Cassette Beasts can get pretty tough at times, especially during climactic Archangel boss battles and in the final stretch of the main game. Add some hefty post-game content into the equation, and there's ample reason to record and train up some tough beasts to take with you.
After thoroughly enjoying a full Cassette Beasts experience, we've come to the conclusion that more often than not, whoever you bring along can and will suffice - but there's still enough of a difference between the best and the rest for us to present you with this ranking list.
7 Kingrave
Kingrave is one of the two potential final remastered forms of Pawndead, who becomes Skelevangelist and then faces a fork in the evolutionary path. Your Skelevangelist will become either Kingrave or Queenyx, and while they're both pretty rad, our preference veers somewhat more kingly than queenly.
Queenyx, you see, has absolutely incredible Speed and nearly-as-stellar HP. That's great, but we have another Speed-based favorite further down the list. What Kingrave brings to the table is an utterly jaw-dropping 220 Melee Attack. Combined with its Earth-based typing (lots of melee hits to choose from here!), you have a monster who strikes with truly monstrous might every turn.
6 Artillerex
Artillerex is as robust as they come, a Fire-type with great move coverage who comes strong Melee and Ranged moves with enough status-inflicting stuff to put many opponents to pasture. Right from the jump, you can combine the Ricochet passive's ability to break through walls 50 percent of the time with something as seemingly nonchalant as Meteor Barrage to surprise foes with highly defensive posturing.
This dinosaur pal even comes with Headshot as an initial sticker. You'll need ten AP (!) to pull it off, but it hits for a whopping 200 base damage, with no penalties to accuracy. It's one of Cassette Beasts' most ridiculously mighty attacks. We suggest giving Artillerex the Grounded sticker to prevent Lightning's debilitating Conductive shenanigans from ripping it to shreds.
Notably, your Velocirifile can remaster into not just Artillerex, but Gearyu as well. Don't discount Gearyu just because we didn't list it; the Metal-type focuses far more on Ranged alone, but it has access to plenty of similar stickers and also starts off with Headshot. Not a bad choice.
5 Shining Kuneko
You'll gain Kuneko through the completion of Felix's companion quest, which is a necessary component in fulfilling the objectives of the main storyline. In other words, you can't miss this gal, which is great because her remaster species - the exceptionally titled Shining Kuneko - is terrific. An Astral-type, the lass' lore depicts her as mastering the four elements of the world.
Though Shining Kuneko's actual attacks generally stick to Air and Astral, she has some nicely sturdy interplay with other stickers (TMs, in Pokemon-speak) to broaden your offensive and defensive horizons. Shining Kuneko's base stats are all 140, a uniform decency that gives her a jack-of-all-trades vibe in a game with plenty of specific threats to handle.
4 Aeroboros
Who knew one of the final forms of a species so prolific in the earliest areas of the map could prove to be such a late-game contender? Indeed, you will be buzzing with Carniviper battles in the parts of New Wirral closest to Harbourtown; chances are you will have recorded at least one of these little snakes a mere handful of hours into the adventure.
Carniviper becomes Masquerattle, which can in turn remaster into one of three varieties: there's Mardiusa, Jormungold, and the fantastic Aeroboros. In order to ensure Masquerattle becomes Aeroboros, have it equipped with the Zephyr sticker at the time of transformation. Its HP is grand, and its Ranged Attack, Ranged Defense, and Speed are all fairly impressive.
Access to loads of hastening passives like Pre-Emptive Strike, as well as a surprising amount of elemental coverage in Blizzard and Thunder Blast, gives this Air-type an edge.
3 Cat-5
Lightning is one of Cassette Beasts' coolest types. The ability to inflict enemies with the damage-doubling, party-wide 'Conductive' debuff is just too precious an opportunity to be missed, so we always recommend taking a Lightning-type along. There are several prime candidates, but our favorite overall is Cat-5, Meredith's own remastered starter. That means you only need to recruit Meredith and complete her main-quest-mandatory story to get this feline electronic.
None of Cat-5's base stats stand out as exceptional, but what it lacks in numbers, it more than makes up for with its attacks. Charge and Battery alone will knock you through all sorts of encounters. Akin to Shining Kuneko, Cat-5 has exceptional sticker compatibility variety. Everything from Toy Hammer and Superheated Fist to Shrapnel and even Self-Destruct will work wonders here.
2 Glaistain
When we mentioned someone we love for their Speed more than the admittedly nifty Queenyx, we were referencing Glaistain. To record this rare and elusive creature, you'll need to find your way to the abandoned church on the western side of New Wirral. Come prepared for a tough fight, because Glaistain won't hold back.
It's that perseverance that we'll be relying upon once it's ours, of course. Whether you outfit Glaistain with Melee, Ranged, or a mixture of both, it will do its duty - but keep its 120-power Glass Cannon equipped to really tear your foes to shreds when it counts, and hang on to those passives like the punishing Jagged Edge and wall-breaking Window as well.
1 Khepri
You can encounter Khepri in both the Mount Wirral Caves and the Power Station, but come prepared for what could be a long drought. Its encounter rate is slim enough that some players have called for the developer to raise it at least a little bit for future playthroughs. But whereas some rare monsters are hard to find simply on the studio's whim, we think Khepri's scarcity is tied directly to its power.
Khepri's Melee Attack stat is... one. That's right. One. You do not want this scarab punching people. To make up for it, it has the highest Ranged Attack in the game at 300. With that much oomph, even dime-a-dozen 60-damage moves like Shooting Star and Pustule Bomb become powerhouses.
That's good, because Khepri's sticker utility is somewhat stifling - but once you hook it up with Headshot, may the Archangels have mercy upon anything that stands in its way.