Castle Crashers character tier list revealed: best characters you can use

Calling Castle Crashers crazy is an understatement. This cartoony arcade hack’n’slash is filled to the brim with over-the-top mini-games, challenges and more that you can play solo or with a group of friends. Alongside the craziness of its gameplay, Castle Crashers features a diverse cast of playable characters, all offering various abilities and unique gameplay.

If you are having trouble finding the best match, this Castle Crashers character tier list can help you get an idea about all the characters.

Disclaimer: This tier list is completely subjective and reflects the experiences and opinions of the writer.

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Castle Crashers character tier list

All the characters are tiered based on their effectiveness (Image via The Behemoth)

All the ranks and their significance are the following:

• S rank: Best of the best, with minimal weaknesses.
• A rank: Excellent but not as good as S tier.
• B rank: Not great, not bad, the perfect middle-ground characters.
• C rank: Not preferable, yet not the worst.
• D rank: Avoid playing these characters if possible.

Tier	Characters
S-Tier	Fencer and Industrialist, Red Knight, Blue Knight
A-Tier	Fire Demon, Iceskimo, Orange Knight, Royal Guard, Conehead, Brute, Snakey
B-Tier	Grey Knight, Ninja, Pink Knight, Killer Beekeeper, Skeleton, Cult Minion
C-Tier	Bear, Barbarian, Necromancer, Saracen, Green Knight
D-Tier	Peasant, Civilian, Stoveface, Open-Faced Gray Knight, Thief, Alien, King, The Blacksmith, Hatty Hattington

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All tiers in Castle Crashers explained (Image via The Behemoth)

S-Tier

Fencer and Industrialist

• Strengths: Highest DPS in the game, incredible boss shredding capability, and a large hitbox that works as a protective shield. Spammable splash magic makes them top-tier for insane mode.
• Weaknesses: No significant demerits. The best in the game for clearing levels and boss fights.

Red Knight

• Strengths: Crowd control king. His splash magic can lock down mobs, drain their health quickly, and work exceptionally well in arena mode. A full magic bar can one-shot most enemies in normal mode.
• Weaknesses: Slightly weaker against bosses compared to the Fencer/Industrialist.

Blue Knight

• Strengths: Can freeze enemies in place, offering great control in tough situations. Infinite combo lock (XXXY) on normal enemies is powerful for crowd clearing.
• Weaknesses: More expensive splash magic compared to others.

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A-Tier

Fire Demon

• Strengths: Great crowd control with fast splash magic that hits multiple times, high afterburn DPS and excellent for hitting airborne targets.
• Weaknesses: Not as effective for bosses as S-tier characters.

Iceskimo

• Strengths: Similar to Blue Knight with infinite combos (XXXY). Effective crowd control with freezing magic.
• Weaknesses: Less freezing capability on projectiles, air attacks and magic jump compared to Blue Knight.

Orange Knight

• Strengths: Decent range on splash magic, good for crowd control with afterburn damage.
• Weaknesses: Slower splash magic and less afterburn damage compared to Fire Demon.

Royal Guard / Conehead

• Strengths: Powerful bomb projectile that can deal high splash damage with afterburn, making it useful for crowd control and boss fights.
• Weaknesses: Weak splash magic (arrow rain) holds them back from being present in the S-tier.

Brute / Snakey

• Strengths: Huge hitboxes with vine magic and solid DPS against bosses.
• Weaknesses: Not quite at the level of the S-tier characters in terms of DPS.

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B-Tier

Grey Knight

• Strengths: Solid bomb projectile, good for crowd control.
• Weaknesses: Weaker combo damage compared to other bomb-users like Conehead and Royal Guard.

Ninja

• Strengths: Good boss shredding magic similar to Fire Demon, but slower and lacking afterburn.
• Weaknesses: Less effective for crowd control.

Pink Knight

• Strengths: Stun effect with rainbow splash magic, allowing for follow-up combos. Great for stunning and juggling enemies.
• Weaknesses: Limited DPS compared to Red Knight.

Killer Beekeeper

• Strengths: Great for hitting airborne enemies with falling hitboxes and decent boss shredding potential.
• Weaknesses: Bees disappear after one hit, lowering overall effectiveness.

Skeleton / Cult Minion

• Strengths: Similar to Ninja with solid magic for boss fights.
• Weaknesses: Slower startup and fewer hitboxes make them less effective than Ninja.

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C-Tier

Bear

• Strengths: Tornado splash magic can be useful for advanced juggling combos.
• Weaknesses: Splash magic isn’t great for general crowd control and requires very advanced mechanics to be useful.

Barbarian

• Strengths: Faster splash magic compared to arrow rain.
• Weaknesses: No elemental effects or unique strengths, making him bland and less effective overall.

Necromancer

• Strengths: Long-range splash magic with fast activation.
• Weaknesses: Low DPS due to limited hitboxes.

Saracen

• Strengths: Tornado splash magic, capable of advanced combos like Bear.
• Weaknesses: Worse projectile and less practical magic make him a downgrade compared to Bear.

Green Knight

• Strengths: Poison magic offers some crowd control potential.
• Weaknesses: Weirdly timed heavy attack ruins his melee DPS, making him one of the least effective characters for combat.

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D-Tier

Peasant / Civilian / Stoveface / Open-Faced Gray Knight / Thief

• Strengths: Arrow rain can clear small groups.
• Weaknesses: Slow, weak splash magic with little utility. No unique abilities make these characters subpar for crowd control and boss fights.

Alien

• Strengths: Unique playstyle with spammable laser ball attack.
• Weaknesses: Unable to switch weapons and overall low effectiveness. The laser ball splash attack, while interesting, is too weak to be useful in most scenarios.

King

• Strengths: Healing ability useful for team support.
• Weaknesses: No splash magic for crowd control or boss damage. Healing isn’t enough to compensate for poor combat abilities.

The Blacksmith

• Strengths: Decent fire projectile magic.
• Weaknesses: Splash magic is incredibly weak, hitting only once and has almost no utility. His other abilities don’t make up for this shortfall.

Hatty Hattington

• Strengths: Decent DPS on splash magic.
• Weaknesses: Terrible delay on magic makes him almost useless. His splash is too slow to hit anything reliably, making him one of the weakest characters in the game.

That’s all for our Castle Crashers character tier list, we hope it will help you get an idea about all the characters in the game and choose the best for yourself.