Zoeskyfarm's Teir 1 Fig List
as of April 25th 2008

from the 3 sets avalable
-Dungeons of Dread
-Desert of Desolation
-Night Below

Champions
Death Knight - Amazing melee, ranged, and champ powers
Eternal Blade - One of the best Champs due to the Champ power and Initive boost
Wulfgar - charge with the horsy
Cleric of Pelor - one of the best Civilization Champs
Delver Sergent - has been doing well with Koa-Toa Whip
Hobgoblin Marshal - cheap champ good powers
Koa-Toa Whip - x 7 look out
Mercenary General - tier 1-1.5 works well with human sellswords! As more figures come into the scene he will be tier 1

The "Meat of the Warband"
Exarch of Tyranny - Bladestorm, good AC and attack bonus
Nightmare - great results with a Mind Flayer Lich
Astral Stalker - well rounded stats, ranged and melee
Champion of Dol Dorn - Defender, good combo with EB, High AC, good powers
Drider - fodder killer (slashing darkness), great tech piece, conceal
Digester - 3 or 4 are deadly, great cone, good ac and cost
Thundertusk Boar - great with Champion of Dol Dorn
Warhorse - great with Wulfgar and Wild Mages
Arcadian Avenger - x 4 w/ Cleric of Pelor
Drow Spiderguard - low cost for great powers, attack and damage bonus
Babau - cheap, and effective in swarms
Howling Hag - great cone, the more hags, the better

Fodder/Filler
Deathjump Spider - Death from above
Boneshard Skeleton - boom, deathburt for 7 pts (but be carefull where you place it)
Merchant Guard - cheap bodyguard
Kobold Archer - great ranged damage, especially with EB power
Darkmantle - Stagger for 6 pts
Farmer - best 3 pts you'll ever spend
Human Sellsword - Killing Blow, attack bonus leaves everyone hanging, goes well with Mercenary General, also sits nice on a warhorse. With the Merc General this is a tier 1 piece.

Runners up/possible teir 1s yet to be determined/counters to the meta

Champions
Mind Flayer Lich - Changes to pit rules have scaled back the power of this. Now Tier 1.5
Frost Giant Jarl - Was very powerful in beta, got nerfed in release, Tier 1.5.
Large Shadow Dragon - Same as FGJ - Tier 1.5 Can win but has to work harder than Tier 1 figures.
Bralani - Tries to fill too many roles, needs better pieces for synergies, tier 1.5
Hobgoblin Marshal - needs better synergies then out there currently. Tier 1.5
Lady vol - (champ) perhaps to expensive, lots of amazing stuff, ac 30, def 28, great attack and damage, but you pay for it.
Vampire Vizier - cool powers, good attack and damage
Dwarf Warlord - Drive Into Peril, good ac, attack bonus, and champ powers, synergizes well with other Dwarves
Dwarf Battlemaster - Rock Solid, +4 DEF (Fort), Champ 3 for 31 pts, good champ power options
Militia Archer - Tier 1.5 very useful tech piece

Meat and Fodder
Halfling Paladin - great healer
Ice Archon - great ac, attack, damage and speed, Solid yet a bit expensive
Warrior Wight - good, when you have good rolls
Visejaw Crocodile - x4 w/ EB
Berserk Flesh Golem - Resist 5 All
Cerebrilith - immune lightning Koa-Toa Whip killer, but can it stand up to the rest of the meta?
Grick - Resist 5 All (fodder)
Gelatinous Cube - Engulf could be sweet, biggest down side is ac 14
Wyvern - sting, decent ac and def, F8
Balhannoth - to unpredictable but interesting powers like Reality Burst
Osyluth - Reaping Claws w/ melee reach, Fearful Presence, good ac, immune fire
Vrock - Mobile Melee Attack, good beater with cool bursts powers, has flight 8, good ac
Drow Enforcer - good ac and great powers
Large Gold Dragon - Tier 1.5 - Can win but has to work hard. Very survivable and hard to take down
Dread Wraith - Tier 1.5 - easy to hit but at 1/2 damage to all attacks it has effective 160 hp. Good synergy with death knight.
Rage Drake - Tier 1.5 - As soon as a good orc hitter comes out thes mount will explode onto the tier 1 scene.
Capricious Copper Dragon - Tier 1 or 1.5 (depending on who you talk to). Hordekeeper is brutal vs high fodder warbands. Good AC/HP/hit/dmg.
Orc Banebreak Rider - Tier 1.5 - ignores difficult terrain!
Yuan-Ti Malison - Tier 1.5 - hasnt really been explored yet but an awesome ranged piece that has some synergies.
Raistlin Majere - Tier 1.5 tech piece can be VERY useful

Here is what is obvious right now (to me) and by all means, add to the list i wont get them all. Or argue to have some taken off. I realize that this might be a brutal attempt at getting the teir 1 stuff right it is a bit to early to be saying what is what, its just my opinion. And i would like this list to getting better with everyone's reasonings. This of course will change with each release of old stats and the qualifiers.

Cheers,
-zsf

I don't think fodder should be considered Tier1 (esspecially since nearly every sub-8pt piece is listed).
 
Maybe fodder is 'teir'1 but it needs a different catergory. (couldn't help myself!)