Evil Dead: The Game best character tier list

Who is the best character in Evil Dead: The Game? Evil Dead: The Game is an asymmetric multiplayer survival horror game along the lines of Dead By Daylight and Friday the 13th, but with the added appeal of drawing from perhaps the single greatest horror franchise of all time. Too strong? Well, perhaps my bias is showing, but you can’t argue with the game’s pedigree, especially since it’s been allowed to pull characters (both heroic and villainous) from the original movie trilogy and the mid-2010s follow-up TV series with reckless glee. These sorts of games often feel like grown-up toy boxes, and Evil Dead: The Game is an absolute delight for fans of the series.

Whether you’re an Evil Dead old-timer or a complete newcomer to the franchise drawn in by the game’s premise, this tier list of the best characters in Evil Dead: The Game will help you to choose the best Survivors and Demons to win matches and suit your playstyle.

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The best Survivor characters in Evil Dead: The Game

• SS Tier: Ash Williams (Army of Darkness), Lord Arthur
• S Tier: Annie Knowby, Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead), Ash Williams (The Evil Dead), Cheryl Williams
• A Tier: Amanda Fisher, Henry the Red, Kelly Maxwell
• B Tier: Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2), Ed Getley, Scotty
• C Tier: Pablo Simon Bolivar

There are 13 Survivor characters to choose from in Evil Dead: The Game, because of course there are; and unless the developers choose to draw in characters fom the reboot movie and its upcoming sequel, they’re close to already maxed out on canonical heroes. So there’s a good chance that this golden number will remain as the amount of options you’ll have for quite some time.

Characters are divided into four classes: Leaders (Ash Williams from Ash vs Evil Dead, Annie Knowby, and Lord Arthur), Warriors (Ash Williams from Army of Darkness, Henry the Red, and Scotty), Hunters (Ash Williams from Evil Dead 2, Amanda Fisher, Ed Getley, and Kelly Maxwell), and Support (Ash Williams from The Evil Dead, Cheryl Williams, and Pablo Simon Bolivar).

Each character has four skills unique to them: one active and one passive which are available automatically, and two more passives which are unlocked by levelling up (at Level 10 and Level 25, respectively). In addition to their sets of four unique skills, characters have a class-based skill tree that you can build through by earning and distributing XP from matches.

As you can probably see from the tier list, some classes have emerged as preferable to others at launch: melee-oriented Warriors tend to be superior to ranged Hunters due to the likelihood that you’ll end up in close-combat at several points during a match; while Leaders, despite their name, often provide more useful and enduring benefits to their teams than Support characters (the latter are an extremely mixed bag).

SS Tier Survivors

Ash Williams (Army of Darkness)

Unique abilities:

• Wiseman’s Potion: When activated, this ability will grant you health regeneration, fear reduction, increased damage dealing, and reduction of damage received.
• Shield Blast: Each time your shield loses a bar, it triggers an explosion, damaging nearby enemies.
• Finish Strong (Level 10): After Ash kills an enemy with a finisher he recovers part of his shield bar.
• Weapon Master: Chainsaw (Level 25): The chainsaw has a faster attack speed and deals increased health, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.

One of two classic tank units in the game, Ash Williams (Army of Darkness) has the unusual ability to buff just about every stat he possesses from the word go, with his in-built skill triggering health regeneration, fear reduction, incoming damage reduction and outgoing damage increase all at once. His higher-level skills are focussed around building a shield that feeds off of enemy hits and doling out ever more impressive attacks with his chainsaw, but even with his basic kit he’s almost unstoppable. If you pick him in a public lobby, don’t be surprised if a few of your party members instantly quit on you.

Lord Arthur

To unlock Lord Arthur, you must complete Mission 5 (“Homecoming King”) in single player.

Unique abilities:

• The Lord’s Wrath: When activated, this ability increases the damage inflicted by your melee attacks and those of your nearby teammates, in addition to reducing fear levels; if Lord Arthur has a sword, he inflicts extra damage.
• Weapon Master: Heavy Attacks: You and all teammates within the aura’s radius deal increased damage with heavy melee attacks; start the match with a sword.
• Weapon Master: Light Attacks (Level 10): You and all teammates within the aura’s radius deal increased damage with light melee attacks.
• Fuel The Fire (Level 25): If you perform a finisher while The Lord’s Wrath is active, the ability lasts longer.

On paper Lord Arthur isn’t necessarily more impressive than the other characters in the Leader class, with his unique buffs being exclusively melee-focussed, in contrast to Annie’s ranged bonus and Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead)’s all-damage bonus. But honestly, given the number of times you’ll find yourself surrounded by Deadites in close quarters, that melee boost is going to come in handy. Guns run out of ammo and need reloading, but with melee you can just keep on hacking and slashing; with the added bonus that melee finisher animations in this game prevent you from taking damage while they’re active. Arthur’s kit comes into its own at a lower level than Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead)’s as well, so he’s the best choice to pick-up-and-play — assuming you somehow didn’t level any other Leader characters while you were waiting to unlock him.

S Tier Survivors

Annie Knowby

Unique abilities:

• Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: When activated, this skill increases ranged damage from Annie and any teammates who are near her.
• Howitzer: You and all teammates within this aura’s effect radius deal more damage with ranged weapons.
• Haymaker (Level 10): Attacks by you and your teammates within this aura’s effect radius cause more damage to the balance bar of basic evil units.
• Slugger (Level 25): Attacks by you and your teammates within this aura’s effect radius cause more damage to the balance bar of elite and boss evil units.

If there were any justice, Annie Knowby would be this game’s top Leader character; as it is, she’s the only one who’s unlocked by default, so the odds are good that she will be your best and highest-level from her class for quite some time in practice. Annie is a nightmare opponent in the early game, but later on she’s held back by that same focus on ranged attacks that made her so powerful to start with. Once you hit her Level 10 passive, however, she gains a little ground in close combat, and a fully-levelled Annie could easily ascend to the SS Tier.

Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead)

To unlock Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead), you must complete Mission 1 (“If You Love Someone, Set Them Free… With A Chainsaw”) in single player.

Unique abilities:

• Show Up And Blow Up: When activated, this skill generates an explosion, damaging enemies’ balance bar.
• El Jefe: An aura that affects all survivors within range, increasing their fear resistance and the damage they inflict.
• Old Friend (Level 10): Start the match with a chainsaw.
• El Jefe Grande (Level 25): Enhances your aura’s effects when you perform a finisher or dismember an enemy.

Ash Williams (Ash vs Evil Dead) is a tricky one to classify, because his abilities are evenly split between being some of the best in the game (El Jefe and El Jefe Grande) and, frankly, nothing special at all (Shut Up And Blow Up and Old Friend). His excellent team buffs alone are well worth bringing him along for, however, even if his chainsaw special weapon is more iconic than it is likely to turn the tide in the Survivors’ favour during a match.

Ash Williams (The Evil Dead)

Unique abilities:

• Reassuring Presence: When activated, this ability reduces fear levels for you and nearby teammates.
• Alternative Healing: Successful heavy melee attacks partially restore health for you and nearby teammates.
• Marked Target: Damage (Level 10): Headshots will mark the target; a follow up shot from a teammate will deal additional damage.
• Marked Target: Healing (Level 25): Headshots will mark the target; a follow up shot from a teammate will restore a percentage of the damage back to them as health.

I’m a sucker for a solid mixed-support type character, and Ash Williams (The Evil Dead) ticks… maybe not all the boxes, or else he’d be in the SS Tier, but many of them. One of the most difficult features of the game at launch is how bloody quickly the Fear metre builds up, so the fact that the youngest incarnation of our hero can negate that makes him an extremely useful teammate. Add in the fact that he doubles up as a healer and you’ve got a great support character; although unfortunately he’s got no defenses beyond the basics, so the other three members of his team will want to keep close for his benefit as well as theirs.

Cheryl Williams

Unique abilities:

• Healing Touch: When active, this ability creates a healing zone for you and your teammates.
• Cola Coaster: Carry more Shemp’s Cola and start the match with an extra one in your inventory.
• Contact Courage (Level 10): Drinking a Shemp’s Cola partially reduces your fear and the fear of nearby teammates.
• Contact Healing (Level 25): When you drink a Shemp’s Cola, nearby teammates will also gain health. When you drink a Shemp’s Cola, nearby teammates will also gain health.

Cheryl Williams is Evil Dead: The Game’s classic healer character. In a game where health items can be hard to come by, having her there to make the most of what there is and supplement it with her healing aura is a solid choice. She doesn’t do much else out of the ordinary, but she’s very good at what she does, especially once you pick up her extra passive skills at Levels 10 and 25. That said, she’s no slouch from the very start, and she and her brother Ash (as in, the original one) can easily be called the best support characters in the game. Since you can only bring one of them along to a match, often the hardest decision you’ll have to make is whether you want to go all-in on Cheryl’s healing with a touch of fear reduction, or go with Ash for a better balance between the two.

A Tier Survivors

Amanda Fisher

To unlock Amanda Fisher, you must complete Mission 3 (“Kill ‘Em All”) in single player.

• Ammo For Days: When activated, this ability allows you to temporarily fire your ranged weapons without expending any ammunition.
• Trusty Sidearm: Start the match with a pistol.
• Weapon Master: Pistol (Level 10): The pistol has a faster attack speed and deals increased damage, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.
• Accuracy Counts (Level 25): Damage dealt by your ranged weapons increases with each consecutive hit.

I’ve already expressed my feeling that Hunter characters aren’t the best class the game has to offer, but at least Amanda Fisher justifies the effort you have to expend to unlock her, when compared to the Hunters you have access to from the start. Her initial skills grant her a weapon in her inventory by default and the ability to fire it without expending ammo when her active skill is in effect, which in itself is just about the most useful thing a Hunter can do: hit the ground running, since their speacialisation is at its most useful in the early stages of a match. Levelling Amanda all the way up increases her effectiveness, which is generally more satisfying than the unusual (and, depending on the situation, sometimes unhelpful) abilities gained by other Hunters at higher levels.

Henry the Red

Unique abilities:

• Unstoppable: Activating this ability temporarily prevents damage to health or shield.
• Shields Up: Start the match with an additional shield bar.
• Rebound (Level 10): Reflects a percentage of the damage you receive back onto your attacker.
• Battle Hardened (Level 25): Increases maximum health and shield bar length.

Like Ash Williams (Army of Darkness), Henry the Red is a classic tank unit. In fact, he might well have made it higher than the A Tier if it weren’t for the unfortunate comparison with the aforementioned Ash, who is pretty unanimously considered the best Survivor in the game. As it is, though, Henry the Red can withstand just about anything the Demon throws at him, meaning that he’s perfectly positioned to make a brave last stand for the Survivor team, and can often end up being the one who pulls the match back from the brink; although unfortunately, there’s not much he can do to keep that from happening in the first place.

Kelly Maxwell

Unique abilities:

• Slipshot: When activated, you dodge without using stamina and your ranged attacks cause bleeding damage to your target for a short period.
• Weapon Master: Meat Hammer: The meat hammer has a faster attack speed and deals increased damage, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.
• Countershot (Level 10): Your next ranged attack after a successful dodge inflicts bleeding damage on your target for a short time.
• Battle Frenzy (Level 25): Your melee damage increases the longer you are in sustained combat.

I really struggled with where to place Kelly Maxwell on this tier list; in the end, I could only place her in the middle tier, because depending on your play style she could be anything from the best to the worst choice of character. Kelly’s kit favours a strongly mixed combat approach: she’s a Hunter character with access to that class’s ranged skill tree, but her unqiue skills support a mix of ranged and melee attacks. Does this make her unfocused and underpowered compared to true specialist units, or the most versatile fighter in the entire game? It really is a matter of perspective. For what it’s worth, I think Kelly makes a good choice if you’re teaming up with players you haven’t partied up with before, because she can take care of herself pretty effectively if your teammates run off and leave you. At the same time, with the right equipment she’s one of the few characters who can be equally useful throughout all stages of the match.

B Tier Survivors

Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2)

Unique abilities:

• Exorcist: When activated, this ability exorcises the demon from any possessed survivor or basic unit. If used on a possessed or elite boss unit, the ability drains some Infernal Energy from the demon.
• Treasure Hunter: See supply crates through walls at close range.
• I’m The Guy With The Double-Barrel (Level 10): Start the match with the double-barreled shotgun.
• Weapon Master: Double Barrel (Level 25): The double-barreled shotgun has a faster attack speed and deals increased damage, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.

Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2) begins the game with a duo of very useful, if highly situational, unique support skills. Unfortunately, he’s not the Support Ash unit, but the Hunter Ash unit. As you level him up, the rest of his kit focuses on a shotgun specialism that (like everything else he does) is useful in the right context, but doesn’t feel particularly outstanding. To be fair to this Ash, I think it’s quite reasonable to wish you could switch out your team’s Hunter for a second Support character, in which case he’s an ideal choice. But actually used as a Hunter he’s not on Amanda’s level, and he can’t match Kelly’s versatility either.

Ed Getley

Unique Abilities:

• It’s A Trap: When activated, this ability grants use of a unique flashlight that allows you to detect and temporarily disarm demon traps.
• Enduring Light: Increases the battery life of your flashlight.
• Weapon Master: Crossbow (Level 10): The crossbow has a faster attack speed and deals increased damage, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.
• The Collector (Level 25): Increases the chance that defeated enemies will drop items; also improves the chance of finding crates of a higher rarity.

Pretty much everything I just said about Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2) could equally apply to Ed Getley. He’s a support character who’s wandered into the Hunter class by mistake, and while his starting abilities are incredibly useful under the right conditions, building him up to Level 10 doesn’t improve them but rather gives you access to some slightly-better-than-average ranged skills with one specific weapon instead. His Level 25 skill is pretty damned impressive, though, so if you’re willing to really give it the long-haul with Ed, he’ll actually become a great asset to your team. Just… definitely in a class other than the one his skill tree’s built around, unfortunately.

Scotty

Unique abilities:

• Thunder Thrust: When activated, this explosive special move damages all enemies in the surrounding area.
• Collateral Damage: Your heavy melee attacks inflict additional damage to nearby enemies.
• Exposure Therapy (Level 10): Partially reduces your fear levels with each enemy you kill.
• Weapon Master: Lumberjack Axe (Level 25): The lumberjack axe has a faster attack speed and deals increased health, balance bar, and dismemberment damage.

Warrior is one of the game’s better classes overall, and Scotty shouldn’t be judged too strongly for falling short of the high bar set by Ash Williams (Army of Darkness) and Henry the Red. Unfortunately, though, he’s the only Warrior unit who can’t tank, and that coupled with his slow melee attacks with anything other than his specialist weapon (which, incidentally, can’t be guaranteed for his loadout) just make him the least desirable character from his class by comparison. At Level 10 he can begin to reduce his own fear, though, which is an extremely useful power to have in this game; so it might well be worth persevering to level him up. At that point I might even go so far as to call him a “mental tank”, compared to Henry the Red’s physical tanking abilities; although it’s still worth remembering that Ash Williams (Army of Darkness) can do both.

C Tier Survivors

Pablo Simon Bolivar

To unlock Pablo Simon Bolivar, you must complete Mission 4 (“It’s Not Gonna Let Us Go!”) in single player.

Unique abilities:

• Gift From El Brujo Especial: Activate this skill to begin creating an amulet and then drop it to the ground on completion.
• Infernal Camouflage: Demons are no longer able to detect you using Demon Vision.
• Legacy Of El Brujo (Level 10): Begin the match with an additional amulet.
• Shamanic Protection (Level 25): Your shield bar will gradually recover over time until you have at least one full bar.

Oh, Pablo, buddy, I am so sorry; this game did you real dirty. It saddens me not a little that Pablo Simon Bolivar is one of the hardest locked characters to add to your roster, only to discover once he’s there that he’s basically a stealth character and (outside of the solo mission you play to unlock him), this is not exactly a stealth game. There are no bad survivors to play as in Evil Dead: The Game, but Pablo requires extensive support from his teammates to make the most of him, which isn’t ideal in a character who’s meant to be providing support. If you want an endless supply of amulets to buff your shields, his unique skills are undeniably invaluable, but since all he can really do is buff shields and hide from the Demon, there’s a hard limit to his utility on a team.

The best Demon characters in Evil Dead: The Game

• SS Tier: Puppeteer
• S Tier: Necromancer
• A Tier: Warlord

Unlike the Survivor characters in Evil Dead: The Game, the power ranking among the Demons follows an easily-discernible pattern: the later they were introduced into the franchise, the more powerful they are. This makes a lot of sense to me: after all, the Evil Dead series thrives on escalation, and so the threats faced by Ash and co. invariably got bigger and tougher over time.

That being said, all the playable Demons in Evil Dead: The Game are pretty solid choices to play as. There’s a higher difficulty threshold to really master playing as the Demon than there is for most individual Survivor characters, but you won’t find yourself significantly hampered when honing your skills by choosing a character from the A Tier rather than the SS Tier.

On the A Tier we have the Warlord: the most classic Evil Dead baddie in the bunch, with a basic yet powerful kit. All of the Warlord’s skills build on their starting ability, Bad Influence, which allows them to buff the power of nearby Deadites. Every subsequent level-up increases Bad Influence’s effects on nearby Deadites’ health, damage ability, and attack frequency, as well as increasing the range of the skill’s aura. Not incredibly exciting, admittedly, but still a literal nightmare to come up against for most survivor teams.

I’ve placed the Necromancer on the S Tier. This troupe, led by yet another Ash Williams (this time in his Evil Ash incarnation) has the distinction of possessing the most diverse set of Demon skills in the game. Evil Ash’s abilities focus on buffing the members of his skeleton army; particularly the hilarious yet sinister skeletal flautist, whose music in turn buffs other skeletons to provide extra damage with the help of this Demon’s starting skill (Flute To Kill) and Tier II level-up skill (Motivational Music). But after levelling up, the Necromancer can also directly buff nearby skeleton units for increased fear (at Tier I – Skelephobia) and damage (at Tier III – Skeletal Injuries), allowing this Demon to attack the survivors with a number of different tricks.

The SS Tier, though, absolutely belongs to the Puppeteer. Like the Warlord, the Puppeteer’s kit is very linear, starting with the Puppet Master: Power Possess skill and then building on it in subsequent level-ups. This skill increases the health of any unit in their army the Demon player takes direct control of via possession, as well as doling out increased damage and fear to survivors who are attacked by said active unit. There also seems to be no limit to the Puppeteer’s ability to clone itself, meaning that the Demon army can soon overwhelm the survivors through sheer numbers alone — and that’s before you take into account that this Demon has no weak spots in their attack range.

That’s all we have on Evil Dead: The Game for now, but if I get my way I’m going to keep tier listing Bruce Campbells until retirement, so check back in soon for more on this game from Rock Paper Shotgun! Meantime, we’ve noticed a lot of fans of Evil Dead: The Game seem to be fond of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt as well; so, if that’s you, why not check out our Bloodhunt best archetypes tier list while you’re here?