Yesterday night, the brand-new fighter Kazuya Mishima was added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We think his amiibo figure is going to break the metagame — thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that for quite some time. What we are looking at right now, however, is the balance changes that came with last night’s patch. Quite a few fighters have been greatly buffed, and in today’s post, we’re going to go over each change and how it affects the corresponding Figure Player. Let’s get started!
- Mii Brawler is the big winner — in fact, it was buffed so heavily that it’s likely going to rise to the A tier in the next version of the Exion tier list. Its best neutral special, Flashing Mach Punch, now has more range; this move was already strong against opposing FPs, and now it’s even better. One of its custom side specials, Onslaught, now deals more damage; the biggest change here, however, is that its down special Head-On Assault shatters a full shield (even without Spirits). Optimal Mii Brawler FPs use Head-On Assault when they’re launched upward — this means the character can now turn their disadvantage state into a huge advantage and perhaps even a KO!
- Mii Swordfighter made out pretty well tonight, too. Its most important buff was to its down special, Power Thrust. It’s slightly faster — both in terms of startup and ending lag. Not too bad!
- Mii Gunner was buffed as well, which means all three Mii Fighters enjoyed a check in the win column. Laser Blaze, Cannon Jump Kick, Lunar Launch, and Absorbing Vortex were all buffed; however, an optimal Mii Gunner FP does not use these custom moves. Even so, these are still welcome changes!
- Marth will likely remain in the depths of our tier list’s lower ranks regardless of buffs he gets (since Lucina is more consistent), but he did receive a few neat changes. The tipper hitboxes of his dash attack, up tilt, and down tilt all deal more damage and knockback.
- Banjo & Kazooie weren’t buffed as heavily as the other fighters, but they still received an important change: their forward smash is now slightly stronger. This move was already good — who knows, this buff might even push them up a tier!
- Two other fighters received minor buffs as well, and we’re going to give you a rapid-fire list of each one. These likely won’t have much of an effect on the tier list’s rankings, but we’ve listed them both here anyway:
- Olimar’s forward smash lasts for one additional frame.
- Bayonetta’s rapid jab deals more knockback and her down smash is slightly faster.
- That’s it. The rest of the changes likely won’t have any effect on the tier list’s rankings.
Overall, these changes are… not the greatest. The Mii Fighters are already rather strong, even without buffs, and now they’ve only become stronger. Perhaps someday they’ll buff R.O.B., Fox, Inkling, and Bayonetta (again) – each of these fighters really needs it – at least in the context of competitive amiibo training. As always, there’s a chance that specific characters’ AIs were changed — if we notice any adjustments, we’ll update the corresponding training guide as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope you’re looking forward to new and updated guides in the near future. Happy training, and thank you for reading!
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