Just to explain, these rankings were created with 2 main factors in mind:
- Core mechanics - how complex is it to understand all the mechanics the hero can utilise?
- Key decisions - how complex are the decisions to be made (if any), and how critical are they to your success? (e.g. Heroes with 4-typed dice naturally are ranked higher, as it is easier to whiff their dice rolls)
Do read the caveats at the top of the image to see what this Tier List is NOT. For a full-res PDF copy of this cheat sheet, you can get it here:
Difficulty: 1
Barbarian
Barbarian is a vanilla hero that cannot get any simpler. I wouldn't recommend him for a full length game with a new player, so that they don't get bored with not being able to do anything else besides attack and heal and they see you do all the fun stuff. I usually use him for a 25HP intro game.
Difficulty: 2
Pyromancer, Moon Elf, Gunslinger, Samurai
All their mechanics are straightforward to learn and understand. Note that I'm not saying they are equally easy to MASTER. Just that at a fundamental level, it's easier to grasp what they do.
I rank Monk higher solely because out of all these heroes, you actually have to make a decision whether to use a Status offensively or defensively. This is opposed to all the other statuses here where it's either a 'inflict/gain this now' based on dice roll or Evasion.
Difficulty: 3
Monk
Read above.
Seraph
The mechanics are quite straightforward, though infused with a stronger element of luck than the other lower difficulty heroes. In my few games with Seraph I rarely got to see Holy Presence being activated so there's really only one main status that features the most, which is Flight. Ranked higher than the Difficulty : 2 heroes simply because it is easier to whiff dice rolls.
Difficulty: 4
Cursed Pirate
I initially thought the Cursed mechanic added some strategic depth in knowing when to 'push the button' and go for the kill, hence adding to the complexity in decision-making. However, with more games, I'm starting to feel that both sides of the board actually play perfectly fine, and Cursed just accelerates the game in 1v1 and creates some fun chaos with more players.
Thus, the complexity in the character comes from the numerous unique Pirate cards (since there are no upgrades) and knowing how to use them. The mechanics are pretty simple to understand and I am tempted to rank him lower at 3, but I suppose new players may get tied up with trying to manage their Cursed Doubloons and hence I'm placing him here.
Vampire Lord
She's different enough to be a tier above Difficulty 3, but I don't think I will rank her any higher.
New players may not know the best way to utilise Blood Power, but otherwise she is not too difficult to understand and use. I initially ranked her higher, but I feel that Blood Power doesn't really have the same decision complexity as Tactical Advantage, so it is easier to learn the hero.
Her Ultimate is probably the least newbie friendly (how will they know what card to fish for?), but it's a rare occurrence anyway.
Huntress
The Huntress has a simple mechanic that is difficult to know what to do - you either direct damage to yourself or to Nyra - but when do you do it? A new player will not have a good sense of power curves and know how best to utilise Nyra, and perhaps struggle with this decision that they have to make every turn.
Pretty easy to whiff on his dice rolls before you get upgrades . He has numerous statuses and new players may struggle to remember everything and know when is the opportune time to use them. I am tempted to rank him at 5, but I feel the decision complexity isn't quite the same as the Difficulties 5 and 6 heroes.
Difficulty: 5
Shadow Thief
There are so many things you can do as a ST that it will definitely be overwhelming for a new player. Do you ramp CP, cantrip, go for damage, or hide in the Shadows?? Very fun, but not very newbie friendly.
Artificer
Bots are of course really unique in the game of Dice Throne, but I wouldn't rank him higher than 5 as a unique mechanic doesn't make it a complex mechanic. The decisions to activate are usually straightforward (most of the time Yes if you have Synth), I suppose the tricky part is how quickly to rush the Advanced bot, though in my opinion it should be 'ASAP'.
I know many would rank him a 6, but given that bots play is actually fairly linear without any complicated or tricky decision-making, I think a newbie can pick it up just fine, he just might not know how best to play it.
Bots are of course really unique in the game of Dice Throne, but I wouldn't rank him higher than 5 as a unique mechanic doesn't make it a complex mechanic. The decisions to activate are usually straightforward (most of the time Yes if you have Synth), I suppose the tricky part is how quickly to rush the Advanced bot, though in my opinion it should be 'ASAP'.
I know many would rank him a 6, but given that bots play is actually fairly linear without any complicated or tricky decision-making, I think a newbie can pick it up just fine, he just might not know how best to play it.
Difficulty: 6
Tactician
His core mechanic, Tactical Advantage, is a layered status that needs you to understand the pros/cons of the various actions (and possible statuses to inflict) you can perform with it, which makes it quite daunting for a newbie.
