There is absolutely no way that
is mid tier. Mid tier characters are decent/close to viable in this game. Doc is not.
already struggles to keep up in the neutral against the top tiers, due to his lack of range. His only way to get in is to abuse his really good aerial mobility to pressure with short hops (usually with a B-air) and possibilty cross up after it.
can't even use another B-air after a SH B-air, and his airspeed is trash so he can't be as threatening as
when he leaves the ground.
How is he going to win the neutral? His only options are dash + shield, cross-up roll and what, RAR B-air? It can be punished by some characters even when retreating. Landing B-air should be safe on block, but it's too slow / obvious. I've seen some players use SH + wavebounce cape, which is pretty smart, but that's not gonna help the doc.
also dislikes getting platform camped, but at least he can still beat this and that even gives him some time to charge his F.L.U.D.D.
has absolutely no way to counter it, and even if he gets a hit on someone on a platform, he won't be able to follow-up like
.
Additionally, his UpB is atrocious as a recovery, no intangibility, small distance, combined with his poor mobility and without the ability to stall with cape to mix-up, we have one of the worst recoveries in the game (probably bottom 5). The Tornado helps a bit, but really not much.
will consistently die from edgeguards.
suffers from the same mobility problems as
. Mobility is crucial in most games, and Smash4 is no exception to the rule. The only way to somewhat make up for a lack of mobility is range or absurd rewards.
In terms of range, his only decent move is B-air (same as
). It's actually pretty good, but it won't keep up against other aerial pokes (
,
,
...) Nothing too fancy here.
So, how much damage can he get when he does manage to find an opening? When he gets a grab, quite a lot, actually, but nowhere as much as
, unfortunately. Actually,
even has better rewards most of the time, due to having a superior combo game.
will get some decent damage by doing D-Throw (U-Throw situationally) to U-Smash and can possibly keep going from there, since the opponent will land close to Doc. I believe he can even get like 60-70% on a handful characters with a footstool, but I've never seen it in tournament so I'm unsure if it's guaranteed & practical.
When the % gets higher, he will only be able to get one or two aerials off of a D-Throw.
does have a good kill set up in terms of D-Throw + F-air, but it doesn't work against the whole cast and kills off the side, so it's less consistent than a hoo hah. Its window is also pretty narrow, which means that with some rage, it'll often become a 50-50.
He has some good kill potential with B-Throw and U-Smash, but unfortunately, despite being stronger than Mario's, his U-Smash will usually kill later due to its angle. Yeah, even in kill potential the Doc gets the short end of the stick.
is however pretty good against his disabled friends, making him a solid choice in Low Tier tournaments.
There's still no future for this character in real tournaments, his terrible range, mobility & recovery hinders him way too much and his combos & kill set ups are not even close to outweighing his flaws, and even then,
is superior in every department.
