In this Stellaris origins tier list, we will explore some of the most powerful origins. Any of these origins can be very effective if used correctly. Regarding the overall power, it’s a bit complicated to pinpoint exactly how powerful is each Origin, but nevertheless, there are clear meta Origins and winners.
This Origins tier list is up-to-date for the latest 3.12 Patch and Machine Age DLC
Furthermore, don’t write off other origins since in Stellaris you can make almost anything work. With all the reworks from the latest DLC and patches, there are some key things to take into consideration compared to before, especially regarding Leaders and Politics. So without further ado, here is our Stellaris Origins tier list.
15. Here Be Dragons
Dragons in space…who doesn’t want that? We don’t think this origin is very strong, but it can be good in the right hands. Furthermore, it is really fun since you have your “pet” dragon in your local galaxy and you get to take care of him. The dragon will protect your homeworld from invaders and there are a few options in regard to what can you do with that dragon.
With the right steps, you can research the dragon and make your own. Combine them in your army and you have a very strong midgame fleet. All in all, one of the most fun origins in our Stellaris origins tier list.
14. Clone Army
You start off with 2 Ancient Clone Vat buildings. You build more and have 5 in total. Furthermore, your Admiral will have the Clone Army trait, and your spices will have the Clone Soldier trait. On top of that, your Ancient Clone Vat buildings will assemble your biological pops. If there’s one thing we know about Stellaris, is that you always need to have more pops and they are the key to a good empire.
With a lot of pops comes massive output of resources and it will give you a head start early in the game. We find that the most interesting thing about this origin is the archeological site that you get in your homeworld. It will start a chain event that will lead you to two choices, clone ascendency, and clone descendancy. Each provides specific bonuses and both are good paths.
13. Overtuned
Overtuned is a bit complicated because you can use it in a wrong and right way, unlike something like Prosperous Unification. The main perk of the Overtuned is the absurd amount of pop growth. Moreover, the ability to pick more traits is very flexible since you can literally choose to focus on anything you want at that point in the game: Science, Resources, Pop Growth, etc.
The main problem you’re going to have is with Districts, Upkeep, and Housing. You will need to develop a few Planets because, after a few decades, the Pop Growth can really skyrocket. Overall, a decent Origin that focuses on Traits.
12. Subterranean
Subterranean is an interesting way of playing the game. You basically need to somehow get the value out of all those extra Minerals you will get because of the Uncapped and improved Mining Districts. Lithoids can be interesting since their upkeep is reliant on Minerals instead of Food. Industrious Trait is also excellent since you want to max out your potential for Minerals.
Moreover, there are some Civics that can go very well with this Origin. Masterful Crafters and Agrarian Idyll are an obvious choice since they let you just get the Housing and more stuff from the non-city Districts. Another way of maximizing this potential is going for Slave Guilds. Overall, a very food Origin that lets you play around with Minerals, and forget about City Districts, and the conventional way of Planet development.
11. Void Dwellers
Void Dwellers are centered around playing with Habitats. Since Habitats have had a relatively recent change (they kinda count as Planets now). It’s a bit tricky to play and you will need to play a game or two to see and maximize its potential. Basically, the Habitats are dependent on the Systems they are built on. You will have to build tall and then expand in the later stages of the game but at the same time search for Systems that will be good for your Habitats and have a dedicated output that you want (Energy, Mining, etc.).
They generally provide excellent output because of the Void Dwellers’ origin. The main problem you’re gonna have with this origin is Influence and a lack of Alloys. This means that you can’t mindlessly expand to random useless systems and you will have to have a bit of an Alloy generation at some point.
10. Under One Rule
With all the leader changes, it’s natural that this Origin is not going to be weak. Leaders can be extremely powerful now and Under One Rule just takes it to another level. The essence of it is the Luminary Trait that your leaders get with a special Situation. Every 15 Points (points can be acquired through regular “game stuff” like expanding, etc.) your Luminary Trait levels up.
Luminary traits can be very good later on and you will need to make your Luminary immortal with The Fall event. Overall, the bonuses from the traits really stack up and become powerful. There will be some struggles to stay in power and potential civil wars, but it’s not hard to avoid this. We don’t want to spoil it too much for you.
9. Necrophage
We don’t recommend this origin if you are remotely new to the game. When we first tried Necrophage, it was a bit too much to grasp. The concept is relatively simple. You have the “overlords” of society and the servants. You sacrifice servants and make new rulers out of them every x year. This all is done in a special building called the Chamber Of Elevation. The overlords have bonus attributes and are worth much more than the regular population.
Sounds simple, but complicated in practice.
You can make some crazy builds with this origin but we just remember you will have to play it a few times in order to get a hang of it. You will start with two habitable worlds that have primitive civilizations. This means that in those worlds you can’t have more than 8 pops. They added this since Necrophage before was overpowered, but it still made it into our Stellaris origins tier list because they didn’t nerf it enough.
8. Imperial Fiefdom
Let’s start with our favorite one, the Imperial Fiefdom. The reason why we like this origin is that it’s really strong in some builds and it makes the game quite unique. You start off as a vassal of a big empire and by that, you have a choice of what type of vassal will you be. We usually recommend this build while playing Megacorp cause you get a fleet at the beginning and you have access to other empires from the start of the game.
Note: As of First Contact DLC and the changes regarding establishing communications with empires in the first encounter, the Imperial Fiefdom advantage is even more relevant, since now you instantly have the ability to place Branch Offices, as opposed to the new way of needing to assign Envoys and slowly establish communications with neighbors, the “first contact” is much slower now and that doesn’t go in favor of the Megacorp Branch Office mechanic.
This is especially good since the empire that you are subject to starts with a Gaia world. This means that you can open a very effective branch in that world and have a huge boost from the start. Be aware, that after a while, your overlord will collapse into smaller ones, and all chaos will ensue. Combining the usefulness, fun, and variety that this origin brings, this one makes it to the top of our Stellaris origins tier list. We consider this as “Stellaris Best Origin” considering everything from scenario variety, power, and overall fun.
7. Shattered Ring
Shattered Ring origin is primarily excellent with machine empires because the advantage of having habitability for everything overrides the negative aspect of Shattered Ring origin. You can still pretty much colonize every planet playing as Machines because of their inherit habitability buff. The basic idea is that you will have a Ring World (a Megastructure)preference, and you will start with a “scuffed Ring World” with amazing potential.
Another way of playing Shattered Ring is with a MegaCorp, because the Shattered Ring has a lot of districts for trade. If you are not going those two routes, getting Catalytic Processing is a must since you will pretty much struggle with Alloys. All in all a good but quirky origin that requires you to play a certain style in order to maximize its potential.
6. Teachers of the Shroud
We find this one very straightforward. You start off having the Mind Over Matter researched and your species will have the Latent Psionic trait that will give you a lot of different bonuses from the start. Furthermore, your Mind Over Matter origin doesn’t take up your ascension perk slot.
With the improved and reworked Leaders, this Origin is even better since a lot of the benefits of the Shroud revolve around improving Leaders. For example, in one game, we had extended the lifetime of Leaders for more than 100 years from Shroud benefits, on top of all other perks that it gives.
This is really important since, in the late game, you essentially get one free ascension slot when everything is filled up. You have all the groundwork to become close with the shroud and awaken your whole empire. The reason this is called “Stellaris most OP origin” is that you will have a path of ascension carved out for you and you reap all the benefits from it.
5. Ocean’s Paradise
Oceans Paradise is generally reserved for the tall build (playing the majority of the game with only a few planets). The bonuses you get from Ocean’s Paradise mainly revolve around the planet size and the Anglers trait that essentially supercharges your farmer pops.
A safe choice would be to combine it with a Megacorp and take Chief Marine Officer Civic for the extra trade value from farms. This, with something like a Bioreactor building, can be a good baseline and provide you with a lot of energy, food, and trade value for your Capital Planet. Overall, it’s safe to say it’s a nice Origin for Tall builds.
4. Scion
This one is interesting since you start as a vassal of a fallen empire. This empire will be Fanatic Spiritualist or Fanatic Materialist. You will have an access to them via a wormhole that leads to their home galaxy. You will get a fleet from them every 20 years and a resource boost from time to time. Furthermore, if you are losing a war with some empire, the Fallen Empire will come and help you.
This means that you will have a formidable ally from the start who will help you in a lot of ways, don’t underestimate a good starting position. This origin is one of the best but we don’t recommend it since it’s pretty boring. You get to play with fewer risks and it takes away some factors that make the game fun. There isn’t any other special reason why we put this in our Stellaris origins tier list besides that it’s very powerful.
3. Progenitor Hive
This one is a very fun origin and is one of our favorites to play. It can be only played if you are Hive-Minded. You have offspring leaders who inherit traits from previous leaders. Instead of Spawning Pools that normal hiveminds have, you will have Offspring Nests which will give you a good defensive army. You can also release Sectors as Subjects.
The biggest change is to your fleet. It will have -50% evasion, 50% fire rate, -50% accuracy, and -50% sublight speed. However, this can be mitigated as long as you have some Offspring Ships in the fleet or have an Offspring Outlook Starbase building. To cut it short, you will have a more powerful fleet if you play it correctly.
2. Resource Consolidation
If you are playing as a Machine Empire, you can’t go wrong with this origin. Your homeworld starts as a Machine World. You have a few blockers to clear and optimize your planet. Most importantly, all of your building slots are unlocked which saves a lot of headaches.
You have a few catches: blockers on the world, and no other useful planets in your home galaxy, which doesn’t affect you that much. Think of this origin as like Life-Seeded and Prosperous Unification. We recognize that Ocean Paradise, Life-Seeded, Resources Considilation, and Prosperous Unification can all be the same tier to our Stellaris origins tier list. It’s just practical and good in any situation.
1. Prosperous Unification
This origin is plain and simple. You get 4 pops and 2 districts more at the beginning of the game. Additionally, you get a modifier for happiness and a resource boost that lasts about 20 years. This is just very good since you have a good head start, especially compared to some other origins that are useless until later. If you are a beginner and don’t want to dabble too much with all the things in our Stellaris origins tier list, pick Prosperous Unification as it can work with anything.
Photo Credits: Paradox Interactive
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