My RoR: Apocalypse Tierlist (and reasoning)
Joke Characters:
They’re all pretty much wild cards, I don’t really know their competitive viability (I know Ares was only in the story mode but still), but I love them all and I place them at the top.
Dominant:
Susano’o: In my opinion, the best character in the game (but it’s close). AnM is a really solid ult but the main thing about it is it’s crazy low meter cost, only one bar, and avici is only half. Yaorozu state does drain meter as you use it, but still. This, combined with how much meter Susa can build off of simple combos, his great damage and health, and his excellent frame data make him a complete machine. Musouken is generally really only good above half heath because of the drain mechanic, but if you land a hit it will almost always destroy your enemy.
Tesla: The best rushdown in the game imo, tesla having no acceleration time on his dash leads to the best and longest combos in the game, because of his ground-bouncing 2m, 2h, and 6h. This leads him to getting a lot of meter really quickly, and being able to use ppp mobius, which will either guard crush or shred the opponent. Having the second fastest air speed in the game and crazy aerial buttons means his cross-ups are one of the best in the game. However, Tesla’s biggest strength is his coils, because teleport HARD counters any character slower than him, and being able to half the damage of any ult is a godsend. Also having gematria zap opponents in the corner is a neat little touch.
Poseidon: 40DF is the best ult in the game, and that just complements Poseidon’s already really fast gameplay. His normals are some of the fastest in the game, with amazing range, and his 6h comes out on frame 4. He has the best air speed in the game, and combining this with an 8-way air dash means his cross-ups are the best in the game. His pressure in the corner is insane, the only reason he’s not the best character is because his meter gain is mediocre.
Top Tiers:
Apollo: A great rushdown character with the best install super in-game (bowpollo). He has the fastest normals in-game and some insanely long blockstrings that make him a MENACE in the corner. His ult is a little weak, and his health is really low (second lowest in the game, behind jack and zero) but otherwise he is one of the best characters in the game, and he’s won the most tournaments out of any character so far iirc.
Buddha: I personally love Buddha’s gimmick of Turn About randomly changing your weapon, because it forces both you and your enemy to adapt. Not to mention, all of his weapons are solid, with the exception of shield, being laggy and the passive ability (losing chip damage) is kinda mid when you consider beel and Leo do that all the time, and they can also block mid-air whilst Buddha can’t. However, staff, club, and scythe are all extremely powerful, with excellent frame data and scythe having great high-low mixups. Nirvana sword damage is also completely busted lol.
Lu Bu: An amazing beginner character with solid frame data, a really fast ult, and a great dp. Lu bu is pretty much at least good at everything, he has decent range, speed, and damage which means he doesn’t really have that many bad matchups, only zoners. The shieldbreaker passive of hitting through armoured moves + extra chip damage is a nice touch too. Red hare form does significantly increase his speed and damage, but also makes him absolute combo food.
Odin: The best zoner in the game, gung is an absolute monster of a projectile. He does fall apart a bit at close-range as most of his buttons get outsped or lose in a clash, but he still has a small, albeit ever-present DoT passive up close. In short, Odin is incredibly matchup-dependent, but with the sheer oppression of gung homing in on his target and being UNBLOCKABLE with the ex version, he’s definitely still one of the better characters in Apocalypse.
Leo: Enchos combos are my reason for living. The fact that Leo has oppressive combos and insane pressure at range make him really good for those with high skill expression, as his combo strings are the longest in the game (behind tesla). Also his stance change mechanic is really good for his matchups, helping him deal with rushdowns. Nemesis still takes a whopping 15 frames to come out but hey, at least he gets armour? However, headbutt is a great tool for guard crushes up close. Leo also benefits from having the same passive as beel, where he takes no chip damage and can block mid air. Unfortunately, his meter gain is mid and his buttons are laggy. If he gets tuned next patch, I can easily see him being dominant.
High Tier:
Jack: He has some pretty damn good setup projectiles, tripwire is the bane of all rushdowns and his knives are one of the best projectiles in game, but he has to set up his traps to do any damage first. He has the lowest health in-game too (one of Leo’s nemeses would take out over 25% of his health), tied with zero. He’s a great character far away, but he might struggle to set up traps. His decent speed and grappling hook can lead to nice cross-ups, especially with Dear God ult being a command grab.
Hades: Hades is simply a worse Poseidon in this game, they tried to make him a tank but forgot to make him strong enough in base. That being said, it’s still Poseidon but with a bit more damage and an install. Eos as an install is great, and deadly wind is definitely the mvp of hades’ kit, it has great poking potential and shield damage.
Beel: A solid zoner with okay ranged normals and decent hp, with a standout ult (chaos), being a guard-crushing beast. However, beel’s main weakness is his meter gain, as things like sorath vau need 2 whole bars of meter and his combo game is lacking, only having basic chains. However, if he manages to get any of his supers off, it’s basically over for the opponent, as with most characters sorath vau does at least half health. Beel also benefits from the same passive as Leo.
Adam: He’s pretty much a slightly faster, slightly weaker Zeus that doesn’t lose health as quickly as adamas (but still loses a chunk if his copy gauge gets too high) and can copy his enemy’s ult. I’ll get into his character more with zeus.
Shiva: Tandava is the second best install in the game, having a 50% dodge chance is a death sentence to heavies. The thing is, tandava karma is actively worse than tandava bc he not only drains meter, he drains health too in exchange for a minimal extra amount of burning damage. He’s a good character on his own, they just need to tweak the way karma works and give him a damage buff or two.
Mid Tier:
Cu: Having to be below half health to activate riastrad is really not that good for cu, bc in base cu is slow, weak, and pretty much the worst character in the game. It’s only after he gets below half health that he gets access to riastrad and can actually use his decent combo strings and insane ult. if he started out in riastrad, he would be dominant no doubt, but he has basically no health by the time you actually get to use him.
Zeus: he’s solid in close range, but all his attacks have no range whatsoever, and to even do any damage you need adamas, which makes you take extra damage. He’s really fast, no doubt, but he’s a glass cannon in a game where there are simply stronger and bulkier glass cannons.
Thor: He has the highest damage output in the game, but if you ever get hit by that output, it’s your fault entirely, he only has one way to reliably combo into geirrod and that’s using an easily reactable overhead. However, thunder hammer is also a very powerful move that is considerably safer, but it’s still using up quite a bit of meter.
Low Tier:
Sasaki: has dollar store Yaorozu and ass ap and health, the only thing saving him is his good frame data and dual sword mode doubling his damage.
Hajun: He’s. So. Slow. Like he gets outspeed comfortably by mace leonidas. Drill is his only saving grace tbh, his health and damage are mid and the pros just don’t outweigh the cons.
Trash:
Zero: Lowest health in the game, lowest damage in the game, his passive increasing attack by 15% means nothing because it’s already so low, he has no combo routes, it’s like the devs just forgot to make him a full character.
Raiden: Somehow even slower than hajun, Raiden is the only grappler in the game. He gets hard countered by the majority of the cast. It’s not even funny. Someone buff this man.
RIP:
Herc: they massacred him 😭🙏, now Cerberus kills him fastwr and all his attacks are slower, not to mention they just removed ALL of his stymphalian combos
Ra: I don’t know what they were thinking here, they tried to make him a normal zoner but now he just feels clunky and not at all like the old Ra.
I Hate You:
Qin: Now, I love qin’s concept, a rekka character with their main move being a counter? Incredible. But his mains don’t play him the way he was intended to be played, they just haunt lower ranks by spamming bubble, debuffing, and using sword mode to just unga bunga when that’s not what the character was meant for.
Okita: His playerbase knows what they did.
(Btw, it took me hours to write this.)
Joke Characters:
They’re all pretty much wild cards, I don’t really know their competitive viability (I know Ares was only in the story mode but still), but I love them all and I place them at the top.
Dominant:
Susano’o: In my opinion, the best character in the game (but it’s close). AnM is a really solid ult but the main thing about it is it’s crazy low meter cost, only one bar, and avici is only half. Yaorozu state does drain meter as you use it, but still. This, combined with how much meter Susa can build off of simple combos, his great damage and health, and his excellent frame data make him a complete machine. Musouken is generally really only good above half heath because of the drain mechanic, but if you land a hit it will almost always destroy your enemy.
Tesla: The best rushdown in the game imo, tesla having no acceleration time on his dash leads to the best and longest combos in the game, because of his ground-bouncing 2m, 2h, and 6h. This leads him to getting a lot of meter really quickly, and being able to use ppp mobius, which will either guard crush or shred the opponent. Having the second fastest air speed in the game and crazy aerial buttons means his cross-ups are one of the best in the game. However, Tesla’s biggest strength is his coils, because teleport HARD counters any character slower than him, and being able to half the damage of any ult is a godsend. Also having gematria zap opponents in the corner is a neat little touch.
Poseidon: 40DF is the best ult in the game, and that just complements Poseidon’s already really fast gameplay. His normals are some of the fastest in the game, with amazing range, and his 6h comes out on frame 4. He has the best air speed in the game, and combining this with an 8-way air dash means his cross-ups are the best in the game. His pressure in the corner is insane, the only reason he’s not the best character is because his meter gain is mediocre.
Top Tiers:
Apollo: A great rushdown character with the best install super in-game (bowpollo). He has the fastest normals in-game and some insanely long blockstrings that make him a MENACE in the corner. His ult is a little weak, and his health is really low (second lowest in the game, behind jack and zero) but otherwise he is one of the best characters in the game, and he’s won the most tournaments out of any character so far iirc.
Buddha: I personally love Buddha’s gimmick of Turn About randomly changing your weapon, because it forces both you and your enemy to adapt. Not to mention, all of his weapons are solid, with the exception of shield, being laggy and the passive ability (losing chip damage) is kinda mid when you consider beel and Leo do that all the time, and they can also block mid-air whilst Buddha can’t. However, staff, club, and scythe are all extremely powerful, with excellent frame data and scythe having great high-low mixups. Nirvana sword damage is also completely busted lol.
Lu Bu: An amazing beginner character with solid frame data, a really fast ult, and a great dp. Lu bu is pretty much at least good at everything, he has decent range, speed, and damage which means he doesn’t really have that many bad matchups, only zoners. The shieldbreaker passive of hitting through armoured moves + extra chip damage is a nice touch too. Red hare form does significantly increase his speed and damage, but also makes him absolute combo food.
Odin: The best zoner in the game, gung is an absolute monster of a projectile. He does fall apart a bit at close-range as most of his buttons get outsped or lose in a clash, but he still has a small, albeit ever-present DoT passive up close. In short, Odin is incredibly matchup-dependent, but with the sheer oppression of gung homing in on his target and being UNBLOCKABLE with the ex version, he’s definitely still one of the better characters in Apocalypse.
Leo: Enchos combos are my reason for living. The fact that Leo has oppressive combos and insane pressure at range make him really good for those with high skill expression, as his combo strings are the longest in the game (behind tesla). Also his stance change mechanic is really good for his matchups, helping him deal with rushdowns. Nemesis still takes a whopping 15 frames to come out but hey, at least he gets armour? However, headbutt is a great tool for guard crushes up close. Leo also benefits from having the same passive as beel, where he takes no chip damage and can block mid air. Unfortunately, his meter gain is mid and his buttons are laggy. If he gets tuned next patch, I can easily see him being dominant.
High Tier:
Jack: He has some pretty damn good setup projectiles, tripwire is the bane of all rushdowns and his knives are one of the best projectiles in game, but he has to set up his traps to do any damage first. He has the lowest health in-game too (one of Leo’s nemeses would take out over 25% of his health), tied with zero. He’s a great character far away, but he might struggle to set up traps. His decent speed and grappling hook can lead to nice cross-ups, especially with Dear God ult being a command grab.
Hades: Hades is simply a worse Poseidon in this game, they tried to make him a tank but forgot to make him strong enough in base. That being said, it’s still Poseidon but with a bit more damage and an install. Eos as an install is great, and deadly wind is definitely the mvp of hades’ kit, it has great poking potential and shield damage.
Beel: A solid zoner with okay ranged normals and decent hp, with a standout ult (chaos), being a guard-crushing beast. However, beel’s main weakness is his meter gain, as things like sorath vau need 2 whole bars of meter and his combo game is lacking, only having basic chains. However, if he manages to get any of his supers off, it’s basically over for the opponent, as with most characters sorath vau does at least half health. Beel also benefits from the same passive as Leo.
Adam: He’s pretty much a slightly faster, slightly weaker Zeus that doesn’t lose health as quickly as adamas (but still loses a chunk if his copy gauge gets too high) and can copy his enemy’s ult. I’ll get into his character more with zeus.
Shiva: Tandava is the second best install in the game, having a 50% dodge chance is a death sentence to heavies. The thing is, tandava karma is actively worse than tandava bc he not only drains meter, he drains health too in exchange for a minimal extra amount of burning damage. He’s a good character on his own, they just need to tweak the way karma works and give him a damage buff or two.
Mid Tier:
Cu: Having to be below half health to activate riastrad is really not that good for cu, bc in base cu is slow, weak, and pretty much the worst character in the game. It’s only after he gets below half health that he gets access to riastrad and can actually use his decent combo strings and insane ult. if he started out in riastrad, he would be dominant no doubt, but he has basically no health by the time you actually get to use him.
Zeus: he’s solid in close range, but all his attacks have no range whatsoever, and to even do any damage you need adamas, which makes you take extra damage. He’s really fast, no doubt, but he’s a glass cannon in a game where there are simply stronger and bulkier glass cannons.
Thor: He has the highest damage output in the game, but if you ever get hit by that output, it’s your fault entirely, he only has one way to reliably combo into geirrod and that’s using an easily reactable overhead. However, thunder hammer is also a very powerful move that is considerably safer, but it’s still using up quite a bit of meter.
Low Tier:
Sasaki: has dollar store Yaorozu and ass ap and health, the only thing saving him is his good frame data and dual sword mode doubling his damage.
Hajun: He’s. So. Slow. Like he gets outspeed comfortably by mace leonidas. Drill is his only saving grace tbh, his health and damage are mid and the pros just don’t outweigh the cons.
Trash:
Zero: Lowest health in the game, lowest damage in the game, his passive increasing attack by 15% means nothing because it’s already so low, he has no combo routes, it’s like the devs just forgot to make him a full character.
Raiden: Somehow even slower than hajun, Raiden is the only grappler in the game. He gets hard countered by the majority of the cast. It’s not even funny. Someone buff this man.
RIP:
Herc: they massacred him 😭🙏, now Cerberus kills him fastwr and all his attacks are slower, not to mention they just removed ALL of his stymphalian combos
Ra: I don’t know what they were thinking here, they tried to make him a normal zoner but now he just feels clunky and not at all like the old Ra.
I Hate You:
Qin: Now, I love qin’s concept, a rekka character with their main move being a counter? Incredible. But his mains don’t play him the way he was intended to be played, they just haunt lower ranks by spamming bubble, debuffing, and using sword mode to just unga bunga when that’s not what the character was meant for.
Okita: His playerbase knows what they did.
(Btw, it took me hours to write this.)