Cloud (SSB4)


 * Cloud Storms Into Battle!

Cloud (, Cloud) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was officially announced during the November 12th, 2015 Nintendo Direct, and released as the fifth downloadable character on December 15th, 2015. He is one of six third-party characters in the game, alongside Capcom's and, Sega's  and , and Bandai Namco's.

In all regions, Cloud is voiced by, his official Japanese voice actor from  onward. This is likely because his original English voice actor, (who voiced Cloud in English from Kingdom Hearts to ) is a union-based voice actor.

Cloud is ranked 2nd/3rd out of 54 on the tier list, tying him with and placing him in the S tier. The Buster Sword grants him some of the greatest reach and longest disjointed hitboxes of any character; furthermore, he is highly mobile both in the air and on the ground, with a fast dash and high air speed. This, together with surprisingly fast frame data for a character of his range and power, grants Cloud potent zoning, spacing, and neutral games. The speed and utility of his aerial attacks make him dangerous in the air, and his attacks flow together well, letting him combo with ease. Cloud can also force approaches by using Limit Charge, while a full charge boosts his mobility even further and significantly strengthens his special moves.

Despite his strengths, Cloud has his fair share of flaws. Cloud's primary flaw is his poor recovery. Despite his aerial maneuverability and an effective wall jump, Climhazzard gains very little height and no horizontal distance; its inability to sweetspot edges for most of its duration also leaves him vulnerable to gimping. His KO ability is weaker if Limit Break is not fully charged, as many of his strongest attacks are risky to use due to their punishability if missed. Furthermore, his attacks require precise spacing to be safely and effectively landed, especially off-stage. Cloud also has difficulty approaching from the ground, due to his unsafe ground attacks, and Blade Beam, his only projectile, is slow and punishable when not under the effects of Limit; additionally, his grab is one of the shortest of the cast, and his throws generally have low damage output and very little combo potential. Finally, Cloud's height, average weight and falling speed make him very susceptible to combos.

Despite his flaws and risks, Cloud's innate strengths have allowed him to maintain excellent tournament results, with a large playerbase that either use him as a main or as a fallback pocket character.

Attributes
Cloud is a middleweight swordfighter with surprisingly quick mobility overall. He has average walking speed, the tenth fastest dashing speed, above-average air speed, average air acceleration, and a fast jumpsquat, granting him both quick ground and aerial mobility. He has above average falling speed and high gravity, however, preventing him from staying in the air for long despite his good aerial maneuverability. Under Limit Break status, his mobility is even better; his traction slightly improves, his walking speed becomes the eleventh fastest, his dashing speed the fifth fastest, his falling speed the fourth fastest, and his airspeed becomes the fastest in the game under normal circumstances (only being slower than the lightest possible, Wario-Man, and Giga Mac). His increased gravity and falling speed, however, make his jumps slightly lower and prevent him from auto-canceling some of his aerial attacks (notably back aerial and up aerial) as easily. As a result, his 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 the overall range throughout his moveset, courtesy of his Buster Sword: it grants Cloud's attacks the overall second longest disjointed range in the game, surpassed only by. Thanks to his range and speed, Cloud can space out the opponent quite easily, stuff out opposing approaches and adeptly punish most careless attacks. A prime example of this trait is Cloud's aerial attacks: his neutral aerial covers a very wide area, making it a go-to option for spacing or air-to-ground transition movement. It is also very fast on both ends, can autocancel from a short hop, and has a low launching angle, all of which make it a great edgeguarding tool despite its low knockback.

His up aerial has good damage output, decent knockback, high speed, a long duration, a very generous autocancel window, and an enormous overall hitbox, making it an all-purpose attack and discouraging most opponents from trying to attack Cloud from overhead. His down aerial is not only a very strong meteor smash when sweetspotted, but also possesses one of the most active late hitboxes in the game, 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, and the lowest landing lag among Cloud's aerials, and also autocancels from a short hop, allowing him to edgeguard and space effectively, though it can often miss low opponents. Forward aerial is very strong when hitting clean, and is also a meteor smash on aerial opponents when sweetspotted. Like down aerial, it autocancels from a full 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 aerial to use regardless.

His grounded moveset is not quite as overwhelming. His neutral attack is his fastest attack, and the third hit can force a tech-chase. His down tilt is a low-profile slide and can be a great tool to put the opponent at a disadvantage. His up tilt is a reliable combo starter until high percentages, chaining into itself at low percentages, and comboing into up smash or his neutral, back and up aerials. His up smash, in particular, covers a very large arc, has decent speed, and high knockback despite its surprisingly low damage, making it his best and least risky KOing option out of his standard moveset. His forward tilt has decent power and speed, but has little utility aside from as a quick punish, or being used as a KOing option at extreme percentages. His dash attack is a fast punishing tool from a distance and, due to its power, can put opponents in a bad position. It is easily punished when shielded or avoided, however. Cloud's forward smash is his most powerful non-Limit Break move, though to compensate it also takes the longest to start and is very punishable if it whiffs. His 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, the latter being a strong semi-spike.

Cloud's special moveset also offer 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 high endlag, which hampers its otherwise useful utility. It also stalls Cloud in the air, giving it additional, if situational, utility in guard breaking. Cross Slash is very similar to Dancing Blade and Double-Edge Dance, requiring 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 manifests itself in the form of a gauge, which becomes visible while charging it to show its progress, similarly to 's Power Meter. Cloud can charge Limit Break by dealing 250% damage, receiving 100% damage, or by instantly charging it with his down special, Limit Charge. Unlike most other chargeable special moves, it can be canceled with a simple special move button press, or even instantly canceled into an attack, the latter being a trait shared only with Gyro. After it is full, Cloud gets a boost in 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, with all of them dealing more damage and high knockback to the point of KOing 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 has 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 him completely in the air; and Climhazzard grants more vertical distance and much more horizontal momentum, as well as having the ability to edge sweetspot 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 severe flaws. The most prominent one is his poor recovery. Despite his aerial mobility and jump height is 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 terrible 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 some prior distance. Additionally, if for any reason Cloud gets hit at the apex of Climhazzard, he is not able to tech a single-hit move regardless of how far or near he is to a wall, although he can still tech if he gets hit by a command grab or a multiple hit move. These factors make Cloud's recovery somewhat comparable to that of Little Mac, and, in the sense that it is one of 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). Cloud can stall his descent with Blade Beam and Cross Slash, although they only do so after one use. Additionally, the former's slower start-up and ending lag can make its use problematic against opponents already close to the edge or in prime position to reflect it, while the latter slows down his air speed significantly. The last problem about his recovery is that if he gets grabbed near the edge without his double jump and gets air released, 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.

Another glaring flaw is his grab game. Cloud's grab range is abysmally short, having the third shortest overall in the game. His throws' damage outputs are only average at best, and barring down throw at low percents, they lack any sort of combo potential, making them comparable to 's throws in regard to inefficiency. His forward and back throws' decent speed are significantly offset by the problematic combination of their virtual lack of combo potential and low knockback scaling. Additionally, both fail to KO before 300%, unless the opponent is light and Cloud is at the edge upon performing them. His up and down throws both have misleading power, failing to KO until well beyond 200%. Up throw has too much ending lag for reliably comboing, while down throw doesn't have reliable combos at low percentages and loses all of its combo potential past low-mid percentages if the opponent DIs properly.

Despite his huge range, projectile and combo options granting him a strong neutral game, Cloud has a below average approach at best. His approach options are linear, with dash attack being easily punishable, neutral aerial having a hitbox that starts from behind, up aerial being very predictable and being surprisingly punishable on shield if not spaced well, and having other attacks that either lack the frame data or the utility to be used as reliable options for approaching such as his poor grab game. Cloud also has no reliable means of escaping pressure. His neutral attack and down tilt are his fastest ground options, while Climhazzard can work as an out of shield option. However, they are noticeably unsafe on shield, while none of his fast aerial attacks start from the 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. While Cloud also possesses an abundance of strong finishers, his KOing ability 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, his weaker moves such as his forward tilt and back aerial require good positioning to KO reliably, and he lacks reliable set-ups into his strongest or best finishers.

Aside from Limit Charge, his 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. Cross Slash is not always consistent with linking all five of its hits due to SDI or landing different parts of the hitboxes, along with being very prone to stale-move negation due to being a very reliable damage racking option. In addition to its aforementioned weaknesses in regard to recovery, Climhazzard is also very punishable if shielded and easily 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 are still blockable 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, Cloud lacks custom moves like his fellow DLC characters, and while this does not seem to be a problem considering his Limit Break-boosted specials, the lack of variety for the normal special moves does hinder his matchups against more optimized custom characters.

Overall, while Cloud has all the tools required to be successful, the player is forced to manage his resources to the best of their ability, and they must avoid being thrown off the stage at all times. His combo game and KOing ability, while unique and powerful, can sometimes be inconsistent. 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. His weaknesses, however, are still offset by his amazing strengths in his great range, quick frame data in proportion to his range, high damage output and power, and amazing mobility (especially under Limit Break status), with most smashers agreeing he has few losing matchups (the most prominent one being ). Much like, Cloud has a relatively low learning curve and skill floor that makes him an effective choice for beginners and inexperienced players, though due to the benefits that his most difficult techniques can offer when they are mastered, he continues to be one of the most viable characters in high-level play. His tournament representation and results are strong, with notable players like Javi,, , and  all having placed high in national tournaments, and he is considered to be an even better character for doubles play, as his Limit Break specials are more reliable and easier to land at the end of a team combo, he can provide stage control and wall out the opponents for a teammate, and his teammate can assist him in recovering easily onto the stage. Thus, Cloud's doubles representation is much stronger in comparison to his singles results, with smashers like and  using him to great success.

Update history
Cloud was slightly nerfed in update 1.1.5. His up aerial deals less damage without any changes to its knockback values, which hinders its KO potential in exchange for allowing it to combo for longer. His KO potential in general was also slightly toned down, as forward smash, down smash, Limit Break Cross Slash, and most notably aerial Finishing Touch received reductions to their knockback. These nerfs, however, have not significantly impacted Cloud's viability, compared to the more severe nerfs to fellow top tiers, and  in updates 1.1.5 and 1.1.6. As a result, while Cloud is slightly worse individually than he was at his release, he is considered to be overall better relative to the cast, and remains a viable character in the metagame.

 1.1.5

Moveset
For a gallery of Cloud's hitboxes, see here.
 * Cloud can wall jump.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Cloud players (SSB4)


 * - Used Cloud as a secondary alongside and . Placed 1st at both  and, 3rd at , 4th at , and 5th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Co-mained Cloud alongside and is considered the best Cloud player in Canada. Placed 7th at, 9th at , 13th at , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 10th on the Canada Smash Ranking.
 * - Co-mained Cloud with and is considered one of the best Cloud players in Mexico. Placed 4th at, 7th at , 9th at , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in the world. Placed 1st at both and, 2nd at , and 3rd at both  and.
 * - Placed 1st at, 9th at both and , 13th at , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 52nd on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - Placed 5th at, 9th at both and , 13th at , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 38th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in Japan. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , 5th at , 7th at , and 13th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 15th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - The best Cloud player in New England. Placed 7th at both and, 13th at , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 5th on the New England Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Cloud players during the first few years of the game's competitive lifespan. Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 5th at both and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Co-mained Cloud with and is considered the best Cloud player in the world, winning, , , , and.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in the United States. Placed 2nd at, 5th at , 13th at both and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Cloud player in Europe. Placed 5th at, , and , 7th at , and 9th at with wins over players such as  and . Ranked 7th on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in Japan. Placed 5th at both and, 9th at both  and , and 13th at.
 * - Placed 1st at, 9th at both and , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 7th on the New York City Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Cloud players in the world. Placed 1st at and, 3rd at both  and , and 4th at.

Tier placement, history and bans in double tournaments
Since his release, players saw Cloud as a high-tier character, thanks to his incredible combination of range, mobility, power, and Limit Break mechanic; the latter in particular was highly valued for its ability to not only grant his special moves KO potential disproportionate for and beyond his weight class, but also make them fast and safe, especially Cross Slash. This positive outlook on Cloud was even more apparent in doubles play, where he can greatly benefit from having a teammate to alleviate his weak recovery and helping to land his Limit Break specials as the finisher to team combos, while Cloud himself can provide stage control and wall out his opponents for his teammate. Following his release, he started seeing strong results thanks to professionals such as, and , which led him to be ranked 12th on the first 4BR tier list, placing him at the middle of the B tier, confirming his high-tier status.

With the release of and, the subsequent nerfs to them and other top-tier characters, and various advancements to his metagame, Cloud became a very popular character in tournaments. His own nerfs did not seriously hinder him, and he remained a fundamentally strong character choice for both newer and professional players, the latter of which saw formally picking him up. This was apparent with him appearing more frequently in the top placings of tournaments in comparison to some top-tier characters like and, and consistently winning almost every major doubles event at tournaments. As a result of this spike in popularity and success, Cloud was ranked 2nd on the second tier list, placing him in the S tier; his tier rise was tied with 's for the fifth highest between the first and second tier lists.

Despite his success, Cloud's placement initially received mixed thoughts from the community, as his rather exploitable weaknesses held him back from consistently achieving top 8 placings in singles for several national tournaments, such as (the highest ranking Cloud being komorikiri, who placed 17th) and  (the highest ranking solo Cloud being Tweek, who placed 13th). As his metagame progressed, however, Cloud's singles results became considerably more consistent, as players, especially MkLeo, Tweek, and komorikiri, started seeing more top 8 placements at national tournaments. Although Cloud would drop to 3rd place on the third tier list due to the rise of Bayonetta, his continued consistency would see him rise back to 2nd/3rd place on the fourth and final tier list, tying him with.

At the end of the game's main competitive lifespan, however, many players once again questioned Cloud's tier placement as his results as a solo main weren't as impressive compared to other characters such as Diddy Kong,, , , and. Furthermore, several top players pointed out that top players were getting better at exploiting the character's poor recovery. Finally, MkLeo and Tweek, two of the best Cloud players in the world, started to use Bayonetta more frequently, leading to a small decline in representation at top level play. Due to all of this, a few players such as and MkLeo claimed that Cloud is overrated and that he should be ranked slightly lower while other players claim that his polarizing strengths are too strong for him to be ranked any lower.

Banned in Doubles
In doubles, Cloud was considered by many players to be broken enough to ban, as he was banned at the above tournaments. Thanks to his many advantages, Cloud players consistently won Smash 4 doubles tournaments after his release. This was evident with Cloud being more dominant than Meta Knight in Brawl singles.
 * 🇨🇦 Canada (double Cloud only)
 * 🇺🇸 USA
 * 🇺🇸 USA
 * 🇺🇸 USA
 * 🇺🇸 USA

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 red ribbon wrapped around it, which he and his party wear in memory of.

Trivia

 * Cloud makes a few references to his home game, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and the Dissidia Final Fantasy games:
 * His pose in his official artwork matches his pose from his official artwork from Final Fantasy VII. Conversely, the pose for his Advent Children costume resembles his official artwork from Dissidia Final Fantasy.
 * Humorously, Cloud strikes a variation of the first pose when he is screen KO'd.
 * His attacks emit unique blunt sounds when they hit opponents, while his side taunt emits a unique sound when performed. These sound effects originate from Final Fantasy VII, similarly to how and  emit sound effects from their respective home series.
 * His idle stance is identical to his battle stance in later appearances such as the Dissidia Final Fantasy series, leading with his left leg instead of his right as he does in his original appearance in Final Fantasy VII.
 * The greenish coloration of the Buster Sword's trail is a reference to Mako, a liquid that is used as the primary energy source within Final Fantasy VII. It also possesses the ability to grant superhuman abilities to humans via genetic experimentation, especially when used in conjunction with Jenova cells, a process which granted Cloud his superhuman abilities.
 * Cloud's body emits blue Mako when his Limit Break is fully charged. This is a reference to his final battle against Sephiroth in Advent Children.
 * His on-screen appearance, which has him landing and then catching the Buster Sword, is a reference to the end of his battle against Sephiroth in Advent Children, where the separated blades of the Fusion Swords strike around him and he catches the "core" blade as it falls.
 * Cloud glides forwards when he dashes. This is a reference to the dashing mechanic in the Dissidia Final Fantasy games, where all characters dash in a manner akin to flying, which can also be performed in midair.
 * Cloud and are the only characters with alternate costumes that sport a change of weapon. In Cloud's case, his Advent Children costume sees him wield the Fusion Swords from that movie instead of the Buster Sword, though they cannot be separated into their individual components.
 * Cloud is the second DLC character from a newly added universe, succeeding Ryu and preceding Bayonetta.
 * He is also one of said characters to come from a newly integrated company, being Square Enix, followed by (Microsoft) and  (SNK) in Ultimate.
 * While comes from Atlus, as evidenced by their crediting in the copyright of Ultimate, it is a subsidiary of Sega. The same applies to, who was created by Mojang, which is also a subsidiary of Microsoft.
 * Cloud has an alternate blast KO line in which he mutters (, "Missed it"), making him one of the few characters who says anything during a KO, and the only character to have a Japanese KO line in non-Japanese versions of the game.
 * Cloud and are the only characters who have special moves that affect the in-game camera, with both KO Uppercut and all but one of Cloud's Limit Break moves zooming in and slowing down time upon hitting their targets. Notably, both characters' attacks involve dealing and receiving damage before they can be used. In Ultimate, this feature would be given to multiple other fighters in the Special Zoom.
 * Cloud, Roy, Ryu,, and Bayonetta are the only characters to use different sound clips when using battering items. Coincidentally, all of them are DLC.
 * These same character's voice clips are in much lower quality than the rest of the cast in.
 * Cloud is the only DLC character with an alternate outfit to not have a trophy with the pose made with the alternate artwork in both versions of SSB4, with it only appearing in the Wii U version.
 * He is also the only DLC character who is able to pseudo-crawl in SSB4.