Remnant 2 comes with 11 different character classes—or archetypes—that you can play as in the game. With so many options, it can be hard to tell which one is best for you.
Luckily, we’ve broken down all of the playable archetypes. Here’s our tier list from best to worst.
S-tier classes in Remnant 2
Handler
The Handler is far and away the strongest class that Remnant 2 has to offer. At first, it seems like a simple, standard option; its signature trait is the dog companion helping him out in battle. But when you optimize all of the things this canine can do, the Handler becomes the strongest archetype, capable of covering almost every option in combat.
The dog, of course, can attack enemies in combat. This furry friend is capable of regeneration and reviving itself when it’s down. This means you get to deal extra damage without worrying about supporting an ally—like playing with a second player who just doesn’t stop fighting.
With various perks, the dog can add buffs to your damage and defense. The Handler’s primary perk, Bonded, is his strongest tool. This allows the dog to revive the player when they’re down. This single-handedly makes the Handler the best solo mode archetype, as going down with any other character is an instant death. It also makes the Handler extra useful in group combat; if several players go down at once, you know you can focus on the one who isn’t playing the Handler. They can help themselves..
To top it all off in style, the dog can taunt and distract opponents, allowing you to get the drop on them. With all of the above, the Handler combines the best traits of the Medic, the Alchemist, the Summoner, and the Invader, and has some pretty great weapons to use as well, making it the best archetype in the game by far.
A-tier characters in Remnant 2
Medic
At the top of the A-tier and almost making it into S-tier is the Medic. Specializing in helping out by healing friends and reviving downed allies. They also have tons of perk options that enhance their capabilities. Healing Shield essentially grants allies a little protective barrier around their body that absorbs damage instead of them. The Redemption upgrade lets you heal a bunch of friends in a certain radius and revives any that are downed, which is great for healing on the go.
What really pushes the medic over the top is his offensive abilities. The Medic’s starting weapon is the Bonesaw, a heavy machine gun with 300 rounds that’s one of the best guns in the game. He also has several other great weapons to choose from, giving him a damage output that made us seriously consider putting him in the highest tier. It’s kind of funny when you think about it, and the game gives no explanation as to why the healer class is such a beast with weapons.
Gunslinger
One of the most hype archetypes, the Gunslinger earns his spot in the A-tier for his quickness and efficiency at slaying bad guys. Skinned like a cowboy, the Gunslinger’s main perk is that he can instantly reload without going into an animation and shoot infinitely for five seconds, allowing you to perfectly recreate your favorite scene from Django Unchained. The Gunslinger can also add perks to do more damage and reload extra fast.
The main disadvantage of the Gunslinger is that he lacks other options. Every one of his perks and specialties centers around guns, guns, and more guns. However, his efficiency at using guns makes him too good to keep him out of the top quarter of the tier list, despite this glaring flaw. (Sort of like LeBron’s baffling inability to make simple free throws as one of the top basketball players in the world.)
Engineer
The Engineer’s speciality is setting up turrets that deal heavy damage. With the Engineer, you can set-and-forget; your turrets automatically track your opponents and take them out as you fire weapons yourself. Though he doesn’t come equipped with a cute hat and a lovable southern accent, this deadly class is just as useful as its counterpart in TF2.
Invader
The name of the game in Remnant 2 is survive, survive, survive. The Invader specializes in just this. Unlike the Challenger, who appears lower on the tier list, the Invader survives through mobility and cunning.
Its main ability creates a decoy that the enemies will mistake for the player. This makes him vulnerable to attacks, much like the Shadow Clone Jutsu in Naruto. He also has a skill called Worm Hole, which pairs nicely with this, allowing him to teleport to his opponent and attack them for an extra 300 damage.
If the Engineer is similar to the TF2 character of the same name, the Invader is like the Spy, deceiving opponents and then killing them with one swift blow.
B-tier of Remnant 2 classes
Hunter
Are you the edgy kid who bought a sweatshirt with the Assassin’s Creed on it? Did you always pick the rogue when playing TRPG-s? Do you have the spawn location of the sniper rifle in every Halo map memorized? Then the Hunter might just be for you.
The Hunter is the stealth archetype, great at sneaking up on opponents. He’s also excellent at long-ranged attacks, capable of marking opponents from a distance for quick destruction. Though the Hunter is great at helping his opponents fight and staying back to attack from afar, he flounders in the close-and-mid-ranges. As is standard for sniper classes, his attack rate is slow, and he suffers from long reload times.
The skin of the hunter also comes with a little hood, which reminds us of the Hunter from Left 4 Dead. Considering that hunters in the real world prefer caps to hoods, this makes all of us wonder where the stereotype of video game hunters wearing hoods came from.
Alchemist
The Alchemist is a strong support class. Rather than healing allies like the Medic, he specializes in offering buffs. These buffs can offer extra defense, an increased rate of fire, quicker speed, and more. Unfortunately, it is kept out of the top of the tier list due to his lack of strong offensive options.
Archon
A hard class to unlock and a harder one to master, the Archon is a unique archetype in the cast. While the other classes fit into tried and true video game typings (Tank, Healer, Glass Canon, etc), the Archon has a play style of his own
The Archon’s specialty is offering buffs to Remnant 2’s many weapon mods. Mods are one of the most fun parts of the game, allowing players to defeat foes in unique ways. The Archon’s main power, Tempest, creates two mod power each second and increases mod generation by 50 percent. This means that your mods aren’t only more powerful, but they reload quicker as well. If you’re fond of firing Space Crabs at your opponent and can’t get enough of them, the Archon is perfect for you.
C-Tier characters in Remnant 2
Challenger
Anyone familiar with games knows that tanks are always contentious in tier lists. Though they’re fan favorites and easy to pick up for casual players, their lack of speed often keeps them down in top levels of play.
The Challenger in Remnant 2 is no exception to this. He can take a ton of damage and deal a lot out. But his main strength is in his melee weapons, which, unfortunately, doesn’t mean all that much in this game. The key here is almost always to stay away from your opponents. With the Challenger’s slow speed, he couldn’t do so even if he tried.
The Challenger could be fun for group play, though, if only as a meat shield to throw at your opponents first. Then again, you might waste your Medic’s powers constantly healing the Challenger.
Summoner
This archetype is built around summoning entities to do your bidding. You have a plethora of root creatures to choose from in Remnant 2, like Flyers, Hollows, and Reavers, all with their own advantages.
The big problem with the Summoner is that he damages himself by creating these creatures. This might seem like a fair tradeoff from a development standpoint, but in actual play, it causes a lot more harm than good, even if your main perk lets you sacrifice your minions for extra damage.This helps, but it makes you want to pick a class like Gunslinger, which just gets a boost to damage in the first place.
D-Tier: the bottom of the barrel in Remnant 2
Explorer
Rounding out the bottom of the tier list is the Explorer. The weakest support class, the Explorer helps his friends out by finding various objects. This does allow players to progress through the game easier, but in the immediate heat of combat, it does little to no good. If Remnant 2 weren’t such an unforgiving game, the Explorer might have a better case for himself; but as it is, survival is key.
The biggest advantage of the Explorer class is that he has the fastest run speed, which makes him great at running away… which sounds about right for a character at the bottom of a tier list.
