Development and updates on this website have come to an end. There won't be any more update in the foreseeable future.
More details here

You might be wondering...

What is this Tier List?

This document aims to be the most comprehensive unit guide for Alchemy Stars available on the English-speaking internet. We believe our methodology (explained below) and calculations have gone a long way toward creating a resource that effectively and accurately tiers all units. Of course, not everything is perfect, but we're always open to feedback. We think this is a great guide for new and veteran players alike, and we hope the time invested will help this incredible game continue to grow. Please be aware that tier lists are an inherently limited way of understanding a game, and you should always take any opinion—including ours!—with a grain of salt. Finally, know that the game is lenient enough to let you use your favorite characters, so don't feel obligated to always stick to what's "meta" or "best."
-Team BethelFrankel

How do I read this list?

The main page provides an at-a-glance look at the ratings for each unit, as well as giving an idea of what each element looks like at the top and bottom end of the spectrum. This is also the most broad, least technically accurate page; for example, Hydrad and Philyshy are both "Supports," but they do radically different things.
On the main page, we assume Max Breakthrough (MBT) for all 3 stars, 4 stars, and Event Welfare 5 stars. We also assume Breakthrough 0 (BT0) for all five stars and six stars unless otherwise stated in the unit's icon. This is because 3 stars, 4 stars, and welfare 5 stars take minimal time to MBT, whereas gacha five and six star units can take months to get past BT0 if you're unlucky. To give the tier list more granularity, we also mark units that are slightly above or below the rest of their tier with a "+" or "-" next to their name below it.

How do I get more details on units? (Spreadsheet only)

The "Element" pages of the spreadsheet are where you'll find the actual meat of our analysis and tips. On these pages, we include each Aurorian's name and icon as before, but also list their overall rating at different levels of investment and BTs, pros and cons, a summary and a detailed write-up about their kit discussing what they specifically excel at.
We recommend you refer to the Element pages before you make a decision about who you want to pull for, who you invest resources in raising, what account you want to keep, etc. Tier lists are fallible because they generalize, and the Element pages and unit write-ups are our way of trying to fix that.

How do I get more details on units? (Kimaris only)

On Kimaris, click or tap a unit's icon or name and you'll find the actual meat of our analysis and tips. We list their overall rating at different levels of investment and BTs, pros and cons, a summary and a detailed write-up about their kit discussing what they specifically excel at.
We recommend you refer to the detailed analysis before you make a decision about who you want to pull for, who you invest resources in raising, what account you want to keep, etc. Tier lists are fallible because they generalize, and the details are where you'll find the most accurate information. For ease of reading, the Tier List only displays at once units belonging to the same classification (DPS, Converter, Support).

How do we tier?

This tier list works by comparing units within the slot they compete for. Teams in Alchemy Stars are mostly designed to be mono-element (or mono-element with an off-element captain) and are usually comprised of the following:
2 DPS: Two units dedicated to just pumping out damage, usually occupying the first and fifth slot. Within this role, Detonators (AoE damage) and Snipers (per-enemy damage) compete with one another. However, Detonators are almost always better, due to the nature of multi-tile damage. 2 Converters: Converters are the backbone of this game. It isn’t a stretch to say that you really can’t play 95% of the game without them or really knowing what you're doing. It's strongly suggested that you start the game with the element that you have at least 2 S-tier converters for. We seriously can not emphasize their importance enough—if this list compared units across slots, even the S-tier converters would be SS. Thankfully, Water gets a lot of free story units nowadays, so you will always have a decent start in at least that element. 1 Flex Unit: The final member of a team (usually occupying the fourth position) is basically whatever you want it to be, whether that’s another DPS, another converter, or a dedicated support unit. This varies from stage to stage and also faces the stiffest competition. Dedicated flex slot units include double chainers, healers, and sub-DPS. They all have stages where they shine more than others. NOTE: Support Units primarily prefer the Flex Slot, but they are not limited to it. Support Units can often fall into the other slots if you want them to; for example, some people use the BT3 reset angels (Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael) as dedicated converters, or double Chainers as their second DPS. Make sure you read their kit, as sometimes a unit like Florine can be better as a DPS than certain DPS units. Tiers reflect the ease of use, added damage output, utility, and mobility a unit brings to a team, as well as how well they synergize with potential teammates. Alchemy Stars is ultimately a team-building game, so more important than a unit's specific rating is understanding their kit and what they bring to a team. ALL COMPARISONS WITHIN ROLE ARE MATHEMATIC APPROXIMATIONS, NOT LITERAL EQUIVOCACIES. IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH OUR MATH OR TESTING, LET US KNOW!

What are "T" and "N" ratings?

T ratings denote units that enable or become significantly stronger in specific teams. Usually these teams rank at the top of their respective elements.
N ratings are ratings that showcase units that are a lot stronger in a specific niche.

How do we handle refinements?

We display Refinement grades, as we always assume max investment outside of Breakthroughs. However, we do note when there a gulf between non-Refinement performance and Refinement performance in the unit's descriptions. We also maintain a separate Refinements Priority List.

Credits

The first credit goes to AncientSpark, who put together the original tierlist and kept it updated through the release of Gram and Revy. We don't think the source spreadsheet could have ever been done without his initial dedication. Another person worth mentioning is Fourmana, who spearheaded this fork of AncientSpark's work, founded Team BethelFrankel, and was the previous team leader.
Currently, the tier list is maintained by Team BethelFrankel, a premier group of players who operate this sheet part-time. We update it with each release cycle. Cuzimori is the current team lead, and he handles most of the formatting and the writing for the Tier List. Alana Eclogia is vice leader, and she handles communication between other servers as well as spearheading guide-making. Raf and Alpaca are the primary playtesters. marble is the editor for write-ups, guides, and other official team writing. Hydrosyncrasy keeps our server help section going and helps out in general. Retired team-members Reanimu, AceZero, Neppity, Kuro, Boop, Ivory, Trakan, Mechahydra, and Defeatable were invaluable in getting the Tier List to where it is today. Finally, DK, Nicklas, Ureki, Vyse, TheGrandWarlock, Kashira, S67 and many more from our old thread on the official Discord and our own server have contributed significantly in our discussions!

Current status of updates

We are currently up to date, with the caveat that our ratings for the new units are still subject to change with more testing. New reviews are typically released about a week after each new banner.