Square Enix’ Dragon Quest Tact certainly holds a lot to offer, not just to hardcore fans of the popular RPG franchise but also strategy RPG enthusiasts in general as well. Dragon Quest Tact provides an overall simplistic gameplay and controls, making the experience enjoyable for total newbies to the genre. However, the various traits and features that make each monster unique, coupled with the near-infinite possibilities of team composition, make an array of complex yet exciting activities centered on building the ultimate team.
If you have yet to start on this epic turn-based strategy adventure, or have just dived into it yearning for a speedy progression, we recommend that you read our Dragon Quest Tact beginner’s guide. Our beginner’s guide contains numerous tips and strategies to guide you in the early hours of your journey. It includes steps as well on how you can reroll to start off with the best possible monsters off the gacha.
In this Dragon Quest Tact guide, we will be ranking each of the currently available monsters in the game. Like all other tier lists, it is expected that this one is highly subjective. There are numerous tier lists out there and while some of the monsters in Dragon Quest Tact may unanimously be considered as top tier, it is only natural for some to be considered differently on each tier list.
As we mentioned in our Dragon Quest Tact beginner’s guide, the monsters you recruit have different rarity grades, and while these grades span from F all the way to A and finally S, We will only consider those belonging to the top 2 rarities. Given the distinct difficulty of securing higher rarity monsters off the gacha, it is only natural for you to settle using lower grade monsters early in your adventure. Keep in mind, though, that you should only upgrade those units to a limit, and switch to better ones as soon as they become available.
Remember, that the monsters listed under each tier are considered to be of equal value with the rest. Monsters in each tier are listed in alphabetical order and do not follow a better to worse consideration.
Dragon Quest Tact S Grade Monsters
These are the top of the line monsters that you should either reroll for at the start of your adventure or push to secure from their limited banners whenever you can. Given that higher rarity monsters typically exhibit better stats than their lower rarity counterparts, it can be expected that the top tier will be populated entirely by rarity grade S monsters. While you should not necessarily focus upgrade investments on just any rarity grade S, the ones under the S tier are certainly worth every bit of resource.
Dragonlord (Rarity: S, Family: ???, Role: Magic)
Dragonlord sports the highest max wisdom value in the entire roster of monsters in Dragon Quest Tact. His attacks are mainly Frizz-type ranged spells and his leadership ability raises Frizz-type spell potency by 20%, probably not that useful unless you have an entire Frizz-type spell crew.
He has 2 single target attacks and his third skill, Hellfire Blast, does Frizz-type spell damage to 4 random enemies in an AoE. His awakening passive lets him cut down costs of his Frizz-type attacks by 10% and raises their potency as well.
Dragonlord’s True Form (Rarity: S, Family: ???, Role: Attack)
Dragonlord’s True Form is built for the role of an attacker and has superb attack values as well as a handy leadership ability, which lowers the defense of all enemies by 20%. With a leadership ability that is not restrictive and can provide a mass debuff to the benefit of the entire team, this version of Dragonlord can lead a team with varied family and role types.
Dragonlord’s True Form sports a single target physical attack as well as an AoE physical attack. He also has a Frizz-type dragon breath that deals high damage to a fan-shaped AoE. His first awakening passive is also outstanding, as it raises attack for 3 full turns.
Great Troll (Rarity: S, Family: Demon, Role: Defense)
Great Troll may not be an S tier monster for most people, but we consider him one as he is a tank that lowers the attack stats of all enemies on the field for his leadership ability. This is further amplified once his first awakening passive is unlocked, as it increases defense for the initial 3 turns of combat.
Great Troll has a single target Zam-type attack as well a 2 AoE physical attacks. Range and damage outputs are not his strong points, but you can count on him to be a wall at the forefront of your team’s formation.
Killing Machine (Rarity: S, Family: Material, Role: Attack)
Much like a physical counterpart of Dragonlord in terms of stats, Killing Machine is the top monster in terms of attack values. His leadership skills may not mean much unless you have a full team of Crack-type damage-dealers, but he is certainly useful in killing off enemies.
Killing Machine sports 2 Crack-type single target physical attacks as well as a strong physical AoE damage. As he is a short-ranged combatant, his first awakening passive will be quite useful as it increases his movement range from 2 to 3.
Squidzilla (Rarity: S, Family: Nature, Role: Attack)
Squidzilla has fairly decent stats and powerful short-ranged physical attacks but what raises his value is his leadership ability that can boost the potency of physical attacks by 10%. This leadership ability can have an effect on the entire team if comprised entirely of physical damage-dealers.
Squidzilla has 2 single target physical attacks, one of which deals Bang-type damage. His first skill, however, does damage to 4 random enemies in a fan-shaped area of effect. His awakening passive can greatly boost his attack for 2 turns as well.
Wight King (Rarity: S, Family: Undead, Role: Magic)
Along with Killing Machine, Wight King stands as one of the most highly-coveted monsters to pull off of the initial rerolls. He has high wisdom stats, powerful ranged spells, and most of all, has a leadership skill that boosts spell attacks by 10%. A definite leader for a spellcaster team.
Wight King has 2 AoE Woosh-type attacks as well as a Zam-type single target spell. Once his first awakening passive has been unlocked, Wight King will randomly recover 10% of his MP with every action.
Dragon Quest Tact A Grade Monsters
As Dragon Quest Tact is a team-based game and requires cohesion and synchronicity from among each team member, simply lumping together monsters from the S tier will not work. In this sense, the monsters in the A tier are still very much worth every bit of investment and should be the first pool of consideration for a team headed by monsters in the above tier.
As some of the S tier monsters are not all wanted for their leadership abilities, you can find that some A-listers can take on the leader role for some effective team builds.
Archdemon (Rarity: S, Family: Demon, Role: Magic)
Archdemon may lag behind other magic users as far as wisdom is concerned, but he certainly takes the cake for having the most MP. He is also a decent stand in to lead a team of magic users as his leadership skills lowers the cost of spells by 10%.
Archdemon has 2 Bang-type spell attacks that deal damage to enemies in a cross pattern AoE. His second skill, Glacier, does physical Crack-type damage to enemies within its radius. Like Wight King, Archdemon can also restore 10% of his MP randomly every action once his first awakening passive is unlocked.
Emperor Slime (Rarity: S, Family: Slime, Role: Support)
Good support sure is difficult to find and Emperor Slime is currently the only support unit within the S rarity group. He has the second highest defense in the roster and his leadership skill can boost the defense of all slimes by 30%.
Kabuff raises the defense of allies in an AoE for 3 turns. Cheer can raise both attack and defense of an ally for 3 turns. Finally, Multiheal recovers a huge amount of lost HP to allies within its area of effect.
Great Dragon (Rarity: S, Family: Dragon, Role: Attack)
With his high agility stat and decent attack values, Great Dragon can be an excellent member of a full dragon squad. His leadership may be limited as it raises dragon breath potency by 20% as not even all dragons have dragon breath skills but it can be a self-serving buff primarily to strengthen his own skills.
All of Great Dragon’s attacks are Crack-types with the first and third skills being dragon breath attacks that damage enemies in a straight line AoE. After his first awakening passive is unlocked, Great Dragon further boosts the potency of his Crack-type attacks, and lowers its MP cost by 10%.
Hell Gladiator (Rarity: S, Family: Undead, Role: Debuff)
With high HP and overall decent stats, Hell Gladiator can be a decent debuffer that can stay in battle almost as much as a tank can. His leadership skill may not be much use for the team unless each one can afflict poison to the enemy as it can reduce poison resistance by 50%, but his value lies in his awakening passive, which regenerates 10% his HP randomly each turn.
His first skill, Mince, attacks an enemy 3 times with a low probability of reducing the target’s defense for 3 turns. Skill 2 is a Woosh-type physical attack and skill 3 does physical damage to an enemy 4 times, with a chance to inflict poison.
Hybird (Rarity: S, Family: Nature, Role: Attack)
Hybird has the highest agility stat across all the monsters in Dragon Quest Tact. Being able to move 4 squares is a big plus as well. His leadership ability, which reduces all enemies’ resistance from Frizz-type attacks by 25% is decent as well.
All his attacks are breath skills and deal damage to enemies in a straight line with 2 skills having Frizz-type elements and another one with Sizz-type element. Unlocking his awakening passive lowers MP cost of breath attacks by 10% and increases their potency as well.
King She-Slime (Rarity: S, Family: Slime, Role: Debuff)
Slimes are probably one of the easiest families to work around with and we consider King She-Slime as one of the top in the slime group. Her leadership ability can extend its benefits to all martial attack-users and raises martial potency by 10%.
King She-Slime has 2 atatcks that deal martial damage to enemies and knock them back as well. She also has a Sizz-type AoE spell.
Prism Peacock (Rarity: S, Family: Beast, Role: Magic)
Prism Peacock has high agility and decent stats as well. His leadership skill boosts Frizz-type attack potency by 10%.
Frizzle is a ranged Frizz-type single target spell. Blessed Breath deals moderate Zap-type damage to enemies in a straight line. Cremate is a powerful Frizz-type AoE spell. Prism Peacock can also replenish 10% of his MP with each action once his awakening passive becomes available.
Royal Reptile (Rarity: S, Family: Dragon, Role: Attack)
As a dragon with attack values only second to Killing Machine, Royal Reptile works best among a full team of dragons. His leadership ability grants all dragons an extra 30% boost to defense and while most may prefer dragons having a boost on offense, playing defensively is important in some battles.
Royal Reptile does physical attacks, with 2 skills inflicting Zap-type damage, and 1 that deals Bang-type damage. All attacks target only 1 enemy and are close range. Unlocking his first awakening passive gives Royal Reptile an increase in movement distance.
Dragon Quest Tact B Grade Monsters
With only 13 monsters manning the top two tiers, it is still viable to consider the monsters under this tier to complete your dream team. Naturally, it could take time for you to even piece the entire roster together and may decide every once in a while to shift rosters. These monsters may serve as the last considerations to complete your top team but are still very valuable and still worth investing into.
Bone Baron (Rarity: A, Family: Undead, Role: Magic)
Bone Baron can be considered as on equal grounds with rarity grade S monsters that did not make it to the above tiers. He may lag behind other magic users within his rarity group but his attack range in tandem with his move range ups his value. His leadership is far from likable but he should be a decent member of any full magic team.
His first 2 skills are Zam-type spells that target 1 enemy while his third skill is an AoE Woosh-type attack. His first awakening passive boosts the potency of his Zam-type spells by 10%.
Green Dragon (Rarity: A, Family: Dragon, Role: Attack)
Green Dragon is a decent member to complete a full team of dragons. He has good HP and attack values for a rarity grade A monster and his leader skill raises dragon breath potency by 10% as well.
Each of his skills can damage multiple enemies with the latter 2 being Frizz-type breath skills. His awakening passive lowers the MP cost of Frizz-type breath attacks.
Handsome Crab (Rarity: A, Family: Nature, Role: Attack)
Handsome Crab has decent attack stats and works great against slimes. His leadership ability that boosts physical potency by 5% is not bad as well.
All of Handsome Crab’s attacks are close range and target only a single enemy. His first skill does Woosh-type damage while his third skill does zap type damage. His second skill, Slime Dunk, deals double damage against slimes. Unlocking his awakening passive raises his movement range by 1.
Hellion (Rarity: A, Family: Beast, Role: Attack)
A full squad of beasts does not sound that bad and in the absence of Night Clubber, Hellion can be a decent stand in for a leader. He has high attack and agility values especially compared to monsters within the same rarity grade and movement range of 4 can be a huge advantage as well. His leader skill increases beast physical potency by 10%.
His first 2 skills deal Frizz-type physical damage to a single target while his third skill does physical damage and can lower the defense of his target at random. Unlocking his awakening passive further increases his Frizz-type potency by 10%.
Lethal Armour (Rarity: A, Family: Material, Role: Attack)
If you are going for a full team of Material type monsters, then Lethal Armour may be a suitable leader. He has high attack stats and decent HP as well. Lethal Armour’s leader skill provides a 10% boost to physical potency of monsters belonging to the material family.
His first skill does physical damage and can also lower the attack of his target for 3 turns. His other attacks are Crack-type and Sizz-type, also inflicting damage on a single target. His awakening passive will also increase his movement range by 1 once it is unlocked.
Metal Dragon (Rarity: S, Family: Material, Role: Attack)
Although his stats are above those of monsters belonging to a lower rarity grade, we simply cannot consider Metal Dragon to be at par with the other rarity grade S monsters. He has higher HP and defense than most attackers but far from the best when it comes to his attack values. His leader skill increases the potency of Woosh-type attacks by 10%, making him an unlikely candidate for a leader as well.
Both of Metal Dragon’s first and third skills are Woosh-type AoE martial attacks. His second skill is a single target physical attack. His awakening passive enables him to lower the cost of martial attacks by 10% and boost their potency as well.
Moosifer (Rarity: A, Family: Demon, Role: Magic)
A magic user with fairly decent wisdom and overall stats, Moosifer can lower the enemies’ resistance against Bang-type skills by 15% with his leader skill.
All of Mososifer’s skills can damage multiple enemies within its area of effect. The first 2 skills are Bang-types while the last one is Crack-type. He has decent range and his awakening passive lowers the cost of his Bang-type spells by 10%.
Night Clubber (Rarity: S, Family: Beast, Role: Defense)
Potentially the best choice of leader for a full beast squad, Night Clubber has a leader ability that raises beast physical potency by 20%. He currently holds the top spot for defense stat values and has decent stats as well.
All of Night Clubber’s attacks are physical damage not attributable to any element types. The first 2 skills are single target attacks and the third one can hit multiple enemies in a fan-shaped AoE. His awakening passive boosts his critical hit rate by 5%.
Silvapithecus (Rarity: A, Family: Demon, Role: Magic)
Silvapithecus can be very squishy even by mage standards but can have a tremendous boost to his wisdom after unlocking his awakening passive. His leader skill increases Zap-type potency by 5%.
Both primary and secondary skills deal Zap-type damage to a single target at a range of 3. His third skill Deals Bang-type damage in a cross-shaped area of effect. Unlocking his awakening passive has a small chance of granting him a boost to wisdom for 4 turns.
Slimeshroom (Rarity: A, Family: Slime, Role: Debuff)
Slimeshroom is a debuffer with high agility and decent HP. As slimes can be an easy team to build around in, Slimeshroom can be a potential candidate if you are going for it. His leader skill boosts the defense of slimes by 15%, which is half of what Emperor Slime provides.
His second skill, which deals Zam-type spell damage to an enemy is ignorable but his first and third skills are valuable. Snooze can put an enemy to sleep and Kazap is an AoE spell that can reduce the defense of his targets. His awakening passive increases the potency of his Zam-type skill by 10%.
Striking Sabrecat (Rarity: A, Family: Beast, Role: Attack)
Striking Sabrecat has decent overall stats and has a movement range of 4. His leader skill can increase the team’s martial potency by 5%.
All of Striking Sabrecat’s skills deal AoE damage. His first 2 skills are Frizz-type while his third skill is a Zam-type martial skill. His awakening passive lowers the MP cost of his Frizz-type attacks.
Wyrtoise (Rarity: A, Family: Dragon, Role: Defense)
With a high defense and HP stat, Wyrtoise can be a suitable defender or tank as well. Like Striking Sabrecat, his leader skill also boosts martial potency of the team by 5%.
His first skill deals physical damage to a single target. His second skill does Zam-type AoE damage to enemies. His third skill, Thin Air, also does AoE damage but is a Woosh-type skill. Unlocking his first awakening passive increases his movement ranger by 1.
Dragon Quest Tact C Grade Monsters
While the monsters in this tier are still second from the top as far as rarity grades are concerned, these are second to the bottom of our tier list, considering that monsters belonging to rarity grades B, C, D, and E all comprise the unwritten tier below this one. They have an edge over the lower rarity grade monsters in terms of stats and having leader skills but should be your least priority as far as investing in team members are concerned.
Axesaurus (Rarity: A, Family: Dragon, Role: Attack)
Cosmic Chimaera (Rarity: A, Family: Nature, Role: Magic)
Dark Skeleton (Rarity: A, Family: Undead, Role: Attack)
Devilmoth (Rarity: A, Family: Nature, Role: Magic)
Dragon Zombie (Rarity: A, Family: Undead, Role: Attack)
Gigantes (Rarity: A, Family: Demon, Role: Defense)
King Slime (Rarity: A, Family: Slime, Role: Attack)
Living Statue (Rarity: A, Family: Material, Role: Defense)
Slimecicle (Rarity: A, Family: Slime, Role: Magic)
There are certainly more monsters in the Japanese version of Dragon Quest Tact that have yet to join the starting roster of monsters in the global version. As more and more monsters join in, the tier list will definitely become different considering that there are more powerful units to come following future updates. Likewise, further attempts to balance out monsters can also result in some of them getting amped up or nerfed down.
Beyond that, there are also ability scrolls and gears that can be equipped on each monster. How effective each monster and each team roster can grow is partly dependent on both these features. Be sure to consider both extra abilities and gears to your builds especially in relation to their role within your team.
In any case, this completes our Dragon Quest Tact tier list. We hope that while each player will have differing opinions on the comparative strengths and limitations of each monster, our tier list has served as a basis for beginners to consider which units to invest their hard-earned resources in. Did we consider your favorite monsters on the tier you feel they should belong to? We respect and value your opinions and welcome you to share your thoughts about our tier list in the comment area!