MontUwU: "I have released another tier list!" Custodian Team: "I'm about to ruin this man's whole career."

I believe most of the lag caused by xeno compatability was fixed in 3.4. I still never pick it though 🙂

Im starting to believe that ascetion perk tierlist/origin tierlist is just something you do whenever you have a litte too much free time.

I was thinking about a build and I wanted to search for Montu's Ascension perk video to see what he has to say about Hydrocentric. Opened youtube, on the front page, this video, uploaded 37 minutes ago. Thanks Montu - you always have my back!

Caveat for the archaeo-engineers: if you pick the crisis ascension your crisis ships don’t cost minor artifacts.

Given how long Montu has called Aquatic an overpowered trait which he hates, I somehow suspect that his F rating for Hydrocentric may be a tactical move to make less people play Aquatic. ^^

Man Executive vigor really needs some kind of buff. Like a percentage increase to edict instead of +100. Something that helps it counter the edict cost from empire size would be great.

I feel personally attacked with the hydrocentric lol. Picking ocean paradise and hydro so I can get a size 33 ecumenopolis is my jam

I just want to sidenote that Acherotech perk is probably at least A tier when you have Zroni storm caster.

There is a unique thing about the colossus that you didn’t mention in your video. You see, if certain resolutions are passed in the galactic community, it will make all but one of the W class weapons illegal to use. W is the unique weapon type of the Colossus, much like the titans with T slots. The global pacifier is not illegal to use even after these resolutions are passed. It may not be the best weapon to choose, but it can bypass galactic community laws. Edit: I looked it up more. The rules of war vote at level 3 (independent tribunals) bans all use of everything but the global pacifier. If you want to avoid this, either keep it at level 1 or 2 if you are fine with no world cracker.

17:15 Montu: "If only we could retrofit our reanimated leviathans with brand new tachyon lances" Dr. Evil: "I want sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads"

One trick I use EVERY time I get synthetic ascension is to build colony ships just before I finish the project that turns my pops into synths. If a colony ship is building or queued up while you finish the project the pops in the ship will remain as the organic version of those pops. Than colonise those pops and transfer them to your other worlds. You will get the pop growth of your original species AS WELL AS the synthic pop growth. Fastest pop growth in the game.

Your tier lists are always great but this one I was particularly impressed by how often you added helpful caveats without doing too much or making the video feel too long (like how hives can use grasp the void better or how toxic god origin gives extra utility to consecrate worlds). Very helpful and good to know I can stop taking extra edict funds

Lol I have an entire build centered on the Xeno-Compatibility Perk. While mostly for role playing reasons I still found a way to make it useful because it allowed me to create a super species with both Cybernetics and Psionics, as well as several Genetic Ascension traits. It was pretty hilarious. Especially since I also maxed out population growth just so that I could sacrifice any combination of traits I didn’t like using the Death Cult Civic.

Would be nice to mention the DLC you need to get those S-tier perks. Without Utopia, Megacorp or Synthetic dawn you have only Transcendent Learning option left, and even that have been nerfed (though remained pretty powerful). Also would be nice to have tooltip on screen during your thoughts about the perk, instead of watching unrelated DLC reels. Other then that - extremely helpful video, thank you for making it =)

4.0 will ruin this.

I'd say grasp the void is simply better than galactic force projection. GFP gives +80 fleet capacity but 5 extra anchorage star fortresses will give you +180 naval capacity, plus you can put hydroponics bays on them too. The +20 command limit is negligible IMO.

Montu only made this list a month ago and he already needs to make another one lmao

Thank you for the special congrats and the secret call out. Love your vids Montu!

I feel so vindicated that I take Transcendent Learning followed by One Vision for my default opening.

I'd say archeo study deserves a little bit more love as not only it boosts ancient refinery's production, but the main thing for me - if used on menace ships it doesn't spend artifacts at all and doesn't cost any to sustain which is pretty neat

Still watching at the call-out, Montu, as always! I enjoy the prerogative of being able to do so. :)

22:30 Secret callout :)

I use BtC to beat 25x crises. I make sure to collect all species, so everyone ascends, and the crisis dies.

Detox is more of a how many toxic candidate worlds you have question. And you really can get quite a few in some cases. I've had a few as 4 and as many as 20+ in a wide empire. Meaning that once I got the right perks I could add more large planets than the next biggest empire had in total planets just by taking that perk.

Stacking mastery of nature with an orbital ring on an econopulis is busted though. You can get so many alloys and even more trade, it's really strong. And I think mastery of nature gets better over time, because after the first 200 years there are often not many things you can spend influence and energy on. I would rate it B Tier

I appreciate you giving a nod of recognition to how others might play on some of your takes such as Intersteller dominion. Only note I want to give is on Universal Transactions, again it depends on your playstyle but it is possible to have enough Pacts that it will cut into your influence heavily which makes it more drawn out to get branches out or fail to beat another megacorp to a branch rush on different empires. Again definitely depends on players map size, # of AI, # of planets(I know you hardcore players like your .25 habitable setting...), etc... I think I'd still put it in the C Tier just because of the opportunity cost against other options in the current game patch. However I haven't played a real megacorp run in the paragons era... This has also made me curious how the upcoming diplomacy changes will affect AI megacorp.

I just wanna say, I'm coming back to stellaris after a break and your tier list videos really helped me!

Grasp the Void is definitely one of my favorites that’s considered on the lower end, but I play Gestalt a lot compared to my friends, so I usually get a bit more use out of it (especially since I naturally play rather peaceful compared to, well, most players.

My last few games I've always taken Transcendent Learning first, yes, hands down. Thumbs up for a great video. Your rankings feel spot on. Resonates perfectly with my playstyle

Amazing guide! Thank you for your work! ❤

Made it to the secret call out - still confused exactly what to reference when I get to it though. And thanks for the updated video based off of 3.9.

Thank you for updating these tier lists as the game evolves :)

Generalized tier lists like this always sell certain things short. Take Archaeoengineers for example, just sticking that on a random build probably won't help, but if you build around it (maxing out on Archaeostudy councilors, Shoulders of Giants+Baol for max archaeology sites) it becomes game changing.

I like your tier lists, especially how they change with subsequent patches. Do you plan another videos about ship design (with archaeotechnologies taken into account)? Especially about fleet compositions. The previous ones were great, but now thibgs changed so much

Thank you for redoing an old tier list!!!

Habitat spam is gone Build a habitat in ebery system you have Make it make sense montu

Great Tier List from a great channel!

I feel the various terraforming perks (arc project, hive and machine world, detox) should be rolled into World Shaper, maybe with some tech requirements. Planet types available based on what kind of empire you are.

Concentrate World's comboned with world shapers is kinda good as you can build your own holy worlds. Good for early game unity building.

I recommend trying pure Archo-tech once... just once. So you can experience why you never will touch it again.... I might be a little bitter over the Artifact cost for any quantity of ships, still.

You keep making videos and I’ll keep watching them 😊

Re: Executive Vigor. I'm glad you explained the bit with Galactic Paragons, so those of us without that DLC might consider it higher. I understand to make a list like this you kinda need to assume everyone has all the DLC or you'd drive yourself mad, though.

Thanks for the list

Would a follow up video be worthwhile to grade each pick based on the order in which they might be chosen? What are the top 3 traditions for the first pick, the second pick and so forth? And the same for Ascensions. It's easy to get lost in the permutations. I've experimented with not taking some of the typical first and second picks, as they can be off-set by augmenting other tactics. (?)

Everytime Montu post a tier list, a member of the custodian team gets their ~~wings~~ code cleanup list.

Hi! Great video as always! I just wanted to ask about leaders - what's the safe overlimit for them? Should I have more than cap or should I never go over the limit? You have any suggestion on that?

I believe that the main benefit of Universal transactions is the ability to get branch offices before your rivals rather than getting a free office out of six.

I think Synthetics Path got quite a buff in 3.9. It was one of the worst ascension path for bio-empire in 3.6~3.8, but now, since every other paths got delayed to 4th tradition and you can grab Ascension tech through agenda, Synth path seems quite strong.

"Greed is eternal!" I will always love Universal Transactions, especially paired qith Marketplace of Ideas for Unity

Gotta love the vids

I've always picked Mastery of Nature 1st or 2nd for the additional districts plus the bonus of removing blockers cheaper. I didn't realize it was seen as a bad move

I feel like Transcendent learning has been nerfed since this. Experience gain has dropped and only scientist capacity now.

the perk which reduce influence is really good at the beginning because it increase speed of exapansion or put down branch office

When is the update to add more galaxy shapes coming?

Got the secret shoutout :) I always listen to F-tier, A+S tier. B+C tier - the "mid" I skip through a lot, because I am most interseted in the worst and the best and not in the mid-range stuff. Oh, and I really need to upgrade my worlds next playthrough. I never bothered with Economoplis worlds or whatever.

5 starbases from Grasp the void gives you like well over double the naval cap of galactic fleet projection. Is the extra 20 fleet cap actually at all impactful?

Montu is such a legend. What a bloke!

Didn't skipped :) PS : RIP transcendent learning.

Executive vigor used to be so so powerfull when we had a limited amount of edicts and this perk gave you +2 Now its niche and acceptable at best...

I normally p1 interstellar dominion. Not always, but I play pn largest galaxy size. It is really fun colonizing any system for 11 influence

As a rouge servitor, would you still take the ascension perk? I didn't pick it in my last game because I already have 200% increased production, making specialliced pops unnecesary. On top of that I just create vassals for the things drone jobs create wich both artificially increase the robots built by removing their robots before giving them freedom while giving me access to the superior biological traits. I might have made bad decitions but I didn't find it S teir for that specific build.

Lord of War was quite nice for a megacorp I played where I had as many mercenary fleets as possible to give me as many resources as possible, but I'd strictly keep it to that specific type of empire.

I think it may be possible for empires that start as machine intelligences to get ecumenopolis and machine worlds by taking the machine world perk, becoming rogue servitors via the galactic community, and taking the arcology project perk

Hydrocentric does have a decent niche case now if you are rocking the Sovereign Guardianship civic since you want a handful of large planets with that build.

I’m sorry if this is off topic, Montu but I have a question: My favorite way to play is megacorps but I am trying to find ways to make it bigger and better. I normally play a neutral party in my multiplayer games as everyone seems to rely on me for everything therefore I don’t break my neutrality. But due to this I never make franchises or vassals. So my question is can you break part of your empire away so they become your vassal? We don’t normally conquer each other until 75 years in game but do more galactic politics and RP more so than tourneys and meta games. Cheers mate

Whoopdidoo another beer list... erhm tier list. Montu always says to grab a drink and get comfy... so beer list it is 🙂

mastery of nature is very strong if you start in a ring world with 2 guarenteed habitable worlds since you get 2 more rings that have a huge amount of blocks and on top of that you have your home capital that is a lot of value on early on that allows you to fully develop the ring world early

I know this will sound totally bonkers, but would you consider making a tier list for the various Stellaris versions? Starting from 1.0 and ending at 3.9, there would be a bazillion things to talk or rant about for the game as it evolved...

I am curious where Xeno-Compatability would rank if you could take it for the immigration pull and pop growth speed and only remove the hybrid species being formed.

Used to auto pick hive world for my games. But since i always play fongus or plantoid hive i got hooked by the idyllic bloom version of gaïa world, this civic get from some random rp pick to absolutely broken since 3.9... The civic no longer kill you'r early game with gaïa habitability and the trait that you get from the phase 4 is just way better than a regular hive world... Not to mention the insane interaction between idyllic bloom, cordyceptic drones and the fruitfull origin ^^''' I use it only in games where i lack a specific district type on my colony to get rid of the limitation wich is pretty rare to make me put an AP on this

I typically only take hydrocentric and detox when im the sort of respected origins with oceanic paradise and knights of the toxic god. Although i have had a few games where im a regular empire and have had like almost 20 toxic planets so i took it.

Wenn man pops von Nachbarn stiehlt, aber nicht die Pöaneten haben will, kann man sie auch erobern, alle bis auf einen umsiedeln und die fast lernen Planeten verschenken.

With more and more cool ones coming into the game but the limit of only 8 perk slots per game remaining untouched, I feel so tempted to just install one of those mods that lets you pick more for my next game. I’m tired of having to choose between ringworlds, colossi, defender of the galaxy and the ability to terraform Venus after finishing psi/gene/cyborg ascension because I already took the science and archaeotech ones in the opening.

I liked consecrated worlds back when u could do it on an inhabited planet. it would be nice if that came back and u just can only build temples and nothing else

still watching Montu! You cant scare me like that in the middle of a video!!! DDD:

Sovereign Guardian greatly increases the value of Hydrocentric's increase planetary sea decision.

Picking be the crisis to get colossus as well The ascencion perks could give a tech chance increased to related tech

What tier is the secret call out placed and how does it compare to all the other secret call outs in previous Tier Lists?

F Tier is pretty accurate. Interstellar Dominion--- is actuallly good in a few situation outside of big maps, even on small maps but that depends on several play styles and what you expect to be do in the game your playing. Without preplanned involvement or knowing if you need this for what your doing, it is better to avoid it and take something else. Early game rush grab builds/military take over is one such reason this is good for. Mastery of Nature- Good only if you have like know you will have 20 plus planets, and are not involved in the Galactic senate that much (using that influence you would of spent on the planets, and you do this pretty early on.) Normal play setting (the default ones) I can see this Ascension perk being good, on occasions. However I felt planets were too common, and I lower that down when I play. I still have taken this a few times, and about 1 out of 4 times, regretted it. Still if on lower settings, and only feeling bad about it a quarter of the time, this is not a bad perk, it just needs more (or cut the cost of the planet effect in half.) That or allow random positive effects to generate permanently on the planet after use. Universal Transactions--First I believe this is Mega Corp only, second, that Influence cost removed is actually really really good, and you only need about 5 or more trading partners to make that worth it completely. This perk is Underrated here but not by much, mainly due to the fact only Mega Corps can get this. (maybe Merchant guilds civic allows it, not sure) What it does need is a flat bonus to Trading power on all planets, (aka empire wide bonus). This would make more sense with where it is going, and make it more useful and worth when you have less trading partners. Grasp the Void-- only useful if your stuck in a small area and you want to compete with a larger empire to get out that you CANT befriend or wont befriend. It could be useful in some late game situations, but usually that is just touch up on starbase points for an extra fleet or so, and to cover up some gaps in defense points that are still somewhat avoidable by enemies anyways but forces them to do jumps. Basically a Win more button, Winning more safely in those late game situations. Lord of War-- would be really good, if it wasn't so dam hard to setup one without crippling your fleet power early on. let alone setting up two. The fleet power bonus to diplomatic Weight is actually really strong on its own....but that alone is not really worth a slot especially when you dont control ship designs, the cost of ships is not really an issue. Shared Destiny is a better pick overall with similar benefits, without giving up a fleet to setup. (2 Envoy's = 20% Dip Weight basically) Archaeo-Engineers-- is actually better then you say, though for different reasons then you may expect. The trick that makes the deal is with Archo Shields and armor (shield hardness mostly). You can make some pretty hardy ships with this and with Low minor artifact costs to be reasonable. However, you need to have a certain amount of minor artifact income to make this worth while. So only do this if you have access to such an amount (this is based on map size, and how much you really want to use that tech). Worst case you make one super fleet, with the cool tech and have a few none Archo fleets to engage first/support it. Really its not that bad of a perk. Especially if your a tech rush empire with enough artifact income. Enigmatic Engineering-- Only useful if A: you pick it early, B: you are super tech rush, C: You really have a plan with whatever weird build you have. This falls off late game but is a cool perk to annoy empires trying to farm your tech rush empires for science. Galactic Force projection-- *This is bad*, has always been bad, and its very very rarely will work well early game, but even then you wasted a slot to beat ONE empire likely maybe two, vassalizing them is a Half victory in this case for several reasons. Unfortunately any buffs to this that increase Navy cap by a % would be broken good at the amount you would need to be to make it worth as a Ascension Perk, and Any buff to fleet command is well not really that good at all even tripling this would not really change your fleet power much, all it would do is make it so you need less admirals....which is a double sided sword for again several reasons. Against human opponents this perk is even worse. Seriously the only thing that would be buff-able is making it have upkeep cost reductions (which we see the dev's are basically removing these, put in a hard cap guys or something geez not that hard to balance cost reductions. Hard caps are good things sometimes, like dodging and tracking system right now.) One vision--AGREE AGREE AGREE Cant agree enough with you man, this has so many hidden benefits too, though dont take early if your planning on etho's switching your empire as part of your plan/game. Take it a little after that. Defenders of the Galaxy--was a meh pick before, did not see some of the buff/changes that show here, and knowing that, this is actually a REALLY good pick if your playing the GOOD guys of the Galaxy, or at least Posing as such. Shared Destiny-- This used to be really bad, Now it is good for runs in general, but a absolute need if your getting lots of subjects! (two envoy's are basically 20% Dip Weight at least in worse case in galactic senate, ) The rest of your A Tier is pretty spot on. Quick S Tier comments since I do agree in all but one on this list being S Tier Synthetic upgrade---First, unless you want to play into this for story/lore reason of your empire, just start off as Machine empire from the get go. Really this is not as good as people say, overrated perk. . I guess its a way to have a Machine empire that co-exists with biologicals, since your not a single mind. Still I find its more of a dipping your foot in the pool of machines strength but having all the same issues machines have with less benefits. NOT saying its a bad perk but a lower S Tier at best Archology project--"BAD" this one is a waste/bad For Several Reasons, mostly due to the fact you don't need it if you find a relic world or one already by another that you take. YOU REALLY ONLY NEED ONE OF THESE WORLDS, maybe two if you can afford the upkeep of special resources. You will never really fill this up with pops unless you resettle by force, so you really don't need more then one, habitat spam and ring-worlds are so much better, and the perk for ring-worlds gives two other very strong Mega structures. Simple, you don't have one, spam habitats and ring-worlds, if you do have one in the empire you don't need another anyways, so you don't need this perk. In the systems the habitats are bad in, you build ring-worlds if you can. F TIER FOR THIS ONE! No even at stronger difficulties, you don't need these, Galactic wonders alone is better for this then 5 of these planets. Hive and Machine Worlds are super great, and way too good for dozens of reasons. If you have the empire to actually take those perks DO SO!!!! Become the Crisis-- A little too powerful, and very annoying cause I see 2-5 AI empires take this all the time.....its annoying how often I see this. Its a boring win strategy in solo games, and in multiplayer you just made enemies with all your friends, and will either just win, or lose very quickly. While in games with 3 or more AI empires as this, it either makes it impossible to stop all of them, or causes chaos in the Senate and AI empires go all weird bonkers forcing wars with all at the same time. While a Real Crisis then takes over the galaxy as the other Empires are distracted. Like literally, if a AI rushes this and is a strong type of empire already fleet wise, your SOLO game is OVER, you may just not know it yet. Seriously Cap the Number of AI that can take this based on map size, and # of starting empires, and make it so fighting one of these guys does not count as acts to fulfill another empires Become Crisis stuff. Transcendent Learning---Oh how the FORGOTTEN perk of Uselessness has RISEN! I found this perk before the leader rework and buff of it, was one of the worst, pointless, and awful perks to ever exist. That I honestly forget about it even these days despite the buff that made it actually worthwhile. Yes, as a one of three first picks/choice you really cant go wrong with this perk. However, I would put this lower S or even High A Tier for a few reasons still, Mainly for certain builds being still slightly stronger, with having a perk slot limit something has to go, and this one sometimes does need to go for those builds. If the Exp gain was 50% or more, I would rethink this opinion.

We may need an update on this one, seeing how some ascension perks have changed around

Agree on the need to retrofit gained/revived space fauna ships etc

Secret callout...also is imperial prerogative not available to megacorps? I wasn't able to take it while doing a criminal syndicate run on my last playthrough.

A lot of the lowe perks don't even need a rework, just increase their numbers. +8 starbases. +3 max districts. Etc

The only time I never took Arcology project was when I ended up with 4 relic worlds through events and conquest.

I watched it all! 😊

Interstellar Dominion should give you Hyperdrive Cooldown reduction or something else themed around also crossing your larger empire, etc. Edit: Just combine Interstellar Dominion and Grasp the Void.

Still close to same tier in 3.10? i saw trascenden learning got worse

Are you out of your mind? Lord of War is grand for running popless production for any militarist empire, it's like a Dyson Sphere and Matter Decompressor combined that also cranks out battleships.

One of my favorite combos for APs is Become the Crisis + Archaeo-Engineers. You get the +33% Archaeo-weapon damage for your Ancient Nano-Missile Swarms, and then you slap those on a bunch of Menacing ships to never pay the Minor Artifact cost. Just do't go past Crisis Level 4 unless you're armed to the gills.

Montu: as you do get more menace and go higher and higher, you simply become... 28:46 Me: The Phantom Menace

I love how the Xeno compatibility review was just Warhammer 40k montage "He who allows the Alien to live shares in its crime of existence"

Whenever Montuwu makes one of these ascension/tradition tier lists, I think of that meme with the daughter trying to explain something to her mom and the mom just sits there on the couch, thoroughly unimpressed. :D Montu: "See? This is why this ascension perk is the best, and why you should always take it!" Me, a roleplayer: "Whut? Whatcha sayin'? I can't hear u over the sea shanty the fish people are singing as I Increase the size of my capital to 33, and pickling my enemies in salty brine!"

i always take enigmatic engineering to avoid the chances of giving other empires, especially the ai, assistance on researching better ship components

Didn't skip... Maybe sweated a little when S-tier did contain the majority of my picks. On the plus side, I had time this last weekend to experiment with the habitat changes and must admit, it is nice. Being so much easier to scale up my habitats when I need to without spending forever researching the upgrade techs is such a relief.

I really like using Masterbuilder as Voidborn since it really helps with getting more Habitats running

more 3.9 tier lists please :DDD

IMO Hydrocentric should increase the recourses aquatic species get from Specialist and Ruler jobs. I also think they should change the numbers on the flood habitat decision since they massively decreased the base heapability of habitats in 3.9.

Become the crisis: Pros : You basically get a free powerup on all fronts with literally no effort, are basically unstopabble in wars and you get resources by simply existing. Cons : Some species *may* not like dying. They tend to form alliances to stop that.

Tbh I rarely go for arcologies and swarm worlds Most of the time they feel overkill and I'm doing just fine without them For the same reason I also often do not get the perk for dyson spheres and blackhole drills