Games Workshop has just released a new balance dataslate for its sci-fi skirmish spin-off wargame, Warhammer 40k: Kill Team, tweaking various key rules. Announced via an article on GW’s Warhammer Community site on Tuesday, this latest quarterly balance dataslate makes changes to ensure each faction only wins about half its competitive games. This time, it’s meant minor nerfs for the Sisters of Battle, and small buffs for various other teams.
The Kill Team studio say that they’ve seen “a good mix of factions winning at events with 20 or more players”, but to bring every faction to their desired 45%-55% win rate, some changes were needed.
The Blooded and Wyrmblade Kill Teams both win slightly more than 55% of games, but are untouched by balance changes. According to the WarCom article, the design studio expects the new factions and close-quarters combat mechanics released in the Into the Dark box set to impact organised play.
“We don’t want to change too much at this time, to see how things settle with all the new variables,” the team explains.
Adepta Sororitas Novitiates, meanwhile, have performed strongly in the competitive scene, winning 62% of their engagements – and the nerf bat has descended on them with due force.
Their Auto-chastiser equipment, which allows the bearer to re-roll hit and wound rolls of one at the risk of suffering mortal wounds, has increased in cost from one to two EP. They’re now also forbidden from applying Acts of Faith Dice to re-rolls.
The Phobos Strike Team receives a new Strategic Ploy, Deadly Shots, which grants their bolt weapons the P1 critical hit rule for the duration of the turning point.
According to the WarCom article, the design studio intends the stratagem to boost their power against elite Kill Teams like Chaos Space Marines Legionnaires and Space Marines Intercession Squad teams.
The Phobos Strike Team languishes at the bottom of the win rates table, winning just 39% of games, so it will be interesting to see if this stratagem alone can bring them back to the middle of the pack.
The Thousand Sons Warpcoven is the second-least picked Team for competitive play, despite being an older team, so it’s been given a boost – despite just making it above the 45% win rate the design studio is shooting for.
The range at which Sorcerers can provide Rubric Marines with extra Action Points using the Rubric Command ability is now 6”, and the Exalted Astartes Strategic Ploy now allows Rubric Marines to make multiple shooting attacks if they don’t also fight.
Source: Wargamer
