Defense Derby tier list - Add the best Units to your teams
When Krafton first announced Defense Derby, the community was quite shocked as it was a completely different genre and art style from their usual modern warfare-esque shooter titles. Well, now that the dust has settled, it’s clearly emerged as a phenomenon in its own right. Thanks to the fun 5-minute casual matches, strategic team-building nuances, and a host of events to keep the player interested, Defense Derby ranks quite high on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store charts. Of course, we can’t forget about the hefty marketing done by Krafton to ensure the game reaches the right audience!
If you enjoy Defense Derby to the core and are looking to get better at the fantasy tower defence title, you're in luck! Check out:
- Defense Derby Guide - Advanced strategy tips for beating bosses and upgrading quickly
- Defense Derby - Beginner’s guide
In this article, you will find exactly which units are worth investing your precious resources into. Nothing more, nothing less - simply straight to the point. We know all about the frustrations of a new player, especially when the game itself does a poor job of highlighting crucial aspects of different units.
Keep in mind that we are going to be discussing everything about units here, and not heroes. The latter is more of a personal choice, and although they also have their pros and cons, the units are the areas where the majority of the concern lies.
DEFENSE DERBY TIER LIST: FACTORS AND RANKINGS
The base of every unit is the same - only the rarity changes depending on how lucky you get on your summons. Every unit starts from the Common rarity (lowest) and can be upgraded all the way to Legendary rarity (highest).
The higher the rarity, the stronger you can expect them to be in terms of Attack, Attack Speed, Attack target, Distance, Crit chance, and Crit damage. All of these stats act as different parameters to judge the unit’s performance in battle. This will be our first factor of judgment.
Our next factor comes with the juicy abilities that each unit has been blessed with. Krafton has done a marvellous job at making sure each of them is unique, right from their art style, and all the way to their play styles.
Since Defense Derby relies way too heavily on the derby mechanic, the units are going to be the core decider of any match. Knowing which units are superior will help you a lot in making tough decisions, as well as in increasing your overall win rate in ranked games.
Let’s proceed to the unit rankings.
Original article by Harsh Paliwal. Updated by Mihail Katsoris.
1
S-Tier Units
- Paladin
- Wizard
- Lana
- Mammoth-Bomber
- Florea
- Rake
- Divine Warden
- Amazon
- Viking
- Moon Knight
- Gargoyle Bomber
2
A-Tier Units
When it comes to being loyal to their faction, perhaps there is no better choice than using Dendroid Warrior. He’s a Spirit damage dealer who deals heavy blows in the form of physical damage. On the lore part, they are displayed as quite agile due to being recently sprouted from the ground. On the game part, they are anything but agile. These clever beasts of nature are great supporters. Dendroid Warriors are known for bringing the best out of Spirit faction units and heroes on the board, increasing their faction combo bonus and faction type bonus multipliers by quite a lot.
Minotaurs look quite menacing, and they live up to their reputation of being the aggressor. They are from the Beast faction and deal physical damage to enemies in a single-targeted fashion. Having a low attack speed, they compensate for it by having a high base attack. Their main utility comes in the fact that Minotaurs are generous in sharing their gifts, being able to give increased crit chance to all other units on the board. Additionally, they offer extra crit chance to physical type units as well.
3
B-Tier Units
Beware of Lupine Berserker, a werewolf who is always looking for his next prey. Coming from the Beast faction and doing Physical damage, this unit is well-regarded as a must-use for the Beast faction - at least, for the late-game minion stages. His ability allows Lupine Berserker to deal some extra damage to minions that are on low health, increasing proportionally to their HP%. Sadly, his cons include a decent base speed but an abysmally low base Attack.
Ever thought of using a talking cat? Well, you might have but certainly not one that does magic as well! Welcome Meow Mage, a wizardly cat from the Beast faction that deals tons of magical damage with her basic attacks. Her ability allows Meow Mage’s allies to attack faster at quite an increased pace. She is best known for her indiscriminatory supportive abilities that enhance the overall DPS of your units and heroes on the board.
4
C-Tier Units
A newcomer on the scene according to game lore, the Archer is as basic of a character design as it gets. It’s no wonder she’s placed at the bottom of this tier list. Even her abilities reflect her incompetence. However, we won’t disregard her ability to help you push a few ranks in the early game phase. Being a physical damage dealer from the Human faction, the Archers are given to you for free as the starting unit. Her ability can help her get more focused on herself, and increase her own attack speed for a short duration of time.
Now, let's talk about the worst of the bunch. A magic damage dealer from the Beast faction, Owlmancer is a pretty unique guy, or a girl, or let’s just say a creature. As good as their design is, their abilities are pretty bad. He gains a short burst of extra damage on his basic attacks after some time - that’s it. It also doesn’t help that his base Attack is a mere 44, probably the lowest out of any other unit in the entire game. I would personally advise against using him - outside of his cool look, of course.
