Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Balance Changes

Give Ganondorf a real way back to the stage and a little protection against being poked to death, without touching what makes him terrifying when he connects.

Little Mac could use more options on the ground alongside a better recovery and a combo breaker.

Speeding up several of the Belmonts' melee moves helps them once an opponent has closed the distance, while an air stall on the axe gives them a defensive option offstage that leads back into a recovery.

Villager could use more reward for landing aerials and a better combo game.

These changes should help Dedede actually go for his more powerful moves during a fight.

The goal is to stop King K. Rool from being punished quite so hard every time he misses an attack.

Ike needs a better recovery and a way out of combos, plus some faster combo tools of his own.

Dr. Mario already has solid combos and kill moves. His recovery is what costs him stocks, so he gets an air stall like Mario's and better movement out of his down special.

Marth often misses tipper swings even with good spacing, so a slightly larger overall sword hitbox should let his tippers land more consistently.

Zelda's combo moves are slow and her smash attacks have short range, so these changes make both more effective.

Mewtwo has good combos and air mobility but is often knocked out of attacks by hits that land nowhere near his body, so his tail should stop launching him.

Mii Swordfighter has several moves that do not do much for them in a fight, along with limited combo potential, so those moves get better numbers.

A steerable poison cloud forces opponents to keep repositioning, paid for with a little less power on up smash.

Forward smash is quite fast and quite strong for what it is, while Kirby's neutral air could be doing more work as a combo move.

Incineroar leans on side special far too hard in neutral, but taking that away means he needs another way to approach.

Bowser gets a lot of free damage from a well positioned flame breath, but he also needs an easier way out of combos.

Link could use a faster combo extender, paid for with a boomerang that is easier to see coming.

Chrom is regularly hit out of his recovery, so it should grab the ledge more reliably. In exchange, one of his strongest combo moves gets slower.

Down tilt becomes a more reliable combo starter, while forward air stops chaining into itself quite so freely.

Using side special in neutral rarely paid off, while down air was sometimes impossible to react to.

Bowser Jr. is combo food, so he gets a faster defensive option — but his up air should stop producing inescapable strings.

The grenade gets used constantly, so reaching for it should carry a little more risk. A faster forward air gives them a better combo finisher in return.

Ridley needs some way to escape combos, and his dash attack closes out stocks a little too simply.

Robin could use a more reliable aerial combo tool, while opponents should not be stuck inside Arc Fire for quite so long.

Deep Breathing can build a big lead on a character who already hits hard, so its damage buff comes down. Neutral air combos become more consistent in exchange.

Lucas leans on PK Fire to keep opponents away, so recasting it should be slower — with a better neutral tool in back air to make up for it.

Several of Mii Gunner's moves are either too risky to throw out or serve no purpose, while neutral air covers so much space that it needs more risk attached.

Isabelle throws out a lot of forward airs to zone, while forward tilt is a little too risky to reach for.

Trick Shot sits on the field with no risk attached to putting it there, while the dash attack is slow for the archetype and goes unused.

Sephiroth does not have many close-range options, so down tilt gets safer — while an up smash that covers that much air gets riskier.

Landing neutral special should let Meta Knight act sooner, while up air stops looping into itself quite so many times.

Up special lands strong combos too readily, so hitting it should take more precise timing. Down tilt gets fast enough to be worth using.

Sheik has plenty of burst options and not enough kill power, so forward smash hits harder while the dash attack slows down.

PK Fire is low risk for high reward, so it gets laggier — and Ness gets a faster dash attack as compensation.

The dash grab connects far too often thanks to its shifting animation, while up smash almost never catches a landing.

Pichu converts grabs into early kills with no chance to DI out, while up tilt is less reliable than the rest of the kit.

Donkey Kong struggles to get back to the stage, so his up special moves faster. Down tilt, already a strong low-commitment combo starter, comes out later.

Up air is a fast aerial that combos reliably, so it comes out later. Neutral air, which is worse at comboing, gets less end lag.

Losing Luma near the ledge is far too cheap, so Rosalina gets a way to call it back. Star Bits, a strong disruption tool, comes out later.

Neutral air is close to unreactable while forward tilt is too easy to avoid.

Landing an arrow leads straight into solid combos, so arrows come out slower — while forward tilt becomes a better combo tool.

Boomerang combos become harder to time, while down tilt becomes a better combo starter.

Forward air combos into itself repeatedly while a projectile lingers on screen, but Pac-Man can now rush in more reliably.

Up special has a small hitbox and does not take stocks, so it goes back to its old start up. Zair, a fast spacing and combo tool, slows down.

A 20 damage down smash that is fast and combos is doing too much, while Ken struggles to get safely back to the ledge.

Forward smash has strong kill power, good range and a fast start up all at once. Up smash is hard to land, so going for it should be less punishing.

Up air leads into too much for how well it lands in neutral, while side special pays out almost nothing when it connects.

Up air pairs strong knockback with a good hitbox, so it comes out slower — and down tilt picks up the slack as a combo starter.

Neutral air has a big hitbox, a fast start up and combo ability all at once. Down tilt has none of that, so it gets faster.

Terry's back special makes him very hard to punish offstage, while his only projectile is a niche edgeguard tool that should reach like other projectiles do.

Greninja has a lot of combos and a solid combo starter, so each of the moves doing that work becomes a little less effective at it.

Falcon combos heavily off up air and converts into a sweet-spot forward air for early kills, while up special takes stocks from the side too readily.

Monado Speed makes Shulk hard to catch and hard to avoid at the same time, while forward air and up tilt are both doing more than their risk warrants.

Up tilt gets used repeatedly in quick succession for easy combos, and both of Falco's main aerials combo into themselves multiple times.

Side special is a ranged burst option that can kill, and both of Corrin's key aerials combo into themselves with good range on top.

The input Hadoken is excellent in neutral while also dealing real damage and comboing, and — like Ken — down smash is fast and hits hard.

Up smash has range and speed, up special gets Cloud out of trouble for free, and dash attack kills reliably as a burst option.

Side special is unreactable as Sora dashes through the air, and both multi-hit aerials cover so much with their follow-ups that starting them should carry risk.

Leaf Shield is hard to escape even when Mega Man is positioned badly, back air is close to unreactable in neutral, and up tilt kills reliably behind a wall of projectiles.

Several of Brawler's alternate specials go unused because they are unreliable next to the viable ones, so their frame data improves — while the tools carrying his neutral and his early kills get toned down.

Forward air, down tilt and neutral air are all low-risk moves that lead somewhere good, so each of them takes on more commitment.

Up air ladders to the blast zone with down air as the finisher, and down tilt is the safe neutral tool that starts the whole sequence.

Up special and side special chain into side special repeatedly, and up tilt is the fast hitbox that reliably starts it.

Hero's most powerful spells are cheap and low risk, so the speed and damage buffs plus the free recovery spell all cost more.

Forward air and jab land quick combos whether or not Roy hits the sweet spot, and back air is a reliable kill move that those combos feed into.

Neutral air lingers a long time across several hitboxes, up tilt combos into itself, and dash attack is a fast, strong kill option that also finishes combos.

Olimar is rarely punished for throwing Pikmin around or for losing them, so he should have to balance throwing them away against keeping them for close range.

Pikachu's aerials are fast enough to produce inescapable combos, and up tilt is the safe move that keeps landing them.

Neutral air loops into itself and lingers, neutral special can be used back to back to wall off approaches, and dash attack is both a fast combo starter and a way to block attacks.

Charge Shot gets held to bait opponents and cash out combos, up special lands far too often for its speed, and forward air is fast, strong and lingering at once.

Joker combos into a guaranteed-kill up smash, Rebel's Guard punishes any stray move, and up air both loops and feeds into smash attacks.

Fox is known for speed and strong combos, but he also gets kill confirms straight out of those combo starters, so every kill move slows down.

Up air combos into itself to the point of killing, up tilt is the quick hitbox that sets it up, and neutral air is a risk-free combo tool in neutral.

Peach stalls out matches by floating and waiting for opponents to come to her, and her turnip combos rely on recatching with no lag at all.

Down air and up air come out fast enough to drive long combos that end in a sweet-spot up special kill, so that finisher loses knockback.

Two characters in one slot is what puts them in S tier, so each form receives two nerfs. Pyra's kill combos run through down air and down tilt into her many kill moves; Mythra has enough combo tools and kill power that a player could ignore Pyra entirely.

Banana starts combos that reach all the way into kill moves, up smash is the main way those convert into stocks, and forward air racks up damage when the banana is not out.

Kazuya is slow and does not have an amazing neutral, but a lot of his moves do heavy damage and combo very reliably, so the damage comes down rather than the frame data.

The Ram Ram arm is a very strong neutral tool — fast, able to hit airborne opponents, and able to combo into the other arm — and up smash has hitbox, speed and kill power all at once.

Down tilt is spammable with good range into grab combos, the gyro has no real cost when it disappears, and neutral air converts into early offstage kills.

Neutral air is hard to avoid and loops into itself, up special escapes punishes and extends combos from below, and forward air walls off both air and ground approaches.

An instantly available grenade is very hard to play around, side special kills early offstage, and up tilt converts projectile pressure into a stock.

Spin Dash and Spin Charge outmanoeuvre practically the whole cast with no end lag while running, and both of Sonic's key aerials convert into combos or early kills.

Blocks wall opponents off while Steve gathers resources or drags them into whichever directional combo kills fastest, and his upward and forward conversions kill at very low percents.