Your favorite tiers

[lifelesspoet]

I have 5 warlocks, emakeda, pmorghul, rasheth. xerxis, and naaresh and considering getting hexeris. I want to build up a tier list next, but don't have the expirence yet to tell which ones are good and which are deceptive on paper. Rasheth looks really good, but I haven't yet gotten a grip on his style yet. I'm looking at xerxis mostly, cheaper cataphract, AD artillary and advance move titans look appealing.
Advice is welcome, but mostly I want to know what you guys like to play and why you think its useful. I'm starting Journeyman league soon so I'll need to buy a bunch of models soon anyway.

[Skorznex]

I can't wait to see Naaresh's Tier list.

[dboeren]

emakeda: OK theme list. She works well with Praetorians anyway, and she works well with Karn anyway. You get a free Praetorian UA out of it. Rhadeim isn't a big deal to include. On the other hand, the rewards aren't that much unless you take Ferox. So basically, I think it comes down to a list you use if you're running Ferox or if you just don't want anything that's off her list (which isn't too unlikely). Kind of hard to fit Ferox along with everything else at 35 though.

xerxis: My favorite out of the casters you listed. There are two ways to go. You can go for Tier 2, get your Cataphract discount, and run a Cataphract themed list with at least 3 units to get the most out of the discount. Or, you can go to Tier 4 and get Advance Deploy on your weapon crews which makes them significantly better plus Advance Move on your Titans (you'll probably have two). You still get the Cataphract discount, but you can probably only afford two of them. No problem. Either route I think is viable. Personally, I like the Cataphract theme, visually it's an impressive army and works well. A lot of enemy forces will scratch their head at 3-4 units of multiwound infantry led by a 7" wall of DEF 14 ARM 22 Cetrati. Full Cetrati plus two min Arcuarii is a good core without eating too many of your points.

pmorghoul: Not such a good theme list. He's a guy that mostly wants to run beasts and maybe some cheap troops just for anti-infantry. Two units of Arcuarii are just too many points on things that don't fit his profile. Possible (but still not great) at 50+, but you can't afford
them at 35.

rasheth & hexeris: Decent theme lists, but not as much pressure to go above Tier 1 as the best benefits come early. *IF* you like Gators, then you may want to run Rasheth at higher tiers with them and Taskmasters but it's not required.

naaresh: Theme list is unknown, so no comment yet. Might be good, might not.

[Sanctjud]

I've been happy with just tier 1 Hexeris.
I've only ventured to tier 3, but swordsmen just don't do it for me.
Tier 1 is just gold, and he takes nearly everything he needs.

I've tried T4 pMakeda, was kinda fun, playing a list with a heavy ranged theme and still have a fairly quick wall of Cetrati.

[Rhin0]

I'm digging Tier 4 Rasheth, and Tier 3 Hex.
Hex for tier 3, I've got marketh and Hakaar, and 2 ADing swordsmen units to feed them :P

[roddo]

Been playing hexy's tier, and swordsmen leave me underwhelmed. They don't do much for damage, and if you go against a heavy centric list they are a waste of points. I almost think hexy would be better off with staying at tier 1 and grabbing cetrati in one flavor or another, or a unit of ferox. Of course I don't own hakaar or any AG's, so that might be part of the issue i have.

[Sanctjud]

I am having same experiences roddo.
I have been trying max Arcuari as the main Death March unit. They fit the sort of all-rounder/comer responding unit.
I would like to fit Hakaar in 35, just just can't find the points.

Swordsmen, I will try agian, but my experiences have not been great. One game vs. eNemo, they got in my way of an assassiantion run. One gamem vs Terminus was at 12 Souls his feat turn... I mean, it would be best to run them away but...still being dead weight.

I tried a max Cetrati one game, ended up being ignored, even running them 2 turns to get/hold an objective...maybe try them again.

Arcuari have been kinda meh too, but have done more killing (of trolls) and have been able to run without losing out on say shield wall. They hit hard too compared to Cetrai without CMA.

[Rhin0]

I've been playing 50pts :P and Hakaar is BOSS !
I've only run him 3 times, but since I've started i can't imagine a 50pt list without him now !

And swordsmen + UA can pick a part high ARM units with the single pt of damage ability.
And it can leave them suseptable to multiple soul fires to finish off a unit.

Oh, and if you haven't tried Hakaar, get on it, its worth it.

[onthedownlow]

Personally, I almost exclusively use Tier lists. This is two reasons - I love the fluffy lists, and when I first started playing, I found them to be a really good guide for what works well with each Warlock rather than trying to make something work whilst looking at the (seemingly) huge and daunting list of what was available. I try to make all of my Warlocks play in an entirely different way to each other to keep things fresh.

Everyone loves Xerxis' tier list. Its awesome. Personally I go to Tier Four more often than not - but the others so far have mentioned him and the others, so I'll stick with two not mentioned.

Zaal's Tier list is utterly brilliant. No living models in your army for souls? Who cares!? With Zaal able to pass out Souls to the Ancestral Guardians and Hakaar every turn for one Fury, and the Extollers all starting with three each you can take a very and cool and unique army. This list also mitigates the slow speed of the Ancestral Guardians too.

However my new favourite is Mordikaar. At 35pts you can push comfortably up to Tier 2 at least, and by then you're already hitting the best part - free Void Spirits. If you take four units (easy with two minimum Nihilator units, a bodyguard of Praetorian Karax and a disposable Swordsman unit for Harrow) then that's four (two free plus the two that you can and really should take for 4pts) little Incorporeal swine with MAT7+3D6 to hit, and usually (charges are easy with them) 12+4D6 damage roll attacks..

[dboeren]

Swordsmen are great anti-infantry and hit hard enough on combo-strike to hurt bigger things, but the problem with using Death March on them is they're only hitting at POW 9 rather than the POW 12 of the combo-strike, nor can you be affected by the UA's minifeat at the time. So, great unit in general (and they benefit well from +2 MAT), but not ideal for Death March except against low-to-moderate ARM single wound infantry. Fortunately, that's often what they fight so they're not a *bad* choice. Within the tier, Arcuarii are a fine choice I think. Cetrati not so much. They cost too much and you WANT somebody to die. Cetrati aren't as good at that, they spend more time in Shieldwall and this can slow them down to where they aren't even getting attacked, or people might pick a less durable target. If you say "hey, I just won't USE the Shieldwall", then congratulations. Now you're overpaying for inferior quality Arcuarii that forgot their ranged attacks. Just bring the Arcs to start with and don't bother with the Cetrati. Bottom line, it's just not the most efficient use of points.

[Sanctjud]

^Yes, that was my experience, ran the Cetrati and just shruged and went with Arcs afterwards.
Matches his allrounder-ness.

[PG_DaveZee]

This makes me so happy...

Personally, I almost exclusively use Tier lists. This is two reasons - I love the fluffy lists, and when I first started playing, I found them to be a really good guide for what works well with each Warlock rather than trying to make something work whilst looking at the (seemingly) huge and daunting list of what was available. I try to make all of my Warlocks play in an entirely different way to each other to keep things fresh.

Everyone loves Xerxis' tier list. Its awesome. Personally I go to Tier Four more often than not - but the others so far have mentioned him and the others, so I'll stick with two not mentioned.

Zaal's Tier list is utterly brilliant. No living models in your army for souls? Who cares!? With Zaal able to pass out Souls to the Ancestral Guardians and Hakaar every turn for one Fury, and the Extollers all starting with three each you can take a very and cool and unique army. This list also mitigates the slow speed of the Ancestral Guardians too.

However my new favourite is Mordikaar. At 35pts you can push comfortably up to Tier 2 at least, and by then you're already hitting the best part - free Void Spirits. If you take four units (easy with two minimum Nihilator units, a bodyguard of Praetorian Karax and a disposable Swordsman unit for Harrow) then that's four (two free plus the two that you can and really should take for 4pts) little Incorporeal swine with MAT7+3D6 to hit, and usually (charges are easy with them) 12+4D6 damage roll attacks..

[dboeren]

Yep, Zaal and Mordikaar have really good tiers too. I was just sticking to the casters the OP says he has or is getting soon.

[lifelesspoet]

Actually, i was curious about all the popular tiers you play and not the ones I listed. Mostly why you think they are good. Zaal and mordikaar don't seem to be exciting play styles to me, but I have yet to try them. The problem i am having is that its not always easy to see a good tier on paper or even a good caster/model. Sometimes point cost reductions and free models blind you too the flip side, model selection and unrealistic requirements. I also wish more of them save the best stuff for the top tier instead of tier 1. Some benefits like incorporal for first round, 2 inch deployment zone and for every 'model' this other 'model' gets modest benefit don't seem appealing at a glance. I'm sure its situational, it's Just a lot to consider.
Still, I would like to thank dboeren, that did help to clear up some of my questions.

[dboeren]

For Zaal, the biggest benefits come at Tier 3-4, but most people seem to reserve 4 for >35 games.

You get AD did your slow Ancestrals, which is nice, but the prize is all your Extollers getting 3 soul tokens free. This breaks the usual problem of running Ancestrals (and by extension Immortals) of having to bring living troops and then managing to get them to die at the right pace to keep the souls flowing smoothly. Now AG's can boost freely, and Hakaar can have extra ARM keeping him safer (Marketh too). At tier 4 you can start with the Kovaas in play, and he's a scary guy too. And also, you're not really giving up any of the good stuff. Just about everything you'd want to take is in-tier.

For Mordikaar, there is more of a tradeoff, because some really good stuff IS out if his tier. Nobly, you can't take Paingivers or some of our elite troops like Arcuarii. However, the benefits are considerable. You get AD for your Void Spirits, who also get increased FA and you will get at least one free one - Void Spirits also get free boosted attacks with Mordikaar which makes them very desirable. In addition you get an extra 2" deployment for everyone, quite useful with a melee rush sort of army like he typically runs. Ask an eKreoss player how useful this can be. The incorporeal first turn is usually less of a big deal, but it dies let you ignore terrain to be sure you are not slowed down while running upfield.

[Khadorian83]

My fav is Rasheth's Theme list. Granted I like to run a load of Titans as it is, being 1 pt cheaper just makes it better .

[5thstreet]

My favorite is the Morghoul2 theme force. I like to play it at tier 4. Having most of your army across the centerline of the table on turn 1 and it all being stealth (stealth Rhinodons... funny) is really cool. Trust me it is.

[doom_reaver]

I love Zaals theme force. its an aesthetically unique skorne build and it performs adequately. not very experienced with Skorne yet but Zaal is currently my favourite caster by quite a bit.

[low key]

Competetive tier lists are zaal and fatty. Both are at least as competetive in tier as out of tier...and in my opinion both armies are arguably better for being in tier. Free souls and multiple agonizers are amazing....free kovass omg.

Hex tier and e morg tier are playable but prob not as strong as base lists. The rest of them I think lose to much for questionable benefits. Even the hex list forces you to use swords instead of nihlators.

My two cents.....also at op if you haven't read Pantheons tactica chain gang give it a whirl.....

[Indragnir]

I like Morghoul tier, arcuarii turned to be a major factor in my games, heh I didn't expected. Xerxis I really like his tier.
OFC I like Zaal and Rasheth.
No cold nor hot: Hexeris
Didn't lived up my expectations: Makeda(s), Mordikaar
Don't own enough models for : eMorghoul.

[Merchant of Dreams]

i placed second on a tier tournament with Rasheth. it rocks. totally. and it earned my preference over all the tiers theme forces.... it allows you to run with mercenaries in the face of the enemy (even if they are useless piggies) and arcnode trough them devastating spells at t1 on his caster if he moved first or t2 for sure. and ofc, multiple gladiators for 7 points is a win. your only problem is oh wait if you put a bb they won't frenzy... XD i played him at 25points but at 35 u can put in another titan or transform the useless pigs in some powerful croco goodness.
here is the 25 points list i used:
Chain Gang tier2
Dominar Rashet (-5)
titan gladiator (+8 -1tier)
titan gladiator (+8 -1tier)
Bronzeback titan (+10 -1tier)
paingiver beast handlers min. (+2)
Gobbers(+1)
min Farrow bone grinders (+2)
paingiver task master (+2)
(and here is a link to the deploy/advancing tactis i used http://privateerpressforums.com/show...eth+tournament )

mordikaar theme list is very powerul too for objective games... t2 is awesome. the only bad thing is no paingivers for you. anyway it granted me a 4th palce at a tournament but it really is effective for that kind of game. (the only suggestion is to get only 2 big units: you'll loose a void spirit but remember that if your unit totally dies, and with 6 man it's pretty easy that they die in one "non feat" turn, you can't revive them anymore...)

Hexy theme force is good for a very elaborate way to casterkill opening lanes to caster with some shooting and than run some big elephant in or do the "magic trick: i blast you to death" but i'd say that rashy and mordy are better.
many people says very nice things about Xerxis and Zaal's themeforces but i traelly don't like playing Xerx.
concerning Zaal (wich is the caster i love most i mainly play him mordy and hexeris non tier) i'd personally tend to paly him non tier couse i like to be OP with it uberaggressive and unpredicatble, even if evryone says that theme force shines! i like immortal aesthetically speaking but i'll never play them. even becouse buying zaal + 2 ags and hakkar is really moneyheavy and buying one or 2 units of immortaals is not really a big deal if u plan to "use" them without Zaal... (at leasty i can use hakkaar often on other lists and the ag sometimes)

hexy tier is ok even if it's more tricky and hard to play with effectiveness, and imo just a little more weak than the other 2. it grants you some nice tricks tooa nd adavnce deployed arcnoded wurm rocks!!!

hope the Rashet tactis and battlereport helped.