Samus (SSBU)

Samus (, Samus) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Initially teased in the then-unnamed Ultimate's announcement trailer, Samus was officially confirmed in the gameplay trailer on June 12, 2018 during E3 2018. Samus is classified as Fighter #04.

Samus, alongside her Echo Fighter, is ranked 25th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing her in the A+ tier. This is a significant improvement over Super Smash Bros. 4, where she was tied with at 36th/37th out of 54. Samus possesses several moves that are generally quite strong, allowing her to easily KO her opponent up close and from afar. Her aerials are all strong and can be used to either rack up damage in combos or to KO opponents. Her specials all have their uses, especially Charge Shot: the weak variant is used to set up combos or a KO, while it can act as a viable KO option when fully charged. Finally, Samus has some of the highest endurance out of anyone in the roster due to her high weight and extremely flexible recovery, and she can easily return to the stage due to her variety of recovery options.

Despite all these positives, Samus has some weaknesses that can hold her back. Samus relies on spacing to succeed, and often struggles against those who can either get into her space quickly or avoid her projectiles. Samus has poor grounded options if an opponent is close to her, as her tilts are too slow to alleviate her opponent's pressure. Finally, her best KO moves all have their own issues, such as her forward smash having a weak sourspot that takes precedence over her sweetspot and her up smash being escapable via SDI.

Overall, her strengths outweigh most of her weaknesses. Samus is an effective zoner that can deal massive amounts of damage and pressure while surviving to high percents. Though initially perceived to be unviable, this iteration of Samus is now considered to be her strongest since Super Smash Bros. Melee, and as such has seen strong results from players such as, and

Attributes
Samus is a heavyweight unique among others. She is a floaty character with slightly below-average walking and dashing speeds, average air speed, above-average air acceleration, high jumps and slow falling speed. These attributes grant her an easier time chasing aerial opponents and forcing air dodges, yet also cause her to be juggled rather easily. When combined with her few reliable landing options and slow falling speed, opponents will also have more time to punish Samus as she attempts to return to the stage.

Samus' moveset consists of playing defensively, as she uses her projectiles to space, rack up damage from a distance and pressure shields. Charge Shot is her most consistent KOing option out of her special moves when fully charged, due to its speed and power. Missile is mostly used for spacing, due to both its Homing and Super variants being extremely inefficient at KOing, while grants Samus various mix-ups and can aid her recovery. However, Missile and Bomb also possess valuable utility in that they can guarantee a shield break when used in conjunction with a sufficiently charged Charge Shot or a sweetspotted back aerial. Lastly, is a decent out of shield option, a KOing option near the upper blast line and a viable combo finisher from aerial combo strings.

In addition, Samus has a strong air game. The changes to air dodges have benefitted her overall, as they notably improve her ability to edgeguard (especially with moves such as forward aerial or her renowned Charge Shot), while she isn't hindered as much due to her fast air speed, the ability to stall midair using her Bombs, and her Grapple Beam tether recovery's long range. All of Samus' aerials have no more than 20 frames of landing lag, and her back aerial is one of her best moves courtesy of its power, damage output, speed and range. Her down aerial can be a powerful meteor smash, forward aerial is a good pressuring tool due to its long duration, and up aerial is an excellent combo option. Lastly, her neutral aerial is a viable KOing option. When coupled with her high jumps, Samus' air game is also potent while she is off-stage, as she can recover from nearly anywhere on the stage, stay in position for longer periods of time due to her floatiness, or bait the opponent by stalling in the air and punishing edge-guard attempts.

Samus' grab game is also useful thanks to a variety of perks. Her Grapple Beam has impressive overall range and is useful in the air as either a tether recovery or a grab aerial, the latter of which is potent for zoning thanks to its aforementioned range and very minimal landing lag. Down throw is very useful for starting combos that deal respectable damage and can be used with her neutral, forward and up aerials at varying percentages. Many of her combos can rack up more than 30% and when using platforms to her advantage, or string together multiple times and then be finished with Screw Attack, leading to a KO or dealing 40%-50% at the very least. Up throw is Samus' strongest throw and, unlike in SSB4, it is capable of KOing quite reliably (especially on platforms), thanks to its redistributed damage output and increased knockback. Although forward throw and back throw have decent damage outputs, their only utility is creating space and setting up edge-guards, and both are mediocre at best in doing so.

However, Samus has noticeable flaws. Samus' ground game is mediocre overall as her smash attacks are punishable, with only her forward smash being a fairly reliable KOing option due to its quick start-up lag. Her neutral attack is very mediocre, which is noticeably exemplified in its inability to connect at high percentages and thus limits Samus' anti-pressuring ability. Due to this and her average dashing speed, most Samus players will often find themselves in the air, where her strengths lie.

Samus also has issues with her recovery. Her grab aerial has very long range, her jumps are among the highest in the game, Screw Attack is fast and hard to punish, and Bomb jumping provides infinite horizontal recovery, but they are all offset by Screw Attack's only average distance, Bomb's high ending lag in the air and Samus' only average air speed and reliance on her grab aerial to grab edges from a distance. Altogether, this results in her recovery being slightly slow, linear and predictable.

Overall, Samus is a character that performs best when using her projectiles and grab aerial for spacing in order to set up combos and either finish off pressured opponents off-stage, or KO them outright with Charge Shot. Unlike the majority of veterans, Samus' optimal playstyle is highly unorthodox; as she falls short in regard to zoning-exclusive or melee-exclusive offense, success with Samus requires careful and strategic use of her various tools to keep momentum in her favor. As such, she is a character that is hard to master, but greatly rewards patient and calculated play.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Aside from her appearance in Melee, Samus has historically been a lower-ranking character in the Super Smash Bros. series. Even her appearance in SSB4 was mixed, as the significant buffs she received via game updates elevated her perception from a low/bottom tier fighter to that of a mid tier fighter. Likely as a result of her polarized viability, Samus has been buffed significantly overall in the transition to Ultimate.

Samus' largest buffs come from the improvements made to her grab game and her repertoire of projectiles. Historically considered among the most lackluster grab games despite her grabs' long range and her down throw's excellent combo ability, all of Samus' throws have increased utility, damage and knockback; up throw is now her strongest throw and a viable KO option at high percentages, down throw's combo potential was further improved due to its lower ending lag, and both her forward and back throws have more knockback, even situationally KOing at high percentages when close to an edge.

In terms of her projectile game, s explode earlier on contact with enemies, Missiles deal more damage and have less ending lag, while Super Missiles deal more knockback and stall for a longer time before flying forward, greatly improving their use for trapping. Most notably, Charge Shot can now be charged in the air, used as a combo tool due to Samus' improved mobility and its lower ending lag, and deals greater damage and knockback, which gives Samus more opportunities to charge up her most threatening move. In bulk, all of these changes have significantly strengthened her zoning and punish game.

Other buffs to Samus also include many of her up-close moves dealing more knockback, most notably her down tilt, dash attack and down smash, improving her previously inconsistent KO potential; and her previously slow and punishable roll was also notably increased in speed, making it more usable as an escape option. She also benefits considerably from the universal changes to the engine, as the reduced landing lag and weakening of shields makes her aerials safer to use for approaching despite their lower shieldstun. As with most other veterans, her mobility has been improved and, when coupled with the dash-cancel, the miscellaneous buffs to her standard moves and their relatively fast frame data, and the increased shieldstun, grants her a much safer close-quarters game.

The changes to air dodges, particularly, have benefitted Samus overall, as they notably improve her ability to edge-guard (especially with moves such as forward aerial or her renowned Charge Shot), while she has one of the longest horizontal distances of any air dodge, giving her a situational recovery option; she also isn't hindered as much by them due to her fast air speed, the ability to stall midair using her Bombs, and her Grapple Beam's long range as a tether recovery. Finally, the universal changes to grabs have benefitted her likely the most of any character, as not only do her grabs now have less ending lag relative to the rest of the cast, but her standing and pivot grabs now have less ending lag as well, which further improves her grab game.

However, Samus has received nerfs that, while fewer in comparison to her buffs, have drastically affected her playstyle. Her dash attack, previously a notorious combo starter and often considered her best close-quarters option (and her best move overall), it has been repurposed into a somewhat strong yet situational KO option due to its now-horizontal launching angle and significantly higher power and ending lag. Her infamously inconsistent neutral attack has worsened even further, as its first hit's lower knockback and slower transition into its second hit have removed its most reliable setups at higher percents and rendered the second hit nearly useless. Up smash has less range, higher SDI multipliers, and no longer has set knockback, which collectively result in it becoming more inconsistent than before. Finally, Samus' up aerial has increased landing lag and its looping hits inflict lower hitstun, almost completely removing the move's combo and setup potential.

In terms of indirect changes, Samus is one of the characters to be hindered the most by the nerfs to rage: while the lower total multiplier make it slightly harder for Samus to close out a stock if she is able to endure a hit, the fact rage no longer applies to set knockback removes her ability to KO at very early percents by setting up a with high rage (which was a commonly exploitable tactic in conjunction with her dash attack). Lastly, of further note is that some of Samus' most noticeable weaknesses from previous games remain, such as a lackluster close quarters game in comparison to her spacing and zoning games, her moveset's high ending lag leaving her prone to punishment, her susceptibility to being juggled, and a vulnerable recovery despite her access to a tether option.

Overall, Samus' changes and buffs have improved her playstyle's most noticeable attributes in her zoning and long-ranged options, and her heightened offensive power and the changes to gameplay mechanics give her more opportunities to take advantage of this playstyle, though because of the nerfs to her more polarized offensive options, Samus now relies on a more patient playstyle than before. Regardless, her changes have allowed her to veer closer to a balanced, long range-based "mighty glacier" similar to, with potent KO potential, generally well-rounded attributes (with particularly high endurance yet below-average overall mobility), and a focus on hard-hitting punishes and combos at both long and mid-range while having difficulty dealing with rushdown and disjoints, which evokes her very projectile-oriented fighting style in her home series. Her plentiful buffs have allowed Samus to perform much better relative to the cast than in SSB4, similarly to her incarnation in Melee.

Update history
Samus received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was buffed overall. Update 2.0.0 increased Missile's range, which allows her to space better and deal damage at safer ranges. However, it also received more ending lag when used in the air, which standardized it with ' version. Additionally, grounded Bomb's ending lag was decreased, which made it safer and allows her to act out of it more effectively.

However, update 3.0.0's near-universal nerf to projectiles' shield damage outputs hindered Samus (and Dark Samus by extension) more so than most other characters, as it noticeably worsened Charge Shot's shield pressuring potential. Following this, update 3.1.0 improved up smash's linking hits as part of a near-universal buff.

Update 7.0.0 would later provide Samus with substantial buffs. Up smash, down smash and up throw each gained considerable increases to their knockback, which noticeably improved their KO potentials. On a similar note, early dash attack deals 3% more damage: this makes it functionally identical to the clean hit, and thus improved dash attack's consistency as a situational, yet viable KO option. Aside from these improved KO options, aerial Grapple Beam's damage output and hitbox duration were increased, which slightly improved her spacing game. Lastly, Samus' shield was enlarged as part of a near-universal buff.

Overall, Samus fares better than she did at the launch of Ultimate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Samus' hitboxes, see here.
 * Samus can wall jump.
 * Samus possesses a tether attack and grab.

Stats
Samus' gravity and falling speed are set to 0.078288 and 1.8, respectively, during hitstun when launched at angles between 70°-110°.

On-screen appearance

 * Arrives from a.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Salutes vigorously with her left arm as her thrusters activate.
 * Side taunt: Faces the screen and demonstrates her Arm Cannon's Zero Laser configuration.
 * Down taunt: Aims her Arm Cannon behind her, then kneels while aiming it in front of herself.

Idle poses

 * Rubs her Arm Cannon with one finger.
 * Brings her Arm Cannon down and then pulls it back up.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Lands on the ground and readies her Arm Cannon.
 * Up: Fires multiple shots from her Arm Cannon while kneeling, then strikes a pose. The pose is based on her appearance on the covers of ' and '.
 * Right: Fires a Super Missile and strikes a pose resembling her render from , and by extension, her official artwork in Ultimate, as well as her character select animation in Super Smash Bros.

: Another Planet, Another Bounty
The opponents Samus faces are akin to the battles that she has faced throughout the Metroid series. In addition, all of the battles take place on stages from the Metroid universe.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Samus has  accompany the credits.

Character unlock tree
Samus' Classic Mode character unlock tree includes the following characters in order:

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Samus' Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to 's character unlock tree, starting with.

Role in World of Light
Samus was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight an army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Samus was present when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Samus attempted to fight back against the beams by shooting them with her, but to no avail. Samus was vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment alongside the rest of the fighters (except for ).

In gameplay, has a separate awakening battle from Samus.

Samus can be found blocking the path of the bridge once engulfed in light and a location reminiscent of Pac-Maze. Defeating her is necessary to progress through the story, making her an obligatory unlock.

Samus is later seen among several other fighters, making their last stand against Galeem and Dharkon. She also shows up in the ending where Galeem emerges victorious against Dharkon, witnessing Galeem engulf the world in light.

Spirits
Samus's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold. Unlocking Samus in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Her fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with her artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Samus makes an appearance in various primary and support spirits. Note that ' fighter spirit is not listed here due to her status as a separate playable character (despite the fact that she is the puppet/possessed fighter who represents Young Samus).

Trivia

 * The notorious unreliability of Samus' neutral attack is alluded to in one of the tips, stating that "Foes can often put up their shields in between the first and second hits of this combo. It's safer to just hit with the first attack and then flee."
 * Samus is the only member of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's starting roster to be a female by default.
 * However, she is technically not the only female on the starting roster, due to Ultimate including two female Pikachu as alternate characters alongside the default male.
 * Samus is the only member of the Original 8 to have an Echo Fighter, that being.
 * She is also the only fighter to have an Echo Fighter that represents a separate entity in addition to a non-clone fighter representing an alternate form of herself.
 * In her official artwork, Samus' pose matches the image of her alongside from '. This same image was used on the official Other M website with Higgs removed, and was used as Samus' primary promotional image across various media prior to the release of '.
 * Although Samus reuses her Other M design instead of her updated design from , her fighter spirit uses her artwork from Samus Returns instead of Other M.
 * When fighting off the fifty puppet fighter army as Master Hand in World of Light, Samus is one of the eight fighters fought there, being affiliated with Galeem.
 * Out of all the eight fighters affiliated with either Galeem or Dharkron, Samus is the only female.
 * Samus, Dark Samus,, and are the only fighters who do not emit red-flashing eyes in the Spirit Battle previews in World of Light.

Samus (SSBU)