The 10 HARDEST Fighting Game Characters to Master

Zato-1

Guilty Gear Strive (2021)

Guilty Gear in general can be tough for newbies to get a hold of, but even the more experienced players can admit when a character is difficult to get a firm grasp on. The Strive community has frequently named Zato-1 as that character. With the Forbidden Beast, Eddie, being heavily incorporated into his kit, youll quickly learn that playing as Zato requires you to play as two characters at the same time. Yes, he is a puppet character, and as with most puppet characters, youll need a heavy understanding of how zoning works in addition to general multitasking abilities. And in a game like Guilty Gear Strive where things can get visually overwhelming, some may find Zato-1 much, much harder to learn.

Ayane

Dead Or Alive series (1996-2019)

While Helena is known to be the mix-up queen in Dead Or Alive, Ayane can prove to be just as dynamic and confusing. Sure, she may not boast as many attack options as Helena, but Ayane has a few moves that can change her position and directional attacks while in the middle of a string. On top of that, Ayane attacks so fast that both the player and their opponent have to keep eyes on her at all times just to properly react to what shes doing. That said, you might want to spend some time doing Command Training and some ladders before jumping into the competitive scene with Ayane.

Crimson Viper

Street Fighter IV (2008)

For the most part, Street Fighters characters can be fairly easy to understand. Its refining your abilities that can become a real challenge. But when it came to Crimson Viper, many agreed that this CIA agent was absolutely hard to get a hold of. For starters, Crimson Vipers normals are insanely slow on startup compared to the rest of the Street Fighter IV roster. To make matters worse, her combos and special abilities require much more precise inputs to execute whereas the other fighters leave slightly bigger windows. Should you choose to learn Crimson Viper, you better make sure you lock in and are ready for hours upon hours upon hours of experimenting. Its only going to get harder when you start throwing in the various cancels she can utilize.

Painwheel

Skullgirls (2012)

Whereas Crimson Viper is tough in learning utility, Painwheel is one of those fighters that is difficult to learn in both utility and execution. What we mean by that is while Painwheel is one of the most dynamic fighters in Skullgirls, her animations are so off compared to when you input a button that it makes performing combos a real hurdle. On the plus side, this can also be confusing enough to befuddle your opponents. In a sense, Painwheel causes mental pain for both players in a fight, but it can be worse for her opponent when shes placed in very capable hands.

Kirby

Super Smash Bros. series (1999-)

On the surface, Kirby seems like hed be one of the easiest characters to compete with. Well, looks can be deceiving, and its not because hes got some secret techniques. Much of your skill in using Kirby is going to depend mostly on your opponents reaction time and counterplay. The reason for this is because Kirby is one of the most easily readable fighters in the Smash Bros. franchise. Neutrals, specials, throws all easily readable enough to quickly execute a dodge or block. The specials are especially easy to avoid on account of how long the startup animations can be. Youre honestly better off leaving the little poyo out for casual play.

Duo Lon

The King of Fighters XIII (2010)

In all honesty, many of the King of Fighters contestants have some learning curve to their kits, even some of the more seemingly basic ones. But when it comes to Duo Lon, this is the most complex fighter in the series and one of the most technical characters in fighting game history. None of his special moves use inputs in the same way as the other fighters, and compared to the other fighters, his moveset is vastly more limited. Instead, you have to rely a ton on teleporting and attacking from a distance while using variants of what few special moves you do have. Most of your time will feel like youre fighting an uphill battle, even if youre wiping the floor with your rival.

Menat

Street Fighter V (2016)

Street Fighter V boasted enough simplicity and enough depth to satisfy both casuals and hardcore players, mostly in the games second half of its post-launch life. But once Menat stormed onto the scene, it kind of threw everyone into a loop. Though her normals and general fundamentals are easy to grasp, her orb mechanics are where things get increasingly complex. The orbs allow her to take complete control over the stage, but placing them and using them effectively is where the learning curve spikes drastically. And that is why you dont see many pros using Menat.

Akira

Virtua Fighter series (1994-)

One would expect the face of a fighting game franchise to be among the higher tiers if not the middle tiers. Alas, that is not the case with Akira. The mascot of Virtua Fighter has long had a notorious reputation of being the most challenging brawler to play as. This is largely attributed to his slow movement, predictable attacks, and overall simplistic playstyle. Plus, the weird thing about Virtua Fighter is that for as dynamic as most of the roster typically is, almost every one of them has a couple of combos for the button-mashing casuals to have their own fun with. Akira doesnt even have that, let alone a basic 3-hit string. So, no matter if youre playing casually or competitively, Akira just isnt a viable option for anyone unless you really want to be really defensive and focus on punishing whiffs.

Fulgore

Killer Instinct (2013)

The 2013 iteration of Killer Instinct is one of those fighting games that can be easy to pick up and learn, but it takes quite a bit of time to truly master. Of the entire cast, series mascot Fulgore is the toughest character to truly become an expert of. This is mostly due to just how different his Shadow Attacks function compared to the rest of the roster. Fulgores meter is divided into ten chunks that get filled slowly only time. The only way to speed things up is by attacking your opponent, and even when you have a full meter, executing Shadow Attacks and Shadow Counters will require precise inputs. In other words, you may want to learn him through the more casual control scheme before attempting specific inputs.

Donkey

Shrek SuperSlam (2005)

Okay, we know we said we wouldnt be littering the list with low-tier characters, but learning about Donkey and the Shrek SuperSlam competitive scene was too damn funny to ignore. While the not-so-noble steed shares the lowest tier with two other characters, much of the Shrek SuperSlam community deem Donkey to be the absolute worst character on the roster. Not only does he boast the slowest movement speed, whiffs from aerial attacks can severely compromise him, and he cant land throws to save his ass. Not even his special move is worth considering, and when you have almost nothing to get a leg up on any of the other fighters, its no wonder why nearly every Shrek Superslam pro cannot recommend Donkey for any level of competitive play.

Were any of these fighters too complex for you to understand? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!