Corrin (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Corrin is ranked 27th out of 82 on the current [[tier list]], placing him in the A- tier. This is a slight drop from his 13th out of 54 placement in ''SSB4''. Corrin's main strength is his massive range, courtesy of the disjointed hitboxes of the Yato Blade. Aside from Corrin's high damage output and fast frame data on most of his attacks, he is also gifted with an amazing neutral, advantage state, and the best combo game of any swordfighter aside from [[Mythra (SSBU)|Mythra]]. Up tilt and down tilt confirm into true combos at low percents, while the latter confirms into KOs at much higher percents, with aerial follow-ups such as up air and back air. His range also provides with an efficient juggling game. Corrin also possesses amazing neutral game options, with [[Dragon Fang Shot]] being a useful tool as to force approaches, while [[Dragon Lunge]] gives Corrin a highly effective burst option to serve as a KO, neutral, and approach tool. Dragon Lunge also contains a primal initial attack in the form of pin. The pin is very useful for edgeguards, as the sweetspot hitbox is guaranteed to get under the stage and KO opponents. Furthermore, pin will cling to an edge, aiding Corrin's recovery, and it can also be used for KO confirms from combos at the ledge. Corrin also has a strong counterattack in the form of [[Counter Surge]] able to KO opponents at lower percents if activated with a strong enough attack. Moreover, he also boasts wide, safe, and lethal smash attacks, the strongest being forward smash in particular. Used for reads at the ledge, the sourspot inflicts high damage with decent knockback, while the sweetspot hitbox has the potential to KO at earlier percents. In most situations, Corrin's forward smash attack landing on shield is a guaranteed hit, as it continuously damages an opponent's shield until it [[Shield stab|stabs]] through and hits them. His aerials, special attacks, smash attacks and range give him overall amazing frame trapping, combo, and juggling potential, as well as a formidable advantage state. Finally, Corrin's recovery is considerably good for his character archetype, as [[Dragon Ascent]], not only providing as an out of shield option in neutral, but also providing flexible distance offstage, and back air being useful as a tool to boost his recovery.  

However, Corrin also has some notable weaknesses, most of which revolve around his poor mobility and disadvantage state. Corrin's poor ground speed causes him to struggle in approaching or catching up to faster characters and zoners. Corrin's kit forces players to be somewhat aggressive, as he is burdened with a lack of effective defensive options. Therefore, it can give him higher risk and difficulty winning neutral than other characters. He has a rather poor [[out of shield]] game and moves that aren't fast enough to help him escape from difficult situations, such as juggles, edgeguards, and ledgetraps. Corrin's frame data and combo game, while amazing, are only satisfactory, as his fast combos and juggles are easy to dodge and sometimes susceptible to DI, giving him unusual difficulty in combo game execution than other swordfighters. In addition, Corrin's special attacks are afflicted by poor frame data, with Dragon Fang Shot, Dragon Ascent, and Dragon Lunge having a lot of ending lag. Furthermore, Corrin needs to exercise caution utilizing forward smash at the ledge, as it is escapable with near-perfect [[SDI]], and he can get punished if an opponent has a good aerial attack to counter with. Finally, Corrin is susceptible to gimps and edgeguards, as the distance that Dragon Ascent provides is linear. While it is fast and has a wide hitbox, it is capable of being 2-frame punished and countered easily with strong enough offstage attacks.

Overall, Corrin is a unique swordfighter that excels to a formidable degree in combo game, KO potential, range and spacing, but his lack of defensive options and slow mobility can hold him back. However, his vast strengths mostly overshadow his weaknesses, as Corrin has all the tools that when mastered, can help him overcome his weaknesses and become a threat to any opponent. Corrin saw rather poor representation in the early metagame, with players calling out the excessive nerfs that he received in the transition to ''Ultimate'' as a result of his dominance in ''Smash 4''. However, significant buffs from game updates made his representation greatly improve, especially following the online metagame, and he has seen strong major and supermajor results from players such as {{Sm|Neo|p=Japan}} and {{Sm|SHADIC}}.

Corrin's grounded moveset has good utility; the rapid jab can act as a good damage-racking option while the gentleman jab has its use as a later kill option, killing middleweights at at around 150% at the edge of [[Final Destination]], and forward tilt is a useful spacing tool and kill option that kills middleweights at around 130% on Final Destination. In addition, up tilt and down tilt both serve as combo starters, with down tilt being able to lead into up tilt at mid percents and both tilts being able to combo into aerials such as neutral, forward, and up aerial. Dash attack, while only having slightly combo potential and no kill potential, has some notable use for catching landings due to its decent amount of active frames. His smash attacks also have good utility; up smash, while having a weaker grounded hitbox, possesses a strong sweet-spot on the tip that makes it a kill option against opponents in the air, as an uncharged sweet-spot hit can kill as early as 90% against middleweights, and down smash, while being the least useful for killing, at least covers Corrin on both sides. However, his strongest smash attack by far is forward smash; not only can it be angled, but it also boasts incredible range and can kill middleweights as early as 80% near the edges of Final Destination if the tip of the move connects, making it a deadly spacing tool that rewards precision. After the 8.0.0 update, the tipper hitbox is generally safe on shield, making it a decently safe kill option if used well. In addition, the move also has a close hitbox when the move is being charged, which can have its applications in shield pressure and can score some surprise kills. Finally, his grab game, while being among the least useful aspects of his moveset, still has a degree of utility, as up throw can kill middleweights at 160% and above, earlier with rage. His other throws are surprisingly useful in giving him positional advantage.

Overall, Corrin is a character who can stand his ground up close and rack up damage efficiently with his spacing tools and his combo and advantage potential, but Corrin's below average speed holds him back from becoming a top tier threat. Corrin's tall frame and moderate gravity make him susceptible to aerial combos and juggling, similar to other fighters from ''Fire Emblem'', although his down aerial can prevent some juggles. Although his flaws are somewhat polarizing due to his slightly exploitable recovery and poor disadvantage, players feel that those flaws can be made up for with his stable combo game and kill confirms as well as his greater raw kill power and range.  

Previously considered to be a high tier character in ''Smash 4'' (13th out of 55 characters), Corrin has been drastically nerfed during the initial release of ''Ultimate'', although game updates would provide many noteworthy buffs for him. Corrin received a mix of buffs and nerfs during the transition from ''Smash 4'' to ''Ultimate'', but was noticeably nerfed overall.

Corrin has received quite a few noteworthy buffs. [[Dragon Lunge]] can now be canceled manually by tapping down, granting him an extra option that improves the move's mix-up potential, and jumping has significantly less endlag, making it much safer. [[Forward smash]] benefits from the ability to hold [[smash attack]]s longer, allowing the looping charge hits to last longer and further build damage or lead into [[shield break]]s, and it inflicts much more shield stun, making it safer on shield. Some of the universal changes, such as the increased mobility, faster [[jumpsquat]]s, the ability to run cancel into any grounded move, and the reduced [[landing lag]], improve Corrin's [[approach]] and combo utility. The changes to [[paralysis]] effects allow [[Dragon Fang Shot]] to stun opponents longer at high percents, as well as deal knockback to already paralyzed opponents (rather than only damaging them). This allows Corrin to keep his combos into Dragon Fang Shot's bite at KO thresholds. Finally, [[Dragon Ascent]] travels more vertical distance, significantly improving Corrin's recovery (though his momentum is now halted at the end of the move).

However, Corrin's buffs are counterbalanced by an noticeable amount of nerfs, the largest ones being those to his special moveset. Dragon Lunge, previously the character's most versatile move, has lost a large part of its safety, as its kicking part now covers less distance and suffers much more ending lag. Its ability to cross up opponents is also worsened with the game's changes to [[jostling]]. Dragon Fang Shot has increased lag, and the projectile follows up into the move's bite much less consistently, mainly because of its insufficient stun time. The infamous [[Counter Surge]] has lost its strong late hit, deals substantially less knockback, and has much more ending lag upon a successful counterattack. Forward smash has a much shorter active duration and a weaker sweetspot, and [[down smash]]'s back hit is weaker. Corrin's double jump also covers less distance, worsening his combo game and recovery.

Corrin's drawbacks in his transition to ''Ultimate'', however, stem mainly from not only universal changes to the game's engine hindering him, but also his direct changes failing to account for him. The universal nerfs to grabs' frame data leave Corrin more open to punishment should he miss one. Finally, while Corrin somewhat benefits from the various improvements to mobility across the board, the changes to run canceling, shields, and landing lag now allow opponents to exploit Corrin's defenses with less issue. As a result, Corrin must approach more often, although he now has to rely more on his aerials since Dragon Lunge is less safe in the [[neutral game]].  

Overall, due to changes to his special moveset and the game's engine hurting him, Corrin was initially considered a significantly less viable character than in ''Smash 4'', although subsequent updates have mitigated the nerfs' impacts, leading him to fare substantially better than he did during initial release.  

*{{Sm|MkLeo|Mexico}} - Began using Corrin in his roster in early 2022 and was the best Corrin player in the world at the time, predominantly using the character in top 8 of {{Trn|Delfino Maza RETA 2022}}, becoming the first and only time Corrin saw significant usage to win a major. He has also used Corrin to win crucial sets in order to win {{Trn|Pound 2022}} and {{Trn|e-Caribana}}. He dropped Corrin following {{Trn|Double Down 2022}}, although he has occasionally pulled out the character to cover his other mains' bad matchups, such as defeating {{Sm|Sonix}} at {{Trn|Wavedash 2023}}.

*{{Sm|SHADIC|USA}} - One of the first Corrin players who began placing well consistently at majors and is one of the best Corrin players of all-time. He is the only solo-Corrin player to win a major, doing so at {{Trn|Cirque Du CFL 3}}.

Corrin was initially seen as a mid-tier character from the beginning of the metagame. While his nerfs were perceived as noticeable, players believed he could still have potential akin to ''Smash 4'' with moves such as back aerial and Dragon Lunge still being strong enough to mitigate their nerfs. However, it soon became apparent that their changes were insufficient to adhere to ''Ultimate''{{'}}s faster engine. Many top professionals considered Corrin a low-tier character, and all of Corrin's notable players from ''Smash 4'' dropped him. Despite occasional success from players such as {{Sm|Ke-ya}}, who has placed decently in Japan, and {{Sm|Cosmos}}, who notably reverse 3-0'd Dabuz at {{Trn|Glitch 8 - Missingno}}, Corrin had arguably the worst representation in the game, ranking last in representation at the end of 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AJs-mj5TTdkmkl7nhj4twJymVPTLTUdT0MBToL1cxDs/edit#gid=342014565|title=OrionRank 2019 character data}}</ref>

However, Corrin's reception would begin to turn around with the release of patch 8.0.0, where his KO power and Dragon Lunge were improved. Although the patch took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Corrin began seeing improving results from Cosmos, who mained Corrin throughout most of the online metagame. Following the return of offline competitive play, Corrin saw further success from old players such as {{Sm|Ly}} and {{Sm|SHADIC}} and gained new players such as {{Sm|MkLeo}}, who co-mained Corrin in the first half of 2022, and {{Sm|Neo|p=Japan}}, who established himself as one of the best Corrin players in the world by early-2023 despite having started seriously competing months prior. This led to a renaissance period for Corrin, who swiftly saw more and more representation as time went on, and the community reassessed the character to a mid-tier, with some going as far as to say Corrin could be ranked as a high-tier. This is reflected in Corrin's initial tier list placement, where he was ranked 42nd out of 82 as an upper-mid tier character. Even with that placement, some argued that Corrin should be ranked higher, especially following an explosion of Corrin results in mid-2023 thanks to Neo, Ly, and SHADIC; this was later the case in the second tier list done by the community, with him rising up to 27th out of 82.