Is Ness tournament viable anymore?

[SyMag]

Seeing how players such as FOW and Shaky have performed at recent tournaments, it feels like Ness just isn't as good as he was last year. He has trouble with all his matchups with the characters higher than him on the tier list.

I've been having an identity crisis for months. I'm heading to a fairly large regional in September, but I've been thinking about dropping Ness, who is easily my best character, in exchange for a character that can actually win sets/tournaments, such as Cloud or Rosalina. He's been my main since the early days of Brawl, so I was excited to see that he came back for Sm4sh and that he was perceived as such a powerful character. But lately I've been seeing less of Ness in tournaments, and those that I do see usually don't get far.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not salty, but what's everyone else's thoughts on Ness's tournament viability? Would I be justified in turning my back on my best character and selling out for a top-tier character?

 

[Envoy of Chaos]

The same thing that's happened to him in each other Smash game has started. He gets perceived as a good character and placed high on tier lists and as the meta develops and people learn how to deal with him he drops and drops.

I wouldn't say he isn't viable, on his own no you gotta have a secondary. Smash 4 is the best he's ever been but unfortunately he shares this game with Rosalina and a bunch of fast disjointed fighters. I don't plan on dropping him as I get into more competitive play as I enjoy using him but to each their own.

 

[DJBor]

Ness has one of the strongest solo kits, but also some awful matchups. Any matchup where Ness does have an advantage is a gigantic advantage... and vice versa. Ness mains need to pick secondaries- and fast, because with the metagame shift, Ness is dropping in tier placement.

 

[Infinite901]

He was never solo-viable. He's really friggin good, and he can make top 8 provided a lucky bracket, but he'll never win a major without a secondary.

 

[Lochy]

I would totally suggest that you pick up a secondary. I personally use Villy as my secondary because he has a better time in the higher tier matchups. I am not suggesting what character to use. But if you are gonna go for a secondary, make sure he/she covers the bad MUs.

 

[Ninj4pikachu]

Pikachu main here, I'm looking for a secondary to pick up to deal with the freaking plumber. Would ness be a good option? And how good would pikachu's MU spread complement ness's?

 

[SyMag]

Pikachu main here, I'm looking for a secondary to pick up to deal with the freaking plumber. Would ness be a good option? And how good would pikachu's MU spread complement ness's?

I think the MU between Ness and Mario is roughly even, if not slightly in Mario's favor, so I'd be cautious in doing that unless you're absolutely confident in your Ness's ability to get the W.
In my opinion, and I'm sure every other Ness player here agrees, he has a (varying) hard time against pretty much everyone above him in the tiers, especially against Rosalina and Villager. I might be biased in saying this as he's my secondary, but have you considered Cloud? As far as MUs go, he hardly has any losing MUs, with Sheik being an exception. Maybe try that if Ness fails to suit what you're looking for?