The Mii Swordfighter's major problem from what I've played is a reliance on perfect spacing. Everything the Swordfighter does is super punishable on perfect shield or whiff. A perfectly medium-sized Mii Swordfighter has great reach on many moves coupled with decently quick startup and solid damage output, but hefty ending lag and frequently underwhelming disjoint for a sword-wielder. All information listed below (damage values, range approximations, etc.) are for a Mii Swordfighter of perfectly medium build with no custom equipment. Smash Attack damage values listed are for uncharged Smash Attacks. (Multiply by 1.398 to get the damage output of the charged version.)
A medium-build Swordfighter has a slightly underwhelming dash speed, probably a little faster than Link's and the slowest of the Mii Fighter classes, seemingly even weaker than that of the Gunner. Its walk speed is fairly brisk, however, making spacing somewhat easier to accomplish. The Swordfighter has a particularly laggy run-stop and dash-stop, but good traction. The time after stopping from a run or dash during which your only possible action is a dash attack is deceptively long. The Swordfighter cannot get any actual use out of a fox-trot as a result of this trait.
A Swordfighter's midair movement and physics feel strikingly similar to Link's (and thus, deceptively weaker than one might expect when first learning the character), although it generally has slightly greater aerial mobility than Link himself in both horizontal and vertical respects. Notably, the Swordfighter has worse jump height, midair jump height, and aerial mobility than the Gunner, and is also the only class of Mii Fighter that is unable to wall-jump. If playing a Swordfighter, stick to your spacing game and pace your approaches; you aren't going to be leaping wildly around the battlefield either for offence or defence most of the time, barring special moves and a strong commitment. While you have greater agility than Link, you'll probably find yourself wishing you had his Hylian Shield to deal with projectiles for you.
DTilt is Marth's but with longer range (since the Swordfighter doesn't tilt the sword in a weird swipe thing like Smash 4 Marth does) and no tipper. As a result, it's pretty freakin' awesome. Probably comes out the fastest out of any of the Swordfighter's ground moves and also probably one of its safest pokes. Low damage though, and of course it has no vertical reach to speak of. Deals 6% with strong diagonal upward knockback that can send just about anyone into tumble from 0%.
Jab is pretty slow to come out compared to many other jabs. I've seen CPUs sidestep- or roll-dodge it reliably. It has one thing going for it though: Jab cancelling. You can't combo into tilts out of Jab 1 or Jab 2, but you can pull out some useful strings with it or punish a roll-around by jabbing in front and FTilting behind. The full jab sequence seems to combo pretty reliably and deals a very solid 12% total. Jab 2 has slightly less horizontal and vertical reach than Jab 1, while Jab 3 has the greatest reach horizontally and similar vertical reach to Jab 1, though it also moves your hurtbox forward. While its damage is solid and it has pretty decent reach for a jab, the launch angle and power of the third hit coupled with its endlag means you won't really be able to get any follow-ups off of it while it also won't KO the opponent at anything remotely resembling a reasonable percent (it still doesn't KO at 185%). On top of that, since it sends the foe primarily upward it also won't keep them off of you for very long, although it does buy you a bit of space.
UTilt is visually similar to Link's. Compared to Link's UTilt, it has a wider arc that grants it significantly wider horizontal reach and seems significantly faster to come out, but deals less damage, hitting for only 7%. It's a nice, quick anti-air move and is decent for juggling, although it doesn't seem to actually be able to true-combo into itself.
FTilt has rather greater reach than it looks like it does, although the amount of actual disjoint is still very lacking for a sword move. The Mii Swordfighter makes a quick diagonal slice in front while leaning forward. It lacks anything resembling decent vertical reach, and while it is fairly quick to come out a foe who predicts it (or a CPU with 1-frame reaction time) can stuff it with a quick jab (or the first hit of Marth's/Lucina's Dancing Blade) due to how much it moves your hurtbox forward. Between the sword and the lean forward, it out-ranges the FTilts of most unarmed characters (as well as Game & Watch and Meta Knight). On the other hand, it has enough endlag to be very easily punishable on reaction and your hurtbox remains shifted forward in the foe's face for quite some time. You could whiff an FTilt on Ganondorf by a few pixels and eat an FSmash on reaction. The attack does 12% damage and can, when fresh, usually KO midweights in the range of 145% (post-hit) if you have stage control (in other words, if you pressure the foe towards edge and launch them from there).
FSmash visually resembles the first hit of Link's FSmash, though has greater minimum damage and greater KO power on the whole. The attack has quite a bit of reach and comes out pretty quickly for the amount of reach it has, though if predicted (or fighting a CPU with frame-1 reaction time) you could find the attack stuffed by a faster FTilt or the first hit of Marth/Lucina's Dancing Blade, as it does move your hurtbox forward significantly. The closer to the tip of the blade you strike the foe, the more damage and knockback it causes. On foes with medium-to-low traction and ignoring tether-grabs and projectiles, hitting with the very tip is safe on shield if not perfect-shielded due to the sheer amount of shield-push it causes. This attack has very, very good reach, as a medium-build Swordfighter's blade is longer than both Link's Master Sword and Marth's/Lucina's Falchion (this puts your hurtbox farther from the foe than Link's is in his FSmash, although his still has greater overall reach due to his larger size allowing him to take a bigger step forward). Again, though, the endlag on this attack is thoroughly punishable and it leaves your hurtbox much closer to the foe during its endlag. Whiffing it or having it perfect-shielded is easily punishable with seemingly everything short of a Warlock Punch. The Swordfighter is able to stutter-step slightly to give the attack slightly greater range. If it is in keeping with the physics of the Brawler, a smaller Mii with faster ground speed will be able to stutter-step farther. The closest (weakest) hit deals 14% and KOs Mario at 138% (post-hit) from the centre of FD with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect), while the farthest (strongest) hit deals 16% and KOs Mario at 126% (post-hit) from the centre of FD with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect).
USmash is visually similar to Pit's or Meta Knight's USmash, but isn't identical to either of them. The Swordfighter sweeps up from in front and leaps to perform three overhead slashes. The move as a whole has greater vertical reach than UTilt, but less disjoint. It also lacks in horizontal reach. Despite the aforementioned trait, this attack does the most damage when you land it on a foe directly in front of the Swordfighter; the initial upward sweep of the blade has its own hitbox that drags the foe into the triple slash overhead. The first of the overhead slashes is slower to come out compared to many of the Swordfighter's moves, but the move also has noticeably less endlag than the Swordfighter's other Smash Attacks. Uncharged, the attack deals 17% damage if you land all 4 hits, and KOs Mario off the top of FD at 130% (post-hit) with no vertical VI. (Tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect. Training CPUs appear to maybe VI vertical hits slightly, but KO percent was consistent across multiple tests regardless.)
DSmash is pretty bad, honestly. Like most DSmashes in Smash 4, it has worse reach in front or behind than the DTilt has in front. It has the most noticeable startup of the Swordfighter's Smash Attacks, probably as a result of its low reach, which is probably roughly equivalent to the Swordfighter's Jab 1 in terms of horizontal distance from the Swordfighter while being roughly equivalent to DTilt in vertical reach. The move also has absolutely obscene endlag, possibly even greater than that of FSmash. The first hit does not lead into the second hit (unlike the Gunner's), and the second hit comes out noticeably later than the first hit (unlike, for example, Meta Knight's). The overall distance covered by this move is low enough that some characters can get behind you with a forward roll from outside the first hit's range, and end up outside the second hit's range. The hit in front deals 12%, and the one behind deals 15%. The hit in front KOs Mario from the centre of FD at 190% (post-hit) with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect). The hit behind KOs Mario from the centre of FD at 161% (post-hit) with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect).
Dash Attack is a simple stab forward. It has good reach and comes out quite fast, but like most Dash Attacks, as well as almost every other one of the Swordfighter's normals, it's very unsafe on whiff or block. Like most Dash Attacks, it's a great punishment tool that can deal pretty decent damage, and it affords the Swordfighter some momentum and stage control. It has a strong initial hitbox and a weaker late hitbox, though even the late hitbox is generally safe on hit. The initial hit does 10% with notable mostly-horizontal knockback that isn't going to KO any time soon, but is at least useful for pressure and stage control. The late hit does only 6% with very weak knockback at a high diagonal. If you land the late hit too early (right when the strong initial hit ends) at too low a percent, it might be unsafe on hit, so be careful of that.
Now onto aerials. NAir is an amazing move. The bad: It only deals 5% damage and has low knockback with no KO power to speak of, along with high endlag in the air. The good: It comes out quite quickly and has a long-duration hitbox that has great reach and covers a very wide arc, along with a very generous auto-cancel window. If an opponent gets too close and air-dodges immediately as the hit first comes out, the hitbox can end up still being out when their air-dodge ends, baiting and punishing in a single move. A "quirk" of this attack's low knockback is that it often launches the foe right back out to slightly beyond footsies distance, which is generally exactly where Swordfighter wants them. The move is excellent simply for its ease of use, spacing, and pressure, allowing the Swordfighter to make small but significant gains in stage control while dealing chip damage to the foe. A good tactic is to perform a rising short-hop NAir, or a full-jump rising NAir and fast-fall as soon as the hitbox ends; this is especially useful for hitting a grounded target with the move, and makes for an alternate option to UTilt in stopping a foe's aerial approach. It can also be useful as a follow-up after a UTilt juggle, though the opponent can air-dodge out of it. As mentioned above, the attack deals 5%. It causes weak knockback at a slightly upwards diagonal angle that generally prevents any aerial follow-ups without the Swordfighter first having to land.
FAir is a triple stab attack in front that almost always combos from one hit to the next properly. It's a good move to use if the Swordfighter has caught a foe in a disadvantageous position in the air. I think it's what they call a "poking" aerial. While it has noticeable startup and a bit of endlag, it covers a good distance in front and does some pretty solid damage, without moving the Swordfighter's hurtbox forward too much. If the Swordfighter manages to pressure a foe all the way offstage, this move can even be used to KO! While its vertical reach is limited, its horizontal reach is usually enough that the Swordfighter can whiff it on an airborne foe and still be out of range of their aerials, and its moderate startup is easily mitigated by the ability to adjust horizontal movement while using aerial attacks. This attack's biggest weakness is that its moderate endlag combined with its moderately strong, primarily horizontal knockback can make chasing tricky against foes with good aerial mobility options, and it does not appear to have an auto-cancel. The move does 11% total, with the final hit causing moderately strong knockback at a high diagonal angle that can, under ideal circumstances, KO foes in the 140% (post-hit) range. The exact angle and intensity of the final knockback varies depending on the Swordfighter's aerial velocity. If done exactly right, it can KO Mario at 136% (post-hit) from the upper platform of Battlefield with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect).
UAir is a twisting upward stab. The move's vertical range is somewhat limited by the Swordfighter not pointing the sword perfectly upwards, but that also gives the move somewhat wider horizontal range than one might expect, and its vertical reach is still very respectable. The attack does more damage when it first comes out, buts gets much weaker afterwards. It has noticeable but workable startup and fairly significant but workable endlag. Rising UAir on a full jump gets the hitbox out at the peak of the jump and the endlag finished by the time the Swordfighter lands. The initial hitbox does a whopping 16% and can (sometimes?) KO Mario off the top from the upper platform of battlefield at 116% (post-hit) with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect). It's oddly unreliable and sometimes doesn't KO until a few percent later. The late hit deals 9% with rather weak vertical knockback that doesn't KO, but at least keeps the move safe on hit.
BAir is a horizontal slash behind. Probably one of the Swordfighter's least useful aerials, as it has somewhat lengthy startup, endlag, and landing lag coupled with a short range, short hitbox duration, only middling KO power, and a complete lack of any follow-up opportunities. The move might prove to be more useful on the Wii U version, where we'll have a more reliable Control Stick as well as a C-Stick available to us. It deals 12% damage. In terms of KO power, it's a little wonky: If the Swordfighter performs the move while moving towards the foe, it can KO Mario at 175% (post-hit) from the centre of FD with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect). If the Swordfighter performs the move while moving away from the foe, it KOs Mario at 182% (post-hit) from the centre of FD with no VI (tested in Training, so no freshness bonus or Rage Effect).
DAir is a spinning, multi-hitting downward stab. The entire point of the move is actually the landing impact, which does additional damage with actual knockback. The attack has good vertical reach and a bit of horizontal range, but this is marred by the move's long duration and endlag. The move has both high endlag and high landing lag, and is unsafe on hit if the Swordfighter doesn't land during it. It can grant good stage control with some okay damage output if it hits early in the move, but is very unsafe to whiff. One of the optimal times to use this move, if at all, is to shut down a vertical chasing attempt by an opponent with a relatively short-range UAir, as long as the Swordfighter can catch the juggle attempt early. The other would probably be near the peak of an approaching short hop against a grounded foe, using the move's downward reach to "net" the foe, drag them along with the multiple hits, and then shove them away with the landing impact. Using it in his fashion is very risky, but if successful causes both the Swordfighter and their opponent to cover quite a lot of ground, putting much of the stage behind the Swordfighter and thus under their control. In some ways, DAir can be said to be similar to NAir in function, but with higher reward (greater gain in momentum and stage control for landing it) in exchange for much greater risk. Overall, it probably isn't worth it more often than not. Although, if you can "net" a foe with it as I described above and drag them right off the edge of the platform, you can combo it into a footstool. Each of the multiple hits deals 1% or less, while the landing impact deals 5%. It appears to total at 11% damage. The landing impact causes respectable, mostly-horizontal knockback that has no real KO power (it KOs Mario at around 185% from the centre of Battlefield in Training Mode), but does make the move safe on hit and often leaves the foe just outside footsies range.
As far as throws go, the Swordfighter seems to get a noticeable increase in grab reach with a Boost Grab. The Swordfighter's throws are overall very weak and don't give much in the way of follow-ups, so they're really only useful to stop a foe from shielding too much. They're all "safe on hit" so to speak, so there's that at least.
UThrow is visually identical to Link's, but for some reason makes a standard punch/kick sound instead of a slash sound on hit. It does only 5% with middling vertical knockback, no KO power, and enough endlag to, combined with the strength of the knockback, stop the Swordfighter from actually being able to take advantage of the airborne foe.
FThrow is also visually identical to Link's. It does only 6% with middling mostly-horizontal knockback and no KO power, but at least it can be useful to push a foe offstage and start harassing them with projectiles. Not really good enough to get an aerial chase out of though.
BThrow is, yet again, visually identical to Link's. It does only 6% with weak knockback at a high diagonal and no KO power. Unlike FThrow, this move's knockback is too weak and its endlag too great for the Swordfighter to get any real mileage out of it.
DThrow is visually identical to Ike's. (Gasp! It's not Link's!) It does a whopping (note sarcasm) 4% damage with weak, primarily-vertical knockback. It's also got the shortest endlag of all the Mii Swordfighter's throws, so it's possible (if somewhat unlikely) for the Swordfighter to get an aerial follow-up out of this throw.
I could do an analysis on the specials as well, but I think they've already been fairly well-covered in the Mii Swordfighter character discussion. Do go take a look if you're interested. As for my personal opinion: Gale Strike/Blurring Blade, Chakram, Skyward Slash Dash, and Blade Counter make for the best loadout. The neutral special is really a take-your-pick kind of thing, but Gale Strike and Blurring Blade seem noticeably better than Shuriken of Light. Chakram is just too amazing, being angleable and piercing and having the option of a "normal" long-range version that does a reasonable 6% or a short-range, multi-hitting one to trap foes who try to roll or sidestep through. The multi-hitting one can get you guaranteed follow-ups if they get caught by it just wrong and it's just awesome. Skyward Slash Dash gets you the most versatile recovery without other mobility specials, so that was an obvious pick. Blade Counter is a great way to stop a foe's momentum and turn around a match that's not going in your favour, and can get KOs if you can counter something like a Smash Attack.
Overall, the Mii Swordfighter is a little different from most other sword wielders in terms of playstyle. While characters like Marth in Melee and Meta Knight in Brawl throw out hitboxes on a regular basis to force you to respect their space, the Mii Swordfighter wants you to respect the potential for a hitbox to appear at any given moment, as its moves tend to be quite quick to come out for the amount of reach they have. The Swordfighter, with the exception of things like UTilt juggles, wants to keep the foe in neutral as that's where most of its damage-dealing and KO potential lie. Most importantly when playing the Swordfighter, however, is to not miss. This cannot be stressed enough. Punish any foe who enters your space immediately, but don't throw attacks when out of range because you will leave yourself wide open. The only moves you can really afford to miss with are DTilt, NAir, jab, and projectiles like the Chakram. Other than that, don't throw out moves that you aren't certain will hit.
