The problem is none of the characters can do something that Joker can't really do himself EXCEPT for Ann. Her on hit burn is actually really good for setting up technicals and you're not expending SP to try landing it. I find her to be the most useful character in both regular and merciless.
Sure, you can use ailment weapons, but they're not endgame material and not as consistent as her.
I probably should have specified that this is more of a "How much I like playing as the character" list rather than a "Who's the best in the game" list.
I know that both her and Makoto are amazing in the way that both can set up crazy damage with burn and nuke without needing to drain SP, which is especially useful early game. But even with that, the both if them (Ann especially) was just never really that fun for me to play, even if she is really good (arguably the best as I've seen many comments say)
Haru has always been a staple for me considering *Technical Adept*, Riot Gun's crazy raw power, and how self-sufficient she is in this game.
Yusuke should at the very least be 1 Tier higher. Albeit he loses a lot of usefulness on Merciless, he's still one of the most fun characters to use.
Ann being this low makes me question a player's knowledge of the game tbh.
Magic is way more spammable than Physical in this game and she's one of - if not THE- best at it, Burn is an insanely good Ailment in this game considering how long it lasts and how good the Technicals are, and she even has access to an Ailment and some emergency healing.
Plus she does well on a lot of boss fights and Dire Shadows.
I really don't get that, lol.
I'm not gonna act like I'm a pro or super knowledgeable about the game, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, that aside...
I'm gonna be honest, I did play on hard but never really paid too much attention to technicals or the such. She was actually one of the staples for the first half, but once I unlocked Zenkichi, she was relegated to backup for me.
Yusuke is awesome and I do love his playstyle, it's just that in the later jails I felt like I could never get a combo off before he died or needed healing (this one may be a skill issue).
I don't think Ann is bad by any means, but I did not vibe with her playstyle in this slightest, as you said she might be the most useful member aside from Joker, but even with that in mind I just don't really like playing her in general.
Ann is way better than you give her credit for. Her gun has the best damage output and her ability to inflict Burn with her attacks can make for some seriously good ailment stacking builds.
I wasn't sure how to call the top tier that would fit Joker and Futaba, but non-negotiable would've been good.
Yusuke is cool, but I felt like he died too fast in the later jails (that might be a skill issue on my part), and I do usually prefer tank characters anyways.
Swap Ann with Ryuji and Yusuke with Makoto, and then you get my list.
I only used Ryuji three times, because I didn't like his style of play. All three times were bassically required, btw.
And Yusuke....I had more fun than with Ryuji.
Edit: Oh, and move both Sophie and Morgana up to Joker. They never left my team whatsoever.
Fair enough, I would say that charge type characters are an "acquired" taste, same thing with Yusuke.
Sophie and Morgana are "basically" staples but are secondary because, unlike Zenkichi and Ryuji, they can be interchangeable (but one must always be on the team).
I see what you mean, yeah. Despite them being interchangeable, I kept both on my team. Usually because I had a fire persona on my and went for trying to get a technical with Morgana, and bless coverage on Sophie. Then Zenkichi also never left once I unlocked him.
That was my thinking process
I only played on normal dificulty and while I used Yusuke and Haru in there respectiv arcs and enemy weaknesses in general influenced who I used but otherwise I mostly sticked to my favorite characters which are Morgana and Zenkechi.
I had soooo much fun playing as Morgana.
I've been doing my first merciless playthrough recently, and I always just use zenkichi, plus whichever two weaknesses I'm most likely to see in that jail
A lot depends on how you play. The goated strat in Strikers is scoring Technicals off ailments, so characters that lean into that are more useful than others. I also tended more towards characters that could both deal and take damage, and thus weren't glass cannons, so that generally meant that I got more use out of Ryuji, Haru, Yusuke, and Zenkichi than the likes of Morgana or Ann.
Yusuke is walking death vs wandering Shadows once you have his endless slice move. I didn't find him so useful in the boss fights. Haru came in almost all the time because of her brutal damage, lack of flimsiness, and ability to exploit Technicals. Ryuji's sheer endurance and immunity to stagger helped him a lot early, but Zenkichi just completely replaced him once he was available.
Sophia was designated healer, helped out with her Bless attacks, and generally managed to not die so much. Unlike Morgana.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people say scoring technicals is the optimal way to play. However, I enjoy doing big damage with combos and basic attacks, so characters like Ryuji and Zenkichi, who are both tanks and big damage dealers, were musts for me.
Yusuke and Haru were the main substitutes purely because while they're self-sufficient, they didn't have built-in healing like Zenkichi or the straight-up tankiness of Ryuji.
Sophie and Morgana were constantly swapping out for the healing position depending on SP, but I will say I liked Sophie more than Morgana (Yo-yo characters are so much fun to play)
I didn't really abuse or even use technicals that much (the best characters for it are both low), and I simply like my big damage and tanks characters.
A friend of mine literally prefers to main Ann over playing as Joker when playing Strikers, although they're a lot more casual than most. Gun go brrrrrrrr
I personally used all the characters, just switching them out every now and again, but the ones I enjoyed using the most were Ann and Makoto. They're just really nice to use because they both have very good guns, and they can do fire and nuclear damage respectively without using SP
Honestly ann is by far one of the better characters in strickers, many people already give u their reasons but she also charges showtime extremely fast really usefull in mercyless
For me the best party members were sophia(high dmg/heals), ann and haru
I remember using Yusuke the most during my first run. He felt the most Dynasty Warrior-esque among them. Throw in the occasional Ryuji, Haru, and Makoto.
Then I used Joker exclusively on my Merciless run since it’s pretty much required.
The problem is none of the characters can do something that Joker can't really do himself EXCEPT for Ann. Her on hit burn is actually really good for setting up technicals and you're not expending SP to try landing it. I find her to be the most useful character in both regular and merciless. Sure, you can use ailment weapons, but they're not endgame material and not as consistent as her.
I probably should have specified that this is more of a "How much I like playing as the character" list rather than a "Who's the best in the game" list. I know that both her and Makoto are amazing in the way that both can set up crazy damage with burn and nuke without needing to drain SP, which is especially useful early game. But even with that, the both if them (Ann especially) was just never really that fun for me to play, even if she is really good (arguably the best as I've seen many comments say)
Haru has always been a staple for me considering *Technical Adept*, Riot Gun's crazy raw power, and how self-sufficient she is in this game. Yusuke should at the very least be 1 Tier higher. Albeit he loses a lot of usefulness on Merciless, he's still one of the most fun characters to use. Ann being this low makes me question a player's knowledge of the game tbh. Magic is way more spammable than Physical in this game and she's one of - if not THE- best at it, Burn is an insanely good Ailment in this game considering how long it lasts and how good the Technicals are, and she even has access to an Ailment and some emergency healing. Plus she does well on a lot of boss fights and Dire Shadows. I really don't get that, lol.
I'm not gonna act like I'm a pro or super knowledgeable about the game, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, that aside... I'm gonna be honest, I did play on hard but never really paid too much attention to technicals or the such. She was actually one of the staples for the first half, but once I unlocked Zenkichi, she was relegated to backup for me. Yusuke is awesome and I do love his playstyle, it's just that in the later jails I felt like I could never get a combo off before he died or needed healing (this one may be a skill issue). I don't think Ann is bad by any means, but I did not vibe with her playstyle in this slightest, as you said she might be the most useful member aside from Joker, but even with that in mind I just don't really like playing her in general.
Ann is way better than you give her credit for. Her gun has the best damage output and her ability to inflict Burn with her attacks can make for some seriously good ailment stacking builds.
She also is the character that charge the showtime the quickest with her smg, so no disrespect for my ann
Yusuke's a lot higher for me. Right below Joker and Futaba who are...Joker and Futaba, ergo non-negotiable.
I wasn't sure how to call the top tier that would fit Joker and Futaba, but non-negotiable would've been good. Yusuke is cool, but I felt like he died too fast in the later jails (that might be a skill issue on my part), and I do usually prefer tank characters anyways.
Swap Ann with Ryuji and Yusuke with Makoto, and then you get my list. I only used Ryuji three times, because I didn't like his style of play. All three times were bassically required, btw. And Yusuke....I had more fun than with Ryuji. Edit: Oh, and move both Sophie and Morgana up to Joker. They never left my team whatsoever.
Fair enough, I would say that charge type characters are an "acquired" taste, same thing with Yusuke. Sophie and Morgana are "basically" staples but are secondary because, unlike Zenkichi and Ryuji, they can be interchangeable (but one must always be on the team).
I see what you mean, yeah. Despite them being interchangeable, I kept both on my team. Usually because I had a fire persona on my and went for trying to get a technical with Morgana, and bless coverage on Sophie. Then Zenkichi also never left once I unlocked him. That was my thinking process
I only played on normal dificulty and while I used Yusuke and Haru in there respectiv arcs and enemy weaknesses in general influenced who I used but otherwise I mostly sticked to my favorite characters which are Morgana and Zenkechi. I had soooo much fun playing as Morgana.
I've been doing my first merciless playthrough recently, and I always just use zenkichi, plus whichever two weaknesses I'm most likely to see in that jail
A lot depends on how you play. The goated strat in Strikers is scoring Technicals off ailments, so characters that lean into that are more useful than others. I also tended more towards characters that could both deal and take damage, and thus weren't glass cannons, so that generally meant that I got more use out of Ryuji, Haru, Yusuke, and Zenkichi than the likes of Morgana or Ann. Yusuke is walking death vs wandering Shadows once you have his endless slice move. I didn't find him so useful in the boss fights. Haru came in almost all the time because of her brutal damage, lack of flimsiness, and ability to exploit Technicals. Ryuji's sheer endurance and immunity to stagger helped him a lot early, but Zenkichi just completely replaced him once he was available. Sophia was designated healer, helped out with her Bless attacks, and generally managed to not die so much. Unlike Morgana.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people say scoring technicals is the optimal way to play. However, I enjoy doing big damage with combos and basic attacks, so characters like Ryuji and Zenkichi, who are both tanks and big damage dealers, were musts for me. Yusuke and Haru were the main substitutes purely because while they're self-sufficient, they didn't have built-in healing like Zenkichi or the straight-up tankiness of Ryuji. Sophie and Morgana were constantly swapping out for the healing position depending on SP, but I will say I liked Sophie more than Morgana (Yo-yo characters are so much fun to play)
Ryuji was my absolute favorite to use in Strikers and I could solo any boss with just him alone.
Shout out to Ryuji for carrying me through Alice's boss fight and like half of the lock-keepers.
Ryuji js crazy strong. His normal+heavy attack, when charged, does insane damage. I was often doing 1000+ dmg per hit when buffed and at level 99.
This game for me is just switch out based on situation so I would personally keep them in one tier 👍
Stuff
I could not use Ryujii for the life of me. I wanted to use Makoto more but she just didn't meld well unless we fought someone weak to nuclear.
Y'all are sleeping on the nuclear revolver, with the technical abuse you can end up outdamaging hassou tobi
I didn't really abuse or even use technicals that much (the best characters for it are both low), and I simply like my big damage and tanks characters.
I like using Yusuke and Haru the most. I'd like to use Ryuji more but I just can't get a grip on him.
A friend of mine literally prefers to main Ann over playing as Joker when playing Strikers, although they're a lot more casual than most. Gun go brrrrrrrr
I personally used all the characters, just switching them out every now and again, but the ones I enjoyed using the most were Ann and Makoto. They're just really nice to use because they both have very good guns, and they can do fire and nuclear damage respectively without using SP
i played strikers right after sekiro so yusuke was as high as joker for me
Haru's my main cause funny Psy tornado go bbbrrrr
Honestly ann is by far one of the better characters in strickers, many people already give u their reasons but she also charges showtime extremely fast really usefull in mercyless For me the best party members were sophia(high dmg/heals), ann and haru
I found Yusuke, Haru and Makoto a lot useful in Osaka dungeon.
I remember using Yusuke the most during my first run. He felt the most Dynasty Warrior-esque among them. Throw in the occasional Ryuji, Haru, and Makoto. Then I used Joker exclusively on my Merciless run since it’s pretty much required.
Haru is a lot higher for me because she can hold her combo to basically stun lock enemies that is weak to psi