Why do you people main a mid tier or lower?

[Call_Me_Red]

The top 100 players in the world have a better understanding of John Smash's main than he himself does and will make a better tier list than ten million John Smashes.

I just plain don't think this is true. If Nairo went a full bracket going only King K, it's very likely he'd get further than I would. But I can guarantee that the hundreds of hours I've put into the character give me a better understanding of the match ups, techniques, strengths, weaknesses, set-ups, etc than Nairo does. I could tell you how King K does against every character in the roster better than Nairo can simply because I've put more hours into it. It really doesn't matter if I'm not as good as him, tier lists are for everybody regardless of skill level.

Edit: to be clear, little Timmy who got the game 2 days ago probably shouldn't get a say. But the guy going to a tournament every week, who has hundreds of hours logged definitely deserves to have a voice.

 

[Xelrog]

I just plain don't think this is true. If Nairo went a full bracket going only King K, it's very likely he'd get further than I would. But I can guarantee that the hundreds of hours I've put into the character give me a better understanding of the match ups, techniques, strengths, weaknesses, set-ups, etc than Nairo does. I could tell you how King K does against every character in the roster better than Nairo can simply because I've put more hours into it. It really doesn't matter if I'm not as good as him, tier lists are for everybody regardless of skill level.

Edit: to be clear, little Timmy who got the game 2 days ago probably shouldn't get a say. But the guy going to a tournament every week, who has hundreds of hours logged definitely deserves to have a voice.

You can't give him one without also giving little Timmy a say. So, therefore, that guy shouldn't have a say.

 

[Rizen]

I played in ssb4 because his playstyle. I'm a zoner at heart. The way 's been dropping lately might mean I'm maining a mid tier in ultimate too

 

[GhostM]

Normally I wouldn’t pay attention to tier lists because I would rather play a character I enjoy instead of letting a list decide for me, but Falcon to me personally feels like a mid-tier character, even though he’s ranked higher in the list in Sm4sh and previous titles excluding Brawl. Going off topic here, but I mained Dr. Mario in Melee and he was also a mid-tier character. I main Falcon in Ultimate simply because I enjoy his playstyle and combo potential, and he’s a character that I can play that can delete characters off of a hard read. He does feel a lot different in this game compared to Sm4sh in terms of playstyle but I still enjoy the character regardless, even though he has flaws that he shouldn’t have in the first place.

Maining a mid-tier or lower will teach you how to space and have patience, and will also teach you how to read your opponents better, since easy options that the high tier characters have won’t be available in your arsenal.

 

[Oddball]

Tiers are best looked at as a general trend and not a hard set rule. Some people are simply better with some characters than they are with other. It doesn't matter how well a character ranks if you personally suck with them.

 

[NintenEdgyMan]

Because is like no other fighter in the game

 

[Ze Diglett]

Mewtwo always stood out as my favorite character in the roster since my first Smash game despite never really being very good (post-patch Smash 4 notwithstanding), and I pretty much exclusively play casually anyway, so I never saw a real need to pick a top-tier. That's all there is to it. Do I sometimes wish my character was better? Hell yeah, lord knows Mewtwo in his current state could use a lot of fine tuning. But I still stick to my guns, because this hoe is loyal and I tend to prefer good characters over good movesets anyway. It's like, yeah, I could have some arbitrary list pick my character for me, but on the other hand, I don't think I'd enjoy the game nearly as much if I branded myself as Wolf or Lucina Main #47,882. I guess the simplest explanation I could give would be that I have to truly love the character for me to put my whole heart into maining them (and that philosophy goes for any game I play, though Smash being as character-driven a franchise as it is certainly lends itself well to this mindset), and that character just isn't usually a high-tier.

 

[Deleted member]

Again, losing isn't fun. To the people who one-sentenced that they main who they personally like: doesn't it get tiring losing all the time because you're character is bluntly flawed? To me, that would be a sign to pick up a way better character.

Even if you're not competitive, it still isn't great to have a losing streak. What even is fun to you guys? Because I legit lost that definition since release day.

 

[Strong Badam]

I find the premise of the thread to be rather lacking in empathy (and its title's phrasing is a bit provocative). You've gotten 40+ replies in here, but remain flabbergasted as to why folks main weaker characters. Are you truly seeking an answer to your originally posed query, or are you just hoping to explain why you yourself like to select those in the higher tiers?

Losing is pretty universally unfun, yes, but consider that many people who main good characters are also quite bad at the game and lose constantly. The vast majority of players won't lose because of their character alone, they've made several mistakes in the actual gameplay itself regardless of character selection. I see folks spam a smash attack hoping it'll hit, run into projectiles repeatedly, recover poorly, etc.... picking Joker probably wasn't going to be the difference there. If you're probably gonna lose, might as well do it with a character you actually like right?
Perhaps more importantly, video games present multiple different types of fun for different types of players to enjoy. Smash is popular in large part (outside of its IP) due to the amount of texture that its character design presents to gameplay. Sometimes the playstyle that really speaks to you is one that isn't found in the higher tiers of the game, and it's a sacrifice worth making. The alternative for many is simply not to play; playing a high or top tier isn't worth the time.

Sincerely,
A Top Tier Enthusiast.

 

[Xelrog]

Again, losing isn't fun. To the people who one-sentenced that they main who they personally like: doesn't it get tiring losing all the time because you're character is bluntly flawed? To me, that would be a sign to pick up a way better character.

Even if you're not competitive, it still isn't great to have a losing streak. What even is fun to you guys? Because I legit lost that definition since release day.

Players who aren't competitive don't lose because of their character.

If you're playing with people who don't play in tournaments, and you're losing, it has nothing to do with the character you chose.

 

[Predatoria]

Again, losing isn't fun. To the people who one-sentenced that they main who they personally like: doesn't it get tiring losing all the time because you're character is bluntly flawed? To me, that would be a sign to pick up a way better character.

Even if you're not competitive, it still isn't great to have a losing streak. What even is fun to you guys? Because I legit lost that definition since release day.

Who says we're losing all the time?

When I play offline with friends, I don't really care how low tier Ridley is. None of us are really that good to the point where I cannot keep up with them due to maining a lower tier character and, even just last night, they were playing Ness, Cloud, Snake, and Palutema all night, two of which are ultra high tier and three of which I probably have, according to matchup charts, 30-70 matchups against. I won way more matches than I lost, even though one of my friends was playing Palutema specifically because she has a very strong matchup against Ridley just to try and beat me.

If you play online, due to the nature of matchmaking systems, you will settle into a GSP range where you go 50/50 (unless you're at the upper or lower extreme to the point where the game cannot pair you with equally skilled opponents). Even then, I'm losing to players, not characters. I've beat Pichus and Pikachus online, or even the dreaded Ridley MegaMan matchup, only to lose to a well-played Little Mac that I just couldn't get off the stage.

Unless you're trying to win majors, this stuff really doesn't matter much. I've lost against King Krool online plenty of times.

At all but the highest levels of play, the only reason you're going to 'lose all the time' with a low tier character is because you get this into your head and become defeatist.

Also,

What even is fun to you guys?

Playing as Ridley.

 

[DarthEnderX]

A lot of mid, low, and bottom tier characters have trouble winning, yet there are people playing them anyway. Why is that?

Cause I play the character I like and don't know what tier they are anyway?

Losing isn't fun

Neither is playing a character I don't like.

 

[xzx]

I always main the character that is the most fun to play (or seems to be the most fun to play), regardless of their viability. (Wario in Brawl, Pac-Man in Smash 4 and Ultimate.) That way, I have the most amount of fun, and more fun = more motivation, which means more improvement. But do I wish Pac-Man was at least high tier? Heck yes! But I know that I will do better with an unviable character that fits my playstyle than with a viable character that doesn't.

Main the one you enjoy playing the most and fits your playstyle. Losing all the time is not the character's fault; it's yours. Focus on getting better at the fundamentals with a character you like, rather than finding "quick-fixes" for your lack of skills with a better character. (Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I have also been at that state during the Brawl era.) You'd be surprised!

 

[Oddball]

Again, losing isn't fun.

Playing is fun. Loosing is just oen of the two possible results.

To the people who one-sentenced that they main who they personally like: doesn't it get tiring losing all the time because you're character is bluntly flawed?

I don't loose all the time because I play a "flawed character." Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose.

Usually in either case it's not because the character is flawed but because I'm up against somebody that better than I am. Or the guy got lucky. Or I got unlucky.

To me, that would be a sign to pick up a way better character.

And how do you define what character is better? You go by some list created by people that say "if you're at this skill level fighting people of equal skill levels, you should theoretically do better on an even playing field without items by choosing this character of this other character." Really that kind of situation doesn't come up often, and ignores the "character" part of the equation.

What even is fun to you guys? Because I legit lost that definition since release day.

If it's only fun to you when you win, you might not have ever know what it was to begin with.

 

[MarioMeteor]

I play Doc for one reason and one reason only: because he’s fun and he clicks with my play style.

Well... also because I’m a Mario fanboy and I play him out of character loyalty.

 

[Gryphon827]

I've been playing a lot of Kirby recently to the point where I really don't play anyone else, so I guess I main him now.

He's just a very fun-to-play character. He has combos, his down air is among the best spikes in the game due to it's activity, and has some pretty good kill options (fSmash and uSmash actually kill a lot earlier than you'd expect). Plus, destroying characters with bad horizontal/vertical recoveries with the suck and c*** never gets old.

 

[TheDuke54]

I just plain don't think this is true. If Nairo went a full bracket going only King K, it's very likely he'd get further than I would. But I can guarantee that the hundreds of hours I've put into the character give me a better understanding of the match ups, techniques, strengths, weaknesses, set-ups, etc than Nairo does. I could tell you how King K does against every character in the roster better than Nairo can simply because I've put more hours into it. It really doesn't matter if I'm not as good as him, tier lists are for everybody regardless of skill level.

Edit: to be clear, little Timmy who got the game 2 days ago probably shouldn't get a say. But the guy going to a tournament every week, who has hundreds of hours logged definitely deserves to have a voice.

So little Timmy doesn't get a say why he chose a mid to low tier character when this thread is pretty much asking why do you choose your mid to low tier character?

 

[Deleted member]

So little Timmy doesn't get a say why he chose a mid to low tier character when this thread is pretty much asking why do you choose your mid to low tier character?

Little Timmy is probably too young to understand, or he just doesn't give a crud about serious play. I wish I could be more like the latter.

 

[TheDuke54]

Yeah but that still doesn't matter. Because if the reason is they don't care about tiers and want to have fun and or challenge themselves with a crutch that is still a valid reason.

 

[Xelrog]

Yeah but that still doesn't matter. Because if the reason is they don't care about tiers and want to have fun and or challenge themselves with a crutch that is still a valid reason.

The post you're referring to was about having a say in who's tiered where, not having an opinion on this thread.

 

[Blackwolf666]

Haven’t read any of the replies and I’m sure what I’m about to say was said at least 2 dozen times by now but... people play who they have fun playing as. It can be because they like how the character in question plays or simply because they enjoy playing as one of their favorite video game characters. Of course there’s also the chance that a certain mid-low tier character just happens to be the only one that they seem to get results with (seen a few people like that)

Edit: there are also the stubborn people that purposely main a low tier so they can have the satisfaction of crushing someone that mains a higher tier character.

 

[Pokelego999]

Didn't read many replies, but this idea of "only main high tiers be melee" is just dumb. People just play characters that fit their playstyles more than others. Or they play a character they personally love. This whole high tiers concept doesn't make sense, as mid tier or lower eliminates three fourths of all the characters in the game, and most high tiers are boring and complex (Not speaking for everyone here) and not much fun to play. Sometimes people want to play King K. Rool or Ridley because they've wanted them for decades. Or maybe they play Duck Hunt or Ness because it fits their style of play, or maybe they play, say, corrin or game and watch because their enjoyable. Being mid to low tier doesn't make a character bad, it just sends out a message saying, "If you don't play pichu or inkling, you aren't a proper smash player." Tier lists are exerting this kind of message and for newer players, they'll try it out and they might not like it, or get obsessed with this whole idea too. What i'm trying to say is, it's fine to play low tiers. Theres no issue with it, theirs no disease from it. It's perfectly ok.