Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q2 2025 at Warhammer community.
I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.
Kill Team Balance and a Tier List
I’d like to share with you some thoughts about Kill Team and its current balance - focusing for now on a competitive mindset, such as playing in a tournament or league. Since this might mean different things to different people, I’ll clarify a bit.
I’ll resort to sorting teams into different categories that loosely represent a team’s competitive power. I assume that the proverbial pilot has a perfect knowledge of the team and has played the necessary amount of games under their belt to identify optimal choices quickly:
- S tier: these teams have even matchups at worst and advantageous matchups at best.
- A tier: teams in this category have a fighting chance, and can win a tournament through superior knowledge of the game. Might have a weakness that savvy opponents can exploit as well as give the S-tier teams a run for their money. Or they may have a few disadvantageous matchups within the S-tier but otherwise be solid against everything else.
- B tier: teams that have an even distribution of favorable and unfavorable matchups. You’ll need a deep understanding of your team, the maps and missions, and every opponent to win a tournament. We can call them the “Fair” category.
- C tier: teams that, for the most, have unfavorable matchups.
I don’t have an internal ranking within each category - otherwise I would merely sort all the teams linearly.
I shouldn’t fail to mention that this is a hot take. At the time of this writing, I haven’t played a single game in the current balance yet - I merely took models by myself on Volkus and Gallowdark and replayed situations from my latest gauntlet though Adepticon 2025, while also swapping some of the teams involved. If it’s any comfort, I’ve been getting quite accurate reads on the meta on this edition - if I may say so.
I, personally, don’t believe in tier lists, but they are such a widespread convention that I eventually became able to use them as a framing device. TL;DR: my spiritual connection to every team’s soul will manifest in -
The tier list
| Category | Teams |
|---|---|
| S | Angels of Death, Phobos, Felgor, Void-Dancers, Sanctifiers (*), Warpcoven (*) |
| A | Goremongers, Elucidian Starstriders, Wyrmblade, Nemesis Claw, Legionaries, Death Korps, Blooded |
| B | Novitiates, Exaction Squad, Wreka Krew, Mandrakes, Farstalkers, Inquisition, Chaos cults, Ratlings, Plague Marines, Vespid, Hierotek (*), Voidscarred, Brood Brothers, Kommandos, Acquilons, Salvagers, Hand of the Archon, Yaegirs, Pathfinders, Kasrkin, Blades of Khaine |
| C | Breachers, Scout Squad, Gellerpox |
Most of the teams, in my mind, fall in the B category. A good thing, if you ask me - especially because in this current balance, B can still win against S. It would be more interesting if the number of teams above B equaled the number below it - that is, an even distribution. Or everything to be B. But I digress again.
Naturally, different communities have different approaches to the game - local metas might effectively require their own tier list. I’d love to share a tier list based on my local meta once I get a few more games.
I marked a few teams with an asterisk (*) because they have special caveats:
- Sanctifiers: this team extensively influences the meta. As an opponent, beating it requires both a deep knowledge and also crafting a plan solely for this matchup. Few teams have an even matchup.
- Warpcoven: I’ve written plenty about this team - so not sure I want to further bore readers. This team is at best A tier, but it’s so hard for opponents to read their weaknesses and consistently deny tac op and crit op scoring during a game that they might as well be S in practice.
- Hierotek: this team is an outlier in many ways. A player with enough reps on this team can be a nightmare to face.
To the curious mind balking at the above groupings, I add some details about my rationale below:
S tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angels of Death | Extremely durable, extremely deadly. | Too linear and popular, so that most opponents know how to face it. | |
| Phobos Strike Team | Fair durability with high mobility. Flexible toolbox with unique crowd control tools, reliable damage output, and good crit op play. | Easy to choose the wrong tools. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Felgor Ravagers | Excellent Crit Op play and durability, consistent damage output in melee. | Too linear and predictable. | Most opponents hate facing them. |
| Void-Dancers | Extremely mobile, extremely deadly, fun Aeldar shenanigans | Fragile. | Most opponents hate facing them. Going out of classification soon. |
| Sanctifiers (*) | Extremely mobile, extremely deadly, durable. | Too linear - few viable playstyles other than hyper aggression. | They significantly reduce the viability of Aeldar teams. Extremely abusive towards inexperienced players. Few teams have an even or advantageous matchup. |
| Warpcoven (*) | Flexible operative selection, variable number of activations mixing Astartes with 2APL melee operatives (TL;DR - great Crit Op play). Access to both Recon and Security Archetypes. | The least killy among Astartes teams. Extremely hard to play optimally. | Extremely hard to understand as an opponent. Going out of classification soon. |
A tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goremongers | Mobile with high close range damage output. | Savvy opponents can dodge Goremongers’ strengths. | They significantly reduce the viability of Aeldar teams. |
| Elucidian Starstriders | Access to Recon and Security with high damage output, access to unique game sequence alteration mechanics. | Fragile. | Hard to understand as an opponent. Going out of classification soon. |
| Wyrmblade | Excellent Crit Op play with high and consistent damage output. | Hard to play optimally. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Nemesis Claw | Melee boogeymen with unique crowd control options. | Hard to score on their archetypes - savvy opponents can abuse this in terrain-sparse layouts. | |
| Legionary | Flexible operative selection to tune to ranged or melee combat, good crit op play. | Most viable compositions are not durable; durable compositions are too linear. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Death Korps | High volume of consistent shooting with high activation count and good crit op play. | Fragile. Hard to score on their archetype. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Blooded | Flexible compositions to mix melee and ranged damage output. High potential for consistent damage output. | Limited strategies to score on their archetype. | Going out of classification soon. |
B tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novitiates | Consistent close range damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Blades of Khaine | Extremely mobile with flexible operative selection. Access to Recon and Security (and Infiltration although hard to make a case for it) | Fragile. Hard to play optimally. | Hard to understand as an opponent. |
| Exaction Squad | Durable and good melee. | Too linear and predictable. | |
| Wreka Krew | High durability and damage potential. | Poor action economy - specially on most Gallowdark match ups. | Extremely swingy - occasionally fun but frequently frustrating as pilot or opponent. |
| Mandrakes | Excellent mobility and damage output with good crowd control options. | Fragile and unforgiving, hard to score on their archetypes. | Hard to read the models as an opponent, even with careful color coding. |
| Farstalker Kinband | Good mobility and crit op play with high activation count. | Fragile and unforgiving. | |
| Inquisitorial Agents | Flexible toolbox with unique crowd control mechanics. | Unforgiving, absurdly hard to play optimally. | The hardest team to understand as a pilot and/or opponent. |
| Chaos cults | High melee damage output, potential for durability. | Hard to play optimally. Too linear. | Currently paying for past sins. |
| Ratlings | Good shooting and mobility with decent melee options. Good Crit Op play. | Hard to play optimally. Deceptively hard operative selection. | |
| Plague marines | Extremely durable with high damage output. Stomps on Sanctifiers. | The least mobile of Astartes teams. Savvy opponents can dodge Plague Marines’ strengths. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Vespid Stingwings | High mobility and access to fly, consistent shooting damage output. | Unforgiving, hard to score on their archetypes. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Hierotek (*) | Flexible toolbox with high durability and shooting output. Access to Recon and Security. | Limited mobility and unforgiving. | Hard to understand as an opponent. |
| Corsair Voidscarred | Good Crit Op play, mobility and damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | A great team that has extremely frustrating matchups into goremongers, felgor and sanctifiers. Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Brood Brothers | Good shooting. Fun operative selection. | Fragile and unforgiving, hard to score on their archetypes. | |
| Kommandos | Durable with good Crit Op play. The one team that makes the Infiltration archetype fun. | Inconsistent damage output. | Going out of classification soon. |
| Acquilons | Good mobility and damage output, excellent Tac Op strategies. | Unforgiving. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Salvagers | Durable with good Crit Op play and reliable shooting. High potential for consistent damage output. | Limited mobility. | |
| Hand of the Archon | Extremely mobile, high potential for consistent damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Yaegirs | Reliable, durable, high damage output. | Limited mobility, hard to score on their archetypes. | Would be an easy S if they had one different archetype. |
| Kasrkin | Reliable shooting. | Too linear. Fragile and unforgiving. Hard to score on their archetypes. | |
| Pathfinders | High volume of shooting that can ramp up in reliability, fun drone operatives | Fragile and too linear. | Paying for past sins. |
C tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breachers | Durable, reliable damage spikes during a TP, good action economy. | Too predictable. Insufficient base damage output. | Paying for past sins. |
| Scout Squad | Unique pre-game mechanics. Durable. | Too linear. Poor action economy. | |
| Gellerpox Infected | Extreme durability as a hyper horde. | Hard to play optimally, restrictive action economy, too linear. | Going out of classification soon. |
Did anything change?
I think the intent described at the Warhammer Community Article focusing on underperforming teams and making them more viable did manifest in helpful changes. This has landed a large swathe of teams into a fair category, reducing the number of unviable teams.
Some changes are welcome but I don’t think it significantly alters the totem. For example, Death Korps of Krieg got a buff in melee that I don’t think changes its relationship to the S tier in any significant way, although it does make it harder for some B tier teams to go against them.
Felgor, likewise, received nerfs that make them feel less abusive - without removing the core strengths that make it S tier. Factoring other changes in the S tier like the nerf to Warpcoven’s (much maligned) Capricious Plan, the overall effect is to reduce the gap with lower performing teams. It now feels possible to rank within each tier now, but I’ll defer that exercise until a more informed moment of my existence seizes the initiative.
This was not a flawless victory for Games Workshop, however. The buff to Breacher’s “Deck Hand” firefight ploy looks fun but it’s unlikely to increase their viability. Gellerpox should be among the most idiosyncratic and game-defining teams in its last hurrah, yet remains exceedingly hostile to players. And lastly, the Scout Squad, that could be a marvelous team for new players to learn the fundamentals, looks like a leaden life saver. I’d be hard-pressed to name more than one player that could make each of those work. Not like that would stop me from trying to brainwash them into winning a Grand Tournament in hard mode with them though.
I can list only a few significant changes: most notably, I dropped Blades of Khaine from the A tier to the B tier. Their fragility has become a bigger liability as more enemies became more reliable or killy. Pathfinders and Kasrkin graduated from their limbo of unreliable shooting into the B tier.
The one aspect I don’t like is my (reluctant) demotion of Blades of Khaine. Much like Inquisition, this team sports the highest ceiling of skill expression in Kill Team. A big brain player with infinite reps in every team would be unbeatable on these two. Alas, nobody can afford themselves infinite reps on the reality where I write this article.
Hernkyn, Blades of Khaine and Acquilons sit on the brink of A. I almost create an interstitial category just for them, if not for the fact that a category in the center of the totem makes for a pretty boring landscape.
On a personal level, I’d like to mention the “Capricious plan” Firefight Ploy nerf on Warpcoven. This ploy was typically used to dash and change order to conceal along “Temporal Flux”, allowing sorcerers to set up long non-reciprocal threats. However, now Capricious Plan can either allow a free dash or an order change - so that the utility is reduced. In the previous balance state, I would occasionally consider it on adverse matchups (e.g. Felgor on Volkus or Blooded on Gallowdark) but now I hardly see the point in budgeting a CP for this. I think this will lay Warpcoven pilots into even more conservative strategies. I have little resort but a harder lean on ultraviolence - which is paradoxical given the reduced damage output compared to other Astartes.
I have some doubts as to the factual accuracy of 3 teams in this tier list - but I’ll keep them unnamed and instead let enterprising readers a streak to criticize me for.
The main highlight I can’t fail to bring up is the change to Sanctifiers’ Sermon. This will remove abusive plans factoring aggressive alpha strikes in Turning Point 1 (essentially moving a piece very far ahead), and give opponents more opportunity for countering in TP2.
Closing thoughts
I think the power differences between teams and tiers has effectively shrunk on the competitive landscape. In my (admittedly not long) Kill Team journey, I can’t remember a balance slate with so many teams at a similar power level that can still go toe to toe with the S tier.
These changes are subtle and I’m happily surprised. Thinking about the future, I consider it likely the next balance patch would bring an even tighter experience. I’d like to see Angels of Death’s “Duellist” fade a bit so other chapter tactics get more play, and good hit of the old nerfhammer to Sanctifiers.
In retrospect, I realized that trying to summarise each team’s standing and features actually helped me formalize some vague notions I had about how to face them. Next time I’m at a tournament, I’ll have to think less!
Speaking of which, I hope to refine this article with edits if I learn to be wrong. Although it might be fun to look back a month from now and laugh at my past self, I have a penchant for obsessive accuracy.
One article alone can’t capture all the subtleties of the current meta, but fortunately I still think this is a good exercise. Hopefully, it’s at least a conversation starter, or food for thought!
Warp permitting, I’ll share a different article about balance and tier lists at the antipodal mindset of casual play. So stay tuned!