Re: Updated Tier List

For me, I care less about tier category, but I like to see your video about how to use every character. Even though I've mastered more than half of them, I still like to see other people perspective, strategy, tips, technique, etc. It's always good to learn. 

@dwooten77

The videos are going to be relatively generalized, but the written tier lists on my web sites are going to classify each character according to a tier, and then later give explanations as to why they are listed in that tier. Keep in mind that, just like any credible tier list, they are based on science, math, as well as OPINION -- the latter part of which is necessary to emphasize. Although tier lists are an opinion, the credible ones obviously being put forward by skilled players, mine will probably be the most credible one out there. I'm not bragging, but I've been playing competitive games for 15 plus years, have broken 12 world records, and taken multiple number 1 ranks. I absolutely know how to break down the game to a very technical level, but my tier list isn't going to get SUPER technical with the exact math on each characters damage because I'm not being paid. The reason is because the math can change in obscure ways from character to character based on range, splash, damage upgrades ectetera, and I'm just not going to get exact measurements on every little damage detail. Good example is how some characters have a static rate of damage (regardless of range), others do not, and how something like the Rock Pea does a form of fracturing damage where the rock breaks apart on contact with an enemy and does two sets of damage. I just don't have time to measure every little mathematical detail with that, because some of it I don't know exactly how it works. With most of it, however, it's relatively self explanatory.

1) dwooten77 says: "tier lists depend on the quality of opponents"... That's somewhat debatable, but there are two points here:

a) Garden Warfare 2 is not featured in any MAJOR tournaments with massive prize pools, which means that virtually all of the world class players are going to exclusively be online... That said, an online player can (and will) run into players of low, middle, and elite levels of skill.

b) Team games are also alot different from creating a tier list in 1 versus 1 fighting games because you're not always going to have to have a direct (full life to full life/master vs master) exchange with another good player. Sometimes the "good" player will cherry pick you after you win a 3 on 1, or it can even work the other way. So the tier list is constructed, in part, based on a characters OVERALL EFFICIENCY in a team based environment.

2) The Alien Flower, on a tier list, I'd put at C- (C Minus), as in around low mid tier because it's based on a comparison of her to other Sunflowers, as well as other poison variants. She is technically listed as leaving out "spores" after her shots, but she is basically a poison variant that leaves that little lingering element of splash damage behind. The reason why I'd put her at low tier is:

a) She fires semi-automatic shots, unlike other splash damage poison variants like Toxic Citron and Park Ranger, who have fully automatic weapons and produce the same effect.

b) She's pretty terrible in close range 1 on 1's.

c) She's weak at taking down drones (parrot).

d) Her damage isn't that high, even with upgrades.

e) And she has low health.

So she really is built to just sit back and cherry pick people. Even a turbo controller doesn't help her out like it can do with characters like the Fire Soldier (Centurion) or the Z7 Imp. So always keep in mind that a tier list is a comparison, and her compared to someone like Toxic Citron just makes her look horrible. And yes, there are certain people that can use mid-tier, or even horrible characters, and be good with them.

Other factors to take into account when building the tier list is the interesting fact that the Jade Cactus' actual featured attribute is supposed to be the fact that she has upgraded health (150), at the expense of reduced speed. Granted, this is a solid character, but the Petrified Cactus has the same base line level of health and same slow walking, so I'm still confused on that one, but I'm well aware that the additional health for the Petrified version is because she's meant to get in close on opponents.

Speaking of Cactuses, the Camo Cactus might be the lowest grade character I've found yet (maybe at D minus/D-). Again, it's all about comparison:

Camo Cactus: 5 in the clip with no clip upgrade, has a very slow zoom, bad at no scoping and/or quick scoping, and she gets a useless penetration upgrade. Her damage upgrade brings her critical up to like 66, but the standard cactus (with damage upgrade) does 33 on critical and 27 on non-critical with a much faster rate of fire and far better clip size. So in 2 shots you do what the Camo Cactus does, but with a better rate of fire, etcetera.

You can also fight people mid range while they're rushing with the standard cactus. Sure, some wizard with the Camo Cactus can probably practice no-scoping close range long enough to get good with it, but why work on using a bad character compared to one who is so much better?

Camo Cactus= D- Tier

Standard Cactus= S Tier

Good news about some of the Legendary characters is that Party/Legendary Citron is very solid, and the new Legendary Commando Corn is excellent also. I don't think the Scallywag is that great outside of his usual Imp advantage of having great mobility and a small hitbox, but if you tag him with a goop and chomp him three times, he's toast. Same if he gets EMP'd by (any) Citron before the Imp lands a gravity grenade. He's not really low tier though because he has a pretty solid mech.

I've never really put much faith in tier lists, players can influence the game to much for them to be reliable. I've seen players who can dominate with the so called "worst" classes and others fall flat while using the "best" of them.

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with the camo cactus part, as well as the alien flower. every character has their strength and weaknesses. example: the camo cactus is the best very long range character in the game imo, and has a much nicer damage per shot the the standard cactus. and the alien flower is great for holding chokepoints.

of course I may be biased: the camo cactus is my favorite and most played character in the game 🙂

I think tier lists can be very helpful to inexperienced players.  I remember a couple of them helped me select which variants might be easiest to get used to when playing a new class.  Even if I didn't choose their top choice, I had an idea of their strengths and weaknesses.

Experienced players already know which variants are the ones that work for them, and mostly will just argue with the choices made in the tier list because, as pointed out, varying play styles will bring about different choices.  I've also found that tier lists generally lean toward which characters can get the most vanquishes, vs. contributing to the objective.