| 1 | ->''Po Yi sat down to play ''TabletopGame/{{Talisman}}'' with his generals. He said: "At this moment, each of us has an equal chance of winning. When we choose our character cards, then we will no longer have equal chances."'' |
| 2 | -->-- ''[[http://www.chimeramag.com/features/tenpoints.html General Tso: The Ten Points]]'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | So the game's been out for a while. It's been beaten and [[ReplayValue re-]][[NewGamePlus beaten]]. The secrets have all been discovered, the items have all been [[HundredPercentCompletion collected]], the EasterEgg has been unearthed, and the [[UrbanLegendOfZelda exasperated rumors]] have been debunked. For all intents and purposes, the game is solved. That means there's only one thing left to do... |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ...That's right. It's time to get on the internet and argue about which characters are the best. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | It seems inevitable when you've got a game with a large number of characters; the time will come when the only thing left is to try and figure out whether or not this character is powerful enough to [[SelfImposedChallenge solo an endgame]] OptionalBoss [[BonusDungeon or]] [[BrutalBonusLevel dungeon]] [[SelfImposedChallenge all by themselves]]. It can be a polite discussion or a FlameWar; a debate of logic and reason or a contest to see who can stick their fingers in their ears the longest. It can even birth legions of {{Scrub}}s and StopHavingFunGuys. If the game happens to have a competitive scene, expect even more of this. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The characters are usually divided into rough levels of ability, or "tiers", from which the trope takes its name. Those tiers frequently look something like this: |
| 11 | |
| 12 | * '''God Tier''': Characters that are [[MasterOfAll ridiculously good in next to all categories]], to the point that it is [[GameBreaker almost unfair to use them]]. Most likely some sort of [[SecretCharacter secret]] [[SNKBoss boss character]] that was [[PurposefullyOverpowered not meant to be used in normal competitive play]]. There have been very few games with characters that could be truly considered to belong in this tier, and they are probably banned due to over-centralizing the {{metagame}}. These tiers can even have affectionate ([[HighTierScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], like the "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Four Gods]]" for example. |
| 13 | * '''Top Tier''': Incredibly good characters that are still overpowered, but less so than those in God Tier, and not overpowered enough that they warrant a ban. When God Tier characters are banned, these are the characters to choose more times than not. They are generally better than most other characters below them tier-wise, counter-picks notwithstanding. |
| 14 | * '''High Tier''': All-around good choices. Usually, they are here because they have advantages over a Top or God Tier character(s) and beat a lot of lower-tier characters. They have only a few weaknesses. |
| 15 | * '''Mid Tier''': The "[[TheRedMage middle of]] [[JackOfAllTrades the road]]" guys. They are usually here because they have an advantage over at least one Top or God Tier character, but have too many flaws to be used effectively elsewhere. Alternately, [[JackOfAllStats they have no glaring weaknesses compared to the lower tiers or any solid advantages over the higher ones]]. |
| 16 | * '''Low Tier''': You probably don't want to choose these. They could theoretically be useful, but choosing such a character is a sub-optimal choice; take only if you need to fill space. Sometimes, these characters find a niche for their shock value, an advantage over a higher-tier character, or because they work well against [[DidntSeeThatComing unprepared or surprised opponents]]. This sort of usage stops working once your opponents get wise, at which point you should return to a higher tier. |
| 17 | * '''Bottom Tier''': {{Joke Character}}s, and those who are just bad. They ''may'' have an advantage over someone in Mid or even Top Tier, but outside of [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman that specific situation]], be prepared to have extreme difficulty using a Bottom Tier character in high-level play. Like God Tier, these tiers can also have affectionate ([[LowTierLetdown or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], like the "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Roll Tier]]" for example. |
| 18 | * '''No/Unknown Tier''': Occasionally, a character is so poorly or unusually-designed that they BrokeTheRatingScale. This may be due to [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] or [[GoodBadBugs buggy]] skill-sets, requiring strategies outside of the traditional metagame, having [[SituationalSword very strange match-ups]], [[LuckBasedMission relying on luck]], or changing their focus and level of power heavily depending on certain factors. These characters tend to solidify into one of the above as the metagame evolves, or simply get banned for their potential GameplayDerailment. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Sometimes a lower-tier character has a strangely favorable match-up against a much higher-tier character, as mentioned earlier; this is known as the AntiMetagameCharacter. When players choose this type of character in response to their opponent's choice (often after they lose, since tournaments commonly have the winner pick first), it's called a '''counter-pick'''. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Sometimes the tiers get shaken up due to metagame shifts, and characters that were once below-average can become more useful. However, the chances of this phenomenon occurring diminish if no new content is added to the game. Said new content usually came in the form of [[CapcomSequelStagnation numerous]] [[UpdatedRerelease re-releases]] (the most (in)famous of which being the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' series of games), game updates, and straight up sequels. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Depending on the game, tiers may not be as pivotal as they seem or are portrayed to be. (Indeed, some games are closely balanced enough that the tiers are only rated as a formality, with ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' being one such example.) Most often, they exist, but are generally less important than than the skill, advantages, and/or tools of a particular character or adaptive player. Which, of course, leads to discussion for which play-style is best. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | All of the above notwithstanding, some players simply don't give a damn about this trope and will simply use whichever characters they want. It can also be a sort of SelfImposedChallenge. After all, anybody can probably beat the game with enough practice if they're using a God-Tier character. Beating it while using a Low- or Bottom-Tier character is a BraggingRightsReward in and of itself, more so if they did it with said character alone. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | The popularity of character tiers has led to many people making tier lists to rank options based on which they like best rather than on competitive viability. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Compare: PVPBalanced, CompetitiveBalance. When a character's tier placement negatively affects players' opinions of him, he becomes a LowTierLetdown or HighTierScrappy. See also JustForFun/SuperWeight for character power levels narrative-wise. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples in order of genre: |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Driving Game]] |
| 38 | * Although the ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' games don't explicitly use Car Tiers, their cars can be pretty much divided into snail-slow subcompacts, slow sedans, medium sports cars, fast supercars, super-fast JGTC racing cars, lightning-fast Le Mans racers, and the [[TitleDrop Polyphony Formula Gran Turismo]]. |
| 39 | ** The arcade mode in the first three games had an explicit series of tiers. They were Class C for compact sedans, Class B high-power sedans, Class A sports cars, and [[RankInflation Class S]] supercars (in [=GT2=]) or racing cars (in [=GT3=]). |
| 40 | * ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Carbon'' |
| 41 | ** The game divides its cars into three tiers. The first tier is made of cars such as the Mazdaspeed 3 or the Chrysler 300C, the second tier includes the Dodge Charger and the Lotus Europa, while the third tier includes ''the Dodge Viper and the Lamborghini Murciélago'' |
| 42 | ** The game also actively enforces the tiers by denying lower-tiered cars performance upgrades that would put them on par with higher-tiered cars, a sharp contrast from the ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Underground]]'' games and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' which allowed the likes of the Chevrolet Cobalt to, once upgraded, compete with (and even surpass) a Porsche Carerra GT. |
| 43 | ** In ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed Hot Pursuit 2'', the PC version has classes, in [=PS2=] you can tell the tier by the police car that chases you, though the corvette tier, featuring cars from the Corvette Z06 all the way to the Ferrari F50 was wider than the actual tier wherein players of a similar ability would have a decent chance to win (excluding unlucky mishaps). |
| 44 | ** ''Need for Speed: Rivals'' has a subtle tier system based on the heat level they start off when leaving a hideout as racer or the max level of pursuit tech they can mount. An early game 2015 Mustang starts at heat 1 and only mounts level 1 pursuit tech while an end game Ferrari Enzo starts at heat level 4 and can mount any pursuit tech at level 4. This is more apparent in friends only or offline play. |
| 45 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' series simultaneously adheres to this trope and subverts it: every car is designated a "performance index", complete with a corresponding tier denoted by a letter grade, but most low-tier cars can be upgraded enough to compete with higher tiers. The Performance Index is calculated from an algorithm that rates the average flying lap time of the vehicle on an imaginary track; so it's possible for cars with a low PI (but tuned to a specific track type) to beat cars with a much higher PI. |
| 46 | * ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' |
| 47 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' gives each character has a subtle boost in certain stats like Speed and Drift. Players have already begun to make a tier list based on who has the biggest Speed bonus, etc. While the differences do not really make much of a difference in a VS race, some people will still use the top rated characters anyway. |
| 48 | ** This tier system is much more apparent in ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'', because of the drift system. Characters like Yoshi got huge boosts off drifts and would be relentlessly used online by anyone who could snake well. Drifting in ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' was toned down because of general dislike of the system. |
| 49 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' basically mirrors what ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' did. Not only are people only using Metal Mario for his extra top speed, but kart parts used online and in time trials seem to be only the B Dasher and Mushroom Wheels (or Gold Tires), because this combo gives the best top speed possible without sacrificing too much in acceleration or steering. |
| 50 | ** In ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', the super-heavyweights (Bowser, Dry Bowser, Morton, Wario, and large Miis) have the highest speed stat of any racers in the game, and many world record times use one of those five. Characters and vehicles with high mini-turbo stats are valued just as much. Yoshi, the teddy buggy, the roller wheels, and the cloud glider are used a lot, appearing in many world records and being used as a unit by a large portion of online players after the BCP wave 6 update came out due to having both high speed and high mini-turbo. |
| 51 | * Arcade racing games VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage and VideoGame/WanganMidnight mostly avert this, since all full-tuned cars can compete on an equal footing. There are, however, [[JokeCharacter cars that are meant as novelties]], most notably the [=AE85=] Levin for IDAS and the Subaru [=R2=] for WMMT. |
| 52 | * ''VideoGame/{{Blur}}'' has (from slowest to fastest) classes D, C, B, and A. Differently-tuned versions of the same car can appear in different tiers; for example, the Nissan 350Z (D- and C-Class), Chevrolet Camaro (D-, C-, and A-Class), and Dodge Challenger [=SRT8=] (D-, B-, and A-Class). |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Fighting Games]] |
| 56 | * Note that TournamentPlay will shake tiers up. Sometimes a victor discovers an overlooked technique with a low-ranked character that the upper tier characters have no counter for. Also, some characters are fantastic counters against half the cast but get mopped by the other half, instead of being above or below-average consistently. |
| 57 | * David Sirlin (who did balancing for ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''Puzzle Fighter HD Remix'') accepts that perfect balance is impossible, as characters with differing abilities will always have advantages and disadvantages over each other, but believes that the God Tier and Garbage Tier should be empty, and that no specific character-versus-character matchup should give more than a 6-4 advantage (meaning that if equally skilled players play ten matches, the character with the advantage should at most win six and lose four). His own games (Kongai, and especially the tabletop games Puzzle Strike, Flash Duel, and Yomi) go through ''years'' of playtesting and tweaking in search of this. |
| 58 | * ''[[VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom Capcom vs. SNK]]'': |
| 59 | ** ''VideoGame/CapcomVsSNKMillenniumFight2000'' actually codified its tiers in-game, and based the number of characters one could select for their team on what tier each character was; this didn't go over very well with gamers, and was dropped for [[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2MarkOfTheMillennium the sequel]]. (In the sequel, the player splits 4 "Ratio" amongst up to three characters, giving the player some input as to the character's tier.) |
| 60 | ** The problem with ''Capcom vs. SNK'' was that how the tiers were codified had nothing to do with how strong the characters actually were in competitive play. [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown Nakoruru]] was the strongest character in the game bar none, yet she was only Ratio 2. |
| 61 | * Tiers are completely evident in nearly every single ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' game. |
| 62 | ** In general, throughout the series, transformed characters are far better than their untransformed counterparts. |
| 63 | ** The ''[[VideoGame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi Tenkaichi]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallRagingBlast Raging Blast]]'' series are notorious for their tiers (which is somewhat expected with over 100 characters). |
| 64 | ** The ''Raging Blast'' god tier features completely broken characters, including Kid Buu, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, Super Gogeta, and Super Vegito. Each has ridiculous stats and can easily chain massive combos. |
| 65 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': The competitive ''Smash'' community maintains tier lists for each game decided upon by top-level players on Smash Boards. Most tournaments are composed exclusively of high and top-tier characters, because other characters are generally seen as too weak or too finicky to be consistently competitive. Special tournaments are sometimes run where players are restricted to playing mid-tier and below characters. |
| 66 | ** [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 The original game on the Nintendo 64]] has a small cast of 12 fighters, making for a much closer gap character balance-wise. Isai, a well known ''Smash 64'' player, is known for being the only player in the ''64'' community to be consistently good ''with all 12 characters'' in tournament play. |
| 67 | ** ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'' tournaments often feature both ''Franchise/StarFox'' reps, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Sheik]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Marth]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]], [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]], and the occasional use of the VideoGame/{{Ice Climber}}s, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], VideoGame/{{Yoshi|sIsland}}, VideoGame/DrMario, etc. Special note goes to Fox and Falco, who are considered the best and second best characters in the ''Melee'' {{metagame}} respectively due to being good at just about everything. The former has [[SomeDexterityRequired a high learning curve]], but when properly played, is a sight to behold. In fact, Fox is so good that a community meme known as 20XX was spawned as a result. [[labelnote:Explanation]]20XX is a hypothetical year in which the metagame has been pushed as far as it can go, making Fox the only character worth playing anymore. Of course, every Fox is played to perfection, and as a result, rock-paper-scissor matches are held for port priority. Whoever wins that wins the actual match.[[/labelnote]] |
| 68 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': |
| 69 | *** The third ''Smash'' game has a single borderline god-tier character -- [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]]. Universally considered the best character in the game, he dominates most of the cast with extremely fast and safe attacks, excellent recovery and edgeguarding capabilities, and unrivaled ledge game. He has one or two match-ups against other top tiers that ''might'' be considered 50-50, but many are skeptical. He was been dominant enough in the competitive scene for many fans, and some tournaments, to support banning him. |
| 70 | *** After Meta Knight are the VideoGame/{{Ice Climber}}s, whom some would argue are better than Meta Knight in some ways due to being too good with chaingrabs. |
| 71 | *** ''Brawl'' also has the odd case of [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} King Dedede]], who isn't really overpowered, but can counter a handful of specific characters so effectively that they are essentially non-viable in tournaments. |
| 72 | ** Thanks to the occasional balance patch and a roster that's significantly more balanced than ''Brawl''[='=]s was, the tier lists in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' has a case similar to ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''[='s=] where the bad characters aren't that much worse compared to the top tiers and even low-tier characters are capable of decent tournament placings, given some effort. |
| 73 | *** That said, pre-1.06 patch, [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry Diddy Kong]] was seen by many as the new Meta Knight due to a frustratingly good down throw to up-air combo many came to call "Hoo-hah". [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome It got so ridiculous that at one point, it was common to see Grand Finals of Smash 4 tournaments where both players used him.]] Diddy ended up getting nerfed throughout two different patches; although initially perceived to have dropped from top to high tier, players who mained him discovered that although he was indeed less powerful in certain areas, his greatest strengths remain untouched, and he retains his top-level placement. |
| 74 | *** With that said, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Sheik]], a character who was already universally considered back in the ''Melee'' days to be top tier, has since become one of the best character in the metagame. At one point, she was the best character in the game, though patches brought her down a bit. She still solidly remains in top tier. |
| 75 | *** The characters introduced through DLC have all been unique cases similar to [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] or [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike]] from ''Brawl'' in that at first, they tend to perform well if not dominate the meta game until players get enough match up familiarity to counter them. Of all the characters introduced through DLC, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Mewtwo]] was initially considered to still be a low-tier mess, even after having been buffed from ''Melee'', until a series of patches nullified or alleviated most of his weaknesses and turned him into a viable top-tier fighter. Fellow ''Melee'' veteran [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Roy]] wasn't as lucky and remains low on the tier list, largely due to his bad approach. [[VideoGame/Mother3 Lucas]] plays about the same as he did in ''Brawl'' as a low-mid tier character. [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]] is considered to be high-tier, since his being a JackOfAllStats in his home series plus his combo oriented style of play from said series translates well to a ''Smash Bros.'' game. |
| 76 | *** This isn't even beginning to mention how [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] affects the metagame. Wanna know how crazy he is? Players of all sorts simply discarded their mains for Cloud and ''still'' did well or started placing much higher at their weekly local tournaments. Granted, he has some of the worst recovery and a very limited throw game, but that's just a small price to pay for his insane priority and being able to KO at ''70% or even less''. |
| 77 | *** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Corrin]] is perceived as a solid high to top tier character because of his/her incredible frame data; disjointed attacks; good kill power; and his/her signature move, Dragon Lunge, which lets him/her pin his/her opponents into the ground. |
| 78 | *** VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} was so overpowered at release due to her absolutely killer aerial game and combo ability that an infamous patch was dedicated solely to nerfing her ''and no one else''... and it ''still'' didn't keep her from being considered the best character in the game. |
| 79 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' has been surprisingly durable to the concept of CharacterTiers, due to the mix of an extremely large roster and relatively good balance in that roster, along with BalanceBuff patches to help or hinder certain characters. That said, most players seem to agree that [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Peach/Daisy]], [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Pyra/Mythra]], [[Franchise/StarFox Wolf]] and [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Palutena]] are near the top, while VideoGame/DrMario, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser Jr., Piranha Plant]], [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing Isabelle]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Ganondorf]], and [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] languish behind the rest of the cast. |
| 80 | * ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': |
| 81 | ** ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'': |
| 82 | *** You can select the old ''Super Street Fighter II'' versions of the characters in ''Super Turbo'' by quickly inputting a code after selecting them. Old Sagat is considered top tier, and is "soft-banned" in some tournaments (meaning that there is a tacit agreement not to use him, but he can be used anyway), not because he is so overpowering (Balrog and Dhalsim are better characters overall), but because he's extremely hard for several other characters to counter, and players agree that that makes for a less interesting game. |
| 83 | *** Akuma is considered god tier in ''ST'' for a variety of reasons, such as his ability to lock down opponents in inescapable blockstun with repeated red fireballs (they can even let go of the joystick and are still stuck blocking until they die). Akuma was toned down a lot in ''HD Remix'', but due to bugs such as his Raging Demon super being inescapable from blockstun 75% of the time, he was banned from tournaments. |
| 84 | ** ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII: Third Strike'' was supposed to be a more balanced revision of the previous two games, given the complete and obvious advantages certain characters had over others, and succeeded in this endeavor for half the characters. The others simply moved around between tiers. |
| 85 | *** In most fighting game communities, the Chinese characters (Chun-Li and Yun in particular) were top tier throughout all three games. |
| 86 | *** Sean went from godly in ''New Generation'' to ''2nd Impact/Giant Attack'' to bottom of the bottom. |
| 87 | *** Q is a very interesting example. Unaltered, he's practically a JokeCharacter. But using his PracticalTaunt three times raises his defense to such a massive degree that almost every attack is reduced to nothing, at which point his strengths (a powerful command grab, extremely strong supers, armored Dashing Punches) become significantly more meaningful. And that increase lasts for the rest of the round. Some tier lists actually put Q on two ''separate'' tiers, one for "normal" and one for "three taunts". |
| 88 | ** LethalJokeCharacter Rufus from vanilla ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' is considered nearly godly, to the point that he was commonly placed in the game's Top 5 along with Sagat, Ryu, and Balrog. |
| 89 | * ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'' has 56 characters, and therefore tiers are inevitable. The unique thing is that the current god tier isn't banned, but are actually favoured for tournament play simply because all the options and tactics available to them mean that they're also the most interesting characters to play in the game. There's also the fact that the game is less dependent on individual characters and more on team synergy. Some good teams aren't totally dependent on the god tiers, but instead team them with lower-tiered characters who have really good assists that make the overall team stronger. |
| 90 | * In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'', the Japanese developed a different tier list for the characters (partially because unlike in the United States, the players didn't stop thinking that Anime/{{Karas}} was a broken character), using two tier lists -- one for the overall character performance being the point (combat) character and another for the character's {{Assist|Character}}. Roll isn't considered the lowest tier (she's mid), and her Assist is ranked high in the tier list, upping her rank as a JokeCharacter to LethalJokeCharacter. |
| 91 | * Due to the ''massive'' changes that occurred between the original ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' and its sequels, it can be quite hard to pinpoint exact tiers at times. From ''Guilty Gear X'' onward, the tiers became more or less well-defined due to the series' mechanics becoming more and more polished over time, which in turn affected the balance of power for better or worse. Of note is that, like [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Capcom's Vs. series]], much of the combat in ''Guilty Gear'' favors a fast-paced and technical approach, with characters that possess incredible mobility, mix-ups and disjointed hitboxes constantly being at the top. |
| 92 | ** The first game would almost be counted out due to [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness how broken some of the mechanics are]], such as having ''infinite Tension meter'' when below 50% life which allowed for perpetual Overdrive spamming. Because of this, there are at least two characters considered to be quite dangerous: Millia Rage with her [[BulletHell infinite Iron Maiden projectile spam]] and Justice with her [[WaveMotionGun infinite Gamma Rays]]. And that's not getting to how easy it is to land [[OneHitKill Instant Kills]] that would end the ''entire match'' as opposed to merely ending a single round like it does in later games. |
| 93 | ** In ''GGX'', the Assassin's Guild characters [[note]]Millia, Zato-1 and Venom[[/note]] consistently ranked very high on the list, if not outright at the top, while the two main characters (Sol and Ky) would consistently dance around the midrange area. Newcomer Johnny also landed in the top tier due to highly tricky but incredibly strong mobility and unblockable mix-ups. |
| 94 | ** ''Guilty Gear XX'' had a very unusual tier setup -- partially because the game is so well-balanced that tiers rarely affect a match significantly, but unusual in that the top tier consisted of only ONE character -- Eddie. Mainly because of his ability to destroy you on wake-up due to unblockables. Eddie was crippled somewhat in ''Slash'', but he recovered in ''Accent Core'' (with a triple unblockable sequence) and now shares his spot with Testament. The catch? All of the characters have a ''steep'' learning curve, and it can take several months (or even ''years'') of practice to use them effectively in TournamentPlay. |
| 95 | ** ''Guilty Gear Xrd'', having been openly described to be based off of ''#Reload'' (the [[CapcomSequelStagnation second]] revision of ''XX''), once again saw Zato at the top due to unblockable setups and disjointed hitboxes, followed closely by Faust, Johnny, Raven and newcomer Elphelt Valentine who also possesses her own brand of unblockable mix-ups. However, it also returned to having a slightly more unbalanced tier selection, with the high/top tiers possessing significant advantages over other characters in terms of zoning, pressure, mobility and damage output. In fact, three out of the top 8 players at [=EVO=] 2016 ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome all had Zato as their main]]''. Still, most match-ups depend largely on individual player skill, and any competitor worth their salt can still find a way to dominate with their favorite character no matter the odds. |
| 96 | ** An interesting case in particular across all games is Axl Low, who started out as a [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter quirky]] character in the first title. [[note]]For reference, he could chain a P > K > S > HS gatling combo from half a screen away due to his sliding standing kick, has an infinite ground combo consisting of ''repeatedly chaining standing P and K'' until your opponent got dizzied, and was the only character to possess a special move that doubled as a Dust Attack[[/note]] His ''[=GGX=]'' retool was widely considered as his weakest incarnation due to poor mobility, abysmal move recovery and a severe lack of pressure/mix-up tools compared to the rest of the cast, basically painting him as a poor man's Dhalsim and earning him the derogatory nickname [[FanNickname "Axl Low Tier"]] which has stuck with some to this day. While somewhat mitigated with the discovery of his infamous high-damage [[{{Shoryuken}} Axl Bomber]] [[CycleOfHurting loop]], it took until ''XX'' [[note]]''especially'' the ''Accent Core +R'' iteration[[/note]] to truly fix his design by adding new tools for close quarters defense, footsies, space control and the ability to use special cancels on some of his moves, thus elevating him into high tier. Come ''Xrd'', however, despite losing many of his tools from ''Accent Core'', he was considered to be ''the'' absolute god tier character on Day 1 due to the addition of [[SpamAttack Sparrowhawk Stance]], which lets Axl pressure and juggle his opponent from across the screen at the cost of temporarily losing his mobility. This lasted until players learned about Sparrowhawk's weaknesses, after which his ranking plummeted and eventually sat at around upper mid-tier. |
| 97 | * ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': |
| 98 | ** ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger Calamity Trigger]]'' has three characters in the top tier spot: Rachel, Nu, and Arakune. In that order. Rachel is extremely good, but VERY hard to use effectively unless you know how to control her wind. Nu has magical flying swords which enable ridiculously long and damaging combos, but she has very low health and defense. Arakune has '''[[BeeBeeGun BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES]]'''. |
| 99 | ** In contrast, the Top 3 in ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]'' were Bang Shishigami, Litchi Faye-Ling, and Ragna the Bloodedge -- all of whom are combo-oriented characters instead of zoning characters. Litchi has numerous combos which can lead into resets. During one of her combos, she will inevitably (and it WILL always happen) get enough heat to end her combo with a knockdown and follow with her Great Wheel Distortion Drive, which is used to trick the opponent when they get up, repeating the process. [[CycleOfHurting If played correctly, she can trap you in a corner and shred you to pieces.]] Bang went from bottom tier to top due to several of his hitboxes being altered, and many of his moves come out much faster. His basic combos can also deal around 4000-5000 damage. Ragna is like Litchi and Bang combined: he has a large amount of reset opportunities with his new Belial Edge and oki game, but utilizing this takes the simplicity of using Bang. |
| 100 | ** The ''Continuum Shift II'' update is considered to be very well balanced. On the top, there's Makoto and Noel, and on the bottom Tager. Most characters are viable, and tournaments top 8 generally have few overlapping characters. |
| 101 | ** ''Continuum Shift Extend'' is also considered to be very well balanced. Thanks to the damage nerf, characters that can produce high damage like Ragna, Valkenhayn, and Hakumen tend to rank high on the tier list. |
| 102 | ** New system mechanics in ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronoPhantasma Chronophantasma]]'' changed up the listing a bit. The ''CSEX'' tops were still pretty up there, and a few mids went up a bit. Newcomers like Azrael became top due to their damage potential and all around good movepools. The other newcomers ranged from mid to low tier, with the sole exception of Kokonoe. The first two iterations of the game had her as the undisputed god tier due to having tools that fucked over the entire cast, including being the only character to have a truly unblockable setup. |
| 103 | ** The third iteration, ''Chronophantasma Extend'', saw a significant change in the list due to overall damage buffs but as well as the nerfing of many character options. Notably, Iron Tager, a character considered by many to be low tier for quite a few games, has become one of the best characters in the game. How good? Players actually conclude that he stands a significant chance of beating ''Nu'', a character he notoriously did poor against throughout the entire series and also another top tier character in this iteration. |
| 104 | * ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': |
| 105 | ** ''Soulcalibur IV'' tiers generally class Hilde as god tier. This is mainly due to her "Doom Combo" that can ring out from pretty much anywhere, though there are other characters agreed to be just/almost as dangerous but without as dominating a ring out/corner carry game. Nobody could do it like Hilde though: In fact she was so good at it that every Hilde player who played at Evolution 2009 was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNl6labtyo#t=11m18s booed by the crowd]]. Other generally good characters to use include Sophitia, Amy, Voldo, Setsuka, and Kilik, whereas Rock in particular is awful. |
| 106 | ** ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburV'' currently has no "concrete" tier list, but match-up charts tend to place Cervantes and Alpha Patroklos very high on the list. Raphael and Z.W.E.I. are considered the weakest characters, while Dampierre gets his own placement below them for being a JokeCharacter. That being said, the game is very well-balanced and considered an improvement from ''IV'' in that department. |
| 107 | * ''[[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown]]'' is largely considered to be well-balanced. Most players agree that Akira is at the top, but he's not overpowered due to the high learning curve required to be decent with him, as well as his lack of full circular attacks. You can watch many matches and see that there isn't any one character who dominates the screen time. |
| 108 | * ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture'' is one of the most experimental fighting games of its era, which naturally creates some very broad tier gaps. Kakyoin and Pet Shop sit proudly in the God Tier, and are very frequently banned: Kakyoin is a MasterOfAll with great range, zoning, combos, and a net trap that can completely lock down some characters, and Pet Shop is a highly mobile GlassCannon with the "cannon" part taken to absurdity thanks to his very easy unblockable infinite combos. Aside from them, it's agreed that "Active Stand" characters with access to the game's StanceSystem have a natural advantage over "Passive Stand" characters, with most of the other Top Tier and High Tier characters having Active Stands (Vanilla Ice, Polnareff, Avdol, Jotaro, DIO) and the Mid and Low Tiers being mostly peopled by Passive Stands (Shadow DIO, Black Polnareff, Rubber Soul, Hol Horse). Sitting at the bottom are Khan, Hol Horse and Boingo, and Mariah, whose matchups rarely go above 4-6 or even 3-7. |
| 109 | * The VideoGame/GundamVsSeries, like ''Capcom vs. SNK'', codified its tiers as part of the gameplay. Each team has a resource meter (worth 6000 points in the ''Extreme Versus'' series and 1000 in ''Gundam Versus'') and characters are divided by how much they cost. The lowest tier units can respawn four or five times before depleting the resource meter, while the most powerful machines can only do this twice; however, the tiers are by no means a hard-and-fast measure of character quality. The [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Zaku II Kai]] is always placed in the lowest cost tier but consistently ranks high overall because of its trap grenades, resulting in its being the only bottom-cost unit to get tournament banned; the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]] is the opposite, being in the highest cost tier but generally ranking at the bottom overall because while it can string together insane melee combo chains, melee is literally all it has and thus players have to be ''incredibly'' good at getting in close in order to actually get to use those combos, generally making it more trouble than it's worth. |
| 110 | * [[VideoGame/{{MUGEN}} SaltyBet]] has five tiers based on how powerful a character is. If a character wins 15 times in a row, it can ascend to the next tier, but if it loses 15 times in a row, it will be demoted to the lower tier. It's not uncommon to see characters who are too good for one tier, only to be completely annihilated by the next tier up. Some characters may even be untiered because of factors such as A.I.-breaking super armor, regularly cause problems such as slowdown, have an unusual gimmick that most normal characters can't deal with, or are just so confusing, not even the creators know how they work. |
| 111 | ** '''X Tier''': The god tier. Reserved for the [[GameBreaker most broken and overpowered characters]], such as Rare Akuma. These can typically overwhelm normal fighters in a few seconds, liberally spam [[OneHitKill One-Hit Kills]], and have [[ArtificialBrilliance TAS level A.I.]] Some characters even have alternate palettes that make them powerful enough to fit in. Unlike most tiers, characters have to be manually put into this tier, and the fights are best two out of three with no tourneys in rotation. Sometimes nicknamed [=eXhibition=] Tier because these characters tend to be requested in exhibitions often (ironically enough, several of them have been banned from being requested due to causing problems such as crashes and freezing the game so long, the match skips automatically). |
| 112 | ** '''S Tier''': The high to top tier and the highest a character can ascend without being X Tier. It consists of standard {{SNK Boss}}es, characters with professional level A.I., characters that have absurd damage output from regular attacks, and powerful and diverse movesets. |
| 113 | ** '''A Tier''': The upper tier. Consists of characters who have solid A.I. and decent movesets or strong characters who have at least one weakness keeping them from being true S tiers (such as [[MightyGlacier lack of agility]] or [[GlassCannon health]]). |
| 114 | ** '''B Tier''': The low to average tier. Consists of regular characters with okay A.I. and movesets but [[{{Jobber}} have a tendency to throw fights]]. May even consist of P Tiers who were freed. |
| 115 | ** '''P Tier''': The bottom (Potato) tier. Consists of characters who [[ArtificialStupidity have no A.I.]], very poorly made characters, {{Joke Character}}s, and those that [[CantCatchUp just can't keep up with the more modern B Tier fighters]]. With good reason, it has been DemotedToExtra due to [[WimpFight how boring the fights can get]]. Even though P Tier tourneys have been discontinued and matches rarely show up in matchmaking, Gold members can free just about ''any'' of them for an in-game price and request them in exhibitions (either to see if there are any promising characters unfairly put in or just to troll the viewers). |
| 116 | [[/folder]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[folder:[=MOBAs=]]] |
| 119 | * ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has spawned lots of tier lists, the most popular can be found [[http://www.reignofgaming.net/tier-lists/solo-tier-list here]]. They're constantly being changed, not only because every patch brings nerfs and buffs to certain characters, but also due to change in the metagame shifting favor towards champions that fit the niche better. As such posting a tier list here would be kinda useless. Once in a while, low tier characters get "discovered" and end up in top tiers. Many agree that characters in lower tiers can still be effective, [[OvershadowedByAwesome maybe being less all-rounder than the top tiers]]. |
| 120 | [[/folder]] |
| 121 | |
| 122 | [[folder:Role-Playing Games]] |
| 123 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 124 | ** Despite having over 1,000 Pokémon of varying balance (as well as mons with alternate forms and Mega Evolutions), the series has taken to heart its preaching of using your favorite Pokémon. The most well-known tier system, Website/{{Smogon}}'s, organizes all Pokémon into 6 tiers. It is also continuously changing, with Pokémon changing tiers based on usage, and even implementation or removal of [[HouseRules clauses]]. In the most popular format, Overused, or OU, acts as Top Tier and is considered "standard", while Ubers falls under God Tier since it functions as a banlist tier (though it has a metagame in itself). Beneath that, there was initially just Underused for everything not in OU, but as the list of Pokémon grew, [[RankInflation more tiers were added to encompass the Pokémon with low usage in UU]], and then the Pokémon with low usage in that tier as well. The current metagame as of the eighth generation boasts, in descending order, AG (Anything Goes, for Pokémon [[BrokeTheRatingScale too overpowered for Uber]]), Uber, OU, UU, RU (Rarely Used), NU (Never Used), PU (no common meaning; [[PermanentPlaceholder the name was a bad pun that ended up sticking]]), and Untiered, also known as ZU (Zero Used). Since the tiers are usage-based, the viability ranking thread does contain quite a number of Pokémon that's residing in a lower tier. Additionally, each tier besides Ubers and AG has their own banlist, which is for Pokémon that are banned from a lower tier, but don't have enough usage to rise to a higher tier. As for Doubles, it has 3 tiers, Doubles Ubers, Doubles OU, and Doubles UU. |
| 125 | ** Additionally, there exist "in-game tiers", which try to rank Pokémon in terms of how good they are at finishing the game efficiently rather than at competitive battles. This can result in some suddenly becoming very useful, while typical competitive standbys become AwesomeButImpractical, due to factors like ease of accessibility and catching, LevelGrinding, the areas they're found in, how they match up against that game's Gym Battles and other bosses and evolution methods suddenly becoming very important, while things like egg and TM moves or specific items that can normally be counted on suddenly often fall into "too tricky to be worth it." For a good example, the original generation's in-game tiers have the NU-tiered Clefable placing highly, while the OU-ranked Chansey ends up near the bottom: one can be evolved quickly, learns powerful moves via TM, and is immediately effective, while the other requires getting lucky in the Safari Zone and is a StoneWall that takes a long time to defeat foes. |
| 126 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 127 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' In most versions of ''FFIV'', you're stuck with a party of Cecil, Rosa, Kain, Rydia, and Edge. But some remakes, such as the GBA and PSP, allow you to access new equipment and characters for the final stretch of the game. |
| 128 | *** Cecil is top tier nearly by default. He gets the best equipment, strongest weapons, and can even use White Magic in a pinch. Just behind him is Rosa, who is a White Magic powerhouse with a decent attack via her bow and Aim ability. If she has a spare turn you can even use Pray for some free HP/MP restoration. |
| 129 | *** Mages fare well in this game. Rydia, with her SummonMagic and BlackMagic is next. She's a bit squishy with low HP, but she's just so strong that it's worth the risk. Palom and Porom, while not as strong as their counterparts, learn spells earlier and have the Twincast ability for some extra fun. |
| 130 | *** Edge, Yang, Kain, and even Edward can all be shuffled around in the mid tier. Edge hits hard and fast, and can throw weapons. He also can use Yang's claws for an elemental boost against some bosses. Yang can boost his attack and defense, Kick to clear mobs quickly, and hits hard as well. If you're feeling cheeky, you can put two Hero Shields on him for a defensive wall you will never die. Kain is like Cecil lite, but his new Abel's Lance can randomly bring an enemy down to single-digit HP. Edward has an incredible glow-up, becoming the speediest character with access to a weapon that does full damage from the back row ''and'' hits every enemy family for critical damage (though this weapon is apparently bugged in the NA GBA version). He can even cast Protect and Shell on the entire party in one turn with his new accessory. |
| 131 | *** Alas, poor Cid. You could call him the team meat shield, but he can't even equip a shield for 90% of the game, so what good is he? He has the highest HP, but a useless ability in Peep (identical to the White Magic spell Scan) and the pace of a MightyGlacier relegate him to team benchwarmer. You'd think his final weapon, a hammer that randomly casts Flare, might boost him a bit, but his magic stat is so low that it's not even worth your time to sit through the spell animation. (And keep in mind, many players think ''Edward'' is the most useless out of the party.) |
| 132 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', unlike its predecessor, has the ability to switch out characters and use nearly twenty different characters. |
| 133 | *** At the high end of the tier list are Cecil, Kain, and Edge [[spoiler:at least, Cecil becomes this after beating the Dark Knight and his stats revert to normal]], who have great strength, speed, and a multitude of attacks: Kain [[spoiler:defeating his dark side and becoming a Holy Dragoon]] also grants him decent White Magic. |
| 134 | *** White Mages Rosa and Porom are also very high tier. Both of them vary in this regard: Rosa is a decent shot with a bow and can do physical damage on par with Cecil with her Aim command, and her Blessing is superior because it restores HP and MP, while Porom's Pray only restores HP. However, Porom gets the ability to Dualcast, making her far superior at White Magic, her principle duty. |
| 135 | *** Black Mages Rydia and Palom are similar: Either one is extremely effective. Rydia's got decent stats and her Summons, [[spoiler:provided they aren't killed]], not only do high damage, but don't lose power by hitting multiple targets since they default to hitting multiple targets. But Palom has higher Intellect and is also a candidate for Dualcast, allowing him to blitz enemies quickly with dual casts of instant-casting Bio, or simply using Flare twice. |
| 136 | *** Below this group is Luca. She's not particularly flashy (her only skill allows her to simply make basic attacks from the back row without penalty), but she has high strength, can equip powerful weapons, is very tough, and even has decent speed. |
| 137 | *** Edward TookALevelInBadass from the original game and is very strong here. His Salve command allows him to substitute as an emergency healer if need be, his Bardsongs are extremely useful in the early game, but principally, his decent strength, high speed, and ability to strike in any row without penalty makes him extremely useful. |
| 138 | *** Ceodore and The Man in Black ([[spoiler:a.k.a. Golbez]])) follow after. They are both hybrid type characters, with Ceodore leaning towards physical offense with some White Magic and The Man in Black leaning towards Black Magic with some physical offense. |
| 139 | *** Yang and Ursula come next. Yang is extremely strong and can use his Charge skill to do a lot of damage all at once, which is very useful against enemies that counter-attack. However, his defense is on the lower side and Charge takes a while to fire up. Ursula, by contrast, can function as a quasi-healer with her Chakra ability, and Tenketsu allows her to always hit enemy weakpoints. However, Chakra is always single-targeted and she's also on the frail side. |
| 140 | *** Next comes the Elban Four: Gekkou, Izayoi, Tsukinowa, and Zangetsu. They are perfectly functional with Edge or each other, but unless the player is going to use them together, there's little to recommend them, because anything each of them can do, someone else with better stats can do better: Gekkou hits hard, but so do Cid, Ursula, and Yang; Izayoi can heal, but only one person at a time compared to Edward, Porom, Rosa, or Leonora; Tsukinowa is very fast and can dual wield and steal, but so can Edge; and Zangetsu has the ever useful Jump ability with Human Kite, but you also have Kain. |
| 141 | *** Leonora has plenty of MP and can cast both White and Black Magic, but [[MagikarpPower she gains them so late]] that by the time she does, the player is probably tough enough already. To compare, when Leonora is about to learn Curaga, Porom and Rosa are about to learn Curaja, and by the time Leonora is about to learn Fira; Rydia and Palom are about to learn Firaga. |
| 142 | *** Cid is extremely tough, but he's slow as a brick and has nothing else going for him. |
| 143 | *** Harley is even worse than Cid since she has very weak stats, can only equip weak weapons, her one defying ability is unreliable in accuracy, and has Gil Toss -- which doesn't do much damage and reduces money as well. |
| 144 | *** Calca and Brina are frail {{Joke Character}}s that have little to recommend them outside of the novelty of Calca's Jive, which casts Blue Magic spells. |
| 145 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a large cast, each with their own skills, abilities, and equipment draws. Usually, that is enough to make a tier list from, but the spanner in the works here is the Esper system. By the end of the game 13/14 characters have access to the same list of spells, and 12/13 can have their stats boosted by having the Espers equipped on level up. Even so, the following is generally true; |
| 146 | *** Terra and Celes have great stats and perform any task well. They possess the second- and third-highest natural magic stats respectively, can equip all the best armor, can use the Lightbringer (which massively boosts all stats), and in some versions of the game, they can even become untouchable thanks to the 128 Magic Block glitch. However, Terra edges out Celes thanks to her amazing Trance ability, which enhances all of her stats for a limited time. Meanwhile, Celes has the relatively useless Runic ability. |
| 147 | *** By the endgame, Edgar and Mog's abilities (Tools and Dance) are mostly obsolete, but the fact that they're both natural spear-users means they can employ the Dragoon setup to hit the enemy party for well over 9999 HP per round instead. This also helps them avoid damage (as they're in the air and can't be hit). The thing that might make Mog a bit better is his ability to hit max defense, enabling him to take scratch damage from most encounters. |
| 148 | *** A well-trained Gau is incredibly powerful, with abilities that can trick even the final boss into attacking himself until he dies. Like Mog, Gau can hit max defense with the Snow Scarf, and a wise player knows which Rages can carry them through the game (for reference: Stray Cat, Tyrannosaur, Io, Purusa, and Baalzephon). |
| 149 | *** Relm has the single highest magic stat in the game and the absolute best unique equipment of any character. Her special ability is trash, but you'll never use it anyway. She personifies BoringButPractical. Her only downside is her availability. At any given moment in the game, she will probably be severely behind on her spell list. |
| 150 | *** In the middle of the pack are Locke (good equipment draw, average skill in Steal), Shadow (great counterattack ability with Interceptor, decent equipment, great skill in Throw), Setzer (great equipment, but Slots are unpredictable to the average player), and Sabin, who despite his MemeticBadass status, has awful endgame equipment and schizophrenic stats -- his equipment boosts his strength, but all of his best Blitzes use his magic stat. |
| 151 | *** Gogo unfortunately can't benefit from Esper bonuses and has the lowest stats in the game, but their ability to use any, well, ability may outweigh that. Gogo can have a higher magic stat than Sabin, making them the superior Monk, and can even Steal and use Blue Magic at the same time. Truly a jack of all trades, but master of none. |
| 152 | *** Strago has a pretty good ability in Blue Magic, but unfortunately for him, in a game where everyone can use magic, he comes off as redundant at best. His equipment is good, sharing many of Relm's best duds, but it's not enough to make him top tier. |
| 153 | *** Poor Cyan. He gets some really decent equipment, but it's just not enough to overcome his terrible speed, magic power, and charge time on his skill, Bushido. This usually means sitting around, taking huge damage from still-active enemies while Cyan slowly readies a mediocre attack. And even having his Bushido skill buffed in a later remake couldn't save him. |
| 154 | *** Umaro pulls up the rear. They really tried, made evident by giving him the Snow Scarf (the best defensive armor in the game) as permanent equipment, but an uncontrollable berserker who can only use one spell and has low magic in a game where magic is, far and away, the most important stat doesn't have a place on any team. |
| 155 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is a bit unusual since its Sphere Grid allows any character to learn almost any ability (Overdrives and Summon being exceptions) and max out most stats, should the player choose. That said: |
| 156 | ** Tidus, Wakka and Rikku are the team most often used for challenging fights such as bonus bosses. The first two have Overdrives that can hit many times, important for dealing damage in a game where damage is subject to a {{Cap}}. The third is by far the most versatile character due to being able to use special items and having a huge variety of Overdrives that can basically do anything. A more situational advantage is that these three are the only characters who can fight underwater. |
| 157 | ** Yuna and Auron would fall in the middle. Yuna's ability to summon is unique and no other character can really replicate its effects, and even in the late game summoning remains useful (e.g. to call up meat shields against enemy attacks). Auron's Banishing Blade Overdrive can weaken any enemy not immune with a 100% chance. Both characters also have [[InfinityPlusOneSword Celestial Weapons]] that are relatively easy to obtain and power up. |
| 158 | ** Conversely, Lulu and Kimahri are the least used. Lulu has the misfortune of being a mage in a game that has the reverse of LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards, and even if built to be a physical attacker instead, her physical attack is ''much'' slower than everyone else's. Kimahri doesn't have a particular niche to fill in a game whose regular gameplay puts each character in their own niche, and while he has a variety of Overdrives, he's got less than Rikku plus most of them aren't worth the cost of an Overdrive gauge. |
| 159 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 160 | ** This is a big thing in the fandom, where the participants don't stop simply at unit performance. They also take into account joining time, joining level, starting stats, stat growths, weapon options, support options, elemental affinity, promotion requirements, and other, additional abilities in their quest to accurately rank the characters. Due to [[{{Cap}} the way]] [[RandomNumberGod the system works]] in ''Fire Emblem'', the vast majority of characters are at least usable if you really want to play them, and so the tier lists are mostly arranged by merit of which characters are most helpful for Ranked or low-turn playthroughs. The ''Fire Emblem'' community's mantra in these debates is "personal experience means nothing"; just because a character worked out for you does not make that character good; you may have simply gotten lucky with the {{Random Number God}}dess. Hence, the community judges a character's stats based on averages for their level progression. Generally, judging characters based on higher difficulties is preferred as well, since that tends to exacerbate differences between units: simply cranking things down to the lowest difficulty, and, in post-''New Mystery'' games, switching on Casual Mode, will make pretty much any character somewhat viable at base and overpowered when raised, which turns tiering into a simple question of "who can effortlessly kill everything on the map first?" |
| 161 | ** As a general rule, the top tiers of a ''Fire Emblem'' tier list are mostly dominated by mounted units. This is largely thanks to the how poorly balanced mounted units are compared to foot units, who have better movement and solid stats, plus often several other advantages depending on game (the rescue/drop system, the ability to move after attacking, access to multiple weapons). Fliers are usually put in the same category thanks to their ability to ignore terrain, which allows fast clears of a lot of maps when used correctly. For everyone else, unless they have a utility that matches the mounted units (e.g. healers, which not only keep units alive, but can utilize staves to teleport allies or disable enemies, and dancers, which can give an ExtraTurn) or have really good stats, they will not be as high as units with mounts.[[note]]The major exceptions to these rules are ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', which feature dismounting as a very real downside to mounted units, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', where mounted units suffer severely from the revisions to terrain (though fliers remain powerful), and ''New Mystery of the Emblem'', where the JackOfAllStats nature of mounted units holds them back.[[/note]] Additionally, CrutchCharacter units tend to outdo MagikarpPower units, due to the former being seen as more reliable and efficient--after all, would you rather work your butt off for an overpowered unit, or spend little to no effort for a serviceable one? |
| 162 | ** Character who sit in their game's god tier are generally those who influence the game to a much bigger extent than the rest of the cast, such as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Caeda and Lena]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Palla]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Sigurd]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Safy]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Melady and Rutger]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Marcus]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Seth]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Titania, Jill, and Marcia]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Haar]], and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Robin]]. The exact parameters and reasoning varies from character to character--some are high-level, others are low, some are purely combat, others are mostly utility--but they are generally seen as units where not making use of them makes the game much harder, or at the very least, much more tedious. This is also partly why MagikarpPower characters tend to perform poorly; rather than making the game easier for the player, raising them pretty much forces the player to spend dozens of turns bringing them up to par. |
| 163 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', despite being an RPG, has over 40 characters to choose from, so tiers were bound to arise, especially since some characters are worse than others. |
| 164 | ** Top Tier would be [[PlayerCharacter Serge]] [[spoiler:and Lynx, when the player swaps bodies and plays as Lynx]]. Their stats are high all around and they have no weaknesses. [[KnightErrant Glenn]] is also considered Top Tier due to the fact that, when you obtain him, he's extremely strong in comparison to other characters, and when you get him back [[spoiler:after regaining Serge's body, it's a short skip to get the Dual Einlazers, making him ungodly strong]]. |
| 165 | ** Higher Tier candidates include [[GirlNextDoor Leena]] for her excellent magical skills and decent physical ones, great grid, and ability to regain spent Elements. [[PrincessClassic Riddel]] is also a superior mage, although weaker in physics, and can also retrieve her spent elements. [[spoiler:Harle]] has decent stats and grid all around [[spoiler:until she leaves the party]], [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Norris]] is similar to Leena, albeit more physical than magical (Norris also has the ability to gain a powerful weapon for free after recruiting Starky), [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Irenes]] is also useful because not only for her powerful magic, but because she's also the only powerful wizard for a large part of the game who isn't a Black innate: Many of the bosses are white innate and it can lead to OneHitKill on black innate characters. Miki also has decent stats and powerful magic, as does Marcy. Fargo is incredibly strong and can steal powerful equipment such as element-absorbing armor. Steena also has great stats in both physical and magical skills. Razzly is one of the game's best magicians and can optionally gain a powerful unique weapon. |
| 166 | ** Below High Tier, but higher than Mid Tier are characters who have stats similar to those in High Tier, but suffer with a Stamina recovery rate of 9, which means they gain less than 1 stamina per attack, which makes them do less damage over time. This can be mitigated with accessories, but it still makes them weaker than High Tier. These include characters like Orcha, Macha, Karsh, Radius, Zappa, Leah, Viper (who additionally gets his own free powerful sword), Greco, Nikki, and Orlha. Starky also has low stats, but can get a powerful weapon for free to help mitigate. Draggy is also a physical powerhouse, but he lacks in magical damage. |
| 167 | ** Mid Tier includes characters with lower stats and weaker element grids, but still have some utility, if only because of when they are obtained. This includes characters like Kid, Pierre, Luccia, Turnip, Doc, and [=NeoFio=]. Also includes Zoah, who is strong, but has extremely low stamina recovery. |
| 168 | ** Bottom Tier includes characters who have extremely low stats, poor elemental grids, and nothing to make up for it. This includes characters like Mojo, Skelly, Sneff, Sprigg, Janice, and an unevolved Pip (and since evolution is difficult to pull off, it's unlikely he will do so). |
| 169 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has a pretty cut and dry agreed upon tier list for endgame. |
| 170 | ** The very top of the list is Robo, who can fill just about any role on the team. Need to hit an enemy for good damage? Robo. Need to cure the party? Robo. Need to hit a fire/lightning/shadow weak point? Robo. Need to use some of the best double and triple techs in the game? You're not gonna believe this, but it's Robo. The only thing that could drag him down is that he needs significant investment from the stat-boosting tabs you'll find throughout your adventure to take full advantage of his wide movepool. |
| 171 | ** Just under Robo are Crono and Ayla. Crono is the most rounded character, with access to the best spell, the most powerful weapon, and he's the only party member who can use every triple tech (barring the secret ones). Ayla is fast and hits like a brick house. On the tech side, she can steal, which is great on a first playthrough, has a cheap healing option, and can use Triple Kick, one of the most powerful single-target abilities in the game. |
| 172 | ** In the middle of the pack are the pure mages, Lucca and Magus. Lucca has the highest magic stats, can nullify some elemental attacks in some versions of the game, and has a weapon that hits for random damage, but has a very high ceiling. Magus, for a black mage, is quite balanced, with a decent attack and access to every element. He can't use any double or triple techs (barring the secret ones, which require an accessory slot), but his ultimate weapon almost works as a reverse-triple tech. It's attack power grows as his comrades fall in battle. |
| 173 | ** Below them is Frog. His list of moves makes him a JackOfAllTrades MasterOfNone. He can heal and deal damage but not to any significant degree worth using over anyone else and his best move requires that he be as low health as possible for maximum damage. His ultimate weapon, the Masamune, is also weaker than any of the other physical characters' weapons. He may be the best character plot-wise, but there's a better option for every other role he could fill. |
| 174 | ** And the lowest is Marle, who takes WhiteMagicianGirl a little too far. She lacks both a third tier spell for damage, or a party-wide heal. Her final spell is a full revive. Which means she is most valuable when her healing abilities have proven insufficient. Her attack is the weakest in the game, and what could be her saving grace, the Haste spell, really isn't relevant by the end of the game when everyone's speed is nearly maxed out. |
| 175 | * ''VideoGame/RadiataStories'' proudly boasts over 150 characters you can collect and use in battle, and the quests to obtain them have a wide range of difficulty which doesn't always correspond to each character's strength. There are characters you'd have to be crazy not to go into the final battle with, characters that are only there for the lulz, and inevitably you'll find a character that you just plain like. They're all pretty interesting. |
| 176 | ** The game actually gets slammed by those who play only the early sections of the game for this, as many of the early characters are outright useless except as decoys. One very early character, a FarmBoy cleric, even outright says he has no skills at all (his only attack is very slow and unwieldy), but he's still better than some characters, which have no attacks at all, and their only support ability is to remove [[StatusEffects status ailments]]. The win-the-fight-single-handedly good characters, however, are almost invariably the [[RankScalesWithAsskicking leaders of certain sub-factions]], and require you to collect every one of their subordinates before they can be added into your group. This means you have to do things like drag that annoying, useless brat mage around until he gains 10 levels to recruit his father just so you can recruit that father's boss. Oh, and if we're speaking power levels, the humans have much better character choices than the non-human faction does. |
| 177 | * After the arena system was introduced in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', players and developers alike have been compiling statistics about which character classes are over- or underrepresented in high-rated teams. Naturally, these statistics are then (ab)used regularly in flamewars about [[PVPBalanced class balance]]. |
| 178 | * ''[[http://www.urban-rivals.com/ Urban Rivals]]'' (which sometimes advertises on the sidebar to your left) has their marketing strategy built around this. Each virtual card represents a character that appears in comic book features, has a backstory, a set of stats and abilities, and their description pages contain reviews on the cards appearance, strategic applications, and effectiveness. Many forum threads are about which cards or dream teams a given player advocates. The auction market for these cards can be manipulated into high fluctuation based on current popularity, collector status, or how much cleavage or implied nudity is on the card. |
| 179 | * ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' has a lot of characters but they are clearly examples of Character Tiers. The two lancers[[note]]Lawfer and Aelia[[/note]] tend to rank at the top because of their god-tier like weapons which are available starting in Chapter 2, and can be purchased. The heavy swordsmen rank just below them, also due to weapons. The swordsmen are under that, and they fall under CantCatchUp. Janus and Valkyrie are extremely useful as archers, but Llewellyn and Badrach are useless. The sorcerers are fairly interchangeable. While there are tiers of them based on starting magic power[[note]]High tier are Gandar and Lyseria, mid-tier are Lorenta and Mystina, while the bottom is everyone else[[/note]], the difference is minimal, and only one sorcerer is needed. This all changes in the [[BonusDungeon Seraphic Gate]], where swords just ridiculously overpower everything. |
| 180 | * This happens in ''VideoGame/DarkCloud''. Interestingly, the tiers match up with when the characters join the party, with earlier ones generally being more powerful. See that game's YMMV page for a more in-depth analysis than what is presented here. |
| 181 | ** Toan, and Xiao are hugely powerful, to the point of almost being broken, and are the first two characters. |
| 182 | ** Goro and Ruby are hard to use, but very effective when used properly, putting them neatly in middle tier. They join third and fourth, respectively. Ruby is ahead of Goro in this tier due to being more intuitive, and thus, easy to unlock the full potential of, for most players. |
| 183 | ** Ungaga and Osmond are plagued by different kinds of problems, and there's never really a time when another character won't outdo them. They join last. |
| 184 | ** Note that this is a somewhat loose tier list, as the game has a very extensive and involved upgrade system; any character can become a powerhouse with the right items, equipment, and other power-ups. |
| 185 | * The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games, in which both mecha and individual pilots are ranked. |
| 186 | ** Notable on the God tier are Anime/GaoGaiGar, Zeorymer [[spoiler:taken further by Great Zeorymer in J]] and the Aussenseiter (Daitrombe) as well as its pilot [[strike:Elzam]] Ratsel in every game they're in. The Black Selena HM in all games Nadesico is in except W. The Vaisaga also makes a good case for this in OG at least, but on the GBA version of OG 2 you can only get it on your second playthrough and it's kinda hard to get. You can get it your first time through in the [=PS2=] version though. Also, strangely, the Gundam X Divider can be deadly without many upgrades in Alpha Gaiden, as well as Kamille and his Zeta Gundam, which Kamille is God tier (Better stats than ALMOST every other pilot in all the games I've seen, even more than Char and Amuro), and the Zeta is Top to High most the time. If it's not the best MS in the game, you can just switch him. |
| 187 | ** The Mazingers in Alpha Gaiden is a unique case. |
| 188 | *** First, Mazinger Z, a decent unit in and of itself. It's extremely cheap in term of energy consumption, doesn't need morale (in contrast to other super robots), accompanied by relatively strong weapon with good range coverage that gets a slight power up later in the game, and Mazinpower to increase attack power by 20%. It's fairly sturdy to boot. |
| 189 | *** Great Mazinger is a contender for Top tier. Tetsuya is involved in a lot of scenario in higher number than most other character, have good stats, high SP and Great is one of the best overall unit having High damage, need no Morale requirement for all of its weapon except for it MAP attack, and all of them consume few energy, but while its strongest attack only has 1 ammo but deals massive damage. It also get Mazinpower. |
| 190 | *** Then theres Mazinkaiser. It has a massively powerful weapon on all range with its weapon able to reach 4-6 range, all of its attacks don't need will to be used, massive armor, high HP, and its dodge is higher than some reals. It gets Mazinpower to further enhance its already powerful attacks. In fact, its attack is so powerful that a fully upgraded Mazinger Z without power up is of the same power as fresh Mazinkaiser. Also, it has good terrain modifiers. It goes without saying that it's a God tier unit. Not to mention Koji is a Top Tier pilot only being slightly worse than Tetsuya. |
| 191 | ** You've also got Ideon up there on the God tier or beyond, at least in Alpha 3 where you don't have to worry about that pesky universe ending IDE gauge. Banpreios in Alpha 3 also is God tier. On the low ends, you have mook Gundam pilots and most supporting characters like Katz, Fa, Musashi in Getter 1, any MS that isn't piloted by Char or Amuro that's not a Gundam, and any Astevailis that isn't piloted by Akito or Gai. The Valzacard in W is God tier as well. |
| 192 | *** The resident JokeCharacter Boss and Boss Borot is an anomally in the tier list. In older SRW, boss is Mid tier at best, having decent Seishin set, and Boss is one of the better Ressuply unit. Its extremely cheap repair cost lets you to use it for suicide bombing purpose just in case. However, some newer SRW gave Boss his subpilots, having awesome Seishin but get hit by MagikarpPower to fully achieve its biggest potential. Then come J, L and W. in J, and W its a SwissArmyKnife able to repair, ressuply, and have strong and economic weapon and its really cheap to upgrade. In L, boss has an awesome Squad bonus, and a lot of its attack deals massive damage AND lower morale. Both game also has 3 Pilot Seishin for Boss. In these SRW, Boss is a contender for Top tier.... then you have games like the Z series and V where he's based off of the Shin Mazinger version and is absolutely useless. |
| 193 | * The popular ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} 3'' map ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'' has characters divided according to early or late game, extent of item dependency and ganker/tank/carry types, amongst others. One key type is the "pubstomper", which can do over 1000 DPS with a full compliment of items, but is dependent on "farming" heavily and thus only dominates in individualist "pub" games, being usually hunted and shut down in TournamentPlay. Competitive worthy champions vary wildly in role, to say the least. |
| 194 | ** There really are no truly best or worst characters when playing a full [=5v5=] game. Under other conditions this may not be true. [=1v1=] match-ups favor DPS characters, early-game harassers, and single-target stuns. Only-middle-lane games favor AreaOfEffect spells and pushers. Even "pubstomper" characters aren't necessarily overpowered in pub games - if the opposing team is poor, those character can most quickly become unstoppable, but if its own team is poor then those characters can also most quickly become useless. |
| 195 | * ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has some degree of tiers; other than the in-game tiers (unlocked by leveling up their "lower tier" units), some classes have definite advantages over other; until you realise that [[GameBreaker Divine Majins]] beat ''everything'' except ''maybe'' Flonne in a ''single'' stat. They are very time-consuming, though. |
| 196 | ** Later games balanced this out a little, to the point where in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'', Majins are considered the worst class in the game. |
| 197 | ** In general with ''Disgaea'', since only the PSP port of ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' had [=PvP=], this is mainly based on stats and performance against other stats and performances. Equipment, residents, and abilities play heavily into each character, and the Story characters can also be ordered along the same way. While each game has a definitive "best" class, it all depends on how one combines a character with its equipment and according to its abilities and overall stats. As an example, assuming one faces off against a Ninja with an Iron Knight, one has to take into consideration their abilities, the evasion potential of the Ninja versus the exceptional defensive wall of the Iron Knight, movement, attack possibilities, and what residents are in each item. If an Iron Knight has a 100 Specialist Alchemist in their weapon, it could take only one hit to win since the poison would pretty much assure repeated damage, but may never get the chance considering the dodging ability of the Ninja especially if the ninja has equipped a weight to activate its ability by keeping its health low, and also has a 25 Lover specialist, making it like catching air with your bare hands. In contrast, a Baciel never misses thanks to its ability, making a Ninja worthless, but it hardly matters if you can't miss if you're up against an Iron Knight with such incredible defense that you're doing basically no damage. ''Disgaea'', in the end, mainly comes down to math and performance on whether something will perform in a given situation or not, but since the game has 9999 levels, the majority of all the battles fought in the game will mainly come down to being higher level unless one is up against the very last bonus bosses in each game, or wants to see the true potential of the character in question. |
| 198 | * In the first ''Franchise/MassEffect'' game, Adepts were basically the top class - their powers kept enemies under permanent lockdown to the point where they could never fight back. Even the final boss was not immune. This made the hardest difficulty in the game (Insanity) pretty easy. Sentinels were considered the absolute worst class in the game, due to being a QuirkyBard class that was basically the MasterOfNone, having the worst weapon skills and weaker biotic and tech skills than any class bar the Soldier (who had no biotic or tech skills) without anything to really make up for it. In an attempt to tone down Adepts in the sequel, the game was changed so that biotic powers no longer work on enemies with any type of shielding (Armor, shields, or barriers). Every enemy in Insanity difficulty is shielded after the first mission, dropping Adepts from the best class to the worst. Sentinels also got a huge boost when they were given the same weapon skills as Engineers or Adepts (still technically the worst, but this could be remedied in a later mission that let them upgrade their weapon selection to include assault rifles) and the Tech Armor power, which made them the most durable class. They also got abilities to deal with pretty much every protection (Overload was especially useful considering how common shields were). |
| 199 | ** The first game was also very glaring in two regards: One was that the Krogan Battlemaster (aka Wrex) was very powerful due to him being sort of a Vanguard (soldier/adept hybrid), while still retaining most of the perks of the soldier class (heavy armor, regeneration, wide array of weapons to choose from...) as opposed to the standard vanguard. The other was the predominance of synthetic opponents, which made classes that were good at controlling/hurting these comparatively strong. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' did away with this due to geth not being nearly as prominent in this game as in the first one. |
| 200 | ** [=NPCs=] in ''Mass Effect 2'' are ranked based on their powers. Miranda's powers are always useful, and she gives a damage bonus to the entire squad, making her the best overall. Mordin is feast or famine - against organics (particularly the Blood Pack, since he works well against armored foes), he is utterly amazing. Against synthetic foes, he is terrible. At the low end of the tier list is Jack (who has no skills for dealing with armored foes and is very fragile), Jacob (who is simply inferior to Grunt in all respects) and [[spoiler:Morinth]], for having all the problems of Jack without the Warp Ammo bonus power that makes her playable. |
| 201 | * Companions of the same class in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' have access to the same class abilities, so they are pretty much interchangeable in the party... until you unlock the [[PrestigeClass Specializations]], that is. Since each companion has a predetermined spec in this game, and not all specs are equally powerful and/or useful, it induces a certain inequality. Among party mages, for instance, the [[MagicKnight Knight-Enchanter]] Vivienne is easily the best pick, as her specialization counteracts most of the weaknesses inherent to her class (low defenses, lack of effective melee capabilities), while also boosting the party's overall survivability; Solas, whose Rift Mage spec gives him an impressive damage output boost, comes second[[note]]This is also good if the party has two mages, because the AI can't properly handle Knight-Enchanter[[/note]], while Dorian's Necromancer abilities are sadly very situational and rarely see much use. |
| 202 | * ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' has a cast of 30 characters, which range from magicians who shoot lightning bolts to bird-people with swords, to a robot. The game can be beaten with nearly any party, but some classes (and characters within those classes) are naturally going to outperform others. |
| 203 | *** At the head of the pack is the Werewolf, Zylo. He has incredible speed, damage, and HP and can get around easily in forests. He also never needs a weapon, making him easy to use as soon as he's recruited. The flipside of Zylo is the magical jellyfish creature, Domingo, who has huge defense, the powerful Freeze spell, can float, and is a high-priority target, meaning he can sometimes lead enemies away from Max, the party leader, and the healers. |
| 204 | *** Other characters amazing from the get-go, but don't quite hit the heights of Zylo and Domingo include the leader of the ''Shining Force'', Max. He gets amazing attack and defense and even has access to an infinite supply of Bolt and Freeze spells late in the game. Musashi and Guntz are also in this category, each being amazing but needing a Turbo Pepper to hit their full potential. Khris is easily the game's best and more versatile healer, and the knight Mae has great defense and speed, often leading the party into battle. |
| 205 | *** Next come the characters who are great but require a little bit of effort. Arthur starts off as yet another knight with below-average stats. But with a little effort and MagikarpPower, he becomes the most powerful paladin, even managing to learn a little magic. Bleu is also fantastic with his innate flying ability, but requires some attention to be effective. Given the opportunity, he hits as hard as Zylo. |
| 206 | *** The middle of the pack includes the bulk of the characters. The three mages each specialize in a different brand of magic (Blaze, Freeze, and Bolt). The issue becomes if you want a beefy (for a mage), speedy, character with the cheapest and weakest spell (Tao), the jack-of-all-trades who can use Freeze and low-levels of Bolt (Anri), or the full screen nuke who can only use her strongest spell a couple times per battle before becoming useless (Alef). Luke and Gort are the Gladiators and are effective, but practically identical. Pelle and Earnest are the second tier of knights, each excelling in attack power, but falling behind everywhere else. Hanzou is a slightly weaker Musashi with access to a bit of magic. Kokichi is a flying version of Guntz with less attack and defense. Lyle is an assault knight who is a straight upgrade to the game's other archers. Balbaroy and Amon, the bird warriors, have great agility and the ability to fly, but not a lot of good end-game weapon choices. Torasu is a great healer, but comes too late in the game to be useful. |
| 207 | *** Below average characters include the archers; Hans and Diane, whose you'd probably benched long before Lyle came into the picture. We also have the rest of the knights; Ken and Vankar, who have a lot of HP, but below average attack and defense. Gong the monk has low attack, but access to Heal. Lowe is an early-game healer who doesn't learn enough good spells to earn his keep. Adam actually has incredible stats, but joins at a low level with only the final few battles remaining, leaving him fairly useless. |
| 208 | *** Jogurt is a joke character with 1 in every stat, and no way to get better. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' is in the same boat as ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' in that the huge roster of characters (technically 108, but only about half of that can be used in battle) has greatly encouraged the use of tiers. Typically, physical fighters come up above magic users and weak fighters with several rune slots (and thus, plenty of customization potential) are far more valued that strong fighters with few or no rune slots. |
| 210 | * Not all of your recruits in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' are created equal. While every class's basic stats are about the same, their "potentials" are assigned purely based on their personality, resulting in some characters with nothing but useful perks, and some with absolutely crippling drawbacks. Since there are plenty of people to choose from, each with their own very unique personalities, and even the worst of them are usable with a bit of clever tactics (plus the entire game is singleplayer only) it ends up adding charm and individuality without taking away from gameplay. |
| 211 | * Due to the way ElementalRockPaperScissors works in ''VideoGame/ZanZarahTheHiddenPortal'', Psi, Ice, Light, and Dark faeries are inherently the most powerful combatants, so at least three of them are more-or-less {{Required Party Member}}s by the endgame (most likely Light, as you'll mostly be fighting Dark and Chaos fairies); whereas Nature, Stone, and Chaos tend to become [[LowTierLetdown Low-Tier Letdowns]] because they are mostly one-trick ponies with lots of easily exploitable weaknesses. |
| 212 | * ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', due to it's real-time battle system, had a strong character tier system. |
| 213 | ** Cliff and Maria were considered to be the two top-tier contenders. The former could lock enemies in place, and the latter did the most damage in the game. In the late game, Cliff's ultimate ability Max Shockwave is considered one of the game's best powers. |
| 214 | ** Nel was considered a godsend in the early and mid-game, and she had skillful powers even in the late game, she just tended to be outclassed by the top two. |
| 215 | ** Albel was hard to use, but his ability to juggle could be used against extremely powerful bosses like Lenneth and Freya. A skilled player could literally juggle the boss from one end of the arena to the other and prevent them from getting any attacks at all. |
| 216 | ** Fayt had the game's highest defense, but his skills in the late game tended to taper off. |
| 217 | ** Peppita, like Albel, was considered difficult to play, but good (if outclassed by Maria). |
| 218 | ** Mirage was considered good at solo runs or useful on the AI, but she just wasn't as useful as the others. |
| 219 | ** Sophia has powerful magic chains to lock enemies, but she does almost no damage and almost all her spells do elemental damage. |
| 220 | ** At the bottom, Adray and Roger were considered to be a JokeCharacter who do nothing spectacular. |
| 221 | * With the numerous amounts of characters players have access to in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', chances are that this trope comes into play. |
| 222 | ** In the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Sky Series]]'', art users dominate the field since physical attacks are weak without significant buffs, especially in higher difficulties. [[TheHero Estelle]] is a JackOfAllTrades character who usually sits in the middle tier while Joshua is usually placed at a higher tier due to his speed, Delay Craft, and an S-Break that hits every enemy in the field. Estelle gets bumped up a little higher after she gains Wheel of Time, the second most powerful S-Craft in the trilogy. Among Arts users in particular, Kloe easily dominates in this category thanks to her sheer Art Strength, with most players keeping her in the party. This only changes after [[spoiler:Renne]] is playable. The only physical based characters that are really worth using are Richard in ''The Third'' whose speed is just insane and has the strongest S-Craft. Or Agate if he's spamming [[CastFromHitPoints Wild Rage]] and using his [[LimitBreak S-Craft/Break]] with strength or critical bonuses on those turns. Surprisingly, once the Orbal Gear Craft is obtained in her Moon Door, Tita jumps from one of the lowest tier characters who has range and area of effect attacks and little else to a tanky, incredibly strong LightningBruiser that's equal to, if not stronger than Richard. |
| 223 | ** It's the same story with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure'' where physical attacks are still terrible but not as bad as the ones in Sky, though because you only have up to 4-6 characters by the endgame, the tier list isn't as varied though Randy usually gets benched in favor of Wazy due to his powerful S-Craft. Lloyd is usually kept in the field thanks to [[StatusBuff Burning Heart]] plus his evasion stat and Elie and Tio are there to cast buffs. Lloyd sometimes gets swapped out with Rixia mainly thanks to the range of her weapon. |
| 224 | ** Due to the large cast in the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel Series]]'' tier lists are bound to happen, especially with ''27'' overall characters by the end of ''II'' and '''''39''''' characters by the TrueFinalBoss in ''IV'' (though guest characters can't change their Master Quartz and equipment setup so they're stuck with what the get). Rean is usually rated high to top in the tier lists mainly thanks to needing the levels to participate in Valimar fights, his absurd Arc Slash in ''II'' that inflicts heavy delay to enemies meaning no one's ever gonna take a turn unless they're immune to delay, and his three restricted slots (two Time Elements and one Fire element) are really great since Rean can equip more speed or delay quartz which helps out his Arc Slash even more. Meanwhile on the lower end of the spectrum, Elise ends up being the worst playable character in ''II'' due to her terrible crafts and her so-so arts where everyone else excels so much better. |
| 225 | * ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'': There are three tiers of "buddies" in this game: |
| 226 | ** Butters and Kyle are top tier. Butters can heal the new kid for free, doubles as a tank, and has an attack that hits enemy columns, while Kyle has massive amounts of damage to both single and multiple targets, as well as buffing your team for free. |
| 227 | ** Princess Kenny and Stan are middle tier. Princess Kenny has a great attack for hitting an enemy row and deals better damage against lightly-armored foes, while Stan can do solid damage to pretty much any enemy target, but both become outclassed when Kyle joins. |
| 228 | ** Jimmy and Cartman are bottom tier. Jimmy is really only useful for putting the Secret Service to sleep for Al Gore, and by the time Cartman is obtained, so is Kyle, who does everything Cartman does, only better, making Cartman completely useless once the achievements are obtained. |
| 229 | * With extra characters from the [[DownloadableContent DLC]], ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder'' has over 50 characters. Most are going to decent albeit mediocre, a lot will be very good or even fantastic and there's even a couple of complete game changers. Then you have a few stinkers... |
| 230 | ** Once you factor in the [[DownloadableContent DLC]], the game has two in the God Tier list: Thanos (Infinite) is a wrecking machine with almost universally the best stats and his abilities when charged, hit with the power of a synergy or a weak Ex attack. Phoenix is squishy but she has two game-changing powers: her Ex can resurrect her team mates and gives her a time limited self-revival, but most importantly her Cleansing Flame ability will steal energy from enemies and give it to your entire team. In a game where abilities are key, Phoenix lets a team spam these. Before Phoenix, players would have to manage their teams's energy use and avoid particular low-tier characters. With her on a team, every character can be viable to play. |
| 231 | ** The bottom tier are Dr. Strange and Scarlett Witch, both characters have awful stats even in the key attack stat for them (Mastery is the stat for doing energy and ethereal damage, many bruiser melee characters have higher Mastery than these two), the abilities they have look good on paper but can be underwhelming in actual gameplay and neither character are effective in synergizing abilities (the only character worse than Scarlett Witch at synergy is Thanos (Infinite) who's designed not to have any). |
| 232 | * ''VideoGame/SailorMoonAnotherStory'' has each of the Senshi as a playable character, and they very easily fall into a tier list: |
| 233 | ** Mercury is God Tier: Her Shabon Spray, which weakens enemies. Boss fights in this game tend to be slogs, so weakening them is very useful. She's also got high defense making her nigh-unkillable, as well as a Link Tech that blocks status effect changes with Moon, which tends to be the most dangerous thing a boss can do after they've been weakened with Shabon Spray. She also has a powerful Link Tech attack with Jupiter. |
| 234 | ** Pluto is God Tier: She has Time Stop, which is an always successful attack that stops any enemy from moving for three turns. It costs all her EP, but she can use EP restoring items on the 2nd turn and keep enemies locked (EP items are also purchasable and cheap). |
| 235 | ** Saturn is God Tier: She has high power and cheap Death Reborn Revolution attack, which hits all enemies for high power. She can also heal and/or revive the party with her Link Techs, making her very versatile. |
| 236 | ** Jupiter is High Tier: She has the games highest attack and powerful Link Tech attacks with Mercury or Mars, and a Link Tech heal with Moon (since healing is based on her attack power, it typically heals the whole party) |
| 237 | ** Venus is High Tier: She has a Link Tech with Moon that can buff attack power, as well as powerful Link Tech attacks with Mars. She's just not as strong as Jupiter and attacking or buffing is all she can do. |
| 238 | ** Mars is Mid Tier: She's right on Jupiter's heels with attack power and great link tech attacks with Moon, Jupiter, or Venus, but she's slower than Jupiter. |
| 239 | ** Uranus is Mid Tier: She's powerful as well, but her only good Link Techs are with Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, the latter two of which are either outclassed or better off doing something else. Plus, Uranus has very low defense and can fall victim to a one-hit KO very easily. |
| 240 | ** Moon is Mid Tier: The best Link Techs in the game require her to use them, but that's really all she has. On her own, she needs to use the Moon Chalice to have any decent attack power, and when she does, she can't use the Link Techs. |
| 241 | ** Neptune is Low Tier: Her attack power is very low and can really only compensate with Uranus. But if the player wants to use Uranus, they might as well use Jupiter or Mars and get even more attack power. |
| 242 | ** Chibi-Moon is Bottom Tier: She has the lowest attack power, low HP and defense, and her Link Techs are pretty much exclusively attacks, so the player is better off using someone else. |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 246 | * ''TabletopGame/BloodBowl'' has a fairly well-agreed upon tier system divided into three tiers: Tier one consists of all teams that are perfectly capable of running a main scoring strategy (running, throwing or bashing) out of the box. Tier two consists of teams that either need some SPP development to do so, or have an obvious drawback when playing their favoured strategy. Tier three are obvious [[JokeCharacter joke teams]] who basically depend on luck to win. Notably, something like 80% of the game's teams are in tier 1. How strong a team is also depends a lot on the type of tournament/league you're playing, other teams participating, and rules (such as time limit per move) that are implemented. And, of course, ultimately [[RandomNumberGod Nuffle is the final arbitrator]]. |
| 247 | * In traditional TabletopGame/{{Chess}}, the white player is considered to have a slight advantage simply because he moves first, which agrees well with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-move_advantage_in_chess statistics]]. This is not the case in other chess-variants, especially ''shogi'' (Japanese chess) where both players have an almost even 50% chance of winning. |
| 248 | ** One way to fix this advantage in chess and other games where turn order can be an unfair advantage given identical starting circumstances is with the "pie rule" -- where one player makes the first move with white. The other player then has the option of either playing as black or switching to white for the game. |
| 249 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 250 | ** In ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3rd Edition]]'', versatility (how many problems a character can contribute to solving) is often at least as important as power (how powerful the character's abilities are for problems) in tiering. For this system, the God Tier is characters who, with the right spells prepared, can solve nearly anything the GM can come up with as a standard action. Lesser tiers either have [[CripplingOverspecialization less versatility]] or [[MasterOfNone less power]]. For example, Druids tend to be Top or God Tier due to their highly versatile magical powers which include conjuring and purifying food and controlling the elements as well as the ability to transform into various animals, as are Wizards who, depending on whether or not they prepared the right spells and still have spell slots the cast them, can either be a UselessProtagonist or effectively overcome absolutely ''anything''; Fighters on the other hand tend to be Low Tier as they are unparalleled allies in battle but have few useful skills outside of Intimidate (i.e., outside of a fight, the only thing they're really good for is ''preventing one''). In general, while a character of any tier can be a GameBreaker with the right factors, only a high-tier character can be a [[StoryBreakerPower Story Breaker]]. Imagine how ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' would have turned out if Gandalf could teleport any distance, read minds, identify any item instantly, and make anyone NoSell mental influence... and that was just a fraction of his abilities. |
| 251 | *** More in-depth: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160912163229/http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=658 The generally agreed list]] is six tiers, with the first two being either God or or at least Top Tier depending on which one: Tier 1 is for characters like Clerics, Druids, and Wizards, who possess StoryBreakerPower and can utilize pretty much every type of it; Tier 2 is for characters like Favored Souls, Psions, and Sorcerers, who have access to similar StoryBreakerPower, but to a more restrictive degree (the creator compared it to the difference between a country with ten-thousand nukes and one with ten). Beneath them, the tiers refer to characters in terms of how good they are at their given focus, and how many things they can do well. Tier 3 is for characters like Bards, Binders, and Crusaders, who can either do one thing incredibly well and still pull off other tricks passably, or [[MasterOfAll do a lot of different things effectively]]. Tier 4 is for characters like Barbarians, Rangers, and Rogues, who [[CripplingOverspecialization can do one thing incredibly well but struggle at doing anything else]], or [[JackOfAllStats can do a lot of things to a passable degree]]. Tier 5 is for characters like Fighters, Monks, and Paladins, who can generally be okay at one thing but not much else, or [[MasterOfNone can do a lot of things but kind of suck at all of them]]. Tier 6 is for classes that can't even be okay at the thing they're supposed to be good at, and is mostly reserved for [[JokeCharacter deliberately weak]] [[{{Muggles}} NPC classes]] and the worst-designed PC classes. And then there's the [[BrokeTheRatingScale Truenamer]], a class that is so [[ObviousBeta mechanically broken]] that it doesn't work as intended, fluctuating between 4 and 6 depending on whether they can make their rolls consistently. |
| 252 | *** The tiers themselves are based on "Rules As Written" comparisons based on how effectively the class can deal with different situations. The original author pointed out that optimized Fighters can still be a Low Tier but capable of taking down the [[PhysicalGod Tarrasque]] in a single turn. In the right hands, many classes can be equal to higher tiers in power, even though they still remain in their tier because of their lack of versatility. |
| 253 | ** {{Prestige class}}es are generally set on a different tier [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160818031632/http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1573.0 system]], ranking them on how they might move the expected base class through standard tiers. Marvelous Tier hugely strengthens the character from their prior self, Great to Good Tier help them out, Mediocre is reasonably equivalent, and Bad to Awful Tier and Catastrophic Tier can actually significantly ''reduce'' a class's power. Which class you enter a prestige class from is also important; Warshaper, for example, is Marvelous Tier when taken by classes who cannot use magic, but only Mediocre Tier when taken by a caster. Some are also very situational; Dragonstalker and Dragonslayer are normally Bad to Awful Tier, but if your game is focused heavily on fighting dragons then they're respectively Good to Great and Mediocre. A few prestige classes are informally referred to as "Tier 0", which doesn't have a precise definition but is generally accepted to mean a prestige class that is designed to make a Tier 1 class significantly better. For instance, the Planar Shepherd upgrades the Druid's already powerful VoluntaryShapeshifting to let them turn into celestial beings instead of animals and lets them set up bubbles that run on different laws of physics, all the while keeping basically all their old power. |
| 254 | ** The ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition 4th Edition]]'' of ''D&D'' sought to remove this by making all the classes follow the same progression, so ''everyone'' is [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards linear]]. Predictably, this nevertheless didn't result in a uniform power level, and discussions about which classes are higher-tier than which others are common. For example, "iconic" classes like the fighter and wizard have ''many'' more spells, feats, and abilities printed than "what on earth is that" classes like the Battlemind or the Seeker. |
| 255 | *** On the other hand, it's been said that the power spread of the entire 4E tier system could fit within one tier of 3.5, partially because of more aggressive errata and the inability to do things which simply break the gameplay in half. Additionally, while some classes have many more powers to choose from, in reality all that actually matters is the -strongest- powers at any given level - unlike in 3.x, where spellcasters had access to every single new spell in every single book (at least potentially), characters in 4E are limited in their number of powers, so no matter if you have four powers or thirty to choose from, you still have the same breadth of ability. The primary advantage lies in that with a higher number of powers, it is more likely one will be overpowered, and less likely that all will be bad or unsuitable for your build. |
| 256 | ** ''D&D Minis'' had informal tiers based on the perceived usefulness of a particular miniature. Unlike the RPG, spellcasters were rarely in the top tier due to SquishyWizard Syndrome, among other things. Also, very few of the most powerful monsters from the RPG were top tier as minis, due to poor playtesting by the Devs. |
| 257 | ** ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5th Edition]]'' tried to rebalance the classes and eliminate the tier system and... ultimately ended up just reshuffling the tiers around a tiny bit. Wizards and Druids are still more than capable of wrecking the game in every situation, while Bards somehow ended up sharing a God Tier spot with them due to their ability to break the skill system entirely and learn up to 9th level spells from EVERY classes spell list. Clerics were bumped down a little bit and Paladins became less specialized, but ultimately the tier system is still prominent, it just looks a little different compared to 3.5. |
| 258 | *** Notably, 5th Edition Rangers were widely considered Low Tier for the longest time. Their first-level features are both flawed. Favored Enemy requires [[{{Metagame}} out-of-game knowledge]] to even function, and Natural Explorer allows a Ranger's party to ignore the hazards of arduous travel in a specific type of terrain -- hazards most groups skip over anyway because it's not fun to play ''VideoGame/OregonTrail'' inside your ''D&D'' game. This was [[ObviousRulePatch fixed]] in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' with a set of "optional class features" which overhaul the Ranger and give it more internal synergy, better spellcasting, and greatly expanded the power of its signature spell, "Hunter's Mark." |
| 259 | * Unlike Chess, the first-move advantage for Black in TabletopGame/{{Go}} is not disputed. Strangely enough, it took until the twentieth century for compensation for White to become standard. It's called [[http://senseis.xmp.net/?Komi komi]] and consists, depending on the ruleset, of 6.5 to 8 free points added to White's score. |
| 260 | * A lot of debate goes on in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' fandom as to whether one card can be "strictly better" than another. While it's certainly true that as the game gets more powerful in general newer cards outshine old ones with the same casting cost and power/toughness (though all of the very strongest cards ever printed are long since out of print), it gets harder to judge recent cards against each other due to how situational many cards are these days. |
| 261 | ** This is complicated by Wizards releasing cards that [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=88817 seem useless]], only to either 1) release another card later that makes it useful, 2) have a player suddenly realize how it was meant to be used in the first place, or 3) to have a player use it in a way that they didn't intend but that [[GameBreaker completely breaks the game]]; the last tends to be the largest problem. Ironically, One With Nothing itself was meant to be a completely useless card, but due to a deck that wizards never even thought was viable, let alone good, coming to exist -- a deck that won by forcing its opponent to fill up their hand with cards all the time - One With Nothing briefly became a tournament staple, though the popularity of the deck in question (Owling Mine) declined dramatically after everyone started playing aggressive decks that simply didn't care because they were throwing lightning bolts at people's heads, and drawing more cards just meant more lightning bolts and Kird Apes. |
| 262 | ** In ''Mirrodin's'' case, it was a whole mechanic that worked mostly as intended, but was more dominant than expected. Cards costing one-fourth what they should proved slightly too strong. The same thing happened in the Urza block. Due to the way the mechanic counted the resources spent, what was supposed to give back the resources (and ''maybe'' a bit more) winded up returning a lot more. In both cases, the ability to play your whole hand in a turn or two ''and'' do it sooner than you should be able to was [[GameBreaker a bit too much]] for the metagame. |
| 263 | ** The same debate goes on regarding different decks -- generally there's the "best deck", several other top-tier decks, and a large number of second-tier decks. Then there are the "rogue" decks that aren't popular enough to have an obvious tier, and the decks that are pure {{metagame}} choices. Being able to select the right decks is considered as much of a skill as playing well. |
| 264 | ** It's important to note that there ''is'' an official definition for "strictly better" - a card is strictly better than another card if it does more for an identical cost (or the same/more for a smaller cost). Lightning Bolt, for example, is strictly better than Shock -- both cost one red mana, but Lightning Bolt does an extra point of damage. Of course, with the way Magic tournaments are run, those strictly better cards might not always be legal. |
| 265 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', ''D&D 3.5e'''s SpiritualSuccessor, strived to make all characters much more balanced, with limited success. All classes received upgrades, but Low Tier 3.5 classes received more extensive rewrites while more powerful classes from the same editon only received minor enhancements to make them more fun to play, with some of the most well-known exploits caused by the latter being {{nerf}}ed. A good example is that the Wizard, a God Tier class in the last editon, received new abilities which are hardly worth a mention and had many metamagic feats they can learn get nerfed. Meanwhile the Paladin, a Tier 5, had its trademark Smite Evil boosted into a permanent buff against the designated target, its Lay on Hands feature was boosted to be far more useful as a source of healing and status removal, and its other abilities were generally enhanced, pushing it up to Tier 4. However, the overall balance of the game is unchanged, and competent casters can still break the universe in half while martial-type classes still tend to lack any versatility outside combat. |
| 266 | * While it is generally agreed that tabletop wargames ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' have army tiers, getting anyone to agree which armies are in which tier is nearly impossible. It also revolves around the competitive metagame as much as individual matchups and will often depend on how easy or hard it is to make the army competitive. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the more popular armies get updated much more often than the less popular ones. |
| 267 | ** Daemons of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy is an exception to the rule, everybody agrees that they're God Tier. |
| 268 | ** It's a joke among the 40k fandom that you're not allowed to bitch that GWS hates, ignores or deliberately nerfed your army unless you play Dark Eldar. Their original codex was released in 1998 for the launch of ''3rd Edition'' 40k, and they did not receive a new codex until 2010, for the ''Fifth Edition'' of 40k. |
| 269 | *** Necrons had similar issues. The changes from Fourth to ''Fifth Edition'' almost completely gutted their competitive metagame, and since their army had such little variety it was nigh impossible for players to find new tactics. This was eventually fixed with the release of a new, much larger codex in late 2011[[note]]and to prevent the same problem from happening twice in a row, the codex was written with the upcoming ''Sixth Edition'' rulebook in mind rather than the then-current ''Fifth Edition''[[/note]] |
| 270 | ** The Orks also had a long time between their 3rd Edition codex and their next one. They were one of the first to come out for 3rd Edition in 1999 but didn't get another until early 2008 just before Fourth Edition was replaced by Fifth Edition. Their next scheduled Codex update is early 2014. |
| 271 | *** That said, they never quite tipped into Bottom Tier or God Tier at any point since 2000. |
| 272 | ** In Apocalypse (extremely high-point games), however, two God Tier factions have emerged. The Imperial Guard simply have more and more powerful vehicles than anyone else, especially fliers (and Apocalypse is won on vehicle power), while Chaos Daemons...[[GameBreaker can cherry-pick units from any faction so long as the model has spikes on it]]. |
| 273 | * ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' has a similar tier list to ''Magic'', with decks being judged mostly by how well they do in tournaments. Generally, the most important tiers are Tier 1 (the best decks of the format that regularly win tournaments), Tier 2 (not as good as the Tier 1s but can still win tournaments in the hands of a good player), Tier 3 (can do well in tournaments but will rarely ever top them), and Rogue (can win individual games against the other tiers, but is too inconsistent to do well in tournaments). With ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' being one of the all-time kings of PowerCreep, decks maintaining their tier position for more than a few years is quite rare, and the vast majority of decks and archetypes aren't even considered Rogue-tier. Very occasionally, there are decks classified as Tier 0, which refers to a deck so overpowered that ''nothing'' in its format can beat it reliably aside from a mirror match, resulting in the vast majority of tournament placings being variants of that deck--sometimes as high as over 90%. These decks are usually short-lived, due to them getting smacked by the banlist after a month or so. |
| 274 | [[/folder]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 277 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'': |
| 278 | ** Since ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' comes with multiplayer capability, the planes themselves have been separated into tiers. All of the planes are divided into three categories: "fighters", "bombers", and "multirole" planes. Within each category are other tiers based on each individual plane's performance attributes. Naturally, many modern planes such as the F-22 or SU-47 would be far superior to older planes like the F-16 or A-10. |
| 279 | ** ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' had a Versus mode, albeit it (and ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'') referred to the bombers as "attackers" and doesn't state tiers, it's soon clear where each plane fits in. |
| 280 | * In Creator/TomClancy's ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'', tiers do exist, but many planes toward the top are close enough that it's not that clear cut and while the F-22 is near the top it's hardly alone. This also ignores that "guns only" still rather illogically allows unguided rockets which can be a significant edge and a reason to chose another plane. Guns only actually gets rid of one of the F-22 edges which is that it's hard to lock due to stealth, but also has high maneuverability unlike most of the other stealth planes. Without missile the extra lock time is a non-factor and a number of other planes are just as or very nearly as maneuverable. |
| 281 | * In nearly every online sports game, there is a small group of teams with an enormous advantage (much like RealLife). |
| 282 | ** In the ''NCAA Football'' series, for instance, there are over 115 teams, but only show-offs and super-fans pick outside the Top 10. |
| 283 | * The ''FIFA'' series, being a reflection of the current state of world football, is naturally this. The tiers in-game are actually startlingly accurate when compared to real life. |
| 284 | * The campaign modes in ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' and its sequel, being based on and seeking to emulate late medieval to modern European history, do not pretend to create balanced factions in any way: various nations are more economically and militarily well-off from the very beginning, and scripted historical events affect gameplay in such a way that make it more difficult even for successful nations to continue dominating if history says that they cannot, effectively altering tiers based on the length of the game. Skilled players can take advantage of game mechanics to turn the tiers on their heads, but non-Christian, non-Western European nations have a much harder time at it. |
| 285 | ** In fact, until an almost-world-conquest by a native american faction in an AAR in ''[=EU3=]'' [[http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?384744-The-Audacity-of-Hope-An-Iroquois-IN-AAR (here)]], it was considered impossible to become a world power with them, with mere survival already being a lot. |
| 286 | *** Note: in the third game, the scripted events disappear, monarchs are no longer pre-determined (which means that you are no longer certain if you start in the 1600's as France that Louis XIV is going to live as long as he did - and it brings up the possibility that he might be succeeded by a douché with a weak claim due to sudden heir deaths and after the succession, crisis after crisis) and non-European powers can "Westernize" and thus increase their tech rate - reducing the gap to the Europeans. |
| 287 | * Similarly, Koei designed ''VideoGame/{{Romance of the Three Kingdoms|Koei}}'' and ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'' to be historically accurate. As a result, both games are unbalanced, and both have at least one scenario where Cao Cao and UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga (respectively) are at least twice as powerful as the second strongest force. |
| 288 | * ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' goes through this with every major patch. Each of the four races has had a turn at being the Flavor of the Month depending on who boasts the current ScrappyMechanic; maybe it's the Caldari with ECM jammers being overpowered, Minmatar dominating because of unbalanced speed tanking, Gallente hurting because their close range ships suffered from the super-speed nerf or players calling for a boost to the Amarr all around. Fortunately, the EVE devs generally listen to the community....even if they swing the [[{{Nerf}} Nerf Bat]] a little to hard at times. |
| 289 | * ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'' for Nintendo 64 included at least 2 playable characters in multiplayer that were considerably shorter than other characters, specifically including Oddjob. Thanks to the way the game's auto-aim worked, it would fix on a point that would be where the head was on any other character - and just above the head in his case, requiring you to manually aim down (which was difficult on the N64) and give the Oddjob player plenty of time to gun you down. It got so bad that tournaments (and friends) banned use of Oddjob and the Moonraker Female (the other short character) from use. |
| 290 | * The ''VideoGame/GundamVsSeries'' has its tiers built into the game; the Universal Century and Cosmic Era games use a five-star system (with half-stars), typically following technical progress (which means in the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''-based game, most of the returning ''SEED'' machines are downgraded). In ''Gundam Vs. Gundam'' the system is simplified to three levels (3000 for hero machines, 2000 for middle-of-the-roaders, and 1000 for {{Mooks}}); ''Gundam Extreme Vs.'' adds a 2500 tier consisting mostly of [[TheRival Rival]] and [[TheLancer Lancer]] machines. |
| 291 | * ''Wrestling/{{WWE}} Raw Deal,'' a ProfessionalWrestling collectible card game, took almost no time to sort itself into character tiers from Stone Cold and Chyna nearly unbeatable in earlier sets, to Andre the Giant and Largest Athlete in Sports Entertainment, the Big Show alternate, in later sets. Interestingly, the devs insisted that the game was perfectly balanced and that players just weren't finding the other characters' "killer archetypes." Said archetypes, if they ever existed, still haven't been found yet ten years later. |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron 2'', what tier a country belongs to depends almost entirely on its size and industrial capacity. The strongest countries are, in order: Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, and France[[note]]At the start of the game, anyway. The order can change quite dramatically when certain industrial advances are researched, or peacetime production penalties removed[[/note]]. It's possible to conquer a continent or more with some of the smaller countries (especially Brazil and Argentina, which are far away from the main super-powers), but almost any country on the European continent will either be conquered by Germany or allied with Germany. Same with Japan and Asia. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' has this for the countries rather than characters. When playing multiplayer with the expansion, Yuri's side is Top Tier and can border on God Tier. For the Allies, Korea and the USA are Top Tier since their special units/abilities don't cost anything extra (USA gets free paradrops, Korea gets about a 50% upgrade to Harriers without a corresponding cost increase), Great Britian is slightly lower on the Top Tier, and Germany and France are Mid Tier - useful, but rarely worth skipping out on either free stuff or long-range instant protection against enemy special infantry units. For the Soviets, Iraq is Top Tier, Cuba is Mid Tier, and Russia and Libya are Low Tier. When facing an Allied player, Cuba drops to Low Tier, and Russia and Libya drop to Bottom Tier because often only Iraq can stop hordes of Mirages Tanks (especially in vanilla [=RA2=], without the expansion) if the Allies survive the early game. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/ShiningForce 1'' and its subsequent games have this in spades. It makes sense, since there's always going to be those who excel, and those who don't. The problem is that many characters always had decent stat gains, if you're ''lucky'' every five levels. The most notorious bad character that isn't even a JokeCharacter (but might as well be) is poor Hans. |
| 295 | ** Even worse is the only response to this: "Use better characters". Yep, that's right. Now imagine if everybody did that. The game would get pretty stale pretty fast, then. That's why they give you 29 different characters to choose from, so you can try something new. |
| 296 | ** Another notorious example is in ''VideoGame/ShiningSoul 1'', where the Dragonute is the only character with no redeeming qualities. Yes, he gets a breathe weapon counter, but... that's it. He's slow, has bad range, hits as much as nearly everyone else (as in rarely), and gets very few useful abilities save that particular one. In fact, the list in order would best be considering (from High to Low) Mage, Archer, Warrior, Dragonute. |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' has an InUniverse example: the teams the player fights in the single-player mode have a different tier. (Weak-Tough-Strong-Godlike) The Weak tier characters can only be fought in the Team Qualification round, and the challenges. Those in the Godlike tier are the candidates to be the team the player faces in the Finals. This is also reflected in the bots chosen for these teams, as the Weak team has "weak" bots (overall low accuracy, low aggressiveness, low agility and low team tactics) while the bots in the Godlike tier are the inverse. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'': |
| 299 | ** The many gods available have been ranked into tiers. While almost all of the gods (except Xom) are very powerful if chosen wisely, some gods are easier to use and are useful in more builds than others. |
| 300 | *** High: Kikubaaqudgha, Okawaru, Sif Muna, The Shining One, Trog, and Vehumet |
| 301 | *** Middle: Beogh, Elyvilon, Lugonu, Makhleb, and Yredremnul |
| 302 | *** Low: Ashenzari, Cheibrados, Fedhas Madash, Jiyva, Nemelex Xobeh and Zin |
| 303 | *** [[JokeCharacter Joke]]: Xom |
| 304 | ** The races have also been ranked into tiers of "Easy-Medium-Hard," again more based on ease of use than strength. Classes haven't as such (as they only affect the start of the game, not your progression), but each race has classes (and often weapon types) that synergize well with them. |
| 305 | *** Easy: Centaur, Deep Dwarf, Draconian, Gargoyle, Halfling, Hill Orc, Kobold, Merfolk, Minotaur, Spriggan, Troll, Vine Stalker |
| 306 | *** Moderate: Deep Elf, Demonspawn, Ghoul, High Elf, Human, Naga, Ogre, Tengu, Vampire |
| 307 | *** Hard: Demigod, Felid, Formicid, Mummy, Octopode |
| 308 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' series uses a PointBuildSystem, with skills divided into three categories (Combat, Magic, and Shaping) and the cost of buying skill ranks dependent on class affinity. Character classes each had one strong skill category, one average, and one weak. General fan consensus on class viability usually goes... |
| 309 | ** '''God Tier''': Sorceress (Strong Magic/Avg. Shaping/Weak Combat). Added in the final game, and it's pretty obvious why it was never in any of the previous ones. Average shaping skills are sufficient to make powerful creations, and strong magic is far handier than strong combat if you've got a meatshield or two handy. |
| 310 | ** '''Top Tier''': Shaper/Lifecrafter (Strong Shaping/Avg. Magic/Weak Combat) and Agent/Infiltrator (Strong Magic/Avg. Combat/Weak Shaping). Both solid choices, they trade off the top dog slot between games as spells and creations are rebalanced. |
| 311 | ** '''Mid Tier''': Servile (Strong Combat/Avg. Magic/Weak Shaping). Added in the fourth game. Mathematically more powerful than the Agent if minmaxed, but harder to play if you don't know the system inside-out. |
| 312 | ** '''Low Tier''': Guardian/Warrior (Strong Combat/Avg. Shaping/Weak Magic). Competitive in the first two games, and at least usable in the third, but outclassed later on. Strategically simple, so doesn't adapt well if played on high difficulty levels. |
| 313 | ** '''Rubbish Tier''': Shock Trooper (Strong Shaping/Avg. Combat/Weak Magic). Added in the fourth game, apparently just for the sake of completeness. Again, average combat is much less useful than average magic if you've got meatshields you could be buffing. |
| 314 | * Rogue-like games such as ''Ancient Domains of Mystery'' have this in spades. While the game can hardly be considered easy under any circumstances, playing a Wizard or Archer in ADOM is much, much easier than playing a Farmer or Thief. |
| 315 | ** This is usually deliberate. Since these are single-player games, there's no need for the classes to be balanced, and this is one way to adjust the difficulty level. The Tourist in ''VideoGame/NetHack'' is clearly intended as a challenge class (though it does offer some late-game advantages, if the early game can be survived). |
| 316 | * You might think that simple SimulationGame ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' wouldn't have character tiers. [[http://villagertrade.tumblr.com/popularity You would]] [[http://www.belltreeforums.com/showthread.php?109343-List-of-Villagers-Based-on-Popularity be wrong]]. As a rule, the tiers are based solely on villager popularity (which, in turn, is based mostly on [[RuleOfCute villager cuteness]]) and are mostly used in villager trading, so anyone who doesn't trade can just ignore them. Even if you ''do'' trade, you can probably ignore the tiers--but you might be less likely to have a deal go through if you try to trade a low-tier villager for a higher-tier one. |
| 317 | * Advancements in {{pinball}}, both in technology and in competition, has resulted in some games having their own tier lists too: |
| 318 | ** ''Pinball/{{ACDC}}'' pinball machine has tiers regarding its songs. At the beginning of the game, and after hitting some milestones, you're asked to pick a song, which changes the rules of the table. Naturally, different sets of rules would contain different high-scoring options and different ways to exploit the rules, and this means that some songs are considered to yield higher scores than others. Although there are disagreements on which song is the best to use due to differences in play style, some songs are far, far less popular than others. (You will hardly see "TNT" or "You Shook Me All Night Long" in competitions, for instance.) All of the top players know exactly how each song stacks up against the others and why, and this knowledge is essential to doing well in tournaments. |
| 319 | ** When you begin a game of ''Pinball/GameOfThrones'', you are asked to pick a house to play as. Each house has one or more advantages in particular areas and also affects which objectives will be available at the start. With several months since its release, the choices for houses in competition have solidified (but that may change with patches later on).[[note]]As of July 2016, the tiers are as follows, based on frequency at major competitions: Top tier are Martel and Tyrell, high is Greyjoy, middle is Targaryen, low is Stark, and bottom are Baratheon and Lannister.[[/note]] |
| 320 | * For ''VideoGame/StreetPassMiiPlaza'': |
| 321 | ** In ''Mii Force'', Brown, White, and Light Blue shirts are better than other shirts. Brown and White can destroy purple plasma shots while Brown also gives a perpetual shield against physical attacks. The only drawbacks of Brown is that when it blocks a physical attack it launches you in the opposite direction, potentially into another trap and Brown shirts can be really hard to find. Light Blue shirts just have good range, rapid fire, damage, and destroy fire based attacks. While other shirts like Blue, Red, and Orange are good in general and other shirt colors are good in certain levels (2-3 for Black, 3-1, 4-1 and 4-3 for Light Green), Light Blue, White, and Brown are the best shirts to have on your ship during most levels of ''Mii Force''. They make arcade mode a bit easier. The only useless power is Dark Green, whose attacks are both weak and unreliable. |
| 322 | ** In ''Find Mii'', Yellow, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Red, Black, and White shirts are often required for passing certain levels. In addition, Red and Dark Blue magic is handy for armored enemies where, if not strong enough, can still deal damage that way, and Light Blue and Light Green magic can be handy against the Green Slime. Once again Dark Green is the most useless type of magic in the game. |
| 323 | * In ''VideoGame/ThisWarOfMine'', Marko and Bruno are at the top (since their abilities are so handy and universal), Marin, Pavle, Katia, and Roman are high tier (Marin's good for shelter development while the others are good for trading or hostile engagement), Zlata, Boris, and Arica are mid-tier (Zlata being a JackOfAllTrades, Boris being strong but slow and having a huge backpack, and Arica for her stealth abilities), Anton and Emilia are low tier (Anton merely being better with animal traps and creating the not too useful herbal medicine and Emilia is simply emotionless), and down at the very bottom is Cveta (with the [[SarcasmMode fantastic ability]] of being friendly to children). |
| 324 | * The counselors in ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' are easily divided up in terms of utility, and the game rewards ''speed'' over every other trait they might have. That, by itself, puts Mark and Crissy right at the top of the list, with Laura trailing behind them since she can't jump as high. George, Paul and Debbie will count themselves fortunate to be used by any players who aren't specifically making a point to actually use each counselor's individual strengths, or who aren't playing a SelfImposedChallenge. Your only incentive to use the low-tier characters is the game employs PermaDeath, meaning you might want to put the worse characters to use in order to save your better characters for later. |
| 325 | * The ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'' series tends to have fairly atypical tier rankings. It's generally agreed that the "bottom-tier" characters in the game come off more as balanced mid-tiers (Andy, Olaf), with the next step up being characters who feel noticeably stronger than those (Sami, Eagle), then characters who are [[GameBreaker pretty much broken]] (Colin, Kanbei), and then characters [[PurposefullyOverpowered who might be fair in a two-on-one game]] (Sturm, Hachi). The exceptions are Flak and Jugger, who are basically {{Joke Character}}s. |
| 326 | * In ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', the Sorceress is god tier in Single-Player mode as she is far and away the best item farmer than the rest of the classes combined for 99% of the game, thanks to a combination of easy gearing, access to Teleport and Static Field. |
| 327 | ** The Necromancer could easily fall into bottom tier if built around raising skeleton minions. Bosses gained big buffs against minions, allowing them to kill them almost instantly while taking virtually no damage. In addition, most bosses were fought in gated areas with no other monsters around, meaning the Necromancer was left with no corpses around to raise, or to use for other skills like corpse explosion. Since Hell difficulty allowed monsters to regenerate health, it was no longer possible to use tactics jumping in and out through portals to slowly wear them down, and progress past a certain point was simply impossible. |
| 328 | * ''[[Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy Below the Root]]'' was an early example with a choice of five questers of varying ages, races, and genders. These were theoretically balanced, but Pomma ended up being Top Tier with her high starting mana, favorable NPC reaction, and good starting location making her crazy-good for speed runs. Neric and Herd were considered Mid-Tier because they had about a 50-50 chance of a good NPC reaction, good strength, and moderate mana. Genaa and Charn were Low Tier and suitable mostly for challenge gamers; Genaa due to her complete lack of psionics (meaning she had to visit ''every'' trainer to boost herself up enough to win) and Charn due to lacking either Herd or Neric's strength, but being only slightly sturdier than Pomma, and having only average mana. |
| 329 | * While the character you use in ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'''s Battlegrounds mode isn't as essential as rolling good minions and getting decently lucky, the better ones have a better chance at surviving to Top 4 with either free early-game stats, more reliable rolling, or a mid-game power burst. The characters' win rates are comprehensively recorded in stat-gathering sites to determine their overall performance and tier placements. The game mode's [[BalanceBuff Balance Buffs]] have wildly fluctuated character performances. There's been at least five instance of a character going from the bottom of the tier list to the absolute top, or sometimes the other way around, by adjusting a single number by 1. |
| 330 | [[/folder]] |
| 331 | |
| 332 | [[folder:Non-Gaming]] |
| 333 | * [[http://memegenerator.net/tier/god Meme Generator]] is a website for [[MemeticMutation generating memes]], ranks the available 'characters' by popularity/ubiquity as God Tier, Demigod Tier, Legendary Tier, Top Tier, Fascinating Tier, Meh Tier, Lame Tier and Fail Tier. |
| 334 | * ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': The setting's magic-users, [[OurMagesAreDifferent channelers]], draw on The One Power, the very juice of creation itself. The ''amount'' of Power any given channeler can wield is an important metric (especially with the SealedEvilInACan breaking free and a SaveTheWorldClimax looming), but pinning them down specifically would have led to endless FanWank about PowerLevels. To avoid this, author Robert Jordan ''deliberately'' classed his characters into tiers, simply saying "[[PluckyGirl Egwene]] is about as strong as [[PrincessClassic Elayne]], but [[TheBigGuy Nynaeve]] is stronger than either of them," without bothering to be specific about how much stronger Nynaeve was. (And then we add in the fact that channeling is a GenderRestrictedAbility, and that men have their own tiers, which Jordan specifically refused to cross-correlate with the female ones. And ''then'' we add in the fact that the QuirkyMinibossSquad are all "at least as strong as Nynaeve, but we don't really know how much stronger". And '''''then''''' we add in the fact that said QuirkyMinibossSquad can also channel power directly from the BigBad. And that's how fans get obsessed with ''The Wheel of Time''.) |
| 335 | * ''WebVideo/TierZoo'' is a video series that treats life like an MMO game and places animals into tier lists depending on how well they can survive as a species. Rankings are determined by various factors such as stats (Intelligence, Power, Defence, Speed, Health and Stealth), abilities that the animal has (such as venom or armor piercing bites) and finally, how well they match-up against predators and prey in the "server" (habitat). |
| 336 | [[/folder]] |
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