Destiny: Rising Character Tier List
Here’s what characters you should be rolling for in Destiny: Rising!
Image credit:NetEase/Bungie
Update: We’ve added more information about the roles of each character to our Destiny: Rising Tier List.
Destiny: Rising allows you to step into the boots of 12 powerful Guardians , each with their own explosive special abilities and cataclysmic super moves, as you take the fight to the familiar enemies of the Fallen, Cabal and Hive.
However, Destiny: Rising functions differently to other versions of Destiny. Each character can only use one type of primary weapon and one type of power weapon, giving a completely different emphasis to your character building and making your selection more important than ever. Now, only some characters can use certain Exotic weapons !
For example, the Iron Banner-aligned character, Wolf, is one of only a couple of characters who can use Auto Rifles, while the legendary Warlock, Ikora, favors Grenade and Rocket Launchers.
To help you get to grips with the different Guardians available in Destiny: Rising, we’ve put together this character tier list comparing the relative power level of everyone you can acquire. Or, if you’re scoping out who you need to add to your collection, we’ve also included a full list of each of the characters in Destiny: Rising, along with the weapons they can equip and their abilities.
Destiny: Rising Character Tier List
| Character Name | Character Tier |
|---|---|
| S | Jolder, Estela, Wolf, Tan-2, Umeko |
| A | Finnala, Gwynn, Xuan Wei |
| B | Attal, Ning Fei |
| C | Kabr, Ikora |
Why are these Destiny: Rising characters the best?
Jolder plays most closely to the aggressive Titan archetype from Destiny and Destiny 2, with huge ground pound, shield throw and shield bubble abilities. The only real downside is her kit. Sporting an SMG and Sword you can feel a little bit stuck at range, but in close to medium quarters, she feels incredibly dominant.
Estela on the other hand works at long range, summoning illusory allies to deal damage alongside her regular weapon damage using a “Corruption” resource. Unlike other summon characters, Estela can direct the aggression of her summons using the Misfortune debuff, which focuses all of her power on single targets, but then creates a domino effect as that debuff spreads to other nearby enemies. That’s not all though, as attacking debuffed enemies not only triggers extra damage, but fuels the engine that powers the rest of her abilities by granting her even more Corruption to use.
I’m tempted to just slap both Wolf and Finnala into S tier because they’re the only characters who can use Auto Rifles and the Sweet Business Exotic is so brilliant. Wolf, though, is just an amazing all-round character with a great toolkit of weapons, impactful special moves and the ability to be deadly at absolutely any range. If that wasn’t enough, his Ultimate even has some added support features, giving your whole fireteam buffed movement.
Finnala isn’t quite as strong though, despite having access to Auto Rifles too. She functions as more of a tank with the ability to draw enemies in close to her and inflict damage over time with the Scorched status. Luckily she also boosts her own survivability as she does this to increase her damage resistance. But unless we get a really good Sword, it feels like she’s missing that knockout punch that would take her into S Tier.
Tan-2 is a unique character who switches between damage and support modes, gathering energy by hitting enemies to power up his abilities. The DPS of the slow-firing Scout and Sniper Rifles makes him seem less impactful on his own, but his strong healing and versatility make him a massive asset to a fireteam. But once you get the hang of his toolkit, he can deal a lot of damage too. Ironically for a fiery character, his Sunset fireball applies a damage over time debuff which increases a target’s susceptibility to damage too, creating a snowball effect which quite literally melts enemies.
Umeko is a survivability monster who provides an incredible amount of utility to her teammates in the form of debuffs which make enemies more susceptible to damage. This makes her an invaluable ally both when dealing with mobs and, more importantly, bosses. Such a massive boost to the damage of your whole team is the definition of an S Tier ability and everyone will want to be your friend if you’re running Umeko.
Gwynn is a solid character based around collecting Void Spirits to heal herself and boost her main ability. However, sporting just a sidearm and shotgun, she lacks range and is less effective in fights where she’s facing fewer mobs, such as bosses. With that said, she has good survivability and self healing and a really good engine which allows her to repeatedly spam her Void Dance ability, making her a fun-to-play character with good crowd control.
Xuan Wei has one really good short-range combo where he spikes and pulls enemies in close with one ability, then pushes them away with another or hits them with a shotgun. This seems like it’s amazing in PvP, but feels a bit one-note in PvE content.
Ning Fei is a decent character who’s both fun to use and has access to interesting abilities. But he’s a bit of a “Jack of all trades and master of none”. While his Auto Crossbow is a great Power weapon which gives him much more ranged utility than his abilities would suggest, his summons aren’t as good as Estela, his close-range damage isn’t as good as Jolder, Xuan Wei and various other characters, and he feels less useful as a fast-moving agent of chaos than Umeko.
Attal has a really nice, impactful Arc Missile ability that deals good damage while keeping her healthy, plus a versatile heal which can target both herself and allies. Spamming these solid abilities also eventually gives her a full magazine of super ammo which does extra damage. Add to that a kit which lets her operate at a variety of ranges, and you have a flexible and fun character. With that said though, in terms of impact in a small fireteam, other characters feel like they contribute more. However, Attal is still a great early-game character because you can get the Exotic Hand Cannon, Crimson, from the daily log in event from the game’s launch.
Kabr is an interesting defensive character who functions similarly to the base Titan in console and PC Destiny, placing defensive shields which your team can shoot through and generally disrupting enemies with blinding flashbangs. Given his defensive utility, you would think he’s good in a fireteam but, in practice, his low-health shields and very narrow flashbangs fail to make enough impact to offset his offensive weaknesses and justify his spot in a party.
Despite having decent abilities, Ikora’s reliance on super slow-firing grenade and rocket launchers makes her general DPS feel incredibly sluggish. However, this could be due to lack of testing in a fireteam. It could be that with other players to draw the aggro her AoE is given more chance to shine. However, as it stands, Ikora feels weak and like everyone else you’re playing with is having more fun than you.
Destiny: Rising Character List:
| Character name | Rarity | Role | Element | Primary Weapon | Power Weapon | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tan-2 | Mythic | Support | Solar | Scout Rifle | Sniper Rifle | Sunrise/Sunset: Shoots a healing orb which continuously heals allies or shoots a fireball that deals damage and inflicts Sunset Scorch and Corrupt | Twilight Shift: Swaps between Duskstar and Dawnstar modes | Blessing of Dusk: Leaps into the air and forms a Blessed area which buffs all allies’ damage |
| Estela | Mythic | Offense | Solar | Pulse Rifle | LMG | Misfortune’s Guide: Inflicts Misfortune on an enemy, make them prioritized by and take more damage from Illusions | Bewitched Illusion: Estela summons an Illusion ally which fights enemies. Has three levels of power based on how much Corruption was used to make it | Violent Reverie: Summons a powerful Violent Reverie which continuously attacks combatants with a contaminating beam |
| Gwynn | Mythic | Offense | Void | Sidearm | Shotgun | Void Dance: Immediately deals damage to nearby targets and restores health. Deals additional damage with Void Spirits nearby | Soul Assault: Gwynn enters the void and gains damage resistance, then blinks towards the target inflicting Confined and dealing damage | Soul Harvest: Summons the scythe, Verdict, and gains Void Souls. Enters a Super state where generated Void Souls gained through Energy Severance are returned to Gwynn |
| Ning Fei | Mythic | Offense | Arc | SMG | Auto Crossbow | Lightning Strike: Leaps and smashes down on targets, dealing Arc damage and inflicting Corrupt. Your Clones simultaneously attack with Lightning Strike | Sidetrick: Summons a Clone of Ning Fei which constantly launches Chain Lightning attacks. Being near a clone grants Ning Fei increased speed and damage resistance. When Clones deal damage, they heal themselves and Ning Fei | Arts of Staff: Enters a super state and launches a series of Arc attacks which trigger Chain Lightning. Also increases Clone damage and lets them block attacks |
| Jolder | Mythic | Defense | Void | SMG | Sword | Skyfall Slam: Jumps and smashes her shield down, taunting enemies, inflicting them with Suppression and dealing damage. Affected targets grant Jolder more Rage when attacking her | Shield of Starlight: Throws a Shield of Starlight that ricochets between enemies, striking them quickly and accumulating Starlight. Recalling the shield converts the Starlight into an Overshield | Barrier of Starlight: Creates a bubble shield that blocks enemy projectiles, protects allies while they can shoot out, and grants Jolder a weapon damage boost |
| Attal | Legendary | Support | Arc | Hand Cannon | Linear Fusion Rifle | Arc Missile: Attal fires an Arc Missile that ricochets between targets, dealing damage and inflicting Serenity, as well as Blind on multiple hits | Mint Mend: Immediately heals targeted ally once | Song of Faith: Attal enters a Super state where she can fire bird-shaped Arc projectiles at combatants. |
| Finnala | Legendary | Defense | Solar | Auto Rifle | Sword | Funerary Flames: Finnala leaps and spins to pull in enemies, then drops to deal high Solar damage and inflict targets with Taunt. Any targets inflicted with Scorched immediately take all of their future damage over time | Blazing Barrier: Spawns a Blazing Barrier around Finnala which reduces incoming ranged damage by 50% and inflicts Scorched on enemies that touch it | Reaper’s Descent: Finnala enters a Super state where she can perform spinning attacks and inflict Scorched |
| Umeko | Legendary | Support | Void | Scout Rifle | Sniper Rifle | Shadow Shuriken: Umeko throws her Shuriken, inflicting Shadow’s Curse and dealing Void damage. Enemies inflicted with 3 or more stacks of Shadow’s Curse take an additional hit of damage | Voidstep: Umeko dashes forward, becoming invisible, increasing her speed and activating Void Healing | Singularity Shuriken: Umeko throws her Super-enhanced Shuriken, inflicting 4 stacks of Shadow’s Curse and dealing Void damage. It also creates a brief singularity which deals damage and pulls in enemies |
| Kabr | Legendary | Defense | Arc | Pulse Rifle | LMG | Blinding Shield: Strikes an enemy, dealing damage and inflicting Blind | Resistor Barricade: Creates a barrier that shields allies from damage, but they can shoot through | Voltaic Slam: Enters a Super state where Kabr can fire Arc beams which deal damage and inflict Blind |
| Wolf | Legendary | Offense | Solar | Auto Rifle | Grenade Launcher | Wolf’s Flames: Unleashes a long-range strike which deals Solar damage and inflicts targets with Wolf’s Ignition and Corrupt | Wolf’s Strike: Strikes combatants with a sword, dealing Solar damage. Final Blows with this ability recharge it | Wolf’s Butchery: During Super, Wolf launches a series of Solar attacks and increases damage dealt by attacking consecutively. While in Super, Wolf gains maximum Lupine Nature and gives allies increased speed |
| Ikora | Legendary | Offense | Void | Light Grenade Launcher | Rocket Launcher | Gemini Satellite: Shoots two Satellites which track targets independently and explode on collision, dealing damage | Gravitational Collapse: Ikora shoots a small star that pulls in targets, deals damage over time and inflicts Confined upon explosion | Nova Bomb: Shoots a supernova that slowly flies forward and deals massive Nova damage |
| Xuan Wei | Legendary | Offense | Arc | Fusion Rifle | Shotgun | Mighty Tether: Launches an Arc rope that pulls in enemies | Fist of the Warpath: Throws a punch which deals damage and knocks back enemies, infusing them with raging energy, creating an explosion the next time they are hit | Juggernaut’s Dominance: Turns into a divine beast, attacking with claws to deal damage to and knock back enemies |
For items which help you roll for each character, check out our Destiny: Rising codes page. Or for when and where you can roll each character, here’s the Banner schedule .
Destiny: Rise of Iron
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