Special thanks to UYU_Fergus, whose astounding Tekken 7 Character Guide provided me the inspiration to start this work and the structure in which to do it.

Additional thanks to all contributors: Ariel The Cruel, D (Tirankin), digiholic, MiX, parchmentEngineer, The PolterGhost, and Vi. And of course to the many contributors to discussions in the BCO Discord.

In addition to an overview, each character here also has an official difficulty level and archetype classification. The difficulty, represented by a number, represents how difficult it is to manage a character's abilities and playstyle, not only playing as that character but also especially against them. For example, Eligor is a difficulty 1 character due to his decisevly defensive style and abundance of stats. Riflam, on the other hand, is a difficulty 5 because he is highly versatile and must adapt his moves to best counter an opponent. The number is in NO WAY an indicator of how effective a character is at any given skill level.

Classification is pretty loose in BattleCon. Here in this guide you will find the 4 classifications used in the game alongside 1-2 others provided by the contributor. I'd like to take a moment to briefly go over the 4 official archetypes here.

Heavy:
Starting with arguably the most consistently defined of the lot. Heavies are juggernauts with an abundance of Power, Stun Guard, and Soak. These characters often threaten big stat numbers every Beat, and do their best to turn the match into a Goliath vs. David showdown. As a result they can be on the slow side, though some excel on being the second one to strike. Their effectiveness can also be hindered by things such as a lack of range/movement or possessing detrimental effects like Alexian's Chivalry or Mikhail's Seal mechanic.

Tacticians:
If Heavies are all about making the enemy sweat with big high damage numbers, Tacticians accomplish the same through sheer versatility and option mongering. They are 50/50 powerhouses, setting up situations where one of their pairs covers the weaknesses of the most pressing one. Many Tacticians can also restrict opponents' movement or mess with their stats, such as Khadath's Gate Trap or Karin's Jager Marker, and can also possess nasty effects like straight up auto-misses. Tacticians are all about keeping their foes on the back foot by playing however they most hate to play against.

Brawlers:
Brawlers are a bit harder to classify than the first two. One of the oldest memes in BattleCon is that everyone can be considered a Brawler. Even so, Brawlers occupy the space in between Heavies and Tacticians: they have strong stats to use as leverage against opponents while still maintaining a few tricks up their sleeves. They often have a greater versatility in their statlines than most, such as Hikaru's Elemental tokens or Luc's potential to mix going super fast and SUPER slow. Many, though not all Brawlers, possess a good amount of Priority, or at least have the ability to go fast when they really need to.

Specialists:
While every character in BattleCon is unique, Specialists are special snowflakes that turn their noses up at the other characters' need to be put into a box. Whether it is Magdelina's signature evasive and stall-based gameplay before she becomes the biggest stat monster in the series, or the fact that Seven and Kallistar have two entirely different sets of Styles to toolbox with, Specialists really showcase the diverse strategies and novelties that make BattleCon such an amazing game.

by Windup13ird

Classification: Heavy, Mix Up intensive
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Alexian is a powerhouse who separates himself from other Heavies with his focus on mid-to-long range combat and possessing Styles so good he needed a straight handicap as a Unique Ability. Styles like Stalwart and Steeled trade better the farther Alexian is from his foe, and Mighty gives him extra range while nullifying all range bonuses on the enemy’s style. While the king generally adheres to a slower, counter-attacking strategy, he nonetheless possesses two +1 priority styles to keep opponents on their toes. Lastly, Alexian is the only character in BattleCon to have stun guard or soak on every single one of his cards. All that great power is balanced with Alexian’s Chivalry mechanic, in which each of his hits grants his opponent a Chivalry Token that she can choose to ante later for additional Power and Priority. Playing Alexian effectively means being constantly aware of Chivalry Tokens and playing Dodge or Regal (a style which ignores anted chivalry) at the right time to waste the opponent’s resources. This minigame can lead to many Alexian Beats being quite a toss up, which is certainly a love/hate thing for the character depending on how you view it.

Pros:
~Fantastic hit confirm, both in before trigger movement and high defensive stats
~Can hit for immense damage consistently
~Is exceptionally strong in mid-to-long range combat
~One of the strongest Unique Bases in the game
~Possesses two strong, consistent finishers

Cons:
~Gives opponent tokens that increase their power and priority
~Chivalry tokens makes it hard to parry, or intentionally clash, opponent attacks.
~Many beats end up a coin flip: “will they/won’t they use chivalry?”

Recommended for players who like:
~Possessing threatening and diverse tools on any given turn
~Forcing opponents into unpredictable mixups
~Fighting with honor
~ProZD

Character Streamer: https://www.twitch.tv/nerfakira

by Ariel the Cruel

Classification: Specialist, Adaptive.
Difficulty: 3
Overview:
Anath is a toolbox character (not to be confused with a jack-of-all-trades) who has an answer to every problem, but implements those answers via hyper-specializing at the expense of other options. This is epitomized in her Unique Ability that allows massive boosts to one stat while debilitating another. However, getting stunned forces her to change her pairing. Dread is a slow attack with no stun guard, but grants SoB movement and has Power reduction 3 at range 2 (Burst counter). Destruction also has sub-par stats but good range and punishes for moving next to you (dodge counter). Leashing pulls opponents on hit, but must pull them past her to get a power buff (Strike counter). Abhorrent punishes opponents that try to reposition her (Grasp counter). Cataclysmic creates sizeable distance on hit (drive counter). Finally, her Unique Base, Havoc, finishes out the lot with incredible movement and power, but range and movement limitations makes it difficult to hit cornered opponents (shot counter).
For as much as Anath dedicates herself to countering opponents, her tunnel vision also doubles as a blinder. Dominant strategies are a rarity as for every option she counters, another is allowed to slip through. This means optimal play is often highly dependent on reading opponents. Good reads can trap opponents in a haze of uselessness, but bad reads can open up even more doors for opponents to slip through.

Pros:
~A solution for every problem
~Tons of mobility
~Above average range
~Versatile UA

Cons:
~Every strength has a matching weakness
~Read dependent
~Can end up fighting her own UA if she falls behind

Recommended for players who like:
~Lots of tools/options
~Reading opponents
~Being the avatar. . . Of Destruction

Footage: Old UI, Live Commentary
https://youtu.be/4rUkwtM_fcs

Classification: Specialist, Ranger, Powerhouse
Difficulty: 4

Overview:

*Coming Soon*

Pros:
~"Dragon mechanic:" his resource is only spent after Reveal Step
~Strong finisher in Dragon's Descent
~Has strong attacks at any range.

Cons:
~Forced to have downbeats to charge Firepower
~Dependent on his Styles' many triggers
~Minimum Range styles are circumvented by highly mobily characters

Recommended for players who like:
~A long range playstyle without sacrificing power and defense stats
~Holding onto resources until they are guaranteed to be effective
~Just to watch the world burn

Match footage:
https://youtu.be/qOIXAJS-xHY

by Ariel the Cruel

Classification: Heavy, Counterattacker
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Cadenza is BattleConnection's base-line juggernaut. Slow, short range, hard to stun and hits like a truck. As a character, Cadenza is a robotic drone, and played with a similar mind set. Walking through opponents' comparatively weaker attacks with robotic indifference, it pursues the 4 or 5 hits it needs to win. The Iron Body Unique ability grants Cadenza 99 Stunguard, after being hit, up to 3 times in a match further emphasizing the tireless pursuit. Also like an unthinking machine, there are no fancy tricks; Cadenza wins through sheer stat dominance. No style better emphasizes this concept than Clockwork which grants 3 power, 3 soak, -3 priority, and no effects. Clockwork Shot is considered one of the strongest attack pairs in the game - So strong in fact that not playing it is sometimes just as threatening (for opponents) as doing so. Hydraulic is another style that lets Cadenza trade better by soaking 1 damage and advancing. Mechanical is the repositioning style that grants significant movement at end of beat. Battery is the closest thing Cadenza has to a "trick;" an otherwise unremarkable style that grants a massive priority boost next beat. Grapnel is the fastest and least powerful Style in Cadenza's arsenal; being his only noteworthy long range option and minimum range restriction, opponents will almost always see it coming. Press is a unique Base that effectively reads "always trade up," by granting incredible stun guard and dealing bonus damage equal to the damage taken.
Cadenza's weaknesses are first and foremost range. You will spend more time chasing opponents in an average match than hitting them. Second is predictability: without any tech, your biggest mind game is whether or not to use clockwork.

Pros:
~Massive damage
~Hard to stun
~Hard for many characters to clash
~Simple and forgiving in execution

Cons:
~Low range
~Low Speed
~Predictable
~Simple and forgiving execution can cause development of bad habits in new players.

Recommended for players who like:
~Robots
~Simplicity
~Occasional big hits over consistent smaller one
~Watching people run away from you

Footage: Old UI, Live, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/224183315

by D (Tirankin)

Classification: Heavy, Setup
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
César is a patient powerhouse who quickly ramps up in Power and defense, then crashes and resets. He uses slow, safe movement effects to set up ideal payout beats, and his cards make him extremely difficult to avoid or outpace.

Pros:
~Consistently makes positive trades
~Difficult to clash, and often fares well in clashes
~Counter-movement lets him stick to rangers and other dodgy fighters
~Has an "extra life" to help him close games safely
~Has a Dodge counter
~Has a terrifying Finisher

Cons:
~Slow, reliant on Stun Guard; vulnerable to Ignore SG and massive damage
~Poor hitconfirm; must set up hits in advance
~Tempo makes "down beats" predictable
~Often forced to lose beats just to correct positioning

Recommended for players who like:
~Counterattackers with a great deal of reactive mobility
~someone who rewards fundamentals well
~Setting up guaranteed Beats
~Awesomely thematic character theme

Match footage:

by Windup13ird

Classification: Heavy, Counterattacker
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Eligor is a pure counterattacker with insanely strong hit confirm. He is able to tank hits consistently from most of the cast and pay them back with interest. His Unique Ability allows him to ante Vengeance Tokens for 2 Stun Guard each, and he regains a token for each point of damage he takes. This means the paladin can make any attack "safe" with Stun Guard if he deems it useful to do so. While he has little defense outside his tokens, Eligor possesses Soak on both his Retribution Style and Aegis Base to help mitigate the damage he is forced to accrue. Speaking of Styles, they are where Eligor gets his hit confirm. Retribution lets him teleport to Range 1 if he has already been hit, Chained pulls his opponent towards him, and Vengeance has a built in Drive. Even Martial, a constant threat opponent's must play around given its potential +5 Power, has an additional Range. Like most Heavies, Eligor is very poor at trying to go first. Given how many of his Styles benefit from being hit first, he is also more susceptible to slow attacks than any other characters. Even so, Eligor is both a perfect "My First Heavy" character and someone who remains effective at higher levels of competition.

Pros:
~Consistently high damage. Martial especially can go +5
~Can counterattack at any range, provided he was hit first
~Retribution Aegis trades positively against most conventional attacks.
~Adds Stun Guard to any attack pair.
~Good setup potential with Chained

Cons:
~Vengeance tokens must be managed, has sparse defenses without them
~Despises Ignore Stun Guard and movement restriction effects
~Many options rely on being attacked first for hit confirm or positive trading, so opponents even slower than him pose a threat

Recommended for players who like:
~Tanks
~having lots of ways not to miss
~A simple playstyle effective at all levels of play
~Egocentric Paladins

Match Footage: Old UI, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/YCURBbRpXgc

Classification: "Brawler," Disruptor, Powerhouse
Difficulty: 3
Overview

*In Development*

Pros:
~Hits like a Mack Truck on most of his pairs
~Spammable tokens: every Style regains them and some benefit the fewer he has in supply
~Decent control options for a Powerhouse, some moves can cover multiple options
~Yellow Style automatically clashes

Cons:
~Rather slow while lacking defensive stats
~Tokens less impactful than similar characters'
~Unique Base is highly situational
~Pitiful range options, very low movement

Recommended for players who like:
~Incredible power, only needing a handful of correct plays to win
~Employing the mindset of a Tactician while piloting a Mack Truck
~Being EVIL
~Outrageously over the top voice acting

Match Footage:
Mini-guide, not actual footage
https://youtu.be/b0N2ggyjtUU

by Windup13ird

Classification: Brawler, Statstick
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Hikaru is a straightforward yet potent Brawler who can augment his attack pairs with additional stats. His immense power and speed allow him to finish games in only 4-5 hits, making him a strong candidate for those that like to make hard reads or intimidate with abusive options. Hikaru is the O.G “Shotoken” character of BattleCon, meaning that his Unique Ability gives him several tokens he can ante for particular effects, and he regains those tokens through conditions on particular cards. In his case, he can ante one of his 4 Elemental Tokens to grant himself additional Power, Priority, Soak, or Range. This adaptability allows Hikaru to go toe-to-toe with many stat specialists with the right resources in hand, or just to steamroll those who cannot contend with his speed and strength. Hikaru’s styles are unsubtle yet effective, consisting primarily of high stats, small advancement effects, and ways to regain spent tokens. Most noteworthy are his Geomantic and Advancing Styles. Geomantic allows Hikaru to spend a second token after seeing his opponent’s pair, an incredibly powerful effect, and Advancing’s Start of Beat Advance can lead to some dangerous corner mix ups and tech. Playing Hikaru effectively requires learning the basic ebb and flow of BattleCon: when to spend and strike hard, when to step back and cool off. Just because Hikaru has tons of stats does not make him a Jack of All Trades, however. His movement is quite lacking and is easily exploited, and his small bag of tricks makes him easy to predict and play around.

Pros:
~Can end games in just a few hits.
~Strong Beat 1 options
~Can confirm into +3 Power with Geomantic
~High priority spread
~Can adapt stats to best suit the situation at hand

Cons:
~Often needs to be at Range 1 to hit
~Weak to Start of Beat retreats
~Predictable, weak to parries
~Lacks any kind of control/disruption effects

Recommended for players who like:
~hitting hard without having to sacrifice speed
~Mascot/Tutorial characters
~characters who teach many fundamentals
~Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Match Footage: Old UI, Replay Tournament Play.
https://youtu.be/xbpcw3_VEGY
Character Streamer: https://www.twitch.tv/senas006

by Windup13ird

Classification: Specialist, Stance, Defensive
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Kallistar is a defense-oriented mid-to-long ranged character with access to instances of incredible burst damage. Her Unique Ability makes her a stance character, as playing certain Styles will switch her back and forth between Human and Elemental forms. Her passive stats and card effects change dramatically depending on her current form. Kallistar starts and spends most of the game in Human, which grants Soak every beat and her cards focus on additional defense and mobility. The +1 Priority Blazing lets her reposition after its activation, and Volcanic allows her to warp to any space at End of Beat. Once in Elemental, Kallistar loses the soak in favor of 2 Power and 2 Priority in exchange for 1 Life lost every Beat. Now she is a powerhouse with effects such as additional Range, Power, and Ignore Stun Guard. While Kallistar has a great deal of varied tools, she can only threaten one Form a Beat, and that combined with her pedestrian Priorities make her somewhat predictable and easily clashable. Her hit confirm is also on the janky side, as her mobility focuses on evading and set ups rather than increasing her accuracy.

Pros:
~Mobile in Human form
~Huge burst damage in Elemental and with Human Flare.
~Versatile tools that reward good match up knowledge
~Strong Midrange game with Volcanic and Spellbolt.

Cons:
~Predictable, weak to parries
~somewhat weak hit confirm
~Human can be outtanked, Elemental can be outsped or outhit by more stat dedicated characters

Recommended for players who like:
~Chandra
~Mid-to-long rangers
~Stance Shifters
~Stalling until you set up the perfect shot.

Footage: Old UI, Replay, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/mZhLRmzzsa4

by Ariel the Cruel

Classification: Tactician, Character Marker
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Karin and Jager function as a team when fighting opponents allowing them to threaten multiple ranges with a wide assortment of mix-ups. Functionally, they act as a brawler / Tactician hybrid. Though above average in priority, Karin's stat line is slightly below average as a whole. Most of her strength comes from conditional bonuses and tools based on Jager's relative position. In general, Karin is at her most powerful when opponents share Jager's space, and her most flexible when they are near it, but weakest when the opponent is near her but not jager. As such, positional management is the move vital skill too mastering the twins.
Full Moon is possibly the style best representing Karin and Jager's play style. The SoB effect allows them to swap places after seeing the opponent's attack, then grants power or soak depending on where the opponent is relative to Jager. Howling, Feral, and Claw increase effective range while punishing opponents for standing on Jager. Meanwhile, Coordinated and Dual are used to control an opponent's positioning.
While mobility and hit confirm may be Karin's calling card, Mobility and speed are her greatest adversaries. Opponents who can avoid Jager will also be able to avoid most of his conditional triggers. Similarly, opponents who can consistently match or exceed Karin's priority will be able to abuse her lack of stun guard and printed range to repeatedly stun her out.

Pros:
~Above average Priority
~Great mobility
~Splash of control

Cons:
~Conditional effects
~Double the positioning burden of most characters
~Below average stats overall.

Recommended for players who like:
~Teamwork
~Mix/switch-ups
~A more tactical type of brawler
~Werewolves

Footage: Old UI, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/LO8MbaXSpAE

by digiholic

Classification: Tactician, Disruptor
Difficulty: 3
Overview:
Khadath is a zone control character that utilizes his unique ability, Planar Gate to force your opponents into playing your game instead of theirs. Khadath manipulates a "Gate Trap" marker on the board that prevents your opponents from crossing it, as well as slowing them down drastically if they are too close to it at the start of the turn. In addition, he has the ability to completely shut out damage from attacks across his trap with Teleport, or from opponents standing directly on his trap with Evacuation. Khadath can easily put your opponent into a situation where they have to decide between two options: one which leads to a powerful tempo swing in their favor, and one that will punish them horribly and leave them in the same situation next turn. Getting into your opponent's head is key with Khadath, if they start to figure you out, you're toast. Tricking opponents into wandering into Snares or cornering themselves behind your trap is your M.O., and you've got the tools to punish it.

Pros:
~Can single-handedly shut down an entire archetype, melee-focused rushdown fighters have almost no way to get in
~Amazingly simple to set up the board how you wish with Teleport and Lure to manipualte the positions of yourself, your opponent, and your gate trap.
~Respectable damage at a moderate speed, made even better with your gate trap making opponents even slower than your harder-hitting moves
~Force your opponent into hard decisions where guessing wrong can lead to a swift defeat

Cons:
~Characters who expect to go last every beat can usually just ignore the Gate Trap entirely
~Fighters with a variety of ranges or direct movement can threaten you from anywhere, leaving you unable to hide behind your gate trap
~With basically no defensive stats, and little reactional movement, getting caught and unable to set up means you'll be severely punished. You'll either be avoiding hits entirely or losing the trade.
~Styles are very situational, meaning only one or two will ever be viable on a given turn. Your opponent will often be dealing with a 50/50, but almost never harder odds than that.

Play Khadath if you like:
~Monocles
~Getting into your opponent's heads and sabotaging their every play before they can do it.
~Avoiding opponent's attacks entirely so you never need to worry about making a "positive trade"
~Hearing the phrase "I know exactly what you're going to do and I have no way to stop it."

Footage: Old UI, Live, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/251124638

By parchmentEngineer

Classification: Brawler
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Kimbhe is a brawler/tactician hybrid, who can perform nearly any trick she needs and augment the power of those tricks with her staff, which gives any player standing on it +2 Power. Each of her 5 styles possess a completely different effect, and knowing when to use each style is key to success. Quickening and Fulminating are her speed styles, with Quickening giving you incredible speeds if you’re on your staff and Fulminating allowing you to do a minor reposition of her staff. Quake and Penumbral are her defensive styles, with Quake having powerful but awkward hit confirm and Penumbral trading in her staff’s power for an equal boost to Soak. Finally, Expulsion allows her to reposition her staff and the opponent, and even pull them out of corners to Dodge over an otherwise undodgeable attack. Her Unique Base, Caster, has practically full-board hit-confirm and pairs well with every style, but is weak to Drive. Finally her finishers are both 9 Power attacks, with one hitting if you have the staff and the other hitting if the opponent has it. Playing Kimbhe requires always knowing where you are in relationship to your staff and what the best style to play at that time is. If you can master those skills, you will find yourself in control of a powerful fighter capable of defeating any foe.

Pros:
~Huge diversity of styles allow her to adapt to any situation
~Capable of adding +2 Power to any attack.
~Very powerful UB, which pairs well with any style.
~Capable of Dodging even if the opponent is in the corner with Expulsion.
~Effective +0~1 Range on every single style.

Cons:
~Once a style is down, she is lacking in anything for that option until it comes back up.
~If the opponent gains control of her Staff, they gain its power for themselves.
~Unless played with Fulminating, UB loses hard to Drive.
~Style specialization makes her predictable and easy to clash.

Recommended for players who …
~Like having an answer to any situation.
~Enjoy adding +2 Power to every attack with no downsides.
~Like highly-mobile characters with very good hit-confirm.
~Own Trials of Indines, since she’s the only Trials character currently in the roster.

Footage: Old UI, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/mqlUK3-Rfvk

Classification: Brawler
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Luc is the Floyd Mayweather of BattleCon Online. He jukes and jives forward and backward, stockpiling his unique resource: Time Tokens, then spends them to slowly but methodically take his opponent down. Luc has above average Priority with 3 Styles at +1 and the ability to ante a Time Token to gain 1 more (cannot get more than 1 this way). His Unique Base, while hitting like a feather, has a blazing 7 Priority and ignores Stun Guard to boot. Unlike other speedy characters, Luc can throw a change up with two particularly low speed styles. Eternal turns his time tokens into Soak for a high consistent defensive option, while Feinting has both a Start of Beat retreat and End of Beat advance. Speaking of mobility Luc can also gain SoB advance on any pair he antes three Time Tokens on, and Fusion allows him to push opponents away, dealing increased damage if he managed to bring them to a corner. Due to such movement options being SoB or On Hit, Luc is susceptible to SoB retreat options from his opponents. He also has very little hit confirm besides his advances, so options that punish Range 1 attacks or restrict movement really hurt him.

Pros:
~Highly versatile in Priority, movement, and Time Token effects
~Has few bad matchups currently
~Takes advantage of null beats
~Good damage on Memento and Fusion styles

Cons:
~Weak to Start of Beat Retreat
~Loses a lot of tools against faster characters
~Heavy focus on Range 1 attacks.

Recommended for players who like:
~To dodge, duck, dip, dive, and...dodge
~Roping, clocking, stalling, or otherwise using match length as a resource
~Highly consistent and versatile characters

Footage: Old UI, Commentary, Replay, Tournament Footage
https://youtu.be/lh2Zew3MOBA

by Windup13ird

Classification: Specialist, Escalation
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Magdelina is BattleCon's strongest example of an escalation character: she starts each match as the weakest character in the series, but if enough turns pass by she ends up as the strongest. This is because of her unique Trance mechanic, where she gains a "Level" every few turns, and each level grants her a permanent Power, Priority, and Stun Guard. Most games see Magdelina struggling to survive early aggression, needing to rely on Dodge, her mutual healing Unique Base, and Safety, her damage limiting, End of Beat repositioning Style. Once she has gotten to Level 2 or 3 depending on the match up, she transforms into a Jack of All Trades, Master of All. One of Magdelina's strengths is the ability to adapt her playstyle, once leveled, to really whatever stat and range her opponent hates the most, due to both her high statlines and the added hit confirm on her Styles. Speaking of Styles, while they mostly offer additional range, mobility, or push, they lack the tech or trickiness to make Mag much more than a stat behemoth. Thus, she often has trouble against characters that generally have good matchups against statsticks, even though hers get to be higher than anyone else's.

Pros:
~Most powerful character statwise in the game once she gets going
~Several strong ranged and positioning tools
~Switch is a great style for her, which helps against card lock and builds force gauge.
~Adaptive playstyle, benefits greatly with matchup knowledge.

Cons:
~The slowest start in the game
~Weak to early pressure, can fall too far behind
~Decimated by non-printed stat negation
~Run, then hit style of gameplay every match can get kind of samey and predictable

Recommended for players who like:
~Snowballing/escalation characters from Mobas/fighters
~Strong ranged game without sacrificing range 1 prowess
~Running away from their problems (at first)
~British accents

Match Footage:
1. Old UI, Commentary, Replay, Tournament Footage
https://youtu.be/lh2Zew3MOBA
2. Old UI, Commentary.
https://youtu.be/dmvOhlkJhRA

by The PolterGhost & Windup13ird

Classification: Specialist, Staller, Midranger
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Marmelee is a heavily defensive character who stalls and evades before gaining the tools to pick apart her opposition. Unlike Magdelina, who delays until she gains enough pure stats to turn the tide, Marmelee gains a Concentration Counter at the end of each turn which can be spent through her cards for a multitude of potent effects. These range from increasing Range and Power to ignoring Soak, pushing opponents, and strong movement effects. Her strongest are arguably Petrifying, which can both make her auto go first as well as autostun, and Barrier, which forces the opponents to miss. A great thing about Concentration Counters is that they are only used after the Reveal Phase, so you cannot be baited out of losing them unlike many token characters. With great escalation potential comes a heavy cost, however. Marmelee will lose counters whenever she is stunned, and without natural stun guard she will need to rely on her tricks to prevent herself from death spiraling. Her power is also very situational at best, and with several -1 Power Styles she often needs to make many correct decisions to close out a game.

Pros:
~Strong vs Heavies, great options against a direct assault
~Possesses various option selects to help conserve resources and threaten a multitude of plays
~Significant priority and attack ranges
~Can easily create multiple null or unwinnable beats for her opponent with enough resources
~Clocker

Cons:
~Incredibly reliant on using Shot and Strike to prevent being stunned
~Reliant on Stun Guard antes combined with Shot or Nullifying to prevent token loss
~Low overall damage
~Incredibly susceptible to being stunned, regardless of whether she is active or reactive player.
~Clocker

Recommended for players who like:
~Stall-based gameplay
~Possessing a diverse number of punishing effects
~Dragons (Yes, she's a dragon).

Footage: Old UI, Commentary, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/nJBGwBaWeU8

by parchmentEngineer

Classification: Heavy
Difficulty: 2
Overview:
Mikhail is a heavy fighter with a twist. He has 3 seal tokens, of which he regains one whenever he takes damage. If he doesn’t ante one, his styles don’t activate that beat. This is bad for him, as his styles are some of the best in the game. Thus, he becomes one of the game’s most unique counterattackers. He gains no bonus for taking damage on the beat he is damaged, except with Transcendent. However, spend too long taking no damage, and you’ll quickly find yourself without any divine power. His styles, though powerful, are also a detriment in most cases, as each one has its own method of making gaining those seals harder. Sacred blocks all attacks at range 3 or greater, while Apocalyptic flat-out prevents you from regaining seals that beat, and Immutable lets you spend a seal for Soak 3. While all of these are good, they also most likely waste a seal, forcing you to cash out hard on those beats. Hallowed hits hard and fast, slamming the opponent all the way across the board. However, this poses the problem of the opponent not being able to retaliate, again costing you a seal. Fortunaly, all is not lost. Transcendent forces you to trade to become powerful, but with Stun Guard 5 and giving all damage dealt right back to the dealer, it’s one of the most powerful trading styles in the game. Scroll guarantees a seal return for that beat, letting it be played with attacks like Sacred, or as a dodge-counter. Finally, we come to Mikhail’s finishers. One finisher only works with no seals, the other only with lots of them. Pick the one that suits your playstyle, and remember to use Switch if things go downhill, as Switch doesn’t cost a seal to use.

Pros:
~Able to trade up with opponents every beat
~Has some of the most powerful styles in the game
~Works quite well at range

Cons:
~Difficult to manage your seals
~Failure to manage seals is punishable by up to 10 damage.
~Many of his best attacks are predictable and easily clashable.

Recommended for players who like…
~Enjoy being able to trade up with any opponent.
~Are okay adapting to a slightly different playstyle.
~Like overpowered characters with a drawback that must be managed.

Footage: Replay, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/5UwXyxZl6ZY?t=4m34s

by Ariel the Cruel

Classification: Brawler, Escalation
Difficulty: 5
Overview:
Riflam is an escalation fighter who develops his strengths to exploit an opponent's weaknesses.
Battlecon's base cards have a "rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock" system where each non-dodge base wins and loses against 2 others. Riflam's unique ability allows him to permanently modify his basses with styles and anted "reagents" to break this design principle, allowing for multiple beats - or even entire rotations - with a dominant strategy. Like most escalation characters, Riflam is most vulnerable during the early game and gets stronger over time. How he escalates, however, is unique. Rather than getting all-around more powerful, he can choose a few key stats to invest his growth. This allows him the flexibility to contend with any match-up that can't kill him out-right.
Riflam's styles are barely average while upgrading his base, with 2 notable exceptions. Substantial gives him a ton of stats and recovers a reagent on hit, but will almost always trade down and doesn't upgrade his base. Residual upgrades power *and* priority on hit, but has them equally reduced on the style. Unlike most characters, his unique base, Install, isn't a default component of his strategy, but rather, a strategy on it's own. Using it means dedicating your precious time and resources to create what is often referred to as his "third finisher," but also means pulling those resources away from situations where they would see immediate benefit. There is no consensus, as of this writing, on whether or not install strategies are better on average.
Where Riflam excels in stat flexibility, he suffers in tech. Other than above average mobility and a moderate risk heal, he doesn't bring any utility to the table. Worse, his stat building method, if not properly managed, can make him very predictable. This means a strong understanding of match-ups and game fundamentals is **necessary** to be successful.

Pros:
~ Incredible stat flexibility
~ Mid-game 50/50's
~Dominant strategies late game
~Above average mobility and hit confirm

Cons:
~Weak early game
~Lacks utility
~Heavy burden of knowledge

Recomended for players who like:
~Getting stronger over time
~Planing things far in advance
~Learning the strengths and weaknessess of every character and not just their own.

Footage:
Commentary, Casual Game:
https://youtu.be/TnkmkRKOAa8
Note. Tons of strong Riflam play exists on my YT channel from previous tournaments, but Riflam has changed considerably since those games so take specifics with a grain of salt. Above video is up to date.

by MiX

Classification: Brawler, Ranger
Difficulty: 3
Overview:
Rukyuk is the ultimate Ranger in BattleCON: with enough distance, he can use his six unique Custom Ammo tokens and his numerous long-range styles to essentially beat whatever pair comes from the opponent. Unfortunately, every character has tools against being stuck at Range 6, most importantly Dodge and Drive, which makes Rukyuk have to settle for a tug of war over his much desired Range. Since with enough distance his stats simply become better than everyone else on the cast (at that Range); his important Styles and Bases are the ones that allow him to create said distance: Point Blank is an excellent disengage that works even in melee and Gunner, combined with other movement options like Grasp and Impact Shell (his Push Ammo), can instantly widen the gap. Rukyuk’s above-average stats combined with his Custom Ammo and long-range come with two disadvantages: 4 of his styles have minimum range, which means they don’t hit at Range 1, when the enemy is closer, and his Custom Ammo is limited: it doesn’t just give him stats, it actually allows him to hit in the first place. To get them back, he must use Reload, his Unique Base, which does not hit; although it does reposition him, hopefully to commence his long-range assault with maximum Ammo next beat. For this reason, he has to fight over positioning and his resources, but if he has both, he can be a force to be reckoned with.

Pros:
~Exceptionally high-stats at maximum range.
~Strong repositioning tools.
~Average stats even in close range.
~Lots of ways to create his desired range.
~Good option select due to his Custom Ammo.

Cons:
~Only one of his styles hits at range 1.
~Has to ante Custom Ammo every beat, which means he loses them if the opponent dodges.
~Opponent’s Start of Beat advances can duck under his minimum range.
~Has to stop to Reload every few beats or risk running out.

Recommended for players who like:
~Poking at long-range a lot.
~Obvious positioning goals.
~Guns in a magical world.

Footage: Old UI, Replay, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/zzS5vKT9pvs

by Windup13ird

Classification: Tactician, Disruptor
Difficulty: 3
Overview:
Sarafina is a Mix-Up focused character. She trades in the ability to restrict movement that her fellow Tacticians possess for being one of if not the hardest character to pin down on the roster. This is due to her Projections, a marker her Styles let her place at certain ranges at the end of each Beat, that she can then move directly to during the ante phase. With Projection, Sarafina effectively occupies two spaces at once during pair selection, something opponents must account for if they hope to beat her. Besides her mobility trick, Sarafina possess several effects on her Styles that can make her enemies miserable. Silver restricts the Power and Priority of an attack pair to its printed value, which includes negating Force antes, and Locus gives her a whopping +4 Priority if she teleported behind the opponent that ante phase (nothing personal kid). Most potently, Implosion flat out ignores attacks at Range 1, and has a Pull 1-2 hit trigger as well. Sarafina truly has some infuriating tricks, but as most are tied directly to Styles they lack to consistent pressure found in similar characters. Her statline is also rather below average, particularly when it comes to Range, so she is susceptible to those that can brawl her with good hit confirm.

Pros:
~Projection Mix-Ups and Style effects forces opponent into playing a suboptimal game.
~Implosion's automiss at Range 1
~Unique Base has an excellent statline, at X(space of and adjacent to her Projection)/4/4.

Cons:
~Below average stats
~Projection loses viability vs. high hit confirm.
~All disruption effects are tied to Styles/her Unique Base.

Recommended for players who like:
~Mix Ups
~Unique ways to stifle enemy options
~Government officials who don't mind taking an active role in fisticuffs.

Footage: Old U.I. Vs. Bot but insightful commentary.
https://youtu.be/x1e6r0V60VY

by Vi

Classification: Specialist, Controller & Counterattacker
Difficulty: 4
Overview:

Seven is a waif who specializes in disrupting her opponent's techniques and seizing the lead. While her printed stats are below average - in particular, her relatively low Priority puts her under a lot of pressure when she's low on Life - she makes up for it with an arsenal of unusual special effects spread across every card in her kit. With the ability to make big moves at Start of Beat, forbid her opponent from moving in certain ways, apply delayed buffs to herself and delayed debuffs to her opponent, return damage dealt to her and then some, and even simply deny almost all damage dealt to her on a beat, her opponent will always have to wonder if their attack will ever work exactly as planned. She has so many effects that she needs two sets of Styles to hold them all - each of her first set of Styles "upgrades" to more sophisticated versions when they get hit, so even hitting her at all gets punished. With this much flexibility and all these countermeasures, what can possibly stop you?

Pros:
~Can adapt to most matchups with her wide variety of tricky effects
~Can almost continuously threaten to negate and counter many of her opponent's options, even Dodge
~Difficult to stop once she gets a Life lead due to defensive options

Cons:
~Raw, unconditional stats are average at best even after her Styles upgrade; can be stat-gated
~Mostly slow and reliant on Stun Guard for counterattacks
~Loses "even" games due to poor performance at low Life; must decisively outplay opponents to win

Recommended for:
~Players of all experience levels looking for something novel, as Seven has never been included in a printed BattleCON expansion
~Risk-averse players who wish to minimize the number of unfavorable matchups they play
~Self-styled masterminds and trolls who want a character kit that's literally nothing but punishes, negations, and counterattacks
~Super VIOLENCE Time!

Footage: Old UI, Live Commentary
https://youtu.be/nZbi1s9yUXQ

by Windup13ird

Classification: Brawler, Speedster
Difficulty: 1
Overview:
Want to go fast? Then Shekthur is absolutely a character you need to try. Shekthur is a momentum-based speedster who spends tokens to increase her attack’s priority, then regains them after dealing damage. She is all about stringing together high damaging Beat sequences thanks to her Malice Tokens and repositioning styles like Reaver and Unleashed. Her Combination is particularly dangerous, starting at +2 power and granting an additional Power and Priority if she managed to hit on the previous Beat. Shekthur also has two ways to gain tokens outside of damaging an opponent with Unleashed and Jugular. Add in Jugular’s +2 Priority and that equals her being less susceptible to token baits/whiffs than similar ante characters. While Shekthur possesses speed, power, and movement, her straightforwardness can often be a detriment in many match ups. Given her reliance on close range combat and advancing, she is especially weak to control effects such as those that restrict her movement or force misses at particular ranges.

Pros:
~Highest consistent priorities in BCO
~Gets to play her own game in most match ups
~Can ignore Stun Guard and Soak
~Strong positioning tools in Spiral, Reaver, and Unleashed

Cons:
~Overly reliant on Drive
~Few answers to Start of Beat movement
~Poor long range game
~Weak against control and dodge effects like Seven’s Reserved and Sarafina’s Implosion

Recommended for players who like:
~Forcing the opponent to adapt to their playstyle/tempo
~Not wanting to worry about going first or being clashed often
~Fans of Oki/Vortex characters in traditional fighters
~Thieves or bandits with a strong moral code

Footage: Old UI, Replay, Tournament Play
https://youtu.be/MffpanDNAgU