
Resources are scarce in Warhammer 40K: Tacticus, especially at higher levels. The early game might feel like a breeze, but once you have to start using 10+ Legendary Codex of Wars to get a single level, the grind gets real. That’s why itโs important to make sure that every Orb, every Badge, and every decision you make is well thought out to avoid roadblocks later on. This is why you should familiarize yourself with the best abilities in Tacticus, so you know the best way to spend your badges, XP books, and gold.ย
Best Abilities to Focus on Upgrading in Tacticus
The following abilities are generally considered to be among the best abilities you can upgrade and use in Tacticus. They are vital for maximizing your damage and survivability in guild raids, arena, tournament arena, and for pushing levels in Legendary Release Events. They following abilities are in order of their importance, but depending on your needs and available characters, you might find yourself leveling your abilities differently.
Eldryon – Doom

Arguably the single-best ability in the game, Eldryonโs Doom is extremely useful for increasing your teamโs overall damage in guild raids. The ability causes all enemy units exactly 2 units away from Eldryon to take an added flat amount of damage per hit. At max level, this can be close to an added 1000 damage, which adds up on characters like Maugan Ra who hits 6 times with their ranged attack.ย You should be upgrading Eldryon regardless, as he’s at the top of the Tacticus tier list and one of the best characters.
Maugan Ra – Inescapable Accuracy
Crits are extremely important in Tacticus, and Inescapable Accuracy gives one of the best damage dealers in the game increased crit chance and crit damage. At max rank, it can give Maugan Ra a bonus crit chance of 15% and just under 1000 extra crit damage. Paired with a Shuriken Pistol and Aethanaโs passive ability, Path of Command, you can be critting around 70% of the time with Maugan Ra. As you can imagine, a combo like that paired with Eldryonโs Doom can easily lead to massive amounts of damage.
Commissar Yarrick – Send in the Next Wave
Commissar Yarrick can swamp the field with Guardsmen relatively easily. These Guardsmen offer targets for the enemy that arenโt your main units, and they can even deal a good amount of damage. At max ranks, it can summon up to 5 Guardsmen, 2 initially with an additional Guardsman for every friendly unit that has died.
Bellator – Death From Above
In a similar vein as Commisar Yarrickโs ability, Bellatorโs Death From Above summons Interceptors for every round that has passed. Since the Interceptors deal 6 hits, it pairs well with Eldryonโs Doom against raid bosses. Bellator isnโt a bad bet for leveling up, regardless, as heโs useful in the Indomitus Elite Campaign, against raid bosses, and even in the arena.
Reโvas – Early Warning Override
Arena matches are a breeze, thanks to Reโvasโs lethal overwatch. Early Warning Override summons 2 Shield Drones that help absorb damage against Reโvas, as well as turning Reโvas into an absolute monster of a turret. Reโvas will ignore their close combat weakness debuff and deal extra damage, with one less hit for every enemy defeated. If Reโvas attacks someone but doesnโt kill them, their overwatch ends, which is why itโs not a bad idea to upgrade their passive, which causes their attacks to deal extra damage.
Aleph Null – Scarab Hive
Another great pick for arena or guild raids, Aleph Nullโs scarabs are another great summon. Scarab Hive summons two scarab swarms that immediately attack their target and deal piercing damage but deal energy damage on every subsequent attack. Since they deal multiple hits, they pair well with Doom against raid bosses and can swamp the field if left undealt with.
Archimatos – Incursion

Another great guild raid and arena character, Archimatos can summon up to 7 Bloodletters at max rank, dealing tons of damage against bosses or even a regular character. The Bloodletters are even better against psychics. Theyโre not particularly tanky and can be wiped easily, but they hit hard if left undealt with.
Angrax – Hateful Assault
Angrax isnโt all that useful outside of the Fall of Cadia campaigns and Legendary Release Events, but thanks to his passive Hateful Assault, he shines in those. If you put Angrax next to one of the spawn points in an LRE or Onslaught, he will immediately attack enemies as they spawn and try to move to a new hex. At early levels, this can mean that Angrax is one-shotting enemies, making LREs a breeze.

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Isabella – Medicus Ministorum

Another great LRE character, Isabellaโs Medicus Ministorum can keep your units alive at higher levels that you normally wouldnโt survive. Medicus Ministorum heals characters adjacent to Isabella every time they take damage and survive it. One strategy for pushing LRE levels is to surround Isabella with tanky characters like Brother Buchard, Bellator, and the like. Theyโll take minimal damage, getting healed each time by Isabella, helping you push for more points.
Roswitha – Brazier of Holy Fire
Mortarion is arguably one of the harder bosses to battle in raids, but Roswithaโs Brazier of Holy Fire can make it just a little bit easier. Her ability applies a 20% damage bonus to Immune Daemons, i.e., Mortarion. It also deals flame damage, which at max rank can be anywhere from 3190 – 3789.
Aunโshi – Inspired to Greatness
Inspired to Greatness restores a portion of the unitโs health but, more importantly, resets their active ability. This is especially useful for summoners like Archimatos, Bellator, and Aleph Null but can also be used on other strong characters like Marneus Calgar, Roswitha, or Typhus. The level of the restored ability is whatever level Aunโshiโs ability is or the characterโs in question, whichever is lower.
Marneus Calgar – Gauntlets of Ultramar
Not only is Marneus Calgar tanky, but his active Gauntlets of Ultramar can easily decimate every unit in a 2-hex radius, dealing extra damage to adjacent units. This makes him an excellent choice for the arena but also makes him useful against certain raid bosses, especially when paired with his passive, which increases the damage of nearby imperial units, like Yarrick and his Guardsmen.
Other Abilities to Consider
The above abilities are some of the best in Tacticus, but that doesnโt mean theyโre the only abilities worth upgrading. If you have the badges and gold to spare, here are some other abilities you should consider upgrading.
- Typhus – Plague Wind: Deals massive AoE damage and can easily be the most damaging ability in the entire game since it can hit up to 18 different hexes.
- Reโvas – Cyclic Ion Blaster: Pairs well with Reโvasโs active ability and allows them to melt mechanical units.
- ShoโSyl – MV71 Sniper Drone Squad – The only way to make Shoโsyl work is if you upgrade his passive, which increases the health, damage, and armor of the drones.
- Thaddeus – Basilisk Barrage: The easiest way to negate Reโvasโs overwatch or take out a squishy backline character, Basilisk Barrage can pack quite a punch and suppress any enemies hit.
- Thaddeus – Spotter: Thaddeusโs passive can help boost the damage of any units within two hexes that have the Heavy Weapons trait. This includes Maugan Ra, further increasing his raid damage.
- Celestine – Geminae Superia: Celestineโs passive summons a Geminae Superia whenever she is attacked. As long as she is adjacent to her Geminae Superia, the Superia will take any post-armor damage. Celestine can summon up to two Superia, helping her survive long enough to kill a few enemies in the arena or tournament arena.
- Ulf – Savage Killer: Ulfโs passive is especially useful against Mortarionโs Prime Corrodius. Whenever an enemy summon moves into a hex adjacent to Ulf, he will immediately hit it and deal damage. In a game where summoners dominate the meta, this passive can be especially useful in the arena, too.
- Neurothrope – Neuroparasite: This is one to keep an eye on, as Neuroparasite might just be one of the best abilities in raids, right up there with Eldryonโs Doom. Whenever the Neurothrope deals psychic damage against a unit, it infects it with a neuroparasite. The neuroparasite builds stacks every time the affected unit takes psychic damage or gets suppressed. For every stack, the Neurothrope deals extra damage against the target.