Clash of Critters Tier List: Best Tataris Ranked (October 2026)

01Clash of Critters Tier List at a Glance

Each Tatari below is listed by the base name you pull from the Pinball Machine. It is ranked on how good its whole evolution line becomes once it is properly built, not on how it performs as a fresh T1.

Tatari that don't appear above are either very niche or too new to rank fairly. B tier doesn't mean useless. If a B-tier Tatari is the only one you own of a needed element, it still earns its slot.

02How We Rank Tataris

Raw stats don't decide fights in Clash of Critters. Skills, status effects and placement matter more. We weigh four things:

What Changed in Version 0.50 (October 21, 2026)

• Bonobean arrives. This new Grass tank fires piercing bananas that split across lanes and drops banana peels that slow and push enemies. It gains a Grass Aura at its fourth stage. It is in A tier for now while players test it.
• Horde Invasion Season 3. New Difficulties 5 and 6, a leaderboard reset and new boss enemies.
• Waveflutter buffed. Its Horde Lv.3 skill now hits several times harder, so the Dewgrub line adds real damage on top of Sleep control.
• Maskfry nerfed. Its Lv.5 shield is much weaker, which drops it out of the top tiers.
• Voltfawn's deer line gets a more reliable Paralysis trigger.
• Other changes. A Halloween Trick-or-Treat buff on the Pinball Machine, and a weekly cap on Gold Rush Gift Boxes.

03S+ Tier: The Best Tataris to Evolve First

If you pull any of these six, start feeding them. Each one fills a role that stays important from the early chapters through to the hardest Horde difficulties.

Cheerling

Support · Cheerlet → Cheerspring

It heals neighbours and boosts their ATK and DEF. Cheerlet is one of the biggest T2 jumps in the game. Cheerspring adds emergency Invincibility and is the first support most Horde players build.

Dewgrub

Water · Control · → Waveflutter

Its water shots apply Slow and Sleep. At T3, Waveflutter spreads that control to nearby allies, and the 0.50 buff makes it a real damage dealer too.

Pyropup

Fire · Guardian · Pyrohound → Hellhound → Pyrodaemon

The best Fire frontline. It holds early lanes on day one, and as Hellhound it adds Weaken, which makes it a standout in Gold Rush and Horde.

Voltfawn

Lightning · DPS · Sparkdoe → Zapantler

Its Stun Spear pierces a whole lane and paralyzes everything it hits. Place it at the top of a straight lane, and it pays off even more after the 0.50 Paralysis change.

Frugling

Grass · DPS · Frugatoad → Frugagon

A starter that never stops being useful. Its exploding fruit clears clustered waves, and a maxed copy boosts other Grass Tataris. It pairs well with Goonbug.

Zappur

Lightning · Guardian · Electroar → Blitzmane

AoE damage with knockback from the start. Blitzmane is a core Horde tank that also boosts the damage of attackers next to it.

04S and A Tier Breakdown

S Tier: The Backbone of Your Roster

Goonbug

Grass

Capobeetle → Donscarab → Beetleknight

An invincible dash with AoE damage. At T2 it starts applying Fragile, so your backline hits harder.

Punchimp

Rock

Rockfu → Rockwu → Rockong

Unimpressive until T3, where its staff spin covers several lanes and it summons clones. Save copies and jump straight to Rockong.

Rubblet

Rock

Cobbledon → Rockzilla → Meteorax

The top Rock tank. Self-shielding keeps hard lanes standing.

Gibber

Rock

Turtuff → Rockshell → Terraton

Just a spinning turtle at T1, but Rockshell shields every ally its shell passes. It is a core Horde tank.

Frostnip

Water

Frostpaw → Frostique → Frostluna

The cleanest early source of Slow, and Slow stays useful forever. At T2 its ice splits into piercing shards.

Ashlarva

Fire

Firecoil → Charflutter → Chrysolaria

Its flame ring damages enemies and heals allies standing inside it. A set-and-forget tank and support.

Blueflick

Fire

Ignisnap → Azurion → Newflamander

The best early lane clearer thanks to Burn. Azurion is still a core Horde damage dealer.

Poakie

Fire

Sizzribb → Lickflicker → Ignitoad

Spreads Burn through crowded lanes. Lickflicker is one of the best Horde frontliners.

Budboo

Grass

Snapshade → Thornwisp → Chomperwraith

A slow start, but Thornwisp's Poison zones give the most reliable sustained boss damage in Horde.

Snowcub

Water

Polarpaw → Blizzgrizz → Anglerbear

A tank that fires piercing fish and spends one to heal and cleanse itself when in danger.

Dolphie

Water

Blubbles → Aquariel → Irisia

Its waves heal, stack damage boosts and cut incoming damage across three lanes. Aquariel helps from Horde Lv.1.

A Tier: Role Specialists Worth Building Second

• Buddi (Grass healer): Steady healing and ATK buffs that carry long boss fights. It has almost no damage of its own.
• Manteeny (Grass): Fast multi-hit slashes that control the front line. Excellent early, but endgame lists rank it lower.
• Maskfry (Water tank): Its pull is still useful, but the 0.50 shield nerf takes it out of S tier.
• Ringtail (Rock support) → Rizzler → Zorrock: Its returning Lackeys heal and boost allies. Place it between two useful teammates.
• Sparkit (Fire) → Firefox → Flarevix → Phantifox: Burst damage that shines in Badge Dojo and boss stages.
• Shrimpyro (Fire) → Pyroprawn → Pyroclobster → Pyroviathan: Close-range volleys for heavy boss damage. It needs real investment to survive.
• Tindercub (Fire Guardian) → Kitjitsu → Taiglow: A Dojo staple with self-healing and Burn.
• Cavyzap (Lightning): Its Electro Cage hinders several enemies. One of the cheapest T2s in the game (six copies plus 300 defeated Zobos).
• Sealing, Pandaroo and Waddledo: A ricochet AoE (Sealing), field Slow for long fights (Pandaroo) and a solid Water frontline (Waddledo).
• Popa and Bonobean (newest): Both are promising but still being tested. Pull them, but don't pour Candy in until the community settles on where they fit.

05Best Tatari by Element

Badge Dojo asks for several evolved Tataris of the same element, so it pays to pick one or two main elements and go deep. These are the best Tataris of each element, by role:

06Horde Invasion Season 3 Tier List and Best Team

Horde Invasion is a co-op mode. You and a partner hold off 35 waves of increasingly brutal Boss Zobos, and each Tatari unlocks extra skills at in-run Lv.3, Lv.5 and Lv.7. Season 3 has just started, so these picks are the safest carry-overs from Season 2, adjusted for the 0.50 balance changes. The names are their T3 forms.

Common Horde Mistakes to Avoid

07Evolution Priority: Who to Take to Tier 3 and Tier 4

Candy and copies run out fast. Spreading them evenly across your roster is the most common way accounts stall. Follow this order:

Badge Dojo Evolution Requirements

Some known T4 forms are Flarevix → Phantifox, Hellhound → Pyrodaemon, Ashlarva's line → Chrysolaria, Shrimpyro's line → Pyroviathan and Voltkit's line → Voltreaver. Farlight keeps adding new T4 paths with each update, so check the in-game Trials list before committing.

08Best Beginner and F2P Team

Your board has five lanes with up to three Tataris each. Every lane needs three jobs covered: something that survives first contact, something that deals damage, and ideally a support next to them. These accessible picks cover all three:

• Put supports between two allies that actually benefit from healing and buffs.
• When a stage fails, find the lane that broke and fix that one lane. Don't swap half the team.
• Save Pinballs before a new event starts, then spend them while that event's currency is on the board.

09How to Get More Pinballs and Wish Boxes for Your Top Picks

Knowing who's S+ only helps if you can build them. Nearly everything comes through the Pinball Machine: new Tataris, duplicate copies and Candy. Wish Boxes are the rarest resource because they add stars to any Tatari you choose, which makes them the best way to finish an S+ line.

Want to rush a specific line to T3 or T4? A Clash of Critters top up on KeyGold gets you the Monthly Pass, Weekly Pass and Ignis Gems bundles for less than the in-game price. Everything is bought inside your own account, so first-purchase rewards and event milestones still count.