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I've been thinking this through very heavily in recent weeks; how good is each army in 40K?
A friend of mine gave me the idea of 3 "Tiers" or divisions... whatever you want to call them really. I'll try to put the armies in each Tier more or less in order of how good they are and I'll also give them an overall rating (10 being outstanding and 1 being unusable). But!!! Remember- this is just in my gaming area and from a mere 2 years of experience and I'd love your feedback on what you think. Correct me if you think I'm wrong, etc. Thank you!

Tier 1 = Excellent rules, can counter most armies in 40k (especially ones in lower tiers) for which you require anything particularly astonishing tactics-wise.
Eldar 10/10 - Pretty much the best current army in 40k, you can easily win the majority of games; mobility, fire power, ability to bring a gargantuan!
Tau 9/10 - Not quite on level with Eldar, but certainly up there. Main problem being they lack the mobility of the Eldar. This, however doesn't stop them from having absurd fire power and the gargantuan option.
Space Marines 8/10 - This is a difficult one to decide; Space Marines are very powerful and can really pack a punch with drop pods and power armour
Necrons 8/10 - Again, just creeping in from Tier 2 possibly just as a result of the Decurion detachment; these guys can kill anything big - vehicles, monstrous creatures... it really doesn't matter.

Tier 2 = Solid rules, you'll commonly have close games with the codex & rules offering you a minor advantage
Grey Knights 7.5/10 - Could've easily made it into Tier 1 if it weren't for the high cost per man; even so, these guys are SAVAGE! But to be fair, 6 points on top of a traditional marine and you're offered: A force weapon (mind blown!), Preferred Enemy [Daemons], a storm bolter to replace a regular bolter AND Hammer Hand to grant you an additional 2 strength.
Space Wolves 7.5/10 - These guys are pretty fierce, with counter attack and many units that other Marine chapters don't have access to makes them difficult to eliminate, from range or combat. Their weakness is that they don't have the ridiculous versatility of the Traditional Space Marines. Chaos Daemons 7/10 - These guys used to be something I was terrified of! Now they're just kinda better than my army. They have some serious punch, due to 10-point power weapon models and invulnerable saves for everything as well as an arsenal of greater daemons to choose from.
Khorne Daemonkin 7/10 - It feels like I've been cheated - it's a chaos codex that only updates Khorne. The best tactic I've managed to work around is high point Kor Lath Axe & Bloodthirster spam, but the main idea of the force is to get your units back as you lose them. It's ok if your units die because you're getting some back due to blood tithe points, but it's still limiting you to combat and expensive units.
Dark Eldar 6.5/10 - On paper these guys look awesome, but they've never been a huge threat for me! They have a lot of mobility- they're like Eldar but lacking as much fire power and more combat orientated meaning you have to play your cards right if you want to win.
Blood Angles 6.5/10 - They're Space Marines, but they don't have the update they desperately needed. They're still quite lacking outside of combat with most of their hard-hitting elite & unique units being combat orientated, but you can still make a very good army out of it!
Astra Millitarum 6/10 - They're good, they can deploy a lot of bodies, but blast weapons destroy them instantly and they don't have a huge amount of versatility apart from their tanks.
Dark Angles 6/10 - Excellent example of a codex that was average years ago and has since been forgotten by Games Workshop! Yes, they did get a codex, but it didn't help them- if anything it made life more challenging for them! These guys don't have grav weapons, they're lacking a unique feel to them and they practically don't know what Eternal warrior means.
Orks - 5/10 - This is an army I really have next to no experience on, but judging from having a look at the codex it seems very, very average and has a few major deficiencies, such as well armoured troops that don't get horribly overpriced. It seems like there's no good fliers as far as I can tell.

Tier 3 = Rules and Codex are against you and most games are an uphill battle from the start.
Chaos Space Marines 4.5/10 - Big Sad face! My main army- and it's unfortunately pretty crap. You have no special formation, you have very overpriced units that don't function well making this the second (or third) worst and oldest codex I can think of. You still have some powerful combos however using the Axe of Fury, Nurgle bikers and so on, but for the majority of units, the situation isn't great.
Tyranids 4/10 - This army has a great number of problems that haven't been addressed in their update back in 6th edition. A deficiency of weapons to deal with high armour and the limitations of synapse have made this a codex that is very difficult to play competitively.

Make sure to let me know if you agree with the list or you think I'm absolutely out of my mind and chaos are OP X'D

This is an army I really have next to no experience on, but judging from having a look at the codex it seems very, very average and has a few major deficiencies,

lol I have no idea if average has the same meaning in "Dutch English " or actual English. ; )

Well, Eldar still shelved and Necrons.

Seems spot on. Daemons I'd make a 7.5/10, as given the right combos and units taken, they can be pretty terrifying to deal with, but are definitely a luck/spam based army.

Dark Angels I'd bump up to 8/10. Everything else is crap, but the Ravenwing are amazing now, especially now that they have Grav, can take 2 Special weapons per 3 man squad, re-roll Jink saves, and all other shenanigans.

With Nids you have Codex: Flyrants lists bring around a 7/10 but other lists being fairly low.

I play:

Orks: most casually. I rarely powergame my orks and don't have the models nor the desire to do so. They can't handle any of the more competitive lists and I tend to play them vs more casual minded or new players. Orks simply don't have the tools to compete now that "toys" are free and the game doesn't much have a place for blunt force lists outside Necrons

Guard: my army is slightly better off than orks, but I am still very new with them. I have played Necrons and won, and Eldar and made a hell of a fight out of it but still lost (but which guard regiment wouldn't feel pride knocking out three blasphemous Xenos wraithknights?) but haven't had any experience taking them against anything else very competitive. I am of the opinion the new guard formations do some good stuff for them and they're slightly underrated.

Harlequins: my most competitive list built towards really trying to win games. Oddly it seems my setup is at it's most comfortable vs competitive "shooty big stuff" style lists and it balks vs high volume of wounds melee style lists. My toughest game yet was vs 2 blob platoons with zero equipment besides priests, and a whole tank line. Also, against a competitively minded chaos marine player, but that's expected because you know someone who plays that army competitively is going to have a head harder than granite.

Started to assemble a Tier 1 army to keep up with my meta (Tau), have several Tier 2 (Orks, DE, BA) and Tier 3 (Nids).

I'm Tau all the way, no shame being tier one.

I think Tau and Marines should be on the same rating, both 9/10 if we're considering the ITC.

Marines are top tier, though much of that is due to formations and allies. The Internal balance of the marine codex could be a bit better but over all I'm happy were my army is.

All my armies are bottom tier. Black Legion, Black Templars, Sisters of Battle, Dark Eldar.

Everything I love, GW hates and wants to beat to death with a nerf hammer or ignore it all together. At this point I'm nervous buying any army for fear that it will be nerfed into oblivion or dropped completely. I loved Warhammer fantasy, it was my favourite game of all time. So GW destroyed it. I'm pretty sure if I started Eldar or Tau, come this time next year they would be the most underpowered armies in the game.

Wait you are kidding right? Dark Angels under guard,khorne daemonkin and nearly all of the bad codexes? Dark Angels and Codex Marine are very very similar and they do have access to Grav.

How are Tau tier 1? Their ITC performance doesn't justify a tier 1 status. They were nerfed to tier 2.

Really? Their ITC performance seemed to match up with most of the other tier 1 codexes, and that was after some...nerfs went through.

I do think Eldar should be Tier 0 or something similar. Like SS or S rank in fighting games

I think any army can be tier one with hard work and effort.

I'm tier 1 all the way with all of my armies.

Orks - Codex armaggeddon Speed Freaks
Space Wolves - 5th edition codex
Dark Eldar - 5th edition codex
Emperors Children - 3.5 chaos codex.
Tau - 5th ed Tau Empire

I should mention that I play 4th edition core rules with some minor points adjustments and flavorful addons.

BA are bottom tier. They are perhaps the worst full codex in the game. Yes, worse than CSM even.

I'd put orks below BA for the simple fact that BA can at least take decent allies. Orks don't get BB

You'd need to put BA lower to around tier 3. DA can devastate BA. Heck, our Dreads even have 4 base attacks to the 2 base attacks that BA have. That's not even counting all the grav goodness and the re-roll jinx saves (2+ if you bring a shroud)

Grey Knights aren't the top of Tier 2. Their power has greatly been outscaled by all of the 7.5ed codex. They just pay too many points for a low model count in a game that is all about table control and objectives. Make them 6.5

Daemons should be at the top of Tier 2. They are constantly making it to the top of major tourneys mostly in part due to summoning as it both gives excellent table control and is a tool box to grab counters tailored to each match up. The only reason not the put them in Tier 1 is that they require very skilled players to be played so effectively (which is why it's the same 2 players topping with them everytime). Easily 7.5

Daemons are a high skill army but as you realize very powerful in the right hands.

A lot of armies rely upon combinations with units outside their own codex to be top tier. Obviously eldar and Space Marines operate well alone. The game is designed now for mixing so if a combination can out perform a single CAD for instance it shouldn't draw criticism in a competitive point of view.

Obviously armies like Blood Angels and CSM must have a combination to be competitive. So I will just say that IMO eldar and SM are at the top without relying upon anything else. Even Daemons are better taking CSM for the combination to include Belakor with up to two cheap objective secured units.

To me it's looking like Necrons and Tau are the top of the second tier.

col_impact wrote:
How are Tau tier 1? Their ITC performance doesn't justify a tier 1 status. They were nerfed to tier 2.

Tau had undefeated players (Isreal being 4-0-2) and the same percent of the top 20 or top 50 as Space Marines did, while having only half the players Space Marines did. Statistically Tau are better than Space Marines.

The only thing Tau didn't have was a top 8 place, and that was because both players contending for top 8 in the last round before it lost.

So yea, Tau are tier 1, either on par with Space Marines or just above them.

I don't believe Tau is above Space Marines Tier 1 ITC. I have yet to see a solid objective grabbing tau team, most top lists rely on shooting and shooting which isn't a bad thing but almost no way to deal with combat and contesting. Once your stormsurge gets locked up a quarter of your points are immediately gone, if you brought 2 than half your points are locked up as early as turn 2.

I would put space marines above tau just for the fact they have access to great allies as well as delicious grav and free transports.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
I'd put orks below BA for the simple fact that BA can at least take decent allies. Orks don't get BB

Allies don't affect the quality of the actual codex. Mono BA is inferior to mono Orks.

Where's Skitarii/AdMech?

Martel732 wrote:

HoundsofDemos wrote:
I'd put orks below BA for the simple fact that BA can at least take decent allies. Orks don't get BB

Allies don't affect the quality of the actual codex. Mono BA is inferior to mono Orks.

By that logic the worst codex goes to Legion of the Dammed, Scions or Inquisition. The game isn't mono any more and as much as it pains me it's time to accept that.

HoundsofDemos wrote:

Martel732 wrote:

HoundsofDemos wrote:
I'd put orks below BA for the simple fact that BA can at least take decent allies. Orks don't get BB

Allies don't affect the quality of the actual codex. Mono BA is inferior to mono Orks.

By that logic the worst codex goes to Legion of the Dammed, Scions or Inquisition. The game isn't mono any more and as much as it pains me it's time to accept that.

That's my criterion. There is no codex: IoM. BA are the worst full codex in the game. The add-on codices aren't in contention. People can say this is the era of allies, but there are plenty of codices that don't need them at all. I'm not paying quintuple to field an Imperial list. That's just not happening.

And don't forget, Orks can ally with Eldar. So the ally criterion is meaningless.

So can IOM armies and at a higher level. I am sympathetic that BA are in a bad spot, but looking at the game as a whole they stand above other codexes by virtue of options. Yes Mono Blood angels arn't good, but neither are mono DE, Scions, Orks, Guard, or CSM. Should you need allies to function, no but at least you have the option.

But there aren't plenty of codices that don't need them. ITC skewed a couple of Necrons into the top eight, neither of which finished in the top three. The main thing Necrons have going for them is resiliency... That's it. They are down there with Tau.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
So can IOM armies and at a higher level. I am sympathetic that BA are in a bad spot, but looking at the game as a whole they stand above other codexes by virtue of options. Yes Mono Blood angels arn't good, but neither are mono DE, Scions, Orks, Guard, or CSM. Should you need allies to function, no but at least you have the option.

The problem with that position, is that the BA are just a total liability for whomever they ally with in the IoM. Hell, most of their units are replicated in the vanilla codex and are better to boot in that codex. The ally argument certainly does not hold with BA.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Dozer Blades wrote:
But thete aren't plenty of codices that don't need them. ITC skewed a couple of Necrons into the top eight, neither of which finished in the top three. The main thing Necrons have going for them is resiliency... That's it. They are down there with Tau.

They have a real assault unit. That's something most lists don't have.

optrgrow wrote:
I don't believe Tau is above Space Marines Tier 1 ITC. I have yet to see a solid objective grabbing tau team, most top lists rely on shooting and shooting which isn't a bad thing but almost no way to deal with combat and contesting. Once your stormsurge gets locked up a quarter of your points are immediately gone, if you brought 2 than half your points are locked up as early as turn 2.

I would put space marines above tau just for the fact they have access to great allies as well as delicious grav and free transports.

Isreal's 4-0-2 team was pretty strong in a non-shooting only way. The only real issue I have with it is how much Markerlights he had (list can be found in my signature in the LVO list data base).

In fact, in game 2 against Daemons, even though the game itself was super wonky, he hopped his Y'varha onto the relic so that people couldn't come in range of it, and then grabbed it the next turn, creating such a massive point lead that his opponent conceded (well because of that and other reasons for frustration).

As a whole Tau can have a super mobile list, with very powerful shooting, and pretty hard to kill units. They don't need to depend on Stormsurges or Riptides exactly, in fact Isreal's list ran no Stormsurges, and while I'm not sure about the two Tau players going for top 8 in the last round, I know one was running a double Surge list, while from the looks of it the other was FSE with Ghostkeels and the like, so again a pretty good variety. I wouldn't say they're drastically above Marines, that would be silly, but I'd say they're just slightly above them if not simply equal to them.

Everyone's armies cycles, Back in 5th Blood Angels were one of the top codexes where eldar, space marine, and Tau where average. I can't speak much for 6th cause I wasn't around but you drew short straw this edition by being redone early. I hope you get an update soon, but in truth none of the pre necron codex are in great shape sans Demons who have probably aged better than any codex I can remember. As a marine player we get one other advantage over every other army in the game, we can change hats and grab another book if we want and it doesn't seem that out of place.