You have seen the rows — S at the top, then A, B, C and down — but the letters only help if everyone reads them the same way. This is the plain-English version: what each tier actually signals, and where a pick belongs once you stop second-guessing. (Curious about the top rank on its own? That is covered in what S tier means.)
A standard tier list runs from S at the top down through the alphabet:
Searching for a specific rank? Here is what each tier means on its own:
If you have searched "SABCDEF tier list," that string is just the whole ladder written out — S A B C D E F, best to worst. Same letters everyone uses, nothing exotic. A blank one sometimes gets called a tier sheet or tier template. In practice most people stop at D (an S–D board); the E and F rows exist for when "bad" needs two levels.
Numbers force a single line: #7 is worse than #6, even when you cannot really tell them apart. Letters dodge that. Drop five things in B and they all just sit there as "good, not great" — no agonising over which is 6th versus 7th. That is closer to how opinions actually work, and a glance at a colored row reads faster than a numbered list ever will.
Most boards use five rows — S through D — and that is plenty for a casual ranking. Going brutal? Tack on E and F. Only sorting a handful of things? Stop at C and move on. None of it is fixed: in the tier list maker you add, rename, recolor or delete a row in a couple of clicks.
The letters pair with a warm-to-cool color ramp — red for S down to blue for the lowest tier — so the ranking reads instantly. See our full guide to tier list colors and what they mean.
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Farasat is an engineer who designs websites and builds practical online tools in his spare time. He created Tier List Maker after using other ranking sites that asked for an account, stamped watermarks on downloads, or simply did not work well on a phone. He is not a professional gamer or a self-described tier-list expert — he builds and maintains this site himself, fixes issues, and adds features based on what visitors actually ask for.