Melvor Idle 2 Tier List: Skills and Gear Ranked
A practical Melvor Idle 2 tier list for Early Access: which skills carry an account, which gear tiers matter, and why the ranking will move.
Tier lists are only useful if you know what they measure. This one measures how much an option carries an account toward its next wall, not how strong it is in a maxed-out vacuum. A skill that is mandatory at hour five can be mediocre at hour five hundred, and a gear tier that is best in slot can still be a trap if you cannot replace it.
The ranking is for the 17 November Early Access build, level cap 99. Treat it as a starting hypothesis, not scripture: balance patches will move the middle of the list long before they move the top.
Skill tiers
| Tier | Skills | Why they sit here |
|---|---|---|
| S | Fishing, Cooking, Mining, Smithing | They build the food and gear floor every account needs |
| A | Thieving, Farming, Herblore, Prayer | They turn cash into sustain and sustain into boss clears |
| B | Slayer, Agility, Astrology, Runecrafting | Strong multipliers once the foundation exists |
| C | Woodcutting, Firemaking, Fletching, Crafting | Useful outputs, but replaceable early |
| Situational | Magic, Ranged, Archaeology-style systems | Excellent as a second style; expensive as a first |
Why the production pair is S
Fishing and Cooking remove the food bottleneck. Mining and Smithing remove the gear bottleneck. Those are the two bottlenecks that stop a quest run, and no amount of cash fixes them if the input chain is missing. The S tier is about reliability, not excitement.
Why Thieving is A, not S
Thieving is the best early cash skill, but cash is a means, not a wall. It funds bank slots, seeds and a weapon; it does not itself kill a boss. Put it in A and train it early anyway.
Why the combat styles are situational
You need one combat style, not three. The first style should match the gear your Smithing chain can produce. The other two become cheap to level once the first is stable. Ranking a second style above Herblore is how accounts end up with three mediocre weapons and no potions.
Gear tiers by progression stage
Gear is harder to tier than skills because item names and drop tables will change. The stable ranking is by source:
| Tier | Source | Strength | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Dungeon and quest rewards you can re-farm | Above your Smithing tier | Food and potion cost |
| A | Smithing at your current bar tier | Predictable, replaceable | Time and ore |
| B | Monster drops one tier above you | Free upgrade if it drops | Random, bank clutter |
| C | Shop or starter gear | No setup | Falls off quickly |
The rule: a replaceable A-tier item beats an irreplaceable S-tier item you cannot afford to lose. In a game where death costs a run, consistency is a stat.
Weapon first, then body and legs, then the small slots. A new weapon changes clear speed more than four minor armour upgrades.
How the list will move
Early Access patches typically touch three things: level requirements, drop rates and consumable costs. Those changes hit the B and C tiers first. The S tier is stable because it is defined by bottlenecks, not numbers.
When a patch lands, re-rank with three questions:
- Did the patch change the food or gear floor?
- Did it change the cost of a failed run?
- Did it add a new source of an existing tier?
If the answer to all three is no, the tier list still holds. If the food floor moved, the whole list moves with it.
FAQ
What is the best skill in Melvor Idle 2? For a fresh account, Fishing because it feeds Cooking and combat. For a funded account, Herblore because potions gate the hardest content.
Is the tier list the same as the best skills to level first? No. The first-skills ranking→ is ordered by launch route; this page ranks long-term value.
Should I follow a tier list blindly? No. A tier list assumes a normal account. If you have a specific goal, such as a dungeon pet, the ranking for that goal is different.
Will the tier list change after Early Access? Yes. The full release raises the cap to 120 and adds content, which will reshuffle the middle and add new S-tier sources.
Official source: Melvor Idle 2 on Steam ↗ Official source: Early Access announcement ↗ Community source: Melvor Idle wiki ↗