The Strongest Battlegrounds runs on a roster of One Punch Man-inspired fighters, each with four base abilities, an Awakening Mode, and four ultimate moves. Picking the right one shapes every fight, since movesets range from slow heavy hitters to mobility-focused skirmishers, and a handful of fighters are locked behind gamepasses, events, or admin access.
How character selection works
Every fighter has the same skeleton. Four base abilities are usable from spawn, and once you build enough meter through combat you can trigger Awakening, which swaps in four ultimate moves and often changes how your normal punches behave.
To swap fighters, open the character menu from the head icon in the top-left corner of the screen, next to the settings button. Pick a fighter from the unlocked list and the change applies on your next respawn.
Free characters and their movesets
These fighters are available to every player without a gamepass. The list below covers the base kit and Awakening abilities for each one.
| Character | Playstyle | Moveset |
|---|---|---|
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Balanced all-rounder built for new players. Mixes fast and slow attacks with high and low damage. Awakening lasts forever but each ultimate move can only fire once. | Base: Normal Punch, Consecutive Punches, Shove, Uppercut. Ultimate: Death Counter, Table Flip, Serious Punch, Omni-Directional Punch. |
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Close-range grappler with a counter (Prey's Peril) and strong combo extensions through grabs. Punishes whiffs hard. | Base: Flowing Water, Lethal Whirlwind Stream, Hunter's Grasp, Prey's Peril, Singularity. Ultimate: Water Stream Cutting Fist, The Final Hunt, Rock Splitting Fist, Crushed Rock, Nuclear Fission. |
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Upgraded Garou variant that works at both close and long range. Demands sharper aim and timing than base Hero Hunter. | Base: Doom Dive, Crowd Buster, Hammer Heel, Binding Cloth. Ultimate: Hunter's Mark, Great Fajin, God Slayer, Skyripping Fist. |
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Mid-range pressure fighter. Most base moves are blockable, but chip damage still gets through, and finishers reset cooldowns for continuous offense. | Base: Machine Gun Blows, Ignition Burst, Blitz Shot, Jet Dive. Ultimate: Thunder Kick, Speedblitz Dropkick, Flamewave Cannon, Incinerate. |
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The fastest fighter in the roster. Built on dashes and hit-and-run patterns. Missed attacks during the ultimate carry less risk. | Base: Flash Strike, Whirlwind Kick, Scatter, Explosive Shuriken. Ultimate: Twinblade Rush, Straight On, Carnage, Fourfold Flashstrike. |
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Heavy hitter with block-breaking swings and a deadly counter in Awakening. Long startup animations punish missed attacks. | Base: Homerun, Beatdown, Grand Slam, Foul Ball. Ultimate: Savage Tornado, Brutal Beatdown, Strength Difference, Death Blow. |
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Sword fighter that blends mobility with combo extension. Split Second Counter stuns rather than knocks back, feeding into combos. | Base: Quick Slice, Atmos Cleave, Pinpoint Cut, Split Second Counter. Ultimate: Sunset, Solar Cleave, Sunrise, Atomic Slash. |
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Crowd-control specialist with multi-target grabs. Individual damage is lower than most fighters, but the kit shines in group fights. | Base: Crushing Pull, Windstorm Fury, Stone Coffin, Expulsive Push. Ultimate: Cosmic Strike, Psychic Ricochet, Terrible Tornado, Sky Snatcher. |
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Rush-style brawler with a high skill ceiling. Lots of stun options and one-shot combo paths reward precise execution. | Base: Bullet Barrage, Vanishing Kick, Whirlwind Drop, Head First. Ultimate: Grand Fissure, Twin Fangs, Earth Splitting Strike, Last Breath. |
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Ranged zoner that controls space with projectiles and gadgets. Especially strong against grouped enemies. | Base: Weboom, Plasma Cannon, Trinity Tear, Twin Burst. Ultimate: Photon Edge, Photon Dive, Conquest, Missiles. |
Early Access character
Early Access fighters require the Early Access Gamepass and can be used on any server. They are still in development, so movesets and balance can shift between updates.
| Character | Notes | Moveset |
|---|---|---|
 |
Newest fighter, based on Zombie Man. Expect bugs and balance changes while it stays in Early Access. | Base: Grave Maker, Blast Breaker, Point Blank, Cross Fire. Ultimate: TBA. |
Exclusive and event characters
Exclusive fighters are gated by gamepasses, events, or admin access. Most can't be played on public servers, which is why they don't appear in standard tier discussions.
| Character | Access | Notes and moveset |
|---|---|---|
 |
Private Server+ Gamepass, self-owned private servers only. | Extremely strong kit centered on Infinity, which can render the user invincible. Base: Infinity, Repulse, Erase, Attract. |
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Top donators, developers, and self-owned private servers. | Rare grab-heavy fighter with massive damage. Base: Ravage, Swift Sweep, Collateral Ruin, Spiraling Storm. Ultimate: Stoic Bomb, 20-20-20 Dropkick, Five Seasons, Unlimited Flex Works. |
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Admins only as a regular pick. Spawns during the summer event every 30 minutes. | Huge boss with high HP and stun resistance. If defeated, the top three damage dealers get to use Crab Boss once. Base: Pincer Barrage, Giant Leap, Acid Spit, Laser Claws. |
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Admins only. Added in December 2024. | Ice-focused boss that slowly heals during fights. Base: Permafrost, Frost Forge, Freezing Path, Judgement Chain, Sub-Zero Slash Storm. |
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Admins and Lazarbeam. Added in March 2025. | Notoriously overpowered, nicknamed "The Unkillable Moveset." Base: Infinity, Stoic Bomb, 20-20-20 Dropkick, Five Seasons, Unlimited Flex Works. |
Which character to pick
If you're new, The Strongest Hero is the cleanest entry point. The base kit covers fast and slow swings, the Awakening lasts indefinitely, and the ultimate punches can secure kills even with imperfect spacing.
From there, the next tier up in skill expression is Destructive Cyborg and Blade Master. Cyborg's finishers refresh cooldowns, which keeps offensive pressure constant once you learn the Ignition Burst into Jet Dive into Blitz Shot routes. Blade Master rewards precise dash-cancel timing off Pinpoint Cut and Quick Slice, and the counter feeds directly into more damage instead of resetting neutral.
Hero Hunter is the pick if you like close-range grabs and counters, while Tech Prodigy and Wild Psychic suit players who prefer controlling space or fighting groups. Deadly Ninja and Martial Artist sit at the higher-execution end. Both can dominate in skilled hands but punish sloppy spacing.
Common questions
Are exclusive fighters worth chasing? Sorcerer and KJ are extremely strong, but they're locked to private servers or specific donor and admin access. For ranked and public play, focus on mastering the free roster.
Does Awakening work the same for every character? The structure is identical — a startup animation, then four ultimate abilities — but how the meter behaves and what the ultimate enables varies. The Strongest Hero's Awakening doesn't expire on a timer, while most others do.
Can you switch characters mid-match? Yes. Open the character menu from the top-left icon and pick another fighter. The change applies on respawn, not instantly.
Mastering one fighter end-to-end matters more than chasing whoever sits at the top of a tier list. Combo timings, dash cancels, and Awakening management decide most fights in TSB, and every character on the roster has at least one path to a one-shot combo if you put the practice in.