Hozy Tier List - Best Characters & Builds

Tier List Overview

In the ever-evolving world of Hozy, mastering the combat system requires more than just button-mashing; it demands a deep understanding of character synergies, elemental matchups, and weapon scaling. Because the game’s combat revolves heavily around switching between two active party members to execute combo chains, individual character power is only half the equation. Therefore, the most accurate way to evaluate the roster is by ranking the best builds—the specific character, weapon, and artifact combinations that define the current meta.

This tier list evaluates builds based on three core metrics: DPS ceiling (total damage output in a vacuum), Clear Speed (ability to quickly dispatch standard encounters and bosses), and Flexibility (how easily the build fits into various team compositions without requiring niche supports). Whether you are pushing high-level Abyssal Towers or grinding endgame domains, knowing which builds yield the highest return on your investment is crucial for efficient resource management.

S Tier

S Tier builds are the undisputed champions of Hozy. These setups represent the pinnacle of the game’s design, offering exponential damage scaling, seamless team integration, and forgiving gameplay windows. If you have the resources to fully invest in these builds, they will carry you through any content the game throws at you.

• The Frostweaver Blossom Build (Liora + Glacial Bloom)

Liora is widely considered the best damage dealer in the game, and her signature weapon, the Glacial Bloom, is the primary reason why. This build revolves around the "Cryo-Burst" mechanic. When Liora uses her elemental burst, she applies a stacking frost debuff to enemies. The Glacial Bloom weapon passively increases her Crit Damage by a massive 40% against enemies affected by Cryo, and its secondary stat scales directly with Elemental Mastery. By building Liora with a 2-piece "Blizzard Strider" and 2-piece "Cryo Resonance" artifact set, she reaches a breakpoint where every normal attack triggers a secondary icicle barrage. The reasoning for her S Tier placement is simple: she requires zero setup time. You swap to Liora, press her burst, and everything on screen dies. She is the gold standard for clear speed.

• The Thunderclap Sovereign Build (Kael + SkyPiercer)

While Liora represents burst damage, Kael represents sustained, relentless Electro application. The Thunderclap Sovereign build turns Kael into a hyper-carry by leveraging the "Overload" elemental reaction. The SkyPiercer is a 5-star polearm that grants a stacking Attack buff every time Kael triggers an elemental reaction, capping at five stacks. When paired with a Pyro support character (like Bianca), Kael can trigger Overload with every single hit of his rapid polearm strikes. We recommend the 4-piece "Thunderlord’s Legacy" artifact set, which reduces his burst cooldown by three seconds every time he triggers an Electro reaction. The reasoning behind this S Tier placement is Kael's infinite uptime. Unlike other carries who suffer during long boss phases where their bursts are on cooldown, Kael’s damage actually ramps up over time, making him the ultimate boss-killer.

A Tier

A Tier builds are exceptionally strong and perfectly capable of clearing all endgame content. They generally fall just slightly short of S Tier due to minor drawbacks such as high energy requirements, strict team composition dependencies, or a reliance on enemy positioning. However, in the hands of a skilled player, the gap between A and S tier is barely noticeable.

• The Geo-Fortification Build (Thorne + Obsidian Scale)

Thorne is the game’s premier shield bot and off-field damage dealer. The Obsidian Scale is a claymore that converts a percentage of his Defense stat into Bonus Geo Damage. By stacking Defense artifacts—specifically the 4-piece "Mantle of Stone" set, which increases the damage of your shield and deals AoE Geo damage when your shield takes hits—Thorne becomes an unkillable powerhouse. He sits in A Tier rather than S Tier because his damage relies entirely on enemies actively hitting his shield. In scenarios where enemies are frozen, staggered, or attacking other party members, Thorne’s DPS drops significantly. Still, for solo queueing difficult domains where survivability is a concern, this build is unmatched in reliability.

• The Duskblade Assassin Build (Silas + Shadowstep Dagger)

Silas is a physical damage character who excels at single-target elimination. The Shadowstep Dagger provides a passive that ignores 20% of the enemy's Physical Defense when attacking from behind. When built with the 4-piece "Bloodhunter" set (which increases Physical and Crit Rate after defeating an enemy), Silas becomes a whirlwind of execution. The catch? He is entirely single-target. In a game where endgame domains frequently pit you against waves of four to six enemies simultaneously, Silas struggles with crowd control. He requires careful targeting and manual camera manipulation to get back-attacks, making him mechanically demanding. He is an A Tier pick because his boss damage is phenomenal, but his lack of AoE prevents him from reaching S Tier.

• The Aqua-Crest Healer Build (Miel + Tidespring Wand)

Every game needs a premium healer, and Miel fulfills this role effortlessly. The Aqua-Crest build focuses entirely on maximizing her Healing Bonus and Energy Recharge. The Tidespring Wand provides passive energy regeneration to the whole team, effectively solving the biggest issue most carries face: running out of burst juice. Miel is A Tier because while she provides unparalleled utility and keeps your team alive, she deals virtually no damage. In a speedrun meta where every second counts, running a dedicated healer is sometimes considered a luxury compared to running a second sub-DPS, but for 95% of the player base, this build is practically mandatory.

B Tier

B Tier builds are the definition of "good, but not great." These setups will work fine in standard overworld exploration and mid-tier endgame content, but they begin to show their flaws when pushed to the absolute limit. They often suffer from poor stat scaling, clunky animations, or elemental types that lack strong reactive synergies in the current patch.

• The Pyro-Gladiator Build (Bianca + Forgehammer)

On paper, Bianca seems like she should be higher. She has massive base Attack stats, and the Forgehammer boosts Pyro damage significantly. However, in practice, her normal attack string is incredibly slow, leaving her vulnerable to interruption. Furthermore, Pyro as an element currently lacks a premium defensive reaction (unlike Cryo's Freeze or Geo's Crystallize). She relies purely on Vaporize or Overload, which requires constantly swapping off her to apply Hydro or Electro, interrupting her own attack chains. She is a solid B Tier because she can deal respectable damage if you build a team entirely around protecting her, but the investment-to-reward ratio is skewed compared to S or A tier carries.

• The Anemo-Swirl Support Build (Zephyr + Windwhisper Bow)

Zephyr is designed to be an elemental applicator, spreading the elements applied by other characters through the "Swirl" reaction. The Windwhisper Bow boosts Anemo damage and Elemental Mastery. Unfortunately, the current meta of Hozy heavily favors raw damage multipliers over reaction scaling. Swirl damage simply does not scale high enough in the late game to justify dedicating a full character slot to it, unless you are running a highly specific "Tornado" team composition that requires constant crowd control. Zephyr is perfectly viable for overworld exploration where you can group up weaker enemies, but in confined boss arenas, this build falls flat.

• The Dendro-Seed Spreader Build (Ivy + Ironwood Staff)

Dendro was introduced recently, and while the "Bloom" and "Catalyze" reactions are conceptually interesting, the scaling is currently underwhelming. Ivy’s build focuses on generating Dendro seeds that explode after a delay. The Ironwood Staff increases her Elemental Mastery, boosting the seed's damage. The problem is twofold: the seeds have a noticeable delay before exploding, meaning enemies often move out of the blast radius, and the seeds can actually damage your own team if they are triggered by Pyro. It is a fun and thematic build, but practically, it sits firmly in B Tier due to inconsistent DPS output and friendly fire risks.

C Tier

C Tier represents builds that are fundamentally flawed, heavily outclassed, or reliant on outdated mechanics. You should actively avoid investing high-tier resources (5-star weapons, premium artifacts, exclusive upgrade materials) into these setups. They might have nostalgic value or be useful for very specific, obscure challenges, but for general progression, they will only hold you back.

• The Pure Physical Tank Build (Garrick + Bastion Sword)

Garrick is a legacy character from the game’s launch who was designed to face-tank hits and deal Physical damage in return. The Bastion Sword provides massive Defense and Health stats. In the early days of Hozy, this seemed viable, but the introduction of percentage-based health damage from endgame bosses completely nullifies raw Health and Defense stacking. Furthermore, "aggro" mechanics in this game are largely unreliable; you cannot force bosses to attack Garrick instead of your squishy DPS carries. He is outclassed by Thorne’s Geo shields in every conceivable way, making this build an unfortunate relic of a past meta.

• The Hybrid Stat Build (Any Character + The "Chaos" Artifact Set)

This is less about a specific character and more about a specific trap players fall into: using the 4-piece "Chaos" artifact set. This set provides a flat boost to Attack, Defense, and Elemental Mastery, tempting new players who think it makes their character "good at everything." In reality, min-maxing in Hozy requires hyper-focusing on one or two stats (usually Crit Rate/Crit Damage and a specific elemental bonus). By spreading your stats too thin, your character becomes a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. A character wearing the Chaos set will hit like a wet noodle in late-game domains. Always prioritize specialized artifact sets over generic hybrid ones.

• The Basic Attack Spammer Build (Rook + autoload Crossbow)

Rook’s entire kit is designed around firing basic attacks as fast as possible, with the autoload Crossbow reducing basic attack animation frames. However, the game's internal damage formula heavily weights Elemental Skills and Bursts as the primary sources of damage. Basic attacks are essentially just a way to generate energy or trigger weapon passives. Rook’s build ignores the most powerful tools in a character’s kit in favor of auto-attacking, resulting in the lowest DPS ceiling of any carry in the game. He is only useful if you need to go AFK during extremely low-level farming content.

How to Use This Tier List

Understanding the context behind these rankings is just as important as the rankings themselves. The Hozy meta is subject to shifts based on developer patch notes, new character releases, and endgame domain rotations.

Patch Context: This tier list reflects the current state of the game following the 2.4 "Shattered Sky" update. The introduction of the new Abyssal Tower floors heavily favored single-target burst damage (benefiting Liora and Kael) while punishing slow, sustained AoE builds. If future patches introduce more swarm-type enemies, you may see Dendro or Anemo builds creep up the rankings.

Playstyle Notes: Do not force yourself to play an S Tier build if it does not suit your mechanical preferences. If you struggle with managing Kael's stacking buffs and optimal swap timings, you will likely perform better with a simpler A Tier build like Thorne’s Geo-Fortification. A build you can execute flawlessly will always outdamage a theoretically superior build that you play poorly.

Resource Management: Use this tier list as a roadmap for spending your premium currency. If you are deciding between pulling for Liora’s signature weapon or upgrading Silas’s artifacts, this list clearly indicates that Liora is the more future-proof investment. However, remember that a fully built B Tier character will almost always beat a completely undergeared S Tier character. Prioritize leveling your main DPS's talents and weapons first, regardless of their tier, before spreading your resources too thin across multiple characters.

Finally, keep an eye on the "leaks and rumors" community for Hozy. The upcoming "Echoes of the Deep" update is rumored to introduce a water-based melee character who relies entirely on a new "Tidal Surge" mechanic. If this character’s kit interacts favorably with existing Hydro applicators, we could see a massive meta shift that completely restructures this tier list. Always build for the present, but keep one eye on the future.