I Think You Need to See a Specialist
If you are going to do something, you should do your best at it. This isn't just good life advice, it also goes for 40k armies. If you can outshoot or out-assault the enemy army, you've got a huge leg up on them. If you have significantly more powerful assault units than them, any points they've spent on assault are effectively wasted. That means that you are effectively playing with a point advantage.

When I played my Genestealer army, I was secure in the knowledge that any time I came up against an assault-oriented army, it would be nearly an auto-win. The reason was those darn Genestealers. With Initiative 6, they went before almost anything else, meaning they could wipe out whole squads before they got to attack back. Tanks, Greater Daemons, Khorne Berzerkers, it didn't matter. Poof. This was partly due to their speed and partly due to how powerful Rending was at the time. Since then, Rending has taken several hits (doesn't happen as often, doesn't effect really heavy vehicles, gets watered down a bit by wound allocation) so they aren't really _the_ apex assault unit anymore, but they are still pretty effective. There are different kinds of powerful assault unit, but for this, the unit must have a good chance at wiping out good-sized enemy units before they receive more than minor damage in return. One way to achieve this is by having a high initiative. Like my Genestealers, a high-initiative unit does its damage before the enemy gets to attack back. This obviously reduces or eliminates enemy return damage. At the opposite end of the spectrum you have units like Assault Terminators with Thunderhammers and Storm Shields. Almost any enemy will go first, but few can do real damage to this unit in one turn, and the Hammernators will cave in a lot of skulls when you get down to Initiative step 1. Having multiple units like this means that the enemy army will have a difficult time avoiding them and won't be able to pick off weaker units or gang up on a single unit as easily.

The Genestealer Army, ready to chow down.

Having more effective shooting than the enemy gives you a big advantage, too. While it doesn't neuter their shooting like assault neuters the enemy assault, it still gives you that advantage. If you can outshoot them, you can force them to come to you. That means you can take better advantage of cover (since they have to move) and even the less-optimal heavy weapons. (The optimal heavy weapons will presumably be able to stay in place to shoot you, but the squads that have the Heavy weapons in addition to other things may have to move to make use of those other things. You can also use your shooting to take out their best shooting first, making them progressively less effective. While you will still be losing shooting as well, your firepower advantage will quickly sway the contest in your favor. Even if you don't go first, the fact that you have more firepower will more than just even the odds.

Not all armies will be able to achieve full-on shooting or assault superiority. (Tau, for example, will never make an effective assault army.) Many armies will be able to do one or the other very effectively, but the specialist armies will be able to beat them in their specialties. For example, very few shooty Space Marine armies will be able to outshoot a shooty Imperial Guard army. Similarly, very few assaulty Space Marine armies will be able to beat an assaulty Tyranid army. Basically, make sure that your army can handle the role you are giving it against the widest variety of possible opponents. If your army can't handle one role with perfect superiority (or you are trying to build a hybrid list) then you should consider handling another role with the best you possibly can.

Hire a Professional
Often you don't want to devote your entire army to one concept, so you have to use different elements effectively. An example would be a primarily shooty Space Marine army that features some counter-assault units. When you do this, make sure you get the best ones that you possibly can. Second-rate backup plans aren't really good plans. If they aren't powerful enough for you to be able to rely on them, they just aren't good enough, unless they have some other very important use or feature. Kroot, for example, kind of suck at assaults. On the other hand, they are great at providing cover and blocking assaults to their Tau compatriots. Their utility makes up for their lack of effectiveness at what is supposed to be their best form of combat. Basically, you want to make sure you get the most out of the points you _do_ spend on different elements.

My Godzilla army.

A good example from my own armies here would be my Godzilla army. Most Godzilla armies at the time used Gaunts or even Rippers for Troops, because very cheap Troops meant you could spend more points on your Monstrous Creatures. On the other talon, I used Genestealer Troops as my assault backup. I also used more than the minimum numbers for my Genestealer units. Even though the bulk of my army was spent on shooty Monstrous Creatures, I knew that my Genestealers would be able to handle pretty much anything that might make it to my lines. In fact, except against the most dangerous assault units, I could almost ignore them with my shooting to take down the enemy shooting, since the Genestealers rarely needed help tackling any enemy assault. I wasn't willing to just spend a lot of points on my assault units, I wanted to get the best that I could for the price. If I'd used lesser units, such as Hormagaunts or even Raveners, I wouldn't have been able to rely on them as much, even if I spent just as many points. Sometimes only the best will do.

Not only do we need the unit to win a battle, we need it to win a war. If the unit takes so much damage during its first combat that it is nearly worthless afterwards, its not effective enough. We need it to win at least 2-3 battles. If we are talking about assault units, you'll need a unit that has either high Initiative and high dmage or high damage and high resilience. High Initiative only works if you can do enough damage to mostly wipe out the enemy before they can strike back. High damage only matters if you are still around to dish it out. Generally the best units to use in this fashion are Deathstars, or units that are nearly deathstars. Examples would be Thunderhammer/Stormshield Terminators, Nob Bikers, some Seer Councils, Units of 2-3 Carnifi and a Prime, etc. Sometimes Tyranid Shrikes can work in this role (good initiative, fantastic damage) as well. With most of these units, they will be most effective in moderate numbers. Too many of them and the unit is too expensive for your army. Too few and they won't be able to wipe out units quickly and will very quickly lose effectiveness.

Cheap, efficient Meltas, right where you need them.

When it comes to the heavy artillery, the principle is slightly different, but only slightly. You can't simply use a deathstar to make all their shooting nearly worthless, so you want to make sure you get the most bang for your points. The perfect unit here will be the one that gives you the best heavy weapons for the cheapest price. Figure out what roles you need your heavy weapons to play, then pick the best weapons for those roles. Then go down the list and work out how to get the most of the best weapons for the fewest points. Sometimes this will be obvious, but some units can surprise you. Do the math, it's worth it. If your shooting units are 10% more efficient and you've spent 1000pts on them, then you've effectively gotten an extra 100pts in your army. 2100pts vs 2000 isn't a massive advantage, but I know which way I'd bet.

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