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Official Viability Ratings v2 | Competitive Impressions

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C0rvus

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To be honest I can see him at -2 with the new shurikens. Robin does not like other fast projectiles in my experience. Shurikens outrange Thunder and the fully charged one goes through Arcfire. -1 is fine for now though, that's probably what it was prepatch.

Sheik should probably be -2 or worse for Robin, though. Needles are transcendent so they go through everything, forcing him to approach, and he gets wrecked up close... seems like one of the most polarized MUs in the game.
I used to think that Sheik was the worst thing ever, but then people at the Robin boards said it isn't THAT bad. I can kind of see it now, Robin's consistent disjoint and projectile-based footsies are decent tools, and his damage and kill setups are enough to give him some semblance of a chance against Sheik. But she can lame him out super easily and it's pretty hard for him to get out of the Sheik vortexes. If he can get his footing, he can take it pretty far, and his midrange game is far superior to Sheik's. It's most definitely a bad MU, maybe -2. But I honestly never opt to play it if I can so I don't have a truly strong idea of how it goes. At top level it's super free though, no doubt.
 

Kofu

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Speaking of Villager I just had something happen today that was interesting. I was playing at a con and against a Villager I used Hydro Pump on his balloons and it actually popped one of them.

Can Hydro Pump pop the balloons now or could it always do that? I could've sworn I've tested it before and they didn't pop.

If they can then Greninja can really ruin Villager's recovery if he spaces the water jet so that it won't hit Villager but will hit the balloon.
Anything that does damage can pop the balloons. Hydro Pump is probably one of the best tools to pop them, too, since IIRC it doesn't cause hitstun and thus doesn't hit Villager out of the move. Even if you don't pop the balloons, you're going to be putting Villager in a bad position.
 

Mr. Johan

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The fact Sheik's stock is history at 80% due to Dthrow -> Usmash, even lower with the eventual rage Robin picks up, is still noteworthy despite the mobility flaws.

Robins in my perspective seem to have a desire to just stay put and try to make them come to him, which never works. As juxtaposed as it sounds, a Robin that keeps himself moving, threatening with his autocanceling, disjointed, shorthop game in sync with his projectiles, nets him far more reward than turtling does.
 

Emblem Lord

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I think Luigi's changes will end up hitting him harder than it seems right now. After playing a bunch of matches against someone who knows what they're doing it's much harder to to get grabs with the fireball nerf and d tilt feels like unreliable trash compared to what it was. Sure, if you get really lucky and it trips you can link grab or up b, but it can't be counted on and it will never work above like 65%. The KB is not that strong so I don't think its gonna be a reliable stage spike against most characters unless they are at some ridiculous %.

All of his match ups just got harder as it's easier to keep him out and win projectile wars and its harder to get the grab when its crucial for the kill, such as against Mario and Pikachu, due to the fireball nerf. Mario feels much closer to even. How does Pikachu lose to Luigi now with all that mobility and a better projectile to force approaches, along with an excellent gimp game to beat his awful recovery?

@ Emblem Lord Emblem Lord How do you feel about Marth and Lucy being buffed but Roy being untouched? Is he now outclassed? What are Roy's strengths compared to those two and what matchups will Roy win over them?
Like I said before, NEO said on facebook he mains Sheik and Lucina.

That was BEFORE this patch.

That sums it up for me.

Roy got the grab game. They got the spacing game.

Match-up wise most of their match-up ratios are basically interchangeable imo with Roy doing worse in some key match-ups like Sheik for example which is unacceptable for competitive play.
 

RedBeefBaron

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:4feroy: still has a grab game over :4marth:/:4lucina: and thats enough imo
True, but is it more of a play style option or will it make a meaningful difference in any important match ups? In terms of viability does Roy have anything over them at this point? Marth and Lucy keep getting buffed over Roy and I'm worried its because everyone is so hype over TEH PHIRE and he's really not that great compared to those two. Hoping I'm wrong, honestly.
 
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Emblem Lord

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Its mainly about how you prefer to play at this point. It seems pretty clear to me that sakurai doesnt want anyone in team fire emblem to be VASTLY better then the other. They are all pretty close.
 

SpottedCerberus

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:4samus:
-3: :4falcon::4fox::4megaman::4metaknight::4pikachu::4sheik:
-2::4diddy::4gaw::4olimar::4pacman::rosalina::4sonic::4yoshi::4zss::4mario:
-1::4myfriends::4kirby::4littlemac::4lucario::4marth::4pit::4rob::4robinm::4tlink::4villager::4wario2::4falco::4greninja:
0: :4charizard::4dk::4duckhunt::4link::4ness::4palutena::4feroy::4shulk::4wiifit:
+1: :4bowser::4bowserjr::4jigglypuff::4luigi::4mewtwo::4zelda:
+2: :4ganondorf::4dedede::4peach:

Or something, imo. Not 100% sure about all of this, but I think the overall distribution is pretty accurate.

Edit: Moved Falco from -2 to -1. @ Ffamran Ffamran is a bit hard on the poor guy, but he's right that Samus should be able to give him some trouble if played correctly. Zair should be her saving grace here, as it so often is. (I sometimes feel like 90% of Samus's metagame revolves around Charge Shot and Zair.) Still, Falco has the edge, I think.
 
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Illuminose

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I really doubt Roy has fallen behind Marh. The thing about Roy is that we haven't seen him a lot, but he definitely has some advantages. His mobility is a lot better, especially his run speed and fall speed. He has less lag overall on his normals (faster/safer in general). His Up B OoS rivals that of Marth. His fsmash is stupid strong like Marth's but much easier to throw out as it's less laggy and doesn't need to be spaced. His dsmash is a much greater threat. He has much better combos/greater reward in general. Marth has more range (better for spacing, edgeguarding, general stuff), more damage on his tippers, and better anti-approach. I think both characters play fundamentally a bit differently. Marth is a bit more slow-paced and fundamental, spacing-based. Roy is a more in-your-face character that utilizes spacing more as a tool to get in rather to wall opponents out. Sort of like comparing apples to oranges if you think about it this way.

I think Lucina is a bit worse off (a bit), but Marth and Roy are probably in the mid - mid high range. @ Emblem Lord Emblem Lord both lose to Sheik anyways so that doesn't...really...matter. If anything, Roy's combo abilities and safer fsmash make him more of a threat because you have to be able to capitalize and compete.

@SpottedCerebus Samus beating Luigi lol. If this is based off Larry vs ESAM bear in mind that Larry has probably never faced a competent Samus in his life. Samus's zoning tools are mostly foiled by shielding and sh air dodge through them in this case, and Samus can't do jack **** to Luigi once he gets in, especially with a grab. Her zoning tools aren't good enough, unlike say Villager or Sheik, to truly keep Luigi out. The kill power disconnect is also pretty huge (Samus can't kill unless she lands a rogue charge shot, Luigi has guaranteed confirms).
 

san.

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@SpottedCerebus Samus beating Luigi lol. If this is based off Larry vs ESAM bear in mind that Larry has probably never faced a competent Samus in his life. Samus's zoning tools are mostly foiled by shielding and sh air dodge through them in this case, and Samus can't do jack **** to Luigi once he gets in, especially with a grab. Her zoning tools aren't good enough, unlike say Villager or Sheik, to truly keep Luigi out. The kill power disconnect is also pretty huge (Samus can't kill unless she lands a rogue charge shot, Luigi has guaranteed confirms).
I know this part is false since Johnny Westside has played Larry numerous times. Otherwise, you may be right lol.
 

RedBeefBaron

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I really doubt Roy has fallen behind Marh. The thing about Roy is that we haven't seen him a lot, but he definitely has some advantages. His mobility is a lot better, especially his run speed and fall speed. He has less lag overall on his normals (faster/safer in general). His Up B OoS rivals that of Marth. His fsmash is stupid strong like Marth's but much easier to throw out as it's less laggy and doesn't need to be spaced. His dsmash is a much greater threat. He has much better combos/greater reward in general. Marth has more range (better for spacing, edgeguarding, general stuff), more damage on his tippers, and better anti-approach. I think both characters play fundamentally a bit differently. Marth is a bit more slow-paced and fundamental, spacing-based. Roy is a more in-your-face character that utilizes spacing more as a tool to get in rather to wall opponents out. Sort of like comparing apples to oranges if you think about it this way.

I think Lucina is a bit worse off (a bit), but Marth and Roy are probably in the mid - mid high range. @ Emblem Lord Emblem Lord both lose to Sheik anyways so that doesn't...really...matter. If anything, Roy's combo abilities and safer fsmash make him more of a threat because you have to be able to capitalize and compete.
I feel like Roy has trouble safely applying pressure in a way that allows him to take full advantages of his strengths over Marth though (rushdown.) Dtilt loses to short hops and tipper nair requires surgical precision in neutral. That on top of the fact that his dash to shield is awful means its not too hard to keep him out in a lot of matchups. He has great OOS options and wonderful reward in advantage, but in my experience he has issues in neutral, especially against players who force an approach and respect his options. If his walk speed wasn't so good he'd be awful for sure.

I'm by no means an expert on this kit though. Thoughts?
 
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bc1910

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My opinion on :4greninja:'s post patch MUs.

-2::4sheik:
-1::4fox:
0: :4bowserjr::4falcon::4darkpit::4diddy::4dk::4falco::4gaw::4myfriends::4kirby::4littlemac::4link::4lucario::4lucas::4lucina::4mario::4marth::4megaman::4metaknight::4mewtwo::4miibrawl::4miisword::4ness::4olimar::4pacman::4pikachu::4pit::4rob::rosalina::4ryu::4sonic::4tlink::4wario2::4wiifit::4yoshi::4zss:
+1: :4bowser::4charizard::4dedede::4drmario::4duckhunt::4luigi::4miigun::4palutena::4peach::4feroy::4robinm::4samus::4shulk::4zelda::4villager:
+2: :4jigglypuff::4ganondorf:

I've been very conservative with this spread. I do think a lot of our 0s could end up as +1s but it's too early to say and, frankly, I don't want to piss anyone off with relatively baseless theorycraft.

MUs I confidently think we win now where we didn't before are Duck Hunt, Peach, Roy and Shulk.

I think Ganon used to be a +1 and is now a +2.

I used to think Sonic and Wario were bad MUs for us but I think both are even now. With Sonic, I just worked on the MU last patch and I simply don't think he beats us. With Wario, we should be able to go even now that shurikens are less free to bike and SHDS is godlike against him.

I suspect Sheik isn't as bad as -2 now that we can do horrible things to her out of a Dthrow (including kill) and shurikens make needle camping at least slightly less obnoxious.

This might surprise other Greninja mains but I also suspect Rosalina may be a -1 for us. This is based on my own experience plus Dabuz' performance against aMSa at EVO. I've given the MU the benefit of the doubt but it could be worse.

Feel free to challenge any of my opinions! I guess a lot of you may feel Greninja should have more -1s than this, but as I said I've been pretty conservative with my evens. Many of them could go to +1 or -1.

I can accept a valid argument for Greninja losing to pretty much any of the high tiers bar Luigi. In particular I can see us losing to Rosa, Diddy, ZSS, Pikachu and Wario, plus Marth (some good points were raised earlier) and Ryu (that punish game). Toon Link could also be a sleeper bad MU for us, shield is very important against him and our OoS game is our biggest weakness. But in my heart of hearts I do think Greninja goes even with everyone I listed.
 
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SpottedCerberus

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You missed Greninja. I assume he's in the -1 camp.
Yah. Exactly. That or -2, but I was going to put '-1' because I'm not completely sure about the match-up.

-1 against Robin really now now I'm curious I always felt it was evenish?
Honestly? I thought it was pretty even pre-patch. Then Robin got massive buffs all over the place. So I just stuck him in '-1.' Not a very technical approach, but still...
 
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adom4

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My opinion on :4greninja:'s post patch MUs.
I think Ganon used to be a +1 and is now a +2.
Agreed, the Shuriken buff was not good for Ganon in this MU.
 
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FullMoon

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This might surprise other Greninja mains but I also suspect Rosalina may be a -1 for us. This is based on my own experience plus Dabuz' performance against aMSa at EVO. I've given the MU the benefit of the doubt but it could be worse.
Worth pointing out is that according to Dabuz both of his matches against aMSa were a last hit situation, I wouldn't say that really makes the MU in Rosa's favor since it could've gone either way.
 

AlMoStLeGeNdArY

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The Marth vs Rosalina MU has gotten worse for Rosalina overtime mostly because of Marth's buffs. He's a pretty annoying character to face. High level example of the MU is rayquaza vs Ally.

These latest buffs seems like they push the MU in Marth's favor pretty badly. He may even be a counter to Rosalina at this point. The last time I played the MU i got boped. I may not approach the MU correctly but it's definitely not one I like to see. I actually switched from Rosalina at my local yesterday.

Fair is a pain as is Marth's mobility if he's safer on landing it's going to be harder for Rosa to punish. That nair buff good God. That thing scares me. I can barely land vs him. If he gets a tipper fsmash it's GG.

Rosalina's bad MU'S are as followed

-2 Sheik ZSS Pikachu MK
-1 Wario? Marth Sonic Diddy?

I'm not really sure if Wario is -1 but I jeep getting boped in the MU. So I'm not really sure. Not sure about Diddy considering I haven't played any diddy's since the patch. It maybe even now after all of his nerfs. Olimar may or may not beat her also not really sure.
 
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Luco

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Toon Link is a ghost sir. Sorry for the feeling bad :(
I doubt most people have played a Toon Link before, let alone tournament level competent ones (or can share their views/thoughts on it)

He has a long list of tools in a game we truly know very little of holistically.
@Zan- maybe would be happy to share thoughts/ideas (can't wait to read the facebook post about the result of this tag <3).
I got knocked out of my last tournament by a TL. :teeth:

Bombs really do set up into so much oh my god Fair hurts. Also if TL is smart enough then healing from bombs is very all or nothing-king of thing. I don't think Ness actually has that much difficulty landing a grab, as godly as Zair is, because if Ness gets close enough and TL doesn't have a bomb in hand, he's in a sucky position. In my matches I got slaughtered game 1 before coming back and almost winning it, then took game 2 easily and I think game 3 I just didn't respect Fsmash enough as well as general set-ups. I'm not even going to pretend I can guage the MU accurately though after just one set, but my guess is that if you're aware of his setups then it's probably okay. I do have an appreciation for TL though, I think he's got a lot of neat stuff. His bombs and smashes are whack.
 

Ffamran

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I wasn't going to respond, but after watching some of Juicebox's stuff, especially his Kyo basics guide, I thought of something relating to Falco which you can apply to any other character with a projectile.
I've well aware of both the lack of hit stun on Falco's lasers and the long recovery on it. I've experienced the fact that throwing out more than one laser at a time is basically asking for trouble because if you do that, the opponent is probably going to be in your face making Falco stew.

When I said that the laser is meant to force approaches but doesn't allow Falco to approach, I was referring to both the fact that the lack of short hop laser keeps Falco from being able to approach using the laser, but also prevents Falco from being able to dominate with laser, yet at the end of the day it's still 3%. Basically, you're supposed to use laser one shot at a time, ideally on opponents who are trying to get away from your combos and up-close game, or to hit them from afar if they feel like keeping their distance. Maybe "force approaches" was the wrong term to use, because I didn't mean that it's either so powerful or such a threat that the opponent needs to feel like they need to fight Falco up close. Instead let's go with "discourages staying away." It says, "If you really want to stay that far, or if you really want to drift away from me, here's 3%," and I know that 3% isn't that much, but I think again it's supposed to be a strong suggestion to the opponent to come closer, and not "come closer OR ELSE."
As a projectile, frame advantages, evens, and disadvantages are all different depending on range and how the projectile functions like Fox's default Blaster will always be disadvantaged since it does no hit stun, but depending how far he uses it, that's not going to matter if you can't cover the distance. Falco's default Blaster is even on hit at max range which is kind of bad when you consider how slow he moves. At midrange and close range, it's negative on hit which is horrible. It's not because it has set knockback which is what makes it unique as projectile, but also allows it to gimp because it sends you nowhere, instead, it just stuns you for a bit, you continue your momentum, and you suffer from a 30 frame can't grab ledge because of hit stun. Here's the thing, Fox can do that too and all you need is 1 laser from Impact Blaster.

With the changes to Fox's Blaster, Fox's total frames for default and Impact Blaster is 39 frames and Charge Blaster is 78 frames. This means Fox can't act until frame 40 for default and Impact and 79 for Charge. For Falco, his total frames for default is 58 on the ground and 49 in the air, Explosive Blaster is 71, and Burst Blaster is 39. Falco can't act until frames 59 on the ground or 50 in the air for default, 72 for Explosive, and 40 for Burst Blaster. Between Fox's default Blaster and Falco's Burst Blaster, Fox is doing more damage at any range - Fox's does 3% up close, 2% midrange, and 1.4% at long range whereas Falco's does 2% close range and 1% mid to long range - with only 2 more frames of startup than Falco's Burst Blaster which shoots at frame 9. Yeah, pretty much outclasses Falco's custom especially when you consider than Fox runs faster and his default Blaster has more range than Falco's. Between Impact Blaster and Falco's default... Yeah... It already had low end lag compared to Falco's and while it does less damage, it doesn't matter when it does what Falco wished his Blaster did.

Moving onto another game, look at what Kyo Kusanagi's Yamibarai does in The King of Fighters XIII. Remember that games function differently. Except for the EX version, Yamibarai only does set knockback where it doesn't move people. I'm going to type up something that Juicebox says about Yamibarai: "You can't really jump until it's [Yamibarai] all the way over there. Kyo can't use it to approach his opponent like say, King, Andy, Kensou, Mai, Mature - his fireball is designed only to annoy or to make your opponent feel like they need to move, so that they might jump into your uppercut [Oniyaki] or so that they try to jump at you in the air, so then you can get a jumping C+D or something else. Don't use this too much."

Kyo's Yamibarai is more like Fox's Blaster, Ryu's Hadouken and Shakunetsu, or Mario's Fireballs. You don't approach with them nor do you truly force approaches. What do I mean by "truly force approaches"? Yamibarai is not a threat. All it does it chip away at you; it's annoyance, harassment, and zoning by controlling space. You don't fire a Hadouken and run behind it; Ryu's end lag on his Hadouken is actually the same as Falco's, but Ryu can vary its speed, it does more damage, there's a larger hitbox, and Ryu can even change the way it hits with Shakunetsu. Ryu's more likely going to control space, make you feel like you have do something, then he'll vary the speed punishing your option pick or fakes a pattern and then punishes you with input Shoryuken for jumping towards him. Fox's Blaster has no hit stun, but do you really want to deal with lasers flying away at you, chipping away damage, and then watch as Fox runs away or punishes you? Mario? Mario's going to jump, toss Fireballs that arc down, and he'll keep doing that while retreating or moving in and retreating. It's like Wolf drifting in and out with his Blaster. You don't really have to do anything since it's not going to kill you like a charged Shadow Ball nor do they really setup into anything like Sheik's Needles or Lucario's Aura Sphere. It's just there to **** you off. For frame data, Kyo's Yamibarai has a startup of 16 for the light, 15 for the heavy, and 13 for the EX version with recovery frames of 30 (L), 33 (H), and 27 (EX). This means Kyo can't act until frame 46 (L), 48 (H), and 40 (EX).

Now, look at King's Venom Strike and Leona's Earring Bomb. Venom Strike pushes back people ever so slightly. Like he said, "overall, you just want to control space" which for King, makes sense as she's considered a zoning character who has a strong close combat game. Guess who else is a zoning character with a strong close combat game? Melee, Brawl, and PM Falco. While he couldn't vary his laser's speed, he could vary their height. In Melee it wasn't as extreme as he couldn't fire twice before touching the ground, but it's the same idea where M/B/PM Falco can control space or just follow his lasers and use them to approach. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not when done right. Done wrong like in Melee and Brawl - PM made everyone strong, so that doesn't really matter -, a projectile like that is more than overwhelming. Falco when auto-canceling his Blaster virtually had no end lag. Her startup for Venom Strikes are 12 (L), 9 (H), and 10 (EX) which is surprisingly similar to Falco's Blaster. Recovery are frames 32 (L), 37 (H), and 30 (EX); King can't act until frame 44 (L), 46 (H), and 40 (EX). King has end lag, but low enough where she can still run behind her Venom Strikes. Also, Venom Strike travels fairly quickly compared to Yamibarai.

Moving onto Leona's Earring Bomb which does knockback sort of like Sheik's Needles if they were jewelry grenades... Anyway, long startup for the regular ones at 40 (L) and 45 (H) while the EX version only has 12 frames of startup. For recovery, you're looking at 15 (L), 18 (H), and 24 (EX) meaning Leona acts at frame 45 (L), 63 (H), and 36 (EX). End lag seems long compared to Kyo's, right? It's the startup skewing everything. Quoting Juicebox again: "All of the Earring Bombs have the same purpose. The purpose of the Earring Bomb is you recover so quickly that you can occupy multiple parts of the screen if you wish. If you were to jump and hit light kick, they would have to deal with the ground earring and deal with your jumping normal at the same time. If they were to jump at you, they would probably get hit by this. Another thing you can do with the earring is follow it in on the ground... plus you'll actually get there just as the earring goes off and if you get there as the earring goes off - if it hits - you can see that and go into a combo, but if it doesn't hit - let's say they block it -, then you can use that block stun to get pressure started. M'kay, so they don't want to get hit by it and they don't want to block it, so what you want to do is you want to try occupying different parts of the screen at the same time, so that you can try to force them to move."

Guess who does that? Not really anyone since nobody has a projectile with that kind of startup and low recovery, but the closest thing would be M/B/PM Falco, Peach, the Links, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Diddy, and perhaps Luigi and Sheik. It's mostly Peach, the Links, Mega Man, Pac-Man, and Diddy, but the startup is mostly from getting their projectiles out in hand like Link's Bombs. The principles of following the projectile is there along with being able to occupy multiple parts of the screen which Peach, the Links, Mega Man, Pac-Man, and Diddy. What M/B/PM Falco does is the low end lag thing due to auto-canceling Blaster allowing him to follow the laser. Sheik does that too, but without auto-canceling anything, instead, it's the hit stun on a 1% single Needle or 11.4% or 7.2% 6 Needles - close up, it does 1.9% while at range it does 1.2% along with the low end lag similar to Luigi. Getting hit by any of their projectiles is bad from not just purely damage, but the fact they can setup out of them. Shielding them is mostly bad from M/B/PM Falco's part because he can just stop and pick another option while the others do commit and shielding them isn't as bad.

Why this long writeup about projectiles in another game? It's to show that projectiles do different things. Now what does Falco's Blaster even do? Nothing. It does absolutely nothing better than any projectile in this entire game. It does not kill, it does not edgeguard well, it does not force approaches, it does work as an approach, nor does it even harass well. All it does is damage and if you want damage, you're better off using Burst Blaster or picking another projectile-using character entirely. You can't frame trap or distract like with Triple D's Gordos, you can't rack up damage like with Fox's Blaster, you can't edgeguard like with Greninja's charged Water Shuriken or the Pits' Bows, you can't approach like Mega Man, you can't confirm stuff like Sheik's Needles, and you can't even kill like with Zelda's Din's Fire or Phantom Slash.

Falco's Blaster at best is a rare gimp tool, a combo followup which Fox can do too and much safely, and an inconvenience to the opponent. It's not like Fox, Ryu, or Mega Man where they will annoy you with projectiles. Falco's Blaster end lag is so punishable that you can as Captain Falcon, jump and Falcon Punch him. It's so pathetic enough that Ganondorf can just tank through his lasers and kill him while DK forces Falco to approach. DK, a character with no projectiles, a character with a massive hurtbox, and a character who considered by many, should be the one approaching, but no, Falco's slower than DK and his lasers are just flies hovering around DK.

If Falco has something like King's Venom Strike, he'd probably be a dangerous if not an overwhelming character like he was in Melee and Brawl. Fire a laser, follow it, and force you to pick options. No character in this game does that and with that much range Falco and King have. Luigi can sort of do it, but his Fireballs don't travel that far. Now, something like Kyo's Yamibarai, that might be better and would work better. Falco can't approach with Blaster, he can't truly force approaches, and is more of harassing you and making you think you have to approach. Right now, he can't do that, but he could with lowered end lag. Here's the issue, lowering the end lag too much could end up with a (stronger) Venom Strike which would be something like +20 frames reduced end lag; Falco who could act at 39 on the ground and 30 in the air with Blaster would be too much. 49 on the ground and 40 in the air might be the sweet-spot.

I wouldn't be surprised if Falco's up-close game is worse than the characters you mentioned, and in fact I'm going to just say he does for the sake of argument (and because it makes sense), but Falco's CQC out-ranges Mario, Luigi, and Kirby. His long limbs and having that level of footsies, as well as numerous quick kill moves keeps him in the running, I think. I think Kirby SHOULD have incredible close-range skills because of how hard of a time he has approaching. Sheik is Sheik, and losing to Sheik up-close is basically like losing to Mt. Everest in a "being a mountain" competition.
Falco's saving grace is his close range game and so is Kyo and King's. Kyo and King aren't NESTS Kyo, Shen Woo, Claw Iori - the Smash equivalents would be something like Fox, Ganondorf, and Captain Falcon -, but they work well up-close. Now, remove or severely nerf Kyo's Yamibarai and King's Venom Strike. You'd end up with an inferior NESTS Kyo and a zoning character who is now force to play only footsies and up-close. Who does that remind you of? If Falco's close combat game was bad, he'd undoubtedly be the the worst character in the game. He'd be a laughing stock who cannot fight at any range. Even Melee Pichu and Brawl Ganondorf would do better than him.

Last thing: I was not trying to insult Falco players themselves. I know how much time you guys put into using the character, and how much you've worked to unlock everything he has to offer in this game. i know that he was and still is a very "honest" character, and in a game where the jank isn't that high but still here and there, he's had a tough time especially compared to the highest of high tiers. My words were directed more at the people who look at Falco, see he's lacking the extremely powerful techniques of the older games, and walk away because "That ain't Falco," and assume that he has no redeeming qualities. As for @ Ffamran Ffamran , we just know that he loves to complain about Falco.
He's not an honest character; no character is honest. Have you ever died because you didn't know his lasers function differently with his U-throw and B-throw? Have you ever died because you didn't know his Side Smash had transcendent priority, but you were using a character like Toon Link who by all means you be shredding his wings? And have you ever died because you were caught by a lingering hitbox that sent you out too little?

Sources: Fox (and everyone's) changes: http://smashboards.com/threads/tour...nity-patch-notes.412130/page-15#post-19800013.

KoF XIII's frame data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...EVZYVCR7F2aSrzhh65U/edit?pli=1#gid=1551678957.
Edit: And yes, I like complaining about Falco. :p
:4samus:
-3: :4falcon::4fox::4megaman::4metaknight::4pikachu::4sheik:
-2::4diddy::4falco::4gaw::4olimar::4pacman::rosalina::4sonic::4yoshi::4zss:
-1::4myfriends::4kirby::4littlemac::4lucario::4marth::4pit::4rob::4robinm::4tlink::4villager::4wario2:
0: :4charizard::4dk::4duckhunt::4link::4ness::4palutena::4feroy::4shulk::4wiifit:
+1: :4bowser::4bowserjr::4jigglypuff::4luigi::4mewtwo::4zelda:
+2: :4ganondorf::4dedede::4peach:

Or something, imo. Not 100% sure about all of this, but I think the overall distribution is pretty accurate.
There is no way Falco goes +2 against Samus. Falco doesn't win MUs; he plays them. Falco might have a better close combat game, but he's going to struggle when Samus outranges him, has moves he cannot challenge like Zair and Screw Attack, and he's slower - surprising, huh? - than her. Also Reflector getting baited means Falco's going to be a dead pheasant. At best, Falco goes +1, but I'm still skeptical about that.
 
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Emblem Lord

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The Marth vs Rosalina MU has gotten worse for Rosalina overtime mostly because of Marth's buffs. He's a pretty annoying character to face. High level example of the MU is rayquaza vs Ally.

These latest buffs seems like they push the MU in Marth's favor pretty badly. He may even be a counter to Rosalina at this point. The last time I played the MU i got boped. I may not approach the MU correctly but it's definitely not one I like to see. I actually switched from Rosalina at my local yesterday.

Fair is a pain as is Marth's mobility if he's safer on landing it's going to be harder for Rosa to punish. That nair buff good God. That thing scares me. I can barely land vs him. If he gets a tipper fsmash it's GG.

Rosalina's bad MU'S are as followed

-2 Sheik ZSS Pikachu MK
-1 Wario? Marth Sonic Diddy?

I'm not really sure if Wario is -1 but I jeep getting boped in the MU. So I'm not really sure. Not sure about Diddy considering I haven't played any diddy's since the patch. It maybe even now after all of his nerfs. Olimar may or may not beat her also not really sure.
Marth confirmed to counter a top tier.

Metagame viability inquiry....

analyzing...analyzing.....

METAGAME VIABILITY CONFIRMED



Swag-King
 

AlMoStLeGeNdArY

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Marth confirmed to counter a top tier.

Metagame viability inquiry....

analyzing...analyzing.....

METAGAME VIABILITY CONFIRMED



Swag-King
Why does that picture even exist.

Also every patch Rosalina escapes without more nerfs makes her the biggest winner in the patch.
 
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Emblem Lord

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Oh really? thought i saw that its not safe unless it's properly spaced?
Nope. Perfect spacing gives him FRAME ADVANTAGE (the real kind). Imperfect spacing hes like -5 which is still insanely safe.
 
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Luco

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I dunno. If everyone else but you gets buffs, are you really winning the patch? I feel like as Ness my MUs are progressively getting worse and worse :laugh:
 

AlMoStLeGeNdArY

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I dunno. If everyone else but you gets buffs, are you really winning the patch? I feel like as Ness my MUs are progressively getting worse and worse :laugh:
Well the Marth mu has gotten worse but overall she's still one of the better characters. Another nerf will break her though. Also I'll gladly fight these characters compared to pre patch Diddy. That character would've drove me to quit the game. Hopefully in future updates ZSS and sheik and pikachu will go the way of Diddy.
 
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Superbat

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LMAOOO Ally went MK. More mk sheep now smh
Zero went Roy and takes the game
 
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Kofu

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I dunno. If everyone else but you gets buffs, are you really winning the patch? I feel like as Ness my MUs are progressively getting worse and worse :laugh:
Sounds kind of like Game & Watch's predicament. His matchups already tend to lean in the opponent's favor and as long as they get buffs and he doesn't he'll continually fall further behind.

I think that lack of representation plays into getting buffs/nerfs just as much as victories and losses (in For Glory and in tournament). Basically nobody uses characters like Samus and Jigglypuff and so they end up remaining untouched. You'd think that nobody playing them would be a sign that they're underwhelming but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 

bc1910

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Greninja is the both the biggest winner and loser from patches IMO. He's the only character to have had his viability seriously affected twice.
 
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Amazing Ampharos

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I got in a lot of play yesterday; here's what I've seen... Do remember that, as ever, I only play with customs.

Fox is a huge winner here. His jab shenanigans being gone is a "shame", but a reliable rapid jab is actually a really useful tool. More importantly, neutral-2 on Fox is incredible post-patch. The reduced endlag on that laser lets him use it with way more freedom than before; Falco's laser is truly back... just on Fox instead of Falco. This version of Fox is pretty much definitely a top character.

Greninja I still don't see as a top character, but the buffs have amounted to enough to make him really a meaningful character in the game now. I think the shuriken buff, which doesn't seem to apply to neutral-3, basically means Greninja will always run 11X1 or 11X2 (I still don't know why Greninja's don't use the huge distance recovery move; the push shenanigans really don't impress me while recovering twice as far is often useful). However, Water Shuriken is now a really strong tool that makes Greninja a really basic neutral terror. Shurikens force action, and Greninja has really strong basic and safe footsies between jab, ftilt, dtilt, and dash attack with an fsmash that's a simple, effective power hit on reads. Greninja just hits buttons and usually either wins or stays safe on block, and that's fundamentally a really strong thing to be able to do. I do think he still overly struggles to force a kill on a careful opponent, I don't think his new dthrow is actually much of an improvement to his still disappointing grab game (it does seem to make his dthrow a lot less useless, but it still seems to give a dash attack at best if the opponent knows how to DI and generally play well in disadvantage), and the way Greninja's aerials work makes it overly hard to jump in which kinda sucks in the MUs where Water Shuriken is not the winning projectile (Greninja's awkward aerials also make doing basic chases with him way too precise and technical for my liking, but that's just me). We're approaching the point with patches where most of the cast is in a good place so I dunno precisely where Greninja pans out relative to everyone else, but I'm convinced this patch is the difference that made Greninja a viable character which makes him a huge winner.

Robin is funky. I think having a reliable rapid jab and solid grab rewards are both huge, but the character is still slow and still has to really stress resources. The changes to neutral-B are fascinating though; neutral-3 is now so spammable that it makes Robin probably a top keep-away character, but neutral-1 and neutral-2 Arcthunder set up for so much more that it's hard to say what the right pick is. I kinda suspect Robin will still have pretty bad MUs with characters who can exploit his horrid mobility and who don't care about his projectiles (like Fox, Ness, or Yoshi), but he's clearly made a big step forward. I kinda wish I was better at playing Robin's weird playstyle to get a better read on him...

A huge sleeper huge winner in this patch is definitely Duck Hunt. His rapid jab actually works; that's a ridiculous game changer that drastically improves his close range footsies. Fsmash actually works, and that's a huge game changer that lets him actually kill under 200% if he gets a read. Zig-Zag Shot is fundamentally the best projectile in the game, and Duck Hunt is fundamentally the best projectile camper in general otherwise. The rest of his game just became a lot less horribly disadvantaging to him, and I think that will make his value shoot upward.

Lucas's bigger grab hitboxes are a really big deal as well; Lucas kinda makes sense as a character now that he can actually grab.

Charizard's 2 frame faster recovery on dthrow is a handy little buff too; I don't think it shatters the world, but Charizard was already really underrated and just got another boost (I don't think his other two buffs mean much, but they don't hurt).

DK and Marcina are both transparently a lot better. Marth in particular might be a top character now; Crescent Slash was already so good in ways most people don't even understand, and Marth's normals have over the course of patches shifted from underwhelming to oppressive. I still think DK is kinda lacking on a basic level, but his buffs at least make him a sane choice alongside Charizard for your big character needs.

Sonic's nerf doesn't really matter. He's pretty much the same character. Luigi, likewise, I think basically just got sidegraded; he doesn't seem any better or worse than before just a bit different.

In general, I think this patch helped the game a lot; it gave Sheik a nerf but not a heavy one, it fixed the Pikachu infinite, it didn't really hurt anyone else, and it helped a lot of characters who really needed it while simultaneously making Fox both less dumb and probably better overall. I didn't really get to explore a few interesting changes (like Pit's changes), but I remain impressed at what a good job the dev team is doing with these patches.
 

Jords2Good

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But seriously though, more nerfs for sonic is making most match ups even harder to deal with like ZSS. Can't be too aggressive as before with sonic and sadly getting closer to the campy sonic as each nerfs comes (although I still try to find ways to be aggressive still but mostly has me getting punished alot)

But it seems this patch isn't too bad for sonic this time but still unfortunate. I played him alot after patch now and he seems the same. The only change I noticed is the standing spin jump knockback got nerf but I'm not sure if its entirely a bad thing? I can sometimes get a fair follow up but its not much so I don't know.

Pacman and megaan all feel the same for me, I still feel good with them and still are both very fun. Mostly pacman.

So sakurai, whens bsbs getting fixed? Lol
 
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FullMoon

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I think the shuriken buff, which doesn't seem to apply to neutral-3, basically means Greninja will always run 11X1 or 11X2 (I still don't know why Greninja's don't use the huge distance recovery move; the push shenanigans really don't impress me while recovering twice as far is often useful).
It's slower, making it easier to intercept, Greninja already has a top 5 recovery with regular Hydro Pump and it has no gimp potential at all.

There's absolutely no reason for Greninja players to ever use that move. It's basically training wheels for directing Hydro Pump.
 

Amazing Ampharos

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But seriously though, more nerfs for sonic is making most match ups even harder to deal with like ZSS. Can't be too aggressive as before with sonic and sadly getting closer to the campy sonic as each nerfs comes (although I still try to find ways to be aggressive still but mostly has me getting punished alot)

But it seems this patch isn't too bad for sonic this time but still unfortunate. I played him alot after patch now and he seems the same. The only change I noticed is the standing spin jump knockback got nerf but I'm not sure if its entirely a bad thing? I can sometimes get a fair follow up but its not much so I don't know.

Pacman and megaan all feel the same for me, I still feel good with them and still are both very fun. Mostly pacman.

So sakurai, whens bsbs getting fixed? Lol
For what it's worth, we're locally pretty convinced ZSS is a really good MU for Sonic. Sonic just doesn't care about ZSS's neutral game (he cares even less than he cares about everyone else's neutral game), and that kinda sucks for ZSS since it boils her down to having to guess right over and over to win. Sonic has also had hit and run as his primary playstyle since the game came out; I think a Sonic that always rushes has always been like a Sonic that always runs away: not viable. The character is fundamentally really strong, but he is so strong on the basis that he can control the flow of the match so committing to either aggression or camp instead of dynamically using your control to get maximum advantage at all times is really the biggest mistake Sonic can make.

It's slower, making it easier to intercept, Greninja already has a top 5 recovery with regular Hydro Pump and it has no gimp potential at all.

There's absolutely no reason for Greninja players to ever use that move. It's basically training wheels for directing Hydro Pump.
I feel like Greninja's aerials make him easy to ledge trap, but the huge up-B gives him a good mix-up by recovering high to the opposite end of the stage (as a Rosa main, I'm definitely keen on absolutely absurd distance recovery; it's about more than just going far enough to always make it to the ledge without getting hit). Part of it is the new stage feels, but I definitely lost a game as Greninja hard for being awkwardly semi-spiked twice on Peach's Castle as the lower platform was moving away and wasn't able to recover far enough whereas the really huge pump would have saved me...
 
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**Gilgamesh**

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:4sheik: vs :4robinm:is a + 2 or +3 for Sheik, might be even worse eh. Basically this is a MU where Sheik can do whatever she wants due to the fact she's much faster then Robin while also having needles that just neuters Robin especially his Thoron. On top of this Sheik can be hard to grab and Robin happens to have one of the worst grabs in the game.... yeah not so good at all. Sheik can also edge-guard Robin much more easier then Robin edge-guarding Sheik. Robin also loses at close range due to Sheik having the better boxing game (better frame data, better moves (jab, fair, f-tilt, nair)). Basically Robin only way of inflicting damage is with Punishes / Hard-Reads while Sheik gets to do whatever she wants while having to worry little of what Robin can do to her . Also :4robinm: tone/levin mechanic really screws him over in this MU more then others since Robin has little ways of combating Sheik already, and him losing options throughout the battle is just terrible for him/her against Sheik.
 

Pyr

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So I wanted to kinda gauge where Luigi's matchup listing stands overall, and kinda analyse it for personal use. Since that's been posted a few times, I figured I'd share what I thought. Kinda long, so putting in Spoiler tags. Based on personal experience more then anything, so take it with a bottle of :salt:.
:4luigi: is
+2 vs:4charizard::4dedede::4ganondorf::4jigglypuff::4mewtwo::4palutena:(non-customs):4zelda:
+1 vs:4bowser::4bowserjr::4falcon::4drmario::4falco::4fox::4gaw::4lucario::4lucas::4ness::4shulk:
0 vs:4darkpit::4diddy::4dk::4myfriends::4kirby::4duckhunt::4lucina::4luigi:(ayyy):4mario:
0 vs :4metaknight::4miibrawl::4peach::4pit::4ryu::4sonic::4wiifit::4zss::4pikachu::4feroy:
-1 vs :4greninja::4littlemac::4link::4marth::4palutena:(customs):4pacman::4rob::4tlink::4villager::4wario::4yoshi:
-2 vs:4megaman::rosalina::4samus::4sheik:

Can't gauge because inexperience/changes to the character: :4robinm::4olimar::4miigun::4miisword:

General explanations (brief, since I'm doing it for everyone lol):
+2: We either get literally so much reward for getting in on these guys that we can't lose, or we can beat them in trades/footsies wars because their range is comparable (Jiggs lol). They have to play unsafe against a safe playstyle Luigi, which is exactly what Luigi wants. Special note for Mewtwo, who is combo food AND gets killed off the top easy.
:4charizard: Combo-food, no easy way to break the combos, overall poor recovery, and is one of the few that are forced to recover high, unsafely, after a trump because of the threat of the taunt-trump kill.
:4dedede:Fast-falling, large target that has to approach due to fireball reflecting his projectile. Slow startup on aerials means that Luigi can just chill and play by reaction and win. That, and D3 has no way to get out of Grab 50/50s AND no real way to deal with Jab 50/50s.
:4ganondorf:Not hard to keep him in disadvantage. Patient play leads to him getting a lot of damage rather quickly. That, and he's susceptible to D-throw > Fair > Fair > Regrab > D-Throw > Fair > 50/50s even with DI.
:4jigglypuff:She dies at 70 from D-Throw to FJP and is one of the easier characters to get that on. Even if we can't combo her from a throw, she has no way to deal with U-Air besides giving us stage control.
:4mewtwo:Take Jig's issues, but put in on a character we can combo. At least he has better advantage and 50/50s then Jiggs.
:4palutena:(non-customs) Slow everything, save Bair. Can just play on reaction and win without issue. Special note to her having to get in range of Nair to get anything off of Jab/Throws.
:4zelda:She is easily combo'd and has no way to deal with Luigi getting in or keeping him out. At least we can't just sit back and PS Dins all day. Still, with her Teleport being as susceptible to the 1 frame thing as Shiek, we shouldn't lose this one often.

+1: Luigi has tools to deal with all the characters here, or really, really hurt them when he gets in. Like half of the D-Throw > Upair and Nair combo starters are here. 10 of these guys are here because of how easy they are to gimp.
:4bowser:Fireball doesn't make him flinch and he hits like a truck, but he is susceptible to all the same combos most other heavies are. Exceptionally easy to 50/50 and Throw > FJP kill.
:4bowserjr:Has tools to keep Luigi out, and a lot of safely in his moves since they push Luigi back, but what else does he have? Fireballs force an approach and Down-B gimps are especially effective because they don't give back the up-B iirc. That, and some of his combos simply don't work.
:4falcon:Fast and has decent range, plus Dair is killer and forces either a high recovery or a super low one. Our saving grace is that Nair beats everything and he can get a regrabbed twice at low percents, then 50/50'd.
:4drmario:A worse Mario. He gets more per hit, but it's harder for him to get the hit in. OOS Up-B helps Doc, but that isn't saving him if he gets grabbed > down-B'd or gimped out of it, both of which are exceptionally easy.
:4falco:Loses to patient play from Luigi. Some of his combos can be broken with Nair and he is susceptible to the low percent Fair > Uair regrab. Fire Balls force an edge-level recovery, or lower, and he's not coming back from a Down-B gimp. That said, he does rather well once he's actually in.
:4fox:Nair breaks the jab shenanigans, meaning that Fox will have to predict the Nair and Shield it. It can be done after each individual jab. Fox also doesn't have a strong way to get an edge guard if Luigi goes low, meaning that fox can't use that weakness against us well. Good luck landing against a fox, though.
:4gaw:Super light and unsafe. Bucket forces us to either approach or give him a stack to get a punish. He edge-guards well, but gets combo'd and dies super early.
:4lucario:Low range and low damage early. Is easily combo'd and 50/50'd to around 80%. After that, he can be killed off of a grab with FJP or with Down-B a bit later. Starts going against Luigi at 130ish because of Aura and rage. Most of his kill things are slow, though. At least most of his stuff is safe on Luigi's shield.
:4lucas:Nair breaks later grab combos and you don't have to really respect his PKT2 recovery, since Bair doesn't trade with it. We can sit just outside his committed Fair range and be safe against anything but a grab, but feinting jump-ins allows this to be avoided on reaction, and punished since it takes a year to tell the snake to come back.
:4ness:Back-Throw is a real issue, as is his grab game, but you can make Bair trade with Fair and gimping him is simple. A fireball alone can reduce his recovery range at no risk. Add in that, if Luigi gets a grab, he does more off of it and the fact that Ness isn't going to be killing purely on the ground often, save for B-Throw, and you've got a game of who gets more grabs. Since Luigi needs less...
:4shulk: Take a character that has a long startup on everything, to the point where you can PS on reaction, is combo'd easily, has a strict gimmick, and has a gimpable recovery that is unsafe no matter how you do it, and add in that he has good range and KO power, and you have a +1.

0: Classic evenish machups here. Each has tools to deal with Luigi or zone him out, has as much reward as Luigi does in proportion to effort to get in, or allows them to break Luigi's combos. That said, Luigi does have things he can do against some of the people here. Not going to go into these, since I think most of them are considered evenish by most people already.

-1: Characters that have exceptional speed and zoning capabilities that make life hard for Luigi.
:4littlemac:If he maintains neutral or any form of control, it's hard for Luigi to contest without some sort of trick. If we get him off stage, then ya. He dies. The problem is getting him there. And, if we get a throw? Due to the damage decrease from FAir, Nair breaks the combos sometimes.
:4yoshi:Every single thing sends Luigi to the other side of the stage. Having to wait for the other guy to make a mistake is a very bad scenario for anyone. That, and Nair breaks the 50/50 reset combos from throw, meaning you only get the safe, consistent stuff when you do get in.
:4rob:With the fireball change, that sweetspot area for fireball > option is now much more solidly within ROB's sweetspot range of doom. Get ready to powershield some auto-canceled Nairs, lasers, and Gyros.
:4tlink:Good kill setups and an exceptional keep-away game. Laming out Luigi as Tink isn't hard. Retreading projectiles are safe, even on PS, because of OOS nair and retreating side-b and Zair.
:4villager:Forces an approach, and has a lot of options to stop an approach from Luigi, especially with customs.
:4greninja:Very fast and has great reward off of everything. Luigi should find it hard to land and, due to the fast and volatile nature of his recovery, hard to gimp. Up-Smash is legit for stopping even aerial pokes as well. With the Neut B buff, he forces Luigi to approach without too much issue. Gimping Luigi with him isn't too hard, either.
:4link:Range, generally fast startup on the moves that matter, and projectiles forcing an approach, make this one hard. His Nair breaks 50/50 grabs as well. At least we can get a double grab and gimp him without issue, but getting to either of those points is going to be an up hill battle.
:4marth:Unlike Lucina, he gets a lot more out of zoning and from his Jab 1 against Luigi. Counter against Luigi's Side-B is always a nice addition as well. Nair sucks kinda bad for Luigi, too, since it covers so much range and is better now. Luigi has to wait for a mistake between fireballs, and that's never a good place to be in.
:4palutena:(customs) Unlike non-customs, she can get in quickly and her Down-B Throw > Nair > Uair shenanigans work really well here. Combine that with Super speed getting her in Luigi's face often, and her improved recovery options, and you've got a more up-hill battle overall for the entire set. At least she still has quite a few problems that she has in non-customs. They're just way lesser.
:4pacman:Pacman makes Luigi play cautiously. Up-B easily stuffs any pressure Luigi makes (breaks the jab 50/50) and his fruits are exceptional at gimping Luigi. It's an up-hill battle trying to get in due to getting Faired on approach, naired while doing some work (breaks the throw 50/50s), and the exceptional safety Pac has on Luigi's shield. At least Luigi easily wins the grab game overall.
:4wario:Wario has an answer for everything Luigi has. Bite beats Nair and covers a lot of Luigi's ledge options. Bike forces an approach and Fair beats Luigi's RAR Bair and Fair. Fart beats 50/50s without issue and clap makes it very hard for Luigi to land. The saving grace is, if Luigi get's match control, he does a lot of damage and Wario isn't the hardest to gimp. That said, a single bite returns it all to neutral, which is a place Luigi doesn't want to be.

-2: AKA the reason I had to pick up a secondary.
:4megaman:Safe, little bullets prevent most aerial and ground approaches. You have to play extremely patiently to get in. And, when you do, you get a double regrab, but, after that? Any mistake returns everything to neutral. Basically, Megaman stuffs everything Luigi has and can play on reaction without issue. Combine this with making it exceptionally difficult for Luigi to land and you've got the first -2. Luigi can't even Down-B from throw for a kill until late because of MM's combo of weight and fall speed.
:rosalina:The queen of the keep out game. Jab from Luma, when spaced, makes it either extremely unsafe, or extremely hard, for Luigi to get in. Her Dair, though not the strongest, covers so much range that you're going to get hit out of Up-B with it. The biggest up hill battle for Luigi in the game. Luma even breaks grab combos if they aren't done the "get in, hit them, get out" way. Too bad "getting out" is a bad concession in this one. It'd be -3 if it weren't for the fact that she's a big, floaty, light piece of paper and that Throw > Down-B isn't broken by Luma and Luigi's Smash attacks are exceptionally fast and good at killing Luma.
:4samus:A Samus that plays super-defensively and reactionary can, almost trivially, keep Luigi out. F-Tilt needs to be PS'd, along with all the missiles and charged shots, to get hits in. Good luck with the grab combos, since Screw attack stuffs most of them after hit 1 or 2. Samus can make this a game of pokes against a character that is disadvantaged in the air-poke game. Even playing patiently and taking what you can get, this one is a tough one for Luigi that only gets tougher the better both players are.
:4sheik:Sheik is... Well, Sheik. She doesn't have to kill Luigi in this one, because she can just Fair until he's off stage, then react to Luigi's option choice and send him back out. That said, Fair is safe on Luigi's shield and Luigi has a hard time reacting to it. That, and she's harder to re-grab then most, with Nair even faltering sometimes. That's, of course, assuming she lets you get the grab in the first place. She might have that 1 frame vulnerability on Up-B, but getting her off stage is a chore.
 

Balgorxz

Smash Journeyman
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I think every player before going to sleep should pray "I should not give sheik smashville, I should learn to play on other stages" at least 10 times.
 

FullMoon

i'm just joking with you
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I feel like Greninja's aerials make him easy to ledge trap, but the huge up-B gives him a good mix-up by recovering high to the opposite end of the stage (as a Rosa main, I'm definitely keen on absolutely absurd distance recovery; it's about more than just going far enough to always make it to the ledge without getting hit). Part of it is the new stage feels, but I definitely lost a game as Greninja hard for being awkwardly semi-spiked twice on Peach's Castle as the lower platform was moving away and wasn't able to recover far enough whereas the really huge pump would have saved me...
If you recover high with that custom you're going slowly enough that most characters can catch up to Greninja and punish his landing once they see him recovering high, unless you're Ganon or something. Remember also that Greninja can't steer himself in freefall as well as Rosalina making it much easier to know where he's going to land too.

If there's someone waiting at the ledge for you, you can both ledge drop, jump and F-Air back on stage. Or you can shark the ledge with Up-Air. I almost never get ledge trapped with Greninja, the only time I get hit is because I have a bad habit of always doing a ledge jump and people punishing me for it once they catch up to it.

I do think the shuriken buff made Shifting Shuriken obsolete outside of maybe fighting Rosalina and Olimar since they have meat shields. The only custom that seems worth using now is Exploding Attack.
 
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