Stormquake's Character Tier List V 1.0.2

-THIS IS A LONG POST-

Alright, so I got this game on the day it was released on Steam and have played quite a bit since then. I held off on making this until I had unlocked all 10 characters and had various runs, winning or not, with each. Now that I've analyzed every character and done thorough runes with all of them, I believe it's time for me to post this.

Things to say at the start...
*There are 5 tiers, each with 2 characters in each.
*I have a very adaptable playstyle, meaning that I can play about every character equally once getting the hang of them. This minimizes "my playstyle" biases.
*I will not allow my personal biasses into this thread, the tiers will be based off of how well the characters perform according to game mechanics.
*The reviews of the individual characters will be in the format of a short summary and then ability summaries, and then a little list of pros and cons.
*Tier list is for solo play with the intent of going to level 6 and winning.

Character Tier List for Version 1.0.2
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Tier 1: Huntress and Mercenary

1.1(Best): Huntress
It took me quite a few games to understand how the Huntress is supposed to work, but after getting the hang of her I realized she is a force of destruction that is unrivaled in this game. With ridiculous mobility, the ability to shoot behind her while moving, Huntress had an easy ride to the top Tier 1.
Ability Overview:
Z - Huntress' standard attack. An arrow with projectile time that can be shot backwards and also shot while moving. Also deals great damage, arguably one of the best Zs in the game.
X - A throwable glaive that can go through walls and homes in on 3 nearby opponents after making contact with the initial target, deals increasing damage with each hit. Ever been annoyed by flying mobs like Jellyfish and the Archer Bugs? Huntress makes those a joke by knocking them out of the sky by either hitting one or a nearby enemy to wipe out an entire flock. This can also be abused at the final boss by using it to quickly dispatch his shadow whilst homing onto the boss himself after impact.
C - A short distance teleport on a low cooldown. You can honestly kite forever with this so long as you know where to fight. The distance it goes combined with the instanteous nature of it and its cooldown makes it one of the better getaways.
V - An exploding arrow that throws 6 pieces of explosive debris onto the surrounding ground after the impact. Honestly nothing to brag about in comparison to the other abilities of the Huntress, but it provides great and realiable AoE damage while kiting.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Amazing kiting
-Short cooldowns
-A pseudo-homing ability that can go through walls
-Ability to shoot forwards and backwards
-Great attack speed and damage
-Not very item reliant
-Makes the final boss a joke
+Cons+
-Very low base health
-No invincibility frames
-Z has travel time
-Hard to control direction of fire when surrounded by enemies

1.2: Mercenary
Merc takes his spot as the 2nd best character and best melee character on this list. He is pretty much made of mobility and abilities that give him dodge frames. This paired which his incredible single target and AoE damage output is what has earned him the other spot in Tier 1.
Ability Overview:
Z - Mercenary's standard attack that allows him to slash at up to 3 enemies for decent damage. The least important part of Merc's kit. It's really only useful to keep damaging things while your cooldowns are up.
X - A whirling attack that deals good damage to all enemies in a small radius; can also be used to extend a jump for extra mobility. This attack is great, being on one of the lowest cooldowns in the game and allowing the Merc to damage and spin above his enemies for a getaway after finishing use of his 3rd and 4th abilities.
C - A slashing attack that stuns and gives dodging frames and can be cast up to 3 times, so long as an enemy is hit. The insane damage that comes along with this move and the mobility and safety it grants the Merc marks it as one of his best abilities, and honestly, one of the best abilities in the game. It's also arguably the best getaway as you can slash your way through an entire group of enemies while invincible and stunning them and will generally be safe by the time you leave the 2nd or 3rd strike.
V - A high damage move that has the Mercenary "disappear" and hit an opponent 6 times while invincible, switching to another opponent to finish the strikes if the first target dies. Can also be used with no opponents around for a large amount of invincibility frames. This move is great for dealing with bosses due to its intense single-target damage, but can also be used before or after C for added invincibility.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-More invincibility/dodging frames than any other character in the game
-Great getaway abilities
-High multi-target and single-target damage
-Short/Manageable cooldowns
+Cons+
-Short range Z with only moderate damage
-Completely melee; requires great risk to play
-Dies easily if cooldowns are up
-Item reliant later on
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Tier 2: Acrid and Engineer

2.1: Acrid
Acrid may not have any invincibility frames, but its obscene amount of damage and ability to easily clusterfuck large groups of enemies are things that its certainly one of the best at.
Ability Overview:
Z - Acrid's single target standard attack that has it bite or claw at an opponent to deal low damage but leave damage over time that can stack with other abilities and items. This ability isn't too great, but it does allow Acrid to set up a little more damage over time on bosses or high priority targets.
X - A medium-ranged move on a short cooldown that has Acrid spit a strand of penetrating toxic bile that stuns all enemies it hits for a brief duration. This ability is pretty ideal, allowing Acrid some breathing time in an intense fight. The damage on it is also pretty nice for a ranged ability on a melee character.
C - An ability that allows Acrid to leave a trail of toxic sludge behind it while it walks for a short distance. The sludge stays for a good amount of time and damages and slows enemies that walk on it while speeding up Acrid and allies. Throw this down and then turn around and spam your stun to keep enemies stuck on this toxic trail. This ability deals simply immense damage to anything that you can keep within its grasp.
V - A projectile that will infect the first enemy it hits, spreading to other enemies after a short duration and allowing them to spread it further. Deals high damage over time. This right here is a really ridiculous move. Put down your C, throw out a V, and then sit back and spam X while watching all of your enemies melt. Arguably the best mob clearing move in the entire game.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-The highest mob/area damage potential in the game
-Standard attack with a high damage DoT
-Short cooldown penetrating ranged stun
-Can absolutely abuse lifesteal
+Cons+
-No invincibility frames
-Single target standard attack
-A very long cooldown on its only mobility move

2.2: Engineer
The Engineer is the king of area control, utilizing mines and summonable turrets to deal damage and distract enemies whilst dealing damage from a distance with his other abilities. While lacking invincibility frames, he has the highest health of any ranged character, deals obscene amounts of damage, and can provide easy cover for himself.
Ability Overview:
Z - Engineer's standard attack that fires 3 bouncing grenades along the ground that explode after a certain amount of time. The singular grenades don't do much damage, but hitting an opponent with all three will deal a large amount of damage. This attack also has a very slow rate of fire and a long use animation. Using it alone will often leave you vulnerable, despite the high damage.
X - Allows for the Engineer to stack up mines in his inventory, up to 15, and put them down at any time. There's a 5 second cooldown on generating a mine. These things do immense damage in a small area and can quickly dispatch large groups of enemies if they invade on your terrain. They also provide you an easy getaway if enemies are chasing you from one side.
C - Where most character's dodging/defense moves would be, Engineering decides instead that invincibility frames are "fo' suckas" and keeps still while firing off 4 heat-seeking missiles instead. These missiles have one of the highest attack damages of anything in the game, provided all 4 seek to the same target. One of the most welcome traits of this move is that it will seek enemies anywhere, even through walls and sometimes off screen and allows for the Engineer to siege enemies from a safe distance.
V - Lets the Engineer summon a turret that attacks 3 times every so often. Two turrets can be charged at once and last a moderate amount of time while placed, but have the longest cooldown in the entire game, being over 30 seconds. Turrets can aggravate enemies and take the focus off of you. Allowing them to tank for you well than makes up for Engineer's lack of dodging abilities.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Absurd damage and area control
-Summons that take away aggro
-A full homing attack that ignores walls
-Not very item reliant
+Cons+
-No mobility or invincibility moves
-Z and C have lengthy pause times
-Very vulnerable if turrets are dead/unavailable
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Tier 3: Commando & Miner

3.1: Commando
The starting class for Risk of Rain, Commando features an easy to learn ability kit, combining mobility, short cooldowns, and damage to help ease people into the game. It only makes sense that as the base character, he'd be rather balanced and end up right in the middle of the tier list.
Ability Overview:
Z - Commando's base attack which has him shoot two low damage bullets. Has a very high rate of fire and is great at activating on-hit effects, be they chance based or guaranteed. The damage on this move is one of the worst of any base attack, but it helps a lot with enemy surpression in early areas due to its fire rate. Also works well with anything that can stun in order to knock enemies far away.
X - This ability fires off an enemy penetrating bullet that knocks back all enemies hit while dealing a good amount of damage. One of the more reliable skills in the game, this is the bread and butter of Commando's kit. It can be spammed and it will keep you safe against large mobs of enemies. Can easily be paired with C and V in order to keep distance from enemies.
C - An ability that causes the Commando to roll forward a moderate distance, dodging anything that comes his way until the roll ends. This is just a basic survival skill and has a pretty low cooldown. Great for keeping distance from enemies or rolling through enemies trying to flank you in order to keep everything on the same side of you, making X more effective.
V - This ability quickly fires off 6 low damage bullets to one or both sides of the Commando, stunning all enemies hit. Though this isn't one of the best V moves, it's great to keeping enemies off of you, especially when they're trying to flank from both sides, giving you a bit of time to plan your next action. Unfortunately, the damage is easily ignored unless you're hitting one or two targets and only stops flanking for a short time.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Mobile and easy to learn
-Very fast fire rate; great for on-hit effects
-Short cooldowns
+Cons+
-Low damage
-Weak to flanks

3.2: Miner
The Miner is a rather eccentric fellow, having the only full mobility moveset in the game. He zips and bounds around the map, swinging his twin pickaxes and avoiding most damage. However, his tricky moveset and long-ish cooldowns serve as balancing points for his other traits.
Ability Overview:
Z - Miner's standard attack that has him perform a fast and high damage melee swing that deals damage to all enemies hit. This is one of the better melee attacks, allowing you to hop around your enemies, whooping like a wingnut while keeping up consistent damage. It also has rather long range, about 70% - 100% longer than the animation implies.
X - A chargeable tackling maneuver that deals very high damage when fully charged. Grants dodging frames after releasing the button or fully charging. The Miner can also stay in movement while charging. Most enemies are brought with you when you tackle them, sometimes putting you in a dangerous position after the lunge ends if your cooldowns are up.
C - The Miner releases a blast, knocking himself backwards, damaging and stunning enemies behind him on his path. A great mobility move, allowing you to easily get to the back of a flanking group of enemies. Chains very well with V as you'll find yourself right next to most stunned enemies at the end of it.
V - An ability which has the Miner jump into the air and release 3 blasts downwards, dealing large damage to all enemies within the blast area. Can be used midair to perform a double jump for more movement and to further space yourself from enemies. Though the single-target damage isn't that great unless the enemy is dead center, it's a very reliable way to deal with groups, often ensuring multiple hits on multiple enemies.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Crazy high mobility
-Large amounts of area damage
-Strong melee attack without enemy hit limit
+Cons+
-Reliant on long cooldown abilities
-Very unforgiving despite high mobility
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Tier 4: Enforcer & Bandit

4.1: Enforcer
My kawaii shotgun sensei. The Enforcer is a heavy class that, unlike most of the characters in Risk of Rain, is focused on immobilizing himself. Featuring an ability that halts all movement to provide "complete" protection from one side whilst increasing rate of fire, along with abilities focused on keeping enemies away. However, inconsistencies in blocking and having long cooldowns has put Enforcer in an unfavorable tier.
Ability Overview:
Z - Enforcer's standard attack that has him fire off a shotgun blast with medium range, penetrating, knocking back, and dealing high damage to all enemies it hits. Probably one of the most underrated standard attacks in the game. Though the range is limited and the rate of fire is slow without activating C first, this ability is obscenely good at keeping hoards enemies away due to its piercing and knockback.
X - A powerful shield bash that knocks away all enemies within melee range while dealing moderate damage. Can also hit slightly behind the Enforcer, often knocking enemies at his back to an area in front of him. The knockback on this ability gives you enough breathing time to fill an entire paper bag and will often save your life if an enemy manages to get behind you or on top of you. However, it has a very long cooldown and improper timing will leave you in an unsafe position.
C - The trademark ability of the Enforcer, allowing him to slow his movement and retain his direction while placing his riot shield down in front of him, ignoring most damage from the side he is facing while increasing his Z's rate of fire. Being able to quickly fire of his shotgun while using his X and V while necessary, being in defensive stance allows Enforcer to keep most mobs off of him. There are, however, various issues with this ability, such as its inconsistencies at blocking certain monsters and hazards and a short cooldown on putting down your shield before you can exit the stance. Despite that, this move is great and lets you back into a corner or edge to provide large amounts of protection to the Enforcer.
V - An explosive, bouncing projectile that deals great damage in a massive AoE once detonating on impact, stunning all enemies hit. This is what makes the Enforcer a force to be reckoned with. Being ability to properly stagger this shot and your shield bash allows you to keep enemies away from you for as long as possible. The damage is also nothing to laugh about considering the explosion's range.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Great damage protection
-Piercing, high damage shots
-Able to control large groups of enemies
+Cons+
-Very slow; long cooldowns
-Misusing C will often get you killed
-Shield stance has inconsistencies with certain things
-Shield Bash sometimes makes enemies stay behind you

4.2: Bandit
A speedy and sneaky class, the Bandit features high damage base attacks that fire alarmingly fast as well as a short cooldown area explosion, stealth that boosts speed and comes along with a stun, and a powerful blast that, if used to kill an enemy, will reset all cooldowns. Despite all this, the incredibly unforgiving playstyle of the Bandit once he reaches the later areas of the game has caused him to be in the lower tiers of this list.
Ability Overview:
Z - Bandit's standard attack that has him shoot a high-damage blast that has a high rate of fire and can be made even faster if you smash the Z button as fast as possible. Has one of the highest damage per second values of all standard attacks.
X - A throwable stick of dynamite that explodes on impact, dealing good damage to everything in a certain radius. Not the best thing in the game, but it's a pretty reliable AoE on a short cooldown.
C - A smoke bomb that makes the Bandit invisible for a few seconds, increasing his speed while dodging incoming attacks, letting the time run out or using any attack will cause the Bandit to leave stealth and create an explosion, damaging and stunning nearby enemies. Despite the utility of this move, it has a very long cooldown and not being able to reset it will often lead to death.
V - A very high damage shot that resets all abilities if an enemy is killed with it. Despite how good it feels to line up a bunch of kills and proceed to blow everything's brain up with this ability, failing to get a kill with it will often leave you dead. With how high the enemy health gets in the latter parts of the game and how random damage can be, getting something to die from this ability becomes very difficult.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-High DPS Z
-Very strong shot that can reset cooldowns
-Lengthy dodging time with built in stun and speed boost
+Cons+
-Very vulnerable if V fails
-Ridiculously unforgiving in later levels
-Lack of safe area damage
-Bad at controlling mobs without endangering self
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Tier 5: Han-D and Sniper

5.1: Han-D
Our friendly robot janitor, Han-D, is a powerful and tanky, yet slow attacking character. Though he can speed out his attacks and even comes equipped with a method of healing, there are many areas where Han-D falls short of the other classes, ending up with him in the bottom tier.
Ability Overview:
Z - Han-D's standard attack which has him perform a powerful punch, knocking back most enemies and melee range and doing massive damage to all enemies hit. This is just a slow, yet powerful melee attack, it can be sped up by Han-D's C, but without that, often leaves him vulnerable to attack between punches.
X - Killing enemies summons a homing drone to Han-D which can then be thrown at an enemy with this ability. Upon hitting an enemy, the drone will return to Han-D, granting him life and then disappearing. Up to 10 drones can be under Han-D's command at once, allowing him to have a massive heal available after killing many enemies. Though this ability is amazing, it suffers in situations in which Han-D can't easily get kills, such as against swarms of bosses or the final boss where not many weak monsters are present.
C - Gives Han-D a movement and attack speed boost, also allowing his attacks to stun enemies for a short duration. The length of this buff can be extended by constantly hitting enemies; has a maximum time. Though the attack speed from this is wonderful, the stun can be an annoyance as enemies will be knocked out of your Z range and then be held in a stun, stopping you from making further attacks. However, the stun does help quite a bit when fighting against a wall, allowing you to pummel enemies quickly and efficiently.
V - An ability that has Han-D summon a large hammer, smashing the ground, damaging and knocking all enemies around the impact into the air. This is a great way to decimate hordes of enemies and give yourself a little time to run away. It's also one of the most damaging AoEs in the entire game. The slow animation time inside and outside of C does leave Han-D incredibly vulnerable though.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-High damage and mob control
-Self-healing and buffs
-Highest health in the entire game
+Cons+
-Slow; No dodging frames
-Reliant on killing groups of enemies; often times that isn't an option
-Stun from C keeps enemies out of Z range
-Is very bad at fighting the final boss

5.2(worst): Sniper
The Sniper is a very stylin' character, possessing the potential to deal massive damage in a single shot. Like the Enforcer, he gains maximum potential while being still, but unfortunately he lacks a shield or any good way to control enemies to make up for it. His only offensive abilities can only threaten up to a few creatures at once, and his mobility move has a rather large cooldown. For all these reasons and a few more, the Sniper has found himself at the very bottom of the tier list.
Ability Overview:
Z - Sniper's standard attack which has him loose a very powerful shot, having the highest base damage of any standard move in the game. It has an interesting mechanic which has you hit Z again to reload after every attack, granting bonus damage for a perfect reload, which is determined by a moving bar mini-game beneath the character. Forgetting about this mechanic will probably end up with you becoming dead as you'll be unable to shoot until your reloading animation ends. Despite the chance of increased damage from this system, reloading often makes it so that your attack speed is very slow, especially if you're going for maximum damage.
X - Allows for a charged shot, requiring for the Sniper to stand completely still for a few seconds while charging. Despite this being the single strongest shot in the entire game when charged, expecting to be able to reach a max-charge in most situations is very unrealistic. This move does however have piercing capabilities, albeit with less damage to every enemy hit. It will also expend a bullet, causing you to have to recharge with Z after its use.
C - A backwards flip that goes a large distance. Useful for placing the sniper far away from enemies, but even with the distance it grants, you still won't be able to get much of a charge on X. It is also very limited by a lengthy cooldown.
V - Sends out a drone that marks the most dangerous enemy, giving you 100% crit chance against it. Great for performing emergency face surgery on bosses and for taking out any threatening target. Sometimes doesn't go to what you want it to though. Also has a super long cooldown.
Pros & Cons:
+Pros+
-Annihilates single targets
-Very high Z damage
+Cons+
-Very slow attack speed
-Has to be immobile for max damage
-Little to no mob control
-Extremely item reliant
-Lengthy cooldowns and charging times overshadow damage potential
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~UPDATE NOTES~
*1.0.2*
+ Enforcer's C details changed to include new mobility aspect
+ Tidied up a few details on other characters

 

I'm lovin' it. :catface2:

 

Acrid's long cooldown on his mobility move is balanced by the field staying and providing mobility for nearly the ENTIRE LENGTH of the cooldown. So that's only half a con in my mind.

Also, the engineer bombing a group from a rope (jump off and drop a mine, grab the roe again before hitting the ground, rinse and repeat) is almost as broken as his Thermal Harpoons were when they would travel the entire stage. He's difficult to play, though, because he lacks mobility.

Also, you forgot to note one of the ridiculous things about Merc's C: It not only makes you invincible, but it stuns enemies it hits, allowing for yet an easier getaway.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the stun, thanks for that.

 

I was expecting Bandit to be in tier 1 no questions asked... I am so confused right now O_O playing him is, like, an 80% guaranteed win for me, best invincible move in the game ah well, I haven't played everyone to their full extent, so I won't complain!

 

So far, agreed and liked. I agree with what was said earlier about the cooldown on Acrid's Caustic Sludge ability. By the time it dissipates, there's only 2 seconds left on the cooldown.

 

so far i agree with it, huntress and merc are definitly the top-tier.
also a very good explanation of the pros and cons, good work

 

This is a completely opinionated tier list so of course what YOU may consider top tier might not match.

 

That's true, but in the event that you get forced out of your ideal area where you put down the sludge, you have a very long time before you can set up the sludge again. Otherwise Acrid would have probably made tier 1.

Also... @vahn: it's not pure opinion, most of this relates to the functionalities of the characters and how they work with the game. If it was all opinionated, I'd just have put Enforcer and Han-D as Tier 1 as I perform best with those classes.

 

Describing acrid as able to "easily clusterfuck large groups of enemies" gets a like from me.

 

I suppose that makes sense. I never felt like I needed to leave the area once I'd slimed it. Acrid can tank pretty well, considering the slime slows enemies down and his spit attack stuns. Then when the enemies get closeby, I hippidy-hop over to the other side.

I didn't like Acrid at first, but now that I've got a better understanding of his playstyle I can see how devastating he really is. He MIGHT be my favorite melee class.

 

I'd still personally put the bandit above Acrid in terms of ability to consistently win regardless of what items are pulled, but this is a good list so far. Though the commando still seems to be the character with the most well-rounded kit to me. He doesn't reach the same heights of murdering everything on the damn screen instantly as characters like acrid or the Engi, but he's got arguably the best dodge in the game, the best crowd control bar Han-D, and he uses procs better than almost any other character. If you get nothing but a ukelele, leeching seed, and a Tough Times, the commando can still make it work, where Acrid or the Engi would really struggle past stage, like, two or three at that point.

 

Ok, I just had a 180 minute Huntress run, killing over 270 bosses and achieving Macho in the same run as boosting my max damage dealt to 750,000+. I can now safely confirm HUNTRESS IS THE BEST.

 

If someone makes a video guide of how to play Enforcer and Sniper i would be happy to watch lol, cause i am almost 100% sure they are tier 5 on that list xD

I did an 180 minutes run yesterday with her too , was tryign to get 7 monster tooths x_x, sadly i died on a 99% shrine, i had 9999 health already and bustling fungus healed me for 4k health easy, so i got careless xD
I did the over 5k achievment with the money bomb and 100k gold, the poor Overloaded Magmaworm got onehitkilled

 

Tier 1 is as it should be; even if Huntress and Mercenary aren't objectively the best classes in the game when used correctly, they're very close to that. Both classes are unrivaled when it comes to dealing with large mobs and remaining unscratched, especially considering that they both can use their whole arsenal of abilities to their advantage while doing so. Most other classes either require the repeated usage of a single attack (looking at you, Commando) or just struggle in general when dealing with large groups (Sniper).

 

Sniper is indeed in Tier 5 at this moment, but Enforcer is going to end up in Tier 3 or 4. Probably 4 at this point.

 

I really cant imagine someone worse than Enforcer tho... i dont like playing bandit but i dont think he is bad lol

 

Well Enforcer made Tier 3, perhaps reading his summary will help you understand and learn how to play him more effeciently.

Tier 3 is posted everyone! All y'all Bandit players best not start slingin' shit at me, you'll see why he's in tier 4 once I finish writing it. Pretty much, it came down to Enforcer and Bandit fighting for the 2nd spot in tier 3, they were about tied in single-player rating, so I had to bring multiplayer into consideration in order to decide. Enforcer is practically a multiplayer god, so he ended up making it into Tier 3 off of that.

 

Commando's greatest strength, IMO, is his FMJ proccing certain items on all enemies hit.
If you have Behemoth or Ukulele, protect your ears! It WILL get loud!

 

Indeed, I believe I put that in his Pros, I'll double check though.
EDIT: I think just mentioning the correlation between his fire rate and on-hit effects should be enough, leaving as is for now