you think I would know better than to avoid this tier list fad but fuck it, I just had to dig in
To put it simply, for the next few weeks/months, this fun, little, free-time-eating project will rank roles from ALL of the Killing Games from throughout the years (all 2 of them) in order of usefulness, weaknesses, creativity, and utility. They'll be judged not just by how good they are on paper, but how they were taken advantage of by their host players and how they were creatively used. Of course, there's a good number of instances I either wasn't around to see or simply forgot about, so feel free to give commentary on them and I'll make sure to edit placements accordingly. Since one single tier list with every single role would be an utter monstrosity, I'll be taking the easy way out and making individual tier lists for each game, while skipping Killing Game 1 to avoid the risk of FWD flooding my inbox with cease and desist letters. So without further ado...
Killing Game 2
S Tier
"+When you attempt an action, you may request to disguise yourself as another player. Any players will see you as the player you disguised yourself as, but the Ultimate Detective will be able to see through your disguise."
Ah, times were simpler back then without any fancy gimmicks or intrusive forbidden actions. Assuming the person you're disguising as doesn't majorly conflict with the real one's testimony, this is basically the perfect framing device and is excellent for confusing up the joint. The only "downside" is that the Ultimate Detective's immune to it, but that can't do so much if he's on the other side of the map or, even better, dead. It's just a shame Twof died on Day 1 before he could really go nuts with this.
Fucking with everyone is the name of the game here.
Can cause a blackout for the entire building, and if they kill someone, their role is never revealed. They can also go on alert, causing them to know who attempted a kill on who. Downsides include not being able to vote in class trials, being unable to kill the Ultimate Detective, and not getting any reward from killing, instead having to be alive when the Detective is lynched or murdered.
It’s clear that the host’s intent with this role was for the player to make everyone’s day as terrible as possible, and this is indeed pretty effective. This role favors a more observational approach, pulling the strings to make everyone...well, fall into despair. The downsides are honestly not a problem at all, as not voting is easy to explain with a good enough excuse, and you can still coordinate with the Detective to make a pact with each other. Actually, it could be argued the alert power is a little too OP.
A Tier
Can cast a hex on a player and make them have one vote against them in the next trial. Can also summon the bodies of the deceased to do their bidding. Can’t do any actions besides hexing and mucking about with zombies.
On one hand, the power to do whatever you want with an army of the undead is insanely fun and has a wide variety of uses, but it’s countered by the fact that it’s easy to pin any murders done with the zombies on the person who hasn’t left his room for the entire game. While you could go around this early on in the game, you obviously need a dead player to use the power, which can’t happen until at least Night 2. As for the magic vote, while a good source of confusion at first, it’s hard to make it useful without deliberately framing the target. Luckily, being essentially attempt-proof thanks to being stuck in one room for the entire game is enough to make this role as high as it is.
Can go on alert and know who attempted on who. Can also learn the role of anyone they fail an attempt on.
While the alert power is still frightening and gives the user a big advantage in investigations, it’s not quite versatile enough like the Ultimate Despair to put it on the same level. Not to mention you have to be very lucky to fail an attempt on someone, plus it doesn’t seem very detective-like. Anti-hero, maybe?
B Tier
“+You and you alone can review security camera footage to determine who went where. If a Blackout has occured, or if the crime occurs in a room with no cameras, you can't do much. You may also choose to wipe the tapes and destroy evidence.”
A decently balanced role that’s not too great but not too terrible, either. It feels odd that it can be negated by a murder inconveniently taking place in a room with no cameras, but otherwise, not so bad.
Gains EX for every day the user's accused of a murder they didn't do and earns twice as much for getting wrongly lynched. Loses everything if they're murdered.
While this isn't the only EX-centric role in the game, at least this one has some entertaining use. It really forces the user to think outside of the box on how to get the spotlight on them without making it apparent they're the equivalent of a Mafia fool role, and while doing this does them no good for in-game purposes, it at least makes for some pretty memorable moments. That being said, good job on getting murdered anyway, Cinna.
Causes an interference that screws with the results of the Ultimate Despair and Ultimate Detective. Also learns the role of anyone he kills, and for two nights can make his identity unknown.
The only really beneficial thing about this role is the free disguise for two nights, which even then is just a downgrade from the Ultimate Cosplayer, and everything else is just iffy. The interference doesn’t help anyone, neither its targets nor the players who would benefit from their info, and what’s the point of keeping the role of the victim only to yourself when it’s probably not important for saving your ass?
C Tier
"+Once per game, you may use a SPECIAL POWER that allows you to guarantee your kill that night."
This is one that certainly hasn't aged well. Ignoring the fact that it's a one-trick pony after which you're left with nothing, if you know what you're doing, it's a cinch trying to make your attempt a guaranteed success. While this might have been useful in KG's infancy, it's certainly outdated now without any extra features.
"+You will know every time someone attempts a murder on you and fails. You will not know who it is though." Eh, the application of this one isn't quite there. In this modern age of KG, it's common to have the signs that someone attempted on you very obvious, so this is just obsolete in comparison. But a role where you would know when someone attempts on you and succeeds? Now that would have been an eye-opener.
“+You start out the game with a kitchen knife. You can kill someone with this without needing to go find a weapon, or plant it on anyone of your choice.“
As basic as can be. Starting the game with a guaranteed weapon is sort of neat, but there’s been so many roles after this that make transportation or weapon creation incredibly easy that this also feels outdated. Get out of my kitchen.
D Tier
"+Gain 200 EX whenever an innocent player is executed. That number doubles if you were the murderer."
Ultimately pretty harmless. At least the Ultimate Assassin has an in-game benefit, but bonus EX, especially in this day and age where the forums are nowhere as active, is pretty insignificant. Not to mention how by the time Drei bit it, the only class trial before the fact resulted in a correct verdict. Sucks for them, I suppose.
“+Every night, you make a pilgrimage to the KITCHEN. This is automatic and does not affect any action you take, but other players will see you go there if they watch the area. You can grab a knife or something while you're there though, and you'll witness other people doing anything on the way to the KITCHEN.”
My god. Even by KG2 standards, this is pointless. Basically, if your role lets you do anything literally any other player can do, you probably got the short end of the stick.
I can’t seem to find roles for Turb, Agastya, Kazuichi Souda, Yrrzy, or Draku, so if anyone could fill me in on those, I will give you an Epic Store gift card or something, I don’t know, but I would very much appreciate it. Otherwise, there you have it, and I’ll see you next time for 2.5.
To put it simply, for the next few weeks/months, this fun, little, free-time-eating project will rank roles from ALL of the Killing Games from throughout the years (all 2 of them) in order of usefulness, weaknesses, creativity, and utility. They'll be judged not just by how good they are on paper, but how they were taken advantage of by their host players and how they were creatively used. Of course, there's a good number of instances I either wasn't around to see or simply forgot about, so feel free to give commentary on them and I'll make sure to edit placements accordingly. Since one single tier list with every single role would be an utter monstrosity, I'll be taking the easy way out and making individual tier lists for each game, while skipping Killing Game 1 to avoid the risk of FWD flooding my inbox with cease and desist letters. So without further ado...
Killing Game 2
S Tier
Spoiler:
Ah, times were simpler back then without any fancy gimmicks or intrusive forbidden actions. Assuming the person you're disguising as doesn't majorly conflict with the real one's testimony, this is basically the perfect framing device and is excellent for confusing up the joint. The only "downside" is that the Ultimate Detective's immune to it, but that can't do so much if he's on the other side of the map or, even better, dead. It's just a shame Twof died on Day 1 before he could really go nuts with this.
Spoiler:
Can cause a blackout for the entire building, and if they kill someone, their role is never revealed. They can also go on alert, causing them to know who attempted a kill on who. Downsides include not being able to vote in class trials, being unable to kill the Ultimate Detective, and not getting any reward from killing, instead having to be alive when the Detective is lynched or murdered.
It’s clear that the host’s intent with this role was for the player to make everyone’s day as terrible as possible, and this is indeed pretty effective. This role favors a more observational approach, pulling the strings to make everyone...well, fall into despair. The downsides are honestly not a problem at all, as not voting is easy to explain with a good enough excuse, and you can still coordinate with the Detective to make a pact with each other. Actually, it could be argued the alert power is a little too OP.
A Tier
Spoiler:
On one hand, the power to do whatever you want with an army of the undead is insanely fun and has a wide variety of uses, but it’s countered by the fact that it’s easy to pin any murders done with the zombies on the person who hasn’t left his room for the entire game. While you could go around this early on in the game, you obviously need a dead player to use the power, which can’t happen until at least Night 2. As for the magic vote, while a good source of confusion at first, it’s hard to make it useful without deliberately framing the target. Luckily, being essentially attempt-proof thanks to being stuck in one room for the entire game is enough to make this role as high as it is.
Spoiler:
While the alert power is still frightening and gives the user a big advantage in investigations, it’s not quite versatile enough like the Ultimate Despair to put it on the same level. Not to mention you have to be very lucky to fail an attempt on someone, plus it doesn’t seem very detective-like. Anti-hero, maybe?
B Tier
Spoiler:
A decently balanced role that’s not too great but not too terrible, either. It feels odd that it can be negated by a murder inconveniently taking place in a room with no cameras, but otherwise, not so bad.
Spoiler:
While this isn't the only EX-centric role in the game, at least this one has some entertaining use. It really forces the user to think outside of the box on how to get the spotlight on them without making it apparent they're the equivalent of a Mafia fool role, and while doing this does them no good for in-game purposes, it at least makes for some pretty memorable moments. That being said, good job on getting murdered anyway, Cinna.
Spoiler:
The only really beneficial thing about this role is the free disguise for two nights, which even then is just a downgrade from the Ultimate Cosplayer, and everything else is just iffy. The interference doesn’t help anyone, neither its targets nor the players who would benefit from their info, and what’s the point of keeping the role of the victim only to yourself when it’s probably not important for saving your ass?
C Tier
Spoiler:
This is one that certainly hasn't aged well. Ignoring the fact that it's a one-trick pony after which you're left with nothing, if you know what you're doing, it's a cinch trying to make your attempt a guaranteed success. While this might have been useful in KG's infancy, it's certainly outdated now without any extra features.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
As basic as can be. Starting the game with a guaranteed weapon is sort of neat, but there’s been so many roles after this that make transportation or weapon creation incredibly easy that this also feels outdated. Get out of my kitchen.
D Tier
Spoiler:
Ultimately pretty harmless. At least the Ultimate Assassin has an in-game benefit, but bonus EX, especially in this day and age where the forums are nowhere as active, is pretty insignificant. Not to mention how by the time Drei bit it, the only class trial before the fact resulted in a correct verdict. Sucks for them, I suppose.
Spoiler:
My god. Even by KG2 standards, this is pointless. Basically, if your role lets you do anything literally any other player can do, you probably got the short end of the stick.
I can’t seem to find roles for Turb, Agastya, Kazuichi Souda, Yrrzy, or Draku, so if anyone could fill me in on those, I will give you an Epic Store gift card or something, I don’t know, but I would very much appreciate it. Otherwise, there you have it, and I’ll see you next time for 2.5.