Across The Obelisk: Best Adventurers, Ranked (2024)

There are a total of 16 different playable characters in the massively underrated deckbuilder roguelike,Across the Obelisk. By default, players will have four of them unlocked and will need to steadily obtain the rest over the course of their many runs. And, players can unlock them in a completely different order from someone else playing the game, leading people to have different favorites or characters they've never even played as.

With that in mind, let's take a look at every playable Hero in Across the Obelisk, examine what Class they have, what their primary function is meant to be, and rank them all from worst to best compared to one another.

Updated November 1st, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: There are a ton of different playable 'Adventurers' in Dreamsite Games long-supported Deckbuilder, Across the Obelisk. Players can enjoy their team of 4 comprised of Warriors, Healers, Scouts, Mages, and even Paladins thanks to some of the DLC Expansions such as The Wolf Wars and The Sands of Ulminin. However, not all characters are made equal, despite how much the devs may have intended them to be. With that in mind, let's look at all the characters in this game, including the DLC-exclusive ones, and rank them against each other.

19 Grukli

A 'Furious' Warrior

Grukli is the least "tanky" of all the Warriors, functioning much more as a DPS than a Tank. His Innate Trait, Furious, helps him start his ramping Fury stacks faster, leading to some absurd damage a couple of turns in. That said, AtO is a game about fast combat, and all the other DPS tend to do their optimal damage faster than Grukli does. He's not a full DPS, not a full Tank, and is sort of in this weird middle spot that leaves him at the bottom of this list.

18 Thuls

High Burst, High Stealth, & Massive Poison Stacks

While Thuls' Innate Trait, Nightstalker, makes it incredibly easy for him to inflict some jaw-dropping damage on Turn 1 with something like Ambush or Fan of Knives, he's designed to be built around Stealth and Poison. And, while Stealth is used a lot by other characters, it's usually not for its intended "untargetable" purpose and is used directly before using an Attack for its damage buff. Still, Thuls can absolutely wreck opponents if used properly, but there's no build that Thuls "better" compared to the other Scouts.

17 Evelyn

Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None

Evelyn is in sort of a similar camp to Grukli where she's stuck between two roles. For Evelyn, she's caught between being a full-Support or a full-Mage, and more often than not she functions best as a Support, enabling a Healer like Reginald or Nezglekt with Energy/Inspire buffs so they can deal all the damage. Evelyn is meant to be a Mage that works with any Elemental Build, but because of that, she doesn't "exceed" at any of them.

16 Cornelius

Fire Damage & Burn Stacks Only Go So Far

Cornelius, the Mage with torches for shoulder pads, is a simple yet effective character. To put it bluntly, Cornelius likes fire and making things burn, and he's good at it. His Innate Trait, Ardent, is basically a free Inner Fire card every turn, and almost all of his other Traits enable Cornelius to stack Burn on his enemies to some pretty outrageous levels.

15 Gustav

Raw Versatility Personified (Or More Like Frogified)

Gustav seems like he would be in a similar situation to Evelyn or Grukli, being a Scout who works as both a Support and a DPS, but it actually works for him rather well. A lot of his Song Spells are fantastic

Outside of just his Support options, he has a ton of other damage cards to choose from, and his Innate Trait Cantor makes it so that the Stanza system manages itself. Of course, his DPS is a lot lower compared to the other Scouts on average, so he does have some pros and cons.

14 Zek

More Dark Charges = Faster Melting Enemies

Out of all the Mages, Zek is by far the most "high-risk high-reward" thanks to his Pestilent Innate Trait. The more Dark Charges Zek applies, whether it's through his Perks or his Items, the more at risk he is of self-destructing in the hands of a beginner. But, if utilized properly, Zek can absolutely melt through enemy encounters. His biggest downside, however, is that a lot of Act 3 and especially Act 4 is resistant to Dark damage, so he falls off hard late in a run.

13 Heiner

Just So Incredibly Tanky

This next ranking will likely surprise a lot of Across the Obelisk fans. Yes, sadly, Heiner isn't top-tier. When a player first uses Heiner, he'll come across as the most "tank"-like Warrior, and this Orisa-like Golem absolutely is. For default difficulty or even Madness 1 runs, he's also pretty great at keeping the whole team covered with Shields and Taunts.

But, Heiner's main flaw is his lack of Speed. At later parts of a run or at Madness +2 and up, enemies can do a ton of damage on the first turn, so Heiner really struggles in those situations.

12 Bree

Thorns On Thorns On Thorns

Next up is Bree, the Warrior that most people unlock last and the one that's most comparable to Heiner. Bree is designed around her Synergy with the Thorns buff, and she's a lot of fun to play because of this. But, once again, in Act 3, Act 4, or in higher Madness runs, a lot of enemies start purging or stealing the Thorns from her.

11 Laia

So Many Card Options

Finally, let's talk about one of the newer playable Adventurers added to Across the Obelisk, Laia. Laia is a Paladin of Basthet and is part of the Sands of Ulminin DLC. Both of the playable characters that are unlocked in this DLC have access to multiple Class Pools for their Decks, with Laia having access to both the Warrior and Healer Class Pools. And, to sum up her playstyle in as few words as possible, Laia is truly the model Paladin both in the tanking aspect as well as the healing aspect.

Her Innate Trait called Overflow makes her similar to Malukah in that, by attacking, Laia is constantly healing the characters to either of her sides. But on top of that, she also plays around with the new Zeal Keyword in some fun ways using Burn and Sanctify stacks. All in all, while not all that 'overpowered' Laia is just incredibly fun to play and a very reliable character even on the unluckiest of runs.

10 Ottis

Actual Master Of All Trades

Ottis is one of the earlier characters that people tend to unlock, and he's less of a "jack-of-all-trades" and more able to actually do it all.

He can be a full Support using his Shielder Trait, he can go full Healer, and he even works well as a Holy Damage Dealer.

9 Andrin

Boring Doesn't Mean Bad

Another one of the starting cast, Andrin is the default Scout of the game, and while he's a bit boring compared to someone like Gustav, Andrin is the second-best Scout for a reason. His Trailblazer Trait means he almost always goes first, his Serrated Weapons Level 3 Trait is amazing for building Sharp Stacks, and he can even function as a frontliner pretty well.

8 Wilbur

Truly An Engineered Ranking

Quite frankly, Wilbur is only this high because of how his Traits help the team. His Engineer Innate Trait gives Energize to another hero at the start of each Turn, and it's so incredibly helpful. But, even past that, Wilbur is the Lightning Mage of the cast, and he does it well. However, he requires a bit of mastery to learn how to best apply his Spark Stacks or what Books to use.

7 Malukah

A Healer Who Heals With Raw Damage

Malukah is another one of those characters that can play a variety of roles well. She works great as a Healer and even better as a DPS, but her best role is actually a mix of the two. Because Malukah's Voodoo Trait heals party members based on the number of Dark Stacks she applies to enemies, Malukah literally heals her team by attacking. So, as long as Malukah incorporates Spells that apply Dark in some way, there's really no way to "mess up" her build.

6 Nezglekt

He Can See All

Nezglekt, along with Wilbur, were the two characters added to the game right before it came out of Early Acess, and this Mindflayer-homage character is incredibly interesting.

Like Malukah, and even a bit like the Watcher in Slay the Spire, he heals the party passively while attacking, but he works based on Sight Stacks rather than Darkness, and this gives him a bit more diversity in the cards he uses or builds players can use.

5 Magnus

Captain's Howl + Dependability = Overpowered Warrior

Similar to how Andrin is a fantastic Scout because he's the default option, Magnus is much the same. This frontline Warrior was designed to be able to play both Offensively and Defensively, and he exceeds at both. But, the Captain's Howl that comes with his Initial Cards and his Well Trained Innate Trait are what propel him up this high.

4 Yogger

The More Health He Has, The Less Health Enemies Seem To Keep

Despite being a character added so far after the game's initial launch, Yogger is rather simple compared to some of the more 'complex' characters in Across the Obelisk. But, just because he's a bit more simple doesn't mean he's bad. In fact, it's actually rather surprising that the playable cast seems to beat Yogger so easily in Act 1 given how strong some of his Traits are such as Big Bad Wolf, Gluttony, and Pillage.

Pillage, in particular, has to be one of the most fun cards the developers have ever introduced to this game, as it allows the player to literally steal auras from their enemies and put them onto Yogger, leading to some absurd combinations. So yes, Yogger is absolutely a character worth buying the Wolf Wars DLC for, as he can really do any role, whether its DPS, Tank, or even Support.

3 Reginald

Sanctify Is Still So Overpowered

Out of all the Buffs in the game, from Sharp to Reinforce and even Thorns, Bless is the best. Put simply, Bless just increases the damage done (and heals received) by +1 per Stack. And, a lot of Reginald's kit is built around building Bless stacks. When utilized properly, Reginald does astronomical holy damage, applies a ton of Sanctify Stacks so that the party can heal themselves just from attacking, and is even able to directly heal if needed.

2 Sylvie

Sharp & Sight Is A Very Deadly Archer Combo

And finally, there's Sylvie, the long-lived Elven Archer. Not only does Sylvie start with her own pet, Harley, by default, but she also has a lot of innate synergy with Nezglekt. Keen Sight, Sylvie's Innate Trait, gives her more Piercing Damage based on the Sight stacks on the enemy. Combine that with a Nezglekt and her other Traits that make building Sharp stacks easy, and it's clear as day to see that Sylvie is just the best character in the game, hands down. The only thing she lacks in is Support, but that's not much of a downside.

1 Navalea

The True High-Risk, High-Reward Queen

Navalea is another new character introduced in the Sands of Ulminin DLC alongside Laia, but Navalea is just so much better than Laia is, despite being a bit of a less 'interesting' design visually. Navalea is a fallen paladin of Basthet, making her a Warrior/Fallen class with access to both Warrior and Mage cards. The fact that she has access to two entire Class Card pools may overwhelm some players with options, given that even one Class pool is pretty overwhelming.

But, if players can get past this sensation, they'll quickly discover that Navalea is pretty absurdly broken. Not only do her Innate Trait and Perks interact with the new Scourge keyword in some pretty incredible ways, but she also has this intended playstyle based around keeping her as close to death as possible for maximum damage output thanks to her Hatred Trait. A very fun character that's easy to pick up but incredibly difficult to master.