Skailler, Liberation, Sawtooth, KY Joey, and the one and only Dapuffster all offered their expertise on the character. Put up those dukes and get ready for a brawl as we see if Mii Brawler can punch his way up the tier list.
Disadvantages
Mii Brawler had three main weaknesses mentioned by all the experts for us to go over, the first being his lack of range. "Brawler's predominant weakness is to characters with good range and low startup on moves," Liberation said. Sawtooth added: "He has basically no disjoints to speak of, so his short limbs result in his range being fairly poor in comparison to other hand-to-hand fighters." KY Joey also had this to say: "People that know Brawler's range can just out-space him."
Another weakness comes from a lack of good recovery moves, especially in his 1-1-1-1 incarnation. "Brawler’s vertical recovery is horrible," Sawtooth said. "If you accidentally buffer a n-air off the ledge, you likely won’t be able to make it back up. Getting gimped is one of Brawler’s biggest fears due to the loss of verticality he loses as a result more than anything else. Luckily, with the help of Feint Jump, horizontal recovery is not nearly as much of a concern."
His final major weakness comes from a lack of moves that can kill easily. "Past 60%, his throws will no longer be a threat as they cannot combo or kill," Dapuffster told us. "His aerial moves cannot kill either. The only kill options he has are his Helicopter Kick (if available), Onslaught (which is slow to start and super punishable on shield), and Up Smash (which is decent at best)." Skailler explained why this creates such large issues: "At that moment, he loses his setups into his kill options, he has to commit to a hard read for a raw attack to land, which quite frankly just doesn't work that often."
One of the big advantages mentioned by the experts was Mii Brawler's impressive mobility and movement options. "Brawler's high speed, even as a Guest Mii, ensures that once he finds an opening he can capitalize on it," Sawtooth told us. "Once his momentum starts going, it's hard to get him to stop. Brawler’s speed is another one of his biggest assets. He has a lot of movement options to help him maneuver his way around many situations. His air speed is 6th fastest in the game (tied with Zero Suit Samus), so his air game is incredibly strong, with pretty good aerials to complement this."
While his kill power at higher percents is tough, he has some scary options to secure early kills. "He has the ability to kill very early with Helicopter Kick," Dapuffster said. "His combo into Helicopter kick isn't as scary if you know how to avoid it though." Sawtooth had more to add, saying: "Brawler's kill power is quite remarkable as well. While some of his more potent killing moves, Forward Smash in particular, are rather risky with high amounts of ending lag, you can land some rather early kills if you get a read on your opponent's behavior."
Relevant Matchups
Dapuffster gave a general overview of his weaknesses in all matchups. "As for his matchups, his worst belong to characters that are good at not getting grabbed or have a good CQC (Close Quarter Combat) game." Liberation also added: "Characters with fast startups and above average range definitely cause Brawler to falter."
So who are some of these characters that give Mii Brawler a hard time? Besides Sheik, who has been mentioned in every character expert article to date, Mario and Luigi. "He struggles with Mario and especially Luigi because smart Nair usage beats everything they have," KY Joey explained.
Also mentioned were Rosalina and Cloud. "I would wager that Cloud gives Brawler the hardest time because of his massive disjoints," Sawtooth said. "They'd make Brawler's limited approach ability even more limited since the Buster Sword would just wall him out. Rosalina gives Brawler trouble for similar walling reasons."
Is Mii Brawler Viable?
While all the experts shared their thoughts, Dapuffster described where Mii Brawler stands perfectly and with great detail: "Is Brawler viable on a national level? I'll put Mii Brawler into three different categories. 1111 only, Medium Size, and Tiny (aka the EVO 2015 build) 1111 only is the worst character in the game, easily. Poor recovery, poor kill confirms. Just everything. Medium Size (with customs) is not viable. While he is better than 1111, any good Luigi/Ryu/Peach/Shiek with MU knowledge will shut you down and will never give you a chance to land the Helicopter Kick combo. Then you will just lose because their CQC is better. The character is Mid-Tier at best. Tiny is national level viable. What makes Tiny Mii Brawler a top tier contender is the fact that his jump is higher, his airspeed is faster, his ground speed is faster, and his frame data is better. Because of this, he can true combo f-air into Helicopter Kick. Unlike the default size, Tiny Brawler can kill you with a Helicopter Kick combo Mid-stage and regardless of DI since the f-air carries you out to the point where the Helicopter Kick would normally kill. Without it I would have never gotten as far at EVO 2015 as I did. I wouldn't consider him to be the best character in the game though, but at least up there in S tier with ZSS and Rosalina."
A special thank you to all the Mii Brawler experts for sharing their expertise for this article. To learn more about Mii Brawler, be sure to visit the Mii Brawler forums right here on Smashboards. Learn something exciting about Mii Brawler? Tell us in the comments below and stay tuned for the rest of #MiiWiik here on Smashboards!