Just picked up this game and after having tried pretty much all the characters he’s the only one I like. I don’t like to play as common or overpowered characters.
ares isnt very popular, i havent seen him being played that much in evo or wnf`s.
Thats silly. You should play who you like. If you like Ares, learn to play him. But overall, I think he is considered a mid-tier character that can be strong against zoning characters like Sinestro and Deathstroke. But his normals are lacking so against rushdown and mix up characters, he can get blown up quiet easily. And although he counters projectile heavy characters, hes somewhat weak against a Superman because SM still has good rushdown options when he isn’t eye lasering you. SM gets a mention just cause you will run into about 100000 Superman’s online and in tournaments. And the last but is: Ares isn’t that popular which will mean you will have the element of surprise against most people if you learn to play him well which will be more then enough to win a ton of matches if you play online.
There aren’t that many Ares players for the exact reason k2theb2 laid out: issues with rushdown characters. However, I have seen a the rare Ares player blow some people up on PJs Winning stream. He has some interesting combos into godhand setup that my friend and I were working on before I dropped the game for a while. Good luck with your training XD