Overview
Welcome to the real time arena (RTA) PvP tier list for beginners! Due to having issues with making this on Epic7x.com, I will have to use this on here. This list consist of the opinions of watching top streamers in higher ranks (Gold/Master/Challenger) and also personal experience of climbing from Bronze to high Silver.
This tier list assumes you have your characters geared well. Here is how each tier is ranked accordingly:
- S - Top tier character. Always contested picks in most matches.
- A - Good characters that are picked often but usually not banned.
- B - Decent picks based on opponent team.
- C - Pocket picks and can work well against certain teams.
- D - Not recommended.
Anyone that isn't listed means I never saw them picked by opponents or used by many people.
RTA Ranks
The point system is currently like this:
- Bronze -> 1000 to 1199 pts
- Silver -> 1200 to 1399 pts
- Gold -> 1400 to 1599 pts
- Master -> 1600 to 1799 pts
- Challenger -> 1800+ pts
Most people will be in Bronze, so often times you will see pocket picks and some unique picks. Once you get to silver and higher, all the top tier picks will show up almost every time.
Tier S
Maid Chloe
The best healer and attacker buffer for RTA. Allows you to pick very aggressive damage dealers and still come out on top. She is countered by Basar and other AoE strippers, but remains highly valuable to any offensive team composition. Her soul burn also helps reduce her S3 to only 4 turns. Good artifacts for her include Potion Vial, Water's Origin, Idol's Cheer and Celestine.
SS Bellona
Seaside Bellona is just too good. She can counter AoE cleave teams by just surviving. She can do damage and apply defense break via her S2 without needing to move. So this gives her flexibility to be built either slow/tanky/damage or speed/damage. She is very versatile and is a highly contested pick in most matches. Her S3 also hard counters fire damage picks like Kayron, Melissa, Cermia etc.
Check out some of Zodi's matches with SSB:
Arbiter Vildred
Just like Seaside Bellona, he can also deal damage without having to move due to his passive revive when dying. Good artifacts for him are ML Dreamblade and Alexa's Basket. Both are going to swing the battle heavily in your favor if their effects proc.
He can be countered by having a tankier team with damage mitigation(defense buff, anti crit, Aurius etc.) or bringing specific characters with extinction (Lilibet, Specimen Sez). However, he still does truck loads of damage and when paired with other AoE attackers or CR pusher, he becomes even scarier.
Charles
The king of RNG. With Elbris Ritual Sword artifact, he counters very often, much like what you see in Arena defenses. His S1 can also proc into an S2, even more so when the enemy is buffed. That makes him a very good attacker since enemies are bound to attack your allies. He is also strong against cleave teams due to this. He can also act as the attack buffer as well.
The best set on him is definitely counter/immunity for RTA. However, it is very hard to get really good stats with it, so most go with either speed/immunity or some variation of it.
Basar
Basar is great in RTA due to his S3 being able to counter many buffers and push them back by 30% combat readiness. If enemy team is running Maid Chloe or any buffer, Basar can really turn the battle in your favor. His S2 also nullifies enemy damage dealer's attack. He is usually built very fast to go first, but I have also seen slower Basars. Best set for him is Speed/Hit or Speed/Immunity with 100%+ effectiveness and 200 to 240+ speed.
He can be countered by ML Tywin or other fire damage dealers due to the 50% miss chance against fire.(Kayron, Melissa etc.).
Martial Artist Ken
ML Ken is a great bruiser or damage dealer depending on how he is built. A full damage ML Ken with strong protection behind ML Ceci/Crimson Armin or revivers like ML Chloe/Ruele is going to be hard to go against, especially if you are running a very squishy team.
With him around, your opponents can't go full damage and need some tankiness or damage mitigation to not get solo'ed by him. Burns/stuns works great against him.
Apocalypse Ravi
A strong bruiser that can revive if she kills someone. The good thing about her is she can be tanky and still do enough damage to kill most damage dealers. This makes her extremely valuable against very offensive comps with big damage dealers like Assassin Coli, Cermia or even Seaside Bellona.
Having her on counter set with high health and critical damage is going to ruin a lot of people's day when counter procs often. Crimson seed is a good artifact to use for RTA.
Ruele of Light
Ruele is the more defensive version of Maid Chloe. The thing is she has built in cleanse and a full revive for an ally. She does really well in a bruiser comp as your team will not be easy to cleave and there is always a chance of a come back as long as she survives.
Her innate base stats means she will have high health, good defense and some effect resistance. She is often picked in gold+ matches. She isn't banned often but can draw bans if your team selection is full of Tier S or A picks.
Tier A
Fallen Cecilia
Because of the presence of Basar, F Ceci gets countered pretty hard for the first few turns unless the enemy brings a cleanser with it. The best artifact in RTA for her is still Elbris Ritual Sword for provoke and disruption. If the enemy has too many damage dealers though, this could back fire.
Her S2 passive shield is still very valuable since it protects squishy DPS and also Bruisers to make them more durable. Basar is usually a perma ban if you like to use her as your bruiser/protector.
Krau
Krau holds the valuable defense buff that provides some damage mitgation, especially against AoE cleavers. His S3 can also be used as a nuke (as it ignores defense) to take out key opponents when low on health. Holy Sacrifice and Aurius are both good artifacts in RTA for him.
The issue is you will want health, speed and 85%+ effect resistance to not get provoked easily. The gear requirements are quite high in order to get decent stats on all 3.
Auxiliary Lots
A well geared Auxiliary Lots is very good in cleave teams as it instantly allows the DPS to take out some key units. He may not always outspeed well geared Assassin Coli or Assassin Cidd, but when the opponent doesn't pick any speed units, he will always guarantee first move.
He can also hold the Tagehel's ancient book, allowing you to soul burn many DPS's attack for more damage. His S3 silence can also be clutch at times. He is a very good pick if you like the use cleave teams. Suggested speed is 240+.
Kayron
Kayron is surprisingly good in RTA due to him being self sufficient, since he can silence via exclusive equipment S3, provide himself an attack buff and he survives at least one hit due to his passive S2. His S1 becomes AoE as long as he has a buff. If you run an attack buffer, Alexa's Basket or Moonlight Dreamblade, he can be your sole offense unit with supporters as long as the enemy doesn't have any water attackers. He also has a surprise factor that he can be either very fast or very slow.
A well geared Kayron hits hard and sometimes running Dust Devil can make S1 do some crazy monster hits. However, he is countered pretty hard by Seaside Bellona and most water units, so avoid using it against them. Shoutout to Kia Soul for his Kayron and ML Ken vids!
Assassin Cidd
Assassin Cidd has one of the highest base speed and is very hard to outspeed unless you have some stellar speed substats from all gear parts. He is there to stop the opponent from using soul burn skills and also prevent a unit from going next.
With the evasion passive buff he gets, he gets a little bit of endurance and can take at least 1 hit before going down. He can stifle Basar and other speed units if they are not running immunity set.
Assassin Coli
Assassin Coli is a really good unit for RTA in certain situations and does a lot of damage when decently geared. She, like Assassin Cidd, can be used to take out key speed units with her S3, especially when soul burned. Very well geared ones can also take out most squishy DPS in 1 shot, silencing neighbouring enemies. She thrives when enemy doesn't bring any AoE units. She does even better during late frenzy mode stages since her damage will sky rocket when enemy has less max health.
Her weakness is that she is easily taken out by AoE cleaves and also from counter/set units like Charles, ML Ravi and ML Ken. It can totally ruin her day.
Faithless Lidica
Faithless Lidica is also another good pick for trying to go first. Her base speed isn't the best but she can contest against Basar to go first. So whoever goes first gets the advantage. The only downside is that you cannot guaranteed the buff strips on her S2 like Basar can.
She can also reset key opponent skill cooldown as well. Other than that, if she can't go first in your cleave team, your team will most likely be in trouble.
Lilias
Lilias is a knight that is very versatile. She can be built as a support knight or damage knight. Since her S3 borrows attack from the strongest attacker + cleanses debuff off entire team, it makes sense to run at least 2 DPS to make sure her S3 does good damage. Crit rate and Crit damage are bonus stats to have aside from health and speed.
She can also provoke key units for 2 turns and her S1 is RNG dual attack with any ally. This is a really good kit to have in RTA and definitely a good pick as a support. Aurius, Adamant Shield or Hilag Lance are all good choices depending on your playstyle.
Tier B
Alencia
Alencia is a decent pick if you are looking for a tanky bruiser that can deal some damage, strip and provide defense break. Her Mind's Eye passive is a bit less reliable than Charle's counters. However, she is a good pick as you can also build her full damage (HP% and Crit damage) for some good damage. Surprise people with it.
She is a utility pick and is very good versus buff heavy teams. However, she still loses out to Basar in terms of going first.
Diene
Diene is another decent pick behind Maid Chloe since her she has anti-crit buff and barrier. She can help mitigate a lot of damage and she is the second choice for those that don't have Maid Chloe.
Making her fast allows her to cycle her protection skills faster. Rod artifact is the best on her. If you have a dedicated healer, then Magahara's Tome is also another option.
Cidd
A well geared Cidd can take out water threats like Seaside Bellona if you are running a speed team. He needs to soul burn to guarantee the kill. However, he will have trouble against proof of valor SSB with ML Cecilia barrier protection + Aurius artifact, so it won't always work.
Purrgis
A good pick against non fire teams. He has the counter mechanic (AoE) that can slow/stun as well, so hitting him is a no-no. If the enemy team brings non SSB cleave teams, this guy will be countering for days. The hard part is making him tanky enough while still having enough damage to get his counters off.
Bringing buffers like Maid Chloe, Diene or defense buffers like Krau, Alencia, Maya is going to give him more durability.
Violet
Violet himself is a good enough counter pick against SSB since he can reduce opponent attack. However, can your team survive SSB onslaught is the question. A well built Violet can cause issues for heavy water teams due to his counter mechanic.
He does get hard countered by very offensive teams that can do too much damage for him to survive.
Ravi
Ravi can be a good pick if you need a bruiser to deal with people like Charles or Violet. Best brought to a bruiser team with defense break to really take advantage of her innate tankiness due to lifesteal. Crimson Seed artifact is quite good on her to avoid getting debuffed.
Ken
Similar to Ravi, but brings defense break to the equation. He can do very well against most teams, even water ones, as long as it isn't Seaside Bellona. His S3 can also stun, which is quite useful in niche situations. A fast Ken with good damage can surprise a lot of people.
Sez
The Sez is back in RTA due to his S3 mechanics. Best paired with attack buff and CR pusher like Aux Lots. He goes first, soul burn S3 for big damage and take out the main threat while the rest of your team cleans up the remaining.
The strategy fails if he misses, gets sniped out or can't go first.
Researcher Carrot
A good pick to deal with tanky/bruiser teams due to her burn. She does need a good supporting cast to keep her alive to give her the chance to burn her enemies to death. Another good pick alongside her is Silverblade Aramintha.
Elena
Another good pick against cancers like Arbiter Vildred and Seaside Bellona. She reduces AoE damage and has AoE invincibility for the team. She can also help cleanse debuffs. Overall a good pick as long as there are no buff strippers on the enemy team.
Yuna
Another good attack buffer for cleave teams. She also has the greater attack buff gamble and when it triggers on any of your DPS, you can kill your enemies quite quickly. Speed/Crit with 220+ speed is recommended.
Champion Zerato
A situational pick against heavy debuffers. He doesn't always work against high damage Seaside Bellona due to how much damage she does, but works wonders against people like Basar or Silver Blade Aramintha.
Tywin
A good pick when not going against Basar or buff strippers. You want to bring a mage with Tagahel's to allow him to soul burn S3 into S2 for the DPS to wreck havoc. He gets screwed if enemy has immunity and you don't have a buff stripper like ML Lidica, Sage Ball & Sezan or Basar.
Vivian
Brings 3 turn immunity and attack buff for the team. Issue is she is quite squishy if you built her fast or full damage. Takes some good gear to balance her. However, she can be used to either cleave or be the attack buffer.
DJ Basar
DJ Basar is really good when your opponent does not pick anyone that can assassinate him right from the get go. Assassin Coli and Assassin Cidd are 2 of the biggest threats against him. So if he is not tanky enough, he will not get to move. If your gear quality is really good, you can maybe outspeed those 2, but highly unlikely. Once he gets his S3 off, it is very good for your team, provided the enemy doesn't bring buff strip.
Challenger Dominiel
A good single target damage dealer that brings utility for a cleave team. Her crit chance passive lowers her need for having very fast speed and allows her to invest into attack and crit damage. She can also hold Tagehel's Book, allowing her or her teammates to soul burn. She can be a good pick in cleave comps.
Judge Kise
A situational pick as long as enemy doesn't bring a combo of ML Ken, Charles, SSB, or Arbiter Vildred. She does really well against bruiser teams with no counter attacks. Aux Lots will be key to using her.
The other option is to use her as a fast opener to reduce enemy skill cooldown, but will get screwed by immunity sets.
Blood Blade Karin
A bit of a wild card. Can work really well when paired with some protection or revivers like SS Achates. If she is left with low health, she can potentially cleave teams with soul burn. She either needs Aux Lots or SS Achates in cleave comps to deal big damage.
Shooting Star Achates
A situational pick as a revive, especially with Blood Blade Karin. She can also grant the immortality buff, which is also a great synergy for Kayron or any good DPS that hits hard.
Specimen Sez
He needs stuns to work well. He can be a good counter against revive teams, but will need a good comp with stunners and some protection to help him achieve that goal.
Silverblade Aramintha
A good pick against bruiser teams with her stun and burn. She also pairs well with Specimen Sez for killing A Vilred. But with a squsihy cleave team, the strategy fails when you don't land stuns or enemy has too many revivers or cleansers.
Bellona
Another pocket pick that can work against bruiser teams. She needs to be fast to get the defense break on everyone.
Dark Corvus
Can be a good pick against SSB as long he survives the counters and onslaught. Best to bring cleanser and defense buff to keep him alive so he can kill key targets.
Crimson Armin
Her damage mitigation isn't as good after the nerf, but still very useful when taking on cleave teams. Best used with another knight with defense buff or have shield protection. Her invincibility can also help your team take no damage when using it at the right time.
Armin
Another decent defensive option for turn 2 teams. She brings AoE glancing hit and poison + she can cleanse 1 debuff for your team with S3 + heal. Adamant shield artifact is great on her. Her S1 stuns can also come in clutch at times.
Assassin Cartuja
King of miss can be good when RNG goes your way. Best against cleave teams. A crucial miss on the DPS can turn the battle in your favor easily.
Mirsa
Mirsa thrives well when paired with Assassin Cartuja and Violet for the miss team. Needs a good buffer like Maid Chloe or Diene to work well. Can still die to cleave teams easily though.
Falconer Kluri
A good pick if you need to strip and kill a key DPS. She is usually built fast, so she can lap enemies and also give your team some small CR push here and there. Her passive regen can also be good in longer battles.
Rose
Can act as the second CR pusher when bring someone like Basar, ML Lidica, DJ Basar etc. She also has cleanse to help clear debuffs, although not very reliable.
Angelic Montmorancy
A good pick against debuff heavy teams. 2 good artifacts to use are Magahara's Tome and Rod. Her immunity protection can also save your DPS at times.
Rin
Rin is a bit underrated. Her random buff can actually give greater attack buff and also evasion, which can be a game changer. Given the RNG of this game, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get lucky at times. She is one of the few soul weavers that can strip buffs and provide defense break. She will need some health and speed to survive. Celestine or Potion Vial are good artifacts for her.
Luluca
A defense mage that can defense break entire enemy team and also provide defense buff for team. She does well in bruiser teams and provides great utility with the Tagehel's book as well.
Blaze Dingo
He is good to use when trying you run a protect the DPS comp. He grants attack buff and invincibility. He can also deal some decent damage and heal at the same time. A bit underrated as well. He can also enable the Ludwig cleave with another CR pusher like Tywin, Lots or Aux Lots.
Tier C
Luna
Luna does well to snipe out key DPS targets if she gets to go first, but other than that, she can't do much. A counter bruiser Luna might work, but is still untested.
Yufine
Yufine can be brought in to one shot water units. The problem is if you prioritise damage, she will be squishy and easy to kill. Building her as a bruiser might not give her enough damage to kill big threats like Seaside Bellona.
Iseria
Iseria can work well in D Corvus and Tamarinne team comps, but usually it will get banned out. Otherwise, she does really well by providing defense break and skill cooldown reset. She can buff block 1 key unit as well.
Tamarinne
She would be at D tier but if somehow the enemy lets Iseria and Tamarinne through, it allows your team to shine with the cleanse, then CR push and attack buff. Good luck getting this combo though!
Troublemaker Crozet
A good tank to protect squishy DPS. Having elbris ritual sword on him can help disrupt enemy with the clutch stuns. He can give defense buff to your DPS and some bonuses depending on the class. A bit of a niche pick but a decent alternative for those that don't have ML Cecilia.
Lidica
Can be used to disable Basar, but if they run immunity, you are screwed.
Achates
A niche pick since she has -1 turn cooldown and invicibility buff. Her cleanse can come in clutch at times.
Angelica
Gives immunity and heals for entire team. A situational pick for bruiser teams.
Maya
Provides the rare defense buff and can provoke/attack down enemy team. Does well against non water teams and can stun key targets.
All Rounder Wanda
A good compatriot for Specimen Sez for her 2 turn stun. Very situational though.
Axe God
A decent DPS with defense break.
Shadow Rose
Can be used as the CR pusher, but can't outspeed most Aux Lots, Basar, RT Roozid, A Coli, A Cidd and any of the faster units.
Schuri
Gets screwed in the water meta. Can be used as a CR pusher but faces the same problems as Shadow Rose.
Watcher Schuri
A pocket pick that can work when the enemy runs 1 DPS with no reviver.
General Purrgis
Provides attack buff and stun. Also great against cleave teams.
Tenebria
Can be a good pick against non water teams with her AoE sleep and defense break. Must ban Seaside Bellona!
Specter Tenebria
She would be a good pick if enemy doesn't bring AoE attackers.
Serila
Can do well in burn teams, but also gets screwed by the water meta.
Destina
Great against debuff heavy teams. Can cleanse well. Counter Destina with Celestine artifact and S1 exclusive equipment can be great against cleave comps at times.
Sage Baal & Sezan
Can still be useful to cut in against cleave comps. Too bad many people have forgotten about him.
RT Roozid
Great in cleave comps, but can backfire when your cleave team can't do enough damage to bruiser teams.
Romann
Good alternative to Basar with his buff strip. Works great when enemy has no fast units.
Lilibet
Great against revive comps. Requires attack buffer and CR pusher to work.
Captain Rikoris
A situational pick to disable the next opponent that moves. Can strip 1 buff, provide defense break on S1 and speed buff on S2 with 1 turn skill cooldown reduction.
Melissa
Also a bit situational, but can deal lots of damage with curse and also survive with immortality. Good against non water DPS. Can also hold Tagehel's book for soul burn.
Ludwig
Also situational. Requires invincibility and attack buff to cleave. Tywin, Blaze Dingo or Crimson Armin required.
Cermia
A gambling attacker against non water teams. If you have enough damage, then she is a great pick.
Kitty Clarissa
A situational pick against heavy debuff team. She can also do well against 2 turn buffs since her S2 negates that. Also can be used in 1 DPS comps to rely on their damage.
Vildred
Another decent cleaver but needs protection to do well.
Chaos Inquisitor
He can deal decent damage and take 3 hits before going down. Best on Elbris Ritual Sword as he can strip buffs as well.
Pavel
Situational pick against Seaside Bellona. Needs good gear to really take out high health SSB with barrier protection.
Tier D
Fighter Maya
Can be a poor man's ML Ceci with Elbris Ritual Sword or Aurius holder against cleave comps.
Eaton
Can be a poor man's ML Ceci with Elbris Ritual Sword. He has innate damage reduction for allies as well.
Silk
Can be good in low tier fights with speed debuff. Gets screwed by immunity set though.
Silk Wanderer
Can be useful in stripping and disabling key targets with her exclusive S3 weapon.
Baal & Sezan
Screwed by water meta, but can be a viable debuffer with defense break, unhealable and speed debuff.
Clarissa
A backup cleaver with defense break. Not recommended past Bronze tier.
Cecilia
Out shined by her ML counter part and screwed by the water meta. Her AoE provoke can be handy against non immunity teams though.