30/12/2025
For 2.5, the Prydwen ZZZ team has gone for a complete overhaul of how the Tier List functions, amending our Criterias, Roles, Tags, and multiple placements as a result.
About the tier list
This section outlines the general approach that the team took to Tier List placements. Parts have been rewritten, with standout changes being:
- The Tier List will continue to primarily focus on a character’s ability to hit all rewards for endgame modes, but going forward, there will be partial weighting to potential for high-performing runs.
- It’s important for Prydwen to prioritise the average player; however, it is not a fair assessment to evaluate an Agent on their skill floor alone.
- To avoid unfairly judging characters whose ease of play may inflate or deflate their scores, future evaluations will also take into account how well one can perform.
- Skill Ceilings will be more accepting of more advanced techniques.
- Assessment will retain a focus on a casual playerbase, but there will now be an added consideration of skillful play as a factor in our evaluation.
Criteria and Roles
This section established ground rules for how the Tier List was organized, as well as certain weights for character evaluation within a given role. Major changes are:
- Drive Disc incorrectly listed a 12/12/4 split for fluid substats. Example has been corrected to 14/14/6.
- This is not a change in criteria, but a correction to how it was presented. Previously, fluid substats did not account for the 2 fixed substats that must have been distributed.
- The result was that it suggested 28 substat rolls for CRIT Agents and 24 substat rolls for Anomaly Agents, as opposed to the 34/28 standard it should have been.
- Roles have been altered to reflect CRIT DPS | Anomaly DPS | Support,
- After a lot of internal debate, we have removed the Secondary DPS column and instead converted it to Anomaly DPS. Only 4 Agents landed in the Secondary DPS column, and recent Agent releases made this more complicated to evaluate.
- Is Seed a Primary DPS or a Secondary DPS? Or both? How about characters that would run with her, like Soldier 0 - Anby? Is Jane another character that would fit in both columns, considering her presence in Alice and Piper teams? Piper was also run as a Secondary DPS for Miyabi. How about Grace?
- Determining if a character is a Primary or a Secondary DPS isn’t easy at times and makes things more complicated, excessively crowding 1 column while leaving another barren. While there is a case to be made to simply split characters per role, this seemed far too excessive, especially when considering the Supports.
- As a result, CRIT DPS and Anomaly DPS are the new split, with Support remaining unchanged.
- Influence on rating now also considers performance beyond only max rewards. Agent team flexibility has been added to all roles, plus a few more tweaks.
- This is to keep the Criteria and Roles aligned with the About the Tier List section. Primary focus remains on clearing, but weighting will be given to runs and characters that can perform beyond this in terms of scores or clear times.
- In addition, Agent team flexibility has been extended to apply to every role, alongside some normalisation between Stun and Support, as well as CRIT DPS and Anomaly.
Tags
Tags had been getting excessively crowded and could be confusing. To remedy this:
- All tags, with the exception of "Partner" and "Expert," have been removed.
- Why have "Sheer" and "Anomaly" tags but not "Attacker"? There was "Stun", but Daze-building Defence Agents like Caesar could not get it. "Buff" was a tag, but a significant portion of Agents (yes, even Damage Dealers!) offered team-wide buffs, Almost every Agent is optimally played with a "Quick Swap" playstyle, yet only some were given it. Should “Heal” be applied to most of the Rupture cast?
- For the moment, only tags that have a measurable influence on the Tier List placement have survived the purge.
- Expert has changed so that if you are not playing a character well, their placement may go down one or multiple tiers.
- To this day, many people still seem to be confused about the functionality of the Expert tag, leading to misleading first impressions of a character's performance.
- There was also an inconsistency with tier list placement change tags; a character not played by an "Expert" would remain in their assigned position, whereas a character not played with their "Partner" would have dropped 1 or multiple positions.
- So as to normalise this, all characters now would move down 1 or multiple positions if their tag requirement was not followed.
Tier List Placements
Many characters have been shifted on the Tier List with this update. In addition to all of the previous changes, the “T1.5” tier has been removed for the time being. This will require an adjustment period, as the removal of a whole tier translates to each remaining tier having a broader span of power to cover. Two characters being in the same Tier does not make them directly equal in power; it just means that they are more equal to each other than they are to those above or below.
Note that the order of characters in a row does not reflect strength or higher performance.
With large changes done to the Tier List and its Criteria, the team needs time to get used to the new methodology. This will likely result in some more aggressive Tier List movements during or after this patch, with everything heavily subject to change. Please keep all the above in mind when considering updated placements.
New Arrivals
- Ye Shunguang - T0. The “Void Hunter” title is well deserved. So strong is Ye Shunguang that one could argue she’d deserve to debut in a Tier of her own: her raw numbers are absurdly high, and she is able to demolish any encounter in the game (even element-neutral or resistant enemies). Ether Veil: Verdict’s vulnerability combined with the high Miasma Purification value on Honed Edge allows her to brute force through enemy mechanics, and she isn’t particularly hard to pick up. It’s difficult to overstate how universally good this character is, regardless of shill, firmly securing her position at T0.
- Zhao - T0.5. Despite being a free Agent (and a Defender to boot), Zhao is surprisingly strong. She has a decent buff lineup, can slot in most Attacker and Anomaly teams, and is relatively easy to do well with. A sizable portion of her power budget is in her Signature W-Engine, and this has to be acknowledged, but with the full package, she is at the very least competitive with the other T0.5 Agents. Not to mention, she’ll be a mainstay in Ye Shunguang’s team, further inflating her performance.
Upgrades
- Ellen T1.5 → T1. Ellen may not be receiving any additional skills or kit changes with her full Potential Awakening, but 48% CRIT DMG and 10% Ice RES Shred are no small numbers. With the removal of a T1.5, she would be closer to T1 than T2 Agents even without being at Potential 6, making for a decisive move to T1.
- Soldier 11 T2 → T1. With no T1.5 and the arrival of Potential Awakening, Soldier 11 moves up a tier. Even without the Tier List change, however, there is merit in having her be here. In theory, her changes put her on par with Ellen, and being a Fire Attacker, she doesn’t have to struggle with Ice Resistance anti-shill. Time will tell how much of an impact these buffs have on her scores, but she’s well placed to perform.
- Ben & Anby T4 → T3. Both Ben and Anby move up a tier, not for being any better, but in riding the waves of structural change to the Tier List. Rather than those 2, Seth remaining static is likely to be the standout placement.
- Putting Seth at the same tier as Anby feels very harsh, as he does have buff value and can work in hypercarry Anomaly teams, but even in those teams, he can’t quite match the now T2 Agents in performance. His Anomaly Buildup RES Shred should be a strong bonus in the current environment, but he still fails to keep up. This could very well be a result of his abysmal pick rate in all levels of play, but that, too, is telling.
- The fact that no movement demands such justification should show that it was no easy decision, but for now, Ben, Anby, and Seth all share the T3 seat.
Downgrades
- Caesar, Lucy & Rina T1.5 → T2. Although these three characters have technically been downgraded this is more a result of the removal of T1.5 than due to any movement in the meta. The question was “were they closer to T1 than T2?” and when compared to the likes of Lycaon, Pan, and Qingyi, who all have niches they can excel in, the answer became apparent.
- Soukaku T0.5 → T1. For Mono Ice and in particular Yuzu Ice, Soukaku is still a powerhouse of a unit, being a difficult slot to replace in all advanced Miyabi teams. Even with the Partner tag though, suggesting that she and Miyabi would do as well as Zhao with Ye Shunguang for example isn’t quite right. With most Agents in T0.5 having either a wide variety of teams and content they can perform in or are standouts in their own niches, Soukaku struggles to hold onto her placement and drops to T1.
- Yanagi T0.5 → T1. Yanagi as the carry in an Anomaly team has struggled to perform up to par, with limited lineups in which she can do well. Her Polarity Disorder and general team flexibility held up her scores but this is often a result of her being held up by her partner rather than being a significant value add. To be clear, she is still a decent character and arguably deserves a place in a hypothetical T0.75, but has fallen behind to a T1 placement.
- Nicole T0 (Expert) → T0.5 (Expert). Visually, Nicole appears to remain in T0.5 but attention should be given to the change in how the Expert tag is evaluated. Rather than being a T0 Agent when played at her best she drops to T0.5, with her still being a remarkably strong Support if properly managed but falling short of the likes of Dialyn and the 3 dedicated Limited Supports
- Vivian T0 → T0.5. Vivian remains the premier Anomaly partner, able to slot in any Anomaly team and do well. Given the lack of Ether-resistant bosses and universal value of Abloom, she continues to manage strong scores, but as with most Anomaly units, has fallen short in comparison to CRIT DPS units. Yuzuha can, and does, make up for the difference, but this still means Vivian is losing overall power
- With Ye Shunguang’s presence and Yixuan’s widespread dominance, Vivian isn’t quite at T0, so she suffers a half-tier drop to T0.5
- Orphie T0 → T0.5. Orphie was released during a Strong Attack shill, with multiple double Attacker buffs and Agent releases/Potentials she could excel with. Her general ease of use meant that most players could put her on any team and succeed with little effort, where she would consistently top the average charts.
- Times have changed, however, with her now at best matching or often even falling behind T0.5 characters in all levels of play. None of this takes away from her qualities, but it isn’t quite right to imply Orphie is Ye Shunguang tier, so a drop to T0.5 is warranted.
- Miyabi T0 → T0.5. If we were to evaluate Miyabi's power in isolation she'd be an undisputable T0 character, however the excessive amounts of anti-shill enemies, often lacklustre (or entirely absent) Anomaly buff selection and ever increasing Anomaly thresholds means that she has consistently underperformed in comparison to Yixuan - to the point Miyabi at times can't even keep up on some Anomaly-oriented bosses, like Miasmic Fiend.
- In the past, she had been Watch Listed but survived owing to still managing to do well in Shiyu and being able to brute force content, which itself is a testament of her strength. At the same time it'd be misleading to imply that she can do as well as the other 2 Void Hunter level characters in the current environment. Technically, each role is mostly evaluated as being distinct from one another, but the lack of content in which she can perform well in means she drops half a tier.
- Although well executed Mono Ice or Yuzu Ice rotations with 4EBA3 combos do invite a potential Expert tag, the constant lack of freezable bosses mean that even with the necessary skill to pull it off, the game does not give much of an opportunity to do so, gimping her potential and making it hard to justify a T0 Expert placement despite the unquestionable level of skill it demands.
- Evelyn T0 (Expert) → T0.5 (Expert). Evelyn may not appear to have moved, but this is a result of changes to how the Expert tag is evaluated. While she has continued to do well across a variety of content regardless of weakness matching, she tends to find herself as a secondary option when a more fitting Agent isn't available. Certainly very dominant, but when compared to Ye Shunguang or even Yixuan, Evelyn is not quite in T0 and is more in line with the T0.5 character.
Tagged
- Yixuan T0 → T0 (Expert). For a long while, Yixuan has proved time and time again to be among the strongest Agents in the game, doing very well in most encounters. The lack of Ether-resistant bosses, frequency of Rupture shill buffs, and highly synergistic Agent pairings releasing (Lucia and Dialyn especially) have maintained her as a universally good pick in almost all recent seasons.
- Even with all that, there is a strong case to be made that Yixuan should move down, and Ye Shunguang should be the sole T0 CRIT DPS due to how both absurdly strong and absurdly easy she is to perform with.
- Yet to drop Yixuan immediately despite her dominance would be too hasty, and since her release, it has become clear that there are techs that both increase her scores and skill ceiling (e.g. Cloud-Shaper with Talisman Ultimate Chain in combos). To balance both of these, she has tentatively received the Expert tag, with a close eye to be kept on her performance relative to Ye Shunguang to determine whether she is deserving of a tier rating decrease or not.
- Grace T3 → T3 (Watchlist). As one of the characters that has received a Potential Awakening, she is undeniably due to perform better than before. Unfortunately, though, even with these changes, her damage seems underwhelming. It’s too early to make a full judgment call on her power budget, so for the moment, she is being Watchlisted with a chance to move up if she does better than expected.
17/12/2025
As mentioned in our previous update, we’re saving our major changes for the tier list overhaul in 2.5; therefore, in this update, we’ll only be adding Banyue to the tier list.
- Banyue: In the hands of strong players and with the correct team, Banyue is capable of competing with some of the strongest combat agents in the game, currently residing in T0.5. However, when not played well, he loses significant power and can fall behind the current top-tier curve. We feel Banyue is a textbook definition of a character the expert tag was designed for; therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that we’re placing him on the tier list with it. Based on this, at the time of release, we’re ranking him at T1 baseline but T0.5 in the hands of players capable of drawing out his potential.
26/11/2025
We expect big changes in 2.5 and are planning a much larger than usual update to address and resolve some of the common feedback we’ve been getting around the tier list. Based on that, this update will be smaller than usual, primarily focusing on the addition of Dialyn.
- Dialyn: Dialyn is the new strongest stunner, taking the top spot in a very large number of the teams that desire one. On top of being so flexible and wanted everywhere Dialyn is also easy to play, these things combined easily satisfied the requirements for her being T0.
- Ju Fufu T0 -> T0.5: Dialyn is, for the most part, a direct upgrade over Ju Fufu; everything she does, Dialyn does better. Ju Fufu isn’t getting any worse - Dialyn is just raising the bar of what a top-tier stunner is to another level. Because of this, it doesn’t make sense for Ju Fufu and Dialyn to both be T0 at this stage. If Ju Fufu finds a niche that Dialyn can't fill better, she may return in the future.
- Pan Yinhu: With Ju Fufu dropping, we’re making the decision not to raise Pan Yinhu for now and removing his watchlist.
- Miyabi: We’ll be addressing Miyabi’s extended watchlist in 2.5.
05/11/2025
This update adds Yidhari to the tier list alongside our usual updates based on the latest collected performance data and meta shifts.
- Yidhari: Yidhari slots well into the ongoing Rupture meta and has great teams thanks to the recently released Lucia, earning her a place immediately in T0.5. As usual, we’ll monitor her moving forward to see if any adjustments to this rating are required after the community gets their hands on her and we see how she performs in endgame across a larger sample size.
- Miyabi: This phase, Miyabi has maintained her incredibly high popularity, continuing to be the most played character in endgame while still putting up solid scores despite the disadvantages discussed in our last update. For the time being, we’re going to maintain our watchlist on her, but if she continues to work despite so many mechanics being against her, we’ll remove it in the upcoming phases.
- Orphie: In teams that Orphie is good in, namely those with SSanby and Seed, she’s currently performing above her T0.5 placement on average for the general playerbase. We now have multiple phases of data and feedback to confirm this isn’t a one-off case; therefore, we’re moving her up to T0 for the current meta.
- Ellen: he current meta, especially in Deadly Assault across the last few phases, hasn't been a good match for Ellen, and her performance has taken a hit. For the time being, we’re following through on our watch list from last time to move her down, but we look forward to returning her as soon as she bounces back under more favorable conditions.
- Zhu Yuan: Zhu Yuan’s performance this phase has been strong enough that we’re choosing not to follow through on our watch list from last update in favor of keeping her in T1 for now.
- Lighter: As mentioned in our last update, where we watchlisted him, Lighter is currently closer in power and meta relevancy to characters in T0.5 compared to those within T0. With the continual move toward Rupture and the absolutely dominant performance put up by Lucia in this phase, this fact has only been reinforced. Based on this, we’re adjusting his rating down to sit alongside Trigger, who we believe to be closer in performance for the time being.
- Pan Yinhu: Before the Rupture meta began, Pan Yinhu was delivering surprisingly solid results. Now with more characters to work with and a focus on Rupture, he’s only improved. Based on this, we’re assigning him a watchlist to move up in the next update.
- Hugo: We’re not moving or watchlisting Hugo, but are aware, similar to Ellen, that he is currently struggling compared to some of his peers in T1 on average. With that said, it’s not to the degree that we feel forced to make any changes yet, and we’re hopeful the tides will soon turn in his favor in upcoming patches via new supportive characters or bosses.
15/10/2025
This update adds Lucia and Manato, as well as adjustments to Soldier 0 Anby. It also tackles the continuing difficulty increase of endgame, the introduction of harder bosses, and the forced shift being pushed by Hoyo.
Meta Changes:
A major part of characters' rankings on the tier list is based on their performance in Deadly Assault—a mode seeing heavier and heavier shilling alongside noticeable difficulty increases due to stat increases and new bosses. Each of these factors is being aligned in order to push new archetypes and characters while diminishing older ones. It’s a fact that many older characters either can’t keep up with new bosses or are being left completely without a viable Deadly Assault buff to use, hurting their viability. We are marking the characters majorly affected by these factors with a watchlist. We won't be acting based on these watchlists immediately, but we felt it necessary to notify the community regardless. Hoyo is making a huge push to empower Rupture while aiming to diminish Disorder (Miyabi & co).
Tier List Updates:
- Nicole [Expert]: Nicole is a character that, in the hands of experts, is considered one of the best supports in the game. For a long time now, we’ve had many requests to move her to T0, but we have held off due to her mixed results at lower skill levels. We’re finally adding the Expert tag to her to demonstrate her power for those who can play her.
- Ju Fufu: Ju Fufu is already performing extremely well in the phases since her release, enough so to move her to T0. With the upcoming push towards Rupture and release of Lucia, we expect she’ll only be pushing higher in the future. Based on this, we’re moving her to T0.
- S0 Anby: With her buff and the momentum gained from the release of Orphie, S0 Anby has gained significant power. This power is enough that we’re increasing her rating from T1 back to T0.5.
- Ellen & Zhu Yuan: Ellen and Zhu Yuan, while capable of performing sufficiently in the endgame, haven't been keeping up with other Agents currently placed in T1. We’re not moving them down immediately, but are watchlisting them to give them time to bounce back.
- Miyabi: Miyabi is the highest profile casualty of Hoyo’s new boss design, boss rotations, and available buffs. Currently in Deadly Assault, bosses featured are specifically designed to counter Miyabi, with said enemies being unfreezable or having increased Anomaly build-up resistance. Additionally, Miyabi has recently suffered from lackluster Deadly Assault buffs, as newer Anomaly-buffs lack Disorder-related effects and instead buff Anomaly Proficiency or lack synergy with her entirely. This isn’t isolated to a single phase either, often occurring for back-to-back phases, which is having a visible impact on her results. Miyabi is one of the strongest characters in the game without question; however, if content continues to be designed to hinder her performance, we may be forced to adjust her placement until it stops happening. We have no plans to move Miyabi in the short term, but are watchlisting her to highlight what is happening and the fact that if it gets bad enough, we’ll have to eventually pull the trigger.
- Lighter: Lighter, while powerful, isn’t displaying the same level of dominance as other T0 support characters. Compared to Jufufu, his core teams aren’t gaining momentum, with many of them having difficulties with increased difficulty or the new boss cycles. With that said, Lighter still remains a strong pick for many. We’re watchlisting him for now and will see how he does in the next phase.