Byleth (SSBU): Difference between revisions

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,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZLY-UGqA9k Byleth got BUFFED! - Patch 11.0 Byleth Analysis (Smash Ultimate)]</ref> 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.

While Byleth is widely agreed to have been initially underestimated, skeptical players have argued that Byleth's success was largely due to MkLeo's skill as a player, as no other Byleth player have been able to get close to his consistency: data collected by [[OrionRank]] curator {{Sm|Barnard's Loop}} also showed that MkLeo made up roughly 66% of all results obtained by Byleth up to November 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/LoopBarnard/status/1461497570925101058|title=Byleth data up to November 2021}}</ref> On the other hand, the only other Byleth player with consistently notable achievements globally was {{Sm|Rizeasu}}, a player who was also known for playing a variety of other characters outside of Byleth. As such, Byleth was ultimately ranked 32nd on the first tier list; despite ranking as a high tier, the placement was still rather low for a character that had been used to win majors.

Byleth's overreliance on MkLeo was further shown following the first tier list, as MkLeo began shifting away from Byleth to other characters. Although he still pulled out the character on occasion, it notably had less success compared to his other characters. Outside of MkLeo, Rizeasu continued to use Byleth in his roster while {{Sm|Reno|p=Japan}} also became a prominent player in the Japanese scene, however none of them were able to fill the gap left by MkLeo. With dwindling representation at a national level and MkLeo himself admitting that Byleth no longer fit well with the current metagame, Byleth fell to 42nd on the second tier list ranking near the top of B- tier.