There are a lot of classes in Black Desert. 27 in total. Some are fantastic, others not so much.

With the recent release of the game's newest class, the scholar. There's no better time to throw them into a snazzy tier list! So here it is, our not so definitive ranking of all the classes in Black Desert from best to worst. 

 

Starting things off with S tier, these are the classes that do it all. For players looking to maximize their gains in PVE look no further.

Nova 98/100 (S-tier)

Nova is in an interesting spot with her awakening being so ridiculously powerful while her succession is seemingly the polar opposite, widely being considered one of the worst in the game right now.t. Her awakening dominates with swift movement, a fantastic combination of area of effect skills, ranged attacks and insane movement allowing her to rapidly clear mobs. Her awakened state is so strong that she is still considered the strongest class by the community despite her awful performance in succession. 

good AOE and great damage.

•         Strongest awakening in the game
•         Fantastic mobility
•        Good Aoe damage

Nova Awakening & Succession

Maegu 97/100 (S-tier)

Maegu is a great class for new or returning players as she’s got everything for peak effectiveness baked into her core move set. Which is piled high with damage and movement opportunities. Admittedly her awakening can take some getting used to, but once players get there Maegu is right up there with Nova in terms of enemy clearing. 

•         Highly mobile.
•        Very high damage.
•        Large area of effect attacks.
•       Easy to use.

Maegu Combat Trailer

Berserker 96/100 (S-tier)

Berserker is a solid class with good damage and area of effect in both of his skill paths. As Well as performing well at all levels of the game due to his high damage, large AOE’s and ability to self sustain.  The only thing really holding him back is his high skill curve.

•          Good at both close and long range.
•          Fast casting speed.
•          Larger area of effect attacks.  
•          Good self-sustain.

Berserker Class Introduction

Woosa 93/100 (S-tier)

Wossa’s is a mixed bag of a class. Her succession does well in the early and mid game with her strong AOE’s and high damage in both her ranged and melee attacks. While her awakening can really shine in the late game where direct damage is king. Overall both her awakening and succession are equally viable.

•          Large Area of effect.
•          Highly damaging.
•         Good combination of ranged and melee attacks.

Woosa Skills and Combos

Witch 93/100 (S-tier)

In terms of raw stats, the witch is the best class in the game as far as PVE goes with the only real downside being a playstyle that demands players be very active, meaning that the class's efficiency often depends on the skill of the player. But she does well in the right hands.

•          Highest stats in the game
•          Strong Ranged attacks
•          Relatively simple playstyle
•          Defense oriented.

Witch Class Skills

Guardian 91/100 (S-tier)

Guardian is highly versatile and easy to use in both awakening and in succession states. With both states performing well in certain mid game and late game spots.  Due to her strong AOE’s that can wipe out large groups with a single cast. Though she is lacking in the mobility department. 

•          Highly effective at grinding
•          High damage
•          Massive area of effect attacks

Guardian Awakening Skills

Wizard 90/100

Wizard suffers a bit due to his mobility in the early to mid game but really shines later when players have to move around less, and recent combat tweaks have made the wizards awakened state one of the best in the game.

•         Fantastic awakening.
•          Mix of combat and support abilities.
•         High damage.
•         Attack oriented.

Wizard Class Skills

A Tier, these classes are fantastic but are missing one or two things to take them to s tier.

Archer 88/100 (A-tier)

While the archer is not the best class in terms of raw stats, His kit has all the tools for the right player to excel with him. The archer’s playstyle is all about taking enemies out without ever getting in melee range, and he has plenty of damage and mobility to get the job done

•          Challenging but good in the right hands
•          Good movement
•          Great single target damage.
•         Ranged class.

Archer Trailer

Lahn 87/100 (A-tier)

Lahns succession is powerful, being strong and player friendly. With great mobility and solid damage allowing her to quickly clear groups of mobs. Her only pitfall is her small AOEs, and her average awakening.

•          Succession quickly clears midgame spots.
•          Easy class to pick up.
•          Combos that are short and easily linked together.
•          Can cover long distances with her leap.

Lahn Skills

B tier, the classes here are all good but aren’t as strong as those in the higher tiers.

Ninja 85/100 (B-tier)

Ninja does well at every stage of the game and both his awakened state and succession are perfectly viable, with the only real discrepancy between the two coming down to players' individual playstyle, though his awakening is a bit harder to get value out of when compared to his succession.

Ninja Class Skills

Musa 82/100 (B-tier)

Musa is an overall easy class to play, both awakened and in succession he boasts good movement,rea attacks and is easy to control, as well as having good move set viability. Though he can struggle a bit in the later stages of the game.

Musa Awakening Trailer

Sage 82/ 100 (B-tier)

Sage is a relatively balanced and easy to use class though his awakening far out strips his succession. He offers players a choice between a more relaxed playstyle in succession and a more fast paced one in his awakening.

Sage Combat Trailer

Tamer 81/100 (B-tier)

The tamer is quick and nimble with relatively short cooldowns, but she lacks good Area of Effect on many of her skills, forcing players to be more active with her and making it more difficult to get value out of than other classes.

Tamer Awakening Trailer

Maehwa 81/100 (B-tier)

While sharing many similarities with the Musa where her male counterpart is focused on area attacks, Maehwa is focused on single target damage.  With higher mobility and a more diverse playstyle.

Maehwa Update: Official Trailer

Warrior 78/100 (B-tier)

The warrior is a good all-rounder class that is beginner friendly. He offers decent damage in both awakenings and succession states.  But struggles with AOE damage and is generally outshined by more specialized classes.

Black Desert: Warrior Introduction

 Dark knight 77/100 (B-tier)

Dark knight is a class that scales heavily in the endgame with her awakening dealing some serious damage at the cost of being more difficult to master and lacking good filler skills. On the other hand, her succession is easier to pick up but suffers from less AOE damage and range while having more ability uptime.

Dark Knight Awakening Trailer

Striker 73/100 (B-tier)

Striker, like the warrior, is a good new player friendly generalist that can do well at all levels of the game. Both in awakening and in succession with both focusing on close range combat. Though ultimately  he falls behind other classes in terms of damage.

Striker Class Skills

Mystic 72/100 (B-tier)

Mystic shines in situations where direct attacks are needed, in awakening she boasts good burst damage and has excellent mobility. Though her succession is a bit underpowered when compared to her awakening.

Mystic Awakening Skills

C tier, the classes in this category can still be fun to play but in terms of stats or efficiency are average.

Ranger 69/100 (C-tier)

The ranger is another generalist class, and while her awakening allows players the ability to switch between ranged and melee combat, she doesn’t excel at either, only managing to be somewhat decant at both.

Ranger Introduction

Drakania 68/100 (C-tier)

Drakania is a class that is only really viable in awakening as it is more damaging and faster than her succession by far, even then her kit being centered around her ion mechanic can make combing feel tedious at best, Her slow animations and relatively low damage hold her back alot.

Drakania Awakening

Corsair 67/100 (C-tier)

 Corsair Is overall fun to play but falls short when it comes to efficiency. She suffers from long cast times and long ability cooldowns. While also having a comparatively small heath pool compared to the rest of the roster..

Corsair Trailer

Kunoichi 65/100 (C-tier)

Kunoichi is another class that struggles with AOE damage, making her less efficient in areas that require clearing large groups, and her core move set struggles to keep up with certain endgame areas.

Kunoichi Class Skills

Sorceress 63/100 (C-tier)

Sorceress is hampered by a lack of mobility and general AOE damage, she can be cumbersome and hard to use in areas that require a lot of movement or clearing of dense areas.  She only really does well in the later stages of the game where mobility is less crucial.

Sorceress Introduction

Shai 63/100 (C-tier)

Shai is one of those classes that’s viability depends on the situation. She's much better as a part of a group than in solo play. Which causes her to suffer in the early and mid-game as it's designed more around solo play. While she has less damage than other classes when played in endgame party content, she shines in a support role.

Shai Class Introduction Trailer

Hashashin 61/100 (C-tier)

  

Hashashin is a difficult class to play, His succession does alright in the midgame due to his speed and plentiful AOE attacks, but he does get outshined a little bit by other classes.  Especially due to how his abilities interact with some of the PVE mechanic’s. His awakening is easier to use but has a higher skill ceiling than succession and deals a little less damage.

Hashashin Official Trailer

D tier, These classes can still be good for the right players but have more weaknesses than strengths.

Valkyrie 57/100 (D-tier)

Valkyrie suffers from limited mobility and a general lack of good AOE damage. Though she gains more movement in her awakened states her damage falls short, the inverse is true of her succession, which does have improved AOEs but suffers when it comes to damage.

Valkyrie Awakening Trailer

Scholar 57/100 (D-tier)

Black Deserts newest class, while fun to play, suffers from slow animations and an inability  to smoothly transition from certain attacks to others.. As well as being the only class played in a single state, makes it hard to tell where she falls in terms of viability until tweeks are made to the class.  But for now she's one of if not the worst in the game right now.

Official Scholar Combat Gameplay Trailer

And bam that’s it, List over.