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Hi guys,

after ignoring 8th edition for a long time, I am considering getting into it. If I do, however, I want to do it with the most effective codex available. Most of the games I play, I love narrative and don't care much about minmaxing, but in the 40k community, I just know that would make me unhappy very quickly, so I want to come prepared.

So is there a clear winner currently, like there was in previous editions?

I'd say the top contenders are Craftworld Eldar, Tau, and Imperial Guard.

If you like objective data, I would suggest https://www.40kstats.com/. It is tournament data, but it would give you a good idea of which armies seem to be doing well or not so well.

Another source I like to follow is Almost Pro Gaming's monthly top 10 armies. What I like about it is it includes a list breakdown.




Before the new SM codex and supplements debuted, I would say that Imperial Knight soup was still top tier. In fact there are a lot of soup armies they seem to stay at or new the top of the meta currently. Not a lot of mono faction builds.

Ultimately though I would suggest checking out your local meta.

 Skylifter1000 wrote:
Hi guys,

after ignoring 8th edition for a long time, I am considering getting into it. If I do, however, I want to do it with the most effective codex available. Most of the games I play, I love narrative and don't care much about minmaxing, but in the 40k community, I just know that would make me unhappy very quickly, so I want to come prepared.

So is there a clear winner currently, like there was in previous editions?

If you don't really care about the competitive side anyway I'd say go with the army you like best, it's the best decision to keep you interested in the hobby long term. Also, the "meta" changes every 3-6 months so you can't chase it. Balance in 8th edition is also good enough that you don't really have to care about codex balance outside of top tables in tournaments. Apparently Grey Knights are the only faction falling behind, but I've never played against them so I don't know first hand.

Understand that just picking the currently most effective codex could be a recipe for disappointment.

The 8th edition meta changes very quickly compared to previous editions. So what is best today might not be the same 6 months down the road. My understanding is Eldar have always been good but have gone a constant rotation of what is good within their faction. Unless you plan on having a sizeable Eldar collection, you may find yourself chasing the meta dragon nearly as much as any meta churn and burn competitive player.

Then there is the fact that just because you have the latest and greatest net list doesn't mean you will do all that well with it. You still have to understand why the list works in any competitive meta. Again, Eldar strike me as one of those factions that have a higher skill ceiling and might take a bit figure out exactly what is going wrong in play and are fairly unforgiving. I also think their is something to be said between tournament and local metas. In a tournament, players have consider all factions (or at least the upper tiered ones) where as locally your opponents with naturally tune to what they face. Not saying this is the case, but that could mean a lot of Eldar trickery that works great in tournaments works less well locally as your opponents have readied counters.

Finally, there is a very, very outside chance (mostly hope from the fan base) that Eldar might get a major model release after decades of a good chunk of their model line. If, and I mean if since nothing official has been said about anything Eldar, GW could steer away from current Eldar models and more toward fleshing out Ynnari.

I am a big proponent of playing the faction you like best. The wheel in the sky keeps turning and so does the rules in Warhammer 40k. Eldar has historically done pretty well for themselves, but that is no guarantee that it will be the same in the future. Even if they are very good, if you don't like they way they look and/or play you might find yourself frustrated. Especially after the not small amount of money and time this hobby requires.

Just buy Eldar its always top tier and min risk purchase

Find an army you like and that matches the style of play you enjoy. The difference in W/L ratio between the Codexes is relatively small, even at the professional competitive level.

There is definitely a go to army if you have a particular play style.

If you want to field a bunch of elite units that move up the field and stomp on things. Imperial/chaos knights with their supporting casts for cp generation are your best choice.

If you want to sit back and shoot Tau and imperial guard are the best at that.

If you want to dominate the psychic phase TS with supporting cast are top notch.

If you want to have air superiority take eldar.

If you want to just flood the board with bodies and have a lot of different ways to play - go with orks.

I think this are the best armies right now. Hope this helps. Watch that video too. It gives you a good idea of what is winning right now.

Well, the above video about the top 10 gives a good impression about the overall meta.
As said, it will change slightly when the SM chapters of first founding get their codices.

I don't think any one codex is the recipe for victory. Typically some combination of 2-3 codecies will make a winning army.
That said:
Imperial Knights+Imperial Guard has been a longtime leader, as have Eldar

Space Marines just got a new codex with a ton of buffs, some for being mono, and Renegade Knights just got a new codex too.

Also, from the aforementioned stats site, it seems that only the "special marines" and Grey Knights are really appreciably underperforming.

This is COMPLETELY dependent on what format you are playing.

But these are a list of armies that has solid picks for all game modes and can use many units (some armies has only 1 list that works)

Tau, GSC, IG, new SM, Eldar, Dark Eldar

play space marines, they jst got a new codex and are looking to be very strong. and given your avatar you proably already have SM minis