What we know about the new Skullgirl characters coming in 2nd Encore - Ultimate Guide

With the return of Skullgirls and in its much-awaited expansion, the 2nd Encore, there are also new fighters taking to the stage. Also worth pointing out the incredible features it will provide, such as a fully voice-acted story mode and cross-play across all the game’s platforms.

After a successful Indiegogo campaign,g the team behind the iconic Skullgirls fighting game has a chance to release a new DLC featuring brand new characters and ones that they have wanted to work on for many years. The pressing question, however, is where these characters will sit among each other in competitors' tier lists the world over.

The love people in the FGC have for this series is incredible. Even as it releases, it was an indie fighting game that oozed aesthetic at a time when most fighting titles tried to flex their graphics muscles with realism. In the decade past it, a shift has occurred, and now its artistically and hyper-stylized games that receive the biggest accolades.

Annie

Anabella was the sixth character to be revealed in the game’s Indigogo campaign and eventually lost out to Eliza and Beowulf in voting, though she would still find her way into the game via the mobile version and on PC on March 4th with 2nd Encore.

Annie is the daughter of a former Skullgirl whose wish was to keep Annie as a child forever, leading to her hatred of the Skullgirls as a whole. So much so that she stars in a show that rallies against it, which also serves as a cover for her immortality. Her parasite is called Sagan.

Gameplay-wise, Annie is a great team member. She has several options for assists. She also has a lot of good damage potential at close and mid-range. Even as a DLC character, she feels like a fairly balanced and approachable character for most players.

Umbrella

The youngest princess of the Canopy Kingdom, the daughter of a former Skullgirl, and sister to Parasoul, Umbrella Renoir, and her accompanying living weapon, the umbrella-looking Hungern were announced on May 6th, 2021.

Given she is the daughter of a Skullgirl, Umbrella actually holds immense power within her, to the point that other Living Weapons can sense it even as it's shielded away thanks to Hungerns presence. Layering on top of this is the fact that Umbrella is unaware of her true power or even that her mother was a Skullgirl. She simply seeks the power of the Skullgirls as a way into adventuring rather than for some grander goal.

Umbrella in-game is an interesting look at a grappler with setups. Her biggest strength by far is her Ravenous mechanics, giving her access to some of the fastest and most powerful attacks in the game. On top of that, her high reward command grabs make up for her clunky movement, which often limits how well she can keep her distance from her opponents.

Black Dahlia

During the Indigogo campaign of the game, Black Dahlia was the third possible unlock after the campaign. On December 2021, she was revealed to be the next character for 2nd Encore, and in Evo 2022, she was showcased on stage at the game’s bracket, and a released date was given for later that year.

One of the minions of the Medici family, the Black Dahlia, is a fearsome assassin that trains the family’s army of femme fatale. Though she is part of the family to some extent, she harbors no deep loyalty to it, they are merely a provider for her wealth, wealth, and power she then uses for her own goals.

So far, from what we’ve been able to see from her gameplay, she will be a very set-up-heavy character with potential for long chains of combos and potentially nasty assists. From what its officially on the page, it also seems like Black Dahlia will feature extensive mixups and opportunities to deceive opponents.

Marie

We actually know a lot about Marie; she is the antagonist of the game, after all, currently being transformed into a Skullgirl. She was from a land outside the Canopy Kingdom, one which was at war with it and eventually led her into slavery alongside Patricia, who is Peacock. After being a slave to a Medici-funded group, it seems she was able to escape and make with the Skull Heart.

She used its power to hurt her slavers, and even as the Skull’s power attempted to transform Marie, she was able to survive its influence, at least for long enough to hold its power and weird it against the Medici family.

Given she was featured in the role of a boss for the original game, it will be interesting to see how the team behind 2nd Encore is able to translate her power to the game.