Mii Swordfighter: a Reference Guide

Preamble
Some terminology I use: when I say hop, I mean short hop, and when I say jump, I mean full hop.

I use the specials I do because I think they mii swordfighter a more well rounded tool kit with many new set ups, like how gale strike/chakram are great wake up tools and add some range to miiswordfighter, among other things. I chose hero’s spin because it synergizes with gale strike well and lets me have access to a far range switch up tool, as well as a good out of shield tool and fast kill attack. I chose the counter because I love counters and mii’s is pretty good, especially against heavy characters as the more damage the attack deals, the stronger the counter (seriously, heavies have lost their advantage here. A predictable DK that uses their charged punch will get countered and take around 45% damage).


Moves

• Throw is very fast; lacks good throw combos or kill power at not absurdly high percents but has great wake ups and advantage states
  • Running throw is still fast but not quite as fast and more recovery lag, but also has great range
• Jab: good general attack; spotdodge punish/use to mix up number of ground attacks; very quick and more range than throw; first two are 2/3 range of ftilt/dtilt, third hit is 4/3 those ranges; first hit is mildly unsafe, second hit is a little more unsafe, third is real unsafe; the second/third hits can be delayed slightly and still be a combo, or delayed more heavily and not combo
  • Advanced; some fun mind games you can play with jab
    • Only start practicing these after you are VERY familiar with the rest of the character.
  • Can do first hit, crouch to cancel the buffer for the next hit, like dash cancelling (which I’ll call jab delay cancelling), and be in neutral again; you can then play with the timing for this by throwing in some delayed second hits and mess with them, as well as jab cancelling after the second hit to mildy frame trap and then throw or attack with say ftilt (on hit)
  • Both the jabs after the first and second jabs can be jab canceled which can lead into anything, like throws or dtilt/utilt(for adv state)/ftilt(for kills) very well, or another jab string to keep having fun if they start spot dodging
    • Jab cancel 1: jab cancelling after first jab
    • Jab cancel 2: jab cancelling after second jab
  • These are NOT a true combo but they are very tricky as once they start blocking the not true second/third ftilt, you can cancel into throw instead; be aware that cannot throw after second hit at high percents w/o running/micromovement, depending on how damage and opponent’s weight/floatiness)
  • Once you get the timing down, you can do buffer cancel w/ up instead of down and do “jab, utilt/usmash” instead too
    • Or hero’s spin to catch switch up dodges/spot dodges or, at high percents, to kill even better than ftilt; can also jab cancel in a vertical direction and then smash the other way to have access to the smash (like crouch jab cancelling and then usmashing)
  • If they have the buttons to slip in this window, you can also counter them or dodge or shield or the like
  • These moves that can be jab canceled into will likely have more range so can use this as a way to surprise the opponent, or to make up for a whiff
• Dash attack
  • Decent kill power; unsafe; good approach wake up tool since damage and knockback, so good long range whiff punish
• Ftilt: only good knockback mid-high%; good kill, esp @ledge; soft whiff punish tool since pretty quick, but has end lag so avoid using in neutral; just a hair longer than dtilt
• Dtilt: amazing poking tool with solid follow up strings/combos and wake ups
• Utilt: antiarial; decent switch up guard with low commitment if they’re decently close; can wake up, surprisingly; combos are better when hit from back; good poke tool to launch them if they’re close enough
• Fsmash: great kill; hard whiff punish tool; 4/3 range of ftilt/dtilt; a little slower build up and noticeably laggy recovery
• Dsmash: good kill; ledge dangler kill tool; good for close proximity switch catching; slightly less range than dtil/ftilt
• Usmash: antiairia; great kill ~100-110; good platform coverage; less horizontal range than utilt but more vertical range; good for very close proximity switch catching

NOTE: aerials aren’t really that safe unless specified otherwise

• Nair: good for offense/defense and general spacing; good for platform guarding when want to knock the opponent to a side; ledge guarding shenanigans; walk off and immediately nair; nair on a ledge hanging opponent will angle smash them against the diagonal part of the stage; hop nair is a safer/worse dair style punish; use in jump to nair/throw/projectile mix up; landing nair is a surprisingly good wake up tool; will not spike; will send the opponent in the left/right direction respective of you, so is a little jank
• Fair: dAMN good; hop fair to get enemies just out of range to approach; will whiff on very small characters like Pichu; pull back immediately to decrease range (as no longer moving towards) and be very hard to punish, but chance to drop opponent, OR (Intermediate) can drop from the air before the third hit comes out to become safe, especially with the massive range it has
• Dair: hop nair to punish hard reads of land rush downs (like Ganon’s kick or grab, or Inkling’s roller); very whiff punishable; best used when opponent is hard read below you, use nair else as much less unsafe and quicker; small splash effect on ground impact; this will NOT spike and is long with long ending lag so do NOT do off stage, use nair instead
• Uair: good for juggles and kills at high% depending on height of hit; good for platform guarding when want to launch opponent up
• Bair: just a good bair; very quick recovery; brutal ledge hang to bair

Specials

• Gale Strike: set launch height dependent only on distance it hits after, not damage; use w/ hop to get more max height as it will float down a hair; follow up with uSpecial or uair, or fiar/bair if you can reach them; good far range and closeish wake up tool
  • When they’re on/going towards the ledge: use, then fair, or hero’s spin if they’re at high damage
  • Good tool to force them to go over it or shield/parry it
• Chakram: getting jumpers and mid-far pokes; use when landing and with earlier fast falling jumps/hops to surprise an opponent and to keep them shielding for better tomahawk throws; good most ranges wake up tool; can horizontal and then once they get used to jumping over it, diagonal; retreat the chakram back is a good surprise tool that trains them to stay off you
• Hero’s Spin: ground: to catch switch ups and a quick punish but laggy recovery; air: damage/kills around 100-110; you can control this mid move which is helpful for recovery and being unpredictable, but you can drop the opponent; VERY unsafe if blocked/whiff
• Counter: for punishing hard reads/ledge guarding and getting ledge guarded; use sparingly so they don’t predict your prediction; I recommend saving it for stock kills, esp on their last stock
  • that said, if they literally cannot get within range of their attacks to attack you (looking at you heavies) punish them every single time until they learn not to (but be careful not to do this during clutch moments as they may learn and are baiting you)

Some Cases

• Out of shield
  • Facing: grab or jab string mix up (or jab cancel mix ups)
  • Back: hop nair(closer)/bair(farther) or utilt
  • Either: hero’s spin
• ledge guarding
  • Gale strike as they approach the ledge to catch them; then fair, or hero’s spin at high damage
    • Or do it on the ledge and have it approach them as they fall down to the level
  • Slow chakram to guard the ledge, then when they get it, counter their up special to try and recover again
  • walk off and:
    • Fair
    • Nair
    • Counter
    • Intermediate: drag down dair
  • while hanging:
    • Drop, immediate nair, immediate jump to uSpecial
    • bair, jump to uSpecial with a little more wiggle time, but less AoE
    • Drop, can drop then immediately hero’s spin to catch them on the level with the swords
    • counter
    • Drop, hero’s spin (to get weird sword spins clipping through the stage)

Combos/Strings

• Dtilt
  • low-mid(55%): Fair (combo; hits may whiff @mid but last one will still combo)
  • mid%: Gale Strike wakeup
  • high%: running to uair
  • low-high%: horizontal-diagonal chakram respectively
• Utilt (these utitls can be a little weird depending on opponent’s weight/size, but they’re still quick and hard to dodge, and if they can dodge without getting hit by the utilts, they’re still in disadv)
  • <25%: ushmash (combo)
  • 25-50%: utilt, uair (combo)
  • 50%-70%: uair (combo)
  • >70%: uair or hero’s spin
• Landing uair (honestly this isn’t very useful but once in a blue moon I do uair, whiff, and can fast fall to catch them with these)
  • Intermediate
  • <60%: utilt/usmash (combo)
  • >65%: Uair/fair/hero’s spin (may need to hop for hero’s spin against floaty chars)
• Landing fair (without the third hit coming out)
  • Advanced; This has set knockback like with gale strike so opponent damage is irrelevant
    • Be aware that this move has more range than most of the follow ups and you can whiff them while still getting the landing fair
  • utilt (combo)
  • Usmash (combo)
  • fsmash, then a wake up
  • Hero’s spin (combo; depending on how floaty the opponent is, you may need to do a hop first)
• Gale Strike
  • air hero’s spin (side kill; better DI catcher)
  • uair (top kill; killers earlier)
• Slow Chakram
  • Yeah good luck ever using this for anything but a ledge guarding trap
  • Fair (combo)
  • Throw (combo)
• Side throws
  • for eh distance and wake ups
  • Back throw is a bit farther than front throw, so less ideal for wake ups at high%
  • chakram/Gale Strike wake up
• Dthrow
  • low-mid%: uair (combo)
  • mid%: fair (combo)
  • high%: uair (not a combo but still has massive kill power)
  • high%: hero’s spin (combo < 105%)
• Uthrow
  • mid-high%: uair or hero’s spin