In this game, it takes more effort to make a bad team than it does to make a great team.
A guide for building a team by looking at what each character wants and provides
A rough look of every shell (two character pairing)
An analysis of what makes a good (and bad) team
A listing of the only viable assists for each character
A tier list of team shells
A hard set of facts to discourage you from experimenting with teams
A definitive outlook on team building; most of this guide was written by one person, taking some feedback from others and doing a lot of Discord searching (which is awful for this kind of thing)
A guide on how each character plays... but you can find that here
The game gives you a ton of options, and nobody has all of the answers, so follow your heart and experiment with the freedom you're given.
Start off by checking the Character Overviews page to get a quick idea of the types of roles that characters play on a team. Then use the navigation bar to check out each character's page, nested under the Overviews.
Each character page has a section for every possible partner, with each character in the pair being given a Favorite/Good/Decent/Poor synergy rating based on the pros and cons given, looking at assist support, DHC utility, and any assistance or even conflicts in team positioning and meter usage or meter build. Don't let a Decent or Poor rating stop you from playing a pair you're interested in, as some relationships are just one-sided, and you can always add a third, non-selfish character to make things more complete. It's much harder to make a bad team in this game than it is to make a good team. If multiple assists are listed for a character and you can't decide which to pick, then just try all of them to see what you like.
If you already plan on playing solo, then why are you even here? Start up the game right now.
If you are still wondering whether to go solo, duo, or trio, then start with that page.
The wording in sections assumes you're looking for what's generally considered to be a "good team" or at least a "not bad team" since you decided to consult a guide in the first place. That's why the character synergy ratings exist. But if you've already decided who you're going to play, just look for what assists are good, find a nice team order, and ignore everything else.
On a side note, having redundant assists (Point character backed by 2 Lockdown assists, 3 DP assists, etc.) on a team is not a bad thing. Sometimes one of your DP assist characters dies out-of-order, or one of your characters with a Lockdown assist likes being backed by another Lockdown assist.
Once you have your team picked out, use the Team Building Positions page to help you decide on your order. Your team's order does not have to be static by any means. Change according to the matchup if you have to.
Check Team Building Theory if you're still very unsure on your team. Otherwise, you don't need to read this section.
If you have feedback or tech to share, refer to Feedback/Suggestions and ping me on Discord or leave a post in the Skullheart thread. It's much better than dropping a stray post in the Skullgirls discord or on Twitter that I have to find by searching or by pure chance. I'm making this big and obnoxious for a reason.
For learning more about how each character plays, check out these character overviews:
Dekillsage's video guide (goes up to Annie's release)
Dekillsage's assist video guide for visual representation on how to use each character's best assists (up to Annie)
If you want to watch match videos to show how certain teams or shells look in action, consult one of the match databases
One More Once - General match database
slowtrainroll.in - Only includes matches from the Oceania region (some matches may not be in One More Once, so very much worth looking here as well)
Consult the Skullgirls Wiki for anything else, or ask questions in the Skullgirls Discord
Playskullgirls.gg for a Skullgirls event schedule and links to... everything helpful
Terms:
Solo/Duo/Trio - A 1/2/3 character team, respectively.
Anchor - The last character on a team. Usually a character with good comeback potential.
Battery - A character that can build meter well and make use of most of their tools without relying on it — i.e., they don't need meter to convert into a combo from important moves, or a majority of the character's damage or neutral threat isn't locked behind a super.
DHC - Delayed Hyper Combo. Canceling a super into another character's super.
Mid - The middle character on a trio. Typically they have good assists and/or a good super to DHC in to.
Point - The first character on a team. Battery characters make for good point characters. Also sometimes used to refer to the character currently in play. E.g., on a team of Point Annie and Anchor Double, Annie tags into Double, making Double the current point character.
Counter-call - Calling your assist at a time where it can beat or punish the opponent's assist call.
Types of assists:
Neutral - An assist that helps a character reach or stay in their effective range. Also sometimes good for punishing the opponent's assist calls. Big Band's H Brass assist is the perfect example: it presents a giant armored hitbox that helps rushdown characters move in closer to their opponent, and keep-away characters get help in fighting off said rushdown characters.
Space-Control - Puts an active hitbox on a section of the screen for enough time - say half a second or more - to be thought of as a looming threat. Usually has a hitbox that makes it very dangerous or impossible for the opponent to press a button against. Typically used in a defensive manner to stop or challenge opponents who try to approach from certain angles. Some of these also can be considered to be Neutral assists, so it's not a hard, inflexible label. Eliza's H Osiris Spiral is a space-control assist as she provides a high reaching, difficult-to-contest hitbox on the screen for nearly a full second, goading characters to either jump over her or just stay back entirely. Peacock's L Geroge is another example, as the assist walks across the entirety of the screen being a constant ground threat for several seconds.
Lockdown - Keeps the opponent in blockstun for a lengthy amount of time. Offensively, they give the point character time to go for a mix-up. Defensively, they can give the point character time to retreat from the opponent and move to a better position.
Combo Tool - Assist that either does a notably large amount of damage, or helps a character go into important combo routes. Cerebella considers Valentine's H Savage Bypass assist to be a combo tool because it lets her convert into a combo off of her Diamond Drop command grab; something that she cannot do with a majority of the game's popular assists.
Anti-Armor - An assist that either does multiple hits in a quick enough succession that it can beat armored moves before they become active or is a sweep that beats armor clean.
Any other assist types mentioned in the guide should be pretty self-explanatory.
For this guide, that should be all that you need if you already have some knowledge of fighting games, but if you're completely new to the genre then these may help you out:
Skullgirls/Glossary - Mizuumi Wiki (gbl.gg) - Skullgirls-focused glossary
The Fighting Game Glossary | infil.net - General fighting game glossary