The Mii Fighters are rather daunting to train — but for a completely different reason than other characters! Once you assign a Mii to your Mii Swordfighter amiibo, you can’t change it without resetting all of its training. This means you’ve got to be completely sure your Figure Player’s Mii is exactly to your liking before you train it. If you’d like to learn more about Mii Swordfighter’s metagame history before we begin, feel free to read its corresponding wiki page. Otherwise, let’s jump right into today’s training!
Spirits
Do you want to equip your Mii Swordfighter amiibo with a Spirit team? If not, feel free to skip ahead to either our competitive or Raid Boss guide — whichever sounds best to you. If you’re new to amiibo training and want to learn more about how Spirits work in this game, please read our full Spirits guide. In the meantime, here are some recommended builds to get you started.
- Banned bonuses: Armor Knight works great on just about every character there is — and Mii Swordfighter is one of them! It does come with a slight drop in speed, but you can fill the third slot with Move Speed ↑ to even things out a bit.
- Tournament-legal bonuses: Weapon Attack ↑ is the obvious choice here, as nearly all of Mii Swordfighter’s attacks use its sword. You can stack it up twice for extra power, if you like! Other options include Air Defense ↑, Critical-Health Stats ↑, and Critical Healing & Metal. You could also leave a slot blank to bank extra stats, which could prove beneficial in the long run.
- Raid Boss bonuses: It’s very easy to equip a Raid Boss with Great Autoheal or Super Armor and leave it at that — they’re both great options. They’re also lame options. If you’d like a less annoying build for your Raid Boss, try out Weapon Attack ↑, Shield Damage ↑, and Move Speed ↑ instead.
You’re welcome to go freestyle with Mii Swordfighter’s stats; the exact numbers don’t really matter. We generally recommended a balanced build (2100 / 2100) as our default advice, but feel free to lean more heavily into attack power or defense as you see fit. As long as your FP’s Spirit type is Neutral, you’re good to go!
Competitive Training
Mii Fighters are unique — they’re the only characters in this game that still have custom moves! For Mii Swordfighter, you’ll want to pick Blurring Blade, either Airborne Assault or Chakram, Skyward Dash Slash, and Power Thrust. Airborne Assault has great kill power at the ledge, while Chakram sees occasional use on stages without platforms. The choice is yours!
We’ve prepared a short list of each and every move a tournament-ready Mii Swordfighter amiibo should have somewhere in its arsenal. If you’re a pro amiibo trainer and just want this character’s sauce, feel free to stop reading after the bullet points. Otherwise, we’ll be going into detail on each move’s role in Mii Swordfighter’s kit. Let’s break it down!
- Heavy emphasis on Power Thrust at mid-range
- A little bit of Airborne Assault at mid-range, if equipped
- Down smash and grab at close range
- Up smash and up air for juggling
- Forward tilt, up tilt, and Chakram are optional
- No off-stage play. Instead, wait at the ledge and intercept with a down smash or grab
If you’re new to amiibo training, this paragraph is important because we’re going to quickly cover some basic training concepts! Many new trainers accidentally raise a Figure Player that does nothing but roll and dodge. To avoid this, remember to let your FP hit you with attacks you want it to use. That said, your FP will only start using these moves after a few completed matches. As always, keep dashing and jumping to an absolute minimum — more info on that here. When you’re ready to start training, make sure your Mii Swordfighter has your desired Mii and outfit combination. Choose to play as a Mii Swordfighter yourself; preferably one with the same custom moves!
Power Thrust is Mii Swordfighter’s bread-and-butter. It’s fast, powerful, and has a moving hitbox — and opposing Figure Players have lots of trouble dealing with it. You ought to heavily prioritize this move at medium range, only switching to other attacks at close range or when your FP is directly above you. Believe it or not, most of Mii Swordfighter’s competitive success is thanks to this single move, so it’s an absolute must-have.
If you chose Airborne Assault as your side special, this move works great at medium range! This attack propels Mii Swordfighter forward, dealing solid damage and knockback. If the attack is blocked by an opponent, Mii Swordfighter generally remains safe afterward thanks to its rebound. That being said, Power Thrust is generally the better move, which is why we prioritize it over Airborne Assault.
At close range, your main two attacks are down smash and grabs. Down smash strikes on both sides and is rather fast. It also doubles as a solid ledge-trapping option since Mii Swordfighter can’t go off-stage to edgeguard. The move is a bit lacking in kill power, though. Grabs are tricky, as this character’s AI uses a down throw to up special combo at 0% that causes a guaranteed self-destruct if used near the edge. Fortunately, your Mii Swordfighter will most likely approach with Power Thrust first, meaning the opponent will take damage before the grab (and this combo only works at 0%). When grabbing your FP, simply launch them upward with an up throw!
While they’re in the air, your main juggling moves are up smash and up air. Mii Swordfighter’s up smash strikes multiple times and is excellent at intercepting opponents’ landings, while up air is strong and has a long-lasting hitbox. Keep your FP in the air with as many up smash and up air attacks as possible! If they manage to land back on the stage anyway, you can go back to using Power Thrust, down smash, and grabs (depending on your position on the map).
Forward tilt works well at close range, and can lead into a Power Thrust at low percentages. Up tilt combos into up air and can set up juggles, though it’s quite a bit weaker than up smash. If you chose Chakram as your side special, it’s best used once or twice during your entire training session — the move is completely useless on stages with platforms, however, because Mii Swordfighter’s AI likes angling the projectile downward if they’re standing on a platform. Chakram can’t travel through platforms, which makes it rather pointless! Finally, down air should only see usage once or twice to secure a safe landing. You really have to go light with this move — the AI spams it if you go overboard.
Mii Swordfighter tends to use down tilt, dash attack, and forward smash whether you like it or not. Fortunately, these all work in his favor and don’t need to be taught! The AI likes using down tilt at the ledge, and the move does a surprisingly good job of dealing repeated damage to opponents who air dodge in. Dash attack is a solid approaching tool, and then forward smash is sometimes used to catch air dodges. All in all, not too bad for moves the AI uses regardless of training! If any of the explanations listed here were confusing to you, please read our general training guide for more information. Special thanks to GamerJohn for contributing Mii Swordfighter’s training information.
Raid Boss Training
A Raid Boss Mii Swordfighter’s preferred custom moves are slightly different from the ones we covered above in the competitive section. This time around, you’ll want to choose Gale Strike, Chakram, Skyward Slash Dash, and Blade Counter. Unfortunately, almost all of Mii Swordfighter’s special moves are liabilities against human opponents, so we’re choosing the ones the AI is least likely to use.
Generally speaking, Raid Boss training is somewhat easier compared to competitive training. There aren’t any wild movement restrictions in place, so you’re free to run and jump around as often as you like! Each trainer’s Raid Boss winds up slightly differently, so you’re welcome to deviate from our suggestions as you see fit. Let’s break down our full recommendations for a Raid Boss Mii Swordfighter:
- At close range, your best options are jab, forward tilt, and down tilt. The latter two should receive slightly higher priority here. Down tilt works well at the ledge, too!
- Rotate up tilt and up smash against your FP whenever it’s in the air and above you. Up air is fantastic as well, and packs quite the punch when used consecutively.
- Neutral air works as a landing option; meanwhile, forward air and back air are best used for aerial combat to either rack on damage or score KOs.
Here’s the lame part: to increase the odds of Mii Swordfighter’s success, you’ll have to stay on-stage at all times and steer clear of special moves. If you try to use specials anyway, you’ll find that the AI likes using charge-up moves directly next to opponents. That doesn’t work so well, as it leaves the Swordfighter horribly vulnerable to incoming attacks. Standard moves only!
Wrap-Up
That just about wraps up our seminar on Mii Swordfighter! If you have any questions about amiibo training, feel free to join our community on Discord and ask away. We’ve also got a handy tournament start-up guide that helps you involve yourself with the scene! If you realize you want to change your Figure Player’s Mii but don’t want to erase its training, we might be able to help you out there too. Until next time — happy training!
If you would like to read more about amiibo training, please follow this link.
Would you still recommend grabs for a raid boss?
The amiibo isn’t smart enough for this and also gets gimped way easier than the other recoveries
Spin attack at least keeps them safe from MOST gimps