Arena of Kings, released on July 20, 2025 for the PC (on Steam), is a free player-vs-player (PVP)arena fighterwith an isometric top-down view of the battlefield. Up to six players can participate in matches, in a three versus three setup. Matches are short; there’s a give and take of damage until one side exploits a mistake. Then victory usually comes quickly.
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Players have a choiceof ten classes, each with their own list of spells. While all of these classes have their uses at certain times and when teamed up with the ideal classes, some are clearly better than others.
10Scholar
The Scholar is a difficult character to use properly. They can get cornered easily, and the only spell (Portal) that allows the Scholar teleport or flee imposes a -66% movement speed. This isn’t a good class to get cornered, as the Scholar dies quickly when surrounded. This class is also tied with the wizard for second-lowest health.
The Scholar is possibly the worst healer, and it doesn’t have many great attack spells. It does have access to a handful of spells that inflict serious status ailments on enemies, or highly beneficial buffs on the party. However, the cons usually outweigh the pros.
9Paladin
The Paladin is essentially a warrior that can heal and provide some buffs. The problem is there are better healers, and better warriors. In terms of the characters' damage-per-second, the Paladin is not that bad. However, it’s easy for opponents to stay away from a Paladin.
The Seal Spells provide powerful buffs on party members, but only one Seal may be active at a time. The Paladin is not as susceptible to crowd control spells as other classes, but is terrible at crowd control itself. This class can function as the party’s healer, but it’s not very effective at that task. Though its high armor rating helps keep it alive, the Paladin’s slow movement can hinder its role as a healer.
8Lich
Liches are powerful undead spellcasters. In the early days ofArena of Kingsthe Lich wasa bit overpowered, but after a few updates, this class has dropped in the rankings. Many of its spells were weakened in these updates.
The Lich can still be a valuable party member. It is a great class for dealing a ton of damage to a single target, but it’s not as useful for crowd control. The Lich also has trouble running from enemies when necessary, though it does at least have spells to punish opponents that get too close.
7Champion
The Champion is a warrior type class that works differently than most of the other classes. Instead of using Mana for spells, the Champion uses Rage. This Rage starts at only 15, but is restored via performing regular attacks. Speaking of regular attacks, the Champion’s is the most powerful in the game, dealing 705 physical damage.
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This class is an attack dog to be set upon an opposing spellcaster. The Crippling Slash spell causes respectable damage, and inflicts crippling movements penalties, for a short cooldown time.
6Ranger
The Ranger class began as one of the weakest, but after numerous updates it’s been boosted quite a bit. The Ranger’s regular attack actually does quite a bit of damage at 475; only the Champion and Wizard have a stronger regular attack.
A smart tactic is to have the Ranger set to auto attack while moving around the arena towards its target. This allows the Ranger to constantly damage enemies while waiting to use a spell. This class was ranked higher due to it having been given a boost to its damage (for some spells) in the most recent update — that, and this is the least technical character to play.
5Elder
The Elder is widely considered the best all-around healer among the classes. Eight of the Elder’s fifteen available spells are healing spells of some kind. This leaves the Elder a little light in the attack department, but the class isn’t meant to be played that way. With so many healing and buff spells, the Elder is perfect for keeping all party members alive during a match.
This class is surprisingly capable of performing crowd control duty as well, with Toxic Spore particularly suited for crowd control. The animal forms, especially the bear form, are a bane to opponents. Having an Elder in the partyincreases that party’s chances of victoryimmensely.
4Wizard
The Wizard class is all about offense. This class can deal enough damage to kill enemies quickly, and has excellent crowd control capabilities. Getting cornered is also not as much of a problem as it is with classes like the Scholar or Paladin, thanks to the Wizard’s Teleport spell; this instantly moves the Wizard to where the mouse cursor is located.
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There has been an effort byArena of Kings' developers to nerf the Wizard. It seems like every update increases cooldown times and reduces the damage of the Wizard’s spells a little. Even with these attempts to weaken the Wizard, though, it’s still one of the best classes inArena of Kings.
3Assassin
The Assassin is a top-tier class inArena of Kings; one capable of performing various roles for the party. Many other classes have builds that are maximized for a specific purpose. After playing for a while, it’s easy to predict what a character is going to do based on their class. This isn’t as true with the Assassin, who has so many viable builds that it’s a bit of a wildcard.
This is arguably the best class for finishing off a wounded opponent. This is also not a class that’s going to be hunted down or cornered, thanks to the numerous spells that allow the Assassin to either teleport or turn invisible.
2Mystic
The Mystic isn’t a class that is going to kill a lot of opponents. What it will do, though, is help the other classes fights better. The Mystic is also a great healer as well — about on par with the Elder. Unlike the Elder class, though, the Mystic has a selection ofvery damaging attack spellsfrom which to choose.
The support spells available to a Mystic really give a party the best chance at victory. This class is also great for out-lasting opponents, as many of its spells restore Mana. Lastly, the Mystic has a lot of interrupts. Thus, it’s not only useful for adding buffs to party members, but it can also prevent opponents from casting their spells.
1Nihilist
The Nihilist is currently the best class inArena of Kings. Even players who don’t think it’s the best would probably agree it’s in the top three. This class is similar to the Assassin, in that its strength is in its versatility. The Nihilist can be a DPS powerhouse, or it can be the party’s healer if needed.
When focusing on a single target, the Nihilist’s spells allow it to quickly kill a wounded opponent. The biggest complaint about this class is its almost complete lack of crowd control capabilities. The Blink spell is perfect for getting out of a jam, and also works well at killing an opponent at death’s door.
