Soulcalibur 2 Tier List: The Best Characters to Play on Nintendo Switch 2

Steven Rondina | Jun 16, 2025

Namco Bandai Games

Soulcalibur 2 has been revived on the Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s worth taking a renewed look at the tier list of this iconic fighting game.

Soulcalibur 1 was a hit in its own right, but Soulcalibur 2 brought things to a new level. Part of that was its early adoption of guest characters, adding Tekken’s Heihachi, The Legend of Zelda’s Link, and comic book antihero Spawn across different platforms.

Alongside the various upgrades offered by the Nintendo Switch 2, the new console offers access to a growing list of classic GameCube games. Soulcalibur 2 is among them, but who are the best characters in the game?

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S-tier: Lizardman

Like many games before consoles could connect to the internet, Soulcalibur 2 has a number of bugs that can impact the gameplay in both hilarious and frustrating ways. Lizardman has more than his share, with the most notable from a tier list perspective his 214+BK throw glitch.

This glitch allows Lizardman to cancel out of his throw and follow it up with another throw. At a bare minimum, this gives Lizardman an enormous advantage relative to the rest of the cast. At worst, there are reports of being able to infinitely chain throws together. Though a few other characters have their own buggy throws, this one elevates Lizardman from being a mid-tier character to the top of the Soulcalibur 2 tier list.

Bandai Namco Games

A-tier: Ivy, Nightmare

On a different tier list, Lizardman could be put as an SS-tier character and Ivy could be ranked as the game’s lone S-tier character. Ivy has an ideal combination of range and damage. She has two of the game’s best pokes, as well as multiple long-range horizontal attacks that let her control space on the stage.

In recent years, Nightmare has crept up to match Ivy in high-level play. Nightmare is faster than he ought to be given the damage and range of his attacks. His shoulder check jab sets up big combos that drain health bars, and he has some devastating punish tools that let him run over opponents who slip up.

Bandai Namco Games

B-tier: Xianghua, Cervantes, Raphael, Mitsurugi, Yoshimitsu, Assassin, Voldo

The B tier is the biggest in terms of the number of characters. The game is commendably balanced, despite having its issues. 

When it comes to Cervantes, it’s like father, like daughter. The ghost pirate is a seriously threatening character at high levels in Soulcalibur 2, thanks to a few strong pokes. That’s not all he has ,though, as he has quick launches that can set up high-damage juggles.

Xianghua is one of the trickiest characters in Soulcalibur to play against. Her mixup game is arguably the best, making it very difficult to parry her. Mitsurugi is much the same, albeit while trading some attack diversity for damage.

Raphael is all pokes, all the time. It makes sense for Soulcalibur’s foremost fencer, but he’s lightning quick and his rushdown flurry of attacks is strong and difficult to punish.

For Soulcalibur 2’s creepiest characters, Voldo has excellent mobility tools and incredibly long range while Yoshimitsu has some strong pokes to go along with his deadly Beyblade-style twirling punch.

Bandai Namco Games

C-tier: Sophitia, Cassandra, Kilik, Berserker, Astaroth

OGs of Soulcalibur might view Sophitia and Cassandra as mid-tier characters, considering them heretical. The sword and board sisters were pegged as two of the best in the game during the game’s early days, and there hasn’t been much pushback against that notion. Still, the results speak for themselves when it comes to Soulcalibur 2 tournaments since those early years. They just haven’t been making their way deeply into brackets.

They offer strong damage and speed, but don’t have range, damage, or pokes that really set them apart from the pack.

Kilik is something of a unique character in Soulcalibur 2. He can translate to high level play but has a much slower style that leans on his excellent range and strong mix of horizontal and linear attacks.

Berserker and Astaroth have comparable damage output to Nightmare and strong movesets, but they’re both plagued by their massive hitboxes. Since Soulcalibur 2 is heavily dependent on horizontal mobility, their sheer width puts them at a disadvantage despite having good offensive tools.

Bandai Namco Games

D-tier: Seung Mina, Maxi, Necrid, Talim, Taki

Seong Mina lacks the ranged tools of Kilik and doesn’t have as much of a horizontal game as she should. Many of her best moves can be sidestepped, and she doesn’t have much of an answer to this.

Necrid has an awkward moveset. He’s primarily an up-close brawler, but some of his best individual moves are long-ranged weapon attacks. This forces him to stay up close at all times, which is an awkward prospect.

Maxi is somewhat similar to Mitsurugi in terms of his mixup game. The key difference is that he gives up quite a bit of range and damage for speed. That’s not a good trade overall, though.

Talim has a strong mixup game and is comparatively nimble, but her damage just doesn’t match up against the likes of Mitsurugi and Xianghua.

Finally, Taki is generally strong, but her severe lack of range puts her at a big disadvantage against higher-tier characters.

Bandai Namco Games

F-tier: Yun-Seung, Link, Spawn, Heihachi

The guest characters of Soulcalibur 2 are generally handicapped in the game. For whatever reason, they don’t have any real combination of range or effective pokes between them. Link, in particular, is possibly the worst in the game, as his gimmicky bombs and bow attacks are easily dodged, and he doesn’t have much else to speak of.

Yun-seong is the only character that can give them a run for their money. He is, quite simply, Assassin but with lower damage.

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