Best Epic Cookies in Cookie Run: Kingdom, Ranked

Updated 14 October 2026: This guide has been rewritten. An earlier version built its ranking on support buffs that don't exist, including a team-wide ATK buff for Cotton and a DEF shred for Eclair; the kits below are checked against cookierun.wiki's skill data.

Cotton's lantern raises ATK by 75%. Read that line in-game and you'd assume your whole team hits harder. It doesn't. The buff goes to summoned creatures only, which cookierun.wiki flags as an inaccuracy in the in-game text. Get that one line wrong and you build an account around a buff that was never there. So every skill description below is what the skill actually does at max level, per cookierun.wiki's skill data.

The short answer: Candy Apple and Peach Blossom top this list. They're the only two Epics that Pocket Gamer's tier list (updated 6 October 2026) rates S+ in PvE and S in PvP. Neither drops Soulstones in Dark Mode, so you can't farm them there. Of the Epics you can farm, Parfait, Cotton, Wildberry and Captain Caviar rank highest. Build Parfait first if you only build one, or Cotton if PvE progress is where you're stuck. The reasoning is below.

How this ranking works

This ranking is built from two dated sources you can check yourself:

• Pocket Gamer's Cookie Run: Kingdom tier list, updated 6 October 2026 for version 7.9.101, which rates Cookies separately for PvE and PvP. It's one site's opinion, and it has errors. The one that matters here is Cotton: she appears twice in its PvP table, once at S+ and once at C.
• Devsisters' own recommended Cookies for each tray of the Decadent Choco Cake Tower, as recorded on cookierun.wiki. This is the developer's own advice, but the wiki warns that these recommendations may be inaccurate or outdated.

The tiers come straight from those two sources:

Inside a tier, Cookies are ordered by their best Pocket Gamer rating, then by tray count, then alphabetically. The kit text explains what each Cookie does to earn its place. Farmability is kept separate on purpose, because it decides what you can build rather than what's strongest.

Two limits are worth knowing. Pocket Gamer doesn't rate Litmus, Mogra, Salt Cellar or Cream Soda at all, so this method can't place them. And this list doesn't tier all 116 global Epics. It covers every Epic that clears the S bar, plus the five that this guide ranked before and that don't clear it. For every rarity at once, the master CRK tier list uses the same tray data.

The Epic tier list at a glance

The pattern that falls out of it: the top of the list is Cookies whose kits do two jobs at once. Candy Apple shields your team while stripping the enemy's DEF. Peach Blossom heals and hands out DMG Resist. Captain Caviar's torpedoes do damage and cut DEF. The bottom is Cookies whose headline effect only reaches part of your team. Mint Choco's DMG Resist is Wind-only, and Strawberry Crepe's covers just two allies.

Candy Apple and Peach Blossom — S+ tier

Candy Apple (Bomber, Middle, released January 2025) covers offence, defence and debuffs in a single cast. Her skill, Apple of My Eye!, runs on a 12-second cooldown. She slams down a giant lollipop for 701.5% damage, and every enemy it hits gets ATK −30%, DEF −40% and takes 47.5% more damage for 12 seconds. The lollipop then shatters. That gives your whole team an HP Shield worth 31.5% of Max HP and ATK +15% for 12 seconds, while the Candy Shards hit three more times. The skill takes 4.5 seconds to land, and she resists interruption while it does. She's also one third of the Deceitful Trio with Black Sapphire and Shadow Milk, and Devsisters recommends her and Black Sapphire together on Decadent Choco tray 29.

Peach Blossom (Support, Middle, released June 2024) is the S+ sustain pick. Heavenly Fruit also runs on a 12-second cooldown. His Peach Tree heals the team for 30.4% of his ATK every second for 10 seconds, and the ally with the lowest current HP gets an extra 198.5%. Every ally the fruit reaches gets DMG Resist +30% and Debuff Resist +30% for 16 seconds. Enemies get Unripe Peach Baos: 901.4% damage plus ATK SPD −35% for 10 seconds. One catch from the skill notes: he can't cast if no enemy is inside his attack range.

Neither has a Magic Candy, and neither has a Dark Mode Soulstone stage on either wiki. If you own one, build it. If you don't, the highest-ranked Epics you can farm are Parfait, Cotton, Wildberry and Captain Caviar.

Parfait Cookie — S tier

Parfait is the strongest-backed Epic you can farm. She is the only Epic that Pocket Gamer rates S+ in a mode (PvP) and that Devsisters also recommends on four or more Decadent Choco trays (2, 3, 6 and 37). Pocket Gamer has her at A in PvE.

Her kit is sustain, not damage. Paru-Paru-Parfait!★ (17-second cooldown) heals every ally for 30.7% of her ATK each second for 7 seconds (cookierun.wiki's max-level figure), and gives them DEF +10% and Debuff Resist +50% for the same 7 seconds. She resists interruption while singing. An earlier version of this guide called her an "ATK buffer". She has no ATK buff at all.

Her Magic Candy, Sweet Melody, is what makes her worth the investment. Each cast gives herself and your highest-ATK Cookie the Paru-paru-parfait! buff for 13 seconds. While it's up, any healing past Max HP turns into an HP Shield worth 178% of the surplus, capped at 18% of Max HP. The same two get Debuff Immunity for 4 seconds. With her on the team, any other Cookie that lands a critical hit gets +6% healing received for 13 seconds. At +10, +20 and +30 the candy adds a team heal of 123.8%, 133.9% and 138.6% of ATK.

Where to farm her: Soulstones from Dark Mode 12-30 and 14-15, and Soulcores from Master Mode 3-13.

Cotton Cookie — S tier

Cotton is S rather than S+ only because of Pocket Gamer's duplicate: it rates her S+ in PvE but lists her in PvP at both S+ and C, so she can't clear the S+ bar. She clears S with that PvE S+ and Devsisters picks on trays 5 and 9.

What her skill, A Warm Light (17-second cooldown), actually does:

• Heals the team over time. While her lantern is lit, allies recover roughly 30% of her ATK every second for 9 seconds (cookierun.wiki lists 30.3% at max skill level and 14.2% at base).
• Summons three Cream Cotton Sheep. Each one has 124.5% of her ATK, 157.8% of her DEF and 111.4% of her HP. They charge for 150% Grass-type area damage, Stun for 1 second, then fight alongside your team for a while. Summoning new sheep expires the old ones.
• Raises summoned creatures' ATK by 75% while the lantern is lit. The in-game text just says "ATK", and cookierun.wiki marks that as inaccurate. Its ATK page lists the effect as raising all allied Summoned Creatures' ATK. Your Cookies get none of it.
• Resists interruption while she casts.

That's a healer-support with a damage-dealing flock, not the team-wide ATK buffer this guide used to describe. Nothing in her kit taunts, either. If a team ATK buff is what you wanted from her, cookierun.wiki's ATK page lists Epics that really give one, among them Pomegranate (+30%), Litmus (+25%), Macaron (+11.5%, stacking to +23%), Golden Osmanthus (+19.5%), and Candy Apple and Schwarzwälder (+15% each). Pomegranate's comes with a catch: once her Magic Candy is unlocked, every ally except Dark Enchantress gets Pomegranate Gem Magic instead, which is only ATK +5% and also cuts their DEF by 30%.

Build pointer: her heal scales with her ATK, and her sheep's stats are set from her ATK, DEF and HP, so all three feed her output. She has no Magic Candy, so don't save Magic Laboratory materials for her. Where to farm her: Soulstones from Dark Mode 8-12 and 18-3, and Soulcores from Master Mode 4-16.

Wildberry Cookie — S tier

Wildberry earns S on Pocket Gamer's PvE S+ (A in PvP) and Devsisters picks on trays 9 and 42. His skill, Wild Punch, has a 10-second cooldown, and it protects the team as well as himself.

Wild Punch puts him into an 8-second Battle Rage. During it, he takes 30% less damage, he's Immune, and every ally gets DMG Resist +17%. That ally buff can't be dispelled unless he's defeated. His transformed hits deal 423.5% Steel damage and Stun for 1.5 seconds, and his knockback doubles. Every hit he takes adds a Wild stack worth 10% of his Max HP to his Final Blow, up to 15 stacks, so up to +150% of Max HP. The Final Blow then deals 135.5% plus those stacks plus another 21.1% of his Max HP, and Stuns for 2.5 seconds.

His Magic Candy adds a team HP Shield of 15% Max HP for 5 seconds and an extra 175% Steel damage on the Final Blow. At +10, +20 and +30 it gives allies CRIT Resist +25%, +30% and +35%.

Build pointer: this guide used to say "keep him standing; don't try to make him hit". That was half wrong. His Final Blow scales with his own Max HP, so stacking HP makes him tankier and hit harder. Where to farm him: Soulstones from Dark Mode 15-21, and Soulcores from Master Mode 5-10. The tank tier list ranks him against the other Defense Cookies.

Captain Caviar Cookie — S tier

Captain Caviar is the Epic Devsisters recommends most: six Decadent Choco trays (3, 8, 11, 16, 40 and 44), more than any other Epic. Pocket Gamer has him at S in PvE and A in PvP.

Black Shark Torpedo (15-second cooldown) fires three torpedoes at the enemies with the lowest HP, Cookies first. Each one deals up to 704.2% Water damage to a Cookie, then explodes for area damage and cuts DEF by 42% for 8 seconds. The cast also gives your team Debuff Resist +20% for 7 seconds, and he's immune to every kind of Fear.

His Magic Candy, Black Shark Torpedo Mk.2, retargets the torpedoes at the nearest enemies and chains the explosions. All of the skill's damage bypasses 25% of the target's DMG Resist, and he takes 65% less Reflected damage. At +10, +20 and +30 it adds a second, third and fourth explosion, each worth 254.3% of his ATK.

Where to farm him: Soulstones from Dark Mode 16-15 and 18-15, and Soulcores from Master Mode 5-18, 16-15 and 18-15.

The rest of the S tier

These clear the same S bar and get shorter write-ups, grouped by whether you can farm them.

Farmable in Dark Mode:

• Black Lemonade (Bomber): Electrifying Rock! (10-second cooldown) Zaps the highest-HP enemy, Cookies first, and gives it DEF −25% and +22.5% CRIT damage taken for 10 seconds. Her team buff turns allies' critical hits and Zap ticks into bonus Electricity damage. Pocket Gamer S in PvP, four trays, Dark Mode 18-24, no Magic Candy.
• Frilled Jellyfish (Support): Frilled Shackles (12-second cooldown) Shackles up to five enemies for 2.6 seconds, Zaps them through HP Shields, and makes them take +32.5% Water damage for 10 seconds. Pocket Gamer S in PvP, Dark Mode 18-30, has a Magic Candy.
• Milky Way (Charge): Sugarcloud Express (15-second cooldown) cuts the team's Stun duration by 50%, chips 3.5% off enemy DEF per hit, and ends by shielding the team for 15.5% of Max HP. Pocket Gamer S in PvE, Dark Mode 16-30, no Magic Candy. The Beginner's Guide added in version 7.0 also gives her (and the Legendary Moonlight) to new players.

Not farmable in Dark Mode:

• Cream Puff (Support): a 629.2% Light AoE that heals the team for 152.6% of her ATK; a "great success" cast, likelier with more CRIT%, does 1,563.6% and heals 335.8%. Pocket Gamer S+ in PvE. Soulstones from the Guild Gacha or Choice Chests. Has a Magic Candy.
• Choco Drizzle (Ambush): marks the farthest enemy Cookie with DEF −50%, +40% damage taken and Healing −60% for 10 seconds. Pocket Gamer S in both modes.
• Rebel (Ambush): stacks DEF cuts on enemies, makes them take +60% damage for 14 seconds, and gives allies CRIT% +15% plus an HP Shield worth 35% of the damage he dealt. Pocket Gamer S in both modes.
• Burnt Cheese (Charge): for 12 seconds, absorbs 65% of the damage your highest-ATK ally takes and makes them Immune to Debuffs; all allies get Earth-type CRIT damage +22.5%. Pocket Gamer S in PvP.

The A tier: Black Sapphire, Eclair and Financier

Black Sapphire (Support, Middle) is A because Pocket Gamer rates him S in PvE but B in PvP, and Devsisters recommends him on one tray. His value scales with your Poison-type Cookies. It's Showtime! (15-second cooldown) drops gems that inflict Poison, apply Amplified Debuffs +25%, and make enemies take 25% more Poison damage. The gems also cut enemy DEF by 20% for each Poison-type Cookie on your team, him included, up to 80%. They heal only your Poison-type Cookies (103.5% of his ATK, plus DMG Resist +25%). While he's alive, all allies deal 35% more Poison damage. His Deceitful Trio bonus switches on partly with Candy Apple and fully when Shadow Milk joins them. He has no Magic Candy, and neither wiki lists a Dark Mode or Master Mode stage for him.

Eclair (Support, Middle) is A on Pocket Gamer's PvE S alone (B in PvP, no trays). His skill was misdescribed here as a DEF shred. Book of History (16-second cooldown) actually applies Weakness to the three enemies with the highest ATK, Cookies first: they take 25% more damage per stack, up to four stacks (+100%), for 40 seconds. It hits once for 1,022.3%. If a Weakened enemy is defeated, every ally gets an HP Shield worth 17% of Max HP for 7 seconds. Pocket Gamer notes he can "single-handedly clear out story stages" with a good healer or front line. No Magic Candy. Where to farm him: Soulstones from Dark Mode 14-27, and Soulcores from Master Mode 4-26.

Financier (Defense, Front) clears the tray bar with three Devsisters picks (19, 22, and 54 with her Magic Candy), but Pocket Gamer rates her B in both modes. At battle start her passive, Paladin Protector, goes to Clotted Cream if he's on the team, otherwise to your highest-ATK ally. If that ally falls, it moves to the next-highest. When she casts Paladin Protection (15-second cooldown), she and the protected ally both get a heal of 92.6% of her ATK, plus DMG Resist +20%, CRIT Resist +20% and ATK +14.7% for 15 seconds. They also get Light's Shield, worth 12.7% of Max HP for 5 seconds; it can't be dispelled, and when it ends it deals 50% of the damage it absorbed back as fixed damage. Her Magic Candy, Paladin's Devotion, gives the protected ally DMG Resist +30%, CRIT Resist +35% and Debuff Immunity for 15 seconds. It also adds a team heal worth 28.5% of her DEF (capped at 15% of each target's Max HP) and team DMG Resist +15%. So for her, DEF isn't just survival; it feeds the heal too. Where to farm her: Soulstones from Dark Mode 15-27 and 18-9, and Soulcores from Master Mode 5-14.

Several other Epics clear one S bar and would sit here too. Schwarzwälder and Tarte Tatin are Pocket Gamer S+ in PvE but have fewer than two tray picks. Herb (four trays) and Twizzly Gummy (five) clear the tray bar without an S from Pocket Gamer. Rockstar is S in both modes with one tray. All five drop Soulstones in Dark Mode. Agar Agar, Cloud Haetae, Okchun, Pudding à la Mode and Silverbell are Pocket Gamer S in both modes but have fewer than two trays and no Dark Mode stage.

The B tier: Mint Choco and Strawberry Crepe

Mint Choco (Support, Rear) clears neither bar: Pocket Gamer C in PvE and D in PvP, and no tray picks. The old version of this guide sold him as an "ATK buff plus damage resist" support. Here's what Battlefield Symphony (16-second cooldown) really gives:

• Whole team: ATK SPD +40% for 10 seconds (stacking to +80%), a heal of 143.1% of his ATK, and a Mint Gust that deals 959.5% Wind damage and heals for part of it.
• Wind-type allies only: Warm Breeze (DMG Resist +15%, stacking to +30%) and an HP Shield of 10% Max HP.
• No ATK buff in the base kit. His Magic Candy adds ATK +12.5% (stacking to +37.5%), but only for Wind-type allies.

So he's a Wind-team specialist. On a team without Wind-type Cookies, he's an ATK SPD buff and a heal.

Strawberry Crepe (Defense, Front) also clears neither bar: Pocket Gamer C in both modes, no tray picks. Devsisters puts them in the Decadent Choco tower only as the boss of tray 13. Crepe Thrust (15-second cooldown) hits an area for 702.9% and gives DMG Resist +50% for 8 seconds to the two allies with the lowest current HP. The in-game text wrongly says Max HP. Their Magic Candy Stuns targets for 3 seconds. It also gives them and the two highest-ATK ally Cookies an HP Shield (20% of Max HP at max) and DMG Resist +50% for 12 seconds.

Which Epic to build first

Rank tells you what's strong. What you can build depends on what drops. Just over half of the 116 global Epics have Soulstones that drop in World Exploration's Dark Mode stages. Each of those stages can be cleared three times a day, or up to seven with Crystals. Every three clears guarantee at least one Soulstone, and these stages cost more than twice the usual Stamina. Master Mode stages drop the Soulcores used for Ascension, plus the Sugar Crystals that Magic Candy needs.

So spend in this order:

1. Own Candy Apple or Peach Blossom? Build them first. They're the top of the list, and neither has a Magic Candy to fund.
2. One farmable support: Parfait or Cotton. If you only build one, build Parfait. Both sources back her (S+ in PvP from Pocket Gamer, four trays from Devsisters), and her Magic Candy gives her room to grow. Build Cotton first instead if PvE progress is where you're stuck. That's where Pocket Gamer rates her S+ and Parfait A, and Cotton costs no Magic Candy materials.
3. A front line: Wildberry, whose Final Blow scales with the Max HP you'd stack anyway. If you're a new account, Milky Way is free through the Beginner's Guide and farmable from Dark Mode 16-30.
4. Damage amplification: Captain Caviar. He's Devsisters' most-recommended Epic, his torpedoes cut DEF by 42%, and his Magic Candy bypasses 25% of DMG Resist. Black Lemonade is the farmable alternative if you run critical hits or Zap.
5. Then specialize. Black Sapphire only with several Poison-type Cookies. Mint Choco only with Wind-type Cookies.

Magic Candy order. Only 40 Cookies in the global game have a Magic Candy, and every one of them is an Epic. Legendaries use Crystal Jam instead. A Magic Candy needs the Cookie at Lv.50, plus Soul Essence, Sugar Crystals, that Cookie's own Resonant Ingredient from the Magic Laboratory, and Coins. Eight of the 18 Cookies in this guide have one: Parfait, Wildberry, Captain Caviar, Frilled Jellyfish, Cream Puff, Financier, Mint Choco and Strawberry Crepe. The other ten don't, Cotton, Eclair, Black Sapphire and both S+ picks included, so don't save materials for them. The Magic Candy priority guide has the full upgrade order, and the toppings guide covers the sets.

Quick Action Checklist

• Strongest Epics overall? Candy Apple and Peach Blossom, the only Epics Pocket Gamer rates S+ in PvE and S in PvP. Neither drops in Dark Mode.
• Building one farmable Epic? Parfait. Make it Cotton if PvE progress is your bottleneck.
• Does Cotton buff your team's ATK? No. Her +75% ATK goes to summoned creatures; she heals your team and summons sheep that deal Grass damage and Stun.
• Want a real team ATK buff from an Epic? Pomegranate (+30% before her Magic Candy), Litmus (+25%), Macaron (up to +23%), Golden Osmanthus (+19.5%), Candy Apple or Schwarzwälder (+15% each).
• Need a front line? Wildberry: allies get DMG Resist +17% during his Battle Rage.
• Need the enemy softer? Captain Caviar cuts DEF by 42%. Eclair's Weakness is damage amplification (up to +100% on three targets), not DEF shred.
• Running Poison-type or Wind-type Cookies? Black Sapphire (DEF −20% per Poison-type Cookie, up to 80%) or Mint Choco (his DMG Resist and Magic Candy ATK reach Wind-type allies only).
• Saving Magic Candy materials? Skip Cotton, Eclair, Black Sapphire, Candy Apple and Peach Blossom. None of them has one.