Second Annual Shatterpoint Check-In (Community Tier List 2024)
December 30, 2024
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I’ve been excited about this article since even before I wrote my first tier list article last year. Not only do we get to see how initial impressions have changed, but now we have way more units to rank and way more responders ranking them! This round of tier listing includes a whopping 108 units, and I’d like to extend a big thank you to the 53 people who submitted rankings to make this possible.
Now, before you start scrolling past all the text to look at the pictures, let’s take a moment to set expectations. These rankings are by no means a definitive list of “these are the best and worst units,” but merely an aggregation of many opinions to give insight into the general perception. With this data, I am hoping to dive into some of the following questions:
It is also important to remember that this is merely a slice of all Shatterpoint players. However, it is a relatively large sample with diversity in both experience and competitiveness, so I hope it will be a fairly representative sample.
A full breakdown of the methodology is available at the end of the article as an appendix. The quick summary is that respondents were asked to rank each unit in the game on a scale of S (the best) to D (the worst). The criteria for each tier were intentionally left up to the individual respondents. Each letter was assigned a number value (5 for S down to 1 for D) and the average ranking was calculated for each unit. Units were then sorted by average ranking and a final tier was assigned. Within a tier, units displayed on the left had a higher average ranking than units on the right. If the tier stretches to two lines, the top line had a higher average ranking than the bottom line.
The overall distribution of votes is about what I would expect – a peak in B-tier with a gradual decrease as you go higher or lower than that. However, we can see that there is slight a skew towards the higher ranks. Optimistically speaking, I’d like to think this is because people took a positive approach to ranking, erring on the side of higher ranks. As someone whose responses skewed towards lower ranks (many more C-tier than average) this warms my crusty heart. However, nine respondents did not rank anyone in D-tier, suggesting they did not read the instructions (or my request to read those instructions) and missed that D was an option. I don’t think this is enough to fully explain the skew found, but it would explain part of it.
To better compare apples to apples, I retroactively used this ranking method on the 2023 responses, which slightly changed some of the rankings. A list of the changes can be found in the appendix. When referencing ranking changes vs. last year, I am comparing against these recalculated rankings. It is important to remember that we have many more responses this year, so some changes may be the result of more responses rather than a change in perception. Next year I will include a “Did you participate in the 2024 survey?” question to better investigate potential raking changes.
The true nerds can read more in the appendix, but for now, let’s look at the rankings!
Right away, we are getting the unit in the game with the most agreement: Dark Troopers. No less than 92% of the votes put them in S-tier. For context, no other units got more than 77% of their votes in a single category. When it comes to consensus, Dark Troopers are in a league of their own. It makes sense since they are essentially the perfect support. Tanky as heck, never pinned, solid attack profile, flexible and effective combat tree, good mobility, and a useful support ability. Dark Troopers are absolute beasts and (practically) everybody knows it.
On the other end of the spectrum, the 501st received more D-tier votes than any other unit in the game. Unfortunately, Vader’s Fist seem to be the 501-worst. They have the worst attack tree in their category according to weighted-icon-density, they struggle to get down their bad tree due to awful expertise, and their defense is not particularly good either. To top it all off, their competitor in the 3pc clone support slot is one of the best in the game thanks to Coordinated Fire: Expose (and a much better attack profile).
Most units that get a lot of agreement are usually clearly great (like darks) or clearly bad (like 501st). As such, Stormtroopers deserve special mention for consistently getting a B rating without much disagreement. It’s hard to say they are the baseline for a B-tier support, since their For the Empire! ability is quite unique, but I definitely think the ranking is correct.
Two units that popped out to me were Chopper and Bar2 (Lando and R2-D2, Inside Job). Both received five S votes while also receiving some D votes (one and two, respectively). My first thought was “some people really like abilities that prevent being shot” but, upon further investigation, I found no correlation between people’s rankings of Chopper and Bar2. Those who ranked Chopper highly did not necessarily view Bar2 similarly, and vice versa. The fact they ended up next to each other in the aggregate seems more like a fun coincidence rather than their common ability to not be shot at sometimes.
Finally, IG-11 was a highly contentious unit. Despite most of his votes being for C-tier or worse, he snuck into the lower-middle of B-tier thanks to a number of S and A votes. IG-11 is a highly unique character, both in terms of list building (as a 5pc bounty hunter support) and on the table (as a single body support with lots of mobility that might suddenly blow up). I don’t have much to say here, but I did want to give him a nod for being a rather unique case in the ranking process. Del Meeko also had a very high variance with two S votes and 11 D votes. I honestly don’t know how to explain that other than maybe some people think he gets Sharpshooter on both attacks? (FYI: he doesn’t)
There he is officer, on top of the tier list! That’s the man who hurt me and my friends! Hask is a menace, his innate ability Defiance Will Be the Death of You wouldn’t be at all out of place on a primary (see Clone Sergeant Hunter). He’s also got great attack and defense profiles to boot. If you do kill him you are in store for a nasty retaliation attack (one or two shoves from that and you might not flip an objective). I do think some Empire units are a bit overrated when the issue is really Hask buffs, but more on that later. Along with Hask in the S-tier, we get two very different units. One does all the stuff you’d expect from a secondary but at a very high level (Death Trooper Escort) while the other is an incredibly mobile piece with cheap diceless displacement and a unique ability to end an enemy activation before it’s really even started (Jango Fett, Bounty Hunter). I find these two to be an interesting window into the possible routes to S-tier: either be a bit too good at everything or be bonkers good at one thing (while also being pretty good at other things). I guess Hask falls into that second category, too. The Dark Troopers from earlier I’d put in the first category.
On the whole, secondaries have the widest distribution of rankings. They have both the most S-tier units and the most D-tier. This result makes sense to me; secondaries occupy a weird middle ground where they don’t have the two bodies of (most) supports, but primaries usually offer more as single-body units. Even though the distribution of rankings across all secondaries is quite wide, the distribution of votes for any given secondary is relatively small. For good or bad, secondaries tended to get a lot of agreement. Perhaps the fact that it’s a weird slot makes the bad ones feel especially bad, but also the good ones feel especially good.
The secondary with the most ranking variability between respondents was Chewie. However, the distribution there was still pretty normal (statistics pun intended). He had a peak at B that tapered off towards the more extreme ranks. He did have a positive skew, though, with four S votes against only one D. I generally prefer secondaries that can move friends or have displacement abilities, so that hurts Chewie in my personal rankings, but he does everything else quite well. I wonder if his S ratings are partly a meta response since It’s Not Wise to Upset a Wookiee is a great Kanan counter. I’m probably overthinking things, though. I like his defensive profile a lot, but keeping him on objectives can be a bit tough. If he ever gets a good source of steadfast then I could see Chewie as a sneaky riser this time next year.
Like Stormtroopers, Sabine stood out as a B-ranked unit with a lot of agreement. Her list-building requirements are a bit funky since she wants rebels and either Spectres or Mandalorians, but she hits hard and has OK durability. I’ll be honest, the tag restrictions had me considering C-tier (because I’m a hard marker and I value flexibility) but then the Clan Kryze era update came along and saved Sabine for me. Now she has two list archetypes (Spectre rebels and rebel/mando crossovers) that seem quite strong, so she feels well worth the B rating.
If I were to quickly summarize the meta, I would say that the two big dogs are Iden lists and Kanan lists. As such, I’m not surprised to see them top the charts as the two S-tier primaries. Kanan is someone who is great at everything. His only weakness is needing lots of Spectres, but that isn’t a big issue these days given that Spectres are a lot of the best rebel units. For Iden, I’m not surprised she’s ranked this highly, but I don’t completely agree with it either. I think she’s being boosted quite a bit by the stuff around her, namely Hask. That being said, she does move a lot of friends and has a ton of mobility herself, so she’s more than just a big gun. Dishing out conditions is pretty nice too. At the end of the day, I have more issues with ISF being ranked highly (a shove-less support unit in a world of strong revenge triggers) than Iden.
Opposite to Iden, it seems Logray is getting pulled down due to his surroundings. Perhaps this is just a mental hurdle I have to overcome, recognizing that many people factored team composition into their rankings more than I did. It’s certainly true that no unit exists in a vacuum, but seeing someone like Logray just barely sneaking into the B-tier tells me that maybe we aren’t looking enough at individual contribution. The highs that Logray can achieve are absolutely top-notch. Conversely, I have no issue with poor Chirpa being down at the bottom. Being a pretty meh individually and the third-best primary in an archetype with only three primaries is a recipe for D-tier.
Aaaand it’s Ahsoka who gets the prize for the most contentious primary! As someone with a pretty dim view of her, I am a bit surprised to see her ranked so highly. I am happy to see people having success with her, of course, since she’s a core set unit and a great-looking model. If I had to take a guess, I’d posit her durability is a big factor for some in today’s high-damage meta. She’s also a Republic/tag-agnostic revenge trigger, which is certainly handy to have around. Of course, I do think she’s been handily outclassed in that area. Personally, I don’t like that primary Ahsoka locks you out of secondary Ahsoka, but given the lower-than-expected rating for the latter I guess that isn’t much of a concern for most.
As mentioned earlier, I redid the 2023 rankings to match my new methodology. A full list of those changes can be found in the appendix below. Compared to these new rankings, here is what changed:
Out of the 43 units ranked last year, only twelve changed ranks, so a bit less than one third. Furthermore, nothing changed by more than one rank. Considering Never Tell Me the Odds came out in 2024, and how the meta has shifted, I’m a bit surprised we didn’t see more movement.
One candidate I thought could see a big drop was Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter (Vader1). He got an S ranking last year and I figured a B ranking wouldn’t be surprising this time around. While his +3 dice support ability is still quite strong, having a primary who can only move themself and hit something on their turn isn’t great these days, especially when that primary is wound-focused (because of all the revenge). However, seeing how the results skew in favour of big damage characters I can see how Vader1 hung on to an A ranking.
It was an overall downward trend for these twelve characters, which is perhaps an indicator of some power creep. More on that later. It could also be that more time with the units has exposed their weaknesses, or they are not especially well suited to the current meta. Of the four characters that did move upward, I think there is a clear trend: they all got new teammates. Obi pairs with Bad Batch quite well, while Bo and Clan Kryze can now flex into more eras with more mando buddies. Grand Inquisitor has seen the Imperial synergy options expand dramatically. Related to this, I do think we need to be careful when discussing units in the future; are we talking about the unit’s individual contribution, or their strike team more generally? I’ve seen plenty of statements along the lines of “unit X is too good” where someone actually went on to argue something closer to “certain lists with unit X are too good.” It’s a small distinction, once again, units can’t be evaluated in complete isolation, but when having these discussions I do think it’s important to distinguish whether the potential problem is one overturned unit or a “sum of its parts” deal with the list.
OK, OK, we all know that Shatterpoint doesn’t technically have “factions” like, say, Legion does. You know what I’m talking about, though, so let’s roll with it. Conceptually, I consider Republic, Separatists, Rebels, and Empire to be the four main factions, though Separatists have considerably fewer options and are more on par with Mandalorians (both essentially have three released squad boxes). However, everything in the Separatist “faction” (OK, we’ll stop with the quotation marks now) is the same era, so that gives it a leg up in strike team construction. Luckily, both of these medium-sized factions see a similar trend in our chart above: lots of votes in the higher tiers (disproportionately in A) and less in the lower tiers. I consider this a design win in that, if you don’t have lots of options to choose from, at least the ones you do have are considered pretty good, but not busted.
Scoundrel and Other (Ewoks, Dathomirians, etc.) generally perform worse than the bigger factions. We’ve seen how important context has been to these rankings, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the units that generally have less/narrower synergy options perform a bit worse, at least at the highest ranks.
For the mainline factions, Republic clearly lags behind. Once again, this may be a symptom mainly of power creep. A lot of the Republic releases were early in the game’s lifespan compared to Rebels and Empire. If newer units are generally better then we’d expect the older factions to do worse proportionally. However, Separatists haven’t really gotten anything new since July 2023 (Savage was counted as Other here) and they seem to be holding up OK. I do think it’s possible that, especially at release, Republic units were individually worse than their Separatist counterparts specifically because they had more options. I can imagine there may have been hesitancy to make Republic stuff too good when it was roughly half of the game. However, I think there is another factor I want to address. I don’t want to sound too, I dunno, elitist, but I think a lot of people maybe just don’t understand how to play Republic? That’s probably too harsh. Back in the summer, I saw a lot of comments about Empire being “Republic but better” which made little sense to me. Sure, ISF and Clone Commandos have the mostly the same combat card, but they fill very different roles for their factions. On the whole, I thought the Empire playstyle back then was much more similar to Separatists than it was to Republic. Regardless, if you are playing Republic in the same manner you play Empire, of course you are going to view Republic as worse. We’ve seen big damage units get rated very highly here, and that’s just not the Republic’s preferred style.
Going a bit more granular, we can see the perceived strengths and weaknesses for each of the four main factions. Empire is fairly consistent with all unit types performing well, but secondaries do seem to be their sore spot a little bit (other than, ya know, their two S-tier secondaries). On the flip side, secondaries are the big strength of Separatists. Jango, Kalani, and Kraken all got an A or better in the final rankings. Rebels are fairly consistent except for an S-tier spike on primaries. Rebels definitely seem spoiled for choice when it comes to that slot. Finally, GAR is considered pretty weak across the board, as we touched on before. No unit type reached even 10% in S-tier, but all got more than 10% in D-tier. If there is a unit type that stands out for GAR it would be secondaries by a hair.
These four charts did get me thinking again about Premiere list building. I’ve been leaning towards the “two separate teams” approach for a while now, as evidenced by my article on the topic, and now I feel even more strongly that it’s the most effective method. Even Empire is only getting 20%-ish votes in the S-tier, and every faction has some very good units. Why would I want to focus on a more flexible mix-and-match list which presumably requires a lot of units from one faction if I could instead cherry pick the best units from two factions and just use two separate lists? Thinking generally, taking the top tier of units from the second best faction should be better than taking the second tier of units from the best faction. In some sense I hope it’s always that way, because if one faction’s benchwarmers are better then the starters for everyone else we have a major balance issue.
I’ve put it off long enough, but it’s talk to talk about the elephant in the room. People clearly think there’s power creep in Shatterpoint. I don’t think that will surprise anyone. When we plot the raw, averaged rankings for each unit against release dates we can see a pretty stark shift around what I call the Hondo-Hunter Line. In April 2024 we got two boxes released: Hondo (early in the month) and Hunter (late in the month). It’s a bit weird to have two releases in one month on different days, and what’s even more were is how everything after the Hondo-Hunter line (Hunter’s box and beyond) shifts up about one rank. We get a lot more units with very high average rankings and none with super low average rankings.
As much as it makes me sad, I have to admit there is power creep happening in Shatterpoint. Anecdotally, I feel it the most with expertise. It seems like units get two strikes or two blocks from expertise sooner than before, but perhaps investigating that is a topic for a future article. Even so, ever the contrarian, I do think power creep might be a bit overblown. Post Hondo-Hunter, a lot of the high-ranking units are primaries. Primaries have a big effect on how a list can feel, I would argue, so if they are particularly powerful then it could make the problem seem worse than it actually is. However, one could just as easily argue that power creep is worse than this data shows precisely because primaries have an outsized influence compared to other unit types. On the flip side, I think we all want to live in a world where there aren’t any D-tier units. I don’t want to be a downer, but I do think there is a bias towards the new stuff that is giving us some rose-tinted glasses. When we get to this exercise next year I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the glasses come off and some of the recent releases fall down a step (I’m looking at you, Snowtrooper Lieutenant).
While it sucks that there does seem to be some power creep in the game, let’s take some optimism that it is not as simple as newer = better. Not everything being released today outclasses the old stuff and there are plenty of strong teams to be made that are comprised mainly of old units.
I love tier lists, but it’s important to remember they’re flawed. Sometimes I worry about making content like this because I fear some people will get scared off if the stuff they like is lowly ranked, or discouraged because they can’t find success with the units that are highly ranked. I think it’s both important to do things like this to check in on the state of the game but also to take it with a grain of salt. A unit’s effectiveness can change drastically depending on the pilot and having experience is key to unlocking a list’s potential. Yes, some units are more effective than others on average, but almost any unit can make a splash in the right situation. That’s something I love about Shatterpoint and a big reason I’m excited to keep playing in 2025 and beyond!
Once again, thank you to everyone who responded to the survey and made this possible! If you would like to participate next year then keep an eye out for a google form link around late November.
The newest units prior to this article were released on November 4. A google form was posted publicly to various social media sites to collect responses between the dates of November 23 and December 16. Respondents were asked to rate each unit in the game on a scale from S (the best) to D (the worst) but the criteria was left up to the respondent.
The letter ratings were then converted to numerical values where S was equal to 5 proceeding evenly down to D which was equal to 1. The ratings were then averaged for each unit. Units were then ranked in order of this average and a final letter tier was assigned. The transition from one tier to another (within a given unit type) was determined considering mode and median of the rankings. For example, the median Kanan rating was a 5 (S) as was the modal rating, so he was put in S-tier. The Mandalorian received a four in each of those metrics so he was assigned to A tier.
This process was also performed on the 2023 data, giving some different results than those presented in last year’s article (those results were calculated by Tiermaker). The table below shows all units where the rank was altered due to the new system.
The release dates presented were taken from Wookieepedia.
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