Wario (SSB4)

Wario in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Wario
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Wario-Man
Tier	E (40)

Wario (ワリオ, Wario) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was officially confirmed on October 3rd, 2014 alongside Ness and Falco, coinciding with the Western release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. This time around, he is unlockable, as opposed to being available from the start as in Brawl. He retains his biker outfit from the WarioWare series, as well as his overalls from the Mario games. Charles Martinet's portrayal of Wario from Super Smash Bros. Brawl was repurposed for Smash 4.

Wario is ranked 40th out of 54 on the tier list, which is a drastic drop from his 10th out of 38 position in Brawl, and his worst placement in the series to date. Wario possesses great aerial mobility and good overall mobility for a heavyweight, with great aerial attacks and a strong ground game to complement the mobility. He has great setups with most of his aerial attacks and his signature Wario Bike, as his aerials have low ending lag and can be used to help him score KOs. Finally, Wario possesses an above-average recovery thanks to Wario Bike granting him an extra jump when he jumps off it and Corkscrew's solid vertical distance.

However, Wario also has several glaring flaws, the worst being his reach. As his moves often have poor range and he lacks an effective projectile, Wario has difficulty fighting against characters who have disjoints or a long range, making him susceptible to camping and weak against characters with effective spacing. In addition, most of his KO moves are unreliable, as they are either plagued with high lag or, in the case of Wario Waft, take a while before becoming effective. This means Wario has a worse time KOing compared to other heavyweights, forcing Wario players to rely on deceptions and mindgames in order to succeed.

Overall, Wario's flaws outweigh his strengths. Although he received some early representation from players such as Abadango and TheReflexWonder, his representation remained lackluster for most of the game's competitive lifespan, with Glutonny being the only notable Wario player performing well at a national level.

How to unlock

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Clear 100-Man Smash.
• Play 30 VS Matches.

Wario must then be defeated on WarioWare, Inc. Defeating him will unlock both him and the stage.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• Play 20 VS Matches.
• Clear 100-Man Smash

Wario must then be defeated on Gamer.

Attributes

Wario is a short, heavyweight character with a deceptively good air game and an excellent amount of recovery options. Wario boasts the fifth-best air speed in the game, in addition to well-above-average air acceleration, which grants him some of the best aerial mobility of any character; however, his dash and walk speeds leave a lot to be desired, with the former being slightly below average, and the latter being the fifth slowest in the game. Using his high mobility and versatile aerial attacks, Wario can dip in and out of the fray to bait attacks and punish. Despite its poor speed, Wario has a formidable ground game as well, with many of his attacks being rather fast with setup potential while also dealing good damage, outside of his smash attacks.

Wario's special moves are very unorthodox and demand practice to use at their highest potential. Chomp is one of the best command grabs in the game, having deceptively long range and almost no startup or ending lag. It can effectively cover certain edge recoveries, negate certain attacks such as Spinning Kong, and absorb many projectiles, often with the benefit of healing him and slightly increasing the charge of his Wario Waft. Wario Bike gives Wario a solid approach option that covers for his low ground speed, and continues to move forward and hit enemies after he dismounts it. It also respawns very quickly when destroyed or lost, giving him a large and fairly reliable pseudo-projectile which can apply pressure when used effectively. Ending a wheelie with the Wario Bike will cause great knockback to an enemy it hits, as well as dealing a considerable amount of shield damage. When in the bike, pressing the special or jump buttons will have Wario jump off. As a result, this move can provide Wario with a literal third jump if his double jump had already been used, and this can be further extended with a corkscrew, making Wario's recovery exceedingly above average.

Despite his array of unusual attacks, Wario has an overall lackluster reach and lacks a true projectile; he must first close the distance between himself and his opponent to land an attack. Because of this, Wario struggles most against characters who make frequent use of disjointed attacks, such as Shulk, Cloud, and Link. This, combined with his relative lack of reliable KO moves, especially compared with other heavyweights, means that Wario must play unpredictably, relying on deception and mindgames to earn a KO on an unsuspecting opponent, and also forces Wario to trade blows with opponents.

Wario's lack of a true projectile brings about his susceptibility to camping. Wario is not capable of reflection, nor is Wario Bike an effective "projectile" on its own, which leaves him with almost no method of reliably counteracting camping, with his aforementioned unimpressive range. As a result, Wario is at a major disadvantage against characters such as Villager, Mega Man, and Samus.

With custom moves turned on, Wario gains several solid options. Speeding Bike allows for easy follow-ups after a successful hit due to its high speed, being able to overtake an opponent who's been launched by it, along with being even better for recovery; however, it can be stuffed by enemy attacks easily due to its low durability. Burying Bike, while offering little for recovery, is extremely durable and can act as an effective shield against projectiles, helping to alleviate Wario's range problems. Rose-Scented Waft, while much weaker than its standard counterpart, possesses a gigantic hitbox that can make it nigh-unavoidable in the hands of a competent player, and can tack on a huge amount of damage if the opponent doesn't commit to button mashing to shake the flower off. Quick Waft, meanwhile, is decidedly stronger than the Rose-Scented Waft, charges almost four times faster than the standard, and executes faster than the other versions, giving Wario a more readily available KO option in exchange for the massive power of the standard. Corkscrew Leap offers a good deal of extra distance and speed in exchange for the damage of the standard, which leaves Wario more vulnerable during recovery, in exchange for allowing him to go deeper for edgeguards than before.

Overall, Wario is a capable character with a bevy of unusual yet useful attacks. However, he must keep his opponent guessing to see his full potential, lest his opponent end up seeing through his strategy.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Wario received some buffs that address some of his former flaws in Brawl, but has also received several nerfs that differentiate him significantly from his Brawl incarnation, nerfing him overall. He has been given multiple improvements to his recovery, being able to use his more versatile Wario Bike to recover more reliably. Many of his attacks deliver much more knockback, such as his new forward smash and the Wario Waft. Wario's ground game has been slightly improved, with many of his attacks having less start-up lag and the Wario Bike being much stronger and more reliable. Once dismounted, the Wario Bike is now equipped with traveling hitboxes, granting Wario an armored projectile of sorts. Wario's poorer aerials have been improved, with his forward and back aerials delivering increased knockback. Some moves also have less endlag, such as his down tilt.

Despite many of these changes being beneficial to Wario, he has received heavy nerfs to many of his previously effective options. One of the more noticeable nerfs was the reduction of his air speed and, more significantly, his air acceleration. Wario has a harder time weaving in and out of the air, and with the cast generally having increased range as well as the introduction of many sword characters, it is easier for multiple characters to wall him out in the air. He also is significantly harmed by the removal of DACUS as it hinders his grounded approach and removes his Gatling Combo, preventing him from making great use of his newly improved up smash. Although some of his moves have less ending lag, others have much more, such as his forward smash, which is much less consistent due to now being slower and lacking transcendent priority and armor. Some of Wario's moves also have had their KO potential reduced, most notably his up aerial and his half-charged Wario Waft. Wario Bike has also lost some of its utility as its tires can no longer be picked up and used as projectiles.

The changes to Smash 4's mechanics helped and hindered Wario in various ways. Being a heavy character, Wario does gain some benefit from the rage mechanic present in Smash 4, being able to deliver increased knockback when at a high percentage. However, without his arsenal of moves that could reliably KO, Wario's reliance on racking up an opponent's damage leaves him even more vulnerable to the increased knockback delivered by adversaries under the influence of rage. He benefits from the removal of edgehogging, as it makes Corkscrew a much more advantageous recovery option. Wario also significantly benefits from the changes to aerial grab release mechanics as he can act out sooner from an aerial grab release, preventing almost all followups his opponents used to have on him. In addition to this, Wario's notorious grab release that plagued him in Brawl was also fixed in patch 1.0.4, although even before the patch, his grab release was significantly less exploitable by most characters than in Brawl due to the new grab release mechanics.

As for the nerfs he received from the mechanics, the aforementioned removal of DACUS hinders his ground game. While he was not the most prominent user of DACUS in Brawl due to his up smash being rather poor, it nevertheless harmed him in Smash 4 especially with the change to his up smash. The changes to hitstun canceling are also not highly beneficial to him, as the removal of momentum canceling hinders his endurance, and while it does improve his combo potential, it also makes him significantly easier to combo, especially when combined with his higher falling speed.

Overall, Wario is a noticeably less effective character than in Brawl.

Aesthetics

• Wario's appearance is largely the same as it was in Brawl, although his overall color scheme is now brighter due to the aesthetic used in SSB4, which also makes his color scheme more akin to how he appears in the WarioWare series. His overalls have been detailed with denim textures as opposed to the flat textures used in Brawl, thus making his overalls more akin to Mario's and Luigi's. Additionally, his chin has become more pronounced, and his arms are also more muscular.
• Wario's chest faces the foreground regardless of whether he's facing left or right.
• Wario's animations are more fluid than in Brawl. This is especially noticeable in his new idle and dashing animations.
• Wario now blinks, rather than always remaining open unless he was asleep or injured.
• Wario is now more expressive overall.
• Wario will occasionally grunt when performing his first jump, even in his normal self, instead of just when using Wario-Man.
• The animation of both Wario's initial and secondary jumps now has different animations from Brawl. For example, holding back on Wario's initial jump now results in him doing a backflip.
• Taunting on the bike now plays the laugh from Wario's up taunt.
• Wario no longer has 12 alternate costumes, only 8. However, Wario has received three new alternate costumes for his biker outfit.
• Wario's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.

Attributes

• Wario's walking speed was decreased negligibly (0.85 → 0.847).
• Wario dashes faster (1.35 → 1.5), with his dashing speed now being just slightly below average rather than among the slowest in the game.
• Wario's air speed has been slightly reduced (1.222 → 1.21), although he still has one of the fastest air speeds in the game (but even then it's now the fifth highest rather than the third highest).
• Wario has catastrophically less air acceleration (0.34 → 0.12) no longer being the single highest by a drastic margin (now only being the second highest). This greatly hurts his aerial game, no longer allowing him to weave in and out at high speeds.
• Wario's falling speed is noticeably faster (1.4 → 1.61), going from the 18th fastest out of 39 characters to the 23rd highest out of 58. This improves his vertical endurance, but makes him more susceptible to combos.
  • His fast-falling speed is dramatically faster (1.96 → 2.576). This greatly reduces his susceptibility to juggling.
• Wario's gravity is higher (0.0842 → 0.092). Combined with his faster falling speed, this noticeably improves his ground-to-air transitioning and allows him to land more safely, but further increases his susceptibility to combos in conjunction with the changes made to hitstun canceling.
• Wario's air friction has been halved (0.08 → 0.04), no longer being the highest in the game. This sends him further out when aerial grab released, and it improves the utility of his neutral aerial but hinders his endurance as well as his ability to control himself in the air.
• Wario now receives additional backwards momentum when aerial grab released (0 → -0.06), which, alongside his lower air friction, makes him travel much more horizontal distance when aerial grab released. When combined with its reduced ending lag (FAF 51 → 40), this makes Wario drastically less vulnerable to follow-ups when aerial grab is released.
• Wario's rolls have less ending lag (FAF 38 → 30).
• Wario's rolls have shorter intangibility periods (frames 4-21 → 4-16).
• Wario's spot dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 3-17) and more ending lag (FAF 26 → 28).
• Wario's air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 33).
• Air dodge's intangibility period is one frame shorter (frames 4-29 → 3-27).
• Wario walks much faster while carrying heavy items, allowing him to walk around much faster while carrying his Bike.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The far hitbox on the first hit of neutral attack is positioned slightly further out (z offset: 9 → 10).
  • The first hit deals less damage (6%/5% → 4%).
  • The first hit has altered knockback (15 (base), 50 (scaling) → (45/38)/(50/40)), which makes it connect less reliably into the second hit.
  • The far hitbox on the second hit is positioned further out (z offset: 9 → 11.7), and the move has received a new hitbox inbetween the far hitbox and the near hitbox.
  • The far hitbox on the second hit is positioned slightly lower (y offset: 8.5 → 8).
  • The second hit deals less damage (6% → 5%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (90 → 100).
  • Excluding the new middle hitbox, the second hit has smaller hitboxes (6u/3.5u → 5.8u/3.3u).
  • The near hitbox on the second hit is positioned higher (y offset: 5 → 8), hindering the move's ability to hit low-profiling opponents.
  • Both hits have a shorter duration (frames 8-10 (hit 1)/4-6 (hit 2) → 8-9/4-5).
  • Both hits have more ending lag (FAF 23 (hit 1)/26 (hit 2) → 30/34).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 14 → 12).
  • Forward tilt has more ending lag (FAF 37 → 40).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has a new animation where Wario's hands increase in size.
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 37 → 36).
  • Up tilt now grants intangibility to Wario's head and hands as opposed to just his head.
  • Up tilt's hand hitbox is positioned slightly higher (y offset: 17 (clean)/14 (late) → 18/14.5).
  • Up tilt now launches opponents at a consistent angle (90°/83°/97° → 93° (clean), 90°/80°/100° → 80° (late)).
  • Up tilt has less intangibility (frames 1-36 → 5-23).
  • Up tilt now only has one extended hand hitbox covering both hands rather than two normal hitboxes covering each hand. This makes the move cover less of Wario's hands.
  • The late hit no longer has a hitbox covering Wario's upper body.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has much less ending lag (FAF 34 → 18), significantly improving its combo potential.
  • Down tilt launches opponents at a lower angle (75° → 45°/69°).
  • Down tilt now uses two extended hitboxes rather than four normal hitboxes. While this improves the near hit's ability to hit opponents below Wario, these hitboxes are much smaller (3.5u/4.5u/3u/3u → 2u/2u), which makes the move cover less vertical space.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 5-9 → 5).
  • Down tilt deals much less damage (8% → 4%) and knockback (50 (base), 60 (scaling) → 20/50), significantly hindering its safety at lower percents.
    • However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash Attack has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 49).
  • The clean hit deals more knockback (60 (base), 75 (scaling) → 80/70).
  • The late hit now has set knockback (40 (base), 40 (scaling) → 50 (set)/100), an altered angle (120° → 180°), and it now has a 100% trip chance, significantly improving its utility against grounded opponents.
    • However, this significantly hinders the late hit's effectiveness against aerial opponents.
  • Dash attack's hitbox has been positioned further out (z offset: 6/3 → 11/6 (clean), 9/6 (late)), increasing its range.
  • Both of the late hits' hitboxes can now hit aerial opponents rather than just the near hitbox.
  • The late hit deals less damage (5% → 4%).
  • Wario can no longer cancel dash attack into up smash if he connects it (the Gatling Combo), which slightly hinders his offensive game.
• Forward smash:
  • Wario has a new forward smash: a fist-inflating backhand punch while leaning forward and standing on one leg.
  • Compared to the shoulder tackle from Brawl, it deals more knockback (30 (base), 77 (scaling) → 20/99).
  • Forward smash's startup animation now moves Wario backwards, and the move also no longer moves Wario forward, improving its spacing potential.
  • Forward smash no longer has transcendent priority.
    • This allows it to cancel out projectiles (without damaging Wario).
    • However, this makes it much easier to challenge the move with other strong ground moves.
  • Forward smash has twice as much startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 9-11 → 18-19), no longer being one of the fastest forward smashes.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 45 → 66).
  • Forward smash no longer has super armor.
  • Forward smash has smaller hitboxes (5u/4u/4u → 4.5u/3.5u) no longer covering Wario's body, no longer making the move disjointed, and overall decreasing the move's range.
    • Altogether, these changes make forward smash much harder to land and significantly easier to challenge or punish, significantly hindering its utility.
• Up smash:
  • Wario has a new up smash: a single-hitting head-inflating swinging headbutt while standing on one leg and leaning forward, similar to Mario and Luigi's. This new up smash deals more damage (1% (hits 1-5)/10% (hit 5) → 16% (clean)/13% (late)), improving its KO potential despite its lower knockback scaling (97 → 85) and less favorable launch angle (90° → 95°) compared to the previous final hit.
  • Up smash is more reliable overall due to only having one hit.
  • Up smash grants less intangibility to Wario's head (frames 8-20 → 8-14).
  • Up smash has a shorter duration overall (frame 11/13/15/17/19/21 → 11-12/13).
  • Up smash has more ending lag (FAF 47 → 58).
  • Up smash has a smaller hitbox (8u/4.5u → 7u), with its hitbox now failing to cover Wario's head (rather than being noticeably disjointed).
  • The removal of DACUS significantly hinders up smash's approach potential.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 79 → 68).
  • Down smash now starts in front of Wario rather than behind him. This makes it hit opponents in front of Wario much sooner, improving its punishment potential.
    • However, this also hinders the move's ability to hit opponents behind Wario.
  • The clean and mid hits have a larger hitbox (3.8u/3.5u → 5u/4u).
  • Down smash has a shorter duration (frames 8-17 (clean)/18-30 (mid)/31-44 (late)) → 8-17/18-27/28-36).
  • The mid and late hits have decreased knockback scaling (85 (mid)/90 (late) → 84/88).
  • The hitboxes are now attached to Wario's hip rather than his head. This gives the move less horizontal range despite its larger hitboxes.
    • However, this also gives the move much more range below Wario, now allowing it to hit opponents hanging onto the ledge.
  • The late hit has a smaller hitbox (3.2u → 2.5u).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have longer animations (49 frames → 57 (neutral), 37 frames → 50 (forward), 49 frames → 55 (back), 47 frames → 54 (up), 41 frames → 74 (down)). This increases the amount of time Wario cannot grab the ledge after one of his aerials, especially his down aerial.
• Neutral aerial:
  • The second hit of neutral aerial now launches opponents vertically (361° → 70°), significantly improving its combo potential.
    • However, this also hinders its edgeguarding potential and removes its ability to lock.
  • The second hit has increased base knockback (20 → 65).
    • This significantly improves its combo potential at lower percents.
    • However, this also hinders its combo potential at higher percents.
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (10 frames → 12).
  • Neutral aerial has smaller hitboxes (5.5u/5.5u → 3u extended (hit 1), 6u → 4.5u (hit 2)).
  • The first hit has a shorter duration (frames 4-5 → 4).
  • The first hit deals less damage (9% → 6.5%), hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this makes it connect more reliably into the second hit.
  • The first hit's hitbox has been moved slightly upwards (y offset: 6 → 7). This hinders its ability to hit opponents on the ground while also failing to increase the move's upwards reach due to its smaller hitbox.
  • The second hit's hitbox has been moved slightly downwards (y offset: 6 → 5). This hinders its ability to hit opponents above Wario while also failing to increase the move's downwards reach due to its smaller hitbox.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's hitboxes have been repositioned further forward (z offset: 9/4 → 11/5), increasing the move's range.
  • Forward aerial's clean hit has altered knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/97).
  • The late hit deals less damage (5% → 4.5%).
  • The late hit's far hitbox is smaller (4.3u → 3.5u).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less landing lag (30 frames → 27).
  • Back aerial deals more damage (10% → 12%), improving its KO potential.
  • Back aerial has smaller hitboxes (6u/5u → 5.5u/3.5u).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 48 → 47).
  • Up aerial launches opponents at a higher angle (75° → 88°).
  • Up aerial is repositioned higher (y offset: 12 → 16), improving its vertical reach.
    • However, this also hinders its ability to hit grounded opponents, especially when combined with its smaller hitbox.
  • Up aerial deals less damage (17% → 13%) and has reduced knockback scaling (80 → 78), significantly hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this, along with its higher angle, the removal of hitstun canceling and the changes to DI allows it to combo much more effectively beyond low percents.
  • Up aerial has a smaller hitbox (8.5u → 7.3u).
    • Additionally, due to its new animation, up aerial is also no longer disjointed.
  • Up aerial no longer auto-cancels in a short hop due to Wario's lower short hop (caused by his higher gravity/falling speed).
  • Up aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 12).

• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's loop hits have increased set knockback (30/20 → 60), which can even allow them to lead into Waft if Wario has enough rage.
  • The weakening of SDI makes down aerial more difficult to escape from.
  • The final hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 180 (scaling) → 25/200), improving its KO potential.
  • The loop hit's angles have been altered (110°/270°/270° → 250°/110°/110°).
  • Down aerial has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 48).
  • Down aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-6 → 1-2).
  • Down aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 25 → 42), making it no longer auto-cancel in a short hop.
  • The loop hits deal less damage (2% → 1.3%), decreasing down aerial's maximum damage potential (16% → 11.8%).
  • The loop hits have much smaller hitboxes (6u/4u/3u → 2u/2u/2u). They now only have a small extended hitbox below Wario's head and two on Wario's head (one for grounded opponents and one for aerial opponents) rather than having one large hitbox on Wario's head and two smaller hitboxes covering the rest of his body.
  • The final hit now only consists of a head hitbox, which is smaller than the previous head hitbox (7.5u/5u/5u → 7u). This significantly hinders its range above Wario.
    • Altogether, these changes remove down aerial's ability to penetrate shields.
  • The final hit launches opponents at a higher angle (361° → 45°), hindering its effectiveness against grounded opponents.
  • The final hit has a larger hitlag multiplier (1x → 2x).

Throws/other attacks

• Standing grab has more startup lag (frame 6 → 8).
  • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it less ending lag.
• Dash grab has less startup (frame 10 → 8) and ending grab (FAF 40 → 37).
• Pivot grab has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 35). Since Wario is now the only character who has a pivot grab faster than frame 9, he now has the fastest pivot grab in the game.
• Wario's forward and back throws have swapped animations.
• Forward throw:
  • Wario releases opponents from forward throw much earlier (frame 46 → 21), making it significantly harder to DI.
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated (FAF 70 → 55), giving it more ending lag.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has a new, powerful collateral hit which affects bystanders significantly, improving its utility outside of 1v1s.
  • Back throw