Blood Bowl - Third Season Team Stock Report

With the arrival of Blood Bowl’s Third Season comes a swathe of changes to the game’s rosters, many of which have been largely untouched for some thirty years! In this feature we’re going to give our opinions on whose stock has risen or fallen as the whole market shakes out.

Stock Up

Amazons

Tobazco Scorpions Amazon Team by Mark Hampson

In a world where you are (arguably) the top dog, whole sections of the meta get changes that knock them down, one of your hardest opponents loses the only advantage they had over you, and you receive no negative changes at all, then you’re still top dog. I don’t know how things could be better for Amazons at this point.

HardyRoach: For most teams the slight passing buffs are basically not even worth mentioning, but the teams that upgraded all the non-thrower pieces to 4+ passing at least have a 75% (with reroll) desperation move in their pocket when they need to. A small thing but it’s not nothing, and when you’re already basically the best team, that’s more than you deserve really.

Dan “dittka” Boyd: It’s also worth mentioning that with the changes to Dwarves, the former hard counter to Amazons, this team honestly has no bad match-ups now. Congrats are in order, I guess!

Black Orcs

Converted Black Orc team by @churlishminis

Just a few changes for what was one of the worst teams of BB20. Losing Loner on their Troll is a nice little bonus, and gaining the Brawlin’ Brutes Special Rule means skilling up the Blorcs and Troll will be easier than ever before. Black Orcs are also one of the few teams in Third Season with ST4 players who can Secure The Ball, which puts big lad ball-carrying very much on the menu. The new Devious skill table and accompanying new skills will definitely be of interest for a team that already has a strong bent toward fouling. Whether any of that is enough to raise their win rates to genuinely competitive levels, I don’t know, but overall it’s good news.

Chaos Chosen

Chaos Chosen Team by @rumhampainting

Chaos has never been so cheap! Between lino cost reductions and reroll cost reduction, a typical starting Chosen build from BB20 has gone down 65k in price. That means the Third Season roster can either fit in a 12th man(thing), swap a Beastman for a Big Guy, or go for a fourth reroll or other goodies from the outset.

Thick Skull is also a great skill to get for nothing, and while Arm Bar is meh, it’s also free, and Chosen Blockers did not get hit with Unsteady, meaning they can continue to be primary ball carriers if you like. Unfortunately, there is a sting in the tail: Beastmen lost Strength access on primary. This is a major blow, as Guard in particular was a very popular skill for Beastmen. It also makes building them into killers harder.

The pluses are so numerous and impactful that I think Chosen still come out ahead here, but there will certainly have to be some rethinking of builds.

HardyRoach: Totally agree, to the point where I’m considering doing a team myself. While Armbar is meh, it does also now get you SPP if someone gets cas’d while dodging away, so yet another way for Chosen to level up! Losing strength access is definitely a blow for Beastmen, but with Secure the Ball it should be easier to get Guard on Chosen at least.

Dan: I’ve always been a fan of Chosen in tournaments, and I feel like they’re really going to shine in this edition. I’m excited to see how the star player costs figure out, as there are several cool chaos tech-pieces that can slot into this team to cover its deficiencies. I’m looking at you, Withergrasp Doubledrool!

Goblins

Blood Bowl Goblin Team by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

A few treats for Goblins in Third Season, losing Loner on Trolls, gaining Dodge on the Doomdiver (which also sees a much-improved Swoop skill), and which along with the Chainsaw can now use Stunty to dodge. Hail Mary Pass is also back to its old 'anywhere on the pitch' rules for the Bomma. The Devious skills category seems custom-made for them too, and changes to Throw-Team Mate rules and skills are also primed to help their playstyle. They will almost certainly still be terrible, but in a slightly better and more fun way.

HardyRoach: Definitely a minor improvement to goblins, I think they’ll be in a similar place in the meta. But all improvements are welcome, and it’s definitely raised their stock a little, at least from a player fun perspective.

Dan: The only drawback here is that Bommas and Looneys lose access to Agility skills as primaries. This really only impacts the Looney, as it means it’ll be a lot harder to give this guy Dodge. It’s minor, but it’s worth mentioning.

Imperial Nobility

Imperial Nobility Witch Hunters by @churlishminis

A multitude of changes for Nobs, who see significant cost reductions to key positionals and rerolls, while also getting some hefty buffs to multiple players. They take one hit, losing some MA on Bodyguards, but otherwise it’s quite a glow-up and will make them a sneaky strong team.

HardyRoach: Nobs were one of the teams I was really excited for when 2020 launched, as I really like the old Bretonnian team (dreams do come true). After playing them for a couple of leagues and a tourney I ended up finding them a bit depressing – some fun ideas but just bad in ways that felt annoying rather than a fun challenge. But I’m pretty excited to get them back on the table and see how they perform now; they honestly seem to be in a better state than regular Humans are at this point. A minor difficulty though – I already converted my Nobs to look like Bretonnians. So I guess I’ll be converting my Bretonnians to be Imperials, just to make things nice and confusing.

Weird detail: The ogre on the Human, Imperial Noble, and OWA teams gained Mutation access on a secondary. My guess is this is a typo, and somebody copy-pasted the Chaos Renegade ogre over to the others by mistake, but we’ll see.

Dan: Can someone explain to me the thought process behind which Throwers get a 2+ PA characteristic? Why does the Nobility Thrower get it now, but the regular Human Thrower doesn’t? Someone help me out here.

Khorne

Khorne Team by by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Interesting changes for Khorne, who lose access to a couple of Gors, but see the remaining ones nicely buffed for free with Jump Up and Thick Skull. There have traditionally been two ways to go with Khorne, Gor-heavy or lino-heavy, and the latter build is just straight-out improved now. Khorne Bloodseekers are also in the small group of ST4 players who can Secure The Ball, which for an AG4+ player is a nice option. So overall this looks pretty good for the Blood God.

HardyRoach: Happy enough with this. Losing two Gors hurts a bit, but they’re a bit hardier and Jump Up always ends up useful. Khorne are also one of the teams that’ll be getting more SPP from casualties now (and less from touchdowns), so I’m eager to see how that goes. Getting Block on a Bloodspawn with less casualties needed will be handy.

Necromantic Horror

Necromantic Horror team by Mike Rathbone

Big changes for Necro, with Ghouls finally joining the regen club, cost reduction for Wraiths, Golems, and Wolves, and the new Eye Gouge skill for the Zombies. The latter is really hard to guess the impact of, but my gut feels is it’s pretty powerful as a freebie on a meatbag. But overall it’s really nothing but buffs for Necro, who were already one of the strongest teams in the game.

HardyRoach: If you’re okay with just two rerolls you can basically fit all but one of your non-ghoul positionals into a 1000k roster thanks to various price drops, which is pretty sweet. Previously you’d have to make a bit of a sacrifice to get both werewolves and both flesh golems in.

Ogres

Only one significant roster change for Ogres, which is that they are one of the recipients of the Brawlin’ Brutes special ability. That’s quite a big deal for Ogres though, who easily rack up casualties on the big guys. It also helps to concentrate SPP on your best players rather than the easily-destroyed Gnoblars. A related win for them is the change to Break Tackle, which once again provides astonishing mobility. 2+ dodges and 4+ cage-dives on Big Guys without Loner is pretty damned good. Given how quickly Ogres will be able to pick this up now, and as they still benefit from Low Cost Linemen in league play, keeping their TV low and letting them enjoy inducements, Ogres will be a real force in this format

Old World Alliance

Instead of ploughing their own strange, unique furrow, OWA now get all of the updated players from the Dwarf and Human teams, and that means much better, albeit more expensive, players. Price is really the only thing holding OWA back at this point, including their expensive rerolls, because this is an incredibly versatile team that can lean in different directions. They had a surprisingly strong tournament record with their old roster, and I suspect the modularity of the team will mean they are even stronger, and probably more popular, in Third Season.

HardyRoach: I was always turned off by OWA because of all the Animosity and Loner, and now they have neither of those, and also a bunch of shiny new skills on their positionals. The Dwarf Blitzer is pricier, as is the Human Catcher, but both the Human Thrower and Dwarf Runner are cheaper. It’s slightly more of a tight squeeze in this version, but you can still afford almost everything even with a Big Guy, so this team is looking really good and has a lot of different viable builds (which is more than I can say for a lot of other teams now, unfortunately).

Dan: With the human blitzer gaining Tackle, the always-over-performing dwarf Trollslayer, and the newly Loner-free Treeman, I think this team is going to be one of the best and most exciting teams to play in season 3. So much so, that I think I'm going to abandon my built Human team, go find someone with a frame from the dwarf box, snag a Treeman, and pivot to OWA!

Snotlings

Snotling Team by Mark Hampson

A number of changes for Snotlings, most notably a major buff to the Pump Wagons, who lose Secret Weapon, gain MA, and somehow go down in price. Trolls also lose Loner, which is a big help, but Reroll costs go up Just like the Goblins, Snots will have many opportunities to take advantage of the new Devious and Throw-team mate skills. Depending on positionals, chances are a typical Snotling build still comes in way under 1k TV, meaning they will still be one of the foremost players of inducement-bowl, and still a major menace.

HardyRoach: Snot linemen have gained a new skill that forces the team to not take more basic snots than they have other players. So basically the days of teams that are just two trolls, 12 snots and two star players are gone. It doesn’t really make a big difference, you can still build a team with a ridiculous amount of petty cash, but it will mean that Snotling teams will have to take more of their toys, which is just more fun.

Dan: The pump wagon losing Secret Weapon is huge. This makes it one of the most reliable damage dealers in the game, on a team where affording it is never going to be an issue. Look for Snots to dominate stunty brackets, and maybe even the regular brackets, too!

Tomb Kings

One of our flagship seasonal teams sees a huge cost increase to its most iconic positional, but thanks to cuts to Team Reroll, Thrower and Blitzer costs, you can still happily field all four. The addition of Brawler will certainly help to reduce their failure states, but it isn’t really worth the cost increase. Nevertheless, increased AV on the Throwers is certainly helpful, and overall leaves Tomb Kings looking in good shape.

HardyRoach: You’ll need to go down to two rerolls to fit everyone in, but y’know what, that’s fine as far as I’m concerned. You’ll be picking up with either Sure Hands or Secure the Ball (as they don’t work together), you’ll have block on your blitzes (ideally), and Brawler is bad but it gives something of a safety net at least. I can make do with two rerolls while I scrounge the money for another.

Underworld Denizens

Skaven players, this might be your new home. Underworld had an amazing ride across most of BB20, before the multitude of nerfs finally caught up with them. Now they get all the bonuses given to Skaven, without any of the sadness. The new Devious skills will also find a good home here. Like the full Snotlings team, the snots here cannot outnumber the rest of the squad, so the most extreme inducement-hunting builds will be reined in a little. But this is still an extremely tv-efficient and adaptable roster.

HardyRoach: I don’t think it’s a major step-up, but the Blitzer gaining some movement and a really good skill is an undeniable upgrade.

Wood Elves

Like the other Elves, Woodies lose two Catchers, but they were the least reliant on having so many. On the buff side, cheaper Linemen and Throwers will be extremely welcome, and certainly offset a slight increase to Wardancer cost. The remaining Catchers also have Sprint restored, which is a massive boost, and makes the One Turn TD an order of magnitude easier. Potential for use of newly available skills like Hit and Run and Steady Footing opens up numerous exciting opportunities for Wood Elves, who might be primed for a return to the very top of the game.

HardyRoach: Don’t see a whole lot of 4-catcher Welf teams anyway, so the remaining ones being better seems just good. Agreed on everything above, especially about Hit & Run. A Wardancer with that skill is going to be an absolute nightmare to deal with.

Holding Steady

Chaos Renegades

Two nice but small buffs for the Renegades, with a 10k cost reduction on the Dark Elf, and the Thrower swapping the underwhelming Safe Pair Of Hands for the ever dependable Sure Hands. The Break Tackle buff might also enable some spicy shenanigans for Renegades, but it's mostly as you were.

Dark Elves

Right, here we go; a huge package of changes for what was one of the perennial top teams in the game. Losing two Blitzers, easily two of the best pieces in the game, is a disaster. A cost cost increase on the remaining two doesn’t help either. On the flip side, Assassins get a spectacular glow-up. So chances are these will directly replace the missing Blitzers now, making Dark Elves a more lightly-armoured but mobile team. Runners gain the Punt skill, which sadly is rather underwhelming, and taking them will still depend on the environment you build your team, and personal taste. A cost reduction on linemen is fantastic, as they remain some of the best in the game.

HardyRoach: I’m really interested to see how the Hit & Run Assassins do, I think that’s a really fun combination. With the loss of the Blitzers, Delves have definitely lost their status as the bashiest elves, or, well, they’re probably still the bashiest elves, but that was a low bar and now they’re closer to it.

Dan: Why did Dark Elf Blitzers go up 5k? Why??? Someone help me understand this!

Gnomes, Halflings, Norse

No noteworthy changes for any of these teams.

Stock Down

Chaos Dwarfs

Chaos Dwarfs by @miniature_tommc

Chaos Dwarf players’ worst fears were realised with the Unsteady trait on Bull Centaurs. The life of 4+ pickups will continue for them. Another major blow sees Hobgoblins swap General Access on Primary for Devious access. That is a big problem for a piece which traditionally takes skills like Sure Hands to assist with ball carrying, and Block and Wrestle for consistency. The only goodish thing for this team is a cost reduction on the previously overpriced Stabbas. With Shadowing also getting a buff, it might be worth looking at them now.

HardyRoach: Hobgoblins losing General access is honestly insane and threw me off completely. Basically Chorfs now cannot build a solid combat skilled lineman without secondaries. Bizarre! Stabbas are cheaper now, and have General access, so I’d probably get one or two to use as a ball carrier – but boy, you’re essentially paying another 50% of the cost of a lineman just to get General access and not use the actual ability that they’re supposed to be used for. Weird. Did I mention it was strange? But yeah I’ve been quite disappointed with the new Chorf roster, and this doesn’t really change that. Mostly the same here, with some weird quirky downgrades.

Dan: I honestly think they messed up the formatting here and switched the skill access for the Sneaky Stabba and the Hobgoblin. Either way, this team as it is is dead on arrival.

Dwarfs

Another total rework sees a staple of the meta lose one of its defining characteristics, with mass Tackle now becoming mass Defensive. This is a hard change to judge. Clearly it helps massively against bashers and anyone else who likes to dabble in Guard. On the other hand, the games against Amazons, various agility teams, and the stunties just got much harder. In other changes, cheaper Runners with Sprint are nice, and coaches can dare to dream of one-turning with Dwarfs now; while Blitzers see a huge price hike, despite losing AG and gaining only Tackle and Diving Tackle; the Deathroller seems to have upgraded its engine, getting +1MA; but Rerolls also went up for some reason. Even worse, Dwarf linemen lose Strength access on primary, swapping this for Devious.

In better news, Dwarves gained the Brawlin’ Brutes special ability, which means they will accumulate SPP much faster on most of their players, and Bribery and Corruption! All of which points to a major pivot for this team, which is now geared up to take advantage of Secret Weapons and fouling, and coincidentally, the Death Roller also has Devious on primary, meaning the coveted Sneaky Git/Dirty Player combo is within easy reach.

I have this strange feeling that some combo of all the above changes could yield some nasty dual bash/fouling builds that will be very effective in creating advantages given Dwarfs’ own native resilience, but until that brew emerges, this team has taken a major hit.

HardyRoach: It’s rather odd that the move here was to make Dwarfs better against the teams they were already well equipped for, and worse against the teams they have more natural disadvantages against. Taking Tackle away from Chorfs really hurt that team, and I think it’ll be as bad here. I can see their win-rates against Agility and Speed teams dropping, in non-Deathroller builds especially. As Guard spamming is gone as an option, win-rates against bash teams will probably drop too.

Dan: It seems to me that GW is intending for dwarf linemen to be fouling pieces, but they’re still 70k gp players. A 40k gp goblin getting sent off is one thing, but a 70k dwarf with good skills is another thing altogether. I’m a little skeptical of the impact here.

Elven Union

Elven Union Team by Dan 'Ditka' Boyd

Oh boy. Sadly, Union, briefly maybe the best team in the meta, have been massacred. Their cheap linemen, which were a major asset, have been bumped up in price, and lumbered with a dire skill. Losing two Catchers hurts just as much, as these versatile pieces could be built in so many different ways to suit the team’s needs. I can’t see any reason to play them over other Elves now.

HardyRoach: Yeah, woof, this is maybe the biggest stock drop in total? Other teams got some pretty meaty upgrades for their lost players, even if they were maybe not enough to make up for the losses. But Union gets like, basically nothing, let’s face it. A couple of skills that are either bad or extremely niche.

Dan: Friends, I am gutted. Losing two catchers? Bad, but honestly not the worst, we could work around it. Catchers gaining Diving Catch as a compensatory buff? Useless. They already have AGI 2+ and Nerves of Steel. They’re basically always rolling a rerollable 2+ for catching. Fumblerooskie on linemen? Totally worthless, and yet they still see a 5k increase. And that’s the issue. This is important, so I’m going to bold it: 65k Linemen kills this team. You’re running a minimum of 5 linemen per team, which is a 25k increase right there. In tournaments, 1100 TV is pretty common, especially here in the states, and with this “minor” increase, you can no longer take 12 players and an apothecary. Or 13 players if you don’t want an apothecary. They’re an AV8+ team and not having access to extra bodies or an apothecary makes them, in my opinion, completely untenable in a tournament setting.

This is a brutal beatdown for a team that only had a brief flirtation with topping the leaderboards, and I am absolutely crushed. These changes really don’t make any sense to me. I would love to see a hotfix here, but with the preponderance of printed material, I don’t see it happening. I guess my beloved Baja Blasters will see everyone in season 4.

Humans

Albion Wanderers Human Team - by @hdminiatures

Another casualty of sprue-based design, Humans lost four positionals and saw wholesale changes to those left. It certainly feels like a loss for Humans, whose identity as a hybrid team is skewing more towards the agility/ball-playing side and less toward being an effective basher now. Sadly I would advise coaches pick another ‘Human’ team instead.

HardyRoach: Yeah, clearly the overall loser of the Human teams. I’ll say that this could be worse, though that’s not saying much. Catchers and Blitzers have been upgraded in useful ways, it's just that it doesn’t make up for halving their numbers. I have absolutely no idea why they downgraded the Thrower, especially given that the Imperial Nob thrower was upgraded!

Dan: Once again, aside from the 1-box mandate, these changes make no sense, and will ultimately relegate this team to the dumpster.

Lizardmen

Lizardmen Team by King_Ghidra

Lizards took a nasty hit in BB20 with their cost increases, and found a generally unfavourable meta for most of the edition. Well, now Saurus costs have gone up again! Gaining Juggernaut, which is certainly a useful skill, does not make up for the team building woes they were already suffering from and have now been exacerbated. This is particularly bad for 1100/1150 tournament builds, which are horribly thin for them now.

HardyRoach: I was very worried that Sauruses might be able to Secure the Ball, glad they can’t. But yeah, giving the Saurus big Juggz is nice, makes their blitzing better without overly benefiting their other punching every turn. Also, stat improvements are cheaper this edition, which is good news for skinks. Chameleons gained passing access, which could be useful I suppose. Otherwise I agree with Ghidra, the team-building stuff is a pain.

Nurgle

Nurgle team by Mike Rathbone

Hard times for Nurgle, losing two of their most important ball carriers and versatile pieces. They also saw a cost increase on the humble Rotter. A cost reduction on Pestis, Bloaters and Rerolls, which in another world would have been great, now just probably keeps them afloat, with a lack of ball handlers putting the team right on the edge of playability.

HardyRoach: Jeez, leave the poor guys alone, haven’t they been through enough? Cheaper Bloaters with a good new skill is nice, but it’s not going to help them win games. You know what also won’t help them win games? Taking away two of their four viable ball carriers. I guess with Secure the Ball you can more reasonably pick up with a rotter, but it’s not exactly a sparkling alternative. Rotspawns acting like Beer Boars is fun but, again, not gonna make up for the losses.

Orcs

Orc Team by @miniature_tommc

Orcs take a big hit from box-compliance, losing four strong positionals. The buffs to those that remain are pretty strong, including Mighty Blow on Big 'Uns, Strength access on Linemen, and a long-overdue increase to Thrower movement; though they also come at increased cost. But the team feels like it has been gutted of its traditional strengths and will need efforts in looking for new builds to find competitiveness.

HardyRoach: Generally agree that their stock is down. But having said that, they maybe got the best upgrades compared to the other teams that also lost positionals? Big Uns are very efficiently priced given they got three new (good) skills, and Blitzers got a versatile skill also. But yeah, undeniably worse, to the point of being dropped down at least a tier at most events. Having said that, lineorcs got primary strength access, so maybe that’ll make up for the Big Uns?

Dan: They definitely made it out better than humans and pro elves, but this is still going to majorly hurt. I can see a future where you’ve got 5 Mighty Blow players and 1 Dirty Player in a tournament roster, though, so who knows, maybe they’ll be ok? Gaining Brawlin’ Brutes might, however, make them a true terror in league play, but that remains to be seen.

Shambling Undead

Scratch-built Shambling Undead team by @Butcherplaysboardgames

The Undead have a significant loss with the reduction from four to two Ghouls (though gaining regen is nice) but also a powerful buff to the Wights, who now have the potential for the coveted Mighty Blow/Tackle stack after only one skill, for an insignificant cost increase. The loss of Ghouls means more emphasis on what the Zombies can do, and as with Necro, the impact of Eye Gouge is going to be a major factor in how things shake out for Undead. It feels like a loss overall for them, but this is still a strong team that will probably do even more damage now, and may turn out to be one of the toughest matchups for Amazons.

HardyRoach: I’m curious to see the impact of Eye Gouge, because that skill seems potentially very strong indeed. They’re definitely a bit more fragile now, with only two Ghouls, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if this turns out to be a lateral move. I’m happy to call it a stock down for now.

Skaven

Blood Bowl Second Edition Skaven by King_Ghidra

It’s the end of an era for Skaven and the meta in general as one of the most significant purveyors of speed bowl take a major hit. Losing two of the best players in the game hurts like hell for Skaven, and the free changes to their Blitzers don’t even come close to compensating. Throwers got a minor cost reduction, but fielding two of them will not change the sensation that something is missing.

HardyRoach: I needed to think a lot about this one and talk it through with people (like Ghidra) who have more experience with the team. When I have played Skaven before (not super frequently) my general strategy was to build two Gutter Runners into carriers (block, sidestep etc.) and two into ballhawks (wrestle, stripball etc.). Blitzers are now pre-made ballhawks, which is nice, and distracted me to begin with. But, there’s an issue – by stepping up to that role, the Blitzers are stepping out of their previous role, at least partially, so there’s a vacuum. And on top of that, these Blitzers are still the same Agility, so they can’t do stuff that Gutters can. The team building is also weirdly restricted, which feels odd for a team that had so many viable builds before. The Rat Ogre feels pretty mandatory now. I dislike “active” big guys so this is bad news for me.

Dan: My Skaven-playing mutuals are all losing their shit over this change, and I’m starting to come around as to why. While I, too, was dazzled by the compensatory upgrades to Skaven blitzers, it really doesn’t make up for the fact that they’ve lost 2 of the best players in the whole game, as blitzers will never be able to as-effectively cage-dive as gutter runners can. Skaven players will have to pivot to having one scoring gutter runner and one ballhawk. Good luck, my fuzzy friends!

Vampires

Vampire Team by Mark Hampson

Flat 3+ Hypno is the change the world has been waiting for and will undoubtedly trim vampires wings significantly. One item of note is this will occasionally work to their benefit, as they can now stand in multiple TZ’s to hypno without penalty. But with no other significant changes, Vamps probably fall out of the ‘Amazon Tier’ and into the realms of the ‘just really good.’

HardyRoach: I maybe see the Hypno change as a lateral move given the removal of tackle zones modifiers, but that might be generous. Given it’s a downgrade in the kind of ideal situations that Vamp coaches will be aiming for, that’s enough to justify a stock down.

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Tags: Blood Bowl | blood bowl season 3