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Tier List Speculation

PsionicSabreur

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QAC jump is a midair jump, so JC ground moves won't work.

I think wavedash cancelling is more akin to a waveland, since no jump input is required (I believe it's because Pika stops slightly above the ground if he QAs into it).
 

Blade-Fox

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Someone mentioned earlier about characters that force you to do/deal with something without severely outplaying your opponent.

Strange how Wario escaped that list of characters. Strange how GnW is listed as one of those characters.

Wario is still a pretty good character, guys. Probably Top-12. Discuss.
I feel like Wario is definitely top 12.

Good aerial mobility, pretty decent recovery, good combos, plenty of kill moves. Nice neutral game too. Shoulder lean (Side-B) is still good. I feel like he struggles with range though.
 

Oro?!

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I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on her. I just picked her up so trying to get any kinda info on her I can besides the boards and videos.
I'm sure some people do.
Okay fine, maybe I will do a little write up. Is there anything you want me to cover, or just a general spiel about what I feel about her relative goodness to the cast?
 

Blade-Fox

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Okay fine, maybe I will do a little write up. Is there anything you want me to cover, or just a general spiel about what I feel about her relative goodness to the cast?
General stuff is fine. Going through what the problems are and why they're problems and comparisons to the rest of the cast are good. Like I said, I just picked her up so I don't know her intricacies to know what question to ask about her beyond her general stuff.
 

Thane of Blue Flames

Fire is catching.
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Yeah, what Blade-Fox said. Anything would be helpful at the moment, since I struggle with her quite a bit atm.

Though I suppose picking her up when I was looking for an anti-Falco character wasn't too bright, lol.
 

SleepyTRex

Smash Cadet
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Okay fine, maybe I will do a little write up. Is there anything you want me to cover, or just a general spiel about what I feel about her relative goodness to the cast?
pls cover her maximum punishments
 

Empyrean

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Okay fine, maybe I will do a little write up. Is there anything you want me to cover, or just a general spiel about what I feel about her relative goodness to the cast?
If you have the time of course. No need to make a very long text, a general idea of her matchups, her shortcomings and her punish game would be appreciated.
 

SixSaw

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I feel like Wario is definitely top 12.

Good aerial mobility, pretty decent recovery, good combos, plenty of kill moves. Nice neutral game too. Shoulder lean (Side-B) is still good. I feel like he struggles with range though.
Range is definitely his biggest weakness, yeah, and unlike Jiggs he lacks an aerial with significant disjoint. Getting in on swords and projectile spam is probably Wario's biggest challenge. Thankfully he's more than capable of playing a strong defense and biding his time for a good opening. His recovery is also one of his weaker areas, although his weight and air mobility let him live for quite a while, his recovery from below the stage is limited and he's pretty vulnerable to being gimped. Overall though he's definitely a very strong character. Most importantly, I feel like he does pretty well against the top tiers, maybe even has the advantage over Shiek.
 

Soft Serve

softie
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ZSS/Roy is so hard for roy on even medium sized stages. She just out ranges him, is faster, has a great projectile, and she hitconfirms off of said projectile.
 
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RIDLEY is too SMALL

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Phoenix, AZ
I don't think you people want me to start ranting about ZSS lol.
I recently decided to try making ZSS my new main because I feel like a **** for playing a bunch of Melee top-tiers and no one else on that high of a level. I'd definitely be interested in what a top ZSS player thinks about the character.
 

Jolteon

I'm sharpening my knife, kupo.
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Okay fine, maybe I will do a little write up. Is there anything you want me to cover, or just a general spiel about what I feel about her relative goodness to the cast?
y samus have whip?
 

Paradoxium

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This is a question I've been meaning to ask, but if QAC involves jump-cancelling a grounded Quick Attack, how viable is it to Quick Attack -> JC USmash? Is it possible or can you only QAC into aerials? Shouldn't this work if you can wavedash out of QAC?

And if it does work, then wouldn't it be akin to Fox being able to USmash out of Illusion?
You don't have to cancel it with a jump, you can cancel it with any air move.
 

Nausicaa

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Someone mentioned earlier about characters that force you to do/deal with something without severely outplaying your opponent.

Strange how Wario escaped that list of characters. Strange how GnW is listed as one of those characters.

Wario is still a pretty good character, guys. Probably Top-12. Discuss.
I think you got that backwards. At least, it was my Tier List that had those as categories, and the reference to Ike in relation to C Tier (which was described as being due to this factor) and the comments that followed.
You got it right, Wario is the jerk, so you either red the listings or comments backwards, or I'm reading yours backwards.

Rizner, just JC your Dash Grabs since their range is massive. The Side-B-look-alike is actually a beneficial trait, given there's no reason to give him a Dash Grab that functions normally since his JC Grab is nearly as good as it can get.
I specifically play Wario in the first batch of characters I work with BECAUSE of the nuances in him that are both detrimental to mess up at a fundamental level, and enable bizarre dynamics in play to be observable for long-term development possibilities.
It's a good thing, leave it alone.
To the other guy. Falco IS FINE IN DOUBLES.
Leave him alone too.

What do people think about ZSS? The only well-known players using her are Oro and Leffen, and Mizuki is in the process of picking her up. Does she have the tools she need? It seems that optimizing her gameplay might be more difficult than your average character, so it's hard for me to tell if there is something missing in her kit or if her metagame just hasn't caught up to other newcomers yet.
I remember seeing a video of Vidjo or something playing ZSS (I can't remember, but I'll check in a bit and edit if it's different, they were vs SW in a set) and as far as I'm concerned, it was the closest thing to the direction of play I've suggested people start taking the character, and it was the only example I've seen of others doing it.

Most people will always naturally fall into the N-Air and Blaster trains (or whatever functions as fundamentals that can be sustained/don't really deteriorate in effectiveness alone), and it's been the case with everyone from related samples like Wolf, to even Char in 2.1, to ZSS and Roy upon their releases, and essentially anyone who 'can' do this type of conditional play to even mild effectiveness. It's not bad, and it's reasonable, but this being the natural base that a meta-game gravitates FROM for the initiation of a character into a meta-game development... isn't always beneficial in terms of accelerating that development.
She's where she belongs on the list I made, again. ;)

Fox isn't a tough match-up for her compared to others. The process-stock-elimination and catching him out of neutral with the risk to reward on small trades and chances she can make to break his game, aren't few and aren't far between. Just having a solid mobility game with Pivot D-Smashes, quick Jabs and Tilts, and an Up-B, basically insure she's a good fit to go against him.
I don't think you people want me to start ranting about ZSS lol.
I'd like to know how things are going too, it's been a while since I checked anything outside my own play (since the last event I commented on happened/watching that vid)
Range is definitely his biggest weakness, yeah, and unlike Jiggs he lacks an aerial with significant disjoint. Getting in on swords and projectile spam is probably Wario's biggest challenge. Thankfully he's more than capable of playing a strong defense and biding his time for a good opening. His recovery is also one of his weaker areas, although his weight and air mobility let him live for quite a while, his recovery from below the stage is limited and he's pretty vulnerable to being gimped. Overall though he's definitely a very strong character. Most importantly, I feel like he does pretty well against the top tiers, maybe even has the advantage over Shiek.
Range isn't a big deal when he has a Grab and D-Tilt to match the best, and speed to maneuver around them in a way that allows a constant presence to initiate anything from aerial pressure to simply Bites and chasing opponents if they ever get poked, whether the poke connects or is avoided in a process of losing some positioning. The character is solid, and swords won't hurt him more than it does most others. Even the hard-hit-boxes that he can CC or catch people through with anything from Dash Attacks to fading F-Airs for any mild rewards or safety.
This is a question I've been meaning to ask, but if QAC involves jump-cancelling a grounded Quick Attack, how viable is it to Quick Attack -> JC USmash? Is it possible or can you only QAC into aerials? Shouldn't this work if you can wavedash out of QAC?

And if it does work, then wouldn't it be akin to Fox being able to USmash out of Illusion?
You can just QA > F-Air to shield poke with almost complete certainty, which leads to anything from Grabs to U-Smash. There's a buffer, so it's actually really difficult to mess it up, and you can WL out into Grabs/Tilts if there's distance, or any other aerial can lead to U-Smash or Grabs at most % anyway, or just more aerials. You don't have to jump before the QA either, so really, just DD and QA if any action is performed by an opponent within a SHFFL N-Air range from you. Eventually the matches just turn into stalemates though, since you're better off not doing actions if you're facing Pika, and don't really have to do anything if you're Pika. :/



Yeah, what Blade-Fox said. Anything would be helpful at the moment, since I struggle with her quite a bit atm.

Though I suppose picking her up when I was looking for an anti-Falco character wasn't too bright, lol.
This is the ZSS vid I was referring to. It's more in-line with what I see as the developing meta-game for her, though this is more what I described Day 1 of her release, things are a little different now. Same general direction though...
 
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Cassio

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This is a question I've been meaning to ask, but if QAC involves jump-cancelling a grounded Quick Attack, how viable is it to Quick Attack -> JC USmash? Is it possible or can you only QAC into aerials? Shouldn't this work if you can wavedash out of QAC?

And if it does work, then wouldn't it be akin to Fox being able to USmash out of Illusion?
Im not sure what hitstun of QA is like in PM, but here is how you would do this if it did work.

QA though the opponent (I think QA1 has more hitstun) > bair autocancel > turn around usmash. I doubt this is guaranteed on the ground, but this might be good if you QA someone while theyre jumping.
With Pikachu I canceled a quick attack with a nair, I also up-smashed into thunder into reverse thunder. The more I play him the harder it is for me to except that pika is a bad character.
Most good opponents wont allow you to just QA right next to them.

Does anyone know if electric attacks still have more hitlag/shieldlag for the person being hit over the one attacking?
 
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Paradoxium

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Most good opponents wont allow you to just QA right next to them.
I think the main advantage of QaC is that it is highly unpredictable. You can QaC right next to a good person, in fact, you could quick attack into them. When you first activate the move your opponent does not know which direction you will go in, you could also mix it up with QaC 1 and 2. Over Dolphin Netplay, sometimes i just start going crazy with QaC and my opponents start throwing out desperation tilts and air moves
 

Cassio

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QAC functions almost entirely as it did in Brawl. I say with confidence no one explored the move and its utility more than I did. I've explored its uses in tournament environment, and reacting to it is not as hard as you think when the opponent knows how to fight pikachu.
 

Nausicaa

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I think the main advantage of QaC is that it is highly unpredictable. You can QaC right next to a good person, in fact, you could quick attack into them. When you first activate the move your opponent does not know which direction you will go in, you could also mix it up with QaC 1 and 2. Over Dolphin Netplay, sometimes i just start going crazy with QaC and my opponents start throwing out desperation tilts and air moves
Just wait until there's a good Pika vs Mewtwo set on the web. Sometimes it feels like precision for offense just falls to the side of impossible, and I simply resort to empty Hovers with my back to him, hoping my U-Air and B-Air can scare him enough into thinking some impossible-to-set-up bait and counter maneuver is ready, while I attempt sneaking in a random Shadow Ball to force a maneuver I can get a TP > HC N-Air > Grab off of. I haven't played it from the Pika side yet, (there aren't exactly many good players playing Mewtwo, let alone good Mewtwo 3.0's becoming good players [yet]) but I could assume it's just an unpredictable stale-mate of lameness again. The punish Mewtwo has on Pika in small doses is great, given he's built for covering long-distance faster recoveries that aren't well covered on-route, rather than short recoveries that are covered but linear. So that flexibility makes it scary to try anything against Mewtwo, but so juicy given he can kill Mewtwo if one of the impossible-predictions of maneuvers works out favorably.
Freaking stale-mate qualities interacting in a way that's either going to build intensity, or everyone will just try overpowering the opponent from both sides of that match-up given the Hail-Mary nature of it.
So fun.
 

DMG

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I take the other side of that. I hope there's never Pikachu vs Mewtwo because that sounds annoying and not very great.
 

Paradoxium

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I take the other side of that. I hope there's never Pikachu vs Mewtwo because that sounds annoying and not very great.
Over Netplay there are mainly 2 characters you fight. Roy and Mewtwo. Roy is easy, it is usually ****, pika is too damn fast for him to deal with. Mewtwo is easy for the same reasons, unless he uses his 2 Pika-killer moves, U-tilt and D-tilt. Those moves combo into themselves, and a **** ton of other things. But luckily they can both be punished. The only 2 characters ive ran into that seem impossible are Meta-night and DDD, but i think i lose to DDD from match-up in experience.
 

Nausicaa

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Paradoxium: A Mewtwo really shouldn't be liberal with those moves (U-Tilt or D-Tilt) for that reason (getting punished), unless he's going for a hyper-aggressive read on some maneuvering. Could be either to catch Pika with D-Tilt before he can SH Aerials (akin to what Marth can attempt, though Pika WILL punish if it's not direct, and will likely see the approach coming to Shield or etc). Otherwise, the entire concept of doing things that aren't certain (even with safe spam) due to it getting you hit by things you don't want to get hit with, which is basically the back-bone of Smash... Pretty sure these actions are due to lacking familiarity with that match-up too, or at least not needing that kind of depth and precision due to level of play. Just be ultra-campy against Mewtwo, and work on your punishment game. Pika is demanding, so the work is cut out for you, but don't do things you don't have to do/don't get hit by things you don't have to get hit by, and you don't ever have to get hit by U-Tilt outside of combo, and D-Tilt is fairly avoidable/that's when the Mewtwo can try establishing an offense that really shouldn't work given the lack of precision available with the speed conditions there...
In other news, I tried finding the old Pika posts in discussions with Anther about Marth, but those will be very applicable to MK too. If you find them (they're mainly about discomfort-zones), they should be able to help with MK.
For EXTREME tl;dr,
Just out-camp him, trust me on that one, it's counter-intuitive, but that's Pika. :/

Speaking of counter-intuitive and stupid crap, I made some rants about Lucario a LONG time ago, being very counter-intuitive in the direction of play he'll likely take, and I think it's even more counter-intuitive than I thought < this keeps happening too.
A fighting character that shouldn't finish combos? < If this makes ANY sense to anybody, please help me figure out how to put this in a presentable way to help people with. It's messed up.
Otherwise, Lucario is a sexy character. That vs Pika is cool too.
I don't know what the deal is with people not likely Zelda/Pika/who else is considered boring/not very interesting? I think these peeps are awesome.
 

Guilu

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Speaking of counter-intuitive and stupid crap, I made some rants about Lucario a LONG time ago, being very counter-intuitive in the direction of play he'll likely take, and I think it's even more counter-intuitive than I thought < this keeps happening too.
A fighting character that shouldn't finish combos? < If this makes ANY sense to anybody, please help me figure out how to put this in a presentable way to help people with. It's messed up.
It's counterintuitive because you forgot you were playing Smash. In other fighting games you end your combos early with powerful moves because damage scaling makes that the most efficient option. In Smash, powerful moves eject, only killing the opponent if they're damaged enough. Not only that, but combo damage scaling is absent and Lucario's edgeguarding capabilities could be better (especially since this is Project M, with its very powerful recoveries). The end result is that you're only going those combo finishers when you know they're going to net you a kill - until then, your best damaging option is to continue the combo with more weak hits or reset with a mixup. It's not counterintuitive, it's just that Lucario is not actually from Street Fighter.
 

Paradoxium

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GnW is so jank, i only win because people don't realize his d-tilt is only active on the first few frames. And because they just run into his hit boxes. And then afterwards they say,
"gg, and nice GnW!" Once someone tried to camp me out with Mario, I absorbed 3 pills, and then killed him with fair. The second he respawns and loses his invincibility i hit him with a bucket, and he dies. Zero percent Mario dying in one hit, it was truly glorious. And level 9 hammer, ive gotten lucky a lot, whenever i throw out the hammer i just expect it to be a 9 lol

GnW jank train, i want to here some opinions.
 

DMG

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You are the worst I bet I could beat you at flappy bird

#GiveGaveParadoxiumTheNooch
 

Paradoxium

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You are the worst I bet I could beat you at flappy bird

#GiveGaveParadoxiumTheNooch
I doubt it, my high score is 165, and i don't even own the game

And I am offended by the word "nooch." I suggest you stop using such harsh language around here or i will be forced to contact a moderator,

And tell on you.
 

Rᴏb

still here, just to suffer
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There Fox discussion finished, now how bout our boy GnW?
I don't like the negative connotation on "jank" because it is the one word I would describe GnW with... Which probably could be replaced with a better word, but whatever. His is jank is so fun, and frankly gets slept on so much. I usually see him in the bottom 5 in people's tier lists and I find this so confusing. He's probably either 19-21, and there isn't really that much holding him back from being miles better.

His combo game is his most entertaining feature and the fact that a lot of his combo moves can eventually kill makes playing him so fluid in way. You can link together aerials, throws, a few ground moves, bacon, and upb in so many different orders that can all work depending on the character you're fighting.

I love his quirks too lol. Judgement sucks but it is so awesome when you set up for it and it actually pays off. His lingering hitboxes completely **** with opponents and make them mess up their timing pretty often. Bucket also sucks, but it's really satisfying when you catch someone spamming their strong projectile (Mario) and quite literally throw all it back at them for an easy kill.

The only things holding him back are some really bad matchups from campy projectile characters that a. take forever to kill, or b. cant be comboed well; Link, ROB, Zelda, TLink, Samus, etc. (Zelda can go either way, but it can be painfully slow waiting her out) Its characters like these that just mess with GnW's flow in such a way that destroys his main strengths while taking advantage of his weaknesses, and this isn't even with stage counterpicks in mind.

If I were to change GnW at all, I would simply give him more mixups, so he can mesh together even more of the moves of his preference to deal with any given character. More options could only make him better by allowing him to apply pressure is more ways.. He's supposed to be the glass cannon, and while I do think he is extremely consistent, there are times where he completely shatters.

A more radical change to him that I think would be interesting/broken would be an increased FF speed.

But he's still my *****.
 
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Kaeldiar

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I don't like the negative connotation on "jank" because it is the one word I would describe GnW with... Which probably could be replaced with a better word, but whatever. His is jank is so fun, and frankly gets slept on so much. I usually see him in the bottom 5 in people's tier lists and I find this so confusing. He's probably either 19-21, and there isn't really that much holding him back from being miles better.

His combo game is his most entertaining feature and the fact that a lot of his combo moves can eventually kill makes playing him so fluid in way. You can link together aerials, throws, a few ground moves, bacon, and upb in so many different orders that can all work depending on the character you're fighting.

I love his quirks too lol. Judgement sucks but it is so awesome when you set up for it and it actually pays off. His lingering hitboxes completely **** with opponents and make them mess up their timing pretty often. Bucket also sucks, but it's really satisfying when you catch someone spamming their strong projectile (Mario) and quite literally throw all it back at them for an easy kill.

The only things holding him back are some really bad matchups from campy projectile characters that a. take forever to kill, or b. cant be comboed well; Link, ROB, Zelda, TLink, Samus, etc. (Zelda can go either way, but it can be painfully slow waiting her out) Its characters like these that just mess with GnW's flow in such a way that destroys his main strengths while taking advantage of his weaknesses, and this isn't even with stage counterpicks in mind.

If I were to change GnW at all, I would simply give him more mixups, so he can mesh together even more of the moves of his preference to deal with any given character. More options could only make him better by allowing him to apply pressure is more ways.. He's supposed to be the glass cannon, and while I do think he is extremely consistent, there are times where he completely shatters.

A more radical change to him that I think would be interesting/broken would be an increased FF speed.

But he's still my *****.
All very good points. I do agree that GnW is very "jank" (no negative connotations attached). He's an awkward looking character that is just outright STRANGE. That being said, especially against an unsuspecting player, he can come out of nowhere and start conducting the Pain Train. As far as him being 19-21...well, there I have to disagree. You see, if this were 64, Melee, or Brawl, I would concur that he is ~mid tier. HOWEVER, this is P:M, and in P:M, everyone is good. To be mid tier, you have to be quite powerful. Even the low tiers can rank top 8 in tourneys. P:M is going to be a lot more about player skill and matchup knowledge than the other games.
 

jtm94

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GnW can bucket Zelda's dins and OHKO Zelda at 0% with full bucket.

GnW still loses hard to sword characters imo, he has some moderately fast moves, but he can get hit hard for whiffs and a lot of his animations make it seem like they have hitboxes when they have none.
 

Rizner

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I think you got that backwards. At least, it was my Tier List that had those as categories, and the reference to Ike in relation to C Tier (which was described as being due to this factor) and the comments that followed.
You got it right, Wario is the jerk, so you either red the listings or comments backwards, or I'm reading yours backwards.

Rizner, just JC your Dash Grabs since their range is massive. The Side-B-look-alike is actually a beneficial trait, given there's no reason to give him a Dash Grab that functions normally since his JC Grab is nearly as good as it can get.
I specifically play Wario in the first batch of characters I work with BECAUSE of the nuances in him that are both detrimental to mess up at a fundamental
Sorry, I meant I don't like playing against that. I know it's beneficial for him, but with a side b that you can't roll away from and is hard (unsure if possible with everyone) to spot dodge, where your best option is to shield and make the animation the same as grab makes playing against him weird. Having said that, I don't know if I'd change it. It's weird and I'm not a fan of being unable to see a move start and nit know what it is (I think sonic was the only one before this with really similar attack animations?). Unsure why this was a decided trait for wario, though, and why it is the grab that has an animation match.
 

Strong Badam

Super Elite
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Sorry, I meant I don't like playing against that. I know it's beneficial for him, but with a side b that you can't roll away from and is hard (unsure if possible with everyone) to spot dodge, where your best option is to shield and make the animation the same as grab makes playing against him weird. Having said that, I don't know if I'd change it. It's weird and I'm not a fan of being unable to see a move start and nit know what it is (I think sonic was the only one before this with really similar attack animations?). Unsure why this was a decided trait for wario, though, and why it is the grab that has an animation match.
you could just attack him
and beat both sideb & grab
 
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