At this point, Garena Free Fire needs little introduction; it’s one of the most popular—if not the most popular—battle royale game for mobile devices. You could argue that Call of Duty: Mobile is also a great example of the genre, but this game also features many other game modes other than battle royale. As far as pure battle royale games are concerned, Free Fire is definitely up there as one of the most popular contenders in its category.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

For those who don’t know about these games, the premise is simple: Numerous players board a plane and parachute down onto an island, after which they must run around looking for weapons and armor, and then fight to be the last one standing. To the victor goes the spoils, including many nice items, currency, and other goodies to help unlock new stuff in the game. And while the base game is quite straightforward, it’s these very unlockables that add tons of variety to playing Free Fire.

Specifically, one of the most important features that you can unlock in this game are the characters, which are champions that you can select before entering a match, and that offer different sets of unique abilities and skills to improve a certain aspect of your gameplay. There are around 23 characters currently available for unlocking in Free Fire, not including Adam and Eve, who are the two base characters that don’t have any special skills.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

We’ve already talked about the best weapons to look for in Free Fire. But now, we’re going to discuss the best characters in this battle royale game. If you want to make the best decision for your playstyle, then take a look at these characters.

1. Shani

For those who often rack up kills during their matches, such as those who are playing Free Fire on PC with BlueStacks, this character is just for you. Shani is quite straightforward as her skill only activates when you get kills, which is something you’d be regularly doing, anyway. As an engineer who spends most of her days at the local junkyard, she’s become quite adept at tinkering and putting stuff together. As such, she’s a gifted mechanic with great proficiency at repairing and building all sorts of objects.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

Shani’s skill, “Gear Recycle,” allows her to recover armor for every kill that she gets. And not only that, if your armor is full when you get a kill with her, the excess armor will eventually help to upgrade it to the next level, up to a maximum of level 3—you’ll still need to find an armor upgrade kit on the field if you want to obtain the coveted level 4 armor.

Shani is obviously better when used by skilled shooters who thrive in combat as she’s only useful as long as she’s getting kills.

2. Paloma

The best champions for those who like to rely on AR weapons, which are known as some of the best guns in the game. Sure, SMGs and Shotguns are great at short ranges, and can often outperform ARs given the right circumstances, but these assault rifles are better suited for a wide variety of situations. In other words, ARs are often your best choice for primary weapons while your secondary slot is best filled with a weapon that you enjoy using the most, such as a nice Sniper Rifle.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

When it comes to wielding ARs, Paloma is definitely the way to go as, due to her status as queen of the arms underworld, she is particularly proficient at carrying around these types of weapons. Specifically, Paloma is not weighed down by AR bullets as much, meaning that she can carry around virtually as much as she wants, and still have space for grenades, first aid kits, and other useful items.

3. Joseph

What’s harder to hit than a regular target? A moving target, of course! Joseph is one of the most elusive characters in Free Fire thanks to his passive skill, which increases his movement speed by a set percentage every time he comes under enemy fire. At the maximum level, this agile character can gain up to 20% increased movement speed for 1 second upon taking damage. For this reason, Joseph is obviously a good choice for running and gunning, ideal for players who like to use SMGs or Shotguns. However, he’s also a strong choice in general, considering that the increased movement not only helps you get to cover faster, but it also makes you a more difficult target to hit.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

4. Moco

Leaving aside the fact that her name means “booger” in Spanish, Moco is actually a great team player thanks to her skill to tag and mark enemies on the screen. Her passive skill, called “Hacker’s Eye,” automatically tags any enemy that Moco manages to hit, exposing them to her entire team for two seconds.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

If you’ve ever played Free Fire in squad with randoms, you know that most of the firefights in this game boil down to “I see an enemy!” followed by frantic screams of “Where?!” by the rest of the team. With Moco, this isn’t an issue as enemies are simply tagged and marked on everyone’s radar, which makes it much easier to acquire and track the enemy.

5. Rafael

Ideal for the loners out there who often set up ambushes and want to keep their presence hidden at all times. Rafael is a master assassin proficient at stealth kills, a skill that’s made manifest with his “Dead Silent” ability. Once activated, Rafael can shoot his weapons at the enemy without fear of getting marked on their minimaps, keeping his location relatively hidden as long as he has his skill active.

The 5 Best Characters in Garena Free Fire on PC

This ability has a 90-second cooldown, which means that the user should only activate it when strictly necessary, lest he finds himself with a perfect opportunity to ambush an opponent, only to have the skill on cooldown.

And there you have it. For the reasons we mentioned above, we feel that these are some of the strongest characters in Free Fire. Of course, while Characters like Rafael thrive in solo play, others like Moco are all about teamwork and are best suited for playing in duos or squad. Meanwhile, other characters like Shani, Paloma, and Joseph are effective regardless of the circumstances, so pick your poison!