Marth (SSB4)

Marth in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	A (11-12)

Marth (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was announced on the official website on November 7, 2013. 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. Hikaru Midorikawa is the voice of Marth in all regions; the voice clips originate from the recording sessions for Melee and were all the same ones previously used in Brawl. Marth is one of five Smash 4 characters that only speak Japanese in all its regional versions; the others are Takamaru, the Prince of Sablé, Roy, and Cloud.

Marth is ranked 11th/12th out of 54 characters on the tier list, tied with Ryu in the bottom of A tier and two-to-three spots above his clone, Lucina. This is a minor fall from his 5th place position out of 38 in Brawl. 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's primary flaw is his emphasis on spacing, moreso than in his previous appearances, owing to the reduction in power and efficacy of his sourspotted moves. Furthermore, many of Marth's sourspotted attacks have poor shieldstun, potentially leading to punishes if Marth does not properly space his attacks. Marth is also susceptible to pressure tactics, as he lacks combo breaker attacks and his lack of a projectile prevents him from easily dealing with projectile-based camping. Like in his previous appearances, Marth also suffers from a linear, predictable recovery, and even with ledge trumping and larger ledge sweetspots, Marth is still prone to gimping.

Initially considered a low-tier character in Smash 4 while struggling to make notable tournament impacts, Marth was buffed via updates to the game, particularly in 1.1.4, owing to improvements to his reach, damage, interruptibility, and combo game. Since then, he amassed a large playerbase and above-average tournament representation.

Attributes

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, 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 neutral game relies heavily on effective spacing. As mentioned before, Marth possesses one of the longest overall ranges in the game, which plays a vital role in his neutral, as his mobility allows him to maneuver around opponents and space attacks with relative ease, with multiple moves that are safe to throw out at tipper range or further. In comparison to Melee and Brawl, Marth's neutral game is mainly ground-based, with the first hit of his jab being the cornerstone. Said move is fast, disjointed, has high range, low start up, deceptively low cooldown, and due to its hitbox arc, also acts as an anti-air. All of these traits make it exceptionally difficult to challenge. It also has excellent combo potential with many of his moves.

While his tipper is considered the most optimal, Marth's sourspot also provides benefits when he wins in the neutral, as the lower knockback on his sourspot allows him to more easily combo moves into themselves. Marth's neutral game is also unique by scaling with percent, as set-ups and combos become more rewarding at higher percents (e.g, jab 1 to forward tilt serves as a KO set-up at later percents). He also benefits from being one of the few characters in the game who can outright KO through playing his neutral and spacing game; essentially, while Marth's neutral reward is not as rewarding or damaging as other characters, Marth can win neutral exchanges with relative ease and safety, as well as having consistent set-ups and follow-ups.

Marth's special moveset has high utility. His neutral special, Shield Breaker, deals high shield damage even when uncharged, and is useful for punishing rolls 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 sidesteps 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.

Marth's low gravity and average falling speed allow him to maneuver effectively in the air, and his disjointed range provides him with an innately strong edgeguarding capability. His forward and back aerials have fast startup and good range, and are strong when tippered. Down aerial is relatively quick, and it will powerfully meteor smash opponents if it hits at the center of the arc, though its timing is very strict at one frame. Forward smash's range makes it a good choice against opponents aiming their recoveries towards the ledge, and down tilt's range and speed make it good at 2-framing opponents. Both can hit below the ledge as well.

Despite his strengths, Marth is not without flaws. Due to both the changes to shield mechanics and further polarization of his sweetspots and sourspots, his heavier reliance on tippers and spacing ability gives him a relatively subpar up-close game at higher percents, which makes it more difficult for Marth to KO and threaten faster/smaller characters. The low shieldstun and hitstun generated by non-tippered moves make it possible for opponents to act out quicker than he can, causing Marth to struggle against shields if his aerials are improperly spaced, and Shield Breaker is highly punishable if predicted. His tipper mechanic can equally disadvantage him when attempting to KO, as his attacks don't generate much knockback if not spaced properly, making his KO potential very inconsistent without proper spacing (most notably with forward smash, forward tilt, and aerials). Lastly, his edgeguarding ability, though strong, is flawed, both due to the need for tippers and the moderately high ending lag on his aerials. As a result, Marth is reliant on being at a certain distance for his moves to be safe while retaining the neutral, and to KO effectively without setups.

Marth's weak throws tie into his inconsistent KO power. Except for up throw, they have low knockback scaling, preventing them from KOing at realistic percents, while up throw can only KO starting at 160%, if Marth has no rage. His throw game is poor as well; aside from having a fairly fast pummel, Marth's throws deal low damage and have high base knockback, making them poor for combos and damage-racking outside of very low percents, such as aerials at 0%. However, it should be noted that the high base knockback of his throws allows Marth to take advantage of his good edgeguarding capability, especially at the edge.

As a solely sword-based character, Marth's neutral also suffers from a lack of a projectile, and he can struggle against projectile-heavy characters and playstyles. This ties in with his vulnerability once he loses the neutral: despite having below average weight and only average falling speed, Marth is susceptible to combos, and his tall hurtbox provides an easy target. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable combo-breaker, but as it leaves him helpless, it can inadvertently put him in an even worse position. Also, while Counter can be used defensively, it leaves Marth extremely vulnerable to punishment should it whiff. Marth also has little defense against juggling, as his aerials are ineffective at relieving pressure; though his attacks have quick startup, many of them come with high ending and landing lag, and also suffer from short hitbox durations (e.g, his forward aerial has a hitbox that lasts only 3 frames, comparatively high ending lag and noticeable landing lag, and along with its very strict autocancel window, it is a surprisingly poor approach option).

Marth himself is somewhat vulnerable to edgeguarding, though he has options for mix-ups with his recovery. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable vertical recovery option, and while it is still a threat to edgeguarders due to its speed and high stage spike ability, its path is linear and its distance fixed, making it fairly predictable. Additionally, since this move grants little horizontal distance, Marth is vulnerable to semi-spikes. While Shield Breaker can aid his horizontal recovery, it covers little distance without charging. Marth's also heavily reliant on his double jump for mix-ups in his recovery, and is in significant danger if offstage without it.

With custom moves enabled, Marth gains options to address some of his drawbacks, at the cost of creating different ones. Dashing Assault allows him to punish landings and rolls, create trap situations, and force opponents off the stage, but it loses the power and utility of Shield Breaker. Crescent Slash provides more horizontal recovery, but less vertical recovery. Also, while it grants him a fairly reliable follow-up from his forward throw and aerials at low percents, and can punish airdodge landings, it loses out on shield functionality. Dolphin Jump provides Marth more vertical distance and greater horizontal control, but loses all of its offensive use. Iai Counter has a quicker startup (active from frame 3), increased utility, and deals electric damage as well; however, it requires significantly stricter timing.

Overall, Marth's strengths considerably outweigh his flaws. He possesses notable advantages in his tipper mechanic, effective disjoint, fast mobility, above-average frame data, and a sourspot to benefit his combo game; however, his spacing and overall safety are so overly centered on his tipper mechanic that it hinders him in many ways, making his punishes unreliable due to their inconsistency. At his purest, Marth is most rewarding for players with good fundamentals, with many playstyles applicable to him due to his flaws being easily worked around with careful play. Marth has a dedicated playerbase in competitive play, with notable players such as MkLeo, Mr E, Pugwest, and False achieving strong results at top-level play. As such, while he is noticeably nerfed from Brawl, he has proven to be a solid pick in competitive play after his buffs.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Possibly as a result of his strengths in previous appearances, Marth was severely nerfed overall in his transition from Brawl to Smash 4 (though this was partially reversed through balance updates). In general, Marth deals less damage and has worse frame data. Marth's hitboxes on most moves are now slightly more disjointed, but smaller and with less absolute range. His tipper hitboxes are generally smaller and more difficult to land, and non-tipper hits are weaker, making KOs less consistent. Although Marth's range is still very good, buffs to other veterans as well as high-tier newcomers with excellent range (e.g., Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta) render his key advantage over other characters much less pronounced.

Marth's aerial game has been significantly nerfed. Forward aerial, a key tool in Melee and Brawl, now has more startup, cooldown, and landing lag, and auto-cancels much later. (Notably, it is no longer possible to perform two forward aerials in a short hop.) Down aerial, previously a very threatening edgeguarding tool, has a new animation with less effective reach and more startup lag, and only meteor smashes directly below Marth instead of throughout the move. Up aerial and neutral aerial have more landing lag, now being less effective for combos and juggling. Back aerial, though, has less landing lag and better knockback.

The base knockback on his throws has been significantly increased. This makes them mostly ineffective for combos and tech chases except at very low percents, but more effective at launching opponents away from centre-stage into edgeguard or juggle states. Up throw remains his only moderately effective KO throw. Chain grabbing and aerial grab release follow-ups have been removed wholesale, notably weakening Marth's grab game.

Marth has also seen a couple of nerfs to his specials: Dancing Blade's first hit is much laggier, and the full move connects less reliably as each hit is stronger and transitions more slowly. 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 due to Smash 4's 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. The first hit of jab now launches opponents vertically upwards, allowing many new combos into different moves (although removing its ability to jab lock). Many of his tipper hitboxes have moved further along his sword, and largely benefit both from the increased shieldstun and shield damage, and the fact that moves with high hitlag multipliers are now more advantageous on shield. His grounded mobility options are also improved: his dash speed is higher, making his extended dash-dance and perfect pivot very effective. These changes give him a better grounded spacing and combo game. Marth also benefits from rage when facing characters who are lighter than him.

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 Meta Knight, King Dedede, Dr. Mario, Falco, Olimar, and 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.

Aesthetics

• Marth's design takes elements from Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow and his older design in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, which was used in Melee and Brawl. His cuirass and pauldrons are gray and have a rounder shape, alongside the latter hugging his shoulders. His shirt is now teal with a longer end, with the sections being separated. His gloves are black. His belt is brown and has a more simplistic design, with the buckle being silver and pin-shaped. His boots are brown with multiple light brown straps, and the folds are white with golden trimmings. His eyes are also smaller, and he has shorter hair.
• Marth's white alternate costume has been updated to the monochromatic palette, which is no longer based on Leif. Additionally, Marth has received three new alternate costumes, two of which are based on his appearance in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem and Roy's appearance in Melee, respectively. One replaces his previous blue costume.
• Marth's sword trails are much brighter at the tip; this makes the sweetspot of his attacks more visible than in previous games.
• Marth's sound effects for his sword slashes are less pronounced than in Brawl, overall being quieter. His Dolphin Slash in particular now produces a soft, short slashing sound, compared to the loud and prolonged noise it produced in Brawl.
• Marth's shielding animation has been updated. He no longer sheaths his sword, instead holding it up via an underhanded grip. However, his sidestepping animation still has his sword sheathed, which is a carryover from Brawl.
• Marth's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.

Attributes

• Marth dashes faster (1.7 → 1.785).
• The changes to pivot walking hinders Marth's approach options with his walk.
• Marth's air speed is slightly slower (1.034 → 1.02), going from the 11th fastest out of 39 characters to the 29th fastest out of 58.
• Marth falls faster (1.5 → 1.58). This slightly improves his vertical endurance, but makes him more susceptible to combos.
• Marth's fast falling speed is faster (2.1 → 2.528), improving his air game and making him less susceptible to juggling. It is also faster than his fast falling speed in Melee (2.5 → 2.528).
• Marth's gravity is greater (0.06715 → 0.075), hindering his endurance, making him more susceptible to combos and reducing the height of his jumps, but allowing him to reach his falling speed faster.
  • Due to Marth's lower short hop, he now lands before his forward jumping animation ends. This means that Marth no longer enters his aerial transition frame before landing from a forward short hop.
• Marth's double jump is higher (height multiplier: 0.88x → 1x).
• Marth is heavier (87 → 90), improving his endurance.
• Marth is smaller (model size multiplier: 1x → 0.96x). This makes him harder to hit but reduces his range.
• Marth's item throw is weaker (1 → 0.966). Additionally, the removal of glide tossing hinders his approach with items.
• Marth's rolls have less ending lag (FAF 36 → 31).
• Marth's rolls have a shorter duration (frame 4-19 (forward)/4-23 (back) → 4-17).
• Marth's rolls cover less distance due to his smaller size.
• Marth's spot dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frame 2-20 → 3-17), and it has more ending lag (FAF 25 → 27).
• Marth has a new spot dodge animation: he shifts backwards instead of crouching forward.
• Marth's air dodge has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and much less ending lag (FAF 50 → 33), no longer being the slowest air dodge in terms of startup lag.
• Marth's air dodge's has a shorter duration (frames 5-30 → 3-27).
• 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).
  • Despite this, his overall range is worse due to most of his attacks having smaller hitboxes, making his attacks harder to land and hindering his ability to wall out his opponents. This is further exacerbated by the nerfs some of his key spacing tools received, such as his forward aerial.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's first hit transitions into the second hit faster (frame 20 → 17) and has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 26).
  • The first hit has altered knockback (20 (base), 50 (scaling) (sourspot), 30/70 (tipper) → 30/55 (both)), sends opponents at a higher trajectory (361° → 78°/65°/90°) significantly improving its jab cancelling potential.
    • However, its new angles also remove its ability to jab lock, removing Marth's most reliable method to lock opponents.
  • The first hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 5-7). Its animation has not been changed, reducing the move's range below Marth.
  • The first hit deals less damage (4%/6% → 3%/5%).
  • The second hit has less startup lag (frame 4 → 3) with no animation change, giving it slightly more range below Marth.
  • The second hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 50 (scaling) (sourspot), 30/70 (tipper) → 62/75 (both)).
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 4-8 → 3-5), considerably decreasing its range above Marth.
  • The second hit has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 29).
  • The second hit's angle has been altered (361° → 45°), which hinders its effectiveness against grounded opponents and removes its ability to jab lock when combined with its higher knockback.
  • The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 5.1 → 6.7), now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u) and they no longer have a hitbox on Marth's shoulder.
• Forward tilt:
  • Tippered forward tilt deals more knockback (40 (base), 80 (scaling) → 55/85).
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 6.5 → 7.7) which makes it reach slightly further.
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 34), which gives it a peculiar property; a move buffered during the end of the animation will start a small step forward than usual, similar to his Brawl down tilt, moving him forward slightly when buffering the repeated attack. Overall, this property can grant any of Marth's moves a slightly increased horizontal range.
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u) and it no longer has a hitbox on Marth's shoulder.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt now always launches opponents vertically (110°/361° (clean), 85°/361 (late) → 100° (clean)/85° (late)), making it more consistent.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 5.1 → 6.7) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 34), which gives it a peculiar property; a move buffered during the end of the animation will start a small step forward than usual, similar to his Brawl down tilt, moving him forward slightly when buffering the repeated attack. Overall, this property can grant any of Marth's moves a slightly increased horizontal range.
  • Up tilt deals less damage (8%/9%/10%/12% → 5%/6%/9%) and its knockback was only compensated for the tipper (40 (base), 90 (scaling) → 65/100). The other hitboxes did not have their knockback fully compensated (40/30 (base), 120/118/116 (scaling) → 65/100), making them much weaker.
  • Up tilt previously had much more powerful knockback on a "sourspot" hitbox for the last active frame, being a stronger KO move than tippered Up tilt and sourspot Up Smash.
  • Up tilt has smaller hitboxes (5u/3.5u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 4.8 → 8.2) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • 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.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 7-9 → 7-8) and more ending lag (FAF 22 → 24).
  • The sourspot deals less damage (9%/8% → 7%).
  • 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.
  • Down tilt no longer moves Marth forward, removing its ability to pseudo-crawl.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 5.2 → 6.5), making it overlap less with the sourspots.
  • Dash attack has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).
• Forward smash:
  • The tipper hitbox of forward smash is slightly larger (3u → 3.5u) and has more knockback scaling (70 → 80), slightly improving its KO potential despite its lower damage now being the third strongest forward smash in the game.
  • Forward smash has slightly increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 52).
  • Forward smash deals less damage (14%/19% → 13%/18%), although the sourspot's knockback was compensated (60 (base), 70 (scaling) → 55/80).
  • 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.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 9 → 7.3), giving it less range in front of Marth.
  • Marth's forward smash with a battering item no longer has an initial sword hit, which increases the startup lag of Marth's battering item forward smashes (frame 10 → 15) and makes them deal 5% less damage than they otherwise would.
    • However, this also makes his forward smash with battering items more reliable.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's sourspot is now one large extended hitbox which fully covers Marth's lower body rather than 2 normal hitboxes which cover a space around Marth's feet.
  • Up smash's non tipper main hitboxes are larger (4.9u/4.9u → 5.8u/5.8u).
  • Both the main sourspot and tipper have higher knockback scaling (80 (sourspot), 70 (tipper) → 90/95), improving their KO potential, especially the tipper.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 6 → 7.3) which makes it reach slightly higher.
  • Up smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 12-17 → 13-17) as well as increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 58).
  • The main sourspot deals less damage (14% → 13%).
  • The tipper is smaller (4.9u → 4.6u) and no longer takes priority over the sourspots.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 65 → 55).
  • The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 5.2 → 7.3), now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • 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.
  • The tipper on both hits now launches opponents horizontally (75° → 361°).
  • The front hit deals much less damage (14%/17% → 8%/12%), significantly hindering its KO potential.
  • The front hit has a shorter duration (frames 6-8 → 6-7).
  • The back hit's sourspot deals 1% less damage (13% → 12%).
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u/3.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • The first hit's sourspots deal more damage (3% → 3.5%).
  • The sword hitboxes on both hits have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 0 (near)3.6 (tipper) → 2.5/7.7 (hit 1 tipper)/7.5 (hit 2 tipper)), giving the tipper more range as well as making it easier to land.
  • Neutral aerial's first hit now has weight-independent knockback, making it more consistent across the cast.
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 12).
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 25 → 47), no longer doing in a short hop. This considerably hinders its spacing potential.
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1).
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4.8u/3u/4.8u/4.8u → 3.5u/3u/2u/3.5u), with the nearest hitboxes now being positioned on Marth's arm rather than his back, reducing the move's vertical range as well as its range inside of Marth.
  • The first hit no longer launches opponents towards Marth (100°/90° → 80°/75°/65°/90°) and has higher knockback scaling (40 → 50) hindering its reliability.
  • The first hit's tipper deals less damage (6% → 5%).
  • The second hit deals less damage (9% (near)/12% (tipper) → 7%/9.5%). The previous body hitbox did not receive full compensation on its knockback scaling (80 → 90), the previous head and sword hitbox received no compensation to their knockback, and the tipper only received an increase to its base knockback (50 → 60). This considerably hinders its KO potential, no longer being the strongest neutral aerial.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's sword hitboxes have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5.8 (tipper) → 2/7.7), giving the tipper more range and overall making it easier to land.
  • Forward aerial has higher knockback scaling (70 (near)/80 (tipper) → 80/90), slightly improving the tipper's KO potential despite its lower damage.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 6-8).
  • 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, considerably hindering its spacing potential.
  • Forward aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 16).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 36).
  • Forward aerial has a new animation where Marth starts his sword swing at a more diagonal angle. This reduces the move's range above Marth, while the move's shorter duration reduces its range below Marth.
    • 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.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (10% (near)/13% (tipper) → 8%/11.5%). The near hitboxes did not receive full compensation on their knockback scaling, hindering their KO potential.
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u → 3.5u/3.5u/3.5u).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less landing lag (21 frames → 17).
  • The tipper deals more knockback (30 (base), 90 (scaling) → 40/94), improving its KO potential close to the blastzone despite its lower damage.
  • Back aerial's sword hitbox has been moved further along the sword (z offset: 0 (near)/5 (tipper) → 2.5/7.7), giving the tipper more range as well as making it easier to land.
  • Back aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1-2).
  • Back aerial turns Marth around to the opposite direction earlier (frame 6 → 3), matching the move's shorter initial auto-cancel window.
  • Back aerial deals less damage (11%/14% → 9%/12.5%). The tipper's knockback scaling was not fully compensated, hindering its KO potential from far distances from the blastzone. The sourspots only received an increase to their base knockback (30 → 40), hindering their KO potential.
  • Back aerial has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4.6u/4.8u → 3.5u/3.5u/3.5u).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has higher knockback scaling (70 (near)/80 (tipper) → 80/84), improving its KO potential.
  • Up aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 14) hindering its followup potential at lower percents.
  • Up aerial auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 38).
  • Up aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-4 → 1-2).
  • The near hits deal less damage (10% → 9.5%).
  • Up aerial has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4.8u/4.8u/4.8u → 3.5u/3u/2u/3.5u). This gives up aerial less range (especially inside of Marth), despite the sword hitboxes being moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5.5 (tipper) → 2/6.7).
  • The tipper now has the lowest hitbox priority (ID# 0 → 3). This makes it much more difficult to land, despite the near sword hitbox's smaller size.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a longer duration (frames 6-9 → 9-13).
  • Down aerial has less landing lag (32 frames → 24).
  • The sword hitboxes have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5 (base) → 2/6.7), now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • The meteor hitbox deals more damage (14% → 15%).
  • The meteor hitbox now has the highest hitbox priority (ID# 3 → 0), making it easier to land despite its altered position.
  • The removal of meteor canceling improves the meteor hitbox's reliability.
  • Down aerial has a new animation where Marth now starts down aerial from the back instead of his front, essentially flipping its animation around.
    • With this new animation, the hitboxes start at a higher position but end at a lower position. The move has more vertical range on the right but less vertical range on the left.