S tier:
1. Lucario
2. Dedede
3. ROB
- This is the tier of characters that stand out to me as ones where people have the chance to clean up and dominate nearly every character come out. They all have projectiles and good projectile answers (pursuit[counter]/aura sphere, waddle dees, and gyros/camp better) and strong games that can dictate how you fight them. I think they also all handle each other rather well. And I think they are strong enough to put them in a tier above A tier.
A tier:
4. Wolf
5. Ganondorf
6. DK
- I'm not convinced Bowser > DK in the new one, especially with the armor reductions - heck I think DK is top of A tier, but I think I'm influenced by Gold_TSG and not having played a good Wolf/Ganondorf, so I'm trusting Glyph on this one.
7. Zelda
- This character's long-range game is probably one of the hardest to deal with, despite knowing some theory - yeah, shield and SDI long-range fsmash, but she can teleport if you're hit and combo, if she doesn't teleport she has low-enough endlag to now ftilt or jab so you have to shield that too, and she can run away after all that? And oh yeah, Lightning Kick someone with the far hitbox and teleport to help you run away. And her fsmash eats at your shield - if you're not Jigglypuff you usually can't shield 2 fsmashes... characters like Dedede, ROB, Lucario, and Falco all seem to have the tools to deal with her, but if the Zelda can run enough, this MU must not be a lot of fun for DK, except for the fact he can probably zero-death her.
8. Bowser
- his armor wasn't hit that hard, so I figure dropping him just 2 slots is enough.
9. Jigglypuff
10. Olimar
11. Falco
- I almost made him bottom of S tier because of all the tools he has to mess up other characters - best anti-approach in the game with reflector and lasers, and side+b for camping and starting combos - his combos don't last long without missed techs and low percent though, or else great tech chases, so you have to be tenacious and patient with him.
12. Fox
- has insane movement, effortless KO setups if you have tech skill (side+B or waveshine -> usmash, uthrow uair or utilt uair, etc.), a reflector and a fine projectile. I almost put him near bottom of S/top of A because of all his traits, and the fact that he has unparalleled movement when one is good enough, as well as being very hard to keep airborne if he wants down, but I'd take a lot of flack for that so I put him here.
13. Link
- I think Link is better than Glyph originally gave credit for – a slew of projectiles, dthrow is a combo starter at low percents and a setup to KO at high percents, and boomerang’s second hitbox effortlessly combos into both charged spin-attack and fully charged arrows for VERY strong KOs. He’s also the only character to break my shield when I’m not Jigglypuff (that’s when I let it happen) so I think he should move up.
14. Captain Falcon
- he just feels worse now. Not horribly so, but it really does feel like his general fall-speed was altered and the fastfall "buff" never felt needed to me [never once did I think his fastfall is too slow]. But I think people may adapt and so I don't drop him much now, and he may move up. He's not gimped quite hard enough to start the B tier, but just barely, so he's bottom of A.
B tier
15. Meta Knight
- probably one of the biggest comeback factors in the game besides Lucario – he’s the only where for the first 3 stocks, you can deal ~40% to their 120%, and a well-placed grab will set you each back at even. His drill-rush and nado are great approaches, and his cape is a powerful surprise and also fast enough to punish people who try to up+B you from below with most characters and miss (extremely fast fall speeds like Captain Falcon can still avoid this, but Marth is hosed…). He’s also got a better-than-average gimp game. His jab is also probably the safest jab on shield in game, regardless of your spacing, and it combos into stuff if they don’t shield and don’t DI well. However, many probably think of him as gimmicky, so I leave him as the very top of B instead of bottom of A, though I think he could very well be bottom of A.
16. Zero Suit Samus
- Her recovery loss hurt her, but somehow I think it was her recovery holding her back, while her onstage game was fantastic. Unlike Falcon though, if you send her straight out and ever so slightly up, she’ll struggle a lot more to make it back without a jump, so I drop her here, but her onstage game is strong enough to leave her here, I suppose.
17. Wario
- this character is utterly infuriating – I don’t know why Glyph put him so low in 3.3, but Wario can control the pace of a match with his stupidly long-range and incredible mobility. He also has no problems KOing.
18. Toon Link
- this man’s arrows are real, and scary. Not only that, but his boomerang has weirdly high KO power (more than his bombs) and if he can set up on FD, you play his game on his terms (with the exception of the S tier characters and the spacies thanks to reflectors). He has a great fsmash and obscenely good throws with stupidly high KO power on some of them. He’s probably higher than Wario even, but Wario just does so much stupid stuff I don’t even fully understand that I drop him a slot below and wonder how they should each move up, if they should.
19. Ike
- no idea where to put him, so I leave him more or less unchanged spot, just placing others around him.
20. Marth
- I think Marth > Diddy Kong, as I’m not convinced the peanuts/bananas are THAT good (catch bananas) and Marth’s fair strings are ridiculous, as is his aerial mobility. Then again, this might be Gold_TSG affecting my opinion. I’d like to think Marth > Ike, but I have no idea so I’ll leave him here.
21. Diddy Kong
22. Ivysaur
- 11 nerfs or whatever, but all small – I don’t think she drops too much really, after having played her some.
23. Sheik
- I get the feeling Sheik still does Sheik well, but her jumping nerfs make her feel REALLY awkward to me now – it reminds me of, say, 2.X.6 Falco jumps, which is NOT a good place to be…
24. Luigi
- with his slew of buffs, I’ll bet he moved up a spot. Just a hunch though.
25. Snake
- again, byproduct of lots of Luigi buffs. Never seen a great Snake either…
26. Charizard
- was he really so low? Hm… I’ll just trust Glyph on this one, since he does use the full PT. But my gut says move him up.
27. Pit
- with his projectile, angel ring, and new side+b, I think Pit is definitely higher, but no idea where to place him.
28. Kirby
29. Pikachu
- doesn’t belong in C tier, but no idea where to place higher so I put Pikachu here. It doesn’t have the greatest power, but fsmash, usmash, and utilt all are good setups to stuff, as is bair.
30. Yoshi
- never really played a good Yoshi, but I’m sure he’s better than I credit him for, if only by a few spots…
C tier
31. Ness
- I can agree with how Ness was defining C-tier – he can get gimped SO hard…
32. Lucas
33. Ice Climbers
– probably should be higher up, since they’re harder to gimp than Ness and Lucas (probably out of B tier), but I lack the confidence to move them up higher. They do have insane damage output if you’re caught at the wrong time, and better KO setups now, so I predict a move up.
34. Mario
35. Mr. Game and Watch
- not convinced he’s better than Mario is the reason I put him here.
36. Peach
37. Squirtle
- This character irritates me so much, but I can’t say I know its weaknesses necessarily, and I’m betting it’s still the worst of the 3, so I leave it here.
38. Sonic
- maybe could move up more, but not sure… seems to KO a bit better now, and can be very hard to read
39. Pichu
- probably deserves to move up a hair maybe, not sure though – seems better now
40. Samus
- until I see footage of Samus being played properly, or her fall speed is reverted, she’s going to be the bottom of my list. Among other things, she can’t ledge-drop -> jump -> missile -> ledge regrab now, or if she can’t it’s now MUCH more difficult than before, and I haven’t gotten it once. Her long duration aerials don’t really fit with this new fall speed, and neither does her recovery, despite the compensated bomb jump. I thought prior that Glyph had her way too low, and she should be at least a B tier, since I could get 70-80% combos (sometimes ending with Charge Shot) without too much trouble, but that’s not the case anymore (they feel shorter), as most relied on uthrow before and now all of them do. Her uthrow and dtilt got nice buffs in that they don’t hurt her anymore, but that’s enough to keep her off the bottom of the list for me.
