is severely underrated in my opinion. I've had so many people ask me why I main Palutena and then proceed to tell me she's an overall bad character. But I've yet to hear exactly what makes her a bad character lol. I've won so many matches, both competitive and casual with Palutena. I personally don't believe there's such thing as a "bad" character, it just seems alot of people don't know how to use her, which is why I consider her underrated.
I am also on the same boat. It actually bothers me when I hear people refer to her as "low tier trash" when not only have I done this but I've seen other people go head to head with higher tier characters and still come out on top. Reasons why I think she's better than what people say about her.
Versatile play style- Her default specials set her up to defend against majority of play styles, meaning she's already a good character for counter picks. It's like a rock, paper, scissors game and she decides to be THAT guy and say he has a bomb. Projectile attacks? Reflect them. Close combat? Counter. Spacing/pressure auto-reticle, and warp is good for moving around the stage and very beneficial on stages like Battle Field where she can warp-cancel.
Great air game- Palutena was MADE for the air. If her ground game is all about defense, its the air where she can be on the offense. N-air is a great combo tool to use as it hits multiple times and surrounds her. F-air comes out quick, has range, and is a great get off me option. U-air is a phenominal kill move and most of the time lands from down air or a great ledge punish if the opponent decides to jump, and d-air ALWAYS spikes no matter where you hit them.
Side taunt- nuff said
up tilt- great for punishing approaches from the air. The hit box rises above her hurt box making it a safe option against air borne opponents, AND it can KO making it an even better safe option.
Now Pally isn't perfect by any means. There's some end lag on her more powerful attacks which I feel puts her more in the red than it helps with balance but her smash attacks are more so to be used as a punish tool than an offensive attack and I feel that's one thing that automatically make people not like her, to which I argue "You're going to hate on a character because you can't use her in a playstyle she was never intended for?" because that's like hating an apple just because it's not a peach. Can't exactly help that now can we?