Getting started on your competitive 40K journey can be exciting, but also daunting and overwhelming to some. Between the ever changing mission packs, updates to rules and Balance Dataslates, and new army rules released on a monthly basis it can create information overload for many looking to hop into the competitive 40K scene. In this article I’m going to cover how to build a competitive 40K list that can hold up in an ever changing metagame. Let’s dive in!
The first step in building a competitive 40K list is identifying your army faction. Whether you are playing Space Marines or Aeldari, there’s a build out there that can work for you.
Next, you need to take a more in depth look at the current competitive 40K mission pack. At the time of this article, the Chapter Approved 2025 Mission Pack is the standard choice for all Warhammer 40K tournaments. This mission pack provides a set of Primary Missions and Secondary Missions which you score in combination to determine a match winner. Tournament Organizers draw from a mission pool of 20 missions provided in the Chapter Approved 2025 Tournament Companion available in the downloads section on Warhammer Community. The tournament companion also features a pool of terrain layouts which are pretty standard across most Warhammer 40K tournaments.
There are ultimately 3 things to consider when you set about on how to build a competitive 40K list:
- What tools do you have to score and hold objectives to score your primary?
- How are you going to score your Secondaries?
- Choose units that best synergize with your Army Detachment rules
What tools do you have to score Primary
An important part of building a competitive 40K list is your ability to hold objectives over the course of several turns. Typically you will need to have a plan to hold your home objective (the objective located in your deployment zone) as well as at least one other in No Man’s Land. Several of the missions in the mission pack ONLY award victory points for controlling objectives outside of your own deployment zone, so that is a consideration you will have to factor into your army list building.
Including units in your army list that can “sticky” objectives can be beneficial in maintaining control of objectives even after those units near them are destroyed. Units like Intercessors for Space Marines, Chaos Cultists for CSM and Storm Guardians for Aeldari are great examples of units that can “sticky” objectives they control at the start of your Command Phase.
Infiltrating units that have a small footprint and can hide behind terrain can also be effective at holding objectives in No Man’s Land especially early in the game. Units like Scouts for Space Marines, Poxwalkers for Death Guard or Rangers for Aeldari make great units for applying early game pressure by infiltrating onto No Man’s Land objectives forcing the opponent to make difficult decisions on target priority.
Characters with the Lone Op ability also make great objective campers as it forces the opponent to get within 12” of your Character to target them with shooting attacks. Meaning they can’t just sit back and pick you off objectives. This is especially important in games where objectives are more out in the open and there are less places to hide behind terrain.
You also have to have a plan for the mid-board. Controlling the center of the battlefield is key in determining how the game may flow. Strong durable units like Deathwing Knights for Dark Angels or Canoptek Wraiths for Necrons make for good midfield units.
In essence, you need to have a plan and include units in your army that will be capable of holding and maintaining objectives in order to score Primary points.
How are you going to score Secondaries
The Chapter Approved 2025 Mission Pack features a set of secondary missions which you will need to be able to score along with your Primary. These are divided into Fixed secondaries and Tactical secondaries.
Fixed secondaries allow you to take 2 Secondaries at the start of the battle which you score throughout the match.
Tactical secondaries are drawn every turn and have a bit of randomness involved. The advantage of Tactical secondaries is that you can discard one at the end of your turn to gain a CP so even if you aren’t scoring them you’re still gaining a resource which can be used in the game. With Fixed secondaries you cannot discard them so these are best taken when you have some other form of CP generation such as a character that gives you an additional CP at the start of your turn.
Secondaries come in the form of positional (being in certain areas of the battlefield), actions, or killing enemy units.
While each have their advantages and disadvantages in games, you should generally build your army list to include units that can score Tactical secondaries. Units that have a small footprint and can Deep Strike make excellent units for completing secondaries especially positional secondaries like Behind Enemy Lines or Engage on All Fronts.
These units should have a low point cost and serve a dedicated purpose in your list of scoring secondaries. Cheap units that can be “action monkeys” or can arrive from reserves to score your positional secondaries are excellent choices.
Of course, being able to destroy enemy units when necessary is important, but in terms of list design specifically tailored to secondary play, having units dedicated to scoring positional and action secondaries is key.
Choose units that best synergize with your Army Detachment Rule
When thinking about how to build a competitive 40K list, it’s important to think about your overall Army’s synergy. Whether you’re playing a Gladius Space Marines build or a Mortarion’s Hammer Death Guard force, you want to choose the units that are going to best synergize with your army’s given detachment rules.
This includes using units and characters that are going to maximize your army’s abilities with their Detachment Rule, Stratagems and Enhancements. Don’t get caught up in multiple layered combos that are intricate to pull off. Rather look at the most efficient units that can consistently benefit from your army’s abilities.
Don’t over invest in complicated combos but rather on efficiency within units that are simple and straightforward. This gives you more flexibility as the game continues and you start losing resources.
Also look for areas in your list building where you can create redundancies. One example of this is the Space Marines ability Oath of Moment, which allows you to choose a unit at the start of your Command Phase to reroll hits against and gain +1 to wound when targeting. Adding in other units in your list which have native rerolls to hit like Ballistus Dreadnoughts or Eradicators provide redundancies allowing you to have rerolls to hit against multiple different targets.
Final Thoughts
When considering how to build a competitive 40K list, it’s important to factor in how your army will score and hold primary objectives, secondaries and selecting units that will provide the best synergy within your chosen army faction detachment.
If you’ve been playing Warhammer 40K 10th Edition for a while, check out the top 5 common mistakes intermediate players make in army list building for some additional info.
If you’re newer to tournaments or trying to understand how all the competitive pieces fit together, I put together a complete resource guide on getting started in competitive Warhammer 40K that walks through the core rules, missions, tools, and learning resources used at events.
If you’re new to the game or want to improve quickly, then don’t forget to grab my FREE eBook: Forging Your Path to Victory: A Beginner’s Guide to Competitive 40K. A great starting point for those looking to jump into Competitive 40K. Subscribe and get your free copy!
Want personalized help speeding up your 40K learning curve? My coaching program is designed to help you accelerate your learning experience and set you up for success. I’d love to help you one-on-one level up your game.
See you on the tabletop.
