S tier
schism is the only faction that either banned or picked.
Abyssal Communion that temporarily increase your army stack after each battle is so overpowered that unlocks almost infinite snowball and affects the final battle.
Power stack of T1 (Rasnoth) shows highest snowball effect with so few additional T2 units to block access to the archer on the battle grid.
Easy access to ranged units T5 (Concubus) and T6 (Arbitrator) that are considered the strongest ranged units in game, make you swipe entire map with even more stacking of Abyssal Communion.
Magic related skills considered top performers, and each Schism Hero from a pool has access to level up magic skills. You are basically immune to Hero pick & ban phase.
A tier
necropolis is banned much more often rather than picked.
Power stack of T2 (Wight) and T1 (Skeleton archers) shows zero to none battle trade and just grows over time, increasing the snowballing effect.
Easy acces to T6 (Dread Knight) enables late game stomping.
Significantly benefits from Focus Charge generation with summons and reanimate dead.
temple shows balanced pick & ban selection.
Its a very consistent and stable performer across all stages of the game. The reason for being in A tier is a power stack of upgraded T2 (Austringer) that allows to hit twice and generate focus twice to enable much more hero strikes damage (e.g. the Dungeon T3 (Onyx Dancer) generates a single focus charge when hitting multiple targets).
Higher tier units have good initiative and stats, every unit matters opposite to other Factions where you really need to plan your Castle building route.
B tier
dungeon is available for draft almost everytime as it never gets banned.
It feels a bit weak compared to other factions due to constant army trade in early battles, until you get a power stack of upgraded T4 (Minotaur Lord), which is very costly for both Gold and Ore.
If you get lucky you can build out a power stack of T1 (Troglodytes) and reduce enemy unit armor with help of double hit of T3 (Onyx Dancers). And all that above just to get upgraded Minos.
The gameplay feels like you need a lot of planning ahead, gathering so much gold and ore over the map, spreading your focus between economy and army too much.
grove after updates its almost never banned during draft.
After fixes to abusive spells and changes to army initiative, the T2 (Hoplet) 1-stack doesnt give so much win-condition.
You can make a power stack of ranged T1 (Faun) and upgraded T2 (Hoplet), which are good stomping early game and avoiding battle trading - riposte effect and swift strike seals the deal for you.
Yet access to harmful spells paired with buffed spell power can help you with zone breaking and object clearing.
What feels off is their endgame units and gameplay, everything resolves around spell power buff of T2 units and ability to second cast with T5 (Herbomancer). This is too easy countered by opponent skill build.
hive is never banned and picked by many top-tier players
New strategies were discovered using Focus charges and Worm stacks making them not loose much army and snowball map without losses.
In early stage you will trade army a lot just like Dungeon, hoping for RNG god to love you. In the final battle all your T5 (Reaver) stack will be instantly traded or countered.
The gameplay focuses a lot around waurms and Focus charges, not many different strategies.
C tier
F tier
Its so empty here.. which is good
