Kill Team Tier List for 3rd Edition

It’s time to look at the newest tier list for season 3 of Kill Team!

Welcome to today’s Warhammer 40000 Kill Team article where I cover my newest quarterly tier list for Kill Team! Based off of tournament and personal experience, as well as reviewing every team, I rate every faction in the game! Find out who are the best and the worst for tournaments and events!

1. Explaining the Tiers
2. The New Tier List
3. S Tier
4. A Tier
5. B Tier
6. C Tier
7. D Tier
8. Tier List Overview

If you want, I’ve done a more in-depth video on the subject which you can watch here:

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Explaining the Tiers

So the tiers are pretty simple:

S Tier – A super strong kill team, one you’re very likely to see at a tournament that will definitely make the top cut and/or win an event too. Possibly broken but in realty just the best team(s) to play and only really lose to other S Tier teams match-up wise, ergo having very few to no bad match-ups. Usually with a very high winrate, popularity/usage rate and good podium rate (getting 1st to 3rd at events).

A Tier – A very strong kill team. Very likely to be seen in a tournament that will make a top cut and even win the whole thing. Commonly finishes a 4 round tournament with a 3-1. Not as strong as a S Tier kill team but one you have to definitely keep in-mind for when aiming to play competitively.

B Tier – A strong kill team. Likely to be seen in tournaments and can make a top cut. Could win as well but not reliably. Definitely a team you need to remember for when playing in events Has more bad match-ups than the S and A tiers.

C Tier – An average kill team. Usually should be able to go 2 wins 2 losses in a 4 round tournament. May make the top cut but unlikely to win. You may need to remember these teams for events but it’s not a necessity.

D Tier – Bad kill teams. Weak due to either poor rules or mechanics. Unlikely to win with, commonly going 1 win and 3 losses at an event.

Also tiers do not represent skill. Someone who has spent a long time playing the same lower tier kill team is likely to beat someone hopping onto a higher tier one for the first time. This is just a general guide for players trying to find what the best kill team is for them to play or to watch out for at tournaments. These have all been charted by me based on the above factors as well as my tournament experience with the game.

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The New Tier List

Here we have the new tier list! No more E Tier this time and Compendium teams are long gone. We have a decent balance overall, however, the top and bottoms are pretty wild. The 3 weakest teams struggle a lot whereas we now have 5 incredibly powerful teams dominating at the top.

S Tier

Angels of Death: One of the best teams in the game right now. Lots of ways to ensure dice rolls with Purity Seals and Indomitus which is super powerful, on top of the re-rolls from doctrines. The Elimintor is crazy powerful, able to break most killzones, namely Gallowdark and Bheta-Decima thanks to having permanent silent and seek light. Stalker Bolt Rifles are also the best Bolt weapon now, giving the team easy access to Piercing 1 with 5 damage dice, just so good. Great leaders and being super reliable with ways to do 2 actions during counteracting makes them incredibly powerful.

Inquisitorial Agents: The best non-elite faction in the game right now. A wide number of ancillary support options and being able to pick any Tac Op archetype means you can flex into whatever you want as long as you have to money to afford it. Kasrkin will generally be your pick, using the Recon Trooper, Melta Mine, Meltagun, Plasmagun, and Comms. These all stack with your Multi-Melta and Pistollier to give you 2 plasma and 2 melta weapons with a mine. Totally fine. Very oppressive along with strategy ploys being buffed makes this team so strong now. Elites still have a decent chance into Inq but pretty much all other factions don’t sans Fellgor.

Legionary: Likely the best or tied for best. Super flexible Chaos marks, buffed Chosen, your Balefire turning into more a healing piece than damage piece, the Icon becoming a CP beacon, and an Anointed that can somehow shoot and do unique actions with the daemon unleashed. Even basic Warriors are super powerful, being able to change Marks every turning point. The -1 Piercing ability is the biggest sour-point here which makes the team way too strong coupled with 14 wounds.

Nemesis Claw: The ultimate loyalist Space Marine hunters. Able to really abuse counteracting via using their many unique actions as well as still being able to delay and generate extra command points. Slightly worse than last edition but still so strong, even into hordes. Very easy to be constantly obscured now as they don’t have to be locked into conceal orders. Just so good with tons of tricks that the opponent needs to remember.

Warp Coven: Tied for best in the game. Less complex to play, able to select boons every game, buffed Rubrics, buffed Tzaangor, what’s not to love? The fact you can downgrade Piercing too makes it even more oppressive. Still very tricksy but way stronger now. Able to go very wide effectively with Tzaanogr makes most teams fighting into them finding it very difficult. Great archetypes too makes them even stronger.

A Tier

Brood Brother: Weaker than they were last edition but still very powerful. The Primus is still a great leader along with the Magus at it remains almost the only Psyker that can ping mortal wounds with just needing valid targets. Patriarch is slightly worse hitting on 3s but this team still does so much with shooting. Very vulnerable into melee with only 2 to 3 dedicated melee operatives and especially elites but will absolute punish people who play too loosely into them.

Blooded: So good now. Lots of access to Relentless, Blooded token generation is better, buffed Enforcer, and now with Infiltration too. Means you have so many more tools at your disposal as well as having really useful strategy ploys instead of just stocking your CP for CP re-rolls. Just really good right now and can even win-out vs elites via attrition although effectively being locked into 1 plasma and 1 melta kinda balances this all out.

Corsair Voidscarred: After 3 years this time finally got re-rolls for attacking! Not only that but so many operatives were buffed. Can take Heavy Gunners and Gunners as long as you don’t select both the Blaster and Wraithcannon, The Shaderunner being able to teleport through Gallowdark walls with a better slash attack makes it even better and quite oppressive. The team also now has interruption mechanics, which I guess they stole from Mandrakes, and are likely the best elite hunters in the game sans for Inquisition. Don’t forget that everyone without a gun has power weapons!

Fellgor Ravager: Another kill team that also got buffed. Mangler and Gnarlscar went up to 11 wounds again after being nerfed down to 10, probably meaning both operatives are terrified of the first FAQ. Outside of this, their ploys have been buffed and unique abilities now last until the operative next activation, which is a general change but means you can now more safely stage with the Shaman. Still a really powerful gate-keep team that only really fears elites.

Hernkyn Yaegir: Much better now everyone can move up 4″ at the start of the game and mines now stop operatives continuing to move if triggered and are live mines. With 3 objectives and movement 5 across the board, this team is just surprisingly good now. Damage negation with 8 wounds everywhere makes them annoyingly hard to shift.

Kommandos: Now effectively a shooty team with some melee elements, Kommandos also have the most sources of 6 attack dice weapons. This team now excels at maxing Gather Surveillance with controlling the Crit Op and playing keep-away with the Kill Op. It’s quite a change from how they played last edition but fits their sneaky nature. Still a threat in melee, although you probably want more Boyz to do maximise this.

Novitiates: Unlimited Faith Points and very powerful damage negation with healing keeps this team so high. Purgatuses are still really good despite losing the free dash and the team remains surprisingly accurate and deadly. Surprisingly good into elites but still really good into everyone else. Great Tac Op combination. Only downside are the models haha.

Phobos Strike Team: The weakest elite team is still one of the best teams in the game right now. 12 wounds but now 7″ move. A lot more focused on accurate shooting with some decent access to melee power. Losing reliable CP generation hurts a lot and the team has to fear power weapon teams. However, still having access to mass ignoring obscuring and delaying operatives keeps them so good.

Void-Dancer Troupe: Harlequins are back and can now climb anything for 1″ (although have to drop normally)! Still quite good at hunting elites but blades having Severe is one of the biggest changes. An expensive but powerful team. The Mirror of Minds buff is probably too much currently but otherwise it’s interesting to see how the team performs.

Wyrmblade: A good team that got better despite Heavy Gunners getting slightly worse. Can put more operatives in hiding and can now bring them on up to turning point 2. Cult Agents still do the heavy lifting but the team still has access to so many re-rolls.

B Tier

Elucidian Starstriders: Weaker than before with Vhane being your most powerful operative. Assets are fairer to play against and now a little harder to use. The Assassin and Voidmaster losing their effectiveness slightly is painful but the team has enough tricks to compensate for it. Main worry for Starstriders are elites but that was always the case, although melee teams are still a big hurdle.

Farstalker Kinband: They’re so good now. A team that is much better at focusing on the Crit and Tac Ops but now with some added lethality so they don’t completely get ran over. Poach makes Kroot so strong and now they’re a 12 activation team. Easy access to Accurate 1 and 2 helps a lot too with a very useful Pistollier, just great to see.

Hierotek Circle: Still fluctuating in power and getting used to their new changes as they are quite different to the previous edition. Chronomance is still likely the best Cryptek with its infinite range and 12″ bubble Nanomine but the Technomancer is legit great now and helps as a healer and buff piece! A more grindy team now instead of the oppressive rushdown team they used to be but wouldn’t be surprised if they end up jumping into A Tier!

Hand of the Archon: Pain Tokens are much easier to get now which is great and you can still take a Blaster and Dark Lance together. Coupled with Seek and Destroy, the team is still very good at hunting elites. Loosing Fleet of Foot does hurt quite a bit, yet being able to use the other buffs is great. Even the Crimson Duelist kept its ability to hit on 2s!

Hearthkyn Salvagers: Weaker than before but still good. Can make great use out of Krak grenades with Proximate Firepower and Grudge Tokens. Lokatr is a lot fairer to play against while still being good while the Jump Pack Warrior has a different role compared to last edition where it scored all your mission points. Your special weapons are slightly different overall but Hearthkyn are still a great team.

Mandrakes: Despite having very little changes, went down overall due to the buffs other teams got as well as elites. Still amazing on Gallowdark and has all the interruption and teleport mechanics of old. Just a very difficult team to use well but can almost completely shutdown and out-maneuver the opponent when played well.

Scout Squad: Weaker than before but in sane way. Could go back up to 10 operatives again but still solid if not. Forward Scouting options are better, and Knives do 4/5 instead of 4/6 so at least have improved base damage for an EP cost. Shotgun spam is still as effective as ever and the team does quite well on all forms of killzones.

Tempestus Aquilons: A strange team, will dominate vs opponents that move up early TP1 and TP2 but will struggle vs opponents who wait till TP3. You have great early mobility and denial with lots of re-rolls for hitting on 3s. Just get prepared for that outcome and you’ll enjoy the team.

C Tier

Death Korps of Krieg: Weaker than before but more useful. With the loss of faction Tac Ops and 3 objectives, they became harder to play more effectively. You still have improved operatives and oddly play on Gallowdark well as it’s more open now. I still fight for 4 attack bionic arm man!

Exaction Squad: Much fairer with slightly improved Subductors and shooting into control range now working at any weapon range. However, while understandably losing turning off all re-rolls, losing P1 vs targets within 2″ of friendly operatives makes it really hard to push through damage when needed. They’re much better at arresting now but are in a weird spot.

Gellerpox Infected: Made fairer to play into and normal Mutants are actually pretty good with 5″ move and 3/4 damage. However, the team has lost a lot with slower Nightmare Hulks, worse Drawn to the Hum and weaker Mutoid Vermin. Hit a little too hard, the team does well in a control playstyle but I’m unsure how they approach the open rooms of Gallowdark.

Hunter Clade: Just remove the 6 weapon/assassin restriction and let Imperatives not have their downsides for the first turning point they are used for and Hunter Clade jump up to A Tier. Currently while Rangers are really good, Ruststalkers suffer not having Optimised Gait anymore. I think the team is almost there and while they are too good for D Tier, C feels appropriate at the moment.

Imperial Navy Breachers: Losing +1 wound from Stimms hurt a lot and now the team can’t even legally be built from a single box! The team is amazing on Gallowdark but struggles more on open board. Las Volley losing Relentless was expected but not having Balanced or Ceaseless was a shame. Fine to see them more honest but now you’ll likely mainly see them in Inq.

Kasrkin: Are a lot better now, hitting on 3s across the board at the cost of Elite Points. They probably should be B Tier but testing them out in C for now with lack of solid melee options still with For Cadia being completely changed. A lot better in a certain other team that I cannot mention for legal reasons.

Vespid Stingwings: Sitting in C due to effectively being 9 operatives. Lack of comms and Crit Op focusing on mission actions make it hard to play the Crit Op well. A very dicey team that can do well when rolling hot and semi-struggle when rolling okay, aka the Exaction conundrum. Great mobility but just need an extra Vespid warrior.

D Tier

Blades of Khaine: Dire Avengers buffed at the cost of no one else. Elites were already tough for Blades and now it’s an impossible match-up. Bullied by other teams too makes it depressing. Doesn’t really feel like a team of ancient Aeldari warriors currently.

Chaos Cult: 1 Torment per TP hurts so much. Either increase them to 16 wounds or remove the cap. At the moment it’s just really hard to play the team right now which is a shame as all the other changes are great and makes the team much better to play into. It’s just a shame it cost Cult both of their legs to do so.

Pathfinders: Pathfinders are very weird now where Shas’La spam might be their most viable build. Really need HIML and Targetting Optics to be twice per turning point to at least raise them from their current spot. Oddly love the other killzones outside of Volkus.

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Tier List Overview

For the first tier list, obviously stuff is a bit weird. The first FAQ likely won’t change much so I’m expecting big changes after the World Championships for Warhammer in November. Although this is why we have such a large and wonky S Tier with a depressing D Tier. In general balance is pretty good. Some of the teams in A Teams have very questionable rules or mechanics that hopefully be addressed too but it should be an interesting 3 months.

The biggest change has been the move to 3 objectives, no scoring TP1, and Counteract. At the moment I still lots of people playing the game like 2nd edition, which is the incorrect way to play imo. The fact you have the choice to choose your own win path is great and lots of teams reflect this such as with Farstalker Kinband and Kommandos.

Before I go, feel free to check out my Discord as well as my Patreon if you want to give me some more support!

So remember, until next time, no matter what the tiers say, stay away from tier 15 and you’ll always be able to roll a crit!