Remember! this is all my opinion. The lines between each faction is honestly pretty close, every faction can win. Keep gaming friends!

I believe that once the Keepers get added to the digital version of the game, and more people can casually access them and learn how to play them, we will begin to see a lot of strategic diversity with them. They're probably one of the coolest factions imo.

LOVE the new rankings, despite my beloved Lizards getting so low haha. Weirdly, in our group I feel like because we focus hard on Vagabond, the Birds win the most! The meta definitely changes over time though, and that shows how fantastic this game really is. Great job Sam! 🧡 - Doolin

I've been going back and forth on keepers or vagabond being the best faction, and I think that you are correct in putting the keepers on top. Since advanced setup gives a random vb class, it hinders some games for them. I do think, however, that the strongest vagabonds, namely Tinker and Harrier, are the best faction in the game. But some games you'll get Scoundrel, Arbiter, Ronin, etc. which aren't quite as powerful. Also, no surprise that the burst factions are stacked in the top 3 lmao.

Dude, you genuinely may be one of the best board game channels on KZfaq. Your attention to detail and excellently edited videos stand out in a very saturated content space. Really excited to see you continue to grow.

Just so freaking well done. I love the animated bits (the chubby pointer hand moving around!?) and the layouts of the title cards so much. This is required watching for all Root players, new and seasoned. Awesome work, Root brother!!

The Vagabond is my favourite faction so far (only played the basic game with Cats, Eyrie, Vagabond & WA) and I was delighted to see it ranked that high and THAT MUSIC, THAT INTRO !! =D

Love this! I’ve only played the base factions on root digital, so seeing this and the potential for the board is super cool. Thanks for making great content Sam!

Very well thought out rankings, I haven't personally played keepers that much to give it a confident ranking but it's definitely up there, seeing u ranking them highly makes me want to play them even more and dig into its potential.

Great vid, very high quality editing, thank you!

Interesting classification. We don't have a Marauder expansion in France at the moment, but we can't wait to have these cool factions next year! Thank you for this video, which is also aesthetically very cool, can't wait for other gameplay videos (and can't wait for the Underworld digital extension)

I was waiting for the update to the tierlist since the marauder expansion came out. Love the new rankings, keep it up!

I love playing the Corvids and the lizards too. Apparently I like making things difficult for myself 😂

I’m excited about this one! Love your videos!

I quite like the river folk because I feel like I found a good strategy for surviving without people buying my services by rushing trade posts and then leaving them unprotected giving my opponents a false sense of security, and then holding up a bunch of funds. Big risk but sometimes big reward heehee

Great video! Just played my first game of Root last night knowing pretty much nothing. Went with the Eyrie Dynasties mostly based on vibes lol. Had a lot of fun playing them but I feel like now that I understand the game better I could have executed much differently. Can't wait to play again!

This is awesome. I'm hooked.

Nice video, keep going!

Great video. Really well done. Love the Keepers but really bad with them. Going to keep practicing cause they seem worth the investment.

The editing is just amazing! Congrats my lord

Every time I watch one of your videos it reignites my love for this game. Your passion is contagious 😂

The absolute goat of rankings!!! Thank you so much for making this

I just got the game and this is really enlightening to me as I don’t really understand the game yet. Thank you.

Great video, great editing!

Gotta say, I think the Eyrie Dynasty deserve to be higher on here. They probably require more planning than any other faction out there, but their action economy can just get absolutely insane if you handle them properly. Factions like the Keepers, Vagabond, or Alliance can get really scary if you don't go out of your way to harry them, and that can be really tough to find the time to do . . . for pretty much any faction other than the Eyrie. So not only can you burst pretty effectively, you can do so while beating your enemies back a bit. I've found that their only serious limiting factor is committing to a given suit for building a roost too early. There are only 4 clearings of each type; unless you're 'lucky' enough to be playing someone who will destroy one of your roosts, that means you're guaranteed turmoil after 4 turns. Personally, as soon as I see that kind of commitment from someone else playing the Eyrie, I'll try make their life miserable in every way except taking out one of those roosts. But as long as you wait a couple of turns to make that commitment to the decree, I've found that the other types of actions are pretty doable to maintain if you think a turn or two ahead. And not only are they doable, they let you accomplish a crazy amount of stuff per turn. I know the Keepers and Alliance are the de facto burst factions, but I think the Eyrie deserves to be up there with their action economy. I think the Eyrie certainly walks the knife's edge more than those two, but if managed properly . . . well, I think they belong in the same conversation. All-in-all, though, I agree with the other rankings. I feel like the Alliance in particular doesn't get enough love from folks when they're starting off, but my god are they scary when they get going.

Man, the only faction I can consistently win as is the corvids. I guess I’m just a sneaky little bastard at heart

AWESOME video! Definitely sharing this with all of my board gaming friends. One day my Cats will be #1...

Hi! Nice content :) It would be great if you did a video explaining the advanced setup

Got this for Christmas 2022 and my wife and I just opened it 3 nights ago. We are hooked! Played a 6 player game today with the River folk expansion (bought it after our first 2 games lol). Any future expansions coming soon? This game is amazing. Great channel. Very helpful!

Yeah! I’ve been waiting for this one

Great video, as always. My personal ranking would place keepers a bit lower, mostly because they are the hardest faction to play well and so getting those consistent wins is difficult just because playing the faction is so rigorous. That said, your reasoning was sound and made me want to try to finally get good at them.

ROOT. Never heard of this game. This has been quite the jumpstart, thank you

Awesome video! Could you make a faction list of which is most fun to play? :)

I played this game for the first time with a couple friends who all told me it was fun. I chose Corvid because I like to trick and convince people. Apparently it’s the worst one, but I won against 4 others!!!

I randomly bought the game last Friday and I love it. Tomorrow I'm setting up a 6 player game, and after considering the available expansions in my language (no Marauders yet, so sad), I chose Underworld because the Corvid Conspiracy seemed really cool and interesting, seeing them at last place is funny lol Either way, I'm sure I'll have a blast tomorrow. Also, I've been watching your Root videos this whole week and you convinced me to buy the digital version myself, I just played my first online game and it was awfully close, it's so cool to be able to play Root anytime!

Corvids looking at number 1: “Get the snare ready, boys!”

Great video, Sam. I was wondering when we’d see an update. I recently won a 3P game as the Corvids (Using Adset, Autumn board, no Hirelings or Landmarks, base deck, vs my 15yo daughter as Keepers in Iron and my 11yo son as Marquise, both avid Root fans and veteran players). The crows haven’t had a lot of success in our games, but more than both the Keepers and Lizards. I will agree on paper, they could use a little buff. The Badgers are a tough nut to crack and as such feature more lower on my power rankings than yours. Maybe with more practice, they’ll move up. My current power rankings: 10. Lizard Cult 9. Riverfolk 8. Corvid Conspiracy 7. Keepers in Iron 6. Woodland Alliance 5. Marquise de Cat 4. Lord of the Hundreds 3. Underground Duchy 2. Eyrie Dynasties 1. Vagabond

It's true! The best did surprise me. I don't think I've wrapped my brain around how to use Keepers effectively yet.

Hope to see you as a guest commentator on the winter tournament!

DUDE these animations are so epic! btw I was expecting number 3 to be 1! looks like I got another faction to learn 🔥

KZfaq recommended me this video. What are your thoughts after the tournament?. Are riverfolck as bad as it seems? What kind of buff does they need?. And what do you think about eyrie dinasty?

Great visuals. Did you do the animations? They are so good and so much fun, working well to illustrate exactly what you're talking about! I do wish you had also talked about how much you personally enjoy them - that was a nice part of the previous vid.. Also, I hate the clickbaity title. Anyway, it was a fun video to watch and you did a great job of talking about the WHY. 🙂

Love the video. Crazy high production value on this one. I do kind of disagree with the Keepers ranking though. When playing, I find Keepers to be pretty weak to policing and at policing with its recruit system using cards needed for action economy and crafting. And I found that their scoring is probably the best in the game but can be transparent. Both of those were key weaknesses for the Lizards and Corvid. While I still think they're stronger than those two factions, I think those keep it from first place at my table at least. Definately still one of my favourite factions. I would love to hear your thoughts on how you got around that though.

As a member of the Keepers in Iron's PR team I support this video!

my Friday just got even better

I think one more thing about the badgers' 2nd and 3rd column retinue, that is delve and recover, is that you can get around their penalty system by premeditatedly using non-bird cards as an exchange for not complying with the conditions these two requires. If I can't surround a forest were a relic is possibly a value of 3 then I just simply use a non-bird card to delve. Same goes for recovering. Ensuring to rule 3 clearings matching your waystation is quite hard but if I would just lose a non-bird card then that's totally fine. Their tanky as long as there's a relic, their waystations is possibpy the best building set-up I've seen and their card draws are not that too much of a problem. Lastly, they don't go turmoil 😂. Although I believe the Vagabond still dominates. Between 1 and 2, yeah Keepers in Iron or the Vagabonds.

I really enjoy direct action battle in this game. I just played an AI game on computer with Eyrie, Cats, Moles and Otters and it was crazy fun. I don't have a group to play root with consistently enough to even consider adding any expansions to my physical board game, which is a bummer but hopefully this next year I can get a couple more people to play. I didn't even know there was a 4th expansion with Hundreds and Keepers, Keepers definitely sound pretty freaking strong. I really enjoy playing the moles, birds and vagabond because of the ability to police the more sneaky factions with action economy.

Great video! I need to play Root with human players in tournaments. I’m pretty good against AI

Nice list!.. Hard to win with the keepers.... Especially with 4 or more players

played a few games where someone played keepers and they couldnt seem to get anything done. we unironically sent a friend our ranking today listing them as the worst. Vagabond was still listed highest though and I feel like they should give other factions more incentive to fight them besides they will win if you don't. Because of that I feel like games without the vagabond are just more enjoyable to play right now.

Now THIS is some high quality content

What sleeves do you use for the game?

Guys, I need tips. I'm going to print this game, including all factions, why I'm supposed to make? Which is the most necessary map? I need to print all cards or I'm good with the E&P card expansion? I want all factions, so idk how to play effectively without printing all game and expansions items. Thanks for reading

I dont know if this has already been addressed but will we be seeing any more villainous guides now that Venom, Doc Oc, Kang, and Titania are added? I would love a venom guide

As Eyrie if youre lucky enough to draw mostly bird suit cards you can really dominate.

A) I'm stunned that the WA wasn't #1. Am I watching the right channel?!?! B) Really, the Vagabond needs to be evaluated at 9 different factions.

Swap moles with keepers, and swap otters with lizards, and you'll have my list as of today :)

I have a friend who's a Corvid maniac, and I've never seen lose a game. Even when we know his strategy he actually can count turns until when he can release his potential by observing the map. I find them really strong when eyries or LotH are in the game. Because they both create a lot of mess around the forest it's much easier for corvid players to disappear and then take the victory out of you. And they are evil when a vagabond is aiding them. XD I've been on the receiving end and it's not fun. But i agree with the 10th place. Corvid are really hard to pull off and they require a much more advanced understanding of the game because the skill cap in terms of strategy thinking is very high. The Corvid are shady, so you have to be shady in the way you play them to win.

The builder of the Eyrie is my favorite leader to start.

Will there be more future expansions???

I hope the vagabond are strong, as a newbie they seem the most fun!

Hi, I am a Korean who loves Root. Your video is very interesting!! I am sad that the marauder expansion have not yet been translated into Korean.... But the underworld expansion has been translated. Should I buy it?

You look like AU Andrew Tate where he just chilled and played board games instead of going into mma and… other stuff lmao.

Would you consider the lower ranking factions unplayable in most cases or does it all depend on the other factions in play?

Imagine the lizards crafting royal claim 😨

my thoughts on your rankings: #10 - CC - never played :( but I can see why they're low #9 - LC - facts lol #8 - MdC - huh, never thought of them as this low but I feel it. Dom ftw #7 - RC - yes w/o LC in game it's really tough to make it through a game #6 - ED - sure, but the leader change is amazing nonetheless. But they are weaker than LotH for sure. #5 - LotH - high player count = HARD, low player count = easy win lol #4 - UD - never played :( but surprised you put them so high! now i itch for them. #3 - WA - ... just fell out of my chair. do you need to look up tattoo removal services now? kidding :D #2 - V - first, that intro was amazing. now I want an animated short of a LOTB and LOTR mashup haha. but also, vagabond at #2, facts #1 - KI - YES! so happy you put this on top because I agree. The action economy not only is strong but the fact that you can plan your next turn and rearrange the Retinue is boss level amazing. The Badger Ball strategy is phenomenal btw. I also used your tips from the last vid to carry 1vp relics with my at all times haha. the only issue I've had is higher player counts - trying to rule 3 matching clearings as the one with your waystation in order to recover relics is VERY hard. But, with the ease of recruiting, it's possible and deadly.

Do you have a house rule you use to balance the vagabond because it always seems like the person who goes exactly before vagabond has to deal with him. I thought that making you get a point for fighting the vagabond would be too harsh and that would prevent the vagabond from having fun. But wasting a whole turn on fighting the vagabond and losing precious warriors feels horrible. I also wish there was a way to make questing a more viable strategy over infamy idk what to do so i just dont play with the vagabond anymore. Vagabond and lord of the hundreds in the same game is also a horrible idea that no one should ever try. I was lord of the hundreds in that and i could do nothing.

I pulled off a consiracy win once, but honestly it didn't even feel like I did anything different. It was mostly just luck.

How is the Lizard cult able to put down a lot of cards at the end of his turn?

Same factions that needed a buff in ADV.Settup keep being weak¿? Isn´t it ¿maddening for you? ¿Do you think that creators will introduce new buffs in the future?

Love your channel bro but I do have to disagree on the keepers of iron faction. They're one of my favorites and I play them a lot. I think they lack two major factors that really prevent them from being top tier even though they have great burst ability. For one if they're policed by factions that have a strong battle action economy they can fall apart very easily and quickly. With such factions as the Moles, Eyrie, Lord of the Hundreds, even Vagabond if you have the right character. Vega and Moles can easily sabotage them at key moments and at their weak points. While the Lord of the Hundreds and Eyrie with both of their leaders that give an extra hit in battle torcher the Marauders very easily. With the Rats and Birds leaders they nullify their defensive relic buff. Which essentially allows those two factions to clean a full clearing of a relic building and 4 warriors in just two rolls! Of course this is if they're lucky. But these two factions easily can obtain the action economy to wipe Mauraders with 3-4 attacks in a single turn. Netting them 3 victory points while shutting them down. Which makes for a very lucrative move. This forces the maurder to only acquire relics they can score in the same turn. So they don't become a prime target, which slows their burst potential as well. If you add another faction attacking them this gets even worse which is obvious. Also they have trouble recruiting and keeping up with attacks. They just cannot handle being targeted from my experience. That's the first problem. Then the second is like the bottom tier factions they can't police other players easily without entirely setting back their own game plan.

Vagabond will always be my number one

The cats have the number 7 despite being number 8. how crafty of them.

Cant believe my two favs are dead last and first place 😂

I would have to disagree with the vagabond having low crafting capability, I've won games before because I was able to craft one or more "favor of the..." cards and really mess up the opponents. Additionally crafting is one of the best ways to get your inventory into a good place.

Wait... The WA get the higher roll even when attacking? I thought it was only if they're defending...

Moles are OP. No question

What vagabond is the best in your opinion?

Nice hair style

Best starting expansion with4-5 player count?

6:15 "spot number 8" big 7 on the screen. whoops!

guy looks like a minor villain from Mayans MC

Who is your favorite faction personally to play as?

and *in* the darkness bind them

Finally, the clickbait I have so richly deserved.

Naaah the lizards are worse than the corvid conspiracy. I actually think corvid is pretty good

LIZZARRDDSS!!!

Think the Otters were ranked a little low, but I suppose not everyone can be a silver tounged salesman

alliance is the best

Based on the title of the vid WA is not going to be on top. Pretty sure Sam's about to break the spacetime continuum....

lol what is this title? Ranked in 2024, released more than a year ago.

Covid conspiracy.

I play game of root every week. The host will win no matter what faction they play. So your opinion is invalid

I hate the keepers because they can’t battle unless they delve. So a Badgers v. Moles game. The moles will most likely win if they build in clearings the badgers have already ravaged. the badgers wont be able to remove them…

Hi, does the Alliance really keep the highest value when is attacking too? I thought they only kept the highest dice in defence....

Vagabond will always be #1 in my heart! 🦝😂