AdeptiCon 2026 Champs Top 8 Lists Reveal the New 40k Meta

The Milwaukee tables closed. The results are in. Here's what the AdeptiCon 2026 Championship's top 8 army lists tell you about where the 40k meta sits right now and what you need to know before your next event.

1. Conan Jennings' Ultramarines (1st Place)

Back-to-back AdeptiCon wins for Conan Jennings, this time running a Blades of Ultramar variant rather than straight Gladius, which gave his already-punishing shooting list an even more devastating edge. The core is familiar: Roboute Guilliman as the central anchor, Uriel Ventris, a pair of Repulsor Executioners, Ballistus Dreadnoughts for mid-range fire saturation, six Victrix Honour Guard for close-range punch, and the much-discussed Wardens of Ultramar. Blades of Ultramar is essentially an evolved Gladius, combining lethal long-range output with melee threat in a way that puts opponents in constant lose-lose positioning.

2. Brian Daugherty's Chaos Space Marines (2nd Place)

Daugherty piloted a CSM list built around punchy shooting and tough board-holding units, pushing all the way to the grand final before Jennings closed it out. His approach traded the kind of psychic pressure or high-mobility tricks some CSM players lean on in favor of attrition: force the opponent to trade inefficiently into durable threats, grind the middle of the board, and let tough scoring units do the rest. The semi-final win over Folger Pyles confirmed this build can handle even the most unexpected match-ups.

3. Jordan Nach's Necrons (3rd Place)

Jordan Nach's Necron list exploited the faction's two signature strengths: resilience and scoring cushion. With Necrons posting high representation at AdeptiCon (28 registered players), Nach's top-4 run validates the broader community expectation that the faction's C'tan-anchored builds and relentless objective-holding capacity make them a near-permanent top-table threat. Where other armies need to kill efficiently to win, Nach's list could absorb punishment, stay on objectives, and bank points while the opponent ran out of answers.

4. Folger Pyles' Imperial Agents (4th Place / Semi-Finalist)

This is the storyline of the entire event. Folger Pyles, a former 40k World Champion and ITC winner, took Imperial Agents, widely considered the worst faction in the game, on a dare from his Team USA teammates. Of the 375 registered players at AdeptiCon 2026, only three dared bring Imperial Agents. Pyles not only survived the bracket but reached the semi-finals before falling to Brian Daugherty's CSM. It's a finish that will be talked about for years, proof that elite player skill can drag even the most underserved codex to the last four of the biggest event in North America.

5. Roboute Guilliman remains the most impactful single model in competitive play

Every Ultramarines build that has contended at major events since 10th Edition launched has Guilliman as its engine, and AdeptiCon 2026 reinforces why. His ability to re-roll hits and wounds keeps the army's shooting output consistent even when dice variance starts to bite, and his combat profile is credible enough to deter deep charges. For any Space Marines player looking to move into competitive play, the calculus hasn't changed: Guilliman is the premium table-anchor the faction is built around.

6. The Q1 2026 March Dataslate reshaped every list in the top 8

The March balance dataslate and points adjustments landed before AdeptiCon, and the top 8 shows how quickly elite players adapt. Astra Militarum lists, which had dominated large events through much of early 2026, lost ground after the re-roll Wound rolls change on objectives and the Rogal Dorn points increase, dropping them from the top tables. Space Marines and Necrons, meantime, sat in the sweet spot the dataslate carved out: strong enough to still win games, not so dominant that they drew the heaviest nerfs. Reading the top 8 without factoring in those March changes misses half the picture.

7. Cheap wound-absorbing screening units changed how top-8 games were decided

One of the most consistent tactical threads through the top 8 is the use of inexpensive units to create a wound-absorbing frontline that forces opponents into poor trade decisions. Jennings' Wardens of Ultramar are the clearest example: a large pile of wounds that soaks fire, protects more expensive pieces, and makes opponents burn resources on the wrong targets. The practical lesson for competitive players is that list-building at this level is as much about protecting your key units as about fielding them.

8. Space Marines, Necrons, and Chaos Space Marines define the current competitive ceiling

The registration numbers told the story before the first dice rolled: Space Marines led the AdeptiCon 2026 field with 30 registered players, Necrons followed with 28, and Chaos Space Marines brought 26. The top 8 results confirmed what that faction spread implied. Until a major dataslate or new edition shifts the landscape, these three factions represent the current meta ceiling for competitive 40k, with other factions viable in the hands of elite players but facing a meaningful uphill climb at events of this size. With 11th Edition announced at the very same AdeptiCon weekend, the community is watching whether the current meta's top three retain their grip or get leveled by whatever comes next.