User blog:The shy platypi/My Super Smash Bros. Tier List: Part 2--Low-Mid Tiers (Part 1 of Mid Tiers)

We're already at the mid tiers. Low-Mid, albeit, but I only think of six characters as being low tiers. Weird, huh? Before I start, I just want to reiterate (I can't say this enough) that the numberings of the characters don't matter. I have some weird characters that are technically bottom 10, but they're technically only mid tiers. I hope you guys will continue to find this interesting. From what I can figure, I think this'll be eleven parts (if I planned everything out accordingly). Boy, I hope I don't get crazy bored once we get to the top tiers; I have fun writing about the low tiers...

Right. The blog:

Bowser Jr.
Once upon a time, I used to think that this character was by far the most underrated in the game and had top 20 potential. Well, I learned from playing him personally that his weaknesses are surprisingly abundant. And while I do think he still has a lot of potential, he can only be Low-Mid tier. Let's go!

Bowser Jr's neutral game is pretty dadgum impressive. Clown Kart Dash is a great approach option and Mechakoopa is a pretty decent projectile. Clown Kart Dash functions somewhat similarly to Spin Dash in the sense that you can get a crazy amount of combos from it, including, but not limited to, nair, fair strings, up air strings, bair, fast-falling dair to up tilt x2, footstool (I think), and Abandon Ship!. The spinning animation after the move is done is also a good kill move offstage. Mechakoopa is a good pressuring option and also allows several combos to be set up. Zair drop Mechakoopa out of Kart Dash is a great option too. Many of Mechakoopa's setups are very similar to Link's bombs fundamentally. Abandon Ship! is an inherently good ledge trap, OOS option, and KO setup. Clown Cannon, when used correctly, is viable gimping tool.

BJ's air game is amazing too. Up air is stupid fast (and it combos into itself), dair has practically no landing lag, fair combos into itself, bair is a good kill option, and nair can lock. Speaking of which, fast-falling second hit of fair to F-Smash is a wacky combo that works for some reason. Also speaking of which, F-Smash is also a good ledge trap option because of its relatively long lingering hitbox and multiple hits. Let's not forget the fact that he's the only character who is solely made of disjointed hitboxes, which usually allows him to approach pretty well. His rapid jab also deals a LOT of damage for some reason. And while it isn't completely useful, if an opponent hits Junior's Clown Kart, he'll take less damage than he would had they hit him. Overall, BJ's attacks are very fast, only dash attack, nair, and the smashes being noticeably slow.

His overall ground mobility isn't so hot, so he has to use Clown Kart Dash, which is pretty predictable most of the times and has stupid low priority. BJ's grab range is pitiful, which is pretty bad considering his grab game is too. Only up throw to up air can potentially combo into anything, and that's if your opponent is having some mental malfunction and completely forgets how to hold the L-Stick in any direction. I guess his back throw's alright though. Junior is a heavyweight with a pretty big hitbox, so this means that he is pretty prone to being juggled. Finally, Abandon Ship! offers no overhead protection whatsoever, leaving you very vulnerable to gimps. Sure, you can just airdodge to get the Clown Kart back, but airdodging is not really a smart option when you're trying to grab a ledge.

Once again, I must state that this character is so underrated and aside from Jade (R.I.P. Tweek why did that trash character Cloud have to come out?) doesn't have many players with significant results atm. He has his strengths in the neutral game but lacks quite a bit in many other areas. The first hit of Mario's jab is enough to gimp him in the middle of Abandon Ship! C'mon Sakurai, can't this character at least have better grab range? I feel your pain, Amiibo Royale, I feel your pain…

Notable Players: Tweek/Jade

Little Mac
To be honest, Little Mac is probably one of my most hated characters in this game. I enjoy playing him, I enjoy watching him, but I'm not sure I would really care if he was cut... Anyway, let's get on with this.

Mac has some of the best ground game in the game. His fast movement and dodging speeds coupled with incredible traction allow him to approach pretty reliably. Mac's smashes are incredibly fast and powerful and they have super armor frames. It's kind of dumb honestly. His tilts and jab are very fast as well and all have very high priority. Pivot f-tilt is good for keeping opponents off of your back while up tilt will combo into itself many times and can be finished with a powerful move. Probably his best tilt is his down one. It allows for several different setups, jab, dash attack (which has virtually no end lag), f-tilt, up tilt, f-smash, up smash, down smash, Up Special, Side Special, and KO Punch. I think we've all seen the down tilt, stall with first hit of jab to KO Punch combo by Sol at this point.

KO Punch is an extremely powerful move which serves its purpose as the ultimate comeback tool. Up B kills off the top pretty early on stages with low blast zones. Down B is a counter which boosts Mac forward, which can aid his recovery. Nair, fair, and dair are actually pretty effective tools. Fair is known for being an "Air Mac" move and isn't actually horrible at gimping opponents with bad recoveries. Nair comes out frame 2 and can lead into a footstool. After said footstool, you can lock your opponent with dair and hopefully finish them off with a powerful smash or KO punch. How about we get a little more into his aerials now.

AceStarThe3rd covers this particular part pretty well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg_pDitrfSc

Yeah, Mac's recovery is the worst in the game. It's slow, predictable, and leaves you open to about every single thing under the sun. At least he can wall jump though, right? Little Mac is a fast-falling lightweight which only makes this so much worse for him. Even though his neutral game is pretty good, it is also incredibly predictable; Mac has absolutely no spacing options.It doesn't help that his pivot grab is short and his grab game is nonexistent. Neutral B, while powerful with its super armor, is so predictable it's nearly impossible to get a kill against an opponent with a brain. Can we agree to never mention up air or back air?

Overall, his combo game and kill setups/options are pretty great, but it's kinda overruled by the fact that it's pretty hard to get in on an opponent who knows how to perfect shield and can just back throw you to your death anyway. This is what I meant in my previous blog. Yeah, Mac is bottom 10. But he's only a Low-Mid tier. I just think that the next two characters have a good edge on him. Or at least, not as many exploitable weaknesses.

Notable Players: Sol

Pac-Man
In my opeenion, Pac-Man is probably the most hype character in the game. Nothing is more cray-cray and devastating than a well executed Pac combo. This character is absolutely ridiculous.

Oh, man. I don't even know where to start here. His combo game is ridiculous. Hard to pull off but ridiculous nonetheless. Bonus Fruit and Pac Hydrant give Pac-Man a very unique playstyle that many characters will have a hard time getting around. Bonus Fruit gives Pac-Man tools for many different situations, edgeguarding, combo game, KO options, footstool setups, spacing options, gimping ability, etc. They are a very diverse set of tools that his playstyle revolves around. I wish I had the time and motivation to even go into depth about what his combos are with this thing, but I'll just give you the general idea. Cherry, well, it can get opponents off of you. Strawberry can gimp opponents with very poor recovery and essentially functions the same way as the Cherry, albeit slightly better. Orange does the same thing I suppose. Apple is really good at gimping and edgeguarding and can kill fairly reliably at higher percents. Melon does the same thing as Apple, but in a completely different way. It's slower and overall more predictable but can be better it certain situations. Galaxian is really good for starting combos with because of its two hits and will kill opponents off the top if re-grabbed and thrown upwards. Bell stuns your opponent and leads into a variety of combo/kill setups. Key is the final fruit, and is one of Pac-Man's best KO options. Also great for that one zero-death combo I hope many of us have been graced to see. Pac Hydrant does its job at keeping opponents away with water blasts and can gimp opponents who recover too high with said blasts. After its sent flinging forward, it's a viable KO option and can lead into many combos too. Throwing downwards offstage can gimp opponents too. Power Pellet gives Pac-Man an even greater recovery and can give him some great early KOs. Pac-Jump is a wacky move and a good OOS option. There are some weird combos with this move that'll kill your opponents in the strangest ways.

His basic moves are pretty solid too. Jab comes out pretty quickly. Dash attack combos into aerials or, better yet, fruit. Pivot f-tilt's pretty neat and down tilt is good at keeping opponents away too. Up tilt combos into itself and can be finished with an up smash. Up smash is a solid kill move as well as the rest of his smashes. Fair to fast-falling nair to jab is a great combo. Nair is a solid OOS option and is overall a good finisher. Bair is a pretty great KO option too.

MU charts are pretty unimpressive. Characters that deal with projectiles well completely nullify Pac-Man's best moves. Every single one of his special moves can be used against Pac-Man. Just jumping on the trampoline once can gimp a recovering Pac-Man, all fruit can be caught and thrown back at him, Pac-Hydrant can also be destroyed and hit back at him, and Power Pellet will heal the opponent 2% if they eat it. Even though he has a lot of kill options, they all suffer from a lack of BKB and thus makes them pretty unreliable. Pac-Man's biggest problem is earning that kill. Let's not even mention that grab.

I really wish I had the time to continue talking about how complex this character is. His combos, while hard to execute, are devastating. I personally think this character has a lot of potential but the fact that he relies on items gives him horrible matchups against most characters or just against players who know how to catch items. I wanted to put him higher, but all the other characters above him needed to be higher too. That's the main reason why he's down here.

Notable players: Zage/Abadango (R.I.P.)/Tea

Charizard
Boy is this character underrated. Anybody only knows anything about him from Introspecktive.

Charizard, like any heavyweight, is incredibly powerful. Its damage output and KO optons are very, very solid. Also, like any other heavyweight, has high survivability. All of this combined would make for a slow character, right? Right? He has the ninth fastest dash speed in the game and the infamous Zard Walk is pretty decently fast too. Even his frame data is pretty impressive! Jab is frame 4, Up smash is frame 6, up tilt frame 9, fair frame 8. Jab cancel to grab is a good combo considering down throw to fair is a true combo on most characters (I think?) at low percents. Afterwards it can connect to up air, up smash, nair, or even bair! Up throw is the strongest up throw in the game and can connect to Fly at lower percents for early kills on low blast zone stages. Back throw combos into Flare Blitz and fair. Pivot sweetspot f-tilt is a pretty solid kill option near the ledge while down tilt can be used as a gimping option against characters with poor recoveries. Up tilt combos into itself and can be finished off with an up smash. The first hit of up smash will lock, giving Charizard many, many follow ups.

Flamethrower can also be used as an edgeguard/gimping tool while Flare Blitz is an extremely powerful move that will kill early. Rock Smash has super armor frames and essentially functions as a sort of counter and can kill at later percents. Fly has super armor too and, of course, makes for a great KO.

Like all heavyweights, Charizard is, well, heavy. He's combo food like every other super heavyweight. His air speed is pretty subpar which doesn't really help his fairly predictable recovery. Nair, rock smash, and Fly are OOS options, but they aren't great, which leaves him lacking in this area. Even though he is fast, he can be pretty predictable. Fair doesn't have great range so spacing your opponent off with bair is a decent option. This can be worked around easily, and, because of Zard's overall poor landing lag, can be punished.

I'm gonna be honest, Zard doesn't have too many weaknesses. He could easily be much higher than this. ZeRo put him at the top of Mid-tier; 35th! I want more players for this character. I really, really do. I personally feel like the next character has the edge on Zard just because of their overall well-roundedness.

Notable players: Serge/Chuck Nasty

Wii Fit Trainer
Wii Fit Trainer is one of the weirdest characters ever added in Smash, and their moveset certainly reflects that. I also cannot believe how wildly unpopular she is. It’s pretty disappointing.

They have pretty good damage output and a good combo game. That’s always a good mix. Having great traction, a good fox-trot, and the lowest crouch in the game make her a pretty mind-gamey character. She has the fifth highest jumps in the game as well as the ability to wall jump, which makes her recovery all the better. Sun Salutation is a good projectile with respectable kill power, plus it heals WFT by 1%. Not much, but still. This is her primary spacing option. Her second one would be Header, which is good for sniping opponents offstage and has a spike hitbox right when she headbutts it. It buffers her in the air and boosts her up a bit vertically. You can airdodge right before she headbutts the ball where she’ll enter a freefall state and you can hit the ball any way you want. This is good for mixups and is overall just great for mindgames. Up B can be mashed to give her much more height. Deep Breathing heals WFT like Neutral B and also boosts her knockback power, damage output, and speed. This makes her already respectably powerful moves all the more powerful.

Jab has a hitbox on the back which can combo to pivot f-tilt, f-tilt, f-smash, bair, neutral B, and probably more moves I can’t really think of. F-tilt also has a hitbox on the back which can lead to aerial strings. Down tilt can launch the opponent backwards, which will combo into neutral B and pivot f-tilt. Up tilt combos into itself and can lead into aerial strings such as up air or nair. F-Smash also has a weird hitbox on the back which might catch unsuspecting opponents off guard. Down smash is good for roll reads and up smash kills pretty dang early which is only accentuated by Deep Breathing. Nair deals a lot of damage and combos into itself which can be finished off with an up air or bair. Up air is a pretty decent KO option with Deep Breathing activated as is a sweetspot bair. Fair combos into itself at low percents and, once again, has a weird hitbox on the back that’ll meteor opponents which also happens to be the only thing dair is good for. F-Throw combos into fair on heavyweights and back throw is overall a pretty decent KO option at higher percents.

Very limited spacing and approach options. Sure you have Sun Salutation but it is really your only very reliable one. Header isn’t super good at that. WFT has some really weird hitbox placements that’ll make it pretty unreliable to connect. This doesn’t help her spacing options. Her grab game is overall pretty dadgum lackluster. While her recovery is decent, it’s pretty susceptible. She really only has a few moves that kill well, which leaves you finding yourself using Deep Breathing more. That’d be just peachy if it didn’t take FOREVER TO RECHARGE.

Wii Fit has a LOT of potential. Probably the most out of any other character thus far I might admit. She has some really great options but overall suffers from a lack of range, even though she has one great projectile. I really, really want more players for this character and I am personally attempting to pick her up myself.

Notable players: John Numbers/Waveguider (who I haven’t personally watched)

Conclusion
Quick recap: Once again, I hope you guys found my incessant jabbering interesting at all. I initially had two other characters in this tier, but I just sucked it up and put them higher. Either way, I want to get the next part out sooner I hope. It’ll have five characters and will be part one of three parts for the “Mid tier” tier. Yup, I put fifteen characters in that tier. Anyway, I’ll be posting this on my Amino page soon so check that out if you’re interested. I’ll catch you guys later.

Part 1: http://supersmashbros.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:The_shy_platypi/My_Super_Smash_Bros_4_Tier_List:_Part_1_-_Bottom_and_Low_Tiers