Mid Tier if he's lucky. He's got speed. An Okay Neutral. He's Meta Knight with better killing power but a terrible recovery. He's got two real approaches. Dash Grab and possibly FF Nair. But he's not designed to approach. Regardless of what people might say. Cloud is a defensive character. His entire build is around it.
From letting his Limit Bar Charge, to the Range on his attacks. Clouds built around being defensive.
His recovery is just entirely to exploitable at high level play. At least
has his vertical recovery.
? Just about everyone in the cast can gimp him with no trouble or worry.
His Jab, Down Smash, and Cross Slash all have pretty good knock back. His Throws all also have really good knock back. Now people would claim "What? No follow up throws? He must be bad."
Well he's bad at strings and combs. But that just isn't what Cloud was designed to be like. Cloud is more so reaction based and his moves help keep distance between him and his opponent so he can charge his Limit and not get 0-to Death combo'd off the stage when he doesn't have his Limit charged. Which makes sense.
Clouds Forward Throw, and Up Throw both have good knock back. Allowing you to get an opponent off you if they get to close.
His Ground Speed is actually really good honestly. It allows him to make some quick space between him and his opponent.
Cloud has a few decent set ups if he can get a grab. At 0%. Down Throw + Cross Slash is a true combo and gets you 20%. You can also follow up the Cross Slash with maybe a Nair or a Up Air I think. You'll have to toy around with him to figure it out. And it seems like racking up damage isn't an issue for Cloud. Its getting the kill.
While he has a lot of killing power. Lots of his moves are rather laggy. Not Shulk Laggy, but they are still Laggy.
Fsmash if you ask me is rather hard to punish if you aren't a Top Tier Character who can simply run up and Dash Grab him after he's finished the animation. Because right after he does it he can Neutral B and keep you where you are so he can maintain his space between you.
Ftilt is good for stopping projectiles.
As for getting a kill. Jab into Fully charged Limit Down B or Side B, both kill at around 90%.
I'm glad he's in the game. But I don't see him being Top Tier. His recovery just can't compete.