Sovl ranked is played at 500 points. This is a very low point count. The first consequence from this is, that elite units are generally more difficult to run. The flanking advantage in this game is very strong, you are pretty much guaranteed to win the confrontation if you flank, which then gives you good odds of breaking your opponent. If your opponents morale is broken they are often dead immediatly, due to either running off the board or being chased by your units and being continually broken by back charges.

Here is a summary of how to play well:
1) Have more units than the enemy
2) Play for the capture points
3) Have a coherent army
4) Watch out for skill and damage threshholds
5) Utilise shooting, but do not go overboard on it
6) Mobility is king

Looking at these rules in more detail:

This is why the first rule of competitive Sovl is to have as many units as possible.
If your enemy starts the game with more units than you, you are already at a disadvantage, despite the rules allowing you to pass your turn as many times as he has more units than you. Odds are, you will get flanked.

The default amount of units in an army is 4. Never run a 3 unit army, unless you are very sure of what you are doing. 5 unit armies are good, and generally better than 4 unit armies. 6 unit armies are swarmy. Swarm armies are very good, Greenskin swarms with 6-7 activations and Goatmen swarms are always among the best armies in the game.

The second rule of competitive Sovl is that the capture points are valuable
Since the game is only played at 500 points, the 50pts you get per point from the victory points are massive. Since the rules update, only multi-model units are capable of capturing VPs. This is one of the things that makes swarm armies so good, since they can often cap both victory points, and then win the game on points despite being torn up.
You always need to contest as many points as you can, and often it is worth it to sacrifice units to keep the point under your control for a few turns more, as it just scores so many points.
Since the games end after 7 turns it is rare to be completely wiped out, and if you are 250 points up from capturing victory points, odds are, you win.

The third rule of competitive Sovl is that your army needs to be coherent
A mistake I made at the beginning was building armies which just consisted of the most efficient individual units. Conclave City Guard are amazing, as are their Dragon Knights, as is their Bolt Thrower, but stick all of them into an army, and you have a list that wants to... sit back and charge at the same time?
Generally the lists come in a few different archetypes, but almost all of them can be sorted in either wanting to play the game slow or fast. Do you need to be in the middle of the map on the first turn or not? And if your army wants to be fast, everything in it should be fast. If half your army is dedicated to shooting and half is for charging, you are gonna lose, unless you are playing a deliberate midrange game.

The fourth rule of competitive Sovl is that the number threshholds matter a lot
The exact rules about how skill, power and defense interact are a bit complicated, but the summary is very simple. If two units clash in melee, whoever has the higher skill has a massive advantage. It does not matter how much higher the skill is, skill 2 fights against skill 4 the same way that skill 3 fights against skill 4.
So try to make all your engagements such that you have the higher skill, or that it is at least equal.
For power it is a bit more complicated. There is a treshhold under which much higher or lower power becomes devatating, it is when the attacking score is three lower than the defense.
So power 4 will pretty much never hurt defense 7, but power 6 will decimate defense 3.
Apart from that power and defense operates by the same rules as skill, you want your power to be higher or at least equal than their defense, and their power to be lower than your defense, or at least not higher and especially not higher by 3.
This allows you to evaluate power, defense and skill better, and use charging bonusses and spells that boost power and defense to a better effect.
The rules are so convoluted that the best players on the Discord use self-coded calculators to know the odds of winning an engagement before the fight happens. You don't need that level of dedication to win on the ladder, but you need to know that skill, pow and def do.

The fifth rule of competitive Sovl is that shooting is good, but not amazing
Often when I encounter low elo players, their entire army is made up from archers or gunmen. This gets wrecked by any decent army which has more units and mobility. Shooting is good, no question, but if you can't take out the entire enemy stack before they engage you, you will still lose by being flanked.
Often artillery is better than shooting for that reason, generally cannons are the best ranged unit, followed by catapults, then come archers and bolt throwers which are both good, but not amazing. Mortars get rarely used, since the factions that can field mortars can also always field cannons.

The sixth rule of competitive sovl is that mobility is amazing
You have a hotkey that can show your charge range. It is X for your range, and C for that of the enemy. You can also display missile range with Shift + X and Shift + C.
Also you can intercept enemy charges always, if you come from the side, and from the front aswell as long as you are closer than the unit that is being charged.
With this, having faster units with more mobility allows you to dictate the engagements, and get as many side charges on your enemy as possible. Remember, side charges win the game.
As such the movement speed stat is absurdly good, and even Eagles, with a statline that is otherwise complete trash, get played competiitvely just for their movement 20 flying.


If you keep all this in mind, your gameplay will level up a lot, and you will be able to win games on the ranked ladder.
I am far from the best player in the game, but I am able to enter the top 10 from time to time by doing just this. I hope reading this makes it a bit easier to stay motivated in the ranked queue for some of you aswell.

This is a short rundown of all the factions in the game, explaining how they play, and what is good at the moment. At the end there is also a more expansive breakdown of the four free factions, saying unit by unit what is worth running in them.

Abyssal Legion:
This is an odd faction, that oscillates between over- and underpowered depending on the patch. Recently their archdevil got nerfed quite a bit, so they are in their weaker state now. Their commanders are still very good, with their armies either centered around nuking the enemy with their champion on a chariot or a manticore, or by using their very strong heavy infantry with the reality rift spell on a mage.
Grade: B-

Darkborn Elves:
This faction has two different playstiles, a heavy cavalry charge with the best cavalry in the game, or focussing on their crossbows in combination with the hex spell. They are rarely seen, and difficult to play, but pretty much always competitively viable:
Grade: A-

Dead Nations:
They can't flee, so they play very differently than many other factions. They tend to be often underrated, as they are hard to play. Currently they could use some love however, although in the hands of a skilled player they are still a deadly threat.
Grade: B

Deepwood Guardians:
This faction used to be OP for quite a long time, now that Dryads lost fearless they are harder to play.
The old way to play them was using a druid and healing all of their very tanky woodland units, while peppering the enemies with their quite strong archers.
Now that that has been mostly nerfed, perhaps they will find a different playstile. A lot of stuff in them is good and worth using.
Grade: B+

Dwarf Holds:
This faction is low in mobility, but makes up for it with excellent artillery and the ability to field many cheap infantry units with good fighting power. Pretty much only their ranger is competitvely viable, although people are experimenting with the new foreman and scouts, as ambush is a very good rule. Generally they need more love.
Grade: B-

Elven Conclaves:
Very good faction, often run at the top of the game. Very many ways to play them. They have the problem of not being able to field as many units as the other factions, as they have a lot of expensive elite units.
Grade: A

Empires of Men:
This is the default faction the game is balanced around. It is always competitively viable, even if there are more exciting options.
Grade: A-

Goatmen Raiders:
This faction is very often at the top of win rates, since ambush is such a good rule. They are in your face, have the victory points from the first turn and hit fast and hard. If they are played well, they are among the scariest opponents in the game.
Grade: A+

Greenskin Tribes:
Generally the best faction for swarm armies, which are naturally very strong. Goblins are dirt cheap, and orcs are still quite cost effective. Their mage learns primal fury, which is currently the best spell in the game. Their war chief has the amazing warcry, and can ride the very strong wyvern. If they are played well they just overwhelm you, although they never feel as unfair as goatmen sometimes do.
Grade: A+

Ratkin Clans:
I am not that sure how Ratkin stand at the moment, since they are a very complicated army. Their snipers are the best ranged units in the game. Their doom bell used to be quite strong but got a solid nerf recently. They are probably still pretty good.
Grade: B+ (?)

Reptilian Kingdoms:
I am always scared of these guys, since while their stats are not that strong, and they have bad shooting, they have cheap units and great mobility. The saurians are generally not worth taking, but spamming newts combined with the big dinosaurs is a winning recipe.
Grade: A

Abyssal Demons:
These guys launched completely overpowered, and got nerfed to oblivion. Apart from a few very specific lists, they are currently the worst army in the game.
Grade: C

This list is not intented to be 100% correct, it is more a subjective overview of the metagame to help new players choose a main faction.
Generally the balance is decently tight, the best factions in the game can very well lose to worse factions, as long as the lists are built and piloted well.

Empires of Men is the default faction that this game is balanced around. They have 50% winrate on pretty much every patch. They are good, competetively viable, and somewhat easy to play.

Human Commanders:

Their Mage is seen most often, usually either on a Gryphon or with a retinue of Handguns. The Gryphon is great in general, has the same mobility as an eagle but much better stats. It's drawback is that it is very weak to flying.
As for spells on the mage, Divine Favour is their best T1 spell, for T2 all three are currently viable but hex is still best, despite the nerf.

Second best is probably their captain, since boosting combat score directly is a very rare and potent ability. Their Knight commander however is also not bad, but a bit harder to play, since you need to build him as a strong doomstack with Imperial Knights or the Gryphon as his retinue. This requires some thought into which weapons to use and such.

Infantry

Imperial Sword
This is very good rank and file infantry. It hits for power 4, which allows it to cleave through the very ubitiqous defense 3, and it has defense 4 to have decent coverage from shooting. Skill 3 is a bit lame, but fielding those guys is never bad
Grade: B+

Foot Knights
Elite Infantry is generally bad in Sovl, since mobility and unit count are so important, but these guys are an exception. They have amazing stats, and are not that pricey. They are not must have by any means, but if your army is somewhat slow they are worth their points. Both variants are good, I prefer Greatswords despite the higher cost.
Grade: B

Imperial Halberd
The idea of a cheap halberd is inherently very strong, since halberds ignore the normal damage calculation and can always hurt heavily armored targets. Many competitive armies run 3 stacks of halbers, since they are also so cheap.
Grade: A

Imperial Spear
This unit is a bit strange, since the benefits of spears only come to pass in units greater than 12. Before that it is strictly superior to deploy your units stretched into two files. I don't think you ever really want to run large stacks of cheap infantry, unless you are in goblins. But their statline is not bad, so maybe they can be played.
Grade: B-

Fast Attack

Imperial Knights
Skill 4, charges on Pow 5, defense 5. The gold standard for heavy cavalry. Never bad, although also rarely amazing.
Grade: B+

Imperial Light Cavalry
This is a fun unit, since they are the best cavalry unit when it comes to shooting. Sadly they only have defense 3, which is bad against enemy returning fire. So if you are facing a list without shooting your Light Cavalry will run circles around them and shoot them to bits, cowboy style. If you face artillery or massed marksmen, they die fast and gain little value.
Grade: B+

Ranged Support

Imperial Archers
Generally not worth taking, since compared to handguns they have the same statline, but worse power and higher range. Power > Range. Their stats are not so bad compared to archers from other armies tho.
Grade: C

Imperial Crossbowmen
Same Statline as archers
Grade: C

Imperial Handguns
There are two types of marksmen which are good in this game. Those that shoot at power 4, or skill 4. Handguns can shoot at pow 4, and that with a good cost. Sadly they are defense 3, but still a great unit.
Grade: A-

Imperial Cannon
Cannons are borderline OP, it is good that every faction can only take 1 and they lock the ranged slot.
Grade: A

Imperial Mortar
This is not bad, but why take it when you can have a cannon?
Grade: B

Imperial Armory

Imperial Dreadnought
For a giant this is quite cheap, it has an almost strictly better statline than the triceratops from reptilian kingdoms which is still a competitive unit!
It is a bit hard to use, but when you use it well, it is well worth the points.
Grade: A

Army Suggestion:

A very common human army is:
Mage + Handguns
Halberds
Cannon
Imperial Knights
Imperial Dreadnought

or some variation thereof.

Elven Conclave is my favourite faction, since they have so many ways to play them. They are also very expensive, so fitting everything into 500 points is no small feat.

Commanders:

Elf Noble is very good, with the rally skill allowing for huge outplays. She is also quite hard to use.
Elf Spellsword is easier, and perhaps more powerful with the same statline and 3 uses of the stong Fiery Blades spell, but he is locked between a paywall.
Elf Mage is the hardest to use, but very good on either a gryphon or with flying weapon masters through reality rift.

Battle Line

Elf Spears
Not a bad unit despite the high cost, skill 4 defense 4 is very good, if they had hand weapons they would be op. Sadly stuck with spears.
Grade: B

Elf City Guards
Very close to an auto include, skill 4 defense 4 and a bow is ridiculous.
Grade: A+

Weapon Masters
They are very expensive, and quite slow. If they reach the enemy they win the fight close to 100%, but they make a lightning rod for arrows and such. As retinue for an elf mage they are amazing, otherwise not worth using.
Grade: C (A+ when flying)

Ranged Support

Elf Archers
These would be amazing in any other faction, in Conclave they are outshone by the City Guards.
Grade: B+

Elf Watchers
Bad, the extra points are not worth it for the added melee capabilities. For an ambush unit they die too fast from enemy shooting. Heavily outclassed by Rangers from Conclave.
Grade: C-

Elf Bolt Thrower
Sniping with skill 4 and power 6 is fun. Somewhat hard to use, since it costs a hefty amount of points, and if you don't use it well it gets killed by enemy fliers without generating any value. If it oneshots an enemy chariot or gryphon, you win the game.
Grade: A-

Fast Attack

Elf Lancers
These guys have the same statline as Imperial Knights, but they also have swift on top, since swift is a flat movement speed increase this does not matter that much, but still, it is neat to have.
Grade: B+

Elf Reavers
Shooty Cavalry needs defense 4 to be really good, at defense 3 they get taken out too easily. They still sometimes get used as a cheap and fast unit to capture points.
Grade: B-

Elf Chariot
Chariots are generally good, and this is a good chariot. Not as good as the deepwood chariot, but skill 4 makes this quite consistent in blowing stuff up, and oddly tanky after the initial engagement.
Grade: B+

Giant Eagle
I mentioned that they are good due to their absurd mobility, despite having an atrocious statline. Their strength scales with your skill
Grade: B+

Dragon Knights
The second unit with ridiculous stats in Conclave. Most lists either try to abuse this to break the enemy fast, or use city guard to break them slow. I prefer the fast approach. There is no better cavalry in the game.
Grade: A+

Army Composition:

Since Conclave has many viable playstiles, I won't give a single list here.
Try to use either the Cityguards or the Dragon Knights as the core of your army, and build the rest around that. There are hybrid lists that run both, since they are just so efficient each, but focussing on either the slow or the fast game is better.

Despite not being the strongest faction at the moment, Dwarf Holds nevertheless have many good units and an interesting playstile.

Dwarf Commanders:

Dwarf Foreman
Almost all of this guys power is in his ability to reroll damage saves. This can be used every single turn, and the movement penalty does not matter when you are already engaged. There are two different ways to abuse this. Either you just pair him with a bunch of strong units, particularily those with fearless, and then park him on the objective and never lose it again, or you pair him with the Miners, who have lesser stats, but have ambush so you can start the game with one objective taken, which you will never let go again.

Ranger Captain
This is generally the best Dwarf commander at the moment. His ability looks not that strong on paper, but since the biggest weakness of dwarves is their terrible mobility, he shines when taken together with a bunch of cheap infantry stacks. He also enables very shooting focussed armies, since if he is taken with prowess and cruelty he becomes an amazing sniper.

Dwarf Engineer
This guy is not as good as the rest. His ability is good, and he has a gun, and having a flying machine as retinue is super fun, but now that spellcasters have been buffed considerably he is in an awkward spot, being nowhere as good as them, but also not having a good combat statline.

Battle Line:

Dwarf Warriors:
Bread and Butter units, very efficient combat stats, bad mobility.
Grade: B+

Dwarf Veterans:
Amazing and super tanky, especially with the sturdy rule. Also not *that* expensive compared to other elite infantry. I like them, but I see them rarely on the ladder.
Grade: B+

Dwarf Miners:
Bad statline, but ambush enables shenanigans. Never take the explosives on them.
Grade: B+

Ranged Support:

Dwarf Crossbows:
Don't take crossbows in a faction that has handguns
Grade: C

Dwarf Handguns:
The best Handgunners in the game with defense 4
Grade: A

Dwarf Rangers:
Interesting unit since they need to be compared to the City Guard, which they do quite favourably. Same shooting and defensive characteristics, but two handed weapons makes them deadly in melee combat. They have considerably worse mobility tho. Good retinue for Ranger.
Grade: A-

Dwarf Cannon:
Cannons are still amazing
Grade: A

Dwarf Bolt Thrower
This is never taken, but it is probably not terrible. Strictly better stats than the goblin Bolt Thrower, problem is it locks the ranged slot. And the Goblin Bolt Thrower can be taken twice, while this can not.
Grade: C+

Dwarf Stonethrower
A good catapult, sometimes taken instead of the cannon
Grade: B+

Elites

Dwarf Berserkers
Pricey and devastating, they are not that bad quite hard to play, as if they get shot to bits by ranged or flanked you lose quite a lot of points.
Grade: B+

Deep Guard
Hyper Expensive, and not fearless. Masterwork Armor is a fun rule tho.
Grade: B

Machines of War:

Inferno Cannon
This is not good, wargear with low range is too fiddly when the other armies deploy flyers.
Grade: C

Dwarf Flying Machine
This is very good, and almost makes up for the lack of cavalry which makes dwarves hard to play. The best non-retinue flyer in the game.
Grade: A+

Dead Nations are a faction with a special rule, crumble. Crumble means they can't willingly flee, and if they are beaten they lose additional wounds instead of rolling for fleeing. This rule is generally pretty bad, as manual fleeing is very strong and can be often used to win fights, it is one of the main reasons why it is so strong to be the army with more activations. Nevertheless, the undead have a few things going for them.

Undead Commanders:

Wight Lord
This guy has a lot of interesting applications, being the only hero with regeneration, the most simple and best one is to buy vitality on him for defense 6 wounds 4, and then park him on a victory point to generate points.
Unholy Vigour looks like not the best spell on paper, but movement is always deceptively good, and this can be used on a catapult for trickshots.

Vampire Knight
This girl is very strong, with the statline of a martial and the casting for a full magician she is well worth her points. All three of her T2 spells have their own army, wether you use reality rift to fly a bunch of wights into the face of the enemy, or hex with a skeleton horde for damage, or reanimate to build a death stick of unkillable dread knights.

Necromancer
Necromancer plays the most unique out of perhaps all available heroes, given that only she has access to the amazing spell "Raise Dead". This generates a bunch of skeletons on each cast, which means you change the game from slightly outnumbering your opponent to having way more bodies than him. As her second spell often reanimate is taken, I think Hex is better.

Battle Line:

Skeleton Warriors
Super cost effective, but horrendous skill. Good unit, if you want your skelly stack to only have 15 units take these, and deploy them in a 2x7 row for 14 attacks at power 4 on the charge.
Grade: B+

Zombies
Noone uses these, skellies are just better
Grade: C

Wight Guard
Another one of those "good with flying, trash without" units
Grade: B+ with flying

Skeleton Spear
If you are running necromancy this is your bread and butter, as you often will have stacks of 20+ skeletons, and if all of them roll for an attack you win
Grade: A-

Ranged Support
Unearthed Catapult
Crumble is a good rule on a war machine, as they often take a single wound from a charging eagle and then run. Also it can be boosted by unholy vigour.
Grade: A-

Skeleton Bowmen
Skill 2 is horrendous, although they are pretty cheap
Grade: C+

Fast Attack

Dire Wolves
Best Dogs in the game stat wise
Grade: A-

Skeleton Knights
Stat wise they compare badly to other heavy cavalry, but they can't break. Often taken as retinue for the Wight Lord, as Dread Knights are very expensive
Grade: B+

Dread Knights
Ultra expensive but amazing statline. They have their use, as they are the best target for the reanimate spell.
Grade: B+

Fell Bats
Worse stat line than harpies, but Undead suffers from low mobility so it is grateful for them
Grade: B

Abominations

Zombie Giant
Great statline, fun ability. Be careful, since most of his power comes from his passive, and it is not active if he joins a brawl late, and only supplies attacks instead of being attacked
Grade: A-