Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters TIER LIST
This best Dragon Quest 11 characters tier list will give you a rundown and review of each of the characters in Dragon Quest 11 so you can decide who’s worth keeping in your party and who deserves a spot on the bench.
Dragon Quest 11 features 8 available characters you can put in your party: The Hero, Erik, Veronica, Serena, Sylvando, Jade, Rab and Hendrik. Each of these characters has their own strengths and weaknesses, so you’re going to want a bit of a breakdown on what they’re each capable of.
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Keep in mind that Dragon Quest 11 is a fairly well balanced game, so while some characters might be lower tier than others, the power balance is overall pretty flat. Every character is usable.
S Tier – Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters
Veronica
For most of the game, Veronica is among the best characters not only for her ability to clear trash encounters with her Boom line of spells, but also her ability to debuff bosses with Sap and inflict heavy damage via her spells. As the game goes on, she gets better and better.
At the end of the game, Veronica becomes absolutely beastly. At level 70 she learns a spell called Magic Burst, which drains all her MP to do an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage to all enemies. To use it multiple times in a fight requires a support character pumping her full of Elfin Elixirs to keep refilling her MP, but nothing comes close to Magic Burst in terms of damage potential.
Aside from her extreme damage potential, Veronica also gains the majority of the most useful buffing and debuffing skills: Sap, Decelerate, Blunt and Oomphle.
Because Veronica is the strongest character not only in endgame, but throughout every part of the game where she’s accessible, she’s firmly in S Tier among the best Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Veronica Build & Equipment Guide
A Tier – Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters
Erik
Erik, like Veronica, is capable of obscenely high damage potential. What makes Erik less powerful than Veronica overall is that his damage requires more setup and also inflicts lower damage overall. Still, it’s miles beyond what the rest of the characters are capable of.
Erik, when equipped with daggers, can use Persecutter or Victimizer to deal extreme damage to enemies inflicted with status effects. Combine this with Erik’s Divide skill, which multiplies his damage by 3 times for his next attack. Normally this takes 3 turns to set up, but if you use Sylvando with a dagger on your team to apply the status effects, you can do it every other turn.
Even without that combo, Erik is still a force to be reckoned with. Wielding swords and using Divide to unleash 3x damage Fatal Flashes, or using his dagger combo without Divide outclasses most other characters.
Late game, when he has enough skill points, he can add devastating groups of enemies in random encounters with boomerangs and Double Down to his list of uses. Easily among the best Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Erik Build & Equipment Guide
The Hero
The Hero doesn’t have the same kind of game-breaking mechanics as some other Dragon Quest 11 characters, but he’s extremely solid overall.
Not only does the Hero get access to powerful physical abilities, whether you use swords or greatswords, he gets a wide variety of healing and attack spells that make him extraordinarily versatile.
If you’re using greatswords, his Unbridled Blade ability, which can be acquired fairly early, stays competitive damage-wise until well into the endgame. Dual wielding swords is also a strong option for devastating enemies by making use of Falcon Slash, Gigaslash and, later, Sword Dance.
He gains access to most of the direct healing spells in the game, as well as the Zap line of magic spells, making him a decent secondary healer or secondary spellcaster, and he can enter the Pep Up state on demand with one of his Luminary skills.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Hero Build & Equipment Guide
B Tier – Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters
Serena
Serena is the dedicated healer among the Dragon Quest 11 characters, and while other characters are capable of healing, Serena is far and away the best at it.
If you’re playing the game with Draconian Quests active, especially stronger monsters, Serena is indispensable for the vast majority of the game. Otherwise, she becomes invaluable in the end-game but isn’t strictly necessary throughout Act 1 and 2.
While Serena is tremendously useful, if you’re not playing with Stronger Monsters on, Sylvando’s Hustle Dance is more than adequate healing for 80-90% of the game. Serena still outclasses Sylvando in terms of healing, but most threats don’t require a healer at the level of Serena in order to proceed.
Still, Serena is one of the most useful of all the Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Serena Build & Equipment Guide
Hendrik
If you’re playing on hard mode, Hendrik is a must due to his tanking skills and high defense.
With Stronger Monsters active, it’s not uncommon for bosses to use multiple one-hit-kill physical attacks per turn and repeatedly knock out your party members. Hendrik is the only character who can defend against those attacks effectively by making use of his shield skills and Forbearance.
Aside from his tanking abilities, Hendrik is also a capable damage dealer regardless of which weapon you choose to use with him.
If you use Sword and Shield, he can use Gyrfalcon Slash, which deals very impressive single-target damage. With Axes, he can take advantage of the powerful Parallax skill. Finally, with Greatswords, which you probably shouldn’t use, he can make use of the same Unbridled Blade skill that the Hero gains access to.
Hendrik’s advanced tanking skills make him easily among the best Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Hendrik Build & Equipment Guide
Jade
Jade isn’t as broken as Erik or as versatile as the Hero, but she’s still a very competent physical attacker. When equipped with spears, she’s usually able to outdamage the Hero equipped with Greatswords by making use of Multithrust and, later, Multifeet.
Later in the game, from Act 2 and beyond, she’s able to do significant area of effect damage with her Pink Tornado skill and if you make good use of the Belle’s Bow accessory, you can spam her moves without fear of running out of MP. If you’re able to get 2 copies of the Belle’s Bow accessory by making use of the duping glitch at the end of Act 1, all the better.
Aside from her utility as a damage-dealer, Jade is invaluable for eliminating Metal Slimes. While not as good as Erik’s late-game Critical Claim skill, Jade’s Lightning Thrust is the most reliable way to defeat any Metal Slime for 95% of the game.
Because Jade is straightforward and excels at her role of damage dealing, she lands a spot solidly in B Tier on the Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters Tier List.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Jade Build & Equipment Guide
C Tier – Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters
Sylvando
What makes Sylvando good is his ability to support other party members via buffs and various healing skills. His main utility lies in casting Oomphle on your physical damage deals, healing via Hustle Dance and inflicting status effects for Erik to take advantage of.
There are a couple of problems with Sylvando, though, that make him a less effective party member overall. First, he doesn’t gain access to a full kit of buffs and debuffs. So while he can cast Oomphle, he can’t replace Veronica or Serena because he has no access to Sap or Buff.
His healing is extremely potent during Act 1 and the mid-game, but by the end it’s only marginally useful, meaning he can’t replace a healer. And, since he’s not really capable of doing any significant damage on his own, using Sylvando in the endgame means you’re going to be using 2 party member slots for support characters, which is far from ideal.
However, Sylvando is able to adequately replace Serena comfortable for the majority of the game on normal mode, making him far from useless among the Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Sylvando Build & Equipment Guide
D Tier – Best Dragon Quest 11 Characters
Rab
Rab is a jack-of-all trades and that is simply not a very useful niche to occupy in Dragon Quest 11. Like Sylvando, his main usefulness is in replacing Serena during sections of the game where a support character is useful but Serena’s extreme specialization is not necessary.
Unfortunately for Rab, Sylvando is just a better option for that, thanks to his Oomphle spell, the low MP cost of Hustle Dance and his dagger abilities. While Rab is behind, though, he’s not too far behind, since he can restore his MP regardless of which weapon type you choose, cast Multiheal and debuff bosses with Sap.
By the time Sylvando’s usefulness starts to slip off, you’re most likely going to want to start making better use of Serena, but if you’re playing on normal mode and can afford weaker healing in exchange for cool looking claw attacks, Rab makes a good option.
No matter how you slice it, though, Rab is simply not one of the best Dragon Quest 11 characters.
Click here for the Dragon Quest 11 Rab Build & Equipment Guide
That about covers it for the best Dragon Quest 11 characters tier list. Be sure to check out the Game Guides section for more content like this, and click here for more content related to Dragon Quest 11.
