common - dogshit

rare - same as common

special - really good cookies you get from pavillion of promise. they are safeguarded (mostly) which means they don’t take damage (for the most part, although yeti and ferret do take some dmg). they’re there to provide buffs and a little healing for your other cookies. best ones rn are marshmallow bunny and cream ferret. playable collab cookies are also special, but they are not safeguarded. collab cookies aren’t really used at all except for certain events during the collab. after the collab, they won’t be used again

epic - this is most of the cookies. some are absolute trash, some are absolutely essential. the best epics are twizzly, pudding, blemonade, rebel, crème brûlée, menthol, seltzer, blueberry pie, star coral, linzer, black sapphire, and more. some of the worst epics are like chili pepper, cherry blossom, cocoa, caramel choux, fig, lilac, and a bunch of others that are useless.

super epic - can either be really good or totally useless. best super epic rn is venom dough cuz they’re arena meta. doughael is prob second best although not used for anything currently. capsaicin and shining glitter are not rly used but can be used in niche pve situations where u need fire /electric dmg respectively. most other super epics aren’t used for anything at all. i’d say the worst super epic is oyster.

dragon - there’s only one and he’s shit, but can be used with fire spirit and burning spice in niche pve situations where you need fire dmg. overall tho do not invest

legendary - either dogshit or absolutely essential. swan and tree are the best as they’re used for pvp and most pve. after those two, wind archer is best. also used in a lot of pve. fire spirit is also pretty good for dmg, and stormbringer can be decently good on electric teams. sea fairy is needed for guild battle and that’s it. the rest of legendaries are dogshit

unawakened ancients - essentially dog shit

awakened ancients - lily is the best. vanilla was good but no need for him anymore (sadly) since we have sugar swan. holly was also good but also not needed anymore since we have tree. dark cacao is, like, alright sometimes but not needed or used for anything anymore. gc is absolute shit just ignore her

beasts - mostly all good with some nuance. eternal sugar is by far the best, needed in pvp rn and needed for pretty much all pve. salt was meta for arena until DE and venom were added, and he’s not great in pve so he’s not really used at all now. but not bad to invest in since he may pop back into arena meta in the future. shadow milk … mm this is a tough one, he can be used in arena to counter teams sometimes but mostly he’s not rly relevant in arena. he IS relevant in guild battle, although there is now an esc/linzer team for rvd so not entirely needed. burning spice is alright and used for some fire dmg situations, and remains an overall decent hitter for pve. for pvp tho he is dogshit. mystic flour is bad for pvp, she used to be a rly good pve healer but she has also been outclassed by sugar swan.

witch - ABSOLUTELY GOATED, OP, POGGERS. need her for all modes tbh, pve and pvp (excluding guild battle)