Kill Team Tier List FOR BEGINNERS (Find YOUR team!)

Warhammer 40k Kill Team is getting new players all the time and with the next 3 or 4 months of no news, it's time to help the newbies out and let them know how they can make a start with all the different teams with this beginner guide to kill team tier list!
If you're thirsty, I have a Patreon: / glasshalfdead
Buying Warhammer in the USA? Give me a kickback with Noble Knight: www.nobleknight.com/affiliate...
Buying Warhammer in the UK? Give me a kickback from Element or Wayland: elementgames.co.uk/?d=10999 affiliates.waylandgames.co.uk...
Music is by Guillaume David from the Mechanicus OST
0:00 Intro
1:47 Compendium
3:40 Vet Guard, Kommandos, Intercession
8:00 Hunter Clade, Wyrmblade, Warp Coven, Void Dancers
12:55 Novitiates
15:00 Pathfinders
17:07 Corsairs
18:35 Legionary
21:00 Blooded
22:29 Phobos
25:35 Navy Breachers
27:00 Farstalker Kinband
28:25 Elucidian Starstriders
29:15 Gellerpox Infected
31:45 Kasrkin
33:32 Hierotek Circle
35:51 Exaction Squad
39:32 Hand of the Archon
41:42 Hearthkyn Salvagers
43:39 Fellgor Ravagers
45:34 Inquisitorial Agents
48:01 Chaos Cults
51:54 Strike Force Justian
53:53 Scout Squad
56:01 Blades of Khaine
59:15 Night Lords
01:01:00 Mandrakes
01:03:17 Hernkyn Jaegir
01:07:43 Brood Brothers
01:10:44 Final Thoughts
#killteam #warhammer #40k

[@GlassHalfDead]

If you're vibing with this channel, consider checking me out on Patreon where I post a bunch of random and rambling thoughts and give you early videos: www.patreon.com/GlassHalfDead

[@celticbear714]

I'm trying to get my friends into Kill Team, and immediately sent them this video when I saw it. You're such a great resource to the community, and this video is a godsend. That being said, my first team when playing Kill Team was T'au Pathfinders before all the nerfs started rolling in. They were strong, and I got to fire big rail rifles every other activation. Afterwards, I started to gravitate towards Legionary and Compendium Death Guard (which with FNP are still a great team when standing up to bespoke). Right now I'm trying to tinker with and figure out the Brood Brothers ^^

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@celticbear714 I hope it helps keep the kill team enthusiasm alive through the next few months!

[@DanaHowl]

Thank you so much for this Glass!!! it was exactly the video I needed when prioritizing what teams to paint/play next as a beginner! I starter with Kommandos and you're right they were a great place to start!!

[@nestadious]

Kommandos and vet guard were my first teams when I played against myself while learning the rules. Kommandos was what I used for first several in person games with folks in my community. Love the kommandos, great beginner team and great higher level team. They got a few good shooters, and some good melee. Grot is also just soooooo much fun.

[@IVIaskerade]

I think if you're going to make a beginner tier list, ease of acquisition also has to be accounted for. This knocks all the WD teams down a peg or two, but particularly Wyrmblade and Void Dancers since you're having to purchase multiple expensive characters that cost as much as a Pathfinders or Kommandos box on their own.

[@ajp8429]

Definitely going Kommandos, looks like a fun balanced team with one of each “type” to learn

[@GlassHalfDead]

Honestly, KT struck gold by releasing Kommandos first. Great team for the entire edition, teaches good solid fundamentals.

[@SpriteAndSmite]

My first team was Hand of the Archon. The shredder really did a number on the opponent's hordey team. I get eyerolls everytime I field a blast weapon now.

[@nofuxgivens2797]

I love Gellerpox Infected and breachers

[@user-ho1fg8xm3i]

Thank you for this, must have taken a lot of time and effort.

[@patpaints9813]

Just started in KT a month ago. Intercession was definitely a good starting point - low mental tax allows you to concentrate on understanding the basics of moving, LOS, cover etc. Have tried gellerpox, which felt like a different game completely - very simple, just charge and hit things, but did make me realise the intricacies of leaving space to move and optimising group activations, which you don't have to consider with intercession. So I definitely recommend starting simple, then try something completely different.

[@HeyU808]

I am still new. I am playing KT for 3 month now very actively and started with pathfinder. They are very very strong. But be ready for the grind if you do so as well. They are very fun, but not for everyone as a first team.

[@McFatson]

Good to know scouts are decent. Making a scout squad conversion for my Space Marine army and I'm happy to know I have a way to dip into Kill Team if I want.

[@thelittlestgiant]

Very glad my orky boyz and goat boyz are both in top tier for beginners, because they’re my favorite two aesthetically, and I also like easier-to-play factions in games. 😅❤

[@Inquisitor_Vex]

First team I playing with was Vet Guard because it came in the starter box (plus they’re cool AF) but the first team I chose to play was daemons (bloodletters) because I just wanted a simple “point and shoot” team to just learn the basics of moving, cover and fighting.

[@BoGanora]

I bought the Phobos Strike Team yesterday, not specific for KT but I went after a Reiver squad and they were out. I'm painting a Wolf spear army. Nice the know that they are viable for KT beginners and pretty versatile.plus, they look cool. Phobos armor is my fav variant by far

[@NoRedFear]

Thanks for the video ! I started with Kommandos and it felt great. Mixed arms, good survivability, impactful specialists. Then went to compendium T'au: only range, no specialists (breachers + suits), few tricks. Gets you thinking about movement/placement though, quite the learning experience. Settled on Kasrkin, i miss the melee. Would have gone blooded but Sv 5+ is a lifestyle i can't get behind.

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@NoRedFear I can't make a 5+ save for the life of me. The few times I actually do, I'm just a bit confused by the result!

[@NoRedFear]

@@GlassHalfDead that too. 4+ is 4+ you don't get them as often as you'll like but you can be pleasantly surprises. You just don't with 5+, yet you expect it to happen sometimes. Whereas 6+ you know you have no hope of saving

[@KrakDuk]

lol the first team I played was Vet guard. I have no regrets tho, love the team even if the learning curve was a bit higher. It also balanced things for me and my friends a bit since I had more experience with Wargames so we were basically on a level playing field since my team was harder to pilot. Now I have 4 different vet guard teams…

[@TabletopImpulse]

You placed all the White Dwarf teams in D tier because you fear that support will end, but you were comfortable to place Justian in A. This seems counterintuitive to me.

[@GlassHalfDead]

GW will forget they exist, thereby keeping their rules legal.

[@wolvie90]

I bought Corsairs box over a year ago and just recently finished it, glad to see they aren't trash tier :) I don't have anyone to play with right now but I'll likely get another team and force my brothers to play with me.

[@Dominik189]

Begginer here. Mostly play One Page Rules Firefight cause I can make my own team. But now I'm getting into kill team as well. I played a casual game with a friend and his intercessors against his kommandos and it kind of got me interested. I bought Scouts and Intercessors for my self. Still building them so no games yet. I'll probably try both out at the same time, maybe run Intercessors for a game or two before throwing my self into the Scouts and probably going to run Scouts as my main team. I'm excited to get games in with my Salamanders Scouts and my Dark Angels Intercessors.

[@GlassHalfDead]

List building is super fun and I miss it greatly! Right now Scouts have just been buffed really hard, so a a top notch team atm.

[@Dominik189]

@@GlassHalfDead let's just hope I'm good enough to make good use of them

[@foreverfornever1124]

Oh perfect video for me as I started KT this summer. Im starting with KT's I had already, that being Interecession and Necron bespoke team. I still had SM sprues from all the 9th ed starter boxes. Im not playing 40k SM currently, but knew I would eventually, so good thing I kept those sprues. Plus this KT also gives me a jumpstart on my custom Salamander force. I dont think Ill pick up the StrikeForce Justian KT as I want to keep my KT selections in coherency with my armies to save money. I bought 2 Heirotek circle kits for the discounted models and cool bits to convert other HQ's for my army, so Im pretty set on that team already. I do plan to buy both Votann KT's at some point since I just started that army this year

[@FestorFreak]

Long time player, started with Grey Knights, and they were incredibly forgiving due to having 3apl and relentless on everything. They are very killy but not very tough, so they are not great for objective play, and really struggle against horde teams. Still, at the time they weren't terrible, and they were great for learning the game.

[@stuartterry9702]

I've been playing the starter set with my mates, and I always give them Kommandos and I take Vet Guard - just because I know that they will win and I will lose, because none of us know what we're doing yet lol. I am getting better though... slowly...

[@austinryba5936]

Still new to Kill Team, I have been playing Kommandos. I was eyeing Wyrmblade to get next as I love the models. What makes you think they are getting rid of the White Dwarf teams? Maybe I will wait until Brood Brothers are available for me to purchase.

[@overtonwindowshopper]

Hi, I’m new to Kill Team and 40K in general. What does compendium mean and why is it bad?

[@GlassHalfDead]

Ahh, right. I feel I must have a video somewhere that explains this, but I'm not sure which one. BASICALLY, there is a book you can buy called Kill Team Compendium. It contains 20 factions and it launched 3 years ago when KT launched. It was done to allow 40k players to use their basic troops in Kill Team from day one of the KT launch. Since then, the "full" game of Kill Team has been released and it focuses on "specialist teams" (the ones with Kill Team branding on the box). The new edition of Kill Team will come in September and it is likely that the compendium teams will no longer be legal.

[@daydreamingsoldier3613]

my first team was legionary cause started playing combat patrol and then 1000 and 2000 points game. I love the legionary and now im playing nightlords. was a pain in the ass to buy the nightmare box here in mexico. but im very happy with the team

[@Newominus]

21:09 Am I missing something? Both vet and blooded are base 10 and can add 4 more troopers (or an ogryn and an enforcer, the veterans can have fewer bodies since a box of them can't build 14 and will force you to take the artillery), why are they described as having less bodies? Or are you referring to something else when you say numbers?

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@Newominus fair question, my bad. So the vet guard are designed to be run as a 14 model team, with the option to take only 10 as a way to run them as a single box, but it's really not very optimal. The blooded are designed as a 11-12 model team.

[@majortom7186]

My first team was Compenduim Drukhari, but I quickly switched to Grey Knights. My first real team was Wrymblade.

[@capsaicinJT]

i started trying to play blades of khaine with only scorpions and dire avengers, it did not go well. i tried some games with corsairs, scouts, kommandos, and hand of the archon. i've mostly been playing hand of the archon because i want to learn them really well, but i don't think they are very friendly for a beginner. scouts felt very forgiving, they can take some hits, and most of the complex choices you need to make are their scouting shenanigans, after that you can just run around killing stuff. i tried kommandos (against kasrkin) and got absolutely tabled, and it was a huge feels bad, i haven't felt like trying them again, but i should probably give them a chance. the person who beat me is really really good so it's probably not the team's fault. overall i would say the biggest hurdle for me (with big 40k too) is that my local meta is REALLY sweaty and competitive, and starting out as a new player is REALLY rough. most people are nice about it, but they still just absolutely ruthlessly curbstomp you, and even when people are giving you tips and takesies backsies etc etc it starts to be very demoralizing. i kind of enjoy building and painting more than the actual games to be honest.

[@MrJoAHenderson]

IIRC some of the early Vet Guard vs Kommandos battle reports had the Kommandos player get wrecked by assets turn 1.

[@vectorshaman338]

I have 17 kill teams apparently. 9 are built, 1 fully magnetized. 5 are painted. Great graphic, helped me organize my progress.

[@earnestwanderer2471]

Death Guard for Life!

[@qabbages]

Good video! You should do one for brainload while playing next!

[@leeksveeks4572]

I’ve gone for Night Lords for first kill team because I love the models. Might go for Mandrakes next. Should have bought the Nightmare set and not just bought bits of eBay 😂

[@Raptor0256]

was going to say salvagers were better than yaegirs simply due to 3 gunners and 5" movement, but you make valid points for the other way my first team was compendium space marines, but looking back i think an APL 2 team is a better place to start. you have to learn the importance of maximizing your APL to get the job done. i find APL 2 teams a little more challenging as im always wanting that 3rd APL. my friend on the other hand learnt on a 2 APL team and has an easier time flexing up to a 3 APL team. that said, 3 APL does teach you more about combo-ing actions together such as fallback and shoot, or shoot charge fight, that lower action teams cant do

[@treydog999]

I started KT a few months ago with Chaos Cults, it was a mistake. I still struggle with the team. I Picked it for flavor because evolving seemed fun

[@duranbarnett8587]

I started with Grey Knights. Tried Hive Fleet Oops all Genestealers but that didnt last long. I followed them up with Custodes (4 boys). But now im focusing on bespoke teams. I currently focusing on Kasrkin but have Legionaries + Breachers on sprue and plans to print Blooded and Inquisitorial Agents teams.

[@hyrockr]

How can I buy a great intercessors team? There’s too many boxes to choose from

[@GlassHalfDead]

I cover exactly that right here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHmveGyra6ZsmKs

[@eftyextenebra1837]

Very nice video, probably your most helpful to date. Also mostly spot on, with some (more or less subjective) exceptions. One of them that stands out the most to me is Novitiates: they are NOT a melee team. They have one melee model (repentia) and two counterpunch models (mace and superior), and rely on shooting more than anything to eliminate enemies (flamers, plasma, krak grenade). And their faith dice is very useful to newbies who don't yet gauge probabilities too well.

[@CraigBurgundy]

New to killteam, and wargaming in general. How do you find a game?

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@CraigBurgundy ooh that's a tough one to cover in a quick comment. Your best bet is to ask on the largest Facebook or Reddit group you can find if there are local players in your area. Most areas tend to have their own discord server where you can arrange games.

[@SuperFearlessleader]

(veteran player) The first team I played was compendium Traitor Space Marines. Then it was Legionnaires. They were both excellent teams to learn on. I think elite teams are inherently beginner friendly to play.

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@SuperFearlessleader elites are definitely where I'd recommend all players to begin, for sure

[@darkkaas8399]

Yep...considering my characters are usually at the bottom of the rankings, I'll learn to play Chaos Cultists (my first faction) now, and once I want to switch to Chaos Space Troopers (which are from S-tier), they'll have to drop to the bottom....))

[@tedcincoski2497]

I ran one game as Tomb World, one game as Intercession, and jumped straight into pre-buff Hierotek circle, never looked back. As an experienced player who teaches a lot of Kill Team, I give new players Intercession and run Hive Fleet with 3 Warriors and 8 gaunts.

[@Maidez09]

Are we thinking September for the new edition? That is quite soon.

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@Maidez09 that's the current thinking. Kill team released September 3 years ago and GW runs on a 3 year rule cycle as seen from kill team 2018 and Warcry.

[@BR-qw5tb]

I’ve just picked up the Corsairs

[@johnbeaudoin7820]

I started the game with compendium Brood Coven, but switched to Wyrmblade as soon as they came out, so let’s call them my starting team. I ran them all the way through LVO 2024, and while I lost far more games than I won, they taught me to not get tilted about losing models, as long as those dead neophytes are scoring me VP on their way out.

[@alfred8936]

As a Novitiates main since I first started KT, another thing going against them is the fact that when you DO finally know what you're doing, your friends are going to be incredibly demoralized to play against you lol. Not because they're particularly overpowered, but because they can basically negate entire randomized aspects of the game while hitting people with their toolbox of tricks (Burning Advance zoning, Penitent + Krak slingshot, Security + Glory to the Martyrs + Defenders of the Faith, etc). It can feel oppressive at times, especially to non-horde teams. That said, I think there is some merit to teams with a steeper learning curve forcing you to develop familiarity with the rules; I was able to jump into new teams much faster once I learned how to figure out a complicated one.

[@steejansbigeagle1505]

Intercession is still winning big tournaments

[@neon_necromunda]

Vet here and custodes they are still very very strong.

[@GlassHalfDead]

Custodes are a brilliant beginner team, for sure! But long term support...

[@brennonr]

Necron compendium, no it was bad lol. I am building exaction squad right now

[@ybfc311]

im running Templar Justians 👍🏼 nice and easy to play, im still a bit of nooob...

[@SickLiq]

Compendium teams going away is kind of sad. The flexibility of using existing 40k armies in Kill Team is a lot of the allure for me. Getting a little bang for my buck. But I suppose that's why GW has to kill it. I hope they don't do that for Warcry.

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@SickLiq I don't see them removing it for Warcry. Two very different games. I would also say that as the years have progressed since compendium, all kill teams are valid in 40k now. And in general they're not bad. So instead of our compendium being what you get in a combat patrol box, they're kind of now the next thing you'd buy after a combat patrol box

[@Altharicus]

Ye. BoK is probably for the aspect fanboys, i definitly have a rough start, and a losing streak to begin with 😅🥴

[@Altharicus]

But it feels great when you make a great play with a 3apl and a well place technique ✌️

[@GlassHalfDead]

@@Altharicus tough team for a beginner, but pretty fun with all their trix!

[@marianojesus5137]

Gellerpox is not an easy team, if the map is low in heavy terrain they suffer a lot

[@Tulkash01]

This, I suspect, was a tier list meant to infuriate some people…