"Rare Cats are a type of Cat Unit. Some of them can be unlocked by playing the Rare Capsule while others appear as an item drop in special events."

- The Battle Cats Miraheze Wiki

Critical Note

This ranking does NOT use the same methodology that’s used throughout this document for ubers. The standard and balance is drastically different than ubers due to them being extremely easy to acquire.

It’s also worth saying that the letter grades for this tier list is not proportional to the uber lists. A unit ranking C tier on this list does NOT mean they rank C tier on the uber list, these cats are being distributed in a vacuum.

Methodology

The general idea of this tier list is that Gacha Rares will be ranked by their usefulness across the entire game. This includes all portions from Early to Post game.

Across earlier parts of the game, Gacha Rares will be evaluated at around level 30~40 with little to no talents and no stat talents. For late-end game, I assume level 50 units with key talents unlocked and stat talents if demanded. For post game content, I assume fully maxed cats. Units will not be evaluated with + levels as the game is specifically designed to be beatable without massive boosting.

Combos are accounted for. However, uber rare combos will not be accounted since Battle Cats is designed specifically to be played uberless.

Unit Overviews

Frequently Asked Questions

"Why is Pogo Cat so high? Aren't they an overpriced meatshield?"

Admittedly Pogo isn't great for most of the early to mid game because of his competitor being Manic Eraser who is cheaper and usually survives at least one hit from most enemies. However, entering into UL content and beyond changes this dynamic. Manic Eraser fades out of the meta as enemies become significantly stronger; enough to one shot him. This leaves meatshields such as Rock, Rocker, and Pogo to fill in as the new best general meatshield options with all of them having their own unique benefits. Pogo essentially becomes the new Manic Eraser of the late game meta (along with the other 2 meatshields), making him one of the most useful and versatile units. The cost you pay for a guaranteed survivor meatshield becomes worth it. He also has arguably the best attack combo in the game.

"Why is Shaman so high? Is there something I'm missing about this unit because it's just a worse Bishop?"

Combo.

"Why is Salon so low? She's such an incredible stackable attacker!"

Salon is only useful throughout the early to mid game. In later game content, Salon becomes outclassed by an insane amount of other spammable attackers such as Weightlifter, Figure Skaters, Courier, Cameraman, Li'l King Dragon, and likely more. This is because Salon has absolutely awful cost efficiency; you can easily get better value with any of the units I just mentioned as they have superior cost, offense, and HP. In other words, Salon is just as or more expensive than her competitors but doesn't provide any better stats other than pure spam. She relies on stacking, but this always gets punished in late game stages with piercing backliners which hurts even more for her because you'll be losing way more cash if a stack falls.

"Why is Salon so high? She's easily outclassed by other spammable attackers."

Salon is very useful throughout the early to mid game. Stack meta works its best throughout content such as EOC, ITF, and SOL. She is often one of the best stackable attackers along the likes of dual Dragons as she has high enough firepower to overwhelm most melee enemies like Otta, Gory variants, and Bore variants given debuff support. She's a top pick in a few tower stages and Crazed/ Manic such as Cow, Fish, and Titan. This tier list accounts for both early game and late game value, failure to understand this will prove that you don't know how tier lists actually work.

"Why is Wheel Cat so high? They're a weak anti-Alien melee who's outclassed by Royal Guard."

It's true that Wheel loses basically all relevance once Royal Guard is attained. However, that is considered late game content. Wheel has unsurprisingly strong applications in the early game throughout ITF and COTC where he's an excellent counter to melee Aliens. The most notable matchup is Star Peng which is also why Wheel's most relevant stage is Puffer Planet. It's actually recommended for non-uber players to boost and unlock Wheel's cost down talent specifically to beat Puffsley. Wheel doesn't have much usage outside of these contents though.

"Why is Swordsman cat the worst Rare? I thought he was at least a decent melee option for his traits?"

Swordsman's range is so poor to the point where the only Angel he can hit is Gabriel, not even Heavenly Hippoe, Boraphim, or Angelic Gory are viable matchups. Outclassed by Courier.

"Why is Archer Cat so high? He's a meme unit lol"

Throughout the game Archer can be used as a stronger version of Dragon cat for Floatings and Zombies, but the more relevant points for Archer's viability mainly consists of Cadaver Bear and Oldstrich. Archer is one of the only strong 4 crown counters against Cadaver Bear and most Oldstrich stages can be beaten without Nova thanks to Archer cat.

"Why is Jurassic Cat so high? I find him to be an unreliable critical hitter and definitely not a good generalist."

Jurassic as monumental value from the start to end of the game. This is because he is by far the strongest non-uber anti-Metal unit, having an absurdly high critical chance for his attack rate with meatshield-level pricing, spammability, and stackability. With the exception of extremely niche Metals like Cybear, Jurassic is the one-shot solution to the Metal trait when boosted. This makes Jurassic exceedingly important for all players at all points of the game. Additionally he has a powerful research combo.

"Why is Cameraman not higher? I'd expect her to rank within top 3 or even as the arguable best Rare cat?"

Cameraman's fall in the end game meta resembles Salon in that both feel cost inefficient in many scenarios, although Cameraman has a way better time dealing with this fact for being nearly half as expensive. However there are other problems such as her low range and low speed which provides excellent defensive value but doesn't offer the offense that many later game stages would be better fit for. She still has powerful niches and has proven versatility (proven through The Perfect Lineup) which is why she still ranks high, just not as a definitive top pick for most stages anymore. Her early game value is still as good as it will ever be.