A month after Warhammer 40k‘s T’au Empire players rejoiced over the mammoth new destructive potential of their Railguns and other terrifying weaponry, Games Workshop has now previewed new rules for the classic Eldar Fire Prism tank – and its paired in-game Stratagem, ‘Linked Fire’ – that’ll make the Fire Prism’s huge, crystal-powered main gun comparably deadly.
Revealed in a Warhammer Community article on Wednesday, the new stats for the Prism Cannon – included in the imminent 9th edition Aeldari codex – retain the same 60-inch range the gun had before, but vastly increase its damage potential. Not only have the stats Prism Cannon’s two firing modes been heavily upgraded, but the ‘Linked Fire’ Stratagem (which allows multiple Fire Prism units to fire as one unit for added benefits) now allows the weapon to ignore invulnerable saving throws, just like the T’au railgun.
The Linked Fire Stratagem previously cost one in-game Command Point (2CP), and allowed multiple Fire Prisms to fire all at once at a single target, re-rolling failed hits and wounds. Now it costs 2CP, but gives the more powerful bonus of totally ignoring ‘Invul’ saves – ordinarily Warhammer 40k units’ primary defence mechanism against heavy, armour-piercing weapons.
In a change that’ll likely see significantly more use of three-piece Fire Prism squadrons in Aeldari armies, this upgraded Stratagem comes alongside a chunky buff to the Prism Cannon’s in-game stats. Its ‘Dispersed Pulse‘ anti-infantry fire mode has gone up from Damage 1 to Damage 2, and from D6 shots up to 3D3 (three to nine).
The anti-tank ‘Focused Lance‘ mode, meanwhile, goes from a single shot at Strength 12, AP -5, Damage D6, to two shots at S14, AP -5, Damage 3D3. That means you’ll wound light and medium vehicles on a roll of two, ignore all conventional armour saves, and – if you’ve brought more than one Prism along to use the Linked Fire Stratagem – ignore invulnerables too, sending a maximum of 54 wounds into a single target.
This latest GW rules reveal comes at the tail end of a long string of reveals laying bare new and updated rules in the 9th edition Codex Aeldari, going up for pre-order from GW on Saturday, February 26.
You can clue yourself in on all the latest 40k book releases in our overall codex release date guide – or get to grips with the space elves by reading our full Aeldari guide, or checking out the latest Aeldari reveals; namely fresh rules for the Shining Spears and Howling Banshees aspect warriors.