The list is meant to be on who you think is the strongest/weakest in the game not the most you have fun with
Bottom 3 (I still believe theyāre all viable)
Aganos: This character is so much fun like honestly what is not fun about punching someone through one/multiple walls. IG did a good job and I love this character but aganos does struggle to sometimes get the job done. In a game of mostly offense itās hard to have solid defense when ur character is getting crossed up or grabbed at ranges u would think it wouldnāt work. Heās a strong character for sure as once he gets chunks and walls going he is a monster but once you take him to corner and he has no chunks GG. Thereās quite an often situations where thereās nothing you can do because he has no wake up. I am worried however what buffs Aganos is getting as the wrong buff can easily make him high mid or top tier and I donāt know how to feel about that cause I do love the challenges Aganos brings
Hisako: A very heavy read character using her counter(Which can be a big problem for her), has a really good grappler vortex and able to still do a counter during her shadow (which I personally think shouldnāt be a thing). She has trouble getting in and for the most part has to take a risk by doing her shadow rekkas. She also suffers having no wake up and either having to hold up or do her two frame command grab.(Yes obviously wake up block is a thing to)
Omen: This character as goofy as he looks I wish he got more love or seen more in design and gameplay cause heās so entertaining to watch. Heās missing something but Iām not sure what maybe an OH or having a bit more control over the randomness of his fireballs. He has a good grab which he can do amazing resets and pretty good air mobility. Watching and playing against pretty good omens is always such a treat for me and makes me want to main him. I hope with all the season 3 tweaks that the characters are getting I hope he gets one as well and not just get skipped over because heās a ābonus characterā
She canāt, and it isnāt
Shadow rekka is a terrible move to do in neutral. Unless someone is throwing a fireball at you at that exact moment, you should almost never be throwing this out. She has much better ways to get in.
And I made another list with the characters I feel are the strongest/weakest in the thread, once Iād realized that.
She canāt? Iām pretty sure ive been countered when I SC her shadow rekkas. I thought she needed full wrath to cancel and go into counter state. By throwing out Shadow rekkas in neutral I meant against characters like Kan Ra Glacius or Fulgore.
No, she canāt. She can cancel out of her normal rekkas, but she canāt counter cancel ANY of her shadow moves. Iām unaware of any shadow counter that comes out so slowly that Hisako recovers in time to counter it.
Not trying to crap over your memory or anything, but what youāre describing really isnāt possible. Iād love to see a video of it - it would mean youāve found a new bug with the character.
Well I use Aganos and we all know he has a pretty good SC. Really I could have sworn thatās happened to me. Welp heading to the lab once I get home to check
my top 3 fun characters are spinal, cinder and riptor.
top 3 best are jago, thunder and fulgore
top 3 less characters (for me) aganos, sadira and glacius. the ones i dont like.
Riptor / Hisako confirmed by the community to be bottom 3.
Letās not forget about Aganos. See, our struggle is real!
Neutral jump into throw may not beat possession if they use the longer versions (like heavy), although it does beat influence. Instead of throwing, I recommend you use Aganosā jumping MK (on the way down from the neutral jump), as itās a great ambiguous attack that may or may not result in a crossup into a full-on combo punish (actual crossup jumps into this are good too). Sure, a throw results in a hard knockdown, but thatās only if it works - otherwise, itās a genuine risk, since if you miss-time it, sheāll literally eat you alive. Alternatively, you could also use his jumping HP, since itāll bounce her off of the ground - you can then hit her with another single normal or special attack. Or you could use his jumping HK, which can cause a potential wall-bounce. Sure, she can counter any of these attacks if sheās quick enough, but thatās why you pay attention to whether she has wrath meter or not to do it mid-move, and not only that, but even with the possibility of a counter-move, itās still a much lower risk than attempting the throw.
Top 3.
Kan-Ha: One of the characters (if not the most) that requires less effort to put you in a vortex. Essentially your defense must be PERFECT and often heāll open you up without even knowing, because he traded a forgotten bugs when you though you opened him up and the multi-hitting bugs will hitstun you until he wakes up and start a combo.
TJ Combo: Maybe at the highest level of tournament play heās just ok but on high-but-not-tournament level he can get away with too much stuff without any repercussion. Itās a less serious version of the same problem Kan-Ha causes, he can just do stuff and if your defense isnāt perfect eventually something will hit.
Fulgore: I would be perfectly ok with Fulgore staying the way he is. Heās powerful but I believe heās the more honest powerful character of the cast. He has to work to open you up and get punished real bad if he misses. Heās just in my list because, well, itās a top 3 most powerful list, not a ātop 3 need to nerfā list.
Bottom 3.
Orchid: Hard work with no pay. I donāt think sheās that bad per se but compared with the rest of the cast sheās the one that needs perfect offense to open you up. At least she has good damage when that finally happens.
Aganos: Recent tournaments have shown me that Aganos can get real crazy in the right hands, but those are very specific hands he needs or else he canāt even move. I donāt think this is the game to have a character that can be perfected if you donāt know what youāre doing (and by that I mean donāt know how to use Aganos specifically).
ARIA: The best āworst characterā of my list. Same as Fulgore I donāt think she needs change, sheās just in my list because you have to point three. I just find it strange that a character that gets less powerful as the match continues feels so ānormalā. I expected someone like Kan-Ha to have this characteristic, a crazy powerful character but that getās less powerful as the match goes on and even has a move that puts himself in danger.
If Hisako is throwing a possession at you on knockdown, sheās generally looking for two results: you getting caught by the possession, or you getting caught by a counter from jump+button. If Iām doing possession on your wakeup at all, thereās a better than even chance that Iāve got the wrath stocked to cancel it into counter if I see you go up in the air. Good Hisakoās donāt generally throw out possession without the wrath to back it up. Sure weāll gamble on occasion with it, but escaping possession with jump+button is really not something you should get into the habit of doing. Youāll eat a lot more combos than you really need to. Against Hisako throw is very often your best punish, and you should make peace with this.
While you are technically correct that heavier influences can punish jump->throw, that is generally an adaptation to something you as a player have forced the Hisako to do. Heavy possession (which you almost have to use to catch a floaty jump into throw) has quite a bit more startup, so itās tougher to time meaty, particularly off of a soft knockdown where youāre not 100% sure when the guyās getting up anyway. Accordingly, itās generally not used to pressure your wakeup until youāve proven that you know how to properly punish possession on oki. If I see you jump->throw me once or twice Iāll switch to it, but itās not really my preference. Itās harder to do, uses more wrath, and doesnāt really give you all that much more for the extra effort.
Being wrong on jump->throw gets you possessed, which is decent damage and a soft knockdown, which means Hisako doesnāt get to refill her wrath. Being wrong on jump+button will have you eating a full combo into whatās likely to be a hard knockdown and a full wrath bar. In the grand scheme of things, trying to punish an oki possession with anything other than a throw (or jumping projectile) is simply not worth it. Like breaking a random juggle it has its time and place, but it isnāt something you should be trying to do with any regularity. Thatās my take on it anyways.
Top 3. Maya- She isnāt a very mixup heavy character but she can get an unblockable and 50% for free if your opponent blocks too much which is most certainly strong
TJ- The man can come back to life with his instinct and he isnāt that bad of a character with his command grab, invincibility roll and armor charge
Spinal- He can take away your instinct and meter which EVERY character needs and it doesnāt take that much to get him going
@CStyles45
Thinking back about this topic, I think the āhighest tierā characters in Killer Instinct are the ones that a)donāt need to work as hard to put themselves in situations where their game plan works, or b) can succeed in more situations.
Iāve seen characters that arenāt considered good by a lot of people (including me) turned into top tier monsters in the right hands.
I didnāt really think ARIA or Kan-Ra were that threatening until I saw Sleep in Frosty Faustings (both this year and last year).
I always kinda regarded Thunder as a lower tier underdog until I saw tournament Thunders (and realized his Sammamish beats projectiles. That completely rocked my world.)
I didnāt think much of Aganos until I fought you and @GalacticGeek
Fulgore.
For a while, I avoided playing Riptor because I started seeing how unsafe and breakable she looked to me, but now sheās one of my mains.
A lot of my experience with this game has been āMan, this character just doesnāt seem very good,ā followed by āHOW DID THEY DO THAT?! This character is a monster!ā
TL;DR
I think that thereās lot to be discovered with characters that are underappreciated. While they have a tougher time or are more situational than some of the more ādominantā characters, some of the people in this community have taken them to new heights.
Regardless of current tier lists, it will be fun to see how everyone evolves going into Season 3. Buffs, Nerfs, Burfs, Overhaulsā¦
Lot of new stuff to learn.