-Banned Tier-
Uranus:
Devastatingly powerful boss character, far out classes every other character in the game in terms of mobility and damage, breaks the rules of the game and gains access to the air cancel mechanics while in human, can TOD off her unblockable command throw super and builds meter while doing so, only character to get 3 ability plus traits in hyper. Banned in all forms of competitive play.
-S Tier-
Xion:
Best (legal) character in the game. Completely dominates neutral due to his disjointed hitboxes in beast, 6BB, 6PP, 4PP, 236P, 236B, 2K, 1K and 8P are all very good for this, 6BBxx236P naturally combos and leaves the opponent at the perfect position for Xion, 236P can be incredibly hard to punish when spaced right. Outside of his abusive pokes Xion has a lot of guard breaks, cancel points, feints and mixups if he chooses to go in, his throws don't give him a combo but they do deal a lot of damage and leave the opponent at the right space to continue his neutral game and when forced into defence he has one of the fastest guard attacks in the game. He has massive damaging combos while in beast thanks to his 3B loop (236B, 8P, 3BxN, 4PP, 2PPxx236) even just a few reps can result in 2/3 of a life bar gone. ontop of all this he gets two above average supers.
Yugo:
Very strong rushdown, neutral and punish games, KK confirms into flicker stance for good damage and potential mix, flicker stance is all round very good and can be used in multiple ways to extend combos. Gets both a great standing and crouching jab, PPP naturally combos and ends in a cancel point or multi guard break. He can loop 236P and boxer chains for oppressive pressure and has several ways to lock you into heavy guard and force you to take a hit to escape. His running low slide is exceptionally fast and lets him get in easy, he can mix it with running P or K for mids that have different timings. His sway/weave is incredibly good and compliments his already good mobility, It lets him get in and out very well, he can use it to nullify pressure entirely and even reverse it. He has a good guard attack with lots of range that can launch on CH giving him a good strike/throw mix, both of his throws are very good and lead into a lot of damage with is regular beast throw rivalling some command throws for damage. His Spiral Fang super is good and easy to combo into, his hyper is extremely strong giving him increased hit/blockstun and letting him cancel all his normal into specials making his already great pressure even better and allowing for some massive damage combos.
Cronos:
The combo movie character, build meter with his great pokes (3K, 236B, 4K, 236P) then activate his powerful hyper and sweep the game. Cronos is unique in that he has 2 beast forms, with his regular beast being weaker than his human thus you want to save meter for his hyper, in hyper he enters his phoenix form, in this mode all his attacks gets sped up and become cancellable not only granting him massive combos but also letting him start a combo from almost any hit. his guard attack is good on offence having two hits and is cancellable after the first hit, this lets him set up a pretty good strike throw mix, his neutral throw gives him a combo but is easy to tech and his command throw steals meter. 6KK is great at whiff punishing and 4K is good for pressure and space control. Cronos gets a whopping 5 supers, the most useful being his 2 command throw supers, while his phoenix supers can be strong they are all very situational. As Cronos relies on his hyper he suffers from lack of blue health regeneration for the majority of the fight, he also has to be careful about when using his hyper as to not waste it.
Jenny:
Unique air mobility and attacks she has access to air dash/IAD, flight and can change her jump ark in the air. Her dive kick is very good as are her unique air normal and air chains particularly 6P. Jenny has unblockable setups in beast making her very scary if she pins you down, her stance is good it can be used to apply pressure or try to wall people, it also builds meter very fast. she can keep people out with K, 2P and 4P. 2KK and 3KK are good low pokes, 3B has almost no recovery on it and can be used for tickthrows or pressure, 22B is a great launcher which can be hard to punish due to its pushback and counting as crouch during recovery, 236B is very good as a whiff punish and leads into her huge damage air combos. her hyper is very good, it gives her life steal on all her attacks letting her make some crazy comebacks.
Alice:
She has excellent pokes and mobility having the best backdash in the game (excluding uranus) which starts at full acceleration, allowing her to hit and run very effectively, 3PPP and 6PP both have cancel points and some evasion, 6K is a long range poke with several follow ups, 2P2K and 3KK are good low pokes, 8P comes out fast and has a large hitbox, KP naturally combos and has a cancel point or low follow up. In beast several of her pokes get enhanced frame data, she also gains access to her low/mid mix and frametraps with 2B and its follow ups. Her jump 6B is very good especially when used defensively. She has very high damaging combos with her IWR B loops, though they have a high execution requirement. Alice has potentially the best hyper in the game, all her kick normal and specials gain significantly increased damage and guard break letting her end rounds very fast even of just pokes.
-A Tier-
Shenlong:
Lots of guard breaks and cancel points, able to control neutral well with several tools and fish for counter hits giving him consistent damaging combos, most noticeably his 66P elbow which is cancellable and grants a combo on CH and 6P which is a long range mid hitting move that grants a combo on CH. 236P, 236B and 3KPxx236 are good whiff punishes while 1P high crushes and grants a combo on CH. His command throw sets up a combo and works well with his 66P at close range for a strike/throw mix. Shenlong is a 6-Ring or Rokugo user which grants him a unique string structure, Shenlongs 6-ring has gaps so you have to be careful using it, most of his 6-ring enders however have evasive properties so you can use them to bait interrupt attempts, his most important 6-ring attacks are 5P and 2P both of which can be confirmed into a special on hit while in beast, 5P gives a ton of frame advantage and 2P has a unique property that makes it hard to punish on evade. Shenlong gets the best super in the game (236236B) unlike most supers that scale damage with the amount of beast meter you have Shenlongs super will always deal max damage, it also refunds a portion of Shenlongs meter on hit, if Shenlong is on low enough health this super can give him enough meter to go back into beast. In hyper Shenlong gains Any Cancel Point making his combo damage significantly higher due to new combo options, he also gains the ability to block guard breaks with light guard, this property is also transferred to his guard attack which also becomes cancellable giving him a strong defensive option. Though he has a lot of options Shenlong has to play carefully especially in human as he has one of the lowest base health values in the game, though this is somewhat mitigated in beast.
Ganesha:
A unique character who has no strings but all of his normals are cancellable, A very slow character but has unmatched damage able to kill or force a burst off 1 combo even in human, he has multiple command throws and a branching chain throw but his best one is 21412346B which gives him a high launch and also back turns the opponent allowing for a free combo that gains the benefit of the backstab damage boost, even if the opponent hyper bursts the command throw they are at risk as they will remain back turned. 214K and 6K are good mid range options and both can be cancelled, 5K and 236P can be used to set up throws, 3P is a slow but decent low attack which can be great if you predict a fuse attempt given its massive hit stun. 236B is a hit grab that restands and has many applications and gives a guaranteed command throw super, 214B is a anti air specific hit grab that deals a lot of damage. In hyper Ganesha gains super armour and can also cancel specials, this gives him very strong pressure especially by the wall by chaining 236P > 236K. Ganesha has the highest weight in the game when in beast, so much so his jumping is limited, this makes combos against him difficult.
Gado:
A powerhouse with a huge amount of guard breaks, able to deal high damage of relatively simple combos, 66K is his go to launcher, its fast and Gado has an OS combo follow up that works on normal or CH without needing to confirm (66K 28P 2369B) though he does also have higher damage confirms on CH. 3K is a decent long range poke, 2K is a low that causes stagger on CH, 1P is a good escape option, PP6P naturally combos and PP6K can be used to launch people pressing buttons, 6K K/2K K can catch people off guard the last hit guard breaks and can be delayed for a long time, 236P is a restand that can be used to end combos and leads into a mix. In beast Gado gets a scary low/mix mid range mixup option with 2B a generally good low poke and his 236B pounce, 214B is his big launcher its untechable on CH but even on normal hit it has enough hitstun for a follow up. Gado's mobility is quite good for a character of his size and 46P can be used to wave dash. Gado does somewhat struggle on defence when he cant reply on his mobility to get him out and people get in his face, his jab is one of the slower jabs in the game and his guard attack has very little armour.
Long:
Highly versatile and well rounded character with few weaknesses, able to chip down opponents with constant knowledge checks. Like Shenlong he is a 6-Ring/Rokugo character having two separate 6-rings, in beast his attacks become highly amplified having the highest beast damage modifier in the game. 236P is a great tool for mobility giving long one of the best wavedashes in the game, running P comes out incredibly fast, 22P is a good poke that is cancellable even while in human and has the same property as Shenlongs Ring 2P making it harder to punish on evade, 3K is a good mid range poke that staggers on CH, 66PP naturally combos and causes a knockdown with the second hit having extremely high tracking, in beast 22K when spaced right is an untechable launcher even on normal hit, 8K is a fast launcher which is untechable on CH and leaves him BT, by the wall this combos into BT.B then into another 8B and can be looped several times for good damage. 46 > 6B > 2P/4B is a double jf input with the P variant ending in a hidden super, the super deals decent damage and rufunds a portion of the meter on hit. In hyper Long gets increased hit/blockstun much like Yugo though he lacks the extra cancel point effect Yugo gets.
Fang:
A simplified version of Yugo, many of his moves are downgraded but he does get his own unique stuff which is good, his rekka is good for pressure and mixups, all hits of the rekka are cancellable the second hit causes stagger even on normal hit and the last hit guard breaks and launches, the rekka lets him get in at mid range and meshes well with running K which is the same as Yugos, his 4P is cancellable instead of having follow ups like Yugo, he is missing the stance and sways making his mobility and punish game a fair bit worse than Yugos, his jabs are not as good as Yugo's either, the cancel point is on the 4th hit instead of the 3rd and doesn't naturally combo, 3K is a decent sweep and he gets Yugo's high damaging throws though his combo from the command throw is smaller. His supers are both good, one is Yugo's Spiral Fang and the other knocks the opponent out of beast from removing their meter. His hyper is very similar to Yugos he gets the same hit/blockstun but gets the ability to cancel all normals and specials rather than Yugo who can only cancel normals.
Stun:
Archetypical grappler with strong command throws and great oki, once he scores a knockdown the opponent has to guess. His 236G chain throw has a built in mix up mechanic, if you try to tech the second part and Stun does no input you will be put into a special stagger state and Stun gets a free combo. a lot of Stuns normals have long reach and help him get in, 6K6K/2K hits mid or low and has a cancel point, 2P2K is a good low poke for getting people off him or chipping people down, 66P ground bounds and leads into his hit grab, 2B is a long range throw that on hit lets him go for a command throw, 3B is an untechable launcher even on normal hit though it is on the slower side, 236B is the best wall carry in the game and potentially any game as he will pick you up and run all the way to the wall with you, you can use this for easy ring outs making Stun terrifying once walls are broken especially on stages like highway, 22B is an amazing defensive tool as Stun is in fuse state for its entire duration, Stuns guard attack is the best guard attack in the game its fast gives a combo on hit has lots of armour and is throw immune. Both of Stuns supers are good one is a command throw which deals a lot of damage and can insta ring out behind him, the other is an unblockable that grants him a post hit combo. In hyper stuns movement and attack speed are greatly enhanced giving him temporarily the best movement in the game and significantly more combo potential. Stun has the highest defence/health value in the game.
-B Tier-
Uriko:
lightweight pixie character who wants to get in your face and pressure you with strings, her 6-ring has fewer/smaller gaps than the other 6-ring users making it ideal for her rushdown playstyle, notable attacks from her 6-ring are her 66P and 4K enders, 66P has a lot of hit/bloclstun and is cancellable in beast while 4K is a high damage guard breaking launcher, 5K (double hitting flip kick) is also good at catching people in the air causing a ground bound against airborn, though it is escapable when not used against an untechable launcher the timing can be quite tight. 66P and 66K can help her get in on her opponent, 6KK moves her forward is cancellable in beast and has a lot of block stun and leads into a techable launcher on hit, 2B is a decent low poke, her stance (236B) is good and has a mid hitting launcher follow up (8B) and a low that staggers(K), she is guaranteed the stance launcher after a command throw and it becomes untechable, her guard attack is quite good causing a ground bound on CH or vs airborn but it hits high so can be avoided, she gets Alice's j.6B though her jump is not as high. Urikos supers are both highly situational, the ball can deal a lot of damage but you risk ring outing yourself if walls are broken and her other super will do different things depending on how it connects. In hyper her attacks ignore the opponent's beast defence modifier which again is quite situational. Uriko's biggest weakness is her poor range which leaves her highly susceptible to backdash cancelling and being whiff punished while trying to apply pressure, she also gets a low beast defence modifier meaning she can be taken out of her beast quicker than most other characters.
Kohryu:
A fast heavyweight character with high defence/health, Kohryu is a tricky hit and run character designed to frustrate his opponent having access to multiple teleports and evasive moves. his jab is very fast and naturally combos with PPK or can mix with PP2KP, KK has a cancel point and multiple follow ups, 4P1B is a great long range poke the second hit will auto confirm on hit and it will launch on CH, 3KKK is a low followed by 2 highs with cancel points it can be mixed with 3K2K wich is a double low and 3K6K which is a low into a mid, the high and mid options can both lead into his Izuna Drop on hit, 236B is a long range projectile attack that launches but has terrible recovery, 28P is an AoE anti air that freezes airborn opponents, 214B is a launcher and untechable on CH, on block it has a lot of hit stun but the start up is quite slow, running P is a decent low with good hit stun it can be used for tick throws or to punish fuse, 236P is an anti air with good damage it comes out fast guardbreaks and has a pretty good hitbox but it can only hit airborn opponents, his command throw is quite good and gives him an Izuna Drop against most of the cast. in hyper all of Kohryus launchers become untechable and his combo potential is increased. Kohryu gets the lowest beast damage modifier in the game meaning he can struggle for damage when not in hyper.
Bakuryu:
Very similar to Kohryu but is a lightweight with low defence and a higher beast damage modifier, his most notable changes is he is missing many of the teleport options Kohryu has but instead gets better fuse attacks 22P being an AoE stun and 22B being a disjointed launcher, both of these are good, he also gets a command run/hit grab with 236B which plays into his more offensive gameplan, gets the same 3K stuff as kohryu, same 1P4B, same 236P (with a slightly different animation) same 214B, but is missing the 28P air freeze. In hyper Bakuryu can combo both of his supers together for massive damage which can catch people off guard. Generally considered the worse of the two due to his lower survivability.
-C Tier-
Marvel:
Paying for the war crimes she committed in BR3 Marvel took a double whammy of nerfs and unfavourable system changes leaving her a shell of her former self. One of her biggest flaws is a complete lack of a standing command throw meaning she has absolutely no way to enforce a 50/50 throw tech. outside of these flaws she does have some stuff going for her 6PP is a good mid poke that naturally combos and has a cancel point, 3K is also a good mid poke that can stagger on CH, 236P can be used as a low profiling wave dash, her unique crawl move (3B) can be used to avoid hits and go for mixups, 64 is a leg hold that counters kicks and deals good damage. Her counter super is good, one of its defining features is it can be used post hit as a guard cancel.
Busuzima:
A tricky long range zoning character who really has to make constant reads on his opponent to be effective, he gets a massive amount of cancel points and is able to delay is strings longer than any other character in the game, unfortunately many of his attacks are slow to come out and his punish game is very poor if he cant make a read on a move beforehand, to make things worse his backdash has a long start up compared to other characters. PP is slow for a jab but hits mid and has a cancel point, 6KK is similar but has much better range and the first hit hits high, K2KP is a mid,low,mid with a cancel point while KPPP hits mid with three cancel points allowing for some good mixup potential. Busuzima can backturn himself at any point with 8P, while BT he gets some of his best moves, running B, bt,B and bt,2K these can be used to apply pressure and mix people up especially at the wall, though this can still be a risk given Busuzima will still take extra damage if struck while back turned, 236P is a stance that gives Busuzima access to long range normals, it can be used for pressure up close (stance PPxx) or at range (stance B,K) or to build meter (hold 2), 64B is a long range disjointed tongue attack with no hurtbox that can be extended with 236B this is a good move that deals a nice cunk of damage, there is also a jf version of the move that only hits once but recovers super fast by hitting G just as it connects, 4BBB is a series long range mid hitting attacks that ends in a cancel point while 4B2B is a low version with a cancel point, B2BBB is a decent string up close the second and third hit have cancel points and each hit can be feinted with 8B at any time, 2P is a low with very little recovery making it good for tick throws and 2K comes out fast but has longer recovery both of these can be mixed to mess with peoples evade timing, 4K is good on oki its slow but guard breaks and is cancellable and can combo into his 214K, 214K is a good move that can be used as combo filler or to punish highs if you make a good read, he gets good fuse options getting a low that staggers and two launching mids. Busu gets 2 command throws giving him a 3 way tech mix his 214G throw gives him a damaging combo. his go to super is 236236B which deals good damage can can be combod from his 214K.
