Anime Vanguards Tier List (September 2026) – Best Units Ranked

Whether you jump in for new updates or grind every day, your unit picks in Anime Vanguards decide how far you push each run. With so many characters in the pool, choosing the right one is not always clear. It is more important, as all the different game modes require unique damage-dealing characters. Use this Anime Vanguards tier list to find the best mythic, vanguard, secret, and limited units that help you clear waves easily.

Editor’s Note: We updated this tier list on September 26, 2026 for Update 14.5.

Anime Vanguards Tier List Overview

In our Anime Vanguards tier list, we picked the best 50 units from the game’s latest update 12. This includes all Vanguard and some of the secret, limited, or mythic characters. We divided them into high DPS, utility, and support, from SS to D tiers.

So, grab Anime Vanguards codes, stock up gems, and roll for the strong units by following our tier list.

Anime Vanguards Tier List Explained

Now that you know the full tier list, here is the complete explanation of the unit rankings and why they are better than the others:

SS Tier

The SS units in our Anime Vanguards tier list are the absolute strongest in the game. Instead of just raw DPS, they bring special buffs, massive utility, and game-changing mechanics that completely dictate the meta.

• Makoto: A highly versatile support and utility unit who combines strong team support with crowd control. His value extends across different team compositions, making him less dependent on a single synergy than many of the current meta units.
• Goku Black: A powerful team enabler who can upgrade Dragon Ball units alongside his own progression, allowing the team to reach high upgrade levels while spending less of its economy. His value is especially high when paired with the current Dragon Ball lineup.
• Vegito: A major Dragon Ball carry whose performance rises sharply with the team’s current synergies. His placement is heavily tied to the Dragon Ball setup, where the team’s bonuses allow him to reach a much higher damage ceiling than when used independently.
• Gogeta: A powerful Dragon Ball damage dealer whose current strength comes largely from his interaction with the rest of the Dragon Ball team. His value drops when separated from those team bonuses, making his current ranking closely tied to the meta composition.
• Tifa: A high-end damage dealer who remains part of the current top team despite the rise of the Dragon Ball composition. Her inclusion reflects her ability to contribute alongside the strongest current team members.
• Rebel Fighter (Sukuna): A powerful carry that remains relevant in the current top-end meta. His position is supported by his strong individual performance and ability to contribute to high-level team compositions.
• Star Platinum: A high-value control unit that remains useful even as the overall meta shifts toward stronger damage-focused teams. His crowd control gives him value beyond raw DPS.
• Diavolo: A highly versatile support and control unit that fits into several different team compositions. His flexibility gives him stronger long-term value than units whose rankings depend entirely on one team.
• Demon Leader (Control): As a premier support, her “Chains of Control” passive reduces her placement cost by 10% per chained unit while simultaneously buffing her own damage. She elevates your entire team by granting a massive 30% damage buff to all chained Demon Hunter allies, making her an irreplaceable meta enabler for economy and scaling.
• God (Above Heaven): Operating as the game’s ultimate AoE nuke, his reality-altering and time-stopping mechanics completely lock down the map. He provides unparalleled late-game safety for your team by dealing astronomical area-of-effect damage that instantly vaporizes high-HP boss swarms.
• Song Jinwu and Igros: This duo dominates the frontline role using their shadow extraction passive to summon a self-replenishing army directly onto the track. By generating powerful units that do not count toward your placement cap, they provide an overwhelming, zero-maintenance defense for your team.
• Gujo (Infinity): Serving as the game’s premier crowd-control unit, his domain expansion mechanics apply wide-reaching stuns and extreme slows to enemies. He massively improves team survivability by halting wave momentum in its tracks, all while still outputting a top-tier damage ceiling.
• Lich King (Ruler): Functioning as an elite summoner, he constantly spawns shadow units to build an autonomous, highly durable defense line. His ability to sustain an impenetrable frontline frees you up to focus all your economy and remaining unit slots on pure DPS carries.
• Ice Queen (Release): She is the absolute gold standard for area-denial, locking enemies in place with a guaranteed AoE freeze passive. Her ability to completely stall fast-moving swarms gives your heavy hitters the crucial time they need to deal maximum damage.
• Alocard (Vampire King): Acting as a premier DoT (Damage over Time) carry, he applies stacking, heavy bleeds across massive areas. His unique lifesteal-esque sustain and constant damage pressure make him perfect for whittling down multiple lanes simultaneously.

S+ Tier

The S+ roster in our Anime Vanguards tier list features incredible hyper-carries and top-tier supports that form the backbone of any highly optimized team composition. While they might lack the absolute map dominance of the tier above, their raw stats and scaling will easily carry you through the hardest end-game content.

• Apathetic Savior (Door): A powerful team support who builds a team-wide damage buff through Demon Controller abilities. Theurgy adds damage, cleansing, and control, while his rescue ability can save the team from a failed defense. His value is highest when the team can maintain Lunar Cycle.
• Holy Deceiver (Dark): Strengthens Holy damage and Dragon Sphere allies while sharing upgrades and adding slows. His critical hits also provide additional area damage, making him particularly effective in a Dragon Sphere focused team.
• Demon Hybrid (Chainsaw): A hyper-carry whose “Perpetual Motion” mechanic doubles his damage when his meter is full, while his “Rookie Demon Hunter” passive detonates bleed stacks for a massive burst. He is an offensive monster, but strictly requires Demon Leader on the team to unlock his 130% peak potential via his “One True Love” synergy passive.
• Star Crusader (Platinum): A strong control unit that can stop time immediately after placement and repeatedly control a focused target. Platinum Star adds another attacker whose hits bypass Overshield, giving him both control and defensive utility.
• Wrath (Assault): Strengthens Curse and Evils units while stripping enemy shields and gaining additional power through his upgrade and Mind Control mechanics. Despair adds damage amplification and slowing, although its strongest version requires an Evils focused team.
• Demon Leader: Even in her base form, her incredible cost-efficiency and unique 40% damage buff specifically targeted at Demon Hybrid make her a vital support anchor. She dramatically lowers the economic burden of your early game while enabling your strongest Demon Hunter carries to sweep.
• Brolzi Super (Wrathful): A burst DPS powerhouse whose rage-based passives multiply his stats to astronomical levels as waves progress. While he requires a massive cash investment from your team’s economy to upgrade, his screen-clearing AoE damage easily justifies the cost.
• Conqueror vs Invulnerable: This dual-unit hybrid DPS utilizes a unique clash mechanic to deliver devastating, armor-shattering physical damage. They excel at breaking down late-game tanks, softening up the toughest targets for the rest of your team to easily finish off.
• Savior (Rebirth): He provides some of the highest raw burst damage numbers available, acting as an elite wave-clearer for late-game content. His only drawback is the massive early-game economy your team must build to afford his final, map-dominating upgrade tiers.
• Diablo (Renacimiento): Functioning as an exceptional AoE scaler, his abilities brutally punish clumped enemy waves tightly with compounding damage. He is the perfect mid-to-late game anchor for ensuring high-density swarms never breach your defenses.
• Shinobi Sage (Friendship): A phenomenal late-game scaler whose passives specifically synergize with and elevate other shinobi units on your roster. He transforms a standard ninja team composition into a highly optimized, high-DPS late-game powerhouse.
• Skele King (Rock): A top-tier support anchor who uses music-based passives to grant massive buffs to nearby allies while applying chilling crowd control to enemies. He acts as a force multiplier, significantly boosting your team’s overall DPS and survivability.
• Divalo (Requiem): Operating as a tactical time-controller, his requiem abilities allow for precise manipulation of enemy movement and attack ranges. He gives your team crucial breathing room during chaotic waves by strictly dictating the pace of the battle.
• Teacher (Final Stand): Engineered for clutch moments, his phase-scaling passives grant him massive damage spikes precisely when you need them most. He serves as the ultimate safety net for your team during the brutal final waves of legend stages.
• Lord Friezo (Emperor): The definitive beam DPS unit, commanding absolute authority with continuous, cross-map ranged damage. His incredibly steady damage output provides a reliable, high-pressure backbone for your team’s overall defense strategy.
• Quetzalcoatl (Sun God): Acting as the premier anti-air and DoT hybrid, his massive aerial coverage completely locks down the skies. By applying permanent burn effects to flying targets, he removes one of the game’s biggest threats before they can reach your ground units.
• Rogita (Super 4): The ultimate boss-killer, leveraging insane fusion stat multipliers to achieve the highest single-target burst damage in the game. You slot him into your team specifically to melt massive, high-priority bosses before they can even threaten your base.

S Tier

Units in the S tier are highly reliable damage dealers and utility specialists that will comfortably pull their weight in mid-to-late game modes. These Anime Vanguards units in our tier list may require a bit more careful economy management or precise positioning, but they remain phenomenal choices for rounding out your board.

• Iscanur (Pride): A heavy burst carry who utilizes sun-based burn mechanics to effortlessly melt high-HP targets. His daytime-scaling passive requires you to time your wave progression strategically, but rewards your team with unparalleled damage peaks.
• Cursed Copycat (Pure): Uses the Attached One to copy attacks and gain different effects depending on the copied element. These effects can provide slowing, stunning, Nullify, or team buffs, giving him considerable flexibility when the correct attack is selected.
• Divine General (Adaptation): Adapts to enemy mechanics after repeated attacks and gains additional damage from those adaptations. He also applies Nullify and can move toward an untouched leading enemy, giving him useful utility against enemies with specific mechanics.
• Elastic Captain (Cog 5th): Spreads Repulse through allied attacks while supporting Pirate units and applying Wanted. His Sun God Transformation also provides a player-controlled damage window, although Wanted can interfere with other damage-amplifying debuffs.
• Envoy of Destruction (Resistance): Helps attacks bypass enemy damage reduction and is particularly useful against Overshield. His buffs generate Flame stacks that unlock additional attacks and his active ability, making him especially effective against defensive enemies.
• Graceful Pilot (Mecha): Provides nearby allies with damage and range buffs while gaining additional damage after active abilities. Her Mech mode adds player-controlled attacks and a powerful nuke, giving her both support and offensive value.
• History’s Strongest: Combines Bleed and Burn while adapting to harmful effects to increase his damage. Dismantle allows his Burn to bypass shields and damage reduction, giving him strong sustained damage against defensive enemies.
• Investigation Leader (Truth): Restores nearby units’ meters while generating MP through critical hits, which can then amplify attacks and active abilities. His Trenchcoat upgrade also strengthens his Demon Controller support, making him particularly useful in critical-hit focused teams.
• Phantom Thief (Jester): Allows critical hits to trigger follow-up attacks from allied Demon Controllers. Baton Pass lets those allies attack without spending meter, while Rupture and a range-wide slow add further utility.
• Rebel Fighter (Gauntlet): Builds damage through Mana while chaining attacks and abilities together. Takedowns unlock additional Materia bonuses, including more Mana and critical chance, although he needs enough time and kills to reach his full potential.
• Reckless Gambler (Cursed): Uses card hands to gain damage, critical stats, and crowd control, with stronger hands helping him reach Jackpot. His emergency defense can also prevent a non-boss leak, although his card system makes his performance somewhat variable.
• Super Vogito: Bypasses enemy dodge, ignores part of their damage reduction, and applies Rupture. His counters also punish enemies that attack him or attempt to apply status effects. His main drawback is the lengthy setup required before Roku and Vogita can fuse.
• Sword Hunter (Void): Builds Swordforce before entering Illumination, which provides map-wide attacks and Overcrit. Changing into or out of Illumination also damages enemies and buffs nearby allies, although he needs time to complete his attack cycle.
• The Falcon (of Light): Buffs nearby allies while reducing enemy damage reduction and repelling enemies with his attacks. His Branded ally restriction requires careful team planning because affected allies receive a damage penalty.
• The Smith (Forged): Converts takedowns into Ore and uses it to craft weapons for allies. Silver weapon crafting can also provide free Masterwork items, giving him a useful support role that extends beyond direct damage.
• The Struggler (Rampage): Gains extra attacks and Repulse against bleeding enemies while Demon kills increase his damage. Berserker Armor provides another major power increase, although its Injury stacks can eventually leave him stunned.
• Today’s Strongest: Slows and repels nearby enemies while bypassing damage reduction. He also resists weather and harmful effects and gains additional damage during Void, although spending his meter completely temporarily stops his attacks.
• Today’s Strongest vs History’s Strongest: Combines area control with Bleed and Dismantle before splitting into two possible forms. Today’s Strongest focuses on control, while History’s Strongest focuses on damage over time. These are alternate outcomes of the same unit path rather than separate team slots.
• Tuji (Sorcerer Killer): Removes shields and ignores damage reduction while using weapon swaps to change between boss damage and range or direct damage. His damage bonus can conflict with some support buffs, so his team setup needs to be considered carefully.
• Pink Villain (Celestial): Combining heavy burst damage with strong regenerative passives, he provides incredibly low-stress lane stability. He is a self-sufficient anchor that can hold a lane entirely on his own, freeing up your team’s resources elsewhere.
• World Destroyer (Old): Serving as your primary physical AoE clearer, his earth-shattering shockwaves reliably wipe the board of low-tier fodder. He ensures your team’s heavy single-target hitters aren’t distracted by weak, swarming enemies.
• Hollowseph (Pure): A versatile damage dealer who perfectly transitions from high single-target burst in the early game to devastating AoE damage in his final form. He provides excellent, continuous utility for your team across all stages of a match.
• Okorun (Turbo): A highly dynamic speed DPS whose transformation mechanics allow him to flex between single-target boss elimination and rapid wave clearing. His sheer versatility makes him an incredibly reliable flex pick for any team composition.
• Isdead (Romantic): A strong crowd-control alternative, using heavy ice manipulation to freeze and slow advancing waves. He offers your team vital stalling capabilities at a slightly cheaper economy cost than the top-tier CC units.
• Agony Shinobi (Force): A highly efficient mid-game carry, utilizing reliable AoE attack patterns and solid crowd control. He smoothly bridges the gap between your early-game defense and late-game hyper-carries, preventing mid-game leaks.
• Student (Enraged): A spike-DPS unit whose unique rage mechanics trigger massive, temporary bursts of damage. He requires careful economy balancing from your team to maximize his enrage uptime, but completely shreds bosses when active.
• Savior (Moonless): Specializing in consistent AoE, his passives grant massive range expansions as he upgrades through his forms. He provides excellent, wide-reaching board coverage, though he falls slightly behind his Rebirth variant in pure damage numbers.
• Koguro (Unsealed): Operating as the team’s dedicated shield breaker, his rapid, multi-hit AoE attacks easily strip away enemy defenses. He paves the way for your heavy hitters to deal true damage, provided your team can afford his steep upgrade costs.
• Renguko (Purgatory): A specialized DoT carry who deals massive burn damage via strict, line-based attack patterns. To maximize his value to the team, you must position him precisely at map corners to hit the maximum number of enemies.
• Explosive Demon (Bomb): Utilizing destructive scaling passives, he blankets massive areas with undeniable explosive burst damage. If your team can survive his notoriously steep mid-game upgrade curve, he becomes a highly destructive late-game powerhouse.
• Cursed Shinobi (Black Flames): A sustained DoT specialist whose black flames spread continuously from target to target. While excellent for whittling down massive swarms, he may require team support to secure the final blow on extremely fast-moving bosses.

A Tier

A-tier units are solid mid-game performers that excel in niche roles in our Anime Vanguards tier list, such as early-wave clearing or specific area denial. However, as enemy health pools scale up in later waves, you will eventually need to phase them out for characters with higher stat multipliers.

• Deceiver (Monster): Offers fantastic early-game utility with unique monster mechanics that help establish your initial board presence. However, his stat scaling noticeably falls off, requiring your team to replace him during late-game endurance runs eventually.
• Horsegirls (Racers): Operating as hyper-efficient early-game anchors, their rapid attack rates and speed buffs secure the first few waves perfectly. They allow your team to aggressively farm economy without worrying about early leaks.
• Igros (Elite Knight): A strong early-game DPS who relies on rapid physical slashes and stacking bleeds to clear lanes. He is a great starter for your team, but eventually gets outclassed by units with larger AoE or full shadow monarch synergies.
• Astolfo (Rider of Black): Provides your team with unique board mobility and fast attack speeds for highly flexible placements. His ability to quickly reposition makes him an excellent emergency response unit if a lane suddenly starts to leak.
• Ice Manipulator (Admiral): A solid area-denial unit whose massive ice-damage zones effectively slow down enemy progression. He is highly valuable on wide, open-format maps where your team needs to control large, exposed stretches of the track.
• Company Captain (Hybrid): A straightforward, highly reliable frontline bruiser who scales well with standard physical damage. He provides a sturdy, dependable baseline of damage for your team without requiring any complex setup.
• Armored Mage (Requip): Her versatile armor-swapping mechanics give your team excellent tactical flexibility to adapt to different wave types. However, she lacks the raw, peak DPS multipliers needed to justify a slot in the absolute highest tiers.
• Elastic Captain (Pirate): His gear-based transformations provide massive, expressive AoE brawling damage that clears clustered enemies with ease. While powerful, his attack range can feel slightly limiting to the team on maps with longer, spread-out lanes.
• Fastest Shinobi (Flash): Boasting an incredibly low seconds-per-attack (SPA), he acts as the ultimate clean-up crew for fast-moving enemies. He easily saves your team from leaks, but his lack of wide AoE prevents him from carrying against late-game swarms.
• Delusional Demon (Blood): A DoT specialist who relies on stackable blood manipulation bleeds to drain enemy health over time. While strong, he sits slightly lower because the current meta heavily favors instant burst damage over gradual decay.
• Saber (Black Tyrant): A physical AoE specialist whose wide-cleave sword attacks are perfectly suited for holding narrow chokepoints. She excels when your team can funnel enemies into a single, concentrated lane for her to constantly cleave.
• Slime (King): Functions as a unique stalling utility, using absorption mechanics and water damage to severely slow the enemy advance. He is a solid backup choice for your team when the top-tier raw freeze units are unavailable to you.

B Tier

If you are looking for decent baseline damage, B-tier units in our Anime Vanguards tier list are great. However, these characters clearly suffer from power creep compared to the current meta roster. They are perfectly fine for early progression, but their lack of wide area-of-effect or advanced buffs makes them a liability against intense late-game swarms.

• Warlord (Of the Sea): Provides decent crowd control through water-based martial arts attacks that knock back enemies. Unfortunately, his base damage modifiers simply cannot keep pace with the current top-tier DPS roster, making him a suboptimal choice for late game.
• Fallen Angel (Pistols): Offers high single-target efficiency thanks to a rapid rate of fire that easily picks off stragglers. However, the complete lack of AoE cleave makes them a massive liability for your team against mid-to-late game swarms.

C Tier

You are much better off saving your gems and rolling better units in Anime Vanguards than using the C-tier units from the tier list.

• Manipulator (Spider): Utilizes web-based traps that are visually interesting and provide some minor stalling utility. Ultimately, placing him takes up valuable unit limit slots that your team desperately needs for high-damage carries or superior freeze units.

D Tier

If you are unlucky with the pulls, keep these D-tier units until you get better Anime Vanguards characters as per our tier list.

• Gazelle (Zombie): Features a fun undead revival gimmick that allows him to return to the board after being defeated. In a highly optimized tower defense run, your frontline units shouldn’t be dying at all, making this passive practically useless for your team.
• Leo (Fangs): A solid physical brawler with rapid, close-quarters combo strikes that feel great to watch. He severely lacks the sheer stat multipliers and AoE capabilities required to handle modern, high-health tower defense content.

That ends our Anime Vanguards tier list, where we rank all the units from vanguard to mythic rarity. Which characters are you using to stomp the lobby? Tell us in the comments.