Fighting game fans, do you factor in tiers when choosing a main?

[VariantX]

Fuck no. I'm nowhere near good enough to worry about that. I worry about 2 things:

-does the character feel good to play and is it satisfying to do stuff with that character.

-how hard do I have to work on average to win versus other characters.

If either of those things are out of whack, I don't play the character very long

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

I will usually avoid anyone at the absolute bottom.
Otherwise it's fair game for whose play style interests me the most.

 

[stumblebee]

Yeah, I'll take a look at the strength of characters and balance them out with how much I enjoy playing them.

 

[Sambodianninja]

I play with characters that are simple and agile to play with. Design is also a factor. Ryu, Cammy, Katsumi, Misturugi, Pai, Jacky, Cyclops, Spider-Man and Paul P to name some

 

[GamerJM]

Depends on the game and how seriously I'm taking it (and also how viable low tiers actually are). For example I played Roy in Melee when I was a kid but playing him now would be stupid, he's a terrible character and there's no reason to not just play Marth. If I'm just fucking around in a game online or whatever, like I did in Granblue for a couple weeks, then I won't even look at the tier list.

 

[Bradford]

Tiers are a side effect of game design and not something I consciously chase. I have toolset preferences that dictate my mains.

 

[Buttzerker]

Nope. Tier lists aren't useless, but they ARE overrated. They aren't relevant until you're already in the top 5% of players, and even then most of the time they're more about how EASY a character is to win with than how possible. Sometimes there are exceptions I don't mean to generalize.

But Smash Ultimate? Little Mac is considered the worst character in the game and I main him. He's not. Is he top tier? No. Do you have to work a little against certain characters against him? Totally. But he is not uniquely bad. He's C- at WORST and shares the spot, and the gap between someone like him and Pikachu is not THAT big. Player skill will always trump tier. Mac has some weaknesses but many tier lists are just going by pro players in tourneys. Valid but some good characters just never interest pros. There's new tech coming out for Mac weekly now that some players are really giving him a shot.

Play who you want. It'll always matter more if you have the real love and focus to improve over arbitrarily choosing the best character. I could never be as strong with Pikachu as I am Mac. I just don't care enough about the little rat.

 

[MasonADC]

Depends on if im serious in the game. I wasnt serious about playing jump force so I main Ichigo because I really liked bleach (he just happened to be the best in the game).

 

[cmChimera]

Usually if I'm gonna invest time into a fighting game, I'm buying it when it launches and I'm not even able to factor in tiers. That said, it has very little sway into what characters I stick with even when I do know them.

 

[theosmeo]

It really depends on the game, the main questions i ask myself are

How much im going to be playing this game with people i dont know?

How seriously do i want to take this game?

And how trash are the trash characters in this game?

Im fine playing low tiers in modern fighting games because the balance is often quite solid and its possible to still do fun and cool things with weak characters, but in like old tekken games and stuff some characters were serious potatoes that couldnt accomplish anything. Im fine playing trash matchups if its just me hanging out playin games on calls with buddies, but i know im going to get seriously bummed out maining twelve against randoms on third strike online.

In games I take quite seriously i sometimes have multiple characters i main to cover bad matchups even

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

Mid-tier Chun. She's good in 3S and probably has the best pokes in the game. Chun is just OP.

Click to shrink...

Yea, I can agree with that. I love her mid-range.

 

[Boots The God]

I like the heavy hitters and grapplers. If theres a character with good normals and a command grab I'll pick em regardless of how they look. In SFV I main birdie.

I also always give the "weird" characters a shot.

 

[Firima]

Hell yeah I consider tiers. Having to do loads of extra work to achieve results similar to higher-tier characters can make me dislike a character I might have otherwise liked, defeating the purpose of picking a character based on how much I like them, especially in games with huge tier gaps like 3S, and early BlazBlue. Mid-high tier is the lowest I'll go, generally. Liking a character that's dogshit trash against half the cast and has twice as many bad matchups as good is suffering and I want nothing to do with that life.

 

[tzare]

No, i usually only play characters i like for whatever reason (aesthetically, fighting style etc...)

 

[Kapryov]

I just try out the characters that are most visually appealing, then settle on whoever is most fun to play as.

If I'm having issues then I might look up tiers, or maybe just recommendations online.

 

[ANNeFRANKxGOKU]

i pretty much only play the biggest fattest grappliest characters possible

i'll rock zangief in vanilla sf5 with no shame and then go play bottom tier potemkin in gg with no hesitation

i got my preferred archetype and stick with it

 

[OrangeNova]

90% of the time, no, not at all.

But sometimes I end up picking a character that is just unfun or bad and it really impacts playing the game, so I'll look at the tier list and re-evaluate a bit

 

[Tbone5189]

SSBU player, Mii gunner main. I'm the opposite I actually don't like playing characters that everyone else plays unless I really love the character.

 

[Dust]

I only hate charge characters, everything else is purely by liking design and move list.

 

[leder]

I do in the sense that I'll purposefully avoid playing OP characters, but that's about it.

 

[a Question]

 

[Rubblatus]

It's not a conscious element in my decision making process. I use tier lists for confirmation bias in the short term. Either my character's up there which motivates me to stick through the learning process because they will have answers to deal with most of the cast, or I have a built in excuse with my character sucking when I lose.

/most of the elements I look for in my characters like good pokes, a strong neutral game, and consistent, easy-to-execute combos usually leaves my picks up there anyway.

 

[MrNewVegas]

Don't care about Tiers. I'm running Sakura, Haohmaru, Kirby, Wolverine, Joe Higashi, SNK Ryu, Phobos.

 

[tapedeck]

Nope I just play the character whose look and move set is most appealing to me. A lot of times the characters I'm drawn to just so happen to be 'higher tier' though.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Never. I'm all about character design and if they're comfortable to play.

 

[amusix]

Almost the opposite. I generally just choose characters that appeal to me....and then I'm not thrilled when I find out later that I'm using a 'top tier' character. Or if I find out that I'm using a character that is seen in every fight (I'm looking at you, Ken).

 

[Alchemist]

It's the aesthetics of the character for me.

 

[Hikari]

No. For me it is design, use of magic, cool weapon or overall aesthetic. The only time I tier whored was when my characters happened to be top tier so I got many rage messages.

 

[KyouG]

You'll have to pry K-groove Sagat from my dead, cold hands.

 

[Sylvee]

It really depends on the game, the main questions i ask myself are

How much im going to be playing this game with people i dont know?

How seriously do i want to take this game?

And how trash are the trash characters in this game?

Im fine playing low tiers in modern fighting games because the balance is often quite solid and its possible to still do fun and cool things with weak characters, but in like old tekken games and stuff some characters were serious potatoes that couldnt accomplish anything. Im fine playing trash matchups if its just me hanging out playin games on calls with buddies, but i know im going to get seriously bummed out maining twelve against randoms on third strike online.

In games I take quite seriously i sometimes have multiple characters i main to cover bad matchups even

Click to shrink...

This is kinda where I'm at. Most modern games the gap between low and top tier characters isn't very large and while low tiers might have a play style that's exploitable at the top levels of play or might have to work a bit harder to succeed, they still are functional characters and for 95% of players they will be perfectly serviceable.

A lot of older games with weaker balance though it's a completely different story. Top tiers are considered the best because they are able to dunk on the majority of the roster, and low tiers are bad because often their kit is borderline non-functional. Like you don't have to be a PGR ranked player in Melee to see that Bowser is clearly massively inferior to Fox or Marth. Bottom tiers are often missing key mechanics or moves that are necessary to succeed, and the stuff they do have usually doesn't function as intended. Even if you're an intermediate player you'll frequently be running into the limitations of your character if you're playing a legit bottom 5 character.

I used to play Smash 4 somewhat seriously and I started out as a Ganon main. I wasn't all that great but even at my level I felt like it was hard to do anything with him without my opponent making a mistake, and as I got better my opponents stopped making as many mistakes which made it hard for me to win. I ended up switching to DK, who wasn't top tier by any means but had a lot more options than Ganon did. While I'll rarely just go out and pick the best character unless I really like them, I don't want to pick outright bad characters that have to work way harder to do well with.

 

[mbpm]

I factor in options/the characters gameplan. Characters who are low tier usually don't have a lot of options, but they might have a gameplan I can groove with for the moment. It's complicated.

 

[Potterson]

No. I check out how easy for me is to do combos with a character and I main them.

 

[KendoClub]

Typically I need a character with keep away tools/projectiles or a be light grappler. I'm not great at playing characters who have to constantly be on the offensive or rely on tricky oki.

 

[Hilbert]

Nah, I just pick who looks cool or has a cool fighting style.

I am decent enough, but not nearly at the level where it matters.

 

[Numb]

ill pick a few from the roaster i like from their gameplay,looks,ease of use and fun. Then i pick the top among them depending on how i perform. Not by online tier lists.Maybe sometimes

 

[Professor Beef]

A character being obviously strong from the jump will appeal to me, but it's certainly not the main decision.

That being said, a character can be SSS tier, but if I don't like their playstyle or aesthetic, then I won't be using them for long.

 

[MizerMan]

Nah.

Whoever I find interesting enough is good for me.

 

[Rat King]

It's all about the moves and the characters design.

 

[Verelios]

Nope, it's always just a loop of:
1. Design
2. Game feel

Where I will occasionally main someone whose design I didn't like at first if their game play is more my speed (ie. Switched from Samus/Pikachu in Smash 64 to Roy/Captain Falcon in Melee because I enjoyed how they played more).

 

[Hampig]

I try to avoid top. Feels wrong.

 

[Kientin]

It does somewhat. But it doesn't matter because I'm garbage. Anyway it's weird, I don't like picking a top tier, but bottom tier drives me away a bit too. So I usually go with some mid tier dude if I'm torn between a few different characters. But looks and playstyle trump it all. If I really like a character, I'mma stick with it no matter what the tier is.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Brian F did a good video on this just a few days ago.

 

[jon bones]

Guile since '92 fuck a tier list

*had some "remy years" which were very appropriate for life at the time

 

[Het_Nkik]

I always do best with whom I'm most comfortable. If I like playing as a B or C tier character, odds are I'll be better with them than I would an S rank character with whom I don't like.

 

[Boclfon479]

I base it on how I feel about their moves and stuff.

that's why I'm a Game & Watch, PAC-Man Ridley, and DeDeDe main (though less so G&W lately, he was replaced with PAC-Man)

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

While I understand people saying Tiers don't matter to most people- Aren't most top tier characters the ones that are easy to use and have strong options? Wouldn't that be good for new players to pick?

 

[Deleted member 364]

Sometimes I might avoid a character if theyre top tier because I know a nerf is on the way and people complain about the character. But that's not even the right approach to have.

Play who you like no matter what. It's up to the developers to balance the game, not you.

 

[Unicorn]

Usually I avoid playing a top tier.

 

[Sleve McDichael]

Actually yes, I only recently started playing SFV but after playing around with a bunch of characters, I looked at a few tier lists and decided not to use any of the top characters.
In any game, I like taking a low-mid tier and trying to trying to get good.
I like the challenge, but I think subconsciously I enjoy having an excuse for getting my ass kicked XD

 

[taro]

If I'm not feeling the way the character plays, being S tier won't help any. I choose characters I enjoy playing if I'm going to commit a ton of time with them.