Injustice 2: tier list and base character stats ranked for the full roster

Guide by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor

Published on May 22, 2017

Health, strength, ability and defense. Who is best? We get to ranking them.

Like any good fighting game, Injustice 2 is all about balance. Not even a hefty focus on single-player content, unlockable loot and levelling characters up can dilute or change that, and beyond all the loot box gear unlocks and the like sits a basic fighting game that the developers have sought to balance: those are the base stats for each character.

While you can massage stats with equipment to change a character to be more to your liking, you have the option of playing without these effects for a more traditional and pure fighting game experience. These stats can be illuminating, as while characters fit into one of a few basic categories it'll give you an idea of what they're good at. The four stats for each character are:

Strength (STR), which governs the power of a character's normal attacks.
Ability (ABL), which dtermines how powerful special attacks are.
Defense (DEF), which helps to decide how much chip damage you take when blocking
Health/Hit Points (HP), which decides exactly how much punishment you can take before being KOed

Given that Netherealm Studios has strived for balance in the development in the game it's difficult to call right now if there'll be an outright best, top tier character. We can use the base stats to arrange characters into tiers and rankings based on these four key areas of the game, however - so we've done just that. All these stats are in the game, of course, but it's a heck of a lot easier to see everything listed and ranked on one handy page. Let's get stuck in, shall we?

Injustice 2: Highest Strength Characters

Each character's strength (STR) stat determines how much damage they do at a basic level with normal attacks. Gear can enhance or boost these stats, but the base stats represent a starting point and the stats for gear-free tournament play.

1250 STR: Top Tier strength fighters

Atrocitus
Bane
Darkseid
Gorilla Grodd
Scarecrow

1150 strength fighters

Aquaman
Black Adam
Brainiac
Firestorm
Green Lantern
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

1100 strength fighters

Black Canary
Blue Beetle
Cheetah
Flash
Robin

1050 strength fighters

Batman
Captain Cold
Catwoman
Cyborg
Deadshot
Doctor Fate
Green Arrow
Harley Quinn
Joker
Poison Ivy
Supergirl

Injustice 2: Highest Ability Characters

The ability (ABL) stat in Injustice 2 is used to figure out how much damage special attacks do with any given character. As with other stats, gear can adjust these figures, but the base stats are used in tournament play and are the starting point.

1150 ability fighters: the top tier

Aquaman
Atrocitus
Bane
Batman
Black Adam
Black Canary
Blue Beetle
Brainiac
Captain Cold
Catwoman
Cheetah

1100 ability fighters

Cyborg
Darkseid
Deadshot
Doctor Fate
Firestorm

1050 ability fighters

Flash
Gorilla Grodd
Green Arrow
Green Lantern
Harley Quinn
Joker
Poison Ivy
Robin

1000 ability fighters

Scarecrow

950 ability fighters

Supergirl
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

Injustice 2: highest defense characters

The defense (DEF) stat helps to determine how much damage you take while blocking. These stats are the base and tournament levels, and can of course be boosted by gear.

1000 defense fighters: top tier blockers

Aquaman
Black Adam
Brainiac
Cyborg
Firestorm
Green Lantern
Supergirl
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

950 defense fighters

Black Canary
Blue Beetle
Cheetah
Flash
Robin

900 defense fighters

Atrocitus
Bane
Batman
Captain Cold
Catwoman
Deadshot
Doctor Fate
Gorilla Grodd
Green Arrow
Harley Quinn
Joker
Poison Ivy
Scarecrow

800 defense fighters

Darksied

Injustice 2: highest health characters

Health is pretty self-explanatory, really - the more health/hit points (HP) you have, the more hits you'll be able to endure from enemies before being knocked out and losing a round. Gear can raise this stat as with any other, but below are the tournament and starting levels.