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Introducing Cerebella:
Cerebella is a "bruiser" who does not inflict very many hits, but packs a powerful punch. Her health stats are second only to Big Band and Squigly. Her attack stats are also second only to Painwheel. She has far fewer abilities than most of the other characters, who are most effective when able to take advantage of combat effects. The abilities she does have celebrate her ability to do enormous chunks of damage.
Character Ability: Balancing Act
- Successfully breaking a throw will make Cerebella's attacker stagger! Use this opportunity to counter attack
1. Harlequin
Rarity: Gold
Element: Fire
ATK (lvl 60): 12,960
HP (lvl 60): 61.7k
FS (lvl 60): 23.8k
SA: Special Attraction
- Special move damage is increased by 20% for all teammates
- Cooldown for special moves is reduced by 35% for all teammates
Initially, HQ doesn't seem like she deserves to be considered the best gold Bella. I mean, all she does is buff special move damage a bit and reduce the cooldowns. These are actually effects that are much more valuable than you think. Specials can have a huge impact on gameplay. Moves such as Egret Call, Chaos Banish, Wulf Shoot, and many more are crucial to gameplay, especially in the late game. HQ is great as offensive support because she can allow fighters to wait for less time for their specials to get off cooldown and, if they do damage, do bonus damage. However, HQ herself can be used to great effect on offense. She has 13k base atk, which is very solid. Being a Cerebella, she has access to meter control not dependent on BBs or debuffs in the form of Center Stage, which is very rare and very strong. Merry Go-rilla and Pummel Horse can both spammed and constantly reduce meter, preventing opponents from ever launching lethal counter attacks. The combined utility of being support and an offensive juggernaut is enough for her to be at the top. She's absolutely worth your time if you have her.
2. Toad Warrior
Rarity: Silver
Element: Wind
ATK (lvl 60): 11,079
HP (lvl 60): 53k
FS (lvl 60): 20.3k
SA: Turbo Tunnel
- Gain 3% blockbuster meter per second while near an opponent
- Deal 50% bonus damage while a blockbuster is fully charged
Out of all the Halloween fighters, Toad Warrior is the strongest one. She gains meter much quicker than most other fighters and all her attacks deal bonus damage while she has a BB at full meter. She has a very damage ceiling, so she can go through mostly any fighter with ease. Despite these perks, she is reliant on meter to a fault. as her damage output tanks a lot if you're denied BB meter. Fighters such as Love Crafted and Regally Blonde should be avoided for this reason. Her damage output is still super solid, she's still got the perks of Center Stage and not very many defensive fighers deny meter, so the whole "reliance on meter" thing isn't the end of the world for her. Not much else to say since she's really straightforward so let's move on.
3. Criminal Mind
Rarity: Gold
Element: Dark
ATK (lvl 60): 12,960
HP (lvl 60): 61.7k
FS (lvl 60): 23.8k
SA: Briar Straits
- Inflict death mark and gain thorns for 10 seconds when either fighter deals at least 10% max health from a single hit
- Opponents are inflicted with bleed for 5 seconds when dashing while suffering from death mark
10% from a single hit is a pretty big ask in late pf streaks, but Criminal Mind is definitely a good one to try this with. She has moves such as MGR and Battle Butt to potentially accomplish this with. Battle Butt inflicts armor break, which boosts her damage output and makes it easier to inflict that 10% for death mark, which also ups her damage when she gets it. The death mark boosts her damage ceiling to potentially be the highest out of all the Cerebellas, but it requires more conditions to fulfill than Toad Warrior or HQ, like some investment in crit rate/damage and landing a single hit that removes 10% of the opponent's hp. The first part about investment into crit stats isn't really an issue. No, her main offensive drawback is that if she's denied the 10% hit (thus denied death mark), her overall damage output suffers a bit. Her bad matchups would be fighters who punish high damage like Dread Locks or a mirror match. Fighters such as Bloodbath or ICU Valentines are also tough while they suffer from death mark. She may be below Toad Warrior, but this is only because her potentially higher damage ceiling requires more conditions to fulfill (even then there isn't really a huge difference between then). She's still got the aforementioned potential for a super high damage ceiling and when combined with Center Stage, she's still a really solid fighter.
Something worth noting about her is that her SA pulls her in 2 directions. IF you intend to use her offensively, investing in tons of atk% and piercing will make it much easier to hit the 10% mark.
4. Heavy Handed
Rarity: Diamond
Element: Fire
ATK (lvl 60): 13,152
HP (lvl 60): 80k
FS (lvl 60): 27.1k
SA: Knuckle Sandwich
- Gain enrage every 0.1 second while charging a charge attack. Enrage is removed after the next hit
- When reaching 5 stacks of enrage, gain unflinching for 10 seconds. Unflinching is removed after the next hit
Coming back to this, I'm not sure why I thought she was so bad. 13k base atk is solid by itself, but she also has unflinching and on-command access to 5 stacks of enrage, which brings her damage up by 100%. Sure, its only for 1 hit, reducing her overall damage output, but she has plenty of high damage, 1 hit moves like MGR, Diamond Drop and DaF. Oh yeah and a MA that reduces meter. You could say just use a BB on her while she has unflinching, but with 80k base hp, she's going to survive. Not to mention that the opponent probably won't ever get to use a BB if you keep reducing their meter. You'll also say you have to use a charge to get it. For starters, her charge is easy to use and there's more 0.5 second opens to take advantage of than you'd think (you're gonna want to charge to miss on purpose anyway). Her only real bad matchups would be Dread Locks or Criminal Mind, both of whom punish high damage, which HH is going to do a lot of. Although HH is much better than given credit for, she's not higher simply because the top 2 gold Bellas have more or less the same attack with arguably better SAs and Toad Warrior is, well, Toad Warrior.
5. Star Spangled
Rarity: Diamond
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 11,175
HP (lvl 60): 88k
FS (lvl 60): 26.4k
SA: Flying High
- Inflict armor break for 15 seconds when either fighter breaks a throw
- 25% chance on hit to inflict stun for 5 seconds if the opponent is suffering armor break and is in the air
For a supposedly offensive Bella, she has relatively low base attack (its actually about average, if not very slightly below average, but let's be real, we would all rejoice if she got a damage buff)
With that being said, she's still got her signature Center Stage combined with very easily inflicted armor break and stun for control, which is pretty nice. Uniquely, she's the only Bella who actually gets use out of Cerecopter, as it both inflicts armor break and keeps opponents in the air to proc her SA2. Armor break is somewhat helpful in boosting damage as well as getting through a decent chunk of defenders since they use armor. Its actually what keeps her from being lower. She's not higher only because of her lower atk stat than the other Bellas.
6. Brain Freeze
Rarity: Gold
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 11,271
HP (lvl 60): 68.6k
FS (lvl 60): 23.2k
SA: Frozen Over
- Attack damage is increased by 3% of your current health
- Damage inflicted by the opponent is reduced by 3% of current combo hit
So, Brain Freeze. Offensively, she's your typical Cerebella with a slight bit of an extra punch from SA1. Her SA1 gradually decreases because even if it isn't much, you're still losing health throughout the fight, so investing in more atk% is encouraged. She'll hit harder against fire fighters, but otherwise she's nothing special (not totally true, but we'll elaborate on that later). She has decent attack but her stats pull her more towards defense.
7. Headstrong
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Light
ATK (lvl 60): 10,522
Hp (lvl 60: 49.9k
FS (lvl 60): 19.2k
SA: Big Break
- Throws have a 50% chance to inflict cripple for 7 seconds
- Also inflict armor break for 7 seconds
Although on paper she doesn't seem too great, she's decently strong for a bronze. The cripple isn't that special, but the armor break is what matters. A lot of moves that Cerebella has count as throws, making it easy to deal extra damage to the opponent through the armor break. Combined with her relatively good damage stat (especially for a bronze) and the marquee that drains meter, she can be decently strong. She works well against mostly any armored defender cause she's easily breaking through their armor. Her primary drawback is her bronze stats. They're great for a bronze, no lie, but without her armor break, she's just not doing enough damage. Which leads into her other weakness: consistency. All the Bellas higher than her have more consistent abilities. 50% is a decent chance sure, but most of Cerebella's throws are single hit, so if it whiffs, her damage suffers.
8. Gray Matter
Rarity: Silver
Element: Dark
ATK (lvl 60): 9,639
HP (lvl 60): 58.8k
FS (lvl 60): 19.9k
SA: Hat Trick
- All teammates start the match with 25% blockbuster meter
- Once per match while Cerebella is alive, all teammates gain 50% blockbuster meter when dropping below 25% health
This one got a rework and while she still isn't anything special, I'd still put her over the remaining Bellas because at least she has some support in the form of starting with more meter. She seems to lean more towards being defensive support, which we'll talk about in a bit. I don't have anything else to talk about with her so let's just move on.
9. Armed Forces
Rarity: Gold
Element: Wind
ATK (lvl 60): 9,581
HP (lvl 60): 75.5k
FS (lvl 60): 22.7k
SA: Diamond Defense
- Getting hit has a 5% chance to grant armor for 10 seconds
- Also gain unflinching for 15 seconds
Her SA provides very little in the way of offensive utility and her atk stat is mediocre. Just know that she has higher atk than a fair amount of defensive fighters, so she's not totally useless if you're forced to attack with her (doesn't say much cause her atk stat still isn't amazing, but its something).
10. Understudy
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 8,295
HP (lvl 60: 50.3k
FS (lvl 60): 17k
SA: Throwdown
- Gain a 50% bonus to throw damage
- Gain armor for 15 seconds when throwing the opponent
When initially compared, Understudy seems better than Headstrong thanks to her increase in flat damage. And while it's not a terrible thing to have, she's weak in later stages of the game, simply because there are quite a few ways to lessen the damage, rendering it somewhat worthless. She's decent in the early stages of the game, but as you progress, she becomes weaker and weaker.
11. Big Top
Rarity: Silver
Element: Light
ATK (lvl 60): 8,218
HP (lvl 60): 64.7k
FS (lv 60): 19.4k
SA: Encore
- Once per match, resurrect with 50% health when defeated
- Resurrect with invincible and unflinching for 6 seconds
She has the lowest attack stat out of all the Cerebella variants, so don't expect her to do well. Understudy at least has increased throw damage, which is better than what she has. She's purely defense based.
PF Defense List
1. Brain Freeze
Remember what I said about her not being special for offense? Well, here's where she shines. She has a solid amount of hp, which gets further increased by the modifiers and her SA2 decreases the overall damage you're dealing to her. She's the bane of every Ms.Fortune. Robo-Fortune, Squigly, Painwheel and Big Band's existence (except for Epic Sax and maybe Purrminator). Even if you use low hit count, high burst damage strats, she's still getting value because she's still reducing damage. She's unique as a defender because typical defenders use methods such as armor to reduce damage taken. She doesn't do this, and this makes things like curse and buff removal useless. Precision and hex are you only options to counter her, but hex is a debuff that isn't always available and very few fighters with precision have the damage to actually kill her with whatever precision stacks are available to them. Bleed can work, but all bleeders still have to inflict hits, so it takes a long time. Defenders are not meant to end fights themselves; they're meant to kill the clock. Brain Freeze does this so well, placing her in number 1. Pair her with a SG and your opponent's going to be in for a rough ride.
2. Armed Forces
Armed Forces has seen better days. Her buffs used to last 5 seconds longer, which is a huge difference. And with only a 5% chance to proc them, I can sort of get why most don't talk about her much anymore. However, I wouldn't count her out that easily. Even without armor, she still has a ton of health. And when she does proc her ability, armor still helps to waste time and unflinching makes her tough to approach, which combines greatly with her CA. She's below BF because she has more counterplay options (tbf, even before the nerf, I'd say Bf was better for the same reason).
3. Criminal Mind
As I said previously, Criminal Mind's ability pulls her in 2 directions. On defense, she's essentially Dread Locks but with more health (not so much more, but more). A single stack of thorns isn't a lot, but she could gain multiple stacks and at that point it really hurts. She punishes high damage. Death mark can also be of some help because it lets teammates chip you down quicker. In late pf streaks, it is a bit harder to land the 10% threshold, but its a lot easier than on offense. Not to mention if she lands the 10% hit it still gives her thorns. However, because thorns is a tangible buff, your typical options such as buff removal and curse will help out. Precision and hex are also good since they render her SA non-existent. Defenders need counters though, so its not like these are going to work against her. What does sort of work against is much lower health than the other defensive Bellas.
4. Heavy Handed
Even though she has no armor, 80k hp is a lot and this gets further increased by modifiers, making her more difficult to kill than you'd think. And charging also grants unflinching, making her dangerous to approach. But it depends completely on the charge. Sometimes the AI won't ever use a charge. Other times it always spams it. Consistency is her one drawback. But for a primarily offensive fighter, she's still decently solid on defense.
5. Big Top
Defenders are meant to waste time. And for a silver, Big Top is pretty good at it. She has a pretty good amount of health, especially for a natural silver. She essentially has 2 life bars because she revives herself with 50% hp. Invincible also helps and unflinching is unflinching. She plays like Last Hope but she's missing what makes Last Hope such an effective time killer: self sustain. She may gain invincibility, but it lasts for a short time, so its easy to wait it out. Curse and buff removal partially help because they prevent invincible and unflinching, but they don't stop her from reviving. That's where precision and hex come in. Inverse polarity can also be useful, but the fighters that inflict it aren't consistent with it (well, Terror Byte is if you can use the nightmare that is Headdrones).
6. Star-Spangled
She has a lot of health, but her SA provides no defensive utility. She's just higher than the remaining Bellas cause she has 88k health, which alone isn't a terrible time killer, but also can't be relied on alone.
7. Gray Matter
She's a decent defensive support. She lets fighters start with more meter and since defenders are going to lose hp, the SA2 can be devastating if you don't kill the opponent after that because it suddenly gives a ton of meter, allowing for retaliation in the form of a BB3. Also she herself could yeet you into oblivion with her own BB3.
8. Harlequin
Harlequin herself isn't a good defender, but she can be slightly useful by reducing the cooldowns on stuff like bursts, which are pretty annoying. Not much else to see here.
9. Toad Warrior
Toad Warrior is squishy for a Bella, making her less than ideal for defense. She does still have the meter gain, so if you don't kill her she could potentially unleash a deadly Diamond Drop, DaF or BB3. Outside of that, she isn't anything to worry about.
10/11. The Bronzes
Do I really need to discuss them?
Cerebella is a "bruiser" who does not inflict very many hits, but packs a powerful punch. Her health stats are second only to Big Band and Squigly. Her attack stats are also second only to Painwheel. She has far fewer abilities than most of the other characters, who are most effective when able to take advantage of combat effects. The abilities she does have celebrate her ability to do enormous chunks of damage.
Character Ability: Balancing Act
- Successfully breaking a throw will make Cerebella's attacker stagger! Use this opportunity to counter attack
1. Harlequin
Rarity: Gold
Element: Fire
ATK (lvl 60): 12,960
HP (lvl 60): 61.7k
FS (lvl 60): 23.8k
SA: Special Attraction
- Special move damage is increased by 20% for all teammates
- Cooldown for special moves is reduced by 35% for all teammates
Initially, HQ doesn't seem like she deserves to be considered the best gold Bella. I mean, all she does is buff special move damage a bit and reduce the cooldowns. These are actually effects that are much more valuable than you think. Specials can have a huge impact on gameplay. Moves such as Egret Call, Chaos Banish, Wulf Shoot, and many more are crucial to gameplay, especially in the late game. HQ is great as offensive support because she can allow fighters to wait for less time for their specials to get off cooldown and, if they do damage, do bonus damage. However, HQ herself can be used to great effect on offense. She has 13k base atk, which is very solid. Being a Cerebella, she has access to meter control not dependent on BBs or debuffs in the form of Center Stage, which is very rare and very strong. Merry Go-rilla and Pummel Horse can both spammed and constantly reduce meter, preventing opponents from ever launching lethal counter attacks. The combined utility of being support and an offensive juggernaut is enough for her to be at the top. She's absolutely worth your time if you have her.
2. Toad Warrior
Rarity: Silver
Element: Wind
ATK (lvl 60): 11,079
HP (lvl 60): 53k
FS (lvl 60): 20.3k
SA: Turbo Tunnel
- Gain 3% blockbuster meter per second while near an opponent
- Deal 50% bonus damage while a blockbuster is fully charged
Out of all the Halloween fighters, Toad Warrior is the strongest one. She gains meter much quicker than most other fighters and all her attacks deal bonus damage while she has a BB at full meter. She has a very damage ceiling, so she can go through mostly any fighter with ease. Despite these perks, she is reliant on meter to a fault. as her damage output tanks a lot if you're denied BB meter. Fighters such as Love Crafted and Regally Blonde should be avoided for this reason. Her damage output is still super solid, she's still got the perks of Center Stage and not very many defensive fighers deny meter, so the whole "reliance on meter" thing isn't the end of the world for her. Not much else to say since she's really straightforward so let's move on.
3. Criminal Mind
Rarity: Gold
Element: Dark
ATK (lvl 60): 12,960
HP (lvl 60): 61.7k
FS (lvl 60): 23.8k
SA: Briar Straits
- Inflict death mark and gain thorns for 10 seconds when either fighter deals at least 10% max health from a single hit
- Opponents are inflicted with bleed for 5 seconds when dashing while suffering from death mark
10% from a single hit is a pretty big ask in late pf streaks, but Criminal Mind is definitely a good one to try this with. She has moves such as MGR and Battle Butt to potentially accomplish this with. Battle Butt inflicts armor break, which boosts her damage output and makes it easier to inflict that 10% for death mark, which also ups her damage when she gets it. The death mark boosts her damage ceiling to potentially be the highest out of all the Cerebellas, but it requires more conditions to fulfill than Toad Warrior or HQ, like some investment in crit rate/damage and landing a single hit that removes 10% of the opponent's hp. The first part about investment into crit stats isn't really an issue. No, her main offensive drawback is that if she's denied the 10% hit (thus denied death mark), her overall damage output suffers a bit. Her bad matchups would be fighters who punish high damage like Dread Locks or a mirror match. Fighters such as Bloodbath or ICU Valentines are also tough while they suffer from death mark. She may be below Toad Warrior, but this is only because her potentially higher damage ceiling requires more conditions to fulfill (even then there isn't really a huge difference between then). She's still got the aforementioned potential for a super high damage ceiling and when combined with Center Stage, she's still a really solid fighter.
Something worth noting about her is that her SA pulls her in 2 directions. IF you intend to use her offensively, investing in tons of atk% and piercing will make it much easier to hit the 10% mark.
4. Heavy Handed
Rarity: Diamond
Element: Fire
ATK (lvl 60): 13,152
HP (lvl 60): 80k
FS (lvl 60): 27.1k
SA: Knuckle Sandwich
- Gain enrage every 0.1 second while charging a charge attack. Enrage is removed after the next hit
- When reaching 5 stacks of enrage, gain unflinching for 10 seconds. Unflinching is removed after the next hit
Coming back to this, I'm not sure why I thought she was so bad. 13k base atk is solid by itself, but she also has unflinching and on-command access to 5 stacks of enrage, which brings her damage up by 100%. Sure, its only for 1 hit, reducing her overall damage output, but she has plenty of high damage, 1 hit moves like MGR, Diamond Drop and DaF. Oh yeah and a MA that reduces meter. You could say just use a BB on her while she has unflinching, but with 80k base hp, she's going to survive. Not to mention that the opponent probably won't ever get to use a BB if you keep reducing their meter. You'll also say you have to use a charge to get it. For starters, her charge is easy to use and there's more 0.5 second opens to take advantage of than you'd think (you're gonna want to charge to miss on purpose anyway). Her only real bad matchups would be Dread Locks or Criminal Mind, both of whom punish high damage, which HH is going to do a lot of. Although HH is much better than given credit for, she's not higher simply because the top 2 gold Bellas have more or less the same attack with arguably better SAs and Toad Warrior is, well, Toad Warrior.
5. Star Spangled
Rarity: Diamond
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 11,175
HP (lvl 60): 88k
FS (lvl 60): 26.4k
SA: Flying High
- Inflict armor break for 15 seconds when either fighter breaks a throw
- 25% chance on hit to inflict stun for 5 seconds if the opponent is suffering armor break and is in the air
For a supposedly offensive Bella, she has relatively low base attack (its actually about average, if not very slightly below average, but let's be real, we would all rejoice if she got a damage buff)
With that being said, she's still got her signature Center Stage combined with very easily inflicted armor break and stun for control, which is pretty nice. Uniquely, she's the only Bella who actually gets use out of Cerecopter, as it both inflicts armor break and keeps opponents in the air to proc her SA2. Armor break is somewhat helpful in boosting damage as well as getting through a decent chunk of defenders since they use armor. Its actually what keeps her from being lower. She's not higher only because of her lower atk stat than the other Bellas.
6. Brain Freeze
Rarity: Gold
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 11,271
HP (lvl 60): 68.6k
FS (lvl 60): 23.2k
SA: Frozen Over
- Attack damage is increased by 3% of your current health
- Damage inflicted by the opponent is reduced by 3% of current combo hit
So, Brain Freeze. Offensively, she's your typical Cerebella with a slight bit of an extra punch from SA1. Her SA1 gradually decreases because even if it isn't much, you're still losing health throughout the fight, so investing in more atk% is encouraged. She'll hit harder against fire fighters, but otherwise she's nothing special (not totally true, but we'll elaborate on that later). She has decent attack but her stats pull her more towards defense.
7. Headstrong
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Light
ATK (lvl 60): 10,522
Hp (lvl 60: 49.9k
FS (lvl 60): 19.2k
SA: Big Break
- Throws have a 50% chance to inflict cripple for 7 seconds
- Also inflict armor break for 7 seconds
Although on paper she doesn't seem too great, she's decently strong for a bronze. The cripple isn't that special, but the armor break is what matters. A lot of moves that Cerebella has count as throws, making it easy to deal extra damage to the opponent through the armor break. Combined with her relatively good damage stat (especially for a bronze) and the marquee that drains meter, she can be decently strong. She works well against mostly any armored defender cause she's easily breaking through their armor. Her primary drawback is her bronze stats. They're great for a bronze, no lie, but without her armor break, she's just not doing enough damage. Which leads into her other weakness: consistency. All the Bellas higher than her have more consistent abilities. 50% is a decent chance sure, but most of Cerebella's throws are single hit, so if it whiffs, her damage suffers.
8. Gray Matter
Rarity: Silver
Element: Dark
ATK (lvl 60): 9,639
HP (lvl 60): 58.8k
FS (lvl 60): 19.9k
SA: Hat Trick
- All teammates start the match with 25% blockbuster meter
- Once per match while Cerebella is alive, all teammates gain 50% blockbuster meter when dropping below 25% health
This one got a rework and while she still isn't anything special, I'd still put her over the remaining Bellas because at least she has some support in the form of starting with more meter. She seems to lean more towards being defensive support, which we'll talk about in a bit. I don't have anything else to talk about with her so let's just move on.
9. Armed Forces
Rarity: Gold
Element: Wind
ATK (lvl 60): 9,581
HP (lvl 60): 75.5k
FS (lvl 60): 22.7k
SA: Diamond Defense
- Getting hit has a 5% chance to grant armor for 10 seconds
- Also gain unflinching for 15 seconds
Her SA provides very little in the way of offensive utility and her atk stat is mediocre. Just know that she has higher atk than a fair amount of defensive fighters, so she's not totally useless if you're forced to attack with her (doesn't say much cause her atk stat still isn't amazing, but its something).
10. Understudy
Rarity: Bronze
Element: Water
ATK (lvl 60): 8,295
HP (lvl 60: 50.3k
FS (lvl 60): 17k
SA: Throwdown
- Gain a 50% bonus to throw damage
- Gain armor for 15 seconds when throwing the opponent
When initially compared, Understudy seems better than Headstrong thanks to her increase in flat damage. And while it's not a terrible thing to have, she's weak in later stages of the game, simply because there are quite a few ways to lessen the damage, rendering it somewhat worthless. She's decent in the early stages of the game, but as you progress, she becomes weaker and weaker.
11. Big Top
Rarity: Silver
Element: Light
ATK (lvl 60): 8,218
HP (lvl 60): 64.7k
FS (lv 60): 19.4k
SA: Encore
- Once per match, resurrect with 50% health when defeated
- Resurrect with invincible and unflinching for 6 seconds
She has the lowest attack stat out of all the Cerebella variants, so don't expect her to do well. Understudy at least has increased throw damage, which is better than what she has. She's purely defense based.
PF Defense List
1. Brain Freeze
Remember what I said about her not being special for offense? Well, here's where she shines. She has a solid amount of hp, which gets further increased by the modifiers and her SA2 decreases the overall damage you're dealing to her. She's the bane of every Ms.Fortune. Robo-Fortune, Squigly, Painwheel and Big Band's existence (except for Epic Sax and maybe Purrminator). Even if you use low hit count, high burst damage strats, she's still getting value because she's still reducing damage. She's unique as a defender because typical defenders use methods such as armor to reduce damage taken. She doesn't do this, and this makes things like curse and buff removal useless. Precision and hex are you only options to counter her, but hex is a debuff that isn't always available and very few fighters with precision have the damage to actually kill her with whatever precision stacks are available to them. Bleed can work, but all bleeders still have to inflict hits, so it takes a long time. Defenders are not meant to end fights themselves; they're meant to kill the clock. Brain Freeze does this so well, placing her in number 1. Pair her with a SG and your opponent's going to be in for a rough ride.
2. Armed Forces
Armed Forces has seen better days. Her buffs used to last 5 seconds longer, which is a huge difference. And with only a 5% chance to proc them, I can sort of get why most don't talk about her much anymore. However, I wouldn't count her out that easily. Even without armor, she still has a ton of health. And when she does proc her ability, armor still helps to waste time and unflinching makes her tough to approach, which combines greatly with her CA. She's below BF because she has more counterplay options (tbf, even before the nerf, I'd say Bf was better for the same reason).
3. Criminal Mind
As I said previously, Criminal Mind's ability pulls her in 2 directions. On defense, she's essentially Dread Locks but with more health (not so much more, but more). A single stack of thorns isn't a lot, but she could gain multiple stacks and at that point it really hurts. She punishes high damage. Death mark can also be of some help because it lets teammates chip you down quicker. In late pf streaks, it is a bit harder to land the 10% threshold, but its a lot easier than on offense. Not to mention if she lands the 10% hit it still gives her thorns. However, because thorns is a tangible buff, your typical options such as buff removal and curse will help out. Precision and hex are also good since they render her SA non-existent. Defenders need counters though, so its not like these are going to work against her. What does sort of work against is much lower health than the other defensive Bellas.
4. Heavy Handed
Even though she has no armor, 80k hp is a lot and this gets further increased by modifiers, making her more difficult to kill than you'd think. And charging also grants unflinching, making her dangerous to approach. But it depends completely on the charge. Sometimes the AI won't ever use a charge. Other times it always spams it. Consistency is her one drawback. But for a primarily offensive fighter, she's still decently solid on defense.
5. Big Top
Defenders are meant to waste time. And for a silver, Big Top is pretty good at it. She has a pretty good amount of health, especially for a natural silver. She essentially has 2 life bars because she revives herself with 50% hp. Invincible also helps and unflinching is unflinching. She plays like Last Hope but she's missing what makes Last Hope such an effective time killer: self sustain. She may gain invincibility, but it lasts for a short time, so its easy to wait it out. Curse and buff removal partially help because they prevent invincible and unflinching, but they don't stop her from reviving. That's where precision and hex come in. Inverse polarity can also be useful, but the fighters that inflict it aren't consistent with it (well, Terror Byte is if you can use the nightmare that is Headdrones).
6. Star-Spangled
She has a lot of health, but her SA provides no defensive utility. She's just higher than the remaining Bellas cause she has 88k health, which alone isn't a terrible time killer, but also can't be relied on alone.
7. Gray Matter
She's a decent defensive support. She lets fighters start with more meter and since defenders are going to lose hp, the SA2 can be devastating if you don't kill the opponent after that because it suddenly gives a ton of meter, allowing for retaliation in the form of a BB3. Also she herself could yeet you into oblivion with her own BB3.
8. Harlequin
Harlequin herself isn't a good defender, but she can be slightly useful by reducing the cooldowns on stuff like bursts, which are pretty annoying. Not much else to see here.
9. Toad Warrior
Toad Warrior is squishy for a Bella, making her less than ideal for defense. She does still have the meter gain, so if you don't kill her she could potentially unleash a deadly Diamond Drop, DaF or BB3. Outside of that, she isn't anything to worry about.
10/11. The Bronzes
Do I really need to discuss them?
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