Some lineages punch above their weight. These are the ones worth mastering early and evolving into their Elite and Royal forms — though inheritance means almost anything can work with the right skills bolted on.
Standouts
🔫 Gunner
Reliable Pierce that ignores defence — great single-target and weakness coverage.
🔮 Mage / Summoner
Broad elemental coverage to farm extra press-turns.
💃 Masked Dancer
Buffs and debuffs that swing hard boss fights.
👑 Royal Archetypes
The unique per-character top classes — your endgame power spike.
Underrated picks
💰 Merchant
Turns money into massive burst damage — hilarious and genuinely strong once you're wealthy.
🃏 Faker
Ailments and debuffs that neutralise bosses who lack a clear elemental weakness.
🥊 Brawler
Self-buffing bruiser that snowballs into heavy sustained physical damage.
📯 Commander
Party-wide buffs and orders that quietly raise your whole team's output.
How to use a tier list
Because every Archetype levels independently and shares skills through inheritance, 'best' is really about which base kit you build around. Level a few strong lineages per character for their skills, then evolve toward the Royal Archetype of whoever you want as your anchor. A thoughtfully inherited 'off-meta' class often beats a vanilla top-tier one.
Royal Archetypes
- Each main companion has one unique Royal Archetype — the strongest classes in the game.
- They unlock at a high Bond Rank, so plan those bonds well before the finale.
- Royal forms combine top stats with signature skills tailored to that character.
- Getting one or two Royal Archetypes online transforms your endgame power.
How many there actually are
46 Archetypes across 14 lineages. The fourteen are the families — Seeker,
Warrior, Mage, Healer, Knight, Thief, Gunner, Commander, Merchant, Brawler, Faker, Summoner, Masked Dancer, Berserker
— and the 46 are those families plus their Adept, Elite and Royal forms. Our
lineage tracker follows the fourteen, which is why its count is 14 and not
46.
You do not pick Archetypes, you unlock them through bonds. Each lineage belongs
to a Follower, and its forms come at specific bond ranks — Maria’s 1, 3 and 8 give Healer, Cleric and
Saviour. So “which Archetype is best” is really “which Follower do I spend days on first”.
The Followers page has which Follower carries which lineage.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 5 September 2026 against Game8's and RPG Site's Archetype guides — both agree on 46 Archetypes across 14 lineages (14 basic + 9 Adept + 16 Elite + 7 Royal), matching this page. Re-checked on 1 October 2026 against Eurogamer.es's Archetype guide, whose per-lineage tables give the same 9 + 16 + 7 split; the line above now names the Adept forms it had left out. Exactly which bond rank unlocks each individual form is the thing reading cannot settle — nobody here has played it.