The best GRAVHOUNDS character for solo, duo, four-player packs and boss runs, with the reasoning and the loadout each hound enables.
GRAVHOUNDS Best Character: Picks by Mode and Pack
There is no single best Gravhound. There is a best hound for the way you are about to play, and the difference is large enough that the same player can clear a planet with one and fail with another.
This guide ranks the five by mode — solo, duo, full pack, boss, farming — and pairs each pick with the build that makes it work. Selene and Luna are handled honestly: their abilities were not published before launch, so they are ranked on verifiable traits only.
Official source: GRAVHOUNDS on Steam ↗ — five playable Gravhounds, solo or online co-op for up to four.
The rankings at a glance
| Mode | Best | Second | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Finn | Zane | No revive; survival is everything |
| Duo | Finn | Dozer | One survives, one denies |
| Full pack | Dozer | Finn | Area denial covers the pack's gaps |
| Boss | Finn | Selene (by stats) | Play Dead survives the burst windows |
| Farming | Dozer | Zane | Mines clear trash without ammo |
Finn topping three modes is not a mistake. Play Dead is the strongest ability in the launch build, and the modes where it is not first are the modes where the pack already has a Finn.
Solo: Finn, then Zane
Solo has no revive. That single fact makes survival the dominant stat, and Finn's Play Dead is the best survival tool in the game: invulnerability plus a strong heal while downed, then a time bubble on enemies when you get up.
Why not Zane? Bark is excellent, but it prevents damage rather than recovering from it. In solo, the moments that kill you are the ones you did not see, and Bark does not help once you are already down.
Why not Dozer? Mines are area denial, and solo players cannot afford to defend two approaches. Dozer shines when someone else holds the lane.
Solo Finn build: rapid-fire crit deck, four turrets, one exit pipe, extract at minute twelve. The best build works unchanged; just swap one turret card for movement.
Duo: Finn plus Dozer
Duo is the most forgiving mode, and the strongest pair is Finn and Dozer. Finn holds the line when it breaks; Dozer makes sure it breaks less often.
The split:
- Finn anchors the collector, revives, and uses Play Dead to tank the wave that gets through.
- Dozer pre-places mines at the funnel and rotates to the objective.
If you only have one of them, take Finn. A duo with no Finn has no answer to a double down.
Full pack: Dozer, then Finn
In a four-player pack, someone else is already playing Finn. The question becomes what the pack lacks, and most packs lack area denial.
Dozer's mines:
- Cover the flank that nobody built a turret for.
- Clear trash without spending ammo.
- Turn a corridor into a kill zone before the wave arrives.
A pack with Dozer can build a narrower kill box, because the mines cover the approach the turrets do not. That saves Titanium, which saves the run.
Boss: Finn by default
The Juggernaut fight is about surviving burst windows and keeping damage uptime. Finn's Play Dead does both: it absorbs a window that would kill anyone else, and the time bubble on recovery gives your turrets free damage.
Second choice: Selene, on stats and handling, because her ability is undocumented. If her kit turns out to be damage-oriented, she may take the top spot; until then, Finn is the safe answer.
Zane is a good third pick for the knockback, which can push adds out of the arena.
The boss guide covers the phases and where each ability is used.
Farming: Dozer, then Zane
Farming runs are about speed and ammo efficiency. Dozer's mines clear trash packs without firing, which lets you mine longer before reloading or retreating.
Zane is the second pick because Bark resets the swarm when it interrupts a mining route. Finn is overkill on a green-band planet — save the survival pick for the planets that need it.
Selene and Luna: the honest ranking
Both are playable at launch. Neither had a published ability before release.
That means:
- Do not pick them for a role you cannot verify.
- Do pick them if you like their handling or model. Stats and weapon feel are real even when the ability is unknown.
- Re-rank them after the first balance patch. Early Access abilities change.
A guide that ranks an undocumented ability is guessing. This one does not.
Pairing hound and build
The hound is roughly one mod slot of value, so the build should stand without it:
| Hound | Build that fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Finn | Crit rapid-fire | Survival covers the build's weak early game |
| Dozer | Turret commander | Mines and turrets cover different approaches |
| Zane | Physics / Grav Beam | Knockback sets up throws |
| Selene | Any crit build | Stat-driven, ability-neutral |
| Luna | Any turret build | Unknown ability, safe with a base build |
The build guide explains the archetypes; the tier list ranks the pieces.
Your damage comes from the deck. Your character should answer the moment that kills you: mining (Zane), the collector (Dozer), the extract (Finn).
FAQ
Who is the best character overall? Finn, because survival converts more runs into progress than any damage ability.
Who is best for solo? Finn. Zane is the alternative if you never get caught out of position.
Are Selene and Luna good? Unknown. Their abilities were not published at launch; they are playable and stat-viable.
Does the character affect my build? Only by one ability. Deck, turrets and research are shared.
Can two players pick the same hound? Yes. It is not always optimal, but it is allowed.
Further reading
Summary
Finn for solo, duo and bosses; Dozer for full packs and farming; Zane when you need space; Selene and Luna when you want to experiment. The characters guide explains each kit; the unlock guide explains how to get them.
More GRAVHOUNDS Guides
A complete GRAVHOUNDS build for hard planets: rapid-fire crit weapon, turret support deck, Dozer mines and the exact 10-card Mod Deck.
How GRAVHOUNDS character unlocks work, why demo progress does not carry over, and the fastest progression path to the full five-hound roster.
Build a GRAVHOUNDS base that survives escalating swarms: site selection, four defensive layers, power placement and layouts for solo to four players.
A first-shift walkthrough for GRAVHOUNDS: what to mine, where to build, how pipes pay for themselves, and when to call the ship.
A practical GRAVHOUNDS Juggernaut guide: arena preparation, phase behavior, turret placement, team roles and the mistakes that wipe the base.
How GRAVHOUNDS builds work: the 10-card Mod Deck, Showstoppers, weapon choices and the stack rules that decide whether a run snowballs.