Ageless Survival Tier List

[Ephelemi]

Like the title says, that is what I aim to create in this topic. All the factions from Ageless shall be ranked according to their usefulness for survival scenarios like 2 player vs survival, 3 player survival and basically most other popular survival scenarios. As it would greatly unhinge balance, I suggest to rank them without the use of the popular xp mod.
Tiers will be the following:

S - very easy to win to literally impossible not to win
A - easy to win with the right strategy
B - doable but could break with bad luck
C - serious challenge but still possible
D - very hard to win, reliant on some luck rolls
F - literally impossible to win

As there will be a lot of players who have more experience than me using Ageless factions in survivals, I ask you to submit suggestions where to place factions you know well in this list. Also if you have constructive criticism about the tier descriptions, it is very much welcome. This is not set in stone yet.

As i created this thread i might as well just start and place EoMa - Kharos somewhere very high in the list. They are designed as a very tanky faction and as the excellent protector and avenger are only lvl 2, they are also cheap in upkeep. Also a steadfast spearman thats only slightly weaker than the loyalist spearman makes the start a breeze. And I havent even mentioned their lvl3 healer with leadership. A to S
A faction I tried only once so far but which made a good first impression are the Yokai. Despite low on hp, they have good staying power due to heavy and slowing retaliation and good healing. They are also very good at finishing the attackers, which leaves them more time to prepare for the next wave. B to A
The Dark Legion I tried out yesterday was pretty awful. Mediocre hp, no magical or marksman heavy hitters, a terrible steadfast unit with only 10% defenses and 40hp, they are bad at defending and bad at killing the attackers. I think its due to them being designed as an assault faction with heavy reliance on ToD, which makes them quite unsuiting for survival gameplay. Probably D.
The frozen ones have a pretty strong lineup with a magical healer and good fighting units. Especially the steadfast lvl 2 fighter gives this faction a place very high in the list. The only things they really have to worry about is Fire and Arcane damage. I rank them probably directly below Kharos, A.

Before i forget, by Ageless factions I mean all factions in Ageless, also the Default factions. And of course I see the Default ones as different from the EE ones.

Edit: Once the Tier descriptions are confirmed and there are a few submissions which are agreed on by a few people, I will set up a table in this overpost and start filling it up with the first factions.

[Ravana]

Notation: - means havent used, not sure.

Default Era
Loyalist -
Rebels -
Northerners -
Undead -
Knalgan Alliance -
Drakes -
Khalifate -

Extended Era
Loyalist -
Sylvans Merged with EoC Sylvans -
Dwarves -
Outlaws -
Monsters B
Northerners -
Undead -
Chaos C
Dark Elves C

Archaic Era
Khthon A
Phantoms S
Despair B
Primeval S+
South-Seas - B
Ukians C
Northern Orcs -
Menagerie A

Era of Chaos
Aragwaithi B
Chaos Legion A
Elementals -
Quenoth elves -
Sylvans -
Wild Humans -

Era of Four Moons
Highlanders C
Imperialists B
Sea States C
Darklanders C
Dalefolk C
Freemen C
Pygmies A
Whites C

Era of the Future
Welkin A
Brungar A
Nordhris B

BEEM
Anakes C
Calidonians D
Wood Warriors B

Custom Factions
Yokai B
Dark Legion B (It has drones)
Deep Elves -
Desert Elves -
Frozen B
Steelhive A
Vilkai -

Era of Myths
Celestials B
Devlings D
Therians B
Vampires B
The Warg C
Windsong A

Feudal Era
Ceresians C
Clockwork Dwarves A
High Elves C
Orcish Khaganates C

Imperial Era
Arendians B
Cavernei B
Issaelfr B
Lavinian Legion A
Marauders B
Orcei Gladiatores B
Sidhe A

Era of Strife
Eventide D
Triththa B
Free Saurians A
Eltireans C
Minotaurs C

Era of Magic
Barbarians A
Dark Blood Alliance A
Sky Kingdom B (difficult to keep alive for beginning)
Kharos S
Runemasters A
Al-Kamija S+
Tharis B (difficult to keep alive for beginning)
Destroyers S

Mercenaries Era
Highlanders A
Enchanters S
Avians A
Slavers S
Mercenaries B
Equestrians F
Emperor's Guard B
Oracles A
Holy Order B
The Cult C
Fanatics C
Tribalists B
Hive B
Infernai S
Refugees A
Blight C

Rashy Era
Aquana -
Chevalier -
Dardo -
Darkelves -
Dwarves -
Elyser -
Forestdwarves -
Forestfolk -
Luz -
Marashy -
Mountaintribe -
Necromancers -
Regis -
Trarashy -
Vixens -

[Elder2]

Basing on the Ravana's evaluation I can rate a few factions

Vixen - D
Elyser - A
Sylvans - A
Basing mainly on the Sidhe's A, although I do not quite understand it, elyser and sylvans are pretty average good survival factions and sidhe is probably weaker than them

I played these factions so I rate them, and 2 other factions I played whose rating is a bit off is Yokai and Free saurians. Free saurians are actually a concealed S, because of the battle tutor, very low xp requirements and soulbind zombie spam, I tried them both in 1v1 and survbival, in 1v1 they are bad but in survival they are one of the best if you know how to use them, I once even said that they can rival EoMA Jinns, the advantage over them is the zombie spam, although, nothing is weaker than Jinns so basically it is impossible to best. They should have S++ or something

And Yokai deserves A because of the swarm spam, with xp mod they may even be close to S, swarm spawn is probably the strongest lvl 0 plague unit. Overall with xp mod losing with them is actually very hard because of the immense spam and the sheer numbers you have.

New evaluation of some more factions i did play quite a bit and have at least decent experience playing them.
Its a rough overall evaluation, and it will vary depending on survival.

Despair: A
Menagerie: S
Primeval: A
Dark elves: B
Aragwaithi: A
Sylvans: S I change it to S because I just discovered acolyte spam that can rival jinns.
Vampires: A
Windsong: A
Summoners: S
Barbarians: A
Darkblood Alliance: S
Destroyers: A after the mara nerf
Kharos: S
Runemasters: A
Skykingdom: A
Tharis: A
Free Saurians A
Minotaurs: B
Welkin: S
Sidhe: B even though i really like the faction, though after level ups may be closer to A
Blight: A
Enhanters: A
Equestrians: Probably A because blackknight spam works and is strong
Hive: A
Infernai: A
Mercenaries: A

[Trayanee]

This is a little hard because in some cases it depends a lot on the particular map, number of players and the combination of factions used.

Archaic Era
Phantoms - A
Despair - B
Primeval - SS

Era of Chaos
Aragwaithi - B
Chaos Legion - B
Wild Humans - C
Sylvans - A

Era of the Future
Welkin - A
Brungar - B

Custom Factions
Deep Elves - C
Vilkai - A

Era of Myths
Vampires - C
The Warg - B
Windsong - A

Feudal Era
High Elves - A

Imperial Era
Cavernei - B
Issaelfr - B
Sidhe - C

Era of Strife
Free Saurians - A
Minotaurs - B

Era of Magic
Barbarians - B
Dark Blood Alliance - A
Kharos - S
Destroyers - SS

Rashy Era
Chevalier - B
Vixens - B

[IPS]

As experienced player, tester and balance maintainer of the ageless era I will give my honest opinion about each factions. Some factions may be rated twice concerning: being used by a normal player AND being used by a player that can explode right their advantages and factional Strength

Default Era
Loyalist A-
Rebels B+
Northerners B
Undead D / B- (low variety of viable units, extreme strong/weaknesses)
Knalgan Alliance A / S- (Solid units, berserkers but no healers/magicians, once you have 2 magician healers they're brutal)
Drakes B- / A- (depends too much on player skills, viable challenge pick for experienced players
Khalifate A-

Extended Era
Loyalist A-
Sylvans B+
Dwarves A / S- (same than knalgan, S- but needs other's faction reinforcements)
Outlaws C+ / B (recently gained healers, highly dependant in RNG right now)
Monsters B / A (Strong faction that oftenly is BAD used)
Northerners B
Undead D / B-
Chaos A- (more or less explosive damage, no relevant tanks)
Dark Elves B+ / A

Archaic Era
Khthon C- (thrallment overnerf mostly...)
Phantoms B+ / A (recently buffed)
Despair A (nerfed sometimes, still works)
Primeval A / S- (depends on skills too, but solid faction)
South-Seas B / A (Depends more on the player than the faction itself)
Ukians A- (more or less consistent faction)
Northern Orcs B+ / A+ (really solid faction that oftenly isn't well used)
Menagerie A / S- (scales with skill, creative army building, huge unit diversity)

Era of Chaos
Aragwaithi B+
Chaos Legion A- / A (Recent nerfs to drones)
Elementals - B / A (depends on player skills, but works really fine)
Quenoth elves B+ / A-
Sylvans B+ / A-
Wild Humans B+ / A-

Era of Four Moons
Highlanders C (poor resistances)
Imperialists A- / A+
Sea States B- (no powerhouse unit in faction)
Darklanders B- / A (depends too much on terrain/map/situations, but those backstab archers can deal huge damage)
Dalefolk B / B+
Freemen A-
Pygmies B+ / A (lots of sustain if used rightly)
Whites B+ / A

Era of the Future
Welkin A / S- (a good mix of heavy/swift units that depends in the right proportion depending the map, very early +8 healer)
Brungar A+
Nordhris A+

BEEM
Anakes B+
Calidonians C+ (rough game you will have) and D in certain maps that exploit their awful movement costs at certain rough terrains.
Wood Warriors C+ / B-

Custom Factions
Yokai B+ / A
Dark Legion
Deep Elves B- / A (depends too much on skill...)
Desert Elves B+
Frozen B+ / A-
Steelhive A-
Vilkai C / B (on orocia they're terrible, but on other survival maps they work fine)

Era of Myths
Celestials A-
Devlings C / A- (Scales HUGELY with skills and played rightly, faction with huge snowball potential)
Therians A-
Vampires B- (rough game)
The Warg B- / B+ (Smarter people can do fine with them)
Windsong B+ / A

Feudal Era
Ceresians A- (loyalists, but a bit easier to use)
Clockwork Dwarves A- / A (a bit weaker than knalgan, but can become strong)
High Elves B+ (expensive units which means hard early game)
Orcish Khaganates ???

Imperial Era
Arendians B+ (fine damage, nothing else)
Cavernei B+ (worse version of Knalgan actually)
Issaelfr B / A- (depends on how well is used
Lavinian Legion B / A (low health but potential of snowballing)
Marauders C / B+ / A (Scales well with skill and experience, better movility than most factions, yup 3 diferent tiers)
Orcei Gladiatores A+ (Best Lv0's faction)
Sidhe A-

Era of Strife
Eventide B / A (Depends a bit too much on who plays it)
Triththa A- (Haven't seen them having issues with winning, but doesn't snowball at all)
Free Saurians A-
Eltireans A-
Minotaurs B- / B+ (hard faction which I haven't seen anyone snowballing with yet)

Era of Magic
Barbarians A+
Dark Blood Alliance A+ (counting future nerfs... which are already rated at here)
Sky Kingdom B- / S (very hard early game, but once done fine they're pretty strong)
Kharos S
Runemasters A
Al-Kamija S
Tharis B / A (hard early game)
Destroyers S- (counting future nerfs in 1.19)

Mercenaries Era
Highlanders A+ / S (extremely positive opinion of this faction)
Enchanters B+ / A+ (depends how well is used...)
Avians A-
Slavers S
Mercenaries B+ / A+ (depends on how well you snowball with Rookies, rarely A+ but with the potential to)
Equestrians B / A-
Emperor's Guard A+ (very stable faction)
Oracles B- / A- (rough to use properly)
Holy Order A-
The Cult B- / A- (depends too much on the map, how is it used, but nice sustain)
Fanatics A
Tribalists A-
Hive A-
Infernai A / S- (much potential for snowballing)
Refugees B / A (while defending in orocia, have a considerable defensive boost)
Blight B / A (depends on who plays them)

Rashy Era
Aquana A-
Chevalier A-
Dardo B+
Darkelves A-
Dwarves B+
Elyser B+
Forestdwarves B+ / A+ (excelent in terms of terrain usage)
Forestfolk B / A-
Luz A-
Marashy B
Mountaintribe A
Necromancers D / B-
Regis A-
Trarashy ??? (untested)
Vixens B / A-


While testing, rarely I have issues with winning. Almost any faction does work fine at here if you're an experienced player.

Basically it's needed to mention default tiers because it's necessary to mention which factions can be 50/50 against default and which others can take advantage over them. Also, this is not 1vs1 criteria, just survivals and a lot of factions depends too much in the exploit of rarely used factional strength (Devling's can become so powerhouse early game with that lot of Lv1 without upkeep, mostly at orocia) with the right amount of upgarades in middle but is also LUCK dependant which is why I didn't rate up to S- ... because THEY CAN EVEN be S- tier with extreme luck in orocia (and the limitation of being that strong in just one specific scenario)