Our Black Desert Online (BDO) Classes Tier List will discuss the best and the worst classes currently in the game. BDO has constantly been growing in popularity over the years, so we needed to deliver on our part and give you a balanced list with each separate element accounted for.
The rankings here were based on basic attributes like usability, power, how great they perform in the hands of the average player, and what makes them stand out. So the article was written assuming you already know how all the classes work and their basic game mechanics.
Key Points
- We have a total of 25 classes on our tier list of the Black Desert.
- We will rank each of these classes based on their strengths and weaknesses.
- We have classes like Ninja, Lahn, Berserker, Musa, Nova, and Warrior in the highest ranks.
- We have the Wizard, Witch, Ranger, Kunoichi, Tamer, and Drakania among the lowest ranks.
Summary
Before we dive into the descriptions of the ranked classes, the table below will give a summarized version of the entire rankings.
| S Rank | A Rank | B Rank | C Rank | D Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja | Musa | Archer | Sage | Tamer |
| Lahn | Nova | Striker | Wizard | Drakania |
| Berserker | Warrior | Shai | Witch | |
| Mystic | Woosa | Ranger | ||
| Guardian | Corsair | Kunoichi | ||
| Valkyrie | Hashashin | |||
| Sorceress | ||||
| Dark Knight | ||||
| Maehwa |
Each class is discussed further in the article.
S Tier
S TierIn the S rank of our Black Desert Online Classes Tier List, we will look at the best classes currently in the game. These classes outperform other classes in most criteria. Additionally, these classes are quite simple to use as well, making their usability quite high. They are listed as follows.
Ninja
The Ninja class is one of the best you can use in BDO. He also offers great damage and mobility with excellent performance in 1v1 fights. Furthermore, this class has shown great potential in the farming department as well, making it a perfect choice for the list which caters to the best PVE classes. The one thing that does stand out is that it is a late-game class. All in all, once obtained, it is a mighty one.
| Weapon | Shortsword |
|
Subweapon
|
Kunai, Shuriken |
Lahn
Lahn has been a top-tier class for a good while now. It also has great 1v1 potential even after the rework. With awakening being in the state that it is right now, opting for Lahn is quite a safe option. One thing to be careful about when using the class is the relatively low APM that comes with her kit, but it does have extremely good attack speed. Additionally, she offers quite an impressive range which is always good.
| Weapon | Crescent Pendulum |
|
Subweapon
|
Noble Sword |
Berserker
Berserker is a lethal PVP class but struggled in the PVE fights a bit. However, after the spectacular reworks, he has shown exceptional performance when used in grinding. Berserker has always had a unique playstyle, with their menacing stomps and the ability to throw enemies all over the place. That playstyle makes the Berserkers good in fights against grouped enemies.
| Weapon | Axe |
|
Subweapon
|
Ornamental Knot |
A Tier
A TierIn the A Tier of this Black Desert Character Tier List, we will look at some classes which are great in the game but not the best. They are outperformed by the S-tier classes but do better compared to the lower-tier classes. They vary in usability and synergized plays which is why they are placed lower than the best classes.
Musa
The first A-tier class we will discuss is the Musa Class. It is a very lethal class that excels in mobility at the expense of armor. Within that lies its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Although he is quite fast and illusive, the attack damage the Musa class offers is not the best, making hitting and evading a crucial part of his kit. All of that adds up to a relatively difficult playstyle compared to the classes.
| Weapon | Blade |
|
Subweapon
|
Horn Bow |
Nova
Nova is objectively one of the best classes we will discuss in the article. She is a powerful class that performs incredibly well when it comes to grinding and farming in PvE. Furthermore, she is exceptionally good to start out with because her kit is simple. Additionally, she is one of the story’s main characters, making her a perfect pick to try out because of her availability.
| Weapon | Morning Star |
|
Subweapon
|
Quoratum |
Warrior
Warrior is a melee DPS class with a great collection of abilities. It is one of the most popular classes in the game at the moment. Furthermore, it is also one of the most simple classes when it comes to difficulty and playstyles. The class offers a great combo of both offense and defense in their kit. Once awakened, he can reign chaos on the battlefield fearlessly and devastatingly.
| Weapon | Longsword |
|
Subweapon
|
Shield |
Mystic
Mystic is unanimously agreed upon as one of the top-tier classes in PvE. The class can excel at grinding in high-end and low-end spots because of her incredible clear speed and damage. Additionally, their kit allows for a lot of sustain, which is perfect for keeping up hp and mana in prolonged fights or even when farming with the desert debuff.
| Weapon | Gauntlet |
|
Subweapon
|
Vambrace |
Consider Reading: Bloodborne Boss Tier List [Jan. 2023]
Guardian
The Guardian class is one of the most annoying classes we are going to discuss. It is one of the fastest classes in the game and happens to be paired with a lot of damage. In PVP, it class dominates most matches even after being nerfed. Similar to Mystic, Guardian is also good at clearing spots early game and in the high-end spots with ease making her an excellent pick overall.
| Weapon | Battle Axe |
|
Subweapon
|
Shield |
Valkyrie
Since this list caters to performance in PvE, no one deserves the A tier more than the Valkyrie. While only being good in low-end grind spots, she decimates difficult hordes of enemies like centaurs. She is extremely good if you need gold in a relatively low time. However, she is still not good enough to go any higher because she does underperform in other high-end grind spots.
| Weapon | Longsword |
|
Subweapon
|
Shield |
B Tier
B TierIn the B tier, the average ranked classes will be listed. These classes are overall quite average when compared to the performance of the upper classes. However, a veteran player may be able to use these classes in a way that can potentially outplay the S and A tier classes flawlessly. They are discussed as follows.
Archer
First up on the B Tier of this Black Desert Classes Tier List is the Archer. The Archer is a relatively good class to grind PvE with. He doesn’t offer a lot but offers enough to ensure solid farming. In addition to having decent clear speed, he also offers high mobility and protection. His kit can be a bit tough to get used to, which contributes to his placement in the B tier.
| Weapon | Crossbow |
|
Subweapon
|
Ra’ghon |
Striker
The Striker Class is one of the hardest classes to place in terms of ranking. I just went with the B tier because of how mixed the opinions on him are. He is not that popular of a pick wither. However, he is quite powerful after the recent rework because his mobility and damage went up a lot but still not enough to get most players on the Striker train. He does offer an average clear speed, which makes him okay for grinding, just not the best.
| Weapon | Gauntlet |
|
Subweapon
|
Vambrace |
Shai
Shai is a class that is mostly used as a support when grinding. She is exceptional in low-end farm spots because of her sustain as well as relatively serious damage. However, she does become obsolete toward the end of the game. A key part of playing her is knowing how to utilize her impressive range. Shai’s abilities only do well at a range, making her quite a liability in short-range or melee fights.
| Weapon | Florang |
|
Subweapon
|
Vitclari |
Woosa
Woosa is one of the newer classes added to Black Desert. There is not enough data on her to place her properly among all the other classes, but from what we do know of her, she seems to be a perfectly average PvE class. She does not have a lot of range to offer but does make up for that with her damage and mobility.
| Weapon | Fan |
|
Subweapon
|
Stave |
Corsair
Corsair is the next class that we are going to look at. She is quite unpopular among the other classes simply because of her unique playstyle. Her damage isn’t that lethal, but she does offer a ton of mobility. Furthermore, she also has quite a high range, which goes great with her attack speed. You can quickly go in and out for offensive maneuvers or play safe and evade oncoming damage.
| Weapon | Serenaca |
|
Subweapon
|
Mareca |
Hashashin
Hashashin is one of the few classes that was heavily worked on in the recent rework. Since then, he has fallen quite far in the rankings not only because of the changes made to him but because of the changes made to most of the other classes. He used to be a solid pick but now, he underperforms quite heavily compared to the other A and S Tier classes we have discussed above.
| Weapon | Shamshir |
|
Subweapon
|
Haladie |
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Sorceress
Sorceress used to be a great class, but much like Hashaashin, she has been dethroned. She excels in grinding in high-end spots but can struggle in certain aspects. Additionally, you should be careful when playing her in Awakening because of how bad her performance is in certain locations. When it comes to loot, she is quite average as well, pulling in slightly above-average numbers.
| Weapon | Amulet |
|
Subweapon
|
Talisman |
Dark Knight
The Dark Knight in Black Desert is a monster when it comes to PvP, but in the case of PvE, she is quite average. Players prefer playing her in awakening for a decent farm because PvP-focused players mostly level her up. She gives a solid dosage of almost everything you need, like damage, mobility, and defense. She is only in the B Tier because our list focuses on the PvE aspect of classes.
| Weapon | Kriegsmesser |
|
Subweapon
|
Ornamental Knot |
Maehwa
Maehwa is the last B Tier Champion we will look at in the list. She is one of the classes that was significantly impacted by the recent reworks. Maehwa is quite a decent class when it comes to grinding in Awakening because of her increased clear speed and range. However, her previous area of excellence and succession was nerfed, making her quite useless to farm in that.
| Weapon | Blade |
|
Subweapon
|
Horn Bow |
C Tier
C TierThe C tier will cater to the classes that are slightly lower than average regarding their overall performance and usability. They are quite unpopular as well, making them not the greatest classes to opt for. Most of what these classes can do, the upper classes do better. All in all, winning with these classes is possible but not that easy.
Sage
This is perhaps the most controversial placement on our Black Desert Class Tier List 2023. Sage used to be a solid S Tier pick, but after the reworks, the other classes got buffed so much that he got left out. While his performance is non-conclusive, it hints at the idea that the class is just not worth playing for PvE. However, if you do like playing Sage, then you can definitely try fitting him into some compositions that may be able to work out well with his damage and mobility.
| Weapon | Kyve |
|
Subweapon
|
Talisman |
Wizard
The Wizard class is quite an interesting one. Wizards are exclusively good in PvE because they offer a lot of range as well as AoE damage, making them perfect for the job. However, much like the other former top tiers, the Wizard class has also taken a big dive because of how better the classes have gotten. The Wizard class is still a decent choice for grinding; however, it is by no means ideal or great.
| Weapon | Staff |
|
Subweapon
|
Dagger |
Witch
The Witch class is extremely similar to the Wizard class, as one would expect. The class also offers great AoE damage at a range, making it perfect for farming. The only difference between the Witch and the Wizard class is the Awakening. They both used to be solid picks, as mentioned earlier, but aren’t nearly as popular now because of how good all the other classes have become.
| Weapon | Staff |
|
Subweapon
|
Staff |
Ranger
Ranger is a decent gaming class suitable for PvE. However, this class is nowhere near the best, even after the rework. Their clear speed is quite fast, which does give them the edge in fighting solo enemies. One of the most crucial things to remember when using it is that they consume mana a lot. Therefore, if you do plan on using Rangers for farming, be sure to bring a plethora of pots; otherwise, you will not have a good time.
| Weapon | Longbow |
|
Subweapon
|
Dagger |
Kunoichi
The last C-tier class we are going to look at is Kunoichi. She is a sleeper support class that is quite good in the early game, but that is pretty much it. Her abilities help her restore WP and add a fraction of power to your auto attacks. To be honest, she is not even worth leveling up because of how quickly her performance falls as you progress through the game. The early-game utility is the only thing that saves Kuno from the depths of the D tier.
| Weapon | Shortsword |
|
Subweapon
|
Kunai, Shuriken |
D Tier
D TierThe D Tier is the final rank of our Black Desert Character Tier List 2023. This tier will discuss the worst of the worst classes currently in BDO. They show horrible performance in almost every ranking criterion. Furthermore, picking any of these is more often than not a liability than an advantage over the enemy. These are discussed as follows.
Tamer
Tamer is the first of the two classes we are going to look at in the D Tier. She fits quite well in combos but is rather useless alone. Even after the reworks, she struggles to clear camps on her own, making her one of the worst classes to opt for in PvE scenarios. However, if you are a hardcore Tamer fan or if you find a suitable combo with her, then you can definitely try her out.
| Weapon | Shortsword |
|
Subweapon
|
Trinket |
Drakania
Drakania is the last class that we will at in the article. She is by far the worst class in the game because of how weak she can be because of her slow attacks. However, she does offer a lot of mobility which can be useful if that’s your playstyle. All in all, there are so many better options for PvE that you should rather go for.
| Weapon | Slayer |
|
Subweapon
|
Shard |
Comparison Table
| Class | Tier | Weapon | Subweapon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja | S | Shortsword | Kunai, Shuriken |
| Lahn | S | Crescent Pendulum | Noble Sword |
| Berserker | S | Axe | Ornamental Knot |
| Musa | A | Blade | Horn Bow |
| Nova | A | Morning Star | Quoratum |
| Warrior | A | Longsword | Shield |
| Mystic | A | Gauntlet | Vambrace |
| Guardian | A | Battle Axe | Shield |
| Valkyrie | A | Longsword | Shield |
| Archer | B | Crossbow | Ra’ghon |
| Striker | B | Gauntlet | Vambrace |
| Shai | B | Florang | Vitclari |
| Woosa | B | Fan | Stave |
| Corsair | B | Serenaca | Mareca |
| Hashashin | B | Shamshir | Haladie |
| Sorceress | B | Amulet | Talisman |
| Dark Knight | B | Kriegsmesser | Ornamental Knot |
| Maehwa | B | Blade | Horn Bow |
| Sage | C | Kyve | Talisman |
| Wizard | C | Staff | Dagger |
| Witch | C | Staff | Staff |
| Ranger | C | Longbow | Dagger |
| Kunoichi | C | Shortsword | Kunai, Shuriken |
| Tamer | D | Shortsword | Trinket |
| Drakania | D | Slayer | Shard |
Patch Note: March 2023 Update
The new update has the following changes
- The problem where you may use Fughar’s Fishing Rod when mounted has been fixed.
- A mission in the Balenos main questline now asks you to explore the Griffon transportation field and fishing sites in Velia.
- I altered some of the Black Desert UI that display content previews.
Verdict
Well, that does it for our rankings. While it was hard to rank properly because of how different the players ranked each class but I tried to do justice to them all. However, it is a subjective list, so I twisted a few rankings where I thought it necessary. All in all, feel free to add anything from tips to other information in the comments below. Good luck with your grinds, gamers.