The Official Soul Calibur IV Tier List

[Niamaia]

My friends, TheUltimateSpicy (Spicy) and TheSuperiorTaste (Tasty), are both really into Super Smash Bros. and refer to the Tier List a lot. This got me curious as to what the Soul Calibur IV Tier list looked like, so I looked it up. I found no official Tier List at all, so I decided to make my own. Tasty and me finished v 1.0 Sunday, but we don't have all the information we need. So if you think it's incorrect, or if you have more information about the characters listed below the Tier List and Matchups, be sure to tell us.
Here it is so far:

Top Tier
-Astaroth
-Nightmare
-Algol
-Siegfried
High Tier
-Kilik
-Zasalamel
-Yun-Seong
-Amy
-Cervantes
Mid Tier
-The Apprentice
-Mitsurugi
-Maxi
-Voldo
-Yoda
-Xianghua
-Cassandra
-Yoshimitsu
-Raphael
-Seong Mi-Na
-Lizardman
Low Tier
-Tira
-Sophitia
-Ivy
-Talim
-Rock
Bottom Tier
-Hilde
-Setsuka
-Taki

And that's the Tier List so far.

Changes:

-We're probably going to bump Yoshimitsu up a notch or two because he's so unpredictable.
-We might bump Tira up a few notches.
-We're going to do some rearranging in the Low and Bottom Tier sections for sure.
-We're going to add Darth Vader once we have access to a PS3 copy of Soul Calibur IV.
-We might Xianghua up.
-We're going to bump Ivy up.
-We're going to bump Sophitia up.
-We might bump Rock down.

Next are the Matchups. I chose a character, then Tasty would fight me with every character, and then we came up with the Advantage Percentage, taking into account players of greater skill than us.
So here's the Matchup Advantage List so far:

Cervantes vs Astaroth: 30-70 - Astaroth has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Nightmare: 40-60 - Nightmare has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Algol: 23-77 - Algol has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Siegfried: 45-55 - Siegfried has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Kilik: 33-67 - Kilik has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Zasalamel: 30-70 - Zasalamel has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Yun-Seong: 60-40 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Amy: 60-40 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Cervantes: 50-50 - Of course.
Cervantes vs Apprentice: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.
Cervantes vs Mitsurugi: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.
Cervantes vs Maxi: 40-60 - Maxi has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Voldo: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.
Cervantes vs Yoda: 35-65 - Yoda has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Xianghua: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.
Cervantes vs Cassandra: 65-35 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Yoshimitsu: 55-45 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Raphael: 60-40 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Cervantes vs Seong Mi-Na: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.

Rock vs Astaroth: 20-80 - Astaroth has the advantage.
Rock vs Nightmare: 30-70 - Nightmare has the advantage.
Rock vs Algol: 15-85 - Algol has the advantage.
Rock vs Siegfried: 25-75 - Siegfried has the advantage.
Rock vs Kilik: 30-70 - Kilik has the advantage.
Rock vs Zasalamel: 15-85 - Zasalamel has the advantage.
Rock vs Yun-Seong: 35-65 - Yun-Seong has the advantage.
Rock vs Amy: 30-70 - Amy has the advantage.
Rock vs Cervantes: 25-75 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Rock vs Apprentice: 25-75 - Cervantes has the advantage.
Rock vs Mitsurugi: 35-65 - Mitsurugi has the advantage.
Rock vs Maxi: 25-75 - Maxi has the advantage.
Rock vs Voldo: 30-70 - Voldo has the advantage.
Rock vs Yoda: 20-80 - Yoda has the advantage.
Rock vs Xianghua: 40-60 - Xianghua has the advantage.
Rock vs Cassandra: 30-70 - Cassandra has the advantage.
Rock vs Yoshimitsu: 25-75 - Yoshimitsu has the advantage.
Rock vs Raphael: 30-70 - Raphael has the advantage.
Rock vs Seong Mi-Na: 23-77 - Seong Mi-Na has the advantage.
Rock vs Lizardman: 15-85 - Lizardman has the advantage.
Rock vs Tira: 25-75 - Tira has the advantage.
Rock vs Sophitia: 30-70 Sophitia has the advantage.
Rock vs Ivy: 45-55 - Ivy has the advantage.
Rock vs Talim: 30-70 - Talim has the advantage.
Rock vs Rock: 50-50 - Of course.
Rock vs Hilde: 45-55 - Hilde has the advantage.
Rock vs Setsuka: 50-50 - Neither have the advantage, it's all up to skill.
Rock vs Taki: 57-43 - Rock has the advantage.

Characters We Need The Most Info About:

-Taki
-Setsuka
-Hilde
-Talim
-Ivy
-Sophitia
-Tira
-Lizardman
-Raphael
-Seong Mi-Na
-Yoshimitsu
-Yun-Seong
-Xianghua
-Cassandra
-Yoda
-Voldo
-Mitsurugi
-Algol
-Astaroth

We mostly need information about things like combo ease, lag before and after attacks, average range of attacks, throw effectiveness, ring out ease, attack strength, effectiveness of simple attacks, and things like that. Below are the characters that we need the least info about.

My Mains:
-Kilik
-Cervantes
-Nightmare
-Mitsurugi
-Rock
My Alternates:
-Siegfried
-Astaroth
-Hilde
-Voldo
-Yoshimitsu

Tasty's Mains:
-Maxi
-Apprentice
-Zasalamel
-Amy
-Siegfried
Tasty's Alternates:
-Yun-Seong
-Tira
-Yoshimitsu
-Ivy
-Raphael

We only really have good information on our Mains, so if anyone with a different main has some good insight, please let us know. Our goal is to make this as accurate as possible.

Also if anyone has more information on our Mains than we do, we would like to hear it. We need as much info on Movesets and Matchups as we can get!

 

[DeathPrincess]

Just to note, the star wars characters are generally disallowed from tournements. Can't you just buy Darth Vader DLC on the Xbox?

 

[Niamaia]

Just to note, the star wars characters are generally disallowed from tournements. Can't you just buy Darth Vader DLC on the Xbox?

I wasn't aware that there were very many real tournaments. Either way we chose to include them in the Tier List because they're characters in Soul Calibur IV, and we're probably not going to take them out.

Also, we'd need to get Xbox Live to purchase DLCs from it

Otherwise, thanks for the info.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Me and my buddies still play this plenty - mainly because a couple of them don't like "2D" fighters (although suddenly they like the new MK).
I dunno about your tiers.

Hilde is considered broken for being TOO good (I hear she's banned from tournies frequently).
Here's a discussion about it on neogaf
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=327965&page=97
see "doom combo"

I don't personally know anyone that is deadly with her, but I've encountered them online.

My mains are Siegfried, Taki, Cassanda and perhaps Seung Mina. I consider myself an advanced flail-er a bit with Amy, Yoshi, and Voldo


I'm pretty sure Kilik is overpowered - considering his range and speed his damage is just crazy, plus some ridiculous fire moves (and off-the-ground moves). A couple of my buddies play him and it's taken a long time of playing against him to manage OK. He's one of the ones I consider screwed up. Astaroth is pretty ridiculous, but at least he's slower - it's just hard when 2-3 hits has you pretty much dead.

Setsuka is absolutely deadly - wicked fast - in the right hands, with a lot of just frame moves, but I don't know anyone that plays her well, so I don't know how hard she is to master. I think Ivy is also particularly good, but takes a lot to master. I've played people that barely let you get close enough to hit her - and by then you're flashing red from blocking on the way in. So for both of these, I don't know how much learning difficulty comes into play as far as your tier. I fear a good Setsuka player - it turns into a slaughterfest.

I don't think Taki is bottom tier but you do need to spend a lot of time on her. She's pretty deadly online once you learn some combos (honestly I'm not really a combo master with her) because she becomes hellishly difficult to block.

I love Siegfried but honestly I'm not sure about him being top tier. Nightmare - sure - he's got a deadly combination of speedy attacks and range, and juggles - but not so much Siegfried. And Yoda shouldn't even be in there - he's just plain broken.

And what, fighting games without playing on XBL? The horror!!

 

[Niamaia]

Hilde is considered broken for being TOO good (I hear she's banned from tournies frequently).
Here's a discussion about it on neogaf
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=327965&page=97
see "doom combo"

Hilde can do THAT? I had no idea she could combo. You see, this is why wee need more info.

Setsuka is absolutely deadly - wicked fast - in the right hands, with a lot of just frame moves

I know she's pretty fast, but some of her attacks just seem pointless, like sliding backwards and swinging her very short sword. Also, her throws are pretty bad, unless you can actually hold your own against a close-ranged opponent. She's got terrible damage if I remember correctly, and the only good attacks I learned took too long to use.

I think Ivy is also particularly good, but takes a lot to master. I've played people that barely let you get close enough to hit her - and by then you're flashing red from blocking on the way in.

We're already going to bump Ivy up some notches. We need some more info though. This Tier List is meant to be official and accurate, I can't take the word of only 2 people.
(Someone else vouched for Ivy on the PWE forum)

I don't think Taki is bottom tier but you do need to spend a lot of time on her. She's pretty deadly online once you learn some combos (honestly I'm not really a combo master with her)

I wasn't aware she had many combos. Her throws also kinda suck for putting distance between yourself and your opponent. But maybe that's exactly what Taki doesn't need. We'll have to look into her fighting style more.

because she becomes hellishly difficult to block.

I never considered this before. I guess she's quite fast, and has some pretty damaging moves. We'll most likely bump her up. Though from what I've heard, Setsuka will end up being Bottom Tier. I mean, SOMEONE has to be there.

I love Siegfried but honestly I'm not sure about him being top tier.

He's got really nice range. Also, he has some of the most deadly combos if you can figure out how to keep going between stances. Not to mention he does tons of damage.
Another thing we noticed is that his throws are good for putting distance between himself and the enemy, or sending them off for a ring out.

And Yoda shouldn't even be in there - he's just plain broken.

We didn't think Yoda was that great, besides being too small to hit...as well as immunity to grabs...He does such little damage. We'll need to do some more research before deciding.

And what, fighting games without playing on XBL? The horror!!

I know, it sucks. But we'll be getting XBL pretty soon, I'm sure of it.

At any rate, we thank for your valuable insight.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Here's some bread and butter Taki combos. Honestly I'm not that good with the combos, not my style (I tend to top out around 5 hits or so).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUAufXa0Pvc&fmt=6

Do you guys ever play online? You really need to play a variety of people if you are going to draw conclusions. I'd assume Hilde and Setsuka sucked too if I didn't play anyone online.

 

[Niamaia]

You really need to play a variety of people if you are going to draw conclusions.

You're right, we are going to have to play online at some point if we expect to make this Tier List as accurate as possible.