Goonhammer Names Q1 2026 Dataslate Winners and Losers, Predicts Meta Shifts

Goonhammer’s multi-author roundtable — MildNorman, Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones, Andrew Corban, Jeremy “Curie” Atkinson, TwoHorse and several others — published a faction-by-faction review of the Q1 2026 Balance Dataslate and identified a long list of winners where expected nerfs did not arrive. The coverage sits inside the site’s March 3, 2026 Games Industry News Roundup and is broken into separate pages for Imperium Factions, Space Marines, Chaos Factions, and Xenos Factions.

The roundtable singled out Chaos variants for particular attention, noting sustained overperformance without correction. “Chaos coat are winners. They are overperforming literally they overperformed for the last 3 to 5 months actually maybe even six and saw no nerfs. So, they're loving life,” the panel observed, and contrasted that with the fate of Gellapox/Gapox, which “did exactly the same thing” and “got destroyed.” That assessment frames the team’s expectation that Chaos lists will remain potent going into the next series of events.

Tournament-minded listeners on the roundtable also highlighted Fell Ravagers as unchanged top performers. “Fell ravager are winners. They saw no nerfs despite consistently overperforming. They two of them were in the top four at worlds, right?” the panel noted, using Worlds placings as a shorthand for continued competitive viability. The lack of targeted nerfs for units that placed highly is a recurring theme across the Goonhammer breakdowns.

Several smaller, specific rules and points changes were called out that could shift deckbuilding and list identity. Corsair Void Scard players scored a niche quality-of-life buff when the Shadeunner “can now dash and warp jump in the same activation, bringing back some flexibility it has,” a change the panel described as modest but welcome. Spikeybits’ codex-level notes underline concrete point adjustments elsewhere: Chaos Space Marines Raptors can now take two power fists plus the sergeant per five models, but that option comes with a 20-point bump per five; Leagues of Votann units Evaluator, Buri, Ironkin, Kahls, and Sagitaur all went down in points.

Faction releases beyond Chaos and Corsairs also received targeted tweaks. Adepta Sororitas folded new Kill Team rules in and had points set for the “Celestian Insidiants,” while Emperor’s Children received a push toward a new identity with “Court of the Phoenician” and Fulgrim spotlighting, Rapid Evisceration now benefiting transports, and Spawn and Daemon Princes on foot coming down in points as winged Princes rise. Thousand Sons gained a system-level opening when Changehost of Deceit “now lets Daemons benefit from Cabal points,” the roundtable and Spikeybits noted, enabling hybrid Tzeentch daemon lists with greater flexibility.

The Goonhammer analysts left several established performers largely alone: “Legionary and Raveners, they're both great. No changes, nothing there,” and “Wrecker crew are in an amazing spot, but they were already winners, so that hasn't changed,” the panel said, while pointing out Tempest Aquillins and Sanctifiers sit comfortably after minor fluctuations. Taken together, the multi-author review frames Q1 2026 as a dataslate of targeted tweaks and quality-of-life improvements that tilt the meta toward factions already succeeding rather than instituting broad corrections, a pattern the roundtable predicts will shape listbuilding in the coming competitive cycle.