Dragon Quest Treasures Tier List - Best Characters & Builds

Tier List Overview

In Dragon Quest Treasures, the core gameplay loop revolves around scouting, recruiting, and deploying monsters to fight enemies and dig up valuable loot. Because Eric and Mia do not directly engage in combat themselves, your success on Draconia is entirely dependent on the monsters you bring into your active party. Therefore, the most relevant and impactful way to rank the game's elements is by evaluating the best monsters you can recruit.

This tier list ranks monsters based on several critical factors: base stats, elemental resistances, Forte synergy (such as the incredibly valuable "Nocturnal" Forte for nighttime scouting), AI aggression in battle, and overall utility in both combat and treasure hunting during the main story and post-game. While every monster has a niche, the ones at the top of this list will carry your playthrough, trivialize difficult boss fights, and allow you to sprint through the map hoarding high-rank vaults without breaking a sweat.

S Tier

These are the absolute best monsters in Dragon Quest Treasures. They boast incredible stat distributions, amazing Fortes that break the game's exploration mechanics, or devastating attack patterns that outscale everything else. If you see one of these while scouting, you should drop everything and do your best to recruit them.

King Slime

The undisputed king of tanks in Dragon Quest Treasures. The King Slime possesses an absurdly high HP pool and naturally phenomenal physical defense. What pushes it into S tier, however, is its access to the "Hardy" Forte. This Forte drastically increases the monster's resistance to being knocked out, allowing it to stand in front of vicious late-game bosses and absorb punishment that would instantly obliterate any other creature. Furthermore, its area-of-effect physical attacks hit surprisingly hard for a tank, making it a flawless frontliner that requires virtually zero babysitting.

Great Troll

If you need something dead, you send in the Great Troll. This massive brute has unparalleled physical attack stats and an AI that is permanently set to "aggressive." It constantly charges at enemies, interrupting their spellcasting with staggering physical blows. Its "Brawn" Forte allows it to deal critical hits at a much higher rate than standard monsters, meaning its already massive damage output frequently spikes even higher. It melts boss health bars and clears out dense fortresses of enemies with ease.

Giant Moth

The Giant Moth is the ultimate utility and exploration pick. Its defining feature is the "Nocturnal" Forte, which drastically boosts the range at which it can detect treasures and recruit candidates during the night. Because nighttime spawns include some of the rarest and most valuable monsters in the game (like the Metal Slime family), having a Giant Moth in your party is essentially printing gold. In combat, it has excellent agility and a wide array of sleep and paralysis-inducing spells, allowing it to safely disable threats while your damage dealers clean up.

Metal Slime

While it lacks the raw durability of the King Slime or the offensive might of the Great Troll, the Metal Slime is mandatory for maximizing your treasure hunting. Its "Fortune" Forte gives you a massive multiplier to the gold value of every single treasure you dig up. A single run with a Metal Slime in your active party can yield millions of gold, making it the key to breaking the game's economy and buying out the best items in the shop. Just keep it away from enemies that can bypass its extreme magical defense with critical hits.

Dracky

You might be surprised to see the basic starting monster here, but the Dracky remains relevant from minute one to the post-game exclusively because of its "Nocturnal" Forte. It is the earliest monster you can get with this ability, and upgrading its Forte level is incredibly easy. A maxed-out Dracky will spot rare treasures and monster recruit spawns from halfway across the map at night. It is cheap to maintain, fast to level, and fulfills the most important role in the game: finding things to steal.

• King Slime: Unkillable tank with high AoE damage.
• Great Troll: Unmatched physical DPS and boss melter.
• Giant Moth: Best nighttime scout with excellent crowd control.
• Metal Slime: Passive economy breaker via the Fortune Forte.
• Dracky: Early-game Nocturnal powerhouse that scales with Forte upgrades.

A Tier

A Tier monsters are exceptionally strong and will form the backbone of your active party in almost any playthrough. They might lack the completely game-breaking utility of the S Tier, but they are reliable, hard-hitting, and bring valuable Fortes to the table.

Hocus Chimaera

Magic damage is somewhat lackluster in Dragon Quest Treasures compared to physical attacks, but the Hocus Chimaera makes it work. It has an incredibly high wisdom stat and learns a devastating array of breath and explosion spells. Its "Sorcery" Forte occasionally allows it to cast its spells without consuming MP, meaning it can spam high-tier magic infinitely during long expeditions. It is the best answer for enemies with high physical defense but low magical resistance.

Dragonthorn

The Dragonthorn is a master of afflictions and elemental breath attacks. It has excellent stats across the board and consistently inflicts poison, paralysis, or confusion on groups of enemies. Its "Toxic" Forte ensures that enemies afflicted with status conditions take bonus damage, giving it a passive damage boost that synergizes perfectly with its own moveset. It is a fantastic secondary damage dealer that keeps the enemy team permanently debuffed.

Bodyguard

If you cannot find a King Slime, the Bodyguard is your next best option for a front-line defender. It has the "Hardy" Forte and excellent defense stats. While it lacks the King Slime's inherent AoE damage, the Bodyguard makes up for it by having high agility, meaning it often gets the first strike in combat. It is incredibly reliable for keeping your squishy back-line magic users alive during the grueling post-game boss gauntlets.

Cygnet

The Cygnet is the daytime equivalent of the Dracky and Giant Moth. It possesses the "Diurnal" Forte, which massively expands your treasure and monster detection radius during the day. Since the majority of your early to mid-game exploration happens under the sun, a leveled-up Cygnet is an absolute must-have. It also has respectable speed and healing capabilities, making it a highly versatile support unit that pays for itself by leading you directly to high-rank treasure chests.

• Hocus Chimaera: Best magic DPS with infinite MP potential.
• Dragonthorn: Supreme crowd control and elemental breath attacks.
• Bodyguard: Highly reliable alternative to the King Slime.
• Cygnet: Essential daytime scout with healing utility.

B Tier

B Tier consists of monsters that are perfectly viable and will serve you well, but they are ultimately outclassed by the options in the tiers above. They usually have good stats but lack a top-tier Forte, or they have a great Forte but suffer from poor combat AI or stat distributions.

Living Statue

The Living Statue is a physical tank with massive defense, but it falls just short of the S and A tier defenders. Its main issue is its abysmal agility; it is incredibly slow, meaning enemies will often land multiple hits on your party before the Living Statue can even act. While its "Stout Heart" Forte prevents it from being distracted by status effects, it simply cannot hold aggro or protect your party as effectively as the King Slime or Bodyguard.

Bouncing Bean

The Bouncing Bean has the highly coveted "Fortune" Forte just like the Metal Slime, making it a great economic companion. However, it ranks lower because its combat capabilities are virtually nonexistent. It has incredibly low HP and defense, and its attack animations are slow and clunky. You will often find yourself running away from combat to keep the Bouncing Bean alive, which slows down your expedition times significantly compared to using a Metal Slime, which can at least survive a stray hit.

Mud Mannequin

The Mud Mannequin is an interesting hybrid fighter with access to both earth-based magic and decent physical strikes. Its "Splash" Forte allows it to deal bonus damage to burning or frozen enemies. Unfortunately, the meta of Dragon Quest Treasures heavily favors raw, unmitigated physical damage or passive economy boosts. The Mud Mannequin requires too much setup to reach its maximum damage potential, making it a fun but inefficient choice for speed-running vaults.

Bulbtroll

The Bulbtroll is an early-game powerhouse that suffers from severe power creep. It hits hard and has a cool design, but its Forte is entirely focused on boosting its own stats when it is the last monster standing. In a game where you want to overwhelm the enemy with numbers and elemental variety, a Forte that only activates when you are losing is a fundamental design flaw. It is great for the first few islands, but you will replace it quickly.

• Living Statue: High defense held back by terrible speed.
• Bouncing Bean: Great Forte, but terrible survivability in combat.
• Mud Mannequin: Requires too much setup for mediocre damage output.
• Bulbtroll: Strong early on, but its Forte is useless in a well-built party.

C Tier

C Tier monsters are generally not worth the inventory space or the party slots in your active roster. They might have one or two redeeming qualities, but they are ultimately outclassed in every meaningful metric by the rest of the roster. You should only use these if you are doing a specific challenge run or are incredibly attached to their design.

Slime

The iconic mascot of the franchise is unfortunately one of the worst monsters in Treasures. The basic Slime has awful base stats across the board and learns virtually no useful abilities. It has no scouting Forte, meaning it brings no passive economic value to your expeditions. While it is necessary to have one in your party to unlock the King Slime's recruit quest later in the game, once that quest is done, the basic Slime should be immediately benched in favor of almost anything else.

She-slime

A slight upgrade over the basic Slime, but still entirely forgettable. The She-slime has marginally better HP and can occasionally cast healing spells, but its MP pool is so tiny that it can only cast a few heals before running dry. In a game where you can easily recruit dedicated healers like the Cygnet or tanks that don't take damage like the King Slime, relying on a She-slime for sustain is a losing strategy. It lacks a useful Forte and contributes very little to either combat or exploration.

Foxy Fop

The Foxy Fop tries to be a debuffer but fails miserably at the job. Its signature moves attempt to lower enemy defense and attack, but the accuracy of these abilities is notoriously low. Even when the debuffs do land, the effect is marginal and does not justify taking up an active party slot. Its Forte is geared toward escaping from battles, which is the exact opposite of what you want to do when you are trying to clear out forts to access high-tier vaults. It is a massive liability in the post-game.

Hammibal

The Hammibal looks intimidating and hits reasonably hard, but it is completely crippled by its "Gluttony" Forte. This Forte causes the monster to occasionally waste its turn trying to eat items dropped on the battlefield rather than attacking the enemy. In a fast-paced game where a single missed turn can result in your damage dealer getting knocked out, an AI that randomly decides to stop fighting is incredibly frustrating. There are dozens of other physical attackers that do not suffer from this suicidal AI quirk.

• Slime: Pure nostalgia bait with no combat or scouting utility.
• She-slime: Inadequate healer with no passive Forte benefits.
• Foxy Fop: Inaccurate debuffer whose Forte encourages running away.
• Hammibal: High damage ruined by an AI that randomly skips turns to eat.

How to Use This Tier List

Understanding where a monster falls on this tier list is only half the battle; knowing how to build your expedition party is what will truly make you a master of Draconia. Dragon Quest Treasures is not a traditional RPG where you just bring your five highest-level monsters into a dungeon. You must carefully balance combat prowess with exploration utility to maximize your profit per run.

The golden rule of party composition is to never leave your base without at least one high-tier scout. Ideally, you should have a Cygnet (for day) or a Dracky/Giant Moth (for night) with a fully leveled Forte in your party at all times. The difference between finding a high-rank S-tier treasure chest and walking right past it comes down entirely to your scout's detection range. Furthermore, pairing a Fortune Forte monster (like the Metal Slime) with your scout ensures that when you do find that rare chest, the payout is massive.

Once your scouting and economic slots are filled, the remaining two to three slots should be dedicated to a balanced combat core. You generally want at least one dedicated tank with the Hardy Forte to draw aggro—such as the King Slime or Bodyguard—and one heavy physical hitter to tear through enemy health bars, like the Great Troll. If you are struggling with a specific boss that has high physical defense, swapping your physical hitter for a Hocus Chimaera can instantly turn the tide of battle. Avoid the trap of stacking too many damage dealers without a tank, as the enemy AI in this game is highly aggressive and will focus down your squishy attackers if left unprotected.

It is also important to note that monster potentials and alt-forms can slightly shift these rankings. As you play, you will find eggs that hatch into alternate versions of these monsters with different elemental resistances or slight stat tweaks. An alt-form Great Troll that is resistant to fire and ice is infinitely more valuable than a standard one, pushing its utility even closer to god-tier. Always check the potential list of a monster before deciding to bench it.

Finally, keep in mind that Dragon Quest Treasures does not feature competitive multiplayer or any highly restrictive post-game content that strictly requires S-tier units. The game is designed to be beaten with a wide variety of monsters. If you absolutely love the Hammibal or the basic Slime, you can invest time into leveling them up, giving them high-tier weapons, and upgrading their Fortes to make them viable. This tier list reflects the path of least resistance and the most optimal way to generate wealth and conquer the map, but the true treasure of Draconia is playing the game however you see fit. Just don't be surprised when your C-tier squad struggles against a high-level Golem tyrant.