PVP Tier List Update
It is time for regular PVP tier list maintenance. The primary objectives of this update are to:
- Adjust ratings to reflect recent balance patch changes
- Adjust ratings for characters with new alternium reactors
- Adjust ratings for operators to reflect shifts in operator meta
- Adjust ratings for ships to reflect shifts in ship meta
- Adjust ratings to reflect sweeping meta shifts (rangers)
The CounterSide PVP tier list has been updated and changes were made to reflect the current state of PVP meta. This blog post provides some commentary on changes made to the ratings.
Balance patch details can be found here:
https://www.counterside.com/notice/item/ct/en/tbl/notice/idx/2707/P1
ASSR Commentary
Lee Jisoo
SSS🡒B
Lee Jisoo’s (Jisoo) Alternium Reactor was subject to heavy nerfs as part of the recent balance patch adjustments. With the complete removal of her self-healing and DMG RDC, Jisoo loses her status as a stat-stick monstrosity. The nerf essentially returns Jisoo to her pre-reactor survivability levels.
For those who were not around at the time, pre-reactor Jisoo was one of the worst ASSRs in the game. Although her mapwide permanent debuffs were (and still are) potent, her viability was hamstrung by her abysmal performance as a frontline tank.
Jisoo now returns to this state, to a meta that has since adapted to kill her, and to an environment that has seen steady power creep for over a year. Her reign of terror will not be missed. We wish her the best of luck.
Shepherd & Lurcher
SSS🡒S
BSide’s recent changes to Shepherd & Lurcher (Dino mech) have radically altered core aspects to its kit in an attempt to “re-build” the character in a more healthy state that won’t see it banned 40+ consecutive weeks in a row.
Dino mech has been toned down to the point where it can be shut down with just its strongest counters (e.g. Mordred, Awakened Jake) and not “its strongest counters + a full team of more strongest counters + itself”. Dino mech itself has a fair amount of options to dealing with these counters. In short, Dino mech survives the nerfs and comes out alive as (still) an unhealthy team composition check.
The exhaustive list of changes exceed the scope of what the tier list commentary is meant to convey. A new character review for Shepherd & Lurcher is in the works.
E1
A🡒B
Evolved-001 (E1) continues to fall even further into obscurity. E1’s classic playstyle as a backline damage dealer has aged like milk and E1 itself has struggled to diversify into other teams.
Depressingly, its one “synergistic pairing” as a camping tool for ASigma can be done better by dedicated camping tools (e.g. Towers, cheap damage dealers); it has become exceedingly difficult to justify committing 8 DP and 3 team slots to E1.
Replacer Queen
A🡒SS
Replacer Queen’s (RQueen) Alternium Reactor greatly buffs the values on her on-unit-death stacking passive and bumps her damage with a hefty Ultimate DMG AMP buff.
The greatly improved lethality and frequency gives her the damage needed to vaporize backlines. With the skill haste buffs, RQueen can now more effectively use DMG%-heavy sets (e.g. Britra, Volcano) to push her damage output, without the typical tradeoff considerations that plague skill haste based damage dealers.
RQueen’s reactor notably improves her already present synergy with summon ships (e.g. Tempest, Blue Bridge Mk.2), allowing her to rapidly stack her passive and accelerate her gameplan.
RQueen’s reactor leans into all the best parts of her kit, bringing this classic ASSR sniper back into the limelight.
Operator Commentary
Olivie Park
S🡒A
Olivie has long since been dethroned as the dominant PVP operator, but we kinda forgot to update her rating for a billion years.
Olivie’s usage rates have been on a steady decline ever since Sysop debuted on the Global server. While Olivie is not as flexible (or powerful) as Sysop/ Sasha, she is still the operator of choice for Awakened Rosaria and Replacer Queen teams. As Olivie’s classic pairing, RQueen-Olivie, has just gotten significantly better, we may expect a resurgence in Olivie’s PVP presence.
Anyways, this rating change doesn’t reflect some kind of new development.
Momo
B🡒C
Momo, the anti-heal hard counter operator, has maintained a consistently mediocre performance across all the healing-heavy weeks from her debut to date. Momo struggles in that:
- The impact of her healing reflux is entirely dependent on the enemy team bringing healers. It’s already a coin flip to see if Momo’s reflux does anything relevant over the course of the match. It’s made even worse by the fact not every comp runs healers, or healers in sufficient quantities for the reflux to matter.
- The 1:30 incoming healing reduction debuff severely affects Momo’s reflux potency by significantly reducing the amount of healing being applied (and refluxed). Momo rapidly loses value as the match progresses.
- One of Momo’s functions, to act as a counter to Olivie, is no longer needed after Olivie herself was dropped in favor of better PVP operators.
Momo has been adjusted as part of the review on operator PVP ratings.
Ship Commentary
Tempest
SS🡒B
As part of the latest balance patch, Tempest’s skill, Bulwark Deployment, was adjusted to shift power away from its disruption and to its buff aura. The wall now functions as a buffer, providing nearby units massive DEF and DMG RDC buffs while it is alive.
Tempest’s wall is now significantly more vulnerable; it no longer functions in its former role as a disruption tool. This change significantly reduces Tempest’s power level, bringing it in line with other ships.
Albion
B🡒S
Albion has been getting stronger. This can be attributed to several factors that have benefited the ship:
- Shifts in operator meta: Serina hard countered Albion by removing its S1 stealth buff. Serina has since retired from the meta.
- Offensive operator synergy: Albion synergizes well with offensive comps that can make the most of their few seconds of stealth. Offensive comps have seen a major resurgence following the releases of recent damage-boost operators (i.e. Sasha, Vivian, Asha).
- Melee damage dealer synergy: Building off the above, ASSR melee-range damage dealers have had their DPS pushed to unhinged levels by the aforementioned damage-boost operators. Albion further enables these damage dealers by shoring up their survivability weaknesses through shields and stealth.
In the absence of counters, Albion has been able to dictate the metagame whenever it is free. Generally speaking, comps that cannot use Albion are forced into Kamiizumi to neutralize the pressure of Albion’s S1 stealth.
Additional Commentary
PVP Commentary on Recent Balance Patch
Fatima
🡒SSS
Fatima is the newest addition to the frontline tank role. She distinguishes herself from the competition by providing an tremendous amount of crowd control through ETB and Special Skill. Effectively, Fatima can chain CC enemy frontline for ~8 seconds on deploy. Beyond her initial impact, her extremely short cooldowns keep her relevant as the match progresses.
Fatima is easily the strongest of the cheap defenders in the game, offering both bulk and best-in-class utility.
Rearm Kaci Bins
SS🡒S
Similar to Shepherd & Lurcher, Rearm Kaci’s (RKaci) kit was radically altered. Her healing mechanics (among other things) have been removed for the new Iron Wall mechanic, which significantly reduces her survivability but gives her a new niche against aggressive comps as one of the better means of tanking burst damage.
Rearm Kang
SS🡒A
Following the change, RKang received a ~30% decrease to her effective HP, putting her new effective HP on par with Ingrid Johanna. RKang does a lot of stuff, but the single most important thing about her is that she is extremely cheap for her stats. Everything else she does is an accessory to her tankiness as a 2 DP unit you can deploy anywhere.
When RKang can’t tank, the alternative isn’t to play her with less stats, it’s to pick a different unit. While her utility remains untouched, it’s hard to imagine her being as widespread as before.
Rearm Chulsoo
A🡒D
Hidden Challenger Chulsoo (RChulsoo) received a massive nerf to his stacking survivability mechanic and got some… damage buffs to compensate? Previously, RChulsoo was a mediocre frontliner used primarily by less-invested players with limited frontline tank options to draw from.
Following the changes, RChulsoo joins the pile of completely unplayable low rarity defenders that can’t even get UP by the system.
Cheap Ranger Damage Dealers
The highly competitive nature of the defender shredder ranger role, paired with inherent problems shared by rangers, has severely affected the viability of anything short of the strongest characters within the role.
Rangers possess poor survivability inherent to ranged backline units. This has been made problematic by the increased prevalence of far-reaching AOE damage (e.g. Awakened Regina, Awakened Sigma, Awakened Joo Shiyoon, etc.). It has become increasingly difficult for rangers to deal damage unmolested.
At present, the entire ranger role is held together by few exceptional characters and Sasha, a dominant PVP operator. However, the strict competition makes it exceedingly difficult to justify using weaker options.
Rearm Gaeun (RGaeun) is treated as the benchmark for ranger performance. RGaeun’s damage, crowd control, and survivability gave her a relatively futureproof kit which has allowed her to stay relevant across the years. Finally, RGaeun has fallen out of meta. As a result, most adjacent rangers* have been adjusted down with her.
*Old Administration Riflemen get to keep their place as they still represent the cheapest highest short-term DPS option in the game.
