Ranking Items

ilisfet

My personal ranking of items, divided into melee, ranged and armor, after my time playing.

Tiers:

S : Easy to use and very powerful; you'd have to play badly or be severely outplayed to lose with this.
A : Good base stats, apparently useful Q; it's easy to do well with these, but generally not a guaranteed win.
B : Good base stats or good Q, but lacking in the other; solid choices, but takes some skill to make good use of.
C : Lackluster Q and/or base stats; takes considerable skill, specific circumstances, or clever thinking to even do well with these.
D : Fails at it's job; technically does something, but even with considerable skill, still does poorly.

Melee:

S : Archmage's Companion
A : Bonesmasher, Lifebringer, Stillblade
B : Paladin's Might, Lightning Mace
C : Silencer, Greatsword of Haste
D :

Explanations:

• Archmage's Companion - Crimson Blast is an attack that does not root, has reach on par with lunges, knocks back, and has a 9 second cooldown. It forcefully creates distance, and in a way without any real counterplay. The staff itself is also on the higher end of DPS among melee weapons.
• Bonesmasher - Decent DPS on it's own, Hemmorrhage pushes this weapon into clearly the highest DPS weapon ingame. Would be S tier if not for the counterplay towards Hemmorrhage: standing still stops the DoT ticks, and blocking prevents the DoT from being applied in the first place. Archmage can hard counter this by forcing distance with Crimson Blast then keeping distance with lunges until Hemmorrhage times out.
• Lifebringer - On the lower spectrum for DPS, the multi-hit spin2win attack rapidly drains stamina from blocking opponents and Lifesteal quite literally turns losing fights into winning ones.
• Stillblade - Decent DPS on it's own, Stillblade has some of the faster animations (can take defensive measures sooner) and it's snare reduces the forward motion from attacks. Opponents can still lunge and roll, but they won't have the stamina to since they just engaged you in melee combat. A snared opponent can be safely disengaged from, to either finish with ranged or regen stamina and start slashing again.
• Paladin's Might - Lifebringer lite, it offers damage reduction instead of lifesteal. The DPS is on the lower side, but because the Q halves incoming DPS, you still come out on top in trades. The one advantage it has over Lifebringer is it saves your armor too, instead of just your health. The shield passively blocks ranged attacks and even without, the damage reduction lets you close gaps in a little more straightforward fashion.
• Lightning Mace - An OK weapon on it's own, Chain Lightning adds an additional 13 area of effect damage to every strike landed. It's not enough to overcome Hemmorrhage or Lifesteal, but the extra DPS can win encounters in the early game when everyone's randomly geared.
• Silencer - Alright DPS with relatively slow animations, Silence has promise but falls flat most of the time. Silence prevents the opponent from using their weapon or armor abilities, but does not remove already active ones. Most players Q before entering melee range, so the chances of Silence actually working and denying an ability are slim.
• Greatsword of Haste - This used to be top tier, a year ago. With non-root animations, the speed boost let you exit the opponent's reach with just WASD then move right back in for your own attack just as theirs whiffs. With the roots, the speed boost is much more difficult to utilize in combat. It requires not finishing chains, as the chain finishers root you for a little bit longer than other attacks, and aiming to the side of targets, as your forward movement slides you past them and the horizontal swings still connect. It takes skill to use, but can still be powerful in the right hand.

Ranged:

S : Drifter
A : Longbow of Miasma, Crossbow of Revealing
B : Potion Launcher, Wand of Light, Nightfall Shortbow
C : Grimoire of the Fallen Sky
D :

Explanations:

• Drifter - Fires multiple weak, homing projectiles. The homing property only activates when the cursor is right on top of the target when firing, which ultimately makes this trait inconsistent. However, at medium range it's much easier to activate the homing property and the sheer volume of fire more than makes up for the low damage per projectile. It's like an SMG with smart bullets. Unfortunately, Warp Space is buggy; with multiple projectiles per LMB the position swap activates multiple times in less than half a second, disorienting caster, target, and server as the two players are eventually relocated side-by-side instead of in swapped positions. Even with a buggy Q, Drifter is S tier due to the sheer ease of use and DPS it pumps out. Truly, a high fantasy SMG with smart bullets.
• Longbow of Miasma - The rate of fire is second only to the Grimoire in slowness, but deals solid damage per shot with a x2 headshot multiplier. Add in the charged shot for another x2, and Q for AoE DoT and you can easily cripple or kill targets with a single arrow. Even if you miss your shot, the miasma cloud will deal some damage so near misses are still beneficial.
• Crossbow of Revealing - Arguably the fastest firing ranged weapon in the game, the Crossbow of Revealing also sports solid damage per shot, high headshot damage, and wallhax in the form of it's Q: Bolt of Revealing. The crossbow is ultimately held back by the small clip size of 5 and very bright white tracers revealing you yourself.
• Potion Launcher - Previously S, the clip size reduction did it's job. Firing slow traveling grenades over short to medium distances, the Potion Launcher used to compensate by volume of fire, making evasion of all grenades practically impossible. With the clip size reduced to 3, it's entirely doable to dodge all 3 potions and close the gap or escape during the reload. Be wary of the Potion Launcher's damage, however.
• Wand of Light - High rate of fire and high damage for that high rate, the wand is akin to a high caliber semi-auto pistol. It can shred targets up close if you land all your shots, but that's both the hitches: damage fall off is quick and optimal distance is melee distance. The Light of Revealing functions as a lite version of wallhax, illuminating targets hit with a column of bright light. This light can be seen over walls and structures, letting you and everyone else easily track the unfortunate target. The light in conjunction with melee vfx is also blinding, an unintended extra disable.
• Nightfall Shortbow - Deals decent damage and decent rate of fire, the shortbow is a solid choice as a range weapon. Where the Nightfall Shortbow falls short is it's Q, Darkness. The "lightless" sphere actually lets some light in, which means those inside can still see, if difficult. By contrast, it's almost impossible to make out what's inside from the outside. The difficulty of seeing from within is akin to spotting invisible players -- it can be done consistently, but takes practice.
• Grimoire of the Fallen Sky - Damage aside, the small area of effect and long travel time makes the grimoire easy to evade. The slowest rate of fire and highest mana cost doesn't help either. Where the grimoire can shine is in long distance sniping, as players tend to move in straighter lines, not conserve their stamina for evasion, and the grimoire has no tracer whatsoever to point opponents to your position. At all distances, significant lead is required to hit all but stationary targets.

Armor:

It's very hard to rank armor abilities because they're all equally useful, bar a couple.
S :
A : Invisibility, Dark Pact, Blink, Arcanic Power, Catfall, Icy Steps
B : Bulwark
C : Polymorph
D :

Explanations:

• Invisibility - Formerly C tier because every experienced player can see through the effect, the recent buff that enables leaping without breaking cloak can make you much harder to track than before. You can easily disengage after first breaking line of sight, but not that useful in the final circle when there's nowhere to hide behind before activating.
• Dark Pact - Hard to rank, as without the corruption, it's useless. However, with the ring nearby, Dark Pact can be activated to make that red haze your safe space. Very few people will chase you into the zone and it's also hard to see past the red wall, so you don't need to move far outside or look for cover from snipers. In the zone, you can safely chug a potion or repair armor, take a breather, and step back into the fight.
• Blink - It's a free leap. That in of itself can be helpful with traversal, but the real reason Blink is in A is because how much it disorients your opponent when used in melee. The purple gate can be easily seen from afar, doing more harm than good in a ranged fight, but fills the screen in melee -- unlike leap, your opponent will have no clue which direction you went. Be careful using this in the final circle as you can easily propel yourself into the corruption.
• Arcanic Power - Used defensively, it's kinda meh. It doesn't push back that far and has a delay to firing, unlike Crimson Blast, however it's omnidirectional, deals damage, and doesn't interrupt your current action. As such, these boots can be used to punctuate combos and gain that extra edge in melee trades to win.
• Catfall - Your footsteps are silent, which is useful in of itself, but you also gain fall damage immunity and radically higher jumps. The common use is to rain projectiles from the heavens, but catfall can also be combined with leap to easily escape. It will take 2 leaps to match the height you can jump with catfall, and you gained that height at 0 stamina cost, unlike your pursuer. The first jump is also just as disorienting as Blink for the opponent, making for a prime opportunity to leap away among the clouds.
• Icy Steps - These have almost no offensive potential and reveal your position with their icy trail, but more than make up for it with a powerful snare applied to anyone who so much as grazes your crystallized path. You can easily outrun pursuers, and you can also use the snare to still opponents for target practice.
• Bulwark - Mobile cover is quite useful, but the delay on activation is why this isn't in A tier. Creating a wall in front of you provides cover from sharpshooters, extra distance for melee attacks to leap around, and more breathing space for you to repair. Unfortunately, if you reactively place the wall, the attack -- lunge or projectile -- will get through, then the wall goes up. This is what holds Bulwark back, but it's still a solid choice if used tactically. The wall is also placed a bit in front of you, so you can block opponents from escaping, but this is admittedly a rare application.
• Polymorph - Contrary to popular belief, Polymorph isn't useless! But it's still the worst option you can have. Hiding yourself in plain sight is a good laugh, but it takes a bit of forethought and blessings from RNGesus to pull off. The transformation makes noise, so immediate pursuers will know to look for an object rather than a person, and RNG can have you stick out like a sore thumb. Polymorph is useful even in the final circle, but is useless in actual combat.

Nagash

Polymorph has won me so many game you just have to play smart ^^

Wololo

i'd like to point out the ones that are OP and see all others as equally strong and more situational;
Lifebringer is a must for facetanking 1 vs 1
Scepter because of auto aim
Invisibility since you can leap around with it after the recent changes and new map

ilisfet

Bonesmasher's Hemmorrhage can out damage Lifebringer's heal in a facetank, so I can't say it's best in a 1v1, but is definitely second in straight trading.

ilisfet

After playing longer, and trying to do well with the Greatsword of Haste, I've found more use for it -- bumping it up to C tier!

Alpha Soul

For my persona list.. I would swap lifebringer and archmage ... there's not a chance bonesmashers hemmorage outdamages lifebringers heal and its not even close. When face tanking like that you're not moving and the damage in anycase has been nerfed.

With lifebringer you can literally have 20 hp, and facetank any weapon (other than another lifebringer) and bring down a fully armored 100hp/100armor person. It's a solid weapon for the end of the match that you essentially have to either dodge or wait out the activate ability.

I would also put paladins might higher as active even protects against ranged.. its a solid 1 on 1 facetank wep that you need to wait its ability out for.

Personally I rank the weps as follows..

S : LifeBringer
A : Bonesmasher, Archmage Companion, Stillblade, Paladin's Might
B : Lightning Mace
C : Greatsword of Haste
D : Silencer