Guilty Gear Strive tier list - All characters ranked from best to worst

Arc System Work's Guilty Gear Strive released this past June, and while players are still learning the plenty of nuanced mechanics the game offers, certain characters are already rising above the rest.

Tier lists in fighting games are fickle, a single balance change can make you throw the whole thing out the window and you also have to take into account player skill, as more often than not, lower-level players will struggle with different aspects of the game compared to seasoned veterans.

In any case, they're a good way to start a conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of a fighting game roster, so we've decided, with the game for almost a month in our hands, to put up our very own Guilty Gear Strive tier list.

• Read more: Guilty Gear Strive 1.05 update: Online fixes, Story Mode changes, and more

First up, let's break down our tier list format.

Guilty Gear Strive character tier list - How it works

These tier lists will be divided into four levels, which we will describe below:

• S-Tier: The best characters in the game, if you want to compete at the highest level, this should be your main.
• A-Tier: Characters that are remarkable and very good, have very favourable matchups.
• B-Tier: Good characters who lack key tools the best in the cast have.
• C-Tier: Not-so-bad characters, maybe a bit unexplored, but as of right now, trending towards being bottom-tier.

Now, unto the list.

S-Tier

• Sol Badguy
• May
• Ramlethal Valentine

Is it really surprising to see these three at the top after plenty of betas in which they also dominated?

Simply put, they all have amazing and safe pressure, with Sol and May able to spam 6P and Dolphin's in neutral without little to no repercussion. 

On the other hand, Ram's corner pressure is undeniably the best in the game and she can pretty much corner carry you across the stage, probably killing you in the process.

A-Tier

• Nagoriyuki
• Giovanna
• Leo
• Chipp Zanuff

Whoever's trying to say that Nagoriyuki is bottom-tier is probably lying to get him buffed. Yes, he's a very unique character with his blood gauge playing an important role and not having a dash, but being able to cancel special moves like few fighters in the game is a very nice trade-off, plus have you seen the range on his buttons? One mistake in neutral and there goes half your life.

The rest of the cast in this tier are no slouches. Gio may be designed as a beginner-friendly character and she's got a lot of safe on-block moves to protect mashers. Chipp, a more technical character, is slowly but surely rising through the tiers after an initially lukewarm reception.

Leo? Just bash your head into your fight stick or pad and you'll get a 50% combo or something.

B-Tier

• Millia Rage
• Zato
• Potemkin
• Axl Low
• Ky Kiske
• I-No

These characters are far from bad, but generally, you'll find similar playstyles with better results in some featured in tiers above.

Take for instance Millia, she's designed to be a mix-up demon with two air-dashes and flashy combos, but her damage output is simply too low and many players feel that, although having less health, Chipp is a better option.

Zato, Potemkin, and Axl have very clear archetypes that take more time to master. Puppet fighters like Zato don't usually dominate any tier list early on, they're always perceived as bad or too complicated, Pot's beta nerfs hit him hard not being the menace he once was with his normal moves having incredible range, and Axl is sort of the defacto middle of the pack character at the moment -- he's a zoner, he plays like a zoner, the end.

Ky and I-No are in a different situation. The first one seems under tuned as a relatively simple character to pick up and play, he gets outshined by others in this regard with the lack of amazing normal moves in neutral. I-No's gimmicky dash might seem perfect for creating mix-ups out of any situation, but she may lack that one good string to make her worth picking up.

C-Tier

• Anji Mito
• Faust

Do you want to make things harder for yourself? Do you want an "excuse" for why you go 0-2 at your local tournaments? Are you a Smash player that practices with items on?

These are your go-to fighters.