The Quick & Dirty: Raveners are one of the most thematic teams Kill Team has ever received. They look incredible, their tunneling rules capture exactly how Tyranids should feel, and their Poison mechanics create a unique kind of pressure. But they are also a deeply flawed team. The 5+ save, swingy melee output, and slow start tunnels mean they struggle in competitive play. They are fun, cinematic, and rewarding once mastered, but they are not broken, and they will not win events without a lot of effort.
Faction Identity
Raveners are predators. They do not sit on objectives or grind enemies down. They make the board unsafe. Every tunnel marker forces your opponent to think differently about positioning, and every Poison token changes the math of a fight. This creates a constant psychological edge, which is their real strength. The downside is fragility. With a 5+ save and mediocre melee damage, Raveners can crumble fast against focused fire or tough elites. They rely heavily on their tunnels coming online in TP2 or TP3 to feel threatening, which is a long time to wait in a game this short.
Faction Abilities
Predatory Instincts
This is a fantastic rule. Raveners can fight twice in one activation and can counteract regardless of their order. On top of that, they can change their order before counteracting, or simply shift it for free instead of taking an action. If they are standing on one of your tunnels, they even gain a free Burrow. On the table this creates real flexibility. A Ravener can fight, then burrow away; shoot, then burrow away; or dash, change orders, and disappear. The downside is AP economy. You run out fast, but the ability to strike and vanish makes them feel like true ambushers.
Tunneling and Burrowing
This is the signature mechanic. At setup at least two Raveners deploy normally, while the rest can start underground. Underground models only have access to the Burrow action, letting them surface from a tunnel marker. Doing so costs 1 AP and reduces movement by 2” for the rest of the turn. If a Ravener on the board uses Burrow while on a tunnel marker, it goes back underground for later redeployment.
Tunnel markers themselves define the network. You place the first wholly within your drop zone and touching the Kill Zone edge. Then, at the start of each Turning Point, you add another within 5” of the last, up to five total. This is both brilliant and flawed. Once established, tunnels are incredible: they let you move through walls, barbed wire, and ITD terrain in total safety. By TP2 you can threaten the mid-board, and by TP3 you are hitting enemy objectives from nowhere. The flaw is speed. That first tunnel marker being locked to your drop zone edge makes TP1 almost irrelevant, and often you do not get real payoff until TP2 or TP3. In a four-turn game, that is a huge delay. It feels like a miss in design: Raveners desperately need their network online sooner. Still, once it is there, opponents quickly realize there are no safe zones left.
Operatives
Ravener Prime
Your leader and lynchpin. The APL debuff is fantastic, forcing enemies to spend more AP to score or interact. The CP gamble is worth attempting early when wounds are plentiful, but not later when self-damage risks crippling your leader. It also blocks rerolls within range, which is brutal against elite teams. The Prime’s melee is underwhelming for a leader, but the objective control utility makes it invaluable.
Felltalon
A standout. Toxic Lunge averages 4 damage without risking return swings, and Poison adds another D3 on activation. That often saves you a whole extra attack sequence, which in turn saves you from taking hits back. Combining Toxic Lunge with the silent Pincer Tail lets you delete fragile models from conceal, perfect for clearing hordes or Aeldari. The ability to hand your opponent a poisoned model that dies the moment it activates is one of the nastiest tempo plays in the team.
Tremorscythe
One of the best models in the team. Charging from conceal is great, but its ability to interrupt enemy movement near tunnels is what makes it terrifying. Opponents hate moving onto objectives when a Ravener might leap out. Even if it never swings, the threat shapes how your opponent plays. It is telegraphed, and good players will not walk into it unless desperate, but that pressure is still worth its weight in gold.
Wrecker
Durable and swingy. It gets a 4+ save and damage reduction, making it the toughest Ravener. The Crush ability can spike extra mortal damage in melee, sometimes pushing swings into absurd territory. But it is inconsistent. Sometimes it just does nothing. Still, you always take it, because it gives the team a needed anchor and can punish careless opponents.
Venomspitter
Surprisingly useful. Its ranged Poison feels modest until you start stacking tokens. Against fragile teams, every activation becomes painful, and even against elites it taxes them down over time. The Distended Dorsal Sacs action is neat, giving it longer range and better crits, but often unnecessary since Raveners are fast enough to get close. Not a star, but a reliable tool that adds a layer of chip damage.
Ravener Warriors
The duds. They gain Lethal 5+ against wounded enemies or those that fell back, which sounds fine but rarely matters. Their melee is bland, their output is weak, and they do not bring the utility of specialists. The only reason to build them is that they make Raveners a one-box team. Otherwise, skip them.
Strategic Ploys
Death From Below
If you have burrowed, your melee gains Balanced; if you are on a tunnel, you gain Ceaseless. This is one of the better ploys, smoothing dice in a team that desperately needs reliability. A staple.
Whipcord Emergence
Re-rolls for defense dice after burrowing. In theory it makes Raveners tankier, but in practice you will rarely use it. Spending CP to survive on a 5+ save team is not a great investment.
Ride Out of Sight
This is excellent. Lets you immediately burrow or reposition when you have overextended. Perfect for pulling back a model that lost initiative or got caught out. One of the few defensive tricks Raveners have.
Tunnel Lurkers
Grants cover while standing on tunnels. Occasionally useful, especially on Gallowdark or exposed objectives, but situational. Nice to have, rarely game-changing.
Firefight Ploys
Slither Evasion
Incredible. Lets you fall back cheaply and even charge through engagement ranges. Perfect for breaking out of tarpit situations and threatening counter-charges. A core ploy.
Subterranean Horror
Gives you fight first on tunnels. Brutal in melee duels and a great deterrent against enemy charges.
Burrowing Strike
Deals D3+1 mortal damage to enemies when you emerge or burrow back down. Great chip damage that punishes clumped opponents. Combos well with Toxic Lunge for nasty burst turns.
Death Frenzy
Triggers D3 mortal wounds when a Ravener dies, or 2D3 if it is a Venomspitter with dorsal sacs active. This is a brilliant trade piece: even in death, Raveners punish opponents.
Equipment
Metamorphic Flesh
Heal D3 wounds when activated. Amazing. Always take this. It keeps fragile models alive just long enough to matter.
Heightened Senses
Once per game, grants a reroll in initiative if you are underground and near a tunnel. Niche, but clutch in late games. Worth considering.
Acid Blood
On a 5+, deal 1 damage when hit in melee. Feels cinematic, but underwhelming. If it triggered on every wound it would be great, but as it stands it is a skip.
Chameleonic Carapace
Extra retained cover save. Thematically fun, practically outclassed by other picks.
Other standard tools like grenades are available, but Raveners usually prefer their biomorph kit.
Tac Ops and Mission Play
This is where Raveners fall short. Their archetypes are Seek and Destroy and Infiltration, and Infiltration is basically unplayable right now. Seek and Destroy works decently, since killing things is what Raveners do, but their low model count and delayed tunnel payoff make scoring awkward. Champion and Overrun Tac Ops fit best, as they lean into your predatory playstyle. Missions that demand sitting on objectives punish you hard, while spread-out boards that let tunnels threaten multiple areas suit you perfectly.
Matchups and Counters
Raveners crush static teams. Gunlines hate being flanked by monsters erupting from the ground, and hordes bleed out under constant Poison. They struggle against elites with high saves who can soak their average melee output, and against high-volume shooting that deletes them before they strike. Custodes and Talons in particular are nightmares. They do not care about your tricks and will trade up. In those matchups you must play patient, trade surgically, and use tunnels to strike only when it wins the turn.
Hobby Notes
The models are outstanding. Bursting out of the ground, sculpted bases that tell the story, and plenty of character in each sculpt. They paint quickly in both bright Hive Fleet schemes and darker grimdark palettes. On the table, they look alive and menacing, which makes every ambush more cinematic.
Final Thoughts
Raveners are fun, thematic, and rewarding, but flawed. The tunnels start too slow, the Tac Ops archetypes are bad, and the melee profiles are oddly bland for giant predators. They also give up kill points easily, which makes them vulnerable in competitive play. Still, they deliver some of the most cinematic games in Kill Team. Bursting from the ground, poisoning enemies, striking, then vanishing: it feels like Tyranids should. If you want a team that wins with pressure, tempo, and fear, Raveners are an excellent choice. Just do not expect them to dominate tournaments.
