Claws Of Power S-tier cats

Letter grades below are fan labels. Garlic Sprouts never published an S/A/B sheet. Each bullet cites why the cat sits there. If that citation is a vibe and not a number, we say so.

S — designer-hyped or patch-boosted

• Xiao Fu. The roster post says he is unbeatable in early 1v1s versus 4-cost Blue Fatty, always knocks back, wider melee. That is the strongest explicit combat boast in Chapter 1 copy. Extra equipment slot (August 23, Xiaofu) is a second boost.
• Solo. Developer: piercing arrows with falloff “turned out way stronger than I first expected, so I keep watching him instead of nerfing him immediately.” Until a nerf post exists, that is an S-warning from the designer himself.
• Jack Hero (fused Bacon Jacks). August 23 “significantly increased” HP and Attack on the upgraded fusion summon. The fusion post already said a big Hero tanks and hits. Post-buff, fusion is a real win condition, not a meme. Unfused 1-cost Jacks are not S.
• Chi Wulang. First slash 200% crit; designer example of ATK/CRIT gear deleting a mid-game unit. Burst ceiling is the S case. He still needs a body so the opener happens.
• Big Ju. Officially above Fatty on HP/ATK, eat-to-heal, extra slot as Big Orange. He is the campaign grind tank.

A — always useful, less “please nerf”

• Blue Fatty. Anti-knockback wall. Chapter 1’s intended bodyguard. Loses the sustain war to Ju on long maps, still wins against shove.
• White. Melee damage-reduction aura (March 17). Infinite dash was a bug, not a tier (fixed August 29). Aura stays A for melee boards.
• Xuebao. Cost −1 (August 23) plus Father phase-two collision (August 29). Curve + boss tool.
• Masashi. Teleport behind first contact. High skill, high payoff on stretched lanes (desert). Punished if the first body is a dummy.
• Nuba. Stun plus eat-heal that denies on-death tricks. A on stages that rely on last-breath effects.
• Garfield. Three blocked hits. Quiet A on both push and defense, per the developer’s own “he always ends up doing a lot of quiet work.”
• A-Dai / Fat Cat / Xiaofu / Big Orange extra slots. The slot itself is A-tier value even when the kit paragraph is thin (A-Dai).

B — honest downsides printed by the designer

• Bacon Jack (unfused). Cheap, mid stats, melts to AoE and to Solo. He is S-adjacent only as fusion fuel.
• A Qiang. “One tap = KO.” Output is real; survivability is the B.
• Wu Ji. Stun is real; squishy and slightly pricy early — the roster post says so.

Unrated (no combat paragraph)

Cook, Jimmy, Spring Roll — titles only (chef, trainee, luck). Hunter — net exists; no kit paragraph. David the Magician — gear procs work after a fix; no damage table. Gatling / blue tiger / rider knight — footage, no roster name.

Enemies (Father, Duancang, Degumiao, vampire cat) are not playable tiers.

What would move a cat tomorrow

A Steam note that nerfs Solo, buffs Jacks further, or publishes Cook’s kit. We will not move cats because a streamer used a different title’s tier graphic. Track patches on Release notes.

Play them inside a wave, near your base, with items from How to Use Items. A Solo on a drip-feed board is a B cat with an S tooltip.