Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
For The King Best Classes Tier List – Team Guide
Our For The King classes tier list will detail the best class and team for your strategic adventures ahead. With the difficult campaigns using the right class is one vital step to give yourself the highest chance at victory. While most party compositions and classes will allow you to win at apprentice difficulty players need to carefully select the right combination from this For The King class tier list at journeyman and master difficulty to create the best team to succeed at these brutal difficulties.
Having beaten all of the base For The King campaigns on the Master difficulty I’ve tried and tested a vast combination of different parties to determine the ranks on this For The King classes tier list and in turn the ideal team which I’ve captured below for both the new and intermediate player. While there is some variation in the For The King best class based on the campaign and your own playstyle there are still some standouts in the available characters that will improve your odds of victory greatly and should be a priority lore store unlock.
This For The King class tier list guide is designed with S, A, B and C tiers discussed in that order along with a description of what each tier represents and why each character is within that tier.
For The King Best Team Composition
Before diving into the best characters there are a few important things for players to understand in regards to team composition in For The King. With these principles in mind you’ll be able to mix and match from the classes tier list below to design the best team for your playstyle and by combining that with general tips and tricks you will be in a strong position for success.
Each team in For The King is generally made of up 3 characters with only the most insane players attempting the game with less than a full party. Given a core part of the game (excluding Hildebrant’s Cellar) is stat checks players will want to focus on a flexible team setup to ensure these can be passed without significant use of focus.
While there are a total of 6 stats in For The King (Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Awareness, Talent and Speed) I generally consider there to be 4 different archetypes of characters. These are your Strength, Intelligence, Awareness and Talent characters with the two remaining stats always being covered by one of your other character selections and make the party composition challenge easier.
The For The King best team compositions I recommend for the campaigns (excluding Hildebrant’s Cellar) are:
- Strength, Intelligence and Awareness
- Strength, Intelligence and Talent
I would also always place your selected strength character in the middle of your team as they often have the best vitality stat and thus damage tanking ability. Alternatively, this can be your awareness character due to the high dodge chance they have and gain from items. This is because there are a number of area of effect attacks that monsters use in For The King that will always hit the centre character but might not always hit the characters on the sides depending on who is the primary target of the attack.
What Makes A Class The Best?
In determining what is the best class it’s important to understand what makes a class in For The King good and the basis for the class tier list ratings.
- Starting Stats: An important factor when creating your party is the starting stats of the character. One of your primary success factors in For The King is getting as close to the 95 maximum stat value as possible to ensure your attacks and skills are successful. For this reason characters with higher starting stats are generally favoured as you’ll have a more consistent early game and stronger later game in a campaign.
- Special Abilities: Equal in importance to stats are special abilities which have a significant impact from start to finish on your playstyle. For The King offers a wealth of special abilities that give you extra items, gold, damage or reduce the number of stat rolls required for an action. Some of the special abilities in For The King are clear winners by providing a significant advantage while others are lacklustre.
- Starting Equipment: While not as significant as the above factors starting equipment is an important consideration in higher difficulties either for its immediate sell value to upgrade a weapon or helping you get passed the brutal early game so its a minor consideration in deciding the For The King best class.
If you want a general overview of each class with a dash of humour Beansly has produced a summary of what each For The King character brings to your party:
For The King Classes Tier List (S TIER)
The S tier characters here will always have a place in the best For The King team and a decent starting team in their own right (or can be swapped out for a talent class from A Tier below). These characters are the best of their respective main stat which is further supported by solid special abilities that help improve consistency and counter the RNG of For The King.
Hunter
The fastest of all For the King characters the Hunter is a solid addition to any team who will constantly attack first in fights giving you the opportunity to kill enemies before they can even attack your party (which makes them ideal for the Forgotten Cellar). The high speed stat of the Hunter also means you’ll move faster throughout the overworld and works nicely with Energy Boost. Along with the highest awareness stat in the game for reliable damage you’ll want to equip your Hunter with a bow to take advantage of the Called Shot special ability that gives a 10% chance for maximum damage and a critical hit. Many players in the community even experiment with a team of 3 which can be deadly effective in combat although struggle to complete the other stat checks within the game.
Scholar
Another character with a high speed stat which combined with the Hunter above is a deadly combination with two characters able to damage most monsters in the game before they can even attack. A high intelligence stat makes the Scholar deadly in combat as well which when combined with refocus means you can equip them with hard hitting intelligence weapons or make use of debuffs on various magical tomes (such as smokescreen) and have consistent success. Ensuring you have a blend of magic and physical damage is always an important consideration in team building and the Scholar provides the best magic damage output on offer.
Blacksmith
The best tank in the game the Blacksmith has a high strength statistic along with the highest vitality by far that makes them exceedingly durable. This durability is only further enhanced with the Steadfast ability that can completely negate an attack when it activates. The trade off for this though is a terrible speed stat which means your Blacksmith will get limited opportunities to attack or taunt and often lag behind your group in overworld movement which needs careful management and consideration.
For The King Classes Tier List (A TIER)
A tier characters in For The King can easily lead you to victory in a campaign although might require slightly better equipment or forethought to use to full effectiveness that mean they don’t quite make S tier. That being said they are more than capable of holding their own and only slightly behind the best classes and in the majority of campaigns and difficulties will barely notice the drop in power.
Minstrel
For players that want to bring a talent based character into their team the Minstrel is often my top pick and that of the For The King community. Offering the highest talent stat of any character with a decent speed to match it the Minstrel specialises in encouraging your characters giving you better outcomes in combat and with careful planning can Inspire for an experience boost consistently. Given the mechanics of Inspire you’ll want to have the Minstrel equipped as the far right character in your party so that they move last so they end their turn near your other characters.
Herbalist
The Herbalist is likely the class that you’ll think is overpowered when you first start playing For The King due to the innate Party Heal ability which combines with Gather Herbs for a consistent consumable stock. While the Herbalist is a strong pick their lack of speed and offensive power can actually hinder your success with a more offensive focused team (with the Scholar) actually removing the need for regular party healing all together by focusing on offense. That being said for beginners on apprentice or journeyman difficulty the Herbalist can make your life easier with the reduction in damage unlikely to be missed.
Busker
A unique character that combines solid strength, vitality and talent together the Busker is often overlooked but can actually fill a number of roles as a flexible alternative and one I use regularly. This includes playing your strength based tank or being a useful talent ally with lutes for gold generation. The special abilities of the Busker are also some of the strongest with Entertain offering a reliable source of gold at all difficultly levels although some careful planning to your movement is required. Distract is also a strong candidate and comparable to the Minstrels Encourage except that it negatively impacts your enemies instead that means less harming debuffs to deal with that rely on perfect enemy attack rolls.
Trapper
The Trapper is a solid awareness alternative character and while they don’t match the raw stats of the Hunter can be a viable option for the Into The Deep campaign as they have strong talent stat for ship movement. Outside of this specific campaign though and notably at harder difficulties they provide flexibility to your team to respond to strong weapons that you find while their counterpart the Hunter is limited to awareness weapons only and preferably bows. In terms of skills Elite Ambush is the primary attraction to the Trapper class which allows you to regularly single out enemies for safe experience farming although the other special abilities are lacklustre.
For The King Classes Tier List (B TIER)
B tier characters are rarely your first choice in a For The King campaign as they have obvious downsides that prevent them from being a stronger class. That being said if you design your gameplay around a B tier and understand their weaknesses then their unique style of play can rival the strength of higher tier classes although it requires significant effort and focus to reach that point and not recommended for beginners or even intermediate players.
Monk
The Monk is actually a reasonably strong and versatile class but this versatility comes at the cost of specialisation. When this is combined with the Discipline skill that requires significant setup and planning to optimally use the result is a difficult to use class that never really reaches a power equivalent to that effort compared to classes in S and A tier. If you don’t mind the extra effort though and looking for a flexible blend of strength and intelligence for something different the Monk is still a viable contributor to creating a For The King best team.
Astronomer
Introduced in the Lost Civilisation Pack in February 2021 the Astronomer introduces another intelligence based character for you to use while also implementing one of the most unique special abilities in the game being Black Hole. While fun to use and completely viable it requires significant luck as it can actually be a detriment if it triggers at the wrong time, the Star Matter gained does provide a nice amount of team protection though. While strong in vitality the lack of speed and weak other special ability of Support Range there are simply better options for intelligence characters given it competes with the Herbalist and Scholar with a dual intelligence setup being less than ideal.
Gladiator
Also introduced in the Lost Civilisation Pack the Gladiator introduces the concept of dual wielding weapons and provides a unique mix of strength, awareness and speed. While this has made the Gladiator a popular pick and a no doubt fun character to use it leaves them in a strange place when considering their role in the team and often competes for others directly for gear. Their Glory special ability while nice is just not consistent enough and triggers more when the Gladiator is alone or below 50% health which in general are situations you don’t want to be in.
For The King Classes Tier List (C TIER)
In the C tier you’ll find the classes that really just aren’t worth the effort for success with better options across the board when picking the best class for the best party. If they work for your particular playstyle though or you are an advanced player you’ll probably still win but the luck required to achieve it will be significant.
Hobo
At first glance you would consider the Hobo the perfect jack of all trades with his 70 starting stats across the board that is insufficient to consistently reach the high 90 stats required for end game. The problem for the Hobo though is that he lacks any special abilities to assist you in a playthrough and there are better party members for flexible options that can be mixed and matched for full stat coverage anyway. The Hobo does perform slightly better in modes that require flexibility or where the majority of special abilities cannot trigger though like Hildebrant’s Cellar.
Woodcutter
An extremely deadly fighter with the highest strength statistic in For The King the Woodcutter is let down by his lack of useful special ability and lower vitality than the Blacksmith. While Justice provides some pretty reliable area of effect damage your other skill (Elite Door Bash) provides little opportunity for use in your adventures.
Treasure Hunter
With high intelligence, awareness and talent the Treasure Hunter is capable of using a diverse range of weapons and has unique special abilities that focus on treasure. While diversity is a great positive they will never be as effective as a specialist in your team which is going to be better filled by a Scholar, Hunter or Minstrel that specialise in those stats.
While on the ability side these can mean extra gold income through a playthrough it’s really not going to mean the difference between winning and losing with other methods of gold creation like cave farming, Entertain skill or general monster farming likely to be better options and combined with gold find equipment.
