Unit Rankings/Updates

10/4/2019

• 6★ unit ratings have been removed/hidden as they were a hassle to rate, tremendous leaps and bounds are not being made by them, and the game has evolved to be more 7★ dependent.

8/2/2019

• Units have been re-rated, chainers in particular.
• Unit Rating Notes have been adjusted to be more in-line with the reratings and any previous changes.

7/10/2019

• Introduced Unit List Tabulator to the Unit Ratings (7★ Units) list. This allows for easier searching for unit and sorting for roles.
• Unit sprites changed to unit portraits. GLEX unit icons will not appear because they are unavailable in-game.
• Still a bit of a work-in-progress resolving bugs. If the list does not appear for you on the main Unit Rankings page, refer to the link in the header. Mobile may or may not have display issues. If you are unsure of whether you are encountering a display issue, (force) refresh your browser a few times, before commenting about your troubles.
• 7★ Unit Summaries will gradually be moved into the presiding notes portion of the list.

6/20/2019

• Removed TDH rating column
  • Game has more equipment availability and the role of TDH is better understood.

3/27/2019

• Added Yuraisha, Karlette, and Franis.
• Adjusted ratings for the enhancement batch.

3/20/2019

• Added Cid, Melete, and Nagflar.

3/14/2019

• Added Onion Knight Refia and Dark Knight Luneth.
• Adjusted ratings for the enhancement batch.

2/27/2019

• Added Myra.

2/19/2019

• Added Ignacio, Suzume, and PNK-2.
• Found an error in Veritas of the Flame's damage calculations. His output is lower than we though, and his rating has been reduced by .5 (down to 17.5).
• Slightly adjusted some 7* unit summaries.

2/11/2019

• Added Qin and Bai Hu & Zhu Que.
• Added 7* ratings and summaries for Ang, Chow, and Yun.
• Increased Yan's rating to 16.0 (up from 13.5).
• Increased Joachim's rating to 16.5 (up from 15.5).

2/4/2019

• Added Jecht, Auron, and Belgemine.
• Added 7* ratings and summaries for Maritime Strategist Nichol, Heavenly Technician Lid, Mediena, Atoning Dragoon Kain, and Pure Summoner Rydia.
• Adjusted ratings for some support units.
• Adjust ratings for the 23rd ability awakening batch.

1/28/2019

• Added Sophia.
• Added 7* ratings and summaries for Fayt, Rena, Emperor Shera, Raegen, Nameless Gunner Jake, Jiraiya, and Lila.

1/21/2019

• Added Folka, Kihana, and Yubel.
• Also increased the ratings for several other top-end healers.

1/15/2019

• Added ratings and summaries for Tifa, Vincent, Barret, 7* Cloud, and 7* Sephiroth.

1/7/2019

• Added ratings and summaries for Sora and Cloud (KH).

1/3/2019

• Added 7* ratings for Prompto and Felix.
• Added 6* ratings for enhanced Christine, Kryla, Tinkerer Carrie, and Gilbert.
• Adjusted the unenhanced rating for Christine (13.5, down from 14.0).
• Tinkerer Carrie is now unrated (both enhanced and unenhanced), due to falling under the 10.0 threshold.
• Added/updated summaries where appropriate.

12/28/2018

• Added 7* ratings and summaries for White Knight Noel, Kryla, Tiana, Christine, Aranea, Duke, and Lulu.
• Added 6* ratings and summaries for Felix and Tiana.
• The 7* versions of Prompto and Felix, and the enhanced 6* versions of Christine and Kryla will be rated in the next update.

12/17/2018

• Added 7* ratings and summaries for Basch, Yuna, Kunshira, and Lotus Mage Fina.
• Added Popstar Katy.
• Added missing summaries for 7* Gladiolus and Lunera.

12/11/2018

• Added Sieghard, Theobald, Dietlinde, and Aurora Fryevia.

12/2/2018

• Adjusted ratings for Gladiolus and Iris in light of Ability Awakening Batch 21.
• Other units in the batch remain unchanged, due to their enhancements being so weak.

11/26/2018

• Added 7* ratings and summaries for A2, 2B, Balthier, Elfreeda, Fohlen, Gladiolus, Noctis, and Roy.
• Adjusted ratings for 7* Loren and 7* Machina.

11/18/2018

• Added Beryl and Ellesperis.
• Added the 7* versions of Lunera, Loren, Blossom Sage Sakura, Fryevia, and Pyro Glacial Lasswell. (The remainder of the 7* units from the fourth batch will be rated next week.)
• Fixed 6* Lucius's rating, which was mistakenly 14.0 instead of 13.0 as intended.

11/12/2018

• Added Elephim, Leopold, and Magna.
• Added Summertime Luka, who was apparently missed when she was released.
• Changed Rasler's rating from 13.0 to 12.5.

11/6/2018

• Added Machina, Kurasame, and Deuce.

10/30/2018

• Added the Valkyrie Profile units and Ability Awakening Batch 20.
• Also changed the ratings for 6* AD Kain and 6* VoF.

10/21/2018

• Added Halloween banner units and the remainder of 7* Batch 3.
• Rerated several other units (Trance Terra, Ayaka, Awakened Rain, various DW physical chainers).

10/15/2018

• Added Citra, Macmedi, 7* Zargabaath, and 7* Barbariccia.
• Moved 7* Ramza to 16.5 (up from 15.5).
• Note: the rest of the third batch of 7* units will be rated over time, rather than all at once.

10/10/2018

• Adjusted ratings for Ability Awakening Batch 19. (All ratings were unchanged aside from Loren, who went up by .5.)

10/9/2018

• Added Ignis, Ravus, and Libertus.
• Adjusted ratings for MS Nichol, Seaside Nichol, Zargabaath, Joachim, and Veritas of the Earth.

10/3/2018

• Added 6* and 7* rankings and summaries for Circe and Malphasie.
• Added 7* rankings and summaries for the second batch of 7* units.
• Moved 7* Nalu to 18.0.
• Adjusted the ratings of several 6* support and healer units; those who are still relevant to the 7* meta received rating increases to reflect the fact that they're still really good, even though they don't have 7* stats.

9/21/2018

• Added 6* rankings and summaries for Aloha Lasswell and Seaside Nichol.
• Added 7* rankings and summaries for Aloha Lasswell and Seaside Nichol.
• Changed Maritime Strategist Nichol's 6* rating to 16.5. (Note that this is a sneak peek of upcoming changes to reflect the usefulness of 6* support and healer units even in a 7* meta, and other units that fit those roles will also be receiving adjustments once we finish reviewing and updating their ratings.)

9/21/2018

• Added 6* rankings and summaries for Hyoh and Shatal.
• Added 7* rankings and summaries for Awakened Rain and Hyoh.
• Changed 7* Gilgamesh's rating from 16.0 to 16.5.

9/12/2018

• Added 6* rankings for Shadow Lord and Shantotto.
• Added 7* rankings and summaries for Shadow Lord and Shantotto.
• Added rankings and summaries for the Deus Ex collab and the second Dragon Quest Monsters collab.
• Updated rankings and summaries for Ability Awakening batch 18.

9/5/2018

• Added FFXI unit rankings.
• Moved Luneth down after having a stable reference of potential 7* DPS. He does not have consistent chaining partners, unstable DPS rotation.
• Adam moved to 16.0 with same reasoning of Luneth, mostly an unused chaining family (Hallowed Bolt) as well as being time limited.

9/3/2018

• Added finalized 6 and 7* rating for Deus Ex units.
• Alphabetized the 7* ratings to reflect consistency with older ratings.

8/14/2018

• Added and finalized 7* unit template.
• Changes to Wilhem, Bump to 20.0 from initial 19.0 to emphasize his place as a tank for all current and "future" content.
• Adding information to Unit Ratings page on criteria for rating 7*.

8/11/2018

• Added Nalu, Shinju, Pecciotta, Squall, Rinoa, and Zell.

7/31/2018

• Ratings have been heavily revised and reviewed. Notable changes are as follows:
• For now, the top units are at 14.5, rather than 15.0 as they were before. Future units can (and likely will) be rated above there-- it's an open-ended scale.
• Most damage dealers were bumped down somewhat, as their ratings were frequently overinflated compared to tanks, healers, and support units.
• Verun, Olif, and Meliadoul's ratings were increased significantly to reflect that Verun is a good buffer, Olif is a budget Marie, and Meliadoul is solid breaker with reraise.
• A2 and 2B had their ratings adjusted downward to reflect their actual usefulness. They haven't been close to top tier for a very long time, and their lack of utility and chaining partners is a significant downside. They now sit at 13.0, rather than 14.5.
• Units that would have been ranked below 10.0 are no longer ranked at all, as it was difficult to put a number to exactly how useless most of those units are. There is now a note at the top of the rankings that mentions this. The summaries still exist (and will continue to be added for new units that fall under the 10.0 threshold), and these summaries mention any particular niche skills these units have.

7/07/2018

• Updated rankings for Ability Awakening batch 17.
• Added Star Ocean units.

7/07/2018

• Updated rankings for Ability Awakening batch 16.5.

31/03/2018

• The rankings of all the damage dealers have been reviewed and, in many cases, revised.
• Most finishers are now rated considerably lower, due to the fact that finishers are only situationally useful compared to chainers.
• Chainers were reviewed based on their damage output, assuming no 5* TMRs outside of a single copy of their own. All other equipment, barring those coming from premium bundles were assumed to be available. Extra points have obviously been added for utility.

21/01/2018

• Units and ability awakenings have been added as they were released.
• 12.5 and 13.0 had become a dumping ground for chainers who weren't obviously trash, but couldn't compete with the top-tier choices. It felt wrong to have legitimately-good-but-not-top-tier chainers like Tidus and Loren crammed in with "well, if that's the best you have" choices like Duke, Jiraiya, and Aura. To solve this problem, many of the chainers who were crammed into these ratings have been spread out into 13.5 or 12.0. (Aileen was previously 13.0, but her ability awakenings made her top tier.)
  • Anyone not listed was considered fine where they already were.
  • 13.5 is now defined as "as good as you can be without being as good as Onion Knight or Randi".
    • Fohlen - moved up after his ability awakenings. Per Charlotte: "The intent to make Fohlen a sort of offensive/evasive provoke tank is pretty clear, and his enhancement help with that, and it does work decently well. If he can output his counter 75% imperil, he will also deal pretty good damage. Can work as provoke tank & main DPS on a AoE magic cover comp."
    • Tidus - moved up from 13.0. good damage, difficult to chain, strong LB imperil with high tide, killers. Has breakout damage potential with FD TDH but you won't see many chaining buddies.
    • Loren - moved up from 13.0. chains with or without an inherent element, two strong imperils on the LB, Full Break+, inherent DW. the move unlocks are awkward though
  • 13.0 - Knight Delita is the benchmark 13.0 chainer. Higher-ranked chainers outdamage him or have some utility he can't match.
    • Ray Jack - (relatively) new addition. his damage is awfully high for this bracket, but he's difficult to chain with and his cover can rarely cause disasters.
    • Reberta - unchanged. her damage is a bit low for this bracket, but her versatile imperils help make up for it.
    • Gilgamesh - currently unchanged. he isn't being rated for his relatively poor chaining ability. he may be affected by the finisher re-evaluation below.
  • 12.5 - This is about as low as you can go and be a "viable" chainer: a character that deals significant damage while reliably stacking up a chain modifier. All of these are functional, but either can't keep up for damage with even Knight Delita, or their otherwise-respectable damage is limited by some sort of deficiency or awkwardness in their kit.
    • Kaede - new addition, she's Reberta but locked to fire
    • Jiraiya - new addition. hybrid chainer with strong base stats but bad gearing options and unlock-based chain moves with only middling modifiers
    • Ashe - moved up from 12.0. chains with GLS, contributes healing, covers missing gaps in healers' kits. keeps popping up as the glue holding together teams in #global-help or on the subreddit; she's more than the sum of her parts.
    • Nyx - currently unchanged although his current ranking is clearly incorrect. currently being re-evaluated as a finisher instead of a mediocre chainer.
  • 12.0 - These are characters that can serve as a "viable" chainer on a team built to cover for their weaknesses. They have some sort of major deficiency that you have to work around. Units any lower than this (such as Setzer or Pirate Jake) can stack chains, but can't be relied upon to do effective damage in their own right while doing so.
    • Duke - moved down from 12.5. he's markedly worse than Kaede and Jiraiya. his chaining move needs someone to bridge between each hand's attacks while dual-wielding.
    • Bran - moved up after his ability awakenings. his chaining move outdoes the 11.5 chainers. having two elements on his chaining move is more of a liability than an advantage, but he can also slot into your team as a single-purpose mana battery.
• A complete re-evaluation of finishers, particularly physical finishers, is in the works. While TDH items have increased their damage in many cases, chainer damage has crept up to the point where chainers are carrying the fight themselves, and finishers are increasingly squeezed out of their spot by an additional support. Affected units will likely include at least Dark Knight Cecil, Balthier, Pyro Glacial Lasswell, Nyx, Cloud, Veritas of the Flame, Luneth, and Emperor.

15/12/2017

• Cloud & Elfreeda release heavily changed the offensives roles rankings. Explanation about it, here:

Shin-Doublehand, High Variance weapon and effect on the Chain Capping

15/11/2017

• The cactuar is retiring. Have fun, guys!

MAJOR UPDATE:

• The rating scale has been revamped so that instead of scaling from 8.0 to 16.0, it now spans 5.5 to 15.5.
• The main purpose of this was to increase resolution in the 12.0 - 13.0 bracket, where many units were previously clustered. It also reflects the progression of our meta, since 5* units are largely insufficient and no longer feature into the rating.
• Most units have dropped by 0.5~2.5 points, with more points being deducted towards the lower end of the scale. Units who have little practical use (e.g. Kefka), now have a much lower score than they used to.
• The general "hierarchy" of units has been preserved. In most cases, a unit that were equal or below another are still be equal or below them after the change, except where previously some units were underrated (e.g. Soleil).
• For examples of how units are now placed, please refer to the updated table at Unit Rating Notes.
• For discussion of where the new ratings might have misplaced units, leave a comment at Talk:Unit Rankings.

12/11/2017

• Switched the columns around for clarity + other cosmetic changes. Pretty role labels :)
• Adopted a template for the ratings table, to simplify edits.
• Added ratings and notes.
  • Barbariccia, Rubicante, Cagnazzo,
  • Garland (ability awakened), and base ratings for some older awakened units.
• Ranking adjusted for new units.
  • Barbariccia now rank 3 in magical damage and chaining - slightly outdamages Grim Lord Sakura.
  • Tanks now divided into Provoke and Cover types.
• Magical attacker ratings adjusted due to feedback.

2/11/2017

• Rating adjustments
  • Demon Rain ratings boosts.
    • Unawakened: boosted for synergy with Illusionist Nichol.
    • Ability awakened: boosted after reviewing the evidence for being an extremely hard hitting counter-tank, especially when synergized with Illusionist Nichol. Still relatively low DEF to other tanks, but when properly equipped with strong TMR equipment, he can replace a main damage dealer (and still survive tanking).
  • White Knight Noel rating lowered - there is a bug in his mitigation skills, causing him to take >50% more damage from magical attacks than he used to.