The final balance patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has dropped! As we reported last night, files for the Pyra, Mythra, and Kazuya Figure Players were added to the game along with it. Perhaps more importantly, though (depending on who you ask), several changes were made to certain fighters that may affect their position on the official amiibo tier list. If you’d like to read the full patch notes yourself, you can find them right here. Let’s get right into it, then!
- Link is already a strong FP, but this update made him even stronger with one particular change. The last hit of his up smash now has increased knockback growth (from 96 to 101), which means it KOs opponents earlier. This buff may actually be important enough to increase his viability, so keep an eye out for future tier list updates!
- The Ice Climbers received a few helpful buffs. Their dash attack had its launch distance extended, their down smash’s knockback growth was increased by five, and their up special executes faster. Nothing game-changing, for sure, but these will be helpful in mid-tier tournaments regardless.
- A few of Mewtwo’s moves deal more damage: forward tilt and forward throw. Specifically, forward tilt’s damage was increased by 1% and forward throw’s total damage output was increased by 2%. These changes are minor and won’t affect the character’s viability much (if at all).
- Meta Knight really enjoyed this patch! His up smash has more range, for one. Additionally, his forward air, back air, and up throw all deal more damage and / or knockback. These are great changes that are likely to help him out a bit.
- Bowser Jr.’s up smash has been made stronger, and his dash attack now connects more reliably.
- Ryu’s heavy forward tilt now executes faster. Furthermore, his neutral and side specials now deal more damage (all versions).
- Inkling now suffers less lag while recharging ink. Up tilt and forward smash have also had their hitbox sizes increased.
- Piranha Plant’s down air now has more active frames, and its down tilt is a bit faster. The last hit of its forward tilt now deals more knockback.
- Min Min received several nerfs. Her neutral aerial (which the FP likes to spam) has more landing lag. Her forward tilt and forward smash (all versions) also deal much less damage against shields.
- Pyra & Mythra were slightly nerfed as well. Pyra’s side special has more ending lag and Mythra’s forward smash won’t launch opponents as far.
As you can see, then, there aren’t too many meaningful changes present here. Meta Knight and Link are clearly the big winners here, but the other characters have only been slightly modified. Given that this is the last balance patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this may also be the last time Figure Player AI is ever adjusted. Which means that all of the AI flaws we cover in our training guides… may have just been finalized.
In many ways, this is sort of the end of an era. We’ve been covering Super Smash Bros. Ultimate content since its release in 2018, and with no further updates to artificial intelligence, things are going to start slowing down. That being said, our work isn’t done! We’re still going to write training guides for the rest of the Fighter Pass 2 characters (which we currently have access to and are studying). We hope you stay tuned for more amiibo training content in the near future! For even more information on the Pyra, Mythra, and Kazuya FPs that were just added to the game, feel free to join our Discord server.
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