Yeah. As grateful as I was too see Kirby's run speed boosted, I am shocked that they didn't touch his air speed. The only reason I never listed it as a buff was because I though trait adjustments were unrealistic. Now that they are, they have no excuse to leave Kirby's air speed as it is. If they could make Mewtwo as fast as Meta Knight, there's no reason they couldn't increase Kirby's air speed to .85-.90.
And on that note, I still feel there a few things Kirby should have and should get before patching is finished:
1. Final Cutter needs to hit on a frame that can't be reacted too. There are too many foes that can spam aerials in Kirby's face like
and
due to his poor air options. More than anything else, Final Cutter's startup and endlag need to be significantly reduced to give Kirby an option to establish space in neutral. It should come out Frame 15 at the least. A projectile range buff would also be appreciated as it would make matchups like
less obnoxious and I still can't think of a good reason why got nerfed from Brawl.
2. Kirby needs to have his aerials speed buffed. To be precise:
- D-Air needs to have the startup cut. Yes, I understand it's a high reward move, but on such a small character that's slow in the air, 18 is just too much. 12 to 14 startup is so much more appropriate.
- F-Air needs to have start up cut too. At least to Frame 6. It'd make aerial trades much easier.
- N-Air needs to have start up reduced too. A light character who doesn't want to be getting combo'd really should have a Frame 3 N-Air, but I think Frame 6 would be good enough. It's combo better and the end lag wouldn't be as a big of an issue. Speeaking of endlag
- Up Air needs to have end lag reduced for better combos.
- B-Air needs to have its landing lag cut back to Brawl. It was only overused because the other aerials were subpar compared to it. Adjust the other aerials like this and it'd be balanced alongside them.
3. Decrease the startup on Up Smash. It's just too slow given Kirby's size. I mean if a speed demon like
can get an a deadly Frame 8 Up Smash, I don't see why Kirby's must hit on Frame 14.
4. Down B needs to become a proper juggle breaking tool. Either give it invincibility frames on startup or cut it.
5. Buff the air speed at least back to its former .85. .8 is way too low for a small character who needs is aerials so much.
This may seem excessive to some but this is what I feel would allow Kirby to effeciently handle the great majority of the cast and would vastly improve his matchup spread. If I had to choose just one buff though, it'd definitely be Final Cutter, simply because fixing it would actually give Kirby a neutral. Especially now that Kirby can beat shields, giving him a decent option to control space in neutral would be the best thing they could do for him if you ask me. It comes out quickly in the games so it should come out quickly here too.
PS: Happy New Year guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. My family was away on a week long cruise and the Wi-Fi was overpriced. lol
