The Official Dead or Alive 5 Tier List with Discussion thread

[David Gregg]

Well hey I commend you on attempting to make a tier list now as that is a pretty big task. Just remember though we shouldn't be encouraging newcomers to look at tier lists to begin with as it can lead to the dismissing of characters they would have otherwise played (which they could end up fully enjoying and becoming competent with) and they really don't have an understanding of what factors went into the characters being ranked the way they are to begin with. Most people on the site are in agreement that right now it's more important to focus on posting character specific combos, playstyle strategies, current matchup discussions, etc... rather then try and throw them all together into a generalized ranking list.

 

[Dr.Bhup]

Thanks again for all the advice, guys! DOA has a great community I must say! You've been really helpful.

As for the tier list discussion, in scientific community they always start early with a hypothesis. Then someone disagrees and argues for their opinion and shows the proof and thus changing the hypothesis to a new and better one.

You could start with a first draft of a list by making an educated guess from what you already know, and then let people debate over it, and changing the list if someone made a legit argument for a change. This would result in a better list rather than trying to come up with a list that would be perfect from the start.

Because the most important part, at least for me, isn't the list itself, but the discussion about why someone is good or not and whether they have good or bad matchups with other characters. It would certainly help noobs like me who don't know anything about this game or the characters.

 

[esotericthought]

dr.bhup... eventually after a couple months of play... the game gets very fluid with attacks, holds and throws... and then you learn mix ups setups and string timings and etc... it will start to feel like "highspeed" chess.

it takes a couple of months of play to develop any skill. and this is a highly skill based game and you will be able to "feel" when your opponent is more or less skilled than you. or at least after about 6 months of play on doa4 4-5 hours a day I could... doa5 feels the same to me as doa4 did. (and then occasionally you'll just get your ass handed to you. I still do... and usually by some button mashing noob...grrr)

 

[StrikerSashi]

S Kokoro、Hitomi、Mila、Rachel
A+ Kasumi、Hayate、Hayabusa、Momiji、Christie、Rig、Sarah、Helena
A Gen Fu、Leifang、Bayman、Jann Lee
B Tina、Bass、Eliot、Lisa、Leon、Jacky、Pai、Ayane、Brad、Zack
C Ein、Alpha

Ｓ　　Hitomi、Rachel、Helena、Sarah、Hayate、Kokoro
A＋　Christie、Rig、Mila、Momiji、Hayabusa、Kasumi、Lisa
Ａ　Zack、Gen Fu、Bayman、Leon、Jann Lee、Brad
B+　Ayane、Leifang、Bass、Tina、Jacky、Pai
Ｂ　Eliot、Ein、Akira、Alpha

Ｕ:Helena、Sarah、Hayate、Hayabusa、Hitomi、Rig
Ｓ:Kasumi、Christie、Kokoro、Mila、Momiji、Lisa、Rachel、Leon
Ａ:Everyone else
Ｂ:Akira、Alpha

Time to joke about Japanese tier lists again. Again, these are just opinions of random people on their BBS, so it has no validity except as a reflection of general perception of characters in a different scene.

I do, however, want opinions on why characters are placed like this. Maybe we're missing some vital tech that makes them stronger or weaker than we think. Characters that we generally regard as mid to low tier like Hayate and Kokoro are always top tier while characters like Alpha are always dead last.

 

[Brute]

S Kokoro、Hitomi、Mila、Rachel
A+ Kasumi、Hayate、Hayabusa、Momiji、Christie、Rig、Sarah、Helena
A Gen Fu、Leifang、Bayman、Jann Lee
B Tina、Bass、Eliot、Lisa、Leon、Jacky、Pai、Ayane、Brad、Zack
C Ein、Alpha

What is it with the Japanese and failing to acknowledge Akira's existence?

Characters that we generally regard as mid to low tier like Hayate and Kokoro are always top tier while characters like Alpha are always dead last.

Never understood why people regard Hayate so poorly.

 

[Jaguar360]

I never thought Hayate was that bad in DOA5. He's average. Can't say anything about DOA5U because I STILL don't have it yet!

 

[David Gregg]

Very interesting. I too would like to know why Kokoro is ranked so high on their lists (as well as Hitomi). I mean I think Hitomi is sometimes underestimated but an S?

 

[StrikerSashi]

Akira? What about Alpha? Dead last in every single tier list.

 

[Crext]

Well, this is why one needs discussion and mapping.
Those lists tell you very little without the background information, and if we start mapping 1 year from now we'll probably get equal differences.

That said it could be that there are few decent Alpha players in Japan, and many Kokoros and Hitomis.

Alpha is strong, she is definitely not in the bottom of the bunch in my opinion, and this is me talking who has been a strong advocate of her not being banned and so on. Akira also puzzles me, he is a difficult to execute character, but that does not make him low tier, only gives him a high learning curve.

Hitomi and Kokoro is underestimated, but top of the pile? Hm... They are not Rachel quality in my eyes.

Other than that I don't see super wrong things about the lists. I don't think they'll play out as equal as some may turn them out to be though.

Hitomi and Kokoro, both of them got decent harass and can be annoying as hell. They can play you all around the board with highs, mids punch and kick and lows for frame advantage. I've perfected some top tiers players right after being outplayed because of those endless strings of frame advantage, where the odds are in your favor until you get it wrong. That said I don't understand why Hitomi has become that much stronger, and her new moves has proven utterly useless, so maybe there is something I haven't seen. Also faster character would always get a head start as she is a slow initiator, she is strong once she gets rolling and at mid range.

But I'll save this for when we get our collective tier list thread up for real. Just discussing tier lists without a holistic view is kinda pointless.

 

[Brute]

Akira? What about Alpha? Dead last in every single tier list.

They actually put Alpha on there. Akira they just forget about. He's in figment tier, lol

 

[StrikerSashi]

Kokoro is underrated? She's overrated. You can't believe how many people I hit with blocked 66P+K~P+K 2P. She's only good if you never sidestep. Her blockstrings would probably be the scariest in the game in that case. But you can sidestep, and that ruins everything.

 

[Drake Aldan]

Wow, MaxDrago's fight is over.


... In Japan.



Does your average JPN BBS dweller provide context with their tier lists?

 

[P1naatt1ke1tt0]

That said I don't understand why Hitomi has become that much stronger, and her new moves has proven utterly useless, so maybe there is something I haven't seen.

Just curious, why do you think Hitomi's SDS 214P is useless? I use it all the time. 214P - 9K launch. More damage than just 33P launch.

 

[Brute]

It's max threshold on NH iirc. Not sure what's useless about that.

 

[d3v]

We'll need JP players to come on board to explain. The thing is however, unlike with games like SSFIV or BB, we don't have much contact with the JP DOA players.

 

[Crext]

Just curious, why do you think Hitomi's SDS 214P is useless? I use it all the time. 214P - 9K launch. More damage than just 33P launch.

That is a good point. Need to try it when I got the time.

We'll need JP players to come on board to explain.

We haven't really began any progress between ourself, so it think it would be a little early to invite them to look at the draft.

 

[David Gregg]

I think what's also confusing me is Jacky, Pai, and Ayane being so low on their lists. If I had to do it, at this point I would (very) roughly throw the characters into 3 categories (yeah I know there's no context):

Category 1: Alpha, Ayane, Christie, Gen Fu, Helena, Jacky (<- watch out for this one), Pai, Rachel (for now), Sarah
Category 2: Akira, Bayman, Brad, Hayabusa, Hayate, Hitomi, Jann, Kasumi, Kokoro, Lei Fang (might be 1), Leon, Lisa, Mila, Momiji (for now), Rig, Tina, Zack
Category 3: Bass, Ein, Eliot

Once again no context and I realize this is probably very inaccurate but this is how I view the characters at this point.

 

[Brute]

Bayman is not bottom tier.

 

[David Gregg]

Alright fixed it. Thanks Brute.

 

[Crext]

I think what's also confusing me is Jacky, Pai, and Ayane being so low on their lists. If I had to do it, at this point I would (very) roughly throw the characters into 3 categories (yeah I know there's no context):

Category 1: Alpha, Ayane, Christie, Gen Fu, Helena, Jacky (<- watch out for this one), Pai, Rachel (for now), Sarah
Category 2: Akira, Bayman, Brad, Hayabusa, Hayate, Hitomi, Jann, Kasumi, Kokoro, Lei Fang (might be 1), Leon, Lisa, Mila, Momiji (for now), Rig, Tina, Zack
Category 3: Bass, Ein, Eliot

Once again no context and I realize this is probably very inaccurate but this is how I view the characters at this point.

Just about how I'd view it. I would split them out a bit more though, as Gen Fu or Ayane doubly is of the same caliber as Rachel or Sarah this time around. Same with both tier, Tina and Leon is probably beaten by Hitomi and Kokoro, etc. Again, it is hard to say without a match up map.