A Painwheel Tier List (that is subject to change)

[theLoneskull]

(*Disclaimer* - The Grim Fan variant will NOT be on this list as I do not have enough knowledge on that variant at this time to reliably place here).

Character Ability: Flight Risk
Description: Swipe up twice and Painwheel will take flight! While flying, Painwheel will EVADE some attacks and can rain death from above

No.1: Buzzkill (relic exclusive)
Rarity: Gold
Element: Wind
Atk (at lvl 50): 6723
Hp (at lvl 50): 19.3k
Max FS: 10.2k
Signature Ability: Hemorrhage
- 10% chance on hit to inflict heavy bleed for 10 seconds
-Gain a permanent enrage when an opponent's health drops below 25%

Ignoring the fact Raw Nerv doesn't get OHKO'd by Harlequin and has slightly higher hp, Buzzkill has the 3rd best dps in the game and a better SA than Raw Nerv. She's a less masochist Blood Drive and is therefore, far less risky to play. As a true glass cannon, Buzzkill does a wonderful job when it comes to ripping through your opponents' team. Especially if you buff the right stats (*cough* attack *cough*). In later streaks, Buzzkill can also be quite helpful because not only will she still be doing quite a bit of dmg, but she'll inflcit heavy bleed, which will come in handy when time is your enemy and every ounce of dmg counts. This combination of traits makes her not only one of the best winds, but also one of the best fighters in general.

No 2: Raw Nerv
Rarity: Gold
Element: Dark
Atk (at lvl 50): 5848
Hp (at lvl 50): 21.4k
Max FS: 9629
Signature Ability: Death's Door
- Gain a permanent enrage when falling below 25% hp
- Gain a permanent haste when falling below 50% hp

Speaking of Raw Nerv, here she is. Raw Nerv as a fighter is one of the weaker golds. Her atk is still pretty good (and she doesn't get OHKO'd by Harlequin unlike SOMEONE), but she has a SA which involves basically being dead and considering her lackluster hp, she can be killed very easily and will most likely not have a chance to reap the benefits of her permanent haste and enrage.

No.3: Blood Drive
Rarity: Silver
Element: Fire
Atk (at lvl 50 as gold): 5022
Hp (at lvl 50 as gold): 18.4k
Max FS (as gold): 8262
Signature Ability: Tranfusion
- 10% chance on hit to inflict bleed on self and heavy bleed on opponent for 10 seconds
- Also gain enrage for 6 seconds for every bleed effect applied to Painwheel

Blood Drive Painwheel is by far the most masochist fighter in this game. Though Blood Drive is one of the best silvers, she has the lackluster hp Painwheel is known for, but the same devastating dmg. Unlike Scarlet Viper Eliza (who I'll discuss another time), Blood Drive is unable to heal herself through any means.. She is a high risk, high reward fighter. If you can manage her well enough, her bleed and enrage will do wonders (especialy in later prize fight streaks). Otherwise maybe look for someone else, as she will die very quick.

No.4: Rage Appropriate
Rarity: Silver
Element: Water
Atk (at lvl 50 as gold): 4261
Hp (at lvl 50 as gold): 20.2k
Max FS (as gold): 7795
Signature Ability: Thin Skinned
- Gain permanent enrage each time an opponent's attack does more than 10% total hp
- Once per match, gain heavy regen AND 2 stacks of armor for 10 seconds when falling below 50% hp*

Didn't see this coming? Neither did I. Rage Appropriate is receiving a buff to her SA, which may make her useful now. Despite not quite having the same dmg that characterizes Painwheel, she can do quite a bit of dmg with the enrages (as they can stack). And given her SA buff, she may survive long enough to make use of the enrages she gains.

No.5: Firefly
Rarity: Gold
Element: Fire
Atk (at lvl 50): 4974
Hp (at lvl 50): 23.6k
Max FS: 9103
Signature Ability: Serenity
- When blocking below 50% hp, gain 8% health per second
- Also gain 8% BB meter per second

Poor Firefly. She may have more hp than the rest of her brethren, but her atk is somewhat lacking in comparison to her brethren, making her harder to use in later pf streaks. Her SA might sound good on paper, but it only seems to work when she's not being hit while blocking. Therefore an aggresive A.I can keep her from recovering using her SA. Her SA can also be interrupted by throws. Overall, Firefly is just lacking in comparison to other Painwheel variants. Despite all this, she can still be useful given a good situation. Though she's still not worth as much in terms of investment compared to Buzzkill or some of the other golds added in the same update as Firefly, such as Dragon Brawler, SG, or Ultraviolent (who will all also be discussed in the future).

No.6: Twisted Mettle
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Water
Atk (at lvl 50 as gold): 4034
Hp (at lvl 50 as gold): 19k
Max FS (as gold): 7368
Signature Ability: Cutting Edge*
- When suffering a critical hit, inflict bleed for 10 seconds
- 50% chance on hit to inflict bleed for 3 seconds if opponent has bleed

Twisted Mettle is one of the better bronzes and is worth evolving to silver, but she shouldn't go past that point. Her dmg is good, and she can do some reliable dmg with her SA, but her hp is lackluster and she can be killed quickly. Twisted Mettle also basically does not have a SA until she has received a critical hit or if a bleed effect is already on her opponent (i.e. through the Evil Presence or Hemofilia modifiers). Lastly, when evolved and compared to other evolved gold fighters, her stats become mediocre. I don't encourage evolving her to gold.

No.7: Rusty
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Light
Atk (at lvl 50 as gold): 4309
Hp (at lvl 50 as gold): 15.7k
Max FS (as gold): 7087
Signature Ability: Bleed For Me
- 10% chance on hit to inflict bleed for 3 seconds
- Also convert 3 of the opponent's buffs into bleed

There isn't a whole lot to say about this variant. She is worth evolving to silver, but again, do not go past that. She has the good dmg and lackluster hp of a Painwheel. However, her SA is mostly dependent on love from RNG, as it has a low chance of activating and the bleed she inflicts doesn't last very long at all. Her stats when compared to other evolved golds are also mediocre.

*Rage Appropriate's placement on this list (and her SA) is as of the 2.5 update. However, because it has not actually dropped yet, how it'll play out is uncertain and her position is therefore subject to change.

 

[Zuzuska]

No.6: Twisted Mettle
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Water
Atk (at lvl 50 as gold): 4034
Hp (at lvl 50 as gold): 19k
Max FS (as gold): 7368
Signature Ability: Cutting Edge*
- When suffering a critical hit, inflict bleed for 10 seconds
- 50% chance on hit to inflict bleed for 3 seconds if opponent has bleed

Twisted Mettle is one of the better bronzes and is worth evolving to silver, but she shouldn't go past that point. Her dmg is good, and she can do some reliable dmg with her SA, but her hp is lackluster and she can be killed quickly. Twisted Mettle also basically does not have a SA until she has received a critical hit or if a bleed effect is already on her opponent (i.e. through the Evil Presence or Hemofilia modifiers). Lastly, when evolved and compared to other evolved gold fighters, her stats become mediocre. I don't encourage evolving her to gold.

Lovely list, I contest the idea of Mettle being so low on the list though. IMO I would place her higher than Firefly; Firefly is pretty dang good at timing herself out, or getting herself killed. Mettle can apply a stack of bleed via Death Crawl, and it can quickly grow to 5x stacks. She does have that massive niche in certain PFs, and Death Crawl also recharges relatively quickly due to being a BB1. She's capable of quick bursts that involve 5x bleed and has alot of potential in the right hands.

 

[theLoneskull]

Lovely list, I contest the idea of Mettle being so low on the list though. IMO I would place her higher than Firefly; Firefly is pretty dang good at timing herself out, or getting herself killed. Mettle can apply a stack of bleed via Death Crawl, and it can quickly grow to 5x stacks. She does have that massive niche in certain PFs, and Death Crawl also recharges relatively quickly due to being a BB1. She's capable of quick bursts that involve 5x bleed and has alot of potential in the right hands.

The list is partially my personal opinion, which is why Twisted Mettle's so low. I can see your reason for defending her tho.

 

[Dr_cpt.]

Quick question, could painwheel always perform a grab from flight risk? I just had a buzzkill swoop down upon my blood drive like death from above and it totally caught me by surprise. Granted I never really use flight risk (because well... it's kinda risky), so the option could have always existed and I'm just now learning about it because of the improved AI.

And just to keep things more on topic. Could Raw Nerve's usefulness surpass buzzkills with support from SG Valentine (+ICU)? I'd imagine stimpack would make it pretty easy to stack enrages and Raw Nerve seems to benefit a lot from the safety net that ICU provides.

 

[Fel]

Quick question, could painwheel always perform a grab from flight risk? I just had a buzzkill swoop down upon my blood drive like death from above and it totally caught me by surprise. Granted I never really use flight risk (because well... it's kinda risky), so the option could have always existed and I'm just now learning about it because of the improved AI.

And just to keep things more on topic. Could Raw Nerve's usefulness surpass buzzkills with support from SG Valentine (+ICU)? I'd imagine stimpack would make it pretty easy to stack enrages and Raw Nerve seems to benefit a lot from the safety net that ICU provides.

You have three options out of flight: dash, jab and grab.

 

[Ryouhi]

I'd personally argue BD being better than RN on the basis that one proc of her SA will put her Atk over Raw Nerve's.
While her SA will bleed herself, she also gets higher damage, while Raw Nerve needs to be close to dead for hers to activate in the first place.

Though that may also be my own bias

 

[theLoneskull]

Quick question, could painwheel always perform a grab from flight risk? I just had a buzzkill swoop down upon my blood drive like death from above and it totally caught me by surprise. Granted I never really use flight risk (because well... it's kinda risky), so the option could have always existed and I'm just now learning about it because of the improved AI.

And just to keep things more on topic. Could Raw Nerve's usefulness surpass buzzkills with support from SG Valentine (+ICU)? I'd imagine stimpack would make it pretty easy to stack enrages and Raw Nerve seems to benefit a lot from the safety net that ICU provides.

With SG Val backing her up, I suppose Raw Nerv could be more useful. But Buzzkill does more dmg, inflicts a heavy bleed, and doesn't have to almost be dead for enrage. The only real advantage Raw Nerv would have is the haste. So to answer the question, compared to Buzzkill, Raw Nerv wouldn't be more useful with SG backup. But overall, yeah she would be.

 

[theLoneskull]

I'd personally argue BD being better than RN on the basis that one proc of her SA will put her Atk over Raw Nerve's.
While her SA will bleed herself, she also gets higher damage, while Raw Nerve needs to be close to dead for hers to activate in the first place.

Though that may also be my own bias

While I am aware that Blood Drive would eventually surpass Raw Nerv in atk because of SA2, overall Raw Nerv is still better. Yes, both are somewhat committing suicide with their SAs. But Raw Nerv has overall better stats and can be backed up by either Last Hope or SG Val. Blood Drive will eventually die no matter what and for the most part, can't be backed up by a healer. Unless you want her SA to not work.

 

[ar13]

Quick question, could painwheel always perform a grab from flight risk? I just had a buzzkill swoop down upon my blood drive like death from above and it totally caught me by surprise. Granted I never really use flight risk (because well... it's kinda risky), so the option could have always existed and I'm just now learning about it because of the improved AI.

And just to keep things more on topic. Could Raw Nerve's usefulness surpass buzzkills with support from SG Valentine (+ICU)? I'd imagine stimpack would make it pretty easy to stack enrages and Raw Nerve seems to benefit a lot from the safety net that ICU provides.

The fun thing about grab from flight risk is the opponent doesn't appear to be able to throw break from it.