Desolation Squad
SWORD: what Desolation Squad kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 140 pts kill ~69 pts in one activation.Typical shooter: 44 per 100
Best against hordes, weakest against heavy vehicles and monsters
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
Across the game· shooters
SHIELD: how hard Desolation Squad is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 140 pts take ~295 pts of enemy units to kill.Typical shooter: 298 per 100
Units near it by SHIELD
In Space Marines
Across the game· shooters
What reviewers say
6 reviewers- Too dear for what they do 1 of 6
- Not in any undefeated list 1 of 6
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desolation Squad140 pts | C | Top 37% | Bottom 11% | 2of 817 |
| Hellblaster Squad115 pts | C | Top 45% | Bottom 27% | 22of 817 |
| Eradicator Squad with Heavy Bolters100 pts | B | Bottom 45% | Top 27% | 45of 817 |
With a leader
| Solo | Led | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 110 | 116 |
| SHIELD | 211 | 211 |
| Solo | Led | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 110 | 110 |
| SHIELD | 211 | 211 |
Per 100 pts: on its own, then with the leader joined.
How we got these numbers
What we ran
Desolation Squad, 5 models, 140 pts, with 5 Bolt pistol, 5 Castellan Launcher, 5 Ceramite Fists, 4 Superfrag Rocket Launcher, 1 Vengor launcher. On its own: no leader, no stratagems, no other units' auras. Counted as dice: its own abilities.
SWORD
Enemy points it kills in one activation, per 100 pts of its own, against a mix of targets weighted like top tournament lists.
140 pts → kills ~69 pts → 49 per 100SHIELD
Enemy points it takes to kill it, per 100 pts of its own: the points of the cheapest units from top lists that kill it 80% of the time. It's per point, so a costly unit has to be much tougher to score the same.
~295 pts → 211 per 100Top and bottom %
Where each number ranks among the game's 403 shooters. How we score.
The letter
The average of 8 reviewers' newest Space Marines tier lists: Brother Tobias (Ultramarines tier list livestream, after the codex) (14 Oct), Auspex Tactics (codex unit tier list) (16 Oct), Art of War 40k (ranking every datasheet, two hosts) (20 Oct), TacticalRock40K (four post-codex boards: ranged infantry, combat infantry, vehicles, characters) (21 Oct), TacticalTortoise (The Best Armies in 40k, three weekly meta watches: 14 undefeated Space Marine lists) (26 Oct), Goonhammer / tabletopbattles.com (Competitive Innovations, two weeks of event write-ups) (28 Oct), Grimdark Breakdown (five videos grading the leaked codex, before points) (19 Sep), BA Commander (what he likes in the codex, before points; a Blood Angels player) (2 Oct). A reviewer who would rather not be counted: tell us.
Lists
53 public Space Marines tournament lists, September – November 2026, from grimstat-corpus (CC BY 4.0). Also from Listhammer. Organisers and players: ask us and we'll take a list or an event down. Numbers run 6 Nov.