Byleth (SSBU)


 * Byleth Joins Smash House!

Byleth (♂:, ♀: , Byleth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Byleth was officially announced on January 16th, 2020 as the fifth and final downloadable character from. Both male and female versions of Byleth are playable. Byleth was released as part of Challenger Pack 5 on January 28th, 2020 and is classified as Fighter #75.

and, who respectively voiced the male and female versions of Byleth in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and , reprise their roles in the overseas versions, while and  reprise their respective male and female roles in the Japanese version.

Byleth is ranked 32nd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the A- tier.

Attributes
Byleth is a tall, middleweight swordsman, yet has poor overall mobility (similarly to, and ), high startup and ending lag on many of his moves, and a rather short grab range. In the words of Super Smash Bros. series creator Masahiro Sakurai, Byleth is a "distance demon", since his optimal playstyle involves using his to zone out opponents at mid-range, similarly to  and. Thanks to his variety of weapons, Byleth's overall range is fittingly long in line with his archetype, and his attacks are generally very strong, especially for a middleweight, although this comes at the cost of his frame data being rather sluggish. All of these traits make Byleth's general gameplan very patient: his sluggishness and strength make it important for him to plan ahead and learn the opponent's habits before covering their options with his range and arsenal of hard-hitting weapons.

Like other weapon wielders, Byleth's attacks have disjointed hitboxes that allow him to fight effectively from a safe distance. Neutral attack is a quick chain of attacks that help ward off nearby opponents, and is useful due to being his fastest attack of any kind. Due to having four weapons, each of them is assigned to different attacking directions. Like in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the is Byleth's default weapon, and it is wielded throughout all animations that do not involve any other weapon.

Neutral infinite is one of the most damaging of its kind in the entire game, and it can even KO at very high percentages while near the edge. Up and forward tilts have wide hitboxes and decent speed, making them effective spacing attacks. Down tilt transforms the Sword of the Creator into its whip form, and although it is slower than the other two tilts, it is a useful combo starter into aerial attacks. Dash attack is a wide slash forward that is potent for punishing whiffs, and can even KO at reasonable percentages when its blade hitbox connects. However, its ending lag makes it easily punishable, which is further compounded by its weak hilt hitbox.

In regard to an assigned attack direction, all of Byleth's up-inputted moves emphasize the Sword of the Creator's whip form. Up smash causes him to lash upwards in a flurry, which deals multiple hits and is useful for denying landings or starting juggles. It is also Byleth's fastest smash attack, while its moderately powerful final hit makes it a viable KO option as well. Up aerial functions very similarly to up smash in regard to aesthetics and mechanics. Due to being an aerial, however, its looping hits can also drag opponents downward to initiate extended combos, which makes it one of Byleth's most useful attacks in general.

When used as his up special, the Sword of the Creator grants Byleth a very long tether recovery that can grab 's edges, even if he is near the bottom blast line. Notably, Byleth's up special can attach to walls and enable him to perform a wall jump if he then touches a wall, much like how tether recoveries function in Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, the Sword of the Creator also boasts potent offensive potential as an up special: it causes an untechable meteor smash at high percentages that, if used on offstage opponents, sees Byleth meteor smash an opponent by footstool jumping on them, which can cause an unavoidable KO at high percentages. This hop also has extremely low ending lag, allowing for certain follow-ups, such as his side special or even down aerial. Altogether, these traits provide Byleth with a safe array of covering various approach options.

Byleth's other weapons grant more specialized options. , a lance, is used for Byleth's side-inputted moves (forward smash, forward aerial, back aerial, and side special). It has long-range and has a tipper that deals more damage at the tip of the lance. Forward smash is a slow, but long-ranged stab that deals more knockback if aimed upward and tippered, allowing it to heavily punish jump options. If aimed downward, Areadbhar can also hit opponents grabbing edges. Meanwhile, forward and back aerials are very effective spacing moves, even outranging those of Marth, and their tippers deal heavy knockback.

Byleth's side special has him swing Areadbhar in a slow, but wide swing, and allows him to step forward if it is inputted like a smash attack. Its massive hitbox easily denies jump options and acts as a powerful but risky spacing option, as any character can punish it even when fully spaced if they shield it. Aside from its offensive potential, Areadbhar can even assist Byleth's horizontal recovery when used as a side special in the air. All of Areadbhar's moves are weak if the hilt lands, so proper spacing is vital; the sourspots of forward and back aerials can be used to combo or tech chase effectively, but will KO less readily. Side special will be extremely weak if the hilt lands, but Byleth will be able to shield to protect themselves even if the hilt is used.

, an axe, is used for Byleth's down-inputted moves (down smash, down aerial, and down special). It is an extremely slow, yet powerful weapon that deals high damage, shield damage, and knockback on each move that uses it. Down smash is slow overall, but hits very hard and can KO as early as 90%. Down aerial is a similarly slow swing downwards with extreme landing lag, but it is the strongest meteor smash in the game when it lands, making it also among the most rewarding. Byleth's down special causes him to charge Aymr in a super armored stance before unleashing a powerful, Special Zoom-inducing swing. It allows Byleth to pass through platforms and turn around in the opposite direction while charging, which can be used for mindgames. It also has a surprisingly wide hitbox that starts behind Byleth's head. Altogether, these traits make it a high-risk, high reward move that can catch opponents by surprise. If used in the air, it will be slightly weaker and lack super armor, yet still KO at very reasonable percentages.

Finally, is a bow that is used for two of Byleth's neutral-inputted moves (neutral aerial and neutral special). Neutral aerial involves Byleth spinning it in a circular motion for a fairly long time, much like 's neutral aerial. As a result, it is a good option out of shield due to its fast startup, and can also initiate combos or edgeguard with its looping hits and landing hitbox. Byleth's neutral special uses Failnaught to fire an arrow, which can be shot at two different strengths: a slow but strong arrow that acts it serviceable for sniping and spacing, or a very delayed arrow that is one of fastest projectiles in the game and is strong enough almost break a full shield. The charged arrow also becomes an energy projectile, making it possible to absorb it, though it cannot be Inhaled or Pocketed. Unlike other bows, Byleth can charge-cancel Failnaught, specifically up until slightly after the delayed charged arrow begins charging. However, he is unable to cancel it after he reaches that point. Byleth's neutral special can also turn around up to two times before the charged arrow is fired, similarly to Palutena Bow/Silver Bow.

Byleth may have good strengths, but he does also have weaknesses. Due to his overall mobility being among the worst in Ultimate, his approach is very committal. This flaw is further compounded by many of his attacks having slow startup (e.g. down smash/down aerial), narrow hitbox placements (e.g. forward/back aerials), or even both (e.g. forward smash). Dash attack, neutral aerial, and side special are exceptions, but are easily punishable on shield due to their ending lag, while the lattermost is dangerously unsafe if the sweetspot does not connect.

This flaw becomes even more dangerous with Failnaught's unique charge properties: while the arrows fired from it are powerful and fast, they are equally as dangerous if reflected, as Byleth cannot cancel the move after charging it halfway through. Byleth's abundance of powerful attacks is also a double-edged sword: while these attacks make it easy for him to heavily punish mistakes, his sluggish frame data also makes counterattacks an excellent option to punish his many KO options if they are used unwisely.

Byleth's grab game is also lackluster at best. Down throw is, by far, the best aspect of Byleth's grab game: it is a reliable combo starter below 80%, with neutral, forward and back aerials being reliable follow-ups. However, this is offset by the other aspects of his grab game. Aside from his aforementioned grab range issues, his pummel is akin to a heavyweight's by being decently damaging, yet fairly slow. Up throw is his most damaging throw, but inflicts only a mediocre 9% and its only real purpose is applying pressure from below, with up aerial and up special being possible follow-ups if the opponent fails to DI properly. Although back throw can potentially combo into dash attack at low percentages, this combo is utterly outclassed by down throw's combos. Instead, it and forward throw are used primarily to launch the opponent offstage.

Byleth's recovery is also burdensome in certain ways. Due to being a tether recovery, his up special boasts high vertical distance, but lackluster horizontal distance. When coupled with his poor air speed, Byleth is susceptible to gimps. However, his recovery is deceptively useful when used properly. Since up special can recover from halfway between the camera border and blast zone on, Byleth mostly has to worry about getting in range horizontally. To assist with this, he can use his side special or his neutral/forward/back/up aerials to hit away opponents, and performing a B-reversed Failnaught charge, canceled with a jump, which will make where Byleth is going to be very hard for the opponent to guess.

All in all, Byleth is a ranged powerhouse that boasts a capable mixture of highly damaging attacks, KO options, combos, and setups. However, Byleth's slow overall mobility and poor overall frame data mean that he must be careful with his offensive techniques and use his tools very patiently in order to punish his opponent's mistakes, as a careless move on Byleth's end will easily give his opponent just as big of an opening to retaliate.

Update history
Byleth was buffed slightly via update 11.0.0. The most notable buffs were to Sword of the Creator: its decreased overall lag improved its utility for recovering, combos and as an out of shield option, while its increased base knockback improved its KO potential while offstage and removed its dead zone (the latter of which improved its consistency). Areadbhar became safer on shield thanks to it receiving shieldstun multipliers. In addition, it has less ending lag when used in the air; this slightly improved its recovery and edgeguarding potentials. Down smash and down aerial gained slightly higher knockback, which improved their already considerable KO potentials. On an extended note, down aerial's shield damage output was also increased.

Overall, Byleth fares mildly better than he did when he was first released.

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Byleth's hitboxes, see here.
 * Byleth uses a variety of the from  throughout his moveset. Each weapon is designated to a different attacking direction: neutral, side, up, and down.
 * The is Byleth's default weapon and is wielded throughout all animations that do not involve any other weapon. It is used for Byleth's neutral infinite, tilt attacks, throws, and get-up attacks, though it is also designated to up-inputted moves like up smash, up aerial, and up special. Certain moves cause the Sword of the Creator to change into its whip form, extending its range. The Sword of the Creator also enables Byleth to wall jump 3 times when his up special is used.
 * is a lance wielded by . It is used for Byleth's side-inputted moves, such as forward smash and back aerial. Areadbhar features a tipper, with the shaft dealing comparatively low knockback and damage and the tip dealing 1.5× the damage of the shaft.
 * is an axe wielded by . It is used for Byleth's down-inputted moves, such as down smash and down special. Aymr boasts incredibly high damage and knockback on all moves that feature it, though at the cost of extremely high overall lag.
 * is a bow wielded by . It is used for two of Byleth's neutral-inputted moves, neutral aerial and neutral special. Unlike the previously mentioned weapons, Failnaught does not feature any particular traits.

Announcer calls
Despite the fact that both male and female Byleth have different names in Japan and China, the announcer calls them by their English name in those versions.

On-screen appearance

 * Warps onto the stage using warp magic, poses while holding a pointer, then pulls out the Sword of the Creator.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Swings the Sword of the Creator to his right leg, and puts his left fist to his chest while looking into the sky. Female Byleth has an alternate stance: one foot is in front of the other and the Sword of the Creator is held behind herself in a reverse grip. Based on Byleth's victory pose with a sword equipped.
 * Side taunt: Brandishes the Sword of the Creator forward and says either "Let the lesson begin!" or "Stay focused." The former quote is one of Byleth's critical hit quotes prior to the five-year time skip, while the latter is from when Byleth is selected on the battlefield prior to the time skip.
 * Down taunt: Swings the Sword of the Creator in its whip form around himself while saying "Try me."

Idle poses

 * Twirls the Sword of the Creator into a backhanded grip while striking a pose, before returning to his original position. Female Byleth has an alternate pose: the Sword of the Creator is held in a standard grip with a more energetic pose. Based on the animation when Byleth is selected on the map before moving and when performing a gambit. Both idle poses resemble the ones they assume in their Ultimate renders.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses
Note: Like and, some of Byleth's victory animations are different between the male and female variants.

Both

 * Plants the Sword of the Creator into the ground along with the other Heroes' Relics already planted into the floor, says "Each battle, a chance to grow" ("", This experience will encourage you.) and then swings their left arm out while facing the background before lowering their left arm to their side. Combines one of Byleth's lines after winning a battle exchange pre-time skip with the game over screen in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, where all 4 of the main Heroes' Relics are planted on the ground.

Male

 * Swings the Sword of the Creator outward, saying "Allow me to demonstrate!" ("", I will guide you.) He then raises his left hand towards his chest as he looks outward. Based on Byleth's victory pose when wielding a sword, combined with one of his critical hit quotes prior to the time skip. It is also similar to his up taunt.
 * With the Sword of the Creator in its whip form, Byleth swings it around the front of his body in a circular motion, saying "No hesitation!" ("", Clear your hesitation!) After striking the ground, the Sword of the Creator reverts to its original form, with Byleth posing with it held in a standard grip. Uses the quote from one of his critical hit activations.
 * When this victory pose plays, the clapping animations are delayed for a second before showing up, most likely due to the number of graphics onscreen from the Sword of the Creator hitting the ground.

Female

 * Swings the Sword of the Creator outward before holding the sword behind her in a reverse grip, saying "Allow me to demonstrate!" ("", I will guide you.) She then looks toward the screen as opposed to looking into the distance. It is also similar to her up taunt.
 * With the Sword of the Creator in its whip form, she swings the whip in front of herself twice (each time in a different direction) while saying "No hesitation!" ("", Clear your hesitation!) She then holds it up towards her face in a vertical manner.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Byleth players (SSBU)


 * - The best Ultimate player of all-time, having picked up Byleth during the online metagame and primarily used Byleth in 2021 and most of 2022. His success with Byleth greatly improved opinions on Byleth's viability.
 * - One of the best Byleth players in the world since 2023, breaking out on the scene after placing 5th at the major upsetting . Since then, Reno has placed highly at many Japanese events, including 2nd at the superregional  and 17th at the supermajor.
 * - Known for using a plethora of characters including Byleth, and is the best Byleth player in Japan. He notably won  and  with Byleth, defeating  in the former and  in the latter. He is the second Byleth player to be ranked top 50 on a notable global ranking, ranking 49th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.

Tier placement and history
Initial opinions on Byleth, shortly after release, were mostly lukewarm, if not negative. Most players believed Byleth was a mid tier or even low tier fighter, citing his poor frame data, slow mobility, limited landing options, and poor matchups against faster characters that can fight up close. An early success for Byleth came at, where used him to defeat  in grand finals; despite this, most players remained unimpressed, citing how MkLeo used  until the very last game of the tournament, Maister's poor record against him, and 's weakness against long ranged characters, in addition to matchup inexperience due to Byleth's then-recent release. A few weeks afterwards, the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America, forcing a halt of tournament activity and leaving most of Byleth's early metagame development to proceed online.

During this period, MkLeo decided to continue using Byleth online, being unsatisfied with how Joker played under additional input lag. After adjusting to the new environment, he found success with Byleth, leading to a final placement of 5th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7. Buffs to Byleth during the pandemic further improved his standing; more and more players began believing Byleth to be a viable threat, however the character was still occasionally dismissed as MkLeo's "online main", implying that Leo didn't take online tournaments as seriously and would eventually return to Joker following the reopening of offline tournaments.

MkLeo defied these expectations by continuing to use Byleth in all events he attended since the return of offline tournaments, starting with, often using him as his sole character. With Byleth, MkLeo has achieved dominance on par with what he had with Joker before the pandemic, if not arguably even greater, as he has placed no less than second in every tournament he has attended until, winning the majority of them. His efforts have shifted the community's perception on Byleth, leading most players to believe that Byleth is an upper mid tier to high tier fighter.

While Byleth is widely agreed to have been initially underestimated, his definitive standing remains debatable as the more skeptical players argue that Byleth's success was largely due to MkLeo's skill as a player, and that with MkLeo slowly dropping Byleth in 2022, no other Byleth player have been able to get close to his results. Data collected by OrionRank curator also showed that MkLeo made up roughly 66% of all results obtained by Byleth up to November 2021 (an amount second only to  with ). In Japan, Byleth is primarily represented by, who is notorious for having a very large roster of characters; , who is more well-known for his ; and , a newcomer to the scene who has only recently began performing well, albeit inconsistently. In addition, some Byleth players such as and  have garnered notable results in their regions, however their impact at a national level remains rather minimal. Finally, Byleth was also represented by and  online, however only Sparg0 has made the transition offline, and he only used Byleth at a few regionals and a couple of low-stake sets at majors. As it stands, Byleth is ranked 32nd on the first tier list as a high-tier character, although debates on his position remains to this day.

: A Heroic Legacy
Byleth's Classic Mode route is themed around the fighters and stages from across the Super Smash Bros. series, fought in order of release year. All battles are stamina battles and the player always starts with 100 HP.

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

Role in World of Light
Due to his status as downloadable content, Byleth does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition before downloading Byleth, he is immediately unlocked.

Spirits
Male Byleth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Byleth has been downloaded. Unlocking Byleth 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 are purely aesthetic. Female Byleth has a fighter spirit of her own, available periodically for purchase through the shop. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with their artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * Byleth's internal codename is "master", referencing their role as a professor in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
 * According to Sakurai, the development of Byleth began while Fire Emblem: Three Houses was still in development. He had to play the game in secret from the other employees due to the game still being in development.
 * Byleth is the first character to have two different splash screens, due to the male and female variants having different names in Japanese.
 * Despite the fact that male and female Byleth have different names in Japanese, the announcer and English-written UIs (such as the versus splash screen and damage meter) will call both of them by their shared English name, unlike with other characters such as and  in the Japanese version, or unlike with other gender-selectable characters in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian. However, this is also similar to  and  being still called by the announcer with their English name.
 * Male and female Byleth have slightly different idle stances; female Byleth holds the Sword of the Creator with its tip pointed upwards, while male Byleth holds it with its tip pointed downwards. All animations that can be played from their stand animations (like their idle animations) are subsequently affected through the animation blending. Additionally, their idle pose and victory poses are different between each other.
 * Byleth is also the only character in the game to debut after Ultimate's original release in December 2018, which was also the case with fellow Fire Emblem characters Roy and Corrin in their debuts.
 * Byleth and are the only characters in Ultimate whose alternate costume is displayed alongside their default costume on the official Ultimate site, similarly to 's page on the official SSB4 site.
 * Additionally, because male and female Byleth have different names in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, the lists of fighters on the website name both of them in those languages.
 * According to Sakurai's column, the reason for Byleth's use of the Hero's Relics was to differentiate him from all the other sword fighters.
 * Byleth is one of the few characters who occasionally says something after being Blast KO'd: male Byleth will shout "Not my best!", while female Byleth will shout "Forgive me...!"
 * When either male or female Byleth is Star KO'd, they shout, "My battle ends here...!" This is a reference to a line of dialogue when they die in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
 * Oddly, if Byleth charges a forward smash while holding a Death's Scythe, the charging sound effect will not play.
 * Additionally, he will not vibrate in place while charging. This also applies to if she charges a smash attack while holding a Star Rod.
 * In male Byleth's right victory pose, there's a brief delay before the UI displays the panes of the losing fighters in comparison to most victory poses. This is due to the game slowing down when focusing on the particle effects from the Sword of the Creator's whip. This does not occur in team battles consisting of two or more fighters.
 * Unlike most humanoid fighter models in Ultimate, the bind pose of male and female Byleth is uniquely an "A-pose" instead of a T-pose. This is shared with and.
 * Byleth is the only character with a taunt that has more than one potential quote.
 * Prior to the 8.0.0 update, the Sound Test did not refer to the two Byleths as male or female, unlike other characters with gender swaps.