AFK Journey offers its players a vast selection of unique and colorful heroes to collect, but like most AFK gacha games out there, these heroes aren’t created equal when it comes to their overall performance in various game modes and the effectiveness of their skills for their designated roles.
Some heroes in AFK Journey are much better than others. Scroll down to see which heroes are the best ones to invest in and which ones you should probably avoid!
Tier List – Beta / Early Access Version
Photo: FARLIGHT
S – Tier
| S – Tier Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Thoran |
| Thoran is an offensive tank that reflects a portion of the damage he takes during his Ultimate. His tankiness is further amplified by the fact that he can resurrect once per battle and gains immunity to all control effects while his Ultimate Skill is active. | |
 | Rowan |
| Rowan is effectively an energy battery, allowing allied Heroes to use their Ultimates much sooner than they normally would. Furthermore, Rowan has the ability to heal allies. While not as effective as the healing provided by other characters, Rowan’s kit allows him to act as your party’s sustain unit. | |
 | Cecia |
| Cecia is a summoner character who excels in disrupting the opposing backline. Her summon, Mr. Carlyle, deals AoE damage and has the potential to turn the fight with a numbers advantage. The summon is quite durable as well, so it can take some of the damage off your tank/s and allow them to recover. | |
 | Reinier |
| Reinier is a fantastic support unit that offers both utility and offense. He has the unique ability to swap the positions of an ally and an enemy, successfully disrupting enemy formations 100% of the time. | |
 | Vala |
| Vala is an elite backline punisher who can deal damage from any position on the field. She has abilities to assassinate backline enemy units from a distance, or up close, meaning Heroes that disrupt formations are ineffective against her. | |
 | Hewynn |
| Hewynn is by far and large, the most effective healer in the game. Where most healers rely on being within a certain proximity to friendly units for their heals, Hewynn effectively covers the entire arena with restorative magic. | |
 | Marilee |
| Marilee is much like Odie, only she deals Physical damage instead. She’s currently the best single-target Physical DPS in the game and doesn’t need to rely on her Ultimate skill to deal massive damage. |
A – Tier
| A – Tier Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Viperian |
| Viperian is an unassuming spellcaster who specializes in AoE damage. At higher levels and Ascencion tiers, Viperian has the capability to decimate entire line-ups, even though he defaults as an Elite Hero. | |
 | Temesia |
| Temesia is a frontline unit that charges in a straight line towards the enemy backline. This makes her a great disrupting unit when paired with the decent amount of damage that she deals. | |
 | Grannie Dahnie |
| Grannie Dahnie is a Wilder tank that has great survivability. She self-heals and drains Energy from enemies caught in her Ultimate Skill’s range which, in addition to her ability to taunt enemies attacking your lowest-HP hero, makes her a great choice at least in the early to mid-game stages. | |
 | Byron |
| Byron is a ranged damage dealer who utilizes debuffs to dispatch opponents. He deals a significant amount of damage, and is fairly survivable once you’ve unlocked his EX Weapon. | |
 | Smokey and Meerky |
| Smokey and Meerky are a duo support unit that continually heals and buffs nearby allies. While they’re useful to have as a unit, they’re limited by their effective range, making them difficult to pair with frontline tanks. | |
 | Brutus |
| Brutus is a survivable bruiser unit that can stand on the frontlines, lower enemy P.Def, and deal decent AoE damage. He’s got a spinning attack that deals continuous damage and a few seconds of invincibility at his disposal. | |
 | Shakir |
| While technically a member of the Rogue class, Shakir is more like a bruiser who deals pretty good damage and buffs allies. He has damage-reduction skills and a strong Life Drain, making him tougher to kill compared to most other Rogues. | |
 | Odie |
| Odie is a fantastic DPS unit that can deal large amounts of continuous damage. With enough Soul Sigils, he has the potential to become the best single-target Ranged DPS on your team. | |
 | Cassadee |
| Cassadee is an AoE-based mage who can amplify her team’s damage with buffs and by lowering the enemy’s M.Def. She has two displacement skills, making her a great option for backline-heavy teams. | |
 | Carolina |
| Carolina is one of the best AoE units in the game when it comes to pure DPS output. She can also freeze enemies, reduce their M.Def., and lower their Haste with Frostbite debuffs. | |
 | Damian |
| Damian is the A-level version of Cecia, albeit less effective in dealing damage because he’s a support. He’s more versatile, however, as his summoned unit can also heal allies and inflict Blinding onto enemies in addition to dealing moderate damage. | |
 | Korin |
| Despite being able to dish out good DPS as a Warrior, Korin excels more as a support-tank hybrid who’s primarily sought-after because of his ability to shield allies, which has a low cooldown. He’s decent at low Ascension ranks but becomes almost an entirely new unit at Mythic+. | |
 | Lyca |
| Lyca is a strong Marksman who’s well-suited for Physical damage teams because of her P.Def. debuffs and ATK SPD boosts. Pair her up with other Physical DPS units and watch your overall damage skyrocket. | |
 | Valen |
| All players receive Valen for free at the start of the game, which makes him one of the easier A-level heroes to ascend early on. If left alive, he has the potential to deal tons of AoE damage with his Ultimate, so pair him up with a good tank (preferably one that has a taunt) whenever you use him. |
B – Tier
| B – Tier Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Rhys |
| Rhys is a unique hero in that he’s the only Ranged unit in the game who can move while attacking due to his Ultimate, making him a difficult target for your enemies to pin down. Despite being overshadowed by other pure DPS carries, he’ll still give you good damage coupled with his decent survivability. | |
 | Igor |
| Igor can deal pretty decent damage and survive longer than most Warriors because of his Ultimate skill and self-healing. Once you get him to his higher Ascension Tiers, he can be a real headache for your enemies to deal with, especially in the Arena or Honor Duels. | |
 | Dionel |
| Dionel is a Celestial hero whose skill kit specializes in shooting multiple enemies from a distance and boosting his own ATK and ATK SPD, which makes him a very solid DPS unit for general use. His Soul Sigils are difficult to acquire, however, and he is less beneficial to have compared to Reinier. | |
 | Scarlita |
| Scarlita faces the same issue as Dionel in that her Soul Sigils are hard to farm as well, especially if you want to rank up Reinier first (and you should). Nevertheless, she’s a very tough Warrior who can displace enemies, deal True Damage, and support her allies by giving them shields and defense bonuses. | |
 | Eironn |
| Eironn is a great setter for any team, as his Ultimate allows him to gather all enemies within range to the center of the battlefield. He works best when paired up with AoE heroes whose skills don’t cover that many tiles. | |
 | Berial |
| Berial is a Hypogean Rogue who can render himself Invincible while dealing damage to one enemy with his Ultimate, as well as revive once per battle whenever an enemy unit is killed. He’s a great assassin who deals more damage to enemies who don’t have any allies near them, but he requires a good deal of investment to be viable. | |
 | Kruger |
| Kruger makes for a good bruiser given his Ultimate and 3rd skill (Vital Strike). These in combination allow him to deal massive single-target damage and self-heal, which allows him to be the ideal warrior who can tank damage and dish out DPS at the same time. | |
 | Arden |
| Arden is a Wilder Mage who can strike down multiple enemies with his Ultimate and deal continuous damage. He’s a good addition to teams who have multiple CCs, as he recovers Energy whenever an enemy receives a control effect. | |
 | Niru |
| Niru is a Support unit that specializes in protecting allied units with his skills. He does pretty good damage on top of his self-heals, as well as stops enemies from healing if you manage to get him to Supreme+. | |
 | Lucius |
| Lucius and a few of his Soul Sigils can be obtained at the start of the game, which makes him a great starter tank. He does fall off in the mid-game to the late-midgame stages but he’s still a good stopgap tank in the early game. | |
 | Silvina |
| Silvina is a single-target DPS who can attack backline units directly. She’s a glass cannon whose main issue is her utter lack of survivability, but she’s still quite useful in some cases like in PVP battle modes. | |
 | Antandra |
| Antandra is in the same boat as Lucius, as she’ll eventually be outperformed by the top-tier tanks the longer you play. She has very good survivability and even has an AoE taunt, however, so feel free to consider using her as a temporary tank. | |
 | Seth |
| Like Silvina, Seth excels more in PVP battles because of his ability to skip tanks and target backline heroes. His kit also allows him to deal more damage and gain Life Drain when up against low-HP units, making hero clean-ups his specialty. |
C – Tier
| C – Tier Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Lumont |
| Lumont is a Mauler Tank who can push enemies in front of him several tiles back. While he isn’t a bad unit on his own and does pretty well in protecting backline units or grouping up enemies, there are just plenty of better options when it comes to tanks. | |
 | Mirael |
| Unlike most mages, Mirael doesn’t inflict control effects and instead focuses on pure DPS with AoE attacks and DoT damage via burning. She does good damage at Mythic+, but is replaceable by better Magic DPS units nonetheless. | |
 | Fay |
| Fay is a Lightbringer Support whose skills are focused on both single-target and AoE heals. She can be used as a budget healer if you don’t have better units like Hewynn, Rowan, or Damian on your roster. | |
 | Walker |
| Unlike most Rogue units, Walker targets enemies with the highest accumulated damage, which might often lead him to attack tanks instead of backline units. This issue is slightly offset by his AoE attacks, but it still holds him back from dealing damage efficiently and getting a higher placement on this list. | |
 | Satrana |
| Satrana is a Mauler Mage who can deal decent AoE damage with her Ultimate as well as disrupt enemies with Charm. She’s surprisingly tanky as well, but she’s only decent compared to other units that fill her role. | |
 | Parisa |
| Parisa buffs her and her allies’ ATK and ATK SPD in addition to lowering enemy damage. She’s also capable of hitting more enemies with her normal attacks the longer the battle continues, | |
 | Salazer |
| Salazer is a Graveborn Rogue who’s tankier than most heroes in the same class—all at the cost of not being able to attack backline units directly like Silvinia or Seth. |
D – Tier
| D – Tier Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Kafra |
| Kafra’s skills allow him to focus his attacks on one enemy and punish any healer that heals his target. He can also heal nearby allies whenever his target dies. He falls behind compared to other heroes with the same role, however, hence his placing. | |
 | Atalanta |
| Atalanta specializes in disrupting enemies with knockbacks and stuns, although her damage is incomparable to other ranged units like Marilee, for instance, who has the same class and faction as her. |
New Heroes
| New Heroes | Hero Information |
|---|---|
 | Koko |
| Koko is a recently-released Mauler Support that specializes in protecting her allies with shields and giving them Life Drain. NOTE: Koko will be given a tier placement after sufficient data has been gathered. |
Tier List Explanation
| Tier | Explanation |
|---|---|
 | S – Tier Heroes are AFK Journey’s “meta” units and should be prioritized when picking which heroes to primarily invest in. |
 | Heroes placed in the A – Tier can be some of the best heroes in certain gameplay modes, but they are more niche in their roles compared to S – Tier heroes. |
 | B – Tier Heroes are solid picks for specific gameplay modes, albeit not as effective as other heroes in higher tiers. |
 | C – Tier Heroes are the heroes that you should use when you don’t have better options. |
 | D – Tier Heroes should be avoided, since they do not engage in their roles well. |
How Many Classes in AFK Journey?
Six Classes
Currently, there are six (6) different classes that a Hero can belong to. These are:
- Support
- Mage
- Warrior
- Tank
- Marksman
- Rogue
How Many Factions in AFK Journey?
Six Factions
Currently, there are six (6) factions in AFK Journey, those being:
- Celestial
- Graveborn
- Hypogean
- Lightbearer
- Mauler
- Wilder
Hero Ascension Tier/Rarity Explained
12 Ascension Tiers
There are a total of twelve (12) different Ascension tiers (i.e. Rarities) in the current version of AFK Journey, these being:
- Paragon
- Supreme+ (Unlocks a Hero’s 6th Skill)
- Supreme
- Mythic+ (Unlocks a Hero’s 5th Skill)
- Mythic
- Legendary+ (Unlocks a Hero’s 4th Skill)
- Legendary
- Epic+
- Epic
- Elite+
- Elite
- Rare
Heroes Can Increase Rarity/Ascension Tiers
In AFK Journey, Heroes can increase their rarity once the Magister has acquired enough Soul Sigils and/or Acorns! So don’t put too much emphasis on specific Heroes’ default rarities, and instead focus on which Heroes you want to invest your Acorns in!
Conclusion
That’s all for AFK Journey’s tier list! Make sure to keep the top-tier units in mind before choosing which heroes to use and invest in, especially since prioritizing the best heroes in the game will allow you to progress faster than other players.
Now, if you want to learn how to reroll in this game so you can get some of the units listed above early on, then check out our rerolling guide for AFK Journey!
Also, give our Epic Invite Letter and Invite Letter farming guides a read if you want to know where you can get items that’ll allow you to recruit more heroes for your team.
