After spending a lot of time watching gameplay, testing heroes during the closed beta, and seeing how different characters performed in both PvE and PvP, some heroes clearly stood out much more than others. A few felt incredibly complete right from the start, while others seemed like they still needed balancing changes or more progression systems before they could really shine.
One important thing to keep in mind is that this tier list is based mainly on the early game experience from the beta. The game still does not have fully locked class roles, and future updates could easily shift the entire meta. Some heroes that felt weak now could become amazing later once players unlock stronger builds, better upgrades, or more advanced mechanics.
Still, based on what players could actually test during the beta, this was the general power ranking of the roster.
S Tier
These were the heroes that consistently felt powerful in almost every situation. They had strong survivability, useful utility, good damage, or extremely rewarding mechanics.
Marly – Priestess
Marly honestly felt overloaded in the best possible way. Every time I watched players test her, she looked useful no matter what situation the team was in. She has ranged attacks, strong area damage, crowd control, shields, healing, and even defensive tools that let her survive dangerous fights far better than expected.
One of the biggest reasons she felt so strong was how forgiving her shield ability was. You did not need perfect timing because the shield stayed active until enemies destroyed it. That made her much easier to use compared to heroes that required frame-perfect defensive reactions.
Her crowd control also felt amazing during team fights. Roots, slows, area damage, healing, and survivability all packed into one kit made her incredibly hard to replace. The only real weakness she had was mobility. If fast assassins caught her out of position, she could get punished hard.
But overall, if someone asked me which hero felt safest and strongest for beginners during the beta, Marly was probably the easiest recommendation.
Yuki – Frost Kitsune
Yuki was one of the most annoying heroes to fight against during the beta because enemies constantly felt slowed, controlled, or frozen.
Her entire kit revolves around freeze stacks. Once enough stacks build up, enemies become frozen for several seconds. The interesting part is that the freeze breaks when enemies take damage, so good Yuki players learned to time their attacks carefully instead of button spamming mindlessly.
What really impressed me was how complete her kit felt. She had mobility, crowd control, survivability, engage tools, and defensive scaling all together. Her ability to charge into fights while applying AoE pressure made her surprisingly aggressive for a control-focused hero.
Her ultimate was another massive reason she ranked so highly. The amount of damage reduction she gained during fights made her feel extremely difficult to kill when played correctly.
Yuki felt like one of those heroes that could fit almost any type of content without feeling weak.
Reya – Stormlancer
Reya was probably the highest skill ceiling hero in the entire beta.
At first, many players struggled with her because her gameplay requires smart movement, combo timing, and positioning. But once experienced players figured her out, she looked terrifying.
Her triple dash system gave her absurd mobility compared to the rest of the roster. She could dive into fights, unload huge burst damage, and escape before enemies could react properly.
The way her kinetic stack mechanic worked also rewarded aggressive combo execution. Once enough stacks built up, her electrical burst damage became extremely dangerous.
I honestly think Reya separated good players from average players more than any other hero in the beta. A weak Reya looked useless, but a skilled Reya felt almost impossible to catch.
A Tier
These heroes were very strong and absolutely worth playing, but they either lacked the overwhelming versatility of S tier heroes or depended more heavily on player execution.
Yura – Ronin
Yura had one of the smoothest melee combat styles during the beta. Her kit felt aggressive, mobile, and rewarding without becoming overly complicated.
One thing that stood out immediately was her bait-style engage ability. She could fake movement toward enemies, make opponents panic and waste abilities, then quickly re-engage with AoE damage afterward.
In PvP especially, this caused a lot of frustration for enemies.
Her ultimate also provided temporary invulnerability while allowing repositioning, which made her surprisingly safe despite being melee focused.
Compared to Reya, Yura was much easier to learn while still delivering strong results consistently.
Ojore – Earthshaker
Ojore felt like the true frontline tank of the beta.
His massive HP pool alone already made him difficult to deal with, but the real strength came from his defensive stone mechanic. Instead of requiring perfect timing, his floating stones automatically reduced incoming damage from several attacks.
That reliability mattered a lot during chaotic fights.
His charge engage ability was also extremely useful because it could stun enemies if they collided with terrain. Good Ojore players constantly looked for wall combos during PvP fights.
His ultimate providing protection to allies made him even more valuable in group content. He lacked mobility, but he made up for it through raw durability and team utility.
Ozul – Rogue
Ozul was the assassin specialist of the roster and definitely one of the highest damage heroes tested during the beta.
His gameplay rewarded positioning heavily because many abilities dealt bonus damage when striking enemies from behind. Once players mastered his combo flow, the burst damage became ridiculous.
The dagger mechanic was especially satisfying. Activating ranged dagger attacks and then instantly redirecting all daggers into a target created some of the strongest burst windows in the beta.
His invisibility ultimate also gave him excellent assassination potential.
Ozul was not beginner friendly, but skilled players could absolutely dominate fights with him.
Thomas – Bard
Thomas had one of the most unique kits in the game because of his musical combo system.
Instead of simple ability rotations, players had to execute melody sequences correctly to maximize effects. That made him mechanically awkward at first, especially in stressful PvP fights.
But once players became comfortable with the system, his team utility became incredibly valuable.
Damage reduction buffs, healing, crowd control sleep effects, and area support made him feel amazing during coordinated fights.
Honestly, Thomas felt like the type of hero that would only become stronger once organized group content expands later in development.
Faendar – Archdruid
Faendar was a very interesting hero because a lot of his beta problems felt tied to the old control system rather than the hero design itself.
His transformation ability gave movement speed and survivability, while his ranged attacks, traps, and healing tools gave him decent flexibility.
The main issue was manual targeting. Some abilities felt awkward to aim during fast combat situations because of the beta’s clunky drag-based targeting system.
Now that the developers are improving controls, I would not be surprised at all if Faendar rises much higher in future tier lists.
B Tier
These heroes were perfectly usable and functional, but they lacked the impact or versatility of the higher tiers.
Liam – Knight
Liam felt solid but never amazing.
He had respectable survivability, decent engage tools, and reliable AoE damage, but nothing about him felt particularly game changing.
His defensive ability required precise timing to maximize value, and compared to heroes with easier defensive mechanics, it simply felt less reliable.
He was not weak at all. He just lacked the extra “wow factor” that stronger heroes brought into fights.
Arryn – Mystic Archer
Arryn was the classic ranged archer archetype.
Her strongest feature was definitely her marking debuff ability that reduced enemy movement speed and attack power significantly. During PvP this could become very annoying for enemies trying to chase or duel.
The issue was the rest of her kit mostly focused on straightforward ranged damage without much additional utility.
She felt playable and safe, but not especially exciting compared to some of the more advanced heroes.
Orbryn – Gadgeteer Hunter
Orbryn had one of the more technical playstyles in the beta because of his gadgets, mines, turrets, and mortar abilities.
The problem early on was his lack of strong crowd control. Most abilities only slightly displaced enemies instead of properly locking them down.
Interestingly, many players believed Orbryn could become much stronger later because his upgraded abilities apparently scale very well with progression systems that were not fully available during the beta.
So while he looked average early, he still has potential.
C Tier
These heroes struggled during the beta and generally felt weaker or less rewarding than the rest of the roster.
Korz – Berserker
Korz had an interesting self-healing concept based around blood reserves, but during the beta the numbers simply did not feel strong enough.
Even though he had high HP, the healing gained from consuming blood reserves felt surprisingly low compared to the damage enemies could deal.
Without strong mobility, shields, or reliable crowd control, his sustain needed to carry the hero much harder than it actually did.
I honestly think Korz is only a few balance changes away from becoming dangerous, but during the beta he struggled badly.
Iris – Illusionist
Iris had some creative mechanics, but her execution difficulty did not feel worth the effort.
Her teleport clone mechanic could redirect enemy aggression, but only if opponents attacked at very specific moments. In real fights this often felt inconsistent.
Her dimensional barrier ultimate also sounded better on paper than it felt in practice because enemies could still enter the barrier.
There were moments where skilled players made Iris look impressive, but most of the time simpler heroes achieved better results with less effort.
Byron – Archmage
Byron had one of the coolest survival abilities in the beta.
The ability to place a temporal marker, rewind back to it later, heal yourself, gain temporary invulnerability, and damage enemies all at once felt extremely stylish.
But outside of that ability, the rest of his kit felt less impactful.
The biggest weakness was definitely his ultimate healing only one ally. During large team fights, single-target healing simply could not compete with the area healing provided by stronger support heroes.
D Tier
Zeugladius – Paladin
Zeugladius unfortunately felt very rough during the beta.
The biggest issue was mobility. He had almost none.
His abilities felt slow, heavy, and extremely telegraphed during PvP. Enemies could often see attacks coming from far away and avoid them easily.
His defensive tools also required precise timing without offering movement or repositioning. In a fast-paced game where many heroes had dashes, slows, invisibility, or engage tools, Zeugladius constantly felt left behind.
His ultimate healing effect sounded useful in theory, but the timing window was so strict that many players struggled to use it effectively during chaotic fights.
The overall impression from the beta was that the hero had potential conceptually, but desperately needed gameplay adjustments.
The most interesting thing about the Drakantos beta was how much hero identity already existed this early in development. Even with limited progression systems, you could already tell which heroes were designed around mobility, crowd control, sustain, burst damage, or team utility.
Personally, the heroes that consistently felt strongest were the ones that could do multiple things at once instead of specializing too heavily into a single role. Survivability plus utility felt far more valuable than raw damage alone during the beta.
If someone is completely new going into the next beta, Marly is probably the safest starting point overall because her kit is easy to understand while still remaining extremely powerful.
Players who enjoy fast mechanical gameplay will probably love Reya or Ozul, while more tactical players will likely enjoy Yuki, Thomas, or Ojore depending on whether they prefer control, support, or frontline gameplay.