Ok Pit talk time.
Since the game came out people have referred to the Pits as solid characters with all the tools to win. But if that is the case, why aren't they making a bigger splash? At first glance they seem to be more functional then say Ike another swordsman, but the results don't reflect that.
Pit and Dark Pit imo are ironically the "Ryu" type in this game. Jack-of-all trades, but a master of none. This would mean they can play any situation or position relatively well right? Hmm, the thing is though, I am not so sure about that. The results and the frame data do not reflect two characters that are good. I suppose good is subjective, but this is a competitive community and people want to see a return on their investment. So with that in mind let us say that good means "can top 8 at a regional with strong players, and do so consistently". With this thought in mind we can instantly disregard the Pits. There are a slew of characters that are scarier and more devastating. Not to mention much more consistent.
But what's the problem? They have decent range, solid burst options, disjointed hitboxes due to their blades, good recovery and nice KO power right? Well, lets look at the data. They seem to have solid buttons at first glance but in reality their grounded pokes are underwhelming and pretty darn unsafe. Pits D-tilt is frame 6 and -13 on SHIELD DROP?!? That is abysmal and it only does 6% on hit and leads to no guaranteed follow-ups. Contrast that to say Mewtwo who also has a 6 frame d-tilt but his is -3 on shield drop (crazy) and we get a clearer picture of how under tuned this move really is. Yes it has huge range for a tilt but it is not scary or threatening in anyway. It can lose to SH approaches like all dtilts and loses to shield as well which is uncharacteristic of most swordsman dtilts. Ike's dtilt is ONE FRAME slower, but safer and DOES lead to combos. It is -8 on shield drop. Nintendo has me scratching my head on this button here because the garbage data doesnt justify how small the reward is for the Pits.
What about f-tilt? Lots of people felt this was THE poke that all pokes should aspire too. It covers a good amount of space, decent damage, nice start-up time at 10 frames too. However it is also VERY unsafe at -15 on shield drop. It can kill decently well at the ledge. It kills Mario on FD, no DI around 110%. But then you have Ike and Marth. Ike's ftilt is slower at 13 frames but at also safer at -12 and does more shield pushback. Kills a bit earlier. About 5% sooner. Marth's ftilt....lolz. Frame 8. -10 on shield with tipper. Kills at 95% at the ledge of FD. Again Nintendo....I don't get it. Granted Pits ftilt has a ton of range, but that range doesnt do anything to mitigate how unsafe the button is. Its an ok punish, but Pits f-smash has the same start-up so any situation where you could ftilt you could f-smash instead for deadlier results.
Burst options in neutral is another category they receive praise for. A good dash attack and dash grab keeps foes guessing at mid range. While its true these options are speedy, they are not what I would call scary. D-throw leads to real combos at low percents, but no death conversions. Dash attack is fast and beats alot of stuff, but again it doesnt lead to anything. And of course it isnt safe. If thats the game you want to play, then you could play MK or Captain Falcon. They do that part of the neutral better AND have safer ground buttons.
Ok, well how about aerials? Overall they are solid actually, but Pit has the same problem Marth did before the buffs he got to his nair. Pit lacks flow from his SH air game to his ground game. He has nair and fair as auto cancels which definitely helps, but he cannot suddenly transition from an aerial based offense and go right into grounded mix-ups or pressure. This makes him more predictable. It makes him less threatening.
Specials are pretty good. Giving him a well rounded neutral game. He has a projectile, a reflector, and a super armored attack that lets him punish predictability. His projectile however isn't scary. It doesnt set up for anything. It can gimp opponents that are far off stage or annoy opponents that are on stage. That is about it. He cannot keep up constant pressure. His reflector does its job and allows him to stay in the game vs other projectile users. Solid option. But not game changing. Mewtwos reflector doubles as a command grab that does 12%. Something to think about. His side b lets him blow through an option in order to do decent damage. However its not particularly fast, is very unsafe, and doesn't kill well. Though Dark Pit's does kill better then Pit's.
So now onto recovery. Recovery is good as we all know. 3 jumps and a far reaching up b. If the Pit's aren't killed they should always make it back right? Yeah, but not without some broken limbs. See their up b has no hitbox. So its childs play to challenge. The Pit's are pretty easy prey to spike attempts, stage spikes if they mistime a tech and off stage harassment in general. Someone like Cloud can easily smack them with a dair through the stage.
IMO the only thing they really excel at is edgeguarding, but they arent even the best at that. Everything else is mediocre. At first glance it seems like they have all these solid tools. But when you inspect the data and then make direct comparisons to other similar tools in other characters arsenals, the Pit's fall short and look weaker and weaker by comparison.
They are the characters you pick to learn the game. Training wheels. They have no flaws that may cause you to lose a match, but they definitely don't have the juice that will help you win or allow you the creativity to develop your personal style. They are not dynamic enough or threatening enough. They have no niche. No trait they are dominant in. No incredible ability that is all their own. No Diddy banana control game, no Sheik godlike neutral and amazing bouncing fish, no ZSS zair and throw game, no Cloud limit system and limit cross slash and yeah.....no Ryu TSRK confirms that kill at ungodly low percents.
Even if you think they are good, there are just too many characters that can do what they do, but better/safer/faster/easier. And for me, thats evidence to show they just aren't good enough.
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