AFK Journey has proven to be a really solid RPG that works well on both mobile and PC. With so many characters in the roster, though, it can be hard to figure out which ones to build around. With that in mind, here’s our AFK Journey character tier list to help you decide.
As always, a quick disclaimer that most of the characters in AFK Journey are perfectly viable for most content. Some characters will inevitably be better than others for the most hardcore endgame content, but generally speaking, you’ll be able to get by even with the more average heroes.
For this tier list, I’ve ranked the characters according to their versatility and well-roundedness, as well as their performance in regular PvE content, Dream Realm, and PvP. Without further ado, here’s the tier list, and I’ll go into more detail about each tier below:
| Tier | Characters |
|---|---|
| S | Thoran Rowan Koko Smokey and Meerky Reinier Odie Eironn Lily May Tasi |
| A | Antandra Viperian Lyca Hewynn Bryon Vala Temesia Silvina Shakir Scarlita Dionel Alsa Phraesto Ludovic Mikola Cecia Talene Sinbad |
| B | Valen Brutus Rhys Marilee Igor Granny Dahnie Seth Damian Cassadee Carolina Arden Florabelle Soren Korin Ulmus Dunlingr Nara Lucca |
| C | Satrana Parisa Niru Mirael Kafra Fay Salazer Lumont Kruger Atalanta |
With the addition of Lily May, AFK Journey also saw the introduction of its first must-pull character since Vala’s banner at launch. She serves as a huge boost to your Wilder teams, and deals pretty insane damage while offering tons of utility as a rogue-type character. She can counter Eironn teams in PvP, help you push AFK stages, and will likely replace Korin or Marilee on your Dream Realm boss teams. So yeah, absolutely add her to that wishlist.
For tanks, Thoran is still the best F2P tank you can get in the game right now, especially if you’re still working on building Phraesto. Even then, I’d say Phraesto is more of a luxury unit than a must-have. In terms of Hypogeand and Celestials, Reinier is still your top priority support character, as he’s used in both PvE and PvP content, namely Dream Realm and Arena.
For your other supports, you’ll definitely want to build up Koko and Smokey and Meerky. The latter is going to be used for basically all game modes in AFK Journey. You’ll also want to build up Odie for Dream Realm and all PvE game modes.
Finally, for the Arena tryhards and F2P players, make sure to build Eironn alongside Damien and Arden for one of the most dominant Arena teams in the game.
As of November 2024, Tasi has also been added to the AFK Journey roster, and yeah, she’s yet another great Wilder character who’s versatile enough to be great in virtually all game modes. Tasi is going to be a fantastic crowd control character for the Wilder faction, and it’s looking like Dream Realm is the only mode in which she won’t completely dominate. That being said, Plague Creeper getting added to the Dream Realm rotation may change that too.
For the A-Tier characters, I’ve found myself particularly drawn to Lyca and Vala, both of whom are very good at making use of the Haste stat. Haste is easily one of the most important stats in AFK Journey, as it just straight up increases the frequency of all your attacks and skills and also boosts your animation and movement speed.
Lyca can increase the Haste of the entire party for a short amount of time, while Vala increases her own Haste with stacks each time she kills a marked enemy. Depending on what your team needs, either of these heroes should fit in quite well. The only issue with Lyca is that she can fall short in PvP.
If you don’t have Thoran, Antandra is a very solid second choice for a tank. She can taunt and protect her allies with shields, and she also has a few crowd control moves to keep your enemies in check.
If you do happen to have both Thoran and Cecia in your team, though, you should absolutely consider trying to pick up Viperian as well. He can help round out the Graveborn core, and he comes with Energy-draining abilities and plenty of AoE attacks. He’s not great in Dream Realm content because of that, but he’ll excel in virtually anything else.
As of May 2024, Alsa has also been added to the AFK Journey roster. From our testing so far, she’s shaping up to be a pretty decent DPS mage overall, and she’s also great to slot into the current meta PvP composition if you don’t have Carolina yet, and you’ve got Eironn at Mythic+. Alsa is much easier to build, requires less investment, and pretty much fills the same role as Carolina. She pairs well with Eironn as she deals extra damage to control-affected enemies, making them a deadly combo in PvP.
Phraesto also got added to the roster in June 2024 as the next big Hypogean/Celestial hero. However, while he is a big meat shield that can soak up a lot of damage, he’s also lacking in the damage department himself. Not a bad pull if you get him, but I’d focus on maxing out Reinier first.
As of August 2024, Ludovic has quickly proven to be a very strong healer character that fits into a lot of different team comps, and also has the benefit of being the first Graveborn healer in the game. He works especially well with Talene, who loves flying straight to enemies to deal damage, and he’s also shown insane numbers in PvP.
Finally, while she was considered a hard carry DPS character during the early days, Cecia has finally been moved down to A-tier. She’s still a good Marksman, but with the release of Lily May and the way the game’s Dream Realm meta has shifted, Cecia just doesn’t bring quite as much late-game value to the table anymore.
The B-Tier is mostly filled with characters that will do well if you just need someone to fill a role, but I personally wouldn’t invest any Acorns in them. Keep them around until you find another character from A or S-Tier to replace them with.
That being said, my top picks for DPS characters here are Valen and Brutus. Both of them will serve you very well in the early game, especially Brutus, who comes with his usual spinning AoE attack that can knock down enemies and keep them in check.
Granny Dahnie is the tank you want here if you haven’t been able to get Thoran or Antandra just yet. She’s pretty decent, and comes with debuffs and heals to help support the team while also staying alive.
I should note that while I do have Arden and Damien here, they’re considered meta mainstays for your PvP arena comps. They’re not really all that useful in other PvE modes, but put them together with Eironn, Carolina, and Thoran, and you’ve got a killer PvP team.
As of April 2024, Florabelle has also been added to the roster. That being said, while she does serve as a great secondary DPS character who can support Cecia at Mythic+, she’s not really a must-have by any stretch of the imagination. She’s decent and her kit largely revolves around summoning minions, but you need to really invest her for her to be worth it.
Soren was added to the game in May 2024, and as many might’ve expected, he’s just okay. He’s proven to be a decent unit in PvP, but not at all optimal for Dream Realm or other PvE content where you just have plenty of other better options. Even in Arena, if you’ve already got Eironn, Damien, and Arden halfway built, those are probably still better options than Soren.
I’ve also moved Korin down to B-tier in light of the May changes, making him a lot less effective in Dream Realm. Odie has now become the de facto go-to DPS unit for that mode, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Finally, we come to the bottom of the barrel. To be honest, the C-Tier characters will likely be useful during the early game, but they just get outclassed so quickly once you’re past AFK level 100 that you’re probably better off just throwing your Diamonds and tickets at the summoning banners until you get some solid replacements.
Still, shout out to Parisa, who served as my team mage for the longest time. While she does quickly wear out her welcome, she has a powerful AoE attack that can help with crowd control and keeping enemies away from your team. She’s actually somewhat decent in some PvP matchups, but you should absolutely replace her as soon as you can.
And that does it for our AFK Journey tier list. Be sure to check back as more heroes get added to the roster and as existing characters get tweaked and adjusted over time.