Character strength assessment thread

Escaping some setups can be harder with floaty jumps. The more time you spend in the air, more vulnerable you are. I can see some characters baiting you for jump (characters with command grabs in particular), and since Kim’s jump is floaty, you have more time to decide how to punish her for that jump. Other characters with air mobility or that can change their jump angle have better ways to avoid this (Shago could jump into divekick to avoid a punish and start offense)

Still, I wouldn’t consider that a weakness. Like I’ve mentioned, Kim’s air normals are stupid good, and if she really has to avoid something she can use air dash dragons.

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Yeah, I forgot to type about dragon cancels, I totally though that I already put them xD

Friendly discussion leads to agreement ^^

Sadira

Reward A

Sadira has incredible air mobility making it easy for her to get in and get out. While her damage isn’t the greatest, her ability to get in gives her near unlimited cross up opportunities, forcing players to constantly stay on their toes.

Neutral A

Despite spending most of her time in the air, Sadira has very good poking tools, such as standing MK, HK, and LP. Demon Blade is also a great way to get in and it is relatively safe.

Offense A+

Sadira has a myriad of options to get in. Her mix up potential is off the charts. This makes her attacks very unpredictable at high level.

Defense C

Due to the very fact that Sadira needs to be in the air more than other characters and most of those characters have great ways to anti air her, her life can get taken down pretty quickly. With no wake up option without shadow meter, this makes her easy pickings once she’s on the ground. Sadira + Ground + Corner = Dead Sadira

Breakability A+

Being able to mix-match air juggles as well as create very hard to break combos while in Instinct well makes up for her rather easy to break Shadow moves.

Instinct S+

Sadira has one of the best Instincts in the game, hands down. While it has been tammed down a bit, her ability to replace autos and manuals with webs gives her access to incredibly difficult and even some one chance break combos. Also add the ability to jump cancel specials and normals makes her instinct lethal.

Versatility Specialized

Sadira is a very easy character to pick up and as many have complained about, easy to get wins with at lower levels, however she is a very difficult character to master at high level. I chose specialized because not everybody can use her correctly and despite her flashy maneuvers she can be frustrating to use for new comers.

Comeback Factor A+

As a fighter who lives off of impossible comebacks (just had another one!), Sadira has excellent comeback potential, especially once she goes Instinct.

Overall A

Sadira is a polarizing character. Some people love her. Some people hate her. She is easy to pick up, but very difficult to master at high level. Her initial s3 changes hurt her, in terms of damage, but IG’s improvements have given her quite a bit more potential. While she isn’t the scary powerhouse she was in S1 nor S2, she is still a great character that is a LOT of fun to play, if you are willing to invest the time to learn her more complex shenanigans.

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Alright, let me take a stab at this thread. I’ll be reviewing my main Riptor, I know her better than anyone and would like to provide my professional and grade-a analysis. This review will have Infil speechless as I break down each component of her… okay I don’t know jack hah, but I’d like to give my OPINION on Jago. Feel free to disagree, I’m not that concerned with data and whatnot as my playstyle is focused on heart, in regards to Laugh’s theory.


Jago

Reward: S Jago has some of the best selection of enders since he is an all-around character. As a Jago player, it is up to you to decide which ender is best for the matchup. Damage, battery, wallsplat, launcher and even hard knockdown (should you choose to risk the possibility of being broken) is an option. As the Meter King, Jago usually has meter stored for additional damage or even potential juggle combos into one-chance breaks. Despite his recent damage nerfs, Jago still hits hard enough for the opponent to see a large amount of health disappear from their screen.

Neutral: A+ This guy has some fairly good normals in the neutral some of which can be confirmed by his Wind Kick. Did I mention Wind Kick is a great tool for many situations? His lk and mk version of Wind Kick are safe on block and crush lows, the medium version is considerably his best because it cannot be blocked on reaction. The Shadow version of his Wind Kick although recently nerfed, is still a great tool against projectiles and for confirming off his normals at a distance. His DP, thee best in the game for me, does godlike damage and puts people in their place for jumping too much. Should someone block a heavy DP, Jago can cancel it by spending meter.

Offense: S- Jago’s offense can be quite annoying at times because of his frame traps, not to mention his +2 instinct advantage. A far reaching overhead that connects can be confirmed by his Wind Kick and his Endokukens also are fair tools for pressure. His grab can also be canceled into a one chance break damage combo, although it uses all his meter (depending on the situation it can be worth it). His resets are incredible because he can go into ambiguous mixups that most players don’t expect because of his generic move-set. Also, with the addition of charged Endokukens, Jago can continue his pressure at a distance.

Defense: A+ Jago may excel in his offense, but his defense can also be one of his best methods of success. Charged fireballs make him a great zoner against some characters and his DP are what make Jago a threat. Being the Meter King, Jago normally has meter to cancel his blocked wakeup DPs into Shadow Endokukens. His Wind Kick will usually catch players who tend to backdash and will connect against those trying to sweep. His Shadow Counters come often and allow him to go from defensive right into an offensive player.

Breakability: C This is where Jago struggles the most. He is incredibly predictable. Despite Aganos having the slowest ADs (I think?) Jago’s ADs come as the most often broken even when using manuals in my experience. The first character in the roster and the most used to practice on, losses most “surprise elements” when it comes to combos. Although, despite his overused manuals and easy ADs, once someone truly masters Jago’s techniques and fundamentals - he can become incredibly difficult to break. Even then, in order to maximize any combo, Jago will have to rely on his core combo mechanics and risk being broken.

Instinct: S+ Bruh, he gains back health and is +2, need I say more? Seriously though he has access to more pressure than he already had and if he cancels mid-way through his combo Jago can optimize the use of his health gain. Double Endokukens also give anyone a tough time to deal with when blocking.

Versatility: I’ll be honest, I don’t know what these terms refer to in the FGC.

Comeback factor: S Considering all his options, I’d say Jago has a good chance to comeback from the grave, so to speak. In the midst of a loss, Jago with instinct can pull off some astonishing feats of coming back from what is essentially a sure loss. His instinct gives him additional frames for pressure and allows him to heal himself from danger to about 50% give or take.

Overall: S Jago is a well-rounded character, his strengths are abundant and he is easily one of the top best characters in the cast. His core fundamentals revolve the principles of fighting games all together; True DP, Hadoken, lethal neutral. Jago is strongest when those fundamentals are mastered and his move-set is explored. His main weakness is his predictability and easy-to-break combos. Truly, his only major weakness that will make or break Jago is the actual player.

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My take on Jago (as someone who often writes long, wordy posts, I will keep this one shorter than other people. I will also NOT use italics, like a pure rebel):

Reward: A+
A wide assortment of useful enders. Less damaging than he used to be, but very good at building ender level whenever he gets a hit. I think his flipout is only so-so, but he doesn’t need it to be great to have success. On lockout, Jago still does very good damage and can also build instinct for free, which really means you don’t want to early lockout against him.

Neutral: S-
Medium wind kick is great for checks. Double roundhouse is uncontestable without shadow meter, giving super free lockdown if you just happen to be in the way of it. All his sword normals cover lots of space, and guessing with things like shadow fireball is totally viable and hard to stop. He is not that great from full screen, but very scary from about 3-4 characters away. Charged fireball only helps him more. Shadow wind kick is maybe the best shadow move in the game, so opponents have to respect it. DP damage is obscene. Only Jago struggling from half screen or further keeps him from getting top spot here.

Offense: A
It’s better than people think. Plus frames on everything, a good low crush, and an overhead that is lightning fast and hits outside the effective range of most characters’ best pokes. It’s also much less linear now that he has fireball dash cancel.

Defense: S+
For my money, best defense in the game, especially now that Thunder and Eyedol lost some of their silliness. Cinder and Shadow Jago are hard to pin down, but Cinder’s DP has faults and Shadow Jago doesn’t hurt. Canceling best DP into shadow fireball is crazy good.

Breakability: B
I don’t give Jago the worst grade here, because medium wind kick linker is fast and hard to react to. He is probably the character that people have the most practice breaking, but he actually has good help here; strong unbreakable damage with fireball juggles, tricky resets into overhead/low + fireball dash cancel keep people on their toes. Resetting into throw also leads to good damage. Instinct lets him break the manual rules. Don’t lock out because Jago hurts.

Instinct: S+
Top 3 instinct in the game. As long as you don’t activate it full screen, you will always get good reward, even if opponent just blocks it out. Can activate after overhead, low, throw, or DP mixup and get the same reward in all cases.

Versatility: Versatile
Very versatile from midscreen and closer, kinda meh from full screen. But he is usually not locked into fighting his opponent’s game.

Comeback Factor: A
Good, but not best in game. Instinct fireballs really help, and his high initial hit damage helps him overcome deficits with a few reads. Without instinct available, he is just average at comebacks.

Overall: S
Very strong character. Not really weak in anything meaningful, and very strong in some important things. I don’t see him leaving my top 5 for the rest of Season 3.

This. 100% agree. He can get the card out of the jail more often than anybody. Best dp, meter to spare, good normals… a monster

Alright well if the rules aren’t being followed I might as well tear them down! Anarchy, I tell you, anarchy! The italicized text probably isn’t that great for reading anyway, I just wanted a way to distinguish ranking posts from other long posts people might make, but it seems unnecessary. A line break works just as well.

Anyway, here’s my take on a character I’ve picked up recently, TJ:

Reward: B
TJ does solid damage in juggles, gets good damage in neutral from powerline, and always gets good damage from autobarrage ender regardless of ender level. He also has a battery ender which means that if he wants a resource advantage, he can go for that. However, his issues with damage scaling make his extended ground combos weak, and his non-barrage enders don’t hit very hard. He also gets worse mixups from launcher ender at higher ender levels, and has a low-damage shadow counter.

Neutral: B-
On paper, TJ has every option available to blow through what his opponent is doing in neutral, with low crushes, low profiles, armor, feints…loads of options. In practice, there is almost nothing TJ can do without significant risk. Most of his specials have very specific applications and will get blown up if your read isn’t spot-on. His pokes such as far MK, far HK, or his TJ combinations have good reach but are all very punishable on whiff. His walkspeed is also kind of sluggish, and his dashes aren’t very good. Anything TJ wants to do from neutral is a big commitment.

Offense: S-
TJ is a monster up close, with many mixup options, being able to mix up high/low/command grab in pressure, and gaining advantage on block from his stand HP > feint, letting him maintain pressure well. In a wakeup or flipout situation, going up against TJ is extremely nasty. His MP > HP > feint chain can be thought of like a jago double roundhouse that doesn’t commit to the second hit; it’s plus on block (not sure by how much, but plus enough) and easily confirmable into his command grab for a hard to break juggle combo. He does lack in one area, however; he has no light normals that are plus on block.

Defense: B-
TJ has a fully invulnerable combo-starting reversal, but it’s a bit slow and costs meter. His shadow counter also has a hit of armor, but its reward is notably low. He can also beat various offensive options with moves like roll/tremor, but it’s very risky. He has various defensive boons, but each comes with a caveat. Like his offense, his defense is also somewhat held back by his lack of a plus on block light normal, giving him worse than average options for poking out of pressure and getting his turn back.

Breakability: S
TJ is, simply put, the hardest character in the game to break. His juggles can easily avoid recognizable break points, he has sick reset options, his combos can easily transition from ground to air and back, and he gets away with doubles more than any other character due to autobarrage. Basically any combo TJ throws at you is pure guesswork to break.

Instinct: S+
A contender for best instinct in the game, even when stacked up against someone like eyedol. With instinct activated, the improved speed of his moves pushes his neutral up to A+, as options that were previously risks become much safer and harder to avoid. His offense and breakability are both S+; TJ in instinct is a storm you must weather, with greatly expanded manual options and pressure that simply cannot be stopped without a shadow counter or reversal. His defense also improves to A as his backdash is made much faster and his jabs become the best in the game, even letting him punish certain normally safe options.

Versatility: Very specialized
TJ is very good at one thing, and just one thing. His offense is very strong, but he’s not that good in most other areas. If he’s not in your face or not in instinct, there’s a good chance you have the advantage.

Comeback factor: A
His damage may be lacking but TJ’s hurricane offense and incredibly powerful instinct that can even bring him back in the game if a round goes particularly badly mean a comeback is always in sight. He has to fight harder for it than a damage monster like mira, but he’s still in the fight for more of his life bar than she is.

Overall: B
TJ has some significant strengths and no real crippling weakness, but he’s weak in enough areas that he’s not one of the stronger characters. His biggest strength (his offense) requires him to first break through his biggest weakness (his neutral,) and if he screws up he gets punished or put on the defensive where he’s not all that comfortable. Still, he’s a perfectly capable fighter, and has several best-in-game attributes. After enough time with him I’d say he’s probably one of the weaker characters, but the fact that a character this capable might be what the low end of character strength in this game looks like really says something about how balanced KI is.

…Yeah, this format looks better.

OMG! I love the Jago Tiger pic - it’s so CUTE! :heart_eyes:

Also, that movie with Pee Wee is TERRIBLE! I still can’t believe I actually watched the whole thing on Netflix… :weary:

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Figure I’d try my hand again at being a contributor to forum society. (sorry for the constantly replies @Dayv0 , it’s because need to reuse the template and my phone is a butt :sweat_smile: )
#Tusk

-Reward: S+. “My love for you is like a truck.” Spoiler alert: Tusk hits like a runaway ice cream van made of depleted uranium. He doesn’t even need to land a combo to close out a lifebar: Some of his NORMALS do 15-20%! And all of his enders are incredibly advantageous. Stagger ender is basically a wallsplat from anywhere on the screen.

The part that really seals the deal, however, is skewer. Off of any HDK (which can be achieved by 2 of his enders in addition to his throw and jump+HP) he can piledrive the opponent to tack on some extra damage and a chunk of potential damage to boot. At first glance, it seems good but mundane, but it means that nearly any decision he makes results im a win for him.

Let’s look at his suplex as an example.

-Do nothing, take advantage of HDK for setup.
-Skewer, get extra damage. Even if broken, you still get that damage.
-Skewer then Counter Break. Sure, if you’re wrong you get punished, but if you’re right that 15% throw turns into a 65-81% throw.

-Neutral: A. If his sword normals weren’t so unsafe, and if his Spirit Step weren’t so temperamental, he’d be a lot higher. As it stands, he has to make a lot of guesses and earn a lot of respect (or rely on stupidity) to get too far. However, his sword covers so much space that it makes both his approach and counter push games really good when it works. His jump attacks are pretty good for air to ground and AA. He’s also got the ability to destroy fireballs with various attacks, to prevent spam.

-Offense: A. With deflect, Tusk can stuff attempts to poke him out of his approach. He’s got a high-low mixup, but the overhead is REALLY slow. The slide may catch you by surprise, however.
Also keep in mind that his Jump MP functions like a Glacius Jump Kick: Good range allows for some pretty big surprises from the air.

-Defense: S-. He has a DP. 2 versions are invulnerable, 2 of them have deflect windows, all of them lead to a combo. He also has Far HP and Down HP, both of which have massive hit boxes (that reach behind him) with damage to match. Don’t jump at Tusk. He will DAH. You will die.
And his throw is pretty darn good, too. And now that he has some proper Proj. Invulnerability with meter, he can fight back a bit easier now.
Still, being such a huge dude opens him up for some serious annoyances. Fireballs, AA’s, and things that normally would slip past a smaller foe smack him right in the face.

-Breakability: B+. While his auto-doubles are pretty damning at times, his linkers are pretty decent. Skull Splitter hitting an extra time can mess up people’s rhythm, and spirit step can be pretty quick. The real kicker though is Shadow Skull Splitter. Like Hisako, Arbiter, Orchid, and ARIA, Tusk has a shadow move that has a slower, wonkier rhythm than most. AND it deals huge damage as a bonus, so people will REALLY wanna break it, even if they don’t know how. Of course, his DP and Skewer followups are all Heavy, so he can get predictable really quick. And his stagger combos tend to follow certain patterns.

-Instinct: B+. While being able to cancel things into other stuff is incredibly powerful (it makes him nigh impossible to Shadow Counter if done right, and can lead to awesome new juggles) the fact that each cancel costs a chunk of your instinct really limits it’s usefulness. While shot lived, the power boost is tremendous.

-Versatility: Very Specialized. Tusk has a range where he’s really comfortable. A range where he’s close enough to make you sweat, but just out of reach for quicker opponents. Too far away, and Tusk can get zoned out really easily. Spend too much time up close, and a true Rushdown or Grappler can overwhelm him. He needs to be in that sweet spot to truly succeed: Where his sword can do the talking on your road trip to suplex city.

-Comeback factor: A+. A few stray hits and Tusk could be right back in the game. A single counter breaker and your lifebar is gone.

-Overall: A+. Tusk is a very solid character with some frighteningly powerful tools. He’s also, however, plagued with some pretty tender areas. He simultaneously rewards patience and mindless aggression, when he’s in your face but just out of reach. He may not be the quickest or the safest, and he probably attends weekly meetings with certain other members of the cast to deal with his ZISD (Zoner Induced Stress Disorder), but the sheer amount of raw power he wields both physically and psychologically make him one hell of a contender.

HYPOCRISY! :tada::rage::tada:

More or less agree with your Jago rankings, in particular the S+ defense. I think he and Fulgore have the best defense in the game without question, and because of how damaging his DP is and how often he has meter to make it safe, I might give Jago the top billing on that one.

Minor quibbles perhaps with his comeback potential (S- for me, because it isn’t super hard to use Jago’s instinct wisely and it helps make very good comebacks) and offense (S-: not flashy or spectacular, but stupidly solid pressure with generally great options, and difficult to contest b/c of plus frames and threat of DP), but reasonable people can disagree on things.

I have to push back on this; fulgore’s DP is a very strong tool for defense, but the limited nature of his meter means that he’s uniquely susceptible to certain mixups and pressure tools. I wouldn’t argue that his defense isn’t strong, but honestly I think jago is just that much higher above the second best in terms of defense. You could maybe talk me into pushing fulgore’s defense rating from A+ to S-, but I wouldn’t say it’s on par with jago, Mr. “I will always have a bar for shadow counter or to make a DP safe.”

-I agree with @Infilament ratings
-Jago’s defense is best in class. IMO, although Fulgore doesn’t have meter so often, he has other remarkable stuff. Like one of the best backdashes, or the posibility of making his dp safer, punishing with air eye laser some attempts of hitting him after a blocked/whiff dp

I would rate him with a S-, never less

The meter thing is relevant, as Fulgore is simply not particularly well equipped to shadow counter, which is still one of the more potent defensive options in the game. I’d accordingly revise his defense down to S. No lower however - invincible meterless DP (with realistic options to make safe), and one of the best backdashes in the game, even before he gets his reactor-fueled ice skates. He also has shadow teleport, which while not the greatest reversal, still has viable uses in blowing up certain types of pressure. IMO, Fulgore’s defense could at worst only be described as a solid “S”.

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Ok, this is a tough one to do, and maybe I could be wrong with the ratings in some areas: Eyedol

Since Eyedol has 2 different stances, I’m going to evaluate both of them. The first value is for Warrior, second for Mage

Reward: B- // C
-Warrior: Warrior doesn’t have great damage during combos. He can set up some mixups after some of his enders, like command grab after a wall-splat, but he has overall poor damage
-Mage: As warrior, Mage damage is low, even lower than warrior. His enders can be useful, setting some follow ups with Qcb K ender for pips. His battery ender is very bad: poor damage and poor meter gain.

Neutral: S- // A
-Warrior: Eyedol’s normals during Warrior stance are very good. His overhead, although reactable, has really good range, and recaptures airborne opponents. His lows have good reach, and MP is almost as fast as a light and decent range. His DP is very versatile, and can be used situationally as juggling tool or for recapturing juggled opponents. It also has a really good hitbox, both vertical and horizontal. His command grab, albeit deals almost no damage, fuels his mage stance, it’s fast and can fish distracted opponents, and leaves you in a good spot to start your offense, specially in the corner. His dashes and walkspeed are good too.
-Mage: Mage has lots of tools to fill the screen with projectiles, covering air, ground, and even teleport approaches. He can hit confirm from fullscreen into short and not damaging combos any proyectile, and even get pips for Warrior. He can teleport and get a pip from his opponent to punish almost anything they try from fullscreen. The downside is his lack of mobility, and he is specially weak to characters who can avoid projectiles easily(Spinal can fullscreen Power devour and just wait him to switch stance or slowly get in).

Offense: A+ // B+
-Warrior: His normals cover good space, has a good cross up attack, long reaching lows, a long reaching overhead which recaptures, a command grab, and Crushing Destroyer is safe on block, but is easy to shadow counter. Even better with pips to make him more unpredictable. His bigger issue is that some moves are easy to shadow counter, like Crushing Destroyer or F+HP
-Mage: Is easy to confirm any special into more specials from fullscreen, albeit deals poor damage. Up close, there are some dirt setups, like c.Mk into l. meteor for a low/high mixup. Overall, Mage has good tools to open his opponent, but poor damage or setup potential. It works mostly as backup for warrior, fueling himself with pips, and annoying his opponents

Defense: S- // C+
-Warrior: A versatile DP, shadow DP leads to juggle opportunity, so he transitions quickly between defense and offense, decent backdash, good and fast normals, good throw range… Warrior has everything he needs to defend himself
-Mage: His back teleport is a reversal, but a bad one. Bad backdash, mage has a real though time when defending himself. Currently, Shadow lighting has a really fast startup, and albeit is not a reversal, can take your opponent out in a surpising high number of times

Breakability: B+ // B-
-Warrior: His auto doubles during warrior stance are curious: Heavy and Medium doubles are very similar in the first hit, so some people gets locked down for this. His air combos have some obvious breaking points, and shadow qcb+k is trivial to break. Crushing destroyer is easy to break, but not mashable. He can use pips to make his combos harder to break, cancelling some breakable hits into surprise attacks.
-Mage: Mage lacks anything to make his auto doubles harder to break, but he has some projectile combos which are unbreakable, albeit they deal poor damage.

Instinct: S+
Probably the best instinct in the game. A great rushdown character and a great zoning character, at the same time. He gets better in almost everything: Reward: A, Neutral: S/S+, Offense: S-, Defense: S, Comeback factor: S+. Only his breakability remains unchanged, even situationally worse, since his shadow linkers are really easy to break. If every character would have infinite instinct, maybe Eyedol would be the best character of the game.

Versatility: Very specialized in being Versatile
Funny, Eyedol by himself is very versatile, but each stance is very specialized XD

Comeback Factor: A- / B / S+
Both mage and warrior aren’t supreme comeback characters, but instinct Eyedol it’s just nuts. If he has instinct, he can win the game, specially with meter.

Overall: A
Eyedol is a great character, but the random stance change is both his best and worst characteristic. Against some characters, only one stance is useful, while against others both are great. His gameplay must be improvised, since the stance switch could happen any time, so he requires adaptability, both to be played or faced.

I would raise the grade on Cinder’s Instinct. There are a TON of factors here this Instinct really good.

  • You gain access to a Dhalsim-long reaching LOW that you can start a combo from if you have Shadow. If they block this ridiculously far-reaching move, it just builds more white life for a stronger cashout.

  • You have a DP that starts combos with no meter at all.

  • You can set Burnouts on people for free off of a throw.

  • You can activate it in the air. This is something that I think a lot of people seem to forget about when they talk about Cinder’s Instinct. By being able to activate it in the air, you can extend your juggles like nobody else can (except for maybe Sadira), and react to things differently.

  • You get improved mobility with the use of an additional Trailblazer. This mobility helps with juggles as well.

  • You get improved zoning with Pyrobombs that can be used for juggles too. You can also get better extensions as well with the better juggle effect.

  • You get better frame data on Fission which lets it be cancellable into Shadow Fission as a true blockstring again.

This is a lot I tell you.

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Ey @BHswordsman09, whould you like to share your ratings for Cinder?
@KevBones10, would you like to rate Eyedol or Arbiter?
@SlenderCashew50, Would you do Gargos?
@SithLordEDP still hasn’t posted Raam :frowning:
@lHagenl, would you like to share your Kan-Ra ratings?

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Most of my ratings would be similar to @SonicDolphin117’s.

I’d just increase Instinct and his Comeback Factor slightly.

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Let me take a stab at ARIA:
-Reward: B+
ARIA is in the lower half for damage and only has access to a damage ender 1/3 of the time. OTOH, she can always use her HKD and launcher enders on any body. The HKD is great for setting up the vortex with the assists and there are a load of variations for that; the launcher opens up both air and ground flipouts each of which create their own mix-ups.
-Neutral: S
Aria has one of the best neutrals in the game. In all bodies, shotgun blitz can whiff punish from more than half the screen away and the various HKs and MKs cover a lot of screen with big hitboxes. In booster body she’s very hard to pin down and more mobile than almost the entire cast. In blade body she has a fantastic poke that can be cancelled into an opener. The blade itself causes chip damage which is unique among normals, I believe. Bass body has 3 angles for fireballs and one of the best dashes in the game. And I haven’t even mentioned the assists and their role.
-Offense: A-
In general Aria will always have more openers than her opponent, but the damage output is low. She’s also hampered as the only character that loses options as she gets damaged.
-Defense: B+
Her great neutral is her best defense, but her wakeup and corner games are not great. If she could call an assist to cover her wakeup, it’d work great, but she can’t. Also calling assists has a long startup so can’t really help her get out of a corner. Blade body DP is fine, but booster body vertical crescendo will only hit opponents who’ve never faced Aria before as the hitbox is very narrow.
-Breakability: Shadow shotgun blitz is notoriously hard to break as it’s counter-intuitive. MP and LP AD are easy to mistake one for the other but her best AD are kicks not punches. Otherwise, she’s average to break.
-Instinct: A
Careful health management will get 3 bodies together during Instinct, which makes her one of the best in the game for a short period of time. During Instinct it’s very hard to get a level 3 or 4 ender as the damage is spread amongst all 3 bodies.
-Versatility: Very versatile… until she loses her first body.
-Comeback Factor: D
Probably the worst in the game. Low damage, and the only character in the game that gets worse the longer the game goes. No other character loses options as the game goes on (except Mira but not as dramatically).
-Overall: A+
If allowed to play her game she can be extremely frustrating to play against and very hard to escape her many setups and stiffling neutral game. A lockout can knock out a body and put Aria in the backfoot instantly, though.