Shape of Dreams Tier List – Best Travelers & Memories

Even though any Traveler can be effective with the right setup, and most Memories are usable, some are significantly better, particularly when playing on Nightmare difficulty. Some Travelers are naturally stronger and more adaptable, while others need specific builds to shine. Here’s my tier list for Shape of Dreams characters and Memories, which will help you choose the best options for challenging levels.

Shape of Dreams Memory Tier List

The ideal Memory in Shape of Dreams depends on your character’s stats and what you need – whether you prioritize damage (DPS), defense, or speed and versatility. Here’s a breakdown of the best options for each role, categorized by how effective they are. S and A-Tier Memories are generally the strongest choices. B-Tier Memories can be very powerful in specific situations, like Hysteria, which provides significant healing and damage when paired with the Glacial Core essence. C and D-Tier Memories aren’t as effective in challenging content like Nightmare mode. Now, let’s look at some key options and then discuss the best characters to use them with.

S-Tier Memory Highlights

S-Tier Memories	Why S-Tier?
Arrow StormLegendary	• One of the best DPS memories in Shape of Dreams but scales with attack speed to determine how good it is • The basic attack tri-arrows deal great damage but the fact they trigger attack effects is why it’s so good • Pretty much a must-have on anybody that can use it safely except Shell on Nightmare
Chain LightningEpic	• One of the best and easier-to-get and upgrade memories for raw AOE horde clearing • Deals excellent damage even on Nightmare
Undo Epic	• The best utility memory in the game that pretty much works on any build with any traveler to reset abilities • Always keep this, it’s always good
Purgatory Common	• Purgatory is SSS for solo since you can heal yourself for a lot, especially against bosses where the heal is tripled • In duos it can also be pretty reliable but it gets a bit awkward to use with more allies since the heal is random • That said on Nightmare any heal is appreciated in a team
Her WorldUnique	• This is only in S-Tier if you can manage to combine it with the Iron Body or Aftershock essences or both for even more Armor • You can spam it on DS and OD if you have heals but you only generally want to do it on Nightmare when you are low anyway to deal massive damage and tank hits since you can’t die during it • Note that you can get healed during it and you will deal massive AOE damage to rooms and bosses
BurrowUnique	• This is exceptionally good as an extra dodge since you both get to move and have invulnerability • Good on all travelers but especially on Yubar who has only one dash
Shadow OverdriveRare	• An easy to get Memory that drastically boosts your movement and attack speed for both great defense and damage • Great on any traveler but Bismuth can make great use of this to reach crazy attack speed

A-Tier Memory Highlights

A-Tier Memories	Why A-Tier?
Frostbite Rare	• It’s just excellent raw DPS and defense since both attacks come out fast, give you armor and deal more damage • One of the best early to mid-game Memories that I even used later on Nightmare to save some HP
Chomp Rare	• I just love Chomp since it’s free sustain healing if you pick your moments to go in, Chomp and get out • It’s easier with melee travelers but it works well on ranged ones too for free healing • It would be S if you didn’t have to go into melee
Swift Slash Common	• One of the best Shell Memories but overall it’s incredibly useful for all melee characters • It’s great fast damage and mobility that’s spamable if you hit enemies since the cooldown is halved
Ice Shield Common	• Gives you shields, AOE damage and heals if you get enemies to hit you • It takes a bit of getting used to but it’s essentially a damage and heal tool if you use it right with the flexibility of being a shield
Radiant Explosion Legendary	• Massive AOE damage that’s great at clearing crowds if you can make it so it kills something to repeat and then kill again • With just a single or double repeat it’s already incredible damage and each explosion stuns so you’ll be clearing rooms in no time
Cutthroat Epic	• Another sustain tool that’s more difficult to use than Chomp since there’s a start-up but in return you get a dash and more healing if you land it right • Make sure to aim with the outer edge to reduce the cooldown and spam this for great mobility, damage and healing
Shout of Oblivion Unique	• A safe to use AOE cone nuke dealing massive damage and stunning for 3 seconds which is incredible on Nightmare for room clearing • Make sure not to spam it but instead save it slightly to try to hit as many enemies as possible

B-Tier Memory Highlights

B-Tier Memories	Why B-Tier?
Butcher’s StrikeLegendary	• A prime example of situationally good since if you get it early and stack it up it can be quite powerful • Otherwise it’s a weak line damage effect that’s quite slow to get going
World CrackerUnique	• World Cracker is massive damage only if you are playing in a team and have someone to tank for you while you channel • Otherwise it’s just too risky to use since you cannot move while channeling it
Shadow WalkCommon	• This is a good mobility tool but where you usually want to be moving away this encourages you to move into enemies which you don’t want to do on Nightmare • Still, it can be a decent secondary dash
Clutches of MaliceEpic	• This is a decent crowd control tool but it requires an upgrade to be viable so if you can spare the upgrade it’s useful to have
Searing ChargeEpic	• This is another mobility tool that wants you to go toward enemies but it resets its cooldown on a kill • So if you can line up a lot of weak enemies to reset the CD regularly it’s good but otherwise it’s not the best
Shadow VolleyEpic	• This is an amazing damage dealing tool but only if you can stack up attack speed for less channel time with something like Shadow Overdrive and Crit for more damage • Otherwise it’s not good
Spinning Whirlwind Common	• Similar to Shadow Volley this can be a great room clearing AOE ability that deals great damage on an attack speed build

C-Tier Memory Highlights

C-Tier Memories	Why C-Tier?
Pyrana’s Fireball Legendary	• Despite being a legendary Pyrana’s Fireball is awkward to use since you don’t get as much armor as Her World nor death immunity and you have to move into enemies to damage them which is incredibly dangerous on Nightmare
Coin ExplosionLegendary	• 1% of your current gold might not sound like much until you figure out that Shape of Dream memories are usually something you want to spam for DPS • Using this 20 times means 20% of your total pool and now add the fact that the effect can reset on a coinflip so this just becomes a mediocre DPS tool that takes your gold which you can be using in a shop or for healing
Glacial Stomp Common	• While it may sound good you basically need to dive into a horde of enemies for it to be good wasting your mobility to get in and get out unless you want to instantly die on Nightmare • Much weaker against bosses since it’s just one target usually
Flame Jet Epic	• Sounds like good damage but you can’t cancel it so it’s quite dangerous to use unless you position perfectly
Glacial Hammer Rare	• This is just an underpowered damage dealing tool despite a lot of people saying it’s amazing • It’s short range and you have to get close which is usually dangerous on higher difficulties • It’s still not D

Most characters in the D-Tier don’t do much damage, aren’t very helpful in a fight, or are slow to get going, leaving you vulnerable. I recommend avoiding them completely.

Shape of Dreams Character Tier List

It’s important to note that in Shape of Dreams, any character, or ‘Traveler,’ can be effective with the right setup. While powerful items or abilities can boost anyone, some Travelers naturally stand out. Those ranked S and A-Tier are strong right away and work well with many different builds. B-Tier characters can become powerful, but they take longer to get going and need a specific build to succeed on harder levels. C-Tier characters are the most challenging to play, relying heavily on good luck with item drops. Even a top-tier character like Aurena benefits greatly from a specific item, but her natural abilities are so strong that she can still perform well even without it. Below is a detailed analysis of each Traveler.

S-Tier Traveler

S-Tier Travelers	Why S-Tier?
Bismuth The best and safest ranged DPS	• The strongest ranged DPS once you get sustain essences on one Pure Soul and damage (Predation) or barrier ones on the other (Or any high tier DPS Memory from above) plus Arrow Storm to boost your attack speed with Prismatic Vision and perhaps Shadow Overdrive if you have room (A Valiant Heart build is also viable for a closer range approach) • You just have to take care of mobility and dodging well while your auto-cast damage melts bosses and rooms • For the fourth slot I recommend either a mobility one or Mass Protection for more mobility and defense • Get Momentum Essence on either Pure Soul or Mass Protection depending on what you need like swapping it to Mass Protection during Boss immune phases • Great for both solo and teams
Aurena Crazy high healing and damage if you can get Clemency essences	• Takes a while to master but Aurena’s high-risk high-reward healing and damage is really powerful if you learn how to kite and get sustain tools • Look for Essence of Clemency for sustain and this is your main priority besides upgrading your passive • Dismantling Claw is one of the best passives in the game offering insane healing so stack up attack speed and master hitting and kiting • Golden Explosion and Dangerous Theory are amazing Memories but it’s also sometimes worth selling them to upgrade your passive if you find good damage alternatives (Check S and Tiers above) • For other slots I highly recommend healing and defensive tools like Ice Shield and/or Repulsive Shield
Mist Amazing survivability on higher difficulties	• The main problem most travelers face is that on Stage 3 on higher difficulties there are a lot of explosive/teleporting enemies that can end runs • I put Mist in S-Tier because she’s one of the safest characters to play here with practice due to her 3 dashes and Parry alternative memory meaning you almost never get hit • With defense covered focus on getting Arrow Storm and Frostbite for some excellent DPS with added defenses from Frostbite or even consider Shadow Walk or Repulsive Shield on Nightmare for even better defenses • As long as you dodge and parry well, any of the AD focused Memories for DPS will carry you in any difficulty

A-Tier Traveler

A-Tier Travelers	Why A-Tier?
Nachia A one traveler army that’s incredibly hard to kill	• The best thing about Nachia is that she can solo support or benefit an entire team, in both cases she has summons to tank for her and deal great DPS making her flexibile and safe on difficulty • Focus on Fenrir, Heart of the Pack and then Mass Protection and Serpents’s Blessing for an incredibly tanky wolf • Look for Guidance and Paranoia essences on Fenrir to boost his healing and make him spammable from Paranoia since he’ll be taking damage and get Richochet on him if you’re playing in a team • Put Momentum on your Mass Protection and I would even look for 2 to make yourself and your wolf unkillable even on Nightmare but I would still replace MP later
Lacerta The ol’ reliable easy to build sustained DPS that’s quite safe to play	• The king of being a highly flexibile consistent DPS with pretty much any build • Get Incendiary Rounds with Salamander powder as soon as possible for high DPS with no setup and natural synergy with your skill tree • Focus on kiting enemies and be smart about using your dashes which you’ll badly need on Stage 3, especially on higher difficulties • Get Frostbite and Arrow Storm to finish off your build and stack Predation, Accuracy, Ricochet on AS and freeze ones on Frostbite • Overall, this is a highly reliable character for all stages of the game

B-Tier Traveler

B-Tier Travelers	Why B-Tier?
Yubar A nuker that needs a lot of setup to make the low mobility playstyle work	• Yubar is all about Tranquility to lower cooldowns of other memories with Undo to support Tranquility • I put him in B-Tier because he suffers from the worst dash in the game with only a single one and his passive and base memories other than Tranquility being slightly underwhelming • Get S and A tier magic scaling DPS memories and stack them with Predation, Richoet, Momentum and a ton of highly aggressive offensive essences then reset them with Tranquility and Undo • You’re a slow artillery with high damage potential but you must learn to dodge well and make use of your single dash • Having a single dash really kills you in Stage 3 Nightmare so look for mobility memories like Burrow
Vesper Accessible and easy-to-build brawler that falls off on Stage 3 higher difficulties due to being slow	• Vesper is a tankier melee version of Yubar in the sense that you’ll deal great damage and be quite tanky steamrolling through Stage 1 and 2 until you reach Stage 3 • In Stage 3 you’ll struggle a lot due to being slow while enemies deal a lot of damage and teleport around often • To combat this you must focus on dealing the most damage that you can with the most survivability • Go for El’s Mercy, try to get Hysteria with Glacial Core, focus on Ice Shield and getting Paranoia on it and hope for the best when you try to DPS with Cruel Sun with Frost and Protection and El’ Sanctuary with Voracity and Aftershock • You’ll be tanky but you’ll need to get in close everytime which can spell death on Nightmare Stage 3 if you’re not careful

C-Tier Traveler

C-Tier Travelers

Why C-Tier?

Shell High DPS and mobility but requires a lot of setup

• I love playing Shell but I must admit that he feels incredibly stressful to play even with practice since he requires a lot more set up and luck-based build drops than other characters • Your attack speed is capped so Blade Storm doesn’t work well, instead, you must focus on getting the most damage out of your Laceration and Annihilitaion Stance while having mobility by looking for Swift Slash which is your core memory • Get Essence of Fangs on Swift Slash and Opportunity on a DPS skill like Flaming Whip which is good for reseting itself and therefore reseting your Dash with Opportunity • If you don’t do this exact build or something similar you’ll lack the mobility and DPS for Stage 3 on higher difficulties which will feel quite bad to play • Overall, Shell can be made quite powerful with certain builds, but you’ll mostly struggle since it’s a really niche character to build

That concludes my tier list and guide for Shape of Dreams Traveler and Memory. For more helpful guides on Shape of Dreams, be sure to check our guides page.

Shape of Dreams FAQ

Who is the best Traveler for ranged DPS in Shape of Dreams?

As a player, I’ve found Bismuth to be amazing! She really strikes a great balance between dealing a lot of damage from a distance and being able to stay alive. Honestly, she’s one of the most dependable ranged characters I’ve used, whether I’m playing by myself or with a team.

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2025-09-17 19:54