Tier List Review
The CounterSide PVP tier list has been reviewed and changes were made to reflect the current state of PVP meta. This blog post goes over some of the meta shifts and their impact on the tier list, as well provides some commentary surrounding changes in ASSR PVP rating.
Awakened Jake
SS–>S
Awakened Jake (AJake) delivers respectable performance for an ASSR, but his presence has not been as widespread as anticipated. In spite of his stat buffs last year, he still struggles to compete against more flexible high-value low-cost frontline tanks (e.g. Rearm Kaci, Rearm Alex, Raphaela) for a spot on the team.
AJake is still the most effective way to spite mech players, but his general performance outside of a few matchups has been underwhelming. AJake has been reassessed to S tier to best reflect his position in the meta.
Replacer King
SS–>S
As of writing, it has been twenty one consecutive weeks since Replacer King (RKing) last saw widespread use in PVP. RKing’s absence from PVP is a combination of him being perpetually cast banned by the community, and his few free weeks coinciding with Awakened Lyudmila’s free weeks.
Even when RKing is free, he still has to contend with his hard counters. Contrasting RKing, his hard counters are not nearly as affected by the ban system; their frequent availability means RKing will struggle to ever have a week to himself.
Where previously just being free was enough for RKing to dominate the meta, he now also needs specific characters banned to function. RKing has become too reliant on the Bans & Ups system to see consistent play.
Evolved One
SS–>S
Like RKing, Evolved One (E1) is also heavily dependent on the weekly Bans & Ups to see use. E1 ideally wants both AYuna and AJake banned for it to be played with a strong winrate. As well, E1 can struggle against more modern ASSRs (e.g. Awakened Regina, Awakened Lyudmila, Awakened Chris). That said, it is more likely for E1 to see playable weeks than RKing because E1 is not obsessively cast banned as is the case with RKing.
Awakened Maria
SS–>S
Awakened Maria (AMaria) is a competently average ASSR who sees consistent usage week over week. For a damage dealer ASSR ranger with some utility, she is good at what she does, but she has only a modest impact on the weekly meta.
Replacer Queen
SS–>S
Replacer Queen (RQueen) can be enabled to an absurd degree to create a very consistent high performance team favored by many players at the upper echelons of the PVP leaderboard. In order for RQueen to perform, the comp needs exceedingly high team-wide investment (e.g. niche relic gear, tactical updates, strong teammates, and a fully invested operator).
RQueen has a history as the preferred ASSR of Rank 1 players across numerous seasons, but it would not be appropriate to rate her at SS without disclosing the context around which she is played. RQueen is S at best, but has high potential should players invest in her.
Awakened Joo Shiyoon
S–>A
Awakened Joo Shiyoon (AJSY) demands a lot of resources to protect him, without offering much in return. His nature as a melee-range half-tank half-damage dealer puts him in an awkward situation. Due to the nature of his kit, he is very inconsistent; either he shuts down the enemy team with his parries, or he dies without accomplishing anything.
It takes a very specific week for him to perform, and in those situations he is still not necessarily the best option for the week.
Orochinagi Chifuyu
S–>A
Orochinagi Chifuyu (AChifuyu) suffers from the rising power levels of new ASSR releases. For a character with a kit so heavily focused on backline harassment, AChifuyu’s great flaw is her inability to target air units. As a consequence, she struggles to keep up with powerful ASSR fliers (ARosaria, AChris) who have become increasingly prevalent in the meta.
AChifuyu’s saving grace is her special-into-ult manual trick, which with some setup (e.g. Vivian operator) can be game-winning. However, this is extremely hard to do consistently against competent opponents, ultimately making her an unreliable ASSR carry.
Awakened Shin Jia
S–>A
Awakened Shin Jia (AJia) has always had the issue of providing questionable value for cost. While she is the strongest team force multiplier in the game, it is frequently better to spend 3 DP on pure defensive support and use the 2 remaining DP to progress your gameplan.
The release of Awakened Lyudmila (ALyud) has been the metaphorical nail in the coffin for AJia’s PVP viability. ALyud competes with AJia for the team slot; it is impossible to fit both in one team, and ALyud will generally provide more value given her kit.
AJia is still relevant in certain comps (e.g. RQueen) where she is paired with burst damage dealers to increase their damage ceiling. In the current state of PVP meta, she sees nowhere near as much use as she once did.
Additional Commentary
Decline of Damage Comps
SSR damage dealers are characterized by their strong value for DP, providing good damage at low cost to round out and support the ASSRs around which PVP teams are built.
For a long period of time, SSR damage dealers have maintained a strong presence in the meta as part of thanks to their cost-efficiency. However, gradual range and AOE power creep from ASSR abilities has made it increasingly difficult for squishy low-range backline damage dealers to fulfill their purpose without dying. Characters like ARegina, AChifuyu, and AChris have easy access into what was traditionally a relatively safe space.
On Non-ASSR Ranger Performance
To elaborate on the above, non-ASSR rangers have been hit particularly hard by the changes. Rearm Rivet and Rearm Gaeun have been exceptions to the trend in what has become a general shift away from traditional SSR damage dealer rangers. The gap in viability between these two rangers is so wide that technically the rest of the class should be B tier.
While Gaeun (base version) and Old Administration Rifleman (OAR) are still A tier, they are only rated as such to distinguish themselves from the other rangers. These two rangers are a clear cut above their competition, but they struggle to find a place in the new meta.
- Gaeun for a long time was the strongest SSR ranger in the game, bringing damage, utility, and survivability at only 3 DP. It was believed at the time that Gaeun would still have a place in the meta as the strongest ranger when her competition was banned, but in practice at that point people just didn’t play rangers.
- OAR is the highest DPS/ DP non-ASSR ranger in the game, with the trade-off being that they sacrifice survivability for damage. OAR has traditionally been used to apply pressure to enemy frontline defenders and force a response. Nowadays, it is too easy to mitigate their impact by killing them (e.g. ship skills) or stalling them out (e.g. ASPD debuffs).
It is difficult to visually convey this information in tier list format, so it has been noted here in the blog post. Gaeun and OAR both output strong anti-defender damage, but the players have been finding more success using more durable ASSR alternatives with less immediate, but higher long-term damage potential.
Removal of D Tier
Every week, a selection of low-performance characters will be buffed with UP status, granting them increased stats and a 1 DP cost reduction. Many characters in CounterSide actually have some pretty good kits, but they are held back by their cost (e.g. Orochi). The UP system allows these characters to see play in PVP once every few months.
The PVP tier list has two tiers, C tier and D tier, dedicated to UP characters; C tier reflects characters with strong performance on UP, while D tier reflects characters with passable performance on UP. In practice, the long stretches of time between UPs, the heavy influence of weekly meta on UP viability, and general ambiguity surrounding UP performance made it very difficult to sort characters between C tier and D tier.
C tier has been redefined, D tier has merged with C tier, and all E tier characters have been moved into the now empty D tier. The tier list definitions will be updated shortly to reflect the changes.
For more information on CounterSide’s Bans & Ups system, see: https://www.prydwen.gg/counter-side/guides/pvp-bans
