Armies of Middle Earth SBG: Re-ranking Jay Clare's Top-10 Combat Heroes (Good)

Photo Credit: Gil-Galad on Facebook

Back in November, the legendary Jay Clare posted a list of his top-10 combat heroes for the forces of good. If you somehow haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you do so--it's well worth the read. 

The list prompted a fair bit of discussion in all corners of the MESBG community (as lists tend to do), including our TMAT community (in the form of a lengthy e-mail chain). The timing was fortuitous, because we've been thinking about this topic a lot lately.

Initial Impressions

Who are these little orcs? Voo-rahooom!

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

I had several impressions after reading Jay's list. The first is that, overall, I think it contains most of the usual suspects one would expect. King Aragorn, Gil-Galad, and Elendil are probably in anyone's top-10 of LOTR-era heroes, while Dain and Champion Dwalin have sterling resumes from the Hobbit-era. Having played recently with Helm Hammerhand (and having a ball, even though he was unhorsed round 1), I can see his appeal as well.

Those six heroes share a lot of common features. All have either beefy combat stats (F6+, 3 attacks) or the ability to strike infinitely, and they also have the option to get a +1 to-wound (and sometimes better) and take a mount. Extra attacks on the charge, with a knock-down, and to-wound boosts will kill a lot of things.

The most surprising inclusions (for me) were Eomer and Durin. Both are incredibly tanky combat heroes (3/3/3 with 3 attacks/wounds for Eomer, and of course Defense 9 with a free 6+ save on all wounds for Durin), but their killing power suffers compared to the others (Eomer because he has no +1-to-wound option, while Durin lacks the high-end damage that comes from having a mount). 

Less surprising inclusions for me were Thranduil and Boromir (of the Minas Tirith variety--the Fellowship profile for Boromir would have been surprising). But they also have some questions. While both can take mounts and have spectacular Fight Value (7 base, plus Strike), neither has a way to get a to-wound bonus beyond spending Might (as neither has a hand-and-a-half sword, much less a rule like Weapon Master or Burly). And yes, I know Boromir can technically take a lance, but if he does he can't take the Banner of Minas Tirith--and let's face it... if you're running Minas Tirith Boromir, aren't you 99% of the time taking the Banner of Minas Tirith?

There were also some surprising omissions. Eomer is great, but when it comes to kill-power, his cousin Theodred might be a better. Eomer undoubtedly has the edge when it comes to toughness (3 wounds/3 fate is way better than 2 wounds/1 fate, after all), but while neither has a +1 to-wound option, Theodred at least gets to reroll all failed to-wound rolls (which makes his damage much more reliable, especially against high-defense targets like monsters or other big heroes). Treebeard is another surprising omission. Like Durin, he doesn't get any charge bonuses, but with Fight 8, Strike, Strength 8, access to Rend, some nasty brutal power attacks (Bludgeon, anyone?), and Strength 10 stones, he looks like a top-10 combat hero. And when it comes to crazy stat profiles, there's nothing crazier than the Champions of Erebor on Chariot.

Very dangerous over short AND not-so-short distances!

Photo Credit: Contains Moderate Peril

Part of the reason rankings like these are so hard is that while there are some stat characteristics that play an important role in being able to kill other models (fight value, strength, and attacks), there are a lot of other factors that impact how effective a profile is at actually being able to kill other models. 

Staying power is just one example (it's hard to kill something, especially a big something, if you can be easily one-shotted). Mobility is another--apart from the charge benefits that come from being mounted, moving an extra 4-6" per turn gives you more targets to choose from. 

The type of models that you're trying to kill also impacts what stats you need. The higher your fight value, the better your chances of killing monsters or other big heroes. But all you need to effectively kill 90% of most troops is Fight 6 (and Fight 7 is just as good against non-monster troops as Fight 9 or 10). A lot of big heroes, monsters, and even troops cause Terror, so if a combat hero has low courage their effectiveness may decrease dramatically. And, of course, there's the number one blunter of combat heroes of all time: enemy magic (Transfixed heroes can't make strikes, after all). 

As we mentioned towards the end of our last TMAT Talks podcast, the final categories in our "top-100" series are focused on "slayer" models, so we've been mulling these ideas over a lot lately. We've already recorded some of our rankings, which includes several subset categories (like "sub-100 point slayers") as well as top-50 slayers for both the forces of good and forces of evil... but we're not quite done yet. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd tease things a little bit by taking Jay's list of ten good heroes and re-ranking them based on how they slotted into my own top-50 list. It'll also give you a sneak-peek at the approach we'll be using in our massive slayer pods, which will start to drop over the next couple months. 

As with any "rankings," these are to some degree subjective, and you'll almost certainly disagree with some of these (Centaur and Tiberius certainly do). So be sure to let me know what you think in the comments!

Methodology

Not gonna lie... we feel excluded.

Photo Credit: In Eryn Lasgalen on Pinterest

To try to capture all the facets of what makes a great slayer, Centaur, Tiberius, and I have been evaluating our good hero candidates (and there were over 100 we considered) based on seven total criteria, which are listed below. Each is judged on a ten-point scale (10 being perfect, 1 being worst), so a "perfect" score for one of us would be 70 (seven 10s), and a perfect score for all three of us would be 210 (70 + 70 + 70). 

As usual, even though we're looking at the same kinds of things (kill power, survivability, etc.), each of us has a slightly different way in which we scored those categories (it keeps things interesting). So here's an overview of how I handed out the points for each category in the abstract, and then how each of Jay's 10 heroes did in my rankings: 

Category 1: Hero Slayer

I'm just trying to hug you!

Photo Credit: TheOneRing.net

The three most important factors for me were your starting Fight Value (F5 ended up being the minimum), followed by attacks (at least two) and the ability to Heroic Strike (a must if you're to be more than just an annoyance, unless you have a super high native Fight Value like, say, Quickbeam). Higher fight, more attacks, and renewable Heroic Strikes netted more points, as did to-wound bonuses (better chance at cracking through high-defense heroes) and elven-made weapons (because when both sides of the combat have high fight and can Strike, the ability to win a roll-off on a 1-4 or 3-6--or, at the very least, not lose roll-offs on a 1-4 or a 3-6--becomes huge). Lastly, any special rules that allow you to do massive damage to a single model (like Beorn's Bear Hug or Bill's Mince 'em Fine) got major props.

Rythbryt's Scoring Metric:

• Base score "5" - F5 / 2A AND Strike
• Base score "6" - F5 / 3A OR F6 / 2A
• Base score "7" - F6 / 3A
• Base score "8" - F7+ / 3A+
• Score +1 - Bonus to-wound (e.g., Burly, Weapon Master, Masterforged)
• Score +1 - Elven-made weapon
• Score +2 - Free Might Point / Heroic Strikes
• Score +1/2 - Other kill rules (Bear Hug, Mince 'em Fine, etc.)

Category 2: Troop Slayer

Passed over... again...

Photo Credit: Tor.com

Fight Value and Heroic Strike are still relevant (some troops are Fight 5 and even Fight 6, after all), but the number of attacks you have is much more important here, because if you only have two attacks, you can only kill two troops at most per fight. So is the ability to take a horse (because more attacks, and more to-wound dice) or to knock enemies prone, as well as to-wound buffs and special rules that allow you to kill even more models than you'd normally be able to do (Bludgeon on ents, or Sauron's Unstoppable). And if you get bonus attacks (or get to perform free heroic combats), that's the gold standard.

Rythbryt's Scoring Metric:

• Base score "5" - F5 / 2A
• Base score "6" - F5 / 3A
• Base score "7" - F6+ / 3A
• Score +1 - Bonus to-wound (e.g., Burly, Weapon Master, Masterforged)
• Score +1 - Bonus Attacks (e.g., Bladelord, Blade Mistress, The King's Axeman)
• Score +1 - Mount / Knock-Down option
• Score +2 - Free Might Point / Heroic Combats
• Score +1/2 - Bonus rules (e.g. Seeping Decay) or Area-of-effect damage-dealing spells (e.g., Sorcerous Blast, Wrath of Bruinen)

Category 3: Toughness

And they wonder why I'm grumpy all the time...

Photo Credit: Sci-fi Fantasy Network

What good is being awesome at killing things if you die before you can complete your glorious purpose? Wounds and Fate are important, of course, as is high defense (D7 and especially D8 got some love). Heroic Defense is also a huge plus, especially if you have a large Might pool (or can call it indefinitely).

Rythbryt's Scoring Metric:

• Base score "4" - 2.5 Combined Wounds (1.0 each) + Fate (0.5 each)
• Base score "5" - 3.0 Combined W/F
• Base score "6" - 3.5 Combined W/F
• Base score "7" - 4.0+ Combined W/F
• Score +1 - Defense 7
• Score +2 - Defense 8+
• Score +1/2 - Defense Buff / Heroic Defense

Category 4: Mobility

We'll show you the meaning of haste!

Photo Credit: Sci-fi Stack Exchange

What's the use of being a top-tier combat model if you can't get into combat with the thing you want/need to fight most? In addition to the usual things (movement distance and the option to mount), I also looked at special rules that help with mobility (like Woodland Creature and Fly), whether a model had high courage (or was Fearless) and whether it could shrug off a Transfix or three to keep the combats going.

Scoring Metric:

• Base score "3" - 4" Move
• Base score "4" - 5" Move
• Base score "5" - 6" Move
• Base score "6" - 8-10" Move
• Score +1 - 6+ Courage / Fearless
• Score +1/2 - Mobility bonuses (e.g., Fly, Fleetfoot, free Heroic Combats)
• Score +1/2/3 - Magic Resistance (e.g., 3 Will/Heroic Resolve (1), Resistant to Magic (2), Unbending Resolve (3))

Category 5: Empowerment

I know I wasn't in the films, but come on! You know I'm a boss!

Photo Credit: Games Workshop

Heroes aren't the only models that can kill things in the game. With the right support, so can troops, so this category captures top-tier combat models who also make their warriors top-tier combat models (with banner effects, bonuses to-wound, or stat buffs to things like Fight Value or Strength). For me, both the power of the effect and its range factored into these scores.

Scoring Metric:

• Base score "3" - No empowerment effects
• Base score "4" - Minor effects
• Base score "5" - Good Effects
• Base score "6" - Strong Effects
• Base score "7" - Top-Tier Effects
• Score +1/3 - Range of effect (3" to battlefield-wide)

 Category 6: Impact

I only killed the original "Dark Lord" and took his magic ring... but whatever. (Freakin' amateurs...)

Photo Credit: lotr.fandom.com

This catch-all metric is meant to catch how much a particular model affects the game around them. This could be measured any number of ways, of course, but because these rankings are geared towards combat, I tried to capture how threatened other surrounding models would feel whenever this model was nearby. If you don't really strike fear into the heart of a generic captain, you'll do much worse in this category than if a monster with Heroic Strike would rather avoid you.

Scoring Metric:

• Base score "5" - Generic Captain fears you
• Base score "6" - F5/2A Hero with Heroic Strike fears you
• Base score "7" - Monster without Heroic Strike fears you
• Base score "8" - F6/3A Hero with Heroic Strike fears you
• Base Score "9" - Monster with Heroic Strike fears you
• Base Score "10" - Ancient Evil fears you

Category 7: Cost

But I thought that you all thought we were awesome?

Photo Credit: The Fantasy News

Finally, we wanted to account for the fact that some profiles in the game punch way above the weight class (or points cost). At the same time, I wanted to avoid handicapping models that were super-expensive (i.e., models that cost less than 100 points automatically score better than models that cost 150, who in turn automatically score better than models that cost 200). So instead, I assessed points based on whether I thought a model was "worth" the points I have to pay for him/her (fully kitted out for combat, of course), and, if not, how much less you'd prefer to pay if a model was over-costed (and how much more I'd be willing to fork over if he's under-costed). That allows expensive but top-tier models (like Strider) to still do alright, while rewarding models like Shelob who might be worth just a bit more than their list price.

Scoring Metric:

• Base score "1" - You are severely overcosted -- I would not take you unless you cost 30+ points less than you do now (except for "theme" purposes... and even then, it'd be begrudgingly).
• Base score "3" - You are overcosted -- I may still take you, but I feel I'm paying 10-20 points more than I should be.
• Base score "5" - You are more or less the right cost (but tilt slightly towards the "less").
• Base score "6" - You more or less the right cost (but tilt slightly towards the "more").
• Base score "8" - You are undercosted -- I will definitely consider you, and would even if I had to pay an extra 10-20 points.
• Base score "10" - You are tremendous value -- I always take you when able, and probably would still consider you even if you cost 30+ more points than you do.

So there you go: seven categories of what we think make up a great slayer (and how I approached ranking each on a scale of 1-10). 

Before we move on to the re-ranking, two final notes on these category scores: first, while we selected these categories in an attempt to more holistically evaluate slayer models, we're well aware that some of these characteristics are more clearly important than others. While having a high empowerment score is a nice add for your army, it's not as important to slayer models as being able to reliably kill heroes and troops. The same goes for cost--costing fewer points may result in the purchase of more troops, upping your kill power overall, but if you want a top-tier slayer, you (usually) have to pay for it. So when I developed my final top-50 rankings, I assigned different weights to the categories to try to capture what I felt was most important (if you must know, I assigned Hero Kills and Troop kills a weight of *2, Toughness, Mobility, and Impact got a weight of *1, and Empowerment and Cost were weighted at *0.5). 

Which leads me to my second note: while a profile's cumulative score (sum of the seven categories, max of 70) was an important factor in my final ranking, I did allow myself to deviate from those scores somewhat when compiling my final order if I thought that a model that scored "lower" would kick a higher scoring model's behind in an actual fight, or would out-kill another model if they both raced to slay a hundred goblins (because I think those things should count for something). There are a couple of instances in these rankings where a profile with a higher score is ranked lower than another--when that happens, I'll explain why I deviated, and let you judge whether that makes sense (or is a bunch of huey).

Which brings us (finally) to the main event:

Rythbryt's totally subjective re-ranking of Jay's Top-10 Good Slayers

Here's how I'd rank Jay's ten finalists, based on these seven metrics:

Number 10: Eomer (Jay's #9)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (6): Base 6 (F5, 3 Attacks); no other bonuses.
• Troop Kills (8): Base 6 (F5, 3 Attacks); +1 for the mount option; +1 for the potential boost to S5 (from the Rohan Army Bonus).
• Toughness (8): Base 7 (4.5 combined W/F (3/3); +1 for D7.
• Mobility (8): Base 6 (8-10" move); +1 for 3 Will; +1 for Horse Lord.
• Empowerment (3): Base 3 (no bonuses).
• Impact (8): He feels pretty good against non-striking Monsters, especially on the charge, because he's 3 Wounds with 3 Fate. Other F6 / 3 Attack heroes are cautious about engaging him, because his Wounds/Fate are so high (and he's S5 on the charge). But a striking monster (like Buhrdur) is quite a bit less concerned (and maybe a little giddy, rightly or wrongly).
• Cost (8): 125 points (with the full kit--shield, throwing spears, and armored horse) is a great price-point for a 3 Attack, 3 Wound, 3 Fate Hero of Valor. If he were 135 or 140, I think he probably still gets a good look (especially given the lack of other punchy/survivable heroes in War-of-the-Ring-era Rohan).

Rationale:

So, let me start off by saying that Eomer is a great model (and that's not just because of his rad new sculpt, which I recently got ahold of and painted). As you'll see from my scores, he scored a lot of 8s (out of 10) across the board:

• Troop kills: Three attacks at strength 4 is pretty reliable at killing troops anyway. Add a horse (for +1 attack / 8 dice to wound on the charge), Strength 5 (when charging, with the Rohan Army bonus), and throwing spears, and you're at the next level. If your Theoden gets killed (as is wont to happen), suddenly you're wounding defense 5 troops on 3s--which is synonymous with "mowing them down."
• Toughness: Let's start with a base of 4.5 wounds on average (3 wounds, 3 Fate), which is basically as good as good heroes can do. Add Defense 7, and you're in business. Lastly, don't forget about Horse Lord--a lot of heroes have squishy horses, so their mount may not make it to the battle alive. Eomer not only has the extra armor on his (D5), but three fate points if you need them.
• Mobility: The aforementioned horse is a good start, but there are some other bonuses as well. Eomer's courage isn't fantastic, but C5 is good enough most of the time. He's also susceptible to sustained magic attacks, but 3 Will is about as good as you'll get on a non-wizard.
• Impact: Sauron and Aragorn probably aren't scared of him, but a lot of other heroes will be. Defense 7, 3 Wounds, and 3 Fate are a lot to chew through, even for monsters (especially if he's Strength 5 on the charge), and while his F5 is low for strike-offs, other F5 heroes (like Faramir) and especially non-striking monsters (like cave trolls and Gulavhar) have to be careful around him.
• Cost: Eomer may be the most cost-efficient hero in Rohan (which is saying something, because there are a lot of cost-efficient heroes in Rohan). He's certainly the toughest, and might be the strongest other than Helm Hammerhand (depending on how you feel about Eorl the Young). He is beefier than other similar-costed heroes (like Faramir), and has similar stats to heroes like Imrahil. He has less bells and whistles than they do, but that lack of frills saves you a lot of points.

So why is Eomer "only" 10th? 

Um, have you seen the other heroes on this list? 

Three things hurt Eomer. The first is his Empowerment score. I weighted this category lower than the rest, because while boosts to friends are great, you can be a great slayer without being much of a team player. But it is worth noting that Eomer contributes basically nothing else to your force (besides being its biggest, baddest beatstick), and a bunch of these other heroes do.

Second, he's not particularly good at killing enemy heroes, because the combination of his low fight value (F5) and his lack of an elven-made weapon make strike-offs somewhere between a crap-shoot and a resource drain on your opponent. There's only one other model who made this list with Fight 5 and no elven-made weapon, and spoiler alert: he can strike infinitely. Eomer cannot.

Third, while Eomer's very good in a lot of these categories, he's not really exceptional in any of them. Eomer's very good at killing troops, but he's only got one-and-a-half of the things that separates the "good" from the great: he has a mount, and sometimes his boost from S4 to S5 results in a +1 to-wound (against odd-defense value troops). His fight 5 can pose a problem not only against heroes, but against certain troops as well (elven troops are hard to beat in fights reliably). He needs a 5+ to wound Defense 6 troops. If he's counter-charged by cavalry his ability to wound goes down significantly (8 dice to-wound, needing 5s, becomes 3 dice to wound, needing 5s). And while Defense 7 is fantastic, it's just shy of being truly great.

That's not to say Eomer isn't worth taking in a Rohan list--he absolutely is. But when you start comparing him to the combat heroes in other lists--and in particular, the other nine heroes we're looking at here--I think he's a solid tier below them all (and, for what it's worth, his cumulative score of 49 is a fair pace behind everyone else's).

Number 9: Durin (Jay's #7)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (9): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +2 for Durin's Axe (+1 to wound, reroll 1 duel die).
• Troop Kills (9): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +2 for Durin's Axe (+1 to wound, reroll 1 duel die).
• Toughness (10): Base 6 (3.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/1)); +2 for Defense 9; +1 for his 6+ save on all wounds; +1 for Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (6): Base 4 (5" move); +1 for Fearless; +1 for 3 Will.
• Empowerment (7): Base 7 (Hearthguard upgrade + Ring of Durin + War Horn).
• Impact (9): Defense 9 with Heroic Defense scares off most other F6/3A heroes, as well as Rend from striking monsters. With Durin's Axe, he's got between 4-5 dice to win the combat (if you have a friendly banner) and is effectively S6 (or S7 if he piercing strikes).
• Cost: He's not cheap, but given that you get the war horn in addition to a Hero of Legend with a great troop upgrade, I think he's worth what you pay for him.
  

Rationale:

Don't get me wrong: Durin is awesome. Fight 6, 3 attacks, a masterforged weapon at S4 with +1 to-wound, Heroic Strike, and a free reroll on one die to win a duel. He's about as tough as they come (3 Wounds, Defense 9, and a 6+ save on top of his single Fate point), and he offers some very nice empowerment buffs to your dwarves, too (the option for Burly Khazad-Guard, plus a War Horn). 

So what holds him back? Well, for one, we can't be mounted. That's unfortunately a bit of a big deal, because in addition to slowing him down (he can only charge 5" after all) it also deprives him of the extra +1 attack to win the duel and the knock-down buffs that come from a cavalry charge. Compare Durin to other top-tier combat models who can't be mounted, and he's at the very top of the top-tier. Compare him to other top-tier combat models who can be mounted, and he's going to fall a bit.

The other thing that holds him back is that while Fight 6 with 3 Attacks and a masterforged weapon is great, it's just shy of being elite. Yes, he gets +1 to wound with no two-hand penalty, but he's only base S4 (instead of S5, like Dain, Dwalin, and Elendil). His F6 is better than Eomer, but not quite the level of Elendil, Boromir, Thranduil, or Gil-Galad. He doesn't have an elven-made weapon to out-duel heroes (like Thranduil, Aragorn, and Gil-Galad have). And while he's somewhat cheaper than most of these heroes--and, for my money, pretty good value--he's not substantially cheaper (or substantially better value) than the other heroes who offer more. Plus... he sadly can't be mounted. Did I mention that already?

Number 8: Dwalin, Champion of Erebor (Jay's #10)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (8): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +1 for bonus to-wound (Burly, The King's Axeman).
• Troop Kills (9): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +1 for bonus to-wound; +1 for mount.
• Toughness (7): Base 5 (3.0 combined Wound/Fate (2/2)); +2 for Defense 8.
• Mobility (8): Base 6 (8" move); +1 for Fearless; +1 for 2 Will.
• Empowerment (4): Base 4 (for Fearless / Sworn Protector).
• Impact (9): Other F6/3 Attack heroes are skiddish when he comes calling, especially if they're on foot. And if you get a low-defense Striking monster (like D7 Bill, who's wounded on 4s), they're not exactly feeling invulnerable.
• Cost (10): Severely undercosted, even whilst mounted. 125 for a Hero of Valor is already good value (see Eomer); add S5 (S6 if he piercing strikes), Burly, and Fearless, and he's amazing.
  

Rationale:

Dwalin may be the most dangerous hero in the game at under 130 points. He's base S5 (as good as man-sized models get), Burly, has no less than three weapons (two single-hand, and one two-handed), all three are Axes (so you can piercing Strike to S6), he's base Defense 8 (so you can... you know, Piercing Strike without worrying about it too much), is Fight 6 with Heroic Strike, has three attacks base (four if you use the two single-hand axes whilst on foot), and can be mounted (which helps out his damage potential and mobility a whole lot).

So what holds him back? There are a few things. For one, while Defense 8 is good, his actual health stats are a bit on the low side (two wounds, two fate), and Defense 8 isn't quite Defense 9. He's also vulnerable to magic with just two Will points, and no special rules (like Resistant to Magic) to keep him going if an enemy caster decides to lock him down. He contributes basically nothing to your army outside of killing power (unless you count his ability to auto-charge Terror models with Fearless/Sworn Protector (Thorin)... which may not in fact be "outside of killing power"). Finally, as a dwarf, he's highly dependent on his mount for mobility (plus it ups his killing power significantly). While a D5 goat is fantastic, it's not quite a D6 Boar with two wounds. He also doesn't have Horse Lord, so if that goat becomes "priority one" for enemy shooting, you don't have much you can do to keep it alive beyond "hope and pray" your opponent rolls badly.

Lastly--and this is weird--he has only 3 Might and is only Fight 6. Now I know what you're thinking: Hang on... how could those possibly be drawbacks? (Hey, I did say it was weird.) Just hear me out.

Again, let me reiterate--Dwalin: fantastic. Great model. Love him. Take him every chance you get. Compared to 90% of other hero models, he'll come out on-top. But when you're comparing him to the best of the best, Fight 6 with 3 Might becomes... just a little less than you were hoping for. As we quickly discover when playing games, just as "Fight 5 isn't Fight 6," "Fight 6 isn't Fight 7." And just as there's a lot more Fight 5 than there is Fight 6, there's also a lot more Fight 6 than there is Fight 7+ (especially when you factor in evil monsters and monstrous heroes... of which there are a lot).

Dwalin is Fight 6 and can strike 3 times, which again is awesome. What he lacks is any other tricks to help him deal with other higher-fight heroes (or even tied-fight heroes) once his Might runs out. He doesn't have an elven-made weapon to help him against other Fight 6 beatsticks (or to counteract the elven-made weapons wielded by other Fight 6 beatsticks, like Aragorn). He doesn't have Master of Battle to help him weather 2+ enemy heroes who can strike more than three times between them (like Dain). He doesn't have an absurdly-high base Fight value (like Thranduil, uber-Boromir, Elendil, or Gil-Galad). And he can't strike more than three times (as Boromir, Helm, or Aragorn can).

And, of course, Heroic Strike is just one of the things you can spend Might on. Having "just" 3 Might also means Dwalin has a cap on the number of other Heroic Actions he can call--specifically Heroic Combats. That's the main reason why his troop kill score falls short of a perfect "10" (he has everything else you'd want to kill troops--F6, 3 attacks, a mount, S5 Burly, and high defense). Compare him to models like Boromir, Helm, Aragorn, Gil-Galad, Elendil, and sometimes Dain (again, Master of Battle): while Dwalin has as-good if not better stats, those heroes tend to get more kills because they can call more than three heroic combats. It's a slight disadvantage for Dwalin, but a disadvantage nonetheless. 

Lastly, you may have noticed that I did rank Dwalin slightly ahead of Durin, despite Durin scoring 56 points to Dwalin's 55. The reason is simple (and perhaps over-simplistic): Dwalin can take a mount, and Durin can't. So while Durin leads Dwalin in a bunch of categories--toughness, empowerment, and hero kills), and is probably a better overall model, in a straight-up kill contest I think Dwalin out-performs Durin because Dwalin can roll 8 dice to-wound multiple models, while Dain is almost always going to be limited to three.

Number 7: Thranduil (Jay's #6)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (9): Base 8 (F7, 3 Attacks); +1 for elven-made weapon.
• Troop Kills (9): Base 7 (F7, 3 Attacks); +1 for bonus attacks (Blade Lord); +1 for mount option.
• Toughness (8): Base 7 (4.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/3)); +1 for Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (9): Base 6 (10" move); +1 for Fleetfoot; +1 for high Courage; +1 for 3 Will.
• Empowerment (8): Base 7 (3" Fight value buff, 3" to-wound buff, 6" banner buff, Aura of Dismay, Nature's Wrath); +1 for bonus range (3-6" effects).
• Impact (9): Striking Monsters like Thranduil's juicy D6, although 3 Wounds/3 Fate is still a lot to chew through. They are less enthused about his F7 and elven-made weapons, the Terror caused by his auto-cast Aura of Dismay, being knocked prone by Nature's Wrath, or about catching him in/through woods...
• Cost (5): Full-kit Thranduil is expensive... and if you're not spamming palace guard or are spamming a lot of Mirkwood Rangers, he feels a little too expensive.
  

Rationale:

Thranduil was one of the two hardest profiles for me to rank. 

I went ahead and gave him the whole kit (bow, circlet, elk, extra sword, and armor), which gets some pretty impressive stuff. On the one hand, he's got some incredible stats (Fight 7, 3 Attacks, and a super-mount (S5/D5/2 wounds) with Fleetfoot) and also some amazing rules (Bladelord, to go with elven-made weapons). With the Circlet (auto-cast Aura of Dismay and Nature's Wrath) and his army bonus, he's also great at empowering nearby troops (+1 Fight for Palace Guards/Captains, +1 to-wound to most troops, and a 6" banner for mounted cavalry).

On the other hand, he's a mix of tough (3 wounds, 3 fate) and squishy (D6), doesn't have any +1 to-wound option, isn't a Lord of the West (so no reroll on a duel/wound die), and has the same 3 Might cap as Dwalin does. He's also not exactly cheap in this load-out.

In the end, I opted to put him in the middle, mostly because his Defense 6 and 3 Might (with no possibility for additional heroic actions) put him just a shade behind the others. Which is to say, we're about to hit the really elite guys...

Number 6: Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (Jay's #2)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (9): Base 8 (F7, 3 Attacks). +1 for bonus Might.
• Troop Kills (9): Base 7 (F7, 3 Attacks); +1 for mount option; +1 for the bonus might.
• Toughness (9): Base 7 (4.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/3); +1 for Defense 7; +1 for Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (8): Base 6 (10" move); +1 for high Courage; +1 for 3 Will.
• Empowerment (9): Base 7 (the Horn of Gondor and the Banner of Minas Tirith); +1 for added range (6" for the Banner of Minas Tirith).
• Impact (9): Again... Defense 7, 3 Wounds/3 Fate, and 6 Might with Heroic Defense is a lot to chew through, even for big monsters.
• Cost (4): As I've written elsewhere, once you account for the stat boosts from Fellowship Boromir to Minas Tirith Boromir (+1 Defense, +2 Will, +3 Fate), you're still paying about 30 points more for the upgraded version of Boromir than what the stat upgrades say he should cost. Best I can figure, that 30 points is an opportunity tax to carry the Banner of Minas Tirith (which, don't get me wrong, is great). I could see that tax being 10 or maybe even 15 points, but a full 30 seems too much to me (remember, you still have to pay 40 points for the banner itself), so I ranked him as slightly overcosted. Your mileage may vary.

Rationale:

The second profile I really struggled to place. He has almost everything you'd want: Fight 7 (plus Heroic Strike), 3 Attacks base, a mount, a 6" banner/fight value buff for nearby Warriors, Defense 7 (plus Heroic Defense), 3 Wounds/3 Fate, great Courage, a whopping 6 Might, and the Horn of Gondor. In particular, the added Might and Defense 7 is what pushed him ahead of Thranduil for me.

So what's missing? The two most glaring are the lack of both an elven-made weapon and any +1 to-wound option. 

The to-wound option is just weird (Boromir doesn't have a hand-and-a-half sword, even though he clearly hand-and-a-halves with that very same sword at Amon Hen). Being S4 (instead of S5 like other heroes) means that if Boromir hits an opponent who's Defense 7 or higher (as a lot of heroes are), his only option to improve his wound tally is to burn Might--which he can do, but it's not exactly ideal.

The lack of an elven-made weapon is much more understandable, but not having it takes away Boromir's edge against other high-fight heroes (and allows other high-fight heroes to get an edge over him). Being able to Strike 6 times is awesome, but as we saw toward the end of our deep-dive on Heroic Strike, a strike-off at high fight values (everyone is F6+ or above, and especially once you start getting to both combatants being F7 and above) tends to result in a lot of draws. So if Boromir has to strike-off against another F7 hero like Thranduil or Gil-Galad (who have elven-made weapons), he'll be fighting an uphill battle.

Also--no armored horse option? Really? 

(Hold that thought...)

Number 5: Dain Ironfoot (Jay's #3)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (8.5): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +1 for Burly; +0.5 for Master of Battle (4+) (additional Heroic Strike chance).
• Troop Kills (9.5): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +1 for Burly; +1 for mount option; +0.5 for Master of Battle (4+) (additional Heroic Combat chance).
• Toughness (9): Base 7 (4.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/3); +2 for Defense 8.
• Mobility (8.5): Base 6 (8" move); +1 for 3 Will; +1 for Fearless; +0.5 for Master of Battle (4+) (additional Heroic Move / Heroic Combat chance).
• Empowerment (9): Base score 7 (Lord of the Iron Hills, Master of Battle (4+)); +2 for the 12" range on Lord of the Iron Hills (and the 6" range on Master of Battle).
• Impact (8.5): He's not exactly an easy target for other Fight 6 heroes (D8 + 3 wounds + 3 fate), and while striking monsters (F7 or above) probably like their odds, F6 monsters (like Buhrdur) could be burned by that Master of Battle...
• Cost (7): Dain isn't cheap, but given that he's 160 total (with his war boar), he's very good value. It's not entirely fair to compare him to Durin (They do different things), but it's hard not to draw the comparisons. In exchange for some dice rerolls (Durin's Axe), a war horn, a 6+ save, and a buff option for Khazad-Guards, Dain gains two extra Fate, a 12" Fearless bubble for friendly Iron Hills Captains, Warriors, and Goat Riders (Lord of the Iron Hills), a 4+ Master of Battle (if you take him with the Iron Hills army bonus), and of course that mount option. I think that's pretty good value as-is, and even if he cost 10-15 points more, he'd still be a must-take in a pure Iron Hills army (and a strong choice in an Erebor Reclaimed force).

Rationale:

I can hear it now: Rythbryt loves his Hobbit-era dwarves too much! 

That's probably true (Iron Hills were the first full-army I collected--before Murin and Drar were added to their ranks), and as anyone who plays Iron Hills knows, Dain is an essential part of what makes them work. But surely he's not a better slayer than a F7, 6M Boromir, right?

Let me caveat this by saying that I think you can make the case for putting Thranduil, Boromir, and Dain in any order you want--they're that close. And I'll also caveat this by saying that I'm not even sure Dain is the best slaying dwarf, period (though he's the tops in my opinion of the three that made Jay's list). But here's why I put Dain above the two of them in these particular rankings.

To be sure, Boromir (and Thranduil, for that matter), have some advantages. F7 is nothing to sneeze at (and it's a big reason why both Thranduil and Boromir scored "9s" on Hero Slaying, compared to Dain's 8.5). But neither is Master of Battle (4+), especially if you hit a lot of F5 or F6 heroes (which is more likely than hitting F7+ heroes, just because there are so many more F5/F6 heroes). At just 3 Might, Dain (and Thranduil) can only afford so many strike-offs before they run dry. So if a F5 striking hero (say, a Knight of the White Tower) declares a Heroic Strike in a combat with Thranduil, he's got a tough-ish choice to make--does he spend Might to counter, to (hopefully--even probably) retain his Fight advantage, or does he take the risk that the Knight will get the Fight Value edge, and potentially wound him?

FWIW, Thranduil probably strikes, right? Because the KotWT, with Mighty Blow, can do a real number on a D6 Thranduil if stuff goes wrong (perhaps he's not the best example). And perhaps it's low risk--after all, Thranduil has 3 Might to the Knight's 2, so he can strike longer. But what if the opponent has two knights, or three? What if they're orcs, and the enemy has multiple cheap-strike heroes (say, Grishnak, Gorbag, Zagdush, and Goroth)? After all, those orcs (and knights) cost just 60 points a pop, to Thranduil's 180+. Thranduil can't strike against them all (unless we're playing a special scenario like Lords of Battle). Eventually, he'll lose his ability to contest them.

The same goes for Boromir. Yes, he can strike longer--perhaps as long as three Knights of the White Tower. But that's only if he does nothing else with his Might all game--no Heroic Combats, no Heroic Defense, no Heroic Moves, and no boosting his duel or to-wound dice. If your Boromir rolls hot (and your priority dice is true), all power to you. But more often than not, we eventually flub.

Master of Battle is a situational solution, but on a Fight 6 hero the situations where it applies are pretty common. A Fight 5 hero (lots of those) who's in a slug-fest with Dain surely contemplates calling a Strike, because they know what the business end of a two-handed hammer can do. And a Fight 6 hero without an elven-made weapon might do the same (or low-defense heroes with them, like Strider). Yes, Dain's Master of Battle only fires on a 4+, which means sometimes you'll have to spend Might because it flubs. But even Boromir wouldn't turn down a 50% chance for a free Heroic Action, would he?

And that's just looking at the Heroic Strike component. Don't forget that Master of Battle can trigger in any phase, and even in every phase of a round (you can copy a Heroic Action in the move, the shoot, and the fight phase, if the conditions are met). Whereas both Boromir and Thranduil have to choose how to allocate their 6/3 Might between strikes, defense, heroic moves, and boosting to-wounds (plus winning fights, in Thranduil's case, unless you brought a tag-along banner), Dain has an alternative option to get all those things through either Master of Battle (strikes, defense, moves, and other things, too) or his Burly two-handed hammer (+1 to-wound). 

One additional thought: don't sleep on that boar's toughness. Yes, Thranduil's Elk has two wounds. But there's something about the jump from Defense 5 to Defense 6 that makes a difference. Even if there are times Thranduil wants to dismount, he'd still prefer to do that on his own terms (instead of having the choice made for him). The boar is just that much sturdier. And when you compare it to Boromir's very sad mount option (again--no armored horse?), there's not really any contest.

Welp, I did it again. Another unintentional tome on Dain. Moving on...

Number 4: Helm Hammerhand (Jay's # 8)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (9): Base 6 (F5, 3 Attacks); +1 for Burly; +2 for Mighty Hero.
• Troop Kills (10): Base Score 6 (F5, 3 Attacks); +1 Burly; +1 for mount option; +2 for Mighty Hero / Free Heroic Combats.
• Toughness (9): Base 6 (3.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/1); +1 for Defense 7; +2 for Mighty Hero + Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (10): Base 6 (10" move); +1 for Fearless; +1 for 3 Will; +2 for Mighty Hero + Free Heroic Combats.
• Empowerment (9): Base 7 (+1 Fight Value buff); +2 for range (6").
• Impact (10): Maybe this is too high... is Sauron really going to be afraid of Helm? Probably not... except Helm can Strike indefinitely, and isn't every hero--even the Balrog--at least a little worried about any hero who can Strike indefinitely? Or who can Heroic Defense indefinitely? That's what I thought, too.
• Cost (6): Helm's expensive, no doubt about it. Do you take him anyway? Heck, yeah.

Rationale:

I'll reiterate that, up until now, I think many of these profiles are largely interchangeable. If you think Thranduil's better than Dain, fine. If you prefer Durin to Dwalin, go right ahead. If you're a ride-and-die-with-Eomer guy, God bless you.

But I do think there's some pretty clear separation between those models and these final four (assuming we're talking about Helm from the legendary legion, which I am). Of the ten models Jay ranked, I think these final four are in a tier by themselves. And while I'd add a few more models who didn't make the list to this upper echelon, it's a very exclusive list.

What sets these heroes apart? Well, they all start with beastly base combat profiles, just like the ones that came before. Helm's is the weakest, but in the sense that a "Mordor troll" is "weaker" than a "Gundabad Troll": you still don't want to be hit by either one. Fight 5 is the eyesore (and why his Hero Kill score only lodges a mere "9," while the other three heroes achieved perfect "10s"), and the 1 Fate doesn't look great (although the three Wounds and Defense 7 are wonderful). But the Strength (5), Attacks (3), mount option (armored horse), Burly, and 3 Might/Will are all incredibly strong. The other three remaining models have those stats, too (with higher fight, defense, and/or Fate), with the exception of Strength. And, of course, all four can be mounted (and Helm even gets Horse Lord, though he probably uses it sparingly).

Just looking at the stats, these are already a half-to-full-tier above what we've seen. Only Dwalin and Dain match Strength 5 with Burly; Thranduil is only Defense 6; Durin can't be mounted; and Eomer and Boromir don't have the option for a +1 to-wound (unless Eomer goes berserk).

Then there are the troop buffs. In Helm's case, it's a +1 bonus to the Fight Value of all Rohan Infantry models within 6" of him (i.e., Boromir's banner effect without the... you know, banner effect). Fight 5 Royal Guards (and even F4 Warriors of Rohan) are nothing to sneeze at, especially if your model count is high.

Their heroic action suite? Also spectacular. All four of these models have access to the "big two" (Strike and Defense), plus Heroic Resolve in case you need some spot-magic defense (and are fine not moving for a turn). And that of course doesn't count Heroic Move and Heroic Combat.

Which leads us to the real selling point--all of these guys have access to either free heroic actions (and not "sometimes free" heroic actions, like you maybe get with Dain's 4+ Master of Battle--always free heroic actions), or free Might points. And in Helm's case, he gets both (if you take him in the Legendary Legion). A free Heroic Combat each turn, backed up by a free point of Might each turn, on a F5/S5/3 Attack/Burly hero will kill a lot of troops. And monsters. And heroes. And monster-heroes.

Number 3: Elendil (Jay's #5)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (9): Base 8 (F7, 3 Attacks); +1 for Masterforged sword.
• Troop Kills (10): Base 7 (F7, 3 Attacks); +1 for Masterforged sword; +1 for mount option; +2 for free Heroic Combats (Narsil).
• Toughness (8): Base 6 (3.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/1); +1 for Defense 7; +1 for Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (10): Base 6 for 10" move; +1 for HIgh Courage; +1 for Free Heroic Combats; +1 for 3 Will; +3 for Unbending Resolve.
• Empowerment (6): Base 5 for Blood of Numenor (Resistant to Magic); +1 for range (3").
• Impact (10): Sauron's still afraid of this guy's sword 3000 years later... 'nuff said.
• Cost (6): Is he a lot? Yes. Should he be cheaper than Elrond? I'm not so sure... but he is, so that's awesome!

Rationale:

Helm before there was Helm (or Helm on steroids). He lacks the free Might point each turn, but with Fight 7 base, Strength 5 with a masterforged sword, and free heroic combats each turn, you won't really feel it unless the enemy has brought another massive Fight 7+ hero. 

In addition to the Fight buff (from 5 to 7), he also has even better mobility than Helm (despite both scoring a perfect "10"). He trades Horse Lord (which is good, not great, on Helm) for Unbending Resolve which offers him almost unparalleled protection against the bane of any slayer: unrelenting magic. Two free dice to resist all spells, at any time, even after your own Will store is depleted, is absolutely massive. Plus all Numenorean captains and warriors within 3" gain Resistant to Magic, too? Again, massive.

Against really big heroes (like F9 Sauron, F8 Smaug, or the Balrog) he'll eventually need some help because he can't call heroic strikes or heroic defense indefinitely. But can he do serious damage to those heroes before he thematically sacrifices himself (or stall them way longer than most other heroes can)? Absolutely. And if you don't have one of those uber-heroes to challenge him? God help you.

Ultimately, the Fight Value boost and Unbending Resolve put him slightly above Helm for me (despite Helm getting quite a few more points--63 to Elendil's 59). On the table, I think the disparity is much smaller than that, because the jump from Fight 5 to Fight 7 is a huge deal. And while Helm's got limited options if the enemy has a wizard, Elendil is one of the few heroes who can not only withstand the wizard's onslaught, but carve his way to that wizard (and then decapitate him). 

Having said that, whichever one you elect to take first (Helm or Elendil), I'll happily take the other. And I'll take either ahead of Boromir (although maybe that's just me?).

Number 2: Gil-Galad (Jay's #4)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (10): Base 8 (Fight 9, 3 Attacks); +1 for Aeglos (+1 to-wound); +1 for elven-made weapon; +1 for Blood and Glory; +1 for Lord of the West.
• Troop Kills (10): Base 7 (Fight 9, 3 Attacks); +1 for Aeglos (+1 to-wound); +1 for mount option; +1 for Lord of the West.
• Toughness (9): Base 6 (3.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/1); +2 for Defense 8; +1 for Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (8): Base 6 (Move 10"); +1 for high Courage; +1 for 3 Will.
• Empowerment (10): You can take up to 18 Fight 6 warriors, for 10-13 points a pop. Did you need more?
• Impact (10): Let's see--base Fight 9, with an elven-made weapon. Plus Blood and Glory to recharge Might (and Heroic Defense). Yeah, Sauron's not excited about this one.
• Cost (6): Again... Elrond is great and all, but don't you feel like Gil-Galad's also a strong choice for slightly fewer points?

Rationale:

Long before there was Heroic Strike, there was Gil-Galad, and then there was everyone else. His profile is not perfect (3 Wounds, yes; 1 Fate, nah--also, what's the deal with no armored horses?), but it's about as close to perfection as good heroes get. 

Here's what sets him above Elendil in my mind. First, there's the obvious Fight 9. Here's the list of models who can out-fight Gil-Galad once their might pools are depleted:

The Balrog

Aragorn (half the time)

Helm Hammerhand (in the Legendary Legion... a third of the time)

That's it. That's the list.

Fight 9 is so absurdly high that 1/3 of all Heroic Strikes made by Fight 6 heroes will fail to do anything to Gil-Galad (gotta roll a 3+ to have any effect on him). And with his elven-made spear, Aeglos, he'll have an advantage (or at least no disadvantage) in any fight value tie, too (also, spoiler alert: a Heroic Strike by Gil-Galad is an automatic boost to Fight 10--don't even bother rolling, unless it's to demoralize your opponent). 

Next is the fact that Aeglos is a spear. Sure, Gil-Galad is only Strength 4, but having a one-handed spear with +1 to-wound means he, unlike Elendil, can actually use a shield in the same turn he gets that +1 to-wound. Just as Defense 5 isn't Defense 6, and Defense 6 isn't Defense 7, Defense 7 just isn't Defense 8. And Gil-Galad is Defense 8 (or should be, all the time).

Don't forget about Lord of the West, which not only improves his already-staggering chances of winning fights, but also gives him a free reroll on a to-wound die as well (awesome). Would you rather have effective Strength 7 (Elendil) or effective Strength 6 with a free reroll each fight (Gil-Galad)? It's at least a toss-up, right? And when you throw in the duel reroll, I think it's advantage: Gil-Galad.

Finally, the capstone: Blood and Glory. It's not Mighty Hero (part of the reason why Gil-Galad isn't my #1), but it's crazy good on models without Gil-Galad's beefy hero-slayer profile (Shagrat, Dragon Knights, and Amdur). Put it on a Fight 9 Lord of the West and you have a born hero-hunter. Regaining those Might points means you can call Heroic Strikes or Defenses or Combats or whatever more than you have any right to call them. And if you're lucky enough to score a scenario that rewards even more Might (like Lords of Battle), your opponent is in for a long day.

Number 1: Aragorn, King Elessar (Jay's #1)

Score Break-down:

• Hero Kills (10): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +3 for Anduril (elven-made weapon; needs no more than a 4+/3+ to wound, regardless of target's defense); +2 for Mighty Hero (bonus heroic strikes).
• Troop Kills (10): Base 7 (F6, 3 Attacks); +1 for Anduril (needs no more than a 4+/3+ to wound, regardless of target's defense); +1 for mount option; +2 for Mighty Hero (bonus heroic combats).
• Toughness (10): Base 7 (4.5 combined Wounds/Fate (3/3); +1 for Defense 7; +2 for Mighty Hero + Heroic Defense.
• Mobility (9): Base 6 (10" move); +1 for high Courage; +1 for 3 Will; +1 for Horse Lord.
• Empowerment (9): Base 6 (6" banner effect); +3 for Mighty Hero (free Heroic Moves / Marches / Resolves / Shoots / Accuracies / Combats / Challenges / whatever your army needs).
• Impact (10): What's worse than Elendil's sword 3000 years ago? Elendil's heir wielding that same sword, which now somehow wounds Sauron on 3s backed by an infinite Might pool (oh, and elves have buffed it, too).
• Cost (6): Same song, I feel. Very expensive. Still tremendous value.

Rationale:

I hope you weren't hoping for something controversial here.

As great as the other three models in this top-tier are, each of them has some sort of shortcoming:

• Helm is just Fight 5;
• Neither Helm nor Elendil have elven-made weapons;
• Neither Elendil nor Gil-Galad have free Might each turn (and Gil-Galad has no "free" heroic actions of any kind); 
• Elendil and Gil-Galad have fragile mounts; 
• All three have just one Fate point; and
• All three still need at least 6s to wound the biggest of big bads: Sauron.

Aragorn ticks all those boxes: Fight 6 with an elven-made weapon; Mighty Hero; an armored horse with Horse Lord, backed by 3 Fate points; and a lightsaber/beastick of doom/destiny that, sans a Heroic Defense, needs only a 4+ to wound anything (which you can get down to a 3+ if you two-hand... which you can totally do a lot because you have Mighty Hero).

Then there's the survivability boost that comes from having 3 Fate points (instead of one). Chip damage against Aragorn? Suddenly it's a lot less scary. His mount tends to make it to combat a lot more often, too, between the armor and Horse Lord. This particular version of Aragorn is also Defense 7, which means in fights against other big-heroes on this list who are Strength 4 with no +1 to-wound (*cough* Boromir *cough*), it's a more unfair contest in practice than it may look on paper.

I weighted the "empowerment" score less than some of the others, but anyone who's used Aragorn on the table knows just how much he does for your army. That free Might point is always useful--in the early game for a double-time march to an important spot; in the mid-game to call that game-changing Heroic Move; and in the late-game to finish off that important enemy leader / shaman / banner / whatever. Add a 6" banner effect on this version of Aragorn (which benefits all friendly models, including Aragorn himself), and you've got a centerpiece to rival any other army's centerpiece. Oh... and if there's a specialized heroic action that you need for your army, Aragorn probably has it.

Lastly, while this is not a series on list-building, it's worth noting that the other three heroes in this tier (Elendil, Gil-Galad, and Helm) come with major constraints on your army builds. Super-Helm only exists in his legendary legion (which contains no other named heroes), Numenor has just a few convenient allies, and a Rivendell force that takes Gil-Galad is locked out of several cool (and powerful) second-generation elven heroes. Elessar has just one hard-and-fast lock-out (no uber-Boromir in the same army with him), and a ton of strong historic allies (Rohan and Fiefdoms, of course, plus the sneaky Dead of Dunharrow). And if you don't care much for Gondor's +1 courage buff army bonus (which, by the way, takes Aragorn up to an absurd Courage 7), you have a ton of convenient choices available to you.

Looking Ahead

I slew balrogs in a previous life... just sayin'...

Photo Credit: Aminoapps.com

If you made it all the way through this tome, congratulations! As I mentioned at the start, we have a lot more thoughts coming on the best slayers in the game, including some who didn't quite make Jay's list (and had to settle for picture cameos here). Which of these heroes will keep their spot in the top-10 when it's all said and done? Who will rise to challenge them? And what about all those nasty slayers on the evil side?

Stay tuned.

(And don't forget to give us your rankings in the comments!)