Monster Never Cry – Tier List Guide

Tier List

By Raxy.

SS: Game Changing

Tier Zero. Monsters with a level of power that innately warp the game experience for both yourself and your opponents. Monsters of this tier are powerful enough to mandate either (1) inclusion on your team, or (2) for your team to have a strategy that specifically addresses their presence on an opponent’s team in order to remain competitive.

  • Tarani – Draconic Tank. Event-Limited Release. The ideal front-line tank unit, designed to soak up damage, charge directly into enemy lines, and repeatedly Stun the entire enemy team until your damage dealers erase them from the map. Tarani’s unique ability to ‘link’ to your highest damage dealer gives both that unit and herself 30% extra HP and 40% damage reduction. and can effectively turn your most fragile unit into a ‘Tank’ of its own accord. Tarani’s other skills focus on heavy CC (Crowd Control) and further damage reduction, putting her wildly above the power and utility of any other Tank in the game. A team with Tarani, even at drastically lower overall team power, can typically defeat a higher-powered team that lacks a Tarani of their own. Every team and every individual unit on that team benefits from Tarani’s existence there.
  • Lilith – Abyssal Mage. Standard Release. Since the inception of the game, Lilith has been the primary source of any serious team’s damage output. Her unique ability to ‘Steal’ the Attack stat of enemy units through her skills (reducing the enemy’s damage output) is her only utility feature. As long as the game continues to incentivize units having high levels of Attack, Lilith’s lone utility feature will continue to be an incredibly potent one as she drains a flat percentage of that amount from several enemies at once. Thankfully, knocking an enemy’s HP to 0 is still the best form of “CC”, and Lilith is both the strongest and easiest-to-obtain unit in terms of doing just that. Attack Steal isn’t a sufficient replacement for actual defense capability, so Lilith appreciates support and front-line units capable of diverting damage away from her.

S: Optimal Choices

Tier One. Monsters with a level of power that make them innately stronger than other similar choices. Monsters of this tier typically either (1) form the core of your team’s strategy or (2) have levels of utility worth inclusion on the vast majority of teams.

  • Zenobia – Draconic Fighter. Standard Release. The poster-child of the game and a veritable jack-of-all-trades, Zenobia is a hybrid of all of the various methods that a single monster can affect the flow of battle. She is a reliable source of damage as a Fighter unit, she has CC in the form of an AoE Silence, she has sustainability in the form of her auto-revival passive, and she also supports your team with her other passive that boosts your team’s Atk and DMG. Although she’s not particularly top-class at any one role, being “pretty great” at every single of these roles allows Zenobia to be easily included into literally any team composition.
  • Kukulkan – Draconic Support. Standard Release. A difficult-to-understand, yet easy to use Support unit that properly fulfills two important roles that players expect of a Support unit – (1) she heals your units [single-target heals] and (2) she buffs your units [Haste, specifically]. Her unique ability grants her invincibility and makes her untargetable after the first second of battle, which lasts until she is the only remaining monster on your field. While this is incredibly powerful and guarantees that Kukulkan can support your team as long as possible, one should note that this reduces the number of targets that the enemy has to split their focus between. Since many monsters like to have a personal healer, Kukulkan is typically the go-to for any monster that wants/needs a dedicated support unit.
  • Vespa – Abyssal Mage. Special Release. A unique take on the Mage class, that plays closer to what one would consider a ‘Support’. What she generally lacks in standard damage output, she makes up for with her sheer disruptive capability and a team-wide Haste buff for the start of the battle. Her ultimate ability is an AoE “Charm” that prevents enemies from using skills and causes them to instead attack their own allies. She’s also capable of draining energy and stealing HP at a fixed amount (bypassing damage resistances). A valuable monster for any team that is lacking disruptions or wants a more ‘offensive’ take on a Support role, without running an actual Support.
  • Ashe – Draconic Mage. Special Release. A rival to Lilith in terms of team role and damage capability. Unlike Lilith, Ashe has no means of negatively impacting the enemy team outside of infrequently negating individual ‘heal’ effects on enemy units. Her utility instead revolves around her Ultimate, allowing you to create a puppet of an enemy slain after being marked by its ‘Soulbind’. Being able to create an extra body that’s capable of dealing damage and diverting aggro is very powerful, but also both inconsistent (in which unit is chosen to be “puppeteer-ed’) and gives enemies more opportunities to generate Charge for their own skills. Ashe’s existence allows for a Full-Draconic team to not have to include Lilith, and she can also outright replace Lilith in a variety of existing team compositions. Ashe is slightly more demanding in terms of support, lacking any means by which she can protect herself, and thus appreciates support and front-line units.
  • Dracula – Abyssal Fighter. Standard Release. As with Lilith, Dracula has virtually no direct utility and excels solely in damage output. What sets Dracula apart from the rest is his capability to sustain himself. Whereas Lilith steals Atk, Dracula instead steals HP, Shield, and Energy from opponents. On his own, he is fairly frail and prone to opposing CC and harassment. But when coupled with a Tarani and/or a dedicated support unit, Dracula becomes nearly impossible to remove from the field and remains a threat for every second he’s allowed to survive.
  • Bastie – Abyssal Fighter. Special Release. Several overlaps with Dracula, including (1) primary role as a damage dealer, (2) lack of utility on a team, and (3) a sustain-based approach to allow her to remain on the field longer. While Bastie does have an Evasion-boosting passive, she does also require team assistance in order to begin “snowballing” and further team assistance in order to continue doing so. Her ability to continue healing back damage drops off drastically after the first activation of her Ultimate, though that also marks when her damage output rises drastically in turn. Prefers to be coupled with a Tarani and/or a dedicated support unit.

A: Great Choices

Tier Two. Monsters with a level of power that make them viable options in competitive teams. Monsters of this tier typically either (1) are generally strong choices that fall slightly short of another available option or (2) optimally fill a niche role in certain team compositions, affording a specific level of utility that can benefit a team in a way that any other unit could not do so.

  • SynderHelden – Draconic Mage. Standard Release. Fitting for a monster with two heads, SynderHelden is split between their capabilities of damage-dealing and disruption-causing. As a result, their damage falls fairly short, and they primarily specialize in crippling the enemy team by means of Freezing them, lowering their Haste, increasing their Damage Taken, and (at Awakening 15) negating their ability to receive healing. Many of SynderHelden’s abilities require positioning and luck in order to make contact and to take effect, so they can feel somewhat unreliable to use in practice. Still, they are premier in their ability to negate enemy heals, and cripple self-sustaining monsters like Dracula and Bastie. Doesn’t specifically “require” support, but appreciates front-line defenders.
  • Avanzo – Draconic Tank. Standard Release. With underwhelming offensive capability, a lone single-target stun as his only CC, and an Ultimate that grants him semi-invincibility for a short period of time and a sizable Shield after it ends, Avanzo would only barely qualify as a worthwhile tank. However, his passive makes him a premier choice on teams as it allows him to endure lethal damage (once) and stay invincible (while still being targetable) for 6 full seconds, and grants himself an extra shield after that time ends. For teams requiring that a defender stay alive (and targetable) for as much time as possible, Avanzo is the optimal choice for such a role. An excellent front-line choice for any monsters wanting to avoid being attacked, Avanzo usually affords them enough time to be able to get to their first Ultimate casts.
  • Octasia – Abyssal Support. Standard Release. Somewhat of a foil to Kukulkan, Octasia’s specialties lie in (1) team-wide healing/shielding and (2) single-target disruptive effects against the enemy. Her unique ability is that she immediately grants your full team a rather-large shield right at the first second of combat. Her disruptive skills, being only single-target, rarely feel impactful. However, Blind is fairly rare and dodges most forms of CC protection/removal. For teams that otherwise lack a form of defense, or against opponents that drastically overpower you, Octasia’s presence can allow your units enough bulk to survive to the point that they can start using their stronger skills. Thus, she particularly shines on teams that are built around multiple high-damage dealing monsters.
  • Kura – Abyssal Support. Special Release. A monster that is absolutely loaded with positive effects for your team and negative effects for the opponent. The majority of her skills have their own AoEs, ensuring that multiple allies receive benefits and that multiple opponents are disrupted. Among her kit is: (1) a temporary 80% damage reduction buff + heal effect for herself and your lowest HP ally, (2) a DoT damage dealing and ally-healing AoE that reduces enemy Atk and increases their Damage Taken, (3) an AoE cloud that charges energy for nearby allies / paralyzes enemies / prevents enemies from gaining Energy for kills, and (4) a summonable minion that can delay and occasionally interrupt an enemy’s ult while preventing them from taking actions, that then explodes into a healing AoE. She doesn’t quite perform at Kukulkan’s level in terms of keeping your team alive, nor does she function like Vespa in outright disabling the enemy team. But she does fill a unique niche in offering the sheer amount of versatility that her skills afford her, and she works well in teams that want to reduce the pressure that the opposing team provides.
  • Palaeophis – Draconic Fighter. Special Release. A frontline brawler with a single-target stun on two of her skills, hefty damage output, and an incredibly unique skill that sets her apart at this general tier of play. Grappling Hook allows her to immediately reel in the enemy unit directly opposite of her in the first second of combat and deal heavy damage to them. This outspeeds practically every skill in the game, including (importantly) Kukulkan’s invincibility. Against a frailer opponent, this can outright turn the match into a 5v4 before other units have had the chance to even move. However, there are three pressing issues that prevent Palaeophis from being as strong as she potentially could be – (1) Grappling Hook can be played against when you’re on the defensive side, (2) Grappling Hook against bulkier teams can instead immediately allow them to charge and use their own ultimates, and (3) with Palae’s only form of protection being a heal tied to her Ultimate, she typically dies early without significant help from the rest of the party. While she can be positioned anywhere in the party lineup (front or back) to drag and drop a specific unit, Palae generally prefers a backline support and a front-line tank so that she can stay on the field longer.
  • Undine – Natural Mage. Standard Release. An incredibly easy-to-build backline threat that can stay relevant even on later-stage teams due to her damage output, team utility, and eventual awakening skill that adds a helpful disruption tool to her kit. Her primary gimmick is her ability to raise her own Crit % rate during battle, magnifying her offensive potential. The bulk of her offensive strength is centered on her ultimate, which is an AoE that gravitates toward and around a nearby enemy – making it slightly unreliable in terms of overall damage output, hitting anywhere between 1 enemy and the entire team at once. She can also passively increase the ATK and Crit Rate of an allied unit, generate her own energy, and subject an enemy to the ‘Imprison’ status, preventing them from moving for a few seconds. None of these afford her anything in terms of survivability, and she requires backline support and a defensive front-line in order to let her start lobbing water all over the map.
  • Madiga – Alchemic Fighter. Standard Release. A backline blaster that is laden with multiple damage-dealing skills, the ability to delay enemy Ults in an AoE, and a passive that rewards her for dealing more damage by giving her a Shield and increasing her Atk (which then allows her to generate more Shield). All of her offensive skills can hit multiple opponents, and her offensive capability only grows over the course of the battle, making her a premier threat. This is somewhat countered by her shield initially being quite weak and prone to being broken repeatedly over the course of battle (which in turn will disable her Atk boost from her passive). Thrives well in an environment with a defensive front-line and/or alongside a support.

B: Fine Choices

Tier Three. Monsters with a level of power that make them unorthodox / unusual inclusions in competitive teams, albeit still-usable ones. Monsters of this tier typically are either (1) used as placeholders for more-effective units to be acquired later on, (2) selected to complete a specific Faction Halo for team-wide boosts, or (3) are built around on a team based on personal preference.

All monsters in this tier have a specific strength or a specific niche that they can fill. This may occasionally put them at or above-par with monsters higher on the list, but not to the extent that the monsters here necessarily serve as overall better replacements for those monsters:

  • Dullahan – Abyssal Tank. Standard Release. Features several great and powerful Tank-like abilities that would make him wonderful in theory.  Uniquely holds the ‘Taunt’ ability, which seriously needs to be on more tanks.  In practice, this often leads to Dullahan quickly charging to his death deep within enemy lines, offering only a few seconds worth of distraction while not having provided much disruption.
  • Nafisa – Alchemic Mage. Standard Release. A potent back-line damage dealer that specializes in spreading damage across the entire enemy team and quickly regaining energy to repeatedly recast her Ultimate, with a single helpful debuff for the enemy (Blindness). The damage she deals is largely on a DoT basis, affording enemies opportunities to precisely fire off their own Ultimates in an energy-efficient manner.
  • Sarcophagurl – Alchemic Tank. Standard Release. A front-line tank with only a single disruptive ability in her kit (an AoE knockback on her Ultimate). While she has several defensive tricks up her sleeve and is notably good at maintaining enemy aggro, she has no ability to specifically defend her allies once they’ve been targeted for attack.
  • Barend – Alchemic Fighter. Standard Release. A unique take on a ranged damage dealer, that revolves around the gimmick of silencing himself and removing his energy gain to instead drastically increase his attack speed and general damage output. Can be used to great effect in specific PvE content.
  • Coronis – Beastly Mage. Standard Release. Similar to Nafisa, a back-line damage dealer that specializes in spreading damage across the entire enemy team at once and sporting a singular enemy debuff (Fear, in Coronis’s case). Rather than quickly regaining energy, Coronis instead regains lost health, giving her a self-sustain component. DoT damage, similar to Nafisa.
  • Medusa – Beastly Support. Standard Release. A debuff-oriented Support unit, featuring 3-4 nasty keywords in Slow, Disarm, and Petrification (which is Stun, but better). She primarily likes to reduce enemy’s SPD (their ability to physically walk to a target), and relies on landing her Ultimate in order to later begin Petrifying enemies.

C: Questionable Choices

Rogue. Monsters with a level of power that make them unpopular / undesirable inclusions in competitive teams. Monsters of this tier typically are chosen for the same reasons as those presented in the ‘B’ tier, though the occasional moments of utility can be found in some of the monsters here.

All monsters in this tier are generally outclassed by similar units above them, or have a unique utility that (currently) isn’t able to be fully utilized or is otherwise just not useful in general.

This tier would also include a few Legendary (orange) units, such as Horace, Adlington, and Sylph.

  • Mischa – Natural Fighter. Standard Release. A difficult-to-play monster that has a kit revolving around ‘Poison Marks’, which are inflicted by either successfully evading attacks or via a single-target skill. Requires heavy investment for relatively minimal payoff.
  • Venus – Natural Support. Standard Release. A support unit designed around the ‘Chaos’ debuff, unique to Venus. While Chaos itself is a strong debuff (stops affected enemy from casting active skills, disables their passive skills, makes their auto-attacks hit random units, stops them from gaining shields, increases their damage taken while Venus is alive), Venus is the only one capable of spreading it. Its duration is low, and the ultimate relies heavily on RNG to proc the condition.
  • Reddy – Natural Tank. Standard Release. A self-focused defensive unit that grants itself shield and damage reduction/immunity. Has a dash attack that stuns enemies he collides with, but also resets aggro and often causes enemies to instead target the rest of your team. Can do a solid job of single-handedly staying alive, but usually at the cost of the lives of your damage dealers.
  • Jarm – Beastly Tank. Standard Release. His kit features an AoE Fear, a single-target stun, and the creation of a separate minion capable of dealing and taking damage (the death of which causes Jarm to gain extra ATK and Shield). The short range of his skills and the generally-low numbers attached to them generally leave Jarm feeling underwhelming on a team, however.
  • Shipshark – Beastly Fighter. Standard Release. A ranged blaster that features a healthy mix of CC effects and increases to  his own base HP as the battle goes on. The damage amounts are middling, the CC effects are extremely brief (1 second), and the HP gain is also fairly low (10% every 5 seconds).  While he feels like a nightmare to go against in high-level Mirror stages, he underperforms when he’s on your own team.

D: Bad Choices

Unusable. Monsters that are only included in teams as jokes. Monsters of this tier typically have (1) stats so unfavorable that they cannot reasonably be included on a team, (2) design issues that put them at odds with their function on a team, or (3) would be comedic inclusions in the game.

This tier would also include all Rare (3-star), all Epic (4-star), and most Legendary (5-star orange) monsters.

  • Oul – Alchemic Support – Standard Release. A front-line, damage-dealing (?) support unit that provides healing and shields to the ally(s) with the lowest HP on your team. Once her HP drops to 50%, she becomes inactive for 5 seconds, healing herself and an ally once that time period ends. During that time period, she’s not providing any value for the team. Between her damage output being extremely low, her healing and shielding capabilities being low, her tendency to immediately go to the frontlines of combat, and the guaranteed 5 seconds of her doing absolutely nothing in the middle of combat, her design leaves her effectively unusable.

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Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 523 Articles
Volodymyr Azimoff has been passionate about video games for many years, and over the past decades he has managed to turn his main hobby of life into a profession. It is important to note that this is not the first successful project for Volodymyr. Right now he is the owner of several other sites on gaming topics. Surprisingly, this workaholic finds free time for his family, playing games on his favorite consoles and watching TV series.

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