| 1 | {{Game Breaker}}s in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series. |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder:Items]] |
| 6 | [[AC: Introduced in ''64'']] |
| 7 | * [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong The Hammer.]] Not only does it produce instant KO's 65+% of the time, it causes tremendous damage and causes horrible recovery times to happen. It was made less overpowered in the later games since some Hammers have their heads fall off, leaving the user wildly swinging a stick that does '''absolutely nothing'''. Other players can also pick up the hammer head and toss it at the helpless player; ''[[KarmicDeath it hits just as hard as if it were still attached to the shaft]]''. There's also a ''very'' brief moment where the head stays on, however, wherein the hammer works normally. Though it is a bit of a double-edged sword; once you pick the hammer up, you can't double-jump, use special moves, or drop the hammer manually, even if the head falls back. It's rare that you'll get hit while holding it, but if you do, and you get blown off the stage, '''''you're screwed'''''. Though, a bigger problem is that, depending on the stage layout and the height of your character's ground jump, you may find yourself completely unable to reach your opponents. Not to mention that certain characters with a Counter move can effectively [[HoistByHisOwnPetard return the same hammer damage output and knockback right back at the hammer user]]. ''Ultimate'' at least allows a player to manually drop a hammer while in hitstun, giving them a chance to save themselves if knocked offstage with it. |
| 8 | * The Home-Run Bat in this game and ''Melee''. Its smash attack swing is only slightly longer than any noncharged smash attack or weapon and is an easy way to score [=KOs=], even against low percent opponents. It was [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] in ''Brawl'', where every character gained a lengthy and unique swing animation to turn it into a more AwesomeButImpractical weapon. It remains a very effective projectile weapon, however. |
| 9 | * The Ray Gun may seem pretty weak at first glance, but its large hitstun, significant pushback, and relatively fast and controllable firing rate make it a guaranteed kill if used correctly. While it wasn't significantly changed for the next several titles, the introduction of air dodges made it much easier to escape, and ''Ultimate'' nerfed it by removing almost all its horizontal knockback, removing almost all potential to kill with it. |
| 10 | * The Fan. It had always been a quite annoying weapon in the right situation with potential to build up large amounts of damage, but nowhere was it more infamous than in ''Brawl''. While it can be trivial if you've mastered the game's directional influence mechanics, if you don't know what you need to do to escape or simply can't due to the character and/or matchup, you could very well end up taking well over '''100%''' damage, and by that point, you're just one smash attack or other kill move away from death. It also does a massive amount of shield damage, meaning trying to shield it will lead to you getting stunned (and thus bait for a powerful AwesomeButImpractical attack) and smash throwing it results in high vertical knockback, especially useful near the ceiling or on stages with low ceilings. This combined with nerfs to directional influence likely contributed to the item not being included in the later games, making it one of very few items to be permanently cut. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[AC: Introduced in ''Brawl'']] |
| 13 | * ''Brawl'' introduced the much meaner ''[[BlingOfWar Golden]]'' [[VideoGame/WreckingCrew Hammer]], which appears on a fancy green, glowing pedestal with its own appearance jingle to notify everyone present that it has spawned. It swings ''twice as fast'' as the original hammer and allows the user to '''hover in mid-air''' a la Princess Peach until the power-up runs out. Mitigated slightly in that some Golden Hammers are just inflatable replicas that are completely harmless and thus the user is totally helpless, although there's no clear indication of this until the harmless squeaky toy makes contact with the other players. [[WhoWillBellTheCat You can bet none of them will check for this willingly.]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[AC: Introduced in ''for 3DS/Wii U'']] |
| 16 | * Both the Beetle and Boss Galaga guarantee a Star KO at higher damage when they capture an opponent. ''Especially'' the Beetle. |
| 17 | * The Drill is like the above, only worse. Even at lower percents, it can easily KO an opponent by pushing them off the screen, and unlike the above, it's much, much harder to get free as the damn thing keeps hitting you. |
| 18 | * While the Gust Bellows pushes enemies instead of damaging them, that's actually a blessing in disguise. It covers more than half of Battlefield, can be fired while moving, can be fired for about ten seconds straight, and since it doesn't damage people, it allows players to just hold the button and push enemies off the stage until they run out of jumps (a normal hit would reset their recovery move so they could effectively jump again). |
| 19 | * The Special Flag, which, when held long enough by one person, gives them an instant point (or an extra stock in stock battles). It's ridiculously easy to activate on big stages, drawing out games for much longer than necessary. |
| 20 | * The Spiny Shell (yes, the same one from ''VideoGame/MarioKart''). It works much like it does in its origin series, except it will target second place if first place uses it, or randomly if players are tied for first. However, it's slightly mitigated if someone manages to see it coming and air dodges through the explosion... |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[AC: Introduced in ''Ultimate'']] |
| 23 | * The Staff has small intervals between each shot, which means one can spam it as much they like (until it runs out of ammo, anyways). Because it increases in power the more range it has and the opponent gets further away with each shot, they're going to be sent to the blast zone quickly. |
| 24 | * The Ramblin' Evil Mushroom is a mixture of effective and annoying. Working in a similar fashion to a Fire Flower, the mushroom trades some damage for the ability to reverse left and right directional controls for the victim, which is hard to get used to in the middle of heated combat. It's also a steady stream of dust and as such difficult to break out of or effectively shield. |
| 25 | * Super Launch Stars can be thrown against the ground, making them activate facing upwards. When any fighter gets in and is launched up, it is not considered a jump or recovery, meaning that they can be sent over the upper blast line. It is ''incredibly'' easy to set one up as an instant-killing death trap, since most stages have upper blast lines low enough that a Super Launch Star can fire the character over it. Even if it won't at 0%, the knockback given scales with damage. |
| 26 | [[/folder]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:''64'']] |
| 29 | [[AC: Characters]] |
| 30 | * [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] is considered the best character in ''Smash 64''. Great range, a Thunder attack that had really high knockback, good throws, the third fastest running speed, amazing recovery (in a game where every other character not named Kirby or Jigglypuff has a terrible to mediocre recovery), and a good spacing projectile (Thunder Jolt). In higher-level play, it only gets worse: skilled players know that the hitboxes of most of Pikachu's aerial attacks, and a few of his ground ones (most notably his side smash) bear absolutely no resemblance to the actual animation of the attack. Combine this with the phenomenal chaining properties of said aerials and the fact that Pikachu's recovery allows for ridiculous off-stage edgeguarding, and in the hands of a skilled player, Pikachu becomes a lightning-fast invulnerable combo machine. |
| 31 | * Kirby's up tilt comes out faster than almost every other move in the game, including a few jabs, can be chained into itself from 0% for up to 80%, can't be DI'd out of, and can frequently link into a side smash, which at that sort of damage can be lethal. Then comes the fact that you can space his foot-based attacks to have their very tips hit for the sweetspot damage (along with very far-ranged aerials), and Kirby has a ton of spacing potential. |
| 32 | [[/folder]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[folder:''Melee'']] |
| 35 | [[AC: Characters]] |
| 36 | * [[Franchise/StarFox Fox]] is at the very top of the tier list. With his extremely fast movement and powerful attacks that combo in perfect synergy, he is considered the most efficient fighter in the game. His up smash and up aerial are very fast and especially potent killer moves (both can KO reliably under 100%), but what's even more devastating is his down special, the Reflector[[note]]or [[FanNickname shine]][[/note]]; it's considered the best attack in the game because it's extremely fast (comes out on 1 frame, and can be be cancelled immediately with a jump), has invincibility frames, is very versatile, it has high hitstun and can combo with many of his other attacks, and it's a semi-spike, never mind the fact that it can reflect projectiles (which is supposed to be the ''point'' of it, judging by its actual name of ''Reflector''). |
| 37 | ** Keep in mind, though, that Fox is very difficult to play well with, as he requires very fast fingers due to leaving the ground so quickly with his ground jump, and his fast falling speed. He also is, despite being a lightweight, the fastest faller in the game with one of the worst horizontal air speeds, which leads to poor aerial recovery and easy combo setups on him. Unlike Meta Knight in ''Brawl'', he truly only applies at the highest level of skill. (This didn't stop Nintendo from {{nerf}}ing him ''hard'' in future installments, though.) |
| 38 | * Falco, who is second on the tier list, is almost as good as Fox. While Fox is the best at vertical [=KOs=] and versatility, Falco is the best at comboing and approaching. His laser is the best projectile in the game because its stun allows him to easily disrupt his opponents, especially when done continuously from short-hopping to fire it faster. His "shine" is different from Fox's, as it is optimized to combo with his vertical attacks rather than semi-spike. It's almost as good as the former's, though. Falco additionally has a very fast spike that his Reflector easily combos into, which can KO as low as 50% when opponents are hit offstage by it. As an inverse to Fox's up smash and up aerial, he instead has a very solid side smash attack as one of his primary KO moves. His recovery is the worst in the top tier, since he shares Fox's quick falling speed (but it isn't the fastest) and his poor horizontal air movement (Falco also actually has, along with Captain Falcon, the fastest fast-falling speed), especially since his recovery moves don't travel as far as Fox's despite having a high ground jump. But all of that doesn't stop him from being second-best. Like Fox, he only applies at the highest level of skill. |
| 39 | * [[VideoGame/FireEmblem Marth]], who is third on the tier list, is there for having fast and hugely disjointed hitboxes on every attack, due to his long sword. Add in the fact that his movement suite is only eclipsed by Fox and Falco (in terms of fast falling speed), a powerful and combo-able spike in his down aerial (only a meteor smash in the PAL version, but still potent), an amazing juggle with his up tilt, up aerial, and up throw, the best grab in the game ([[http://i.imgur.com/4t6lrf0.gif even longer reach than Yoshi's, despite what the animation would suggest]], while having substantially better frame data than the few grabs with longer reach), a long, fast, and powerful side smash, and the fact that the majority of his moves can hit below the stage, giving him an amazing offensive combo and gimp game and a major tournament threat. His primary weaknesses are his lack of a projectile, linear recovery, need to rack up damage, and punishable moves (should they not hit). |
| 40 | * [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Sheik]] is fourth on the tier list, has very effective juggling combos, a devastating chain throw (depending on if it's the NTSC or PAL version), a strong, semi-spiking forward-aerial, and a talent for knocking opponents off the stage and keeping them off (using needles or her forward aerial). Despite her being a typical speedster like the above examples, just like them, she too has a solid KO move, which is her properly-positioned up smash (meaning that she does not need to switch to Zelda to score [=KOs=] if played correctly). |
| 41 | * Jigglypuff, who is fifth on the tier list, has by far the best recovery in the game (despite lacking a recovery special move), the best offstage offensive game, a talent for surviving spikes and meteor smashes, surprisingly good reach (on forward aerial, back aerial, and side special), and incredible aerial mobility. It also has Rest, a highly risky attack that can KO as low as below 25%, and can be combo'd into. However, with Jigglypuff main Hungrybox being Melee’s #1 player 2017-2019 and especially after establishing this fact by winning Genesis 6, many started to argue that she is the true best character in the game. |
| 42 | * [[VideoGame/IceClimber The Ice Climbers]] are a bit lower than the other top tiers on this list, but they qualify because they have a technique no other character boasts: Wobbling (named for tournament player Wobbles, who discovered the tactic), the game's one and only ''infinite combo''. It's a bit situational since it requires your Ice Climber partner to be close, but if you grab your opponent and let your partner keep using side tilt, you can keep grapping your opponent and ''never let them go'', racking up way more damage than is ever necessary. If your opponent gets caught, their character is helpless and they might as well just give up and set down their controller. Follow it up with a side smash and you practically have a guaranteed KO tactic. The technique grew infamous enough that many tournaments started banning it in early 2019. Even without wobbling, chain-grabs are a constant threat, as the dual nature of the character allows hand-offs that most other characters would need a teammate for. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[AC: Multi-Man Melee]] |
| 45 | * For every mode that isn't Cruel Melee, Donkey Kong is an absolute monster in Multi-Man due to one thing: his Hand Slap down special via the quake effect. With the lowered defense of the Fighting Wire Frames, the quake one-shots the whole lot of them with ease. It also helps that the Wire Frames aren't very smart; Hand Slap is interruptible by an air attack, but the Wire Frames '''very rarely''' use these unless you're lingering in the air yourself, leading to all of them leisurely walking towards imminent death. Back in the day, this was how most people unlocked Falco from 100-Man Melee. It seems the creators were aware of this during development too, as completing the 15-minute Melee unlocks DK's stage from the ''64'' game. |
| 46 | * Kirby is also a solid choice for cheesing Multi-Man thanks to two things: his ability to fly high, and his ability to [[AnvilOnHead turn into an incredibly dense object and cave in the skulls of the Wire Frames mindlessly grouping below him]]. We are speaking, of course, of the Stone down special, which, like Hand Slap, also does enough damage to KO a Wire Frame from the top platform of the stage. Providing you make sure to hit all five of the present Wire Frames at once, it is nearly impossible to lose while doing this. It's also possible to rack up a fair amount of [=KOs=] in Cruel Melee like this, though a bit risky due to their relentless (and smarter) AI. |
| 47 | * Any floaty character (like Jigglypuff and, again, Kirby) or character with an amazing recovery move (like Ness and Mr. Game & Watch) can win a Multi-Man without even trying to hurt the Wire Frames. They can just fly off the edge of the stage and the Wire Frames will jump after them, eventually fumbling and falling to their doom on their own. This is a solid method for handling Cruel Melee because of how reckless the Cruel Wire Frames are and because they don't have a third jump. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[AC: Glitches]] |
| 50 | * The Freeze glitch [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin freezes the opponent in place]]. If Nana grabs the enemy and throws them either forward or up, a little blue spark appears for a single frame (1/60th of a second). If Popo hits forward and B at that exact moment, the enemy will freeze in place and cannot move on his/her own. This allows you to beat them up at your leisure. If you want to unfreeze them, grab them and hit A, then throw them; this will release them from their frozen state. Not only that, if other characters try to use certain throws on Nana, and Popo hits forward stick and B at the right time, he can freeze the enemy and Nana in place as well. While obscenely difficult to pull off in an actual match, the glitch is banned from tournaments for its extreme game-breaking properties (such as guaranteeing victory via time out if the Ice Climbers have equal or greater stocks). |
| 51 | * The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4IrnB1tWLM Master Hand Glitch]] is bad enough seeing as you can't be K.O'd, but then there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLUPEZrVOOg Master Hand Laser Glitch]] where you can potentially make all of his moves a OneHitKO as well. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:''Brawl'']] |
| 55 | [[AC: Characters]] |
| 56 | * The biggest game breaker in ''Brawl'' is definitely [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]], who is usually either outright banned or handicapped in competitive play to compensate for the fact that he's so much better than every other character in the game. To wit: |
| 57 | ** He has by far the best recovery in the game (his recovery is so far distanced and has so many options that it's nearly impossible to edgeguard him, as all four of his specials can pull this off along with being able to glide), transcendent priority and disproportionately far reach in nearly every sword-based attack (the former makes his attacks impossible to clash with or out-class alike). All of this makes him difficult to approach. |
| 58 | ** A nearly-unstoppable ledge game (which explains the oft-maligned ledge grab rule). |
| 59 | ** Excellent [=KOing=] and edgeguarding/gimping ability, the ability to glide under the stage repeatedly to stall for time, and a series of particularly devastating moves. |
| 60 | ** In particular, up aerial (being the shortest duration aerial in the game and part of the reason his ledge game is so incredible, as well as being an amazing juggler), down aerial (which gets gimps on characters with poor recoveries, and is incredibly fast), Mach Tornado (which has its own sub-bullet), Shuttle Loop (which is incredibly fast, has invincibility frames, and its incredibly high base knockback allows it to get very early K.O.s when near the blast line and on lighter opponents), neutral air (highly damaging, incredibly fast, and a reliable finisher), down smash (incredible reach, reliably [=KOs=] around 125% with the back slice and 140% with the front slice, and [[RunningGag is incredibly fast]]), and down tilt (which is excellent for attacking shields and has a chance to trip, and it can lock knocked down opponents) and his glide attack (the strongest glide attack in the game even if it has normal priority) are just plain painful to deal with. |
| 61 | ** Mach Tornado, which is a strong contender for most overpowered special move in smash history (yes, even compared to ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/[=WiiU=]'''s most infamous custom moves and Witch Time). It is highly damaging and fast, has an incredibly large hitbox that blocks attacks and covers everywhere but above Meta Knight, and recovers almost instantly, which makes it difficult (if not impossible for some characters) to punish. It's not hyperbole to say that the viability of many characters and competitive players in Brawl hinged on their ability to counter this attack, and spamming it, while sure to piss people off in a venue, was [[BoringButPractical sometimes a viable competitive strategy]]. This would ensure that the move got brutally nerfed in ''Smash for 3DS / Wii U'', losing much of its movement range (especially vertical) and has much more recovery time if he lands shortly after the move ends, making it much easier to punish. |
| 62 | ** Also, there is a glitch, dubbed the Infinite Dimensional Cape (which was banned even in MK-legal tournaments), to become permanently invincible (and invisible) by utilizing a control exploit to extend Dimensional Capes. |
| 63 | ** Meta Knight's only non-negligible weakness is his low weight and poor momentum cancelling causing him to die very early. But with how difficult it is to hit and string successive hits on Meta Knight, and his godlike recovery preventing any early kills from edgeguarding, Meta Knight doesn't have any problems surviving. |
| 64 | ** Add that to the fact that he can be mastered pretty quickly compared to others and you have a real [[TropeNamer Game Breaker]]. [[RankInflation He even gets his own tier, SS Tier. Bear in mind that S Tier is the 'God' Tier normally.]] Hence the [[FanNickname occasional term]] 'All aboard the SS Meta Knight'. |
| 65 | ** Meta Knight was so overpowered that he dominated tournaments for 4 years (one yearly analysis showed that Meta Knight players won ''over half'' of the year's monetary winnings across all recorded tournaments) and there were serious calls for the character to be banned (and he eventually was under the Unity ruleset — unfortunately, this ban didn't last in practice). The failure to ban Meta Knight is often noted as the main reason why the competitive scene for ''Brawl'' fizzled out after 2012. His infamy in ''Brawl'' ensured that he was severely [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] across the board in his return for ''Smash for 3DS/Wii U''. |
| 66 | * The Ice Climbers in ''Brawl'' are usually considered right under Meta Knight. The main (if only) reason is their chain throws. By exploiting their ability for each Climber to grab the opponent immediately after the other Climber throws them, they can infinitely chain throw any character from zero to death (other than another pair of Ice Climbers). As such, if a player is skilled enough with performing their chain throws, they can literally take a stock from just landing one grab. The Ice Climbers are also horrendously difficult to approach, with desynced Ice Blocks and Blizzards walling opponents, and the threat of losing a stock if grabbed making it very disconcerting for players to approach. The Ice Climbers do have some significant weaknesses, though, mainly the fact the Climbers can be separated (permanently for the stock if the easily KO'd Nana is eliminated), where a solo Climber loses their infinite chain throws, their walling capabilities, their recovery, and has their damage output effectively reduced to half. The Ice Climbers also have a few poor matchups, with the few characters that are capable of easily separating them while being able to mostly attack them safely (such as the aforementioned Meta Knight, Snake, and Peach). The Ice Climbers are additionally a strong case of DifficultButAwesome, with very few players in the world being capable of taking stocks with one grab (thus the Ice Climbers aren't nearly as dominant as Meta Knight is in tournaments). |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[AC: Final Smashes]] |
| 69 | * Of all the [[LimitBreak Final Smashes]] in ''Brawl'', it's agreed that Sonic's Final Smash, [[GoldenSuperMode Super Sonic]], is the most useful of them. Supposedly, the attack was designed so that players would have a hard time controlling Super Sonic's incredible speed, but the truth is, Super Sonic can turn on a dime, which pretty much invalidates any evasion strategy by just mashing the control stick left and right through the opponent. As [[https://youtu.be/_tw2-32wK5g?t=152 this video]] notes, a ''good'' Sonic player has access to the only unavoidable Final Smash in the game, and even a merely "okay" Sonic player will give you trouble. It got nerfed in ''4'', being much harder to control while lasting less time, but it's still very hard to avoid. In ''Ultimate'', it got nerfed even further (as did many Final Smashes), and it's now seen as one of the weakest due to lackluster damage and being easy to avoid. |
| 70 | * More like a [[DownplayedTrope Specific Parts of the Game Breaker]], but if used in the right place, Jigglypuff's Puff Up Final Smash can cover the entire stage and all landable ground, making it physically impossible for all but the best recovering[[labelnote:*]]such as [[RunningGag Meta Knight]][[/labelnote]]/most lucky characters to survive. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[AC: Tactics]] |
| 73 | * In ''Brawl'' competitive play, planking, which is camping at a ledge in order to utilize the ledge grab's invincibility frames, is also a subject of debate. It was resolved by restricting the number of times that the player is allowed to grab a ledge during the match. In most cases, the limit is 50 ledge grabs per match, with Meta Knight's (whose planking is especially powerful) ledge grab limit being 35 or less. Planking was removed in ''[=SSB4=]''. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[AC: The Subspace Emissary]] |
| 76 | * Unsurprisingly, Meta Knight also snaps the Subspace Emissary just as hard as the main game. On top of all his advantages in the main game, his divine recovery makes platforming and avoiding boss attacks a breeze, his neutral-air chops through the health bars of large enemies in seconds, and almost all of his attacks use his sword, meaning sword-boosting stickers make him even sillier. Additionally, Meta Knight's only weakness, his light weight, can be easily patched up through launch resistance boosting stickers. |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[AC: Boss Battles]] |
| 79 | * Again Meta Knight, as thanks to his double-hitting and very fast neutral aerial that deals 19% and down smash that deals 27% when both hits connect, he has some of the highest DPS against bosses, while his safe offense, small hurtbox, several jumps, and mobility-boosting invincible special moves also makes him perhaps the best at evading boss attacks too, whereas other top tier DPS characters can't evade attacks anywhere near as well as he can. |
| 80 | * Charizard boasts high DPS due to Rock Smash, as all of its hits will connect on bosses and deal a massive 43%, which even on Intense difficulty will allow him to kill bosses in a handful of hits. Zard does struggle at evasion and Rock Smash is quite laggy, leaving him vulnerable if spammed carelessly, but he can kill bosses so fast that you won't need to evade much anyway. |
| 81 | * Marth features fast and safe offense along with decent mobility, giving him above-average DPS and evasion capabilities. But what puts him here is '''Counter''', which allows him to dodge most boss attacks easily while simultaneously striking back for a nice amount of damage, making evasion a lot easier and allows him to kill bosses quite quickly. While Ike, Peach, and Lucario also have counters, theirs are a lot slower, making it considerably more difficult to use them successfully on reaction, if not impossible, and the latter two don't scale with the countered attack either, not allowing them to deal anywhere near as much damage as Marth's does. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[AC: Multi-Man Brawl]] |
| 84 | * Meta Knight once again: All of his prior mentioned advantages are still amazing attributes for this mode, where he can OHKO the alloys with ease and avoid getting hit better than anyone else. Additionally the most effective method for survival on 15 Minute Brawl and Cruel Brawl is planking, which Meta Knight can notoriously abuse to levels far more game breaking than any other character, so he can survive the former mode and rack up [=KOs=] in the latter mode far better than anyone else. |
| 85 | * Smarter AI means Donkey Kong's literally foundation-shaking method of blowing through Fighting Teams doesn't work so well here, since the Alloys attack in the air more often than their predecessors. That said, however, it's still not very often, so it's still entirely possible to win just by hiding under a platform and slapping the ground until the match ends. The Kirby Stone and "flying-off-the-edge" strategies still work wonders as well, though they fall off the stage less often. |
| 86 | * Snake is also amazing with his up smash mortar launcher. Position yourself right (specifically, on the right-side platform) and you can KO the most dangerous threats the instant they spawn in. |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | [[folder:''for [=3DS=]/Wii U'']] |
| 90 | [[AC: Characters]] |
| 91 | * Diddy Kong was often viewed as this in the first few months of the game's release. Already considered a high-tier character in ''Brawl'', he hits rather hard and fast, is surprisingly heavy despite his size, moves quickly, has an array of great combo options out of many of his moves, a bevy of useful projectile options, a solid ground game and good recovery to boot. In the first few months after release, however, all of the above was exacerbated to the point where he sat comfortably atop many tier lists, to say nothing of his infamously overpowered Up Aerial and the [[FanNickname 'hoo-hah']] combo, both of which were thankfully nerfed in two updates (among other moves) later down the line. And yet, despite all of the changes the dev team has made, Diddy is still widely considered a top tier character and a notable competitive threat; his low learning curve certainly doesn't help matters. |
| 92 | ** Even before pre-patch Diddy, Rosalina and Luma were widely viewed as this during the 3DS days before the Wii U update came out. Her attacks, notably up smash and neutral aerial, K.O'd earlier, Luma had more HP, and she couldn't be grabbed because Luma would simply hit you before you could even throw Rosalina. Even if you got rid of Luma, it took only 8 seconds for another Luma to respawn. After a massive nerf, and pre-patch Diddy keeping her in check, it was commonly agreed she was still a TOP TEN character in the tiers and after nerfing Diddy she is often considered one of the top 5 characters in the game despite her nerfs. Some defenders claim that Rosalina was so dominant early on because how different she was compared to say, Ice Climbers. Even Dabuz, the best Rosalina in the world, thinks that Rosalina would eventually become much worse in the tier list once everybody learns how to play against her. |
| 93 | * DLC guest fighter Bayonetta has come under a lot of scrutiny recently based on how versatile and dangerous her toolkit is, making her one of the most effective combatants in the game. Almost all of her specials, tilts, aerials and throws can be utilized to start ''and continue'' a string of high-damage, nearly-guaranteed 40-60 percent air combos on virtually every character on the roster, to the point where she can easily 'carry' and kill some characters off the top/to the side blast zones at as low as ''10%''. This was even worse back when she was first released, when it was damn near impossible to DI out of her up-special Witch Twist as a large majority of the cast. On top of this, Bayonetta possesses what is easily the safest and most useful recovery in the entire game in her Witch Twists and Afterburner Kicks (the former of which can be used ''twice'' if used before and after a double jump), a bevy of useful edgeguarding tools such as her neutral air, the ability to deal scratch damage with ''ALL'' of her A-button moves and some of her specials by holding down the button to fire her pistols (as noted below in 'Trophy Rush' with her up-aerial), fast and potent kill moves in ''all'' of her aerials at higher percents, the intrinsic property Bat Within that gives her more directional control over her ''extended'' airdodges than any other character in the game, and what many consider to be ''by far'' the most useful counter in the entire game, Witch Time, which slows down opponents long enough for Bayonetta to guarantee a fully-charged smash attack at higher percents, initiate a damaging aerial combo at lower percents, or outright gimp and spike opponents off the stage at ''any'' percent using down smash or down-air. It's telling that this counter is ''even more broken'' than Corrin's counter was before it was removed via post-launch update, as noted below. Bayonetta isn't without her faults — she is relatively light compared to a lot of the cast and her smash attacks have a lot of end lag — but most players agree that her strengths absolutely outweigh her weaknesses. Bayonetta's status as a top-tier has been a large point of contention in the ''Smash 4'' community, with some having suggested multiple times that she be banned from competitive play entirely. Similar to Meta Knight between ''Brawl'' and ''for 3DS / Wii U'', Bayonetta would get slammed with [[{{Nerf}} nerfs]] in her return appearance in ''Ultimate''. |
| 94 | ** And if you happen to be playing as Fox against her? All Bayonetta needs is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kTI0DqdZ54 one measly down-tilt]] and she can carry you to the side blast zone and kill you at ''zero percent'' with a simple string of forward-airs. |
| 95 | * In ''3DS/Wii U'', prior to 3DS version 1.0.4., Zero Suit Samus [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpHDN522MDo had a nasty Robin-specific combo that was impossible to escape once they get caught in it]]. If she managed to paralyze them, using either her down smash or neutral special, she could use her down special to [[GoombaStomp footstool them]] into the ground, which is impossible to tech out of. Then she could use her neutral special to paralyze them, forcing them to stand up instead of rolling or attacking. During this state, she could paralyze them again, rinse and repeat for an infinite combo. |
| 96 | * Although the Ice Climbers aren't in the game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeT1rN4MLX0 some people have discovered that Rosalina and Luma]] can pull an infinite on Sheik and Captain Falcon in a case similar to Zero Suit Samus. |
| 97 | * Overall, Villager is fairly balanced, with a kit focused on zoning out his opponents with projectiles and quick aerials. Villager's neutral special, Pocket, however, can be massively crippling against characters with strong projectiles due to how surprisingly overpowered and versatile it is. You can pocket pretty much anything, from Diddy's popgun peanuts to Samus' missiles, and Pocket also has the unique property of having a 'vacuum' effect, meaning using pocket against a projectile ''even remotely near you'' will suck it straight into your hand. Against characters with strong charge projectiles such as Mewtwo and Samus, Villager quickly becomes a nightmare if he manages to pocket a fully-charged version, as moves caught by Pocket have their damage ''and'' knockback '''nearly doubled,''' and unlike his opponents, Villager can release projectiles at a moment's notice with almost no lag. Taking it even further, Pocket gives Villager 18 frames of intangibility shortly upon activation, meaning attacks will pass straight through him for a brief moment, allowing him to survive moves such as ''a fully-charged PK Flash from Ness'' without taking a single percent in damage. |
| 98 | ** An even more ridiculous strategy with Pocket is item trapping/locking. If you pocket Wario's bike, Bowser Jr.'s mecha-Koopa, Pac-Man's fruit, R.O.B.'s gyro, Wii Fit Trainer's header ball, or Diddy's banana, then they cannot spawn the item again unless you get K.O'd. This can be bad if a player relies on their special item a lot. There is, however, a 30-second time limit, so if you take longer than that, their item will return to them. To avoid this, simply take it out after a few seconds and put it back in to refresh the time limit, which doubles as UnsportsmanlikeGloating about the whole thing ("You wanted this? Nope!"). |
| 99 | * When he first came out, Corrin had several properties that made him this to some. He has some of the longest disjointed hitboxes in the game, with his side smash beating out ''both the Mii Gunner and Shulk'' in terms of range along with having a sweetspot at the tip, his neutral special is a paralyzing shot followed by an attack from his dragon claw, which can deal massive damage and be combo'd into a full-charge claw easily by double-tapping neutral-B and holding, making it an excellent K.O. setup, and he has a counter that, with no rage, can KO Captain Falcon from a countered Falcon Punch at around 30%. Fortunately, he has been toned down significantly thanks to the 1.1.5 update, but it still doesn't lessen his viability. |
| 100 | * Cloud is one of the biggest example of this in the game, being considered top 2 just below Bayonetta. He has incredibly huge ranged disjointed hitboxes through his Up Air, Neutral Air, Forward Air and Forward Tilt and can combo or kill quite easily with them and has a very low learning curve as a swordsmen with no tipper mechanic. His up air is also lagless due to its autocancel window (which is bugged and autocancels exactly when the hitboxes end), can kill and has a lot of active frames, allowing it to easily punish air dodges and juggle very easily, while his down air has virtually no landing lag due to its autocancel window, allowing him to safely get back on stage. He also has Limit Break which gives him reliable kill moves such as Finishing Touch and Cross Slash, as well as boosting Climhazzard's typically very bad recovery, making him less of a GlassCannon. He's also the second heaviest swordfighter, below Ike. ButWaitTheresMore, as Cloud has some of the best mobility in the game both on the ground and in the air, with Limit Break increasing that even further, which in turn improves his combo game. Limit Break also lasts forever until you use it, or you die, and his special moves are more powerful than they are in ''Ultimate''. Due to his extreme ease of use and popularity, [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome he was one of the most common characters ever]], being picked up as either a main or secondary by multiple top players including [=MkLeo=], Tweek, Nairo, Mr. R, Komoriki, Ned, [=Mew2King=], Masashi, [=MattyG=] and [=ZeRo=], the best player in the world before he left the scene. He was also incredibly popular to use by mid and high level players too, making him rather popular in locals. He was nerfed in ''Smash Ultimate'' due to how overtuned he was in this game, though similarly to Zero Suit Samus, Mario, Fox and Diddy Kong he still ended up being considered a viable character. |
| 101 | [[AC: Team Battle]] |
| 102 | * Prior to 3DS version 1.04, a Pikachu/Mr. Game & Watch team was basically unstoppable in doubles if FriendlyFire was turned on (usually the case), because Game & Watch's Oil Panic move could be filled up by a single use of Pikachu's Thunder. The filled bucket could then be used to one-shot just about anybody in the game.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x60Rvt4kjXg&list=UU5WNBHwgluAwWJE5QV-5_TA Here is such a team winning in 17 seconds]]. It was so ungodly powerful that Mr. Game & Watch was the first character in the series to get banned ''on the spot'' from competitive doubles. Thankfully, after 3DS version 1.04, Thunder now counts as only one projectile and thus can't fill up Oil Panic with just one use. |
| 103 | ** However, in wake of the update and Game & Watch's release from the Doubles ban, a new Game & Watch team surfaced in Sheik/Game & Watch, specifically the "Vanish Bucket" strategy. Just like the above team, it requires FriendlyFire, but it is arguably considered ''worse'' thanks to Sheik's ability to rack up damage and the moves used for the setup, making it near-impossible to stop. Take a move like Vanish that can fill up Bucket in one or two shots, has high knockback, makes Sheik '''invincible''', has a moderately powerful windbox at the end, and can auto-cancel (meaning they can move ''immediately'' when the move ends). Combine that with a move like Oil Panic, which also makes Mr. Game & Watch '''invincible''' while absorbing an energy-based projectile, such as Vanish's explosion, and has a power relative to the knockback of the move absorbed, and you have a force that can come out on frame 1, can't be reflected, and can '''one-shot nearly anything, even at 0%.''' It says a lot when the only strategy viable to beat the Sheik/Game & Watch team is [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame another Sheik/Game & Watch team.]] |
| 104 | *** In fact, it's so powerful, that Sheik/Game & Watch teams ended up being banned from EVO 2015 simply because it's such a game breaker. |
| 105 | * A pair of Villagers on the same team is RageQuit worthy, simply because they can Pocket each other's attacks; this leads to situations like carrying each other's Timber trees all over the place, or playing catch with a Pocketed Thoron from both ends of the map. Granted, it usually CrossesTheLineTwice, but it stops being funny after the first few times... |
| 106 | ** A later update neutered a lot of these by halving the power of projectiles caught or absorbed from a teammate. |
| 107 | * Two Pac-Man players can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3i7lNHIfk inescapably stall out the match]], nigh-guaranteeing victory under the For Glory ruleset since not only are they avoiding you, they're avoiding the Bob-Ombs dropped once Sudden Death starts dragging. There are ways to stop this before it starts, and a few characters hard counter it, but if those aren't options, you're just waiting for death. It's thankfully a non-issue in most of the competitive scene, though, as they use a different ruleset which turns on Team Attack (being FriendlyFireproof is vital, otherwise the Pac-Man players will KO each other) and typically breaks ties by damage rather than using Sudden Death (staying offscreen all that time will incur hoop damage without dealing any corresponding damage to the other players). |
| 108 | * In the competitive scene, Cloud is often viewed as the best doubles character in the game, being more overbearingly dominant than [[https://intheloop837.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/data-cloud-in-doubles-an-analysis/ Brawl Meta Knight in singles]]. With a partner, Cloud can abuse Limit charges more frequently while his partner keeps their opponents busy, leading into him getting Limit buffs and higher-damage moves way more often, and some of Cloud's moves such as his neutral and back-airs are perfect for sending opponents towards Cloud's teammate for a follow-up. Cloud's partner can also guarantee a Finishing Touch — a normally high-risk move that deals low damage but K.O.s as early as 30% — out of ''almost any throw,'' eliminating the risk factor almost entirely. This becomes even more ridiculous with a team of two Clouds, as the knockback growth on their throws and aerials can lead to situations such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhnCRLuc9o a string of neutral-airs topped off with a Finishing Touch or other Limit Special.]] In addition, Cloud's biggest weakness is gone which is his poor recovery, as a teammate could go offstage to save him by hitting him onto the stage as Team Attack is on. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[AC: Custom Characters/Movesets]] |
| 111 | * Anyone has the potential to be a GameBreaker here thanks to the customization system. Want Bowser, only faster, with a better recovery, ''and'' a projectile move? Done! How about jump boosts that eliminate Little Mac's poor recovery? That's easy! Or how about a light, agile character like Pikachu who hits like a tank and has even stronger moves? Say you want a character who's skilled in all areas? By selecting the best potential moves and giving them a balance of high-powered and/or super-power granting equipment, you can make a fighter who has powerful attacks, a superb recovery, and nothing but pluses to their stats. The most brutal one must be the Risky Respawner equipment. Risky Respawner removes the 2 seconds of invincibility upon respawning, which doesn't make much difference anyways since you are still invincible when standing on the revival platform. The respawn invincibility is removed entirely by the first use of such equipment, which allows you to have a character with ''at least'' +45 in attack, defense and speed due to how the stat spread works with equipment with negative effects on the user. Imperfect Shield is similar, shutting off the ability to perfectly block attacks and works otherwise similarly to Risky Respawner, but this makes it a bit easier for your shield to get broken. |
| 112 | * amiibo are considered quite useful, as higher-leveled amiibo do considerably more damage than regular computers and human players. This is bringing up debates on whether or not they should be banned in tournaments that are a mixture of amiibo and humans, although there are people talking about just having amiibo-only tournaments. |
| 113 | * The Mii Fighters, with the right custom specials, can be quite a terror. For example, the Swordfighter is able to have great recovery, quick attacks, a down special counterattack move, '''and''' a fairly decent neutral special-projectile attack, all in one character. |
| 114 | * While a lot of custom special moves are surprisingly balanced, some of them can become this: |
| 115 | ** Diddy's Rocketbarrel Attack. Yes, one of the top characters in the game has one of the best customs as well. The custom trades Diddy's horizontal movement and a bit of vertical distance of his up special in exchange for an extremely powerful hitbox that lasts throughout the entirety of the move. Factor in Diddy's ease of getting grabs and set-ups/combos into Rocketbarrel attack, and one of the best characters in the game gets an extremely powerful combo option. |
| 116 | ** Lucario's Ride The Wind at base power flies as long as Extreme Speed does at high damage, and at high damage it flies even ''longer''. It's slower, so it's easier to intercept, or so you'd think. The lower speed actually makes it more controllable, letting you swerve around attacks and fly straight to the ledge. You can even use it to fly around the stage to play keep away, even going under stages and across ledges with no problem. |
| 117 | *** Lucario also has the Snaring Aura Sphere, which makes the Aura Sphere much slower, but makes it draw in nearby enemies and doesn't disappear on a hit. Thing is, the "drawback" of being slower actually makes it ''better''. Still, the Snaring Aura Sphere is actually pretty balanced if you're at low percentages, but it ''skyrockets into insanity'' if your Aura is high. First off, it becomes ''massive'', and that coupled with its slow speed and staying time makes it so that if you fire a fully-charged one, you have more than enough time to stay inside of it and use it as a shield to charge another one. Second, it deals huge damage and has high knockback as well, plus it can easily be used for combos. Third, its slow speed and range makes it perfect for edge guarding. Fourth, since it doesn't disappear on a hit and has such great range, it's awesome at crowd control. The only real drawback the move has is its weakness to reflectors and Villager's Pocket special, but even then it retains its usefulness at close quarters and edge guarding. To top it off, it's an absolute monster against the final bosses as well. |
| 118 | ** Ganondorf's Flame Wave is slower and covers less distance than his Flame Choke. It is still a Command Grab like Flame Choke is, meaning it can hit shielding and dodging opponents, and what differentiates it from the base move is the fact that instead of forcing a knockdown, it actually has knockback like a conventional attack. Really powerful knockback. And yes, it is ''still'' capable of Ganoncides, only with the kicker that if the Ganon misses and hits the stage, you might just SD on your own from the KO power the move suddenly has. |
| 119 | *** Ganondorf benefits greatly from two customs moves in particular. Wizard's Dropkick and Dark Fists. While not as gamebreaking as the other examples on the list, these two moves patch up two of Ganondorf's greatest weaknesses, approaching and recovery. Wizard's Dropkick is much less powerful than the standard Wizard's Foot, but the kick sends Ganondorf forward fairly fast and is not as laggy as the regular, making it a much better movement and recovery option. Dark Fists doesn't initiate an electrifying grab but it instead goes higher, has super armor, and is a two hit combo with an extremely powerful finisher that will kill most characters around 70% on the ground and at "what am I even looking at" percentages if it hits in the air. |
| 120 | ** Donkey Kong's Storm Punch. He suddenly becomes an [[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirBender Airbender]] and causes a gust of wind to come out of his punch. An absolutely POWERFUL gust of wind. At full power, it is potentially the strongest wind hitbox in the game, killing opponents without actually hitting them. They zip away so fast the opponent might not even be sure what happened. |
| 121 | *** Donkey Kong really starts channeling airbending with his ridiculous custom Kong Cyclone. The move has both super armor and an obnoxious windbox during the entirety of the up special that makes the move absolutely amazing at punishing and getting away with doing unsafe things DK couldn't do before. What makes it even more annoying is that the move can be canceled as long as Donkey Kong lands before he enters free fall state. So long as there is a platform, Donkey Kong can zip around the entire stage with a move that has an enormous hitbox, super armor, and a finicky windbox that can sometimes send you straight down if you get caught in it offstage. It is considered to be the most useful custom move in the game. |
| 122 | ** Bowser's already a LightningBruiser. However, he gets an even better movement option in Dash Slash. In exchange for the grab and slam, Bowser now dashes forwards and slashes hard. What makes this so good is the little quirk with the move that allows Bowser to act immediately from the move when using the move in the air, allowing combos and surprise burst mobility from Bowser. Additionally, the momentum of the move can be conserved by crouching with the move from the air, allowing a pseudo-wavedash or "waveslash" as the technique has been called. |
| 123 | *** His Fire Shot is an incredibly useful move, giving a fast and powerful fighter a decent spacing projectile to amp up his already-impressive arsenal. Combining it with the aforementioned Dash Slash and perhaps the Slip Bomb as well allows you to really put on the pressure. |
| 124 | ** Shulk's Hyper Monado Arts. Sure, the drawbacks of each mode are greater, but who cares when you're zipping around the stage in the blink of an eye with Monado Speed and getting early K.Os with Monado Smash? Even better, the even lower knockback of Buster is a blessing in disguise, because lower knockback makes it ''easier'' to combo and follow up, and since that mode is for racking up damage and does it even more so now, you can build up to killing potentials extremely early. This custom special move was so useful that Shulk's regular Monado Arts in ''Ultimate'' were changed to work like the Hyper version. |
| 125 | *** Additionally, Shulk has the custom move Power Vision. It turns his counter into one of the most absurdly powerful moves in the game, in exchange for the window of the counter becoming extremely small after one use, becoming almost unusable. However, the counter still has the full, extremely long, regular duration of the normal counter on the first use, making it an almost direct upgrade in most cases. Combine this with Hyper Monado Smash and you'll start killing off of countered ''jabs''. |
| 126 | ** Pikachu's Heavy Skull Bash. Take a move that is mostly considered worthless beyond recovering and give it a sweetspot at the beginning of the move that hits harder than Ganondorf's smashes. Heavy Skull Bash takes less time to fully charge, goes faster than normal Skull Bash, and allows Pikachu to punish mistakes brutally. It also heavily aids in Pikachu's general difficultly in K.Oing opponents. Thankfully, the move is only ridiculously strong at the beginning part of the move; it rapidly loses power with distance. |
| 127 | ** Marth and Lucina's Crescent Slash custom up special. In exchange for less vertical distance, Crescent Slash not only rids them of their slightly-stilted horizontal recovery and comes out lightning quick, but gives them an enhanced combo game, better movement and spacing options, and is an excellent tool for edgeguarding, stage-spiking, and K.Oing at the top of the stage. At low to mid percents, it also gives Marth a true combo if used immediately after forward throw, hitting at the tipper, and is very good when distancing opponents from the ledge, as it comes out almost immediately and is very easy to tip with. |
| 128 | ** Link's Power Bow. In exchange for a longer 'pull back' time and being virtually useless unless fully readied, you get Smash-level damage and launching power in a nigh-undodgeable, lightning quick projectile. The [[CompetitiveBalance trade-offs]] were so laughably minor that they eventually had to change them in an update to make them more significant. While harder to use now, it's still powerful enough to actually RingOut the final form of [[TrueFinalBoss Master Core]] in one hit. |
| 129 | ** Helicopter Kick for Mii Brawlers. A Mii Brawler with only access to their default specials is a pretty bad character, combo-oriented but with slow KO moves and a lackluster recovery. Feint Jump helps their recovery decently, but Helicopter Kick fixes the KO problem ''extremely'' well. A Mii Brawler can combo into the move at low percents from down throws where it can already KO off the side if used at the edge at around 20-50%. Thankfully, the only reliable way for a Mii Brawler to KO with it is at low percents. Above mid percents, Mii Brawlers can no longer combo into it and they're back to having KO problems. |
| 130 | ** Captain Falcon's Lightning Falcon Kick gives him an infinite combo. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Md78LU0V8 That's all that really needs to be said.]] |
| 131 | ** Timber Counter for Villager is one of the most annoying custom moves to deal with. The axe and the Tree part of the move become extremely weak, and while the Tree does reflect damage like Wobbuffet, it's mostly harmless as it's easily destroyed. However, the sapling part is where the move becomes infamous. The sapling now acts as a long-lasting banana peel that can be activated any number of times, tripping anyone who touches it. The trip has high priority and a surprisingly large hitbox that makes rolling through it unreliable. The sapling allows Villager to control a large amount onstage and forces opponents to jump over it, which Villager has very good anti-air options for answering with. |
| 132 | ** And, finally, Ike's Custom Side Special 3, Unyielding Blade. First, it makes you ImmuneToFlinching while lunging forwards, at the cost of range and speed. This would be a great custom on its own, but what really rockets it into true GameBreaker status is the fact that its knockback is increased substantially; it goes from being able to K.O. Mario from the middle of Final Destination at around 123%, making it a pretty bad finishing move, to being able to knock him out at just ''93%''. This means, at high percents, you can rush forwards, completely unstoppable, with an easy KO. Worse, its weakness does little; the disadvantage you'd gain from being able to be stopped by projectiles during the move is completely reversed by the fact that nothing can stop you. The only real major problem with it is the lack of horizontal distance during recovery... which can be repaired by giving Ike his Custom Up Special 2, Aether Drive, which sends you diagonally forwards instead of just up. So, with Up Special 2 and Side Special 3, you gain offensive sweeping power and defensive tanking power at the cost of only a little distance in your recovery. In fact, almost all of Ike's Customs are arguably overpowered — his Down Special 3, Smash Counter, is slower but far more powerful, meaning if you save it for slower attacks, you'll KO easily without ever feeling the downside. His Neutral Special 3, Furious Eruption, has massively increased range at the cost of slightly higher recoil damage ''only when fully charged,'' so if you use it at mid-charge, again, the downside never applies. |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[AC: Classic Mode]] |
| 135 | * In the 3DS version, while at the reward roulette, you can press the Home button to pause the roulette. Using this technique can be helpful for people trying to get Custom Moves. |
| 136 | * When fighting Master Core as Mr. Game & Watch, you can collect the energy balls formed by Master Edges/Sabres using the Oil Panic attack. Then, defeat the swords themselves. When Master Core becomes Master Shadow, you can instantly toss the oil onto it and OHKO. |
| 137 | * Greninja can cheese out all of the forms of Master Core except Master Edges and Wii U Master Fortress by spamming the Down Aerial alone, as the built-in jump will automatically evade the majority of their attacks. And for Master Edges, all you need to curb-stomp is to keep jumping on a distance, spam the Forward Aerial between his attacks, and evade the one-hit-kill quick slash attack (which is easy, as Edges will only use this attack as a follow up to another of his attacks), and repeatedly counter the 5 slash attack with Substitute. |
| 138 | ** Against the Hands in particular, the ONLY damage you will receive is the progressive damage from jumping above the blast line (which won't kill you). |
| 139 | ** In addition, his advantages on 3DS Smash Run (high mobility, teleporting Side-B) also apply to Master Fortress, with the extra bonus that the charged Water Shuriken can take out the enemies and hearts from a safe distance. |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[AC: Multi-Man Smash]] |
| 142 | * Donkey Kong and Kirby are still as useful as ever in this mode. Floating and flying tactics, however, don't work anymore, as the Fighting Mii Team now understand not to chase you off the edge, and can springboard off of each other to get to you when going up high… [[OhCrap which makes Cruel Smash a LOT harder]]. |
| 143 | ** Kirby's still God Tier in Cruel Smash if you [[OutsideTheBoxTactic know what you're doing]], as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw-kOt13Llc here]]. |
| 144 | * For non-Cruel modes of Multi-Man Smash, any character that has a decent mix of range and power can decimate the [[RhymesOnADime Miis with ease]]. Bowser stands out, since you can just spam his dash attack and boot everyone into the stratosphere. |
| 145 | * Certain moves have large hitboxes and enough knock-back to KO Miis instantly. Best of all, Miis don't have invincibility frames upon spawning, so if you stand on the inner edge of the outer platforms, they can be KO'd right as they finish appearing! Most of them are up tilts, such as Donkey Kong's and Shulk's. Rosalina's up aerial also deals some impressive casualties due to its large hitbox. |
| 146 | * Funnily enough, some Multi-Man modes provide you with POW Blocks, which are definitely this in this mode, as each hit on the POW Block will instantly KO any Miis touching the ground. Another good example of this is the Gust Bellows, which, if thrown after activation (in addition to being a truly hilarious sight), tends to send any Miis zipping off screen. |
| 147 | * For Cruel Smash, most characters with a Counter-esque move are almost a requirement to survive due to the smarter AI. Notable ones are Marth and Palutena, whose Counters also return the knockback that the attack would've done[[note]]which is ''really damn far'' with how hard the Cruel-level Miis' smash attacks hit, and enough to KO them after three countered smashes, sometimes two[[/note]], and Little Mac, whose Counter simply hits very hard. Mac gets special mention for filling the K.O. meter by doing this ([[HoistByTheirOwnPetard since he's countering the Miis' overpowered attacks]]), letting him quickly KO a Mii that has a decent amount of damage. Shulk is another nice choice since Vision has an initially forgiving activation time and a very wide range compared to other counterattacks. Corrin is also a great pick thanks to their already strong counter. |
| 148 | ** It's worth mentioning that Lucario is '''[[SubvertedTrope not]]''' among these useful characters. While his Double Team move is good, it requires 100% damage on Lucario to be powerful enough to send the Miis flying, and since the Cruel Miis can KO you at '''30%''', you're probably not going to last that long. |
| 149 | * Lucina must be mentioned. There is a small portion of Battlefield that she can use her up special from — she'll snap to the ledge, and all enemies near enough to the ledge are thrown over it. With good timing, she can stall almost indefinitely. Mastering this tactic is almost a must for the [[ThatOneAchievement kill 8 in Cruel Smash as Lucina]] challenge. |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[AC: Smash Run]] |
| 152 | * Any equipment with the "Auto Healing" ability becomes invaluable in this mode, as permanent automatic healing makes it much easier to survive. The only character who doesn't benefit from this is Rosalina, since the healing causes Luma to de-sync from her, either forcing the player to constantly recall it, or having to spend the entire mode without it. |
| 153 | * The "Spinning Blades" power surrounds your fighter with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin spinning blades]] that rack up damage very quickly, making it extremely effective at fighting the EliteMooks and [[BossInMookClothing Bosses in Mook Clothing]]. As these enemies drop a ton of stat boosts, this allows players to power up very quickly. They also last a long time, considering their utility and price. |
| 154 | * The Homing Missiles are extremely powerful, have a ton of uses for something so powerful, and lock on to enemies to knock them out incredibly quickly. Even stronger enemies like Bonkers and the Reapers can be defeated easily with these equipped. |
| 155 | * The Horizontal Beam is essentially the beginning of Palutena's final smash, except bigger and more powerful and does ''massive'' damage to anything in your path. |
| 156 | * The Launch Ring makes most enemy squad battles a joke, as it can clear the entire screen of lesser enemies in one fell swoop, which almost guarantees success. |
| 157 | * If you are Rosalina, Palutena, or Falco, the "Climb!" Final Battle is pretty much a lock in your favor considering that they both have ''amazing'' jumping abilities, and as long as you avoid the danger zones and Smart Bombs, you're pretty much set. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill This is even worse if you managed to build your jump]] even further during the game. |
| 158 | * If you are Bowser Jr., Shulk, Sonic, or Wario, the "Run!" Final Battle becomes a complete joke. Shulk's Monado Speed (B twice) and Bowser Jr's Clown Kart Dash (side special) speeds them up. Shulk goes extremely fast while Bowser Jr.'s unstoppable in the move, making the Danger Zones the only worry, and even then, they don't mess them up that much. Shulk also has the Monado Jump in case you need to go airborne to take a shortcut (and this also makes the above-mentioned "Climb!" Final Battle a cinch). Similarly, Greninja's impressive mobility and jumping, combined with the possibility of teleporting through the danger zones with Shadow Sneak and the massive vertical distance granted by Hydro Pump, makes those two challenges a joke. |
| 159 | ** In the mention of Sonic, however, with him being the fastest character in the game if none of the characters enhance themselves with items, badges, and buffing moves, can easily outrun the other characters, and if his Speed stat is heightened enough using both badges and power ups, [[http://youtu.be/CnSfWk_oaDM?t=7m he can zip around so fast it's as if you've used the fast forward button on your DVD remote to skip to the ending.]] Finally, Wario can use his bike and outrun the others, damaging them in the process. He can even ride over Danger Zones without consequence! |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[AC: Crazy Orders]] |
| 162 | * With custom characters, Crazy Orders is not only considerably easier but a great way to collect [=CDs=] or large amounts of gold and equipment. While your damage carries over between turns, [[HealingFactor having a KO Healer badge or Vampire equipment (which heals you as you attack)]] guarantees that you'll survive much longer. But be careful — the amount of damage you have determines how much additional HP you'll have in the final battle. If you have low damage, you'll be in trouble when you have to face ''both'' Hands at once with little more than 150 HP! |
| 163 | * Having trouble with the challenge that requires you to beat Crazy Orders after 20 turns as Mario? Equip a Home Run badge so you start matches with the Home-Run Bat, then equip a First Strike badge so that you gain 10 seconds of invincibility if you land the first hit, then finally give Mario the Fast Fireball custom move. At the start of each match, shoot a fireball at someone to get invincibility, then wail on everyone with your bat for an extremely quick victory. With this strategy, you'll reach 20 turns in no time at all. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g34ZGOWHgWw Here's a video demonstration.]] It's even possible to clear over ''60 turns'' with this strategy, as demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD7KKJgIMjA here]]. |
| 164 | ** Even better, using the same setup, but replacing Item Hurler with Quick Batter, and using Fox since his blaster is a lot quicker than Mario's fast fireballs. The end result is almost guaranteed invincibility at the start of the match, and Quick Batter makes getting home runs much easier. Using this setup, the same person in the videos above [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXZtgV-DCCA managed to do a run of]] ''100'' turns! |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[AC: Trophy Rush]] |
| 167 | * Palutena's Custom neutral special: Heavenly Light. It is nigh-useless in a fighting match due to its scratch damage and zero knockback which leaves her wide open to a counterattack, but it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMY7riMgkPA&t=3m11s destroys Trophy Rush so badly]] that she literally makes it look like ''easy money coming from the sky''. |
| 168 | * Bayonetta's up aerial with its Bullet Arts. Essentially, by holding down A after performing the said aerial, she spins 360 degrees, firing from all four of her guns while doing so, shredding every crate to come near. And that electrical sphere meant to keep the player from standing still? Well, Bayonetta's jumping to perform the attack, and ergo technically not standing still. |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[AC: Other Modes]] |
| 171 | * Heavy characters in general are fantastic in All-Star mode, due to the ConservationOfNinjitsu making all of your opponents [[ArtificialStupidity dumb]] and rather weak. Characters like Ike and Bowser can easily send anyone flying with a single smash attack, especially in the early stages. |
| 172 | * Thanks to Buster Monado, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MmD93QvahI&t=51m57s Shulk can score 4 million points in All-Star mode]]. |
| 173 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXDd-XizmJU The Ganondorf trick]] makes the King of Evil perfect for clearing all the Home Run Contest challenges. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:''Ultimate'']] |
| 177 | [[AC: Characters]] |
| 178 | * While ''Ultimate'' has the most balanced character roster in the ''Smash'' series, there's still characters that are top tier. Peach and Daisy are both characters with extremely good aerial mobility due to their float mechanic and their aerial attacks such as their normal air and forward air are very dangerous, with forward air being a kill move at around 100%. In addition, recovering against them is extremely hard due to great edgeguarding thanks to Toad and the buffed turnips while possessing a great combo ability. She does end up being a case of DifficultButAwesome similarly to ''Melee'' Fox due to being a very technical character, but that doesn't stop Peach getting third at Genesis 6. (While Daisy doesn't have as good results, their movesets are identical.) Both characters were significantly nerfed in version 3.1.0. |
| 179 | * Pichu is one of the best characters in the game, which is a big contrast from his appearance in ''Melee''. Unlike in ''Melee'', he hits much harder than Pikachu; indeed, Pichu is the ultimate case of a GlassCannon in a ''Smash'' game, where he can die at 60% but kill you at 80%. This doesn't sound good in theory, but in practice is super dangerous to fight against because Pichu has some of the best recovery in the game with Agility. Pichu is also one of the smallest characters in the game, becoming super hard to hit (which means he can live far longer than he should) and can perform 0-to-death combos called [[FanNickname Lightning Loops]] where he can take down a stock very quickly, though this can be SDI'd. He also has great kill confirms, such as his throws around 80% into Thunder. [=VoiD=] and other Pichu professionals are able to deal with his GlassCannon state and use Pichu in a way where he takes a very long time to die, nearly averting his low weight. Then there's his forward tilt, which is heavily disjointed and kills at 100% and can hit opponents coming to the ledge. When the opponent is at low percent, the move also trips, which can cause more combos. Pichu ended up getting second at Genesis 6, the first supermajor tournament with over 2,000 players, and is generally considered the best character tied with Peach and Daisy from all the pro players. In version 3.1.0, Pichu was slammed with nerfs, with its hurtbox being increased, its infamous forward tilt getting its kill power reduced, and all of its electric attacks now do even more self-damage. |
| 180 | * Pikachu qualifies as well, for many of the same reasons as Pichu. While he doesn't hit as hard as Pichu, he's also much harder to effectively damage despite his larger hitbox, as most of his moves have a very small window in which to effectively punish him. And Pikachu's grab/n-air loops are capable of doing extreme amounts of damage, especially if Pikachu has already weakened the opponent with the very spammable Thunder Jolt. And at high percents, an up-toss followed by Thunder is usually fatal. His dash attack is a reliable kill move (which is one of the easiest inputs in the game that can just be thrown out in a pinch), and it's also too fast to dodge if you aren't dodging already, meaning you have to shield against it and risk getting grabbed when you try to follow up. And if you fall off the stage, you might as well take the fall, because Pikachu's excellent recovery makes edge-guarding as easy as a down-air and an up special. That's to say nothing of the half-dozen other kill-confirms Pikachu has. |
| 181 | * Chrom had this distinction in the initial build of the game. By design of being an [[Main/MovesetClone Echo Fighter]] of Roy, but with consistent damage across his sword, he was already strong on that alone. But what really pushed him into this was his Up-B, which has fast startup, could kill at almost any percent if used off-stage or even be a kill confirm near the edge, and almost always kills the opponent first, allowing him to easily finish matches and making the move one of the best suicide-kill moves in Smash history. Version 2.0.0 drastically nerfed the meteor smash effect of his Up-B, making it a much less potent or consistent game-ender. |
| 182 | * While Joker was considered a high tier at the start of his release, it wasn't until [=MKLeo=] picked hold of him and started decimating tournaments (including being number 1 at EVO) that Joker was considered this way. [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]] has a very strong combo game, with good frame data, including one of the fastest up smashes, and the strong hitboxes on some of his moves, with some moves having surprisingly great kill power, such as back air. He also can edgeguard really well due to his great tether recovery. However, the real kicker is when he has Arsene, which effectively makes him [[LightningBruiser hit as hard as Ganondorf while being as fast as Sheik]] while having actual good air game and recovery unlike Little Mac or Dr. Mario. He also gets a buff to his special moves, and Eigaon is quite devastating due to its large range and being able to do damage over time. He also happens to edgeguard other characters very easily in this form due to his counter/reflector being very strong[[labelnote:Note]]This counter in particular has a very strong 1.6 multiplier which is the best in the game and has the best startup and endlag out of any counter/reflector and has a massive hitbox. You can't even use a TennisBoss strategy against him most of the time by reflecting your own strong projectile back at him, since most of the time it just phases through him[[/labelnote]]. Many people argue that Joker with Arsene up is the best character in ''Ultimate'' with the best way to fight it is through camping the 20 seconds Arsene is active. He did get a slight nerf in Version 4.0, but one that didn't affect him that much and is mostly the same as in release, allowing [=MKLeo=] and Zackray to get great results with the character. |
| 183 | * And then there's Steve. While his mining mechanic requiring him to set up to use his moves to full effect may make him seem bad on paper, he's been shown to be a MASSIVE powerhouse. This is especially because of his [[SignatureMove signature ability to effectively reshape the stage with his block placing ability]]. It allows him to easily gimp, extend combos, recover, and do variety of other options that the other characters could only dream of. Plus, ALL of his moves have a valid use case, further aiding in his viability. From a command grab (and ridable) projectile in mine-cart, to a hard hitting anvil, Steve is capable of demolishing players. Especially unprepared ones. While his mobility seems bad on paper due to his sup-par air speed, he more than makes up for it with his mine-cart, blocks and elytra, which allows him to easily recover from blows that don't outright kill him. Over the course of 2022, there have been discussions to ban Steve, debates of which fired up more intensely when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnlulI6J1I Steve main Onin took out top player MKLeo 3-0 in Super Smash Con 2022]] including one game [[CurbStompBattle Onin won without losing a single stock]] and 8 other Steves in top 64. Then in early 2023, the discovery of the [[GameBreakingBug Phantom MLG, which can cancel hitstun by failing to place a block upon hit]], would prove the last straw for many as it would see a wide number of tournaments ban Steve outright in response. |
| 184 | * The [[StoneWall Shield Art]] of Shulk’s [[StanceSystem Monado Arts]] special move is sometimes seen as the most terrifying and imposing of all five of his arts, even moreso than the increased launching power granted by his Smash Art. Since ''Smash 4'', Shulk has been one of the only characters in the entire franchise to have a special move that can be used during the hitstun frames of being attacked. This means he can activate the Shield Art while flinching or beimg knocked back from taking damage, not only allowing him to escape from otherwise inescapable combos, but to avoid true kill confirm combos, as well (such as Meta Knight’s notorious Up Air strings into Shuttle Loop). ''Ultimate'' gives Shulk an immense BalanceBuff to his Monado Arts by making them faster and easier to select via a RingMenu, and also amplifying the [[MultiformBalance buffs (and debuffs)]] each art gives him, similarly to his aforementioned Hyper Monado Arts custom special in ''Smash 4''. What this means for Shulk’s Shield Art in ''Ultimate'' is that it gives him by far the highest endurance out of any other character in the roster, including super heavyweights such as Bowser and King Dedede. Even at percentages as high as 150%, or even ''200%'' will still be trouble for most to kill Shield Shulk off at from the side or the top of the stage. The Shield Art is not without its [[NecessaryDrawback many drawbacks]], however, such as [[StoneWall slowing Shulk’s speed to a snail’s pace, decreasing his damage output,]] lasting only 6 seconds, lasting even ''less'' than that if he takes damage while it’s activated, and needing a whopping 18 seconds to recharge, but the RingMenu allows Shulk to pull the art out in less than half a second (or one frame/''one-sixtieth'' of a second after optimizing his “Dial Storage” advanced technique) to survive almost any fatal attack or combo in the game at threateningly-high percentages that would’ve demolished every other character in a competitive match or otherwise (barring insta-kill moves such as the Hero’s Whack and Thwack, or the final hits of Zelda’s and Bayonetta’s Final Smashes). In many cases, even at mid-high percentages, the Shield Art now allows Shulk to survive against the likes of Ness' [[ThatOneAttack Back Throw]], Ganondorf’s [[MegatonPunch Warlock Punch]] and [[{{BFS}} Forward]] [[BattleCry Smash]], Dedede’s fully-charged Jet Hammer, ''and even the Hero’s [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Kamikaze and 100 MP Magic Burst]]'' (the latter of which can otherwise kill nearly everyone in the game at as little as '''''20%'''''). This isn't even getting into OHKO attacks like Flare Blade (although this is unlikely to land except for edgeguards), which still does very little knockback. |
| 185 | ** Because the Shield Art significantly raises Shulk's resistance to knockback, it can even be used to set up the opponent for a deadly secondary pseudo-counter similar to Incineroar's Revenge, namely by reducing the hits of several multi-hit jabs and multi-hit special moves (such as Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong, R.O.B.'s Arm Rotor, and most infamously Bowser's Whirling Fortress) into CherryTapping, then, depending on the opponent's damage, retaliating with a Forward Smash or a similar attack powered by a quick switch into either the [[GlassCannon Buster or Smash Arts]] during the endlag of the opponent's finishing hit of their multi-hit move. Even without the use of his actual CounterAttack, Vision, the Shield Art can potentially allow Shulk to get in kills even after the enemy successfully hits him. |
| 186 | ** To put the Shield Art's increased sturdiness and flexibility of use in perspective, as well as just how oppressive it feels against opponents, when [[https://twitter.com/roebruh/status/1192119697585651712 a Twitter post]] [[{{Troll}} jokingly-claimed]] that Version 6.0.0 of the game (when [[VideoGame/FatalFury Terry]] was available as DLC) outright ''removed'' the ability to use Monado Arts during hitstun, ''including the Shield Art'', there were as ''very'' many players [[ThisCannotBe that were in sheer disbelief, if not outright mourning about it]] as there were players [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing singing praises of what would've been a very signficant nerf to the Monado Boy]]. However, [[FailedASpotCheck such a significant nerf would've certainly been noted in the official update notes]] as savvier players noticed, and using Monado Arts while under attack [[AllThereInTheManual being an acknowledged and suggested tactic in the game’s tips about using Shulk]] ([[OlderThanTheyThink and has applied to the previous game, as well]]) means that this is not expected to be changed or removed anytime soon. |
| 187 | ** Eventually, version 9.0.0/[[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]] attempted to make "Hitstun Arts" less of a strategy by increasing how much knockback Shulk takes during Shield Art, but many are already believing this to not be ''too'' significant of a nerf in the long run, especially since the same update compensated for this by giving his actual counter more knockback power, bringing it more in line with its destructive ''for 3DS / Wii U'' counterpart. |
| 188 | * Mythra's Foresight may potentially be the most broken ability in Smash Ultimate, being compared to Smash for 3DS / Wii U Witch Time. When an enemy is about to hit Mythra as she spot-dodges, rolls or air dodges, Foresight activates and makes her take half the damage, but unlike Bats-Within, it also slows the opponent down, causing Mythra to get a potential kill or put the opponent in disadvantage state. Its punish window is longer than a parry, and it also is effective against projectiles from about half-way across the stage allowing Mythra a way to counter zoners by punishing them. What's even worse is that it also works against multi-hits, such as Pikachu's back air, Palutena's nair and even fast jabs or multi-hit out of shield options, which changes how each characters play effectively, as a lot of characters best moves are multi-hits. Moves that have high end lag such as smash attacks are so punishable that you can switch to Pyra and kill them super early with forward smash. It also works on any recovery with a hitbox, allowing Mythra to get an easier punish while they're recovering to the ledge at high percents from a down tilt into a forward smash. The ability also comes out frame 2 and is active for 7 frames, allowing her to get out of juggle scenarios very fast if you time the airdodge right, being even faster than Flip Jump's invincibility which aids Mythra's disadvantage state. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh7ZN3h98bI GIMR explains more about how good this ability is]]. |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[AC: Team Battle]] |
| 191 | * For a time, Joker and Pokemon Trainer were broken as a team due to the Unlimited Rebellion Gauge glitch. Joker's Rebellion Gauge fills up when his teammate takes damage. Due to the way the game's code treats Pokemon Change, it would award Joker with Rebellion Gauge on every Change as if the incoming Pokemon started at 0% damage and instantly received all the damage the retreating Pokemon had. At 100% damage, two Pokemon Changes would completely fill Joker's meter, effectively giving him Arsene for free. As a result, the pair was banned in Glitch 7, and the glitch was removed alongside Terry's arrival. |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[AC: Game Mechanics]] |
| 194 | * As much as some people wanted it to be tournament legal for the sake of more flashy matches and to resemble more traditional fighting games, Final Smash Meter is unbalanced for many reasons. The meter fills up as you attack your opponents or get attacked, but the latter fills the meter much more. While the Final Smashes used through the Meter are weaker, they're still very powerful, and ones with [[OneHitKill one-hit KO]] effects can still do so. The Final Smashes themselves all range from "fairly avoidable" to "nigh-impossible to avoid," notably Zelda's and Bowser's(both of which can OHKO as mentioned). This means that MightyGlacier and StoneWall characters, like King K. Rool or the aforementioned Bowser get an advantage as they can fill up their FS meter more easily than most other characters, and that a player essentially gets punished for winning as they'll inevitably have to deal with a potential ThatOneAttack before they can use theirs. A charged Final Smash eventually disappears if unused for a while, but if anything this results in ''more'' camping when the opponent's meter is full. |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[AC: Final Smashes]] |
| 197 | * Zelda's new Final Smash, Triforce of Wisdom, is universally considered the best in the game. It has a gigantic and strong wind hitbox that sucks people in with occasional shock hitboxes to interrupt escape attempts, does a large amount of damage to anyone sucked in, and kills if their total damage at the end is 100% or higher. Unless you're fortunate enough to be playing one of the very few with a reliable escape option, you're in trouble if a Zelda player gets a final smash. |
| 198 | * Then there are Peach's and Daisy's Final Smashes, which put everyone on the ground to sleep while also spawning 3 healing items that together heal 60%. And since Spirits usually have FS meter on, you can win the fight soundly even if you're high in percent provided you're playing as the right character. Peach and Daisy, if properly geared and competent enough to wear the opponent to critical damage, effectively turn a Spirits fight from "about to die here" to "you are already dead" if they can get their Final Smash off. Its only downside is if the opponent can stay in the air long enough, they'll stay awake. |
| 199 | * While it's random, Sephiroth's Final Smash, Supernova, has a chance to be this by inflicting the target with random effects. While some of these, like flower sprouting or just launching aren't so bad, it can also inflict devastating ailments like slowdown (like the Timer item), Reversed Controls or even straight-up forcing a Shield Break. It's not just the dizzy state that happens- it literally forces the target to go through an entire Shield Break- this makes that particular effect, which is already devastating, spell certain doom for Jigglypuff, because, well, [[OneHitKill you know what happens when Jigglypuff's Shield gets broken.]] Other characters don't have a much better fate, since their stunned state gives Sephiroth a massive opportunity to let loose his Neutral-B to Forward-Smash combo that can kill even Bowser at 0%. |
| 200 | |
| 201 | [[AC: Spirits]] |
| 202 | * Primary Legend-level Spirits invoke this. Most of them will make World of Light a breeze, due to their advanced stats compared to other Primaries, more so if you've leveled them up to maximum. Listing the most powerful ones would take a big while, but special mentions go to: |
| 203 | ** [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Akuma]] is an Attack Spirit with no Support slots but immense raw power. Demon Style is supposed to make you a GlassCannon, but due to how it actually works, you get a hefty stat increase when you give the Akuma spirit Demon Style, making him closer to a LightningBruiser. You virtually have over 8000 attack, in addition to that unlike the Metal Face and Medusa spirits, you get this boost all the time, as you're not relying on being Giant or Giant and Metal. The only major weakness Akuma has is that he has no support slots. However, he is still generally considered to be one of the best spirits in the game. This can be even worse if you're using a heavy like Bowser, because then the lowered defense doesn't actually matter that much and you already have very good power. |
| 204 | ** [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Metal Face]] is an Attack Spirit with one Support slot that gives you the Metal and Giant effect at the start of the battle. |
| 205 | ** [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero with the Z-Saber]] is [[RuleOfThree another Attack Spirit]] that increases Weapon power and move speed, and has two support slots. |
| 206 | ** [[VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} Cutie J]] is [[RunningGag yet another Attack Spirit]] which gives you extended invincibility on rolls, spotdodges, and air dodges, and has two support slots. |
| 207 | ** [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Alucard]] is a Defense Spirit with increased attack power for sword attacks and three Support slots. |
| 208 | ** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Wolf Link and Midna]] is a Grab Spirit that has great, balanced stats all-around, increases dash attack power, and has three support slots. |
| 209 | ** [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Tabuu]] and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Soma Cruz]], both of which are [[JackOfAllStats Neutral]] Spirits (which means they have no drawbacks against any other Spirit type), plus they have very high stats, three support slots, and the former increases the power of PSI attacks while the latter deals high damage to Giant enemies. |
| 210 | ** The [[VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising Hades (Final Form)]] spirit can be devestating with Mii Gunner, Ness or Lucas. If you're facing off against a boss or character that uses projectiles, PSI Magnet/Absorbing Vortex allows you to heal a ton of HP while keeping your stats. This is even more dangerous with more Trade Off Abilities that also increase run speed, intial dash, air speed and weight. |
| 211 | ** [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Mega Diancie]] is a Grab Spirit that starts you off with a Franklin Badge in addition to having three Support Slots. Keep in mind that any Support Spirit that gives you a Franklin Badge normally takes up two slots; essentially, Mega Diancie has the equivalent of ''five'' Support Slots. Having trouble against [[ThatOneLevel/SuperSmashBrosUltimate Dry Bowser]] because you can't choose between Lava Immunity or the Franklin Badge? With Mega Diancie, you don't need to choose! |
| 212 | ** [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Master Driver Rex]] is a well rounded Shield Spirit that has three support slots and the Critical Health Stats effect. He can be obtained by Enhancing the basic Rex Spirit, and you don't actually need the Pyra/Mythra DLC to obtain him, though said DLC comes with a Spirit Board that has him available to snag at any time, on top of making the battle itself easier by throwing away the Lava Floor. |
| 213 | * Support Spirits that start you out with Lip's Stick, such as [[ShapedLikeItself Lip]], make almost all Stamina battles and battles where the enemy can HealThyself a complete joke. You can slap them a couple of times to get the DamageOverTime going, and then either pick them off with projectiles or run away from them without having to worry about actually whittling them down. |
| 214 | * Support Spirits with Slow Super Armor, such as the Polar Bear from ''Ice Climber'', turn your character into an extreme MightyGlacier. Your walking speed slows down to a crawl, but you don't flinch from enemy attacks and you gain super armor on all of yours. The speed issue can be mitigated by dodge-rolling, and if you're using a heavyweight like Ganondorf or Bowser, it doesn't matter anyway. You can one-hit KO pretty much anyone with an uninterruptible Smash attack. It takes two slots to use, though. |
| 215 | ** And if you're willing to use a primary spirit with less overall power and only one slot in exchange for super armor ''without'' the speed reduction, get Mega Man X and enhance him to Full Armor X, whose skill ''is literally just straight-up super armor.'' You can have him learn Tank Style for a relatively minor reduction in move speed and jump height in exchange for boosted offense and defense stats as well, if you want. Again, the only drawbacks are less-than-average stats for his rank and just one support slot, but you were only going to have one slot one way or another ''anyway.'' |
| 216 | ** If you want a rather specific build involving Slow Super Armor that's still obscenely overpowered, try this out: First, get the Spirits of Zelgius and Walhart. Next, Enhance Zelgius and have him learn the Tank Style. Then, have Walhart as his Support Spirit. Finally, equip the set on Ike. Congratulations! Thanks to the combination of the same series bonus mechanic, Armor Knight, Tank Style, Slow Super Armor, and Ike's great attack power, you are now in control of the mightiest of {{Mighty Glacier}}s who can deal with almost any Spirit battle with ease, taking hits like no tomorrow while hitting back like a runaway freight train. And thanks to Ike's Quick Draw attack, speed isn't much of an issue either! |
| 217 | ** Finally, there's the ''crème de la crème'' of Super Armor abilities: Gold Mario, one of the strongest Support Spirits in the whole game. It costs a whopping 3 slots to use, but it provides the exact same non-slow Super Armor as Full Armor X, with the twist being that it can be equipped on ''any'' Spirit with 3 slots. Basically, you gain access to [[StrongAndSkilled both X's utility and the raw power of high level Spirits like Geno and The Boss]]. You'd think this would be the InfinityPlusOneSword for how good it is, but it's not even terribly difficult to get a hold of as long as you know where to look — you can buy two of the regents to craft it (the Super Mushroom and the Fire Flower) from Timmy and Tommy, and the last one can be snagged from the not-too-terribly-difficult Metal Mario fight, which can appear on the Spirit Board as well. |
| 218 | * One of the best Support Spirits in the game is undoubtedly [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Victini]]. It's a Legend-level Spirit (meaning your Power already gets a great boost) that offers Hyper Smash Attacks, the only Spirit to do so. The effects include faster charging for Smash attacks and increased power for each of them (higher than that of a fully-charged regular Smash attack). And the best part? '''It costs a single Support slot.''' Pair this with any Spirit that grants Slow Super Armor or [[ImmuneToFlinching Unflinching Charged Smashes]], and then watch as you sweep the floor with the opponent. By the way, [[DiscOneNuke you can find this Spirit in the Power Plant or randomly in the Spirit Board]]. |
| 219 | ** Although not a Support Spirit but rather a Primary, Legend-level Defense one, [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Keldeo in Resolute Form]] is an honorable mention. While it has a single Support slot, by equipping him with a Spirit that grants you a Metal transformation, you get roughly the same effects as above, plus the raw power Keldeo's stats offer. |
| 220 | * Great Autoheal, a skill that takes up 3 slots and restores 5% health every 5 seconds, is pretty useful in general but not game breaking. However, there is one specific instance where it does quite a bit of work for the player. [[spoiler:The final final level, after you've played as Master Hand, is a marathon level where you choose 3 fighters as lives and go through a large gauntlet including bosses. Given how long it is, including generous periods of downtime, having this skill on for that level makes it trivial to keep healthy even without the max tomatoes the game gives you to help. Play your cards right and you'll be hard pressed to go over 30% with your first character.]] |
| 221 | * Spirits with the Giant ability essentially snap the difficulty curve of Spirit Battles and World of Light over their knees. While the effects don't last long, they don't need to, since the resulting boost in damage and knockback is usually enough to KO most Ace-level or lower Spirits in only a few seconds (and providing a solid start against most Legend-level Spirits) when paired with heavy hitters like Donkey Kong or Bowser. The Great Zapfish support spirit and the Metal Face and Sahelanthropus primary spirits in particular are absurdly powerful, as the Great Zapfish [[DiscOneNuke can be obtained relatively early into World of Light if the west or north paths on the initial fork in the road are taken, as it's the final battle in the Power Plant]], whereas Metal Face and Sahelanthropus, though harder to track down and requiring enhancing Mumkhar or Metal Gear ZEKE Spirit respectively to unlock their skill, more than makes up for the trouble by ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill adding a Metal transformation on top of the Giant form]]'', essentially turning most fights into an exercise of hitting the enemy with one or two Smash attacks, especially if you're playing as Ganondorf. And if you got the challenger pack containing [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo & Kazooie]], while it's not a Legend-class spirit, The Mighty Jinjonator, obtained by enhancing the Jinjos spirit has quite the hefty stats for an Ace-class Spirit (Even rivalling some Legend-class spirits, including having nearly 7000 attack- that's more than Most Legend-class Spirits!) but it also gives the same Giant effect. And the best part is, unlike the other examples, the Jinjos Spirit is completely guaranteed on the Banjo-Kazooie Spirit Board, right from the beginning of the game, meaning you can get it before you even BEGIN World of Light! |
| 222 | ** Keep in mind, both Mumkhar and [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Medusa]] are obtainable as Advanced Spirits, meaning that while they appear pretty late in World of Light proper, they can be fairly common to see in the Spirit Board. Both of them can be enhanced into powerful Legendary Spirits that grant the Giant effect, the former aforementioned into Metal Face, and the latter in her appearance from ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', meaning a relatively new player could just start the mode early already having a large advantage. |
| 223 | ** Sahelanthropus might not be a Legendary Spirit (it's "only" an Ace), but Metal Gear ZEKE has the benefit of being a ''Beginner level Spirit'', making it much easier (or cheaper, if buying it from Sheldon's store) to obtain than the other Spirits that eventually gain similar effects. Depending on the player's luck, it might even manage to be [[DiscOneNuke the very first Spirit they successfully obtain from the Spirit Board]]. All it needs is a few hours of grinding with the player (or training in Doc Louis's dojo), and it's ready to go. |
| 224 | ** Having a Primary Spirit with the Giant (or Metal and Giant) ability isn't the only way to get in on the fun. Any Primary Spirit with three slots (or two in the case of Giant by itself) can equip Support Spirits (such as the aforementioned Great Zapfish) that provide these buffs. The undisputed best Spirit for this, however, is the Prince of Sablé (the enhanced form of the Frog & Snake Spirit), who is not only a Legendary Spirit with three slots, but comes with the Transformaton Duration Up skill, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which increases the duration of Transformation effects]], including those provided by Support Spirits, essentially providing an even larger window to end fights within seconds than any Primary Spirit with Giant can provide (albeit at the cost of not being able to access any other Support Spirit buff). |
| 225 | ** (Almost) Any Fist Attack + Primary, combined with Giant-granting support (takes up 2 slots) on Little Mac turns the little boxer into a massively powerful freight train. Now, all of Mac's attacks deal insane damage and knockback (With the Smash Attacks and Straight Lunge doing between — depending on the spirit — 30 and over 120 %!); thus, you'll one or twoshot about 60-70 percent of the spirits on the map and easily overpower almost anyone else. You can do this as soon as [[DiscOneNuke just after the first dungeon if you play your cards right by getting Mr. Sandman and the Great Zapfish. The path to Little Mac himself opens once you get the Great Zapfish, and Spring Man with his third slot follows not long after]]. That's not getting into the fact that this combo can break the World of Light in so many other ways: Both Spring Man and the late game Akira have three Support slots; this combined with the Skill Tree give you additional coverage if needed and effects on top of that (such as letting the Giant status last longer, Poison on top of the damage, and Crits!), the Endless Smash Attack described below helps ensure you're hitting for MAX power, the punches charging both KO Punches ''and'' Final Smashes superfast (as if 4 potential OHKO moves were enough), etc. Sure, the build is practically useless versus a few spirits like The Boss or Shine Sprite, but it's a small price to pay for the ability to finally play as Mike Tyson in a Nintendo game. |
| 226 | * Support spirits that start you with the Beam Sword. Such spirits are easy to find and they only take up one support slot, which means they can be equipped with 1-slot primary Spirits, or equipped alongside immunity or transformation support spirits on primary spirits with more slots. Low-to-middle skill computer opponents are terrible against them, and as long as you hold onto it, the Beam Sword will remain equipped for as long as you want. |
| 227 | * Spirit battles involving poison (of which [[ThatOneLevel the dreaded]] [[VideoGame/MetalGear The Boss]] is one) are normally a pain due to the constant health drain that they inflict, but [[VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} Madama Butterfly]] and [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Gruntilda]] {{troll}} them all. While they both ask for a whopping three support slots, their effects are well worth it since, rather than "merely" providing poison immunity, the former makes poison ''heal'' instead of hurt, effectively replacing constant damage with constant health regeneration, and the latter makes poison greatly increase attack, defense, ''and'' speed, making you a MasterOfAll. Regardless of which spirit you choose, they take a significant chunk of the difficulty out of fights with poison clouds and floors. Madama Butterfly is slightly balanced out by her non-appearance until [[EleventhHourSuperpower close to the end of World of Light]], but starting with Version 5.0.0, you can snag Gruntilda from the Vault's shop for the moderately high price of 15,000 gold, even without owning Banjo & Kazooie. (Though if you do have Banjo & Kazooie, you can also get Gruntilda in the duo's DLC Spirit Board.) |
| 228 | * The fact that equipping spirits with characters from the same series grants a boost in spirit power can be scary in some situations. Let's say you have to fight against a legendary metal opponent in a stamina battle and decide to equip both [[VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising Hades and Viridi]], two legendary spirits with already immense power and one already having a skill against metal opponents. Now equip them to Palutena, and the spirit power getting a boost kicks in, making it so you could finish the battle in seconds by just standing in place and spamming Autoreticle. |
| 229 | * Until version 2.0.0, Olimar was ''extremely'' overpowered with Spirits, due to how they interacted with his Pikmin (damage boosts from spirits would boost their potential damage ''twice'' instead of once). While all Spirits grant a power bonus or multiplier, Olimar's Pikmin were disproportionately empowered, having the potential to do over ''800%'' damage with the right set up and completely dominate Legend Spirits and Adventure Mode bosses. [[DiscOneNuke It's also possible to find him right near the start of World of Light if the West path is taken, as while there's an obstacle that needs clearing to reach him, one of the Spirits that can do so can be found very close by.]] |
| 230 | * Using certain combinations of Spirit effects that stack or otherwise synergize with each other can lead to excellent results. For example, though [[BribingYourWayToVictory you'll need the Pyra/Mythra DLC in order to get the latter]], the Spirits of [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Master Driver Rex and Pneuma]] go like bread on butter with each other; [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration go figure, as they are a Driver and Blade pair]]. Master Driver Rex has high stats overall (as mentioned above), and has the Critical Health Stats effect, which grants a CriticalStatusBuff. Pneuma has the Critical Healing and Metal effect, which is similar, but provides a heal and turns you into Metal instead. The combination of both effects is the perfect safety net when dealing with tough fights in case Rex's raw stats don't cut it, as once the effects kick in (both at the same time), you'll suddenly become stronger, faster, ''and'' have NighInvulnerability on top of that. Add one last single slot Support Spirit as necessary, whether it be something like another Critical Health Stats provider for more stat stacking, a [[WeaponOfXSlaying Killer effect]] for dealing with specific fights, or something straightforwardly useful like Victini with its Hyper Smash Attacks, and you can make even foes like [[ThatOneLevel Giga Mac]] look like total chumps. |
| 231 | * While not necessarily "broken" for actual gameplay, basically any spirit that can be easily obtained and enhanced is "broken" in being ''extremely'' lucrative fodder for dismissing for the sake of obtaining easy [=SP=] and cores, which can be used to make your pre-existing spirits (like, say, ''all of the other examples in this list'') even more powerful. While a good few enhancable spirits are only available from the Vault Shop, Spirit Board, or once-per-save World of Light encounters, a select few are easily obtained from the shops unlocked in World of Light for extremely cheap, and some are even accessible from the [=DLC=] Spirit Board and infinitely farmed for free. Combined with passive methods of gaining levels, you can effectively turn [=SP=] gain into an incremental game, having to do nothing but check in every so often to minmax your gains. There's ''many'' spirits that help for this, but perhaps the most noteworthy would be X-Parasites/Nightmare, Nipper Plant/Petey Piranha, and Metal Gear ZEKE/Sahelanthropus (obtainable from in-game shops for dirt cheap and turn a profit if their enhanced forms are fully levelled), and the pairs of the Dragon Quest Slime/King Slime and Great Sabrecub/Great Sabrecat (Extremely easy spirits available on the [=DLC=] spirit board and can be fought infinitely) |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[AC: Strategies against spirits]] |
| 234 | * Ridley is a particularly powerful character in World of Light, mainly due to how abuseable 2 particular specials become in this mode: |
| 235 | ** Ridley's ability to cancel his command grab, Space Pirate Rush, yet still launch characters away makes spirit battles in walk-off stages immensely easy. Even ones as infamously hard as the Giga Mac battle can end without taking so much as scratch damage thanks to it. If uncancelled, it kills Ridley first, but correct timing just after Ridley is offscreen will end battles that would be hell for any other character. |
| 236 | ** Ridley's down special, Skewer, is normally immensely tricky to land on any aware opponent, especially with the precision required. However, giant characters and slow, metal characters, especially combinations of both, can't really do much to prevent being shish-kebabbed due to their gigantic size or sluggish movement making them a very forgiving target to land the sweetspot with. To make matters even better, most giant battles are also Stamina ones, where Skewer is even better. Add power from skills and Ridley's own spirits, and it may very well one shot {{Mighty Glacier}}s with ease. |
| 237 | * It's surprising how well Bowser cleans house in World of Light, as a good deal of his moveset can counter the more common spirit strategies alongside his general weight and power. Fire Breath can cut through opponents' health and stunlock them, even at the minimum range when it runs out, which is useful for Stamina battles. Flying Slam counts as a grab and you can chain it over and over again, making it useful against foes with Super Armor. Bowser Bomb can now meteor smash, bettering his edgeguard game, and is useful for halting hyperaggresive fighters. Whirling Fortress is still a good recovery move, is a great counterattack after shielding, and also stunlocks enemies easily. Finally, Bowser is also one of the few fighters who can KO opponents at 90% damage instantly with his Final Smash, which is invaluable against Metal and Giant enemies who would otherwise require far more punishment; and even if the opponent has taken less damage than that, the Final Smash can still easily KO them on smaller stages. He has his disadvantages, mainly his large hitbox and the lag on many of his attacks, but the latter can be remedied with the correct Spirits. [[DiscOneNuke He's also likely the first heavyweight character that players who take the east path will find.]] |
| 238 | * Using Cloud against bosses is surprisingly easy even with all the nerfs he's received for one reason: Hitting a boss fills his Limit Break bar by around a fourth or a third of it, making it so he constantly unleashes powerful moves that deplete the bosses' life bars in little seconds. This makes it so the BossRush in the final stage becomes a joke, as Cloud can rapidly unleash powerful attacks after just giving them a few hits. |
| 239 | * Donkey Kong is another solid choice, as his ground slap can stun lock and reduce even Legend-class Spirits to a near cake-walk as the AI is rarely smart enough to attack from range or drop on you directly. Combine it with a spirit that lets you start as a giant and you're golden. Even disregarding the Ground Slap, Donkey Kong hits like a truck with his Smash attacks, which paired with the aforementioned Giant spirits means handing out near instant [=KOs=] like candy. Moreover, many opposing spirits are ineffective at recovering when [=DK=] uses Spinning Kong on the ground at the edge of the stage. [[DiscOneNuke He can also be found very early in World of Light so long as the player doesn't take the east path at the beginning, and is more than likely the first heavyweight character that the player will find.]] |
| 240 | * Lucas. His up smash is already super powerful with decent range. However, when you combine that with ArtificialStupidity, how often battles reduce opponents' defenses, and some of the Smash Attack related boosts from the Skill Tree, it becomes ''very'' useful. And for battles that like to shoot a lot, PSI Magnet allows for a lot of healing. His down smash is useful in stamina battles, since all three parts of the attack will very likely connect and take off a large chunk of your opponent's HP. Finally, his Final Smash if angled can send opponents into the blast zone or far enough off the edge so they can't recover. |
| 241 | * If you're stuck on [[ThatOneBoss one of the World of Light's hardest spirit battles]], try using Yoshi. While he is often underestimated due to his unhelpful up special, [[KillerRabbit he is a force to be reckoned with]] due to his neutral special, Egg Lay. The main way to go is to rack up as much damage to the opponent as you can (such as Yoshi's down aerial or using a Lip's Stick as mentioned above), then lure them to the ledge before using Egg Lay to trap them in an egg and let them fall to their doom. Unlike other fighters which are able to forcibly grab or swallow opponents and utilise TakingYouWithMe, Yoshi's Egg Lay is harder to break out of the more damage his target has taken, and he is able to perform the move without putting his own life at risk. |
| 242 | * Ness deserves to be mentioned. His PK fire, rather infamous for its usage in online play, can inflict tons of damage very quickly, setting up quick kills, and the AI is often stupid enough to fall for his up-b recovery kill move. Combine this with giant spirits and good range on his bat, and he can shred most spirits effortlessly. This is triply so in stamina battles, as unless the opponent has permanent super armor, PK fire + Giant will kill them in a laughably small amount of time. |
| 243 | * Chrom. When facing a single opponent, you can knock them off-stage, and with some luck, spike them with the Soaring Slash (Up Special), knocking them out before Chrom. In stamina battles with no walk-offs to abuse, this is one of the best tickets to cheesing the fight, especially useful if the opponent has a large advantage in power level. |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[AC: Skill Tree]] |
| 246 | * Smash attacks in general have the potential to be this thanks to the number of skills (which can all be stacked) that can give them added effects. The more notable ones include: |
| 247 | ** Endless Smash Holding, allowing you to hold your Smash attack indefinitely. By itself, it's much more useful than you might think, as due to the ArtificialStupidity in a number of Spirit Battles, you can just hold your Smash attack indefinitely until one of your opponents walks right into your range. [[DiscOneNuke You can get the skill fairly early too.]] |
| 248 | ** Unflinching Charged Smashes, which grants SuperArmor while charging a smash attack, and Hyper Smash Attacks, which hastens charge speed and increases damage dealt. While both of these skills are obtained late in the skill tree, once you have them, you'll be able to shrug off any attack that isn't a grab and still retaliate with a powerful move of your own. |
| 249 | ** Poisoned Smash. Thought your smash attacks hurt before? Now they can cause lingering damage after they hit their mark. The only kicker is that it won't activate all the time and it's another skill that's obtained late in the skill tree, but a few extra points of damage can be the key to sealing out a victory. |
| 250 | ** Heal with Smash Attacks. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin If your smash attack connects, you heal a bit of damage.]] It's yet another skill that's pretty deep in the tree, but for longer fights, it can be invaluable. |
| 251 | * No Penalty for Continuous Dodging. As the name implies, this skill removes the lag that is normally induced on a dodge after using it repeatedly, effectively returning the dodge mechanic to how it functioned in previous games. Missed being able to roll indefinitely in ''Smash 4''? Look no further. |
| 252 | * Double Final Smash. Really, this one speaks for itself. While it also requires a lot of skill points to get, being able to use a Final Smash twice in a row can be a killer trump card for certain characters, especially in the harder Spirit fights. What's also notable is that while some Spirits are able to increase the ''chances'' of a double Final Smash, this skill gives you a second one '''guaranteed'''. Combine this with Spirits carrying the skill Fast Final Smash Meter (which is also available on the skill tree), and you can effectively gain access to a Final Smash before your opponent has any time to breathe. Plus, when paired with characters who can instantly kill opponents instead of launching them at 100% damage or above with their Final Smash (such as Bayonetta, Zelda, Ridley, and Sora), it's essentially a near-instant win against most non-Stamina fights, especially against Metal or Giant enemies, who would usually need to take considerably more damage in order to be knocked off. |
| 253 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext GameBreaker / SuperSmashBros
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
