d3v
SRK
VesperArcade did a piece on what he feels are the game's tiers as of Beta 3 in a recent video. DevilJin01 did a transcript breakdown for those who don't want to watch the entire 3 hour long video just for the tiers.
Interestingly enough, most Chun mains on SRK feel that she's already A+ and not just A.Vesper Arcade video tiers
A+ TIER
Nash, Dictator, Claw, Birdie
A TIER
Cammy*, Gief, Ryu, Chun*, Karin
B TIER
Dhalsim, Rashid, Laura, Necalli, R.Mika
C TIER
Ken
DESCRIPTION OF TIERS
A+ TIER
Nash
Afrocole, Lamerboi, F.Champ were all messing around with Nash. Killey has always been a Nash main. Used to be considered pretty bad and were even joking about him. Rollercoaster ride on twitter of nerf and buff rumors. Finally now in beta 3 they feel he is a BEAST. Very popular character so meta for Nash got developed faster. Normals, damage and conversions are all strong. Did nerf some things. s.MK no longer special cancelable. More pushback on jabs. No more low short, low jab target combo. s.LK, s.MK into s.LP, s.MP target no longer works. Moonsault pressure/hit box nerfed a bit to not loop as easily.
Phase 3 Nash is the most fair Nash, but with the changes to the other characters still ends up being really strong.
Tier Explanation: Cinderella story worst to first character. Helps that he's pretty popular in the beta and people are cracking him out. Doesn't have walk speed, but has a ton of strong normals that are longer than a lot of the other casts. It's just you have to know where to use the normals you will get punished. f+HP at the right range is really oppressive and crush counters. Lot of things can be confirmed into V Trigger and can be used to open people up (sonic boom/ex boom port). Fast overhead. Really good list of AA specific normals (great air grab too). Has some problematic matchups (Cammy, Gief, Necalli), but not enough to hurt him too bad yet. Has to spend V Gauge to get out of bad situations and not easy to use. Slow walk speed, but fast dashes.
Dictator
Always been a great character. Still excellent character. Knee press is minus 4 now so you can't use it old school anymore and just throw it out. Bison's EX knee press is plus one block. Good to do after regular knee press if it's spaced so they can't punish. V Trigger really unlocks his options as you can cross over people's bodies while pressing buttons at them. EX psycho blast goes full screen now and plus 2 on block. One of his main ways to negate one hit projectiles and start an offense as he teleports behind.
Afrocole's Bison was really interesting. Played like GG Slayer just lots of dash around and buttons.
Tier Explanation: More fair (not as mindless). Still strong comeback potential and people are discovering things about him more. Target combo has potential. V Trigger also good for coming back. Can't count him out.
Birdie
Really strong character. Every single move cancels into V Trigger. Bullhorn, VTC bullhorn hurts hard. V Trigger also gives him walk speed buff. Birdie can eat donuts during V Trigger to add time to his V trigger. c.HP special cancel very strong. c.HP, bullhorn into V Trigger into bullhead. EX dive grab is faster and harder to react to with better hit box detection. f+HP is now crush counter again (was before, took it away, now regained it). Knocks opponent into air. Armored crush counter which is unique. Anti air c.MP is beastly. One of the few near fool proof AA's in the game and hits behind. Sets up resets also.
Ratanna (old MVC2/MVC3 player) and Pavocado were 2 strong Birdie's during the beta. Ratanna had setups for days and made the character feel very complete. Easy to play, but someone good will take him to next level. Feels like the SSFIV Honda of the game.
Tier Explanation: One of the few characters that has survived Nerf Fighter V and pretty much only gets buffs for the most part. V Trigger comeback factor is strong, lots of tools at different ranges. New setups players are learning really showing off his potential. Couple problem matchups, but otherwise good to go.
Claw
Claw's claw game got buffed quite a bit. f+HP got buffed as now a crush counter. Extremely good poke. c.HP might have been buffed as AA. Stand fierce into stance change is more minus on block. Big thing is V Trigger now hits crouching opponents. s.HK CC damage potential is better. Feels Claw vs BH is pretty even in utility and reason to use. You will probably see different people using different stances depending on play style or matchup. Holding down during EX wall dive allows for better corner pressure with dive as it does a fast fall.
Tier Explanation: No brainer. Standing next to Bison as clear top tier. Really good walk speed. Overall most mobile character in the game. Really good footsies with a myriad of normals to make him pretty much the ideal footsie character for the game. With Claw off his rushdown tools improve. Good AA options, V Trigger hitting crouchers now gives him better comeback potential. Fast fall out of EX wall dive improves mix up as well.
A TIER
Cammy (potential to be A plus in the future)
Cammy still really good. Another character like Chun that they greatly underestimated. General VTC buff allowing you to VTC any normal helped her out big time. They felt the nerf to her V Trigger was just and doesn't hurt her too much. V Skill is now plus one on block so it's possible to gain meter on block and whiff. Normals are still really good. Really love how people start to get really defensive when she activates V Trigger since any poke leads to big damage/stun/reset. Then start mix ups with hooligan.
Start up of dive kicks is now faster. Feel it was ok that f+HK is negative 2 and would have been really stupid if LPN's tweet was true and it was plus 1. Overall if you have good footsies, you'll go really far with the character. c.LP, b+MP link still works at close range, b+MP good AA for stopping cross up attempts.
Tier Explanation: Strong footsie game, strong damage output. Amazing walk speed. Some mix up potential that allows her to open people up a bit easier than others. Footsie game a bit nerfed, but very frame trap heavy when she gets in.
Gief
Felt really fun to play. Methodical play as a big wall walking forward at people and making big reads makes him fun to play. Light SPD range is really good. Green hand isn't necessary anymore now that he has V Skill. Doesn't need too much more mobility with his new options. EX RGB is really good in low health situations as it has armor and can't be killed from the white health. V Trigger ranged was nerfed a bit and now a 3 bar Trigger instead of the initial 2 bars. Very interesting how you can use his V Trigger to suck people in for grab mix ups or use it to up your damage.
s.LP really good for the range. c.HP good AA that sets up big damage. f+HP absorbs projectiles, plus 2 on block and plus 7 on hit (hard to whiff punish as well). Has really good footsie tools. He doesn't have as much setplay/instant game win potential for getting in, but he can win over time doing this enough times with his new options and gets more in the neutral game as a trade off.
Tier Explanation. A bit high maintenance like Sim, but has more health to work with to get in and enact his gameplan. Very very fair, has some bad matchups, but otherwise well designed.
Ryu
Lost a lot of tools from E3 build, but still very solid overall and was able to win a lot of matches with him. b+HK got nerfed a bit, but still strong as meaty. Still overall very flexible. Crush counter sweep was able to help win matches. Setup is sweep, activate V Trigger, whiff c.LP then begin charging. Japanese tournament build allows you to tech out of the setup, but that may be a sound change for the better of the game overall. Not a fan of AA DPs doing less damage without perfect timing.
Ryu's fireball still good, just have to space them differently. Can't throw them out blindly or at too close of range. Still would like to have crouching tatsu hitting options.
Tier Explanation: Not crazy damage, but still serviceable and crush counter buff helps him since he gets a legit unblockable setup. People are learning more how to use him. Forward walk speed buff. Solid tool set to handle any situation. Got AA's, frame traps, reversals, zoning etc.
Chun Li (potential to be A plus in the future)
Really good character. Vastly underestimated her before and didn't think she was that good (even though she had best kara throw in game hue hue hue). Now they see the potential. Combos got nerfed a bit, but still solid damage and ended up being pretty fun to play. s.MP, f+MP link removal was a weird nerf. EX lightning legs is safe on block which is good for combo fishing. b+HP CC is great buff. Surprised that she still has instant air legs. Felt almost plus on block and had a lot of utility for punishing fireballs and for pressure. Surprised Capcom hasn't done much anything to it (technically they nerfed recovery so you can't medium link off of it anymore).
Good comeback factor, feels very complete. Has come a long way, more than Ryu. Still one of the only characters that can link a light to medium, but they feel this is just since the range she can covert at is pretty small any way.
Tier Explanation: A bit harder to use than other characters since she has a lot of distinct angles/uses for her normals, but otherwise great character.
Karin
Footsie game feels really strong. Got some warranted nerfs to resets and links. Can't do c.LK, c.LP special anymore, but she didn't really need it. Her design seems to be just very footsie oriented and not as link/chain oriented as Chun/Cammy. Probably has the best c.MK in the game. Longest ranged cancelable one. Medium punch normals designed to frame trap you and space for her s.MK and c.MK. Just keep walking with buttons. Resets got nerfed a bit, but also warranted and still really strong. Lots of ways to combo into super.
Tier Explanation: Did nerf her a bit, but still strong. Normals and frame trap game are strong. Mix up is a bit gimmicky, but still relevant nonetheless. Not necessarily a pure pressure trap character, but her solid footsies keep can keep momentum for her well. Without the nerfs she would have been A plus.
B TIER
Dhalsim
Was a bit troubling to use. b+HP was tough to use since it was slow and had to be used more on anticipation. Had to be very careful about normal placement and wasn't getting the same damage output as opponent. HP yoga flame when used raw can combo into LP yoga flame (or MP flame in corner). EX Yoga Flame sets nice corner combos. b+HP into EX flame into double air yoga flames was pretty interesting. Yoga Flames have plus frames on hit. HP flame has 25 frame start up, but is plus 3 on block.
Slides are really minus on block. c.HK even at max range is minus 6. V Trigger felt interesting, but a bit too situational. SFV so far isn't a very high execution game, but Dhalsim may be the first heavier execution character. Constantly have to tiger knee teleports and yoga flames to get the most out of him. They didn't make much mention of his V Skill IIRC.
Tier Explanation: Was at first thought to be a C Tier. High execution, high maintenance, not much room for error. Can be really frustrating to fight against as his teleports are very strong.
Necalli
Has interesting mechanic where like Bison, he can use charge moves in combos without charging. PR Rog's Necalli was really strong going in with lots of meaties. Still weaker than a lot of characters, but still solid. Maybe with time will be more fleshed out, but V Trigger is VERY important part of his gameplay. Don't get the full character without it. Invincible reversal and command grab is good to have. j.HP has crazy hit box. Cross up is good. Close up game is good. Hard to get him off once he gets in.
Raw super is good for long range punishes. People aren't using V Skill enough. Builds V Gauge really fast. Stomps are good pressure, safeish and can create true or false block strings. Dash up command grab looks good despite short range.
Tier Explanation: Designed to intentionally have weaknesses, but becomes a stronger (A tier) character when V Trigger is popped. That also is considered a weakness overall.
Laura
A lot of people feel she is the Abel of SFV. She can be a footsie character, but doesn't get a lot of mileage/damage off them. Range on normals felt stubby, but a lot of normals moved her forward which might make them good for whiff punishing. Can't really low confirm unless she has super which hurts her mind games a bit. s.MP and s.LK are both solid buttons that are plus 3 on block which makes her a frame trap monster. If you let her get close and you don't have a reversal you are "fucked".
Command grab racks up stun and is pretty annoying. Specials revolve around mixing you up wit command grabs and pushing buttons. Fireball is really good especially with full or half charge. Very good as a stationary hit box, is basically an anti air, protects her from pressure and even fights fireballs well.
Tier Explanation: Neutral game is a bit weak, defensive game is poor. Once she gets in she's really strong and may need more exploration. Potentially A tier if you get into her preferred space.
Rashid
HP crush counter into HP tornado got nerfed. f+MP can not be canceled into VTC on second hit. Seemed fair as that was really strong before. Rashid has some issues with normals and reliant on V Trigger for setups. Kept his setup with c.HP, into EX Tornado, V Skill which pushes the opponent during block stun to set up mix ups. Has strong, lengthy block strings when he gets into range, but getting into those ranges is tough. Lamerboi had good anti backrise set ups with dash tornado.
c.HP's second hit now causes crush counter. Felt that wasn't talked about enough. Killey feels that's a really good change. Still needs a lot of time to be explored. Seems like a good fit for people who are more setup/mix up centric with their play.
Tier Explanation: V Trigger seems overly important to his gameplay in order to apply real mix ups. Doesn't do great damage without resources. Weaker neutral game compared to other characters.
R.Mika
Was changed a lot. Can only do target combo after charge s.HK. No more s.MP link. Can no longer get wall bounce mid screen after Irish Whip. Now need meter and V Trigger to make mid screen Irish Whip worth doing. f+HP into c.MP is an alternative setup in the corner that leads into a meaty (instead of cross up that can be looped over). f+HP is now plus 3 on block. Charged s.HK seems less plus on block, but still good.
Tier Explanation: Still good. Made some fair changes to her stray damage conversion which is good. Got nerfs to some of her set play and block frame advantage so she is not quite fit for a very high tier anymore. Was said she has potential to go up and not necessarily bad.
C TIER
Ken
Ken just not where he was before. Even went to the SRK forums to check and see what people found. Just to see everyone saying the same thing in that he's pretty shit ATM. Lot of juggles taken out. You can still do shoryu to shoryu, but the opponent has to be really high in the air now. Can't do c.LK, c.LP, s.LK into special anymore. V Skill speed is really slow now. c.MP, run into jump cross is very obvious to block now. c.MP link into SRK seems gone. Maximilian is a big Ken fan and even he said that he didn't find Ken fun to play and didn't use him for very long.
In general just nothing really stands out and weird to use since he is a rushdown character that has to play around very modest/negative frames.
Tier Explanation: Too many nerfs. No one really using him.
