Time moves fast when you’re sneaking through ruins under the shadow of a plasma cannon the size of a cathedral.
With Kill Team’s latest edition in full swing, it’s time once again for a quarterly balance update — and this one’s all about lifting up the stragglers and keeping the meta nice and healthy.
As Leila from the Kill Team dev team explains, this update focuses on boosting teams that are still under 45% win rate, following earlier changes that reined in the most dominant forces. Let’s break down the changes that matter most — especially if you’ve been grinding it out with a low-tier team.
Sanctifiers: Early Pressure Gets Capped
The Sanctifiers, known for opening with explosive aggression, are seeing their Confessor’s “Lead the Procession” rule toned down — it can no longer be used in the first Turning Point. This gives opponents a chance to respond before getting steamrolled, without gutting the rest of the team’s toolkit. Still deadly, just slightly less of a first-turn nightmare.
Hivestorm: More Bugs and Bots Join the Fight
Both Vespid Stingwings and Tempestus Aquilons get extra operatives to help them stay relevant under pressure. The Aquilons now bring a required Servo-Sentry, while Vespid can now field another Warrior, giving both teams better objective play and resilience — especially in close-quarters firefights.
T’au Pathfinders: Markerlights Get a Serious Buff
T’au Pathfinders have long struggled with their 4+ hit rolls and underwhelming performance in dense terrain. No longer. The Markerlight mechanic has been reworked:
- With 1 Markerlight, the target gives your shooting weapons Balanced (reroll a die).
- With 2 Markerlights, you hit on a 3+.
This is a huge accuracy spike, especially in urban Volkus or the claustrophobic Gallowdark. Expect Pathfinders to become far more lethal from range.
Kasrkin: Buffed Damage and Easier Plays
The elite Kasrkin get some serious love. Their Clearance Sweep ploy and others have been made more reliable, and the Sergeant can now pick two Skills at Arms instead of one — unlocking much bigger tactical plays. This brings their damage and versatility closer to where an elite human team should sit.
General Melee Improvements Across the Board
Several hybrid teams trying to get into melee were falling short — especially in tight corridors. To fix this, Hernkyn Yaegirs, Death Korps, Scout Squad, Kasrkin, and Vespid Stingwings all receive buffs to melee gear and/or ploy consistency. This should open up more viable build paths for close-combat variants, especially in narrative or terrain-heavy environments.
Final Thoughts: Meta on the Mend
This balance update shows the Kill Team devs are listening and reacting smartly — rather than swinging the nerf bat wildly, they’re elevating underperformers while tuning down problematic edges. It’s especially nice to see T’au and Kasrkin players get some long-awaited love.
If you’ve been benching one of these teams, now might be the time to dust them off and bring them back to the Gallowdark.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
