Cloud (SSBU)

Cloud (, Cloud) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Cloud was confirmed on June 12th, 2018 and is classified as Fighter #61.

reprises his role as Cloud in all regions, albeit via recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4. This makes him the first character to remain fully voiced in Japanese in all regions despite having an existing English voice actor. In 's reveal trailer, and as part of the version 10.1.0 update, Sakurai reprises his role as Cloud with new voice lines exclusively for the Advent Children costumes, albeit only for his aesthetically different Omnislash Ver. 5.

Cloud is currently ranked 10th out of 82 characters on the Ultimate tier list, ranking him in S- tier. This is a minor drop from his ranking in Smash 4, where he was ranked 2nd/3rd out of 54 and was tied with. Cloud's already great movement was further improved from Smash 4, with his jump squat being lowered to 3 frames and his already safe aerials receiving landing lag reductions, which improved his advantage state and combo game. Despite nerfs to his range, Cloud's hitboxes are still fairly large, especially those that utilize his Buster Sword, allowing him to outrange many characters in Ultimate's roster. Cloud also possesses one of the best out-of-shield options in the game, with his Climhazzard making pressuring him and landing against him rather difficult. Cloud also retains Limit Charge which further improves his special moves when active.

However, Cloud still struggles with an underwhelming grab game and an exploitable recovery. He also received drastic nerfs to some of his strengths from the previous game, most notably his specials, some of which deal less knockback, and Limit Break, which now only lasts up to 15 seconds, forcing Cloud to be more cautious when using it. Cloud's ability to kill is also less consistent due to the nerfs to Limit as well as his down aerial no longer being a reliable combo starter.

Overall, Cloud is still considered a strong character as he still retains many of his key advantages from Smash 4. While he saw few results at the start of Ultimate's metagame, his representation has since grown tremendously thanks to the efforts of, who went on to become one of the best players in the world.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Cloud must then be defeated on Midgar (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Cloud being the 55th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in her unlock tree, being the 6th character unlocked after.
 * Have Cloud join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Cloud is a middleweight swordsman, tied with at 100 units of weight. Despite his weight class, Cloud boasts high overall mobility: he has average walking speed, very fast dashing speed, above-average air speed and average air acceleration, which collectively make him quick both on the ground and in the air. Cloud also has above-average falling speed and high gravity, however, which prevent him from staying in the air for long in spite of his good aerial maneuverability.

While under his unique Limit Break status, Cloud's already impressive mobility improves further. His traction slightly improves, his dashing speed becomes even faster, his falling speed becomes the fourth fastest, and his air speed becomes the fastest in the game under normal circumstances. His increased gravity and falling speed, however, make his jumps slightly lower and prevent him from autocanceling some of his aerial attacks (notably back aerial and up aerial) as easily. As a result, Cloud's Limit Break status only marginally benefits his aerial mobility, but it can nevertheless help him move along the ground better.

Cloud's greatest asset is his effective range, courtesy of his Buster Sword; Cloud's attacks have among the longest reaches in the game and can space out the opponent quite easily, snuff out opposing approaches and adeptly punish most careless attacks due to his speed and range. A prime example of this trait is Cloud's aerial attacks: neutral aerial, despite having its range decreased noticeably in the transition to Ultimate, still covers Cloud's hurtbox well, making it a go-to option for spacing or air-to-ground transition movement. It is also very fast on both ends, can autocancel with a short hop, and has a low launching angle, all of which make it a good edgeguarding and spacing tool despite its below-average knockback.

Up aerial has a rather large hitbox, overall decent speed, a long duration, and decent damage and knockback; altogether, these traits make it effective at juggling and denying landings. Down aerial is not only a very strong meteor smash when sweetspotted, but also possesses a long-lasting late hitbox, which grants it good anti-juggling potential and allows him to follow up into another move if it connects while he is falling. Like up aerial, it also has a long autocancel window, being able to autocancel from a jump regardless of his Limit Break status.

Back aerial has tremendous range, decent power, very low landing lag, and autocancels from a short hop; altogether, these traits allow him to edgeguard and space effectively, and even perform a wall of pain at low percentages. However, it can often miss low opponents due to its minimal vertical range. Forward aerial is very strong when its clean, hitbox connects, and its sweetspot is a powerful meteor smash on aerial opponents. Like down aerial, it autocancels from a jump and has low landing lag in relation to its range and power. However, it has the slowest startup of his aerials, making it his riskiest one to use regardless.

Cloud's grounded moveset, while much less effective than his aerial moveset, nevertheless has its own merits. Neutral attack is his fastest attack, has decent overall range, and its third hit can force a tech-chase. Forward tilt has serviceable speed and respectable power, which make it a decent KO option at high percentages. However, its moderate ending lag and very low base knockback make it unsafe on hit at low percentages if it not spaced sufficiently. Down tilt is a low-profile sliding kick and is reasonably quick; while these traits make it useful primarily for avoiding projectiles and putting the opponent into a disadvantageous state, its final frames also allow it to combo into his neutral and up aerials at low percentages. Up tilt is a reliable combo starter, as it can combo into itself at low percentages and into neutral, back and up aerials at medium percentages. While it can even combo into up smash at low to medium percentages, this combo is heavily dependent on the opponent's reaction.

Dash attack is a quick punishing option from a distance, and its respectable power enables its clean hit to either KO at reasonable percentages or, at worst, put an opponent in an unfavorable position. However, like forward tilt, it is easily punished when shielded or avoided. In regard to Cloud's smash attacks, up smash covers a very large arc, has decent speed, and rather high knockback despite its middling damage output. As a result, it is among his best and least risky KOing options out of his standard moveset. Forward smash is Cloud's most powerful non-Limit Break move, though to compensate it also takes the longest to start and is very punishable if it whiffs. Down smash is also prone to punishment if the front hit is avoided, but it drags the opponent into the back hit if it connects, with the latter being a strong semi-spike.

Cloud's special moveset also offers interesting options. Blade Beam is a projectile with good range and activity, making it useful for forcing approaches, though it gets weakened over the duration and has rather high endlag, which hampers its otherwise useful utility. It also stalls Cloud in the air, giving it additional, albeit situational, utility in guard breaking. Cross Slash is similar to Dancing Blade and Double-Edge Dance, as it requires additional inputs from the player to initiate the remaining slashes. In contrast, it has wider input windows, but the full move is only allowed to continue if all hits connect. It can also stall Cloud in the air, just like Blade Beam, though much more briefly. Climhazzard is similar to Aether and Final Cutter, as it is an ascending slash, but differs from them in that it can be followed by an optional descending slash. This allows Cloud to mix-up his recovery and enables Climhazzard to function as his fastest out of shield option, though it is very risky to use.

In reference to Final Fantasy VII, Cloud possesses a unique Limit Break mechanic. It is indicated by the Limit Gauge, which is displayed above his damage meter and becomes visible while charging it to show its progress, similarly to the Power Meter. Cloud can charge his Limit Gauge by inflicting 150%, receiving 100%, or by manually charging it for 5.58 seconds via his down special, Limit Charge. Unlike most other chargeable special moves, it can be canceled with a simple special move button press. When the Limit Gauge is full, Cloud gets a boost to all of his movement attributes except for attack speed, allowing him to move very quickly across the stage and in the air, with his overall mobility almost rivaling that of and. In addition, all of Cloud's special attacks are given a single-use power boost that enables them to KO reliably around 90%-120%.

Limit Charge is also converted to Finishing Touch, a spinning slash with such tremendous knockback that can KO most characters around 60%-70%. It also emits a whirlwind that pushes away opponents, making it harder to punish and providing Cloud a situational method of gimping weak recoveries. With the exception of Finishing Touch, all Limit Break specials are also granted brief intangibility upon start-up, as well as additional properties: Blade Beam is faster, stronger, and gains transcendent priority; Cross Slash requires no additional button inputs and strikes five times immediately, has very low ending lag in relation to its immense power, and stalls Cloud completely in the air; and Climhazzard grants more vertical distance and much more horizontal momentum, as well as having the ability to sweetspot an edge at any time. With all these benefits underneath the Limit Break status, players must be wary of this, as one small slip-up from the opponent can give Cloud the perfect opportunity to strike and turn the tide of battle instantaneously, making Cloud's Limit Break a mechanic that should not be taken lightly when in the hands of a competent player.

However, Cloud has some notable flaws. The most prominent one is his poor recovery; despite his aerial mobility and jump height being arguably better than most sword-wielding characters, his diagonal speed remains slow when compared to them, making him prone to edgeguarding and gimping, and making it mandatory to stay a safe distance within reaching the edge. Climhazzard is also a poor recovery move for many reasons: it grants below average vertical distance, little horizontal momentum, its ascending hit is completely incapable of edge sweetspotting, and its descending hit cannot edge sweetspot until it covers slight distance. The last problem about Cloud's recovery is that if he gets grabbed near the edge and gets air released while lacking access to his double jump, he will not be able to return to the stage unless he properly times a Blade Beam to stall towards the edge, uses aerials or air dodges to reset his momentum, or possesses a Limit Break. These factors make Cloud's recovery among the riskiest and most ineffective without use of his wall jump or Limit Break Climhazzard (which loses the active hitbox near the end of his ascent, making it less safe than the regular Climhazzard in some situations).

Another of Cloud's glaring flaws is his terrible grab game, being among the worst in the game. His grabs possess low range while having relatively high startup for a non-tether grab, his throws' damage outputs are mediocre and, barring down throw, they lack combo potential. Forward and back throws' decent speed are significantly offset by the problematic combination of their virtual lack of combo potential and low knockback scaling, both failing to KO before 300% unless the opponent is light, Cloud has rage, and/or is at the edge upon performing them. Back throw can be used as a situational tech-chase option, but even then is largely ineffective in this role. Up and down throws both have misleading power, with the former failing to KO until well beyond 200%. Up throw has too much ending lag to set up combos reliably, while down throw lacks reliable combos at low percentages and loses all of its combo potential past low percentages if the opponent DIs properly due to its more horizontal angle. Ironically, it is also Cloud's only throw that can KO below 200% with exception of up throw KOing slightly earlier on platform stages.

Although Cloud's range, combo options and Blade Beam collectively grant him a strong neutral game, he has a below-average approach at best. His approach options are linear: dash attack is easily punishable, neutral aerial's hitbox starts from behind him, and up aerial is very predictable as well as surprisingly punishable on shield if it is not spaced properly. This is further compounded by his other attacks lacking the frame data or the utility to be used as reliable approach options, such as his poor grab game.

Cloud also lacks a reliable means of escaping pressure. His neutral attack and down tilt are his fastest ground options, while Climhazzard is a great out of shield option. However, they are noticeably unsafe on shield, while none of his fast aerial attacks start from in front or below him. Down aerial's late hitbox can be used to escape juggling directly from below him, but its otherwise narrow hitbox allows opponents to hit Cloud laterally. Thus, Cloud is fairly easy to combo, and is just as easily forced on the defensive if his attacks are improperly spaced.

Although Cloud also possesses an abundance of strong finishers, his KO potential is somewhat inconsistent. None of his strongest finishers are easy to land in the neutral game and they can be easily punished if avoided or shielded. In comparison, his weaker finishers, such as forward tilt and back aerial, require good positioning to KO reliably. Cloud's KO potential is further compounded by his lack of reliable set-ups to combo into his strongest or best finishers.

Aside from Limit Charge, Cloud's special moves have some noticeable weaknesses. Blade Beam is relatively slow in regard to start-up and ending lag, as well as depreciating in damage over time or when used in the air, all of which make it less effective for spamming. Cross Slash is inconsistent with linking all five of its hits due to SDI or landing different parts of the hitboxes, along with being very vulnerable to stale-move negation because of its reliability as a damage racking option. In addition to its aforementioned weaknesses in regard to recovery, Climhazzard is also can be punishable if shielded and DI'd out of, while all of his specials only boast KO power when they are boosted by the Limit Break.

The Limit Break mechanic itself is also problematic: it acts as a double-edged sword, as it increases Cloud's fall speed and gravity at full charge, making recovery without the use of Climhazzard deceptively difficult, and rendering Cloud even easier to combo at medium percentages. It makes precise use of his special attacks mandatory, as his Limit Break specials can still be blocked and possess limited range. While Limit Blade Beam can be used as a ranged KOing option, it can just as easily be reflected or otherwise avoided at the tip of its range, leaving Cloud wide open to punishment. Finishing Touch deals only 1% and has very high ending lag that renders Cloud vulnerable if the slash or whirlwind do not hit. Finally and most notably, his Limit will be depleted if it is not used in 15 seconds, requiring Cloud to either "go big or go home" with the charge in a short amount of time, which could potentially be a huge turnabout on him at the wrong time.

Overall, Cloud has all the tools required to be successful, yet the player must manage these resources to the best of their ability and avoid being thrown off the stage at all times. These abilities also, more often then not, force the player to be vulnerable before they can be used effectively. Even though Cloud has many playstyles applicable to him, the combination of all of the traits above make him a fundamentals-oriented character most of the time, much like, and.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Cloud was previously considered to be one of the best characters in SSB4, alongside, due to a myriad of advantages, including deceptively lingering hitboxes, excellent speed-to-range ratio alongside generous autocancel windows, and a powerful advantage in the form of his Limit Gauge, which granted a lasting stat buff that boosted his already high overall mobility, allowed him to force approaches, and posed a constant threat during games due to the potential of a powerful Limit Break special attack. All these factors made him one of the most viable characters in SSB4 overall, especially in doubles play, where teams containing at least one Cloud were notorious within the community for their prominence and disproportionate effectiveness (statistically, Cloud in doubles held more dominance than even Meta Knight in Brawl singles). Likely as a result of this, Cloud has been nerfed noticeably overall in his transition to Ultimate.

Cloud received a fair share of buffs, although most of these are universal throughout the cast. Like most other characters, he was given a boost to his already high stats, with faster movement speed, a frame 3 jumpsquat, and reductions to landing lag, all of which compliments his strong aerial spacing ability and continues to make him one of the most mobile swordfighters in the game. In particular, the reduction to landing lag on his aerials not only makes them much safer on shield due to their range, it also allows Cloud to follow up from them more consistently, most notably with his forward, back and up aerials; this improves his damage racking game.

The reintroduction of directional air dodges allow him to extend his notoriously weak horizontal recovery when his Limit Meter is not fully charged, and now make him much harder to gimp if he is grabbed during Climhazzard. Certain moves have been improved to make them more consistent or improve their KO potential, such as his neutral attack (which connects better and can now lock) and dash attack (which has increased knockback). The ability to dash cancel into any ground move and the introduction of spot dodge canceling also allows Cloud to make even better use of his ground attacks, such as neutral attack for tech-chasing, down tilt for approaching, or forward tilt for KOing.

Cloud's special moves have also been given some noteworthy improvements. Blade Beam's sluggishness has been improved by a reduction of ending lag, making it less punishable and giving Cloud a semi-reliable camping tool. Climhazzard can be teched at the end of the move, snaps to ledge faster when using the downward slash, has much lower landing lag, transitions quicker, and KOs more consistently if used offstage due to the changes to meteor smashes. This makes it safer for recovery, a much more reliable out of shield option, and consistent for sacrificial KOs. Limit Charge now allows Cloud to jump or air dodge out of it, charges significantly faster when he inflicts damage, and is now displayed above his damage meter.

Although Cloud can no longer store his Limit indefinitely, the combination his Limit Gauge filling faster via inflicting damage and especially via Limit Charge actually means that Cloud can use his Limit Breaks much more frequently than in SSB4. Finally, Finishing Touch is an even more potent finishing move: it has less startup, noticeably more knockback, and its grounded version's late hit had its vertical range increased to the point that it can hit opponents on the bottom platforms of Battlefield form stages.

However, these buffs are offset by an abundance of nerfs. One of Cloud's most significant changes are to his Limit Charge: it can no longer be instant charge-canceled since it incurs 7 frames of lag when canceling a charge, will have its charge reduced if Cloud is hit during the process of charging, and disappears entirely if not used up in 15 seconds. These changes result in Cloud's Limit Break mechanic no longer being a direct upside that can be kept for mindgames or a lasting stat boost, and forces him to be more cautious of both charging and activating his Limit, vastly reducing the sheer game changing abilities it once had in the previous game.

Cloud's aerials have also been toned down, making his infamous aerial game less effective despite their lowered landing lag and better combo potential. Neutral aerial's range has been significantly reduced due to an altered animation in which Cloud doesn't stretch his arm as much, making it less safe and effective for spacing. Down aerial's lingering hitbox ends earlier and has more ending lag, making it harder to follow up in midair and riskier to use an an anti-juggle move, although its lowered landing lag allows it to start combos if Cloud lands first.

Finally, Cloud's notorious up aerial has been substantially nerfed: its increased startup with no animation change significantly reduced its range in front of him, it has smaller hitboxes on the Buster Sword, reduced power and a lowered autocancel window. Altogether, these changes worsen its versatility by almost completely removing its ability to start combos on grounded opponents, reducing its incontestability, and toning down its previously respectable KO power, with its only buffs being its lowered landing lag and damage making it easier to chain several up aerials together with the aid of platforms.

Other nerfs Cloud has received are to his grounded KO ability being slightly nerfed, as his forward and up smash attacks have slightly higher ending lag, while down smash is weaker, making his average ground game even less imposing. Lastly, his already poor grab game has been further weakened, as his down throw has lost its already lacking combo potential and his grabs have been made slower and now have higher ending lag; although the latter point is synonymous with the rest of the cast, this notably hurts Cloud's options against shielding opponents. As a result of these nerfs, Cloud now has more defined weaknesses, with his weak grab game, exploitable recovery, and weakened tools necessitating him to be more precise and careful with optimizing his Limit or spacing, alongside making spacing with his aerials more difficult.

Overall, Cloud remains a fundamentally solid character with a relatively low learning curve and effective tools, although he is not as overpowered as he was in SSB4 due to his nerfs toning down the incredible utility his moveset had at his disposal. Although Cloud is considered to be worse than his iteration in SSB4, he still continues to garner strong results in competitive play and is widely considered to be top tier.

Update history
Aside from a single nerf to Blade Beam in update 3.0.0, Cloud was buffed via game updates. While updates 2.0.0 and 3.1.0 provided only negligible improvements, update 7.0.0 buffed Cloud much more in comparison. Most notably, his inconsistent KO potential (one of his biggest weaknesses) was alleviated in a few ways: clean dash attack became a viable KOing option thanks to its higher knockback, up smash is faster overall and its sweetspot gained more knockback, and Limit Charge fills the Limit Gauge much faster.

In addition, Cloud received a few quality of life buffs: forward smash's hits connect more reliably, Climhazzard snaps to an edge earlier, and his shield was enlarged as part of a near-universal buff. Lastly, update 13.0.1 decreased Finishing Touch's overall lag to the point that it is not only safer to use, but also much easier to perform from setups at certain percentages.

Overall, Cloud fares better than he did at the launch of Ultimate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Cloud's hitboxes, see here.
 * Cloud has a unique fighter ability called the Limit Gauge. Over the course of normal play, the Limit Gauge will be filled automatically by inflicting or receiving damage. Alternatively, it can be filled manually by using his down special move, Limit Charge. The Limit Gauge is always present above his damage meter and will display its current state of charge. When it is filled up, Cloud's body will emit a blue, fiery aura, and he will gain upgraded, single use versions of his special moves alongside enhanced mobility for the duration of the charge.
 * Cloud can wall jump.

On-screen appearance

 * Descends from the sky and catches the Buster Sword with a flourish. Based on his landing animation from after Omnislash Ver. 5 in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Twirls the Buster Sword and places it behind his back. It is almost identical to his victory animation and the official artwork from , while saying ("I'm not interested."), his catchphrase from Final Fantasy VII.
 * Side taunt: Performs his magic casting animation from Final Fantasy VII, complete with the sound effect and aura from that game.
 * Down taunt: Leans on the Buster Sword while scoffing. It resembles the cocky pose he assumes in many cutscenes throughout Final Fantasy VII.

Idle poses

 * Pulls the Buster Sword back and rubs the edge of its blade.
 * Holds the Buster Sword upward in front of himself with both hands.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Twirls the Buster Sword with one hand and places it on his back with his eyes closed and says "", which translates to "No hard feelings." Based on his victory animation in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Up: While turning away from the camera, he twirls the Buster Sword, places it on his back and then looks to the left while hiding his face, saying "", which translates to "Better luck next time." Based on his appearance in the North American box art of Final Fantasy VII and his pose when he first enters Shinra Headquarters.
 * Right: Dashes into the screen, slashes the Buster Sword twice and gets in his battle stance while saying "", which translates to "You cannot defeat me." The slashes resemble Cloud’s animation when using the 2x-Cut command in Final Fantasy VII.

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


 * - The best Cloud player in Europe. He has consistently placed top 16 at tournaments in Europe, including placing 7th at the superregional . He has also seen success at majors, placing 25th at and 33rd at.
 * - First came to prominence in the online metagame but has since established himself as one of the best Cloud players in the United States. He has placed in the top 64 at several majors, including placing 17th at both and, and is ranked 100th on the UltRank 2022.
 * - Although known more for his, Kola has also used Cloud up until mid-2022. He notably won the superregional with mostly Cloud and the major  using Cloud to defeat.
 * - The best Cloud player in Japan in the early metagame, notably placing well at the largest events of the year -- 25th at and 33rd at  -- despite an overall mixed track record. However, his results have since been on the decline.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in the United States. He has consistently placed top 8 in his region, including placing 7th at the superregional . In addition, he has seen consistent top 64 placement at majors, including 17th at and 33rd at . He was ranked 56th on the UltRank 2022.
 * - One of the first Cloud players to make a notable impact on the Ultimate metagame and has since become one of the best players in the world in the post-online metagame. He currently has the third-most Ultimate major wins, behind and.
 * - The best Cloud player in Japan in the post-online metagame, although similar to Masashi his track record has also been mixed. He is the only other Cloud player aside from Sparg0 who has placed top 8 at a major with solo-Cloud, placing 7th at . He has also placed top 64 at several majors, including placing 13th at and 17th at.

Tier placement and history
While Cloud was initially considered to be an extremely potent character, his results initially saw a significant drop from his Smash 4 days as most of his best players either moved on from competitive Smash or dropped the character. This is due to Cloud's noticeably worse toolkit and flaws, such as inconsistencies with KOing, the shortened Limit Gauge time, his linear recovery, and his poor grab game, becoming more apparent in the new metagame. As such, top players such as, , and initially considered him to be amongst the lower half of mid tier, with many of Cloud's top players even agreeing that he belongs there.

Perception on Cloud, however, started to improve around the summer of 2019 thanks to the efforts of players such as and, both of whom managed to see consistent national-level success and wins, as well as Cloud's noteworthy buffs in update 7.0.0 that improved his KO power. This perception continued to improve during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the efforts of Sparg0, who used both Cloud and the then-newly released and  to eventually claim the top spot on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.

Since the return of offline competitive play, opinions on Cloud have only improved, due to Sparg0's strong performances with the character that established him as one of the game's best players. Although most players still consider the character to be overall worse than in Smash 4, the character is considered by most players to be high tier at worst, and this opinion is reflected in his current tier placement, where he ranks 10th as a top-tier character.

: A Ride? Not Interested.
All of Cloud's battles occur on vehicular stages and his opponents are characters associated with them. This is a reference to the fact that he suffers from motion sickness, while his Classic Mode route's title is a direct reference to his catchphrase, "Not interested."

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

Role in World of Light
Although Cloud does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (with the exception of ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Cloud was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is unlocked in the Sacred Land sub-area in The Dark Realm, guarding the Master Sword required to dispel the darkness clouding the top part of the land which makes up the Triforce of Power after has been awakened, making his unlocking mandatory.

In Sephiroth's reveal trailer, Cloud is seen in his Advent Children design (specifically the P6 variant as indicated by the ribbon on his left arm) with the other fighters trying to fend off Galeem. When Sephiroth arrives and disposes of Galeem, Cloud recognizes him, and later fights him one-on-one in a manner similar to their final battle in Advent Children. After hitting Sephiroth with Omnislash Ver. 5, he and Sephiroth have an exchange —word-for-word from Advent Children— before Sephiroth transforms into Safer∙Sephiroth as a prelude to his own Final Smash.

Spirits
Cloud's default fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Cloud has been unlocked. Unlocking Cloud 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. This fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate. Originally, only Ultimate's render of Cloud's default appearance was available for his default fighter spirit. However, update 10.1.0 added artwork of him from Final Fantasy VII for his default fighter spirit.

Cloud's Advent Children outfit also has a fighter spirit of its own, available through the shop, or by completing a challenge (Smash: As Cloud, hit an opponent with his side special, Cross Slash, while the Limit Gauge is charged). Unlike his default fighter spirit, his Advent Children fighter spirit only uses his Ultimate P2 render instead of also featuring alternative artwork from a previous appearance.

Alternate costumes
Cloud's default costume is based on his appearance in Final Fantasy VII while accommodating some changes to his design originating from Dissidia Final Fantasy, namely the redesigned SOLDIER logo on his belt and a redesigned pauldron. He has an alternate costume based on his appearance in , known as "Cloudy Wolf" in Dissidia Final Fantasy, which replaces the Buster Sword with the Fusion Sword. It has two minor variants: one with a long sleeve covering Cloud's left arm to hide the visible signs of his Geostigma, and the other revealing Cloud's left arm after he has been cured of Geostigma, as well as a pink ribbon wrapped around it, which he and his party wear in memory of Aerith Gainsborough.

Trivia

 * A section of Cloud's trailer pictures him using his side taunt with in the distance, who is promptly struck by . This is a direct reference to spellcasting and its general animations in the Final Fantasy series, with Thunder being a basic Black Magic spell throughout the series. Thunder, localized as "Bolt" in Final Fantasy VII, is one of Cloud's starting spells in that game, and is often effective against mechanical enemies.
 * Cloud's official artwork resembles his idle animation from Final Fantasy VII and Super Smash Bros., as well as 's official render for Brawl.
 * With and  now dubbed in English for international releases of Ultimate, Cloud is the one of the four playable characters along with,  and  with an established English voice actor (in Cloud's case,  at the time of the game's launch) to only be voiced by his Japanese voice actor in all versions of Ultimate.
 * Additionally, he, Sephiroth, and are the only ones who speak in Japanese in all versions of the game, while they and  are the only characters to not speak English in all versions of the game.
 * Within the 1,297 spirits included at launch in the game, Cloud has the fewest Spirit battles out of the entire non-DLC roster, being only part of the Zeke and Master Edges spirits. If post-launch spirits are counted, however, takes this distinction instead.
 * Since both spirit battles do not take place during World of Light's events, Cloud is one of two characters whose only appearance is as their original fighter in World of Light (the other being the ).
 * Technically, and  themselves also hold this distinction, even though their alternate costumes (the Koopalings and Alph) do appear in Spirit Battles in said mode.
 * As of update 10.1.0, Cloud is the first fighter to change their spirit artwork.
 * Cloud's Advent Children fighter spirit is one of only 11 fighter spirits in the game to use their in-game render for their spirit artwork instead of original artwork from their game.
 * The other characters are both male and female Pokémon Trainer, both male and female Robin, both male and female Wii Fit Trainer, all three Mii Fighters, and the default version of Kazuya.
 * This distinction also applied to Cloud's regular fighter spirit until update 10.1.0.
 * Prior to update 10.1.0, Cloud could not receive a series bonus from a spirit, as Final Fantasy did not have any spirits apart from Cloud's fighter spirits. After this update, that distinction is now only held by the and
 * As of the version 10.1.0, Cloud, along with, the , , , , are the only non-DLC characters who do not appear in more than one spirit battles from their home series. doesn't appear in any Mario spirit battles at all. This is not counting , who appears only in the Mockiwi spirit battle as himself, but is fought in other spirit battles as Alph.
 * While the s technically represent the universe, they appear in most of the Mii-related spirit battles.
 * According to Masahiro Sakurai from a Famitsu column, as of January 2019, Cloud was the most used fighter online.
 * When using one of Cloud's Advent Children costumes, part of his left shoulder will be cut out on his damage meter.
 * Oddly though, the shoulder was not cut in the E3 demo of the game.
 * When fighting off the fifty puppet fighter army as Master Hand in World of Light, Cloud is one of the eight fighters fought there, being affiliated with Dharkon.
 * Oddly, striking opponents with the sweetspot of Cloud's up smash does not trigger controller rumble. This is especially strange considering the sourspot causes the controller to vibrate much more intensely than one would expect from a weak hit.
 * Cloud's CGI model in both 's and 's trailers is, notably, based on his Advent Children design with the sleeve off rather than his default costume, making him the only character who appears in CGI with an alternate costume, but not the default costume.
 * Cloud is the first character in the Super Smash Bros. series to have a move differ between his alternate costumes, as in version 10.1.0, Omnislash Ver. 5 was added as a replacement Final Smash when wearing his Advent Children costumes. However, the change is mostly aesthetic.
 * Since this alternate version of the attack was added via update 10.1.0, this also makes Cloud the first character in the series to be granted a new move, as well as new voice clips (other than Kirby), via an update.
 * Cloud is the only third-party veteran to gain new voice clips (albeit after an update and only for Omnislash Ver. 5). Sonic (barring Japanese), Ryu, and Bayonetta use their voice clips from SSB4, Snake and Sonic (in Japanese) use their voice clips from Brawl, while Mega Man and Pac-Man remain mute.
 * Cloud is one of two characters whose Final Smash background color changes depending on the alternate costume used. The background will be dark blue when using Omnislash (which is used by his Final Fantasy VII costumes) and gray when using Omnislash Ver. 5 (which is used by his Advent Children costumes). The other character with this distinction is.
 * In the World of Light, Cloud is the only fighter to have no affiliations with Galeem whatsoever as his only encounter as himself is associated with Dharkon.