Character Tiers vs Truth: Who to pick if you're new to Calibur?

[EdgarAllenPathOfExile]

Fighting Games have Tier Lists - this is a truth that even casual players understand.
What many don't understand is what Tiers actually mean.

This post is written by a long time FG player, and with input from some of the best tournament players across multiple fighting games.

TIER: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
When a character in a game is Top Tier, it means the character has an answer to every problem the game can present them and in the right hands this character will outperform those in the tiers below. Top Tier characters may or may not receive nerfs.

This is regardless of whether you have to hit 1f links with the character or you can put down your controller and let your cat play with it as you reap rank after rank in the ladder:
Tiers tell you whether a character can or cannot.

When a character in a game is Middle Tier, it means the character has an advantage and a disadvantage in certain situations. This is regardless of player skill and regardless of how good your internet is. This character is still fine and might receive moderate buffs but chances are it will stay as is.

Low Tier means, as you might have guessed, that the character struggles in many aspects and no matter how well you play this character, it will suffer and unless you are really good at the game (and in some games not even then), you will see little success playing one of these.

TIER: DOES IT MATTER?
Tiers only matter once you're performing a character at an optimal level of execution. Some characters take really good players to make shine, but in their hands these characters will Pile On The Hurt.
Tiers also matter if you and your buddy are hitting it off in a no holds barred match and both of you suck. But if your buddy has some mileage, say 500 matches with a Low Tier character, it suddenly stopped being a factor because you'll get bopped.

Tiers change slightly over the lifetime of a game as characters may get nerfed or buffed, or new tricks may be discovered all of a sudden that either skyrocket a character to a tier or two above, or render a previously godlike character inert because his Top Tier Tool was suddenly Exposed - given a method that makes the tool no longer potent or even not viable anymore.

SOUL CALIBUR CHARACTERS
With the above in mind, I'm going to make a full comprehensive list of which characters are for what style of play and explain why some of them are good for beginners and why some aren't.
I'm not going to put a lexicon of fighting game terms here so if you aren't sure what Footsies, Safety, Punishment, or any of those terms mean, just google for Fighting Game Terminology.

TIER1: Press Some Buttons Tier
Characters in this tier have some pretty easy to use strategies which can be easy to use and win with at lower skill levels. Please note that these characters aren't necessarily high tier or low tier and it doesn't mean you'll be able to nail a high level player with them, but they're easy to pick up, easy to use, and all you need is a couple youtube videos to get the right flow going.

2B: Braindead character who'll stomp anyone at a lower skill level but falls off once people know her frame data. Good for newbies.

Amy: She's a highly safe rushdown character with all the tools you need to beat even mediocre players if they aren't up to date on how she operates. She's got her layers of complexity under the easy early skill level usage, but she's definitely a good pick for newbies.

Kilik: Highly safe as well, but a spacing / footsie character with some really amazing utility and great tools to keep your enemy out and guessing. He's really easy to pick up and figure out, and even at high levels he will shine with his simple, unpunishable moveset and godly meter usage. Good pick for newbies.

Siegfried: Unsafe mixup character, hits like a truck. His recent buffs make him easily one of the best characters for online and if you have some understanding of fighting game fundamentals he'll destroy most enemies just because we're playing online. Good for newbies.

Nightmare: Unsafe rushdown character, hits like two trucks. Nightmare is easily one of the most popular characters as he can breathe at your healthbar and it will fall off in large chunks. He takes very little maintenance, and at high levels he plays just like at low levels, so he's as good as the player playing him. Good for newbies.

Groh: Resident Sleeper. Unsafe Rushdown Mixup character with some broke ass moves that will make any low- to-intermediate skill level player put down the controller and stomp on it ten times while screaming. He's definitely easy as hell to win with in the lower levels and he carries on well to the medium skill range too. Good for newbies.

Seong Mi-Na: Unsafe, low maintenance, high risk high reward damager. Footsie character who takes the neutral and holds onto it. Mi-Na has fullscreen lows, does everything Kilik does except she has better damage and isn't as safe. She has no losing matchups and she has the easiest 40% combo in the game. Good for newbies.

Geralt: The tournament scene is alight with dissent at how horribly unga this character is currently. He's literally a nobrainer. Good for newbies.

TIER2: Effort Tier
Characters in this tier have some good tricks up their sleeves if you know what you're doing but they take some learning and getting used to.

Zasalamel: Safe, high maintenance, low risk high reward mixup / pressure character with a vortex that will send you to high D / C rank without much skill required. He's very much worth picking as a first character and if you figure out what buttons to press when, he'll destroy everyone on this side of B rank. Good for newbies.

Maxi: Crazy high damage for infinite mix and match potential. He cycles through various different stances which each give him various different moves with different properties. He's the epitome of Effort Tier. While you can press buttons with him at low level, if you figure out some nice tricks he'll be an easy ticket to C-Rank without much worry online. Good for newbies.

Talim: Safe Rushdown Mixup Trickster. Low skillfloor, high skill ceiling on this one. She has cancels and she could easily be Press Buttons Tier if she wasn't so much effort to get right. She gets destroyed at mid-level if you aren't really good at your fundamentals. Decent for newbies but don't be surprised if you'll need to grow as the character grows on you.

Mitsurugi: The easiest to use hard to master character in the entire game. He's as good as you are, with some decent tools to make you look better than you really are. Put in some minor work and you'll easily make your way to where suddenly he'll feel a bit weak at first. That's the effort part. He's not good for newbies unless you're willing to learn.

Ivy: Arguably the best character in the game. The premiere keepout grappler who can put you into frame traps at full screen and make you regret you ever installed this game. Learn how to execute her moves and you've got yourself a free C-Rank. No skill required, just practice. Not good for newbies because she takes hard work at first. But she'll be pure gold if you do get there.

Raphael: Stance Rushdown character. If you figure him out, he'll be your best friend. Or Amy's.


TIER3: Know Your Game Tier
Everyone else. Be it Cervantes, Xianghua or Sophitia, you need to know your matchups and your fundamentals to do any well vs the above characters. Or be lucky and somehow press the right buttons at the right moment. These characters require you to be very self-aware in your gameplay and you'll suffer for every bit of ignorance tenfold unlike with those above.

Astaroth: High Damage, High Risk, High Reward grappler. He's got the most frame traps per square inch in the game. He'll sit on your foot and you'll want to chew it off just to get free. Not for newbies, he's the least mashable character in the game.

Azwel: Used to be brainless, now he takes skill to play. Good for newbies. Don't expect too many wins past E rank unless you stepped up your game.

Cervantes: High damage, high risk, high reward bruiser. Cervantes takes ungodly amounts of skill to play right and if someone kicks your hiney with him, show massive respect. Not newbie friendly.

Sophitia: Low Risk, Low Reward methodical punisher and all purpose footsie character. She has an answer to literally everything in the game, but you need to know what the question is in the first place. Not for newbies.

Taki: The single most difficult character to use currently according to many. She's lacking and she got nerfed. She does have her own ninja bag of ninja tricks that you can ninja people with, and she's okay for newbies because of the random nonsense you can dish out with her, but don't expect much if you don't have the fundamentals for her.

Vhere iz Voldo and Tira: I put them in the same slot here because they're essentially the same level of "crazy as a crazy bag full of crazy cats wearing crazy pants". They take insane effort to play well, but they are fine for newbies, to a certain point.

Xianghua: Safe rushdown somewhere between Sophitia and Mitsurugi. Has tricks, but you have to work for damage and work to not take damage, too.


At the end of the day it doesn't matter what tier your character is. What matters is whether or not you are having fun playing said character. If you are, put in the work and reap the benefits. Fighting games take a unique constructive mindset to be good at and keep improving at.

Defeatism, excuses and trying to justify anything by going to tier lists will get you nowhere.

[Byros]

Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed reading your summary on each character.

Do you have any opinion on how CaS height (minimum/maximum) can influence positively/negatively a fighting style, perhaps Taki?

[EdgarAllenPathOfExile]

Originally posted by Byros:

Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed reading your summary on each character.

Do you have any opinion on how CaS height (minimum/maximum) can influence positively/negatively a fighting style, perhaps Taki?

Well it changes your damage, your reach, and certain moves might not hit you from certain angles based on size.

[AlphaASX]

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

[EdgarAllenPathOfExile]

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

As good as any. These things are highly subjective.
My list is based on a lot of people.

[Habaduba]

Yo ,no hard feelings but I'd like to point out some things you got wrong.
High tier doesn't nessecarily mean a charracter has a response for everything. While there were a lot of cases where charracter was top tier becouse it was extremelly good at smthing and didn't lack anywhere else, its often the case top tier charrs actually have really big weakneses but make up for it in the strong sides. Difficulty of how hard the execution is is very important. Most of the tournament sceene is made up from easy charracters and for a reason. And why the hell do you talk about tier list and proceede to... make something completelly different while sorting charracters into "Tiers" ? Thats really random and shouldn't be in the same post.
Regarding charracters... I don't even... Mitsu... hard to master... effort tier ? NM beeing... same at low play as in tournaments ? You never watched a NM in a tournament have you? They usually use the safe moves a lot. Kilik beeing footsies focused ? Look at all the good kiliks, kilik wants to just run up in your face all the time. Zas vortex is actually really... really not great... unless you don't know how to play the game, and he isn't really high reward, he doiesn't chunk ppl at all. Everything else about him is fine but... you really should stop talking of ranks like that, if all Zas who figured out what buttons to press we would have three times the amount of B ranks. Raphael- Stance rushdown charracter... :notlikethis:.
Asta doesn't have many frame traps, and no pressuring ones thats for sure coz what ? 4AA into mid some or what ? He does have great range mids and catches sidesteps rather well tho... there is actually a lot of good to Asta so I don't know what made you think Frame traps is his strong side.
Taki isn't weak right now and...I am preety sure that every single Patch she got buffed.
I don't know what made you put Tira in the same bag with Voldo and X in the same as Sophie and Mitsu.
Whatever, in my opinion you should really put way more though into it when describing charracters, I still see a lot of things beeing wrong but its nothing major, maybe next time ask some players who play the charracter what they think but hey, its ppl saying things, you can have your opinion.

[AlphaASX]

Originally posted by GLoRToR / SoNG-oF-SiLeNCe:

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

As good as any. These things are highly subjective.
My list is based on a lot of people.

Building a tier list based on people opinions doesnt seem like a good idea to me honeslty, i mean many just come to comunitys to complain about characers while they know nothing about the matchups with them.

[Thundercracker]

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

xianghua in c tier?

she has auto-GI into lethal, lethal on block, and against 1/2 the cast when GI'd can often react faster than the character that did the GI. against that same half of the cast, she can get in the face and just press buttons.

she has all sorts of moves that move her around attacks, and very fast break attacks.

i mean, yea, her RO game got a nerf last patch, but she's still a mega beast.

[Habaduba]

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Originally posted by GLoRToR / SoNG-oF-SiLeNCe:

As good as any. These things are highly subjective.
My list is based on a lot of people.

Building a tier list based on people opinions doesnt seem like a good idea to me honeslty, i mean many just come to comunitys to complain about characers while they know nothing about the matchups with them.

Yes, thats exacly why you need to ask people, but I don't mean everyone, popular tier lists are absolutelly garbage, ask top players

Originally posted by Dr Gori:

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

xianghua in c tier?

she has auto-GI into lethal, lethal on block, and against 1/2 the cast when GI'd can often react faster than the character that did the GI. against that same half of the cast, she can get in the face and just press buttons.

she has all sorts of moves that move her around attacks, and very fast break attacks.

i mean, yea, her RO game got a nerf last patch, but she's still a mega beast.

Koola thinks she is the best charracter , to that I say "pls replace all Ivy's and Minas with X's"
having said that, she is strong, very strong, but hey, most of C Teir from this guy wouldn't be anywhere near C in my Tier list.

[AlphaASX]

Originally posted by Dr Gori:

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Groh seems like the best for new players as he is easy and have many good combos but its also easy for anyone to learn the matchup with him.

I dont see that there is any buttom press or smash character i see tgat they all are close and all fully winable and there isnt a single bad character in the game.

Here is my tier list but it only means that higher tier characters have a few more advantges than the lowers
A: Maxi/Siegfried/Ivy/Yoshimitsu/Astaroth
.
B: Misturugi/Sophitia/Nightmare/Killik/Seong Mi-na/Zasalamel/cervantes/Azwel/Amy

C: Grøh/Taki/Voldo/Xianguha/Raphael/Talim/Tira/Gerlat/2B

xianghua in c tier?

she has auto-GI into lethal, lethal on block, and against 1/2 the cast when GI'd can often react faster than the character that did the GI. against that same half of the cast, she can get in the face and just press buttons.

she has all sorts of moves that move her around attacks, and very fast break attacks.

i mean, yea, her RO game got a nerf last patch, but she's still a mega beast.

Auto GI is with you not against :) this is why learning the matchups is important if you knew the places of the GI in your opponet combos which are usally famous you can A+B to get a lethal hit an cut here combos
and for the fast break attacks thats a problem but every character have to have strong points

[AlphaASX]

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Building a tier list based on people opinions doesnt seem like a good idea to me honeslty, i mean many just come to comunitys to complain about characers while they know nothing about the matchups with them.

Yes, thats exacly why you need to ask people, but I don't mean everyone, popular tier lists are absolutelly garbage, ask top players

Originally posted by Dr Gori:

xianghua in c tier?

she has auto-GI into lethal, lethal on block, and against 1/2 the cast when GI'd can often react faster than the character that did the GI. against that same half of the cast, she can get in the face and just press buttons.

she has all sorts of moves that move her around attacks, and very fast break attacks.

i mean, yea, her RO game got a nerf last patch, but she's still a mega beast.

Koola thinks she is the best charracter , to that I say "pls replace all Ivy's and Minas with X's"
having said that, she is strong, very strong, but hey, most of C Teir from this guy wouldn't be anywhere near C in my Tier list.

Can you give me your list?

[EdgarAllenPathOfExile]

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Building a tier list based on people opinions doesnt seem like a good idea to me honeslty, i mean many just come to comunitys to complain about characers while they know nothing about the matchups with them.

Yes, thats exacly why you need to ask people, but I don't mean everyone, popular tier lists are absolutelly garbage, ask top players

Originally posted by Dr Gori:

xianghua in c tier?

she has auto-GI into lethal, lethal on block, and against 1/2 the cast when GI'd can often react faster than the character that did the GI. against that same half of the cast, she can get in the face and just press buttons.

she has all sorts of moves that move her around attacks, and very fast break attacks.

i mean, yea, her RO game got a nerf last patch, but she's still a mega beast.

Koola thinks she is the best charracter , to that I say "pls replace all Ivy's and Minas with X's"
having said that, she is strong, very strong, but hey, most of C Teir from this guy wouldn't be anywhere near C in my Tier list.

Different people will have different opinions.
As you can see my list is for newbies.
Feel free to put Xianghua in the "for newbies" bracket if you think that's right for you. I wouldn't because she's a recipe for disappointment if someone doesn't understand her, while Groh is easily one of the best picks for casuals in my opinion.

But then what do I know, I'm just a bad Sophitia.
Feel free to call me wrong about anything when it comes to this game.
You'll probably be right.

[Habaduba]

Originally posted by AlphaASX:

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Yes, thats exacly why you need to ask people, but I don't mean everyone, popular tier lists are absolutelly garbage, ask top players


Koola thinks she is the best charracter , to that I say "pls replace all Ivy's and Minas with X's"
having said that, she is strong, very strong, but hey, most of C Teir from this guy wouldn't be anywhere near C in my Tier list.

Can you give me your list?

Sure, but im not gonna be explaining everything, ask or change my mind if something feels out of place

S: Mina,Ivy (Don't judge me, I would say its mostly coz the MU with my charr sucks and Im biased but Im trying to keep this MU neutrall and when I think of it this way, it still feels like those charrs are very overtuned)
A+: X,Kilik,Talim,
A :Mitsu,Asta,Yoshi,Raph,Sieg,Azwel,Zas,Groh (I think the game is preety balanced despite cries... the power lvl overall is just high af so ppl always find something to complain on)
A- :Maxi,Taki,Cerv,Sophie,Gerry,2B
B+:NM,Voldo

The tier list is tighter then I expected, I could try and spread them out more, but It would take a lot of thought, overall I find the game to be fairly balanced.

[Habaduba]

Originally posted by GLoRToR / SoNG-oF-SiLeNCe:

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Yes, thats exacly why you need to ask people, but I don't mean everyone, popular tier lists are absolutelly garbage, ask top players


Koola thinks she is the best charracter , to that I say "pls replace all Ivy's and Minas with X's"
having said that, she is strong, very strong, but hey, most of C Teir from this guy wouldn't be anywhere near C in my Tier list.

Different people will have different opinions.
As you can see my list is for newbies.
Feel free to put Xianghua in the "for newbies" bracket if you think that's right for you. I wouldn't because she's a recipe for disappointment if someone doesn't understand her, while Groh is easily one of the best picks for casuals in my opinion.

But then what do I know, I'm just a bad Sophitia.
Feel free to call me wrong about anything when it comes to this game.
You'll probably be right.

Im not saying she is for the newbies, I am saying she is not a very generic charracter, you can't really compare her to sophie and mitsu.

[Sinsling]

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Originally posted by GLoRToR / SoNG-oF-SiLeNCe:

Different people will have different opinions.
As you can see my list is for newbies.
Feel free to put Xianghua in the "for newbies" bracket if you think that's right for you. I wouldn't because she's a recipe for disappointment if someone doesn't understand her, while Groh is easily one of the best picks for casuals in my opinion.

But then what do I know, I'm just a bad Sophitia.
Feel free to call me wrong about anything when it comes to this game.
You'll probably be right.

Im not saying she is for the newbies, I am saying she is not a very generic charracter, you can't really compare her to sophie and mitsu.

Haba, I think you are reading his list wrong. Its not a ceiling list, but a floor list.

X is where she is because a new player would have to learn some core gameplay and some of her flow to get a decent start into her gameplay. Ie, she isn't a pickup-and-buttonmash2learn kind of character.

And I have to agree. I got my ass tanned trying to pick her up on the fly. I did much better after coming back with some gameplay knowledge. And she's still easier to pick up than the characters in the t3 bracket.

[Habaduba]

Originally posted by Sinsling:

Originally posted by Habaduba:

Im not saying she is for the newbies, I am saying she is not a very generic charracter, you can't really compare her to sophie and mitsu.

Haba, I think you are reading his list wrong. Its not a ceiling list, but a floor list.

X is where she is because a new player would have to learn some core gameplay and some of her flow to get a decent start into her gameplay. Ie, she isn't a pickup-and-buttonmash2learn kind of character.

And I have to agree. I got my ass tanned trying to pick her up on the fly. I did much better after coming back with some gameplay knowledge. And she's still easier to pick up than the characters in the t3 bracket.

I am talking about the description, X has huge gaps and is extremelly mixup focused.