Fans of fighting games,My Little Pony, and all things cute and cartoony may be interested to learn that the 2D-fighterThem’s Fightin' Herdsisnow available on all consolesalongside its continued presence on Steam, macOS, and Linux. The breakout hit from developer Mane6 is loaded with gameplay complexities, awesome fighting animations, and super cute characters to choose from in a 1v1 battle online or against an AI.
RELATED:Best JRPG Fighting Games
Something that may strike fighting game veterans as odd is thatThem’s Fightin' Herdscomes with a roster of only seven characters (withan eighth due to arrivewith the season 1 DLC pass). While that may seem limiting, it means that every character is balanced and capable of winning a fight against any of the other six combatants.The game boasts a fantastic tutorialand the characters are well-balanced, but as new players will soon learn, some fighters are better suited for beginners than others.
7Pom - The Bashful Lamb
Pom is what’s known as a “puppet” fighter. That means that her attacks aren’t typically very powerful on their own. Pom’s greatest strength comes from summoning and controlling various combinations of four different types of Sheep Dogs. Each Sheep Dog has its own kind of attack, and summoning them will use up between one and three sections of Pom’s magic meter. The Digging Dog costs 1 magic, and has 1 attack, the Pilot Pup, and Growly cost 2 magic and have 2 attacks, and Big Mama costs 3 magic and has 3 attacks. Knowing when to summon each type, how to control them, and what combinations are the most effective is the best way to utilize Pom to her fullest extent.
Because of all that summoning, Pom is one of the game’s more complicated - and therefore least beginner-friendly - characters. Couple that with her extremely low health pool, and players will need a ton of practice to use her effectively. However, Pom’s heavy attack is the strongest base attack in the whole roster. It has a ton of range, especially when used in the air or while blocking, but it also leaves her open to counterattacks, meaning it’s virtually impossible to rely on that attack alone.
6Tianhuo - Half-Horse, Half-Dragon
Tianhuo is a Longma: a race of horse-dragon crossbreeds. She is Captain of the Imperial Guard of the Empire of Huoshan, known in other parts of the world as simply The Volcano. Tianhuo is a hyper-aggressive fighter. Her ability to dash in the air and jump higher than other characters makes her highly mobile, and she can close distance from seemingly impossible angles and start dishing out damage before her opponent knows what hit them.
RELATED:Camcom Fighting Collection: Every Game, Ranked By How Well They Hold Up
This is what’s called a “rushdown” fighter. Tianhuo gets into her opponent’s face and is most effective the longer she stays there. Her speed and aggressiveness are offset by a much lower health pool than other characters. Much like with Pom, Tianhuo is a character that will take practice and familiarity with the mechanics and capabilities of the wholeThem’s Fightin' Herdsroster to be truly dominant. While she is a great selection for players familiar with the game, when starting out, Tianhuo can be a lot for players to get their heads around.
5Velvet - The Narcissistic Reindeer
Velvet, a reindeer with ice powers, is what’s known as a “zoner” character. She’s at her best when keeping her enemy at a distance and peppering them with projectiles, ground traps, and abilities that restrict their movement. She is not particularly mobile, although she does have a ground slide ability that helps offset this a little. Velvet is most effective through frequent use of her projectile abilities, which are the best ranged attacks that any character inThem’s Fightin' Herdshas to offer.
“Zoner” characters are typically some of the more complex characters found in any fighting game, and Velvet is no different. While her combos can be extremely damaging when executed well, they take a long time to build up and require interweaving icicle and snowball attacks throughout to maintain her distance from the enemy. Players who aren’t familiar with her moveset - or with “zoner” characters in general - may find it frustrating when they get dragged in close to their opponent and get caught struggling to establish some distance.
4Shanty - The GOAT
The newest character added to theThem’s Fightin' Herdsroster, Shanty is a small, brown goat. While her appearance is unassuming (other than herpirate-themed aesthetic) her attitude more than makes up for it. She’s known among the game’s community as the angry version of Arizona, anotherThem’s Fightin' Herdscharacter who is good for beginners. Shanty is another “rushdown” character, meaning she has low health combined with fast movement and attack speeds.
What makes Shanty slightly more beginner-friendly than Tianhuo is that Shanty has a much higher damage ceiling and can get there via a much shorter combo. On top of her movement abilities, she is also able to cling to walls, which makes her a tricky opponent to deal with. Her magic attacks are equally damaging and fairly easy to time. The trickiest part about using her is maintaining her health while also keeping her close to her opponent to deal maximum damage.
3Paprika - The Affectionate Alpaca
Paprika - the fluffiest character on the roster - is a tricky opponent to play against. While she’s technically an “all-rounder” character, her animations and abilities are designed to be visually confusing, so calling her a “trickster” might be more accurate. Yet, surprisingly, they aren’t all that difficult to pull off, making her quite beginner-friendly despite all appearances to the contrary. Her combo strings are fairly basic - although they look great on-screen - and her movement abilities make her adaptable to any opponent she faces.
RELATED:Best Free Fighting Games
There are two major challenges for playing Paprika: learning her charge motions and getting caught pressuring guards. Charge motions are when a player must hold down a direction to start off an input string. A successful charge is often signaled with a visual cue, and learning Paprika’s is key to pulling off her most damaging combos. When it comes to pressuring guards, Paprika’s attacks are powerful andcan break through most defenses eventually, but they can also leave her open to counterattacks mid-combo. Players will need to learn how to carefully avoid exposing themselves to damage as they take the offensive.
2Oleander - The Dark Unicorn
The only true “all-rounder” character inThem’s Fightin' Herds, Oleander can make use of a little bit of everything. She’s not overly mobile but has a teleport move that makes up for this. She has projectiles that are reliable enough for her to take a “zoner” approach to fights, andher Level 2 super abilitysummons Fred, a demonic entity that allows her to be a sort of “puppet lite” character, controlling him and working his attacks into her cross-up combos. Oleander’s Study ability allows her to manually replenish her Magic stocks rather than needing to land attacks to do so. While Study leaves her vulnerable to attack, her abilities have enough range and do enough damage that she can easily make space for herself.
Chief among those abilities are her heavy attacks, which have great range and deal significant damage. The biggest challenge to using her effectively is that many of her best abilities rely on Magic, and therefore players must consistently work her Study ability into their playstyle in order to maintain enough Magic for her to continually attack. Otherwise, players will be left scrambling to replenish her magic while their opponent closes in.
1Arizona - The Confident Calf
The youngest character on the roster, Arizona is also the most beginner-friendly. She is a “rushdown” character, but unlike the other characters in this category, her health pool is not as low and her abilities have enough range that she can easily keep some distance between her and her opponents. She has good defense and mobility, and her lasso acts as her grab move but can be deployed at range and in a variety of directions.
The trickiest part about playing Arizona is that she is very combo-reliant in order to deal heavy damage. The good news is, her combos are intuitive and easy to pull off. They even lend themselves well to button-mashing, making her ideal forplayers just stepping into the game. Trying to win by repeatedly using the same attack to stun-lock opponents won’t work with this character, but players willing to experiment with combos will find their efforts immediately rewarded.
Them’s Fightin' Herdsis available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS, and Linux.
