Which factions triumphed during last demo?
"You proved yourself to be a worthy foe." – Imotekh the Stormlord
The Galaxy did not stand idle against The Great Devourer! The many warring factions armed up during Warhammer Skulls and prepared to prevent the Tyranid swarm from overwhelming them. Let's take a look at the data from the last demo.
Between draft and multiplayer matches, the Saim-Hann Aeldari stand as the more successful army on the battlefield, averaging a 55,82% win rate besides being the least used in matches, with a 12,3% use rate. Some of their decks and strategies stood out as particularly dominant and may require some reviewing. The Sautekh Dynasty Necrons also showed their mastery of warfare, achieving a fantastic 54% win rate, very closely followed by the Black Legion who earned their dark glory in 53,38% of their battles.
A bit below the rest of the factions in terms of win rate, the heroes of the Ultramarines were successful in 50,69% of their missions, while the Hive Fleet Leviathan devoured 50,35% of the battlefields they fought on. Unsurprisingly, the newly introduced Hive Fleet Leviathan was also the most popular faction, appearing in 23,3% of the played matches. The mighty Orks from the Goff Clan scrapped a respectable 46,69% of victories in their matches, but the greenest and meanest warbosses are surely planning how to do better in their next krumpin'.
The introduction of a quick and aggressive faction like the Saim-Hann during the previous demo made the first-player advantage more noticeable, but the new Defensive Stratagem system has had a clear effect in reducing this advantage. Now that the second player receives a special one-use stratagem, the first-player win rate has gone down to 55% from the previous demo's 63%, a welcome sight but still something we will focus on before the game's release.
Taking a look at specific characters, Abaddon the Despoiler has been the clear player favourite, slaying his enemies with every swing of Drach'nyen in 10,63% of the matches. Not even the novelty of Hive Fleet Leviathan could take that away from the Warmaster, but the Swarmlord and the Neurothrope were still the second and third most popular Warlords in this last demo, achieving an 8,56% and 7,61% of use rate respectively.
As for character win rate, Eliac Zephyrblade has menaced the Galaxy with a staggering 68,2% win rate. The next most successful Warlords were the Swarmlord and Abaddon, with 59,1% and 58,8% of wins respectively. The most dominant strategies from these factions will be on our radar and reviewed before moving on to the game's release. The same goes for strategies and characters that didn't quite hit the mark, such as the Tervigon who unfortunately sported the lowest win rate of the event, with only 36% of success. Of course, pre-built deck and draft formats are not fully representative of the final game, which will feature full deck building and customisation, but by combining these statistics with internal data points we intend to make appropriate changes to give you the best experience on release.
Thank you so much for taking part in the Warhammer Skulls demo. The game's closed alpha will be revealed soon, so stay tuned for more! Join the community today on Discord, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to meet other players and discuss your thoughts on the game!
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