ThatLaggyAustralian, Protom, Sevenator, Skailler, AEMehr, GS3K, Djmarkus44, and Clash Tournament's own Chibo all came together to share their knowledge and expertise on the character. Load up as we see if Mii Gunner can blast through the tier lists in Smash 4.
Disadvantages
So where do the issues for Mii Gunner begin? ThatLaggyAustralian believed a strong part of the issues were her available movepool. Skailler also mentioned how issues could be brought up by the movesets available: "For Mii Gunner, I believe her weaknesses come from her inconsistent kill options and recovery (when it comes to 1111 at least)."
A lack of kill options was brought up by other experts as well. "Mii Gunner's moves all have their use in their own way, but only few of them are suited for killing an opponent," Sevenator told us. "Her smash attacks are all decently strong but unfortunately all of them are multihit moves. This makes it very easy for the opponent to eventually just fall out of the smash attack while it is still active."
Protom explained more on why the lack of kill options doesn't stem from a lack of killing moves themselves: "Gunner does in fact have many seemingly great kill moves in that of her smash attacks, up and down tilt, uair, bair, specials, etc. The issue is most of these require Gunner to get up close and personal with the opponent, and pull off some read of sorts to land. Because of this issue of finding ways to kill on stage, Gunner wants to instead usually get her opponent off stage, or at the ledge, where Gunner thrives."
This leads into another problem for Mii Gunner, a weak game once the opponent breaks into her zone. "Gunner can not deal with pressure very well, and really thrives off of having space to control the opponent’s movement while limiting their options," Chibo told us. "Once a character starts to penetrate that wall often enough, Gunner’s gameplay suffers." Chibo went on to explain how this can compile with characters that have good options against projectiles to cause issues: "Characters that also deal with projectiles very well (through reflect and Rosalina’s Down B) cause a HUGE issue for Gunner."
Despite her disadvantages, Mii Gunner does have many strengths. "Mii Gunner's greatest strength is her top tier neutral," Djmarkus44 told us. "Gunner's F-air is a long ranged and safe poking projectile (it is safe on perfect shielding, and it only has 12 frames of landing lag) that also gives Gunner great burst mobility and decent mobility overall in the form of Gundashing." Skailler agreed that her neutral was powerful, adding: "Grenades and Bombs on their own are already useful to cover the floor/platforms with, and in unison they fit each other perfectly. Missiles are also very potent walling tools and also allow to switch to the offense effectively, and that's obviously a good thing. Gunners neutral game is plain out awesome"
Protom gave us in-depth knowledge on how Mii Gunner has incredible edgeguarding potential: "Gunner thrives most when the opponent is offstage. Fair is a quick poke and “get back off-stage” vs characters who are trying to recover onstage horizontally. Most of her tilts and smashes can hit and kill characters hanging on with no ledge invulnerability. Dropping down off stage with an up air intercepts most horizontal and diagonal recoveries as well. Grenades, bombs and missiles all do a great job of covering recoveries and the ledge itself. Lastly, the up special 2 spike hitbox is Godlike, and completely obliterates all non sweet spotted recoveries."
Relevant Matchups
The experts all agreed that among the worst matchups for the character came from Fox, Mario, and Rosalina, with Sheik being unsurprisingly difficult as well. "Gunner struggles terribly against Rosalina, and it’s a pretty simple pick up and counter matchup that gives them a lot of trouble," Chibo told us. GS3K agreed, adding: "[Rosalina] is an uphill battle because you can't rely on projectiles too much against her."
The issues are similar with Fox and Mario as well, as Protom explained: "The two are both characters with plenty of speed, mobility and ways to get around Gunner's projectiles, and have up close games that easily beat out Gunner when it comes to close quarter footsies. Both also get a lot off a grab, something Gunner can’t do much about besides try to air dodge, due to lacking a quick aerial (outside of frame 3 shine). This goes for any character with a good combo grab. Lastly, to boot, both have a reflector, which is an annoyance to deal with for any projectile user."
For positive top tier matchups, Mii Gunner has moments where she can really shine. "Approaching Gunner without a reflector or projectile is no cake walk," Protom explained. "Gunner's best MU’s amongst high tiers are Luigi, Captain Falcon, and to some extent Sonic. All 3 rely on finding their way into approaching their opponents. Both Luigi and Falcon are also easy gimping targets for Gunner’s arsenal."
AEMehr summed it up nicely: "Basically, you're always ranged from your opponent. So unless your opponent can out spam you (Sheik's needles) or reflect your projectiles back at you (Mario's Cape) you should be good if you keep your distance."
Is Mii Gunner Viable?
Several of the experts expressed that Mii Gunner's biggest strength came from being a powerful counterpick character. "I doubt the character can keep up as a solo main, but not many characters can," Chibo said. "Gunner can be a great secondary along with other characters as a play style and character counterpick." Sevenator agreed, adding: "Mii Gunner is probably the best when you have another character you can play at the same level. His playstyle is very different from other characters, which can turn him into a threat to your opponent, if he is not used to it."
Some were more optomistic. "Gunner has shown some promise at the national level, with Wii Twerk Trainer getting 25th at EVO using Gunner as a secondary, and ROM tying for 9th in Wombo Wednesday at Smash@SCU (it was a 129 man tournament, but it had top level players such as Komorikiri, Ranai, 9B, and Ally)," Djmarkus44 explained. "ROM has also placed in the top 32 in some of Japan's biggest tournaments."
Another large thing to consider in their viability is access to their entire moveset. "Their viability also depends vastly on whether or not Miis may use their Mii Specials," Skailler said. "With their 1111 movesets however, they lose some of their best options and a lot of their viability." GS3K also mentioned how their size could be a factor: "On the conditions of having any size/moveset combination, I think Gunner is viable at the national level. Gunner's viability takes a hit if stuck in guest size, since MUs against the top tiers become more uphill."
A special thank you to all the Mii Gunner experts for sharing their expertise for this article. To learn more about Mii Gunner, be sure to visit the Mii Gunner forums right here on Smashboards. Learn something exciting about Mii Gunner? Tell us in the comments below and stay tuned for the rest of #MiiWiik here on Smashboards!
