Counter (matchup)

A counter or hard counter is a character that holds a strong advantage against another. It is always used in relative terms - for instance, Peach] is often said to be a counter to Ice Climbers; Peach counters the Ice Climbers. A soft counter indicates a match-up that favors one character noticeably but only slightly. It also sometimes indicates an even match-up between two characters far away from each other on the tier list - for instance, Donkey Kong can be said to counter or soft counter Fox in Melee, though the match-up is generally considered about even.

Players often switch to a counter when counterpicking.