Bayonetta (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Bayonetta is currently ranked 26th out of 82 characters on the current tier list, placing her in A- tier. This is a big drop from her placement in ''Smash 4'' where she was considered to be the best character in the game. Bayonetta's main strength is her unique, powerful combo game. Her special attacks, [[Witch Twist]] and [[After Burner Kick]], allow her to reliably combo and inflict heavy damage on opponents, sometimes dragging them into the top or side blast zones and leading to an early KO. Bayonetta can also rack up damage rather quickly, as all of her tilt attacks confirm into multiple follow-ups at early percentages. Furthermore, Bayonetta possesses a plethora of defensive options, the most effective being [[Witch Time]] and [[Bat Within]]. A successful activation of Witch Time at low percents can open an opportunity for a combo, while an activation at high percents can often confirm into a KO. Bat Within, a frame 1 airdodge, allows her to move away into the direction that her player chooses, allowing her to escape semi-true combos, juggles, and even kill confirms, while in turn allowing her to reverse disadvantage and punish her opponent. Finally, Bayonetta has an oppressive offstage game thanks to her flexible aerial game, while her special attacks give her a long, flexible, and mostly safe recovery.

However, Bayonetta has several weaknesses that hold her back, the most notable being her raw kill power. She tends to have a harder time KOing at higher percents, as her best KO options, particularly sweetspot back-air, jab, and her smash attacks, are difficult to land or combo into at these percents. This is compounded by her light weight and tall frame, which means players could KO her first if she is unable to take their stock. In addition, Bayonetta's frame data is below-average, with almost all of her attacks coming out on frame 9 or later, and most of them also have high ending lag or are unsafe on shield. As such, her ground game is rather poor, which in turn affects her combo game, as she often relies on [[Heel Slide]], up tilt, or down tilt in order to start combos. Finally, her combos have their own drawback: not only are they susceptible to [[SDI]], but the more special moves she uses during an aerial combo, the more landing lag she receives, up to 50 frames, making them punishable if whiffed.  

Overall, Bayonetta is a combo-oriented character that can rack up damage early and KO at early percents, however she tends to struggle at higher percents due to her poor approach and limited KO options outside of her combos. Early results from Bayonetta were lackluster, leading to a negative initial reception, however buffs from patches helped improve her results in the post-online metagame, and she has since garnered a large playerbase and a plethora of strong results from players such as {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}}, {{Sm|Lima}}, and {{Sm|TamaPDaifuku}}.