There are a good number of units in Frozen. You have guys with axes, guys with more axes, and even guys with, you guessed it, axes. Add some swords, a pointed stick, and bows, and you have a list. Of course, not all drives are made equal, and there are some stinky ones.

Related: Frozenheim – Tips for Beginners

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some really cool units out there, of course. If you want to dominate your enemies and slaughter their population, then taking only the best makes sense. We have them ranked in order of effectiveness, though that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better in combat.

9 seidkonas

Unfortunately, the Raven Clan’s unique unit is a bit of a pants. He does his job well enough, he’s a walking, talking healer that he can keep his guys fighting without having to go home to visit the healing hut. That said, they are very inconsistent.

They have terrible defense, small unit size, no combat potential, and are the first to die in any engagement. Ideally, you’ll want them to hang back and heal up after combat, but you’re dedicating one (or more) of your valuable unit slots to a unit that doesn’t do as much. Even his beast taming is underdone, as bears and wolves just don’t do enough in a large-scale fight. In short, the Seikona falls pretty flat.

8 trappers

The Trapper is surprisingly tough and damaging – the trade-off is the size of the unit. Their stat line involves unit combat, but they don’t do much and often get overwhelmed in the middle. You can throw them down some flanks and do pretty well, but you can also do it with literally anything.

The advantage is access to his traps, which can be used to great effect when ambushing enemies. You can block them and fill them with arrows, which is always nice. The Seidkona is pretty rare, but the Trapper has uses and is certainly worth considering if you’re running Bear Clan. Especially in Survival Mode.

7 men with ax

The Axeman is the cheapest unit to produce and is surprisingly good at doing pretty much anything you’d want them to do. His stat line is fine, although they do find themselves dying a lot. They are the most disposable unit you have, but they also work very well in a frontal attack and on the flanks.

Related: Frozenheim – Combat Guide

This is especially true when you activate Rage, which increases its damage and speed by 50 percent. This is a big enough boost to make them the most damaging unit in the game, as well as the fastest. Not bad for such a cheap melee troop.

6 lancers

Spearmen are more or less a direct upgrade to Axemen. They lack the powerful Rage ability, but make up for it in other ways. Meaning, they have a higher base attack, so their DPS is very comparable to Axemen, and is higher than most other units in the game.

Their unique ability also allows them to deal massive burst damage and disable particularly tricky units. They are more expensive than Axemen, but that cost difference disappears depending on which Clan you’re running. You can make hordes of these cheaply when you run Bear Clan, for example.

5 berserkers

The Berserker is a beastly unit. They are very durable, surprisingly fast, and deal enough damage to be a problem for most other units. They are locked to the Wolf Clan, which is their main drawback, but they are also very easy to get going when you are the Wolf Clan.

Berserkers are immensely powerful early game units that will crush Axemen with ease, especially with support. Their ability to charge through units is also very powerful, allowing them to flank, take attacks from behind, and generally disrupt enemies. They are very effective at hitting archers behind a wall of enemies.

4 shield bearers

Shieldbearers aren’t good on offense, but they are monsters on defense. So much so that they can hold the line against almost anything and do it well. They have one of the highest HP totals in the game and the largest unit size. A few of these units can fill the core of your army and survive a staggering amount of punishment.

Related: Frozenheim – Survival Mode Guide

This is made even better by his ability, which increases his defense by a further 30 percent. This takes them from “one of the tankiest” to THE tankiest unit in the game. This ability also has no cooldown: it’s an alternate ability, which means you can hold your ground for days. The perfect anvil.

3 Housewives

Housecarls is the last unit you’ll have access to, but it’s one of the best. Housecarls combines Shield Bearer’s tanking ability with Berserker’s damage output. They are the ultimate infantry killer, and can effortlessly take on just about anything.

His ability is also top tier, dealing huge amounts of AOE damage and even making things bleed. A well placed unit of Housecarls can take out units in seconds. The only downside is that they’re locked to the Deer Clan, and even then, it’s a Level Four research.

two explorers

Scouts are absolutely useless in combat. They are terrible. They have the worst stats and die for everything in the game, but they are still one of the best units you can recruit. This is because they are really great at doing their namesake: exploration.

If you want to be successful in Frozenheim, you need Scout. You need vision at all times. Any faction and army is enhanced by the existence of a single unit of Scouts. Have them search for ambushes, enemy locations, and anything else you need. His ability to fling an eagle for even more vision is also invaluable.

1 archers

The only ranged unit in the game (not including siege units). Archers are easy to recruit early and have become the backbone of almost every army we’ve created. His damage is staggeringly high, much higher than anything in the game. Due to the nature of a ranged unit, they can safely deal this damage as well.

They can even disable friendly fire, increase their range, and with a little concentrated fire, they can take out units instantly. They are simply too good not to use. However, you need to keep them safe. They are very squishy once activated, but if you can keep them away from axes they will always do so.

Next: Frozenheim – Clan Breakdown