It’s been a good number of days since 2D fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has been out. There’s been a lot of combo videos, high-level play, and tournaments also taking place within that span of time, so it’s safe to say someone has already come up with a tier list of sorts.

While it’s still pretty early (tier lists are more concrete after 3 months) and fixes for infinites have been made, the current meta can still be determined. SNK fighting game tournament player on X/Twitter frionel26 has made a Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves tier list that isn’t far off the mark from my own predictions on 21st April.

Plus, this guy does know what he’s talking about when it comes to SNK games, so it’s a list to pay attention to and see evolve and updated over time. With that said, here it is.

S Tier

Hotaru, Kain R. Heinlein, Billy Kane

Unsurprisingly, the darling of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, and the PS2 version of KOF XI is in a good place. Hotaru has everything a top-tier character has and then some: great fireball game (and reflecting them back), best anti-air in the game so far, great juggle and combo strings, and good length footsies and normals that her brother Gato lacks. Even after a few months, she’s probably going to stay within the S and A tier range for a good long while.

The past demo of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves a few months ago showcases Kain at his best: great combos, good keepaway game and mixups, and setting up traps via his Dark Void mines that can double as tools that prolong combos (since you can detonate them manually). He arguably has the highest skill ceiling among the top-tier characters on this list, but he is a beast.

In a twist of fate, Billy Kane is in the top spot due to his far-reaching normals and REV combo potential. He’s been pretty low-tier in past King of Fighter games due to lack of tools, so it’s great to know that the new look means better movesets for mid and close-range, and keepaway gameplay that converts to damaging REV combos. Think of Billy Kane’s upgrade on the tier list like how Dhalsim got buffed in Street Fighter V.

A tier

Hokutomaru, CR7, Gato, Kevin Rian, Rock Howard, Terry Bogard

Hokutomaru is a pure rushdown character with a ton of mixups and even some zoning game to keep players on their toes. Once he deals his damage and gets a huge life lead (which is on par with his burst damage potential), he can always hang back full screen and toss shurikens, waiting for his opponents to make mistakes. He only gets an anti-air when he is in SPG, but that’s probably his only major drawback.

CR7’s magic ball and okizeme tricks with said soccer ball is what puts him here on the high tier.

ronaldo corner throw into meaty low setup + combo (673) #COTW #COTW_CR7 pic.twitter.com/hovunhOjjP

— CyanideExpress (@Cyanide_Express) April 22, 2025

Gato has stubby normals and bad reach, but he still can do a ton of damage with his combos, has plenty of mixups to confuse opponents, and has a ton of utility with his brand-new stance mode that gives him counters, a command throw, and cancel options (if you’re fast enough).

Was looking for a consistent, low cost AA route.

But… I’m not even gonna try and come up with new stuff. Follow @Sometimes_Fendo , I think he cracked the code for Gato’s routes already haha.

Starting to see the vision w/Gato and, he’s super dope ?#CotW#CotW_Gato pic.twitter.com/wkpU1Dc9DM

— KrsJin (@KrsJin) April 21, 2025

Kevin Rian just deals a ton of damage as a big bruiser character compared to the rest of the cast. The game’s REV cancel system just amplifies this further. So much for SNK nerfing him post-Garou: MOTW, huh?

Terry Bogard and Rock Howard will always be in the top half of any tier list because they have main character buff status: they will be the characters new players gravitate towards to learn the game and thus have to be equipped with all tools of a shoto character and then some.

B Tier

Vox Reaper, Kim Dong Hwan, Preecha, B.Jenet, Salvatore

These characters are pretty viable and can dish out a ton of hurt with the REV system. It’s just that they fall a bit short in terms of good normals and utility when compared to the top half of this list.

Having said that, many folks are sleeping on B.Jenet. She lacks a good anti-air, but she makes up for it with everything else: good normals, great REV combos she can mixup with after a hard knockdown, and a pretty damaging counter move that can be put in any string you want.

Kim Dong Hwan is clearly a flashy fighter and may not have the biggest damage with his combos, but his mixups and potential to carry opponents from one end of the corner to the other is nothing to sneeze at.

#COTW #COTW_DONG Useful donghwan tech i found today is that he can always crossup a standing opponent with a hop (which normally isn't possible) scoring some nice high reward mixups. It can even be used to bait reversals as seen sometimes in the following clips. pic.twitter.com/LNkk9q2ner

— NaruKami (@NaruKami73) April 27, 2025

C Tier

Mai Shiranui, Marco Rodrigues

These fighters are lacking some cancelable moves and far-reaching normals to make them go toe-to-toe with the top characters on this list.

D Tier

Tizoc

While it’s still too early to determine Tizoc’s place in the tier list, he currently isn’t the best character to use especially with heavy hitters with better combo routes like Kevin Rian.

After one week, here is my current, early feeling about COTW tiers list.

I'm pretty sure this will change over time, as I get a better understanding of the game.

Keep in my mind that this is my personnal point of view and you can completely disagree with it.#FatalFuryCOTW pic.twitter.com/0eCExvikjd

— frionel @ ??? (@frionel26) April 27, 2025

For more on Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, check out our review.