My personal tier list of all HW:DE characters
I made this in about 15 minutes because I was bored and its based on actual performance and how good the characters actually are
The placements are in order of Left being the best of the tier to Right being the worst of the tier
Addressing important placements:
Young Link
I have a perfect weapon for him with Finishing Blow+ and Focus Spirit+, and Heart power, and even though I'm still missing a special skill like No Healing or Defenseless, I find it unnecessary simply due to how overtuned Young Link is. He's just an absolute unstoppable behemoth, and fully breaks the game once you have decent fairy skills or Magic Fountain. Easily the best damage in the game, very good regular attack string, effortlessly shreds weak point gauges, unbelievable damage from his C3, great crowd clearing and ridiculous special gauge gain on his C5 (very important), and a solid C6 for gathering enemies and dealing AOE damage
Also not to mention just being in the focus spirit state for such prolonged periods alone is insanely powerful, with boosted movement and attack speed and damage
Sheik
Basically just the Mahoraga of this game, has a move or ability for literally any situation in the game
Infinite dodges so you can just utterly avoid damage when you feel like it
Easily one of the best regular attack strings in the game and only becomes even more ridiculous with Hasty Attacks
C2 + C1 - Endlessly recoverable shield that also protects you from stun locks
C3 + C1 - Literally the hardest hitting attack in the game by a wide margin that destroys weak point gauges, but sometimes can be a little tricky to set up
C4 + C1 - Solid move to juggle enemies and push them into corners and amazing for crowd control
C5 + C1 - Does great damage, pulls in and gathers enemies for a while, allowing for a much easier setup of C3+C1
C6 + C1 - Refills your special gauge
The only issue with Sheik is that she can feel a bit too gimmicky, needing to rely on intricate combos and setups, but once you get used to her she easily cements her place as one of the most broken characters in the game
Volga
An absolutely overwhelming offensive force with his C3 being his greatest tool. Would easily be a tier higher if he had more to offer in terms of utility
Twili Midna
Easily the best crowd clearing character in the game, really powerful and fun to cycle using her C1 and special attacks. Held back by her struggles against weak point gauges and lack of forms of utility or defense
Ganondorf (Great Swords)
Very hard hitter with an insanely powerful C1 when fully charged to decimate officers and smaller crowds and an amazing C6 to essentially just destroy anything within range. Held back by a slower attack string and struggles against weak point gauges
Addressing the possibly controversial placements:
Link (Master Sword)
I recently fully unsealed the master sword and unlocked all of the skills, and while Link is extremely good with it, I think it's held back by the importance of managing full hearts along with the inability to add extra skills onto the weapon. I also don't think he has as much as to offer compared to the likes of Young Link and Sheik
Zelda (Rapier)
I find her to be pretty overrated, with her only viable moves being the boosted C5 and her special attack. I also find the gameplay loop of refilling her gauge to be distracting and impractical in some situations, like a crowded area with multiple officers where you desperately need to pull off a C5 yet have an empty gauge
Linkle (Crossbow)
To put it simply I think she is great and very well rounded offensively, but simply isn't on par with the characters above her