Thoughts on the Game8 JP Tier List 11/6/15

Leads

Changes from 10/26: Raoh debuts at A+, Yuria debuts at A+; A revamp: Goemon added to A, Scarlet added to A, Volsungr debuts at A

SS
S
A+
A

Subs

Changes from 10/26: Phoenix Rider A→A+, Summer Urd removed, Famiel debuts at A, Sun Quan removed, Ariel debuts at A, Lumiel debuts at A

S
A+
A

The Game8 list.

I didn’t expect the recent changes to shake up the list so much, but I’ve been kind of out of the JP meta lately, instead dedicating my free time to farming the Arena as much as possible. This is a good chance for me to catch up.

No Kenshiro?

The Fist of the North Star ratings are a bit confusing. All I see are YouTube videos of Yuria destroying the Arena (thank you for continuing to use that godawful BGM, Black Mist), but I can’t find anything on Raoh or Kenshiro. I decided to try my luck with NicoNico, but I quickly found that that site was about as garbage as it’s always been and gave up.

YouTube videos aren’t the end-all when it comes to judging a monster’s power, but I think it’s telling that the usual JP whales who are so eager to show off new teams have barely produced any content on Raoh or Kenshiro. It’s also somewhat confusing that Yuria seems fairly proficient at the Arena — I mean, she did 60 million to LKali in that video without much luck — but only debuted at A+. Well, here’s how I see things:

• Yuria – She’s obviously the most powerful of the three. The power of 56.25x with rows is undeniable, but that’s not all she has. Her active is powerful, her awakenings are great and her sub selection is amazing. I think A+ is a good way to hedge bets, but if she proves to be a consistent Arena clear, then she should definitely be S.
• Raoh – I don’t think Raoh is Arena-worthy when paired with himself, but I think he has some potential when paired with Freyr. I don’t think it’ll be as good as Ryuune-I&I or Saria-Thor, but there’s a lot of potential. You can use Urd-Raoh or Leilan-Belial for burst boards and abuse Phoenix Rider’s shield to tank large hits. I guess the main question is how to consistently deal with the Kalis. I probably would’ve put him at A, but I do think he has a lot of potential so I’m curious if he’ll be worthy of this grade. Edit: here’s a video of Raoh-Freyr clearing the arena, thanks to acx for the link!
• Kenshiro – I’m somewhat surprised Kenshiro was left off — I thought for sure he’d be at least A — so I went back and actually gave him another appraisal. His 45.56x is the same as Horus and his 1.5x RCV boost is the same as Shiva; a pretty nice combination, if you ask me. So I guess what it comes down to is the sub pool. As a rainbow lead that can’t fully utilize Kali due to typing, he just doesn’t bring enough to the table. His horrible active doesn’t help things. More buffs, GungHo?

As with everything, time will tell, but I’d like to hear your input as I’m sure I’m missing things.

Shaking Up the Leader A-Tier

Game8 has revamped the way they’re managing the leader A-tier, opting to use the method they do with the sub A-tier where they pick a few of the monsters they think are the best representatives. How they pick them, I don’t know. As a result, our old friend Goemon is back after being off and on again several weeks in a row. My personal pick in Scarlet has been added and I think this tier is fitting. The most interesting addition is Volsungr, though.

At first I was skeptical whether a mere 36x should make it on the list, but looking closer he has some strong points. The heart and orb enhances work very well together, especially if you run a heartbreaker. The heart enhances also serve as a moderate RCV buff, something you wouldn’t necessarily catch when processing his leader skill. He has has access to some nice TPA subs in Famiel and Orochi. His active is hard to make heads or tails of, though, as many of his better subs are also dragons or attackers (DKali, BValk, Orochi), but there seems to be enough sub option and ways to work around it to minimize the impact. In particular you can use it to mitigate orb troll on trash floors that don’t need all your damage, then use something like Famiel for your final burst. I don’t think he’ll make it out of A, but he’s definitely a neat addition to an element that is lacking combo leads and breathes some life into subs that would otherwise hardly ever see use. I really hope GungHo makes more farmable monsters like this.

I guess the question now is why all the Kalis automatically make S, but Volsungr is left off the sub list entirely?

Angel Uevos at A, to No Surprise

I’ve said Game8 always falls prey to sexy awakenings and I think this is the case here, too. Just considering their raw power, it’s hard to deny a triple pronger a spot on this list, but context is everything: what leaders are they even good for? Here’s the suggested teams Game8 has for these Angels:

• Famiel: U&Y, light I&I (what?)
• Ariel: Athena, XQ
• Lumiel: Durga, Kite

So out of this list, only Lumiel has a suggested leader on their own leader tier list and I’d say her being a Kite sub is fairly suspect. To further compound the issue, the one Angel they left off the list, Ruel, has two suggested leaders on the list: Zuoh and Bastet. I actually think Ruel is a fine Bastet sub, on the same level as if not just better than Liu Bei. The wood triple TPA log jam (ha) is no reason to leave her off, especially if the others make it. She could’ve easily replaced GZL, whose one role was stolen from him by Courage Machina and Freyja. Luckily, their entire sub list is garbage so none of this is all that consequential.

Also, where’s Michael? Maybe he doesn’t deserve to be on this list since there isn’t an elite wood-row leader, but then Artemis shouldn’t be on it either. Oh yeah, Perseus is on the list, too. Sigh.

Other Sub Movement

I’m confused why Summer Urd was removed from the list, especially if Famiel was the one that bumped her off. She’s still a key Lakshmi sub, but it doesn’t look like Game8 has recognized that fact. Yet Skuld is still on the list. This whole “making room” thing is pretty stupid.

It was inevitable that Sun Quan would be bumped from the list with Awoken Isis stealing much of his thunder. He’s still quite useful for his delay which is one of the few graceful ways of dealing with perseverance.

To make room for the rest of the Angels, I guess Phoenix Rider was promoted instead of bumped off. Outside of Raoh, I don’t see any other reason he should’ve been promoted after months at A. This also makes me question why Susano still isn’t on the list. Which brings me to:

Should Be Added

Susano is easily an A+ sub. He’s a critical sub for Bastet teams in the endgame and has the awakenings to make it as a regular. He’s so good that he sees some use in off-color combo teams, particularly on rainbow teams to cover wood. He may not be quite as good as Dark Izanami (which is kind of amazing looking at their awakenings, but that cooldown is just that good) and he’s missing a skill bind resist, but he still deserves to be on the list.

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Did I miss something? Please leave a comment and let me know!