Blue Protocol Star Resonance class tier list: All specs ranked

This Blue Protocol Star Resonance tier list will attempt to rank all 16 class specs you can play (two each from eight base classes) based on their average demand in a Chaotic Realm party. There's a handful of caveats we have to get out of the way first. The most important among them is the fact that you can do pinnacle content with any class and spec, and in many cases, whether your party comp is doing the mechanics correctly matters more for success.

As for leveling, each class/spec can blaze through the campaign with few difficulty walls, if any. In other words, the right criteria for a Blue Protocol Star Resonance tier list should be how powerful a class/spec is in endgame rather than leveling ease. How easily they can achieve the best rotation (their skill complexity/ceiling) is also another factor.

Finally, another big disclaimer is that any Blue Protcol Star Resonance class/spec tier list will be somewhat subjective.

Some players will prefer the skill expression possible with Stormblade, where others will like the comfy simplicity of playing Marksman specs. Ultimately, we choose to rank these easier-to-play specs as better for the purposes of our ranking, but personal preference will often decide the best class/spec for you.

Blue Protcol Star Resonance tier list: All class specs ranked

All classes can do DPS until you get into the actual endgame stuff (Image via A Plus)

For this tier list, we are going to arrange the 16 specs in four ranks - S, A, B, C. Note that D-tier has not been included with the current version of the game, as no spec stands out as particularly that useless. While the top-end of the meta may be more pronounced with obvious winners, to my experience there's no outright bad class in the game yet.

That being said, specs in the later tiers are going to have to work harder to reach a level of endgame performance that earlier tiers can reach with ease. Here's the tier list with Blue Protocol Star Resonance global release version (0.1.28):

Tier	DPS Specs/Class	Healer Specs/Class	Tanks Specs/Class
S	Wildpack Marksman	Dissonance Beat Performer, Lifebind Oracle	Block Heavy Guardian,Shield-spec Shield Knight
A	Iaido Stormblade, Moonstrike Stormblade, Icicle Frost Mage	Concerto Beat Performer	Recovery Shield Knight
B	Vanguard Wind Knight, Skyward Wind Knight, Frostbeam Frost Mage		Earthfort Heavy Guardian
C	Falconry Marksman	Smite Oracle

Note: In the English localization, there have been multiple names for the same specs throughout various versions. We have opted for the latest game client for the class/spec terminology in this Blue Protocol tier list, but we have also included the legacy names from the beta when discussing the specs below.

Best DPS Specs in Blue Protocol Star Resonance

In general, this MMO is far kinder on ranged classes than melee, because the boss mechanics are much trickier to play around from melee range. So looking at that, there's no wonder that Wildpack Marksman is the best and most beginner-friendly DPS spec to pick in Blue Protocol Star Resonance.

S-tier DPS Specs

Wildpack (Beastmaster) Marksman doesn't have to bother with crit scaling on their gear, and not even on pressing too many buttons to reach their DPS ceiling. Once you unlock the wolf, it does most of the DPS for you while you sometimes do your burst rotation, all at a safe distance from your target.

A-tier DPS Specs

Iaido Stormblade can technically be the best burst DPS class in the game, outscaling the Marksman (touted as the so-called best DPS spec on this Blue Protocol tier list). However, the reason it's down a tier is because it's quite hard to pull off the rotation perfectly, plus time it right between boss mechanics and team buff uptime.
Moonstrike Stormblade is also on the same boat, whereas the emphasis for this spec is sustained DPS output over time rather than being burst-heavy. You can pump out the numbers, but the skill/rotation complexity is equally high (although you're punished less for mistiming your windows).
Icicle (Frost Lance) Frostmage has higher scaling potential in the endgame between the two specs. This one particularly excels at both single-target and group DPS (plus some okay cc), and had it not been for Wildpack Marsman's autobattling shenanigans, Icicle would have been on top of this Blue Protocol tier list too.

B-tier DPS Specs

Vanguard (Overdrive) Wind Knight can put out solid DPS, but it's probably the most complex melee class overall to master. And you do need to master it, as you're going to only see the good numbers pop up once you pull off the rotations correctly. Unfortunately, Wind Knight also feels the sting of boss mechanics the most. If you love the style, go for it, but expect a harder time than those higher-up in this Blue Protocol tier list.
Skyward (Aerial) Wind Knight is arguably the best class to look at in terms of creative skill animation and style points, and at some point in the beta, it used to be the best mobber due to very good AoE. However, there are better option(s) now in the Global Release (the Frost Mage), plus it's still Wind Knight, so you get the punishment of being a melee andy in a range-ruled world.
Frostbeam (Ray) Frost Mage is the stand-and-deliver type of DPS mage if that's the archetype you want to play into. From that, you may also have guessed the problem: you need to also tank hits from bosses when doing the standing and delivering day-job. In Raids and Chaotic Realms, this means you'll need to be very picky with when and where you can let loose your damage rotation, which boils down to more restricted DPS overall.

C-tier DPS Specs

Falconry Marksman has one problem: the other spec is leagues ahead. This one still does pretty good damage as long as you're not trying to do pinnacle-bossing without the most juice Crit gear, but anything you can do with this spec, the Wildpack (Beastmaster) just does better. Perhaps it will get some buffs in the future, but as things stand, this spec is the least-favored in most Blue Protocol tier lists; this one being no exception.

Best Healing Specs in Blue Protocol Star Resonance

While you won't be doing much healer-type legwork throughout most of the game, endgame dungeon delves in Blue Protocol Star Resonance will have big demand for healers. It's not uncommon for a party to go with multiple healers, because in this game, the healing specs can also pepper some DPS and utility like damage buffs.

Lifebind Verdant Oracle is the best pure healer, and Dissonance Beat Performer is considered a potentially better option if you want to be a bit more flexible with your party role.

S-tier Healer Specs

Lifebind (Healing) Oracle is the most obvious spec that screams "yes, I am the resident healer in this MMO". To its credit, it's also the best at that task (not that there's too much competition). Unlike Beat Performer, you don't need to care about being the danger zone for boss mechanics, so you can focus fully on doing the healer's lot.
Dissonance Beat Performer can also considered the best support if you don't need a pure healer. The schtick here is you can also put out good DPS if you're geared up, and on top of some healing (nowhere near Lifebind's level though) you can put out partywide damage buffs. So which healer is the best depends on the party comp, putting both the popular specs as potentially S-tier picks in a Blue Protocol tier list.

A-tier Healer Specs

Concerto Beat Performer is, again, potentially better than Dissonance if you need to focus on buffs rather than heals. In other words, it will become much more of an S-tier contender once large-scale PvE content i.e. Dragon Raids go live.

C-tier Healer Specs

Smite (Thorn Lash) Oracle is a ranged version of what Dissonance Beat Performer tries to do. Except, you don't nearly do as much damage, and since your healing scales based on that, you also suffer as a healer.

Best Tank Specs in Blue Protocol Star Resonance

Tanks in Blue Protocol Star Resonance can either try to spec into doing some damage alongside tanking, or just be straightforward durable meat shields. This makes it tricky for a general Blue Protocol tier list to rank the Tank specs, because which one you need depends on overall party comp.

Simply put, the DPS-oriented Tanks will pair up with buffing healers (Dissonance/Concerto Beat Performer), whereas pure tanks soak up damage with sustained heal from a Lifebind, and leave the damage job for the DPS carry.

While it's flexible like this at the moment, once Dragon Raids kick in, you'll want pure tanks, so we give preference to pure tanks for the ranking. From that standpoint, Block Heavy Guardian is the best tank spec.

S-tier Tank Specs

Block Heavy Guardian is the most clear-cut case of a self-describing name: you get high defense stats, reliable damage-reduction, and a taunt (although all tank specs have some form of taunt, which complicates things for a Blue Protocol tier list). You don't deal much damage in endgame with the Block Heavy Guardian, but you also have innate enemy grouping.
Shield (Radiant Guard) Shield Knight can also be the best tank in the game, provided you have a Tempest Ogre Imagine to fulfil your enemy-grouping job. Other than the lack of an innate grouping, you have both healing capabilities as well as the highest HP and durability ceiling achievable in Blue Protocol.

A-tier Tank Specs

Recovery (Bulwark) Shield Knight is arguably a more self-sufficient offshoot from the tank archetype. You can get most of your healing needs met with Judgement, but you can't have the pure durability of the Radiant Guard as a tradeoff.

B-tier Tank Specs

Earthfort (Stonewall) Heavy Guardian's long cooldowns on actual tanking skills means you're an off-tank who focuses more on grouping and sometimes damage.

Caveats to note with this Blue Protocol tier list

Even though our Blue Protocol tier list should serve as a good general baseline gauge of what's strong, that is subject to change in future patches.
Gearing and build setup matters in how well you pull things off. For example, the tanks in this game will have Ogre Imagines to get some enemy grouping, which makes enemy grouping focus (i.e. Earthfort/Stonewall) a bit less desirable.
The game puts great emphasis on understanding your skill rotation, mechanics, and more importantly the boss moveset. Knowledge of these things can play a big role, especially when you compound that on top of how mechannically demanding some of the specs can be. As we have mentioned before, ease of use is considered a big point while weighing specs for this Blue Protocol tier list.

Check out our other guides on the game:

About the author

Sambit Pal is an esports Journalist on Gaming and MMO at Sportskeeda. He has Master's degree in English Literature. In his spare time, he is an amateur sleuth trying to trace the Riven Mafia in Warframe, and a recovering Bethesda modding addict. He also secretly enjoys action Roguelites, a severe lack of gitting gud notwithstanding.

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Edited by Sambit Pal