Enhancements in Warhammer 40K 11th Edition — Rules and Limits

Enhancements are the smallest part of a Warhammer 40,000 list and the most common reason one fails validation. They cost points, they are capped, they only go on certain models, and the restriction that decides eligibility is buried in the Enhancement's own description text rather than published as a separate field. Every one of those is a place to get it wrong.

Here is the complete set of rules, the restriction formats you will encounter, and the errors that actually happen.

The four hard rules

One per Character. A Character may carry a single Enhancement. No stacking.

A cap per battle size. Your whole army may take:

The cap is per army, not per detachment. This is worth repeating because 11th Edition lets you take multiple detachments. Three detachments give you three Enhancement *lists* to pick from. They do not give you more than four Enhancements at Strike Force.

Epic Heroes cannot take Enhancements. Named characters — Marneus Calgar, Ghazghkull, Eldrad — are excluded entirely. This single rule accounts for more failed list checks than the other three combined, because it only bites when you have built the list around a named character and then look for somewhere to put the Enhancement you had planned.

Where the restrictions live

Most Enhancements are not available to every Character in your army. The restriction is written into the description string, and it takes several shapes. Knowing the shapes is the difference between reading them correctly and guessing.

Simple keyword. "CRYPTEK model only." The bearer must have that keyword.

Mid-text ALL-CAPS. 11th Edition often states the restriction partway through a longer sentence rather than as a trailing clause, in capitals. Reading only the first sentence is not enough — an Enhancement whose opening line is pure flavour text may restrict itself three sentences later.

"…unit only". Restricts by unit rather than by model keyword.

Slash alternatives. "TERMINATOR/GRAVIS model only" — either keyword qualifies.

Compound AND. Two keywords both required. "INFANTRY CHARACTER model only" means the bearer must have both, not either.

Faction-level restrictions. Some are limited to a chapter, legion, dynasty or craftworld rather than a unit type.

Because these are prose rather than structured fields, a builder that reads only the leading clause will offer you Enhancements you cannot legally take. GrimSlate parses all of these forms — it was a genuine source of bugs, and the mid-text ALL-CAPS format was the one that took longest to get right.

Allied units and Enhancements

Allied units mostly cannot take Enhancements, and the wording differs by alliance rule:

Our allied factions guide has the full breakdown of all five alliance rules.

Note that the Enhancement your allied Character could take, if eligible, comes from *your* detachment's list, not from the allied faction's codex.

Choosing well

Points spent on Enhancements are points not spent on models, so the bar is higher than it feels.

Put them where they multiply. An Enhancement on a Character attached to a large, durable bodyguard unit affects everything that unit does for five turns. The same Enhancement on a Character standing alone in the backfield affects one model.

Survivability first. The most common disappointment is an offensive Enhancement on a Character who dies before it matters. If the bearer is fragile, a defensive Enhancement is often worth more than a better weapon.

Do not fill the cap for its own sake. Four Enhancements at Strike Force is a maximum, not a target. If the third and fourth options in your detachment are mediocre, the points are better spent on a unit.

Check the bearer before you commit the list. Decide Enhancements after you have finalised your Characters — including which ones are Epic Heroes — rather than planning them first and discovering the bearer is ineligible.

Remember what an Enhancement can unlock. A small number of Enhancements grant an attachment the datasheet does not have, letting a Character join a unit they otherwise could not. That is sometimes worth more than the Enhancement's own effect. See our leaders and Support Characters guide.

The five errors that fail list checks

All five are mechanical, which means a builder can catch them. GrimSlate filters the Enhancement list to the Characters that can legally take each one, tracks the cap against your battle size, and blocks the Epic Hero case outright.

You can build a list free — it validates as you go, and works offline once loaded.

Quick reference