Sorcerer Kings Army Review: Tier List and Insights for Beginners

Hi everyone,

after having written tier lists for City States, Dweghom, and Nords over the past few months, one request kept coming up from our player group around Bremen and Bremerhaven: “Could you do something like this for the Sorcerer Kings as well?”

So this assessment is my very own personal opinion. It reflects how I evaluate the units in their roles, what impact they have on the game, and how they can be combined within the army. None of this has to be mathematically perfect—some things, like the Mahabmarati, I play simply because I think the models look great. That’s why they’re rated higher for me than they might be for others.

A quick overview of the ratings, and then we’ll get started:

S-Tier:
Units that are considered overpowered due to their rules or efficiency. They are often seen as must-picks because they improve almost any list.

A-Tier:
These units are among the best in an army. They shine in their roles and often form the core of competitive tournament lists.

B-Tier:
Solid and well-rounded units with strengths and weaknesses. They perform their role well but have clear limitations. In my opinion, all regiments and characters should ideally fall into this category.

C-Tier:
Units that are rarely seen and seem inferior compared to similar options. They often have room for improvement but are still playable, just less efficient than their alternatives.

D-Tier:
Units that are considered unplayable or in urgent need of a rework. For new factions, this may be because they are waiting for synergies with future releases.

S-Tier

Trinavarta Chandavat: The Chandavat is possibly the strongest zone-holder in the entire game. As a medium monster, it is fast enough to reach most zones immediately upon entering from Reinforcements, and with 17 wounds, Defense 3, Evasion 3 and Resolve 4, it is already solidly resilient. Thanks to Loose Formation, almost everything has to engage it in melee, and that is exactly where it is just as dangerous as it is at 12" range.

Each round, it can throw up to 18 dice at enemy regiments, in addition to extra hits if those regiments are in contact with a Wind regiment, such as the Chandavat itself. This form of concentrated but range-limited ranged superiority makes it easy to understand why many lists run two or even three Chandavats, and why it is likely that it will be toned down sometime in the next six months.

A-Tier

Sword Dancer: The Sword Dancers are the medium melee regiment of the Court of Fire and are among the best units in the army book in terms of cost-efficiency. They have the potential to generate more hits than almost any other regiment, and thanks to Relentless Blows they remain effective even against Dread regiments or in Hindering Terrain. With the Fire ritual Fiery Dominion, they can heal themselves and shift from moderately durable to genuinely tough units. Molten Blades grants additional damage and Inflamed. Since Inflamed activates the Juggernaut rule, they can automatically charge 11 inches, which rounds things off nicely. The only downside is that you really cannot make them any faster, meaning your opponent always knows exactly how far they can go.

Mahut: The Mahut is, for me, one of the least attractive models in the faction. It is slow, deals comparatively little damage, and is also a Heavy, which makes its deployment even more difficult. As a Medium Monster it would likely be far more interesting, because in principle it brings something to the faction that it otherwise lacks: stability. However, the combination of melee and ranged options feels inconsistent.

What still makes the Mahut playable, and the reason why I took it to a tournament again after the last update, is the mastery Favored of Hormus, which allows a Maharajah (or theoretically also a Sorcerer) to ride the Mahut. In this configuration the Mahut loses its Barrage value, which was rarely useful anyway, but in exchange gains Terrifying 1 and becomes practically untouchable. The mage must belong to the Court of Earth, but the situational support spells of the Earth school have always been solid and consistently useful. If you also place a water field in front of the Mahut via a Water ritual, it benefits from the water penalty for the opponent and from its own Dread rule, making it incredibly hard to kill efficiently and capable of holding entire zones almost on its own.

Dhanur Disciples: The Dhanur Disciples are a valuable addition to any army, offering inexpensive and solid ranged support. Characters can easily join them, and they benefit from spells such as Lamellar Flow from the Court of Water, allowing them to move and use Arcing Fire in the same activation, or from buffs from the Court of Air. Their only real drawback is that they do not generate tokens for rituals.

The main reason for their high rating, however, is the Court of Air. Homing Winds is not always the best option with scaling, especially once Interference comes into play. Most of the time, however, the potential extra damage and the flexibility provided by Court of Air buffs are the better choice, since the regiment can also make good use of Air Step to quickly turn and then shoot with aiming, even if the enemies were not in line of sight beforehand.

General notes on the Sorcerer Kings’ mages: All three, the Maharajah, Raj, and the Sorcerer, can choose a Court and then automatically know all spells and rituals of that Court. The spells only affect regiments with the same Court and are designed to enhance the strengths of that element. Fire and Wind spells are mostly offensive, while Water and Earth spells are more supportive. The same logic applies to the rituals. Which element you choose depends heavily on the rest of the list and the options you want. Among the Sorcerer Kings, the warbands of Dhanur and Rajakur as well as the Warlord for the Mahabharati and the Ghols determine which Courts are assigned to the regiments. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your preferred buffs apply to the correct units. Most players currently run mono-element lists to maximize internal Court synergies.

Maharajah: For 120 points, the Maharajah brings Wizard 8, Resolve 4, and a solid melee profile to the table, and is simply fun to play based on stats alone. The main reason I currently rate him similarly to the Raj is his Supremacy. It not only allows him to select a second Court but also to start a new ritual from a different Court after completing one. This provides the option to add up to three extra cards to the deck. That comes with both advantages and disadvantages, but with most ritual effects it is generally seen as a net benefit. He is the preferred Mahut rider and is often the better choice when you want a character to turn a unit of Steelheart Djinn using Airstep and then benefit from Entourage.

Raj: 

For 100 points, the Raj brings everything you expect from a solid battle mage: Wizard 7, Resolve 4, and Flurry. For that reason, he is often my first pick among the characters because he casts reliably, is flexible, and can freely choose his Court like all mages.

I now find his Supremacy interesting only in the Court of Air, where it grants Opportunist to all Court of Air Elementals, resulting in a noticeable damage increase. In the other Courts, the requirements for his Supremacy are too cumbersome or too rarely relevant, so he is rarely a good Warlord choice there.

The Raj works best in Ghols of the Court of Fire. With them and Molten Blades, he reliably deletes MSU regiments while providing inexpensive, mobile magical support. The currently most popular build, however, is Raj with Bound to the Elements and Prijm Khanjar. This allows him to join any regiment of his Court and take on its unit type. This transforms him from a solid melee fighter into a monster with 9 attacks, Flurry, Flawless Strikes, and 3 impacts, all for just 135 points.

B-Tier

Ghols: They are the only, and therefore often essential, Light option of the Sorcerer Kings and at the same time the cheapest regiment in the faction. They usually serve as cannon fodder or a living shield, but can also carry characters, which is especially useful in the Court of Fire. With Movement 5 and Vanguard 4, they appear early on the board and protect important troops while generating tokens. Buffs from the Court of Fire, such as Molten Blades or Fiery Dominion, significantly increase their damage and make them dangerous against almost any regiment; with a Raj in the unit, the threat rises even further. Despite this offensive strength, they remain fragile, as Defense 2 and Resolve 2 make them vulnerable to everything, including shooting. Usually two units are played, and in mono-Fire armies up to four, to make effective use of characters and maximize their potential.

Sorcerer: The Sorcerer is the budget mage of the Sorcerer Kings. For 90 points, you get a full Wizard with free Court choice, but with a weak melee profile. They are usually taken for one of two reasons: either because of their strong but list-restricting Supremacy, or to unlock an additional warband in a cost-effective way.

Their ranged attack is solid but suffers from low range, making it usually just a nice bonus rather than a reason to pick them. Functionally, they remain the efficient “utility caster” who makes a list flexible but rarely forms the centerpiece of an army.

Trinavarta Sabhagrih: The Trinavarta Sabhagrih is the second Medium Monster of the Court of Air and is very similar to a Chandavat in profile and appearance. However, it carries two swords, cannot cast spells or shoot, costs 10 points less, and is slightly more resilient, trading one wound for Evasion 3. In the current meta, I consider the Sabhagrih only conditionally useful. Even though it is one of the few regiments in the faction that can enter a zone directly from Reinforcements and is slightly more stable than the Chandavat because it trades one wound for Evasion 3, its impact is limited.

With Elemental Tether, it also has a valuable ability that allows a Court of Air spellcaster to apply buffs to friendly regiments within 8 inches of the Sabhagrih. These do not have to be Court of Air spells. This allows strong Sorcerer Kings buffs to be applied to flanks where no mage is present or should be present.

Its main problem is that it has no Cleave option and for 230 points only deals 12 normal hits in a Clash. Therefore, the Chandavat is usually preferred for just 10 points more.

Steelheart Djinn: The Steelheart are the mandatory medium brood melee unit of the Court of Wind. With five attacks, Cleave 2, and three impacts, they offer a good balance of offensive power and quality while remaining cost-efficient. Their Movement of 7 makes them fast, but it is often not enough to reach zones directly, and they have no rules to make their charge more reliable, such as Unstoppable. Therefore, they often rely on good placement or the Wind spell Airstep, which increases their charge to about 10.5 inches plus 1W6 and makes them flexible on the battlefield.

Their dependence on spells slightly limits their independence, and both On Soaring Winds and the special rule Air Elemental are too situational and awkwardly worded to have a frequent decisive impact. According to RAW, one could argue that Soaring Winds counts as two actions, while the evasion bonus from Air Elemental only triggers on Move actions, not on Reform or Charge. Nevertheless, in mono-Wind armies, 2-4 regiments are often seen. Large blocks in particular continue to benefit from Airstep, as the width-3 restriction only applies to Fluid Formation.

C-Tier

Rakshasa Bakasura: One of the two large Court of Fire monsters. Unfortunately, it is a Heavy with only Movement 7 and cannot reach zones directly. However, thanks to its special rules, it can reliably threaten regiments with characters up to 11 inches, or 15 inches if inflamed. This is necessary, as its actual striking power does not justify its high point cost. The significantly greater threat range compared to the other melee units of the Court of Fire allows it to apply more pressure, which is why it still appears occasionally in some Sorcerer Kings lists.

Rakshasa Ravanar: Currently, I consider this the stronger of the two Court of Fire monsters, but it suffers even more from Movement 7, since its additional charge bonus only affects monsters. On paper, combined with Fiend Hunter, it looks excellent, but in practice many monsters in Para Bellum are nearly immune to this profile due to Evasion 2, Fearless, or similar defensive effects, even though it should be their natural counter. In practice, the Ravanar prefers Brutes, which it controls solidly as long as it gets the first strike. Despite this, it seems roughly 10% too expensive to be truly efficient, since Hubris likely will never allow it to gain +3 to charge against Brutes.

Efreet Flamecaster: The Efreet Flamecasters are the ranged variant of the medium Brutes of the Court of Fire. Since the Chios update, however, they have suffered significant drawbacks: Homing Winds and Lamellar Flow can no longer be applied to them, and they only receive Rapid Volley if they are inflamed themselves. At the same time, they can no longer ignite enemy regiments with their ranged attacks. As a result, without Aiming they usually deal 5–6 hits, or about 8 with Rapid Volley, which is simply too little for 170 points given their range of only 14 inches. These factors greatly limit both their damage potential and their role in the activation sequence, especially since only one Fiery Dominion per round is available, the ritual that ignites and heals the army. Currently, one or two regiments may still be seen occasionally, but they are increasingly disappearing from competitive lists, and without further adjustments there are few reasons to play them.

Windborne Djinn: The Windborne Djinn are the medium ranged regiment of the Court of Wind. For 180 points, they only provide three shots per stand, which makes their cost-to-value ratio seem clearly overestimated. Even with 18" range, Volley 3, and Armor Piercing 1, their damage potential is simply insufficient for the point cost. For a ranged regiment, they are moderately resilient but desperately need buffs to be effective. This is where the Supremacy ability of the Court of Air Raj, which grants Opportunist to all Court of Air regiments, or Homing Winds, which allows rerolls for all ranged attacks, becomes useful. With this support, the Windborne Djinn become a more interesting, though still expensive, ranged regiment.

Rajakur: The Rajakur are solid medium infantry units that are well protected against light shooting and occasional attacks thanks to Shield and Hardened 1. This would make them a good choice for holding zones or safely deploying characters onto the battlefield. Unfortunately, they only have Movement 5, which is usually not enough to reach zones even with Vanguard from Recorder of All Deeds. In addition, they do not generate ritual tokens, and mages can now be assigned to other regiments, so they are mostly used as a larger block with a mage who has Elemental Feedback as mastery to heal them. With a Maharajah Warlord from the Court of Air or Fire, Molten Blades and Air Step can also be applied, making them seriously threatening. The problem remains that in the relevant Courts, there are usually better options that also generate tokens.

Mahabharati Initiates: The Mahabharati Initiates are an expensive medium infantry regiment that excels mainly in direct melee combat against units of similar cost. Cleave and Linebreaker give them enough punch to reliably threaten stable melee units such as knights or praetorians.

They always count as belonging to the Court of their Warlord, friendly spells automatically affect them, and they generate ritual tokens. With Recorder of All Deeds, they also have the ability to enter zones directly, though this is not always practical due to their low defense and high point cost. Their high base cost and the now uncommon defensive values make them vulnerable to shooting and counterattacks. Compared to similarly priced Sword Dancers or Steelheart, they deal roughly the same damage, while the two Brutes offer higher durability, more attacks, and more impacts. A small advantage of the Initiates is their smaller size, which makes positioning them near friendly Brute shooters easier.

Marid Sahar: The Seahorses are divisive. Visually, they are among the highlights of the army, but in terms of gameplay they quickly become problematic. They cost 170 points for the full Sorcerer Kings Brute defensive profile with Defense 3, Evasion 1, Resolve 3, and five wounds, but only have a very short range of 12 inches for both their shooting and spellcasting. Aqueous Branding is fundamentally a good and versatile ability, but five spell dice at Attunement 3 are simply not enough to reliably apply pressure. In practice, without Interference and if they are allowed to both shoot and cast, they average about six hits. For a regiment at this price point and with such limited range, this is noticeably too little.

With a higher Wizard value, an additional support spell, Aimed Shot with Opportunist, or simply a significantly lower cost, they would be far more interesting. As it stands, they remain a visually impressive but clearly overpriced regiment that struggles to keep up with other Sorcerer Kings options.

D-Tier

Mahabharati Sardar: The Sardar is the weakest character in the faction and exemplifies fundamental design problems: too expensive, inefficient, and overall inferior. He does not generate ritual tokens, has the least attractive and only limited warband, and his buffs affect only a few units, such as Rajakur or Mahabharati Initiates. Alternatives like Raj or Maharajah are cheaper, more flexible, have higher Resolve, and are stronger offensively, making the Sardar hardly competitive. The flank rule added after the update can slightly improve his effectiveness, but it is not enough to compensate for his fundamental weaknesses. He is practically only played in very restrictive or experimental lists.

How to get started with the Sorcerer Kings

The currently best entry point into the Sorcerer Kings is the Supercharged Starter Box 2025. It offers outstanding value for money, as even the Ravanar or Bakasura multi-kit combined with the Sorcerer costs almost as much as the entire box. In addition, the box includes three other regiments that cover different roles and meaningfully complement the core of the army. Depending on the build, you get around 750 points, and the set costs roughly 128 euros at Kutami, for example. A second box can be worthwhile, but playing two Heavies at the same time is not ideal for every playstyle. Both large monsters can be built in either variant, allowing flexibility. Many players prefer the Bakasura, but ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

After the starter box, the army should be expanded strategically. Almost always, a second character is needed. Raj or Maharajah are especially recommended, as both are strong mages and valuable support for any list. In general, all three wizard characters of the Sorcerer Kings are very solid.

Ghols are also indispensable. One to two boxes should be planned for. They serve as protection for important units, generate ritual tokens, and benefit greatly from Molten Blades, allowing them to deal far more damage than their point cost would suggest.

Next comes the expansion with Medium Brutes. Around five boxes is a good benchmark. Whether you take only Efreets or two boxes of Steelheart Djinn largely depends on personal preference, as both options work well. For additional selections, it is currently recommended to play at most one regiment of Flamecasters and ideally avoid Windborne Djinn, as they fall noticeably behind the other options in the faction.

With this combination of the starter box, an additional character, Ghols, and Brutes, you get a strong, versatile, and competitive entry into the world of Sorcerer Kings, whether you want to play a mixed Wind and Fire list or prefer a more fire-focused approach.

Sorcerer Kings [2000/2000]

== Sorcerer [110]: Dancing Scimitar, Court of Fire
 * Ghols (3) [110]: Court of Fire
 * Rakshasa Bakasura (1) [250]:
 * Efreet Flamecasters (3) [170]: 

== (Warlord) Maharajah [130]: Shu'laat, Court of Fire, Court of Air
 * Ghols (3) [110]: Court of Fire
 * Steelheart Djinn (3) [170]:
 * Steelheart Djinn (3) [170]:
 * Dhanur Disciples (3) [140]:

== Raj [130]: Prijm Khanjar, Court of Fire, Bound to the Elements
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:
 * Efreet Sword Dancers (3) [170]:

At Kutami, this comes to roughly 440 euros for 2000 points. Of course, you can get it cheaper during a sale or with some substitutions.