History Main / HighTierScrappy

*** introduced fighter type classes with powers. They're very powerful classes, attributed to the fact that this 3.5 class book gives the most obvious preview of what would eventually be 4.0 game mechanics. It's a very popular book, but it has become divisive due to a vocal minority who believe the book is overpowered. Even without their maneuvers, the three main classes of the book boast better skill points and in some cases better HD than the classes they're meant to represent, and have a couple features on their own terms - meaning even without their signature maneuvers, they'd still be somewhat viable.\\\

*** As for the big 3, Wizards are Monte Cook's [[CreatorsPet favorite class]], and the incredibly overpowered Clerics and Druids gained the FanNickname [[GameBreaker CoDzilla]] (Cleric or Druid [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} zilla]]) because they can do anything the run requires extremely well. The Druid's ''pet'' is considered better than Fighters, one of the basic classes!

*** Hexblade subclass of Warlock has been criticised for basically being stronger than all other Warlock subclasses. Hexblades get medium armour as standard, a single target hex buff and they add Charisma to attacks and damage - completely negating the multi-attribute dependent drawback that other Warlock subclasses face. And they get all this at ''1st level'', which means for other Charisma-based classes like Sorcerers, Bards and Paladins, a mere one level dip in Hexblade Warlock will see an exponential power increase. It is not uncommon to see [=DMs=] restrict or outright ban the Hexblade because of this.

* Daemons of Chaos and Vampire Counts in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. In the case of the Vampire Counts, the Counts were overpowered but then the Daemons came along and utterly destroyed 7th Edition. It was so bad that there's been some speculation that the Daemons book alone was enough to force Eighth Edition and its changes to Fear and Psychology. The Counts and Daemons are now (Fall 2013) considered "good," not gamebreaker, armies. Skaven, on the other hand, can be a fun army or can have cheap, cheesy tactics sure to make anyone else hate the Skaven player. And it can all change with the next army book or expansion.
** To give some perspective here: if you ranked all the 7e fantasy army books from 1-10, Dark Elves and Vampire Counts were in the 8-9 range, but Daemons were a 17. The majority of armies were completely outclassed by them, and even the previous top-tier books struggled mightily just to put up a fight. A lot of players credit the 7e Demons book with killing the competitive community for Fantasy entirely and causing a lot of people to just quit the game in disgust.

** All discussions of Tiers in ''Warhammer'', whether Fantasy or 40k, probably should mention the edition and time when they were written. For example, the 40K's Orks were briefly a GameBreaker with the infamous Nob Bikerz, but within months a new Imperial Guard codex took them right down. As of early 2012, the Grey Knights are a high-tier scrappy with some awful fluff as far as a large section of the fanbase goes. However, this could change with just one codex rattling the metagame. Likewise, Vampire Counts and Daemons of Chaos lost a lot when Psychology (and their key rules, Fear and Terror) were nerfed in 8th Edition. The Counts are about to get a new Army Book; how this changes their status has yet to be seen.
*** A particular Tier-Induced Scrappy unit was the Dreadknight -- not just because it was rather powerful and the main hitter for a dominant army, but also because of [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120722195651/warhammer40k/images/b/bc/NemesisDreadknight.jpg its looks]], which many players describe as looking less like an awesome HumongousMecha and more like a [[http://i.imgur.com/4eHTQmj.jpg baby carrier.]]
** One problem with Warhammer and 40k is that there simply isn't time to update every Codex within the lifetime of one edition, so, general Army Books and Codexes designed for that particular edition will outperform those that were not. The fairly rigid release schedules also mean that several armies (notably Dark Angels and Bretonnians) end up getting shafted because they are released near the tail-end of an edition.
*** This seems to be changing as Sixth Edition Codex updates have been coming in fast and furious. Between the release of Sixth Edition in Summer 2012 and December 2013, the Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Chaos Daemons, Tau Empire, Eldar, Adeptus Sororitas, and Dark Angels all getting new books. That's about one new full Codex every two and a half months, with armies that received new codices late in Fifth Edition seemingly on the back burner.
*** Should be noted, that what many players believe that what made the late fifth edition armies (namely Grey Knights) this trope was because they were designed with Sixth Edition in mind. Grey Knights went from GameBreaker to fairly balanced.

** As of early 2016, The Tau Empire generates some hatedom, the Imperial Knights generate a bit more, and the Eldar generate plenty for being broken. The Tau have a codex full of good options. In the hands of a ruthless player determined to win, the Tau can be full of cheese, but a less ruthless player can make fun, varied armies out of the codex. The Eldar have a small smattering of completely broken options coupled with an otherwise underwhelming book. This leads to them having very boring, very predictable builds that are about as much fun to play against as smashing headlong into a brick wall. The majority of the Eldar codex is sub par, so the units players actually use are insanely overpowered, and the remainder are underutilized and rarely see any action. The Imperial Knights, consisting of giant super-heavy walkers, would be a wonderful addition if taken sparingly as allies in larger games, but armies consisting of nothing but Imperial Knights show up at low-point games and are virtually impossible to defeat. In casual play, none of these armies are a problem. In tournament play, or when playing against someone who values their victory over any sense of sportsmanship, all three armies can be nightmares.
*** A particularly infamous example for Tau being the notorious "Devilfish Bunker" or "Fish of Fury" tactic, one of the most broken LoopholeAbuse Game Breakers in the history of the game.[[note]]A Devilfish transport used to count as a "skimmer" at all times for the purposes of the rules, and was significantly longer and wider than, say, a Rhino or a Chimera. So, park two close together in a chevron formation, deploy the Fire Warriors behind the chevron and have them shoot from an assault-proof bunker. Your Warriors can shoot from "under" the Fish, but they drop back down and block enemy shooting on their turn. You can't assault around the Fish because they are so big, and Skimmers can only be hit on 6s in close assault if directly targeted. Completely unassailable.[[/note]] The tactic was so dominant and annoying that even many Tau players removed Devilfish transports from their army lists entirely just to distance themselves from the tactic (even though the Tau kind of needed these transports to work, Fire Warriors aren't meant for footslogging).
*** This is in part due to Games Workshop having tossed CompetitiveBalance out the window, at least for now (early 2016). Sister game ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', for example, lists stats for all armies and then does nothing to determine what you can and cannot field in any given game. Such a game cannot be competitively balanced in any way, so only a casual environment can exist. (Basically, players must look at each other's list, figure what makes for an interesting game, guess if it seems fair, and then play.) Warhammer 40,000 has started to go that way with alternative formations that allow broken lists as well as doing in most rules of force organization, but there is still a points limit and active tournament scene, which means non-casual play is always subject to the next big GameBreaker.
*** As of early 2016, some very dull, static, and almost unbeatable Astra Militarum formations can also generate this hatedom, but they see less play and get a bit more of a pass since the Imperial Guard were underdogs for such a long time. Fortunately, the army book does allow many fun builds, so players facing such a formation usually are more annoyed with the Guard player than the Guard themselves.
*** Adding insult to injury, Games Workshop rarely avoids PowerCreep in new Codices, which the fans usually attribute to a desire to sell the army with the new book. The Imperial Knights are a recent addition to the game (2015), and the Tau and Eldar recently received new Codices as of 2016, so of course they're selling well and getting a big push. Unfortunately, plenty of other armies which need some love to shake up the competitive meta aren't getting it.
*** Another really annoying one from 2016 was the "Superfriends" Space Marine list. This abused the allies rules by bringing in special characters that granted bonuses to other units from four or five different Marines armies, which stacked absurd bonuses on everything in the force. This was specifically killed in the next official FAQ release.

* The Tome of Battle for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' introduced fighter type classes with powers. They're very powerful classes, attributed to the fact that this 3.5 class book gives the most obvious preview of what would eventually be 4.0 game mechanics. It's a very popular book, but it has become divisive due to a vocal minority who believe the book is overpowered. Even without their maneuvers, the three main classes of the book boast better skill points and in some cases better HD than the classes they're meant to represent, and have a couple features on their own terms - meaning even without their signature maneuvers, they'd still be somewhat viable.\\

** As for the big 3, Wizards are Monte Cook's [[CreatorsPet favorite class]], and the incredibly overpowered Clerics and Druids gained the FanNickname [[GameBreaker CoDzilla]] (Cleric or Druid [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} zilla]]) because they can do anything the run requires extremely well. The Druid's ''pet'' is considered better than Fighters, one of the basic classes!

** The Sacred Vow Feat chain introduced in ''The Book of Exalted Deeds'' allow for some pretty bonkers characters.

** With 5th Edition, Hexblade Warlock has been criticised for basically rendering all other patronages obsolete. Hexblades get medium armour as standard, a single target hex buff and they add Charisma to attacks and damage - completely negating the MAD issues that other Warlock patronages face. And they get all this at ''1st level'', which means for other Charisma-based classes like Sorcerers, Bards and Paladins, a mere one level dip in Hexblade Warlock will see an exponential power increase.

In other genres than fighting games, such as MOBA or HeroShooter, these high-tiers can also be hated for being extremely difficult to deal with (if you're the enemy) or making the game centered around them and them alone (thus making you feel pointless if they're on your team). And for single-player games, they can be hated for being so powerful that they remove all challenge from the game. In more single-player focused kind of games, they end up disliked for makign the game [[ItsEasySoItSucks too easy to be fun]]. destroying the enemy in seconds can be fun the first few times, but it quickly ceases to be entertaining when you don't even need to play the game to win.

In other genres than fighting games, such as MOBA or HeroShooter, these high-tiers can also be hated for being extremely difficult to deal with (if you're the enemy) or making the game centered around them and them alone (thus making you feel pointless if they're on your team). And for single-player games, they can be hated for being so powerful that they remove all challenge from the game.

** Ken ended up being another character that was overtuned in the early run. He has powerful normals both on the ground and in the air that make it easy to confirm and difficult to keep out. He also supers that are easy to confirm to and have lead to some of the highest combos in the game from any amount of meter or gauge. Both Ken and Luke have become the most used characters in tournaments and he ended up being the character to win EVO in 2023.

** In VideoGame/CallofDutyModernWarfareII, the TAQ-56 (an AKA47 version of the FN Scar-L) and the Vaznev-9K (PP-19 Vityaz) were the meta weapons for ''almost the entire game's lifecycle.'' The TAQ didn't have the best rate of fire or range, but it had low recoil and could lower its number of shots to kill by one with a single head/neck shot, and the Vaznev was the fastest killing full auto weapon in the game at close range. They were a staple of competitive leagues, which contributed to them being overused for most of the time the game was active. High level players constantly complained about those two weapons being the only ones being used at those skill levels thanks to StopHavingFunGuys using them either as a crutch for their bad gunskill or as a way to stomp noobs, and thanks to Infinity Ward's refusal to nerf those guns in meaningful ways, the game struggled to keep its playerbase after Season 2.

** In VideoGame/CallofDutyModernWarfareIII, the MCW [[labelnote:note]]Bushmaster ACR[[/labelnote]] and the Rival-9 [[labelnote:note]]Scorpion Evo III[[/labelnote]] were the guns to become the metagame, to the point where the MCW is the only assault rifle allowed in competitive. The MCW was chosen as the go to for tryhards for similar reasons to the TAQ-56 in the previous game, namely having low recoil and its time to kill lowered by a single head/neck shot. Except, somehow, the MCW manages to have ''even less recoil'', leading to jokes about it being so easy to use that someone without two hands could use it. The Rival-9, on the other hand, has a fast rate of fire and decent range, and even good iron sights compared to most guns in ''MWIII.'' The MCW however was much more overused than the Rival, and repeated attempts to nerf it didn't hamper its usage to the point that in Season 3 Sledgehammer Games gave it the nuclear treatment and ''completely removed its headshot multiplier,'' finally killing it for good. Although, it is likely to be an oversight that will be corrected later, since the patch notes mentioning ''reducing'' the headshot multiplier instead of removing it.

Note: Not every high tier character qualifies for this trope, especially if they're not quite top tier. This trope applies specifically to characters who are notoriously good and have accrued significant backlash for being that good.

*** Perhaps the most infamous in the game, and even the entire series, was [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Phoenix]]. She's a massive GlassCannon that dies to a mild breeze, but thanks to her Dark Phoenix Rising hyper that both resurrects her and gives her permanent buffs for the rest of the match, and Level 3 X-Factor, she became the most overcentralizing character in the game. There was never any reason ''not'' to pick Phoenix, and players either built up 5 bars of hyper and waited until their other two characters died for an easy comeback, or rushed to [[SwitchOutMove snap]] the opponent's Phoenix in and kill her ASAP. Things got so bad that, even at [[UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity EVO]], matches often came down to who got Level 3 Dark Phoenix out first. It didn't take long for both detractors and supporters alike of Marvel 3 to point to her as a symbol of everything wrong with the game. However, after Ultimate rolled around, both Phoenix and X-Factor in general received a few significant nerfs, and people were also increasingly diligent in performing setups that would allow them to kill Phoenix before she got 5 bars, so while still considered a solid character, she's nowhere near as hated as she was in 'Vanilla' Marvel 3.

* ''HighTierScrappy/{{Tekken}}''

*** In ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'', Luke is widely considered to be one of the best characters in season 1. He has it all; a solid projectile, great anti-airs, a strong throw loop, solid damage (meterless or otherwise), and the ease of use to go with it. He also synergizes well with the Drive System, and can spend his Drive Gauge however he sees fit. Luke doesn't have many exploitable weaknesses, so it's just a matter of skill when fighting against a Luke player.
** JP is another one in ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' because he is a zoner that is more typical of VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom or VideoGame/GuiltyGear than of Street Fighter where he fills the screen full of Psycho Power to zone someone out. This fills the screen full of his hitboxes without extending his hurtboxes. This is unlike Dhalsim or Necro, both whose hurtboxes extend when they zone someone out because they extend their limbs to fill the screen with their hitboxes unless Dhalsim is using his fire attacks for zoning.

** In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'', it's ComicBook/{{Cable}} getting slacked for his beam-happiness and perceived scrubbiness, being the easiest to use out of the four [[GameBreaker god tier]] characters. To put it in perspective, ComicBook/{{Storm}}, Sentinel, and ComicBook/{{Magneto}} got on the list by pure accident, whereas Cable was built with the ''[[PurposelyOverpowered intention]]'' of being an above average character, enjoying ridiculous priority and speed on almost all of his moves.

** In ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'', Luke is widely considered to be one of the best characters in season 1. He has it all; a solid projectile, great anti-airs, a strong throw loop, solid damage (meterless or otherwise), and the ease of use to go with it. He also synergizes well with the Drive System, and can spend his Drive Gauge however he sees fit. Luke doesn't have many exploitable weaknesses, so it's just a matter of skill when fighting against a Luke player.

** Luke Sullivan is reviled across ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV: Champion Edition'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' as the biggest high-tier Scrappy in Street Fighter even across multiple games:

*** He has emerged as the strongest fighter in season 1 of ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6''. He deals a lot of damage, is fast, and has few if any known effective weaknesses that other characters can use against him. He is not as broken as he was in ''V'', but that is not much comfort for his opponents. Some pros admit to being pressured to play Luke in order to counter other Luke players.

*** He has emerged as the strongest fighter in season 1 of ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6''. He deals a lot of damage, is fast, and has few if any known effective weaknesses that other characters can use against him. He is not as broken as he was in ''V'', but that is not much comfort for his opponents. Some pros admit to being pressured to playing Luke in order to counter other Luke players.