Gacha Game Tier List - Hero Collectors

Dragalia Lost

Action based hero collector, simple one handed controls and portrait view is always a plus point. Story & Lore is pretty interesting as of the first anniversary, top tier music and voice acting makes you not want to mute this game. Dragalia Lost is ran by Cygames, and everyone knows Cygames listens to player feedback and also are insanely generous. It always has free summons, free gems and other materials, once you play a Cygames game, you’ll see the massive difference in generosity compared to other developers. Downsides would be some people might not enjoy the chibi art style, and end-game might feel a bit too empty and grindy. The action gameplay might feel a bit too “casual” for diehard ARPG fans and being unable to play on an emulator might turn some heads away as well. However, it still has a thriving community and you can bet Cygames will continue to improve and update this title.

Girls Frontline

Tile based gun waifu collector. One of the 2 titans of waifu collectors, Girls Frontline has a tactical element to it, where specific teams are used to counter specific kind of units, teams having certain amount of food/ammo before they are out of commission and have to restock at supply bases. Story is one of the best for gacha games in my opinion and event stories build into the universe well, but it might be a bit too dark for some tastes, many renowned Japanese voice actors are in the game as well. Summoning is based off resources earned, and premium currency in the game are only used mainly for slot expansions, oath rings and costumes. Which leads me to the downsides of this game, most costumes are locked behind a gacha, and Live2D costumes are few and far between, and are super rare thus pretty hard to get unless you save up enough tokens to spark it. A very big factor for this is that gacha tokens are farmable, so if you’re insanely lucky you could possibly get Live2D outfits without spending unlike in Azur Lane. Events also have ranking maps where it’s a survival style while killing as many enemies as possible, but to attain a good ranking, you’ll have to commit a good 30 minutes to an hour to get enough points to get certain event limited gear. However this is still a very good waifu collector and it also takes the cake for the hero collector I’ve spent the most money on. If you’re more interested in tactical gameplay and costumes do not matter that much to you, I’ll choose Girls Frontline.

Azur Lane

Tile based ship waifu collector. The other titan of waifu collectors. Azur Lane is a bit more casual than Girls Frontline and gameplay is a bit different whereby it’s a “bullet hell” of sorts. There is also team-building aspects, ships of the same factions may have skills that complement one another, and specific team compositions are used in higher difficulty sorties. Story is loosely based off of real life events, and ships are also voiced by renowned voice actors just like Girls Frontline. There is also resource based summoning, and premium currency is used for the same few things here as well. The difference in costumes here is that every costume is buyable. There is no gacha for costumes. A Live2D costume will set you back about 15USD, but I find it worth it, the costumes in the game are slowly getting better and better, the newest one as of this article. Shoukaku’s Live2D dress, is amazing, and even has  “cutscene” like moments. The only small issue I had with the costumes are that the range of skins were about the same, most characters only had swimsuit skins or dress skins, but as of this article they just released new biker skins, so I guess Yostar is trying to widen the variety so that’s nice. A downside would be the PR ships, which are super grindy and would take a casual player months to get just one ship. And there are 6 of it in the current season, and 6 more yet to arrive in the Global server. If you’re interested in dressing your waifus up, I’ll choose Azur Lane in a heartbeat.

If you thought that both Girls Frontline and Azur Lane’s description were similar, I’ve written an article to which would be better suited to your tastes HERE, however I’ve yet to update it but most points are still valid.

Granblue Fantasy

The daddy of hero collectors. Granblue Fantasy is still going strong after 5 years and that says a lot. Gameplay is turn based with a strong consideration to weapons rather than your team characters. Story is so good that it was turned into an anime with 2 seasons! In my opinion, Granblue has the best progression for hero collectors. You can actually feel the difference when you upgrade your weapon grids and/or team. Granblue Fantasy is also ran by Cygames and thus super generous, also has a ton of collabs, having stuff like Love Live and Persona 5! Biggest downsides would be the notorious grind, but if you are not frazzled by Epic Seven’s grind, this will be fine for you. And the worst part, the game is still running on browsers and not an actual game engine, I’m so certain that if Cygames updated this game to be more polished and on a game engine, Granblue Fantasy will soar to greater heights.

Fate Grand Order 

Please don’t kill me for putting Fate in A Rank. I like Type-Moon stuff, I played Tsukihime and the Fate visual novels. However, I just can’t get into Fate Grand Order. On the other hand, Fate Grand Order is one of the biggest gacha games around, and has a massive following. Game is turn based, and the most lauded aspect everyone talks about is that every character in this game is viable. You’re able to use your favourite waifus and husbandos to clear the whole story. Animation in the game is pretty good, probably better than most stuff other than Epic Seven, there’s no P2W at all since it’s pretty much a single player game, so roll for waifus not meta! However, the rates are insanely bad, and if you’re looking to collect most characters, you’ll have to open your wallet. There is also no auto battle in the game, whether or not that is a downside is up to you. I’ll recommend trying this game out so you at least know what everyone is talking about, and who knows you might end up staying for the waifus.

Honkai Impact 3 

Best looking and polished 3D Action RPG game by a mile. There’s a wide variety of characters and they all have different suits which plays differently. You could feel like Dante from Devil May Cry, Raiden from Metal Gear Rising, or Bayonetta from Bayonetta based on the various suits available. However, the game is super heavy on the time commitment, especially early on when  there’s a lot of things you’ll need to do daily until you unlock expeditions. I recommend playing this game casually to avoid burnouts and you’ll come to enjoy it for what it is, a top tier action game on the mobile.

Princess Connect (Japan)

Probably the most well known hero collector that's not in English. For a good reason, Priconne is all about the waifus. The gameplay is all about pressing your characters skills at the right moments, these skills also have cut-ins like Epic Seven! There is a certain amount of depth in it especially building the right teams for PvP. Many cutscenes in the game are fully animated and there’s also big collabs for the game, such as Re:Zero and Prisma Illya. The story is a big factor in this game as every girl has their own specific stories, and it’s told like a visual novel. There is skip tickets so farming is a breeze, and the game is by Cygames and I’ve talked enough about Cygames. They’re generous. Downside would be that it’s not been localised into English yet, but there are rumors of it possibly coming, so there’s that. I’m sure if the global server ever releases, this game will definitely be a hit.

Another Eden 

Imagine a true blue JRPG game on the mobile. This is it. There’s no multiplayer or social aspects in the game at all. Events are not time limited and will stay there forever. The main story is pretty ok, kind of what you’ll expect from an old school JRPG. One small issue is that many have stated that you need a particular healer (Mariel) for end-game content, I’ve personally not played that far but it might be something you consider rerolling for if you are planning to play it. The game is meant to be played at your own pace and I’ll recommend it if you’re looking for an old-school JRPG for mobile and aren’t looking to spend money for Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger.

Epic Seven

Very polished turn based hero collector, best animations for all of Gacha Games and Yuna Engine is amazing. Unless you’re gunning for the top 5% in arena, a free player can clear almost everything. The biggest downside of this game is the RNG heavy gear treadmill, and if you are not fond of continuously grinding the stage for days and days looking for perfect equipment, maybe this is not for you. Updates have been real spotty lately and the community's faith in Smilegate is at an all time low. It has been reviewed bombed and might not be the best game to get into as of now, or at least until the developers sort everything out.

King’s Raid 

Used to be one of the more recommended hero collectors, there are many characters in the game and all of them are able to be customised, which is pretty cool. This is mainly an equipment gacha game and characters are obtained through time. There is also live PvP  However Vespa have been making bad decisions regarding the game and many veterans have felt the game being more and more P2W lately. Though if you still want to give the game a try for it’s good 3D visuals, auto repeat functions, the game does a very good job at helping new players catch up with a lot of freebies. Overall King’s Raid is a good side game if you’re looking for a hero collector with a wide range of waifus and husbandos, and I personally wouldn’t recommend it as your main game. I really liked the character designs in KR but I just couldn’t get into the game, sadly.

Brown Dust 

Tactical tile and turn based hero collector. I feel like this game is criminally underrated. It has a very unique gameplay where the units aren’t actually controlled by the player. Units have pre-determined moves and tiles they would attack, so a lot of emphasis is placed on where you place your units and how do you define your team. It has the korean gacha syndrome whereby they flood you with premium currency but balance it by having low rates for the gacha. The drop in ranking for me is that not everyone would enjoy these sort of “Puzzle” hero collector gameplay. Aside from that would be the P2W factors, PvP generates a lot of premium currency, and it’s way easier to rank high with Octo units which is why some people would recommend you to reroll for a good Octo unit, and the start of the game is a bit slow and you might feel it’s tedious and grindy. Aside from that, I think the game is pretty good and as of this article, starting now would be a good time since the developers would be giving everyone a lot of free goodies in a month or so, and they’ll also be having a collab with Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken!

Destiny Child 

If you’re looking for a hero collector with sexy women, this is the game for you. Destiny Child’s claim to fame is basically having waifus that are pretty lewd, fanservicey. It’s definitely not something you want people to catch you playing outside. It has some decent content such as World bosses where you bring up to 30 units all at once, it’s really a sight seeing that many icons attacking at once. Suffers from Korean gacha game syndrome as well, so be ready to showered in premium currency but low rates for gacha. The story parts are hit or miss, but overall it doesn’t grab my attention for long. Overall, Destiny Child is an auto heavy low maintenance game and is a wonderful side game if you are looking for some mature visual treat.

Langrisser 

What Fire Emblem Heroes gameplay should have been like. Large maps, good unit variety, also has a PC client. They recently introduced the sweep function so grinding is a lot easier now, but naturally it being a tactics based gacha game, it’s not going to be for everyone. It also takes awhile to train up your freshly gacha-ed character due to the faction system and it really dampens your spirit when you can’t play with your new shiny toy. If you’re looking for a tactics based game, Langrisser might be up your alley, especially with the new updates, the honeymoon period really sucks you in.

Grand Chase  

Honestly haven’t touched it since the revamp about 2 months back. So I’m not going to comment too much about the game. Back when I played it, I enjoyed the combat, it’s somewhat similar to Dragalia Lost but with an added layer of depth in its skill usage. It’s also quite F2P friendly as the developers hand out freebies quite often. 

Heir of Light 

Probably the best looking dark fantasy hero collector around. Superb 3D graphics, good amount of content, and even having a John Wick collab?! Unique system where the same character can be of different element and type (Dps/Healer/Tank), so essentially you would be able to bring your waifu to any content if you have her in the appropriate element and type. Game wasn’t doing too hot but developers did good on their part and continual good updates made the game somewhat alive as of now. I don’t see this game talked about often, but I feel this game is pretty underrated and I think it’s worth a try if you’re looking for a game without anime aesthetics. 

Onmyoji 

Super grind heavy hero collector that has a PC client. It has a great deal of content and social aspect in this game is huge guilds are up to a hundred members. Abysmal drop rates and you will probably never see an SSR in your time playing this game, in turn the game makes the R and SR units viable enough that some are important even in late game. Takes forever to max out units and heavy time investment is needed to play this game. I’ll recommend this game only if you somehow want something like Granblue Fantasy but not Granblue Fantasy. As I feel Granblue Fantasy is basically Onmyoji but better.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia  

Best Final Fantasy hero collector for mobile. If you ever played Dissidia for the consoles, you’ll realise this game has the same battle mechanics, but turn based. The game is also more of an equipment gacha rather than a hero gacha, and you would need multiple copies to max limit break a weapon. The game is also very generous and constantly showers you with gems, which helps as there is a slight level of powercreep in this game. I’ll recommend this game if you’re looking for a F2P friendly equipment gacha game, even if you’re not a Final Fantasy fan.

Pokemon Masters

Everyone knows this game. Super hyped game coming in based off the Pokemon franchise. It’s a turn based real time hero collector. Unique battle mechanics which is more casual friendly than for the die-hard fans. Co-Op is really fun when you have a good team going and I most enjoyed playing Co-Op with my friends, however gameplay gets stale really quickly and there is not much to do in the game after completing most super courses as of this article. The 7% SSR rate is deceptive as DeNA is pretty stingy with their gems, so be ready to pull out your wallet for that eventual Cynthia banner. If not for the Pokemon franchise, this game would have been dead on arrival. I’m also slightly salty as I didn’t get my favourite Pokemon trainer, Hilda, in her banner. 

If you’re interested, I’ve written an article that goes more in depth for Pokemon Masters HERE

Grand Summoners  

The king of collabs for hero collectors. This game has collabs up the roof! It had a One Punch Man collab, Goblin Slayer, Kill la Kill, and Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken, from what I gather, the Japanese version even had Monster Hunter! If you ever played Brave Frontier or its other descendants , it has that artstyle and similar battle mechanics to it. The game also has a guaranteed 5* for every first 10 pull on a new banner, however, the game is super meta dependent and there are very limited units that are viable. I’ll recommend giving this game a try only if you want to play around for a bit with some anime characters from different franchises.

Soccer Spirits

Soccer based hero collector. It has a really unique gameplay where you have different formations and players can play a wide variety of roles such as goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers. Power creep is obvious in this game and even with the catch up freebies that the game gives, it’ll be near impossible to play with the seasoned veterans, but this will always be a problem when it comes to older gacha games though Soccer Spirits suffers more as it is a PvP focused game. I’ll still recommend giving this game a try if you are even remotely interested in a sports based hero collector with an emphasis on team building. 

The Alchemist Code  

Final Fantasy Tactics lite on mobile. TAC have a ton of events and a few major collabs as well, mainly Attack on Titan and the Fate Franchise. It being a tactics RPG, suffers from the heavy time commitment needed as well, character designs are better than average and there is multiplayer as well, which is a nice touch. Game is ran by GUMI as well so take note that they aren’t the best publishers. I’ll recommend this if you’re interested in a more anime styled Tactics RPG than Langrisser and can’t wait for Final Fantasy War of the Visions.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius 

Final Fantasy version of Brave Frontier. Nothing much to say for this besides its a more polished version of Brave Frontier, the pros and cons are about the same. Powercreepy, ran by Gumi, the upside is that there’s Katy Perry and Ariana Grande in the game, weird but cool. I’ll recommend you to play Grand Summoners if you’re looking for a Brave Frontier successor, or just wait for FFBE War of the Visions if you want to play a different FF hero collector

Fist of the North Star Legends Revive 

Omae mo Shindeiru. Fist of the North Star is a charming game for people who’s into the franchise. Graphics are nice and the gameplay is okay, you’ll most likely be auto throughout. They give out a decent amount of premium currency but the gacha rates are really bad, like from the last time I played, the gacha rate for a character was only 10%, whereas the other 90% were random items or character shards. It has the typical Chinese cash grab feeling and there's VIP system as well. I’ll only recommend this to people who are into Fist of the North Star franchise.

Gate Six: Cyber Persona

Cyberpunk-esque hero collector. Has a very unique stage layout and how you go about completing a stage. You’re able to plan your own route you want to take to the boss, and there are random encounters such as traps and enemies along the way and you have different options available to solve these encounters. Sadly this mechanic’s charm will wear off and it’ll just feel like the missions take too long as compared to other hero collectors in the market. It also features a unit linking system which makes the team building aspect not as stale but it’s also not memorable. I’ll recommend this if you really like the cyberpunk setting or want to play around with the stage mechanics. I honestly feel this game has untapped potential and it can definitely improve, but the developers aren’t doing much at the moment, and there isn’t a lot of promotion for this game.

Elune  

Huge hype for the game back then. Till now it still have very contrasting opinions, most people will either love it or hate it. The fusion system in the game is very prominent and its the main evolution system till you gain enough seeds to max out the units you actually want. The content in the game is still not much, but it is a relatively fresh game and I'll recommend Elune if you're interested in playing a newly released hero collector.

Bleach Brave Souls  

Haven’t played the game since the recent overhaul regarding the dupe system. It’s an ARPG style game which has a decent amount of content and the developers are also quite generous with their premium currency. There’s a lot of catching up to do if you want to play this so I’ll only recommend this to people who are interested in the Bleach franchise, if not I’ll just recommend you to play Dragalia Lost.

Fire Emblem Heroes

Going downhill as you read this article. Used to be the premiere tactics based hero collector for mobile, but slowly got overtaken by Langrisser and possibly FF War of the Visions when it comes out. There’s barely anything to be done PvE wise at end game, it’s very PvP focused and the power creep is insane, coupled with the dupe system to max out a character it’s no wonder the game is hemorrhaging players. If you wanted to play a Fire Emblem game, get a Switch and play Three Houses or get a DS and play Awakening & Fates.

Valkyrie Crusade   

Valkyrie Crusade will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the first few gacha games I played. Sadly, it’s not as good as I thought it was back then. Very P2W heavy especially for events, you are pretty much not able to get any LRs if you are F2P. Game is only played by dedicated whales as of now and I don’t ever recommend trying this game anymore.

Knight’s Chronicle

The infamous costumegate. Sadly the game never recovered after that incident. It was supposed to be the new big hero collector, it was going so well. But nowadays, I don’t see many people still talking about the game, even during the Fairy Tail collab. Reading through the subreddit people were still angry about the decisions being made such as adding awakening, which further divides the line between P2W players and F2P. If we were back in July 2018, yeah sure this game would have been S Tier. But that's the way the cookie crumbles, and we’re down here in C Tier.

Raid: Shadow Legends 

This game didn’t pique my interest at all, rather it annoyed me with constant ads while I’m watching Youtube videos, but the ads work because in the end I gave it a try. Turns out, the game felt very predatory with subpar gameplay. There were a lot of packages and bundles popping up annoying you to purchase it at all points in the game. There was a fusion event back then where the game seemingly had a very F2P event where everyone could get a legendary unit just by playing the game, however on the very last day of the event, they threw a curveball, which essentially made the legendary unit unobtainable unless you spent a little bit of money. Mogawty did a video on it which summarises it better than me HERE. After this event I lost all faith in Raid Shadow Legends and I don’t recommend anyone to play it, go play Heir of Light if you want a hero collector with Fantasy aesthetics.  

Overhit (Global)  

One of the most hyped games of this year as well for it’s fantastic graphics. Note that I explicitly stated Global here, because the global servers changed up a lot of QoL things from the Japanese server, such as changing a SR unit into an SSR unit, not having pity summons, and worst of all, decreasing summoning rates for SSR from 5% to 2%! Godbless Nexon. If you want to play Overhit, play the Japan server, I doubt the global server will last too long.

Valkyrie Anatomia 

Action based hero collector based off of the Valkyrie Profile franchise. It tries to emulate the original Valkyrie Profile battle system but it just does not work here. Graphics look a bit dated and gameplay isn’t very responsive at times. X2/X3 speed up for battles are locked behind VIP system, only play this game if you’re into Valkyrie Profile.