How to Read the Broken Arrow Tier List (cost-efficiency by ELO)
Our Broken Arrow tier list ranks units by economic value, not raw kills: kills per point, damage trade ratio and refund rate — and why the rankings shift between low and high ELO.
What the tier list measures
A unit that gets a lot of kills but costs a fortune isn't necessarily good. Our tier list ranks units by value per point spent: how much work a card does relative to its cost. That's what actually wins games on a fixed 10,000-point budget.
Each unit gets a composite value-score from two signals: cost-efficiency (kills per point of cost) and trade ratio (damage dealt versus damage received). We rank both within an ELO bracket and average them, then sort into S / A / B / C / D tiers.
Kills per point vs trade ratio
Kills-per-point rewards cheap, spammable units that rack up damage and assists — cheap recon IFVs and scout vehicles often top this. Trade ratio rewards units that deal far more than they take, including expensive tanks and air-defense that win exchanges outright.
Combining both stops the list from being dominated by pure spam. A 45-point scout and a 280-point Abrams can both be S-tier for very different reasons — one for raw efficiency, the other for crushing trades.
Why rankings change with ELO
Unit value isn't constant — it depends on who's playing. At low ELO, forgiving units and brute-force tools shine; at high ELO, micro-intensive and information units pull ahead as players extract more from them.
That's why the same unit can be B-tier at 500–1000 and S-tier at 2000+. Always read the tier list at the bracket you actually play — meta advice from a different skill band can mislead you.
Using it to build a deck
Anchor your deck with a few high-value efficient cards in each role, then fill gaps for coverage (recon, anti-air, logistics) even if those cards aren't top-tier. A deck of only S-tier units with no AA still loses to aircraft.
Pair the tier list with the economy guide: cheap, efficient units keep you under the upkeep ceiling, so cost-efficiency and sustainability reinforce each other. Check the live Meta page for current tiers and recent risers and fallers.