Here's what I've noticed personally:
Generally in any MU you're going to be weighing 2 factors: Pit's Arrows & Dark Pit's Electroshock Arm.
Pit's F-Tilt having stronger KB almost never matters.
- His Full-Hop Arrows not only slow down approaches from the opponent but they also force a reaction. It matters a lot more at high-level play than in For Glory but once you opponent shields, they only have so many options and if they're just a little too close to Pit, you can read their option and counter-attack. His arrows are also good extra damage as follow-ups from throws and can clip recoveries.
- Pit's downside is, while his Upper-Dash Arm KOs light- & middle-weights earlier than Dark Pit's Electroshock Arm, it's only valuable for killing & damage. Sending an opponent Upward isn't as valuable as sending them off-stage.
- Unlike Pit, Dark Pit can use his Electroshock Arm to net solid stage control and set-up for edge-guarding opportunities even at middle-percents. Since the aerial version of Pit's Upperdash Arm doesn't KO, the aerial version of Electroshock Arm is just better in every way because it nets stage control and the aerial versions are much safer on block, albeit weaker on hit so you're going to use it more than the grounded killing-blow anyway.
- Dark Pit's downside is his arrows are gutter trash compared to Pit's. Both Pits grounded arrows have a lot of end lag but their Full-Hop Arrows have so little lag that you can actually input another arrow before the first reaches its max distance...however the 2nd arrow doesn't come out until the 1st does dissipate so, because you can't steer Dark Pit's arrows into the ground to force them to dissipate, his cool-down time between arrows is set unless he hits something...which is unlikely because his full-hop arrows fly above every character's head and he can't steer them down as far as Pit's. It's also much harder to clip recoveries with Dark Pit's arrows, anything below the ledge isn't being hit by Dark Pit's arrows.
Typically which one is more useful to you in a specific Match-Up is the Pit you're going to want to use. However personal preference matters a lot more than you'd think!
If your edge-guarding-game is lacking, then
might not be right for you because Electroshock Arm is primarily used to set-up edge-guards and gain stage control.
However if your aim with arrows isn't spot-on or you just can't keep your opponent out long enough to fire them,
might be the weaker choice for you.
Some examples of MUs you'd want specific Pits in would be, against
&
, both Pits arrows are invalidated by PSI Magnet. However, Ness & Lucas are both fairly weak off-stage so Dark Pit's Electroshock Arm is invaluable for knocking them off-stage and setting up for an edge-guard. In fact many characters with weak recoveries will have a much harder time against Dark Pit than against Pit such as
&
.
Another example of Dark Pit dominance is against
. Pit's Upperdash Arm sends Luma straight up which is pretty useless but Dark Pit's knocks Luma away horizontally which can KO it near the ledge.
However, Pit forces approaches better than Dark Pit because of his Full-Hop Arrows striking from above. Characters that would love to block Dark Pit's arrows with another projectile or reflector are gonna have a harder time camping against Pit. So characters such as
&
are much more heavily forced to approach Pit rather than just out-gunning Dark Pit's grounded arrows.
So to summarize, again this is imo:
- Easier for :
- Easier for :
Outside of those characters, it's all personal preference. You could wall-out DK with Pit's arrows or knock him off-stage with Electroshock Arm and D-Air spike his recovery. You could snipe Diddy Kong's jetpack with Pit's arrow or get Diddy off-stage more often with Dark Pit's Electroshock Arm. Find which one works best for you.