If there’s one thing MultiVerus has succeeded at, it’s in its diversity of characters. From DC Comics mainstays like Superman and the Joker to Looney Tunes classics like Bugs Bunny and Taz or real-world people like LeBron James, there’s a wide breadth of representation with this game’s roster. And what’s equally impressive is that despite such a wide spread of characters, each and every fighter plays extremely differently, with a lot of respect paid to their individual source material.
But despite how authentic each character feels, this is still a fighting game, after all. Some cast members are going to be stronger than others. And while Season 2’s mid-season patch was a huge step in the right direction for MultiVersus, some characters are still struggling to perform competitively while others are definitely running the show.
S Tier Characters in MultiVersus
- Arya Stark
- The Joker
- Wonder Woman
- Finn
- Samurai Jack
Arya Stark
All the characters in the S tier claim to be the strongest characters in the game, but none have as much clout as Arya. An assassin class type, Arya uses speed and agility to overwhelm opponents with attacks from all sides. Her sword gives her attacks a slightly larger range, which can mean the world when attacking from neutral, and her teleport allows her to set up some devious combos with strong kill potential in the hands of a talented player. She’s still one of the squishiest characters in the game, but with enough hours practicing with her, it almost negates her low health pool.
Joker
The Clown Prince of Crime debuted in MultiVersus’ relaunch in May as one of the strongest characters in the game, and even after a few nerfs, he’s still sitting securely at the top. Player First Games’ efforts with the character show, making sure Joker is the murderous clown true to form, with his jab, air side special, dash attack, and up tilt all being absolutely lethal in the right hands. A mage with the damage of an assassin and the weight of a bruiser, Joker is just one of the best all-around fighters currently in the game.
Wonder Woman
Diana has been dominating high-level play in the community since the earliest days in the beta, and she’s not slowing down. She’s classified as a tank, giving her large health pool and lots of armor, but she is uncharacteristically fast for a fighter in that class. This makes her excellent at keeping pressure on at higher damage percentages and her neutral special allows her to outright eat damage while she goes in for a combo starter. All in all, very solid fighter players are going to struggle to find a downside with her.
Finn
Another character who’s been dominating the meta for a while, longtime veterans will remember the early days of the beta where Finn was terrorizing a lot of players every other match. And while the Adventure Time protagonist isn’t nearly as bad anymore, he still retains everything that made him so dangerous to begin with. His speed, range, and backpack move are all intact. His most impactful moves let him charge up attacks while running back and forth across the platform, requiring a lot of reads to properly dodge. Add to the fact Finn is the only assassin who can give himself protection from projectiles and a ladder combo that can kill at surprisingly low percentages, Finn’s still a force to be reckoned with.
Samurai Jack
The second most recent addition to the roster, Jack is the definition of “deceptively simple.” His kit is one of the most basic in the game, but there’s so much combo potential in these basic moves that he’s borderline oppressive to go up against, even after some mid-season nerfs. But Jack’s biggest utility is his ability to force enemies off-stage and keep them there. His jab, side special, down air, and command grab are all so good at keeping the enemy struggling to get back on the stage that a Jack player actively trying to edge guard is only limited by their own skill level.
A Tier Characters in MultiVersus
- Iron Giant
- Batman
- Gizmo
- Harley Quinn
- Bugs Bunny
- Morty
- Black Adam
- Tom and Jerry
Iron Giant
Player First Games needs to be applauded for its ambition with the Iron Giant. After years of “Ridley is too big” coming from the Smash side of things, it was super cool to see an actual giant-sized character in a platform fighter. Unfortunately, it might be that Sakurai had a point because the balance of the character has been trying, to say the least. His attack hitboxes are so huge that he can still pull off massively punishing combos if the opponent is caught lacking. The only things keeping him out of S Tier are his predisposition to be disabled from play in MultiVersus, and the ease at which certain characters turn him into combo food.
Batman
It’s probably not a shock that Batman is high-tier; he’s Batman, of course he’s an excellent fighter. He’s got speed, some of the best frame data on his melee attacks, debuffs on multiple basic attacks, excellent recovery moves, and arguably the best projectile in the game with his batarang. The only thing keeping the Caped Crusader from S tier is a slight over reliance on the weakened debuff. His moves don’t quite have the punch needed to kill in a lot of situations without the debuff on the enemy. It’s a great gimmick that fits the character, but he relies on it a bit too much in some places.
Gizmo
Gizmo is probably the best zoner in the game at the moment. His keep-away potential with his arrows, popcorn, and music notes is unrivaled. And when he is backed into a corner, Gizmo has some very forgiving hitboxes on all his melee attacks, leading to some wild combo potential. As one of the scariest fighters to go against in the entire roster, the mogwai is the definition of “big things come in small packages.”
Harley Quinn
Harley has been strong since the beginning, the devs have just tempered her down a little bit to be slightly more balanced. She’s only got one or two tricks to her, but they are very good tricks that take a lot of skill and practice to counter effectively. Her speed, up special, timebombs, and neutral air all still dominate the unsuspecting, but she’s been so good for so long that most MultiVersus vets have figured out some weaknesses in Harley Quinn’s playstyle.
Bugs Bunny
The Looney King himself, Bugs has been a strong contender for most of the game’s lifespan. In Season 1 he was unquestionably S Tier due to a near-infinite combo with Bugs Bunny’s down and neutral air attacks, but that’s since been nerfed. Nerfed, but not deleted. Bugs is still a zany powerhouse that rewards creative play a lot more than anyone else in the cast. The smartest Bugs mains will use their rabbit hole to send all manner of projectiles into unexpected places, before sealing the deal with his (still very powerful) bat attack.
Morty
Morty’s playstyle is strong, but it can be quite boring. Most Mortys are going to find the most effective strategy is to constantly pepper the stage with grenades, creating a type of minefield for the opponent to try and navigate, which can be really tough depending on the character in question. And when they do get close to him, Morty can zone with his dirt move to clear the ground in front of him. His keep-away game and strong recovery options netted him a good spot on the roster.
Black Adam
The hierarchy of power has changed. Black Adam went from being one of the most lukewarm additions to the roster to one of the most skill-expressive characters in the game. A talented Black Adam can pull off some truly cool moves with his various lightning projectiles and aggressive air attacks. When it’s all said and done, a skilled Black Adam main might just be one of the more visually impressive things to see in MultiVersus.
Tom and Jerry
A contender with Gizmo for best zoner in the game, Tom and Jerry are most effective when mixing their zoning with their melee options. Tom becomes significantly less effective if he loses Jerry, which is why the duo is slightly weaker than Gizmo, but they have a lot of great tools at their disposal to damage enemies at range, and then move in close to secure the stock.
B Tier Characters in MultiVersus
- Stripe
- Jason
- Garnet
- Rick
- Beetlejuice
- Shaggy
- Superman
- Agent Smith
- Steven Universe
Stripe
Stripe’s playstyle is “death by a thousand cuts.” He excels at dealing damage with saw blades, his gun, and his melee attacks, but struggles to seal the deal in a lot of cases. Many of his most effective kill moves are very easily telegraphed, like the skateboard or the time bomb, leaving the players’ best option to rack up damage until they can knock back enemies so far that they can be rung out with the gun. Stripe is one of the weaker assassins and could do with some buffs to his attack speeds, but a dedicated enough player can still make the mohawked menace work with the best of them; it just takes a little more effort.
Jason
After a very rocky start to his tenure in MultiVersus, Jason is finally in his strongest spot ever. His jab, his primary combo starter, finally has decent effectiveness, and his attacks deal as much damage as one would expect. If Jason gets a single hit, it’s going to hurt. But he still requires a lot of skill to use, as he can be combo food in the wrong hands. Always approach with caution, as his neutral special boosts a lot of his kill moves and may secure the stock much sooner than usual.
Garnet
Garnet packs a serious punch, no bones about it. But she lacks the speed of someone like Finn and the durability of someone like Jason to really excel at either. The end result is a character that’s a great middle-of-the-road pick. A jack of all trades, master of none. Though it’s worth noting that dedicated Garnet mains can do some diabolical setups with her projectile and teleportation moves.
Rick
Rick used to be a dominant force in the beta, but the overall slowdown of the game means that he’s a lot more manageable to deal with these days. The great thing about Rick is that he’s always forcing the enemy to engage with him; he can comfortably zone with lasers and Meseeks, forcing the opponent to make the first move. Like his grandson, some of his moves struggle to kill, but his side air, jab, and up tilt are more than reliable enough. His portals allow for some imaginative setups limited only by player creativity.
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is still relatively new to the game, so it’s hard to place him. He’s a fast-moving, chaotic assassin who can deal damage easily, but like Stripe, some of his moves are hard to kill with. He is much, much better in 2v2 due to his passive actually functioning there. Right now, the ghost with the most is squarely in the middle of the pack.
Shaggy
The Captain Falcon of MultiVersus, Shaggy is well-balanced right now. Dedicated players can use Shaggy’s entire kit to huge effect, but newer players can rely on his very straightforward moveset to get a sense of the game and find their footing. His side special is still very strong, but experienced players will see it coming a mile away and will be able to punish it in most situations.
Superman
Superman is significantly weaker than his beta counterpart, being negatively impacted by the movement speed changes the most. Not quite “faster than a speeding bullet” anymore, a lot of his moves are really easy to read and anticipate. He’s still hard to kill, being one of the beefiest characters in MultiVersus, and his offstage game remains among the best in the cast. But balance changes have taken a huge hit to what used to be one of the absolute dominant forces in the meta.
Agent Smith
Despite what many would think of a character with a gun, Smith’s main strength comes from his jab combo starter. If he can reliably catch the enemy in a jab combo, he’ll rack up damage. If the opponent can find ways to engage him in the air or hit him before the jab can come out, he struggles.
Steven Universe
This character is excellent at both taking and avoiding damage outright. His shields and Watermelon Steven often stand between him and his opponents, giving him plenty of time and stage control to plan out what he wants to do. His bubble move is also incredibly hard to punish. The only reason he’s low on the list is because if a player knows how to deal with Steven, he’s going to struggle. Steven does what he does very well, but when that stops working, he doesn’t have anything to fall back on.
C Tier Characters in MultiVersus
- Taz
- Marvin
- Reindog
- Banana Guard
- Lebron
- Jake
- Velma
Taz
Like Steven, Taz does one or two things really well, and when they stop working, the strategy falls apart. Taz’s air neutral, side special, and up special essentially turn his entire character model into a huge hitbox of damage that the enemy can’t touch until the move is over. Playing against a Taz is mentally exhausting because they repeat the same 3–4 moves over and over again, and all that can be done is just wait for them to be over and punish them.
Marvin
Marvin takes the mantle of the projectile-based assassin, and he has plenty of toys to throw at the enemy. But, again, if the enemy can get around/destroy the projectiles, Marvin is kind of a sitting duck. His melee options (except for his lightning gun) are the most underwhelming of all the assassins. He’ll give the most value when an enemy is hanging on the ledge, as his down air has one of the most brutal hitboxes in the game for that situation.
Reindog
The mascot of MultiVersus, Reindog is one of the weaker characters in the game, sadly. Much like Marvin, Reindog is very focused on projectile play, but doesn’t have the speed or agility of an assassin, which makes the poor pooch combo food when the enemy gets too close. Talented Reindog mains can make some big plays with his melee options, but it’s rare to see.
Banana Guard
Though he launched as one of the strongest characters in MultiVersus, a mixture of balance passes and general player knowledge over time have evened this character out a lot. His moves don’t do the damage/knockback they used to, and most players can see his side special charge coming a mile away and punish it harshly. He’s still a bit of a “noob stomper,” but that’s all he really can be in the current meta.
Lebron
Lebron had already struggled before his most recent nerfs. If he was deprived of his basketball, he was arguably already the weakest character in the game. But the latest rounds of nerfs hit him way too hard. Best advice for any devoted fans out there still trying to make King James work: make sure to never be caught out without at least one ball. It’s already an uphill battle, losing his main form of attack makes it even harder than it already is.
Jake
No single character fell as hard from the beta as Jake. He used to be a solid A-tier, but the speed changes, compounded with numerous general game changes have just put him way below where he used to be. His punch is still good, but lean on it too much and attack decay will start to kick in, and it will be as damaging as a napkin from a little kid’s birthday party. The team at PFG has acknowledged Jake’s lackluster state and every patch since MultiVersus‘ launch has had some extensive buffs for him, but so far nothing has been helping.
Velma
There’s a powerful argument to be made that Velma is the weakest character in MultiVersus right now. This is a bummer because her inclusion was a breath of fresh air from the type of character one would expect in a fighting game. Her melee options are lackluster, and her projectile game is a shadow of what it used to be. The best thing she has going for her is the Mystery Machine is a really great kill confirm, but that requires a lot of setup and clue collecting. Other than that, she’s just outclassed by so many other characters. PFG needs to find her niche and lean into it.
