How to Play Adeptus Custodes in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

11th edition (mid-2026) did not hand Custodes a new codex. Instead they keep the 2024 10th-edition book and slot into 11th through a free Faction Pack PDF that reprints and updates their detachments for the new rules and adds three brand-new 1 DP detachments. The single biggest structural change is army-building: the old "pick one detachment" model is replaced by a Detachment Points budget you spend across one to three detachments. For a faction whose old codex detachments were mostly self-contained, this is a genuine shift, because you can now bolt a small, focused package (say, a Dreadnought booster) onto a broader core. Core-rules churn from 10th to 11th also touches Custodes: revisit Deep Strike timing, Overwatch, and any FNP interactions. Treat every number as needing a fresh check against the pack.

Custodes fight using Martial Ka'tah, a set of ancient battle stances chosen during the game to shape how your warriors kill. Broadly, one stance leans your melee toward extra volume of hits (a Sustained Hits-style effect, associated with the Dacatarai stance) and another toward reliable damage against tough targets (a Lethal Hits-style effect, associated with the Rendax stance). The skill is picking the right stance for the target in front of you: raw hit volume against chaff, wound-through-armour reliability against monsters and vehicles. Community reporting for the 11th-edition pack suggests the stance roster was trimmed from earlier versions, so do not assume every historical stance is still present. This is the rule that makes each gold warrior punch far above a normal infantry model, and it rewards a player who reads the matchup rather than swinging on autopilot. Verify the exact stance list and keywords in the Faction Pack.

11th edition gives you a DP budget by game size: roughly 2 DP at Incursion (1,000 pts) and 3 DP at Strike Force (2,000 pts). Each detachment costs 1 to 3 DP, and you cannot field two detachments that share a Unique Tag, which blocks the most obvious double-dips. The three new Custodes detachments each cost 1 DP, so a 2,000-point army can run all three at once, or pair one 1 DP detachment with a carried-over 10th-edition detachment (most cost around 2 DP; the combined-arms Talons option is reported as a heavier 3 DP pick). For a tiny elite army this matters more than for a horde: with so few units, a focused 1 DP package that supercharges your Dreadnoughts or Terminators can define the whole list. Confirm each detachment's DP cost and tag in the current pack before locking a list.

Custodes enter 11th with a wide menu. The three new 1 DP detachments are Might of the Moritoi (Dreadnought/Walker mobility), Silent Hunters (Sisters of Silence infiltration and stealth-stripping), and Tharanatoi Hammerblow (Allarus Terminator deep-strike aggression). Carried over from the 10th-edition codex are the generalist Shield Host, the character-focused Auric Champions, the pure Sisters of Silence Null Maiden Vigil, the combined-arms Talons of the Emperor, the vehicle-leaning Solar Spearhead, and the lone-operative Lions of the Emperor. That gives you both broad "whole army" detachments and narrow specialist packages. Because DP lets you combine, the interesting question in 11th is no longer "which one detachment" but "which core plus which booster." Only the three new detachments are covered in full pages below; the carried-over ones should be checked in the pack for their updated 11th-edition wording.

Start from what you own and how you want to win. If you like a balanced gold-armour core that can flex melee stances, a carried-over generalist like Shield Host is the safe home base, and you can spend a spare 1 DP on a booster. If you love big walkers, Might of the Moritoi turns Telemon and Contemptor Dreadnoughts into fast, reliable chargers. If you want a teleporting hammer, Tharanatoi Hammerblow makes Allarus Terminators drop and charge with confidence. Silent Hunters is the specialist pick for a Sisters of Silence sub-force that hunts objectives and strips enemy stealth. New players should resist stacking three hyper-narrow detachments; one solid core plus one booster is easier to pilot. Whatever you pick, list-build around your handful of units carefully, because every model is a large share of your army. Verify DP costs and tags before committing.

The hardest habit for Custodes players is accepting that you will always be outnumbered, often badly. You cannot trade evenly on bodies; you win by making each of your demigods do disproportionate work while staying alive. That means using Martial Ka'tah stances deliberately, holding key objectives with unkillable blocks, and never overcommitting a unit where it can be focused down and lost, because losing even one model is losing a large fraction of your combat power. Screen against Deep Strike, respect secondary-objective actions (you have few bodies to spare for them), and use your durability to sit on the mission rather than chase kills. In 11th, DP boosters reward a plan: if you took a Dreadnought or Terminator package, build the game around delivering that threat. Patience and target discipline beat aggression with this army.

The cleanest on-ramp is a Custodian Guard core (spear-and-shield infantry) led by a Shield-Captain, backed by fast Vertus Praetors on jetbikes and a Dreadnought for heavy fire. That gives you durable objective-holders, mobile threats, and a gun platform, all inside a low model count that is quick to build and paint. Slot it into a generalist carried-over detachment first so you learn the army rule before layering in a booster. Browse current starter and unit boxes on SprueSentry boxes, and see the full unit roster and points on the Adeptus Custodes army page. If you are weighing Custodes as a first-ever army, our best 40k army for beginners guide discusses how a small, forgiving-to-transport, hard-to-lose-models force compares to bigger, cheaper factions.