Benimaru is far and beyond the best character in this game. Easy ass execution, safe on everything, best air normals in the game, best Cr.B that leads into bonkers damage, best sweep, dirty frame traps, numerous ways to mix up his jump trajectory which can make him hard to AA, command grab, lighting loops, guy has no weaknesses at all.
EX Raijinken is probably the best whiff punish out there and you can always get a combo off it that build almost 50% meter or just cash out for damage, and then the air EX raijinken got buffed cause he needed it lol
@@ramijackson3978 no weakness but he’s a character that requires a decent knowledge of KOF fundamentals to be used at his best. i think a top tier like him is healthy for the game vs a Vanessa or B.Jenet
As an Ash main I suffer to see him this way, he didn't got nerfed and he got some decent... changes. He has one of the best fireballs in the game but he suffers in neutral due to how easy is to avoid his tools considering the buffs the rest of the cast got, instant supers that punish him full screen, tools to completely avoid his zoning (2D in various characters), out of the corner it doesn't lead to anything. No safe on block tools like other characters. As an Ash player you had to do double the effort than other characters considering the tools and execution, now we have to do it three times :( .
He's not that bad. None of that stuff matters when you can kill in one hit.. but he absolutely cannot make a reverse ocv comeback. It's just not really possible. The rest of your team really has to put in the work, but compared to KOFXIII, Ash is and has been eating. He was harder, with worse neutral in every way, and did NO DAMAGE in that game so to this day I feel spoiled with KOFXV Ash. He's just been power crept by all these gorillas
@arsonne by no means he is bad, he is no bottom tier, I've been rocking him since the XI days and I agree that XIII Ash was dogshit. But by having that condition of 1 hit kill you also condition your other 2 characters by saving your resources which in my case is not an issue due to my team. #ClarkGaming.
I think you're really underselling Antonov, especially after this patch. His frame trap game is insanely strong, and he's basically importing SF6 throw loop degeneracy into KOF once he taps you with B. Also his stand D special cancelling means ANY anti-air kick is going to lead into huge damage, and now he has a powerful Shatterstrike followup, meaning if Antonov gets any kind of reversal or anti-air (also thanks to his EX DP) it's gonna be over. He's also now got an even easier 5 bar ToD that can confirm from his crouch C (which is a really good poke that confirms into his big damage). Not to mention how huge, active, and damaging his pokes are, coupling with his crouch A being a killer abare button. You take a genuine risk any time you try to pressure or jump in on this man. he doesn't need gimmicks, he's just playing a different game than the rest of the cast, and he's good at it.
I agree with your list. I'm happy Mai, Athena, and Chizuru are cooking in XV. I was thinking of running my old team now in XV, but for the other characters, I like to play Mature and Elizabeth. I'm sad to see them struggling, but I'm still going to play them and make them work; they are very fun. Same for B. Jenet being in the middle of the road, but I understand since she ran the game once she got buffed early on in KOF XV. Overall, great video, Rome! I hope SNK continues support for XV after CotW releases. I want to run so many teams, but it's hard to choose, lol, because XV has all my favorite characters. Can't wait to watch SWC this year; it's going to be fun seeing how players are optimizing characters.
@@EdoSaiyan thanks for watching Edo, and tier list don’t really mean much until like the absolute top 1% of players and i believe the lower tiers like Elizabeth still has some fun quirks to play with
spot-on analysis. A lot of players picking up O. Chris but probably partly cuz everyone likes him and he's been lacking before this patch. Nako might end up being super strong - there's some strong players using her like Pako, ZJZ, Perro, and Pineapple, so I'm curious to see how she's regarded in the next few months
@@DandyDLC people were waiting for any reason to play that little gremlin now and the general balance has helped him get more visibility now. I hate Nako not looking forward to fighting her lol
Right? I'm a geese main and i wanted to see how well the top players can still use him despite the nerf to palm. Lokof was one of my favorite players cuz his geese was amazing. But dude dropped him like a sack of potatoes and went back to Gato.
@@akilcharles3473 Sylvie has been pretty strong since release and she never got nerfed but others did which aids her naturally. btw those characters are all 💪
Fabulous assessment Rome! I was excited to see you make an executive decision to bump Whip to upper tier. Regarding Mature, I think she absolutely requires meter at this point and is most formidable when anchored. Happy new year and looking forward to seeing you soon, friend! 💜
I know I said how much I hate tier lists but I actually think you did a good job here. I think I hate more when they're like micro-broken down and put up as gospel. I think this presents the relative character strength pretty fairly/evenly without getting too commital/hyper specific. I think Shingo might be slightly underrated, and curious what you feel moves Andy into the upper tier? Feel like your description of middle of the road captured him well lol
@@partybarge dude there’s like 60+ characters i couldnt imagine doing a deep analysis of each unless it was a group council effort. the hardknockdown change actually does a lot for him now that he has a safe jump plus he’s elevated from the counter hit CD change. before his elbow would drop on followups so more access to his already solid damage. excellent zoner too
Wow, most of my characters got bopped yet again. Guess it's another year of casuals for me! :/ If this is final version, I'm cooked! Chizuru though? I mean... there's Chizuru... and then there's "Seis MX piloting Chizuru" - which really imo puts the emphasis more on the player than the character/kit. Kinda like how C. Viper is "toppest tier/unlimited" in UMC3 in theory but you don't see people who DO THAT.
Elisabeth was considered bottom 5 already in the patch before? What on earth happened to her to make her be considered so low? (I Haven't played the game much since 2023).
11:56 You missed the chance to call them Hinako-ruru 😛 Glad to see most of my characters are Upper Tier (Rock, Shermie, Terry, Mai) with one of them just missing it by just a notch (Kula) I may have to pick up both Yashs, K' and Heidern again (though with the last one, I still can't get over he doesn't have his Neck Rolling special anymore)
Man, you guys gotta lab Mature more. Her 2C is a good anti air. So is her stand CD. You can also catch a jumper out of the air with heavy rekka and go right into her god press super. Her far C is better than vices because it moves her forward; giving her more range. And unlike vice, it can cancel into her special moves, becoming a great whiff punish tool. I think what would make her better is if she could cancel her Ebony Tears fireball and pocket it similar to Yamazaki. And if you do the move again, she shoots it instantly. Either that or give her and EX Ebony Tears with a much fastet start up. I also feel like she could benefit from being able to alter her trajectory in her Despair jumping slash move. Like if she had an air break similar to Andy's Ku-ha-dan air break; where she can either go for the slash attack or cut the jump short and drop straight back down to the ground. That'll really add some trickery and improve her mobility and gameplay.
The only thing I actually disagree with you on is that the buffs to krohnen weren't transformative. 2a into ex fireball is actually huge. Man can actually confirm again. I think I do agree on placement (could go upper mid). Far C chang giving him strong frame traps also helps but not as big as giving back safe confirns again. Otherwise pretty great list, I don't really have any real complaints.
@@lancelot2099 i actually like krohnen a lot in this patch and probably would have put him upper if he could combo into slide of lights. ex fire is good but the 2A nerf from last patch still makes consistently converting into it a problem. thanks for watching homie
@TheLegendRome Of course man always here to support kof. It's a small disagreement at the end of the day this is a pretty accurate tier list I feel Honestly I will say that's far slide is still kinda jank. Awkward hit confirms from afar. Otherwise it's a good list, I apperciate the Najd placement too, character might make more of resurgence (or maybe it's my copium). Kinda like Shun ei did at the end of KOF 15s lifespan.
Wait, Darli on Bottom 3?!??!?! Look, Rome, I play Darli and I'll have you know that yes, absolutely, SNK will not let this girl get any sort of traction on KoF I think you went light on her air normals though, those are pretty amazing. But not only, yes, she struggles to open people up, but also she lacks any sort of anti-air herself, so she's extremely vulnerable to air pressure herself. The only thing she has is one invincible super which... okaay, it works and all but... other than that, just... no. even Tall High Tide while it looks egregious has a horrendous hit box for using as an actual anti air The biggest change she got was the quick max on the surprise attack but that doesn't really do anything for her. The scaling is too big and her animations being so long prevent you from making actual good use of it. She has some minor stuff like, "why is her command grab so crap" but, honestly, I think this character would almost immediately go to like middle of the road if they just gave her a hitbox to match the animation on her 2C. Suddenly her gameplan is way more stable. She'd still have trouble opening people up, but ti's fine, because she's a MEAN poker, so making it harder to get in on her can make her harassing and zoning game pretty obnoxious. And if she has any bar, she can convert her hits into some nice damage, even though another problem she has are absolutely horrible confirms But yeah... somehow they REALLY don't want to let her out of jail
@@missing_score haha you know i jist did that for my twitch and saw some awesome stuff so i’m gonna make it a habid to check the youtube ones. how’s your new year been so far MS?
Darli sucks, i main sansho team and she's real bad, omg, but i love the team, but is nice that haomaru and nakoruru are better, nakoruru was terrible before, my Darli used to play better than Nakoruru, but not now
having played a LOT with ALMOST EVERY character playing ranked over the last year, I'd disagree with a few things. Vanessa, should be on the bottom. This is coming from months of playing her trying to improve her game play, dropped her for a few months, picked her back up again 3 times. I absolutely love playing her, but I just have very very little success with her. Her zoomy style while on paper, seems really good, but in practice, doesn't work nearly as well as you think it would. I've also watched countless pro vanessa matches but most of time, there's really nothing special about her or her dash plays, just old fashioned basics. Elizabeth, the most common style of play/useful tool for her is down B B B into dp or qcb A combos. The nerf to her projectile for me, was inconsequential. Her hop B is one of the easiest for cross up and her combo structure and play style is similar to top tier Beni. She also has an easy J D starter, mix combo rax max TOD combo. I'd place her in the upper tier. Mature - has her problems, her qcf B/D/BD is just the biggest headache for someone new. One combos off everything, one combos off ONLY cl D, and the other can only combo off C and D. In a scramble situation, this is exceptionally annoying and unhelpful when you get it wrong. Her lacking anti air option, yes but then so do a lot of other higher tiered character. I've had tremendous success with her and mostly it comes down to style of play. She really should be played as a constant in your face rushdown relying on her relatively safe and fast command and special moves without letting the opponent breathe. Probably not gonna be tournament winning but she should be at least in the bottom of upper tier. B Jenet should be in the bottom, she's only got 2 things to spam and that's it, she doesn't have any more plays. Ramon should be in the middle of road - He doesn't get used often and most specialists abuse his cancels to make it look like he's REALLY good but once you've played against enough of them, and you play with enough spacing, he can't really do anything outside of that range. I feel Meitenku should be in the upper tier - professional defensive play or counter pick should destroy him quite easily. Every just gets too trigger happy trying to get in. Gato has the potential to be Top 10 - but I feel most players just disregard all the other tools he has and rely only on his basic stuff. These are just my thoughts obviously.
Its so heartbreaking that Vanessa never seems to get good again. When was the last time? 2001 and Neowave? otherwise it seems she always at the bottom. EDIT: Forgot 2002, then came UM with the biggest nerfhammer.
Benimaru being the biggest winner of the KOF series lorewise while being top 1 is just crazy.
Mature is a "wow that's amazing damage" girl in a "wtf I lost 70% of my healthbar in a single interaction" world
@@WoobertAIO finicky buttons and hitboxes don’t do her any better either sadly
Benimaru is far and beyond the best character in this game. Easy ass execution, safe on everything, best air normals in the game, best Cr.B that leads into bonkers damage, best sweep, dirty frame traps, numerous ways to mix up his jump trajectory which can make him hard to AA, command grab, lighting loops, guy has no weaknesses at all.
EX Raijinken is probably the best whiff punish out there and you can always get a combo off it that build almost 50% meter or just cash out for damage, and then the air EX raijinken got buffed cause he needed it lol
@@ramijackson3978 no weakness but he’s a character that requires a decent knowledge of KOF fundamentals to be used at his best. i think a top tier like him is healthy for the game vs a Vanessa or B.Jenet
Yeah but his jump CD is only serviceable (if that). And ... Ummm... I think that's all I got.
Kula is still paying for her xi and 2002um sins
Shit’s KOFXIV all over again
As an Ash main I suffer to see him this way, he didn't got nerfed and he got some decent... changes. He has one of the best fireballs in the game but he suffers in neutral due to how easy is to avoid his tools considering the buffs the rest of the cast got, instant supers that punish him full screen, tools to completely avoid his zoning (2D in various characters), out of the corner it doesn't lead to anything. No safe on block tools like other characters. As an Ash player you had to do double the effort than other characters considering the tools and execution, now we have to do it three times :( .
He's not that bad. None of that stuff matters when you can kill in one hit.. but he absolutely cannot make a reverse ocv comeback. It's just not really possible. The rest of your team really has to put in the work, but compared to KOFXIII, Ash is and has been eating. He was harder, with worse neutral in every way, and did NO DAMAGE in that game so to this day I feel spoiled with KOFXV Ash. He's just been power crept by all these gorillas
@arsonne by no means he is bad, he is no bottom tier, I've been rocking him since the XI days and I agree that XIII Ash was dogshit. But by having that condition of 1 hit kill you also condition your other 2 characters by saving your resources which in my case is not an issue due to my team. #ClarkGaming.
@@dhanocore Yeah for me Ash is the reason I play KOFXV. I'm gonna rock him and I'm gonna make the rest of the team work for him.
Lol @ "puberty install"
@@13amproduction my brain went to that immediately i don’t know why lol
I think you're really underselling Antonov, especially after this patch. His frame trap game is insanely strong, and he's basically importing SF6 throw loop degeneracy into KOF once he taps you with B. Also his stand D special cancelling means ANY anti-air kick is going to lead into huge damage, and now he has a powerful Shatterstrike followup, meaning if Antonov gets any kind of reversal or anti-air (also thanks to his EX DP) it's gonna be over. He's also now got an even easier 5 bar ToD that can confirm from his crouch C (which is a really good poke that confirms into his big damage). Not to mention how huge, active, and damaging his pokes are, coupling with his crouch A being a killer abare button. You take a genuine risk any time you try to pressure or jump in on this man. he doesn't need gimmicks, he's just playing a different game than the rest of the cast, and he's good at it.
I agree with your list. I'm happy Mai, Athena, and Chizuru are cooking in XV. I was thinking of running my old team now in XV, but for the other characters, I like to play Mature and Elizabeth. I'm sad to see them struggling, but I'm still going to play them and make them work; they are very fun. Same for B. Jenet being in the middle of the road, but I understand since she ran the game once she got buffed early on in KOF XV.
Overall, great video, Rome! I hope SNK continues support for XV after CotW releases. I want to run so many teams, but it's hard to choose, lol, because XV has all my favorite characters. Can't wait to watch SWC this year; it's going to be fun seeing how players are optimizing characters.
@@EdoSaiyan thanks for watching Edo, and tier list don’t really mean much until like the absolute top 1% of players and i believe the lower tiers like Elizabeth still has some fun quirks to play with
spot-on analysis. A lot of players picking up O. Chris but probably partly cuz everyone likes him and he's been lacking before this patch. Nako might end up being super strong - there's some strong players using her like Pako, ZJZ, Perro, and Pineapple, so I'm curious to see how she's regarded in the next few months
@@DandyDLC people were waiting for any reason to play that little gremlin now and the general balance has helped him get more visibility now. I hate Nako not looking forward to fighting her lol
Kinda sad how geese just vanished from competitive play after palm nerf despite still having absolutely insane buttons and solid damage.
Right? I'm a geese main and i wanted to see how well the top players can still use him despite the nerf to palm.
Lokof was one of my favorite players cuz his geese was amazing. But dude dropped him like a sack of potatoes and went back to Gato.
Would never guessed Sylvie being rank that high on this tier list but I'm happy for it, so too are my mains Shun'ei, Kim, Kyo and Luong.
@@akilcharles3473 Sylvie has been pretty strong since release and she never got nerfed but others did which aids her naturally. btw those characters are all 💪
Fabulous assessment Rome! I was excited to see you make an executive decision to bump Whip to upper tier. Regarding Mature, I think she absolutely requires meter at this point and is most formidable when anchored. Happy new year and looking forward to seeing you soon, friend! 💜
@@StazPo Miss you so much bro happy new year. sucks about Mature and while i still gotta do research that’s what everyone is saying about her
Love these tiers bro. Really interesting approach to organizing these characters considering how balanced this game is
@@qmanchu this is probably the best balanced fighting game with this large portion of characters so i tried to find ways to make it make sense y’know
I know I said how much I hate tier lists but I actually think you did a good job here. I think I hate more when they're like micro-broken down and put up as gospel. I think this presents the relative character strength pretty fairly/evenly without getting too commital/hyper specific. I think Shingo might be slightly underrated, and curious what you feel moves Andy into the upper tier? Feel like your description of middle of the road captured him well lol
@@partybarge dude there’s like 60+ characters i couldnt imagine doing a deep analysis of each unless it was a group council effort. the hardknockdown change actually does a lot for him now that he has a safe jump plus he’s elevated from the counter hit CD change. before his elbow would drop on followups so more access to his already solid damage. excellent zoner too
Shleepy in the top 10. We made it!
@@BahaZero he can be interchangeable between top 10-15 for sure but if there’s one more patch that doesn’t nerf him he’s only going up
You know you're face to face with an old school KoF fan when they know what Counter Wire and Critical Wire are =P
I knew Darli was landing in the heap, but I legit forgot Elisabeth was in the game. /feelsbadman
Wow, most of my characters got bopped yet again. Guess it's another year of casuals for me! :/
If this is final version, I'm cooked!
Chizuru though? I mean... there's Chizuru... and then there's "Seis MX piloting Chizuru" - which really imo puts the emphasis more on the player than the character/kit. Kinda like how C. Viper is "toppest tier/unlimited" in UMC3 in theory but you don't see people who DO THAT.
Thanks for the list Rome. Nice informative breakdown.
@@island_ice20 glad you’ve found some solace in this list friend, thanks
I'm already subbed. But damn jt I'll do it again! Great vid Rome
@@masonsaltz8152 haha appreciate the support!
This is a very interesting analysis! I barely understand all the terms bc I'm not very good at the game but still I could understand most of it!
@@helsiclife if there’s anything you need clarification on Helsic let me know! and sorry your boys Kyo and Iori aren’t top 2 ^_^
Homie I’m just happy mature in the game imma keep it 100 lol I was not think her and vice was coming to XV. Great vid btw keep it up big dawg
> Sees Team Krohnen
> Breh
> Sees Sacred Treasures
> Oh
> Sees Team Yagami
> wtf
Elisabeth was considered bottom 5 already in the patch before? What on earth happened to her to make her be considered so low? (I Haven't played the game much since 2023).
11:56 You missed the chance to call them Hinako-ruru 😛
Glad to see most of my characters are Upper Tier (Rock, Shermie, Terry, Mai) with one of them just missing it by just a notch (Kula)
I may have to pick up both Yashs, K' and Heidern again (though with the last one, I still can't get over he doesn't have his Neck Rolling special anymore)
@@SeiryuuX LMAO damn good catch
Yerr wattup Rome. That sub shit killed me
@@julioespinal3013 5 DOLLARS A MONTH
Man, you guys gotta lab Mature more. Her 2C is a good anti air. So is her stand CD. You can also catch a jumper out of the air with heavy rekka and go right into her god press super.
Her far C is better than vices because it moves her forward; giving her more range. And unlike vice, it can cancel into her special moves, becoming a great whiff punish tool.
I think what would make her better is if she could cancel her Ebony Tears fireball and pocket it similar to Yamazaki. And if you do the move again, she shoots it instantly.
Either that or give her and EX Ebony Tears with a much fastet start up. I also feel like she could benefit from being able to alter her trajectory in her Despair jumping slash move.
Like if she had an air break similar to Andy's Ku-ha-dan air break; where she can either go for the slash attack or cut the jump short and drop straight back down to the ground. That'll really add some trickery and improve her mobility and gameplay.
The only thing I actually disagree with you on is that the buffs to krohnen weren't transformative. 2a into ex fireball is actually huge. Man can actually confirm again. I think I do agree on placement (could go upper mid). Far C chang giving him strong frame traps also helps but not as big as giving back safe confirns again. Otherwise pretty great list, I don't really have any real complaints.
@@lancelot2099 i actually like krohnen a lot in this patch and probably would have put him upper if he could combo into slide of lights. ex fire is good but the 2A nerf from last patch still makes consistently converting into it a problem. thanks for watching homie
@TheLegendRome
Of course man always here to support kof. It's a small disagreement at the end of the day this is a pretty accurate tier list I feel Honestly I will say that's far slide is still kinda jank. Awkward hit confirms from afar. Otherwise it's a good list, I apperciate the Najd placement too, character might make more of resurgence (or maybe it's my copium). Kinda like Shun ei did at the end of KOF 15s lifespan.
Puberty install lol thats why he has to hold his right hand. Its too powerful.
when I first got Vice and Mature, I felt the complete opposite and thought Mature feels great 😈 and Vice underwhelming
😍😍
I'm kinda upset Otoma Raga and Re Verse ain't playable lmao
@@raionbomber75 really sucks for Re-Verse cause her moveset is nearly complete just lacking like 2-3 normals
Wait, Darli on Bottom 3?!??!?! Look, Rome, I play Darli and I'll have you know that yes, absolutely, SNK will not let this girl get any sort of traction on KoF
I think you went light on her air normals though, those are pretty amazing. But not only, yes, she struggles to open people up, but also she lacks any sort of anti-air herself, so she's extremely vulnerable to air pressure herself. The only thing she has is one invincible super which... okaay, it works and all but... other than that, just... no. even Tall High Tide while it looks egregious has a horrendous hit box for using as an actual anti air
The biggest change she got was the quick max on the surprise attack but that doesn't really do anything for her. The scaling is too big and her animations being so long prevent you from making actual good use of it.
She has some minor stuff like, "why is her command grab so crap" but, honestly, I think this character would almost immediately go to like middle of the road if they just gave her a hitbox to match the animation on her 2C. Suddenly her gameplan is way more stable. She'd still have trouble opening people up, but ti's fine, because she's a MEAN poker, so making it harder to get in on her can make her harassing and zoning game pretty obnoxious. And if she has any bar, she can convert her hits into some nice damage, even though another problem she has are absolutely horrible confirms
But yeah... somehow they REALLY don't want to let her out of jail
Billy in top 5
@@K-PopChaebol3000 top 5 in my heart to bro
K' gets hard carried by Mexico
haha check those analytics there might be something good in there
@@missing_score haha you know i jist did that for my twitch and saw some awesome stuff so i’m gonna make it a habid to check the youtube ones. how’s your new year been so far MS?
@@TheLegendRome good my dude thank you for asking. hope yours is going well too.
Darli sucks, i main sansho team and she's real bad, omg, but i love the team, but is nice that haomaru and nakoruru are better, nakoruru was terrible before, my Darli used to play better than Nakoruru, but not now
having played a LOT with ALMOST EVERY character playing ranked over the last year, I'd disagree with a few things.
Vanessa, should be on the bottom. This is coming from months of playing her trying to improve her game play, dropped her for a few months, picked her back up again 3 times. I absolutely love playing her, but I just have very very little success with her. Her zoomy style while on paper, seems really good, but in practice, doesn't work nearly as well as you think it would. I've also watched countless pro vanessa matches but most of time, there's really nothing special about her or her dash plays, just old fashioned basics.
Elizabeth, the most common style of play/useful tool for her is down B B B into dp or qcb A combos. The nerf to her projectile for me, was inconsequential. Her hop B is one of the easiest for cross up and her combo structure and play style is similar to top tier Beni. She also has an easy J D starter, mix combo rax max TOD combo. I'd place her in the upper tier.
Mature - has her problems, her qcf B/D/BD is just the biggest headache for someone new. One combos off everything, one combos off ONLY cl D, and the other can only combo off C and D. In a scramble situation, this is exceptionally annoying and unhelpful when you get it wrong. Her lacking anti air option, yes but then so do a lot of other higher tiered character. I've had tremendous success with her and mostly it comes down to style of play. She really should be played as a constant in your face rushdown relying on her relatively safe and fast command and special moves without letting the opponent breathe. Probably not gonna be tournament winning but she should be at least in the bottom of upper tier.
B Jenet should be in the bottom, she's only got 2 things to spam and that's it, she doesn't have any more plays.
Ramon should be in the middle of road - He doesn't get used often and most specialists abuse his cancels to make it look like he's REALLY good but once you've played against enough of them, and you play with enough spacing, he can't really do anything outside of that range.
I feel Meitenku should be in the upper tier - professional defensive play or counter pick should destroy him quite easily. Every just gets too trigger happy trying to get in.
Gato has the potential to be Top 10 - but I feel most players just disregard all the other tools he has and rely only on his basic stuff.
These are just my thoughts obviously.
Its so heartbreaking that Vanessa never seems to get good again. When was the last time?
2001 and Neowave? otherwise it seems she always at the bottom.
EDIT: Forgot 2002, then came UM with the biggest nerfhammer.