I disagree with a few of these and have my opposing view:Originally Posted by Heraclitus
T4
Queen: A++
Queen is so good that she makes/breaks entire engagements by herself, and it is all entirely due to Queen Screech. Honestly, I'm just giving the screech A++; remove that and she goes from A++ to B, and that only because of neurospit. Remove the neuro too and she's a C or D grade caste that nobody would ever play. Has a high skill floor, not because the abilities are difficult to use (They're braindead retard easy), but because she's a high priority target so it takes some skill to not die like a retard from the efforts of actual good marine players.
T3
Praetorian: A
Praetorians are great for utility, but what puts them at the top next to boilers is their neurospit and pull memes. Take away neurospit and they're a B class. Has a higher skill floor than most xenos, but still has the neurospit crutch that makes the caste too easy to play.
Boiler: A+
Second only to the queen in making/breaking entire fights by itself. Can singlehandedly kill dozens of marines through the round, and is the second highest priority target next to the queen herself. This is one of the few xeno castes that actually feels well balanced to play as and fight against without being retardedly frustrating. There's nothing better for stopping unga rushes, and it's an absolute necessity for fob sieges; a xeno hive without a boiler only wins by sheer luck making up for their uncompetence.
Crusher: A
Crushers are nearly impossible to kill when played right. They have a higher skill floor than most of the better xeno castes, so you see more baldie crushers out there, but a good crusher is easily worth as much as a praetorian, and can even approach a boiler in total kills through a round. It's fun to play, but not as much fun to fight on account of being impossible to kill short of pure baldness on the crushers' part.
Rav: B
Ravagers are pretty meh; they have all (more than, honestly) the speed and health they need but lack interesting mechanics that make them fun to fight or play against. It's the most braindead T3 to play. Low skill floor with humdrum boring gameplay. If ravagers were completely removed I don't think anyone would notice or care.
T2
Lurker: A
Lurkers are like Ravagers with less drawbacks, the ability to stunlock, and cooler utilities. A good lurker player is actually more dangerous than a ravager, and the caste is one of the most fun to play. Still has enough health/speed/damage combined with a stunlock ability, that its skill floor is fairly low and even baldy retards can do well with the caste. If pounce couldn't stunlock for braindead easy kills, this would be one of the harder castes to play effectively.
Warrior: B
I wanted to change Warrior to A as well, because they're incredible when used right, but 99% of the players can't use them right. Highest skill floor of the alien castes but one of the most unfun, overpowered, and aggravating to fight when the player actually knows what he's doing. Lunge is straight up broken good, but if you overextend using it you die. Punch is one-click disable the marine for easy casualties, and fling is for playing football with the poor sap you pulled the arms and legs from.
Spitter: A
Spitter is an easy A thanks to neurospit. Anything with neurospit has an I Win mechanic that by default puts them in B or better. Neurospit's the only thing this caste really has going for it, like the sentinel. In fact, just read the sentinel's blurb. These two castes might as well be the same caste for all the difference it makes.
Hivelord: B
Literally makes/breaks a xeno defense. It has a high skill floor, so most hivelord players are just plain bad due to the modicum of thinking required, but a good hivelord gives the other castes all the favorable terrain needed to improve their ability to kill. I've had many situations where hivelord walls enabled me to juke groups of marines as a lurker/warrior and kill them one by one thanks to LoS blocks. One of the most underrated castes because the influence it has in a round is very indirect. Would be an A if it could fight on top of the utility.
Burrower: D
Carrier: C
T1
Drone: C
Runner: C
It's not amazing, but it's definitely better than a D. If it had a little more health or damage it'd be an easy B or A and insufferable. Biggest drawback is the high skill floor, right up there with warrior; it's really hard to use right and most players suck. But a good runner can solo marines easily, and pulls off aggravating shit like dragging proned marines (or ramming standing ones) into gas for cheap kills, or constantly pounces and shoves the spec/sg/medics to prevent them from being useful.
Sent: B
It has neurospit, so it's automatically a B, minimum. Low skill floor; it's not a really fun caste to play or fight against, but it's extremely effective, especially in combination with other xenos, and enables free kills on any marine that even slightly overextends. It doesn't really have any drawbacks, but it also doesn't have anything going for it besides the neurospit. This is a caste that only works because of how overpowered neurospit is, and would need some serious reworks if neurospit gets changed.
Defender: D
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