King of Fighters All Star Tier List

King of Fighters All Star Tier List

Like other games like Tekken or Dead or alive, King of Fighters is one of those combat game sagas that captivated many kids in the early ’90s. Thankfully, the saga is still alive, but it hadn’t released a game since 2016 when King Of Fighters XIV got released.

So to maintain the saga alive and get to a new market as it is the mobile phone games, SNK released King Of Fighters All-Star.

To make it attractive to regular consumers of the saga, SNK gave KOF a twist: Instead of a fighting game, they made a game that unified all the lore from the main game and created a “Beat ’em up” game; an ideal format to tell a story about a fighting tournament.

To make it an arcade game, SNK added some Gatcha features, like unlocking fighters for a limited amount of time to create a whole team.

Creating teams and using them against other players lead us to a big question: which are the best characters in King Of Fighters All-Star? Well, knowing that there are more than 170 characters in the game, between those easily available for new players and the exclusive ones that only got available once in a lifetime, it will be a hard task to do.

Then, our initial task was to pick up all of those common characters in the metagame because making a gaming tier list with all the fighters in the game would be a titanic chore. Even with more than 170 fighters, there are some common ones in PvP.

So we took the elite, and then we made a King of Fighters All Star Tier List tier list from S-tier (who are the best of the best) to D-tier (who, even when they are average characters, have some specific things to offer).

But, to arrange the characters, we have to explain KOFAS’s fighter mechanics because they are really important and will help us discern which fighter should be top tier and which should be at the bottom of the list.

Game Mechanics: What Makes a Fighter Stronger than Others?

Knights of Fighters All Star Tier List

KOFAS’s Fighters are divided into three classes, depending on their HP (Health Points), ATK (Attack), and DEF (Defense) stats:

  • Attack Types: They have a high ATK stat, but their DEF stat is deficient.
  • Defense Types: Their DEF stat is outstanding, but their ATK stat is poor.
  • Balanced Types: Their ATK, HP, and DEF stats are equivalent to each other. These are the best to start with, as they will not let you down.

So, the stats are important, but you have to consider other factors, like the elements. Each fighter has an element, and every element has its strengths and weaknesses; Pokémon, with its “type” mechanic, is a great example to understand how elements work.

KOFAS has five different elements: Red, Green, Yellow, Purple, and Blue:

  • Red is strong against Green.
  • Green is strong against Yellow.
  • Yellow is strong against Purple.
  • Purple is strong against Blue.
  • Blue is strong against Red.

Another factor to know when choosing your ideal character is their skills. Each character has 3 different skills to help your team and themselves: a Striker Skill, a Leader Skill, and an Ultimate Skill.

  • The Striker Skill can only be used whenever the character is selected as Striker (Basically, as support). It can be an attack, a heal, or a stat buff.
  • The Ultimate Skill is your character’s strongest attack and can only be used when the power gauge is fulfilled.
  • Lastly, the Leader Skill can be activated when your character is in the first slot of your team. Usually, it is a buff to your whole team or only to a specific element or Type.

Also, every character has three different skills to use in combat (Skill 1, 2, and 3). Those, named active skills, can give you some advantages in the PvP matches, so you have to be aware of them.

Lastly, you have to remember that each character can have their stats increased or their cooldowns decreased through Cores, a useful mechanic in the game. You can unlock the cores by leveling your character up or using specific in-game materials.

Knowing all of the character’s mechanics, it’s time to categorize the best characters from best to worse. Let’s go!

S-Tier

BS Orochi

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Green

BS Orochi 

Starting with our S-Tier, we can find BS (Boss Syndrome) Orochi, a more powerful version of the regular 97′ Orochi. BS Orochi is here because of his god-like skills, which can always hit opponents in the ground. Also, faster animations, shorter cooldowns, and polished hitboxes make BS Orochi deserve a spot in the S-tier.

One of the best things about BS Orochi is his great Skill 3, the typical teleport move. Still, in this case, it is way better than 97′ Orochi’s Skill 3 because it will always move BS Orochi to a position where it can land a hit instead of only getting behind the opponent.

BS Orochi can work perfectly in a hurry because of its Striker Skill, which makes the active team member immune to every sort of damage for 1.5 seconds.

Overall, BS Orochi is a great option if you are looking for a potent, balanced character that can get its attack boosted while not being weak.

BS Omega Rugal

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

BS Omega Rugal 

The next character in the S-Tier is also a BS, none other than Omega Rugal. BS Omega Rugal is up on the list because of his PVP-Dedicated skills. He can be a nightmare to your opponents.

Skill 1 can disable rolls for 3 seconds if you land it, while Skill 2, if landed, has a 60% chance of disabling both Hyper and Super Armor, making them exposed to BS Omega Rugal’s extremely high damage.

BS Omega Rugal is perfect for using it as a lead on balanced teams because of his Leader Skill that can increase the ATK of all your fighters by 45%, and his Striker Skill can make the active team member immune 1.5 seconds, exactly like BS Orochi.

Mr. Karate XIII

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Red

Mr. Karate XIII

The undefeated fighter made it into the S-Tier because of his PVP features that make him a nightmare, like BS Omega Rugal.

Mr. Karate’s cooldowns aren’t high at all, and his Skill 1 has a 50% chance of resetting them if he lands in his objective, and it also has a 70% of ignoring your opponent’s guard, so you can land his Skill 1 even when the opponent is covering itself.

Meanwhile, Mr. Karate’s Skill 2 gives him Super and Hyper armor for 3 seconds, as well as a penetration buff of 1000 for 7 seconds. Lastly, his Skill 3 can boost his ATK by 30% for 7 seconds and disable the opponent’s rolls for 4 seconds if landed successfully.

As you can see, Mr. Karate is perfect for PVP, but his Leader and Striker Skills make him perfect to be part of your team if you have Red element fighters.

Mr. Karate’s Leader Skill buffs Red element fighters’ ATK by 60%, while his Striker Skill can boost the active team member’s attack by 10% and reduce the opponent’s DEF by 10% for 10 seconds.

Mr. Karate has a lot of useful perks to combat annoying threats like Orochi ’97. His perks, alongside his great defensive capacity (knowing he’s an Attack Type), take him up to the S-tier.

Mukai ’03

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

Mukai '03

We don’t leave aside the Attack Types since we are now looking at Mukai ’03, a Blue element Fighter with some poor HP and DEF stats but an outstanding ATK stat.

Mukai ’03 is perfect for PVP as his Skill 1 can boost his ATK by 20%, while his Skill 2 can give him Hyper Armor for 3 seconds, and his Skill 3 can petrify the enemy for 1.5 even if you don’t land the attack properly.

Mukai ’03 also uses petrification in his Striker Skill, as he can petrify his opponents with it for 2 seconds. Mukai’s Leader Skill buffs Blue element fighters’ HP stat by 20%.

A great thing we have to mention about Mukai is one of his Core buffs. Escaping from combos is almost impossible in KOFAS, but Mukai has a 50% chance of petrifying his opponents for 1.4 seconds if he gets hit, making it a great option in the PVP. Thanks to his “Medusa-like” perk, Mukai ’03 made it to the top tier!

Rudy

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Yellow

Rudy

If you thought Defensive Types would not make it to the S-tier, you are wrong, as Rudy (a crossover character from Seven Knights) is one of the best characters in the game.

Rudy isn’t the best one in PVP, but he can be really helpful as a team member. First, Rudy’s core buffs can make him a great option as it can make himself and his teammates immune to stuns after landing a critical hit. Second, knowing that his Core also gives him an enhanced critical hit chance, Rudy can be unstoppable!

Another great thing that makes Rudy wonderful as a defensive fighter is when Rudy has less than 35% of his HP, he can decrease the damage he receives by 30%, making it a chunky, dangerous tank.

Eileene

  • Attack Types
  • Element: Purple

Eileene

We don’t leave aside the Attack Types; now we are looking at Eileene, another crossover character from Seven Knights. Eileene’s feature, which lets her be in the S-tier, is her wonderful (and dangerous) PVP skills kit.

Her Skill 1 lets her disable all of the target’s buffs, which is pretty useful against those characters who can buff themselves instantly. This same skill gives her 3 seconds of Super Armor.

But her Skill 2 is even annoying to fight against as it increases her attack by 28% for 7 seconds and makes her immune to every sort of damage for 3 seconds, 3 seconds that she can use perfectly to disable any strategy or avoid combos.

But that’s not all; this same skill has a 65% chance of ignoring the guard of the target and disabling the guards of the same throughout 4 seconds; a total nightmare.

Performing her Core lets Eileene have a skill cooldown reset every time she uses her Ultimate Skill, as well as increased penetration of 700. Basically, Eileene’s Ultimate Skill is designed to reset combos, giving her a lot of damage potential.

Overall, Eileene is really overpowered in PVP, but she isn’t as good as a supporter. A really great choice if you want to sweep your rivals!

Dellons

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

Dellons

The Seven Knights and KOFAS crossover gave the game a lot of great fighters, and Dellons getting in the S-tier alongside Rudy and Eileene is great proof of that. Dellons made it to the highest tier thanks to his core buffs, making him a great sweeper.

Dellons’ Core can increase his penetration by 30% for 5 seconds (stacking up to 5 times) and has the exclusive PVP effect of having a 50% chance of disabling all of the skills of the target for 2 seconds if Dellons lands a skill.

Dellons’ skillset isn’t bad either; his Skill 2 gives him a 30% damage buff to his other skills for 5 seconds and can reset Skill 1’s cooldown, allowing Dellons to create great combos.

But Dellons is way better than other Blue element options like Mukai in supporting terms as its Leader Skill boosts the attack of Blue element Fighters by 55%. In addition, his Striker Skill increases the active fighter’s ATK by 10% for 10 seconds, also recovering 7% of Blue element fighters’ HP.

Dellons +Mukai in your team can be a great composition!

Winter Love Messenger Goro

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Blue

Winter Love Messenger Goro

Goro’s Christmas costume is a great defensive character that made it to the S-tier thanks to his Core buffs, his great synergy with other Blue element fighters, and his skills. All summed up can make Goro have more than 10K HP, even more than BS Orochi.

Winter Goro’s ATK is deficient; to fix that, Winter Goro uses his DEF stats (which are really high) and his skillset to create a really balanced and threatening character.

Winter Goro’s Skill 1 increase his ATK by 45% of his total DEF stat for 7 seconds. Also, this skill has the exclusive PVP effect of disabling the opponent’s rolls for 3 seconds even if the opponent protects itself.

Winter Goro’s Skill 2 decreases the damage Goro receives by 70% for 3 seconds and applies poisoning to the opponent, making Winter Goro a great passive attacker.

The poison effect goes for 6 seconds, and its damage is calculated with 35% of Goro’s DEF per second. The effect also decreases the opponent’s power gauge gain rate by 80%, making Goro perfect for PVP battles as he is based on chipping down the rival instead of sweeping it.

But that’s not all about Winter Goro. His Skill 3 and his Core complement each other as Skill 3 can freeze the opponents for 2 seconds (even if the target protects itself), and his Core gives him a 300% of increased damage to frozen opponents, making Winter Goro perfect to use in compositions with characters like Kula.

Winter Goro, even if his build is more of a defensive one and his ATK stat is really low, his composition can be really great for wearing out the opponents if you use him in your teams.

Kazuya Mishima

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Yellow

Kazuya Mishima

Tekken and KOFAS’ crossover was good, mainly because we got Kazuya in the game, who, even when he claims to be a Balanced Type, he’s capable of demolishing any other team in PvP.

Exactly, his Leader Skill is great if you are making a Tekken-based team, as he increases Tekken fighters’ ATK by 55%, while his Striker Skill makes the active team member recover 12% of his HP, which is useful for PvE.

Kazuya in PVP is a monster, as he can launch his opponent in the air with his 3 skills. Skill 1 resets its cooldown if it hits, being the main resource of Kazuya’s combos. His Skill 2 has a 40% chance of stunning the target, and his Skill 3 boosts Kazuya’s damage by 28% for 7 seconds, giving him damage immunity for 3 seconds.

That’s not all for Kazuya; his Core effects give him Shock Damage to all his skills as long as Kazuya has at least 70% of his HP, making it a great DPS attacker. In addition, Kazuya’s defensive perks allow you to handle some damage to avoid getting swiped easily, as he becomes immune to damage for 3 seconds when he gets lower than 30% of his HP.

Kazuya isn’t the best Balanced Type, but he’s good in all he can do, making him worthy of a spot in the S-Tier.

A-Tier

Individually (In terms of skillset and PVP perks), the characters in this tier are slightly worse than those in the S-Tier. Still, they can work great in team compositions and even be better in some cases than the characters we have seen previously.

Terry Bogard ’03

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Yellow

Terry Bogard '03

We start tallying up the A-tiers with Terry Bogard ’03, a fighter from KOF 2003. He gets to this tier because he’s slower than most fighters, but he can compensate for his lack of pace with serious damage, high ATK stats, and great defending options that make Terry a serious threat in PVP.

Terry’s skillset is based on being near the objective to have better options for landing his attacks. His skillset heavily depends on the Power Gauge, so you have to be aware of that.

Terry’s Skill 1 increases his damage and gives him Super Armor, while his Skill 2 gives him damage immunity for 3 seconds only if his Power Gauge is at least at two bars.

Terry’s Skill 3 only increases Terry’s damage by 50% if he has at least one bar in his Power Gauge. So, then, our tip is to use Skill 1 freely and use Skill 2 and 3 when Terry’s Power Gauge is full, using Skill 3 first and then Skill 2.

But Terry isn’t all about damage; His Core effects give him Super Armor and reduce the damage received by 30%, also becoming immune to petrify and freeze effects every time he guards himself. This effect has a 20 seconds cooldown, but it is still great for PVP, working perfectly to counter characters like Winter Goro or Mukai.

Overall, Terry has plenty of defensive and attacking options, but he’s very slow; that’s why he only made it to the A-tier.

Jin Kazama (Hoodie)

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Blue

Jin Kazama (Hoodie)

Don’t confuse Hoodie Jin as a Defense Type; he’s tagged as one, but his offensive perks make him way better than other Attack Types.

Skill 1 and 3 have a special feature; they use Jin’s DEF stats to calculate the damage inflicted on the objective. Specifically, Skill 1 converts 45% of his DEF stats into ATK (at max level). His Skill 2 provides him with Super Armor and damage immunity for 3 seconds, with a cooldown of only 10.8 seconds.

Jin’s Core effects make Jin even more balanced as he increases his ATK and DEF by 30% for 5 seconds after successfully landing a skill. Another great Core Effect is the reduced damage he receives when his HP goes below 50% and increases his ATK by 40%. These buffs can stack with each other, making Jin a dangerous character when he’s at low HP.

That’s not all about Jin, as he’s great as a team member. His Leader Skill gives Blue element fighters a 45% ATK and 10% DEF buff, and his Striker Skill makes active teammates increase their critical damage rate by 7% throughout 10 seconds.

If you are using Jin, we recommend making a combo with Kazuya; the damage will be really great!

Nameless ’02

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Purple

Nameless '02

Nameless ’02, a character from the KOF 2002 roaster, is the perfect example of an A-Tier fighter; he has regular stats but is getting high on the list thanks to his combos and Core Effects.

Nameless’ skills have low cooldowns and fast animations, two great bonuses to take into account. Starting with his skillset, Nameless’ Skill 1 is a fire wave in front of him that disables the opponent’s rolls for 4 seconds and the opponent’s Striker Skills for 3 seconds.

On the other hand, Skill 2 increases his ATK by equal to 45% of his DEF stat for 8 seconds if the skill lands on the objective, dealing a great amount of damage. Nameless’ Skill 3 only gives him damage immunity for 3 seconds, but the damage is rather weak, so this is more of a defensive skill.

But the best of Nameless is when we take a look at his Core Effects:

  • Power Gauge gain rate increase.
  • DEF and ATK buffs.
  • A reduction of 60% to stuns and petrify effects (especially useful in PVP).
  • 150% of burn damage to objectives when he lands his skills, as well as a 5% power gauge decrease.
  • 25% chance to get Super Armor when a skill hits the target.
  • Finally, a 5% power buff when he lands a critical hit, increasing his penetration by 650 for 5 upon critical hits, staking up to 1950 for 5 seconds.

Overall, Nameless is god-like in PVP but is rather bad if you use it as support; that’s why he only made it to A-Tier.

Orochi Leona

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Blue

Orochi Leona

Orochi Leona is an OP character in PVP, but (as well as Nameless ’02) her team member tools are simple and basic.

Orochi Leona’s Skill 1 ignores the target’s guard and gives her Super Armor; her Skill 2 is a projectile that moves slowly around her, dealing shock damage when the opponent touches it, and her Skill 3 also gives her Super Armor and an increased critical rate by 20% for 5 seconds (Skill 3 also has the exclusive PVP effect of disabling enemy’s active skills for 4 seconds if landed).

Her Core Effects also give her more damage against Defense Types and slightly decrease the cooldowns of her active skills. Other than that, Orochi Leona doesn’t have how to help her teammates. That’s why she only got to the A-tier.

Lady Chang Koehan

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Yellow

Lady Chang Koehan

Now, we’ll see another Yellow element Character, Lady Chang Koehan, who has some interesting tools and perks to use against her rivals. Sadly, those perks work perfectly under certain situations, making her be only in the A-tier.

Lady Chang’s Leader Skill only affects female fighters; she increases female fighters’ ATK by 60% but at the cost of 10% of Lady Chang’s HP. As we said, this is great for interesting team compositions in PvP with other female characters in the game. Lady Chang’s Striker Skill only stuns enemies for 1.7 seconds.

Lady Chang’s Skill 1 increases her ATK equal to 42% of her DEF for 8 seconds; this is a big buff considering her Defense Type condition.

Her Skill 2 can only be usable when she isn’t on the ground, inflicting damage and giving her Super Armor (Skill 2’s animation is rather slow, so be aware of that). Lastly, her Skill 3 is a fast dash that increases her DEF by 35% for 10 seconds, being a perfect skill to make a combo with Skill 1.

Lady Chang’s Core Effects are pretty good. First, she increases the damage dealt with Yellow, Red, and Blue element enemies; this, as well as her natural strength against Purple element fighters, makes Lady Chang a versatile fighter as she’s strong against 4 element fighters.

Another great Core Effect she has is the 40% chance of stunning her opponents (only if they aren’t already stunned). Lastly, she can reset her Skills’ cooldowns after using her Ultimate Skill, which is a great Core Effect to have.

Shion (KOF XI)

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Yellow

Shion (KOF XI)

Shion is a great offensive character, with some synergies between her Core Effects and her skills.

Her Skill 2 and 3 and her Striker Skill can apply shock damage, and her Core Effect makes that every time she attacks a shocked enemy, their DEF will decrease by 35% for 5 seconds, while Shion recovers some HP while doing it. Also, if Shion lands a critical hit, she has the chance of dealing double damage, only if the objective is already shocked.

Shion’s prime time is in PvP, as she has another Core Effect that makes her have a 70% chance of removing Super and Hyper Armor from the enemy after landing a skill.

Her Skill 1 gives her Super Armor for 3 seconds and can break the opponent’s guard.

Overall, Shion lacks some damage immunity and has long cooldowns, but she’s a solid character on your roster.

Original Zero (KOF 2001)

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

Original Zero (KOF 2001)

Zero is one of the NESTS powerhouses (that means he has a lot of synergies with Nameless) and one of the best characters in the A-tier. Zero deserves this spot thanks to his explosive damage, his skillset, and his Core Effects.

Zero’s Skill 1 gives him a 20% ATK buff and stuns the objective throughout 3 seconds, while Skill 2 and 3 works together as Skill 2 is unblockable. It resets if Zero lands Skill 3, which also gives him Super Armor and damage immunity for 3 seconds. Skill 3 can be used while Zero is attacked, as long as Zero isn’t on the ground or in the air.

Zero’s Core is really useful to protect himself from passive damage. He reduces the damage from bleeding, burning, and poisoning, but Zero can still get damaged (and affected) from shock damage.

Zero’s Core Effects gets a buff of 20% on his ATK and can reflect stun effects on him, making stun characters (like Lady Chang) useless against Zero (but this doesn’t prevent petrifying and freezing effects). Also, Zero gets an 8% increase in damage against Red element fighters, getting an even bigger advantage against them.

Zero as support works well, too, giving Blue element fighters a 40% ATK and 12% HP buff, while his Striker Skill has a stun for 1.8 seconds.

Zero doesn’t make it to the S-tier for the same reason as Terry Bogard ’03; He’s really slow, and his animations are easily predictable, so it is hard to land attacks with Zero.

Saiki (KOF XIII)

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Yellow

Saiki (KOF XIII)

Saiki and Hoodie Jin are similar because they share some skillset features (like getting his ATK calculated with his DEF stats).

Starting up with Saiki, his Core Effects are really great as he reduces all the damage received by 35% when his HP is lower than 50%.

Also, knowing Saiki is a Defense Type (so his DEF stat is really high), him getting Super Armor for 5 seconds every time he gets burned or he’s bleeding (with a cooldown of only 8 seconds) is such a great feature to have; Saiki is really hard to take down.

Another great Core Effect is his capacity to slow the target’s attack and movement speed by 50% for 3 seconds after landing one of his skills as a critical hit, making Saiki great to counter fast attackers.

Now, let’s talk about Saiki’s skills. His Skill 1 boosts his ATK equal to 45% of his DEF stat for 7 seconds, applying blackout to the enemies (which deals damage equal to 30% of his ATK every second for 7 seconds). Saiki’s Skill 2 gives him Super Armor for 3 seconds and disables enemies’ rolls for 4 seconds.

Finally, his Skill 3 decreases the enemy’s Power Gauge only if the objective is affected by the blackout, while Saiki is recovering Power Gauge.

Saiki’s Leader Skill isn’t bad at all as he boosts the damage of Yellow element fighters by 60% and decreases the tag cooldown by 2 seconds. Thanks to this buff, Saiki can make great combos with attackers like Shion, Orochi Iori, or Lady Chang.

Lastly, his Striker Skill isn’t bad either as he decreases the objective’s attack and movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds after landing the skill.

Saiki isn’t in the S-tier because of his lack of cooldown resets (being this a real problem as Saiki’s cooldown is really high) and the lack of damage immunity from his Hyper Armor.

NESTS Style Kyo (KOF XIII)

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Red

NESTS Style Kyo (KOF XIII) 

Yet another fighter with synergies with NESTS fighters (like Nameless 02 and Zero). If you like those characters with DPS, Kyo is such a great option for you as he has fire attacks in all his active skills and in his Striker Skill.

Kyo’s Leader Skill boosts Red element fighters’ ATK by 30% and their critical hit rate by 11%. Pretty useful if you want to use it as a support in a Red element-themed team.

But Kyo is outstanding in PvP, too, as his Skill 1 gives him a 28% ATK boost for 7 seconds and can disable rolls for 3 seconds. His Skill 2 gives him Super Armor, buff his Power Gauge gain rate by 70%, and debuff the opponent’s Power Gauge gain rate by 70%, making Kyo great to counter those fighters who can cast skills with low Power Gauge costs.

Lastly, his Skill 3 gives him Hyper Armor for 3 seconds, along with an 18% critical hit rate buff for 5 seconds.

Kyo’s Core Effects are useful too; he gains a 60% freeze duration decrease, a 30% stun duration decrease, and a 40% petrification decrease.

But not everything is gold on Kyo; he got only to A-tier because of his complete absence of crowd control and his long cooldowns in his Skillset.

Geese Howard (KOF XIV)

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Red

Geese Howard (KOF XIV)

We don’t leave Red element fighters aside yet, as Geese Howard, from KOF XIV’s roster, appears in our tier list.

It does not go without saying Geese lacks DEF stats, being weaker than various Attack Types who made it to the S-tier, but, in experts’ hands, Geese Howard is a solid fighter to use.

Geese has everything an Attack Type fan can ask for; ranged attacks, DPS, Super Armor, and good hitboxes.

His Leader Skill boosts Red element fighters’ ATK by 35%, their Power Gauge gain rate by 15%, and their HP by 15%, such a great feature to have in your team. His Striker Skill stuns the enemy for 3 seconds, letting you do combos easier.

But let’s see Geese’s primetime, his PvP features. His Skill 1 increases his ATK by 20% for 10 seconds, while Skill 2 stuns the enemy for 2 seconds if landed, getting damage immunity for 3 seconds. His Skill 3 deals shock damage equal to 34% of his total ATK every second for 7 seconds, decreasing 15% of the enemy’s attack and movement speed.

Geese’s Core Effects are really solid, getting a buff of 12% on the damage of his Skill 1, 3, and his Ultimate Skill. He can also get Super Armor for 4 seconds after landing them.

Another Core Effects he can get are his Power Gauge gain rate increased by 15%, and his critical hit damage increased by 18%.

On top of that, if Geese lands a critical hit on a shocked enemy, he will deal 3 times the damage he should normally inflict, and the enemy won’t be able to recover HP for 8 seconds, being a great counter for those fighters with regeneration in their Core Effects (like Orochi ’97).

Lady Kim Kaphwan

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Purple

Lady Kim Kaphwan

The next character in our tier list is the female version of Kim Kaphwan, a Purple element fighter with some great offensive options (like crowd control) in her skillset.

Lady Kim is one of the few characters whose skills lack or DEF buffs, but, on the other side, she has a lot of ATK and penetration buffs, Hyper Armor, and cooldown resets.

Her Skill 1 boosts her ATK by 28% for 7 seconds, while her Skill 2 will always hit because it ignores the opponent’s guards. Skill 2 also resets Skill 1’s cooldown, making it a great option to create combos.

Lastly, her Skill 3 increases her penetration by 800 for 7 seconds after landing a hit, having a 30% chance of petrifying the objective for 2 seconds and giving her Super and Hyper Armor for 3 seconds.

But Lady Kim’s Core Effects are even better, as she can be immune to petrification, making Mukai useless against her. Lady Kim can also get Super Armor when attacked in a guard stance, reducing the received damage by 50% for 4 seconds (the only downside is this effect having 20 cooldown seconds).

Lady Kim can also decrease the enemy’s attack speed by 10% and movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds only if she gets attacked, but that’s not all; on top of it, the enemy who attacked her will get petrified for 2 seconds. So this Core Effect has a big cooldown of 19 seconds.

Resuming, Lady Kim has some great PvP features, but she lacks on damage incrementation, getting overwhelmed by other Defense Type options like Winter Goro.

Goenitz ’96

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Green

Goenitz '96 

Closing the A-tier, we are gonna talk about Goenitz ’96. He’s an Attack Type but with a slight problem; he can only be used in some circumstances, like Lady Chang.

Goenitz’s ATK stat is below average, which is bad considering he’s an Attack Type. He can only support Orochi Clan characters (Like Leona in both versions, Shermie, Yashiro, etc.), giving them a 30% ATK buff and increasing their critical hit rate by 13%.

But he made it up to the A-tier thanks to his active skills and Core Effects. His Core Effects give him ATK and critical hit rate increase, and he can debuff the ATK of bleeding enemies. He can also get a 20% increase on his bleeding damage, and he can inflict bleeding on enemies if he lands a crit with his active skills.

The best thing about Goenitz is that this bleeding effect can stack with other bleeding effects from different sources (like his Skill 3), making Goenitz a wonderful DPS character.

Goenitz’s Skill 1 is a large range multi-hit tornado which increases Goenitz’s critical hit rate by 12% for 7 seconds. This skill can’t be avoided with rolls and can hit enemies on the ground, launching them into the air.

Goenitz’s Skill 2 is a grab (with a really fast animation and easy to stack up in combos), increasing his ATK by 28%. Finally, his Skill 3 only applies bleeding damage to the enemy for 7 seconds, making damage equal to 30% of his ATK.

Goenitz is such a great option in PvP. Still, his Attack Type condition (being basically a crystal cannon), plus his below-average ATK stat, makes him be only in the A-Tier.

B-Tier

It’s time to hop up into the B-Tier. Fighters here will not be as good as before and need some work to shine, but they have interesting features that make them useful for PvE or PvP. Let’s get started!

Igniz ’01

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Purple

Igniz '01

Leader of NESTS and originally part of the roster from KOF ’01, Igniz is a cool character to start with if you are inaugurating your adventures into PvP.

Something cool about Igniz is that he has long and close-range attacks, making it perfect for those moments when you are not in advantage and you want to play safe.

His Skill 1 gives him Super Armor for 3 seconds and increases his critical hit rate by 17% for 5 seconds. In addition, this skill launches the opponent through the air while he’s moving forward, being the perfect skill to start combos.

Igniz’s Skill 2 will always break the opponent’s guard, and this skill also has the exclusive PvP feature of not letting the enemy activate buffs from active skills for 4 seconds. Lastly, Igniz’s Skill 3 is a projectile that moves in front of him and inflicts Shock Damage. This skill also wreaks damage at close range before throwing the projectile itself.

Igniz’s Core Effects also shine by themselves, as he can increase his penetration by 400 and his ATK by 3% with each attack, stacking up to 5 attacks. Thanks to this Core Effect, Igniz is one of the most used characters in PvP.

The big problem about Igniz is his lack of flexibility when we talk about PvE. He’s great to use it if you are doing a NESTS-based team, but other than that, he’s mostly useless. His Leader and Striker Skills dedicate themselves to buffing other NESTS fighters’ ATK and critical hit rate, so he has a lot of synergies with them, but he doesn’t help other potential teammates.

Another thing that makes Igniz fall to the B-Tier instead of being alongside Zero is his lack of crowd control or some sort of damage immunity through protections or Hyper Armor.

Resuming, Igniz is worth only for PvP, and you can use it for PvE if you are aiming for a NESTS team with other characters like Zero or Krizalid.

Kamui

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Yellow

Kamui 

Now, we get back to the characters from the crossover with Gintama, this time with Kamui, a great fighter that shines the most in PvP matches because of his exclusive PvP effects.

But he’s also worth in PvE, as his Leader Skill boosts Yellow element fighters’ ATK by 50%, while his Strike Skill recovers the HP from active members by 10%.

Let’s talk about what Kamui is a dangerous threat, PvP. His Skill 1 boosts his ATK by 29% for 7 seconds, and it has the exclusive PvP feature of disabling the enemy’s active skills for 3 seconds.

Kamui’s Skill 2 is rather simple as he only deals damage and inflicts burn damage equal to 27% of Kamui’s ATK for 7 seconds. The burning damage of this skill can be increased by 30% thanks to his Core Effects, by the way.

But, by far, his Skill 3 is the best part of his build. Kamui’s Skill 3 ignores the enemy’s guard completely and has the exclusive PvP effect of ignoring and removing Super and Hyper Armor from the enemy (and if the target has Super and Hyper Armor, the enemy’s DEF will get decreased by 5% for 5 seconds). This skill also increases Kamui’s ATK by 30% for 5 seconds.

But Kamui also has some PvP-exclusive Core Effects, reflecting 50% of the damage received from bleeding or burning or buffing by 60% of the damage inflicted by Kamui’s burns.

Only knowing what Kamui has to offer without looking at his Core Effects, he would fall to the C-Tier, mostly because he has some interesting features, but his stats aren’t the best. But there’s something that Kamui (as well as all the Gintama’s characters) can do that makes him deserve a spot in the B-Tier.

Kamui has a special Core Effect named Buff Makes the Game! that works differently depending on Kamui’s HP:

  • If Kamui has more than 50% of his HP: Kamui will receive a 10% chance of gaining 20% of Power Gauge after landing a skill, with 12 seconds of cooldown.
  • If Kamui has less than 49% of his HP: Kamui will have a 10% chance to deal additional damage equal to 400% of his ATK to all the enemies after landing a skill.

This Core Effect is heavily based on RNG, and that’s why Kamui didn’t make it to a higher spot in the A or even in the S-Tier. Overall, Kamui is a good character with some shortfalls but with some over-powered perks that can be dangerous in the right hands.

Adelheid Bernstein ’03

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Green

Adelheid Bernstein '03

Adelheid suffers from the same as Kamui or Igniz; he’s only PvP worthy, while his PvE perks are limited, as he can stun enemies for 2.5 seconds with his Striker Skill and just increase Green element fighter’s ATK by 35%.

But let’s talk about Adelheid’s PvP build; his most interesting features are there. His Skill 1 increases his ATK by 28% for 7 seconds and gets damage immunity for 3 seconds. Thanks to his Skill 2, Adelheid is a great DPS option as he inflicts shock damage with it equal to 33% of his ATK for 7 seconds.

Lastly, his Skill 3 gives him Super Armor for 3 seconds and has a 50% chance of stunning the enemy even if the skill got blocked. This skill can be used as an approaching tool to close distances when your rival runs away from you.

And Adelheid’s Core Effects are good for PvP, too, as he gets 18% more damage on critical hits, some ATK increase, and decreased stun duration by 40%. Also, Adelheid can have more damage against Yellow element Fighters, a great counter for those characters.

Lastly, Adelheid has some PvP-Exclusive Core Effects, like decreasing the enemy’s HP recovery rate and their Power Charge by 80% if he lands a critical hit (with only 10 cooldown seconds), or a 70% chance of removing the enemy’s buffs from active skills for 3 seconds after landing a skill (with also 10 cooldown seconds).

As we said, Adelheid is god-like for PvP but basically useless for PvE.

Rock Howard (KOF XIV)

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Blue

Rock Howard (KOF XIV)

Despite his Balanced Type condition, Rock Howard had to be nerfed before his global release due to him being utterly unbalanced. Unfortunately, these nerfs made him make it to the B-tier.

Rock’s Leader Skill is useful only if you build a Fatal Fury team because he increases every Fatal Fury characters’ ATK by 55%. His Striker Skill just does raw damage without any additional effects, making Rock a really bad character for the PvE.

On the other hand, Rock is rock-solid in PvP. His Skill 1 increases his penetration by 600 for 7 seconds and disables the opposite’s guards for 4 seconds.

Rock’s Skill 2 makes him gain Super Armor for 3 seconds and has 100% of ignoring the objective’s guard, decreasing their ATK by 70% for 3 seconds if they had Super or Hyper Armor. Lastly, Skill 3 increases Rock’s ATK by 27% for 7 seconds.

Rock also has some interesting Core Effects; let’s summarize them:

  • Whenever Rock lands his Skill 1, his Skill 2’s cooldown gets a reset.
  • Rock recovers 5% of his HP for 3 seconds whenever he gets petrified or stunned. After those 3 seconds, he gets Hyper Armor for another 3 seconds.
  • Rock’s Core decreases the damage received by 4% for 5 seconds when he gets attacked, and his HP is 49% or less (stacking up to 10, so it would be a decreased damage of 40%). But if Rock’s HP is 50% or more, he will get an ATK increase of 50% of his DEF.

So, Rock suffers from the same problem as all the characters we have seen in the B-tier; good for PvP but really bad for PvE.

Ash Crimson (KOF 03)

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Green

Ash Crimson (KOF 03)

Ash Crimson is such a weird character. He works as an Attack Type even when he’s a Defense Type (This happens because of his Core Effects, which gives him many tools to be aggressive with him), and his skillset looks like an upgraded version of Swimsuit Angel’s one.

First up, his Leader Skill is really good as he gives 45% ATK and 20% Power Gauge gain rate increase for Green element Characters, being a great supporter for them, even better than others like Nakoruru. Meanwhile, his Striker Skill gives active members Super Armor for 3 seconds and heals them by 12% of their HP.

Ash’s Core Effects are the following:

  • Ash increases his ATK equal to 42% of his DEF for 10 seconds if he attacks a burned, poisoned, or bleeding enemy. This buff is huge, considering his DEF stats are outstanding.
  • Also, Ash gets Super Armor for 5 seconds when attacked if he’s burned, poisoned, or bleeding, which, overall, is such great protection to avoid being swept out of the match.

Lastly, Ash’s skillset is mostly based on increasing his healing rate and decreasing the enemy’s one, with also some ATK increase on his Skill 1, but the problem with Ash is that he’s very limited on PvP that’s why he made it to the B-tier.

Orochi Iori ’97

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Yellow

Orochi Iori '97

The Orochi version of Iori has one of the highest ATK stats in the game (starting at 8119 ATK), but he has an average HP and a really low DEF stat, so it’s really difficult to make him profitable for PvP.

But his Leader Skill is really good nonetheless since he gives all the Attack Types a 60% buff on their ATK while decreasing their DEF by 10%, which isn’t much considering their already low DEF.

Iori’s skillset is rather simple, but he has some good scalings and his cooldowns, which are around 10 to 11 seconds.

  • Iori’s Skill 1 gives him Super Armor for 3 seconds.
  • His Skill 2 increases his critical damage by 60% for 8 seconds.
  • Lastly, Iori’s Skill 3 increases his critical hit rate by 15% while decreasing his DEF by 12%. This skill, alongside Skill 2, works perfectly to initiate some combos with Iori.

Meanwhile, Iori’s Core Effects are really simple, as they are only ATK increasing, Power Gauge gain rate increasing, and critical hit rate increasing.

Resuming, Iori is just a glass cannon that can get dispatched easily in PvP. Iori lacks versatility as his skillset doesn’t give him a way to defend himself, so he’s susceptible to getting engaged in combos.

Krizalid ’99

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Red

Krizalid '99

Krizalid is perfect for those players who don’t care about getting damage. Krizalid is more like a berserker or a reckless character.

Firstly, Krizalid depends a lot on his HP to get certain effects through his Core or skills. His Core Effects works as follows:

  • Krizalid obtains 50% power and resets all his active skills’ cooldowns when his HP is 40% or less.
  • Krizalid reduces the critical damage taken by 50% and the active skill’s damage taken by 60% if his HP is below 60%
  • The rest of his Core Effects buff Krizalid’s ATK, HP, and DEF.

Krizalid is also very good in PvP, as his active skills have low cooldowns and good scalings.

  • His Skill 1 decreases his Skill 2’s cooldown by 0.5 seconds and increases his DEF by 35% if it lands.
  • Krizalid’s Skill 2 is his bread and butter as it disables rolls for 4 seconds while increasing his ATK by 27% for 7 seconds. This skill is mostly used for those fighters with absurd mobility that are almost impossible to engage.
  • Lastly, Krizalid’s Skill 3 reduces 0.6 of his Skill 2 and gives him 3 seconds of Super Armor. This skill also works perfectly as an approach tool as it has a dash.

Krizalid is pretty solid and has some synergies with NESTS characters, but he doesn’t work for PvE. Instead, Krizalid’s prime time is in PvP, wherewith his passives that need him to be below certain HP thresholds, he gets to be a great character to comebacks.

Sentai Ranger Clark

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

Sentai Ranger Clark

Clark, alongside Ralf, is one of the two characters part of the Sentai Rangers event.

Clark is a good character for PvP, but he has a major flaw: He needs Ralf to work properly, either as a Striker or at least in his team. Without Ralf, Clark doesn’t get bonuses from his Core Effects and Leader Skill, limiting his team options. The worst part of the situation is that Ranger Ralf isn’t as good as Clark.

At least, Clark has some good perks as having Super Armor and damage immunity in his Skill 1, a short cooldown grab in his Skill 2, and a long-range attack for his Skill 3. His Ultimate Skill is also a grab and can’t be blocked, so it is a really useful tool for PvP.

Clark made it to the B-tier thanks to his grabs (which are easy to use in combos) and the fact that he’s free to obtain thanks to the Sentai Ranger event that rotates every month.

C-Tier

The characters that fell off to this tier aren’t neither good nor bad but have several flaws that doesn’t let them shine as much as other characters.

Zero Clone ’00

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Red

Zero Clone '00 

Yet another NESTS member. Clone Zero is a bit of a flawed fighter because he stays behind when it comes to damage, so he’s not viable to use in PvP as he doesn’t have DEF into ATK multipliers. The good thing about Zero Clone is the additional effects that come from his skills.

  • Skill 1 gives him Super Armor.
  • Skill 2 stuns for 1.5 seconds.
  • Skill 3 boosts his damage by 28% for 7 seconds.

His Striker Skill is really good for PvE as he stuns for 3 seconds, while his Leader Skill boosts Red element fighters’ ATK by 35% while reducing damage from Green element fighters’ by 20%.

Resuming he’s not good as an offensive option, we recommend using him as support instead.

Armor King

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Red

Armor King

Such a respectable fighter as Armor King fell off to C-tier, and it is simply because there’s a lot of characters that outperform way better than King.

His skillset isn’t bad at all. Armor King’s Leader Skill gives a 45% ATK and 35% Power Gauge gain rate increase to Tekken fighters, but it is slightly worse than Kazuya’s Leader Skill.

Armor King’s active skills aren’t bad neither. Skill 1 increases ATK equal to 30% of his DEF for 7 seconds, which is a good thing to have in Defense Types, while his Skill 2 grants him Super Armor for 3 seconds. Lastly, his Skill 3 increases the active members’ critical damage by 30% for 7 seconds, which is a great thing to have if you are doing a critical hit-based team.

The problem is that King doesn’t have some good stats. But, at least he can compensate them with some ATK buffs from his Core Effects:

  • King can increase his ATK equal to 25% of his DEF upon landing a skill, which isn’t too hard considering he has unblockable grab skills.
  • Another Core Effect gives him a damage boost to grab skills by 8%
  • Lastly, when he lands a grab, his unique Core Effect gives him AoE (Area of Effect; King inflicts damage in a certain area around him).

So, our conclusion is that Armor King is a great character, but he fell off the top as he just gets outperformed in PvP by a lot of fighters.

Sentai Ranger Ralf

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Red

Sentai Ranger Ralf

Alongside Sentai Ranger Clark, Ralf is one of the two characters part of the Sentai Ranger event.

Ralf suffers from the same problem as Sentai Ranger Clark; Ralf needs Clark in the team to work properly. Otherwise, he won’t get the buffs from his Leader Skills or his Core Effects. But Ralf has an even worse problem; he has no versatility, and his skills deal the same amount of damage without any interesting additional effect.

Ralf’s Leader Skill grants a 30% HP and a 15% ATK buff only if Clark is on the team, limiting your team options if you want to use it. On top of that, his Striker Skill doesn’t have any additional effect, so it deals raw damage without good scalings.

Ralf’s active skills are bad, too, as only his Skill 1 gives him Super Armor for 3 seconds, while Skill 2 and 3 only deal raw damage without any additional effect.

Lastly, Core Effects on Ralf are pretty much the same as on Clark but more focused on defending instead of attack.

Ralf doesn’t fall on the D-tier because he’s a free character found the same as Clark; through the Ranger event.

Ramon ’00

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Yellow

Ramon '00

The best way to describe Ramon would be as a crit-based grappler. Most of his skills involve grabs, so they are unblockable and can work perfectly to start combos while dealing a decent amount of damage.

His PvE perks aren’t bad either, as his Leader Skill boosts critical hit rate by 11% and critical damage by 65%.

His Leader Skill works perfectly alongside his Skill 3, which boosts 15% in critical hit rate. His Skill 1 and 2 offers Ramon Super Armor, which is always a good thing to have, but that’s all.

But Ramon falls to the C-tier because of his biggest weakness; he’s a slow character with slow animations. This doesn’t mean he’s a bad option at all; in the right hands, Ramon has a lot of potential for PvP. So, there’s a lot of fighters that can do much better than him in general terms, making Ramon more of a backup option in your

team.

Orochi Yashiro ’97

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Blue

Orochi Yashiro '97

Orochi Yashiro is basically a straightforward character as he doesn’t need to think too much to attack; he just needs to run up to you, grab you and go crazy. Thankfully, Yashiro has some good DEF into ATK multipliers.

Starting up with his Leader Skill, Yashiro increases Blue element fighters’ ATK by 25%, active skills’ damage by 25%, and another 20% for active skills’ damage if HP is 70% or more, which is good thanks to his Core Effects that makes him recover HP when he goes below 70%.

The only downside with his Core Effects is that he can easily get countered by a character with heal debuffs. Lastly, his Striker Skill is also solid, as it gives Super Armor 3 seconds with a 10% healing.

Let’s summarize Yashiro’s active skills:

  • Skill 1 gives him a 42% DEF to ATK conversion with a cooldown of only 11 seconds, giving him some power to not stay behind other high-damage Defense Types.
  • His Skill 2 is a grab with AoE damage like Armor King, which is good to have in PvE.
  • Lastly, Skill 3 is also a grab, but with a dash that gives Super Armor and increases his DEF by 35% for 10 seconds. So it is obvious to use Skill 3 first, then Skill 2, and lastly, Skill 1.

Resuming, Yashiro suffers from the same problem as Armor King; he’s not bad, but many characters outperform him.

Swimsuit Kula

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Blue

Swimsuit Kula

Kula would be a great character, worthy of a B-tier or A-tier, but her cooldowns and additional effects are plain bad.

Swimsuit Kula’s weakness are her really long animations, while she also has really long cooldowns that go from 11 to 14 seconds. When having those cooldowns in mind, her freeze duration is just too small, with only 1.3 seconds, which doesn’t work to stop the enemy as it should.

At least she has a pretty outstanding Leader Skill, the best one on the C-tier, giving Blue element fighters’ a 50% ATK boost.

Meanwhile, her Striker Skill does freezing damage for 7 seconds, equal to 21% of her damage.

Her Core Effects comes with a 15% active skills’ damage boost, a 10% damage reduction from enemies, a 30% Power Gauge charge rate increase, and an ATK boost.

Her Skill 1 applies freeze damage for 7 seconds, while her Skill 2 only does raw damage, and it takes too long to launch. Lastly, her Skill 3 is also really slow and has a 50/50 chance of only doing freeze damage or freezing the enemy.

Swimsuit Kula is just a weaker version of Kula, which is just disappointing.

Andy Bogard ’98

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Green

Andy Bogard '98

Andy, despite being a Defense Type, works more like an Attack Type. He’s easily comparable with Goenitz as his Skill 1 and 2 deal bleeding damage that can stack up to three times. The problem is that the bleeding damage is way too weaker than Goenitz’s one as Andy is a Defense Type.

Andy works perfectly for supporting, as his Leader Skill increases Green element fighters’ ATK by 25% and bleeding damage by 40%. In comparison, his Striker Skill decreases the enemy’s bleed resistance by 55% for 10 seconds which isn’t bad at all. If you think of a bleeding team composition, Andy can greatly support other characters like BS Rugal or Goenitz.

That’s the only remarkable thing about Andy. He would perform way better with some DEF to ATK multipliers. Other than that, Andy is just a weaker version of Goenitz.

Shermie ’97

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Purple

Shermie '97

Shermie, despite being a Defense Type, actually offers a good ATK boost from her Leader Skill, increasing ATK by 60% when her HP is 70% or more. The problem with this skill is that it is hard to maintain yourself over the 70% HP threshold, so this Leader Skill is hard to benefit from it.

Her Core Effects are rather pretty normal, with a 12% grab skill damage increase, ATK/HP/DEF boosts, reduced damage from Blue element fighters, and a 12% Power Gauge gain boost at the start of a stage, which is good for PvE.

Overall, Shermie is better suited for PvE, but she doesn’t work properly as she isn’t versatile. However, her slow animations and the fact that there are better Leader Skills for PvP makes her get to the C-tier.

Brian Battler ’98

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Yellow

Brian Battler '98

Brian has some interesting ATK multipliers, even knowing he’s a Defense Type. His Leader Skill boosts Yellow element fighters’ ATK and HP by 35%. However, his Striker Skill is really bad as it can only be useful in specific situations as it reduces the damage taken from Purple element fighters by 72% for 2 seconds. The damage reduction is huge, but it isn’t useful.

His Skill 1 and 2 only deal raw damage, while his Skill 3 gives him Super Armor for 4 seconds. But, as well as Andy or Armor King, he lacks on ATK into DEF multipliers. There’s not a specific thing that makes the player want to use this character.

D-Tier

Here lie the characters who aren’t recommended for PvP, but they can be used in PvE (with certain difficulties). The characters here need a lot of work to function properly; even with that, they perform below satisfactory levels.

Heidern ’94

  • Balanced Type
  • Element: Blue

Heidern '94

Heidern is one of the weakest characters to play in PvP, but he’s still on the meta. There’s a lot of reasons why Heidern is really bad for PvP, so let’s summarize them all together:

  • Starting up with his Leader Skill, Heidern increases all Balanced Types’ HP by 45%, which seems good on paper, but it is always more desired to have ATK boosts instead of HP boosts. His Striker Skill makes active members obtain 12% power.
  • Heidern’s active skills are the weakest part of Heidern as all of them do raw damage without any additional effect. At the same time, they also have long cooldowns with an average of 13 seconds, while most of the fighters have their average cooldowns at 11-10 seconds.
  • Heidern’s Core Effects are pretty average, too, as they only have DEF increase, Penetration increase, critical rate increase, decreased damage from Red element fighters, and a 10% ATK increase when Leona’s on the team.

Overall, Heidern has long cooldowns, a lack of status effects or buffs, and a plain Striker Skill. Heidern is really weak, and using him for PvP is a nightmare.

Takuma ’98

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Yellow

Takuma '98

Takuma’s active skillset is basic. They have some ATK multipliers, and Skill 2 can stun if it lands as a critical hit, but other than that, none of his skills have additional effects.

The biggest problem with Takuma is his Leader and Striker Skills. His Leader Skill increases HP by 35% and active skills’ damage by 35%, but only to Art of Fighting characters.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many characters from Art of Fighting available, so, build a usable team with them is really hard. Meanwhile, Takuma’s Striker Skill just stuns for 2 seconds which doesn’t take advantage of his damage at all.

Takuma has some average core effects:

  • Decreased damage from poison (5%), burns (8%), and bleeding (5%, making Takuma just a weaker version of Zero’s Core).
  • 6% buff to active skills when his HP is 50% or less, which isn’t worth it at all.

Resuming, Takuma can do some damage, but he can’t take advantage of anything from his active skills or Core Effects, making him an average character who fell to our last tier.

Heavy D! ’94

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Yellow

Heavy D! '94

Heavy D’s build is critical hit-based, with some interesting support perks, but with low-average stats (and a mediocre ATK stat) and not-so-decent Core Effects.

Starting up with D’s Leader Skill, he can increase the critical hit rate of all fighters by 17%, which is really useful for those characters built around critical hits. His Striker Skill is also based on Critical hit rates as he increases it by 5.3% for 9 seconds to all the active team members.

That’s all you could take out from Heavy D, as his skillset is just bad compared with other characters into this tier list. All of his active skills just deal raw damage without any additional effects, and his Core Effects are based on critical hit rate and damage increasings and some HP recovering too.

Overall, Heavy D could work more as a support striker than in the field because there are way better attacker options than him.

Halloween Yashiro

  • Defense Type
  • Element: Green

Halloween Yashiro

Yashiro suffers from the same problem as Heavy D, but slight changes make him better than the previous character.

Halloween Yashiro’s Skills 1 and 2 doesn’t have additional effects, but his Skill 3 can stun for 1.4 seconds, which isn’t enough considering we can find characters with stuns of even 3 seconds. At least, Yashiro’s Striker Skill has a stun but with a duration of 1.8 seconds.

His Core Effects are also simple, with only DEF increasings, poison damage decrease, critical hit rate increase when he gets tagged, and decreased damage from Attack Types. Unfortunately, Halloween Yashiro lacks something to help him win battles, like some DEF to ATK multipliers, unlike his Orochi Version.

Maxima ’99

  • Attack Type
  • Element: Yellow

Maxima '99

Maxima’s biggest problem is that he’s very slow, and landing his attacks is really difficult. At least, they have a reward if you land them, with a lot of damage. Unfortunately, his active skills don’t help Maxima much either, since they only deal raw damage without additional effects and have long cooldowns (with an average of 13 seconds).

At least Maxima can find a job with his Leader Skill, which increases Yellow element Fighters’ ATK by 55% if their HP is higher than 60%, while if their HP is lower than this threshold, they will get an increase of 11% on their critical hit rate. Sadly, his Striker Skill only deals raw damage, so that’s disappointing.

Maxima has weak Core Effects, which don’t help him. His Core Effects decrease damage received by 8% for 5 seconds when HP is 30% or below. This effect would be cool if Maxima wasn’t an Attack Type, which means his DEF stat is rather bad, and he wouldn’t handle hits even with decreased damage.

Maxima has another Core Effect that is even worse than the first one. With the Core Effect, Maxima will have a 20% chance of receiving Super Armor when attacked, which is a low chance, but it gets even worse because it has a long cooldown, with 20 seconds, not making it as reliable as it should be.

Concluding, Maxima would be really better if he was a Defense Type, but even with that, he lacks Super Armor gaining or damage immunity. With some additional effects from his active skills, Maxima could shine more.

FAQs

Question: Who’s the Most Powerful Character in KOFAS to Play in PvP?

Answer: The answer will get entirely up to you because knowing who’s the best character in the game will depend on how do you like to play.

To decide this, you have to know your playstyle (if you are aggressive or you like to wait for the rival to make the first move), know which Type you like (Attack, Defense, or Balanced Types, they are different between each other), and how do you like to attack (you have plenty of options here; through DPS with poisoning, bleeding or shock damage, through using critical hits, etc.).

Question: Which Type is Better in KOFAS?

Answer: There are three options here; Attack, Defense, and Balanced Types. You have to know there are certain times when a Defense Types is really good at attacking.

They have some ATK to DEF conversions or just simply as attack buffs or Balanced Types who have an easy way to defend themselves through Hyper Armor or damage immunity. Our recommendation is studying the character you want to play, see how does it acts, and jusy play it!

Question: Are All the Characters Viable for PvE in KOFAS?

Answer: Absolutely. This tier list tally up the characters through studying their value in PvP. So, even those characters who got only to D-tier or those who didn’t make it to the tier list because they are not useful in the metagame can be used in the PvE without any difficulties.

You have to remember that you’ll probably see characters who are god-like in PvE, but that doesn’t mean they are also god-like in PvP, as they can find some other characters who can counter them easily.

Conclusion

As we said before, this isn’t a tier list with any single KOFAS fighter in the game, but there’s some good news for you: all the characters are viable for PvE, someone with some extra difficulty, and others with ease.

If you want a recommendation from us, we would say that you have to keep in mind a character would look overpowered in PvE, but they can also end up being pretty weak when it comes to PvP. Nonetheless, we encourage you to try every character you like, and we hope this tier list will help you understand what a character should need to be good or not.

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