Greeting Blood Bowl Fans, and welcome to our first foray for a long time into the world of Blood Bowl’s Tournament Meta! There have been some big changes since we last cast our gaze over the state of the scene, including a brand new team, the Gnomes, and some other reworked teams and rules that have definitely had a huge impact. We’re going to take a look at how these and other changes have shaken up Blood Bowl’s competitive scene, as well as giving an overview of the size and state of the game.
First things first, because it’s always a pleasure to report it; the number of Blood Bowl games to play remains on the increase. 2024 saw over 55,000 Nuffle Amorical Football (NAF) games played, a new record, and 2025 is already off to a flyer, with nearly 25,000 games played in not even five months. The NAF Championships in Nottingham this year broke the record for largest single-player tournament ever, so at this rate, and with a huge Eurobowl tournament coming at the end of the year, it seems likely that the yearly games record will be broken again. Just as importantly, unique coach numbers are also increasing, so it’s not just the same people playing more Blood Bowl!
Secondly, as always, the data below includes only Tabletop tournaments played under NAF approval using the BB20 (current tabletop) ruleset. There are no online tournaments, BB3 games, Dungeonbowl games, or other types of game included.
Thirdly, this data includes tournament rule packs of all sizes, shapes, and varieties. No data is captured by the NAF to let us know if a given tournament allowed various Stars, or particular tierings or rules of any kind.
Finally, large portions of the data discussed below have been sourced from Mike Davies’ Tableau site that draws and presents data from the NAF’s database. This article would not be possible without his continued service to the community!
What Has Changed?
Between our last look at the meta back in the autumn of 2023 and the arrival of this article, we’ve had some sizable changes to the game that have had clear impacts on the competitive scene:
- New team: Gnomes.
- Reworked and re-released teams: Vampires and Chaos Dwarfs.
- Rule changes: Most notably, removing Swarming for Underworld Snots. Also removing the use of Guard to assist fouls.
- New Stars: A whole host of them. You can read about some of them here.
So with all that background in mind, let’s take a look at some stats.
Win Rates
The headline here is easy; for the first time in five years of Blood Bowl, we have a new team atop the win rate stats. Yes, Underworld’s reign of terror is over, seeing them tumble into the realms of ‘still very good’. Our new overlords? The somewhat unlikely figures of the Elven Union, a team which has had no significant changes of any kind. We’ll take a closer look at them later.
Our second team has been waiting in the wings for some time now, and has re-established itself post-roster rework as one of the strongest teams in the game, namely Amazons.  Behind them, Dark Elves, who have been a consistent top-5 team since 2022, and Vampires, who like the ‘zons have been incredibly strong since their rework. We’ll take a closer look at them later too.
At the other end of the table, Goblins continue their streak with five consecutive years at the bottom of the pile. Ogres and Black Orcs sit a small distance above them, with Halflings and our new arrivals the Gnomes rounding out the bottom five.
Our big movers since 2023 include Chaos Chosen, who have been on a steady climb from a shameful state back to respectability, and now sit in the middle of the pack. Humans have also been on the rise, appearing in the top half of the table for the first time. Chaos Dwarves meanwhile, appear to be suffering, and have gone off a cliff in the 2025 stats. They’re another team we’ll look at in more detail later.
Tiers
Games Workshop’s Rulebook Tiers do not of course correspond to those used by many tournaments, but they are often not far off, so it’s interesting to see how the traditional designations stack up. Certainly our Tier 3 teams are where they should be, but clearly the competitive viability of the Tier 1 and 2 teams (thanks to well-structured Rules Packs) is closer than ever before. It’s been a long time since GW made any tiering changes via FAQ, but I would certainly wonder if bumping Vampires up and Chaos Dwarves down might be on the cards in future. Black Orcs clearly need a look too, as they have been bottom three in win rate every year we have looked at stats; but dropping a non-stunty into Tier 3 would be bold.
Popularity
2025 is noticeable so far for seeing a new name at the top of the popularity list, with Necromantic Horror currently pipping our normal resident champs the Orcs. With Shambling Undead and Vampires also in the top 5 there’s a hefty whiff of the grave in Blood Bowl at the moment. Our top five is rounded out by Amazons, who, like Vampires, have been on the rise since their rework.
At the bottom, it’s an astonishing drop-off for Underworld, who were in 8th spot in 2023 and now find themselves bottom of the pile. Regular low pop races Slann, Old World Alliance, and High Elves all remain there, while Imperial Nobility have also had a fall to join them.
In terms of the movers, Dark Elves have seen a considerable drop-off this year after being one of the top three in 2024 and 2023. Chaos Dwarves also seem to have suffered from their rework, falling into the bottom half of the table for the first time in BB20.
Tournament Winners
Clearly popularity is a factor in success here, but ultimately this is the meta in the purest sense: The teams you have to beat (or play as) if you want to win anything.
Once again, the Underworld drop-off is remarkable, going from a huge first place in 2023 to a contender in 2024 and nowhere in 2025. Â
Our 2024 champ of champs was Amazons, with the ever popular Orcs close behind, and Vampires again making an instant impact.  In 2025, the Vampires currently sit at the summit, well ahead of a somewhat surprising Humans in second place.
For some context on how popularity influences these stats, this table shows the popularity rank of winning teams in the past two years. Vampires continue to considerably outperform their popularity, as do Humans, and our surprise package this year, Elven Union.
A couple of relatively popular (non-stunty) teams who just don’t seem to be getting it done this year are Chaos Chosen and Khorne. Both are mid-table in popularity but wandering forsaken in the Chaos Wastes when it comes to trophies.
Team Analysis
Vampires
Certainly the most impactful of all of the meta changes we have seen in the past 18 months is the Dracula-like return from the grave of the Vamps. At the end of 2023 they were bottom of the popularity stakes for the second year running, and had seen their win rate before their update in the 45-47% range. Now they make up 5% of the field and the win rate runs at 54%, placing them squarely among the most popular and successful teams in the game.
It was clear the re-vamped (sorry) team was going to be strong, but maybe not quite so clear how good they would be in tourney play. What has become evident is that mass 2+ hypno that can disable all manner of skills (turning off blodge is ridiculously good), along with an MA8 piece, enables some incredible opportunities on both sides of the ball; a mere example being that Vampires now have one of the best one-turn scoring options in the game, with almost any defence being negated by hypno.
Increasingly we are seeing Vampires now in the highest tiers in tourney packs, but it’s certainly true that for quite a while since release many tourneys used more traditional tiering that aided them. As a result I suspect we will see the vamp stats come down a little in time, but there’s no question they are now in the club of elite options for top-level play.
Gnomes
Our newest and trickiest team have arrived looking like a solid addition to the stunty squad, neither conquering the meta nor being annihilated by it either. Gnomes have a very rough time in league play, where Stunty without Dodge is a sure fire recipe for slaughter, but in Tourney play they can normally load up on Dodge and other complementary skills that get the best out of their unique positionals.
Gnomes are running at 44% win rate since their release, which places them some way ahead of the Goblins and Ogres, and on a very similar level to Halflings, with which they share much in common. They have found some favoured matchups against traditional bashers such as Khorne, Chaos Dwarves, and Nurgle, and have definitely proved to be a competitive new option for stunty fans.
Chaos Dwarves
There was a general consensus that the Chorfs had taken quite a hit to their competitiveness in their recent rework, and the evidence appears to bear that out. Their win rate in the 12 months prior to their re-release was 50%. In 2025 that has fallen to 46.8%.
Specific matchups have also gotten much worse, notably those in which Block and Tackle would formerly have been major advantages. Chaos Dwarves were favoured at 51% vs Amazons and now sit at 40.9%. Elven Union were at 52.4 and so far this year a shatteringly low 29.5%. Even Halflings are now a losing matchup at 41.9% after previously being a 58% win for the Dwarves. Whether you blame it purely on the changes they received or more competitive coaches ditching the team, they have taken a huge hit.
Elven Union
The oddball of our changing meta, Elven Union have stood still while various teams and rules have changed around them and somehow emerged in a really good place. Now arguably they have always been a strong and probably underrated team; their win rate before this year has been in the 51-53% range, making them a top half to top-10 team, but their popularity has been bottom 5 to bottom half. In 2025 both of those numbers have hit unheard of heights, so why? Well one factor is probably the fall-off of a couple of those changed teams. Even in the past two years, Underworld have been one of Union’s worst matchups, so their decline in the meta is a big help. Chaos Dwarves were also a bad matchup; Union win rate against them between 2021 and mid-2024 was 46.5%. In 2025 it has been a whopping 70%.
Union now find themselves in a place where they have strong or even matchups against all of the top teams, including, unusually in the meta, Vampires. And even Amazons, who are one of Union’s weaker matchups, are easier for them now than in their previous Teams of Legend incarnation. All in all, standing still has left Union in a very strong position, and the rise of Tournament Rule Packs that are a bit more generous to Tier 2 teams has not hurt either.
Final Thoughts
So, an exciting time for tournament BB, with a very different meta to the last time we looked. The reworked Vampire and Amazon teams have become huge forces, with Vampires especially making a big change at the top tables. The Underworld era appears to be over, and the Chaos Dwarf rework has hurt them, with the drop-off of both these teams seemingly acting as a boon to various teams they checked.
I think kudos are in order to GW for making some changes, especially those that hit Underworld, that have successfully shaken things up and let other teams breathe. The most recent FAQ, which has dropped literally as I write, has not made any significant changes, so this current meta is likely to stick for another six months at least.
Later this year, we still have some of our biggest annual tournaments, including the likes of the Chaos Cup and Amorical Cup in North America, as well as some huge European team tournaments in Bilbao, Leeds, and what will be the biggest tournament of the year, Eurobowl, in Budapest; we’ll be keeping a close eye on these to see how they reflect and impact the state of the game we have today.
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