Best Walking Dead season 1 characters

Rick wins 67% of his duels and tops the Walking Dead ranking ahead of Daryl, who trails by just 1 ELO point with 1341.

The top three contenders cluster within 3 ELO points of each other, but the biggest divide appears further down: 85 points separate Carol in fourth place from Shane in fifth. Glenn, despite ranking third, posts the highest win rate on the podium at 70% across 82 duels. At the bottom, Merle languishes in twelfth place with a 30% win rate, while Amy barely edges ahead with 1044 ELO points. The tight race at the top suggests the community remains split on its season 1 favorites, while the gap before Shane marks a clear break between the top tier and the rest.

This ranking draws on 3236 duels contributed by 113 players, comparing all 12 contenders from the first season. The figures reflect votes recorded as of 11 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own votes and shift the standings: every duel reshapes the ranking, and with margins this narrow at the top, a handful of choices can rewrite the order. Whether you champion Rick's leadership or prefer Daryl's grit, your vote counts.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →