KOFXII tier list and discussion

Current Fighting Games King of Fighters
121

Okay time to resurrect this thread.

My take on the tier list is strictly my opinion and it’s simply here to restart the tier discussion thread now that the game has been out and a few tourneys have been run. I also want to mention that this list is a combination tier list and match up chart in that everybody under S tier is ranked based on how well they do against S tier characters, and not necessarily the rest of the cast. So if you see someone much lower, or higher than they should be, that’s part of the reason why. That said, I’m pretty confident of this tier list

SS: Kyo
S: Iori, Terry, Robert, Joe
A: Andy, Athena, Leona, Shen Woo
B: Raiden, Ralf, Ash, Ryo, Chin
C: Clark, Kensou, Benimaru, Elizabeth
D: Kim, Duo Lon, Mature, Goro

Kyo gets his own rank because he has the tools to beat everybody in the game, including the other S ranks, minus Joe, more on Joe later.

Iori has even better mix ups then Kyo, but his damage isn’t as good and he has to get in close, which is a dangerous if your opponent has meter.

Terry’s damage is easily the best in the game. His only drawback is that none of his attacks are safe, but that really means squat if you can’t output comparable damage to bring Terry down anyway.

Robert’s debatable but I think he deserves S rank because of all his options, if you include his cross up kick and both supers. He’s perfect for last position if your second character landed just a bit of damage on your opponent’s last guy, which is easy time over win for Robert.

Now Joe is tricky, because I don’t feel that he’s as scary as the other 3 S rank members, but my reasoning for Joe to be up here is that he’s probably the only character that can really fight Kyo evenly due to equal priority/safety, which is huge.

Okay so the A rank characters listed all require meter to defeat the S rank characters, but each of them have some nice tricks, like small hit boxes that make them hard to combo into dust, or can dish out serious damage/mix ups to keep the S ranks on their toes the entire fight.

B tier characters are extremely strong, but can’t cover their weaknesses as well as the A tier characters so the S ranks pretty much stomp on them when they are out of meter.

C tier characters are average at best, they have the tools to win against S rank characters, but they have to take too many risks for not enough damage to be considered A or B ranks. Now Clark, a lot of people say he should be bottom tier, but I feel that Clark is strong; he just has a much higher learning curve then the rest of the cast to master his Vulcan Punch/Air Throw combos. However you can just forget about trying to use Clark online thanks to input delay, and the already bad throw mechanics.

D tier characters are also average but meter itself is not enough to save them, from the S ranks; they need CC too to defeat them. These characters have some serious character flaws that really put them at a disadvantage against the S ranks, and I would say that Kyo owns them, but not for free. However they are also not well known, so using them effectively can give you the element of surprise making them good back up characters.

122

r u serious? goro D tier? u haven’t faced a good goro yet have u? sure this isn’t 98 goro but he has a shit load of tools to deal with s tiers… also kensou and elibeth should be a lot higher too…

revised… based on options they have and how safe they are…

S: Kyo, Iori, Terry, Joe
A: Andy, Robert, Ralf, Kensou, Shen, Ash, Elizabeth
B: Athena, Goro, Raiden, Leona, Ryo, Benimaru
C: Chin, Kim, Mature
D: Clark, Duo Lon

123

iori is horrible online

124

I’m not debating your reasoning, I’m just going to clarify my tier list is different, because ranks A-D consists match ups against the S tiers only, and not overall ability. Goro might be stronger than Clark, but his hit box is huge even while ducking, and he relies too heavily on his ground game to do serious damage. Clark’s air throw allows him to fight in the air better as well as on the ground against the S tiers, so he’s ranked slightly higher on my list.

Also this is more of an offline tier list then online.

The only thing I would question is that if your tier list is based on safety and options, Robert should definitely be ranked higher than Terry, unless you are factoring in Terry’s damage as well.
Elizabeth is ranked way too high, she’s has a similar problem as SF4 Gouken, in that her options drops considerably once the opponent learns to mix in empty jump-ins with their regular jumps.

125

ya robert is not lower than terry just cause of damage… honestly i would put him in s tier i just saw better match vids with him… cause he has the most variety of tools in the game… specially his cross-up… we all know what happened when iori had it…

elizabeth is ranked high cause of her counter, qcf+A anti-air + safe, command throw and a sick DM…

and for goro vs. clark… goro has a further reaching DM… does more damage in b&bs… has ground pound mix-up… has auto-guard on both hcf throws… and has a true anti-air… so all clark has against that is faster movement to get close, and a high damaging CC…

126

Sure I can see that, but thing is, if the opponent is great at parrying with Elizabeth, it can force your opponent to turtle…because a great Elizabeth player will force your opponent to turtle…great Elizabeths read the opponent and punish nearly every attack they do. I’d say her parry is the best move she has, as she can parry supers and nearly every attack in the game…

127

So DG, where would you rank Elizabeth?

128

Mid Tier. A perfect character for me in casuals…

129

Well darn Dark Geese I was hoping you or the AI team would chime in with your tier lists about the game. You guys seem to have a better handle on all the character’s strengths and weaknesses more than anybody.

130

Since you’re requesting it I suppose I can put a lil some’ some’ on here.

If it’s concerning ‘Tiers’ this game doesn’t really have one… this of course is IMO. The tier list that Arcadia comes out with is more of a ranking on how easily it is to use a character. Clark is at the bottom of that tier list and it is true in how Arcadia displays the Tier list.

In a higher level of gameplay, the tier rating doesn’t mean much at all. It always comes down to is how well you know your own character and how well you know the match up. KoF XII is a pretty balanced game so my suggestion is to find a couple characters you really feel comfortable with and just play with them which I’m sure a lot of people are doing.

With that said here’s my own Tier list.

S: Kyo, Robert, Shen Woo
A: Benimaru, Clark, Ash, Kensou
B: Chin, Raiden, Leona, Ioro, Terry, Kim, Joe
C: Athena, Andy, Ralf, Goro, Mature, Ryo, Duo-Lon
D: Elizabeth

This list is composed from my own experiences and how i see each character’s later progress.

Like I said before the tier list doesn’t really mean too much in higher gameplay. A person can with low tier team… i can assure you that.

131

I would agree that KOF XII is balanced, but definitely not as balanced as it could be.

We are all well aware about the throw mechanics that makes life harder for grappler’s in this game. Also I feel that lower tier characters seem to have more issues with projectile spam in XII then any other KOF game I’ve seen.

Once again this is simply my opinion, but I still feel that '98 is the most balanced KOF, with XII coming in 2nd.

Somehow, I seriously doubt people are doing that.
What exactly is the criteria of your tier list btw? Because I simply cannot understand it. Also Dark Geese already mentioned that Elizabeth is solid middle tier, so I don’t know why you put her at bottom, unless you completely disagree with his assessment.

132

My tier list comes from my own experience and how i see each character. It’s understandable that you aren’t able to comprehend my list because you aren’t fully aware of the system. I’ll give an example from each tier to the reason why they’re there.
S- I would like to first point out Kyo as being ‘S’ Tier. Yes people know how good Kyo is but they don’t know how good he really is. The only example i can give you is his match ups. He has the upper hand in almost every match up just because of his traits i.e. hes very quick (dashing and hops), instant dp with pretty good immunity start up, and his size. There’s a couple more things i could point out but there wouldn’t be any point unless i actually showed to you or if you’ve seen it. Most likely you haven’t. Even though he has the upper hand, it’s not like he’s unbeatable.
A- Clark might have people confused. Although he lacks the range in his grabs, he pretty much dominates the aerial battle. It will surprise you how much damage he can do over a short period of time. If you understand the ground game then he’s pretty easy to use. His ground command grab is very good. Finishing with qcf+p he has the advantage when the opponent wakes up.
B- Joe. He’s very fast but lacks priority and recovery. He can be punished for a lot his moves more or less depending on the match up. Sure he’s easy to use, but so what? If you can find yourself asking that same question then you’re getting somewhere with the game.
C- This class i really don’t see a big threat when playing against. Not to say that these characters can’t do some damage. Andy isn’t that big of a threat. He’s a CC magnet. If you can figure out your opponents db~f+p then you pretty much have that dispute settled. Stating this again, I’m not saying that he is lacking the damage input except in his dp. His dp could be one of the worst in the game. I say this because if you use it for AA it doesn’t do that much.
D- With Elizabeth, i put her the lowest because of her lack of range and playability. If people are stupid enough to throw fireballs at her mid screen then that’s their own fault. Her parry’s aren’t that great, she can be easily thrown out of it if you just feint an attack. A couple empty hop into grab, your opponent will be second guessing his ability to parry. The only thing really good about her is her DM which has practically instant start up and quick recovery finish.

My list is comprised from my own meta-game. If you’re lacking in this then of course you wouldn’t understand my list.

Fireball spammers. All i have to say to that is clash… so simple. When i use fireballs i don’t use it for the block damage, its more for baiting. If you need me to elaborate please feel free to ask but hopefully you get where I’m going with this.

133

Wow… I see Liz as mid for now… She is a beast in the right hands. i’m actually picking her and Duo Lon up .

134

I’ve yet to have anyone take less than two characters to do away with my Chin, although that’s obviously not a tournament tested, tried and true theory on anything

135

Yeah I think Chin is definitely good, if they put a paperbag over his face I’d definitely use him.
However I ranked Athena a bit higher because even though Athena and Chin are very hard to hit do their size, Chin’s size also works against him as he has to run into range to fight as well, but Athena can spam/reflect projectiles to make up for that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Chin owned characters without decent damage punches for free though.

136

Also yeah Reynald is right like anything else if the player plays smart you can bait her parries…Elizabeth doesnt have too much at all so she has to rely on whatever she has…however…if your opponent just wants to test you you can do this on him:

[media=youtube]PuwCAluMM7I[/media]

LOL. Elizabeth is basically my flash/parry girl. She’s who I use in casuals to test the other person out. Now Elizabeth has the high damage custom combos in the corner going for her favor and the parry, but yes due to her limited range and specials that hurts her. I think overall Mature is better than Elizabeth so I agree with Reynald here. Sorry guys I been away for a while I been getting ready for this kickass event I’m doing next weekend and I am sure you all will know in due time about it after next weekend I assure you.

Also Reynald posting his own Tier List is a good example of what I’ve been telling you all…different countries play differently…In one country a certain character may be bottom tier, but in the other he may be top tier or close…that’s due to different styles of play. One country may have tapped the characters potential while the other country may not have done that. This is also why travelling to see differents styles from other countries around the world is critical before coming up with a definitive tier list…and even then that tier list is limited based off what you have seen in the countries you have travelled to.

-DG

137

Im hosting a KOF12 tournament for my community in Norway. I’ll record and put up some vids.
Its the 17-18.october. It would be possible to say what “our” tier list could be.