The Best First Guess in JoJodle (We Tested All 217 Characters)

The short answer

The gap is large. A good opener turns 217 possibilities into a short list you can reason about. A bad one leaves you staring at dozens of characters that all produced the same row of colors.

The rest of this guide shows where those numbers come from, which characters make the top 10, and how to use the feedback on your second guess.

How we tested every opener

JoJodle hides one of 217 characters each day. Every guess returns a row of eight colored cells: gender, Part, Stand type, role, hair color, nationality, debut year and debut chapter.

A first guess is good if that row tells you a lot. To measure it, we played every character as an opener against every possible answer and recorded the row the game would show.

What a feedback row tells you

Each cell narrows the field. Green means the answer shares the value. Yellow means it is close: an adjacent Part, the same Stand family, a similar hair color group, the same continent, a debut within five years or fifty chapters.

The three number columns also carry an arrow. It points up when the answer comes later and down when it comes earlier. Here is the real row for Terunosuke Miyamoto when the answer is Giorno Giovanna:

Measuring a good opener

Group all 217 answers by the row an opener produces. Answers in the same group look identical after guess one. Smaller groups are better.

Expected candidates left

Our main score is the average size of the group the answer falls into. Because every answer is equally likely, this is the number of characters you should expect to still be in play after guess one.

Worst case

The biggest group tells you how bad an unlucky day can get. For Terunosuke Miyamoto it is 10 characters. For Jonathan Joestar it is 51.

Answers pinned down outright

Some groups contain a single character. When that happens, the first guess alone identifies the answer, and guess two wins. Terunosuke Miyamoto does this for 46 of the 217 answers.

Playing every game to the end

We also simulated every game to the finish. After the opener, the solver keeps only the characters that match all the feedback so far, then guesses the one that splits the rest most evenly. That gives an average number of guesses to solve for each opener.

The 10 best first guesses in JoJodle

Ranked by expected candidates left after one guess. Lower is better.

“Pinned outright”: answers that the first guess alone identifies. “Avg guesses”: simulated games with perfect follow-up play.

#	Opener	Part	Left (avg)	Worst case	Pinned outright	Avg guesses
1	Terunosuke Miyamoto	4	3.71	10	46	2.56
2	Bruno Bucciarati	5	3.98	11	50	2.59
3	Okuyasu Nijimura	4	4.08	12	45	2.58
4	Yoshikage Kira	4	4.08	9	39	2.61
5	Yukako Yamagishi	4	4.15	12	38	2.60
6	Haruno Shiobana	5	4.25	11	49	2.59
7	Ken Oyanagi	4	4.31	10	39	2.62
8	Yoshihiro Kira	4	4.35	10	37	2.63
9	Formaggio	5	4.35	15	39	2.64
10	Iggy	3	4.48	14	46	2.62

#1 Terunosuke Miyamoto

Terunosuke Miyamoto is a male antagonist from Part 4 with a Close-Range Stand, white hair and Japanese nationality, debuting in 1995 at chapter 404.

None of that is unusual, which is exactly the point. Each value splits the roster into sizeable chunks, and his debut sits close to the middle of the timeline, so the arrows separate early answers from late ones.

The result: 98 different feedback rows across 217 answers, more than any other opener, and a worst case of only 10 characters.

Bruno Bucciarati and the Part 5 contenders

Bruno Bucciarati is the strongest opener outside Part 4, at 3.98. He debuts at the very start of Golden Wind, close to the roster's median debut chapter (456).

Two other Part 5 characters, Haruno Shiobana and Formaggio, also make the top 10. Being near the middle of the series is the common thread.

Okuyasu, Kira and the Morioh crowd

Part 4 fills most of the list: Terunosuke Miyamoto, Okuyasu Nijimura, Yoshikage Kira, Yukako Yamagishi, Ken Oyanagi, Yoshihiro Kira.

All of them are Japanese and all have Close-Range Stands, two of the most common values in their columns. Their debuts fall between 1992 and 1995, just before the roster's median year (1996).

Why Part 4 characters make the best openers

The chart below averages the score of every opener in each Part. Parts 4 and 5 are clearly ahead; the first and last Parts trail.

Arrows that cut both ways

Three columns carry arrows: Part, debut year and debut chapter. An arrow is only useful if it can point either way.

Half the roster debuts before chapter 456 and before 1996. An opener close to that middle sends roughly half the answers each way. Terunosuke Miyamoto's chapter arrow, for example, points down for 101 answers and up for 115.

Values that split the roster evenly

The non-number columns follow the same logic. A value shared by about half the roster gives the most information, because either answer, match or miss, rules out a lot.

• Role: 116 of 217 characters are antagonists, so guessing one splits the field almost in half.
• Stand type: Close-Range is the most common type (88 characters).
• Nationality: Japanese (28.1% of the roster) is one of the two largest groups.
• Gender: 80.6% of the roster is male, so this column rarely helps, whoever you pick.

The worst first guesses (and why Jonathan is last)

At the other end of the table, the worst openers share one problem: they sit at the edge of the timeline or carry values almost nobody else has.

The six weakest openers out of 217.

#	Opener	Part	Left (avg)	Worst case
217	Jonathan Joestar	1	21.79	51
216	Jodio Joestar	9	19.29	48
215	Wamuu	2	18.61	51
214	Santana	2	17.92	49
213	Norisuke Higashikata III	8	17.51	48
212	Tsurugi Higashikata	8	17.08	46

Chapter 1 is the edge of the map

Jonathan Joestar debuts in chapter 1, in 1987, in Part 1. Nobody comes earlier.

So after guessing him, the chapter arrow points up for 211 of the other 216 answers. The Part arrow points up for 197. Those columns barely separate anyone.

Rare values tell you little

Jonathan is also a protagonist, and only 9 characters in the roster are. A rare value usually comes back as a miss, and a miss on a rare value rules out almost no one.

The same goes for his blue hair, which only 5 characters share.

A worst-case game

Here is how a game can go after a Jonathan opener. The answer is A. Phex Brothers, which sits in Jonathan's biggest group:

How popular first guesses rank

Most people open with a character they love. Here is how the JoJos and the big villains actually perform as openers.

Opener	Part	Rank of 217	Left (avg)
DIO	3	#16	4.67
Giorno Giovanna	5	#62	5.99
Josuke Higashikata	4	#66	6.07
Jotaro Kujo	3	#117	8.58
Joseph Joestar	2	#199	13.29
Jolyne Cujoh	6	#204	14.50
Josuke Higashikata (Gappy)	8	#206	14.88
Johnny Joestar	7	#210	15.60
Jodio Joestar	9	#216	19.29
Jonathan Joestar	1	#217	21.79

DIO is the best famous opener

DIO ranks #16. Part 3, a Close-Range Stand and an antagonist role are all common values, and his 1989 debut is early but not at the very edge.

The JoJos are mostly poor openers

Every JoJo carries the Protagonist role, which only 9 characters share. Against almost every answer it comes back as a miss that rules out very few names.

As a result, six of the nine JoJos rank outside the top 150: Joseph Joestar, Jolyne Cujoh, Josuke Higashikata (Gappy), Johnny Joestar, Jodio Joestar, Jonathan Joestar. Giorno and Josuke, whose debuts sit mid-timeline, are the exceptions.

What kind of character makes a good opener?

You don't need to memorise a ranking. Averaging the score of every opener by role, Stand type and nationality shows which kinds of characters reliably do well.

By role: avoid the protagonists

Average expected candidates left for every opener with that role.

Role	Characters	Left (avg)	Best opener
Antagonist	116	8.25	Terunosuke Miyamoto
Supporting	92	8.27	Bruno Bucciarati
Protagonist	9	13.33	Giorno Giovanna

Antagonists and supporting characters score almost the same, around 8.25 candidates left. The 9 protagonists average 13.33, and even the best of them, Giorno Giovanna, only ranks #62.

By Stand type: Close-Range wins

Average expected candidates left for every opener with that Stand type.

Stand type	Characters	Left (avg)	Best opener
Close-Range	88	7.73	Terunosuke Miyamoto
Colony	6	8.08	Guido Mista
Long-Range	31	8.31	Illuso
Automatic	25	8.59	Tamami Kobayashi
No Stand	67	9.49	Haruno Shiobana

Close-Range is the most common Stand type in the roster, so a Close-Range opener turns that column green for a large group and rules out everyone else in one go. Its openers average 7.73.

Characters with no Stand do worst, at 9.49. Every Part 1 and Part 2 character is in this group, so it also carries the early-timeline problem described above.

A note on Colony and Automatic Stands

Rare Stand types can still make decent openers when the rest of the character's values are well placed. Guido Mista (Colony) ranks #18 and Tamami Kobayashi (Automatic) ranks #21.

By nationality: Italians lead

Italian openers average 6.32, the best of any nationality. That is mostly a Part effect: 29 of the 39 Italians come from Golden Wind, close to the middle of the timeline.

British characters do poorly (10.47), because 19 of the 22 debut in Parts 1 to 3, near the start.

Common first-guess mistakes

Three habits cost players the most information on guess one.

1. Opening with your favourite JoJo

It is the most natural choice and usually the weakest. The nine JoJos average 13.33 candidates left, against 8.47 for the whole roster.

2. Starting at the beginning of the story

Part 1 openers average 11.18 and the best of them ranks only #134. Start in the middle of the series instead and let the arrows do the work.

3. Ignoring the yellow cells

Yellow is not a near miss to shrug off. A yellow Part means the answer is exactly one Part away; a yellow year or chapter means the debut is within five years or fifty chapters. That often cuts the field more than a green gender cell does.

Guess two: how to use the feedback

A strong opener only helps if you read the row well. These steps work from any opener.

Read the arrows first

The three arrows place the answer on the timeline, and they always agree, because debut chapters and years run in Part order. Read them together: the Part arrow gives the direction, and a yellow chapter cell says the debut is within 50 chapters of your guess.

Then lock the Part

Once you know the Part, the field shrinks to that Part's cast, between 6 and 38 characters. Every Part has its own character hub (here is Part 4's), which is a quick way to jog your memory.

Cut the group with Stand type and role

Inside a Part, Stand type and role do most of the remaining work. Green on both often leaves only a handful of names.

Guess a candidate, not a probe

From guess two on, pick someone who could still be the answer. Our solver only ever guesses remaining candidates and still never needed more than 5 guesses.

1. Note the Part (green), or the neighbouring Part (yellow).
2. Use the year and chapter arrows to place the debut.
3. Filter by Stand type and role.
4. Use nationality and hair to break the last ties.

A worked example: Terunosuke Miyamoto to Jolyne Cujoh

Here is a real game from the simulation. The answer is Jolyne Cujoh, and the opener is Terunosuke Miyamoto. This is the row the first guess returns:

Reading the first row

• Gender miss: Terunosuke Miyamoto is male, so the answer is female.
• Part and chapter up, no yellow on Part: the answer comes at least two Parts later than Part 4.
• Year yellow and up: the debut is later than 1995 but within five years of it.
• Stand type green: a Close-Range Stand user, like the opener.
• Role, hair and nationality misses: not an antagonist, not light-haired, not Japanese.

Put together, that describes a female Close-Range Stand user from the start of Stone Ocean. Only 3 characters fit.

Guess two splits the last three

The solver then guesses Ermes Costello, because her row comes out different for each of the three. Against Jolyne Cujoh it looks like this:

The role and hair misses rule out the other candidates, and Jolyne Cujoh is solved on guess 3. That is the pattern to copy: use guess one to find the right corner of the roster, then pick a guess two that tells the survivors apart.

Does the opener matter if you play perfectly?

Less than you might think. With perfect follow-up play, every one of the 217 openers solves every answer within 5 guesses.

The spread between the best and worst opener is under half a guess for a solver that knows every attribute of every character.

Humans are different. Narrowing 217 names to about four is easy to work with; narrowing them to twenty-odd look-alikes is not. That is why we rank openers by candidates left rather than by the solver's average.

The best first guess in Hardmode

Hardmode removes yellow cells and arrows. Every column now answers only match or miss, and the ranking changes completely.

#	Hardmode opener	Part	Left (avg)	Normal rank
1	Rubber Soul	3	10.71	#38
2	Captain Tennille	3	11.15	#31
3	ZZ	3	11.39	#12
4	Wilson Phillips	3	11.43	#26
5	Iggy	3	11.78	#10

Why Part 3 takes over

Without arrows, the Part column becomes a plain match-or-miss test. Part 3 is the largest Part in the roster (38 of 217 characters), so guessing a Part 3 character gives that column its best chance of a useful green.

Common values matter even more here. Rubber Soul combines Part 3 with a Close-Range Stand, the antagonist role and black hair, the most common color in the game.

The Normal-mode winner falls

Terunosuke Miyamoto drops to #86 in Hardmode, because much of his strength came from arrows and yellow cells. Jonathan Joestar stays last at 67.50.

Hardmode tips

• Pick common values. With only match or miss to go on, a value shared by many characters (Part 3, Close-Range, antagonist, black hair) gives a useful answer either way.
• Expect a longer game. Even the best Hardmode opener leaves 10.71 candidates on average, about three times the Normal-mode figure.
• Track the Part by elimination. No arrows means no direction. Each Part you miss is crossed off, so guess two should usually test a different large Part.

Frequently asked questions