Dragonkin: The Banished Class Tier List and Best Hero Guide

Four classes. One shot at picking the right one before you sink hours into the wrong build. Dragonkin: The Banished launched with The Knight, The Barbarian, The Oracle, and The Tracker, and each plays so differently that your choice shapes everything from how you clear maps to how you survive Dragon Lords. After testing all four against high-difficulty Chaos Maps and Hunt encounters, here's a clear breakdown of where each class stands.

All four classes at a glance

What classes are available in Dragonkin: The Banished?

Every class in Dragonkin: The Banished is gender-locked and built around a unique resource mechanic. Each one also has its own Ancestral Grid layout, meaning the way you slot skill fragments differs per hero. There's no universal build path here — the grid forces you to think about your class's specific strengths from the start.

The elemental split matters more than it might look at first. Poison ignores certain armor types, fire deals consistent AoE, lightning scales with charge timing, and ice rewards staying in the fight. Pick based on how you want to engage, not just which element sounds cool.

Dragonkin: The Banished class tier list

Here's how all four classes rank at 1.0 launch, based on damage output, survivability, farming speed, and gear dependency.

The Oracle (S tier): why she's the meta pick

The Oracle is the class to beat right now. Her Vision Gauge charges as she casts, and when you layer duration and area modifiers onto the Ancestral Grid correctly, you end up with persistent zones that tick for millions of damage. The practical result: she clears entire rooms from the edge of the screen, which is exactly what you need when higher Chaos Maps start throwing one-shot mechanics at you.

Her dodge is a teleport, not a roll. That single fact makes positioning in boss fights dramatically easier than it is on any other class. Skilled players can chain teleport dodges with spell casts to stay completely out of danger while the damage zones do the work.

For players who want to fund a second character, Oracle farms efficiently enough that she's the strongest choice for generating early resources. Check the detailed class breakdown and tier rankings for more on how her Ancestral Grid options compare to the other three.

The Knight (A tier): best first character for new players

The Knight is the most forgiving class in the game, and that's not a knock against him. His Fuel Gauge keeps the Flamelance fed for reliable fire damage, and stacking Shield Spawn fragments on the Ancestral Grid turns him into something that's genuinely hard to kill. He's also the least gear-dependent of all four classes, which makes him the smartest pick if you're starting fresh and don't have a stash of resources to invest.

His dodge grants a defensive boost on activation, which pairs naturally with the tanky playstyle. The trade-off is damage ceiling: the Knight won't hit the same numbers as Oracle or a fully-ramped Barbarian, but he'll survive content that would wipe the others out if they made a positioning mistake.

If you're planning to run multiple characters eventually, starting with the Knight is a legitimate strategy. He's stable enough to fund the rest of your roster without requiring perfect gear.

The Tracker (A tier): Hunt specialist with the best mobility

The Tracker is the most technical class in the game, and the payoff for learning her is real. Her Targeting mechanic marks specific enemies, and those marks feed into high-damage combo finishers that hit especially hard against Dragon Lords. Her poison damage type also bypasses resistances that stop other classes cold, which makes her the go-to pick for Hunt encounters where you're facing heavily-armored targets.

Her dodge recovers faster than any other class, giving her the best repositioning tools in the game. Skilled players can use this to avoid damage entirely during dangerous windows, essentially playing the fight on their own terms.

The catch is setup time. Getting Tracker's traps, marks, and combos working together takes longer than Oracle's zone setup or the Knight's straightforward shielding. Once it clicks, though, she's genuinely excellent at the content she's designed for.

The Barbarian (B tier): high ceiling, steep learning curve

The Barbarian runs on Rage, which builds as you attack and reduces skill costs while boosting damage once it stacks. The combat loop is satisfying when it works: constant aggression keeps Rage high, Rage keeps costs low, and you end up in a sustained damage cycle that clears Hunts fast.

The problem is positioning. Melee in high-difficulty ARPGs means standing inside the danger, and Dragonkin: The Banished punishes that hard at higher Chaos Map tiers. The most effective endgame Barbarian build is actually a Thorns setup, where enemies damage themselves by hitting you. It works, but it's a more demanding playstyle than the Vision Gauge or Fuel Gauge systems.

His dodge is aggressive and lets him attack during the movement, which keeps the Rage loop going. For players who want a pure speed-farm experience in early content, Barbarian is genuinely competitive. For endgame Chaos Maps, the melee exposure becomes a real liability.

How do attributes affect each class?

Every level grants attribute points, and how you spend them matters differently depending on your class. Here's a quick reference:

• Courage: raises max HP and general survivability (best on Knight and Barbarian)
• Intellect: scales damage stats, with exact bonuses varying by class
• Resilience: improves armor and durability effects
• Agility: boosts defensive stats and attack bonuses (high value on Tracker)

The key point is that attributes aren't equally valuable across all classes. Stacking Intellect on a Tracker or Agility on a Knight wastes points that would scale better elsewhere. Match your attribute investment to your class's primary mechanics.

Which class should you pick?

For most players, The Oracle is the strongest starting pick. She clears content efficiently, scales well into endgame, and her teleport dodge makes survival manageable even when you're still learning the Chaos Map mechanics.

If you want the safest path through the early game with minimal gear pressure, The Knight is the right call. He's not the flashiest class, but he gets the job done and won't punish mistakes as harshly.

The Tracker is the pick for players who already know they prefer ranged, tactical combat. She rewards patience and positioning, and she's the best class in the game for Hunt content specifically.

The Barbarian is for players who want a challenge and enjoy aggressive melee. His ceiling is real, but getting there requires more active management than the other three classes demand.

All four classes can clear endgame content with the right build and gear. The tier list reflects how smoothly each class gets there, not whether they're capable of it. For a deeper look at build paths for each hero, the games.gg guides section has more ARPG content to help you plan your progression.