The Salsa Horsethief Carbon feels far more capable than most 120mm bikes, and effectively bridges the gap between shorter-travel 29ers and longer-travel AM / enduro bikes.
The new Giant Reign Advanced 27.5 1 is a strong contender in the All Mountain category, and will appeal to anyone spending a lot of time running steep, nasty trails.
Other bikes are better for lapping jumps in the bike park, but when it comes to hurtling down steep, rough trails, the Specialized S-Works Demo 8 is very hard to beat.