Tier lists and Character Discussion Thread

[ELTRO]

The proposed tier list by Bala and TheAnswer:

A+: EX Kyo, Mr. Karate, Saiki, Robert, Kyo, Iori, Benimaru

A: EX Iori, Clark, Goro, Shen, Yuri, K', Hwa, Kensou

B+: Andy, Ryo

B: Kim, Mai, Duo Lon, Ash, Mature, Billy, Vice, Elisabeth, Raiden, Takuma, Maxima, Chin

B-: Athena, King, Terry, Ralf, Kula, Joe

C: Leona
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I'm not good enough yet to have an informed opinion on these character placements. But I'm glad they sat down and did this.

I don't like that King is down there but I can't disagree with their reasoning. Regardless, she fits my playstyle so I don't see myself ever not using her.

I think Leona is not bottom sure she has no safe specials but her normals and instant overheads make up for it. Mr Karate shouldn't be in the tier yet since not much was figured out in terms of weaknesses or strengths. I haven't watched the video yet so I guess I'll check it out during work.

[JuiceboxAbel]

Leona doesn't make sense to me as a competitive pick.

With a life lead, she functions okay as a defensive character. But I would say that Ralf, Ash, Saiki, and King (at least, maybe others as well) do better with that playstyle because of better projectiles and farther reach in the zoning game (King's Tornado Kick, Ralf's Gatling Attack, etc).

Without a life lead, She needs meter to function well as her combo damage is below average without it. Her projctile's slowness makes it impractical to use in an approach. Her unseeable 50/50 is strong, but it wont kill someone unless you land it two or three times. Plenty of characters can kill you in two or three hits with 4 bars, so I don't see a significant advantage there. Lastly, her HD combos are a bit more difficult than those of other characters, although technically this is a non-issue with enough practice.

In either case, I don't see a reason to play Leona over another character, currently. Hopefully new tech emerges.

[ELTRO]

I see what you're coming from. Although I think she still is strong and I think she has one of the best meter punishes of the game, but without a life lead she'll struggle.

[Matt Alder]

I have a feeling that people who place Leona at the bottom don't actually know Leona. She has some truly absurd mixups. I could never put her on a tier below the rest of the cast. I don't think any of the characters stand out as particularly weak or not viable.

All credit goes to Mienaikage, who seems to always have some amazing stuff to show off. I suggest everyone subscribes to his youtube channel.

The King of Fighters XIII: Leona - Fun with HD Instant Overheads

[Killey]

The overall reception of Answer, Bala, and Romance's tier list has been blow out of proportion on multiple sites.

For people who didn't watch the stream or the archive, the players ranked the characters from a general perspective. They were taken into factors like player's skill level and execution requirements, which led to lower placement of some characters, such as Elisabeth. That tier list (like any other tier list) is personal opinion but is also subject to change as new things are discovered or consistent tournament results prove otherwise.

[Shiki Dan]

But tier lists are always made assuming the characters are being played at their highest potential, with players of equal skill. Thus, things like execution and ease of use shouldn't have weight in the tier placings.

[Killey]

But tier lists are always made assuming the characters are being played at their highest potential, with players of equal skill. Thus, things like execution and ease of use shouldn't have weight in the tier placings.

I definitely don't think execution requirements should be considered when ranking the character.

[LouisCipher]

I think the worst character is either Joe (I think I've said why before) and Raiden. Raiden just doesn't have the tools to get in on half the cast and doesn't have the damage to match Clark, Goro, or Vice.

[Shiranui_ninja]

I'm not a pro player like Bala or TheAnswer, just a casual who plays online a huge bunch of laggy matches... But for my experience, Kim is not B at all, he should be placed in B+ or A. I don't see anything really good in Hwa to justify his position in A group, B is his place (he can be punished easiely). Takuma should be placed as B+ or A, and I would switch Andy in K's place and viceversa. Athena and King in B- place? I disagree. Athena is totally buffed in this game, I don't see why Yuri is better than her, maybe just a bit safer but Athena is a pain in the ass with lot of priorities and a great fireball spammer zonning character. So I would place Athena in B+ or A group and King in B.

Just a personal opinion.

[LouisCipher]

Yuri is better than Athena because Yuri is like Benimaru and Robert in that they're Swiss Army Knives. They can do everything. Great AA, fireballs, command grabs that can be cancelled, amazing rushdown, etc. The only thing Athena can do is be annoying zoning character and try to make you guess wrong and hit her when she does her shield super. Plus her damage just isn't up there with Yuri.

[sibarraz]

from an online perspective shiranui ninja ryueenbu is right, but offline the lt some of their good points

[Rex Dart]

What do people think of Mature? She's the only character in the roster who really strikes me as low-tier, but I don't think I understand her very well.

Her combo damage seems really lacking compared to everyone else, her pokes don't seem great, and her mix-up and pressure games seem lacking.

Only things she has going for her (as far as I can tell) are Despair and chip damage. 

Can anyone enlighten me on how I've underrated her?

[sibarraz]

Vice could be a bitch sometimes, at least from the air she is really good, and can make some good pressure wit her big fireball, and her normal are decents

[Terrastorm]

What do people think of Mature? She's the only character in the roster who really strikes me as low-tier, but I don't think I understand her very well.

Her combo damage seems really lacking compared to everyone else, her pokes don't seem great, and her mix-up and pressure games seem lacking.

Only things she has going for her (as far as I can tell) are Despair and chip damage. 

Can anyone enlighten me on how I've underrated her?

She does decent damage if you can link her cl.c from qcb+BD. I don't think it's a hard link to get down.
Does j.CD count as a good poke? It seems that a lot of western players don't really use it much. Her Iori-like cl.c makes for a nice AA.

[Shiranui_ninja]

What do people think of Mature? She's the only character in the roster who really strikes me as low-tier, but I don't think I understand her very well.

Her combo damage seems really lacking compared to everyone else, her pokes don't seem great, and her mix-up and pressure games seem lacking.

Only things she has going for her (as far as I can tell) are Despair and chip damage. 

Can anyone enlighten me on how I've underrated her?

As Mature user, I really don't know how to place her in a tier list, but for me is a very good pressure/speed character. I don't use her as a combo character, but her Death Row is pretty safe and if you see it impacts can be canceled into her Heaven's Gate easily. Dispair is a great tool and her fireball go out slow but if you know when to use it is a very effective fireball. Her normals are good, B is great to start combos and jC is good for air attacks, far C is good too, long range. and i think she is pretty safe. What I don't like is her close C, it hasn't so much cancelable frames, so C and qcb+C sometimes is too hard to connect. another bad thing about Mature is her damage, very low. But besides this, for me she is great. I'm speaking from my casual/online player point of view, of course :P
Other people who calls himself Mature doesn't use her because she is not abusive like Saiki....