Grapplers are one of the most established character archetypes in fighting games. While other characters may want to rush their opponent down with fast♕ strikes or zone them out with projectiles, grapplers are all about getting in close for powerful throws. What they lack in range they usually make up for in damage, often able to defeat their opponents with just a few successful grabs—if they have the patience and technique to find an opening.
While grapplers tend to be large🌳r, slower characters, they come in all shapes and sizes, and🍎 when making a list like this, inevitably some popular ones had to be left off. But here are some of the greatest grapplers out there, whose originality and influence have really taken hold of the fighting game community.
10 ♎ Solomon Grundy - Injustice 𒁃
For his appearance in the first 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Injustice, DC’s Solomon Grundy is a grappler whose unique character trait gives him access to a variety of chainable moves. After landing his initial grab, he can branch it off into three separate follow-up throws that also equip him with a different buff, including increased attack power, increased defense, or decreased ch🌺ip damage.
He didn’t return for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Injustice 2, but there's never been a grappler quite like him, and we hope he’ll rise from the dead once again for a future installment.
9 ℱ ▨ Cerebella - Skullgirls
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Skullgirls’ Cerebella is a circus performer and grappler extraordinaire. Her hat, Vice-Versa, is a living weapon she controls to land a variety of dam🌞aging command grabs, and its huge aℱrms also give her better-than-average range on her other attacks. She can also neutralize projectiles, which helps her close the gap on opponents who prefer to keep their distance.
While grapplers sometimes face stiff odds at higher levels of play, Cerebella has good standing on competitive tier lists and is one of Skullgirls' most popular and recognizable faces.
8 Waldstein - Under Night In-Birth 🌸
Waldstein is an enormous character who towers over his fellow cast members in Under Night In-Birth. Despite his beastly appearance, he is a sensitive ally to the game’s protagonists, and he even 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:returns for a guest appearance in another Arc System Works game, Blaz🅷Blue: Cross Tag Battle.
An unconventional take on the grappler concept, Waldstein’s massive gauntlets make him more of a mid-range fighter, despite his emphasis on throws. He is very slow, and his screen-filling presence gives him a gigantic hurtbox. But if you can withstand the pressure of faster opponent🌱s, Waldstein is an exciting reinvention of a classic character type.
7 💟 Tizoc/King Of Dinosaurs - King Of Fighters
This unnamed wrestler sports two personas. In Garou: Mark of the Wolves and earlier 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:King of Fighters games, he is the heroic Tizoc; for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:King of Fighters 15, he ꦉadopts his heel persona, the King of Dinosaurs.
In both identities, he uses grappling moves inspired by professional wrestling, and his dinosaur form can also fight more-or-less the way a dinosaur would, with clawing and biting attacks. (Just what is that costume, anyway?) Even if you don’t normally like grapplers, you can't help but admire his method acting, and getting to take a dinosaur into KOF matches is ridiculous in the best of ways.
6 ✨ Shermie - King Of Fighters
Shermie is a classic KOF grappler who made her first appearance back in KOF ‘97. A clear example of how grapplers 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:don’t have to be big, burly men, she catches foes with her arms or h♐er legs to tossᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ them effortlessly around the stage.
Shermie was originally part of a group trying to awaken the deity Orochi and destroy humanity, and she gets to use her electrokinetic Orochi powers in battle sometimes as well. While she took a breaౠk from the last few KOFs, due to being dead for a while, she has returned by popular demand as one of the stronger ch𓂃aracters in KOF 15.
5 🍎 T. Hawk - Street Fighter
Thunder Hawk was added as a new character in 1993’s Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers, and he continues to enjoy a cult following in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter scene. What sets him apart from most grapplers is his unique air mobility. His Tomahawk Buster can punish an꧑y reckless jump-𒀰ins, and his Condor Dive allows him to swoop in for a throw or deadly cross-up.
T. Hawk has also appeared in the Street Fighter comics and films as well. While he wasn’t in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter 5, his daughter may be playable in SF6, sporting many of the moves her dad m🤡ade famous in earlier games.
4 Iron T𓄧ager - BlazBlue
BlazBlue always knows how to put a twist on established archetypes, and for their grappler Iron Tager, he doesn’t come to you—he brings you to him. Some of Tager’s moves will apply magnetism to your character, and once magnetized, he can pull you toward him to l🃏and extremely damaging grabs and other electric attacks.
Tager is a big, slow target like most grapplers, but he has the highest health of the BlazBlue crew and a lightning-fast projectile that recharges with its own meter. With so many systems in play and tricks up his metal sle🍎eves, he’s one of the most creative grapplers in fighting games.
3 🃏 Potemkin - Guilty Gear
The “walking fortress” Potemkin has been 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Guilty Gear’s resident grappler for over two decades. While he lacks mobility, he&rsꦿquo;s the epitome of a character who may struggle to approach but only needs to land a few successful hits to seal the match.
His signature Potemkin Buster command grab is one of the strongest moves in the series, and he can also create shockwaves to knock opponents off their feet, reflect projectiles back at opponents, and even create an electric barrier projectile for him to advance behind. Back in the '90s, grapplers were still taking a lot of inspiration from professional wrestling, but Potemkin was among the early characters who showed the archetype could still work in more magical and sci-fi-inspired universes.
2 𒁏 ⭕ King - Tekken
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tekken’s iconic Jaguar-masked luchador has been with ℱthe series since the start in 1994. The original King was a Catholic priest who took up wrestling to fund an orphanage, and after his death in Tekken 2, one of his orphans 🍸took up the mask and has assumed the role in all games since.
King’s striking appearance and long-running popularity have made him one of the most important wrestlers in all of fighting games. He can chain his many grabs and holds in complex ways (with a Tekken 7 command list tha❀t contains 180 entries!), and while he’s not easy to learn, skilled King players will be rewarded with incredibly damaging combo potential.
1 𝕴 Zangief - Street Fighter
First appearing as one of the original World Warriors of Street Fighter 2 in 1991, Zangief invented the grappler archetype (with some inspiration from Final Fight’s Mike Haggar), and he’s recognizable even to people who don’t usually play fighting games. Impressively, he has remained relevant and ever-evolving 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:over his long career, and he’s still one of the most used char🥂a✅cters in Street Fighter 5.
Zangief started with a few classic moves, like his Spinning Piledriver, but in the years since he’s also learned a few new skills—including a whirlwind attack that pulls opponents to him. (Could that be an influence from Iron Tager?) Outside the Street Fighter games and media, he has also had cameos in both Wreck-It Ralph movies, and he can train your spirits at his dojo in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.