Mii Brawler (SSBU): Difference between revisions

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The '''Mii Brawler''' ({{ja|Mii格闘タイプ|Mii Kakutō Taipu}}, ''Mii Hand-to-Hand Fighting Type'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. They were confirmed as a playable character on June 12th, 2018 along with the other {{SSBU|Mii Fighter}} types, the [[Mii Swordfighter (SSBU)|Swordfighter]], and the [[Mii Gunner (SSBU)|Gunner]]. Mii Brawler is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #51]].

The Mii Brawler is currently ranked 36th out of 82 on the ''Ultimate'' [[tier list]] in the B+ tier, making them the highest-ranking Mii Fighter in the game. This is a significant improvement from their ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' iteration, where they were ranked 55th out of 57 on that game's third tier list before ultimately going unranked on the fourth one. Mii Brawler keeps many of their strongest attributes from ''Smash 4'': High mobility, early kill confirms, and fast frame data. Brawler's fallspeed was greatly increased, giving improved mobility in neutral. Additionally, Custom Moves allow for an extra degree of adaptability, and are commonly allowed in tournament play.  

However, not all of their weaknesses can be mitigated by specials. Mii Brawler has exceptionally poor range, even compared to other close-range fighters like {{SSBU|Mario}} or {{SSBU|Wolf}}. Their fast fallspeed limits their edgeguarding and leaves them prone to long combos like {{SSBU|Fox}}, although their higher weight allows them to survive for longer.

Overall, Mii Brawler is widely considered a well-rounded, close-range fighter with tools to deal with any situation. Most Mii Brawler usage have been as a secondary from players such as {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}} and {{Sm|Rizeasu}}, however Mii Brawler has seen success as a solo-main, especially from {{Sm|KID}}.

Being the "up close and personal" Mii Fighter, the Brawler now possesses a good walking/dashing speed (tied with Toon Link and Mewtwo for walk speed and the 25th fastest dash speed) and the ability to wall jump in exchange for now being a middleweight fighter (sharing the same weight as {{SSBU|Inkling}}, {{SSBU|Ness}}, and {{SSBU|Lucas}}) with a fast falling speed, an above-average air speed, and an average air acceleration. As a Mii Fighter, their specials are determinant on the player's choice. Like the other two Mii Fighters, they have access to 12 different specials: [[Shot Put]], [[Flashing Mach Punch]], and [[Exploding Side Kick]] (Neutral Special), [[Onslaught]], [[Burning Dropkick]], and [[Suplex]] (Side Special), [[Soaring Axe Kick]], [[Helicopter Kick]], and [[Thrust Uppercut]] (Up Special), and [[Head-On Assault]], [[Feint Jump]], and [[Counter Throw]] (Down Special).

As with other Mii Fighters, one of the strengths of the Mii Brawler is his diverse set of special moves. Many of his specials help rack up damage, improve their recovery, or possess fantastic KO power. Shot Put is a fantastic tool for edgeguarding due to its arc and strong knockback. Moves such as Burning Dropkick and Feint Jump both aid the Brawler's recovery, providing decent horizontal distance. Suplex serves as a potent mindgame special, as well as an excellent way of racking up damage, dealing about 20% for each successful Suplex landed, even when stale.

Accompanying his varying specials, the Mii Brawler is a fairly nimble fighter with great combo potential. His walking and dashing speed is above average and many of his normals have relatively low start-up and ending lag. All of their tilts and aerials (with the exception of down aerial) come out fairly quickly and are safe on shield when properly spaced or timed. Up tilt can lead to airdodge chases at very low percentages and chain into itself at low-mid percentages while down tilt can combo into forward aerial and neutral aerial at low percentages and other aerials/special moves at higher percentages. Neutral aerial is an excellent sex kick that boasts a wide range of utility due to its speed and extremely low landing lag, making it a very useful tool for edgeguarding, initiating, continuing, and breaking combos, and approaching. Forward tilt serves as a decent spacing tool due to it no longer having a sour spot and its ability to be angled while his down throw is a very good combo initiator, capable of comboing into a variety of moves. Dash attack comes out very quick and stays active for a long time while covering a large distance, making it extremely effective for whiff punishing or catching landing opponents. Additionally, Mii Brawler has a plethora of moves that have high KO potential. Forward smash deals extremely high knockback and can kill at low-mid percentages, and additionally be confirmed out of a landing neutral air at mid percentages. The initial hit of up smash is a potent finisher that has very low start-up. Many of his specials can secure early KOs as well, especially Thrust Uppercut and Helicopter Kick. Exploding Side Kick is as strong as Falcon Punch and is safe on shield, Head-On Assault, Suplex and Soaring Axe Kick can perform sacrificial KOs at low percentages (the first of which also breaking shields), and Counter Throw is among the strongest counters in the game.

In terms of recovery, Mii Brawler has some good options. Soaring Axe Kick has great height but suffers horizontally. Burning Dropkick, Helicopter Kick and Feint Jump provide better horizontal recovery. Feint Jump, much like {{SSBU|Zero Suit Samus}}' Flip Jump, is a good tool that can both mix up and extend Mii Brawler's otherwise lackluster recovery as well as aid in escaping juggles thanks to its frame 2 invincibility, a frame faster than their airdodge. It can also be used to cancel one's momentum in order to survive at slightly higher percents. However, if Mii Brawler is hit out of Feint Jump, they will be unable to use it again until they grab a ledge or land on stage. Burning Dropkick can be used multiple times and its decent travel distance can be further improved by [[B-reversing]] it in the air. Helicopter Kick travels at a low angle, giving it excellent horizontal recovery potential but weak height. Thrust Uppercut is a fast recovery option but is perhaps the most restrictive up special Mii Brawler has for recovery.

However, Mii Brawler does not come without their own flaws. In exchange for their decent mobility and speed, their fixed middleweight status doesn't grant them high survivability. This is further exacerbated by his fast falling speed and susceptibility to combos. Furthermore, the Mii Brawler lacks tools to force approaches and has to make hard commitments with moves such as neutral air or dash attack when approaching due to a lack of safe options.

Another issue with the Mii Brawler is a lack of reliable KO confirms at high percents. At those percentages, many of Mii Brawler's combo setups stop confirming. Many of his KO options are flawed, being extremely laggy (Such as Forward Smash and Onslaught) or having poor range (Down Smash and Up Smash). What few confirming moves Mii Brawler does have at these percents in landing up aerial or neutral aerial can cause Mii Brawler to become predictable. Because of this, they must rely on back aerial, out-of-shield options, hard reads and tech-chasing to secure stocks without assistance from confirms.

The Mii Brawler has been the most extensively modified of the Mii Fighters. With its height and weight now being fixed, the Mii Brawler now has set attributes, now being a [[weight|middleweight]] fast faller with high mobility and effective close combat abilities, making their playstyle along the lines of other combo-oriented "footsies" fighters like {{SSBU|Little Mac}} or {{SSBU|Squirtle}}. The Brawler is also the Mii whose custom moves have been the most extensively modified. As a result of their moveset overhaul, the Mii Brawler has received a large mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''SSB4'' to ''Ultimate''; while they were initially believed to have not been buffed enough to raise their standing on release, game updates would provide substantial buffs for the Brawler, and the changes to game mechanics have been mostly positive for them. Overall, the Mii Brawler was noticeably buffed in the transition to ''Ultimate''.

In terms of move changes, aside from some animation changes that set their moves apart from other characters, the Brawler's standard moveset has been noticeably improved. Their moves' functionality has not been altered significantly, with quality-of-life changes like forward tilt losing its sourspot, forward aerial being faster, and moves such as their smash attacks and back aerial getting moderate to high increases in knockback. Similarly to the other Mii Fighters, the Brawler's default special moves have been buffed significantly, with them being the largest recipient of buffs: [[Shot Put]] has less endlag and sends at a lower angle that makes it more useful, [[Onslaught]] has increased KO potential overall, [[Soaring Axe Kick]] covers slightly more distance and the descending part now has to be manually inputted, and [[Head-On Assault]] can now KO and deals increased shield damage. These changes give them a larger abundance of powerful moveset choices, fixing one of the Brawler's former weaknesses and allowing the Brawler to function just as effectively without altered custom moves.

The Brawler also benefits significantly from some of the universal changes to the gameplay mechanics. The universally increased mobility has notably improved the Brawler's grounded mobility as it grants them a more respectable initial dash, as well as their ground-to-air and air-to-ground mobility due to their faster falling speed and gravity. The ability to [[Dash-canceling|perform any grounded attack out of a run]] and the universally lower [[landing lag]] also alleviate their notoriously poor grounded [[approach]]. These three changes have collectively improved the Brawler's [[neutral game]], which was a major weakness they had in ''SSB4''. The changes to [[air dodge]]s also allow the Brawler to catch opponents with more ease and potentially juggle them for a longer time, which is further compounded by the Brawler's improved mobility.  

However, the Mii Brawler has also received some noteworthy nerfs. The Brawler's set attributes are a double-edged sword, as their lower weight, slower air speed, and higher falling speed and gravity makes them easier to combo and KO and renders their aerial mobility more polarized, while also removing their neutral and forward aerial's ability to autocancel from a short hop. Additionally, some of the Brawler's best moves have been nerfed: down throw's higher knockback scaling limits followups after mid percents despite the Brawler's streamlined jumpsquat, vastly reducing the KO power of their combo strings, save for Thrust Uppercut. The Brawler's best followup options from down throw also have weaker KO potential, since [[Helicopter Kick]] has lowered knockback and Thrust Uppercut's knockback is lower compared to Piston Punch. As a result, the Brawler must now use their tilts and aerial attacks in order to combo.

Despite Soaring Axe Kick's vastly improved utility and distance, some of the Brawler's other recovery choices have been nerfed in distance, making the Brawler's recovery less reliable than before: Onslaught travels a reduced distance if performed in the air, [[Burning Dropkick]] now has a fixed distance and cannot be charged (which also reduces its utility) and [[Feint Jump]] travels at a more downward angle, which when combined with the Brawler's increased fall speed and gravity gives the move less distance. The changes to the Brawler's special moves have also removed two of the Brawler's approach options, as the loss of Ultimate Uppercut removes a [[super armor]] option in exchange for invincibility when Flashing Mach Punch connects, and the loss of [[Foot Flurry]] removes one of their only approaching attacks in exchange for a counterattack in Counter Throw (though due to the Brawler's improved mobility, the loss of these two moves is overall alleviated). Finally, some of the changes to gameplay mechanics adversely affect the Brawler as well. The removal of perfect pivoting removes a useful microspacing tactic, while the changes to air dodges, while improving the Brawler's juggling and edgeguarding ability, also makes them easier to edgeguard.

In the end, the changes to the Mii Brawler's moveset have improved their moveset overall and allow more of their special moves to shine due to their new utility, allowing the Brawler to more reliably adapt to a combo-based hit-and-run playstyle, though at the cost of weaker down throw combos and their strongest special moves being put in-line with the rest. Of note is that the Brawler still retains some of their former weaknesses from ''SSB4'' despite them being toned down, such as a polarized neutral game due to their poor range and only passable projectile, trouble at landing their most powerful KO options, and a vulnerable recovery. Game updates, however, have provided the Brawler with some notable buffs, compensating for some of their initial nerfs and significantly improving their options in the neutral game. As a result, the Brawler has vastly improved from their appearance in ''SSB4'', and they are widely considered to be the most effective out of the three Miis.

The Mii Brawler has been significantly buffed from game updates. Update 2.0.0 improved the Brawler's offense by improving their neutral infinite, increasing the damage of up aerial and some special moves, extending up smash's sweetspot duration, and granting neutral and back aerials less landing lag. The landing lag decreases now make back aerial safer on shield, while giving late neutral aerial more followups, some into KO moves. [[Flashing Mach Punch]]'s increased damage is more rewarding on hit, [[Exploding Side Kick]]'s reduced ending lag makes it harder to punish, Onslaught's increased speed makes it easier to connect, [[Soaring Axe Kick]] is safer, [[Feint Jump]]'s kick has more knockback, and [[Head-On Assault]] deals more shield damage, making it possible to break damaged shields with its landing hit and shockwave.

Patch 3.1.0 gave a mixed bag of changes, with their neutral attack and Flashing Mach Punch connecting more consistently. The Brawler's notoriously high falling and fast falling speeds were also reverted back to their ''SSB4'' values, making them less susceptible to combos and juggles while also allowing forward aerial to autocancel out of a short hop. However, their [[airdodge]] and [[footstool]] animations were made laggier.

Patch 4.0.0 significantly improved the utility of what was commonly considered their two worst custom moves: Flashing Mach Punch was once again buffed by decreasing its startup and has more invulnerability if it connects, while also increasing the final hit's knockback, while [[Thrust Uppercut]]'s final hit has more knockback, allowing it to actually KO at reasonable percents. However, the Brawler's infamously fast falling speed from earlier iterations has returned, resulting in the Brawler once again being easier to combo, forward aerial losing its ability to auto-cancel in a short hop, and the Mii Brawler's recovery being worse, but making them harder to juggle in return, as well make their airdodge and footstool animations less laggy.

As a result, the Mii Brawler is significantly better than they were during ''Ultimate''{{'}}s release.

|dairdesc=Swings both fists beneath themself in a double axe handle. The clean hit is a powerful [[meteor smash]], and sends grounded opponents diagonally upwards as a fairly strong kill move. However, it is the Brawler's slowest aerial in terms of startup lag, ending lag, and landing lag. Autocancels from a full hop and double jump fast fall.

|grabdesc=The Brawler reaches in front of themself.

|bthrowdesc=Kicks the opponent behind themself.

|floorbdesc=Same as their frontal floor attack.

|nsc2desc=Stands on one leg and charges their other leg in [[flame]], before unleashing a powerful burning kick. Functions like [[Falcon Punch]]. The move can be reversed once anytime during the move; the window to do so is extremely lenient compared to other moves of its kind (9-30), allowing the Brawler to turn around right before the kick itself. The Brawler gains [[super armor]] just before the kick, even if started in midair, allowing it to function as a hard punish. For its power, it has surprisingly low ending lag, which was further reduced in the 2.0.0 patch; the move is safe on shield as a result.

|ssdefdesc=Charges forward with their knee out. If the knee connects against an opponent, the Brawler will perform a series of blows (a knee strike, a kick with the opposite leg, a backhanded punch, a swinging fist punch with the opposite arm, a double-hitting axe kick, and a double axe handle) and conclude by a backflip kick. If whiffed, there is noticeable endlag, which also occurs if it is shielded or parried. In the air, even after attacking, Onslaught leaves the Brawler [[helpless]]. It has excellent KO potential (although the aerial variant is significantly worse at this), as it can KO grounded opponents as early as 95%. It deals weight-independent knockback, meaning KO potential is affected by fall speed rather than weight, notably shown by the fact that {{SSBU|Bowser}} dies earlier than {{SSBU|Fox}}, despite being much heavier. Onslaught's knockback also increases as the Brawler's damage accumulates, similarly to and separate from the effects of rage, but this multiplier lowers to 1x when the move is successfully used. Onslaught will go back to full power after approximately 8 seconds, indicated by a brief purple flash on the Brawler's shoes. Despite its in-game description, accumulated damage doesn't affect the damage of the move.

|ssc1desc=Extends both legs in front of themself, charging forward to deliver a dropkick while covered with flames. Unlike the previous iteration of this move, it is no longer chargeable, dealing set damage and knockback. Furthermore, it now covers a set, albeit vastly reduced distance, and can now miss entirely if started right next to an opponent. As a result, it has lost a majority of its utility from ''SSB4'', though it is still an effective approach option due to its quick startup, and can KO at high percents. Additionally, it is still a significantly better recovery option than Onslaught and Suplex due to greater distance and not inducing [[helplessness]] after the animation is complete.

|ssc2desc=A [[command grab]] in which the Brawler dashes forward a short distance with their arms out in a grabbing motion. If it connects, the Brawler will jump into the air, lifting the opponent with them, and do a backward suplex, slamming the opponent headfirst into the ground. The Brawler gains 14% heavy armor when grabbing an opponent, and any opponents nearby for the grab and slam will take collateral damage. The move has extremely low knockback scaling, but can be used to effectively rack up damage and set up juggle situations. If used in midair, the move causes helplessness (although it has vastly reduced total frames); it can grab foes near an edge and drag them off as a [[sacrificial KO]], though it will always KO the Brawler first. In addition, Suplex makes for a poor horizontal recovery option, as it travels less distance than Onslaught and halts the Brawler's momentum completely upon ending in midair.

|dsdefdesc=Leaps up with a backflip kick with both of their legs, before plummeting downward with a corkscrewing headbutt. On the ground, the initial leap sends the opponent into the main headbutt, while the aerial version has the Brawler simply perform the headbutt. In both versions of the move, the descending headbutt hits multiple times, and acts as a meteor smash. If the grounded version is used as a sacrificial KO, the opponent will be KO'd first. The grounded hit has moderate strength, being able to KO below 130% with bad or no DI, although proper DI makes the move unable to KO below 140%. It is extremely risky due to its overall lag. If performed in midair while facing a ledge, the Brawler will be able to sweetspot said ledge, allowing it to be used as an edgeguarding tool (although only when facing the ledge). The move does a very high amount of [[shield damage]], being able to break full shields, although opponents can simply roll out of the rising hit before the falling hit hits their shield.

|dsc2desc=The Brawler enters a defensive stance, bringing their arms close to their face. Upon being hit, the Brawler will [[counterattack]] by grabbing the opponent and slamming them on the ground behind themself. The slam will lightly damage nearby opponents. Unlike other counters, Counter Throw has a short duration, but low ending lag, allowing it to be used more flexibly. It has a damage multiplier of 1.5×, tying it with [[Slip Counter]] and [[Gut Check]] for the second-highest damage multiplier out of any counterattack in Ultimate, surpassed only by [[Tetrakarn]]. However, unlike other counters, Counter Throw completely fails against projectiles and attacks that hit their legs (i.e. attacks from underneath the Brawler), and moves with sufficiently disjointed hitboxes will cause the retaliating grab to miss. As a result, the counterattack can be rather inconsistent.

*Lands with an explosion, performs two fast alternating punches followed by a spin kick, and makes a pose similar to their side taunt.

*'''Side taunt''': Moves their fists in front of them in an "X" motion and assumes an altered crane pose, before punching downwards and swinging their open hand outward, performing a knife-hand block stance.

*Unclenches their fists and hops on the spot, as if poised for battle.<gallery>

|Mii! || Mii! Mii! Mii Mii Mii! || Mi - i! Mi - i! *clap 4 times* || Mii Mii! Een twee drie! || Mii Mii Mii!  

|Mii Mii Mii! || Mii! Mii! Rah - Rah - Rah! || Mii! -- Mii! -- Mii!|| Mii! Mii! Mii Mii Mii!  

*'''Left:''' Performs a straight punch, followed by a backhanded punch and a high kick combo, then poses with their leg outstretched.

*'''Up:''' Punches many times in quick succession toward the screen (similar to their neutral jab infinite), then poses with their arm outstretched.

Early metagame opinions on Mii Brawler were lackluster: many players quickly noticed the severe nerfs to their strongest and infamous abilities from ''Smash 4'', most notably the heavy nerfs to down throw (which could KO opponents at extremely low percents through the use of [[Helicopter Kick]] and [[Piston Punch]]). In addition, they received nerfs to their core moves (the smaller hitboxes of neutral and back aerials, and the loss of the [[autolink angle]] for forward aerial), and suffered from laggy and/or short-ranged moves, a poor approach, an ironic lack of safe KO moves, and a high vulnerability to combos and gimping. Due to this, they were quickly considered them to be the weakest of the three Mii Fighters, as they had the ability to rack up damage very quickly, yet were unable to safely secure stocks.

As time went on, Mii Brawler received several notable buffs to their movesets that gave them a better combo game and KO power. Most notable among this was the buffs to [[Thrust Uppercut]], which gained some notoriety for being able to confirm from some moves, most notably down throw, and KO at early percents on some stages. In addition, the character saw success as a secondary or pocket character, especially from {{Sm|Rizeasu}}, who has won or came close to winning several events with Mii Brawler, as well as other players who have picked up the character on occasion such as {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}}. Although Mii Brawler's solo-main results still remained underwhelming at a national level, it has still seen some success thanks to the efforts of players such as {{Sm|Ghost}} in the early metagame and {{Sm|KID}} in the post-online metagame. Due to all these factors, opinions on Mii Brawler, as well as their representation in the metagame, have risen, particularly in the post-online metagame, and as such they are ranked 37th on the current tier list as a high tier.

Although the Mii Brawler doesn't appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, they were vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (excluding {{SSBU|Kirby}}) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

The default Mii Brawler was one of the many fighters that fell under [[Dharkon]]'s control upon Galeem's first defeat. They can be found in the [[Sacred Land]] sub-area after completing an optional time puzzle on the Triforce of Wisdom, which is hinted by an Owl Statue located in the Triforce of Power's section left path, by setting the time to 4:40.

|style="background-color:#EEE;"|•{{SSBU|Mii Brawler}} {{Head|Mii Brawler|g=SSBU|s=20px}} (Moveset [[Flashing Mach Punch|2]][[Onslaught|1]][[Soaring Axe Kick|1]][[Counter Throw|3]], Heihachi Wig, Heihachi Outfit)<ref group="SB" name="DLC"/>

Mii Brawler unlock notice SSBU.jpg|Mii Brawler's unlock notice when obtaining them in [[World of Light]].

* The Brawler is the only type of Mii Fighter to have a non-special move named in one of their tips; namely, their up smash, which is called "Cartwheel Kick".

*Mii Brawler’s pose in the panoramic artwork for ''Ultimate'' resembles their [[neutral aerial]].

*Many of the Mii Brawler's special moves resemble the attacks of a variety of characters from different fighting games, such as [[Counter Throw]]'s animation resembling [[Geese Howard]]'s Jōdan'ateminage counter and [[Flashing Mach Punch]] resembling [[Ryo Sakazaki]]'s Zanretsuken. These similarities are taken further in Mii outfit showcases and [[Spirit]] battles, where the Brawler is seen using certain special moves as a homage to their outfits.