Maplestory – Best Class Tier List 2024 & DPS Chart

One of the most challenging things to do in Maplestory is, for many players, deciding which class to play when creating a new character.

There are several things to consider when choosing which class to play, including the playstyle. damage, bossing capabilities, grinding, and complexity.

Recommended Read: Maplestory – Best Link Skills

To help you decide what the best class is for you in Maplestory, this tier list ranks classes based on these factors. You can also find a DPS/DPM chart for all classes that were relevant earlier but now not so much.

If you’re looking for a class for a specific purpose, you can find the best class for bossing, farming & mobbing, and new players below.

Table of Contents

• Maplestory Best Class Tier List
• Class DPM/DPS Charts (GMS & KMS)
• Best Bossing Classes
• Best Mobbing and Farming Classes
• Best Class for New Players

Maplestory Best Class Tier List

Choosing what class to play is no easy task in any RPG, and neither is it in Maplestory. Knowing the potential of a class can help some players choose a class.

While it is always recommended to choose a class that you enjoy playing, some prefer knowing that the class they play generally performs among the best.

The following tier list ranks all classes in Global Maplestory based on their overall potential when considering damage output, bossing capabilities, and mobbing.

Icon	Class	Tier	Branch	Main Stat
	Hero	S	Explorer (Warrior)	Strength (STR)
	Demon Slayer	S	Resistance	Strength (STR)
	Illium	S	Flora	Intelligence (INT)
	Dawn Warrior	S	Cygnus Knight	Strength (STR)
	Night Walker	S	Cygnus Knight	Luck (LUK)
	Ark	S	Flora	Strength (STR)
	Lara	S	Anima	Intelligence (INT)
	Night Lord	S	Explorer (Thief)	Luck (LUK)
	Kain	S	Nova	Dexterity (DEX)
	Wind Archer	S	Cygnus Knight	Dexterity (DEX)
	Bishop	S	Explorer (Magician)	Intelligence (INT)
	Fire Poison Mage	A	Explorer (Magician)	Intelligence (INT)
	Cadena	A	Nova	Luck (LUK)
	Hoyoung	A	Anima	Luck (LUK)
	Thunder Breaker	A	Cygnus Knight	Strength (STR)
	Aran	A	Hero	Strength (STR)
	Angelic Buster	A	Nova	Dexterity (DEX)
	Shadower	A	Explorer (Thief)	Luck (LUK)
	Dark Knight	A	Explorer (Warrior)	Strength (STR)
	Marksman	A	Explorer (Bowman)	Dexterity (DEX)
	Xenon	A	Resistance	Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Luck (LUK)
	Mihile	A	Cygnus Knight	Strength (STR)
	Dual Blade	A	Explorer	Luck (LUK)
	Mercedes	A	Hero	Dexterity (DEX)
	Paladin	A	Explorer (Warrior)	Strength (STR)
	Khali	A	Flora	Luck (LUK)
	Blaster	B	Resistance	Strength (STR)
	Adele	B	Flora	Strength (STR)
	Evan	B	Hero	Intelligence (INT)
	Hayato	B	Sengoku	Strength (STR)
	Battle Mage	B	Resistance	Intelligence (INT)
	Pathfinder	B	Explorer	Dexterity (DEX)
	Buccaneer	B	Explorer (Pirate)	Strength (STR)
	Phantom	B	Hero	Luck (LUK)
	Beast Tamer	B	Beast Tamer	Intelligence (INT)
	Bow Master	B	Explorer (Bowman)	Dexterity (DEX)
	Zero	C	Transcendent	Strength (STR)
	Ice Lightning Mage	C	Explorer (Magician)	Intelligence (INT)
	Mechanic	C	Resistance	Dexterity (DEX)
	Luminous	C	Hero	Intelligence (INT)
	Kaiser	C	Nova	Strength (STR)
	Cannoneer	C	Explorer	Strength (STR)
	Corsair	C	Explorer (Pirate)	Dexterity (DEX)
	Wild Hunter	C	Resistance	Dexterity (DEX)
	Demon Avenger	C	Resistance	Hit Points (HP)
	Kinesis	D	Magician	Intelligence (INT)
	Kanna	D	Sengoku	Intelligence (INT)
	Shade	D	Hero	Strength (STR)
	Blaze Wizard	D	Cygnus Knight	Intelligence (INT)

The current tier list is based on rankings by the Maplestory community.

Class DPM/DPS Charts (GMS & KMS)

Previously, many players looked at DPM charts to get an idea of how strong the different classes in Maplestory were.

Now, however, they are much less relevant, as there are so many factors in bossing scenarios and grinding that make the numbers in DPM charts unattainable.

DPM charts are used so little now that they are not really being made anymore. Therefore, all the DPM charts below are based on previous patches in GMS and KMS.

DPS rankings are based on calculations against a single target with only one part to attack, which reflects a class’s performance against some bosses. Against certain bosses, you need to take out multiple parts at once.

The following two tier lists are not a direct reflection of how well a class does against all bosses because calculations are based on unobtainable, perfect stationary conditions with nothing to dodge or things to follow/do.

Instead, it is an overview of how much damage each class, in theory, can dish out against a single target.

The two tier lists below do not factor in utility, such as useful buffs for your party, bossing capabilities, or mobbing, only damage output.

UPDATE: This guide now includes two DPM charts, one based on KMS DPM data and one on GMS DPM data. Neither of these data sets is up to date with the current version of GMS. The KMS DPM data is from a newer version than the GMS data, but there are some fundamental differences between GMS and KMS, including attack speed cap, which affects the DPM potential of some classes in GMS compared to KMS.

Maplestory DPM Chart & Tier List Based on KMS data

The following tier list is based on DPM data from the Korean Maplestory patch 1.2.360 (Destiny), which is the patch where the explorer classes were reworked again, source. As this data is from KMS, it does not include the GMS exclusive classes, Hayato, Jett (now removed), Kanna, and Beast Tamer.

Furthermore, you can attain a higher attack speed in GMS, which means that classes that don’t use key-down skills as their main attack skills, like the Hero class, can attain a higher DPM in GMS than in KMS, meaning they will have a higher DPM than in the data below.

Icon	Class	Rank	Tier	DPS (Billions)	DPM (Billions)	Relative
	Fire Poison Mage	1	S+	310.99	18,659.55	157%
	Cadena	2	S+	295.39	17,723.21	149%
	Corsair	3	S+	293.25	17,595.25	148%
	Blaster	4	S	287.12	17,227.43	145%
	Ice Lightning Mage	5	S	281.23	16,873.76	142%
	Shadower	6	S	280.16	16,809.69	141%
	Kinesis	7	S	279.82	16,789.29	141%
	Night Walker	8	S	277.96	16,677.33	140%
	Dawn Warrior	9	S	276.31	16,578.75	139%
	Bow master	10	S	271.82	16,309.34	137%
	Thunder Breaker	11	A	267.52	16,051.37	135%
	Adele	12	A	266.14	15,968.43	134%
	Hero	13	A	265.03	15,901.99	133%
	PathFinder	14	A	263.87	15,832.39	133%
	Wild Hunter	15	A	262.00	15,719.89	132%
	Night Lord	16	A	259.07	15,543.94	130%
	Aran	17	A	257.05	15,422.79	129%
	Marksman	18	A	256.81	15,408.45	129%
	Hoyoung	19	A	254.59	15,275.60	128%
	Angelic Buster	20	A	254.08	15,244.69	128%
	Evan	21	A	253.42	15,204.98	128%
	Paladin	22	B	253.06	15,183.74	127%
	Buccaneer	23	B	251.22	15,073.42	126%
	Illium	24	B	250.29	15,017.25	126%
	Mercedes	25	B	249.63	14,977.73	126%
	Battle Mage	26	B	248.93	14,935.83	125%
	Demon Slayer	27	B	247.91	14,874.39	125%
	Bishop	28	B	247.47	14,848.48	125%
	Xenon	29	B	247.20	14,831.89	124%
	Dark Knight	30	B	246.30	14,778.00	124%
	Demon Avenger	31	B	244.99	14,699.17	123%
	Cannoneer	32	B	241.51	14,490.63	122%
	Kaiser	33	B	240.96	14,457.85	121%
	Kain	34	B	235.01	14,100.61	118%
	Ark	35	B	234.42	14,065.21	118%
	Shade	36	B	234.25	14,055.19	118%
	Dual Blade	37	B	233.50	14,010.02	118%
	Mechanic	38	C	233.10	13,985.87	117%
	Luminous	39	C	231.68	13,900.52	117%
	Blaze Wizard	40	C	229.95	13,797.20	116%
	Zero	41	C	228.14	13,688.43	115%
	Wind Archer	42	C	225.83	13,549.73	114%
	Mihile	43	C	223.95	13,437.20	113%
	Lara	44	C	218.65	13,119.15	110%
	Phantom	45	D	198.60	11,915.79	100%

Maplestory DPM Chart & Tier List Based on GMS data

The following tier list is based on data prepared by Monolith, source, from the Global Maplestory Patch 227.0 (Maplestory X BUGCAT CAPOO). DPM calculations are based on the character being fully optimized, which includes being max level with BIS gear. You can read more about the conditions used for calculating damage output here.

While the data used in the tier list above (KMS Destiny Patch) is from a newer version of Maplestory than GMS 227.0 used in the one below, GMS has more classes than KMS and a different attack speed cap, which affects the DPM potential of many classes.

Icon	Class	Rank	Tier	DPS (Billions)	DPM (Billions)	Relative
	Fire Poison Mage	1	S+	548.05	32,883.08	166.4%
	Blaster	2	S+	542.03	32,521.64	164.57%
	Adele	3	S+	540.08	32,404.69	163.98%
	Cadena	4	S+	535.64	32,138.18	162.63%
	Hoyoung	5	S	495.69	29,741.21	150.5%
	Evan	6	S	492.15	29,528.74	149.43%
	Kinesis	7	S	492.14	29,528.3	149.42%
	Hero	8	S	491.76	29,505.48	149.31%
	Demon Slayer	9	A	480.23	28,813.77	145.81%
	Dawn Warrior	10	A	475.41	28,524.52	144.34%
	Kanna	11	A	471.12	28,267.15	143.04%
	Thunder Breaker	12	A	465.14	27,908.53	141.23%
	Illium	13	A	463.94	27,836.38	140.86%
	Aran	14	A	460.36	27,621.66	139.77%
	Zero	15	A	460.15	27,609.03	139.71%
	Ark	16	A	459.34	27,560.2	139.46%
	Angelic Buster	17	A	458.36	27,501.33	139.17%
	Night Walker	18	A	456.15	27,369.08	138.5%
	Hayato	19	A	453.94	27,236.47	137.82%
	Shadower	20	A	450.16	27,009.72	136.68%
	Battle Mage	21	B	437.35	26,240.87	132.79%
	Ice Lightning Mage	22	B	436.18	26,171.09	132.43%
	Mechanic	23	B	422.71	25,362.4	128.34%
	Pathfinder	24	B	420.7	25,241.82	127.73%
	Buccaneer	25	B	415.65	24,938.83	126.2%
	Jett	26	B	414.08	24,845.08	125.72%
	Luminous	27	B	411.1	24,665.99	124.82%
	Dark Knight	28	B	409.04	24,542.47	124.19%
	Lara	29	B	408.77*	24,526,37*	124.11%*
	Kaiser	30	B	407.77	24,466.27	123.81%
	Marksman	31	B	407.08	24,425.07	123.6%
	Xenon	32	B	402.98	24,178.82	122.35%
	Phantom	33	B	401.05	24,062.87	121.77%
	Night Lord	34	B	400.08	24,004.89	121.47%
	Kain	35	B	394.46	23,667.4	119.77%
	Beast Tamer	36	C	382.08	22,924.61	116.01%
	Cannoneer	37	C	378.22	22,693.24	114.83%
	Corsair	38	C	377.82	22,669.1	114.71%
	Shade	39	C	373.05	22,383.2	113.27%
	Mihile	40	C	369.55	22,172.74	112.2%
	Dual Blade	41	C	369.49	22,169.35	112.18%
	Mercedes	42	C	357.21	21,432.45	108.46%
	Wind Archer	43	C	355.24	21,314.21	107.86%
	Blaze Wizard	44	C	353.68	21,220.86	107.38%
	Bow Master	45	C	351.39	21,083.23	106.69%
	Wild Hunter	46	D	329.44	19,766.29	100.02%
	Bishop	47	D	329.36	19,761.8	100%
	Paladin	48	D	328.83	19,729.67	99.84%
	Demon Avenger	49	D	323.91	19,434.84	98.35%

Both the rank and tier of each job in the game are entirely based on the DPM output, not other factors like utility, buffing for party members, etc.

*Lara’s damage values are based on the class’ relative damage value compared to Bishop in an older KMS patch, as no GMS data on Lara’s damage is available.

Best Bossing Classes

Once you reach late game, the primary objective is to become stronger to beat powerful bosses. Therefore, some players prefer to play a class that excels at taking down bosses.

All the following classes are very strong all-around but do lack in terms of mobbing and farming compared to certain other classes.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for the best bossing classes in Maplestory, then these are three of the best out there.

Night Walker

Night Walker is a thief of the Cygnus Knights branch who throws throwing stars and sends out bats as his primary source of damage.

Night Walker is one of the best bossing classes in Maplestory due to his high DPS, utility through bats, and clones.

Players can further increase the damage they deal as a Night Walker by pressing and holding both jump and their main throwing attack at once. This will cause your character to throw twice per jump, which is quite a bit faster than were you simply standing on the ground and holding your main attack.

Besides incredible damage output and high mobility, Night Walker has a bind, which ensnares bosses for a period of time – an immensely useful ability to have during a boss fight.

Hero

Another amazing bossing class in the global version of Maplestory is Hero, who is a warrior of the explorer branch.

What makes Hero such a good bossing class is the way attack speed works in GMS.

Contrary to other versions, you can reach a higher attack speed level as a Hero in the global version of Maplestory, making him incredible at bossing.

His main attack against bosses is raging blow, which deals massive amounts of damage when in enraged state.

The Hero class both deals tons of damage, but is also tanky, making him an excellent class for soloing.

Heroes can use both axes and swords, which can be convenient for players with fewer mesos for funding.

The general consensus among players is that two-handed weapons are the superior choice when playing a hero, even though the class can also use a one-handed weapon and a shield.

Dual Blade

Dual Blade is like Night Walker, also a thief, but uses a dagger and a katara instead of throwing stars.

Dual Blade excels at bossing as most of his most powerful skills focus on a single enemy, dealing huge amounts of damage with lines filling up the entire screen.

If you’re looking for a mobile class, you won’t find many classes with more mobility than Dual Blade, as the class has not only a powerful flash jump but also multiple combo skills that move him across the map.

Once you reach 5th job, Dual Blade gets a skill, Blade Storm, you can use while moving around, which is useful during boss fights to keep up your DPS while dodging attacks.

Honorable mentions for this category include Night Lord and Dawn Warrior.

Best Mobbing and Farming Classes

Mobbing is a task you’ll be undertaking in much of your time playing Maplestory, whether it’s for the purpose of training, farming, or something else.

Mobbing is the act of defeating as many mobs as possible as quickly as possible.

What class you play has a major impact on the number of mobs you can farm in a given period of time, which is why many players choose to create a dedicated farming character if their main class isn’t great at it.

Once you’ve decided on an awesome mobbing class, you can check out our Maplestory level 1-275 training guide.

Here are some of the best classes for mobbing and farming in Maplestory.

Kanna

Kanna, a mage of the Sengoku branch, was the best farming class in Maplestory by far because of Kanna’s incredible full map attacks and Kishin skill.

Her Kishin skill decreased the respawn rate of mobs and increased the maximum number of mobs on the entire map by 50%, which results in a perfect environment for farming. This skill effect has, however, been removed.

While far from as powerful at farming as in her glory days, Kanna is still a strong farming class with powerful skills that hit many mobs at a time, great mobility, and full map attacks.

If you’re looking for a great farming class, you should definitely consider Kanna.

Luminous

When talking about mobbing, one class cannot be overlooked, Luminous.

Luminous is a powerful mage class of the Hero branch with particularly one skill that makes him an amazing mobbing class, Reflection.

Reflection sends a light of energy towards an enemy and then bounces to enemies throughout the entire map.

In many situations, Luminous can hit the entire map already from 4th job by just standing still and spamming Reflection.

Because of this, Luminous is arguably better at mobbing than Kanna but doesn’t possess kishin.

Besides Luminous’ amazing full map attacks, Luminous can also dish out a serious amount of damage to bosses because of skills including Ender.

If you’re looking for a well-rounded, great mobbing class, Luminous is a class to consider.

Ice Lightning Mage

Another excellent mobbing class in Maplestory is the Ice Lightning mage, a magician of the explorer branch.

Ice Lightning mage is the most popular class in KMS and one of the most popular in GMS.

One of the reasons for this is their ability to farm the entire map incredibly efficiently, making them an easy class to train.

Because of their full map attacks, icy spikes, and chain lightning, Ice Lightning mages can easily train on larger maps where other classes might have a difficult time.

Like Luminous, Ice Lightning mages also do very well against bosses, making them a well-rounded class with great mobbing.

Honorable mentions for this category include Angelic Buster, Paladin, and Kinesis.

Best Class for New Players

If you’ve never played Maplestory before, it’s tough to decide which class to play as there are so many, each with unique skills and playstyle.

Therefore, we’ve gathered a few recommendations for classes that are great for new players of the game.

These classes are all fairly simple to play, can do well with limited funding, and are not too squishy, which can be an issue for new players, especially on the reboot server.

Here are some of the best classes for new players.

Adele

Adele is the latest class added to Maplestory with the release of the Rise patch.

This class is an excellent pick for new players simply because Adele is so strong.

According to the latest calculations, Adele has the highest DPS in the entire game.

Furthermore, Adele has a well-rounded set of skills that makes her amazing at both mobbing and bossing.

Being from the warrior branch and using STR as her main stat, Adele is much tankier than most classes, which can be a great help for new players.

If you’re looking for a strong, fun, and well-rounded class, give Adele a try.

Demon Avenger and Demon Slayer

The two demon classes in the game, Demon Avenger and Demon Slayer, are both excellent choices for new players.

Both classes are warriors of the Resistance branch that use a unique health system to fuel their skills. This means that instead of MP, Demon Avenger and Demon Slayer both use HP as a cost for their skills.

Because of this, they both have way more HP than the average class, Demon Avenger having the most in the game.

Furthermore, both classes regain health by killing mobs and through skills, which means you end up not needing to purchase any potions.

Besides their tanky stats and HP regeneration, both classes have lots of powerful skills for mobbing, including full map attacks.

Lastly, both of their link skills are very useful for your account later on. Demon Avenger’s legion effect is also very useful for your entire account.

All in all, either demon class is an exceptional choice for any new player in the game.

Aran

Aran is another interesting pick for new players.

Besides a unique playstyle with flashy skills, Aran does very well in both bossing and mobbing without much funding.

Furthermore, Aran is a warrior of the Hero branch, which means Aran is tanky and won’t be struggling against stronger mobs.

If you’re looking for a class with flashy combos and great damage against both mobs and bosses, then Aran is a class to consider.

Even though the four classes listed above are excellent picks for new players, no class is too difficult for any player to play.

Nevertheless, you’re probably going to have an easier time with one of the classes above. That shouldn’t, however, hold you back if you find a specific class you like.

A method of finding out if a class is for you is to look up gameplay videos to see how a class fights when bossing and training.

That’s our take on a tier list of the best classes in Maplestory and DPM charts for each class, as well as class recommendations for specific purposes.

If you have any input for this tier list you believe our readers should know, then you can share it with us in the comment section below.