What's the best race to play as since the latest update in your opinion?

[ObamaCare]

I'm curious what people think on this topic for two reasons:
1) there have been a lot of patches since launch that would change the answers people give to this question, so I want to know what people think.
2) I've seen people say that namekians are the best race to play as, and I'm curious if anybody could tell me why that is. So far as I can tell, the have the lowest damage output and slowest attack rate, and their combos connect the least often out of any of the playable races.

For me, I would rank them in the following order:
1) Saiyans for transformations, variety of playstyles, and sheer damage output

2) Earthlings for their combos, versatility, and balanced stats

3) Majins because females have gnarly stamina recovery and purification is finally good now (still not fond of the male design though, I wish I could model my character after Super Buu)

4) Frieza race, ranked lower because golden has been nerfed into the dirt and they are somewhat restricted to a ki-based playstyle

5) Namekians dead last because I feel that they have the least damage potential and combos that are slow/sometimes don't connect. Giant form is fun to mess around with, but other than that I haven't found anything crazy special about them.

Let me know what you guys think. What's your ranking? And also, am I missing something about namekians that more pro players could point out to me?

[Neoxenok]

I think you're short-selling the namekians and frieza races. In their base stats and available awokens, the races do have great parity with one another (though I'd have to agree about turn golden - THANKS 1.16 UPDATE - but it's still more than useful but it no longer has parity with the blue and blue evolution awokens.)

The only race that gets the short end of the stick are male majins and only them because they take more damage than normal when they're low on stamina - which makes them terrible for PVP. If that were removed, then they'd have balance parity with the other races, IMO.

Outside of awokens (and the male majin), I feel the races are quite well balanced. If we talk about awokens, however, saiyans have it and their awokens keep getting buffed while everyone else (and kaioken) gets nerfed. Except purification. Purification is great now but it still has a hard time saving male majins.

[ObamaCare]

Originally posted by Neoxenok:

I think you're short-selling the namekians and frieza races. In their base stats and available awokens, the races do have great parity with one another (though I'd have to agree about turn golden - THANKS 1.16 UPDATE - but it's still more than useful but it no longer has parity with the blue and blue evolution awokens.)

The only race that gets the short end of the stick are male majins and only them because they take more damage than normal when they're low on stamina - which makes them terrible for PVP. If that were removed, then they'd have balance parity with the other races, IMO.

Outside of awokens (and the male majin), I feel the races are quite well balanced. If we talk about awokens, however, saiyans have it and their awokens keep getting buffed while everyone else (and kaioken) gets nerfed. Except purification. Purification is great now but it still has a hard time saving male majins.

You make some fair points. What's your analysis on namekians? I'm increasingly getting the sense that I'm missing something signficant in their playstyle .

I agree that base male majins have substantial downsides with their stamina. It's basically a big flex to use base male majins online against other players. I only have a character slot for one as a purification build and as a joke character.

[Neoxenok]

Originally posted by ObamaCare:

You make some fair points. What's your analysis on namekians? I'm increasingly getting the sense that I'm missing something signficant in their playstyle .

Namekians have among the most hit points, their basic attacks hit hard, they can regenerate HPs (faster than the Hmm Hmm Super Soul but not as fast as regen items) when they have flashing health, and they have stretchy arms that give them a large reach - which, in PVP, frequently catches people that try to back away.

Turn Giant sets their moveset (a downside) and drains stamina but grants super armor (that also drains stamina), bonuses to basic attacks, energy attacks that hit hard and fast among other unique features. It also regenerates your ki fairly quickly without you needing to do anything - which actually makes the namekian viable for ki builds - switching between giant form when low on ki and using supers and ults when you need to conserve your stamina.

The biggest downside, naturally, with turn giant is the same as that of kaioken and it needs to be used similarly - you don't turn it on and leave it on - you click it on when you need it and turn it off when you don't to manage your stamina. You'll also need to make sure to shut down or avoid enemy attacks by staying on them and pressing hard. Otherwise, you'll stamina break and become vulnerable.

They don't really specialize in Ki or Strike supers so they can go either way in that regard.

Compared to the saiyans, they have the opposite playstyle and are one of the least-frequently used. They're not often going to be doing three health bars of damage with a single ultimate like a saiyan will with SSGSSE and an XL or XXL boost to damage from a good super soul, but they can be really hard to take down and have better battlefield control if you use them right.

Originally posted by ObamaCare:

I agree that base male majins have substantial downsides with their stamina. It's basically a big flex to use base male majins online against other players. I only have a character slot for one as a purification build and as a joke character.

It's not their stamina, per se. Male majins get a reduction of damage they take if their stamina is high, but when it gets low enough (or if their stamina braeks), they take extra damage on hits. There are a lot of upsides of using a MMajin, but this downside in particular makes them the worst choice for PVP. It's not that big of a probem, IMO, in PVE.

If they weren't vulnerable to damage when stamina broken, they'd be balanced with the other races.

[Six]

@Neoxenok

Purify actually doesn't drain stamina any more. You regenerate it even while attacking, albeit not very quickly. Just wanted to set the record straight on that.

[Neoxenok]

Originally posted by Six:

@Neoxenok

Purify actually doesn't drain stamina any more. You regenerate it even while attacking, albeit not very quickly. Just wanted to set the record straight on that.

I never gave purification more than a passing mention or two.

I mostly discussed turn giant and the male majin in reference to stamina.

EDIT: Nevermind. I see my mistake. I didn't intend to imply purification did drain stamina just that turn giant and purification set a specific moveset, not that they share the other aforementioned qualities (stamina drain and super armor).

I'll make the correction.

[King of Evil]

For me, race is dependent on what type of character you plan on playing.

Namekians are the best tanks with their hp regen, high health & stamina.
Majin Males make decent tanks as well, but you have to make sure you never fall below 2 stamina bars.
Majin Females are good all rounders & for quick recovery.
Freiza's are probably the best for Ki-blaster builds & they have one of the best combo sets.
Male Saiyans are best at base melee damage.
Female Saiyans are good all rounders & for Ki-blaster builds.
Male Humans are the best Strikers.
Female Humans deal the most Ki-blast damage in the game.

The downside to every non-saiyan race is that they are limited to Potential Unleashed, Kaioken or their default awoken skills, tho, but that's Toriyama's fault with his crappy writing.

[Neoxenok]

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Namekians are the best tanks with their hp regen, high health & stamina.
Majin Males make decent tanks as well, but you have to make sure you never fall below 2 stamina bars.
Majin Females are good all rounders & for quick recovery.
Freiza's are probably the best for Ki-blaster builds & they have one of the best combo sets.
Male Saiyans are best at base melee damage.
Female Saiyans are good all rounders & for Ki-blaster builds.
Male Humans are the best Strikers.
Female Humans deal the most Ki-blast damage in the game.

Actually, the best strikers are female majins as they do the most default strike damage.

This guide, despite its age, is still quite relevant in squaring up who is best mathmatically (only the section on transformation modifiers is outdated).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=790853823

[King of Evil]

Originally posted by Neoxenok:

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Namekians are the best tanks with their hp regen, high health & stamina.
Majin Males make decent tanks as well, but you have to make sure you never fall below 2 stamina bars.
Majin Females are good all rounders & for quick recovery.
Freiza's are probably the best for Ki-blaster builds & they have one of the best combo sets.
Male Saiyans are best at base melee damage.
Female Saiyans are good all rounders & for Ki-blaster builds.
Male Humans are the best Strikers.
Female Humans deal the most Ki-blast damage in the game.

Actually, the best strikers are female majins as they do the most default strike damage.

This guide, despite its age, is still quite relevant in squaring up who is best mathmatically (only the section on transformation modifiers is outdated).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=790853823

Yea, but I still think MH's are better because of the buff they get when at full ki & it's really easy to stay full ki as a human striker cause you get ki regen & use PU on top of it. Plus, humans just look better than majin's.

[Neoxenok]

Originally posted by King of Evil:

Yea, but I still think MH's are better because of the buff they get when at full ki & it's really easy to stay full ki as a human striker cause you get ki regen & use PU on top of it. Plus, humans just look better than majin's.

Yes, but that bonus only applies to basic attacks and not strike skills (and even if it did, it'd be pointless because using any strike skill would immediately remove the bonus). Also a bonus to strike skills isn't necessary applied to basic melee or ki attacks.

If we're just talking about basic attacks, then frieza race, male saiyans, namekians, and female majins hit harder than humans - even with the buff active.