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Luco
The thing with Ness is that I'm just confused as to where all the talk that he was top tier came from. He's a solid character, for sure, but for the most part he feels unchanged from Brawl to me. I used him in Brawl as a secondary because I found his playstyle really fun.) That's not necessarily a bad thing; IMO Brawl Ness was a reasonably solid character who just got shafted through grab release infinites. With those gone I would expect him to move up but not to top tier.
I bring up his recovery because it's his most obvious weakness, but that's a given when he takes about a second to actually move back toward the stage and a critical part of that recovery is a projectile that can be intercepted or reflected. His excellent second jump (I'd say it's the best in the game) helps him a little, but if he's forced away from the stage without it he's in a bad state.
His aerials are mostly unchanged from Brawl, although his BAir has a little less power and his DAir is a lot less consistent. FAir continues to form the crux of his game due to its great range and priority. The fact that it drags the opponent along for the ride now makes it even better. I think it tends to be a little overrated though. If he trades with someone else while using it he's more likely to be put in a bad position and take more damage because, aside from not dealing that much damage in the first place, FAir is multi-hit and each hit is quite weak.
PK Fire is a really good tool but it's so much more commitment than Robin's Arcfire or the Mii Gunner's Flame Pillar because it doesn't automatically activate when hitting the ground. It does trigger on contact with hitboxes, though, so that's something. While it has less lag than Brawl, it's still not something you want to be using from neutral or to approach because it's so easy to shield or avoid. That said, if it connects on the ground, you can usually get a free grab. FSmash if you're close enough. It's pretty sweet off-stage, though, because it sinks. I'll give it that. (Do Flame Pillar/Arcfire sink?)
His tilts are fast but pretty short-ranged. His grab game is amazing, especially with that insane BThrow. It honestly feels even stronger in this game than in Brawl, but it's probably partially due to rage buffing its power when Ness gets to higher percents. His Smashes are buffed from Brawl, from what I can tell. I could be wrong on this, but it seemed like his FSmash was somehow both weaker and slower than Lucas's, despite Ness using a bat and Lucas using a stick. Anyway, USmash has more power and DSmash is good at poking shields. His Dash Attack has great range (especially the last hit) and I've been able to use it to surprise people with its reach. It's punishable on shield, though, like most Dash Attacks are.
I really like the power his UAir has and the speed of his NAir. Ness's strength seems to lie in linking aerials together, but this game seems to have more of a focus on ground combat. Ness still does well there, but it's not his forte.
I've seen a lot more Ness users online than I thought I would. I don't remember that many people liking him previously. I assume some of the userbase comes from people losing Lucas and switching to the closest thing.
Basically I see Ness as a solid character but don't know where the hype for him came from, unless people really didn't know his BThrow could kill at silly percents. That's the main feature he has that's unusual and makes him stand out. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
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