JackieChan – 95
Spoiler
Jackie is the best player to touch this game in NA mostly because his knowledge of dueling vastly surpassed everyone else’s when he came here from EU. Us NA plebs had been dicking around with stuns and feints and were good, but there was no understanding of it. We started to really master the game mechanics shortly after Jackie came and taught most of us. I remember facing him in the 3rd duel tournament and he was hitting me with stun kicks and block chambers, a tactic I hadn’t seen anyone really utilize extensively up until that point. This tournament was retarded and was only ft4, and I ended up losing 3-4. Maybe given more time I would have beaten Jackie in a ft7, but for someone I’d never dueled before he was really fucking good. Unfortunately, I left the game shortly after Jackie came to NA so I never truly got to compare myself to him, but I think it would have been an interesting matchup. Anyways, Jackie has raw talent and high game IQ. He dominated the game longer than anybody else and definitely deserves the top spot.
Tammo – 94
Spoiler
Tammo was my best bud in the 2nd QF. We were constantly dueling each other, coming up with new moves, and going back and forth over who was better than the other. Tammo was a fantastic groupfighter, though we threw in that one 2v2 tournament, and one of the best duelists in the game. In our public linebattles with the 2nd QF I remember Tammo throwing down massive clutches against the noobs who had no idea how to block. Those were the days… Tammo dominated the game alongside Jackie and was an all around great dude to be around. He deserves the second spot.
AsianP – 93
Spoiler
AsianP has maintained a high level of consistency throughout his NW career. He’s always been a great groupfighter, a great duelist, and a great leader. In the old gen days he didn’t achieve a whole lot of success, and for that I would dock him a point from a 94 to a 93. Nevertheless, he’s undoubtedly a phenomenal player now. Or at least a year ago when he still played somewhat consistently.
RitZ - 91
Spoiler
RitZ (a.k.a. Zach a.k.a. Big Z) is definitely on par with AsianP in how long he’s played and how much better he’s gotten since the beginning. I remember I was super surprised at how good Zach had gotten when I came back to the game because he was such a scrub when I left. From what I’ve witnessed, his dueling skills are pretty good and he’s one of the best stun kickers in the game. His game knowledge is some of the best I’ve ever seen (on par with Godfreid, Jackie, AsianP).
Russianfury – 91
Spoiler
Russian is the opposite of Godfreid. He has the highest groupfighting IQ of any player I’ve played with in my career. He has dominated the modern groupfighting scene longer than anyone else that still plays. As a duelist he is somewhere below peak Pinoy near Runepkyz and above Waste. As much as I make fun of him for not being able to, he can chamber and he can stun kick. He’s also got some pretty great feints. He’s also one of the best leaders in 1v1s I’ve ever played with - near Breaches. He and Waste deserve a spot in the top 90s for all-time leading.
Godfreid – 91
Spoiler
Godfreid is hands down the best duelist I’ve faced in the game. He has dominated consistently in dueling longer than anyone else. His knowledge of the game is extremely high and he might have the highest game IQ of anyone I’ve talked to mostly because he actually thinks about it and tests mechanics. The reason I would take points away from Godfreid is because his groupfighting skill lags behind his dueling skill. Godfreid rarely top frags, but to be fair frags are definitely not everything in a groupfight. He is still a good asset to have in groupfight as a support player. His strengths are pulling one side and surviving because he plays so defensively, but against an intelligent team, he will get locked down. What I’ve witnessed directly from watching Godfreid groupfight is that he is on par with players like Sleek or Theodin.
Havoc -
Spoiler
The people can decide what to make of me.
Ghost – 91
Spoiler
Ghost was moving up in the game in 2013 and obviously has since become one of the best players in the game through consistent playing. I never saw him at his peak, but I have a good idea based on his trajectory between when I last played with him in 2013 and when I last played with him when he came back for a bit in 2017. Really high game IQ and immense skill at the game after so much time played.
Billthebutcher – 91
Spoiler
Bill from the segment of his prime that I’ve witnessed is a phenomenal fragger in groupfights and a really strong duelist. He has extremely good upstab footlances, fantastic quick up-down feints, and really effective block chambers. However, he can’t clutch for his life and his skill diminishes as soon as you put someone who knows how to block footlances in his way or his teammates die. Moreover, Bill’s skill in the game has diminished and from my perspective his dominance was in part due to the lower skill of the community he played against. Nevertheless, Bill deserves a spot in the top 90s due to that level of dominance he showed for a period of time.
Lithios – 90
Spoiler
Lithios was one of the best groupfighters I faced in my time. He was extremely dominant and mastered the art of clutching 1v2s, 1v3s, and 1v4s. His dueling was also pretty strong, but again he never found a whole lot of success in that arena. I am pretty sure he won some tournaments with the 9y or 1stFKI crew but I may be misremembering. His career was also somewhat short-lived. Had he played longer, he would be way up there.
Pointblank – 89
Spoiler
Pointblank is very similar in ability to Lithios. I remember him being a serious contender in duel tourney's but he never found success. He was a great groupfighter but not as good as someone like Lithios.
Maple - 89
Spoiler
I wasn’t around when Maple started playing. When I first came back to the game, Maple was the first guy to I trained with to get back into dueling. I think I missed Maple’s peak and I’ve only really witnessed his decline as I was beating him in ft7s on day one I got back. His groupfighting skills are good at times, and poor at others. He’s a fairly good mid-player when he’s hot, but most other times he’s too much of a duel hero to make an impact. Because I presumably haven’t seen him at his peak, I rate him an 89.
Suns - 88
Spoiler
Really good duelist. Great stun kicks and swing stabs. Strong downstab groupfighter. I’d say he has fallen off recently and doesn’t match his previous skill level from about 8 months ago when he was at the top of his game. I’d rate him an 88 if not for his previous performance level.
Yoshie – 88
Spoiler
I don’t know why Yoshie is so underrated on this list. Yes he is a new gen but he's pretty damn good for one. He’s got a really high groupfighting IQ and is sweaty enough to study EU groupfight videos. He’s had some massive carries I’ve only seen players like Bill, Russian, and AsianP put up. He’s also a pretty decent duelist. Definitely better than Waste and maybe on par with someone like Runepkyz.
Colonys22 - 88
Spoiler
Colonys was one of the youngest players to be good at the game back in the day. He was useful to have on a groupfighting team, but never a carry until more recent times. He won a duel tournament that no one showed up to, but he was never a phenomenal duelist, and he is much better with a sword. His duel skill is similar to a player like Mathias, Runepkyz, or Waste (on Waste’s good days).
Kovy - 88
Spoiler
Kovy is a really strong duelist and a great groupfighter. He’s near Runepkyz in groupfighting skill and slightly better in dueling skill than a player like NickCole.
DjOverjoy – 88
Spoiler
Dj is a great groupfighter, on par with players like Kovy and Pinoy. His holds and camera-play are really effective at getting players to miss their blocks. Great teammate to work with and smart groupfighting mind. I’d be tempted to push him to an 89 but his dueling skill is slightly below Kovy and Pinoy’s from their primes.
Pinoy – 88
Spoiler
Pinoy was one of the best groupfighters in the game at a certain point, but he’s since lost it quite a bit. He was a pretty strong duelist last time I played against him but he rarely duels anymore. Really close to Maple in duel skill and slightly better than Runepkyz.
Coconut – 87
Spoiler
Coconut joined the 12th and was a good player. He was on a lot of 12th groupfighting teams and got a lot of groupfighting titles to his name because of that, however he was never a carry. He never had much dueling success from the tournaments I’ve looked at. Perhaps he improved in ability in 2014- but I never saw it.
"He was a genius at the game. Knew it better than anyone else" - Theodin
Rafael – 87
Spoiler
Raf is a really strong player and a great patient duelist. His stuns and swing stabs are really strong. He’s an impactful groupfighter at moments where he’s hot. He is similar to Suns in that his skill level has diminished as he plays less.
Hellomoto – 87
Spoiler
I’d definitely say Moto is on par with a player like Coconut. Maybe slightly better. He’s got really good stun chambers at least when I throw him an easy stab. He’s a pain in the ass when I face him in groupfights and a really good teammate. Definitely has the ability to be a really dominant player if he was a tryhard.
Achilles - 86
Spoiler
He was a pretty decent groupfighter from what little I saw. He’s probably near Coconut.
Runepkyz – 86
Spoiler
Really good gfer and decent duelist. Ever so slightly lower in skill than someone like Hellomoto.
Mathias – 86
Spoiler
I’d saw he’s very similar in skill level to Coconut. I believe he won one of those empty duel tournaments as well. I’d rate him the same as Coconut.
Breaches - 86
Spoiler
Breaches was really good at the leading aspect but never that outstanding at the game except when he was 2v2ing with Zorkoth. Phenomenal teamwork in that scenario.
Fireboy – 86
Spoiler
Definitely on par with a player like Rafael in group fighting but as a duelist he is not good.
Tico – 86
Spoiler
Tico has always been a good player. He’s a strong duelist with good stun chambers. Very similar in skill to a player like Hellomoto.
Puppytron - 86
Spoiler
Pretty good but would be much better if he ever tried.
Zorkoth – 86
Spoiler
He was pretty good, cmon guys. At least as good as someone like Puppytron.
Vortex – 85
Spoiler
Solid all-around player.
Sleek - 85
Spoiler
Blocking a lot can only get you so far
Anthony – 85
Spoiler
Anthony is a really good duelist from what I’ve experienced in the short span of time I played with him. He’s also a good groupfighter but blocks way too much.
Silentman – 85
Spoiler
If Silentman is on this list then Bot should be too. Silentman was a fantastic groupfighter on public servers, though he never really participated in competitive tournaments. He is a relic of what the community used to be like back in 2012-2013, where even the randoms were really fucking good at the game. His career was short-lived and quiet. (He was good but you can’t rate him that high lol)
Serpenta – 85
Spoiler
Serpenta was really OP for a really short period of time.
Steven – 84
Spoiler
Really good feint chambers. I don’t hear much about 63e players. Maybe he’d be better if he played with the other kids.
Maccle – 83
Spoiler
Gets carried all the time.
Who- 83
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Based on everything I saw I’d give him an 83. Maybe he got better.
Monty – 83
Spoiler
The guy who got me to play this game… I’d bump him up at least a bit. He didn’t play that long but as a duelist he was pretty well known for his Michael J. Fox feints. Back when feinting was much more effective he was a pretty strong duelist. We didn’t groupfight much back then and I can’t remember much about 1v1 frags so that’s all I got.
