Blood Angels and Dark Angels Get Their First 11th Edition Rules Update
The new Space Marine codex is not only changing the armies that live directly inside Codex: Space Marines. Games Workshop has now started showing how the more independent Chapters are being brought into 11th Edition, beginning with the Blood Angels and Dark Angels.
This is less of a complete rewrite and more of a careful integration. Existing Chapter detachments are surviving, specialist units are being updated to work with the new core rules, and both armies are gaining ways to interact with the new Combat Doctrine system without losing what makes them distinct.
Blood Angels Keep Their Aggression, but Gain More Control
The Blood Angels’ Angelic Inheritors detachment returns as a 2 Detachment Point option, with its core rule focused on re-rolling Hit and Wound rolls of 1 for Character units. Games Workshop notes that this was already the most commonly selected part of the previous rule, so the new version trims away some of the unnecessary choice and builds around the part players were actually using.
The more interesting addition is Measured Strategist.
For 1CP, a Blood Angels Character can activate a Combat Doctrine of your choice until your next Command phase. That creates some useful flexibility when the rest of the army wants to be doing something different. Dante and a unit of Sanguinary Guard, for example, can remain in Assault Doctrine while another part of the army takes advantage of a different doctrine.
Commander Dante himself now permanently benefits from the Assault and Tactical doctrines, while Mephiston has received a substantial profile increase. His new previewed stats put him at Movement 8", Toughness 6, a 2+ save, six wounds, and a 4+ invulnerable save. Vitarus now strikes at Strength 10, AP -3, Damage 3 with Lethal Hits and Psychic.
Encarmine Speartip and Wrath of the Doomed are also returning with smaller adjustments, while specialist Blood Angels units such as the Baal Predator are being updated to function with the new rules.
Dark Angels Lean Harder Into Deathwing and Ravenwing
The Dark Angels are following a similar path.
Wrath of the Rock is now a 2 Detachment Point option, which means it can be paired with the 1DP detachments found in Codex: Space Marines and their own unique detachments. Most of its existing tools remain intact, but two new Stratagems give Deathwing and Ravenwing armies some particularly thematic tricks.
In Sacrifice, Victory allows a destroyed Deathwing or Ravenwing unit to secure an objective under specific conditions. That is a very Dark Angels way to score points. The unit may be gone, but the ground it died defending can remain under your control.
Knights of Iron is aimed squarely at Ravenwing. For 1CP, a Ravenwing unit gains the MOBILE keyword when moving or charging, giving the army another way to keep its fast elements moving through terrain instead of being bottled up by the battlefield.
Darkflight Pursuit also returns as a 1DP detachment and now grants Outrider Squads the BATTLELINE keyword. For players who have wanted to put a genuinely bike-heavy Ravenwing army on the table, that may prove to be one of the more important changes in the preview.
The Lion Gets Considerably Harder to Kill
Lion El’Jonson is also getting an update, and the numbers are immediately noticeable.
Like Guilliman, the Lion is moving to Toughness 10 and 16 Wounds. His Watchers ability now permanently provides a 4+ Feel No Pain against Psychic attacks and mortal wounds, while his No Hiding From the Watchers aura can extend a 5+ version of that protection to nearby units.
Master Strategist also allows the Lion to activate an additional Combat Doctrine for himself each turn alongside the army’s normal choice. His existing Dark Angels Bodyguard, Emperor’s Shield, and Primarch of the First Legion abilities remain.
For Deathwing players, there is another interesting combination hiding in the preview. Games Workshop specifically points toward pairing Wrath of the Rock with the new Terminator Storm Force detachment from Codex: Space Marines. We have not seen enough of the complete rules or points picture to judge how strong that combination will actually be, but the intent is fairly obvious: 11th Edition wants Chapter-specific armies to interact with the broader Space Marine rules rather than live in completely separate rule silos.
Our Take
This is probably the right approach to updating the divergent Chapters.
Blood Angels still look like Blood Angels. Dark Angels still have meaningful reasons to build around Deathwing and Ravenwing. The difference is that both armies now appear more connected to the core Space Marine mechanics instead of operating beside them.
That matters because the new codex is built around mixing detachments and Combat Doctrines. If the specialist Chapters had remained locked into their older rules structures, they could have missed a large part of what makes the new Space Marine system interesting.
There is still plenty left to see, particularly points and the complete updated datasheets, so we would not start declaring winners yet. But as a first look, both Chapters seem to be keeping their identities while gaining more ways to interact with the rest of the Adeptus Astartes toolbox.
Games Workshop has confirmed that Space Wolves, Black Templars, and Deathwatch are next, including a new 1DP option that will allow Deathwatch troops to appear in other Space Marine armies.
