Explorers! We have heard the mixed responses to our newest tier list and as promised, this article will elaborate on what made us decide to name 7 dinos as the best of the best, Tyrant Tier! This Tier showcases Dinosaurs that are the backbone of many endgame tems. This is a new tier due to two main factors:

the crowding of Apex;

an insanely great balancing of the Arena by Ludia.

Before we dive into this, we want to remind you that while a team consisting of all 7 of these dinos would certainly be strong; it may not form a perfect team due to some overlap in what these Tyrants do. Also, some guidelines as to how we determined this list.

Head to Head Match-ups – Either through experience or running simulations by hand, we looked at how many match-ups these dinos win or lose, assuming equal levels and no set up turns. In previous lists this was the biggest deciding factor, but due to added depth via swap-in abilities, more viable hit and run dinos, and more versatile hybrids we had to weigh this a bit less heavily than before. Ideal Situations – Predicting the opponent, getting set-up turns, etc. We looked at how strong dinos are in the situations they most want to be in. Team Contribution and Utility – Swap-in Abilities, debuffs, and Hit & Run moves have certainly become staple to this meta and the fact of the matter is that each battle starts with 4 dinos on you team. So we have started to evaluate the overall usefulness of dinos to the team.

The evolution of the game has both pros and cons when it comes to formulating a tier list. On the plus side, the deeper meta allows more individual expression within teams without compromising on strength, but it also comes with the downside that our list becomes a bit more subjective, as many of you may feel. That is why the list was not the work of any single person but rather the whole team, Dwebble, Pocemon, MnBrian, Reebecca, Triceratops, JHVS, ZhengTann, Jacqueline, CHayes99, Professaurus, Antithesis, Temerity, NathanH96. A special shout out to Legomin1314 and PokeFodderYT as well for the help creating this list. Finally, HUGE thanks to our amazing artist, Orange Heart for the incredible graphics! Make sure to show him your support right here!

So without further ado, lets get into it!

Diloracheirus

Diloracheirus had some minor considerations to not make the cut for Tyrant due to the change to its moveset in the 1.5 update. It gained base damage but saw its Distracting Impact change to a Distracting strike, which lowered its turn 1 damage considerably as well as making it a bit more reliant on having another dino soften up the opponent first. Even on turn 1 with only strike moves, Diloracheirus still packs a punch and sits at that all important speed tier of 129 where it is extremely likely to be the first dino to act.

However, there is no question about its strength after that first turn when it gains access to Greater Stunning Rampage, one the best moves in the game, or the option to flee the battle with Rampage and Run while also dealing an impressive amount of damage to any foe. This move also enables you to utilize all 4 of your dinos without spending a turn on a swap or even set up devastating combos with counter attackers or SIA dinos. At the end of the day Diloracheirus still has impressive stats and one of the best move-sets in the game that grants this creature utility and team combos. Sporting a decent match-up spread versus the other tyrants we felt that this one was pretty cut and dry.

Erlidominus

Erlidominus received two extremely powerful buffs this update, jumping up to 129 Speed and gaining 100 damage. There was no question among the team on how powerful Erlidominus would be now due to tanks having to be more cautious of big chompers who received a large amount of buffs. In addition to that, its resistance to the powerful bleed mechanic due to its immunity, having cloak to potentially turn a bad match-up around, possessing one of the highest turn 1 damage values in the game, and finally having Strike & Run to bail out of a bad match-up or enable team combos. It still is exceptionally frail among its peers in this tier, but it will manage to get a large amount of damage down even if it cannot win.

Indoraptor

Indoraptor was, surprisingly enough, one of the most debated dinos to be placed in Tyrant. It gained a slight buff to its HP which was a bit of a surprise due to its generally all around above average stats, but it still has quite a few match-ups where it may be forced into relying on a few key dodges to pull through. However, the team decided that it does in fact warrant its place for a few reasons.

Ever been in a game where you just cannot deal damage to this guy through his evasive? We all have. Indo certainly has the potential to completely take over a game and kill two dinos while injuring even a third. Second, due to its versatile kit and above average stats, it does not have to win a match-up to heavily influence a match. You can almost always choose to sacrifice Indo to deal massive damage and allow a set up turn for your next dino. Lastly, and most importantly in our minds, is that Indoraptor is the ONLY dino in the game that can realistically beat any other dino. If you draw a hand that all gets countered by the one dino your opponent drew you can bust through it and potentially save that match thanks to Indo.

Spinotasuchus

Spinotasuchus was the most debated dino to make Tyrant, and the one that has been questioned most by readers. It received no direct changes this update but thanks to the nerf to Superiority Strike, its bleed moves became much more powerful. Previously a large part of the meta was able to cleanse these moves and to add insult to injury, also slow Spinotasuchus so they could deal a killing blow to it. Spinotahsuchus is a bit on the frail side with only 3750 HP (at level 26) and no armor, but is probably the single best lead dino in this meta due to its high speed and damage potential thanks to Critical Impact combined with its ability to force almost any dino to trade one for one with it or swap out thanks to Lethal Wound.

When compared to its Tyrant brethren however, one for one does not sound all that impressive but Spinotasuchus can make up for this by leaning on its team. Swoop allows you to swap to another dino and apply a bleed without dealing immediate damage to the opponent. This has some pros and cons however, since Spinotasuchus is generally faster than most opponents and bleed does not apply damage until the end of the turn, your incoming dino is likely to take a hit still while Spinotasuchus limps away near death. That might not sound all that useful but it opens up a very unique scenario that only Spinotasuchus can fill. Due to outspeeding most other dinos and the relative lack of immunity and cleansing, Spinotasuchus is able to come in late game and sweep with critical impact or force a draw by using Lethal Wound to make your opponent bleed out after Spinotasuchus goes down. While winning is the preferred outcome forcing a draw in a situation you would otherwise lose is a valuable strength and what made us decide that a spot in Tyrant was warranted.

Tenontorex

Tenontorex was quickly and unanimously placed into Tyrant tier due to its excellent base stats and extremely versatile moveset. Superiority Strike allows it a way to deal with dinos that carry distracting moves or slow those that can out-speed it which is unique among big chompers (boy does it feel weird calling it that since it looks like a hadrosaur), Distracting Impact allows it to deal with other big chompers by cutting their damage in half before delivering a powerful Defense Shattering Impact or Rampage. Do not let its cuddly appearance fool you, Tenontorex is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the current meta.

Trykosaurus

Even the other Tyrants shake a little when faced with Trykosaurus, who leaves very little to debate about who the best dino in the game currently is. Early on when the patch notes dropped, a few people where mentioning the lower damage due to losing Armor Piercing Rampage in favor of Instant Distraction inherited from Ankyntrosaurus component. However, people quickly realized that the buff to its counter attack from .25x to .50x along with its newfound ability to stall by using Instant Distraction and Instant Invincibility more than made up for this. Even among the dinos that can hope to contest Trykosaurus, they are forced into a very dangerous game of predicting whether it will stall or just go for a devastating Defense Shattering Rampage. Its extremely high damage virtually eliminates swapping out as an option without a risky prediction and it even gained speed to the point where it can outspeed Stegodeus and a few other of the slower dinos. If it gets to come in and setup on one of them its extremely difficult to stop this Tyrant’s Rampage through the rest of your hand.

Utarinex

Last, but certainly not least, we have perhaps the best dino from the previous patch, Utarinex. Do not be fooled however, while Utarinex has fallen from its throne at the top, it actually received a buff to its damage this patch at the cost of the stunning chance on its basic strike. Utarinex sits in the 126 Speed tier, which is middle of the pack for the current meta but sports an extremely powerful turn 1 thanks to Distracting Rampage. Not only is this thing dealing 2840 damage but its also halving the damage that its opponent will deal. Sounds like Superiority Strike would be great to counter this guy huh… well actually no, its not. Thanks to Instant Charge, Utarinex has priority the turn it’s slowed and is likely to stun you before it regains the speed advantage. Not only that, but if its able to stick around 1 more turn you have to worry about that powerful Distracting Rampage all over again with Instant Charge coming back off cooldown the following turn. Impact & Run allows it to also escape a bad situation or set up team combos yet again with the threat that it can come back in later to deal its powerful 1-2 Punch all over. It is vulnerable to Trykosaurus stalling it out or being outspeed after it has been weakened.

Parting Words

That covers most of our thoughts about the strongest dinos in the 1.5 meta. Were we able to convince you that these Tyrants are powerful enough to earn their spot up top or are they biting off more they can chew at the top of our tier list? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for another (and much longer… yikes!) article covering Apex tier!

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