CookieRun Kingdom features over 130 cookies, each with unique skills and abilities. Some excel at PvE, helping you clear adventure stages and defeat powerful bosses, while others dominate in PvP, where burst damage, crowd control, and survival skills are key.

This guide highlights the best cookies for PvE and PvP in this gacha RPG, explaining their strengths, ideal team compositions, and scenarios where they might shine best. If you’re building a team, these cookies will give you the best chance of success. We’ll also cover honorable mentions—cookies that may not be top-tier but are still great alternatives if you haven’t unlocked the best picks yet. Alternatively, if you’re just looking for a more comprehensive list of the best and worst cookies in the game, then check out our CookieRun Kingdom tier list.

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Best Cookies for PvE

PvE battles require a balanced team with strong DPS, sustain, and crowd control. The best PvE cookies clear waves efficiently, survive long battles, and synergize well with different team setups.

Golden Cheese Cookie

Golden Cheese Cookie is a top-tier AoE damage dealer, making her perfect for wiping out large enemy groups. Her Golden Lightning Strike hits multiple enemies, dealing high burst damage while also weakening their defenses, allowing allies to deal even more damage.

In stages with multiple enemy waves, Golden Cheese Cookie can clear foes before they overwhelm the frontline. She pairs well with Mystic Flour Cookie, who can provide sustain and defensive buffs, keeping her alive for longer fights.

Schwarzwälder Cookie

Schwarzwälder is a tank and damage amplifier with powerful stuns and debuffs. His Choco Chip Hammer skill not only stuns enemies on impact but also lowers their ATK, making them deal significantly less damage to your team. The Hammer Shock effect further increases the damage enemies take from Schwarzwälder’s future skill attacks.

He’s excellent for controlling enemy hordes and bosses, keeping them locked down while your team deals damage. His ATK SPD and DMG Resist buffs make him a strong pick for teams needing a sturdy frontline with offensive capabilities.

Pure Vanilla Cookie

Pure Vanilla Cookie remains one of the strongest healers, thanks to his powerful shields and AoE healing. His ability to absorb burst damage makes him ideal for long battles where enemies continuously apply pressure.

If facing powerful enemy waves or bosses that deal high single-target damage, his shields can provide crucial survivability. Works best with Peach Blossom Cookie for extra healing or Schwarzwälder Cookie to ensure a solid frontline.

Burning Spice Cookie

Burning Spice Cookie is a high-risk, high-reward fighter that trades HP for immense power. His Tyrant’s Wrath skill sacrifices a portion of his HP to enter a Berserker state, increasing his ATK, ATK SPD, and resistances while absorbing ATK from teammates.

His fire-based attacks deal continuous burn damage over time, making him an excellent choice for boss fights and prolonged engagements. Against high-HP enemies, his lava-inflicting final attack ensures they take damage even after the skill ends. Pairs well with Mystic Flour Cookie to counteract his HP loss.

Mystic Flour Cookie

Mystic Flour Cookie is a hybrid healer and debuffer who specializes in team sustain and enemy disruption. Her Realm of Apathy provides HP Shields, periodic healing, and a damage reflection effect, ensuring your team stays alive in sustained fights.

She’s especially strong in battles with constant enemy waves, where her healing over time and cooldown delay debuff on enemies can prevent them from overwhelming your team. If paired with Golden Cheese Cookie, she can extend the damage window by weakening enemies and increasing their vulnerability.

Candy Apple Cookie

Candy Apple Cookie balances offensive debuffs with defensive utility, making her a valuable hybrid unit. Her skill reduces enemy ATK and DEF while increasing ally ATK and providing HP shields.

She’s highly effective in battles against tanky enemies where reducing their defense can make fights shorter. The HP shield also ensures squishier teammates survive, making her a strong second-line defender when paired with Pitaya Dragon Cookie.

Peach Blossom Cookie

Peach Blossom Cookie offers a blend of healing, buffs, and enemy slow effects, making her one of the best choices for support-based teams. Her Heavenly Fruit skill restores HP, boosts DMG Resist, and applies debuff resistance, ensuring allies take less damage and stay in the fight longer.

Against enemies that apply heavy debuffs or Apathy, Peach Blossom Cookie nullifies those effects, making her a must-have in debuff-heavy fights. Works well with Pure Vanilla Cookie for additional sustain.

Pitaya Dragon Cookie

Pitaya Dragon Cookie is a hybrid tank-DPS unit who thrives in high-damage scenarios. His Draconic Bladestorm weakens enemy healing, applies burn effects, and scales damage over time, making him excellent against sturdy, high-survivability enemies.

When paired with Burning Spice Cookie, the combination of fire-based damage and healing reduction makes short work of healing-dependent enemies. His self-sustain and damage resistance also allow him to stay in fights longer without needing constant healing.

Stardust Cookie

Stardust Cookie specializes in single-target burst damage, excelling in boss fights and PvE enemies that rely on buffs. His Wrath of the Stars skill prevents enemies from gaining buffs, weakens their ATK and healing, and increases their damage taken.

He is particularly strong against buff-heavy enemies or bosses, where his debuff amplification effect ensures they take massive additional damage. Works well with Wind Archer Cookie to capitalize on weakened defenses.

Milky Way Cookie

Milky Way Cookie is a durable tank with high sustain and team-wide shields. Her damage mitigation and self-sustain make her a reliable frontline for teams that lack a dedicated defender.

She’s especially useful in stages where enemies deal sustained damage over time, as her shields continuously refresh, keeping teammates alive through longer encounters.

Best Cookies for PvP

PvP battles in CookieRun Kingdom require a mix of burst damage, sustain, and crowd control. In high-rank Arena matches, battles are often decided within seconds, making quick skill activation and team synergy essential. Some cookies excel at eliminating key threats, while others provide the defensive backbone needed to survive against aggressive teams. These are the strongest picks for dominating the arena.

Crimson Coral Cookie

A powerful frontline fighter and protector, Crimson Coral Cookie balances offensive pressure and defensive utility. Her Somber Affection skill pierces enemies with her spear, dealing Water-type damage while also shielding the two highest-ATK allies. If she’s the only frontline unit, she gains Coral Armor, which reflects damage, increases Max HP, and boosts Water-type damage for the team.

Against burst-heavy teams, her ability to mitigate incoming attacks and strike back with high Water-based damage makes her one of the most reliable frontline choices in PvP.

Parfait Cookie

Healing and debuff resistance are what make Parfait Cookie a staple in PvP. Teams that rely on stuns, freezes, or burns struggle against her healing-over-time ability, which also reduces debuff duration for allies. This makes her a strong counter to control-heavy setups, ensuring teammates can keep attacking without interruption.

When paired with another healer or a durable tank, Parfait enhances team survivability, allowing DPS units to stay active longer in battle.

Snapdragon Cookie

Few support cookies offer as many buffs as Snapdragon Cookie. Their Arcane Blossom skill grants healing, stun resistance, DMG resist, and HP shields, making them a key part of survivability-focused PvP teams. Teams built around stalling or sustaining damage greatly benefit from Snapdragon’s ability to keep units alive and increase their overall durability.

In fights where aggressive ambush units threaten the backline, their buffs ensure healers and DPS units survive the initial assault and fight back.

Pure Vanilla Cookie

Healing-based teams wouldn’t be complete without Pure Vanilla Cookie, who remains one of the most reliable sustain options in PvP. His massive burst heal and shields make it difficult for enemy DPS units to secure quick kills, forcing opponents to fight a prolonged battle. While newer support cookies bring extra utility, Pure Vanilla’s ability to prevent team-wide eliminations still makes him a top pick for defensive teams.

Against burst-heavy opponents, his shields buy time for tanks and attackers to turn the fight around.

Icicle Yeti Cookie

Damage absorption and freeze resistance make Icicle Yeti Cookie a unique defensive option in PvP. His Shield of Ice absorbs damage for allies, ensuring they take less damage from direct hits while also preventing freeze effects from enemy attacks. This makes him particularly strong against Ice-based teams, as he can nullify their status effects and reduce overall incoming damage.

When facing frontline-heavy teams, his ability to return a portion of the absorbed damage allows him to act as both a tank and a punishing counter-attacker.

Wind Archer Cookie

High attack speed and burst damage make Wind Archer Cookie one of the best ranged DPS options in PvP. His rapid multi-hit arrows are ideal for eliminating squishy backline enemies before they can activate their skills. This makes him an excellent pick against healing-based teams, as his fast and consistent damage output can prevent supports like Pure Vanilla Cookie or Parfait Cookie from keeping their team alive.

He is particularly effective when paired with units that can disrupt enemy formations, allowing him to freely attack from a distance.

Shadow Milk Cookie

An expert at ambush tactics, Shadow Milk Cookie is one of the best PvP assassins, capable of teleporting behind enemy lines to target healers and fragile backline DPS units. This ability makes her an essential pick against sustain-heavy teams, as she can eliminate key support units before they have a chance to heal or buff their team.

When used in an aggressive team composition, she creates early-game pressure, forcing enemies to play defensively while her teammates capitalize on the chaos.

Hollyberry Cookie

Few frontline tanks can match the durability of Hollyberry Cookie. Her Oath on the Shield skill absorbs damage for allies, ensuring key damage dealers and healers stay alive through enemy attacks. This makes her one of the best counters to burst teams, as she redirects high-damage attacks away from vulnerable teammates.

In prolonged battles, her defensive buffs and critical hit resistance allow teams to wear down opponents while remaining protected.

Black Lemonade Cookie

A mix of damage and debuff application, Black Lemonade Cookie specializes in weakening enemies before they can strike back. Her Electrifying Rock! skill inflicts Zap damage, DEF reduction, and CRIT DMG vulnerability, making enemy units easier to take down. She is especially effective against tank-heavy compositions, as her damage amplification effects allow DPS units to break through enemy defenses more efficiently.

While not as explosive as pure burst attackers, she gradually increases her team’s damage potential throughout the battle.

Rebel Cookie

Enemy teams struggle to keep up when Rebel Cookie is on the field. His Here, There, Everywhere! skill reduces enemy defenses while boosting ally CRIT chance, allowing his team to quickly dismantle enemy formations. In fights where stall teams rely on shields and sustain, his ability to increase damage taken by opponents forces enemies into fast-paced engagements where they can’t recover quickly enough.

His decoy summons also act as extra distractions, preventing enemy DPS units from landing crucial attacks on priority targets.

Honorable Mentions

While these cookies aren’t quite as strong as the top picks, they are still viable alternatives if you don’t have access to meta-defining characters. They perform well in specific situations and can still help you climb the Arena ranks.

• Squid Ink Cookie (PvP): Strong AoE magic damage, making it effective against grouped enemies, but struggles against high-resistance opponents. Works best with debuffers to maximize damage.
• Space Doughnut Cookie (PvP): A disruptive unit that knocks back and disorients enemies, useful against stationary, backline-heavy teams. Requires specific setups to be fully effective.
• Herb Cookie (PvP): Provides team-wide healing and debuff cleansing, making it a counter to status-heavy teams. Lacks the burst sustain of Pure Vanilla Cookie or Parfait Cookie.
• Green Tea Mousse Cookie (PvP): Deals high single-target damage, but is outpaced by faster burst attackers like Wind Archer Cookie. Can be useful against sustain-heavy teams.
• Sherbet Cookie (PvP): Applies consistent freeze-based damage over time, but lacks the explosive burst needed to eliminate threats instantly, making it weaker at higher Arena ranks.
• Sea Fairy Cookie (PvE): Once a dominant PvE DPS, but now outclassed by newer wave-clearing units like Golden Cheese Cookie. Still performs well against bosses.
• Sorbet Shark Cookie (PvE): Excellent single-target burst damage, making it useful against elite enemies, but struggles against large enemy waves, limiting its overall effectiveness.
• Madeleine Cookie (PvE): A durable frontline tank, but lacks the damage mitigation effects of better defenders like Holyberry Cookie. Works well in defensive team comps.
• Mango Cookie (PvE): Offers AoE magic damage, but is weaker than newer PvE DPS cookies. Still viable for early and mid-game content, but falls off in later stages.
• Black Lemonade Cookie (PvE): Provides crowd control and damage amplification, but lacks the raw damage potential of top-tier PvE units, making it better as a secondary pick.

CookieRun Kingdom’s PvP and PvE battles require different strategies, and the right team makes all the difference. If you don’t have access to top-tier meta cookies, many of the honorable mentions still provide strong alternatives.

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