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4BR Smash for Wii U Tier List v2.0

Many fighting game communities will often make a tier list for their game, often as a reference for discussion of tournament viability. Smash is certainly no exception, with tier lists for all Smash games, and with Back Rooms often being the main body that organizes and crafts them with the help of correspondents and members.

The first Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U tier list was released in Spring 2016, for Patch 1.1.3. It's been nearly half a year, and the meta has seen shocking shifts in its rulesets, character viability and more thanks to 3 new patches and 2 new characters.

As a disclaimer, the 4BR acknowledges that tier lists aren't always accurate and are often controversial. However, we do want to study the game and give a take on the current meta, adding yet another important snapshot to the history of the game.

The community has been vigilant for this game since the very beginning, with 2016 being a fantastic year thus far for Smash. From competitors and dataminers to content creators and tournament organizers, it's been quite the ride. And with the future for Smash 4 getting bigger and brighter, it's only natural to say that the meta will constantly evolve as time goes on. With that out of the way, we'd like to introduce you to the second official tier list for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Procedure

Starting in early June 2016 (after Smash 'N' Splash 2), we asked 4BR members to distribute all the characters in the game (with the exception of Mii Fighters due to a lack of consistency regarding their legality) across tiers; players could have as many tiers as they want, and even order characters within their tiers. Players had to assume that this was under Version 1.1.6 of the game and that customs were off. In addition, players were allowed to place Miis (either under their 1111 loadout, or an XXXX loadout) if they so desired for an addendum. At this time, the 4BR does not have an official stance or recommendation on ruleset matters, including Mii Fighters. As with the previous vote, we also reached out to correspondents from outside the 4BR to help with this project and added a handful of applicants to the 4BR to help partake in this project.

For example, here is my vote, which was ordered within tiers:

We decided to run voting until August 8th, the week of Super Smash Con, to allow for more thoughts about July's tournaments to run in, especially EVO 2016. Eventually, we ended up with a total of 56 votes, with 31 US voters and 25 international voters.

The following people submitted a vote:


As with the previous tier list, we will not be publicly releasing individual votes; however, all voters are free to share their votes with the public.

Results

Thanks to @Locuan (vote formatting) and @Shaya (processing), we were able to generate the average placements and groupings (tiers) of the cast. Furthermore, we have included standard deviations for both of these results and the weighted group score, which considered characters per group and the placement differences between v2.0 and v1.0 (with Marth and Mewtwo having the biggest jumps, both in the positive direction).


Character | Ordered Average | Standard Deviation (Order) | Grouped Average | Standard Deviation (Group) | Weighted Group | Difference from v1.0
Diddy Kong | 1.32 | 1.501 | 9.88 | 0.391 | 9.95 | +8
Cloud | 2.18 | 2.18 | 9.84 | 0.418 | 9.91 | +10
Sheik | 2.66 | 2.734 | 9.65 | 0.7 | 9.82 | -2
Rosalina | 3.39 | 2.085 | 9.66 | 0.634 | 9.85 | -1
Mario | 4.88 | 2.443 | 9.33 | 0.786 | 9.62 | +3
Sonic | 5.39 | 2.756 | 9.29 | 0.733 | 9.61 | ±0
Fox | 5.88 | 2.376 | 9.15 | 0.776 | 9.56 | ±0
Zero Suit Samus | 7.09 | 2.182 | 8.83 | 0.782 | 9.28 | -6
Ryu | 8.41 | 4.165 | 8.68 | 0.874 | 9.14 | -5
Mewtwo | 8.46 | 3.07 | 8.72 | 0.73 | 9.21 | +27
Bayonetta | 8.93 | 3.914 | 8.74 | 0.885 | 9.14 | New
Pikachu | 13.88 | 3.274 | 7.67 | 0.9 | 8.26 | -7
Meta Knight | 14.54 | 5.931 | 7.62 | 1.092 | 8.17 | -4
Villager | 15.07 | 4.358 | 7.51 | 0.806 | 8.08 | -3
Mega Man | 15.93 | 5.837 | 7.4 | 0.937 | 7.95 | +13
Ness | 16.39 | 4.916 | 7.41 | 1.068 | 8 | -3
Toon Link | 16.64 | 3.739 | 7.23 | 0.836 | 7.82 | +5
Corrin | 17.85 | 6.337 | 7.15 | 1.107 | 7.66 | New
Marth | 19.36 | 6.852 | 7.01 | 1.063 | 7.47 | +23
Captain Falcon | 20.95 | 4.615 | 6.72 | 0.922 | 7.26 | -6
Greninja | 21.11 | 5.731 | 6.8 | 1.052 | 7.32 | +4
Lucario | 21.52 | 5.405 | 6.63 | 0.968 | 7.14 | +1
Yoshi | 23.64 | 5.201 | 6.42 | 0.984 | 6.9 | -8
Pit | 23.73 | 6.264 | 6.39 | 1.115 | 6.83 | -6
Donkey Kong | 24.41 | 4.854 | 6.27 | 0.98 | 6.68 | +2
Peach | 24.52 | 5.898 | 6.2 | 1.079 | 6.64 | -7
Dark Pit | 24.89 | 5.888 | 6.27 | 1.044 | 6.68 | -10
R.O.B. | 25.64 | 5.393 | 6.08 | 1.17 | 6.51 | -8
Luigi | 27.34 | 6.583 | 5.95 | 1.126 | 6.26 | -13
Olimar | 30.93 | 7.914 | 5.62 | 1.338 | 5.94 | -6
Robin | 30.98 | 6.396 | 5.42 | 0.931 | 5.61 | ±0
Bowser | 31.55 | 5.812 | 5.23 | 1.018 | 5.4 | -2
Lucas | 32.18 | 7.071 | 5.17 | 1.149 | 5.34 | +3
Wario | 32.61 | 4.471 | 5.26 | 0.943 | 5.43 | -13
Ike | 32.68 | 5.711 | 5.06 | 1.03 | 5.08 | -7
Lucina | 34.52 | 7.746 | 4.95 | 1.178 | 5.08 | +13
Mr. Game & Watch | 37.8 | 6.637 | 4.38 | 1.337 | 4.33 | +1
Pac-Man | 38.73 | 6.016 | 4.34 | 1.097 | 4.18 | -6
Little Mac | 38.8 | 6.891 | 4.21 | 1.149 | 4.01 | +7
Palutena | 38.91 | 5.881 | 4.11 | 1.156 | 3.94 | +12
Kirby | 39.27 | 6.413 | 4.23 | 1.166 | 4.06 | -5
Duck Hunt | 40 | 7.697 | 4.21 | 1.303 | 4.05 | +3
Link | 40.64 | 8.186 | 4.09 | 1.338 | 3.94 | +1
Shulk | 41.77 | 6.753 | 3.86 | 1.267 | 3.6 | -2
Samus | 42.66 | 6.459 | 3.71 | 1.186 | 3.49 | +8
Bowser Jr. | 43.18 | 5.907 | 3.61 | 1.138 | 3.33 | -10
Wii Fit Trainer | 43.18 | 5.465 | 3.65 | 1.043 | 3.35 | -5
Dr. Mario | 45.16 | 4.554 | 3.47 | 1.051 | 3.11 | -1
Falco | 45.75 | 4.141 | 3.25 | 1.036 | 2.86 | -9
Roy | 46.02 | 5.323 | 3.38 | 1.191 | 3.08 | -15
Charizard | 48.27 | 3.763 | 2.82 | 1.077 | 2.48 | ±0
King Dedede | 49.02 | 4.06 | 2.7 | 1.146 | 2.32 | -6
Mii Gunner | 51.26 | 6.322 | 2.28 | 1.124 | 1.7 | +2
Mii Brawler | 51.89 | 6.696 | 2.26 | 1.316 | 1.76 | -3
Zelda | 52.07 | 2.235 | 1.92 | 0.616 | 1.49 | +3
Ganondorf | 52.66 | 2.254 | 1.9 | 0.651 | 1.47 | ±0
Mii Swordfighter | 53.85 | 3.951 | 2.04 | 0.947 | 1.53 | -2
Jigglypuff | 53.98 | 1.433 | 1.72 | 0.604 | 1.35 | -1

A standard deviation of (close to) 0 means that voters generally placed the character close to the average (mean), while a higher standard deviation shows that the character had a diverse range of placements. As expected, the further down the tier list one goes from the top, the larger the deviations tends to be. While the top and bottom tiers have lower standard deviation results, the middle and lower tiers were highly opinionated.

For the first time, our procedure for the Tier List asked voters for two things concurrently - tiers or groups of characters (similar to Wii U v1.0) and the orders for characters within them (overall 1-58, similar to many other past BR lists). The resulting lists were not completely congruent, with several small position swaps (orders were still maintained in the release). However, this gave us the means to decide our tier separations, reflecting how closely our voters put characters together in contrast to the volatility of ordered placements.

The Top/High/Mid/Low/Bottom divides were decided by the group score's range (9.88 - 1.72) split equally into five. The tiers primarily express point gaps of 10-9, 9-8, etc., with two exceptions. We merged the bottom tiers (2.82 - 1.72; 1.10 range), and to coincide with the high tier's split (8.25 - 6.62), we bumped up Captain Falcon, Greninja & Lucario, creating two tiers.

As such, we would like to present you with the...

Official 4BR Smash for Wii U Tier List v2.0 (Wii U Version 1.1.6)

--------------------TOP--------------------
S: :4diddy: :4cloud: :4sheik: :rosalina: :4mario: :4sonic: :4fox:
A: :4zss: :4ryu: :4mewtwo: :4bayonetta:
-------------------HIGH--------------------
B: :4pikachu: :4metaknight: :4villager: :4megaman: :4ness:
C: :4tlink: :4corrin: :4marth::4falcon: :4greninja: :4lucario:
--------------------MID---------------------
D: :4yoshi: :4pit: :4dk: :4peach: :4darkpit: :4rob: :4luigi:
E: :4olimar: :4robinm: :4bowser: :4lucas: :4wario: :4myfriends: :4lucina:
--------------------LOW-------------------
F: :4gaw: :4pacman: :4littlemac: :4palutena: :4kirby: :4duckhunt: :4link:
G: :4shulk: :4samus: :4wiifit: :4bowserjr: :4drmario: :4falco: :4feroy:
------------------BOTTOM----------------
H: :4charizard: :4dedede: :4zelda: :4ganondorf: :4jigglypuff:

Text Version

--------------------TOP--------------------
S: Diddy Kong, Cloud, Sheik, Rosalina, Mario, Sonic, Fox
A: Zero Suit Samus, Ryu, Mewtwo, Bayonetta
-------------------HIGH--------------------
B: Pikachu, Meta Knight, Villager, Mega Man, Ness
C: Toon Link, Corrin, Marth, Captain Falcon, Greninja, Lucario
--------------------MID---------------------
D: Yoshi, Pit, Donkey Kong, Peach, Dark Pit, R.O.B., Luigi
E: Olimar, Robin, Bowser, Lucas, Wario, Ike, Lucina
--------------------LOW-------------------
F: Mr. Game & Watch, Pac-Man, Little Mac, Palutena, Kirby, Duck Hunt, Link
G: Shulk, Samus, Wii Fit Trainer, Bowser Jr., Dr. Mario, Falco, Roy
------------------BOTTOM----------------
H: Charizard, King Dedede, Zelda, Ganondorf, Jigglypuff

Graphic Version



Smashboards Tier List Maker Version:

Addendum for Mii Fighters:

Of the votes we collected, 27 of them had Mii Fighters. While we were not able to accrue enough data for XXXX Miis, we did find results with 1111 Miis, which placed them into the bottom tier as follows:

H: :4charizard: :4dedede: :4miigun: :4miibrawl: :4zelda: :4ganondorf: :4miisword: :4jigglypuff:

Conclusions


With the Summer of Smash coming to a close, there have been many unique advancements in the Smash 4 metagame that will be reflected within this tier list. Ever since the first tier list was released, Bayonetta took the world by storm; two of the top tiers in the last list received big changes, knocking them down a tad; everyone picked up Cloud; and Mega Man became a big threat. Other characters became relevant thanks to buffs, such as Marth and Mewtwo. Even though future patches are unlikely, it's safe to assume that the tier list will evolve quite fruitfully, as seen with previous Smash games.

What do you think of the tier list? Do you agree with the placements, or would you place certain characters differently? Let us know what your thoughts and questions are and we will try to address the most common ones in a followup article, which will include statements from various members of the 4BR.

Special thanks goes to Shaya and Locuan for their help with processing the votes and results; Camalange, Shaya, @Marc, Vayseth and Events2Compete (Joe Fattal) for assisting with the collection of outside votes; and shrooby for creating the tier list image. Lastly, I'd like to give a special thank you to all the voters for their time and input into crafting this tier list. I was proud to take the mantle for the second tier list and receive help from so many people.
 
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Gunla

Comments

Bowser Jr is underatted and will always be underatted whatever people do, except if Jr mains votes. The problem with tier list is that a lot of bottom tier and low tier characters are rare to see in tournaments so we don't see that often the potential of those. And another thing that make them sowhat dangerous is that if players who are against one don't know their matchup, combos, etc. because they don't think they are problems, if they don't learn how to deal against them cause they think they can be beaten easily, they could have a great advantage if they studied hard to know their own infos and the other characters infos. Things like Trela loosing to Jade or ZeRo loosing to Prince Ramen at CEO 2016 can happens because ZeRo and Trela did not studied about Jr and Palutena.
 
Huh? Luigi's throw combos are definitely still stronger than ROB's. ROB just gets a 50/50 which people panic airdodge much too often. Luigi can still get insane damage off a down throw combo and has the amazing frame data all plumbers do, seeing him below ROB was definitely odd.
As a Luigi main I can't say you can get insane damage. He has a good up throw combo at 0% but after that it becomes dthrow>fair>fair and after that you only have the rising cyclone mixup. I do feel it's better than ROBs though. Rob has nair to fair and dthrow uair. That's it.
 
I think Marth is still way above Lucina. And too high in general. And is Ness still that good? I haven't fought a decent Ness in awhile, but a couple of Lucases have been making my life difficult (when they show up, that is)
Lucina doesn't have to deal with sour spot, making her more consistent in play, but not results. But Marth is still better
 
Rosalina is the only top tier character to have a -2 losing matchup. She is yet to win an important major, like the majors Diddy, Sheik and Mario have all won. What's more, she has actual counter-play; get rid of Luma. Because of this, she also has a tough time against disjoints, mainly due to their ability to hit Luma from a safe distance without being punished most of the time. Other top tier characters don't have as many things to exploit as this.

TL;DR: Rosalina has no reasons to be the best character, especially when you consider she is the only top tier to have a -2 matchup, and still hasn't won anything notable.
Forgot about luma dying is a thing. Lol
 
Lucina doesn't have to deal with sour spot, making her more consistent in play, but not results. But Marth is still better
Marth is better, but not a whole tier better.
Forgot about luma dying is a thing. Lol
Ignore him. Rosaluma is broken, regardless of what people who play her say. Some people said prepatch Bayo was perfectly fine too, just because she wasn't 100% unbeatable.
 
Ignore him. Rosaluma is broken, regardless of what people who play her say. Some people said prepatch Bayo was perfectly fine too, just because she wasn't 100% unbeatable.
Rosalina is by no means OP. She has her weaknesses (MK takes good advantage of them).

Doesn't stop her from being annoying.
 
I don't know if 9th at EVO may count to someone like you, but I guess it's there...



I don't know why people ignore Apex :ohwell:
Toon Link has gotten 9th at numerous super-majors, but I don't think he deserves to be in the top tier. Why should I think Ryu does? Mewtwo, on the other hand, consistently gets Top 8 at even the largest of tournaments. Therefore, he deserves to be higher than Ryu
 
Toon Link has gotten 9th at numerous super-majors, but I don't think he deserves to be in the top tier. Why should I think Ryu does? Mewtwo, on the other hand, consistently gets Top 8 at even the largest of tournaments. Therefore, he deserves to be higher than Ryu
Then by the logic of results, they should be next to each other.
 
Great tier list, very agreeable. The only thing I disagree with is Zelda being higher than Ganondorf. Yeah, Ganon is trash, but he has better approach options and more options in general than Zelda. I would personally only switch the two and leave everything else alone.
 
I guess the gimpable side b insta-death second stock would be a viable approach and I have seen a Ganon player with pretty good pressure game. I can also agree that he is sheer trash compared to zelda yet she is worse in this game. That and Jiggs, if Ganon and Jiggs played like they did in melee they would be much more considerable and all the more played.
 
Post-nerf :4diddy: #1 despite his results severely dropping off? :4zss: all the way down to #8 even with phenomenal results? I'm not feeling really feeling it, fam.
 
Glad that Robin is going up the list, even if by a bit. Even ZeRo is putting Robin higher than I thought he would on his own tier list which is nice to see.
 
I hate to sound biased, but c'mon now...

:4ganondorf: - I know mah boi Ganon's a terrible character, but I don't see him being the 2nd worst. Fighting Ganondorfs are scary, I'm not gonna lie, because thier punishment game makes you afraid to get smashed in the face with a bair at 60%. He has a lot of weaknesses that make him a very hard character to win with, but if he's played oatiently he can sneak up on you with his rediculous kill power. Seriously, he deserves to be at least on top of H tier...

:4kirby: - Okay, I don't understand how he's in low tier. The **** he can do and the lack of weaknesses he has gives him the potential to be AT LEAST somewhere in mid-tier. Don't get me wrong though, he does suffer some gnawing weaknesses: his low range and low weight. Other than that I'd say he's a really decent character. He doesn't deserve to be THAT low. :/

Everyone else I can agree with. But why are the two I mentioned that low? :|

:4darkpit: - Why isnt he next to :4pit:? They're identical to each other. -.-

PS: Why is :4corrinf:representing Corrin instead of the default :4corrin:? Does the Sm4sh community hate male Corrin that much? :(
 
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PS: Why is :4corrinf:representing Corrin instead of the default :4corrin:? Does the Sm4sh community hate male Corrin that much? :(
They represent the female way more than they do the male because #1, her color schemes are badass compared to the simple red blue green Corrin, #2, she's drop dead gorgeous (what I can dream can't I???) and #3, Male Corrin's voice over is too cringy to play him his voice in Fates was so much better.
 
People are overrating the hell out of Cloud. He is top tier but not #2. He's way too inconsistent results wise and still has his weaknesses to be considered there.
The thing is right now Cloud has the results to back it up. ANTi won CEO with him, and Cloud players, such as M2K, tend to place quite high in tournaments. As the meta is still developing overall, his weaknesses will become more apparent.

Cloud being Top 10 is certain. Cloud being Top 5 is arguable. I don't think his placing will be permanent, and I feel that as other characters, such as Mega Man, place well in tournaments, people will drop Cloud - based on tier conformity - and find someone else, leaving only a select few to use him.

Personally, I will keep using Cloud as I absolutely enjoy this character in virtually any scenario. He's a blast to play and compliments the playstyle of Ike and Mario, especially when it comes down to facing bad matchups, like Diddy Kong.
 
Unlike some people I don't dispute how good or bad a character is, I just don't want you to start bashing other characters.
There's a difference between bashing a character and pointing out that saying "guys he's really a high/mid tier" literally every time he comes up with zero explanation does the exact opposite of help the cause.
 
The thing is right now Cloud has the results to back it up. ANTi won CEO with him, and Cloud players, such as M2K, tend to place quite high in tournaments. As the meta is still developing overall, his weaknesses will become more apparent.

Cloud being Top 10 is certain. Cloud being Top 5 is arguable. I don't think his placing will be permanent, and I feel that as other characters, such as Mega Man, place well in tournaments, people will drop Cloud - based on tier conformity - and find someone else, leaving only a select few to use him.

Personally, I will keep using Cloud as I absolutely enjoy this character in virtually any scenario. He's a blast to play and compliments the playstyle of Ike and Mario, especially when it comes down to facing bad matchups, like Diddy Kong.

He only really won CEO in the second set of grand finals. Otherwise, 90% of his choice was Mario. I would argue that Cloud-Diddy is in Diddy's favor but I'm not sure about that MU in question. I do think Cloud is in the top 10, but top 3-5 is very arguable considering not only the results, but his tools as well. He has some of the best tools in the cast right now, but still has an extremely exploitable recovery and can struggle against combo heavy characters.

Yes, this meta will change so this is always subject of debate, but this is how I feel right now. Also, there is such a noticeable gap between high level Cloud players and mid level Cloud players for some reason. You can tell the difference easily to someone who has a pocket Cloud and is a Cloud main as well, and the whole thing about him being easy to play is there but none of the pocket strategies have worked.

I am a Cloud secondary as well and I'll still use him too, but I won't believe he warrants a top 5 placing until more results and better usage of him goes into play.
 
Don't mind me, just sat here laughing at how wrong Ganondorf's placment is.

It's just so wrong. So, SO wrong.

Sure, he gets cheesed by a few characters, but with his incredible bair and uair he cannot be that low.

He has numerous positives and advantages that are criminally overlooked due to his stigma of "lolganonistrash".

What dismays me is how even a lot of ganon players have been so worn down by everyone's agressive putting down of the character that they believe he's as bad as they say.
I'm not saying he's high tier or anything, but he's certainly not second from bottom.
 
Don't mind me, just sat here laughing at how wrong Ganondorf's placment is.

It's just so wrong. So, SO wrong.

Sure, he gets cheesed by a few characters, but with his incredible bair and uair he cannot be that low.

He has numerous positives and advantages that are criminally overlooked due to his stigma of "lolganonistrash".

What dismays me is how even a lot of ganon players have been so worn down by everyone's agressive putting down of the character that they believe he's as bad as they say.
I'm not saying he's high tier or anything, but he's certainly not second from bottom.
Easily agreed with my friend
 
There's a difference between bashing a character and pointing out that saying "guys he's really a high/mid tier" literally every time he comes up with zero explanation does the exact opposite of help the cause.
Really?
Well thanks for clearing that up.




That's bull**** though.
 
Really?
Well thanks for clearing that up.




That's bull**** though.
Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here dying from mass hysteria about how Halcy0n and Lancerstaff are duking it out right now about how they view Cloud. Whether it be bashing on him, calling him out, I don't care keep going boys.
 
I really like this list! Great balance of potential and results.

I just think Roy and Corrin should be higher. I believe corrin should be in B and Roy should be in E. I feel like they used the characters' results more than their actual potential for those two.
 
I just think Roy and Corrin should be higher. I believe corrin should be in B and Roy should be in E. I feel like they used the characters' results more than their actual potential for those two.
First person that's agreed with me about Corrin being higher all post thread. Roy is kinda iffy, he's definitely better than melee, but he's okayish? yea don't know what to say about "our boy".
 
Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here dying from mass hysteria about how Halcy0n and Lancerstaff are duking it out right now about how they view Cloud. Whether it be bashing on him, calling him out, I don't care keep going boys.
Oh I didn't mention Cloud once. Lancerstaff might be willing to share their view on cloud but I ain't for that.

The only reason I'm going after Lancerstaff is because nobody wants a repeat of the last 4 pages of the first tier list.
 
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