Top Ten Zoners in Fighting Games

Of the famous fighting game archetypes, zoners stick out, both because they are in nearly every fighting game, and because it’s very noticeable when you’re hit by their game plan. They fight from a distance using whatever tools they have at their disposal, such as projectiles, long weapons, or even their own limbs. With how many cool tactics can arise from this playstyle, I wanted to find the most interesting zoners in fighting games. So let’s see who plays keepaway the best!

Songs used:
Classique by Francis Preve
Classic Rose 2 by Vibe Mountain

[misterjersey]

Zoners are the definition of "anyway, i started blasting".

[dkgame]

So that is what a character is called when fighting from a distance away in fighting games. Guess I learned something new, thanks MrTopTenList. Awesome list by the way.

[bolthesorcerer]

Hilda is the War Crime of UNIB, considering that it cames from the creators of Honest Mid Michael is not surprising

[mhstylesmugen]

Unmasked Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat 3 fits the zoner category, ice ball, ice shower, ice clones and add the slide to keep the opponent away and there you go.

[JudgmentMeter]

"Standard, pew pew, gun guy". I'm dying

[SittingShelf]

0:00 Intro
№10) 1:02 General Zodd ("Injustice 1")
№9) 4:10 Maori Kasuga ("Arcana Heart" series)
№8) 5:47 Cetrion ("Mortal Kombat 11")
№7) 8:49 Seong Mi-Na ("SoulCalibur series")
№6) 11:53 Morrigan ("Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3")
№5) 15:31 v-N.13- ("BlazBlue series")
№4) 17:21 Athena ("The King of Fighters" series)
№3) 19:49 Dhalsim ("Street Fighter" series)
№2) 22:46 Peacock ("Skullgirls")
25:58 HONORABLE MENTIONS (Basara "Samurai Shodown" series)(Axel "Guilty Gear" series)(Samus/Dark Samus "Super Smash Bros." series)(Radeck "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale")
(Hsien-Ko "Darkstalkers" series)(Dormamu/Arthur "Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3")
№1) 28:09 Hilda ("Under Night" series)
31:33 OUTRO

[nintendolife]

Great job with the list Mr.TopTenList! Athena just HAD to be here. She’s one of the most versatile zoners in fighting game history. A projectile, a reflector, a teleport, a grab that works on both sides. I swear, you can’t go through one KOF game without hearing Psycho Ball in quick succession. XD

[callmeb.o.b.]

Glacius is still one of my favorite Zoners of all time. Mix in the hyper armor they can install to deal with folks who get too close and their puddle move to move about to set up placement, KI 2013 really hit the nail on the head with Glacius.

[Toastyrokr]

Shout out to Chizuru of the King of Fighters series, her mirror moves and illusive zone game is uniquely bizarre and stylish.

[neogothamk]

I'm glad that Morrigan Aensland is on this zoner list and it's true because I've been playing well in UMvsC3.

[shinyagumon]

I'm surprised that Dhalim is only No. 3. He's like the original Zoner.

He also kicks my ass in Streetfighter II Turbo.

[beaneater]

Axl from guilty gear will always be my favourite zoner, all his tools require hard reads from full screen, so he zones you but in a cool interactive way

[irontrids]

Mina fits for Samurai Shodown more, she's a literal archer.

No mention of Cable, one of the four top tier gods of MVC2, and his infamous Viper Beams.

[HeartAino]

I didn't expect to see Maori and Hilda on the list!😆First Lieselotte and Chaos in Puppet Characters, then Kira and Waldstein in Grapplers, now Maori and Hilda in Zoners? In case you don't know, the names of Maori's sisters are Tsuzune, Koito and Kouta. Hilda usually appears as either a final boss or a sub-boss depending on who you're playing as in Story Mode. And please do more of these fighting game archetypes and fighting styles in the future:

Shoto
Rushdown
Charge
Kendo/Iaijutsu
Fencing/Jousting
Gunfu/Gunjutsu

[VictorHernandez-njlo]

I play as Nu13 from time to time. I nickname her "sword storm", a reference to my fav gun from Custom Robo for gamecube. A gun that shoots swords

[rlp]

A great list as always. Some of these games I haven't heard of. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.

[byrontheusurper]

Frieza isn't even in the top 50 characters in his own game. Man, why do I love this character

[thebookbandit]

I never thought of Glacious as a zoner but... I guess you're right.

[albireotheredguard]

I never thought Arcana Heart characters would make the list, glad I was wrong! I used to frustrate the hell out of my friend with Maori and her sisters, good times! 👍

[PcolaAzian]

I'm pretty surprise that King from King of Fighters didn't even get a mention. Her Venom Strike is very commonly used for zoning.