strongest lf2 original character

[STM1993]

Ah 1v1 without rules.
Do note my opinion may be biased largely due to fighting within general tournament rules(I generally follow the Taiwanese rules).

@STM1993 : i meant who's strongest in 1vs1 , but it's ok. also, davis, 8th? why? maybe he must rely on dragon punch too much, but it's still an OP unbreakable sudden move without initiation time. that alone is enough to make davis really strong. not to mention fastest punch between normal characters, and d>a lock into DoP . also, what is the infinite combo with the shield for john?

I ranked Davis poorly on crowd control because DP is terribly unsafe on recovery. Yes, its a solid 115 damage and it has a very fast & a brief period of invincibility... but it generally only works if you manage to gather most of the crowd in the immediate area you use it. Otherwise, you quickly realize that your enemy has blocked/has armor, and then you realize you aren't moving on the z-axis, and you're gonna fall right into any enemies who are a bit farther away from your initial DP. Oh, said person who blocked your DP can potentially turn around and punch you before you land(though it can be hard to do because the game reads your inputs as wanting to do D>A).

John Shield "infinite".
You get the idea - requires some positioning & timing but its entirely possible. Not a true infinite as you can see Davis gradually being pushed into the shield, but it can very well become a 500hp combo when you stack that many shields. And John can also do an infinite just by using normal punch just out of range of super_punch's trigger(anyone who can punch can do that actually, but I suppose difficulty is what counts here eh?). Shield is also good in case enemy tries to defend. Even if you don't know how to use shield combos you can just settle for AAA Super JA - do it quickly enough and the enemy can't flip.

John is more of a tactical fighter than some kind of melee beast. Its all about punching with his wand's long reach effectively, pressuring them with discs and well-placed shields. And if he makes a mistake he can just heal himself and stay in the fight for longer to compensate for his lower damage, where other fighters would be long dead.

Regarding your opinion on Woody (Click to View)

I can understand why you feel that way - I once felt Woody was my worst character and to this day I think I can't use him as effectively for stage mode as I could with Davis. Woody's lack of fast special moves from the ground like a shrafe or leap escape and his weird DvA made him feel weaker than he really is.

Woody's real strength in 1v1 comes from having the best basic punch of all the heroes(better than Davis even - better range & less forward movement makes him harder to punish) coupled with the most versatile type of dash attack(can hit at both close & long range very quickly)... which can be chained to another type of dash attack up to a total of 5 times. On top of that, his combos can continue for massive damage regardless of whether you flip or not, as long as he correctly predicts what you do - and practically without costing any MP. In other words, he can easily land hits on you, and whether you flip or not you're gonna get combo'd hard. Even if you correctly avoided the combo, you are not exactly in the position to punish Woody, and remember Woody is good at getting the first hit.


AAA wait DvA D^A...
I didn't bother to chain into dash kick at the end.
Now keep in mind: flipkick & dash kick are 70dmg each. 3 punches or DvA is 60dmg.

AAA Grab Ax5 D^A D...vA.
My timing is a bit off because I was controlling 2 players at once, but yes this anti-flip combo into another combo is a thing.
I can even delay my D^A after the grab a bit if I predict that you flip immediately after I drop you from grab.


AAA <A D^A >J...A D^A >JA D>J
And if you decide not to flip when I do this? You're gonna get wrecked. And this isn't even the 500hp combo version and I'm not even including wall combos.
Or if I predict that you flip the 1st flipkick, I can just walk and punch.

All that said I can understand if you consider him below Davis or Dennis because they are easier to use and specifically have DP and Grab D>J or chaseball to abuse respectively, but Woody is by no means a weak character and he is considered top-tier in tournaments for a reason.