Grand Blue Fighting Styles: All Classes, Locations & Tier List

Picking the right Grand Blue fighting style decides how fast you clear early islands, how you stack combos in PvP, and how efficiently you farm bosses for gold. Grand Blue currently ships with four core classes — Brawler, Marksman, Novice Swordsman, and the hidden Trickster — each gated behind a specific trainer, a gold cost, and a different playstyle rhythm. This guide breaks down every Grand Blue fighting style, pinpoints the trainer locations across the open-world map, ranks each class from S to D, and shows beginners exactly how to unlock and upgrade their first style without wasting currency.

All Grand Blue Fighting Styles Overview

Grand Blue is an open-world pirate action RPG on Roblox in Early Access, developed by Eternal Pose, and fighting styles are the backbone of every combat encounter you take on. According to the official Grand Blue page, there are four Fighting Styles: Brawler, Marksman, Novice Swordsman, and the secret Trickster. Each style has its own M1 light attacks, M2 heavies, and an unlockable skill tree, so the choice you make at the trainer ripples into every fight for the rest of your save.

Every Grand Blue fighting style is purchased from a dedicated NPC trainer rather than unlocked through a quest chain, which keeps the system accessible for new players. You pay a flat gold cost, meet a minimum level requirement, and the skill tree opens up for that style alone. Two of the four styles are available within the first ten minutes of a fresh save, while Trickster hides behind a map knowledge check that catches most beginners.

Style Identity at a Glance

Core Differences Between Styles

• Brawler leans into rapid M1 chains and an M2 knockback that creates breathing room when you overextend.

• Marksman shifts the entire kit to projectile spam, which makes kiting large bosses far safer than a melee approach.

• Novice Swordsman is the middle ground the game ships you toward first, because sword M1s cover short range while the M2 has enough reach to punish retreating enemies.

• Trickster layers dashes and damage multipliers on top of dagger combos, which rewards aggressive play but punishes a single mistake with a chunk of health lost.

The four kits also interact with the loot you collect from bosses and cursed fruits. Pairing a melee style with a fruit that grants ranged pressure — or vice versa — is how top players build hybrid loadouts, and you'll see the same logic when you compare a Marksman run against a cursed fruit tier list.

Grand Blue Fighting Style Locations and Trainers

Every Grand Blue fighting style trainer lives at a fixed spawn on the open-world map, and the location decides how soon a new player can realistically reach them. Two trainers sit in the starting hub of Anchor Town, one lives in Maple Village a short sail away, and Trickster is hidden in a location that only map-savvy players recognize. The table below is the fastest reference for where to walk, sail, or teleport.

Trainer Map Reference

Brawler Trainer — Anchor Town

The Brawler trainer is the first NPC most players meet because the spawn path drops you directly into Anchor Town. The trainer stands inside the combat ring on the south side of the hub, marked by a red banner and a small crowd of test dummies. Walk up, accept the dialogue, pay the gold cost, and your first style unlocks instantly. Because the kit only uses fists, you can start chaining M1s the moment the purchase animation finishes.

Novice Swordsman Trainer — Anchor Town Market Square

A second NPC in Anchor Town runs the Novice Swordsman class, located at the market square to the east of the combat ring. This trainer is the second-most accessible option in the game and shares the same gold cost as Brawler. Most new players pick up Novice Swordsman as a backup kit because the sword's mid-range M2 covers the gaps Brawler leaves open against groups of weaker mobs.

Marksman Trainer — Maple Village

The Marksman trainer waits in Maple Village, which sits on the second island you unlock during the early quest chain. Travel time runs around five to eight minutes by boat for a first-time player, but the route is a straight line once you have the island map unlocked. The Marksman trainer is a quest reward for several NPCs in Maple Village, so arriving with cleared dialogue often cuts the gold cost through a discount flag reported by community testing.

Trickster Trainer — Hidden Cave, Eastern Isle

Trickster is the secret fourth style and the only one that does not appear on the standard trainer map. Players report the trainer lives in a cave behind the large waterfall on Eastern Isle, accessible by climbing a moss-covered rock wall on the south shore. The path is unmarked, which means you'll spend more time searching than fighting on the way there, but the cave entrance opens with a free interaction rather than a gold cost. Community reports say arriving with a dagger equipped triggers a dialogue branch that confirms the Trickster unlock.

Grand Blue Fighting Style Tier List

A fighting style tier list for Grand Blue has to weigh PvE clear speed, PvP matchup spread, gold-to-power ratio, and ease of use for players who are still learning the combo system. The ranking below uses S, A, B, C, and D tiers, and each placement includes a short justification based on community testing and the kit data published on the official Grand Blue overview page. Note that meta shifts with each Early Access patch, so treat this as a snapshot from the last verified build.

Tier Ranking Table

S-Tier: Brawler

Brawler sits in S-tier because the M1 chain has the fastest time-to-stun of any melee style in the game, and the M2 knockback creates a built-in disengage that newer players rarely use well but always need. The combo ceiling is high once you learn to cancel M1 recovery frames with the M2, and the kit works on every boss because the fists ignore most weapon resistance modifiers. For pure gold-per-hour farming, Brawler is the cleanest pick in the entire game.

A-Tier: Marksman

Marksman lands in A-tier because the ranged pressure turns every PvE encounter into a kite, which makes early island clears safer than a melee approach. In PvP, the same range advantage forces opponents to close the gap, and that opening is where the M2 headshot decides duels. The style drops to A rather than S because the ammo economy can starve a new player who doesn't manage reload windows, and several early bosses resist projectile damage in their second phase.

B-Tier: Novice Swordsman

Novice Swordsman is the most balanced kit in the game, which is exactly why it ranks B rather than higher. The sword M1s and M2 cover every situation adequately, but the kit never breaks a fight the way a fully leveled Brawler or Marksman can. Beginners often pick this style as a safety net, and experienced players keep it as a secondary slot for matchups where the sword's reach outperforms fists or guns. It is also the best style to pair with a hybrid weapon tier list loadout, because sword M1s trigger most weapon mastery perks on hit.

C-Tier: Trickster

Trickster ranks C-tier overall because the kit is the hardest to execute in the game and most of its PvE value is locked behind skill tree upgrades you don't have at low level. The burst damage potential is real, and the dagger dashes turn skilled PvP players into a nightmare to pin down, but the learning curve is steep. If you are still learning attack windows, you'll eat more damage than you deal until muscle memory kicks in, which is why the style sits a tier below the safer picks.

Quick Tier List Summary

• S — Brawler: fastest clear, best gold-per-hour, forgiving for new players

• A — Marksman: safest range option, strong in PvP, hungry for ammo management

• B — Novice Swordsman: balanced kit, great as a secondary slot, never the best at any one role

• C — Trickster: highest skill ceiling, weakest early game, scales hardest with player skill

How to Get and Upgrade Fighting Styles in Grand Blue

Unlocking a Grand Blue fighting style is a one-time gold purchase at the trainer NPC, but upgrading the skill tree behind that style is where most players leave power on the table. Each style has a unique node map that boosts M1 damage, M2 cooldown, dodge frames, and a signature ultimate. The system runs on the same gold economy as weapon upgrades, so budgeting early currency matters more than rushing every tree at once. Players who plan their upgrades around a single style clear content roughly 20% faster than players who spread points thin, according to community testing on the Early Access build.

Unlock Cost Table

Step-by-Step Unlock Process

1. Spawn into Anchor Town as a fresh save and head to the Brawler trainer inside the combat ring to grab your first style for 500 gold.

2. Earn 500 gold by completing the early quest chain on the Starter Island, which usually pays out within 15–20 minutes for a new player.

3. Talk to the Novice Swordsman trainer in the Anchor Town market square to unlock your second kit at the same 500 gold cost, so you can swap between styles on the fly.

4. Sail to Maple Island once you hit level 15 and locate the Marksman trainer in the Maple Village outpost. Pay 1,200 gold to unlock the ranged kit.

5. Reach level 25 and travel to the Eastern Isle waterfall to find the hidden Trickster trainer in the cave behind the water. No gold cost is required, but bring a dagger to trigger the unlock dialogue.

6. Open the style menu, spend skill tree points on M1 damage first, then M2 cooldown, then dodge frames, in that order, for every style you plan to main.

Skill Tree Priority by Style

• Brawler: M1 damage > M2 knockback > dodge frames > ultimate charge rate

• Marksman: M1 headshot damage > reload speed > M2 burst > ammo capacity

• Novice Swordsman: M1 reach > M2 swing speed > parry window > ultimate charge rate

• Trickster: dash distance > M1 crit chance > M2 burst > ultimate reset on kill

The order matters because M1 and M2 nodes multiply your damage per second, while dodge and ultimate nodes only matter once you already deal consistent damage. Players who invest in mobility first often feel stronger in the short term but plateau around mid-game bosses, where raw DPS decides clears. This priority list also lines up with the best race for PvP picks, because race passives multiply the same damage stats the skill tree boosts.

Best Fighting Style for PvP, PvE, and Beginners

Picking the best Grand Blue fighting style depends entirely on what you spend your play session doing, because each style trades one strength for another. Beginners usually want a forgiving kit that clears early content without dying repeatedly, PvE farmers want the highest gold per hour, and PvP grinders want the kit with the most matchup spread. The picks below name a single style for each role, then explain why it wins and which style to swap into for specific matchups.

Role-Based Best Pick

Why Brawler Wins for Beginners

Brawler is the cleanest first pick because the unlock cost is the lowest in the game and the trainer is two minutes from spawn. The M1 chain is a simple three-hit sequence, the M2 knockback is a panic button, and the skill tree has only four nodes per tier, so you never feel lost choosing what to upgrade. Players who start Brawler and stick with the kit through level 30 typically clear every early boss without switching styles, which means more time spent learning the open world and less time juggling menus.

Why Trickster Wins for PvP

Trickster climbs to the top of the PvP ladder because the dagger dashes break line of sight and the M1 crit chance node deletes opponents who commit to a single punish. The kit is harder to execute than Brawler, but the reward is a much higher damage per second ceiling once you learn the cancel windows. Top PvP players run Trickster as a primary and Brawler as a swap for matchups where dash-heavy kits get punished by the knockback M2.

Why Marksman Wins for Ranged Players

Marksman is the only true ranged style in the game, and that single fact makes it the best pick for players who prefer to keep distance from boss telegraphs and enemy M2 swings. The kit feels weak in early levels because ammo management is a real cost, but by the time you unlock the reload speed node, the style becomes the safest clear option on every open-world island. Pairing Marksman with a melee-focused cursed fruit creates the strongest hybrid build in the current meta.

Why Novice Swordsman Wins as a Secondary Kit

Novice Swordsman is the best secondary style for almost every player because the sword's mid-range M2 covers the gaps that Brawler and Marksman both leave open. The kit is forgiving enough to swap into during a panic, and the sword M1s trigger most weapon mastery perks on hit, which makes it a natural partner for any weapon you main. Most experienced players keep Novice Swordsman unlocked even after they commit to a primary, because the swap-in window alone is worth the 500 gold.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best fighting style in Grand Blue for beginners?

Brawler is the best Grand Blue fighting style for beginners because the unlock cost is only 500 gold, the trainer sits two minutes from spawn, and the M1 chain has a simple three-hit sequence that new players can execute without learning cancel windows. The M2 knockback also acts as a panic button when you overextend, which is the most common early mistake.

How many fighting styles are in Grand Blue right now?

Grand Blue currently has four fighting styles — Brawler, Marksman, Novice Swordsman, and the hidden Trickster. According to the official Grand Blue overview, each style has its own M1 light attacks, M2 heavies, and a separate skill tree, so you can swap between unlocked styles at any time from the style menu.

Where is the Marksman trainer in Grand Blue?

The Marksman trainer is located in Maple Village on Maple Island, which is a five to eight minute boat ride from the Anchor Town spawn. Arriving with the Maple Village questline cleared often unlocks a small gold discount on the 1,200 gold unlock cost, based on community reports from the Early Access build.

How do I unlock the secret Trickster fighting style?

Trickster is unlocked by reaching level 25, sailing to Eastern Isle, and entering the hidden cave behind the large waterfall on the south shore. The unlock is free, but you must equip a dagger before talking to the trainer to trigger the dialogue branch that confirms the style, which is why most players learn about the kit only after a friend points out the cave.

Should I pick Brawler or Marksman as my first style in Grand Blue?

Pick Brawler as your first style if you want fast early clears and a forgiving kit, and pick Marksman if you prefer ranged combat and don't mind managing ammo between fights. Both styles are viable through the mid-game, but Brawler has a higher gold-per-hour farming rate because the M1 chain stuns mobs faster than any projectile in the game.