Arena Tier List Update May 2024 | Nikke: Goddess of Victory (2024)

The time has finally come! The Arena tier list was long overdue for an update, and while I’d have liked to get this out sooner, it’s finally here!
The update mainly focuses on the higher tiers (A and above), which are what I’d consider part of the “meta”, Nikkes lower than A I consider to be strictly inferior alternatives to better Nikkes that aren’t really a consideration if you have enough units.
Additionally, since Pascal is relevant in Arena and there aren’t any SR collab units in the tier list, they’ll also be added to the tier list.

Tier List Criteria

• Oppressiveness: Every unit in Arena has answers and weaknesses; however, some Nikkes are better than others, they can have more team versatility and restrict the number of viable Nikkes that can take them on. As an example, Scarlet and Jackal heavily restrict the amount of Nikkes that you can use to counter their teams, and are more difficult to deal with compared to units like 2B, where just 1 unit completely shuts them down.
• Speed: Speed is crucial for viable teams, which makes batteries very valuable. Even someone like Anis, an SR that offers nothing outside of speed, is extremely good because of the relevance of fast units and the scarcity of really fast units, like the clip RLs or Emilia. As such, a good deal of the batteries will move up a bit in ranks.
• Tiers: As mentioned before, Nikkes below A tier I don’t consider to be a part of the overall “meta” in PvP. Additionally, since the rating doesn’t distinguish between Attack and Defence, I will not be placing Nikkes that I don’t deem good enough to be viably run on Defence (meaning they don’t have an absolutely crippling weakness that is easily exploitable) higher than S tier; this does not mean that every Nikke from S tier or below is unviable in Defence, however. A and S tier can also include Nikkes that may be used on Defence, but as a “there aren’t many better choices for your 3rd Special Arena team”, or batteries that aren’t as versatile as the strongest batteries.

Added Units

• Added Pascal to the tier list -> A tier (Pascal is a decent battery that doesn’t feed Jackal as much as other units near his speed. However, a bug where he misses his first shot and being an SR prevents him from reaching higher tiers)
• Added Himeno to the tier list -> D tier (Low burst gen and a kit that’s not useful for any situation in Arena)
• Added Ram to the tier list -> D tier (Similar thought process to Himeno, bad kit all around for Arena)

General Changes to Batteries

Batteries as a whole are going up in tiers, alongside a short explanation on why they’re moving up.

B1

• Pepper: A -> S (Great speed, with some good damage on her Burst)
• XMica: B -> A (Best speed out of any SMG, can work on a pinch for Attack teams)
• Neon: C -> B (Strictly worse than Pepper, but still useful for low-level players that can’t run better units for their SP Arena teams)

B2

• Anis: S -> SS (She’s just that good as a battery, even with SR stats)
• Nihilister: B -> S (Great battery that feeds Jackal less than others, gets almost up to par with clip SGs at 3RL, becomes better battery with slower teams and worse with faster teams)
• Viper: A -> S (Very good burst gen alongside decent damage, she’s vulnerable to Scarlet and Jackal but you’ll most likely need to run a few clip SGs in SP Arena since there aren’t many faster units)

B3

• Noir, Sugar, Drake, A2: A -> S (Similar reasoning to Viper)
• Maiden: A -> SS (Maiden is higher than the other clip SGs due to her burst being able to work as a modified Scarlet, she has extra versatility that can be annoying at times)

Vesti

• Vesti: C -> B (She works if you have nothing better for batteries, but doesn’t offer much damage, and Water Nikkes die more easily due to the large amount of strong Electric attackers)

B1 Changes

• Emma: B -> A (She works well against MG and SMG-heavy teams, although these teams are less common than before, mostly useful to have a chance against certain bad teams that take advantage of strong PvE units to create a high CP gap)

• Liter: B -> A (Nice buffs for some Attack nuke teams, but awful weapon that prevents her from being higher)

• Rosanna: A -> SS (Really strong unit, enables sacrifice setups which can work pretty well even against higher CP foes, tends to work well against a good deal of Scarlet and Jackal teams, completely stops units like 2B from being viable in Defence… She does want high investment, but the payout is very good)

• Sakura: D -> A (This is one of the more questionable changes, and the reason why I have Sakura barely inside of the “meta” is because she is still a consideration when making your Arena Defence teams. No Arena Defence team with a Wind main DPS will be viable as long as Sakura is around and we don’t get more widespread dispel users, SBS as sole DPS isn’t viable because of Sakura, so she’s exerting pressure, even if just a little)

• Tia: B -> S (Great buffs with a good weapon type, unlike Liter, and can also taunt, albeit later than other taunters)

B2 Changes

• Biscuit: SS -> SSS (She’s just that good, she shuts down Alice and RH on her own and works well with a lot of Defenders, highly versatile)

• XAnne: S -> SS (Great buffer + revive to Attackers, which are the ones you’ll want to revive 90% of the time. Her HP Potency debuff needs some working around and isn’t that relevant as of now, but she’s the only unit with that capability)

• Crown: B -> A (Similar to Liter, nice buffs for Attack teams, mainly Noise Kilo setups)

• Folkwang: C -> A (She functions as a budget Blanc, but unfortunately the current state of shields and the fact that granting life steal to 2 allies usually isn’t that useful in the current Arena meta makes her unable to go higher)

• Makima: A -> S (She can shut down most of the damage from SG-heavy teams by herself, making her a very solid choice for certain Attack teams, can also guard against Alice/RH although less reliably than other options)

• Nero: B -> A (She has some use in more defensive teams, although she needs really high investment and the payout isn’t as good as with other units)

• Noah: SSS -> SS (Ever since SAnis got added, the strongest shield has become a bit less relevant since her main strength is nullifying enemy nukes, she can work with Biscuit but so can many other Nikkes)

B3 Changes

• Laplace: C -> A (Good damage with good burst gen, viable against teams that don’t have any measures against high fire-rate attacks, her RL is also less prone to whiffs, will keep an eye on her Treasures upgrade to see if her rating is affected)

• Quiry: C -> A (Similar to Nero, she has some use in more defensive and stall-oriented teams, but these teams aren’t as viable as more offensive setups. She also needs a lot of investment for not much reward)

• SAnis: SS -> SSS (Extremely strong unit thanks to the “nerf” to her weapon type and ammo, damage that can breaks teams that only run 1 taunter and works well against many of the teams Scarlet struggles with)

• Snow White: C -> A (Very niche usage in Attack to insta-kill Jackal links, not the most common nor the best tool necessarily but she can work, especially for those who have invested heavily into her for bossing purposes)

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2 Comments

1. Battle of irresponsible purchases yessirr

2. Downgrading Noah from SSS to SS doesn’t make sense. No other defender has a 10-second taunt and 3-second team white invuln. She blocks nukes and half of sanis’ kill potential. SS would put her on the same level as Bay… and Noah is objectively better. The current meta revolves around scarlet+jackal and noah+biscuit, and how to counter those two teams. Ask anyone who doesn’t have Noah how much they enjoy PVP; that’s the short answer.