If it weren’t for the existence of Mii Gunner, Yoshi might have claimed the title for “most buffed Figure Player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”. In Super Smash Bros. 4, Yoshi was a bottom-tier contender who lacked tournament results and representation. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case — he is now a solid (albeit still underrepresented) pick in the competitive amiibo scene. If you’d like to read more about Yoshi’s metagame history over the years, head over to his corresponding wiki page. Otherwise, let’s jump right into today’s training!

Special thanks to Psythe for contributing Yoshi’s training information!

Spirits

Trainers hoping to equip their Yoshi FP with a Spirit team should do so before playing a single match against it! Both Primary and Support Spirits scramble an FP’s training data, so if your Yoshi amiibo is already Level 50, you’ll have to play a few games to refresh its training afterward. For more information, check out our full Spirits guide — in the meantime, here are some character-specific builds that work well on Yoshi:

• Banned bonuses: As a heavyweight fighter, Yoshi benefits from each and every one of the Spirit effects we classify as “the big five”. These include Super Armor, Great Autoheal, and Armor Knight, among others; if you decide to use Armor Knight, fill the remaining slot with Trade-Off Ability ↑ or Move Speed ↑.
• Tournament-legal bonuses: Almost every competitive Yoshi FP runs the Physical Attack ↑ and Air Defense ↑ Support skills. The third slot is a bit more flexible; you can go with Floaty Jumps, Move Speed ↑, or Trade-Off Ability ↑. Each of these helps improve Yoshi’s recovery potential, so feel free to take your pick! If you’d rather use a spread that enhances Yoshi’s shield-breaking potential, go with Physical Attack ↑, Shield Damage ↑, and either Trade-Off Ability ↑ or another Physical Attack ↑.
• Raid Boss bonuses: The aforementioned Great Autoheal works wonderfully on a Raid Boss, but it comes with one trade-off: human players aren’t going to want to fight the FP because it’ll be healing back so much health. In that case, you can use any combination of Move Speed ↑, Shield Damage ↑, Air Defense ↑, and Physical Attack ↑ instead.

Regarding stat distribution, Yoshi functions well enough with a balanced spread (2100 / 2100), though you can invest a bit more heavily in attack to increase his strength if you like (2400 / 1800). Before you begin training your FP, check its Spirit-type and make sure it’s Neutral — that way it won’t lose any Spirit-type matchups later on.

Competitive Training

If you’ve read many of our guides before, you know the drill: teach Yoshi to walk, perfect shield incoming attacks, and remain on-stage at all times. His double jump carries him far, but leaves him vulnerable to edgeguarding — which is why he can’t afford to leave the stage to gimp his opponents. If you’d like to read more about why walking is best for competitive FPs, check out this page for all the details. Here’s what an optimal Yoshi FP’s moveset looks like:

• Forward tilt is crucial to Yoshi’s success. It can lead into a few follow-ups, including neutral air at low percentages and up air at higher damages. These combos rack on a good amount of damage and should be relied on during your training sessions.
• Forward smash is important here too. It’s got a respectable damage output, and as such should be your main grounded kill move. Use it a tiny bit less than forward tilt, and try it out at the ledge as well!
• Up tilt should be used much less than the moves listed above, but it’s still key to winning tournament matches with Yoshi. Up tilt can lead into a chain of up airs, too! Overall, you should be using up tilt alongside up air and up smash as anti-airs.
• Down tilt’s only viable use is right next to the edge while your FP is trying to recover. It can two-frame opponents hanging from the cliff. As a general note, the AI will throw Yoshi eggs off-stage by the time it reaches Level 50 — this is fine, but it doesn’t need to be taught.
• In descending order of priority, neutral air, Yoshi Bomb, and down air should all be used to clear the way for a safe landing. Yoshi Bomb is incredibly strong if the FP was equipped with the Shield Damage ↑ Spirit effect we mentioned in the previous section.

We mentioned this earlier, but you have to stay on-stage at all times while raising Yoshi. The only attack you should go out of your way to avoid is forward air; there’s actually a bug in Yoshi’s AI that can cause him to self-destruct by using a Noggin Dunk to cut his double jump short. To prevent this from happening, wait at the ledge whenever your FP is recovering back — and then intercept it with a down tilt.

Raid Boss Training

Yoshi makes for a decent Raid Boss. Problem is, his grab isn’t decent at all, and leaves him quite vulnerable if it misses. Fortunately, there’s another option — if you decided to use the Shield Damage ↑ bonus from our Spirit section, you can actually train Yoshi to put pressure on his opponents’ shields instead. You’ll want to stay on-stage at all times, and refer to the following list of attacks during training:

• Forward tilt, neutral attack, and up tilt are going to be your best neutral options. Forward tilt can combo into a neutral or up air depending on the enemy’s percentage, while up tilt leads into itself or an up air. Focus on all three of these moves at close range.
• All five of Yoshi’s aerials are useful in their own unique ways! Neutral air is a solid landing option, while up air should be used consecutively to rack on tons of damage (and KO at high percentages). Forward air, back air, and down air are great for general aerial combat — but don’t use them off-stage.
• Up tilt, up air, and up smash should all be used as anti-airs. When your FP is above you and trying to land, use all three of these moves to intercept it.
• A small bit of forward smash and down smash can be sprinkled in as well.

You may have noticed a striking lack of special moves on this list! Everyone knows Egg Roll is no good, but perhaps you’re confused over Egg Lay and Egg Throw — the former has noticeable start-up lag and a rather short range, while the latter is actually hard-coded near the ledge at later levels and need not be taught. If you’d like to learn more about FPs and how they store training information, check out our general guide whenever you have a spare moment!

Wrap-Up

To be frank, Yoshi was a disappointment in Super Smash Bros. 4 — so it’s great to see him doing so much better in this game. Despite his newfound strength, he’s still a bit low on tournament results and representation, so if you’ve got a Yoshi amiibo sitting around, why not train it up for a while? If you have any questions along the way, you’re always welcome to join our Discord community! To those wanting to enter a tournament, we’ve got a detailed guide that helps you do just that. We’re constantly hard at work bringing you the most accurate amiibo training guides possible, so if you like our posts, we’d appreciate it if you looked at our Patreon page and donation box! Until next time — happy training!

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