Character Competitive Impressions

[san.]

Hmm, even against dash/aerial approaches? It feels like the grab box lingers even after you move and saw people teleport to my hands sometimes. Everyone seems to have an option that's similar to a boost pivot grab, too.

 

[A2ZOMG]

Link's grab isn't even that bad by itself anymore. It's the lack of follow-ups on throws that makes his grab game pretty poor overall - there's little reward to gain for the amount of risk you take. Though I feel like a weak grab game might not even be that much of a downside in this game. Most characters either have a tether grab [typically with little combo potential] or abysmal grab range. You'd think that Sheik can do all kinds of silly stuff from a dthrow but try getting that grab in the first place! It's a lot harder to do than it used to be even against poor players, let alone against somebody who knows his footsies. This partly explains why on the one hand shield is still an amazingly powerful option in this game [the other being the fact that shields refresh really fast in smash 4] and why on the other hand Yoshi is so good in this game - because his actually good grab game allows him to deal with shields a lot better than virtually all other characters do.



Sonic is stupid good now, bro. Definitely a contender for top 5 imo.

ZSS has a good grab game. She grabs you and gets a nearly free move on you at like all percents, and coming from ZSS, that isn't a joke when that either leads to a low% juggle or a KO. It's also easier for ZSS to pressure people into grabs when her midrange game is one of the strongest in the game.

Olimar has some good grab combos at low percents, though I don't know how good the character is overall outside of that. I just know that in Link's case, it's especially problematic that his grab game is weak because he has fairly limited pressure options. Just in general, his offense is not scary. He has to work hard to open you up, and he doesn't have a lot of easy ways to set up his bigger moves especially when his mobility is still below average. Link's best quality outside of item toss related ATs is having some okay KO confirms off of Jabs, though his Jab is slightly on the slow side.

Most grab games aren't AMAZING in this game, I concede that. But most of them are better than Link's grab game. And I don't know where you get Yoshi's grab game is so good. Yes he has shenanigans with Neutral B which require you to react to his air options a bit differently. His grounded grab is pretty bad and he doesn't actually have much in the way of pressuring you with it. You know who else had amazing air command grab shenanigans? Brawl Bowser, who was arguably the worst character in Brawl period. Air command grabs alone don't get you around defensive games.

Yoshi's real strengths from what I've seen come down to his defenses, above average punish damage, options to escape traps, and KO confirms (this last one is HUGE, because easy KO confirms are very uncommon in this game, especially if we're talking from what, Yoshi's 2-3 frame Jab?). His offense has never been his strong point. You want to talk good offense? Sheik, ZSS, and Rosalina have great offense and good ways to discourage you from just blocking your way in against them. Yoshi's game in contrast from what I've seen is more reactive and hinges on consistent punishes.

Finally, I fail to see how you think getting a grab with Sheik is difficult. If you're trying to force it, then sure. But Sheik has free pressure and zoning, and a dash speed that cannot be reasonably reacted to. The grabs just come to her if you're playing her game, because her control and pressure is just inherently stupid good.

 

[Orngeblu]

I really think Greninja has the potential to be a high tier character.

Pros:

-He's a very quick character with surprisingly low cooldowns (or lag) on his attacks given their range and strength, which leaves little openings to be punished. Fair is also a kill move at high percents.

-Also great at punishing opponents himself as he's very quick on the ground.

-Has great juggle opportunities with some or most moves, namely Uair, Utilt, Usmash, Nair, Bair, and etc.

-He has a great projectile, Water Shuriken, which travels horizontally which gives an advantage on flat stages like Final Destination. Great for disrupting approaches.

-Counter is rewarding to land at high percentages as a kill move.

-Up Special is very good at Edge Guarding.

-Great recovery.

Cons:

-Lacks kill potential. Requires a good read or punish on the opponent. (Against smart opponents, anyways)

-Side Special is very predictable given the blatant shadow moving across the ground.

-Up Special isn't an effective edge guard against all characters, and is match-up dependent. (Little Mac gets utterly destroyed by this)

-Grab seems to have some starting lag sometimes, I'm not quite sure what causes this.

-Counter can be shielded on the initial startup.

Other:

-Side Special can cancel out of aerial landing lag.

-Side Special is unpredictable on 2D stages such as Pacman Maze, and etc, as it cannot be seen hovering along the stage.

Summary:

Greninja is a high pressure and punish-heavy character capable of juggling opponents if punished properly. Has a great edge guarding game with his Up Special, but is not effective against all characters making it matchup dependent. His smash attacks have good range, especially Up Smash which has godlike priority, but lacks kill potential and requires a good read or punish to land them, you have to mix it up.

--

How'd I do? Anyone want to correct me, or think I may have missed something? Let me know.

 

[Jigglymaster]

I really think Greninja has the potential to be a high tier character.

Pros:

-He's a very quick character with surprisingly low cooldowns (or lag) on his attacks given their range and strength, which leaves little openings to be punished.

-Also great at punishing opponents himself as he's very quick on the ground.

-Has great juggle opportunities with some or most moves, namely Uair, Utilt, Usmash, Nair, Bair, and etc.

-He has a great projectile, Water Shuriken, which travel horizontally making it great for Final Destination given there are no platforms to traverse over them.

-Counter is rewarding to land at high percentages as a kill move.

-Up Special is very good at Edge Guarding.

Cons:

-Lacks kill potential against smart opponents. Requires a good read or punish on the opponent.

-Side Special is very predictable given the blatant shadow moving across the ground.

-Up Special isn't an effective edge guard against all characters, and is match-up dependent.

-Grab seems to have some starting lag sometimes, I'm not quite sure what causes this.

--

How'd I do? Anyone want to correct me, or think I may have missed something? Let me know.

His down air is rather incredible. It puts perfect shield pressure on opponents and you can just keep on abusing it. A downside to it was that it had a lot of ending lag if you missed. However, all that ending lag can be taken right away just by cancelling it into an instant shadow sneak, basically removing any sort of lag that move had and making it unpunishable.

 

[Orngeblu]

His down air is rather incredible. It puts perfect shield pressure on opponents and you can just keep on abusing it. A downside to it was that it had a lot of ending lag if you missed. However, all that ending lag can be taken right away just by cancelling it into an instant shadow sneak, basically removing any sort of lag that move had and making it unpunishable.

True, Dair is hard to catch out, but it's best to roll away from it and punish. I think it's an in-between, something you have to use correctly, and if not, will get you punished hard.

Also, what? You can cancel Dair lag into Shadow Sneak?

 

[Jigglymaster]

True, Dair is hard to catch out, but it's best to roll away from it and punish. I think it's an in-between.

Also, what? You can cancel Dair lag into Shadow Sneak?

Try it, go into training mode and jump into the air with Greninja and do down air and hit the ground with it, then just mash forward b and he'll instantly do his shadow sneak without even finishing the landing lag from D-air. Don't even charge the shadow sneak just press forward b once. It cancels the animation and its almost like a counter. It's pretty stupidly good.

 

[Orngeblu]

Try it, go into training mode and jump into the air with Greninja and do down air and hit the ground with it, then just mash forward b and he'll instantly do his shadow sneak without even finishing the landing lag from D-air. Don't even charge the shadow sneak just press forward b once. It cancels the animation and its almost like a counter. It's pretty stupidly good.

That's a pretty clutch mixup, does it work for his other aerial attacks? (Probably would be more useful on Dair because his other aerials are relatively lagless)

 

[Jigglymaster]

That's a pretty clutch mixup, does it work for his other aerial attacks? (Probably would be more useful on Dair because his other aerials are relatively lagless)

Pretty much yeah, see the thing is about his shadow sneak is that he can charge it up during his landing lag for some reason and if you let go of shadow sneak and release it, he can attack before he should normally even be done with his landing lag. It makes the opponent think twice before trying to punish his landing.

Imo I think Greninja is top 5 along with Diddy, Rosalina, Lucario, and Shiek.

 

[-Mars-]

Shadow sneak is laggy as ****. Once people just start waiting for the shadow sneak they'll punish you hard.

Try to think ahead outside of week 1 gimmicks guys.

 

[Funkermonster]

I really think Greninja has the potential to be a high tier character.

Pros:

-He's a very quick character with surprisingly low cooldowns (or lag) on his attacks given their range and strength, which leaves little openings to be punished.

-Also great at punishing opponents himself as he's very quick on the ground.

-Has great juggle opportunities with some or most moves, namely Uair, Utilt, Usmash, Nair, Bair, and etc.

-He has a great projectile, Water Shuriken, which travels horizontally which gives an advantage on flat stages like Final Destination.

-Counter is rewarding to land at high percentages as a kill move.

-Up Special is very good at Edge Guarding.

Cons:

-Lacks kill potential. Requires a good read or punish on the opponent. (Against smart opponents, anyways)

-Side Special is very predictable given the blatant shadow moving across the ground.

-Up Special isn't an effective edge guard against all characters, and is match-up dependent. (Little Mac gets utterly destroyed by this)

-Grab seems to have some starting lag sometimes, I'm not quite sure what causes this.

Other:

-Side Special can cancel aerial landing lag.

Summary:

Greninja is a high pressure and punish-heavy character capable of juggling opponents if punished properly. Has a great edge guarding game with his Up Special, but is not effective against all characters making it matchup dependent. Smash attacks have good range on his smash attacks, especially Up Smash which has godlike priority, but lacks kill potential and requires a good read or punish to land them, you have to mix it up.

--

How'd I do? Anyone want to correct me, or think I may have missed something? Let me know.

- The counter part..... In my opinion, Greninja's counter is not that good. The active frames for the counter don't seem to last very long and they go away quite fast, and even if someone does activate it, it's not hard to just shield his kick as soon as he teleports. It does possess good power and can be used in the air for opponents below you (the place I definitely don't wanna be in this game) so you can teleport back to ground, and is a bit more powerful in midair than on the ground. I think this move can be occasionally useful, but overall, I think it's too situational to be of consistent use. I think its mostly useful if you are certain your opponent has never seen the move before and/or doesn't know as a character very well, and even then don't expect it to work very many times. In my opinion, Greninja's counter is sh*t compared to that of Marth/Lucina/Ike.

- Shadow Sneak is a lot more useful on stages like Pictochat, Pac-Maze, or anything where characters have no Shadows. Regular versions are tourney-banned, but you could still use their Omega forms, right? In these places, your enemies will have no way of knowing when you're even charging Shadow Sneak (unless they can see you move your fingers in real life doing the input ). That's something I'd mention if I were you, something pretty nice to know.

It can also be used as a recovery to some extent, and I've killed a few edgeguarders while I was recovering with it since this move is so powerful. Don't get used to it though.

- Speaking of recovery, you didn't mention how awesome his recovery is.... Hydro Pump, Shadow Sneak, the and the Ability to Wall Jump.

- Has a good amount of pokes like D-tilt, which can setup a grab or Ftilt at low percents, or Fair for kills at high percent. I also like to poke with F-tilt a bit, even though it's slightly slow in startup and cooldown.

- Don't forget to mention his amazing air game and aerials; namely his Uair, Fair, Dair (kinda dangerous though), and best of all: his Bair.

Other than the few things ya missed, I'd say you've made a good insight.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

Lucario's Side B grab, when you get it. Is super rewarding.

His Uthrow and Dthrow have combo potential at low percents but that's really it.

Seismic toss on Zard is still the most badass throw in the game.

 

[Pazzo.]

On the subject of Ness...

PK Fire -> Down Throw -> F-Air had worked for me 90% of the time at low-mid percentage.

Using the new properties of PK Thunder, I've pulled off hitting an opponent in the air with the lightning, then looping it around and hitting myself into PK Thunder II, which is a killer due to how easy it is to pull of in SSB4.

D-tilt into jab combo works well too.

 

[Gunla]

Greninja's counter is very slow.

It hits hard, yes, but it's also easy to punish.

 

[Phoenix_Dark]

Greninja's d-air isn't safe on shield. In some matches probably, but a lot of characters can jump and punish. While his mixup with side b is nice, it's not safe by any means either. It can still be grabbed before vanishing and it can obviously be punished if the opponent shields and waits for it. Definitely better to have the option than none at all though.

 

[Orngeblu]

- The counter part..... In my opinion, Greninja's counter is not that good. The active frames for the counter don't seem to last very long and they go away quite fast, and even if someone does activate it, it's not hard to just shield his kick as soon as he teleports.

This is what I was afraid of, I was waiting for someone to correct me, thank you. I don't even use his counter, so I couldn't say so myself whether it was truly punishable or not.

Shadow Sneak is a lot more useful on stages like Pictochat, Pac-Maze, or anything where characters have no Shadows. Regular versions are tourney-banned, but you could still use their Omega forms, right? In these places, your enemies will have no way of knowing when you're even charging Shadow Sneak (unless they can see you move your fingers in real life doing the input ). That's something I'd mention if I were you, something pretty nice to know.

Yep! I don't know why I didn't put this down as a pro, but it is true you can't see the shadow on 2D stages like those.

Speaking of recovery, you didn't mention how awesome his recovery is.... Hydro Pump, Shadow Sneak, the and the Ability to Wall Jump.

I don't really use his Shadow Sneak to recover, something I need to try out. Neither do I use Wall Jump, I'm not sure how to use that properly.

Has a good amount of pokes like D-tilt, which can setup a grab or Ftilt at low percents, or Fair for kills at high percent. I also like to poke with F-tilt a bit, even though it's slightly slow in startup and cooldown.

I didn't really want to overload the pro/cons and keep the sentences short, but this is true, maybe I should find a way to put them in.

Don't forget to mention his amazing air game and aerials; namely his Uair, Fair, Dair (kinda dangerous though), and best of all: his Bair.

That's essentially what I meant said about his juggle game, and I named all of those. (Except for Fair which, I know has kill potential btw)

Other than the few things ya missed, I'd say you've made a good insight.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Remzi]

I've been messing around with ZSS in training mode. Holy ****. Just from a moveset analysis standpoint, does this character have any weaknesses? She instantly feels a notch above the rest of the cast.

 

[AlMasterX]

From what I've put together after continuous play, Bowser, Sheik, and Rosalina are top tier canidates. But a good Little Mac beats ANYONE one vs. one on omega stages.

 

[FlareHabanero]

People are vastely overrating Bowser.

On the flipside, I feel as though people are underestimating Greninja. It's a great character if you want to disrupt or pressure your opponent. Water Shuriken is one of my favorite moves because of it.

 

[Radical Larry]

I feel that Link is quite the underestimated character. He can dish out combos, break others' combos and, due to his tremendous buffs and new ATs being discovered, he could take high tier this time around.

 

[Eji1700]

People are vastely overrating Bowser.

On the flipside, I feel as though people are underestimating Greninja. It's a great character if you want to disrupt or pressure your opponent. Water Shuriken is one of my favorite moves because of it.

I'd swear his Up+b will just break some matchups into ugly territory. That push is awfully powerful and a lot easier to use than the fludd.

 

[Gawain]

I've been messing around with ZSS in training mode. Holy ****. Just from a moveset analysis standpoint, does this character have any weaknesses? She instantly feels a notch above the rest of the cast.

She has one of the worst dashdances in the game. Her foxtrot is extremely hard to cancel out of. She's incredibly easy to KO (I can score a knee finish to the blastzone just about 90 percent of the time if I grab her at the 65-75 percent range). She's great and has very reliable KO combos that work at a HUGE variety of percentages, but she's not broken at all. Not even the best character.

 

[Luco]

but she's not broken at all. Not even the best character.

I love how the way you said this re-enforces the general idea we've been having about how much more balanced this game is.

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

I've been messing around with ZSS in training mode. Holy ****. Just from a moveset analysis standpoint, does this character have any weaknesses? She instantly feels a notch above the rest of the cast.

Very light, and like Brawl, she's sort of easy to zone out if you're playing someone who has a better zoning game than her.

It's less of an issue in this game because they nerfed Falco's laser, but Sheik needles still blow her up from across the stage. It can be very difficult to get in on Sheik if you're behind. So far I think Sheik is 4-6 in Sheik's favor pretty slightly. With custom moves you can use the horizontal down-b to jump over them with varying degrees of success... but I hate playing vs. good Sheiks in for glory (shoutouts to that cross-continental match with Tristan_win where he rolled away and use needles, lol).

ZSS also relies more on paralyzer in this version compared to Brawl, so there are some matchups where if you don't have access to it, you have to use less effective strategies to win. For example, Game and Watch is harder in Smash 4 because my aerials don't really compete with his anymore (they were nerfed a bit from Brawl) and if I feed him he can instantly end stock 2 with dthrow->bucket... I learned this the hard way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The good news is ZSS has a ground game now with jab and excellent, safe tilts, so I always have a strategy to fall back on when my normal **** isn't as effective, but there are still ways to shut down ZSS' general game plan and force her to adapt. She's not broken, very good but not broken.

 

[A2ZOMG]

She has one of the worst dashdances in the game. Her foxtrot is extremely hard to cancel out of. She's incredibly easy to KO (I can score a knee finish to the blastzone just about 90 percent of the time if I grab her at the 65-75 percent range). She's great and has very reliable KO combos that work at a HUGE variety of percentages, but she's not broken at all. Not even the best character.

I'm pretty ready to acknowledge ZSS as overall the strongest character for the following reasons:

1. Extremely difficult to trap.
2. Aerials that KO
3. Superb grounded AND aerial mobility

Only other high tier that really seems to have these specific qualities is Yoshi, but he doesn't have the same level of footsies and offensive setup and pressure as ZSS. Sheik does outperform everyone sans Little Mac in neutral, but usually has to edgeguard for KOs, and she's REALLY BAD when she's above you, like almost as bad as Little Mac when being juggled honestly.

 

[SaucyDancer]

With Pit/Dark Pit people have basically covered it all already but one interesting thing I found with their side Bs. Pit's will KO Dark Pit anywhere on final destination at 142%, while Dark Pits only works toward the edges of the stage due to the diagonal launch. The percentage varies from stage to stage due to the blast zone differences but the results are the same.

 

[Z'zgashi]

Man, Mac is so overrated, dat ***** loses so many match ups, hes WAY too high risk to be a top character. At very best hes a low high tier, but i personally think hes just a mid tier. Calling it now, this guy is SUPER overrated atm since you fight him WAY different than the average character and not everyone knows the match up yet.

 

[A2ZOMG]

Man, Mac is so overrated, dat ***** loses so many match ups, hes WAY too high risk to be a top character. At very best hes a low high tier, but i personally think hes just a mid tier. Calling it now, this guy is SUPER overrated atm since you fight him WAY different than the average character and not everyone knows the match up yet.

What Macs have you been playin dude?

Mac is terrible if he just runs at you and expects you to get hit. I don't understand how you can believe the character is overrated when he has THE best footsies in the game. Absolutely nobody can dare to disrespect a character that has SAFE pokes that not only have long range but also kill or confirm death.

I wouldn't call him that risky. Maybe somewhat vulnerable to counterpicks, but his fundamental playstyle doesn't actually involve a lot of risks. When Mac just walks at you and corners you, wtf do you do? Fish for a grab and hope you don't get killed? Yes Mac is vulnerable to gimps. That just prevents him from clearly being OP.

 

[TTTTTsd]

Well first you pick Battlefield and then you laugh immensely. He's incredibly good on FD, that much is certain, but I think that's why For Glory needs Battlefield legal too because that would change everything.

 

[~ Gheb ~]

Hmm, even against dash/aerial approaches? It feels like the grab box lingers even after you move and saw people teleport to my hands sometimes. Everyone seems to have an option that's similar to a boost pivot grab, too.

Granted, I haven't looked into boost grabs and other mechanics all that much yet but dash and aerial approaches are two scenarios where I particularly noticed a difference to Brawl where virtually every move out of a Dash would lose to pivot grab. Now it seems to be a bit of a coin toss to me, except that the pivot grab tends to lose more often than not in my experience. It's possible that there are applications for pivot grabs that I'm not aware of but so far I find pivot ftilt / fsmash to be the superior option in situations where I would have used pivot grab in Brawl.

I've been messing around with ZSS in training mode. Holy ****. Just from a moveset analysis standpoint, does this character have any weaknesses? She instantly feels a notch above the rest of the cast.

Hmmm, I've found it a bit difficult to land a KO move with her on an opponent with smart defenses. The knockback on bair and side B has been noticeably decreased and with uair having generally been nerfed I think the amount of KO options has definitely been reduced. That leaves her new fsmash and upB as main kill moves in my book though the former seems a bit unreliable and the latter is risky. This could potentially put her in a disadvantage against Lucario who seems generally hard to hit with dsmash [her most reliable setup for fsmash] and upB OoS [Lucario is very safe on block and has enough range to not get hit]. I'm sure she's able to keep up with pretty much every opponent but between Rosalina's absurd ground control, Sonic's speed, Lucario being Lucario, Diddy being Diddy, Sheik being Sheik and Fox looking to be around on par with ZSS in most aspects I'd say that pretty much every good character is able to keep up with her as well somehow.

Wether that will amount to best character in the game status or top 5 character status or something different will likely depend on her matchups against other high/top tier characters and possibly her overall matchups spread. The characters that I'm most confident about being top 5 are Rosalina, Lucario and Diddy Kong. The other 2 spots really seem to be up for grabs between ZSS, Sheik, Fox, Sonic, Yoshi or even Greninja. And let's not forget about the Duck Hunto Duo whose potential still hasn't really been looked into all that much.

 

[Berserker.]

If Rainbow Cruise is returning in the Wii U version of Smash 4 (Unlikely), you guys know what to do.

Oh and Little Mac is dope. His ground game is pretty much what I expected. Beast. He's a freaking demon on the ground. The turn off though for me is his recovery and his air game. I still think this character's good. Tier list position? Not sure. I won't say anything for now. Specifically, my favorite move is his f-tilt. It's so fast, damaging and it KO's. How awesome is that?

 

[-Mars-]

Sheik does outperform everyone sans Little Mac in neutral, but usually has to edgeguard for KOs, and she's REALLY BAD when she's above you, like almost as bad as Little Mac when being juggled honestly.

Nah. Now that she has bouncing fish she's not bad at all at avoiding juggles.

 

[ThatLunaticFeline]

I've been messing around with ZSS in training mode. Holy ****. Just from a moveset analysis standpoint, does this character have any weaknesses? She instantly feels a notch above the rest of the cast.

I think her weak back-power is her main weakness. A good player will take advantage of ZSS's mostly forward-hitting hitboxes and roll behind her smashes to get hits in. As far as I know, her up-smash is her only smash that has backwards coverage.

I still agree that she is VERY strong, though, one of the best in my opinion.

 

[Radical Larry]

What do you guys think of Link? Has he been buffed significantly enough yet to be high tier, and not middle or low tier this time?
That is my question.

 

[ChronoPenguin]

From what I've put together after continuous play, Bowser, Sheik, and Rosalina are top tier canidates. But a good Little Mac beats ANYONE one vs. one on omega stages.

Bowser was massively overrated. Funny enough the same thing happenedi n Brawl. "omg Bowsers stronger then melee". The Koopa has been on an upward trend but he still isnt top. Tonsof faster characters with better range who can punish him on a number of moves if they dont outrange it. Then there are the counter users, Shulks instant counter having huge kill potential on Bowser and might be killing sub 40% oncharged off of f-smash,d-air, d-smash, and doing tons of damage/knockback otherwise. Kinda eh when numerous options you have can mean insta-death.

Lucario might very well be better then Sheik. Tons of range on his moves, aurasphere is strong. K.O potential is through the roof. respectable ground game. Recovery is straiight up silly.

I believe pit will be seen stronger than Dark pit due to arrow manuverability and range having strong value for messing with opponents off-stage.
just making a dodgy guess but
1. Rosaluma, Lucario, Greninja
2. Sheik, Diddy, Fox, ZSS, Yoshi, Captain Falcon, R.O.B, Mario
3. Marth/Luc, Links, Pits, Shulk, so on and so forth. Probably biggest section.
4. Ganon & Olimar???

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

I still think Bowser is good. I don't think he's top tier. If you like Bowser you can play him and probably win things if you're good enough.

 

[ChronoPenguin]

not to mean that Bowser is bad, just that this seems to be Brawl release repeating itself for Bowsers hype.

 

[Pazzo.]

Is it just me, or does most of the cast feel very balanced?

 

[Signia]

It's not just Brawl. Any time a big character isn't completely trash, people think they're amazing at release. In SCIV and V, people thought Astaroth was top tier, when later he was considered to be mid tier. Pretty sure something similar happened in SFxT and Blazblue as well.

 

[Funkermonster]

It definitely feels pretty balanced.... for now. Keep in mind that the game hasn't even been out for a month and there's a ton of sh*t still not yet discovered, and the metagame just barely came into existence. It could remain balanced in the end, but it could also be pitifully broken.

 

[FlareHabanero]

Is it just me, or does most of the cast feel very balanced?

It's an improvement overall, however it's still not perfect. Though you can tell the devs spent more time making sure everyone has positive qualities going for them, even resorting to drastic overhauls.