Unleash the North! Your Guide to Northern Alliance Units in Kings of War

Army Name: Northern Alliance
Total Units: 35
Units with Crushing Strength ≥ 1: 16
Units with Piercing ≥ 1: 3
Avg Points: 165.3
Avg Defense: 4.3
Avg Melee: 3.5
Avg Speed: 6.3
Unique Keywords (count): 34

Note: This summary only includes non-individual units. Individuals have more keywords, which are difficult to include in the Elo simulation accurately.

Most Cost-Effective Units

Understanding the Table

Elo Ratings and Cost-Effectiveness:
The table above is derived from extensive analysis, where 1.25 million combat simulations were conducted to determine Elo ratings for each unit. These ratings help assess the performance of units in combat. Two key metrics are used to understand cost-effectiveness:

• Elo per Point: This metric evaluates the efficiency of each unit by dividing its Elo rating by its point cost. It offers insight into the unit's performance in relation to its cost.
• Elo Difference: Derived from a regression model, this metric indicates the difference between the unit’s actual Elo and its expected performance based on cost and size. Positive values indicate better-than-expected performance, while negative values suggest underperformance.

Combined Cost-Effectiveness:
To synthesize these insights, both Elo per Point and Elo Difference metrics are standardized and combined. A weighted formula is applied (60% to Elo per Point and 40% to Elo Difference) to compute the 'Combined Cost-Effectiveness'. This balanced metric reflects both cost and expected performance.

Combat Simulation Insights:
Additionally, each unit's capability to eliminate an enemy in a single turn was tested through 100 simulations against two standard unit profiles - one representing the median (Defense 4, Nerve 13/15) and the other the 75th percentile (Defense 5, Nerve 16/18) of units in Kings of War. These simulations provide an estimate of a unit's potential to decisively impact a battle in one turn.

This analysis aims to offer a comprehensive perspective on the units' effectiveness, blending cost, performance, and combat potential.

Takeaways

The Northern Alliance is a synergy-heavy faction that got a significant rework in CoK 2024. They have a variety of quality units, but from a combat perspective, the best performers are the various titan options (especially with the change to Frost Giants by adding Fury and Chilling Presence) and the Pack Hunter regiments. They're cheap and stealthy, and with 24" bows now are more effective from range. At the same time, they punch above their weight in combat as well. The new Hearthguard stand out as well: 20 attacks on 3s with CS2 will hurt most units, but they're fragile and can be difficult to get into combat. That said, most of the list holds its own in combat, and the only clear combat outliers are snow foxes--and if you're relying on snow foxes to win combats, you're playing the Northern Alliance wrong.

The already-strong Ice Naiads got even better. Their regen ability along with a phalanx upgrade make them the perfect center of a battleline as a horde. In regiment form, they'll able to sit on objectives and can't readily be shot off or charged by fast flyers. If you can take advantage of their lifeleech(2) and spears, they're almost impossible to shift, even if they start to get pricey.

What will be interesting to see is how the list adjusts to having Speed 10 Frostclaw riders. They're the poor man's scorchwings. They're expensive, but add some new synergistic options into the list, and I expect to see many people trying them out in the next few months before certain builds settle in.