Elites
Purifier Squad - Of the few power armoured infantry units in the Grey Knight codex, this is arguably the best overall in terms of value and actual in-game capabilities. The profile is in tune with a Space Marine Veteran meaning that 2 Attacks base and Leadership 9 are all that distinguish them from Strike Squads, instantly making them a far more dangerous melee presence. The base equipment and most of the special rules are identical between Strike Squads and Purifiers, save that the latter unit gain an extra Psychic Mastery level - useful mostly for the extra warp charge point - and the Fearless ability to ensure they never run away. All of their melee attacks place Soul Blaze tokens on enemy units which ties in with their third guaranteed psychic power for absolutely blending through medium to light infantry squads. On top of Banishment and Hammerhand, Purifiers make Cleansing Flame their own and - much like Castellan Crowe - partially justify their high cost per model just with that one power as a result. While Purifiers are sadly and strangely incapable of Deep Striking - no doubt to prevent people from just dropping in and getting a devastating Cleansing Flame off - that Grey Knights can effectively "steal" Drop Pods from Codex: Space Wolves or Codex: Blood Angels makes this a non-issue. Another important consideration for employing Purifiers is that they also get two special weapons per five models in a squad much like Paladins, allowing you to bring the almost mandatory Psycannons in greater numbers than the majority of other units.
Purifiers thankfully don't need to pay for a mandatory sergeant upgrade even if their price per model did raise by a single point while the melee weapon upgrades have both been weakened and seen standardized costs across the codex. I think they are worth their points when used to Deep Strike via friendly Drop Pods or moving up in Rhinos or Razorbacks while packing two to four psycannons based on unit size and are certainly far more worthwhile than Strike Squads even just for the extra mastery level and Cleansing Flame. They share the same issue with Strike Squads in that they are still incredibly expensive Toughness 4 3+ armoured models, but in the case of Purifiers I believe that their enhanced damage output and greater psychic capabilities justify that price. As for how they compare between codices, the removal of Psybolt doesn't really affect the unit given that 4 of the 10 models in a full-strength squad would typically have Psycannons anyway, though the increased cost of the upgrades and overall weakening of Nemesis Force Weapons does see them suffer a bit in the exchange. The addition of permanent scoring capabilities instead of relying on Castellan Crowe or Grand Strategy don't make up for all the changes to Psycannons themselves, vehicles and the greater emphasis on firepower throughout both 6th Edition and 7th Edition as opposed to 5th Edition. I think the change to Cleansing Flame does help balance this out as that power is just insane and being able to guarantee its' use in a list is fantastic, but ultimately I think the minimal points increases for the base unit and upgrades lead me to say the unit is still good, albeit weaker overall.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? Yes.
Paladin Squad - Much like Purifiers before them, Paladins have undeniably been weakened in the new codex - and with the torrent of core rule changes wrought since the closure of 5th Edition - and also with the various changes both to Grey Knight weapons and even the units' own psychic abilities. The unit replaces their exclusive Holocaust psychic power with the widely available and far less useful Banishment, though they are far better against Daemon units specifically with the tweaks to Preferred Enemy. 2+ armour saves and Feel No Pain are far more difficult to ignore in close combat than they were, but melee isn't nearly as pivotal as it used to be; on the other hand, shooting is generally more important in 7th Edition and AP2 shooting is in greater abundance than ever. Fortunately, even with the removal of most unique abilities for each Nemesis Force Weapon and the change to them being AP3 outside of the Daemon Hammer, that other armies' power weapons also rarely have AP2 ensures Paladins are actually nastier than ever in combat.
They have to pay more for most of their weapon options but otherwise many will find the cost of the unit has been reduced in similar builds because of the gigantic price reduction on the now virtually mandatory Apothecary upgrade. The Brotherhood Banner also remains a great addition to a Paladin squad even if one of its primary functions has been removed in favour of a area-buff for other Grey Knights, while the Nemesis Banner is also a nice option if you have points spare to take it instead. This unit is still awesome and especially so given the positive changes to their iconic leader Kaldor Draigo, and it is even more terrifying as a death-star if you invest more points into allied support characters. That they are always scoring even without Draigo is a nice change even if most Grey Knight players would give that ability to them anyway through Grand Strategy. Ultimately, I feel they are almost as much of a victim of the new AP2 shooting as other armies' Terminators are, but the changes to Feel No Pain and more easily accessed cover saves serve to balance this out somewhat. If you use Draigo with them as almost everyone used to, their main vulnerability in Strength 8 AP2 shooting is extinguished for the most part provided you use smart positioning. They are at the very least a good unit and become great with the Grey Knights' Supreme Grand Master, even if in many cases they aren't as useful as they were.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? Yes.
Dreadnought - This is honestly one of the tougher reviews to articulate because the stock build of this unit has been entirely gimped. The removal of Reinforced Aegis and Fortitude on top of a 10 point increase make it seem like an obvious unit to delegate to the shelf, especially now that Psybolt Ammunition and thus "Psyflemen" are gone. The fact that Grey Knights can no longer rely on Dreadnoughts for reliable high Strength shooting quite like they used to leaves players with little reason to include them anymore. Paying 25 points over a standard Space Marine Dreadnought for psychic capabilities and the various Grey Knight exclusive special rules is of questionable worth seeing as most people use them either as long-ranged anti-tank hunters or suicidal units. Having Sanctuary is barely worth a mention seeing as it only provides a 6+ invulnerable save to the Dreadnought itself, hardly justifying that price point.
At the very least, the Venerable upgrade is significantly cheaper and arguably better in a 7th Edition context than it was in 5th Edition, but having to rely on Battle Brothers like Space Wolves to provide the model with a Drop Pod can be irritating seeing as they factor into most standard Dreadnought builds. Another note is that exchanging a Nemesis Doomfist for a standard Power Fist greatly reduces the Dreadnoughts' chances of beating the majority of enemy monstrous creatures in a melee, even if walkers are tougher in combat against most such enemies than ever before. I like Dreadnoughts in 7th Edition far more than their 6th and even 5th Edition incarnations, but they still fail to really stand out and justify their inclusion - the Grey Knight variation is even more unjustly expensive and conversely vulnerable as a result.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? No.
Summary!
Each of the three Elites choices is arguably in a weaker position than it was before, though the iconic Purifiers and Paladins remain solid and worthy choices; the Dreadnought, sadly, isn't really worth your attention in such a points-starved army.
Fast Attack
Rhino - Disappointingly for Grey Knight players, all of their shared vehicles between codices - the Dreadnought aside - have been brought in line with other generic Space Marine unit entries meaning that they no longer pay a handful of points for Psychic Pilot and the Aegis. This is definitely a "nerf" in that sense, though being scoring and denial units via Objective Secured when taken as Dedicated Transports for Troops squads does somewhat help to make up for it. At the very least, Grey Knight Rhinos are in a better place than they were in 6th Edition. Otherwise, my basic thoughts on Rhinos remain; they are a fine transport for medium ranged shooting units because they are cheap and more durable than something like a Dark Eldar Venom, but they aren't really noteworthy in any way. Rhinos themselves remain decent but for Grey Knights in particular most players will skip them because power-armoured Grey Knights aside from Purifiers are mostly not worth taking competitively.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? Yes.
Razorback - Even if one discounts how handy Psychic Pilot - and by extension, Fortitude - and the Aegis were, it is undeniably a bad trade to lose out on these rules with only a minor points drop to compensate. For Grey Knights specifically, the new Razorback stacks up incredibly poorly with the large increase to the basic heavy bolter variant as well as the removal of Psybolt Ammunition; much like Dreadnoughts, "Psybacks" were once a staple but are now a dead breed. Razorbacks are handier in 7th Edition but I'm still not sold on their overall worth, even though I do find many Space Marine players of all varieties find success with them which is great to see. I just personally never felt the Razorback accomplished that perfect balance between transporting, shooting and durability at its' price point.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? No.
Interceptor Squad - The Grey Knight equivalent of Assault Marines is still mostly mediocre but usually ends up cheaper compared to the previous version, what with a 2 point-per-model price drop slightly mitigated by a 10 point mandatory Sergeant upgrade. The loss of Warp Quake is made up for somewhat by improved Preferred Enemy, Hammerhand and the addition of Banishment, while becoming scoring with their 30" shunt moves makes them a potentially game-changing objective-taker. They now also have standardized special weapon prices, paying slightly more for psycannons and psilencers but getting a large discount on incinerators instead. The removal of Psybolt Ammunition and more expensive psycannons limits their alpha strike potential with the option to shunt behind enemy vehicles, but their melee weapons are much cheaper per model for the most part due to the reduced effects. As an overall unit, I feel that their main competitive usage has been flipped on its head with their value still being in that shunt move, though mostly this is useful for objective-taking rather than an alpha strike as the loss of Psybolt Ammunition puts a huge dent in their ranged damage output. Still, I would argue they are much more useful than Strike Squads because of that early-game or late-game objective grabbing potential and ability to essentially redeploy the unit wherever they are needed, as well as the far greater synergy with both incinerators and psycannons - they might still be Salvo weapons but this won't be as much of an issue for a unit that moves 30" once as opposed to a standard infantry unit. They do run into that big issue of being over-priced Assault Marines just as Strike Squads are over-priced Tactical Marines, but the shunt move at least makes this far more tolerable.
Change? Weaker.
Competitive? Yes.
Stormraven Gunship - While this used to be the primary flying transport for all types of Space Marine armies and truthfully remains as such in some cases, the introduction of the Stormwolf for Space Wolves have seen the Stormravens' worth plummet as a result even if it remains a mostly well priced flyer. Unlike other Grey Knight vehicles, losing the Aegis and Fortitude don't really affect the Stormraven that much as it typically doesn't require either due to being a flyer, and as such the 5 point drop is appreciated here. However, the utter lack of Psybolt Ammunition in the codex makes the already overly expensive hurricane bolter addition mostly worthless as they simply can't threaten even lightly armoured vehicles. The change from Mindstrike Missiles to Stormstrike Missiles generally favours the new Stormraven as it contributes greatly to the lacking anti-tank and anti-air ranged capabilities of the army, so in general I find the unit to be mostly better than it was for Grey Knights in particular as long as you avoid the hurricane bolters upgrade.
Change? Stronger.
Competitive? Yes.
Summary!
Most of the units in this slot aren't as competitively worthwhile as they might have been in the previous codex, but all of the units on offer are at least solid; the Stormraven is highly valuable in a pure Grey Knight list even just for anti-aircraft duties.
Thank you for reading this latest addition to my Grey Knight Unit Overview series! What are your thoughts on this article and the latest Grey Knight codex; have your experiences been mostly positive despite all the negativity surrounding the books' release, or have you had fortunes unlike what I have enjoyed? Please leave any feedback you have in the comments section below; I appreciate any and all feedback and will endeavour to reply to it as best I can! Otherwise, have a great day!
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