Character pros/cons/playstyle

The Small Cheez

The Small Cheez

[09] Warrior
So we all know that tier lists don't really mean much, yet some people still refer to them when they are looking to pick a main. I know in the past I have based character selection off of tier lists, and I had a bad time. I'd like to propose something different. With the help of the community (since I'm no expert by anyone's standards), I would like to start a project to list each characters pros/cons and playstyles. I will compile and update
information from your posts and make a beginners guide to choosing a character. Again, this is NOT a tier list, and for all intents and purposes we will assume that no character is better than another. I will do Patroklos as an example, and if anyone wants to add something or disagree with me, please post and let me know, since I'm not a pat expert.
Patroklos
Playstyle: rushdown
Execution: easy
Pros: good guard pressure, good damage, strong oki, good movement, safe moves, builds meter quickly
Cons: poor range in general, limited mixup

Look forward to your responses! Keep it cool, yall.
 
I like the idea.

Mitsurugi

Playstyle: Can be played as a turtle or rushdown or a combination of both.
Execution: Easy
Pros: Strong pokes, 2KB, Great frames all around, very good movement, versatile CE, 4b.
Cons: Blocked 2KB, some of his best moves are linear, very limited oki on his throws
 
Cervantes

Play style: Turtle/whiff baiting
Execution: moderate to high (in SC terms); iGDR is essential to basically all combos.
Pros: Excellent meterless damage, great backstep, i11 aB, infinite 2A range
Cons: Several key moves which you MUST use are ridiculously unsafe, poor punishment from crouching

Algol

Play style: HERO KING, feng shui expert (chair placement is crucial)
Execution: iFC 8B can be marginally tricky after 66B BE.
Pros: Manliness, nudity, range, backdash, combo potential, heavy i16 punishment, nudity (again)
Cons: Sidestep? What sidestep? No -12 punish, assortment of BS random glitches and strangeness that make his shit go wonky for no discernible reason
 
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Ezio

Playstyle: Jack of all trades
Execution: Low
Pros: Safety, killing movement, lol 2K lol BB BE. Most of his moveset is extremely solid.
Cons: Ass ringout capability, can be difficult to provoke opponent to move to get high damage step kills. Most of his moveset is solid, so he lacks high damage multitasking bullshit at times.
 
Maxi

Playstyle: 6A+B/1K/WR B+K/etc. pressure.
Execution: Low, (EDIT): B+K JF can be somewhat challenging to get the hang of. A move that is essential if you want the most efficient whiff punishes.
Pros: Has a incredibly strong, i16, safe mid that knocks down on hit, can be BE'd for more damage and range. Has a move that TC's while also stepping. Has dumb 2A range.
Cons: A lot of step killers become really wonky and don't want to track, especially when stepping to his left. No menacing lows, jump attacks are pretty bad.

EDIT: Also possibly one of the best 3K's in the game, incredible range, good frames.

ZWEI

Playstyle: Try not to lose
Execution: Low
Pros: Has the capability to deal some excellent damage, good step killers for those who want to step out of the way of his incredible guard damaging moves, one of the two characters that can just guard a GI. B+K BE guessing games bring fun times. B+K and A+B are good whiff punishers.
Cons: Unsafe, slow, lacks a good punish for anything -16 or lower, a lot of characters can get away with stupid stuff consistently, lacks a good low, bad movement, bad meter gain (which hurts his high damaging combos because he is meter dependent).
 
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Nightmare

Playstyle: Spacing, whiff punishment, able to switch between long range pressure and close range harassment easily

Execution: Mild; aga and GS cancel are a bit tricky at first, but are easy with practice

Pros: Massive range, great whiff punishment ability, amazing movement, a variety of good tools, aga, great ring out and wall game, nonsense grab range, strong FC/WR game, huge range 1K, incredible meter gain, good guard burst game

Cons: A bit on the slow side. Cannot punish things that end in crouching well until -17. Has some tracking problems against small hitbox characters (Viola can step 3AA, 3K, and aga for example). CE input is glitched and won't activate from the normal 236236 motion unless buffered. Lacks a good mid step kill. Has a few really awful MUs (Apat, Natsu, both Pyrrhas). Many moves leave him at -8 or more on block, making it risky to attempt to do anything other than block post-block.
 
Hates said:
Algol

Play style: HERO KING, feng shui expert (chair placement is crucial)
Execution: iFC 8B can be marginally tricky after 66B BE.
Pros: Manliness, nudity, range, backdash, combo potential, heavy i16 punishment, nudity (again)
Cons: Sidestep? What sidestep? No -12 punish, assortment of BS random glitches and strangeness that make his shit go wonky for no discernible reason
Click to expand...

YouTube
6 1 1,870
0:24
How the Hell...?

YouTube
2 7 1,168
0:16
Get it together Algol

YouTube
5 12 1,844
0:21
Nerf Nightmare's CE
 
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EDIT: I made it look nicer and a little more serious.

Siegfried!

Play style: WR B/iagA/b6/2A. Staying at medium range is your best friend. Don't let Natsu close.

Execution: Moderate, iagA is definitely something you really want. The normal one is okay but just do the JF, it's not hard. You should also try to do iWR B in place of 3B where you can.

Pros:

  • Excellent medium ranged pressure with 2A, b6, iagA, 3B etc.
  • Good wall damage.
  • Good damage with meter.
  • Decent whiff punishment.
  • SBH aGI's horizontals for a free SBH B
  • Good 50-50's
  • WR B ~ SCH B is a natural combo on a lot of fatties for great damage
  • Good guard gauge damage
  • Excellent post Guard Break damage
  • Good step kills
  • Great ring-out game
  • He's not a fag like he used to be
  • b6
  • He's Link. Muh Zelda!

Cons:

  • Some whiffing issues (fucking deal with it)
  • Relatively poor block punishment below -16
  • Pretty bad backstep
  • In many cases, he has long whiff recoveries (pls abuse more iagA)
  • Characters who can get in and press buttons can give him trouble if he can't change momentum somehow (i.e. a good SBH aGI or iagA/6A read)
 
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Thank you all so much for your input! I'm gonna go ahead and start compiling everything here tonight to get an initial rough draft. And for quick reference, here's a list of all the characters we still need to make this complete:
Apat
Aeon
Damp
Hilde
Ivy
Natsu
Pyrrha
Pyrrha o
Raph
Tira
Viola
Voldo
Yoshi

If you know anyone who is an expert on any of these characters and can contribute, please message them. I will message a few myself but I'm new to the community and don't know a lot of people. Thanks again for all your help!
 
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I will go ahead and add asta while I'm at it. If anyone disagrees with me on them please do not be silent about it!
Astaroth
Playstyle: zoning, grappler
Execution: low
Pros: great range, scary damage, excellent wall and ringout game, can almost do fulllife combos against the wall with meter. Up close, his grabs can put the opponent in a legitimate 50/50
Cons: unsafe up close, 50/50 grabs means it can go against your favor, if opponent guesses right you eat huge damage. Has trouble when people get in his face
 
Xiba

Playstyle: Zoning, CH fisher, and parrier

Execution: Low. Only things that require timing is 22B into 4B and his WR K BE just frame.

Pros: useful meter moves, good wake up game, amazing wall/ringout game, ability to create a lot of damage, combos that reset his spacing, range to contain movement and zone, guard burst game, and safe lows.

Cons: He's slow in comparison to most characters (fastest poke being i14 unless you count K), solid mid pokes like 6B and 1K aren't advantageous on hit and are -10 on block which makes it easier to get pressured by a fast character, his OMG HARD READZ tools to stop attacks can be blown up on block (Critical Edge, 44K BE on JG, 6B+K on JG, A+BB if you can't hit confirm it, REM B reaction JG, 3BK, etc), whiffing issues happen too much, and no abusable multi-taskers that high tier characters have.

EDIT: His block punishment from standing is tricky because 3kB is a slide input. This means that its buffer time is constantly changing due to different block stuns. Thankfully if you are good at Just Guarding this problem does not exist. Reason being that JG eliminates block stuns all together.
 
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Anyway, copy and pasted:

Leixia
Style: Speed, Poking, Counter-Offensive Pressure
Execution: Easy~Medium (raises to medium for "same-side 22Bs" ex:223698B and 887412B)

Pros:
  • Speed & Decent frames/safety (AA BE...)
  • Great pokes, solid punishers, decent options from Crouch, good evasion
  • Strong Guard Damage
  • Wall/RO pressure
  • Medium to Low-Risk Brave Edges with flexibility in their uses, and a 12-frame CE

Cons:
  • Lowest midscreen damage in the Game
  • Lacks threatening low; Movement killers are rewarding, but situational
  • Range isn't the best, struggles vs longer range characters; (especially if they have a high damage output)
  • Hard to keep life leads and make big comebacks
 
I'd like to add to the Xiba pros

Pros: REM can be used as a "get out of jail free" card when stuck in a mixup and use it for great damage. Although he has almost no CE combos, Xiba really doesnn't need because of is aGI CE

EDIT: And you are greatly rewarded for the aGI CE
 
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That covers a lot, but we are still missing Hilde, Natsu, Pyrrha, Viola, and Voldo. Ultimately, I would like to post the results of all this as its own thing, reworded by me (with credit to everyone who contributed) so it's easier to navigate and consult
 
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Patroklos

Playstyle: Rushdown/Risk-Taker

Execution: Moderately Easy (a+b glitch and 236B JF takes practice)

Pros:

  • One of the best if not the best CE in the game.
  • Excellent damage (a+b glitch anyone?)
  • Frame traps everywhere including a + frame low
  • Very annoying okizeme
  • Unreal FC punishment game
  • Brain-dead meter gain
  • Good guard gauge game
  • Recovers faster on whiffed throws
  • Doesn't rely on CHs to get damage
  • Post-GI game is very very good.
Cons:

  • T-rex arms
  • All pokes under 18 frames lack range
  • Lacks a good TJ move
  • Guard damage moves are very linear
  • Lacks any good gimmicks (Most people have a very good understanding of this MU)
  • Can get out-zoned by certain characters (He especially has a hard time with characters with good backsteps)
  • Very punishable if you take risks at the wrong time.
  • Cervantes backstep (I mentioned backstep before but this one deserves it's own category)
 
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