Character Tiers: Difference between revisions
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* In ''[[Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'', the Japanese developed a different tier list for the characters (partially because unlike in the United States, the players didn't stop thinking that [[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. 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 [[Joke Character]] to [[Lethal Joke Character]].
* [[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 [[Tournament Play]].
* ''[[
** In contrast, in ''[[
** The Continuum Shift II update is considered to be very well balanced. On the top we have Makoto and Noel, and on the bottom Tager. Most characters are viable, and tournaments top 8 generally have few overlapping characters. In fact a Hakumen and a Tsubaki, both low tier, won national tournaments in US and Japan.
** 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 be high in tier list.
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== Role Playing Games ==
* A big thing in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' fandom, where the participants don't stop simply at unit performance. They also take into account joining time, joining requirements, 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]] [[Random Number God|the system works]] in ''[[Fire Emblem]]'', the vast majority of characters are at least usable (and most of the ones that aren't are because they join super-late in the game) 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. The community judges a character's stats based on averages for their level progression.
* ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', 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.
* [[Radiata Stories]] 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.
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* ''[[Disgaea]]'' has some degree of tiers; other then the in-game tiers (unlocked by levelling up their "lower tier" units), some classes have definite advantages over other; until you realise that [[Game Breaker|Divine Majins]] beat ''everything'' except ''maybe'' Flonne in a ''single'' stat. They are very time-consuming, though.
** Later games balanced this out a little, to the point where in Disgaea 3, Majins are considered the worst class in the game.
* ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'':
** The more races a character has, the more abilities they can learn and the more versatile they can become. Hence characters like Alice (six races) and Alicetroemeria (seven races) are in the top tiers while single-race characters tend to be in the lower tiers.
** Some races are simply better than the others due to having high stats, elemental resistances and status resistances (Apoptosis being a major offender). On the other end of the scale, Human characters were initially low tier, because the Human race has low stats and, when the game was first released, couldn't advance to higher races. Playing with an all-human party (and not using exceptions to the rule, like Luka, the King of San Ilia or the Worm Summoners) effectively meant playing on a higher difficulty level. This was fixed with the release of the second chapter, which has sidequests that allow Humans to advance in race and also gain access to the Vampire race.
** All characters have a unique trait that differentiates them from other characters. Traits can range from weak and/or only useful in specific circumstances to being extremely powerful.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** In 3rd edition, versatility (how many problems a character can contribute to solving) is at least as important as power (how powerful the character's abilities are for problems) in tiering. 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 [[Crippling Overspecialization|less versatility]] or [[Master of None|less power]]. In general, while a character of any tier can be a [[Game Breaker]] with the right factors, only a high-tier character can be a [[Story-Breaker Power|Story Breaker]] - imagine how ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' would have turned out if Gandalf could teleport any distance, read minds, identify any item instantly, and make anyone [[
** More in-depth: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130818110005/http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5293 The generally agreed list] is six tiers. Tier 1 is for characters like wizards, clerics, and druids, who learn loads of powerful spells and abilities and learn even more with every new book. Tier 2 is for characters like sorcerers, psions, and favored souls, who learn powerful spells and abilities, albeit more restrictively (the creator compared it to the difference between a nation with a thousand nukes and one with ten). Tier 3 is for characters like bards, factotums, and duskblades, who can either do one thing pretty well and still be useful, or do everything appreciably. Tier 4 is for characters like rogues, barbarians, and rangers, who can do one thing pretty well and only that thing, or can do a lot of things without ever really shining. Tier 5 is for characters like fighters, monks, and paladins, who can do only one thing (and not all that well), or can only ever achieve [[Master of None]] level. Tier 6 is for [[Joke Character]]s, plus [[Tier-Induced Scrappy|the samurai.]] And then there's [[Broke the Rating Scale|Truenamer]], which is like Tier 7 in uselessness, and Planar Shepard, a [[Prestige Class]] that's referred to as being "Tier 0".
** Tiers themselves are based on "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 [[Physical God|Tarrasque]] in a single turn. In the hands of the right munchkin many classes can be equal to higher tiers.<ref>except for the Complete Warrior Samurai</ref> The Truenamer breaks the tier system by dint of its mechanics not being properly thought out, getting worse by every level, until level 19 when it will just spam Gate Celestial Angels.
** The 4th edition of D&D sought to remove this by making all the classes follow the same progression, so ''everyone'' is [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|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..
** 3.5e successor [[Pathfinder]] strives to make all characters much more balanced. All classes received upgrades, but low tier 3.5 classes received more extensive rewrites while powerful 3.5 classes only received minor enhancements to make them more fun to play. A good example is that the Wizard, a top tier character, received new abilities which are hardly worth a mention and had many metamagic feats nerfed, while the Paladin, a tier 5, had its trademark Smite Evil and Lay on Hands abilities boosted to undreamed of levels. The overall effect is to make the more worthless classes more enjoyable to play, though competent casters can still break the universe in half.
** 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 [[Squishy Wizard]] 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.
* While it is generally agreed that tabletop wargames ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** It's a joke among the 40k fandom that you're not allowed to bitch that GWS hates/ignores your army... unless you play Dark Eldar (who have not gotten a codex update in ''twelve years'').<ref>This is no longer true</ref> <s>[[Internet Backdraft|Or Squats.]]</s>
** You can still bitch about Necrons, though. It is a fact universally acknowledged that Necrons suck.
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** Low: Ashenzari, Cheibrados, Fedhas Madash, Jiyva, Nemelex Xobeh, Xom, and Zin.
*** Actually, the race/class combos are tiered right when the player starts a new game. Upon selecting a race, the class options are either lighted (recommended) or not (not recommended). After picking a qualifying combo, starting weapon type or starting god are ranked in similar way.
* Non-gaming example: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140122053030/http://memegenerator.net/tier/god Meme Generator], [[Captain Obvious|which is a website for]] [[Memetic Mutation|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.
* The ''[[Geneforge]]'' series uses a [[Point Build System]], 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
** '''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.
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