TFH 2.1.4 Tier List

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About a month ago, I made a tier list for the current version of Them's Fightin Herds. I was planning to make a follow up video to document how my viewpoints might have changed and elaborate further on its more controversial aspects. However, because so many tier lists came out recently, I felt it was important to document in written form.

I highly recommend you watch the initial tier list video if you have time. It's formatted differently than this one, and to my surprise- the discussion was insanely fun and productive (the total opposite of the BBCF tier list I did a year ago). I'm also going to reference it at several points.

First, let's be SUPER clear about what this tier list is all about.

  •  This tier list assumes low ping or offline play. There is ZERO consideration being given to international tournaments. I'll expand on that a little when I talk about Oleander.
  • This tier list is a prediction on how the meta will develop long term in addition to how these characters will fit into that meta. It assumes players have developed and explored what we know of existing counterplay. Since this patch is so young (five months is not very long), there's no way that we've found everything. It always has more room to develop, but we're able to make educated guesses about what's valuable. 
  • This tier list is completely my own opinion, lightly influenced by conversation with my main playgroup. It will not reference any other currently circulating tier lists, but if you made one- I promise you that I read it. I try to read everything as long as it isn't repetitive. 
  • I still think that there is a lot of room to grow. This is more of a "snapshot" of my perceptions more than anything else.
I'll spare you the whole "tier lists are subjective and even though I have more of a platform, I'm just another competitive player at the end of the day" speech. You should already know this. 

This last one is too big for a bullet point: I am not referencing current tournament results for this write up. There is a time and a place to consider tournament representation when making a tier list. Five months after a patch drops, with only netplay tournaments, most of which lack serious region restrictions, in a game that is insanely well balanced, where layer 1 counterplay isn't fully applied by a lot of frequent placers, is very much NOT that time.There's nothing meaningful we can draw from current tournament results. Them's Fightin' Herds is a young game, and 2.0 is a young patch. This isn't to say I am not considering things done in tournament play- but they are being evaluated differently.

This is a controversial stance to take. It's natural to look at tournament results and see that as the state of the game- but this patch hasn't even had a serious offline tournament. Even so, there are plenty of examples of Top 8 results that don't match the existing meta (Shoutouts to Kokonoe at EVO 2014). Being someone who gathers representation statistics, I don't think there is much we can do with this information YET. Give it time.

So, what's the meta looking like in developed play?

TFH 2.0 is a system oriented game. The toolkits across the cast are fairly balanced, but the strength disparities come more from relationship with the system rather than toolkit faults. There's a lot more to understanding developed play than a list of strengths/weaknesses.

  • Cross Canter is insanely good!
Cross canter is a huge part of the defensive meta. It's cheap for most characters, it's plus nine on hit, and it requires a ton of commitment for the opponent to call out. Having constant access to cross canter because of high meter gain or less reliance on level 2 is really strong. It severely reduces the chance that the opponent will snowball off of winning neutral. It enables wake-up RPS through both backdash and first hit CC. It's just really, really good. 
  • Pushblocking is a much higher commitment than it first appears.
Pushblock is a form of tempo control.You trade twenty five frames of blockstun for a varying distance from your opponent. It also provides access to absolute guard and doesn't cost a resource. Most characters can negate the pushback if they're expecting the pushblock and use the extra blockstun plus lack of absolute guard to set up for a mixup. For this reason, having offense that incentivizes pushblock usage (fuzzy setups, fast overheads, etc) is really strong.
  • Having practical HKD access really helps.
Hard knockdowns are very nice. Not every character has a practical use for them, but having them be practical is helpful for keeping a tighter meter economy and setting up snowball situations where you don't have to deal with roll RPS.
  •  There's almost no reason to tech until it's time to forward roll.
Not teching severely reduces the damage you take, while building you more meter from the hits they actually do get, while giving you more information about your opponent's offensive habits. The only time you would want to tech is if you're doing a forward roll, which becomes a very good option since you can enforce CC vs backdash on your own wake-up. Since throwing rolls is not a viable solution in most situations, the opponent will have to reposition themselves to stop getting CC'd. It's a peculiar dynamic- as the prevelance of not teching significantly increases touch count despite how high damage is this patch compared to 1.0
  • Your most practical starters on offense should have solid first hit JD reduction.
This is basically an extension to the above idea. Since notech is so powerful, having offensive starters that reduce juggle decay is a huge deal. Whether it's through the presence of short hop mixups or something more specific like Paprika's command throw- having this is really good. You want to make your max juggle decay hits matter, because you will hit them a lot.
  •     Health difference matters more.
Since 2.0 is a much more explosive game by nature, health tier adds a bit more disparity to character strength than it did in 1.0. There are a lot of other variables at play, such as tech habits and juggle decay starters- but generally the lower health characters are more fragile than they were before. This is especially notable in Round 3s, where one or both characters tend to have their level 2s available. 
 
 
 
GRUNKLEBARLOWE'S 2.1.4 TIER LIST

 
If you're curious about my character spread, I only play Tianhuo in tournaments. I also have a solid Pom, Oleander, and Arizona. I played a lot of Paprika and Velvet in 1.0, but I didn't keep playing them going into 2.0
 
I would consider these to be "roughly ordered." Tian is the one who I would put as the borderline between the top and bottom half. S & A are really more arbitrary numbers. There is less of a gap between the characters in this game than there is between the Top 5 characters of BBCF. In most cases, meshing with the current system is the disparity- not the raw toolkits. 
 
S Tier:
The characters in S tier mesh with the system incredibly well. Generally, they have practical uses for hard knockdown as well as a more flexible meter economy to keep both damage dumps and access to cross canter on the table. Limitations in their toolkits are either rounded out by a combination of numbers and versaitility, or simply by having the system to round out potential weaknesses.
 
A+:
This is specifically not listed because I hate when people do that on tier lists. That said, Tianhuo is the "Borderline" character here. I would honestly accept an argument for her in either tier because what she does is just so darn stable (and that alone is probably a reason she could be in S), even if her win condition is less definitive. She just gets to... exist in any circumstance. Honestly, they'd have to try to make a character with this kind of toolkit bad.
 
A Tier:
These characters are generally less stable in nature and don't mesh with the system as well. They have less room to abuse the system, or have to commit harder to reach their win condition which puts them a very faint step behind of the top half. 
 
If you're still struggling to understand the gap between the tiers, on a scale of one to ten in power level, I would put S at 10, A+ at 9.5, and A at 8.

There's the base explanation, let's get to the character breakdowns. I'll make a brief list of general strengths and weaknesses, then go into the highlights in more detail. Some of these descriptions will be longer, some will be fairly short. I'll make little notes in italics here and there.
 
Most of my snarky comments will be in italics. Have fun reading!
 
S. Arizona 
File:TFH-Arizona-1.png
+ High damage.
+ Amazing defensive options.
+ Strong stagger & throw pressure.
+ Fantastic ground mobility.
+ Strong half screen presence.
+ Great frame data.
+ Flexible meter economy. 
+ Highest health tier.
+ Forces specific offensive tempo thanks to IB super.
+ Offensive options both incentivize pushblock and reduce juggle decay.
- No passive magic generation.
- Weak midrange normals.
- Misses some punishes due to poor jabs.
- High commit anti-airs.
 
With the exception of 6A's hitbox nerf and some bug fixes (goodbye headbug), Arizona exclusively received number nerfs. Outside of that, she still has the same complete toolkit- and she checks all of the boxes for a strong relationship with the system.
 
I really want to expand on Arizona's offense, because it's actually a lot better than you think it is. Having such good frame data (-2 on both B normals), combined with an extremely good ground run & short hops, makes for excellent strike/throw pressure. You will die if you get throw baited by Arizona. But it doesn't stop there, because she also incentivizes you to pushblock with jB fuzzies. I cannot stress enough how good it is to be able to incentivize pushblocks from the opponent in this game. And you know something else? Even when you get pushblocked out, you can still be checked with stomp/rope. She has such a good offensive toolkit, it's great! 
 
Typing this out loud, I'm even more confused as to why the default Arizona gameplan is still blockstring into stomp. Her base offensive toolkit feels criminally underrated!

It's not just her offense, though- Arizona's defensive options with magic are simply unmatched. The magic options are obviously very good; meaty throw remains a risky option against them because of backdash cancelling. And super; lord, super is such a good defensive option that it fundamentally changes the way pressure has to be done against Arizona. The three frame startup on super is so good that no ground normal in the game is safe against Arizona super on instant block, and with level 2 this is one of her highest damage starters. If for some reason you don't think this practical, I regret to inform you that a very similar scenario existed with Hazama's houtenjin super in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Except this scenario is actually worse, because Hazama's super was 7f startup in a version with -5 instant block and Arizona's super is 3f startup in a game with -3 instant block. Combine this with the other strong defensive systems in TFH, and Arizona's flexible meter economy, you end up with a character who remains threatening with resources even from a defensive position. I think her one defensive drawback is her poor jabs, which can make jabbing out of specific scenarios more restrictive. For instance, there's less leniency for Arizona to jab punish Oleander's 6B Spark ender due to her lower range. This only really applies when she doesn't have meter, though.
 
Arizona's biggest weakness is her blind spots in neutral. Despite how good of a tool Stomp A is, she does have to commit more to cover the distance between rope and 2B/5C range. While this weakness can be minimized thanks to her excellent ground mobility, characters can force her to commit more in this midrange by having superior midrange normals. 6A's hitbox nerf is also noticeable in a few match-ups, and requires different positioning than it did in 1.0. But her neutral is still very good, and I do not think that having to win neutral to gain magic is much more than a minor drawback. I actually feel that she can be played a lot more reactive than players are currently playing her, there's even room for more development!

In terms of balance, I think Arizona's fine. Super should probably not be 3f startup because of the problems it's going to cause long term,. I think the rest of her strengths just come with being a very complete, strong character- and that's okay!
 

S. Velvet

https://wiki.gbl.gg/images/e/ea/TFH-Velvet-1.png

++ Insanely flexible meter economy & highest meter build in the game.
+ High damage.
+ Strong defensive RPS.
+ Good anti-airs.
+ Good ground mobility. 
+ Great midrange normals & strong zoning.
+ Good tools for chip out.
?? Inflates the meter economy.*
- Weak offense.
- Unstable match-ups.
- Lacking decisive win condition.
- Builds a lot of meter for the opponent.
 
 *Velvet generates so much meter while building so much meter for the opponent, that everyone just has more meter to work with. It makes the dynamics of fighting her very different, because meter is just constantly available for both players & the intricate management goes out the window.
 
Velvet got buffed in 2.0. Interesting enough, she's not actually doing a whole lot different. In fact, she lost some of her offensive presence with the nerf to magic eruption's frame advantage. But she hits very, very hard, and she can abuse everything that's messed up about the system.

I shouldn't have to tell you Velvet's neutral tools are good. She does real chip damage now. She has great anti-airs, midrange pokes, keep out tools, and pretty good ground mobility thanks to slide on top of it all. A lot of her normals can actually double as both ground pokes and anti-airs, thanks to things like the crouching hurtbox on 5C.
 
This deer has the fastest meter build in the game, with a max meter size of 125. It's even more gross from optimal routing, where she can build a full bar off of a 2AA starter by spending magic. Obviously, this increases her damage by giving her more chances to end in super. It also gives Velvet constant CC access. Combine this with her excellent reversal and backdash, and you end up with a character who has so much security behind her defensive position.

But Velvet's offense is weak. Her throw pressure is solid, but she has basically nothing else- and no other condition turns her offense into a real threat outside of frostbite. Fortunately, the nature of the system combined with her strong zoning means that strong offense isn't a necessity. Her comebacks tend to lean on the opponent overextending in some way.
 
This is another candidate for best character in my mind, but it's independent of her toolkit. It really just comes down to how Velvet constantly interacts with the system. Besides fixing freeze bug, I honestly think her actual toolkit and numbers are fine. Everthing "wrong" with her feels systematic.

S. Shanty
File:TFH-Shanty-1.png
+ High damage.
+ Practical HKD usage.
+ Offense both incentivizes pushblock and reduces juggle decay.
+ Best throw pressure in the game.
+ Strong stagger & throw pressure. 
+ Flexible meter economy.
+ Great ground mobility.
- Lowest health tier.
- Inflexible neutral gameplan.**
- Blockstrings build the opponent a lot of meter.
- Weak defensive options.
- Vertical coverage is very high commitment.
 
**I'm going back on this particular note. K9, Derpinator, Amaron, and Javamorris made some very good points about the ways Shanty can incentivize approach with 22X. There were also aspects of her mobility that I was not considering, which I now understand after watching more of her in developed play. My opinion on her overall strength hasn't really changed- but I think this particular point is misleading.
 
Hey, it's the newcomer. Everyone was split on her during the first few months of 2.0, but we've started to see a lot more Shanty development that we have a glimpse of what she may look like in developed play. Despite that, I don't have a whole lot to say about her except "she's good."
 
Shanty has a lot of the stuff that I said was good about Arizona's offense. She has practical fuzzy setups that incentivize the opponent to pushblock. Shanty's throw pressure is quite scary thanks to the combination of a combo throw and high damage throw baits. Her stagger windows are generous. Her practical starters reduce juggle decay, and she has practical usage of HKD. Her main drawback on offense is how much meter the opponent can build by instant blocking her long strings. This isn't always a huge drawback, but Shanty doesn't have great ways to check for cross canter which makes it hurt a little more.

I also actually really believe in Shanty's neutral! For every neutral weakness she has, there's something else in her kit that helps minimize the impact of that weakness. Shanty's anti-airs are fairly high commit, but she also has fantastic air to airs in jA and jB to help mitigate that weakness. Her normals are pretty easy to whiff punish, but she can maintain threat range with her great ground mobility.

That said, Shanty is definitely a glass cannon. Being the lowest health tier in 2.0 hurts, but she also has little in the way of defensive RPS. Her reversal super is quite good (and can punish a lot of gaps on pressure despite being a bit slower than Arizona's super), but outside of that what she has is universal.
 
I'm very optimistic about Shanty right now. I think she's amazing and only has room to develop more. I could see some of her numbers being problematic with more developmenr, but since she's on the fragile end of characters- I think it's fine.

S. Pom

File:TFH-Pom-1.png

++ Strong defensive options with dogs available.
+ Strong and flexible offense.
+ Practical HKD usage.
+ Flexible meter economy.
+ Amazing utility on her level 1.
+ Good tools for chip out.
+ Decisive win condition.
+ Strong neutral threat with dogs.
- Poor frame data & stagger windows.
- Inconsistent damage output.
- Misses some punishes due to poor jabs. 
- Lowest health tier.
- Weak ground mobility.
 
You know how I said that strength disparities are caused by relationship with the system more than toolkit? Pom's a bit of an exception. It's not that she meshes with the system poorly- far from it. But her overall toolkit strength does overshadow her relationship with the system mechanics. 
 
Chopper was gutted, but the other dogs were buffed to compensate. This character's a strange one- Pom has so muck so much potential to evolve that I'm actually horrified at what she might look like in developed play, despit a few key weaknesses.
 
Again, trying to keep things centered around offline and low ping play- but good god are Pom players champions for netplaying. I played Valkenhayn in delay based netcode for years but I would lose my mind if I tried to play Pom in a netplay tournament. 

Pom's offense is ridiculous! I know this. You know this. Pom players hopefully know this. Between jB fastfall mixups, crossup setups, strong throw baits, strong pushblock baits, tricky high/low setups with bitey, and mama dog tick throws, she can do almost everything. The only element she's missing is good stagger pressure. Negative six on her 5B & 2B limits her solo threat, so she doesn't get to follow the same "rules" as the others. 

Pom's a low health character, which is a big drawback this patch. Unlike the other low health characters, she has VERY strong defensive options with dogs. The presence of digger and to a lesser extent bitey completely remove the opponent's ability to do any form of stagger pressure. The opponent is either forced to do true blockstrings or disengage from offense. I must not under state how good that defensive presence is. That, on top of good backdash RPS with 2B & the power of herding + dog makes Pom challenging to pin down. Winning defense on Pom rarely resets to netural, it skips straight her turn like she's a Skullgirls character. Without dogs, she's more reliant on her normals- which is a bit of a mixed bag. She doesn't have a real jab, but she does have 2B. This creates a strange scenario where she can punish a lot of things that other characters can't (such as low profiling certain character's jabs), but she'll miss out on free jab punishes enjoyed by the other characters (such as magic spark or stomp A on IB).

Pom's neutral is good, only really lacking in the ground mobility department. This hurts her a bit against zoning, despite having some good work around tolls. She has good midrange reach, but they are higher commitment pokes due to their extended recovery. The thing is, most of these weaknesses change once dogs are on screen. Match up permitting, summoning a dog is not very hard in neutral. Those conditions are a lot easier to clear than you might think (it takes less time for Pom to summon a dog than it does for Oleander to get a stock of magic).

Pom is the hardest character to predict the development of, and while she can't abuse the system as hard as other characters- her base toolkit is terrifying. I believe she has potential to be the strongest character in the game with more time, development, and offline play- but that's a long ways out.

 A+. Tianhuo

File:TFH-Tianhuo-1.png

++ Strong & safe mixups.
+ Flexible meter economy.
+ Flexible neutral.
+ Great ground & air mobility.
+ Good defensive options! (Yes! Really!)
- Low damage.
- Builds a lot of meter for the opponent.
- Lowest health tier.
- Poor frame data & stagger windows.
- Lacking decisive win condition.

Tian recieved a mix of nerfs and buffs in 2.0- and I personally believe she was buffed overall. While the flight change hurts some old safejump setups and reduces her turn length, it also opens up new places for her to land big counter hit starters against impatient players on defense. 
 
I'm not even going to tell you that Tian's offense is good because I think that's a given. However, I really, really want to dispel that Volcanic Dash is a good mixup tool. It has twenty eight frames of startup- far too slow to be a strong mixup in developed play. However, it is a fantastic pressure starter and neutral conversion tool- the ignore pushblock property is perfect for starting pressure off of max range pokes. More often than not though, there are better uses of magic. 

On that front, Tian's win condition is simply "corner the opponent", which is doable from any touch. Is it as decisive as other characters? No, but being able to reach an advantageous state so quickly is what makes her so stable! 

I also want to touch on Tian's defensive options- they're bonkers. 7D on wake-up? Not very good. 7D as an option after instant blocking? Hoo boy, that is yucky. Over extend on your offense, and you might eat a counterhit jC starter. Counterplay is there through air to airs and throw. But like anything throw vulnerable, backdash makes it way scarier. 

Tian's damage is probably her biggest weakness. While her max JD damage is solid, she has a higher touch count than most characters if the opponent properly manages their juggle decay. Still, mit's a lot better in 2.0! There is more explosive power behind level 2, which even allows her to three touch from big punish starters- those conditions are just inconsistent unless the opponent is willingly eating counterhits. 

Her frame data is also odd, but it isn't a deal breaker. Her stagger windows aren't as lenient for frame traps. 2A is a 7F normal with sixteen frames of recovery, which is as much as her 5C. 6A is significantly slower to start and recover than other 6As, and having it whiff on crouchers also hurts her rebeat potential But eh former weakness is minimized by having other strong anti-air buttons. That's sort of the thing with Tian- for every weakness she has, there's a way she can work around it to minimize how much it harms her. 

Despite maining Tian, I'm not actually very opinionated on her. In my initial video, I considered moving her up to the top tier. I think she could still be there, so I've settled on her being the "borderline" pick. You can make an argument that her raw stability and flexibility makes her worthy of S. You can also argue that her less definitive win condition & lower damage / health combo keep her below. I find both conclusions somewhat agreeable. 

A. Paprika

File:Tfh palette miz pap 01.png

+ Insanely high damage.
+ Strong midrange pokes.
+ Practical HKD routing.
+ Highest health tier.
+ Flexible meter economy.
+ Offense incentivizes pushblock.
- Shortest dashblock in the game (despite her ground mobility being decent).
- Only one low.
- Builds a lot of meter for the opponent. 
- Unstable match-ups.
- Poor defensive options.
- Risky anti-airs.
 
I... actually don't have much to say about Paprika. She's good. Paprika players are constantly pushing this character to do more, so she likely has even more room to develop! 
 
In my tier list video, I said that the addition of Flop combined with the system changes helped Paprika a lot this patch. My stance is the same. Paprika does a lot damage, she has practical hard knockdown setups, she has good corner carry, she has a flexible meter economy. Paprika can always turn a stray hit into a dangerous situation, and I think that constant threat adds a bit of stability to a fairly unstable character in nature. Her meter economy is pretty flexible, but she has the Velvet trait of also building a lot of meter for the opponent. Again, this isn't necessarily a weakness in itself, but it does create a strange dynamic for both players.

Paprika's biggest weakness is her dashblock, which is interesting because her actual ground mobility is solid. But specifically for dealing with projectiles, you eat more chip while trying to approach a distant Oleander or Velvet. This can make her match-ups a lot more lopsided, even though she's extremely threatening once she hits the opponent.

Paprika's offense is good, despite the drawback of only having one low. Once they're conditioned with that low, she has potent offense that reduces a lot of juggle decay from the opponent. Her short hop mixups are good. Kiss is a really good mixup tool; it's unreactable and it reduces a lot of juggle decay. Cart C is somewhat limited by the lack of other lows, but it is still an unreactable overhead with a massive first hit bonus. Gifts force the opponent to use BC pushblock or escape the corner in other ways. Cart A is still a good stagger point. Paprika's offense is just good, but it does ask the player to be very strong at conditioning. But hey, with reward that good- it pays off!

I think some of Paprika's first hit values could use a quick look, but she's in a pretty good place overall. The system helps round her out a bit more this patch.

A. Oleander

File:Tfh palette miz uni 01.png

+++ Most decisive win condition in the game.
+ Great stagger pressure and frame data.
+ Strong midrange pokes & anti-airs.
+ Well rounded and flexible neutral.
+ Very strong disengages. 
+ Can meter steal from the opponent*
- Unflexible meter economy. 
- Less tools to answer defensive mechanics.
- No passive magic generation.
- Reliant on throw mixups.
- Low damage.
- Blockstrings build the opponent a lot of meter.
- Poor defensive options.
- Unstable match-ups.
- Practical starters don't reduce juggle decay. 

Saddle up, this is gonna be a long one.

I don't normally talk about specific discourse in these write-ups. I tend to just dismiss character discourse as venting, especially in a game as young as this one. But because the hatred towards Oleander is so prominent, there is value in understanding WHY this character is a big source of frustration. The attitude towards Oleander is very reminiscent of Es in BBCF, who is ironically another one of my least favorite fighting game characters to talk about in CF2.

Psst: If Oleander's a really hard time for you, Amaron and I literally made a a 105 minute guide to counterplaying her, neatly divided by timestamps.

I've narrowed down the discourse towards Oleander to three primary factors.

 1. Oleander is really good at punishing unsafe play.

Honestly? I'm pretty sure this is the biggest one. Characters with strong anti-airs and big midrange normals tend to be good "get out of pools" characters, but Oleander actually has even more checks on top of that. Epilogue is both a knowledge check and strong way of shutting down commitments from the opponent. Not to mention, the presence of great reaction buttons such as 6A & 5A mean that you get an immediate reward off of players who tend to over extend. This is a key piece of data because the neutral tempo you need against this character is more patient, and that's not easy for everyone to learn.

This isn't exclusive to neutral, either. Characters with long turns and good stagger pressure are designed to punish impatience. This might be the biggest thing I notice when I watch people fight Oleander- they just won't take their time on defense. I think she blows up poor defensive habits (fuzzy jumping constantly, pushblocking in the same spot, not IBing, trying to mash out of everything, etc). A lot of times, it isn't even Oleander players doing anything to incentivize the opponent to overextend.

Frustration is naturally baked into this archetype. Characters like Oleander might be good at disrupting your natural tempo and gameflow, which causes the rest of it to fall apart. This is a pretty universal sentiment.

I'm trying really, really hard not to talk about Es and Nine in BBCF. I won't mention them anymore, I promise.

 2. Oleander requires you to use the system mechanics to counter play her.

Oleander requires you to use dash blocking, instant block, and pushblock with intent to disrupt her. Simply mashing pushblock against her will get you killed. Mindlessly mashing and guessing into her actually big starters will get you killed. Never using instant block, or using only instant block without representing pushblock, will get you killed.

You have to use the system mechanics, and use them as a form of interacting with your opponent. This is true against every character, but it's most prominent on Oleander because her entire offense is very "core" TFH interaction.

The system mechanics in this game aren't fully realized. Thankfully, 2.0 has made them easier to apply. I honestly think this part of it just needs more time. 

3. Oleander benefits a LOT from netplay.

Nobody ever really wants to talk about this. Or at least, they're reluctant to admit that connection absolutely skews what works- which is something I already wrote about a few months ago.

Anyway, Oleander gets a lot out of netplay. It's a lot harder to take your time and use the mechanics to win defense when blockstring into 6C becomes a viable strategy. Timings to safejump / option select 22D are harder. Ground teleports are a nightmare online, especially in rollbacky connections. A lot of the reactive elements are hurt to the point where it covers up some of the actual weaknesses she has. Also, harder instant blocking really sucks against her.

With that out of the way, let's look at how Oleander actually fares in the current meta.

Let's be clear about her strengths. Oleander has fantastic reactive tools in neutral- with two strong anti-airs and excellent ground pokes, as well as the best 5A in the game. Her frame data is, for the most part, pretty good. Her neutral is fantastic, as she gets to dictate the tempo in a lot of her match-ups, and she has great midrange coverage with 5A & 5B.

Here's the rough part: so many of the game's current systems work against Oleander. Having the slowest meter gain, on top of being so back loaded into level 2, is a pretty bad look. Cross Canter is an insanely high commitment for Oleander, where it isn't for other characters. Instant block guts her offense more than other characters despite her gatling freedom. The general length of her turns means you can build more meter from instant blocking. She doesn't handle pushblock well, providing you use it in conjunction with normal blocking and instant blocking. She has awful max JD damage, on top of having no practical starters that refund juggle decay on the first hit. She has to lean on throw mixups and jump in mixups. Throw mixups aren't bad to rely on in themselves, but her movement is not well suited for them. This is a possible area of development with wavedash. Double jump does give her access fuzzy setups, but this tends to be an unsustainable strategy due to her lacking an actual short hop. Having to full jump makes anti-airing on reaction a lot more feasible. The double jump vulnerability added in 2.0 also makes setting these up much riskier, and less sustainable than it was in 1.0. Again, these things aren't bad on their own, but they don't mesh well with her kit or the system mechanics. 

That's the weird thing about Oleander's offense. Everything she does well has this little asterisk next to it that hurts how potent it "could" be in developed play. Her toolkit should be flexible, and it is- the system is just making it a bit more uphill. 

Thankfully, her offensive failings are balanced out by her strong reactive tools and disengage ability, on top of having a great way to incentivize approaching through read. She does still have ways to encourage you to over extend and commit hard.

Fred is bonkers. Fred is such an overwhelming win condition in 2.0 that it almost off sets all of her weaknesses. In 1.0, simply delay teching through Fred and using the occasional CC to drain the timer minimized the amount of impact he had. This is no longer the case in 2.0, thanks to Fred having first hit juggle decay reduction AND the new ground teleports making Cross Canter baits a lot more feasible. Fred is blatantly unfair, and building him is what the Oleander meta currently revolves around.

Oleander is ultimately an unstable character, which is such a strange sentimenr that I feel odd typing it out. Most of the other characters in the game have an immediate threat when they hit you in neutral. Oleander doesn't have that threat from most hits, she needs to have level 2 available. Having such poor defensive options doesn't help either, especially since 22D can be universally OS'd with 2A4B.  If you have to burn meter on cross canter, your threat is hurt. If you have to burn Fred to close out round 2 when the opponent is up a round, your threat is hurt for most of round 3 unless you can get some really strong neutral hits and meter steal going. It just ends up being really lopsided.

So with that said, I think Oleander is the weakest character in the game. Does this mean that I think she is bad? Hell no. And she cerrainly isn't an intuitive character to fight. But having weak defensive RPS on top of being so meter hungry in a meta where cross canter & notech is so strong does hurt her significantly. She doesn't have the luxury of just ignoring Fred when that's where most of her power is, but she also doesn't have the benefit of insane meter gain the way that characters like Velvet do.

I believe in the development from her playerbase, and I suspect this version of Oleander will look different in a few months. Her offense could get a bit better with strong wavedash implementation, which isn't favored by her current playerbase. I'm skeptical as to whether or not this will impact her much, but it is on the table. 

I think Oleander's problems are a symptom of her simply not meshing with the system. With that, I think she could probably use something very small. I think the flexibility of her toolkit gives her some degree of. I also feel that more development into wavedashing could improve her already strong neutral.

Woah that was a lot. Balance opinions aside, I do hope that if you take away anything from this write-up, it's that the system mechanics are a really big part of TFH, and how characters interact with them is just as important as the toolkit itself. 

Good luck to everyone competing in Grand Stampede this weekend. Focus on clean play, learn from  your mistakes, and you'll do just fine!

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