Character Competitive Impressions

[Radical Larry]

Time For The Results Of The Official /r/smashbros Monthly Voted Tier List!​

It's that time of the month again where I set up a poll to get how the general public is feeling about characters and track these feelings over time. With Apex just ending it seemed like an extra special time to do this. We changed up how the vote worked this month and allowed players to rank each character 1-10, 1 being the worst, and 10 being the best also allowing the option for them not to answer if they didn't know about the character. We're taking those with the highest averages and placing them first going down till we hit the lowest. We also asked for which characters people feel have the most potential, and those they feel are the most overrated and will list the top 3 in both categories.

Since last month's list was obviously VERY iffy, I wont be doing the usual where I compare how the characters went up and down as it'd be kinda pointless. If this new voting method looks more successful, we can do that again come next month.

HERE IS THE TIER LIST!

For those curious in why I split people where, I did try to make different tiers when there were what looked to be significant number differences. The people in B+, B, and B- where all close but JUST far enough away I couldn't justify keeping them all in the exact same same tier. I see some issues in this list too, but it is by far the best list /r/smashbros has probably put out to date. I think the new voting method did the trick!

If you wanted to split up the tier list right, you could have at least put it in a 7 x 7 format with the regular characters, and add in the Miis where they are as additional slots within the list. That way you don't have such a tightly condensed tier list system, honestly.

You're overcompensating Greninja's position on this tier list, and you're also doing it to Mario as well, because I don't see those two remotely close to their positions. Sure, I'd see Greninja in the B Tier behind Marth at least, and Mario at B Tier behind Dark Pit, but nowhere close to B+ Tier. Fox's position should be about two spots lower; he has good setups, but a below-average kill set.

Other than that, it seems good.

Were pretty much in a agreement that is Bottom 10

What do you guys think of after that performance from Dabuz at APEX? Do you guy feel like deserves to be in the top 10?

Let's see:

Pros of Olimar:
+A good setup and decent comboing game.
+Purple Pikmin are very great at finishing combos off well.
+Some of his Pikmin have extra range.
+Decent kill power at certain percentages with certain attacks and Pikmin.
+He's very light and has a small frame, giving him evasion from juggles and combos.

Cons of Olimar:
-KOs are wholly dependent on which Pikmin you have, and overall, his Pikmin are nearly useless due to desync times, having been nerfed in terms of knockback, have less HP and hinder his recovery (3 Purple Pikmin instantly end his recovery when he uses it).
-His recovery is among the worst in the game (bar his Customs).
-Pikmin do negligible damage when latched onto you, and can be killed easily that way.
-He is very easy to KO.
-He loses all but six moves without his Pikmin, and those are: Jab, F-Tilt, U-Tilt, D-Tilt, N-Air and U-Spec.
-Purple Pikmin have even worse range compared to Brawl.

I see him as a viable character, but not in the top 10; that would be like making Bowser turn top 5 again. Even with Dabuz' performance at APEX, I'm still iffy on giving Olimar on top 10, since he doesn't have good MUs on the high and top tier characters at all.

 

[David Viran]

ZSS is the one you're probably wondering about while reading this. Everyone else seems to have her locked in top 5. She's a great character, but she still has big weaknesses that the other top characters don't have to worry about, and even some of the strengths people see aren't really that strong. Her grab is terrible, and although the reward is fantastic the other top tiers get fantastic reward with good grabs. Flip Kick is simply not good in neutral despite what common stream footage would have you believe (I forget if it was EL or SFP who pointed this out but just run under her and shield then punish for free, every single time). Her kill power is nearly as bad as Sheik's outside of a couple hard reads/punishes (down+B and up+B) but she doesn't have nearly as powerful of a neutral game as Sheik to build easy damage and force her opponent into awful situations. Paralyzer is pretty mediocre as a projectile too (momentum tricks with it are great though); it clanks with everything, at short range it is too risky and at long range either you fully charge it which can easily be reacted to and punished or you don't charge it and you get no reward from the stun at that range. I know I'm only highlighting her weaknesses here but that's because everyone already knows her strengths. Someone mentioned recently that people have been saying ZSS is overrated but no one explains why - this is me explaining why.

I wasn't actually asking anyone to explain why she is overrated. I was just explaining my problem with reddit. I am well aware of her weaknesses but you are kind of making some of the weaknesses sound worse than they really are. Landing a grab is not a problem for her because her grab cuts off alot of options and her grab is like terrible yet amazing at the same time along with the good reward. In high level matches I though it was obvious that flip jump can't be spammed and by the way if you sheild flip jump it is not a free punish she can still move in the air making oppenents work for a punish. Also it can be used as a movement option in neutral on battlefeild with ledge canceling. Ok her kill power is much better than sheiks. First off who goes for a hard read with up b there are alot of set ups for it and it is an amazing oos option. Bair kills very well, frame traps, and pressures sheild. There's always dthrow uair if you can't secure the kill. Flip jump is actually good for gimping and edge guarding. Also she does way more damage per hit than sheik does and once she gets momentum going your oppenent is in trouble. Paralyzer is not punishable at all from max range you can only really PS to advance but you don't get a free punish. A good zss won't really get punished for using paralyzer ever because they know when they can use it and paralyzer is a suprisingly good frame trap. An uncharged paralyzer is always a free dash grab if you hit with it.

 

[FullMoon]

I honestly don't know what to say about Wario other than I really hate fighting him. I don't know how good or bad he is, I just know his bike is very, very annoying and his waft is really strong.

Maybe one of these days I should make my own tier list.

 

[deepseadiva]

I agree with everyone, Dabuz.

The character I play is placed too low on your tier list.

 

[Vengeance_NS]

Wario is wayyy too low on the reddit tier list, he is definitely a top 10-15 character. I'm not even too good at Smash 4 and I can easily dominate people online with him. He is a very versatile character with a great recovery, good air game, good kill move, good gimping ability and he's also great for stage control

agreed its because no one plays him at all at high levels except Reflex and Gluttony who have done well at tourneys. i do not know what reflex placed at apex does anyone know? but i did see Abadango beat Vinnies Sheik in that tourney the day before apex which was pretty impressive and to be honest i dont find abadangos smash4 wario good at all. hes way to defensive minded.

 

[Death Arcana]

Palutena has that ***

fixed that for ya

 

[Dragoomba]

Can anybody explain why Game and Watch is universally low tier on every tier list? I just don't see how he's a bad character at all. Very little recovery on any of his grounded moves, dthrow leads to easy true combos, up b is not only an amazing recovery but an excellent escape option, dair is incredible for edgeguarding considering G&W always makes it back, and his Usmash is amazing due to it being fast, powerful, and having a built-in parry that stuffs almost everything.

The main issue I can see is his weight so he tends to get killed early by some typical shenanigans (Diddy dthrow - uair), but does that really make him "awful"?

 

[Road Death Wheel]

and some are bad (Zelda, Samus)

Samus is not bad T.T people just don't put time into her. majority of the samus boards says mid tier. besisdes those 2 character have more results in tourny than most other character you listed. other than Dk, and ike.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Can anybody explain why Game and Watch is universally low tier on every tier list? I just don't see how he's a bad character at all. Very little recovery on any of his grounded moves, dthrow leads to easy true combos, up b is not only an amazing recovery but an excellent escape option, dair is incredible for edgeguarding considering G&W always makes it back, and his Usmash is amazing due to it being fast, powerful, and having a built-in parry that stuffs almost everything.

The main issue I can see is his weight so he tends to get killed early by some typical shenanigans (Diddy dthrow - uair), but does that really make him "awful"?

AFAIK it's mostly his aerial game holding him back? They don't do much damage and have a fair amount of landing lag. They're disjointed and G&W himself has good aerial deceleration but I'm not sure what else they have going for them.

 

[⑨ball]

I would not be surprised at all to see any of the following characters usually thought of as a little weaker show off more than we realized they were capable of and pull some big upsets:


This is probably more than I should have typed while at work...

In a game where shields are everything, I can't see DK with his sideb and downb being thought of as bad. I love watching DK Will and if him bopping Ally's Mario says nothing else, it's "I am not bottom tier."


Don't know much about Doc, but I could certainly see him popping out of the wood work sooner or later with something nasty considering he's pretty much Mario diet.


I really like Keitaro's Falco and wish he'd drop Diddy to explore him full time. The only character that I've seen really utilizing that dair "l-cancel" an boy do they look good. He's definitely got more to show us as a character.


Anyone that thinks Ike is bad needs to face a competent one. Ike feels so good to play now(not as powerful but he feels a lot smoother now) and does really well against a lot of characters. I always laugh a little bit when I see people pumping up Bowser and Shulk while ignoring Ike. Looking forward to seeing more Ryuga, Ryo and any other tourney Ike's. Shoutouts to San as always.


Puff I like a lot but I'm not sure how well she'll stack up as the meta develops. I couldn't find many combos into rest, and the more defensive nature of the game means her punishes have to be more on point than ever. If nothing else, I'm certainly rooting for her. I got really happy when I saw Hbox playing with her in Smash 4, but that was also the HooHa video. ):


Kirby does surprisingly well against a lot of characters you'd think he wouldn't and MikeKirby is a sight to behold rivaling Chudat in Project M. I'm sure there are more players like him out there, we just have to find them.


Brimes and Izaw come to mind thinking of Link and they were both really impressive. Now that Link's got some new bs to play with we might be seeing a flood of Links soon that'll filter out into a nice dedicated representation. If I get to see Link v Ganon in grandfinals one day I will be so happy you don't even know.


MK got the Greninja effect(or is that vice versa?) in that he got worse and people over exaggerated how much worse he got. Anything rating lower than mid tier is definitely questionable. I am waiting for the day someone pulls off one of his 30-Death kill setups in tourney. Stream's gonna explode.


I don't think Palutena's as bad as people make her out to be. She undoubtedly got her flaws but I've seen some really good things from her as well. She's also got some really bright minds behind her metagame development. The character I'm second most looking forward to with customs.


Soon. Also calling it now: When customs become legal we'll see more Wii Fit Trainer than we ever wanted. Also top 10 easy.

 

[FullMoon]

agreed its because no one plays him at all at high levels except Reflex and Gluttony who have done well at tourneys. i do not know what reflex placed at apex does anyone know? but i did see Abadango beat Vinnies Sheik in that tourney the day before apex which was pretty impressive and to be honest i dont find abadangos smash4 wario good at all. hes way to defensive minded.

Reflex plays Wario? Recently he's shown himself in the Greninja boards. I think if he played Wario he might have dropped him for Greninja, or at least he's going to give the frog a try. Though I guess you'd have to ask him for clarification.

 

[Vengeance_NS]

Reflex plays Wario? Recently he's shown himself in the Greninja boards. I think if he played Wario he might have dropped him for Greninja, or at least he's going to give the frog a try. Though I guess you'd have to ask him for clarification.

he plays wario, he got 4th at Kit with wario, has has said he feels wario is better than his brawl from and is top 15 or better in the game. he went to kit to show people how good wario was according to the commentators of the event.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Reflex plays Wario? Recently he's shown himself in the Greninja boards. I think if he played Wario he might have dropped him for Greninja, or at least he's going to give the frog a try. Though I guess you'd have to ask him for clarification.

He used Wario at APEX.

 

[FullMoon]

I couldn't follow Apex and I'm still don't know much about the Smash pros so. All I know is that he decided to pick up Greninja recently.

 

[Vengeance_NS]

He used Wario at APEX.

how did he place, i know he was seeded first in his pool. did he make it out of pools?

 

[ChronoPenguin]

Soon. Also calling it now: When customs become legal we'll see more Wii Fit Trainer than we ever wanted. Also top 10 easy.

Wii Fit Trainer isn't making no top 10, with or without customs.
With what Jumbo- Hoop? Puh lease.
Why Ball variants? Absolutely not.
Absolute side-grades on her Deep breathing? Not really.
The two very interesting changes to Sun salutation? Sure.

Diddys still going to be stronger, as is Sheik. Ike's going to massacre.

She's got interesting reward on hits that she can barely land in the weirdest of ways. I thought Luigi and Kirby had meh approaches, then I realized they still hit things when they get in. You get in with WFT and half your kit is still disabled because the hitbox doesn't align with X character's hurtbox so you have rather limited options, or they aren't particularly safe in the presence of X characters range. WFT will make top 10 when half the roster gets deleted. Just because she can throw balls of different sizes and speeds isn't going to make he great. Jumbo hoop is overrated to boot.

Mii Sword fighter with Power thrust or reflector likely eats her alive. What she going to do? Contest his U-air? Beat out his N-air? She's going to fry. A lot of characters get great tools with customs, she is no exception that doesn't rocket her to top 10.

Diddy, Rosa, Sheik, Yoshi, Brawler, Gunner, bloody Sword Fighter, Ike, Mario, probably Bowser still. Pit. Pacman. List goes on. What I see customs doing for her, is giving her a couple more options that warrant greater respect from her opposition and as such give her more opportunity to win then she has as current.
I also see customs giving a series of characters additional/improved approach options to get through her new found zoning and discredit her same as current.

 

[Balgorxz]

In a game where shields are everything, I can't see DK with his sideb and downb being thought of as bad. I love watching DK Will and if him bopping Ally's Mario says nothing else, it's "I am not bottom tier."


Don't know much about Doc, but I could certainly see him popping out of the wood work sooner or later with something nasty considering he's pretty much Mario diet.


I really like Keitaro's Falco and wish he'd drop Diddy to explore him full time. The only character that I've seen really utilizing that dair "l-cancel" an boy do they look good. He's definitely got more to show us as a character.


Anyone that thinks Ike is bad needs to face a competent one. Ike feels so good to play now(not as powerful but he feels a lot smoother now) and does really well against a lot of characters. I always laugh a little bit when I see people pumping up Bowser and Shulk while ignoring Ike. Looking forward to seeing more Ryuga, Ryo and any other tourney Ike's. Shoutouts to San as always.


Puff I like a lot but I'm not sure how well she'll stack up as the meta develops. I couldn't find many combos into rest, and the more defensive nature of the game means her punishes have to be more on point than ever. If nothing else, I'm certainly rooting for her. I got really happy when I saw Hbox playing with her in Smash 4, but that was also the HooHa video. ):


Kirby does surprisingly well against a lot of characters you'd think he wouldn't and MikeKirby is a sight to behold rivaling Chudat in Project M. I'm sure there are more players like him out there, we just have to find them.


Brimes and Izaw come to mind thinking of Link and they were both really impressive. Now that Link's got some new bs to play with we might be seeing a flood of Links soon that'll filter out into a nice dedicated representation. If I get to see Link v Ganon in grandfinals one day I will be so happy you don't even know.


MK got the Greninja effect(or is that vice versa?) in that he got worse and people over exaggerated how much worse he got. Anything rating lower than mid tier is definitely questionable. I am waiting for the day someone pulls off one of his 30-Death kill setups in tourney. Stream's gonna explode.


I don't think Palutena's as bad as people make her out to be. She undoubtedly got her flaws but I've seen some really good things from her as well. She's also got some really bright minds behind her metagame development. The character I'm second most looking forward to with customs.


Soon. Also calling it now: When customs become legal we'll see more Wii Fit Trainer than we ever wanted. Also top 10 easy.

DK is food to all the characters than can combo, doubt it,
MK is going to become better with time.

 

[Ray_Kalm]

Ganon's u smash, f tilt, d tilt, and wiz choke want a word.

and wiz choke wants a word.

wiz choke

I should start to implement some wiz choking in my game.

 

[Road Death Wheel]

DK is food to all the characters than can combo, doubt it,
MK is going to become better with time.

every large character has this problem but is not exactly large characters big problem. iv seen many examples of dk mains knowing there hurt box well enough 2 defend themselves well. being combo food does not mean much when u can dish back 2 as much damage in less even less hits.

@ Ray_Kalm are you poking fun on me for not refering to it as flame choke? lol my bad i call that move by many names Xd. unless your serious by some chance O.o

 

[madworlder]

Jumbo Hoops is dumb. I don't think it's top 10 dumb, but Jumbo Hoops is dumb.

 

[thehard]

Some off-stream APEX matches here! https://www.youtube.com/user/RedPandaChannel/videos

 

[Antonykun]

Pros

+ A lot of the moves are safe and don't have much lag.
+ The tilts has a lot of combo potential, especially the
+ Side B is actually a god send, as long as your anywhere above or the center part of the blastzone
+ In the right hands, this character can take on any others without fear.
+ Due to the customization options, no Mii is quite the same, making it unpredictable and dangerous.+ He has a few spikes, which is his Dair and Up B (Ike)

Cons

- The jump height is a bit lacklustre.
- The grab range isn't too great.
- Some of the moves are so bad they should never be used, so that lowers Mii's arsenal power.
- Being that he has no range, its going to be a struggle landing the kill moves.
- His edgeguarding options aren't very effective at edgeguarding.

Swordfighter is not safe at all. his safest moves are n-air and D-tilt and d-tilt is the only safe one
Swordfighter's tilts have Little combo potential. F-tilt is an F-smash in disguise, D-tilt only combos if there's godawful DI and you get like two reps of u-tilt.
I hope you're talking about Aerial Assault because even then it is an inferior Monkey Flip
"In the right hands, this character can take on any others without fear." This statement means nothing
Swordfighter is only unpredictable against those who don't understand him
D-air doesn't spike, he gimps (which is more satisfying)

The only con I don't agree with is His edgeguards which are decent

 

[Morbi]

every large character has this problem but is not exactly large characters big problem. iv seen many examples of dk mains knowing there hurt box well enough 2 defend themselves well. being combo food does not mean much when u can dish back 2 as much damage in less even less hits.

@ Ray_Kalm are you poking fun on me for not refering to it as flame choke? lol my bad i call that move by many names Xd. unless your serious by some chance O.o

I suppose the real problem with big characters would probably be the overt lack of safe options. Usually their frame-data is absent of any reliable attacks, but then again, it does not really matter if you adequately read your opponent. They are always going to be the characters that require more effort to use well.

 

[Road Death Wheel]

I suppose the real problem with big characters would probably be the overt lack of safe options. Usually their frame-data is absent of any reliable attacks, but then again, it does not really matter if you adequately read your opponent. They are always going to be the characters that require more effort to use well.

this more clearly identifies the problems with heavy characters. and once bowser gets access to his dash slash, game over.

 

[Conda]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

 

[ChronoPenguin]

Charizard > Bowser > everyone else.
Or Bowser >Charizard >everyone else.

 

[Road Death Wheel]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

my money would be on dk mostly since iv seen the strongest results with him. but i really wana say ganon just cuz the make one read win shtick.

 

[Conda]

Charizard > Bowser > everyone else.
Or Bowser >Charizard >everyone else.

I feel like I agree (would maybe put DeDeDe in there), but what's your reasoning?

I think DK is solid but not have a command grab is a big loos and makes him lack a lot of what makes heavies viable. Charizard doesn't either but on-demand armor is a compromise.

 

[Locke 06]

Definitely Charizard, as his weaknesses are covered better than the others.

That said, I know nothing about competitive bowser other than up-B OOS.

 

[Conda]

Definitely Charizard, as his weaknesses are covered better than the others.

That said, I know nothing about competitive bowser other than up-B OOS.

Charizards aerial game is, imo, noticeably weak. Compared to DK at the very least. Barely any decent air-to-ground options and a lot of landing lag, even on nair, hurts him when he wants to return to neutral.

 

[Morbi]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

I am probably biased towards Donkey Kong as I have seen much more game-play where he was able to take sets off of top characters, but if I had to place a bet, it would definitely be on Donkey Kong. In terms of playing Donkey Kong in Smash 4, I feel as though I can set-up certain strings more efficiently and in general he has some helpful options, his d-specials eats shield if I recall correctly. Not only that, but he basically has the best recovery out of the heavy-weights. Donkey Kong is probably my best heavy weight in this game despite me not using him in prior Smash titles. Conversely, I have extensive experience with Ganondorf from prior Smash games, but I doubt he could hold his own against most of the top tier characters. Or at least I cannot.

DeDeDe is a little to reliant on the super predictable (and therefore negligible) Gordo tossing and his recovery is also extremely predictable. This makes him easy to gimp, or you can always follow up until death, similar to Little Mac. But he has other things going for him, I could see why people would vote for him.

 

[Road Death Wheel]

I am probably biased towards Donkey Kong as I have seen much more game-play where he was able to take sets off of top characters, but if I had to place a bet, it would definitely be on Donkey Kong. In terms of playing Donkey Kong in Smash 4, I feel as though I can set-up certain strings more efficiently and in general he has some helpful options, his d-specials eats shield if I recall correctly. Not only that, but he basically has the best recovery out of the heavy-weights. Donkey Kong is probably my best heavy weight in this game despite me not using him in prior Smash titles. Conversely, I have extensive experience with Ganondorf from prior Smash games, but I doubt he could hold his own against most of the top tier characters. Or at least I cannot.

DeDeDe is a little to reliant on the super predictable (and therefore negligible) Gordo tossing and his recovery is also extremely predictable. This makes him easy to gimp, or you can always follow up until death, similar to Little Mac. But he has other things going for him, I could see why people would vote for him.

how are you gimping d3? i have major trouble with this considering all the super armor on his up b and all.

 

[A2ZOMG]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

Okay, here's my biased impressions. Donkey Kong is by far the most viable of those as a strict solo main imo. I don't yet have a reason to think he has any unwinnables atm.

After him I would argue Ganondorf does better as a solo main than the others, but only very slightly simply because some of his matchups are not quite as extremely bad as some of Bowser/DDD/Charizard on default settings. I feel Bowser likely has very serious trouble against characters like Olimar as well as Duck Hunt and Villager, and both the Links if they get used in tournament are matchups he isn't winning. DeDeDe probably suffers the most against characters that can camp him because without Gordo zoning, he's actually very bad at getting past zoning. Charizard has the worst time of the other heavies at dealing with Sonic and Pikachu as his air game is the weakest of these characters overall.

 

[Locke 06]

Charizards aerial game is, imo, noticeably weak. Compared to DK at the very least. Barely any decent air-to-ground options and a lot of landing lag, even on nair, hurts him when he wants to return to neutral.

From my first post (edited but now edited out)
Edit: If an explanation is necessary, great recovery, incredible grab game, anti air. His ranged aerials give him a larger effective range than his aerial speed suggests and his dash speed and options out of dash put him above the rest.

The landing lag and lack of air-ground is notoceable, especially compared to DK's BAir which is lovely. However, the solution to that is the same as the answer in Pokemon red: Flamethrower. A great spacing tool which is safe on block. The other solution is to not take to the air and use your dash speed to close the gap. Jab and grab.

 

[Nidtendofreak]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

DK > Ganondorf > (Charizard + Bowser) > D3

I can't really decide between Charizard and Bowser. One day I think its one way, another day its the other way.

For fun I'm going to make one out of the top 10 heaviest, which brings the list down to ROB.

D3
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Bowser Jr.
Ganondorf
Samus
Ike
Wario
ROB

Wario > Ike > ROB > DK > Ganondorf > (Charizard + Bowser) > D3 > Samus

 

[Chuva]

Definitely Charizard, as his weaknesses are covered better than the others.

That said, I know nothing about competitive bowser other than up-B OOS.

Jab frame traps is where it's at

 

[Road Death Wheel]

DK > Ganondorf > (Charizard + Bowser) > D3

I can't really decide between Charizard and Bowser. One day I think its one way, another day its the other way.

For fun I'm going to make one out of the top 10 heaviest, which brings the list down to ROB.

D3
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Bowser Jr.
Ganondorf
Samus
Ike
Wario
ROB

Wario > Ike > ROB > DK > Ganondorf > (Charizard + Bowser) > D3 > Samus

T,T samus......

 

[thehard]

If you had to bet on one of the heavies/fatties being competitively viable enough for multiple players to solo-main them and be able to deal with the A and S tier characters - which would it be?

DeDeDe
Charizard
Bowser
DK
Ganondorf

Charizard or DeDeDe I'd say. They have less issues with being juggled and recovering due to multiple jumps, Charizard has a fantastic grab and all-around useful specials (I can't stress how amazing Rock Smash is, and Flare Blitz, if you use them SMARTLY), and despite the nerf Gordos still do what they're meant to: hit hard and scare people off-stage

Keep in mind I've also not seen the best results from the other three chars unless your name is Will

 

[Locke 06]

Charizard has the worst time of the other heavies at dealing with Sonic and Pikachu as his air game is the weakest of these characters overall.

Why does his air game necessary to deal with those 2? Especially Pikachu, who really wants you to attack air-ground so he can use his low hurtbox to his advantage?

An extra jump, rock smash, and flame thrower help Charizard a lot from getting juggled and stuff. Which is a common heavy problem.

 

[ChronoPenguin]

I feel like I agree (would maybe put DeDeDe in there), but what's your reasoning?

I think DK is solid but not have a command grab is a big loos and makes him lack a lot of what makes heavies viable. Charizard doesn't either but on-demand armor is a compromise.

DK > DDD is my opinion at the moment. If I was making a full list of what I think
Bowser/Zard > DK > Ganon > DDD.

I don't feel Ganon has particularly strong tools against tops. He has a strong edge-guard. Except Bowser and Zard can Really pressure a ledge snap and force a confrontation out of that. Zard's advantage state is *very* nice. Charizards the fastest of them on the ground, good jab. Charizard has armor on everything but flamethrower, his grab trumps Ganons by a new york mile. semi-Disjointed Wings. D-throw kills at considerable %'s. He's not the best at getting out of neutral, but frankly Im a big fan of him in advantage.