I know some people in the thread already said this, but I am impressed with the power-level of the fighters from Fighter's Pass 2 in comparison to Fighter's Pass 1.
For Fighter's Pass 1 (I will also include PPlant in this list), we only really had two characters from there make a huge, significant impact in tournaments.
We all know prevalent and powerful
is, the best DLC character so far (and arguably the best character in the game), as well as the first character from the Fighter's Pass.
is also pretty dang good, but most people think of him as simply being "another high tier".
The rest of the characters range from merely average at best (i.e.
) to outright lackluster (i.e.
).
Out of the remaining four,
arguably has made the most impact in competitive play, mainly thanks to MkLeo giving the character very potent results during the online meta. However, it is only really MkLeo that is currently pushing this character (as of right now), and he is very likely going to put him in the backburner when offline returns.
has gotten a few niche placements as a counterpick (mainly thanks to Salem), but the character hasn't really done much at all in tournaments, especially in higher levels of play. Outside of the few notable placements from Akakikusu in Japanese regionals, the character's solo results have been nearly nonexistent, and his appearances as a mere secondary have been increasingly sparse.
has gotten some attention when he came out, but the character has gotten more and more rare these days. Raito himself would eventually drop the character, with the statement that the character needs buffs before he would pick them up again. The players that continue to main him hasn't really done much at all outside of the regional level, and even that is sparse outside of Japan.
And there is
. Considered bottom tier since the game came out, but has gotten some notable buffs since then, the only DLC character to have received multiple buffs over time. Still, the character remains very lackluster, and outside of August 2019 where the character's results briefly exploded, the character's results is one of the most bleak and stagnate in the game. It is faring better in the online meta, but that is it really it.
Now for Fighter's Pass 2, we have so far
.
We all know the strength of
so far, giving out strong results in Japan, while giving out some pretty good results in the USA online meta with the promise that the character would be even better offline. Widely considered high tier at worst, with many considering her top tier. Already we are off to a good start in comparison to Fighter's Pass 1.
is where things slow down a bit. After all the initial release hype, the character feels merely average, with rather polarizing strengths (fast frame data, very damaging combos, powerful ledgetrapping) and weaknesses (near abysmal mobility, poor range, awkward/lacking neutral game). Similar to MkLeo's Byleth, Salem is the only one really pushing the character right now, and the character as a whole hasn't really picked up much attention. Japan, aka the region known for pushing weird/campy characters to their limits, hasn't really picked up on the character.
is where things pick up again. Tweek and Zackray, two of the best players in the world, has picked up this character. Tweek intends to outright main this character alongside Diddy. So far, perception on the character has been very positive. Players mainly places him in upper high tier with the promise that the character has top tier potential when offline returns.
Edit: There is also the post above showing off a few other players thinking about picking him up. Zenyou also is interested in the character. Overall, nice outlook so far for the character.
Then there is our most recent character,
. I don't think any other DLC character has received more immediate, everlasting praise as this character.
So far, some DLC characters have been hyped up only to slowly but surely fall down (Hero & Banjo), or gets underplayed before rising to the elites (Joker & Min Min).
The Aegis girls have so far been considered strong at release, and is still viewed as strong even 2 weeks after the character gets released. MkLeo, Cosmos, Mew2King, Kome, and more are all interested in picking up this character for serious competitive play.
You can see the difference.
In Fighter's Pass 1, you have one top tier
, one solid high tier
, and the rest being average-at-best to lackluster
.
In Fighter's Pass 2, you have three characters that are widely considered to be upper-high tier at worst and very potentially top tier
.
.... oh and Steve, who is merely average imo.
And Fighter's Pass 2 isn't even finished yet.
This is quite an interesting trend to see here.
In the past, I have noticed the notably lower power level of Fighter's Pass 1 characters, especially in comparison to SSB4's DLC. Some of the characters feel like they were given extreme weaknesses purely in order to avoid another SSB4 DLC armageddon, probably fueled further by how strong Joker (one of the earliest DLC characters) was and is.
In Fighter's Pass 2, we are given far more powerful characters so far. While the design philosophy of giving the characters polarizing weaknesses to counterbalance the strengths can be see here, they don't feel as extreme (except with Steve) and the strengths prevail notably hard. Of course, we are not getting SSB4 Bayo/Cloud levels of strength, but we are getting more consistently strong characters.
It would be interesting if this pattern continues as Fighter's Pass 2 is down to only 2 characters left.
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