Classic Heroscape Power Rankings

[OEAO]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Can't everybody just be an A+?

Correction: Heavies, Grimnak, and Nerak all are. Everyone else are lower.

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by OrcElfArmyOne

Same discussion sparked over what to give Rygarn, but the consensus is that he gets an A- due to his best build.

As the champion of Rygarn I can say that it wasn't exactly a consensus but more of a "If Rygarn deserves to go up this is where he would be". I personally think he could deserve that range but I can see the argument against it.

~Dysole, not too sold on Blades fitting there

[Major Q23]

I feel the need to throw in my opinion ever so briefly:

Dwarfs>Blades

My work here is done.

[Foudzing]

Originally Posted by OrcElfArmyOne

He's still ignoring the reality that Blades were undefeated at 6-0 with this exact format. The army that was beat on day 2 was Hounds, fwiw.

Ornak is way more effective with Heavies than with blade Gruts, it's mathematic.
I won a tournament with Gladiatrons with no Blastatrons, Ixe went 4-0 with McDricks then lost against McDricks in the first RtW round, MM's spiders went 5-0 in day 1.
That does not mean those units deserve A- (well Glads do but only with blasts ^^ ).

Now with such formats you can have a very good run with basically any army as long as it does not suck. RtW is just about getting the good machups in Round-robin and getting the "bad" machups in Playoffs.

While I am at it, I don't think the orc powercreep deserve A+, because you've to kinda give up on range (you can just have Marro Warriors, who can't do much against Kravs or Majors) and so you're not extremly versatile, you can have bad maps or bad machups.

[vegietarian18]

I agree with orc that the Blades are better than the Dwarves.

The Blades would definitely win the head to head. They get their 6 move all the time, while the Dwarves only get 6 if they choose not to bond. Fearless Advantage is only going to help against Grimnak and Nerak, and if the Dwarves are focusing them, they are ignoring the Blades. The Blades would be able to take out the Dwarves and limit activations very quickly.

In the general meta, I still think Blades probably beat Dwarves. People say that Dwarves are a Q9 counter, but the Dwarves have no real way to hack through the rat wall. The Blades can, with disengage and Chomp. While they may be slower at killing Q9 once they get there, they'll get there 2-3 turns faster (or more, depending on how many Rats and how close to the startzone Q9 pods), making the turn Q9 dies come around the same time. The Dwarves will probably win more games against Hounds and other all large/huge armies, but those aren't that common. I'd rather have the increased matchup chances against other melee bonding armies, or Stingers, or other commonly seen tournament armies. Dwarves are a counter to a specific metagame, where large and huge figures rule. Blades have slightly better overall matchups.

Still, there are better bonding squads than Blades. IMO:

Knights>Deathchasers>Heavies>Romans>Blades>Axegrinders>MacDirks>Capuan >Spiders>Death Knights>Armocs>>>>Grok Riders

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by vegietarian18

Still, there are better bonding squads than Blades. IMO:

Knights>Deathchasers>Heavies>Romans>Blades>Axegrinders>Capuans>Spiders >Death Knights>Armocs>>>>Grok Riders

Vegie is a scaper after my own heart, clearly.

Originally Posted by Scaper of the Week #53: DadScaper

Favorite Common Squad and why?

Death Chasers of Thesk. Go Evil. I like a bunch of the units from D1 and D2, though. Goblins, too. Lots of fun, which is the main thing, and good enough for me to play them at tourneys.

[Kinseth]

Deathchasers are one of my favorite units, right up there with Dreadguls of VC being one of my favorites.

[Typhon2222]

If cost is factored in -- not 'Scape point costs, but real dollar costs -- then the Blades bury the Heavies.

It'd be fun to draw up an extended version of the Power Rankings which would factor in cost/availability. How many squads of unit X does one need to field them in their ideal army, and what is the average price of those units on eBay? Multiplying those together would provide a coefficient which could then be applied to (divided into) their vanilla power ranking, revealing what units are true powerhouses for their real-life dollar costs.

What would be tops of this list? Perhaps the easily-available 10th? Romans? Blades? Stingers? Sure as heck wouldn't be Glads, 4th, or Heavies.

[Cleon]

I agree that the Blades are underrated, but they're not as high as you're depicting them. I think theyre at B+ for sure, same with Arrow Gruts, I'm really not seeing either at B. Both have really strong bonding benefits and are cheap; their low base stats (even though boost-able with all of the heroes and raelin, the problem will eventually surface) keep them below the As, but they can still do great things.

Meanwhile, I think Capuans are too high. they're B imo. I just don't see it at all. Against all melee they're ok, but I think any good player can play around them and not fall into dangerous positions. Against a swarm of mass, stingers, ect. they have like no chance. There's really only one build you can play with them too. I dunno, they're fun with their intense stats, but I think as long as you play safe and out maneuver them they can't do much.

I'd definitely choose Blades (or Arrows) over them anyday.

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by vegietarian18

Knights>Deathchasers>Heavies>Romans>Blades>Axegrinders>Capuans>Spiders >Death Knights>Armocs>>>>Grok Riders

Um, Greenscales? Surely they're better than Grok Riders!

I agree that Capuans might be ranked too high.

Interesting to see Deathchasers so high. I remember thinking they had potential, but stopped playing in as many tournaments by the time they came out.

I feel like Blades fell off after point costs went up. I played against Dwarves twice as the 4th Mass at GenCon, and split the games. Both were close. Morgrimm is wicked against them.

One could also argue that Arrows deserve to move up too. I went 5-0 with them not too long ago, beating some Q9's (in suboptimal builds) and a tron army. In a lot of these "B or B+ and below" kinds of tournaments, Arrow Gruts, even without Krug start showing up.

I don't know if I'll really end up changing anything. Maybe if I started playing more again.

[vegietarian18]

I left out Greenscales and Nagrubs because I feel like those armies are more based on the hero than the squad. I don't really think of Greenscales when I think of melee bonding.

I may slightly overrate Deathchasers, but they feel incredibly strong to me. 4 attack base is awesome, and Raelin and Nerak turn their defense from bad to great. For 400 points, 4x Deathchasers, Raelin, Nerak, and Me-Burq-Sa is an incredibly efficient army.

I took Arrows to the main event this year, and they performed worse than I expected (luckily, the average army was also worse than I expected). Without Krug, the army lacks the consistent hitting power necessary to take down heroes. Maybe Mimring was just too expensive for me to pack in enough Swogs (I only got 3).

[Kinseth]

Love me some Greenscales!