Songs of Conquest unit rankings!!! Mostly based off my own personal preference (design + how I perceive the utility of the unit).
S TIER ---
A TIER ---
B TIER ---
C TIER ---
S TIER ---
Spoiler
- Shaman/Sage (Rana) - Incredible design (especially the upgrade) and a solidly reliable ranged unit as well.
- Ravager/Rider of the Swamp (Rana) - Fast, deadly, and a solid source of Essence. In terms of utility I'd placed them higher than the Shaman/Sage, but in terms of design I think the Shaman/Sage edges out slightly simply because both designs are unique and great in their own way (whereas the Rider of the Swamp is the design that really stands out among these two).
- Spectre/Seneschal (Loth) - The Spectre design is a'ight, but the Seneschal design is perfection. The color scheme is fantastic and all the design elements just look great. They're good for Essence generation, and they offer a good mix of damage, defense, and utility.
- Ravager/Rider of the Swamp (Rana) - Fast, deadly, and a solid source of Essence. In terms of utility I'd placed them higher than the Shaman/Sage, but in terms of design I think the Shaman/Sage edges out slightly simply because both designs are unique and great in their own way (whereas the Rider of the Swamp is the design that really stands out among these two).
- Spectre/Seneschal (Loth) - The Spectre design is a'ight, but the Seneschal design is perfection. The color scheme is fantastic and all the design elements just look great. They're good for Essence generation, and they offer a good mix of damage, defense, and utility.
[close]
A TIER ---
Spoiler
- Tremor (Rana) - Hella solid unit and looks fantastic. They generate three Essence by default in the latest version, are decently tanky, deal solid damage, and can debuff enemies with their song. In terms of sheer utility they're probably one of the best units in the game for their role compression and sheer amount of roles they can play. They fact that they don't have an upgrade works in their favor, oddly enough, as you don't have to worry about paying extra for an upgrade. The fact they're recruited from the same building as the Ravager/Rider of the Swamp is phenomenal as well. It's not unrealistic to just have like 3 full troop stacks of Tremors.
- Scavenged Bones/Blessed Bones (Loth) - If they were a better unit they would absolutely be an S tier, because their design is 10/10. The fact they only generate 1 Destruction Essence really holds them back, not to mention the fact that, for their stacks, max stack size of 10 feels oddly unsatisfying (the fact that it upgrades to 15 while the Spectre/Seneschal upgrades to 20 also makes it feel worse; they reeeeeeaaaaallly wanna have a lot of units in their stack, especially with the upgrade's ability). There are a lot of potential ways to buff them and I really hope they get to live their full potential in future updates. I think giving them +1 Destruction Essence and increasing their stack size to 12-18 (instead of 10-15) would be a good start.
- Hellbreath/Hellroar (Barya) - Another Barya unit that's annoying to fight against, but they are ridiculously fun to use yourself. Despite having only 1 movement by default (which can be buffed) they have unrivaled range and an AoE ranged attack (which can backfire in some situations). My only advice is to upgrade them ASAP, because the increased damage from the upgrade is noticeable.
- Hunter/Storm Guard (Rana) - Easily one of the best "tier 1" units of the game (SoC doesn't really have strict unit tiers/levels like HoMM but there are some units that are clearly meant to be the "first" unit of each faction), especially post-upgrade. With Stealthy, the Storm Guards are an incredibly dangerous attacker. Even though the Riders of the Swamp are basically just a "better" version of the Storm Guards, the Storm Guards still have a place in a Rana army because of their ability.
- Knight/Fist of Order (Arleon) - Probably one of Arleon's best units, as well as the coolest.
Despite their low Initiative that seems to always make them move late in the turn, they deal incredible damage, especially if you take full advantage of their movement bonus.
- Oathbound/Legionnaire (Loth) - Solid take on the classic undead skeleton unit. They have a good balance between tankiness and damage, especially when upgraded, and even though they're pretty slow and tend to take a lot of losses it's still pretty easy to maintain max stacks of them. Good unit for filling out your army.
- Aurelian Scholar/Necromancer (Loth) - Great ranged unit, and when you're not using them for ranged attacks (either because the enemy isn't in range, of because the enemy is immediately adjacent) you can generate extra essence with the Necromancer's ability. The issue is just keeping them alive and replacing your losses fast enough.
- Eth'dra (Rana) - A respectably solid ranged attacker. I almost feel bad upgrading them to Dragons because they're a solid addition to your army just by themselves (and having a unit you don't need to upgrade is always a solid boon).
- Ranger/Archer (Arleon) - Solid ranged unit (and as of writing this post, apparently it's the most used unit according to dev stats) that does good damage and has an incredible range. The fact they don't have to reload after each shot is the icing on the cake—if you play Arleon, you basically need to use these guys for raw troop damage.
- Dragon/Elder Dragon (Rana) - Listen. I love a good dragon, and these guys are pretty awesome, but they simultaneously feel really powerful and really unwieldy to use. The process of upgrading to them (especially the Elder Dragons in the latest upgrade, which can't be recruited directly but must be upgraded from regular Dragons) is a major hassle and basically unachievable in small maps, but their high movement and initiative makes them incredible dangerous in combination with their flame breath as long as your opponent don't have a good way to deal with them (coughJusticecough). If you manage to get them and max out their troop size and get multiple stacks, then they are definitely a deadly weapon of mass destruction—but good luck getting to that point!!!
- Rat/Plague Rat (Loth) - R A T P O W E R ! The main driving force behind a very interesting strategy
Very easy to run out of rats, however, unless you dedicate a lot of resources into keeping your rat armies strong. Overall, high power but needs high numbers to work best, and often sustains heavy losses. Also very vulnerable to Dragons.
- Scavenged Bones/Blessed Bones (Loth) - If they were a better unit they would absolutely be an S tier, because their design is 10/10. The fact they only generate 1 Destruction Essence really holds them back, not to mention the fact that, for their stacks, max stack size of 10 feels oddly unsatisfying (the fact that it upgrades to 15 while the Spectre/Seneschal upgrades to 20 also makes it feel worse; they reeeeeeaaaaallly wanna have a lot of units in their stack, especially with the upgrade's ability). There are a lot of potential ways to buff them and I really hope they get to live their full potential in future updates. I think giving them +1 Destruction Essence and increasing their stack size to 12-18 (instead of 10-15) would be a good start.
- Hellbreath/Hellroar (Barya) - Another Barya unit that's annoying to fight against, but they are ridiculously fun to use yourself. Despite having only 1 movement by default (which can be buffed) they have unrivaled range and an AoE ranged attack (which can backfire in some situations). My only advice is to upgrade them ASAP, because the increased damage from the upgrade is noticeable.
- Hunter/Storm Guard (Rana) - Easily one of the best "tier 1" units of the game (SoC doesn't really have strict unit tiers/levels like HoMM but there are some units that are clearly meant to be the "first" unit of each faction), especially post-upgrade. With Stealthy, the Storm Guards are an incredibly dangerous attacker. Even though the Riders of the Swamp are basically just a "better" version of the Storm Guards, the Storm Guards still have a place in a Rana army because of their ability.
- Knight/Fist of Order (Arleon) - Probably one of Arleon's best units, as well as the coolest.
Despite their low Initiative that seems to always make them move late in the turn, they deal incredible damage, especially if you take full advantage of their movement bonus.- Oathbound/Legionnaire (Loth) - Solid take on the classic undead skeleton unit. They have a good balance between tankiness and damage, especially when upgraded, and even though they're pretty slow and tend to take a lot of losses it's still pretty easy to maintain max stacks of them. Good unit for filling out your army.
- Aurelian Scholar/Necromancer (Loth) - Great ranged unit, and when you're not using them for ranged attacks (either because the enemy isn't in range, of because the enemy is immediately adjacent) you can generate extra essence with the Necromancer's ability. The issue is just keeping them alive and replacing your losses fast enough.
- Eth'dra (Rana) - A respectably solid ranged attacker. I almost feel bad upgrading them to Dragons because they're a solid addition to your army just by themselves (and having a unit you don't need to upgrade is always a solid boon).
- Ranger/Archer (Arleon) - Solid ranged unit (and as of writing this post, apparently it's the most used unit according to dev stats) that does good damage and has an incredible range. The fact they don't have to reload after each shot is the icing on the cake—if you play Arleon, you basically need to use these guys for raw troop damage.
- Dragon/Elder Dragon (Rana) - Listen. I love a good dragon, and these guys are pretty awesome, but they simultaneously feel really powerful and really unwieldy to use. The process of upgrading to them (especially the Elder Dragons in the latest upgrade, which can't be recruited directly but must be upgraded from regular Dragons) is a major hassle and basically unachievable in small maps, but their high movement and initiative makes them incredible dangerous in combination with their flame breath as long as your opponent don't have a good way to deal with them (coughJusticecough). If you manage to get them and max out their troop size and get multiple stacks, then they are definitely a deadly weapon of mass destruction—but good luck getting to that point!!!
- Rat/Plague Rat (Loth) - R A T P O W E R ! The main driving force behind a very interesting strategy
Very easy to run out of rats, however, unless you dedicate a lot of resources into keeping your rat armies strong. Overall, high power but needs high numbers to work best, and often sustains heavy losses. Also very vulnerable to Dragons.[close]
B TIER ---
Spoiler
- Legion/High Legion (Loth) - The coolness factor is 11/10, and they can deal hella damage in the right circumstances, but something about them just doesn't do it for me compared to some of the other undead units. They're definitely on the slower side, and they feel like they need a lot of support to make full use of their potential.
- Tinkerer/Artificer (Barya) - A surprisingly-reliable unit to bolster your armies. Good at Essence generation and does good damage too. The flame ability occasionally comes in clutch too.
- Faey Spirit/Faey Rager (Arleon) - The glass cannon of Arleon. They're decently fast and deal a ton of damage, but take damage just as easily (at least their ability gives them complete magic immunity for the annoyance factor). I've definitely warmed up to them on my second playthrough of the Arleon campaign.
- Minstrel/Troubadour (Arleon) - I always underestimate them, but they're a pretty decent support and Essence generator—and they somehow manage to be able to deal solid damage on their own.
- Musketeer/Veteran Musketeer (Barya) - Decently strong, and their upgraded ability is helpful for times when you don't have enough range, but the fact that both of Barya's ranged units have to reload after taking a shot definitely limits their usefulness.
- Toxicologist/Bane (Loth) - When I first played the Loth campaign I found them underwhelming, but I think they've been buffed between then and the latest version of the game. Respectable ranged unit, but I still feel like they're overshadowed by Loth's other ranged unit.
- Faey Noble/Faey Queen (Arleon) - They're a really cool unit for sure, but in terms of usability they're definitely a bit... lacking. Their range just feels way too disappointing to be useful. Both units could easily get +1 on their range and they're still be a bit underwhelming. Could likely use an initiative buff too so they have the gimmick of being a ranged unit that usually goes first.
- Militia/Sapper (Arleon) - Helpful to have (and can deal some hefty damage with a full stack), but needing to reload after each shot greatly limits their usefulness, not to mention their relatively low range. Overall, not the worst unit.
- Pikeneer/Veteran Pikeneer (Barya) - Helpful during sieges (to give your other units room to infiltrate) and in keeping losses to a minimum, but I feel like their low speed really holds them back. Plus, they are super annoying to fight against.
- Piper/Steam Piper (Barya) - They really blossom when upgraded, but their ability is pretty helpful. It's easy to fill your army up with like three stacks of them and get them to significantly boost your army's initiative.
- Horned One/Queen's Guard (Arleon) - Not the worst unit, just sorta bland. They always seem to move first in a turn whenever they show up (high initiative), but that sorta conflicts with their low movement and berserking gimmick. If I wanted to buff them, I'd probably lower their initiative, increase their movement by 1, and increase both their damage and defense slightly.
- Dreath/Dire Dreath (Barya) - Incredibly annoying to fight against, but after having used them myself I can definitely see their usefulness. I basically always try to have two stacks of them. They're reliable damage dealers and can sometimes just straight-up eliminate weakened enemies before they have the chance to damage you.
- Chelun/Chelun Elder (Rana) - Great for Essence generation, and decently tanky, but hella slow (I mean, they are turtles, soooooo). If you want a ton of Creation/Arcana Essence they're definitely worth using, but with their low troop size they feel especially vulnerable to Justice compared to what they offer.
- Cultist/Oathsinger (Loth) - Good for spell damage builds (their ability buffs spell damage), but the problem is that they don't offer any Destruction Essence (which is home to all the best damaging spells. If you can maintain a good way to generate Destruction Essence and you're going for a spell damage build, though, they can be useful.
- Risen (Loth) - They exist, I guess, and they're likely going to be getting major buffs in the next big update. However, they're really only useful as meat shields when they're given to you en masse (as happens in a few different points in the Loth campaign). Their really high Initiative (which is a recent change—they used to have pretty low initiative!) is something, at least.
- Tinkerer/Artificer (Barya) - A surprisingly-reliable unit to bolster your armies. Good at Essence generation and does good damage too. The flame ability occasionally comes in clutch too.
- Faey Spirit/Faey Rager (Arleon) - The glass cannon of Arleon. They're decently fast and deal a ton of damage, but take damage just as easily (at least their ability gives them complete magic immunity for the annoyance factor). I've definitely warmed up to them on my second playthrough of the Arleon campaign.
- Minstrel/Troubadour (Arleon) - I always underestimate them, but they're a pretty decent support and Essence generator—and they somehow manage to be able to deal solid damage on their own.
- Musketeer/Veteran Musketeer (Barya) - Decently strong, and their upgraded ability is helpful for times when you don't have enough range, but the fact that both of Barya's ranged units have to reload after taking a shot definitely limits their usefulness.
- Toxicologist/Bane (Loth) - When I first played the Loth campaign I found them underwhelming, but I think they've been buffed between then and the latest version of the game. Respectable ranged unit, but I still feel like they're overshadowed by Loth's other ranged unit.
- Faey Noble/Faey Queen (Arleon) - They're a really cool unit for sure, but in terms of usability they're definitely a bit... lacking. Their range just feels way too disappointing to be useful. Both units could easily get +1 on their range and they're still be a bit underwhelming. Could likely use an initiative buff too so they have the gimmick of being a ranged unit that usually goes first.
- Militia/Sapper (Arleon) - Helpful to have (and can deal some hefty damage with a full stack), but needing to reload after each shot greatly limits their usefulness, not to mention their relatively low range. Overall, not the worst unit.
- Pikeneer/Veteran Pikeneer (Barya) - Helpful during sieges (to give your other units room to infiltrate) and in keeping losses to a minimum, but I feel like their low speed really holds them back. Plus, they are super annoying to fight against.
- Piper/Steam Piper (Barya) - They really blossom when upgraded, but their ability is pretty helpful. It's easy to fill your army up with like three stacks of them and get them to significantly boost your army's initiative.
- Horned One/Queen's Guard (Arleon) - Not the worst unit, just sorta bland. They always seem to move first in a turn whenever they show up (high initiative), but that sorta conflicts with their low movement and berserking gimmick. If I wanted to buff them, I'd probably lower their initiative, increase their movement by 1, and increase both their damage and defense slightly.
- Dreath/Dire Dreath (Barya) - Incredibly annoying to fight against, but after having used them myself I can definitely see their usefulness. I basically always try to have two stacks of them. They're reliable damage dealers and can sometimes just straight-up eliminate weakened enemies before they have the chance to damage you.
- Chelun/Chelun Elder (Rana) - Great for Essence generation, and decently tanky, but hella slow (I mean, they are turtles, soooooo). If you want a ton of Creation/Arcana Essence they're definitely worth using, but with their low troop size they feel especially vulnerable to Justice compared to what they offer.
- Cultist/Oathsinger (Loth) - Good for spell damage builds (their ability buffs spell damage), but the problem is that they don't offer any Destruction Essence (which is home to all the best damaging spells. If you can maintain a good way to generate Destruction Essence and you're going for a spell damage build, though, they can be useful.
- Risen (Loth) - They exist, I guess, and they're likely going to be getting major buffs in the next big update. However, they're really only useful as meat shields when they're given to you en masse (as happens in a few different points in the Loth campaign). Their really high Initiative (which is a recent change—they used to have pretty low initiative!) is something, at least.
[close]
C TIER ---
Spoiler
- Crawler/Adult Crawler (Rana) - Solid design, but not the most useful for a couple of reasons: their Essence generation is pitiful; the Burrowing ability of the upgrade is unreliable and has dubious usefulness; they're recruited from the same ability as the Guard/Protector.
- Sassanid/Shadow (Barya) - Interesting unit but hard to properly use, especially because they have high initiative with relatively low movement, which leaves them vulnerable and unable to use their ability to full effect.
- Footman/Shield of Order (Arleon) - In contrast to the Minstrel/Troubadour... every time I use this unit, I always overestimate them. They're mostly meant as a tank, but their damage output always seems to be lacking, and their tankiness is of limited usefulness when they're so slow and still sustain heavy losses anyway. At least they generate a lot of Order Essence, I guess...
- Guard/Protector (Rana) - Another tanky unit. It really doesn't feel like this game is kind to tanky units. Good for protecting ranged units, I guess, but their lackluster damage output and pitiful Essence generation (especially compared to a lot of other Rana units) doesn't make them fun to use.
- Brute/Scarred Brute (Barya) - Pretty good magic resistance, but overall just sorta feels like A Unit That Exists.
- Sassanid/Shadow (Barya) - Interesting unit but hard to properly use, especially because they have high initiative with relatively low movement, which leaves them vulnerable and unable to use their ability to full effect.
- Footman/Shield of Order (Arleon) - In contrast to the Minstrel/Troubadour... every time I use this unit, I always overestimate them. They're mostly meant as a tank, but their damage output always seems to be lacking, and their tankiness is of limited usefulness when they're so slow and still sustain heavy losses anyway. At least they generate a lot of Order Essence, I guess...
- Guard/Protector (Rana) - Another tanky unit. It really doesn't feel like this game is kind to tanky units. Good for protecting ranged units, I guess, but their lackluster damage output and pitiful Essence generation (especially compared to a lot of other Rana units) doesn't make them fun to use.
- Brute/Scarred Brute (Barya) - Pretty good magic resistance, but overall just sorta feels like A Unit That Exists.
[close]
