Invisible, Inc. – Agent Tier List

1. Shalem 11
Garbage augment. Garbage gun. Garbage starting skill. And somehow even a garbage disrupter. Shalem is just all round bad, and the only possible justification for this is his high starting armor piercing. This is a nightmare for poor Shalem because armor piercing is very niche. 95% of the time, guards have no armor at all, and even after that you only really only need 1 armor piercing for the odd enemy which can be easily obtained via a Neural Disruptor 2 or 3 or even a penetration scanner.
Even if killing was viable(Which it isn’t.), he’s still living in his formor’s shadow. Archive Shalem has a better gun, a better disrupter and more versatile armor piercing. Like all F tier agents, Shalem 11 has no redeeming qualities at all and the only reason to ever be running him is in challenges that require him.2. Nika
I’m putting both Nika and her archive in the same boat here as they both fulfill the same awful playstyle. Nika is designed to quickly take down multiple guards, and is fundamentally bad because this playstyle is fundamentally bad. Playing Nika is like being scammed by a Ponzi Scheme. Taking down guards ups the alarm, and upping the alarm spawns new guards. Nika’s solution to this self-made conundrum is to take down even more guards, spawning even more guards even more quickly. Like all Ponzi Schemes, eventually it all has to collapse.
Nika is nothing outside of this. She doesn’t even get an additional starting skill. F Tier.

3. Archive Decker
Archive Decker is like regular Decker but with an even less useful augment and no cloaking rig. Outside of Draco his gun has no practical use at all and even with Draco is outdone by Archive Shalem.

1. Monst3r
Monster just doesn’t do enough. His nanofab discounts are just too low, his extra hacking just isn’t enough, and his gun somehow never fails to disappoint me. Monster isn’t the worst, but his tempo is lacking across the board.2. Archive International
I’ve tried Archive International quite a bit, and she consistently falls short. She’s just too slow to be viable at the highest level of the game. Every time the alarm goes up, you get a little bit of power. But the corps get more cameras, or more firewalls, and that 4 power just doesn’t make the cut. The fundamental issue here is that Archive International is reactive, not proactive, and has nothing else to prop her up, so she’s forever just behind the curve.
I feel like someone might bring up the fact that she ignores that level 6 cap, but honestly, what are you still doing in there at that point? Just take Sharp and get out.

3. Archive Dr. Xu
I haven’t played with Archive Xu as much as I could have, but from what I have played he just doesn’t do enough. In the first mission he is pretty good, being able to generate a fair amount of power, but that really doesn’t age very well. His emp is very similar. It’s just nice to have. But Archive Xu just doesn’t have the longevity to justly be above D Tier.

4. Central
I originally had Central placed higher, but when I really think about my time with her, I realize she just isn’t as great in practice as she is on paper.
To break it down, there are two main ways to play Central. The first is the deamon run, which involves Brimstone and Faust. This is by far the most popular way to play Central, and is just peachy until Rubiks/Validate hits. This is even more prevalent with Monster, so I would very much recommend going with some good tempo instead if you’re going to attempt this.
The other, lesser known way to play Central is to rush her high Anarchy with Archive Shalem. Archive Shalem’s extra stuff is worth 800 credits, so combined with the first mission’s credits you can rapidly pay the 1400 credits needed to get Central stealing extra items(Expert Plus Plus).
The trouble I’ve had with this is it’s just too little too late. A good agent needs more than a Neural Disruptor and the item stealing is just too slow.

1. Prism
Prism is just worse Banks. Not only is she missing the paralyzer, but I would argue the unlocking doors is more useful than the power generation, particularly if you’re running Seed and Parasite. That about sums up Prism. Banks but without the paralyzer and a weaker augment.2. Olivia
Again, very similar to Banks, but without the paralyzer. The crybaby just isn’t as useful and her augment is unnecessary if you’re running Seed and Parasite. The only use I have found for it is with a volt disruptor, but then you’re back to Nika again. Just use Banks.

3. Draco
I’ve had a hard time deciding where to put Draco on this list. I recently completed Expert Plus Plus no spending money with him, but he still seems off. Going to Sankaku or K&O is preferable. He can quickly up his speed, and can use powerful level three items very quickly, but I just can’t seem to justify him above C Tier right now.

4. Archive Shalem
Only in making this tier list have I realized the true value in Archive Shalem as a “Combat Medic”, in that you always immediately have him donate his stuff to his partner(Draco taking his gun and Verticular Lance and Central taking the money).

1. Dr. Xu
There is going to be a lot of people out there that will be shocked by my low Dr. Xu placement, but I’m confident that Xu is B Tier. He is undoubtedly the single most overrated agent in the game.
The main part of Xu is his local emp, which has a number of niche uses, like permanently disabling a guard’s heart monitor, disabling drones or most notably for many, unlocking safes and other lockboxes. The issue with Xu is that all of these niche uses come at the cost of a much more active drawback- Dr. Xu has -1 AP, at all times.
Unlocking safes in my experience is really a lot less useful than many would make it out to be as it involves having to get Xu physically over to the safe. This is fine if he runs into the safe, but if he went the other way at the start and now has to cross over to the other side of the map…2. Archive Prism
Archive Prism is an agent I’ve only begun to appreciate recently. Due to her high power requirement, I usually find myself swapping out to dynamo to fund her disguise. Beyond that, I don’t really have a lot to say about her. Her buster chip is very helpful for safes and her starting anarchy is pretty cool too.
I have run into several complications while using her disguise though, like getting spotted by cameras sometimes, but most of the time running Archive Prism is very straightforward, fun, and reliable.

3. Rush
I strongly believe Rush is really just the worse Sharp due to the lacking augments. But Sharp is good and thus so is Rush. Her extra KO damage is immediately helpful, and the armor piercing, while niche at the start, has more than once made me happy, as even level two facilities can contain the odd one armored guards. Other than that, Rush is just small bonuses. Extra speed and a stim are just nice to have.

4. Derek
Derek has struck me as a bit underwhelming. His teleport has both a moderate cooldown and power cost, and he lacks anything else of value. In the right team he can be very strong, but otherwise I think he lacks value.

5. Decker
I’m honestly shocked to be ranking Decker so highly. I’ve always thought of him as kinder meh, but with additional time and difficulty I’ve come to really appreciate him. Decker’s main thing is his cloaking rig, which is as useful at the end of the game as it is at the start. Beyond that he has two smaller benefits, extra speed and a bit of deamon reveal, the latter is in my opinion a bit underrated. Having Decker inconvenience himself to reveal a jolt isn’t particularly invigorating, but it’s a nice side, particularly when you’re as paranoid about Validate as I am.

1. Archive Sharp
He’s finally here!!! Sharp is without a doubt the best agent in this game. Nobody in this game can do what Sharp can do. Nobody in this game can provide the sheer value that Sharp can. Predictive Brawling, Penetration Scanner, Torque Injectors, and my personal favorite, Titanium Rods, are all excellent filler for him. Sharp not only gets +50% more slots than everybody else, but he also gets them all at the start. The value from this is astronomical because it means you have no reservations to speak of when adding something to Sharp. After just two augments armor piercing is practically a non-issue, and into the late game he can knock-up anybody.
I’ve ranked Archive Sharp specifically below his regular form because I deem KO to be more important than armor piercing(And also the AP loss).
The main criticism I see of Sharp is that installing augments in him is difficult, but this really just falls through. Augments are both cheap and available. Every mission has at least 1 augment, nanofabs have 5 and grafters have 3.
Archive Sharp can use any weapon you give to him right through to the end of the game, and with enough agents, he can seamlessly lock down entire facilities.2. Banks
I’ve already trashed both Prism and Olivia for basically being the worse Banks, and I have no regrets about that. Banks on the surface is a little bit of everything. Starting anarchy, a neural disruptor and free door unlocking. But the real strength of Banks is her paralyzer that adds an additional three KO to a downed guard. In expert plus plus, that’s the difference between a guard getting up right next turn and not getting up for three more.
The ability to keep guards down is critical because guards are like juggling balls. Throwing a single ball into the air and catching it again is very easy, but the more juggling balls you introduce the harder catching each individual one is. Being able to remove one guard makes the other individual guards easier to manage(Lethal damage doesn’t count here as it raises the alarm more and costs precious money.).

3. International
Not much to say here. Being able to get extra power right at the start whilst hacking from a distance, or even through walls, is pretty great. She can also automatically detect cameras and other mainframe objects automatically through walls, allowing them to be less of a threat and get hacked more quickly. The latter is particularly true if you’re running Parasite and Seed.

1. Sharp
Take everything amazing I said about Archive Sharp and Banks and throw them together into one agent with extra hacking and full ap and you have the almighty Sharp. Sharp can do no wrong. Within just two augments, he’s already doubled your KO damage, allowing for guards to stay down unoccupied for a turn. By the end of the game, with high level disruptors and hopefully titanium rods, he is the ultimate weapon against any corp. With Sharp the extended campaign becomes so boring, Sharp just knocks out every guard and you can quickly do whatever you want.
Because of what I explained earlier about juggling guards with Banks, Sharp is fundamentally the perfect agent. Even with sledgehammer nerfs, without a full rework, being geared towards keeping guards down means Sharp will always be the single best agent in the game.2. Archive Banks
Money. I think many people try to over invest in Archive Banks by taking her with Monster and then focusing on trying to get Monster’s hacking up to max to then maximize the cash flow. But I think that this is far too high of a risk to be worth it, and instead prefer a faster agent like Sharp with aggressive spending. Seed and Parasite are again the only choice, as you’re not getting any bonus power anymore.

By owakeham20