Fighting StylesintermediateUpdated: 10/17/2026

Your Bizarre Adventure YBA Hamon Tier List: Variants Ranked

Browse the full YBA Hamon tier list ranking every style from Jonathan to Zeppeli, with damage breakdowns and the current PvP meta pick.

Hamon is one of the only fighting styles in Your Bizarre Adventure that costs real cash items to unlock, which makes picking the right variant on a YBA Hamon tier list feel like a bigger commitment than rolling a new Stand. Four variants sit behind Lisa Lisa in the game's training roster, and the order in which most players grab them tends to shape their early PvP identity for dozens of hours. This guide ranks every Hamon variant available, breaks down what each teacher actually asks for, and flags the unlock path that the broader community currently treats as the safest entry point.

The Four Hamon Variants and Their Teachers

Every Hamon variant in Your Bizarre Adventure is taught by the same NPC, Lisa Lisa, but each one requires a different tribute item before the lesson unlocks. The four variants — Hamon (William Zeppeli), Hamon (Jonathan Joestar), Hamon (Joseph Joestar), and Hamon (Caesar Zeppeli) — share a base kit of breathing-based strikes and finishers, then branch into unique skill trees with their own cooldowns, buffs, and execution patterns. What actually separates them at unlock time is the tribute item, because the cash fee and the level gate are identical across all four variants.

According to the official Hamon Teacher card on the YBA Trello board, Lisa Lisa is the single NPC that grants access to all four Hamon variants, and that card also fixes the unlock terms: Level 10 and $10,000 for every variant, with only the required item changing. That uniformity is why most guides and the broader community treat her location as the answer to the question of how to get Hamon in Your Bizarre Adventure.

What Each Variant Costs

VariantTeacherRequired ItemCash CostMin Level
Hamon (William Zeppeli)Lisa LisaZeppeli's Hat$10,00010
Hamon (Jonathan Joestar)Lisa LisaAncient Scroll$10,00010
Hamon (Joseph Joestar)Lisa LisaClackers$10,00010
Hamon (Caesar Zeppeli)Lisa LisaCaesar's Headband$10,00010

All four rows carry the same level gate and the same cash fee, which comes straight from the official Lisa Lisa card. The tribute items themselves follow a single official mechanic: each one spawns around the map at random, and holding it while you talk to Lisa Lisa lets you purchase the matching variant for $10,000. What differs in practice is only your drop luck and whether another player is willing to trade, because all four items are tradable.

Why Lisa Lisa Matters for Unlocks

Lisa Lisa is positioned as the central Hamon teacher, but the YBA how to get Hamon question really has two answers: where Lisa Lisa stands, and how to source the tribute item she wants. Most players hit the second wall harder than the first, because the tribute items are random world spawns rather than vendor stock — ShiftPlox's documented buy list covers arrows, Stone Masks, Gold Coins, Diamonds, Steel Balls, and corpse parts, but none of the four Hamon items. Your realistic routes are farming the spawn rotation or trading with another player. Knowing which variant asks for which item is the difference between a smooth first session of Hamon training and a multi-day grind.

The unlock terms are fixed, but the prerequisites are not. Players who already run Vampire need to be aware that switching away from Vampirism is straightforward, but Vampire players cannot pick up Hamon directly without first leaving the Vampire race, since the race is locked to Vampirism, Boxing, and Sword-Style only.

YBA Hamon Tier List — Variant Rankings

The community YBA Hamon tier list is a moving target because the developers patch the skill trees regularly, but a stable ranking has held for most of 2026 across YouTube tier compilations and the larger Discord theorycrafting threads. The order below reflects the current PvP meta as reported by players and the official Trello descriptions of each variant's identity. Treat the specific tier labels as a snapshot — what matters more is the spread between the top of the list and the bottom.

Overall Tier Ranking (PvP Meta)

TierVariantPrimary RoleWhy It Sits Here
SHamon (Joseph Joestar)Burst / Combo ExtenderStrongest neutral pressure and the most reliable buff uptime of the four
AHamon (Caesar Zeppeli)Counter / PunishHighest single-hit damage on blocked punishes
AHamon (William Zeppeli)Beginner-Friendly All-RounderSame $10,000 unlock as the other three, but the simplest execution and a solid early ladder climb
BHamon (Jonathan Joestar)Support / ExecutionNiche utility in group fights; lower solo carry than the other three

Joseph sits at the top of most community lists because his kit leans into combo extension and breathing-based buffs that other variants either lack or scale less efficiently. Caesar trades some of that consistency for the highest burst ceiling, which is why he and Joseph are the two variants ranked for players who already have a Stand picked out and want their fighting style to complement it. Zeppeli is the recommended starting point because his kit is the most forgiving to learn and still translates to the late game — not because he is cheaper, since all four variants charge the same $10,000. Jonathan is the most specialized pick — strong in team settings where other Hamon users can feed off his execution damage, but weaker when played solo.

Strengths and Weaknesses at a Glance

VariantBest Matched WithWorst Matched WithSolo Queue Rating
Joseph JoestarAggressive Stands (Star Platinum, The World)Passive long-range Stands9/10
Caesar ZeppeliHard-punish Stands (King Crimson, Gold Experience)Rushdown with low stamina8/10
William ZeppeliAny Stand; learning the styleHigh-tier ranked push past Gold7/10
Jonathan JoestarGroup compositions; buff-stacking teamsSolo ladder climb6/10

The "best matched with" column is based on the way each variant's neutral game interacts with a Stand's engagement range. Joseph wants to be in the opponent's face to chain breathing strikes into the next combo, so a Stand that can keep the opponent locked in place tends to amplify him. Caesar wants the opponent to commit first, so a Stand with a clean punish tool on block or whiff is the natural pairing. Zeppeli is intentionally neutral on the matrix because that is what makes him a good teacher for new players. Jonathan is the only variant where the team composition matters more than the Stand pairing, which is the main reason he is usually slotted into the support category in the wider YBA Hamon tier list.

How to Get Hamon in Your Bizarre Adventure

The YBA how to get Hamon process has two steps that players have to complete in order: reach Lisa Lisa's location, and bring the right tribute item plus the cash. Both steps have their own gotchas — the official card only publishes the level gate and the fee, not a location, so finding her is part of the work, and some tribute items are shared with the Sword-Style trainer's prerequisites, which means supply can swing with whatever the active Steel Ball Run cycle is rewarding.

The Unlock Flow

StepActionRequirementCommon Mistake
1Reach Level 10Standard level grindTrying to unlock at Level 9 — Lisa Lisa rejects the prompt
2Locate Lisa LisaHer Hamon training location (community-reported; the official card lists no coordinates)Mistaking an unrelated NPC for the style teacher
3Source the tribute itemZeppeli's Hat, Ancient Scroll, Clackers, or Caesar's HeadbandBringing the item for a different variant than the one you actually want
4Pay the $10,000 feeSame for every variantSpending the cash on Stand arrows first and being unable to afford the fee
5Talk to Lisa Lisa againTrigger the lesson, then complete the brief Hamon tutorialLeaving mid-tutorial, which resets progress

The tribute item step is the one that strands new players most often, because all four items are random world spawns and none of them can be bought outright from a vendor. The official cards confirm the mechanic for Zeppeli's Hat, Caesar's Headband, and the Ancient Scroll — each spawns around the map at random, and holding it while you talk to Lisa Lisa unlocks the matching style for $10,000 (the Ancient Scroll also works on Uzurashi for Sword-Style). The developer publishes no drop rate and no rarity ordering for any of them, so any claim that one tribute item is more common than another is community inference rather than official data; treat "farm the spawn rotation or trade" as the real answer for all four.

Where to Find Lisa Lisa (YBA Hamon Location)

The YBA Hamon location question has one canonical answer: Lisa Lisa, teachable once a player is at least Level 10, is the teacher you go find. The official card does not publish her coordinates, so the reliable approach is to ask in the community channels rather than trusting a screenshot someone posted months ago.

Players who are tracking the related question of where to find the Hamon teacher specifically should know that Lisa Lisa is the only Hamon teacher in the game — there is no alternate quest line that grants a Hamon variant, and the four tribute items all funnel back to her.

Tribute Item Sourcing and the In-Game Economy

The tribute items that gate each Hamon variant are the most common reason a player stalls on the YBA how to get Hamon path. They are not gated by level in the way the cash cost is, and they are not sold by any NPC either — every one of them is a random world spawn that you either farm or trade for. The Ancient Scroll is the only one of the four shared with another style's prerequisites, since it also unlocks Sword-Style through Uzurashi, which makes its supply responsive to whatever else is going on in the server.

Tribute Item Sources

Tribute ItemVariant UnlockedBest SourceSecondary SourceTradeable?
Zeppeli's HatHamon (William Zeppeli)Random world spawnPlayer-to-player tradeYes
Ancient ScrollHamon (Jonathan Joestar)Random world spawnPlayer-to-player tradeYes
ClackersHamon (Joseph Joestar)Random world spawnPlayer-to-player tradeYes
Caesar's HeadbandHamon (Caesar Zeppeli)Random world spawnPlayer-to-player tradeYes

The official item cards confirm the mechanics rather than a sourcing hierarchy: each one spawns around the map at random, and holding it while you talk to Lisa Lisa lets you purchase the matching variant for $10,000 — the Ancient Scroll additionally works on Uzurashi for Sword-Style. The developer publishes no drop rate and no rarity ordering for any of the four, so the "Best Source" column is genuinely the same for all of them; the only real variable is how long your spawn-route farm takes. (The Clackers card itself was not captured during research, so that row follows the shared tribute-item mechanic rather than a card quote.)

Interaction with Other Unlocks

Several tribute items overlap with non-Hamon unlock paths. The most commonly cited example is that some Hamon route items can also appear in the prerequisite list for the Sword-Style teacher, which is why the Hamon market in Your Bizarre Adventure can dry up during periods when many players are chasing Sword-Style. Players who are stacking multiple styles in one session are advised to check the broader fighting style unlock guide before committing cash to either path.

The same overlap is why many players pick Hamon (Zeppeli) first even though Joseph is the meta pick — Zeppeli's kit is the most forgiving to learn on, and since every variant charges the same $10,000 and drops from the same random-spawn pool, picking the simplest one first costs you nothing, and the player can pivot to Joseph later without losing meaningful progress on the Hamon skill tree.

Choosing the Right Variant for Your Playstyle

The YBA Hamon tier list is a useful snapshot, but the right variant for any given player depends on what they actually want the style to do in their kit. A solo queue grinder who mains an aggressive Stand gets a different recommendation than a group player who wants to play a support role in coordinated fights, and the same is true for a fresh Level 10 player who has not yet picked a Stand.

Playstyle Recommendations

Player ProfileRecommended VariantReasoning
Solo ladder climber, Level 10–25Hamon (William Zeppeli)Forgiving kit for learning Hamon timing; same cost as the other three
Mid-level PvP player with an aggressive StandHamon (Joseph Joestar)Buff uptime pairs with the neutral game of close-range Stands
Punish-focused player with a counter StandHamon (Caesar Zeppeli)Highest burst on confirmed punishes
Group player who runs with a fixed teamHamon (Jonathan Joestar)Utility and execution damage scale in coordinated fights
Vampire race playerNoneVampire cannot equip Hamon without leaving the race

Players who have already committed to a Stand should weigh the variant's neutral game against their Stand's engagement range before deciding. Joseph and Caesar both want to be played around a specific game plan, while Zeppeli is the only one of the four that scales acceptably across the entire Stand roster, which is why he tends to be the recommended first variant regardless of what the player mains.

Players who want a quick comparison point against the rest of the game's style ecosystem can check the Vampirism rework breakdown for the alternate Vampire-locked style and how its current iteration compares to the Hamon variants in solo queue. The two styles are direct opposites — Vampirism is gated to the Vampire race and scales with blood, while Hamon is open to Humans and scales with skill tree points — so the comparison is mostly useful for players deciding between the two for a second slot.

Hamon in the Current PvP Meta

Hamon is one of three fighting styles in Your Bizarre Adventure that is openly available to Human players, alongside Boxing and Sword-Style, which means it shares the same ladder population as those two. The community-reported consensus across the last several major patches is that Hamon sits in the upper half of the fighting-style power curve — not dominant, but consistently tournament-viable in the hands of a player who has maxed the relevant skill tree nodes.

The variant ranking in the YBA Hamon tier list has been stable through the most recent patches reported by players, with Joseph and Caesar trading the top two slots and Zeppeli holding a comfortable third. Jonathan has stayed in the support bracket for most of the year, in part because his kit rewards coordinated play that is harder to find in public lobbies than in pre-made teams. None of the four variants has been reworked or removed in the recent Halloween event, and the official Trello board for Your Bizarre Adventure still lists Lisa Lisa as the canonical teacher for all four.

How Hamon Compares to Other Open Styles

StyleRace GateCost to UnlockSolo Queue StrengthBest Variant Concept
Hamon (any variant)Human$10,000 + tribute item7–9/10 depending on variantJoseph / Caesar
BoxingHumanQuinton's Glove6/10Standard
Sword-StyleHumanAncient Scroll + Pluck7/10Standard
SpinHumanSteel Ball8/10Standard
VampirismVampire onlyBuilt into race7/10Standard

Hamon's advantage over the other Human-gated styles is the breath-based buff uptime and the execution damage on low-HP targets, which is a mechanic that no other fighting style in the game shares at the same level. The disadvantage is the upfront cost — Boxing is essentially free, Sword-Style requires the Ancient Scroll and a Pluck, and Spin is locked behind the Steel Ball Run starting line NPC. Hamon is the only style where four distinct skill trees exist behind four distinct cash gates, which is the main reason the YBA Hamon tier list question is more nuanced than the equivalent tier list for any other style.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Hamon variant is the best in the current YBA Hamon tier list?

Hamon (Joseph Joestar) is widely treated as the strongest solo pick because of his buff uptime and combo extension, with Hamon (Caesar Zeppeli) close behind for players who prefer punish-based play. The exact order shifts with patches, but Joseph has held the top slot across most of 2026 in community compilations.

How do I get Hamon in Your Bizarre Adventure as a new player?

Reach Level 10, locate Lisa Lisa at her Hamon training location, bring the right tribute item for the variant you want, and pay the $10,000 fee. Hamon (William Zeppeli) is the recommended first pick because the kit is the most forgiving to learn, not because it is cheaper — all four variants charge the same $10,000 and their tribute items come from the same random world-spawn pool, so the real variable is only how quickly your spawn-route farm or a trade lands you the item.

Where is the Hamon teacher located in Your Bizarre Adventure?

Lisa Lisa, the only Hamon teacher in the game, is reachable once you are Level 10 or higher. The official card publishes the level gate and the $10,000 fee but no location, so treat any specific coordinates you read as community reporting rather than developer data.

Can Vampire players use Hamon in Your Bizarre Adventure?

No, Vampire is locked to Vampirism, Boxing, and Sword-Style only, so Vampire players cannot equip Hamon without first leaving the race. Hamon is gated to Human players, and the official race list does not list Hamon as a Vampire-compatible style.

Does Hamon work with every Stand in Your Bizarre Adventure?

Yes, Hamon is a fighting style and is not locked behind any Stand, so it works with every Stand in the roster. The variant that pairs best with a given Stand depends on the Stand's engagement range — Joseph pairs well with close-range aggressive Stands, while Caesar pairs well with counter-punish Stands like King Crimson.