History Main / CharacterTiers

*** 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 greatly enhances all of her stats for a limited time. Meanwhile, Celes has the relatively useless Runic ability.
*** Mog and Edgar are probably next. By the endgame, their Tools and Dance abilities 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.
*** A well-trained Gau is probably next. Like Mog, he can hit max defense, and a wise player knows which Rages get the most bang for their buck (for reference: Stray Cat, Tyrannosaur, Io, Purusa, and Baalzephon).
*** Relm has the single highest magic stat in the game and the absolute best equipment of any character. Her special ability is trash, but you'll never use it anyway. BoringButPractical. Her only real downside is her availability. At any given moment in the game, she will probably be severely behind on her spell list.
*** 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, unpredictable skill to the average player), and Sabin, who despite his memetic badass status, has awful endgame equipment and schizophrenic stats--his equipment wants him to be a physical fighter, but all of his best Blitzes use his magic stat.

*** Strago has a pretty good ability in Blue Magic, but unfortunately for him, in a game where everyone can use magic, he's almost redundant. His equipment is good, sharing many of Relm's best duds, but it's not enough to make him top-tier.

*** 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't use magic doesn't have a place on any team unfortunately.

** The very top of the list is Robo, a literal do anything robot who can be invested in to fill just about any part on the team. His only low point is that even with investment he doesn't break any records in damage dealing and he needs that investment for any payoff.
** In the high tiers is the specialized attackers in ruff order of their damage dealing capabilities Crono, Ayla, Lucca then Magus. While they lose a few points for not having Robo's utility they make up by dealing the most amount of damage possible within their own field.
** 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.
** And the lowest is Marle, who takes WhiteMagicianGirl a little too far. She lacks a third tier spell for damage, a party wide heal and her final spell is a full revive. Which means she is most invaluable when her healing abilities have proven insufficient.

** The ''Dungeons & Dragons'' community has an ultimate prototype for a (ridiculous) God Tier character: [[OurKoboldsAreDifferent Pun-Pun]], the {{god}} of {{munchkin}}ry. Pun-Pun was initially created for ''Third Edition'' and has been worked out in other editions, as well as various other [=RPGs=], and their own mechanics. It's essentially the most [[MinMaxing min-maxed]] character possible in a given set of mechanics.

*** 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 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 nation 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, Duskblades, and Factotums, who can either do one thing incredibly well and still pull off other tricks passably, or [[MasterOfAll do pretty much anything 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.

*** 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 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 nation with a 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, Duskblades, and Factotums, who can either do one thing incredibly well and still pull off other tricks passably, or [[MasterOfAll do pretty much anything 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.

*** 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.

** 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 [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking 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.

* Similarly, Koei designed ''VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' 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.

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]] BonusBoss [[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.

** Jimmy only had one use, putting [[BonusBoss Al Gore's Secret Service]] to sleep. Other than that, he wasn't useful.

** 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 JokeCharacter Farfetch'd placing highly, while InfinityMinusOneSword Dratini ends up at the bottom: one only requires trading away a common Spearow and is immediately effective, while the other requires either lots of gambling or getting lucky in the Safari Zone, not to mention so much grind it won't be fully evolved until the endgame.

* '''Bottom Tier''': {{Joke Character}}s, and those who are just bad. They ''may'' have an advantage over someone in Top or even Mid 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]], such as "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Roll Tier]]" for example.

* '''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 ([[TierInducedScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], such as "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 The Four Gods]]" for example.

* '''Bottom Tier''': {{Joke Character}}s, and those who are just bad. They ''may'' have an advantage over someone in Top or even Mid 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 ([[TierInducedScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], such as "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Roll Tier]]" for example.

Compare: PVPBalanced, CompetitiveBalance. When a character's tier placement negatively affects players' opinions of him, he becomes a TierInducedScrappy. See also SuperWeight for character power levels narrative-wise.

* 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 [[TierInducedScrappy Tier-Induced Scrappies]] because they are mostly one-trick ponies with lots of easily exploitable weaknesses.

* ''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.

*** 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.

*** 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 incredible 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.
*** Other characters amazing from the get-go, but don't quite hit the heights of Zylo and Domingo include Max, the party leader. 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.
*** Next come the characters who are great but require a little bit of effort. Arthur starts off as a sub-par knight with terrible stats. But thanks to a little effort and MagikarpPower, he becomes the most powerful knight, even managing to learn a little magic. Bleu is also fantastic with his innate flying ability, but requires some attention to be effective. But if given the opportunity, he hits as hard as Zylo.
*** 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 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, and unfortunately uses the scarce spear/lance weapons. Lyle is an archer who hits slightly harder and has better defense than the other two on the Force. 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.
*** Below average characters include those two archers; Hans and Diane, whose attack quickly falls off and never recovers. 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 is Zylo without attack power and the ability 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 couple battles left, leaving him fairly useless. Jogurt is a joke character with 1 in every stat, and no way to get better.

** 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. In one popular system, the top 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 high/top-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 immune]] to mental influence... and that was just a fraction of his abilities.

** The ''Dungeons & Dragons'' community has an ultimate prototype for a (ridiculous) God Tier character: [[OurKoboldsAreDifferent Pun-Pun]], the {{god}} of {{munchkin}}ry. Pun-Pun was initially created for ''Third Edition'' to take min-maxing to its absolute limit in that system, and the character has since then been worked out in other editions as well as versions in other [=RPGs=] mechanics. It's essentially the most [[MinMaxing minmaxed]] character possible in a given set of mechanics.

** The ''Dungeons & Dragons'' community has an ultimate prototype for a (ridiculous) God Tier character: [[OurKoboldsAreDifferent Pun-Pun]], the {{god}} of {{munchkin}}ry. Pun-Pun was initially created in 3.5e and has since been worked out in other editions as well as versions in other [=RPGs=] mechanics. It's essentially the most [[MinMaxing minmaxed]] character possible in a given set of mechanics.

** ''[[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/IceClimber Ice Climbers]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]], [[VideoGame/DrMario Dr. Mario]], 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]]

*** 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.
*** 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.

* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has some degree of tiers; other then 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.

*** 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."

** In fact, until a almost world conquest by a native american faction in a AAR in [=EU3=] [[http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?384744-The-Audacity-of-Hope-An-Iroquois-IN-AAR (Here it is)]], it was considered impossible to become a world power with them, merely surviving being already a lot.

* Similarly, Koei designed VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms 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.

** 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.

*** Umaro pulls up the rear. They really tried, giving him the Snow Scarf (The best defensive armor in the game) as permanent equipment, but an uncontrollable berserker who can't use magic doesn't have a place on any team, unfortunately.

** Strago has a pretty good ability in Blue Magic, but unfortunately for him, in a game where everyone can use magic, he's almost redundant. His equipment is good, sharing many of Relm's best duds, but it's not enough to make him top-tier.

*** Relm has the single highest magic stat in the game and the absolute best equipment of any character. Her special ability is trash, but you'll never use it anyway. Boring but practical. Her only real downside is her availability. At any given moment in the game, she will probably be severely behind on her spell list.

** ''Final Fantasy VI'' 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;

*** Calca and Brina are frail JokeCharacter that have little to recommend them outside of the novelty of Calca's Jive, which casts blue magic spells.

*** Calca and Brina are frail JokeCharacters that have little to recommend them outside of the novelty of Calca's Jive, which casts blue magic spells.

** 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 greatly enhances all of her stats for a limited time. Meanwhile, Celes has the relatively useless Runic ability.
** Mog and Edgar are probably next. By the endgame, their Tools and Dance abilities 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.
** A well-trained Gau is probably next. Like Mog, he can hit max defense, and a wise player knows which Rages get the most bang for their buck (for reference: Stray Cat, Tyrannosaur, Io, Purusa, and Baalzephon).
** Relm has the single highest magic stat in the game and the absolute best equipment of any character. Her special ability is trash, but you'll never use it anyway. Boring but practical. Her only real downside is her availability. At any given moment in the game, she will probably be severely behind on her spell list.
** 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, unpredictable skill to the average player), and Sabin, who despite his memetic badass status, has awful endgame equipment and schizophrenic stats--his equipment wants him to be a physical fighter, but all of his best Blitzes use his magic stat.
** 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.

** 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.
** Umaro pulls up the rear. They really tried, giving him the Snow Scarf (The best defensive armor in the game) as permanent equipment, but an uncontrollable berserker who can't use magic doesn't have a place on any team, unfortunately.

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]] BonusBoss [[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, [[UpToEleven expect even more of this]].

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 [[UpToEleven with said character alone]].

It seems inevitable when you've got a game with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters; 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]] BonusBoss [[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, [[UpToEleven expect even more of this]].

** The ''[[VideoGame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi Tenkaichi]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallRagingBlast Raging Blast]]'' series are notorious for their tiers (which is somewhat expected with [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters over 100 characters]]).

** Due to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 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.

* '''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]] [[ThatOneBoss 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 ([[TierInducedScrappy or not-so-affectionate]]) [[FanNickname nicknames for one or more specific characters belonging in this tier]], such as "[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 The Four Gods]]" for example.

** ''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]], and [[VideoGame/StarFox Wolf]] are near the top, while [[VideoGame/DrMario Dr. Mario]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser Jr., Piranha Plant]], [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf Isabelle]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Ganondorf]], and [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] languish behind the rest of the cast.