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With the new guard book and the prevalence of "melta-hammer 40,000", I'm really starting to wonder whether mech, foot, or even shoota/loota orks can really work. They don't get meltaguns themselves and they have no psychic defenses. Has the ork codex "fizzled out" or are there any "powerbuilds" left in the ork book?

Battlewagon Orks are still viable I think, there is so much in that dex that works. You will just see more variations on it.

Can Wall is still pretty solid, Multiple Wagons with multiple KFFs, MSU Nob Bikers and Im sure plenty of things we have not thought of yet.

Hell no it hasn't fizzled out.

Mech orks seems to be the best bet.

The Ork Codex still has a ridiculous number of very powerful builds. In short, no, it hasn't fizzled in the least.

Horde and mech Orks do have ample psychic defense, at least when it comes to weaken resolve. Both builds are still quite viable, as are some others, only now the Guard has the means to hang with the best of them.

Orks need tank-shock and the first turn to win. Especially against other horde armies.

To me it seems with each new codex release there are about 10 new ways to kill ork armies and only about 1 or 2 new ways to deal with everyone else. Anti-infantry weaponry is practically being thrown at every given soldier while anti-tank is still a problem for some armies.

Thats kinda why Battlewagon and kan builds are working great but foot slogging and bikers is starting to slow down. Could just be me being crazy through.

I agree with Sir. Specially with the Warboss PK slash being the only reliable can openner.

There are definitely a lot of counters to certain Ork builds these days.

-Templates that wound on 2+ ignoring cover and can be brought in multiples.
-Meltas in large number
-Terminators w/ Thunderhammer-Stormshield scare biker nobs
-Lack of Ork meltas vs. mechanized lists. Sure, the Warboss can gut a Land Raider with his claw, but then the unit comes spilling out and munches the Warboss. What Orks can't afford is to not get the charge.


If you know who you are playing against in your local area, some things can be mitigated. Trying to build an Ork list and going to an area/tourney where you are not familiar with the local play makes this proposition a bit more difficult.

However, I don't necessarily think the Orks have 'fizzled out'. This time last year, Nob Bikers were all the rage and everyone was trying to figure out how to stop them. I think the lastest Codexes have causes a lot of Ork players to really rethink how they play their army at competitive levels.

I think what is going on in the meta game, is that orks are de-powering. All that was needed to win with orks, when the codex came out, was more boyz than your opponent could take down in the three turns it took you to run across the board and some lootaz to bust transports.
Ive honestly never been that impressed with nob bikers, but to be fair Ive never seen one built to be as abusive as possible.
What has happened, as has been stated, is new codexes enabled armies to take down more boyz per turn, and invalidate the lists that used to win by strength of numbers. New codexes require orks to come up with more complicated lists, and tactics beyond a slow march across the board with a wave of green.

At least there is some attempt by GW to balance the game.

Due to Lash, PsykerSquads, template galore and better/cheaper vehicles everyone is going mechanized at the moment.
Due to mechanized armies people take more and more melta and AV weapons.
I've even heard some Chaos players say that Lash isnt worth it anymore with everyone mounted up.
Once everyone meched up the foot slogger horde will shine again. There are more than enough counters to it but they are in the codices only and not on the table.
The best power build is a strong build which is rarely played.

In the end it all depends on your gaming community.
If you have tons of horde players in your area you are better off with a mech list.
If there is only mech around in your area you are better off with a horde list.

Tournaments are different but usually they follow the flavour of the month.

Orks can go mechanized too and do just fine. 4+ Battlewagons at 1750pts seems solid.

A friend of mine plays mech orks with a KFF mech. Its damn hard to kill all those transports before some of them get to you an unload a few dozen orks into your face. Lootas are still the best thing in the game for popping enemy transports. You cant really disagree with 45 S7 shots, even if they are at BS2. Lootas in battlewagons with a 4+ cover save are really hard to budge.

to put it bluntly, no. The Ork Codex has not fizzled out.