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Character Competitive Impressions

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Conda

aka COBBS - Content Creator (Toronto region)
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For 100th time today.
Speed Monado alone. Tbh I don't care much for Buster. Seriously just considering rolling Decisive Monado Arts for Speed.


SoL has greater % reward at long/mid range and travels faster. Its better for damage wracking and as such ends up more as a follow up then a start up.

Its only 1 of 3 options mind you. Gale has more dominant KB and a windbox but the startup and recovery are longer.

I hope he is better than perceived so my Dunban can wreck.
I'm a fan of neutral shulk too. Using speed and jump when needed. I may figure out an alt playstyle for myself, where I only use buffs when needed as short-term abilities. I get thrown off when playing shulk and altering his physics and movement properties mid-battle for long durations. I can't be as precise when I have to remember 3~ different ways of controlling Shulk. It makes controlling him difficult to make feel second nature.
 

ItsRainingGravy

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When I play Mario I primarily use fireball in the air and fall with it so i can follow up on the reaction. I don't think Shuriken of light has that functionality. Does it?

I might just be a bad Mario but I don't think standing fireball is good.
Standing Fireball is bad unless you are running Fast Fireball. Default Fireball leaves Mario a bit too open to my liking. If it had a few less frames it would be better. Air Fireball you can retreat and approach with though.
 

ChronoPenguin

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Neutral is good with Hyper Arts. So if you're heavy on M-art canceling or brief situational sessions, that's your man. Especially since hyper speed is at least equivalent to sonic. Then you can break their zone and go back to neutral with the positional advantage.

I was a big neutral fan till 1.04.
I said before I'd get in on a robin and made mistakes but part of the thing is me using Speed to break through zoning and then having to make extra reads because of my low damage. That isn't pronounced to the same degree anymore so I can afford to just sit in Speed and decide that's how I want to be (hence decisive arts).
IMO Decisive speed only lacks jump height but his aerial momentum is solid enough to make up for that on a general level.

You can basically play the whole game in speed like lightweight paletuna except you don't require platforms.

I'm probably the person most against Jump for onstage useage.

Witg Shield there is 4 movement states for Shulk so I get how that's difficult. Given I'm playing with decisive more and DMShield is a sitting suck, shield is less and less of my play. I'm mad aggressive, I don't use jump on stage so I don't notice control differences. Edge guard and recovery only for me. That leaves vanilla and speed movement.
 
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The Real Gamer

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I made a very basic "mini guide" for Zard's offstage game and I thought I'd post it here as well since some might find it informative.

Lets take a moment to talk about one of Zard's most underrated aspects: his offstage game. Zard has so many options to mess offstage opponents up that I truly believe he's one of the best at securing early kills and based on experience I feel like a lot of people aren't aware of his options. Keep note this is all very general, so when/where you use these tools is going to vary greatly depending on the MU.

It all starts with Flamethrower, which is such a great move just based on the fact that it messes up so many recoveries by itself. With FT you're able to angle the stream at about 245/135 degrees (think 9 and 3 o'clock on a clock) over the ledge which effectively puts a barrier of pain between the opponent and said ledge. Characters that are reliant on non tether/teleport recoveries to sweetspot the ledge (Falcon, Lucario, Rosa, Marth, Mario, Bowser, DK, etc) often end up getting messed up by this move since they have no choice but to try to recover high or hug the stage and recover low to avoid the stream, which plays right into Zards hands. If they don't they'll be eating anywhere from 5-15% damage while being put in an even worse position since the move effortlessly messes up their offstage positioning by pushing them downwards. A lot of people start to panic when they get caught in the stream... I can't count the number of times where someone will get caught in the stream, start mashing up b, and then miss the ledge sweetspot which leads to a free punish for Zard. A fullhop/shorthop FT also stuffs a lot of horizontal side b recoveries such as Diddy's, Spacie's, Falcon's, Luigi's, Little Mac's, etc... yeah FT covers a lot of ****. Avoid it by recovering high or hugging the stage and going low.

So if the opponent tries to recover low they're at risk of getting spiked by my personal favorite gimping tool: the almighty Dair. Dair straight up beats out or at least trades with the majority of the casts recoveries and with an extra mid air jump positioning yourself correctly isn't difficult at all. If you recover directly beneath Zard and lack invincibility frames/armor you're essentially leaving your stock at the mercy of the Zard player by hoping they mess up their timing. And even if Zard misses Dair has a lingering hitbox that can potentially stage spike at higher percentages. However, opponents can abuse the curved layout of certain stages such as Battlefield to hug the stage and sweetspot the ledge without being directly below Zard. But of course Zard has an option for this as well...

This is where Bair comes in. If the opponent recovers too close to the stage they're at risk being stage spiked by a very strong, very long runoff Bair. This is also great option against recoveries with strong vertical KO potential (ZSS and Zard for example) since Zard can safely attack them from a horizontal angle. One thing to note is that like all stage spikes it CAN be prevented with a well timed tech which means this is arguably the safest method of recovery from below Zard. Better to be stage spiked than Dair spiked in most cases.

So against characters that recover high? Lots of options here as well. He can challenge with a Fair, Bair, Uair (all will kill at higher percentages), or use his great speed to run underneath the opponent and up smash or up tilt before they can land safely, which is also a great option since they’re both disjointed hitboxes that often outspace anything most of the cast can throw out from beneath them while they’re airborne. In most cases you don’t want to be above a grounded Zard. Some recoveries also have enough land lag for Zard to punish with whatever (think Lucario, DK, and Bowser). My personal favorite is Flare Blitz if they're too far to reach otherwise. Nair is a good option that covers spotdoges well since the hitbox stays out so long, but the reward isn't nearly as great as the other moves since its so hard to sweespot with the tail.

But I left out what is arguably Zard's most powerful offstage option against opponents that recover high: DRAGON RUSH. I do not exaggerate when I say this move is GODLIKE as an offstage tool. It gimps easily and it gimps early. For those who don't know Dragon Rush acts similarly to Flare Blitz but the key difference is that it drags the opponent horizontally alongside Zard THEN applies knockback as opposed to simply applying knockback on contact. What makes this move great is that you can jump offstage, DR to challenge the opponent's recovery, drag them back towards the blastzone, jump again, then DR back to the stage safely! Here are a few examples of what the move looks like in action:
http://youtu.be/7YSJjQl7BHM?t=50s
http://youtu.be/qH053DojVS4?t=1m15s
http://youtu.be/jV9Vuo5Fb4U?t=30s
Although all of these vids were pre patch (DR recieved a damage nerf) I can confirm the move has not lost its utility as a great gimping tool in the slightest (I was able to KO a Bowser at 60% with it in an earlier match), so I imagine you could probably KO offstage opponents as early as around 40% when used properly. As if this move couldn't get ridiculous enough... if you miss the opponent with initial DR you can sometimes clip them with DR on your way back to the stage while they're recovering and stage spike them! Yes DR is THAT good people and if you use it properly you're going to make your opponent fear trying to recover high. Make them recover low so we can stage spike/Dair spike them instead. ^.^

There's one more option that's a bit more situational but it works! Zard's Fly has superarmor on startup and strong knockback, which means Zard has the ability to chase opponents deep offstage and punish their recovery with Fly... Yes Zard can literally up b the opponents up b for the kill. This is great for chasing someone far from the stage with a Fair or whatever, which forces them to airdodge. After they've committed to airdodging they're then open to losing to Fly since they're forced to recover afterwards, so basically if their recovery lacks armor or invincibility a well timed Fly will punish them hard for it. This will only kill at higher percentages since this mostly happens beneath the stage but at least it's another option that the opponent has to respect.

Summary:
-Flamethrower to cover the ledge
- Dair spike opponents who recover low
- Runnoff Bair to stage spike opponents who hug the stage
- Dragon Rush to challenge opponents who recover at or above the ledge
- Fair/Bair/Uair are also good options for recoveries above the ledge (Bair is probably the best option with its superior range and knockback)
- Nair to cover spotdodges, but the reward isn't as great as the above
- Remember that Fly has superarmor on startup and will beat out any recovery without armor or invincibility if timed right

That's a lot of options! Knowing when to use said options is the key to elevating our Zard play. Zard is a beast offstage so next time you send your opponent flying make sure you let them know it.
 
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Zero Suit Senpai

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I'm curious...

I remember when the game first came out and Palutena was considered a bottom of the barrel character with little to no redeeming qualities.

But now I see people listing her in this thread as mid/high tier. What happened? Has the competitive community discovered something about her that changed their mind? Her 1.0.4 buffs are nice, but they don't seem extremely substantial.
 
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Luco

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I'm curious...

I remember when the game first came out and Palutena was considered a bottom of the barrel character with little to no redeeming qualities.

But now I see people listing her in this thread as mid/high tier. What happened? Has the competitive community discovered something about her that changed their mind? Her 1.0.4 buffs are nice, but they don't seem extremely substantial.
When I did my list, I tried to give my characters an overall evaluation, so basically where customs were allowed but not every character necessarily used/needed them. I thought about Palutena and her incredible mobility with lightweight (that she can use over and over on a stage with platforms) and superspeed and decided she's actually a pretty good character now. :)

Also @ Conda Conda /Cobbs I actually suspect it's because for the most part we've kinda mostly sorted most of our 'top tier' out, so when those lists were made a few pages back people took issue more with lower-tiered characters.

And to clarify, the reason I don't put them in 3 tiers is because frankly as much as I love the future king I just can't put Captain Falcon in the same tier as Bowser Jr. I don't think they have the same level of viability, and on another level I somewhat doubt that Falco (as good as he is) is quite as commanding as Sonic or Yoshi.
 
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JayTheUnseen

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I'm curious...

I remember when the game first came out and Palutena was considered a bottom of the barrel character with little to no redeeming qualities.

But now I see people listing her in this thread as mid/high tier. What happened? Has the competitive community discovered something about her that changed their mind? Her 1.0.4 buffs are nice, but they don't seem extremely substantial.
Maybe people just adjusted to her?
I hear she's defensive like Zelda and focuses on punishes,which dosen't work too well in Smash,it seems.But at least she does have a counter.Out of all the new characters with one,she's seems the most suited to one(playstyle-wise),if that's true.

But to me,she feels really clunky and hard to play as,but that's really because she dosen't suit my style.
I felt MegaMan was good but hard to play when the demo arrived.On Gamefaqs most people were saying he was trash,and disrespected by the devs.People often seem to confuse 'hard to play as' with 'low-tier'.
 
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meleebrawler

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I'm curious...

I remember when the game first came out and Palutena was considered a bottom of the barrel character with little to no redeeming qualities.

But now I see people listing her in this thread as mid/high tier. What happened? Has the competitive community discovered something about her that changed their mind? Her 1.0.4 buffs are nice, but they don't seem extremely substantial.
They've been considering that way before 1.0.4. That patch barely changed
Palutena.

Once you look past the lagginess of her tilts you find
a character with good footsies thanks to an excellent jab
and a good combo game thanks to her Dthrow and aerials,
all of which have uses.

And that's before getting to her customs.

Fun fact: In 1.0.3 I once shieldgrabbed a Greninja's Dair.
 

TTTTTsd

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I plan on labbing with Doc because I really think he's just low tier. He can fight mostly everyone (albeit usually 6:4 against him, ocassionally 5:5 and he has some 6:4 in his favor if he can camp them). I think the only one that's legitimately bad might be Olimar IF his Pikmin AI is still the same (I didn't get to check). Doc just strikes me as below average and he'd be legitimately mid tier if he had better run speed.

I'm not gonna overrate him but I don't think he's in this "unusable holy **** bad" tier like a lot of people say. I'm okay with the notion that he's not great but I don't like exaggeration. I can't group him with Olimar, I really can't. Once I get a hold of Doc on a GC controller I'll make my full judgment. I feel like being able to use both B and Y as special buttons will make Doc Tornado a lot better, just you folks wait!
 
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NairWizard

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Bringing these observations from the changelog here:

Palutena's up-smash lasts for an additional 4 frames now. Won't get as much phasing through the animation any more. This should make her up-smash quite a bit scarier as an anti-air--it also kills earlier without vectoring.

More nerfs to Greninja's up-smash than I had thought. And more nerfs to Rosalina than I'd thought. Sheik's f-air was apparently nerfed too, albeit slightly. All three are weaker than they were before. This should give characters who had bad matchups with all three a little boost. So... Diddy? is all that comes to mind. edit: Ness too

Diddy was strictly buffed: his jab is now better. No other changes.
 
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Luco

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I plan on labbing with Doc because I really think he's just low tier. He can fight mostly everyone (albeit usually 6:4 against him, ocassionally 5:5 and he has some 6:4 in his favor if he can camp them). I think the only one that's legitimately bad might be Olimar IF his Pikmin AI is still the same (I didn't get to check). Doc just strikes me as below average and he'd be legitimately mid tier if he had better run speed.

I'm not gonna overrate him but I don't think he's in this "unusable holy **** bad" tier like a lot of people say. I'm okay with the notion that he's not great but I don't like exaggeration. I can't group him with Olimar, I really can't. Once I get a hold of Doc on a GC controller I'll make my full judgment. I feel like being able to use both B and Y as special buttons will make Doc Tornado a lot better, just you folks wait!
I apologise for placing him there, he just felt a bit worse to me than Ganon and such when I was making it, but I respect your position (I have ever since you first posted about him) and i'd be willing to move him up. Keep in mind that my 'low tier' is still usable and such, I haven't labelled them as the 'hopeless tier' and I don't plan on doing so. ;)

But Doc is one i'd potentially be okay with moving up.
 
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TTTTTsd

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No no I mean, there are people that placed him a tier that said "Something went wrong" like, what? Your tier list was fine, all you said was "he needs a buff." I can't argue with that haha.
With what happened to Ike, I could see it happening to Doc too. Just gotta wait.
 
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NairWizard

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No no I mean, there are people that placed him a tier that said "Something went wrong" like, what? Your tier list was fine, all you said was "he needs a buff." I can't argue with that haha.
With what happened to Ike, I could see it happening to Doc too. Just gotta wait.
Move to Japan and intentionally place poorly in tournaments with Doc imo.
 

HeavyLobster

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I plan on labbing with Doc because I really think he's just low tier. He can fight mostly everyone (albeit usually 6:4 against him, ocassionally 5:5 and he has some 6:4 in his favor if he can camp them). I think the only one that's legitimately bad might be Olimar IF his Pikmin AI is still the same (I didn't get to check). Doc just strikes me as below average and he'd be legitimately mid tier if he had better run speed.

I'm not gonna overrate him but I don't think he's in this "unusable holy **** bad" tier like a lot of people say. I'm okay with the notion that he's not great but I don't like exaggeration. I can't group him with Olimar, I really can't. Once I get a hold of Doc on a GC controller I'll make my full judgment. I feel like being able to use both B and Y as special buttons will make Doc Tornado a lot better, just you folks wait!
Yeah, if Doc Tornado actually gives him the recovery distance he needs with a GC controller he'll be a lot better. Right now I'm annoyed by the fact that he actually has some good aerial finishers but can't really go deep to get the kill. It's my one big issue with the character.(outside of his F-Smash hitbox being smaller than Mario's) Doc also definitely doesn't qualify as a garbage character, even if he's a bit underpowered.
 

Terotrous

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I'm curious...

I remember when the game first came out and Palutena was considered a bottom of the barrel character with little to no redeeming qualities.

But now I see people listing her in this thread as mid/high tier. What happened? Has the competitive community discovered something about her that changed their mind? Her 1.0.4 buffs are nice, but they don't seem extremely substantial.
Most people took one look at her tilts and said "bottom tier" without ever considering the rest of her moveset.
 

Luco

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HeavyLobster

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Most people took one look at her tilts and said "bottom tier" without ever considering the rest of her moveset.
I think it had more to do with people pigeonholing her as a campy character based on her defaults when that isn't her strength at all.
 

Blue Banana

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I think the only one that's legitimately bad might be Olimar IF his Pikmin AI is still the same (I didn't get to check).
The AI desync problems he had before are still there, but a few people said that the AI is a little better. I do not have enough experience with 1.0.4 Oli yet to make a judgement on it.
 

Terotrous

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I think it had more to do with people pigeonholing her as a campy character based on her defaults when that isn't her strength at all.
Maybe a little but a ton honestly was just focused around the tilts. No one was even looking at her grabs, her jab, her aerials, her customs, etc. She's got a lot of good stuff.
 

ZombieBran

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I think people were playing her wrong. I know I was. First impressions of her for a lot of people probably went down the route of an overly laggy punish character who has to force approaches.

Little did I know she would become this rushdown monster.

Plus I don't think most of her tricks were known very early.
 
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Freezie KO

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The AI desync problems he had before are still there, but a few people said that the AI is a little better. I do not have enough experience with 1.0.4 Oli yet to make a judgement on it.
Olimar's better. I've put 100 times as much time into my Olimar as most other characters, yet I can still pick up a Rosalina that I've played maybe 10 times total and wreck people that I struggle to take a match off of in For Glory with Olimar. Mostly when I'm playing against a Sheik or Greninja or something. That's just the way the tiers go though.
 

Blue Banana

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Olimar's better. I've put 100 times as much time into my Olimar as most other characters, yet I can still pick up a Rosalina that I've played maybe 10 times total and wreck people that I struggle to take a match off of in For Glory with Olimar. Mostly when I'm playing against a Sheik or Greninja or something. That's just the way the tiers go though.
That's just a weakness Olimar has in general, unfortunately. He just has trouble with fast and mobile characters.
 

Lavani

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Straight up invincibility or just on her shield?
Straight up, full body invincibility. You can dive into the middle of four Bob-ombs or even into a Smart Bomb explosion with them (well, until the invuln runs out for the latter).
 

Kofu

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So I mentioned I'd go through the cast and list how I feel :4gaw: lies in relation to the rest of the cast. Bear in mind, this is mostly my impressions (I have at least tried the whole cast) and is NOT indicative of if Game & Watch beats a character or not, just if they're better than him against the rest of the cast. It's also listed alphabetically, not in order of who I think is the best.

CHARACTERS THAT ARE DEFINITELY BETTER:
:4diddy::4greninja::4lucario::4marth::4pikachu::rosalina::4sheik::4sonic::4wario2::4yoshi::4zss:

CHARACTERS THAT ARE PROBABLY BETTER:
:4bowser::4falcon::4duckhunt::4falco::4fox::4myfriends::4lucina::4ness::4pacman::4palutena::4peach::4robinm::4shulk::4villager:

CHARACTERS THAT I DON'T HAVE A FIRM ENOUGH OPINION ON:
:4bowserjr::4charizard::4darkpit::4dedede::4dk::4jigglypuff::4littlemac::4link::4megaman::4metaknight::4miibrawl::4miigun::4miisword::4pit::4rob::4tlink:

CHARACTERS THAT ARE WORSE:
:4drmario::4ganondorf::4kirby::4luigi::4mario::4olimar::4samus::4wiifit::4zelda:

I think that most of the characters I've listed as better need no explanation. Some of the others might, though, so I'll give them for what could be considered controversial.
:4wario2:: When I first tried out Wario in Smash 4 it felt like he really wasn't changed all that much, and from what I can tell my first impression was right. He's still slippery with impressive KO power, a command grab, and a flexible recovery. Wario Waft is even better in this game thanks to the ability to speed up the recharge time by eating his own bike. It's probably not accurate, but his attacks seem quicker in general this game, too. His range is short, but when he can weave in and out like he does that's hardly a liability. He's still a top-tier contender, IMO, even if people don't fully recognize it yet.

:4myfriends::4shulk:: I never thought these guys were bottom tier, but I would probably have had them as "unsure opinion" or "definitely worse" before the recent patch. Now, though, they seem a lot more solid and scary, Ike especially when customs are involved. I must confess that my experience against Ike and Shulk is limited, though, so my opinions are largely formed from others' expressing their own opinions. But it sounds like these Super Meme Bros are going to be a threat in the future.

:4ness:: Sorry, kid, but I'm not convinced you're top tier just yet. Your smashes are much improved from Brawl, PK Fire is safer, and they somehow managed to buff your FAir, but you still have some big weaknesses. Recovery is far and away the most apparent. Although PK Thunder now passes through opponents early on in the move, it's still blockable later on and can be intercepted by reflectors. Windboxes are even worse, because they're generally a very safe way to completely screw Ness over. Aside from that, his ground game is fairly straightforward and overly reliant on FAir for spacing. Eventually the move becomes more of a nuisance than an actual threat. His grabs always need to be respected, however.

:4pacman:: The dot-muncher is another character that I have mixed feelings on. His ground game is solid but his air game is... a little lacking. Not bad, but not exceptional by any means. A lot of his attacks are somewhat unique and gimmicky, but that isn't necessarily bad (Game & Watch himself is a pretty gimmicky character). Bonus Fruit alone adds a lot of depth to his playstyle, not even getting into the bizarre customs for the move. One thing that might hold him back is that his specials can all be used against him in some way (or they leave him open to counterattacks).

:4palutena::4peach:: Much like Ike and Shulk, I'm mostly placing these two here from hearsay, but to me they feel like they have a little more depth than the two swordsmen (Monado Arts notwithstanding). Good Peach players are frightening, an impression that's carried over from Brawl, where the main reason that I feel she wasn't higher was, lack of kill moves aside, she didn't have any of the stupid traits that the top tiers possessed. The more I hear about Palutena and her customs the better she sounds. I have next to no experience playing against custom Palutena, unfortunately. The GC Controller will likely aid these two tremendously.

:4robinm:: Truth be told, Robin should probably be in the "definitely better" category, what with Thoron and the "you're not Levin until 120% if I have anything to say about it" sword. I've seen a few sad instances, though, where, reckless usage of his tomes has kinda stranded the player until they regenerate (mainly with Thunder and Arcfire). Obviously this shouldn't be an issue at high-level play, but it's something to be aware of. He has tremendous power and is one of those characters you don't want to leave to his own devices. Poor ground mobility and vulnerability to juggles are the biggest weaknesses I can see, and they're nothing to sneeze at (having used Ganon and ROB since Brawl, believe me, I know).

:4darkpit::4pit:: Pit and Pittoo are well-rounded characters. They have good range, a decent projectile, and a very effective recovery. Because they're well-rounded, however, nothing about them really stands out to me. Multiple jumps hurts their ground game a little because it prevents them from following up on airborne opponents. As good as their Up-B is for returning to the stage, you can knock them out of it fairly easily since it's very direct. Good spacing and well-timed punishes will be critical to their game. I really don't know where to place them because they seem very middle-of-the-road.

:4dedede:: Yeah, most people think Sakurai's Subspace hero is low tier. I don't. He's probably low mid, but mid nonetheless. His multiple jumps help him escape juggles that other heavies wish they could and he's got a bunch of weird traps with Gordos. Grabbing with him is no longer the game-changer it was in Brawl, but his throws still have generally good damage and DThrow leads to nice follow-ups. IMO he's a character that you should at least be familiar with because if you don't, he'll wreck you with his hammer, body, and invincible spike balls.

:4jigglypuff:: Rondoudou is yet another character that I'm not buying the hype for just yet. She's much improved from Brawl, but then again, that wasn't hard. :p Additional hitstun helps her follow up on attacks, Rest actually kills now, and BAir is now a stupid kill move. BUT, much like Game & Watch, she's exceptionally light, which is compounded by her mediocre range. Her edgeguarding was hurt a little from Brawl too with the ledge trump mechanic. If she starts placing in tournaments or doing impressive things, she could be higher. I'll have to see it first.

:4littlemac:: Shaya puts him in cheese tier. The more I fight Little Mac, the more inclined I am to agree. Good Macs are scary. The Super Armor on his smashes is frustrating, KO Punch is absurd, and FTilt is such a good move it's ridiculous. I found out the other day that his down-angled FSmash has shield-breaking properties. I've even encountered a few that knew how to use his aerials to help him escape juggles. But the fact remains that his off-stage game, especially escaping gimps, is awful. If customs become more regular, life will only get harder for him since windboxes are his bane.

:4megaman:: Mega Man has a lot of options. He seems to encourage a creative playstyle, which is cool. His reliance on projectiles may end up being his downfall, unfortunately. Wise reflector usage shuts down his long-ranged and mid-ranged games, and his close combat abilities are mostly telegraphed and generally able to be reacted to. His above average weight combined with his small frame make him pretty hard to kill, though (definitely a bonus) and he has some ******** kill moves (Mega Upper :c) to complement a great grab game. I could see him moving up as more players make good use of his unique gameplay.

:4miibrawl::4miigun::4miisword:: Long story short (after a really long post), I don't know where any of these guys should go. I've messed around with all of them a little, and while the Swordfighter feels the worst out of the three, none of them seem unusable. Gunner's long-ranged normals are frightening and the Brawler has some impressive movement options. I just wish that the defaults were usable on For Glory so we could get more accustomed to their normals, at least (most Mii specials are just variants on specials of other characters). As it is, they really just feel like a gimmick added for use for kicks and not to be a main part of the game. If anyone uses one or more of them fairly regularly, I'd love to play against you to try and see how they play so I can get a better impression of them.

:4kirby::4luigi:: Yeah, I'm crazy for lumping Kirby and Luigi in the same group, but bear with me. A lot of what I've heard Kirby mains complain about is difficulty approaching and getting in, but once they do, they can deal some solid combos and damage. Those sound like the same problems Luigi has always had to me. Personally, Luigi's scarier for what he can do with combos (it looks like his FAir got its ranged buffed this last patch WHY) and Kirby for his sheer damage and KO ability (FSmash, USmash, and Stone are quite potent). Luigi's probably better overall but both characters suffer from poor approach options.

:4mario:: This guy right here is likely the one I've seen the most on For Glory (not ZSS, not Little Mac). And my impression of him is: frustrating, not scary. It feels like a lot of what Wi-fi Mario mains rely on could be better reacted to without input lag. That said, Cape is a good move (and often underutilized IMO), his smashes all have deceptive range, and his throws are quite useful. His aerials are also pretty quick and good at linking together (not as good as Luigi's, but still solid). He still has a bad recovery and generally poor range (not to mention the lack of disjoints, lol) that hold him back.

:4olimar:: I don't think he's the worst in the game, even with bad Pikmin AI and reflectable smashes (the latter is hilarious but sucks for him). I never liked fighting him in Brawl and that's carried over to Smash 4. I guess I really just need to learn how to fight him rather than complain about his playstyle, but his attributes and disjoints alone tell me he's not as bad as most people think.

Just going by the "definitely better" and "probably better" characters, that's over half the cast that would be put above Game & Watch, again, not because he's bad, but because these others are just better (even if only by a little). I'm really impressed by how close most characters feel in this game in terms of power and usefulness. From doing this, it really feels like the tier list this time will really have to be determined by individual matchups; I probably couldn't have listed the characters in the different groupings in order if I tried.

TL;DR Lots of characters in this game are usable.
 
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NairWizard

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Straight up, full body invincibility. You can dive into the middle of four Bob-ombs or even into a Smart Bomb explosion with them (well, until the invuln runs out for the latter).
Yeah, people don't realize how amazing this is until Palutena literally bairs through a juggle attempt. It's amazing. This character is probably the most underrated in the game; even putting her in High Tier is underrating her abilities with customs on.
 
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InfinityCollision

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Straight up invincibility or just on her shield?
As I understand it, if her shield hitbox clashes with another attack then she becomes immune to that attack for a certain time and her own attack continues unhindered. The only attacks that really have any chance to hit her afterwards are things like Snaring Aura Sphere, smart bombs, etc. Stuff with hitboxes that stay in the same area for a good while.

But yeah, Palutena... we discovered her combos, her custom specials, her many shenanigans, etc, and all of that represents a massive shift in her gameplan's execution and effectiveness. Default Palutena is kind of defensive and slow, customs Palutena is My Little Rushdown Goddess.
 
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NairWizard

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Here's a question for Shulk mains. You guys are using Speed Monado, but what I'm really curious about is Buster Monado. With the increase in damage, Shulk's d-tilt and f-tilt should be even safer on shield due to additional shieldstun, and this matters because unlike Marth you ideally don't want to tipper your tilts as Shulk, you want to hit with the blade part, so you aren't always at max range when you try to get max damage. Can you safely f-tilt and d-tilt a shield now (hitting with the blade portion) on most characters in Buster Stance?

because if you can, sounds like Decisive Monado Arts Buster Shulk followed by Smash Shulk for the KO is the way to go.
 
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Conda

aka COBBS - Content Creator (Toronto region)
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Here's a question for Shulk mains. You guys are using Speed Monado, but what I'm really curious about is Buster Monado. With the increase in damage, Shulk's d-tilt and f-tilt should be even safer on shield due to additional shieldstun, and this matters because unlike Marth you ideally don't want to tipper your tilts as Shulk, you want to hit with the blade part, so you aren't always at max range when you try to get max damage. Can you safely f-tilt and d-tilt a shield now (hitting with the blade portion) on most characters in Buster Stance?

because if you can, sounds like Decisive Monado Arts Buster Shulk followed by Smash Shulk for the KO is the way to go.
Buster's only good imo if you are confident you can outplay your opponent, as it increases damage taken as well. So it's mostly a zero sum power unless you are either in a lead or have momentum and you are certain you won't get punished.
 

NairWizard

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Buster's only good imo if you are confident you can outplay your opponent, as it increases damage taken as well. So it's mostly a zero sum power unless you are either in a lead or have momentum and you are certain you won't get punished.
But increasing the damage you take doesn't increase the safety on shield of your opponent's attacks, correct? The *base* attack power of the attacks coming at you doesn't go up.
 
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Mr. Johan

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So it turns out Meta Knight can reliably kill at 60% with his Upthrow if he collides with someone on the way down.

Meta Knight 4v4s is the way of the future.
 
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ChronoPenguin

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Here's a question for Shulk mains. You guys are using Speed Monado, but what I'm really curious about is Buster Monado. With the increase in damage, Shulk's d-tilt and f-tilt should be even safer on shield due to additional shieldstun, and this matters because unlike Marth you ideally don't want to tipper your tilts as Shulk, you want to hit with the blade part, so you aren't always at max range when you try to get max damage. Can you safely f-tilt and d-tilt a shield now (hitting with the blade portion) on most characters in Buster Stance?

because if you can, sounds like Decisive Monado Arts Buster Shulk followed by Smash Shulk for the KO is the way to go.

Busters damage didn't increase.
The damage you take has decreased.
It means Buster is less punitive.

Here is a way to look at it
Decisive Monado arts - Commitment.
Hyper Monado arts- Lack of commitment
Monado arts - Situational.

Hyper Monado arts you throw out 2 attacks are your done.
DM arts its frankly because you enjoy the playstyle of an Art the way I see it, so Buster -> smash seems pointless. Just use Hyper or Regular monado arts if that's how you're looking at it.

I doubt DM Buster would even be good outside of PvE You make less reads to increase %, but buster has less KB so you need more reads to bring them to kill % within Buster which defeats the purpose. Otherwise it's raise their % and then wait for buster to time out so you can kill in Vanilla.

DM Smash is problematic to me for similar reasons but it may have some potential. It may be the case that DM Smash leads to early edge-guards despite its trashy damage, and as such better low % kill opportunities.
 
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NairWizard

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Busters damage didn't increase.
The damage you take has decreased.
It means Buster is less punitive.

Imo Decisive arts are really for committing to a play style. I don't much reason at all to commit to Smash arts, so if your strategy is sit in Decisive and then sit in Smash I think it'll backfire.

Heres the thing with DMarts Buster. You wrack up so much damage the point is really that you'll get them to something like 180% and kill them in Buster anyways, or it runs out and you kill them in Vanilla. Like you don't take Decisive arts to stance swap because you commit to whatever monado art you put on.

You may as well just use regular monado arts or Hyper for that purpose.


Now is there any value to committing to Smash as a playstyle or Buster? MMmm I dunno. I'd question DMarts Smash rather heavily, it's strong but then you're stuck in it for 20s, and after you kill them you're doing no damage and they kill you. Maybe it's good for getting early-kills via being able to get them off-stage at early %'s.

As for DM Buster I just want to know what you get out of committing to Buster other then having to do less reads to increase their %. Buster neeeds less reads to raise % but DM buster needs high % to land a kill so its a wash, until you can forced back into Vanilla.

Far as I can tell DM was made for Speed, maybe Jump potentially Smash.
buster's damage has increased only because base Shulk's damage has increased, and buster is a multiple of the base numbers

What this means is that in Buster you should theoretically be quite safe attacking shields with your tilts and aerials because of shieldstun. That's pretty huge. I think it's a bigger deal than additional Speed. Speed Monado Shulk is actually *less* safe on shield because his attacks do less damage than base Shulk. Speed is good for other reasons, but Buster lets you really get the most out of Shulk's range. Look at it this way: even if you don't hit with the "blade" part of your attacks and hit with the tipper instead, in Buster you'll be doing as much damage as regular Shulk would have been doing anyway with the blade part, and more than Speed Shulk in the same scenario. The difference is that you're safer because you aren't attacking with the blade, you are attacking with the tip.

And then if you do attack with the blade, you get more damage and you're *still* safer because more damage means more safety on block.

Now, Decisive Monado Arts lasts for a long time, but it doesn't last for the whole match; you can still swap every 20s. You could just stop when you've racked up 100% damage using extra-shield-safe moves in Buster Mode, and then go to Smash for the rest of the % once your Buster wears out (maybe once or twice; Decisive has less cooldown too right?). Ordinarily, Smash is kind of weak because it doesn't last that long and opponents will just run around until your Smash wears off, fearing the kill; with DMarts Smash, they can't just run around for 20s, they have to fight you, and at some point in that 20s you'll get the kill.

Against some characters, instead of switching to smash, you can switch to Speed or Jump to get the kill. I would do this against say Jigglypuff, because she's light enough that Speed or Jump will do the job. Well, I might not even use Buster against Jigglypuff because she's not the kind to shield a lot, so permanent Speed is probably better in this matchup, or permanent Jump for followups.

But Buster -> Smash is better for other matchups such as the Marth or Diddy MU. These characters love to shield and punish you out of shield. But if your attacks are safer on shield, they can't do that as much, so you're getting away with more than they are because Shulk has massive range. So build up % in Buster Mode, then switch to Smash the first chance you get once your last Buster wears off (say when the opponent is at ~100%) and finish off the stock with your nicely extended Smash+ duration.

I don't think you should be trying to deal as much damage as possible while in Buster mode, btw, so 180% sounds really high. The goal here is to be really safe, kind of like Brawl Marth, and hit shields with attacks that you can't be punished for very easily.

But this all rests on the premise that Shulk is indeed safer on block because of extra damage now. I haven't tested the shield safety of his blade vs. tipper attacks.
 
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ChronoPenguin

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I'd be interested if you found favorable results.
You could swap every 20s I just don't find it favorable. I don't like sitting in Jump or buster or Smash. I prefer to swap through them as I find it more efficient.
 
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Food for thought

Hyper buster f-tilt is safer on shield than it is on hit

D-tilt on any type of buster is still ridiculously good


EDIT: And yes, buster is safer on shield
 
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X3I

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So I mentioned I'd go through the cast and list how I feel :4gaw: lies in relation to the rest of the cast. Bear in mind, this is mostly my impressions (I have at least tried the whole cast) and is NOT indicative of if Game & Watch beats a character or not, just if they're better than him against the rest of the cast. It's also listed alphabetically, not in order of who I think is the best.

CHARACTERS THAT ARE DEFINITELY BETTER:
:4diddy::4greninja::4lucario::4marth::4pikachu::rosalina::4sheik::4sonic::4wario2::4yoshi::4zss:

CHARACTERS THAT ARE PROBABLY BETTER:
:4bowser::4falcon::4duckhunt::4falco::4fox::4myfriends::4lucina::4ness::4pacman::4palutena::4peach::4robinm::4shulk::4villager:

CHARACTERS THAT I DON'T HAVE A FIRM ENOUGH OPINION ON:
:4bowserjr::4charizard::4darkpit::4dedede::4dk::4jigglypuff::4littlemac::4link::4megaman::4metaknight::4miibrawl::4miigun::4miisword::4pit::4rob::4tlink:

CHARACTERS THAT ARE WORSE:
:4drmario::4ganondorf::4kirby::4luigi::4mario::4olimar::4samus::4wiifit::4zelda:

I think that most of the characters I've listed as better need no explanation. Some of the others might, though, so I'll give them for what could be considered controversial.

:4myfriends::4shulk:: I never thought these guys were bottom tier, but I would probably have had them as "unsure opinion" or "definitely worse" before the recent patch. Now, though, they seem a lot more solid and scary, Ike especially when customs are involved. I must confess that my experience against Ike and Shulk is limited, though, so my opinions are largely formed from others' expressing their own opinions. But it sounds like these Super Meme Bros are going to be a threat in the future.

:4ness:: Sorry, kid, but I'm not convinced you're top tier just yet. Your smashes are much improved from Brawl, PK Fire is safer, and they somehow managed to buff your FAir, but you still have some big weaknesses. Recovery is far and away the most apparent. Although PK Thunder now passes through opponents early on in the move, it's still blockable later on and can be intercepted by reflectors. Windboxes are even worse, because they're generally a very safe way to completely screw Ness over. Aside from that, his ground game is fairly straightforward and overly reliant on FAir for spacing. Eventually the move becomes more of a nuisance than an actual threat. His grabs always need to be respected, however.

:4pacman:: The dot-muncher is another character that I have mixed feelings on. His ground game is solid but his air game is... a little lacking. Not bad, but not exceptional by any means. A lot of his attacks are somewhat unique and gimmicky, but that isn't necessarily bad (Game & Watch himself is a pretty gimmicky character). Bonus Fruit alone adds a lot of depth to his playstyle, not even getting into the bizarre customs for the move. One thing that might hold him back is that his specials can all be used against him in some way (or they leave him open to counterattacks).

:4palutena::4peach:: Much like Ike and Shulk, I'm mostly placing these two here from hearsay, but to me they feel like they have a little more depth than the two swordsmen (Monado Arts notwithstanding). Good Peach players are frightening, an impression that's carried over from Brawl, where the main reason that I feel she wasn't higher was, lack of kill moves aside, she didn't have any of the stupid traits that the top tiers possessed. The more I hear about Palutena and her customs the better she sounds. I have next to no experience playing against custom Palutena, unfortunately. The GC Controller will likely aid these two tremendously.

:4robinm:: Truth be told, Robin should probably be in the "definitely better" category, what with Thoron and the "you're not Levin until 120% if I have anything to say about it" sword. I've seen a few sad instances, though, where, reckless usage of his tomes has kinda stranded the player until they regenerate (mainly with Thunder and Arcfire). Obviously this shouldn't be an issue at high-level play, but it's something to be aware of. He has tremendous power and is one of those characters you don't want to leave to his own devices. Poor ground mobility and vulnerability to juggles are the biggest weaknesses I can see, and they're nothing to sneeze at (having used Ganon and ROB since Brawl, believe me, I know).

:4darkpit::4pit:: Pit and Pittoo are well-rounded characters. They have good range, a decent projectile, and a very effective recovery. Because they're well-rounded, however, nothing about them really stands out to me. Multiple jumps hurts their ground game a little because it prevents them from following up on airborne opponents. As good as their Up-B is for returning to the stage, you can knock them out of it fairly easily since it's very direct. Good spacing and well-timed punishes will be critical to their game. I really don't know where to place them because they seem very middle-of-the-road.

:4dedede:: Yeah, most people think Sakurai's Subspace hero is low tier. I don't. He's probably low mid, but mid nonetheless. His multiple jumps help him escape juggles that other heavies wish they could and he's got a bunch of weird traps with Gordos. Grabbing with him is no longer the game-changer it was in Brawl, but his throws still have generally good damage and DThrow leads to nice follow-ups. IMO he's a character that you should at least be familiar with because if you don't, he'll wreck you with his hammer, body, and invincible spike balls.

:4jigglypuff:: Rondoudou is yet another character that I'm not buying the hype for just yet. She's much improved from Brawl, but then again, that wasn't hard. :p Additional hitstun helps her follow up on attacks, Rest actually kills now, and BAir is now a stupid kill move. BUT, much like Game & Watch, she's exceptionally light, which is compounded by her mediocre range. Her edgeguarding was hurt a little from Brawl too with the ledge trump mechanic. If she starts placing in tournaments or doing impressive things, she could be higher. I'll have to see it first.

:4littlemac:: Shaya puts him in cheese tier. The more I fight Little Mac, the more inclined I am to agree. Good Macs are scary. The Super Armor on his smashes is frustrating, KO Punch is absurd, and FTilt is such a good move it's ridiculous. I found out the other day that his down-angled FSmash has shield-breaking properties. I've even encountered a few that knew how to use his aerials to help him escape juggles. But the fact remains that his off-stage game, especially escaping gimps, is awful. If customs become more regular, life will only get harder for him since windboxes are his bane.

:4megaman:: Mega Man has a lot of options. He seems to encourage a creative playstyle, which is cool. His reliance on projectiles may end up being his downfall, unfortunately. Wise reflector usage shuts down his long-ranged and mid-ranged games, and his close combat abilities are mostly telegraphed and generally able to be reacted to. His above average weight combined with his small frame make him pretty hard to kill, though (definitely a bonus) and he has some ******** kill moves (Mega Upper :c) to complement a great grab game. I could see him moving up as more players make good use of his unique gameplay.

:4miibrawl::4miigun::4miisword:: Long story short (after a really long post), I don't know where any of these guys should go. I've messed around with all of them a little, and while the Swordfighter feels the worst out of the three, none of them seem unusable. Gunner's long-ranged normals are frightening and the Brawler has some impressive movement options. I just wish that the defaults were usable on For Glory so we could get more accustomed to their normals, at least (most Mii specials are just variants on specials of other characters). As it is, they really just feel like a gimmick added for use for kicks and not to be a main part of the game. If anyone uses one or more of them fairly regularly, I'd love to play against you to try and see how they play so I can get a better impression of them.

:4kirby::4luigi:: Yeah, I'm crazy for lumping Kirby and Luigi in the same group, but bear with me. A lot of what I've heard Kirby mains complain about is difficulty approaching and getting in, but once they do, they can deal some solid combos and damage. Those sound like the same problems Luigi has always had to me. Personally, Luigi's scarier for what he can do with combos (it looks like his FAir got its ranged buffed this last patch WHY) and Kirby for his sheer damage and KO ability (FSmash, USmash, and Stone are quite potent). Luigi's probably better overall but both characters suffer from poor approach options.

:4mario:: This guy right here is likely the one I've seen the most on For Glory (not ZSS, not Little Mac). And my impression of him is: frustrating, not scary. It feels like a lot of what Wi-fi Mario mains rely on could be better reacted to without input lag. That said, Cape is a good move (and often underutilized IMO), his smashes all have deceptive range, and his throws are quite useful. His aerials are also pretty quick and good at linking together (not as good as Luigi's, but still solid). He still has a bad recovery and generally poor range (not to mention the lack of disjoints, lol) that hold him back.

:4olimar:: I don't think he's the worst in the game, even with bad Pikmin AI and reflectable smashes (the latter is hilarious but sucks for him). I never liked fighting him in Brawl and that's carried over to Smash 4. I guess I really just need to learn how to fight him rather than complain about his playstyle, but his attributes and disjoints alone tell me he's not as bad as most people think.

Just going by the "definitely better" and "probably better" characters, that's over half the cast that would be put above Game & Watch, again, not because he's bad, but because these others are just better (even if only by a little). I'm really impressed by how close most characters feel in this game in terms of power and usefulness. From doing this, it really feels like the tier list this time will really have to be determined by individual matchups; I probably couldn't have listed the characters in the different groupings in order if I tried.

TL;DR Lots of characters in this game are usable.
I don't understand why you wrote that much to literally say nothing.

Nothing on G&W, no comparison with him... Just: "This char is better because... Well, he is better, period."

There's no thoughts at all...
Hey guy, G&W has strenghts too, you know ?
 
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