Rank the prototypes

[Black Hammer]

By fun, by difficulty, by whatever floats your boat. Curious to see which prototypes people are enjoying most or struggling with.

So far I've played with Es, Kokonoe, and Tatakaka.

Tatakaka feels the strongest out of the can and is a blast. Very mobile, good evade, generally fun.

Es starts a little slower, but picks up a lot of oomph with a powerful skill and good range.

Kokonoe is the weakest of the three by a wide margin, with poor mobility and an underwhelming dodge.

[The Spu]

So far Hakumen has been the strongest for me. All his potential upgrades giving super armor, and making that super armor reduce damage even more, plus his ability allowing you to block and counter-attack just makes him ridiculously tanky. Even against Susanoo you'll hardly get a scratch.

[Murray McBrain]

I actually found Taokaka's base damage to be really weak overall, and Ragna is straight up not fun to play as a lot of his cons outweigh his pros in terms of his healing

[Klezca]

Originally posted by The Spu:

So far Hakumen has been the strongest for me. All his potential upgrades giving super armor, and making that super armor reduce damage even more, plus his ability allowing you to block and counter-attack just makes him ridiculously tanky. Even against Susanoo you'll hardly get a scratch.

Agree. Even in pvp, he can 1vs5 and solo boss at the same time.

[Peter]

I agree Kokonoe is by far the weakest. I played all the characters during early access, and she didn't feel bad at that time. The problem now is that some enemies (particularly the end boss) are much more aggressive and mobile than they used to be. It makes that final fight ridiculously difficult since she's so immobile that she'll get hit even trying to get a basic 3-hit combo off, let alone her SP skill

[Kayin]

Alright, let's go! In my biased and clearly not objective opinion:

Strongest: Jin / Hakumen
- Jin: When you build him with Ice Tactics, the game is basically on auto mode. Nothing moves and you shred them while they can't retaliate, Bosses included. I play him with a Sheathe combo focused build because I find the playstyle very original for a Roguelike. I feel rewarded when I achieve a full combo.

-Hakumen: You take him when you want to learn the game I think. Most of his gameplay revolve around counters, so he's a great choice to learn the pattern of the bosses. He's very slow and powerful, and you feel his power when you hit those charged attacks.
I build him with Light Tactics to one shot most of the monsters, and deals huge chunk of damages on Bosses by playing slowly and precisely. I also take the Super Armor Passives, and at the end of a run, he casually Face-tank Susanoo (Low entropy, around 15, I've not been higher yet)


Favourite: Es
- Es: I really love how they depicted Es Crests in the game. She's a very versatile Prototype who can be played in very different ways.
My favourite build is an Aerial Focused Build, since she has a lot of tools to make ennemies and herserlf Airbone, and a lot of her combos can also be used while in the Air with the right potentials. She's litteraly flying across the screen, rampaging with Crests everywhere. She also remind me of Saber from Fate, visually speaking, so it's also a plus =D


Weird but interesting: Lambda-11
- L-11: She's... very unique. Her kit revolve around Skills and MP, and while she feels very weak and clunky at first (if you play her "normally", I'm not speaking about speedrunning with Down Attack), she'll ramp up A LOT of power starting Area 2. With enough MP and Regen, she decimate entire screens and drown foes under a SEA of blades.
Usually, a lot of Prototype focus on 1 Skill, but I feel like L-11 is the most fun to play when you combine multiples of those.
She's not beginner friendly tho, and I don't recommend her for first playthroughs.


Fun to Play: Taokaka / Noel
- Taokaka: She's not the strongest I think (mainly because she lacks Anti Armor), but damn is she fun to play. Super Nervous gameplay, very fast and very powerful, very cute. I like to play her two ways: 1/The usual Spinney Spinney or 2/Clone focused with investment on the "Strong Attack". They both play very differently and are very fun. I haven't tried an Airbone - Balls build yet but it seems fun, even if not very powerful lol. She uses Blade Tactics wonderfully.

- Noel: I really love the Gunslinger Fantasy, and she delivers exactly what I wanted. I really love to spin around and wreck havoc with her. I feel like playing some kind of Dante from DmC, but Girl Version, and I adore it! Tons of Aerial Skills (you can guess it's my favourite playstyle I think haha), tons of dodge, very nice visual effects, and the Basic Attacks are very powerful.


Neutral about Those: Ragna / Mai
- Ragna: He's... average, in both his gameplay and his power I think. I don't have bad things to say about him, but I don't have great things to say aswell. He's just there, and it's cool to play him fromtime to time I guess. What's nice about him is you never need to Rest or pay for Healing, because his Heals are very powerful and if you use those correctly, you can't die.

- Mai: I actually find her very good, but not as strong as Jin or Hakumen, and she's fun, but not as fun as Taokaka and Noel (for me), so here she is. I really like the fact that you can play a very fast Airbone Build with her, and she has TONS of mobility and AoE/Crowd Control. She's a super safe first choice Prototype I think.


Feels a Little Weak: Hibiki
- I really want to love Hibiki, he's very nimble, his skills are flashy, and who doesn't like ninjas? But when I play him... I don't know, I feel like I could achieve the same thing he does with Es or Mai, but they're both doing what he does way better than him.
I admit that his Kage Bunshin Skill is very cool and fun to use tho. He also hit like a truck Bosses, since you're behind them most of the time.


I don't like: Kokonoe
- Kokonoe: I feel like she has the potential to be one of the Strongest Prototype. She has insane combos, and a high skill ceiling compared to most of the other prototype (just like Lambda-11). She does stupid amount of damages, but she's not very mobile, so you're vulnerable and you need to think about a lot of things while playing her; it feels more like a chore than anything else (for me).
I'm sure that she will grow on me when I'll know the game better and seek a different kind of challenge, but as of now, I don't enjoy using her.... Ironically enough, I always choose her for her Inheritance skills for my other characters. Her Missiles are fantastics, especially if you lack Anti-Air (with Hakumen for exemple).

[Klezca]

Originally posted by Kayin:

I don't like: Kokonoe
- Kokonoe: I feel like she has the potential to be one of the Strongest Prototype. She has insane combos, and a high skill ceiling compared to most of the other prototype (just like Lambda-11). She does stupid amount of damages, but she's not very mobile, so you're vulnerable and you need to think about a lot of things while playing her; it feels more like a chore than anything else (for me).
I'm sure that she will grow on me when I'll know the game better and seek a different kind of challenge, but as of now, I don't enjoy using her.... Ironically enough, I always choose her for her Inheritance skills for my other characters. Her Missiles are fantastics, especially if you lack Anti-Air (with Hakumen for exemple).

For me, I just build Kokonoe with damage over time. I use her special to dodge attack while in the air.

1. Teleport around to set up traps,
2. Detonate them to leave flaming trails
3. Melt Susanoo like butter while remaining in the air as long as possible.

[Kensei]

Kokonoe is busted.

Her DPS is way higher than all the other characters for some reason except for maybe Hakumen but she's way more mobile and her damage reaches the entire screen much easier than Hakumen's does. No clue how you can proclaim she's the weakest when she's this strong in the game currently. Can focus on either missiles or lasers both wreck entire screens.

If you want to go really cheesy focus on getting legacy blackhole with the dual tactic that slows down everything in a huge radius.

[Neocronic]

All super fun and strong especially if you dont know about BlazBlue series before. I just enjoy with every char. Already beat susanoo with 6 of them from first try, means they all strong enough to do this.

[Raxyz]

By efficiency:

S: Hakumen, Jin, Es, Hibiki
A: Kokonoe, Taokaka, nu11
B: Ragna, Noel
Haven't played Mai yet.

S tier is all about consistency and not getting hit. Haku gets a parry with a huge-ass active window. The only time he's in any danger is "survival" stages with specific builds where you have to overuse MP and have this huge downtime with little to no evasive maneuvers. If you got both Universal Enhancements and the super armor on hold attack you're chilling though. Jin and Es have generous dodge i-frames and pretty big rewards for hitting them. Any potential works with them too. Hibiki is just an evasion tank, get three dodges and you're zipping through everything.

A tier is good, but needs high-rolls to work. Kokonoe might just have the best burst DPS in the game, but she's EXTREMELY Potential-reliant and some of the choices are downright useless. Her dash and aerial attack are pretty bad too. Tao is also a pretty good DPS dealer with the hold attack build, but if your enemy floats or stays above ground, you have a problem. Nu absolutely requires Skill potentials to do anything. Her attack and dash potentials are laughably bad.

B tier is challenging yourself for no good reason. Noel's skill negates her good mobility and has her sitting duck just waiting to be hit. Some good builds, but I feel like the potentials and tactics carry her because her base kit is just not good. Ragna can be downright immortal but... So does everyone in S tier. And Ragna requires constant attention to not over expend HP and maybe get clipped just as you're using his skills. He's also just not fun. Vanilla kit, no surprises, no gimmick, simple combos. Why even bother?

[chaoscow]

Best:
Es

Good:
Noel
Lambda
Taokaka
Jin
Hibiki

Less good:
Kokone

Weak:
Mai

I don't really understand them:
Ragna
Hakumen

Imo Es is strongest. Immediately strong, gets a lot of scaling from crests is naturally very safe with all the damage she puts out Galahad build is just pure safety. Her only "weakness" is being totally close range but you can get in on every boss that's how the game is designed.

Noel has good attacks from a safe distance, very safe dash attack, a decent ranged attack from the start, and down+J five times mid-air can make annoying bosses (especially elevator gal) very easy. Lambda weak at first but scales hard but is still a little unsafe even when fully built, Taokaka you have to cancel her spin most of the time but can deal damage very fast, Jin+Hakari just have normal kits which is totally fine.

Kokonoe has a weird dodge and unsafe normal string which makes her feel worse, Mai I can't get real damage out of her.

Ragna Hakuman make no sense to me maybe some day.

[Gias]

Fastest clears in order so far:
Kokonoe (firing ma laser),Es (ring crest), Taokaka (cat),

Hakumen is with hibiki best starter supports to learn the game but dont like hakumen as main pick because his run was ~25% slower. Hibiki can play amazing but only if you get specific skill upgrades so feels unreliable. Most of the other characters seem not too far behind the 3 top picks with the exception of Ragna who is suicide mode. Played him twice and killed myself both times. In contrast Kokonoe & Es were both clears on first attempt. Guess thats why there is also a achievement for clearing with Ragna -devs made him the challenge mode pick.

[Ben]

Top tier : Noel, just ignore her Y Skill, the rest of her kit is top tier. Especially the enhanced hold X attack (kinda OP damage + speed considering she's ranged immo) and the enhanced air 5 hit combo (you can basically ignore 90% of boss fights with that move alone). Just pick the tactics that enhance her attacks, she doesn't need anything else. At least for entropy levels under 40.

Weakest : Ragna, slow and kinda hard to master.

[Kayin]

Originally posted by Klezca:

Originally posted by Kayin:

I don't like: Kokonoe
- Kokonoe: I feel like she has the potential to be one of the Strongest Prototype. She has insane combos, and a high skill ceiling compared to most of the other prototype (just like Lambda-11). She does stupid amount of damages, but she's not very mobile, so you're vulnerable and you need to think about a lot of things while playing her; it feels more like a chore than anything else (for me).
I'm sure that she will grow on me when I'll know the game better and seek a different kind of challenge, but as of now, I don't enjoy using her.... Ironically enough, I always choose her for her Inheritance skills for my other characters. Her Missiles are fantastics, especially if you lack Anti-Air (with Hakumen for exemple).

For me, I just build Kokonoe with damage over time. I use her special to dodge attack while in the air.

1. Teleport around to set up traps,
2. Detonate them to leave flaming trails
3. Melt Susanoo like butter while remaining in the air as long as possible.

I just tried your Aerial Kokonoe thing.

It was tons of fun, and indeed, Susanoo melted lol

Thanks for making me discover this prototype under a different light!

[Klezca]

Originally posted by Kayin:

Originally posted by Klezca:

For me, I just build Kokonoe with damage over time. I use her special to dodge attack while in the air.

1. Teleport around to set up traps,
2. Detonate them to leave flaming trails
3. Melt Susanoo like butter while remaining in the air as long as possible.

I just tried your Aerial Kokonoe thing.

It was tons of fun, and indeed, Susanoo melted lol

Thanks for making me discover this prototype under a different light!

This is the same tactic used in pvp. But you use your special on the ground to stunlock and knockback people while they are chasing you in the flaming trails.

For me, I don't use special against hakumen player. Let the damage over time kill them.

[Clocc]

Noel performs best for me. For now, I managed to take her up to 80 entropy. Lots of bosses don't have much aerial punish, especially un-upgraded Susanoo. Her hold attack potential is ridiculously powerful for being an MP-less move.

If you need more defense on her, you can just choose Hakumen as a legacy.