Editing Marth (SSB4)

|ranking = 11

'''Marth''' ({{ja|マルス|Marusu}}, ''Marth'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. He was announced on the official website on November 7th, 2013; years before, four ''Fire Emblem'' games were released within a similar time frame; ''Fire Emblem'' on November 3rd, 2003 in North America, ''The Sacred Stones'' and ''Path of Radiance'' on November 4th, 2005 in Europe, and ''Radiant Dawn'' on November 11th, 2007 in North America. He was among the first wave of [[amiibo]] figures that are compatible with ''SSB4'', released on the same day as the Wii U version of the game. He is voiced once again by Hikaru Midorikawa in all regions, albeit using recycled voice clips from ''Brawl''.

Marth is ranked 11th out of 55 characters on the [[tier list]], tied with {{SSB4|Ryu}} in the bottom of A tier. This is a minor fall from his 5th place position out of 38 in ''Brawl'' and is technically his worst placement in the series to date, albeit by a small margin. However, due to the expansion of tiers in ''SSB4'', Marth remains a top tier character, as in all of his past appearances. Marth's positives include good overall mobility and relatively long disjointed [[range]] on all of his attacks. As with previous incarnations, all of Marth's sword-based attacks are quite rewarding if they land only at the tip of his sword, with the buffs to his tippered moves now causing them to deal very high knockback despite their quick startup, most notably in the case of forward smash, forward/back aerials, and [[Shield Breaker]]. The changes to shield mechanics also indirectly grant his tippers more safety due to them causing higher [[shieldstun]], making it difficult for opponents to punish tippers on shield. In addition, his overall frame data is very good, such as possessing one of the lowest landing lag averages in the game, and as alluded to above, the startup of his moves is also very fast, with most of his moveset coming out before frame 10, and certain moves having little endlag to complement this further (neutral attack, forward, up, and down tilts respectively). All in all, Marth's overall speed in regards to both attacks and mobility give him a dependable [[neutral game]], with optimal spacing being very rewarding due to the danger of his powerful tippers.

Marth is emblematic of sword characters, making extensive use of disjointed hitboxes and his unique [[tipper]] mechanic. His attributes remain present: he has high overall mobility, sporting the fastest [[walking speed]] in the game (tied with his [[clone]], {{SSB4|Lucina}}), a fast [[dashing speed]], average [[air speed]], above average [[air acceleration]], moderate [[falling speed]], and low [[gravity]], all of which is coupled with slightly below average [[weight]].  

Marth's playstyle has remained fundamentally intact from past iterations, being characterized by the properties of his sword, Falchion. His attacks deal significantly more damage and knockback if struck with the tip of the sword, encouraging and rewarding proper [[spacing]]. Being a sword-user, Marth also has the benefit of disjointed hitboxes. Many of his moves possess good [[range]], fast startup, and cover wide arcs (e.g, his jab, up tilt, and forward aerial). As such, Marth aims to fight a step away from danger, where he can [[pressure]] the opponent without leaving himself open to [[punishment]].  

Marth's special moveset has high utility. His neutral special, [[Shield Breaker]], deals high shield damage even when uncharged, and is useful for punishing [[roll]]s or covering landings. It also grants some horizontal recovery, moreso when fully charged, and a tippered blow deals enough knockback to KO at reasonably low percents. Side special [[Dancing Blade]] is a four-hit combo that can be used to punish [[sidestep]]s and rolls, is an effective damage racker, dealing 15-20% if all hits connect, has combo and mix-up potential, and at later percents, serves as an effective KO option. It can also be used to stall in the air, giving Marth mix-up opportunities to recover, land, and edgeguard. [[Counter]], his down special, provides him with the capability to reverse attacks with 1.2x the damage, KOing if the attack was strong enough; it can also be used against opponents with easily predictable recoveries. His up special, [[Dolphin Slash]], has quick startup, provides slight intangibility during its startup frames, is relatively strong when it first comes out, and has high knockback scaling. These attributes make it an excellent [[out of shield]] option and combo-breaker. It is also Marth's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, and it can [[stage spike]] reckless edgeguarders.  

Possibly as a result of his strengths in previous appearances, Marth has been [[nerf]]ed overall in his transition from ''Brawl'' to ''Smash 4'' (especially during the initial release of the game). While Marth's disjoint has been slightly increased, he has less range owing to the hitboxes on most of his moves either being smaller or (in a few cases) removed entirely. This makes his range shorter relative to the cast when combined with some returning veterans having increased range overall as well as with a number of newcomers possessing many disjointed attacks, slightly hindering his key advantage from past games (though he still has one of the longest ranges in the game). As a result, this makes it slightly harder for him to control space. Arguably the largest nerf he has received is to his aerial game, another strength in previous iterations: his forward and down aerials are laggier; with the former being laggier in every regard having more startup lag with a shorter hitbox duration, higher ending and landing lag (with it no longer being possible to perform two forward aerials in a short hop), and auto-cancels much later, hindering his main approach option from ''Brawl'', while the latter has more startup lag and the [[meteor smash]] is smaller, weaker, only lasts one frame and no longer reaches in front of him, hurting its edgeguarding utility despite the removal of [[meteor canceling]].

Marth's overall damage output has been reduced and his frame data is worse which further exacerbate his worse spacing capabilities and the weakened power of his non-tippered attacks, the smaller hitboxes on his tippered attacks and increased ending lag, his KO power is more inconsistent than before. The base knockback on his throws has been significantly increased, making them even more ineffective for combos past extremely low percents despite the changes to [[hitstun canceling]] and [[DI]], and removes his ability to [[tech-chase]]. However, their knockback scaling is still low, and so, aside from [[up throw]], they cannot KO realistically. This is further compounded by the removal of [[chain grab]]bing, as the low damage output of his throws is more pronounced. The changes to aerial [[grab release]]s also hurts his grab game as Marth was one of the characters who could abuse aerial grab releases the most. His aerials are also less effective for comboing and juggling due to their increased landing lag and (in the case of forward aerial) ending lag. Marth has also seen a couple of nerfs to his specials as [[Dancing Blade]]'s first hit is much laggier and Dancing Blade connects less reliably as each hit is stronger and transitions more slowly while [[Dolphin Slash]] is weaker and has less [[intangibility]] when used on the ground.

However, Marth has received noticeable buffs in other areas. [[Shield Breaker]] has improved utility especially when fully charged due to the weaker shields and higher [[shieldstun]], and [[Counter]] reflects attacks with significantly increased knockback. Some of his moves are stronger when tippered, an example being forward smash, which is now the third strongest in the game. As [[Dolphin Slash]] was relatively susceptible to [[edge-hogging]] and suffered from the [[landing lag glitch]], it greatly benefits from the new ledge mechanics, improving Marth's recovery. His ground game has also been buffed in some ways, with his neutral attack, forward tilt, up tilt and down smash all having decreased ending lag, as well as jab launching opponents vertically. While this removes its ability to [[jab lock]], it allows for many new combo and KO setups he lacked in previous games, which compensates for the loss of the combo ability in his throws. Many of his tipper hitboxes have moved further along his sword, and largely benefit from both the increased shieldstun and shield damage and moves with above average [[hitlag]] multipliers being safer on shield, improving his spacing game. His grounded mobility options are also improved, such as possessing a faster dashing speed, having one of the most useful extended dash dances of the game, and the changes to perfect [[pivot]]s gives him a greater microspacing option. Both of these aid his ground game further and give him options to extend his bait and punish options. These changes give him a better grounded spacing and combo game at the cost of having to more properly space and time his aerials. Marth also benefits from the introduction of [[rage]] as while it reduces his own endurance combined with the changes to hitstun canceling, it improves his own KO potential most notably with his tippers and his up throw making it easier for him to close out stocks.

In the end, while Marth was previously considered to be one of the characters to have been the most severely nerfed in the transition to ''Smash 4'' (alongside {{SSB4|Meta Knight}}, {{SSB4|King Dedede}}, {{SSB4|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSB4|Falco}}, {{SSB4|Olimar}}, and {{SSB4|Wario}}), game updates brought useful buffs that significantly increased his effectiveness, while his key strengths remain from his previous two iterations were retained albeit to a lesser extent. While he is still nerfed from ''Brawl'' overall, the changes to the game's mechanics benefit him (despite receiving some noticeable nerfs from them) and most other returning veterans who were in ''Brawl''{{'}}s higher tiers saw a similar treatment which has lead him to being similarly effective relative to the cast and he is still be considered as a viable character in ''Smash 4''{{'}}s metagame.  

*{{nerf|The changes to [[Pivot Walk|pivot walk]]ing hinders Marth's approach options with his [[walk]].}}

*{{nerf|Marth's [[air speed]] is slightly slower (1.034 → 1.02) especially when relative to the cast (now only being average).}}

*{{buff|Marth's [[fast fall]]ing speed is faster (2.1 → 2.528), improving his air game and making him less susceptible to juggling.}}

**{{buff|Due to Marth's lower short hop, he now lands before his forward jumping animation ends. Because of this, Marth is no longer stuck in the air for one frame before performing his soft landing, if he performs an empty forwards short hop.}}

*{{nerf|Marth's [[spot dodge]] has more start-up with a shorter duration (frame 2-20 → 3-17) and has more ending lag (FAF 25 → 27).}}

*{{buff|Marth's [[air dodge]] has less start-up (frame 5 → 3) and much less ending lag (FAF 50 → 33), no longer being considered among the worst air dodges as a result.}}

*{{buff|Most of Marth's attacks have slightly increased reach compared to ''Brawl'' due to the tipper hitboxes on a large majority of his moves being positioned further along his sword (although most of his tipper hitboxes are now smaller).}}  

**{{buff|The second hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 50 (scaling) (sourspot), 30/70 (tipper) → 62/75 (both)).}}  

**{{nerf|The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 4-8 → 3-5) considerably decreasing its range above Marth.}}  

**{{nerf|The second hit has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 29).}}  

**{{change|Down tilt's sourspots with reduced base knockback (25/20 → 40) have been removed with the sourspot now being one single extended hitbox instead of 3 normal hitboxes.}}  

**{{nerf|Down tilt has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/3.36u/3.74u/4.8u → 2.7u/2.7u) giving it less vertical range and no longer covering Marth's head.}}  

**{{nerf|Forward smash has smaller hitboxes overall especially around Marth's body (3u/3u/3u/4u/3u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u) and the move has a new animation, where Marth doesn't step forward as much as before.}}  

**{{buff|Up smash's non tipper main hitboxes are larger (4.9u/4.9u → 5.8u/5.8u).}}  

**{{buff|Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 65 → 54).}}

**{{buff|The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 5.2 → 7.3) now fully covering the tip of the sword.}}  

**{{buff|Down smash deals more knockback scaling (70/80 → 88) and the back tipper deals slightly more damage (16% → 17%) improving the tipper's KO potential.}}  

**{{nerf|The back hit's sourspot deals 1% less damage (13% → 12%).}}  

**{{buff|Neutral aerial's first hit now has weight independent knockback making it connect into the second hit more consistently across the cast.}}

**{{buff|Neutral aerial's first hit's sourspot deals more damage (3% → 3.5%).}}

**{{buff|The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 3.6 (both) → 7.7 (hit 1), 7.5 (hit 2)) now fully covering the tip of the sword as well as overlapping less with the sourspot.}}  

**{{nerf|Neutral aerial has increased landing lag (9 frames → 12).}}

**{{nerf|Neutral aerial deals less damage (6% → 5% (first hit, tippered), 9%/12% → 7%/9.5% (hit 2)), and the knockback scaling on one of the second hit's sourspots (80 → 90) and the base knockback on the tipper (50 → 60) were not fully compensated while the knockback on the other hitboxes were not compensated at all.}}

**{{nerf|The first hit no longer launches opponents towards Marth (100°/90° → 80°/75°/65°/90°) and has increased knockback scaling (40 → 50) hindering its reliability.}}

**{{nerf|Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4.8u/4.8u/3u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u) and they no longer cover Marth's body.}}

**{{nerf|Forward aerial has more ending lag (FAF 34 → 38). When combined with Marth's lower short hop, this prevents him from performing another aerial after it in a short hop.}}

***{{nerf|Additionally, this animation is also slightly longer than the previous one (39 frames → 40). This slightly increases the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using forward aerial.}}  

**{{buff|Down aerial has a longer duration (frames 6-9 → 9-13).}}  

**{{change|Down aerial has a new animation where Marth now starts down aerial from the back instead of his front, essentially flipping its animation around.}}  

**{{nerf|The tipper and meteor hitbox have lower base knockback (40 → 20), hindering their KO and edgeguarding potential, despite the meteor hitbox's higher damage.}}  

**{{nerf|Standing grab more startup lag (frame 6 → 7).}}  

**{{nerf|Forward throw has significantly higher knockback (70 (base), 45 (scaling) → 100/50) although the throw is still too weak to KO at realistic percents. While this does allow forward throw to set up edgeguards on its own more effectively, this also removes many of Marth's followup options after a forward throw outside of very low percents, as he can now only lead into a neutral aerial or forward aerial until around 20%, as opposed to having multiple mixups right up until high percents.}}  

***{{nerf|This change also means that Marth can also no longer [[chaingrab]] or tech chase opponents with his forward throw, as well as preventing the throw from benefitting as much from the changes to hitstun canceling and DI as much as it could have with its original knockback.}}  

**{{buff|The tipper now has a larger extended hitbox rather than a normal hitbox (2.5u → 3u). It also has increased base knockback (50 → 60) and hitlag (1.5× (uncharged)/1× (fully charged) → 1.6×).}}  

**{{nerf|Uncharged Shield Breaker deals less [[shield damage]] (42 → 25) and less [[hitlag]] when uncharged and sourspotted (1.3× → 1×), making the move worse at breaking shields despite the significant increase in shield damage (having a 1.19x multiplier instead of a 0.7x multiplier) as well as the increase in [[shieldstun]].}}  

**{{nerf|Marth also no longer steps an extra distance forward when using Shield Breaker, making the move's range shorter despite the tipper being larger.}}  

**{{nerf|The sourspot deals less knockback (30 (uncharged base)/50 (charged base), 100 (scaling) → 30/90 (both)).}}  

**{{buff|Both variants of the second hit have less ending lag on the ground (FAF 41 → 39).}}  

**{{buff|All variants of the third hit have less ending lag on the ground (FAF 47 → 44).}}  

**{{nerf|The clean hit deals less damage (13% → 11%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (68 → 74), hindering its KO potential.}}  

**{{nerf|The clean hit has smaller hitboxes (6.5u/6.5u → 4u/4u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Marth (z offset: 9 → 8), considerably reducing its range.}}  

|fsmashname=Dragon Killer

|usmashname=Justice Sword

|bairname=About Face

|bthrowdesc=Tosses the opponent over his leg, sending them behind him. Its high base knockback allows him to set up edgeguarding, but it cannot combo or KO reliably.  

|nsdefdesc=Marth assumes a readying stance and charges Falchion at chest level before powerfully thrusting it forward. This attack deals massive [[shield damage]] even when uncharged, and will instantly break shields at full charge, although it can be safely [[powershield]]ed. The aerial version gives Marth a very slight horizontal boost, while a fully charged aerial version will thrust Marth in whatever direction he's facing, giving him a strong horizontal recovery option, albeit with very high startup. Deals very high knockback when tippered, making it a powerful KOing option, especially against dazed opponents.

|usdefdesc=Marth performs a high-speed jumping uppercut slash that can be B-reversed. Has a powerful sweetspot and grants very slight [[intangibility]] in the first few frames, which can easily cause stage-spikes under the right circumstances. Grants good vertical distance but is rather lacking in horizontal distance.

|usc1desc=Marth uses a lower Dolphin Slash that gains more horizontal distance, and deals the most damage at the midpoint of the arc. It gives Marth an access to his only true follow-up from forward throw and grab release combo against some characters. However, it has less vertical distance and more landing lag.

|usc2desc=The jump is purely vertical and gains more height. However, it has even more landing lag, and the jump deals no damage.

|desc-3=Sheaths Falchion and stands facing the camera, while saying "{{ja|今日も生き延びることが出来た。|Kyō mo ikinobiru koto ga dekita.}}", which translates to "Even today I was able to survive."

==In competitive play==

*{{Sm|False|USA}} (#73) - One of the best Marth players in the United States. Ranked 41st on the [[Panda Global Rankings|Panda Global Rankings v2]], and 5th on the [[New Jersey Smash 4 Power Rankings]]; 1st at [[Midwest Mayhem 3]], 7th at [[CEO 2016]], 13th at [[2GGT: KTAR Saga]], and 17th at [[Pound 2016]] and [[Get On My Level 2016]].  

===Tier placement and history===

In the early lifespan of ''Smash 4'', players quickly recognized the changes and nerfs to Marth's moveset, with players mostly criticizing on his range; while still notable, and even improved in some aspects from ''Brawl'', it was nowhere near as impressive due to other characters receiving significant range increases. This culminated in Marth being widely regarded poorly early on; however, Marth received small buffs in balance patches, and by the time of updates [[1.0.8]] and [[1.1.0]], Marth received some notable buffs that helped mitigate some of his initial issues, which contributed to the growth of his playerbase, thanks to dedicated players such as {{Sm|False}}, {{Sm|Mr E}} and {{Sm|Pugwest}}. While Marth's results were still poor overall, the buffs improved his perception as a character, culminating in him being ranked 41st on the first ''4BR'' [[tier list]].

 

Marth would continue to improve with time, and gained his most significant buffs in updates [[1.1.3]] and [[1.1.4]]. These buffs, supplemented with previous ones, allowed Marth's game to flow far more consistently, and allowed his playerbase to gain significantly better and more consistent results. As an example, {{Sm|Fuwa}} was able to achieve strong placings in Japan, a region considered to be difficult for him to earn high results. In the USA and Canada, Mr E was able to place 5th at [[KTAR XVII]], 17th at [[GOML 2016]] and 13th at [[EVO 2016]] (defeating {{Sm|ZeRo}} 2-1 in the latter tournament), while Pugwest placed 17th at [[Pound 2016]] and EVO 2016, and False placed 17th at GOML 2016, with such finishes prior to the patch being almost unspoken of for him. Most notably, {{Sm|MkLeo}} begun bringing in his share of highlights: this included 1st place at [[Smash Factor 5]] while using Marth through a majority of the tournament, and notably resetting the Grand Finals bracket against {{Sm|Mr.R}}'s Sheik 3-0. Overall, [https://smashboards.com/threads/tournament-placing-database-scoring-project.437773/ Marth gained between the 12th and 16th best overall tournament results from patch 1.1.4 to present time], and all of these traits allowed Marth to rise to 19th on the second official tier list, gaining the second largest rise between the first and second tier lists.

 

While his placement on the second tier list was considered to be fairly accurate, some top players (e.g, ZeRo and {{Sm|Dabuz}}) believed Marth to be too low, and his increasing tournament success further called his placement into question: Leo won [[Canada Cup 2016]] after beating {{Sm|Ally}} in very close sets of Grand Finals with Marth, he beat ZeRo 3-0 at [[2GGT: ZeRo Saga]] in Losers Semi-finals and turned around a harsh deficit in Grand Finals against Larry Lurr using only Marth, and he won [[GENESIS 4]] using Marth for the entirety of Top 8 (although he used {{SSB4|Cloud}} exclusively prior to this). These even stronger results have helped Marth rise further in the third and current tier list, at 10th place, this tier rise being the third highest between the second and third tier lists.

 

However, while Marth has continued to perform well in the current metagame and has achieved strong results, his current placement has been recently disputed due to some smashers viewing Leo as the only Marth player to place very high at major tournaments, while Leo himself has used his other main, Cloud, more frequently over Marth. Mr E had also began to use Lucina more often in tournament. In addition, characters ranked below him on the tier list such as {{SSB4|Corrin}} have placed higher than Marth in tournaments as of late. As a result of this, Marth dropped one spot to 11th place, now sharing the spot with {{SSB4|Ryu}}. In spite of these slight downturns, he has tremendously improved throughout the competitive lifespan of the game, and is one of the characters that had its meta developed the most, alongside {{SSB4|Mewtwo}}.

 

==Trophies==

::{{flag|ntsc}} ''The first hero from the Fire Emblem series, Marth is the prince of Altea and descendant of the hero Anri. In Smash Bros., he's known as an exceptional swordfighter, swinging his blade with grace. Striking with the tip will maximize the damage dealt. Teach aggressive foes a lesson with his strong Counter move.''

 

::{{flag|pal}} ''Marth, the prince of Altea, is the hero of the first ever Fire Emblem game and its remake, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In this game, his graceful sword skills are what set him apart. Strike with the tip of his blade to deal extra damage, and use his Counter skill to defend yourself, no matter which directions you're being attacked from.''

 

{{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (JP)|console2=SNES|game2=Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (JP)}}

 

::{{flag|ntsc}} ''Marth's side special Dancing Blade is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! The tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above and launch nearby foes.''

 

::{{flag|pal}} ''Marth's side special, Dancing Blade, is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! As usual, the tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above, and even to launch nearby enemies off the ground."

 

{{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (JP)|console2=SNES|game2=Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (JP)}}

 

::{{flag|ntsc}} ''Marth raises his Exalted Falchion to the sky and then rushes forward to deal an incredibly powerful blow, almost certainly KO'ing anyone and everyone who gets hit! When it's used in the air, he'll fly forward a certain distance. On the ground, however, he'll only dash to the edge of the platform he's standing on.''

::{{flag|pal}} ''Marth raises his Exalted Falchion to the sky, then rushes forwards to deal an incredibly powerful blow, almost certainly KOing anyone and everyone who gets hit! When used in the air, he'll fly forwards a set distance, but on the ground, he'll only dash up to the edge of the platform he's standing on.''

MarthTrophy3DS.png|Classic (3DS)

MarthAltTrophy3DS.png|Alt. (3DS)

MarthTrophyWiiU.png|Classic (Wii U)

MarthAltTrophyWiiU.png|Alt. (Wii U)

CriticalHitMarthTrophyWiiU.png|[[Critical Hit]]