§01
How to read this tier list
A letter grade is the least durable thing anyone can publish about a live-service game three days into its life. The 30 July launch update shipped with the client rather than as a separate patch, which is exactly why beta tier lists and pre-launch guides now disagree with what you see in game. So each placement here carries the reason and the direction of travel, because the direction is what stays true after the next balance pass.
- Tiers are a synthesis of the launch patch notes and launch-week creator guides, not win-rate data.
- One tier list cannot serve solo and trio at once — the same specialisation swings two tiers between them, so they are ranked separately below.
- Ranking by class hides the answer. A class is two kits, and Mercenary spans A to C in solo depending on which one you take.
- Nothing here is expensive to act on: talents reset for free and low-level class switching is free with a revert window.
§02
Overall tier list — current launch-season build
General-purpose ranking across both maps and both queue types. The direction column is the sourced part: it comes from the official notes through 12 August, which is why it is the column to trust when the letters go stale. The 12 August pass is the first that moved directions rather than only fixing bugs, and it moved them unevenly — two classes lost PvP damage in solo mode only, one was reworked in detail, and one was not touched at all.
| Tier | Class | Patch direction | Why it lands here |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Sorcerer | Buffed, then trimmed | Highest area damage in the game and melts bosses from range, and the launch build added fast-casting at zero energy, quicker freezes and a bigger thunder hitbox. On 12 August it took the first reduction that reaches this placement: PvP damage down in solo mode only, with PvE untouched, plus damage moved out of burn and into the direct hit |
| S | Withered Knight | Buffed | Went from the bottom of the beta lists to the most balanced all-round class: extended parry counter window, fixed Thorn Guide collision, and an entirely new Polearm & Shield path |
| A | Seer | Mixed | Support Seer is close to mandatory in a trio and got faster rune activation. Mace Seer took the heaviest nerfs in the patch, so the two halves of the class now sit in different tiers |
| A | Blackarrow | Nerfed three times | Still one of the safer solo scouts, and now the most-reduced class on the list: paralysis duration and stealth mobility at launch, uncharged-shot impact on 6 August, then on 12 August a solo-only PvP damage cut and three cooldowns raised — against one cooldown, Sonic Arrow, greatly reduced |
| B | Shadowstrix | Nerfed, then redirected | Still the strongest pure duelist, and losing stun stacking at launch turned it from a safe pick into a skill class. The 12 August pass is a steer rather than a cut: Spinning Slash Super Armor and Battle Frenzy piercing down and Phantom Shift costlier, against a faster Inspiring Impale and Wound Accumulation detonating at 8 stacks |
| B | Mercenary | Buffed, then left alone | The best first class in the game and the launch patch widened its perfect parry — but the damage ceiling is low and a competent ranged player kites the hammer indefinitely. The only class the 12 August pass did not touch at all, which matters more than it sounds when the two ranged classes above it were both reduced |
S
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Patch direction
- Buffed, then trimmed
- Why it lands here
- Highest area damage in the game and melts bosses from range, and the launch build added fast-casting at zero energy, quicker freezes and a bigger thunder hitbox. On 12 August it took the first reduction that reaches this placement: PvP damage down in solo mode only, with PvE untouched, plus damage moved out of burn and into the direct hit
S
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Patch direction
- Buffed
- Why it lands here
- Went from the bottom of the beta lists to the most balanced all-round class: extended parry counter window, fixed Thorn Guide collision, and an entirely new Polearm & Shield path
A
- Class
- Seer
- Patch direction
- Mixed
- Why it lands here
- Support Seer is close to mandatory in a trio and got faster rune activation. Mace Seer took the heaviest nerfs in the patch, so the two halves of the class now sit in different tiers
A
- Class
- Blackarrow
- Patch direction
- Nerfed three times
- Why it lands here
- Still one of the safer solo scouts, and now the most-reduced class on the list: paralysis duration and stealth mobility at launch, uncharged-shot impact on 6 August, then on 12 August a solo-only PvP damage cut and three cooldowns raised — against one cooldown, Sonic Arrow, greatly reduced
B
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Patch direction
- Nerfed, then redirected
- Why it lands here
- Still the strongest pure duelist, and losing stun stacking at launch turned it from a safe pick into a skill class. The 12 August pass is a steer rather than a cut: Spinning Slash Super Armor and Battle Frenzy piercing down and Phantom Shift costlier, against a faster Inspiring Impale and Wound Accumulation detonating at 8 stacks
B
- Class
- Mercenary
- Patch direction
- Buffed, then left alone
- Why it lands here
- The best first class in the game and the launch patch widened its perfect parry — but the damage ceiling is low and a competent ranged player kites the hammer indefinitely. The only class the 12 August pass did not touch at all, which matters more than it sounds when the two ranged classes above it were both reduced
§03
Solo tier list
Ranked by specialisation rather than by class, because the two halves of a class routinely land three tiers apart — Mercenary alone spans A to C. Placements are from the 3 August per-spec list cited below, which assumes purple gear: the source refuses to rank at green or blue because the power curve has not separated yet. Read this table with its date in mind. It is the one most exposed to the 12 August pass, because that pass reduced PvP damage in solo mode specifically — and it did so to Sorcerer and Blackarrow, who hold four of the six S-tier slots here. Nobody has re-ranked since, so the letters below are 3 August’s and this site will not invent replacements for them.
| Tier | Specialisation | Class | Why it lands here |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Stardust | Sorcerer | The largest power spike with gear of anything in the game, and it can hold a permanent move-speed buff |
| S | Fireball (Elemental) | Sorcerer | Called the third strongest solo pick outright. Slightly safer than Stardust because the casts are shorter and it can freeze |
| S | Dagger | Shadowstrix | Can re-enter true stealth repeatedly mid-fight with no heartbeat, and the thrown eye does not reveal it |
| S | Sword | Shadowstrix | Less trickery than Dagger but far better at chasing down a kill, which is why most duel-focused players run it |
| S | Hunter | Blackarrow | Barbed and Blood Fly arrows plus the evade shot. Punishes any melee stuck in an animation, and Paralysis shuts a Sorcerer out of the fight |
| S | Revenant | Seer | Placed at the bottom of S: enormously strong one-on-one, but hard to play and it closes kills slowly enough to lose to a third party |
| A | Blasphemer — right path | Seer | Top of A. The Zeal path that keeps super armour, and the source notes most players at launch do not yet know what it does |
| A | Lightning Strike (Elemental) | Sorcerer | Still a Sorcerer, so the damage is there, but it is the one Elemental skill that is hard to land against Shadowstrix or Blackarrow |
| A | Sword & Shield | Mercenary | Very high damage for a one-hander, high enough that the source argues it should be trimmed |
| B | Greatsword | Withered Knight | Low B. Good damage and in-fight mobility against inattentive opponents, but it cannot chase a target that decides to leave |
| B | Reduced cooldown | Withered Knight | Rated the same as Greatsword, because in practice it is the talent route you take while playing Greatsword |
| B | Perfect Parry | Mercenary | Strong in a vacuum, inconsistent in reality: the parry window is ping-dependent and will not land against a Sorcerer |
| B | Blasphemer — left path | Seer | End of B. Trades super armour for move speed and cursed mana, but every hit taken eats Zeal uptime, so the button can do nothing at all |
| C | Hammer | Mercenary | Your opponent has more evades than you have gap-closers. The source is explicit that you cannot play hammer alone — you need the sword cooldowns too |
| D | Polearm & Shield | Withered Knight | The bottom of the solo list on both voices in the video: the utility does not make up for how little damage it does |
S
- Specialisation
- Stardust
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why it lands here
- The largest power spike with gear of anything in the game, and it can hold a permanent move-speed buff
S
- Specialisation
- Fireball (Elemental)
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why it lands here
- Called the third strongest solo pick outright. Slightly safer than Stardust because the casts are shorter and it can freeze
S
- Specialisation
- Dagger
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Why it lands here
- Can re-enter true stealth repeatedly mid-fight with no heartbeat, and the thrown eye does not reveal it
S
- Specialisation
- Sword
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Why it lands here
- Less trickery than Dagger but far better at chasing down a kill, which is why most duel-focused players run it
S
- Specialisation
- Hunter
- Class
- Blackarrow
- Why it lands here
- Barbed and Blood Fly arrows plus the evade shot. Punishes any melee stuck in an animation, and Paralysis shuts a Sorcerer out of the fight
S
- Specialisation
- Revenant
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- Placed at the bottom of S: enormously strong one-on-one, but hard to play and it closes kills slowly enough to lose to a third party
A
- Specialisation
- Blasphemer — right path
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- Top of A. The Zeal path that keeps super armour, and the source notes most players at launch do not yet know what it does
A
- Specialisation
- Lightning Strike (Elemental)
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why it lands here
- Still a Sorcerer, so the damage is there, but it is the one Elemental skill that is hard to land against Shadowstrix or Blackarrow
A
- Specialisation
- Sword & Shield
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- Very high damage for a one-hander, high enough that the source argues it should be trimmed
B
- Specialisation
- Greatsword
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why it lands here
- Low B. Good damage and in-fight mobility against inattentive opponents, but it cannot chase a target that decides to leave
B
- Specialisation
- Reduced cooldown
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why it lands here
- Rated the same as Greatsword, because in practice it is the talent route you take while playing Greatsword
B
- Specialisation
- Perfect Parry
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- Strong in a vacuum, inconsistent in reality: the parry window is ping-dependent and will not land against a Sorcerer
B
- Specialisation
- Blasphemer — left path
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- End of B. Trades super armour for move speed and cursed mana, but every hit taken eats Zeal uptime, so the button can do nothing at all
C
- Specialisation
- Hammer
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- Your opponent has more evades than you have gap-closers. The source is explicit that you cannot play hammer alone — you need the sword cooldowns too
D
- Specialisation
- Polearm & Shield
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why it lands here
- The bottom of the solo list on both voices in the video: the utility does not make up for how little damage it does
§04
Trio tier list
The same specialisations, re-ranked for a three-stack — and this is where the list stops agreeing with itself. Mercenary inverts completely: the spec that sits in C solo is the one that reaches A in trios, and the spec at A solo drops to C. Trio also has no duos fallback, because matchmaking is solo or trio only.
| Tier | Specialisation | Class | Why it lands here |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Revenant | Seer | Named the best trio pick in the game outright, because it is the only hard support: team stuns, a shielding totem, an instant heal that also strips debuffs |
| S | Sword | Shadowstrix | Super armour lets it engage and disengage without being punished for overstepping — melee upside without the melee downside |
| S | Dagger | Shadowstrix | Explicitly the same level as Sword here; the source says the choice stops mattering in trios |
| S | Stardust | Sorcerer | Huge areas plus damage that forces evades out of the enemy team. The source cannot name a composition where it is bad |
| S | Fireball (Elemental) | Sorcerer | Magic damage, so it reads better into physical-damage-reduction stacking, and the raw numbers put it in S on their own |
| A | Hammer | Mercenary | The inversion. A real frontline that peels divers, and the unique hammer adds a spammable AoE that slows and cuts dodge distance |
| B | Blasphemer — right path | Seer | Top of B. It can wall a team and set up a kill, but it has roughly ten seconds of cooldowns to make something happen and contributes little after |
| B | Greatsword | Withered Knight | Called a fine melee class that simply struggles against what is sitting in S tier |
| B | Reduced cooldown | Withered Knight | Same placement and same reasoning as Greatsword |
| C | Sword & Shield | Mercenary | Down two tiers from solo. The source walks past a Mercenary to reach the back line rather than fighting one |
| C | Perfect Parry | Mercenary | Down from B. The verdict is blunter here — parrying does nothing for a team fight |
| D | Blasphemer — left path | Seer | Same failure as solo, magnified: no super armour in a format where you will be stagger-locked by someone |
S
- Specialisation
- Revenant
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- Named the best trio pick in the game outright, because it is the only hard support: team stuns, a shielding totem, an instant heal that also strips debuffs
S
- Specialisation
- Sword
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Why it lands here
- Super armour lets it engage and disengage without being punished for overstepping — melee upside without the melee downside
S
- Specialisation
- Dagger
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Why it lands here
- Explicitly the same level as Sword here; the source says the choice stops mattering in trios
S
- Specialisation
- Stardust
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why it lands here
- Huge areas plus damage that forces evades out of the enemy team. The source cannot name a composition where it is bad
S
- Specialisation
- Fireball (Elemental)
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why it lands here
- Magic damage, so it reads better into physical-damage-reduction stacking, and the raw numbers put it in S on their own
A
- Specialisation
- Hammer
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- The inversion. A real frontline that peels divers, and the unique hammer adds a spammable AoE that slows and cuts dodge distance
B
- Specialisation
- Blasphemer — right path
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- Top of B. It can wall a team and set up a kill, but it has roughly ten seconds of cooldowns to make something happen and contributes little after
B
- Specialisation
- Greatsword
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why it lands here
- Called a fine melee class that simply struggles against what is sitting in S tier
B
- Specialisation
- Reduced cooldown
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why it lands here
- Same placement and same reasoning as Greatsword
C
- Specialisation
- Sword & Shield
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- Down two tiers from solo. The source walks past a Mercenary to reach the back line rather than fighting one
C
- Specialisation
- Perfect Parry
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why it lands here
- Down from B. The verdict is blunter here — parrying does nothing for a team fight
D
- Specialisation
- Blasphemer — left path
- Class
- Seer
- Why it lands here
- Same failure as solo, magnified: no super armour in a format where you will be stagger-locked by someone
§05
PvP and duelling tier list
Player kills are the only deaths with no recovery, so duelling strength is worth ranking on its own. The launch patch trimmed crowd control across the board — the biggest single nerf was ice chain CC.
| Tier | Class | Why |
|---|---|---|
| S | Shadowstrix | Still the strongest 1v1 kit in the game even after losing its crowd-control chains |
| A | Sorcerer | Wins from range and punishes anyone who fails to close, but folds the moment they do |
| A | Withered Knight | Reach plus charge-while-blocking makes it very hard to open on safely |
| B | Blackarrow | Lost both paralysis duration and stealth mobility, which were the tools that made it scary in duels |
| B | Seer | Blasphemer pressure survived the patch, but the Mace nerfs removed most of its duel threat |
| C | Mercenary | The hammer is slow enough to be kited indefinitely — its job is closing distance, not trading |
S
- Class
- Shadowstrix
- Why
- Still the strongest 1v1 kit in the game even after losing its crowd-control chains
A
- Class
- Sorcerer
- Why
- Wins from range and punishes anyone who fails to close, but folds the moment they do
A
- Class
- Withered Knight
- Why
- Reach plus charge-while-blocking makes it very hard to open on safely
B
- Class
- Blackarrow
- Why
- Lost both paralysis duration and stealth mobility, which were the tools that made it scary in duels
B
- Class
- Seer
- Why
- Blasphemer pressure survived the patch, but the Mace nerfs removed most of its duel threat
C
- Class
- Mercenary
- Why
- The hammer is slow enough to be kited indefinitely — its job is closing distance, not trading
§06
Where the early lists disagree
Being straight about the uncertainty is more useful than a confident letter. Three genuine disputes are live right now, and each one is a reason to retest rather than trust a launch-week ranking.
- Dagger versus Sword Shadowstrix: the per-spec list puts Dagger ahead in solo, and the second player brought onto the same stream immediately argued they should swap — Sword took a nerf, but Dagger is the one almost nobody has actually played. Two people at the top of the game, disagreeing live.
- Blackarrow is being ranked around a bug. The source deliberately excludes its dash-evade interaction from every placement because the developers have confirmed a fix, so any Blackarrow tier you read elsewhere may be ranking a version that is about to stop existing.
- Sorcerer: the community is loudly asking for a nerf while the launch patch actually buffed it. If the developers respond, the S placements above are the first ones to move.
- Mace Seer: it ran the beta and took the heaviest nerfs of the update, so anything written before 30 July rates it far too highly.
- Withered Knight: the skill widely rated its weakest at launch had both its energy cost and cooldown reduced in the same notes, so launch-week verdicts on that skill are already out of date.
§07
What the source did not place
A tier list on stream is a board being dragged around, and the captions only carry what was said out loud. Four placements are visible on the board but never spoken, so they are left out of the tables above rather than guessed at — a letter we inferred would look exactly like a letter the source published.
- Archer (Blackarrow), solo — discussed at length against Hunter, but the tier is never named. The source prefers Hunter because Barbed and Blood Fly are the arrows worth carrying.
- Hunter and Archer (Blackarrow), trio — both are discussed, including the warning that Revenant Seer cleanses most of what a Blackarrow lands, but neither is given a letter.
- Lightning Strike (Elemental Sorcerer), trio — described as "a worse version of Sorcerer" that fails to do the one thing the class is for, with no tier stated.
- Polearm & Shield (Withered Knight), trio — condemned in the strongest terms on the page, "no reason to ever play this", but again with no letter spoken.