Root Faction Ranking - All 8 of them

Here is the much requested Root faction Ranking! I go through Roots 8 current factions and rank them on least to most powerful! And my least to most favorite. Enjoy!

=== JUMP ===

►0:00 INTRODUCTION
►0:30 8th Place
►2:41 7th Place
►5:23 6th Place
►8:07 5th Place
►10:48 4th Place
►13:25 3rd Place
►16:07 2nd Place
►18:50 1st Place

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!

=== SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS ===

#strategy #tabletopgames #boardgames

[TheAtticus]

I like to think that the corvids are underpowered in Root to compensate for the fact that they’re overpowered in Wingspan.

[Eckendenker]

I think the Vagabond is a great pick for the game owner. You can explain the game while playing it and keep the balance of the game.

[atmmachine]

I have had Root since 2020 (I got it as a birthday gift that year) and finally played it for the first time last week and fell in love. I went ahead and already bought my first expansion, the underworld expansion. The art style and meeples are enough to make me want to collect them all.

[annemion]

After year of owning the Root, I have finally managed to play one game for each faction and I got my list a bit different from yours. However thank you for the great insights into the inner workings of the different factions and your personal view.

1. vagabond - I love that you can win the game nonviolently if you choose to. No other faction has that.
2. lizard cult - great mix of big meeple numbers and sort of a similar strategy things as Woodland aliance.
3. marquis the cat - straig forward rules, easy to teach new players, great power in numbers.
4. underground dutchy - cute, great options in point scoring. You can choose to be either more defensive or offensive which for me gives a good variability.
5. eyrie dynasties - straight forward rules, power in numbers and the necesity to plan really far ahead... that is both nice and terrible at the same time.
6. riverfolk company - I love that they bring the water element in the game, however they are underpowered faction when playing on the lake map and the greatest weekness is that you are dependant on other players wanting to buy something from you. If they simply choose not to, you are completely lost and have a very little chance of winning.
7. corvid conspiracy - I still struggle with this one. The plots are really interesting mechanism, but you need to e subtle enough to keep others occupied between themselves and to overlook you. It worked better for me if there were more than 4 players in the game so it is easier to get lost among all the fuss on the board.
8. woodland alliance - the most confusing set of rules in the whole game, difficult to teach new players, very slow raise to power, probably the most difficult faction for me to win with and I really do not like that they have a very small nubers of possible soldiers to fight with so it is easy for other to smite them off the board.

[dexter]

My favorite faction is the Duchy. In the right hands, they're a steamroller. They're the only faction that can convert revealing (not spending) cards into bonus actions, and for that reason, if you defend your buildings well and never lose ministers, you'll reach a growth rate higher than any other faction (except the Vagabond, fuck the Vagabond).

[nitrorev]

Been waiting for more Root content from you! I feel the same way about the Vagabond as you. I enjoy playing them because those late game item puzzles can be really fun to solve (with the non-OP Vagabonds) but they don't really feel like an area control game. They simply don't have a stake in the board state like the rest of the factions do. I'm super curious as to where you'll rank the Marauder factions. Hope to catch you in the forest again soon!

[wilby]

My personal ranking (in terms of enjoyment):
1) Birds - love growing and maintaining an epic sequence of actions
2) Lizards - love being under the radar and popping off while the rest of the table are dealing with each other
3) Cats - so tough, love the challenge
4) Duchy - so many different ways to play
5) Woodland Alliance - the explosive late game is so good its sinful
6) Vagabond - super strong, so many options - its hard to lose with these little loners
7) Riverfolk - have a hard time connecting with the salesperson behavior that makes this faction shine
8) Corvid - haven't had a chance to play yet (so this may very well change)

[AlluMan]

The funny part is that, while you mention that the Marquise can be incredibly head-scratching for a starting player, I'd still say they kinda are the best beginner class regardless. At least, as far as the core box in concerned. Really, for a beginner, armies are generally gonna be better for the sake of getting to interact with more of the game, as Vagabond kinda plays his own game, ignoring large chunks of the rest of the game and the Alliance *really* favours having knowledge of game-states beforehand. That leaves the Eryie and Marquise and between them, I think the cats are sheerly more beginner-friendly for one reason; Room for error and freedom. When tackling with the mechanics of the game, the cats are allowed to go at their own pace, figure stuff out by doing them and if they make mistakes along the way, it's straightforward to carry on. The Eryie's decrees kinda guides your hand and can make you feel railed into decisions, when you aren't making them consciously and while mistakes among those decisions for cats generally means reconsider and rebuild, Eryie are happy to just let you freefall into a death-spiral, as the humiliations rack up and you gotta figure out how to pick up after your broken game-state without much room to breathe.

[EntropyGuardian]

I love the lizards and how they work. I just played the moles for the first time and was pleasantly surprised they worked fairly similarly.

[astod]

When it comes to power rankings, I would modify your order slightly:

1. Moles -- untouchable defenders
2. Vagabond -- Runaway leaders
3. Otters -- Everyone wants to buy (as you said)
4. Alliance -- Good for the reasons you said
5. Eyrie -- Unpredictable
6. Marquise -- Not enough actions/turn
7. Corvid -- Bad for the reasons you said
8. Lizards -- No direct means of attack

[hugopascal]

Agrees with most of the list. Would crank up the Eyrie but appart from that you are spot on. love your vids man

[Seryn]

Nice rundown, as someone relatively new to the game was great to get a top down overview. Though I imagine relative power changes quite a bit based on experience and group dynamics.

[BossGaming-vgzh]

Thanks for making this video! Personally, I think that the Erie are number 1 because their ability to lose points really does not hinder them that much, and they can get a TON of points really fast! Keep up the great vids!

[erwanmuro]

Great list! I love all the factions but at the end of the day it really is a matter of strategy and luck, I do feel like they all have a good chance of winning :)
That makes Root as awesome as it is!

[mistercookboom]

This video made it clear which expansion I should get. with the overall good reviews and cheaper price, I know which to get.

[llainy]

Thank you for all the amazing content, including the Villainous videos as well!
I’d love to see a ranking of all the different hirelings!

[Urankeksbaecker]

Definitely agree with you on the power ranking, and can relate to your personal favorites mostly. My big discrepancy there is that I would swap the positions of WA and CC. I enjoy the Corvids a lot and that's probably due to playing Root mostly with beginners and intermediate players who tend to counter them poorly or ignore them until it's too late.

[BlueTorchWeddings]

Great list!!

I only have the core set
And the vagabond is my favourite so far

1. vagabond
2. Eyrie
3. Woodland Alliance
4. Cats

I love them all though. Very interesting game and my favourite game at the moment

[russellbyrd]

Thanks for the video! I hope you will add to it or make another one where Lord of the Hundreds and Keepers in Iron are in it too.

[usmansabir]

I really like playing with vagabond, it feels so much more like an RPG game all of a sudden.