Warlords are the core mechanic revolving around Battles and how they play out in The Horus Heresy:Legions. Not only they serve as the Player's key unit and proxy avatar, they're the focus to defeat during any type of match.
Each Faction, in particular each Legion, will have a minimum of 4 Warlords to collect and choose to play with from the get go (any Expansion they were released), and 1 or 2 released some time after.
The "extra" Warlords could come from a Battle Pass reward (usually the last level reward) or from Events (if the new Warlord was in the victorious side of the Event). After the BP or Event ends, a Special Offer with them will be available for purchase shortly after, so that all Player might access them early. After that, they could be earned like any other Card (from a Crate or the Shop).
All Warlords are of the Rare, Epic or Legendary rarity (there are no Common Warlords). This rarity, however, doesn't correlate with their value (in the "meta" aspect), a "Green" Warlord could be leading the current meta, and be just as "good" as a "Golden" Warlord. This mean that the "quality" of each one will be determined by the ability and experience of the Player using them.
That said, there could be the case when some Warlords are "easy" (overpowered) or "hard" (many specific mechanics or cards needed to properly function) to use, and in some cases outright unplayable (way to underpowered for the current season). In the most extreme cases, a Balance Patch should be place to help them (thought with some it could take a long time till it happens).
All Warlords have Attack (generally 2) and Life (between 30, 35 and 40) stats values; and a Trait, Passive or Active ability (always at least one of those). Some will carry a "Special Card", or a "Reckoning/Whispers Card" (only Primarchs/Primarch-Tier ones) with them when a match starts.
Primarchs are the leaders of the Legiones Astartes, while Primarch-Tier Warlords are characters of great renown, or the leaders, of non-Astartes Factions (in the Lore), and both are always of the Legendary rarity. Only the Knight Houses Faction, the Traito/Loyalist Legios Factions and the Neutral Factions don't have this type of Warlords.
If you want to see which Warlords are in the Top current Meta (and their winning rating), check this page right HERE.
When playing Ranked (Standard or Legacy) and Practice Battles (these ones will display as "Friendly"), the match result will be displayed in the Warlord used (only victories and battles played). While it doesn't "change" anything game wise, it is a great way for you to see how well you're doing with that specific Warlord, and their win rate.
From the image above, we can infer by these stats, that this Warlord have a Win Rate of around 70% (more or less) when used. However, this doesn't take into account the Deck used, so have that in mind if the stats start to "go down", and change things accordantly.
Traitor Warlords
[Note below: Warlords of the first row are for the Standard Play, while those in the second row are for the Legacy Play]
