black Crusade]]
* In ''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'', players can start the game with items of certain rarity (each item has a rarity modified by craftmanship rating and quantity).You can abuse the system to for example start with 1 000 000 poorly trained slaves carrying shitty lasguns. The true gamebreaker comes from the fact that the Heretek class could start the game with 100 of the "mechanicus assimilation" cybernetic upgrades (Hereteks count the upgrade as being more common than other classes, so it only works for them). Said upgrade gives you the "machine" trait, or if you already have it, +1 to the trait and nowhere does it state that there is an upper limit on how many times you can take it. Each level of machine gives you +1 armour, so you can start the game with 100 armour. For comparison, SpaceMarine PoweredArmour has 8 armour (10 on the chestplate if it has the reinforced armour subsystem).
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[[folder:Deathwatch]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'', you have the Devastator (sometimes known as the Cheesetator) with a Heavy Bolter. Average BS of 50-60 means it hits with about 4-5 shots per turn. That means it rolls 15d10 in damage, and a single 10 on any of those means that it does the 'weapon's entire profile again'. Did I mention that a single average hit is ~23 damage, enough to reduce the average full-health human character to near crits? And that's not even going into the Techmarine, which can take the Breaching Auger very early. Said Auger does 4d10+3 damage. Factoring in a Marine's Strength Bonus, that's 4d10+13. ''It can be dual-wielded'', and has rules so it can NoSell armour (Pen 7 + Power Field, which means a 75% chance of destroying any weapon without a power field as well used to parry it). It rolls five dice (with Tearing), with a reroll for two damage dice, and ''any'' result of a 10 means it does its entire profile again. With this thing, a Techmarine can and will turn anything in front of him into fondue in a turn or two.
[[/folder]]
* In ''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'', players can start the game with items of certain rarity (each item has a rarity modified by craftmanship rating and quantity).You can abuse the system to for example start with 1 000 000 poorly trained slaves carrying shitty lasguns. The true gamebreaker comes from the fact that the Heretek class could start the game with 100 of the "mechanicus assimilation" cybernetic upgrades (Hereteks count the upgrade as being more common than other classes, so it only works for them). Said upgrade gives you the "machine" trait, or if you already have it, +1 to the trait and nowhere does it state that there is an upper limit on how many times you can take it. Each level of machine gives you +1 armour, so you can start the game with 100 armour. For comparison, SpaceMarine PoweredArmour has 8 armour (10 on the chestplate if it has the reinforced armour subsystem).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Deathwatch]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'', you have the Devastator (sometimes known as the Cheesetator) with a Heavy Bolter. Average BS of 50-60 means it hits with about 4-5 shots per turn. That means it rolls 15d10 in damage, and a single 10 on any of those means that it does the 'weapon's entire profile again'. Did I mention that a single average hit is ~23 damage, enough to reduce the average full-health human character to near crits? And that's not even going into the Techmarine, which can take the Breaching Auger very early. Said Auger does 4d10+3 damage. Factoring in a Marine's Strength Bonus, that's 4d10+13. ''It can be dual-wielded'', and has rules so it can NoSell armour (Pen 7 + Power Field, which means a 75% chance of destroying any weapon without a power field as well used to parry it). It rolls five dice (with Tearing), with a reroll for two damage dice, and ''any'' result of a 10 means it does its entire profile again. With this thing, a Techmarine can and will turn anything in front of him into fondue in a turn or two.
[[/folder]]
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* Consolidation into combat was one of the major reasons why expensive melee units were extremely powerful. The most notable of these was anyone outfitted with Jump Packs, Lightning Claws, and as many upgrades to boost their attacks. On something like a Space Marine Commander or a Chaos Lord, this lone model could rush across the board, tear up a unit in close combat, then use it's "Sweeping Advance" move to jump into another unit. This way it avoided enemy shooting retaliation, forcing gunline armies to either run the hell away and leave the lone unit to die, or try to counter-charge the character to take him out. It wouldn't be uncommon to see a 200-300 point character completely tabling 1000 points of troops in just 3 game turns (which resulted in 6 rounds of actual combat, as he could wipe out a whole unit each player turn).
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* Consolidation into combat was one of the major reasons why expensive melee units were extremely powerful. The most notable of these was anyone outfitted with Jump Packs, Lightning Claws, and as many upgrades to boost their attacks. On something like a Space Marine Commander or a Chaos Lord, this lone model could rush across the board, tear up a unit in close combat, then use it's its "Sweeping Advance" move to jump into another unit. This way it avoided enemy shooting retaliation, forcing gunline armies to either run the hell away and leave the lone unit to die, or try to counter-charge the character to take him out. It wouldn't be uncommon to see a 200-300 point character completely tabling 1000 points of troops in just 3 game turns (which resulted in 6 rounds of actual combat, as he could wipe out a whole unit each player turn).
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** The Emperor-class battle titan is definitely up there in the "most broken unit" competition. This thing has such a ridiculous number of shields and hull points, it is borderline unkillable. It carries a frankly ridiculous number of stupidly powerful guns. Even as the game's most expensive unit, clocking in at a jaw-dropping 4000 points, it is woefully underpriced. The standard advice for facing one is "give up". Or bust for 4000 points worth of flyers and hope your opponent forgot to stock up on mega-bolers.
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** The Emperor-class battle titan is definitely up there in the "most broken unit" competition. This thing has such a ridiculous number of shields and hull points, it is borderline unkillable. It carries a frankly ridiculous number of stupidly powerful guns. Even as the game's most expensive unit, clocking in at a jaw-dropping 4000 points, it is woefully underpriced. The standard advice for facing one is "give up". Or bust for 4000 points points' worth of flyers and hope your opponent forgot to stock up on mega-bolers.
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* ''Rogue Trader'', the first edition of ''Warhammer 40000'', wasn't meant to be a competitive tournament game, but more like a skirmish game with RPG elements. So it's not really surprising that it was possible to create hideously unbalanced units. Perhaps the most notorious example is a squad of [[CannonFodder Imperial Guardsmen]] armed with grenade launchers firing [[SphereOfDestruction Vortex Grenades]]. Sure, the grenades were expensive, but that one squad could basically lay down a set of ten templates that would instantly destroy any enemy they touched. To make it worse, in the first edition a squad was allowed to split its fire between several targets...
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* ''Rogue Trader'', the first edition of ''Warhammer 40000'', wasn't meant to be a competitive tournament game, but more like a skirmish game with RPG elements. So it's not really surprising that it was possible to create hideously unbalanced units. Perhaps the most notorious example is a squad of [[CannonFodder Imperial Guardsmen]] armed with grenade launchers firing [[SphereOfDestruction Vortex Grenades]]. Sure, the grenades were expensive, but that one squad could basically lay down a set of ten templates that would instantly destroy any enemy they touched. To make it worse, in the first edition a squad was allowed to split its fire between several targets...targets (this wouldn't be a thing again until 8th Edition save special rules)...
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* The vehicle design rules were a rather creative idea put forward in White Dwarf and later codified in the Chapter Approved books that allowed players to design their own vehicles and come up with points/rules for them. As can be expected for something with such a large degree of customization, balance was all over the place. Some options were prohibitively expensive (creating codex vehicles using the VDR formula often resulted in the same vehicle costing 50-100 extra points), while others (particularly in combination) were dramatically underpriced. [[TheMunchkin Certain players]] delighted in coming up with homebrewed vehicles that snapped any pretense of balance in half. The only saving grace is that the rules were considered optional, meaning another player could simply refuse to play against an army that abused the rules.
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* The vehicle design rules were a rather creative idea put forward that began in White Dwarf magazine and was later codified in the Chapter Approved books that allowed players to design their own vehicles and come up with points/rules for them. As can be expected for something with such books. With a large degree of customization, customization balance was all over the place. Some place as some options were prohibitively expensive (creating codex vehicles using the VDR formula often resulted in the same vehicle costing 50-100 extra points), while others (particularly in combination) were dramatically underpriced. [[TheMunchkin Certain players]] delighted in coming up with homebrewed vehicles that snapped any pretense of balance in half. The only saving grace is that the Vehicles made from these rules were considered optional, meaning another player could simply refuse to play against an army that abused never in widespread usage, were completely optional in any case and the rules.idea of customised vehicles was quietly dropped not long after they were introduced.
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* The Imperial Armoured Company list had Leman Russ battle tanks, some of the toughest tanks in the game, or artillery platforms, for every slot in the army. The list was so powerful that it had to include special rules like "Lucky Glancing Hit" to allow enemy infantry a slim chance to stun or shake all these vehicles with weapons that normally would be incapable of penetrating a Leman Russ' armor. The list later reappeared as the Armoured Battlegroup list in Forge World's ''Imperial Armour''.
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* The Imperial Armoured Company list had Leman Russ battle tanks, some of the toughest tanks in the game, or artillery platforms, for every slot in the army. The It was never intended to be a "serious" playable list as it could never be properly balanced. It was so powerful that it had to include special rules like needed a "Lucky Glancing Hit" rule to allow enemy infantry a slim chance to stun or shake all these vehicles with weapons that normally would be incapable of penetrating a Leman Russ' armor.damaging tanks. The list later reappeared as the Armoured Battlegroup list in Forge World's ''Imperial Armour''.
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* Similarly to the above, and created in the same place, is "Chapter Master Slamguinius", which came about using 8th edition's rules for the Blood Angels; a 124 point accept-no-substitutes HQ-and-below murderer that can't be overwatched and naturally re-rolled charges, and 6 attacks per turn at bare minimum.
* Finally, the truly cheesy MURDERWINGS from 7th Edition, Slamguinius' ancestor. He is a Raven Guard chapter master who, with the right relic weapons (Specifically '''Swiftstrike and Murder''') and the Special ability '''Flurry of Blows''' to get him up to potentially more attacks as an Eversor Assassin or ''beyond''[[note]]The idea is that Swiftstrike and Murder give a beastly six attacks on a charge to the Chapter master, and the special ability '''Flurry of Blows''' allows him to roll another attack for every hit he does in melee, which, if you roll REALLY, REALLY well, could get you up to ''12 attacks in a single turn''[[/note]]. 8th Edition robbed him of much of his power, but now can be made in several different ways thanks to changes to other codices that give him the possibility to become SNEAKYWINGS, SLASHYWINGS, or FISTYWINGS, using Raven Guard, Iron Hands, or Crimson Fist rules respectively.
* Finally, the truly cheesy MURDERWINGS from 7th Edition, Slamguinius' ancestor. He is a Raven Guard chapter master who, with the right relic weapons (Specifically '''Swiftstrike and Murder''') and the Special ability '''Flurry of Blows''' to get him up to potentially more attacks as an Eversor Assassin or ''beyond''[[note]]The idea is that Swiftstrike and Murder give a beastly six attacks on a charge to the Chapter master, and the special ability '''Flurry of Blows''' allows him to roll another attack for every hit he does in melee, which, if you roll REALLY, REALLY well, could get you up to ''12 attacks in a single turn''[[/note]]. 8th Edition robbed him of much of his power, but now can be made in several different ways thanks to changes to other codices that give him the possibility to become SNEAKYWINGS, SLASHYWINGS, or FISTYWINGS, using Raven Guard, Iron Hands, or Crimson Fist rules respectively.
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** The specific detachment of three Guard squads and two junior officers is such an efficient source of (otherwise rare) command points that for a while it was included in every Imperial list.
