Brawl+: Character categories

[Jiangjunizzy]

In the unique game of smash bros, every character in the game fulfills certain niches which may or may not be more effective against another type of character. For example Fox is a risk taking, fast falling, precise comboer, Dk is powerful, slow and big, and jigglypuff is a lightweight juggler with high priority. Fox's combo abilities may be effective against a big dude like DK, but jiggly's high priority and floatiness could spell trouble for fox's approach-heavy play style.

With that said, have you ever sat down and thought about why certain match ups work well against other match ups?

In chat today, we were talking about lucas and we noticed that many of us had trouble categorizing him. is he a comboer? hmm. not really, some of his attacks are slow, some of them are fast, but they vary too much and some send to far to effectively chain anything. is he a camper? also a no, his projectile is fast but short ranged with little hitstun, and his upB is too slow to use effectively on the ground. is he a space (meaning he keeps people away from him) oriented character? hmm, maybe.

With the trouble we had categorizing brawl's very own jimmy neutron I took it upon myself to create categories that would hopefully describe all the characters in brawl.

i think this kind of categorization will be very helpful for us in the future when we intend on balancing things. it will help us maintain focus on what that character is meant to be and how they should play like. this list will also help us see what could possibly be wrong with a character. if we feel as though we aren't sure what direction a character should go or what kind of buffs/debuffs they need, we could look at this list and look at what would suit them. also, if a character is in trouble, we could look at other characters that fill that niche and look at what they're doing right.

i hope this is helpful. if i missed any categories or if you have any suggestions let me know.

='In the Fray' - Related Categories=
Rush - Powerful, potentially deadly combos with precise setups.
Ranged - Focuses on quick, spammable projectiles that stun.
Juggler - High priority, fast attacks that are easily chainable and could be proficient for gimping.
Spacer - Excels at controlling the area with a heavy usage of disjointed attacks and/or relatively slow but powerful projectiles to keep opponents at bay and on their toes.
Punisher - Excels at capitalizing on unsuccessful approaches and/or laggy techniques.
Power - Slow, powerful attacks which can be chained into small, but devastating combos.

=Defensive/Passive - Related Categories=
Tank - Possesses incredible survivability.
Featherweight - Dies incredibly early.
Anvil - Is comboed very easily.
Floaty - Falls slowly, and is not as easy to combo as other characters.
Drifter - Ability to weave in and out with strong DI.

=Recovery - Related Categories=
Blimp - Many extra jumps.
Glider - Can Glide.
Leap - Standard gimp inducing vertical/horizontal recovery.
Snap - Has an auto snap recovery in many or all directions.
Boost - Has a mostly horizontal auto snap recovery.
Linger - Recovery which allows an infinite amount of attempts
Pursuit - Recovery which allows the player to do anything but jump/recover again afterward.

Here are some examples (based on BrawlPlussery 3.2).

Mario - Juggler | Leap

Luigi - Rush | Floaty | Leap/Boost-Linger

Peach - Spacer/Rush | Floaty | Glider/Leap

Bowser - Punisher | Tank/Anvil | Leap

DK - Power | Anvil | Leap

Diddy - Spacer/Rush | Leap

Yoshi - Rush | Linger

Wario - Power | Drifter | Leap

Link - Spacer | Leap/Snap

Zelda - Spacer/Punisher | Floaty | Leap

Sheik - Juggler | Leap/Snap

Ganondorf - Power | Anvil | Leap/Boost

Toon Link - Juggler/Spacer | Floaty/Featherweight| Leap/Snap

Samus - Juggler/Spacer | Floaty | Leap/Snap

ZSS - Rush/Spacer | Featherweight/Floaty | Snap-Linger

Pit - Ranged/Rush | Floaty | Blimp/Glider/Pursuit

Ice Climbers - Punisher | Featherweight | Leap

ROB - Ranged/Juggler | Floaty | Pursuit

Kirby - Juggler | Featherweight/Floaty/Drifter | Blimp/Leap

MK - Juggler/Punisher | Featherweight | Blimp/Glider/Leap

DDD - Spacer/Power | Anvil | Blimp, Leap

Olimar - Punisher/Spacer | Featherweight/Floaty | Snap

Fox - Rush | Anvil | Leap/Boost

Falco - Ranged/Juggler | Anvil | Leap

Wolf - Spacer/Jugger | Anvil | Leap/Boost

C. Falcon - Rush | Anvil | Leap/Boost

Pikachu - Juggler/Ranged | Leap/Boost

Ivysaur - Ranged/Rush | Floaty | Snap

Charizard - Spacer/Power | Anvil | Glider/Leap

Squirtle - Juggler | Featherweight/Drifter | Leap

Lucario - Juggler/Ranged | Floaty | Snap

Jigglypuff - Juggler | Floaty/Featherweight | Linger

Marth - Juggler/Spacer | Floaty | Leap

Ike - Power/Spacer | Anvil | Leap/Boost

Ness - Juggler/Spacer | Floaty | Snap

Lucas - Spacer/Punisher | Floaty | Snap

G&W - Juggler/Spacer | Floaty/Featherweight| Pursuit

Snake - Spacer/Punisher | Anvil/Tank | Pursuit

Sonic - Rush/Punisher | Pursuit

 

[matt4300]

Why not? falcon should also have tank. He can survive better than bowser from vertical kill moves.

Link- Ranged/Juggler|Anvil|Leap (mabye zoner due to my and other links excesive use of the zair)
Samus- Ranged/Juggler|Floaty|Leap (same as link)

lol I guess I know what kinda chars I like now >_>

Ness- Rush/Juggler/Zoner|Floaty|Snap
Bowser- Punisher/Power|tank|Leap (you should make a catagory just for bowser called "sandbag" beacuse he not heavy enough for anvil. Well I guess this would also apply to D3)

 

[Jiangjunizzy]

I renamed zoner to spacer and changed its definition, check it out.

 

[cAm8ooo]

Good idea jiang.

Kirby-Juggler/floaty/blimp

 

[Finns7]

Link- Spacer/Range/Punisher/Tank

^in order of importance, You might not think Link is a tank but, if Link doesnt get gimped at low percents he can actually survive to very high percents, plus the no asl code makes his tether more useful. A good link wont put himself in positions to get gimped.

@ Matt, Link doesnt get comboed that easily imo you prob just gotta master DIing out of attacks.

Spacer, and range you guys should get, you cant win with link just relying on close quarter swordplay. Dont play link like he is marth spammni fairs and other moves, he doesnt work that way.

Even though his upb is >_> compared to melee it still has some uses oos, and so does his grab, with the nerf to shields and grabs links tools give him an advantage most lost. Thats why I gave him punisher, you cant win with Link on a higher lvl unless your able to read your opponent and counter them.

 

[Jiangjunizzy]

link isn't really ranged, his projectiles are slow. i'd call him a spacer/juggler. for the lack of a better word, a juggler is someone who can string together attacks quite easily or rack up damage; they may or may not be able to gimp you off stage. and a ranged character is more along the lines of falco/pit.

 

[CountKaiser]

G&W Juggler/Spacer/Floaty/Featherweight/pursuit

Would this be accurate?

 

[Jiangjunizzy]

Sheik - Juggler|Snap/Leap
Zelda - Power/Spacer|Floaty|Leap

 

[Finns7]

link isn't really ranged, his projectiles are slow. i'd call him a spacer/juggler. for the lack of a better word, a juggler is someone who can string together attacks quite easily or rack up damage; they may or may not be able to gimp you off stage. and a ranged character is more along the lines of falco/pit.

I see what your saying but with the addition of hitstun his rang and zair (< not a projectile but still used as one in a way) where really buffed because they put people in the tumble at early percents, Also just because his range is slow doesnt mean it isnt used for range in certain situations, it also depends on what kinda link you play some links spam so well it seems like your playing falco @_@ depending on the stage

I didnt call link a juggler because I felt that is a term more used for shiek or fox ect, link has **** but its not on that lvl imo

Based on your discriptions though I will say Spacer/Punisher/Juggler/Tank


You cant go in thinking im going to do this first with link, you gotta predict and punish your opponents mistakes to be able to actaully use his "juggling" abilities. ^ these are in order of importance also, link has a mix

 

[matt4300]

Link- Spacer/Range/Punisher/Tank

^in order of importance, You might not think Link is a tank but, if Link doesnt get gimped at low percents he can actually survive to very high percents, plus the no asl code makes his tether more useful. A good link wont put himself in positions to get gimped.

@ Matt, Link doesnt get comboed that easily imo you prob just gotta master DIing out of attacks.

Spacer, and range you guys should get, you cant win with link just relying on close quarter swordplay. Dont play link like he is marth spammni fairs and other moves, he doesnt work that way.

Even though his upb is >_> compared to melee it still has some uses oos, and so does his grab, with the nerf to shields and grabs links tools give him an advantage most lost. Thats why I gave him punisher, you cant win with Link on a higher lvl unless your able to read your opponent and counter them.

Yeh, that all makes since. I was gonna add spacer, but tank??? anvil makes more since hes comboed more easily than most and hes a pretty fast faller. I guess I picked juggler becuase he can combo pretty well now with short hop airials, his rang, and omg his z air.

 

[Finns7]

He doesnt get comboed that well, think bowser, ganon, snake, falco, fox, sheik, all fflers link is gets comboed by certain chars well but I wouldnt call him an anvil, link lives to very high percents

 

[Jiangjunizzy]

ok i made it pretty and made an approx. for all of the characters. let me know what you guys think.

 

[GHNeko]

Edit: Nevermind.