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Official 4BR Tier List v1.0 - Competitive Impressions

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Ulevo

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Meta Knight can still elevator characters as long as they do not go into tumble animation. So characters like Olimar, Rosalina, Pit, Peach and other light characters will likely still have a hard time. Characters that go into tumble like Sheik, Mario, Fox, et cetera cannot be combo'd to death anymore via this method.
 

BunbUn129

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It's not even MK's killing potential that I'm worried about. It's his neutral.
His neutral is overall good, and the decreased landing lag on fair is nice. The problem is, the up air nerf means he no longer gets so much mileage off of winning neutral.

Meta Knight can still elevator characters as long as they do not go into tumble animation. So characters like Olimar, Rosalina, Pit, Peach and other light characters will likely still have a hard time. Characters that go into tumble like Sheik, Mario, Fox, et cetera cannot be combo'd to death anymore via this method.
#DIaway

It's so damn easy to escape the elevator if your opponent just holds away. Tyrant and Abadango have shown it's not a viable thing anymore.
 
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bc1910

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Screw McDonald's wifi.

I won't get the patch for a few hours yet.

As hilarious at is for me to do this without even playing the damn game, from what I've read and watched we're looking at this sort of arrangement. Unordered within groups:

Top 3: :4cloud2::4bayonetta::rosalina:
Top 10: :4diddy::4zss::4sheik::4ness::4ryu::4fox::4sonic:
Top 20: :4mario::4metaknight::4pikachu::4villager::4tlink::4lucario::4greninja::4pit::4darkpit::4dk:

Still too fresh to say who'll end up best in the game but I'm sure it'll be one of Cloud, Bayo and Rosa. New Bayo nerfs keep getting discovered which doesn't bode well.

Mario and Ness are interchangeable. Remember that Ness' Sheik MU was nearly as bad as his Rosa MU and that should be a lot better now. On the other hand if Rosa rises in usage, Ness is screwed. Mario doesn't really benefit from this patch since he already had the best or 2nd best Sheik MU and I'm not aware of particular problems against ZSS, fairly sure Rosa is his worst. And I never thought he was that good anyway. But as I said, swap him with Ness if you want.

Sonic should cleanly re-enter the top 10 with his worst MUs getting significantly easier.

Pika may experience a rise if Sheik mains are looking to jump ship to similar characters, he's the most similar character to pre-patch Sheik.

The Pits are loving the Sheik nerfs and I can't imagine they're complaining about the ZSS nerfs either. Cloud being so good might cause negative comparisons.

Greninja cements his position in top 20. None of the characters at his general power level (Tink, Pits, Lucario, Falcon) were buffed, while Corrin was nerfed hard. Sheik MU is likely still negative but actually doable. Out of Pika, Luke and Gren, I cannot call best Pokemon.

Roll the Pits into one character and any of :4corrin::4falcon::4mewtwo: could finish off the top 20. It's probably Mewtwo. There may be some other candidates I'm forgetting.

I'll post revised thoughts on this after I actually get the patch LOL.
 
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epicnights

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Since we're on the topic of Kirby characters, may I mention how Kirby is very slowly being given more and more kill power? IIRC, he's gotten small KBG increases in all his smashes and hammer for the past three patches. Does anybody think these have been compounding over time to make a larger difference in Kirby's viability?
 

valakmtnsmash4

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I'm worried for this games future. I hope this isn't the last balance patch. I would take prepatch SHIEK anyday over 5.99 destroying our meta.
I'm fine with bayo and all, but the matches are gonna be kinda boring to watch.
EDIT: at least shulks top tier MUs get easier.
I'm happy that PACMAN and other mid low tiers got buffed.
 
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Fex13

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Screw McDonald's wifi.

I won't get the patch for a few hours yet.

As hilarious at is for me to do this without even playing the damn game, from what I've read and watched we're looking at this sort of arrangement. Unordered within groups:

Top 3: :4cloud2::4bayonetta::rosalina:
Top 10: :4diddy::4zss::4sheik::4ness::4ryu::4fox::4sonic:
Top 20: :4mario::4metaknight::4pikachu::4villager::4tlink::4lucario::4greninja::4pit::4darkpit::4dk:

Still too fresh to say who'll end up best in the game but I'm sure it'll be one of Cloud, Bayo and Rosa. New Bayo nerfs keep getting discovered which doesn't bode well.

Mario and Ness are interchangeable. Remember that Ness' Sheik MU was nearly as bad as his Rosa MU and that should be a lot better now. On the other hand if Rosa rises in usage, Ness is screwed. Mario doesn't really benefit from this patch since he already had the best or 2nd best Sheik MU and I'm not aware of particular problems against ZSS, fairly sure Rosa is his worst. And I never thought he was that good anyway. But as I said, swap him with Ness if you want.

Sonic should cleanly re-enter the top 10 with his worst MUs getting significantly easier.

Pika may experience a rise if Sheik mains are looking to jump ship to similar characters, he's the most similar character to pre-patch Sheik.

The Pits are loving the Sheik nerfs and I can't imagine they're complaining about the ZSS nerfs either. Cloud being so good might cause negative comparisons.

Greninja cements his position in top 20. None of the characters at his general power level (Tink, Pits, Lucario, Falcon) were buffed, while Corrin was nerfed hard. Sheik MU is likely still negative but actually doable. Out of Pika, Luke and Gren, I cannot call best Pokemon.

Roll the Pits into one character and any of :4corrin::4falcon::4mewtwo: could finish off the top 20. It's probably Mewtwo. There may be some other candidates I'm forgetting.

I'll post revised thoughts on this after I actually get the patch LOL.
im still surprised that people think that the pits are better than corrin. there is no reason for that.
 

Mario766

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Man I haven't liked a patch with no buffs to my character this much ever
 

BunbUn129

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Street Fighter V is designed such that fast, weak attacks do not combo while slower, stronger attacks do. Would you say that SFV is also a game that doesn't understand competitive players?

Also I know people are lamenting Meta Knight's elevator combo, but holy crap do people believe that MK can't kill without it?

Straight up SHUTTLE LOOP FROM THE GROUND was already a decent kill move. F-smash is f-smash. He still has a horizontal gimping game which was all but ignored because MK could send people to heaven. Catching an opponent with MACH TORNADO at high altitudes can even net KOs as well.
KO set-ups > unsafe/hard to land moves that require set-ups

Regardless of game design, yes, MK has a lot of other tools, but I can't see them making up for the loss of such a valuable punish. He's very debatably even top 10 anymore. And they only nerfed ONE MOVE, ffs.
 

bc1910

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Since we're on the topic of Kirby characters, may I mention how Kirby is very slowly being given more and more kill power? IIRC, he's gotten small KBG increases in all his smashes and hammer for the past three patches. Does anybody think these have been compounding over time to make a larger difference in Kirby's viability?
His Smashes are still too hard to hit with for any buffs to affect his viability.
 

JediLink

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Even if Rosa's moved up, I don't think she's going to experience any new surge of popularity. It's going to be Bayo and Cloud that people will drop their mains for. Unless there's another patch or a breakthrough in the meta, 2599 is happening.
 

Yikarur

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Meta Knight is finally a real character hype. Super curious what their mains do with him now. We had MKs that didn't rely on the combo and the combo was kinda overcentralizing.
And his fair got buffed, it doesn't feel like he breaks his legs anymore by doing a short hop fair.
 

Nobie

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Of course KO setups are better than landing slower attacks that require something of a read or a prediction of the opponent's actions.

That's the point.

That's why KO setups often get nerfed on characters with lots of strengths in other areas, while those who don't get hoo hahs.

It's all about risk-reward ratios. How much do you have to put yourself on the line to get that stock, and get that win? How much can your character reliably do otherwise?

It's like players are afraid that, oh no, their character might have to put their neck out there to get a KO. I know players will tend towards whatever is safest and most reliable, but that doesn't mean the safest and most reliable things also have to be the strongest tools available.
 
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Pazzo.

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I'm worried for this games future. I hope this isn't the last balance patch. I would take prepatch SHIEK anyday over 5.99 destroying our meta.
I'm fine with bayo and all, but the matches are gonna be kinda boring to watch.
EDIT: at least shulks top tier MUs get easier.
I'm happy that PACMAN and other mid low tiers got buffed.
Why are you worried about DLC characters?

Does their optional status make them feel illegitimate?
 

BunbUn129

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Meta Knight is finally a real character hype. Super curious what their mains do with him now. We had MKs that didn't rely on the combo and the combo was kinda overcentralizing.
And his fair got buffed, it doesn't feel like he breaks his legs anymore by doing a short hop fair.
I would agree with you, but the up aerial combos weren't unbalanced. You know why?

1) they had a narrow 5-10 % window
2) Mk's up air has only one active frame
3) you'll have to follow DI and fast-fall up airs

There was an actual execution barrier there. I would agree with the nerf if the combo was easy to pull off, but that's not the case.

A nerf is supposed to be given to a move/combo that is both really good AND really easy to use.
 

jespoke

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Greninja has his own buffs to work with, but the new top 3 being better matchups for him than the old one, and the remaining Sheik players being a bit more managable, are sort of a buffs to Greninja too
 

Mr. Johan

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Two of the three reasons Bayonetta was so daunting have been affected just as much as some other characters' tools. She has to make the first WT count out of necessity, and with her heel slide kick getting much more endlag, not only does it mean her UpB combos have a tighter frame window to begin, it also means she can't make a complete joke out of the grounded neutral anymore by using it as a safety net after crossing up a shield.

If she's Top 3 now, it's only due to process of elimination and everyone else getting hit harder.
 

FullMoon

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Greninja's combo game and neutral improved significantly with this patch. F-Air can combo into itself and into other stuff as well. B-Air can combo into dash grab at lower percents.

A B-Air lock can also be followed by a D-Air lock now which means a missed tech can lead to Greninja's typical silly combos.

And I was also told that F-Air is now -4 on shield, that's pretty crazy if it's true considering it was already very safe if spaced well.

Coupled with Sheik nerfs, this year is being very kind to the frog.
 
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FallofBrawl

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Pretty sure her wicked weaves have been hit as well

But I trust top Sheiks to make up for the setback in their meta easily. So she's still the best of the best to me, just has more even and possibly barely disadvantageous MUs now.
 

ARISTOS

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Peach's loss of a decent auto-cancel UAir on grounded opponents makes me sad. Even if it was a matter of snuffing out an infinite it feels like that balance change could have been done better. It was a pretty decent pressure tool and considering where she resides in the meta, she's not going to benefit from having options removed.

That said I guess the silver lining here is that her worst match up (Meta Knight) is no longer such a ridiculous landslide, even if I feel sorry for MK mains suffering such an extreme loss. Wonder how she benefits from other top tier nerfs.
It's not too bad of a nerf but it does take options away, even if the infinite was hella degenerate
She'll enjoy the nerfs to :4sheik::4zss::4metaknight::4corrinf::4bayonetta2: but :4cloud::4diddy: are still threats and will likely become more popular as a result. The :4greninja: MU got a bit worse.

No idea about the :4mewtwo: MU but I'd imagine it's still pretty similar.

She'll be happy for the same reason a lot of the other characters are happy but her main threats are still there and in tact.

EDIT: MK nerfs were VERY deserved. That **** was beyond silly. There are so many top tier qualities to MK that went ignored because of ceiling combos


Can someone test this and see if it's real?
 
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Emblem Lord

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Sheik had no business having such a destructive Fair. These nerfs were exactly what the meta needed.
 
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Two of the three reasons Bayonetta was so daunting have been affected just as much as some other characters' tools. She has to make the first WT count out of necessity, and with her heel slide kick getting much more endlag, not only does it mean her UpB combos have a tighter frame window to begin, it also means she can't make a complete joke out of the grounded neutral anymore by using it as a safety net after crossing up a shield.

If she's Top 3 now, it's only due to process of elimination and everyone else getting hit harder.
It's heel slide 2, the second kick. Her aerial heel slide is still safe. Pink Fresh has not used one grounded heel slide to pull off his combo earlier today against Nairo.

Pretty sure her wicked weaves have been hit as well
By like 2-3 units but it doesn't matter since they're usually charged when thrown out anyway.
 

arbustopachon

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Sorry i keep rambling about zard, but man his grab is super scary now.

He can actually combo bair out of d-throw at kill percents now if the opponent Di's away, which means that u-air is now a much better followup.

Also if for some reason the opponent doesn't di, d-throw to flare blitz kills at around 70% on most characters.

UAir to U-smash is now easier, and at low percents we can do fair to jab to jab2 mixup.

Also bair is -12 now on shield i think, which is actually quite decent for an aerial smash attack.
 
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Mr. Johan

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It's heel slide 2, the second kick. Her aerial heel slide is still safe. Pink Fresh has not used one grounded heel slide to pull off his combo earlier today against Nairo.
And that would be the third reason I mentioned.

Can't get everything at once. Cloud's a good example of that. =p
 

Mario766

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-12 on a 15 damage move with 33 landing lag is not really 'quite decent'
 

adom4

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Sheik had no business having such a destructive Fair. These nerfs were exactly what the meta needed.
What exactly changed about her Fair this time?
I haven't had the opportunity to play 1.1.5 yet.
 

arbustopachon

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It is 16 damage now and has 24 frames of landing lag. it is considerably safer now.
Still not safe, but at least we wont get charged f-smash'ed in the face for it.
 
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TimidKitsune129

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Screw McDonald's wifi.

I won't get the patch for a few hours yet.

As hilarious at is for me to do this without even playing the damn game, from what I've read and watched we're looking at this sort of arrangement. Unordered within groups:

Top 3: :4cloud2::4bayonetta::rosalina:
Top 10: :4diddy::4zss::4sheik::4ness::4ryu::4fox::4sonic:
Top 20: :4mario::4metaknight::4pikachu::4villager::4tlink::4lucario::4greninja::4pit::4darkpit::4dk:

Still too fresh to say who'll end up best in the game but I'm sure it'll be one of Cloud, Bayo and Rosa. New Bayo nerfs keep getting discovered which doesn't bode well.

Mario and Ness are interchangeable. Remember that Ness' Sheik MU was nearly as bad as his Rosa MU and that should be a lot better now. On the other hand if Rosa rises in usage, Ness is screwed. Mario doesn't really benefit from this patch since he already had the best or 2nd best Sheik MU and I'm not aware of particular problems against ZSS, fairly sure Rosa is his worst. And I never thought he was that good anyway. But as I said, swap him with Ness if you want.

Sonic should cleanly re-enter the top 10 with his worst MUs getting significantly easier.

Pika may experience a rise if Sheik mains are looking to jump ship to similar characters, he's the most similar character to pre-patch Sheik.

The Pits are loving the Sheik nerfs and I can't imagine they're complaining about the ZSS nerfs either. Cloud being so good might cause negative comparisons.

Greninja cements his position in top 20. None of the characters at his general power level (Tink, Pits, Lucario, Falcon) were buffed, while Corrin was nerfed hard. Sheik MU is likely still negative but actually doable. Out of Pika, Luke and Gren, I cannot call best Pokemon.

Roll the Pits into one character and any of :4corrin::4falcon::4mewtwo: could finish off the top 20. It's probably Mewtwo. There may be some other candidates I'm forgetting.

I'll post revised thoughts on this after I actually get the patch LOL.
I think you might be overselling how serious Corrin's changes were.

What the nerfs did was give Corrin more combo potential for less damage, for the most part. That's really it. The walk and running speed nerf is so minimal that it doesn't really matter, it's very hard to notice the difference.


I'm not sure if I would even consider them nerfs. Esam actually considers them buffs.

The only thing I would call a nerf was the change in U-air, which makes it harder to kill with it.

Counter Surge, while nerfed, is still a pretty strong move. It's just not insane like it once was.

It's nothing that serious, Corrin is still a solid character.
 
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Pazzo.

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I've read that fair - > uair is a thing now for :4corrin:.

This, along with the Counter Surge nerf makes me very pleased.
 

bc1910

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im still surprised that people think that the pits are better than corrin. there is no reason for that.
As I said, unordered. Group the Pits together and whack Corrin in top 20, he could well be better than them.

Apparently his mobility nerf was tiny and doesn't do much besides confirming that charged DFS doesn't combo into anything besides the bite or Fsmash.

As I said before, Corrin is still ~20th in the game IMO. I never thought he was as high as 11th and the nerfs are still significant, but not quite as bad as I thought.

Greninja's combo game and neutral improved significantly with this patch. F-Air can combo into itself and into other stuff as well. B-Air can combo into dash grab at lower percents.

A B-Air lock can also be followed by a D-Air lock now which means a missed tech can lead to Greninja's typical silly combos.

And I was also told that F-Air is now -4 on shield, that's pretty crazy if it's true considering it was already very safe if spaced well.

Coupled with Sheik nerfs, this year is being very kind to the frog.
Fair was -8 before so it should be -5 now.
 

BunbUn129

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EDIT: MK nerfs were VERY deserved. That **** was beyond silly. There are so many top tier qualities to MK that went ignored because of ceiling combos
Really? You're making it sound like those combos were braindead. Which they weren't. And plus it wasn't easy at all to pull off consistently, so you would still see many of MK's top-tier qualities pre-patch. If you watch Leo, Tyrant and Ito play, are they taking every stock off with an up aerial combo? No, because it's a 7-part combo that was prone to flubbs and DI mix-ups, and sometimes wouldn't even KO if you weren't high enough when it ended.

Something as braindead as Luigi's pre-patch down throw or Diddy's Hoo Hah are examples of something I would nerf, not the above combo that is hard to pull off.
 

FullMoon

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Fair was -8 before so it should be -5 now.
That's still pretty great though! It's almost the same as N-Air while having a better hitbox and dealing more damage if it hits. The start-up is the only problem with it now.

Depending on how much Sheik's nerfs will be affecting her, Greninja might just have become a solo viable character now which is amazing.
 

Yikarur

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Doesn't matter if the combo had some kind of execution barrier.(Rarely mattered tbh) It was still degenerate.
 

Spinosaurus

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I don't think they wanted Meta Knight to run around unchanged in a patch like this.
 

Thinkaman

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I think people are, as always, having tunnel vision on the top 3/5/7/whatever.

I appreciate that Cloud may enjoy aspects of how the meta shakes out, but you know who has over 9 times as many tourney wins and placings as Cloud?

The other 52 matchups who just got nontrivially harder for him.
 

bc1910

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More Bayo nerfs are rolling in. Dair has more ending lag so she can't walk off FD, Dair, and recover - she has to jump or short hop. Why was that ever a thing, though?

I think people are, as always, having tunnel vision on the top 3/5/7/whatever.

I appreciate that Cloud may enjoy aspects of how the meta shakes out, but you know who has over 9 times as many tourney wins and placings as Cloud?

The other 52 matchups who just got nontrivially harder for him.
You're not wrong, but I think this is different to what we've seen before.

Firstly Cloud was already heading toward the top of the tier list, viewed by many as 4th or 5th behind the queens + Bayo.

Secondly top 3 has been pretty static since the second Diddy nerf. We have never seen Sheik or ZSS nerfs on this scale. This is the first time that either have been non-trivially nerfed and Sheik in particular is now straight up bad at the most important thing in the game (killing).

Cloud was sorta-kinda non-trivially nerfed but unlike Sheik, ZSS, MK and arguably Bayo, his #1 most important tools (Limit and LCS) are practically untouched. Next to the nerfs to ZSS' Dthrow, MK's ladders, Bayo's Witch Time and Sheik's... everything, Cloud got off scot-free.
 
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