TSB Meta Guide — Best Characters & the Combos That Carry Them

Tier lists tell you WHO wins (ours updates here) — this guide covers WHY, and what to practice for each top pick.

The consensus, briefly

Deadly Ninja is the community's best-overall pick: the fastest kit in the game, the easiest combo extensions, and tech depth that keeps rewarding practice for months. Tech Prodigy is the strongest raw kit but sits behind a gamepass. The Strongest Hero and Hero Hunter anchor the free tier right below — both beginner-friendly with genuinely high ceilings.

Why speed rules TSB

TSB combat is a rhythm of M1 strings, side-dashes and punish windows (full mechanics guide). Fast kits break that rhythm twice over: they escape punishes other characters eat, and they convert scraps of contact into full combos. That's the whole Deadly Ninja thesis — you don't need to outplay anyone by much when every clip of contact becomes 40% damage.

Combo philosophy per pick

• Deadly Ninja: learn ONE bread-and-butter route until it's reflex — string → extender → slam — then add tech (dash cancels, wall carries) one piece at a time. His ceiling is infinite; his floor is already good.
• The Strongest Hero: simple strings, huge damage. Your job is landing the opener — practice dash-baiting so opponents side-dash INTO your punish. The ult is a kill button; save it for confirms, not pressure.
• Hero Hunter: the counter kit. You win by making opponents scared to press buttons — learn the counter timing cold, and the rest of the kit plays itself off the fear.
• Destructive Cyborg: zone, chip, punish approaches. You lose the moment you brawl at close range voluntarily.

Practice order for climbing

1. Pick ONE character (resist rotation — muscle memory is the resource).
2. Private-server the bread-and-butter combo until it never drops.
3. Learn to side-dash reactively (defense is half the meta).
4. Then — only then — learn a counterpick for your main's bad matchups.