Ike (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Ike has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''SSB4'' to ''Ultimate'', having been buffed overall, though not enough to improve his tier standing.

Ike benefits from some of the universal gameplay changes. The changes to [[air dodge]] mechanics significantly benefit Ike's [[edgeguarding]] and juggling game. His mobility has been improved to help with the new faster pace of ''Ultimate'', sharing the universal buffs of a 3-frame [[jumpsquat]]. His aerials also have significantly reduced landing lag, making them much more reliable for landing and comboing. When it comes to direct changes to his aerial game, Ike's [[neutral aerial]] has faster startup, lower landing lag and a more reliable disjoint, making it an even better approach option and combo starter, to the point it now has semi-reliable KO confirms on his [[back aerial|back]] and [[up aerial]]s. Ike has also received a new up aerial with greatly increased horizontal and vertical range, improving his powerful juggling capabilities.

Thanks to his faster jumpsquat, Ike is able to combo with his [[down tilt]] and [[down throw]] at low percentages more reliably; the former also has less knockback, giving Ike KO setups at high percentages against some characters. [[Eruption]] can now generate a maximum of three flame pillars if fully charged, improving its already powerful ledge-trapping potential. Finally, the already high power on a few of his moves has been further increased, such as [[neutral attack]], [[forward tilt]], [[forward smash|forward]] and [[down smash]], and the landing hit of [[Aether]]; most notably, neutral attack has had its lost KO power from ''Brawl'' completely restored.

However, Ike's nerfs were also noticeable. His [[dash]]ing speed was almost unchanged, making him much less mobile relative to the cast despite his improved air speed and streamlined jumpsquat. His [[forward aerial]], a staple of his [[neutral game]] in ''Brawl'' and ''SSB4'', had its hitboxes repositioned to create a small blind spot, no longer [[autocancel]]s in a short hop, and has significantly decreased knockback, removing a lot of its previously great KO potential. Combined with his much slower grounded mobility relative to the cast, Ike's approach is much more limited. Aether is also a much more polarized recovery option, as his sword now moves along the stage's perimeters instead of passing through the stage. While several of his attacks now have increased power, it has been reduced on some of his other moves, most notably with [[up tilt]]. His grabs' range was also nerfed, making them much less reliable for punishing.

A few of the engine's changes also hinder Ike. The universal increase to grabs' ending lag further hinders Ike's own grabs due to their shorter range. The changes to [[rage]] prove detrimental to Ike, since he can't take as much advantage of it at higher percentages due to his high weight. Lastly, the size reduction of most stage's ledges, combined with Aether's highr vulnerability and [[Quick Draw]] receiving no changes to its recovery potential, mean Ike's recovery is much more exploitable, increasing his vulnerability to edge-guarding just as much as the changes benefit his own.

Overall, Ike's changes and improvements have given him new ways to gain the advantage and also grant him a deadlier [[punish]] game, with less overall difficulty in KOing due to his enhanced overall moveset and combo ability. However, because his mobility remains slow (especially when compared to most other characters), he has a slightly harder time at keeping up with the rest of the cast. His worsened grabs also force him more to use his range to punish opponents. Ike has received various changes in game updates that have also toned down his most oppressive moves (most notably his neutral aerial's combo ability at high percentages) in exchange for increased power, though none of these changes have noticeably improved his viability. This is coupled with various returning veterans receiving buffs both on release and through game updates, as well as various metagame shifts and the introduction of DLC characters, some of which Ike struggles against. As a result, Ike's initial perception at the game's release has dwindled, and while it's generally agreed that he is more potent than he was in ''SSB4'', Ike has not significantly improved from the previous game, instead performing slightly worse relative to the rest of the cast.