Story/co-op tier list:

[Tashiji]

Hm, since we've got a tier list going in the PVP forum, I suppose we should have one here too. Since this one is less science and more practicality, with no metagame to speak of aside from how quickly you can kill, we should be able to iron it out fairly quickly. I propose six tiers to start with, but there may be a need for more. Here's the list as I see it so far, but obviously, I'd love to hear input from everyone else as well to help refine and finish it. Consider each tier ranking a significant difference in overall performance.

#1: Uber

(Characters so good, they take all the fun out of the game. Capable of destroying the main game with no effort, and possessing huge natural advantages in other areas, such as trophies/achievements and level challenges. No fun to co-op with unless you're playing one as well.)

Stealth Elf, Drobot, Terrafin.

#2: OU/Overused

(Characters who still break the game a bit, but aren't quite in the same league as the ones above)

Legendary Bash, Ignitor, Hex, Voodood.

#3: BL/Borderline

(Characters who have some attribute that distinguishes them from the pack, but without game-breaking properties.)

Drill Sergeant-, Ghost Roaster, Whirlwind, Bash*, Prism Break, Legendary Spyro, Sonic Boom.


#4: UU/Underused

(The characters in the UU/Underused tier may not stand out as much as the ones above, but are still by no means "bad" at the game. By far the most populated tier.)

Eruptor+, Dino Rang, Stump Smash, Boomer, Gill Grunt, Zap, Dark Spyro*, Spyro*, Flameslinger, Wrecking Ball, Trigger Happy.

#5: Rarely Used/RU

(Characters with a significant disadvantage or set of disadvantages that prevent them from keeping up with the characters above.)

Legendary Chop Chop.

#6: Never Used/NU

(Characters with little to no realistic application.)

Chop Chop*.

* Legendary characters do have a slight statistical advantage over their regular counterparts, and as the regular versions offer no such advantages of their own, it would not be fair to put them in the same tier. Even if, for all intents and purposes, the stat bonuses are superficial, it still means that there's no reason to choose Bash over L. Bash if you have both. If you do not have the Legendary versions, feel free to bump the plain ones up a tier level; believe me, their abilities do warrant it.

- Drill Sergeant's power ranking is based on the PS3/360 versions. If playing on the Wii, he is actually a UU/Underused character. This is due to critical differences in his charging ability between the two versions.

+ Eruptor's power ranking is based on the PS3/360 versions. If playing on the Wii, he is actually a BL/Borderline character. This is due to severe bonuses to his Eruption attack damage and activation rate.

Chop Chop ranks so low because he's too slow to reach enemies in time to make significant contributions, his melee is one-dimensional compared to others, defending is largely worthless in story/co-op, and Bone Brambler is A) too linear and B) difficult to aim accurately. If anyone else can help redeem Chop Chop, I'd be happy to discuss--after all, it's lonely at the bottom.


This is the result of local research and community input. If you feel a character should be moved upwards or downwards, please feel free to post which character, and your reasons for why.

Happy posting!

EDIT 12/29/11

^ Notable differences between Wii and PS360 versions added to Drill Sergeant and Eruptor.

^ Smogon tier terminology adopted.

^ Sonic Boom upped from UU to BL. Prism Break lowered from OU to BL.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Hmm... I'm going to have to take some time and play story mode with Drill Sergeant, because I never would have thought to put him that high.

I also don't know that I would put Chop Chop on his own separate bottom tier. He probably has a special place in my heart since he was the first single pack I bought, but I don't think he's significantly worse in single player mode than Eruptor who is also very slow to the fight. (Unless perhaps Eruptor is using his long range lava build in this list.)

Chop Chop definitely plays more defensively, but his stun ability is nice as is the 75 damage that auto-releases from his shield. I didn't mess around much with his combos on the vampyric path, so I can't comment to their damage output... but I know Stump Smash and Voodood have some great combo attacks.

I would also move Sonic Boom up to the #3 Upper Tier. Her babies path isn't all that great, but Echolocation just annihilates whatever is on the screen. I think she's significantly more powerful than the rest of the characters in #4.

[Tashiji]

The true potential of Drill Sergeant comes only when you do the +Speed Heroic Challenges. For some reason, they amplify the speed of his charge outrageously, making him, strangely, second only to Stealth Elf in sheer ability to tear around the field. He's not top tier, because his damage numbers aren't spectacular (though they do improve with max +crit), but he makes up for it with shockingly high speed. His only real shortcoming is against "big" enemies in the game's final stage or two, but the rate at which he chews the scenery in all the stages leading up to that point more than makes up for it. He seems like he should either be a tank or hit like a train, but it's actually quickness that sets him apart.

Sonic Boom, I'll have to test out a bit. Perhaps you're right. Her major shortcoming in my eyes is just speed. While I do love the shredding effect she has, it's hard to reach the enemies in time when certain higher-ranked characters will have already killed them all. Flying is nice, but I've had trouble getting kills when matched against others, due to her being almost an almost exclusively close-range attacker. Nevertheless, we'll fire her up tonight and co-op her with Tier 3 characters to see. If you can do the same, that'd be great!

I love Chop Chop too, but mostly for his performance in the 3DS version, where he's the best Undead by a large margin and one of the game's top characters in general. I just find him too slow to keep up in the main game on consoles, and since Legendary is definitely better, I had to do the same thing I did with the other Legendaries. Granted, play testing still continues--perhaps you are right.

Eruptor is definitely slow to the fight, but he can at least be preceded by a couple of okay-ish projectiles. Also, once he does arrive, his volcano attacks are brutal and occupy a large area. He's not great, and needs all his speed upgrades plus Devil's Hat to even function, but he's not awful either.

Edit: Tier list for 3DS: Good idea or bad idea?

[Yaggleberry Finn]

I don't have a 3DS, but it sounds like the game is significant enough that it would warrant a third list. Especially if it moves Chop Chop up that far.

[Tashiji]

Chop Chop is a monster in the 3DS version. He has high power, defending actually does mean something (and he's the best at it), and to top it all off, they fixed his biggest console shortcoming--he has a dash move.

I'll do a little play testing tonight on 3DS. The tiers really are worlds different, and I too believe it warrants its own list.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Moving back to the original topic... I was wondering if a different set of rankings would be more useful for story mode? Perhaps instead of the tiers we currently have, we could use something like: best at clearing areas, quickest for beating time trials, good 2 player combinations, etc.

What do you think?

[Tashiji]

I think that's an excellent idea, but rather than instead of a tier list, how about we write it up in addition to tiers? I fully agree that it may be more deep and informative than strictly a list of who's better, but a general list of which characters are strongest serves a purpose too.

We can also work on a guide rating the upgrades for various characters, people can know what to concentrate on when playing.

Also, different areas of strength in overall gameplay would be excellent information. That way, people can, at a glance, know they shouldn't be wasting their time trying for boss battle trophies/achievements on non-Terrafin characters, or trying time trials without Stealth Elf, for example.

This might even make a decent submission to GameFAQs if it comes out the way we're envisioning it.

[thierrytng]

For Speed, I'd put Bash on the top of the list. Having a very fast charge dealing a lot of damage, that lasts a long time as well, he's taking out enemies while running through the level. It takes me a lot longer to go through things with Stealth Elf.

As for pure power, Dino-Rang's boomerang control allows him to take out enemies which would normally not even be on screen yet. So when it comes to taking out enemies, he'd be the best. Combining that with Sonic Boom is even more fun. :-)

Finally, there's no need to demote Drill Sergeant THAT much for the Wii. He may be somewhat less powerful, but he can still get through things fairly quickly, especially with infinite auto blaster shooting while he charges through things.

If anything, I'd put Zap in the lower categories. His damage is weak and he needs to move about freely fo get his slime to work. But that gets pretty annoying if you play with a friend, because you force them into things they could otherwise avoid.

[themorpheus]

why all the hate on choppy? Choppers is a good character.

[Tashiji]

He's much slower than the other characters, and Bone Brambler doesn't really make up for it the way that, say, Stump Smash's acorns do. The thing is, though he is fine at laying a beating once he gets to the enemies, there's no guarantee that's even going to happen when you play co-op. With Chop Chop as a partner, the more powerful characters may as well be playing solo, because they'll either get to and kill all the enemies before him, or do it from a distance.

[thierrytng]

Which character would be the most powerful ranged attacker by the way?

[Tashiji]

Probably Drobot, although Soul of the Flame Ignitor also contends in sort of a round-about way for this honor. What do you think?

[copiousturtle]

No love for the Flameslinger? I clearly cannot participate in this discussion, seeing as I don't really see things the same way as you guys do.

For me, Flameslinger is THE one to go to for the time trials. I do not have Boomer, Stealth Elf, Ignitor or Cynder so I can't speak on their behalf. I do agree that Chop Chop really is disappointing.

[thierrytng]

Jan 29, 2012 13:33:29 GMT -6 Tashiji said:

Probably Drobot, although Soul of the Flame Ignitor also contends in sort of a round-about way for this honor. What do you think?

Gill Grunt really surprised me. Even as a Water Hoser, his Harpoons deel a lot of damage, are long ranged and extremely fast. His water cannon is a great AoE weapon and he's extremely mobile (which is a big plus to me). Finally, the anchor cannon is (relatively) playable compared to other charge attacks, and it's very strong too.

He may not be a Drobot, but I'm genuinely impressed by the damage he can do...especially for such a fast character.