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S - Warden, Shugoki, Warlord
A - Conqueror, Orochi, Peacekeeper, Nobushi
B - Kensei, Lawbringer
C - Valkyrie, Berserker, Raider
Here is a general analysis for what I think makes a hero good in for honor, and particularly in this meta, before breaking down each individual hero and the tools that they have or don't have that earns them their position on the tier list.
Essential tools
1 - A fast light attack. You can not throw heavies in neutral. You can feint heavies, in an attempt to fish for a parry or to mix your opponent up so that you can land a light attack. Having a fast light attack is essential for poke damage, as you can not every rely on landing a chain without being parried.
2 - A safe gap closer that can function as a mixup and is hard to avoid. These are essential to applying pressure and mixing up your opponent enough to get damage in. Warden's shoulder bash, conqs shield bash, warlord's headbutt are the top 3 examples. While some other classes have them (valk, lawbringer, nobushi) they are not as good and are easier to avoid.
3 - Strong punishes off of guard break (and by extension, parrying). Notably I'd mention the raider here, as his punish game off of throws and guard breaks is the weakest of every hero... and he's populary considered the worst of every hero. Not a coincidence.
4 - Powerful and viable hero specific tools. Berserker has none, warden has many. We'll get to this in the class break down.
S tier -
Warden: He has the most powerful light attacks in the game. Fast overhead that does a lot of damage and has superior block. Double connection on side lights, basically making his side lights do as much damage as a heavy. Second fastest zone attack in the game. Combine his powerful light attacks with his shoulder bash that allows him to mixup either free light attack hits or a guard break, you are basically taking ~30 damage everytime you lose the 50/50, while the warden loses nothing for it.
Shugoki: His uninterruptible stance is what makes this hero so powerful. The downside to the stance is that you take MORE damage after it's gone, but that is a flaw that is very easily overcome by just blocking and getting defensive. A lot easier to manage than the developers might have thought. Shugoki has a 50.50 mixup when he is sprinting. Your only option is to dodge or prepare to guard break. If you dodge and he guard breaks, he gets a free demon ball. If you don't dodge, he knocks you over and gets a free heavy into headbutt.
Shugoki's headbutt is also incredibly powerful as an offensive and defensive tool. It drains the most stamina of any move in the game and also stuns you. He has to land a light attack to use the headbutt, but his light attacks are about the same speed as the rest of the cast, so it's not terribly difficult for him to manage. Perhaps the most powerful tool of the shugoki is his guard break follow ups. Demon ball is great for ledging people, but if a wall is anywhere near by he gets a free charge of the oni after a wall throw. This is insanely powerful as a tool and will make beating a decent shugoki almost impossible anywhere near a wall, especially since his super armor lets him guard break you even through an attack.
Warlord: Longest throw distance in the game with full control makes warlord the god of ledges. He also has superior block on light attacks, an uninterruptible heavy and a powerful headbutt gap closer that combos into a light attack. As you might notice trending with the S tier heroes, they all have hero specific kits that are very viable and powerful. in a meta where people just try to guardbreak punish and feint for heavies, the warlord is king. Even if he messes up and commits to his heavy and his enemy feints into a light, the warlord wins the trade.
His headbutt is his most notable tool that lets him apply pressure to his opponent. It's great for poking, but also great for extending and linking chains together if you decide to get aggressive. Warlord doesn't really have any tools in his kit that can't be used. His chains are just two attacks, which might have functioned as a limitation during the design of the hero, but proves to be a non-existent drawback in a meta where people can rarely chain 2, let alone 3 attacks together to begin with.
A tier -
Conqueror - Conq is a very straight forward sort of hero who thrives in a defensive meta. Best blocking abilities of the entire cast, and a shield charge that he can use aggressively to follow up with light attacks. His sprinting shield bash is great as a mixup to land free heavies on downed opponents as well. What makes conq so good is in having a very basic, yet effective kit. While he does less damage than most heroes, he deals his damage safely.
Orochi / Peacekeeper - The basic toolkit of an assassin is what lands peacekeeper and orochi right next to eachother. Deflect and dodge attacks are both powerful tools, as is having a faster dodge in general. Reflex blocking is only a minor drawback that is rarely very relevant.
The orochi has a powerful light overhead, and powerful spacing tools that can be used to punish very hard. His offensive options aren't fantastic aside from his overhead light, but his defensive punish game is top tier.
The peacekeeper has the quickest attacks in the game that allow her to pressure heavily with light attacks, as well as the fastest zone attack in the game. She gets the best reward off of guard break of any hero with massive damage.
Nobushi - A hero that I think could see some more development to rise to the top of A tier or even find her way into S. She has what is sometimes the best punish off of parrying or getting a guard break of any hero. Her overhead heavy does a tremendous amount of damage and leads into a quick light attack chain follow up, which, if not blocked will take half of your health.
She has the best range of any hero and can safely space and poke her enemies. Parrying her rarely rewards a follow up if she is positioned properly. While her strengths are obvious, I rarely see players make good use of hidden stance, which is an incredibly powerful punish tool. Instead of blocking, she just enters a state of invincibility that she can follow with a punish into anyone who attacks. Nobushi is one of the characters here that doesn't check off many of the 'essentials' but has a very unique kit that is powerful on its own. Once players get better at mixing up her defense and punish game, as well as her spacing, I think Nobushi will really begin to shine.
B tier -
Kensei - Another hero I think has room for development. Of all heroes, I'm not sure if he doesn't deserve to be higher on the list, but I've decided that the other heroes above him are just a bit better so here kensei is. Kensei has great range and good poke tools, but his attacks are otherwise rather slow and easy to block. His overhead unblockable into side uninterruptible mixup is powerful, but that's just about the extent of kensei's tricks. A well played kensei can stand toe to toe with any hero, but doesn't really have any powerful enough tools to grant him any sort of advantage.
Lawbringer - A powerful defensive game but a lack of mixups. Block -> shove -> light attacks, guard break or long arm of the law is all he has. That sounds like enough for a mixup, but the light attack can be blocked, the guard break can be teched, and the long arm can be reacted to and dodged away from. A lawbringer in neutral has very few offensive options other than overhead light, which becomes very predictable and can then be punished. All he can really do is wait for his opponent to attack and either parry or block -> shove -> mixup attempt. Not a bad hero by any means, but without any remotely safe offensive options he's going to struggle in a lot of matchups.
C tier -
Valkyrie - I think valk will rise through the tiers once her buffs come through. Possibly being A or S tier. I've played her quite a bit and think she's got some powerful tools, but she just feels too sluggish in most of her kit. Her light attacks are pretty terrible and I rarely hit people with the first one, let alone the second. She needs to hit with at least two to have a chance of chaining into her spear sweep mixup and it rarely ever happens.
Her lunging overhead is a free parry off of a block, so it's also not a great tool against anyone who can block it. Her most powerful tool is her ability to heavy after a guard break -> shield crush -> mixup with spear sweep or guard break. If you make the right reads, she can chain together a few heavies. Her buffs will be making her light attacks quicker with less recovery, and will most importantly allow her to mixup shield crush between light attacks which is what might propel her into a higher tier. She'll be given a much faster mixup and more opportunities to use it.
Not a terrible hero by any means, but her poke game is just not on par with most others right now. Like other lower tier heroes, she mostly just needs to wait for a parry to get anything done.
Berserker - Has the powerful tools of the assassin, being a good dodge and a dodge attack, but otherwise has nothing else going for him. His punish game off of parries is very good, as his heavies do some of the most damage of any hero in the game. His punish off of a guard break on an out of stamina opponent is the BEST in the game as well. Trips into a side and overhead heavy.
The berserker's weakness is that he has the shortest range of any hero and has a hard time actually getting any hits in or starting a chain. Has to wait for a parry or deflect to get aggressive.
Raider - The raider's kit isn't terrible, but his lack of punish off of guard breaks puts him at the bottom of the list. His only punish option is a throw which can sometimes be good if you can ledge an enemy, or an unblockable which isn't bad but also eats all of the raider's stamina, only does about a bar and a half of damage and allows for no follow ups. His only real mixup is canceling a side attack into an overhead pommel strike, which isn't terribly, but as his only trick becomes predictable.
While the raider has the hardest hitting heavies in the game, he's not going to land any against a decent opponent. If you condition your opponent enough with pommel strikes you might get lucky in letting one rip toward the side, but it's a dangerous game. Lack off great offensive options and bad punish game makes the berserker the bottom tier hero.
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With all of that said and the tier list complete, I don't think there is a massive gap in power between any hero with the exception of S tier in certain matchups. For the most part, I think that anyone who can play fundamentally well can excel with any hero they choose. Bottom tier heroes just typically have to be played a lot more defensively to do well and typically have far more limited options.
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Based on recent tournament results Peacekeeper is definitely a top tier class (and one that is currently bugged no less!). Shugoki, while strong, has not produced any real results yet so I think you are overrating them. Also, Orochi is not performing as well against skilled players so it could be dropped a tier.
Hopefully Ubisoft prioritizes bug fixes as that will make balancing each class much easier. Even with that in mind Warlord is a bit too good and probably needs a slight nerf as it is really an S+ rank. All the rest just need mechanical fixes or buffs.
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I would say that kensei is pretty good, better than orochi probably at high level of tier. The main reason for this is that he can dash forward into gb and also he gets the second most value of throwing vs a wall (Being the hug of the shugoki the most rewarding mechanic). He gets a free unblockable that cuts a high chunk of health plus have his oponent stunned.
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You're trolling right? the peacekeeper and warlord are the only ones with true broken mechanicsOriginally Posted by Gubermensch Go to original post
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This isn't the first fighting game so once the mechanics are fixed it's not hard to tier classes based on their available options. The hardest thing right now is trying to account for all the broken mechanics and how that affects each class. Still, many players have 100-150 hours since release so it's not like you need 300+ to have a clue.Originally Posted by SeeNoWeevil Go to original post
