AoE all the Way
If you've ever played any kind of combat-based game you know that there are three distinct types of damage dealt: Single Target, Damage over Time (DoT), and Area of Effect (AoE). Now, all of these are great, but my real favorite has always been AoE damage because it just kind of takes care of anything around you at the same time. What does that mean exactly? AoE damage is damage that hits a general area. It can be established from around the player's character, or in the cases of Freyna, Blair, Valby, and Viessa, it can be spots left on the map to hurt the enemies who come into contact with it.
So why do we like AoE? Well, the answer is simple; it's all about utility. If you think about it logistically, AoE allows you to hurt more enemies, for a single slot of ammunition or special skill. That means one bullet may do damage to as many as four or five enemies. Or, one grenade may be able to wipe out a whole pack of enemies that are laying pressure down on you. If that's not enough, the 'drop it and forget it' AoE is just that. You drop it, and you forget it. For someone like Freyna who likes to buff herself by poisoning as many as possible,
Which Characters have the Strongest AoE and Which Have the Weakest AoE
Rankings by Tier
S-Tier
1. Bunny
2. Valby
3. Lepic
A-Tier
1. Viessa
2. Blair
3. Freyna
4. Esiemo
B-Tier
1. Enzo
2. Gley
3. Sharen
4. Hailey
C-Tier
1. Kyle
2. Ajax
3. Jayber
D-Tier
1. Luna
2. Yujin
Breaking Down the Best AoE characters
S-Tier Characters
1. Bunny (S-Tier)
It’s no joke to say that Bunny and Ultimate Bunny take the top of the list for just about every player out there. Most lists stop their rankings from D-tier to S-tier. Bunny usually gets placed at the top of the list for being S+ tier. She has great AoE and powerful electric skills that can be ramped up to insane levels. It's been commented on more than one blog that just double-jumping close enough to a boss is enough to set off one of Bunny’s skills for a surprising amount of DPS.
Bunny is on the lower side of the durability scale. It’s usually suggested that if a player is using her they try not to stop moving for very long. She does her best at full speed and generates as much electric AoE as possible thanks to her skills. There’s a reason she gets paired with the Thunder Cage so often for this reason. As long as the player is good about being elusive and hard to catch, they can deal more than enough damage to melt enemies and bosses alike, even while playing solo.
AoE with Bunny
Bunny is considered the strongest of the damage-dealing AoE characters that we see in the first Descendant, landing herself in what is called the S+ Tier. That's really because Bunny is just about the best there is when it comes to AoE. Even her running by a pack of enemies is enough to deal AoE damage, and it gets compounded by the electrocution status effect. This applies to both AoE and DoT for her play style.
The key to her playstyle is essentially just that. Since she already comes pre-equipped with the various AoE skills that focus on speed, we also give her a weapon called the Thunder Cage. This submachine gun also functions for mob clearing, and releases small electrical AoE upon the defeat of enemies. It also doesn't slow her down which means she accumulates more electricity while having extra utility
1. Lightning Emission
Activates Lightning Emission for a certain period of time. Deals damage to nearby enemies whenever moving a certain distance. This damage increases proportionally to the amount of Electricity possessed. Inflicts Electrocution on enemies that are hit. Electrocution deals continuous damage at fixed intervals.
2. Thrill Bomb
Creates a Thrill Bomb to deal damage to the nearest enemy in range. This damage increases proportionally to the amount of Electricity possessed. Inflicts Electrocution on enemies that are hit. Electrocution deals continuous damage at fixed intervals.
3. Maximum Power
Discharges electricity forward. Deals damage to enemies that come into contact with the electricity, with the damage increasing gradually based on the discharge time. Ends when Electricity runs out.
4. Rabbit's Foot
Deals damage to nearby enemies upon landing after a double jump. Gains Electricity proportional to the travel distance. If there is no movement after a certain period, Electricity is gradually consumed.
Bunny is S-Tier AoE
- Bunny's passive means that just moving and jumping around the arena is enough to damage enemies.
- Bunny's AoE damage gets massive buffs against other elemental status effects like Laundry and Chill.
- All Bunny skills can set Electrocution status effects that mean that the attacks do initial AoE damage and DoT, which gets more utility.
- Even Bunny's passive ability, Rabbit's Foot, is capable of dealing damage and turning her speed of light ability into a damage dealer as well.
- Almost all of Bunny's AoE attacks keep her mobile and hard to hit. This makes her one of the best characters for snapshot players
- Bunny is capable of maintaining near infinite AoE at all times thanks to her skills like Maximum power. There is a lot of utility in a character that never has to stop doing their damage.
- Bunny makes for both a great vanguard, and a great cleanup character. Since she's so fast, she can lead the charge and disrupt enemy ranks while other Players like Hailey get into position. She can also follow up behind heavy tanks and mob groups to clean up the remnants and take out the leftovers.
2. Valby (S-Tier)
If you’re a fan of the water, then Valby is the surfing Descendant to play. She is one of the most mobile characters, and she’s far more tanky than Bunny. This makes her great for players who like to get right into the middle and mix it up with the enemies.
Valby is a great character, and she’s practically a mobile mini-tank. We love that about her, plus the fact she’s also got great AoE potential. When it comes to Valby, her AoE is largely considered some of the best in the game, and it gets talked about alongside Bunny. Between water and electricity, the top two slots of the S-Tier are locked down with Valby and Bunny.
AoE with Valby
Valby is an equal part surfer and angler if you think about it. She has plenty of AoE since pretty much all of her skills are based around the concept of AoE. She's also got the ability to conserve her mana while in water, but also deal consistent DoT to enemies within her water puddles. Since Valby makes her best attacks this way, it's always good to start the match gliding around the arena with some Clean Up, followed by using Bubble Bullet and Plop Plop to create water puddles nearby and at range.
Valby gets more and more mobility the more water she has on the field, which means the more puddles, the more we surf through the competition. In fact, Valby's puddle abilities are great as an AoE on bosses, not just because it's easy to keep the enemy always standing in a puddle, but also giving her plenty of mobility to get away from dangerous attacks when she needs to.
1. Bubble Bullet
Fires a Bubble Bullet forward, creating small puddles where she stands and where the Bubble Bullet hits. The enemy standing in the small puddle receives continuous damage and becomes inflicted with Laundry. When the Bubble Bullet pops, nearby enemies receive AoE damage. AoE damage of Bubble Bullet increases based on the number of bounces.
2. Plop Plop
Valby forms a Big Puddle where she stands and jumps into it. She then jumps out from another Big Puddle formed at a designated spot, inflicting knockdown damage on nearby enemies. Enemies standing in the Big Puddle receive continuous damage and become inflicted with Laundry
3. Clean Up
Enters liquefied state. While liquefied, Valby cannot take her feet of the ground and is unable to use skills, but does not collide with enemies and her Movement Speed increases while Damage decreases. Moving while in a liquefied state creates a waterway along the ground. Enemies standing on the Waterway receive continuous damage and become inflicted with Laundry
4. Laundry Bomb
Switches the equipped weapon to the Laundry Bomb Launcher. The original weapon returns when all Laundry Bomb Launcher bullets have been used or its duration ends. Creates Laundry Bomb at the spot where the Laundry Bomb Launcher projectile hits, which tows a nearby enemy inflicted with Laundry and deals continuous damage.
Valby is S-Tier AoE
- Almost all of her skills provide some form of AoE effect, even the ones that sacrifice damage for mobility
- Valby creates puddles of water that can be left on the ground to damage enemies, even when she is focused on other enemies and attacks.
- Valby's got some of the largest AoE areas and damages in the game, second only to Bunny.
- Laundry effect is great for group play because it makes enemies weaker to both electricity and chill effects.
- Even if Valby is second to Bunny in terms of damage, her utility gets boosted by the fact that she can
- Valby has a lot of utility in that her abilities feed off the status effect that she inflicts. While she is one of the only water descendants that exist, she sure knows how to make good use of her full build.
- Valby is more of a stationary player than she would seem because She benefits from standing in water. The best way to play her is to create as many water zones as possible, giving her the best possible mobility.
- The more puddles, the better. Valby gets to be her best when she's unloading bubble bullets all over the battlefield, or creating puddles of water that constantly damages the enemy.
3. Lepic (S-Tier)
Lepic is one of our starting characters and he's your archetypal soldier build. Since you get him at the start, he's fairly straightforward and he beats down his foes with a spammable grenade toss that can do great AoE damage. He's one of the most streamlined characters, and his focus on grenade throwing makes him devastating in the category and a perfect AoE S-Tier character.
AoE with Lepic
Both the grenadiers in the game make the top list, but Lepic is just considered better than Esiemo. His damage is higher, and his skills are more straightforward. The real key to Lepic is being able to boost his damage and reduce his cooldowns, which makes his skills like Grenade throw nearly infinite. If you're wondering what infinite grenades raining down on your head might be like, you won't have to wonder for long. Lepic will blow you away before you get a chance to complete the thought.
Lepic is a character that is built around scorched earth policy and some serious disruption to the enemy ranks. Thanks to the fact that he has a weapon that magnetically draws people in, he is even capable of pulling enemies in just to blow them up with extra damage. It's simple, making Lepic just a matter of smash-and-go.
Keep in mind, Lepic's best skills come from the use of his overclock ability, which allows him to add fire damage and duration to his weapons. He's also one of the most mod-customizable characters for a new player, and that means that we can very easily add DoT and duration to any build for that extra damage to make things more chaotic.
1. Grenade Throw
Throws a grenade forward, inflicting AoE damage
2. Traction Grenade
Throws a Traction Grenade forward to pull enemies for a certain period of time.
3. Overkill
Switches the equipped weapon to Overkill. While Overkill is active, MP is continuously consumed. When MP runs out, it returns to the original weapon. Enemies hit by Overkill bullets receive AoE damage. Overkill bullets create an area effect where they hit that deals continuous damage.
Lepic is S-Tier AoE
- Grenade Throw is a spammable skill that can be expanded to 200% of its original damage dealt area.
- Has AoE that also serves as crowd control with the Traction Grenade
- Lepic has some of the largest AoE radius skills in the game that allow him to max the number of enemies he can focus on and deal damage to.
- One of the best skills for Lepic is to use the traction grenade to draw enemies in, then spam explosions that deal huge amounts of damage, and inflict burn on the enemies.
- Lepic is great for boss battles, but it's important to remember to cycle your skills, and be aware that bosses aren't as easy to jerk around the battlefield as trash mobs are.
- Lepic serves as one of the best front-line aggressors with his focus on maximizing damage. This makes him the best option for aggressive players who want an alternate method besides Bunny to play.
- Never hesitate to know your mods. Lepic, Ajax, and Gley all excel at damage dealt to enemies.
A-Tier Characters
Viessa (AiTier)
Viessa and Hailey make up our two strongest ice descendants, and they both have their special skills. Viessa is the queen of the ice AoE, and she makes good on weakening opponents as well as demolishing them. It's no surprise that she is just generally considered one of the best characters in the game, capable of making the most frustrating enemies chill out.
AoE with Viessa
Viessa's skills provide two different sides, damage and debuff. Everything she does has an AoE potential which is great for the players, but it also weakens and slows down the enemies. Her bread and butter comes from the Frost Shards skill, which deals AoE frost damage on impact. Our other winner is the Blizzard Skill, which is Viessa's ultimate and her biggest AoE skill that inflicts the Ice Shackle status. The slower and weaker the enemies are, the more Viessa's skills do, making her excellent for wiping out the competition.
1. Frost Shards
Fires Frost Shards to deal damage to hit enemies and AoE damage to nearby enemies. Inflicts Ice Shackle on hit targets
2. Frost Road
When cast grants Frost Road state for a certain period of time. Frost Road increases her own Movement Speed and Energy Shield, and creates ice sheets where her feet touch the ground. Inflicts Ice shackle on enemies that come into contact with the ice sheets
3. Cold Snap
Spews Chill forward to the front. Inflicts damage and ice shackle on enemies that come into contact with chill
4. Blizzard
Creates a Blizzard that remains active for a certain period of time. Enemies engulfed in the blizzard receive continuous damage, become inflicted with ice shackle, and decrease their defense. When the Blizzard disappears, it inflicts AoE damage and Ice Shackle on nearby enemies
5. Ice Sphere
Upon using a skill to have an enemy enter a certain ice shackle stage, create an ice sphere that flies around nearby. The ice sphere that is created flies at a nearby enemy, dealing damage to the hit enemy and AoE damage to nearby enemies. The hit target is inflicted with an ice shackle. Ice shackle decreases the enemy's speed and increase in stage when the effect stacks. When the stage increases, the speed reduction and duration both increase. However, the speed reduction does not apply to certain monsters, including boss monsters.
Viessa is A-Tier AoE
- All of Viessa's skills are capable of creating a stationary area of damage, and dealing AoE damage to enemies
- All of Viessa's skills come with the ability to debuff enemies which makes them weaker to other attacks from the player or their teammates
- Viessa's skills give her plenty of mobility to come in contact with enemies. Most of her skills also leave areas of ice, which makes for a good way to control the battlefield.
- Viessa does best when she stacks multiple Ice Shackles on an enemy. At the maximum, enemies are slowed nearly to a halt and are susceptible to large amounts of damage.
- Viessa is doesn't just debuff for you, she debuffs enemies for everyone on your team. This makes her great for group play.
- Viessa is great for just about any enemy, but her ice shackle skill doesn't slow down bosses. It's better to focus on raw damage and debuffs when approaching these targets.
- Viessa has stronger defenses the more she freezes enemies. Since she also slows them down, this makes her great for blitz attacks as a major function for her.
Blair (A-Tier)
Blair is our fire descendant, and a former cook. His skills focus heavily on the ability to do fire damage and increase critical hit rates for himself and his allies. If you're a fan of Natsu Dragneel, we have the extra fun that he can pick up his fire to boost defense and MP. If you're ready to light it up, then it's time to get Blair out of the kitchen, and onto the battlefield.
AoE with Blair
Blair is a descendant that is more focused on AoE than single-target damage. He's also a hidden gem support character because of his ability to increase the critical hit rate. Since he is geared more towards AoE, that means that Blair is a good character to come out hot and come out fast, setting everything on fire to get that damage rolling.
1. Blaze Up
Spews fire and creates a Flame Zone on the ground. Enemies that enter the Flame Zone receive continuous damage and are inflicted with burn
2. Burn Taste
Emit flames forward. Inflicts continuous damage and burns upon enemies near the fire.
3. Deadly Cuisine
Fires a Giant Fireball to the front. On explosion, the Giant Fireball inflicts AoE damage to nearby enemies and divides into multiple small fireballs. Small fireballs deal AoE damage to enemies near the explosion site, inflicting burn and creating flame zones.
Blair is A-Tier AoE
- Blair's AoE leaves hotspots that can continue to harm enemies, even when he isn't setting off damage.
- Burn damage is great at dealing damage over time, but it also increases critical hit damage, which makes Blair good
- Several of Blair’s skills, including Blaze Up, have a low cooldown and can be spammed at a fairly consistent rate.
- Deadly Cuisine is a powerful AoE that can be boosted in size but also produces smaller AoE damage. It has plenty of utility in states for crowd control and serious damage dealt.
- Being able to boost critical hit chances makes Blair great for team play since all players can take advantage of the critical hit potential.
- This player can stack their burn effects multiple times which means that they can get a lot of utility out of the skills.
- Blair can also recover his flame zones, or 'stoves' which means that he can recover HP which gives his AoE a second purpose aside from the damage and critical chances.
Esiemo (A-Tier)
We all know a pyro or two and Esiemo is the bomb guy of the descendants. We see a character that focuses on timing and powerful AoE damage to wipe out enemies from basic foes to big bad bosses. If making things go boom is your stick of dynamite, then Esiemo is your guy.
AoE with Esiemo
If Lepic is our soldier, Esiemo serves as our demolition expert. All of his skills focus on AoE and placing bombs, which make him one of the best AoE out there. The real goal is to plant time bombs, or other sticky bomb options and then detonate everything with the blast ability. Some of his skills can only stack up about 5 times, so it's good to alternate the damage with other skills. He also has seeking bombs in the form of guided landmines, which can track down enemies and create havoc, depending on where they end up.
1. Time Bomb
Fires a sticky bomb forward. The sticky bomb attaches to an enemy or terrain on contact.
2. Blast
Detonate the attached bombs. Damage dealt increases with the number of attached bombs
3. Guided Landmine
Places a guided landmine. Once placed, the guided landmine flies to an enemy within its detection range and attaches to it. If there are obstacles in its path, it attaches to the terrain.
4. Arche Explosion
Dashes forward to deal damage and inflict knockback on colliding targets during movement. Interacting with the skill button again or ending movement deals burst damage to nearby enemies. Enemies hit by the explosion lose their buffs. When the skill ends, it grants self-madness.
Esiemo is A-Tier AoE
- Esiemo has some of the most AoE dedicated skills in the game
- Esiemo's AoE can be timed to go off at the right moment, making it useful for laying out the battlefield the way the player wants.
- Arche Explosion is a powerful skill that does AoE and it removes buffs. This makes it great for disrupting enemy lines
- Esiemo is good for adding disruptive play to a team that needs to split its focus.
- Esiemo can choose where his bombs end up, to an extent. This makes him great for targeting bosses or enemies, whenever needed
Freyna (A-Tier)
Freyna is the poisoner of the descendants and specializes in toxin damage that's dealt over time. All of her abilities inflict poison, but her passive makes her stronger against poisoned targets. Freyna serves as one of the overall best damage-dealing and consistent playable characters for that player who likes their female characters just a little bit toxic.
AoE with Freyna
Freyna is one of the players that focuses their AoE into DoT, or damage over time. Not only can she leave puddles of toxin all over the place, but her skills make her stronger against poisoned enemies. This means that not only can she damage enemies and weaken a whole army, but she gets stronger for it too. Freyna is a very calculated character, but she is one of the best for whittling down large groups of enemies at once.
1. Venom Trauma
Fires a toxic bullet. Enemies hit by the toxin bullet receive damage. A toxic puddle is created where the toxic bullet explodes. Enemies that touch the toxic puddle are inflicted with Room 0 Trauma. Room 0 Trauma deals continuous damage and inflicts poison on nearby enemies at fixed intervals
2. Putrid Venom
Throws toxins to create a toxic swamp. Enemies engineering the toxic swamp receive continuous damage and become inflicted with poison and venom soaked. Enemies inflicted with Venom-soaked leave toxic footprints as they move, and enemies that touch toxic footprints also become inflicted with poison.
Freya is A-Tier AoE
- Freyna has two abilities that leave toxic puddles. That means that these not only deal damage, they also can hit multiple opponents over time, and keep dealing damage when they're gone.
- Freyna's AoE can be spread thanks to Room 0 Trauma. This means that even if the AoE doesn't hit a lot of enemies at first, they can spread to more enemies to buff Freyna
- Freyna's own AoE skills give her an additional buff naturally. The more she poisons, the better she seems to get.
- Freyna naturally plays aggressively to poison as many enemies as possible, then hurt them more. This makes her great for crowd control, and boss fights.
- Freyna is one of the most consistent damage dealers in the game. Toxin may not be the most glamorous way to go, but it's really good at wiping out enemies.
B-Tier
Enzo (B-Tier)
AoE with Enzo
Enzo is a great utility defendant who is known for his ability to provide 'infinite ammo''. He also has some decent AoE, but it's primarily focused on his explosive drone skill that can be stacked twice. Enzo also doesn't have a lot of buff for his damage making his AoE on the weaker side of raw damage.
Kyle (B-Tier)
AoE with Kyle
Kyle is a fairly decent AoE, but his damage and his playability tend to fall short, which is why he is usually considered C-Tier or D-Tier when it comes to overall rankings. He does have several magnetic bases skills with knockback and some AoE explosion, which makes him good as a tank used to mess up enemy lines, or bosses.
Gley (B-Tier)
AoE with Gley
Gley is one of the most powerful descendants in the game, but her AoE capability is almost exclusively designed around her weapon kits. She makes it higher on the list because she can be turned into a very aggressive AoE character that does incredible damage. She just isn't one naturally, which makes her iffy as an AoE contender.
Hailey (B-Tier)
AoE with Hailey
Hailey has the highest damage skill in the game, but it's primarily built around single-target enemies. She's a sniper, but she does come equipped with the Storm Snare ability. This gives her some good AoE as well as fires a massive freezing beam that can be aimed at groups of enemies at range.
C-Tier
Sharen (C-Tier)
AoE with Sharen
Sharen is our resident assassin, but most of her skills tend to be single-target based. We see some mild AoE with her Impact Rounds skill, but her best AoE is Flash Shortsword. Both of them deal decent damage but are limited techniques with minimal stacks.
Ajax (C-Tier)
AoE with Ajax
Ajax is better suited for controlling situations and defense than he is AoE. He does have some AoE capability, but it's limited to his Void Walk skill and the bounce-back of rounds on his shields. Void Walk is a great skill that does inflict stun, but it's limited in the amount of damage it can do.
Jayber (C-Tier)
AoE with Jayber
Jayber is also known as the turret descendant, and he focuses on that. The majority of the AoE for Jayber comes when he reactivates his turrets to create an AoE explosion, or when he sends in an attack drone.
D-Tier
Luna (D-Tier)
AoE with Luna
When it comes to AoE, Luna is one of the least valuable players on the map. The majority of her AoE is focused around buffing and cleric work, with her Stage Presence being her major damage dealer. She can be enhanced pretty well, but when it comes to AoE, Luna often falls short of the rest.
Yujin (D-Tier)
AoE with Yujin
Yujin is our healer and probably the worst for almost anything damage and attack-related. We don't see him do much in the way of AoE except for Proliferating Allergy. This is combined with the Transcendent mod to create an AoE damage to the character.
The Rankings are In
Just about every character in the game has some AoE potential, either from their skills or their weapons, and we just love AoE. I've always been a fan of the mechanics, be it tabletop games, video games, or even cards. So, if you're looking to pick up The First Descendant, then this is a good game for that AoE fix. Some characters just aren't that great right now in the early days of the game, but I look forward to seeing how they upgrade them to knock all the enemy's socks off.
