The only character I can't place in the Tier-list yet is Taki.
She's such an advanced character in Soul Calibur IV, so it's hard to measure her potential IMO. Also, I'm all new with her.
They cut down her damage, but then her PO-game and mixups can mess anyone up. She can pull off some damaging combos, like PO 236B, WR K, 3bK PO, PORC, 1BA PO, PO B_K_A, but she has no "simple-hits-combo-to-death". Her A is i10 (heard i9 as well, but that info is wrong?), so she can keep advantage, punish well and pressure.
I feel that she really has to work hard to win, and it requires a lot of work to master her. Would say between mid- and top-tier, but can't specify where. What's your take?
Indeed they did cut down Taki's damage, also a lot of her bread and butter from previous games are out and some of her previous useful moves are also out, PO transitions that used to be there are no longer there, PO has no straight up fast low like it used to (no PO 236A does not count, though it is a decently useful move if you don't spam it), and she can no longer directly throw from PO without using PORC.
The damaging combo you post is good and should be something that every serious Taki player can pull off as bread and butter, but is definitely not easy to pull off in terms of execution or just plain getting some of the sequence to land. If your timing is just ever so slightly off, like say in the middle of a heated battle, you'll screw it up. I also find that it's rather "iffy" to land the 3BK PO after the WS K, hell it's even kind of "iffy" to land the WS K after the 236B. The reason is that if your opponent is just the right amount off axis when you do the attack, it just completely whiffs for no good reason. Also, a FC A+KK with the last hit CH has different properties than WS K on CH for some stupid reason, so 3BK whiffs even though the damn attack clearly went through the hitbox of the opponent.
After considering all of that, I usually just go the easier route with PO 236B, FC A+KK, 1BA PO into whatever you want to pull out next, it's not really that much less damage after considering the damage scaling with multiple hits, and the risk of random whiffing and execution/timing error is minimal compared to the harder bread and butter combo. 1BA doesn't do as much damage as 3BK and the A of 1BA can be ducked on reaction if not used in a combo (so don't), but it definitely doesn't randomly whiff as much either, and it will successfully land following both CH WS K and CH A+KK. A+KK also doesn't seem to whiff as much after PO 236B as WS K does. I don't pull the harder combo unless I am completely certain it will land, because with Taki, her individual move damage itself is pretty crappy, so if you miss even one combo opportunity, that is a huge blow to her game.
That being said, she still keeps pressure and traps very well and her mindgames are second to none. In SCIV, she has more options than anyone when up close, as she should, considering the time it takes to master and execute with her. Hell, I'd say her entire game is based on constant (standing) pressure and mixup shenanigans, and if you cannot keep that up with Taki, then you simply won't win. Does ease-of-use factor into these tier lists? Cuz Taki definitely has to work harder to win, but also has more potential tools at her disposal that work well at high level play, so considering the player is willing to work harder, she is up there. In the right hands, I think she's upper-mid at the least, top at most.
