Rulebreaker tier ranks the 17 races from Twilight Imperium 4th Edition! I have been playing a good bunch of TI4 in the last few months and it seems like the perfect time to rank the many playable races of this huge game.
My group has played two games. I won the first as the Sardakk N’Orr and my friend won the second game as the Nekro Virus. Don’t let rankings scare you away from picking a race. Such a fun game.
Absolutely agree. These rankings are mega-subjective and just for fun. Any race can win and any game of TI is generally a great time. Thanks for a cool comment, Chris.
Seriously I don't think tiers really matter because everyone plays so differently and people may play certain races better depending on the player's playstyle.
I literally started playing TI4 a month ago and I fell in love and had to learn as much as possible about it. This channel is my go to for whenever I want to try a race so far and I love it. It’s so helpful and I love the content. Keep it up!!!
Currently going through the factions' updates. Will be a while before I am ready to do a new Tier Ranking, as I will want to play as the new stuff a fair bit before making a decision.
You're right, I was surprised by your rank of the Xxcha, though I really enjoy and have won with them. Looking forward to your videos on the expansion!
Just played my first game against the space turtles today. _Holy space-jesus_ ! They are both waaay more powerful and annoying than I anticipated. The guy who piloted them had never played the TI4 before, and was even quite new to board gaming in general, and I _still_ absolutely could not break him. That flagship with x3 space cannons _to freaking adjacent tiles_ is just nuts.
Glad to see you’re back with more TI4 content! Your videos really helped me play my first game 10 months ago (playing Barony and I won!!) Been looking forward to my next game since! There’s rumors of an expansion that will surely be announced tomorrow (July 29) at Fantasy Flight’s In Flight Report.... so more opportunities for content! :) You’re advice for Barony was that combo... Arc Secundus and NES... worked like a charm for me! On my last turn of the game I had 7 points, two other players were at 8 and the three of us were trying to stop the guy at 9 points. Well when everyone realized I was a contender, I fought off 3 attacks different players and survived because of that overpowered capital ship and my massive Armada. I scored 4 points. (In one of the fights, one opponent lost a Crown of something artifact) Looking scary and making everyone realize they could be friends or foe but not neutral was my main strategy.
I'm delighted that my advice worked for somebody, hah! It's great to be able to put out a video after a while, and glad you guys are excited about them. I mention the expansion in the video, towards the end 👍🏻
The problem with the Sardakk N'Orr is if tech objectives come up heavy they lose. It keeps them from building tech around their play style since they have to chase what every tech objectives come up. Everyone else has one or two prerequisites towards their tech objectives.
Interesting tier list! We’ve had several games where JolNar and xxcha was played in all games by the same players. The two factions have yet to win a game!
Rulebreaker Boardgames With our 6 player games, we let the newer players play the ‘stronger’ factions while the players with more games under their belt played the middle to lower tier factions. Barony has the most wins so far in our group although it has been played as much as the other two factions.
That's why I always encourage new players to always switch until they've played at least ten different races - some players get stuck in a rut of playstyle that doesn't actually work for their race. Jol'Nar is almost too good and Xxcha are solid, but if players pick them to be defensive and don't even push to the edge of their slice that doesn't work at all. Both need to push hard early, and Xxcha's planet-taking diplomacy outright stops working once the galaxy gets full.
First of all, I give your races videos to all newbies at the table, great stuff!!! Ranking: I would put all B to A and Mentak to B, as they are really fun to play. And maybe JolNar one place above S :) But I agree to the rest. Again nice content
The most important thing about TI4 is that it is, as the box says, a game of conquest, politics and trade - and two of those three elements are entirely player-determined. Aside from raw piloting skill of a player for certain races, being good at negotiating trades and pushing other players into good positions is more important than the difference between the best and worst of races. Trade mechanics deliberately give you many valuables that are worth nothing to you but worth something to other players, so good use of hard and soft trades is essential. The politics of the game are huge, which is why the game has a public score tracker, secret objectives are expensive, and Imperial scores last. Convincing players to make moves that are good for them but great for you, like spending their fleet to shut down the leading players' homeworld, is vital. That said, there are definitely more and less powerful races, and more and less obvious races. In addition to good races I steer new players towards races whose style is obvious; Sol obviously rush and refuse to leave planets, Hacan amass wealth and play nice, and Jol'Nar take a slice early then quietly amass a huge tech advantage for a late dash. Each of them is good - I'd argue Hacan are at least A tier in a playgroup that makes a lot of soft and hard deals especially since other players will remind them they can faciliate non-neighbour trades - and is obvious to pilot. Otherwise the poor buggers take something like Arborec or Saar and don't realise they need to constantly be moving and producing instead of turtling, or even worse take Winnu without realising they are a self-imposed challenge. I'd argue Hacan and L1z1x should both go up one; Hacan get very rich in big games where you can facilitate non-neighbour trades or card trades for a small cut, and L1z1x Super-Dreadnoughts make all their non-capital ships redundant by being 2 move 2 capacity killing machines. Letnev I just haven't seen anyone play well; despite their obvious benefits people just don't feed them trades and their ability uses a lot of money in sustained engagements.
I really miss this game. It came out when I started having kids. I've played it 5 times since its been out nad everytime the 8 hours feels like 30 minutes to me. its so intense and I love it. If only if came out 10 years ago when I had nothing but time
@@RulebreakerBoardgames Haha yup. A reunion would be much easier IMO. If they made a digital version to play against bots id br so happy. I know it would change thr game and meta but it would scratch the ich. Even be better if it had verses and you could email turns so you could play a game over the course of a week or two via a cell app
I played this game for the first time on the weekend as the Yssaril tribes and won! Hooked now, looking forward to playing it again...even though our game took an entire weekend to get through! 😅
Cruess gets exponentially better the fewer people there are in the game. the ability to ZOOM across the galaxy from 3 or even 4 tiles away is sooo good.
I actually seen the Arborec do some crazy things. They may be the best faction at holding ground. Even more so than the Xxcha Kingdoms and the Collective. I've seen them have 50 infantry on Mecatal Rex. I'm glad someone else sees just how terrifying of a house plant they are.
Id love to see a break down of like rock paper scissors between the races. As yes there are tiers but I find some really djg into others much more. like a nerco neighboring a university is amazinv
my group has played 3 proper games and ive somehow won all 3 woohoo for me, our last game was an epic ending i was mentak coalition and my flagship played a crucial role in a battle where all 3 other players tried to stop me by taking my home system so i couldnt gain the final 2 victory points but my flagship helped me defeat them as they all attacked me with there armadas, the ability to take away others sustain damage is amazing and was the defining factor in my last stand victory. my other 2 victories were from being the barony of letnev. This game is amazing if you let yourself get immersed whilst playing youll leave the game feeling disaapointed when you return to reality
My opinion and from what I gathered off the internet and from watching tournament games, just for the base game: - most powerful: Saar, Naalu, Hacan, Sol, Jol-Nar, L1Z1X - most fun (potentially): Creuss, Mentak, Nekrovirus - least fun: Winnu (because unflexible+predictable and thematically boring) But all factions are very cool (well, except Winnu)!
For first game, Arborec are kinda tricky to get rolling, progression and economy wise. If you struggle with getting your ground troops down early it will be tough. Don't let that deter you, though! I agree with the other replies, if you are able to choose your race, maybe go for Sol first out of the three you listed. You'll pick up the game a lot more easily and gear up for another play as a tougher race.
I've only played once so far (god this game is hard to schedule when you have children) and I played as the Yssaril Tribes. The cards made it really fun to play. You end up with so many cards that you can kinda combo with them so you kinda feel like like you're playing magic the gathering while playing T.I. That gave them big points in my book. I would have won with them but all 4 other players joined together and crushed me at the end.
Ah the good ol' Twilight Imperium "crush the leader" situation! I tend to try to spend as much of the game in 2nd place as possible for that very reason! Yssaril are really fun and I feel they're a tricky one to start off with, so kudos to you for getting so close to the victory. I have kids myself and the only way to play is organise ages in advance in my experience. Hope you can get another game soon.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames I think what I'm going to try and do is see if I can get an online group going that just plays a couple hours a night and then saves the progress in tabletop simulator. Basically a once the kids go to bed night owl group.
@@derekliljequist1086 Make sure you all have VoIP or something like it. TI4 relies on constant bickering and plotting to keep the diplomacy and politicking up to grease the wheels, since if people stop doing non-binding deals and egging each other on it stops being so dynamic.
I had a game where Necrovirus stole Arborec's Letani warrior II's. In the end, Necrovirus with over 50 infantry in their homesystem combined with the flagship, was impossible to stop. I can't come up with anything that would beat that.
Nice work dude, i've been playing a lot of games recently too (20 approx), i really agree with this list, except for Letnev and Mentak that i would move one rank UP. Mentak have a really good flagship, and like you said the preemptive strike can be devastating. About trade goods either you steal a lot or your opponents have to be careful with trading in either way for me its a win/win for mentak especially with theyre second techs. About the Letnev, like the +2 extended fleet pool is basically 2 free command tokens, theyre home system is really strong too, 6 ressources right from the start. The XXCHA deserve that S rank, like they have such a powerful flagship, if not the best flagship. PS: I can't wait to play the Winnu with the expansion, since its look like they've been buffed a bit ^^.
Thanks, Romain. Glad you agree on Xxcha. A lot of responses so far think I'm a bit crazy for that! Hah! I want to love the Barony of Letnev, they just keep letting me down in games! And Mentak, I totally agree. They just feel like they're one ingredient away from being a great race. Hoping the balance from the expansion makes that Trade Good stuff a bit more multi-faceted. And yes, on Winnu I reckon they'll be the first race I pick when Prophecy comes out.
I've been loving the TI4 / POK content! Ever consider updating the Tier rankings with POK factions, mechs and leaders? I know I would dig it. But I would also understand if you're moving on to other content. Cheers!
My last game was as the Nekro and everyone tried to avoid combat with me the whole game to avoid losing tech. I then sniped more tech and people still avoided me. Almost won the game but made an error on my last turn so came within 2 points of winning in a 7 player 14 point game.
I understand that this is your list and is based on your enjoyment and your group meta but here’s how the competitive tournament tts scene rates the factions: A: Saar, Jol-nar, Sol, Naalu B: Nekro, Hacan, Barony, L1Z1X C: Yin, Mentak, Yssaril, Ghost D: Xxcha, Sardakk, Muaat, Arborec E: Winnu I’m surprised at the variance compared to yours. Looking forward to see how the expansion will shake this up.
I'd love to see your data on this if it's online anywhere. I'm very surprised to see the tournament scene so down on Xxcha and Arborec, but I'm sure people who play it to that level know more about their strengths and weaknesses than I do.
@Straddllw Hey can you send me a link regarding discussion on this? This is different from the most recent tier lists I've seen in some major (tho understandable) ways. Also, is that list meant to rank-in-tier?
Colin Russell - discord SCPT chat - so nah can’t. And there were some variances as different players would rate things differently. Oh and Matt and Hunter’s lists were a little different too.
@@Straddllw hey thanks for answering. If you happen to remember (no sweat if you don't) do you know the reasoning behind the mentak being so high, yssaril low and nekro high? I might agree with the nekro one but i find the yssaril (who i think are top 5) being same tier as mentsk (who i think are 5th-7th worst or so) extremely strange.
I think the Ghosts are underrated, and not only because of the insane mobility. Two PDS II on homeworld, with plasma scoring means three shots to any hex with the flagship. Throw in whatever combination of Graviton Laser, Dimensional Splicer, Assault Cannon, plus any Anti-fighter Barrage, and you can destroy almost any late game fleet before the battle even starts.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames Haven't had a chance to play it yet, but they have one of my favorite Hero abilities. Would be worth playing them just for that.
Yep, not exactly conforming to the norm from what I can see from the responses. Both races have extremely high win rates in my group and I enjoy playing as both too.
Straddllw, “must” and “too much” are qualifiers of *your* opinion, and the play style and meta would pertain to the games at hand. Experiences will vary. His experiences differ from yours--doesn’t mean he is doing it wrong, which is what you imply by the terms you use. I’ve had success with Xxcha even against aggression. Also, and he has emphasized this numerous times, he also ranks the races based on how fun he finds them. Perhaps you could share your “tier” and the reasons why....
I've loved watching your videos! Your content pushed me over the edge to getting a copy for myself, and I've been playing two games a month. Have you looked into the Twilight Codex content very much? I would be interested to hear if those changed much of your ranking
I'm so delighted to hear that this channel has had a positive impact for you. Amazing :) I have looked at the Codex and I'm thinking of doing a video on it soon!
I just played my first game a couple nights ago as the Mentak Coalition and my neighbor was the Emirates of Hacan. I was upwards of 20 trade goods at most points of the game. I steamrolled.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames They were actually the most experienced player out of the group. I wouldn't say they were a veteran player or anything, though. I was the only new player. He just started out as my neighbor and I got an early upgrade on Cruisers and slammed his territory early and basically told him, "Now the only way for you to get back into the game is trade," since I had taken his economy over.
Well it looks like you'll be winning a lot more if you decide to get the Prophecy of Kings expansion. The designer is a Ghosts fan and appears to have given them a few boosts!
It may be very noob thing to say, as I have exactly one game under my belt, but something you didn't mention about L1z1x's, but I found super-usefull is that their dreadnots have 2 transport capacity. Due to that, I was able build strong, imposing fleet since the very begging, and still expand around. Honestly, made my game, although I'm sure it can be countered :)
Honestly, I think the Sardak Norr are ranked too low. The early game is pretty straightforward - you have the big stick and other players have not yet built the military to challenge you, so you throw your weight around. Cruisers are a legitimately powerful ship when you're the Sardak Norr, and they cost very little. Generally, you don't even have to fight - just the threat of a fight is enough to make other players demurr. The mid game is a bit more challenging, but it involves building your flagship and trying to get technology by any means necessary, particularly red tech, both for the faction specific upgrade and eventually for war suns. One effective way to mitigate the poor starting technology situation is to use your military force to take planets with tech specialties. Once you've claimed Technology twice, you're pretty much caught up. If you can keep up until the late game and research war suns, it becomes very, very difficult to stop you. I wouldn't necessarily put them near the top, but I think having them as a "D" is selling them short.
Hey Rulebreaker, I love your videos. I always watch your faction overviews before playing a game! I have a slightly different perspective of Sardak N'orr. Most people see them as an offensive faction. When I played with them recently I used them defensively and managed to win. With the faction ability of +1 to combat rolls, together with the flagship, throw in a Morale Boost and Fighter 2 - you then have a really tough fleet to crack with Fighters rolling to hit on 5. It was a big surprise to the Barony player who was going after my home system :)
last weekend my first 4ed game... i've got so ahead with 9points (rest 4,5 or lower) and that was a real twilight for me... crushed by 3players and finish as a second with no ships and home system with 3 planets and one ground force... but still i take win from Necro invading his home system with last dreadnought, 2 fighters, one groundforce (he has imperial)... epic game, love it! PS When Necro wants to take back his home i played negotiations action card xD PS2 sorry for bad english
glad you had fun. That's what I call the Rulebreaker play - it happens to me basically every game - take an early lead then get absolutely smashed by the others.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames Seriously i was fleeing with last Hacan ships like crazy from Barony i feel like Adama with Battlestar Galactica (thx to blue techs). BTW 5player game is tricky i mean its not so good to be so close when 2 players are distant of each other even if u take trade goods bonus. I think it is too small or am i wrong?
I have a beef where the Mentak are, whenever I play with my family, if one of us is the Mentak, they always shoot ahead in VPs, until everyone gangs up on him. But then he just fights us off and then wins anyways. I would totally put them in S class
I have seen similar situations happen, but more often than not the Mentak can't go the distance. I'm glad you guys are getting a superstar performance from them. I like them, just not top tier for me unfortunately.
Ive only played 3 games so far, loved being the ghosts of creuss, won a game with federation of sol so quite enjoyed them as well. Guna play this weekend , thinking of taking the Arborec they seem cool
It would be helpful if this chart was labeled with the names of the factions, as well, so it's easier for people who are just starting the game - like me - to figure out the players. If that exists, I apologize for missing it.
It's relatively abstract and subjective overall, with these main elements: How many times the race has won in our group. How fun their playstyle is (according to my group again). Some consideration for the race's overall potential according to the wider community. and a little bit of bias for the race's lore/aesthetic.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames I respect your efforts in this. I do disagree about a few of the results and strongly agree with others. If you are interested, I would like to propose we formulate a neutral metric together. We could then re-measure the existing factions and the new ones released in PoK. Thoughts?
How are Ghosts of Creuss a C they are insane I got a game where I put the flagship in mecatol Rex then I moved around the xtra wormhole and I won single handedly (it was a three for all) the other 2 players teamed up on me and I never lost mecatol Rex from turn 3 I think so ya
Actually, you make a solid point about Ghosts in a 3-player game. I imagine they are stronger due to their maneuverability. I just hardly ever play that player count. These rankings are for 4 or 6 players predominantly.
I apologise if you've answered this before, but how do you pick races before a game? My group have tried a few methods, but each has left someone unsatisfied...
Depends on the number of players. Either we randomly deal out two races to each player and they choose one of the two that they want to play as, or if 4 player we do a draft variant that I think I'll do a video on soon that we enjoy.
I have 3 proposed methods for chosing starting races from the 17 that are available that my group uses. (parenthesees denotes method in a 6 player game) Method A - Each player recieves 3 random races and chooses 1. (Same as 5 player game except previous winner has only 2 random races to choose from) Method B - Each player selects a race the that will be stricken from the selection process. Then each player receives 2 random races from the remaining race pile and selects 1. (Same as 5 player player game except previous winner does not select a race to be stricken.) Method C - Each player selects a race the that will be stricken from the selection process. Then each player receives 2 random races from the remaining race pile and selects 1 or if they do not like the two randomly selected races they may opt to randomly select 1 race from the stricken pile but MUST play with that race. (Same as 5 player player game except previous winner does not select a race to be stricken.) With the new expansion there will be 24 total races so with an easily divisible number there will be no need to have the previous winner have a handicap in the selection process and random draw selections can be increased.
Hi Fred, I have seen some data from surveys that places Arborec in the bottom few performing races, and I understand why that may put you off the video, but I have seen them win regularly and decisively in games I've played, and really do think they're better than many let on. I also really enjoy their Infantry production trick and as stated at the beginning of the video, this ranking is a combination of their chance to win + fun to play. I hope you'll forgive me for having a slightly different opinion on this oddball race.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames I, too, like to play them as they are fun. But in a 6 player game, their early game issues are way too huge to overcome in most games. That's why they are typically terrible. It's good to see that a lot of their issues have been rectified in the new "Prophecy of Kings" expansion that will be released in November.
If you play with pros Arborec aren't great. However if your group only plays once or twice a year like mine, Arborec can be awesome. Most casual players wont see it coming when your cruisers move 4 spaces through a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy to take unguarded planets, then cloning more ground forces, then having your cruisers vanish back through the wormhole. Or they won't think your a threat and then all of the sudden you have tons of Letani warrior 2s and they are building ships. I won my last game with them and people were so scared of my forces that 4 of the other 5 players researched X-89 Bacterial Weapons. Yes, the first couple rounds are tough but if you silver tongue your neighbors for beneficial trades you can have a good start and a really fun time.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames That would be awesome! i like your view on the game even though we have different play styles. I'm a bit more aggressive player Also i also play 4 player cause we don't have a 5th or 6th player.
I'm fascinated by the love for Ghosts in this community. It's encouraging me to try them again soon. I'm open to bumping them up as I really like them from a thematic and story perspective. They just always feel a bit lacklustre to me in gameplay. I'd love to be wrong!
@@RulebreakerBoardgames The big benefit of the Ghosts that people don't immediately realize is that their flagship contains a Delta wormhole, and their home system contains a delta wormhole. If you research PDS II and put two of them on your homeworld, your flagship is effectively carrying around two space cannons with it wherever it goes. It's really the only way to attack using PDS II's. The way this can backfire, albeit much rarer, is if someone has lightwave deflectors, or the Silence of Space card, or the Yssaril flagship - you can effectively fly THROUGH the Ghosts' flagship, no matter where it is, and emerge in their home system. I've only seen that done one time and it was, by the player's admission, only done so he could say he did it.
Hi, I'm really sorry about that, the channel just went through for ads recently and RU-vid appears to have just splashed loads of them into all the videos. Will take a bit of time to clean it up. Apologies for the disruption. I have cleaned up this video now and will be ensuring that it's not like that again.