Warhammer 40k detachments guide

In the current 10th edition, Warhammer 40k detachments are themed rule-sets - normally two pages long - that offer different styles of play to choose from within each army. Read on for a breakdown of how it works - and a list of all available detachments right now.

Detachments, as a concept, have been a key element of Warhammer 40k army building through many editions of the game, but their role has changed several times to reflect how the game designers think your armies should be organised - and they're now a core part of how all the Warhammer 40k factions work.

In Warhammer 40k 10th edition, they're extremely simple: you choose one detachment, and all the rules for that detachment apply to your whole army, in addition to the basic army rules for your faction.

Warhammer 40k 10th edition detachments

In Warhammer 40k 10th edition, Detachments provide your force with several bonuses: an army-wide special rule, a set of 40k Stratagems, and 'enhancements' you can use to upgrade specific models or units in your force. Your whole army is considered to be part of this Detachment - you can't build a force containing more than one Detachment.

The main source of detachments for each army is its Codex army book, but GW has also released additional free detachments, starting with the 'Grotmas Calendar' promotion in 2024. You can find the supplemental the detachments for each army in its Faction Pack, which is available to download from the Warhammer Community website.

As of January 14, 2026, these are all the currently legal Warhammer 40k detachments:

Adepta Sororitas Detachments

Adeptus Custodes Detachments

Adeptus Mechanicus Detachments

Aeldari Detachments

Astra Militarum Detachments

Black Templars Detachments

Blood Angels Detachments

Chaos Daemons Detachments

Chaos Knights Detachments

Chaos Space Marines Detachments

Dark Angels Detachments

Death Guard Detachments

Deathwatch Detachments

Drukhari Detachments

Emperor's Children Detachments

Genestealer Cults Detachments

Grey Knights Detachments

Imperial Agents Detachments

Imperial Knights Detachments

Leagues of Votann Detachments

Orks Detachments

Necrons Detachments

Space Marines Detachments

Space Wolves Detachments

T'au Empire detachments

Thousand Sons Detachments

Tyranids Detachments

World Eaters Detachments

How did detachments work in Warhammer 40k 9th edition?

The above is the full story of how detachments work now - but what did that system replace?

In Warhammer 40k 9th Edition, your army had to be 'battle-forged' to get access to Command Points and Stratagems. To achieve that, all of your units organized into neat and tidy blocks called detachments. Battle-forged armies were also required for matched play at official events and tournaments.

You could of course play without organizing your models and units into detachments (known as an 'unbound' army) but generally, you won't see this outside very casual play, or special events.

In 9th edition, you were allotted a budget of Command Points and detachments depending on the size of game you are playing - though there are always a few weird exceptions to 40k rules.

In the core rules, those limits were:

• Combat Patrol - 3 Command Points & 1 detachment
• Incursion - 6 Command Points & 2 detachments
• Strike Force - 12 Command Points & 3 detachments
• Onslaught - 18 Command Points & 4 detachments

You used the CP allotments above to purchase detachments for your army. Certain detachments gave you a rebate against their cost if you stuck your general into them.

Players could earn CP via other means as well; for example, battle-forged armies generated 1 CP automatically per battle round. This helped to keep your tactical options open, even later in the game after your initial gambits have played out.

Grand Tournament: Arks of Omen detachment rules

Late in 9th edition's lifespan, GW introduced new detachment rules for the Grand Tournament: Arks of Omen expansion, which in retrospect were clearly a trial run for 10th edition's massively simplified system.

These games were limited to these two levels:

• Incursion - games up to 1,000 points, 6 command points
• Strike Force - games up to 2,000 points, 6 command points

Most importantly, armies had to contain just one single Arks of Omen detachment.

Arks of Omen detachment rules

The Arks of Omen detachment cost no CP. It is also much, much more open than any of the normal detachments then used in the base game.

You need to select a battlefield role, such as "Troops" or "Elites", and take three units from that slot. You also need to take one HQ choice, unless you're fielding Imperial Knights or Chaos Knights. Beyond that, you have incredible flexibility to pick units you like for the detachment - you could take three more Lords of War, or six additional Elites. You can take up to three additional Elites units beyond that limit, provided they're characters.

Arks of Omen Allied detachments

GT Arks of Omen allows several armies to bring "battle brothers detachments" of thematically appropriate units. These use the same organisation charts as they do in the base rulebook, but cost no command points.

Warhammer 40k 9th edition - core rules detachments

In 9th edition, each detachment from the core rules costs a certain amount of CP to add to your army, though you'll get a refund for the detachment containing your Warlord (or to another detachment, if you have a Supreme Command detachment).

Faction keywords

A key thing to remember when building armies for 40K 9th Edition, as in its predecessor, was that some of your units' rules and abilities may depend on them being part of a detachment (or sometimes  a whole army) composed entirely of units that share a given keyword in their rules.

All your detachments must share the same top-level faction keyword - such as [CHAOS] or [IMPERIUM] - to be able to be taken in the same army at all; a detachment of Space Marines can fight alongside a detachment of Sisters of Battle, but they would never make common cause with followers of Chaos.

But, beyond that, some units benefit from additional special abilities if they are part of a detachment - or, in some cases, a whole army - made entirely of units with a particular matching keyword, usually the keyword for the sub-faction they belong to.

For example, a battle-forged Space Marine army could contain one detachment of the Ultramarines Chapter and one of Black Templars - but it could not benefit from the Ultramarines special rule 'Scions of Guilliman' unless every detachment within the army was fully Ultramarines (or Ultramarines successors). Read the army rules in your codex carefully to make sure all your units and detachments have access to their snazziest abilities right off the bat.

9th edition detachment types

Ninth edition Warhammer 40k had eleven types of detachments available for use when building a Battle-Forged army. Three of these are considered 'core' detachments that serve as the backbone of most armies. These three contain essentially the same balance of unit types, just scaled up for use with larger game formats.

A 'Patrol' detachment is fine for the smaller Combat Patrol game type, but if you're going up to Strike Force or Onslaught matches, you'll probably want to build your list on one or more Battalion detachments instead - or even the mighty Brigade, if you've chosen a troops-heavy 'horde' type army like the Astra Militarum. The only real difference is the min-max numbers for units per category.

The defining trait of all three is that their CP costs are refunded if your Warlord happens to be in this detachment. This will allow you to use those points on another detachment (if applicable) or for various stratagems or other abilities that require CP to use.

Other than that, they all require that the units within the detachment be from the same faction, they all bar the use of under-strength units, and they all allow for you to take 1 dedicated transport for each 'infantry' unit in that detachment.

Patrol detachment

It's worth noting that Combat Patrol format specifically requires you to take the 'Patrol' detachment as your sole choice. However, Imperial Knights & Chaos Knights can only go in Super-Heavy detachments.

Battalion detachment

The most commonly-used detachment in the game and the first building block of maybe 70%+ lists. If you're not using a Battalion in your army, ask yourself why not.

Brigade detachment

For use when one of your army's principal battle strategies is "throw lightly-armed bodies at the enemy until either we win or we run out of bodies". This technique is so fundamental to the strategic doctrines of the Astra Militarum that it's inscribed into the medals of senior - [That's enough of that now- Ed.]

The next three detachments types are a bit more specialist and offer a way to bring more of a specific unit type to your army, themed around a military strategy, whether that be a rapid reaction/strike force (Outrider) or perhaps an elite group of shock troopers (Vanguard).

Like the core detachment types above, units must be all from the same overall faction, and no under-strength units are allowed. You're also allowed one dedicated transport per infantry unit again.

The key difference is that there's no CP refund mechanic, regardless of whether your Warlord is present in this detachment or not. It's not advised you stick your Warlord here, unless you're wanting to run a specifically themed army.

A commonly-seen army structure is one battalion, supplemented by one of these specialist detachments, depending on the kind of playstyle or strategy the army is aiming for - be it taking and holding objectives with powerful elite troops, pounding enemies to dust with heavy firepower or encircling them with rapid, manoeuvrable assaults.

Vanguard detachment

The one with all the elites - load it up with Terminators, wind it up and watch it smash things.

Spearhead detachment

The one with all the heavy weapons - in 40k there is a saying: "Big guns never tire". This is where you put your tanks, missile launchers and giant ramshackle scrap-metal energy cannons.

Outrider detachment

The one with all the fast-movers. Hulking gun-strapped motorcycles, floating jetbikes, green dudes with incredibly unstable-looking jetpacks, shoals of bat-winged alien monstrosities - they all live here.

Finally, there are currently five unique detachments that are very bespoke.

There are no unifying traits across these, as they each serve a very specific purpose. For example, if you want to bring some stationary armed buildings as part of your army, they'll need to be in the Fortification Network detachment; mighty war engines such as Imperial Knights can only be deployed in a Super-Heavy detachment, and so on.

Supreme Command detachment

It's worth noting this detachment is essentially only meant to be used if you're fielding a major named character from your faction, like the Ultramarines' Primarch Roboute Guilliman, or the newly-returned monarch of the Necrons, Szarekh the Silent King.

This was also in 8th edition, but the rules were fixed to prevent exploitation. Also note: this detachment doesn't come with a dedicated transport rule.

Your warlord MUST go in this detachment, but you still essentially get the CP cost refunded of one of your other core detachments, so you're not losing out.

Super-Heavy detachment

For the big 'uns. The Super-Heavy detachment is for building a complete list composed of super-heavy units (such as a Lance of Imperial Knights), while Auxiliary option is there to allow you to 'ally in' a single super-heavy unit to assist an army of foot-sloggers.

Fortification Network

Fortifications have had their ups and downs through successive editions of 40k, but have never really played a starring role in the game - whether it be the Star Wars-y floating, shielded platforms of the Tau or the suitably ridiculous, vehicle-repairing Mekboy Workshop that the Orks sometimes bring to battle.

Auxiliary Support detachment

If you really can't find a way to fit a critical unit into one of your other detachments - or maybe if you're at a tournament and have limited models with you to make necessary swaps - you can use the Auxiliary Support detachment to transplant in an extra unit, at a cost of 2 CP.  Worth avoiding unless absolutely necessary.