Stormquake's Character Tier List 1.2 (COMING SOON)

I'm running the game, I'm doing it twice.
I'm gonna find out who's bad and who's nice.
Stormquake's tier list's coming (back) to town.

Also, I hate Christmas music so much.

It would be mean for me to not leave you with a preview of who's where now on the tier list. (The tier list is designed to state which characters are best at COMPLETING the game in SINGLE PLAYER.)

Let's look down the classes...

Commando is looking to be at TIER 4
Enforcer is looking to be at TIER 1 or TIER 2 (Don't believe me? Seriously, take a bit to play this guy, he's fucking nuts this patch; he might even get spot #1 in Tier 1)
Bandit is looking to be at TIER 3 or TIER 4 or TIER 5
Huntress is looking to be at TIER 1 or TIER 2
HAN-D is looking to be at TIER 5 or TIER 6
Engineer is looking to be in TIER 1 or TIER 2 or TIER 3
Miner is looking to be in TIER 2 or TIER 3 or TIER 4 or TIER 5
Sniper is staying down in TIER 6
Acrid is looking to be in TIER 2 or TIER 3 or TIER 4
Mercenary is looking to be in TIER 2 or TIER 3
Loader is looking to be in TIER 1 or TIER 2 or TIER 3
CHEF Unlocked, in testing.

Here's the old tier list if you want to take a gander at it: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/stormquakes-character-tier-list-v-1-0-2.32804/

 

Reserved.

 

What is the criteria for this list besides completing the game? Is this on Monsoon without artifacts? If so I don't actually agree with Enforcer. He felt no change to me, but I can give him more tries. He still seems to have the problem with mobility though and he still gets hit on the back while shielding which is a big problem with the burst damage that can happen in this game.

As for CHEF I think he's one of the better characters in the game atm. His z is really strong because of its ranged aoe and double hit and he can self peel with his c+x combo. He's also the magma worm slayer with v+z, which imo is really important.

 

I'm excited to see everyone's opinions yet again. Get your testing on the Chef done so I can see your list! :)

I agree that the enforcer is much better now, but his shield isn't totally reliable and when it fails it usually means death because you don't have enough mobility to set the heck out of there. Using the shield also takes more skill than kiting with the Huntress or using homing attacks from safety with the Engineer, so I'd still put Huntress and Engineer in Tier 1, but I expect Tiers 2 and 3 to look really powerful as well. When I play, I often feel like there are only four tiers:
1) Easy/Safe/Boring = Huntress, Engineer
2) Strong, fun to play with = Acrid, Mercenary, Enforcer, Chef
3) Decent, still fun to play = Commando, Miner, Loader, Bandit
4) Hard/Scary/Weak = Han-D, Sniper

Of course, then there are Glass + Command runs which break everything, usually with Crobars and Wicked Rings.
Then it looks like this:
Overpowered = Engineer, Bandit, Acrid, Mercenary, Loader, Chef
Underwhelming = Huntress, Commando, Han-D, Sniper, Enforcer, Miner

I have reasons, but I don't want to list them all out when many of them will just match what Stormquake says.
If you ask me why I put something somewhere, I'll talk about that specifically.

 

I played Enforcer again. I got fairly lucky with items on monsoon no artifacts. I died because of slows from the shells in shield mode and the other time on the temple stage from another mistake in shield mode. I do see some potential in this character, but he's not the easiest to play unless I'm doing something very wrong (I do have over 300 hours in this game though, so I feel confident in what I'm doing most of the time, but I've least played Enforcer). This patch feels much more difficult for short range or melee characters (minus mercenary, acrid, and sometimes loader because of there kits). Characters like Miner have a tougher time surviving now unless they get really lucky. I still like miner though, I think he's underrated.

@luvdisc, your opinions are really close to mine. I barely play Huntress, Engineer, and Acrid because they are boring with how faceroll they are. I feel like Han-D is not as weak as before though after the buff to his v. My friend and I did a double han-D run and interestingly enough got an infinite run on monsoon without artifacts on our first try with the only decently good item early being a soldier syringe so he can lock enemies with his z. I'd have to try him in solo play again though. I used to call him "Han-D"cap all the time though before this patch, because playing him alone or in multiplayer always made the run a lot harder xD

 

Tier S: CHEF, Huntress
Tier A: Engineer, Acrid
Tier B: Miner, Loader, Merc, Sniper
Tier C: Commando, HAN-D, Enforcer
Tier Bandit: Bandit

Because I don't trust OP's opinions on Sniper, Bandit, Enforcer and Miner.
Tier B is a bit shakey, Miner can easily creep into Tier A, Merc can easily go down a level but above Commando 'n Friends.

 

Tests are nearly conclusive.
As it stands the purpose of this tier list is to represent characters winning on RAINSTORM with NO ARTIFACTS. Winning being KILLING PROVIDENCE on LEVEL 6.
Right now, the final Tiers are looking to be EXACTLY....

Tier 1: Loader and Enforcer

Tier 2: Huntress and Chef

Tier 3: Engineer and Acrid

Tier 4: Mercenary and Miner

Tier 5: Bandit and Commando

Tier 6: Han-D and Sniper


Here's a link to the other tier list for comparison!
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/stormquakes-character-tier-list-v-1-0-2.32804/

As you can see, the biggest changes are Enforcer and Mercenary basically switching places.
Aside from that, most shifts are due to the new characters being introduced.

 

YES! I can't wait to see this list. Even though my favorite character is at the bottom!

Especially because of the enforcer getting more recognition as I see him on of the most underrated classes in the game. But in this last version is NUTS! Me and my brother finally beat the game without one of us dying against Providence with the Enforcer and the Sniper (whom we find are an awesome team)! And he even preferred him over Hand-D and the Engineer who were his favourites before!

So yes, I'm happy the enforcer's getting some recognition at last.!

 

>Tier list based off casual mode viability rather than that of the highest difficult
*flips table*

Actually, Sniper in bottom tier even in Rainstorm? This is becoming more and more mind boggling by the minute.

 

I don't see the point of making this list. If it was competitive in any way, shape or form this list would make sense, but it isn't.

Having a tier list seems unnecessary since it mostly comes to each player's playstyle. No matter how good Chef, Loader, etc. are if the player can't use them correctly.

Then again, I might get some hate for pointing this out but, some people attach to a game, and overpraise it a lot more than they should, and they end up looking like some sort of videogame cultists.

 

There certainly isn't as much of a point in this as a tier list of a competitive game where balance is of much more importance, but it's still of interest to look at, just as a "why not".

 

Well I still find it kind of redundant to put so much effort into this when everyone's time could be put to much better use.

I'm not trying to attack anyone with this but, on a side note, I can see this helping very little with tweaking the characters to provide a more equal use of chars (even though at the end it would do nothing since char has some sort of specialty attached to it, thus still making them be played less by their nature).

P.S. I feel like some sort of self-righteous Keyboard Warrior, a.k.a. SJW, please someone end my suffering and my neckbeard.

 

I feel like monsoon would be a little more accurate for an overall tier list, but that's just my two cents. I can't really argue much with the tier list myself since monsoon and rainstorm play pretty differently (rushing is practically a must, which means monsoon is better for characters that are less dependent on items and can take a beating safely) being said from a person who puts all his hours into monsoon unless some friends are playing who have played less hours. I might look into making a monsoon tier list myself one day with how much of a nerd I am for this game, but for now I just want to get back into getting infinite runs with Miner on monsoon after the patch where they made everything do more damage in place of increasing hp regen slightly.

 

I talk with StormQuake on steam once in a while and I might be able to respond to some things here...

First of all...

Drizzle - CASUAL
Rainstorm - NOT CASUAL. NORMAL. MID-WAY DIFFICULTY. SMACK-DAB IN THE MIDDLE. NOT EASY, NOT BRUTAL. JUST RIGHT.
Monsoon - SUPREME MASOCHIST MODE.

... got it? Okay, cool. Good. We're good.

I'd like to continue my thought by saying Stormquake once asked me whether or not he should base his tier-list on Monsoon, since a lot of the "elite" players like to pretend the other difficulty levels don't even exist.

I told him he ought to stick with Rainstorm, since this is considered the "real" version of the game, with Drizzle and Monsoon being the "difficulty adjusted" versions. Rainstorm is the game AS IT WAS INTENDED TO BE PLAYED, therefore it would make sense to base a character-tier list on Rainstorm, so that people who are new to the game have an idea of which characters will do better on Risk of Rain the way it was intended to be played.

... I should specify, I also suggested he should make a separate tier-list for Monsoon, so that might also be coming. In the meantime, please leave the tables alone.

Actually, in a recent chat with Stormquake, he informed me Sniper might be moving up to 5-2.

So who's at the bottom now? Apparently... the Commando.

 

It depends purely on the purpose of the tier list. In most cases (especially in fighting games), tier list is to demonstrate each character's full potential in the top most competitive environment, I don't think it should be any different in a single player game: the tier list should reflect a class's full potential ie, each class's capability at the highest possible difficulty level (which should by all means translate well to lower level as well).

And as I always say, RoR's Hard mode (Monsoon) is really not that difficult and most certainly not the "supreme masochist mode" you describe it to be. There are games with hard modes I would personally flatout avoid, RoR isn't one of those and frankly anyone with most if not all items unlocked and have had a bit of experience can play through without too much trouble.

 

As said by reVelske, Monsoon's difficulty is manageable.

but like I said before, it requires a bit of a different play style in order for it to not be unbearable. Rushing the tele in rainstorm isn't always the best, rushing the tele in monsoon is almost always the best option (until late game where you don't need to, but you've won at that point). That's why I suggested a different tier list of characters. Loader and Enforcer are pretty underwhelming in monsoon without items because of their lack of damage (while remaining safe). I mean ofc tier lists are hard to gauge in a rougelite. You could literally get 3 alien heads on loader and become invincible or something.

We arn't "elitests" either, we just really enjoy the game and the discussion of it.

 

I really like that someone else actually puts Sniper somewhere up in there.
If people would only not piss their pants at the sight of it, and learn that you barely use the Charged Shot, other than for cheap kills or crowd-control, usually with the full cooperation of the, uhh, SPOTTER:SCAN thing.

I agree with this list a little more than Stormquake's (No offense to you, and I apologize for kinda hijacking your thread), seeing as Bandit is underpowered, imho, other than for newer players that freak out and wanna run away (yet again, no offense). Also, Commando is very basic but pails in comparison to some like Acrid and CHEF, so that placement is pretty good. Han-D and Enforcer, in my plays with them both, are very item-dependant, which I see as a detriment. Miner, Load, Merc, and Sniper is pretty good seeing as Sniper does really good dmg on his basic attack, and Loader, Merc, and Miner all have I-Frames and good versatility. Enginner and Acrid are very safe and very good characters for outscaling enemies and being safe, always a good choice. And, ofc, CHEF and Huntress is up at the best because, well, its CHEF . .and its Huntress..

 

That doesn't really prove that there's anything inherently wrong with making a tier-list for Rainstorm...

Anyway, I DID mention that I spoke to him about perhaps making a separate tier-list for Monsoon. So, there's that.

... is that true? Just rush to the teleporter and immediately leave? That doesn't sound very smart... I mean, you leave all that treasure lying around and you enter the next stage purposely underprepared... Is that for reals?

 

Point is that the enemies increase in difficulty pretty quickly with time. Of course, still pick up any items you do come across, but don't waste time by searching areas deliberately for them. Teleporter should always be main priority, and leave as soon as possible.
With enough skill this mostly guarantees a successful sniper run on Monsoon...

 

I guess I'll give that a shot. I tried it once already and died at the end of stage 2, but it kinda seems plausible I guess?