Marth (SSBU)

Marth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	D- (74)

Marth (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Initially teased in the then-unnamed Ultimate's announcement trailer, he was officially confirmed as a playable character on June 12th, 2018, alongside all of the other veterans. As in his appearances prior to Super Smash Bros. 4, he is unlockable, instead of being available from the start. Marth is classified as Fighter #21.

Ultimate marks the first time since Super Smash Bros. Melee where Marth receives brand new voice clips, as well as the first time in the series where he doesn't speak Japanese in every region of the game. In international releases, Marth is fully voiced in English by Yuri Lowenthal, who reprises his role from Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. onwards. Hikaru Midorikawa reprises his role in the game's Japanese release, providing new dialogue and battle grunts that mimic the ones he recorded for Melee.

Marth is ranked 74th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him at the very top of the D- tier. This is a meteoric drop from his placement of 11th/12th out of 54 in SSB4 where he was tied with Ryu. It is by far Marth's worst placement in the series to date, the largest drop for a veteran in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, and a significant drop compared to his Echo Fighter, Lucina, who is currently ranked 37th out of 82 and is placed in the B+ tier. Marth possesses above-average speed and long, disjointed range on his moves, as well as decent frame data overall. His greatest asset, and what sets him apart from Lucina, is his tipper, which deals additional knockback and damage when landed. Some of his tippers have disproportionately high KO potential compared to Lucina, and especially relative to their speed: for example, a tippered uncharged forward smash, fourth forward hit of Dancing Blade, and Shield Breaker are all very fast and capable of KOing opponents at ledge as early as 40-60%, which heavily rewards proper spacing from the player.

Despite this, his strengths are offset by several weaknesses. Marth has a weak set of throws that are only effective for setting up a positional advantage, with his KO throw (up throw) KOing extremely late. In addition, he can struggle in escaping juggling situations due to his average air speed, low gravity, and tall hitbox. His greatest weakness, however, is his tipper mechanic. The power difference between his sweetspots and sourspots have been further accentuated; this means that landing his sourspots, though effective for setting up combos and tech-chases, is significantly less rewarding than previous games, as he is unable to easily KO opponents without landing tippers. Ultimate's faster engine, the removal of certain microspacing techniques (such as perfect pivoting), the hitboxes of his attacks more closely matching his sword's model (which shorten his range), and the reduction in tipper sizes also make landing Marth's tipper attacks notoriously inconsistent. Overall, these combined factors makes Marth's KO potential very unpredictable compared to Lucina, who is able to more reliably take stocks through neutral exchanges with less accounting for timing and spacing.

As a result of his inconsistent tipper mechanic and poor advantage state, Marth does not enjoy the glowing perception and large playerbase that Lucina does despite sharing many of her strengths and weaknesses. As such, he is widely considered inferior to Lucina, and despite finding some success from players such as MkLeo and Rizeasu, he remains one of the least popular characters in competitive play.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Marth being the 7th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Yoshi or any character in his unlock tree, being the 2nd character unlocked after Lucario.
• Have Marth join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Marth must then be defeated on Castle Siege. In World of Light, he is fought on Final Destination.

Attributes

Marth is considered to be emblematic of the swordfighter archetype; his playstyle revolves around spacing and utilizing his unique signature tipper mechanic to deal high damage and knockback at a distance from his opponent. He is a low-middle weight swordfighter boasting high overall mobility, notably sporting the fastest walking speed in the game (tied with his Echo Fighter, Lucina), a fast dashing speed coupled with the 6th fastest initial dash, average air speed, above-average air acceleration, moderate falling speed, and low gravity.

Marth's playstyle, as in of his other playable appearances, revolves around effective spacing, due to his aforementioned tipper mechanic granting most of his sword attacks more damage and knockback near the tip of the sword, although he can now utilize his sourspot hitboxes more effectively for setting up combos and tech-chases due to his increased mobility and reduced landing lag on aerials, repurposing his former heavily spacing focused playstyle from SSB4 into a more dynamic one that utilizes sourspots to initiate kill confirms and extend combos at higher percents to complement his efficient spacing game. His above-average frame data, paired with his high mobility, grant him an effective, although linear approach against characters that outrange him with longer disjoints or projectiles, whereas his multiple attacks with low startup and wide range all-around allow Marth to space around brawlers with lower range, this combination of traits permits him to adapt to different game plans and characters.

Marth maintains well above-average KO potential in addition to his speed and maneuverability, with his sweet-spotted attacks boasting impressive damage and knockback. His forward tilt is one of his most reliable tools on the ground, possessing a good range and a sweetspot that is easy to hit with, especially above Marth. It is good for closing out stocks as it can KO as early as 95% near the edge while remaining relatively safe. His down tilt is a safe poking tool when spaced and sets up a tech chase situation starting at 60%, and his up tilt covers a relatively wide area around Marth himself and is among the strongest of its kind in the game. Dash attack possesses extraordinarily high base knockback, KO'ing most fighters when landed at the very edge at roughly 65%, even if forward tilt surpasses it in most other scenarios. His aerials also possess high damage and knockback when sweetspotted, and combined with his aerial maneuverability, grant him a respectable air game. When tippered, his forward smash can KO before 40% next to the ledge while uncharged, making it one of the most deceptively powerful forward smashes in the game, while his up smash can KO as early as 60%, earlier if Marth is standing on a platform. The meteor smash of his down aerial, while requiring exact timing and spacing to connect, can not only gimp recoveries but also bounce opponents off the ground in such a way that it can immediately chain into tippered attacks such as forward and up smash at medium percentages, and aerials at higher percentages. His tipper mechanic benefits greatly from stages with low platforms, such as Battlefield, allowing Marth to tipper with much more ease against opponents using forward tilt, up tilt, and especially his forward smash by covering said platforms with mostly the tipper areas of said attacks. Higher platforms follow a similar pattern except with his aerials, most notably up aerial. In essence, Marth can make a single correct move at the correct time to cut an opponent's stock short suddenly and very early, especially when playing close to the edge.

While Marth's tipper has great KO power, the larger hitboxes of his sourspots provide benefits as well; thanks to their lower damage and knockback, they allow him to effectively combo into attacks one after another at a wider range of percentages. Most commonly, sourspotted neutral aerial when short hopped repeatedly allows Marth to carry an opponent across the stage at low percentages and rack up damage, and up tilt sets up into aerial-based combos and juggles if it connects late. His neutral aerial's first hit also acts as an effective combo starter and extender when sourspotted and landed as close to the ground as possible, as well as his up aerial. He also benefits from being one of the few characters in the game who can outright KO through effective play of his neutral and spacing game; essentially, while Marth's neutral reward is not as rewarding or damaging as some characters, Marth can win neutral exchanges with relative ease and safety, as well as having consistent set-ups and follow-ups.

Marth's advantage state as a whole is considerably strong. His combination of good speed and range gives him powerful juggling capabilities, as he can easily dash to where a falling opponent might land and catch them with his wide attacks, especially his up tilt and up aerial. His fast and disjointed hitboxes also allow him to challenge the opponent's falling attacks safely, and his tipper only further complements this. Because of this, Marth has an easy time keeping opponents in the air and racking up damage with his up tilt and powerful up aerial. These traits also grant him strong edgeguarding abilities, as his wide aerials can cover enemy movement well, and when tippered, can outright KO offstage opponents thanks to their power. Moreover, his general floatiness also allows him to recover back to the stage after edgeguarding attempts fairly safely.

Marth's special moveset provides interesting options as well; his neutral special, the aptly named Shield Breaker, deals very high shield damage, even when uncharged, and is useful for covering rolls and landings. It's best used while descending from the air when the opponent is most likely to expect a simple aerial and shield accordingly, and can even be used off-stage to challenge opponents that shield next to the edge, intending to cover Marth's ledge recovery options. Dancing Blade is a four-hit combo that can be used to punish sidesteps and rolls, as well as effectively rack up damage. The final upward hit immediately puts the opponent into a disadvantaged state, and the final downward hits deal serious damage. The final neutral hit can serve as an effective KOing option at higher percents, but if it successfully tippers, it can KO as early as 70% at the edge with no rage. More situationally, the first hit of Dancing Blade by itself can be used as a knowledge check on opponents: although it cannot truly combo into anything other than the rest of the move, if an opponent is not prepped to escape after getting hit by the near-instant strike, it can be used extend strings in the air, be followed up with the first hit of neutral aerial, and assist in gimping recoveries by interrupting unprepared opponents off-stage. However, those who are aware of the gap after the hit can escape with relative ease, so its use is not recommended at a higher level. 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, whilst also giving him an easy and reliable combo finisher and KO option. It is also Marth's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, and it can stage spike reckless edge guarders. Lastly, Counter provides him with the capability to reverse attacks with 1.2× the damage, KOing if the attack was strong enough; it can also be used against opponents with slow and easily predictable recoveries.

Despite his strengths, Marth has some notable weaknesses. The most severe of these is his extreme reliance on tippers and spacing ability, which gives him a subpar up-close game at higher percents, and makes it more difficult for Marth to KO and threaten faster characters such as Pikachu, Fox, and Sonic, who rapidly pass in and out of Marth's 'Goldilocks zone' of tippers when engaging him at close range. 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 attacks 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 do not generate much knockback if not spaced properly, making his KO potential very inconsistent without proper spacing and understanding of his effect ranges (most notably with forward smash, forward tilt, and aerials). Lastly, his edgeguarding ability, though strong, is flawed, both due to the need for tippers to definitively gimp recoveries and the moderately high ending lag on his aerials. As a result, Marth is reliant on being within a certain distance for his moves to be safe while retaining the neutral. Additionally, unlike in past iterations, Marth can have a fairly difficult time consistently landing his tipper sweetspots to begin with as a result of the faster engine and alterations to his hitboxes that made his tipper smaller. His ability to KO effectively other than a raw tippered move in neutral exists in rare and difficult setups that are heavily affected by individual character hurtboxes, player DI, and Marth's own rage, and eventually disappear once his opponent reaches an especially high percentage. This leaves him very little choice but to 'fish' for an aforementioned tipper, a sourspotted smash attack, any of his specials, or an edgeguard scenario, up until the point where the opponent is at an extreme percentage that even a non-tippered stray hit or up throw can KO; This phenomenon is referred to by the community as "Marthritis", and except the edgeguard scenario, most of these aforementioned moves remain unsafe if the sourspot is shielded or the move whiffs completely, leaving him an easy target for punishment.

Compounding the difficulty Marth experiences trying to land his tipper, the increased knockback granted by tippered attacks can actually conflict with moves that consist of multiple hits, causing them to fail to correctly sweetspot or even connect on all hits unless at very specific percentages and ranges. These include his neutral attack, neutral aerial, and most notoriously Dancing Blade; Due to the changes to Dancing Blade, it is much harder for an opponent to fall or DI out of the sequence, but it is also harder for Marth specifically to land more than one tipper in any use of the move. Should he tipper any earlier hits of these aforementioned attacks, the opponent will likely be knocked too far away for the later ones to even connect. This means that Marth must initiate each of those moves from the sourspotted areas for them to function correctly, and carefully time the strikes of Dancing Blade to tipper the finishers. As a result, Dancing Blade's high KO potential is offset by not only the difficulty of landing the tippered finisher, but also by its intrinsic having lower damage output than other characters' versions of the move.

Marth's weak throws tie into his polarized 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 170% when Marth has no rage. His other throws are somewhat lackluster; 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 down throw leading into an aerial until high percents. 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.

Another notable weakness is Marth's difficulty in escaping from juggles, despite being good at juggling opponents himself; his air speed is average at best, his gravity is fairly low, his weight is slightly below-average, 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 and decent range, many of them come with high ending lag, their large sourspots are fairly weak compared to most other aerials, and they also suffer from short hitbox durations. Additionally, being a solely sword-based character, Marth's neutral game suffers from his complete lack of a projectile, and he can sometimes struggle against projectile-heavy characters and playstyles; however, his combination of high mobility, good range, and decent frame data helps to alleviate this issue.

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, frame 1 intangibility, 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 and does not halt his existing vertical momentum either. Marth is also heavily reliant on his double jump and directional air dodge for mix-ups in his recovery, and is in significant danger if offstage without either of them.

Overall, Marth's strengths outweigh his weaknesses. While his reliance on spacing and overall safety hinders him in many ways, his high overall mobility, long and disjointed range, above-average frame data, and good damage output make up for it, while his punishes are decently strong overall, even if the stronger ones are fairly inconsistent. As such, he is often seen as weaker and more difficult to use than his Echo Fighter Lucina.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Marth has been a strong character in all of his appearances in the series, with his range and "tipper" mechanics allowing him to play well both offensively and defensively; although SSB4 initially heavily nerfed him, he was significantly buffed by game updates. Possibly as a result of this, Marth has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, but was greatly nerfed overall.

Marth benefits from some of the changes to the game's engine. The ability to dash cancel into any attack improves his grounded spacing ability (especially for his tilt attacks), and allows him to bait attacks with fox-trotting; this is all further compounded by his fast running speed and greatly improved initial dash. The reduced landing lag on his aerials also makes them safer for spacing and approaching, while also enhancing their combo ability, giving the sourspots better safety on hit on landing and more reliable kill confirms into tippered attacks. The changes to air dodge mechanics also enhance his juggling and edge guarding capabilities, as they provide less leeway for opponents to recover against his wide aerials, further improving his edgeguarding game.

When it comes to direct changes, Dancing Blade has been sped up greatly, making its hits link into each other much more consistently, and the tippered fourth forward hit has significantly higher knockback, being able to KO at much lower percentages than before. The ability to angle Shield Breaker vertically increases the move's coverage, to the point that the down-angled version will always tipper in a successful 2 frame punish. Many of his moves, such as dash attack, up tilt, up aerial, and down aerial, are easier to tipper, while some of them are also stronger in both damage and knockback.

However, Marth has received some noteworthy, direct nerfs, most notably to his KO ability and neutral attack. Some of Marth's attacks, like his sourspotted forward smash and Dancing Blade's fourth forward hit, as well as his tippered forward aerial, now deal less knockback, whereas his neutral, forward, and back aerials have had their hitbox positionings worsened, making landing the tippers slightly more difficult. Additionally, his up throw is slightly weaker as well. This makes it more important for Marth to carefully space his attacks to land his tippers to finish strings to deal more damage and score KOs. His neutral attack, previously an excellent combo starter and neutral tool due to its first hit, has been altered as with most neutral attacks so that it can only follow up into the second hit from the first, removing its powerful jab cancel from SSB4 that was useful to Marth's gameplan in exchange of more situational jab lock capabilities.

Marth's specials and grab game have also been weakened. Dolphin Slash and Counter are a bit more punishable than before, and Dancing Blade deals less damage in exchange for its improved linking potential. On top of the worsened KO ability on his up throw, forward throw has also lost its combo potential, which weakens Marth's options against shields.

Despite benefitting from some of them, Marth has also been notably hindered by the gameplay mechanics. Particularly, the universal increase in mobility, while improving his approach and further increasing his already fast mobility, has also made landing his tippers more difficult, as the game's faster pace encourages aggressive playstyles more than in SSB4. The removal of perfect pivoting and lack of quick, safe, and reliable grounded micro spacing options further magnifies his spacing troubles. On top of it, Marth's already linear recovery was also made more telegraphed by the changes to air dodging as well as the reduction in edge sweet spot size, making him easier to edgeguard and thus worsening his survivability. Lastly, the weakening of rage weakens Marth's ability to close out stocks at ludicrously low percentages.

Overall, the buffs Marth got and the benefits he gained from the engine do not compensate for the nerfs he received and the hindrances the engine has also indirectly given him, as Marth now has a harder time landing his tipper sweetspots, which proves troublesome due to his reliance on spacing. In addition, the knockback nerfs to some of his attacks have made it more difficult for him to consistently KO his opponents below high percentages. This causes Marth to shift to a more offensive playstyle, where he relies more on his sourspotted hits to combo his opponents while remaining at a safe distance from where he can poke them with tippered attacks. Game updates have remedied some of Marth's issues, making it slightly easier and more rewarding for him to land some of his tipper hitboxes and slightly improving his dash grab range, though not enough to properly compensate. As a result, Marth performs significantly worse than in SSB4, being one of the most nerfed characters in the transition to Ultimate.

Aesthetics

• Marth has a new model; due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, it features a more vibrant color scheme. His design has the various shades of blue on his hair, outfit, armor pieces, and cape adjusted to be more vibrant and analogous with each other, with a brighter hue for his cape especially. The design of his headpiece and cape have been subtly modified; his armor, belt, gloves, and boots have been given subtle detailing. His hair is slightly more unkempt, and his eyes are sharper. Altogether, Marth's design closely resembles his appearance in most recent Fire Emblem games.
  • Exalted Falchion and its sheathe have been touched up. While retaining its design from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Falchion has been altered to better resemble its official artwork. Its scabbard is now nearly identical to its official artwork compared to the unique grey blue-pattern scabbard used since Melee.
• Marth's eighth alternate costume, formerly based on Roy, has been modified to resemble his artwork from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
• Marth has several new basic animations. His idle, crouch, and sidestep all have new animations, and his jump animations have all been changed as well, resembling (but not identical to) Roy's jumps in SSB4. He will revert to his previous idle pose and crouch when holding a small item.
• Marth's sweetspotted moves now use a unique heavy sword sound effect similar to Ike's sword. He shares this distinction with Roy.
• Marth is more expressive overall.
• Much like in Melee, Marth once again vocalizes when performing his first jump.
• Marth's cape has better physics and rigging, allowing for more fluid animations.
• Due to having new voice clips, Marth is much vocal overall. His taunts and victory quotes have been translated for international versions.
  • His up taunt has him say, "This is it!" ("行くぞ！" ("Let's go!") in Japanese).
  • His side taunt has him say, "I won't lose!" ("僕は負けない！" (also "I won't lose!") in Japanese). This is the same line also heard in Roy's side taunt.
  • His down taunt has him say, "Keep your eyes open!" ("みんな、見ていてくれ!" ("Everyone, watch over me!"), which remains unchanged in Japanese).
• Marth's side taunt and down taunts have been shortened, swinging his blade only once for the former taunt and twice for the latter taunt.
• Marth's victory animations have been significantly reworked.
  • His first one has him performing a Shield Breaker before posing with Falchion at his right side, as opposed to spinning it in front of him, saying "The day is mine!" (今回は僕の勝ちだね。, This time victory is mine.)
  • The second has him keep hold of the sheathed Falchion, saying "I live to fight again!" (今日も生き延びることが出来た。, I was able to survive again today.)
  • The third pose is completely new. He jumps in the air swinging his sword twice, and then lands with a pose that resembles his Counter animation, saying "I cannot afford to lose." (僕は負ける訳には行かないんだ。, I can't afford to lose.) This replaces his old one where he stands with his right arm outstretched before lowering it to his side.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Marth's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Marth walks faster (1.5 → 1.575).
• Marth runs significantly faster (1.785 → 1.964).
  • Marth's initial dash is significantly faster (1.5 → 2.255).
• Marth's air speed is faster (1.02 → 1.071).
• Marth's traction is much higher (0.055 → 0.114).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 35).
• Marth has a new Spot dodge animation; he shifts inward to his left with Falchion close to him. This distincts it from Roy, who re-uses Marth's previous spot dodge animation from SSB4.
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 27 → 26).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-27 → 3-29).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 33 → 53).
• Marth is slightly smaller (model size multiplier: 0.96x → 0.95x). This slightly reduces his range, but also makes his hurtboxes slightly smaller, making him slightly harder to hit.
• Marth has a new jump animation where he picks up his feet more, allowing him to short hop over certain projectiles.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit much faster (frame 18 → 11), allowing it to connect better.
  • Both hits have shorter durations, with the second hit also having more startup (frames 5-7 → 5-6 (hit 1), 3-5 → 4-5 (hit 2)).
  • Both hits have higher hitlag multipliers (0.7×/1.25× → 1.3×/1.7×), giving opponents more time to SDI the first hit and DI the second hit.
  • The first hit has altered angles (78°/65°/90° → 361°/361°/180°/361°) and knockback (55 base/30 scaling → 30 base/15/12/12/12 scaling) to keep opponents close to Marth, akin to other neutral attacks. This allows it to jab lock much like in SSB4 before update 1.0.8, but most importantly removes all its guaranteed jab cancel setups, which made it one of Marth's most potent punishment tools in SSB4.
    • This also makes it harder to land the tippers of both hits, as the first hit's tipper is more prone to dragging opponents into the second hit's non-tipper hitboxes due to the change in angle.
  • The first hit has an altered animation where Marth swings in a more horizontal arc, matching its hitboxes better.
• Up tilt:
  • The tipper hitbox deals more damage (9% → 10%) with no knockback compensation, improving its KO potential.
  • The blade hitbox has been moved back slightly (Z: 2 → 0.7), making the tipper easier to land.
• Down tilt:
  • The tipper hitbox is larger, and the sourspot has been slightly shrunken (16.7u → 15.7u), making it easier to land the tipper.
• Dash attack:
  • The tipper hitbox deals more damage (12% → 13%) and it deals more knockback (80 base/55 scaling → 93/58).
  • The blade hitbox has been moved back slightly (Z: 2 → 0.5), making the tipper easier to land.
  • The move has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 1.5×, which combined with the increased shieldstun for ground attacks makes it safer on shield.
  • It has higher hitlag multipliers (0.7×/1.25× → 0.875×/1.25×/1.5625×).
  • It has a different animation, with Marth swinging in a slightly more horizontal arc.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's non-tipper hitboxes deal less knockback (55 base/80 scaling → 48/75), no longer being able to KO middleweights under 100% at the edge and making the move unsafe at low percents.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's launcher hitbox can no longer hit on the same frame as the sword hitboxes and override their knockback at low percents, making it more consistent.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash launches at a consistent angle (75°/361° (hit 1), 60°/361° (hit 2) → 361°), allowing it to set up edgeguards and KO near edges more effectively.
  • It has slightly more ending lag (FAF 55 → 56).
  • The second hit's non-tipper hitboxes have less base knockback (70/50/50 → 40), hindering its KO potential.
  • The first hit's non-tipper hitboxes have different base knockback in between the previous vertical-launching and horizontal-launching hitboxes (70/50/50 → 60).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have reduced landing lag (12 frames → 7 (neutral), 16 → 10 (forward), 17 → 10 (back), 14 → 8 (up), 24 → 14 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's first hit has more base knockback (30 → 45/45/35) and altered angles (80°/75°/65°/90° → 75°/80°/90°), allowing it to connect into the second hit while rising, and improving its combo potential on landing combined with its lower landing lag.
  • Both hits now use 3 larger hitboxes rather than 4 smaller hitboxes (3.5u/3u/2u/3.5u → 3.8u/4u/3.3u), slightly reducing its range overall and making the tipper harder to land.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has altered hitbox placements (Z offset: 2u/0u/7.7u → 2.5u/0u/7.5u, X offset: 0u → 1u) and are smaller overall (3.5u/3.5u/3.5u → 3u/3.8u/3u), with the tipper hitbox now matching the tip of the sword's model instead of extending slightly further. This reduces its range and makes the tipper harder to land.
  • The tipper hitbox has less knockback scaling (90 → 80), hindering its KO potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has altered hitbox placements (2.5u/0u/7.7u → 1.7u/0u/7u (Z-offset), 0u/0u/0u → 0u/2u/0u (X-offset)), with the tipper hitbox now matching the tip of the sword's model instead of extending slightly further. This reduces its range and makes the tipper harder to land.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has altered hitbox placements (2u/0u/0u/6.7u → 0.5u/0u/0u/6.7u (Z-offset)), making the tipper easier to land.
• Down aerial:
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its lower landing lag.
  • The meteor smash hitbox is larger (4.3u → 5u), and lower down (Y offset: -3u → -3.3u), improving its range.
  • The meteor hitbox has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.3×).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing grab has less startup (frame 7 → 6).
  • All grabs have increased ending lag (FAF 30 → 35 (standing), 37 → 43 (dash), 35 → 38 (pivot)).
  • Dash and pivot grab have more startup (frame 8 → 9 (dash), 9 → 10 (pivot)).
• The speed of Marth's throws is no longer weight-dependent. This somewhat improves his down throw's combo potential on heavyweights, but reduces it on lightweights.
• All of Marth's throws except up throw trigger a hitlag effect before the release frame, with back throw also having more startup, and thus they release the opponent later (frame 15 → 18 (forward), 8 → 19 (back), 16 → 20 (down)), making them easier to DI.
  • However, back throw's total duration remains unchanged, giving it less ending lag.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals less damage (2% → 1.3%).
  • It deals more hitlag (4 frames → 14), but has much less startup (frame 6 → 1) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 7).
• Forward throw:
  • Marth has a new forward throw, a quick elbow strike to the opponent's chest.
  • Due to the faster knockback physics, it has lost its combo potential.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more damage (4% → 5%).
  • It has less knockback scaling (120 → 102), KOing slightly later despite its higher damage output.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw deals less damage (5% → 4%), with knockback scaling compensated (50 → 57).
  • The faster knockback physics, combined with the throw no longer being weight-dependent, hinder its combo potential against much of the cast, due to the move's high base knockback compared to other throws.
  • Its animation has been changed slightly, with Marth slamming the opponent onto the ground with a more exaggerated throw.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Shield Breaker:
  • Shield Breaker can be angled vertically.
  • It deals 1.15× its regular damage if it hits an opponent's head.
  • Fully charged Shield Breaker has slightly more startup (frame 78 → 79).
  • Marth composes himself after performing the move.
  • The move triggers Special Zoom upon breaking an opponent's shield.
• Dancing Blade:
  • All swings except the first have less startup (frame 9 → 5 (second, neutral), 7 → 4 (second, up), 6 → 4 (third, neutral), 8 → 5 (third, up & down), 13 → 7 (fourth, neutral & down), 11 → 6 (fourth, up)), allowing the move to execute faster and connect all hits more reliably.
  • All swings except the fourth ones have lower hitlag multipliers (1× → 0.5× (first), 0.7× (second & third)), allowing the move to transition faster and making it harder to SDI out of.
  • All swings except the fourth ones deal less knockback (25 base/75 scaling → 25/30 (first), 30/30 → 30/25 (second, neutral), 30 base/70/50/70 scaling → 30/25 (second, up), 40 b/50/35/50 s → 55/30 (third, neutral), 40 b/60/40/60 s → 55/30/30/50 (third, up), 50/28 → 40/30 (third, down)), improving their linking ability at high percents.
  • The first swing has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 40 (grounded), 32 → 30 (aerial)), as does the fourth upward swing (FAF 51 → 45).
  • The first two neutral swings have different angles (78°/92°/20° → 361°/90°/361° (first), 60°/65°/40° → 361° (second)), granting them the ability to lock.
  • The fourth forward swing's tipper has greater knockback overall (60 base/130 scaling → 85/125), improving its KO potential.
  • The fourth downward swing's hits after the first are faster (frame 19, 25, 31, 37 → 10, 13, 16, 19), and the first four hits have less knockback scaling (40 → 20), allowing them to connect better and preventing opponents from jumping out of them at low percents.
    • However, it has much more ending lag in combination with the faster swings (FAF 72 → 75).
  • The fourth upward swing's hitboxes have extended downward, no longer causing it to whiff against short opponents and improving its vertical reach.
  • All swings deal less damage (3%/4% → 2.5%/3% (first & second), 4%/5% → 3%/4% (third, neutral & up), 4.5%/5.5% → 3%/4% (third, down), 5%/7% → 4%/6% (fourth, neutral), 6%/8% → 5%/7% (fourth, up), 6% → 5% (fourth, down, last hit's tipper)).
  • The first swing has more startup (frame 6 → 9).
  • The fourth forward swing's non-tipper hitboxes deal less knockback (60 base/130 scaling → 74/103), hindering their KO potential.
  • The fourth upward swing has more base knockback (60 → 80/85), but drastically less knockback scaling (118 → 40), removing its ability to KO at realistic percents.
  • Dancing Blade's neutral swings all have altered animations, except for the third. The first one is an outward swing similar to his forward tilt, the second is a vertical swing instead of a horizontal one, and the final swing no longer has Marth spinning before he slashes the opponent.
  • The third downward swing has an altered animation, now being a low outward swing instead of a stab.
• Dolphin Slash:
  • Dolphin Slash has more landing lag (20 frames → 24).