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Fighting games can absolutely be compared, and KOF and Marvel are no exception. The top-tiers have the damage, the flexibility with meter, the mixups, etcetera, etcetera. Characters with more useful options end up higher in the tiers. It's a universal law of the genre.

Fundamentally, rosters all work the same. There are always characters that are more well-rounded than others and have more options than others. KOF is simply blessed that characters with less damage or options can compete.

I would be snarky and say "You clearly haven't played Marvel", but I'm not going to bother. ChrisG wrecking with Morrigan does not make Morridoom a requirement to win. There are very, very few good Morridoom players, as well as very few good Zero players. There are definitely Morrigan and Zero armies, but very few that can compete at the top. Needless to say Morridoom almost always has Vergil in the back, and almost no competitive Zero team runs without Doom or Vergil.

But, I don't need to prove this. It's more or less a common consensus amongst the Marvel community that adding Doom and/or Vergil to the team instantly makes it a more competitive team. The third doesn't really matter. Morrigan, Zero, Spencer, Magneto, even Jill if you want.

All the while there are numerous high-placing players who use one or more of the DLC trio.

I am comfortable enough with this game that I am happy to learn any team. I don't have any particular playstyle anymore. I just shouldn't have to pick a team of DLC characters to have every minute advantage available.

I really have to disagree on the need for character affinity. Affinity has absolutely no impact on your skill or your ability to read your opponent. You can stick with your favourites all you want - I did, for a bit.  Eventually, there comes a point where many players feel they're making life too hard for themselves.

You really can't just pick the characters you like if it's counterproductive to winning.

I'm done. I appreciate the feedback, but I've tried your suggestions before, and it didn't work.

*stuff*

I understand all that, but honestly, the DLC trio are more or less the Doom/Vergil of KOFXIII. Of course plenty of other teams can, and do work, but having at least one or more will instantly make a team better, have incredible damage, easier execution and far less weaknesses overall. KOF isn't exempt from the benefits of tier-whoring, balanced though it may be.  After using them, picking a team without at least one of them feels underwhelming. And I absolutely hate that. Pick one or two, and fill the rest of the team with Beni/Hwa/Kim/regular version of DLC character and ta-dah!

If a character is comfortable in any team slot, it logically follows a team filled with those characters is more solid than a team that relies more on team order. It's about going into a match with every advantage you feel comfortable using.

And honestly, there's more than one person who refutes the battery/utility/anchor system. Pick three top-tiers and it doesn't matter who has meter or who doesn't. Why pick someone like say, K' when I can pick Hwa Jai and wreck people for 700 damage with almost no effort or execution?

My standards are probably too high. I've played fighters too much to try building teams around favourites anymore.

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I started out with Andy/Mai/XX, just because I was only playing for fun when I started.  They can both run 1st or 2nd, and Mai really loves the meter as anchor. But running them together caused problems, because they're both very dependant on drive meter, not so much EX meter. Andy in 1st would end up hogging a lot of the drive meter that Mai would have wanted for Ryu Enbu loops. So I split them up.

Right now I'm trying Andy/Billy/Kyo and Kensou/Mai/Yuri.

I haven't figured out a team. I haven't been playing for two years, either.

Have quickly come to a realisation that an EX character or Karate is almost compulsory for a good team. But I don't like using any of them.

You can never go wrong with EX Kyo/EX Iori/Mr Karate.

Andy, for some reason, has basically vanished off the face of the earth - which makes no sense when people are picking Mai and Robert over him. Andy is probably about as close to the "Ryu" of KOFXIII as one can get. Very, very, simple combos, even more so than Shen, super easy confirms into safe blockstring or solid combos, runs pretty fast, has a DP and a fireball you can run behind.

Billy is a brilliant pick - very low execution (he doesn't need his rapid cancels, really), godly normals. His corner juggles will teach you how to delay your combo inputs, and his overall game will show you the importance of playing with normals over other moves.

Don't feel like you need to stick with what you see in videos. Flocker of note, plays Mai/Athena/Yuri.

So....does anyone actually use Andy anymore?