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Now that sixth edition is almost 1 year in the making, what would you guys and girls say the best six codexesare. Im speaking on a competitive scale not a fluff scale. Here is my opinion, i would like to hear yours:

1.) Necrons
2.) Tau
3.) Imperial guard
4.) Chaos space marines
5.) Grey knights
6.) Space wolves

#1 Eldar
#2 Orks
#3 Sisters of Battle
#4 angry marines


.. but really, i'd say necrons are pretty solid but it's hard to say for sure IMO

1. Necrons
2. Eldar
3. Tau
4. IG
5. Space Wolves
6. Grey Knights

Going from various tournaments, I'd say:
1. Necrons with Grey Knight allies
2. Necrons with CSM allies
3. Necron Wraithwing
4. Necron Bakery
5. Necrons with other allies
6. Tau

Orks
Orks
Orks
Orks
Orks
Orks

Dey iz da best. Yer iz da rest

Yep no prejudice here

In seriousness I'd have to say Necrons are quite competitive for sure, Tau have proven themselves to be very good as well but I don't think necron good (yet), Eldar are the new boys and have been good so far. Chaos is true hit or miss, when it hits its great and I have seen them walk over a good many things but sometimes they get taken down hard two. As it is I'd say:

1: Necrons
2: Tau
3: Daemons
4:Bugs (haven't seen them ever taken down to hard)
5: Dark Eldar (not the best but has some very good match ups and not to many bad ones)
6: New Eldar (just cause I need to see more)

To me it seems Marines are on the down play but they are still going to be my army, forever. Without them 40k just ain't my game

I don't have a full ranking, but Orks are actually in my top 6.

I have played against Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Vanilla Marines, Grey Knights, Tau, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, and Imperial Guard. And have only had trouble with Eldar (part of this could be contributed to their newness).

They're incredibly solid right now despite being 2 editions old.

Thanks to the people worth serious answers. Let's keepthis thread alive!

Necrons
Tau/Eldar
Imperial Guard
Space Wolves/Grey Knights
Chaos Space Marines/Daemons
Dark Eldar

Just as a gut feeling, and assuming no allies...

1: Necrons
2:Tau
3:Eldar
4: Imperial Guard
5: Daemons
6: Grey Knights/CSM's (largely due to Heldrakes...)

I still think tiers are necessary to paint the picture of the top armies.

Assuming no allies, the tiers look like this:

1: Necrons
2: Tau
3: Daemons, Heldrakes, Eldar, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard, Tyranids.
4: The rest.

The separation between tiers 3 and 4 is marginal, and only exists because the armies in tier 4 have greater difficulties in certain likely matchups, particularly when it comes to playing against flyers, helldrakes and/or Tau.

When considering allies, the only significant change to note is the synergy between Space Marines (including BA, DA and SW) and Guard, which vaults them into tier 1 or 2. Otherwise, in general, allying with Necrons and (in the case of Eldar and SM) Tau will bump you up considerably.

 Ecstasy in Service wrote:
Yep no prejudice here

In seriousness I'd have to say Necrons are quite competitive for sure, Tau have proven themselves to be very good as well but I don't think necron good (yet), Eldar are the new boys and have been good so far. Chaos is true hit or miss, when it hits its great and I have seen them walk over a good many things but sometimes they get taken down hard two. As it is I'd say:

1: Necrons
2: Tau
3: Daemons
4:Bugs (haven't seen them ever taken down to hard)
5: Dark Eldar (not the best but has some very good match ups and not to many bad ones)
6: New Eldar (just cause I need to see more)

To me it seems Marines are on the down play but they are still going to be my army, forever. Without them 40k just ain't my game

How have Tau proven themselves? Name a major GT won by Tau. Or even a top place? Tau may prove to be top tier, but not yet (and I don't think they can do it without allies)

1) Necrons (still kings of the pack)
2) Demons (First major GT after RoW got nerfed, Wargames con, Demons placed 2 of the top 4)
3) IG
4) Nids
5) No idea, maybe Tau, maybe Dark Angels (Ravenwing only), maybe Eldar...but probably Chaos Marines
6) One of the four in 5.

Edit: This listing is KIND of taking allies into consideration. As in, I'm crediting Guard for Guard/Vanilla, Guard/DA, Guard/SW (all great builds, but Guard is the base for all of them), and I'm considering Necron/GK, Necron/Chaos, Necron/Orks, Tau/Eldar, Tau/Vanilla, and Eldar/Dark Eldar in my rankings as well.

Assuming the same player experience:

1) necron
2) Tau
3) eldar
4) IG with or w/o space wolves
5) Daemons with very specific builds
6) kind of a toss up. CSM probably up there with again specific builds kind of tied with orks / grey knights

Everyone else.

Eldar is still pretty new but the hard core Eldar players who've been playing this stuff forever have already adapted well in our local meta cept they still really hate their codex fliers (we allow forgeworld so they just opt for the nightwing which is far superior and the Tau are doing very well with the new Remora and Baracuda rules.)

Assuming tournament play and no allies....

1) necrons
2) grey knights
3) IG
4) CSM
5) Tau
6) dark angels

Once you factor in allies (which you should) it becomes too mixed to make a call.

anonymou5 wrote:

 Ecstasy in Service wrote:
Yep no prejudice here

In seriousness I'd have to say Necrons are quite competitive for sure, Tau have proven themselves to be very good as well but I don't think necron good (yet), Eldar are the new boys and have been good so far. Chaos is true hit or miss, when it hits its great and I have seen them walk over a good many things but sometimes they get taken down hard two. As it is I'd say:

1: Necrons
2: Tau
3: Daemons
4:Bugs (haven't seen them ever taken down to hard)
5: Dark Eldar (not the best but has some very good match ups and not to many bad ones)
6: New Eldar (just cause I need to see more)

To me it seems Marines are on the down play but they are still going to be my army, forever. Without them 40k just ain't my game

How have Tau proven themselves? Name a major GT won by Tau. Or even a top place? Tau may prove to be top tier, but not yet (and I don't think they can do it without allies)

1) Necrons (still kings of the pack)
2) Demons (First major GT after RoW got nerfed, Wargames con, Demons placed 2 of the top 4)
3) IG
4) Nids
5) No idea, maybe Tau, maybe Dark Angels (Ravenwing only), maybe Eldar...but probably Chaos Marines
6) One of the four in 5.

Edit: This listing is KIND of taking allies into consideration. As in, I'm crediting Guard for Guard/Vanilla, Guard/DA, Guard/SW (all great builds, but Guard is the base for all of them), and I'm considering Necron/GK, Necron/Chaos, Necron/Orks, Tau/Eldar, Tau/Vanilla, and Eldar/Dark Eldar in my rankings as well.

To be honest I have not really seen any tournament coverage for 40k, I mean in MTG I follow pro tours and grand prixs and from what I've seen 40k just don't have the same flow, maybe there are places to find that kinda info but from what I've seen the armies I've mentioned have done well in hundreds of different battle reports I have read, not just from one tournament.

1. Necrons
2. IG
3. Tau
4. Eldar
5. Space Wolves
6. Orks

1. Necrons
2. Tau
3. Eldar
4. Imperial guard
5: Chaos space marines
6: Dark angels ( ravenwing )

I'd say it's 90% the guy running the army. My friend that runs Orks thumps all of the mentioned armies regularly and has only ever lost one game with them in 15 years of tournament play.

What about WITH prejudice. What are your top 6 then?

I personally don't believe any one army is inherently more powerful than any other. I think the illusion that they are stems from the fact that some are easier to learn how to play than others, which means less experienced, and even less intelligent, players can use them to their full effect. I think someone fully versed in their own army will still be able to defeat the 'most bestest codex' using tactics and experience, however.

That being said, the top 6 EASIEST codexes right now?

1. Tau
2. Grey Knights
3. Dark Angels
4. Space Wolves
5. Chaos Marines.

Tau
Necrons
Eldar
IG
Nids
Daemons

Necrons
Eldar
Grey Knights
Imp Guard
Tau
Chaos Marines

I think in 3 months or so, Tau will be number 1 on just about every list... mark my words!

 Jimsolo wrote:
I personally don't believe any one army is inherently more powerful than any other. I think the illusion that they are stems from the fact that some are easier to learn how to play than others, which means less experienced, and even less intelligent, players can use them to their full effect. I think someone fully versed in their own army will still be able to defeat the 'most bestest codex' using tactics and experience, however.

That being said, the top 6 EASIEST codexes right now?

1. Tau
2. Grey Knights
3. Dark Angels
4. Space Wolves
5. Chaos Marines.

This is attributing far too much skill and competence to GW, which as a company is notoriously incompetent at codex design.

Have a Necron, Chaos Space Marine+Daemons, or Tau player of the same skill as a Black Templar, Blood Angel, or Sisters of Battle player face off a hundred times. The typically regarded as top tier armies will tend to crap all over the little guy.

Assuming a highly skilled player running the army:

Necrons
Tau
Chaos Marines with Daemon Allies
Eldar
Tyranids
Guard

If you put an average player in each army, then Tyranids drop down and Grey Knights make the list. But when an experienced player who knows how to use Nids brings them, they can be terrifying to behold.

 LValx wrote:
I think in 3 months or so, Tau will be number 1 on just about every list... mark my words!

...and three months after that they won't. Besides unbalanced monstrosities like 6th Ed Crons, 5th Ed GK, and the like, good codicies take 3 months to master, dominate for awhile, then fall off as people adapt. Look at BA, SM, SW, DE and such in semi recent 40k history. I think the Tau codex is more like them than the IG codex.

 Lobukia wrote:

 LValx wrote:
I think in 3 months or so, Tau will be number 1 on just about every list... mark my words!

...and three months after that they won't. Besides unbalanced monstrosities like 6th Ed Crons, 5th Ed GK, and the like, good codicies take 3 months to master, dominate for awhile, then fall off as people adapt. Look at BA, SM, SW, DE and such in semi recent 40k history. I think the Tau codex is more like them than the IG codex.

I disagree. I think GW accidentally made Tau too good. They have too many ways to break the meta. SMS ignoring cover and LOS is absolutely brutal. They can easily field an army that relies solely on very, very tough units to destroy (Skyrays, Broadsides with Drones/Commander and Riptides). Being able to strip cover off of Marines, Terminators and Xenos is very, very ridiculous. A good Tau list will have just about 0 weaknesses. They handle Flyers well due to the ability to grab Skyfire/Interceptor and Skyfiring Markerlights. They can handle hordes due to markerlights and SMS. Assault is pretty dead in the water as a good Tau player can force you to eat absurd amounts of overwatch, which can in turn be boosted with Markers.

I think once NOVA is done and over with, people will understand just how ridiculous Tau are. A pure Tau list won Killadelphia (which was very, very competitive) and just about all the Tau armies did well day 1 with most being in the 1st bracket.

How does one beat:
2x Ethereal
120 Kroot
3x Riptide
3x Pathfinder
3x Sky Ray

It's an incredibly well-rounded list that features very tough targets and a ton of alpha striking Kroot.

I think as a stand alone codex, Tau are certainly the best.

I definitely agree with the idea that necron and tau are at the top. They were codices specifically written to break 6th ed rules.

After that, I couldn't say for sure, what with knowing nothing about new eldar, and little about demons. I'd certainly agree that CSM and IG are near, but not at the top. They're both solid codices, but having a single unit that people hyperventilate about isn't enough to make it a serious contender for strongest codex.

The one I'm a little curious about is why more people aren't saying grey knights. They're psykers in a psyker-ier edition, and psycannons and psyflemen dreads are basically what 6th ed exists to reward.

 LValx wrote:
I think in 3 months or so, Tau will be number 1 on just about every list... mark my words!

Already happening. Tau are friggen evil on vassal. Last two players I've gone against were tau; it did not go well.

 Ailaros wrote:
I definitely agree with the idea that necron and tau are at the top. They were codices specifically written to break 6th ed rules.

After that, I couldn't say for sure, what with knowing nothing about new eldar, and little about demons. I'd certainly agree that CSM and IG are near, but not at the top. They're both solid codices, but having a single unit that people hyperventilate about isn't enough to make it a serious contender for strongest codex.

The one I'm a little curious about is why more people aren't saying grey knights. They're psykers in a psyker-ier edition, and psycannons and psyflemen dreads are basically what 6th ed exists to reward.

Well, some of their golden boy elements got nerfed (Purifiers now seeming terribly vulnerable in an edition with so much cover ignoring AP3 and their precious rifledreads being easier to kill if not easier to shut up while Paladins are stuck with AP3 and no more allocation shenanigans), but on the other hand many other aspects of them got buffed. However what prevents them from being the truly rage inducing gods of war they were before is that they now have to share a game space with 6e Necrons and Tau.

But yeah, I tend to roll my eyes whenever I see people say the GKs suck now. A GK stormraven is frighteningly good anti-air for such an ungainly flying metal box, and in an edition that encourages glancing to death; the Grey Knight's shooting is very well suited to achieving said glances. Not to mention that Coteaz is still awesome as ever with soldiers who are not only better than guardsmen, but a whole point cheaper too amongst other retinue silliness.

Seeing the acolyte with boltgun price makes me think that guardsmen and conscripts may get cheaper by a point or so come next codex.

Additionally the Grey Knights are on rather confusingly good terms with the Necrons and Tau (I seriously don't get why they're allies of convenience with the despoilers of the Orpheus Sector) and can take them as allies of convenience and benefit heartily from them.