Joker’s amiibo figure was first released on October 2, 2020, and is compatible with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he is considered mid-tier. If you would like to read Joker’s full-length amiibo training guide, you can find the link to it right here.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Joker is a middleweight fighter with fast attacks and a decent recovery. His claim to fame is his Persona, Arsène, who can be summoned after Joker fills his unique Rebellion Gauge. Joker’s position in the amiibo metagame is kind of strange; his AI is one of the only in Ultimate that is capable of performing complex combos and advanced techniques. These include dragdown up air combos, hard-coded smash attack follow-ups, and even gun dashing. With these strategies, Joker can take advantage of unsuspecting opponents to rack up damage. Furthermore, they are easy to teach; the FP simply needs to be taught to use its up aerial and neutral special and it will learn to perform dragdown combos and gun dashing on its own. Otherwise, his best moves include his forward tilt, up smash, and down smash. His side special, Eiha, is a bit more situational, but can be used to curse enemies with a spell that damages them over time.
Unfortunately, Joker does suffer from a few flaws that hold him back in tournaments. His aforementioned dragdown combos and gun dashing do not always work against AI opponents; as a result, Joker’s AI can sometimes get carried away with looking flashy and get punished in return. Another issue is his recovery; while it usually functions well enough, Joker sometimes falls too low to be able to successfully return via his Grappling Hook. With Arsène active, Joker may recover high when using Wings of Rebellion, which leaves him vulnerable for a moment. Another note with Joker’s AI is that it cannot tell when Arsène is active. This means it cannot be trained to be more aggressive when Arsène is present, and it also means it cannot tell if it’s using Rebel’s Guard, Makarakarn, or Tetrakarn. Joker also suffers from a weak matchup spread, especially against high-tier fighters. He struggles against three types of characters: ones with more range than him, ones that can beat him off-stage, and ones that can use brute force to intercept his attacks. A few of Joker’s poor matchups include Mii Swordfighter (whose Power Thrust special moves beats all of his options), Zelda (who can easily gimp him off-stage with down air), and Pokémon Trainer (who, as Charizard, can use Flare Blitz to invalidate almost everything in Joker’s kit).
Despite his numerous flaws, Joker has accrued good tournament results, and this is primarily due to his extremely high representation, especially during the first few months after his release. His amiibo file was accessed two months early, and many trainers were able to fully train their Joker amiibo before the figurine was officially made available. Once the FP was released in October 2020, trainers flooded tournaments with Joker. If you would like to read our official Joker amiibo training guide, you can do that via this link.
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