A grappler is a character that fights mostly by grappling and throwing their opponents.
Usually, they will have poor long-range capability, but are extremely powerful point-blank, so their matches turn into contests of whether the enemy can stay out of their "Instant Death" Radius long enough to kill them. To preserve this dynamic, the Grappler is made a Mighty Glacier, making it harder for them to get in but more able to withstand the beating they have to take along the way. As a result of this, grapplers can often be Skill Gate Characters, becoming much easier to handle once a player knows how to deal damage while staying out of their range. However, faster grapplers exist too.
This character type is most common in Fighting Games, where they specialize in grapple moves. Most "grappler" characters have at least one "Command Throw"; a throw which requires a special (usually more difficult) input than the throws which are universal to the entire cast. The benefits of Command Throws depend on the game: in some, they are difficult (or even impossible) to break once landed. In others, they may be breakable, but do extra damage or have unique properties such as dealing a lot of Knockback for a Ring Out or placing the opponent at a disadvantage. Another variant is the "Hit-Throw", which is an attack that leads into a throw if it connects to the opponent.
Some characters use a wide variety of grabs, and use them more commonly and/or in more situations than any other abilities in their moveset. For others, their grapple(s) are intended to make the opponent afraid. They are usually the user's most powerful or threatening attacks, and are so troublesome that they force the enemy to choose between taking risks that can be punished for heavy damage, or to take risks trying to avoid the grapple. In some game systems, grabs are fairly uncommon but the characters who have them can use them to help utilize their other devastating abilities. And finally, there are those characters whose grapples have the primary purpose of making the opponent always feel confused and disoriented or disadvantaged. Even if they aren't particularly powerful or varied, throwing with these types of characters is a tool for that's meant to be an annoyance which locks the opponent in a never-ending state of unbalance.
Most grapplers tend to be either (pro) wrestlers or judokas. They also tend to use pro wrestling moves even if their type of wrestling is not explicitly (or explicitly not) pro wrestling.
Subtrope of Close-Range Combatant. Compare Wrestler in All of Us. Not to be confused with characters who use a Grappling-Hook Pistol.
