For a really long time I wanted to do a thesis on Marth's transition between games, which prior to now would've been a huge diatribe of how much he got ****ed over.
Now if I were to start it it would actually be talking about the things he lost, and all the things he gained.
- Triple Jump Glitch gone = HUGE BUFF that didn't mean too much to us before because our character sucked. To new gens, I can't even begin to describe how ****ty this thing was for us. It made Marth feel like a low tier character in certain situations, there was a point in 09 where I almost wanted to drop Marth because of this. The use of dolphin slash was so risky because this existed too (get jabbed on the way down = free smash attack).
NOW WE CAN USE DOLPHIN SLASH AGGRESSIVELY!!!!!!
- Weight increase = good buff but it didn't mean much because we SUCKED. That extra edge on weight does make notable differences. Considering the kill power available on this character, it's crazy how characters have to fear FIVE FRAME moves from 60% onwards when they're likely looking for mid 100s to kill him. But yeah, with greater weight, we get more use out of rage than we would've with our previous build.
- Up Throw killing (it's the same strength as Brawl, but based rage) = HUGE HUGE buff that was his
crutch the ENTIRETY of smash 4 thus far. Rage + Up Throw was literally his only saving grace prior to buff sprees, without it I am 200% sure he was the worst character in the game on WiiU release.
- Aerial reach/disjoints buffed = GREAT buff. As number tech savvy as I am with things, and how much **** I have to deal with "Marth's range sucks now", when it comes down to it, nair and fair reach a lot further than they did in Brawl. Neutral Air was the most nerfed move from the Brawl transition and can now be used to land, set up for combos and defensively walling
again. Neutral air's range is ludicrous; more damage would be helpful but it's now feeling a lot closer to weighing up nicely. Neutral Air was an exceptionally broken move in Brawl, now it's a good move.
- DB1 combos in the air properly; pretty big buff and now we have so much more pressure at close range and from the air I think it's about time we start to abuse this mix up.
- Shieldbreaker range buffed and no longer retaining the lung forward in cooldown was a great buff in making this move a usable part of our arsenal. Like, I don't know if you know, but for a single frame Marth lunges extra forward on hitbox release, almost a full swords length extra. Tipper uncharged also kills. This is now a trump card move on a solid character. Holy ****.
- Marth had a lot of issues being safe on hit at low percent. Forward Air still suffers this unfortunately but now with jab and up tilt retuned he now has a lot more to play with to not be pigeon holed into only grab or dancing blade at low percent. Safe from the getgo is a huge sigh of relief.
- Our jab, historically one of the worst in the series!!!!!!! Now? I'm actually particularly worried it'll get nerfed/taken back next patch. I don't know what they were thinking. It isn't super real, but it's so so so strong. We now have a significantly better version of Palutena's jab (which is 7 frames, long range, disjointed, combos/leads into things). People do not want to get hit by this thing and buffer something because they'll die. As we lost forward throw as a close range set up from Brawl, Jab now has taken us back to having that solid always "super likely reward". It linking into jab2 reliably is very very good too, it isn't always about jab1 into crap; taking 10% and knocking them towards the ground/likely towards the ledge, it snowballs positional dominance very well. Jab1 into Jab1 is a silly trap too.
- Counter being stronger; one of the consistent usages from Brawl was using it against recoveries. Beyond it's risk factor (for both yourself and your opponent) in normal situations, when you look at off stage we've got something that kills various heavies at around 100% that they mostly cannot avoid.
are all characters who we kill for free trying to recovery. No fun for them allowed really.
- Tipper forward smash being monstrous kill power. Tipper kill power on a lot of things seems better too (Dancing Blade, Up Smash, maybe ftilt?)
- Our pummel is fast and does 3%. It was fast/good damage in Brawl too, but I think this was lower then. Our throw damage is pretty low but we should almost always be able to get a single pummel, two pummels and we're looking at damage output better than most characters getting a throw. People who don't mash out can take like 20% just from pummels. Annoy/cheese people with this, mashing out gives bad DI which is great for down throw and forward throw.
WOOT.
Now notable nerfs:
- Our auto cancels/landing lag got ****ed
- Our damage output was pulled back on most moves.
- Fair and dancing blade extra start up and end lag. Down tilt more end lag (still)
- Less horizontal range and invincibility on dolphin slash
- Nerfed aerial mobility (swapped with Ike)
- Throw game culled (but we have JAB NOW)
- Forward Smash range nerfed
- Down smash is useless
All these together could arguably stack up evenly to the buffs he's received. Maybe even be more potent in some areas.
Vipermoon If jab/DB wasn't a safe move and if he didn't have a great off-stage game with a solid n-air and b-air, I would agree. Fortunately, he has all the tools he needs to survive in the neutral, have good kill-options, and can very well pull an advantage without the need of "jank."
