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I will preface by saying... THIS IS NOT A FLAME THREAD but rather a thread to discuss what YOU feel is the best unit / most overpowered / most point efficient unit per army - and try and offer an explanation if you can

Don't quote somebody and say "NUH UH! You are t3h wrong!" either, its just peoples opinions.

If you don't know a specific army, then don't worry about including them

I'll start:

Black Templars - Emperor's champion. Man this guy is a beast in combat. I5 swings before most, WS 6 trumps berzerkers... i've seen this guy kill more of my IC than almost any other unit.

Blood angels - Furioso dreadnought. Watching this guy perform in bat reps makes me never want to encounter one. More attacks on each wound?! Also front armor 13 is tough to crack in CC.

Chaos Space Marines - I was going to say demon prince but with the changes to warptime and lash of submission i think they are a tiny bit less viable now. I'd say its a tie between plague marines or defilers. Super resilient foot soldiers that can hold points like the best of them or a fleet walker with awesome close combat weapons, daemonically possessed, and a large pie plate? Yes please.

Grey Knights - Twin linked auto cannon 2x with psybolt ammo Dreadnoughts. The range and strength is insane and pops anything shy of a landraider (i've even fired at a landraider on turn 1 and took out 1 of its guns and made it immobilized... yay glances). Point for point, this is one of the best units.

Imp guard - Vendetta. 3 twin linked lascannons? The thing is insane for its point cost... least it leaves a bigger "footprint" than the GK's dreadnought so its a bit easier to swat down.

Space marines - IMO, everything in this book is fairly balanced, I sort of use this codex as what I compare all armies too.

Space wolves - Priest with JOTWW... I hate that ability. I think it's what made a lot of armies mechanized (least putting expensive units in mech). Poor tyranids vs this though :(

Eldar - Wraithlords. Very cheap MC's with insane strength and toughness. Eldrad is a very close second, if not tied, with the buffs he can give his army.

Necrons - Annihilation barge. How cheap this thing is and the firepower it outputs is insane. I can see lots of people saying Imotekh in this spot, but truthfully , after nightfighting wears off, Imotekh is a subpar overlord IMO. I meant gauntlet of fire? Really? I'd rather have a staff of light...

Orks - I actually find this dex very entertaining and balanced. Ghazz can be a bit of a toughie, but he's also very expensive.

Tau - Broadsides, twin linked rail guns really hurt... yes they are slow and purposeful but you get them in some proper cover and they can snipe and pop anything.

Tyranids - Swarmlord is very expensive but one of the best IC's in the game... but for this spot I would actually hand it to the doom of malan'tai. He doesn't always work, but when he does, his results are devastating... that and he's very cheap (points wise...) to use.

Curious to see what you guys think. I didn't include dark eldar, dark angels, or Chaos Daemons because I really haven't played against them.

For Orks, it's definitely Ghazzy. He's somewhat undercosted for everything he brings to the table. Or, well, he was. In the post-Draigo and Mephiston era, I'm not so sure anymore.

CSM: Yeah, definitely Plague Marines. Don't know if I would call them definitively overpowered, but they're as close to an auto-include as the codex gets.

I'm sorry, you said toughest unit and then listed special named HQs.

For orks it's nob bikers, Even ghaz dies to them easily.

Nids have the doom of malanti who's damn tough, beyond that trygon primes and carnifex squads are tough to crack

Doom is potent, but not tough.

One S8 hit past that invuln and it's gone.

Eldar- for me, at least, it's a 5 man firedragon squad coming out of a holofielded falcon (ok..so that's 2 units..) or the Wraithlord.

GK- whole book, but especially purifiers..

BA- Mephy

Orks - Ghaz, but he's not THAT op except for the turn he pops his waaagh.

DE - Archon perhaps?

Daemons -Fateweaver (especially if used near a unit that needs his abilities)

Sisters of Battle - probably the Battle Conclave. Requires a Confessor - generic, or one of the two special ones - to unlock, but works well when the Confessor is attached to them.

Typical (optimal?) unit composition is 3-4 Crusaders, and 5-6 Death-Cult Assassins, all in a Rhino. You can take a total of 10 models in the unit, but typically you leave one out to make room in their Rhino for a Confessor.

If the unit has 6 Death-Cult Assassins and 3 Crusaders, you get, on the charge, 24 power weapon attacks at WS5, S4, and I6 from the Death-Cult Assassins, and an additional 6 power weapon attacks at WS 3 (maybe 4, can't remember), S3, and I3 from the Crusaders. Crusaders have 3++ saves from their storm shields, and the Death-Cult Assassins have 5++ saves from their special ability.

If you attach a Confessor of any sort to the unit, the unit gets re-rolls to hit if they charge. If you choose Jacobus, who costs 15 points more than a stock Confessor, you also get +1 attack and FNP for him and his unit at all times.

A 6 Death-Cult Assassin, 3 Crusader, and Jacobus unit, when charging a unit of MEQ (WS4, T4, I4), will inflict roughly 13-14 power weapon wounds just from the Death-Cult Assassins. If they get charged by a unit of MEQ, that number drops to 8.

Their main weakness is units in cover, and shooting. Apart from their Confessor and transport, they have absolutely no ranged capabilities. Apart from their Confessor, no models in the unit have assault grenades, so the Death-Cult Assassins' big strength - high initiative - is negated for the first turn of combat if they have to take a difficult terrain test while charging. Because of this, and the unit's vulnerability to shooting, they're less often used as an assault unit, and more as a counter-charge unit.

For 6 DCAs, 3 Crusaders, Jacobus, and a Rhino, the total points cost is 260 points.

Blood Angels-everything
IG-Vendetta
Necron-Imhotep

Really? The Tau actually have an OP unit?

One that in a 3 man configuration costs over 250 pts almost..... for 3 guys is OP? Not to mention come with no inv saves unless taking a further 2 shied droned bumping the price up...... If Tau didnt have Broadisides then there would be nothing in the whole codex that could touch a mech list... other than the old Deathrain which suffers immensly at AV 12+

Think a lot what I said was overlooked in the first two paragraphs of this thread and people seem to be hung up on the title of the thread...

I did say what do you feel is the best for the point value in the book, be it actually "overpowered" or not. I'm just using the term "overpowered" as a turn of phrase.

edit: There, editted the thread title so people dont get so hung up on the word.

Necrons: Wraiths. Whip coils, 3 attacks base and rending with 2 wounds and WS 6

Blood Angels: Mephiston. This guy's rules read like a fanboy's wishlist.

Space Wolves: Grey Hunters. Straight up, they are overpowered for their price tag.

Tau: Broadsides. But they have to be that good in order to compensate for the rest of the army.

Grey Knights: Coteaz. See Mephiston's entry above.

Nids: Swarmlord, I hate that bugger

For necrons i would have to agree its the anni barge ive actually killed one of those worm thingies that thet the nids have(not sure what itts called but it was slightly bigger than my monolith, scratch that almost twice as big as my monolit). Bikers in my experience arent that difficult to deal with as an IG army. My first battle against orks as IG they had bought like 20 bikes with a warboss and a whole bunch og buggies plus a trukk. The bikers got killed in cc by a 8 man vet squad with a PW. while the boss ran off and charged another vet squad causing them to run, but they also regrouped next turn and shot him to smithereens!

Guard - I think alot of people kinda forget how powerful the standard LRBT is. Battle cannon as standard, Lascannons & Multimeltas for tank hunting, or Lascannons & Plasma Cannons for heavy infantry (looking at you duelwing armies) or heavy bolters all round for infantry. Add Pask if you've got 50pts kicking about for BS 4.

Aye totally agree with Vendetta, two times I've been to the 40K doubles, the several Guard players in the top twenty had at least Two Vendettas. (two joint Guard armies had three.)

Playing them like transports with a nasty kick in the teeth after they dropped their payload. Worked very well as their positions testified.

Possibly nastiest combo I saw was Guard/Orks, both having cheap infantry and the Guard player bringing the guns.

I play against a lot of Eldar, and those cheap WarWalkers with Scatter Lasers just ruin my day. 24 strength 6 attacks, usually with Fortune on them and Doom on me.....ugh.

Space Marines: Lysander - he requires virtually no tactics to use, and can boost the effectiveness of virtually any unit he is attached to. him+ sternguard are brutal, as are him and assault terminators

Blood angels: assault squads - 100pts naked and they get discounted transports. if they dont like transports they get to deep strike via DOA, in addition to 1 meltagun per 5 men.

Grey knights: purifiers - kiss goodbye to easy melee kills on even 1 purifier, due to cleansing flame. suddenly creating huge squads seems a bit less viable.

Tyranids: venomthrope - provides mobile cover for your MC's, that would otherwise be vulnerable to ap1/2/3 fire. even the retardedly large MC's, like a trygon that would otherwise be unlikely to find cover.

Necrons: scarabs - thanks to the new entropic strike, these little buggers are lethal, lots of attacks, fairly cheap and therefore expendable, plus you can spawn more if you take tomb spyders in your list

Chaos daemons: soul grinders - seems like a silly thing to put down in light of fateweaver, but when you take into account that most daemons have a rather poor invulnerable save (5+) he doesnt float my boat. whereas for 25 pts, the soul grinder (lolgrinder) can take an upgrade allowing him to shoot a str8 ap3 large blast, which will make short work of squads of meq or worse. and av13 makes him hard to crack in close combat, not to mention he is immune to shaken and stunned results. he also has fleet.

Chaos space marines: plague marines - as if a marine statline wasnt hard enough, t5 marines are just a pain in the a**

tau: hammerheads - powerful tank hunters

Eldar: Avatar of Khaine - almost the same statline as a bloodthirster, but for 95 points less, and makes everything within 12" fearless.

Not to say that these units are overpowered, but these are the ones i feel are the most powerful in their respective codices.

and for the record, i play daemons, grey knights, blood angels and eldar

Jetlock council. They are insane, and maximum of 690 points if they take every upgrade and the most expensive powers.

BT:a Tooled up Marshal:
My personal preference is a Marshal w/ terminator armour, SS+TH, Melta bombs, Adamantine mantle. Thusly armed he can go toe-to-toe with pretty much anything.
BA: Mephiston. Because he's Mephiston
GK: Draigo. As above
IG: Leman Russ Executioner. When you can put out That much AP 2 weaponary, I'll take notice
Orks: Ghazzy
Eldar: Wraithlord
DE: Lelith Hesperax
SoB: Celestine. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?!?!?!?!"
'Crons: Imhotek
CSM: Methinks Thousand sons. Hello Tactical squad, meet AP 3 bolters...
Tau: Hammerhead
Chaos Daemons: Skarbrand/Fateweaver
'Nids: Swarmlord. " Try and take me in combat. I dare you"
SW: Grimnar
SM: Vulkan/Tigurius

Why does everyone think Wraithlords are so good? They are awful in my opinion, and I play Eldar. I'd say that the most powerful Eldar unit is either Eldrad Ulthran or War Walkers (with 6 Scatter Lasers). They simply give back their points cost and more every single game they are in.

Marzillius wrote:Why does everyone think Wraithlords are so good? They are awful in my opinion, and I play Eldar. I'd say that the most powerful Eldar unit is either Eldrad Ulthran or War Walkers (with 6 Scatter Lasers). They simply give back their points cost and more every single game they are in.

No idea. Maybe they are still stuck in a 3rd edition mindset?

Only T 8 creature left in the game outside of Apoc.

Add that to the ability to shoot some serious guns, and be decent in CC, while being literally unhurtable by S 4 or less.

Poison does for them fairly well, as does antitank, but they are still a pretty decent unit.

YMMV but i've found them to be tough customers when i've not been playing my DE.

Dark Angels.....ummmm......definitely not Sammael!

I go for Belial (TH/SS) with a 5 man Terminator squad, all with mixed weapons. TH/SS/Apothecary, TH/SS, TLC, PF/SB, CF/SB. Feel no pain, lots of 3+ invulns, separate saves.

A lot of points, but Belial at 130 is a real bargain. Don't even think you can get a SM Captain in Termi armor for that.

Mechanized Space Corps wrote:
Chaos daemons: soul grinders - seems like a silly thing to put down in light of fateweaver, but when you take into account that most daemons have a rather poor invulnerable save (5+) he doesnt float my boat. whereas for 25 pts, the soul grinder (lolgrinder) can take an upgrade allowing him to shoot a str8 ap3 large blast, which will make short work of squads of meq or worse. and av13 makes him hard to crack in close combat, not to mention he is immune to shaken and stunned results. he also has fleet.

Sorry, but as a Daemon player I have to call complete BS here.

The grinder is only 185pts with all 3 firing modes, competes with far more flexible daemon princes and it must deploy via deep strike! (you try landing that huuuuuuuuuge foot print and then not scatter into something!)
Daemons don't need help removing meq's anyways - we've only got everything khornate, greater daemons, rending attacks aplenty, S8/ap1 bolts, breath of chaos, flamers of tzeentch, daemon princes... If a daemon player can't kill meq's, then he's doing it wrong! (well, unless those meq's are GK's, then we'vegot reason to gripe!)

Fateweaver + Skarbrand is easily much more terrifying and harder to deal with. Fateweaver alone is harder to deal with considering his re-roll bubble! In 40k, anything re-rolled is damn godly!

For Daemons, as a Daemon player, I add my vote to good 'ol Fateweaver, very closely followed by Tzeentch Heralds on chariots w/bolt, we are legion & master of sorcery upgrades. Those guys are plain dirty at only 110pts a pop and we can field 2 of them alongside 'ol Fatey to boot!


My apologies to the OP, but while this is all opinionated, there still should be some commen sense applied as well!

Marzillius wrote:Why does everyone think Wraithlords are so good? They are awful in my opinion, and I play Eldar. I'd say that the most powerful Eldar unit is either Eldrad Ulthran or War Walkers (with 6 Scatter Lasers). They simply give back their points cost and more every single game they are in.

Yeah, Eldrad is the most powerful unit the eldar have, a 1/200 change to perils and the possibility to have a 3++ re-rollable save every turn. In one game, fired dang near my entire 1000pts IG army against him for two turns and he didn't die

Orks: Boyz

The Mad Tanker wrote:

Marzillius wrote:Why does everyone think Wraithlords are so good? They are awful in my opinion, and I play Eldar. I'd say that the most powerful Eldar unit is either Eldrad Ulthran or War Walkers (with 6 Scatter Lasers). They simply give back their points cost and more every single game they are in.

Yeah, Eldrad is the most powerful unit the eldar have, a 1/200 change to perils and the possibility to have a 3++ re-rollable save every turn. In one game, fired dang near my entire 1000pts IG army against him for two turns and he didn't die

No way, it's definately the pheonix lords...

Eldar: Jetlock council. As stated above, 690 points max, taking the most expensive powers each time, but who ever does that?

Dark Angels: Belial with terminator command squad.

Dark Eldar - Incubi. Maybe it's just the 3+ armor save or the power weapons that make me giddy - but I haven't hit a unit yet that these haven't done significant damage too.

Dark Eldar - Trueborn - You can do so much with these guys and gals big squads small squads

GK purifiers , best unit in the game IMHO.
16 strength 7 rending shots or 8 on the move coupled with 12. Stormbolter shots from each unit and then in assault 6 initiative 6 nemesis force weapon halberds giving you 18 force weapon attacks before most units get to go , then add the utility knife of psychic powers that affect the entire unit ( need strength? Hammer hand , how about horde control? Cleansing flame how about just busting up multi wound models? Force weapon

Just a beast unit all around .

Not including Ghaz for orks, as he's a given, I'd say either Lootaz or the humble Boy for Orks.