Power Ranking / Tier List using Story and Lore

General Discussion
1

So ever since our Big-Baddy-Boss-Daddy Gargos showed up I been thinking… (something I seldom do)

STORYWISE, How do all the characters stack up against each other, power scale wise?

Who’s the strongest? The most powerful?

Who’s the weakest? The least likely to come out alive in a fight?

Who’s the king of swing? The mid-cards in the School-yards? The head honchos wearing the ponchos? The Low-Ballers that Got-No-Dollars? the Mac-Daddies of Boom-Ba-Laddies? (After reading what I just typed I’m 90% sure I may be a very annoying person…)

If there’s already a forum post about this subject, my apologies! You can banish me to the stasis tubes of ARIA’s Love-Nasium!

Either way show me how you think the KI characters stack up in a tier list /:power ranking against each other based on Lore from the story modes, Novellas, and cutscenes!

A couple things to follow though (my apologies for the rules)…

  1. Let’s keep it to the KI 2013 game alone. There’s been so much retconning from the old classic games, that we can open up a whole new can of Shadow-Worms bringing KI1 and KI2 into the mix.

  2. These lists should be based on story/lore alone. Not actual gameplay, online tiers.

  3. If in your list you have any characters in spots you find interesting or different from what other people would think, tell us why :D. It’s always interesting to see people’s ideas/views on this stuff.

  4. Probably don’t include Guest characters (unless you really want to…)

Anyway here’s my power ranking list. From most powerful to least powerful:

  1. Gargos (duh…)

    gargoyle bruh.jpg600×400 62.1 KB

  2. Tusk (Hinted at being a Demi-God)

  3. Jago (I base this on his true potential)

  4. Kim Wu (All that chosen-one stuff gets me thinking she’s way more powerful then we know)

  5. Shadow Jago

  6. ARIA (*** I would actually put her closer to the bottom but… In all honesty ARIA is a little weird. I don’t think physically she’s that powerful. But her ability to control multiple bodies and manipulate situations in the background make her extremely dangerous)

  7. Aganos

  8. Kan Ra

  9. Glacius

  10. Cinder (not sure about this one)

  11. Thunder

  12. TJ Combo

  13. Hisako (Not sure because her power seems to be based on how many souls she’s devoured…)

  14. Omen

  15. Spinal

  16. Maya (I’m basing this on her daggers being ancient weapons of power so this could be wrong)

  17. Mira

  18. Orchid

  19. Saberwulf (another one I’m unsure about)

  20. Fulgore (This one I’m very unsure about. His mass production models are full of such, but the Eagle/Fulford model is tougher…)

  21. Riptor (Same as Fulgore)

  22. Sadira (everytime she appears in the lore, she gets beat)

…

… Street level punks

… Rodents

…

100 Ryat Adam’s Hopes and Dreams (Post ARIA going “let’s kill everyone!” Loco)

On a separate note I truly hope that the final Season 3 character is Ryat Adam’s Hopes and Dreams XD. All of his moves can be based around crying in the corner. Once he gets his instinct meter he curls into the fetal position and cries some more… Now that’s a Fighting Game character archetype that no one’s used before!

Anyway show me what you guys think would be a more accurate Power ranking for the characters of KI! And again if there is already a post about this, I apologize.

2

Shouldn’t kim be above Gargos? She’s destined to defeat him so one would assume her power is greater than his? Unless it’s some bs like “oh, the Dragon spirit causes Gargos to weaken when it’s near him” or something.

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3

Yeah see I’m not sure. You could be right. Would you put her above Jago then?

… Maybe Gargos just gets really incontinent when the Dragon spirit is near…

Gargos be like “Yo! Yer dragons be backing me up little Chica! Back on up!” And Kim is like “Nuh Uh old gargoyle bro!!”

No idea why they talk like that…

.

Seriously though I half expect the dragon spirit to be a lie kinda like the Tiger spirit and Jago… Can anyone say Eyedol? Hehe

4

It is hard to tell since this games story has the ‘power of fighters’ being inconsistent

for example Hisako beating Cinder in her story but in Cinders story they fight again with him winning
another being Riptor being defeated by Maya and next thing she beats Maya

It happens in Mortal kombat as well e.g. Johnny defeating Scorpion and Subzero but later on scorpion beats him solo the same said for Sonya blade…or something like Jax beating Liu kang, Cassie beat corrupted shinnok but her and her team lose to Subzero

Its not a bad thing it just makes things less clear for me…Street fighter is the only one with consistent power levels even up to SFV.

But what you made I would agree with…Although I would have put Hisako up higher since she beat up everyone at ultratech for disturbing her

Eagle/ Fulgore might be high up just because it has beaten Orchid and I presume Thunder (not 100%)
Same with the Riptor we play as

Gargos I would agree with since he is pretty much the M. Bison of KI

Overall I pretty much agree :slight_smile:

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5

Why is Fulgore so low D: I understand the mass produced ones but shouldn’t the Eagle/Main one be seperate?

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6

Yeah. I was thinking of the mass produced ones specifically. Probably should change that. Although I’m not sure where Fulgore would go.

7

Yeah I do find it interesting how the characters can go back and forth and win one day, and then lose another time to the same opponent. Although that simply could be an example of the characters training more / illegal use of moose blood (ALWAYS DRINK YOUR MOOSE BLOOD KIDS!)

8

I honestly think it is impossible right now to rank the characters. There are so many factors that are just unknown quantities that any list will have faults.

IMO the only quantifiable spots right now are probably 1-5…

KI Ranking.PNG621×863 9.26 KB

…with the rest just being opinion.

Gargos is obviously at the top, with Shago (season 1 version) and Omen behind him.

Hisako is up there as she is the only character canonically to have defeated ARIA so far, and ARIA is just a boss…and is canonically the one entity that currently has the potential to stop Gargos alone.

Other than that it is up for discussion who goes where. Tusk, Kim and Jago are up there, but so is Fulgore, Spinal, and Cinder…not to mention Aganos, Glacius, and [insert character here]. I think objectively the “weakest” characters are Sabrewulf, Riptor, and Sadira, but honestly I think they just haven’t had a time to shine on there own yet.

  • Sabrewulf is written as a character WHO DOESN’T WANT TO FIGHT and who has also given in to his primal side. Sabrewulf is dangerous as in he can kill just about any of these guys given the chance, but he is mindless most of the time, thus can easily be outsmarted.

  • Riptor has done some significant things in the lore so far (herding the heroes to the Nightguard outpost), but only as a part of a team/pack. She is written as a henchman, and thus she seemingly isn’t meant to be a threat on her own.

  • Sadira is interesting…

Sadira is essentially a henchman of UT, but she has plans of her own. She is the head of an organization of her own. She climbed to the top of the Red Eyes on her own, but since she has been allied with UT/ARIA she has been met with defeat and failure. Thing is though, she was set up a few of those times by ARIA herself, and often times her missions during those fights weren’t to “defeat” her enemies, but to fulfill some other purpose. Case in point, her fight against Glacius.

Technically Glacius won that fight, but Sadira achieved her goal, and ultimately Glacius and his DNA were captured…so did she actually “win”? Sadira could be perceived as weak according to the details of her accomplishments in the story, thus I put her low on the list, but I think there is a good argument for her being in the middle of the pack with everyone else.

…

All in all, most of the characters overlap in terms of skill and power, thus most of the characters would/could go back and forth in battle. Some people would call it “plot armor,” but in my honest opinion that is how it should be. TJ can beat Fulgore, but like wise Fulgore can beat Orchid. Riptor DID beat Jago, but yeah, Jago, according to the story, was at his weakest since he was recuperating from his separation with Omen. it just is what it is, and allows all the characters to be strong and around the same level…for the most part.

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9

As much as I would love to do this there isn’t a ton of info to go on to place these guys IMO . There are a few we can assume like Gargos being #1. The story implies Tusk is pretty up there too. Obviously Kim Wu cause story and even Jago (Dragon Spirit seems to think he’s a big deal).

ARIA I assumed would be close to top tier but Tusk apparently can rek her bodies pretty easily so idk. We could argue she wasn’t going all out or something, but that would be speculation on my part and holds no weight.

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10

I love all the info people are giving here! And I agree. Looking back it is hard to identify an accurate list and there is a lot of overlap.

Yeah ARIA is a toughy. She’s almost like Doom with prep or Batman with time. A super rich techno wizard that uses technology and insight to win fights in the long run.

*** I believe there is one thing we can all agree to though ***

Ryat Adam’s Hopes and Dreams are easily CRUSHED by all contenders! (Pictures old man sobbing in corner)

11

I think it’s strange that y’all seem to list Riptor beneath a whole bunch of martial artists. She’s a cybernetic, fire-breathing velociraptor. Forget about who beat who in an arcade ladder, and seriously mull over the fire-breathing, cybernetic dinosaur aspect. Her appearance in ladders is a strictly meta means of making such a creature a playable character. By my reckoning, the only logical combat scenario involving Riptor and any of the simple humans (werewolf included) is them barely acknowledging her with a “holy crap, is th…” before their graphic death by murdersaur. We are talking about a velociraptor, after all.

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12

Yeah I think I may have underestimated old Mizz Rippy…

BUT

… keep in mind even “simple humans” in this game have augmented powers and seem to be used to fighting “weird” creatures.

All in all though I’m getting a common opinion from everyone here that unlike a lot of fighting game lore out there, Killer Instinct’s characters seem to be able to win and lose to anyone. Kinda like real life oddly enough :open_mouth:. Simply being the “strongest” doesn’t mean you’ll automatically win.

I compare the characters to apples and oranges. I think we can all agree that it’s common knowledge that in a knife fight involving magical cleavers, an apple will ALWAYS beat an orange. But if an orange is given a cursed monkey’s foot, then it might be able to turn the tables on the apple… …

Yup… COMMON KNOWLEDGE!

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13

I think you are misunderstanding a little bit.

Riptor is no doubt strong, dangerous, and versatile, but in the lore she hasn’t done much…alone that is. She was said to be the best of the Stalkers, thus she was was named their leader, and also she defeated/proved herself worthy when she fought Sadira in the S2 Rivals mode, but when she fought the the heroes she was always leading her pack. The only other character she fought 1v1 was the OG Riptor, and really (at least imo) that shouldn’t count in this discussion.

But anyway, don’t take her listing as concrete, or even at face value. I believe she can beat any other character on any given day, given the right circumstances, she just hasn’t been given the right story/opportunity/motivation. Riptor isn’t crazed like sabrewulf as she is a smart and calculating predator, but she also isn’t focused and growing/developing like a Jago is. Riptor’s story just needs more time to cook imo, and I believe we will get more to go off with her as things go on.

FYI: as a comparison, Riptor is like Baraka from MK in many ways. Baraka is a strong fighter in that universe, but in most of the stories he simply plays the role of a henchman. Baraka did get more prominent role as the story progressed though, and if the novella keeps going I’m sure Riptor will get her chance to.