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Destructoid
Destructoid
Gordan Perisic

Universal Tower Defense Z Tier List [🕷️UPD4🃏]

Updated on July 11, 2026: Added all new units from UPD 4.0 and reworked the entire tier list.

The best units in Universal Tower Defense Z depend on five categories which are Hybrid, Hill, Ground, Support and Farm. I’ll show you the best ones for all roles as well as talk about the best game modes, traits and relics for all units. Here’s my Universal Tower Defense Z tier list and guide.

Table of contents

  • Universal Tower Defense Z Unit Tier List
    • Synchro Units – Massive DPS
    • S-Tier Hybrid/Hill
    • A-Tier Hill/Hybrid
    • B-Tier Hybrid/Hill
    • S-Tier Ground
    • A-Tier Ground
    • B-Tier Ground
    • S-Tier Support
    • A-Tier Support
    • B-Tier Support
    • Farm
  • Universal Tower Defense Z FAQ

Universal Tower Defense Z Unit Tier List

universal tower defense z unit tier list all units ranked
Image by Destructoid

This is just a preview of the Universal Tower Defense Z tier list but the real ranking reasons are below. I’ll go into each individual unit and talk about why it’s ranked where it is, as well as the best game modes or builds for it and specific traits. Note that I won’t go much into ranking for progression since any unit can be good to progress with if you upgrade and Etherealize it with some Relics equipped. I’ll focus more on Nightmare, Infinite, Challenges, Virtual Realm, Events, etc. As for the tier breakdowns, consider the S-Tier as the META tier with the A-Tier being sub-Meta and the B-Tier being strong alternative or situational options. You can consider unlisted units as C/D-Tier which are less optimal and usually not worth getting unless you like their playstyle.

How to Synchro Fuse/Clash Fuse Units: You need both units at max upgrade either owned by you or another player via request (Clash requires them to be in range) – The Synchro unit takes the stats, traits and relics from only one unit of the Synchro Drive.

Inter-Tier Rankings: Units aren’t arranged from left to right by power so their position within one tier is arbitrary.

Synchro Rankings: You can consider the two Spider-Man Synchros and Gogeta Synchro S-Tiers – The rest are A to B.

Leader/Support: Visionary, Angel Born In Hell, Triple Threat and Kind Sailor are DPS units but they are also great Supports with their Leader buffs in the first slot.

Farm Unit Tips (Bulme & Fastcart): If you’re going for Synchro, it’s usually good to run both farm units to rush upgrades, otherwise Bulma is enough.

Synchro Units – Massive DPS

Synchro Units Rankings Explained
Symbiote Spider
Synchro Drive
Human Spider (Responsible) + Symbiotic Alien (Apex)
Currently the best Synchro in terms of DPS and Support with its follow-up attacks, web slows and Dark damage amplification
Mechanical Spider
Synchro Drive
Human Spider (Responsible) + Iron Billionaire (Genius)
Slightly weaker DPS than Alien Spider but still great follow up attack damage and makes up for self-DPS with team-DPS due to general damage amplification with nanotech
Fused Warrior (Super)
Synchro Drive
Super Roku (Third Ascension) + Limit Breaker Prince (Marked)
One of the best Synchro units in terms of general DPS
Revolutionary Chief (Spade)
Synchro Drive
Revolutionary Chief (Emperor) + Spade (Donut)
Great DoT DPS

Notes: Massive DoTs for killing bosses due to Critical Strike burns and destroying crowds due to DoT explosions on-kill (Run Ruler+Critical Build instead of Astral)
Unparalleled Armor
Synchro Drive
Synchro Drive Nutaru (Beast) + Ancient Shinobi (Reawakened)
Great debuff Synchro unit overall in terms of both DPS and Support potential

Notes: The best due to applying a 3s Stun/Confused on every attack + breaking armor

Majestic Armor
Synchro Drive
Synchro Drive Nutaru (Beast) + Sasku (Great War)
One of the weaker Synchros
Notes: I prefer Unparalleled Armor for CC but Majestic deals pretty good damage with a ton of crit damage and DoTs on-hit

Underworld God
Synchro Drive
Synchro Drive Underworld God (Death) + Water God (Primordial)
The weakest Synchro

Notes: Really good self-DPS boosting buffs and armor damage plus debuff cleanse
Pirate King & Quake Warlord
Synchro Clash
These two EVO units have a Synchro Clash Attack when at max upgrade and in each other’s range.

Effect: You basically get another Nuke for a total of two since Quake Warlord already has his base Nuke.
Jane Juliet & Mimicry Sorcerer
Synchro Clash
These two EVO units have a Synchro Clash Attack when at max upgrade and in each other’s range.

Effect: Combined Beam Attack dealing 500% of the average damage between the two
[(Yuta + Ryu) Damage / 2] x 5

S-Tier Hybrid/Hill

S-Tier Hybrid/Hill Rankings Explained
The Almighty
Evo The King
Unit/Evo from Moonless Sky Universal Tear
• The highest DoT DPS unit in the game if you stack units around him with summoners like Gremmy/Visionary
• The DoT will deal some of the best damage in the game if you spam units (Bulma works great here)
• Can also support with his second mode but he’s better as a DoT monster

Best Relics: Almighty Set & All Seeing Eye
DoT/DMG/EDMG
Best SubStats: DoT>Damage
Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Moonless Sky
Evo Ichiko (Rage)
EVO from Raid Shop + Uni Tear
• Does more damage than Visionary without Mugetsu and does some of the highest damage in UTDZ history with Mugetsu
• Tons of crit damage, follow-up attacks and a few other passive buffs make him one of the best units in the game
• Also has Confusion for some added support/utility

Best Relics: Shadow Reaper & Reaper’s Necklace
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best SubStats: SPA/CRATE/CDMG
Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Visionary (Unrivaled)
Unrivaled Unit
Evo Visionary from Banner
EVO Drops from
Raid Shop, Universal Tear, Hollow Destroyers Vs Reapers and Legend Stage Act 3
• Just stack Crit and he’ll be doing massive damage with his clones
• Switch to his Meteor while The Almighty is in buff mode negates the SPA debuff which is great synergy
• Meta DPS

Ultimate Fused Warrior
Boundless Unit
EVO Fused Warrior
Get base unit from Divine Wrath Ultra Boss
• Massive Hybrid DPS due to stacking buffs and follow-up attacks making UFW the strongest Hybrid in the game currently
• Plus, you have an active nuke for a ton of clear
• Lastly you also have debuff defense that counter attacks for pretty much the perfect all-rounder DPS unit

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relic: Fused Warrior + Fused Warrior Earrings
Elemental Damage
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit Rate/Crit DMG/DMG
Perfect Maximum Bio-Android
Boundless
EVO the old Bio-Android (Imperfect) Unit
See below
• A Meta Hybrid DPS that destroys bosses and has synergy with Gohan and Super Warriors
• Alter between Hybrid and boss-killer for best potential
• That said, he’s a bit random due to his passives so it’s down to luck

Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Best Relic: Warlord + Warlord Hat
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: SPA/CRATE/DMG/CDMG
Blanco Beast
Boundless
EVO Rohan (Mystic)
From Beast Universal Tear
• A Meta Hill unit that’s great both in base UNEVO and EVO version due to high DPS
• Has synergy with the new Cell
• Also doesn’t scale well with Ruler due to cheap high-value placements so go for other traits

Best Trait: Duelist
Best Relic: Fused Warrior + Warlord Hat
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit Damage/Rate-DMG-SPA
Merciless God
Universal Unit
From Universal Festival Banner
• Not among the top 5 DPS units in the game since this goes to Ultimate Fused Warrior and top-tier Grounds but the Top and Bottom path give you quite impressive DPS and Support potential respectively
• Top path is for max DPS with the clone
• Bottom path has really good CC/Debuffs Support potential

Best Trait:
Ruler or Astral/Sacred (Top)
Ruler or Duelist (Bottom)
Best Relic:
Fused Warrior + Monarch Cape (Top)
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Fused Warrior + Fused Warrior Earrings (Bottom)
DMG/CritRate/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: All DMG or with a little Crit Rate/Crit Damage
Angel Born in Hell (Unrivaled)
Unrivaled Unit
EVO Angel Born in Hell (Super)
Get base unit from Universal Festival Banner
• The first Hybrid DPS Leader with amazing buffs
• Not a top-tier DPS machine by himself like Fused Warrior but is in the top 10 due to DPS+Support potential
• There’s a bug that makes him crit despite his passive causing him to deal way more damage than he should so keep this in mind
• Even when this is fixed he’s still a great unit

Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Best Relic: Fused Warrior + Fused Warrior Earrings
DMG + EDMG
DMG/Crit Rate
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit Rate/DMG/CDMG
Trickster (Phantom)
Unit/EVO drops from Golden Palace Extraction
• The best Phantom unit and has synergy with other Phantom/Persona units
• Does amazing DPS, has debuff abilities and has a massive team damage increase
• Overall a very useful multi-purpose unit that can be ran both alone and in a Persona team
Light Prince (Ascension)
Unit/Evo drops from Hollow Destroyers vs Reapers
• Just a great overall Meta Hill unit that’s not worth it over other Hybrids but worth it over pretty much any Hill

A-Tier Hill/Hybrid

A-Tier Hybrid/Hill Rankings Explained
Joyful Captain
Universal Unit
From Universal Festive Banner
• Can be one of the best DPS with the Bounceman path or an amazing DoT Support with the Gear 5 path
• Make sure to have elemental synergies in mind for the 2.5x more with ADV and 5x less with DISADV in terms of elemental interactions

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relic: Warlord Set + Warlord Hat
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: CRATE/CDMG/CD

The Strongest in History
Boundless
Evo Cursed Vessel (Shrine)
Unit/Evo Material from Red Tear
• While all Boundless units are top-tier useful, TSIH Sukuna is the strongest in terms of DPS
• Sukuna out-DPS-es King Sailor and Gojo with Mahoraga and Agito but has less CC/debuffs than Gojo
• SJW Boundless can compete if you build around it with Ant King and Igris but Sukuna is stronger in base
• With all the stacking buffs, debuffs and summon attacks, this is the strongest non-Synchro unit in the game
• Just the sheer DoT DPS, the Domain and having two summons at once on full upgrade is crazy good

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relics: Monarch Set with Sorcerer Hunter Spirit DMG/DMG/E.DMG
(Monarch Set is from Throne Chamber Raid)
Best Substat: Cooldown Relics/DMG-CD for Accessories

Jinoo, Shadow Monarch
Boundless
Evo Jinoo (Monarch)
• By himself Boundless SJW is weaker than Boundless Sukuna, Gojo and King Sailor
• That said if you build around his synergies with Igris and Ant King he becomes much stronger
• Plus all the Shadows have been massively buffed so he’s a Meta unit
• But keep in mind that the value you get from synergies are shared between those units so you can think of it like a mini-Synchro
• The good news is that Ant King is really strong and Igris is pretty good so you don’t lose anything by building around SJW

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relics: Monarch Set with Accessories DMG/DMG/E.DMG
(Monarch Set is from Throne Chamber Raid)
Best Stat & Substat: Full DMG and CD/Range/Crit Rate/Crit DMG
Human Spider (Responsible)
Unit/EVO from Crime Fighting Extraction
• Full AOE Hybrid with follow up attacks and web CC
• Plus has a Meta Synchro with Venom and Ironman
• Overall, a decent unit to use solo but you really want him for the Synchros since they’re both Meta
The Fatality (Ascension)
Evo The Fatality from Banner
EVO Drops from Hollow Destroyers Vs Reapers Shop
• Poison DoT DPS that spreads poison and plays around his domain that buffs DoT damage
• The domain makes him a great DPS/Support for DoT teams
Cat Captain (Lightning)
Evo Cat Captain form Banner
EVO drops from Act 3 Raid and Raid Shop
• Great with King Sailor for chain lightning attacks
• Really fast attack speed with slowing and stunning potential
Gluttonous Warlord (Despair)
Secret Unit
Warlord’s Ship Raid 5% chance
• A summon-based DPS with some of the best DoTs in the game
• Most of your damage comes from summon follow-up attacks

Best Trait: Ruler or Astral/Sacred
Best Relic: Warlord Set + Monarch Cape
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: All DMG
Best Substats: CDMG/Crit/DMG + DoT/CD
Dragon Warlord (Rage)
Secret Unit
Emperor’s Kingdom World Raid 8% chance
• Dragon Warlord is amazing for macro with massive Hybrid DPS and CC
• Excellent boss-killer with follow-up attacks
• Requires macro/manual control for full potential in Dragon Form

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relic: Warlord Set + Shadow Reaper Necklace
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit/DMG/CD/DoT + DoT/CD
Revolutionary Chief (Emperor)
Banner Mythic
• Synchro Drives with Spade (Donut) for a massive DoT Meta unit
• Amazing Hill unit with Burn damage-over-time synergy by himself
• One of the best Hill units right now

Best Trait: Ruler or Astral
Best Relic: Warlord Set + Spirit Armor Accessory
DMG/CRATE/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit Rate/Crit DMG/DMG/DoT/RNG
Strongest Swordsman (Hunter)
Banner Mythic
• The best Mythic Hill unit and one of the best Hill DPSs overall
• Incredibly strong for a Mythic
• Shreds Armor and Armament Haki plus the stances gives him massive Critical Strike chance and damage

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relic: Warlord Set
DMG/Crit Rate
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: Crit Rate/Crit DMG/DMG

B-Tier Hybrid/Hill

B-Tier Hybrid/Hill Rankings Explained

Spade (Donut)
Mythic
Get Flaming Donut Hat ASAP
From Marine Base Act 1 Legend Stage
For a massive buff
• Synchro Drives with Revolutionary Chief (Emperor) for a Meta DoT unit
• The best Air/Hill DPS unit now with the Exclusive Hat Relic and one of the best units in the game overall due to the passive on-shield damage
• Amazing for progressing story/legend stage since you can get it fast and you need a good Air ASAP
• Otherwise great for VR and Infinite as your Hill slot with Ruler as a main DPS or Astral as a secondary DPS
• Best trait is Astral since Spade is the best Burn DOT unit in the game right now

Best Trait: Astral or Ruler
Best Relics: Warlord + Donut Hat
DoT/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: DoT/DMG
Big Brother (Vengeance)
Exclusive Unit
Season 3 Battlepass: Universal Festival Part 2
• A great little off-meta Hybrid DPS that attacks with summoned units and self-buffs
• Dishes out decent numbers by himself but also marks enemies to take increased damage which is really good

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred
Evil Demon (Rage)/Evil Incarnate
Secret Unit
From Otherworld Hell Gamemode
• On a similar level as Big Brother where he’s a great off-meta Hill unit that attacks with clones
• The sword also gives you some nice utility with AOEs, slows, range and decent Bleed damage for DoT synergy

Best Trait: Ruler
Super Roku (Thid Ascension)
Secret Unit
From Freakybuu Incident Raid
Or EVO the old Super Roku (Enraged)
• A huge upgrade on the old Roku Hill unit giving you free upgrades and much better DPS with Crits
• But he’s still not Meta DPS by himself
• The reason this Roku is good is because of the Synchro Drive with Limit Breaker Prince for the best SYNCHRO unit currently in the game DPS-wise

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relics: Fused Warrior + FW Earrings
DMG/CRATE/EDMG
Best Substats: Crit Rate/DMG/CDMG
Best Stats: Full DMG
Sharpshooter King (Trapper)
Secret Unit
Conquered Lands Legend Stage Act 3 3% chance
• A stronger version of Sharpshooter with massive range and great DPS
• Places traps while waiting for units to get in range
• Overall has a lot of utility with DoTs, stuns and follow-up attacks

Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Best Relics: Warlord + Warlord Hat
DMG/CRATE/EDMG
Best Substats: Full Crit and DMG
String Warlord (Joker)
Exclusive
Blitz Mode Battlepass Tier 15
• High-tier Hill unit with a ton of DPS from his clones
• The clones also defend String Warlord from debuffs
• Also has great debuffs and control when Birdcage is active for stuns, slows and even more damage

Best Trait: Ruler

Ant King (Savage)
Secret – Ant King World Raid
The EVO material also drops in the Raid
• With the new SJW synergy passive this is one of the best Hybrid DPS units
• Radiation-based Hybrid DPS that stacks damage buffs on kills
• Synergizes with Jinoo for more damage and range buffs
• If built right Ant King can output top 5 DPS in the game

Best Trait: Ruler/Astral can’t stack Radiation

Crow Shinobi (Reanimated)
Act 3 of Shinobi World War Legend Stage
Evo item from the same stage
Best Trait: Eternal, Astral
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi, Reanimated Armor set
Best stats: DoT Top & DMG Bottom
Best Accessory: Bloodline Eye, Spirit Armor
Notes: A ton of debuffs for enemies, great DoT DPS and massive AOE damage with meteor

Migumen (Finale)
NY Capsule Exclusive
• She’s now Meta with the new update
• Great DPS overall but her Nuke on max deals massive damage, especially on E6
• Apart from the Nuke she’s a great Burn DoT damage unit
• This is because in addition to the Burn DoT she’s also excellent against armor due to True Damage and Radiation
• Extremelly flexibile unit when you play around her active

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred

Phantom Captain (Carrier)
Secret
• Massive DPS summoner unit that summons both attack planes on her location and line planes that explode on contact
• The line planes deal excellent supporting AOE burst damage while her personal planes deal sustained DPS AOE damage
• She also buffs her planes for +30% crit rate and +50% crit damage during the first 10 seconds of their duration for a ton of DPS
• Overall a strong contender for one of the best Hybrid DPS units

Best Trait: Ruler

Jangluu (Eclipse)
Winter Capsule Exclusive
• Deals a ton of damage on Frozen enemies even though she doesn’t stun on Freeze
• Best combined with units that can freeze like Ice Empress since she also buffs Ice units
• Requires a specific team setup but can potentially be one of the best units in the game due to the Icy Flux nuke on Frozen enemies

Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal

Berserker (Enraged)
Mythic
• Huge buff and rank-up thanks to Berserker’s Cleaver exclusive relic
• Much better now in the new update with the fix
• Near top DPS unit in the game overall and incredibly useful hybrid due to game mode flexibility, CC and hyper armor damage
• Fast ramp-up value
• Obliterates armored enemies, slows and increase all damage taken on enemies

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred

S-Tier Ground

S-Tier Ground Rankings Explained
Ashen Valkyrie (Ignition)
EVO Ashen Valkyrie from Summer Capsules
EVO Drops from Summer Shop
• A Meta ground unit that deals both crit and DoT damage with her own set of passive utility buffs that pump her DPS and that of other Fire units
• She has synergy with a lot of teams due to her dual damage style
• Very build-dependent since you want to maximize her DPS uptime since she can shut down due to her passive

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relic: Spider Hero + Ninja Headband
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE>DMG>CDMG (All DMG stats)
Azuron (Wrath)
EVO Ashen Valkyrie from Summer Capsules
EVO Drops from Summer Shop
• Fast burn unit with rage mechanics for burst damage
• Great for shield breaking/hyper armor breaking
• Situational but very good in the right scenario
Flame Captain (Ember)
EVO Flame Captain from Act 5 Raid / Boss Rush
EVO drops from Raid Shop or his respective stage
• Just a decent sub-meta Burn unit that consumes burns for burst damage and synergizes well with Fire/Burn buffers
Ice Queen (White Haze)
EVO Ruka from Banner
EVO drops from Act 4 Raid and Raid Shop
• She has a ton of support potential with her various CCs but I ranked her as a DPS since she removes these CC effects for bonus damage
• This makes her decently great but kind of an awkward unit to use if you want a support
Nursefather (Thumb)
Exclusive Unit
Season 3 Battlepass: Universal Festival, Part 2
• One of the best Ground DPS units in the game due to massive DoTs, self buffs and crits
• She shreds armor and also has support potential with slows and stuns

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relics: Warlord Set + Reaper Necklace
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE/DMG/CDMG
Best Stats: Full DMG
Triple Threat (Unrivaled)
Unrivaled
Universal Festival Banner
EVO Guide
First EVO Item – Conquered Lands legend Stage Act 2
Fragment 1 – Warlords Ship Raid Shop
Fragment 2 – Conquered Lands Legend Stage Act 3
Fragment 3 – Mirror World Featured Challenge
Fragment 4 – Beasts Place World Raid
• Amazing high DPS DoT unit with lots of utility via his leader buffs
• One of the best if not the best boss-killer
• Overall tons of Bleed damage, CRITS and stun immunity

Best Trait: Ruler or Astral
Best Relics: Warlord Set + Biju Energy
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CDMG/DMG/Crit + CD/DoT
Best Stats: Full DMG

King Sailor (Unrivaled)
All Banners
• Upscaled and has Leader buffs in the first slot

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relic Set: Super Roku
Best Stats: DMG Top & CD Bottom
Best Accessory: Shadow Reaper Necklace
Notes: Massive AOE damage, self buffs, team buffs and stun immunity
One of the best units in the game

How to Evo:
Craft his Sword
Get all Required Fragments
1st Shard from Event Shop in Shinobi Alliance
2nd Shard from Alliance Leader (Ultra Boss Shop)
3rd Shard from Legend Stage Act 3 of new Naruto Map
4th Shard from New Raid Gamemode in the Raid Shop

A-Tier Ground

A-Tier Ground Rankings Explained

Alpha Devil (Omega)
Devil Capsule Exclusive
From Event
• Both Vergil and Dante have massive range and should be kept near the spawn to constantly attack for transformation and style damage boosts
• Vergil is slightly stronger IMO due to Cone stuns with Katana or massive DPS with Demonic Gauntlets
• Also great DoT damage with Phantom Sword and Dante/Sukuna DoT team combo
• Can be hybrid with Mirage Barrage but that’s a weak weapon, I wouldn’t use it
• A perfect combination of high damage and stalling off-Support

Best Traits: Duelist or Ruler
Best Relics: Super Roku Set with Shadow Reaper Accessories DMG/DMG/EDMG
Alternative with Bio-Android + Biju
Best Stat & Substats: Full damage + DoT/CD/Crit Rate/Crit Damage

Devil Hunter (Mercenary)
Devil Capsule Exclusive
From Event
• Incredibly strong if you can keep attacking for style damage boosts and transformations due to massive range
• Lots of build flexibility with massive Cone DoT damage with Sword or massive stall potential with Democycle with a DoT team
• Can also switch to Fancy Hat in modes where you no longer need cash but it’s not good early
• Goes best with Sukuna and Vergil for heavy DoT synergy

Best Traits: Astral or Ruler
Best Relics: Reanimated Set + Spirit Armor/Shadow Reaper DoT/DMG/EDMG
Best Stat & Substats: Full damage + DoT/CD/Crit Rate/Crit Damage
Maximum Bio-Android (Disaster)
Secret
From Maximum Bio-Android World Raid
• Massive AOE Ground damage and practically ignores Stuns
• Huge synergy with the new Meta Hybrid DPS Cell
• Has DoT synergy and applies various status effects

Best Trait: Ruler
Quake Warlord (Destroyer)
Exclusive
Blitz Mode Battlepass Tier 30
• Has a Synchro attack with Pirate King (Voyage) for another nuke
• Tons of damage, self-buffs and enemy debuffs
• Deals massive damage via follow-up attacks
• Basically a better version of King Sailor if we’re talking Water units
• Plus you get a massive stunning one-time nuke

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred
Best Relics: Warlord Set
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CD/Crit/DMG
Best Stats: Full DMG
The Drink (Super Rage)
EVO old The Rink
• Incredibly high potential unit but tricky to play
• I put him A instead of S due to inflexibility since he requires first placement and first upgrades to be good
• That said, if you play him well, he deals massive shield damage, can be buffed by all leaders and is overall a really strong DPS unit

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred
Best Relics: Fused Warrior + Ninja Headband
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE/DMG/SPA
Best Stats: Full DMG
Mochi Pirate (Conqueror)
Secret
Mirror Dimension Featured Challange 8% Chance
• Mochi Pirate is all about guaranteed crits from his passive
• That said he also has a lot of stalling support utility with Time Snail
• Very useful Ground unit overall

Best Trait: Ruler for DPS/Sacred or Fission for Support
Best Relics: Warlord Set + Shadow Reaper Necklace
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CDMG/DMG/CD
Best Stats: Full DMG
Drill Hero (Spiral)
Unit/EVO from Beast Desert Legend Stage Act 3
• Has a ton of DPS potential with his passives but his mech is a bit clunky to use
• If they make the mech less awkward to control and give him a buff this can be a Meta unit
Cranium (Phantom)
Unit/EVO from Golden Palace Locked Rooms
• B-Tier alone and A-Tier in a Phantom/Persona team
Bloody Captain (Healer)
EVO base from Banner
EVO Drops from Act 2 Raid and Raid Shop
• Full AOE Bleed unit that’s decent by herself but really shines with Berserker in the team to massively buff him
• Also amplifies bleed DPS
Zombie Apostle/Corpse Maiden (Ascension)
Get base from Banner
EVO Drops from Hollow Destroyers Vs Reapers Shop
• A-Tier in a specific team that can support her Bleed which you want to reduce enemies to 1
• This makes her revive those enemies as zombies for added DPS
• Very gimmicky and specific to play with but can be quite good in the right team
Feline (Phantom)
Unit/EVO from Golden Palace Locked Rooms
• B-Tier alone and A-Tier in a Phantom/Persona team

B-Tier Ground

B-Tier Ground Rankings Explained
Pirate King (Voyage)
Secret
Admiral Defense Gamemode
• Has a Synchro attack with Quake Warlord for a massive nuke
• Deals great damage and has Meta Support synergy with the free sell and placements for Piece units

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred/Eternal
Limit Breaker Prince (Marked)
From Freakybuu Incident Raid
Or by evolving the old Fallen Prince (Ruthless)
• Has a Meta DPS Synchro with Roku (Third Ascension)
• Also run him with Bulma for farm since he buffs her and you need a lot of cash for a Synchro build
• An overall decent unit by himself but off-meta

Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Best Relics: Fused Warrior + Fused Warrior Earrings
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE/DMG/CDMG
Best Stats: Full DMG

Mighty Roach (Cursed)
Exclusive
Virtual Realm Shop
• A sleeper hit dealing massive damage but needs to be combined with at least one of the new Domain units
• When a Domain is active gains a massive damage buff
• Combined with innate AOE damage bursts and follow-up attacks from exploding insects Mighty Roach deals a ton of AOE damage
• Get him ASAP and combine him with Gojo which is the best Domain

Best Trait: Ruler

Mimicry Sorcerer
Secret
Legend Stage Act 3
• Overall Yuta has pretty great DPS with Rika who is Hybrid and Mimicry for DoTs or follow up attacks
• You mainly want him for the max upgrade Rika summon and Synchro attack with Jane Juliet/Ryu
• If you combine him with Ryu he’s bottom Meta or sub-Meta in terms of DPS
• The Synchro attack is pretty strong
• Otherwise if you don’t combine him with Ryu then I don’t think he’s worth it over other S-Tier Ground DPS units

Best Trait: Ruler
Funeral Parlor (Fragrance)
From Flames and Waves Event
• Not Meta since she’s very niche and gimmicky to play but has great potential in terms of DoT DPS
• Reduce her SPA for best stacking efficiency since these stacks directly buff her damage

Best Trait: Wizard or Ruler
Best Relics: Reanimated Ninja + Fused Warrior Earrings
DoT/SPA/EDMG
Best Substats: DoT/SPA/DMG
Best Stats: Full SPA

Nutaru (Beast)
Kitsunox Struggle Ultra Boss T3-T4
Evo item from Raid Shop
Sub-meta DPS by himself and meta for Synchro

Best Trait: Ruler, Eternal
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi
Best Stats: DMG Both
Best Accessory: Bloodline Eye

Has Synchro with Ancient Shinobi and Sasku

Shadow Knight (Risen)
Secret
Crimson Throne Chamber Raid
• Unlike Ant King who is good by himself Shadow Knight/Igris is only good if you combine him with SJW/Shadow Monarch
• If you do then you get both Igris for free and all upgrades for free since you can just spend on SJW
• Also has good supporting abilities with the Stuns and summoned shadow boosts
• Overall a sub-Meta unit with Boundless SJW

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relics: Sorcerer Hunter Set and Sorcerer Hunter Spirit
DMG/DMG/E.DMG
Best Substats: CD and Range

Kriatu (Cheater)
Mythic
• Huge buff and rank-up thanks to Kriatu’s Swords exclusive relic
• Moved Kriatu up a little since he’s really good for VR
• Deals increasingly more damage as he crits
• Get the Duelist trait on him ASAP so that he can crit more and therefore ramp up damage faster
• He can only gain more crit from Traits
• Got a huge buff on ability damage making him even better but overall he’s still mid compared to the units of today

Best Trait: Duelist

S-Tier Support

S-Tier Support Rankings Explained
Trickster (Phantom)
Unit/EVO drops from Golden Palace Extraction
• The best Phantom unit and has synergy with other Phantom/Persona units
• Does amazing DPS, has debuff abilities and has a massive team damage increase
• Overall a very useful multi-purpose unit that can be ran both alone and in a Persona team
Symbiotic Alien (Apex)
Unit/EVO drops from Crime Fighting Extraction
• META Synchro with Spiderman
• An amazing support for his latch-on final skill where you can fuse him to a unit for massive buffs
• Combine this with Ruler units for massive damage
• By himself he also supports quite well with CC and buffs the damage of Dark units
Iron Billionaire (Genius)
Unit/EVO drops from Crime Fighting Extraction
• META Synchro with Spiderman
• Another amazing Meta support that has decent DPS, buffs your units and also massively buffs Farm for increased income which is really strong

Best Trait: Duelist
Best Relic: Spider Hero + Fused Warrior Earrings
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: DMG/CRATE/CDMG
The Terror (Ascension)
Get base from Banner
EVO Drops from Hollow Destroyers Vs Reapers Shop
• No damage and no upgrades but a very decent Support unit
• Slows and rewinds enemies
• Buffs the damage they take
• Makes them fight each other
• Overall excellent support potential but he is a bit expensive to start with

The Strongest of Today
Boundless
Evo Infinity Sorcerer (Void)
Unit/Evo Material from Blue Tear
• DPS-wise competes with King Sailor but lower than Sukuna
• Still the best DPS Support unit in the game
• This is because while it has top tier DPS it also has a ton of debuffs and anti-hyperarmor abilities
• Plus it can hit all enemies on the map and has timestop for 30s with Domain where he stacks damage on-kill
Plus he deals bonus damage to time-stopped enemies
• You can really go for any Boundless unit and be happy so go for Gojo if you need a lot of stuns and timestops

Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relic: Sorcerer Hunter Set with Strongest Sorcerers Glasses
Crit DMG/DMG/E.DMG
Best Substats: DMG, Crit DMG, CD
Merciless God
Universal Unit
From Universal Festival Banner
• Not among the top 5 DPS units in the game since this goes to Ultimate Fused Warrior and top-tier Grounds but the Top and Bottom path give you quite impressive DPS and Support potential respectively
• Top path is for max DPS with the clone
• Bottom path has really good CC/Debuffs Support potential

Best Trait:
Ruler or Astral/Sacred (Top)
Ruler or Duelist (Bottom)
Best Relic:
Fused Warrior + Monarch Cape (Top)
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Fused Warrior + Fused Warrior Earrings (Bottom)
DMG/CritRate/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: All DMG or with a little Crit Rate/Crit Damage

Ancient Shinobi (Reawakened)
Shinobi Alliance Event Game Mode Unit
Evo items from Ultra Boss Shop
Sub-meta by himself and meta for Synchro
Best Trait: Ruler
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi
Best Stats: DMG Both
Best Accessory: Bloodline Eye
Notes: Tons of debuffs, DoTs, and self buffs

Virtual Idol / Miku (Super Star)
Mythic
• Buffs all units around her with either increased Damage or Range
• Etherealize up to 6 is key here to increase the buffs
• The best buffer in the entire game and she becomes worth it after you place some units already so don’t use her as a starter or second unit
• Amazing for Infinite

Best Trait: Artificer
Best Set: Heaven Piercer & Straw Hat
Best Stat: Buff Potency and Range

Prodigy Mage (Apprentice)
All Banners
Evo items from Act 2 of Beyond Fantasy Legend Stage
Best Trait: Fission, Astral, Sacred
Best Relic Set: Super Roku
Best Stats: DMG Top & CD Bottom
Best Accessory: Reaper Necklace
Notes: One of the best combinations of DPS, Slows and Stuns for stalling enemies
Also buffs herself your units with attack speed for Hill and crit rate for Ground
One of the best supports in the game
Joyful Captain
Universal Unit
From Universal Festive Banner
• Can be one of the best DPS with the Bounceman path or an amazing DoT Support with the Gear 5 path
• Make sure to have elemental synergies in mind for the 2.5x more with ADV and 5x less with DISADV in terms of elemental interactions

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relic: Warlord Set + Warlord Hat
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Stats: All DMG
Best Substats: CRATE/CDMG/CD

Ancient Mage (Sage)
Act 3 of Beyond Fantasy Legend Stage
Evo item from the same stage
Best trait: Ruler, Astral
Best Relic Set: Super Roku
Best Stats: CritDMG/DoT Top & CritRate/DMG Bottom
Best Accessory: Bloodline Eye
Notes: Incredibly versatile high DPS unit able to switch stat modes for burst damage, debuffs, support buffs and DoTs.

A-Tier Support

A-Tier Support Rankings Explained
Anne (Phantom)
Unit/EVO from Golden Palace Locked Rooms
• Decent support with slows and stuns but really shines in a Phantom/Persona team with Joker and the others

Alpha Devil (Omega)
Devil Capsule Exclusive
From Event
• Both Vergil and Dante have massive range and should be kept near the spawn to constantly attack for transformation and style damage boosts
• Vergil is slightly stronger IMO due to Cone stuns with Katana or massive DPS with Demonic Gauntlets
• Also great DoT damage with Phantom Sword and Dante/Sukuna DoT team combo
• Can be hybrid with Mirage Barrage but that’s a weak weapon, I wouldn’t use it
• A perfect combination of high damage and stalling off-Support

Best Traits: Duelist or Ruler
Best Relics: Super Roku Set with Shadow Reaper Accessories DMG/DMG/EDMG
Alternative with Bio-Android + Biju
Best Stat & Substats: Full damage + DoT/CD/Crit Rate/Crit Damage
Wavechaser (Surfer)
From Flames and Waves Event
• An incredibly useful Support/DPS hybrid
• Can both deal great damage, apply slows and debuffs as well as a damage amplification effect for your other units

Best Trait: Duelist or Sacred
Best Relics: Warlord Set + Warlord Hat
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE/DMG/CDMG
Best Stats: Full DMG
Nursefather (Thumb)
Exclusive Unit
Season 3 Battlepass: Universal Festival, Part 2
• One of the best Ground DPS units in the game due to massive DoTs, self buffs and crits
• She shreds armor and also has support potential with slows and stuns

Best Trait: Ruler or Duelist
Best Relics: Warlord Set + Reaper Necklace
DMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CRATE/DMG/CDMG
Best Stats: Full DMG
Quake Warlord (Destroyer)
Exclusive
Blitz Mode Battlepass Tier 30
• Has a Synchro attack with Pirate King (Voyage) for another nuke
• Tons of damage, self-buffs and enemy debuffs
• Deals massive damage via follow-up attacks
• Basically a better version of King Sailor if we’re talking Water units
• Plus you get a massive stunning one-time nuke

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred
Best Relics: Warlord Set
CDMG/DMG/EDMG
Best Substats: CD/Crit/DMG
Best Stats: Full DMG

Crow Shinobi (Reanimated)
Act 3 of Shinobi World War Legend Stage
Evo item from the same stage
Best Trait: Eternal, Astral
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi, Reanimated Armor set
Best stats: DoT Top & DMG Bottom
Best Accessory: Bloodline Eye, Spirit Armor
Notes: A ton of debuffs for enemies, great DoT DPS and massive AOE damage with meteor

Sasku (Great War)
Shinobi Battlefield Raid Act 5/Boss Rush/Evolved from Sasku (Chakara)
Evo item from Raid Shop
Best Trait: Ruler or Eternal
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi
Best Stats: DMG/Crit DMG Top & CD/Crit Rate Bottom
Best Accessory: Biju Energy, Bloodline Eye
Notes: Flexibile as both a DPS and support with a ton of debuffs and DoTs
Has great stun defence

Enlightened God (Holy)
Banner Mythic
• An AOE buffing DPS support hybrid that progressively buffs your units more and more
• Similar to First Emperor in that you’re extremely flexibile with your weapon switching choices (Switch at Max Emotion stacks)
• You can deal massive enemy HP-scaling damage with the Axe or high DoT damage with synegies with Cycle of Wrath
• Alternatively, you can switch to the Shield and reflect debuffs into buffs for your other units
• Incredibly strong DPS/Support unit

Best Trait: Sacred
Pirate King (Voyage)
Secret
Admiral Defense Gamemode
• Has a Synchro attack with Quake Warlord for a massive nuke
• Deals great damage and has Meta Support synergy with the free sell and placements for Piece units

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred/Eternal

B-Tier Support

B-Tier Support Rankings Explained

Love Goddess
Valentines Capsules in Events Tab
• Love Goddess is all about upgrade discounts and massively buffing a single unit with Crit
• Great in VR with Kirito or you can run her with some single-unit-focused comps with S-Tier units
• That said I prefer Miku for AOE buffs or Enlightened God/First Emperor for much higher flexibility

Admiral (Magma)
Legendary EVO
• The best budget unit in the game since you get it easily as a Legendary and it stays strong in the late-game via EVO
• Easily one of the best Fire units in the game
• Admiral is good for two reasons, he deals impressive DOT damage but also acts as a support with Confusion
• Confusion makes enemies walk back which is amazing stalling for your main DPS units

Best Trait: Fission or Sacred

First Emperor (Greatest)
Ragnarok Infinite Gamemode Secret
Must get to Wave 20 for runs to count toward Pity
Pity is 100
EVO Items can be farmed through the Trials Tab
In Quests
• First Emperor is an overall Meta unit but I decided to put him in the Support category for lots of reasons
• He slows, confuses enemies, reflects stuns, gives all your units follow up attacks, etc.
• He’s a powerhouse support unit that also deals a ton of damage itself
• Might be one of the best units in Universal Tower Defense overall
• That said you must rush max upgrade so that you can switch Demon Arts for maximum flexibility

Karbonoto (Sage)
All Banners
Evo items from Ultra Boss Shop
Best Trait: Eternal, Sacred
Best Relic Set: Rebellious Shinobi
Best Stats: DMG Top & CD Bottom
Best Accessory: Reaper Necklace, Strawhat
Notes: Strong support since he can revive units and then do follow up attacks with Hyper Armor damage

Ice Empress (Forst)
Winter Capsule Exclusive
• A mix of impressive DPS and execution as well as top-tier stalling support and even a bit of buffs
• She has a ton of passives but the main ones are freezes and slows for amazing stalling for your other DPS units
• Summons units which is really strong but requires 50 kills on her meter so she’s best for extended game modes and not quick farming
• Combos well with other Frost units which she buffs for 20% like Koyote or Jangluu
• Overall a powerhouse DPS and Support hybrid

Best Trait: Ruler

Shunks (Conqueror)
Mythic
• You get both damage and stuns all in one unit making Shunks one of the best units in the game
• Definitely worth to EVO
• Meta support DPS for all game modes due to stuns

Best Trait: Ruler or Sacred

Jane Juliet/Ryu (Larper)
Banner Mythic
• Quite a decent DPS/Support Hybrid since he can buff your top DPS unit
• He also has pretty great Line AOE attacks
• I wouldn’t use him though unless you plan to combine him with Mimicry Sorcerer for the Synchro beam attack
• The beam is really strong when you max out Yuta and Ryu
• Great if you don’t have better units from S-Tier

Best Trait: Ruler

Judgement Sorcerer (Domain)
Banner Mythic
• Weaker DPS potential than Jane/Ryu and Hakari/Gambler but a pretty decent support DPS hybrid with Domain
• I would mostly use it for Confusion but the Executioner sword does deal decent damage if you need extra DPS

Judas (Darkness)
Battle Pass Level 50 Exclusive
• Low SPA but deals decent DPS, slows and has a ton of utility with his active
• He’s a sub DPS unit with supporting options that are quite good and while he’s not a must-have support he’s still pretty good
• His active is a crazy good support tool with a ton of flexibility on what statuses you can apply from slows to confusion

Ja’frey (Lightning Assassin)
Battle Pass Level 25 Exclusive
• Ja’frey is a great alternative for your CC support slot because he’s an on-attack Stun-based unit with decent DPS
• The stuns go up to 1.5 seconds on E4 which is really strong for any mode
• Plus he’s not that hard to get

Farm

Farm Rankings Explained
Iron Billionaire (Genius)
Unit/EVO drops from Crime Fighting Extraction
• Buffs income

Bulmo
Legendary
• A better version of Fastcart
• Income buffed by Limit Breaker (Marked)

Best Trait: Fortune

Fastcart
Epic
• Get the Fortunate trait on him ASAP
• Good for all modes

Best Trait: Fortune

Universal Tower Defense Z FAQ

How to Synchro Drive Units in Universal Tower Defense Z?

First you need to eligible units that can be Synchro Drived (Check out the info for Synchro units above). Then you need both units at max upgrade and you can fuse them. You can also Synchro Drive with eligible units owned by another player but you have to request that and they have to approve. The Synchro unit takes the stats, traits and relics from only one unit of the Synchro Drive.

How to beat Zeus in Universal Tower Defense Z?

To beat Zeus you have to destroy the pillars when he flies up. Follow the warnings and as the red highlighted pillars spawn on the map when he leaves to regenerate, place units to destroy the pillars. This cancels his regeneration and makes him come back down. Alternatively you can nuke him down with high damage before he starts regenerating.

How to open Portals in the Cell update in Universal Tower Defense Z?

You can open Portals with the Perfect Arena Key dropped in the Dragon Ball Legend stages. You must complete each Portal tier in order to be able to get the Perfect Arena Key for the next portal tier (T2>T3 25% drop chance/T3>T4 10% to keep T4 50%).

How do the Elements interact in terms of bonus damage in Universal Tower Defense Z?

Fire is strong against Rose and Ice
Water is strong against Fire and Wind
Ice is strong against Water and Rose
Wind is strong against Ice and Fire
Rose is strong against Wind and Water
Light is strong against Dark
Dark is strong against Light

What are the best ways to farm Gems in Universal Tower Defense Z?

• From Achievements
• Ragna Challenge – 200 gems per clear
• Half-hourly gem challenges – 500 to 1000 gems per clear
• Easy Mode Infinite – Caps at 900 gems on Wave 50 (Difficulty 100%) or 1300 gems on Wave 50 (Difficulty 1000%)
• Virtual Mode on Easy and 100% Difficulty – 1000 Gems
• Virtual Shop – 1 Virtual Token for 25 Gems

What are the best ways to farm Trait Rerolls in UTDZ?

• From Achievements and Level Milestones
• Ragna Challenge
• Half-hourly trait reroll challenges
• Daily challenge
• Buy 5 daily at the Gold merchant
• Buy at Virtual Merchant

What are the best ways to farm gold in UTDZ?

• Summoning units and selling them
• Ragna challenge
• Hollowed Moon Act 6 Nightmare (100% Difficulty) – Gives 1140 gold per clear

What is the best way to farm EXP and Levels in UTDZ?

The best way to level up is to farm Virtual Realm, Ragna Challenges and finish Story mode.

That’s it for my Universal Tower Defense Z tier list and guide. Check out our Universal Tower Defense Z codes for a bunch of free goodies.

The post Universal Tower Defense Z Tier List [🕷️UPD4🃏] appeared first on Destructoid.

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