Brotato Tier List: Ranking Every Character Through Danger 5 and Beyond

Brotato started with 38 characters. The Abyssal Terrors DLC nearly doubled that to 70. Seventy different potatoes, each with a gimmick that ranges from "genuinely broken" to "why would you do this to yourself." The gap between the best and worst characters in this game is wider than most tier lists can capture, because the best characters can afk through Danger 5 while the worst ones require frame-perfect kiting to survive Wave 10.

This tier list ranks every character for Danger 5 clears. Danger 5 is where most players plateau, where the game stops being cute and starts actively trying to end you, and where character choice matters most. Below Danger 5, almost anything works. Above Danger 5 (Endless), the meta shifts toward economy and tank builds. We're ranking for the difficulty level where character choice is the tightest deciding factor.

Some characters are DLC-only. We'll flag them. If you don't own Abyssal Terrors, your roster is smaller but the tier ordering within the base game doesn't change.

The Potatoes That Don't Need Your Help (S Tier)

These characters have something fundamentally broken about their scaling, their economy, or their survivability. You can misplay them moderately and still win. You can play them well and wonder if the game is working correctly.

Cyborg

Starts with a minigun. Ranged damage boosts are increased by 250%. That's not a typo — Cyborg gets two and a half times more value from every ranged damage upgrade than any other character. The minigun alone carries early waves while you stack upgrades. By Wave 15, the screen is a light show of projectile carnage and you're wondering why every character doesn't start with a minigun. Cyborg is the character that makes new players think Brotato is easy. It is not easy. Cyborg is easy.

Golem

Cannot heal. Gains massive max HP scaling and enormous bonuses to attack speed and movement when below 50% health. Golem is the low-life berserker fantasy executed perfectly. The "cannot heal" restriction sounds crippling until you realize that stacking max HP and armor makes healing irrelevant — you just have so much health that losing some doesn't matter. At Danger 5, Golem face-tanks damage that would kill other characters twice over and hits harder for doing it.

King

Scales with Tier IV items while receiving penalties for Tier I. This means King starts slow — early waves with garbage items feel rough — but the late-game payoff is absurd. Every reroll in the shop is a chance at a high-rarity item that's worth triple its normal value. King rewards patience and shop management. The players who understand Brotato's economy play King. The players who don't understand it think King is bad.

Loud

Explosion damage and tank scaling. Loud turns every hit taken into area damage returned. Stack armor, stack regeneration, walk into the largest group of enemies you can find, and let the explosions do the work. Loud is the closest thing Brotato has to a "stand still and win" character, and at Danger 5 that's not a joke — it's a legitimate strategy that consistently clears.

Technomage

Elemental damage specialist. Burning effects applied consistently, fire damage scaling, synergy with anything that deals damage over time. Technomage turns the screen orange and keeps it that way. The sustained area damage from burn stacks handles crowds that other characters need burst damage to clear. Smooth, consistent, and deceptively powerful.

Creature (Abyssal Terrors DLC)

Curse-scaling character. Every curse you pick up makes Creature stronger. In a game where curses are normally something you avoid, Creature inverts the economy — bad items become fuel. Fast-hitting weapons with attack speed stacking let the curse bonuses compound aggressively. Creature runs feel transgressive, like you're breaking a rule the game thought you'd follow.

Old (Abyssal Terrors DLC)

Reduces enemy speed, map size, and alien spawn count. Old literally makes the game easier by existing. Fewer enemies moving slower in a smaller space means your weapons cover more of the threat. Add the wide selection of melee and ranged weapon compatibility, and Old is one of the most forgiving characters in the game for Danger 5 clears.

Strong With the Right Build (A Tier)

These characters can match S-tier performance when the shop cooperates. When it doesn't, they're still very good — just not autopilot good. The builds require more intention than S-tier picks, but the ceiling is comparable.

Crazy

Shurikens and similar fast-projectile weapons scale beautifully. Aggressive, fast-paced, rewards constant repositioning. The kind of character that makes Brotato feel like the bullet heaven it secretly is.

Brawler

Fist weapons only. High risk, high reward. Close combat means you're always in danger, but the damage output is disgusting when you commit. Brawler teaches you Brotato's dodge mechanics whether you wanted to learn them or not.

Engineer

Turret nests. The strategy is placement, not combat — you build a kill zone and let the turrets handle waves while you collect materials. Satisfying in a tower-defense way. Single-target damage is the weakness, which makes bosses harder than they should be.

Buccaneer (Abyssal Terrors DLC)

Weapon cooldown resets on picking up materials. Sounds niche. In practice, high-cooldown weapons become rapid-fire weapons as long as you keep moving through material drops. The early game is clunky. The mid-game clicks. The late game is a revelation.

Builder (Abyssal Terrors DLC)

Engineering bonuses stack into Endless viability. Straightforward scaling, clear build path, reliable clears. Builder is the "I know exactly what I'm doing" character for experienced players who want a clean run.

Curious (Abyssal Terrors DLC)

Bonus XP for every different item equipped. The optimal build is literally "random stuff." Curious rewards diversity over specialization, which inverts normal Brotato logic where you want to stack one stat. Fun, flexible, surprisingly strong when you lean into the chaos.

Doctor

Hard to kill. High sustain, healing that triggers damage to random enemies, naturally tanky stats. Doctor doesn't win fast. Doctor wins by refusing to die and chipping everything down. Not exciting. Extremely reliable.

Streamer

40% damage and attack speed boost while running. 50% material penalty. Streamer is the character that teaches you movement is a weapon. Stop moving and you lose your bonuses. Keep moving and you're a glass cannon with legs. The armor-per-structure passive rewards turret stacking alongside the movement play, creating a hybrid playstyle that's uniquely satisfying.

Explorer

Extra trees and areas spawn on the map. More trees means more XP, more materials, more health regeneration opportunities. Explorer's power isn't in combat — it's in economy. You get more resources per wave than any other character, which means better items, which means easier clears. Indirect power is still power.

Cryptid

Can't lifesteal. Reduced materials from enemies. More trees spawn. Each tree grants bonus XP, materials, and regeneration. Cryptid is Explorer's weirder cousin — the tree management minigame adds a layer of strategy that other characters skip entirely. Strong when you understand the economy, confusing when you don't.

Good Enough to Learn On (B Tier)

These characters clear Danger 5 with solid play and reasonable shop luck. They're often recommended as learning characters because their mechanics are straightforward and their weaknesses are predictable.

Well-Rounded — generic bonuses, flexible weapon selection, the tutorial potato. Excellent for learning, outscaled by specialists. Multitasker — 12 weapon slots (double normal). Complex, rewarding, harder to manage than it sounds. Gladiator — no ranged weapons, bonus attack speed per different melee weapon. When the shop gives you variety, Gladiator shreds. When it doesn't, you're holding three copies of the same sword. Soldier — bonuses for standing still. Unique mechanic, fun but punishing. Speedy — damage scales with movement speed. Exhilarating when it works, which is often enough to justify B-tier. Wildling — mighty stick, simple mechanics, solid for beginners. Jack — bonus damage, good for boss waves, the brute-force solution character. Artificer — explosion weapons, particularly the nuke launcher. Destructive, thrilling, occasionally self-destructive.

Specific Items Required (C Tier)

These characters can clear Danger 5, but they need the shop to cooperate in specific ways. Without their key items or weapons, runs feel uphill. Masochist — takes damage to gain damage. Requires tanky builds to survive the self-harm loop. Bull — gets hit to deal damage, needs armor stacking to survive the strategy. Ranger — high range scaling, needs precision/sniper weapons specifically. Pacifist — can't deal direct damage, relies entirely on structures and environmental damage. A puzzle character. Mage — elemental scaling but less focused than Technomage, needs specific item synergies. Lucky — luck-based scaling for rare items. When RNG cooperates, Lucky is A-tier. When it doesn't, Lucky is D-tier. The variance is the problem. Knight — armor-to-damage conversion for melee. Needs armor items to function; without them, just a worse Gladiator.

Challenge Picks (D Tier)

These characters are for experienced players who want difficulty modifiers, not advantages. Clearing Danger 5 with any of these is an achievement worth mentioning.

Saver — converts materials into max HP, buys items with HP. The economy is fascinating and the runs are stressful. Every purchase is a health decision. One-Armed — one weapon slot. Entire build depends on which weapon you find first. Ghost — explodes on death, respawns. The playstyle is dying strategically, which sounds cooler than it plays. Baby — weak stats, slow scaling. The challenge character. Clearing Danger 5 with Baby is a flex, not a recommendation.

The Meme Tier (F Tier)

Accursed — every item has a curse attached. Even helpful items curse you. Runs feel like the game is actively punishing you for playing. Some players love this. Those players are a specific type. Apprentice — starts with -90% damage. Scales up per wave but early game is genuinely miserable. Surviving Wave 3 feels like an accomplishment. Surviving Wave 20 feels like spite.

The Actual Takeaway

Brotato's character balance is intentionally wide. S-tier characters like Cyborg and Golem are designed to feel powerful. F-tier characters like Accursed are designed to feel cruel. The game wants both experiences to exist, which is why tier lists in Brotato are more useful than in games with tighter balance — the difference between picking Cyborg and picking Apprentice is the difference between a relaxing evening and a cardiovascular event.

The Abyssal Terrors DLC added some of the best characters in the game (Creature, Old, Buccaneer, Curious) while also adding some of the most punishing. If you haven't picked up the DLC and you're stuck on Danger 5, Creature alone might be worth the price.

Seventy characters. One potato. The shop is random. Good luck.

Brotato is available on Steam. If you're into bullet heavens where auto-fire weapons and upgrade decisions carry the loop, Granny's Rampage is ours — launching on Steam June 22.