Do Tier Lists Matter in Fighting Games?

[Grample_Gust]

Tier lists don't matter. Especially in smash brothers. If you're good at the game you can beat anyone with anything. Fite me in smash 4 m8. I'll 2 stok u bruh.

[Delfinah]

Not entirely true, once again....  I do agree that folks make up excuses, however.  At Final Round, I nearly made my pool and I went against players whose characters are REALLY good.  Tier lists are based on how characters square up against each other a certain amount of times, assuming opponents have the same skill level.  They give you a general idea how good a character is.  Sabin DID NOT make it to the Finals of EVO.........  What are you talking about?  A character like E Ryu is considered one of the best, if not the best, because most of his matchups are at least even and to his advantage.  Dee Jay is arguably the worst because of the same thing, only opposite of Evil Ryu.  

 

You lack fundamentals.....  Until you improve on them, you're really not improving.

Sure he did he made it to grand finals several times.

What you are saying is you picked the wrong character and had an unfair matchup. Then i wonder why don't you follow your tier lists and counterpick, since it was already a lost cause from the start?

[killivincent]

No, nothing beats the feeling when you kick some high ''tier'' character's butt with the low ''tier'' in online and then the high ''tier'' player rage quits. Mwah hah 

Skills, besides Online player are only prepared to fight the ''high tiers'' they don't know how to deal with the ''low tiers'' unless they're really good. 

[grimydawg___]

Sure he did he made it to grand finals several times.

What you are saying is you picked the wrong character and had an unfair matchup. Then i wonder why don't you follow your tier lists and counterpick, since it was already a lost cause from the start?

 

 

No, he did not.......  Please do your homework....  

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Championship_Series

 

That's why I said sticking with one character is a weakness...  Even the top tier characters can be counterpicked....  Having at least two, maybe three character, improves your overall game.

Edited April 20, 2015 by grimydawg

[Delfinah]

No, he did not.......  Please do your homework....  

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Championship_Series

 

That's why I said sticking with one character is a weakness...  Even the top tier characters can be counterpicked....  Having at least two, maybe three character, improves your overall game.

I was wrong his best placement was 12th

What characters do you play and how much PP?

[Wavergray]

Yes, tier lists do matter in fighting games, but only if you understand what the person who made the tier list is trying to say about each character.

 

In order to understand the tier list, you have to have a pretty good understanding of the fighting game the list is for. If you don't understand most of the game's mechanics, the tier list won't really tell you anything. Once you understand the game you need to understand what each tier means.

• S+: Characters in this tier tend to be overpowered when compared to every other character in the game for any number of reasons. Such as: it does to much damage for very little work, has a move or gimmick that breaks the rules of the game, is designed well in a game full of poorly designed characters, or once you break through the characters skill ceiling it becomes untouchable.
• S-A: Character in these tiers are well designed. The characters have a good damage to work ratio, have good match ups against most character in the game, and have a mid to low skill ceiling.
• B-C: Character in these tiers are well designed, but have a few flaws. Their damage to work ratio could be really bad, they could have a few really bad match ups, their skill ceiling could be really high, or the person who made the list knows very little about the character, but has lost to it enough to know/think it's strong.
• D-F: Character in these tiers are poorly designed, with a lot of flaws. Their damage to work ratio is terrible, they have bad match ups against most character in the game, they are too honest, or the person who made the list knows very little about the character, but has beat it enough to know/think it's weak.

This is basically how I feel most tier lists work, but you have to remember tier lists are subjective and can change at the drop of a hat. Any character in any tier can move up or down a tier once more info about the character is known. (The most resent tier shift of note I remember off-hand was Rose in SF4 after EVO 2014, but I don't follow SF4 so I may be wrong about that.) 

Edited April 20, 2015 by soultaker655

[thegirlruka]

Tiers are alright when it comes to noting how easy a character is to master, but once it gets to a competitive level they don't mean a thing. There are plenty of skilled players that can beat other skilled players by using low tier characters. And tiers are very fickle. If something new is learned about the game (like wavedashing in melee) or character (Ice Climbers infinite pummel in melee), they'll change tiers or if there's a balancing patch the tiers will change again.

[Kittens Are Awesome]

I never pay any mind to tier lists. Just play the damned game and enjoy yourself.

[LarryIsLegend]

Tier lists, to me, are a double edged sword. Helpful in the sense, that you can practice against the high tier characters to up your game against them. Although, if someone picks a low tier and can actually play them well, you have no match up experience because you were focusing on these percieved high tier characters that you considered a threat.

Example, in Smash 4, Diddy is considered top tier and is played constantly and I have a lot more experience against a Diddy so the match up is better for me. I played a Zelda recently who wasn't even amazing and got crushed because of my lack of knowledge about the character.

I will say this, it does make me feel better when I can't make a character work and then realize they are considered low tier. It doesn't persuade me to not use the character but it feels better knowing that the character isn't considered overpowered or easy to play.

A final note, while Diddy and Shiek are considered top tier, I can't play well with either.