With two new Kill Teams revealed at the Big Summer Preview, you’ll no doubt be formulating fresh strategies for tackling the latest Necron threat in the eerie confines of a tomb world.
This isn’t the only incoming change, as it is once again time for your regularly scheduled quarterly balance update. It’s free to download below and on the official Kill Team app, and we’ve a quick sitrep from the team on the thought processes behind the changes.
We're happy with the way the meta is in the system overall, which means we can focus on toning down overperforming teams. The most notable adjustments are to Adeptus Astartes teams, which all see some level of adjustment. Loyalist and heretic Space Marines alike have had a profound impact on the game so far, as powerful teams which are often well represented at events. These adjustments should provide other kill teams with more counterplay, and bring them more into line with the field.
We've also clarified that dice cannot be retained more than once, which resolves how rules like Punishing and Rending interact with Accurate and Severe. This prevents these rules stacking together, affecting the balance of teams that relied on this combo.
We’ve compiled five of the biggest changes below:
The Guard action has been adjusted, so that performing a Fight or Shoot action while on Guard will now prevent that operative from counteracting later in the turning point.
Adeptus and Heretic Astartes teams have had some of the strongest parts of their toolkits tuned down. Each change has been tailored to the difficulties they were presenting. For example, the Angels of Death’s Dueller Chapter Tactic no longer allows blocking multiple dice – which was oppressive to melee teams with fewer attack dice – while the Nemesis Claw has had the distance requirement on In Midnight Clad changed to make them less durable to shooting teams.
Brood Brothers, Hierotek Circle, and Pathfinders were all seeing significant success with early attacks in the first turning point. All of these teams have had new restrictions put on their rules to reduce this pressure on other teams.
Despite their changes in the last update, the Sanctifiers have continued to present unique problems in the meta. Their mobility has been near unmatched, and their faction rules allowed them to put out significant stopping power even with weaker weapons. To bring this team down a notch, the Confessor’s Lead the Procession rule now only allows for movement up to 3”, while the Blaze faction rule now only applies Blaze tokens if critical damage is actually inflicted on the opponent, meaning defensive tools are more effective against the Sanctifiers' many flame weapons.
Imperial Navy Breachers and Hunter Clade have both been strengthened, with the latter now able to bring an additional Sicarian or Gunner operative, and the former receiving an additional wound to increase their durability on the battlefield.
Updates to the Classified format are approaching, alongside the annual rotation. These updates will be made to the Approved Ops Tournament Companion, which will be found on Kill Team: The App and on Warhammer Community after the World Championships of Warhammer in November 2025. Strike Force Variel – released in the Warhammer Heroes series – will not be part of the Classified format.
Kill Team quarterly update
Download here
