User blog comment:Thundrtri/PSASBR Mini-Series round 1! Kratos VS Raiden/@comment-143604-20130425181125

Raiden should take this without the slightest bit of difficulty. While there's no doubt that Kratos is top tier, most of his infamy comes in because scrubs don't know how to play- they can't block, dodge, throw for AP loss and they can't play the meter gain meta game that's central to All-Stars on any serious level. In a one-on-one environment, no one can compare to a game-breaker like Raiden. Raiden's moves have no range, but he makes up for it by having almost all safe attacks- his combos last much longer than most Kratos bread-and-butters, and he has a greater range of melee actions. Kratos counter requires better timing, while Raiden's is super safe and has a significant period of danger to it. Raiden's crazy speed, and his dashing forward attacks mean that Kratos won't be able to get a hit in at range- and Raiden's strikes will prioritize and overwhelm Kratos easily in close range.

Where Raiden really locks this victory in is his supers. Raiden's level one has /numerous/ super easy hit-confirms. His level one can be used to obtain a guaranteed kill off of a single parry, and he has multiple combos that lead into an opportunity for his level one to pop. Even without confirms, Raiden has a superior level one to Kratos- the Ghost of Sparta dashes forward in an easy to predict and easy to dodge path, while Raiden spins around for a surprisingly long time with a crazy amount of invincibility frames on start up for a hit-radius larger than the visual spin, and with a slight movement allowing Raiden to cut into nearbye foes. Raiden's level 2 doesn't have confirms- but doesn't need it, it's basically a level 3 in and of itself. Kratos needs to get up close to hit Raiden for any real AP gain, but Raiden's level 2 makes it impossible to get close to him without being stunned for a guaranteed kill, with enough time on it to get another one or two kills in a one-on-one easily. Kratos own level 2 has a hit-confirm at the end of a basic b&b, but it's largely situational outside this confirm, and neither of the two stages are great for its use. In level 3's, Kratos' attacks are super-easy to predict and dodge for the most part, and with Raiden's mobility, he could easily duck and weave through all of Kratos' strikes. Raiden's level 3 can only screw up and fail to kill if Raiden literally chooses to not attack after triggering it- it leaves the enemies slowed and unable to defend themselves until they die- and while they are hidden in boxes, there's plenty of time on the super to take out all the boxes before it ends.

In the end, Raiden is going to crush Kratos without effort. Kratos is top tier thanks to his crazy AP gain and scruby moveset, but everything he does, Raiden does better. Raiden is broken tier for a reason.