We all talk about faction strength a lot in Age of Sigmar, and the conversations usually focus around the overall win rates. However, we’ve mentioned before that this compresses too much information into a single number.
One interesting side effect of having our Elo system means that we are able to gather data on win rates for factions across different skill levels.
So we analysed GT games across two skills bands using our Elo ratings.
- Low Skill Band: 200-400 Elo
- High Skill Band: 500-700 Elo
These band represent newer tournament players versus experienced competitors. By comparing their performance we can show three different measurements.
- Skill Floor – How well the faction performs in the hands of lower Elo players
- Skill Ceiling – How well the faction performs in the hands of higher Elo players
- Skill Gradient – How much performance improves as player skills increase
Together these three measurements should show which factions are forgiving, those that need to be mastered and those that struggle regardless of experience. Looking at you Gitz….
The Overall Pattern
Across the dataset shown below, most factions show a clear improvement as player skill increases. But the difference in this change changes quite a bit.
Some factions improve massively in the hands of skilled pilots while others remain pretty stable regardless of skill.
This gives us three categories of factions in the meta:
- Forgiving factions that perform well for players regardless of their skill
- Skill-dependent factions that reward experience and dedication
- Struggling factions that remain difficult to win with ever for the skilled players
Forgiving Factions
Some armies do well even amongst lower Elo players. These appear more forgiving and allow players to achieve decent results even without lots of tournament experience.
| Faction | Low Skill Win Rate |
|---|---|
| Maggotkin of Nurgle | 52% |
| Ironjawz | 46% |
| Idoneth Deepkin | 46% |
| Flesh-eater Courts | 45% |
| Ossiarch Bonereapers | 44% |
These combine a solid base performance with strong ceilings, meaning they remain competitive even as player skills increase.
For players new to tournaments, these armies may provide an easier learning curve.
High Skill Ceiling Factions
These factions show really strong performance among high Elo players.
| Faction | High Skill Win Rate |
|---|---|
| Idoneth Deepkin | 84% |
| Maggotkin of Nurgle | 77% |
| Flesh-eater Courts | 76% |
| Ironjawz | 74% |
| Ossiarch Bonereapers | 74% |
| Ogor Mawtribes | 74% |
They are capable of strong results when played by the most skilled players.
Factions That Reward Skill the Most
The skill gradient shows how much a faction improves as player skills increase.
| Faction | Gradient |
|---|---|
| Idoneth Deepkin | +38% |
| Ogor Mawtribes | +36% |
| Stormcast Eternals | +32% |
| Flesh-eater Courts | +31% |
| Seraphon | +31% |
| Skaven | +30% |
| Ossiarch Bonereapers | +30% |
These are factions with largest improvement between the skills bands. Experienced players can tap into a lot more performance from these than newer players.
Balanced Skill Scaling
Several factions fall into the middle ground, showing only moderate improvements as player skills increase
| Faction | Gradient |
|---|---|
| Blades of Khorne | +29% |
| Ironjawz | +27% |
| Maggotkin of Nurgle | +25% |
| Kharadron Overlords | +24% |
These are more balanced between being accessible and their skill depth. Newer players can still achieve reasonable results, while experienced players gain an advantage through better decision making.
Stormcast Eternals
Stormcast always seem to be a case unto themselves.
They are an example of a faction with a low skill floor but strong ceiling. Lower Elo players win only around 36% of their games, but higher Elo players reach 68% win rates.
This skill gradients suggest that Stormcast performance in strongly influenced by player skill.
The Concerning Faction
At the opposite end we have Gloomspite Gitz.
- Low Skill Win Rate 33%
- High Skill Win Rate 50%
- Gradient +17%
Even amongst experienced players the factions struggles to push much beyond 50% win rate. They are vastly underpowered and very difficult to play.
What This Means for the Meta
These stats highlight that Faction strength is not experienced equally by everyone.
Some factions appear stronger because their elite players are able to extract more from them. Others are the same no matter the experience, while a few struggle across the board.
Understanding this helps explain why faction power can feel different depending on the player who uses them.
Final Thoughts
By looking at skill floors, ceilings, and gradients we can get a more complete picture of how factions perform across the competitive player base.
Some armies reward mastery, others offer a more forgiving learning curve, and a few may require further support to compete consistently.
Seems like a couple of factions were omitted from the analysis, I can’t see Cities of Sigmar nor Sons of Behemath. Is this because there were not enough samples or some other reason?
Yup, you got it. And I forgot to mention that in the article! I felt that many of the faction didn’t have enough data, either in the lower band, or the higher band, to provide accurate data. Publishing them would have felt misleading.