A source-grounded King of Sailing tier list for new players, focused on the safest early crew investments, free progression resources, and when to avoid spending too hard.
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The current King of Sailing meta starts with characters, not confirmed ship picks
Pocket Gamer updated its King of Sailing tier list on July 18, 2026 for version 1.0.7, adding Boa Hancock, Diamond Jozu, Lancelot, Monkey D. Dragon, Portgas D. Rouge, Nefertari Vivi, Gecko Moria, Portgas D. Ace, and Sabo. That update is the strongest public reference point for early team planning right now, but it also creates a useful warning for new players: the available source material ranks obtainable pirates and crew members, not named vessels.
That distinction matters for anyone searching for the best King of Sailing ships or a King of Sailing best ships list. Based on the provided sources, there is no confirmed ship-specific ranking to responsibly recommend. The public tier information we can verify is about characters, their tier placement, and, in a few cases, their combat roles. So this GameLoop guide uses the search language players are using, but it treats progression decisions as crew investment decisions because that is what the sourced material supports.
The practical takeaway is straightforward. If you are new, do not overcommit scarce resources into a unit simply because it looks rare or familiar. Pocket Gamer notes that some SSR+ characters are not simple to acquire and that luck is a major factor. That makes the safest early path less about chasing a perfect account on day one and more about identifying high-value pulls, using free codes, clearing dailies, and delaying irreversible spending until your roster has a real anchor.
GameLoop’s safest beginner ranking based on the confirmed tier data
Using Pocket Gamer’s July 18 tier list as the source baseline, the safest beginner investments are Jozu and Marco. Both are listed in S+ tier, and both have described kits that answer a beginner’s biggest problem: surviving long enough for a developing account to clear harder stages, bosses, and Arena fights.
Jozu is the clearest early priority because Pocket Gamer describes him as the best tank in King of Sailing. The site says he can mitigate damage taken by your DPS and share part of that damage with himself, which it specifically calls a game-changer in PvP and against bosses. For a new player, that is the rare kind of role compression that stays useful even when your damage dealers change. A tank that protects your carries reduces the punishment for imperfect gear, uneven levels, and awkward early team compositions.
Marco is the second safest foundation pick. Pocket Gamer describes him as a support who can link with allies and share incoming damage across the team. The same write-up says he can boost allies’ ATK and Crit for two turns. That gives Marco a broader early-use profile than a narrow damage dealer because he can help a roster survive while also increasing output. In free progression terms, that is exactly the kind of unit you want to build before you know which premium attacker you will eventually land.
After those two, the rest of S+ should be treated as premium chase territory rather than guaranteed beginner infrastructure. Pocket Gamer’s S+ tier includes St. Jaygarcia Saturn, Diamond Jozu, Luffy & Bonney, Boa Hancock, Jozu, Marco, Mihawk (Legend Era), and Shanks. Since the provided text does not give full kit details for most of those names, the responsible recommendation is to keep and develop them if you pull them, while reserving your deepest resource commitments for units whose role you can actually support in your current lineup.
The best early progression picks are the ones that protect your economy
For a new or free-to-play player, a King of Sailing tier list should be read as an investment map, not a wish list. The highest tier characters are valuable, but the question is whether they solve problems that block account growth. Jozu and Marco are safer than most because the sourced descriptions show them making other units better or harder to kill. That kind of value travels across modes and survives roster changes.
This is where the strongest beginner logic separates from pure rarity chasing. Pocket Gamer says King of Sailing has a gacha element and that strong characters are key to passing end-game story stages with ease. It also says players should keep doing dailies and claiming available rewards because those activities create more chances to summon. In an economy like that, early mistakes are usually caused by spending everything to force one account-defining pull, then having too little left to level, break, or support the roster that actually exists.
If you pull Jozu, he is the safest defensive anchor to build around. If you pull Marco, he is the safest support anchor. If you pull both, your early account has a strong mitigation core before damage optimization begins. If you pull one of the other S+ units, keep it, test it, and build gradually unless you have enough resources to support a full team around it. If you miss S+ entirely, Pocket Gamer’s S tier still gives you viable targets: Lancelot, Monkey D. Dragon, Akainu, Shirahoshi, Luffy (Wano), and Mihawk are all placed directly below the top tier in the current public list.
Free players should claim codes before judging their roster
Pocket Gamer’s separate King of Sailing codes article, updated July 11, 2026, is important for progression planning because it shows how many early resources can come from outside the summon screen. The site lists several active codes and says there are no expired codes at the time of that update. It also notes that the pre-registration code is valid for a limited time, so new players should redeem it before making long-term roster decisions.
The biggest listed code is OP8DF1C5OF, which Pocket Gamer identifies as a pre-registration code. According to the article, it grants Nami (Wano), 800,000 Belly, 200,000 EXP Potions, 150 Break Potions, 10 Heroine Quartz, 10 Arena Challenge Tickets, 5 Lunar Stones, 1 Solar Stone, 200 Carving Knives, 10 Recruitment Tickets, 5 Advanced Recruitment Tickets, 500 Gems, and 30 four-star Hero Shards. That bundle is large enough to change an early account’s immediate priorities.
Pocket Gamer also lists OP666 for 100 Gems, 50 Break Potions, 50,000 Belly, and five five-star Hero Shards; OP777 for 100 Gems, two Advanced Recruitment Tickets, 100,000 Belly, and 10 four-star Hero Shards; and OP888 for 100 Gems, five Arena Challenge Tickets, 100,000 Belly, one Advanced Recruitment Ticket, and five Dispatch Refresh Tickets. The article says codes are case-sensitive and can be redeemed by tapping the profile icon, selecting Redeem, entering the code, and pressing the red Redeem button.
For this King of Sailing guide, the economy advice is simple: redeem codes first, summon with the free tickets and Gems you have, then decide what to upgrade. Spending upgrade resources before claiming those rewards risks locking yourself into a weaker version of your roster.
When to push resources and when to wait
The safest resource rule is to build proven utility first and luxury damage second. That is an interpretation based on Pocket Gamer’s confirmed descriptions of Jozu and Marco, and it fits the early account problem the source itself identifies: strong characters help clear later story stages, but SSR+ acquisition depends heavily on luck.
Push resources if you have Jozu, Marco, or a clear S+ pull that your team can already support. Jozu’s tanking and damage-sharing role is valuable because it protects your DPS, while Marco’s ally link, damage sharing, ATK boost, and Crit boost give him both defensive and offensive relevance. Those are safer than building a character whose full function is unknown from the available source text.
Wait if your roster is scattered across many mid-tier options, if you have not redeemed the active codes, or if you are spending simply because a character is popular. Pocket Gamer’s current S+ list includes major names like Shanks, Boa Hancock, Mihawk (Legend Era), and Luffy & Bonney, but the provided text does not detail their kits. Familiarity is not the same as confirmed account value. For a free player, that gap should slow spending rather than encourage it.
The same caution applies to search results and social chatter. The provided TikTok discovery text around One Piece King of Sailing tier content shows casual fan ranking conversation, but it does not provide a verifiable, structured tier methodology. Treat that kind of content as community sentiment, not as a spending plan.
A practical beginner path for the current version
Start by redeeming every working code listed by Pocket Gamer, especially the limited-time pre-registration code if it is still valid on your account. Use the resulting tickets, Gems, Belly, EXP Potions, Break Potions, and shards to get a fuller look at your roster before committing deeply. Then check whether you have one of the current S+ or S units from the July 18 version 1.0.7 tier list.
If you have Jozu, build him as your defensive center. If you have Marco, build him as your support center. If you have both, prioritize a stable lineup around them rather than chasing constant replacements. If your best pulls are from S tier, Lancelot, Monkey D. Dragon, Akainu, Shirahoshi, Luffy (Wano), and Mihawk are all supported by Pocket Gamer’s current ranking as strong options, though the provided source text does not give enough kit detail to sort them more finely for every account.
If you came here specifically for a King of Sailing tier list of ships, the honest answer is that the supplied public material does not confirm a ranked ship roster. The best available advice for new players is therefore to treat “best ships” as a shorthand for the crew choices that carry your account. Under that standard, Jozu and Marco are the safest early progression picks, the rest of S+ are high-value chases, and the S tier is where free players should look for strong fallback investments after the code rewards and first summon cycle settle.