Using the Tier List

The Alchemist Code Tier List and Build Guide can be a useful tool for assessing which units are a worthwhile investment of your time, money and resources. However it can be a little overwhelming to understand, especially when you're a new player.

Ratings
The Tier List and Image Tier List tabs are your rough guide to how useful a unit generally is at maximum performance within the context of other units of their element. It's important to pay attention to this note as in some cases to achieve maximum performance for a unit you will not only need quite a large amount of shards to limit break and enlighten the unit, you may require job upgrades from time sensitive events, or limited memento or gear. In a few cases, the performance of the unit is also dependent on having the right units to include in a team to be as relevant (this is mainly for support units such as Letitia).

Understanding a Unit's Rating
Ratings of a unit are reflective of their PvE performance and tend to factor in the type of content that is primarily available in the game at current. This means that in some cases, a unit may be rated poorly not because they don't have useful skills, but because there is very little content where those skills will be currently relevant. Ratings do not take into account PvP performance.

A unit is rated based on their primary role and how effective they are in it relative to other units of the same element perform at that role. If you are curious about how a unit is generally played and the unit review in the build guide does not give you enough information, you can ask in Discord in #ac_questions how best to play that unit. If you are curious why they were rated at their current level and what about them earns them that spot, you can ask in Discord in #tier-list-questions for more specifics, or to give feedback if you think the rating might need adjustment.

Because unit ratings are ranked in relation to each other and it is time consuming to re-evaluate units, sometimes older units may have inflated rankings because they have not yet been fully re-evaluated in the context of newer units. Keep this in mind when investing in older limited units (especially ones from collaborations that do not re-run regularly) since your resources for upgrading them may be limited. You can check the unit page on this site to see when units were released and whether they are limited.

Future Considerations
These ratings also do not take into account any buffs or changes that we expect for units in the future, so in some cases although a unit may be rated low currently, that could change significantly down the road when an expected job upgrade or enlightenment or memento is released. In the case of units that are available in Japan, you may be able to get some idea about what they have to look forward to in the future from the unit guides section, which lists future job upgrades, master abilities and enlightenments. You can also check out Tsubaki's JP Tier List for an idea of how a unit rating might change in the future (not linked because the link changes regularly). Keep in mind that global does get upgrades in a somewhat different order than Japan, and we don't always get the same upgrades, so the unit may not perform the same in the future in global as they do in Japan.

Accessibility/Cost
The ratings also don't take into account the cost of getting all the resources required to max out the unit. Since most players do not have limitless resources, you should take that into account. Some units are limited and of those, some have more cost effective banners than others. Ease of getting shards to enlighten a unit is also worth considering, some are farmable 3/day, some can only be farmed 1/day and require you own the unit. Collaboration units (except ones which are "cosplay" versions of normal game units) also have the option of using Otherworlder Enlightenment Shard which other limited units do not. You can check the unit guides sections to find out what the farming availability is for units and the hard quest column will also list whether they are limited (all units in the Collaboration, Magni Historia and Genesis sections are limited and so it is not explicitly stated there).

Tier List
This tab has units organized by their rarity and source, separated into columns by element. Units from Sacred Stone Memories, Magni Historia, Genesis and Collaboration units are listed separately from their ratings, and free units (units whose shards are obtained via free sources rather than summons) of all rarities are grouped together, even ones from collaborations.

For each unit there is a series of rankings based on different limit break levels. LB0 represents 0 limit breaks, LB15 represents 15, LB25 represents 25, and EL represents their state at the best enlightenment configuration available to the unit (to see the recommended enlightenment priority, check the Unit Guide). Below the unit image is the rating at the highest level currently available to the unit (this is typically the EL rating, unless the unit doesn't have EL). You can click on the unit image to go to their listing in the unit guide.

In some cases the unit might also have Important or Viable notations. In the case of Important, that indicates that there is something the unit needs that is a big factor in how strong their performance will be, and without it, their rating might be significantly lower. In the case of Viable, that notes what limit break the unit requires to even be worth touching- some units require a time sensitive job+ upgrade or enough limit breaks to access a job upgrade in order to be reasonably functional. Usually the notations will refer to either a specific limit break, J+ (the job+ upgrade for that unit, see Job Upgrades for more information), Memento (usually refers to a memento specifically designed for that unit) or VCR (vision clear reward) which is a gear obtained from a memento, usually the one designed for that unit.

Guidance for Newer Players
If you are new, make sure you are not just paying attention to the top rating of a unit, but also to how accessible they are and how easily you can get the limit breaks or other resources (such as important job+) you need to make the unit viable. The ratings at lower limit breaks can be of particular interest early on for units which can be farmed, as it will take quite awhile to farm the units to max power, and some units perform much better at lower limit break than others, so those should be given more focus when building units initially. Also pay attention to the accessibility of unit shards for any unit before investing elemental shards- it is generally recommended to ask the advice of veteran players in Discord before using any elemental shards on your units.

Image Tier List
This tab lists all the units by their top rating in image format, organized by element. Keep in mind that since these ratings are based on their rating at top level, they may not be reflective of their performance at lower levels. If you want to get an idea of how the unit might perform at a lower level, you should check the Tier List tab instead. The order of units within a tier is not significant, only the tier ranking itself.

There is a dividing line in each section of the image tier list- units to the right of the line are ones that excel in support roles. They may also be viable in other roles, but the support role is the use that earned them their rank in the tier.

Unit Guides
There are several unit guide tabs which are organized by unit rarity, with a separate tab for units from Sacred Stone Memories, Genesis, Magni Historia and Collaborations, as well as one for Free Units (ones not obtained from summons). These sections correspond with the sections on the Tier List tab. The unit guide tabs are helpful for learning more about a unit, such as optimal builds, accessibility and future upgrades.

Each tab contains the relevant units listed in order of their release (aside from the 1-3 star units which are somewhat randomly ordered). For each unit the following information is available:


 * Name
 * Origin - the homeland of the unit
 * Source - this section includes where to farm the unit if they have a permanent quest (and if it is a 1/day farm which requires the unit instead of a 3/day farm), and also notes if they are obtained via some source other than summons. If they are noted as limited then that means they will only be available on banners which explicitly list them as available. Units from Genesis, Magni Historia and Collaborations don't note that they are limited because all of them are. Low star units might not list their farm stages, they can be looked up in game.
 * Leader Skill - the base leader skill provided by the unit
 * Jobs - the jobs available on the unit, in order of their unlock on the unit (the unit gets access to the 1st job at LB0, the 2nd at LB5 and the 3rd at LB15)
 * Job Change - the job changes that correspond to the relevant job (listed to the left) which are currently released for the unit. If a unit has 2 levels of job change (i.e. JE+ or J++), only the final job change will be listed for that job.
 * Build - the recommended build for the unit. This is the most common build you are likely to use, but in some cases you may want to customize it for different content. In a few cases there are multiple roles for the unit that are recommended and multiple builds will be listed
 * Main Job - the main job recommended for the build
 * Basic Ability - the basic/sub job ability set to use
 * Reaction - the reactive to use
 * Passive 1/2 - the 2 passives recommended. In some cases [G2] will be listed after the passive. This means the passive is an upgraded passive that you get when you max the 2nd enlightenment gate on a unit. If you haven't done so, in most cases you will use the non-upgraded version of the passive- you can find the name in the EL Gate 2 Upgrade column
 * Other Choices - skills listed here are often good alternatives to use for the recommended build. In many cases this is the non-G2 version of a passive, or a passive that may be good under different circumstances. Occasionally a different basic ability or reaction is recommended
 * Review - this is a short review of the unit and how they are used. Note that since unit upgrades happen fairly often, and reviews are difficult to write, some unit reviews may become out of date. If you notice this you may want to check the Updates to Do tab to see if the unit review is pending an update
 * Unreleased Job Changes - this section includes all job changes for the unit that are only released in Japan. In most cases these jobs will eventually be available in global, although in the case of collaborations there are cases where we may never get a rerun or they may give us different job changes for those units
 * Master Ability (Available / Future) - this section lists if a unit has a Master Ability (usually obtained from a character quest at level 80). If the ability is currently available, it will be in bold. If no units have these abilities on a tab, the column may not be listed
 * Babel War Art (Available / Future) - this section lists if a unit has a Babel War Art (obtained from a key quest once reaching level 85). If the ability is currently available, it will be in bold. If no units have these abilities on a tab, the column may not be listed
 * Enlightenment Gate Priority - the recommended order of priority for maxing enlightenment gates on a unit. Gates that are particularly important are listed in bold. For example, if you see G2 > G5 > G1 > G4 > G3, that means that you should first max the 2nd enlightenment gate, then the 5th, and then so forth, but that only the 2nd one is particularly important to the unit. In most cases it will not be worth the resources to max all gates. Keep in mind that in some cases your priorities may differ depending on how you like to play. Since enlightenment can be fairly expensive, especially for limited units, it is highly recommended you actually review the enlightenment benefits from each gate for yourself before investing. If you see a ! after a specific gate listing, that is another way to indicate that all gates prior to the ! should be prioritized (for situations where the bold may not be visible).
 * Note: For G6, it will often be listed as G6 (Lv4). This means that in most cases it may not be worth maxing the gate, but that 4 levels of the gate are worthwhile because they tend to provide a significant amount of HP. Because the primary benefit of G6 is the 2nd memento slot, and the resources for maxing this gate aren't plentiful, it is best to avoid maxing the gate unless the unit has a particularly strong need for a 2nd memento slot (often dependent on if you have the relevant mementos)
 * EL Leader Skill (Available / Future) - this section lists the leader skill upgrade the unit receives when maxing the 3rd enlightenment gate. If currently available for a unit it will be bolded
 * EL Gate 2 Upgrade (Available / Future) - this section lists the passive upgraded when the unit maxes the 2nd enlightenment gate, with the specifics of what the buffed passive gives. Note that you should compare the buffed passive to the original version to see what actually changes to fully understand how big an upgrade it is. If currently available for a unit it will be bolded
 * EL Gate 5 Upgrade (Available / Future) - this section lists which skills are upgraded when the unit maxes the 5th enlightenment gate. For the specifics of what actually changes, look the unit up on Alchemist Code DB. If a skill upgrade is currently available for a unit it will be bolded
 * Max Gates - this section lists the number of enlightenment gates currently available in global for the unit, and also notes if there are more gates available in Japan
 * Featured Memento(s) - this section lists any memento specifically designed for the unit and will also note if the memento is limited. In some cases if the memento is considered very high priority for the performance of the unit the memento name will be bolded and show a ! after. Note that just because a memento isn't listed here doesn't mean that it might not be good for the unit as well, this is focused primarily on ones that are designed for that unit
 * Featured Gear - this section lists any gear which is specifically designed for the unit (typically gear which gives a special ability to that unit). If the gear is event farmable, or is a VCR from a memento or is only available from a limited summon it will be noted. All other gear is assumed to be from the normal summon pool. If the gear is considered very high priority for the performance of the unit it may be bolded and show a ! after.
 * Enlightened Spirit Gear Bonuses (Available / Future) - this section lists stat bonuses gained from the Enlightened Spirit Gear feature unlocked with the 7th enlightenment gate (not yet available in global). When this feature is released in global, the skill upgrade will be bolded if currently available for a unit

Geneology Groups (Unreleased Feature)
This tab lists the geneology groups which are currently available in the Japanese version of the game. This feature is not yet available in global. When it becomes available it will indicate which groups have been released in global. To get the benefit associated with a group, you must have unlocked all 7 enlightenment gates on all the units in the group, then it requires additional unit shards of each unit to reach each level benefit.

Updates To Do
This section lists units that have had recent upgrades but have not yet been fully updated on the tier list and build guide to reflect those upgrades. You can check here to see if a unit is pending a review due to recent changes. If a unit looks out of date but is not listed here, or the listing is incorrect, you can notify the tier list management on Discord in the #tier-list-questions channel.

Additional Resources

 * Alchemist Code Tier List and Build Guide
 * Alchemist Code DB
 * Tsubaki's JP Tier List
 * Discord (key channels: #ac_questions, #tier-list-questions, #tier-list-creation)
 * New Player Help Center