Editing Cloud (SSB4)

His up aerial has good [[damage]] output, decent knockback, high speed, a long duration, a very generous autocancel window, and an enormous overall hitbox, making it an all-purpose attack and discouraging most opponents from trying to attack Cloud from overhead. His [[down aerial]] is not only a very strong [[meteor smash]] when sweetspotted, but also possesses one of the most active late hitboxes in the game, which grants it good anti-juggling potential and allows him to follow up into another move if it connects while he is falling. Like up aerial, it also has a long autocancel window, being able to autocancel from a jump regardless of its Limit Break status. Back aerial has tremendous range, decent power, and the lowest [[landing lag]] among Cloud's aerials, and also autocancels from a short hop, allowing him to edgeguard and space effectively, though it can often miss low opponents. Forward aerial is very strong when hitting clean, and is also a [[meteor smash]] on aerial opponents when sweetspotted. Like down aerial, it autocancels from a full jump and has low landing lag in relation to its range and power; however, it has the slowest startup of his aerials, making it his riskiest aerial to use regardless.

His grounded moveset is not quite as overwhelming. His [[neutral attack]] is his fastest attack, and the third hit can force a [[tech-chase]]. His [[down tilt]] is a low-profile slide and can be a great tool to put the opponent at a disadvantage. His [[up tilt]] is a reliable combo starter until high percentages, chaining into itself at low percentages, and comboing into [[up smash]] or his neutral, back, and up aerials. His up smash, in particular, covers a very large arc, has decent speed, and high knockback despite its surprisingly low damage, making it his best and least risky KOing option out of his standard moveset. His [[forward tilt]] has decent power and speed, but has little utility aside from being a quick punish, or being used as a [[KO]]ing option at extreme percentages. His [[dash attack]] is a fast, punishing tool from a distance and, due to its power, can put opponents in a bad position. It is easily punished when shielded or avoided, however. Cloud's [[forward smash]] is his most powerful non-Limit Break move, though to compensate, it also takes the longest to start and is very punishable if it whiffs. His [[down smash]] is also prone to punishment if the front hit is avoided, but it drags the opponent into the back hit if it connects, the latter being a strong semi-spike.

Cloud's special moveset also offers interesting options. [[Blade Beam]] is a [[projectile]] with good range and activity, making it useful for forcing approaches, though it gets weakened over the duration and has high endlag, which hampers its otherwise useful utility. It also stalls Cloud in the air, giving it additional, if situational, utility in [[guard breaking]]. [[Cross Slash]] is very similar to [[Dancing Blade]] and [[Double-Edge Dance]], requiring additional inputs from the player to initiate the remaining slashes. In contrast, it has wider input windows, but the full move is only allowed to continue if all hits connect. It can also stall Cloud in the air, just like Blade Beam, though much more briefly. [[Climhazzard]] is similar to [[Aether]] and [[Final Cutter]], as it is an ascending slash, but differs from them in that it can be followed by an optional descending slash. This allows Cloud to mix up his [[recovery]] and enables Climhazzard to function as his fastest [[out of shield]] option, though it is very risky to use.

In reference to ''Final Fantasy VII'', Cloud possesses a unique Limit Break mechanic. It manifests itself in the form of a gauge, which becomes visible while charging it to show its progress, similarly to {{SSB4|Little Mac}}'s [[Power Meter]]. Cloud can charge Limit Break by dealing 250% damage, receiving 100% damage, or by instantly charging it with his down special, [[Limit Charge]]. Unlike most other chargeable special moves, it can be canceled with a simple special move button press, or even [[instant charge-cancel|instantly canceled]] into an attack, the latter being a trait shared only with [[Gyro]]. After it is full, Cloud gets a boost in all of his movement attributes except for attack speed, allowing him to move very quickly across the stage and in the air, with his overall mobility almost rivaling that of {{SSB4|Captain Falcon}} and {{SSB4|Sonic}}. In addition, all of Cloud's special attacks are given a single-use power boost, with all of them dealing more damage and high knockback to the point of KOing reliably around 90%-120%. Limit Charge is also converted to Finishing Touch, a spinning slash with such tremendous knockback that it can KO most characters around 60%-70%. It also emits a [[Windbox|whirlwind]] that pushes away opponents, making it harder to punish and providing Cloud a situational method of [[gimp]]ing weak recoveries. Except Finishing Touch, all Limit Break specials are also granted brief [[intangibility]] upon start-up, as well as additional properties: Blade Beam is faster, stronger, and has [[transcendent priority]]; Cross Slash requires no additional button inputs and strikes five times immediately, has very low ending lag in relation to its immense power, and stalls him completely in the air; and Climhazzard grants more vertical distance and much more horizontal momentum, as well as having the ability to [[edge sweetspot]] at any time. With all these benefits underneath the Limit Break status, players must be wary of this, as one small slip-up from the opponent can give Cloud the perfect opportunity to strike and turn the tide of battle instantaneously, making Cloud's Limit Break a mechanic that should not be taken lightly when in the hands of a competent player.

However, Cloud has some severe flaws. The most prominent one is his poor recovery. Despite his aerial mobility and jump height being arguably better than most sword-wielding characters, his diagonal speed remains slow when compared to them, making him prone to [[edgeguarding]] and [[gimping]], and making it mandatory to stay a safe distance from the edge. Climhazzard is also a terrible recovery move for many reasons: it grants below-average vertical distance, little horizontal momentum, its ascending hit is completely incapable of edge sweetspotting, and its descending hit cannot edge sweetspot until it covers some prior distance. Additionally, if for any reason Cloud gets hit at the apex of Climhazzard, he is not able to tech a single-hit move regardless of how far or near he is to a wall, although he can still tech if he gets hit by a command grab or a multiple-hit move. These factors make Cloud's recovery somewhat comparable to that of Little Mac, {{SSB4|Ganondorf}} and {{SSB4|Dr. Mario}}, in the sense that it is one of the riskiest and most ineffective without use of his [[wall jump]] or Limit Break Climhazzard (which loses the active hitbox near the end of his ascent, making it less safe than the regular Climhazzard in some situations). Cloud can stall his descent with Blade Beam and Cross Slash, although they only do so after one use. Additionally, the former's slower start-up and ending lag can make its use problematic against opponents already close to the edge or in a prime position to reflect it, while the latter slows down its air speed significantly. The last problem about his recovery is that if he gets grabbed near the edge without his double jump and gets air released, he will not be able to return to the stage unless he properly times a Blade Beam to stall towards the edge, uses aerials or air dodges to reset his momentum, or possesses a Limit Break.

Another glaring flaw is his grab game. Cloud's grab range is abysmally short, having the third shortest overall in the game. His throws' damage outputs are only average at best, and barring down throw at low percents, they lack any sort of combo potential, making them comparable to {{SSB4|Jigglypuff}}'s throws regarding inefficiency. His forward and back throws' decent speed is significantly offset by the problematic combination of their virtual lack of combo potential and low knockback scaling. Additionally, both fail to KO before 300%, unless the opponent is light and Cloud is at the edge upon performing them. His up and down throws both have misleading power, failing to KO until well beyond 200%. Up throw has too much ending lag for reliably comboing, while down throw doesn't have reliable combos at low percentages and loses all of its combo potential past low-mid percentages if the opponent DIs properly.

Despite his huge range, projectile, and combo options granting him a strong neutral game, Cloud has a below-average approach at best. His approach options are linear, with dash attack being easily punishable, neutral aerial having a hitbox that starts from behind, up aerial being very predictable and being surprisingly punishable on shield if not spaced well, and having other attacks that either lack the frame data or the utility to be used as reliable options for approaching, such as his poor grab game. Cloud also has no reliable means of escaping pressure. His neutral attack and down tilt are his fastest ground options, while Climhazzard can work as an out-of-shield option. However, they are noticeably unsafe on shield, while none of his fast aerial attacks start from the front or below him. Down aerial's late hitbox can be used to escape juggling directly from below him, but its otherwise narrow hitbox allows opponents to hit Cloud laterally. Thus, Cloud is fairly easy to combo, and is just as easily forced on the defensive if his attacks are improperly spaced. While Cloud also possesses an abundance of strong finishers, his KOing ability is somewhat inconsistent. None of his strongest finishers are easy to land in the [[neutral game]], and they can be easily punished if avoided or shielded. His weaker moves, such as his forward tilt and back aerial, require good positioning to KO reliably, and he lacks reliable set-ups into his strongest or best finishers.

Aside from Limit Charge, his special moves have some noticeable weaknesses. Blade Beam is relatively slow regarding start-up and ending lag, as well as depreciating in damage over time or when used in the air. Cross Slash is not always consistent with linking all five of its hits due to SDI or landing different parts of the hitboxes, along with being very prone to [[stale-move negation]] due to being a very reliable damage-racking option. In addition to its aforementioned weaknesses regarding recovery, Climhazzard is also very punishable if shielded and easily DI'd out of, while all of his specials only boast KO power when they are boosted by the Limit Break. The Limit Break mechanic itself is also problematic. It acts as a double-edged sword, as it increases Cloud's fall speed and gravity at full charge, making recovery without the use of Climhazzard deceptively difficult, and rendering Cloud even easier to combo at medium percentages. It makes precise use of his special attacks mandatory, as his Limit Break specials are still blockable and possess limited range; while Limit Blade Beam can be used as a ranged KOing option, it can just as easily be [[reflection|reflected]] or otherwise avoided at the tip of its range, leaving Cloud wide open to punishment. Finishing Touch deals only 1% and has a very high ending lag that renders Cloud vulnerable if the slash or whirlwind does not hit. Finally, Cloud lacks [[Character customization|custom moves]] like his fellow [[Downloadable content|DLC]] characters, and while this does not seem to be a problem considering his Limit Break-boosted specials, the lack of variety for the normal special moves does hinder his matchups against more optimized custom characters.

Overall, while Cloud has all the tools required to be successful, the player is forced to manage their resources to the best of their ability, and they must avoid being thrown off the stage at all times. His combo game and KOing ability, while unique and powerful, can sometimes be inconsistent. Even though Cloud has many playstyles applicable to him, the combination of all of the traits above makes him a fundamentals-oriented character most of the time. His weaknesses, however, are still offset by his amazing strengths in his great range, quick frame data in proportion to his range, serious damage output and power, and amazing mobility (especially under Limit Break status), with most smashers agreeing he has few losing matchups (the most prominent one being {{SSB4|Sheik}}). Much like {{SSB4|Mario}}, Cloud has a relatively low learning curve and skill floor that makes him an effective choice for beginners and inexperienced players, though due to the benefits that his most difficult techniques can offer when they are mastered, he continues to be one of the most viable characters in high-level play. His tournament representation and results are strong, with notable players like [[Smasher:Javi (Smash 4)|Javi]], {{Sm|komorikiri}}, {{Sm|MkLeo}}, {{Sm|Ned}} and {{Sm|Tweek}} all having placed high in national tournaments, and he is considered to be an even better character for doubles play, as his Limit Break specials are more reliable and easier to land at the end of a team combo, he can provide stage control and wall out the opponents for a teammate, and his teammate can assist him in recovering easily onto the stage. Thus, Cloud's doubles representation is much stronger in comparison to his singles results, with smashers like {{Sm|MVD}} and {{Sm|Nairo}} using him to great success.