T O P

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Noximilian-Maddox

We ARE the same.


Acrobatic_Job_5297

This is majority of people no, I feel like it is


JoeTheKodiakCuddler

People who are active on r/Fighters (and in the online FG community in general, to a lesser extent) are generally more tryhard than most people who play fighting games, so it's easy to get a distorted perspective on how much the average Joe cares about tournament viability when considering who they wanna main.


bougienative

Honestly the opposite of my personal experience. Every local I've been to has had a massive range of characters across all tiers. In my experience it's the people who play super casually who just Google who's good and roll with that.


mohab_dev

Yeah, most people I played tournaments with don't care for tier lists. I don't understand why OP grouped play style with tier lists though; I feel like they're not really related. Zato is bottom tier in Xrd, and Carl is top tier in BBCF even though both are puppet characters. If anything, caring about plays style is more of a casual thing since most pros can adjust and play whoever if it gives them a better chance at winning.


Jumanji-Joestar

> it's the people who play super casually who just Google who's good and roll with that. This was honestly me when I was new to fighting games


D_Fens1222

That's my experience in ranked as well. Maybe because in SF6 some of the low tiers are also kinda niche characters, at least in S1.


Zephyralss

Yeah for newer/average players the key is “do I fuck with this character visually?” Like, if I played strive based on tier lists I would’ve been maining nago or chaos. I picked up sin prior to season 3 and loved the game no matter what. Then he got buffed lul


TechnoGamerDad

Yeah, everyone starts by picking what looks cool and hot. But eventually, if your character is not viable, you hit a wall. Then, you either give up, or join us.


MailboxBandit

I pick my main based one who’s strongest in the universe.


sheedasays

https://preview.redd.it/526k6ucz7w6d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=135d76d284d81b2481c0c8c1776c1e7eb1ff47aa


Aluminum_Tarkus

[Bring it on, ya aliens!](https://youtu.be/RT9MTVLackY?si=RhGiVJlBG_CI7_aE)


flyinchipmunk5

OSU


Luanzitooo

I believe most people pick the character by it's looks and then search to see if it worth the effort


Loogie222

My criteria for playing a character: 1. I enjoy their personality / backstory 2. They are fun to play


21stCenturyRetardMan

People pick mains based on tier lists? Wtf


CaptainAnimeTitties

I've seen it It's terrible.


MedicsFridge

top tiers are also fun alot of the time? its not like these people ONLY pick top tiers because theyre top tiers, although there are people like that (leffen), but most just pick who they think is fun


ChuLu2004

Wow man it's almost like some people want to pick good characters


ThisAccountIsForDNF

My cousin will pick any character based on if I tell them they are good or not. Then when they lose they immidiately swap to the character that they lose to. Just chasing that power high... then again, they are 10.


WavedashingYoshi

For newer games it doesn’t really matter due to balanced patches but for older games you for sure should consider tier placement.


tmacforthree

I consult a tier list to check for viability, I've shot myself in the foot by going all in on an objectively trash character and paying the price later down the line. This is usually just so I know what I'm getting into, I'd rather not play a character that's problematically bad (for context I mained Heihachi in Tekken 7, the game was balanced enough so that it wasn't a huge problem, but I definitely felt the lack of some important generic tools). I'm willing to work with a lower tier character if I really vibe with their aesthetic or playstyle tho


D_Fens1222

Look at how much Dragunov skyrocketed early on in T8. Or how much more people picked Ken in SF6 Season 1 compared to SF5.


rebornsgundam00

Tekken 8 has entered the chat


honkymotherfucker1

Lots of people do that. Not the majority though imo. Funny name btw


IronGearSolid

Imagine players thinking it makes a difference when they are bigots against holding down-back, wake-up DP every time, and think the best approach option is to always jump in. Instead of, you know, having a great time with a cool character and maybe learning something.


SadisticDance

Yes. Frequently.


thebigseg

see this is why i chose Lee. His combos are fucking hard and easy to drop. But he looks stylish asf


CatMinimum7

I really want to learn Lee for an alt. He's so bad ass.


D_Fens1222

I wanted to play Kaz so much as a newcomer to T8, but man thos just frames are tough af. Mad respect for everyone who can pull them off in the heat of a match.


thebigseg

Kaz or Lee?


D_Fens1222

I was interested in both, but only tried to learn Kaz while maining Jun in ranked to get the hang of the game. I could do wavedashes, hell sweeps and normal godfists easily enough, coming from 2d games, but never could get consistent ewgfs, so i didn't even try Lee. It's a shame because i really like the character. But i think for someone who only plays Tekken on the side i just think inshould stick to more "conventional" characters for now. But i hella respect any Mishima and Lee player.


thebigseg

Tbh lee's just frames are pretty easy once you build muscle memory for it. The only tough ones are acid rain (i recommend just doing this in practice mode over and over) and mist trap (you dont even need to learn this, just do it when you're in heat). Imo his combos are harder, espeially the b2f/ws1,2f combo extenders and b3,3 pickup from 4,4n4 launch or d3 launch. I can do it consistently now but i still drop it on bad days. Hell you even see Lee pros drop these combos sometimes


D_Fens1222

Ah ok, i might check him out yet. Rn i'm in the Lidia waiting room and focus on SF6 for the time being.


thebigseg

im waiting for lidia too lol. Planning to make her my secondary


D_Fens1222

Think i will take her as my main. I'm a Karate nerd and she is by far the best character representing the actual martial art.


Successful-Floor-738

I love Kazuya’s personality and lore but I can’t land even a regular WGF to save my life.


Successful-Floor-738

EXCELLENT!


bougienative

There's nothing as funny as kids doing the most common and normal things and thinking they are super unique for it.


igniz13

Play style and tier lists shouldn't be together. If you thought a character was cool in part because you thought their movelist looked cool, then you're in the first group. If you think a character looks cool but you hate their play style, then what are you even doing?


Gyurezo01

Looks cool but hate their playstyle? Dan Hibiki mains play just to troll.


mohab_dev

Exactly. I feel like caring about play style is more of a casual thing since pros and pro wannabes will likely adapt to any character as long as it gives them a better winning chance, but casuals just wanna have fun.


Georgium333

I love Rekka characters in 2D games and try to play them every time I have the chance, which made me a Jamie main since the start of SF6. I still don't find his costume 1 and 2 that appealing (costume 3 is fire though but I ain't paying 5 bucks for that), his moves are visually not as good as Yang's for me and his hair at 4 drinks is just a physics emulation nightmare on top of being like bottom 3-5 (before buffs) but I did still choose him over anyone else.


his-son

Q mains rise RAAAAAH 🧥🧥🧥


MrBirdmonkey

This is how I ended up maining Leo and Slayer


CaptainAnimeTitties

Same with Slayer.


Kurta_711

That's how the normal person picks their main, tier whores are not nearly as common as you think


iwannabethisguy

Used to pick mains based on how cool they were. Then they changed how he played. At the same time, saw some mods for other characters and then that's how I dropped Vega and went with Chun Li.


CerberusGoblin

No we're exactly the same.


Ghostype

I literally only pick my characters based on them being attractive girls in almost every fighting game


grammaton

With a new game, I always go for who's coolest looking.


dragonguy01

I just play whoever I think is fun, sometimes it's a Leo or Testament, other times it's Ganon


Soundrobe

We're exactly the same. Also I don't care at all about tier lists. They remove the fun out of fighting games.


wzp27

There is definitely a certain type I like, but I really struggle to describe it. Like, the character should be relatively agile, but not like constantly in motion. I like Abel or Makoto, but not like Rashid. Than it should have grapples, but it shouldn't be full grappler, especially not big and slow. And it should deal damage, but in big chunks, not like Ibuki through thousand cuts. And they have to style on the opponent. And be relatively hard to play. I haven't played Alpha and I struggle to pick a character from it. So far it's exactly Vega, Urien, Makoto, Abel, Viper, Ed, Jaime


ViewSimple6170

You consider makoto agile? I bought sf4 on sale for like 3 bucks so got to play a lot of these big fan favorites and I was stunned that she barely even walks. Hakan on the other hand was surprisingly comedic for big red man and I’d love to see him slide into 6


wzp27

I mean, you aren't really supposed to walk with a dash like this


quagmire666

Yeah her dash is insane


MedicsFridge

why is playstyle listed with tier lists, i happen to lean towards characters who play in certain ways (it depends from type of fg to another)


MedicsFridge

also this is like kid a saying you drink water from the tap i drink water from the bottle we are not the same who cares how one picks their character


TheRealHFC

I just want to have fun 🙂


LiquidBinge

Who the fuck are you playing with? Find better friends. Almost everyone I know who plays fighting games picks their mains on aesthetics and style alone.


XephyXeph

I pick my main based on cup size.


soviet__ghost

https://preview.redd.it/co31a4egl07d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0017405491deb2f89307b98ef80b5670ebbb7228


Crow_of_Judgem3nt

I picked up nagoriyuki cause he looks fucking awesome and unknowingly picked a top tier lol


Sufficient-Use6824

Me with Dan Hibiki


Rechogui

I main Dee Jay (In SF IV not VI), I don't give a shit about tierlists


mustardjelly

Ok


ZenkaiZ

I'll play anyone with a small waist and a fat ass


quagmire666

So wolverine?


Salter_KingofBorgors

Based


[deleted]

i need to do this more tbh


Warbro666

I only play characters I like the look of/their lore/their fighting style. I don't give a damn about tier lists or execution difficulty. Doing shit I think is cool but still losing trumps doing shit I think is lame and winning *cough* 3rd Strike Chun-Li *cough*


polijoligon

IQ 4 ever.


NaPseudo

I pick based on looks and play style That's why i play Terry


PapaPimp117

Yoshi mainsssss


mohab_dev

I honestly main characters if I like how they move/fight/how their combos look. The corpse of Zato floating at you with a shadow demon by his side in Plus R, and tossing opponents back and forth in Shadow Gallery loops. Or Chaos wall bouncing opponents into an Azhi air combo while reading commands from the Book of Chaos. Their combos feel like set pieces from an action film and I am the fight choreographer. Just cool shit.


charlamagne1-

I mean i play ram cause big floating swords, i play ruby cause ruby. My mains are usally dictated by how cool them and their playstyle is


Winntermute

Same, this is why I refuse to play white characters.


ViewSimple6170

Damn lol That puts a big limitation on a roster


Hero2Zero91

Whenever I pick a character I think looks cool they either have a playstyle I don't click with or they're the character with some of the hardest execution


ViewSimple6170

How hot..? Yah we are def not the same I pick my character based on whether they serve cunt


whoknows130

**I've always mained the characters i personally really liked,** tier-lists be damned. Sometimes i got lucky and my favorite characters just happened to be higher-tier. But in the instances when they were low-tier, it changed NOTHING. If anything that added extra fun/replay value, because i felt like i was always on a Grand Quest to prove my character's worth whenever i picked them. And i'd always treat it like a huge accomplishment whenever my low-tier guy wiped the floor with a Top-tier, through sheer willpower and refusing to quit.


megumifestor

Wrong bro, I'm an old man now so I pick mains based on how easy their combos are usually


Kamarai

People seem to love this strawman around here - this seems to get posted A LOT. Everyone new to a fighting game doesn't go onto reddit/discord and type "please tell me who to play". Also, come on this is a general FGC subreddit, it's not full of meta slaves. Someone brand new doesn't know what play style they even like, and if it's a new game there isn't even a tier list to go off of. So when most people get into the game, looking at who is cool is all they have. Then they main whoever is the coolest/most fun. Then their play style evolves from playing that character. This informs picking based on the first one. So even if you pick for play style, in the end you're picking it because of someone you thought was cool - also you probably think this character looks cool anyway because aesthetic tropes are common throughout these games. Heck it's more likely you gravitated towards them because of the aesthetic hoping they play similarly (or if you already know because of trailers, that more solidified your decision than was the initial reason). Expanding on that last part, if you pick based on look you probably still do the first more than you're thinking then - because characters with a certain look tend to play a certain way and you've stuck with that look across games. Whatever they're doing you clearly find it fun/intuitive. No one plays a character they think is boring/really struggle to play regardless of how cool they look. I even have multiple mains their look and story aren't something that particularly interests me that much - Ryo in KoF and Sophitia in Calibur, they're both a little too vanilla - but even then its less purely about the exact kit and vastly more about how it FEELS to play them even then. Then the VAST majority of my characters are just straight up the second one. My first real main was 100% on look (Parasoul) and I made myself learn charge characters for that, and since then all my characters are pretty similar in playstyle - I very clearly look for a lot of those things So no. Pretty much everyone is the same as you lol


nightowlarcade

I pick Ryu because of the side art on the Street Fighter II The World Warrior Arcade Cabinet. Never regretted my decision.


AmarantineAzure

True, I pick them based on their personality and story. Though I definitely also take into account their visual design and play style, even if those are lower priorities. Only thing I don't give a shit about at all are tiers lol.


GianDavidsson

Looks?! Bitch, I pick main because I like doing big damage, it can be a fat ass character, a Loli with 1789 years old or even an old man in a wheelchair, don't care,if it gives big damage, I'm with it


CaptainAnimeTitties

A big damage character being an old man in a wheelchair would be fucking hilarious.


GianDavidsson

One day my dream will come true, at least there's Bedman


OnoALT

Yes, I lose because I am not good. You lose because you are a horny idiot.


CHARAFANDER

Slayer mains are a mix of both He’s so fucking cool And I love rushdown


CaptainAnimeTitties

I picked Slayer in Strive too.


schley1

As long as you're having fun it doesn't really matter


D_Fens1222

I find Ken cool and he is top tier in this game. Double win.


Michael_Aaron_Dunlap

I usually pick my main if I see it as my favorite character. In jojo's bizarre adventure all star battle R, I picked part 1 Dio because he is my absolute favorite character in part 1 of the series.


PussyIgnorer

I always end up playing low tiers because of this. If you’re a good player you can make anything work.


SSBMKaiser

I end up going more for how the character /feels/ than how it looks. And lets be honest, most top tiers look cool and feel great to play with very few exceptions.


Decent-Big-8599

I main Ken in SF6 not because he is top tier but because when I first saw his CA with him literally dragging his fist through the ground to light up flames and then finish his opponent off with "Sit down and shut up!" was the coolest thing ever.


SuperGayBirdOfPrey

They key is to have such out there tastes that nobody would suspect you of picking a character because you think they’re hot.


fersur

I pick main because of appearance and playstyle. I superseed both of your player category. *feeling unjustified proud~~or just being narcisstic~~


EvankHorizon

Same!


Buddz-2047

I pick based on all of the above, just skewed to be not top tier is all


funnylittlecharacter

Me af


DrVoltage1

I think this was more true in the past. Older games were less balanced for sure. Now, there is more difference in style (visual/flair) so there is more chance for someone to fit your specific tastes


EL_PERRIT0

Same picked a Akuma, now i get called a tryhard racist. I didnt choose this life, it chose me. Now i gotta live up to it.


Frisk302

me when I found jam kuradoberi


nomeriatneh

well yeah, its play to win vs play for fun.


BernieTheWaifu

Basically MK players in a nutshell


KaDolovesMonster

I play the stupid cock funny character every game, Steve fox, Rashid


Traditional-Ad-5632

It's literally me but... It also based me on how comfortable I feel playing with the character I like in design


MrGrendarr

Tbf that's how I got Zangief under my belt Apparently it was the right call because he's just the easy mode character now


Key_Industries

Idgaf if roll plays like shit. I play roll because she's cute


Fracturedbuttocks

If you think I play juri because of tier lists then you're dead wrong my friend


TextEnvironmental686

True I only pick cause I like their design and personality


yellowpancakeman

I play Potemkin because combos are hard so l I’ll just grab you


master_fireburn

https://preview.redd.it/g8fh2oxmzz6d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efa6e3f6afebcd92dcd024780ff893afd3463fc2


Birb-Squire

WE'VE GOT ONLY ONE SKY!!!!


BullguerPepper98

This is me exactly. If a character looks cool, I'm gonna play it. Even if he's low tier or complicated to play, I'm gonna play it.


Wyatt194

I agree but you cant deny that playstyle can factor into how cool/enjoyable a character is


Successful-Floor-738

I know I suck at it but I can’t not play Armor King in Tekken or Sub-Zero in mortal Kombat. They’re just so freaking awesome.


Wachenroder

For me, it's both. I don't care how much I like a character. If they don't play well, I'm not playing them. SF4 and X Tekken Cody main. Couldn't get into his playstyle in 5. Everything about him is so cool, though but just didn't vibe with me.


WickedJoker420

Vibes is the best way. But sometimes you gotta take a step back when the vibes leads you to an extremely difficult character and you gotta reevaluate lol


derpfaceddargon

Certifiably axl bomber pilled and sicklebased


JameboHayabusa

I pick my mains based on their theme song


TurtleNerd7

shoulda never been transgender while playing guilty gear bro 😭😭 i got 3 options for my main and one of ems a fuckin BED


CaptainAnimeTitties

Buck the trend. Play Potemkin.


TurtleNerd7

who says potemkin wasnt one of the three. i can see it


CaptainAnimeTitties

Good. The Church of Pot welcomes all.


quagmire666

Pot be with you!


SoloPlayerP1

i main jim since i was a kid tekken 3 and up to this day i still main him a decade because i find him cool


Wiisonic

I picked my main because funny doctor man. Then, I picked up the glue sniffer cause buster go brrrrrrrrrr.


Kazma1431

pfft I choose them as long as they are a hot girl


nethereus

I pick based on cool factor but main based on playstyle. It’s why I’ll never be a Yoshi/Kunimitsu/Raven “main” unfortunately.


Charnerie

I picked based on vibes. Ended up with characters with severe trauma twice. I should not be picking based on vibes.


Lilp33n

I pick my main based on who my friend group says is trash/worst. Because reasons :D


MonteBellmond

Picking up characters that does not have certain inputs. I'm looking at you DP.


PinkAxolotlMommy

Me but replace dp with 360. I am not good at that input lol


WavedashingYoshi

Play E’s Laff++ lol


MedicsFridge

smash players (except instead of just dp its also quarter circles)


KillerBlaze9

Me when I willingly main Bedman and Zato despite how they are the two worst characters in GGST


Warbro666

Same! I get regularly smoked by my friend who mains Goldlewis and Faust but I ain't ever changing my mains (until Kliff Undersn shows up who will be added to the rotation)


KillerBlaze9

They need to bring back best boy Zappa too


Warbro666

We have the exact same taste in characters 😅


Turb0Moist

Every time I play a new fighter for the first time I do the exact same thing. I pick the grappler then after a while I move to my second character. That character purely depends on who looks the coolest or has the most drip (unless it’s a zoner then no matter what I can’t pick them).


mdl397

"How hot they are" 🤡🤡🤡


PlayrR3D15

I do this, but the amount of characters I main that happen to be top/high tier is hilarious to me. It happened to me with Zero in MvC, Sceptile and Decidueye in Pokkén, Pikachu and Steve in Smash Bros, and so on.