Routa, UnknownKid, AntonyKun, Colgate, and Clash Tournament's own Nyani have all come together to share their knowledge of this character and their potential in Smash 4. Start sharpening those swords as we see if Mii Swordfighter can make the cut!
Disadvantages
Having been considered one of the weaker characters in the game, it comes as no surprise that the character has some weaknesses. All five experts mentioned one thing in particular: his slow movements. As Colgate explained, "Despite having decent run speed, he has 7 frames of jumpsquat and his jump height isn't too impressive." This compiles with unsafe aerials to create a difficult time setting up neutral.
Another thing that was mentioned was a lack of an 'escape option'. "He has a hard time fighting rushdown and combo heavy characters," Routa told us. UnknownKid agreed, adding: "He can be comboed/juggled around very easy since he lacks a quick escape option or something to turn the disadvantage into neutral."
Another difficulty the experts mentioned was a lack of easy kill setups. "Swordfighter is not that great at killing," Routa confessed. "Yes he does have powerful moves like F-Smash, Uair, Bair, Fair etc, but none of them is reliable or super safe to throw out like Doc's Up-smash." Nyani agreed that Swordfighter has a tough time killing: "Against the top 10, I'm always going to find myself struggling to land a kill that isn't a gimp, even if I am winning in footsies and neutral."
Advantages
However, Mii Sworfighter is not without his strengths, and by far the one mentioned most was his ability to wrack up damage quickly though a power juggling game. "His biggest strengths are easily his juggling game," Colgate told us. "His Up-Air and Up-Tilt are great for keeping opponents in the air, making it easy to get opponents to above 50-60% in a matter of seconds, similar to Cloud."
Nyani had a lot to say on his combo abilities and damage wracking as well: "Swordfighter's damage racking is really solid, mostly due to dthrow -> uair doing 20% fresh. Dtilt being our main spacing tool does 8% and can lead to grabs, bair does 14, really just solid damage output overall. Swordfighter also has a surprising amount of strings! Landing with the first one or two hits of fair can allow you to go into dtilt, jab, grab, or even Hero's Spin. Our jab also cancels nicely into grab and other options."
While his ability to quickly gain damage on the opponent was a serious plus, Routa had something else to mention. "I'm 100% sure other Swordfighter mains have praised his ability to rack up damage easily, but I think his edgeguarding game doesn't get enough praise," he said. "He has a lot of tools to use when edgeguarding (*insert aerial here*, Gale Strike, Chakram, Counter, Reversal Slash and Power Thrust). It might not be the most powerful, but I would say when it comes to versatility Swordfighter takes the cake."
Relevant Matchups
The character that Mii Swordfighter has the most trouble against is the same as most other characters. "Sheik is definitely the worst because she is a f-air and balanced character," Antonykun joked. Colgate explained further, saying: "It's not terrible but it's hard to keep up with her speed."
By looking at the top 15 characters on the tier list, Nyani had a few thoughts on which matchups she thought were best for Mii Swordfighter among the top tiers. " I'd say our best matchups there are Meta Knight, Villager, and ZSS. We outrange Meta Knight and Dthrow->Uair actually kill confirms on him pretty okay due to his weight and fall speed. Also, a default-size Swordie is in that weird weight group that falls out of MK's Shuttle Loop a lot. With ZSS, it's hard for her to approach us if we have Tornado and Chakram. We can also beat a lot of her aerials out with Utilt, and she's gimpable with Dair once her Down B is spent. Villager can't really camp us, because Chakram goes right through both Tree and a Lloid Rocket before it starts moving. If you take Reversal Slash, you also have a way to deal with slingshots and bowling ball edgeguards."
Colgate also mentioned Mario as among the characters Mii Swordfighter does well against. "He can juggle Mario well, and box him out with his sword. His dair is also deadly for linear vertical recoveries like Mario's."
Is Mii Swordfighter Viable?
"I strongly believe Swordfighter is tournament viable at a national level, though having a secondary for bad matchups certainly wouldn't hurt," Colgate told us. Nyani, however, didn't have as much confidence: "Struggling so much against Sheik alone makes me feel like Swordfighter might not be able to go solo and win a national. I feel like the character is capable of achieving high placements, but it remains to be seen if anyone can push them to the top." However, she too mentioned his potential with secondaries: "I tend to achieve my best placements when using a mix of Swordfighter and Mario, even better than only using Mario alone."
Routa felt that his strength depended on which moves and sizes were available for use: "Guest 1111? Haha you wish. Guest XXXX? Well Guest XXXX could do some nice things, but I wouldn't still call him viable on a national level, but once you give him the size... Oh boy you are in for a treat. Judging by his MU spread (the Any Size XXXX) I would say he is viable in national level."
A special thank you to all the Mii Swordfighter experts who contributed to this article. To learn more about Mii Swordfighter, consider checking out CT | Nyani's guide on the character and visit the Mii Swordfighter forums here on Smashboards. Learn something exciting about Mii Swordfighter? Tell us in the comments below and stay tuned for the rest of #MiiWiik here on Smashboards!
also I like 1111 but jab to hero's spin gives a kill setup the other up-bs just don't...xP
