See which armies are the best in the Warhammer 40k meta and which ones are flopping hard in our full Warhammer 40k tier list of the best and worst factions right now.
Games Workshop has been keeping a close eye on the competitive meta lately, trying to keep every Warhammer 40k army at that sweet 50% win rate with their Balance Dataslates, Points updates, Rules Commentary, and FAQs.
We’ll take a look at the 40k meta’s win rates and event wins in our breakdown of the best and worst Warhammer 40k factions, reshaping the competitive landscape over the last 30 days or so.
So, whether you’re gearing up for a tournament or just trying to figure out what to paint next, these are the top Warhammer 40k armies ranked by wins that you don’t want to miss!
Most Popular Warhammer 40k Factions to Play: Tier List
Updated on October 28th, 2026 by Rob Baer with the latest meta and tier list.
- Meta check (October 28th, 2026): four weeks of 11th Edition data from October 1st to October 27th, 109 events (LVO included) and 5,391 players tracked, and Adepta Sororitas snuck past Orks for the top spot while Adeptus Custodes and Necrons fell all the way out of A Tier.
- S Tier bullies: Adepta Sororitas (55.4%) and Orks (55.1%) are the only armies above 55% this month, sitting almost two full points clear of the pack, and Orks back it up with 14 event wins.
- A Tier bracket-wreckers: Adeptus Mechanicus (53.4%), Deathwatch (53.1%), World Eaters (52.4%), Leagues of Votann (51.9%), Tyranids (51.8%), and Space Marines (51.5%) all punish sloppy reps fast, and Space Marines (+5.5) and World Eaters (+5.3) jumped straight out of C Tier to get here.
- B Tier “earn it” zone: Death Guard (50.6%), Dark Angels (50.6%), Space Wolves (50.6%), Emperor’s Children (50.3%), Adeptus Custodes (50.3%), Necrons (49.9%), T’au Empire (49.8%), and Grey Knights (49.6%) are packed into a one-point window around even money, so a tuned list still makes cuts.
- C to D Tier grind: Blood Angels climbed 5.5 points off the floor to 47.1%, while Imperial Knights (44.3%), Imperial Agents (43.8%), Thousand Sons (43.7%), and Astra Militarum (40.3%, dead last) wait on the next dataslate.
If you’ve been wondering which factions are actually running the tables in 40k right now, or which armies are making the current meta feel extra rude, the answer is one of these armies. Adepta Sororitas have snuck into the top spot at 55.4%, with Orks sitting right behind them, but Adeptus Custodes and Necrons both dropped more than four points and tumbled out of A Tier entirely.
Plus, two armies that were stuck in C Tier a month ago, World Eaters and Space Marines, have clawed their way all the way up into A Tier. But not every army fared so well, as the Thousand Sons fell almost four more points into D Tier and Astra Militarum are now dead last, more than three full points behind anybody else.
Current Warhammer 40k Tier List: 11th Edition, 2026
The latest Warhammer 40k tier shake-up is already painting a pretty clear picture of who is running the table and who is scrambling for answers.
S Tier is where the real problem children live right now, with the best win rates in the field, massive overperformance, and a ridiculous stack of event wins. These are the armies setting the pace, and if your tournament plan doesn’t have answers for them, you may have a hard time. Right now, Adepta Sororitas and Orks are dominating the 40k meta overall.
Warhammer 40k Meta: Top Factions A & B Tiers
A Tier is where the bracket-wreckers live, and it got a full makeover this month: Adeptus Mechanicus (53.4%), Deathwatch (53.1%), World Eaters (52.4%), Leagues of Votann (51.9%), Tyranids (51.8%), and Space Marines (51.5%).
World Eaters and Space Marines are the comeback stories here. Both were stuck in C Tier a month ago at around 47%, and they’ve each climbed more than five percentage points since. World Eaters turned that into nine event wins and a 1.45x overrepresentation in the top cut, while Marines did it on 478 players, the biggest field in the game, with 16 event wins and 17 undefeated X-0 finishes.
Tyranids deserve a shout-out too. They climbed a point and a half to 51.8% on 266 players, which was just enough to push them out of B Tier. Votann went the other way, slipping under a point to 51.9%, and one event win across 810 games says they’re grinding out plenty of rounds without closing out many events.
B Tier is the big “earn it” middle: Death Guard (50.6%), Dark Angels (50.6%), Space Wolves (50.6%), Emperor’s Children (50.3%), Adeptus Custodes (50.3%), Necrons (49.9%), T’au Empire (49.8%), and Grey Knights (49.6%).
Custodes and Necrons took the hardest hits in this group, dropping 4.2 and 4.4 points out of A Tier. Custodes went from 11 event wins to just one, which is a brutal swing for the army we called the scarier pick a month ago. Dark Angels kept sliding too, down another 3.5 points, but eight event wins with 275 players suggest the folks running them still know where the top tables are.
Honestly, it’s a good sign for the meta to see this many armies at an almost perfect 50% win rate.
Warhammer 40k Meta: C & D Faction Tiers
C Tier is where the games get tough: Chaos Daemons (48.5%), Aeldari (48.4%), Genestealer Cults (47.3%), Chaos Knights (47.3%), Blood Angels (47.1%), Drukhari (46.0%), Black Templars (45.8%), and Chaos Space Marines (45.7%).
Blood Angels are the feel-good story of the whole board. They were dead last a month ago at 41.6%, and they’ve climbed 5.5 points to 47.1% with four event wins on 155 players. That’s still C Tier, but it’s a real climb out of the basement.
Aeldari picked up almost three points and now sit right on the edge of B Tier, while Chaos Daemons kept falling, down another 2.4 points after last month’s drop out of S Tier. Genestealer Cults gave back 2.4 points too, and zero event wins on 64 players makes for a quiet month in the Cult.
Then you get to D Tier, where the grind is real: Imperial Knights (44.3%), Imperial Agents (43.8%), Thousand Sons (43.7%), and Astra Militarum (40.3%).
Thousand Sons are the big faller down here, sliding from 47.4% to 43.7% with zero event wins and zero X-0 finishes across 453 games. Imperial Knights carry the worst overrepresentation on the board at 0.42x, and Astra Militarum dropped two more points to sit more than three full points below everybody else.
At the moment, this is less “sleeper pick” and more “self-inflicted challenge run.”
Faction Win Rates: Warhammer 40k Meta (October 28th, 2026)
Thanks to Listhammer, BCP, and Auspex Tactics for the latest Warhammer 40k meta data.
The numbers below cover 109 events and 5,391 players between October 1st and October 27th, 2026. This is from Singles events only, at 2,000 points, five-plus rounds, 16-plus players, with mirror matches stripped out, and 11th Edition data only. So, basically no smaller events like Rogue Trader tournaments at local game stores.
| Faction | Win Rate |
| Adepta Sororitas | 55.4% |
| Orks | 55.1% |
| Adeptus Mechanicus | 53.4% |
| Deathwatch | 53.1% |
| World Eaters | 52.4% |
| Leagues of Votann | 51.9% |
| Tyranids | 51.8% |
| Space Marines | 51.5% |
| Death Guard | 50.6% |
| Dark Angels | 50.6% |
| Space Wolves | 50.6% |
| Emperor’s Children | 50.3% |
| Adeptus Custodes | 50.3% |
| Necrons | 49.9% |
| T’au Empire | 49.8% |
| Grey Knights | 49.6% |
| Chaos Daemons | 48.5% |
| Aeldari | 48.4% |
| Genestealer Cults | 47.3% |
| Chaos Knights | 47.3% |
| Blood Angels | 47.1% |
| Drukhari | 46.0% |
| Black Templars | 45.8% |
| Chaos Space Marines | 45.7% |
| Imperial Knights | 44.3% |
| Imperial Agents | 43.8% |
| Thousand Sons | 43.7% |
| Astra Militarum | 40.3% |
Top Warhammer 40k Army Rankings Now
Right now, the army that makes people groan when they see it across the table is Adepta Sororitas, sitting at 55.4% with five event wins and a 1.37x overrepresentation in the top cut. Two months ago Sisters were stuck in C Tier under 48.5%, and now they’re holding the best win rate in the game, which is about as big a turnaround as you’ll see without a new codex.
If you ask us, Orks are still the scarier pick, though. They dipped 1.2 points to 55.1%, but 14 event wins, 14 undefeated X-0 finishes, and 68 X-1 finishes by 395 players say the WAAAGH! is showing up strong at nearly every top table. The new codex is still pouring promethium on the fire, but just with a slightly smaller bucket.
Adeptus Mechanicus are right behind them at 53.4%, up another 0.6 points with six event wins and the joint-highest overrepresentation on the board at 1.46x. Deathwatch sits at 53.1%, but with 32 players and 162 games and zero event wins, that number is far less concrete than it looks.
Adeptus Custodes (50.3%) and Necrons (49.9%) are the two armies that fell off the top of this list. Custodes dropped more than four points and went from 11 event wins to one, while Necrons slid 4.4 points but still scraped together seven event wins and 11 X-0 finishes on 293 players.
The Mid Tier: Warhammer 40k Army Rankings By Faction
If you want the tier where 40k still feels like 40k, this is it: Death Guard, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Emperor’s Children, Adeptus Custodes, Necrons, Tyranids, T’au Empire, and Grey Knights, all packed between 49.6% and 50.6%.
Death Guard keep quietly climbing. They were down to 44.7% two months ago, hit 50.1% last month, and are now at 50.6% with six event wins and eight X-0 finishes across 232 players. Space Wolves made a similar move, up 1.1 points to 50.6% with five event wins of their own too.
T’au slid another point to 49.8%, and only three event wins say that the builds players has figured out are starting to get answered. Emperor’s Children landed at 50.3% with a 0.74x overrepresentation, so they’re winning plenty of games and not many Sundays.
Grey Knights crept up 1.1 points, going from 48.5% to 49.6%. Still perfectly playable, and about as close to GW’s 50% target as anybody on the chart.
Bottom Tier Ranking By Win Rates
Down here is where 40k starts feeling like a difficulty setting you picked on purpose: Chaos Daemons (48.5%), Aeldari (48.4%), Genestealer Cults (47.3%), Chaos Knights (47.3%), Blood Angels (47.1%), Drukhari (46.0%), Black Templars (45.8%), Chaos Space Marines (45.7%), Imperial Knights (44.3%), Imperial Agents (43.8%), Thousand Sons (43.7%), and Astra Militarum (40.3%).
Thousand Sons took the hardest fall of anybody in this group for the second month running, dropping from 47.4% to 43.7%, and they went the whole window without an event win or a single X-0 finish too. Chaos Space Marines slid 1.7 points too, which stings for an army with 194 players on the board.
Imperial Agents fell 3.4 points to 43.8% and still share the highest overrepresentation on the board at 1.46x, but that’s on 16 players, so it’s still just a few good players. Genestealer Cults are in what may be a stranger spot, going four weeks without closing out a single event.
Drukhari climbed 1.8 points to 46.0%, and Blood Angels jumped 5.5, so the bottom isn’t all bad news. Imperial Knights slipped another point to 44.3%, though, with one event win and a 0.42x overrepresentation, they are winning plenty of local games, just not tournaments from the looks of it.
Then there’s Astra Militarum, dead last at 40.3%, down two more points with a 0.49x overrepresentation across 693 games. Blood Angels climbed all the way out of last place, and now the Guard are on their own down there instead. Either way, these factions really need an update, and not a pep talk right now…
Final Thoughts on The Best & Worst Warhammer 40k Meta Armies
All that aside, the latest Warhammer 40k tier list still feels like a big meta buffet: most armies get a decent plate, but a few pile theirs sky-high. So, if you’re still picking an army, our complete guide to every Warhammer 40k army and race breaks down what each one actually plays like. But keep in mind that when it comes to the Warhammer 40k Tier List, Adepta Sororitas, Orks, and Adeptus Mechanicus are clearly running the show right now.
Overall, the middle of the meta still looks pretty healthy, with a large group of factions like Tyranids, Death Guard, and Space Wolves hovering in that playable A- to B-tier space. The bottom, however, is still waiting for the next balance dataslate update to show a little mercy for factions like Astra Militarum and Thousand Sons.
So, if you’re chasing trophies, study up on the top tables’ favorites, but if you’re just rolling dice for fun, plenty of factions still have the tools to surprise everyone in the latest Warhammer 40k meta.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is meta in Warhammer 40k?
The Warhammer 40k Meta is basically a snapshot of which armies, detachments, and lists are actually winning tournaments right now. It comes from tracked win rates and event results, not just whatever people are complaining about online. Every new Balance Dataslate, points update, or new codex can shake things up, so any 40k tier list is only as current as the data behind it.
What is the least popular 40k faction?
Based on competitive turnout in the tracked field used for this ranking, Imperial Agents were the least-played army again, with just 16 players and 80 games out of 109 events and 5,391 tracked players. That small sample also makes their 43.8% win rate a lot harder to judge than factions with a thousand-plus games behind them. Games Workshop doesn’t publish faction sales numbers, so tournament turnout is one of the only public ways to measure popularity.
đź”— Related Reads:
- Weekly Warhammer 40k Tournament Coverage & Top Tier Army Lists
- Latest Balance Dataslate
- New 40k Meta Monday articles
- 40k Points Update & Changes
- Upcoming Warhammer Tournaments & Events
- A Complete Guide to All The Warhammer 40k Armies
Image Source: Auspex Tactics
Not sure why high player base is considered more impressive. Death Guard have the most wins and the highest playrate, which is statistically expected, and is less impressive than having most wins and a low playrate. Someone needs a stats lesson
Simply put, one is indicative of skill, and the other indicates a faction may be a little overpowered if “anyone” can do it, lol. Hope that clears it up for you.
High player count can be detrimental to the overall performance of a faction for example marines are the starter army for most players however new players aren’t as skilled as most players and can drag the statistics down however a complicated faction like admech with its low representation statistically bumps its numbers up as the more skilled players take to the stage also admechs price tag is just stupid in comparison but the point stands that skill will always beat over-representation