Warhammer Underworlds was among the main disciplines at the World Championships of Warhammer last year, and the ever-evolving competitive scene has already adjusted to the big plays. There’s been a hefty new update making major changes to prominent warbands and key cards, so we traded our Glory Points for a moment with John from the Warhammer Design Studio – one of the architects of this update – to find out what’s up in the Underworlds.
What are the changes that will have the greatest impact on Warhammer Underworlds players?
John: The biggest changes in this update are to “ping damage” – a shorthand term for damage done outside of attack actions. This most commonly comes in the form of power cards, with gambit spells as the most readily accessible sources. Certain spells had a pronounced effect on the early game, often putting warbands with strong spellcasters much too far ahead of their opponent.
Our first step was to take care of any spells that were simply too strong, like Abasoth's Avalanche, which has now been slowed down quite a bit and no longer offers a reliable burst of instant damage with little counterplay.
Next up was to take a look at warbands which were over-performing as a result of these prominent spells. For example, Domitan's Stormcoven and Ephilim's Pandaemonium have benefitted significantly since the release of Force of Frost, and were continuing to have strong results throughout the early release of Deathgorge.
As a result, we wanted to reduce their overall power without damaging their playstyles and power spikes too much. We've reduced the reliability of Domitan's Stormcoven by requiring the player to shift their Inspired fighter instead of it being optional – this means they can't leave a beefy Inspired fighter on their front line for the entire game, and must constantly adapt to changing conditions.
Ephilim's Pandaemonium are a different beast. They had already received a minor balance adjustment in a previous update, and since that didn't have quite the impact we wanted, we have adjusted their change sequence to be a lot less reliable.
Now your opponent has a few key decisions to make in the early game, and very impactful ones in the mid game. Choosing which fighter to stagger gives the Pandaemonium player’s opponent a huge advantage, being able to ensure which changer is not Inspired in the first round, and the Pandaemonium player will have to deploy very carefully, or they might find themselves wildly out of position.
These are the biggest changes by far, and while there are plenty of buffs to other warbands, they mostly constitute quality-of-life buffs. Notably, the Sons of Velmorn and Gryselle's Arenai were major beneficiaries of our attention this time around and should enjoy more success over the next few months.
We can also expect horde warbands to have a minor resurgence, as they were kept down by the abundance of ping damage available. Sepulchral Guard and Looncourt players rejoice!
How do you feel this update will change the gameplay experience overall?
John: I expect the game to be much more interactive. With reduced damage in the power step, we should see a bit more hustle in the action phase, with fewer reliable options for warbands that want to keep their enemies at arm’s length with power-based damage.
This is likely to encourage horde warbands, who are now more able to hold those objectives that are so vital to their playstyle. I would expect to see more varied warbands in the top spots from now on, but I am particularly interested in the Sepulchral Guard and Sanson's Farstriders, whom I'm convinced people are sleeping on – mostly because neither warband held up to ping damage particularly well.
Are there any other elements of the rules update that you want to draw attention to?
John: We have two new warbands with some really unique mechanics, so naturally there were plenty of questions to resolve about both. With the Thricefold Discord, we looked at their temptation cards in particular – these cards come with two effects, but the opponent is the one who picks which effect takes place.
However, a key tenet of Warhammer Underworlds is that if you cannot resolve the entire effect of an ability, that ability cannot be used. Because of this, a cunning Discord player can set it up so that one of the two effects cannot be resolved, and is therefore not an option for their opponent!
A few clarifications were put into this update on how and when these cards can be played. Some of these are advantageous to the Thricefold Discord player and a few others make more things more difficult, so some more thought is required from players before playing these cards.
As for Cyreni's Razors, most of our questions were simple, such as “What is a Hammertide, and how does it work?” There were a few ambiguities previously, but we have cleared those up, and now you can expect the Razors to be blasting souls out of their enemies left, right, and centre (but always in a straight line).
What is your favourite warband in the game right now?
John: My favourite warband out there right now is the Sepulchral Guard – could you tell? I love their Rivals deck and their flexible nature, which lets you go and hit things, hold objectives, or do both!
Their playstyle can force opponents to expend resources taking out key fighters, only to bring them back better than ever before. As I mentioned earlier, this and other horde-based warbands are primed to have immediate gains due to the reduction in ping damage and ranged damage as a whole.
They can now not only stick to objectives much more easily, but they’ll also find warbands that used to keep them at arm's length have to get a lot closer than before. That can only mean one thing – chop!
How has Warhammer Underworlds as a whole changed since its initial release?
John: The core experience of Warhammer Underworlds is unchanged for the most part– put fighters in an arena, battle it out, and death is dealt on a small but brutal scale.
The change that has had the biggest impact overall has been the Rivals format. Since it lowers the barrier for entry by giving new players balanced and powerful decks to start with, more players than ever before are starting Warhammer Underworlds, which has helped people jump right into the competitive scene with a minimum of fuss.
The Nemesis format is the next best step in competitive play, with deck-building galore and lots of room to flex strategic skills. The World Championships proved that Nemesis has a dedicated and experienced player base, who can wring the very best out of each warband and Rivals deck in a matchless fashion.
Because of these two play formats we've not only seen a marked increase in the number of events being run worldwide, but an increase in attendance at those events, which can only be a good thing for the future of the game.
What's next? Any teases?
John: There’s so much I could talk about, but the coolest things to focus on right now are the newest releases – Daggok's Stab-Ladz and the Malevolent Masks Rivals deck. The Kruleboyz have a wealth of nasty ploys, hidden in plain sight but kept secret from your opponent, that will aid the boyz and hinder their opponent with equal ease. As orruks they have pretty beefy statlines to work with, so you can expect these ladz to prove a reliable staple in tournament life.
The Malevolent Masks deck hasn't been out long, but it’s already stirring the waters. There is plenty to explore here and a wealth of obscenely powerful cards to play... if you’ve struck a deal with one of the forbidding masks that lurk in the deck.
The core mechanism has the player dig through their cards for masks, before giving them to a fighter and buffing them up using the other cards in the deck. The masks themselves are potent magical artefacts, and usually come with a seriously strong ability – if you’re willing to invest resources in order to use it.*
Of course, the rest of the deck is there to help smooth out this process, providing free Mask actions, digging discarded Masks out of your discard pile, and generally just getting the Mask wearers into the right position. Of course, if you raise your fighters, then those Masks can get some overtime work in.
Did I mention Sepulchral Guard earlier...?
Thanks John! The latest update document for Warhammer Underworlds will be available to download later this month from the Warhammer Community Downloads page, so keep a watchful eye out for the latest changes. Try the new rules out with your favourite warbands, and let us know how they get on in the new competitive landscape.
* Usually an action, which is a hugely significant chunk of a player’s entire economy.