Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The most powerful armies in 6th

Only the strong will survive.

Well, 6th Ed. has been out for around a month now and it's pretty clear me which armies are the most powerful.  I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I'm just going to flat out say it (not in any order):

Necrons
Grey Knights
Imperial Guard

For me, these armies are by far the most powerful compared to everyone else.  Other armies have gimmicks right now, and that's pretty much it.  You have flying circus Daemons, deathstar Eldar + DE allies, Nob Bikerz, and other stuff out there, but these armies stand out above the rest.  Some armies saw more boosts, some saw some nerfs, but in the end, everyone made it out of 6th Ed. alright.  On a whole, every army improved in some ways, and lost in some ways and it looks like everything is going to be balanced at the end.  Except..

...These three armies that I listed above.  I'll start with Necrons because they're the talk of the town right now. Being the last book before 5th Ed., it's a no-brainer that the army was designed with 6th Ed. in mind.  In fact, it's such a no-brainer that this was their design philosophy that when the FAQs came out, Necrons received virtually no nerfs of any kind.  They were already a pretty strong and well-balanced army at the end of 5th (even taking home some serious tournaments), but they were nowhere near as strong as they are now.  A lot of their units saw incredible buffs in the way of Flyers, their Deathmark sniping is just insane with the new rules, their HQs/Wraiths and Destroyers saw epic boosts to their effectiveness, they can turn on the lights vs. Night Fighting on their turn, and their Gauss drops vehicles much better than they did in 3rd Ed.  In short, Necrons lost nothing, but gained everything they need to be a dominant force in the meta.  The entire book is strong, with virtually no bad choices and plenty of competitive options.  In a way, they remind me of Space Wolves in terms of sheer points to competitive options, except they're not as cookie-cutter as Space Wolves.  Instead of seeing RBs and Long Fangs, you will see a lot more WTF options all packed in one cost-effective list.  This is what sets them apart on top of their other little goodies.

However, I don't think Necrons are the strongest.  I think they are the army that benefited the most from the new rules and lost nothing, so that in combination with an already good book is what makes them powerful.

Next, I'll talk about a book that didn't receive as many buffs as the 'crons, but made it out just fine in the new edition.  That book is none other than Grey Knights.  The entire army turned from Daemonhunters to MEQhunters when the re-write came and that pissed me off the no end.  Everyone had Force Weapons, the Rifleman w/ Psybolts is just out of control and there's so many powerful psychic powers and unstoppable [grenade] effects that made assaulting the army impossible.  They are costed better, shoot better, assault better and just preform better than regular MEQ (especially in MEQ matchups), making GKs the best marine book out there.  Now that the entire army has access to the coveted 2+ armor save and sport one of the strongest psychic lores out there i.e. Divination, the army is still remarkably strong.  Their access to Stormravens also helps the flyer coverage of the army and it seems like there's nothing GKs can't do better than their MEQ counterparts.

With GKs being the best marine army, it's safe to say there's only one spot left among the most powerful armies of 6th Ed.  Ever since the book came out, it's viewed as one of the most controversially underpriced, maladjusted and powerful army books ever written in 40K history.  That book is none other than Imperial Guard.  With the coming of Hull Points in 6th Ed., a lot of people claim that that would be the death of armored IG units.  Oh man were they wrong.  Mech IG is the damn same; gaining greater mobility, the ability to Overwatch and bonuses to Rapid Fire Plasmas.  It almost seems like IG are there to break the rules of the game entirely, making 3rd Ed. Eldar seem tame in comparison.  There's orders for accuracy, denying cover and making enemy units drop dead in their socks.  They have access to the most underpriced piece of shit excuse of a unit I have ever seen in the form of the Vendetta, and now IG can take allies to compensate for their various weaknesses.  All across the board, large blast templates now fall with full effectiveness, reserves are denied or provided via Officers and enemy fliers can eat shit from the Hydra flak, in addition to the now purchasable Aegis Defense Line.  They shoot as good as marines, score better with more bodies, pour out 3x-4x the amount of heavy fire and seemingly have answers to everything you put on the table.  I read this somewhere on the internet a long time ago about IG, and I still think even after these long years the same feeling applies:  "No other army in the game makes your army feel as inadequate."

On that note, I'll close off this post.  To me, it's pretty clear which armies are just outright better in this new world of 40K.  The NOVA Open is coming up and its our first 40K major where players all over the world can try their cheese.  I can't wait to see the results as I predict my analysis here will be well-justified in the final standings of that tournament.  Of course, there's always the concept of bad draws and gimmicky lists coming up on top.  Only the future can tell if that's the case.

17 comments:

Bobby Birrer said...

I feel you are pretty spot on with this analysis. All of these armies have tons of options, either internally or with allies and can really take advantage of the new ruleset.

theresponsibleone said...

I'm a Guard player, and a slightly below average one at that, so I can't really comment on the comparative strength of Codexes. I certainly feel that the Guard Codex as a whole is not going to face any serious issues in 6th. It has a wide variety of different units to cover almost every shooting scenario you could conceive.


Due to remarkable luck at tournament draws, I've yet to face Psyflemen, but I am very seriously considering Medusa with Bastion Breacher shells to bypass that pesky "not worrying about shaken" milarky and going for straight out turning them into smoking craters...

OrdoBob said...

Spot on analysis IMO, though it is a bit depressing. GW never fails to miss an opportunity to improve balance between the armies.

Rathstar said...

I think you're spot on with the top 3, and I'd think you could argue they were the top 3 at the end of 5th. I'm interested in how you think the next tier of armies have changed in 6th ie. Dark Eldar, Blood Angels & Space Wolves IMHO.

I think all of them took buffs and nerfs, but none of them increased as much as Necrons and IG, and I think there is a bigger gap between the top 3 and the chasing pack - what do you think ?

Rathstar

Reid Hughes said...

I think I agree with you on the Grey Knights. That's why I'm building up some of them haha.

HERO said...

Hmm, the next tier of armies will probably be an article for another time, but I don't think they fall behind the pack too much. I'll try to sum it up here briefly:


BA can take Stormravens and Fast vehicles got better, FNP changed and Termies got better, so overall I think they made out better than Space Wolves. BA can also take Divination, and SW can too, but SW have no flyers and can only take the Aegis Defense Line for AA purposes. DE got some buffs here and buffs there, but they fall behind even vanilla marines. I think Orks got improved and got bumped up in power with Overwatch and the Dakkajet, and Tyranids made out pretty good. Eldar took a fall this edition as Holofields are not what they used to be, but gaining Jink on all their vehicles gave them pseudo 10 point Flickerfield upgrades. They also have the best psychic defense in the game, is a great ally source for Dark Eldar and can take Harlequin Deathstars with Shadowfields. For now, Fire Dragon Exarchs can also transfer their BS5 no cover, re-roll pen to ADL Quad-guns to make mockeries of most air units. Death Wing got better of course, simply because Terminators are only answerable in shooting. Tau got improved as well and so did Sisters, so everyone came out in 6th with at least something. CSM saw many of the same improvements as their MEQ brothers, but lack options because of the older book. DoC, on the other hand, is still poorly designed compared to Fantasy but their recent additions (or improvements rather) to the army are quite fantastic. Oh, and I guess the better reserve rolls help the army come down faster.


To me, I think the top 3 would be considered S-class while other armies are either A, B or C. I don't think there's D class or unplayable armies anymore, so at least we're going in a better direction.

Big_Black_Fiend said...

I agree with most of what you said but I think IG took a big hit. It is one of the worst codices ever written for the reasons you said but here is why I think they dropped one tier...

In 40k5 they would shoot the crap out of you then around the fifth turn roll the chimeras forward to grab objectives. Their ordnance is a lot better now as if any part of the pie plate hits your tank it's full strength. Rapid fire and Overwatch helped them but the numbers are low in this regard. Versus IG I first focus on popping chimeras that can contest or grab my objectives. Guardsmen don't like to cross open ground. Once you have taken out the scoring chimeras they are hard pressed to win and holding objectives is the king in 40k6 so far. You also need to know how to pop their Vendettas... I have several units with a high rate of fire to force grounding tests then I hit them with the hard stuff. Hull points is much more of a detriment to IG than a blessing. Make them feel the pain early. IG also has some serious problems dealing with a First Blood.

GK and Necrons are right up there at that the top for sure.

HERO said...

I agree with your points about objectives, but I don't think they can drop a tier from that. They are one of the only armies that scale infinitely better with points, simply because their best options are expanded on all FOC slots. IG is the undisputed most undercosted army in 40K. It's loaded with some shitty, more fluffy choices that no one takes (it's a Cruddace dex after all), but it's also filled with highly destructive shit that should of never been costed at that in the first place.


Just because Chimeras aren't ridiculous good anymore, what's stopping IG from looking at different options to dominate the meta? Drop some Chimeras, load up some Vendettas with scoring units and have them move into comfortable scoring positions to claim or contest. Like I said, taking away one of IG's toys just gives him more points to abuse something else. It's one of the inherent problems with that dex.

Big_Black_Fiend said...

Well Vendettas are their biggest threat now in my opinion but there are other armies such as Necrons that can spam a lot more fliers. Like I said versus IG my first goal is to drop their mobile scoring units. Other armies have more resilient scoring units that outclass guardsmen. I can deal with three vendettas - they just take more time to drop.

Definitely it is a shitty codex with no regard to proper design. There is one other codex I can think of off the top of my head with lots of undercosted units and it's not Necrons. ; )

sonsoftaurus said...

How exactly are you making flyers take grounding tests? Last I checked vendettas weren't flying monstrous creatures.

Big_Black_Fiend said...

Roll a 5+ to pen with a lascannon or 4+ with a multi melta.

Sethimus Prime said...

WOW! Lots of guard hate :) I do agree that Vendettas are under priced but armor took a severe beating with hull points. I think as more rules come out and flak missiles and skyfire become more common, guards mileage will drop significantly. Not to mention that a guardsman is super squishy to begin with. Just out of curiosity what about hull points do you see not as a neutering?

HERO said...

I don't see the Hull Point system being that much of a nerf to any matchup except against Necrons. They're still AV12, 5 firing points and have 3 HPs. IG armor took as much of a beating as much as snapfiring, overwatch, rapid fire and blast templates benefiting them. Most people fail to see the great equalizer.

Skarboy McHargharg said...

I would be inclined to agree and add that if Flakk missiles become widely available, the same lists you saw at the end of 5th will return in some fashion. DE are a tricky one, IMO, because I don't know that they were EVER a top-tier army based solely on their merits. I think good players could make them work, but they had severe hard counters, so I could never justify counting them as a top codex, at least not against "dummy proof" IG, GK, and SW lists that you would usually see at tournaments. With them getting very little help from allies and their losses outweighing their games overall with the new rules, I think DE have slipped back towards the rear, overall, especially with orks, daemons, and (to a lesser extent, IMO) Tyranids gaining some traction. Let's not kid ourselves, though: it's still an Imperial world; Necrons are just guest stars of the week.

HERO said...

I agree with this completely.

Thomas Huntington Wiebe said...

If people are still going to take Vet/Chimeras I'll be pretty surprised. I believe that blob squads are really the way to go. Ally in a fearless character and watch your unit never go away. With a IC beatstick (Lysander or Celestine come to mind), its essentially a deathstar with far more table presence and can contribute through shooting. Mix and match a couple of Russ and Vendettas and you'll have yourselves a pretty potent force.

dev john said...

Hi...
i like your post and if i want to be a part of this discussion then i would like to tell that my favorite one is the Grey Knights army... Who is your's one?
Gaming Glimpse

Post a Comment