Star Wars Legion: Best imperial army lists of 2026

Looking for an effective Empire army list? Is the competitive scene appealing to you, and would you like to shine in major tournaments? In this article, I share the best Imperial army lists of 2026. They all come from the top 8 of the biggest Star Wars Legion tournaments held in Europe and the United States.

Continuously updated article

This is a living article: it will be regularly updated throughout 2026 with new army lists.

Summary

Foreword

As you browse through the top-performing army lists of 2026, you’ll notice a recurring pattern: certain units appear again and again — first and foremost the Imperial Dark Troopers, but also Moff Gideon, Director Orson Krennic, and the Death Troopers.

To help you better understand their role in these lists, it makes sense to briefly explain why these units are so popular in competitive play.

A word on Dark Troopers

To fully understand the effectiveness of Dark Troopers, you need to focus on two key aspects of their profile: their infinite courage value and their Unstoppable keyword.

The Unstoppable keyword allows the unit to activate twice in a single round, meaning it can attack twice during that round. The downside of this powerful ability is that the unit can only perform one move per activation. For Dark Troopers, this is a real drawback given their speed 1.

Their nonexistent courage value means Imperial Dark Troopers (IDTs) cannot receive suppression tokens. Beyond the obvious advantage of never panicking, there is another key benefit: they keep their standby tokens, which would normally be removed when a unit gains suppression. This is where Director Orson Krennic’s command card (Deploy the Garrison) or Moff Gideon’s (Moment of Consideration) synergize perfectly with these bipedal tanks by granting them those standby tokens. Combined with Unstoppable, this allows IDTs to potentially attack up to three times in a single round!

But what about their attack pool? To reach a strong damage output, you need to rely on their upgrades:

In 2026, the most commonly played upgrade in tournaments is the XS-IV Assault Cannon. This weapon increases the unit’s total attack pool to 7 black dice with Critical 1, for an average of 4.10 successes per volley. Since the IDTs can potentially attack up to 3 times per turn, this represents a combined dice pool of 21 black dice with Critical 3!

In close combat, the Dark Troopers are no slouches either in this configuration, rolling 4 red dice and 4 white dice. The Dark Troopers are therefore valued for their offensive versatility, representing a threat both at range and in close-quarters combat.

It is also quite common to see the Programmed Loyalty upgrade on Dark Troopers to increase the reliability of their attacks thanks to the Retinue: Commander keyword, allowing them (among other things) to gain an Aim token at the start of the turn if the IDTs are at range of a Commander.

When talking about battlefield leaders, Dark Troopers synergize particularly well with Moff Gideon and/or Director Orson Krennic, as their command cards are especially well-suited to Dark Troopers:

they provide standby tokens (Moment of Consideration and Deploy the Garrison), ideal for enabling up to 3 attacks per turn;
they allow Dark Troopers to be repositioned anywhere on the battlefield (You Have Something I Want), helping compensate for their low mobility;
they flood the battlefield with suppression tokens (Annihilation Looms), effectively locking down the entire table without hindering the Dark Troopers themselves.

Dark Troopers in short

Dark Troopers are valued for:
– their offensive versatility, being a threat both at range and in melee;
– their excellent durability, against both damage (Armor 3 and red defense dice) and suppression;
– and their ability to attack multiple times per turn.

A word on Death Troopers

One of the most appealing features of Death Troopers is their red defense dice with surge conversion. With 4 wounds, the unit has a value of 12 effective wounds, meaning it takes on average 12 hits to wipe it out. At 66 points, their Cost Per Effective Wounds (CPEW) sits at 5.5 points, meaning each wound costs 5.5 list points. That’s acceptable, but not outstanding—especially compared to Stormtroopers for example (5.25 points). On raw defensive efficiency alone, Death Troopers are therefore slightly overcosted, with Stormtroopers being preferable in that specific role.

BUT…

Adding the heavy weapon trooper with the DT-F16 completely changes the equation. For only 15 points, you gain a 2-wound leader, which is an extremely efficient upgrade. While this brings the unit up to 81 points, the new profile becomes far more attractive: with 6 wounds and red defense with surge conversion, their effective wounds rise to 18 points. CPEW drops to 4.5 points, placing Death Troopers among the most efficient durable units in the game! For comparison, the Rebel Bad Batch and Clan Wren also sit at 18 effective wounds, but with CPEW values of 8.33 points and 5.44 points respectively.

In practical terms, this means Death Troopers are extremely durable (18 effective wounds), do so at a ridiculously low cost (CPEW 4.5 points), and still bring a highly versatile offensive package with four different weapons—making them a consistent nuisance both at long range and in close combat.

Death Troopers in brief

The Death Troopers are not intrinsically efficient when taken at just 4 models. But with the highly cost-efficient DT-F16 upgrade, they become a benchmark for tanking efficiency relative to their cost.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the best lists of 2026 with these explanations in mind!

Free army lists

The army lists below have been ranked in the top 8 of tournaments with at least 30 participants. These lists allowed their players to win at least 4 games while suffering no more than one loss (4-1).
Only lists submitted on the Longshanks.org platform are included.

Imperial Agents with Riot Squads

1000 pts • 11 activations • Empire

Commander

Director Orson Krennic

Architect of Terror

Improvised Orders

Moff Gideon

Long Live the Empire

The Darksaber Gideon

Operative

Imperial Agent

Bringing Order to the Galaxy

Platoon Commander
Tenacity
Combat Armor Empire
Z-6 Riot Baton

Imperial Agent

Bringing Order to the Galaxy

Tip of the Spear
Command and Control Uplink
Heavy Blaster Pistol Empire

Corps

Stormtroopers

T-21 Stormtrooper
Stormtrooper Specialist
Targeting Scopes

Stormtrooper Riot Squad

KX-Series Security Droids
Tenacity

Stormtrooper Riot Squad

KX-Series Security Droids
Agent Kallus
Tenacity

Special Forces

Imperial Death Troopers

DT-F16
E-11D Config

Heavy

Imperial Dark Troopers

Programmed Loyalty
XS-IV Assault Cannon

Imperial Dark Troopers

LAAT/LE Patrol Transport

Imperial Tie Pilot
Armor-Piercing Shells
High-Energy Shells

Command cards

Voracious Ambition Moment of Consideration Die at My Hand

Deploy the Garrison Annihilation Looms You Have Something I Want

Standing Orders

Advantages

Advanced Intel Black Ops Strafing Run

Primary objectives

Supply Run Destroy Enemy Base Bring Them to Heel

Secondary objectives

Shifting Priorities Recover the Research Breakthrough

Performance

Player: Maktwist
Result: Winner (6-0) – Winter Open 2026 (Russia), 48 players.

List Commentary

This is a classic aggro-style list designed to exert immediate forward pressure. It relies on several units built for melee combat, specifically two squads of Imperial Special Forces (one led by Kallus to pin down enemy heroes) and an operative equipped with a Z-6 Baton.

The LAAT is utilized to deploy a unit in an advanced position, accelerating their entry into the fray. The objective is simple: hit hard and hit first. The list aims to maximize its chances of winning priority every round, thanks to Director Krennic’s Cunning keyword and the Command & Control Uplink on the second operative.