Last checked: June 10, 2026

Anime Crossover Defense Tier List (2026) — Best Units Ranked

Trying to figure out which units deserve your hard-earned gems in Anime Crossover Defense? We've tested every tower across Nightmare and Endless modes to bring you the definitive tier list for May 2026. Whether you're chasing Mythical pulls or deciding which Legendary to max out first, this guide breaks down the exact DPS numbers and synergies you need to know.

Anime Crossover Defense has become one of the most popular tower defense experiences on Roblox in 2026. The game throws waves of increasingly powerful enemies at you, and your job is to build a squad of anime-inspired units that can handle everything from standard mobs to devastating boss rushes. Placement, upgrade order, and team composition all matter here. A bad lineup will crumble around wave 40 in Endless mode, while an optimized squad can push past wave 100 without breaking a sweat.

This tier list reflects the meta as of the May 2026 update. We've factored in community testing data, speedrun records, and our own Endless mode pushes. If you're looking for our complete game guide, check out the Anime Crossover Defense hub page for strategies, codes, and beginner tips.

S Tier — Best Units

These are the units that define the current meta. If you have them, they should be in every serious lineup. They outperform everything else by significant margins and remain relevant from early waves through the deepest Endless runs.

Modoro (Mythical)

Modoro dominates close-range combat with devastating AoE attacks that hit every enemy within his radius simultaneously. Fully upgraded, he tears through boss waves that would otherwise stall your defense entirely. His damage ramps with each upgrade tier, and his final form gains a passive that increases damage by 15% for every enemy within range. On crowded waves, that bonus stacks to absurd levels.

Position Modoro at choke points where enemies cluster. He's wasted on straight paths with thin enemy streams. Pair him with Evil Boss Guy's time manipulation buff and he becomes practically unstoppable.

Broccoli (Mythical)

Broccoli is the undisputed king of ranged DPS. After just three upgrades, his attack range spans the entire map. Fully upgraded, he outputs approximately 85,000 DPS while hitting targets from corner to corner. That's not a typo. No other ranged unit comes close to that combination of coverage and raw damage output.

The beauty of Broccoli is his simplicity. Place him anywhere on the map, upgrade him, and watch everything melt. He doesn't need specific positioning or synergies to perform, though Evil Boss Guy's buff pushes his effective DPS past 119K.

Evil Boss Guy (Mythical)

Evil Boss Guy fills the support role better than any other unit in the game. His time manipulation ability buffs the DPS of every allied tower within range by a flat 40%. That's not a small attack speed increase or a conditional buff. It's a permanent, unconditional 40% damage boost to everything around him.

Place him centrally so his aura covers your primary damage dealers. A single Evil Boss Guy turns your A-tier units into S-tier performers and makes your S-tier units absolutely broken. He doesn't deal much damage himself (roughly 8K DPS), but the value he provides through buffing is unmatched.

Bob (Legendary)

Bob's claim to fame is his one-punch mechanic. Every 30 seconds, he targets the strongest boss on the map and deals a flat 500,000 damage. This damage bypasses all defense stats and armor calculations. It just hits. Against bosses with millions of HP, that 500K chunk every half-minute adds up fast and keeps the pressure off your other units.

Bob is the only Legendary-rarity unit in S tier, which makes him significantly easier to obtain than the Mythicals. If you're building your first competitive team, he should be your priority pull. His damage doesn't scale with upgrades as dramatically as others, but the flat 500K hit remains relevant deep into Endless mode where bosses have enormous health pools.

A Tier — Excellent Units

A-tier units punch well above their weight. They won't single-handedly carry Endless runs like S-tier picks, but they fill crucial roles and synergize beautifully with the top-tier lineup. Many players run two or three A-tier units alongside their S-tier cores.

Butterfly (Mythical)

Butterfly specializes in illusion-based AoE that slows all affected enemies by 35%. In a game where enemy speed determines how much time your towers have to deal damage, that slow is massive. It effectively gives your entire team 35% more time to burn targets down before they reach the exit.

His own damage output is respectable at around 42K DPS fully upgraded, but the crowd control is what earns him A-tier status. On maps with short paths, Butterfly can be the difference between enemies leaking through and a clean clear.

Boulmi (Mythical)

Boulmi is the tankiest support unit available. His healing aura regenerates 5% HP to all towers within range every 10 seconds. While most tower defense games don't feature tower HP, Anime Crossover Defense includes enemy abilities that damage your towers directly. Boss waves in Nightmare and Endless modes will destroy unhealed towers. Boulmi prevents that entirely.

He also has surprisingly solid base stats, absorbing enemy debuffs that would otherwise reduce your team's effectiveness. Run him alongside Modoro to keep your close-range damage dealer alive during boss abilities.

Curly Brows (Legendary)

Curly Brows follows the Diable Jambe upgrade path: Stronger Kicks, Enhanced Genes, Diable Jambe, Skywalk, and finally Concasser. Each step substantially boosts his damage output, culminating in approximately 55K DPS at max level. That's competitive with many Mythical units while being far easier to obtain and upgrade.

His upgrade path is linear and resource-efficient. You won't waste materials on dead-end branches. For free-to-play players who haven't pulled Mythicals yet, Curly Brows is arguably the best investment in the game. Check our codes page for free gems to pull him.

Yellow Flash (Legendary)

Yellow Flash brings a unique teleport mechanic that lets him strike enemies in the backline, bypassing frontline mobs to hit priority targets. On maps with split paths, he can rapidly teleport between lanes and deal 45K DPS spread across multiple routes without needing duplicate units.

He's particularly valuable on maps like Divided City and Twin Bridges where other single-target units struggle to cover both lanes. His teleport also has a brief stun effect (0.5 seconds) on arrival, which interrupts boss abilities if timed correctly.

B Tier — Good Units

B-tier units handle Normal and Hard mode content perfectly and remain usable in early Nightmare waves. They're solid choices while you build toward higher-rarity options, and some players keep them in rotation for specific map strategies.

Strawhat (Epic)

Strawhat's Gear upgrade system progressively increases his damage, topping out at around 35K DPS. He's a reliable all-rounder with no glaring weaknesses. Each Gear upgrade broadens his attack pattern and range, making him genuinely versatile across different map types. He won't carry late-game content alone, but he won't be the reason you fail either.

Fox Boy (Epic)

Fox Boy's shadow clone mechanic creates temporary duplicate towers that last 8 seconds with a 20-second cooldown. During that window, his effective DPS jumps from 30K base to roughly 90K spread across multiple positions. The clones inherit his current upgrade level and target independently, giving excellent coverage during burst windows.

The downside is the 12-second gap between clone activations where his DPS drops significantly. He's fantastic for wave clears but unreliable against single bosses that need sustained pressure.

Pirate Hunter (Epic)

Pirate Hunter's three-sword style grants him multi-target hits on every swing. Each attack strikes up to three enemies simultaneously, giving him 32K DPS against groups. In dense waves, he provides excellent value. Against single targets, his damage drops to about 12K per hit, which limits his boss-killing potential.

Ice Captain (Rare)

Ice Captain freezes enemies solid for 3 seconds every 15 seconds. That freeze is AoE, hitting everything in range. At 25K DPS, he's not winning damage races, but the crowd control utility keeps him in B-tier comfortably. Pair him with high-DPS units that can capitalize on those frozen windows. For more unit synergy tips, visit our team building guide.

C Tier — Average Units

C-tier units get the job done in Normal and Hard modes but fall off a cliff once you hit Nightmare difficulty. They're starter units, early-game carries, and placeholders until you pull something better. Don't invest heavy resources into these unless you have nothing else available.

Student (Rare)

Student outputs 12K DPS and has a straightforward upgrade path that teaches new players the basics. He's beginner-friendly with clear power spikes at each level. Once you understand the game's mechanics, you'll replace him, but he's a solid first unit to learn positioning with.

Sand Boy (Rare)

Sand Boy's sand shield slows enemies passing through his range, but at 10K DPS he's not killing anything quickly. The slow is weaker than Butterfly's (20% vs 35%) and his damage can't compete with higher-tier options. He's usable for early waves and specific challenge missions that restrict unit rarity.

Basic Swordsman (Common)

Every player starts with Basic Swordsman. At 8K DPS, he handles the first 10-15 waves before becoming completely irrelevant. Don't upgrade him past level 3. Save those resources for literally anything else in your roster.

Summary Table — All Units Ranked

How We Ranked These Units

Our tier rankings aren't pulled from thin air. We evaluate every unit across four key criteria that determine real-world performance in Anime Crossover Defense's hardest content.

Raw DPS Output: We test fully upgraded units against training dummies and record their damage over 60-second windows. Burst damage, sustained damage, and AoE coverage all factor into the final numbers you see in this list.

Endless Mode Viability: A unit that dominates wave 30 but becomes useless at wave 60 isn't truly S-tier. We push every unit to its breaking point in Endless mode and note exactly where performance degrades. S-tier units remain dominant past wave 100.

Team Synergy: Units like Evil Boss Guy don't top DPS charts alone, but they elevate entire teams. We test combinations and factor in how much value a unit adds to the overall lineup. A 40% team-wide buff is worth more than personal DPS numbers suggest.

Accessibility: Rarity matters. Bob sits in S-tier partly because Legendary units are realistically obtainable for free-to-play players. A unit that's theoretically powerful but impossible to pull doesn't help anyone reading this guide. We weight accessibility when units are close in performance.

We update this tier list within 48 hours of any balance patch. The developers have been shipping updates roughly every 3-4 weeks throughout 2026, and the meta shifts with each one. Bookmark this page and check back after patches to see what's moved. You can also join our update tracker for patch notes breakdowns.

Tips for Building Your Team

Knowing the tier list is only half the battle. Here's how to translate these rankings into actual team compositions that clear content efficiently.

Always include a support unit. Evil Boss Guy in S-tier or Boulmi in A-tier should anchor every serious team. The DPS amplification from Evil Boss Guy alone outweighs adding another damage dealer in almost every scenario we tested.

Cover both AoE and single-target. Endless mode alternates between massive waves of weak enemies and single powerful bosses. If you stack only AoE units like Modoro, you'll struggle against boss waves. If you run only single-target units, dense waves will overwhelm you. Balance is everything.

Map dictates composition. Yellow Flash is S-tier on split-path maps and B-tier on single-lane maps. Ice Captain's freeze provides more value on short paths where you need enemies stopped. Always adjust your lineup based on the stage you're running rather than blindly copying a "best team" from a tier list.

Upgrade one unit fully before spreading resources. A max-level Broccoli carries harder than three half-upgraded Mythicals. Focus your gems and materials on completing one S-tier unit's upgrade path before branching out. The DPS difference between a level 3 and max-level unit is often 3-4x.