Athena I think is bottom tier. Horrible character. Has good corner juggles but that's about it.
As a Athena main , reading such things about her annoys me a lot. How is Athena an horrible character ? I don't want to sound mean, but I really think you have no idea what you're talking about.
I won't go into details because then I'll have to write way too much, and I really don't know how to organise all of that but, there are a few things I want to talk about.
- First of all , let's talk about her zoning game and what she can do with it.
A common strategy to counter zoning is to merely block the fireballs or nulify them to build a lot of meter. Athena's zoning game , unlike Ash's, Saiki's or King's doesn't have that weakness because she can build meter like crazy with tiger knee Phoenix Arrows. Which makes Athena a threat even fullscreen range and forces the opponent to attack her somehow or she'll just build meter.
Then, Athena has many , many ways to anti air. She has her 4f dp A that moves her forward a lot , her fully invincible dp C, her very good jump CD, her extremely good ground CD (and you can even option select it with teleport so that if it anti airs you have a safe jump after , or a free dp C /EX DM if it hits counter) , her EX teleport > throw can also be used as anti air.
Her zoning game isn't her damage source, it is used to allow to her build meter , be a threat even at fullscreen range, and use her superior anti air options to push the opponent in the corner, where she's at her best.- Then , let's take a look at her normals.
Athena has good pokes in s.A , s.B , c.C and far D. Good air to air in s.C (which can be whiff cancelled into phoenix arrow so that you don't eat a c.B into combo when you land) , very good air CD and ground CD , a nice c.A that leaves her at +3 on block , a great anti air in close D and can crossup pretty well with j.B
Her normals are good. - Now, let's take a look at her special moves/toolset.
I won't talk about her fireball since it's obvious that it's good.
Her A DP is a 4f dp that moves her foward a lot. It gives her yet another anti air , but it's also good to punish things like Andy's Zaneiken on block, or Elisabeth's Coup de Vent. (And yes, it's a good punish, for 1meter 1drive, you get about 420 damage off a dp A punish)
Her C DP is a slow, but fully invincible dp, that does nice damage. Not much to say about it, just your regular DP.
She can reflect fireballs and use her tk phoeniw arrows to build meter from fullscreen if the opponent doesn't want to attack her.
Phoenix Arrow can be used as crossup (EX can lead to combo , even HD ones)
Her teleport can be used to escape corners, like c.C > teleport. Or you can just use her EX teleport, which can be cancelled for free into any of her special moves.
She also has a nice command grab that I'm about to talk about.
And her DM is a 3f , fully invincible dm.
As you can see, between, fully invincible dp, teleport, fireball, reflector, command grab and 3f anti air dm.
Athena doesn't lack tools.- And to finish, I want to talk about her command grab.
Athena's command grab is a 7f fully invincible grab (if you do it at the same time as Ryo's DP, Ryo's DP will whiff and you can punish him).
Since it is a slow, invincible grab, it can be used as anti air , and as a way to beat safe jumps. Also, since after an air reset you have 6f of throw invincibility , you can do it as soon as they hit the ground after and it will throw them.
Her command grab leads to huge damage. A lot more than the likes of Clark can ever hope to do with a grab.She has a lot of combo potential after her grab. From midscreen 1drive 1meter 450 damage combos , to corner 800 3 meter HD. Her grab leads to HD combos anywhere on the screen by the way, not just corner. Also, speaking of HD, Athena can activate hers from counterhit j.CD and even counterhit ground CD in the corner.
Athena is a very complete character, with a lot of tools and good damage. Saying she is an horrible character is just stupid. No one is bad in this game, especially not Athena.
(I'm sorry for this long post, it may be a bit of a mess, and a bit agressive, but reading such nonsense about Athena really annoys me)