Bird Tier List

Birds are one of the most popular playable classes in the game, with a huge number of successful builds and tons of cool strategies. However, some of these strategies have clearly been more successful than others. So today, we will be going over the Bird Tier List to see which bird ranks highest.

## Basics and History

Birds are one of the newer factions of the game, joining the game's roster during the latter part of the Mesozoic expansion. They began as an offshoot of the Dinosaur faction that was specifically adapted to arboreal gameplay. But when The Devs dropped the Cenozoic balance patch, these small avians were the only Dinosaurs not to be hit by the ban hammer. Fast forward to today's meta and Birds are one of the most successful factions of the game, owing this success to a handful of powerful unique abilities.

### Overview

In addition to the obvious [Flying] attribute, first of which is their beak. Now, beaks were not an entirely new ability for the Reptile playerbase, but Birds went far deeper into the [Beak] skill tree than most Dinosaurs ever had, with many Bird players opting for extremely specialized beaks to give them an edge in specific scenarios. However, even the basic beak offers plenty of advantages. While their lack of teeth does deal reduced damage with their [Bite] attack, Birds can be far more accurate in their pecking attacks, enabling them to hit weak points or secure grabs on smaller targets such as the thin hitbox of a Snake. Beaks also offer moderate protection, potentially reducing headshot damage and nullifying imprecise counter-attacks. Beaks also offer some of the best stab-type damage in the game, which when used accurately can deal massive damage on crit. Beaks are also excellent tools for dealing with parasites. In fact, Birds are so good that oftentimes, other, less dextrous players will party up with bird support players to have a better matchup against parasites.

Feathers are also a unique and powerful trait exclusive to Birds that provides excellent cold protection without causing the user to become too overencumbered to fly. Feathers also offer pretty substantial defense against crush-type attacks, which is especially important to Birds because of their [Hollow Bones] trait. [Hollow Bones] are another ability meant to synergize with the flying playstyle. Now, a common misconception is that bird bones are hollow to reduce equipment load. But actually, they're hollow in order to let Birds fill them with air, which grants them a massive boost to their maximum Stamina. Without this, it would be tough for a Bird to fly for any significant period of time.

The tradeoff, of course, is that a broken bone not only deals massive damage but also potentially reduces the player's maximum Stamina by a huge margin. So a Bird will need all of the blunt damage defense it can get. And speaking of blunt damage, the Bird's lower bone density means that its own blunt force strikes, like wing attacks, also deal reduced damage. The top-tier Bird builds are the ones that can best capitalize on the strengths of their class while mitigating potential weaknesses.

## The Tier List

### F-tier

#### Kiwi/Kakapo

At the bottom of the tier list, we have two flightless Bird builds, both with essentially the same glaring weakness. These are the Kiwi and the Kakapo. Kiwis are hilariously part of the same faction as, in order of viability, Ostriches, Emus, and Cassowaries. For some reason, they opted to give up the [Flight] ability but didn't use the extra available points to spec into [Gigantism] like the rest of their squad did. The result is a build that could only exist in an island server with no active Mammal playerbase, New Zealand. The Kakapo is a flightless version of the Parrot, and while Parrots are undoubtedly excellent Bird builds, the flightless weakness is too glaring to ignore. Due to invasive species like Rat and Domestic Cats establishing a presence in island servers, both of these Bird builds are seeing major declines in their playerbase and he (Patrick) would not be surprised if they end up switching mains. Flight is just too strong an ability to pass up.

#### Most Ratites

Ratites are rated as F tier by Tierzoo himself, who sees what these builds are going for. While they can have increased base stats by speccing into Gigantism in exchange for losing the Flight ability, In practice, this didn't quite pan out. While they are the strongest Birds in terms of base power and defensive stats, for their weight class, for their weight class they are woefully underpowered. They are one of the few megafauna builds that can be taken down by Cheetahs, even though they should be able to annihilate Cheetahs with their powerful claws. Their huge weak point presents a lot of opportunity to counter-attack too, so if they ever get too bold, they are setting themselves up for a tough loss. Lastly, the fact that they are forced to nest on the ground forces them into an even more vulnerable position than most Birds, as ratite eggs are extremely valuable as loot. The objective defense task is not an easy task even for high-tier builds, so for Ostriches,Emus, and Cassowaries, this is a huge hurl.

#### Hummingbird

Next on the tier list, we have the Hummingbird. This build just specced purely into Mobility and just about nothing else, and as a result, is the only Bird build with 360 degree movement, similar to a Dragonfly. This, combined with their extremely small size enables the Hummingbird to quickly change direction mid-flight, allowing it to easily dodge attacks and fly around obstacles. More importantly, it allows the Hummingbird to access nectar, which is an extremely valuable source of energy that's normally inaccessible to Birds since they are normally too heavy to land on the flowers and not agile enough to access nectar mid-flight. This all sounds great, but the Hummingbird also has two very serious weaknesses. The first is pretty obvious; they have no combat prowess at all, and any attack they fail to dodge will send them right back to The Character Select Screen. But in addition to that, the insane energy cost of their flight ability combined with their total lack of fat storage means Hummingbirds will run out of Stamina very quickly if they can't constantly find food. To Patrick (OP), this is a high-risk, high-reward strategy where the risk far outweighs the reward, so he has to place them in F tier.

### D-tier

#### Pigeon

At the bottom of D-tier, we have the Pigeon. The Pigeon doesn't really have any critical flaws, but they're held back by mediocre stats. In particular, the Pigeon is sorely lacking in any combat-focused stat like Power or Defense. They do best in Cities where their excellent navigation ability grants them an extra bit of safety by nesting among high rises in loot-rich locations. But even in Cities, Pigeon players tend to be the main source of EXP for higher-tier predators. Plus, if you're just looking to play a Bird build that's good at looting cities, there are better options available anyways.

#### Peacock

The Peacock build is another generally understated build with high Health but little else to rely on. However, it has one of the highest Intimidation proficiency bonuses in the game, gaining a massive buff to all Intimidation checks when its eyespot feather ability is activated. As impressive as this ability is, the Peacock's actual attacks do very little damage, so any player able to resist being frightened will have a pretty easy win. The Peacock's deimatic display also blocks vision behind itself, making a Stealth approach by a third-party attacker extremely easy. And while they can escape by flying, the feathers of a Peacock are so heavy that getting airborne takes a bit longer than most Birds which can be the difference between dodging or dying when under attack.

#### Flamingo

The Flamingo is a bit of an AFK class, very minimal skill is required to pilot this build. They opted to spec into the filter-feeding ability, meaning all they really need to do to gain experience and progress their character is pick a random spot in the lake bed and start digging around with their beak, scoring free wins against builds like Snails and Shrimp. However, when faced with a challenge from any player anywhere near its size, this build totally falls apart. They rely on water to impede the approach of predators in order to give them time to escape when attacked. However, this doesn't always work. Their pathetic defensive stats mean they go down in one or two hits, and their slow flight startup means that oftentimes, players will have time to rush them down even when they are in the water. This is an easy build to rack up a bunch of experience with but also a very easy build to defeat if you know their weaknesses.

### C-tier

#### Chicken

Often compared to the Tyrannosaurus Rex to exemplify how far the Dinosaur faction has fallen. While he (Patrick, the original Tierzoo) disagrees with the implication, he agrees that Chickens are indeed a low-tier build. While they aren't anywhere near as totally helpless as the Kiwi or Kakapo, they're still a barely average stated bird that lacks the ability to fly for any extended distance. They can certainly hold their own against most similarly sized opponents, but with poor escape options and no unique abilities, this build faces an uphill battle against most opponents. Their fast respawn rate kind of backfired on them due to Humans using the factory farming strategy.

#### Most Vultures

Next in C tier, we have the Vulture build, the tankiest variant of the Raptor subclass. A good tank build needs to be able to accomplish two things. First is area denial, which Vultures do quite well. A few of them can easily lock down a carcass, one of the most contested points of interest you'll ever see on the map. They can do this because of their large size and acidic projectile attack. The other thing a tank must be good at is shrugging off hits, and this is where Vultures fall short. Their thick feathers easily shield them completely from smaller attacks, but because of their hollow bones, blunt force can easily crush their defenses and take them down in only a hit or two. So while they can defend a carcass from a hoard of smaller scavengers, they don't have much counter-play towards bigger, more aggressive builds.

#### Woodpecker

The Woodpecker build spent the bulk of their Evolution Points optimizing and perfecting the [Peck] attack both in Power and efficiency with one goal in mind: To be able to hit Insect players through cover. Burrowing is one of the safest and most effective ways Insect players can avoid combat, but the Woodpecker absolutely demolishes this strat. One of the main advantages of this strategy is that having a powerful beak that's highly effective at drilling through wood also means you just got a super sharp beak that's highly effective as a general-purpose weapon. One of the main disadvantages of this strategy is that pecking at wood gives the Woodpecker's location away, alerting more powerful predators to its presence while it's in the middle of pecking and is distracted. One particular Woodpecker build, the Toucan, opted to spec into more bulk and an even more powerful beak, which, while less useful for attacking Insects at wood, is still extremely powerful for PvP. All in all, it's an interesting strategy, by no means flawless, but it definitely has some solid strengths.

#### Penguin

So, OP (Patrick) had been pretty hard on flightless bird builds up until now, so you might be surprised to see him Penguins as upper mid-tier rather than low-tier. The difference is, Penguins actually swapped out their wings for an arguable equally viable alternative; flippers, which essentially allows them to fly through the water with incredible agility. This gives them a downright broken matchup against Fish. However, this strategy is pretty much only viable on servers where there are no land-based predators that Penguins would still need to worry about. So, if for whatever reason a few Polar Bear players ever spawn in the Antarctic server, it's kind of game over for their entire build. The predators that they have to contend with in the water are even more dangerous, and while their agility does help them dodge attacks, ultimately, it is still a total one-sided matchup. Their strategy is actually pretty cool and actually very dominant due to limited competition, but he (Tierzoo) wouldn't be surprised to see the Penguin playerbase collapse if The Devs/The Developers added a new DLC in the form of a land predator. Still, top of C-tier is still a pretty respectable position for a flightless bird build.

### B-tier

#### Goose

At the bottom of B tier, we have the Goose. Patrick (Tierzoo) has got an entire video dedicated to the Goose build, but in short, the Goose has solid base stats, including above-average hit points. However, its abysmal Power stat leads it to rely heavily on Intimidation to secure territory. This can be unbelievably effective at times, and it's not uncommon to see top-tier predators flee an encounter that they easily could have won. Still, the obvious flaw in this strategy is that if the Goose's opponent resists being frightened, the Goose will be wide open to a punishing counter-attack. In addition, the Goose's weak spot is easily exploitable by Intelligent players, so careless aggression tends to be the Goose's biggest strength AND weakness at the same time. All in all, still a surprisingly effective strategy.

#### Heron

This build put a huge amount of Evolution Points into maxing out the puncture damage it can deal with its beak. And it did so to great success. Herons have one of the highest damage pecks of any Bird and frequently one-hit their targets, even those with scale armor like large Fish and juvenile Crocodiles. The effectiveness of their piercing attack is amplified by their long neck, which gives their attacks a deceptively long range, giving their strikes an almost Cobra-like flash to them. They have downright oppressive matchups against Fish, Amphibians, and all other small aquatic builds. One vulnerability that they do have is that their flight ability has a lot of startup, making it less reliable as an escape option if they do happen to get ambushed. Still, it's certainly not terrible. Another weakness is that their long neck presents a bit of a weak point, making lunging forward with repeated pecking attacks a bit risky if you get too predictable about it. Good players will be able to punish careless lunges quite hard.

#### Most Falcons

In high B tier, we have the falcon, a raptor build that opts to defeat its opponents using speed and superior maneuvering rather than actual Power. Falcons actually have a below-average Power stat for a Raptor and don't deal particularly high damage in close combat. Their talons are pretty small compared to Hawks, Owls, and Eagles, and so instead of slashing and stabbing with their claws, Falcons actually punch with their feet to disorient or concuss their target and them finish the fight with their more powerful beak. In the right situation, this can deal absolutely massive damage, enough to one-shot a midsize target at full HP. The drawback of this strategy is that Falcons can only dish out high damage when they have the time to build up speed first. This makes the Falcon a pretty poor defender for objective gamers and means the Falcon can struggle to win fights if its first attack doesn't connect as follow-up attacks will likely not have the same force build-up as the first. Still, the burst damage potential of this build cannot be ignored.

#### Songbird

Songbirds are a highly efficient build for their size and do deserve recognition on this tier list. This is a huge group including finches, starlings, sparrows, wrens, and birds of paradise, and while some are flashier than others, they all have relatively similar stats, with extremely high agility being their core stat. Unlike many of the builds lower on the tier list that have difficulty getting themselves airborne quickly, Songbirds have extremely low startup on their flight move, allowing them to reposition themselves easily and quickly. This makes their approach very difficult to punish, making Songbirds excellent at chipping away at defensive players and makes them great at stealing loot from slower builds. Their safety and numbers strategy can actually be somewhat intimidating and disorienting too, making it rather difficult to attack a party of Songbirds mid-flight. While they certainly aren't invincible, having one of the lower HP stats among Birds, they're an often overlooked but undoubtedly successful Bird build.

### A-tier

#### Swan

At the bottom of A tier, we have the Swan. The Swan is essentially a Goose that has the Power stat to actually back up its attempts to intimidate. The wing attacks that most Bird players use do very little damage and aren't very useful aside from pushing other players around. The Swan's wing attack can break bones and concuss foes. Because of this, Swans are one of the best builds at controlling important points of interest, as their hyper-aggressive playstyle can result in huge territory gains. Of course, they do have the same weaknesses as Geese so targeting the Swan's neck with an attack can defuse the threat. But this is a bit riskier against a Swan than against a Goose.

#### Most Owls

Next in A tier, we have the Owl, the avian faction's premier Stealth assassin. Build. It owes this reputation to its special ability, which allows it to fly completely silently. This makes the Owl's strikes very difficult to defend against, as players just about never see them coming. While not as stacked in the Power department as their daytime counterparts, Owls do have quite solid base stats. While they aren't likely to one-shot high HP targets, they do have enough force behind their attacks to be able to defend themselves and their territory, even from powerful enemies. In addition to granting the Owl the silent flight perk, the Owl's thick bushy feathers offer additional defense against attacks, enabling it to stand its ground in important objective defense scenarios. Interestingly, the [Silent Flight] perk did come at the cost of the waterproof ability that most Bird feathers have, meaning that falling into the water or getting caught in a rainstorm can actually disable the Owl's flight ability, a pretty unique weakness and certainly something that can be played around but interesting nonetheless.

#### Most Hawks and Eagles

In the middle of A tier, we have the Eagles and Hawks. They follow the same basic strategy, both having tailored their builds to focus on dealing maximum damage with their talons. Hawks are the smaller variants of this group, and because of this, they are far more agile. While not as powerful as Eagles, their agility enables them to weave through cover better than most birds of prey. This makes them well suited for rushing down players both in open terrain and in dense, difficult to navigate terrain like forests. Eagles, in contrast, are much more powerful, but their larger size and wider wingspan prevents them from entering dense forests. Still, in open prairies and mountains, Eagles can be incredibly effective, dealing absolutely brutal damage with their enormous dagger-like talons, enough to take down players in higher weight classes without even requiring team strategies.

#### Pelican

At the top of A tier, we have the grappler tank hybrid, the Pelican. The Pelican's main strength is its throat pouch. Grappling enemy players can be a highly effective takedown strategy, but Birds struggle with this since they can't use their wings to grab and since their beaks aren't always the most reliable grappling weapons, sometimes leading to targets escaping. The Pelican's grapple is in contrast, almost totally inescapable and works on targets much larger than you might think. While this attack style is most effective against Fish, it's quite powerful against other Bird, Rodent, and Amphibian players, although it does have its limitations. This, combined with the Pelican's overall bulk, makes it one of the most difficult Birds to take down in single combat and enables it to stand its ground against even top tiers like canines.

### S-tier

#### Secretary Bird

The Secretary Bird has basically all the same awesome abilities as the velociraptor and more. Hunting on foot and in pairs, they prove time and time again that striking from the sky is overrated. They can easily defeat other high-tier builds such as the Cobra and Mongoose with their high damage kicks. Their Stomp move has extremely high accuracy, allowing Secretary Bird players to score game-ending headshots with ease. And they do all of this without completely sacrificing their Flight ability. If they ever find themselves outmatched, which only ever happens against builds from higher weight classes, they can still retreat to the sky or treetops. The fact that this strategy works in Africa, one of the most unforgiving servers of all time, is proof enough to him (TierZoo) that this is the optimal raptor.

#### Parrot

Parrots are an extremely unique build with several powerful abilities, not the least of which is their Syrinx Shriek which can drive away just about any player who invaded their territory, especially when employed by a coordinated team. In addition, due to their prehensile beak, Parrots have the highest dexterity of any Bird, putting them among the best users of the Tool Use ability. And with an extremely high lifespan, if there was any build that could replace Humans if Humans ever get their Intelligence nerfed, he (Patrick himself) would bet on the Parrot.

#### Corvid

Corvids, such as magpies, crows, and ravens, also opt for a high Intelligence playstyle but with a far more expansive social aspect to it. While plenty of Bird builds use cooperative team strats, the best corvids operate using a network effect where knowledge is shared with a huge amount of players over vast distances. This knowledge can include useful points of interest or even blacklists of dangerous areas or players to avoid. But even individually, Corvids have a lot going for them. With significantly higher Stealth than Parrots, Corvids are much better at staying out of conflict. Their pointy beaks, while not as useful for tool use, are a much better combat tool for dealing quick damage. It's also more useful for pressuring and poking opponents or for provoking larger players into battle so they can reap the benefits of the aftermath. Corvids are one of the best builds at making use of Human-made items and quickly figure out ways of abusing the system to score quick loot. All in all, Corvids are basically what you'd get if you gave monkeys wings.

Builds that he ddin't cover: Shrike and Shoebill cause of the youtube algorithm