Cam的组合排行

The OMK Team Tier List (by Cam)


I’ve played this game for 7 years and I’m tired of seeing single character tier lists, so I’m making a detailed team tier list. I consider that necessary to accurately reflect the metagame of a tag fighter, especially one with abilities and team-specific combos and interactions. However, I’m far from the only knowledgeable person about the game and this is all my opinion based on experience. Please judge these placings based on the reasons I have given, and if you have a new point or counterpoint about any team, feel free to mention it. I want this list to be open-sourced. I have written about each team proportionally to how high I’ve placed it, because there are too many teams for one person to write in-depth about them all, but I’ve tried to keep it gradient to avoid too much bias. That said, it would be ideal if other people could contribute reasons for teams I may not have placed as highly, even if they are calling me an idiot and saying that team should be higher. Contributions from any player, new or old, are welcome, as long as there’s a good reason attached. In the true spirit of Umineko, let’s have as many (friendly) arguments as we can.


Teams are tiered according to the metagame, not how good they are in a vacuum. In other words, how many teams they have a good win rate against, and if they can do something together that other teams can’t do better. This is a Western tier list, so it’s been designed to describe the metagame according to the predominant Western settings (3 Bars / 3 Rounds / 180s). Your mileage may vary if you’re playing with the common SEA settings (1 Round); the main pattern you’d notice is that rushdown teams are better. With all that being said, let’s start.


S-tier (some of the best teams in the game according to the current metagame; in-depth explanations given about why this seems to be the case):


Bat/Rono – Combining oppressive neutral with some of the best bulk in the game, this team has very few poor matchups. CounterBoost suits Battler’s playstyle of winning multiple exchanges with his strong normals, and greatly improves damage, his only shortcoming. Ronove’s good pressure and sole weakness to projectile stall are augmented by Battler’s ability to approach and corner carry consistently well. An honest team with no real gimmicks, however its high health pool combined with Resurrection let it weather higher damage teams, and neither Battler nor Ronove are meter-hungry, meaning an SP lead will probably be maintained. Better than almost all other teams at stopping momentum, and outperforms them once it’s stopped. It doesn’t have much obvious capacity for mixup, though, so it might be best suited for creative (or grabby) players.


Beato/Luci – One of the better rushdown teams in the game; just a couple of confirms from Lucifer might be enough to win you the round. Lucifer’s ability to 3c touch into Beatrice’s tower setup is not to be underestimated and adds a real threat to her MetaDeclarations in almost any situation. Expect Beatrice to be lagging behind in meter for the majority of the match, but this is no issue; she only needs one or two meter to take out an entire healthbar and stun, and Lucifer’s SP can be used chiefly to reduce the opponent’s through MetaDeclaring as she has little use for it in neutral. Overall the ability to loop momentum through mixup or guardbreak is what makes this team so lethal and consistent. That being said, this team can struggle defensively, so there isn’t a lot of room for mistakes. It’s S-tier on account of its performance when played optimally.


Beato/Will – A team that leaves no room for error on the opponent’s side, boasting arguably the highest capacity for unburstable damage in the game through Beatrice’s guardbreak setups and Will’s airborne combos. Once you’ve got your first stun, you can probably snowball into a victory before too long. Expect to see a lot of Will j2c in neutral as this team can struggle with pokes and footsies; its neutral is its only mediocre area. Will’s ability to wear down the opponent’s SP by declaring without dropping a juggle complements Beatrice’s playstyle; just a small SP lead is enough for her to completely overwhelm. To this end the free SP from his MetaSuper and corner carry goes a long way. Overall a team with a very good SP economy. Some situational tower setups can be made safe by SPCancel, and InfinitySP allows Will to do as much damage as possible for as little SP as possible. Simple synergy combined with the sheer strength of both of these characters is what lands this team so high. As with many Beatrice teams however, it can struggle when it loses the SP advantage; here you’ll likely want to resort to a rushdown strategy, something this team is also perfectly capable of.


Beato/Jess – If you like big damage however you can get it, this one’s for you. Jessica with an SP lead and a free SP2 is pretty threatening and the massive damage this pair do, both to the healthbar and to guard capacity, is beyond anything any team can endure. One 5b from charged Jessica can win the round. This team stuns extremely easily, and there’s a lot of momentum looping too. The combination of ShaveBoost with the completely unavoidable nature of corner towers (you can even prevent Assault Touch from being a way out) is free damage pure and simple. Three tower shots will land you about 75% of a guarding opponent’s healthbar, and neutralise any SP lead, and also do big guard damage to them, and then you throw Jessica at them. It’s probably unnecessary to go on. With that being said, Jessica will probably be handling pretty much all of your neutral, since you want to open with her and give her an SP lead for most of the match, so don’t expect everything to always go to plan. Dealing with neutral-heavy characters can be a real difficulty for these two.


Rosa/Will – Similar to Beato/Will, an extremely punishing team. Maintaining any kind of lead you get, be it momentum or SP, is very easy. It’s not too surprising if you can go an entire round without your opponent switching once, which should give you an idea of why this team is so good. There are a few reasons for this. Will’s grab lets you loop Detachment with an OTG and there’s no way the opponent can get out of it. Both characters are pretty hard to approach when played defensively, meaning opponents might not get many chances to bounce back even when they’re allowed to tag. Stunning isn’t hard for these two, with Will’s juggles and Rosa’s corner loops, and following this immediately with Detachment means you can basically just reset pressure with no resistance at all. Characters with a good reversal or who generate big meter advantage are probably the biggest issue for this team, but Rosa’s ability and Will’s high damage pose a threat to any team in the game. Expect some annoyance from fast characters like Lucifer or Kanon because these two can struggle catching them. Overall a more patient, high-execution team, but it gets those wins consistently if you play it right.


Ange/Rono – One of the few teams that brings out Ange’s strengths, but it does that shockingly well. The combination of StunBoost and CounterBoost means you can stun the opponent in one Rono counter or a very short combo from either of them. Ronove’s MetaSuper also ignores any proration from stun and your opponent is going to get staggered fast when one mistake means a healthbar gone. This team is all about oppression, it wants to get its lead early, so you have to actually know how to play Ange. That said, the high health combined with meter efficiency gives this team some comeback game too. You can pretty much chip away at the opponent forever while maintaining a meter advantage and it’s hard for most characters to do much about it. Part of what makes this team good is that it’s strong against most other top-tier teams. Jessica struggles to do much about careful Ange or Rono pressure, Beatrice will probably regret giving this team meter more than any other, and Will finds it hard to land that crucial confirm on either of these characters. Keep in mind however that you’re probably going to be starting with Ange on equal footing with the opponent, so you want to play smart to avoid getting bullied in the opening game.


Will/Bern – Bernkastel’s ability to score hits and drive up guard capacity with her oppressive neutral is the perfect support for Will’s highly damaging playstyle. MetaBoost has good synergy with his MetaSuper and SPCancel can be used to restand combos with Bern’s cats, one of its more useful applications. It can also bolster Bern’s solo damage, which is useful due to the difficulty she can have with touching (Will doesn’t share this issue; a 6c into Bern is totally comboable, letting him score damage even once he’s out of meter). Neither of these two are easy to approach, and both combine solid neutral with very high damage-dealing capacity. One of the more honest top-tier teams (insofar as you can call Bern honest), so you will need to outplay the opponent in more situations than some other pairs would. This isn’t a major issue for these two though, as they can out-neutral and out-damage most teams. A good Bern player will be getting a healthy amount of stuns, and a Neutral Touch into Will leads to unprorated damage pretty inevitably, as he can juggle them and declare while MetaBoost is in effect. Expect to see lots of unburstable damage, and any SP lead is converted into damage so efficiently that barring a lucky hit the opponent is going to struggle. A bit weak to rushdown.


410/Bern – Hot take, I know. But this team has some pretty surprising anti-metagame properties. Firstly it hogs MetaWorld very consistently, and it holds onto momentum probably better than any other team in the game. This combined with 15-second GuardBoost Bern means the opponent will find it difficult to actually do anything after the first time you MetaDeclare. Teams that are capable of higher damage-dealing probably won’t get much of an opportunity to ever get around to it, similar to with Bat/Rono. Damage can leave a bit to be desired, but this team has some of the best neutral and mixup in the game. Expect to win most exchanges against pretty much everyone, however the playstyle these two come together to form isn’t very intuitive, so it’s probably one of the harder teams to really get good with. Neither of these two have a reliable reversal either, so if you get pressured without meter you’ll probably die. In this sense it’s an execution-heavy team, you need to outplay at least to begin with.


Rono/Jess – A rushdown team that’s also bulky. Some of the most reliable damage in the game. The ability to punish hard combined with heavy pressure from both characters mean a lot of stagger from your opponent against a team where just a handful of mistakes from them can mean a loss. Comebacks are easy with these two, but this team really shines when Jessica has the opponent in the corner with meter advantage built up by Ronove. It goes without saying that CounterBoost Jessica is a serious threat, but this is also one of the teams where ShaveBoost actually makes a noticeable difference in a situation not involving a ton of projectiles. This does, however, mean that Guard Touch can be a really annoying thing to deal with for these two. You generally want to maintain advantage as best you can by resorting to mixup in the form of Jessica’s high/lows and successful grabs from either character. This shouldn’t be too hard, but it means this team does run somewhat on reading and stagger. This team generates advantage largely through forcing the opponent to Damage Touch, so keep pressure up and know when to capitalise. You probably need to be pretty good at Jessica to bring the most out of these two.


A-tier (very solid teams in the current metagame that seem to fall behind S-tier just by a little; expanded reasons will be provided):


Bat/Luci – One of the best neutral pairs in the game, there’s no character that can really counter both of them, so you’ll have an answer for every situation. You might do a little mixup with Luci, but this is an honest team with honest (low) damage to match. Rely on resets wherever you can as neither of these two can do unprorated damage even though Luci’s ability makes them capable of super long combos. You need to play creative.


Bat/Kan – The two of these come together to form a very oppressive neutral. Similar to Bat/Luci the pair has answers for any opponent, but its damage suffers even more. However at least against some opponents, fullscreen trolling with Battler’s MetaSuper buffed with Silent Attack generates free meter advantage for you which is crucial. It can’t be underestimated the extent to which these two can shut down the opponent’s options, so it’s similar to Bat/Rono in that way. Would be a better team if certain characters (BEATRICE) didn’t exist. They can also struggle against bulky teams.


Bat/Beato – Combining solid neutral with Beatrice’s crazy damage, this team is straightforward and strong. One favorable dynamic is that Battler can use the 5SP Beato gives him from towers to actually return the favor by generating some for her back with his own MetaSuper. This leaves them with a good SP economy, but your opponent will be getting lots of meter too, so you have to actually play against them. Battler’s job is to confirm and corner carry so Beatrice can go to town. You need to be good at both characters to really get the flow of how they should work together.


Bat/Eva – A team with no weak points, although the big damage setups even with Eva’s ability can be a bit situational. Expect to dominate almost any character in neutral. The prospect of Attack Touching to Eva adds a dimension of threat to Battler’s pressure that he really wants. Generally quite honest, you just win most exchanges and shut down the opponent’s options bit by bit. Entirely carried by how good the individual characters are, they have no special synergy. Well, Resurrection combined with jelly can give you some breathing room. You could say this team is remarkably balanced; it does well both offensively and defensively.


Bat/Bern – Similar to Bat/Eva in the sense that it has awesome neutral, but its damage is a bit situational. You’ll find that Bern can pressure a bit more constantly than Eva, but the overall playstyle should be similar. Potentially the Bern team with the most staying power, you’ll be able to trigger Resurrection more often than usual especially as the two can build each other meter with their MetaSupers. Still, you’ll have no issue avoiding getting hit if you’re careful so try to focus on counterplay. Brings out the best in Bern’s patient neutral.


Bat/BB – Battler has one of the best neutrals in the game so two of him let you keep that up constantly. Obviously, you’ll struggle against characters Battler doesn’t like, such as Lambdadelta and Lucifer. Black Battler’s terrible HP is offset by the combination of Resurrection and Massacre, and the issue of normal Battler being better with most partners is null because he’s with his counterpart. So this is arguably Black Battler’s best team. The damage on these two is relatively bad, so you need to outplay the opponent to win. Very honest, but they can build meter for each other with their MetaSupers.


Beato/George – An underestimated team which probably snowballs better than almost any other. SP2s from George prevent the opponent from touching and he can use them extremely liberally as Beatrice gives him one for free and easily generates the SP for more with her towers. SP2 the opponent, switch to Beatrice, turn 1SP from her into 5SP for George, SP2 them again, repeat. Your momentum never ends if you play correctly and the opponent won’t survive this cycle long; the moment their guard capacity is high in the corner, Beatrice can shred their healthbar. A few confirms will take you far, and George complements Beato’s low-SP playstyle better than anyone. Similar to Beato/Jess though, you need to get George handle neutral so you might not always get into that sweet spot cycle that makes this team so good.


Beato/Eva – The pressure and damage setups these two create together can never be overlooked. Eva will handle neutral and drive the opponent into the corner, so Beatrice can start her setplay for even more damage than usual, then you switch back into Eva and begin jelly setplay on top of it all. Eva’s command grabs also have the rare property of feeding a little more SP back into Beato. That said you will struggle to catch some opponents to begin with; Lambdadelta, Kanon and Ronove can all annoy this pair quite a bit. Regardless of the matchup though, once they get going, their killing power is some of the best in the game.


Beato/Rono – Plays pretty similar to Beato/Eva and Jess/Rono, but this team struggles with neutral more than either. Still their presence once they gain momentum is what lands them this high. Ronove is one of the few characters who have a place in Beatrice’s setplay; you want to judge whether to take a path into Rono’s MetaSuper or Beatrice’s one based on the situation. If Ronove needs SP, go for towers. If you already have the SP lead on Ronove, you can just do his MetaSuper and boost your Beatrice’s SP without giving the opponent any more. In other words this team has a lot of control over the SP dynamic of the match, which is super good.


Beato/BB – Probably the only team where Black Battler could be considered a better partner than Battler, at least for some matchups. The bulk of this team leaves much to be desired and Massacre, even paired with the pair’s high damage, might not do as much to make up for it as one would hope. It also doesn’t trigger for chip damage which is sometimes what Beatrice would be doing more of in MetaWorld; Resurrection is preferable here. That said, similar to Beato/George, the free SP2s are a great advantage. Beato’s high stun and meter generation pair well with BB’s slightly better neutral, but lower stun and more meter-hungry playstyle, compared to normal Battler.


Beato/410 – 410’s deceptively strong neutral that unfortunately lacks a solid reversal really appreciates the extra SP Beatrice can give. Free SP arrows are a genuinely good option for gaining momentum on almost any character in neutral. However the real advantage this team holds is in BreakBoost towers. One issue Beato suffers from is her inability to keep guardbreaking the opponent as easily over the course of the match (due to guard capacity increasing with each break), which is often her main path to big damage. 410 completely removes this issue and makes those earlier breaks all the faster. That said, it can actually make the opponent’s guard break too fast at least at first, so Beato might need to adapt her gameplan for those first few MetaWorlds. A slightly unwieldy, but very strong, team.


Beato/Lam – I wanted to put this in S-tier but I’d look totally biased because it’s my main. Still the positive aspects of this team cannot be understated. These two guardbreak and loop momentum better than literally any other team. Beato adds a whole dimension of damage to Lambda’s comet and SP konpeito setups. Furthermore Lambda’s uniquely overpowering role when she has meter advantage pairs perfectly with Beato’s playstyle of giving her partner SP. She can also build up SP for Beato better than most partners. This team can complete a foolproof setplay sequence that does way too much damage, and then go directly into projectile stalling. Minor mistakes from the opponent are also punished harshly, so stagger is the order of the day. Despite all this, meterless these two don’t have as much to brag about, and their health is lowish, so they’re weak to rushdown.


Beato/Bern – MetaBoost towers is really strong, and Bern can handle neutral for Beato with no issue at all, as well as give her some SP back with her MetaSuper and kakera. A bit more patient compared to how Beato usually plays, but like many Bern teams it excels at oppressing. Still, Beato’s general meter disadvantage (for herself) and Bern’s low stun, as well as the team’s overall low health, means you can’t afford to make too many mistakes. You’ll need to form a balanced playstyle that combines Bern’s more careful, systematic pressure with Beato’s more explosive setplay and corner combos. Don’t get greedy, but know when to sustain momentum.


Luci/Eva – A solid and surprisingly damaging team that is difficult for just about anyone to approach, but it struggles defensively when the opponent has momentum. You want to sustain careful pressure and pick the opponent apart with threatening MetaDeclarations and forcing Damage Touch. Plays kind of similarly to Bat/Luci, opt for resets sometimes and these two will maintain a meter advantage without much difficulty. Neither tend to spend it in neutral. Lucifer greatly appreciates the boost from Berserk, as damage is her main shortcoming. Lucifer’s own ability can mean free MetaSupers for Eva too, which means SP advantage. The main strength of this team is that it’s strong against many high-tier teams; Will and Bern in particular struggle with this pair. Both have low stun, so while you’ll be hard to hit, don’t be careless. These two have really annoying hitboxes.


Luci/Rono – Plays pretty similarly to Luci/Eva, except it’s a little more pressure-oriented. CounterBoost Lucifer is a massive threat; scoring counterhits is what she does best, and her short combos that tend to start from pokes are the perfect match for the ability. She also appreciates the extra health that Ronove provides, and he in turn gains a lot from her corner carry and ability to mixup. These two don’t really appreciate Guard Touch so similarly to Jess/Rono, try to stay unpredictable. Meter advantage is common and these two happily maintain it; you might want to focus on counterplay.


Luci/Lia – With Lucifer bringing out the best in Virgilia whose main weakness is neutral, this team basically plays like a safer version of Luci/Beato with a little less adaptable pressure. You can start going for the kill in the corner a little earlier than you would be able to with Beato as Lia’s corner setplay is more varied and can safely get a guardbreak from lower capacity than Beato 214EX can. Unlike that team you’ll slowly accumulate SP advantage with Lia’s ability rather than controlling the dynamic with towers. Lia will do most of your damage and pressure; these are her strengths and she has a lot of conversions out of Luci’s 2c and 3c, which she may be forced to Attack Touch out of at times.


Luci/Will – Again, a team pretty comparable to Luci/Beato but this time neutral is its strength. You will probably end up doing a little less damage than Luci/Beato and Luci/Lia overall just because of this pair’s inability to guardbreak as efficiently, but it’s hardly a devastating loss with Will’s crazy damage and more hits scored overall with these two. Basically this is preferable to those teams if you’re less of a setplayer. A solid offensive team with great damage and decent mixup. Will can capitalise amazingly on Luci’s 2c and 3c. Great against Jess, who is a fairly common threat in the metagame.


Luci/410 – A great pick if neutral and mixup are your ultimate strengths. These two have answers between them to any character’s moveset and their mixup can be very overwhelming (410 can loop momentum with her MetaSuper off any Attack Touch from Luci or her own grab, and you will also constantly guardbreak) but they lack defensive options so they need to play rushdown and approach neutral skilfully. Probably one of the hardest teams in the game to get good at but well worth the effort. You’ll need to be a dynamic player to avoid becoming predictable.


Rosa/Eva – The combination between Detachment and jelly setups mean this team can sustain pressure remarkably well. This team mostly thrives on shutting down the opponent’s options by preventing Touch and dominating neutral, but it can’t play too patiently for fear of Detachment wearing off. It’s a fairly bulky rushdown team and your opponent will probably spend a lot of time in the corner. No major weaknesses, but both of these characters can struggle against faster ones. You might want to play safe to begin with before you get momentum.


Rosa/Jess – Detachment deals with Jessica’s biggest vulnerability, Guard Touch, which is kind of like taking the leash off a wild dog. You can basically just pressure the opponent with her nonstop, guardbreak and get straight into huge damage. In this way there’s rare synergy with ShaveBoost that isn’t related to projectiles. Apart from Rosa’s gun these two have some range issues though, so characters with big normals such as Lucifer and Battler can pose a threat. Both of these characters have good high/low mixup and big damage in the corner, so they tend to win before the opponent has a chance to bounce back. Very stagger-oriented. Keep it dynamic to avoid reversals when going for overheads or Attack Touch.


Will/Shan – The infamous JP team, these two have an interestingly complementary neutral with Will’s big normals and ability to approach making up for Shannon’s more stubby, mixup-heavy playstyle. Shannon really likes SPCancel as it enables her to increase her damage better than almost anyone’s, meaning this team can actually compare to Beato/Will in terms of damage. Will probably generates enough SP lead for the team by himself. He can also capitalise on Shannon’s short combos that usually end with a 2c. Shannon’s subtle crossups and high-stun corner loops pair very well with Will’s unburstable and unprorated damage, so these two make the most of each other’s strengths. AutoGuard suits Will’s approach-focused playstyle as well. They can be a bit meter-hungry though.


Will/Eri – Erika is another character that really benefits from SPCancel as it is very compatible with her MetaSuper, enabling her to do an extra one OTG after her first; this also puts the opponent back into the corner. Both of these characters have large, effective normals, solid neutral and juggles, and unprorated damage. Will probably makes the best use of Force Counter of anyone in the game as well, enabling him to land his BnB off stray hits on empty jumps (more common than you’d assume as people fear being counterhit midair by Will but jumping is a decent way to approach him). These two basically don’t care if the opponent is stunned, and their single-combo damage when both have SP is some of the highest in the game. They steadily build up the advantage they need to perform these with their MetaSupers.


Kan/Jess – High damage and gradual SP advantage combined with varied neutral and mixup game makes these two pretty overwhelming. Jessica’s guardbreak-oriented playstyle, including her MetaSuper, really appreciate Silent Attack. The opponent is probably going to get pretty staggered as both have fast and unpredictable movesets that flow into one another nicely. Kanon can handle neutral against characters that are a bit too fast or zoning-focused for Jess, such as Luci and Lambda, and Jessica more than compensates for his low solo damage. These two aren’t bad at escaping the common setplay that poses a massive threat in the current metagame, but can struggle with careful pressure. Bat/Rono is a nightmare for them.


Kan/Will – Kanon is one of the characters most grateful for SPCancel as it enables him to perform new and more damaging combos by restanding opponents OTG. This does a lot to improve his damage. Both of these characters have great neutral and together they’ll do a lot of damage and stun. Will can appreciate Silent Attack in his juggles outside of MetaWorld, and while he generally creates advantage without it, it enforces his meter advantage. Kind of like Bat/Kan in that it’s counterplay-focused, but less so because it actually does damage. Can struggle a bit under sustained pressure, but both characters are great at escaping common setplay. Faster and more consistent, but less damaging, than Will/Eri. One of the best teams for counterplayers.


Eva/Rono – The similar playstyles these two have go together very well. This team has good bulk, high damage, amazing pressure and is extremely punishing of any mistake from the opponent. Has no real weaknesses, except maybe projectile-heavy play like you see from Lambda and Bern. Your opponent will be forced to play defensively which is really difficult for some teams. Similar to Bat/Rono, you might want to get creative as apart from Eva’s overheads and crossups this team lacks any major mixup or guardbreak setups, but this is no major shortcoming.


Eva/Jess – Potentially solid neutral and very high damage combined with pretty deadly pressure. If you can do Jessica’s link, there’s a neat trick where you can do it multiple times against yellow or green jelly, but you’re not too likely to see that often in general play. Nevertheless these two have a lot of stun and killing power between them, and their corner is a big kill zone. Jessica loves Berserk but overall this team is good because its two members are so individually good. You want to keep pressure up pretty much constantly to prevent Jessica from becoming a weak link in neutral. If you can do that this team is very hard to hit. Faster and more direct than Jess/Beato, but less damage (for what that’s worth).


410/Jess – A team that really rewards players who have experience and quick reactions. 15-second BreakBoost Jessica is a force to be reckoned with, and guard damage options like her 214b in the corner at sufficient guard capacity (beats almost all reversals and backdash and you can combo off a break) and her mash EX become not only threatening for longer, but at lower capacities. You do however need a pretty advanced feel for when the opponent will guardbreak. 410’s MetaSuper is a little more threatening with ShaveBoost involved, and Jessica can capitalise on Attack Touching into it with her fast and adaptable pressure, but like many 410 teams this is relatively hard to get the hang of. Nevertheless this team has a unique and deadly momentum when used right. Beware of Assault Touch, but the opponent does themselves no favors wasting SP on that against this team.


Rono/Lam – CounterBoost capitalises on Lambdadela’s projectiles, especially her konpeito series and MetaSuper. She gets a lot of counterhits, and the threat of being punished will make opponents even less willing to try and fight back against her setplay. Ronove can add some unprorated damage to her inevitable stuns, and slowly generate an SP lead for the two. Both characters are hard to approach and Ronove’s high health gives Lambdadelta a bit more room for error than usual. Compared to Beato/Lam, this team has more reliable and damaging neutral but a little less capacity for intense corner pressure. Similar to them, this pair struggles a bit when they have no meter.


Rono/Eri – The synergy between Force Counter and CounterBoost means any hit you land on the opponent will do increased damage and stun. This creates the option of unique playstyle comprised of wrecking the opponent’s playstyle only using pokes. This powerful combination only lasts for 7 seconds, but Erika’s unpredictable neutral is among the best in the game for capitalising on that short window. Her SP2 is also an extremely useful tool paired with CounterBoost and can act as a strong finisher for winning rounds (you might not want to do it except as a finisher because it will cost 3 or more SP in total). Be aware that opponents might stun out of Erika’s juggles little too early with Ronove’s ability, so you need to have a good feel for capacity. Apart from their great ability synergy, Erika and Ronove are both very safe characters that excel at methodical pressure, so this team is strong defensively too.


Rono/Bern – Similar to Rono/Lam, you’re going to see a lot of emphasis on Bernkastel’s projectiles here (chiefly the cats and kakera series), and the likely effect will be that the opponent becomes afraid to retaliate to them. Again Rono can tack some more damage onto the end of Bern’s long juggles that will probably end in stun. This team has a great oppressive presence; the opponent will have trouble approaching or fighting back against either of these characters, and their guard capacity will slowly be driven up. Very well rounded defense; characters that can deal with Bern a little better such as Battler, Beato and Luci won’t want to go near Rono, and Rono’s tougher matchups like Lambda and Bern herself can be answered with Bern. Struggles a bit more against other bulky teams.


Lam/Jess – A pretty fun team, just not for the opponent. Jessica’s corner carry and high stun give Lambdadelta plenty of opportunities to start on her powerful setplay, and ShaveBoost not only increases the damage of these setups, but enables them to keep doing a little even when the opponent’s guard capacity has increased. This team revolves around guardbreaking with a bit of mixup added in, so it’s pretty dishonest. However it can struggle in neutral; teams like Bat/Rono or Ange/Rono give these two trouble. Nevertheless both characters do so much damage and stun, they can blow open any team as long as you play right. Compared to its closest analogue Jess/Beato, you can play a little more defensively at times, and focus more on mixup.


Jess/Bern – Two very strong characters who can cover different elements of pressure. Jessica is deadly in the corner and Bernkastel excels at driving the opponent there with her strong neutral game. ShaveBoost combined with Bern’s MetaSuper is not only free, largely unavoidable damage, but also builds up a good amount of meter for Jess, so you might want to just fullscreen troll with it for a while if the opponent’s team has no answers to it. Bern is more competent than Lambda and Beato meterless, so this team is a bit more balanced, but generally less damaging, than Jess/Lam and Beato/Jess which are its closest analogues. Nevertheless, rushdown is probably the best option for these two. Also, 15-second MetaBoost is not to be underestimated and hogging the MetaWorld is an option for these two.


Dlanor/Bern – One of the most oppressive teams in the game and one of Bernkastel’s bulkiest options. 15-second ArmorBoost MetaBoost Bern is a massive obstacle to the opponent doing anything, and Dlanor is no weak link when played carefully. She can also tack on a bit of damage or stun to Bern’s combos and build meter advantage for her. This team is SP-reliant because neither character has a reliable reversal, so you’ll be relying on MetaWorld to stay safe. You can collect chip damage and SP and wear out the timer by spamming Dlanor’s MetaSuper, which blockstrings into itself. You can also intermittently add a surprise normal in so you actually build up guard capacity. Compared to Will/Bern, it’s more defensive and has more room for error.
 
B-tier (teams with clear strengths that fall behind in the metagame because there are similar but better alternatives; these will be mentioned with some brief reasons why):


Bat/Ange – Solid neutral but overshadowed in almost every way by Ange/Rono. Ange isn’t great at the long game and while she appreciates added bulk from Resurrection, Rono gives this anyway in addition to much higher damage and synergy. This team can be better against Bern teams, though.


Bat/Eri – Amazing neutral but their poor damage leaves them struggling to keep up with more damaging partners for either of them. Has answers for almost anything but little to do once they score a hit. Either one can handle neutral by themselves so both are unnecessary. Battler gains almost nothing from Force Counter.


Bat/Rosa – Good neutral and Battler has no issue scoring Detachment hits, you can also prevent the opponent’s escape fullscreen with his EX fireball. However this team suffers from low damage and no way to do big corner damage except for Rosa’s costly loops. Generally overshadowed by Rosa/Will, but can have its niche.


Bat/Jess – ShaveBoost has synergy with Battler’s screenwiping MetaSuper, but Jess/Bern generally does this better and the damage on this team is not at all comparable to Beato/Jess. Resurrection conflicts with Jessica’s predominantly rushdown-based playstyle and Battler prefers Beato for a highly damaging partner. This team can also struggle to keep a meter advantage.


Bat/Shan – Middling damage and no synergy. Shannon’s ability can be nice on Battler, but it’s not like he needs it to approach or win neutral. A decent defensive team, you might be able to weather out higher damage teams with it, but Bat/Rono is the superior option there. Battler gains nothing from Shannon’s mixup, leaving her to do most of your damage. Will/Shan is better for that.


Bat/Dlanor – Plays similarly to Bat/Shan, again there is little reason to pick Dlanor over Ronove for Battler and the combination between ArmorBoost and Resurrection is overkill. Might be a funny team if you want to win through timeout, but Dlanor/Bern means there’s a better option even for that.


Bat/410 – Great neutral and BreakBoost with Battler’s MetaSuper can be used to bring the opponent’s guard capacity up before approaching, but there’s overall no particular reason to pick 410 over Lucifer for stronger neutral or Beatrice for higher damage. It’s kind of a balance between the two, but this team will struggle terribly for damage, far more than either struggle with anything.


Bat/Will – Fantastic neutral between the two and Will can handle all the damage the team needs. Battler can also utilise SPCancel to improve his solo damage. Nevertheless this team is overshadowed by better options. Battler generally prefers Beatrice for her guardbreak setups in addition to similar damage to Will for the same SP. Will prefers Kanon for a fast neutral character to confirm for him as he can capitalise on SPCancel more. SP advantage is more important than extra health for Will, who shines offensively.


Beato/Ange – StunBoost with towers can actually be detrimental, because the opponent can escape by jumping and getting stunned and then this team can hardly damage them further. It can also make Beatrice’s corner combos a bit less damaging which is pointless. These two have no synergy, Ange appreciates SP fine but her counter-based MetaWorld is outperformed by George’s and Rono’s.


Beato/Rosa – Beatrice is probably the one character in the game who appreciates Detachment the least, as her setups are unavoidable either way and she has no serious mixup game. Rosa appreciates SP from towers but no more than the average character. These two struggle greatly with neutral. Generally Will is the better option for Rosa.


Beato/Lia – These two have a fantastic SP economy and control game together, but no better than Beato/Will or Beato/Rono. Both are fairly interchangeable in the corner but neither have a good ability to actually get the opponent there. Great with momentum, but they really have a hard time getting it.


Beato/Kan – Beatrice’s towers give the opponent so much SP that Silent Attack doesn’t matter, leaving Luci the obvious better option. Her moveset with a more versatile 2c and the ability to 3c is also preferable. You could try to avoid using towers to slowly generate a lead just for your side, but this is generally unnecessary and Rono is better for that.


Beato/Eri – No synergy except for free SP2s from Erika; George or BB would be preferable if that’s what you’re into. They do align with the common good team comp of one neutral character and one damage character, but overall there’s no reason to pick Erika over Luci, Battler or BB for Beatrice. Erika prefers Ronove too.


Luci/Rosa – Good control over... Touch dynamics? This team will struggle to build meter a bit and their damage and stun leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty much a lite version of Beato/Luci. They do have a slightly better neutral than that team though.


Luci/Ange – Fun neutral, but these two have some of the worst damage in the game. Stun causes proration and this makes Luci sad. They will win a surprising number of exchanges between them, but more than anyone have almost nothing to do once they do. Luci/Beato or Ange/Rono is much better as Ange can handle neutral just fine especially with meter.


Luci/Kan – Unparalleled depth to their neutral, but damage even worse than Bat/Luci’s. You’ll be relying on resets and momentum to a pretty great extent; Luci/410 is probably the better pick for that kind of playstyle. This team will build up a meter advantage over time though, but since it relies on rushdown this isn’t as useful as it sounds. Terrible bulk and mediocre defensive options.


Luci/Jess – High damage and great mixup, but both characters have better options. Jess can’t capitalise fully on Attack Touch because she needs to charge for her combos. She generally prefers Kanon as a fast, neutral-oriented partner. Luci has a better dynamic with Beato, Lia and Will as damage dealers as they can capitalise fully on her confirms without having to score a hit of their own straight after. Jess’s MetaSuper partly makes up for this but it’s not as good as the aforementioned options for corner setplay/combos.  


Luci/Bern – Great neutral and decent damage but very fragile. Bern has no need for such a fast partner as she is fast and evasive herself and has no trouble approaching anyone. In terms of damage this team is pretty much completely inferior to Beato/Luci (which also has better pressure) and Luci/Will.


Lia/Rosa – Poor neutral and defensive options. Virgilia, whose gameplan is focused on corner pressure, likes Detachment but can go without it as she will tend to rely on projectiles anyway, which cannot be Guard Touched, as well as mixup. Rosa can’t drive the opponent into the corner that well either. Preventing Touch while building SP is very advantageous though.


Lia/Kan – Debatably A-tier, but its interchangeability with Luci/Lia makes the lack of Lucifer’s ability seem like an unnecessary disadvantage. The combination of their abilities obviously builds a good meter advantage, but both are a bit overkill as higher damage teams can easily threaten these two with MetaDeclarations. Struggles defensively.


Lia/410 – Very good, but Luci/Lia is probably still better. BreakBoost is a great asset to Lia’s corner setups though, and if you’re really smart you can probably capitalise on 410’s MetaSuper with Lia. Nevertheless the lack of good defensive options or speedy pressure on either of these characters leaves them likely to lose momentum and get thrown around.


Lia/Rono – The main shortcoming of this team is that both characters are very slow and it’s relatively hard for them to approach anyone. Both would prefer a character that’s a little faster; Lia can be replaced by Bern, Lambda, Jess, Beato or Eva, all of whom have similarly pressuring playstyles. With momentum, they’re very imposing, but not so much as other Rono teams.


Lia/Jess – Both characters play a clear role here, but there is no reason to pick Lia over Beato for Jess. The unique synergy between ShaveBoost and towers is too much to pass up, and Jess probably prefers Beato’s approach of giving everyone 5SP rather than Lia’s slower accumulation, as she can struggle on low meter and is built for rushdown. Either can handle damage on their own and their movesets don’t flow into each other in any special way.


Lia/Will – A case can be made for the combination of Brimful with Will’s MetaSuper as a better option for meter accumulation than just doing towers in Beato/Will. Virgilia can also capitalise on SPCancel pretty well to do more damage and stun, so this is debatably A-tier. Still the sheer damage and control of Beato/Will make it kind of unnecessary to play more patiently like this team does. The lack of a reliable reversal here doesn’t help.


Lia/Bern – If these two lose momentum it’s very hard for them to get it back. Their corner pressure is fairly interchangeable, so a more neutral or pressure-focused character is a better partner for either. InfinitySP can pair well with Bern’s patient approach as well as enable both to hog MetaWorld, and she can also build SP for Lia’s somewhat costly corner plays, but spending all your SP on this is ill-advised as the two have few answers for sustained pressure, lacking either practical pokes or a good reversal.


Rono/George – Good, but badly overshadowed by Beato/George. Rono is one of the few characters whose regular playstyle benefits from Patience at least to some extent. He also builds some nice meter for George to turn into SP2 down the line, and CounterBoost improves George’s damage and stun which can be lacking. But both characters would prefer someone else.


Rosa/Kan – Silent Attack and Detachment have terrible synergy, as the opponent can’t switch to their partner who receives diminished SP anyway, and this team struggles with damage. Both would prefer a partner who can do more damage, like Will. Fairly solid neutral though, with a few weaknesses.  


Rosa/BB – Basically a worse version of Bat/Rosa, which already isn’t that good. Slightly higher damage at the cost of poor bulk and issues with stunning. Have very little to do to an opponent that is in the corner. Rosa/Will is better in most ways.


Rosa/410 – BreakBoost can work well in tandem with Detachment but it’s a lot to think about if you want to be able to break the opponent’s guard towards the end of the Detachment recovery and it’s not likely to always play out that way. This team also doesn’t have that much to do to an opponent once they’re guardbroken. Rosa can’t really capitalise off 410’s MetaSuper either, although Detachment is a nice added element to it. Struggles a bit defensively too. Still, fair neutral.


Rosa/Rono – Good, but struggles to keep up with Eva/Rono or Beato/Rono whose pressure is fairly inescapable even without Detachment. The damage will be lower than those teams as well. CounterBoost gun is nice though. Rono isn’t terrible at repeatedly scoring blockstrings when the opponent can’t Guard Touch either.


Rosa/Bern – These two need to play a very cautious neutral where little is allowed to go wrong, and the damage honestly isn’t worth it. A fairly balanced team, but Rosa would really prefer Will’s more direct neutral and higher damage, and Bern gets nothing special from Rosa as her combos are unburstable and her pressure is hard to escape anyway.


Ange/Will – Will does not appreciate StunBoost in his corner combos; although it won’t really affect his MetaSuper loop, it will reduce his ability to juggle with normals for damage. Ange has no obvious practical use for SPCancel, and will end up doing more damage with Rono as her partner. Will would prefer characters with better neutral, damage or abilities.


Ange/Jess – Jessica does not need StunBoost to stun as most of her standard combos will do this anyway. Ange gains nothing from ShaveBoost and her neutral, while decent, doesn’t really complement Jessica’s due to poor corner carry and unreliable Attack Touch conversions that aren’t 2c (Jess can capitalise much more on a grounded Attack Touch due to her link and poor aerial combos uncharged). Other partners suit each better, especially Jess.


Will/BB – There’s no real reason to pick this over Bat/Will, Bat/Beato, Beato/BB or Beato/Will. Black Battler actually makes less use of SPCancel than usual Battler as his fireball series is different, and the team is fragile. Best suited to rushdown, which it performs acceptably well.


Will/Jess – Debatably A-tier. Compared to Lucifer, Jessica has worse neutral but higher damage. Will can tack a ton of damage onto Jess’s inevitable stuns, and she can even round things off with chip damage from a MetaSuper after Will’s SP is exhausted. Jess can use SPCancel to land her MetaSuper in combos too. Still, this means the two end up playing pretty similarly to Beato/Will and there’s no obvious reason to pick it over that.


Will/Dlanor – Lots of unprorated damage and high potential for really long, costly, damaging combos, but Will/Eri is probably the better option for that due to Erika’s better neutral. Neither of these two really gain much from one another’s ability; Will is a bit more of a rushdown character. Neither have a super great reversal either. Bern probably suits Dlanor more as a high damage juggler due to ability synergy; the bit of extra unprorated damage can be left to Dlanor herself.


Kan/Shan – Similar to Kan/Jess but a bit more defensively-oriented, which Kanon honestly doesn’t appreciate. These two definitely have complementary movesets and can come up with answers for most opponents, but their damage is low outside of Shannon’s corner loop. Kan/Jess and Kan/Will both do a better job at what this team does well.


Kan/BB – Plays the same as Bat/Kan but with pitiful bulk and difficulty stunning. BB’s meterless reversal makes this team’s neutral that much better, but his low health leaves absolutely no room for error, so this team hates getting hit. Just play Bat/Kan.


Kan/Eva – Good, but Eva’s command grabs mean she doesn’t really need Silent Attack to accumulate meter advantage. She prefers Luci’s moveset and ability. Kanon can Wolf Jump freely with jelly up in the corner though, which is nice. A pretty mixup-heavy team. Kanon’s damage isn’t the highest so he can appreciate Berserk to bring it up to par. Still there’s no real reason not to pick Will for Kanon instead, as SPCancel boosts his damage similarly in practicality and Will overall suits his style better: he’s more about confirms than pressure.


Kan/410 – Silent Attack with 410’s MetaSuper is kind of nice, but it’s a bit of a marginal advantage especially on a team that can mostly only play rushdown. These two have a strong neutral but they struggle to do much damage without constant resets; a big part of why Luci/410 is good is the added dimension to mixup and damage that Luci’s ability adds. Lacking this here is just a shame.


Kan/Rono – Similar to with Kan/Eva, Rono doesn’t really need Silent Attack. He actually doesn’t hit the opponent that much compared to other characters. CounterBoost Kanon is interesting, but he tends to get counterhits a little less often than Luci, so it’s not obvious why you should pick him over her, especially because her lack of a good reversal is mitigated by increased health and the ability to switch into Ronove, who is kind of like a walking reversal.


Kan/Bern – Plays a lot like Bat/Kan except it has slightly higher damage and has to rushdown a lot more desperately due to the lack of Resurrection and lower health. You’ll want to spam Bern’s MetaSuper if you can to gain advantage. Kanon doesn’t really add much to Bern’s gameplan though compared to what some others (Beato, Will) can do while also generating meter advantage. Bern doesn’t need help scoring hits.


Shan/Rono – On paper this team has the highest health in the game, but in practicality Bat/Rono will often end up with effectively more. This team is good at comeback game and has pretty high damage, but both characters are slow and struggle to get the opponent into the corner where they’ll shine. Similar to Lia/Rono in this way. CounterBoost Shannon can be funny and do a ton of damage, but Shannon’s counterhits largely come from gimmicks so the opponent will probably wise up before long. Rono/Lam and Rono/Eri are better for this.


Shan/Jess – A poor man’s Beato/Jess. It’s hard to come up with a reason to pick this over that. Together the two do way less damage, despite ShaveBoost working kind of well with Shannon’s 22EX at the correct range, and the relatively high damage this team does overall. Jess doesn’t really need AutoGuard although it can help her if she makes a mistake; her pressure is comprised of frametraps anyway. These two don’t have the most amazing neutral either.


Shan/410 – These two are just really hard to play together for the amount they can actually do. BreakBoost Shannon can start her corner loop from lower guard capacity by doing 22EX at just the right bracket, but this is difficult. 410 benefits from AutoGuard more than some others, but she is focused on counterplay anyway. Their roles are obvious with 410 handling neutral and Shannon handling damage, but compared to a dynamic like Luci/Beato it’s hard to place these two any higher. Shannon can capitalise on 410’s MetaSuper to an extent though with her crossups and her own MetaSuper.


Shan/Bern – It’s hard to fit Shannon into Bernkastel’s gameplan, but Bern does benefit from 15-second AutoGuard more than possibly any other character in the game. Shannon can also loop her MetaSuper for longer, at least until she stuns. Bern has no trouble approaching, which Shannon struggles with, but she may have relative difficulty actually Attack Touching into Shannon so this adds a bit of awkwardness to their dynamic. It’s no Will/Bern, but these two make a high-damage pair without many weaknesses.


BB/Eva – Berserk and Massacre have a direct synergy, but this isn’t really enough to offset Black Battler’s lower health. Battler is the better option for Eva, but she does complement BB’s more offensive playstyle. These two find it surprisingly hard to stun. Great neutral and hard to hit, but ultimately Black Battler probably isn’t worth it. There may be marginally less need for BB’s meterless reversal because of Eva’s jelly too.


BB/Rono – One of Black Battler’s better teams but again the minor improvement to offense isn’t a good trade for reducing Ronove’s health so much when compared to normal Bat/Rono. CounterBoost suits BB’s fireball more than regular Battler’s though. But then again, Resurrection suits Ronove more than Massacre does. Generally plays exactly the same as Bat/Rono.


BB/Jess – In no way preferable to Bat/Jess, which isn’t the best option for either character in the first place. Massacre doesn’t activate for chip damage which means it has zero synergy with ShaveBoost, although you can still spam BB’s MetaSuper fullscreen to get damage and meter. Jess can have a habit of getting hit a lot because her meterless 214 series is so tempting but doesn’t tend to work if the opponent has wised up to it, so less health for her is not a good thing. Nevertheless she’s one of the best users of Massacre with her huge damage.


Eva/410 – 410, whose damage isn’t great, appreciates the boost from Berserk, and Eva’s EX jelly and spiderweb are prime recipients for BreakBoost, so there’s some ability synergy here. Eva can also make decent use of 410’s MetaSuper as the slightest opening means a command grab for her. Can be extremely hard to hit when used right, but it’s not clear why someone should use 410 over Luci, at least after the first guardbreak. The reason this team isn’t A-tier is just its lack of snowballing momentum for a team that overall revolves around big damage.


Eva/Lia – Both function best in the corner and Eva can handle pushing them into it. Pretty insane pressure and great damage once they get going, but it’s hard to justify why you would pick Lia over Beato here. Neither reacts particularly well to pressure which can be an issue. No special moveset synergy here, but this team brings the best out of Lia’s high damage-dealing potential and Brimful can also pair well with jelly stall.


Eva/Eri – Very complementary neutral for these two, the opponent is going to have trouble approaching. Eva makes good use of Force Counter too compared to some characters. Nevertheless these two struggle to deal with pressure and their movesets come together a bit awkwardly, such that they can’t exactly play rushdown. You’ll have to rely on mixup and short combos combined with fairly slow pressure. Both gain options in MetaWorld which is nice, but Erika’s MetaSuper does not benefit from Berserk which isn’t as nice.


Eva/Bern – Bernkastel has a special appreciation for Berserk over CounterBoost or StunBoost because it boosts her overall damage without forcing her to shorten her juggles. Eva’s threatening MetaWorld presence also appreciates the extra time MetaBoost gives, and both characters’ MetaSuper helps maintain the SP needed to hog MetaWorld. The reason this isn’t higher is just that Beato/Bern and Beato/Eva pretty much do the same thing but better. Well, this team has better neutral than Beato/Eva, but it’s not really enough to justify the lower damage, stun, and lack of foolproof setplay.


410/Rono – A decent combination in terms of movesets and 410 really likes CounterBoost damage, but Rono probably has the least use for BreakBoost out of the entire cast and his own ability brings its duration down by over half when MetaDeclaring. It’s also hard for him to really capitalise on 410’s MetaSuper unless the opponent’s guard breaks early. The opponent is probably just going to be blocking or jumping for its duration, but CounterBoost dissuades them from doing anything else even more for what that’s worth. There’s just no real synergy here, both characters would prefer a different but similar partner.


410/Lam – A very fun team and would be A-tier if Beato/Lam didn’t exist. Comet will break the opponent’s guard every time with BreakBoost no matter how much their capacity increases by. Only Dlanor can block it with her Cornelia/Gertrude buffs. 410’s MetaSuper has interesting interactions with comet and can force a break even at fullscreen with no combo into the setplay, but this is partly based on RNG which isn’t that great. They struggle with damage and meterless play otherwise, but their neutral is strong (if annoying).


410/Dlanor – Another Dlanor team that likes to win by timeout. 410 is hard to hit and ArmorBoost only exacerbates her frustrating bulk, and Dlanor’s large normals combined with BreakBoost gives her a kind of brute force. Nevertheless this team struggles with damage, at least without some meter-hungry plays from Dlanor. Dlanor doesn’t seem to have any special interaction with 410’s MetaSuper. It’s hard to pick 410 over Bern for her here.


Rono/Will – Two great characters that don’t really work that well together. This team is far from bad, but it’s tiered low because both characters have way better options. Will has no reason to choose Rono over Beato especially as his MetaSuper and juggles don’t really have the best affinity for CounterBoost. He is also already bulky enough for his rushdown playstyle. Rono has no major use for SPCancel, and he already does unprorated damage on his own. The little bit more Will can do isn’t at the top of his list for a partner. Still these two will do huge damage while generating meter advantage.


Lam/Bern – An unfortunately poor pairing, the playstyles for these two are similar and different in all the wrong ways. Bern’s juggles that almost always corner carry don’t give enough time for Lambda to come in, backdash and safely use comet if the opponent is stunned. Bern’s more patient neutral doesn’t flow well into Lambda’s preference for rushdown, and the two struggle against other rushdown teams due to a lack of meterless reversals and low health. However, Bern can capitalise on Attack Touches into blocked comet a little better than other characters can, which is nice. Expect to see a lot of repetitive corner antics with these two.


Will/Eva – Excellent neutral and highly damaging, although Berserk won’t affect Will’s MetaSuper it will add damage to his juggles without increasing his stun, which he likes. Eva has a few uses for SPCancel, for one she can sneak in a reversal before using her MetaSuper, but this isn’t that useful for the cost. It can help her mixup. Still, each would probably be hard-pressed to pick the other over Beato, whose ability to guardbreak easily in addition to her fusion of both of these characters’ roles is kind of important. This team has better neutral than those counterpart teams though, so it’s safer and more adaptable.


Will/Lam – While Will can capitalise on comet breaks better than everyone but Beato, he is just outclassed by Beato in that way and almost every other as a partner for Lambda. His unprorated damage is less important for her as she thrives on forced reset combos, and she beats everyone in a 5SP confrontation anyway so there is no need to generate a lead instead of using towers. His ability to approach isn’t particularly necessary as Lambda doesn’t struggle with this, and he has no good guardbreak setups himself, so he would prefer a partner who confirms instead of who forces blocking like Lambda tends to.


Jess/George – A balanced and honest team with no huge strengths or weaknesses. Both characters just kind of do what they do without special interactions. Neither typically benefits much from the other’s ability, but both last for 15 seconds which is cool for what it’s worth. George’s larger normals and better aerials complement Jessica’s high damage and shorter, faster normals designed for pressure. Solid but both have teams that are more damaging and more efficient. Jess/Rono outclasses this team in most ways, though George’s neutral is a bit more unpredictable which can be a good match Jessica’s punishing damage.


Jess/Dlanor – Solid, but there’s no suitable reason to pick Dlanor over Beato, or Will for that matter. This team has better defenses than either but Jess isn’t exactly built for defensive play. Dlanor can tack on a little unprorated damage to Jess’s high damage combos that tend to stun, but she can do this herself with chip damage from her MetaSuper, so it’s not a truly unique advantage although it is more generally usable. ShaveBoost combined with Dlanor’s MetaSuper spam blockstring is pretty funny though, and has some utility.


George/Bern – It’s hard to justify picking George over someone else for Bern, such as Ronove or Battler. Beato also fills Bern’s role a little better here. Bern also has no use for Patience as blocking is not her favorite thing. This pair still works though. Bern can do meterless combos off of George’s 6c which is nice, as well as build up some meter for his SP2. George is also much more threatening in MetaWorld and MetaBoost enables him to stay in that state for as long as possible and focus on counterplay. Pretty much one of George’s best teams, but certainly not one of Bern’s. Expect some cool mixup though.


Eri/Dlanor – A team with a lot of staying power and unprorated damage, but Dlanor prefers Bern and Erika prefers Will. These two can find it hard to keep momentum. Erika’s ability also shortens ArmorBoost’s duration off of MetaDeclare, which isn’t a huge dealbreaker but it doesn’t help either. Their somewhat unorthodox movesets don’t do a lot to complement one another, although both have fairly fast overheads and can be hard to approach for some characters. Damage is an issue.


Eri/Bern – Great neutral, but not great defensively and these two don’t excel at Attack Touching into each other’s combos. Bern doesn’t really have much use for Force Counter despite her reliance on juggles as most players figure out that jumping over cats doesn’t really work before long (but not me). Both of them prefer Will to the other. Erika’s 7-second ability also ruins MetaBoost looping from declaring, but Erika’s MetaSuper can add damage to Bern’s combos after stunning, so that’s nice. Her SP2 is largely not needed though as cats are enough of a reset by themselves.
 
C-tier (less functional teams that are heavily overshadowed by other teams in the current metagame, very brief summaries will be given in addition to naming these):


Bat/George – Overly focused on neutral with limited ability to do damage. Reset-heavy. Both prefer Ronove.


Bat/Lia – A poor man’s Bat/Beato. Battler does not need slowly accumulating SP as he conserves the meter Beatrice gives him better than most of the cast. Bad reaction to pressure.

Bat/Lam – Bad synergy, Lambda likes a partner who can stun. Hard to hit, but try Jessica instead. No reason to pick Lambda over Beatrice here.
 
Beato/Shan – Both prefer Will. Weak neutral and bad meterless options. Hard to get into damage-dealing situations. Shannon might just lose to the opponent if both have 5SP.
 
Beato/Dlanor – Worse neutral and damage than Beato/Will. Can barely approach. Dlanor appreciates the free SP2 but George or BB are better for that. Free Dlanor grabs are nice and give Beato some SP back.
 
Luci/Shan – Shannon is your only source of big damage, too mixup heavy, minor misplays will create serious disadvantage.
 
Luci/BB – Hopelessly fragile, Bat/Luci is a straight upgrade, imposing neutral but even one mistake could lose the match.
 
Luci/Lam – Fragile, damage issues, will rely too much on guardbreak. Decent mixup. There’s no need for both chars to be so fast. Just replace one with Beato.
 
Luci/George – Major damage issues, Bat/Luci outclasses, can excel in mixup but low stun on both and low health makes this team very punishable.
 
Luci/Eri – Both want a more damaging partner. Force Counter doesn’t really help Luci. Too weak to pressure, but strong neutral.
 
Luci/Dlanor – A fair dynamic but completely outclassed by Luci/Will. Can be more defensive but this doesn’t suit Luci or her ability. No good reversal.
 
Lia/BB – Fragile Lia is a bad idea. Bat/Beato is better in almost every way. Brimful doesn’t compensate for BB SP2 usage. Lia can capitalise on Massacre at least.
 
Lia/Eri – Awkward Attack Touch combos and Erika doesn’t corner carry well despite her good neutral. Damage suffers for this reason. No synergy at all. Use Rono or Will instead.
 
Lia/Lambda – Fine, but Beato/Lambda is too much better. No meterless reversals. Lia can capitalise on comet but this ends when the opponent is stunned, which will be soon.
 
Lia/George – George can’t corner carry that well which Lia really needs, he far prefers Beato. Lia prefers Rono. Terrible reaction to pressure.
 
Lia/Dlanor – Far too slow but can be decent at stall. Find it very hard to approach. No real combo synergy. Too easy to lose momentum. Dlanor sucks at corner carry.
 
Rosa/George – No gameplan, bad damage, awkward pressure. George’s grab works well with Detachment at least. Rosa can kind of appreciate Patience, but not that much.
 
Rosa/Lam – Lambda’s constant guardbreaking wastes Detachment, which she doesn’t really need anyway. Eva is a better partner for Rosa, Lambda wants a neutral partner.
 
Rosa/Eri – Erika will score Detachment easily but hasn’t got that much to follow this with. These two struggle with pressure. Confused gameplan. Both vastly prefer Will.
 
Ange/Lia – Could be B-tier but the fact that you can just jump into either of them and they have no answer kind of sucks. Lia prefers Luci and Ange prefers Rono. Both are setup-focused which works out.
 
Ange/Kan – Terrible damage, Silent Attack is wasted by stun proration, pretty much no synergy. Both rely on their partner for damage.
 
Ange/George – You can just jump on them and they also can’t do any damage, their mixup can be interesting though. Ange/Rono outclasses this in every way that matters.
 
Ange/BB – Fragile, poor damage, too neutral-heavy. StunBoost makes up for BB’s lower stun, but it’s not like you can follow this with anything.
 
Ange/Eva – Could be B-tier, one of Ange’s better teams but there’s little reason to pick Eva over Rono. StunBoost can help Eva get her setups and Berserk fixes Ange’s damage.
 
Ange/410 – Conflicting abilities, low damage, no real gameplan. Quite hard to hit though. If you’re amazing at mixup this team could hold some potential.
 
Ange/Lam – StunBoost can help Lambda begin her setups, can loop stun. Could be B-tier but its fragility and bad response to pressure is an issue. Relies too much on guardbreak and momentum. Just use Jess or Beato.
 
Ange/Dlanor – Unprorated damage is welcome for Ange, but there’s no reason to pick Dlanor over Rono and these two find it hard to approach certain characters.
 
Will/410 – Great neutral but Will does not appreciate 410’s MetaSuper and this pair can find it tricky to guardbreak even with BreakBoost. Few reasons to use this over Luci/Will.
 
Will/George – George is at a disadvantage to Battler or Kanon for Will’s partner, but these two form a functional pair. George really prefers Beato too though. Weird pick for either.
 
Kan/Lam – Silent Attack can make a difference to Lambda, who tends to keep up pressure of some sort for the entire match. But this team’s fragile and both want a more damaging partner. Guardbreak reliant.
 
Kan/George – Awkward and low damage. Reacts poorly to pressure unless George has an SP advantage. Kind of decent neutral and mixup.
 
Kan/Eri – Functional but neither should be choosing the other over Will under any circumstances. Bad damage, but great neutral. Kanon doesn’t mind Force Counter.
 
Kan/Dlanor – Overshadowed by Kan/Will. Kanon doesn’t want ArmorBoost, he wants someone who can play rushdown with him. Dlanor drops momentum too often.
 
Shan/Eva – Berserk can boost Shannon’s corner loop without increasing the stun which is nice, but these two have no other synergy. No reason to pick Shannon over Beato. AutoGuard with jelly is overkill.
 
Shan/BB – Fairly fragile when Shannon kind of needs some leniency for momentum drops and misreads, Bat/Shan is better and has a little more synergy. Bat/Beato is even better than that.
 
Shan/George – Their abilities synergise perfectly, but they’re both defensive so it’s not that impressive. Their roles are clear but there’s no reason to choose Shannon over Beato (except love).
 
BB/410 – Fragile and suffers from the same issues as Bat/410 in addition to basically never stunning. Far too reliant on mixup that will get pretty desperate. 410 isn’t a good Massacre user. You can use BB SP2 to get a free 410 MetaSuper though so there’s that.
 
BB/Lam – Same issues as Bat/Lam but also unbearably fragile, just use Beato. Lambda can use Massacre to an alright degree but she probably still prefers Resurrection.
 
BB/Eri – Bad damage, bad bulk, great neutral but no synergy. Just disadvantage for no reason. Bat/Eri is better but probably just play Eri/Will.
 
BB/Dlanor – BB’s fragility is somewhat assisted by ArmorBoost but Bat/Dlanor is a lot better since Dlanor likes to stall. Shines neither offensively nor defensively. Bat/Eva or Bat/Rono are similar but much better.
 
BB/Bern – Fantastic neutral and Bern is an okay Massacre user, but this team is unacceptably fragile (pretty much the worst bulk in the game) and Beato is a better option than Bern.
Eva/Lam – Both decent characters but completely overshadowed by other choices for one another. Berserk improves precious comet damage before guard capacity increases and Eva can combo off comet somewhat. But both prefer Beato.
 
Eva/George – Both have low stun which isn’t fun, they also have no real synergy. Berserk helps George’s damage a bit, but Battler’s the obviously preferable choice for Eva here. George is a little better at mixup, but not enough to use him as Eva has her own anyway.
 
Eva/Dlanor – Hits hard and is bulky, but these two have no reason to pick each other. Dlanor’s main damage comes from grabs which aren’t affected by Berserk.
 
410/George – Pretty excellent mixup and decent neutral, can be a pretty annoying team but generally doesn’t come out on top. Easy to bully early in the match. Bad damage.
 
410/Eri – No gameplan, too neutral-focused, poor synergy. Good at keepaway and not much else. Low damage and short combos. Reset-heavy. Decent mixup.
 
Rono/Dlanor – Too slow, can barely approach, Dlanor is quite possibly the worst CounterBoost user, characters share a weakness to zoning. Their bulk is overkill because they can’t retaliate for most of the damage they take.
 
Lam/George – Bad damage, guardbreak reliant, fragile, pretty bad meterless. No moveset synergy. Ability synergy on paper but this doesn’t really influence the match very frequently.
 
Lam/Eri – No synergy, middling damage. Erika can capitalise on comet if it doesn’t stun, but there’s little reason to pick her over Will or 410. She has bad stun and corner carry too.
 
Lam/Dlanor – Decent bulk but Lambda isn’t really about stall despite her annoying setplay. Dlanor seems to be a straight downgrade from Will here. Cornelia/Gertrude combined with UltraPER make Dlanor resist guardbreak, a big part of the metagame, well but these two just have no offensive synergy.
 
Jess/Eri – Roles clear as neutral character and damage character but no reason to choose one another for that role. Both would prefer Rono or Will, who form a similar dynamic with each. Jess can make surprisingly decent use of Force Counter but she doesn’t need it.
 
George/Eri – No gameplan, awkward combos, bad damage. Mixup and neutral are fairly good. This team is fun but lacks any serious killing power. Force Counter suits George fine.
 
George/Dlanor – There is no reason to pick George as the one to handle neutral for Dlanor, Battler and Bern are both much better options for speed and approaching ability. 15-second ArmorBoost is nice as always though. Dlanor’s damage pales in comparison to Beato’s in practical play.
 
D-tier (dysfunctional teams that are hard to even compare to much in the current metagame because they barely work, very brief summaries given):
 
Lia/Shan – Absolutely no ability to approach, they play similarly but have few ways to get the opponent where they want them, bullied by fast and pressure-oriented characters. Decent corner damage.
 
Rosa/Shan – Struggles to approach, they share a stubby neutral, this team has a confused gameplan, Shannon makes no better use of Detachment than the rest of the cast.
 
Rosa/Ange – StunBoost and Detachment clash severely for obvious reasons, StunBoost also ruins Rosa’s corner loop which is this team’s only way to do good damage. Bad reaction to pressure.
 
Rosa/Dlanor – No gameplan, find it hard to approach, won’t keep up with fast characters. Dlanor is a terrible Detachment user. Pretty good bulk and can play defensively kind of well.
 
Ange/Shan – StunBoost ruins Shannon’s corner loop which is her only way to do damage, leaving this team with no options left for that. They’re annoying to hit though.
 
Ange/Eri – StunBoost shortens Erika’s combos, Ange hasn’t got too much use for Force Counter, bad damage and no real gameplan.
 
Ange/Bern – Probably the closest team in the game to one of the characters being outright detrimental to the other. StunBoost limits Bern’s combos and prevents MetaBoost from looping. Expect to see a surprising amount of corner play though.
 
Shan/Lam – Shannon is the worst partner for Lambda as she lacks good stun and corner carry. She can capitalise on comet to some extent but fails in every other area. Absolutely no practical reason to use her over Beato, although AutoGuard Lambda is kind of fun.
 
Shan/Eri – Shannon is your main damage dealer which isn’t fun. Erika has bad corner carry even though her neutral is decent. Bad reaction to pressure. Just use Rono/Eri instead.
 
Shan/Dlanor – Terrible ability to approach, both are slow with limited neutrals, Dlanor can’t corner carry consistently, damage tends to fall short compared to other teams, the double defensive abilities are overkill. Has some comeback game at least. Use Will/Shan instead.
 
BB/George – Bad bulk and damage, no synergy, suffers from the same issues as Bat/George. Relies on reset and mixup even though it’s the easiest team in the game to punish.
 
That should be all of them, but please let me know if I’ve missed anything. I’ll end this super long list about tiers by reminding everyone that tiers actually aren’t that important. The metagame is a living, breathing thing that develops the more we play, and any tiers only reflect its current state. This is a fighter and its days of being patched are gone, so it’s not like there can ever be powercreep or something like that. If there’s a team you really like that isn’t currently tiered highly, by playing it and discovering more useful tech, mixup and strategies, you will make it better, if not good. Before Beatroll, no one really knew just how good Bern was, before I picked her up no one appreciated how good Beatrice was. Tiers reflect what we currently know and observe about play, but there’s no way to know what could be. So play what you like – as tilting as losses can be, we play this game because we appreciate what makes it unique, not simply to win. Let’s all enjoy individually improving at the game, and in doing so add depth to the metagame.
 
Also heck off Jon.