Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q4 2025 at Warhammer community.
I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.
Quite some time has passed since I last wrote one of these - and although the meta was healthy, Games Workshop were feeling like a shake up was in order! The most notable change were to Seek & Destroy Tac Ops.
Dominate: killing enemies with 12 wounds or more now gives two tokens. This means that Elite vs Elite matchups can now use this and allow a cagier play style; but it also means high-damage hordes get easier dominate play.
Sweep & Clear: You get a VP if you clear an objective and it’s not contested by enemies at end of turn; if it has a Swept token, you gain 2VP.
The 2026 Q2 tier list
A note on Season 1 Teams: they are scratched off but stil shown. They have a heavy presence in the A-tier, where they are evenly matched, with overall advantage over the B tier.
| Category | Teams |
|---|---|
| S | Felgor(*), Murderwing |
| A | Blades of Khaine (*), Battleclade, Hierotek Circle, Angels of Death, Aquilons, Chaos cults, Hand of the Archon, Kasrkin, Goremongers, |
| B | Stealth Battlesuit, Insidiants, Deathwatch, Wolf Scouts, Nemesis Claw, Breachers (*), Exaction Squad, Brood Brothers (*), Wreka Krew, Farstalkers, Inquisition, Ratlings, Plague Marines, Vespid Yaegirs, Sanctifiers, Raveners, Canoptek Circle, |
| C | Pathfinders, Scout Squad, Salvagers (*), |
Outliers
- Felgor Ravagers have been consistently strong for a while - and the changes to Seek and Destroy mean that Dominate is now extremely viable against elites. Sweep and Clear can be situationally taken depending on the Crit Op. This opens more game plans up, so that they have even more options to adapt to enemies.
- Brood Brothers have the juice to win tournaments, but they lack the shooting reliability needed for a wide horde, while also being moderately unforgiving. You need to know your opponent’s team rules to the letter and have a good sense of timing to reliably win.
- Blades of Khaine: Now the team can play Dominate against elites, and has a fighting chance against Wolf Scouts and Murderwing. Monoscorpion is playable against shooty hordes. I give them an A for fun!
- Breachers (*):
Dylan G. chastised me for not calling this one outThis team is extremely strong on the current Volkus and Tomb World layouts, and methodical players can consistently win there. But I dislike their play on Bheta Decima. - Salvagers (*): EDIT: this team has seen consistent success on tournaments. I might have underestimated them but I think a good deal of the success is people not being used to their tricks.
Methodology
The list above was compiled from a competitive mindset - assuming you want to play Approved Ops in a competitive league or tournament, after having a lot of repetitions on your team, and are familiar with (most) opponent factions. I factored multiple terrain types and layouts:
- Games Workshop’s Approved ops 2025 layouts.
- New England Bheta Decima, - CYRAC Season 1
- Squad Games Asymmetrical Close Quarters.
Each tier is shorthand for the following:
- 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 include Season 1 teams because I have seen them allowed at many Golden Ticket events.
Tier breakdown !
S tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Felgor Ravagers | Excellent Tac Op & Crit Op play and durability, consistent damage output in melee. | Too linear and predictable. | Most opponents hate facing them. |
| Murderwing | Durable, mobile, high damage output in melee. Good tricks (activation passing, out of killzone deployment) | Too much power concentration in the Chaos Lord. | Significantly reduce the viability of Aeldar teams. |
A tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blades of Khaine | Extremely mobile with flexible operative selection. Access to all archetypes. | Fragile. Hard to play optimally. | Hard to understand as an opponent. |
| Battleclade | Extremely unpredictable, unique action economy, good shooting damage output. | Limited base mobility. | Extremely abusive towards inexperienced players. Hard to play optimally. |
| Hierotek Circle | Flexible toolbox with high durability and shooting output, good Tac Op play. | Limited mobility and unforgiving. | Hard to understand as an opponent. |
| Mandrakes | Excellent mobility and damage output with good crowd control options. | Fragile and unforgiving. | Hard to read the models as an opponent, even with careful color coding. |
| Angels of Death | Durable, deadly. | Too linear and popular, so that most opponents know how to face it. | |
| Aquilons | Good mobility and damage output, Unique, excellent Tac Op strategies. | Unforgiving. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Chaos cults | High melee damage output, potential for durability. | Hard to play optimally. Too linear. | |
| Hand of the Archon | Extremely mobile, high potential for consistent damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Kasrkin | Consistently high damage output in shooting. | Linear and fragile. | Dependant on keeping their leader alive. |
| Goremongers | Mobile with high close range damage output. Dangerous to Aeldar. | Savvy opponents can dodge Goremongers’ strengths. | Significantly reducee the viability of Aeldar teams. |
| Hunter Clade | Flexible team composition, good mobility and damage output. Good crit op play. | Unforgiving. | Hard to play optimally. Declassified |
| Death Korps | High volume of consistent shooting with high activation count and good crit op play. | Fragile. Limited Tac Op flexibility. | Declassified. |
| Wyrmblade | Excellent Crit Op play with high and consistent damage output. | Hard to play optimally. | Declassified. |
| Blooded | Flexible compositions to mix melee and ranged damage output. High potential for consistent damage output. | Limited strategies to score on their archetype. | Declassified. |
| Elucidian Starstriders | Solid Tac Op play, high damage output, access to unique game sequence alteration mechanics. | Fragile. Hard to play optimally. | Hard to understand as an opponent. Declassified. |
| 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. | Declassified |
B tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stealth Battlesuits | High damage output in shooting, good mission play. | Limited to defensive strategies. | Extremely hard to play optimally. |
| Insidiants | Consistent damage output. Unique powerups when losing operatives. | Linear and predictable. | Extremely oppressive to unfamiliar opponents. |
| Death Watch | Flexible operative choice, Extremely Deadly, Durable. | Linear. Too popular, many people know how to face them already. | |
| Wolf Scouts | Mobile, Deadly on fights. | Close Quarters’ killzones weaken them. Not great at their Tac ops. | Extremely CP-hungy. |
| Nemesis Claw | Melee boogeymen with unique crowd control options. | Savvy opponents can dodge their strengths. Limited reliability and durability options. | |
| Breachers | Durable, reliable damage spikes during a TP, good action economy. | Too predictable. Insufficient base damage output. | Paying for past sins. |
| Exaction Squad | Durable and good melee, and their shooting improved recently. | Too linear and predictable. | |
| Brood Brothers | Solid Crit Op play. Decent shooting. Fun operative selection. | Fragile and unforgiving. Not enough shooting reliability. | |
| Wreka Krew | High durability and damage potential. | Poor action economy. | Extremely swingy - occasionally fun but frequently frustrating as pilot or opponent. |
| 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. |
| 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. | 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. | Abusive to inexperienced opponents. |
| Hernkyn Yaegirs | Reliable, durable, high damage output. Flavorful tricks. | Limited mobility. | |
| Sanctifiers | Mobile, deadly, durable. | Hard to play optimally. | Abusive towards inexperienced players. |
| Raveners | Unique tunelling and durability mechanics. | Hard to play optimally. Limited map presence and control. | |
| Canoptek Circle | Great mission play, durable, mobile. | Too much power budget on the Geomancer and Tomb Crawlers - makes the macro readable. | Abusive to new players. Hard to play optimally. |
| 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. | Declassified. |
| Void-Dancers | Deadly. Extremely mobile. Fun Aeldar shenanigans | Fragile. | Most opponents hate facing them. Declassified. |
| Corsair Voidscarred | Good Crit Op play, mobility and damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | A great team that has extremely frustrating matchups into melee-heavy teams like goremongers and felgor. Abusive to inexperienced opponents. Declassified. |
C tier
| Team | The good | The bad | The ugly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pathfinders | High volume of shooting that can ramp up in reliability, fun drone operatives. | Fragile and too linear. Bad action econonomy. | Paying for past sins. |
| Scout Squad | Unique pre-game mechanics. Durable. | Too linear. Poor action economy. | |
| Salvagers | Durable with good Crit Op play and reliable shooting. High potential for consistent damage output. | Limited mobility. | |
| Novitiates | Good crit op play. Consistent close range damage output. | Fragile and unforgiving. | Declassified. |
| Gellerpox Infected | Extreme durability as a hyper horde. | Hard to play optimally, restrictive action economy, too linear. | Declassified. |
| Kommandos | Durable with good Crit Op play. | Inconsistent damage output. | Declassified. |
| Warpcoven | Flexible operative selection, variable number of activations mixing Astartes with 2APL melee operatives (TL;DR - great Crit Op play). | The least killy among Astartes teams. Extremely hard to play optimally. | Extremely hard to understand as an opponent. Declassified. Only viable if playing hyper-cagey. |
Closing thoughts
The changes to Seek and Destroy are very promising - they enable non-elites to better conserve threats and time their big plays against elites - specially hordes that only need three or four kills in TP3 and TP4 at the last activation to TacOpMaxx.
Another consideration: the new Dominate opens up brainier elite-vs-elite strategies when both have access to Seek and Destroy. More Tac Ops being viable is good for the game.
The downside is that Felgors will be even better now. When attending a tournament, my sole guiding principle to Kill Team selection now is “what makes facing Felgor not boring”. Alas - none of the teams I can play competitively answer that problem. So I might as well go for Blades of Khaine and play the four archetypes in every other game.
I hope to see Wrekas less often in tournaments with the nerf to Wreka points. I disliked their casino feel. But they remain a viable team, though, and their flavor is unchanged so they might remain popular. And I’d have to endure longer games where Wreka pilots merely space their wreka consumption. Le sigh.
Looking back, I didn´t see enough Kasrkin and Goremonger presence in the tournaments around me. Maybe now it’s their time to shine? Or - dare I say - the Age of the Henrkyn?
I expect the meta to be in flux for a few months - declassified teams remain active so that local metas get to express variety, and the changes in this balance patch allow different styles and fashions to wax and wane.
And I hope to be surprised by my opponents’ choice of Tac Op more often now.