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List of SSB4 tier lists

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Revision as of 18:25, December 1, 2018 by Meester Tweester (talk | contribs) (→‎Fourth tier list (December 11, 2017): Although not confirmed it's safe to assume development has shifted from Smash 4 to Ultimate.)
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The Smash Back Room Super Smash Bros. 4 tier list was published just at the end of patch 1.1.3. All versions of the list are as follows. Characters with the same numerical value are listed alphabetically.

First tier list (February 1, 2016)

Super Smash Bros. 4 Tier List #1 [1.1.3]
S A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
SheikIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeroSuitSamusIcon(SSB4-U).png RosalinaIcon(SSB4-U).png RyuIcon(SSB4-U).png PikachuIcon(SSB4-U).png SonicIcon(SSB4-U).png FoxIcon(SSB4-U).png MarioIcon(SSB4-U).png DiddyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png MetaKnightIcon(SSB4-U).png VillagerIcon(SSB4-U).png CloudIcon(SSB4-U).png NessIcon(SSB4-U).png CaptainFalconIcon(SSB4-U).png YoshiIcon(SSB4-U).png
20.00 19.46 18.77 17.95 17.86 17.83 17.52 17.51 17.43 17.12 16.52 16.50 16.39 15.16 15.15
D E
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
LuigiIcon(SSB4-U).png DarkPitIcon(SSB4-U).png PitIcon(SSB4-U).png PeachIcon(SSB4-U).png ROBIcon(SSB4-U).png WarioIcon(SSB4-U).png ToonLinkIcon(SSB4-U).png LucarioIcon(SSB4-U).png OlimarIcon(SSB4-U).png GreninjaIcon(SSB4-U).png IkeIcon(SSB4-U).png DonkeyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png MegaManIcon(SSB4-U).png Pac-ManIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserIcon(SSB4-U).png RobinIcon(SSB4-U).png
14.27 13.89 13.88 13.75 13.63 13.56 13.20 12.92 12.47 12.25 12.12 11.80 11.41 11.29 10.81 10.17
F G
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43-44 45
RoyIcon(SSB4-U).png KirbyIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserJrIcon(SSB4-U).png MrGame&WatchIcon(SSB4-U).png LucasIcon(SSB4-U).png MewtwoIcon(SSB4-U).png FalcoIcon(SSB4-U).png WiiFitTrainerIcon(SSB4-U).png ShulkIcon(SSB4-U).png MarthIcon(SSB4-U).png LinkIcon(SSB4-U).png DuckHuntIcon(SSB4-U).png LittleMacIcon(SSB4-U).png DrMarioIcon(SSB4-U).png
9.29 9.10 8.93 8.72 8.65 8.35 8.12 8.08 7.75 7.72 7.47 7.18 7.14
H I J Unreleased
46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
KingDededeIcon(SSB4-U).png LucinaIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiBrawlerIcon(SSB4-U).png CharizardIcon(SSB4-U).png PalutenaIcon(SSB4-U).png SamusIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiGunnerIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiSwordfighterIcon(SSB4-U).png GanondorfIcon(SSB4-U).png JigglypuffIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeldaIcon(SSB4-U).png BayonettaIcon(SSB4-U).png CorrinIcon(SSB4-U).png
6.04 5.59 5.01 4.79 4.78 4.12 3.60 3.32 3.23 2.79 1.96

This is the first tier list released by the Smash 4 Back Room.[1] It was based on votes from 53 high-level players, most of them Back Room members. In accordance with the most common tournament rulesets, custom special moves were not taken into account, with the Mii Fighters and Palutena assumed to be restricted to their default movesets. A follow-up article was released on February 16, 2016, offering further explanation on the voting process, as well as insight from the Back Room about specific characters.

The tiers in this list were split into groups: Top (S); High (A, B); Middle (C, D, E); Low (F, G), and Bottom (H, I, J).

Many members of the Smash 4 community thought that this tier list was created too early, as version 1.1.4 was only two days from release, which would add Bayonetta and Corrin as playable characters, as well as likely contain a variety of balance changes; ZeRo, considered the world's best Smash 4 player at the time, notably abstained from voting due to this. After the release of 1.1.4, two further balance patches were also released, leading to further dispute over the legitimacy of the tier list.

Second tier list (August 21, 2016)

Super Smash Bros. 4 Tier List #2 [1.1.6]
S A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
DiddyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png CloudIcon(SSB4-U).png SheikIcon(SSB4-U).png RosalinaIcon(SSB4-U).png MarioIcon(SSB4-U).png SonicIcon(SSB4-U).png FoxIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeroSuitSamusIcon(SSB4-U).png RyuIcon(SSB4-U).png MewtwoIcon(SSB4-U).png BayonettaIcon(SSB4-U).png
1.32 2.18 2.66 3.39 4.88 5.39 5.88 7.09 8.41 8.46 8.93
B C
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
PikachuIcon(SSB4-U).png MetaKnightIcon(SSB4-U).png VillagerIcon(SSB4-U).png MegaManIcon(SSB4-U).png NessIcon(SSB4-U).png ToonLinkIcon(SSB4-U).png CorrinIcon(SSB4-U).png MarthIcon(SSB4-U).png CaptainFalconIcon(SSB4-U).png GreninjaIcon(SSB4-U).png LucarioIcon(SSB4-U).png
13.88 14.54 15.07 15.93 16.39 16.64 17.85 19.36 20.95 21.11 21.52
D E
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
YoshiIcon(SSB4-U).png PitIcon(SSB4-U).png DonkeyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png PeachIcon(SSB4-U).png DarkPitIcon(SSB4-U).png ROBIcon(SSB4-U).png LuigiIcon(SSB4-U).png OlimarIcon(SSB4-U).png RobinIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserIcon(SSB4-U).png LucasIcon(SSB4-U).png WarioIcon(SSB4-U).png IkeIcon(SSB4-U).png LucinaIcon(SSB4-U).png
23.64 23.73 24.41 24.52 24.89 25.64 27.34 30.93 30.98 31.55 32.18 32.61 32.68 34.52
F G
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46-47 48 49 50
MrGame&WatchIcon(SSB4-U).png Pac-ManIcon(SSB4-U).png LittleMacIcon(SSB4-U).png PalutenaIcon(SSB4-U).png KirbyIcon(SSB4-U).png DuckHuntIcon(SSB4-U).png LinkIcon(SSB4-U).png ShulkIcon(SSB4-U).png SamusIcon(SSB4-U).png WiiFitTrainerIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserJrIcon(SSB4-U).png DrMarioIcon(SSB4-U).png FalcoIcon(SSB4-U).png RoyIcon(SSB4-U).png
37.80 38.73 38.80 38.91 39.27 40.00 40.64 41.77 42.66 43.18 45.16 45.75 46.02
H
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58
CharizardIcon(SSB4-U).png KingDededeIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiGunnerIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiBrawlerIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeldaIcon(SSB4-U).png GanondorfIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiSwordfighterIcon(SSB4-U).png JigglypuffIcon(SSB4-U).png
48.27 49.02 51.26 51.89 52.07 52.66 53.85 53.98

This is the second tier list released by the Smash 4 Back Room.[2] This list sees drastic shifts as a result of the three balance patches and two new characters that released between the first list and this one. Diddy Kong's consistently high placings and popularity around the world have led to him securing the top spot--this is the fastest in Smash history that a top character, in this case Sheik, has been replaced. Thanks to his outstanding results, Mario rose three places, putting him at the top five of the list. The most outstanding improvement is Mewtwo's unprecedented 27-spot rise thanks to its buffed speed, strength, and hitboxes, leading to high tournament placings thanks to players such as Abadango. Marth also saw a great jump, courtesy of buffs to his speed and hitboxes as well as the work of mains such as Leo, Mr.E, and Pugwest. The character with the biggest drop is Roy, who, despite being technically buffed from Melee and receiving some slight lag reductions in 1.1.4, has had very limited tournament representation due to his glaring flaws: limited approach options, laggy attacks, high vulnerability to combos, and poor recovery. Bowser Jr. also saw a noticeable drop due to Tweek switching to Cloud and therefore having almost no high-level tournament representation. Jigglypuff is now dead last due to its almost nonexistent representation, attributed to its abysmal survivability, range, and combo ability.

As with the first tier list, a follow-up article was released.

As before, the tiers are split into groups: Top (S & A), High (B & C), Mid (D & E), Low (F & G), and Bottom (H).

Third tier list (March 1, 2017)

Super Smash Bros. 4 Tier List #3 [1.1.6]
S A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
BayonettaIcon(SSB4-U).png DiddyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png CloudIcon(SSB4-U).png SheikIcon(SSB4-U).png SonicIcon(SSB4-U).png MarioIcon(SSB4-U).png FoxIcon(SSB4-U).png RosalinaIcon(SSB4-U).png MewtwoIcon(SSB4-U).png MarthIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeroSuitSamusIcon(SSB4-U).png RyuIcon(SSB4-U).png
2.00 2.30 3.31 4.22 5.63 6.59 7.06 8.61 9.17 9.73 9.86 12.40
B
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
CorrinIcon(SSB4-U).png MetaKnightIcon(SSB4-U).png PikachuIcon(SSB4-U).png MegaManIcon(SSB4-U).png VillagerIcon(SSB4-U).png LucinaIcon(SSB4-U).png LucarioIcon(SSB4-U).png ToonLinkIcon(SSB4-U).png PeachIcon(SSB4-U).png GreninjaIcon(SSB4-U).png CaptainFalconIcon(SSB4-U).png
15.06 15.39 17.67 17.70 18.20 18.78 20.23 20.84 22.79 23.52 23.61
C
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
NessIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserIcon(SSB4-U).png LuigiIcon(SSB4-U).png OlimarIcon(SSB4-U).png DonkeyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png YoshiIcon(SSB4-U).png PitIcon(SSB4-U).png DarkPitIcon(SSB4-U).png LucasIcon(SSB4-U).png ROBIcon(SSB4-U).png RobinIcon(SSB4-U).png
24.82 25.00 25.69 25.82 26.63 28.26 28.69 30.12 30.34 30.64
D E
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
IkeIcon(SSB4-U).png WarioIcon(SSB4-U).png DuckHuntIcon(SSB4-U).png ShulkIcon(SSB4-U).png LinkIcon(SSB4-U).png MrGame&WatchIcon(SSB4-U).png SamusIcon(SSB4-U).png PalutenaIcon(SSB4-U).png LittleMacIcon(SSB4-U).png RoyIcon(SSB4-U).png CharizardIcon(SSB4-U).png Pac-ManIcon(SSB4-U).png KirbyIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserJrIcon(SSB4-U).png WiiFitTrainerIcon(SSB4-U).png FalcoIcon(SSB4-U).png DrMarioIcon(SSB4-U).png
35.04 36.77 37.09 37.31 38.59 39.18 40.30 40.64 42.00 42.59 42.87 44.39 44.51 45.51 45.61 45.68 47.09
F
51 52 53 54 55 56 57
KingDededeIcon(SSB4-U).png GanondorfIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiGunnerIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeldaIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiBrawlerIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiSwordfighterIcon(SSB4-U).png JigglypuffIcon(SSB4-U).png
50.00 51.67 51.75 51.93 52.14 52.50 53.64

This is the third tier list released by the Backroom.[3]

As with the previous lists, the tiers in this list were split into groups: Top (S & A), High (B), Mid (C & D), and Low (E & F). Unlike other tier lists, there is no "Bottom" group.

The distribution of top tiers changed drastically in the transition. Bayonetta rose 10 places to claim the top spot over Diddy Kong, the second time in a row that the top character has been replaced and causing her own growth over the game's lifespan to reflect Diddy's (as both characters gained a reputation for being "overpowered", were eventually nerfed and ranked in lower high tier, and claimed the top spot on the following tier list). However, the S tier shrunk to only include four characters - Bayonetta, Diddy, Cloud and Sheik. Due to their below-average playerbase and dearth in results compared to other top tiers, Rosalina & Luma notably fell from S to A tier for the first time. However, Marth's results continued to improve drastically, causing him to rise into the top tiers at 10th place, finally continuing the trend that he set in Melee and Brawl, and giving him the highest cumulative tier rise over all three tier lists.

Many character placements are similar to how they were in the second tier list, with numerous characters remaining adjacent to each other in the same order. However, results for many lower-ranked characters (especially in the low and bottom tiers) have improved drastically, causing a reduction in the number of tier groups and the abolishment of the "Bottom" ranking. The greatest improvement was Lucina by 18 places, placing her in high tier and showing almost the same degree of improvement as her template Marth. Bowser and Charizard also saw significant improvement, with Nairo using Bowser to cause some major upsets and Charizard's results gradually but notably outpacing those for other bottom-tiers, causing super-heavyweight characters in general to be more evenly distributed across the lower half of the tier list. Many other low-tier characters rose in the rankings as well, with some (such as Link, Shulk and Duck Hunt) ascending to mid tier.

Tier drops were not as notable as rises, with the most drastic being Ness by 8 places. This is mainly due to a drop in the number of Ness players entering tournaments (specifically, after EVO 2016 to 2GGT: ZeRo Saga). Despite Ness slowly gaining results on Winter 2016 and 2017, such as FOW's 17th placement in 2GGT: ZeRo Saga and S1's 5th placement in B.E.A.S.T 7, it didn't compensate his stagnant results he had suffered from mid to late 2016, causing him to drop from middle of high tier to top of mid tier.

A follow-up article was later released on April 3rd, 2017.

Fourth tier list (December 11, 2017)

Super Smash Bros. 4 Tier List #4 [1.1.7]
S A
1 2-3 4 5 6 7-8 9 10 11-12
BayonettaIcon(SSB4-U).png CloudIcon(SSB4-U).png DiddyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png SheikIcon(SSB4-U).png RosalinaIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeroSuitSamusIcon(SSB4-U).png FoxIcon(SSB4-U).png SonicIcon(SSB4-U).png MarioIcon(SSB4-U).png MewtwoIcon(SSB4-U).png MarthIcon(SSB4-U).png RyuIcon(SSB4-U).png
1.19 2.49 2.51 4.68 5.99 6.46 6.56 6.60 9.81 10.38 11.54 11.61
B C
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28-29
CorrinIcon(SSB4-U).png LucinaIcon(SSB4-U).png PikachuIcon(SSB4-U).png MetaKnightIcon(SSB4-U).png LucarioIcon(SSB4-U).png LuigiIcon(SSB4-U).png CaptainFalconIcon(SSB4-U).png PeachIcon(SSB4-U).png OlimarIcon(SSB4-U).png DonkeyKongIcon(SSB4-U).png ToonLinkIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserIcon(SSB4-U).png VillagerIcon(SSB4-U).png GreninjaIcon(SSB4-U).png MegaManIcon(SSB4-U).png NessIcon(SSB4-U).png LucasIcon(SSB4-U).png
13.29 14.39 17.37 17.97 18.41 19.07 19.25 20.14 20.68 20.82 23.31 23.73 24.85 24.96 25.89 28.62 28.64
D E
30 31 32 33 34 35 36-37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
DuckHuntIcon(SSB4-U).png LinkIcon(SSB4-U).png PitIcon(SSB4-U).png DarkPitIcon(SSB4-U).png YoshiIcon(SSB4-U).png ShulkIcon(SSB4-U).png ROBIcon(SSB4-U).png RobinIcon(SSB4-U).png SamusIcon(SSB4-U).png MrGame&WatchIcon(SSB4-U).png IkeIcon(SSB4-U).png WarioIcon(SSB4-U).png RoyIcon(SSB4-U).png CharizardIcon(SSB4-U).png LittleMacIcon(SSB4-U).png PalutenaIcon(SSB4-U).png
31.59 32.11 32.27 32.96 33.21 34.59 35.11 35.13 37.95 38.58 39.12 39.66 41.95 43.43 43.96
F G Unranked
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52-53 54
Pac-ManIcon(SSB4-U).png FalcoIcon(SSB4-U).png BowserJrIcon(SSB4-U).png DrMarioIcon(SSB4-U).png KirbyIcon(SSB4-U).png WiiFitTrainerIcon(SSB4-U).png KingDededeIcon(SSB4-U).png GanondorfIcon(SSB4-U).png ZeldaIcon(SSB4-U).png JigglypuffIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiBrawlerIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiSwordfighterIcon(SSB4-U).png MiiGunnerIcon(SSB4-U).png
45.43 45.65 47.01 47.64 48.86 49.32 49.59 51.21 51.22 53.47

The Backroom released the fourth tier list on December 11, 2017, as announced the day before in a tweet.[4] It is the first tier list for the 1.1.7 version, which was also the final version. However, no balance changes were made between 1.1.6 and 1.1.7.

Dark Pit was treated as the same character as Pit due to being commonly agreed to share nearly identical characteristics while being inferior to Pit. All three Mii Fighters were excluded for the first time due to their rarity in the meta and having unstable legality, making insufficient voting input.

Characters who differed by less 0.1 in average score were considered to be tied in placement. This led to five ties: Fox and Sonic tied for 7th, Marth and Ryu tied for 11th, Ness and Lucas tied for 28th, Robin and Samus tied for 37th, and Ganondorf and Zelda tied for 53rd. Strangely, despite being only .02 apart in their scores, Diddy and Cloud were not tied.

While the letter-tiers weren't grouped into high, mid, and low, the Backroom stated that they considered tiers F and lower suitable for low tier events, and tiers D and lower suitable for mid-tier events, resulting in a much higher proportion of high-tier characters than previous tier lists.

Mega Man, Villager, Ike, and Wario suffered the largest drops. Yoshi dropped from declining interest in top players, mediocre results, and trouble with top tier matchups. Illusion wrote that the voted period ended before an explosion of Greninja results, explaining its drop in placement. He expected Greninja to be higher on the next tier list because of this. Luigi, Link, Olimar, Donkey Kong, and Duck Hunt made the largest improvements in placement. Zero Suit Samus rose in placement from better understandings of top tier matchups.

Tier list chart

This table shows the ranks of each character through all of the tier lists, as well as a numbered description of their change in rank each time. "Change" lists how much a character's position changed between the two tier lists it is in between. "Highest" represents a character's highest position, "Lowest" represents their lowest position, and "Difference" lists the difference between the highest and lowest position. "Overall change" represents a character's change between the first tier list and the current tier list.

* = tie N/A = Not Available

See also

References