Top 10 OP video game characters

The fact that freshly released characters in video games sometimes tend to be too strong is nothing new. However, what the developers ultimately do with the nerf often decides the character’s future. Is the character balanced or even too weak? Most of the time, game developers get it right. But what if they don’t?

We’ve all had to play against characters that just felt unfair to play against. Today we present you the top 10 most overpowered, broken characters in video games.

10. Monkey King (Dota2)

Every moba has balancing issues when a new champion is released. Dota2 is no exception. Monkey King provides some perfect insights for that. The champion not only had incredible numbers in terms of his kit. Items also made him a champion you just didn’t want to see on your opponent’s team. His one ability gave him crit damage per level, which already made him extremely broken. On top of that came his Ultimate ability, where he could summon multiple Monkey King clones. Each of these clones was able to trigger effects of items. So was the effect of Skull Basher, which gave him and each clone a 25% chance to stun. A broker champion combined with an item that makes him even more overpowered is something you wouldn’t wish on even your worst enemy.

9. Aphelios (LoL)

Aphelios is an AD carry in League of Legends that was released in 2019. What was unique about his kit was that he carried 5 weapons at once, all with different abilities. Especially broken at release was his flamethrower weapon. When Aphelios would ulteriorly use this weapon in teamfights, it would almost always result in a pentakill. The damage behind the ability was just extremely unbalanced. In addition, opposing players were usually confused by his kit because they simply didn’t know what Aphelios was doing. The idea behind the kit was good, but the implementation left some doubts, especially at release. Aphelios is now well-balanced and has arrived at an average win rate.

8. Freddy Kruger (Mortal Kombat)

When it comes to overpowered Mortal Kombat characters, most players are probably annoyed with Freddy Kruger. Even if it was a cool idea of the game developers to bring a horror movie character into the game, his kit was way too broken for the fighting game. Besides his extremely strong Execute combos, he had additional Zoning Abilities like a Teleport and also very good Ranged Attacks. In short, Freddy Kruger had everything a Mortal Kombat character needs to bring every opponent to despair, and was therefore the living nightmare of every Mortal Kombat fan.

 

7. Bastion (Overwatch)

Overwatch has had issues with nerfing characters in the past. Bastion put the crown on top of it all. Bastion was released in Overwatch in 2017 and has been nothing but trouble ever since. The robot, classified as a Damage Hero, had a kit right from the start that many Overwatch players didn’t like. Its ability to perform defensively was too strong. Also, his diverse gameplay combined with a Self Heal was too much for the active player base. Voices were immediately raised for a nerf. This followed shortly after, but hardly changed the strengths of his kit but only his passives. We can only hope that Bastion will be calmer once Overwatch 2 is on the market.

 

6. Twisted Fate (LoL)

For League players who haven’t played from Day One, the appearance of Twisted Fate on this list may come as a surprise. The Mage is relatively well balanced at the moment, maybe even a bit weak. That looked quite different 12 years ago. Twisted Fate was released in 2009, its pre-release state was broken beyond measure. Its kit hasn’t changed much since then, but the individual spells used to be a mess for balancing Riot. His Ultimate ability, which allowed him to teleport all over the map, had a laughably low cooldown, which meant that he could appear everywhere at once. His stun card not only stunned a champion, but also champions some distance away. Not to speak of his Passive, which gave the entire team passive crit chance. It was extremely hard to play against Twisted Fate because his kit was just OP and it was unfair to play against him.

 

5. Boba Fett (Star Wars Battlefront 2)

EA was already under a lot of criticism before the release of Star Wars Battlefront 2. The balancing around the bounty hunter Boba Fett didn’t make it any better. At release, Boba Fett already did an incredible amount of damage, but hardly any in return. So you could comfortably fly over the map with him and produce high damage. However, his kit only became particularly ridiculous in Hero vs. Villain mode. Here, too, his damage was too high for most players. The worst thing here, though, was his jetpack. Boba could hover in the air and attack enemy Jedi while they couldn’t reach him. This move by EA led to a lot of outrage. Eventually his damage was generated, Boba Fett can still fly at will.

4. Xin Zhao (LoL)

Xin Zhao is now a well-balanced champion in League of Legends. However, it was not always so. At release, Xin Zhao was broken beyond belief. His kit was completely overloaded and too much for a melee champion. He also had great base stats, which was the cherry on top for Xin Zhao players. Xin Zhao had a Slow Dash with incredible range, a Knock Up all 3 Basic Attacks, and a buff that gave him more Attack Speed and less Cooldowns to do all of that much faster. No matter what you played against him, it didn’t work. A strong melee champ with a lot of mobility, even more damage and virtually no cooldowns was just too much for some players. He got his nerf some time later, but the memory of him remains to this day.

 

3. Akuma (Tekken 7)

Originally from the Street Fighter series, the developers of Tekken 7 programmed Akuma into the fighter game. However, Akuma was determined to keep his kit from Street Fighter, which was completely unbalanced in Tekken. The damage Akuma dealt in Tekken was insanely high and extremely difficult to balance. The games were just too different to simply copy a character 1 to 1 into the other game. The developers of Tekken soon realized this and brought Akuma to the same level as the other characters. While his damage was still a bit too high for Tekken fans after that, it was easier to play around his kit and thus create a fair balance.

 

2. Meta Knight (Super Smash Bros Brawl)

Many characters on our list have some abilities or skills that make them OP. Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros Brawl has absolutely all of them. His only shortcoming was the fact that he was a true glass canon. In all other skills, he far outclassed Smash characters. He had way too much damage, could execute easily, and had superior recovery skills, not to mention his mobility. Meta Knight was so strong that tournament organizers banned him from some tournaments. Even if he wasn’t banned, some stages were banned from the tournament because of him, as his mobility made some stages unplayable. The worst part, however, is that Nintendo never generated him. Since the game’s release, Meta Knight has been extremely broken, and nothing has ever changed about that.

 

1. Brigitte (Overwatch)

Brigitte is a support character in Overwatch that was released in 2018. Since then, opponents have really cut their teeth on her. Because while she’s not broken in terms of damage, she can do way too many things too well. Her kit is the reason why an entire meta was created in Overwatch. You can argue Brigitte has changed Overwatch forever, but not for the better. She is a close-range healer with strong defense, has solid damage, gives away masses of Armor, and has good crowd control. Her kit was so broken with this that you simply played a meta with 3 tanks and 3 supports around her. This meta didn’t include any damage, it was all about survival, healing and shielding. Despite countless nerfs, Brigitte still remained extremely strong, so Overwatch’s developers had to nerf her differently. They brought out Role Lock, which forced players to play a wider variety of roles. This allowed them to successfully bypass the meta. Brigitte is probably the only character on this list that a game had to be completely changed because of, so she is deservedly #1.