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I was flicking through various army lists and batreps and I was wondering where each army would go if we had to put things on a ranking. Now there are quite a lot of armies that I personally have never played, but I thought it interesting to see what people thought.

Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about TFG WAAC players. I am NOT talking about lists that spam the same units over and over again. I am NOT creating this thread for it to turn into a thread about Scatterbikes, Wraithknights, Riptides, Grav... ECT. We all Know this is overpowered.

What I want is to think about each army on a whole and look at its strengths and weaknesses, and try and rank them in some sort of order.

Now I've never played against half the armies, but my guess a 'leaderboard' would look something like this:

Eldar
Space Marines
Tau
Necrons
Space Wolves
Grey Knights
Chaos Daemons
Tyranids
Dark Eldar
Chaos Space Marines
Astra Militarium
Orks

(Note I have deliberately left off Sisters of Battle and Skittari because I know nothing about them; Space Marine chapters Blood Angels and Dark Angels also fall under this list. I am also not including the small armies that are intended for allied use like Harlequins, Assassins, Imperial Knights and Inquisition.)

But this is just a very loose guess judging from what I have seen myself and on the internet. Hopefully this thread will get some sort of consensus going as to a ranking order.

Thank you

Chaos Deamons should be higher up.

It becomes impossible to make a clear ranking because of how allies allows a lot of tom-foolery, so even if you just look at tournament results, "Space Marines" may still mean Space Marines with X allied to make up half the points. And is it then really "Space Marines?"

Where do Skitarii end up, for example? They are not bad in the alliance bull**** we can throw out, but pure Skitarii is hardly amazing.

I think tiers without internal ranking do a better job as a result. Stuff like Eldar, Tau and SM are clearly occupying the top while things like Orks and CSM are solidly stuck at the bottom.

Gaurd should be highr too

A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

Do orks really belong in dead last?

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I'd bump Eldar down or bump Necrons and Marines up.

 Cobra66 wrote:
Do orks really belong in dead last?

Sometimes. I consider them like Nids, where they only have 1 or 2 viable lists

pm713 wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I'd bump Eldar down or bump Necrons and Marines up.

I'd say Entime got it spot on, Eldar are way ahead

It's hard to just rank things up, because each force is different. It's easy to say Eldar are the best, because it's easy to break Eldar, but these only become apparent as you play and learn the game. You need to rank each by a more qualified scale.

Tourney-Standings:
Highest are those armies that show up most frequently at the top. Common groupings put together, with most common of the common groupings at the left-most. Remember, this is not a list of strongest, simply who shows up more frequently than others near the top lists.

Armies of the Imperium (Space Marines -> Knights -> Assassins -> Mechanicus -> Inquisition -> Grey Knights -> Astra Militarum -> Sisters)
Eldar (Craftworld Eldar -> Dark Eldar -> Harlequins)
Tau
Forces of Chaos (Daemons -> Chaos Space Marines // Khorne Daemonkin are a mix of these so are not listed)
Necrons
Tyranids (Tyranids -> Genestealer Cults)
Orks


Newbie-Friendliness:
Highest are those armies that are most "forgiving" in that they are strong even in the hands of a novice, and making the "wrong purchase" when trying to assemble a Tourney-Standing army is less likely to happen. Armies kept separate here, since it's unlikely that a newbie will start with allies.

Imperial Knights
Tau
Craftworld Eldar
Necrons
Space Marines
Assassins
Grey Knights
Daemons
Khorne Daemonkin
Mechanicus
Orks
Chaos Space Marines
Dark Eldar
Harlequins
Tyranids
Astra Militarum
Genestealer Cults
Sisters of Battle

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I don't agree with the ranking you have put up here.
Putting Eldar in their own tier implies that everyone else struggles to beat them, which I don't think is true unless you're using a spam list which is discounted here. Also you completely Missed off Dark Eldar...
But other than that I think that works about right, apart from specifying what type of list they need kind of detracts from the point of this thread...

 TWilkins wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I don't agree with the ranking you have put up here.
Putting Eldar in their own tier implies that everyone else struggles to beat them, which I don't think is true unless you're using a spam list which is discounted here. Also you completely Missed off Dark Eldar...
But other than that I think that works about right, apart from specifying what type of list they need kind of detracts from the point of this thread...

I figured I would forget someone. I would probably put DE at Tier 3.5. They'll probably win 3/4 against Tier 4, but lose 3/4 against Tier 3. We honestly don't have many Eldar (Dark or Craftworld) players in my area, so I'm mostly going off of tournament results (discounting ITC for Tau nerfs) and bat reps.

You say you know what's op, yet you still made this thread to rank things that are op to ones that are not? What? And don't even bother putting that warning, yyou know it will turn into a [MOD EDIT - Please find a different way to express that. - Alpharius]

I think Eldar are in a league of their own.

Based off a PURE codex without allies or anything else Eldar are head and shoulders above the next nearest codex.

Tau are possibly the only codex that can stand against an Eldar list with any degree of fairness.

SM are almost their but they require the spam option to really compete, and a lot of their usefulness comes from ally mechanics where you can field several chapters/IoMs at the same time.

Eldar have the WraithKnight which is without a doubt the best codex LoW in the game,
They have Scat Bikes which are without a doubt the best Troop choice in a codex
They have Fire Dragons, Wraith Guard, Warp Spiders and a host of other choices which are better then any other codex's units that are similar.


I, unfortunately am the Ork player. I would say based off a pure list we are right near the bottom. Either taking the bottom spot ourselves or tied with CSMs. (again pure codex no allies) The only time I see Orks win is when they face off against elite armies that have very low model count and are relying on destroying expensive units instead of a horde of boyz. YMMV

Anyway, back to the list. I think that its fairly accurate, I would just add that Tau are possibly top seed with Eldar.

I'll ignore the stipulation on spammed units as thats moving goalposts as badly as Tradito does.

Tier 1
Eldar
Space Marines
Necrons
Tau
Chaos Daemons

Tier 2
Dark Angels
Space Wolves
KDK
Dark Eldar
IG
Sisters of Battle
Grey Knights

Tier 3
Blood Angels
Tyranids
Chaos Space Marines
Orks

I like how almost no one's tier systems include skitties or mechanicus

 Huron black heart wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I'd bump Eldar down or bump Necrons and Marines up.

I'd say Entime got it spot on, Eldar are way ahead

Given what's said in the OP I disagree.

I'd say they were both tier 2. The thing is at tournement level most people seem to run them as a War Convocation, which combines both codexes and IK and then throws you 1000pts of free upgrades, which makes the Gladius look reasonable.That could push them up to tier 1.

DA Ravenwing is definitely in tier 2 territory.

pm713 wrote:

 Huron black heart wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I'd bump Eldar down or bump Necrons and Marines up.

I'd say Entime got it spot on, Eldar are way ahead

Given what's said in the OP I disagree.

He said overall strength and weakness, what weaknesses do Eldar have?

In order from most OP to least.

Tier 1: Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos Deamons, and Necrons.

They keep out most competitors by a mile.

Tier 1.5: Tau, AdMech/Skitarii, Chaos Renegades

These armies can pub stomp most other armies but will be hard pressed to win tounaments with really top of th eline lists and players from tier 1.

Tier 2: Tyranids and Grey Knights. These are the last notable armies with any sort of power to them.

Beyond this point the power difference is negligible and a bad one of these might be able to fight a good lower tier codex like the Nids with skill and list consideration.

http://variancehammer.com/2016/06/08/whats-wrong-with-the-tau/

Edit
As of their new supplement from this year Space Marines are now more powerful than Eldar and Eldar are beginning to have trouble countering their insane death stars. Like totally unfair psychic power death stars of death.

Ally a Culuxes in, gg.

True enough but the stronger armies can make better use of it.

 Quickjager wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Huron black heart wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
A tier system would be a much better way to rank the armies in the current meta.

Tier 1:

Eldar

Tier 2:

Necrons
Space Marines
Tau
Chaos Daemons
Space Wolves (with TWC/Wulfen)

Tier 3:

Dark Angels
Grey Knights
Sisters
Space Wolves (no TWC/Wulfen)
IG armoured

Tier 4:

Blob IG
Tyranids
Blood Angels
Orks
CSM

Something like that.

I'd bump Eldar down or bump Necrons and Marines up.

I'd say Entime got it spot on, Eldar are way ahead

Given what's said in the OP I disagree.

He said overall strength and weakness, what weaknesses do Eldar have?

"Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about TFG WAAC players. I am NOT talking about lists that spam the same units over and over again. I am NOT creating this thread for it to turn into a thread about Scatterbikes, Wraithknights, Riptides, Grav... ECT. We all Know this is overpowered.
"

T3 expensive infantry is not great. Nor is pretty much everything being expensive compared to other armies.

Avengers, dragons, scorpions, spiders, regular jet bikes, psyker leaders, wave serpents, and some of the other tanks are certainly not bad. You don't see many of them spammed because stronger options exist, but they aren't bad by any stretch.
With their formation giving them BS 5 they become even better.

Out of all the armies I own eldar are the strongest. I can pull most choices from the dex and still do okay against most match ups unless facing an ultimate competitive list. Marines have a lot of duds, necrons are in a similar place as eldar but not quite there (they really want a decurion) and daemons also have many duds.

pm713 wrote:
"Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about TFG WAAC players. I am NOT talking about lists that spam the same units over and over again. I am NOT creating this thread for it to turn into a thread about Scatterbikes, Wraithknights, Riptides, Grav... ECT. We all Know this is overpowered.
"

T3 expensive infantry is not great. Nor is pretty much everything being expensive compared to other armies.

Then again what counts as spamming? 2 units? 3 units?

Even without worst offenders eldar units are damned good(and aren't used that much only because there's even better choices available. If you have units that are 10%, 20% and 30% undercosted why take 20% and 10% when you can take 30%? Ban the 30% ones and you are STILL better than army that's balanced) and generally require optimized list from opponent to deal. And if opponent can use optimized list why can't eldar...

Its pretty weird to ask for a ranking of what armies are good but then put in some vague restriction that intentionally makes the best armies less so.

If we're talking purely strengths and weaknesses, then having ready access to a range of awesome units would make it a strong codex.

 Gamgee wrote:
In order from most OP to least.

Tier 1: Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos Deamons, and Necrons.

They keep out most competitors by a mile.

Tier 1.5: Tau, AdMech/Skitarii, Chaos Renegades

These armies can pub stomp most other armies but will be hard pressed to win tounaments with really top of th eline lists and players from tier 1.

Tier 2: Tyranids and Grey Knights. These are the last notable armies with any sort of power to them.

Beyond this point the power difference is negligible and a bad one of these might be able to fight a good lower tier codex like the Nids with skill and list consideration.

http://variancehammer.com/2016/06/08/whats-wrong-with-the-tau/

Edit
As of their new supplement from this year Space Marines are now more powerful than Eldar and Eldar are beginning to have trouble countering their insane death stars. Like totally unfair psychic power death stars of death.

Tyranids? Thats a joke right?

Broken Tier - "How did this make it through testing..no but seriously..how?"
-Eldar. No other Codex is even close when compared. Mobility, Fire Power, etc, etc..they just have too much of everything..

Tier 1 - "A giant pain to deal with if you're a casual or not playing competitive lists.."
-Necrons. Infuriating to play against at times due to Reanimation Protocols..
-Space Marines. GW poster boys, they get all the fancy stuff and get it first..
-Tau. You're in cover? That's cute..Ravenwing so salty..
-Chaos Daemons. No clue why they are Tier 1, just putting them here cause others have..do not see them at all where I play.

Tier 2 - "Decent Armies, some with too many taxing options while being too fluffy to be competitive, will struggle against everything above.."
-Dark Angels. Fluff, cloaks, bikes, and plasma.
-Space Wolves. Taxing formations, named characters that force you into fluffy list, and no grav. TWC/Wulfen are your go to units, pretty sad their isn't a formation geared towards TWC...
-Grey Knights. Super fluff lords and expensive.
-IG. I has tanks.

Don't feel like expanding the list..kinda just took what I see where I play and added my personal opinion to them. Everything in the quotes for each tier is simply what popped into my head right before I started typing while thinking of what armies are about to go into that tier.

This game will never be balanced by the way.

Scrub Tier:

CSM, DE

They need to git gud.

EDIT: My spelling today...