Competitive Balance

Competitive Balance is the idea wherein each archetype has to be roughly equally powerful; otherwise, there will be problems with tier lists. For each advantage, each character will have a disadvantage.
== Types of Competitive Balance ==
=== Direct Foils ===
Some characters are defined by their imbalance and have a direct foil to go with them.
==== Range ====
* A Close-Range Combatant is a character who is powerful up close, but useless at a long range. The polar opposite is the Long-Range Combatant.
* A Long-Range Combatant is a character who is powerful at a long range, but vulnerable up close. The polar opposite is the Close-Range Combatant.
==== Weight ====
* A Fragile Speedster is a character who is light, but speedy. The polar opposite is the Mighty Glacier, and a variant is the Acrofatic.
** An Acrofatic is a character that looks heavy, but is light on their feet. The polar opposite is the Glacier Waif.
* A Mighty Glacier is a character who is heavy, but sluggish. The polar opposite is the Fragile Speedster, and two variants are the Glacier Waif and the Damage-Sponge Boss.
** A Glacier Waif is a character that looks light, but lands heavy. The polar opposite is the Acrofatic.
** A Damage-Sponge Boss is a boss that relies on more on high attack and defense than new testing of the player's skill.
==== Offense/Defense ====
* A Glass Cannon is a character who can deal a lot of damage, but can't take too much damage. The polar opposite is the Stone Wall, and a variant is the Rush Boss.
** A Rush Boss is a boss that can take you out quickly, but can fall just as quickly. The polar opposite is the Marathon Boss.
* A Stone Wall is a character who can deal a lot of damage, but can barely deal any damage at all. The polar opposite is the Glass Cannon, and a variant is the Marathon Boss.
** A Marathon Boss is a boss fight that tests your endurance. The polar opposite is the Rush Boss.
==== Special Abilities ====
* A Magically Inept Fighter is someone who is physically strong but barely has any magical ability. They can either be Resistant to Magic, Weak to Magic, or a Mage Killer. The polar opposite is the Squishy Wizard.
* A Squishy Wizard is someone who uses magic, items, or special skills, but is weak without them. They can either be a Black Mage, a White Mage, or a Red Mage.
* A Magic Knight or a Kung-Fu Wizard is someone who serves as the middle ground between the Magically Inept Fighter and the Squishy Wizard.
==== Growth Potential ====
* Someone who has Magikarp Power starts off weak, but becomes exponentially stronger. The polar opposite is the Crutch Character.
* A Crutch Character is someone who starts off strong, but has diminishing returns. The polar opposite is Magikarp Power.
==== Overall Effectiveness ====
* A Joke Character is someone who is deliberately ineffective and mainly exists for humor. However, they may have an exploitable gimmick that turns them into a Lethal Joke Character to be viable. The polar opposite is the Lightning Bruiser.
* A Lightning Bruiser is someone who is fast, powerful, and sturdy. However, they may have some gimmick or drawback to prevent them from being a Game-Breaker or SNK Boss. The polar opposite is the Joke Character.
==== Overall Balance ====
* A Jack of All Stats is someone whose stats are more or less balanced. They can either be a Master of None or a Master of All. The polar opposite is Crippling Overspecialization.
** A Master of None is a generalist who can't keep up with specialists. The polar opposite is the Master of All.
** A Master of All is a generalist who renders specialists redundant. The polar opposite is the Master of None.
* Crippling Overspecialization is when someone is excellent in one thing, but awful at everything else. This happens when any one of the above gets out of hand. The polar opposite is the Jack of All Stats.
=== Indirect Foils ===
There are other ways to balance the competitive scene without a direct foil.
* A character who is Armored But Frail has low HP, but covers it with very high defenses.
* A character who has Confusion Fu relies on unpredictability to win.
== Examples of Competitive Balance ==
=== Lightning Bruisers ===
* Dreamy Bowser has great speed, weight, acceleration, traction, and drift in Hammer Bro Surfers: Gravity Defiers, allowing him to absolutely dominate the tracks. However, he has poor handling, off-road, and mini-turbo.
* Jaguars, while smaller than lions and tigers, are stronger pound-for-pound while also being the third largest cat on Earth. As such, they have the strongest relative bite force, enough to crunch on skulls and turtle shells. Additionally, they can run at speeds of 50 to 65 miles per hour (80.4672 to 104.60736 kilometers per hour) and jump at a height of 10 feet (3.048 meters) and a distance of 20 feet (6.096 meters).
Category:Tropes
Category:Competitive Balance