kill-death ratio
/kɪl dɛθ ˈreɪʃiəʊ/
Very CommonThe ratio of kills to deaths in a match or across a player's history.
KDR is often treated as the definitive skill metric but is widely criticized for rewarding passive play. In objective-based games a player with a low KDR can still be the most valuable on the team.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 3.2 kdr this session, feeling good about my aim today | The speaker averaged over three kills per death, indicating a strong performance. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | 0.6 kdr and still won us the round by defusing, kdr doesn't tell the whole story | Low kill stats didn't prevent the player from being decisive. | reddit, 2023 |
| 03 | his kdr is 0.3, he's literally dying more than he's killing | The player is dying far more often than getting kills, indicating very poor performance. | x, 2024 |
| 04 | people who only care about kdr are ruining team games | Prioritizing personal stat padding over team objectives hurts cooperative gameplay. | youtube, 2023 |
Use it when
- Discussing a player's performance stats in a shooter.
- Comparing players by skill level using numbers.
- Evaluating whether a player is performing above or below average.
Do not use it when
- The game is objective-based and kills are not the primary measure of impact.Use “mvp” instead.
Variations and related forms
Origin and context
A standard competitive metric that emerged alongside early online FPS games in the late 1990s. Popularized by games like Quake, Counter-Strike, and Halo.
- First seen
- late-1990s
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/kill-death-ratioUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0