People were upset when Snake was revealed to be sitting on the sidelines for Super Smash Bros. 4 — we never got to see how his Figure Player might have behaved in that game! Luckily, Snake is back and better than ever in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, complete with a rather underrated FP that can contend against some of the best in the game. If you’d like to read more about his metagame history, head over to the Snake wiki page. Otherwise, let’s jump right into today’s training!
Spirits
Snake is a heavyweight fighter, which means he’s got no shortage of potential Spirit builds! If your FP is Level 1, you should fully equip it with all of the stats and effects you want it to have before you start its training routine. For more information, please read our full Spirits guide! In the meantime, here are a whole bunch of optimal Spirit teams you can use on Snake:
- Banned bonuses: Super Armor – and to a lesser extent, Slow Super Armor – work incredibly well with Snake, as they allow his powerful attacks to go essentially unpunished at low percentages. As always, Armor Knight is a solid option that pairs well with Trade-Off Ability ↑. Autoheal and Great Autoheal might have some merit (owing to Snake’s somewhat campy playstyle) but should take a backseat to Super Armor or Armor Knight in tournaments that allow them.
- Tournament-legal bonuses: Physical Attack ↑ boosts Snake’s non-projectile moves by 1.1x, and that extra damage adds up over time! Fire & Explosion Attack ↑ bolsters the strength of his grenades, and a second Physical Attack ↑ skill can even be added to increase Snake’s strength even further. Air Defense ↑, Shield Damage ↑, and Trade-Off Ability ↑ work well here too; you could also try out Critical Healing & Metal. Do note, though, that Snake’s falling speed will increase while metal; this may have a negative effect on his recovery.
- Raid Boss bonuses: Each of the Support skills listed above applies to a Raid Boss Snake, too! Move Speed ↑ might be worth including here as well, as human players tend to have more trouble against quick opponents. You could also include Physical Attack ↑, Shield Damage ↑, or Landing Lag ↓. Take your pick!
Stat points aren’t all that important with Snake, so as long as your FP has a setup, it’s good to go. A balanced build (2100 / 2100) is generally your best bet, and this fighter is no exception. Make sure your FP’s Spirit-type is Neutral, too: that way it won’t lose disadvantageous Spirit-type matchups later on after its training is complete.
Competitive Training
Training a competitive amiibo isn’t always easy. At first, it’ll seem like there are a lot of arbitrary rules in place, as it’s recommended that you refrain from running, dashing, or edgeguarding. If any of those suggestions sound strange to you, be sure to read our wiki entry on optimal movement. It explains a lot! In the meantime, here’s what an optimal Snake FP’s moveset includes:
- Up tilt. It’s notorious for being absolutely ridiculous. This move does everything: it’s an anti-air, a roll catcher, and a kill move at high percentages. Use it to rack up damage, catch your FP’s landings, and then KO it! Mix in some forward tilts and grabs at close range as well; when using the latter, combo a down throw into an up tilt as often as you can.
- Dash attack should be used from a distance to approach. It’s quite fast and deals decent damage and knockback on top of that.
- When your FP is launched off-stage, walk up to the ledge and chase it with a Remote Missile projectile. This poses a huge threat to opponents who are trying to recover back.
- Toss out a Grenade every so often from a distance. It doesn’t matter what kind of throw you use, either. Once you’ve thrown the grenade, try your best not to pick it up again afterward.
Overall, Snake’s game plan is simple. From a distance, he wants to approach with Grenades or a dash attack; once he closes in, he can attack with one of his powerful tilts. When his opponent is launched off-stage, he can seal the deal with his Remote Missile. One final note here: when using up smash, don’t charge it. The FP will take this as a sign to overcharge all of its smash attacks, which leaves it highly vulnerable.
Raid Boss Training
Be sure to play as Snake as you level up your FP! They don’t save matchup experience, which means they fight every opponent in exactly the same manner. If you’d like some tips on amiibo training that apply to Snake too, check out our general guide. But don’t stay there too long, because then you have to come back and read our character-specific tips! Here’s what an optimal Raid Boss Snake looks like:
- Grabs are Snake’s best friend. Down throw combos into an up tilt, and up throw combos into a chain of up airs. You should also mix in some forward tilt, down tilt, and neutral attacks at close range.
- Up air and especially up tilt should be used as anti-airs. Up tilt is extremely powerful for some reason, and it’s got great speed to boot. Use it to KO your FP at high percentages!
- Neutral air and back air are your primary air moves, but you can mix in some forward air and down air as you see fit. Don’t go off-stage, though; human players will be able to take advantage and KO your Raid Boss early if you do.
- Include a bit of dash attack, up smash, and down smash, but go light on your usage of each one.
Most characters’ AIs don’t handle their special moves all that well, and Snake unfortunately falls into this category too. He’ll try using a neutral or side special while standing right next to an opponent, which gives them a great opportunity to strike back. You could include a tiny bit of C4 usage, as Snake’s AI will use it to aid its recovery at later levels. That’s up to you, though!
Wrap-Up
Thanks so much for reading! In spite of Snake’s mid-high tier position, he actually performs quite well against a few fighters ranked higher than him. We’d love to see more Snakes in future tournaments, so we hope this guide was helpful to you! If you have any questions that weren’t answered here, please direct them to our Discord community. If your question is “how do I enter a tournament?”, then check out our tournament entry guide! We also have a Patreon and a donation box if you’d like to give them a look at some point. Until next time — happy training!
If you would like to read more amiibo training guides, please follow this link.
