is a character that has definitely fallen from grace since its initial perception. Powercreep from other low tiers getting buffed, while its metagame stagnating lately hasn't helped out either. The disjoints the character brings to the table is rather lackluster, with mediocre frame data and poor range for a sword. His mobility, while definitely not the worst thing ever, is not that great, only adding to its range issues.
To give some praise, the character's overall ability to wall out the opponent is pretty good, somewhat similar to Gunner. However, KO'ing with the character can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, as a lot of its KO options either very specific conditions to happen and the finishers itself is slow. There is of course the infamous Gale's Strike to Hero's Spin combo, but it is predictable (Gale Strike isn't that fast of a projectile), percent window is specific, and the opponent sometimes simply falls out of Hero's Spin for no reason.
The Mii is currently the lowest ranked Mii on OrionStats (and the third lowest ranked character in the stats as a whole), which kind of paints the picture on how much the character has stagnated, but it still has its stuff.
is a character that has indeed benefited from 6.0 considerably, unlike its pink puff-ball counterpart. The character has some solid traits all-around, held back some notable range issues, poor air mobility, and overall struggling to deal with projectiles. Already noticeably better than SSB4 Kirby, the character still has some ways to go to reach the solid mid-tier heights of his Brawl incarnation. Wanted to rank him slightly higher, but with his results slightly stagnating lately, I decided against it.
needs no introduction in terms of character strengths and weaknesses. For the most part, it is basically Ganondorf, but better. Has the usual super-heavyweight traits of being powerful, but it has a solid combo game and frame data to boot. The main issue with the character, as we all know, is its abysmal mobility. The character's recovery not being very good doesn't help either.
I ranked Incineroar higher than most other people in this thread, not just because I value it's character strengths a bit more than other players, but the character has a surprisingly high amount of results according to OrionStats lately. Magister seems to be back on the grind. The character is still overall very flawed, but underestimate it on your own peril.
is probably the best of the Miis in the current metagame. Solid overall combo game, great mobility, and some powerful (albeit gimmicky) utility on its special moves. The advantage state of this character, with the right setup, can reach Dr. Mario levels of powerful, while being much faster than that aforementioned character, the main reason why I think Brawler is better than Doc.
Despite these nice traits, the character still suffers from having one of the worst overall ranges in the game, having little safety on opponent's shields, rather high landing lag on a character of his archetype, and some inconsistent time KO'ing. As a result, it is another character that has to commit a lot to leave a dent on the opponent.
Brawler has recently got a notable increase in rankings on OrionStats, although its presence in competitive play is still rather minimal, like the other two Miis.
alongside the Belmonts and Mii Swordfighter, Dedede has been a solid mid tier character at one point. However, the combination of the three character's metagames stagnating and lower tiered characters getting buffed, puts them in the low tiers.
Dedede still has quite a bit of his advantages: Gordo set-ups with an infinite-use reflector as backup, a long disjointed Hammer with coverage, a long-distanced recovery, and powerful ledgetrapping capabilities. However, with his sluggish mobility, frame data, and a projectile that can't really be used for camping, Dedede has his issues. This is reflected in his results, as Dedede while definitely nowhere near bottom tier level of results, has definitely seen better days. He has his good stuff, but the flaws are currently done him more harm lately.
has definitely fallen from grace, especially in comparison to how warmly received he was near the game's release. He possesses long range, ways to mix-up his movement, an array of projectiles, and an entire list of combo/KO setups with these said projectiles. However, his lackluster frame data, skinny hitboxes, meh mobility, and poor recovery has definitely done this character a dirty hand lately. He has achieved some pretty solid results in the past, and while his current results isn't all too bad, he is definitely a shell of his former self when it comes to his standing in the metagame.
is probably the weirdest case in my list. On one hand, the character has access to devastating 0-death setups and has some walling abilities with de-syncs. So close to being devastating character, but is held back by numerous inconsistencies and inherent issues that high technical skill cannot address. The range on their moves often range from being below-average to outright laughably small. Separating and KO'ing the partner Climber is made rather easy in this game thanks to the increased damage multiplier on Nana, more moves that can separate them, and Nana's AI being absolutely stupid, the latter of which can make the character unwieldy to use. Then there is also their recovery failing for no apparent reason sometimes.
The only player as of right now that is doing remotely well with the character is Big D, but I think a lot of it is Big D being an amazing player, as well as some aspect of matchup inexperience (side B spam anyone?). Even then Big D's results with the character at bigger events can be inconsistent.
has been the character who has been splashing all over the competitive scene time and time again. The character some solid overall traits that the character has to respect: Clown Car Dash, up air juggles, ledgetrapping, jab at the ledge, the list goes on. The character is, however, still burdened with his usual problems: predictable approach, sluggish/short reached finishers, and gimpable recovery. We do have his mains, especially from Young Eevey put in the work with character. While the character still have his problems, he can be frightful threat in the right hands.
is another example of people overreacting to a character's initial impressions. The character has quite a bit of powerful spells in his disposal, as well as some good KO power at his fingertips. However, this comes at the cost of being incredibly slow. While his grounded mobility is ok, his aerial mobility is awful, while the frame data on his normals is among the worst in the game. Two big examples is his forward and back air taking a hundred years to come out. Shulk's frame data on his normals is not that good either, but he at least has range and faster mobility overall (especially with Speed Art active).
As for the spells, they are too random and situation specific from being a truly powerful threat. The over-inflation of Hero players at the beginning of his release, made people realize how to deal with his spells most effectively. Magic Burst, considered one of his best spells at the beginning of his release, is now considered to be one of his most situational and exploitable ones. To his credit, Bounce is a very effective spell to deal with zoners, which creates his niche counterpicking potential. However, what this sums up to is a character with a high technical learning curve, but your reward is a mere counterpick character that still feels like an uphill battle at times.
In terms of results, you have a few Hero players pop-up from time to time in low level play, but Salem is the only one doing stuff with the character (and he uses a bunch of other characters as well). Definitely the weakest of the Fighter's Pass 1 characters for me.
is another contentious character due to his oddity in the metagame. The very existence of the Pits often puts in question what characters need truly stand out. As for the character, the Pits possess good frame data, decent grounded mobility, a decent combo game, and a long-distanced varied recovery. The main thing that stands out for the character is that the character's ability to edgeguard is great overall.
Then there is the fact that the character is hurt quite a bit from inconsistent multi-hits, short hitboxes (especially on nair and fair), and some difficulty KO'ing. His damage output, while respectable if you know to combo with the character properly, is not very outstanding either. The final blow to the character is that there isn't anything really interesting about the character that will invite some players (especially when the metagame contains of lot of users of unga-bunga rushdown characters like Roy).
Pits reps and results, ever since the beginning, has been sparse. However, the lack of Earth is what really hurts the character, as he provided easily the best results for the character in both Brawl and SSB4, results that made him a top 25 player in SSB4 at one point. Imagine a universe where ESAM doesn't exist, and imagine what people would think of Pikachu then...
, alongside Mewtwo, one of the "crazy advantage, but bad disadvantage" characters that are so close to being a top threat. The damage, the combos, the reach, the armor... DK has a lot of stuff going for him in terms of advantage state, possessing one of the best back airs that can KO, space, and combo into itself at low percents. DK is also a character with a lot of KO options at his disposal: throw setups, down B setups, grounded up B, the list goes on.
But then you put the character above you, then that is where the character begins to falter. With the changes to airdodges, he becomes even easier to combo and juggle than he already is, while his recovery remains very exploitable as always. These are weaknesses not alien to DK throughout the Smash series, but at least in comparison to SSB4, these weaknesses are intensified to hurt DK in the long run.
Now I am personally surprised on how DK is ranked so high in OrionStats, but his standing in major events has been low since the beginning. He definitely has some sauce, his easily susceptibility to sauce himself weighs him down in the meantime.
has been a discussion point lately. He possesses, low-key, top 10 advantage state in the entire game, with long reaching normals, high mobility, one of the best projectiles in the game, and the power to put you in disadvantage for a long time. His combo and KO capabilities is also very powerful as well. But then you put Mewtwo in disadvantage, and then he struggles. Easily the biggest loser of the airdodge changes, his get-out-of-disadvantage free card from SSB4 is gone, and now he is feeling the full effects of what being tall and light does for a character (even if he heavier in this game than in SSB4).
The combination of feeling bad in disadvantage, as well as being a highly technical character (and old mains of former Mewtwo players getting buffed in Ultimate), all contributes to his low representation. Where he is in the metagame is very volatile depending on who you ask, and while he does have a lot of stuff going for him, he is too inconsistent to quite reach the mid tier point for me, but he does stand at the very top of my low tier.
and
were both close to being at the top of my low tier, but I decided not too in the end. Their overall character traits are overall too solid to be put in low tier.
Meta Knight's results are more niche, but continues to this day. Lucario's results come from Tsu putting in the work with the character, and has achieved great wins and some results with him, but he lately has been focusing on Terry.
