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One of the wider questions, but I was just wondering what the strongest HQ across all armies is...
I lack non-imperial rules knowledge so I don't know of very strong HQ's (unless the C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer is one).
Please don't let it be Marneus Calgar.
#PleaseNotThem

How about Chaos greater daemons or Belakor?

Depends what you mean by "strongest".

In a straight fight.....Calgar's not bad, but Draigo (Grey Knights) and Abbadon (Chaos Marines) are pretty close.

If you're just starting in a mano-a-mano straight-to-the-assault-phase fight, then either a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, or Skarbrand The Exile are probably the best. The Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage lands 6-9 destroyer attacks at WS10 per combat phase - meaning a pretty good chance of a Deathblow in one round - and relatively few things that are an HQ choice can reliably do enough damage to stop him attacking.

Firepower? Winged Hive Tyrant, Knight Commander Pask in a suitable tank, or Tau battlesuit commander.

As an all-rounder? Depends on the rest of the army. Tigurius or Belakor are probably the best guys for supporting an army, but there are plenty of alternatives who can hand out infiltrate, or feel no pain, or deep strike, or fearless as required.

Sevrin Loth. ML3 psyker with guaranteed invisibility and the ability to sacrifice a token for a 2++. Stick him in a grav cent squad and watch your opponents cry.

ML3 Flying DP.

In terms of efficiency, Farseers seem pretty damn good. How many armies can boast a ML3 Psyker for a measly 100pts?

 vipoid wrote:
In terms of efficiency, Farseers seem pretty damn good. How many armies can boast a ML3 Psyker for a measly 100pts?

And at 115pts he's a ML3 psyker who can be pretty much wherever he wants at any time, AND he gets a 3+ save and toughness 4. Musn't forget his special runes and ghosthelm either. I don't think an eldar army should ever be without one really.

Are we talking Named Characters or best generic HQ build?

locarno24 pretty much nails the list imo.

Non-named HQs however, Chapter Master Smashfether can stand toe to toe with most named HQs (and generally come out on top)

And a GK Libby with ML3 and all the trimmings is pretty silly for psychic power, but not as points effective as vipoid and Tarvitz's Farseer :(

Oh, these threads...

OK.

I vote Ork Warboss. There are many options for them, such as power klaw, mega armour, etc. just look at the codex.

Chaos sorcerer with terminator armour, sigil, familiar, tzeentch mark, scrolls of magnus, murder sword, power axe, ml3.

Roll personal traits for feel no pain or it will not die.

Biomancy for endurance, iron arm/warp speed and life leech.

Magnus scrolls can give some interesting powers later.

With a 3+ invuln, lots of insta kill weapons, and FNP and psychic shenanigans he always does very well unless he kills himself from perils / scrolls.

Be'Lakor is up there in a 1v1. Dude can cheap shot and just fly around casting powers. No invul against psychic shriek. Can be invisible, and with armorbane/fleshbane he can mess up anything with ease, even gargantuans.

The Tau buffmander can do some extremely broken things in the Hunter Contingent. I'm not sure if that's the best thing out there, but it's pretty spiffy.

Surely that is going to be biased based on what armies people play?

I'd give mine to the Flyrant, on the basis a faction is propped up by it.

 vipoid wrote:
In terms of efficiency, Farseers seem pretty damn good. How many armies can boast a ML3 Psyker for a measly 100pts?

Ah yeah. I was trying to think of a ML3+ psyker with access to telepathy.

I change my vote to the Farseer. Pretty much the most efficient HQ in the game.

How exactly are we quantifying best / strongest? Absolute best killing power at, or at melee? Best survivability? Best mix of survivability and killiness? Best value points wise? Best ability to empower other units? Best ability to influence the game?

There's no answer to a question this vague, you have to give specifics for what you're looking for an HQ to be best at. Because while some HQ's are inarguably better than others, there are an awful lot out there that have different strengths. As an example, DLS biker warbosses and DLS megabosses are both dead killy, very tough, and great at soaking up weight of fire to protect your boyz.. They're also cheap as hell points wise for this. But if you throw them up against a true beat stick like Abaddon they'll crumple with ease. Calagar is a very strong melee contender, but brings a huge amount of strength to your army as a whole due to his special wounds. So while he is, again, not Abaddon or some other monsters in a straight up fight, he has a lot of strength in other areas which makes him just as good without being direct competition. There's also, you know, Flyrants and such. Or an Ordnance Tyrant Demagogue for Renegades and Heretics. Two totally different ends of the spectrum with the Flyrant being a tough killing machine, and the demagogue being a guard vet with a few extra wounds, but makes specific unit types nearby absolutely devastating.

nudibranch wrote:
Sevrin Loth. ML3 psyker with guaranteed invisibility and the ability to sacrifice a token for a 2++. Stick him in a grav cent squad and watch your opponents cry.

Its funny when your 175 point model can survive 5 rounds of combat with an invisible Lorgar

I'm going to say Tigurius