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Nordic Ashes main screen with three survivors holding weapons
Image via Noxfall Studios

Best Characters in Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok, Ranked

Which character should be maining in Nordic Ashes? Here's our tier list!

There are many different characters to choose from in Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok. Each one has various abilities to survive the waves: Thyra’s bow, Amaranth’s plants, and Kaos’ fire. But who is the best? Here’s our tier list of all the best survivors, ranked!

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Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok Best Survivors Tier List

Determining the best Survivors of Nordic Ashes is entirely based on each person’s individual experience. Plus, what weapons you choose to use for them, what relics you pick up, and what skills you level up determine how powerful they are. You may have a different experience than us, but you won’t know until you try. Here are the survivors we found to be the best, ranked from the best in S-Tier to the not-so-great in B-Tier.

TierCharacters
S-TierAlruna, Kaos, Amaranth, Hafgrim
A-TierBlud, Hansi, Talkor, Thyra
B-TierHelga, M.I.S.S.I.N.G, Axeldor
Nordic Ashes's character selection menu
Image via Noxfall Studios

S-Tier Survivors, Ranked

The S-Tier Survivors are the very best of the best. They have the best stats and weapon choices out of all the other survivors and, once unlocked, are the characters you will want to be most of the time.

Alruna

Alruna is one of the newer survivors and quickly makes it to the top of the list for me. Her relics are powerful, placing Splintered Bones all around, dropping Mandrakes to scare enemies away, and shooting out ice spikes. However, she can also summon minions who fight for her, which is why she’s so powerful. The more rounds you progress to, the stronger she gets, increasing duration, speed, and damage. Plus, gaining a +1 summon that allows her to have more minions out at one time. She’s basically untouchable.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Splintered Bones
    • Minions – Warrior, Wizard, and Warlock

Kaos

Kaos is the newest addition to the list of survivors in Nordic Ashes, and he does not disappoint. He builds his own constellation and utilizes many random weapons through upgrade cards. One of his best abilities, though, is Hafgrim’s Inferno Codex, which sends out balls of fire that twirl around him at crazy speeds. They are some of the fastest projectiles that wipe out any enemies that get within range of him. With his ability to pick up a bunch of other abilities from other characters, he can mash all the best relics together to become the ultimate character.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Build constellation with upgrade cards
    • Inferno Codex

Amaranth

Amaranth may be an unpopular opinion for an S-Tier character. However, once you unlock her by gaining Green Hearts, I found her to be among the best due to her plant minions. Much like Alruna, her summoned minions fight for her, and as she gains more summoned creatures, she’ll have a whole army at her disposal. Each wields a different useful ability, like poison, ice, or the speedy peashooter. Plus, she focuses on summoning even more than Alruna, gaining +25 damage for her summoned creatures. They’re adorable and deadly.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Ivy
    • Skog

Hafgrim

There’s no doubt that Hafgrim deserves to be in the S-Tier. While he may not be as powerful as Alruna or have the adaptability of Kaos, he has some very useful relics. His Inferno Codex and Thunder Codex become some of the fastest and most damaging attacks the more you level them up. They strike in less than a second, keep enemies at bay, and rack up your eliminations without thinking. Mix in his Staff, and he can hit enemies from afar as well. Plus, he has a 100% cooldown reduction, which is how he manages to be so fast in the first place.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Codex – Thunder, Inferno, Glacier
    • Fjölkyngi Staff

A-Tier Survivors, Ranked

The A-Tier survivors are just a step down from the S-Tier. Although they have powerful abilities, it takes some more strategy and building to get them to a reliable level. If you know how to handle them, they’re definitely worth trying.

Blud

Blud is a vampire, and with that unique gift, he can absorb enemies’ vital energy and health to empower himself. However, along with this gift of power also comes a curse. He will slowly lose health unless you constantly feed on the enemies around you. It’s important to have speed with Blud, absorbing energy as much as possible. If done correctly, you can use Blud’s draining HP to your advantage, with his Ultimate sending out a wave that is even more powerful depending on how low Blud’s health is. He could be very powerful, but it’s all about balance.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Bat Summon
    • Moon Fang

Hansi

Hansi is a speedy rogue who harnesses shadows to create defense parameters. He’s all about critical hits, shooting out daggers and bolts, and using shadows to damage his enemies. However, since he’s mostly a damage-based survivor, his build must be very direct and focused for his power to be the most beneficial. You’ll want to focus on growing his critical damage and speed as much as possible and he’ll be too fast for any enemy to catch him.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Crimson Daggers
    • Deep Crystal

Talkor

For Talkor, money is quite literally power. The more money he has, the more damage he can do. Plus, he can turn gold into mighty explosions, taking out multiple enemies at once. This makes him an entertaining character to play and a more challenging one. You’ll need to constantly be on the prowl for gold around the map and ensure you’re placing points into the correct constellations so you can maximize his effectiveness. If you do, you’ll not only be rich but a ticking time bomb of destruction.

  • Best Abilities:
    • THE Coin
    • Gold Bomb

Thyra

Thyra may be one of the early survivors you unlock in Nordic Ashes, but she still makes the A-Tier list for him due to her insane bow skills. Just like Talkor and Hansi, it’s all about the right build of skills, but she’s proven to be one of the most broken characters with her unlimited and speedy arrows and knives. All her stats focus on increasing the amount and speed of her projectiles, making them even speedier than Hansi’s, which is why she just barely makes the higher tier.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Shooting Daggers
    • Uncanny Bow

B-Tier Survivors, Ranked

The B-Tier survivors are the least powerful of the characters. While they could prove helpful in some lower levels, even after building them, they don’t amount to the other survivors’ potential. They are either too basic or too complicated to build to a reliable level.

Helga

Helga is one of Nordic Ashes‘ most complex and unpredictable characters with her Tarot Cards and Book of Stars. While her abilities can be powerful, the randomness and chance involved in obtaining them through her cards and Zodiac Runes make her confusing and too unpredictable for such a chaotic space. It takes time to understand how to build her properly. Until then, you’ll rely solely on her owls to keep you safe.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Eir
    • Cards

M.I.S.S.I.N.G

Placing M.I.S.S.I.N.G in the bottom tier may be another unpopular choice, but for me, this is where he belongs. He is one of the most sought-after characters in the game because you’ll need to complete a special objective to unlock him. However, once you do, you might be disappointed like I was. He is capable of receiving random constellations and relics. He gets no other stats or abilities besides other character’s relics at random. Unlike Kaos, you cannot pick and choose the ones you want, so you may be stuck with something that isn’t even worth having, so he ends up toward the bottom for me.

Axeldor

Lastly, we have Axeldor. He is the very first character you’ll have available to you in Nordic Ashes, which should tell you a lot about just how powerful he is. He has some decent build options, but they are all basic attacks and defenses that don’t really compare to the characters you unlock as you progress. He’s great for learning the ropes of the game, but he easily gets outweighed.

  • Best Abilities:
    • Iron Hammer
    • Brann

This concludes our tier list of the best characters in Nordic Ashes. Try each character out for yourself to see how they work for you. Depending on how you choose to build them and what relics you encounter during your waves, you may have a different experience than I did. It’s worth trying all characters at least once to determine the best fit for you.

Want more tips and tricks like this? Check out GameSkinny’s Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok hub!


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Author
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Abby Smith
Abby Smith is a super nerd and video game fanatic who grew up playing games on a variety of platforms. Since graduating, she has worked in the online journalism field for over three years. She likes to spend her free time binge-watching Netflix, reading all genres of novels, and playing all the best new video games. She is currently a full-time Staff Writer for GameSkinny, and as an alumni from Full Sail University, also enjoys dabbling in creative writing such as short stories, scripts, and comics on the side.