Soulcalibur VI Tier List

Soulcalibur VI is the most recent entry in the iconic Soulcalibur franchise. With great care and attention to detail put in by the developers, it’s beloved by fans everywhere.

In a true fighting game fashion, there will be fighters who perform better than others on the roster. In this article, we break down Soulcalibur VI and rank the characters from best to worst.

It should be noted that Soulcalibur VI is one of the most balanced fighting games available, and the gap between tiers is not a huge one. Every fighter has a decent chance of sustained success provided you put the time into learning them.

This list serves to classify the granular advantages of each character and break them across tiers. Let’s get into it.

Note: The placement of fighters within each tier is random. Also, Inferno is not included in this list because he’s currently banned from online play and competitive tournaments.

S-Tier

These are the best fighters to use in competitive matches. They have excellent matchups against the rest of the cast, with only little flaws that are almost a non-issue.

Fighter	Weapons	Description
Raphael	Flambert	Raphael is an extremely powerful fighter that has a high skill ceiling. This means that his viability increases exponentially as the player grows more skilled. He has a wide assortment of versatile combos at varying ranges, which allows him to adjust to any situation. Raphael’s greatness is validated by his great performance in tournaments and ranked games. There is no bad matchup for him at all.
Amy	Albion	There are few things scarier in Soulcalibur than an Amy with a full stack of Purple Roses. It takes her a while to build up through the match, but once she does, the opponent is guaranteed to have a bad time. If there’s a hole in Amy’s game, it’s likely her lack of range. She’s a beast in close quarters but lacks the whole floor control the likes of Raphael possess.
Ivy	Ivy Blade	Ivy is the best in the game in controlling the battle arena. She has long-ranged sweeping attacks and a long-ranged grab that can wreck opponents who focus on close-quarters. She’s not that strong damage-wise though, and she can struggle a bit against fighters who have long-range tools themselves.
Yoshimitsu	Manji Sword & Fu-Ma Blade	Yoshimitsu’s inconsistent performance is the result of two things: the stage and the player’s skill. That said, when the player is skilled enough, Yoshimitsu’s opponent is in for a rough time. He is a mix-up king with lightning-fast attacks, strong damage, and very punishing counters. His animations are also fast, allowing you to execute them with minimal setup.

A-Tier

These fighters are excellent against most matchups – sometimes even topping S-tiers themselves. They may not be as “overpowered” as those in S-tier, but they are close.

Fighter	Weapon	Description
Siegfried	Clockwork	Siegfried functions best as a counter-attacker, able to swing momentum heavily in his favor. He’s able to do this because of proper defensive tools and a good range that gives him space control capabilities. If Siegfried’s opponent has a tentative play style, then he’s able to pin them down as well. His approach and initiation techniques are good enough to do this.
Sophitia	Sword and Elk Shield	Sophitia is an attractive choice even for beginners because of her simple yet solid move set. She has good combos, quick movement, and low-risk initiations that take minimal skill to execute. She may lack a bit in the damage department, but the rest of her strengths more than make up for it.
Cassandra	Owl Shield and Omega Sword	Cassandra’s fundamentals are almost on par with Sopithia’s. The main difference is that Cassandra has better offensive close-ranged tools. She’s best utilized as a rushdown character – opting to win the neutral game, then pinning the opponent in the corner. From there, her very fast and damaging combos take care of the rest.
Zasalamel	Kafziel	Dealing with Zasalamel, especially online, is a monumental task. A tiny shift in your latency and you’ll most likely get caught by his moves. Outside this, Zas has a good neutral game, decent zoning options, and a powerful soul charge to boot. Abyss is a let-down, but it doesn’t deter the fact that this fighter is a good choice.
Cervantes	Acheron & Nirvana	Keeping in line with this tier, Cervantes has great fundamentals. He has a high skill ceiling, which makes it worth investing the extra time in practice with him. His move set focuses on playing footsies at mid to long-range, making him an ideal safe fighter who can also dish out punishment.

B-Tier

Great fighters that have the potential to run through opponents, even in ranked games. Solid choices overall.

Fighter	Weapon	Description
Mitsurugi	Shishi-Oh	Until recently, Mitsurugi was only seen as an average fighter. His success in tournaments, however, has shown players what his ceiling is in terms of viability. Now equipped with an additional Shura Blade, Mitsurugi is as deadly as ever.
2B	Virtuous Contract & Virtuous Treaty	2B can absolutely wreck opponents who are unaware of her Aggressive Shift. This excellent offense pairs well with her Analysis Points mechanic to bolster her defense as well.
Maxi	Fatibal	Maxi is a fighter that you need to practice a lot with to make him shine. He has different stances – each with its own quirk. This means that your opponent will have to put in extra work adjusting to and countering each stance.
Hwang	Dark Thunder	Hwang does not get a lot of love from the community, and we think that’s not fair. He’s a unique fighter – the only who can deal a lot of guard damage thanks to Life Force. His throws are also serviceable in most situations and can be used to reset back to neutral when needed. The problem with Hwang is that it takes a lot of adjusting on the player’s part to master his playstyle. This is an especially huge problem for those who prioritize combo mix-ups in their gameplan.
Astaroth	Kulutues	If Astaroth were faster, he would be in the top tier. His attacks and command grab dish out massive damage. His animations are on-point, making him a solid choice for precise players. His very slow speed is his downfall. The meta right now revolves around fast attacks and defensive patterns using the arena’s space. That said, players who thrive on Astaroth’s technical playstyle will be deeply rewarded.
Voldo	Manas & Ayus	Voldo is a shifty fighter who is unpredictable due to his wealth of mix-ups options. He has decent damage output and his stance transitions enable another dimension to his approaches.
Xianghua	Sapara	Consistency is the name of Xianghua’s game. She’s fundamentally sound, with good damage for relatively low-risk moves. She doesn’t deal a lot of burst damage but her solid sustained damage throughout the fight makes up for that.

C-Tier

Good fighters that are near the “average pool” in competitive matches. They don’t provide any striking advantage, but they have no glaring flaws either.

Fighter	Weapon	Description
Talim	Savage	Talim is a hit-or-miss fighter. On one end, she has damaging combos that favor an offense-centric playstyle. If an experienced player manages to counter this, Talim starts struggling.
Seong Mi-Na	Scarlet Thunder	Seong is the queen of knocking opponents off the ring with her heavy-hitting attacks. She’s a great zoning character who falters in the face of opponents who get up close and personal with her.
Haohmaru	Fugudoku	Haohmaru adapts several stances to throw opponents off guard. He has powerful attacks that hit hard but are a bit one-dimensional compared to other fighters. You can utilize his projectiles to counteract this.
Setsuka	Ugetsu Kageuchi	Setsuka is best played slow and methodical. She has a huge variety of countermoves that can punish the opponent. Her soul charge is really good plus she difficult moves that are rewarding to those who can properly execute and capitalize off them. Setsuka seriously lacks in the damage department, though. She has to rely on the precise timing of counters and placements in almost every match. Her meter gain is also on the slow side, unfortunately.
Azwel	Palindrome	Azwel has decent tools, but his damage output leaves a lot to be desired. His redeeming quality is the amount of safe, low-hitting shots he can execute to help him compete with other fighters.

D-Tier

These fighters could net you some wins in ranked gameplay, but it will be an uphill climb from there. Their toolkit isn’t as optimized as the better fighters in this list.

Fighter	Weapon	Description
Kilik	Kali-Yuga	Kilik has passable traits in almost all aspects of the game but fails to shine in any of them. This leads to him being tagged as an “average” fighter.
Nightmare	Soul Edge	Nightmare is best utilized as a counter fighter. His Revenge Armor helps solidify this play style. Despite this, he struggles against players who are already familiar with how to deal with this mechanic.
Tira	Shrieker	Tira is likely the least used fighter in the game right now. She has complex mechanics due to her state shifting. She is quite rewarding for those who invest the extra time to master her playstyle.
Geralt	Steel Sword & Silver Sword	Geralt is a fundamentally strong fighter. The problem is, he doesn’t have any standout traits to make him unpredictable. Beginners will find it easy to master him, but his low skill ceiling plummets his value in more competitive matches. Also, it seems like this witcher has been the same since his launch. He’s not affecting the meta, yet also not moving with it. Quite weird for the developers to ignore such a fighter if you ask us.

F-Tier

While still good fighters, these are the worst in the game for highly competitive matches. Their win rate isn’t consistent compared to others in the roster.

Fighter	Weapon	Description
Groh	Aerondight Replica	Groh feels good enough to play. The problem is that his toolkit doesn’t have a lot of hard-hitting attacks that help secure matches.
Hilde	Gae Dearg & Moralltach	As one of the newer characters in the game, Hilde still has a lot to prove in competitive matches. She has a great charge button mechanic, but her floor control is lacking. This leaves her vulnerable to mid to long-ranged attacks.
Taki	Rekki-Maru	The way to win with Taki is being very precise with your movement and attacks and making sure you surprise your opponent with her flashy and long combos. The latter doesn’t happen often so Taki is relegated to the bottom tier.