Nothing stays the same. It’s a statement that applies to all things. This is especially true in fighting games, where characters can find themselves going up and down the tier list with each update. At launch, Lily was considered the worst character in Street Fighter 6 due to her unsafe moves and low damage. One year and an update later, Elchakotay used her to win Combo Breaker 2024, a tournament with 1,400+ players. Even Zangief, usually one of the trickier characters to get to grips with in Street Fighter, has become a test with his new buffs.

That said, other fighting game characters have had even more meteoric rises to the top. These characters went from being considered the lowest of lower tiers to getting a significant glow-up in their following games.

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6 Urien

Diamond in the Rough

• Debut: Street Fighter 3: Second Impact
• Lowest Tier: C (Street Fighter 3: Second Impact circa 2000s)
• Highest Tier: A (Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Second Impact circa 2010s onward)

Starting off gently, Urien was less a case of a terrible character becoming good, and more players learning his worth over time. He debuted in Street Fighter 3: Second Impact, an update of SF3: NG that improved gameplay across the board. Even so, back in his early days, Urien did little to impress players. Lacking the speed of Ibuki and the mix-ups of Sean, he was often placed just above Hugo, the worst character in the game.

But when players moved on to Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, they discovered that Urien's Aegis Reflector had more going for it than just reflecting fireballs. It was also good at opening opponents up for damaging combos. Curious players then went back to SF3: SI and found that his Aegis tactics worked there too. They weren’t quite the same as they were in SF3: TS, but they were still effective enough to rocket him up to A-Tier.

5 Elena

From Average African to Killer Kenyan

• Debut: Street Fighter 3: New Generation
• Lowest Tier: C (Street Fighter 3: Second Impact, Third Strike)
• Highest Tier: A (Ultra Street Fighter 4)

Some may call this a glow-up. Others might call it a mutation, as Elena went from a middling fighter to a human headache who messed up the meta. In the SF3 games, she was a decent character with good reach and normal attacks, but expert players could easily put her in her place. She was so reliant on her EX moves that her single-bar Healing super didn’t help her out much. As such, people weren’t expecting much from her when they learned she’d be in USF4. Some even thought she'd be one of its worst characters due to its new mechanics like Focus Attacks, etc.

Instead, Elena's attacks gained more priority, were great at poking, and her Healing move became her best Ultra Combo. It could only charge while she was taking damage, so she could undo her opponent’s hard work with a single command. With her due to return in SF6 in Spring 2025, fans are just glad that the game doesn’t have Ultra moves.

4 Rock Howard

The Student Becomes the Master

• Debut: Garou: Mark of the Wolves
• Lowest Tier: D (Garou: Mark of the Wolves)
• Highest Tier: A (King of Fighters 15)

Just because someone is the main character in a series doesn’t mean they’ll be top tier, or even mid-tier. Sure, Jin Kazama was the best character in Tekken 3, and Liu Kang stood above the more popular ninjas in Mortal Kombat. But Rock Howard, the new star for Garou: Mark of the Wolves, was right at the bottom of its pile.

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He had unsafe moves, fewer safe reversals, and without enough meter to spend on his Shine Knuckle super, he couldn’t effectively deal damage. However, he would gradually improve with each appearance. He did more damage and had better mix-ups in Capcom Vs SNK 2, and later was one of the big hitters in King of Fighters 15. His speed, damage output, and improved meter use made him a tough nut to crack.

3 Jun Kazama

Peace Activist Declares War

• Debut: Tekken 2
• Lowest Tier: D (Tekken Tag Tournament 1)
• Highest Tier: S (Tekken 8 pre-update)

Tiers aren’t quite as ironclad in Tekken as they are in some other games. Players trying to get the most out of Jun Kazama in Tekken 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 1 didn’t have as steep a mountain to climb as, say, someone trying to make Servbot work in MvC2. Even so, she wasn’t as popular as other characters, which led to her being replaced by Jin in Tekken 3 and her (sort-of) niece Asuka in Tekken 5.

Jun returned as a boss character for Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and didn’t set the world alight there either. But when she made her canon return in Tekken 8, she became one of its strongest characters immediately. Her mix-ups were harder to overcome, and her Heat Smash helped her recover gray health while punishing her opponents. It took a bunch of updates to humble her back to mid-tier. Time can only tell if she’ll stay there.

2 Storm

Flying to the Top

• Debut: X-Men: Children of the Atom
• Lowest Tier: D (X-Men: Children of the Atom)
• Highest Tier: S (X-Men Vs Street Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom 2)

This one might seem surprising, as Storm is generally a force to be reckoned with in her Marvel appearances. She was the cream of the crop in X-Men Vs Street Fighter with her fast, aerial moves and full-screen supers. Then she became notorious in Marvel Vs Capcom 2 where, often with Magneto and Sentinel, she'd be called in with her Hail Storm super to chip her opponent to death.

However, things were different in her fighting game debut, X-Men: Children of the Atom. She still had her high-damage supers and zoning normal attacks. But she was tricky to control, most of her moves left her open on blocks, and she had the lowest stamina in the game (aside from Akuma). One false move, and she’d pay for it hard. Her moves were made safer for the sequels, which ironically made her more dangerous for everyone else.

1 Deejay

Striding to Greatness

• Debut: Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers
• Lowest Tier: D (Ultra Street Fighter 4)
• Highest Tier: S (Street Fighter 6)

The recent Street Fighter 6 updates buffed Lily and Zangief, but they also did something that fighting game fans probably never thought needed to be done: nerf Deejay. He was one of the New Challengers in Super Street Fighter 2, where he was more average than anything else. Not bad, but not great. Then came the Street Fighter 4 games.

Deejay's awkward specials and reliance on charging made him the worst non-joke character by the time Ultra Street Fighter 4 came around. His redesign for SF6 gave him safer moves, stronger mix-ups, and The Stride™ — his really fast Drive Rush that made him one of the best rushdown characters in the game. Even with the nerfs, he’s still one to watch out for when playing SF6 online.

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